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phoenixrisesoncemore · 2 years ago

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The Nameless Enemy: Speculations on My Favorite Baddie, Part 4

“It was an admirable thing and altogether precious.”

Gas cloud surrounding the star Fomalhaut.

go to part 1 | go to part 2 | go to part 3 | this is part 4 | go to part 5 [coming soon]

We never see Sauron—at least not in The Lord of the Rings—and that was funny to 13 year old me. When I first followed Frodo on that journey to Mount Doom I wondered at the choice to name a book after a villain who doesn’t actually appear in it. There’s the arrow of red light from Barad-dûr’s highest tower, of course, or the dark cloud with the reaching arm that rises over Mordor at the moment of Sauron’s defeat, but both of these function as suggestions of his presence or the weight of his attention only; they are the interpretations of the events as seen by others. Likewise, the one and only time Sauron speaks we receive his words through an intermediary—a contrite Pippin who has sneaked a peek at the palantir.

But Sauron is always there. The threat or the fear of him is always just at the edge of our peripheral vision: in the far-flung, millennia-long plots[1]; in the metaphors that put him everywhere all the time, disembodied limbs reaching to encompass all of Middle-earth (“his arm has grown long”) or disembodied eyes searching[2]; in the almost campy performance of evil on display when he orders his minions to steal only black horses from the Rohirrim; in the capitalized pronouns; in the metonymy and other evasive forms of address his orc underlings use to circumnavigate invoking him. In poor Sméagol’s other self[3].

In the ever-increasing weight hanging from Frodo’s neck: our antagonist is on that journey, too, literally and figuratively barreling towards his own destruction.

Along that journey Tolkien tells us numerous names and epithets for him—103 according to Richard Blackwelder’s A Tolkien Thesaurus—not counting the many he goes by in other texts. One of those is “The Nameless Enemy.” This word—“nameless”—is first applied in this way by Boromir at The Council of Elrond and later by Faramir, suggesting that invoking the name “Sauron” may be considered dangerous or even taboo to the Men of Gondor.

But “nameless” is far more appropriate than this simple explanation can express.

Sauron is fundamentally a shape-shifter, a deceiver, the one who sees but is never seen. A cursory reading of the major Legendarium texts reveal a character who appears full of contradictions. He is explicitly characterized by his love of order and efficiency, and yet he is said to have “adored” Morgoth, a being most closely associated with chaos, destruction, and nihilism. He is the technologist, the planner, the maker of Black Speech[4], the one who turns Morgoth’s grand desires into plans of action—like Saruman he “has a mind of metal and wheels.” But he is also Thû, the Lord of Werewolves; Thû, the Hunter; and also Thû, the Necromancer, a master of cruelty and twister of body and spirit. He is the “reformer” who seeks the rehabilitation of Middle-earth, who “was indeed not wholly evil,” who seeks the material betterment of his subjects—so long as he has their worship and obedience. But he is also the catalyst of the final defilement of Númenor where he ends as the high priest of Morgoth, master of lies and disinformation campaigns, and promoter of human sacrifice whose cultivating of humanity’s most horrific traits ends only with the reshaping of the world.

Yet unlike Morgoth, nowhere in the works we collectively call Tolkien’s “Legendarium” does Tolkien ever tell us Sauron’s original name.

Names carry a lot of weight in the Legendarium. Inside the Secondary World of The Lord of the Rings characters like Treebeard express to the reader the importance of names to what and who things and people are. Teenage me was well aware of this. Way back in 1994 I was sure that if I just knew Sauron’s missing original name I could make sense of his contradictions. So I scoured every volume—Letters, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle-earth—hunting just that information, but without success. 20 years later, at the end of a decade spent not thinking much about Tolkien, Sauron, as far as I knew, was still The Nameless Enemy in both the Primary and Secondary worlds.

Then one night…

I had recently seen The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and my head was buzzing with Dol Guldur questions. During the wee winter hours of mid January 2015, as I was link-hopping through a Google search, I think I must have made my way back to the “Sauron” entry on Wikipedia[5] which is where (rather ironically) I finally got my answer. Somewhere in Tolkien’s endless linguistic notes he had given his penultimate baddie an original name[6]: “Mairon.”

The name Mairon thus means “admirable/excellent one”, a masculine noun derived from the adjective maira “admirable, excellent, precious” or “splendid, sublime” – “only [used] of great, august or splendid things”[7].

Suddenly Frodo’s description of the Ring just before he fails to throw it in the fireplace at Bag End came bubbling up from my memory, and I opened my nearest copy to find:

Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket again and looked at it. It now appeared plain and smooth.... The gold looked very fair and pure, and Frodo thought how rich and beautiful was its colour, how perfect was its roundness. It was an admirable thing and altogether precious[8].

Well then. It was at this very moment, in my frustration at having known the answer for 20 years without knowing I knew it, that I threw my one-volume copy of The Lord of the Rings against the wall and screamed a few choice words at Tolkien’s ghost. If he heard me, he hasn’t responded, which is probably just as well.

This isn’t exactly new to Tolkien fandom (certainly not on Tumblr!). This shocking bit of trivia—that Sauron’s original name meant “precious” of all things��is something many fans have already commented on, often with incredible insight, but there are other aspects of this name that I have not seen addressed in meta form, and it’s those I plan to focus on here.

Note: if there is any aspect of Tolkien’s work that I have always felt too ignorant to fully appreciate, it is the linguistics. I beg your indulgence. Chances are high I am about to bull up this china shop.

Locating “Mairon”

The name “Mairon” appears in a selection of linguistic notes dated from the mid 50’s to late 60’s which were compiled for publication in the 17th volume of the journal Parma Eldalamberon (PE17). This body of work consists of glosses and detailed etymological information for words, phrases, & passages in Tolkien’s constructed languages that appear in The Lord of the Rings. Though written after and in response to The Lord of the Rings, the work appears to have effected Tolkien’s understanding of the Silmarillion if Tolkien’s words to Rayner Unwin can be trusted: "Time has not been wasted. I have done a great deal of work on the Silmarillion largely as a consequence of thinking about the points raised.”

The name “Mairon” comes from the primitive root MAY-. PE17 lists several entries for this root, written down at different times, between which there are two main glosses. They are, in order: ‘make’ (in the sense of art) and ‘excellent/admirable.’

A number of roots related to MAY- are also listed including (A)MAY- (‘suitable, useful, proper, serviceable, right’); it’s inverse, PEN- (‘lack’); and MA3- (‘serve, be of use‘ but also ‘handle, manage, control, wield’ and ‘hand’).

From the root MAY- meaning ‘make’ are derived the words ‘maire’ (noun: a work of high and beautiful art), ‘maita-’ (transitive: to make with art, design, compose), and ‘maitar’ (noun: artist). From the first MAY- entry meaning ‘excellent, admirable’ are derived ‘maira’ (adj: admirable, excellent, precious) and ‘maina’ (noun: a thing of excellence, a treasure). And from the second MAY- entry meaning ‘excellent, admirable’ is derived ‘maira’ (adj: admirable, splendid, sublime. Only of great, august or splendid things).

The name “Mairon” is derived from one of these two instances of the noun “maira,” but it’s not hard to see the connection between “Mairon” and some of the other glosses—as a Maiar, especially a Maiar of Aulë, Mairon is certainly a “maker.” The association with “usefulness” also makes sense for a being interesting in order and efficiency. Additionally, as Jonathan McIntosh points out in The Flame Imperishable, the fundamental evil of The Ring—why it cannot ever be used for good—is the fact that it represents the objectification of a person (Sauron), who deliberately turned part of himself into a tool, taking the idea of “usefulness” to terrifying levels.

Throughout his history Sauron repeatedly appears in situations where he either plays a supportive role or pretends to play a supportive role. He is the “admirable/excellent” pupil of Aulë. He switches allegiance and serves Melkor, maintaining the sole admirable quality of seeking no power for himself but only for his master. He provides knowledge to Men in the East and imagines for the inhabitants of Arda a better (material) future. He offers his knowledge to the Elves of Eregion as a part of a plan to jointly fulfill those hopes for the future. As he descends from “benevolent reformer” into madness and murder in his quest for control, we might even guess it is at first only because his perceived ends have overshadowed the means of their acquisition. When the threat of Numenor comes, he once again plays the role of subservient adviser, but this time there is nothing genuine about it. These associations with service are appropriate especially as all of the entries for the root MAY- show the name of the lesser order of Ainur, the “Maiar,” being derived from it as well.

According to Christopher Tolkien, the term “Maiar” first appears some time between 1951 and 1958. The entries for “Maia(r)”/“Maya(r)” in the linguistic notes compiled into PE17 can be dated to between 1955-1960, the same period which the notes that contain the name “Mairon” date to.

These words—one the name for an individual (Mairon) within an order of beings and the other a name for the entire order (Maiar)—are closely related. Considering the fact that most Maiar were associated with service and a subordinate position (most served under a Vala) and all were in some sense “makers” (fundamentally subcreative and even demiurgic beings), perhaps we can say that prior to his corruption, Mairon was a kind of exemplar of his order—not just a maiar, but the maiar, “the definite article, you might say”[9]. This in itself might explain why he was so integral to Morgoth accomplishing so many of his designs during the First Age. As one of if not the most powerful of and exemplary of a class of beings made to serve and be useful, he was likely a very effective asset, and that sheer effectiveness might well be something to be admired for. But how does the meaning of his name compare to other Ainur?

There are relatively few named Valar and Maiar in the Legendarium. For some of these, etymological information can be very sparse. Below follows a list of names and meanings taken mostly from PE17 and from various later volumes of The History of Middle-earth[10]. Since “Mairon” is a Quenya name, I have supplied all other Ainur names in Quenya and only included translations in other languages where I deemed it necessary for clarity.

Valar

Aulë (Q): Invention

Estë (Q): Rest

Irmo (Q): Master of Desire

Manwë (Q): Blessed One

Melkor (Q): Mighty Arising/One who arises in Might

Námo (Q): Judge/Ordainer

Nessa (Q): Young

Nienna (Q): Weeping/She Who Weeps, derived from “nei” (tear)

Oromë (Q): Horn-blower, from the Valarin “Arômêz”

Tulkas (Q): Strong/Steadfast, from the Valarin “Tulukhastāz” (yellow-haired)

Ulmo (Q): The Pourer, from the Valarin “Ullubōz”

Vairë (Q): Weaver, derived from the root “wey” (weave, wind)

Vana (Q): Beauty/Beautiful One

Varda (Q): Sublime/Lofty

Yavanna (Q): Giver of Fruits

Maiar

Aiwendil (Q): Lover of Birds

Arien (Q): Maiden of Sunlight/Maiden of the Sun

Curumo (Q): Cunning One/Man of Skill

Eönwë (Q): etymology unknown but perhaps derived from “haste” or “hawk”

Ilmarë (Q): Starlight

Mairon (Q): Admirable/Excellent; from maira: Admirable/Excellent/Precious/Splendid/Sublime

Melyanna (Q)/Melian (S): Dear Gift

Olórin (Q): Dreams/Dreamer (in the sense of Elvish memory/imagination/inspiration/fantasy)

Ossë (Q): etymology unknown but perhaps derived from “spuming” or “foaming”

Salmar (Q): derived from salma/“lyre”

Tilion (Q): The Horned

Uinen (Q): etymology unknown but perhaps derived from “water” or “seaweed”

No doubt there is a lot of subjectivity in how one can categorize these names—is Melkor’s association with Might that different from Tulkas’s association with Strength?—but for the purposes of this exercise I’m going to take a stab at it.

The vast majority of these names (or titles as the case may be) refer to either distinct material objects, concepts, or aspects of Creation (e.g. sunlight, birds, fruits, horns, beauty, youth, desire, dreams, strength, etc.) or an action or role associated with such (e.g. weaving, inventing, weeping, pouring, foaming, etc.). Such names and titles make sense for beings whose Primary World counterparts are the gods and goddesses of myth, associated as they are with their individual domains. Of the remainder, a handful of Valar names function like honorifics or expressions of awe (e.g. Blessed, Mighty Arising, Lofty) that point to the owner being particularly possessed of power or favor or of being worthy of veneration. The remaining names are Maiar names, and could also be viewed as honorifics, but they do not fit as cleanly into that category, though they each reference the name’s owner as possessing a positive quality. They are Melyanna (Dear Gift), Curumo (Man of Skill), and Mairon (Admirable/Excellent).

“Man of Skill” prompts the question “what kind of skill?” According to Hammond and Scull’s Companion and Guide, the Mannish translation of Curumo—Saruman—is derived from Old English and references “device, design, contrivance, and art,” as would be fitting for a Maia of Aulë. In light of this, it is interesting that Mairon, who was already perceived at the time his name was chosen as “mightiest in the lore” of Aulë, is given a name not associated specifically with artifice and design, but rather with the more generalized characteristics of admirability and excellence. Excellence in what? Admirable for what? This lack of specificity places him, perhaps, more closely in alignment with Melyanna whose name, “Dear Gift,” is derived—like Sauron’s nom de scène “Annatar”—from the root ANA- found in the word for “gift” and associated with the ideas of “to” or “towards.” We might even say that Melyanna’s name implies both relation (a gift requires an object—person or otherwise—to be given to) and the direction of that relation (towards another/away from the self). What then are we to make of “The Admirable”? Instead of asking “admirable for WHAT?“ maybe what we should really be asking is “admirable to WHOM?”

Who Will Admire You Now?

To be admirable requires another (at least theoretical) person to do the admiring. As with Melyanna, the name “Mairon” necessarily implies a relationship and a specific direction to that relationship between the name’s owner and another party, in this case someone capable of admiration. But whereas the idea of “gifting” associated with Melyanna’s name involves movement from her outwards, the direction of action here is reversed—inward instead of outward, from the admirer to the admired.

In letter 183 Tolkien writes of Sauron in the Second Age: “When he found how greatly his knowledge was admired by all other rational creatures and how easy it was to influence them, his pride became boundless.” It is around this time that Sauron begins his quest to obtain worship as a god-king in Middle-earth. His pride is later greatly injured by Ar-Pharazôn’s choice to parade him in chains as a captive through Armenelos. This was a public act, a “showing off” of Sauron, a once mighty god now a humbled prisoner. This was Pharazôn exerting power over Sauron through manipulating how others saw him. It was this humiliation that Tolkien says influenced the magnitude and cruelty of Sauron’s revenge. While the text does not explicitly reference shame here, we can infer it. Shame is pride’s antithesis and is also explicitly associated with Sauron in The Silmarillion.

After his defeat by Luthien and Huan, Luthien obtains ownership of Sauron’s fortress by threatening to shame him before Morgoth. If he does not give her control of it, she says, she will rip his spirit from its house and make him flee naked back to Angband: “[t]here everlastingly thy naked self shall endure the torment of [Morgoth’s] scorn, pierced by his eyes, unless thou yield to me the mastery of thy tower[11].” Later, at the end of the War of Wrath, Sauron presents himself to Eönwë for pardon. Eönwë, however, explains that Sauron must present himself to the Valar for judgment instead, as Eönwë, himself, is not able to judge one of this own order. At this we are told “Sauron was ashamed, and he was unwilling to return in humiliation and to receive from the Valar a sentence, it might be, of long servitude in proof of his good faith; for under Morgoth his power had been great.”

Each of these moments are turning points in the trajectory of Sauron’s arc. We don’t hear more about him after he retreats to Taur-nu-Fuin. We can wonder whether he ever even returned to Angband[12] or if he remained hidden until he came before Eönwë. In each of these moments Sauron’s image of himself, the image of himself to others, or what he imagines that image to be plays a fundamental role. That is to say pride—but also shame—plays a fundamental role.

The Silmarillion is filled with cautionary tales about pride. Melkor’s own Fall is the result of his pride, spurred by his time alone searching for The Flame Imperishable, his refusal to work in tandem with the other Ainur in an act of subcreation, and his frustration at not being able to create ex-nihilo as Eru could. He is shamed by the circumstances of his defeat and imprisonment in Valinor and the weakness he exhibits after his return to Angband. His Fall ultimately results in a degradation of the very characteristics that give him his name, “Mighty Arising.”

How might this play out differently in manner or magnitude for a being who may be, in some ontological way, fundamentally tied to receiving the admiration of others and to providing service to others? Does the dance of pride and shame become a kind of feedback loop, a kind of void of its own, like the Ring, itself?

During his eons of time in Middle-earth, the being we call Sauron was known by many names, most of them anything but flattering. Sauron means “The Abhorred”; its parallel in Sindarin, Gorthaur, means “Dread Abomination” or alternatively “Mist of Fear.” Later notes link the names to the root THAW-, glossed “cruel,” while earlier notes link them to the roots SAWA- and THUS- which carry connotations of stench.

As if something has gone off or gone rotten.

These names and the glosses of their roots represent inversions of attributes associated with the name “Mairon”: no longer Admirable but Abhorred, no longer suitable, no longer of service, no longer a maker of art.

But what did Sauron call himself?

Nameless

In PE17 we read the following regarding the name Mairon: “This was altered when he was suborned by Melkor. But he continued to call himself Mairon the Admirable, or Tar-mairon 'King Excellent' until after the downfall of Numenor.” Mairon, himself, did not stop using that name, but someone else, presumably the other Ainur did. They struck him from the rolls, so to speak. No longer an exemplar of their order, he was no longer worthy of either the name Mairon nor the title Maiar[13].

He continued to hold onto this name for himself until after the fall of Numenor. What changes at this point? His physical form having been obliterated, this once-nimble shape shifter can no longer appear fair in the eyes of others. Possessed now with only the Ring’s power of domination and the ability to inspire terror, The Admirable is unlikely to ever again experience the admiration that we might guess is foundational to his very being.

We do not know what Sauron called himself after this point. After his defeat by the host of the Last Alliance he flees (again bodiless) into the East until he can grow a new form—a slow process in his weakened state and bereft of the Ring. Upon his return to Dol Guldur he is given the name “The Necromancer,”[14] but it is never stated that this is what he calls himself.

By the time of the War of the Ring, Aragorn is of the belief that the Dark Lord does not allow the name “Sauron” to be spoken by his subjects. [15] Though it is not clear that anyone but Elves and a few of “the wise” among Men and Dwarves left in Middle-earth would know what the Quenya name “Sauron” even means, it is reasonable that those who you want to view you as a god-king should likely not be calling you “Abhored” while doing so. Still, this doesn’t tell us what name he used for himself.

We do know that “by the end of the Third Age […] he claimed to be Morgoth returned.” Did he really believe that? Tolkien never tells us for sure whether he had actually descended deep enough into madness to believe he was Morgoth. Sauron had preached Morgoth’s return for centuries in the Second Age as Morgoth’s “high priest.” Perhaps the choice to present himself under that name in the Third was expedient: if there was historical knowledge that the entity “Sauron” was overthrown in the Last Alliance, it may be that presenting himself as that same entity would not have inspired the devotion he needed. This would hold with the pattern from his time in Numenor when he converted Men to the worship of Morgoth because, as Pharazôn’s captive, he could hardly demand worship of himself.

This is again part of a trend. Sauron sees but is never seen. The fundamental being, the fundamental and authentic who that was before the Fall is always obscured and never appears in the text. Even Melkor gets some hint of close narrative written of him during the Ainulindalë, in the moments when he was still fully One Who Arises in Might. But not The Admirable. His earliest close narrative appearance in the Legendarium is in the story of Beren and Luthien, long after he has fallen to evil. And it begins with Sauron weaving a web of terror and illusions from within Dorthonian to ensnare Gorlim.

Sauron is a master of crafting images, especially of himself. Melkor diffused his being across middle earth, making it into his Ring, in order that he could control it, tarnish it, destroy it. Not because he wanted to do anything good with it, but because it wasn’t solely his. Sauron splits his Being, pouring some of it into his own Ring, and making of himself an object. He does not spread his Being any farther than that, but he does spread his image—the image of himself he has crafted—such that by the end of the Third Age, while located materially at the top of his tower, he interfaces with Middle-earth (and the Reader) almost entirely through servants and underlings, second hand accounts, stories and legends, fear of The Eye. This Sauron is practically a gestalt entity, a negative space giving shape to terror.

How long has it been since he encountered another on honest terms? If he cannot honestly encounter another being in the world on honest terms, how can he fulfill the relational role his name implies? What happens to The Admirable when no one can truly see him any longer, when no one can admire him (to say nothing of will)? And what might that tell us about what he called himself to himself? About what name he associated with “I”?

Consider for a moment Treebeard, whose name grew longer over the ages and became like a story, listing out his relation to all the other things in the world with which he had meaningful contact. Or perhaps Tom Bombadil. In The Flame Imperishable Jonathan McIntosh explains Tom’s confusion at the repeated questions about who he is in this way: “Goldberry and Tom are referring to the mystery of names. See and ponder Tom’s words in Vol. I p. 142. [‘Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless?’]. You may be able to conceive of your unique relation to the Creator without a name... But as soon as you are in a world of other finites with a similar, if each unique and different, relation to Prime Being, who are you?”

What about those “other finites” each “unique and different”?

Those who fall under the force of Sauron’s dominating will all seem to forget their names. The Mouth no longer knows his, I suspect the Nazgûl don’t either. They are no longer “others finites” that Sauron might relate to. They are extensions of him, perhaps less literally than the orc armies that sway and lose their nerve for battle when Sauron takes his attention off them, but they are extensions of him nonetheless. The Mouth of Sauron has even transformed his identity such that he is a part of Sauron’s body!

Near the beginning of this essay I mentioned the presence of Sauron in “Sméagol’s other self.” Sméagol had spent hundreds of years alone with nothing to talk to but the Ring, the distillation of some significant portion of Sauron’s being. Sméagol’s conflation of “I” and “we”, himself and the Ring, is about more than just the dangers of long-term isolation. It is the burden of the Ring that has subsumed and overwritten his sense of “I.” This would be the ultimate fate of all beings in the world under Sauron’s dominion. Sauron may still recognize he is “in a world of beings,” but his end goal requires they no longer be “each unique and different.” Ultimately his domination will require the erasure of their fundamental and authentic who as well.

Like the solipsistic dyad that is Sauron and the Ring, Sauron’s last Fall is a vicious circle in which the world becomes him and he becomes nothing, no longer able to be related to by others and no longer perceiving authentic others to relate to. He has burned the bridge at both ends and now his ability to exist in a relationship with other beings, the thing that gave him his identity as Admirable, has been destroyed. Maybe that means that Once-Mairon, or the part of him brooding in the top of his fortress, needs no name to refer to “I” in the dark corners of his mind.

Maybe he truly did become nameless, even to himself.

----------

Addendum

Some time between 2007 and 2015, I must have encountered some bit of the relevant PE17 passage...somewhere...possibly on a Tolkien wiki or someone’s blog post, but it was distinctly only that part that tells us that “Tar-Mairon (King Excellent)” was what he called himself around the time of Numenor, not that it was his original name. This, in isolation, sounded so suitably narcissistic that I assumed, at the time, that it must simply be the name he adopted at some point during his Second Age empire building. I didn’t think much more of it.

Weirdly, I actually have a very vivid memory of reading this not online but in (I thought) Sauron Defeated. I even have a clear mental picture of how the sentence looked on the page, as part of one of Christopher’s notes on the content of “The Notion Club Papers.” And yet...there’s nothing in there. My mind, it seems, has created an entirely different origin for that bit of information.

Human memory is terrifying.

Lastly, hey, if you got this far, thank you for reading! I started writing portions of this particular piece in a state of shock about 7 years ago, long before I knew what “metas” even were; I just haven’t had the emotional will to finish it for the last 2 or 3 years.

Part 5 of this series (A Wizard, a Demon, a Cat, a Reformer, a Satanist, and a Bureaucrat) will happen. I hope before the end of the month, but I am really gonna try to shoot for “less than 7 years from now.”

Notes

Discussed here: The Inverted Mountain. This is, incidentally, the one and only place in the narrative where where the narrator gives us a peak at what Sauron is actually thinking.

Someone wrote a bit about this: that Sauron in The Lord of the Rings could be seen as more acutely present and embodied in the text via these metaphors, as separated limbs and parts. Does anyone know who I am thinking of? I would love to remember where that thought originally came from so that I can give this person credit.

Discussed here: Tolkien the Horror Writer

This isn’t strictly true depending on what you accept as “canon.” This next part isn’t an original observation of mine, but as before I can’t remember whose observation it is (help? Where did I read this?): again depending on what you accept as “canon,” Sauron represents the only person in the Legendarium to have actively participated, like Tolkien, himself, in conlanging, a kind of “ordering of reality,” discussed here: Ordering Reality.

”Which... *averts eyes* ... *slowly crawls under covers* ... *then under bed* ... *digging sounds* ... *mumbles from the center of the Earth* I edited a few times back in the day.

Tolkien, via Pengolodh, states in the Essay “Quendi and Eldar: Note on the ‘Language of the Valar’” that the names given for the Ainur, with the exception of Oromë, are not their right names (which they do not share) but rather their titles. However, these titles nevertheless were awarded due to said Ainu’s characteristics and nature. This revelation naturally leads to the question of who gave them their titles. If some names come from the Valarin, then presumably they either titled themselves or each other—that is, unless we are to understand that the Quendi gave them titles based on their functions which were then translated back into Valarin.

Helge Fauskanger, “A Name for the Dark Lord”.

This passage appears to have been conceived very near to its final form from the very first extant draft of this conversation, before the conversation even fit within the narrative of the greater story: “Bingo drew the Ring out of an inner pocket, and looked at it. It was plain and smooth without device, emblem, or rune; but it was of gold, and as he looked at it it seemed to Bingo that its colour was rich and beautiful, and its roundness perfect. It was very admirable and wholly precious” (HoMe VI: The Return of the Shadow “Of Gollum and the Ring”). To be clear I’m not suggesting that Tolkien had the name “Mairon” in mind when he wrote the first draft of the passage from “Shadow of the Past” or even had those qualities in mind as representative of some early and unstained iteration of his villain. I suspect Bingo’s reaction to the Ring is simply Bingo’s reaction to a powerful and malevolent object.

In “Robot,” the first episode of Doctor Who to feature actor Tom Baker in the lead role, the newly regenerated Doctor tells his soon-to-be companion, UNIT Medical Officer Harry Sullivan, "You may be A doctor, but I'm THE Doctor - the definite article, you might say."

Several come from HoMe X: Morgoth’s Ring, Part Two: “The Annals of Aman.”

More here: Fixation and Attachment Can Lead to Missing Fingers

There is one caveat to this: Tolkien mentions Sauron one last time in a note on a draft of “The Fall of Gondolin” where he appears to be considering whether it was Sauron and not just orcs who was responsible for capturing Maeglin and bringing him to Angband. This would have been well after Sauron’s retreat to Taur-nu-Fuin. Could Sauron have seen this as his chance to re-enter Morgoth’s presence in triumph rather than defeat?

More on that in the previous entry in this series: part 3

After reading the early drafts of The Hobbit, I’ve been convinced that the earliest iteration of The Necromancer was conceived as being the character Thu who has retreated to Taur-nu-Fuin (called Mirkwood by Wizards, Dwarves, and Hobbits in this draft) post his defeat by Luthien. These earliest drafts of The Hobbit were written before there appears to have been any concept of a Second or Third Age, so their temporal and geographic location seems to be Beleriand sometime during the First Age or just after.

The question of why The Mouth of Sauron uses “Sauron” to identify the Dark Lord when addressing Gandalf and company at the end of Book V if Sauron does not permit his subjects to use this name has been addressed numerous times in fan spaces, and these discussions have generated a number of plausible explanations. Perhaps certain high-ranking subjects are permitted to use this name under special circumstances, such as when addressing persons in the West who knew The No-Longer Admirable as “Sauron”—this is the explanation that Hammond and Scull seem to land on in their Companion and Guide. It is not hard to believe that Sauron would control his image differently depending on who that image was facing; he’s a skilled propaganda artist after all, and the fear factor would have taken on a different flavor depending on where it was directed. It’s also possible that the Mouth’s comments can be written off as an authorial invention of whoever Tolkien wants us to believe “wrote” or at least “told” that part of the story (Pippin?). Said author may have chosen to use the name “Sauron” in place of whatever name The Mouth actually used in order to maintain consistency in the narrative.

#tolkien #sauron #silmarillion #the lord of the rings #mairon #annatar #linguistics #ainur #maiar #parma eldalamberon 17 #thank god that's done #seriously if you want a more enjoyable and less dry analysis of his name and nature just go read These Gifts That You Have Given Me #which remains the best scholarly exploration of Sauron through creative writing that I have ever read #like seriously the first time I read it it was like checking off all these points regarding sauron and his nature #and I was just nodding my head for months and going yes someone gets it thats it exactly #like single best interpretation of the whole sauron wants to be but is terrified of being seen

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ask-megamind-blue-defender · 3 years ago

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Hey Megamind, just wondering, if you didn't ever try to hurt ppl then how in the hell did manage to rack up 85 life sentences? Not being smartass, really want to know.

Well, there was honestly more than one reason. Massive destruction of property, corrupt judges, social fear... but the single biggest cause was that, every time I found myself in a courtroom, I went out of my way to be annoying.

REALLY. SPECTACULARLY. ANNOYING.

You see, I felt like no matter what I did, I was guaranteed to go to jail. And because it wasn't as if I planned to serve out my time anyway, what did it matter? So I just had fun with it.

It turns out that transforming a court of law into your own personal comedy club is an EXCELLENT way to get judges to keep adding onto your sentence.

(OFFICIAL DEFENDER ANNOUNCEMENT: Don't do what I did. It was... less than brilliant. And unless you'rean alien super-genius, trust me, you won't find prison breaks easy.)

Anyway, here are a few of the "fan favorites" from my villainous days that friends in the justice system still tease me about.

1. June 19, 1993 - convicted of truancy, illegal escape of lawful custody, acts of supervillainy, destruction of property, and contempt of court.

LAWYER: Megamind, I believe that you possess the capacity to be an honest, forthright person-- ME: Thank you. If I weren't under oath I'd return the compliment.

2. September 8, 2000 - convicted of vandalism, destruction of government property, illegal escape of lawful custody, inciting a riot, acts of supervillainy, and contempt of court.

JUDGE: How do you plead? ME: I don't. JUDGE: You have to plead. ME: I really don't, though. JUDGE: Yes, you do! ME: I don't plead. JUDGE: Mr. Megamind, if you do not tell the court whether you are guilty or innocent--" ME: Oh, that. Well, if I were to say guilty this would all be really no fun at all, would it? JUDGE: .... ME: But I don't plead. JUDGE: You have to! ME: I don't plead. I am the Master of All Villainy. People plead to ME.

3. April 21, 2002 - Convicted of perpetrating a cyber attack, theft of information, theft of government funds, illegal distribution of stolen funds, tax fraud, illegal escape of lawful custody, acts of supervillainy, and contempt of court.

LAWYER: Are you the person shown in that footage announcing that you planned to release IRS funds back to tax payers? ME: How many incredibly Handsome blue alien supervillains do you think there are? LAWYER: And were you present when this footage was being filmed? ME: ...You're kidding, right?

4. November 14, 2005 - convicted of inciting panic, reckless endangerment, possession of illegal materials, possession of illegal nuclear power devices, possession of an illegal proton collider, possession of an unregistered aircraft, flying without a license, disturbing the peace, public endangerment, inciting terror (this was after a Halloween plot,) destruction of property, illegal escape of lawful custody, acts of supervillainy, and contempt of court.

JUDGE: Mr. Megamind, you have terrified half the city out of its wits. According to a number of statements heard during this trial, several members of our city council have been psychologically scarred and there are still members of ScotTech Corporation who legitimately believe your zombie apocalypse was real. Do you have ANYTHING to say for yourself before sentencing? ME: Your Honor, if we are what we eat, then I am an innocent man.

5. April 27, 2008 - Convicted of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, vandalism, destruction of property, disturbing the peace, breaking sound ordinances, impersonating an officer of the law, illegal use of explosives, possession of illegal weapons, possession of an illegal atomic power generator, possession of stolen property, possession of an illegal vehicle, reckless endangerment, theft of government property, grand theft auto (yes it was related to the charge above,) reckless driving, public endangerment, illegal escape of lawful custody, acts of supervillainy, and, finally, contempt of court.

LAWYER: This court session is being recorded. When I ask you a question, your answer must be oral. Do you understand? ME: Yes. Obviously. LAWYER: Where were you on the night of April 1st, 2008? ME: Oral LAWYER: What? ME: Oral. LAWYER: Mr. Megamind, please answer the question. What were you doing on the night of April the first? ME: *gleeful wicked grin* Oral.

#Megamind #defender megamind #megamind #metro city #humor #funny #joke #court room #courtroom #lawyer #Metrocity #supervillain #hero #superhero #Do as I say not as I did #These days I'm still hilarious in court #But now I irritate defeated villains when I have to take the stand

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purple-goo-writes · 4 years ago

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Young and Beautiful Part 1

(This is Brucinette. Also I used Traditional Chinese from Google Translate for the names in Tibet. Mostly because I didn’t feel like having to manually translate names into Standard Tibetan because Google doesn’t have U-Tsang or Lhasa Tibetan. Sorry if things don’t translate right.)

I've seen the world, done it all Had my cake now Diamonds, brilliant, in Bel-Air now Hot summer nights, mid July When you and I were forever wild The crazy days, city lights The way you'd play with me like a child

Will you still love me When I'm no longer young and beautiful? Will you still love me When I've got nothing but my aching soul? I know you will, I know you will I know that you will Will you still love me when I'm no longer beautiful?

He meet her in Tibet, just after he broke from the League of Shadows and Ra’s Al Ghul’s grasp. Bruce had heard rumors whilst within the League, rumors of a magical Order in charge of protecting the balance and powerful magical jewels. An Order thought to have disappeared over 200 years ago only to suddenly reappear whole over 10 years ago. Bruce vaguely remembered mention of that when he was 14, but at the time the young Wayne Heir had not cared about the earth shattering news of a temple reappearing in Tibet. That or the rumors of superheroes in Paris of all places.

Yet here he was a decade later, being ushered into the Pínghéng Pavilion in order to meet the Grand Guardian of the Order of the Miraculous. He kept his annoyance to himself as he was made to wait within the outer chambers as the monks went to retrieve the new Grand Guardian from the meditation room.

“Ah Bruce Wayne, I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence,” Came a soft musical voice spoke from the stairs leading to the meditation rooms of the Pavilion, causing Bruce to look up startled. Gasping as he was taken aback by the person standing there.

Instead of an elderly man like many of the monks he was expecting...Standing there draped in the regal gold trimmed crimson robes depicting her station at the Temple of the Miraculous, was a young woman near his age with long flowing blue/black hair and blue eyes bright with mirth and hidden knowledge. As she walked closer, Bruce realized that she was shorter then himself by a good foot, yet her sheer presence made it feel as if she towered over him.

“I am Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Grand Guardian of the Order of the Miraculous,” She introduced herself demurely all the while looking up at him with steel in her blue gaze, “And you, Bruce Wayne, will come to find that I am a hard task master to please.” The Wayne Heir was not even able to reply before she glided past him with a nod, “Now come, we will get you set up in the Hall of Wèidìng where you will be staying until we find the House you fit best. After all before your true training can begin, you will need to learn Balance before we teach you our ways.”

For five years, Bruce trained with the Order of Guardians and learned their ways. Through them, he learned to temper his impatience, to reign in the burning rage within his soul and to not become consumed with his need for Justice. Within those five years, the future hero had been sorted into the House of Huǐmiè because according to the Grand Guardian that though Bruce held equal parts of Destruction and Justice within his soul... She felt that in order to follow his chosen path and not become consumed by the thing he sought, Bruce needed to learn how sometimes you must Destroy something to bring Order and Create something new. With that, the Wayne Heir dawned the black robes of Huǐmiè and continued his training.

Whilst he was training, Bruce learned that Marinette was only two years younger then himself and that she was still training herself even though she already held the position of Grand Guardian. Though she explained that the old Grand Guardian, her former Master, had to end her training early and pass the Guardianship of the Grand Miracle Box over to her in the heat of battle in order to stop the villain she had been fighting.

“It was...what made me the hero and Guardian I am now. That was a major defining point in my life..And even though I wish it never happened, without it I would not have become who I am now and I would never have grown up. Losing Master Fu forced me to grow up and step away from the little girl I had been up until that moment,” Marinette explained after she told him of how she became Grand Guardian and why she was still training, “My training should be complete in ten more years give or take. We are struggling to rebuild the Order and hunt down the Miraculous that had been lost with it’s destruction.”

Now....it was time for Bruce to return to Gotham and take up the mantle he was working on creating. He was standing outside the entrance to the Temple, gazing solemnly down at Marinette as she came to see him off, “Are you sure you will not accept the Black Cat Miraculous?”

“You know why I can’t, Marinette,” He rumbled softly, gently capturing her hands into his and pulling her close into a gentle hug, “I wish to protect Gotham and her innocents with my own strength. Not the borrowed strength of a God.” “Plus you don’t like the smell of cabernet cheese,” She teased lightly causing the older to laugh and mutter in her ear, “Don’t tell Plagg.”

“I’ll miss you,” Marinette smiled sadly as she gently pulled away, looking up at Bruce, “You have become someone I cherish greatly, Bruce, so please, stay safe. And keep in contact.” “I will.”

And for once, Bruce planned to keep this promise.

---------

He didn’t see her again until three years later after he took in his first ward, Richard Grayson.

#brucinette #maribat #ml x dc #This is probably going to be a 3 parter #YnB

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thessaliah · 4 years ago

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Why do you think the fandom is so willing to forgive or like Goetia/U Olga/Tamamobitch but condemn Lev despite the former doing worse shit?

Hmmm. Good question. I'm going to focus on Goetia vs Lev, because touching the girls is difficult when their arc isn't done. Disclaimer: I guiltily admit liking Goetia over Lev too. I don't wanna say because he's hot, but I think that plays a role he doesn't look like a Leprechaun with crazy hair who shops his ties at Hot Topic. Spoilers for part 2 ahead.

But that aside, I think is because Goetia was more honest toward the end about his feelings and being better written to be a more palatable tragic villain to the readers. Also while the flashback of the motivation was for all the pillar demons, the readers take it as exclusively as Goetia's (which is natural reaction/misconception, including mine, I forget). In the beginning, and until like the destruction of the hive, Goetia did not have a sole ego, he was a sum of the individual pillar demons, being a spell that worked as "administration bureau," but Goetia did not have an individual personality. That's why when communicated with others, it wasn't a "Goetia" who spoke, but a different pillar demon emerged to interact with people depending on who addressed him. That's why Dantes said he was "like a mirror". Goetia started to develop individuality and ego slowly by identifying first as "Solomon" or the cruel villain image the pillar demons had on him so he switched between "I" and "We" when he talked. Since Solomon the cruel was their king, the administration office became it.

After the hive collapsed, Goetia was born as a person, but not before, it was a brief life that was being consumed away by Ars Nova that died feeling a sense of satisfaction and joy. I also love the fanart and doujins Goetia (hot blond and naked) existed before this and snuggled up with Solomon, but sadly I don't think he did. He was born and died in that instant as a human being. His arc is a lot more finished and explored, enough for Guda (= the players) to understand the motivations and feel bad about him and his misguided way to help humanity without realizing all demon gods had that same motivation.

Lev meanwhile was not as smoothly written, although there was material about his motivations and struggle, this was buried with his extra characterization and with his insincerity (which I didn't take into account until later I re-read all, Clocktower 2015, Nasu's journal notes about him, etc). He also suffered some mistranslation in NA which favored Goetia and affected Lev's layers. What was that? In NA, it says Goetia wanted to save Mash for a measure of uncertainty or something like that existing in him, it makes it look is Goetia's choice and idea. But in the original, while Goetia went with it, it's because specifically one pillar (which Nasu affirmed in his blog was Flauros, but really who else could have been) had doubts about this plan and wanted to save Mash. It's Lev who wanted to save Mash and why Goetia made that offer. But Flauros, who according to Nasu humanized/became emotional before any other demon, lashed out/instigate the ones he felt empathy toward. That was why he's the only individual demon pillar in the Temple who emotionally confronted Chaldea. It's not fully explored, but it sounds like Lev human personality and his emotions shortcuited and made him an angsty demon when he became Flauros and was trying to cover it up. He was also the only pillar demon with doubts about their grand feat, Goetia's entire questioning came from him. So it was still the Flauros-side of Goetia (before he became an individual) that largely influenced his more complex characterization before his birth as Goetia the human and individual at the end.

I think Roman understood and forgave Lev in their exchange. I think he and Da Vinci realized his dilemma. They realized Lev, if he hadn't been integrated into the hive as demon god, would have never turned against Chaldea. Why would Flauros who by right should cease to care about the human bonds Lev kept bring up Roman hiding his skill as if he was hurt despite his intention to kill him (and all humanity for fuel! Nothing personal)? Because he did care at some level still, IMO, even if he refused to acknowledge it and this made him act even extra assholeish about it because, unlike the other demon pillars, he was suffering human emotions (Nasu said others will develop some, speaking of the Epic of Remnants ones, but Flauros was the first). Da Vinci being petty and fabulous rubbed into his face that Romani didn't trust him for real. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t know he was bluffing at some level, imo. Lev as a character with multiple personalities, egos, and emotional issues that contradict each other was already explored (in a different light) in Clocktower 2015, so feels like Nasu took for granted we knew this all along.

One of Nasu's weaknesses is that he sometimes relies too much on his players to read or watch other extra material, mats, or his blog when he should have inserted it in his game. Because Lev is a character who, much like Olgamarie, is given exploration outside the game, we (and I include myself here) are more naturally inclined to forgive Goetia and find him a tragic anti-villain, even though he was the Human Inciniration, the one who killed Mash and the reason why Roman died, over Flauros, who was the only pillar demon who doubted things even in FGO (and in other worlds killed himself to stop Goetia) and whose worse actions were being mean and blow up a bunch of cannon fodder (I love Team A, but they were not characters in part 1, Sylvia and Dustin in part 2 prologue had more characterization than Masters without names) and Olga (who ended up being part 2 final boss-for now- so he had very good reasons to try to take her down - and we see in Melty Blood crossover, he still struggles a little with the choice of killing her or not) in the game prologue. This is all caused because of the lack of exploration in the game and a clumsy handling of the character.

#fate asks #meta #speculation #goetia #lev lainur flauros

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hello-robin-goodfellow · 5 years ago

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Bone

A lengthy independent comic book series by Jeff Smith that took 13 years to complete, mixing the sensibilities of a joke-of-the-day comic strip like Pogo with the sweeping story of an epic fantasy à la The Lord of the Rings. Jeff self-published the series in its original run, collecting the issues in groups of six or so in nine total volumes, until Image Comics picked it up for a time. A second printing came under Scholastic, Inc., for which Jeff's friend Steve Hamaker colored each and every page. The series eventually won several Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards, and propelled Jeff Smith into immense independent comic book acclaim.

It tells the story of three cousins, who happen to look like humanoid, bone-shaped Cartoon Creatures. They are exiled from their town called Boneville and become lost in a Magical Land called the Valley, where they meet an energetic old lady (Gran'ma Ben) and her beautiful grand-daughter (Thorn). Together, they're caught up in intrigue, magic, and adventure.

Characters

The Bone Cousins

Fone Bone: The main protagonist. Fone Bone is the most dependable, resourceful and most moral of the Bone cousins, and tends to be viewed as the "good" Bone since he's never involved in any of Phoney's moneymaking schemes. He's polite and friendly, and pretty good at thinking on his feet in a crisis. He has a huge crush on Thorn, but has problems telling her about it.

Phoncible "Phoney" P. Bone: Previously the "richest Bone in Boneville"; Phoney is a greedy, hotheaded schemer who always has a new plan for making money. The problem with his plans is that they tend to backfire and end with him being chased off by an angry mob.

Smiley Bone: The most happy-go-lucky of the cousins. Smiley is a friendly and loyal guy, but rather short on brains and not the most adept at telling right from wrong, which is why he so often lets himself get involved in Phoney's schemes. He pretty much adopts Bartleby the Rat Creature cub.

Friends and Allys

Thorn: Thorn was the titular character of the comic's earliest incarnation, and even now can be said to be the real protagonist of the series. She is a young girl on the verge of adulthood, who can talk to animals and who befriends the Bone cousins when they are lost in the valley.

Rose "Gran'ma Ben": Gran'ma Ben has the strength of ten elephants and can outrun any cow in the valley. She has lived peacefully with her granddaughter Thorn on a small farm for fifteen years, after the "big war".

Lucius Down: The owner of the Barrelhaven Tavern, he's a gruff and temperamental but ultimately kind-hearted old man, whom everyone knows has been "sweet on" Gran'ma Ben for decades. He's a constant foil to Phoney Bone and has ruined more than one of Phoney's moneymaking schemes.

Ted The Bug: Ted is a tiny little insect with a knack for "gettin' while the gettin's good." Nevertheless, despite his diminutive size he's helpful and surprisingly resourceful, and somehow he always seems to know everything that's going on.

The Great Red Dragon: The mysterious protector of Thorn and Fone Bone, and a master of last-minute rescues. He's a laid-back and lazy sort who at first glance doesn't seem very formidable, but he has a number of strange powers and is feared by the Rat Creatures.

Bartleby: A Rat Creature cub that ran off from the other rats and befriended Fone Bone and Smiley.

The Possums: A family of possums — Miz Possum and her three kids — that Fone Bone meets during his first winter in the valley, and who show up sporadically to help him out.

Roderick: A baby racoon whose parents were eaten by Rat Creatures. Plays a minor part in Bone, but is one of the main characters in Quest for the Spark.

The Orphans: Roderick's friends; a group of young animals in the same situation as him.

Jonathan Oaks: Lucius's assistant at Barrelhaven. He's a young and affable guy, though not terribly bright.

The Villagers: The human inhabitants of Barrelhaven village; usually peaceful enough, but in general rather small-minded, xenophobic, and easily led. The most commonly seen are Wendell the tinsmith and Euclid the farmer.

The Disciples of Venu: Also known as the "Veni-Yan" or, more insultingly, "stick-eaters," they are a group of hooded monks who have dedicated themselves to the study of the Dreaming. They were once the elite warriors of the kingdom of Atheia, but after the war they have the reputation as wandering beggars.

Taneal: A little girl who lives in Atheia; she's a young priestess and shrine-builder who tries her best to keep the faith of Venu going even after it was outlawed.

Taneal's brother: Never actually named in the comic, but he's Taneal's older brother. Smart and resourceful, he knows everyone in Atheia, especially who to bribe in order to get your way.

Teacher: Gran'ma Ben's old teacher; he's an old and somewhat cantankerous old man who runs a small rooftop kitchen and is... not as good a chef as he thinks he is.

Headmaster: The head of the Diciples of Venu and possibly the oldest human character in the comic.

Mermie: A seventh-level "dreaming master" and steadfast alley of Gran'ma Ben.

Villains

The Lord of the Locusts: A nightmare spirit who long ago wanted to escape from dreams and experience the waking world, which he attempted by possessing Mim, the Dragon Queen. He was defeated and imprisoned by the other dragons, but is still able to contact and influence dreamers in the waking world, plotting to be free once more.

The Hooded One: A mysterious hooded figure who's the highest servant of the Lord of the Locust. Spends the first two-thirds of the story preparing for war, and looking for "the one who bears the star," who will aid in freeing the Lord of the Locusts.

Kingdok: The King of the Rat Creatures; a brutish and vicious monster who nevertheless is basically only a puppet for the Hooded One and the Lord of the Locusts.

Rat Creatures: Rat Creatures are the resident monsters of the valley; they're strong and bloodthirsty predators but also incredibly stupid. Encountered in ones or twos they're more comical than scary, but in large numbers they're terrifying. There are thousands of Rat Creatures, but two of them — a duo of foot soldiers — play fairly large roles in the story as Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains who in Quest for the Spark end up having a Heel–Face Turn (as well as getting their own names, "Smelly" and "Stinky.")

Roque Ja: The "Master of the Eastern Border." Roque Ja (and not, as he will constantly remind you, "Rock Jaw") is a gigantic mountain lion who initially sides with the Hooded One and the Rat Creatures because he hates them slightly less than he hates the dragons they oppose.

Lord Tarsil: A former Veni-Yan warrior and ruler of Atheia. He hates dragons with a passion and has outlawed all "worship" of them, including the old religion.

The Vedu: The sect that Tarsil formed; an off-shoot of the Diciples of Venu who follows different teachings and act more like bullies than protectors.

An Animated Adaptation has been in Development Hell for several years. In the '90s, Nickelodeon Movies, having just released the hit film The Rugrats Movie, had an alarmingly misguided vision of what they wanted it to be, and Jeff was the one who bailed out of the deal. The rights were then held by Warner Bros., and the reports on the production team were that Animal Logic, the studio behind Happy Feet and The Matrix, would animate, P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding, Confessions of a Shopaholic, the 2003 live-action Peter Pan) would direct, and it would be adapted for the screen by Patrick Sean Smith (ABC Family's Greek). In 2016, Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda, The Little Prince) became the new director, while he and Adam Kline replaced Patrick Sean Smith as the screenwriters.

Jeff was initially fighting for traditional 2D animation, since he used to run his own animation studio called Character Builders that contributed to films like Space Jam, and was the studio that was originally slated to animate the film. According to the interview above, Jeff is fine with the change because the outcome of the movie is not in his control, even though he will have executive-producing credit. He STILL remembers his original preference, though, and fans continue to prove this. However, it was not to be. After several years with little progress made (and no release date appearing on Warner Bros.' slate of upcoming animated movies) the rights to adapt the comic went up for sale again.

In 2019, Netflix secured the rights to the franchise with plans to adapt the comic into an animated series. Time will tell if they are successful.

#bone #jeff smith #comic books #fantasy #comics #genre fiction #ideas #inspiration

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overlord-diaries · 5 years ago

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"This is what I wanted out of a cameo from Joachim."

HAVE SOME MORE, WHATEVER.

Joachim Armster appears in Castlevania Lament of Innocence, the entry that begins the Iga-vania timeline with Sir Leon Belmont [the fuck outta here Lords of Shadow]. So I already acknowledge the probability of Joachim's appearance being very minute. Let's pretend that like some of the other discrepancies, the events of Lament of Innocence and Netflix Animated Castlevania work such that my fan-episode writing would work. I will explain in the comments if you're interested. -Joachim is the master of Bernhardt Castle in the Forest of Eternal Night. This puts him in an area that the Council of Sisters plans to conquer. Now with the army provided by Hector's forging, Carmilla don't give a fuck and leads the charge with Striga to scoop up the lands. Along the way is the Forest of Eternal Night, and all their army sort of gets lost within ne'er to return. What gives? Aha, Morana knows, it's fucking Joachim Armster, and we shouldn't tango with him just yet. Carmilla is like I ain't pausing the march for some man-baby vampire and personally goes into Eternal Night to kick his ass. -Spoiler, she don't. -Alternatively, Carmilla decides to ignore him, but we still get a nice cameo of Joachim luxuriating on the throne of Bernhardt Castle, cackling mad [cause that’s where he’s at in life according to the ending lmao]. Here's why: -Joachim is a fucking boss ass bitch; of all of Iga-vania verse vampires, I would wager Joachim fights on par with Dracula [even though he might not win, as in the grand scheme Drac is very OP of course]. He has abnormally high magic proficiency, using swords and MAGIC LASERS~! and shit. He's also the first playable vampire and villain in the games, which speaks to his popularity power for Lament. -Eternal Night of course is advantageous to all vamps, but the castle is 100% Joachim's domain now. Also there's a secret surprise in the dungeon~ -He's basically "What if Alucard, but a vampire?" and Ayami Koijma-sensei was like "you mean like this?" -This would be a great turn of events for the fate of Carmilla especially, because it'd be a bit out of left field depending on how much Joachim keeps to himself. And of course she would hate for a man [beautiful beautiful man] to ruin her scheme. -Afterwards, Joachim hasn't interrupted anything as far as everyone else's routes, and he can still be an adversary at a later time. Considering he's older than Dracula, the main trio could feasibly have heard of him--and can decide to leave him the fuck alone cause he stronk. -Has his own theme music, too, NOT THAT IT WOULD GET USED, I GUESS. The intricacies of how the timeline would have to work for him to do that can take up another post, haha. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR NIGHTLY ENDEAVOR OF CASTLEVANIA BULLSHIT HUUHRHHRRRRRRRRRRRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--

#overlord: if #rantble #castlevania #Lament of Innocence #Joachim Armster #[the LOI fandom has a disproportionate love for Joachim and it's great lol]#[don't get me wrong though cause I love Leon and Mathias very much heurhuehruehru]

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The Mandalorian Season 2: Boba Fett’s Return Explained

https://ift.tt/2E5v2UK

This Star Wars article contains spoilers.

From the very beginning, Boba Fett has inspired The Mandalorian. Showrunner Jon Favreau’s “toy box” approach pitched protagonist Din Djarin as a Boba Fett-like figure, and although the two are quite different in terms of personality and history, the iconic silhouette of the space western gunslinger is very similar.

But now Boba Fett himself is back in The Mandalorian season 2, played by none other than Temuera Morrison in a very brief cameo. At the very end of the season 2 premiere “The Marshall,” we find Boba watching from a hill as Mando rides off with his old armor, a scowl on the old Mandalorian’s face that would silence a krayt dragon. With all the Mandalorian history and bounty hunting on the show, it was only a matter of time before we finally got to see Boba in the flesh!

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While new Star Wars fans may not be as familiar with Boba Fett, fans who’ve spent hours rewatching the Original Trilogy of movies likely let out a shriek when Morrison hit the screen on the live-action series. The helmeted bounty hunter first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special in animated form, but more famously in The Empire Strikes Back as a mysterious figure able to talk back to Darth Vader without consequences. Although he’s barely on screen and speaks very few lines in Empire and Return of the Jedi, his iconic look and intimidating swagger have made him one of the most popular characters in the saga. Most Star Wars fans will recognize his iconic T-visored Mandalorian helmet, jetpack, and gauntlets that can shoot either missiles or ropes for capturing bounties alive. His entire storyline in the Original Trilogy involved hunting down Han Solo for Jabba the Hutt, and he’d fit right in The Mandalorian’s Bounty Hunter’s Guild.

Morrison isn’t the original actor to play Boba Fett: that’s Jeremy Bulloch, who wore the helmet in the Original Trilogy. Other people helped bring the character to life, too. John Morton filled in as body double for Bulloch and Jason Wingreen provided the voice. But Morrison played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones and is, therefore, the live-action face for all of Jango’s clones, including Boba. This is also why George Lucas later dubbed Morrison’s voice over Wingreen’s performance for the DVD release of the Original Trilogy in 2004.

Unsurprisingly, Boba Fett’s return has sparked a lot of talk among fans, who will likely spend the entire season theorizing how the bounty hunter was able to escape his fate in Return of the Jedi and what his arrival might mean for The Mandalorian. Let’s discuss…

Why Is Boba Fett Returning in The Mandalorian?

Disney has already tried to bring Boba Fett back to live-action twice since it purchased Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars in 2012. In 2015, Fantastic Four director Josh Trank was attached to direct a Boba Fett movie that was originally going to be announced as a third Star Wars Story standalone movie, along with Rogue One and Solo. According to an interview with Polygon, Trank “quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit” after Fantastic Four‘s dismal performance and the well-known behind-the-scenes drama during production.

The Boba Fett project was revived in 2018, with Logan director James Mangold set to helm the movie, but this second attempt was also shelved after Solo‘s tepid turn at the box office that same year. Simon Kinberg, Rebels producer and Dark Phoenix director, would have co-written the movie.

In 2020, The Mandalorian provides perhaps the best re-entry point for Boba Fett. Not only does it star a main character with a similar occupation and a taste for carbonite, but it delves deeper into Mandalorian culture as well as what happened to places like Tatooine after the fall of the Empire. Even though Boba Fett isn’t Mandalorian by blood, the fate of Mandalore could still affect him personally, especially since his father was a member of that culture, even if Jango was treated like an outcast by the planet’s pacifist government. Would Fett still be an ally of the Empire after what they did to his father’s people?

The show first teased the return of Boba Fett in the season 1 episode “The Gunslinger.” That episode ends with a mysterious figure inspecting the body of Din Djarin’s latest target on Tatooine. When does this moment take place with respect to Fett’s timeline? Has he just escaped the sarlacc or has he spent the years since Return of the Jedi as a hermit in the desert? Has he been following Din’s tracks all along? The cameo seems to confirm Boba’s hermit status, as we see him wearing black robes and carrying a rifle as his own protection. (He very likely wants his armor back.)

But has he also been tracking Mando? When it comes to a bounty as big as the one on Din and Baby Yoda‘s heads in season 1, there’s no doubt that the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy would have heard about it. And if the underworld has forgotten him after he was swallowed whole by the sarlacc, what better way to reclaim his reputation than by collecting the bounty no one else could?

That’s not to say that the bounty hunter has definitely returned as a villain. For one thing, this could just be a cameo or perhaps the very start of an arc that will see Boba following our heroes around, waiting for the right moment to reveal himself.

However Fett’s story plays out, it could set up future adventures for the character, just like the ones he had before Disney erased the classic Legends continuity from canon.

How Did Boba Fett Survive the Sarlacc Pit?

Fett’s death in Return of the Jedi wasn’t the end for the bounty hunter in the pre-Disney Legends continuity. In fact, he lived a long life that stretched decades beyond the events of the Original Trilogy. But how did he survive a fate as gruesome as being slowly digested over a thousand years inside of the sarlacc?

Fans learned in the classic Dark Horse comic series Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy that Fett’s armor allowed him to survive inside the sarlacc and fight his way out, blowing up the creature in the process (a move very similar to how Mando escaped the belly of the krayt dragon in “The Marshall”). The novel The Mandalorian Armor by K.W. Jeter further explained that it was rival bounty hunter Dengar who found Boba Fett half-dead in the desert and nursed him back to health.

From that point on, Fett became a regular character in the Legends Expanded Universe, featuring in many bounty-hunter focused books. He also made a brief cameo in the 19-book New Jedi Order series and appeared in the Jedi-focused Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi books. In fact, Fett lived on until the very end of the Legends timeline, completely defying the odds after his initial demise in Return of the Jedi.

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Boba Fett eventually became the leader of the Mandalorians, which had a sprawling culture and even their own official language in Legends. Fett had a family and his granddaughter ended up assisting in the training of Jaina Solo, Han and Leia’s daughter.

As in the Sequel Trilogy, Legends included the continuation of the Skywalker-Solo clan, and, while Fett mostly kept to himself as the leader of a third faction sometimes opposed and sometimes allied with the Republic, he was involved with incorporating Mandalorian fighting into Jaina’s Jedi training. He also became a formal ally of the Jedi in the war against Jaina’s brother, Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus, in Legacy of the Force.

Will the Disney canon do something similar with Boba Fett’s post-Return of the Jedi story? We don’t know what the studio might have in mind for Fett, or whether he will eventually turn into a more sympathetic anti-hero character, but it wouldn’t be surprising if some elements from his Legends storyline were brought into the new canon. That’s exactly what Disney did with Grand Admiral Thrawn, another character whose Legends story was pieced together in a new way in the canon animated series Rebels.

How Boba Fett Might Connect to Baby Yoda

Boba, as we all know, isn’t a traditional Mandalorian — he’s a clone. He wasn’t born on Mandalore, he wasn’t connected to a traditional cultural/religious covert like Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, and his father Jango, a killer willing to sell his clones to the Republic, doesn’t exactly seem like a traditionalist in the vein of the Armorer or Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze.

There’s certainly some kind of cloning plot being woven into The Mandalorian. In season 1, Ugnaught hero Kuill suggested that Baby Yoda could be a “strand-cast,” a type of bio-engineered clone that Emperor Palpatine hoped to use as the perfect vessel for his spirit after his original body was destroyed in the Battle of Endor. We know that Dr. Pershing, an Imperial scientist, wanted to experiment on the Child before Din decided to rescue him. Was Baby Yoda part of the Emperor’s plan to find a new vessel or a clone of Master Yoda the Emperor planned to turn to the dark side?

Or is Baby Yoda the result of a separate strand-cast experiment that worked where so many of the Sith’s failed? If this is the case, the Empire would undoubtedly want to see how the Child not only survived the cloning process but also became powerful in the Force. As we learn in The Rise of Skywalker, the Emperor’s own clones were all massive disappointments on that front.

What if Boba Fett is hunting Baby Yoda for what’s left of the Empire? Would they feel any sort of affinity toward each other if they’re both clones, or would Boba Fett be the cold-hearted killer to Din Djarin’s heartfelt foundling? The potential clone connection could make for a captivating storyline in season 2.

Fans certainly have had a lot of time to come up with opinions, headcanon, and theories about the bounty hunter. Fett speaks sparingly and radiates intimidation, even if his most famous role features him falling into a large pit. Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars added to Fett’s backstory and showed him learning the ropes of the bounty hunting trade. All that could be paid off in The Mandalorian, depending on how the show incorporates Morrison now that he’s made his return.

The Star Wars franchise has been in a rather uncertain place since the Disney purchase, with movies doing well at the box office but cultural cache falling. The Mandalorian is one of the most unquestionably successful and high-quality parts of the franchise right now, so it’s a good business decision to bring a very popular character to the show. We’ll see what that means for the story.

The Mandalorian season 2 airs Fridays at 12:01 pm PT/3:01 am ET on Disney+.

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khtrinityftw · 5 years ago

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Part 8: The Impotence of Xehanort

Ironically, perhaps the worst part of the whole Xehanort Saga turned out to be Xehanort himself. He was way too overutilized by Nomura, and the character was completely destroyed as a result.

Xehanort was introduced in Kingdom Hearts as Ansem, the scientist king of Radiant Garden, whose research into the darkness of peoples' hearts corrupted him and ultimately turned him into the Heartless known as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and a Nobody known as Xemnas, the Superior of the In-Between. But in Kingdom Hearts II, it was retconned that he wasn't Ansem at all, but Xehanort, Ansem's top apprentice who stole his identity, with the real Ansem the Wise resurfacing under the name of DiZ.

This was a typical Nomura twist that was done solely to surprise people, and while some give it flak to this very day, I actually think it works really well. Mainly because it doesn't actually change that much about the character: he's still a scientist who lived in Radiant Garden castle and undertook research into darkness that corrupted him and turned him into a Heartless and a Nobody, he still wrote those reports we read in the original game and he still did all of those things we heard and saw him do. Really, the only differences the retcon brought are that his name isn't Ansem and that he's not a king. And those changes are a small price to pay for a much deeper insight into him than the original game ever provided, and a fascinating new character in Ansem the Wise, voiced by Sir Christopher fucking Lee himself. Circling back to Darth Vader, imagine if it was never retconned that he was Luke's father and they just stuck with the story that he killed Luke's father? We'd miss out on one of cinema's most iconic twists and all the rich story potential for the character that twist provided.

Nomura, however, completely failed to take advantage of the rich story potential offered by the character of Xehanort that had been created. After deciding that the Xehanort we knew was a freakish amnesiac hybrid of the Keyblade warriors Terra and Master Xehanort, upon which said character was officially redubbed Terra-Xehanort, Nomura decided to exclusively focus on Master Xehanort as a character and as the series' Big Bad.

But there isn't anything interesting about Master Xehanort. He was just a rip-off of Star Wars' Palpatine who was given Riku's original backstory and motivations and whose plan didn't even make a whole lot of sense. Master Xehanort is only interesting in the context of helping to create Terra-Xehanort, and yet Nomura just kept adding and adding onto him, with each addition only making the character worse and insulting the legacy of the one he had before.

He had Master Xehanort resurrected after the defeat of Ansem and Xemnas...somehow, even though Ansem and Xemnas were Terra-Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody, not his. And he revealed that he masterminded a convoluted plan where Terra-Xehanort turned into Ansem so that he could follow the ludicrous rules of time travel and go to the past to recruit Master Xehanort's teenage self to the cause of evil. When Ansem got back to the present, he was to capture the Seven Princesses of Heart while Xemnas completed his Kingdom Hearts in order to put Xehanort's heart inside the rest of Organization XIII, because it's now revealed that when 7 hearts of light and 13 hearts of darkness clash, the X-Blade is "properly" forged. And even though Ansem and Xemnas were defeated, Young Xehanort used time travel to recruit back-ups for the 13 hearts of darkness anyway, including Ansem and Xemnas themselves, so the heroes are boxed into a corner and everything went according to Xehanort's plan.

The most apparent problem with this story, beyond what an absolute clusterfuck it is, is that Ansem and Xemnas' plans were not written as part of Master Xehanort's plan back in the KH Trinity, and this attempt at rewriting them as such rings false as a result. If Terra-Xehanort became Ansem in order to travel back in time, why write otherwise in his reports? If Ansem just needed to capture the Princesses, why did he leave them behind once they'd unlocked the way to the Heart of All Worlds? Why would he even want to absorb the Heart of All Worlds to begin with? And why did Xemnas carry on with his plan to complete and absorb the Heart of All Men even after the death of both Ansem and many of what were supposed to be the 13 vessels for Xehanort's heart? It makes no fucking sense, because Ansem and Xemnas' plans and motivations were written as their own, not Master Xehanort's.

The next problem is that if you do decide to swallow this bullshit, then what was even the point of what was accomplished in the KH Trinity, or any previous game like BBS for that matter? Everything went according to Master Xehanort's plan; his defeat in BBS, Ansem's in KH and Xemnas' in KH2 only ensured this outcome, everything that the heroes - and by extension, you as a player - did only helped him. Master Xehanort has become one of the biggest villainous Mary Sues in history: there's nothing that can realistically stop him because he's so omnipotent in his planning and is increasingly overpowered; Kingdom Hearts III even claims that he is now "the most powerful Keyblade Master of all", which makes one question why exactly he ever needed to take over Terra's body to begin with beyond the time travel-related excuse of "it's been etched" (the fuck does that even mean!?) It all seems like a cheap tactic to make KH3 the end-all, be-all, and all that does is increase disappointment when it inevitably can't meet those lofty expectations.

But the worst problem here is that for all of the convoluted detail given to his planning, we still know next to nothing about who Xehanort IS as a character. It's impossible when every game keeps adding new and usually contradictory details to his backstory, personality and motivations. Ansem and Xemnas, the two halves of Terra-Xehanort in the KH Trinity, were really pretty vague in the specifics of how their plans operated, but that didn't matter because we understood who they were and where they were coming from as characters. Ansem was an arrogant scientist who justified his god complex with the results of his research that he believed proved him to be in the right for what he aimed to accomplish. Xemnas was an empty husk of a man who justified his god complex as a means to justify his miserable non-existence. And both of them shared the root cause of Terra-Xehanort's own personal insecurity, the fear that unless he does what he does then he'll be just a tiny speck in a vast universe who will never escape from the shadow of his esteemed mentor whose name he stole for himself.

Who exactly is the Xehanort that we have now? Does he want an equal balance of light and dark in the world? Does he want darkness to reign forever? Does he not care what the outcome of the world is and just wants scientific answers? Does he want to rule the world with all of its darkness so that all of its light is protected from the darkness of "the weak"? Does he even want what he thinks he wants or is Luxu and/or the Master of Masters controlling him? Is he fucking possessed? Is he just fucking insane!? The games have presented a case for any one of these options to be true, but it's impossible to peg down which one is. We also don’t know if he’s meant to be a misguided Anti-Villain or a Complete Monster, or what his backstory is when the details on that keep on changing with each game. Nomura clearly has not thought this character through at all.

And that's especially ironic because Nomura has always held a disturbing identification with Xehanort. Even back in the original game, despite its actual writers clearly portraying Ansem as a fool blinded by his own hubris, Nomura thought he was really profound and accurate. It was the same with Xemnas, despite Kazushige Nojima having him outright called a fool within the script. And with Master Xehanort, Nomura took his favoritism to the next level, turning the entire Kingdom Hearts series up to Kingdom Hearts III into a saga based around him. He may have begun by claiming the Dark Seeker Saga was about Sora saving everyone from Xehanort, but he quickly reversed this and made it about Xehanort and his grand plan...all while never coherently defining who the hell Xehanort even is.

I guess that's the ultimate thing Nomura has in common with him: they're both confusing bastards who make everyone around them miserable and ruin perfectly good stories.

#Plinkett-Style #Anti-Series Beyond #Anti-Nomura

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judyhopps934-mt-zd · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on Heart Hunter (Loveater)

Warning: Major Spoilers! Read at your own discretion. Also, you may or may not want to scream at the end of this. I wanted to throw a temper tantrum after this. Press “Keep Reading” to continue.

Marinette had a wonderful narration in the beginning. Its heartwrenching, yes, but wonderful. It’s also foreshadowing, so take notes.

Master Fu’s first love died???? WHAT THE HELL??? YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO ME!

Did Chloé forget that she will no longer receive the Bee Miraculous??? Was “Miraculer” thrown out the window in this episode???

Chat saying he has a girlfriend to make Ladybug jealous??? I started to feel uneasy as he was losing patience and heartbroken. WHY MUST THE SHOW MAKE TWO YOUNG TEENS SUFFER???

Marinette hopelessly looking at photos of Adrien and getting excited over Luka’s message. And then there’s Adrien looking at photos of Ladybug only to see a post from Kagami. This is more foreshadowing and left an anxious knot in my stomach.

Luka stops by the bakery to play Marinette her melody. AND ITS BEAUTIFUL! THIS KID HAS TALENT! But that appreciation moment was short-lived as the knot in my stomach is growing. I fear for the Love Square here.

Also, he’s a pizza delivery guy. I would want to order pizza just so he’d deliver it to me just to meet him.

Bicycle ride to Le Grand Paris? And a kiss????? I seriously fear for the future of the Love Square. And the knot in my stomach grows.

I am fine. There’s no actual knot in my stomach.

Gabriel purposely made the “Love Cloak” to activate his plan. Why? He apparently knows that the Bourgeois couple hate each other’s guts. Audrey is awful to Andre. Even with distance, how did they not divorce each other yet. Better question, why did they get together in the first place????????

Adrien and Kagami were withheld from helping Marinette by their guardians until they told them that it would be for awhile. And they are grateful that she fell over so they could help her and escape. That’s genius to be honest. Simple, yet genius.

Adrien and Kagami fencing with kitchen utensils was everything, but also heart wrenching, especially seeing how Marinette feels when she gave it more thought.

Gorilla coming in the kitchen to look for Adrien and Kagami only to find Marinette. That was gold. And they were grateful that she covered for them. It warms my heart that the three are great friends.

And they invite Marinette to escape with them WITH CARDBOARD BOXES! THAT WAS AWESOME!

Why was Nathalie there, disconnecting her Bee light?

Adrien, Kagami, and Marinette jumping into what looks like a ball pit was the best moment in the episode. I appreciated that moment so much that it loosened some of that angst in my stomach (figure of speech).

And that was the moment where we see Marinette’s hair let down. AND SHE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGEL! OUR PRECIOUS CHILD!

Kagami comments that she looks beautiful and so does Adrien. I SUPPORT BI MARI!!! More on this later on.

Due to Marinette and her genius idea to distract Gorilla, they all escape the hotel. YAAAS!

But that was when the Akuma strikes and Heart Hunter (Loveater) emerges.

Chloé is more determined than ever to obtain the Bee Miraculous so she can save her parents. Oh boy…

Back to our trio, they find André, the ice cream guy. They decide to get ice cream, but once again, oh boy…

Oh Kagami. I know you don’t believe in the myth, but if only you knew.

André said bi rights. I repeat, ANDRÉ SAID BI RIGHTS! He is willing to sell the ice cream combo for Adrienette, Adrigami, and Marigami! If there was no Love Square or if it wasn’t drilled into my head, I would definitely ship Marigami (or is it Kagaminette?).

But why is he against a threesome? If he allowed it, then what comes next would not have happened. I’m keeping an eye on you André. I’m silently blaming you for what comes next.

Adrien and Kagami had let Marinette choose. And she chose selflessly. The ice cream was set for Adrien and Kagami. So that’s what that knot in my stomach was for.

Marinette leaves upset and they worry for a second before eating the ice cream.

Can I note down that André was concerned for Marinette when she chose the ice cream for Adrien and Kagami? He was in a way screaming “Adrienette Rights!” But he allowed it.

But, if she hadn’t chosen selflessly, then no one would have noticed Loveater (its shorter to spell, so I’m calling them Loveater). But still, she was so sad that I was willing to jump into that scene to hug her.

Hawkmoth and Mayura were observing Ladybug battle Loveater so that she would lead them to the Guardian (Master Fu). Also, where are you Adrien? Ladybug needs Chat Noir! (I know he’s with Kagami, but still. You are needed!)

Ladybug tried to manage to escape Mayura’s view, but because she saw Adrien and Kagami together, she got distracted that she CRASHED INTO A TREE! And Hawkmoth then SPOTTED HER AND FOLLOWED HER. This whole love sacrifice is starting to take a toll on my precious bean.

And that’s not all unfortunately. She showed up to the merry go round (really Master? Really?) as Ladybug! And did not notice Hawkmoth following her. Oh boy…

May I take a moment to put Chloé in her place? You did not earn the Bee Miraculous. You stole it when Ladybug accidentally lost it. What makes you feel entitled to it if it wasn’t meant for you in the first place? Also, I feel like Chloé forgot what happened in “Miraculer”, where she was told that she will no longer get the Bee Miraculous. Or she is just purposely being a brat about it. (Remember, she was NOT happy with Ladybug by the end of that episode).

In distraught, Ladybug chooses to recruit Ryuko because it also creates a diversion for Adrigami. In other words, it separates Adrien and Kagami. Which is still an effect from Marinette’s personal sacrifice. No wonder why this is a “fatal mistake” according to Wikipedia.

I think this is a good time as any to say that in this post, I will not blame Marinette for what happens because she’s going through so much at this point and I don’t blame her. I’ll explain later on what I mean.

Kagami was very shocked that Ladybug recruited her after her identity was exposed in “Ikari Gozen” (see Chloé, Kagami understands the risk). Also, this is because Ladybug interrupted her moment with Adrien.

Kagami knows that she would be hurting everyone. Although what touched my heart was that she does not want to hurt Marinette. But all that shatters in 2 seconds as she states that she and Adrien are meant for each other and even her friendship with Marinette would not stop her. Excuse me while I die inside even more.

Hawkmoth found Master Fu! And he has the Miracle Box! And he’s fighting Master Fu! WHO’S NOW JADE TURTLE! If only he were not losing, I would enjoy Jade Turtle more.

Gabriel, do you not care about Nathalie? I thought you prohibited her from being Mayura since “Ladybug” (the episode)!

Chat Noir finally shows up and recognizes Ryuko, whom he compliments. And Ladybug takes it as a ploy to make her jealous. Uh-oh

The trio battle Loveater and when Chat thanks Ladybug for saving him, he...doesn’t call her “M’lady”??? What??? I’m going to be the Keke Palmer meme and be like “I don’t know who this man is.” This is so out of character for Chat...and I am once again fearing for the Love Square. The fact that Ladybug points this out has all of us like “is she jealous?” At least in the Ladynoir dynamic, are we going to get the reverse? It seems like it. Please let it be the reverse! My heart cannot take the end of the Love Square on all sides!

Chloé being as petty as always tosses her Bee Light when she sees that she will no longer get the Bee Miraculous. What I want to know once again is what makes you entitled Chloé???

Then, Hawkmoth shows up and asks her to be his queen. Getting “Queen of Mean” vibes here, but seems creepy, no?

Of course, Chloé initially rejects. Note that I said initially.

Hawkmoth uses psychological manipulation to say that Ladybug has never done anything for her. And she takes the bait. Umm...did you forget that Ladybug saved you several times Chloé despite everything???

But she does not take the offer if her parents are not deakumatized. So he deakumatizes them as he’s a man of his word. Huh.

Ladies and gentlemen, people of all ages, you are about to witness history. Get ready to meet Nooroo 2.0: Pollen! Pollen tries to talk some sense into Chloé to no avail. Chloé now treats Pollen as Gabriel treats Nooroo, saying that Pollen can only speak when spoken to. RIP Pollen and her freedom.

While the trio of heroes are coming up with a plan to defeat Loveater, they were deakumatized, leaving everyone in distraught. But everything is fixed...for now.

The Akuma now heads back to Hawkmoth so he could use it to make Chloé even more powerful, turning her into Miracle Queen: the villain that will construct an army of villains. Oh boy...so this is the deadly plan.

Curse my computer for placing caps on the letters that I don’t want! This is irrelevant, but still.

Marinette seeks Master Fu...only to find that his post was abandoned. This obviously does not sit well with her, even though Tikki assures her that he is wise and will know what to do.

But I ask...is he dead or held captive? I feel like if Hawkmoth kills him, then who’s going to decode the book for him?

Also, I saw that some people in this fandom wanted Master Fu gone so Marinette becomes the guardian so that if a reveal happens, even by accident (like in “Kwamibuster”, of what am I saying, “Kwamibuster” is the reason why the fandom is acting this way), no one has to give up their Miraculous (see “Kwamibuster”). I wonder how you all feel now that he’s gone. I don’t think this is what you all meant by wanting him gone.

Kagami and Adrien reunite and Kagami confesses his love for him...and they are about to kiss. Look, I respect every ship that exists, but it breaks my heart.

Now for all of us who support the Love Square, note that Adrien does not hold Kagami. And how he wants Marinette to be present with them. I don’t know what to tell you all, but don’t lose hope? I am uncertain of how this will go down, but all I’m saying is be cautious with your hope? I don’t know, I don’t want to give false hope to you all, but on the other hand, I don’t want to be like “Its all over” because who knows? This show likes to toy with out emotions.

Also, he walks away without Kagami, although who knows?

And speaking of emotions, I WANNA CRY! (Keep it together 934, you still have to write the concluding statement Okay) This is the most emotional scene in the whole episode, if not the whole season, or even the whole series.

As Marinette leaves the park, she sees Luka, who asks her if she’s okay. At first, she says she’s fine. But...

The fake smile that she puts on when something goes wrong breaks down completely and she starts crying over how she’s tired. Tired of all the responsibilities. Tired of always having to put on a front. Tired of not being able to be who she truly is. And let me break this down to all.

Yes, we’ve seen Marinette be sad before, but never to this extent. The mixture of sacrificing her love for Adrien so that he would be happy with Kagami, feeling that she’s responsible for Fu’s disappearance, and all of the stress that comes with being Ladybug has finally consumed her and she is tired. For someone her age, that is all too much.

I was about to cry at that moment (but I watched Loveater in a family reunion and I was not going to explain to my family that I am crying over a TV show because they wouldn’t understand) because this was all in some sort of way familiar and relatable. Marinette and I are about the same age (she’s either 14, 15, or 16 at this point and I am currently 16) and even though I cannot relate with the whole being a superheroine, I do relate with the whole putting up a front and pretend that everything is fine when really, everything is consuming me inside. This scene hit me really hard as it smacked me in the face with these emotions. Emotions that I am familiar with, but I have to repress them because everyone judges me. For Marinette, she has to repress these feelings for the sake of Paris. This was the strongest characterization that I’ve ever seen in this show. Her being selfless at her own emotional expense (think about how she tried to separate Adrien and Kagami earlier in the season until “Ikari Gozen”) AND how we see one of the most optimistic characters break down in front of Luka, who was willing to drop his guitar to comfort her. It felt so familiar to me and I was just waiting to cry. Cry for the Love Square’s collapse, cry for the future of the show, and most importantly, cry for Marinette and all the hell she has to go through. In this essay I had.

Boy if the ending to this episode broke me and the writers are saying that “Miracle Queen” brought them to tears, I don’t know what I’ll do. I have a hard time crying while watching sad programs. But what I’m trying to say is that this episode broke me and I will definitely bawl in part 2!

Overall, I WANNA CRY! (Keep it together 934-) SCREW KEEPING IT TOGETHER! I am an emotional mess because of this episode! The Love Square collapsed, Marinette is going through so much, and Hawkmoth has an upper hand now! WHY SHOULD I BE CALM??? This episode screwed me over and I was not ready for this!!! I was not ready for the angst, the drama, or what will soon happen. This episode, while having a horrible Akuma design, was a masterpiece. Yes, Adrigami and Lukanette are probably going to be around for awhile and the Love Square collapsed (which might be the ships that will reign for season 4 and explains why Christina Vee ships Lukanette), but this made me feel emotions, which means they did good. The episode gets a 10/10 for writing even though I was anxious and sad throughout. This post took a span of 24 hours to compose, being in idle for 12, and several revisits of the episode no matter how much it pains me. To be continued when Miracle Queen is released, which might be the longest post ever.

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marvelvsmarvel · 5 years ago

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MCU Spider-Man:

Hom3 Series Prediction

“Everyone wants to know who the next Iron Man is...”

A major theme apart from coming of age and friendly neighborhood hero throughout the MCU Spider-Man Homecoming/Far From Home franchise has been answering this question. Homecoming was made out to be an apprenticeship whereas Far From Home depicts a passing of the mantle. In no way is Spidey out to be Iron Man but the public case is definitely made that the world feels the need to fill the whole made at Tony’s loss while at the same time the figureheads of the Avengers are nowhere to be found even by Nick Fury. This brings about a previous prediction of mine that a character like Mysterio that masquerades as a hero may be setting up more of the kinds as the long rumored Thunderbolts MCU debut or something closer to the Spidey-vest like Norman Osborn and the Dark Avengers. My prediction almost most certainly now turns to a not only a blend of these two but the much anticipated Sinister Six team up as well.

Norman Osborn: I don’t plan on breaking these groups down for those who don’t know but I do invite you to read up on them but just know that “villains impersonating heroes” is relative. Within the MCU the introduction of Norman Osborn is brewing whereas in all Spider-Man franchises the introduction of the Sinister Six has been boiling! The current would-be roster is Michael Keaton’s Vulture Adrian Toomes, Bokeem Woodbine’s Shocker Herman Schultz, Scorpion Mac Gargon, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio Quentin Beck. Adding Norman makes five with only some other animal themed muscle from the rogues to round off the Six. I’ve long been saying that Norman does not need to be the Green Goblin to pose a great threat and the Dark Avengers is a great example of that while also answering that marquee question of who will be the next Iron Man. The general public suggestively still sees Tony Stark as genius billionaire playboy philanthropist Hero. Norman Osborn may very well be seen as genius billionaire “Loving Father” philanthropist who has just been missing a suit of his own. The idea of Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts just realizes the vision that Mysterio theorized or that Thaddeus Ross had hoped would come of the Accords which is that controlling the likes of the Avengers makes for the worlds greatest armed forces and therefore a world power.

Citizen V: While Daniel Brühl’s Zemo is set to make his MCU return in the Disney+ Falcon and Winter Soldier series I think he’d be more inclined to run a full time Masters of Evil outright. But the character himself was a villain out to gain public trust in the absence of heroes to disguise from his villainous deeds. Adorned with a literal American Flag cape, the Cap vibes were real for the public. In a similar way Norman wore a red white and blue Iron Man or Iron Patriot suit when leading the Dark Avengers. I suggest for the MCU they merely tweak the two taking an Iron Man suit and designing it differently to look like a new hero while still giving off the Iron Man feels. While this is a grand answer to the question and a quick way to power this doesn’t however give a reason why any Sinister Six member would want in. For one is freedom to those like Vulture and Scorpion who currently rest within Seagate Prison. Then Shocker as with Vulture showed that they’d be willing to do a lot of bad in order to make a buck. The whole theme again is realizing Mysterio’s vision but with much more than projectors to back himself up. And then lastly is classical motive of it to gain public trust to hide villainous deeds. A guy like Scorpion with an extensive criminal record and friends on the outside ready to squish the Bug could really use a cover to get more authorities off his back including getting the jump on Spidey’s “Peter Tingle”.

Phase 4: Of course nothing is without yielding to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Sinister Six still technically just sits within the friendly neighborhood that is New York State. As it currently stands even with the presence of Black Panther or Doctor Strange somewhere on Earth an active Avengers roster is not necessarily active. In Endgame we saw that Black Widow was keeping up with that responsibility but with her gone it’s unsure. We know that according to Nick Fury that he has no other options such as Strange who’s unavailable Thor who’s offworld and not to evoke the name of Captain Marvel. It makes sense for Falcon and Winter Soldier and an independent Scarlet Witch to be finding their own footings. Ant-Man and Hawkeye should be home enjoying their families. Rhodey could have assumed Avenger leadership but considering his military and Accords history he would seem more likely to support the armed forces and help to reestablish government. Then there’s everyone’s favorite Hulk. The two do have a rich friendship and a mini science bro scene actually was suppose to be in Endgame. Perhaps he could help to uproot the truth. Or perhaps it’s time to introduce New heroes. Various hints at Young heroes have been rooted throughout the MCU and perhaps it’s time for them to as Nick Fury states “to step up or not.” And then of course there’s a potential Spider-Verse because I mean Team Iron Man, Team Cap, The Revengers, who doesn’t want to see some Web Warriors?! But it is worth stating that in the Thunderbolts comic run it was the Fantastic Four alongside memebers of the Avengers who helped to dethrone these false heroes. Now I’m not suggesting we have another Avengers 2.5 like we did in Captain America Civil War but it is possible. But I think we all agree that we want Spidey vs the Sinister Six with or without a little help from friends.

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amyltia · 5 years ago

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Inverting the “Palpatine curse” in TROS (v.2)

This is the number 2 of the serie of metas Why the ST does the job as a conclusion.

1. Palpatine as a nemesis of the Skywalker

I think Palpatine has his place in the ST : the Skywalker are that good and epic partly because in the shadow there is Palpatine. Every great character (or family of characters) can do with a just as great nemesis. So yes it does lead to “the saga of the Skywalker against the Palpatine” but it’s a good thing. It is the story of two antithetic-ly symbolic families.

I found out later that Rae Carson had said something similar in a very interesting interview she gave about the novelization of TROS (https://www.starwars.com/news/rae-carson-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-interview). I quote her :

StarWars.com: Palpatine’s return has been elaborately dissected and discussed in The Rise of Skywalker. Can you help us understand who the character is in this film, and what his presence means in the Star Wars galaxy?

Rae Carson: Palpatine has been the villain since Episode I, and the first two trilogies were all about Skywalkers versus Palpatine. So I understand the filmmakers’ decision to bring him back for the final trilogy.It’s easy to create a cardboard villain with immense power; we see it in fiction all the time. But Palpatine is also clever and conniving. He’s a master of intrigue, and he always has a plan. His rise to power as Emperor was as much due to political and social maneuvering as it was the Force. This is what makes him so compelling — and so difficult to defeat.

Note : In another meta I came up with the idea that Palpatine could represent the excess of darkness in Rey but he could be seen as the excess of darkness of all the Skywalkers too. He represents Vader’s (who turns good after defeating him), Luke’s (who resists his offer of joining the dark side) and Ben’s [would need to analyse the relation between Ben and Palpatine].

2. Undoing Palpatine’s “curse” (PT and OT)

Palpatine’s main function in the saga is to turn Skywalkers to the dark side.

Another quote from this interview of Rae Carson really enlightened me and in this section I’ll try to developp it :

StarWars.com: Rey famously takes on the Skywalker moniker at the end of the story. What does this mean for her, and how does it enhance her journey since we met her on Jakku?

Rae Carson: When I was 18 years old, I took on the moniker of my stepfather to honor the bonds of love and trust between us. I imagine it was much the same for Rey, who wanted to honor her own chosen family.

I recognize that Rey’s decision proved controversial, and I look forward to discussing this with fans for years to come. But my current take is this: The entire Skywalker saga is about Palpatine turning or trying to turn Skywalkers to the dark side. He especially hopes that Rey will prove a worthy vessel for his own power and ambition and become the Skywalkers’ final downfall. But in spite of all his efforts over the course of three generations, he fails. Rey rejects everything about him and takes on the Skywalker mantle and legacy. In the end, it’s a Palpatine who turns to the light, thus handing the Skywalkers their ultimate victory.

Let’s take a look at the dynamic of the three trilogies on this point. I will call Palpatine’s curse “turning a Skywalker to the dark side”.

PT : The saga begins with the fall of a Anakin Skywalker to the dark side because of Palpatine. The curse is cast on Anakin.

OT : (1) Luke resists the curse. (2) Vader returns to the light side, the initial Skywalker is back to the light. Anakin has reversed the curse.

About Anakin : so far so good, the PT cast the curse, the OT undoes the curse, making it come full circle : Anakin is cursed and saved.

Palpatine’s curse = turning a Skywalker to the dark side

Undoing it = returning this Skywalker to the light side

The 6 films make a complete saga, but “[we] cannot deny the truth that is [the third trilogy]”. It makes the picture bigger and adds new and very interesting perspectives on the saga. And that’s the very point of this meta : why does the ST does the job as a conclusion ? Because it resolves iconic dualisms : Palpatine/Skywalker, turning someone good/bad. (note : there are many way to resolve a theme : before TROS, the OT did resolve Anakin’s arc and Palpatine’s threat, but in ONE of the many possible ways. The ST shows another possible one. It’s only a matter of perspective)

3. Inverting Palpatine’s curse (ST)

Taking the ST into account, a bigger circle is drawn, that includes the first one. The OT and PT cast and reverse the curse, but the ST are about inverting the very nature of the curse.

Inverting it = turning a Palpatine to the light side.

The ST’s structure on this point is then about a double trajectory : one from Ben and one from Rey.

(1) Ben undoes the Palpatine curse of turning to the dark side. His arc replays Anakin’s : curse is cast and undone.

(note : he also undoes a second curse on the Skywalker, the one of saving the loved one, the one Anakin’s failed.)

(2) Rey inverts the Palpatine curse by making it about a Palpatine chosing the light side. It’s like Palpatine’s curse finally backfired at him. The difference being that she was never dark sided so she didn’t have to turn to the light, but beyond that it is the same structure, only reversed.

In the first Palpatine curse, Palpatine is the mentor of the fallen Skywalker (Vader and Kylo). In the inverted one, the one Rey establishes, Skywalkers (Luke and Leia) are the mentors of the light Palpatine (Rey).

In the first curse, the Skywalkers change their names (Darth Vader and Kylo Ren), denying their light side names. In the second curse, the Palpatine changes her name (Rey chooses Skywalker), denying her dark side name. Note : about the end of TROS, it is a form a rebirth as I read in a great meta that I’ll link too. She dies after the fight and is reborn as a Skywalker. A friend of mine even added that she is ritually being reborn in the Skywalkers birthplace : Anakin and Luke both grew up in Tattoine, it is the birth planet of Skywalkers, and Rey passes the ritual too.

Both of them put an end to Palpatine’s curse in a way that is meaningful and symbolic for both (Rey couldn’t have replayed Anakin’s arc, Anakin’s own blood had to do that). Both Rey and Ben have to fix the wrong their grand-parents did to the galaxy. That’s how together they bring true closure to the saga : Anakin’s arc is fixed and Palpatine is defeated by his own technics (the lighthingns backfiring and his curse backfiring too). Even narratively they work as a dyad, is it sweet or what

The ST really is a legacy trilogy and it does the job of any legacy, fixing the wrongs that have been done, in the appropriate way. It does come full circle and this iconic theme is resolved.

4. The Rise of Skywalker : yes but what does “rising” mean ?

That’s why the tilte The Rise of Skywalker according to Rey’s arc (I did Ben’s too in another meta) can mean :

she reversing (completely this time) the curse Palpatine cast over the Skywalkers : being turned to the dark by Palpatine. Just like Anakin rose as Darth Vader at the end the PT, Rey is completely rising to the light at the end of the ST. It’s rising as chosing the light.

It is also the rise of Skywalker as opposed to Palpatine : the great nemesis has finally completely failed. It’s rising as making your enemy fail, with Rey as siding with the Skywalkers.

[I’m sure there is another one, but can’t find it yet. Maybe rising as finding herself, like emerging?]

So the ST resolves the dualism of turning bad/turning good : the Palpatine curse is shown in Anakin and Ben’s arcs and the ST adds the invert of the Palpatine curse, established by Rey). Rey defeats one Palpatine but also what the Palpatine name represents (aka “all the sith”) and the Palpatine within her (aka her dark side).

List of all my star wars meta

- Why the ST does the job as a conclusion (serie of metas)-

A. What does the title The Rise of Skywalker mean from Ben and Rey’s arcs point of view

N°1 (TROS) Ben’s arc as a mirror to Anakin’s arc, or what is a Skywalker ? https://amyltia.tumblr.com/post/614061728803749888/tross-ben-as-a-mirror-to-anakins-arc-or-what-is

N°2 Inverting the Palpatine Curse

#star wars meta #st meta #tros meta #reylo meta #reylo #rae carson #tros novelization #rey meta #ben solo #kylo ren #darth vader meta #anakin skywalker #tros spoilers #palpatine

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