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lisinfleur · 4 years

Text

Bond

The request:

Author’s Notes | A cute request! I hope you enjoy!

Universe | Vikings

Pairing | Ivar x Reader

Info | Modern AU, requested by anon for 5CW7

Words | 1684

⁑ Warnings: None

He remembers that the first time he found that little thing it was on the edge of the road, closer to the limits of his property barking and whining. On the other side of the road, near the woods, the rest of the litter left with the mother and Ivar understood what was happening, coming out of the car to look after the little one: the litter was abandoning the weaker and that poor little thing was left behind.

It was snowing. The road was a dangerous boundary. The little pup was left behind by the rest of the wolves for he wasn't able to follow the bigger ones across the road.

A wolf that couldn't follow the litter would pull it back, make is slower. Ivar knew pretty well that feeling of being left behind, considered the weaker, the weight that would pull everyone back or slow everybody. He could remember the many times he stayed home while his brothers were going out for parties and social events he would lie telling them he didn't want to go. He just didn't want them to be slowed down by his need for a wheelchair when he was younger.

That little pup was like him. And like his mother, he stayed back, taking off his scarf to try and pick the little one up.

However, despite being the weaker of his litter, like Ivar himself, that little pup was still a wolf. Ivar smiled when he started barking and growling towards him, bravely facing the bigger animal that his instincts considered a threat.

He wasn't weak. He just wasn't like the others somehow, but he wasn't weak. Ivar smiled: the little thing wouldn't come with him, but he knew without the proper care, that lone little wolf would die in the cold winter. So, Ivar came closer causing the little one to bark some times more, growling and walking back towards the woods until he was unsafe enough to run back to the trees and reveal Ivar where he was hiding: a huge tree with a small hole in the middle of its roots was serving as a lair for the little one. The place should probably be enough for the whole litter, but only he remained alone.

Ivar came closer, leaving the scarf at the entrance and pulling away, watching from far as the little one pulled the scarf into the lair.

He would be warm for that night.

Before leaving, Ivar ensured the fence would be properly closed to avoid that little thing to get hurt on the road. The lair was inside his property, so he could ensure the little one would be safe.

Through the next days, he came back to check on the pup, always bringing something with him. A small blanket, some meat... Slowly the little pup started to come out, closer and closer to him, trusting him more and more until he was finally able to touch the little one without being bitten.

Ivar knew he shouldn't be intending to domesticate a wild wolf, but he also knew that pup wouldn't last long without his family, so, if he could provide that little one home, why not? It would be a huge pet - the wolf was growing bigger and Ivar could already notice he was starting to dig around the lair's entrance, trying to make it bigger for him to go inside.

It was when that started... Ivar had planned to go there and help the little one, but when he arrived, the entrance of the lair was already bigger... And it wasn't marked by paws so it wasn't his little wolf's work.

Ivar also found some other stuff near the lair that wasn't his stuff...

The pup came closer, playing with him, now fully used to his presence. However, Ivar wasn't happy: someone was breaking into his fence and messing with HIS wolf.

To be sure he wasn't wrong about the invasion, he placed the fence in a different position being sure the wolf wouldn't be able to mess with it, but a human being would have to mess with the position to come in and out of that fence.

And the next day, there it was! The fence was messed just as he predicted and more things were there. Traces of meat and his wolf well fed.

"Who the fuck... Oh, but I'll get you!"

Whoever was invading his property, was doing it early in the morning or late in the night. By the traces of fresh meat near the wolf and in his fur, Ivar deduced that the person had come and gone before him, right before he came. So, he decided to set up a trap at the fence this time to warrant the person would be caught in his fence and not being able to leave unless it was decided to give up on its trousers!!

"Next morning I'll see your damn face, invader..."

Annoyed, Ivar left waiting to come the next morning to find anyone: one of his neighbors trying to poison the animal, some asshole from these scientific labs around the town... Anyone!

Anyone but a girl almost crying with her trousers caught by his trap at the fence...

"Dear gods! Thank you!" you thanked looking up to the sky before looking at him "Hey, you... You, please... Help me!" you asked.

Ivar looked at you surprised: you really didn't have any idea of who he was?

"Someone settled a trap and I think it hurt my leg... Please, can you help me? I can't lose these pants. Shit... I just came to help the little wolf that's living here near the road. I never thought someone would set a trap in a place like this. I bet it was one of those stupid scientists trying to catch the wolf!" you complained, seeing as Ivar came closer, dismounting the trap easily, confusing your mind.

But everything made sense when he looked at you, feeling guilty.

"I did. I settled the trap," he admitted, releasing you from that embarrassing situation.

"Why have you done that?" you asked surprised.

"It's my property. And I was helping the wolf as well. I thought it could be one of my neighbors trying to poison the little one. I just wanted to keep him safe," he rehearsed an apology, but you smiled instead of being angry.

"So... You're the one who brought that warm scarf..." you said, and he nodded, causing you to extend your hand towards him. "I'm Y/N, the substitute momma-wolf... I guess we're parents of the same child here..."

The joke caused Ivar to frown but, at the same time, he smiled thinking it was sweet that you were calling yourself that way.

"I'm Ivar," he answered causing you to finally recognize him with a surprised expression.

"Ivar Ragnarsson? You mean THIS Ivar?" you took a magazine from your bag where it was easy to see his image at the cover. "Shit... Daddy-wolf is a celebrity!" you joked and this time he couldn't avoid smiling.

"I never thought myself this way, I mean... daddy-wolf..."

That was childish. But charming at the same time. Ivar couldn't deny you were a sweet and pretty woman indeed.

You smiled at him and sighed.

"Well, I guess you won the guard of our child..." you kept that joke, but with a tone of sadness. "It's your property after all, and you're surely more empowered to keep the little one safe. I think he'll be fine without me, then."

"I was thinking about taking him home. He's practically tamed and to leave him alone in the woods would be dangerous to him so..." Ivar started, trying to find a way to approach. "Would you like to help me with this, momma-wolf?" he joked back, causing you to giggle.

"It would be good. I can't go work anyway," you shrugged, pointing your ragged pants.

Ivar sighed.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Hey, that's fine," you smiled touching his shoulder. "Ragged trousers for a new friendship? It seems a good deal for me."

Your smile was so charming and, somehow, he felt bewitched by the sweetness in your way to see things. Maybe it could be more than just friendship if he was lucky enough.

"You help me to put him on the cage and I'll teach you the way to my house, so you can come and see him whenever you want," he suggested, causing another beautiful smile to open in your mouth.

"Insert a coffee in this deal and you'll have me visiting every day," you joked with a smile.

And Ivar took his chance, smiling back.

"I have a coffee maker and a collection of capsules with different blends," he said, looking at you. "If you come every day, I think I earn a year of good conversations."

Whether you were raving or that amazingly beautiful man was hitting on you... Better not to lose the chance, right?

"I think you just earned your year, Daddy-wolf," you smiled.

His lips curled in a beautiful and attractive way, almost proud he just got what he wanted.

"We can start our year by talking about what will be the name of our son..." he said, opening the fence for you to come in and you smiled at his way to get into your game.

You never thought that stopping there for that pup would bring you such good luck. Maybe it was a good thing to think about his name...

"We should call him Even..." you said, coming closer when the little wolf left the hole coming close to you, touching your hand with his snout.

Ivar smiled.

"’Lucky’... It seems a good name. Then Even will be."

You smiled at him as the wolf shook his tail towards him as well, seeming to be happy to see the two of you at the same time. Maybe the little one was planning that meeting after all. One way or another, Ivar was sure that wouldn't be the last time you would see each other.

He would ensure that, for sure.

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#history vikings #imagine vikings #ivar #ivar the boneless #ivar imagine #ivar x reader #ivar x OC #ivar ragnarsson #ivar lothbrok #ivar's heathen army #sister wives #5CW #5CW Event #5CWIvar2 #headcanon #shot

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blackwoolncrown · 3 years

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I’m really feelling like organizing as a member in grassroots groups is not for me. Not to be an Astrology Bitch™ but on multiple fronts I get readings that say I’m supposed to lead & delegate, and cannot and should not work under or laterally with other people though I am very good at working for them as long as I’m working for their benefit and not at their direction.

There’s a group I’ve been with for two years now that splintered once and it’s splintering again and as I see it which ofc isn’t everything but tbh I’m damn good at calling shit- the issue isthat ofc everyone is at different levels of maturity and healing and ability to communicate.

But every fucking time there’s an issue what happens is that the same two or three people- me, a friend and another comrade- are left being held accountable or rather fingers pointed at us for how it should be resolved while otehr ppl just whine and make up victimization stories in their heads instead of communicating directly AND our opinions are downplayed for the reason that while we may be right it’s unfair to the other people who don’t have the ‘privilege’ of knowing how to handle things better.

And it’s like??? So other people get to fuck up and be childish and we constantly have to be the bigger person? One example is like previously I called out the dynamic of this man that was allowed to enter what WAS a black/brown femme led space and suddenly some of the people who came in w him were giving him all the power and when I called it out the white latinxs that were running the group at the time said ‘oh well you have the privilege of being educated on that’ so they did NOTHING about it and that’s why the group fell apart.

What the fuck is the point of having someone around who knows anything if you’re going to say ‘well it’d be unfair to listen to you bc other people don’t know what you know’ ???

I just get to feeling like yeah, sure, we’re all supposed to work together but also at some point people can literally hold us back and black and brown femmes shouldn’t have to fucking babysit people who don’t wanna do the work when we have vision and energy and are so f ucking tired of being made to shoulder everything.

Also I REALLY hate how everyone wants groupchats to be how they organize.

Schedule meetings and fucknig show up to the meeting. All people do in the groupchats is bitch and collude and then don’t go to meetings but complain that they don’t know what’s going on.

#I keep having ppl tell me I'm a leader #and should take that place #I can work FOR a group #but only as a consultant #I have literally NO fucking tolerance for immaturity #and 0 attachment to outcomes that aren't of my own creation

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littlemisssquiggles · 5 years

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Hm... I recently asked about Summer, so why not... There is lots of theories circling that Summer Rose might actually be alive. If they turned out to be true, this would take away a huge aspect of Ruby's character in my opinion. How do you think about those theories?

Hiya Mizu. To be honest, I’m not really for those theories myself. Everything we know about Summer Rose thus far has pointed to her being dead. While the word going around through the grapevine that Summer being dead was something only fully confirmed by V3, the idea of Summer and Ruby visiting her by her gravesite was established as early as the very first Red Trailer back before the series first began.

From the get-go, Summer has been a direct influence on Ruby’s life and story without necessarily being a living character.

Let’s not forget the fact that Ruby Rose isn’t the only person whosestory was influenced by Summer’s untimely dead. Summer’s passing helpedspearhead Yang into learning the truth that Summer was not her actual motherleading to the reveal of Raven and thus sparking Yang’s intrigue to go look forher. Apart from that, Summer’s death also affected Tai Yang who apparently fellinto a bit of a depressive state over losing Summer which led to Yang basicallybecoming like a parental figure to Ruby to pick up some of the slack for Tai.

Not to mention that Summer also affects Qrow’s story. Till this day, westill don’t know what really happened when Summer died. All we know is that,according to Yang, she left for a mission and never came back. Yet later in V4, Qrow kept mumbling about telling Tai that Summer is not comingback. Well at the time, most of us theorists, like myself believed that Qrowwas probably referring to Summer. But now that I think about it, Qrow’s murmursabout Tai could also simultaneously allude to Raven’s departure with Qrow beingforced to tell his former brother-in-law and brother-in-arms that his sister hadabandoned her family forever.

But then I figured that Qrow having a delusional nightmare over tellingTai about Raven isn’t too impactful. To me, it would make more sense if Qrowwas talking about Summer meaning that the memory he was recalling during his delirium was possibly the day when he had to tell Tai, probably for a second time that, another love of his life was never coming back. And what was more painfulespecially for Qrow than Raven’s departure is that Summer was dead as opposed to just abandoning everyone behind like Raven did.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that, I personally don’twant for the Writers’ to retcon and have Summer be revealed to be alive. Theonly thing a reveal like that would add to the story is more shock value which,to me, honestly isn’t needed.

What I mostly want and need from Summer’s side of things is to learnmore about the type of person she is. I wish the story would take the time toshow more flashbacks of Ruby’s time with her mother. Every flashback of Ruby’schildhood showed her bonding with either her sister or her father or UncleQrow. Very little memory of Summer Rose which makes me wonder exactly how old was Ruby when Summer passed.

Recalling Yang’s flashback story from V2 when she told Blake about thetime she took Ruby to try and find Raven, Yang said Ruby was a toddler at thetime which placed her between the age of 12 to 36 months (that’s 1 to possiblythree or four years). So this would mean that Ruby must’ve been roughly 2-3years old when Summer passed.

This could potentially mean that Ruby barely has much memories of her mother. That coupled together with the fact that Summer was a huntress who would often leave her family to go on missions outside the kingdom—it makes me wonder how much time did Ruby spent with Summer and even still, how much of it does she actually remember from her childhood.

Unlike Yang, Tai and Qrow who probably had years of cherished times andstories with Summer, Ruby doesn’t seem to have much of it and the ones sheactually do remember she probably has to cling desperately to so that shewouldn’t forget her.

It make me wonder if part of Ruby’s possibly melancholy over Summer isthat, she doesn’t remember her as much as Yang or Tai or Qrow and she’s worried that one day, she’ll wake up and forget her all together or…something like that.

What I find interesting about Ruby is that, despite sharing what seemsto be the shortest time with Summer, she’s the only who I guess still keepsSummer’s memory alive in a way since we only know about Summer mostly through Ruby and how much she’s impacted Ruby’s life.

I know we have Yang who talked about Summer once before in V2 but thatwas only that one time. Qrow seems to share the closest ties to Summer yetthrough him we’ve learned diddly-squat new about Summer Rose. And quite franklyat this point, I’ve grown weary about Summer Rose being a mystery. It would benice if the story revealed more about her past, who she is and more importantly,it’d be nice to hear Ruby talk more about her mother and share her experiencewith Summer Rose.

This is why I like my Pinehead headcanon about Oscar beingraised entirely by his father (and by extension aunt and possible uncle) formost of his life while knowing very little about his real mother other thanwhat little stories his father used to tell him about her when he actuallychose to answer his son’s inquiries. Perhaps that’s something Oscar and Rubycould’ve bonded over. Being raised by families that barely spoke of theirmothers yet the two still clung to a desire to learn more about the women whobrought them into the world. That could be a neat concept to push these twokids’ friendship but…y’know that’s just my idea.

Do you actually know what would be cool but would probably never happen?What if…while in Atlas or Mantle, Ruby reunites with her long-lost grandparents a.k.a Summer Rose’s family?

Like imagine if Summer Rose was kind of like Hermione Granger in a way. Not in the sense that she was a book worm but more in line with her being the child of parents who weren’t magical beings like her.

Imagine if…Summer Rose was a Silver Eyed Warrior born to parents who weren’t Silver Eyes. So unlike Maria Calavera who at least had her fatherto train her, Summer had to learn how to use her powers on her own which leadto her meeting Ozpin.

Imagine if…Summer Rose was actually a foster child to Ozpin or one of his many associates and while attending Beacon Academy, Ozpin took on the role of surrogate father to Summer and practically raised her in place of her biological parents who knew nothing about the truth of what their daughter was but entrusted Ozpin to her since he promised them he could provide the answers Summer was looking for.

Imagine if…Summer Rose’s parents trusted their daughter into Ozpin’s custody and Oz used to send letters to Summer’s family informing them of Summer’s development.

Or…what if…Summer was the one who kept in close contact with her parents, yet she kept their identity a secret for their own safety. Imagine if…Summer was actually forced to leave her parents behind and never saw them again since, according to Ozpin, being connected to a Silver Eyes would’ve potentially placed them in danger and out of fear of having her parents hunted and killed—Summer was forced to estrange herself from them. Despite this, she still kept in contact with them, sending them letters over the years to let them know of how she was going.

Imagine if…Summer never returned to her family but she still maintainedclose communication with them til the day she died. That’s when all correspondence stopped. Imagine if…Summer kept the identity of her parents a secret she held to her grave; even from Qrow, Tai and their family.

Could you imagine how intriguing that would’ve been to learn that Summerhad family that Ruby could meet?

Imagine…a scenario where Summer remains deceased as the story has alwaysportrayed her but Ruby learns about the type of person Summer was through the people who knew her best and were actually willing to talk more about Summer to Ruby.

Also imagine how big of a twist it would be to learn that Summer hadkept her own little secret—about her parents from even her friends and Tai.Not even Yang knew about them. This could provide Ruby with another side of her family that she’s personally connected to through Summer.

Cause let’s face it, while Qrow is Ruby’s uncle (and possible godfathercause I’m still holding to my small hunch that Summer made Qrow Ruby’sgodfather before she passed and that’s why he keeps such a close eye on herapart from being the daughter of possibly the closest person in Qrow’s life),he is technically only related to Yang by blood.

Qrow is only connected to Ruby by extension of Tai since she is hisother daughter he had with Summer. But outside of that, Ruby has no family ofSummer’s to connect herself to. What if she did? Imagine if Summer Rose had long lost parents or even a sister who raised her until the two were forced to part ways due to Summer being a Silver Eyes and Oz taking Summer away or something like that.

In a nutshell, I’m more in favour of Ruby finding long lost relatives of Summer Rose (who aren’t Silver Eyes or…maybe they are, who knows) and learning more about her mother through them than actually finding Summer alive.

Oh! What could even be more fascinating is if Summer Rose actually came from a hidden secret society of Silver Eyed Warriors who took a similar approach to Maria Calavera.

Upon learning of the genocide of so many Silver Eyes over the years,this society gathered all the remaining Silver Eyes in the world as a means of protecting them. However this society went into hiding andavoided contact with the outside world.

According to Qrow who learnt from Ozpin, Silver Eyes were known to befeared by the Grimm and lived the life of warriors. But unfortunately this society sort of abolished that rule. Instead of being trained to use their powers to protect humanity from the Grimm, they were raised in fear of death—the complete opposite of what Silver Eyes are known to be.

Let’s say…Summer was once a part of that secret society with her family. However Summer was a wayward soul. Unlike her brothers and sisters, she saw the greatest in her powers and wanted to use it to help others in the outside world. She wanted to become a huntress.

Let’s say…Summer ran away from the society or rather, she was banished from the society for wanting to pursue the huntsmen lifestyle. Andafter that, the society no longer offered Summer their protection andassistance. She was cast out into the world unknown. She wasn’t even allowed to see or keep in contact with her family who all shunned her for her decision.

Imagine if…Summer gave up the closed off yet protected lifestyleshe once knew for chance to become a hero because that’s was the type of person she was. That was the type of person Silver Eyed Warriors were supposed to be.

Let’s say…that despite being disowned by her family and fellow Silver Eyes, Summer had a younger sister or perhaps a baby brother who she was forced to leave behind in the society after being cast out.

But in spite of this, Summer’s…let’s say little brother, managed to secretly keep in contact with her over the years without his family or the other society members knowing.

Summer’s brother learnt all about his sister’s adventures in the outsideworld and all the good work she did as a huntress through letters the two exchanged. Unfortunately, eventually the letters stopped coming after Summer died and her family never knew the truth of what happened.

Imagine something like that where Ruby discovers that she isn’t alone.That’s she’s not the only Silver Eyed Warrior. That there is an entire societyin hiding somewhere in the cold, cold mountains of Solitas where no one canfind them. However unlike Ruby, the other Silver Eyes have all been raised tobe cowards in fear of the world and not brought up as the fierce warriors they are meant to be.

Imagine Ruby reconnecting with Summer’s family through this society andfinally gaining the answers she wanted to know about, not just Summer, but theSilver Eyes in general through this society. And…also imagine Ruby eventually becoming the last Silver Eyed Warrior when this Silver Eyes Society is discovered by Salem’s goons in Atlas and there’s a massive genocide which Ruby is blamed for.

Or…perhaps Ruby becomes a leader of some kind—training other Silver Eyes to use their powers, reintroducing the Silver Eyes into the world so that they may help defend Remnant? Or something like that? Who knows? I’d rather THAT than Summer being revealed to be alive.

I agree with you on the prospect of Summer being alive theory takingaway a huge aspect of Ruby’s character. You’re right. It doesn’t need tohappen.

I don’t need for Summer Rose to suddenly be alive because if Summer hasbeen alive this whole time and it’s shown that she straight up left her familymaking them believe she’s dead this whole time then…wouldn’t that in a way make her worse than Raven or just as bad?

Not to mention that Summer being alive would defeat the message of herstaple song with Ruby—Red Like Roses Part II. That theme described Summer’s sacrifice. How despite knowing what her death would ultimately do her daughter as the last living Silver Eyes, Summer still went ahead because according to the lyrics to the song, “…Summer didn’t have a choice. She did what she had to do. She made a sacrifice but as a result of this, forced a bigger sacrifice on Ruby”

It even goes on to voice Summer, almost pleading to Ruby to not pursuethe same path that she did—the path that ultimately led to her sacrifice anddeath—the same path that Ruby had chosen now. Again, Summer being alive would defeat all the meaning in this theme that helped paint a picture of themother-daughter dynamic between Summer and Ruby.

So yeah, that’s my $1.50 on that. To reiterate, not a fan of the Summerbeing alive theory. But I do like the alternative of Ruby possibly reconnecting with Summer’s old family and learning more about her mother through them—what could even be a nice touch is if, after meeting Ruby, Summer’s non-Silver Eye family members compile all the letters that Summer sent to them over the years and Ruby gets to hear her mother’s voice and learn about her through her letters—letters that spoke about all her adventures, her time at Beacon, her time with Team STQR, Ozpin and all the stuff that came after, including the birthof Ruby and how happy Summer was when she gave birth to her own daughter, how much Summer loved Ruby. Heck it can even include a last letter that Summer sent to her family before her final mission. Possibly.

If not this idea then how about the Secret Silver Eyes Society concept where Ruby discovers that Summer came from a hidden colony of Silver Eyes but left to become a huntress. Imagine Ruby discovering that she isn’t alone and ultimately rising up to become a leader of this secret society, becoming the teacher to train others like herself to use their gift.

I think either one of these could be cool. But y’know, as always, theseare just my thoughts and theories. Overall, I hope this answers your questionMizu. Y’know the drill. Let me know whatcha think.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#mizuike #squiggles answers: rwby #ruby rose #summer rose #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #little red headcanons

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narrativewatch-blog · 5 years

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The Beautiful Boy as Destroyer

by Camille Paglia

Oscar Wilde, a master of mass media, projected himself internationally as the ultimateaesthete. He synthesizes a half century of French and English Decadent Late Romanticism and joins itto the great tradition of English comedy. Wilde criticism is cautious and oddly solemn. One reason isthat a male academic specializing in Wilde still risks being judged both queer and frivolous. Thuscritics drift toward apologia, tediously extolling Wilde’s humanity or morality, things utterlynonexistent in his best work. The time is past when it was necessary to defend a homosexual genius.As an advocate of aestheticism and Decadence, I feel no need to disguise Wilde’s cruelty andimmoralism.Wilde is an Apollonian conceptualizer in the line we have followed from Egypt and Greece throughBotticelli and Spenser to Blake, Gautier, and Rossetti. In him we see that brilliant fusion of theaggressive western eye with aristocratic hierarchism, created by the Old Kingdom Pharaohs. Wildewas not a liberal, as his modern admirers think. He was a cold Late Romantic elitist, in theBaudelairean manner. Arrogantly turning life into public theater, Wilde became drama’s ancient ritualscapegoat. Apollonianism is objectification, a radical pagan materialism. Wilde uncannily,compulsively literalized or materialized his own ideas, bringing about his spectacular tragic fall.Wilde’s two supreme works, a novel and a play, are energized by the western dynamic ofcompetitive sexual personae. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890–91) is the fullest study of theDecadent erotic principle: the transformation of person into objet d’art. Wilde shows the strangesymbiosis between a beautiful boy and a painting, that is, between a charismatic androgyne and hisportrait. I noted that the artist’s hierarchic submission to a glamourous personality ischaracteristically western, as illustrated by Dante and Beatrice, Petrarch and Laura, Shelley andEmilia Viviani. In Wilde, as in Baudelaire and Rossetti, the relation is a Decadent ritual ofsadomasochistic enslavement. The artist Basil Hallward is “dominated” by Dorian Gray. But Dorianhimself is to be dominated by his own entrancing mirror-image, the art work recording Basil’simaginative submission.Dorian Gray opens with a perceptual pyramid, like the public unveiling of Cellini’s Perseus. Basiland Lord Henry Wotton sit looking up at “the full-length portrait of a young man of extraordinarypersonal beauty.”1 This triangulated scene dramatizes the new nineteenth-century authority of art,with its coterie audience. Romanticism freed art from society and Christianity; photography freed itfrom realism. By the late nineteenth century, the art work was more separate and elevated than it hadever been. The picture of Dorian Gray stands alone in its hierarchic command. It is imperious as aByzantine icon but divorced from any collective value system. Wilde’s painting, beginning in aposition of spiritual preeminence, actually increases in power as the novel goes on. We see the artwork steadily escaping into independent mastery. What Gautier undertakes as an amusing fantasy inThe Mummy’s Foot, with its rude, refractory object-life, becomes Wilde’s nightmare vision of matteravenging itself on imagination. Basil’s painting, like Balzac’s boudoir a masterpiece of civilizedartifice, will generate the most savage barbarities. The artist himself will be butchered at its feet, hisbody dismembered and dissolved in acid.Wilde systematically charts the painting’s ritual sequestration. Basil refuses to exhibit it. Dorianaccepts it as a gift but, as it starts to change, conceals it behind a screen, then a drapery, and finally ina locked attic room. The painting becomes holier and holier as it becomes more and more daemonic.The novel proceeds by a daemonization of the Apollonian, my principle of Decadent art. The paintingis the precious monstrance of a cult of the beautiful boy, modelled on pagan prototypes. Wildecompares Dorian to Adonis, Narcissus, Paris, Antinous. With his “crisp gold hair” and Greek name,Wilde’s hero represents the Aryan absolutism of the Dorian invaders, whose blondeness I found inSpenser’s Amazons. He belongs to the Billy Budd category of ephebic androgyne, retaining theadolescent bloom into adulthood. Dorian is half-feminine, with “finely-curved scarlet lips” and a“delicate bloom and loveliness.” He has a “rose-red youth” and “rose-white boyhood,” like a fairy-talemaiden. Lord Henry tells him, “You really must not allow yourself to become sunburnt. It would beunbecoming”—as if Dorian were Scarlett O’Hara forgetting her parasol. Images of flowers supportDorian’s identification with Adonis. Lord Henry experiments with a male vampirism, transplanting his temperament into Dorian, who ispossessed by him in both the sexual and daemonic sense. Basil is increasingly dismayed by Dorian’sadoption of Henry’s cynicism, style, and sophisticated epigrams. The Apollonian androgyne has novoice of its own; therefore, once its impermeability is breached, it begins to speak with the voice ofanother. Dorian, like the Delphic oracle, is under the mediumship of a hidden god. In his review of thebook, Pater calls the portrait Dorian’s “Döppelgänger.”16 I see a second doppelgänger pattern inHenry’s relation with his protégé: Dorian becomes Lord Henry, the beautiful boy turned Decadentaesthete. The transformation is complete when Wilde attaches the word “languidly” to Dorian,Henry’s emblematic epithet from his first appearance.17 An act of homosexual generation hasoccurred, a hermaphroditic cloning of sexual personae. Teaching again as an erotic transaction: we seethe candlelit courtship, the sexual initiation and insemination, and the Decadent fruition. DominantLord Henry spawns the remade Dorian from his cold ivory brow.Dorian himself dominates Basil, by the artist’s own admission. Basil recalls the origin of hissubordination, at a crowded London soirée. It resembles the moment of cathexis when Balzac’sSarrasine falls under the spell of the singing castrato.I suddenly became conscious that someone was looking at me. I turned halfway round, and sawDorian Gray for the first time. When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curioussensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose merepersonality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, mywhole soul, my very art itself.Homosexuals, now as then, recognize each other by a mysterious hard meeting of the eyes, a trope ofwestern aggression. The source of this passage is in Plato’s Phaedrus. Basil’s paleness and terror arethe “shudder,” “awe,” and “fever and perspiration” afflicting the philosopher who encounters a humanembodiment of “true beauty”: “Beholding it, he reverences it as he would a god.”18 HomoeroticPlatonism is overt in Basil’s later confession:Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence overme. I was dominated, soul, brain, and power by you. You became to me the visible incarnationof that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream. I worshippedyou.... I hardly understood it myself. I only knew that I had seen perfection face to face.19Ordinary sexual desire is not the issue. Greek idealism is a glorification of the eye, not a glut of thesenses. Apollo lives by day, Dionysus by night. Basil seeks not to sleep with Dorian but to paint hispicture. The portrait is not sublimation but conceptual perfection. Painting, an iconic Apollonianmode, preserves Dorian’s hierarchic command and the aesthetic distance symbolizing the LateRomantic’s contemplative submission to the eroticized object. Subordination to the person as objetd’art explains the androgyny of all aesthetes. Such subordination is intolerable, we saw, toSwinburne’s masculine Sappho, whose admiration of Anactoria’s beauty escalates into sadism.Basil and Dorian’s first meeting also invokes one of the primary Romantic principles, vampirism.In the middle of a party, Basil senses someone looking at him. Dorian’s gaze is palpable, like the oneGautier’s Queen Nyssia tries to wash from her body. It has an eerie extrasensory effect on Basil,because it is an expression of sudden hierarchic assertion, casually exercised by an agent stillunconscious of his powers. When their eyes meet, Basil feels Dorian is “so fascinating” as to “absorb”him. At this moment of visual fixation, Dorian, like a vampire, dominates the plane of eye-contact.Basil, mesmerized, actually grows “pale,” like the vampire’s bled victim. But Wilde gives thedaemonic an Apollonian setting. Basil somehow grasps Dorian’s “personality” without a word beingspoken. He only sees Dorian; he does not hear him. There is an unpleasant intensification of ambientsound in the room. Enlightened consciousness flows into the visual. Basil’s revelation occurs in atemenos of muteness, into which noise can pierce only by becoming more grating. We witness one ofEnglish literature’s great Apollonian epiphanies. The Apollonian is a mode of silence: Dorian’spersonality, like Belphoebe’s at her glittering entrance into The Faerie Queene, is conveyed byentirely physical, visual means. This is a representational law of pagan sexual personae.Wilde calls Basil’s painting a “portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty.” Personal:what other kind of human beauty could there be? This homoerotic locution means Dorian has beautyof personality, but not personality as normally understood. At his first trial, Wilde sparred with hiscross-examiner, who read aloud from Basil’s confession to Dorian:Edward Carson: Do you mean to say that that passage describes the natural feeling of one mantowards another?Wilde: It would be the influence produced by a beautiful personality.Carson: A beautiful person?Wilde: I said “a beautiful personality.” You can describe it as you like. Dorian Gray’s was a mostremarkable personality.20Carson’s formulation, “a beautiful person,” has a moral inflection that Wilde is quick to correct. Hisown phrase, “a beautiful personality,” is morally indifferent. For Wilde, personality is a fact, a given.It is not character, shaped by education or ethics. Personality for him is immanent, belonging to apreordained rank in the great chain of being of authority and glamour. It is a visual construct. I spokeof the externality and theatricality of the Greco-Roman persona, a public projection, metaphoricallyvisual. Wilde, the most self-dramatizing of English writers, makes this metaphor literal. JoiningGreek idealism to Late Romantic connoisseurship, he imagines personality as a radiant icon ofApollonian materiality, the godlike summation of the visible world.Personality is central to Wilde’s literary theory, where it is the measure of both artist and critic. Hesays: “It is only by intensifying his own personality that the critic can interpret the personality andwork of others. ... As art springs from personality, so it is only to personality that it can berevealed.”21 The idea comes from Pater. But there is a great difference between Pater’s“temperament” and Wilde’s “personality”: the first is misty and receptive, the second hard anddominant. The Importance of Being Earnest is a spectacle of this hardness of Wildean personality.Dorian Gray makes personality hierarchic in the Greek way, but it also promotes a Romantic view ofthe mystery of sex and power. Only Coleridge’s Christabel surpasses Dorian Gray as an analysis ofthe occult operations of fascination.No word appears more often in Dorian Gray than “fascinating.” It refers to a person, an experience,a drug, a book (A Rebours, by which Dorian is “poisoned”). The fascination theme belongs to thenovel’s romance of hierarchy. An unanswered question of history is how one individual can controlmasses of people. Freud speaks of the “fascination” of very beautiful, narcissistic women: narcissismhas “a great attraction” for others because of that “self-sufficiency and inaccessibility” shared bychildren and cats.22 Narcissistic politicians induce the investment of mass emotion by a process offascination.I compared the charisma of Lord Byron and Elvis Presley to that of the opportunistic first Duke ofBuckingham. Max Weber sees charisma as “an extraordinary, supernatural, divine power” that mustbe manifested by a warlord in heroic deeds or by a prophet in miracles.23 I question this definitioninsofar as it makes charisma dependent upon acts or external effects. Early Christianity first uses theGreek word charisma (“gift, favor, grace”) for the gift of healing or speaking in tongues. But I viewcharisma as completely pre-Christian. Athena gives charisma to Achilles when she sheds “a goldenmist around his head” and makes his body emit “a blaze of light.” She gives charisma to Odysseus onPhaeacia: he becomes “taller and sturdier”; his hair thickens like “the hyacinth in bloom”; he is“radiant with comeliness and grace.”24 Xenophon says the beauty of a victorious athlete, like “thesudden glow of a light at night,” “compelled everyone to look at him”: “Beauty is in its essencesomething regal.”25 Charisma in classical antiquity meant exactly what it does in the pagan massmedia: glamour, a Scottish word signifying, as Kenneth Burke points out, a magic “haze in the air”around persons or things.26 Charisma is the numinous aura around a narcissistic personality. It flowsoutward from a simplicity or unity of being and a composure and controlled vitality. There is graciousaccommodation, yet commanding impersonality. Charisma is the radiance produced by the interactionof male and female elements in a gifted personality. The charismatic woman has a masculine forceand severity. The charismatic man has an entrancing female beauty. Both are hot and cold, glowingwith presexual self-love.Wilde gives Dorian Gray pure charisma. Dorian is a natural hierarch who dominates by his“fascinating” beauty, drawing both sexes toward him and paralyzing the moral will. The narcissism ofthis beautiful boy has disastrous consequences: suicide, murder, vice. Dorian excites a mesmericfollowership among his well-born companions, but one directed toward no public aim, not eventyranny. Basil demands:Why is your friendship so fatal to young men? ... You have filled them with a madness forpleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there. Yes: you led them there,and yet you can smile, as you are smiling now.... They say that you corrupt everyone with whomyou become intimate, and that it is quite sufficient for you to enter a house, for shame of somekind to follow after.Seduction literally means “leading astray.” Paterian influence has become entrancement andcompulsion. Dorian daemonizes his followers, deconstructing the social order. He is a Late Romanticrather than Renaissance androgyne, bound by the public good. As a homosexual Alcibiades, Dorianfrustrates dynastic continuity. He is ostracized by the elder archons, who formally demonstrate theirdispleasure by leaving the room of a club whenever Dorian enters it. He creates a seditiousheterocosm within society, a colony of pagan idolatry. Wilde says of one of Dorian’s ill-fatedadmirers, “To him, as to many others, Dorian Gray was the type of everything that is wonderful andfascinating in life.”27 Extreme male beauty, like a siren song, lures toward destruction.Dorian effects these multiple cathexes by pagan magic. In the London netherworld, he is called“Prince Charming,” a cliché we are meant to hear in its oldest occult sense. Hierarch as sorcerer,Dorian has a “strange and dangerous charm.” He enchants not by words but by visible charisma. Mr.Hubbard, the “celebrated frame-maker,” comes instantly at his bidding: “As a rule, he never left hisshop. He waited for people to come to him. But he always made an exception in favour of DorianGray. There was something about Dorian that charmed everybody. It was a pleasure even to see him.”The young shop assistant reacts similarly: “[He] glanced back at Dorian with a look of shy wonder inhis rough, uncomely face. He had never seen anyone so marvellous.” Like the star of film or popularmusic, Dorian draws heterosexuals into bisexual responses. Depressed, he wanders into CoventGarden: “A white-smocked carter offered him some cherries. He thanked him, and wondered why herefused to accept any money for them, and began to eat them listlessly.”28 The man makes a mutepagan offering to Dorian’s remarkable beauty, stirred by an emotion he could not explain.Dorian is attractive, in the original meaning of the word. He aligns the imagination of otherstoward himself by inborn magnetic power. Wilde told a fable to Richard Le Gallienne, ostensiblyabout the problem of free will, in which a magnet infiltrates the consciousness of a group of talkativesteel filings, who are mysteriously swept toward it. Wilde often speaks of the “attraction” ofpersonality. For example: “Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curiousattractiveness of others.” He means that the good are ruled by abstract systems, ethical and social,while the not-good are ruled by personality alone, their “intensification of personality,” as he puts itelsewhere, generating a seductive glamour.29 This is clear in the original script of The Importance ofBeing Earnest:Miss Prism. I highly disapprove of Mr. Ernest Worthing. He is a thoroughly bad young man.Cecily. I fear he must be. It is the only explanation I can find of his strange attractiveness.30Elsewhere Wilde remarks: “All charming people are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction.”31They are spoiled because their altar is heaped with spoils, the gifts of the multitude. Divine charismaseparates the hierarch from communality by a zone of privilege. Lord Henry says of Dorian: “I neverinterfere with what charming people do. If a personality fascinates me, whatever mode of expressionthat personality selects is absolutely delightful to me.” The narcissistic personality, like the psychotic,lives by its own laws. As Basil murmurs uneasily, “Dorian’s whims are laws to everybody, excepthimself.”32The Picture of Dorian Gray departs from its Greek sources in this perilous pattern of LateRomantic fascination. Submission to the beautiful personality leads to degradation and death. InPlato’s and Shelley’s hierarchic relationships, there is no sadomasochistic pleasure in suffering. Onthe contrary, the imagination is exalted, perfecting and purifying itself in Apollonian contemplation.Remember the speed with which Shelley dumped Emilia Viviani when she no longer served hisartistic purposes. In Decadent Late Romanticism, however, eroticism is terminally obsessive. Basil,admitting to Dorian, “I worshipped you too much,” is slain before his masterpiece, the symbol of hisDecadent enslavement.33Dorian Gray is also Late Romantic in having a male rather than femalefascinator. Since the beautiful boy is anti-chthonian and since aestheticism is predicated on a swervefrom nature, the female impinges only weakly on the emotional world of Wilde’s novel. No goddessloves this Adonis. Sibyl Vane is a sentimental, ill-drawn caricature. My principle of psychoiconicism:feminine Sibyl and her mother, like Christabel’s Sir Leoline, lose their fictive energy to the dominantandrogyne. Wilde’s writing, like Pater’s, has but one cruel chthonian woman, Salomé. Dorian Gray isgoverned by triumvir. The three male leads tolerate the feminine only as a component of their ownhermaphroditism.One frequently encounters the misperception that Dorian Gray was modelled on Wilde’s lover, theboyishly handsome Lord Alfred Douglas. But Wilde did not meet Douglas until after The Picture ofDorian Gray was published. Dorian was conceived a priori. He is the beautiful boy of antiquity givencomplex modern form. Wilde writes to Douglas of “the soul of the artist who found his ideal in you,of the lover of beauty to whom you appeared as being flawless and perfect.”34 Therefore Wilde’s firstencounter with Douglas after the release of Dorian Gray was a Platonic fulfillment, exactly likeShelley’s with Emilia Viviani, stunning incarnation of the Hermaphrodite of his just-completed Witchof Atlas. But Shelley wrote a greater poem afterward, Epipsychidion, for there were no sexualrelations between himself and his self-foretold hermaphrodite deity. Wilde, forgetting the abstinenceof Socrates with Alcibiades, made the fatal error of copulating with his representational ideal. Byron’scrazed Manfred leaps into the same demeaning literalization. In Dorian Gray, Wilde correctlyportrays the beautiful boy as a destroyer. Douglas drew Wilde into Late Romantic infatuation andfascination, disordering his mature judgment and ending his career at the height of his fame andartistic power. Wilde later wrote to him, “The basis of character is will-power, and my will-powerbecame absolutely subject to yours.”35 Douglas childishly goaded Wilde to file an ill-advised lawsuitfor libel against his father, the Marquess of Queensberry, first of a rapid series of events leading toWilde’s conviction and imprisonment for homosexuality, from which he never recovered. He diedprematurely three years later, at forty-six. Wilde was already guilty of a sensual materialization ofPaterian doctrine in Lord Henry’s swerve from contemplative to active. His affair with Douglas wasthe gravest of his materializations, for which he was forced to undergo in painful, public reality thatapocalypse prophesied for half a century by Late Romantic catastrophe theory. Wilde’s fall in 1895ended aestheticism and Decadence.The beautiful boy is never deeply moved by the disasters he brings on his admirers, since he isscarcely aware of anything outside himself. His ruthlessness is an Apollonian apatheia, Stoicemotionlessness. In a long, bitter letter to Douglas from prison, later expurgated and synopsized as DeProfundis, Wilde dismisses as preposterous the charge that he was a bad influence on animpressionable youth. He asks: “What was there, as a mere matter of fact, in you that I couldinfluence? Your brain? It was undeveloped. Your imagination? It was dead. Your heart? It was not yetborn.”36 Why, it might be asked, was Wilde ever drawn to so contemptible a man? The true aesthete isalways a lover of narcissistic beauty. Wilde’s list of Douglas’ defects is neither strident nor rhetorical.It is absolutely consistent with the long western history of the beautiful boy, who is a thing, an objetd’art. Wilde, seething in prison, has simply switched perspective on the same unchanging fact.After Basil’s confession of adoration, Dorian Gray drifts into thought, wondering “if he himselfwould ever be so dominated by the personality of a friend”: “Would there ever be someone who wouldfill him with a strange idolatry?” As the oblivious beautiful boy, he can fall in love with no one—except himself. What fills him with “a strange idolatry” is his own mirror-image. Dorian falls intoerotic subordination to Basil’s painting. Seeing it finished, he declares, “I am in love with it.” Theautoeroticism is blatant: he later kisses the “painted lips,” like Narcissus “almost enamoured of it.” Asthe painting degenerates, “He grew more and more enamoured of his own beauty.”37 The picture ofDorian Gray is the fetish of a Romantic cult of self-love.Magic pictures are a traditional romance motif. In Poe’s The Oval Portrait, an artist’s paint drainsthe vitality of his bride, who dies the instant her portrait is completed. But never is there the fanaticalintensity of connection Dorian has with his portrait. High Romantic harmony of man and nature hasbecome Late Romantic enslavement of man by art work. The picture of Dorian Gray resembles SnowWhite’s magic mirror, which the witch-queen, like Dorian, constantly consults. Dorian in fact calls thepainting “the most magical of mirrors.” But Snow White’s mirror has a personality quite distinct fromthat of its owner, to whom it makes bold and unpleasing remarks. There is a “horrible sympathy”between Dorian and his portrait, “atom calling to atom in secret love of strange affinity.”38 Man andpainting are bound by Dorian’s self-divinizing autoeroticism. The phrase “secret love” is from Blake’s“Sick Rose,” whose hermaphrodite convolutions Dorian enacts: he stands with a mirror before hispainting in the locked room, looking from one face to the other in solitary self-absorption. The threesequestered Dorians recall the triple females of Blake’s Crystal Cabinet, complacently self-propagating. The tableau also recalls the dialogue of Byron’s effeminate Sardanapalus with his mirror.Elsewhere, Wilde says, “To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”39 In his secretpagan cult, Dorian is god, priest, and devotee, worshipping at his own graven image.The iconicism of the art work is far more developed in Wilde than in Poe. The picture of DorianGray is an idol, heavy with mana. Relieved at its departure from his studio, Basil remembers “theintolerable fascination of its presence.” The painting is a sinister vampire-object, invading theconsciousness of its human servants. Basil’s premonition that Dorian’s personality will vampirically“absorb” him is redramatized in Dorian’s relation to his portrait. The picture absorbs Dorian’s mentalenergy to the point of obsession. He cannot stop thinking about it. It interferes even in his pleasures: athis country house, “he would suddenly leave his guests and rush back to town to see that the door hadnot been tampered with, and that the picture was still there.”40 The portrait literally captivates Dorian,controlling him by a magnetism mimicking his glamourous magnetism over others. Like a jealousparent or lover, it summons him back from the outside world to its airless cell. And Dorian is nevertranquil except when there. Between him and his portrait is a ghostly umbilical link, like theincestuous bond between Romantic twins.Late in the novel, Dorian complains, “My own personality has become a burden to me.” He has sointensified his personality in the Wildean manner that he has animated his mirror-image. Now hisdouble, drunk with power, tries to usurp the identity of its human original. The painting feeds onDorian, until in desperation he murders Basil, a propitiatory blood-sacrifice before an objet de culte,from whose bondage he fights to be free. But the painting will be satisfied with no other victim butDorian. The finale is one of the uncanniest moments in literature. Killing Dorian, the paintingachieves its ultimate vampirism, triumphantly regaining “all the wonder of [its] exquisite youth andbeauty.”41 The painting finds the elixir of eternal youth by shedding Dorian’s blood.A peculiar mystical act occurs. Dorian stabs the painting but is found with a knife in his heart. Onerecalls Balzac’s Sarrasine, who attacks a living art work only to be slain himself; or Balzac’smarquise, who succeeds in her knife assault upon the sequestered precious object because she is afemale androgyne of chthonian force. Or Poe’s William Wilson, who traps his antagonist in a smallroom and skewers him, only to find he has murdered his “mirror” likeness and therefore his moralself. How does Dorian’s knife end up in his own heart? We do not ordinarily ask naturalistic questionsof magical fictions. Dorian’s death is simultaneous with the blow he strikes. But if we were to expandthat point of time into a cinematic sequence—and Wilde’s novel encourages the deformation of timeby imagination—I think we would see the portrait standing like a cruel, laughing god, plucking theknife from its body like an arrow caught in midflight, and hurling it back into the heart of its impiousassailant. The Picture of Dorian Gray ends in a spectacle of perverse animism.Many admirers have felt Dorian Gray’s punitive finale uncharacteristic of Wilde and an evasion ofthe decadence of the whole. In a letter to the editor defending the book against scandalized reviewers,Wilde says, “Dorian Gray, having led a life of mere sensation and pleasure, tries to kill conscience,and at that moment kills himself.” His qualification that this moral is “an artistic error” exempts usfrom taking him seriously on the question of conscience. But if he believed what he said, the man whowrote that letter did not understand what he had written in Dorian Gray. No great work of Romanticimagination has anything to do with conscience. Dorian Gray is a web of Romantic fascination, aforce field of Apollonian and daemonic charisma, heir to Christabel in its dark vision of sex andpower. We need no moral axioms to interpret it. Dorian commits certain forbidden acts and ispunished for them. But he operates under ritual rather than ethical proscriptions. The Bible, forexample, begins the human story by granting access to all trees of Eden but one. The mystery ofdivine law appears throughout the world in arbitrary rituals of prohibition or avoidance. By hishubristic defiance of time, Dorian wanders into an infrahuman realm where he is at the mercy ofpitiless daemonic agents. He is devoted to his portrait: I use the word as in classical Latin, where“devotus” means bewitched, enchanted, cursed, consecrated, dedicated to divine service, and markedfor slaughter. Dorian Gray is about not morality but taboo. The ending shows not the victory ofconscience but the destruction of person by art work. Dorian says: “There is something fatal about aportrait. It has a life of its own.”42 The painting, like all hierarchs, makes its own laws andsubordinates reality to its will. Pater speaks of “the fatality which seems to haunt any signal beauty,whether moral or physical, as if it were in itself something illicit and isolating.”43Dorian Gray isabout the amorality of beauty and the fascism of the western objet d’art. It is about the magic of art inthe magic of person.Dorian Gray is like the ritual scapegoat of Aztec festival. Frazer says a young man, chosen for “hispersonal beauty,” served as the double of the god Tezcatlipoca. For a year, the youth was “apparelledin gorgeous attire” and “trained to comport himself like a gentleman of the first quality, to speakcorrectly and elegantly, to play the flute, to smoke cigars and to snuff at flowers with a dandified air.”When he walked through the city, people flocked to see and honor him. At the end of his time, “thisbejewelled exquisite” was butchered on the temple steps, his breast sliced open and his heart tornout.44 Dorian Gray, in “the wanton luxury and gorgeous splendour of his mode of life,” is also adandy, a connoisseur, a man of leisure smoking Lord Henry’s cigarettes, a charismatic beautyattracting attention and veneration in the streets.45 Like the Aztec scapegoat, he is privileged butdoomed, destined for execution at the feet of an idol, his heart pierced by a knife. The painting is hisdivine double, the god who allows him to live like a prince but, thirsting for blood, demands hissacrifice.Another anthropological parallel: the picture of Dorian Gray is like Meleager’s brand in that aman’s life term resides in an enchanted object. I examined Swinburne’s play on this subject. InWilde’s version, there is no longer a nature-identified female custodian of the precious relic, since thenovel’s women are few and puny. The ancient Meleager legend belongs to a complex of primitivebeliefs about the soul. Frazer says the savage thinks of life as “a concrete material thing of a definitebulk, capable of being seen and handled, kept in a box or jar, and liable to be bruised, fractured, orsmashed in pieces.” This entity can be removed from a man’s body yet “still continue to animate himby virtue of a sort of sympathy or action at a distance.” If it is destroyed, he dies. Totemistic culturesbelieve in “the possibility of permanently depositing the soul in some external object—animal, plant,or what not—, ... just as people deposit their money with a banker rather than carry it on theirpersons.”46 In Dorian Gray, Romanticism’s tidal dynamic of regression makes art revert toprimitivism. Aestheticism concretizes the invisible world, allowing Dorian to deposit his soul in anexternal object, which affects him, in Frazer’s words, by “sympathy or action at a distance.” WhenDorian tries to destroy it, he dies. In Dorian Gray, a malevolent totem lures a sophisticate into an actof savagery, Basil’s grisly murder. The novel supports my definition of decadence as sophisticationwithout humaneness or humanism.Wilde’s assumptions are normally Apollonian. In The Critic as Artist he says: “Form is everything.It is the secret of life.... Start with the worship of form, and there is no secret in art that will not berevealed to you.”47 Praising Pre-Raphaelite painting, he condemns Impressionism as “mud andblur.”48 He follows Blake in preferring the clarity of the Apollonian incised edge. Even in Monet’sstudies of flickering light, western painting is Apollonian in its stasis, fixity, and sharp outer borders.What is odd about the picture of Dorian Gray is that it is in Dionysian metamorphosis. The changingpainting insults beauty and form: Dorian calls it “the misshapen shadow,” “the hideous painted thing,”“this monstrous soul-life.” Nature and art war for supremacy in it. Painting is invaded by a daemonicform-altering power, because Wilde has tried to make nature surrender her authority. He opens TheDecay of Lying: “The more we study Art, the less we care for Nature. What Art really reveals to us isNature’s lack of design, her curious crudities, her extraordinary monotony, her absolutely unfinishedcondition.”49 Wilde has gotten this from Baudelaire via Huysmans. But in assigning a superior valueto art, Baudelaire never disguises nature’s violent power. And Huysmans’ dreaming hero is terrifiedby primeval nature’s choking abundance. In Wilde, however, nature lacks archetypal force. His fewnature descriptions are pretty and minor. In Dorian Gray, nature, denied entry, seeps into the portrait-double and corrodes it from inside out: “It was from within, apparently, that the foulness and horrorhad come. Through some strange quickening of inner life the leprosies of sin were slowly eating thething away. The rotting of a corpse in a watery grave was not so fearful.”50 Internality, liquidity,chthonian murk. Apollonian painting is dissolving and putrefying in Dionysian fluidity.The locked attic room, Dorian’s bower of art, recalls the tower where the incestuous doubles meetin Byron and the turret where the maiden poses for her artist-husband in Poe. The room is also amausoleum, for it is the dusty playroom of Dorian’s boyhood, preserved like Miss Havisham’s bridalhall in Dickens. Hence Dorian’s portrait is like the ka or double of the deceased in Egyptian tombs,heaped with toys and furniture. The horrified discoverers breaking into the chamber are likearchaeologists finding the king’s mummy thrown on the floor by grave robbers. Becoming a corpse,Dorian reaches his ultimate objectification. As the novel opens, the painting is still incomplete. Basilfinishes it as Dorian begins to change, contaminated by Lord Henry. After Sibyl’s maltreatment, thepainting never stops changing until the end. Dorian has assumed Basil’s role as his own portraitist,working on the painting by telekinesis. The painting finally achieves permanent form only with thedeath of its model, whose beauty it reclaims for itself. Hence Dorian Gray is like Woolf’s To theLighthouse, which I suspect it influenced, in the way that a painting and a novel are coterminous,developing in tandem, with the last brush strokes applied to the canvas in the last paragraphs.As a self-portraitist, Dorian is a Neronian life-artist, making perverse autobiography out of thesufferings of others. The first maxim of Wilde’s preface to Dorian Gray, imitating Gautier’spolemical preface, is, “The artist is the creator of beautiful things.” But Dorian, who makes life into awork of art, is a creator of ugly things: his hideous self-portrait and then Basil’s corpse, a “thing” witha “grotesque misshapen shadow,” a “humped back, and long fantastic arms.” In artistic style, Dorian isprophetically Expressionist. The brutality of Basil’s murder is in deliberate contrast to Dorian’sexquisite connoisseurship. It is as if Dorian is overcome by a paroxysm of daemonic force, eruptinginto the Apollonian world of perfect form. We saw a similar effect in Euripides’ Medea, whereprincess and king sink beneath a tarry wave of fire. The morning after the murder, Dorian mustreconstruct his Apollonian persona by Paterian rituals of discrimination. He dresses “with even morethan his usual care, giving a good deal of attention to the choice of his necktie and scarf-pin, andchanging his rings more than once.” Selecting Gautier’s Enamels and Cameos, he admires the bindingof “citron-green leather, with a design of gilt trellis-work and dotted pomegranates.”51 Returned fromhis descent to Hades, the barbaric chthonian realm, Dorian restores himself to normality by focusingon the Apollonian separateness of objects in the aesthete’s visible world, numbering them bycognitive palpation.Wilde constantly talks about “Art,” but his actual commentary on the visual arts is sparse and inert.I think that, as a primarily verbal intelligence, he had little feeling for painting. Whistler made sometart remarks about Wilde’s trespass into his territory. Wilde’s stage directions to An Ideal Husbandare full of allusions to art, comparing the characters to paintings by Van Dyck, Watteau, Lawrence.There is a chatty superficiality or name-dropping: “Watteau would have loved to paint them.”52Paintings are being seen vaguely and generically. But Wilde’s only novel is a supreme artifact ofaestheticism, taking a painting for theme. The most potent art work in all literature belongs to the ageof photography, which allowed painting to shift toward the strange and irrational. It is to Wilde’scredit that he sensed and exploited this. The objet d’art resumes its archaic religious function. Wilde,without real knowledge of the visual arts, creates a great book about a painting because of his dualityof vision: he is Apollonian in his worship of form but Romantic in his instinct for the daemonic.Together, these principles produce the despotic art work of Dorian Gray. Nature and art, in their ritualcombat in the painting, duel to a draw and separate, leaving the marred beautiful boy as their LateRomantic victim.

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patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

Did Republicans Cut Funding For Embassy Security

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/did-republicans-cut-funding-for-embassy-security/

Did Republicans Cut Funding For Embassy Security

An Alternative Explanation For The Benghazi Talking Points: Bureaucratic Knife Fight

Republicans delight in their cuts for embassy security

May 10, 2013:;This analysis first suggested that the core reason for the evolution of the talking points was a bureaucratic battle between the CIA and the State Department. We informed readers that although the ambassador was killed, the Benghazi consulate was not a consulate at all but essentially a secret CIA operation which included an effort to round up shoulder-launched missiles. U.S. officials had been constrained in discussing that fact, as the administration could not publicly admit that most of the Americans in Benghazi were involved in a secret CIA effort that had not even been formally disclosed to the Libyan government. State Department officials objected to the talking points, initially drafted by the CIA, as an effort by the spy agency to pin the blame for the tragedy on the State Department.

Democrats Once Again Smacked Down On Benghazi Funding Cuts Claim

Since the Congressional hearings last year, Democrats and their allies have tried to claim that budget cuts were responsible for the lack of security in Benghazi. According to a review of the facts by Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post published today, those claims are false.

A memo prepared by Democratic staff last year made the claim about budget cuts at some length, quoting the Center for American Progress as a source. Just this week, Sen. Barbara Boxer revived this claim when she published a piece at the Huffington Post which opened If my Republican colleagues are serious about conducting real oversighton the tragedy in Benghazi, they should start by looking in the mirror. Boxer then took to the Senate floor Tuesday and claimed If we want to know what happened in Benghazi, it starts with thefact that there was not enough security. There was not enough securitybecause the budget was cut.

But as Kessler , its simply not true. And its not true in several notable ways starting with the fact that funding was not actually cut. Kessler while Boxer claims that Republicans cut the budget, she is onlycomparing it to what the Obama administration proposed. The reality isthat funding for embassy security has increased significantly in recentyears.

Asked to explain the contradiction between her claims and reality, aides to Sen. Boxer sent Kessler a link to a NY Times .

More About The Numbers

The first point the additional research revealed is that our efforts to protect diplomats go well beyond strengthening the physical plant of embassies and other facilities. An elaborate and layered network of resources both within the U.S. government and in the military and police forces of host nations serve to protect Americans serving overseas. The heart of this network is the Worldwide Security Program, which includes 1,700 diplomatic security personnel and an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. This program, and the Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance program are the principal resources that the State Department relies on to protect overseas personnel.

The second point is that Congress has made deep cuts in both programs in the last fiscal year and the one before that, and its threatening to make additional deep cuts in the current fiscal year. In FY 2011 the Congress cut $129 million from a $3.24 billion request. In FY 2012 they cut $341 million out of the $3.5 billion requested. For FY 2013, which began this month, the House voted for a $316 million cut from the administrations $3.7 billion request; the House and Senate have not yet reconciled their difference in conference committee.

Recommended Reading: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Mccains Claims About Susan Rices Comments On The Libya Attack

;Susan Rices appearance on the Sunday shows began to torpedo her chances of becoming secretary of state. Here, we looked at how Sen. John McCain mischaracterized Rices words and then assumed she should have had all the information that by November was known about the Benghazi attacks. We contrasted how McCain treated Susan Rice compared to Condoleezza Rice, whom he had defended against charges of lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He earned Two Pinocchios.

The Gop Seems To Have Forgotten Its Lessons After The Benghazi Attacks

Three Republican Senators, including two former presidential candidates, have introduced legislation that will cut security, construction, and maintenance funds for American embassies throughout the world unless President-elect Donald Trump moves the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The bill has been introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, as The Intercept reported on Wednesday. Although Congress passed a law in 1995 requiring the American embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the three presidents who could have been required to implement that law invoked a waiver that would allow them to postpone doing so on national security grounds. Because moving the embassy to Jerusalem is widely believed to make a two-state solution impossible, such a move has been viewed as dangerous to peace and stability in the region.

Both Rubio and Cruz tried to use the fact that the State Department under Hillary Clinton failed to respond to requests for adequate security at the American embassy in Benghazi against her.

“What we do know leads to the inescapable impression that before, during, and after the Benghazi attacks, there was confusion and paralysis at the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the White House,” Cruz wrote for National Review in 2013.

Read Also: When Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Platforms

Libya Attack: Congressmen Casting Blame Voted To Cut Diplomatic Security Budget

Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Darrell Issa claim the Benghazi consulate sought more security before the deadly attack. They also both voted to cut the State Department’s embassy security budget.

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By Dan MurphyStaff writer

Who’s to blame for the Sept. 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi?

If you believe Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the answer is the State Department. He complained in an interview with The Daily Beast yesterday that US guards were replaced with Libyan nationals in the months before the attack.

“The fully trained Americans who can deal with a volatile situation were reduced in the six months leading up to the attacks,” he told the website. “When you combine that with the lack of commitment to fortifying the physical facilities, you see a pattern.

Mr. Chaffetz has been among those leading the Republican effort to pin the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi on the Obama administration. Earlier claims from Chaffetz and fellow Republican Congressman Darrell Issa that the administration ignored pleas for more security from Libya embassy officials should be treated with caution until there’s some proof.

Us Security ‘cut’ Before Benghazi Consulate Attack

Security in Libya was reduced before last month’s attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, even as violence worsened, a US panel has heard.

A former US Army official in Libya, Lt Col Andrew Wood, said that security in the country had been “weak”.

The rancorous congressional committee hearing centred on whether the state department had sought enough diplomatic security staff for the mission.

The BBC’s Mark Mardell says Wednesday’s session was highly political.

A month before the US election, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has been making the Benghazi attack the centrepiece of his case against President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.

Also Check: Did Trump Call Republicans Stupid In 1998

Benghazi Report Faults Security; No New Clinton Allegations

WASHINGTON Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee harshly faulted the Obama administration Tuesday for lax security and a slow response to the deadly 2012 attacks at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya. But they produced no new allegations about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The attacks, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, have been repeatedly cited by Republicans as a serious failure by the administration and by Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

But the committees 800-page report, released by Republican members, offered no smoking gun about Clintons role. Rep. Trey Gowdy, the panels chairman, has repeatedly said the report was not aimed at her, though Democrats have accused the committees Republican majority of targeting her throughout.

Campaigning in Denver, Clinton said that it was time to move on and that the report had found nothing, nothing to contradict the conclusions of the independent accountability board or the conclusions of the prior multiple earlier investigations.

The report from the two-year, $7 million investigation severely criticizes the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded the night of Sept. 11, 2012, and their subsequent explanation to the American people.

He said military leaders told the committee that they thought an evacuation was imminent, slowing any response.

This is not about one person, he said.

House Republicans Propose Extra $2 Billion For Embassy Security

Republican Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) admits the GOP cut embassy security funding on CNN interview.

By Susan Cornwell

4 Min Read

WASHINGTON – House Republican leaders proposed on Monday to spend another $2 billion on U.S. diplomatic security this year, using money unspent in Iraq to provide cash the Obama administration said was necessary to help prevent another Benghazi-style attack.

The proposal, an exception amid general budget cutbacks, is part of the House Republican majoritys plan for funding the government for the rest of fiscal 2013, which ends on September 30. Much of the legislation would continue government spending at the same level of last year – minus cuts mandated by the so-called sequestration that took effect last week.

The additional money would be used to beef up security at embassies and other diplomatic posts around the globe in the wake of the September 11, 2012, attacks on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya and a nearby CIA outpost. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died in the attacks.

Most of the extra cash would come from funds that the State Department has not spent in Iraq, a House appropriations committee aide said.

After the Benghazi attacks, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Congress to help reallocate $1.4 billion that was no longer needed in Iraq – where the State Department has been scaling back operations after the departure of troops in 2011 – to pay for hardened security at diplomatic facilities elsewhere.

Editing by Warren Strobel and Jackie Frank

Don’t Miss: Trump On Oprah Saying Republicans Are Stupid

Lessons Not Learned On Embassy Replacement

What are the real world consequences of these cuts? Following the catastrophic bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983, Secretary of State George Schultz appointed an Advisory Panel on Overseas Security chaired by Retired Admiral Bobby Ray Inman. In its 1985 report the panel noted:

Unlike most U.S. Government organizations, the foreign affairs agencies are required by the nature of their missions to locate their facilities in overseas environments over which the U.S. can exert only limited control and which thus make our presence highly vulnerable to a number of potential threats.

The panel determined that of the 262 posts that the State Department at that time maintained around the world, 126 of the posts require replacement. They concluded:

his situation cannot be allowed to continue unchanged. As shown by the bombings and takeovers of our embassy buildings in the Middle East in recent yearsthere are simply too many risks to our diplomatic personnel and activities at posts with these vulnerabilities to allow these buildings to remain potential targets for such threats.

The panel recommended replacement or renovation of the 126 high-risk posts within a seven-year time frame.

The Crowe panel listed more than 200 bombings and other attacks that had been launched against U.S. overseas missions in the previous decade and stated:

Gowdy: There’s Enough Blame To Go Around

Democrats on the House Select Committee on Benghazi had a sharply different view even before seeing the Republicans report. The minority version released Monday concludes that “the U.S. military could not have done anything differently on the night of the attacks that would have saved the lives of the four brave Americans killed in Benghazi.”

Ranking Member Elijah Cummings early Tuesday called the Republican report “partisan” but could offer no additional comment because “we haven’t read it because Republicans didn’t want us to check it against the evidence we obtained.”

Democrats also attacked Republicans over the committees process, including what they describe as grave abuses, such as excluding Democrats from interviews, concealing exculpatory evidence, withholding interview transcripts, leaking inaccurate information, issuing unilateral subpoenas, sending armed Marshals to the home of a cooperative witness, and even conducting political fundraising by exploiting the deaths of four Americans.

The Democrats chastised committee chairman Trey Gowdy ,who they said personally and publicly accused Secretary Clinton of compromising a highly classified intelligence source.”

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Barbara Boxers Claim That Gop Budgets Hampered Benghazi Security

May 16, 2013:;Sen. Barbara Boxer suggested there was not enough security in Benghazi because Republicans had cut the budget for embassy security funding. But this claim was not credible and highly partisan. Democrats had also short-changed the State Department budget , but;funding for embassy security generally had increased significantly in recent years. Moreover, over the course of many hearings into the matter, State Department officials had told Congress that a lack of funds was not an issue. Instead, security was hampered because of bureaucratic issues and management failures. In other words, given the internal failures, no amount of money for the State Department likely would have made a difference in this tragedy. Boxer earned Three Pinocchios.

With News Of Global Supply Chain Problems Affecting Industries Across The Country Which Product Shortage Is Most Concerning To You

Investigators looking for lessons from the fatal terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi might want to start on Capitol Hill, where Congress slashed spending on diplomatic security and U.S. embassy construction over the past two years.

Since 2010, Congress cut $296 million from the State Departments spending request for embassy security and construction, with additional cuts in other State Department security accounts, according to an analysis by a former appropriations committee staffer.

Rep. Michael Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, made clear Wednesday that congressional staff will be looking into the attack, in addition to a probe by the State Departments inspector general and another State Department investigation required by federal law.

TOP STORIESSchiff: Proposal to check presidential power will apply to Biden, family

The cuts to the embassy construction, security and maintenance budget was almost 10 percent of the entire appropriation for that account over those two years, said Scott Lilly, now a scholar at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Anytime we cut that account back, we are putting peoples lives at risk, people who are serving the country in dangerous places abroad, said Mr. Lilly.

The cuts mean that a lot of places youd intended to secure better, you dont reach this year, he added.

On Wednesday, Mr. Rogers said he is not concerned by the possibility of three different probes.

Also Check: Who Were The Republicans Who Stormed The Scif

Issas Suspicions That Hillary Clinton Told Panetta To Stand Down On Benghazi

;During a fundraising dinner for Republicans in New Hampshire, Issa said he had suspicions that Clinton told Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to stand down. He also asked why there was not one order given to turn on one Department of Defense asset. But both a report by Republicans on the Armed Services Committee and a bipartisan Senate Intelligence report had found that no allegations of a stand down order could be substantiated. Moreover, DOD assets were certainly moved per Panettas orders. One could argue that the response was slow, bungled or poorly handled. But we determined that Issa crossed a line when he claimed there was no response or a deliberate effort to hinder it. Issa earned Four Pinocchios.

House Republicans Persist In Putting Our Foreign Service Officers At Risk

A column I wrote more than a month ago discussed the fact that the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya is unfortunately not a unique event. More than 90 diplomats have died in the line of duty over the last 32 years. Libya is only one of many dangerous diplomatic duty stations among the more than 270 diplomatic missions we maintain around the world.

I also mentioned that Congress has failed to recognize that threat. Under pressure from Republicans in the House of Representatives, Congress actually cut the Obama administrations request for improving the physical security of our embassies by nearly $300 million in the past two fiscal years.

That figure gained a good deal of attention and a lot of requests for more detail and background on the State Department security budget. After spending some time culling through the numbers and reading old General Accountability Office reports and State Department budget justifications, I concluded that the picture that emerges adds significant perspective on the tragedy in Benghazi; the role Congress played in determining the current preparedness of the State Department to cope with such tragedies; and the continuing challenge we face in reducing the threat posed to our diplomatsparticularly in those nations that are struggling to build stable, nonviolent societies.

Also Check: Who Was The Leader Of The Radical Republicans

Has Anyone Been Fired Because Of The Benghazi Attacks

May 22, 2013: The Fact Checker looked into a claim by Sen. Rand Paul that no one had been fired over the Benghazi affair. In December 2012, the State Department had announced that four top State Department officials were being dismissed from their posts. At the time of Pauls remarks, the officials still were on administrative leave, a netherworld of professional limbo, as their cases were reviewed. We initially rated this as verdict pending, but then Paul was proved right when State announced in August that ;the officials had been returned to active duty and would face no further disciplinary action. Paul thus ended up earning a coveted Geppetto Checkmark.

0 notes

laketaj24 · 5 years

Text

Silk

Author’s Note:Trying to catch up for not writing in a while lol So I liked Ivar last week! If you have not started Season 6 of Vikings this fic doesn’t have spoilers in this if you have watched the commercials and advertisements. But if you would rather not dive into Ivar season 6, don’t read this!! I also tagged it. To those of you that do read! I hope you enjoy! This variants a little from what was requested. Let me know what you think! Taglist Open/Requests Open

Warnings: SMUT

Requested: Could I request an Ivar x reader smut where the reader is a woc from maybe central africa. She (mixed so she speaks norse and tribal language) and other people from her tribe are merchants and stumble upon the Norsemen. After a lik hustle and bustle they make good connections and especially ivar and the reader if you catch my drift ... 😏☺️

Pairing: Ivar x Reader

There were murmurs along the Silk Road, a god was among you. He walked among the people, talked and lived among the people. There was always plenty to do, but chasing a God held a precedent for you. You’d taken to the Silk Road as a child. Traveling with your sister selling what you could from your tribe and bringing the riches back to them every year. Nothing was different this year but the God. You were set on finding him, taking his seed and birthing his son. It was your plan, and everyone in the Tribe would know your child was the son of a god. Ambitious? Yes. Did you care? No.

“There he is,” Your younger sister pointed to the man carried carriage in the center of the market area. The brawny man moved through the sea of people like an expert. She turned to face you, placing the fine silk on the basket. “What will you do?”

“He has to rest and when he does, I will go to him.”

“And what will do?”

“Stay with our things, guard them. I will not take long.” The worry surfaced her face and you touched her back. “Sister.” You smiled. “Everything will be fine.”

He slept, near the tree with his furs piled high and fire burning. His guard set to the left of him, like a watchdog checking for every loud crunch in the woods. You watched from the east of him with your furs wrapped around your body camouflaged in the dark. You had a plan; you always had a plan. Catch him alone, sleep with him and leave. Simple.

The first step would be to distract the guard. You grabbed the stone tossing it into the woods and his eyes darted to the moving bush a few feet away. He saw it didn’t care to move about it. Ivar the God raised from the furs looking over at the bush. His voice was soft and low.

“What was that?” No worry shrouded his voice just curiosity.

“It was nothing.” He said. “We should sleep.” He dulled the fire to a small burn. It took the light from them but you could still see the silhouettes of their bodies.

You reached onto the ground and grabbed another rock. This time a larger one that would cause an alarm. Your arm was strong. You flung into the bush and this time the guard stood with his cupping the hilt of his sword. He moved away from the camp and you celebrated. You reached for your bag at your side and feel the warm hand next to you. Your first instinct was to scream but it was done as that hand cupped your mouth and smothered you.

“What are you doing here huh?” The cold blade pressed against the nape of your neck and the beard of assailant touched your neck. “Speak!” he growled.

“I am here to lay with the God Ivar.” The blatant truth rolled from your tongue. “I want to carry the son of a god.”

“Are you crazy, hmmm? Are you mad? Have the Gods not given you any other vices than to stir with men as they attempt to sleep? There is no God Ivar.” He hissed. His heavy body covered yours. “Your child would be no God.” He rolled from you.

Your eyes cut over to the camp only to see there is no more Ivar, only the guard standing in bewilderment. You pushed the man’s leg from your body. “You will say nothing of this.”

“Who am I to tell?” He chuckled. “I am the man you know as Ivar the God,” The leaves rustled as he drags himself from beside you, “leave here.”

“Then you are no man.” The grin covered your face as you moved closer to him. You revealed yourself to him in the flicker of the flame. The cold gust of air hit you like a ton of bricks as you stepped into the light. “I see you are a God, Ivar.” The Norse rolled from your tongue. “I want to pay tribute to you.”

The scowl surfaced his face and his brow furrowed in dismay, “You do not take no for answer, do you. I said leave, now leave.”

“Or what? You say you are no god, what could you do to me that I already do not desire to happen.”

Ivar crawled back to his furs mumbling beneath his breath. There was a wave of inherent anger in him that you were not understanding, he was a god. You gripped the hilt of your blade and within seconds you were over to him. You stood over him and he glared up at you with spite. “You are stubborn.”

“Are you not going to accept my offer?” You fold your arms across your chest and watching him smile, and somehow behind that mask of stern disapproval, you can see the real person in there. “Ivar.”

“Come here.” He gestured with his fingers and you tried to hide the instant satisfaction within your spirit, it was near impossible. You lowered yourself to the ground beside him and his hands were quick. He wrapped his hands around your kinked curls and pulled your face to his. The exhausted eyes bore into you before he flipped you onto the furs and pooled your skirt up around your thighs. Your feet hung off the furs, dangling to the cold ground. He positioned himself on top of you.

Your excitement was mixed with fear, the sweat bead rolled down the side of your face. His leather glove swiped down the side of your face. He moved with his other hand unsheathing himself from his robes. You felt his heat against your thigh and swallowed. “You wanted the God Ivar.” He growled. He looked down at your pussy unable to see but still able to spit on your pussy. He coaxed the pad of his finger rubbing your clit once and then he thrust into you. Your body jolted as the powerful slap to your thighs came.

Your eyes snapped shut from the pain, it was too late to mention to him you were a virgin and perhaps some gentleness was needed. But from his strokes and the way he stilled when your pussy clenched around him, he knew.

His eyes lit as he looked down on you. “Oh, I have found the real silk on Silk Road.” His moans were muted and his hair shaded you from the eyes that were possibly hooked on you. Your pussy was wet for him, persuading him to go faster. Your hips start to wind and the tempo is something that you can handle, something that you crave now.

He said no words and you didn’t need them. The sensation that surrounded you was too much to take on. You couldn’t concentrate on being cold because his heavy body warmed you, and the harder he fucked the hotter you were. “for my child, what will you give me huh?” He whispered.

You looked at him. “I give you a son.”

“I do not want it.” He hissed as he pushed your legs further apart and impaled you once more. “Something more.” He growled. “Give me your life.” He smiled and the pricks of his beard were followed by the touch of his teeth. “Say it!”

“I give you my life Ivar!”

“The god.” He smiled and tugged at your hair. Your body begun to take over with its movements as your back buckled up from the ground and arched into him. Your mewls echoed through the woods followed by the satisfying grunt of Ivar as he came in you.

The woods stirred and the guard resurfaced, with your sister in hand. “Found the menace.” He paused when his eyes were hooked on you quivering beneath Ivar. “And it seems you have too.”

“Good.” Ivar paused. “Two sacrifices offered up the gods.” He grinned.

Your eyes bucked as you tried to scramble away from him, and his hand hooked your feet. “Where are you going so fast?” he laughed.

#vikings #laketaj24 #ivar the boneless #laketa j writes #vikings spoilers #spoilers #ivar the boneless x reader #ivar the boneless imagine #ivar x reder #ivar lothbrok #ivar ragnarsson x reader #ivar ragnarsson #ivar x reader #ivar x woc

284 notes · View notes

lisinfleur · 4 years

Text

Þunglyndi

The Request:

Author’s Notes | I don’t know why, but it came a little lighter and fluffier than I was expecting. I hope you like this as well and I’m sorry for taking so long to post this one, babe!

Universe | Vikings

Pairing | Hvitserk x Reader x Ivar

Info | Viking Age AU, requested by @notyouraveragegirl17 for 5CW7 | Þunglyndi means “Depression” in Icelandic

Words | 1549

⁑ Warnings: Some ANGST, mentions of deep depression and internal darkness, past abuse. Caution is recommended: the following content may be triggering.

The popular wisdom uses to say that "one man's nightmare may be another man's dream". Sometimes, men can dream together. Sometimes, their nightmares can be the same as well. And it was like this for Ivar and Hvitserk. Their dreams were the same, all towards Y/N. Both of them loved her with such deepness that they agreed in putting their pride aside and share the position by her side with each other, marrying Y/N in a polygamist relationship that was the light of her life.

Maybe the only spot of light her whole life had for her. Maybe the only light that was able to cut its way inside Y/N's life through the thick darkness that was always all around her mind and heart.

Their dreams were the same and so were their nightmares, all around that intense sadness that none of them was able to fully destroy into her heart. Maybe this sadness was also a part of their decision to share her side - Both of them knew none of them would be able to face this dark and strong enemy all alone. Together, they could maybe be able to save her from herself as they saved her from that bastard she called a father.

For a long time, neither Ivar or Hvitserk were able to understand why was she so scared of men that she could jump beside Hvitserk just by Ubbe's sudden approaching or squeal beside Ivar if Sigurd was coming without a warning. Neither of them was able to understand why any middle tone up in their voices would make her shrink and accept almost anything that she was ordered to do as if she was always afraid of something they could never determine.

Until they knew her family.

Until they found out the terrible way her father had raised her; the horrible punishments she was exposed through her whole childhood; the way she was less than a slave for him.

What person wouldn't have her self-confidence destroyed by a man like him? Her skin was marked by his abuses but more than this, her mind was deeply forged to obey his screams or see itself crushed under his fist and it was enough for the brothers to decide it was time to put an end to it.

They sat to talk and settled a plan. And together, they went to her house and forced her father to accept in goodwill her marriage to them and their rule to never - ever! - put himself close to her once again. In exchange, they gifted him lands in the northernmost, far away from Kattegat's hall, where she would never need to see him again - even thou their will was to kill him in the worst way they could think.

None of them wanted to scare her even more, so they ensured everything would be perfect for her to understand that whole thing as her father's decision and forced him into a chariot that took him away once and for all from her life.

Yet, it wasn't enough.

Y/N was slowly getting better, they had to admit. But whenever Ivar was angry or yelling for something, she would almost disappear into herself in fear - the reason why even Sigurd had to agree that Ivar was controlling himself pretty more not to show his anger or keep himself calmer than he was usually.

Drunken Hvitserk? She would run from him like a Christian woman from a bunch of Vikings! - and that was why he was stopping drinking so much nowadays.

All his brothers had to admit they were doing the best they could and Y/N became something like a glue that stuck the two of them together: Ivar and Hvitserk would always find a way to calm her down or rescue her from her own mind. Whether in Ivar's lap, talking about his stories so she could forget hers; or walking around with Hvitserk to see the nature around and beautiful places instead of the dark rooms of her mind; one way or another, they were always trying to find a way to make her feel better.

So, in days like that, it wasn't unusual to see both of them smiling at each other with happy expressions and accomplice glares. Y/N was happy that day and both of them knew it was their fault she was still able to smile.

This time it was a full table she made by her own hands: loaves of bread, meat, vegetables, and mead. Cereals and everything they liked the most.

It wasn't any special day, they knew it! Both of them were always remembering themselves of the special dates of their marriage to keep Y/N always aware of how important she was in their lives, but this time, they were sure, it wasn't any kind of special day. Yet, she was preparing that whole beautiful table, with places even for their brothers they were sure she would ask them to invite for that meal she was preparing with so much dedication.

"Smukke?" Hvitserk asked first, before entering the kitchen along with his brother-husband.

They would love to be able to embrace her from behind and surprise her with neck kisses, but both of them knew it would be too scary for her. So, it was enough to have her smiling back at them with that sweet nickname they had in common to call her.

"Why are we deserving such a delicious and big dinner, may I ask?" Ivar asked, smiling back at her as she was slowly cleaning her hands from the rests of the paste she was using to decorate Hvitserk's favorite pie she just placed in the oven.

"It's a surprise," she said, smiling at them, touching Ivar's nose with her warm fingers and gently caressing Hvitserk's cheek with the other hand. "I have something to tell you both, but I want it to be a surprise. Could you please call Ubbe and Sigurd to have dinner with us?" she asked, confirming their suspicions. "I know Björn won't be around for a while because of his raid, but I wanted to have the family altogether tonight."

The brothers exchanged a satisfied smile and Hvitserk bounced in his heels - a clear sign of his happiness with her progress.

"I'll bring them," he said, smiling.

"I'll help you with the table so, my love," Ivar offered himself and she smiled, kissing Hvitserk's cheek and letting him go before bringing the plates for Ivar to place properly at the table.

With everything ready, she took the pie out of the oven, placing it gently at the table to get cold as the brothers would be eating and the sound of Ubbe's laugh along with Hvitserk's and Sigurd's voice woke them up for the door where they were arriving - always making some noise to avoid scaring Y/N up.

She smiled and so did Ivar. Her happiness, for minimum it was, would always make them happy.

Everyone took its places at the table and she gently served them all, sitting beside Ivar - at the headboard - and Hvitserk - closer to the middle of the table where he could serve himself with more.

"So," Hvitserk said, smiling as they all looked at her. "We're all curious about what is bringing this sweet smile to your face today, smukke."

She became slightly brushed before looking from Ivar to Hvitserk, smiling.

"I wanted to say thank you for all the efforts the two of you have been putting on making me feel better," she started, causing Ivar and Hvitserk to smile that accomplice way at each other.

Smiles that became large eyes and surprised expressions when the second part of her speech came, taking them unprepared for the news she was hiding from them all.

"And I also wanted to tell the family will grow bigger soon..."

Sigurd's smile became larger and Ubbe raised his horn with a salutation. But Hvitserk and Ivar looked at her with surprise and tenderness in their eyes. A slight line of tears in Ivar's blues as Hvitserk's hand gently landed in Y/N's belly trying to feel something in the almost invisible bump she had there.

"You're... With our child? Our first child?" Ivar asked, and Y/N touched his face, gently caressing his cheek with a smile, nodding as the smile in his face became bigger.

"We gonna be fathers, my brother!" Hvitserk celebrated.

"The gods have blessed us once again!" Ivar said, touching Y/N's forehead with his, gently kissing her lips before Hvitserk could do the same, kissing her mouth sweetly.

The two of them touched their foreheads on each other, holding their hands. That complicity between them both so strong and visible, smoothing the smile in their brothers' faces on the other side of their faces.

In their eyes, the victory of one more step towards Y/N's happiness and the dreams they were to build together with her. In their hearts, the gratitude for each other's help and efforts to conquer that step and the many others to come.

Hvitserk and Ivar would never stop fighting to have their precious Y/N out of that darkness. And now, they would have one more spot of light to enlighten her path by their side.

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lisinfleur · 5 years

Text

Long Time No-See

The horns started sounding at the docks, spreading through all the towers of the city, announcing a fleet approaching Kattegat's docks. For years you wanted that sound to reach your ears. But now, it made you shiver in anxiety.

When the plans for that raid started, you were recently married to prince Hvitserk. The two of you knew each other after his brother Ubbe assumed the throne to replace the older son of Ragnar, Björn, now responsible for the explorations and raids outside of their homelands.

Like his older brother, Hvitserk was a raider and an explorer. He loved the sea and the foreign lands, the mysteries and cultures and treasures the raids could bring. So, he didn't hesitate on signing up for the next raid, even knowing the two of you would have less than a year of marriage when the production of the boats was finished.

He tried to fill you with child before their departure date, but the gods didn't bless your womb.

"When I come back, I'll take a while away from the sea so we can make our children."

Those were his last words for you, three years ago, when he entered that boat knowing he wouldn't be back in less than a year.

The two of you were in love. You knew that.

But now, you weren't so sure.

You weren't expecting him to spend the whole time he spent outside your home without anything to warm his cock. Hvitserk was an active man, a womanizer before he married you. It would be too much from you to expect he would spend three whole years without any mouth or pussy to sink himself into.

However, this wasn't your main concern. You sincerely didn't mean if he had fucked other women in his time outside. But what if he had fallen in love again?

What if, after all those months away from you, his love for you faded away and his heart found another?

Cause the needs of his body you weren't worried he could satisfy, but what if his heart wasn't yours anymore?

Those thoughts had hurt your mind for weeks. Queen Torvi there, holding Ubbe's new child, remembering you that Kattegat's princes could change their mind about their wives even after years of a solid marriage - she was once Björn's wife, even the mother of his children, and there she was, married to her brother in law, left by the first son who chose the sea instead of her.

Hvitserk was pretty much like his brother Björn. He learned a lot from him. How to fight, how to sail, how to behave in the raids... Hvitserk had his own style but was pretty much inspired by his elder brother. What if he decided to act like Björn towards you and take another with him to replace you in his bed?

Many questions were dancing into your mind and you even thought about leaving the horns sounding and stay inside. But your heart clenched once again...

What if he was coming back to your arms?

What if he was anxious to see you, thinking the same things you were thinking, afraid you could have replaced him with another who would stay by your side instead of leaving to the sea? Someone who would fill you with child as he tried without succeeding?

It wouldn't be fair to abandon your tasks as his wife just because of your fear. If you were to see him coming out of those boats with another in his arms then you should see it at the docks, standing there to receive him, as a good wife should do after all these years.

With your heart in your hands, you went to the docks. The boats were already arriving when your feet touched the wooden floor.

Your hands were shaking. You tried to embrace yourself to control the nervousness.

Would you be able to recognize him?

Would he be able to notice you?

Would he come to you? Would he look at you at least?

The many questions in your mind silenced all at once when heavy feet touched the docks jumping down from the main boat of the fleet.

Björn had come back earlier and already left again, so that fleet was entirely under his command. And like a commander, he landed heavily over the docks and you saw his face looking down as if he was making a prayer, probably thanking the gods for seeing his homelands one more time.

There was a heavy cloak over his shoulders, the wolf pelt you remembered sewing at that blue fabric for him, hanging over his shoulders marked by the long and heavy use. Under it, a leather armor reinforced with multiple metal pieces was attached to his chest. Some belts and buckles were fixing it in its place, imprinting a heavier look Hvitserk didn't have when he left.

His hair was also different. Fully grown and braided in a single braid from the top of his head to the bottom of his nape, all attached to his head, unlike Ubbe's braid that used to hang from the top of his skull. There was a beard around his jawline and a fully-grown mustache covering his mouth.

Hvitserk rose his hand kissing a golden coin before throwing it at the sea, probably for lady Rán. And you could see his fingers. Both of his hands had new rings... But your marriage ring was still there, shining gold in his finger.

His heavy cloak turned and his eyes found yours.

For a long moment, both of you just stood there, looking at each other. He was so beautiful now. So bigger and imposing, looking like the son of Ragnar he was famous for being. Or even more.

Hvitserk Ragnarsson now had a name for himself. He didn't need his father's shadow over himself anymore. He had grown his own shadow and covered dozens of warriors under his command, now passing by him, patting his shoulder, smiling.

"Whiteshirt..."

Saluting the man they fought under for years before leaving the fleet behind, walking back to their houses, their children, their wives.

But despite all his grandiosity, the great commander of that fleet was looking at you with the same insecurity you had in your eyes. And his steps brought him closer to you, but you noticed he was afraid of touching you as much as you were afraid some chick would jump out of that boat, complaining he wasn't there to hold her or help her to come down.

Hvitserk noticed your eyes glaring the boat. He looked back to where you were looking.

But no one came down after him.

No female hysteric voice yelled his name or any curse for being locked in a boat without help.

Your eyes went back to his and you noticed he was looking around.

But no man was around to claim your side.

No child came yelling your name or calling you mother...

And so, he dared to break that thick silence figuring almost as a third person in between the two of you.

"I thought... You wouldn't be here to receive me."

Softly, you let go of your own arms. Your index swirling the marriage ring on your ring finger - a mania you had developed when thinking about him.

"I thought you wouldn't come back to me," you answered, almost mumbling.

His hand touched yours stopping your index, intertwining your fingers with his, caressing the back of your hand with his thumb.

Both marriage rings were together once again and you felt your eyes lightly teary. He, on the other hand, giggled.

"I never stopped thinking about you..." he mumbled. "About the children I promised you."

You giggled, feeling your insecurity and fear rolling down your face in tears of relief. And his hand softly cupped your face, caressing your cheek and wiping your tears with his thick thumb you almost forgot how it was to feel pressing the skin of your face so tenderly.

You came closer. And Hvitserk embraced you.

And the two of you mashed your lips together in a kiss you had long forgotten how spicy and tasty it was.

How good it was to feel his arms around you like that, so tight! How warm were his hands, his lips against yours so needy!

Hvitserk kissed you longer than you could remember ever feeling from his lips and then, he held you against his chest allowing you to feel the musk essence of his perfume mixed with the smell of the sea embedded in his clothes.

He kissed the top of your head, caressing your nape with his heavy touches you loved so bad.

"Take me home, wife. I have a promise to fulfill, my love."

It didn't matter how many he had in his bed. Or how many times his mind searched for you in other bodies. He was there.

Your precious prince was back to you. He was back home and you finally could feel your heart beating again.

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