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germanicseidr · 4 years ago

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Wodan

It has been more than a year since I published my post on Wodan. Just like with my post on the Batavi, I wanted to rewrite this post as well to include more information about this fascinating God and also add a bit of my own personal experiences with this deity. This group has gained thousands of members since last year so there are also quite a lot who have perhaps missed my previous post on Wodan. I also want to discuss the similarities and differences between Wodan/Odin and the moment when humans started to worship him.

Wodan is the chief God of the Germanic pantheon. He has countless of names in many languages, it would be truly fascinating to try and collect all of his names into one big list. He is the God of wisdom, knowledge, battle, magic, death, primal rage, healing, tricking humans and the runes. Most of our knowledge on Wodan is based on the eddas. Unfortunately the ancient Germanic people did not write anything down about him but we do have archeological evidence for his worship.

His name comes from the proto-Germanic word Wodanaz which means rage. This already provides us with a clue on how the early Germanic people viewed this deity. Interestingly, the Dutch word for rage is woede, derived from the old Dutch name for Wodan, Uuoden>Woen, Weda in old Frisian. The meaning of the word Wodanaz has not changed for the Dutch people in over 2000 years. This God personally holds a very special place in my heart. Through my work with seidr I have come into contact with him several times.

When did the Germanic people start to worship Wodan?

The first written mention of Wodan comes from Tacitus in 98AD. Tacitus describes several Germanic Gods but unfortunately he uses Latin names to describe them. The Romans compared Wodan with their own God Mercury. Why the Romans compared Wodan with Mercury also isn’t fully clear. Both Gods escort the dead and carry a staff but that is where their likeness ends. Curiously, the Romans compared their chief God, Jupiter, with Donar. This is perhaps a clue into the changing roles that Wodan played.

Just because this is the first written mention of him, doesn't mean that the worship of Wodan comes from this time period. The Germanic people didn't write anything down, their religion was passed down to the next generation by telling stories, it's an oral tradition so we still do not know how old Wodan exactly is.

We can look at archeological evidence as well. When do we first see images appearing that look similar to Wodan? I think most of you are familiar with the classic Odin/Wodan images found all over the Germanic world, from Norway to Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands from the Vendel period and early medieval era. But looking at these images provides us with another problem. How can we be absolutely sure that these images represent the same God? Maybe Wodan was portrayed completely different from how we know him now? Maybe a face of Wodan was carved on wood, similar to the wooden statues found in bogs dating back tot he bronze age? Maybe all the early depictions of Wodan have simply been lost in time.

There is however another theory that suggests that Wodan was introduced to the Germanic people by the Saami. One of Wodan's most defining traits is that he is able to wander across all the realms, speak to spirits and gain knowledge this way. Technically this makes Wodan a very experienced shaman. The Saami people were/are practitioners of shamanism. The Goddess Freyja taught Wodan how to practice seidr. Seidr is a mix of shamanism and witchcraft similiar to the shamanic practices of the Saami people.

Another theory suggests that a Saami shaman, called Wotan, simply became deified by the Germanic people. Perhaps he led a tribe to victory after leading them into battle. Another even wilder theory suggests that Wotan was a Celtic druid who was deified by the Germanic people. The only historic truth that can be verified is that the Germanic culture borrowed elements from both the Celtic and Saami people.

Wodan could also have been introduced to the North-western European people during the bronze age by the proto-indo Europeans. The proto-indo European language spread all across Europe and evolved into different languages, perhaps the same happened to their chief God, Dyeus, as well. Almost all Indo-European cultures have a (chief) God who is quite similiar per example, Zeus, Wodan, Perun, Tiwaz, Jupiter, Dagda, Dievas, Papaios, Brahma.

Even if you research all these possible topics deeply, it is still impossible to say when exactly Wodan was a known deity amongst the Germanic people. The Germanic culture developed during the late Bronze age and if you combine all these theories together, his possible origin could lie near the end of the Bronze age and the start of the Iron age. That would mean that the worship of Wodan began around between 1800BC-1300BC in modern day Denmark, northern Germany and North-eastern Netherlands, more than 2000 years before the viking age even began.

However most of the physical and written evidence for the worship of Wodan came from the early medieval ages until the middle medieval ages, the era between 400-1000AD. One example is a fibula found in Heiloo, the Netherlands. This fibula from 7th century Frisia depicts Wodan flanked by two wolves. There are also coins found in Frisia that depict Wodan. More of such fibula, amulets and coins have been found throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England and Germany.

Written sources outside of the eddas that mention Wodan have also been discovered. This is the nine herbs charm which was written somewhere during the 10th century AD in England. Christianity was the official religion of the English people at that time but it seems that the common people would still fall back on the old Gods in times of need. Here is the charm:

“A snake came crawling, it bit a man. Then Woden took nine glory-twigs, Smote the serpent so that it flew into nine parts. There apple brought this pass against poison, That she nevermore would enter her house.”

There is also an Old English rune poem that basically explains the futhark. This is the stanza for the ansuz rune:

"god is the origin of all language wisdom's foundation and wise man’s comfort and to every hero blessing and hope" The word Ansuz/Os is used for God. Christians did not use this word to speak of their God so this rune is directly related to Wodan.

He is also mentioned in the Old English poem Maxims I:

"Woden worhte weos" Woden made idols.

The last written record that I want to mention is the German Merseburg charm which I have written about before:

"Phol and Woden travelled to the forest. Then was for Baldur's foal its foot wrenched. Then encharmed it Sindgund (and) Sunna her sister, then encharmed it Frija (and) Volla her sister, then encharmed it Woden, as he the best could,"

Wodan later became known as Odin in the early medieval Scandinavian world. Wodan and Odin are essentially the same deity but there are some differences between the two. These differences formed over time since Wodan is an older depiction of Odin. Here I tried to list the attributes of both Wodan and Odin in an attempt to show how the early Germanic people viewed Wodan compared to how the vikings viewed him.

Wodan: Skilled sorcerer, God of death, trickster of humans, God of knowledge, bringer of the runes, still has two eyes according to some sources, shaman, primal force of rage, leader of the wild hunt, God of war, God of healing, carries a staff and spear, two ravens, is a deceiver and was a feared God because of his ability to trick humans into death or madness.

Odin: Skilled in battle and magic, God of Knowledge, bringer of the runes, one-eyed, shaman, shapeshifter, dead fighters go to Walhalla to fight for him, God of war, owner of Sleipnir, carries a staff and spear, two ravens and two wolves guide him, more closely related to the Saami culture.

There are still some traditions left in Europe that are linked to Wodan/Odin. Since I am Dutch, I will explain some Dutch traditions: Sinterklaas, the old wanderer on his white horse who rides in the sky and gives presents to children. Midwinterhoorn blazen, the blowing of the midwinterhorn to announce the arrival of the wild hunt, the traditional start of winter. Hanging the placenta of a horse in an oak tree. Sint Maarten, the old wanderer on a horse who shared a piece of his cloak to a freezing stranger. And lastly possibly the game of paalzitten. If you know about other traditions from other countries that are linked to Wodan/Odin, feel free to share them in the comments.

Here are some of Wodan/Odin’s names in different (Germanic) languges:

Proto-Germanic: Wodanaz Old English: Woden Old Saxon: Wodan Old High German: Wuotan Old Frisian: Weda Old Norse: Óðinn Dutch: Wodan/Woen Old Dutch: Uuoden English: Odin Norwegian: Odin

Feel free to expand on this list in the comments.

The reason why I decided to rewrite and post this article today is because Sinterklaas has arrived again in the Netherlands. This was traditionally viewed as the start of the wild hunt led by Wodan. He would ride in the cold dark winter nights through the sky, trying to collect as many of the dead as possible. If you were unfortunate enough to see him in the sky, it meant that your life is soon ending and you would join Wodan’s hunt back to the underworld. In order to please the wild hunt, people left behind small offerings of food near the hearths of their homes. Carrots were left behind to feed Sleipnir. Until this very day, Dutch and Belgian children gift carrots to his horse in the tradition of Sinterklaas.

At last I want to share one of my own personal experiences with Wodan. As a child and teenager I was always searching for a spiritual home. My mother is a practitioner of witchcraft, a tradition which goes back for many generations in my family. I was raised with this practice of witchcraft but still I felt spiritually lost. That was until one day, on my birthday several years ago, I started to explore the older variant of witchcraft, shamanism.

During that first trance I met Wodan by surprise. His appearance was so unsettling that it caused me to experience a full blown panic attack and I was thrown out of my trance. I felt physically ill for two days until I returned into trance and stumbled upon Wodan once again. I was finally able to communicate with him and it turned out that he caused my panic attack because he likes pulling such tricks on humans, especially when he senses fear. We talked for a few minutes about knowledge until it was time for me to return to the mundane world. Before I left, he gave me a name in Proto-Germanic which I now use as my spiritual name.

Of course I was extremely skeptical about this whole experience afterwards. Was this just something I imagined? I was thinking about this for days at an end while at the same time I had the thought of placing a tattoo on my left arm with the word Wodan spelled out in the elder futhark. Eventually I decided to visit the local tattoo shop to make an appointment for this tattoo. Until my great surprise, the tattoo artist was not only a skilled artist, she is a professionally trained shaman of the native Canadian culture. She knew instantly that I was also dabbling in the art of shamanism and that I was in doubt whether it was actually real.

She then told me everything that Wodan had told me. Wodan , knowing that I am quite a skeptical person by nature, decided to inform another shaman in order to finally convince me that this was after all a real experience. She had to pass this information to me in order for me to finally believe in the old Germanic Gods. It’s interesting that Wodan decided to use a shaman from a completely different culture, showing that the practice of shamanism is at its core exactly the same all over the world. I got the tattoo as well. This first experience with Wodan led me to finally find my spiritual home and it started the quest for knowledge on the ancient Germanic culture. I eventually decided that it would be best to share as much knowledge as possible, the reason why I started this facebook group.

I am so sorry for this incredibly long post and I congratulate the ones who actually fully read it. In the future I also want to write more about Wodan/Odin’s role in the Germanic mythological lore, his work with the runes and his archetype.

Here are images of: A depiction of Wodan as a wanderer by Georg von Rosen, 1886, A depiction of Odin by Mary H Foster, 1901, A depiction of Wodan riding Sleipnir from a 18th century manuscript, Frisian Wodan fibula and coins, Sacrifices made to Wodan in the Netherlands around 300AD (human and horse remains, arrow heads and jewelry), The Merseburger charm, Wodan VS Sinterklaas,

#Wodan #Odin #Germanic #Nordic #God #Pagan #Deity

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blackjack-15 · 3 years ago

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Two Can Keep a Secret (if the Family Tree is Dead) — Thoughts on: Ghost of Thornton Hall (GTH)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC, TOT, SAW, CAP, ASH, TMB, DED

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with my list of previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: GTH; SPY; mention of ASH (and the ASH meta); mention of Nik/HER’s spoilery hints about GTH.

NOTE: THIS META CONTAINS DISCUSSION OF AND REFERENCE TO SEXUAL ASSAULT. MORE DETAILED SECTIONS ARE MARKED, BUT THIS WARNING STANDS FOR THE WHOLE META.

The Intro:

It’s time to get our Spooky on, lads. And we’re gonna do it in a meta of truly staggering length, so maybe go to the bathroom and get a snack before you start. My apologies.

Due to the (to be quite frank) absence of nostalgia surrounding them, there’s not really many games that are post 2010 that the fandom tends to agree on, but Ghost of Thornton Hall happens to be a standout in that pretty much everyone has found something to like about it. It often tops the charts of “best newer game” polls, and puts in a valiant effort against the more nostalgic mainstays.

There are a lot of reasons for this, in my mind – the quality of the writing, the choices that Nancy can make that actually affect the outcome of the game and especially affect Nancy, the fabulous voice work, the purposely-unanswered questions that give a deeper sense of horror — but if you ask me, the love for GTH really boils down to one thing:

Atmosphere.

Nancy Drew game fans (and I’m including myself in this) tend to prioritize atmosphere in the games, probably because without good and proper atmosphere it’s easier to pick apart the formula as you’re playing and to avoid being immersed in the game’s story, and GTH has it thick on the ground (figuratively and literally). The fear, unease, and overall sense of being an Intruder in this story comes from the overwhelming atmosphere provided by the grief of the characters, the time-sensitive nature of the crime, the secrets of the house and family, and, of course, the rather stellar visuals and locations.

The Thornton’s house and grounds really feel alive, but dead — in fact, they almost feel alive in the way that a zombie is, where they function and feed but have no heart. The gloriously (and meticulously) decorated walls are cast in shadow and grime; the portraits feel ominous and disapproving rather than lifelike and nostalgic; even the graveyard, as spread out and opulent as it is, feels claustrophobic and unwelcoming.

In a word, the game is – visually, thematically, story-wise, and atmospherically — haunting. And I think that overwhelming feeling of being haunted is, in large part, what draws fans back to this game again and again.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the scariest parts of this game are the things that you, as the player, do not see. Sure, the apparitions of Charlotte, the ghostly figures, the appearance of Harper — these are all scary, but the fear is gone after a moment, leaving the player unsettled but not running to hide under a blanket. The deaths of the fifty-four souls, the secret behind Clara’s birth, Harper’s breakdown — all these things that you don’t see, that you can only hear about or have hinted at are where the fear of the game kicks in, especially for older players.

It’s no secret that, despite the games being labeled for ages 10 and up, that the actual age of the Nancy Drew games fandom hasn’t been around 10 for some time — most people playing these games are in their 20s or 30s, or have siblings who are in their 20s and 30s and got into the games through them. Sure, there are some outliers, but the Clue Crew is much closer in general to the ages of the River Heights crew than they are to the age that that box says.

Because of this, the writers (and I’m going to especially hat-tip Nik here) behind the games have been able to slowly graduate the topics of the games to be a little bit older, hiding the true horror behind things that younger kids just won’t think about. This is especially the case with GTH and SPY, but you see it in a lot of the newer games, where the implications of events are normally scarier than the events themselves.

GTH takes that and runs with it, choosing to hint at and dance around truly upsetting — for any age — topics, presenting a mystery and a story that only get scarier once you’ve finished staring at the screen. The characters’ emotional problems and issues — loss, abandonment, anxiety, guilt — are like this too; while they’re present in the game itself, when you take a step back after finishing the game you realize just how badly scarred everyone is in the story.

Because answers were purposely left vague in order to 1) make the player work for it and 2) keep the 10+ rating, pretty much everyone who plays GTH has a slightly different opinion on what went down at Charlotte’s party, who the Thorntons really are, the circumstances of Clara’s birth, why the children of a female Thornton take their mother’s name — you name it, and there’s around 10 distinct opinions on it, and many more offshoots of those opinions besides.

I’m going to talk a little bit here about a couple of the “biggies”, since I don’t want it cluttering up the Suspect portion of this meta, so bear with me. I’m not so much interested in “this is the Correct answer” as much as just presenting the information from the game and wondering about its conclusions…but I (like everyone else) have my little pet theories, so what follows will be a little bit of reporting, a little bit of inference, and a little bit of supposition.

What follows is a frank discussion of topics such as rape and incest as they apply to GTH. If this is something you’d rather not consume, skip down to the next bolded line.

The most talked-about question left hanging in the game is, of course, who Clara’s father was. I think this question is best addressed from a two-pronged approach, however, because to figure out who Clara’s father could have been is a question that requires another question to be answered: why would Clara’s mother not tell her, even on her deathbed.

The most popular — and horrifying — answer to this is that Clara’s father is Jackson, and that she was a product of rape and incest. Now, just looking at the timeline, this theory adds up; Rosalie (Clara’s mum) would have been 25 when her father was 51 and would have raped her — young enough (especially in relation to her father, a middle-aged man of a lot of power in and out of the family) that she would have been scared to tell anyone anything, but old enough to not have it be super out of the ordinary that she got pregnant and had a baby — especially in 1968.

To add to this theory, there’s the note in the cellar that asks “who was this Jackson?...what’s he hiding, and who put it there? Was it Charlotte?”. If you’re looking for clues with the incest theory in mind, this seems to point directly to it — “who was this Jackson”? both Rosalie and Clara’s father. “What’s he hiding”? his crime of raping his daughter and impregnating her. The mention of Charlotte alludes to the supposition that Charlotte found proof of this crime — tangible proof — and put it somewhere; this pretty much supposes that there’s a document somewhere that names Jackson as Clara’s biological father, such as an admission of guilt or a paternity test.

The final “proof-positive” to this theory is that Rosalie refused to tell Clara who her father was even on her deathbed. We know from the family tree and Wade that Clara was between 5-10 when her mother died (I’m inclined to believe the family tree, and chalk the discrepancy up to either the writers not being concerned with math or, more likely and more charitably, to show that Wade isn’t a Perfectly Reliable source, just like everyone else), and Rosalie’s protection of Clara from the truth makes sense with a child in that age span. It’s one (horrible, horrible) thing to be forcibly impregnated by your father, but to have to say it out loud, and to say it to your child — that’s something that no one can even remotely blame Rosalie for not being up to, especially when weakened by sickness.

There are smaller points — like pointing out that this might be why Virginia (Wade’s mum) was skipped over in inheritance — but these small points have dozens of explanations, so they’re not really good for bolstering a theory unless you’re already dedicated to it and are looking for crumbs to shore it up.

End of frank discussion. The previous topics may be alluded to and/or mentioned, but not discussed in detail from this point on.

Now, let’s talk about another explanation. I think there’s a tendency to jump on the “Jackson Theory” because 1) there are clues that support it, but more importantly 2) because it’s horrifying, and it’s natural to leap to the scariest thing you can think of when considering a game that relies on fridge horror in the first place.

In the “Jackson Theory”, Rosalie would have hidden Clara’s parentage because of shame, horror, and trauma, and probably to (at least momentarily) spare Clara’s feelings — but Jackson isn’t the only explanation for her reticence.

Generally, we can break apart the reasons for Rosalie’s silence into three distinct emotions or emotional states: shame (supports the Jackson Theory), trauma (supports an assault by a known wolf), or, often overlooked, ignorance.

Clara is mentioned repeatedly as being outwardly and obviously scared about her place in the family — a fear borne from and exacerbated in her childhood, as Nik plainly states (“her insecurity wasn’t just a personal flaw, it was a response to her uneven upbringing,” emphasis mine).

An easy way for Rosalie, worried as she must have been about leaving her daughter alone, to fix this if Clara really was a product of incest, is to name a distant Thornton cousin, preferably one who was already dead or out of the picture, as the father, which would assure Clara’s place in the Thornton line by both blood and her future adoption. This way, if Clara’s parentage was tested, she’d show up as a Thornton from both sides in a way that wouldn’t be suspicious, and her daughter would have an easier life.

But Rosalie didn’t do this — she never even hinted at the identity of Clara’s father. As a woman known primarily for secret keeping — not just about Clara, but about everything (“She loved her secrets,” Wade says), Rosalie would have been adept at hiding things through various means, including through lies and subterfuge, not simply staying silent. Given the little we know of Rosalie’s character, then, let’s consider why she wouldn’t have said anything — even something false — to ensure her daughter’s safety when she died.

Looking outside of Jackson (and with any other known Thornton being quite unlikely), the vast majority of assaults are committed by those known to their victim — friends, acquaintances, classmates, etc.

The Thorntons were — and are — an incredibly powerful family, both monetarily and socially. Having dealt with families such as the Thorntons before in matters like this one, it is frankly incredibly unlikely that, had Rosalie been assaulted by someone she knew, that the truth wouldn’t have come to light through another source, and that the perpetrator would have been punished in every way possible.

BRIEF DISCUSSION OF ASSAULT STATISTICS AS THEY RELATE TO ROSALIE’S POSSIBLE CASE.

Some people familiar with only the post-20th-century world as “the modern age” and with a less stellar grasp of the pre-tech-boom world might raise an eyebrow at this supposition of punishment, but this is Exactly what would have happened — and did happen with regularity — even as “far back” as ’68 — especially when the crime was committed against a young, privileged, wealthy woman of the community.

Note, this is after the USMPC adjustment to the definition of rape in ’62, but before the adjustments in the early 70s; in 9 years, forcible rape rates (this number includes only female victims, so the true number of victims is indisputably higher, given the enormous jump in rape statistics in 2016-present as male cases have been included) had soared in the United States from around 17,000 per year in 1960 to, in the year Clara was born, 31,000 reported cases (source: DisasterCenter). With these soaring numbers came soaring awareness, and combined with Rosalie’s identity as a rich, powerful young woman in a rich, powerful family, it’s on the outside of belief that, had her attacker’s identity been known or suspected, that it could have remained a secret and gone unpunished.

END OF BRIEF DISCUSSION OF ASSAULT STATISTICS AS THEY RELATE TO ROSALIE’S POSSIBLE CASE.

Given this historical and social backing, the simplest and unavoidable potential answer to why Rosalie wouldn’t have either told Clara who her father was or made up a “brief love” who abandoned her Dishonorably, is this: she didn’t know.

(I’ll spare a mention here to say that, ignorance because of being a “wild child” in the 60s and having had multiple partners would be a possible theory, but it disregards everything else we know about Rosalie and her behavior, and that her reputation as a party girl would have been common knowledge, unable to be hidden from those who were alive at the time. So let’s move on to what else would cause ignorance.)

Though attacks by a person unknown to the victim are, in relation to known assailants, rare, in the absence of other evidence, the simplest answer to Clara’s parentage was that Rosalie was assaulted by someone that she did not know and had no way of knowing — and who had no idea of the social power of his victim.

Rosalie truly left nothing behind that points to her daughter’s parentage, even for later discovery or for Clara’s private eyes in a bank lockbox when she came of an Age that Rosalie deemed appropriate — so the conclusion to be drawn is, in the absence of evidence, that Rosalie didn’t answer Clara’s question because she simply couldn’t.

This ties into the other theory/mystery I want to cover here — that of what happened the night Charlotte died, and how (and in what way) Clara was culpable and responsible for Charlotte’s death. We know that, according to her, Clara went there simply to “scare” Charlotte — and given the circumstances that Clara gives this confession in, I’m inclined to believe her — and it’s my opinion that the reason didn’t have anything to do with the truth of the identity of Clara’s father.

My stance here — and it’s here that I take a solid stance, rather than presenting options — with Charlotte (and I’ll talk more about her general character in the Suspects section) is that Charlotte found the same breadcrumbs as the players did and came to the same conclusion — that Jackson was Clara’s biological father. The difference, however, is that I believe Charlotte’s conclusion to be understandable, but ultimately incorrect, and that Rosalie’s assaulter was a stranger.

Horrified, this is where Charlotte’s “cryptic obsession with Jackson” (mentioned in the note in the cellar) began, and what led to her changing the beneficiary of her will from Clara — poor, pitiable Clara, already a victim of so much, whose insecurities would be compounded by this truth — to Harper.

An important part of this theory — and of really any theory — is the consideration that Clara was pregnant with Jessalyn at the time. Not only does this partially explain why Clara’s thought was to save herself (and her baby) rather than dragging Charlotte out with her (regardless of any other factor), but it also brings a potential answer as to why Charlotte would change her will to favor Harper, rather than Clara. Just as the cellar note asks “Who was this Jackson?”, I find myself asking a similar, but no less important question:

“Who was this Austin Neely?”

Listed as Jessalyn’s (still living) father on the family tree, Austin Neely isn’t present anywhere else in the game — not by name and not through mentions of “Jessalyn’s father” or “Clara’s ex-husband/ex-boyfriend” or anything like that. There’s not even a mention of Clara contacting him as a guest for the wedding or to help search for their daughter. His absence is glaring, especially in a game so focused around family — so the question of who is Austin Neely is a question that seems incredibly important to me, given that Clara was pregnant at the time of Charlotte’s death.

In mentioning this theory, I do fully acknowledge that I have only some circumstantial evidence — mostly emotional, and based off of who the characters are/were — to support it, but given the total lack of information on Austin Neely, my guess is as good as anything else.

So here’s my theory: Austin Neely is not Jessalyn’s father, and Clara, like her mother, became pregnant via some type of assault (and given that this was the late 80s and given Clara’s age at the time, I would say the most likely culprit is date rape). When Clara became aware that she was pregnant, given her insecurities about her place in the Thornton clan and her lack of knowledge of her own father, would have come to this conclusion: she was not going to let her baby go through what she herself went through. So she did what her mother could have — and honestly speaking, probably should have — done, and lied.

Austin Neely was probably a friend or an acquaintance of Clara’s — someone her family didn’t really know, but that she could make up a story about dating/being engaged to and became pregnant by before it all fell apart. He would have likely received a payout (probably a rather large payout, given the Thornton’s money and influence) and disappeared from the area and the Thornton’s lives, signing off any responsibility or claim to “their” child before he left.

As a result of this, her child now has a father and doesn’t have to grow up wondering, and Clara avoids the stigma, court case, and general Uproar that would come with attempting to find her attacker. She also, importantly for her, avoids that mess for her child, who will grow up in a semi-normal atmosphere, surrounded by family, not doubting her place in the world — and no one has to know.

Except, of course, one person would know. The head of the family: Charlotte Thornton. From then on, based on this series of events, the story behind Charlotte’s death becomes quite straightforward.

Clara’s paranoia and general cleverness clue her in to the fact that Charlotte has changed her will in Harper’s favor, and is scared out of her mind; having recently experienced a trauma and being pregnant with a child, she’s afraid that she will be left with absolutely nothing, that her machinations with Austin Neely and all her striving will have been for nothing, and she will be cast off, unable to give her child the life she wants to give her.

Compounded by her ground-in fear that she does not belong, she decides to try to settle it with Charlotte — she’s going to scare her, to punish her, and make Charlotte rethink the changed will.

And Charlotte, bearing the weight of the family name and business, not to mention its continued propagation on her shoulders, sees a woman who has been — like her mother — assaulted and left pregnant, whose mental state is already fragile, and who the “revelation” of who Charlotte thinks her true father is would topple her completely — sees poor, pitiable, emotional, suspicious Clara, and refuses.

I think that, more than anything else, would have set Clara off. Remember what she yells at Charlotte’s ghost?

“You had so much, so much, and I had nothing.”

In answering some of the questions about the game, Nik/HER’s response is to say that Clara did not literally light the match that burned Charlotte alive — but we know that Charlotte burned all the same. In the video of her birthday, there are candles; in the dust and soot on the floor where Charlotte died, we see candlesticks. And in the response, again, we know that Charlotte lit the candles for the celebration.

In my ASH meta, I discussed the many meanings of the word “fire” and the term “setting the fire” — and that’s important here too. In this case, the fire was set by Charlotte refusing to reconsider the terms of her will; in her refusal, she probably touched on the same point that she makes in the note in her room — that Clara isn’t stable enough to take over the company. Now, I doubt she would have said that straight to Clara’s face, but even framed as a “you have enough to be going on with and I don’t want to burden you” sort of thing, that just would have reaffirmed all of Clara’s fears — that she was unwanted by the Thornton clan, that her child would be unwanted as a matter of course, and that she would truly have nothing.

And so my guess would be that Clara shoved her. Not hard enough to break anything, not even into a direct flame, but shoved her, and Charlotte jostled the table, and a candelabra fell to the floor, where we see it still in the modern day.

When Nancy sees Charlotte’s ghost out in that house — and yes, I’m firm on that being Charlotte’s actual ghost, as she’s out in the open air so carbon monoxide doesn’t figure in, and there’s no way for that to be Harper/Jessalyn — she burns from the skirt up, which follows with a candle falling to the floor and lighting that incredibly flammable dress on fire.

The last thing to note from HER/Nik’s response is that at the end of the game, Nancy faces the exact same choice that the Thorntons have: to help, or to save herself. In this, we have to look back to Clara and Charlotte, and conclude this: Clara chose not to help. It’s debatable how much help she could have really been — we’re not sure how pregnant she was at the time — or if it even occurred to her until she was already out and chose not to go back in — but at the very least, Clara’s guilt comes not only from the fact that she quarreled with Charlotte right before her death, but that she could have tried to prevent it, and didn’t.

Given the supposition that Charlotte was literally on fire, I really do doubt that getting her out or finding water to throw on her would have been successful, but it doesn’t matter — because Clara looks at it as a choice, and Clara (more importantly) looks at it as the wrong choice, and a choice that she’s been punished for since the day it happened. That’s why, when speaking to Charlotte’s ghost, she says this:

“Haven’t I suffered enough for you?”

The last point I want to make in this OBSCENELY long introduction is about GTH’s place in the pantheon of “Haunting Games”. When you look at the bare-bones (heh) circumstances that make up GTH, you’ll start to see shades of other games.

A relationship/marriage gone a bit wrong, a family secret, an ancestral home, a relative/ancestor whose spectre looms over the story, mysterious apparitions and appearances, and Nancy’s status as an outsider and a skeptic — yeah, both CUR and HAU should come to mind immediately.

Having said my piece about, well, the badness of CUR and HAU and their unsuccessful approach to their basic plot points, it delights me that GTH takes a good hard look at them and says “well, what if we did this well this time? What if we gave our characters the complexity, the emotional resonance, the secrets and lies that we should have the first time?”

Like CUR and HAU, the Family is at the center of the game — except this time we believe in this family, in their relationships to one another, and we feel the effects of the family and their choices, not just hear about it from a diffident 9-year-old or a cranky caretaker. The history of the Thornton clan comes alive through the house, the graveyard, the books and journals that we have of them. We understand what this family is and the choices that they make — even if we don’t approve of them — and they feel real, not just like a background chucked in to Make The Spooky Things Happen.

Also like CUR and HAU, we deal with a central relationship and the complexities that come over two people deciding to get married. Happily, this game (unlike CUR and HAU) treats the central relationship as a thing of Import, and comes to the conclusion that it’s the happiness and well-suitedness of the couple that matters, not the family that surrounds them or anything else. It asks the question “what happens if one person runs away from the relationship?” and answers it, quite satisfactorily, with “there are probably some issues that need ironed out before anything else should happen”.

Interestingly, GTH also takes the good points of CUR and HAU – especially HAU’s atmosphere and CUR’s love of family tidbits — and improves upon them as well. Instead of Jane showing off her studies so that Nancy can solve a few puzzles, Wade walks her through the Thorntons were (at least in his eyes) and helps her get to know the people she’s helping. Instead of being duly impressed at the atmosphere in a bombed-out castle, everywhere on the island is teeming with fog — literal and figurative — as Nancy tries to decode the past to help the future.

Now then, let’s leave the general behind, and focus on the specifics of GTH.

The Title:

Ghost of Thornton Hall is a great title in the way that Secret of the Scarlet Hand is a great title – moody, evocative, gives us our location/focus right away, but not in a way that spoils anything, etc. If anything, it’s a little more flexible – are we dealing with The Ghost of Thornton Hall (Charlotte), the ghost(s) of the Thornton family, the ghosts of those who died on the island, or — in a very fun way — are we talking about the ghost of Thornton Hall — the spirit of the building where so much life and death has happened?

As a title for a Haunting game, you really don’t get much better than GTH, and it centers the player’s attention right where it should be — on the messed up family that the game centers around, and how their past impacts their future.

The Mystery:

Nancy’s phone rings in the middle of the night, with Savannah Woodham’s drawl on the other end, informing her of a kidnapping that’s taken place. She’d go herself, but believes wholeheartedly – and is frightened by — the ghost that’s taken up residence on Blackrock Island, Georgia, and doesn’t believe she’d be enough help.

Of course, this isn’t the whole truth, but we’ll get into that later.

Armed with both her detective skills and her inherent skepticism, Nancy sets off for Georgia to find the missing bride-to-be. Of course, when she gets there, she quickly discovers that the family — and family history — is even murkier and laced with tragedy than the presence of a ghost would suggest, and that, even with everyone searching for Jessalyn Thornton, she is nowhere to be found.

To find her, Nancy has to delve deep into the Thornton family lore, Jessalyn’s relationships with her family and friends – not to mention her preoccupied fiancé — and figure out what really did happen to dear, sweet Charlotte Thornton nearly two decades ago…

GTH, as a mystery, is chock-full of hints, clues, red herrings, and background facts that make figuring out the truth behind everything a joy and a delight — not to mention a task that will take more than one playthrough. GTH is also unique in that its mystery can end in more than one way, and that Nancy’s choices actually have more of an impact than just what souvenir she sends home to her erstwhile boyfriend. Choosing to save herself, to save just the “innocent” (for a certain value of innocence), or to save everyone leads to different endings not just for Nancy but for everyone involved with the Thornton Clan, from its matriarch all the way down to a certain spook-hunting ex-girlfriend.

Underpinning the mystery is this question: did Charlotte really come back as a ghost to haunt Blackrock and the Thorntons, or are her appearances just the result of sneaky relatives and atmospheric maleficence? Can all of the sightings be explained by a mixture of carbon monoxide poisoning, a few relatives playing dress-up, and huge amounts of suggestion and guilt? Is it the case, as Rentaro posited a few games earlier, that a ghost doesn’t have to be real to haunt you?

In a word, no. In a few more words, of course not.

Tying the whole of the ‘haunting’ mysteries together is this (previously mentioned) fact: Nancy is not remarkable for being a Skeptic, she is remarkable for being a Skeptic in a world where ghosts exist. The moving wood (and possibly the silhouette) in MHM, Camille’s ghost dancing along in TRN, the reflection of Kasumi in the water in SAW, the ghost of the Willow in GTH — these are all real, unexplainable-by-tech-or-imagination ghost sightings, and the fact that Nancy doesn’t believe in them doesn’t change their reality one bit.

In the house, you can cite carbon monoxide and Jessalyn/Harper running around in a costume for at least some of them — though not all. But the sightings outside — carbon monoxide does not stay in the system for very long in clear air, blessedly — of Charlotte? The consistency of the spectre? The apparition of her burning up at the site of her birthday party? These aren’t things that you can explain by costume theater — especially since these sightings have been happening for over a decade by people who haven’t stepped foot in Thornton Hall.

When they say that Blackrock belongs to Charlotte and has since the fire, it’s not a literary turn of phrase — Charlotte is there, and refuses to be forgotten. Nancy’s status as a Skeptic prevents her from hysteria, but it does not stop her from being haunted by the Ghost of Thornton Hall.

Now, let’s talk about the players — dead and alive — that make this mystery as complicated and dark as it is.

The Suspects:

Beginning with the matriarch of the Thorntons seems as good a place to start as any, so let’s talk about Clara Thornton. Cousin to Charlotte and Harper, Clara was taken in after her mother’s untimely death (but before her aunt and uncle’s equally untimely deaths) and became the equivalent of a sister in at least Charlotte and Harper’s eyes — though Clara herself was always unsettled and wary about her place in the family.

After the events of Charlotte’s tragic birthday (covered above), Clara visited Charlotte’s grave every night for a year, and was hospitalized after being pushed off of the widow’s walk (more on this later). Whether due to her upbringing or her Thornton blood – or, most likely, both — Clara is secretive, paranoid, wracked with guilt…and a loving mother and extremely capable businesswoman.

Though GTH doesn’t actually have a culprit —Jessalyn wasn’t kidnapped and Charlotte wasn’t murdered — Clara is, as the resident secret keeper and witness to Charlotte’s death, the closest thing that we’ve got. Clara’s sense of guilt is far beyond anything that she could have done, and is haunted so completely as to turn her rather cold.

I have a lot of sympathy for Clara, who made a mistake in a fit of anger (whether that’s pushing Charlotte or just not helping her when she started to burn) at the age of 21 and has been wracked with guilt and haunted by the spectre — real and imagined — of her ‘sister’ ever since (not to mention knowing that her other ‘sister’ blamed and hated her for it). Charlotte died before she had the time to make too many mistakes, but Clara had the entirety of the estate and the business — thousands of people’s livelihoods — thrust into her hand when she was a single mother of 21 years of age. Even had Clara been completely stable, it would have been a lot, and it’s no wonder that she rules the company with an iron fist.

I also want to point out that, due to Harper’s breakdown at the funeral and her afterwards, that even had Charlotte’s second will been found right then, Clara still would have inherited until at least Harper received her bill of mental health, as the closest heir to Charlotte of (legally) sound mind and body.

Let’s talk then about the other heir, Harper Thornton. A fan favorite for a myriad of reasons — her Helena-Bonham-Carter-esque design, her wonderful VA (props to Keri Healey, voice of Hotchkiss, Sally, Paula, Simone, and Madeline!) knocking her lines out of the park, and her dark sense of humor, Harper is, like most of the Thorntons, incredibly unstable, paranoid, violent…an affectionate aunt, and a pretty darn good detective in her own right.

Since GTH doesn’t have a ‘culprit’, Harper stands in her own guilty/not guilty paradigm along with Clara. She had nothing to do with Charlotte’s death personally, but was the one who caused assorted injuries and thousands of dollars in property damage at the funeral, and the one who pushed Clara off the widow’s walk and hospitalized her. Yes, Harper was young — 18 when Charlotte died, but pushing your cousin/sister off of a balcony is wrong at any age.

It’s worth noting that of the three Thornton ‘sisters’, one is guilty of some degree of manslaughter/criminal negligence, and the other of attempted murder. When Charlotte notes that she herself has a dose of the “Thornton paranoia”, she’s not just whistling Dixie.

The biggest problem the Thorntons have, honestly speaking, is that all of them are way too emotional and react without thinking. Clara confronting Charlotte, Charlotte not taking Clara aside to talk about the will, Harper’s injuring of others and blaming/pushing Clara, Wade destroying machinery, Jessalyn disappearing rather than talking things out…none of the Thorntons, past or present, have seemed to think with their brains since the woman who received the land on Blackrock Island after the Civil War in the first place.

In keeping with the theme, I want to talk about Charlotte Thornton next. A girl who inherited the Thornton land and business at way too young an age — I don’t even wanna know why Jackson hated his adult daughter Virginia (and yes, I know that there’s a supposition to this in the “Jackson Theory”, but it’s pure supposition) so much that he would stake the family future on a 20-year-old, no matter how much everyone liked her — after the death of her parents four years prior, Charlotte was the darling of the Thornton family.

Well-liked by everyone with a beautiful singing voice, Charlotte was nonetheless every inch a Thornton; she outright acknowledged her own paranoia, kept secrets and locked rooms closer to her than her family, and had a flair for the dramatic and emotional. After considering her cousin/sister Clara too unstable for the task of inheriting the family Business, Charlotte, rather than turning to her older aunt or naming multiple beneficiaries to ease the load, instead leaves 100% of it to her younger sister Harper.

I do want to point out the irony here in leaving the business to Harper over Clara on the grounds of mental stability. Whatever else Charlotte was good at, she was not a good judge of character, even giving leeway for her being 21.

After her death, Charlotte haunts the family home, unable to leave the place that was, for a year, hers to inherit. But why would ‘dear, sweet’ Charlotte haunt, frighten, and otherwise unsettle those around her — from family to neighbors to curious kids — especially to the extent that she does?

To answer that question, we need to talk about the family member that everyone says is incredibly close to Charlotte in personality — our missing bride, Jessalyn Thornton.

Clara’s daughter, Jessalyn is painted as being a sort of return of Charlotte; everyone loves her (all Thornton employees are combing the island looking for her, for heaven’s sake), everyone agrees on her, and she’s next in line to inherit the Thornton family business. She’s even around Charlotte’s age (24, rather than 21, but close enough) during the game, for heaven’s sake — the comparisons are not subtle, nor are they meant to be.

Since it’s more than halfway through the game that Nancy meets Jessalyn, the things that people say about her are the best clues to her personality that we have…right?

Everyone agrees that Jessalyn would never run off and make people worry like this, that even if she was scared or had second thoughts about the wedding or even just needed to be alone, that she would never do this to her family. And, as it turns out, everyone — her mother, her uncle, her best-friend-cum-fiancé — everyone is wrong. Jessalyn did exactly that — she ran off, made everyone worry, and didn’t think about her family, friends, fiancé, or employees one bit.

It also takes her no effort at all to fully believe a woman she’s never met that her mom is a vicious, cackling murderer just because her (single, incredibly busy) mother is a bit emotionally cold, so she’s also not a great judge of character.

And remember, we’re told over and over again — Jessalyn is just like Charlotte. Sure, Jessalyn is also our Nancy foil in this game — a young woman who needs to learn the truth about her mother, coerced/guided by a quasi-unreliable source, worrying her family by running off — and that’s important for Nancy’s character, but Jessalyn is first and foremost our Charlotte analogue. Jessalyn’s family and friends don’t understand who Jessalyn is…so I think it’s fair to say that Charlotte’s family and friends didn’t understand who Charlotte was, either.

We see Charlotte, through her writings and actions, could be thoughtless, was a poor judge of character, was secretive and paranoid — all things that no one even alludes to when speaking of her. Sure, there’s the idea of not speaking ill of the dead, but someone would have noted these things, even fondly or mildly.

So why would Charlotte haunt this place, haunt these people, when she was so good and kind and loved everyone? The simplest answer, the least convoluted explanation, is just that she wasn’t. That the Thorntons didn’t understand Charlotte, as much as they loved her, just like they didn’t understand Jessalyn.

Speaking of Thorntons who may be misunderstood, we’ll focus on Wade Thornton next. A little more rough-and-tumble and a little less refined than his relatives seem to be, Wade is introspective, superstitious, hard-working, and a bit gloomy…along with having some anger issues, vast amounts of distrust, and a bit of egotism.

Wade’s (at least legally) guilty of a few things in the past, but since he won’t even go into Thornton Hall, he’s a pretty easy cross-off of our list of suspects. Wade’s there to give Nancy information on the Thornton Clan, to provide the explanation as for (partially) why Savannah isn’t there herself, and to show another facet of the Thorntons — their anger.

Whether or not you agree with Wade’s actions that led to Clara pressing charges — though I think everyone can agree it’s pretty stupid to destroy your own family’s machinery, especially when the only danger to the employees was caused by him scaring them half to death — and it highlights that Wade, philosophical though he is, is just as much a Thornton as those he despises. He even calls himself out on it – that while he used to think he was on the side of “Good Thorntons”, he’s not so sure anymore.

The best (serious) line in the game does come from Wade — I will be in love with his description of dating Savannah as “[falling] for her like a Black Tuesday banker” until I die. It’s a perfect metaphor without sounding pretentious, and shows just how bleak his own worldview really is.

Next is The Fiancé, Colton Birchfield, who has the most hilariously WASP-y name to ever come out of a Nancy Drew game. A man who’s struggled with depression and anxiety all his life, Colton was born to two politicians and has lived in the spotlight — and his marriage to Jessalyn is getting just as show-stopper-y as a campaign trail before she disappeared.

I mentioned above that the resolution to Colton and Jessalyn’s relationship is the healthy, sane version of what should have happened in CUR and HAU, and I stand by that. While I don’t necessarily like him going back to Lexi after the game is over — a relationship interrupted by one party being paid off is not the healthy, loving, loyal relationship that Colton needs — it’s clear that he and Jessalyn would have made each other content, but never fulfilled romantically.

Colton’s guilty of nothing more than not being in love with his best friend, and he’s a refreshing breath of air as someone related tangentially to, but not cast down by, the Thornton family drama. He may get less sympathy than our other cast members, but he’s no less deserving of it, and I’m really rooting for him to find someone that will give him the same amount of love and loyalty that he’ll give them.

We’ll journey outside the Thornton family and their (almost) relations for our next ‘suspect’. Addison Hammond, Jessalyn’s friend and bridesmaid, makes a cameo phone appearance here to tell us that Thornton Hall is Totes Spooky, and that Jessalyn vanished not once, but twice in the night.

I quite enjoy Addison, not because she plays a big part or because she’s an exceptional character — she’s as bare-bones as we get in the later games (ignoring MED/SEA/MID), honestly — but because she’s simply a girl in her 20s reacting the way that most of us would if our unnecessarily spooky friend dragged us to an old haunted house and then vanished twice. Good for you, girl.

Coming in for a wonderful appearance is Savannah Woodham, ex-ghost hunter, ex-girlfriend of Wade Thornton, and the detective who was supposed to be on the case. Savannah’s too scared of the Ghost (and too reticent to talk to Wade face-to-face) to risk stepping foot on Blackrock Island herself, but she’s more than willing to send the biggest skeptic she knows, hoping that Nancy’s skepticism will keep her safe.

As lovely as Savannah is in SAW — and I adore her in that game — she really shines in GTH. Probably the biggest moment she gets in the game — and probably my second favorite moment in the game period — is her tale of tracing the shape of the old willow tree on her wall, only to have a body discovered under that exact willow tree after a storm. It’s a delightfully creepy — and most importantly, completely inexplicable by any means other than accepting that the supernatural exists — moment, and I think it’s key to understanding Savannah as a character in GTH.

Savannah suffers under the weight of knowing that there truly are Things that Go Bump in the Night, that can’t be arrested or captured or gotten rid of by normal, legal means. Her background knowledge of the Thorntons helps Nancy to get an initial feel for the family, and it helps to not have an ex-girlfriend wandering around that the Thorntons might have a grudge against or dislike for.

She is, in effect, the mirror image of Nancy — what Nancy might have become without her inborn skepticism — and that alone, even ignoring everything else about her, is fascinating to me.

Our other phone contacts are Ned Nickerson and Bess Marvin, teamed up due to George’s absence while doing an internship (at Technology of Tomorrow Today, no less!) and Bess’ extreme boredom without anyone else to hang out with.

The lovely thing about Ned and Bess is that we get to see Ned when he’s not Solo Boyfriend Ned, but a college guy hanging out with his friend. Their light-hearted banter is hilarious and comfortable (Bess dramatically asking permission to do a spit-take in his living room is of particular note), and we really get to see a different side of Nancy’s oft-abandoned boyfriend.

You can tell that their voice actors are having a terrific time as well (Scott Carty’s pitch-perfect imitation of Jennifer Pratt’s cadence and tone makes me laugh every time), and it really helps bring a bright and colorful spot to this otherwise rather tense and grim mystery.

We’ll round out our character list with the quasi-amateur, quasi-professional detective herself, Nancy Drew. Through her foil with Jessalyn — discussed above, so I won’t get too into it here — we get to see Nancy in a slightly different light, and get to look at the effect that she has on those around her when she disappears.

We know Carson and Ned (and occasionally Bess/George, and even more occasionally, Hannah) worry about Nancy while she’s off on a case, but this is the first time Nancy herself is dealing with what she leaves behind every time she jets off to Venice, or gets trapped in a lava tube, or lost in a rock maze. Nancy hasn’t investigated a straight-up kidnapping (or what appears to be one) since Maya in FIN (no, I’m not counting HAU, as it’s not played as a kidnapping nor does anyone think it is until 2/3 of the way through the game), and she has the same sense of urgency here that she did back then.

Upon replaying the game, the player will lose that sense of urgency for Jessalyn — we know she’s alive and well, and was never kidnapped — but Nancy’s reactions to the family are what stay interesting. She’s concerned for Jessalyn, but does most of her detective work through getting a sense of what the rest of the family thinks of the missing girl.

Given Nancy’s reputation as a good girl, a solid presence (if an occasional one) who loves her family and friends, and who is always responsible, it’s easy to see why she misses the one question that would have helped her solve the case in half of the time: what if Jessalyn isn’t missing? After all, Jessalyn, like Nancy, would never jet off after hearing an unsubstantiated claim about her mother without telling anyone or pausing to confirm it through a different, more trustworthy source, right?

In this game, we discover a huge characteristic about Nancy: she is reckless. Now, we know this already from other games — that Nancy is reckless physically, confronting bad guys alone, diving down into murky catacombs, jumping from pillars in ancient tombs — but here we see that she’s also reckless emotionally. Even though it interferes with her investigation, Nancy gets personally involved in this case; she’s mad at Colton for “cheating” on Jessalyn, she’s upset by the tragedy of Charlotte’s death, and she’s concerned for Jessalyn’s safety in a different way than she usually is with a victim or suspect.

Nancy’s always been willing to take huge risks, but she always stays emotionally on the surface level of a case — a good and necessary trait for a detective, and one that allows her to face down killers, saboteurs, and forgers without blinking. Here, Nancy’s dragged down into the web of the Thorntons, and — as we see in the middle and bad endings especially — she doesn’t quite recover from it. Nancy loses a bit of objectivity here, but what she gains is humanity — and she’ll need that for the last two games in this meta series.

The Favorite:

With such a well-executed game — even though it doesn’t fall in my personal top 5 ranking — there’s going to be a lot to love, so let’s get down to it.

My favorite puzzle is probably Nancy’s trek to ‘discover’ the ‘ghost’ — aka completing Harper’s tasks in order to meet her, culminating with reciting Charlotte’s rhyme while blindfolded. It’s a different kind of puzzle than the type we get commonly with Nancy Drew games, and really helped spark and keep the tension needed to maintain such a spooky game.

My favorite moment in the game is a quieter one — it’s Nancy’s remarks on Charlotte’s room. She’s taken aback at how, after a game of everyone talking about Charlotte, that it’s opening the door to her room that cements Charlotte as a living, breathing person. She continues that she can’t let that feeling distract her, that she needs to treat the room like the rest of the house and gather tools that will let her find Jessalyn, but it’s lovely to see the effect of the Thornton’s history really settle into Nancy’s bones as Charlotte Thornton turns from a scary rhyme that children chant to a girl who lived and died in the same walls that Nancy’s exploring.

There are, of course, other things that I love — the objectively creepy poem (“we’ll let you share with Charlotte/a gown of coal and glowing flame” is an incredible line), Savannah’s story about the willow tree, the small Francy crumbs of Frank being sullen after his Very Revealing voicemail in DED and considering an MBA, the multi-layered relationship that Wade and Savannah have, the gorgeous detail of Thornton Hall — and all of these add up to a game that’s frankly just enjoyable to play.

The big thing to mention in this game, as I talked a bit about in the intro, is its atmosphere.

Throughout the entire game, there’s this palpable feeling of death and grief and loss and pure pain, and those emotions are what GTH relies on to keep itself Scary, not the few spectre scares and swinging scythes that it also has to offer.

I don’t normally quote things other than the games/words of the cast and crew in these metas, but I do make exceptions when the quotation is this good, so I tip my hat here to Tumblr user aniceworld, speaking about ranking GTH their top Nancy Drew game of all time:

“The reason GTH is so successful as a scary game is because there’s such a pervasive sense of sorrow at Thornton Hall. People have died here who shouldn’t have. A family has been destroyed. The house has seen so much trauma it can literally no longer stand on its own. There are ghosts that live here, whether you can see them or not.”

This horror is far better than bloody slashers or obnoxious “continuous mysterious accidents”-style thrillers that tend to permeate the genre; instead of random death-by-umbrella or scary-guy-in-the-shower incidents driving the plot, the emotion behind death and loss and betrayal gets to take a turn at the wheel, and the game is much better for it.

The Un-Favorite:

As with any game, however, no matter how good the atmosphere, there are some things that I don’t love.

I’m not actually the biggest fan of Harper; while her design is great and her VA does a spectacular job, she’s a little cartoonish among a cast that endeavors to stay as far away from broad stereotypes as possible.

It’s fine to have a large personality, it’s fine that she’s a bit cracked, it’s great that she has her own reasons and motivations beyond “expose the truth” (especially since she’s not interested in exposing the truth, just in proving that Clara’s a murderer) — she’s just really not my cup of tea, and I prefer Harper as the Anonymous Note Leaver to Harper the Conversational Partner.

Even if she does get some of the best lines in the game.

I don’t really have a least favorite moment or puzzle that sticks out to me; there are puzzles I struggle more or less with, but none of them are immersion-breaking or so frustrating that I have to get up and walk away. The ones I love, I enjoy solving; the ones I don’t love, I turn to the walkthrough and finish them up to get on with the story.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Ghost of Thornton Hall?

Even given my small problems with Harper, I’m not sure I’d change her. Sure, she’s a bit Broad for the game, generally speaking, but she’s also another example of what loss can do to a person — it can make you cold and withdrawn, it can make you righteously angry and dismissive…or it can turn you malicious and violent. She’s an important presence regardless of my personal taste, and while I might tweak a line of dialogue or two, it’s important to note that her Persona is just another thing for Nancy to discover and re-discover as she investigates the Thorntons.

While not a perfect game — very few, if any, of the Nancy Drew games qualify for that title — Ghost of Thornton Hall is an excellent entry in the Nancy Drew series as a whole, and in the smaller series of Nancy-centric games. Through it, we get to see what happens to those who are left behind after a tragic, sudden, and even violent loss — and that becomes more and more important as we leave behind the gloomy Georgia island and leap across the pond to Glasgow.

#nancy drew #nancy drew games #clue crew #ghost of thornton hall #nancy drew meta #GTH #my meta #long post #video games

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stargazer-balladeer · 4 years ago

Text

Their Reaction to their S/o Having Fear of Bugs [Pokémon]

Characters Included: Bugsy, Aaron, Burgh, Viola & Guzma

Note: I posted this in Quotev, but I decided to post it here as well :) I think the Bug Type Users are underrated so this is me showing love towards them :3 This could also be me being “self-indulgent” as usual o3o. Hope you enjoy this :3 (Hope they aren’t too OOC though ;-;)

Reader’s Gender: Neutral

Warning: Mild spoilers in Aaron’s for his Anime appearance

BUGSY

Of course this boy will be saddened at the fact that you have fear of the type he expertise at (he's called "The Walking Bug Pokémon Encyclopedia" for a reason). But he's actually understanding, I mean, have you seen him?! He's so innocent looking!

Anyway, he's a patient and understanding man. If you two hang out, he'll try his best not to let out his Pokemon around you, or near you at most. But sometimes, his Pokemon does the exact opposite of what he wants. Scyther is, unfortunately for you, an affectionate type. So she'll be trying to hug you, and you'll be frozen still as Bugsy sweatdropped at the background.

If ever you two live together, you might need to get used to his Pokemon team. Especially since Bugsy likes keeping stray Bug-Pokemon if he ever sees one just wandering around and wounded. One time, he brought in a Pinsir, and you're just so frightened by it that you'll not go near the (poor) Pinsir.

Bugsy, for sure, would try to make your fear go away, but he wouldn't push it. He makes your comfort his number 1 priority. But he wouldn't admit out loud that he's actually hurt that he has a s/o that has fear of bugs, but he understands. He knew that Bug Pokemon isn't exactly a Pokemon that you would normally not fond of.

BUT! If you actually ask for Bugsy's help for helping you get over your fear, he would be ECSTATIC. He would grab a Butterfree, whom he befriended in the forest, and start from there. It would be, of course, be hard but he's patient with you and doesn't rush you. He's an ideal boyfriend to have really (I'm so jealous ToT SANAOL).

"Okay, [Y/N].. just place your hand here." Bugsy instructed while pointing at Butterfree's head, which made the Pokemon chirp happily while still fluttering. [Y/N] gulped while staring at the flying Bug-Type, they were far away from Bugsy and Butterfree. Bugsy offered them a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, [Y/N]! If you're not ready yet, then--" "NO" Both Bugsy and Butterfree jumped at [Y/N]'s voice.

[Y/N] took a deep shaky breath while clenching their fists in determination. "I-I want to.. I-I'm ready.." To prove their point, they started walking towards the two gawking figures. Bugsy quickly recovers as he smiled brightly at his s/o's determination. He lightly pats the back of Butterfree, nodding his head at the Pokemon, who nodded back at him. [Y/N] walked towards them with confidence, which gradually fades the nearer they got. They stop infront of the fluttering Pokemon as they stare at the two beady eyes of it. It was creepy that it made shivers go down [Y/N]'s spine.

[Y/N] snapped out of their trance when a warm hand cupped their clenched hands, which was turning white from how hard their clenching. [Y/N] look at Bugsy with wide eyes, as they stare at him bringing their hands to his mouth and kissing it. He opens his eyes and smiled at them. "Relax yourself. I know you can do it.. just give it a try, alright?" Bugsy said in a soft tone, to which his s/o nodded their heads. His smile broadened as he intertwines his right hand with their left while guiding the other to the expecting Butterfree.

[Y/N] could see that their hand is gradually going near the butterfly-Pokemon, so they squeeze their eyes tight as they expect to feel the head of Butterfree. Bugsy felt his s/o tense so he use his thumb to run circles on her hand. "Look at me, [Y/N]." When his s/o did that, he smiled at them. While [Y/N] was distracted, he quickly but gently puts her hand on top of Butterfree's head. They squealed when Bugsy did that, but soon began relaxing at the feeling of Butterfree's head. "Whoa! It's so soft!" [Y/N] cried as they began petting the head.

Butterfree happily chirps at the feeling, enjoying it's head being rubbed. Bugsy watched as his s/o pets the Bug-Pokemon with a happy and proud grin on his face. "You did it, darling! You did it!" Bugsy enthusiastically hugs [Y/N] while them still petting the Butterfree. "It's so soft.. and rather cute." Bugsy happily chuckles at her statement while hugging her tighter. "I think you can touch Scyther now, [Y/N]." [Y/N] absentmindedly nodded their head, still distracted by how soft Butterfree's head is.

They were enjoying the moment, when a familiar-looking green Bug-Pokemon came in view. She was running towards the hugging couple. This caught all of them off-guard as Bugsy lets go of [Y/N], and [Y/N] being engulfed by the enthusiastic Scyther. Bugsy and Butterfree blinks in confusion as they look over at [Y/N] frozen state and Scyther cuddling the poor [gender]. Bugsy and Butterfree sweatdrops at the sight before both sighing.

"Too soon."

AARON

Aaron went through a stage where he hated Bug-pokemon (mainly his Wurmple, now a Beautifly) and though they were useless and weak. But he soon regretted it and was reunited by his precious Pokemon. He, out of all the guys and girl, can relate to you the most and understand your fear, probably better than Bugsy.

Even though he looks like an impatient guy, he's actually patient. I mean, he has a team of Bug Pokemon, and you need patient when using them in battle. So he's a patient guy, especially to you as his s/o.

Have you seen his team? Yeah. It's not an ideal team to have if your s/o have fear of bugs. Luckily, they don't fit inside the house, if you two live together. But going outside, he would probably not let his Pokemon out if your around like Burgh. But unlike his, his Pokemon understands the situation and just sTAY IN THE BALL.

You're probably not really scared at his Beautifly, I mean, yeah it's a bug. But it's too beautiful to not like it. But you still froze when Beautifly comes near you. Aaron is just relieved that atleast you're not afraid of one of his Pokemon.

Like I said earlier in the first bullet, he went and gone that stage. So he understands. But if you don't want or like his Pokemon type, then bye-bye. He probably doesn't be with you if you did that so... yeah. I can see him as a guy that wants his s/o to be willing to grow out of their shell, rather than being inside. But if he sees that's not gonna happen, then I'm sorry. He'll dump you straightaway.

BUT if you do want to get over your fear, he will be happy of course. And will, of course, start with Beautifly. He will be patient with you, like Burgh, and guide you through the process of getting rid of the fear completely. Or just letting you be comfortable with his Pokemon Team, atleast.

"It's not gonna use a move on me, right?" "Yes, [Y/N]. He wouldn't do that." Beautifly cried his name in agreement with Aaron, as they stared at [Y/N], who was currently hiding behind a tree. Aaron sighed while rubbing the side of his temples. [Y/N] has been asking the same questions over and over and over again, it's getting tiring how Aaron and Beautifly have to reassure them eVERY TIME. [Y/N] stared at them with narrowed eyes and deep frown. "You sure?"

Aaron took a deep breath to calm down as he exhaled. "Do want or not to get over your fear?" [Y/N] pouted at him as they sulk in their self-pity. "I'm trying! But it's just so scary!!" Aaron sighed once more before making his way towards his s/o. [Y/N] knew what he's doing and glared at him. "Don't you dare--" "Too late" Aaron grab their wrist and started pulling them towards the ever-so-patient Beautifly. "NO!" [Y/N] cried as they grab a branch from the tree.

And now, they were having tug-at-war as they screamed at one another. Beautifly looks at both of them before sighing. It's gonna be a loooong day...

BURGH

Burgh will be saddened at the fact that you have that kind of fear, but he understands. But all his life, he's grown up surrounded by Bug-Pokemon, and he loves them with all his being. He kinda understands but he usually evades the topic of your fear.

I headcannon that his fear is that when he finds his s/o, they wouldn't accept his passion for making clothes, drawing or painting and his Pokemon Type.

Burgh doesn't let you any near his house, since its polluted with different kinds of Bug Pokemon. He also keeps his Pokemon team in their balls.

I actually can see that you don't realize that Leavanny was a bug Pokemon so you were cool with it, but you realize it was a Bug Pokemon if someone else mentions it. (Cue Burgh glaring at them).

"Wait.. Leavanny is a bug Pokemon?!"

"Yeah.. well, part."

"..."

"Sweetie?"

*faints*

Lmao, I just imagine that scenario happening. But I think you'll still be cool with Leavanny, because it just doesn't look like a Bug Pokemon since it reminds you of your Lilligant. (I ship them, lol)

I don't think Burgh will live with you until your fear is either gone or your comfortable with Bug Pokemon. Because if he did that, he would see his Bug friends go :'(. And Burgh doesn't want that to happen.

If you tell Burgh you want to get over your fear, he would be overjoyed! Before you could finish your sentence, he would pick you up and spin your around while laughing merrily. He was very happy that you would get over your fear because of him, and yourself of course.

He's also patient of you. (I think all the ppl who trains Bug Pokemon are patient--). And would do everything for you to get over your fear.

"Sweetie.. she's not gonna bite. I promise." [Y/N] can only whimper in response as they pressed their face even more in Burgh's neck, or rather, scarf. Burgh chuckled as he rubs the back of his s/o while whispering reassuring things in their ear. Sewaddle, a Pokemon that is living with Burgh at the moment, was waiting patiently as she looks at the couple with interest. "I-It looks like it." They cried as Burgh continued to rub circles behind [Y/N]'s back. He shushed them softly. "There there.. don't think about that."

"C'mon sweetie! You can do it! Just pet her head.. that's all you gonna do." Burgh said as he forced himself to pry [Y/N] from his embrace. He smiled at them as he wipe the stray tears that fell of their eyes. "I believe in you, sweetie." On cue, Sewaddle hop into Burgh's shoulder and cried happily at [Y/N], as if cheering them on. [Y/N] stared at her before gulping nervously and raising her hand.

Burgh's eyes brightened but stayed silent as he and Sewaddle anticipate [Y/N]'s movement. When [Y/N] reach to the height of the Pokemon, they froze. Sewaddle decided to jump into their hand, which made them shriek in surprise. Burgh's eyes widened as he (tries) to comfort his poor shrieking s/o, while the innocent Pokemon only stare in confusion.

VIOLA

Viola is super understanding and patient, like so much that it might make you cry. She knows it's common to have something you're afraid of and being a gym leader in Santalune City proves that. Many Trainers shriek at the sight of her using Bug Pokemon. She can only sigh and carry on the gym battle.

She always takes a picture of you, whether you knowing or not. She would just whip out her camera and snap a picture of you. When she finds out you have a fear for the Type she expertise at, it was actually an accident. When you two were on a date one day, and her Surskit decided to pop out of its Pokeball and cuddle you. She blinks when she sees you frozen at the presence of her Bug Pokemon.

Even if you have this fear, she wouldn't love you any less. She might be a little disappointed but just shrug it off later on.

If you two live together, don't worry. Her Pokemon is well-trained and usually just stays outdoors or in her room, or in the kitchen. Afterall she just only has 2 Pokemon in her disposal.

Out of all these people, her team is ideal in you getting over your fear. It was a simple yet okay team. So you might quickly get used to them. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE. WHO WOULD HATE THEM?!

What is that? You want to get over your team? "Fantastic!" (Pokemon Masters voice)

She is so excited that she just makes her Pokemon come near you.

But if that doesn't work, then she doesn't mind work. She would work hard for the both of you so you need to give it your all as well!

"C'mon mon amour! Surskit is nice! She'll not bite.. actually, she doesn't have a mouth to begin with." Viola muttered the last part as she watch [Y/N] cower in fright in the presence of the tiny Bug Pokemon. She's actually amused at the scene but she had to hold it in so that it wouldn't further aggravate the [gender]. "Just pat her head. Pat pat" Viola made a patting hand motion with her hand while smiling reassuringly (amusedly).

[Y/N] looks at her before shifting their gaze at the Bug Pokemon in front of her, who happily cried its name when their gaze was on her. They took a deep breath as they slowly puts their hand on top of Surskit's head. Viola nodded happily, feeling a familiar giddily-feeling in her chest. "That's it, love. Just a bit more."

Finally, [Y/N] pats Surskit's head, who hummed when feeling their hand. Their eyes shone at how soft Surskit was, except the pointy-thing on top of her head. They excitedly turn their head to look at their proud mother girlfriend. Their smiles match each other, and both thinking the same thing.

"SUCCESS!"

GUZMA

We all know our ol' man Guzma. The leader of Team Skull. Old friend of Kukui. Helped Lusamine in creating a portal to a different dimensions. Yadda yadda.

He's actually not a very patient guy, much to my dismay. But when it comes to you, he is VERY patient with you. He actually (shock) understand your fear of bugs. I mean, have you seen his team? Yeah. Not ideal for someone who's scared of Bug Pokemon.

But even with his rough exterior, he wants your comfort and makes it his top priority. So, despite his appearance, he doesn't force you to have your fear completely remove.

He actually doesn't mind if you have that fear really. He usually just keeps his Pokemon inside their Pokeballs or outside (their huge). All he's asking for you is that you don't mind them, he'll do the rest.

This exactly happens if you two live together. He'll let you do your own thing and he'll do his. I mean, yeah, it sucks that you don't like his Pokemon. But can't force it, can you?

But if you approach him and just straight up say you want to get over your fear. He'll froze a bit, his mind not comprehending before just hugging you so you don't see his internal turmoil.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT WHY? I MEAN THAT'S GOOD BUT HAVE YOU SEEN MY TEA-- oh wait.." *cue him remembering he has a Masquerain* "Oh yeah.. I forgot about him."

So yes. Guzma will be understanding of your situation and patient at the same time. We all love our boi Guzma <3

"C'mon, pua. You can do it." Guzma encouraged [Y/N] as he tries to push them towards the awaiting Masquerain. [Y/N] paled at the sight of the fluttering Bug Pokemon as they gulp. "D-Do I have to?" Guzma sighed for the umpteenth time. Luckily, he's as stubborn as a rock. "Yes. Wasn't it ya who suggested it?" "Yeah.. but--" "Alright! Then move closer!"

[Y/N] sighed as they nervously hold their hand out. This action though made Masquerain fly towards her hand and snuggle to it. [Y/N] froze, stiffening like a statue. Guzma saw this and sighed. "I guess it's not so easy as I thought."

------------------------------------------------

Info:

pua means flower in Hawaii language (I search it in Pinterest and this pop out. Please correct me if I'm wrong)

mon amour means My Love in French language

[x] Main Page || [x] Pokemon GSC, HeartGold & SoulSilver Page || [x] Pokemon D, P, PL Page || [x] Pokemon BW & B2W2 Page || [x] Pokemon XYZ Page || [x] Pokemon S&M, US&UM

#pokemon #pokemon x reader #bug expert x reader #bug trainer x reader #bugsy x reader #gym leader bugsy #aaron x reader #pokemon aaron x reader #pokemon aaron #burgh x reader #viola x reader #guzma x reader #pokemon burgh #gym leader burgh #gym leader viola #skull leader guzma #team skull guzma #self req❣️

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aggressivelearningai · 3 years ago

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Data Management and Visualization Submission - 1

STEP 1: Choose a data set that you would like to work with. ==> I am going ahead with the gap-minder dataset.

STEP 2. Identify a specific topic of interest

==> I want to understand few correlation between different aspects like 'Alcoholism'<=>'Mortality Rate', 'High GDP'<=>'Mortality rate' and other such relations and see that the dataset provides enough information for me to answer this question.

Additionally, I am interested in understanding what factors are required to be considered such that the interpretation holds any real value. Moreover, I would like to understand few other questions like:

1) How to go upon looking for the factors that actually matter in real life.

2) When to know that we have found enough number of factors for our analysis.

3) What type of pre-analysis is needed in order for us to make sure that now one can proceed with the data collection part.

4) How to perform the feasibility analysis of our question of interest or research? By feasibility, I meant how much time and other resources that we should invest in finding some fruitful results. Does this even a thing in real life?

STEP 3. Prepare a codebook of your own (i.e., print individual pages or copy screen and paste into a new document) from the larger codebook that includes the questions/items/variables that measure your selected topics.)

==> The gap miner dataset is not very big. Because of this reason I do not have to create the separate codebook as I am will consider all the variables mentioned for analyzing different relationship and see if there is multiple stage connection

The dataset has in total of 16 variables of which one is non-numerical or categorical. And all together there are 213 records.

STEP 4. Identify a second topic that you would like to explore in terms of its association with your original topic.

==> As I mentioned before that I will be doing multiple analysis due tot he size of the dataset being small and will try to find the bigger picture of what is happening behind the curtains.

STEP 5. Add questions/items/variables documenting this second topic to your personal codebook.

==> The questions that I would like to get the answers from the analysis are:

1) How is the country mortality rate correlated with the alcohol consumption?

2) How is the income correlated with the alcohol consumption rate. Does this consumption have any connection with stress (suicide rate) whatsoever?

3) What strongly moves the Breast Cancer in female rate?

4) Does suicide rate has any correlation with the employment rate?

5) Is there any relation with the internet use with the co2 emissions?

6) I believe that oil user rate will have the strong +ve correlation with the CO2 emissions, but I will want to find that out too.

STEP 6. Perform a literature review to see what research has been previously done on this topic. Use sites such as Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) to search for published academic work in the area(s) of interest. Try to find multiple sources, and take note of basic bibliographic information.

==> Literature Review for above mentioned questions:

1) How is the country mortality rate correlated with the alcohol consumption?

High (but not low or moderate) alcohol intake was associated with increased mortality (HR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.04–1.66). Heavy episodic drinking was also associated with increased mortality (HR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.27–1.87)

In conclusion, this meta-analysis confirms the hazards of excess drinking but also indicates the existence of potential windows of alcohol intake that may confer a net beneficial effect of drinking, at least in terms of survival, both in men and in women. Heavy drinkers should be urged to cut their consumption, but people who already regularly consume low to moderate amounts of alcohol should be encouraged to continue.

2) How is the income correlated with the alcohol consumption rate. Does this consumption have any connection with stress (suicide rate) whatsoever?

Research on the long-term associations between SES and alcohol outcomes has shown inconsistent correlations between snapshots of childhood SES and later alcohol outcomes. In contrast, a relatively consistent, inverse association seems to exist between long-term trajectories of SES and alcohol outcomes, with downward SES trajectories predicting heavier subsequent drinking and greater negative alcohol-related consequences. Further studies involving more sophisticated longitudinal analytic methods (e.g., cross-lagged panel modeling) are needed to more explicitly test and establish the nature of the complex transactional dependencies between the trajectories of SES and alcohol outcomes over time.

3) What strongly moves the Breast Cancer in female rate?

The incidence of breast cancer in developed countries and its death in less developed countries is high. Increasing the HDI, along with the increased screening program in these countries, can help to identify and reduce the mortality of this disease. Increasing the level of education and awareness of women is also one of the health priorities in this area that can be effective in reducing mortality in patient.

The prevalence of obesity and physical inactivity was high within the GCCCs, but the majority of the included studies found no positive correlation between obesity or physical inactivity and BC. A high proportion of women in this study were pre-menopausal which could contribute to the negative findings.

4) Does suicide rate has any correlation with the employment rate?

Being unemployed was associated with a twofold to threefold increased relative risk of death by suicide, compared with being employed. About half of this association might be attributable to confounding by mental illness.

The link between unemployment rates and suicide is a very important measure of the impact of the economic crisis. However, behind these statistics lie personal and family tragedies, the long-term impact of which is difficult to measure.

The global suicide rate is steadily falling, from a high of 38 percent in 1994 to just 11 percent in 2018. However, the opposite is true for Mexico as suicide rates have been rising over the past 40 years, but little literature discusses the reason. From an empirical study, the paper's primary contribution is finding that the economic growth directly negatively affects the unemployment rate, at the same time, the unemployment rate and suicide rate are positive bidirectional causality in Mexico. Moreover, we find that adding the variable of economic growth rate as a control variable, unemployment rate, suicide rate, and the economic growth rate exists long relationship under non-linear conditions.

5) Is there any relation with the internet use with the co2 emissions?

Even before the Covid-19 epidemic, the electricity consumption of the internet represented as much as that of Great Britain! Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) accounted for 6 to 10% of global electricity consumption, or 4% of our greenhouse gas emissions. And this figure increases by 5 to 7% each year!

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, internet use accounts for 3.7% of global emissions, i.e. the equivalent of all air traffic in the world. And this figure is expected to double by 2025 (excluding the Covid-19 effect). In concrete terms, this represents, for the internet alone, an average of 400 g of CO2 emitted per inhabitant each year.

But this is only an average: access to ICT varies greatly from one region of the world to another. Emissions per person are therefore much higher in an industrialized and highly 'connected' country. And they are only increasing.

STEP 7. Based on your literature review, develop a hypothesis about what you believe the association might be between these topics. Be sure to integrate the specific variables you selected into the hypothesis.

==> The Hypothesis that I have developed from the literature review that I have done are as follows:

1) How is the country mortality rate correlated with the alcohol consumption?

With the increase in consumption of alcohol rate the mortality rate will increase.

2) How is the income correlated with the alcohol consumption rate. Does this consumption have any connection with stress (suicide rate) whatsoever?

Lower the income of a person more are the chances that the person will resort to alcohol for getting the stress relieved

3) What strongly moves the Breast Cancer in female rate?

The income of a person and the literacy rate of the country should lower the mortality rate of breast cancer in a women.

4) Does suicide rate has any correlation with the employment rate?

based on what I read, I believe that unemployment has the positive correlation with the suicide rate in a country

5) Is there any relation with the internet use with the co2 emissions?

Yes, there is and should be positive correlation between the usage of internet and the carbon emissions.

6) I believe that oil user rate will have the strong +ve correlation with the CO2 emissions, but I will want to find that out too.

I think this is too obvious to be true, now is the time to find out

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carewyncromwell · 4 years ago

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Jacob, if you founded a magic school what would it be like? Where would it be? What courses would you teach? What sort of protections would be put in place, both for protecting tge school itself and for making sure the students don't come to harm (like no casting curses on other students unless you're dueling with an adult present sort of thing) Anything else?

[Ooooh, Jacob’s gaze is drifting off toward the ceiling at this question! He loves topics that make him think!! <3]

“(absently) ...My own school...Merlin, would that be a sight!”

After being expelled from Hogwarts -- after having my whole future upended, all of my dreams thrown away --

[As Jacob starts to ramble, his hands move animatedly in front of his chest -- a sure sign that the topic has gotten him excited.]

“...I think first and foremost, I’d want my school to encourage higher learning -- like a university, but for younger children too! Magic is so multifaceted...but the Wizarding World is so backwards when it comes to adapting it or expanding its boundaries. You’ll see new magics developed sometimes when it comes to selling products, like broomsticks, but you almost never see magics being pushed further like Muggles are constantly pushing the boundaries of science. Hell, most witches and wizards don’t even seem to care about investigating how to apply Muggle technology and sciences to our own magic! The only real, somewhat-recent case was the Ministry developing the Hogwarts Express back in the 1850′s, and all the mummies and daddies threw such a bloody fit about that...”

[Insert eye roll here.]

“But yeah, to address both security and location...I think I’d want a location that -- like the Portrait Vault -- one can only access by Portkey. It could be an underground location -- one that could be made Unplottable without causing a lot of disruption to the Muggles. ...Perhaps I could modify the old catacombs under London -- those things are plenty spooky that you’d only need the most basic of Muggle-warding enchantments to keep away any unwanted visitors. Using Portkeys would also make it so that it wouldn’t matter where the student lived -- wouldn’t have any Scottish tots having to travel all the way to London just to take a train back to Scotland, you dig it? It’d also be a good way to teach Muggle-born kids about Portkeys -- I mean, they’re so common in the Wizarding World: learning how to use them early would be cool. You could then use different Portkeys to travel to other areas too for more hands-on classes, like Care of Magical Creatures or Flying...or even to travel home on the weekends, if the students so chose.”

I would’ve loved that option while I was at school...then I could’ve been able to check up on Pip and Mum more often...

“Hmm...I reckon one thing you could do to keep the kids from fighting would be keeping your class sizes small -- you know, make it so that the teachers know absolutely everyone. And I reckon having a formal dueling class could help too...the dueling club at Hogwarts is great, but it’s optional -- and you kind of get free reign to do whatever you want. A supervised and structured class that happens several times a week could give students plenty of chance to blow off some steam...and since it’d be a class, dueling wouldn’t probably seem so...well, like forbidden fruit, you dig? If everyone’s able and expected to do it, then it won’t be so exciting to break the rules just to do it.

“As for classes...well, obviously the core classes like Charms, Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts would be a must. But besides that, Muggle Studies would be another core subject -- not just teaching students about aspects of the Muggle World, but helping them explore how they can use those same Muggle aspects in conjunction with what they’ve learned from their other classes! Applying their History of Magic lessons to Muggle history, comparing and contrasting the two. Applying their knowledge to Astronomy to the study of the planets and astrophysics. And the more advanced students could complete their own thesis investigating something related to one of their core studies...something that, if done well, could be published for the whole of the Wizarding World to see and be used as a kick-off point for them or their professors in further research on the subject!

[This thought process is so unbelievably exciting to Jacob, his face is practically consumed by a massive grin.

His eyes then soften slightly upon the ceiling.]

“...I dunno exactly what I’d call it...but I think I’d want Mum’s name in it somehow. 'Lane,’ I mean -- not ‘Cromwell.’”

Her name deserves to be remembered -- not theirs.

Talk to Jacob Cromwell!

#ask jacob #jacob #hphm #hogwarts mystery #jacob cromwell #roleplaying #lane cromwell

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obscure-sentimentalist · 4 years ago

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for ya boi tate 2, 3, 10, 18, 30, 38, 44, 57, 64, 70, 80, 92, 100

For the original character asks

Oh, Tate, my sweet boy who wasn’t even supposed to be an original character, but evolved on his own and silently demanded that I tell his real story. He was entirely unanticipated, and now I can’t shut up about him.

Character context: Tate Merlyn, hailing from the being-reworked-and-written Distortion ‘verse. Tommy’s twin brother in a world where Malcolm decided to bring his young sons to the League of Assassins and train them for his own purposes. It takes many years for the brothers to get out, but they eventually settle back into Starling City, falling in with a certain vigilante operation and forming a tight-knit friendship (and later become roommates) with Felicity.

2. Do they like animals? Well, Tate doesn’t not like animals. However, the circumstances of his life didn’t give him a chance to have a pet, nor put him in contact with domestic animals often, and he never really let himself feel anything about that lack. At first impression, he’s ambivalent about animals.

But find him in a brighter future and give him a kitten to hold or a dog to run into on the street, and he’ll melt the second he makes eye-contact with them. Lots of soft, dopey smiles all around.

3. How do they dress? Ah, yes, a topic that honestly shouldn’t hurt as much as it does.

Given that this is a universe where Malcolm is an even shittier father than in canon and has two sons who he’s shaped into his personal weapons from a young age, Tate doesn’t have a fashion sense for much of his life. When he isn’t in League uniform, his clothes are all black and gray, meant for utility and nothing more. The most he’ll allow himself is whatever excess warmth he can get from an old sweatshirt or hoodie, if one is on hand.

Even once he’s free enough to choose for himself, for a long time, Tate just… sticks with his wardrobe and its utter lack of character. Practical is fine, and it saves him time if he just grabs whatever’s in his drawer without looking--it’s about all the same, anyway. Why add another step?

It takes active intervention from Tommy and Felicity (and an incident involving a laundry mix-up) for Tate to start introducing more variety to his closet. He still opts for deeper, darker colors (more autumnal) for everyday wear, but at least it’s color. He’s also into flannels, though he has to be careful with any facial hair he might have, because he’ll make himself ripe for lumberjack-related playful mockery.

There are also plenty of warm sweaters and sweatshirts, because Tate loves being cozy, though the colors of those tend to lean on the lighter, softer end of the spectrum. He loves them, and over time begins to wear them more often than just around the house.

10. Do they have any nicknames? “Tater Tot.” There was no escaping that one, especially with a brother like Tommy. It’s often met with a fond “asshole” in reply, because these boys are such children.

He’s been called a few other silly things by those around him, though not quite to the level of a full-on nickname. Still, they’re often said quite lovingly, which fills Tate with a sort of warmth.

(He can’t say the same about the other names he’s gone by, so… he’ll take this.)

18. What flaws do they have? Tate’s biggest flaw is that he’s self-sacrificial as hell. It’s a character trait that sets up his whole role in the story, one that’s evolved painfully over time and the consequences of which are hooked deep in the narrative. Tate is just a dear, tragic boy whose attempts to protect and save his brother at the expense of himself go catastrophically wrong sometimes, and it takes him a very long time to unlearn that behavior.

Tate has plenty of other heavy-stuff flaws, but in more lighthearted terms… he can’t cook an edible meal, no matter how hard he tries. He can bake a little, if it’s just cookies or box-mix cake, and he’s a tea-making master, but any actual entree stands a fair chance of being toxic for human consumption. His archery skills are also abysmal--despite it being his father’s forte, and later surrounding himself with so many bow-wielding vigilantes--to the point where a plate of pancakes is more likely to be lethal than arrows fired by Tate. The people in his life lovingly refuse to let him live these foibles down.

30. What music do they enjoy? For the most part, Tate likes whatever songs make him happy, or simply jive with him. He’ll dig into some artists if more than a few of their tracks already appeal to him, but by and large he’ll rely on stumbling across individual songs that have a nice sound, no matter the genre.

He does tend to favor pieces that are more instrumental or have subtler, simpler vocals, though. It’s partially because that’s best suited to his quiet demeanor, and partially because lyrics are a bit of a tough spot for him, especially with more emotional, introspective songs. He can certainly appreciate well-crafted songwriting, but every once in a while a line will strike him in a particular, relatable way, and it makes him uncomfortable. Tate’s also a bit of an old man with a lot of top hits, grumbling about how he just wants some fun tunes, but here’s everyone talking about their bodies and other people’s and what they’re going to do with them, can he please just get songs about platonic affection every once in a while.

38. Are they the hero, or anti-hero? Definitely a hero, even though he won’t think of himself in those terms for a very long time, and his introduction in the present of the narrative--catching him at his lowest, darkest, most threatening point--sure doesn’t make it seem that way. His journey from that stage to the soft, heroic boy he becomes is messy and complex, but so meaningful.

44. How do they speak? Examples - Are they soft spoken, hot heated, vulgar Truly, my favorite part of this precious boy, the most defining Tate trait. He just… doesn’t speak much.

It’s not that he’s not good with words, or doesn’t pay much attention--Tate is pretty damn eloquent when he wants to be, and is observant to a fault. He’s merely incredibly selective with when and how he uses his words, which is a very distinctive contrast from Tommy’s frequent need to say something. Tate is fully capable of getting his point across with his body language and expression alone, or lets his brother do the talking for both of them.

To some extent, this is his nature, to be quiet and lean more into the nonverbal, but it was certainly exacerbated by the conditions he grew up under. In dealing with Malcolm and any sort of League business, Tate’s instinctive defense was to keep silent and speak only when expected--typically in response to or in clarification of orders. Quiet became less of something calming and wanted; and more of a necessity, a protection, a falling-in-line.

Tate may speak more often--not by much, but somewhat--in better times, but that’s because he feels comfortable and free enough to do so, and he’s leagues from being as talkative as Tommy. Still, even his silence is different, more expressive of his current mood instead of just serving as white noise, a smothering and muting of his feelings.

57. What do they do when they are happy? Tate is just a very tactile, huggy guy when he allows himself to be, and that often becomes particularly clear when he’s in a good mood. The happier he is, the more octopus-like he gets with his clinginess, but it’s sweet.

Either that, or he just dives head-first into his love of tea--making it, organizing his collection of it, buying more of it...

64. Do they like to dance? If he’s asked, Tate won’t answer that question--he’ll just silently raise his eyebrows and stare pointedly back at whoever brought it up. (If it’s Oliver or Roy, there’s another layer to the look, a clear returning of the question to them in challenge.)

The truth of it is yes, he does like to dance if the music and time are right, but he looks like a suburban dad at a barbecue when he does and he’s well aware of that fact. Better to act like he’s a townsperson from Footloose than hint that he even attempts to have a sense of rhythm.

70. Do they like themselves? Oof.

Tate… he’s done things. Granted, most of them were because he never actually had a choice unless he was willing to risk the consequences (if he was the assured sole recipient of them, he’d be more likely to; unfortunately, this was rarely ever the case, so Tate would fall in line for Tommy’s sake), but Tate is still accountable for how they went down. For as much as he can attribute his actions to trying to keep himself and his brother alive and free from as much harm as is avoidable, there’s still literal blood on his hands.

The thing that burns Tate the most, though, is the one decision he made of his own volition with the direct intention of hurting Tommy--again, for his safety, but that doesn’t make it any better. While the twins reconcile and rebuild their brotherhood even stronger than before, it’s still a blackened spot in their history even with the truth of it unraveled.

The question of whether or not Tate likes himself will be met with a vehement no for longer than anyone around him might expect, even as he gets more comfortable in his new life and knits himself into a group of people he can trust and who care. It’s recovery from the harm of the past, but Tate won’t feel comfortable in saying he likes himself until he figures out who that even is.

It’ll take time, but one day he’ll have a positive response.

80. How would they fare in a zombie apocalypse? Oh, Tate has the necessary skills down pretty darn well, knife expert ex-assassin and survivalist that he is. His biggest problem in that situation would just be the bitter frustration that he spent nearly 20 years of his life just trying to make it through a terrible situation, and he gets out only to be dumped into this? It’s another long fight for his life, which is disheartening for a guy who’s finally let himself admit that he just wants a chance to actually live. But he’ll handle it with grim determination, and hopefully with his brother at his side.

92. If they were given minutes to live, what would they do? Who would they want to see and say? Tate wouldn’t say much of anything here--he rarely ever needs words to express himself to the fullest.

Depending on the timeline--even solely focused on his better days--the number of people he’d want to see varies (thankfully, it grows as the years pass). But if he’s on a tight time limit and can only choose a few, then it’s without a doubt Tommy and Felicity. The three of them are the core found family (well, the twins are obviously twins, but still), the foundation of Tate’s life free of his father’s plans. And all Tate would want from his last minutes is to have the two of them present, to hold and be held in a tight group hug.

Tate is truly a simple man--just give him his people and a hug, and he can make peace with the situation.

100. Are they a day, or night person? Tough to say with Tate. For most of his life, he’d never really had that luxury--he’d be up at the asscrack of dawn or wide awake under the night sky depending on what was required of him. He’s adaptable by necessity.

But if we look to his better future… he’s still kind of middle-ground. He’ll generally be up at a reasonable definition of early in the morning, but also likes to take naps around the house when it’s particularly sunny and he’s not busy. Likewise, Tate will be fully alert at night for the amount of time he needs to be (whether it’s for crime-fighting-related activities, or just movie night), but will pass out the second he drops onto his bed, if he feels safe and comfortable enough with his surroundings to do so.

#obscure-sentimentalist writes sometimes #and cries about Distortion 'verse #and yells about her sweet boy Tate #truly I have not had my heart stolen by an original character like this ever before

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peachdoxie · 5 years ago

Note

So first off, I'm gonna plug my own fic "Do You...Fondue?" because I will do so shamelessly at any point I feel like. I wrote it from a platonic perspective, so it's not romantic, like the title implies (it'll make sense if you read it). Technically my other movie!Venom fics are platonic as well, but they are considerably more angsty.

I started to look through my Venom tag for two posts in particular that I think fit this well, and sadly I could find neither, but I did find a fuckton of other posts of movie!Eddie and Venom just doing a bunch of stupid shit, which is mostly actually Venom being annoying and Eddie being Done With This.

If anyone has links to the post where Eddie and Venom are trying to test the limits of their bond and Eddie nearly passes out OR the one where Eddie begs Venom to make him thicc like that one robot in Robots, please share because I could find neither of them.

Anyway, here is a collection of posts that relate to your topic, anon, though the list is not at all mobile friendly despite the fact that I made it on mobile.

And if anyone has any headcanons or other posts for anon (and me because I like it too) please share!

https://venomshotass.tumblr.com/post/614583104909230080/atomicpowered-this-sign-cant-stop-me-because-i

https://venomshotass.tumblr.com/post/613222620043870208/mysteleon-venom-2018-was-good-symbiote

https://mushroomsandteeth.tumblr.com/post/190959201342

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/190969988598

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/190746182623/the-first-image-is-so-funny-to-me-like-eddie

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/190523040229/missyfangirlsalot-my-boyss-honestly-venom-was

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/190339023293/lousysharkbutt-more-tots-patreon-twitter

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/190027875423

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/189416688893/ededdneddiebrock-tfw-you-cant-make-your-own

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/188393858308/eddie-eddie-its-people-eddie-were-eating

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/188350788002/kittehkatlol-thats-mean

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/187824098793/spader7-did-i-mention-how-much-i-love-venom

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/187739363588

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/187561550223

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/187382028673

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/185939906388

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/184669648553/couldnt-decide-of-i-liked-it-better-with-or

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/184547695563/venom-disapproves-of-the-subway

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/184484647176/peachdoxie-in-the-pre-visualization-planning-for

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/184352829538/eating-your-hosts-cat-is-rude-v-eddie-doesnt

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/184032992418

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/183897614788/the-fact-that-eddie-and-venom-being-so-polite-to

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/183870844873/hesitant-vampire-fuckin-symbiote-controlling-me

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/183722336868/hey-dont-worry-about-the-ferret-they-live-in

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/183439258718/be-careful-not-to-step-on-some-of-your-goofriend

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/182167393323/lemonmangosorbet-eddie-brock-voice-who-tf

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/182145353388/creekstufflings-i-finally-watched-venom

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/182063072488/filthymagicuser-super-sketchy-comic

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/181877970753/venom-after-watching-hours-of-vines-this-bitch

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/181147630375/pipedpoe-of-course-he-is

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/181026515921/phsfg-venom-gets-excited-abt-nesquik-powder

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/180667597483/beautiful-like-sin-tater-hots-i-really-want

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/180494196513/sooo-gave-up-on-inktober-but-my-teacher-lent-me

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/180421109883/callmeishamael-tenshi-art-he-just-wants-to-be

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/180285750345/eddie-parasite-the-symbiote-who-watches-the

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/179968958122/popanimals-hes-behind-me-making-that

https://peachdoxie.tumblr.com/post/179633453558/micodraws-venom-voice-eddie-are-u-fucking-okay

#venom #i spent way too much time on this

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authoratmidnight · 5 years ago

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The more we learn about Sakae the more I’m pissed at how they changed him in the s2 ending and the more I’m sure we’re won’t be getting a s3, or at least non a s3 that follows the manga in anyway.

Cause aside from using the first ep to retcon the last ep, they kinda shot themselves in the foot with the Sakae storyline.

Anime and manga spoilers blelow

The s2 finale went out of their way to make Sakae the antagonist and paint him as a bad guy, which basically spits in the face of what we’re learning about him and the way the scene went down in the manga.

In the manga the spider was the villain of that arc through and through. It used it’s threads/ability to try to manipulate Abeno into freeing it and failing that took control of Ashiya to do the same thing, and when Abeno interfered had Ashiya attempt to kill him. Upon having the sense slapped back to him by a barely conscious Abeno Sakae’s spirit then took control (as Ashiya though he’d killed Abeno and was horrified) and proceeded to unflinchingly use his Influence to kill the spider.

For some reason, the anime left out attempting to control Abeno and had it control Ashiya from the get go (which, ok fine that’s not /that/ big of a change) and had Sakae take control of him sooner and had SAKAE be the one trying to kill Abeno for stopping him from killing the spider. And while he was slapped back to his senses, he proceeded to collapse and pass out once Ashiya took control back, and then Abeno freed and exorcised the spider back tot he underworld. Alive.

Which, frankly makes 0 sense even in the context OF THE SHOW as the spider demon 1) was clearly sealed for a damn good reason and Abeno realized at the start that freeing it was a bad idea cause it would kill them and 2) it was literally screaming moments before about how it ‘hates all humans’ and was ‘going to kill all humans’ when it was freed.

And I’m expected to believe that Abeno stopping Ashiya from killing it and it talking to Fuzzball is enough to make it do a 180 in its ways and decide ‘oh hey maybe humans aren’t all bad and I can trust them. Yeah it was pleading ‘oh I promise I won’t hurt any humans’ but like, fuck, antagonists/villains say that all the fucking time w/o meaning it in an attempt to play off the kindness of the hero. Like, this thing was literally sealed away to keep it from hurting anyone. For decades (if not more). I really doubt a 30 second talk with a human and a fluff ball is gong to make it suddenly be all good.

But back on the topic of Sakae. While it’s true we at that point didn’t know much about him aside from he’s Ashya’s dad, his appearance, his yokai related abilities, that he knew Aoi-san and that he is apparently infamous for using his Influence ability to kill yokai. That’s it.

And as it is the last point should be taken with a grain of salt as we’re hearing that tidbit from yokai who are, quite frankly, very prejudiced against humans. (the Executive literally tried to kill Ashiya were he stood simply cause ‘I don’t like humans’ so you can bet the yokai aren’t going to care *why* Sakae did what he did, just that he did it.

Plus, we’ve never been given any indication that he dislikes or has harmed humans. In fact, quite the opposite. If Ashiya’s mother is any indication he goes out of his way to HELP them.

Case in point, new information we’ve learned seems to suggest (to me at least) that Sakae, may not be all that bad a person. I mean he was friends with and even employed by Aoi, so I can’t imagine them employing someone that dangerous.

We’ve recently learned that, he’s actually quite kind, having rescued a nearly frozen to death yokai and nursed her back to health, and that he seems to have been something of a yokai magnet to the point that his family died ‘under suspicious circumstances’ and all the people that looked after him or were friends with him got sick or injured mysteriously (it’s implied this is due to yokai) so he was something of a loner as no one wanted to be around him. On top of that, Ashiya’s mother seems to have been a yokai magnet herself, although she can’t see them. In fact all the characters that met Sakae themselves have only good things to say about him. Everything else we hear is second hand accounts.

If anything, what we’re learning seems to suggest that perhaps all the yokai he killed were out of self defence to protect himself or his family. Especially if we look at all the times that he’s taken over Ashiya.

Incident one- The capybara yokai that attack and injured Fuzzball then attmpted to kill Ashiya

Incident two- When Yahiko tried to play a joke on Ashiya and took on the form of the Executive-someone who that long ago had attempted to kill Ashiya, and incident we KNOW left him fucked up. Ashiya’s PTSD kicked in and he thought he was going to die if he didn’t act first.

Incident three- The spider yokai. It used him to try and kill Abeno (and indeed Ashiya did think he had done that) and it was going to kill him.

Each and every time Sakae has taken over it was because Ashiya and/or someone dear to him was facing down a yokai that had malicious intent and he and/or someone he cared about was in life threatening danger (or perceived danger in the case of the second incident, his ptsd overrode everything else so as far as he was concerned he WAS in danger). Sakae is trying to protect Ashiya. Which makes sense considering how much Sakae (and those close to him) apparently suffered b/c of yokai.

As I mentioned earlier the yokai are hella prejudiced against humans so even if it turns out that all the yokai he killed had attacked him/someone close to him unprompted and wanted to kill them and he only ended up killing them in defence/because they wouldn’t leave when he told them to, all they would care about ‘this human killed yokai so he’s a bad human’.

BUT, because of the change at the end of s2, this won’t work. The anime has Sakae as a bad guy who will even attack humans (which, we’ve never had any indication he’d do and with what we did learn it *really* seems unlikely he would do). Which is gonna make it really hard to paint him as sympathetic later on as we learn more about him. Plus the fall out from that event had lasting impacts on the characters AND the story. Can’t run with the ‘you killed a yokai so you’re banned from the underworld’ plot line since, he didn’t kill anything (and it would see weird ban him for almost doing that now when the capybara incident did not get him banned). Can’t have Ashiya working through the trauma that came out of ‘I killed a yokai with my own hands’ cause, that never happened. Any hope of Sakae as a sympathetic character is gone now.

They literally removed an entire plot point and butchered up an other.

So idk how they’d manage a third season that follows the manga storyline short of using the first episode to retcon the s2 finale. Since we don’t see Abeno send the spider off they could, feasibly, get away with pulling ‘Abeno fibbed to Ashiya about what happened and [Ashiya] actually DID kill the spider yokai and what we saw was just what Abeno told Ashiya had happened’. It might seem a big contrived but that’s the only way short write an entirely new story from this point on.

And it frustrates me b/c this is a good series and I’ve love a third season, but whoever was doing the script writing and adapting shot themselves in the foot with their decision on how to end S2.

If you’re adapting a story that’s not finished, and the author has clearly laid the groundwork for character/their motives but hasn’t revealed things in full yet, it’s probably NOT a good idea to decide to tamper with and change what is already known about them. Cause those changes might fuck everything up.

#the morose mononokean #fukigen na mononokean

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missjsmathematicalmadness · 3 years ago

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Numbers and Place Value

Haylock, D. and Manning, R. (2018, 6th ed.) Mathematics Explained For Primary Teachers; London: Sage

What is the difference between a numeral and a number?

A Numeral is the symbol used to represent a number, for example the number of children in a call might be represented by the number 30

So, a numeral is the symbol or collection of symbols that we use to represent a number.

The number is the concept represented by the numeral, and therefore consists of a whole network of connections between symbols, pictures, language and areal-life situations.

What are the cardinal and ordinal aspects of numbers?

Cardinal - the idea of a number as representing a set of things. this idea of number has meaning only in terms of non negative integers.

e.g. three fingers, three blocks, three lines

By matching sets that contain the same number of things the learner is able to recognise that there is something the same about the sets, so identifies an equivalence. The property that is shared by all the sets is then abstracted to form the concept of ‘three’ as a cardinal number existing in its own right, independent of any specific context.

Ordinal - the idea of a number as representing a point on a number line. This idea of number as a label for putting things in order has meaning for negative as well as positive numbers.

Young children also encounter numbers used as labels to put things in order. For example, they turn to page 3 in a book. They learn that they are 3 years old and that next birthday they are going to be 4. One of the tricycles in the playground is labelled 3 and this has to be parked in the space labelled 3, which is once again between 2 and 4. The numerals and words being used here do not represent cardinal numbers, because they are not referring to sets of three things. In these examples, ‘three’ is one thing, which is labelled three because of the position in which it lies in some ordering process.

Nominal aspect of numbers is where a number is used as a label or a name, without any ordering being implied

e.g. a number seven bus, just identifies it as on a different route to similarly numbered buses.

What are natural numbers and integers?

Natural numbers - the set of numbers we use for counter ting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5and so on, going on forever.

Natural numbers are positive integers.

To help young children to develop understanding of number, provide opportunities for them to make connections between the symbols for numbers (numerals), the language of number, such as ‘four’ and ‘fourth’, real-life situations where numbers are used in both the cardinal sense (recognizing sets of two, three, and so on) and the ordinal sense (numbering items in order), the process of counting, pictures such as set diagrams and, especially, number strips and number lines.

Integer - a whole number, positive, negative or zero.

Negative integers cannot be understood if we think of numbers only in the cardinal sense, as sets of things. You cannot have a set of ‘negative three’ things. We have to make the connection with numbers used in the ordinal sense, as labels for putting things in order. This is done most effectively through the image of the number line. This shows the importance of teachers using number strips and number lines with young children at every opportunity, so they begin to visualize numbers in this way and not just as sets of things. This is an example of connecting pictorial or physical representations of numbers with the symbols and language, which is a key component of teaching for mastery: ‘Representations used in lessons expose the mathematical structure being taught …’ (NCETM, 2017c).

What are rational and real numbers?

Rational - a number that can be expressed as the ratio of two integers (whole numbers). All whole numbers and fractions are rational numbers, as are all numbers that can be written as exact decimals.

Real number - any number that can be represented by a length or by a point on a continuous number line. The set of real numbers consists of all rational and all irrational numbers.

Irrational number - a number that is not rational; for example, √2 is irrational because it cannot be written exactly as one whole number divided by another.

There is no end of irrational numbers, all of them representing real lengths and real points on the number line. Some examples would be: √8, √17.3, 3√50 (the cube root of 50), and that favourite number of mathematicians, π

What is meant by place value?

Place value is the value of each digit in a number. For example, the 5 in 350 represents 5 tens, or 50; however, the 5 in 5,006 represents 5 thousands, or 5,000. It is important that children understand that whilst a digit can be the same, its value depends on where it is in the number.

The system of numeration we use today es derived from an ancient hindu system from the ninth and tenth centuries, there is a fascinating history of different numeration systems.

When teaching about place value, give appropriate credit tot he non-European cultures that have contributed so much to the development of numeration, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Roman numerals for example.

Roman numerals - a system of numeration that does not use the principle of place value, so the value represented by one of the symbols used (I, V, X, L, C, and so on) is not dependent on the position in which it is written; C represents a hundred, for example, wherever it is written.

In our Hindu-Arabic place-value system, all numbers can be represented using a finite set of digits, namely, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Like most numeration systems, no doubt because of the availability of our ten fingers for counting purposes, the system uses ten as a base. Larger whole numbers than 9 are constructed using powers of the base: ten, a hundred, a thousand, and so on. Of course, these powers of ten are not limited and can continue indefinitely with higher powers. This is how some of these powers are named, written as numerals, constructed from tens and expressed as powers of ten in symbols and in words:

The place in which a digit is written, then, represents that number of one of these powers of ten. So, for example, working from right to left, in the numeral 2345 the 5 represents 5 ones (or units), the 4 represents 4 tens, the 3 represents 3 hundreds and the 2 represents 2 thousands. Perversely, we work from right to left in determining the place values, with increasing powers of ten as we move in this direction. But, since we read from left to right, the numeral is read with the largest place value first: ‘2 thousands, 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 5 ones’. Certain conventions of language then transform this into the customary form, ‘two thousand, three hundred and forty-five’. So, the numeral 2345 is essentially a clever piece of shorthand, condensing a complicated mathematical expression into four symbols, as follows:

(2 × 103) + (3 × 102) + (4 × 101) + 5 = 2345.

Exchange - the principle at the heart of our place-value system of numeration, in which ten in one place can be exchanged for one in the next place to the left, and vice versa; for example, 10 hundreds can be exchanged for 1 thousand, and 1 thousand can be exchanged for 10 hundreds.

In explaining place value to children, use the language of ‘exchanging one of these for ten of those’ as you move left to right along the powers of ten, and ‘exchanging ten of these for one of those’ as you move right to left.

What are the best ways of explaining place value tp children in concrete terms?

Two sets of materials used in teaching to help or aid explanation of place value

base-ten blocks

1p, 10p and £1 coins

Use coins (1p, 10p and £1) and base-ten blocks to develop children’s understanding of the place-value system, particularly to reinforce the principle of exchange.

How does the number line support understanding of place value?

Number line - a straight line in which points on the line are used to represent numbers, emphasizing particularly the order of numbers and their positions in relation to each other.

Making the connection between numbers and points on the number line provides children with a powerful image to support their understanding of number, emphasizing particularly the position of a number in relation to other numbers.

What is meant by saying that zero is a place holder?

It is generally thought that the mayans were the first to develop a numeration system that included both the concept o place value and the consistent use of a symbol for zero.

Incorporate some study of numeration systems into history-focused topics such as Roman, Egyptian and Mayan civilizations, and use this to highlight the advantages and significance of the place-value system we use today.

Place holder - the role of zero in the place-value system of numeration; for example, in the numeral 507 the 0 holds the tens place to indicate that there are no tens here. Without the use of zero as a place holder, there would just be a gap between the 5 and the 7.

Give particular attention to the function and meaning of zero when writing and explaining numbers to children. The zero in 307 does not say ‘hundred’. The 3 says ‘three hundred’ because of the position it is in. The zero indicates an absence of tens; it says ‘no tens’.

In teaching for mastery of place value, use arrow cards to construct numerals with three digits from hundreds, tens and ones; and numerals with four digits from thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. Discussion with the class of how these cards make 3- and 4-digit numerals and what gets hidden when the cards are stacked enables the children to make helpful connections between the visual image of the cards, language and symbols.

How is understanding of place value used in ordering numbers?

Indicators of children’s developing mastery of the concept of place value, is them showing that they are:

able to order numbers requires a good understanding of the basic principles of place value;

able to order numbers from smallest to largest;

able to visualise these numbers as being positioned from left to right on a conventional horizontal number line;

able to decide instantly which is the largest and which is the smallest number.

It is always the first digit in a numeral that is most significant in determining the size if the number; e.g. how do we know 487 is less than 609? we look at the first digit which tells us it has 4 complete hundreds which must be less than the number which has 6 complete hundreds, if the fits digit is the same we look to the second digit establish which is largest.

A statement that one digit is less than another is called inequality.

Inequality - a statement that one number is greater than another (>) or less than another (<). For example, 80 < 87 (80 is less than 87) and 100 > 87 (100 is greater than 87).

There symbols < > are called inequality signs.

How are numbers rounded to the nearest 10 or the nearest 100?

Rounding (to the nearest 10 or 100) - this is to find which multiple of 10 (or 100) is nearest to the given number and to use this as an approximate value for the number.

Rounding is an important skill in handling numbers, particularly when handling the results of calculations involving decimals and in many practical contexts also.

The first step to being able to develop the skill of rounding is to be able to round a 2-digit number to the nearest ten.

When rounding to the nearest ten, help children to see that if the units digit is less than 5 then the number rounds down to the preceding multiple of 10; but if the units digit is greater than 5 then the number rounds up to the next multiple of 10. Key to this is seeing the number visually sitting on a number line between two multiples of 10 and identifying which one is nearest to it.

Place value in the curriculum:

Place value in Year 1

In Year 1 pupils should:

Count to and across 100;

count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals.

Pupils may also begin to recognise place value in numbers beyond 20 by reading, writing, counting and comparing numbers up to 100, supported by objects and pictorial representations.

Place value in Year 2

In Year 2 pupils should:

Recognise the place value of each digit in a two-digit number (tens, ones);

read and write numbers to at least 100 in numerals and in words;

use place value and number facts to solve problems.

By the end of year 2, pupils should know the number bonds to 20 and be precise in using and understanding place value.

Place value in Year 3

In Year 3 pupils should:

Recognise the place value of each digit in a three-digit number (hundreds, tens, ones);

read and write numbers up to 1000 in numerals and in words;

use larger numbers to at least 1000, applying partitioning related to place value using varied and increasingly complex problems;

use a variety of representations, including those related to measure;

continue to count in ones, tens and hundreds, so that they become fluent in the order and place value of numbers to 1000.

Place value in Year 4

In Year 4 pupils should:

Recognise the place value of each digit in a four-digit number (thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones);

know that over time, the numeral system changed to include the concept of zero and place value.

Place value in Year 5

In Year 5 pupils should:

Read, write, order and compare numbers to at least 1 000 000 and determine the value of each digit.

Place value in Year 6

In Year 6 pupils should:

Read, write, order and compare numbers up to 10 000 000 and determine the value of each digit.

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