#janet you beautiful queen I love you so much

[junkanimate]

Janet my beloved

[ae-neon]

Sarah Janet, do NOT piss me off

“Enjoyed that*, did you?” Chaol growled.

“Immensely.” Celaena patted Chaol’s arm as she took it in her own. “Now you must pretend that you like me, or else everything will be ruined.”

“You and the Crown Prince share the same sense of humor, it seems.”

“Perhaps he and I will become dear friends, and you will be left to rot.”

“Dorian is more inclined to associate with ladies of better breeding and beauty.” She whipped her head to look at him.

He smiled. “How vain you are.”

She glared. “I hate women like that. They’re so desperate for the attention of men that they’d willingly betray and harm members of their own sex. And we claim men cannot think with their brains! At least men are direct about it.” (🙄)

*The "that" in question being Dorian telling Celaena about her alias as a jewel thief

(after picking her up from the mine, spending a night there, spending 2 weeks on the road to the capital and having spent at least a night in the castle. He has already said her real name out loud in public, she has introduced herself to a servant and signed a letter with that name but sure...)

Then Dorian insinuates both him and Chaol are both sleeping with her/gonna sleep with her? All to slight Kaltain, instead of just telling either his mother the queen or Kaltain herself that he has no interest in her. So no, men are not direct about it.

Also Celaena earlier drops a potted plant from a balcony, aiming directly for Kaltain because Kaltain was bad mouthing her over Dorian (Celaena's captor technically) but misses, so really saying she hates Kaltain for betraying and harming members of her own sex for male attention is too ironic. Not to mention Celaena almost breaking her neck when Chaol implies Dorian is out of her league. Typical sjm MC hypocrisy

ALSO ALSO Kaltain is a lesser noble woman in a patriarch feudal society. Her life DOES depend on men. She literally has no choice in the matter

“They say that her father is as rich as a king,” Chaol said. “I suppose that’s part of why Perrington is so infatuated. She arrived here in a litter bigger than most peasant huts; it was carried here from her home. A distance of almost two hundred miles.”

“What debauchery.”

“I pity her servants.”

“I pity her father!” They chuckled, and he lifted the arm linked with hers a bit higher.

First of all, Chaol is a lord. Celaena is a princess. Both are in the favour of the prince whose dad basically owns the continent and benefits off of slave labour. Pointing out that Kaltain's father is rich is supposed to do what exactly

Second, Celaena girl...

"I pity her father🤣😭🙏💯🔥💀"

Literally I wouldn't care if Celaena hadn't tried to justify her behaviour and just said she hates Kaltain

but to try to use the mental gymnastics of liberal feminism to say Kaltain is bad because she's competing for the prince's attention (her literal job as a lady of court) while also saying men are naturally less messy? And being a messy catty bitch with your colonising male friends while you do it?

So much of this book is nonsense like this. Celaena tells us she loves clothes and dressing up and being pretty and so girly

but then swears she being stabbed by her corset and that her dress is impractical and that's why she prefers tunics and pants because it's easier to kill 37 grown men in combat that way

But then dresses in a corseted dress for the first day of the competition despite not knowing what to expect

Nothing is adding up.

To be fair, these things can coexist but in better writing they would present themselves appropriately. Here it is just thrown together one sentence after the other with no attention to the blatant contradiction

[chaifootsteps]

Chai, do you have some media with good examples of nonbinary people representation? (Besides SU and Undertale - already know, love them) Characters without canonical gender also account

Oh yeah! Here's a few of my favorites.

- All the characters from Cattails, and not just because I'm currently playing it. All of them are given they/them pronouns and you can have kittens with any of them.

- Cybersix is considered to be some shade of nonbinary, usually genderfluid.

- Does Angel from Rent count as good rep? No idea, I just know that we have no clue to this day whether they're trans, a cis drag queen, or some shade of nonbinary, and when I was a kid that was a big deal to me. I love a character with options.

- The Doctor, naturally.

- Ori from Ori and the Blind Forest has no canonical gender. Beautiful game but I recommend pirating it, the creator's a dick.

- Janet from the Good Place.

- Like half the cast from Good Omens.

- Jerry/Daphne from Some Like it Hot is a genderfluid inspiration to us all. Stick with the original movie.

- The Skeksis from Dark Crystal are canonically neither male nor female and strongly implied to be intersex. Aughra is canonically intersex.

- Crona from Soul Eater. I love Crona so goddamn much. Everyone look at my perfect child.

[sarahlancashire]

TAG GAME: EIGHT SHOWS TO GET TO KNOW ME

tagged by @sophiedevreaux thank u you're so sweet 💖 now watch out, you're about to gain more knowledge of old british sitcoms than anyone other than me has ever needed or wanted

💛 the good life - the ultimate. the love of my life. the only show. if you want to feel better about everything ever, watch the good life. it's hilarious, it's ingenious, it's the 1970s, the cast are golden, and everyone is so terribly nice.

💛 scott & bailey - one of sally wainwright's great masterpieces, and probably my favourite of her shows these days, featuring truly incredible, wonderfully written milf detectives (meaning janet, gill, and julie. rachel is ... also there) catching murderers.

💛 gilmore girls - who doesn't wish they lived in stars hollow? i just want to eat at luke's every day, go to town meetings, attend all the little events. this show is so clever, so well-written, so comforting, so good. lorelai, emily, and luke my beloveds. let's just pretend season six never happened.

💛 2point4 children - possibly this should have been first bc honestly 2point4 children represents so much of my personality. it's fantastic. it's hilarious. the writing is exemplary. bill porter is a genius, a queen, and The Goal character to portray. if i were a tv trope, i'd be Deadpan Snarking, Long-Suffering Matriarch in an old british sitcom, of which she is the quintessential example. also, this show centres around a married couple named bill and ben. i told you, it's genius.

💛 the thin blue line - ben elton's great masterpiece. i'm not saying the young ones and blackadder aren't good too, bc they are, but the thin blue line is god tier. it's so great, so cleverly written, and so, so funny. i can recite whole scenes, and, yet, they're still so funny every time i rewatch. it's brilliant.

💛 dinnerladies - sometimes when i'm having a conversation about victoria wood people tell me they don't like dinnerladies, and i'm like what the fuck is wrong with you. i can recite most of this show by heart, i've seen it so many times. victoria wood was the most incredible observational comic, and this show is a masterpiece. it's hilarious, it's ingenious. i defy you to find a better, more insightful comic and / or writer than victoria wood. you can't do it. she was the greatest, and this show is the fucking best.

💛 broadchurch - what can i say, i really enjoy the west country, clever mysteries, great writing, lady detectives, raw emotions, and older lesbians (especially when they're as iconic as maggie radcliffe). they really combined a whole lot of my key interests in one brilliant tv programme.

💛 wentworth - the show that brought me back to tumblr after i was absent for years. it's dark, it's brilliant, it's female-driven, there are several sapphic women, and you never know what's coming next. also, bridget westfall is the most incredible character, and a lesbian who gives me so much validation, as well as being so incredibly beautiful i can't get over it (how @ libby tanner) and the love she + franky have for each other is also so incredible and beautiful to see.

feel free to ignore!! tagging @juliewlters, @alisonscotlock, @moxyphinx, @notprincehamlet, @pea-green, @grandselfmythology, @beesarthur

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Episode 5: Pass Through Fire

Is it hot in here? It seems hot in this theatre. Maybe their air conditioning's on the fritz. Better get yourself a drink, because it seems like the temperature's going up and staying up.

The Good.

Janet Varney. Of course they got Korra to voice Keyleth's mom. Of course they did. This whole opening sequence screams Avatar, and I'm here for it. And it's nice to see such tenderness between Keyleth and her mom, given their separation. Also, just seeing Good Parents in TLOVM is a joy, given the majority of the group comes from less-than-ideal families or home situations.

Raven Queen's not the most tactful conversationalist, is she? I like that this is something that just won't let Vax go until he deals with it; it might be easy for him and the audience to think it'll go away without those little flashes. Similarly, it fits that he cannot get the armor off; there's no escaping it or what it represents. 

Yay, Vex and Scanlan banter. I love what the runes say if you look close enough. Nice nod to Viridian, too. I'm happy to see more between these two in particular. Laura has talked about how they both put up fronts and that this was something Vex recognized in Scanlan and related to. They have their own interesting dynamic it's good to see more of.

I like that the show portrays Keyleth and Vax's concerns as equally valid. They are trying to fight something that could affect everyone in Tal'Dorei and perhaps even the world, but Vox Machina had previously backed each other up in their personal quests.

Very cool getting to see Keyleth just beat on something. Her magic is always a treat for the oculars, but there's something fun about watching her hit a monster in the face.

Yes...! Flashback to Allura and Kima's adventuring days!! I would watch an episode focusing on that group. It's also nice to see it so quickly and casually established that the two are a couple. In the original, they had been together before the stream, then split off to do their own things. Matt left it up in the air whether they would get back together or not. They eventually did, but that left us with hours and hours of ambiguity until it became clear that Allura and Kima were very much in love.

Hey, Robbie! Robbie Daymond was a player on Exandria Unlimited and a guest player for Campaign 3 of Critical Role. He's fabulous, and I didn't even realize that was him playing Cerkonos.

Keyleth's whole transformation scene is beautiful and cathartic. She spends so much time unsure of herself or struggling to control her abilities, but then she gets that extra bit of confidence to let loose, and it's awe-inspiring. Her surrendering to the fire has a certain painful, uncertain beauty. You don't know if she'll be able to do whatever she needs to without hurting or destroying herself.

Neal's score compliments the moment perfectly; it's a musical epiphany spliced with the triumph of a battle won. There isn't anything more I can say about the music without repeating myself; it's always amazing.

Keyleth gets a little costume upgrade, yay! I like that the characters' looks change to represent their development and growing power. We saw something similar with the character art starting in C2, and it was always fun to see the new looks.

The Bad. (Or at least, not great.)

Grog and Craven Edge

So here's the thing about the original shitting scene. And yes, that is a sentence I just typed.

Originally the second Sphinx was not on the same continent as Vasselheim, and the crew went back to Tal'dorei to meet with Osysa's mate, to get the Vestige and some other treasures Identified, and to rest for a bit. Whitestone, in particular, was where the scene with Grog and Scanlan happened. Even if you didn't see the original, you might be able to guess it was transplanted from a more populated setting because Grog asks Scanlan for a song so that no one else will hear.

When they're in the woods. Away from the group and far away from any other people.

Grog's dumb, but he's not that kind of dumb.

It's not a huge deal, but it's one more instance on a growing list of the writing CRew's inconsistencies.

To fix it, I'd change the line to something different (Grog asking for mood music instead, perhaps) or, hell, have it chronologically take place in Whitestone when they first escaped the Conclave. Just have Grog flashback to it in this episode. You'd have to change some things in a few episodes, though. Have Grog fight some residual undead or monsters hanging around the city so he can see what the sword is capable of first, for instance. But you could make it work. 

Nitpicks:

I need more damn banter.

Not just because we had more banter in the original stream and not just because it would be a great way to organically world-build and establish and develop these characters and their relationships...

But because none of these people have books, iPhones, or music to listen to while they travel, presumably for hours if not days. All they can do is talk. So it makes sense that they would.

There's another reason, but I'll get into that next episode.

~ * ~

Again, I wished they'd added some visual effect to indicate Allura was at least trying to cast a spell when those rocks fell. If you know the original story, you know she lives, and if you know D&D wizards, you know they have tricks for that kind of thing, but if you're new, it can look cheap that they got out without any previous indication that they had.

Aramenté

So...to pass through the fire.

For various reasons, the way this moment was presented in the Campaign can't happen here. And even if there was no getting around that, it breaks my heart that the way it went down, so much of the original meaning of this phrase was lost.

The long and short of it was that it was part of a pep-talk for Keyleth that was a metaphor for enduring adversity. And it's such a disservice to Kiki's anxiety and her struggles with her confidence to just have her suddenly understand the concept out of nowhere when we have everything we need to give it more weight.

We have the whole prior season.

Instead of Keyleth just suddenly realizing what she needs to do, what she's capable of doing, have her flashback to the Blue Dragon she helped kill. The badass magic she used on the road to Whitestone that saved Vox Machina's lives while they were chasing after Scanlan. When she healed Cassandra. Her ice magic against the zombie hoard. When she killed Sylas. Hell, you could throw in her escaping the Conclave, which was her almost literally passing through fire.

Then hit us with her mom's voice. Because then both she and the audience can connect her mother's phrase with all she's endured up to this point. Hammer home what it means.

And then it's clear that Keyleth's already done what Air Ashari are made to do. So she can do it now.

Pyrah And Future Conflicts

Keyleth is told that Thordak had help getting out of the Fire Elemental plane, which led to the death and destruction that's come to Pyrah. In the stream, the confrontation between Keyleth and the being that provided that help was electric, charged with her anger and outrage in a moment where all her lack of surety fell away and was the foundation for some incredible moments later. There could still be more coming to set up for it....but as it stands, I can't see this episode providing the same heft that its stream counterpart did.

Mainly because, in the stream, we got to visit Pyrah before the attack. We saw it thriving, calm and peaceful. After the Chroma Conclave's initial attack, Allura showed Vox Machina the devastation the dragons had wrought outside Emon. Pyrah had become the sight of a smoking crater and mounds of dead. It left Keyleth and Marisha both in tears.

We're not getting the same impact here, but maybe we could've gotten closer to it by having Keyleth's flashback with her mom occur in Pyrah. We could see how the city was meant to be, and then we could've further empathized with Keyleth when she gets there and sees how devastated it is.

Heading into the next show, we've got one hell of a performance coming up. Don't miss it!

[sylvana-the-tsarina]

This story was just one rabbit trail of What-Ifs after another, all inspired by the tale of Tam Lin. Thanks, Red.

To Become a Lost Soul

Janet had perhaps seven years to her name when she met them.

It was a brief encounter, but a vivid one, such that she was still processing it when they met the second time. That second time was a visit, a visit from the Fey, and Janet had never in her life been so terrified and awestruck.

She’d never seen her father look so frightened either. Graeme was a large man with a solid sturdiness to him that made one think he could shoulder a mountain if he so wished, and though he had a kind soul, it was the type to be hidden from the observer behind a thick beard and stern grey eyes. Needless to say, to see him almost cowering before them was more fear-inspiring to her than the Fey themselves.

How many of them glided into the grand hall of the fort, she did not know, for the Fey leading the procession drew her eyes and the rest blurred into a muddle of sharp smiles and rustic grandeur in a certainly unnatural way. This Fey was their Queen, so her posture and crown proclaimed, and she was ethereal. A tall figure that towered over everyone, long hair that swept the floor, and such narrow beautiful features. The smile would have been friendly if there wasn’t so much teeth to it; clearly she felt at home in their wood & stone manor with its richly woven rugs and tapestries, despite her simple flowing robes and bare feet.

Her eyes swept the room once before landing on Janet’s form hiding behind her father, and the smile grew wider. Smiles should not be so terrifying, is what Janet thought to herself while her father placed a protective hand on her head. Smiles should make a person feel nice. Smiles should say they’re harmless.

The Fey were anything but harmless.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?” her father’s voice rumbled. He had solidified again somewhat — likely their interest in his daughter had triggered his paternal instincts.

“My, such a charming young man,” the Fey Queen crooned. Her voice was strange in a way Janet couldn’t place, the tone as though she wasn’t talking to them, but rather about them. “You must be her father. It is only right that such a lovely child would have a lovely father. How befitting indeed.”

The full weight of her gaze was once again resting on Janet’s face, and though her knees threatened to give out beneath her, Janet ordered her expression to morph into a properly friendly smile. No teeth, not from her.

That seemed to satisfy, or perhaps delight, the Fey, whose smile grew to truly unnerving lengths as she said, “Such a sweet-ling! Her presence in my abode to-day was quite the pleasure. She fairly brims with potential. Potential, so much potential indeed… it would be such a shame to see it wasted.”

“Wasted, fair lady?” The man’s tone was cautious.

“Why, indeed. Though she possesses charm in abundance, true grace is that of the fey’s; grace that will take her far in the world, grace that I shall bequeath her.”

“The fair lady is excessively kind in her gifts; my daughter only meant to extend hospitality as she has been taught,” Graeme said, quiet and careful.

At the time Janet couldn’t understand it, couldn’t understand that her father had just saved her from owing the fae a debt whilst giving the Fey Queen a mild push to retract her offer, without outright denying her. She couldn’t imagine the way she would turn that string of words over in her head for years to come, marvelling at the protection it had given her. Just then she only understood that it made the Fey Queen either very angry or very amused; the light that flared in her eyes wouldn’t let Janet know which it was.

The Fey Queen tilted her head and gave a little laugh, the sound like the ones the birds made when scared from the bushes. “Such a family is certainly deserving of gifts periodically. Do you not think it so, Tamlin?”

“Yes, Mother.”

That was when she first saw the boy.

He was definitively Fey; the way he flowed forward from the rest of them to stand next to the Queen when she addressed him, the paleness of everything about him (from his eyes to his hair), and the calm lack of expression on his face were distinctly not human. But while he resembled his mother somewhere in his features, he lacked her eerie otherworldliness, instead projecting a serenity and safety that eased Janet’s death grip on her father’s cloak.

Their eyes met, and though his mask didn’t move (why did she think it was a mask?) she thought she saw some curiosity and… fear in his eyes.

Why was he afraid? He was one of them. What was so scary about Janet in comparison?

This puzzled her enough that she would have missed what was said next if it hadn’t come from the Queen.

“There is much Tamlin can learn from the sweet-ling, I am sure, so I will have him present the gift,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder in a way that would have mirrored Janet’s father if Tamlin hadn’t stiffened ever so slightly when she did. “Be a good boy and give it to her, Tamlin.”

The boy-Fey was motionless for a moment, still looking at Janet without a change in his expression. She got the feeling he was hesitating.

“Mother, perhaps-”

“Yes?” The Queen’s voice had gotten dangerously soft.

“It is nothing. I will give her the gift.”

He glided forward then, stopping a pace or so away from them, and Janet cautiously stepped forward to meet him, her father’s hand sliding off her head without resistance. Perhaps it was Tamlin’s presence that allowed it; perhaps he was the reason she could hope this wasn’t all some menacing trick.

The boy-Fey held his hands out and Janet placed her hands there, marvelling at how niveous he was. She glanced at the Queen, who was smiling eerily once more, then at her father, whose eyes gave her support, before looking at Tamlin again. It was then that she saw the apology in his eyes — and the very real fear.

Why is he afraid? she thought again. What could I possibly do?

And then it slowly occurred to her that perhaps she wasn’t the one he was afraid of.

Before she could do anything, he closed his eyes and began murmuring a strange chant that was taken up by the other Fey in the room; a chant made of sounds she didn’t understand how he could make, one that flowed around Tamlin and herself, and seemed to reach deep inside her heart, looking for something.

She was getting light-headed with the way it was reverberating around the room, ancient and otherworldly and wild. Oddly enough, though Tamlin’s expression was still composed, she could feel his hands shaking too. This did not sit right with her, so she squeezed them with what little energy she could muster, and felt him tighten his hold in response, as if he was asking reassurance and giving some simultaneously.

It found what it was looking for, the chant; found it, and then began to take it, dragging that something away from Janet. Something very important and integral to her, because it hurt and it hurt worse than fire. She would have uttered a cry, or screamed, but the chant had taken her energy without her noticing, and it was so loud, and she could only feel pain, and she couldn’t feel anything, and it was so dark, and she didn’t exist, and it was too bright, and nothing was real besides the fact that Tamlin was still holding her hands and she was holding his.

He was going through whatever she was going through, she knew without a doubt, so she kept holding on to him until she could blearily blink her eyes open and see that they had both collapsed onto the floor, sweet silence permeating the room.

It’s over, she thought with a sigh that felt strange. It’s all over.

Then her eyes closed and darkness overcame her.

------

Later, her father would describe what happened as remarkable. The chant had brought out a light from both Janet and Tamlin, and their lights had flowed through the room, filling it with scents of berries and wild leaves and wet earth and stars, and livening the colours in the air, before it returned to them and everything settled once more. The Fae Queen had smiled down at the sleeping children and swept away without another word, leaving one of her entourage to pry apart their hands and take Tamlin’s unconscious form away.

Graeme had then scooped her up and brought her to her room, where her nurse (and their resident herbalist), Kenna, was summoned. Kenna had checked over her and identified nothing wrong, but the both of them had waited in fretful patience for Janet to wake up, anyway.

This all she heard perhaps a day or so after the incident. As it were, she came to in her bedroom, tucked in snugly under blankets with Kenna asleep on a chair nearby, the fireplace blazing comfortably. She lay still for a moment, a strange heaviness in her limbs, and then slowly sat up, feeling the last traces of strange dreams fade from her memory.

Something was wrong.

Her eyes skimmed the room, wondering what it was, and her uneasiness both lessened and grew when she couldn’t identify anything off. The blankets were slowly eased away, and she lightly pattered on to the floor, avoiding making any noise.

Why did she want to avoid making noise?

Janet stopped, puzzled. She’d never had a problem with being loud before. Graeme and the rest of the adults had nicknamed her a walking fireplace with how she blazed through the house, hopping about and uttering cheery remarks and filling the place with her warmth. Not that she was loud in a boisterous sort of way, she was too well brought up for that, but this sudden desire to be utterly silent was quite new.

It must be because the Fey’s visit was so frightening, and she didn’t want to distress poor Kenna’s nerves. Yes, that must be it. She was worried about Kenna.

This resolved, she glided over to where the windows were and drew the curtains aside to let light spill into the room. It was really too stuffy in here. Not enough air and light. Janet needed air and light; she couldn’t go without them.

She stopped again. Really? Were air and light so necessary? Well, however did she manage to go to sleep at night, then? Her father always closed the windows and curtains at night; it was too cold to do otherwise. Thinking about that now, though, made her feel kind of claustrophobic. What about the stars? The moon? The scent of lilies in the breeze?

Her head was aching, so she put a cold hand to it (why was she so cold?), hoping that would ease the pain. The sense of wrongness was strong — so strong. Why was Janet thinking all these things? What on earth had happened to her?

A little shimmer caught her eye, so she turned to look at what it was. That standing mirror wasn’t new, with its worn gold filigree and carved legs, and the girl it reflected back at her was familiar too…

Except…

Almost in a daze, she gently flowed forward and studied the person in the mirror. That was her figure, to be sure; small round freckled face, tiny button nose, large green eyes, and a head of thick, curly, brown-red hair. Everything she recognised as herself; everything except the expression on a face that was paler than it used to be.

That expression was familiar, though. She had seen it last on a snowy boy-Fey whose hands she’d held until they were taken apart.

Many minutes (or perhaps hours) passed as she stood there, stunned by that revelation; everything seemed suspended and still, her mind blank with disbelief. She was so absorbed that Kenna’s cry of surprise startled her to the point that Janet, the old Janet, would have jumped and uttered a cry herself, but she only gracefully tilted to face her nanny, carefully concealing every bit of dread and fear, though she did not know why.

---------

Everything was wrong.

He knew everything would be wrong. However, it was one thing to know and altogether another thing to experience. Wrongness could not be properly understood without feeling it oneself, and Tamlin would have preferred to go his entire life without understanding it.

The grass was uncomfortable under his cheek, and it took most of his willpower to prevent himself from shifting in discomfort. He had to understand before he did anything — a mindset he was thoroughly relieved to find still with him.

Where was he?

Ah. Right.

Still he kept his eyes closed, but strained to listen and feel everything he could from his surroundings. It was all the same- he recognised- and yet-

So new and unknown and terrifying. Off by a little margin. Dampened and hushed.

He was so scared.

Was that…. water… on his face? Why was there water on his face?

This phenomenon puzzled him enough to distract momentarily from the fear, and he sifted through his knowledge, trying to figure out what was going on. A few blurred moments later, two memories surfaced. One that was familiar, and the other that was new.

Crying. So that’s what it was. He was crying.

How strange. Tamlin had never cried before (or at least, he didn’t remember ever crying). This seemed to him to be a rather mellow kind of crying, if those other memories served him right, one where his tears simply slid down his face. There were other kinds: kinds that stole one’s breath so that it pained one, kinds that were noisy and messy, kinds that came from anger or joy. It was truly fascinating.

Although… he hoped he didn’t do any of those. Mother would…

He’d rather not think about it.

The grass was pricklier than ever, but he stayed still for about ten minutes more before allowing himself to get up, having confirmed that there was no one in the clearing with him. Opening his eyes for the first time since the ritual was a strange experience, and for a moment he panicked at his blurry vision before realising it was because of the tears. Rubbing his eyes and surveying his surroundings once more revealed that his vision was still not as good as it used to be, but it was better than he had expected.

He was too warm, he noticed. The girl, Janet, had been warm, so he supposed it wasn’t surprising, even if it was uncomfortable. Remembering her made a knot form in his chest, whether from guilt or the residual magic he was not sure. Perhaps both.

Magic. His magic.

Panic washed over Tamlin anew when he realised he couldn’t feel it anymore. Of course he couldn’t. He had expected as much, knew it wouldn’t be there. But one of the few things in his entire world that kept him safe had just disappeared, and he was scared. So very very scared.

There was the water, no wait, tears again. He swiped at his eyes again, trying to get it to stop. What would he do? Just what exactly would he do?

Inhale. Exhale. Think.

Something soft and warm bloomed in his heart for a moment before fading almost immediately. It stopped Tamlin’s thoughts altogether. Unlike the rest of the warmth, which still caused him some discomfort, that little spot of light had offered solace while it lasted.

He slowed. Closed his eyes. Breathed for a few minutes.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

And there it was again. Soft and warm, but far more present this time. The breathing continued until he was sure it wouldn’t disappear again, after which he turned his attention to it and studied it with a smudge of fascination.

Fascination that turned into a painful bit of hope once he recognised what it was.

So Janet had had magic. Was she aware of it? Well, considering how faint it was, probably not. In all likelihood, actually, it had only just awakened. With Tamlin, instead of the little redhead, which made that knot of guilt tighten again, but it was contrasted by his shoulders loosening with relief. If the magic had awakened before this, Mother would never have considered Janet at all.

Tamlin studied this new frail magic, trying to understand what it could do. Human magic was so very different from fey magic (if his own magic had been a good indicator of fey magic, that is): less wild and shifty, and more… calm. At home. It remained to be seen whether the relaxed air to him now was caused by the magic’s simple presence or by it, well, casting magic on him.

The peace couldn’t last for long, though.

Leaves rustled off the side and Tamlin tensed before turning to face the elegant, sharp Fey before him. Mother had come for her visit.

“Finally awake, are we, dear?” she said, the intonation on ‘dear’ as mocking as it had always been, her teeth sharpening in her smile. “Well? How do you fare? Happy, I hope?”

Tamlin stood and, for the first time in all his seven years, smiled back at her.

The response surprised him as much as it surprised his mother, sparking a profound relief deep in his heart and a wider smile from the Queen. To think that the friendly little Janet had hid herself behind her cheer, hid herself so well, in fact, that she had fooled even the Queen of the Fey.

Smiling didn’t suit Tamlin (this one made his face hurt because of how… much it felt to him, someone used to the barest ghosts of expressions), but it could protect him, and he was so very glad.

So he continued smiling, even as he said, “Yes, Mother.” Even as it drained his energy, even as the wrongness settled around him like fog in early mornings, he smiled.

Tamlin could protect himself. For just a little longer.

Next Chapter.

[lazytyphooncollector]

No Matter What Chapter 1

Note that this is my 1st ever reader story. This will be a short story probably containing only 4 or 5 chapters long. This idea just suddenly hit me today. I absolutely love peepaw future rise Leo. He's my forever drug and sin lol. Anyway this story will contain smut. Read at your own risk

It was brutal and pure unrelenting agony. You were in the apocalyptic future fighting the monstrous scum that completely decimated the entire planet the kraang. You Leo Mikey Todd and Casey were the only ones still alive on earth part of the last remaining resistance that held on to completely destroy the kraang at long long but that would never come to be. You saw Casey slump Leo down his sensei against some rubble and he was bleeding. Frantically rushing over there you discovered in your teenage years that you possessed healing abilities the likes of which no one had ever seen before in millenia. Now at the ripe older age of 40 and Leo 42 you were an adult but still faint at heart of a kid still. You levitate your hands over Leo's wounds and with a flashing light surrounding them until it eventually dimmed out completely all of his wounds disappeared making them never exist in the first place. She wiped some concerned imaginary sweat off of your forehead and frowned at him sighing. Leo in his prime could gaze up into your beautiful orbs with his onyx colored masked eyes and brought up his prosthetic hand to cup your cheek stroking it there and he charmed your whole soul away with that luscious gorgeous smirk of his as he chuckled.

"Did you think I was actually going to die darling? Cause with you by my side I know I'd never have to worry about that. Ever."

You just smiled down at him gripping his prosthetic hand on your cheek with your hand on top of his own cradling it there shaking your head no but still the tears wouldn't stop from falling down as you collapsed and sank deep into his plastron wrapping your arms around him.

"No but still. I-I just want this to be over Leo. I can't stand this. I-I don't know if I can go on like this at this rate. I'm so tired of fighting for a better future that more than likely will never come to pass."

But Leo just listened intently as he wrapped both arms around you bringing you to settle in a sitting position on his lap as he clung you tightly to him breathing in your entire being afraid that you would just vanish in an instant if he so much as blinked or breathed.

@raph-red-fan @primroseprime2019 @mistyroselove @naya-queenzie @tulipvalley27 @nikitaboeve @lady-maria-the-wolf225 @lasttriptonyc @raphsgrl @rebellious-mutant @doctorelleth @jaenisamusculargurl @camibanani @darkhoodedvendetta-blog @immadollfacelove @kkloco @redhoods-daughter-from-hell @swagtreecrown @knobsshamanics @tamitaninja2007 @sweetshepherdslimeartisan @lovelylulu1 @rin-oroku @dasdummenutellabrot @chuu-u3 @kawaii-anime-life123 @cattonmilap @janet-the-dark-queen @lolatheatiny @michelangelokin @shortgremlinaxolotl @scarlettestitch @foreignbrunette @temenos-empath @skeezpyuff @screamingnoodl @xxcirus-masqueradexx @sketchnskribbles @yourgurlami1234 @izzytheturtleboomslang @luna-neko-hamato @lunar-corgimon

[ohhkaty]

Record collecting is an expensive hobby but it also honestly brings me so much joy. There’s still so much I want to buy and will buy (tbh) but I keep going to record sales and not remembering what I own and almost buying doubles of the same album, so that’s why this list exists. But I also saw folks publishing their lists earlier and I love seeing what people have in their collections (truly I’d love to see yours if you wanted to post it!) If you ever want to talk records or music I’m your gal ♡ 

A Abba - Super Trouper - Voulez Vous - Greatest Hits Vol. 2 The Animals - The Best Of The Animals Arcade fire - Everything Now Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams Aqua - Aquarium

B Bleachers  - Bleachers MTV Unplugged  - Take the sadness out of Saturday night  Beyonce - Lemonade - Renaissance Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever  Barenaked ladies  - Original Hits  Bo Burnham - Inside  Bob Seger - Stranger In Town Billy Joel - 52 Street - The Stranger - Glass Houses - An Innocent Man The Beatles - Help - Yesterday and Today - Abbey Road  - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

C Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated - The Loneliest Time Cat Stevens -Tea for the Tillerman Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle Vol. 1 Cheap Trick - At Budokan

D Dirty Honey  - Dirty Honey Dodie  - build a problem  Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia  Dee Gees - Hail Satin  David Bowie - Legacy (The Very Best Of David Bowie) Dolly Parton  - Greatest Hits  Diana Ross - Swept Away - Summer 

E Elvis Presley  - The Essential Elvis  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis  Etta James  - At Last  Edith Piaf  - The great Edith Piaf  Elton John - Greatest Hits  - Greatest Hits Vol. 2  - Captain Fantastic  - Honky Château  - Here and There 

F Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes  Florence and the Machine  - Lungs  - Dance Fever  Frank Ocean  - Channel Orange (yes this is a boot) Fun  - Some Nights  Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Tango In The Night - The Dance

G Greta Van Fleet  - From the Fires  - Anthem of the Peaceful Army  - The Battle at Garden’s Gate  George Ezra  - Gold rush kid  Grateful Dead  - American beauty Genesis  - Invisible touch  The Guess Who - The Best Of The Guess Who 

H Haim - Forever EP - Days Are Gone - Something To Tell You - Women in Music III Harry Styles - Harry Styles  - Fine Line - Harry’s House Hozier - Hozier - Wasteland, Baby! Hall & Oates - Rock 'n Soul Part 1

J Jill Barber - Chances Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra - The Capitol Studios Sessions Jeff Lynne’s ELO - Alone In The Universe Joni Mitchell - Blue Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits - Pearl Jefferson Airplane -Surrealistic Pillow Jethro Tull - Stand Up Janet Jackson - Control 

K Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour - Star-Crossed  Khruangbin and Leon Bridges - Texas Sun - Texas Moon Kate bush - Hounds Of Love Kansas - Leftoverture

L Lorde - Melodrama - Solar Power The Lumineers - The Lumineers - Cleopatra Lizzo -Coconut Oil - Cuz I Love You Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Lana Del Rey - Born To Die Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door 

M Maggie Rogers - Surrender Mother Mother - Dance And Cry Mumford and Sons - Wilder Mind Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion Matty Matheson - A Cookbook (yes this is a real cookbook, it comes with a zine!) Marina And The Diamonds -Electra Heart Minnie Riperton - Les Fleurs: The Minnie Riperton Anthology Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell Mr mister - Welcome To The Real World 

N Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats The National - Boxer Nico - Chelsea Girl Neil Young - Harvest Moon Neil Diamond - Live At The Troubadour 

O Orville Peck - Pony - Show Pony Orla Gartland - Women on the Internet Olivia Rodrigo  - Sour 

P Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps  Paramore  - After Laughter  Prince - Purple rain  The Mamas & the Papas - The Papas & the Mamas The Police - Zenyatta Mondatta Paul Simon - There Goes Rhyming Simon - Graceland  Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passions 

Q Queen - Greatest Hits

R The Regrettes - Feel Your Feelings Fool - How Do You Love - Further Joy Ramones  - Ramones 

S The Sheepdogs  - Live At Lees  Spice Girls  - Spice  The Strokes  - Angles 

The Struts  - Strange Days 

Silk Sonic  - An Evening with Silk Sonic 

Simon and Garfunkel  - Bridge Over Troubled Water 

T Taylor swift  - Lover  - Folklore  - Evermore  - Midnights  Trixie Mattel  - Two Birds/One Stone - Barbara  Twin shadow  - Eclipse  - Twin Shadow Tears for fears  - Songs From The Big Chair  Toto - Toto IV Toronto  - Get It On Credit  Talking Heads  - Remain in light 

W Whitney Houston - Whitney  - Whitney Houston 

Y Yola - Walk Through The Fire - Stand For Myself Years and Years - Palo Santo

Z The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle - Oddities and Orcales  

123 The 1975 - The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language

Movie Soundtracks - Labyrinth - The Virgin Suicides - Eternal Sunshine of - School Of Rock - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Promising Young Women - Josie and the Pussycats  - Almost Famous -Rocky Horror Picture Show - Up - Space Jam  - Little Shop of Horrors  - Grease - Saturday Night Fever - Xanadu  - Ghostbusters - St. Elmo’s Fire

Television Soundtracks - The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - Stranger Things Vol 1/2 - Stranger Things Vol 3 - Euphoria Season 2 - Steven Universe 

Musicals - In the Heights - Hair

[dragonfly92]

OLD FAMILY FRIENDS CHAPTER NINE

It was now the day of Melissa and Lonny's wedding day of course all the girls stayed with Mel at the hotel which wasn't that far from the venue, the guys was in the same hotel but on the other side so that neither of the bride or groom could see each other as it was traditional for the bride and groom not to see each other on the day of their wedding, Sarah was the one in charge of doing her sister's make up which she did perfectly surprisingly Mel wasn't a bridezilla she was pretty chilled out which was so much better for everyone mostly the girls though Mel had decided to go for different bridesmaid dresses and also Sarah's dress was different but all the focus would remain on the bride and groom as it was their special day.

Whilst the rest of the girls was getting ready Sarah was now doing Mel's hair which again she did an amazing job, once she was done Mel speaks up saying, "Thank you sis you've been a big help I honestly wouldn't know what to do without you here now I think it's time for you to go and get into your dress the wedding starts in 2 hours, plus got to get me in my dress afterwards also just so you know I love you so much never forget that." Sarah smiles trying her hardest not to cry and speaks up saying, "Well I am just happy that you're happy and I'm sure Jacob and Nick will feel the exact same way so will Dad and yeah I probably should you know I take forever to get ready and I love you too always will."

So whilst Sarah went and got herself ready their mom had joined Mel at her side trying her hardest not to get emotional as well she speaks up saying, "Oh sweetheart you look beautiful Sarah did an amazing Job once Lonny sees you he's gonna not hold it together me and your dad are both so proud of you right now we just can't wait for you two to get married and for him to be our son in law, because he treats you like a Queen and that is how a woman should be treated." Mel smiles saying, "Thank you mom yeah she did, I love it and I hope he doesn't I'm just relieved that you actually love him not gonna lie was a little worried when he first met you guys and he does treat Sarah like a baby sister as well which means so much to me."

Half an hour later all the girls was now in their dresses which of course included the bride there was a knock at the door Sarah was the one closer to the door so she went to answer not fully just encase it was Lonny but luckily enough it was just her dad so she fully opened the door and he walks in with a grin on his face, Sarah closes the door behind her and turns around their father speaks up saying, "Wow don't my girls look beautiful and all grown up, seems like yesterday you was both walking around wearing your mother's shoes obviously both young so neither of your feet could fit."

MELISSA'S WEDDING DRESS 

SARAH'S MAID OF HONOUR DRESS, SHOES AND HAIRSTYLE

HARPER'S BRIDESMAID DRESS AND HAIRSTYLE

ROSE'S BRIDESMAID DRESS AND HAIRSTYLE

HANNAH'S BRIDESMAID DRESS AND HAIRSTYLE

JESSICA'S BRIDESMAID DRESS AND HAIRSTYLE - CLUTCH NOT INCLUDED 

LONNY'S GROOM'S OUTFIT

GROOMSMENS - CC, JINXX, JAKE, NICK AND JACOB - BESTMAN ANDY SUIT

MAISIE'S FLOWER GIRL OUTFIT - AMY AND NICK'S DAUGHTER

They talked for a little while longer then it was finally time for Mel and Lonny to get married there was no more knocks on the door, Mel looked beautiful in her wedding dress her dad opens the door of course the girls left first followed by Mel and Sarah's Mom Janet then it was Mel herself followed closely by Mel and Sarah's father Neil, he closes the door behind him and they all head downstairs to the venue where all the guests was waiting in their seats Lonny had already gone ahead and was waiting for his soon to be wife at the altar, the rest of the guys was waiting patiently for the girls who was now downstairs when each of the guys saw the girls they of course compliment them.

When Andy sees Sarah he has a smile on his face saying to her, "Wow you look beautiful." She smiles at him saying, "Thanks and you look handsome hows Lonny doing?" Andy speaks up saying, "Well thank you and he's a mixture of excited and nervous at the same time so ready to go seeing as we're first to walk down the aisle?" Sarah speaks up saying, "Yeah I am also I have a feeling that Lonny's gonna be emotional once he sees Mel." He laughs a little saying, "Yeah I have the same feeling." She links arms with Andy the doors open, music starts playing and they start walking down the aisle of course everyone was watching all probably thinking that they would make a cute couple.

Then it was followed by Joe and Harper, then it was Rose and Jinxx, then it was Hannah and CC, followed by Jessica and Jake last but not least was Jacob with Janet but he honestly didn't mind he loves their mom to pieces then once each couple had gotten to the front separated girls onto the left whilst the guys onto the right when it came to Jacob and his mom he helped sit her down and then he joined the guys, finally everyone stood up as Melissa and her father started walking down the Aisle and as soon as Lonny sees his soon to be wife he can't hide his emotions and starts getting emotional of course Andy was next to him giving him a tissue which he accepts and thanks him for it.

Once Mel was at the altar Neil gives her to Lonny after the priest asks, "Who gives this woman to this man?" Afterwards he joined his wife sitting down who was already emotional of course it was happy tears, then it started whilst it was going Sarah was holding Lonny's ring whilst Andy was holding Melissa wedding ring they couldn't stop looking at each other smiling but then would turn their attention back to the wedding, the photographer of course was recording the whole thing even when they both looked at each other Sarah's mom notices smiling thinking and hoping that they would eventually get together it's clear that their love each other.

It was now time for the exchanging of rings so Melissa turns to Sarah who hands her his wedding band and Lonny does the same, then they turn their attention back to each other and starts saying their vows which they had both written their own and then their exchanged rings, the priest speaks up saying, "Now I pronounce you husband and wife you may now kiss your bride." He does and everyone starts cheering and clapping the kiss only last a few seconds and then they both turn to their families and friends starting to walk down the aisle everyone had now stood up, continued clapping and cheering then it was the maid of honour and Bestman, followed by each of the bridesmaid and groomsmen everyone started headed to the reception, where the fun could beginning. 

[the-busy-ghost]

Rant

Actually in light of the many delights of sixteenth century women’s names in Scotland, that just makes me even more annoyed about Reign. I mean OF COURSE nobody was expecting accuracy from it and it’s supposed to be a bit of fun (and actually I think it has aged well compared to other series which CLAIMED accuracy but never achieved it, cough cough the White Princess). But I still get a bit annoyed with the names they came up with for the Four Maries, because not only do I love historical names (and Scotland had some odd ones) but it was a very very weird decision on behalf of the writers.  

First of all in my personal (and therefore subjective) experience the concept of the Four Marys is one of the most memorable things about Mary Queen of Scots (other than, you know, the fact that she got her head chopped off). And they all have very different faces, so I think the audience were capable of telling them apart- and even if they weren’t you could have given them variants (one could be Marie, one Marion, e.t.c.).

Secondly though the alternative names are horrendous? I don’t want to insult anyone who might have these names (my own name is not particularly nice either) but honestly they just make me want to vomit a bit. Each to their own, if people like them that’s fine but they did seem quite lazy choices too. Sixteenth century names are no picnic (lots of old lady vibes) but they are BEAUTIFUL compared to Greer.

So because I apparently don’t have anything better to do (a lie, I was working on a project which is how I got onto the topic of baby names in the first place) I have decided to waste my evening thinking up some alternative suggestions which sixteenth century Scottish parents might have chosen for their daughter instead of Mary. I have tried to keep the sound and vibe of the names they chose for the show instead, so that actually rules out the more common names like Mary and Janet but hey at least that makes things exciting.

First up is Aylee. Which, though that is not AT ALL how you spell Eilidh, they get points for trying to make something sound plausibly Scottish? I think? I mean there’s every possibility that they just plucked the name out of a hat and weren’t thinking of Scotland at all. 

Eilidh is a beautiful name from the Gàidhlig which is very common in Scotland now (and when I was at school it always really confused teachers from England when they were trying to call the register). But as far as I’m aware wasn’t much used in the sixteenth century (though a lot of records about Gàidhlig speakers often Anglicise their names- Aoife to Eva, for example). And if it was, it certainly wasn’t popular in the Lowlands where the Four Marys came from (Fife/Lothian/Stirlingshire/Lanarkshire- loosely of course). So what could you use instead, if you were a sixteenth century mother who had wanted to call her daughter Mary but, idk, wasn’t all that keen on the Virgin the week she was born?

Well Helen or Ellen or even Helenor might work. Derivatives of the name Eleanor are not a direct equivalent of Eilidh but Helen is about as close as you’re going to get for the mid-sixteenth century among the Lowland aristocracy. And although its a bit of an old lady name now it was very popular in Scotland from the sixteenth to the 20th centuries and has the fortunate associations with the beautiful Helen of Troy and with St Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. Alison is another possibility if you want something with the ‘Al/El/Ayl’ sort of noise- yes Alison is both a first name AND a surname in this period, bizarrely. You could also go with Elspeth which was a very common variant of Elizabeth- you tend to see Elspeth more in 17th and 18th century Scotland but I think it was used in the 16th century too, just that Elizabeth tended to be written in the official record.

One consideration though is that I believe Aylee is meant to be the Mary Seton of the gang. Which means the writers of Reign didn’t actually have to stick to Scottish names because the historical Mary Seton’s mother was Marie Pieris, a French lady-in-waiting who came over with Marie de Guise. So they had the whole wonderful, elegant world of French baby names to play with! Alas, what could have been...

Next up is Kenna which... again points to them for trying to vaguely sound Scottish (albeit in the most American way possible) but Kenna will always remind me of men called Kenneth, which is, I’m sorry, not a sexy name. And to be honest I don’t even know what to do with this one. I mean if you want a name starting with a K you could always use Katherine? Not as common a name in Scotland as it was in England but still knocking around and frequently shortened to Kate or Katie, it might work? Otherwise I have no idea what to do with this one. Just call her Agnes and be done with it- it was Mary Livingston’s mother’s name and could be stretched into Anna if you tried, which almost (i.e. not at all) rhymes with Kenna. What does it matter. I don’t even care anymore, and neither, I think, did the Reign writers.

Third we have Lola. Which is the only one of these four names I have ever heard used in real life so that’s a bonus! And probably the only bonus to be honest (do NOT get me started on the particular brand of upper-middle class English women who labour their daughters with this name, which in itself is not so bad, but pronounced in the patronising, long-vowelled tones of a Waitrose mother calling to her Little Dahling, it gets on my nerves). 

Luckily though this is a name for which I can think of a good alternative immediately- Lilias. 

Yes once again it’s an old lady kind of a name now but I PROMISE you, in the sixteenth century all the hot young Scotswomen chasing fairy lovers/dancing with the devil/defending their border castles against the English were called shit like Lilias and Janet and Isobel and Barbara and, idk, sodding Beatrix. The historical Lola Mary Fleming’s mother was called Janet and she STILL managed to attract the attention of the King of France and acquire the nickname la Belle Écossaise when she was in her forties and had given birth to eight children. 

Old-fashioned names ought not to hold Young Ladies of Character back in the world, and anyway you know what? Eventually the Lolas of this world will be 80 one day as well (and I’m not saying you can’t be a hot bad-ass when you’re 80 too, but that’s off topic). Lilias fortunately preserves the liquid double ‘L’ noise of Lola and has a nice meaning too. 

And so lastly we come to the greatest abomination of the lot - Greer. I mean... I’m apologising for using ‘old lady’ names but honestly the Reign writers should be forced to do penance for inflicting this one on any character. It is the baby name equivalent of a block of granite, but less sparkly. Personally, I am also biased against it because I have a pet hate of surnames used as first names, ESPECIALLY Scottish surnames (and I’m not just talking modern ones like Mackenzie, I fully include the much more common and even traditional ones like Gordon and Douglas in this). But at least Greer Garson’s name was a nod to her mother’s surname which wasn’t really an option for this Mary Beaton stand-in- I’m not sure that the even the Reign writers would call a character Renwall. Either way Greer does itself absolutely no favours.

HOWEVER. I will cooperate. I will do my best to find you a hard, slightly ugly but also kind of quirky and cool name from sixteenth century Scotland that starts with a hard G. And funnily enough it’s even easier than Lola was because we have two, quite common nicknames that would do instead.

Margaret was one of, if not THE, most popular baby name for centuries in Scotland (except perhaps Mary) and among its many variants, a particularly popular one in the sixteenth century was Grizel, sometimes affectionately shortened further to Grizzy (though I have only seen this in the 18th century). Sometimes (like with Mary and Marion) you even get two daughters in the same family, one named Margaret and one named Grizel. I will admit, though this name summons up grisly images (haha), I have a soft spot for it so I think it could work, especially if you place all the emphasis on the second syllable.

The other alternative is Geillis. Which I *think* might be a nickname for people named Egidia from what I can tell? I’m not 100% on that one but both Geillis and Egidia crop up now and again in Scottish history from the twelfth century until at least the eighteenth. Not a name I would revive for any of the children I won’t be having but hey, you all liked it when Outlander nicked it off a historical woman persecuted during the North Berwick witch trials. And sorry, it just has to be better than Greer. Even Kentigerna and Triduana (names that the Scottish nobility unfortunately had access to but, mercifully, I have never yet seen used) is better than Greer. Even Lady Douglas Sheffield (though that one is England’s responsibility) had a better name than Greer. Even Ephesia is better than Greer.

I mean alternatively the writers could have saved themselves time and just done what 60% of the Scottish nobility did when faced with a clutch of daughters and just called them Margaret, Janet, Agnes, and Isobel, with Marion, Elizabeth, Helen, Christian, and Jean/Jane/Joan kept in reserve. But that would require them to use Wikipedia for all of three seconds and I think that might have been beyond them.

[vindelllas]

Can you talk about beauty in revati women more specifically revati chandra? Thank you very much✨

i got you love 💕🤍💗

a mini exploration of revati chandra natives 🐘:

🐘 angelina jolie: revati chandra

🐘 rihanna: revati chandra

⌛️ in my opinion, revati chandra women have some of the best appearances out of the entire zodiac. they typically embody the best physical features of their genetics. they have the youthful features of the revati nakshatra’s ruler budha, such as plump, pouty lips; youthful and arched eyebrows; hypnotizing and magnetic eyes; strong jawlines and dainty noses; and larger foreheads. whereas, brihaspati (the ruler of pisces) bestows these natives with a naturally curvaceous, hourglass-shaped, and busty figure. their figures are not extremely thick or have such a waist emphasis like dhanishta, but more so a thickened, slimmer body type. the are typically of medium height, around 67-68 inches tall (budha-ruled women tend to be short but brihaspati-ruled women tend to be slightly tall, so there is somewhat a height balance). they favor embellishing their beautiful features with more yin characteristics like medium-to-long hair, long nails, diamond jewelry, and thinner eyebrows.

🐘 ali mcgraw: revati chandra

🐘 janet jackson: revati chandra

🌊 due to revati’s high expectations of both themselves and others, these natives are often prone to slight feelings of low self-esteem. they seem to struggle with accepting the losses and short-comings in their lives. this behavior sends them into an emotional spiral and causes them to forget how to handle situations of adversity. they may sometimes lack the practical and disciplined nature they need to survive during times of trials and tribulations. internally, revati chandras are quite compassionate to others and struggle with expressing the same compassion to themselves, as they are always under constant stereotypes and ridicule from others. this is why revatis may either seem emotionally unavailable (as an adjustment to society’s cruel nature) or insanely emotionally unstable (due to them growing tired of concealing their emotions to others and choosing to rather manically embrace all of their suppressed emotions at once).

🐘 whitney houston: revati chandra

🌱 revati belongs to the mridu (tender) nakshatras, along with mrigashira, chitra, and anuradha. the mridu nakshatras are best for pursuing platonic relationships and the enjoyment of life’s pleasures. such as, romance, dance, drama, fashion, and literature. because revati is also ruled by pushan, the deity for nurturing and safe travel, they are naturally called to explore the finer things in life before the ascend into the plane of pure spirituality. men, in particular, struggle with this placement more as it conflicts with their natural yang nature and causes many revati chandra men to become obsessed with the vanity of the physical plane. as budha-ruled men embody the trickster archetype to the fullest and become too consumed with pursuing the “next best thing” as fast as possible, like younger women and greater amounts of money. whereas, revati chandra women seem to focus on enjoying their creative pursuits and the journey of life much more.

🐘 salma hayek: revati chandra

🏹 revati chandra women are highly sexual beings. their mercurial nature makes them naturally quite shamelessly promiscuous and embody the stereotypical male fantasies of the “cool girl” (a woman with a youthful glow, high sex appeal, and a preference for vulgarities/alcohol/physical activities). this seems to cause great polarity in pop culture. revati chandra native cardi b is quite infamous for her highly sexually explicit songs and revealing outfits. budha-ruled women love to entice and tease others with their abundant looks and hypnotic aura. after all, mercury/budha is regarded as the playful trickster in vedic astrology and the elephant yoni is regarded as the best yoni for sexual endurance. yet, they know how to market their bodies to receive the utmost profit. think of revati chandra celebrities like salma hayek and eva longoria who are known for their figures and body revealing scenes in film. men seem to idolize and worship the playful sensuality of revati chandras, while women seem to often feel imitated and threatened by their nature.

an excellent musical example of revati’s constant hate they receive for wishing to control the sexual narrative of their bodies, harsh exterior, and their proneness to the usage of vulgarities:

🐘 cardi b (revati chandra): upper photo

🐘 eva longoria (revati chandra): lower photo

🐘 sade adu: revati chandra

🌬 because revati is symbolic of the natural twelfth house, the house of great intuition and our soul’s ascension/descension, these natives have a strong sense of intuition. they are typically expressive of their deep connections to the astral plane through their artistic endeavors. revati chandra native sade adu was known for her transcendental, almost aquatic-like voice and angelina jolie stars in the disney film “maleficent”, a fairy-tale and dream-like film. revati’s expression of the twelfth house is much different than the other pisces rashi nakshatras. revatis stand out in both the physical and astral plane, they bring unique qualities from both realms as they are the utmost mastery of the nakshatras. in “maleficent”, angelina jolie plays a misunderstood fairy who learns to embrace both her dark and nourishing nature. she has contrasting pale/dark features, large and black wings, and huge horns. she looks nothing like the other soft, pastel-loving fairies and is often stereotyped as mean or brutal. this is much similar to the nature of revatis, their harsh external nature is often confused for being robotic or aggressive, this is why tropical aries are often given such a bad rep for their agression. revatis feel so deeply and truthfully on the inside, but struggle with expressing their emotions out of fear that they will be even more misconstrued. everything affects them so much, they prefer to become almost numb. as they progress through life, their outer shell eventually shatters and reveals the strong, yet caring, individual they truly are.

🐘 anna wintour: revati chandra

✨ revati natives are sincere and passionate with everything they do. they strive for a clear and honest approach to their work and life and are called to live uniquely and embrace their individuality. like all mercurial nakshatras, they tend to embrace an ambivert/extrovert lifestyle and have very outgoing and magnetic personalities. their social nature and great beauty allow them to dazzle and hypnotize the hearts of the masses. this magnetism is why we see many revati chandras rising to the top of their respective fields. such as, rihanna and her fashion/cosmetic/music career, angelina jolie and her acting/philanthropy career, and anna wintour is often regarded as the reigning queen of fashion. revati is literally translated as “wealthy”, these natives continuously blossom and flourish thanks to budha’s charm and brihaspati’s blessings of prosperity!

hope this helps love 💕 happy february everyone! i plan on exploring chitra next!

xoxo, angel <3

[wizardysseus]

Do you have a version of Tam Lin to recommend to readers new to the story? From following you I have a vague idea of "something beauty&beast-esque something shapechanger (problematic fave??? can't remember) also something about her holding on to him with all the stubbornness of a beowulf/sophie hatter mashup" so.

Yeah I basically know nothing but I always enjoy reading things you post about.

tam lin is a folk ballad! so there are a ton of versions both to read and to listen to. the finer details may vary, but in basic form, tam lin is about a young woman named janet who is told not to go to carterhaugh, because a fairy might get her. janet deliberately does go by carterhaugh, wearing green to attract fairies, and when tam lin shows up to tell her off for pulling roses, she says she has as much right to be here as him, thank you. and then they have sex.*

after awhile, janet's father realizes that she's pregnant and asks her who the father is. she tells him it's none of his business, and certainly none of his knights, and then goes back to carterhaugh and starts pulling roses again until tam lin appears once more. she tells him frankly that she's not having this baby unless he pays his child support. he reveals to her that he is to be the fairy queen's tithe to hell, come halloween night, but if janet pulls him down from his horse and refuses to let go of him, no matter what shape he changes into, he'll be her own true love and take care of their child.

(*however, one of the major differences between versions is that some depict tam lin as a rapist. this is not the first version of it i heard, and it is not the "earliest" or "most accurate" version, but i wouldn't want anyone poking around in lots of different texts to be taken by surprise by it.)

i would probably start with a song version, so here are some that i really love:

anais mitchell: one of the first i heard and one of the most appealing to me musically. however, loses points for not including the fairy queen.

broadside electric: my current favorite. it's more upbeat that anais' and gets a sense of urgency going.

the forgetmenauts: this is a retelling rather than a straight use of the ballad! delightfully spooky.

i don't know of any books that tell the story directly, but i have a goodreads shelf for retellings, some of which i enjoy more than others and which tend to focus on different elements of the ballad.

thank you for the question! i hope you enjoy. :)

[heavymetal-and-reflective]

My Top 2021 Songs

A ranking of the music I discovered this year and listened to alot, rather than music that came out ONLY this year.

I can rank based on how fun the song may be, how interesting, genius, unique it may be, how emotional it is, and/or how much it means to me. I don't believe in something being "Objectively better" than something else, because art is only something can be judged subjectively. I don't believe in "objective criticism/appraisal of art" because art is an innately human thing that can't possibly be looked at through any lens that is less than that of a human being with their own experiences, beliefs, thoughts, and characteristics that will make certain art appeal to them over others. A beautiful ballad by a vocalist with lots of vocal range can be just as good as a 2 minute electronic dance pop song, but for entirely different reasons, and the intention behind both songs in how it's supposed to make the listener feel are obviously very different.

So here's my list, this year was really THEE year of Arca, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, and Bjork. I knew some of them before of course but this year I got really into their discography and discovered some amazing music, as well as a few tracks by other artists here and there.

1. "Time" by Arca

2. "Door" by Caroline Polachek

3. "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey

4. "Velvet Rope" by Janet Jackson (Featuring Vanessa Mae)

5. "Love Takes Time" by Mariah Carey

6. "Mutant" by Arca

7. "Slime" by Shygirl

8. "Take A Bow" by Madonna

9. "Touch Of My Hand" by Britney Spears

10. "Dynasty" by Rina Sawayama

11. "Melt Away" by Mariah Carey

12. "People I've Been Sad" by Christine And The Queens

13. "Rock With U" by Janet Jackson

14. "Parachute" by Caroline Polachek

15. "Hide And Seek" by Imogen Heap

16. "Joga" by Bjork

17. "Pass This On" by The Knife

18. "Pleasure Principle" by Janet Jackson

19. "Fag*ot" by Arca

20. "Riquiqui" by Arca

21. "Suburbia" by Pet Shop Boys

22. "One Kiss" by Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa

23. "Watch" by Arca (Featuring Shygirl)

24. "Escapade" by Janet Jackson

25. "Hyperballad" by Bjork

26. "Incendio" by Arca

27. "Anna Wintour" by Azealia Banks (I can't make the music not a bop)

28. "Calor" by Arca

29. "Breathless" by Caroline Polachek

30. "Acid Angel" by A.G Cook / "Crickets" by Cecile Believe

31. "Pluto" by Bjork

32. "Donuts" by Namasenda

33. "Touch My Body" by Mariah Carey

34. "All Is Full Of Love" by Bjork

35. "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey

36. "Everytime" by Janet Jackson

37. "Go Deep" by Janet Jackson

38. "My Head And My Heart" by Ava Max

39. "KLK" by Arca (Featuring Rosalía)

40. "Queen Of This Shit" by Quay Dash

41. "Love Profusion" by Madonna

42. "Soul Control" by Jessie Ware

43. "Party" by Beyoncé

44. "What It Feels Like For A Girl" by Madonna

45. "Adore You" by Jessie Ware

[granvarones]

i met robert on the very first day of school of the seventh grade in september 1989. i knew as soon as i walked into the classroom and witnessed him commanding space with his beautiful spirit, that the semester was going to be different. i would no longer be the “only one” in the class room.

i sat near him and his crew waiting for an opportunity to connect. in an effort to get his attention and to really confirm that he was a raging queen like myself, i pulled out my “rhythm nation: 1814” cassette that i carried with me everywhere. “i love janet jackson!” robert said as he crossed his legs. i said “ooh honey chyle, me too! i know all her moves!” we were best friends from that moment.

robert and i walked home together today. we talked about how much we loved janet’s “miss you much” and “rhythm nation” music videos. both music videos were included in the “rhythm nation: 1814” long-form music video that has just premiered. we talked all things janet until we got closer robert’s house. “my mom’s on that shit,” he abruptly said. i knew exactly what he was talking about. i simply replied, “yeah, mine’s too.” before robert, i never openly talked about my mother’s addiction. it was not something i could hide but it was something that went upspoken.

my friendship with robert did not go unnoticed by other students and teachers. we were loud and would recite gay reads we learned from our mother’s friends –

“i will read you, write you

erase you and retrace you!”

or

“i will add you, subtract

and reduce you to your

lowest terms.”

being called “faggot” no longer sliced me open the way once had done. being with robert gave me a kind of adrenaline that i had never felt before. on some days we were bold enough to do the choreography in the lunchroom. of course, we had to do it without music so we just sang the songs while we danced. most students made fun of us but some others were quite impressed. we laughed at students who teased us because they didn’t know janet’s “miss you much” and “rhythm nation” choreography. we wondered, “what the hell are they doing with their lives if they aren’t mastering janet’s moves?” to us, they were the real freaks!

by the time the “escapade” music video was released in january of 1990, robert was sent away to a group home. i remember feeling a sense of loss and deflation. i loved being alive when i was with robert. with robert away, the lunchroom once again became the place where meals were served with a side of harassment. everything felt heavier. the world felt even lonelier. i found some reprieve from the teasing by spending my lunch period with miss wilson. during our afternoons together, i would tell her about my life, my mother’s addiction, and how robert and i were one day going to dance for janet. when i told her that i was without a radio to play my rhythm nation cassette, she surprised me with a new one the next day. to express my appreciation, i danced to “escapade” for her. also, i really just wanted to show off the choreography.

by spring 1990, i was sent to live with my aunt janet, one of the most stable of the aunts, after my mother found me crying uncontrollably in the corner. i seldom ever cried in front of her so i am sure the sight of me in tears frightened her. “what’s wrong?!,” she asked ready to be mad and kick someone’s ass. i didn’t know how to tell her that i had overheard her own mother and sisters describing us as dirty and ugly kinds. so i just replied, “i want to die.” so off to my aunt janet’s house, i went.

the living situation at my aunt’s house was a stark contrast to that of my mother’s. i slept on the living room couch. we ate dinner as a family. loud music was prohibited and i was expected to go to school…every day.

i hated my new school. in an effort to avoid any teasing, i tried to reinvent myself as “masc.” but of course, that lasted all but three minutes. my voice, my walk, and my incessant need to talk about janet jackson always outed me. so with no other option or school policies to protect my ass, i began to cut class. i would show up for first-period advisory and then walk out the nearest fucking exit. some days, i would kill time at a playground doing absolutely nothing, or on the days i felt courageous enough,  i’d sneak back into my aunt’s house and watch music videos while she and her husband were at work. i was missing robert. i didnt know how to say. “i miss my best friend” to adults who didn’t get the connection shared between two gay teens who loved janet jackson.

i soon got word robert stopped by my mother’s looking for me. i immediately rushed to his mother’s house only to be told that i had just stepped out. all of this would have been easier if we had phones, but in the 1990s, that was still a luxury for some. i waited on his mom’s steps for what seemed like hours before robert showed up. “i ran away!,” he told me. i didn’t care, i was just happy to see him. we spent the next few hours catching up talking about crushes, our dreams, and how he was never going back to the group home. when nighttime fell, i had to get back to my aunt’s house. i remember not wanting to leave for fear that he would disappear again.

the next morning, i skipped school to meet up with robert. it was sometime in the last spring so the weather was beautiful. we spent the day just walking around the city before we stopped by a save-a-lot supermarket. i had about $4 lunch money. it was just enough to buy a few sodas, a pack of cookies, and a bag of chips. we found a playground nearby and met a young girl about our age who was also cutting class. we all sat on the swings as we enjoyed our afternoon delights and laughed our heads off.

our reunion was short-lived. robert was sent back to the group home by court order just a couple of weeks later. no long after, i was sent back to live with my mother after i was caught cutting class. i walked to my mother’s with complete dread. i didn’t want to deal with her addiction but i was also exhausted with having to skip school to save my sanity. at least at my mother’s, i could blast my music.

robert and i would reunite several times over the following months. he made running away from the home a hobby! and every time he did, i’d attempt to hide him in my room. my mother, who was deathly afraid of child services because they were notorious for ripping kids from mothers who struggled with crack addiction, would demand that he return to the home. i would cry every time. eventually, i just told my mother that he had absolutely no other place to go. only then did she say, “then he will stay here with us.”

robert lived with us for years. in 1993, he and i, along with a few other friends competed in a local talent show sponsored by PBS. we were crowned the winners after our stunning performance of janet’s “that the way love goes/if” medley. robert was not only my best friend, but he was also my brother.

by 1996, life would take us in different directions. i was deep into my AIDS activism and spent less time at home. my mother and brothers moved to orlando, florida later that year, and robert joined them. i stayed behind in philadelphia. robert and mother went on to share the same kind of life-saving friendship and love until her death seven years ago that he and i shared during our teen years.

janet jackson was and remains an integral part of my friendship with robert. when we speak, we still talk about her music, her videos and her existence.  we were surviving so much with so little in 1990 and janet was our spaceship to planets where queer kids weren’t separated by the state. we were stars in our own universe and we always found each other. we still do. and i am sure, we always will.

for robert. love with never do without you.

me & robert still talking about janet in 2020

[tcm]

How Race Prevented Dorothy Dandridge from Being a Star By Susan King

Dorothy Dandridge was the first Black movie star. “She was our queen,” once said African American actress Nichelle Nichols (of Star Trek fame). Dandridge also made history with her full-blooded performance as the femme fatale in Otto Preminger’s 1954 CARMEN JONES. She became the first Black woman to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the first to grace the cover of Life magazine.

Her achievements were during a decade before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and her nomination would mark five decades before a Black actress, Halle Berry, would win in that category. Berry also won an Emmy for her performance as the Dandridge in HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999).

By the time Dandridge landed her role in CARMEN JONES, she had already paid her dues tenfold. She knew how difficult it was to be gifted, young, Black and beautiful in Hollywood. “CARMEN JONES was the best break I ever had,” said Dandridge, who tragically died at the age of 42 in 1965. “But no producer ever knocked on my door. There just aren’t as many parts or a Black actress. If I were white, I could capture the world.”

She was a child singer along with her older sister Vivian as part of The Wonder Children. Her mother, actress Ruby Dandridge, was the ultimate stage mother and so was her companion Geneva Williams, who oversaw their career. She was strict and allegedly was abusive. With family friend Etta Jones, Dorothy and Vivian became The Dandridge Sisters. They came to Hollywood around the time she was four. “I was one of those musical kids you hear about, with parts in pictures like the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races (‘37),” Dandridge said.

The Dandridge Sisters performed in Europe, the famed Cotton Club and appeared on Broadway in 1939 with Louis Armstrong in the short-lived Swingin’ the Dream. They also sang with African American band leader Jimmie Lunceford. And besides appearing in A DAY AT THE RACES, they were a specialty act in such movies and shorts as Snow Gets in Your Eyes (‘38), in which they perform “Harlem Yodel” and “Rhythm Rascals.”

Even as a teenager, you can’t keep your eyes off of Dandridge. She had the indescribable “It” factor. And after she went out on her own, she continued to dazzle in short musical films known as “soundies” that were produced for video jukeboxes of the era. She also had tiny roles, often uncredited, in movies, including David O. Selznick’s popular World War II film SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (‘44). Perhaps her most notable performance at this time was in the Sonja Henie musical ice-skating comedy SUN VALLEY SERENADE (‘41) in which she performs “Chattanooga Choo Choo” in a slinky black ensemble with the tap-dancing duo Harold and Fayard Nicholas.

“No film fan has ever forgotten her as a dream girl with the brothers,” said African American film historian Donald Bogle in his book Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers.

She was all of 19 when she married Harold Nicholas, whom she had first met while performing at the Cotton Club. Their only child Harolyn was born in 1943. Nicholas had gone off to play golf the day Dandridge went into labor and he took the car keys, so she was delayed getting to the hospital to deliver the baby. Harolyn was born brain damaged and was never able to speak or even recognize Dandridge.

Dandridge believed the reason she was born mentally disabled was because of the delay in delivery. Dandridge would be haunted by guilt the rest of her life. She provided expensive care for her daughter, but when her finances became grim, Harolyn became a ward of the state. According to the TCM.com overview of BRIGHT ROAD (‘53), in which Dandridge portrays a dedicated young schoolteacher, seeing “healthy African-American children playing on the set proved too much for her, and she fled to her dressing room.”

Dandridge had always wanted to be a dramatic actress and attended the progressive Actors’ Lab in Los Angeles, becoming one of the school’s first Black students. Marilyn Monroe was also one of the students and became great friends with Dandridge. It would be considered a communist organization in the early 1950s with several members being blacklisted and the theater soon closed.

She also worked with noted coach and composer/arranger Phil Moore to develop a nightclub act, which Dandridge performed internationally to great acclaim. Under Moore’s guidance, Dandridge went from the young vivacious singer to a sultry, sexy chanteuse. Time magazine wrote about a nightclub appearance where she “came wriggling out of the wings like a caterpillar on a hot rock.” And according to a 1997 New York Times piece by Janet Maslin, when Dandridge headlined the Mocambo nightclub in L.A. in 1953, the cigarette girls actually sold copies of Alfred Kinsey’s Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.

“I think it was really the heartache over my child and the failure of my marriage that forced me to make a success out of my career,” Dandridge explained in 1954. “I had to keep busy. I threw myself into my work. It’s a wonderful therapy. You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself.”

She landed roles in three low-budget films including TARZAN’S PERIL (‘51). Dandridge is the best thing about the adventure as Melmendi, the young, beautiful and feisty Queen of Ashuba, who is kidnapped and rescued by Tarzan. Bogle notes that Lex Barker’s Tarzan shows a lot more interest in Melmendi than he does in Jane (Virginia Huston). “Here were suggestions of an interracial romance that the studio didn’t explore.” But audiences were titillated. Ebony magazine put her on the cover with the banner: “Hollywood’s Newest Glamour Queen.’’

She would appear in a few more roles, including THE HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS (‘51) and BRIGHT ROAD opposite Harry Belafonte, who would star with her the following year in CARMEN JONES. The operetta gave her high visibility but few additional film roles. Also, she had fallen in love with Preminger, who didn’t give her the best career advice. They would work together one more time in the film adaptation of PORGY AND BESS (‘59), for which Dandridge was nominated for a Golden Globe.

“But sadly, her decline came soon after her triumph,” notes Bogle in Brown Sugar. “She realized she was a token figure within the movie colony, her position not much different than Lena Horne’s in the ‘40s. There was no great follow-up of roles to sustain her fame. Three years passed before she appeared in another film.” Dandridge once said of racial prejudice: “It is such a waste. It makes you loggy and half-alive. If it gives you nothing.”

Dandridge was drinking heavily and taking antidepressants by the late 1950s. In fact, when Dandridge married a second time in 1959, to the man who was not only abusive but would leave her broke, she was so drugged that she fell asleep at the reception. “Dandridge’s last years were lonely and sad as she struggled to find work,” said Bogle.

[emmcarstairs]

The Search for the Lost Husband: Blackdale as the Ballad of Tam Lin

(Art by Wylie Beckert)

“They were falling together. If she held on tight enough, she could bring him back, she thought, like Janet had done for Tam Lin in the old story.” (Chain of Iron)

Fairy tales have been with us since the dawn of time. They have provided foundation for some of the greatest stories we have come to know and love. The key to the success of fairy tale motifs is their resonance with our collective unconscious. All around the world, although sometimes with different symbols, fairy tales explore similar concepts.

Thanks to the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, we have a comprehensible catalogue of folk tales from every corner of the globe. The folk tales are divided into several classifications based on their motifs. One of these classifications is known as “The Search for the Lost Husband” or ATU 425, and “Beauty and the Beast” is one of its best known examples. In this analysis, we will take a look at the Scottish ballad of Tam Lin, which falls into this type of folk tales.

There are many versions of the tale since it’s centuries old but the basic outline is thus: A fair young maiden named Janet is the daughter of an earl and lives in a castle next to the forest of Carterhaugh. All the maidens have been warned against entering the enchanted woods for there dwells the faerie prince Tam Lin, waiting to take possession of their chastity. One day, Janet grows bored and being the headstrong woman she is, sets off to explore the forest on her own. In the magical woods, she attempts to pluck some flowers but then all of a sudden Tam Lin appears, demanding to know the reason behind her trespassing on his land. Unfazed, Janet claims that she is the rightful heir to Carterhaugh and she can do as she pleases. After this, Tam Lin takes Janet by the hand or her waist, and when she gets home, she discovers that she is pregnant. 

Once her family realises her situation, they try to pressure her into a marriage of convenience but Janet refuses them. She returns back to the forest to question Tam Lin. He shares his tragic story: once he was a mortal man, but while travelling through the woods, he fell off his horse and was abducted by the Faerie Queen who forced him to serve her as one of her knights. He has been her captive for seven years and is concerned that on Halloween he will be offered as a sacrifice. Tam Lin reveals that Janet might be able to free him if she follows his set of instructions. 

On Halloween, Janet is determined to rescue her beloved and goes back to the forest. There she sees several knights passing by but patiently waits until she recognizes Tam Lin by his white horse and him missing one of his gloves (his signal). She pulls him to the ground and holds him firmly, as instructed, while the Faerie Queen puts several spells on him, transforming him into various beasts which scratch and bite at Janet but she doesn’t let him go. Finally, the Queen turns him into a burning coal, which Janet plunges into a well. Tam Lin emerges as a naked mortal man and Janet, still following their plan, covers him with her cloak. The Faerie Queen admits defeat, crying how she should have given him a heart made of stone and eyes made of wood. 

I believe it is already obvious how much inspiration CC must have drawn from this folk tale. The prologue of ChoG is essentially a re-imagining of its beginning.

Lucie Herondale is the daughter of Will Herondale, “a very important person”, in Lucie’s own words. The Herondales live in their Manor next to Brocelind Forest. One night, just as the woods seem to glow, Lucie ventures to go on a walk. Like Janet, she plucks some flowers, only she arranges them into crowns. In fact, the text stresses that this is the first activity she undertakes in the forest. Eventually, she gets lost and falls into a pit which is coded as a grave with its gleaming white bone. Lucie is caught in a place between life and death, and naturally, enter Jesse Blackthorn who is himself on the threshold. 

Jesse introduces the faerie motif from the get-go, which prompts Lucie to assume that he is indeed a faerie himself. (In ChoI, she refers to him as “a beautiful faerie prince”.) He even tells her that if the faerie gentry caught her, she might have to be their servant forever, which is an allusion to Tam Lin’s tragic fate and his own if we consider the Fairy Queen to be Tatiana/Belial. Lucie then brings up her lineage, her “royal blood” as hinted at even in her monologue, demanding that she be rescued, not unlike Janet who used her birthright as a leverage against Tam Lin. Which leads us to Jesse taking her by the hand, as also found in some versions of the ballad. This contact is important because it symbolizes union. From this point onward, the ballad treats Tam Lin and Janet as lovers. Of course, this is not the literal case in ChoG. But figuratively, Lucie’s encounter with Jesse will stay with her until she meets him again on equal footing. 

Interestingly enough, when Lucie and Jesse meet again in 1903, exactly seven years have passed since he has been dead / a captive of the Fairy Queen. Jesse’s death is a metaphorical slumber in which he has fallen owing to Tatiana/Belial’s doings. According to Tam Lin, every seven years the faerie folk offers a tither to Hell and because he is a mortal by nature, he fears that he will be the one sacrificed. Therefore, the time has come for a major turning point (which we witnessed in ChoI). 

In “The Search for the Lost Husband”, the motif of recognizing one’s beloved is quite common. The ballad of Tam Lin is no exception. We also find it in ChoI, even though it’s more toned down! Lucie has to piece together the facts about Jesse’s backstory as well as the identity of the killer. She is the first one who realizes that Jesse’s body has been used for ill intentions by seeing the runes on his body. Funny how in the ballad the absence of an object is the telltale signal, while in The Last Hours - it’s the presence of runes and blood. While Lucie is preparing herself to dive the sword into Jesse’s body, she acknowledges that the remnants before her are not her Jesse. Her Jesse is the ghost who visits her at night. In ATU 425, the groom is usually human only at night. Thus, she has successfully recognized her lover, which later allows her to face Belial, the Fairy Queen in our story (although I believe both Tatiana and Belial play this role).

In order to bring Jesse back to the mortal realm, she exorcises Jesse’s body from Belial’s anchor. In fairy tales, there is the motif of burning the beast’s skin as a means of breaking the enchantment upon the beast man (e.g. Luke burning Darth Vader’s armor so that Anakin Skywalker may live on). Jesse’s body is virtually his beast’s skin for it was used by a demon and made a murderer in ChoI. In the ballad of Tam Lin, a similar concept is observed - Tam Lin’s body is transformed into a fiery coal. The theme of fire as a cleansing force is observed across mythologies. Water has healing properties as well - Janet is instructed to hurl the coal into a body of water. By using fire and water, Janet baptizes the fallen prince, severing his connection with the faerie realm. Lucie relies on her own powers to purge Jesse of Belial’s dark energy, effectively removing his anchor which has been preventing her from truly accessing Jesse’s soul. 

At the end of the ballad, the Fairy Queen is upset about her defeat and laments the loss of Tam Lin. In ChoI, we have glimpses of Tatiana and Belial’s sour mood after Jesse is no longer in their clutches. However, while the ballad ends here, ChoI is only the second book in a trilogy. Where do we go from here? We shall see. 

Thank you for reading! I’d be glad to hear your thoughts! 

P.S. Now that you’re familiar with Janet’s last instruction - wrapping Tam Lin’s body with her mantle - the fact that Jesse was wrapped in Matthew’s medium-ridiculous overcoat is even funnier. Fingers crossed that this doesn’t jinx it all!