#just the nuances of it all is so cool

[rainbowsmagicandshit]

I am obsessed with this idea that Arthur somehow caused Merlin to be born. Arthur is the Once And Future King. That was always true, but Merlin was born after Arthur. The “once and future” part of the title implies that he’ll be reincarnated or somehow return at some point. When Albion’s need is greatest, or something like that. BUT!! What if the prophecy is only there and in play because both the Once And Future King and Emrys are incarnated together at the same time? What if Arthur has been born at other times, but Merlin wasn’t and so the prophecy wasn’t meant for that time? What if Arthur was always the key to Emrys being born in a human form?

Obviously there was a lot going on that led to both of their births from Ygraine not being able to conceive a baby to the deal with Nimueh to Ygraine’s death to the start of the Great Purge to the slaughter of those w/ magic to Balinor needing to flee to him meeting Hunith to them falling in love. If any one of these things were different, Arthur and/or Merlin wouldn’t have been born. There are also so many other people that had to have been involved with their own agendas to make it all come together in this way. What if more nobles of Camelot or royals in other nations were against the Great Purge and put pressure on Uther to not go through with it? What if a different High Priestess had talked to Uther or whoever and been more clear about the price of this magic? What if Balinor had chosen a different direction to flee or simply not stopped at or taken a route near Ealdor?

There was so much finagling that led to Arthur’s birth, but even more delicate circumstances that led to Merlin’s. How much had to align to lead to both Arthur and Merlin’s births?

This then leads me back to my point which is if all these other things that we don’t even know how many people and agendas and things had to come together to cause their births, then whose to say that baby/toddler Arthur wasn’t also involved?

As the Once And Future King he must have some sort of connection to magic itself even without Emrys, so what if the final trigger for Emrys to be born into the Mortal world is for the Once And Future King to wish it or pray it or will it into being? Even if not consciously, the will of a baby/toddler would be pretty strong. He’d be young enough to not understand what he was doing, but old enough to know to want it. He’d have a completely firm belief that this is the way it’s meant to be and not old enough to have had the thought that a king must rule alone and cannot have friends or whatever drilled into him yet. He would be young and not understand why he wasn’t allowed to play with other or why the other little ones have parents that love him but his mother is gone and his father is to focused on his mad revenge to pay him much time.

Maybe things all still would have come together and Hunith and Balinor met, fell in love, and Hunith had his son. But, if Arthur didn’t wish that little, hopeful, desperate wish, then would it still have been Merlin? Merlin Emrys? Or would it just be another dragonlord sorcerer?

I mean I'm so intrigued by what Arthur and Merlins life was like before they met each other. Was Arthur's life always in danger and other sorcerers hiding around to help keep him safe before Merlin found him?

Was Merlin's magic always subconsciously protecting Arthur and he felt like a piece of him was missing till the moment he met Arthur? Was that why he was so drawn to him?

Or did Arthur's life get exponentially more dangerous the moment he met Merlin? With other magic users suddenly sensing that Emrys was there to protect the once-and-future king.

Do we think that something happened to Arthur that caused him to reach out to Merlin and his magic when he was younger? Do we think this is why he says Merlin seems familiar; cause even if I've never seen you before you make me feel safe and protected, and I've only ever felt that a handful of times; so are you sure I don't know you???

What about when Merlin was born huh?? Do we think Arthur felt that?? The moment his soul was torn into two?? The moment a piece of his soul was taken to form his other half??

Did he cause it?? Was little baby Arthur Pendragon sitting in his big, cold room, all alone, staring up at the stars after being yelled at or ignored by his father and desperately wishing for someone, anyone, to please get him out of this mess, to love him unconditionally, to always be there for him, to be a friend.

[feldsparred-mo-reblogs]

No nuance november: If your main headcanon for Gabbro is that they are "a stoner" because "they are so chill" I actually don't want to hear anything else you are saying because I am already bored

[shalom-iamcominghome]

As I've gotten deeper in conversion, I have increasingly imagined jewish life throughout time. And what I mean by that is...

So when I looked at the Western Wall before this (maybe a few years ago), I just saw a wall. It held no deeper meaning than that. I imagined nothing when I saw that.

But now when I look at the wall or even when I'm praying idly, I'm imagining myself in the temple when it stood there. It's bright outside - a summer day so bright, I think the temple will blind me. A soft wind surrounds me. I'm stood in the middle of a huge crowd of people, simply observing. Women pass by me in small crowds, laughing and talking. Some of these women are wrangling their small children who keep running away, laughing like it's a game. And men walk by smelling of spices. The air is light, the city around bustling with people living fulfilling, meaningful jewish life. The wall now symbolizes that jewish life, and even though it's not just about the temple when I imagine it, it means something to me.

I think that's the result of seeing myself in judaism, turning the "you" into a "we," and I feel about this what I must imagine a married couple feels.

[panncakes]

"Drive safely."

LAWS OF ATTRACTION (2023)

[queeraliensposts]

Illymation: Don't be a dick to fat people.

The internet: EWWWW SHE'S GLORIFYING OBESITY LET'S DOX HER!!!!!!!

[demynom]

The thing about the ffvii remakes is that you will enjoy them more if you’ve played the original. You will also hate them more if you’ve played the original. It is impressive.

[benevolenterrancy]

if you're not reading the last book of SVSSS right now do you mind me asking what you are reading? I'm just curious!

Definitely! (though I warn you, I'm fundamentally incapable of reading only one thing at a time)

For physical books, I'm currently reading The Warden by Daniel M. Ford, the novelization of My Neighbour Totoro, and trying to keep up on Dracula Daily (i am failing this)

For audiobooks, I've been relistening to The Series of Unfortunate Events (because I never actually read them all when they were originally coming out) and I juuust finished This Census-Taker by China Miéville and Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky this weekend. I'm about to start A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers.

[gingermintpepper]

Hi!! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the person you explained the Castalia thing to a few days ago. I've been following you for a while now, but I just managed to go through your blog well and proper, and I'm here to express both my gratitude for the amount of info and links you've shared (I did NOT know about the hepatoscopy and haruspicy, and I'm about to go down a lengthy rabbit hole) and my horror at once again being given a new hyperfixation (I didn't imagine wanting to read about liver-divination help).

Also, also, are you the author of Exeunt Phoebus Apollo on AO3 because that was the fic that sent me on this greek mythology spree, and it's so good I got obsessed with Apollo, and he's everywhere around me now. Thank you for writing it!

AAAAAA THIS IS SO SWEET?? THANK YOU!! I do remember you and hey man, I'm always happy to help <33

I'm so glad to recruit someone else to my hepatoscopy group because it is a long and storied tradition with many many different types of study and schools of thought dating all the way back to the Sumerians! It's an extremely underrated bit of study when it comes to sketching portraits of divination and prophecy when it comes to adaptations of imaginings of greek myth works - similar to bird augury (which was such a widespread skill that most people had some level of understanding of the basics of what the omens of common birds meant the way people now can look at the clouds over head and know if it'll rain and when approximately that rain'll happen).

It's a great and common misunderstanding that things like prophecy and magic were these fantastic elements that had no tangible features to their practices and while there's nothing wrong with interpreting things as more fantastical for the sake of coolness or aesthetic, I personally think these elements are interesting enough to be worth looking into and portraying!

Also yes, I did write Exeunt 😳I'm very very honoured that you enjoyed my work so much and I'm even more grateful that it could let you see the Apollo in everything 💖 Thank you for reading it!!

[hanzajesthanza]

"the michael kandel translation of "the witcher" short story can't hurt you!!"

the michael kandel translation of "the witcher" short story:

[ravencromwell]

The poem evokes human greatness and human vulnerability. People are “godlike” in their courage and skill, but even the greatest mortals fall and clutch the dust between their bloody fingers. The beautiful word minunthadios , “short-lived,” is used of both Achilles and Hector, and applies to all of us. We die too soon, and there is no adequate recompense for the terrible, inevitable loss of life. Yet through poetry, the words, actions, and feelings of some long-ago brief lives may be remembered even three thousand years later.

--Emily Wilson's introduction to the Iliad

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

Something that fascinated me about the Chapter 2 trial was when Makoto says this (pardon the screenshot quality and SPOILERS AHEAD of course ^v^)

For one, no Makoto, you cannot know the exact thoughts Byakuya was having in that moment, not that I'm mad at you for that Makoto. But, anyway, I was thinking and, the only scissors we know of in the school for a fact are Jack's. And, unless there were kitchen sheers or perhaps anything in storage, there's no other scissors in the school that could be used. Plus, there is no way Byakuya's going to try and get closer to Toko and Jack any more than he has to just to nab some scissors. Which, another thing of note is that, in most of the pictures of Jack's murders, the victims are pinned to walls with the scissors which must be made of some strong stuff due to the fact that they were lodged into the walls strong enough to break said walls.

Another thing of note is, according to the localization in the little bit of the case file we're giving (shown up above of course ^v^), there's some more patterns with the cases. At least with what we're shown, two victims were both outside of their apartments in a parking lot which makes me wonder of Jack specifically also choses to do the murders outside, almost as if displaying the bodies out for the world to gawk at, to show the world their filth as a display of the betrayal they did to her. That's leaning towards speculative territory though. This also got me wondering some other stuff though. One, is Toko secretly buff in the arms or something? This is mostly a joke but also seriously. Toko is a twig unless Jack's adrenaline rushes are just that powerful! Though ghosts and martial arts teleportation (among other shenanigans) exist in the world of Danganronpa, so who am I do judge the realism here! Another thing I want to mention is, have we even been shown enough of Byakuya's own strength capabilities to judge if he is capable to break and crack a wall like that? Maybe he could. But, would he even deem it worth the physical effort? Which this all goes back to the specific phrasing Makoto uses here; "He consciously" chose to use the extinction cord". Maybe he did, using the train of thought that Byakuya might have felt it as "too much effort" to try and make it more believable or to have it be too much effort to find anything else to suspend Chihiro's body. But, this is also the same man who went out of his way to do all this in the first place. Which brings me back to the idea that maybe it wasn't him specifically using the extinction cord like that. Perhaps it was that lack of resources idea I mentioned earlier, not being able to get any other scissors in the school. He is a resourceful guy after all. He knows the Genocide Jack cases to the finite details to probably clock out that the victims where specifically suspended via the scissors being lodged into the walls and through the victims themselves. Moreover, he probably could have noticed that all the victims were guys too and, Chihiro being perceived as a girl at the time by him and everyone else, would have perhaps known all along that there would always be holes in this plan of his. He was at least carful enough with Chihiro's body not to touch it inappropriately, perhaps a hint of the gentlemanly upbringing of his (though that's speculation and cannot fully be proven) Additionally, there is also the aspect of time. Did he have the time to attempt to rummage his way into potentially finding scissors to make this crime scene look more realistic? Did he have time to potentially get close enough to Toko in the span of a night to find a way to snatch Jack's scissors somehow, and then be able to scurry his lanky ass back to the scene of the crime to pin up the body? Would he have time to think up of any other alternative to suspending the body other than to use the extinction cord? Would he even want to do all of that in the first place? This is all once again speculation but it just makes me curious. And, yes, he disrespected the dead by doing that to Chihiro. He didn't scathe the body though and it's already established he did not touch the body any more than he deemed necessary. That's a fact with the twist of the second trial and how much he really didn't know despite knowing who the true culprit was the whole time. So, who knows. Maybe deep down, there could be a part of Byakuya that didn't want to go that far with making the scene, which he knew deep down would never look real enough, knowing Jack's type of targets. There's just so much to this though. After all, Makoto himself isn't a reliable narrator in a way. The closing arguments are close to reality, yes. But not fully. After all, in chapter 2, since Makoto only knew so much before Monokuma gave the reveal and the closing argument was before that.

Who's to say he was EVER this sinister during the night Chihiro died. Who's to say that he CONSIOUSLY chose the extension cord. Perhaps he did in a way as a twisted sense of pity for Makoto who he suspected could be a far stronger threat to his chance of winning the killing game. It all depends on your perspective, your interpretation. I'm just rambling about all of this though! Stuff like this just fascinates me ^v^

[maria-aegyptiaca2]

The substance was Not Good and maybe even Bad…

[embraceyourdestiny]

From Travis's perspective, Laura is a legal adult (or only a few months shy, seeing as she and Max are applying to colleges and allowed to make a 500+ mile roadtrip unsupervised) who deliberately ignored his attempt to keep her safe (leading to him having to deal with the fallout of putting a bullet in his brother), shot him, and then murdered an innocent child while trying to kill a different member of his family. All to release her boyfriend from a curse he wouldn't have had, if they'd done as Travis told them two months ago.

Not saying that I think he was justified in killing her, just that I can see why he snapped, especially since violence is what he grew up with.

Ehhhhhhhhh I don’t know. That’s definitely his perspective and makes sense in a point A to point B perspective but. He hated his family (even if he did love them), he was intentionally fucking with max and Laura, lying, and kidnapped them. Truth be told there’s not “right” person in this situation, the entire thing is a cluster fuck and complicated on purpose. Still, Laura is justified. knowing your attacker’s sob story doesn’t suddenly magically make it okay. Not that you’re saying that, I just mean that regardless with or without the info what he did was fucked up and it’s crazy that he was rageful at her. He also planned to kill her when she escaped, before the actual showdown and murder when she was just a victim. Travis isn’t a hero even in his best ending. To be honest, Laura isn’t really either. No one “wins” in the quarry. You just gotta do what you can to survive. In a sense, that’s what Travis did too. She was a threat to his family. There’s no excuse for anyone’s actions, the bottom line of the story is honestly, what would you do to survive? What’s your justification for all this dark shit in this ugly world? All the characters have something to live with even if they all live. So, is your family’s life more important, or the life of innocents? That’s why Travis can either kill his entire family or not. He decides based on Laura’s actions if it’s all worth it and with your play you can decide no it’s not, or yes it is. The competing perspectives is what makes the quarry so cool and complicated. It’s truly just a big fuck up all the way around and I love it so much. Still think it’s ridiculous to murder someone over all that though lol. There’s only a hand full of scenarios where you can actively choose to murder someone in the quarry and I don’t think that’s for naught and the severity and horror of cold blooded murder (from humans and from not) is definitely a tool used in the quarry’s narrative. Idk. The quarry’s just cool man.

Also idk if “legal adult” is really on anyone’s minds outside of the minds of people on tumblr, in the real world you’re either a kid or an adult to a lot of people and the fact Travis calls her a stupid girl I think it’s clear he sees her as a kid and that’s why they develop a kinship because she, like many of the people Travis failed, should be protected from his family. (Travis has a lot of guilt regardless of how the story goes down and that plays into it very much honestly)

And idk. I do feel like this is blaming Laura wayyyy too hard. Just like Jacob laura had no way knowing this was gonna happen. Like Laura points out Travis’ fault is he isn’t forthcoming with information and that puts them all at jeopardy (*sits Laura down to show max’s transformation, Laura: jeez! You could just said…, by this point Laura is a little more aware of what’s going on and does see Travis’ kind potential and that he’s not just doing this out of malice). It’s a crazy situation honestly but he easily could’ve convinced max and Laura “hey this shit is fucked up and you have no idea what you’ve stepped in” and they could a worked together. (At least explain it after a couple weeks. Two months? WTF??) Like, he does, kinda, but he’s so vague even after narratively we the audience know what’s going on that if you were Laura in the situation you wouldn’t just be trusting this fucking guy that kidnapped you ya know? He is dangerous. Laura doesn’t know what he’s gonna do. It makes complete sense how hostile you can play her. But in my head adding all that up, it’s crazy he wanted to kill her because she escaped. Like I know she shot him (lol) but he comes back perfectly fine in chapter 9 so whys he butthurt lmao 😭 I’m sure there’s some stuff missing because of the game’s cuts but still like I said he decides to kill her after escaping and I think he’s a little tender over it considering he kidnapped them and is in some way responsible for max getting bit because he didn’t warn them and even if he had warned them properly he’s still at fault for pussyfooting with his family’s curse which Constance calls him out for.

Ya know why I mean?

Travis is a flawed guy. Period. He’s interesting. It’s why so many people like him. I think it’s fair to be like lmao about him sometimes

Edit: Oh I kinda missed the important part that the context to get Travis to kill you is to simply play Laura resistant and fierce to her attacker and Travis decides this bitch is annoying and hates her THAT bad over it , it’s so petty it’s funny honestly 😭

[tenojan-in-tevinter]

Honestly I really want to be able to side with Solas in dreadwolf. I think it'd be super interesting to play as an elf in Tevinter and be able to just go "yeah actually I think Fen'Harel is right let's tear down that veil." I mean I assume the main conflict will be Solas trying to convince your character to join him, or your character being told they have to try and stop him, and there are not enough games that let you side with the presented "villain" character. I want to see what the world is like with no veil I'm so interested. Also so interested to see what full-on Fen'Harel Solas is like. Is he still as empathetic? Or is he more conniving and distanced from "mortals" like the old stories would have us believe?

[geo-bby]

How we feeling Beatles people?

[ganondoodle]

got visually spoiled on the literally last thing i was still actively missing and working towards in totk but i dont think im gonna like it anyway ...

if it is what i think it is, and what it looks like to be, its just yet another nail in the coffin (or however you say that) as to why the lore sucks in this game even tho it had such good setup and so much potential