#lady usher

[lobotomy-jpeg]

"See? It's better when you tell it, mom."

[id: Digital sketch of Lady Usher and Roxie, a redraw of Jessie Willcox Smith's 1908 illustration "My Home is in my Mother's Eyes". Lady Usher sits in a white nightgown and shawl over her shoulders, hand supporting young Roxie, who is hugging her waist. Lady Usher's shawl is pale blue with faint stars on it and she's wearing a star necklace. Roxie's red hair is tied in two braids that end in little black bows. She's in Mary Janes and a pale pink dress, that matches her also pale pink socks, which have a faint flower pattern on them. On the right of the image reads "Little bits of stardust ." /end id]

[anixknowsnothin]

I've been meaning to start reading again and so after binging a bunch of ted ed videos, I came across one on H.P. Lovecraft's works. The mention of Edgar Allan Poe's name as a reference reminded me of the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." For a long time, I wanted to read this story as it's served as a reference to Dave Malloy's Ghost Quartet, specifically the Usher storyline. However, I was shocked by the parallels and though I may have missed some, I decided to share it to Tumblr as it was the only sensible thing to do. So enjoy:

DISCLAIMER: I am not a murderer, or a crazy person. I just like honey These parallels are not in chronological order, they're instead in the same order as the screenshots on my laptop

that idea of a perfect world yk

description of Madeline vs Roxie when she comes to haunt the Usher(s)

"We have put her living" AHHH DIRECT PARALLEL

"I will read, you will listen" vs "I will read and you shall listen" AHHHHHHHHHHH

"written by a fool" vs The Fool being the name of one of the characters

description of Lady Madeline when she "died" vs Roxie

Preserving the body instead of burial bit

description of the House of Usher vs Lady Usher and The Fool's song

[pansexualandscared]

Thinking about Ghost Quartet and how it is a very real representation of generational female rage and especially thinking about the line:

And the dead girl leapt upon her mother/ And her daughter, and her sister, and her lover/ With the rage of four generations/ and Lady Usher's heart burst/ Exploded within her chest

And how much that embodies the pure and absolute rage of being born a woman in todays world and having to live and be raised that way. And how sometimes the best thing a mother can do for her daughter is to pass along this rage. This unexplained thing that grows with her and if she's not careful can consume her until it's all she knows.

And how in this moment Rose is not only angry at Pearl in the original timeline for the Astronomer, she's also angry as a daughter and a lover and a mother.

How dare you force me to be in this world? How dare you not prepare me well enough? How dare you love me like I'm beautiful? How dare you make me love myself? How dare you mirror me in every mistake I make? How dare you remind me I'm human in all the ways I didn't want to be reminded?

Anyway I'm just thinking about that.

[sxnyarostova]

tonight i am crying over lights out from ghost quartet </3

[90s-music-tourney]

[icouldbeaduck]

for me the highlight of mike flanagan shows is his wife

[citroncynique]

The eminent members of Miss Furina's Salon Solitaire

I wanted to try my hand at designing human versions for Furina's little friends/assistants/oomfies, I might develop their personalities further at some point hehe

[maculategiraffe]

madeline usher: *goes to unpin her wig*

me: oooooh now we get to see her without the exquisitely crafted false veneer! now we get to see her real messy self underneath the icy blond fakeness! now we get to see--

madeline usher: *removes the wig to reveal a head of lush and perfectly coiffed hair cascading down her back and bosom in bouncy shampoo commercial waves*

me: ...😑

[moorestreepmcdonnell]

Gates McFadden and Mary McDonnell at the Rhode Island ComicCon | November 4th, 2023

[babysaid]

Lenore Usher died and left behind a legacy of hope and courage amidst her grandfather’s legacy of pain and suffering. She did that.

[greencheekconure27]

(sadly I can't set the poll duration to one year and a day, which is how long it usually takes to get all folk ballad tumblr together in one place. So please reblog)

[granma-sweetie]

*like those from stringed instruments

[maryliciousgirl]

Just Look at her 😍 I love her So much!

[agir1ukn0w]

so like I haven't seen any of you geniuses (I mean that sincerely, y'all are freaking brilliant 99% of the time) make this comparison yet, but it was pretty fucking clear to me from the get-go that Roderick and Madeline are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. I'm not sure if this was an intentional move on the writers' part, but their dynamic just screams mastermind power-hungry queen and her not-quite-as-smart but in the end equally ruthless king (she even calls him a "king" towards the end, and he calls her a "queen"), who both end up being wracked with so much guilt they start hallucinating and seeing the ghosts of the people they've killed/caused the deaths of (tho that's more Roderick's thing). I'm just saying, it's a pretty cool comparison to make, even tho they're siblings not a married couple, I feel like they fit the bill pretty damn closely and I would love to hear @flanaganfilm address it in an interview at some point🩸

[dalekofchaos]

Vampyr sequel idea

I thought of going the LIS route of having different stories for each story of the franchise. But after carefully analyzing the game, doing my Embrace everyone playthrough and noticing a certain portrait in the Ashbury Castle. I figured out the perfect story and perfect antagonist for Vampyr 2.

Jacob Blackwood.

For those who don't know, let me explain.

In The West End, you meet Carina Billow, a woman who's mind has been destroyed by a powerful Vampire. Manipulated into eating rats to gain immortality. At first I thought it was just the Ascalon Club fucking with a mentally ill woman. But it's worse.

Carina is being mentally manipulated by a powerful vampire, forcing her to do awful things. She will actually beg you to kill her to put her out of her misery, and will thank you for your kindness if you kill her.

Earlier in the game when Jonathan asks Lady Ashbury about the bodies that have been found in the streets and about how someone seems to be following him (before we know its Mary), she seems anxious and has someone in mind. Most likely she fears Jacob Blackwood has been watching Jonathan, taking an interest.

Blackwood only speaks through Carina Billow once, mildy warning Jonathan off his "toy" but he does not seem to care enough about his little game to actually stop her being embraced. Evidence of his presence occurs when you visit the grave of Carina and find he has piled dead rats all over the poor woman's resting place - one last act of disrespect. I tend to think that doing this is both for his own amusement and a message to Jonathan that he has taken notice. Carina Billow's information when she is embraced suggests Blackwood maybe a member of Ascalon, it might have been interesting to meet him there.

And when you get to the very end of the game inside the Ashbury castle, one of the paintings on the wall was of Elisabeth Blackwood (Lady Ashbury) and Jacob Blackwood.

And when you read William Marshall's old tome before you reach the end of the game, you can see that Marshall holds Blackwood in contempt.

Jacob Blackwood is an interesting character and I wish they had given him more space in the story because it fleshes Elisabeth out a bit, gives her a backstory you can learn about as you get to know her and makes her a more rounded person with her own motivations. So when you get the first of the bad endings and she says "you have betrayed me", you get an idea of why she might react that way - rather than a lot of players being confused.

He definitely has the blood of hate. Blackwood was created after Elizabeth was bitten by Marshal and the two ranged across Europe killing for their own amusement. Even if he was created before Elizabeth has the blood of hate, it is highly likely he would have contracted it anyway. There is the possibly that he was always a bastard though. Perhaps not all the frenzied skals in the city came from Harriet Jones, maybe a few came from him returning to London.

There is so much potential in Jacob Blackwood in a hypothetical sequel. Jacob has the blood of hate, while Jonathan and Elisabeth are working for a cure. So much potential.

So a way to go about it is this.

If you chose the Embrace no one path, embrace some or embrace everyone.

If Jonathan and Elisabeth travel the world. They hear horror stories throughout Europe. Jonathan thinks it's some Ekon gone mad, but Elisabeth knows the truth. Jacob is back and the potential for another Disaster is strong. Their mission is to kill Jacob and find a cure for the blood of hate

If Jonathan and Elisabeth lock themselves in the castle. They spend years working on a cure and that's when Myrddin appears. He tells Jonathan about Jacob and Elisabeth is horrified. They know what they have to do. End the blood of hate

Jonathan embraces one too many people and Elisabeth dies in the "betrayal" ending. Jonathan locks himself away, that's when Myrddin appears. He warns Jonathan of Elisabeth's loose thread. He is causing atrocities across the land and is on the verge of creating a new Disaster. Jonathan will end the blood of hate once and for all for Elisabeth

Jonathan embraces everyone. Jonathan's bloodlust knows no bounds. Jonathan intends to build an empire on blood and there is one person standing in his way, Jacob Blackwood. It's an all out war between Reid and Blackwood and World War II is their battleground. Reid uses the Allies, while Blackwood uses the Nazis.

Ideally I would set the game during WWII with Jacob taking a position with the Nazis or Vichy France, and he uses the war to commit atrocities and spread the blood of hate like a plague.

I'd also have McCullum return. The Guard is reestablished, but it's clear that Reid and McCullum have to put aside their differences to stop Blackwood. Plus I'd just love the idea of Jonathan and McCullum basically saying "Look we have our differences as a Vampire and Hunter, but we draw the line at fucking Nazis"

As for how the Brotherhood of St Paul would return. If you let Swansea bled out/embraced him, then Usher Talltree would be your main ally from the brotherhood. But if you turned Swansea, Swansea would return and would be a very questionable ally.

aka I just want a game of Jonathan killing Nazis and Jacob Blackwood using Nazis to fulfill his goals but also embracing their ideals.

Bonus points. Jacob wears a Vichy France uniform or SS uniform just to drive home the fact that he's a fucking monster.

[raptorladylover6969]

Me only surviving off that 1 scene of The Handler: