#marius himself

[gaveroch]

So...

[lesbians4armand]

once again i really do think armand’s morality and view of his own morality is summed up by “i tried to be good, am i no good?” because he KNOWS he’s not, but he so desperately wants to be good in any way he can be, so that he can be desired. and this in turn means he is deep in denial about any bad he has done other than the deep seated feeling that he is simply “bad” as a vague concept and not the sum of his actions. anyway who’s up thinking normal thoughts about characters.

[camthecatchameleon]

…

and then they kiss or something

[spinosacha]

Okay so I had heard that Hugo fucked but nothing could prepare me for actually reading up on it. THIS IS THE GUY WHO KEPT PRAISING CHASTITY???

[luna-the-cretar]

Okay, I’ve slept, and I wanna share how I imagine some of the LOA characters (specifically from EOM, Icebound, and OUAW) Smell like, bc I’m obsessed with that for some reason. Not including Twig or Daisy bc those are NPCs

Long post below. Beware.

Minor spoilers for EOM, but nothing too bad

[Edge of Midnight]

Marius: Marius is the only one whose scent changes slightly between his metamorphosis. Pre-Metamorphosis, he smells slightly metallic due to his armor, has a fairly strong musky outdoors smell, and an underlying scent of roses. Post-Metamorphosis, his musk has changed ever so slightly to be more “sultry” (the way colognes and men’s soaps market the musky smell), the scent of roses is more prominent now, and he has an underlying scent of iron (from blood, not armor)

Lethica: Lethica, for some reason, I associate with the smell of petrichor (rain) and licorice. I’m not sure why, possibly because of her color palette, but I do. Although, I do imagine she also has an underlying scent of roses, because of her feelings for Marius, and how The Duchess has clearly taken note of them

Jericho: Jericho is interesting. Jericho, being a scarecrow, smells roughly how you’d imagine a scarecrow would smell like. He smells like dirt, wheat, old cloth, yes, but he also smells metallic, woodsy, and there’s a trace of sulfur and brimstone (ik those are the same thing, but my mind pictures them to be two different smells for some reason)

Briggsy and Farryn: for the sake of brevity, I’m combining these two together, since they smell fairly similar. They both smell of rot and decay, however Briggsy moreso smells like a mixture of a rotting crocodile and a rotting fish, whereas Farryn smells more like moss and rotting plant life.

Yorgrim: Yorgrim smells like dirt—specifically freshly dug dirt. He also smells faintly of limestone, due to the gravestone on his back. I’d also argue that he smells like The Mists, but idk how to describe that smell.

[Icebound]

Barnabos, Jornir, and Skrimm: again, combining them for the sake of brevity. They all smell strongly of their natural musks, but Barnabos also smells like fish and low tide; Jornir smells like wet fur and wood; and Skrimm smells like alcohol (tho less-so now) and dirt

Taishen: Taishen smells of cinnamon, clove, sage, nutmeg, cardamom, etc. He smells essentially like chai. However he also smells faintly of fire. Idk how else to say this, he smells like a hot cup of tea on a winter morning. I just. Idk what else you want from me.

Queenie: Queenie, I picture, smells like flowers (daisies, daffodils, etc), and honey. Though she also has a fairly strong smell of wet fur and the outdoors.

[Once Upon A Witchlight]

Torbek: Torbek smells like a dumpster and wet fur. I. Idk what else you want from me. He also smells of Witchlight, but I don’t know how that would smell like other than Magic.

Gricko: Gricko smells like the outdoors, and like he spends his every waking moment with an animal, who also spends all her time outdoors.

Frost: Frost smells like ink, old parchment, old books, etc. he also smells of sage, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. Basically, imagine drinking a cup of tea in an old library, and you’ve got Frost’s scent. Tho he does smell faintly animal-like, but that’s partly because he’s a Tabaxi, and mostly because he spends all his time with Gricko and Hootsie

Gideon: Gideon smells also of the outdoors, but in a different way. He smells like burning wood, like his cigars, like ashes, like, well, fire. He smells faintly of oil and metal, as well, and there’s an underlying scent of coal. There is also an underlying scent of cigarettes and Kremy’s perfume, however.

Kremy: Kremy smells of cigarettes, perfume (which, idk exactly how his perfume would smell like, but I imagine he would wear one that makes him smell rich), of a freshly pressed and freshly tailored suit. He also smells faintly of swamp water (or water in general), and however you’d imagine an alligator to smell like, idk. There’s also an underlying scent of cigars, oil, and fire, however.

[aquarines]

this is the old man yaoi i wanna see

[the-crooked-library]

okay so I gotta say, I don’t believe the whole “vampires cannot make good art” thing. I just don’t buy it. Like, call me biased, but as a writer, I don’t think you could talk the way they do and not be good at least at writing. There’s no way.

(you are a challenge every sunset, Saint Louis)

(I had powers now, and decades of rage to process - and so it was both random and unfortunate the man picked that night to dabble in fuckery) (I mean are you kidding me, that line is MUSIC)

(THE NAME! The name, unuttered in our home for twenty-three years - said over and over, until it was pounding in my head like a hammer!)

As such: what I personally think is actually happening is something far more mundane. Picture this - you've just been turned. Vampirism has enhanced everything about you, so your senses are like 10 times more distracting, you're stronger, faster, you're murdering nightly, you're most likely born out of some sort of trauma, and on top of that you've got years to compound whatever issues you already had - which, surprise surprise, are also somehow more intense now, whodathunk, mainly because your senses/murder/immortality are fucking with them BIG. Seriously, think about it: how much would vampire senses exacerbate symptoms of ADHD or autism? Would the species change, the nocturnal lifestyle, the mind gift contribute to dissociation, psychosis, schizophrenia? Would the killings and the loss of community be a factor in the way your depression might develop - or religious scrupulosity? OCD?

It's not that vampires cannot make good art. It's just that it becomes supremely difficult to do so, especially given that they cannot take human medication/finding a nocturnal therapist would be a bitch even if you're modern/Louiiss mon cher what eez a coping mechanisme y'know. I am convinced with 100000% certainty that, given enough time and dedication a vampire could absolutely make good art again* - though, in all fairness, very few of the ones we know possess the patience. Mind gifts/vampire speed + strength/inherited riches tend to destroy that sort of skill real fast; still, though, it's not a curse. It's symptoms disease.

* It is also possible, just as it is for humans, to develop all sorts of technical skills and still lack the “eye” for art (cough Marius cough) - but in that case, maybe try music?.. start writing? Get into ASMR? you’ve got an eternity to fuck around. Do whatever.

[ormymarius]

I think they all should be allowed to kill Arthur like at least once

[hamlet-not-hamnet]

pages from a sketchbook of an unknown artist, found after the june rebellion of 1832 in the backroom of a parisian café

[dreadfuldevotee]

Carol Cutshall I know your game, Rolin & Co. I've got you beat. Color (in terms of wardrobe, specifically) in IWTV so far has been representative of a kind of vibrant inner life and honesty in characters. It's the reason why it's so jarring go from seeing Louis in his beautiful multicolored array of stylish clothes in New Orleans to his solid, un-broken string of Couture Minimalism All-Black Ensembles in Dubai. Even in just comparing his unassuming browns and muted tones of Paris next to Claudia's self discovery in pastel. So, to then turn your eye to Armand; always in black, white, greyscale and browns so dark that in most lightings- they end up functionally black.

And then I think about how his rare pops of color, outside of his green shirt in Just Start The Tape, are orange and red. Adoration of the Shepherd continues to be a interesting painting to tie to Armand, this time in the detail that our only image of Armand before his turning is him in a bright blue gown. And in thinking of all these things at the same time, mentally, I am whacked in the face by a piece of trash on the wind which has this The Vampire Armand quote plastered to it

Anyways, anytime someone goes "Oh I hope to see Armand in color in S3" I think the monkey's paw curls

[ueinra]

I'll take a bullet for HIMMM!!!

[armandposting]

marius does seem to have a lot of complicated feelings about what he did to armand and I really hope one of them is guilt for his thinking in buying armand originally. he talks in blood and gold about how when he heard armand's mind, the entire reason he wanted him was because he thought, here is a child who has been so hurt that it will be no loss to the world if I make him a vampire. and he wavers on this later and I hope it's because he saw this child make friends and learn things and love rings and watches and swordfighting and realize that actually there is never a child so damaged that taking them from humanity is no loss. I wonder if part of the reason he never tried to talk to armand after seeing him with the children of darkness is that he saw that boy changed into a lonely stoic cult leader with no more will or verve and was too consumed with guilt to even try. I hope that guilt started when he took armand to kiev rus and saw how much armand still loved the family he hadn't seen in years and for a while barely remembered from trauma. also I hope marius explodes into one thousand pieces but that's mostly irrelevant

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

But, whatever [Marius] did, and whatever mitigation he sought, he always had to fall back on this: [Jean Valjean] was a convict; that is, the creature who has no place on the social ladder, being below the lowest social rung.

[Marius] had not yet come to distinguish between what is written by man and what is written by God.

On God, Marius is no better than Javert at this point.

[dawnquafam]

Just randomly thinking about these two shots of Orm/Patrick rn

[kindaorangey]

ROLIN!!!!! EXPLORE ARMAND'S RELATIONSHIP TO ISLAM IN THE SHOW AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!

[dxxtruction]

Something to just consider is that Armand is a collectivist. Culturally I think this makes sense, considering he would've been raised in his foundational years in that sort of culture that values collectivism over individualism. He's also had to live in several high control environments afterwards, which demanded servitude, where putting himself first would've led to trouble, up to and including death. In the Children of Darkness, for example, the very idea of seeking pleasure at all is against the commandments, and since he is forced to lead this group (under careful surveillance), he can not therefore show if he even wishes to seek pleasure, because this would disrupt the collective thought, and further, place a level of threat upon himself for disobeying the laws he's meant to be upholding. He's at threat that he can be killed for it, because that's how such laws are handled. So he necessarily can not hold an individualistic, self serving, opinion, and hope to live, and lived in that kind of envoirment for centuries. Even the TdV carries on the same sort of traditions to less strict, more secular, degrees. Seeking pleasure in TdV is rewarded, even exhaulted, but the great laws are still imposed to the level of threat which is death, and everyone is always surveilling each other on this matter. He's a collectivist, especially in situations which impose certain, or uncertain threat of violence, for going against the group, or person, as in such a situation being individualistic is perhaps the last thing you may get to ever do. Nothing personally driven, therefore, seems that worth it provided the risk.

Whether he remembers this earliest period of childhood, or not, those sorts of values (likely positive then as things like sharing, community building, reaching mutually beneficial decisions, aid, and consideration of others feelings). Ingrained into his personality, and he doesn't have the kind of amnesia where it appears his personality was fundamentally changed by it. Rather, that since it's more of a dissociative amnesia barrier protecting him from traumas, that his personality would rather be fragmented, as opposed to altered. (Meaning such values are still there, but are now also acting alongside various further alteration to what is means to be in collective. And that if such amnesiac parts ever do surface, it is only reacting as if it is re-experiencing, and in the same context to the trauma. Depending on how complex this part is it could take on further environmental inputs while in this state, developing or simply having, essentially, its own personality... but I digress).

He does things for the group, which can at times only be one person, more-so than he serves himself. Placing what serves situation and context more highly that individual personal traits and feelings. But, by thinking he has no self, he naturally falls to self justifying everything wrongful he personally does, as for the benefit of the group. It's a cognitive distortion which doesn't recognize it's own selfishness because it sees itself as being selfless regardless of actual outcome. Further, this makes it so he takes no responsibility for others actions he may have caused, or to how a situation came about because of himself, if he doesn't then apply having any self to that situation. He'll bend to opinion even if its false, and create or even take on an entire role of falsehood, if he believes it serves a mutual benefit.

He uses this as a kind of shield against the world he must fundamentally view as threatening, and imposing, with very limited spaces of safety. But doesn't impose himself in healthy ways, therefore becomes an enabler of certain toxic behaviors getting out of hand, and creating unsafe environments. Desiring such places being controlled, and predictable, environments, but not fostering what's needed for that, and certainly not in a healthy way. Rather lending to manipulating others, or using threats, or force, to make it so he's secure in this. Again, self justifying that it's for a collectivist benefit. If he does at all recognize his own selfishness it's due to how he's able to come out of his own cognitive distortions, and dissonance, and admit faults and failings. Seeing that hiding his own faults and failings from others is something selfish, and therefore that he does indeed have a self there. In doing so, developing an understanding that he acts as a self in all things, and therefore understanding the effects of his actions are actually his. (Or else falling right back into the distortions). He has to be selfish, in a way, to ever be truly selfless. If that's really his goal.

To want something for itself, as opposed to some other means. To want good, love, and safety, for itself as opposed to what it does. He has to develop a sense of his own idea of these things, in order to form a consistent and more secure identity, not founded or attached to a group or person. And further needs whatever self that is, to be embraced, by himself, and not insecure in how others would react to it. To not be afraid of this self expression and personal desire, thought, opinion, feeling, and so on. By developing his own person he'd be able to better embrace his own bad qualities, even change them. As he then feels he has such agency, and isn't just simply reacting and serving to the world around him. I think there's something in how he changes Daniel which says he is moving in sort of this direction, there's something in how it appears he's roaming around on his own right now that suggests he is on a journey of this sort. I'm not expecting greatness out of it, but I am thinking there will be progress for present day Armand in future seasons. I think he is capable of change, and is not fundamentally as he appears. (And this would align to his narrative arc in the books anyway.)

And just also like I don’t think he knows entirely where the boundaries of anything really are or should be. Between himself and others or like where right begins and wrong ends and so forth. Not a moment in his memorable life, mortal or immortal, hasn't been without the presence of vampires, and therefore conditioned more under vampiric understandings as opposed to human ones. And because he's disconsidering of self, and hasn’t exactly been modeled what these should be, he's not able to function sanely in his environment. He's not sane I think I can say. But I do think he’s someone who learns experientially, and can do that on his own, so where those must lie he’s not in total lack of awareness either.