#my murdered remains

[oscardrillandthebits]

“He thinks he’s such a rowboat may-or! But he’s not one now, and he’s not one late-or. He think’s he’s such a rowboat may-er! On a steady diet of small potat-ers!”

Rowboat Mayor - They Might Be Giants - My Murdered Remains (2018)

[ter-made-dis]

I Like Fun/My Murdered Remains-inspired square complete! (2023)

Pattern by me :) ​​

TMBG/Pink | Lincoln | Flood | Apollo 18 | John Henry | Factory Showroom | Long Tall Weekend | Mink Car | No! | The Spine | The Else | Join Us | Nanobots | Glean | Why? | Phone Power

[orange-calx]

the communists have the music 45 RPM vinyl single

[cheesecakewitch]

been on a vuzi kick lately

[melocky]

Makeover (kinda)

[sengenism]

rewatched some dr stone episodes lately

[erenfox]

guess who just speedran through A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and One of Us is Lying, and now is gonna hyperfixate over pipravi, natewyn, addy mf prentiss as a whole, and ashton x eli (what's their ship name???) 😍😍😍

[mortifiedandawesome]

They Might Be Giants - This Is Only Going To Go One Way

[trappedinafantasy37]

Let's talk a little bit about Minthara and her oath real quick. Now, a question that I have seen pop-up in a few places between Reddit, Tiktok, and even Tumblr, is how the in the hells Minthara isn't already an oathbreaker. Well, I have 3 potential theories as to why that is.

Because it is merely a game mechanic and Larian did not want your only potential paladin to be an oathbreaker upon recruitment.

Her original oath to Lolth never broke because she never willingly joined the Absolute and her oath to the Absolute was made under false pretenses.

When she joins your group, she makes a new oath in your name instead.

Personally, I think that Minthara's oath is actually a mixture of 2 and 3. Yes, it is possible for a paladin to have multiple oaths at the same time. It just isn't a recommended practice in tabletop DnD because they can sometimes contradict each other, some oaths will straight up break other oaths, or the players just are unable to manage them properly. In this case, I do believe that Minthara has two oaths, one to Lolth and one to you.

I have not been able to find any reference to how paladin oaths work when the paladin is being coerced or mind controlled. But from what I have read in DnD lore, when a paladin makes an oath they have to do so willingly, deliberately, and consciously. None of those things occurred for Minthara when she took up her oath to the Absolute which is why it did not break her oath to Lolth (because it otherwise would have as she would have been sworn to destroy the Absolute for Lolth). And, technically speaking, the god that the oath is sworn to cannot go in and break the oath. Only the paladin can break their own oath. I only think gods can revoke divinity from their clerics. So, even if Lolth was truly pissed at Minthara, Lolth herself cannot just break Minthara's oath. That is something only Minthara can do. Minthara's original oath to Lolth still being intact is not necessarily indicative that she still has Lolth's favor, it just means she hasn't yet broken the terms of that oath. Even a crisis of faith (which Minthara is going through) won't break the paladin's oath either.

Another thing that is important to note is that as of 5e, a paladin actually does not need to make their oaths in the name of a god or before a god as their divinity is powered solely by the oath itself. Paladins are able to just summon divine smites and other holy based powers by sheer force of will and conviction (which is pretty damn sexy if you ask me). I mean, oathbreaker paladins still have access to divinity as well. Of course, paladins can still make an oath in the name of a god and most typically do, it's just that gods are not the source of power behind that oath. An oath is nothing but a vow, a promise that the paladin makes *to* a god, not the other way around. It does not even need that gods approval. So Lolth abandoning Minthara will also not break Minthara's oath either because Lolth is not the one who made an oath to Minthara.

So, it is very much possible that when Minthara joins your group, she does make a new oath in your name as oaths don't need gods. But, Minthara herself does not actually know how to live her life without having some kind of god figure so she just kinda puts you in that spot for the time being. I mean, she literally prayed to multiple gods and you were the one that answered. Which is also one of the many reasons why she does to along with what you want to do (even if she disagrees) because the oath she made to you would keep herself in check and keep her from acting against you. Minthara already is a very loyal person, but if you have any doubts on Minthara's loyalty, just keep in mind that she is quite literally oath bound to do whatever you tell her to do and will not betray you.

Minthara also never goes out of her way to become an oathbreaker, even after you free her from the Absolute. To be precise, you have to command her to break her oath. And of course, she will do so willingly knowing the consequences. Despite her oath being broken, she will still abide by the tenants of that oath. But she does enjoy the freedom that comes with being an oathbreaker and now nothing will hold her back from achieving her goals. However, she also says she does not know if her oath will still stand when all the nonsense with the Absolute is resolved and she even implies that if you do take the Absolute, she will no longer have an Oath of Vengeance, but an Oath of Conquest (which I think fits her better than vengeance if I'm being honest).

Minthara also makes quite a few suggestions to you that would actually break you oath if you are a paladin. Such as making an oath to Gortash, or making certain choices in regards to the vampire spawn. But, Minthara never does any of these things herself and I think that is purposeful. She knows these actions are oathbreaking type of actions. She attempts to orchestrate a fight between Dame Aylin and the wizard knowing fully well that it will break Aylin's oath. And she really wants you to go snitch on the wizard (although I just think it's because of her disdain for wizards rather than her being a little scoundrel to mess with Aylin's oath).

She is very very careful to keep herself in the position that she is because she doesn't want to be an oathbreaker initially. She is also very careful to tell you to do all these things. The language that she uses in regards to her oaths are also very important. Her original oath to Lolth would have her sworn to destroy the Absolute. But, we also know that Minthara very much has other ideas for the Absolute that do not involve destroying it (but oaths only break from oath breaking actions, not oath breaking thoughts). And her oath to you, she very specifically says that she is sworn to destroy all those who serve the Absolute, which is not exactly the same kind of oath she has with Lolth.

But, there is only one instance in this game in which Minthara will willingly become an oathbreaker and you do not have to command her to be one and that is if and only if you claim the brain. Her choosing not to destroy the brain when she had the opportunity to breaks her oath to Lolth. Now, the oath that she makes to you is where it becomes very very tricky. The oath she made to you, she specifically uses the language to "destroy all those who serve the Absolute". Her oath gets broken to you because she has become someone who serves the Absolute. But, there's more than that. If you become the Absolute, you also enthrall all your other companions which would make them servants of the Absolute and she also does not destroy them. Ironically, her choosing to serve you as the Absolute, breaks the oath she made to you because she has gone back on what she said she was going to do in your name. But most importantly, she chose not to get vengeance for herself.

Her oath to you was never to help you become the Absolute. Her oath was specifically to assist you with destroying the Absolute and all those who serve it. Her choosing not to destroy the Absolute and everyone who serves it, breaks both of her oaths. So, the Minthara that greets you at the gallows is now an oathbreaker. But, as I mentioned earlier, Minthara has already expressed the notion of taking up a completely different oath if you were to claim the Absolute. She helped you become the Absolute, knowing it was going to break her oath, and she had the intention of immediately replacing it with an Oath of Conquest, making her the first official paladin of the Absolute.

The fact that she wants you to become Absolute at all and that she prefers being an oathbreaker is why I read her as a canon oathbreaker. But she will never break her oath out of betrayal, but because of loyalty and devotion. She breaks her oath trying to make you as powerful as you can be. I have also discussed previously that her devotion is her fatal flaw and her choosing to remain devoted to you could potentially get her back in the same position you found her (that is if you betray her and choose to use the Absolute to reenthrall her). Her becoming solely devoted to you officially removes any and all ties she has to Lolth. But it causes Minthara to remain stagnant in which she doesn't learn anything, she doesn't change at all, and she doesn't grow.

She will live the rest of her life devoted to someone that isn't herself and act in the name of someone that isn't herself. She will live the rest of her life helping you achieve your goals and ambitions and what she wants is kinda secondary to all that because she has propped you up on a pedestal. She has always lived her life in service of a god and she does not know how not to. Many of the things that she has done in her life are not because she wanted to do them, but because she had the burden of expectations either from Lolth, from her family, or from Menzoberranzan culture and her oath kept her bound to these expectations. And she is falling back into that cycle with you because you failed to show her that there was another way and that she could be devoted to herself. You failed to show her that she does not need a god and she can indeed choose for herself.

[akuta-coughhackwheeze-gawa]

dazai in the anime when akutagawa was brought up:

dazai in the manga 😭:

[vimflam]

sometimes you get a song that you're not exactly repeating but you keep coming back to, and "mrs. bluebeard" has been that for the past month.

I do love when linnell does melodrama, and it's instrumentally captivating (that single recurring piano note is a perfect addition). my interpretation of it is something a little similar to the bitterness of "snail shell", except more extreme, in that the narrator - instead of falling back into insecurity - has ended up murdered.

there's the same thick streak of indulgent sarcasm running through both. compare: "I wanna thank you for putting me back in my snail shell / was it something you would do for anybody? was it what you'd only do for me?*" with "I want to say I learned something valuable today / alas, my murdered remains are incapable of learning anything". mrs. bluebeard is of course not at fault for what happened to her, and she knows that. she was only ever good to bluebeard and this is the thanks she gets for her trouble. she gave him the benefit of the doubt, because that's how she was taught to behave. perhaps there Were red flags she could've picked up on like, oh, the corpses of his previous wives on display - but what's the point of dwelling on something in hindsight now that she's dead.

I'm especially fond of her musing on the experience after the line "I'm not complaining, I'm not anything" is established, implying she has ceased to exist, but is paradoxically still able to comment on her situation somehow.

(*which, aside, I like how it's essentially the opposite sentiment to the inspiration song: "thank you (falettinme be mice elf agin)")

[bzbzbzbzb4772838283829829]

i find the similarities and differences between how apollo/kazuma and ryuunosuke react to their loved ones deaths. ryuunosuke takes karuma and wraps kazumas headband on it, bringing it with him and having it be the reason to why he is a lawyer, like how apollo wears clays jacket and how he leaves to independently investigate for clay but they differ from there. kazuma gets rid of his headband which he started wearing for ryuunosuke, symbolically getting rid of his past attachments and becoming a new person. apollo wears a bandage around his eye to stop himself from perceiving athena’s lies. kazuma and apollo both do things that destroy their own selves- kazuma is not the best friend ryuunosuke knew and apollo refuses to perceive and accuses athena. apollo has a disturbing resemblance to kristoph, even repeating “evidence is everything in court”. kazuma becomes aggressive, breaking his soul on gregson’s trunk due to his anger and his need for the truth behind his fathers death. apollo and kazuma both dramatically change after deaths. apollo mirrors kristoph, kazuma breaks his soul, and they both disengage with past friends in their desperate search for the truth, harming themselves and others. ryuunosuke takes kazumas death as a reason to keep going as a lawyer, while apollo and kazuma push themselves to the extreme to find out the truth.

[ender1821]

when in doubt, Murder Camel

[boo-cool-robot]

Increasingly coming around on the idea that JJK should have had an End of Evangelion-style conclusion where everyone in Japan merged into a cursed energy blob. Except for Maki, who also pulls out Yuta in Gojo's body and strangles him half to death only to give up because his passivity is sickening :)

[snowfishexists]

Someone here really liked shark J (not pointing fingers but I bet they know who they are hehe), so I drew her again! Also shark J tracking tag reveal omg???