#mythologic imagery

[ijustdontlikepeople]

Nathan MacKinnon 🙌 Aesthetic as requested by @plethoriall for emoji edits

[bebs-art-gallery]

The Lament for Icarus (1898)

— by Herbert James Draper

[wolfythewitch]

lost at sea

[782nd-account]

The Lament for Icarus (1898)

— by Herbert James Draper

[whereserpentswalk]

There are fallen angels all around your city. They don't do much, but they're always there. They're probably the most common cryptid in the city by far, they're almost a mascot for your city now. Your city used to be protected by actual normal angels, but history happened, now they're all fallen, their relationship with humanity forgotten, the ancient alliance lost. You don't think there was a betrayal, humanity just didn't need them anymore, they moved on, and now the fallen are just one of countless cryptids who landed here from another dimension.

Some look almost like humans, pretty humans, pretty humans wearing tattered and dirty clothing, but with wrong things about them, too many eyes, too many fingers, or just something off about them. Others look like their old angel selves more, but with time catching up to them, armor rusted, feathers unclean, the golden light turned cold and pale. Others look distorted, ghostly, like glitches in reality, sometimes monstrous and demonic in eldritch and terrifying ways. They say those were the most radiant before they fell.

Everyone kind of just knows to ignore them. Sometimes you'll see one, in an abandoned store, just on the street, in a subway station or an alleyway. But you know not to stop and stare like you would for other cryptids. They're common, and perhaps dangerous, at least unclean. And beyond that sad and unpleasant, and this twenty-first century world does not want to look at sad or unpleasant things. All the anger and little joy in the world is in a single cellphone, why bother taking a moment to pay respect.

There was that one time that one flew at you, with big, bloodstained wings, and a sword in its hands. It terrified you. But it was nothing, it didn't hurt you, you were just afraid. They set up traps for them, and places to make sure they don't rest. Little demonic sigils on pieces of architecture to make sure they don't perch there. Or pedants on shops so that they can never go in. Even a security camera, and a monster hunter's number, in case they're seen in the wrong place. They scare you sometimes, and to some creatures scaring a human is a crime that could cost them their lives. It's just how it is.

You gave some food to one, just some meat. She was small, would have looked like a pretty human girl wearing nothing but an old black coat she found, would have looked human if it wasn't for her featherless wings twitching in the rain. You let her come close to you. She didn't want to be touched. But you sung to her, and she liked your song. She told you that she used to sing before she was fallen, used to have shinning golden wings, and sing in the finest of restaurants. You let her sing back to you for a bit. You didn't ask her name. It would be weird to. But you hoped she was ok. Hoped she didn't pay the price of someone's fear.

You didn't see her again. But you think about her sometimes. It's silly to wonder if such a creature is ok. It's just a cryptid, the lowest and most forgettable of cryptids. It wouldn't affect you if anything happened, but you'd weep just to think of the possibility.

[notacluedo]

Cú Chulainn could be taken out by a single sunburn

[yebreed]

Extreme Baroque: Iron Temple On The Rice Mountain

Grotesque images from the Buddhist Iron Temple (鐵佛寺).

Located on the Rice Mountain (米山), Mixi (米西村) village, Jincheng, Shanxi, the temple is of an unknown construction date. The earliest record on the stone pillar in the main hall dates back to the seventh year of the Dading (大定) period of the Yuan or Jin dynasties. There is evidence that the temple was reconstructed in the third year of Wanli (1575). However, in the county annals, it is mentioned no earlier than the Qing dynasty.

These astonishing, presumably Ming statues owe their creation to the proximity of an iron ore. Iron frames made it possible to give the clay figures intricate poses and frilly decor.

Photo: ©大关沿路拍

[lokiinmediasideblog]

Kinda hilarious I just saw someone on TWT call MCU versions of Norse Marvel "woke" (where through gritted teeth Loki and Valkyrie's bisexuality was confirmed), but praising TOTG, who had a lot of explicit queer representation and didn't treat it as a joke (like Marvel often does; in fact it calls out those who do!). And a bisexual woman as the lead who acted very much like the typical action man hero (2nd time after Rebel Moon).

Like shit, there's a bunch of bi characters and a trans woman in the main cast. And though I do consider some Snyder movies to have right-wing themes (*cough* 300), this one was not. It's like he's trying to do better.

What I've learned from this is if it's violent and M-rated enough, culture war stuff flies over people's heads. And that's hilarious?

I was pleasantly surprised by this series. I was expecting much worse.

EDIT: I don't recall Kora being bisexual in Rebel Moon, but what I meant is second time with a woman lead acting as an action man hero

[smile-files]

who let mephone direct the purim play?? (edit: fixed a typo lol)

(objectober 2024 day 7: production)

[sagegreenfrogs]

Leola giving magic to humans out of curiosity, with no harmful intentions, but it nonetheless causing much pain, "the beginning of the end," etc, made me think about the myth of Pandora's box.

(it's a very well-known myth, but I'll summarize it quickly)

The olympians gave Pandora a box- and instructed her not to open it. She didn't... for a while. One day, she simply got too curious, and opened the box. By opening it, she unleashed horrors unto the world. Greed, madness, death, sorrow, etc. but there was something else in the box. Hope. (hope was released eventually, just much later.)

Obviously, all the awful things unleashed from Pandora's box can be easily tied to dark magic. Leola unintentionally released all of that into the world by "gifting" humans with magic. So many awful things happened due to that. However, something good did come out of that. That "hope," I believe, is Callum. He is hope. His magic is still human magic, sure, but that is only true because he's a human. It's not dark magic. He is the good thing to come out of Leola's last wish, hope out of Pandora's box.

[imaginal-ai]

"Cast Out" (0002)

(More of The Freedom Most Severe Series)

0001

[blackhholes]

teen wolf meme: [3/6] creatures -> kitsune

There are thirteen kinds of Kitsune: celestial, wild, ocean, thunder... But there is one, a dark Kitsune. They call it void, or Nogitsune.

[bebs-art-gallery]

Expulsion of Adam and Eve (1880s)

— by John Faed

[lionofchaeronea]

[782nd-account]

Two Satyrs" (1617-1619) Peter Paul Rubens

[ditoob]

in class Agamemnon doodle