#not exclusively his king

[royaltea000]

I love Bai Long Ma he truly don’t gaf

[mildhaj]

my heart forever yours

[kingarmorking]

tbh i'd argue that jiji is one of the weirdest characters in dandadan (well at least out of the main humans)

YKNOW WHAT I CANT REALLY BLAME YOU ON THAT

i love how unabashedly just... weird these kids are, esp jiji

like when you first see him you think "oh love triangle, suave pretty boy v endearingly dorky nerd"

and then he just. does this

and then he continues doing this (EVEN IN THE NEWEST CHAPTERS HES STILL DOING THIS SHIT)

weird faces aside jiji is just... such a sweet kid, even okarun questions why hes isnt more unlikeable

honestly his friendship with okarun kills a man like me its so gd cute

from being genuinely interested in what he has to say about the tsuchinoko and other cryptids to teaching and playing soccer with him, casually teasing him about his crush on momo

hes just a good kid ok i love him sm

DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE EVIL EYE AND JIJI

[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.

[serpentface]

A witch of the Naig-Troibadnnas (Yellowtail river valley) people, resting and enjoying a smoke of the mild stimulant brolge leaf on a hot summer day.

Witches are a small part of the everyday cultural framework among the Hill Tribes. They are individuals considered born possessed by a virgranul, a type of disembodied wild spirit that seeks to inhabit human flesh, either entering the body at the moment of conception, or entering the body at the moment of death. The latter is a dire circumstance that requires significant intercession to fix (the dead body may wander off without rites, leaving the person's soul trapped and liable to warp into the dangerous fuldaigh spirit), while the former circumstance is what causes a person to be born a witch.

In the case of those afflicted in the womb, possession by virgranul is lifelong, and is both a curse and blessing- it divides and isolates them from the human world and causes other wild spirits (both benevolent and malicious) to be perpetually drawn to them, but also allows for them to be attuned to the subtleties of spirits, and able to work magic and divination that the everyday person is incapable of.

Witches are usually recognized from a young age due to marked behavioral differences or atypical development, though are sometimes simply identified as such without obvious behavioral indications, by other witches having read signs of their coming. Their occurrence is not frequent, usually once in a generation for any given tribe. An identified witch child will be taken from their family (the timing varies by tradition, though is usually upon puberty) and into mentorship by an established witch, who will impart their accumulated knowledge and skill and teach the child how to best harness their condition.

One can be a witch regardless of their gender, with the only commonality being that they must remain unmarried, and are expected to never have children (deemed too dangerous, unavoidably placing a child in the path of potentially harmful wild spirits). With no spouses or children to support them in holding a household and herds, witches are instead supported by their communities as means of payment for their services. They typically live in semi-isolation in the boundaries between the village and wilderness (a reflection of their own division between the world of people and of wild spirits, and a protective measure for their communities), and will periodically be brought needed supplies. They do not commonly enter villages unless summoned, or for the sake of certain holidays and festivals, and live most of their lives in seclusion aside from any given mentee (who will in turn care for their mentor in old age).

The societal function of witches is as intermediaries between people and their ancestors, people and wild spirits, and as especially skilled performers of practical magic (most commonly weaving protective spells into worn items, such as clothing or the nose rings of cattle). Forms of practical magic and intercession with ancestors and spirits are performed by all members of society, but a witch has intimate, detailed knowledge of such things and tremendous natural skill that makes them an invaluable asset.

Witches personally discern the identities of the spirits living in any given area and will attempt to familiarize themselves with them, learning in depth about their ways, giving warnings of where the particularly dangerous (or mischievous) ones are, and giving recommendations on which will be receptive to offerings in return for boons. When a village needs to commune with a particularly powerful or dangerous spirit (such as a wildfolk witch), they will commonly send their own witch as an intermediary.

They are ascribed have the ability to directly summon ancestors (who otherwise come and go of their own volition, and rarely ever deign to come at the call of one who is not their descendant). This is of great use when a person finds themselves punished by their ancestors with no certainty as to why, or cases where an orphaned child's ancestry must be identified to gain them proper spiritual support.

They are also regarded as having innate qualities of divination, particularly in reading birdsign (itself generally acknowledged as communication from ancestors, and occasionally gods). The average person has basic knowledge in reading omens of birds and a learned repertoire of key signs, but a witch can divine the messages of birdsign in immense and specific detail, through a vast knowledge system of the meanings of the species, sex, flight direction, gaze, prey, number, and songs of birds. It is common for people to approach a witch for a reading of the skies before undertaking a significant venture or life change, in order to receive detailed and specific advice.

Witches are always literate (and will be taught to read and write by their mentor if they cannot already) and will record their repositories of knowledge in tomes. These are items of absolute secrecy and taboo for a non-witch to touch (the consequences can be severe, you really don't want a witch ancestor-spirit upset with you). Witches can often become competitive about the knowledge stored in these tomes and are known to organize heists amongst themselves in order to gain access to each other's secrets. Most people avoid getting themselves entangled into the complicated rivalries of witches, as these competitions can get ugly and result in many a petty curse if one gains a witch's ire.

---

The only visual cue distinguishing this man as a witch is the tattoos on his forearms, otherwise usually regarded as inappropriate to mark in the contemporary Hill Tribes cultural sphere (the face, upper arms, and sternum is reserved for important clan/tribe/ancestry identification, hands and forearms are reserved for witches, and the rest of the body is appropriate for decoration). These unique forearm tattoos indicate his ancestral connection with a lineage of witches, not blood ancestry but rather the generations of mentors that have produced him. The lines extending down to his fingers are the newest, indicating that he has fully mentored another witch and gained a place in this ancestral line.

The rest of the tattoos here are tribe and blood ancestry identifiers (on the face and upper arms respectively, worn by all members of society), and purely decorative imagery (visible here is a deer, horse, eagle, and a dragon). He also has a snake on his forearm, applied decades ago in an act of youthful rebellion, which has since gotten in the way of critical open skin space.

His clothing is otherwise typical wear for warm seasonal conditions- a man's wool shawl and woven belt, short trousers, decorative deer hide (distinct to the Naig-Troibadnnas), and sandals (these are imported Wardi style sandals, which have been modified with preferred elevated heels). The horn shaped torc on his forearm identifies him as an esteemed elder.

[vulturereyy]

Just realized the implications of this lore i made up for him means Hegemol very likely did not know the extent of the Pale King's ... Carnage. I feel like he would have known the broad strokes of the plan -- all five knights would have known, just going off Ogrim saying 'So there were others...' In his dream nail dialogue. But he would have been fairly bedridden and likely left to rest during the most dire parts of the Pale King's plan in action.

I think he would have known vaguely enough to protest at the location of the sealed egg; Dirtmouth is his hometown, after all, and it's far from as well-equipped as say the City of Tears or even Crystal Peak. He may have even protested at Lurien being asked to become a dreamer given the man's status and necessity in the City of Tears. (and also I headcanon that Hegemol had a quiet thing for Lurien and Hegemol was meant to be the commander of his Watcher Knights before he took ill, but that's another story that I have zero backing for) But I don't know if he would have known the absolute extent that his king went to, to try and preserve bug and nest. And I'm not sure he'd want to return to PK's side if he did.

Doodled a little Hegemol Pharom having a sit in his hometown... Background taken from a Hollow Knight screenshot :) Fully indulging in my canon character headcanons now. I have a previous post here that semi spells out what I think happened to Hegemol, but basically, I think he was one of the very first to succumb to the Radiance. Perhaps even targeted due to his proximity to the Pale King. But because she didn't yet have the influence over bug and mind she has at game time, her infection manifested more as growing illness, that slowly had him withering away as the dim light in the back of his head grew stronger. (It was during this time that the Maggot stole his armor; it seemed really unlikely that such a grand knight would just... let that slip willingly?) Again, most likely due to his proximity to the PK and his own will, Hegemol managed to stave her off to the very end. After months (years?) of slowly falling into her grasp, Hegemol finally met his fate at the hands of an infected siege. I imagine the City of Tears was only sealed off after the infected outside began invading the city in force. Hegemol was the one to pull down the gate himself with the last of his strength, shattering the mechanisms that raise and lower it in the process and succumbing to fatal wounds. This is why it's his statue that holds the city crest, made to commemorate the first of the Five Great Knights to fall. Hegemol had spent most of his years helping the denizens of Hallownest, and the city he called home would not be unsealed without his 'blessing.' The fact he broke the gate to close it is also why it shuts behind you upon opening; it wasn't repaired fully before the infection got to the rest of the city's inhabitants. Also I think Hegemol is the eldest of the Great Knights, and was born during the formation of Hallownest. He was from Dirtmouth originally, and his mothers were both confectioners lauded for their skill in making sweet jellies. They moved to the City of Tears fairly early on and were quick to support the PK's regime, mostly due to their existing ties with their noble customer base. Hegemol ended up joining the first wave of knights and worked his way up to the ranks, standing out by size of body and heart. Hegemol cared deeply for all of Hallownest, despite serving the upper echelons in the CoT for most of his run. When he fell, his fellow knights knew of his quiet desire to be lain to rest in the Howling Cliffs, so he could watch over his humble hometown and the way into Hallownest eternally. After the defeat of the Radiance, Hegemol found his life returned to him with the essence expelled from her body, but the injury and illness he suffered before his end still lingered. He managed to make his way back down to Dirtmouth and was taken in by the townsfolk to recover. With his distinct horns shattered and previous habit of almost never being seen without his armor, Hegemol took the gift of respite willingly. He told them his name is Pharom, and he claims he can't truly remember anything that happened. Really, he's just taking things slow... Enjoying life as a simple bug again and regaining his strength to help rebuild. Maybe one day he'll get the courage to see what became of his fellow knights an King. But I think this guy deserves a god damned break!

[bumblydumbly]

insane how people act like charles is ‘the jealous one’ like edwin didnt spend the whole first episode screaming crying throwing up every time charles looked at crystal and not him

[mabbbish]

growing apart (and together)

[thatuselesshuman]

Okay ik ik that the whole point behind 'Kim Dokja will be killed by the one he loves most' was that the story killed him but WHAT IF-

Kim Dokja is Yoo Joonghyuk's sponsor. The Demon King of Salvation is Yoo Jonghyuk's sponsor. Yoo Joonghyuk killed his sponsor.

Kim Dokja truly was killed by the one he loved the most, wasn't he?

Post edit: IM A NOVEL READER Y'ALL I'VE FINISHED THE NOVEL 😭😭

[neopetting]

˗ ̗̀ linda belcher memeboard ➝ unhinged bandit queen edition ･ﾟ⋆ ☾ * :･ﾟ⊹ 🦝

[kryptonbabe]

You will get a new Wonder Woman run planned to be a long and structured one - but it's written by Tom King

You will get a new Black Canary run - the thing is, it will be written by Tom King

You will get a series of some silver age partially forgotten characters you like - Adam Strange, Omega Men, Metamorpho - but here's the catch: they'll all be written by Tom King

Why all these times I got something I wanted from DC it was like meeting this wise and cruel Jinn trying to warn me about the potential harm of my heart's desires?

"Be careful what you wish for, little one. Now take this Tom King book" the creature whispers while I sob

[ragsy]

my fallout brain parasites have returned and i've been struck with the need to make a fallout au of my ocs, including detailed character portraits, attributes, skills, and perks, and i know for a fact that i'm not doing ALL of that but maybe if i post this here i'll hold myself accountable.

[eggtargaryenii]

just got an anon ask about jace's favourite sexual positions now I will spend the whole day psychoanalyzing this man to figure it out

[nukacourier]

Another oc sketch, this is a guy I've only mentioned a couple times. His name is Graveyard

Don't repost, reblogs are appreciated!!

[alex-just-vibing]

i love dantdm istg if i ever find out he's done something shitty i will sob he's like one of the only youtubers ive been watching for a long time who hasnt got into something (that i know of)

[woulddieforloki]

not to start another post with "kinda want to write a fanfic about" and then not write the fanfic but I kinda wanna write a fanfic where Loki feels so bad about the role he played in the Jotunheim invasion and the punishment Thor's facing because of it that he jumps through the Bifrost after him. and since he wasn't just yeeted out of his home, he's a lot less disoriented so he helps Thor get his shit together and they both absolutely expect Odin to call them back (or at least call Loki back like he wasn't officially banished) but he doesn't so they're pretty much stuck here now. Loki still has his powers so he's able to inadvertently prove to Jane and co. that they're gods pretty easily, and Jane obviously decides they gotta take them in. Loki and Jane really hit it off because they're both booksmart people and Thor and Darcy really hit it off because she's weird and Thor's more than happy to go along with it and they're one big happy sciencey/magical family. and then a few days later after Odin's decided they've both learned their lesson, he brings them back to Asgard. he still needs a successor, after all, and he can't do that if they're both banished. except??? they don't really wanna be king anymore??? like yeah Thor misses his hammer and his lightning and all but tbh he really likes Midgard like there's so much less pressure to make something of himself he just gets to have fun. and Loki's always kinda known deep down that he never stood a chance at being king and at this point he's very obviously a last-ditch effort but he's having so much more fun working with Jane and Selvig than he would on the throne and actually if he could just go back to his room he has a really good textbook that Jane would like to see—