#owls can represent a sort of symbolic death

[mask131]

Another bullet-point list about Medusa, this time from an article of the "Dictionary of Literary myths", written by Camille Dumoulié.

The paradox of Medusa as a character is that she seems to gain life as she is killed: for her story, her myth, is much more "living" and "active" after she has been reduced to an inanimate head.

Another paradox the mixture of beauty and horror that leads to Medusa's face being an object of fascination: her face is pure horror, her gaze kills, and yet her face was used as an apotropaic mask, a talisman that saved by repelling evil forces. This reinforces Medusa as the embodiment of ambiguity.

Medusa's head is one of the most archaic symbols of Ancient Greece: it might be an echo of Humbaba's head from the legend of Gilgamesh.

Jean-Pierre Vernant (in "La Mort dans les Yeux", "Death in the eyes"), offered the interpretation of Medusa's head as the "face of the warrior" according to Greek imagery: her mouth wide open, her terrifying hair, the ear-piercing shrieks, all can recall the "warrior's fury", the terrifying side of war. Medusa's head in fact regularly appears in the context of wars: Hesiod describes The Shield of Herakles, in the Iliad it appears on Agamemnon's shield and on Athena's aegis.

On another side, Gorgô also embodies what cannot be depicted or represented: it is death, invisible and that no one can look upon, just like Hades himself. in Hesiod's Theogony, just like in Homer's Odyssey, Medusa is the guardian of terrifying places: the edges of the world, in the realm of endless Night for Hesiod, the Underworld and realm of the dead for Homer. This specific role was perpetuated by other authors - Dante in his Divine Comedy, Milton in his Paradise Lost. Placed at the door of the afterlife, she prevents the living from entering.

In the Christian world, Medusa became a symbol for the Devil. She appears in the Arthurian mythos, in the "Livre d'Artus", part of the vulgate cycle of the Grail novels - reinterpreted as a female monster named "Laide Semblance" (Ugly Seeming), living at the bottom of a river, and who kills not by petrifying but by swallowing waters.

There are many elements highlighting the ambiguty of Medusa, and/or her tragic nature. For example, there is the story of how Athena gifted Esculape (Asclepios) with two drops of blood from Gorgô - one can heal and even resurrect, the other is a deadly poison. Medusa's blood, as a result, is the very embodiment of the Greek concept of "pharmakon" - and it explains why her deadly and dangerous face becomes an apotropaic mask, it is also a pharmakon.

It is very clear that there is a rivality opposing Athena and Medusa. The most famous version of this enemity comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis, where Athena punished Medusa after she was raped by Poseidon inside her temple, soiling the sanctuary of the virgin goddess. But there is an older Greek story (which was reused for example by Mallarmé in his 1880 Les Dieux antiques) which makes this rivalry more personal: Medusa was cursed because she claimed she was more beautiful than Athena.

All in all, Medusa seems to appear as a sort of negative double of Athena, that the goddess tries to destroy. The common elements between the two are numerous: for example the snakes, which were animals of Athena, or the fascinating gaze (Athena is famously the "grey-eyed goddess", and her bird is the owl with huge eyes) ; finally, as she bears the monster's head on her aegid, the goddess manifests Medusa's terror when she is angry or in battle. By the Aeneid, Athena manifests her anger by having flames shot out of her eyes - all of this highlights how Medusa and Athena seems to two faces of a coin, the two sides of a same sacred power.

In a way, Perseus himself becomes a double of his monstrous foe: using Medusa's head, he petrifies his enemies and causes death all around him. And according to Ovid, as he flew over Africa, out of some sort of carelessness or neglect, he allowed blood-drops of the Gorgon to fall on the ground, creating venomous snakes and thus multiplying the lethal power of Medusa. Some artists tried to explore this intimacy between Perseus and Medusa - such as B. Cellini's Perseus, where the faces of Perseus and Medusa look strangely alike ; or Paul Klee's Spirit fought evil, where the roles are inversed, Medusa disappears on the side while Perseus is up-front with a dreadful expression on his face.

This theme of double and reflections highlights the manifestation in the Medusa myth of the superstition of the "evil eye", which to be fought must be countered by a "third eye/magical eye" (like the one of the Graeae, stolen by Perseus), or be sent back through a mirror - the one Perseus uses, gifted by Athena. The motif of the mirror causing death opens parallels with the legend of Narcissus, another figure doomed for his vanity.

Robert Graves' books (note by me: NOT AT ALL A GOOD RESSOURCE! A lot of it has been proven completely invented, but it is important to know in term of the evolution of the Medusa-symbol) proposed the reading of Perseus and Medusa's fight as a memory of a "gender war" when the matriarchal society became patriarchal: Gorgô's mask would have originally been used by women to scare away men from their sacred ceremonies, mysteries reserved to women. Mysteries honoring the "triple Moon goddess" - Graves bringing back the fact that in Orphic texts the moon is called "the Gorgon's head". He also imagined that the mask of Gorgô was worn by maidens who tried to protect themselves from the lust of men - and the victory of Perseus over Medusa means the end of the rule of women, and the temples being conquered by men, who hid away Medusa's head and became masters of the divine.

The theories of Graves fed an entire movement of thought highlight Medusa as a manifestation of the Great Goddess or Mother Goddess, whose face was hidden in rituals by Gorgo's mask: Medusa was tied to the depths of the sea, and to the terrible power of nature ; and these readings were also tied to Freud's psychanalytic analysis of Medusa, where he links the beheading with the castration, the snkaes with the phalluses, the petrification with the erection, and turns the fight against Medusa into a sexual initiation against a motherly figure. Under this angle, Perseus vanquishes the "castrating woman", and is armed with the phallic-erection tool, wich allos him to conquer Andromeda, the virgin maiden, by killing the sea-monster (another evil twin of the woman).

To go back in time, this motif of vanquishing Medusa as a seduction or sexual initiaton can be retrospectively read in some "variations" of the Andromeda myth, like saint Georges vanquishing the dragon. But more interestingly, it is the Arthurian "Livre d'Artus" story which echoes this reading - where the Laide Semblance monster lives within the land of a "maid", who asks the king not only to send a knight to kill the monster, but also demands a man to be brought to her as her husband: it almost seems that killing the monster is a needed condition for the knight to marry the virgin girl.

Medusa has a certain link to music. Aristotle, in his "Politics" (I. VIII) makes a difference between the music that helps teaching, and the cathartic music tied to the bacchic trances. This second, Dionysian music, is tied to the flute and must be avoided. To justify this, he evokes a legend about Athena: when she played the flute, her face was deformed until she looked ugly, and so she rejected the instrument. However, according to Pindar's Pythics, it as Athena herself who invented the flute in an attempt to recreate an unnatural sound - the sound of the snakes on Medusa's head, as she was beheaded by Perseus. As such, it becomes clear that, as she played, Athena didn't just became ugly: her face started to mimick the one of Gorgô. We find back this confusion between the monster and the goddess.

[kazumahashimoto]

Xan, important question. As #1 Angeal enjoyer, what bird fits him best? I need to know for reasons.

EHEHEHEH :3 OKAYY!!!!! honestly i don't know much about birds so i got my friend to help ^_^ BUT he suggested some sort of owl!!! so i looked into the symbolism of owls and then specifically white owls and it was saying they can represent guardianship, protection, wisdom, death and REBIRTH😱?!?! crazy. and specifically like the shedding of feathers represents transformation and self discovery. or so the spiritualism blogs tell me. cool stuff anyhow i think that all fits angeal (and his connection to zack) really well :D!!! so YEAH thinking some sort of white owl.. snowy owl perhaps....

[jailforwriter]

It's time for...

Look, I'll be honest with you. Nothing makes me go feral over a book faster than picking up on a bit of clever symbolism. This hand-rubbing, cunning little storytelling shortcut can really make a difference between a book you enjoyed, and one you cannot sandpaper off the grooves of your brain. In many ways, it's a sneaky bit of puzzle-solving that the author tucked under the rug of the main text for us to find, and yeah, engaging with it takes a bit of getting on your knees and dusting, but boy are those proverbial allergies satisfying!

Hopefully by the end of these series you'll love this device as much as I do, so let's get into it!

What's symbolism?

Okay, right off the bat, I have to warn you that symbolism exists in the nebulous realm of things that take some thought to like, proper get, but we as writers thrive in places where we get to dissect and interpret complex stuff, so don't worry too much.

Now, a symbol could be an object, a place, a character, an action – so long as it represents something other than their literal meaning, it's the double-agent of literature: a symbol. We come across some of the most common ones pretty often, even in daily life. Suffice to walk by a flower shop and see a red rose for it to recall romantic attraction; whether we personally have an interest in it or not, the image still sparked the thought. That's the power of association, and just this once, it's here to help.

We can use those associations on a smaller scale to add layers of depth and evoke more complex ideas in our stories – like themes and messages – without needing to spell them out. In that way, we're ergonomically inviting the reader to solve our hidden puzzle (engage with the narrative on a different level) and get a little treat for it (a deeper understanding of the story's themes and messages, yummy!).

Types of symbolism

There are no hard and fast categories for the kinds of symbolisms we might come across in media, which really means that there are so many that we can get a bit liberal in our sorting criteria. As a scientist, this hurts my soul. As a writer, however? Let's get biased! Personally, I like to look at them this way:

Objects: one of the clearest ways to express many things in one. For instance, think of a pocket watch. Yes, it symbolizes the passage of time, but what else could we add onto it to say even more? Maybe the watch is worn, reflecting on the character's old struggle with reconciling the inevitability of aging and its inexorable march toward death (joy!). Maybe it starts ticking erratically at some point, paralleling the character's own mental instability. Maybe they decide to break it in the end, symbolizing them finally freeing themselves from time's constraints and their obsessive preoccupation over aging. We can get creative here!

Animals: these we often get from cultural exposure. For instance, someone interested in Greek mythology might see an owl and immediately think of wisdom – not necessarily because of any inherent attributes to the owl itself (although there's some interesting discussions to be had about where the association came from in the first place!) but because it's been drilled into them through history and repetition.

Characters: let's take it up a notch. What if we have a character who embodies, for instance, something antithetical to our protagonist? Who questions their values and challenges their worldview by mere dint of existing? What if our protagonist, Johnny Apple-Lover, comes across our antagonist, Lenny Apple-Hater? What happens when they interact? Characters may embody archetypes or have certain attributes that, juxtaposed to those of other characters, say a lot of interesting things about them. (Deep dives about this particular topic to come!).

Settings: this is your classic "ye olde manor existed in a state of perennial darkness, engulfed by the shadows of the thunderclouds above, through which nary a sunray ever ventured" business. Gloomy weather in a dark forest tends to evoke a desire not to go there, while a flowery, sunny meadow seems more like a place where you'd wanna hang out (please disregard if you're a vampire...and also hmu). This allows for some interesting subversions of expectations, in some cases, and we'll look into those a bit more later down the line.

Actions: actions (and lack thereof) can function as a fantastic substitution for directly stating a thought, and may add onto theme without needing to overexplain it by throwing up a mirror to the character's state of mind. For instance, a character opening a bird's cage and urging them out might symbolize their appreciation for their own freedom, particularly if they have resisted doing so throughout the book for fear of its consequences. Double-points for including animal symbolism, too! You'll find that a lot of the best symbolism exists at the junctions of all these categories, so don't be afraid to get creative with the combinations.

Colors: stop me if you've heard this before: red means angry, blue means sad, green means envious...yeah, so on and so forth. This is a straightforward method of conveying deeper meaning that goes hand in hand with symbolic objects, and can cast them and the characters who interact with them in a new, more exciting light. Speaking of lights, here's an example: what if Gatsby's was red instead of green? Suddenly, the entire message changes. It's no longer the green of money, nor of "go", but may now symbolize the red of violence and of "stop". We can extrapolate a lot from a little change, and therein lies the beauty of this literary device.

It's worth noting that other people may break down symbolism as it pertains to its effect on the reader, or give particular credence to religious symbolism as its own category, or focus on thematic relevance and imagery as their own types. I've based my breakdown on what I feel most accurately represent the tools we as writers need in our toolbox, and have tried to make them as easily accessible as I can. Hopefully it's not too convoluted!

In the next part, we'll focus on how symbolism differs from allegory, simile and metaphor by looking into some specific examples, and we'll also discuss why it's important to be a little picky and careful with the kinds of symbolisms we use in our work. I look forward to seeing you all there, thanks for sticking around!

Happy writing!

[robbyrobinson]

The Gospel According to The Owl House (Spoilers)

To start with, I don't think Dana completely planned this out and it is more or less me going over some symbolism I have noticed.

I am not really religious, more or less agnostic. But one thing in media I do like is the symbols and metaphors that are enforced either intentionally or subconsciously. I am someone who likes looking past the surface level to really analyze deeper subtext. With The Owl House, I personally think that the series uses several bible motifs and themes. Saying this, I don't expect that the writers planned all this out and it could be grasping at straws. Let's start.

The Wittebane brothers. In my opinion, they serve several biblical motifs and can be compared to characters from the bible. Wittebane himself has several:

He represents Cain, the first murderer. But he also could be a stand-in for Adam from the Adam and Eve story which I will further elaborate.

He is Satan. Pretty ironic given his whole holier-than-thou mentality, but when you really strip him down, you can see where I am getting at.

Now, it is not hard to buy that Philip and Caleb are Cain and Abel in my analysis since that is obvious. But as for why I stated that he could also represent Adam, really think about it: he and Caleb were the first humans to enter the Demon Realm. In this scenario, the Boiling Isles, particularly during the Deadwardian era, was the Garden of Eden. In complete contrast to what we are led to believe, the "Savage Ages" were actually pretty pleasant with witches and demons helping each other and not resembling anywhere near what the Boiling Isles are like in the present day. As for why it became as bad as it did? It's because of Philip.

To complement the Adam and Eve story, Evelyn would represent the serpent, but not Satan as it is believed now. But going into Gnosticism for a moment, the serpent is revealed for granting mankind hidden knowledge. So, Evelyn in that case would be granting "hidden knowledge" to the Wittebane brothers by offering to take them to her world (for the "Demiurge," would argue their doctrine would fit that role).

But as a result of these two humans being brought to the Demon Realm, it caused a "fall" of sorts.

As for why Belos is the satanic archetype here? Well, it is said that the Devil is able to quote scripture, and there is that saying about how Satan can appear as a being of light. To be more explicit, Belos does some of the folkloric things you can expect of Old Scratch like making deals. To be more exact, Belos is the one who poisoned the Boiling Isles and perverts it into becoming a death world to better match his beliefs that the witches and demons were wicked and needed to be destroyed.

He arrives at the Boiling Isles and sets up a hellish regime. He is associated with light in what he wore and how he was seen in a depiction to be holding the sun. "Lucifer" means light-bringer after all. Furthermore, he "falls" by becoming something that no longer qualifies as human. And the Book of Revelation describes Satan as appearing as a ferocious dragon. Belos takes on that appearance when he possesses the Titan's decaying corpse and note how he is welded to the ground. That calls to mind the Divine Comedy where Satan is depicted as dwelling in the final circle of Hell being rendered almost immobile in a frozen lake. It is there that betrayers are sent with him in particular for betraying the most high. And who did Belos betray at the very beginning?

But if Belos is Satan, then who, for the sake of this argument, is Christ?

That's right: it's Luz herself. Let's go into the ways that she is the equivalent of Christ.

While she does not have an unconventional birth like Jesus, she literally "falls" into the Demon Realm which could be taken as her being "sent by God" or in this case, the Titan. Much like how Jesus calls himself the light of the world in the Gospels, Luz's name means "Light."

Not just because the light glyph is the first one she learned, but also because she brings "light" to the residents' lives. Because of her unwavering attempts to appeal to Amity, Amity's life becomes better, so much so, she could finally stand in opposition against her mother. Luz helped to rekindle the relationship Willow had with Amity with them becoming friends again. She brings love and a new way of living, even trying to redeem a few enemies albeit with a middling effect.

She stands in opposition to the established order that Belos set up by exposing his true nature as a manipulator who does not have the Isles' citizens' interest at heart. The big one, though is that she sacrifices herself to save the Collector from being blasted which could call to mind the Crucifixion of Christ dying in the place of someone else. Her reappearance in the In Between Realm reminds me of the belief that Christ descended into Hell to save the souls of the deceased.

But she comes back to life even more powerful than she was before due to the Titan imparting their dwindling power to her. In doing all this, Luz becomes the savior of the Boiling Isles. That, and you could see her as a reversal of the satanic archetype. One of the key animals she is associated with are snakes whether it was that one time she brought actual snakes to school or how Stringbean is a snake-shifter. Even the "S" in The Owl House is fashioned after one. This would all come back to the Serpent in Gnosticism offering hidden knowledge.

And that is the gist of some of the possible themes here. Belos and Caleb were both stand-ins for Adam and Eve due to being the first humans to enter the Demon Realm and Caleb getting murdered. In addition, Belos is Satan due to his corrupting the Boiling Isles to better fit his vision of "perdition." Luz is Christ from how she first arrives at the Demon Realm; teaches the inhabitants better living; dies and becomes even more powerful from death and ultimately becomes the savior. Evelyn represents Gnosticism and this also goes into how snakes are a motif for Luz.

[blank-ace]

@murfnes Cazal is a character that visits your town at random, trying to sell cookies to everyone that talks to him. Blame @cojick

[ashanimus]

The Wolf and the Cardinal

All right so I’ve got Owl House brainrot, and this may have been commented on already given that my classic approach to a bandwagon is to sprint through its muddy tracks and lurch onto the back end as it rolls over the finish line but!

We’ve seen a ton of animal symbolism in this show--expressed a lot through the palismans and their wielders, and of course all the foreshadowing suggesting the look of Luz’s (probably some sort of winged serpent).

The bird symbolism is the heaviest, and we get it mostly through the Clawthornes (and those associated with them).

Owls (Eda)--wisdom, knowledge, magic, and in a number of relevant cultures, curses and bad luck!

Raven (Lilith)--intelligence, death, bad fortune, chaos and survival

Hawk (Gwendolyn)--vigilance, focus, protection

Cardinal (Evelyn/Caleb/Del Clawthorne/Hunter)--This bird has a lot of meanings, but most typically they’re associated with love and passionate romance which gets the first two, but also devotion (which we can look to Del), and finally with new life and fresh starts (Hunter). Even more fun, they can sometimes be representative of departed loved ones bringing messages peace and hope. The name cardinal even comes from the Latin for door--as in door to spirituality or another world, although we might disregard this part because the cardinal bird was named after the cardinal priest’s red robes. STILL THOUGH. Portal bird.

I really love how intense and intentional this show is about that, but it brings me to another observation that made me smile: Belos named this newest Grimwalker ‘Hunter’, probably alluding to his dream of renewed witch hunting with his brother.

But Belos’ biggest animal association is that of a DEER.

And Hunters? A WOLF, one now associated with rebirth, hope and the loving whispers of the beloved dead.

‘Hunter’ indeed.

[acourtofthought]

Blodeuwedd Revisted Part II

The Hero  Lleu Llaw Gyffes (a Sun God in some interpretations) is placed under a curse by his mother Arianrhod that he may never have a human wife.

ACOTAR similarities:  Lucien’s “father” murders his love, preventing him from taking her as his wife.  We later find out Lucien’s real father is from the Day Court with the power of light which ties in to Lleu being a Sun God.  

To counteract the curse, the magicians Math and Gwydion use flowers to conjure up the fairest and most beautiful maiden anyone had ever seen to become his wife. 

ACOTAR similarities:  The Cauldron makes Elain, who is noted as the most beautiful sister, who has become even more breathtaking since being turned and has ties to flowers, his mate.  

Some time later, while Lleu is away on business, Blodeuwedd has an affair with Gronw ( (as she is unhappy that she had no choice in being made a bride for someone), and the two lovers conspire to murder Lleu. 

ACOTAR similarties:  Lucien heads off to the Human Lands for what is initially business reasons (to find Vassa and gain the aid of the human armies).  While away, Elain begins an emotional relationship (and near physical one) with Azriel (who would be Gronw).  Azriel claims he will have no trouble killing Lucien in the Blood Duel.    

Also, Arianrhod is the Celtic Goddess of the Moon, the Stars and the Sky.  Often depicted with a moon.  

She is the mother of the twins: Llew, a Sun God (and our Hero in the fairytale)

, and Dylan, a God of the Sea.

Arianrhod is also the Goddess of Feminine Power.   She was a virgin goddess in the ancient meaning of the word virgin – a woman who is complete unto herself;

a woman who needs no protection from a man.

ACOTAR similarities:  "Her gaze shifted to the carved wooden rose she'd placed upon the mantel, half-hidden in the shadows beside a figurine of a supple-bodied female, her upraised arms clasping a full moon between them. Some sort of primal goddess-perhaps even the Mother herself”.  

It’s interesting that the wooden rose easily represents Elain, Half-Hidden in “Shadows” represents Azriel, and they are near the figure of a goddess who could easily depict Arianrhod, mother of Llew, and goddess of feminine power.  This seems to be foreshadowing of the Azriel Bonus Chapter where he and Elain have their moment in the night where only the Mother might witness them. 

It’s also interesting that the rose (Elain) is placed near a goddess who does not need protection from a man.  I think we’ve definitely been building up to Elain proving to everyone that she capable of doing things without being coddled and that includes Azriel not believing that she can handle the darkness of the Trove.

The goddess Arianrhod can ALSO shift into an owl:

The Owl symbolizes death and renewal, wisdom, moon magic, and initiations. She is said to move with strength and purpose through the night, her wings of comfort and healing spread to give solace to those who seek her. Again, it's extremely interesting that the carving is being placed by this specific goddess considering Blodeuwedd is also turned into an owl and I've done other posts on how Elain might be akin to a healer.

This part doesn't directly relate to the fairytale but I love that this was on the very last page of Silver Flames:

"she (Nesta) pulled the small, carved rose from her pocket and set it upon the gravestone. A permanent marker of the beauty and good he'd tried to bring into the world."

To me, it reads as foreshadowing that Elain (again, represented by the rose) is about to leave her mark on their world

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Rabbit Symbol - S11

Let’s talk rabbits. They’re a complicated symbol in TWD world and have taken me a LONG time to understand. While we’ve long associated them with Beth and other symbolism around her, I was always confused as to whether they were a direct proxy of her, or perhaps just evidence of a larger template, such as the Alice in Wonderland template.

As it turns out, they’re kind of both. Buckle up, because I have a lot to unpack here.

I first started noticing the rabbit symbol in a TD way around Lizzie and Mica in S4. So, let’s go over S4 rabbit references.

The first time we see them is in Inmates. First, Lizzie kills a bunch of rabbits in a log. We don’t see this directly, but more in the background. Later, Mica makes an offhand comment that Lizzie “isn’t afraid of dead rabbits.” At this point, the audience doesn’t understand the extent of Lizzie’s psychosis, so we can’t possibly understand the foreshadowing there.

***And let’s not miss the fact that they are killed inside a tree.***  👀 👀 👀

In short, it’s always been obvious to me that Lizzie killing the rabbits foreshadowed her killing Mica. So this was Mica saying Lizzie wasn’t afraid to kill smaller, younger, more innocent creatures than herself. Very chilling.

The thing is, later in the episode, Beth and Daryl walk right by the log with the dead rabbits. Beth almost brushes up against them as she walks by. So clearly, the symbol is more about her than Daryl. So, the rabbits also foreshadow Beth’s “death” in Coda.

Now, this is why in the early days, I was reluctant to call the rabbit a Beth symbol. Mica really did die. And while I 100% believed in Beth’s return, I didn’t know how all the symbols fit together and I didn’t want people seeing that and assuming it meant Beth was truly dead as well. I didn’t know how to explain otherwise.

Many years later, I have a better grasp of it. But let’s talk about a few more symbols.

We also saw rabbits in a painting in 4x11, Claimed. When Michonne and Carl are a house, looking for supplies, they look at a bunch of paintings. And ALL of them pertain to Beth in some way. 

One of them is a dog chasing a full moon. (Hello Sirius symbolism!) Another shows the Beth/Lizzie/Mary lookalike, with one eye, the mouth and the ear scratched out (see/speak/hear no evil). 

And yet another is of two rabbits eating carrots. The CAROT THEORY is one for another day, but this is just another example of a rabbit or bunny that we see in 4b.

Right after looking at the paintings, Michonne goes into a pink room where she finds the corpses of two little girls. Another obvious foreshadow of Lizzie and Mica, along with other symbols (owls, water symbols) also ties it to Beth.

The only other rabbit we see in 4b happens after Alone, when Daryl is with the claimers. He hunts a rabbit and fights over it with Len. This is how we can say without a doubt that the rabbit symbol is tied to Beth, because in the scene where they fight over it, Len mentions Beth indirectly and Daryl almost kills him for it. Joe ends up cutting the rabbit in half and giving Daryl the “ass end,” which the brilliant @frangipanilove has pointed out is probably related to the trunk (Beth in the trunk) symbolism. Eventually, when Len dies, Daryl gets the other half of the rabbit anyway, which is kind of a he-lost-it-but-it-returned-to-him sort of thing.

We can also point out that the rabbit’s foot (which we saw more obviously around Morgan and Crazy Wolf Dude in 5x15) is also a universal symbol of Luck. (LUCK THEORY).

And really, the cutting of the rabbit goes hand in hand with the good vs. evil twin theory. I often call it the twin theory, because we see it with twins or siblings most often. But we actually see it other places, too. Rick vs. the Governor, Daryl vs. Mitch, Lizzie vs. Mica, even Glenn vs. Nicholas. It’s important to note that one of the two in each duo eventually ends up dead.

(You could even argue that the two rabbits in the picture represent two different types of people. I almost think the gray rabbit has perhaps laid the carrot before the brown one. So one is a bringer of food and caretaker (think Daryl) while the other is the one who receives the food. So, perhaps someone less adept at surviving on their own.)

And this is where the rabbit symbol gets really convoluted. Because I can hear you pointing out that not all of these characters are inherently evil. They are antagonists in that they’re doing things contrary to our hero characters from TF, but some of them are just ignorant or have a different viewpoint or, in Lizzie’s case, kinda crazy. But not always totally evil.

And you would be right in that assessment.

So, what does the rabbit symbol mean?

I think it symbolizes someone who is good, pure, and specifically innocent, being sacrificed.

Now, understand that when I say “innocent,” I mean literally innocent of any crimes. I don’t mean innocent as in not knowing about the world, as a baby might be. Mica WAS kind of that way, but most of the others are not. Glenn and Beth were all good and pure in their motivations, but they were adults who had seen the ugliness of this world, so they weren’t ignorant. But neither of them did anything to “deserve” their deaths, as many others do.

But the thing is, good vs evil isn’t the only dynamic the rabbits represent. So, 1) good vs evil 2) innocent vs not so much and 3) survivor vs victim. Because Lizzie would clearly have been the “evil” sibling, with Mica being the “good,” but Mica is the one who died. Contrary to that, Glenn was clearly the “good” one between him and Nicholas, but Nicholas is the one who died. So, there can be any combination of variables going on here.

And to be clear, I don’t think the rabbit represents this duality theme. I think the rabbit represent the innocent person who is sacrificed WITHIN this duality theme. Hence, Beth and Mica, but not all of the duality themes feature rabbits. In the cases where the “good” characters (i.e., Glenn, Daryl, Rick) live, there was no innocent sacrifice, so the rabbit wouldn’t have applied.

Now, I’m not going to attempt to go through every rabbit reference we’ve ever seen. Quite frankly, I don’t know where they all are, and I’d have to re-watch S5-S10 looking for all of them. Most often, we see them in the background when one of these duality story lines are going on or just tied up with other Beth symbols to represent and foreshadow her.

And even if I did try to find them all, I would end up having to write whole volumes about this symbol, with dozens of side tunnels and entire underground tunnel systems, and we still probably wouldn’t entirely pin it down.

Let me give you a couple of side tunnels for your consideration: 

Griselda Gunderson

The first has to do with Lizzie and Mica. Mica finds a red-haired doll in 4x14 and says her name will be Griselda Gunderson. I always wondered about the specificity of that name, but if you Google it, all you come up with are TWD references to Mica’s doll. However, if you have an ear for details, you may remember that in the scene where Lizzie was “playing” with the walker, the one that Carol killed, sparking a meltdown from Lizzie about how Carol had just killed her “friend,” Lizzie had named that walker Griselda.

So, I kind of think Griselda and the rabbit symbol are mostly synonymous. Mica was kind and sweet and would become the innocent sacrifice, and since the doll was hers, we can link that to her. Lizzie is the opposite of that, obviously, but she believed walkers were “good,” “different,” and her “friends,” and she chose the same name. So, it’s safe to say the sisters both thought this was a good name for someone sweet.

And from Lizzie’s point of view (though it obviously wasn’t true in reality) Carol needlessly “sacrificed’ her friend Griselda. After both girls were dead, as Carol and Tyreese buried them, we see a clear shot of the doll, as if to link it to this tragedy.

But there’s one more Griselda reference in the TWD universe. It’s from FTWD.

In S1, Daniel’s wife was named Griselda. She died fairly early on. Here’s a description of her character from the TWD wiki page:

Griselda is a Salvadoran woman in her 60s who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. She is shown to care for the wellbeing of others and is mentioned to have a big heart. She usually remains quiet during group discussions, only offering her input to her husband and daughter afterward. (Source)

Sounds a lot like Beth, right? But she’s also known for having dreams and visions, mostly because she was hallucinating before she died. That links her to the whole Leah/dream/hallucination theme.

In terms of plot, she has lots of parallels to Joan at Grady. She was taken to a hospital, had a limb (in her case a leg) amputated, and later died. So that’s not a direct correlation to Beth, but Beth worked on Joan at Grady and guess what? One of the rescuers that worked on Griselda was named Bethany.

Now, Daniel, her husband, is known as someone who came to America to create a better life to his family, but in his previous life, he was someone who worked for bad people as a torturer. So, he’s genuinely a good man and a “good” character, but he’s done some evil things in his past, and can do them again if he’s put in a position where he must. Basically, you don’t want to piss this guy off.

These were Griselda Salazar’s last words. She said them in Spanish as she lay dying and seeing these visions:

"I came to you as a girl, poor and stupid... I engaged myself to you because I was young and I did not know your nature. I saw the devil's face. It's the same as yours. He showed me his face. It's the same as yours... All those nights, my husband and I together... waiting for them to break that door. The faces of the disappeared... waiting to curse us... with their torches, with their ropes... I did what I did. I loved whom I loved. What do you want me to do? So rip my skin, rip my flesh piece by piece if that's my penance... do it now, I will not ask why... I know your nature, you know mine..." (Source)

Some of that sounds like Beth. Other parts of it don’t. but I think it goes well with the duality theme. Understanding the dual nature of people and what the consequences of that will be.

So you can see the arc parallels and how it all ties together. But you really have to dig to figure it out.

While discussing this with my fellow theorists, @galadrieljones​ asked if Sophia’s doll happened to be a rabbit. I was pretty sure it wasn’t. Just a doll. But she checked anyway. I was right that Sophia just had a doll, but @galadrieljones did learn something interesting.

Sophia’s doll had red hair and was very reminiscent of Mica’s Griselda Gunderson doll. Plus, it’s wearing pink.

So Mica’s doll was probably a callback to Sophia’s doll, which links both Lizzie/Mica and Griselda to the missing girl theme. And we’ve linked Beth to Sophia in about a hundred different ways. It also links these symbols and themes to the people Daryl searches for.

And this is another example of the convolution. Think about it. Daryl never actually looked for Lizzie or Mica. He had very little direct interaction with him. So, we couldn’t link them directly to Daryl looking for Beth. But we can link them to Sophia through the doll, and Sophia to Beth. So, there’s not a direct definition like, “Rabbit = Beth.” It’s just not that simple. You really have to take on more of a 6-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon sort of mindset to really understand it.

Second Side-Tunnel (I promise it’s shorter) is the Alice in Wonderland template.

Alice in Wonderland:

The rabbit is a huge part of Alice in Wonderland. The infamous rabbit who’s always checking on his pocket watch, proclaiming that he’s late, and dashing off, right?

Well, there have literally been volumes and volumes written on how to interpret him, and hundreds of different interpretations. The one I want to point out for our purposes here is the time element. Lots of weird time elements around Beth and her arc. But specifically remember that in Still, the grandfather clock in the golf club read “Tempis Fugit,” which, roughly translated means, “time escapes.”

Eight minutes passed between when Beth and Daryl first passed the clock and when they returned to it, which probably represents the 8 years between when Beth disappeared and when she’ll return. We’re at the 8-year mark right now. Perhaps a little past it, but if we don’t hit the 9-year mark in the show, it will be confirmation of what all the 8s around her represented.

Also, in a famous rap-off, Emily played Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She was facing off with Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, and both of those are templates that have been actively used in the show, so I have a hard time believing Emily DIDN’T take on that project as a hint. But in it, she specifically plays Alice. Of the, you know, blond hair? (Watch it Here.)

Okay, end of side-tunnels. But I’m sure you can see how we could possibly go on and on for a LONG time about the rabbit symbol.

What brought on my desire to write this post at all was seeing the rabbit references in 11x01 and 11x02. First, we saw the stuffed rabbit Maggie picked up. She found it briefly (which symbolizes her briefly “finding” Beth at Grady) but then she left it behind, in a sea of walkers. (Which is what we believe happened with Beth during the missing 17 days.)

But then in 11x02, we saw it again. Daryl saw it in the picture with the two kids he found. So think about all the links and symbols that pulls in. The rabbit itself, of course, in a picture with two kids who are reminiscent of Noah’s twin brothers. And his twin brothers are another good example of this duality theme (one good and one evil) in 5x09, which just so happens (sarcasm) to be the last episode Beth was in. Technically.  

Meanwhile, we saw the money in the same bag, the “3 weeks” reference, and a ton of other symbols around Daryl in these tunnels, which AK confirmed were meant to be a statement about class systems, and that’s the exact same thing they said about the golf club in Still.

See what I mean? It’s all connected, and it all works together.

The short of it is that the rabbit symbol definitely represents Beth, and I’ve already illustrated what it probably means in ep 1 and 2. But one way I didn’t specifically talk about it is that Daryl is with Maggie when she picks up the rabbit, so they kind of both leave it behind. 

Later, Daryl finds it again (in the form of a picture) and takes it with him. There’s also the 3-week reference and many other symbols in this scene that scream Beth. So, you could see this as a representation of him finding her again and not leaving her this time.

Also, it’s important that these sequences happen in Acheron/the Underworld. Now, they’re out of the Underworld, and everything foreshadowed therein is about to play out.

So, this is the gist of the rabbit symbol as I see it. I hope it’s helpful in interpreting things. Thoughts?

Check out my previous Carrots and Rabbits post for more examples, keeping in mind, in might be a little outdated. ;D

[lordeasriel]

The owl symbolism in TSC

I’ve spoken about this in a meme format once, but I wanted to dig a little deeper. Let’s talk about Marcel and the owl symbolism across TSC.

Pullman’s writing is very… loose, so to speak, so looking for too much symbolism is both an easy and hard task, mostly because while one can find anything in any piece of text, it also means that a great deal of it might not mean anything at all. Pullman writes through instinct and following a sort of Rule of Cool, so sometimes he trades consistency for good storytelling devices.

I don’t recall when I first noticed this, but I remember it made me laugh because it felt so on the nose. There is, nearly always (so we’re precise in this analysis), a scene with an owl with either Lyra or Pan just before a Marcel scene follows in the book. Each of these encounters mimic the Marcel scene that will follow, which I’ll give examples below and explain the ones I think might need some explaining. Spoiler for The Secret Commonwealth, of course!

“A cat was creeping along a line of cabbages or broccoli, intent on a mouse; but before the cat could spring, a silent white shape bigger than Pan himself swooped down from the sky and seized the mouse, to fly up again out of reach of the cat’s claws. The owl’s wings beat in perfect silence as it made its way back to one of the trees behind Paradise Square.” (TSC, chapter 1).

This one right here is right on our noses, pretty much, although this one is the one event I think needs a bit of a stretch to work.

Pan is walking by, then he watches as a cat tries to sneak on a mouse, who then unfortunately gets caught by the white owl. Plain and simple, the owl represents Marcel — it always does in this analysis, in combination with his daemon, who also is a white owl — while the mouse should represent Anthony Hassall, who gets snatched before he could reach his destination. Like with Hassall, Pan watches helplessly as the mouse gets followed by a cat, only to be killed by an owl; Marcel is the mastermind behind Hassall’s death/robbery gone wrong, so this one is pretty straightforward.

One could also argue that the cat is Malcolm, the mouse is Lyra (Pan is often referred to as rodent in the book) and the owl is Marcel, getting to her before Malcolm does, while Pan watches it helplessly, but that’s a bit more of a stretch in my opinion (which relies on TBOD3 to be accurate or not).

The scene that follows this is on the same chapter and it’s Marcel talking to Binaud about the plan to intercept Hassall; it’s implied Marcel’s plan was to only take the suitcase, but the men were surprised by Hassall having a knife, which then turned into a murder. I mention this because the stealing fits better with ‘seized the mouse’, as opposed to Hassall straight-up dying, but that’s the spirit of it. Hassall meant to rendezvous at his workplace, to deliver what he knew, but Marcel’s men meant to take his discoveries before he could do so; the owl steals the mouse from the cat. (Lucy Arnold could have had a cat, but we can’t have it all, can we? lol)

Also, when Pan sees one of the men hiding, the text remarks that he was being mindful of the owl, as well as other things.

“A cloud covered the moon for a few moments, and in the shadows Pan slipped under the fence and then bounded across the wet grass as fast as he could go, keeping low, mindful of that owl, mindful of the man in hiding, making for the oak.” (TSC, chapter 1).

The next mention we have of an owl is in chapter twelve, but this is a different owl, it’s a symbol in the Alethiometer. Now, Olivier “misuses” the Alethiometer by pointing all the three needles to a single symbol that has the closest meaning to what he needs — in this case the owl symbol, which seems to stand for daemons.

I could leave this one out solely on the basis that this isn’t a real owl, but a symbol, however, this is where I think it gets fun. You see, Olivier is not looking for Marcel’s daemon, he is looking for Lyra. He uses the owl symbol because that’s the symbol he needs for daemons (therefore finding her, since at this stage he didn’t know Pan and Lyra were separated), he is looking for Pan and Lyra, but that’s not what he sees.

The Alethiometer, through the new method, shows him another owl — a real (daemon) owl — then a hand, then a bunch of photos of Lyra. He realises it’s Marcel and his owl, and that it’s his apartment that has all those photos of Lyra. He assumes that because he focused on a picture, that’s why he only saw pictures of her, yet as we know, Marcel and Lyra are related. They have a blood tie; through this event, Olivier goes on to investigate Marcel and finds out he is Lyra’s uncle and I like to think the Alethiometer shows him Marcel because of that. It could have shown him any pictures of Lyra anywhere, but it chooses Marcel’s owl’s eyes to show Olivier the photos (or better, Pullman shows us Marcel because he is building up to his reveal of their relation).

“(...) he sat in his little apartment as the evening lights came on in the city, turned all the three wheels to the image of the owl, and focused his attention on the scrap of photo paper with the picture of Lyra. But that didn’t work either, or not as he’d hoped it would.”

“They seemed to have the quality of photograms: all monochrome, some faded or creased, some on photographic paper, some on newsprint, some well lit and professionally taken, other informal, as if taken by someone who wasn’t used to a camera, with Lyra screwing up her eyes in the glare of the sun. Several of them seemed to have been taken surreptitiously when she was unaware, showing her lost in thought in a café or laughing as she walked hand in hand with a boy or looking around to cross the road. ”

“Then with a lurch he seemed to fall into an understanding of what he was looking at. They were photograms. (...) as the viewpoint swung around instantaneously and showed him a white form sweeping across in a blur of wings that set some of the pictures stirring on the board—just a swift dash—a bird— a white owl, just for a moment, and it was gone again… Delamare! The owl was Delamare’s daemon. The hand was Delamare’s.”

“(...) he could see pictures of her because it wasn’t her he was focusing his mind on but a picture of her…” (TSC, chapter 12).

Later on, also in a chapter mentioned here, Olivier will find out that the new method is drawn to the daemon and not the human, which is why he gets sick when the owl moves.

This one is why I started this whole meta to begin with lmao. At this point, Lyra is with the gyptians and she had a thorough conversation with Farder Coram. She is pondering over the books she was obsessed with — especially Talbot’s — and she hears the cry of an owl outside, which starts her chain of thought on interesting things.

“The question was, she thought, was the universe alive or dead?

From somewhere far off on the marshes came the cry of an owl.

Lyra found herself thinking, What does that mean? and simultaneously thought of Talbot’s inevitable reply: ‘It doesn’t mean anything.’ Some years before, in Oxford, she’d had an encounter with the daemon of a witch, in a little adventure that had culminated in her thinking that everything meant something, if only she could read it. The universe had seemed alive then. There were messages to be read everywhere you looked. Something like the cry of an owl out on the marshes would have been blazing with significance.” (TSC, chapter 16).

Now this alone I find special, because not only it speaks to the whole theme of the book, which is about imagination and finding meaning in life (which I find ironic and hilarious as someone who has been reading a lot of Poirot recently, a man who despises imagination in terms of solution), but also backs a bit this whole analysis of the owl everywhere. The owl cries here, enough to take Lyra’s attention; later on, on her ferry, she is aware of La Maison Juste and uses its name to avoid trouble. She’s opening her eyes, slowly, to the world around her, and the owl here is the first moment to show that; as she is reading the books, she is slowly realising that Talbot himself deceived his audience with neat, eloquently put phrases that could mean anything and yet they have not substance.

She wonders what it might mean and the text says even such trivial things as that could have been blazing with meaning (I’ve also spoken before about how I feel that the alethiometer tries to warn Lyra through her readings, and this aligns with that as well).

Now, the very next scene is Marcel confronting Bonneville over his failure in finding Lyra.

“‘But where is she?’

Marcel Delamare asked the question with enormous and unconcealed patience. The lamplight, glaring from over his shoulder full in the face of Olivier Bonneville, disclosed a hint of clamminess, of pallor, of physical unease in the young man. Delamare was glad to see it: he meant to make Bonneville even more uneasy before the interview was over.”

“(...) ‘Take your feet off that stool. Turn to face me so I can see whether you’re lying.’”

“Delamare took a deep breath and sighed. ‘The point is this,’ he said. ‘You are doing very little work. The last report you filed was nearly empty of useful content. Our arrangement will come to an end this Friday, unless by then you’ve made a real and relevant discovery.”  (TSC, chapter 16).

Now these are some of the bits from this chapter, which is mostly Marcel telling Bonneville he hasn’t been useful at all and Bonneville trying to win it by being spiteful at him. Marcel never yells or anything, but he is definitely frustrated, which we see displayed before in the owl’s cry Lyra hears. More importantly, in this chapter we find out about Maman and her desire to find Lyra herself, which adds to the whole ‘blazing with significance’ thing previously seen.

In chapter seventeen, Olivier sets out to try and find Lyra on his own before Marcel takes his alethiometer. He is trying to find Lyra through the new method, but then he sees Pan and where he is.

“And sounds coming over water from way off: a large oil engine, the splash of a bow wave, distant voices. The cry of an owl. More rustling in the undergrowth.

He sat perfectly still, eyes closed, looking into a profound blackness. The owl cried again, closer. The vessel was moving away to his right. Then a whiff of something animal, very close.” (TSC, chapter 17).

Olivier finds Pan and it isn’t quite clear whether the owl’s cry is on his end or Pan’s end, but alas the chapter that follows has another scene of Marcel confronting someone, which in this case is Talbot, and he is a lot more annoyed in this one than before. It also means that the owl’s cry coming closer relates to Marcel learning about Malcolm in Geneva, and Malcolm presents a clear way to Lyra as he is bound to meet up with her eventually. It also relates to Olivier being arrested a while later, by the men Marcel sent after him because he stole the Alethiometer. LMAO, what a dumbass.

“If the phrase ‘useful idiot’ had existed in their world, it would have expressed his opinion of Talbot precisely.” (TSC, chapter 18).

Now, this last one is a bit of a stretch again, but it’s my favourite from all of these. In chapter twenty-seven, Lyra is sitting at the café when she sees Bud Schlesinger (who she doesn’t know yet). The text goes:

“Across the café the journalist was closing his notebook. Without looking, Lyra knew that his daemon — a small white owl, with large black-rimmed yellow eyes — was watching her.” (TSC, chapter 27)

Now, after this we don’t have any more Marcel scenes here, but we see his actions everywhere. Regarding Lyra, she learns from Bud that the Magisterium is looking for her, and a while after they bomb the Schlesingers’ apartment - for her sake or perhaps to target Anita’s research, who knows really — and that causes Lyra to leave the city sooner. Point being, the owl glaring at her mimics the gaze of Marcel’s spies over her, always watching her, looking for her.

And that’s it, I don’t have a point, I just like Marcel. lol

[just-jammin]

The Pantheons

In this Universe, Pantheons are almost the same as the ones you see in real life, but they can co-exist with each other because they embody a certain aspect of an existing concept. This is why there might be multiple Gods of the same domain or concept, such as Gods of Fire, for example.

There are a total of six Pantheons, sorted from oldest to youngest in terms of when they are first formed.

(keeping this under a cut bc it’s very long)

Primordial Pantheon

This Pantheon has the first Gods to be formed in this Universe. These Gods are mostly known as Primordials. Compared to other Pantheons, the Primordials are only a few in number, as they represent the foundations of the Magic and its Elements.

This Pantheon is also the only Pantheon that doesn’t have any Seals made of them, for they are too powerful to ever set foot on the World they made.

The Primordials are massive, somewhat golem-like creatures, mostly made up of the Element they rule over, along with a cosmic-esque substance.

>> —^— <<

Celestial Pantheon

This Pantheon represents the good symbolism of concepts, like how owls are symbolized as wise beings, and most of the Cosmos. However, these Gods, known as Greater Celestials, are notorious amongst other Pantheons for their ego behind their goodhearted façade. They even call themselves The Great Pantheon when talking about this Pantheon.

Greater Celestials take the form of sleek humanoids, with pointed yet curved ears to symbolize their plane-touched status. They also have either brightly-colored or pastel-colored skin. A somewhat rare case among these Gods is their pupils shaped like existing symbols.

>> —^— <<

Infernal Pantheon

Though this Pantheon was formed at the same time as the Celestial Pantheon, it’s definitely its polar opposite. The Gods in this Pantheon represent the destructive side of things, like torture or punishment. Despite this, they’re not as bad as one might expect, yet Greater Celestials always make fun of these Greater Infernals for these stereotypes. It doesn’t help that the two have a great rivalry with each other.

Greater Infernals are almost like their counterparts, except that they have more angles in their body, with distinctly bent pointy ears. Their skin colors are different as well, ranging from red & purple to almost pitch black with a bit of color.

>> —^— <<

Gaian/Sub-Primordial Pantheon

This Pantheon is what people call the True Successors of the Primordials, as they represent the concepts as they are in nature. They’re the ones that are most in touch with the World around them, and these Gaians would do anything to protect it. However, this protectiveness would sometimes go out of hand, which caused the Primordial Pantheon to create the Seals for the rest of the Pantheons.

Gaians may resemble the different races in this world, but they’re very distinct to them, as they have features that resemble the things they’re ruling over. these features mostly appear as skin color, pieces of that thing on their body, or even appendages made out of it. They’re basically Primordials except they’re smaller and more human-like.

>> —^— <<

Eldritch/Abyssal Pantheon

If the Pantheons were like family/sibling tropes, then this one is like the runt of the pack. This is because these Gods represent the uncanny or unknown side of things, like fears, black holes, or even death. Even the people who worship them only do that in fear, so that no one in this Pantheon can ‘eat them up’ or something like that.

The appearances of these Eldritch Gods don’t help much either, because they range from urban cryptids to extremely uncomfortable combinations of man and beast, to even creatures that only the extremely messed up can make up.

In fact, this Pantheon has the most Gods who would rather live in a Mortal vessel because of this fuckery.

>> —^— <<

Anointed/People’s Pantheon

This Pantheon is the youngest of all Pantheons, partly because it’s all made up of former Mortals that have either found favor with the other Gods or sacrificed their own mortality, to ascend to their current status. These Gods, known as Saints, Patrons/Matrons, or the Anointed, represent how these concepts are used for the people, along with emotions and acts that help them.

Their appearances retain from when they died or gave up their mortality, with only little supernatural additions to represent that they’ve ascended to godhood now. These additions range from tattoo-like marks on their body, to prosthetics of their preferred element if they lost a part of their body.

However, this description might not help if any other God chooses to have their appearance like a member of the Anointed, as this is a favored look amongst Pantheons.

[ofhellsbells]

Belphegor’s Tattoos

During Belphegor’s time in Hell while torturing Will, they had Dagon give them several tattoos, and they explained to her their meanings as she tattooed the drawings onto their body.

A reaper holding a child’s hand - It symbolizes Charlie’s role both as an entity of Death and characterizes her as a protector of innocence. Death tends to have a negative connotation, but she’s always been kind in guiding people to their afterlives and in guiding Belphegor down a better path.

A snake curled around a dove, making it’s coils the dove’s nest - It symbolizes Cupid and how they want to support her as much as she does for them. They want to be a home for her like she is for them. 

A black hole - It symbolizes Belgirel and the emptiness they feel inside without him. The Void might’ve also had some input into this design to make the hole look eerily similar to a portal looking into the Empty.

A portrait of Dagon - This tattoo of Dagon was a realistic drawing that Belphegor put on themself and showed her afterwards, but it is still symbolic in the sense that it symbolizes how real she is with them. They can trust her to be authentic. Drawing her in her defensive form with her snakes in her hair was done to recognize the strength in her for doing everything she’s done despite the traumas she’s gone through.

A cracked shield with a tree on it - It symbolizes Sam. The shield is meant to symbolize how hard Sam tries to protect everyone, and the cracks in the shield represent how much he tends to hurt himself in doing so. The tree is both because he’s tall and another representation of him trying to provide for the wellbeing of others.

The impala - It symbolizes Dean and his loving relationship with his car girlfriend. It also holds significance to Belphegor in the sense that they designed the first cars of humanity. Cars are efficient and also protect people from the outside forces like weather while transporting them. Like Sam, Dean is also a protector but in a more practical way.

Maze’s daggers - While Maze’s daggers are obviously symbolic of her because they belong to her, daggers are also significant because while they’re used to attack, they can also be used to defend, and Belphegor is aware that Maze has spent a lot of her life looking out for them and Cupid.

Broken Mirror - The broken mirror is symbolic of Lucifer. The mirror itself is to represent his pride, but the fact that it’s broken represents the fact that his flaws are painfully apparent to him and that he judges himself too harshly for them even while acting like he’s proud of it. The mirror is also symbolic to Belphegor in how he reflects a lot of their own traits back at them and shows them the truth more than they’d like.

An owl with a caduceus in front of it - It symbolizes Raphael and their role as a healer. It represents both who they want to be like and a reminder of what they can never be like again. Raphael themself represents the good they could’ve achieved if they hadn’t fallen.

A wolf and a younger wolf on altering wrists - It represents Aamon, and at the time of the tattoo it represents their attempt at mirroring his rage, so they can use it to avenge their friends and also protect them. They know that he’s also a protector of sorts, even through his anger, and since they can’t heal like Raphael, they’re turning to his tactics instead.

A bunny sleeping in Oleander - This tattoo is in remembrance of Doc, the bunny who comforted Belphegor during their first tattoo. He had to suffer because of Belphegor’s mistakes in not realizing that Oleander was poisonous, so the tattoo of him also serves to remind Belphegor to be careful about what plants are harmful to humans.

A skull wearing a top hat - It symbolizes Zatanna. Zatanna has helped their family more than a few times while dealing with several other problems on top of it. She works herself to the bone, and Belphegor noticed during their last hypnotism that she has very little concern for her own wellbeing. It reminds them a little of Belgirel, and they feel like she’ll end up in a similar position as them if she keeps doing what she does. Dead.

A lamb - Lambs are typically symbolic of innocence, so Belphegor got a tattoo of one to represent Chastity, who is both innocent when it comes to sex and innocent when it comes to seeing the best in others. She’s naive and gullible. Like most sheep, she’s easy to lead, but that also means she needs to be protected.

A shovel in dirt - It kind of speaks for itself in how it represents the inside joke of shoveling dirt at John.

[mrkanman]

game theory time boys

What Are The Corrupted Souls?

The Rusty Lake universe tells the story of those affected by the titular location that transcends several generations, with THESE bad boys as malevolent, ghostly apparitions that give you just generally a hard time. 

The White Door told us the story of Robert Hill, who is a confirmed corrupted soul, detailing the events of his involvement with the mysterious death of the woman. But moreso than Bob’s story, we actually started getting some more insight in what Corrupted Souls actually ARE which I’m gonna try to rationalize to the best of my ability--let’s go.

(SPOILERS FOR THE WHITE DOOR AHEAD) 

In the timeline, the first instance of a corrupted soul that we see is Caroline Eilander. 

Caroline Eilander had died prior to the events of Rusty Lake: Paradise, and was studying how to acquire the elixir of life in secret before her death. Her animal symbolism is the owl, which is shared by both her son Jakob and by Dale Vandermeer, and is typically representative of being the “ruler of the Lake.”

As a corrupted soul, her memories were split apart into ten black cubes that contained the elements for the elixir of life, which she bestowed upon Jakob to aide in his path to enlightenment. She was able to send down a plague as a corrupted soul, speak, and disappear and re-appear at will. When her bones are recovered during the ninth plague, they are ground into “magical powder”. So while her mind may have become broken, and the soul itself split off as its own entity, her body still had anomalous effects on it. 

This is important when we examine what happens in the White Door.

The body dies, the soul is carried over. But the body isn’t gone--it’s replaced.  

During the last plague in Rusty Lake: Paradise, Jakob is burned alive, but achieves enlightenment. *How* this happens at first seems vague, but by the end, and by what the game often instructs us to do, it becomes clear. 

The Elixir of Life alone is not enough to reach enlightenment, one must also embrace a corrupted soul, or well, *literally* merge with a corrupted soul. Mr. Owl was created when the elements were gathered as the cubes and when Caroline Eilander merged with Jakob, creating an entirely new being with (suspected) unlimited immortality and wisdom.

Corrupted souls are not so much as “ghosts” are they like the limbo between death and rebirth, a concept that is repeatedly echoed throughout the series. They eat, they sleep, and speak at times, but are strongly disposed towards violence and can even seem like wild animals. But they are like cocoons for the cycle of rebirth. 

Which is why I propose that: Mr. Boar, Mr. Deer, Ms. Pheasant, Mrs. Pigeon, and Mr. Rabbit *are* definitely reincarnations of the Eilander family, they’re very deliberately NOT the Eilanders when they are alive. It is only as Corrupted Souls do their past lives merge with each other, and their memories and perception of reality becoming confused and erratic. 

Their containment in the hotel effectively served as a stasis chamber, keeping them in their corrupted state to prolong the cycle of rebirth until they’re needed. When they broke out, some of them stayed at the lake as corrupted souls stalking for potential victims, while some split off and left the lake, still corrupted, but in a different “state,” a different life. 

Mr. Rabbit had tried to re-enter society as a corrupted soul, remembering the past life of David Eilander, but based off of what happens to Bob in a similar fashion as a corrupted soul, reality is distorted and Eilander is too unstable, resulting in the massacre of Dale Vandermeer’s family in order to retrieve The Pistol.

These pistols seem not to *kill* so much as, change your state of being. In the Blue Cube timeline of Dale’s birthday, Mr. Rabbit is shot and, as he is absorbed by the tree, beams of light shoot out of his body. Beams of light coming out of a corrupted soul is generally connotative with the soul being destroyed/purified. But as stated, he doesn’t die, he’s merely in a new state and returned to the lake. 

 Which brings me to the “Lady of the Lake” theorized to be Ms. Pheasant. 

Now the REAL “Lady of the Lake” is Caroline Eilander, as seen in painting depictions, so it’s important to recognize that this is a *stage production.* The woman in blue is playing a role, much like how Pheasant did in the Hotel. 

For this to be one of the lives of Elizabeth Eilander, I’d actually wager it to not be such a bad guess. It would be natural to assume for her daughter to inherit her legacy, even only as a pretender. She’s seen here in both a corrupted and non-corrupted state, which I don’t feel so much as to be a literal representation of her so much as how she perceives herself, or perceived through the lenses of the memories. 

Because another notable thing about Elizabeth is that she was blind, and not once was the Lady in Blue ever shown to open her eyes. This corrupted soul is still a PERSON, and in likely a similar state to how Bob was after he shot himself in the White Door(no memory of her past life and just generally being confused) and was taken in by the theatre as a performer to be kept close to the lake and still get to use her memories. 

These are the more concrete parallels and conclusions we can come to, with the relationship between Mr. Deer’s corrupted soul and Albert Vanderboom being one which I won’t go into depth: but there could be implication that Albert had also been trying to recreate the elixir, same as his father did, and maybe had a lost soul influencing him after 1894. (Which, mind you, two years later after the corrupted souls were released did he murder and torture his family outright.) I think the fact that the Corrupted Soul of Mr. Deer looking a lot like the silhouette of Albert was intentional in that way. He may have been a potential candidate for enlightenment before his brain was collected for William’s rebirth, maybe even becoming a corrupted soul himself. 

So basically what I’m saying is: corrupted souls are not so much as “souls” but as the physical embodiment of the inbetween of life and death, in which the lake serves as a sort of “womb” for. They cannot distinguish between imagination and reality, are supernaturally aggressive and malicious, have scattered and unreliable memories of all their past lives at once, and DO subsist off of a carnivorous diet, primarily that which of animals (or people) that are still alive. They can be killed and resurrected, are intelligent but only sometimes sapient, and the perception of how they physically manifest can depend on the level of corruption at which they are at. A living person *can* be corrupted with enough exposure to black cubes being forcibly extracted, but it’s a typically longer and riskier process. 

[inkdrinkershadowsinger]

Thoughts/Background Goblet of Fire

What kind of creepy graveyard is this? Skeletons crawling over one another? Snake hidey-holes? Is this Nagini speaking or can she hear Voldemort from that far away? This just shows how fast she is as she moves along the ground here. Literally, we have here the Angel of Death equipped with wings and a scythe, which normally the Grim Reaper carries.

One light on in the caretaker’s house which is right next to the family graveyard? We are assuming that this is the Riddle estate, correct? Wealthy families like that would have had a family graveyard near their home. Also, that house in the background, Riddle Manor? Is super big and though it is dark looks grandiose.

The house here, looks well lived in, but at the same time, almost like it has only recently been inhabited. This is a kitchen, but it looks like there is a shovel on the wall, and only one light?

Still, only one light on in the main Riddle house. Wormtail can’t even draw a curtain? Dang.

Those are some old fashioned keys. I understand that this is a Manor or whatever, but this takes place during the nineties? No one thought to update the locks on this place? Frank mentions, “Those kids”, like people breaking in has been a real problem. Why not update the security? Also, who has been paying for the upkeep of this place? Lucius? Some secret Dark Lord Corporation? Is that why they are old school? Because we all know that wizards like to keep everything super, super, super old school?

Seriously, who is keeping up this place? The topiary is amazing!!

He looks like he is walking up a sort of backdoor entrance or servant’s entrance.

He is the caretaker for the grounds, but can’t dust a little? That clock needs a good one.

The light wasn’t muted because no one was casting a lumos, they were simply using a lamp that had the fabric bits removed that dampen the light.

The way that Barty is smiling when Nagini perches herself on Voldemort’s chair is fucking terrifying.

Ron’s room really is all orange. Such a fanboy.

The Burrow is in such a great spot. The little pond in front, the trees, the openness. The house itself is incredible. Still, only one light on. Whose? You can see the group walking away. That has to be Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s room. Or Ron forgot to turn off the light, again.

They are all having to run to keep up with Mr. Weasley because he gets his cardio, bitch.

Mr. Weasley is rocking that straw cabana hat because he knows Muggles son!

Such a beautiful shot!

Did they travel through a worm hole here? I know the director or whoever had to make a creative choice in how this was going to be portrayed, but…. Idk.

Everyone is flying around, the arena is clearly segregated into Ireland’s colors or Green, Red, and Yellow, perhaps hinting at the final score of the match? Nice job, filmmakers.

What is this guy juggling? It looks like toy merecreatures almost.

Orange is the Weasley families favorite color. They’re just owning it at this point.

The pitch looks like it is in the inside of a volcano or a mountain.

Some people have seats right on the grass of the pitch? So, if the Weasle’s have bad seats at the very top what would the very lowest seats be classified as?

Who knew that a job qualification for Professional Qudditich players is the ability to adequately throw and spark fireworks?

Krum is a showoff.

Those are omnoculars? What Ron has to his face?

The way that they were all packed in together, it’s a wonder the whole place didn’t burn down with all the incendios they were throwing around.

They are all wizards, underage or not, and this is a life threatening situation, and yet, no one is firing back at the Death Eaters?

Okay, so everything did get torched to the ground. None of these tents had some fire retardant?

That amount of spells coming at the trio.

That style of hat that Crouch is wearing has got to be some ministry trend. Wait until they all hit the trucker hats in the 2000’s.

That Dark Mark is really cool.

I love her hat though. It looks like something that would have been worn to the royal wedding.

Seeing the train is always stunning.

I love the collection of sweets here. Colorful, to attract the youngins.

This is a really colorful movie. The third one was very muted while still being stunning. This and the next one experience with splashes of color that are just beautiful.

They are passing a big lake in the background there. Out of the window just looks wild and remote.

He addresses it clearly to Sirius Black. Is that a qualification for the owls to know where they letter needs to go or do they just have to have been there before? I need to know the specifics of owl travel.

You get to see the whole scope of how large not only Hogwarts is ,but the grounds, and I love that.

You see Neville in this first sequence as they are watching the other schools arrive as well as Fred, George, Ginny, Colin, Harry, and Hermione. Angelina Johnson is in the background behind the twins.

The sails on the Durmstrang ship looks like it is decorated with a two headed dragon. Is that the symbol for Durmstrang?

So while Dumbledore is chatting, Hagrid and Flitwick are behind him chit chatting.

There are two levels to the head table in this movie. The main folk are sitting at the higher table. Snape is leaning against the wall, not directly related to them at all. I bet he hated first days at the school.

Snape is one hundred percent mimicking Dumbledore’s speech for a hysterical Flitwick in the background.

The bald guy behind Dumbledore looks asleep, straight up.

Are butterflies the symbol for Beauxbatons? That would be very interesting. A creature that transforms completely into something else.

Hermione and Ginny are the only two who know what’s up in this shot.

Dumbledore was giving Madame Maxime eyes.

Filch is just standing dead in the middle of the Durmstrang wizards.

He is still standing there when Krum and Karkaroff walk in.

The kids so promptly follow Dumbledore’s instructions even though some of them are probably embarrassed about having to sing the school song.

But not Harry James Potter. He is living for this song.

Again we get so many shots of the school in this movie.

You can see the house point containers behind Dumbledore’s head.

You can see them again after the goblet is revealed.

Is that a tower of marshmallows?

OMgosh! The sky acted up when Crouch Jr came in because Hogwarts knew that he wasn’t who he said he was!!!!

The cup is so primitive looking compared to the container that is in.

It almost looks like each layer was created by a different faction of the wizarding world as a whole. That could definitely be a fanfic.

The perspective starts on the Durmstrang ship which again features a dragon.

Cages, nets in the background of the DADA classroom.

There is also a lot of glass and mirrors in the room which almost makes me think of a fun house where you don’t look like yourself in any of the mirrors which is super fitting for Crouch Jr. at this phase.

Why does Hermione look so suspicious already?

And what is the use of all the bugs, Crouch Jr. you sick mother f-er.

Who needs fifty overflowing worms in a jar?

Dean Thomas is straight up rocking a composition notebook from Walmart on that desk. He is representing Muggle culture at its finest.

Crabbe is wearing a ring. Is that his heir ring? That would be interesting as we see the younger generation start to really get pulled into the war in this film.

The portrait on the stain glass crying. We have all seen this, and appreciate the majesty.

We love a rain soaked Robert Pattinson.

Everyone is just watching the battle between the twins and Hermione.

There is no other light in the Great hall except for the Goblet? Dumbledore does love his aesthetic.

Snape is like, get me out of here.

And that display of power is why all of them dang kids sing that dorky song.

Who is Cedric kissing here as he goes up to the head table?

The cup is like the opposite of the Goblet of Fire. It is shiny and bright and new while the goblet is ancient looking.

You can see Harry’s scar quite prevalently in this shot.

The Hogwarts trophy room. I have never connected this before. It is huge.

Karkaroff has gold fillings.

What are the spinning trophies and where can I get one?

One light on in the top part of the castle.

Pensieve memories are blue, and the Goblet’s fire is blue. Coincidence? Fic writers, you tell me.

The suns on the curtains in the boy’s dorm is a nice touch.

Ron has a homemade quilt. I bet he gets those for birthday gifts instead of the infamous Christmas sweater. Molly Weasley is a boss.

What are all of these trophies for? I bet Dumbledore keeps all the ones that the various clubs and groups have won over the years.

Magical cleaner?

The scope of Hogwarts is amazing.

The owlery is literally covered in bird shit, like every inch. Dumbledore clearly instructs Filch not to clean it to deter frisky students.

Is that a cat on the stairs there?

I can’t ever decide if the Common Room looks too big or too small, here.

Harry talks about Voldemort so casually. But I guess if someone tried to kill me year after year we would form a sort of familiarity.

Those cabinets in the back are filled with board games. Bet me. Gryffindors are notoriously bloody, and game night, gets wild.

I bet Neville spends a lot of his time in the lake just researching and studying all of the different plant life.

Neville cares not at all for the drama behind him. He’s just like, “Give me the plants”.

I love that bright orange flower. Hagrid ain’t no fool. He knows how to get the ladies.

The mist in the background could almost be taken as fog, but then you think about the dragon’s and it literally could be smoke.

Hagrid representing all of the men who are shorter than their women.

There looks to be about six dragon handlers here.

They are carrying branches or their wands lit with fire at the end. Is that to confuse the dragons? Make them think that they already covered that area in their territory and are thus safe?

The handler on top gets bucked off the cage. He is done with this job.

I’m sorry, but those badges are ingenious. Do we know in the movie that Draco is the one that made them or is that fanon?

Those Hufflepuffs are nasty.

The sculpture that is seen in that scene in the courtyard looks like the same one that is present in Half Blood Prince. Do they also move around the castle at will?

Harry pushed Draco, and that guy in the back is like, “Yes, let’s have a fight.” Then he and the other guy straight up bounce when Moody pops on the scene. But Goyle is ride or die. Or maybe they ran and got McGonagall because she came really quickly???? Hmmm??

The walls are all green and lightly moss covered. Gorgeous.

Like, is there a legit list of all the things that teachers cannot do. 1. We do not use Transfiguration as a punishment. 2. Trying to main or kill students is expressively forbidden. 3. Flashy robes are allowed and encouraged. Share in the glorious pattern of life.

Crouch Jr. should have been shitting his pants at being at the end of McGonagall’s wand.

Again with all the mirrors. So, Crouch Jr. can make sure that his transformation isn’t slipping?

What are the faces in the mirror here?  

All the clues were there, and I didn’t see a single one. This movie and book is a masterpiece of plot. Plain and simple.

McGonagall was like, “Let’s not have the arena with the dragons so close to the castle, eh, Albus?”

There is a bed for each of the champions in this tent. Could no one transfigure a couch?

They have punch and muffins in the background. “Lime punch before you fight a dragon?” “Sure.”

I never noticed that blue in Madame Mazime’s hair. I love the school spirit that she is showing here. Dumbledore seriously thought of mimicking her. He would look bomb with a tie die beard. Convince me otherwise.

Filch is featured spectacularly in this movie.

The trunk at the bottom has a red cross on it, making this very likely an emergency tent that just so happens to double as the waiting area for the champions.

Colin made that sign for Harry.

I feel like that chain, oh, I don’t know, could have been magically reinforced or something.

How does his glasses stay on? I bend over, and mine are on the floor.

Even Draco here is like, “Come on, bro.”

Snape knew he should have stayed in bed.

So, does the waterfall seen here does that fall into Hogwart’s grounds as well because that would be awesome for field trips. My love for this ancient, magical castle in the middle of nowhere is unmatched.

Where was Seamus during that challenge? I did not see him.

The picture of the woman in the far left is very striking.

The Black Lake is a huge expanse. I always think of it as kind of small, but it is massive in this movie.

The pastries in the back are floating along the table. So cool.

Mrs. Norris just chilling, waiting to see these pitiful humans embarrass themselves.

Why can’t they have healed Harry? I understand the look, but dang, people continuity.

Neville has got them shiny dancing shoes. Augusta was very pleased when Neville asked her to buy them for him.

Hermione is a queen, and she knows it.

There is that semi circle of stone again from the third film. Hmmm….

Ginny’s friends are coming in with the support. Love a squad.

There was fruit on that table. I always wondered if they got snacks and what not during the daytime, between meals.

What was the need of carriages if the ball was held at the school?

Ron waited until last minute to even try on those robes or he definitely could have worked something out.

Owl sculptures are supporting the fires here.

Krum is dumbstruck by our girl.

Somehow she loses Krum to argue with Ron.

Is that couple making out at the table?

People are dancing in the hallway?

A gaggle of girls are crying on the stairs. Every middle school dance ever.

I’m telling you, whoever designed this cemetery had a very messed up imagination.

Neville stays out all night long. It is morning coming through that window. You dog, you.

Half of the allure of going to Hogwarts is to get to become a prefect and use that bath. Let’s be honest.

Crouch Jr. hates his life right now.

All of those books are like represent my best life.

Half of those students are like, “Yeah, no, you took all my money last time.” Because let’s be real, no one bet on Harry, and Fred and George scored big time.

Those top tiered placed have got to be enlarged with wizard’s space because they are quite small, and the whole school plus the two others are expected to attend each trial? Yeah, not big enough it seems.

Harry is a show off.

Seamus is wearing Hogwarts merch. Like where did he get that? A catalog? Gift shop in Hogsmeade?

You can see the merpeople’s ancient village here, or hints of it. Archways, etc.

Fleur looks legit worried here. Like Harry was right to not trust Dumbledore to ensure their safety when he can’t even tell Fleur who is out of the competition by this point that her sister is going to be okay.

Why are Fred, George, and Ginny right next to Malfoy and Co. for this shot, shouldn’t they be at odds? Or was that the best spot and neither were giving it up?  Or plain movie making reasons?

Harry is wearing a wand holster on his leg. Fanfiction writers catch all the details.

Seamus is like, “I am Harry’s hype man. I will keep him from getting hypothermia.”

Why did Hermione turn French here for that line?

Rescue….. that’s a strong word here, Dumbles.

Crouch Sr. is such an interesting character. He knows what it is like to lose a family, and he has his guard up because of that. Their story and their family is so interesting to me for some reason.

I think that’s the closest that Crouch Jr. gets to breaking character.

If you were born in the nineties you had at least one of those jackets that Hermione is wearing here, and if you had more, you had them in several colors.

Who bewitched Mad-eye’s eye? It is a very powerful magical object in its own right, right?

Please see my post about Sirius and Azkaban.

As soon as Snape is mentioned Crouch puts his head in his hands because he knows Dumbledore is going to have to have a say.

Dumbledore is looking so closely at the details that he misses the bigger picture in Harry’s dreams and Moody’s actions.

It’s so weird that Snape has a storage area for ingredients near Dumbledore’s office. I bet that Snape has several storage areas spread throughout the castle.

Snape could have just looked inside Harry’s mind, and be done with it, but no….because plot.

Neville is carrying yet another plant behind the trio here.

Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle are so carefree here that you almost forget that the happiness of youth that they have at Hogwarts is about to go extinct just like Harry and his friends. All of the kids in this story face a sharp change in perspective after this book.

I like that Harry has fake Moody, Krum has Karkaroff, Fleur has Madame Maxime, but Cedric has his dad because he gets to say goodbye to him.

The maze is just a massive headgame.

Do you think the reason that Fleur ultimately becomes close enough to Krum to ask him to her wedding is because Krum sought her out and made serious recompense for him being imperioused while in the maze?

They are just resorting to brute strength there at the end. The maze making them forget that they are capable wizards. A jelly legs jinx probably would have had much the same effect.

Angel statues I get, but this big dementor, grim looking thing holding the bones of Voldemort’s father. I just don’t get it.

Cedric gave Peter a chance to speak or stop, but Peter again took the cowards way out, and blasted Cedric before he really had a chance to fight back. What a punk bitch.

I’m glad that you are forced to choke your own self Peter because you deserve it.

Voldemort’s transformation here is both stunning and horrible.

The Death Eaters come out of the Dark Mark’s mouth.

Their masks here are different then the ones used earlier in the morning.

Voldemort is snatching their weaves here, and I love it. Stupid klan robe wearing wizard Nazis.

Voldemort puts his foot on Cedric’s face. Like, son, you need to pay for that privilege.

A lot of the Death Eaters here look like they have like staffs. I don’t understand.

A Death Eater in the background is litearlly clapping when Voldemort makes Harry bow, like get a hold of yourself, Hershel.

The statue, again, in the background presents such a striking image as the two duel.

The spell that Crouch Jr. urged Harry to learn is the one that saved Harry.

Harry just wanting to physically protect Cedric’s body with his own. Just heartbreaking.

I’ll never not sob when I hear Amos Diggory sob, “That’s my son! That’s my boy!”

Fred and George look to follow Crouch Jr. and Harry out. Do they tip off the professors?

Doesn’t Crouch know what it is like to stand in Voldemort’s presence? He was just babysitting the man, I mean, dang. Fangirling is one thing, but you have business to handle.

Don’t insult my Neville. I will throw down.

The mirrors are gone at this point. It looks like Crouch has almost packed up because he knows that he will no longer be needed.

Not his blood, ahhhhh!!!!!

Snape puts such flourish into his casting. That scene at the carriages earlier in this film. He looks like he is rearing back away from Karkaroff, but he is merely preparing to cast one fanciful, flourish of a hex on the man.

Just stick your face in the crazy Death Eater’s face, Harry. Great thinking. No wonder Snape doesn’t hold your intelligence in high regard.

We don’t get one look at Professor Sprout. This boy’s Head of House?

Look at all that magical cooperation, and yet, none of this was used in book seven, or any book after except for mentioning Fleur married Bill, and Harry learned a little tidbit about the Deathly Hallows symbol from Krum.

I love this film. It is stunning, and truly made me a diehard HP fan. I don’t think I will ever really tire of it.

[viadescioism]

Dictionary of the Ravens of antimony as of 7/5/2019

Ravens:

LUST (E) | [eh] /ɛ/ as the “e” in “met.”

PASSION (U) | [oo] as the “oo” in “boot.”

DEVOTION (Æ)(A') | [Ay] as the "ay" in "May"

PREJUDICE (TA) | [Tah] as the "tɑ" in "taco"

ANGER (HA) | [Hah] as the "ho" in "holiday"

MISUNDERSTANDING (RA) | [Rah] as the "ro" in "roger"

SKILL (A) | [Ah] /ɑ/ as the “a” in “father.” as the “a” in “father.”

MIGHT (I) | [Ee] as the “ee” in “meet.”

ASCENDANCY (O) | [Oh] as the “o” in “boat.”

CHAOS (KA) | [Kah] as the “ca” in “cake.”

PANIC (ȜA) (Gha)| [Ghah] as the “ga” in "saga"

HORROR (þA) (Tha) | [Thah] as the “tha” in "thalamus"

DARK (SA) | [Sah] as the “so” in "soccer"

CONNECTION (LA) | [Lah] as the “la” in “lava”

LIGHT (MA) | [Mah] as the "mo" in "mother"

WISDOM (AR) | [Ar] as the “ar” in “car.”

KNOWLEDGE (JA) | [Jah] as the “jo” in “jogger"

LOGIC (NA) | [Nah] as the “no” in “not”

BINDING (BA) | [Bah] as the “bo” in “bottle”

WARDING (GA) | [Gah] as the “go” in “goggles”

PROTECTION (CA) | [Cah] as the “co” in “combat"

INSANITY (ZA) | [Zah] as the “zo” in “zombie"

ILLUSION (QA) | [Qah]

FANTASY (FA) | [Fah] as the “fa” in “father.”

ENERGY (KNA) | [Knah]

LIFE (SKA) | [Skah]

HEALTH (SHA) | [Shah]

CORRUPTION (ACK) | [Ack] as the “ɑck” in “blɑck”

DEATH (ABT) | [Abt]

BANISHMENT (ARD) | [Ard] as the “ard” in “card”

PAIN (PA) | [Pah] as the “po” in “potter”

EXPERIENCE (DA) | [Dah] as the “do” in “dodge”

ENLIGHTENMENT (XA) | [Ksah]

UNKNOWN (YA) | [Yah] as the “ya” in “Yarn'

RELEASE (VA) |  [Vah] as the “vo” in “vowel'

REBIRTH (WA) | [Wah] as the “wa” in “water”

Syntax:

Subject then Verb then Object (SVO)

Head then Initial

Noun then Adjective

Preposition then Noun

Possessee then Possessor

Noun then Honorific

Auxiliary then Verb

Configurations then State

The two configurations:

Projective, yang, masculine, Damakna = Dama

Receptive, yin, feminine, Dasakna = Dasa

The five states of the Ravens of antimony language:

Intention of hostility, aggression, and power = Uknaoxava

Intention of love, calm, and emotions = Shaknaoxava

Intention of logic, good communication, and inspiration = Naknaoxava

Intention of groundedness, sternness, and nurturing = Daknaoxava

Intention of great spiritual understanding, religious zeal, and divine unity = Skaknaoxava

Modifying words:

Plural  = "Ona" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Used like the -ing  = "Vada" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Possession ('s) =  "Iba" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Past tense = "Jaskadala" add this word at the beginning of the statement in order to change its tense.

Present tense = "Daskadala" add this word at the beginning of the statement in order to change its tense.

Future tense = "Yaskadala" add this word at the beginning of the statement in order to change its tense.

Prefix of -er = "Owa" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Prefix of -est = "Oxa" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Prefix that increases the power and energy of the word it is connected to used like the word "very" = "Aiokna" as its own separate word after the word it is modifying

Weakening of meaning, and sort of representing = "Oacki"

Indicates a question = "Oya"

Word that modifies the word before to make it a number = "Onakna"

Modifying word that changes nouns to the opposite = "Opawa"

Modifying word that changes nouns to the cute form ="Oshasha"

Modifying word that changes nouns to adjective or adverb form = "Oqaja"

Modifying word that changes adjectives to nouns form = "Oqata"

Word that releases energy at the end of a statements ‘so be it.’ = "Skaar"

Honorifics:

Lord, boss, Authority = Omabala

Worker, peasant, underling = Osabala

Master, teacher = Vaarla

Enlightened Being, ascended master = Yamasala

Student = Xajala

Non-binary sir = Dalala

Noun:

Genesis = Oxakna

Theós = Damakna

Theá = Dasakna

Ouranios Ethos = Madaqa

Agora Ethos = Ladaqa

Chthonic Ethos = Sadaqa

Andros = Uknayamasa

Sophizo = Shaknayamasa

Iaomai = Naknayamasa

Pharmakeia = Daknayamasa

Apotheosis = Xaoxa

Philosophia = Najaar

Eudaimonia = Umao

Philotimon = A'jau

Isoropia = Laarda

Sophrosyne = Tau

Eleutheria = Vadaska

Humility = Davaabt

Agapi = Xa'ua'

Stoicism = Abtgha

Physical plane = Dacada

Etheric plane = Shacada

Astral plane = Nacada

Mental plane = Ucada

Causal plane = Sacada

Akashic plane = Lacada

Buddhic plane = Macada

Atmic plane = Dasacada

monadic plane = Damacada

Adi Plane = Oxaknacada

"Name for the dot that makes space in between words." = Arlaar

"Name for colon that acts as a period at the end of a sentence." = Laabt

"Name for question mark." = Layaja

"Name for exclamation mark." = Laola

Force field, and protective energy = Cakna

Ravens of antimony aspects = Okna

Ravens of antimony  Sub aspects = Akna

Antimony = Xadakna

Sun = Ouknadakna

Moon = Oshaknadakna

Name = Skadaja

Help = Wadama

Abundance = Maoo

Alligator = Arskasasa

Ant = Arskakapa

Dear = Arskaiu

Badger = Arskaha

Bee = Arskaa

Camel = Arskahama

Cat = Arskaga

Cheetah = Arskahaa

Chicken = Arskabaskaka

Cow = Arskaba

Crocodile = Arskamama

Deer = Arskaa'

Dog = Arskau

Dolphin = Arskaosha

Duck = Arskavasha

Eagle = Arskavava

Elephant = Arskaua'

Fly = Arskaabt

Fox = Arskaaka

Frog = Arskaza

Giraffe = Arskao

Goat = Arskabada

Goldfish = Arskabasha

Hamster = Arska

Hippopotamus = Arskauu

Horse = Arskababaska

Human = Arskapadaxa

Kangaroo = Arskakaka

Lion = Arskauma

Lobster = Arskashaca

Monkey = Arskapadaxaqa

Octopus = Arskana

Owl = Arskaar

Panda = Arskara

Pig = Arskabaska

Rabbit = Arskae

Rat = Arskanana

Scorpion = Arskakapaha

Seal = Arskaskasha

Shark =  Arskashai

Sheep = Arskaska

Snail = Arskaca

Snake = Arskagha

Spider = Arskatha

Squirrel = Arska

Tiger =  Arskai

Turtle = Arskacaca

Wolf = Arskama

Zebra =  Arskasalama

Yes = Mava

No = Sava

Hello = Labadaska

Goodbye = Dava

Good morning = Tamama

Good afternoon = Tamala

Good evening = Tamasa

Welcome = Mabava

Good = Tama

Evil = Tasa

Time = Qadanakna

Magick = Knaxaja

Magic = Faknaxaja

Language = Laja

Person = Arskaxa

Animal = Arska

Raven = Arskasa

Sigil = Laqa

Text = Laqalaja

Book = Jalaqalaja

Box = Skaqaba

Lesson = Java

Element = Ushanadaskakna

Fire = Ukna

Water = Shakna

Air = Nakna

Earth = Dakna

Spirit = Skakna

Space = Skaknaya

Void =  Skaknayaack

Symbol = Daknalaqa

Mind = Skaskaarkna

Body = Skaskadakna

Soul =  Skaknao

Thought = Skaskaarknava

Individual = Skaska

Door = Daknaga

Doors = Daknagao

Build = Daknabagaca

Home = Daknabaskaca

Reincarnation = Abtwa

Action = Vadada

Terrestrial body = Odakna

Planet = Odakna

Number = Nakna

Library = Jalaqalajadaknabagaca

Sense = lada

Past = Jaskada

Present, Now, Here = Daskada

Future = Yaskada

Abomination = Sakaackyatha

Place = Daskada

Like = Mala

Secret = Naya

Next = Wava

Want = Baa'

Information = Naja

Release = Va

Focus = Taa'

God = Masa

Goddess = Sama

Deity = Yamasa

Northwest = Xaa'skaknaya

North = Xaskaknaya

Northeast  Xaoskaknaya

East = Oskaknaya

Southeast = Yaoskaknaya

South = Yaskaknaya

Southwest  = Yaa'skaknaya

West = A'skaknaya

Day = mama

Night = Sasa

Sunday =  Skamama

Monday = Knamama

Tuesday = Imama

Wednesday = Namama

Thursday = Omama

Friday = Umama

Saturday = Amama

Spring = Shaqadanakna

Summer = Skaqadanakna

Autumn = Ardqadanakna

Winter = Abtqadanakna

January, January moon = Wasaodakna

February, February moon = Usaodakna

March, March  moon = Knasaodakna

April, April moon = Shasaodakna

May, May moon = Skasaodakna

June, June moon = Dasaodakna

July, July moon = Vasaodakna

August, August moon = Isaodakna

September, September moon = Arsaodakna

October, October moon = Thasaodakna

November, November moon = Ardsaodakna

December, December moon = Abtsaodakna

Month = Saodakna

Lust = E

Passion = U

Devotion = A'

Prejudice =Ta

Anger = Ha

Skill = A

Might = I

Ascendancy = O

Chaos = Ka

Panic = Gha

Horror = Tha

Dark, Darkness = Sa

Connection = La

Light = Ma

Wisdom = Ar

Knowledge = Ja

Logic = Na

Binding = Ba

Protection = Ca

Insanity = Za

Illusion = Qa

Fantasy = Fa

Energy = Kna

Life = Ska

Spiritual life =  Padaxa

Health = Sha

Corruption = Ack

Death = Abt

Spiritual death = Yavawa

Banishment = Ard

Pain = Pa

Experience = Da

Enlightenment = Xa

Unknown = Ya

Rebirth = wa

Love = Eua'

Hate = Tahara

Power = Aio

Fear = Kaghatha

Spiritual = Salama

Reason = Arjana

Safety = Bagaca

Delusion = Zaqafa

Creation = Knaskasha

Destruction = Ackabtard

Magick = Knaxaja

Magic = Faknaxaja

Luck = Yama

Toilet = Ackshakna

Abyss = Saoo

Male = Damaska

Female = Dasaska

Nonbinary = Dalaska

Help = Wadama

Great spiritual awe, and a connection to all things past, present, and future = Dasalamaxa

Maybe = Mavalasava

Aman, showing of great honor, and reverence, at the end of communication, thanks, and respect for = skaar

You're welcome = Vawadama

Good morning = Malabadaska

Good afternoon = Lalabadaska

Good evening = Salabadaska

Goodnight = Sasalabadaska

Excuse me = Vaskada

Viadescioism = Talabalabadaja

Path, flow ,Road = Talaba

Emotion = Shaknada

Fluid, fluidity = Shaknaqa

Types of tree, head = Nadakna

Body, trunk =Cadakna

Leg, root = Badakna

Guidance = Talabawadama

Free = Basa

Trap = Bama

Heart = Daknalao

Verb:

Bind = Ba

Ward = Ga

Hate = Tahara

Fear = Kaghatha

Love = Eua'

Experience = Da

Pain = Pa

Panic = gha

Anger = Ha

Misunderstand = Ra

Lust = E

Focus = Taa'

Come = Bavadaskada

Luck = Yama

Help = Wadama

Name = Skadaja

Thank, Thank you, You're welcome = Vawadama

Get = Baba

Give = Vaba

Go = Vadaskada

Understand = Mara

Keep = Labaca

Let, Allow = A'da

Make = Naknaskasha

Put = A'ba

Seem = Tana

Take = Bava

Speak = Vakna

Be, Is, Are, Am, Are = Dada

Do, Does = Tada

Have, Has = Laba

Say = Naqada

See = Qada

Send = Lavava

May = A'ii

Will = Ida

Experience = Da

Time = Qadanakna

Welcome = Mabava

Power = Aio

Sense = Lada

Number = Nakna

Can = Mava

Listen = Arknalada

Open = Vaca

share = Vadalada

Learn, train = Xaja

Mean = Knaja

Like = Mala

Want = Bae

Release = Va

Hold = Bada

Teach, train = Vaar

Shine, shines, emanate, emit, summon, illuminate = Mavava

Activate, start = Navama

Deactivate, stop = Navasa

Cleanse = Ardshakna

Heal = Sha

Lift, Raise = Ooma

Lower, Drop = Oosa

Serve = Bavada

Bless = A'bakna

Vast, large, big = Maskaknaya

Small, minut = Saskaknaya

Kill = Sasada

Adjective, and Adverb:

On = Xama

Off = Xasa

Under = Vasa

Up, Above, high = Mao

Center, Middle = Lao

Down, Below, low = Sao

Within = Maknaca

Without = Saknacava

Not = Sara

First = Tata

Afraid = ghada

Good = Tama

Evil, Bad = Tasa

Individual = Skaska

Sorry = Wama

Open = Vaca

Mean = Knaja

Safe = Bagaca

Past = Jaskada

Present = Daskada

Future = Yaskada

Secret = Naya

Next = Wava

Unknown = Ya

Old = Saqadanakna

New = Maqadanakna

Trick = Aqa

Over = Vama

Through = Vala

Not = Sara

Then = Dayao

Please = Mau

Next = Wava

Wild = Uknaza

fertile = Madakna

pure = Knakna

Conjunction:

And = Lala

Or = Fafa

nor = Thatha

For = Vava

But = Ghagha

Preposition:

About = Jaa'

Across = Dalada

After = Daa'

Against = Sahama

Among = Badaskada

At = Ladaskada

Before = A'da

Between = Saa'ma

By = Daba

Up = Mao

Down = Sao

From = Bada

In, inside = Knaca

Out, outside = Knacava

Off = Xasa

On = Xama

Over = Vama

Through = Vala

Under = Vasa

To = Lava

With = Bala

As = Lada

For = Vava

Of = Labada

Above = Dao

Like = Mala

Next = Wava

Towards = Taskada

Pronoun:

Subject Pronoun/ Object Pronoun:

I, Me = Skada

You = Daska

It, That, This = Daya

Nonbinary pronoun/ Object pronouns = Dala

We, Us = Skada Ona

They, Them = Daska Ona

These, Those = Daya Ona

Reflexive or Intensive Pronouns "repeating word":

Myself = Skadaskada

Yourself = Daskadaska

Itself = DayaDaya

Nonbinary pronoun reflexive pronouns = Daladala

Ourselves = Skadaskada Ona

Yourselves = Daskadaska Ona

Themselves = Dayadaya Ona

Possessive Pronouns = "iba":

My, Mine = Skada Iba

Your, yours = Daska Iba

Nonbinary pronoun Possessive pronouns = Dala Iba

Its = Daya Iba

Our, ours = Skada Ona Iba

Their, Theirs = Daska Ona Iba

Question Words:

Where = Yadaskada

When = Yadaskada

Why = Yaya

What = Yaja

Who = Yadaya

How =  Knacayaja

[strategemme]

I THINK WITH MY HEART AND I MOVE WITH MY HEAD

EMMELINE VANCE: Character Task No. 1

𝖖 𝖚 𝖔 𝖙 𝖊 𝖘

The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves. I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them. They used to say that if Man was meant to fly, he’d have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. There are things that have to be done and you do them and you never talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can't be justified. You just do them. Then you forget it. Due to personal reasons, I will be performing vigilante justice. 

𝖇 𝖆 𝖘 𝖎 𝖈

NAME: Emmeline L. Vance; there isn’t a soul (presently) alive that knows what the “L” stands for. NICKNAMES: Em; other abbreviations of her name are generally acceptable as long as you don’t try to call her Emmie.  AGE: 22 BIRTHDAY: August 27, 1957 GENDER: Female PRONOUNS: She/Her

𝖋 𝖆 𝖒 𝖎 𝖑 𝖞

MOTHER: Florence Vance neé Chevalier ( 50 ) { born in France, moved to England after marrying Devon } // muggle  FATHER: Col. Devon Vance ( 57 ) { recently retired from the British Army } // muggle  SIBLINGS: Anthony Vance ( 28 ) { named after a dear friend of Devon’s that was killed during the Second World War } // muggle 

𝖕 𝖍 𝖞 𝖘 𝖎 𝖈 𝖆 𝖑 𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖘

FACE CLAIM: Demet Özdemir BUILD: Average height, athletic HAIR: Long, worn in waves on nights requiring effort and otherwise tossed into a bun   HAIR COLOR: Brunette EYE COLOR: Brown SKIN COLOR: Tan DOMINANT HAND: Right { she’s pitiful when it comes to her left hand }  ANOMALIES: (1) Scar across her left palm from making a blood-pact as a ten year old; it’s so faded now that you can only catch a gleam of silver in the bright sun. (2) Various small burns across her hands and forearms from healing poultices gone askew. SCENT: Vanilla and cedar wood; she’s worn the same perfume since her Hogwarts  ACCENT: Standard English  ALLERGIES: Cats  DISORDERS: Insomnia; she’s always attributed it to a general pace of “too much to do and too little time,” but there are nights when all she wants to do is collapse into her bed yet finds herself condemned to staring at the ceiling; many people make the mistake of believing that she doesn’t need sleep to operate, but her history of errors speaks otherwise.  FASHION: She spends far more time in lime green robes than she cares for, and thus compensates with a wardrobe full of neutral colors. She still feels more comfortable in muggle attire than wizarding robes, and thus is seen frequently in various combinations of jeans, blouses, and boots.  NERVOUS TICS: After years of having her tics evaluated and erased, Emmeline has largely eradicated any tells of nervousness. Old habits die hard, however, and with the stress of the war mounting, she’s falling back into drumming her index and middle finger on any solid surface capable of absorbing her anxiety. As she’s assumed a leadership position, she’s also taken up the habit of pacing while waiting for her teams of tier three operatives to return.  QUIRKS: (1) With the current travel restrictions, Emmeline has fallen back into driving. She learned during one of her summers away from Hogwarts, and her trusty Vauxhall Viva has carried her across Britain and back several times over. (2) When approach Diagon Alley for pleasure, Emmeline prefers to enter through the Leaky Cauldron. There’s something symbolic about crossing from Muggle to Wizarding London. (3) If Emmeline starts something, she has to finish. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, she cannot abandon a task already underway. It is one of the reasons she spends so long planning: planning necessitates time and distance while action must be immediate. 

𝖑 𝖎 𝖋 𝖊 𝖘 𝖙 𝖞 𝖑 𝖊

RESIDES: Puddlemere, England { London has always been home, and her work at St. Mungo’s frequently brings her into the city. But as war rears its head, Emmeline has opted for more strategic ground. The community of Puddlemere is welcoming to muggleborns, and her proximity to other Order members offers safety that could never be found in city streets. } BORN: London, England  RAISED: Too many places to count, though Emmeline isn’t partial to declaring military barracks as her hometown. Jokingly, she’ll say that Hogwarts was the most permanent home she had while growing up. More seriously, she’ll consider herself a Londoner.  PETS: A tawny owl named Machiavelli, though she considers him more of a useful friend than a pet.  CAREER: Healer { additionally, a vigilante; she offers free... how shall we say.. r e t r i b u t i o n to muggleborn and half-blood families that need a little extra muscle, be it of the offensive or defensive sort. } EXPERIENCE: In the medical field, Emmeline has specialized in accident and emergency, though it seems every Witch or Wizard only deems medical care necessary in such cases. Outside St. Mungo’s, she has frequented several underground dueling clubs to keep her skills sharp.  EMPLOYER: St. Mungo’s POLITICAL AFFILIATION: The Order of the Phoenix  BELIEFS: The the Wizarding community is in desperate need of some muggle influence (preventative medicine, to start, but automobiles, microwaves, and telephones would be a wonderful addition). The motivation of purebloods to eradicate such influence only keeps the community from advancing and reaching full potential, and the mounting war is representative of the collision between the old world and the new. (That said, she’s strongly of the belief that no one should have to die while seeking out inclusivity.)  MISDEMEANORS: Nothing that has found its way onto her record.  FELONIES: Being a muggleborn is starting to damn well feel like one.  DRUGS: Never. As much as Emmeline has a tendency to lock herself within her mind, she has yet to seek out drugs as a key.  SMOKES: Unfortunately. She knows she shouldn’t, but nicotine is often the only thing capable of taking the edge off and stimulating her focus at the same time. It’s a necessary evil, and her pocket is rarely without a pack  ALCOHOL: A taste for scotch runs in the family, and it’s often one of the most expensive items on her list of expenses for the month. She refuses to touch it while in the process of acting, but it plays a large role in her planning stages.  DIET: Emmeline never managed to find the time to take up cooking, and as such, she depends on local takeout.  LANGUAGES: English, French  PHOBIAS: Deep water { she adores swimming, but will never go so deep that her toes can’t graze the bottom } ; failure { a common fear, but many years passed where she refused to speak up in class because her fear of being wrong was greater than her confidence in being right; now those days have passed and she’s perhaps too passionately outspoken, but if she isn’t complete convinced of something, the words will never pass her lips } ; death { she’s grazed the reaper more times than she can count, either in her own life or accompanying the paths of others. still, she can’t imagine what it would be like to see her own funeral. she acts with certainty and confidence, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t fear what is on the other side of that bright green flash. } HOBBIES: Reading, board games or cards, camping, pick-up games of very, very, very amateur Quidditch  TRAITS: I never dreamed about success; I worked for it.  { + }: Hardworking, clever, frequently compassionate (but...) { - }: Occasionally apathetic, subconsciously manipulative, righteous 

𝖋 𝖆 𝖛 𝖔 𝖗 𝖎 𝖙 𝖊 𝖘

LOCATION: Diagon Alley; it is the place where she first felt that her magic was a blessing rather than a curse, and it continues to instill that childlike hope in her whenever she visits. It’s one of the few bright places remaining.  SPORTS TEAM: Puddlemere United, naturally. She’s only recently moved to Puddlemere, but she has a long history of training Mediwitches and Mediwizards during Puddlemere’s practices and matches, and as such has brushed shoulders with the team just enough to be emotionally invested in their success.  GAME: Chess (of either the muggle or wizarding variety)  MUSIC: She knows the correct answer to this is anything orchestral, yet Goodbye Yellowbrick Road is the most frequently-played record in her flat.  MOVIES: The Godfather, Patton, Saturday Night Fever FOOD: Her mother’s Beef Wellington. She’s yet to find its rival.  BEVERAGE: Scotch, Earl Grey COLOR: Light green (but certainly not lime, damn those robes) 

𝖒 𝖆 𝖌 𝖎 𝖈

ALUMNI HOUSE: Ravenclaw  WAND (length, flexibility, wood, & core): 11.25in, sturdy, redwood, dragon heartstring AMORTENTIA: Leather, incense, cotton  PATRONUS: Hawk  BOGGART: The visage of the first patient that died due to her negligence. It isn’t an exact replica from her memories, but one that is in the process of decomposing. It’s propped up in a bed like the ones populating St. Mungo’s. 

𝖈 𝖍 𝖆 𝖗 𝖆 𝖈 𝖙 𝖊 𝖗

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Neutral good  MBTI: ENTJ MBTI ROLE: Analyst ENNEAGRAM: Type 8  ENNEAGRAM ROLE: The Achiever  TEMPERAMENT: Choleric WESTERN ZODIAC: Virgo  CHINESE ZODIAC: Rooster PRIMAL SIGN: Corgi TAROT CARD: The Chariot TV TROPES: Lady of War, Female Empowerment Song, Historical In-Joke, Showing Up Chauvinists  SONGS: Tongues -- Joywave // History Has Its Eyes on You -- Christopher Jackson // Come With Me Now -- KONGOS // Vindicated -- Dashboard Confessional // Baba O’Riley -- The Who // Vienna -- Billy Joel // Machine -- MisterWives // Kill Your Heroes -- AWOLNATION // Sabotage -- Beastie Boys 

𝖎 𝖉 𝖊 𝖔 𝖑 𝖔 𝖌 𝖎 𝖊 𝖘

Muggle influence will do more good for the wizarding world than it ever will harm

Encourages second chances but condemns those that require a third 

People should expect to get out of the world what they put in (no more, no less) 

Violence should be a last resort, but damn if it isn’t a definitive one

Those that are neutral in a time of oppression have chosen the side of the oppressor 

Sugar has no right to be in coffee or tea 

History repeats itself; if you can’t find a parallel within the pages of history books, the situation simply hasn’t developed thoroughly enough yet 

Cheap scotch is worse than sewer water 

[bellatrix-whoisleft]

General Information

Full Legal Name: Bellatrix Black Nickname: Bella for family, Bellatrix for absolutely anyone else. Never Trixie. Age: 19 Gender & Pronouns: Cisgender Female / she/her Sexuality: Heterosexual Aromantic Date of Birth: November 10, 1958 Horoscope: Scorpio Hogwarts House: Slytherin. Nationality: British & French Occupation: Publicly, she works part-time for the Magical Archives, sorting through old spellbooks and cross-checking accounts on the evolution of magic. Privately, she helps manage the Black family’s shadier affairs. Confidentially, most of her time is spent with the Death Eaters. Summarized in One Word: Indomitable 

Appearance

Faceclaim: Katie McGrath Height: 5 feet, 8 inches Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Green Noticeable Features: Aside from the classic Black good looks, her eyes are striking. She demands eye contact, and it isn’t just because of her personality but an inability to look anywhere else. They’re also where she looks most like Andromeda. Typical Outfit or General Fashion Sense: Bellatrix is immaculately dressed whenever she leaves the house. From intricate cloaks to perfectly fitted dresses, elegant robes, and trim pants, the common factor is she never looks anything less than perfect. Every last piece has been tailored, and her style is unified by how put together she is. 

History

Hometown: She is from Bath, growing up in one of the many homes owned by the Black family. She still spends a portion of her time there, but even before their engagement, she has been spending more time in a townhouse in London with Rodolphus. It’s much easier to hide her involvement with the Cause when she isn’t under the same roof as those she’s trying to keep it from.

Financial Status: Bellatrix has never wanted for anything in her life, and she never will. The Blacks are the kind of wealthy where they could stop working, and they could last generations while maintaining that lifestyle. The goal is to upkeep it forever and depleting even virtually limitless funds does not present a good public face, so they still have—often shady—sources of income. They’re old money, as true as they come, and it secures their quality of life, philanthropic efforts, and ability to take time away from conventional work as needed.

Spoken Languages: Bellatrix has an ear for languages, picking them up well and emphasizing learning them. She’s truly fluent in English and French to the degree of thinking in either. She can speak German, and if she was so inclined, Latin, and can read bits and pieces of others.

Dream Job: Bellatrix was not a child who grew up with dreams of being a magizoologist or an artist. She had aspirations of being notable, of playing their sociopolitical games, and she is living that prevalence to a degree. Now, she wants a hand in crafting the new world order next to the Dark Lord. It is difficult to imagine a dream job when you aspire to overhaul society.

Bad Habits: She relentlessly bites the inside of her left cheek to the point where it has scar tissue. Her wand is almost always in her hand—which many find disconcerting—and she will flip it or twirl it through her fingers subconsciously. When she’s injured, she can’t stop herself from touching the wounds, poking and prodding and feeling the pain. There’s also a pesky anger problem, but she has a good outlet for it in torture and destruction.

Family Background

Mother: Druella Black nee Rosier Father: Cygnus Black III Siblings: Andromeda and Narcissa Black Pets: None. This is for the best. Grandparents: Irma and Pollux Black; Vinda and Philippe Rosier Cousins: Does she ever have them. Sirius and Regulus on their father’s side, and Evan on their mother’s are the ones she sees most often given they all went to Hogwarts together. There are more, especially on the French side, and once second and third cousins are counted, it’s often easier to assume someone is related than not. 

Magical Abilities

Wand: Walnut. Dragon Heartstring. 12 ¾”. Unyielding. Notable bend just about her grip.

Patronus: Bellatrix cannot and will never be able to cast a patronus. Memories of her sisters, particularly those on Christmas, are all she can think to use to conjure it. She’s happiest there, giving and embracing the warmth of the moment, and it angers her that it’s never been enough. As she keeps corrupting, she gets further from the spell and Dementors slowly grow into a fear even before Azkaban because they are on a very short list of obstacles she can do nothing about. If she could, it would be a Pheasant. They’re regal birds that have long been held as a symbol of refinement. While they don’t always flash their plumage like a peacock, they maintain a high standard of etiquette in all situations. Their pride can lead them to trouble, but they do care deeply for family.

Boggart: It manifests as her being the only one left on the Black family tree. Bellatrix isn’t concerned that it will happen or that she will be left alone, not really, but it represent the fear she will be the only one left fighting. For what’s right, for her family, for what she believes in. With time, it evolves into a dementor: the best representation she has of her powerlessness.

OWLs: Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Herbology: her only E NEWTs: Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Astronomy: she got an A because she felt seven years of the class was absurd

What Kind of Magic Do They Excel At: Bellatrix is outstanding at the Dark Arts. They have always resonated with her as the most powerful form of magic, and she drives herself incredibly hard to learn everything she can about them. She has the resolve to not be ruined by the practice as some are, the creativity to combine it with more conventional magic, and the inherent ability to perform such difficult spells. Her tireless work ethic helps, but this is her sweet spot. It translates well into dueling and other aspects of her life, but this is the core. She also shines with her Occlumency and Transfiguration abilities, and across the board, she is a truly formidable witch and getting stronger every day.

Psychology

MB Type: ISTJ-A / The Logistician

Their defining characteristics of integrity, practical logic, and tireless dedication to duty make Logisticians a vital core to many families, as well as organizations that uphold traditions, rules, and standards.

Ennegram: The Challenger

Goal-oriented and self-competent, challengers trail blaze boldly through all walks of life and take great pride in their independence and sharp minds. […] As children, the may have been called bossy by their peers. They typically take charge during group projects or meetings and find themselves at ease in leadership positions. The opinions of others will have absolutely no effect on their standings upon an issue, as they pride themselves on being fully capable and self-sufficient.

Moral Alignment: Lawful Evil

A lawful evil villain methodically takes what she wants within the limits of her code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. She cares about tradition, loyalty, and order but not about freedom, dignity, or life. She plays by rules but without mercy or compassion. She is comfortable in a hierarchy and would like to rule but is willing to serve.

Archetype: 

61% Royal 22% Intellectual 17% Visionary

Temperament: Choleric

Choleric people are leader and directors. They seek to be in control of situations, to be on top, to be the best.