#parable of the trickster

[knightotoc]

Finished Parable of the Talents, my heart is aching that Octavia Butler never got to finish the story, the plan was FOUR more books! I'm reading summaries of the unpublished notes, and they sound really cool and intense, but there's a sort of "Go Set a Watchman" queasiness to that -- not just because Lauren is revealed to be a worse person in these notes, but bc you just can't assume the importance of unfinished, unpublished work. There's a reason she didn't like any of these drafts. Part of me wishes someone else would get to finish the story... That is sort of appropriate after all, since Talents sets up the story for the next generation. But it would probably be softer and simpler than what Butler would have done...

I'm not the most well read about speculative futures for humanity, but I'm still trying to compare Parables to the ones I know: Star Trek, the Robot-Foundation series, and the Three Body trilogy. I might write more about this later.

[eleanor-arroway]

Octavia E. Butler's lost works

"There's much more to her career than the dozen or so books we know; out of the spirit of brutal perfectionism that drove her, she held a lot of interesting and worthy work back. I've talked a lot about the treasures of the Huntington in these pages: the unpublished Blindsight, "Evening" [1] and Paraclete; the many Tricksters; the alternative Xenogenesis, the lost short stories and essays and sequels and interviews and plays. This material should not be left only to the small number of scholars who are able to make their way to the Huntington; much of it can see, and deserves to see, publication. These are not discarded scraps or abandonded, embarrassing mistakes; it's just more.

Butler's incredible productivity, coupled with her intense self-criticism, self-censorship, and perfectionism, has conspired to create a vast intertextual hidden archive of alternative versions and lost tales that will, I hope, reinvigorate the study of her work as more scholars are able to get to the Huntington and as more of it trickles out in published form."

From Gerry Canavan's biography of Octavia E. Butler in the Modern Masters of Science Fiction series

[lucksea]

r/b movie was awesome especially for tregear fans like me

[gmax]

how to tell people you are a rabbit but not in a sanrio way

[binabees]

Thoughts on the Veil’s Destruction

The question I’ve been getting most lately on my post are along the lines of-

Doesn’t Solas want to kill everyone else?/Won’t the Veil coming down kill everyone?

There are a lot of assumptions ultimately about the implications of the Veil’s destruction.

The thing is, we don’t know. Solas is a Trickster figure. Meaning he rarely lies directly. His words are chosen specifically. The language he uses in Trespasser is vague and could be interpreted so many ways.

Let’s look at The two dialogue trees for if you agree with his plan:

Here Solas says he walks A journey of death. But whose death? Certainly people will die because of the Process of the Veil coming down. But that doesn’t mean the Veil being down will kill everyone.

Like we are able to walk the Fade in game. It’s a bit precarious but it doesn’t immediately kill you.

I’m more inclined to believe he is talking about his own death which is affirmed slightly in the second Approval line

“Only a Price I alone will pay” I think this price is his own Death. Sacrificing him self with the other Evanuris to “mitigate the damages” with his own magic.

Continuing on to what he says at the beginning-

He asks a hypothetical here: ‘Would’ you give the life of every friend you have ever known?

That is not to say they will absolutely die but it IS a possibility any ally he has needs to be able to deal with (see Falassan).

This is a loss he is deeply familiar with and would not wish to impart onto his friend or foil even in theory.

The next Dialogue tree that adds to this riddle is when the Inquisitor asks-

“Why does this world have to die for the elves to return?”

Let’s start with the Inquisitor’s question. It is quite common in Trickster parables the importance of word choice.

They ask why the World has to die. Thinking back to the concept of “world state” I can see how the meaning of world can be obfuscated. There will be a Spiritual death of the world not an immediate destruction of everyone like some think.

And then Solas says he won’t answer the question but gives clues. He was just talking about Death but here when asked directly about it he doesn’t use that language to talk about his plan. He says “end” again it’s quite vague and can be interpreted many ways.

Take This with the other tree when you say “You’re going to destroy this world.” There is no use of the Die or death here so instead of launching into a riddle he answers plainly. “Not happily”

He doesn’t have to twist his words here because

Destruction ≠ Death.

I won’t get into the details of the rest of the dialogue because boy oh boy that conversation can go so many ways but I’ll go over the highlights.

When asked what his original plan was for the orb if Corypheus had died when he was supposed he says what he WOULD’VE done. Hes speaking in the past tense and lots has changed since then about Solas’ perspective.

He very clearly tells you he not telling you his current plan so we can assume the original fire and brimstone plan is Completely off the table.

In a lot of the remaining dialogue he reaffirms everyone’s personhood repeatedly and says alot of IFs “if people must die” again not an affirmation that people will insta-Die.

All this to say-

We don’t actually know what the Veil being down entails or what Solas plan even is in detail. So the assumption that he is actively Trying to kill everyone is baffling.

Like he never says that. Ever.

ALSO

Does this wet dog look like a murderer to you?! No I didn’t think so 🤧

[stab-me-mommy]

we all need a yandere dommy mommy sometimes, don't we?

i'm nosferatu. 21, any pronouns. and i really fucking like yanderes.

this means that on this blog, you get to see your favorite characters as a yandere. well, my favorite character, but that's just details.

i write yandere stuff on my other blogs, so i'll just list off fandoms i don't have blogs for.

slashers:

Jason Voorhees (Friday 13th series)

Pamela Voorhees (Friday 13th series)

Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street series)

Tiffany Valentine (Child's Play series)

Charles Lee Ray (Child's Play series)

Billy Loomis (Scream)

Stu Macher (Scream)

Pearl (Pearl movie)

Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs; book/sir Anthony Hopkins version)

Bubba Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies and game)

Drayton Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies and game)

Nubbins Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies and game)

Chop-Top/Robert Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies)

Sissy Sawyer (Texas Chainsaw Massacre game)

Johnny Slaughter (Texas Chainsaw Massacre game)

Ji-woon Hak/The Trickster (Dead by Daylight)

Jason the Toymaker (Creepypasta)

Laughing Jack (Creepypasta)

games:

Karl Heisenberg (Resident Evil: Village)

Allied Mastercomputer (I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream - game version)

Narrator (The Stanley Parable)

Fate (Death and Taxes)

Bigby Wolf (The Wolf Among Us)

Bluebeard (The Wolf Among Us)

Tanner Grayton (Scrutinized)

Ascended Astarion (Baldur's Gate 3)

Cazador Szarr (Baldur's Gate 3)

Raphael (Baldur's Gate 3)

Haarlep (Baldur's Gate 3)

Genji Shimada (Overwatch/Overwatch 2)

Reaper/Gabriel Reyes (Overwatch/Overwatch 2)

Alduin (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)

Molag Bal (The Elder Scrolls series)

Mehrunes Dagon (The Elder Scrolls series)

Hermaeus Mora (The Elder Scrolls series)

Hircine (The Elder Scrolls series)

Sanguine (The Elder Scrolls series)

V/Jihyun Kim (Mystic Messenger)

Jumin Han (Mystic Messenger)

707/Saeyoung Kim/Luciel Kim (Mystic Messenger)

Unknown/Ray/Saeran Kim (Mystic Messenger)

Two-Face/Harvey Dent (Batman: Arkham Series)

Il Dottore (Genshin Impact)

anime/manga:

Shuu Tsukiyama (Tokyo Ghoul)

Dio Brando/DIO (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood and Stardust Crusaders)

Kars (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency)

Light Yagami (Death Note)

L Lawliet (Death Note)

Misa Amane (Death Note)

M/Mihael Keehl (Death Note)

Yato (Noragami)

Asura Kishin (Soul Eater)

Arachne Gorgon (Soul Eater)

Medusa Gorgon (Soul Eater)

Giriko (Soul Eater)

Justin Law (Soul Eater - manga version)

Noah - Greed (Soul Eater)

Noah - Wrath (Soul Eater)

Franken Stein (Soul Eater)

Elf (NANBAKA - version)

animated series/movies/cartoons:

Seraphim (Blood of Zeus)

Zeus (Blood of Zeus)

Hera (Blood of Zeus)

Apollo (Blood of Zeus)

Hades (Justice League Animated)

Asmodeus (Helluva Boss)

Mammon (Helluva Boss)

Valentino (Hazbin Hotel)

Vox (Hazbin Hotel)

Adam (Hazbin Hotel)

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)

live series/movies:

Merle Dixon (The Walking Dead)

Daryl Dixon (The Walking Dead, early seasons)

Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer)

Edward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands)

Willy Wonka (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)

Jerome Valeska (Gotham)

Jeremiah Valeska (Gotham)

Scarecrow/Jonathan Crane (Gotham)

The Mad Hatter/Jervis Tetch (Gotham)

Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham)

The Riddler/Edward Nygma (Gotham)

Victor Zsasz (Gotham)

Barbara Kean (Gotham)

Loki Laufeyson (Avengers 2012)

comics:

The Batman Who Laughs/Bruce Wayne (general concept)

The Grim Knight/Bruce Wayne (general concept)

Batman/Bruce Wayne (general concept)

Owlman/Thomas Wayne Jr. (general concept)

The Joker (general concept)

Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel (general concept)

The Hulk/Bruce Banner (general concept)

Superman/Clark Kent (general concept)

Ironman/Tony Stark (general concept)

Deathstroke/Slade Wilson (general concept)

the list most likely will get updated.

[01sleaze]

Octavia Butler, epigram for the never-published Parable of the Trickster.

[eternal--returned]

God is Power— Infinite, Irrestible, Inexorable. Indifferent. And yet, Gid is Pliable— Trickster, Teacher, Chaos, Clay. God exists to be shaped. God is change.

Octavia Butler ֍ Parable of the Sower (1993)

[omophagic-beast]

A look at the Mantles of Before the Flood: Weal

Links to the posts about the previous mantles here: Land, Legend, Nature, Nation

Now, finally, we're at my favorite mantle to play as! Though it's more a tie between Weal and Woe, if I'm being honest, but I really like tarot and am bad at poker so...

Ah, I guess that's a bit of a spoiler for Woe huh ;3c ah well.

Weal was the mantle of good fortune, but fortune only has meaning when it is shared amongst many. The true delight of the joy Weal crafted was the delight of what was given freely from one being to another.

Weal is the mantle of good fortune, sharing its joy with all those who would take it. It is that which pulls meaning from the arcane and promises the sunrise will come again.

To play as Weal you'll need a deck of tarot cards.

Each round, if Weal has been called forth to act, they will pull three cards from their deck and interpret them together to create an omen of good fortune.

When I talked about Nature and Nation, I mentioned the lists of items that we had to create for both of them. For just those two roles we came up with a total of 232 items!!

And then we got to Weal and decided hey, what's 78 more?

In Before the Flood the general meaning of each tarot card is listed out, alongside an omen already drawn out from that meaning. Weal's task is to take all three of these meanings and weave them together into one.

One round may beget cards such as: The Five of Swords: Unbridled Ambition, Stealth, Utilitarianism - A white lion walks the roads

Justice: Balance, Equity, Consequences - A tongue is turned to gold and can only tell truths

The Two of Wands: Planning, Making Decisions, Leaving Home - A fox offers advice at a crossroads

What omen these meld into is up to Weal. Perhaps the fox's silver trickster tongue is transmuted, leading it to spill truths to the lion and lead him on his journey. Maybe it tells it's tale to a young farmer instead, warning her about the danger on the path. Or the lion is the one gifted with gold, and the farmer watches as the lion and the fox have a battle of wits, lies weighing against truths in a parable that will be passed down for generations.

Whatever omen occurs, Nature and Nation take a moment to describe how their people react to it together, and play continues into a new round, starting again with Land.

But what if fortune does not smile down so kindly upon the land?

Woe is the last of the mantles, and the most patient, as they know their time will always come eventually. As inevitable as The Flood itself.

Still, they can wait one more day.

Edit: Here's the post on Woe!

There's only three days until the launch of Before the Flood over on Backerkit! I hope y'all have enjoyed reading through these as much as I've enjoyed writing them, and if you haven't already you can sign up to be notified when the campaign goes live here:

Speaking of :3c we have hit 100 presaves!!! Which is super exciting and also means I'll have something to show off to y'all on Sunday, so stay tuned for that as well!!

[your-goth-sis]

How do you think the trickster communicates with everyone? Does he speak English and Korean ? Do people just understand him due to it being fictional ?

Excellent question, I'm sure he speaks Korean and broken English with people who don't understand. He'd speak in stories or parables when speaking to people he's about to kill.

Hope this is what you were looking for :)

[witchofthesouls]

Hi there! I wanted to ask about the Rudis ask, if you could comment more about the TFP-Soundwave option? All your fic ideas are lovely! Have a nice day :) !!

When it comes down to it, I just really want to delve down into the mythos that the Aligned universe gave us.

TFP in general seems to pull a lot of influence from Ancient Greek and Roman culture and mythos as well as pulling from Judeo-Christian roots.

I mean, there's so much going on, and yet... It feels undersold or fallen wayside. Even though it's all right there!

The War kicked off exponentially when the High Council named Orion Pax as the next Prime

The Autobots on Earth fell apart without Optimus

Questions about the role of the Matrix of Leadership: Is Orion Pax and Optimus Prime completely separate entities?

The Primal Artifacts and their immense power (and Megatron's willingness to desecrate a Prime's corpse)

Smokescreen getting worked up when Ratchet question Optimus' decision to destroy the only thing that could revive their homeworld

Fucking Unicron sleeping in Earth's core

And this is just the top of my head.

So being a Prime isn't just a leadership position, but has some deeply religious/mythical divine status akin to a mortal God-king.

And the sheer fact that Megatron managed to oppose an actual Prime chosen by the damn Matrix itself, just shows how much of a force of personality and charisma the guy is as well as how much faith he inspired in his own people.

There is so much more that could have been done, especially since people are biting for more lore on Decepticon culture. Like FUUUUUUUU-

There seems to be a fandom take that Decepticons are either atheists or deeply reject religion as opposed to the very pious Autobots. That doesn't seem to work in the Aligned universe.

There should be sects and cults surrounding the Thirteen Primes, especially with the theme of the triads and duos: Prima and Megatronus. Megatronus and Solus. Liege Maximo, Megatronus, and Solus. Prima, Alpha Trion, and Alchemist Prime. (Like where's the rest of the myths and parables? )

Shoot, secret ones!

So hear me out, what if Megatron was the rallying call for the Decepticons because the Fallen was considered the patron of the oppressed? He was the Prime of Chaos, the closest to the Unicron by Primus' own hand, the Undefeated.

It was said that he and Solus were lovers, so is it too much of a step that they were the First Conjunx?

I am the one within all of you, little brother.

From Prima to Thirteen. From those forged within Solus and those that rise from below. In the deep Wilds touched by none and the very spark of our fledgling civilization.

Amalgamous may share the claim to Nature with his beastly shapes, but I am the Shadow to the Light, the unfettered Instinct without Rationality, the Unmaker upon our Creator, the Beast of Madness that dwells within everyone and everything. 

Even you, quicksilver and trickster, cannot deny my Domain. Not even Prima, the Eldest of us all, can deny my power.

-- excerpt of a WIP where Megatronus Prime answers Liege Maximo's questions on his wanderings and leeway to everywhere

Megatron walking away from the High Council would cement his position among his people -the downtrodden, the lower castes, the lost and forlorn -the "Uncrowned Prime." He had purposely invoked the Fallen's name since he needed the ferocious strength to force change in society. Megatronus is the only Prime to remain victorious against all foes; his siblings didn't force him to yield, Megatronus Prime willingly laid down his arms and exiled himself.

It would explain the fanatical devotion and outpour of support against Optimus, the chosen official Prime, especially with the religious angle of Prima slighting Megatronus once more should the Matrix be explicitly connected to the first Prime. And then there's the fact that Prima was a founding father of Cybertronian civilization, so there's the slant of "rebel and tear down the established regime!"

The very name of the Decepticons could have been a hail to Megatronus' companionship with Amalgamous and Liege Maximo, both Primes were mainly tricksters. (In the gladiatorial clades, they were often invoked for victory.)

TFP Soundwave isn't just the Decepticon, he's Megatron's Decepticon. Whatever Megatron wants, he does. Soundwave put down Airachnid when she tried to set the Nemesis off Earth.

I've seen takes where Soundwave is deeply in love with Megatron or the ghost of the old Megatron, and that's why he stayed even when there's nothing left but dust. I've seen a take where Megatron sets fire to Cybertron as a "love song" in a style to mimic how Megatronus and Solus changed Cybertron.

I have yet to see a deeply faithful/religious Soundwave seeing Megatron as a Sign from his chosen God/Prime to hold the match, prep the gas, and start a firestorm. He essentially used his rudis as kindling upon the altar of Megatronus Prime; Wilds and Passion and Madness Incarnated. (And seeing the Decepticons take back cities and planet, Dark Energon zombies, and Megatron's multiple resurrections from the dead or near death, Soundwave's fucking deep in devotion.)

[shapergrey]

For what it's worth, here's what I believe. It took a long time to understand it, then a lot more time with a dictionary and a thesaurus to say it just right--just the way it has to be. In the past year, it's gone through twenty-five or thirty lumpy, incoherent rewrites. This is the right one, the true one. This is the one I keep coming back to:

God is Power--

Infinite,

Irresistable,

Inexorable,

Indifferent.

And yet, God is Pliable--

Trickster,

Teacher,

Chaos,

Clay.

God exists to be shaped.

God is Change.

From Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

[cienie-isengardu]

Cienie's take on Mandalorian Culture: Arasuum - stagnation as symbol of death, not sloth

The Funeral Rites of Taungs and later Mandalorian Warriors. <> Kad Ha’rangir and mandalorian traditional weapons (part 1 — part 2 — part 3 – part 4 – part 5)

Mandalorians: People and Culture [Star Wars Insider #86, 2006] introduced Arasuum as the god of Stagnation and Sloth:

“Mandalorians were once intensely religious but disillusionment with the old fanaticism and worship of war itself gave way to a far less supernatural belief system among modern Mandalorians. They now regard creation tales, such as Akaanati’kar’oya (The War of Life and Death) as parables to illustrate a deeper philosophical meaning rather than literal supernaturalism. The stars were mythologized as fallen kings of Mandalore, and there are tales of the mythosaurs, but the pragmatic and skeptical Mandalorians look for allegory in these stories. The manda - best described as a combination of the collective state of being, the essence of being Mandalorian, and an oversoul - is not viewed as a literal heaven. Traditionally, the Mando afterlife is seen as a plane of spiritual energy in constant conflict between stagnation, and the opportunity for change brought about by destruction - a parallel with modern theories of cosmology. In Mandalorian myth, this conflict is symbolized by the eternal war between the sloth-god Arasuum - the personification of idle consumption and stagnation - and the vigorous destroyer god Kad Ha’rangir, who forces change and growth on the universe. Every Mando warrior who dies is said to add to the army of the afterlife, defending wives and children living in its permanent, peaceful homestead - the only place Mandalorians believe they can ever reach a non-transitory state of existence.”

This description of Arasuum was repeated in following tie-in sources:

Excerpted from “Industry. Honor. Savagery: Shaping the Mandalorian Soul” keynote address by Vilnau Teupt, 412th Proceedings of Galactic Anthropology and History, Brentaat Academy, 24 ABY [2012, published in The Essential Guide to Warfare]:

“After being driven from ancient Coruscant, the Taungs relocated to Roon and then wandered the Outer Rim, leaving hints of their passage in various species’ chronicles and histories. But they attracted little notice until they conquered Mandalore around 7000 BBY. At that time Mandalore lay beyond the galactic frontier - but close to the Republic’s outlying trade routes. Soon, rumors reached the Republic of worlds ruled by ferocious warriors. They served the god Kad Ha’rangir, whose tests and trials forced change and growth upon clans he chose to be his people. In opposition to Kad Ha’rangir stood the sloth-god Arasuum, who sought to tempt the clans and drag them down into stagnation and idle consumption. By waging war in Kad Ha’rangir’s name and according to strict religious laws, the Mandalorian Crusaders defied Arasuum and showed themselves worthy of favor.”

and 

Death Watch Manifesto [2013, published as part of The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett]

Our history begins with the Taung, the Shadow Warriors we honor as our Progenitors. They originally dwelled on Coruscant, but their enemies drove them into the Outer Rim. Their clans traveled from planet to planet on orders from their war chief, who interpreted the will of their now-extinct gods: Kad Ha’rangir, the all-seeing creator of test and trials; Hod Ha’ran, the trickster agent of fickle fortune; and Arasuum the god of sloth, an enemy whispering and seducing with promises of peace [...].

“The ancient Mandalorian deities were led by all-seeing Kad Ha’rangir (left), shown here beside the trickster god Hod Ha’ran (central) and the slothful Arasuum (right).

The mentioned above works associate Arasuum with laziness and stagnation, even though those two terms aren’t synonymous, nor even closely tied to each other. Stagnation is, basically speaking, a lack of change that may be conditioned by various factors. Laziness though is a choice a person makes - a choice to not work or use as little effort as possible[1]. 

Arasuum is constantly accused of being sloth. In contrast, Kad Ha’rangir, as Destructor and as god sending trials to test his people plays an active role in mandalorian mythology. However, the same as with Kad Ha’rangir, I think the sources - and with it, in-universe knowledge - may not be accurate. Or more precisely, the modern academics’ conclusions are based on incomplete sources whose true meaning perhaps was lost over the centuries.

For example, Kad Ha’rangir is treated as one of the most important, if not outright the main deity, but as I was proving in previous analysis, sword - in mando’a: kad - did not have any special place in the culture of the original Mandalorians (Taung), as they hold mythosaur axes in high regard. Which puts into doubt the prominent position of god named after a weapon clearly favored by human Mandalorians who replaced the now-extinct Taungs. It does not mean there was never a god-Destructor in original mythology but rather allow us to assume the mandalorian culture has undergone many changes with passing time. If the Kad Ha’rangir himself may be a god reshaped to fit the needs of early human Mandalorians and their descendants, then the same could happen with Arasuum. 

Which is why I decided to analyze Arasuum and his role through the lens of three aspects:

Mandalorian language (Mando’a)

Official tie-in material 

widely understood Mandalorian culture

Let's start with the MANDALORIAN LANGUAGE

For those unfamiliar with Star Wars lore, mando’a is an official mandalorian language. Initially developed by composer Jesse Harlin as part of the soundtrack for the 2005 video game Republic Commando, it was expanded into functional language by Karen Traviss, the author or tie-in Republic Commando book series. The glossary included in her books evolved into a full dictionary and grammatical guide published on Traviss’ official page (archived version can be found here).

In short, Mandalorian language evolved from a few songs into a functional dialect that fans adapted and to this day are still developing for their own use. Understandable, the original mando’a published by Karen Traviss is an artificially created language but because it was made by the same person that at time shaped Mandalorian culture, we have a reason to assume the meaning of deities’ names wasn’t assigned at random.

And so we have a role of Destructor assigned to Kad Ha’rangir - in which kad is a word for sword/saber

while ha’rangir is derived from ha’ran or rangir, two words related to ash/destruction & hell. 

With publication of Bounty Hunter Code and The Essential Guide to Warfare comes Hod Ha’ran, another deity whose name and role correlate with similar meaning in mando’a:

The name of Arasuum brings an important detail - mandalorian language distinguishes between stagnation

and laziness.

As can be seen, there is no common element between those two words, as in: one word is not derived from the other, the way logically some meanings are connected.

If two names have direct correlation to gods’ mythological roles, why Arasuum wouldn’t be perceived by original Mandalorians the same as Kad Ha’rangir and Hod Ha’ran? And this is our first clue to understand Arasuum’s original role in mythology.

Arasuum, as his name suggests, remains the same. Is stagnant. In contrast Kad Ha’rangir is associated with vigor, the growth that happens to Mandalorian people. All three presented above source material associate Kad Ha’rangir with life (active energy), what from biological and symbolic perspectives is a constant change. Since both deities are part of the same myth titles as The War between Life and Death, logically thinking Arasuum, the unchanging god, should represent death as opposition to growth.

If we go with that logic, then facing and overcoming Kad Ha’rangir’s trials may mean surviving the hardship like fight (war). Each victory over death (stagnation) gives a warrior an unique experience that change them, though if the change is for better or worse may be secondary concern. Alive Mandalorian can’t stay the same, because those unable to grow will fail to survive another god’s trial and then will be lost to Arasuum. 

And this is the base ground for my theory that stagnation from mythological point is symbolic metaphor for death and with that, Arasuum is the god of death, not laziness.

The next part will explore the tie-in source material, with special focus on Death Watch Manifesto and political symbolism of Arasuum.

SIDE NOTES:

[1] Just to be clear here: no, needing to rest after hard work is not laziness, the same as lack of will to take action due to depression or other psychological or physical illness. 

[mr-parable]

one of my favorite things about the Stanley Parable, and specifically Stanley. Is that his personality and stuff is very malleable which makes it fun to see everyones stanleys and how they behave in comparison to each other.

personally i like to make my Stanley how i behaved in TSP, a sweet heart, a little stupid and a simp, but also a little trickster who enjoys fucking with the narrator just for fun. he pouts and throws a fit when the narrator is a butt to him but hes so easily pursuaded by... literally anything he could just belike "yeah ok youve convinced me to no longer be mad"

basically good boy Stanley

[fates-theysband]

man. it's not that i don't enjoy the sort of "trickster god getting their jollies messing with the king of the pantheon" take on 432 but i do feel like it's starting to kind of overshadow the loneliness and desperation that they exhibit to a much greater degree in canon.

like. so much of their fucking dialogue has that in SPADES once you know their backstory. thank you for actually setting the time (thank you for taking me seriously, nobody has in so long). when you come back, i'll have some new sliders for you (i want to understand you. i want you to stay longer). will you come back to visit me? we don't really know each other (i wish we did). video games were meant to be played alone (i don't want to be alone). talk soon (please). it's nice to see you (i missed you). let's keep making stanley parable sequels until the sun explodes (don't leave me).

[ldlingsomewhere]

I posted 7,402 times in 2022

That's 1,090 more posts than 2021!

133 posts created (2%)

7,269 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/the-king-of-lemons

@/pacmanthepeach

@/mutatedfish

@/finalgirlyuri

@/geoffs-former-stache

I tagged 1,560 of my posts in 2022

#steph tag - 132 posts

#fav - 47 posts

#izzy tag - 42 posts

#alpaca posting - 34 posts

#this is so real - 27 posts

#wrapped - 23 posts

#:( - 22 posts

#asks - 19 posts

#obsessed - 19 posts

#prev - 15 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#something has gotten fundamentally lost somewhere along the way in like. communities vs fandoms and the way that you communicate with others

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

they are just doing so well!!!!! the self reflection. the positivity. the honest and attributive teamwork. blushi is so sweet. bdubs is doing his like. stone faced but weird movements with the eyes. theyre dong great

59 notes - Posted November 12, 2022

#4

106 notes - Posted October 2, 2022

#3

"grian is a watcher" "grian is an angel" "grian is a trickster god"

no. grian is just some dude. he works at the best buy across the mall from etho's staples. he's a pathological scammer of geek squad discounts. he pays almost nothing for his appliances. he doesn't own a phone

164 notes - Posted January 14, 2022

#2

wilbur soot is the little german boy who wandered into the weed cave but its a parable about what only listening to los campesinos does to upper middle class british boys

166 notes - Posted February 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

658 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

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