#religious emblems

[alextvalencic]

Reading today's Dracula Daily entry reminded me of a question I had a while back: What makes holy/sacred relics/totems effective wards against vampires?

I see four possible options:

1. The belief in the individual wielding it gives it power.

2. The belief in the individual giving it gives it power.

3. The belief in the monster encountering it gives it power.

4. The thing itself has inherent power.

When the lady in the inn gives Jonathan a crucifix necklace (maybe a rosary?), he clearly states that he views it as idolatrous rather than holy. I'm not convinced that option 4 is valid, as we have the many stories of vampires sleeping in crypts in cemeteries and I wouldn't think they'd be able to enter or exit with the number of religious symbols all about.

So that leaves us with option 2 or 3. I'm inclined to think that it is most likely option 2. But that makes me wonder: could an announced effigy of a vampire be used to destroy the monster remotely?

[starlitcrows]

baptismal flame or hellfire?

[willothewispwisteriadawn]

It’s been literally so long since Fire Emblem 3H came out. At this point, I’m a hair away from assuming people who say Rhea was running around murdering people of other religions are being intellectually dishonest. We have multiple support conversations just saying entirely uncryptically that she doesn’t do this, and we never even see strong evidence that she does? She executed people for active blasphemy and attempted assassination, it’s just that the context made her ruthless (the people executed were clearly pawns, scared, and suffering too) which is why the scenes depict her as cutthroat. But to say she’s killed people because they just casually didn’t think Sothis was real is more than just simplifying— it’s just incorrect. It’s because these people ultimately threatened the juggling act Rhea is doing to prevent another grand scale war and triggered her because they messed with things she considers sacred, final reminders of her mother.

It’s just so weird because I used to post like screenshots and STATEMENTS FROM THE WRITERS that confirm all this in no uncertain language and people would be like doing extreme mental gymnastics to explain why “Rhea doesn’t care that I don’t believe in Sothis” and “Rhea did what she did to prevent war” are not clear statements. I mean, I am so chill with having different takes on characters from people or viewing characters as more or less sympathetic. That involves personal code and ethics. But with 3H, I hit this wall where I’m like.. when do we admit that, for you, this conversation is not about actually understanding the character?

I swear, some people need to go take a break, grab a latte, and privately come to terms with their irl beefs with the Catholic Church before engaging with this game. Because, my friends, I do not have the ability or strength to shoulder/accommodate your external opinions on a real religion on top of my analyses of the motives of the green haired dragonfolk.

[chaosisdying]

I'm having an undertale/deltarune phase and all I can say is

I love you Flowey the fucking flower, never change.

(actually go to a therapist or two please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please)

[sieglinde-freud]

holy shit they turned peach into a fire emblem character

[themisteriousentity]

You know, people forget that Soldier, Poet, King is a Christian song depicting different aspects of Jesus, but it sure is interesting to see that the fandom almost universally makes Dimitri the Soldier, Claude the Poet, and Edelgard the King

However, I argue a different order

*le gaspu*

Dimitri is still the soldier, but I think Claude and Edelgard should switch. I think Edelgard is the Poet and Claude is the King

Hear me out

Dimitri, we all know why he's the Soldier. I don't think we need to explain that. I don't need to get into the bible analysis, man LITERALLY tears cities down, oh lei oh lai oh lord

Edelgard is a very well spoken person. When she's actually given room to voice her ideas, despite being wrong because she's got just the tip of the iceberg of the true history, she can managed to convince almost anyone. In both games, she manages to convince most of her empire, which is FULL of very devout followers of Seiros and Sothis, to attack the Central Church and follow her lead. For a person who doesn't know much better, she's very damn convincing. She just doesn't do it very often, and she's terrible at listening when people try to counter her ideas (her argument with Dimitri and Azure Moon really highlights this when he tries to open a dialogue). But the important thing there is also that this is a role she chooses to take on in both games. If you look at the Poet, this easily relates to the start of Jesus's ministry in the bible, taking down establishments left and right on his word alone. Edelgard convinces her country to follow her on her accusations alone (as she was only 18 when she started the war and even as emperor she had to talk many ministers into following her lead or nothing would've happened without ministers like Count Bergliez and Count Hevring that she convinced), slaying the church with her tongue

Meanwhile, the King easily relates far more to Claude than the Poet. Claude doesn't really spend a lot of time convincing people of his ideals or talking them into anything aside from explaining his ambitions to Byleth and Shez, and depending on your supports in some ways to Leonie and Lorenz. Unlike Edelgard, Claude is in a situation he didn't ask for. He has a war thrust upon him and a conflict with a massive religious body that breeds prejudice to contend with. As an outsider who is deeply untrusted, he has to fight tooth and nail just to keep the Alliance whole. All the meanwhile he's constantly having insults thrust upon him by his own people, and in certain routes he's completely abandoned by one of the largest political players in his nation. The crown of thorns was not a burden Jesus chose to accept, like the burden of war Edelgard created and thrust upon the world, but was something thrusted upon him that he then had to deal with. It's easy to see that Claude never wanted to contend with this war and only stays because he HAS to, for the sake of both Almyra and Fódlan, despite knowing all he's doing is keeping things stable while not fixing the situation. But in the end he's still prepared to sacrifice everything to try and make the world better. In Houses, he even plans for his own death to protect the people of the Alliance, the people who fought against him and rejected him the most. In Hopes, he settles on working with people he fundamentally disagrees with and dislikes for the sake of protecting Fódlan. With a character progression like that, it just feels like the ruler who his brow laid in thorn, anointed in oil, that tracks to Claude much better than Edelgard

But hey, that's just my opinion. Wow, who knew being dragged to church kicking and screaming against my will would come in handy for a strategy JRPG

[todayisafridaynight]

I love coming back to read the reblogs of the bible yaoi reaction lmao, that wasn't even the worst panel

Seriously what is that top panel..

a second bible yaoi page as hit my eyeballs

[silvershadow1711]

Old, unuploaded practice art, this time trying to use microns for the first time. Conclusion? Don't care for them- 01 is waaaay too thick for the kinds of details I like to do. I'll stick with ballpoints and use fineliners for outlines.

(Multi-eyed Anankos is the only valid Anankos)

[maslosstuff]

You're not real I'm just losing my mind

[fruity-blogs]

Missing the badass sibling duo so I made some bookmarks <3

[aldi-spice]

I say shit like "I don't have a type" and then these bitches show up in my camera roll

[envy-stims]

“Here is something to believe in!”

byleth (fe3h) stimboard with religious / gold themes

[meifunk]

my dear Divine One 💍🙏

[starscr0ss]

saint byleth

[sacred-pebbles]

Sorry for the blurry pics but what the fuck is up with this mycastle

[iturbide]

Do you think Gangrel was a grimleal or no? Like, in any capacity? He's clearly not like... uh. words. Like Validar is super into it and all that and Gangrel isn't. But does he care at all?

Gangrel actually answers that himself in his supports with a male Avatar!

Robin: You once worshipped Grima, correct? As a member of the Grimleal? Gangrel: Pah, those wrinkled old warts with their dusty tomes? I was Grimleal in name only. Course, it was the faith of the realm, so I knew most of its rituals.

Again, tying back into the idea that they dropped the ball on his backstory, I think it would have been much more potent if he had been raised religiously Grimleal by his mother, but lost his faith in the crusade after the Exalt murdered his family because for all her faith, Grima didn't save his mother, so Grima must be just a stupid story. It adds a lot to both how he knows the rituals and his very clear disdain for the faith.