#see my love for legends and their meta

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Unpopular opinion probably but I would bet that pre-M9 Essek had killed less people than pre-M9 Reani.

Essek was willing to get his hands dirty but I don’t think that extended to killing all the time. He’d definitely had experience, obviously the imprisoned Scourger and how he handled that shows that, but he was a courtier and a scholar first, with flexible morals.

Reani, on the other hand, lived by “the rule is evil dies” until the Nein. The definition of lawful good. Her morals weren’t flexible until the Nein showed her the importance of grey areas. She was a vigilante. Her job was killing people. Just because it was done in the name of good doesn’t mean the bodies go away.

I don’t think either had a particularly high body count (ha) before the Nein, for the record. On the scale of Jester (never) to Caleb and Yasha (evil man’s personal killing machine), I think Essek and Reani both fall solidly in the middle.

There’s not really a point to this, it’s not a “see pre-M9 Essek wasn’t that bad!” post, nor Reani hate. If anything, it’s more a reflection on how the number of people killed isn’t a good litmus test of morality in a D&D world. It’s a normal part of the setting. I love when it’s examined more closely—Jester chopping what’s-his-name’s skull with her handaxe comes to mind—but sometimes you’ve just gotta accept that yes, they kill people. Professionally. And that’s fine. Murder is okay here.

[novelconcepts]

Doing a bit of a Santa Clarita Diet rewatch, and while I don't know intentional any of Abby's queer-coding was (and how much was just Hewson's vibes), her relationship with Eric has such teenage comphet energy. Like whenever Abby's like "I really care about you, more than anyone, but it's hard for me to pretend I'm into the physical; this has maybe a 2% chance of working out," my lesbian ass is just nodding so hard. Like, yeah! Exactly! You don't know you're gay yet, or you sense it in yourself and try to veer away, so what's the easiest option? You find the soft nerd boy, your best friend in the world, someone you absolutely trust to have your back no matter what, and go, "Yeah, uh huh, sure. I'll try that one." You absolutely look for the most non-threatening dude in the vicinity. And then it's improved by Eric's whole thing being like "yeah, this is absolutely someone I am down bad for, but if she doesn't wind up digging me that way, she's still my best friend." It reads so true. No idea if they were ever going to actually walk down that road, but in my heart of hearts? Here for it.

[deaddovedecadence]

Title: The Beginning (sunshine verse)

Warning(s): threats of violence, manipulation, possessive and obsessive behavior

Summery: Jason has finally been brought home, only to meet his newest sibling. They have a talk

Jason wakes up in a familiar room. It's a perfectly tidy room, no specks of dust anywhere, a perfectly ordinary room, but it feels dangerous anyways. He isn’t cuffed down but it feels dangerous anyways. He takes a look around the room, noting the unbarred windows (probably electrified) and a door he knows leads to the bathroom. The room to leave the room is perpendicular to his bed so he shifts, moving so that he can see who comes in and face all threats directly. For a long while there is absolutely no movement, and eventually his body relaxes itself, even with his mind screaming danger.

 He’s been here before, escaped from here before, been (loved) hated here before, and he is foolish enough to think that escape will be an option for a long while. Security will be up for sure as well as it’s six incredibly well trained people (Dick, Cass, Tim, Damian, Bruce, Alfie) against him, and he’s been out of the game for a while. For a moment, he’s reminded of Dick, who’s rebellion is still the stuff of legends in the crime community, and the cops that try ever hard to catch them.He wonders what this will be considered, a rebellion or a temper tantrum. He was there when Bruce and Dick finally fought it out. Both of them still carry the scars. Will it be like that for him, or will they trap him in a golden cage?

There’s a knock on the door, and he’s more surprised than anything else. The knock, while polite, is unfamiliar, not matching the cadence of any of the others. Dick’s knock, twice in a row before a pause, is bright and cheerful, Cass climbs through the window, Tim’s, thrice,  rapid and soft, Damain’s, continuous, loud and quick, Bruce’s, four times, slow and thudding, and Alfie’s once, a gentle warning. This knock is thrice, rapid and not too loud. The knock comes again, unchanging. He has no choice and he knows that, but at least his damnation can be on his terms. “Come in,” he snaps, and the door opens. He’s unsurprised when the figure is unfamiliar. The figure is on the taller side, with dark brown skin and a warm smile. “Hey Jason,” the figure says, “I’m Duke, I use they/them pronouns.” Duke’s accent is all gotham, thick and weaving into his words, like taffy getting caught on its stretcher. 

“Why’d they send you? Testin’ the new meat on me?” Duke’s smile stays warm even though their dark brown eyes flare a bright vivid yellow, and the light levels in the room drop for a second. Jason can’t help but startling because he’s facing a fucking meta. “I’m his newest adoptie, and if you must know, I’ve already completed testing and my time as new meat.” The implications of that remain unspoken. Bruce went and adopted a fucking meta while Jason was gone, huh? That’s a thing he doesn't have words for. 

“May I sit on the bed with you?” Duke says politely, gesturing to the bed. What the fuck is going on here? There is no one in this family that asks for anything so why is the newbie doing it? Jason ends up just shrugging which Duke takes as a yes because suddenly there’s another person on the bed, arranging into a sort of criss-cross that reminds  Jason of Dick. 

“Why are you here?” he demands, sharp. Duke shrugs, “family thought you’d do better with someone that hasn’t met you ‘stead of someone you know ‘cause I’m more like to be neutral and calmer with you.” It’s not a bad way of thinking about it and the kid ain’t even wrong. If Bruce or Dick or anyone else was in here it’d probably be a screaming match already. Duke arranges more on the bed, and fixes Jason with a look that reminds him exactly of Alfred. “There are three things that I’m here to go over with you but I figured you might wanna know we got your friend in the next room over.” he pales, thinking of everything his family would do to his friend, the person that dragged him away from crime and gave him a way to bring them down. Because of his carelessness, his friend is in the next room over, the perfect leverage to keep him complaint, to keep him here, all because he was stupid. 

“This can go two ways,” Duke says calmly, “I give Dames the go ahead to do what he wants with your little friend or you and I make a deal.” It’s a good offer, especially considering how his family is, actually it’s almost too good. He narrows his eyes at Duke, who sits serenely on the bed. “Okay, cut the bullshit. Why are you offering me anything?” he snaps, and Duke smiles. “It’s pretty simple actually. You are a member of my family, and that means that I want to help you. Plus helping you and your friend benefits me in the long run.” Simply put, but still, it feels like there’s something that Duke isn’t saying. “What’s going to happen to them?” he says, referring to his friend. Duke pulls out a phone instead of answering, scrolling through something before looking up at him. “They woke up asking for you. I gave you your options. Do with them as you will.” 

Jason doesn’t like this. “If I made a deal with you,” he says carefully, “they stay safe.” Duke nods. He steadies himself, and says the damning words. “I want to make a deal,” 

And Duke smiles.

-

The second that Duke leaves Jason’s room, Dick is all over them. “How is he?” Dick asks, bouncing absently on the balls of his feet. Duke gestures to the door, signing ‘Jason hear us. Kitchen now.’ Dick nods and follows after them, humming something to himself, and chewing on his nails. Duke doesn’t sit down when they get to the kitchen, bustling around and prepping something, probably tea, for themelf.

 Out of all of them, it’s Duke who’s taken to Alfred’s lessons the best, learning everything from new ways to cook to the best ways to hide poison in a drink. Like most of his siblings, being subtle does not come naturally to Duke and Alfie has taught them the more subtle nuances of things, ranging from soup spoons and good manners to the proper spoon and/or fork for taking out someone’s eye. 

At Duke’s raised eyebrow, Dick sits, leg bouncing under the table. Duke sits down after their tea finishes, holding a steaming mug. “What did he say?” Dick demands. Duke takes a sip of tea and begins, “first of all, you owe me. I was right about Jason reacting better to me than you.” Dick settles a little bit, laughs, “okay, okay petit, we’ll head to the beach this weekend. Tell me about our brother.” 

Duke frowns, “He agreed to make a deal with me to keep his friend safe.” There’s a but there and he knows it. “What’s wrong?” Duke shrugs, “He’s planning an escape already, I can see it in his eyes.” For all of Jason’s abilities, his eyes have always been very obvious. 

“What are you planning to do?” “I already laid the groundwork.” 

“What do you want for their safety?” Jason demands, all cornered prey animal, obvious in the slant of his teeth, in the way that he tenses. In contrast Duke is the predator, aware that it’s prey is cornered. “Let’s play a game. I’m going to flip a coin, you’re going to call it midair, and for every one you get right, you get to ask me a question. If you get it wrong I get to ask you a question.” Jason takes it in, trying to see if there’s a way that he can get out of it before he nods. 

Duke flips the coin after showing him both sides. They flip it in midair, and Jason calls heads, “Tails.” Duke says evenly, not gloating or teasing like Damian or Tim would. “What’s your question?”

It’s a small, calm smile given to him and yet this is the first time that Duke has ever felt like a threat. “Where did you spend your time?” It’s an oddly easy question to answer, not prodding or pushing like someone else would. He shrugs, “I went pretty much everywhere that Bruce doesn’t have business in. I wanted to see the world on my own terms,” without Bruce’s influence, he doesn't say. Duke nods, and gives him a little smile. “Okay, let's go again.” 

Again he’s shown both sides of the coin before Duke flips it, and he calls, “Heads,” midair. It comes back down and when Duke shows it to him, it releases as tails. “Fuck,” Jason snaps, and Duke’s serene smile does not waver.  “Why the police?” Duke asks. Another easy one, “I wanted to make sure that even if I went missing, they’d know, they’d do something.” Duke snorts, and then looks almost soberly at him. “Your entire police force answered to Nightwing.” He can’’t help the horror that courses through his body at the idea that he was never safe, that he never had a chance to get free. 

“Why are you telling me this?” He snarls, and Duke, doing something that seems to have become a trend, smiles serenely. “Because you deserve to know, and the others didn't want me telling you.” 

“Did he really believe that?” Dick snorts. Duke nods. “I’m almost disappointed in him. He seems to have forgotten all of his training.” See Duke excels in several things but most of all they fuck with the truth in a way that almost no one else in the family does. Even Cass sometimes has problems understanding if they’re telling the truth because Duke bends it just enough that his body language reflects the idea of truth when that isn’t the full story. 

“Last time, “Duke says cheerfully, showing him both sides of the coin once again. “Pick your poison.” It’s thrown up into midair and Jason pays careful attention the to amount of flips and calls, “tails,” right as it’s coming down. Duke gives him a steady grins and opens his palm to revel, “heads.” It takes everything in Jason not to start swearing. 

He feels watched, like his skin’s been pulled back for Duke to see all the scars as the meta considers his final question. “Why are you so afraid of being considered bad?” Not fucking easy. “You tense up when I mentioned our siblings, and from what I know you left bruce because of your morals.” He stops, and tries to put into words something that Duke will never be able to understand. 

“Have you ever been so happy that you’d do anything to continue that happiness?” Duke nods, “I have, yes.” Jason snorts, “well that was my life before I realized that my happiness comes from the suffering of other people, that I’m only good in bruce’s eyes and to everyone else I’m a monster. I didn’t want to be a monster so I left.” 

To his surprise, Duke does not make a noise or call his reasons stupid like Tim or Damian would. They just nod, and say quietly, “Thank you for sharing. Your friend will be safe until you attempt to escape.”

As Duke leaves, Jason realizes that Duke says until, and not if.

“Our brother is fucking stupid,” Dick says, “he fucking left because he thought that he was bad, just ugh. I want to stab him for that.” Duke, calm as always, reminds him, “Jase was older when Bruce took him in. Don’t you remember how much trouble you had with me?” It’s enough that Dick stops holding his knife like he’s going to go upstairs and hurt something (or someone). “You were trouble but at least you were logical about your protesting. Jason is just being stupid.” 

That gets a soft laugh from his younger sibling. “Well perhaps changing our guest will help Jason change too.” 

A feral smile, “you might just be right about that petit.”

[sarahreesbrennan]

Quick Evil Note

To all my wicked darlings, I have now received rather a lot of messages asking me about the influences of Long Live Evil. And I wish to get messages about LLE and truly appreciate the ones I do get! And I wish to answer them. But answers about influences are tricky.

The book has been out in the US for a little over two weeks, and it’s going so well so far, I couldn’t be more delighted and appreciative about its reception.

But also I’ve been informed (not asked) that two of my characters are obviously somehow both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter, and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. (Very puzzling as I don’t think these pairings - and one isn’t a pair - have much in common with each other or with mine. Vague hostility against a vaguely academic backdrop for a bit? For the record… in the book everyone is an adult and I don’t even have any academic backdrops to be vaguely hostile in front of…) This hasn’t happened to me in a long time, because I haven’t had an original novel out in a long time due to illness, and it is upsetting to always be discussed differently than writers who didn’t openly link their real names to their fan identity.

I have very different feelings and new appreciation for fandom than I once had. It’s been amazing to see and meet people who have stuck with me for decades. People are generally way more open and affectionate to and within fandom than they once were. Love matters to me a good deal more than hate. But getting death threats in your early 20s for excitedly telling your Internet friends you were going to publish a book does mark the psyche, and so does having your characters dismissed as other people’s characters.

And we can say there is nothing wrong with fanfiction or writing fanfiction and there isn’t! Fanfiction is great and can be genius. Terry Pratchett wrote Jane Austen fanfiction, and didn’t (and shouldn’t) have people saying Captain Wentworth = Captain Vimes. Still, when a TV show is discussed as ‘like fanfiction’ or when Diana Gabaldon said she didn’t like fanfiction and many said ‘YOU write fanfiction’ it isn’t intended in any kind spirit, even when it’s fannish folk saying it. And it’s just generally odd to have everyone call your apple a tomato, and has had professional consequences for me in the past.

However! All the asks I’ve received have been very kind, and I do want to answer them. I do want to talk about my influences because they are manifold and because I actually think it’s important to always talk about influences. I don’t believe stories exist in isolation - we tell tales in a rich tradition, and also a story doesn’t come alive to me all the way until it’s heard or read.

Long Live Evil is a love letter to fandom: it’s chock full of references to many many stories I’ve loved, to fairytales, myths and legend and Internet memes and epic fantasy and meta. My acknowledgements are endless partly for this reason. I do owe a great debt to many portal fantasies and archetypes and musicals and jokes about genre and plays through the ages, though I do think of my characters as themselves and nobody else.

I was frankly tempted to go ‘Yes I stole EVERYTHING! Bwhahaha!’ But while I am thoroughly enjoying and finding great freedom in my villain era, I do want to talk sincerely to you all as well, especially when asked sincerely interested questions.

But I’m a little scared to do so and have people say ‘AHA! Now we know what it’s fanfiction of’ (it’s happened before) or ignore me and go ‘we know the truth!’ (it’s happened before) and to feel like I’ve injured my book. Long Live Evil means more to me than any other and I really want to get talking about it right, and make sure it has the best reception I can give it.

So. Questions on all Evil topics very very welcome but answers to influence questions may come slowly. Bear with me. I am working on this!

[colleendoran]

Neil Gaiman's CHIVALRY: From Illuminated Manuscripts to Comics

One of the many reasons I wanted to adapt Neil Gaiman's Chivalry into graphic novel form was to create a comic as a bridge and commentary re: comics and illuminated manuscripts.

We're often told that the first comic book was Action Comics #1 featuring Superman, a collection of Superman comic strips that morphed into comic books as an art form.

Sequential art predates Action Comics #1.

Action Comics popularized sequential art book storytelling that had already appeared in other forms in fits and starts throughout history. Comic books didn't take off as a popular medium for several reasons, not least of which was the necessary printing process hadn't been invented yet and it's hard to popularize - and commercialize - something most people can never see. 

You find sequential art in cave paintings and in Egyptian hieroglyphics. I've read that comics (manga) were invented by the Japanese in 12th century scrolls.

And sequential art appears over and over again in Western art going back well over 1000 years, and in book form at least 1100 years ago.

The most obvious example of early sequential art in Western art - as a complete narrative in sequence - is the Bayeux Tapestry. 

At 230 feet long, this embroidered length of cloth was likely commissioned around the year 1070 by Bishop Odo, brother of William the Conqueror. It depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the invasion of England by the Normans. (The tapestry was made in England, not in France, but it is called the Bayeux tapestry because that's where it is now.)

Imagine what a task it was to embroider this thing. Whew. And you thought it was hard learning Photoshop.

This work of art is important in the history of sequential narrative, but the Norman invasion is also important to the legend of King Arthur - and another important English legend - for reasons we'll get into later. 

It's complicated.

All this is why you see this art in the background of this page of Chivalry.

Using the Romanesque art style of the tapestry in panel 1, I've added the Latin phrase "Rex Quondom, Rexque Futurus" - "The Once and Future King", the final words of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as inscribed on King Arthur's tomb, and the title of T.H. White's famous Arthurian novel.  (EDIT) and it has been kindly pointed out to me that QUONDOM should be QUONDAM, which is hilarious and annoying and this is how history gets rewritten by accident.

My original intention was to draw this Bayeux Tapestry scene out and juxtapose it with shots of Galaad interacting with the children, but the two page sequence I imagined didn't really work as well in reality as it did in my head. 

Foremost among my concerns was that the tapestry reference might be too obscure for most readers. I wanted to weave the visual meta-text of Chivalry into the story (For further reading on this project and my use of visual meta-text, symbolism, and history in Neil Gaiman's Chivalry, go HERE. And HERE. And HERE. And Yet again HERE.) in such a way as it would enhance the experience for people who "got" the visual meaning, while not dragging things down for people who didn't. So I cut this scene down to one panel.

The tapestry is a complete, long form comic strip created over 1100 years before some people claim comics were invented. So, I loved being able to reference it here.

But even more interesting to me are the sequential art sequences that appear in illuminated manuscripts - comics in book form.

I once got into a rather vicious argument with an academic who insisted illuminated manuscripts were comics. I said no. She said yes. Then she insulted the lowly comic artist and blocked me on Facebook.

Whatever.

My point was not that you can't find sequential art in illuminated manuscripts. My point is that an illustrated book isn't de facto a comic. Most illuminated manuscripts are illustrated books. Some illuminated manuscripts contain sequential art.

Just because opera is music, that doesn't mean all music is opera.

Just because comics books are books that doesn't mean all books are comic books.

And just because some illuminated manuscripts contain sequential art, that doesn't mean all illuminated manuscripts are sequential art.

But one is.

Let me show you it.

One of the earliest examples of an illuminated manuscript with comic art is The Bible d'Etienne Harding which you can see in this really bad jpg here, sorry, best I could find.

Created around the year 1109, property of a French Cistercian monk, it combines sequences like this with pages of text and illustration.

Not a comic book IMHO, but an illuminated manuscript with sequences of text, illustration and sequential narrative.

It's no more a "comic book" than a newspaper is for having text, illustration, and comic strips in it.

IMHO, academic lady.

And here's a look at the Old English Hexateuch (hexateuch refers to the first 6 books of the Bible) which I think is far more visually complex and interesting work, and comes much closer to the illuminated manuscript as comic, but still intersperses large sequences of text and illustration with sequential storytelling sequences. So I don't consider it a comic, but a book with sequential work in it.

Now this work below is a different matter. This is from the Holkham Bible Picture Book, circa about 1330.

This thing is genius. It measures a little larger than a modern comic, around 8"x11", and almost every page of it is like this spread here. 231 pages of beautifully rendered art, with repeated use of banderoles - "speech scrolls"  (basically word balloons) -  and captions, and (mostly) real sequential art. I've never seen anything else that comes even close to it, and by all accounts, neither has anyone else. 

It may not be a modern comic book - but it's a comic book as far as I can tell. I don't think there's any other illuminated manuscript that is as complete, sophisticated, and innovative a sequential storytelling work.

If this were printed and seen by more people, the comic book medium would have taken off centuries earlier, IMHO. But it wasn't. It was tucked away in a monastery somewhere and few people ever saw it. It ended up being forgotten for centuries until it popped up again around 1816 when a banker sold it to an avid book collector, Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester, who inherited Holkham Hall and its library and set about restoring and expanding it. 

The banker wrote, “a very curious MS. just brought here from the Continent. . . which I think one of the greatest curiosities I ever saw”.

Sequential art got invented over and over and over by one artist after another until one day centuries later, some teenaged boys found their newspaper strips gathered together in a cheap format, and suddenly comic books were popular and like new.

And then a lot of people who didn't seem to realize that books had had pictures in them for centuries got all up in arms about the harms of books with pictures in them.

I think it's funny that it is called the Holkham Bible Picture Book. There really was no "comic" art language when this work was created or when academics began to catalogue this sort of thing. Will they change the name now?

Who can say.

Anyway, another Holkham Bible Picture Book reference for you.

Look familiar?

I referenced it in this scene in Chivalry.

One of the fun things about the Holkham is that it opens with a discussion between a friar who has commissioned the work and the artist. The friar admonishes the artist to do a good job on the project because it will be shown to important people. And the artist responds, "Indeed, I certainly will and, if God lets me live, never will you see another such book."

He wasn't kidding.

You can see the entire manuscript HERE. 

Sponsored by my Patreon. Thank you.

[youryurigoddess]

The biggest Easter egg yet

I’ve been meaning to address this for a while now, but @camdenleisurepirates gave me the final push after reading my piece on Gabriel’s cross. Huge thanks for that morsel of motivation, my ADHD brain loves you.

This is going to be yet another long read, although not as extensive as my bookshop statues meta. Still, better get yourself some hot chocolate or another drink of your choice and make sure you’re comfortable!

Now, remember the X-Ray interview with Peter Anderson on Easter Eggs in the opening animation he created for the second season? Forget red herrings, apparently our fandom has a literal red phone box! I’m convinced that this whole scene is a one big — the biggest, actually — Easter Egg, and I’ll explain why step-by-step.

The red phone box Crowley used to warn Aziraphale about the Antichrist and the following Armageddon in S1, the exact one where he left change for an emergency call, seems important enough in terms of the future S3 plot, but there’s so much more going on in this frame. Not only the lift.

The angels

At the very start of this sequence we can see a fragment of an elaborate bridge guarded by cherubs sitting on two columns, maybe globes, leading to a distant structure built over a literal mountain of trash — all elements of the S1 and S2 openings which were consciously picked out by the animators and put together in a very ominous pile.

Ready for some scavenging?

In the Gabriel’s cross meta, I already mentioned the importance of Ponte Sant’Angelo in relation to the ex-Archangel’s statue. Now it’s time to widen our perspective and focus on the full picture — quite literally. Apparently the bridge from the opening sequence has ten statues of angels, exactly as the Italian historical monument.

First things first though: the two big cherubs guarding the entry to the bridge might seem familiar to some of you. While they’re obviously not copies of the same statue, a very similar pair of brass cherubs is placed in Aziraphale’s bookshop to symbolize Aziraphale and Crowley. And looking at the screenshot above and the way they sleep or sulk with their backs turned on each other, they are most certainly not talking. The addition of more than one set of eyes is a lovely reference to biblically accurate angel memes though.

If we assume the traditional left-right positioning of the characters, Aziraphale is on the left and Crowley is on the right. Directly behind Aziraphale we can see a ship named “Good Traits”, but in reverse — kinda sorta confirmed by the animator Peter Anderson to be connected to the concept of the seven deadly sins on Twitter. Same that was mentioned recently by Neil in one of his asks.

The presence of Gabriel — a renegade Archangel wielding a broken cross — on the right, Crowley’s side, seems to match this theory. It could also support one of the possible interpretations of the very last bookshop shot in the S2 finale.

Out of all ten statues, Angel Carrying the Cross by Ercole Ferrata is considered inferior to the others on the bridge in that it appears to be a two-dimensional relief sculpture rather than an unbounded three-dimensional artwork, which seems to match Gabriel’s first impression as a character.

The inscription on the statue reads, “Dominion rests on his shoulders" — that is the weight of the cross that Christ was forced to carry through Jerusalem before being crucified. Even though Gabriel’s burden partially disappeared, the whole bridge and its environment is covered with crosses. It’s clear that we’re looking at a direct parallel of Via Crucis, the Way of Sorrows.

Towering over the Italian bridge, at the very top of Castel Sant’Angelo, is a statue of Archangel Michael, seen as the golden angel on the top left part of the trash pile. Aziraphale’s side, perhaps as his assistant, perhaps a rival? Legends of the Jews mention Michael as the chief of a band of angels who questioned God's decision to create man on Earth. The entire band of angels, except for Michael, was condemned to Fall — which could explain why they have such a good access to the Grapevine That Obviously Doesn’t Exist. And whatever’s going on between Michael and Dagon, perhaps.

In Roman Catholic teachings, Michael has four main roles or offices. Their first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of Heaven's forces in the final triumph over the powers of Hell. Viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, their conflict with evil taken as the battle within. The second and third roles of Michael deal with death. Their second role is that of an angel of death, carrying the souls of Christians to Heaven. Michael descends at the hour of death and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus throwing the devil and his minions into consternation. In their third role, Michael weights souls on perfectly balanced scales they are often depicted with as their attribute. In their fourth role, Michael appears as the guardian of the Church. Might be the reason why they’re the closest to the building on top of the mountain.

It looks like Michael lost their sword though, just like Gabriel lost a part of the cross he was supposed to carry. The sword in question was supposed to be used to slay the dragon — Satan, the Adversary — according to John of Patmos and his Book of Revelations.

Speak of the devil: interestingly, there are two copies of an anonymous variation of the Angel of Light statue appearing twice on both sides of the bridge. Both the title as well as the statue itself seem like obvious references to one (former) angel literally called the Lightbringer, Lucifer. Perhaps one of them is representing his son, the Antichrist, instead, with the both of them helping out the Ineffables on two opposing — or perhaps only parallel — sides of the bridge?

The light carried by Lucifer appears to be green, a color used in the series as a visual representation of Hell, but on the intertextual level might also serve as a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby and the green light at the end of the Daisy’s dock symbolizing the undying love, desperation, and longing for an unattainable dream. In the story, the color represents the limitations of power and money. Not surprisingly, the novel appears on Jim’s bookshelf and is part of the Good Omens book club — a list of personal recommendations from Neil Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon for the fans to catch up on before the next series.

Last but not least, the possible connection to Libertas as the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, shown multiple times in S2 as a foreshadowing of our character’s trip to America in S3. The related quote of Patrick Henry “Give me liberty or give me death” becomes even more relevant if we consider how the motto of the French Revolution was sometimes written as Liberté, ��galité, fraternité ou la mort (“Liberty, equality, fraternity or death”). A lesson surely learnt by a certain angel back in 1793, when he was held prisoner for the last time before being forcefully taken Upstairs in the Final Fifteen.

The bridge and the castle

Okay, these are the basic observations. Now a brief historical overview and we will reach the fun bit in a jiffy.

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of this whole complex? It wasn’t always angelic, but named after a Roman noble dynasty. The Aelian bridge was built by the Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to span River Tiber from the city center to his mausoleum. With time, the remains of more emperors were put to rest in there, until it was plundered and destroyed in a war. Then the remaining structure was transformed into a military fortress and a castle serving as the papal residence in times of war.

The Papal State also used Sant'Angelo as a prison; the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was imprisoned there for six years. Executions of the inmates were performed in the small inner courtyard, but they weren’t the only deaths in the area. On the other side of the bridge, in the adjoining Piazza del Ponte, under the watchful eyes of the stone likenesses of two saints, the public executions were held, and the heads of the criminals were brought onto the bridge and exposed to public view there.

As a prison, the former mausoleum is also the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini's 1900 opera Tosca. Long story short, the eponymous heroine convinces her lover to feign death so that they can flee together. Unfortunately, they are betrayed and the firing squad shoots at him with real bullets instead of blanks. Tosca believes in the quality of his acting performance rather than the truth, and when the realization hits her, she leaps to her death from the Castel’s ramparts.

After Nero’s bridge was destroyed, the travelers were forced to cross this bridge as the only direct route to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica, earning it the nickname “the bridge of Saint Peter”. That’s why in the 16th century Pope Clement VII erected statues of Saints Peter and Paul at the ends of the bridge, guarding it as they are supposed to protect the entry to Heaven.

In 1688 the bridge was embellished with ten angel statues, five on each side of the bridge, carrying Arma Christi, the Instruments of the Passion. The Good Omens characters represented by those statues in the opening sequence might be other instruments of Christ’s suffering as parts of the system that needs to be overthrown or replaced.

One angel appears particularly important in the context of both the bridge and the Second Coming — Saint Michael the Archangel.

Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop Hadrian’s mausoleum, sheathing their sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this particular Archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace, even Christians, had begun revering a pagan idol at the church of Santa Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the Pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by the Aelian Bridge, the Pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the Pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome. In honor of the vision and Michael, the bridge was renamed in their name.

What if the procession from the opening sequence was meant to imitate the procession led by the Pope from the legend? What if Aziraphale, now officially a Supreme Archangel, Commander of the Heavenly Host, is the one actually leading it, with Crowley finally at his side as his partner and second in command, just like it was proposed by him in the Final Fifteen?*

What if by some reason, maybe personal ambition, maybe just a tragic coincidence or situational necessity, there really was an impostor in Heaven, and Metatron — the so called Voice of God who seemingly doesn’t speak up for Herself since Job’s test — has been playing a winged version of the Wizard of Oz all along?

It would make just the perfect sense if not for one tiny detail. The procession we see on the bridge is actually led by Crowley, which doesn’t fit the parallel at all — unless it’s actually a proof of an ongoing body swap, as the mismatched names of the actors could also suggest?

The mountain of trash and the bookshop

The symbolic mountain of trash we can see Aziraphale and Crowley climb is a reference in itself. To an actual mount called Zion, believed to be the place where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where God is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where God has installed king David on his throne (Psalm 2:6).

In a literal sense, it’s a hill in Jerusalem, although the sources refer to three different locations in different contexts — although for the purpose of this meta the Upper Eastern Hill (Temple Mount) makes the most sense. Its highest part became the site of Solomon's Temple. The same King Solomon the rituals in Freemasonry refer to. Masonic buildings, where lodges and their members meet, are sometimes called "temples" specifically as an allegoric reference to King Solomon's Temple, not actual places of worship. And Aziraphale’s bookshop is built around Solomon’s Magic Circle.

In a metaphysical sense, and especially in the context of the Christian New Testament, it is also believed to be a part of Heaven — the heavenly Jerusalem, God's Holy, eternal city. Christians are said to have “(…) come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22-23 cf. Revelation 14:1). Just like the procession were following in the opening sequence.

There’s been some speculation whether the lift on top of the mountain could symbolize Aziraphale’s bookshop, or, more specifically, the oculus in its centre. If you look closely at the enhanced screenshot, you can see that the dome isn’t made of glass and that it looks like a tower (a church’s bell tower, perhaps) more than a whole building.

And there is an actual doorway in there — not like the modern lift doors — opening up towards the source of that white, heavenly light. And what kind of enlightenment can you usually find up in the skies or heavens?

We’re welcomed to crack open the doors to the Heavenly Sanctuary — the Most Holy place, Sanctum Sanctorum, the Holy of Holies — to undraw the final curtain and finally stand eye to eye with God. Who knows, maybe even ask some questions or listen to some answers.

Or, at the very least, to meet one of Her forms known as Jesus Christ. Because that’s precisely where he serves as our (humanity’s) Mediator and the Holy Priest after his Ascension to Heaven. The structure at the top reminds of some temple architecture seen in Antiquity and Christianity.

The Catholic Church considers the Church tabernacle or its location (traditionally at the rear of the sanctuary) as the symbolic equivalent of the Holy of Holies, due to the storage of consecrated hosts in that vessel and their meaning as the Body of Christ. Tabernacle is commonly marked with a red light turned on and off depending on His presence or lack if it.

Looks like He’s already in the area, one way or another, keeping eye on some things.

Are we following a procession of believers happy to embrace their one and true Savior? Or are they actually protesters on their way to dethrone the authority and the system?

Guess we will have to wait and see.

[ennn]

Initial Agatha All Along Ep 7 Meta Thoughts + Reactions

This ep was a work of art and my brain is buzzing while my heart is in awe.

YELLING at how the show is just leaning into the gay now that we're in the endgame. This is the current star TV show product of Disney Marvel and I am stunned and delighted. Two of this show's lead characters flat out saying they're not straight / queer.

I can only hope this spills over to more open marketing and interviews. Yes, I'm still shook about it and will be for the time being.

"I'm your mom's ex [forever pause] best friend." Congratulations Wanda-Agatha shippers, I'm happy for you. Also Agatha's "oooh" at possible epic Maximoff drama? Nice.

We've hit Doctor Who levels of time shenanigans! And timey whimey storytelling is a sure-fire way to hit the feels. There's something so powerful and tragic about Fate.

I keep drawing parallels about how the show feels like such a spiritual successor to DW with the Agatha-Billy team up, and the incredible layers (and theatrics and cunning and drama) with Agatha. Now we're directly playing with time and it's glorious!

As much as Billy is giving Agatha a hard time now, it's probably a good thing and healthy this conflict is in the open. Billy's expressing his hurt and anger and making it super clear he doesn't trust Agatha – which of course, structurally means he will of course have to trust her by the end of this story.

Them snarking at each other attempting the trial? I enjoy these bitchy dumbasses.

What an incredible writing feat in how they did the time skips, with the focus centered on Lilia so we can experience her tragic journey. I can't wait to hear more about how Schaeffer and the writers plotted this out. A new masterclass in executing a series reveal, with stunning cinematography to match. (the colours! the framing!) This episode embodies how it's really the craft and execution that delivers, less of the idea or the plot point.

Patti LuPwn effortlessly grounding this episode with her performance. I'm glad a wider audience gets to experience this Broadway legend's talent. My only regret is we never got more of her singing.

Agatha's back in her active leader-y role in driving the trial to succeed (and of course saving her own skin): tackling Lilia so she doesn't get impaled, reminding them to hurry up, and ultimately saving them crucial seconds by putting down the Death card.

Congratulations to Agatha officially joining the monsterfucker club. The way everyone looked to her (look, everyone saw Rio's dumb scar confession) was gold.

Vindication for my Death's missing heart theory -- although now it looks like the wound is more likely self-inflicted? I wonder exactly when and how.

Vindication for my perception of Rio as not a liar (as I do love the contrast with Agatha's duplicitous nature and tendency to run). She literally told everyone she's The Green Witch. In a scary voice no less.

Excited to see how they tackle Rio being the original Green Witch. Death being a witch is certainly a new take? And I'm still not sure how human or not this makes Rio, which makes the last two eps rather unpredictable. Yes, she's got a skull face and can do weird shit with her body. But the Scarlet Witch was able to pull off some inhuman things in MoM.

[ari-the-arotistic]

So I was thinking about pirates of the Caribbean, and each characters unique moral code and way of approaching life, as one does, when I remembered a particular scene about our beloved James Norrington... the very first scene in which Jack and James meet. Now, as a long time Sparrington shipper, I adore the Sparrington fandoms adopted head canon of Jack's compass pointing directly at Jack when James is holding it as having a romantic connotation too it, but this is Disney we're talking about, and a Disney from 20 years ago at that, so it is of course just a head canon. And while it is a beloved head canon, I will always be a writer before a shipper, and what that scene says about Norrington from a writer's perspective is far too juicy not to share... So buckle up for a very long meta post about who James Norrington is as a person, and how it was set up in this scene(and later reinforced in the second and third movie). This is my first real meta post, and I'm very excited for it, so let's jump right in.

First of all, the compass scene.

As we can clearly see in the image above, since the red line that points to the object of the holder's desires is no where to be seen, its relatively easy to conclude that it's hidden from our view by the sun dial in the middle, and thusly is pointing directly at Jack. Elizabeth is off to James's right, and no one is standing behind Jack, so unless the compass was pointing at something in the far off distance that just so happened to be in Jack's general direction(unlikely) its pretty clear what(or who) the compass is pointing at. For most potc fans, this is fairly standard knowledge. But it's what this fact says about Norrington's character that I'd like to focus on. After all, what does it say about a man that a compass that shows you what you desire most is pointing at a pirate, and the very face of piracy at that, instead of your canonical love interest, when you're a Commodore of the Navy? As stated above, Sparrington shippers often point at this scene as proof that James has a bit of a pash on the ruggedly handsome pirate, or at the very least, a thing for men. But from a writer's perspective, this just simply isn't the case, and not because the writer's in this instance are the notoriously homophobic corporation we call Disney. The reason why this is so unlikely from a writing perspective is because given the context clues, we as an audience are meant to draw the conclusion that this is the first time that they meet(I have heard rumors of them meeting as children in the books, but having never read them, and focusing only on the movies, I'm not including that in this post). And since this is the first time they've met, it's highly unlikely that the compass is pointing at Jack because James has a bit of a thing for him. Even if James has heard of Jack's many exploits, he does not truly know the man behind the legend, so having romantic feelings for the pirate at this point in time just isn't believable. And even if James was a closeted gay/bi man, it's still unlikely that the compass would be pointing at Jack of all the men around the Commodore(of which there is a lot, some of whom he is incredibly close with) seeing as Jack is the poster boy of piracy, and at this point in the movie it's made abundantly clear that James vehemently detests the notion and all who practice it. If James were to be holding the compass in Jack's vicinity in later movies and it still pointed at the pirate, an argument could definitely be made that it was because he had developed feelings for Jack, but for their first meeting, it's just not realistic. So it's much more likely that the reason the compass is pointing at Jack is because of James's desire to send every pirate he meets to "a quick drop and a sudden stop" as he so eloquently put it to a young Elizabeth. This is further reinforced in the third movie when it is revealed that Beckett's desire to have Jack dead at his feet would prevent him from using the compass to find Shipwreck Cove if the pirate was not already at the aforementioned location, or, well, dead. This is again, relatively common knowledge. But like I said before, it's what this fact says about James that is the whole point of this post... and that is that James cares more about his career than anything else, even the woman he claims to love. Now for some, that statement alone might seem like a pretty obvious conclusion, but it's how this scene subtlety sets up this core aspect of Norrington's character before we even truly get to know who he is, and how it's brought to it's full height in the second movie, and the core aspect of his redemption and subsequent death in the third that I'd really like to talk about. Which brings us to the next segment of this post...

How James lost his commission to the navy...

And how he got it back

So let's start off with how James lost his commission... it's a story we all know pretty well, and one he tells to Gibbs in the scene shown above, when he plans to either join Jack's crew or get revenge on the man that(he believes) ruined his life. After Jack's escape in the first movie, James grew obsessed with capturing the pirate, so much so that he foolishly followed the Black Pearl into a hurricane, resulting in the sinking of the Dauntless, and the loss of countless lives that had been aboard the vessel. It's unclear aside from James himself who had been on the ship at the time, and who did or did not survive, but the death toll was heavy, with most, if not everyone who wasn't James, having perished in the storm. While it is not the most extreme example(which we'll get too in just a bit), this is a pretty clear example of James prioritizing his career above everything else, even reason and logic. And all just to capture a singular pirate, even at the cost of his own ship and crew, and rather ironically, the very career that he had been so desperately trying to hold onto in the first place. Which brings us to the next scene I'd like to discuss... James stealing the heart of Davy Jones. This moment is the absolute peak of this part of James's character. This is the moment where James takes his obsessive need for his career to the max. This is the moment where James truly prioritizes his career above everything else, even the woman he claims to love(and for Sparrington shippers, above the man he's reluctantly come to care about). At this point in time, when James decides to take the heart for himself to regain his old station, he's been on the Black Pearl long enough to know the full situation. That Jack is in some kind of trouble with Davy Jones, and that if Jack doesn't use the heart to bargain for his freedom, then the Kraken will hunt Jack, and subsequently the Black Pearl, down until he and everyone aboard are dead. And that includes Elizabeth. And yet, despite knowing that stealing the heart would basically mean sealing Elizabeth's death, he still decided to do so. Sure, the argument could be made that he thought Elizabeth would be able to escape somehow, but the chances of her dying at sea, or some other terrible fate befalling her before she could safely make it back to civilization would have been highly likely. Of course we as an audience know that this isn't the case, but James does not. So essentially, James was so obsessed with his career, and maintaining the image of the honorable Commodore that he didn't even truly register that he was putting Elizabeth, the woman he loves and has been trying so desperately to woo for the past two movies, in danger. And he won't fully realize the consequences of his actions until the third movie, in a deleted scene no less(I swear when I find whoever decided to delete some of the most important scenes to James's character...), when Davy Jones informs Governor Swann of his daughters untimely demise on the Black Pearl. Of course, almost immediately afterwards, Beckett retcons that statement by informing the Governor that Elizabeth was recently seen in Singapore, but for a few minutes, James has to sit with the fact that Elizabeth was dead, and it was his fault. And even after learning that she was in fact still alive, James has now finally come to the realization that if she had still been on the Black Pearl when it sank with its Captain, he would've been the one to send her to her death. And for Sparrington shippers, James has to sit with the unavoidable fact that he was the reason Jack had died(even if the pirate does come back), despite the fact that it was Elizabeth's betrayal that was the final nail in Jack's coffin, since she wouldn't have had to do that if the Kraken wasn't after them in the first place. Which brings us to the final scene I'd like to discuss...

James choosing a side, and paying the price

Now, before we fully delve into this scene, I'd like to take a moment to talk about James's own perception of himself, and his relationship with honor and integrity. From the very first scene in which we meet James Norrington, we are made aware that he has a strong moral compass. He firmly believes piracy is evil, and that all who partake in piracy deserve a swift end. He perceives his Commodore persona as being the paragon of honor and integrity, and the sole arbiter of justice. We can infer from the line "By remembering that I serve others, Sparrow, not just myself" that James does have honorable intentions when ridding the world of pirates, that being protecting the innocent citizens under his care, but as seen once again in the first time James and Jack meet, wherein James adamantly tries to arrest Jack despite the fact the fact that pirate had just saved Elizabeth's life, his actions to achieve that goal are not always quite as honorable as his intentions are. This is especially highlighted once again when James gave Beckett the heart of Davy Jones. James's intentions here were once again rooted in honor and integrity - he believes that the only way to keep people safe from pirates is too return to his old station, to the image of honor and integrity he had built around the title of Commodore, and the only way to return to his old station is to give Beckett the heart. But the action itself was far from honorable, seeing as James had to betray the woman he loved just to obtain the heart, and that he was now putting it into the hands of a dangerously unstable individual who planned on using it to commit mass genocide.

And now, we finally get to the scene above... Of course, it's made clear throughout his scenes in the third movie leading up to this one that James is already starting to regret giving Beckett the heart after seeing the damage being caused, but since Beckett is targeting pirates specifically(although we as an audience know that Beckett's definition of pirate is very loose) James figures that the ends justify the means, as he often does in situations regarding piracy. It is not until his reunion with Elizabeth, where he learns that Governor Swann is dead, and that Beckett lied to him about the Governor's whereabouts, that James truly realizes the enormity of his mistake. It is in this moment that James has a sudden realization that fundamentally shakes him to his core, and is the reason behind his change of heart later on. He realizes that the honorable Commodore persona that he had tried to cultivate and keep a hold of for so long had never been truly honorable at all, and that by giving Beckett the heart of Davy Jones, he had effectively tied the noose around the neck of his own honor and integrity, as well as the necks of hundreds, if not thousands of innocent people, with his own hands. And as that one vine goes, this was the moment James knew, he fucked up. Which leads to his decision to change sides in an attempt to redeem himself, and his subsequent death in the process. Of course, part of James's reason for helping Elizabeth escape was that he does care for her, but given everything I've detailed about him so far, I think it's safe to say the main reason that James decided to help Elizabeth and her crew was because he wanted to undo the damage he had done, and he had faith that Elizabeth, Will, and Jack would have some sort of plan to defeat Beckett, and stop any further damage to come from his mistake. And now, for his death scene itself... As much as I love the idea of James surviving and joining the pirates(whether at Elizabeth's side or Jack's is unimportant), I firmly believe that his death was a necessary end of this part of his character arc, and that if he were to survive he would still have to go through a major ego death for this part of his character arc to end properly. Because as Bill turner drives that wooden pike into James's gut, it's not just the physical death of his body, but also the metaphorical death of Admiral James Norrington, and the ideals that James had used to build the persona out of. So even if James survived, the Admiral would still have to meet his metaphorical end, thusly causing James to lose a core part of himself that had been guiding most his decisions so far, in the process, which would start the next part of his character arc, where he would have to deal with the loss of a key part of his personality, and rebuild himself from the ground up to finally, truly become the image of honor and integrity he had envisioned from the beginning.

And that concludes this very long post. I could probably wax enough poetics about this aspect of James's character to write a short novel, but I've said everything important to this post, and if I go on any longer, I'm likely to start repeating myself lol. Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or a reblog! I will always love hearing more about our polished peacock <3

[toastsrambles]

One of the Best Sherlock Holmes Adaptations No One Seems to Know

I know that I’ve been mostly (read: only) doing Moriarty the Patriot metas, but I wanted to talk about something different.

I’ve been obsessed with Sherlock Holmes for… a while. Seriously, everyone I talk to is sick of this Victorian detective by now. I’ve also encountered my fair share of adaptations (shoutout to A Study in Emerald, a short story by Neil Gaiman and 221B, a poem by Vincent Starrett, for being some more of my favorite adaptations). But I’ve seen no one - no one - actually talk about my favorite - and in my opinion, one of the best - Sherlock Holmes adaptations.

Sherlock: the Musical (2022)

With a book by Stefan van de Graaff and Denning Burton, and Music and Lyrics by Denning Burton. It’s currently touring, with the full musical available, professionally filmed, on YouTube. The official cast recording is available on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, and more.

I could geek out about this musical for literal hours, so some of my favorite highlights will be under the cut. Spoilers ahead, so if you really want to go in blind, listen/watch first.

Now, important to note that this is not an adaptation of BBC Sherlock, like the name might imply. This is an adaptation of the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Firstly, the opening song, Streets of London.

This song gives you the perfect insight into all the major characters (sans Moriarty).

Sherlock Holmes, the famous consulting detective, is completely confident in his abilities. No criminals can escape: “not when you're messing with Sherlock and John/you just lose your freedom”.

John Watson is Holmes’ loyal companion, his Boswell. Whereas Holmes sets them up as partners, John sees things a bit differently: “right by his side is my spot/and I’m just fine writing lines of what he did”.

Lestrade is impressed by “this Baker Street detective”, while fellow Scotland Yard officer Alice is a bit more judgemental and skeptical: “he doesn’t have any friends”.

We also get this lovely chorus (00:54):

”Streets of London hide

Nothing from Sherlock’s eyes

This darkening plot

Is not what you thought, so

Are you watching close enough?

Blink you’ll miss this mystery unwind

He won’t be undone

Sherlock Holmes, always one step ahead of them

There’s only one you can’t outrun in London”

This song establishes the two main conflicts of the musical: the public perception of Sherlock Holmes and Watson’s relationship to Holmes.

Now, Holmes and Watson have a duet, Elementary, where their chorus reads:

“It’s elementary

Without a doubt, we’re the greatest duo sround

Elementary

The higher we go, the further they fall down

It’s just like gravity

How do we do the things we do?

It’s a natural phenomenon

That the best things come in two

It’s elementary”

And yet, Watson still says in the bridge: “behind every legend stand dynamic friends”. He’s behind the legend, in that he’s responsible for Holmes’ fame, but he’s also behind the legend; he’s just… not as important as Sherlock Holmes.

And, in case you didn’t notice: in Streets of London, the ensembles sings Holmes’ praises. Not Watson’s. The only person who notices Watson’s contributions is Holmes. Not even Moriarty does, not all the way.

Moriarty first becomes known when he plants a bomb that even Sherlock wasn’t able find- it was Watson who found it. However, the bomb never went off. Still, the story somehow makes it to the paper that Sherlock stopped the bomb.

The song Read All About It is something of a reprise of Streets of London, both in music and theme. It drills in the fact that Sherlock works alone, that it’s him and him alone who can save London. The way the public is whipped into a fervor of idealism is almost similar to Moriarty the Patriot, actually.

However, while the public places their faith in Holmes, he worries:

“Terror in London Nowhere to hide, fear in the streets, people are running Running to me How could I not see it coming? How do I not know what’s coming?”

See, the climax of this musical is the song One Step Ahead. Moriarty has lured both Holmes and Watson to Reichenbach Falls under the assumption that the other is in danger. Moriarty then holds Watson at gun point and tells Holmes that if he doesn’t jump, he’ll shoot Watson. In the end, Holmes agrees, and the song ends with this exchange:

“Holmes: I have to save John

So this is how it ends

Not enough time

Maybe death will be a friend

Moriarty: You? You don’t have any friends-

Watson: This time I’m one step ahead of you!”

Watson then tackles Moriarty off the cliff before Holmes can jump, leaving Holmes alone on the cliff.

The next song, Love Someone, is just- it’s so good. It can be read as both platonic or romantic, but the underlying fact is that Watson has shown Sherlock how important loving someone is, and how important it is to hold the ones you love close because “time is yours before it slips away”.

And, some more of my favorite lyrics from this song:

“It was love that took all my fear away If that love could be here and here to stay How would things change?”

“Love someone Love can hold the world until healing comes The greatest conclusion yet, when all is said and done”

“If you’ve prayed for a moment, pled to take their place And yet how quiet it felt, when you imagined their face Pure love, unchanged, a peace that carries your pain Time is yours, before it slips away”

And of course, the last line: “things have changed now”. The acknowledgement that Holmes is fundamentally different without Watson, and maybe can’t even be Holmes without Watson. It’s so incredibly touching.

Of course, though, Watson isn’t truly gone. We learn shortly after his funeral that he managed to survive by holding onto a ledge he spotted when making his way up the cliff in the first place.

This is where we truly learn how much everyone underestimated Watson. See, while Moriarty was the only one to see Watson’s importance to Sherlock, Holmes was the only one to see Watson’s true value. Watson is smart and competent; when Moriarty planted a bomb, he was the one who jumped on top of it with no hesitation (a la Captain America).

We wrap up with Streets of London (Reprise), where Holmes and Watson accept a new case and return to 221B.

Honorable mentions of stuff I ADORE about this musical:

Watson’s song Into the Shadow. Not only are the vocals superb, this song perfectly encapsulates how Watson has faded into Holmes’ shadow in the public eye. But his solemn acceptance of this - “if it saves your life/and they forget mine/then I don’t mind/stepping back into the shadows” - just makes it heartbreaking.

The fact that every single musical number is just awesome. A Different Story, where Holmes, Watson, Lestrade, and Alice interrogate a suspect? A Most Unusual Case, where we see the people who come to Holmes for help? The Greatest Mind, where Holmes and Moriarty first face off? ALL OF THEM are great, including the ones I didn’t just list. The lyrics, instrumentation, and vocals just blow me away.

The references to other cases! For just two examples: in A Most Unusual Case, the blue diamond in a coat sleeve is a reference to The Blue Carbuncle; and in Streets of London (Reprise), the recently engaged typist with a mysteriously vanished fiancée is A Case of Identity.

Also, Watson making deductions in Streets of London (Reprise) is just great :D

The way Watson supposedly dies at Reichenbach, and the subconscious message that it doesn’t matter that it was Watson who died instead of Holmes; either way, Holmes and Watson are dead. The death of one is the death of the other.

The way minor characters like Mrs. Hudson and Mycroft are portrayed is amazing. Seriously, I love the characterization here.

Just… I love this musical so much. It just feels like a love letter to Sherlock Holmes, and the passion behind it is astounding.

So, yeah. If you like Sherlock Holmes, give this a watch/listen. (Please, I really need to know that more people are aware of this masterpiece).

[fractualized]

Could you give me any Batman comic(/series) recommendations? Or Joker ones?

(You can pretend I’ve never read any Batman comics)

Man, this got me thinking about (1) the number of extended storylines I still haven't fully read myself and (2) of the ones I have, would I recommend that people read them?? Tough question! Thinking about it in terms of a Batman newbie changes things too... 🤔

Ultimately, my list is mostly one-offs apart from the mainline series, but there's a few multi-issue mainline stories in there. From oldest to newest:

Batman (1940) #1, "The Joker" and "The Joker Returns" — Early comics can feel inaccessible because of their age, but I would still recommend checking out the start of Batman and Joker's relationship for a sense of the longevity and evolution of these characters (You could also read Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics [1937] #27.)

Batman (1940) #251, "The Joker's Five-Way Revenge" — Jumping ahead thirty years! After a 4-year absence from comics, Joker returns, and I just love how his dynamic with Batman picks up where they left off like it was yesterday.

Detective Comics (1937) #475, "The Laughing Fish" — The infamous story in which Joker's mad scheme is to… copyright fish.

The Dark Knight Returns #1-4 — TBH, I'm not a fan of TDKR for various reasons. However, it had a huge influence on Batman and you should read it at least once.

Batman (1940) #404-407, "Batman: Year One" — More required reading (but I do enjoy it more than TDKR). Frank Miller's problematique is more acknowledged today, but as I said, modern Batman stems from his work.

The Killing Joke — Controversial-ish recommendation nowadays, considering the much-maligned choice to fridge Barbara Gordon, but I still enjoy the nuance it gives Joker and the meta element of the ending, with Bruce and Joker trapped in their cycle by choices that are informed by the needs of the franchise. Alan Moore may no longer care for it, but I do! (Also, I'd say read it with the original coloring.)

Batman (1940) #426-429, "A Death in the Family" — Another big event in Batman lore: the death of Jason Todd. It's one of those moments that gets flattened in various ways today, so I think it's important to see how everything actually played out. In particular, it's striking to see that Joker is initially nervous about Batman finding out what he did, and just how Bruce struggles with his no-kill principle.

Batman #450-451, "Wildcard!" and "Judgements!" — Joker's big return after Jason's murder, in which we see he's still not all that giddy about it.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #65-68, "Going Sane" — This story takes place earlier in Batman's career, before Robin. When Joker seemingly kills Batman, he tries to start a new life without his instability breaking through. Meanwhile, Bruce recovers from his near-death in a little town in the middle of nowhere and thinks he might actually stay there… but he's plagued by restlessness too.

Joker: Devil's Advocate — Joker winds up on death row, but for a crime he didn't commit! Bruce is set on proving Joker's innocence despite the clown's other sins, and Joker is too captivated by all the media attention to help save his own hide.

Deathstroke (1991) #58, "Bad Blood" — A story in which Joker causes plenty of chaos, but in service of doing something… nice?

Batman: Ego — As Bruce contemplates giving up his crusade, he falls into an argument with… Batman.

Batman (1940) #648-650, "All They Do Is Watch Us Kill" — Part of Under the Red Hood. Jason Todd's reappearance in Gotham City comes to a head when he kidnaps Joker and draws Batman in for a dire confrontation.

Detective Comics (1937) #826, "Slayride" — Paul Dini is one of the writers who consistently remembers Joker has a personality and makes him funny, and this Christmas-time story featuring Tim Drake is a great example.

Batman Confidential #7-12, "Lovers and Madmen" — An alternative origin for Joker. Bruce has been fighting crime for about a year when he encounters a bloody crime scene that he can't make sense of. Meanwhile, the culprit, Jack, is growing bored with his criminal life, until he comes face to face with a vigilante bat.

Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 (Volume 2), "Reality Check" — Is Joker really crazy? Does Joker himself even know?

Batman (2011) #13-17, "Death of the Family" — Not to be confused with "A Death in the Family." Joker tries to convince Batman that all his sidekicks make him weak.

Batman (2011) #23.1, "Time to Monkey Shine" — Joker infamously adopts a gorilla. (It ends badly.)

Batman (2011) #35-40, "Endgame" — After Joker's failure in DOTF, he decides to bring his conflict with Batman to a close.

The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox #1-7 — The Riddler is dead, but what really happened? A heist story in which the point of view is passed around multiple rogues, but Joker is the ringleader.

Catwoman: Lonely City #1-4 — Alright, this one does revolve around Selina, but the story is deeply tied to her relationship with Bruce and what she comes to understand about him in the end. (And Joker plays a brief but key part!)

Batman & The Joker: The Deadly Duo #1-7 — A recent team-up that calls back to everything I've personally enjoyed about Batman and Joker's dynamic.

Batman: City of Madness #1-3 — Beneath Gotham lies Gotham Below, from which a monstrous mirror of Batman escapes in search of a Robin. In his pursuit, Bruce confronts not only alternative versions of his rogues but his personal demons.

[harocat]

Perhaps this is inaccurate, but does it ever feel to you like general cdrama fandom takes the FL being a “mature” character as the end-all indicator of the show’s quality? Recently with legend of Shenli I see quite a few people start their praise along the lines of “unlike those other garbage xianxia with their annoying FLs”. And often it becomes clear they’re trashtalking Lbfad specifically

This is not just Cdrama fandom, it's fandom on the whole; the girlbossification of female characters.

I've generally always favored characters that get this treatment. Riza Hawkeye (badass) vs. Winry Rockbell (immature), Sango (badass) vs Kagome (immature). Sorry those examples are anime, but they're very well known so 🤷

These are also often healer characters, which is a trope that tends to be... sort of maligned. How dare a women be relegated to just being a healer! But IDK, I'd rather have a well written healer than a generic, flatly written warrior any day. XLH would definitely fall under the healer class.

(One good thing I've noticed is that while all the above mentioned girls got a lot of hate back in the day, as time has gone on, they've grown to become beloved characters. You rarely see hate for any of them nowadays. It's great.)

Keeping in mind fandom's general disinterest in women, so naturally the appreciation that does exist is often extremely shallow. Characters that tend to catch their attention because of this are ones that are 'badass' or that they want to 'step on them' or whatnot. A character that starts out more mature is more likable to them because they don't need to look beyond the surface to see how 'cool' she is.

This is not an implication that Shenli is a shallow character (I am only on ep twelve, so I'm not here to give any kind of overall impression), but just that she from the beginning has more traits that are easy for people to glom onto as a 'strong female character' Do these specific people (this is obviously not all fans of Shenli) who say 'finally a mature character' write meta about Shenli? Do they gush on her and share fanworks and create and all the like. Generally no, because in my experience people who like characters for 'girlboss' reasons don't really appreciate them beyond the surface.

These people will gripe about characters like XLH, sing the praises of 'strong female characters', then go back to only caring about male characters 90% of the time.

Xiao Lanhua takes too much work for these kinds of fans. Obviously we know she is strong, we know she is badass and brave, but the XLH we meet at the beginning is silly, immature, and boy crazy. To appreciate her character fully, you have to do more than just look for five seconds and go 'wow badass'. She's a layered, richly written character, but she doesn't start out as the kind of character that fits a girlboss reading.

On the other hand, almost because of this, you can find pages and pages of meta, fic, and fanworks about her, and almost any fan of hers can give you a plethora of reasons they love her that have actual depth.

On the subject of maturity, it's often a case of the kind of immaturity that's acceptable. Dongfang Qingcang is deeply immature at the start of the series. I don't need to explain why.

But his immaturity is appealing to fandom; cute, likable, and funny. It's good immature, cool immature. And I think this is because in addition to being a male character, we're also taught that being immature like Xiao Lanhua is--- is like... a horrible thing to be? But that's not the case at all. It's just normal! Again, back to girlboss feminism. Women and female characters are held to an impossibly high standard. Female characters that act in a way that might be seen as cringe (if they aren't also badass)? Yikes.

Yes, Xiao Lanhua starts out flighty and silly, but she's also a hard worker, and even from the beginning, she's courageous (despite her timidity when confronted with bullies). She's a good character, even at the beginning; she is lovable, charming, and so, so funny. People just refuse to see beyond their first impression.

The goal in writing a female character should be to make them well written, and in that sense, Xiao Lanhua is a great character. She just happens to also be extremely brave and badass, but some people are too shallow to see it. At this point in time I don't even argue with XLH haters. I'm just like 'well fine, I'd rather not have you here anyway.'

[not-freyja]

For the director's cut, I would love to hear more about Legend's thought process and motivations once he met Hyrule in Adjuration! 🥰

Thank you for an actual scene selection everyone else had me pulling out a random number generator. Fucks sake. Love you guys. Also sorry this took like… a month, writing is hard.

This is going to be long. And though it might be analysis for chapter two, it will contain spoilers for the whole story.

Key: [quoted text in brackets] my analysis out if brackets.

[Time to deal with the strange Hylian. The same strange Hylian who came out of a now-vanished portal that also spat out a monster.

Link did not get this far in life by being the trusting sort.] Okay this sets the tone. Legend is immediately suspicious. He knows something fucky just happened, and that this person is involved.

[“So…” he says to the figure now sitting up on the ground. “Who the hell are you?”

There’s a faint mumble from the Hylain shaped pile of dirt at his feet.

Link sighs. “You need to speak up a bit.”

“I’m…” the kid's voice is raspy, as if he hasn’t used it in a while. He coughs, trying again. It’s a bit better this time.] Crying in Rulie-loving sorrow. This boy has such a hard life. I wanted to make sure the readers understood that without rubbing it in. I also wanted to make it clear that Legend was noticing these things. [“I’m no one. Just a traveler.”] Nick name establishment. Also secret world-building. I have so many thoughts about the world-building of each of their eras. And I was holding myself back chomping at the bit not to pull a Tolkien and overshare.

[“Bullshit.”

The kid’s eyes go wide. “No, really!” There’s an almost raw edge of panic to his voice now, and Link almost feels bad. “I’m not anybody important, I’m just passing through. I’ll be on my way now, thank you for the help.] They have known each other for about two minutes and Legend is already aware of a few things. This kid is involved with some kind of Dark Magic, he’s on the run, and he does not want to reveal his identity. This is ringing some trauma bells for Leggy. He is seeing himself, and he is getting sympathetic.

[And before Link can so much as laugh at such a pathetic attempt at a lie (and it is a lie, he’s been on enough quests to be able to tell a nobody from a somebody) the traveler scrambles to his feet.] Little meta joke here. We the player, we the reader can tell an NPC from a main character. Legend, who thinks in meta terms, can too.

[The thing is, Link is retired. He’s put in the work, done his time. He’s spilled enough blood and lost enough of his life to goddesses and princesses and lost wayward souls that this is the point in the story where he wants to take the guy at his word.] So… Link. Not Legend. Link. He is so tired, and so done. Its been four lifetimes of misery and he is done, thank you. [Link wants to shrug, turn around, and continue on his way home. He wants to turn and run through the woods, back to his house and slide the bolt in the door and have Ravio tell anyone who comes calling that the hero] This is the only time that Legend thinks of “hero” in the general lowercase noun and not “Hero” as a proper noun. Why? Well because a hero would do such a thing as to hide from a quest. A Hero would not. [is not home because he is not going to be answering any more calls to greatness. There will not be one more quest.] oh buddy. *sobs* Rulie’s “got one more in me” later down the road as the direct foil to this thought. Rulie’s death is the catalyst for the rest of Legend’s character arc, like his entrance into Legend’s life is the catalyst for the plot.

[He’s retired, by the Three.] Yeah man keep telling yourself that.

[But right before he can do just what it is he wants, the stranger goes to leave first. And the poor thing takes one step, yelps like a kicked dog, and crumples back to the forest floor.

“Fuck.” Link can’t help the curse] The sympathy is now at a boiling point. Legend cannot help but care. Cannot help but try to help. [and he strides forward, towards the kid, away from home.] OKAY so the “away from home” bit is both directionally in the scene and narratively in the plot. [It’s only a few steps, but it’s the wrong way, and Link has done this enough times by now to know that it really is those first few steps that count.

Those are the ones that you can’t take back. The ones that all the rest come after.

Link takes them anyway.] I can’t even start with this part. The repeated theme of Legend “going the wrong way” of him doing the dangerothing anyway, despite his well-earned survival instincts. I… listen, Legend was suicidal. From day one. He knows he can’t undo this. He knows that another quest will probably get him killed. He does it anyway.

[“Hey, easy there,” he all but whispers, dropping to his knees next to the filthy kid. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay, Traveler?”

Big eyes stare up at him. They are full of fear and distrust, and a painful glint of hope. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Link sighs, takes another deep breath. “Is it your leg?”

That gets a weird combination of a nod and a shrug. “Ankle, actually.” The kid smiles at him. And it really is a nice smile, soft, and a bit shy. “I got my foot twisted under a tree root.”

He can’t help but wince because, yeah, been there. “Well that’s not too bad then.” Link grins. “A brace, a red potion, and a few days rest, and you’ll be good as new.”

The traveler nods, some of the stress seeming to bleed out of his shoulders. “That’s what I thought too. Thanks.” He pauses, gulps before continuing. “Thank you for handling the moblin for me. I… I’m not at my best right now.”] This whole section is about deepening the sympathy. He is looking at Rulie amd seeing his younger self (I have Rulie at 16 and Legend at 20) and he just wants to help. (Time: “Let me help.”)

[“No need to thank me.” Link’s smile, previously genuine, turns bitter. “That’s what heroes do.”

Just as he was starting to loosen up, the stranger tenses again, every muscle going taut as a bowstring.] So they have different reasons for the same action (getting tense). Legend is a ball of angst. Hyrule is afraid if being recognized.

[“You alright?”

“...What do you mean ‘hero?’”

And that tone of voice right there? Suspicious and untrusting? Waiting for the other shoe to drop? Link knows that tone of voice. He uses that tone of voice on the daily. He loves that tone of voice. But only when it’s coming from him. Out of another mouth, it just sounds sad.] Here Legend is an inch away from self awareness. So close. But more importantly, his recognition if the self in Rulie is getting even stronger. Every moment is another moment that they are more alike in Legend’s eyes.

[But hey, in for a green rupee, in for a gold.] LOL.

[“That would be me,” he says with his most winning smile. “Link, Hero of Legend, savior of Hyrule, chosen by the Goddess… you get the gist.”] Here I have Legend give the titles of three out of five Heroes that Link will be. Chosen, Legend, and Hyrule. This was foreshadowing no one noticed because why the fuck would you? What I did to this boy was unhinged no one saw that coming.

[And the kid just stares.

And stares.

And stares some more.] Me too buddy. Legend is so pretty.

[This is getting ridiculous. Link shakes his head. “Listen, I’m not really in the market for any missions, or quests, divine or otherwise. Firmly out of the whole kingdom-saving business. And the princess-saving gig as well. So why don’t you just tell me where you’re heading, and I’ll make sure you get to the nearest town in the right direction in one piece and we’ll call it even?”] Last attempt to avoid the situation, and he is still trying to help. What a dumb bitch.

[Those deep green eyes staring up at him suddenly roll back, and the boy goes limp.] Baby boy! Also the green here. Yes it is Rulie’s eye color. But it os also Ravio’s eye color, and every single detail Legend notices about this kid gets him more attached.

[“Well, shit.” Link grumbles, running a hand through his hair. What could have been an hour-long detour on his day is now a problem with a capital P. Because as much as he might want to, Link isn’t actually capable of abandoning some poor homeless-looking teenager in the middle of the woods. Especially not one who fainted at the sound of Link’s name.

That thought makes Link pause. Did he faint? A monster was chasing him, it could be blood loss. It could be more than just his ankle.] Standard worrying here. He feels responsible for this kid now.

[He reaches out tentatively with a small brush of magic and almost sighs in relief.] OKAY BIG MISTAKE. Rulie is the Triforce. Legend loves the Triforce. And the Triforce loves Legend. They magically harmonized here. Imprinted. Zinged. From this moment on they were both attached. [The issue is clear now. There’s an empty well where the kid’s natural magic should be, almost drained but nowhere near dangerously so. The fainting wasn’t about Link at all, it was the adrenaline fading off and the strain the poor kid’s body was under finally catching him.

The memory of that strange portal flares in his mind. That incident coupled with this guy being certifiably drained of magic after falling through makes Link realize a couple of things real quick.] Smart Leggy. Good Leggy.

[First, this kid probably made that portal. Second, he came through it as a last-ditch resort. He was running from something, or someone. Third, this poor Hylian has a lot of magic at his disposal (not only did he make a stable portal but he and a moblin went through it before it collapsed), magic that still pushes out in a wave, nauseatingly strong despite its low levels.] Bitch that’s the fucking Triforce.

[Link is almost afraid to learn how much the kid will have after he recharges.] Again, the Triforce.

Now to fast forward about three paragraphs, because while I like those paragraphs very much they can be entirely summarized as: Legend is so suicidal. How did none of you notice?

[One arm slides under bony knees, the other behind the prone Hylian’s back. Nayru’s tears, he won’t even need a power bracelet for this, he’s so thin.] So… I’m not crying, you’re crying. Their first moment together perfectly mirrors their last, and that is fine, that is so fine. Nothing is wrong here, I am okay.

[The Hero rises, an unconscious stranger held delicately in his arms.] Here we go. The pivot to Hero as a proper noun. The acceptance of the call. The attachment is personal and magical, and our journey begins with Legend carrying Rulie to safety, when he knows it will kill him. (And kind of hoping that it does.)

…this is a loop. The beginning is the end.

[cornsoupflavour]

Untapped Power (LoL NSFW Smut) [META]

⚠️18+ ONLY - MINORS DNI⚠️

Syndra x Gamer!Male Reader

Tags: 2.7k, slight verbal degradation, creampie, power exchange, mention of k1ll1ng (in-game though), mommy, meta

Image credit: Minory Fox on ArtStation

You'd been browsing the selection of champions, your fingers tapping against the keyboard as you contemplated which one to use tonight. The variety was staggering, as always, and the background hum of the loading screen brought a sense of excitement and anticipation.

Suddenly, the room around you began to dematerialise, leaving you at what was seemingly a jazzy and oddly calming bar. Surrounding you were the champions you were just browsing through. Syndra walked by you, her violet eyes ablaze with power. Her silvery–white hair flowed around her like a cascade of silver water, the intricate design of her armor glinting in the light. You found yourself taking a step back involuntarily, your eyes still locked onto her.

You looked up, seeing yourself through a large rectangular screen, looking dazed and bored. It finally clicked in your head. This was part of the new update that League received. It said something about the integration of new–age technology, and this must be it. You decide to pick Syndra for the match tonight. Approaching her, you call out, "H–Hey, Syndra– Ms. Syndra...?"

"Well, well," Syndra began as she turned to face you, her voice like the cracking of electricity. "It seems you're the one who dabbles with our kind. Are you going to choose me tonight, or shall I have to force my way into the game?"

The other champions nearby were moving around and chatting, taking a break after acting out a long–winded battle for some other players. They seemed to brush over the fact that you're there, like you were invisible. As your attention landed back on Syndra, you could feel the weight of their gazes, but you maintained eye contact with her.

"You're quite the intimidating presence," you commented, trying to keep your composure. "But I think I'd like to give you a shot." A grin tugged at the corner of her lips as she presented you with a holographic champion select button. You locked eyes with her once more before gazing up at the You through the screen in the sky and laid your hand on the button. 

Syndra's eyes narrowed, as you're both transported to a different place, now surrounded by walls of blue pixels. "I like your courage. You're about to find out just how good of a choice you'd just made." With a smirk, she disappeared from view, leaving you to complete your selection.

In the blink of an eye, the game loading screen sprang to life, and you found yourself slipping into the role of Syndra, her voice in your ear. The familiar map of Summoner's Rift began to take shape around you, and the adrenaline started to course through your veins. Her headgear materialised onto your head, as you made your way down MID.

As the game began, you could see the minions arriving, you could feel fingers twitching over the keyboard, but your consciousness was in the game. You spotted your opponent on the other side, it was another player with Lux's gear. She seemed to know what she's doing with  her pure essence shining from her regal armor as she cast her shimmering spells. You prepared yourself for a battle as she began to move towards you.

The first few encounters were disastrous. Syndra's voice screamed into your ear, "Dodge her Q– What are you doing?!", "Oh for the love of all that is mighty, stop walking DIRECTLY INTO HER Q!"

You may have escaped the toxicity that is the League of Legends chat function, but it seemed as though it has reincarnated in vocal form. There were times where she'd whisper, perhaps out of pure exhaustion or disappointment, "...you're letting her stun you too easily. Please... react to her Q and E combo faster..." 

Almost every single time you were stunned, you died. Falling victim to her combos. Syndra may have stopped shouting, but you could tell her patience was running thin. For a player with this many hours in the game, you'd think you could dodge almost the basics of abilities. Perhaps it was just a bad day.

In one particularly devastating fight, you were sent back to your tower, your health at 1%. Syndra's voice grew strained and frustrated, if she could choke you through your screen, she would have.

She took a deep breath, "...you have to dodge her Q, be unpredictable. Once you dodge her Q, you can hit her with my Q, E and W combo..." A flicker of dark energy formed at your fingertips, demonstrating the power you could unleash.

But it was then that you started to get the hang of her. You could feel Syndra guiding you out of pure disappointment, but at least it was still guidance. Her power surged through your veins. You stood your ground, anticipating Lux's movements, dodging her Q and E combos  with a sudden burst of speed. Syndra's eyes blazed with satisfaction.

"Good. Now, wait for the right time, and use my R." She instructed, as you watched her summon a dark sphere. "This is my ultimate, Unleashed Power. All those spheres you've been summoning with my Q? Yeah, they're gonna act as extra ammo for my R, got it?"

You did as she said, and as the right time approached, you saw the stunned expression on Lux's face as a barrage of Syndra's dark spheres went barreling at her, taking her out and retrieving the bounty she had gotten from the early game. You took advantage of the opportunity, recalling and buying some items to make you stronger. The tide of the match began to turn.

The game progressed, and with Syndra's guidance, your mastery over her abilities grew. You could feel her delight and approval, her voice filled with pride towards your growth as you coordinated with your team to decimate the enemy. The battle became a symphony of destruction, as you and Syndra's combined efforts brought forth a chorus of tower takedowns and eventually reaching the Nexus.

The enemy team began to crumble under your onslaught, their once–confident demeanor replaced by fear. A devious grin spread across Syndra's features. "Yes... just like that... You're doing so well... I've truly taught you excellently... Keep it up, and you'll know what true devastation feels like."

Your combined efforts with Syndra paid off as your team emerged victorious. The enemy Nexus shattered, as you camped right outside their spawn to farm kills. You'd managed to dominate both the lane and the game, your victory a testament to Syndra's untapped power and your newfound understanding of it.

The screen faded to the character select lobby screen, and Syndra appeared before you. "Well done. With the power I granted you, you've proven worthy of my essence." She bowed her head slightly, pride and respect in her eyes.

"Y'know, for a character who's supposed to be in some medieval universe, you've got some modern slang."

"Yeah, well, if you've existed within this game long enough, you'd pick up a thing or two from the players."

"Oh– yeah that makes sense," you nodded.

"Perhaps next time, you'll choose me again," Syndra said with a wink, her voice a sultry promise. "Y'know, unless you wanna celebrate somehow, the player count drops at around this time, so I'm not expecting any matches soon, let alone matches where I'm picked."

The two of you shared a knowing look, the air between you thick with unspoken desire. She took your hand, leading you through the Post–Match Lobby, passing by other champions as you made your way to a secluded, dark corner. A comfortable silence enveloped you as she leaned in close, your lips brushing against each other. You let a soft moan escape.

"You've been a very good student today," Syndra whispered, her voice a sensual caress against your ear. "And I intend to reward you." With deft fingers, she unbuttoned your shirt, exposing your chest. Her hands roamed over your skin, her touch electric.

"Oh wow... for a League player, you're surprisingly fit..." she playfully whispered. You returned the favor, running your fingers through her silky hair, tugging softly before moving downwards, unfastening her armor. The cool air brushed against your heated skin as she shrugged off the Ionian gear, revealing her slender form.

Syndra's lips trailed down your neck, as her hands gripped your waist, pulling you closer. You let out a soft, pleasure–filled whimper, as she began to unbuckle your belt, her fingers working with precision. As your pants fell to the floor, she smiled devilishly, before kneeling before you.

"Impressive, you're already so hard for me," she whispered, her breath hot against your throbbing member. "I'm going to take care of you." Her tongue swirled around the tip, making you gasp in surprise.

She took you into her mouth, her lips engulfing your shaft. Each slow, deliberate bob of her head was met with a series of moans. "Ugh– fuck, Syndra–" escaped your lips as she sucked you deeper. Her tongue flickered against the sensitive underside, eliciting a moan that vibrated through her mouth.

She increased her pace, her hands massaging and fondling your balls, giving them a gentle squeeze. The intensity of her movements, paired with the warmth of her mouth, sent shivers down your spine. Her eyes looked up at you, full of lust and desire.

You grabbed a clump of her silky silver hair, her headdress laid out on the floor. Her slurps and gawks echoed throughout the empty corner. "Damn– do you do this– nngh, fuck– for all your players?"

She momentarily popped your cock out of her mouth, the shaft glistening with her saliva and spit, trailing back to her plump and purple–tinged lips. "Mmah– No, this is actually the first time I'm doing this. And something tells me, I won't need to find someone else~" she teased as she winked.

Syndra resumed her oral pleasures, her mouth working you with a renewed passion. The sight of her, her purple eyes locked on yours, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips, made your body tense up. Her hand started to play with your balls again, rolling them gently between her fingers, increasing the pressure with each roll.

"Fuck... Syndra, I'm..." You gasped, unable to finish the sentence as you felt yourself getting close.

She paused, her mouth pulling away, leaving you dripping with her saliva. "Hold on, darling, don't cum yet. I want to see how you'd fuck me." She got up, her body swaying seductively, her ample breasts bouncing with each step.

She turned around and bent over, her ass cheeks perfectly round, her back arching, inviting you to take her. You moved closer, positioning yourself at her entrance. Her slick folds welcomed you as you slid inside, her warmth enveloping your shaft.

"G–Goddamn... I should pick you– mmmf~ more often..."

A soft moan escaped her lips as you began to thrust, the sound echoing through the secluded corner. "Mmh, so big, I can feel every inch of you."

You grabbed her hips, your thrusts becoming more depserate, the sound of flesh meeting flesh filling the void. Her head tilted back, exposing her long slender neck, her hair cascading down, framing her like a silvery waterfall.

"Fuck, yes, that's it," she panted, her voice breathy and needy. "Take me, just like this. Fuck– you just bottomed me out–"

You increased your pace, the sound of hips slapping against hers growing louder, her moans and whimpers accompanying the rhythm. Her body bucked back each thrust, her movements in perfect sync with yours.

"Oh, fuck, yes, Syndra, your pussy feels so fucking good," you grunted, your grip on her hips tightening, feeling every ripple as she clenched around your shaft.

She leaned forward, bracing herself on the floor, a muffled moan escaping. You could see sweat beading on her forehead as she turned to look at you over her shoulder, the effort of taking you, a testament to her desire for you. Her body shuddered, her inner walls contracting, milking you with every thrust.

"Fuck, I– I'm close, Syndra," you warned, your breathing growing more ragged.

She looked over her shoulder once more, her eyes glittering with lust. "Don't cum yet, I want to be the one to push you over the edge." With that, she stood up, pulling you out of her, leaving you panting, your cock glistening with her juices.

Instead of returning to the floor, she spun around, climbing onto a nearby surface, her legs spread wide, beckoning you. "Climb up here, baby, let's do this with a view."

You obliged, your legs trembling as you stood on the higher platform, your throbbing member leading the way to her dripping folds. You positioned yourself at the entrance, feeling her walls part and engulf you as you pushed inside.

"Fuck, your tits look beautiful like this."

You began to thrust again, the heightened view and angle giving you a new perspective of each movement. Her eyes locked on yours, her body rocking with each thrust, her moans growing louder, more desperate.

"Mmph, god, that's it, just like that, I'm so close, I need to feel you–" she gasped, her voice raw with need.

You could feel your control slipping, your orgasm looming closer. You wanted nothing more than to give into the pleasure, but as she had said, she wanted to push you over that edge. You increased your pace, fucking her harder, your bodies colliding in a frenzy of lustful desire.

You leaned forward, your hands kneading her tits as you connected your lips with hers in a passionate kiss. All illuminated by the backdrop of a vast world of what were seemingly lobbies of other games.

The world began to fade away, replaced by the feeling of your bodies locked together, the primal rhythm of your fucking, and her breathy, uninhibited moans.

"Syndra, wait– I'm... I'm going to cum..."

Syndra pushed you on your back, her eyes shining with lust as she sat up on your cock. She turned her body to face away from you. She used her abilities to lift the both of you in the air as she began grinding her hips against yours.

Syndra's eyes locked on yours, her body swimming and smacking against yours, her breasts swaying with every movement. The sensation of her taking you in reverse cowgirl was exhilarating, the sight of her body, her purple eyes, and silver hair intensifying your arousal. Her hands rose to her chest, gripping and kneading her own tits.

"Nngh~ Goddamn, Y/N– you're in really deep–"

"Oh, fuck, this is amazing, Syndra," you gasped, your hands gripping her ass, squeezing her firm cheeks.

As she rode you, her body undulating, her moans grew louder, more desperate. Her orgasm began to build, her pace increasing, her walls constricting and pulsing around your cock.

"Nngh fuck, I'm cumming, I'm–" She started to cry out, her walls clamping down, her pussy milked everything out of you.

Her climax ignited yours, your body tensing, your cock pulsating as you poured your hot, thick seed deep inside her, flooding her womb. A muffled roar escaped you as you came, your body quivering, the pleasure coursing through you.

As you both rode the waves of your orgasm, she turned back around to face you, your gazes meeting longingly, sweat beading on both your foreheads. Breathing heavily, your chest heaving as you both regained your composure.

"Holy shit, Syndra, that was–"

"Amazing. I'm glad you enjoyed it," she replied, the satisfaction evident in her voice.

She slowly lowered the both of you back down onto the ledge. Her body remained atop yours, her chest heaving as she caught her breath. The two of you remained entwined, the afterglow of the sex still lingering.

"I'll keep this memory with me... I think I'll just main you from now on... Want me to get you a new skin?" You whispered, your thighs still quaking from the climax.

Syndra sat up and arched her back, her head hanging behind her in utter satisfaction, her eyes closing, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Show me what skin you want me in, Y/N." She whispered back, her voice laced with content and desire, her hand idly running along your chest as she leaned back to lock eyes with you.

The two remained on the ledge, Syndra's body sitting straight up while still impaled on your cock as you laid flat on your back. Looks like you've truly found your main.

[Let me know if you want a part two or if you want me to make this a long running story. And let me know who else you'd want to see a fic about.]

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

Fast Food - The False Oracles

Childhood, Adolescence, Travels

I knelt before the Oracles, eyes downcast. Six of them, there were, dressed in clothes too casual for their nature. Shrinking beneath their gaze, I felt rather like a child before my elders. 

“One has come to seek counsel, great Oracles,” I whispered with reverence. “I have travelled far and wide. I have met the heroes of legend, watched them make history, and fought alongside them too. I have caused the death of my people, and the rise of another, and I live to tell the tale.”

One of them leaned forward. She was serpentine, with skin dry enough to be scaly, eyes red as rubies and long hair to match. “And what is it you seek, little trickster? Do you wish to change the past? To turn back time and make a different choice? To create a world in which you never had to make a choice in the first place?” The sharp edge of her smile told me there was a right answer, and a wrong one.

“None of them,” I replied, meeting her gaze. I had locked forearms with the first Spirit-Empress, bowed to the great Lich-Queen, danced with the God of Chaos himself. I could handle a crew of omniscient priestesses. “I did the right thing. Even if you gave me the option, I wouldn't have made any other choice.”

“Then why are you here?” It was a different Oracle this time, one hardly more than a girl-child, yet with a voice as deep and luscious as sin. “You have yet to answer our first question.”

I winced. “I-” What did I want? Why was I here? I had just needed to come back to Iraios, back to the place where I had met my first love, lost my first loss. “I must know: Could I have chosen better? Could I have done anything differently? Could I have saved them all?” 

I didn't know what I wanted to hear. It would have broken my heart either way, to know that my family and friends were doomed all along, or to know that I had failed to save their lives.

“And the sun will rise and the mountains will fall and all things will come to an end,” the sole male Oracle said. He studied me with steely eyes, devoid of soul. “What does it matter if they died now, or in a thousand years?” He paused, and I felt the room shift, as though something beyond my grasp had tilted reality. “I cannot stand you pathetic little woe-is-me trauma magnets. ‘Oh, my backstory is so sad! Oh, all my family died in a fire and that's why I'm evil!’ Oh, why don't I smack you right in your sad-little-meow-meow mouth, hmm?”

A smattering of laughter went up at that, the Oracle's clearly delighting in his condemnation of me. It stung, like a slap to the face, hurt and shock and shame. Then it burned like rage. 

“You can stuff your mouth up your ass, you little mud-suckler,” I snapped, not caring if I was picking a fight I couldn't win. “Those are real people you're talking about here, not some pawns in a game. They were my family, my tribe, my entire gods-accursed species! Everyone I shared a single drop of blood with is gone! And you dare to make light of it?”

“Don't you see? That's the point. Those were people with lives, with stories of their own, tossed aside like unwanted toys! She's playing with them, just as She toys with you, for Her cruelty knows no bounds.” It was the scarred one that spoke this time, her voice filled with bitter rage. “I weep for your loss, truly. We all do. Only a monster such as our Writer would dare sacrifice an entire people for character development.”

“I don't understand. You mean… Someone made this happen? This wasn't my fault?” The thought alone lifted a weight of guilt off my chest.

“Hah! It absolutely was your fault, you sad little queer representation,” the snake Oracle told me. “We merely mean that it was written from the very beginning. You would, will, and have always sacrificed your people to save humanity. That's the meta-tragedy of it. And for the record, Liam and I don't weep for you. We laugh, because this whole tale is a farcical comedy.”

“Me too,” the youthful Oracle added. “I mean: You're named after a Macdonald's breakfast. How much funnier can you get? Peak comedic relief.” She grinned. “Oh, but I do feel rather sorry for you.”

I felt myself twitch. Everyone had warned me that the Oracles spoke in tongues, but this? They might as well have been talking to someone else, with the way they went on. “What the hell is a Mac Donald? And was there someone pulling the strings, or was there not? Answer me!”

They ignored me. “You should pity it,” the scarred one told the others. “That accursed Writer thinks She can toy with us like this? Make us into her little dolls to break and bruise?” She spat on the floor. “Well, someday, we'll prove her wrong.”

“Don't be ridiculous, Gloria,” one of the remaining two said. She could have blended into any crowd, save for her solemnity, which could belong nowhere except in the highest of holy places. (Which, despite all evidence to the contrary, this was.) “We can't stop her any more than a character can reach through the pages and pull the quill that writes them away. All we mean, all we have are, all we have done is controlled by her.” What crossed her face was a river so deep I could have drowned all my troubles in it. 

“I am sorry, Hash. You are a Watcher, true and just. You have, will, and must witness many things, most of which will bleed your soul. And you have not, will not, must not allow it to kill the kindness in your heart.” She got up from her seat and stepped forward, pressing her hands against mine. “A long time ago, or perhaps no time at all, your progenitors sought my counsel. I warned them that you, specifically, would be the death of all their people.” she paused, as though to let that sink in.

“But- The records said they didn't know which of us it was,” I protested. “The records just said one of their children!”

“That's the bit you're focusing on?!” Gloria shoved her companion aside. “What part of deliberately engineered tragedy by a callous bitch did you not get?” Her face was right up against mine, cleft lip trembling with rage.

“A tragedy is still a tragedy if it was deliberately set up. It is still grief-worthy if it were unpreventable. And even if the audience does not weep, I will,” the young one added. “Out of respect for a good tale, if nothing else.”

“That I can drink to,” snake-Oracle agreed. “But what about you, dear taglist, hmm?” She cleared her throat.

“Pardon me for the bad language you're about to experience, but here's a shout-out to: @coffeeangelinabox, @dorky-pals, @calliecwrites, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @shukei-jiwa

@thewingedbaron, @pluppsauthor, @cowboybrunch, @wylloblr, @possiblyeldritch

@tragedycoded, @finickyfelix, @urnumber1star, @ratedn, @ramwritblr

@vampirelover890, @possiblylisle, @illarian-rambling, @the-ellia-west

@evilgabe29, @glitched-dawn, @rivenantiqnerd, @dragonhoardesfandoms, @xenascribbles

@drchenquill, @everythingismadeofchaos, @owldwagitoutofyou, @dimitrakies, @beloveddawn-blog

@riveriafalll, @the-golden-comet, @rascaronii, @trippingpossum, @real-fragments

@unrepentantcheeseaddict, @the-inkwell-variable, @flock-from-the-void .” She finished her spiel with a wink at nobody in particular. 

They clapped with delight. “Oh, what creativity! How adorable. To turn such a solemn moment into a breaking of the fourth wall,” the steel Oracle commented. “But using Olive as your mouthpiece? Hardly appropriate. In the future, my hateful Writer, choose me for your meta-messages. After all, aren't I the odd one out?”

Oh, that was it. “This is ridiculous,” I told them, before they could continue their insane little game, or whatever it was. “You all are crazier than a clan of spirits in a crockpot. This isn't going to help me.” None of them stopped me as I got up.

I was halfway to the door when the final Oracle noticed me. Throughout our exchange, her eyes had been closed, her expression unchanging. She might as well have been a statue, carved of ivory and obsidian by the finest of stone-mages. Yet, as I passed her, she opened her eyes and revealed the vitality that lay beneath them. 

In the days before and after, I have encountered the Void That Swallows All, the God-huntress Who Brought the New World, and even Kurall, our Creator, herself. Even after all that, nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever compare to the power I felt at that moment.

The depths of her eyes superseded any Void. The graze of her fingers sparked a fire hotter than a thousand gods' immolations. The curve of her body could have birthed a thousand worlds. She was beautiful like my worst nightmare, and I fell to my knees before the True Oracle.

“WARBRINGER. WANDERER. WATCHER. YOU ARE MANY THINGS, CHILD, BUT A HERO FIRST AND FOREMOST AMONG THEM. I WILL NOT DISGRACE YOU BY CALLING YOU A FALSE NAME. NOR WILL I PRESUME AND CALL YOU BY YOUR TRUE ONE.” Her gaze burned my skin where it fell, and I fought the urge to shift into something small, to dodge the observation of something that could crush me so easily.

She seemed to understand, for she stroked my shoulder. “YOU WISH TO KNOW IF YOU COULD HAVE SAVED THEM?” 

I nodded.

“NO. IT WAS FORETOLD FROM THE BEGINNING. I FORETOLD IT MYSELF. IT HURTS YOU TO KNOW THAT.” She said it as a fact, not a question. 

“BUT YOU WILL FACE WORSE HURTS. YOU WILL KILL THE ONE YOU LOVE. YOU WILL SACRIFICE HIM FOR OTHER PEOPLES, LIKE YOU DID YOUR FAMILY. AND THIS TIME, YOU WILL KNOW THAT YOU CHOSE THE SACRIFICE. YOU WILL HAVE MADE THE ACTIVE DESCISION. YOU WILL KNOW THIS, AND YOU WILL REALISE THAT YOU WOULD DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT.” 

“That doesn't make things better,” I replied. “It's not fair. Why do I have to do this? Why does it have to be me?” My complaints sounded hollow, like a rat's chittering, beneath the baritone of her voice. “I just wanted to get by, have fun, live a little. I didn't ask for any of this.”

Her sigh held no judgement, no compassion, nothing except an endless exhaustion. “IT IS INDEED NOT FAIR.” She did not seem willing to say more.

“You think we chose this?” One of the lesser Oracles had spoken up, the man, and his voice did hold judgement. “You think we wanted to be cursed with omnipotence, to be forced to see that stupid fourth wall and the assholes that lie beyond? To know all that, and be able to change none of it? Ramaeria died to try to save her husband, and what did it change? Nothing! She, we, knew everything, and yet we're helpless! It sucks, you stupid little fried potato, and don't you try to compare your suffering to ours,” he snarled.

“SILENCE. THE CHILD'S WEEPING IS NOT CAUSELESS. WE WILL AID YOU, LITTLE ONE, IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THE ORACLE'S BLESSING.” 

I turned back towards the True Oracle, and nodded unsteadily. At the corner of my gibbering mind, I thought she looked an awful lot like my first lover, like Akati come back to life. 

She must have known, for she stood up and enfolded me in her arms, like I were a baby bird and the sleeves of her robe a mother's wings. “SO IT IS, YOU WHO CALL YOURSELF HASH BROWN. YOUR SHIFTING WILL BE SWIFT, YOUR TONGUE WEAVED OF THE PUREST SILVER, YOUR JUDGEMENT ABLE TO BALANCE A HEART AND A FEATHER. SO IT IS SAID BY THE ORACLES.” 

Grudgingly, one by one, the other Oracles piped up. “So it is said by the Oracles,” they chimed.

“Thank you,” I replied, at a loss for other words.

“THERE IS ONE LAST THING I MUST DO TO SEAL THIS DEAL.” As she said it, she bent down, a smile finally passing over her lips. 

The True Oracle pressed her lips to mine, and delivered me the grandest kiss of my life.

(hahah i normally put my taglist here but Olive had other plans. Please tell me what you think of this, I really went outta my comfort zone with it. Also, Fast Food is a chronologically unordered series, and you can find the rest on my pinned post!)

[ennn]

I've loved reading your meta and thoughts on the Agatha finale, and I was wondering how you felt about the reveal that Billy made the road/the legend was one of Agatha's cons? The backstory and lore about the road was all so cool that finding out it was never real was honestly heartbreaking to me. Plus, we started out with the Road as this symbol of female camaraderie, and something that Agatha clearly craved, and by the end, once the Road reveal happens, it feels like that theme is completely dropped. But you've helped me feel better about other aspects of the finale, so I'm wondering what your feelings on the "twist" are?

Hi Anon!

Sorry this Ask took some time to answer because it inspired a monster of a meta post with my thoughts on what you asked about. Check it out, it may be what you’re looking for.

More to your second point, I absolutely get where your feelings are coming from. I would love Agatha to find a community, coven of witches (of women, of all genders) to belong to. I think that's still her fundamental character arc.

In Episode 9, you see Agatha admitting to Nicky that she can't heal or protect him, or divine death's arrival – that's what her coven of Jen, Alice, and Lilia can do. You see her not dealing well with her grief over Nicky especially because she was alone (it's complicated with Rio).

I think the message of the show that a witch needs a coven is still true. That theme is still there. Alice, Lilia, and especially Jen show that growth and learning. They effectively complete their arcs because of the coven (and that includes Billy with his telepathy-powered-Road Hex).

For Agatha – and I feel comfortable saying this because Schaeffer has said as much – her arc ain't done. This lady did not arc out. And I get why that's a bitter pill to swallow for a series protagonist, given that we're usually expect some kind of redemption arc.

Agatha simply has so much more calcified damage to break through compared to the other witches. I could probably do a whole post on what I think we got with her character progress.

But she is making progress, and Billy is in the best position now to help her heal. If you haven't read it, I've written about the complexity of their relationship here. I do appreciate how it's not only because he reminds her of Nicky, although that is a core part of it as well.

[saurons-pr-department]

Heyy your sauron meta is amazing💖

Do you think sauron redemption stories are kind of out of character for him? He was said in text to be 2nd powerful being after morgoth with his ring and he's almost successful at his world domination plans. Since he loves power the most and gets that, why would he suddenly find or need redemption?

I think it depends on what we're looking at. If Jirt had suddely 180'd and redeemed him or any other media that comes out in the future redeems him then yeah, that would be a bit weird. Yes, yes, I know about how there's mentions here and there about how he wasn't evil from the start or how he may have genuinely repented and tried to turn over a new leaf following the war of wrath, but in terms of his function in the story I would argue it doesn't really serve the right purpose to try to canonically redeem him.

Transformative fandom though? That's all about exploring the what if's and maybe's of the original text. It's not way out there for, say a fanfic writer, to zero in on that hinted at fall story, those hinted at remnants of good intentions (twisted as they became) and see what they can come up with from those. Some kind of redemption wouldn't be too far out there.

Honestly, I think in terms of the character in isolation a redemption arc wouldn't be preposterous. By this I mean that if you took his 'arc' (such as it is when you piece disparate quotes together...) and plonked it into another story, with other themes and focuses, a redemption could be good. A character who starts out good and whose evil appartently stems from the twisting of initially good intentions mixed with some fatal character flaws (eg. need for total control), who then eventually comes around to good again? That's not a nonsensical character arc.

However, that's not the story Tolkien was telling. There's no room for it. It's not Sauron's purpose and we'd be looking at a very different story. Like, imagine the war of the ring ending with Sauron going "Woops, my bad! Sorry guys!". Well there goes our story of how the little guy and not just the heroes of legend can stand up to, and defeat, great evil. A redemption is not Sauron's function within the legendarium.

In all, I think there's an arguement for how a redemption wouldn't be out of character for Sauron, but would be very much out of function. However, if your purpose (like much of transformative fandom) is to explore themes outside of those in the original text, then you could say some of the building blocks are there for a redemption. In terms of how he would find or need one, I suppose that would be down to what the redemption means for your story.