#she was ulysses’ wife

[fivesevenseveneight]

she haunts the narrative. to me

[ID: Pen-on-paper lineart of Penelope from Ulysses Dies at Dawn. Penelope is a thin Black woman in her 30s or 40s. she wears small, round glasses and her hair is in thick, loose braids with two pigtails draped over her shoulders. she sits on the grass and leans against the trunk of a large oak tree. she is relaxed and reading a book. penelope is wearing a trenchcoat and a skirt that ends just above her knees. she is barefoot. she smiles softly as she studies the book. End ID]

ough for real tho i need more people to talk about penelope bc she is just so crunchy. interesting

[blue-lotus333]

gender-bend/fem Odysseus

[saym0-0]

Hello Persephone Enjoyers

[valravenn]

something something greet the world with open arms

main reference + some additional frames that were my faves ( idk if i have the confidence to post the actual animatic here! lol )

[fuckyeahhistorycrushes]

If no one has brought it up yet: Ulysses. S. Grant. Man had some seriously sexy attitudes for the mid 1800s; he thought the Mexican American War was an unjust invasion and land grab, thought the policies against Native Americans were "shameful" (had a Seneca man write the terms of surrender for the Confederacy by extension), loved his wife so much he became an alcoholic when he was away from her, told her not to change a thing about herself when she was considering having surgery to correct her lazy eye, brought the feds in to investigate the KKK, freed the only slave he was ever given when he was deep in poverty instead of selling him, was so trusting he got caught up in scandal because he believed in the people around him- 

Sorry this man is slept on so badly and he was so sweet and beautiful. He's been buried by the Lost Cause southern narrative and has some seriously progressive views for his time period. I love him very dearly. 

[wehaveallgotknives]

it's actually great to read the classics because you realise that both a) every human experience has already happened and b) human experience is infinite in its variety.

like: i'm reading ulysses by james joyce rn. it's a wildly specific 5 dimensional snapshot of middle and working class dublin in 1906 but it's also about two guys: a beta cuck experiencing anti-semitic micro-aggressions and a depressed pretentious student who's literally always guilty: two of the most universal dudes imaginable.

we did dracula daily last year? that's a mashup of two extremely victorian genres (travelogue and gothic horror, with all the weird imperialist and orientalising connotations of those) but it's also just a wife guy battling the demons of bisexuality. that's me!

mrs dalloway, modernist masterpiece about a woman continually deciding whether life is worth living (she decides it is!) (that's also me!)

moby dick about the lost industry of whaling but also it IS a twink w/ adhd watching his boss mcfreaking lose it.

read old ass books because they tell you stuff about people's lives in a times and place we can't access but it also tells you that you are not alone!!!

[connorsnothereeither]

are there any details about Kyr and his story that you haven’t been able to talk about yet? He’s such a neat character I want to know more about him :D

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT KYR

Mostly his part after appearing in Ulysses’ finale. Kyr was designed as a group effort between Heyhay, Ocie, Metta and I as a one off character to be a through-line in the Cydonia stream, that we could follow between temples, so his story in the temples is very much collaborative and intentionally vague, up until the point of being sent to find Ulysses.

I think Kyr tried to come back to the temple after he couldn’t find Ulysses, and found it after everyone had been murdered by the facility guards. When the resets happened and his memories started to erode as Fable messed with history, his main memory was of searching for Ulysses, and that occupied most of his time in the resets. I like to think he was maybe tracing Ulysses movements, and interviewing/threatening the crews he worked with for information.

Post-finding Ulysses, I think they became very close. He became somewhat of a nephew to Ulysses, and I think he accompanied Ulysses on a lot of his journeys, which is how they ended up finding other Telchin.

Specifically, he found his future wife, too. The blue and green Telchin he’s waving to in the photo in Ulysses epilogue. Her name is Penelope (she/they), and they fell in love slowly, as they helped to build the permanent town which would become the Telchin Settlement. She’s a healer, focusing on medicine and alchemy. And together they are the parents of the first Telchin child born post-war! Edaline Circe Cydonia (named after both of their mothers). I think Edaline (or Eda) is probably a year or two younger than Vaeh, timeline wise.

Kyr lives in the Telchin Settlement (wherever that is) for the most part, but makes regular trips to visit Ulysses back in Lodestar Grove (when Ulysses is actually there). I think his penchant for telling stories isn’t quite as good, but he has an excellent memory. Which also extents to muscle-memory. He’s an incredible fighter, particularly in short-distance ranged combat (throwing tridents, and archery specifically) and an extremely competent swimmer.

Post-Ulysses’ death, I think Kyr does his best to keep his memory alive. I think maybe even with Rae’s help, he sets up and exhibition piece to him, in the museum, so that future generations can learn about the work he did. And I think he and his family take regular trips to Elysium to visit Ulysses, and Kyr’s mother too. I think she’d be very proud of all her son was able to accomplish, after escaping the temple.

[kingeparr]

abt percy jackson's middle name - a long post

let's talk about percy's middle name, its implication and what is my headcanon for it!!

first a warning!! i know very little abt actual greek mithology. i've tried to read my copy of odyssey and illiad a total of 10 times and i CANNOT for my life understand that shit. having said that, my mythos knowledge is based on hours on wikipedia sources pages, greek miths articles and more. anyways, this will have spoilers of the Percy Jackson Universe by Rick Riordan.

having been warned, I should start with one point:

percy doesn't have a middle name in canon. From what we've known it's never mentioned a middle name at all, wich is not very uncommon in the PJO universe, as most character do not have one (from the top of my head the only ones that canonically have one are Rachel and Reyna (Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano))

BUT in most fandom fanfics that feature his middle name, he is called Perseus Achilles Jackson. Again, it is not canon, but it is so common that most people think it is true. Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense.

It's canon that Sally was the one that named Percy, and she chose Perseus, a son of Zeus, as her choice because he was one of the only Greek heroes that in most versions of the myths get to live a long and relatively happy life after their adventures. From what I've known most times Perseus dies of old age or ascends as a constellation along with his mother and his wife, Andromeda.

Now, what are the implications that we know of?

this will be mostly speculation and head canons, so beware!!

i don't think Rick Riordan ever stated, but it is possible to draw parallels between Percy and Annabeth with Perseus and Andromeda, essentially in their first quest, even more in the series. The same is possible to associate with other characters with names derived from Greek myths.

and, until now, all of Percy's quest he has come back alive, even if the world was ending or if he has gone trough Tartarus, he has come back alive.

As it stands in canon, it's often said that names have power !! saying gods, monsters or others names will call their attention, or give them power. it could be associated that those names with History, or a Legacy HAVE more power and purpose behind them. Ex: Castor and Pollux, Jason, could even say Leo etc.

that is great, and reforces that its possible Sally did something right about the naming.

now, next part is a FULL BLOWN HEAD CANON!!

to me, his full name is Perseus Ulysses Jackson. let me tell you why.

Ulysses = Odysseus

Ulysses comes from Odysseus, yes, the Greek hero hated by Poseidon from the Odyssey. Why would Sally do that? Same reason of why Perseus.

Odysseus, despite all his Odyssey, came back home. In the Odyssey, is said he will live the rest of his life peacefully, and apparently he lived mor 10 years as Ithaca's King. There is another myth where he is killed by his son with Circe, but ignore that for this post.

I think it would make sense for the way they both lived that even if Poseidon hated him, that Sally would have her son named after a hero and a general that even after everything he went trough he still made home, still had people who believed in him, even if Sally herself were not there to see him, like Odysseus' mother, at least he would be alive.

Someone that is selfish in a way if that means he lives. In the same way Sally calls herself selfish for trying to have Percy with her for more time during the years before TLT. For that she endured Gabe.

Not that she knew that of course, but the fates could be at work. I'm always fan of a good foreshadowing.

Now Speaking of foreshadowing, next topic

2. Ulysses - Roman name

Ulysses is the roman version of Odysseus, still has the same meaning and the roman version of the myth is not that different. Why roman, then?

First, because my Odyssey copy was with the Roman names and I was very pissed at that when I was 12 and tried reading it for the first time and discovered that the FUCKING ODYSSEY MAN WAS NOT CALLED ODYSSEUS IN MY VERSION, to my frustration.

ANYWAY, second point: Percy has a connection to the Roman since the first book.

In his classes with Chiron, Percy fights in Roman armor, swords and has Latin classes, and while that is all good and cool, i always found it strange of Chiron to teach Latin, and not Greek. Of course, it could be a ruse of Chiron to distance Percy even more from his greek side, while still helping him learn about the world. it could be nothing.

but to me is not nothing.

Percy has a weird facility with Latin at 12 that Jason did not have with Greek at 16. And while it could be argued that they did not have their memories, Percy was a 12 yo boy that CURSED IN LATIN in a time of distress. I bet they did not have classes about "How to curse in Latin" and i doubt Percy searched for that somewhere.

Percy is very connected with the Roman side of the demigod world, he feels drawn to New Rome, goes to the Roman Uni and he gets so wrapped in it he becomes PREATOR in like a week!! while Jason spent months on the Greek side.

Percy has a lot of participation in Both sides of the demigods being a kinda important figure in both camps.

now, a subtopic.

Percy Jackson: Son of Neptune

Percy is presented as a son of Neptune from the get go in camp Jupiter, wich he doesn't protest at any time (from what i remember), the thing is Poseidon IS different from Neptune specially their roots.

Poseidon is primarily the god of the sea. Neptune is the god of rivers, springs, and waters.

Technically, Percy should not have control of any type of water or rivers, his father is the god of SEA, saltwater. Even then, he can control even the rivers in the Underworld. He has such control of "water" that he can control ALL LIQUIDS! That is not Poseidon's domain, the control of Waters is Neptune's.

knowing this i like to believe the following.

Percy is the son of both Poseidon and Neptune. Don't ask me the logistics, i wouldn't know, and i don't care. HOWEVER when you add things up, it makes sense, in my head, at least.

In conclusion, Sally associates her son's fate with two heroes that go trough MANY hardships but get back home, are strong and live kind of happy lives after that. One of them is mainly Greek, being his first name, what he is primarily called. The other is Roman, it is there, but it's not mentioned, but it still is his name, and it gives him power.

Specially, when you think that the roman counterparts all have a child, except Neptune. Pluto has Hazel, Hades had Bianca and Nico. Jupiter had Jason, Zeus has Thalia. Poseidon has Percy, Neptune has no one? seems unequal and unbalanced in a way the gods wouldn't allow.

Not only that but why would Neptune "claim" or let be claimed a son that wasn't his when Rome hasn't been grateful or careful with him? His last child was scorned (i don't remember the name but it's said that they were basically blamed for earthquakes or something in the 1900)

as the series goes and percy draws MUCH MORE POWER from rivers and other liquids than from the ocean, and the time it took for percy to be born he could be powerful from both sides. he is the first demigod of Poseidon in 70+ years, but he is the first demigod rrom Neptune in 100+ !!!

it makes sense that even if he is called a greek, as his name evokes, he is connected and powerful on his Roman side. It is not a coincidence that people thought he was a god when he first arrived in Camp Jupiter.

It's a tribute for both his Roman and Greek sides, to invoke the names and fates of two powerful kings that are burdened with responsibility, and that learned and lived after their quests.

i could talk about this for hours, specially if Epic's Odysseus by Jorge Rivera-Herrans is taken in account (wich I am doing) but I will not elaborate

anyway, Percy's middle name is Ulysses and I'm right, idc.

[littlesparklight]

do we know how Helen reacted to Paris’ death? and how did her reunion with Menelaus go?

Very few of the sources we know that might have touched on it (like the Little Iliad) have survived intact. (Or survived at all, in cases of other treatments of the war that we know about, or don't know about.) We only have a couple late sources, as far as I am aware, that say anything - but whether they're representative in any way, we don't know.

Paris' death Dares: "Helen took part in the funeral with loud lamentations. Alexander, she said, had treated her kindly; [...]" and "Helen, returning home with Menelaus, her husband, was grieved more deeply than when she had come."

Dictys makes no specific mention of how Helen reacted to Paris' death.

Quintus of Smyrna and his Posthomerica: "[...] but long and loud lamented Helen; yet those wails were but for Trojan ears; her soul with other thoughts was busy, as she cried[...] (skipping the actual speech here) So cried she: but for him far less she mourned than for herself, remembering her own sin."

So I guess that depends on if you'd say this means no honest grieving at all, or some. Or if Quintus means there to be some, in truth, or none; he also specifies that no one but Oinone grieves Paris in earnest, despite that, compared to the qualifiers he gives Helen's lamenting, Hecuba gets no such and she seems to be in earnest if it weren't for that comment. (Quintus is also, like often happens later, writing very moralising. Obviously Paris is then not going to get much from him.)

The reclamation of Helen The most usual, and perhaps until late only version of Helen and Menelaos' reunion, involves Menelaos threatening her life (and Aphrodite interfering). Ibycus and the Little Iliad both seem to have had this, and it's possible (neither the summary nor the surviving fragments say anything about this) Iliou Persis had it as well. Some want to claim a lack of attempted violence on Menelaos' part in the Sack's version, but we have no proof of that either.

Vase art has a couple variants, which generally are on a line of Helen either fleeing from Menelaos/Menelaos dropping his sword, or already leading Helen away, sword in hand. Generally this is pointed at her (an obvious threat) or merely held, but as I understand it from the academics I've read, in this case the sword is still an implicit threat towards Helen, and not, and some may want to claim "meant to secure their safe leave from Troy". Aeneas, for example, as he leads his family away, is never shown wielding a sword (no matter which way it might be pointed), despite that he, surely more than Menelaos, would need one.

(Guy Hedreen is a good jumping off point if you want to read more.)

As for what our late surviving sources say, Dares makes no mention of their immediate meeting during the sack. The only reference is the same one I quoted up above under the death of Paris.

Dictys: "First of all, Helen was freely given to Menelaus;" and "When Troy had been taken, Ajax had been the first to propose that she should be killed because of the troubles and sufferings she had caused for so long a time. Many good men had assented. But Menelaus, still loving his wife, had gone the rounds, and plead for her life, and finally, through the intercession of Ulysses, had won her back unharmed."

So the situation seems similar to Euripides' Trojan Women, in that Helen was treated as a captive to be handed over, but, here we have seeming break from the version of Menelaos attempting to murder Helen. Dictys says nothing about how Menelaos reacted to Helen when he found her during the sack, merely that he tortured Deiphobos to death. And despite the apparent situation of Helen being treated as a captive, compared to TW Menelaos acts to keep Helen safe - but, as we see, a threat to Helen's life post-sack, if not from Menelaos then all the Achaeans, clearly remains a feature.

Quintus of Smyrna: "Menelaus mid the inner chambers found at last his wife, there cowering from the wrath of her bold-hearted lord. He glared on her, hungering to slay her in his jealous rage. But winsome Aphrodite curbed him, struck out of his hand the sword, his onrush reined, jealousy's dark cloud swept she away, and stirred love's deep sweet well-springs in his heart and eyes."

There's more after this, Menelaos pretending to continue the attack after Aphrodite has turned his heart and Agamemnon stopping him. Then later as Menelaos leads her out, though Helen fears being attacked by the Achaeans, Aphrodite intervenes again, making sure they're all struck, basically as Menelaos already was.

So in Quintus the threat to Helen is really emphasised. There's not just the intended intimate revenge from Menelaos, but also a potential general one from the Achaean forces as a whole.

What we basically have, then, is that Helen's survival isn't a given. Aphrodite will ensure she survives, of course. But from the mortal end of things in most sources, from threats during the sack (by Menelaos) to post-sack threats from either Menelaos (Trojan Women) or the Achaeans as a whole, Helen's survival isn't seen as a necessary condition for the victory. In fact, in some ways, Helen paying for her life (for the apparent, in the case of kidnapping, or actual, where she was willing, adultery) seem to be intimately bound together with the Achaeans' victory.

Only divine intervention (via Aphrodite giving Helen sanctuary and inspiring Menelaos' former love) in most sources, until we get to Dictys' and Dares' realistic and godless versions, saves Helen.

[skyward-floored]

In hdw, who is Link actually raised by? Maybe I just missed something but I don't actually know who did

I think I explained it once, but it's been a bit--

Link was raised by a knight named Sir Ulysses. Impa wanted him to be put with a family who was close by, close enough that she could keep an eye on Link while not deserting her duties. Ulysses and his wife have a baby a few months before Link is born, but the baby dies, and his wife falls pretty deep into her grief. Ulysses agrees to take Link in when Impa "finds" him since he still needs to be nursed, and he hopes it'll be good for his wife to help care for another baby.

They're technically unaware of Link's identity, though Ulysses suspects, since Impa seems to take an unusual interest in the boy. He never asks though, and Impa never tells him. Anyway, he and his wife raise Link best as they can. Or, really, Ulysses does.

Ulysses' wife never really recovers from the death of her daughter, and is rather distant towards Link and her husband. Not in a negative way really, she's just... distant. Ulysses does his best, but he's pretty busy, and doesn't have as much time to spend with Link as he would like. Link never feels unloved or anything, but it's not the best family situation. And he's especially lacking in the motherhood department.

...Which makes it all the more difficult when he learns his birth mother was around the entire time.

[pranklinfierce]

you're having a party, which presidents are you inviting?

Good question, very fun. I'll invite all of the ones I like, and whichever ones I'd like to see in a party setting.

James Madison is chronologically the first that I would invite. I think it'd be funny to see him at a party. I think of "nearly gets trampled on the dance floor..." I, myself, will trample him unless he brings Dolley.

Jackson is invited and I hope he leaves cheese around the house in secret spots like he did at the end of his presidency.

Van Buren is invited unless @presidenttyler continues to insist that I have to marry him or he'll summon a deadly fog (please die, Mr. Tyler.)

I would invite William Henry Harrison, but tragically, as I'm sure we've all heard, he is no longer with us </3.

John Tyler is invited unless he tries to insist I marry Martin Van Buren lest a deadly fog be summoned. Also I swear to God he's not allowed to use my bathroom. I hope he and Jackson start fighting (no weapons allowed in my house) and I get to see their skinny bones fall out.

James K Polk is invited. I want him to bring his Lady Presidentress as well. Double invited if he is the presidentress.

Zachary Taylor is invited. His daughter can come too. His daughter's husband cannot come. His daughter's husband's dog, Bonin, can come. The murderer who shares a name with Zachary Taylor's daughter's husband's dog cannot come.

Millard Fillmore is invited. He can bring the whole boiler room with him. It wouldn't be a party without him.

Franklin Pierce is invited, of course. As an old @/deadpresidents posts that I can longer find clarifies, he would indeed be a welcome party guest, even if people on Reddit don't seem to think so (I have beef with 90% of reddit tier lists, save for any of them made by @starlight-tequila.) As I've come to understand, there're no less than 4 fictional interpretations of Pierce where he's being haunted. I request he keeps the haunting at home; I don't want the watchmojo demmons to mess up the vibe.

James Buchanan is invited. I want to see him in his worst outfit, behaving as he did at Dickinson before his expulsion. He needs to bring Harriet too. WRK too, unless I decide that he's also dead.

Andrew Johnson can come because I once saw an image of him smiling.

Ulysses Grant can come. He may play with the non dog animals (unfortunately, they're all just different Martin Van Buren government assigned rodentsonas in a pen.)

As can Hayes. Hayes can bring his wife, Lucy. She actually allowed drinking in the White House on special occasions, so she would not be a party pooper.

Garfield may come, but only as Lucretia's plus one. It's what he deserves. Since Guiteau did so much for Garfield's election (and was basically the president, let's be real, guys) he can come as an honorary president. So can David Rice Atchison, even though that story is complete bs. Dr. Doctor Bliss will be shot on sight by Boston Corbett.

Arthur is invited, but Julia Sand needs to pre-approve everything that he does. Conkling may come as a plus one, but he will go in the pen with the Martin Van Buren government assigned rodentsonas (it's okay, that's where Grant is anyway.)

On no other day would I ever allow Benjamin Harrison and his shortness within my sight, but I just found a song about him and it's stuck in my head, so I think it's only right that he attends 1 single time before my kind feelings toward him dry out.

McKinley is invited. He must sing to me.

Wilson is invited. But I will lock him in a room like a creature. You-know-who gets the key. The second female president, Edith Wilson, may attend.

Warren Harding gets to come. Gaston Means may, as well. Also Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. That's about it. If Nixon were to show up I wouldn't turn him away.

I'd like the party to end by sending an anonymous tip to Carrie A. Nation, telling her there is alcohol. She can come in, destroy everything, and all's well because if everything is destroyed, there's nothing to clean. She and Guiteau can ride into the sunset, combining to be a person of a normal height. I hope they invite me to the wedding.

[hugoballsack]

they should let me write for fallout season 2. here are my ideas

hank arrives in new vegas and is immediately jumped by a local gang. specifically the kings. i just want to know what it would look like for kyle maclachlan to have the shit beat out of him by a dozen elvis impersonators

dj carl is revealed to be the current president of the enclave. and also sergeant arch dornan's son. and a ghoul fucker.

we continue the trend of cooper howard pre-war scenes. keith mckinney from fallout 4 far harbor makes an appearance. he is played by billy eichner. i will accept no other casting decision.

we learn the reason cooper howard kept talking to his dog is because he can actually communicate with dogs. this is mentioned only in passing and never elaborated on.

a flashback scene to hank still being in moldaver's captivity. i just want to see the moment he realizes she fucked his wife

i don't know which ending of new vegas should be canon, but i do think the canon ending of the lonesome road dlc should be that ulysses lives. i just feel like he would hate all the protagonists and i love that for him

return of fev super mutants. specifically the one that sells tumbleweeds

tom waits as a ghoul hobo. it's a natural choice. he keeps showing up and demanding lucy answer his riddles

brotherhood squires are given coconuts so the knights can pretend they are riding horses. squires who do not clip-clop for their knights are executed.

norm escapes vault 31 by making a finger gun at bud and threatening him. he convinces bud it is a real gun. the whole standoff takes about 10 minutes

thaddeus is welcomed into the vault 4 community. he and overseer benjamin fall in love. they have a beautiful wedding

we are graced with an appearance by fallout 4 fan favorite companion john hancock. he has an hour-long knife fight with walton ghoulggins that ends in a draw. it is then that they kiss-

[thrpr0phetuseek]

Ooc ask, what has Tiresias forgotten because of Lethe so far?

oooohhh good question!! Sad one, too!

What Tir Has Forgotten

His grandson

Why they got struck down/by who

Both their parents

Certain things about his daughter and wife

His wife’s name

Certain details about Odysseus (who was with him in the underworld, etc.)

That he doesn’t have eyes anymore (seeing nothing has scared them on one too many occasions)

How she met Polities/Siren!Ody/Caleb

Which of Rhea’s children their scared of (they know it’s one, but not which, so they avoid them all)

That Caleb’s a cat

The prophecy they gave to Ody

That Athena and Manto are not, actually, the same person with different names

Things Tir Gets Mixed Up

• who was his mentor/patron (Zeus v Hera v Aphrodite v Apollo v The Muses v Athena)

• whether he hung around mortals or nymphs (both)

• “was I a man or a woman first?”

• which anon is which when they don’t introduce themselves by name

• certain confusion about if it’s Aphro or Athena or if it’s Hera in disguise, etc. bcz all goddesses share similarities it’s kind of freaky having relationships with all three of them now

• if they’re alive or dead, because when you’re blind the difference gets hard to tell—the crossroads are between the living and the dead, so some days the lean more towards being alive and other times more dead

• was Odysseus human/did he say he went by Ulysses? You get to know a lot of heroes in the underworld and sometimes you know things from their prophecies they don’t yet know about themselves. The Lethe has blurred that line for Tiresias, making it hard to tell things apart and say honest prophecies

• are they still a mouse? Nah surely not . . . but wait—

—

I’ll add more along the days, but obviously the ones that they really should NOT forget are some of the ones that they still remember or are getting tripped up on. As for the things they’ve forgotten . . . I have yet to decide if Mnemosyne will be able to save those ones or be forced to leave them dead in the Lethe.

But yeah, so far this is everything!

[blueiscoool]

The Smithsonian Acquires the Earliest Known Photograph of an American First Lady

The National Portrait Gallery purchased an 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison for $456,000.

Three years before her death in 1849 at age 81, Dolley Madison posed for photographer John Plumbe Jr. at his studio in Washington, D.C. Clad in a crocheted shawl and one of her famous turbans, carefully arranged to cover most of her dark curls, the former first lady met the camera’s gaze with a piercing yet inviting stare.

“She’s got this little hint of a smile,” Emily Bierman, global head of Sotheby’s photography department, tells the New York Times’ Jennifer Schuessler. “You can tell she was a commanding and venerable woman.”

A surviving daguerreotype from this 1846 sitting recently resurfaced after decades in obscurity. Now identified as the earliest known photograph of an American first lady, the portrait went up for auction last week at Sotheby’s, where it fetched more than six times its estimated value of $50,000 to $70,000. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery paid $456,000 for the daguerreotype, which will reside in the museum’s permanent collection alongside the earliest known photograph of a United States president: an 1843 portrait of John Quincy Adams, acquired at auction for $360,500 in 2017.

Dolley served as first lady from 1809 to 1817. The wife of the U.S.’s fourth president, James Madison, she is regularly lauded for her expert hospitality and bravery during the War of 1812. When the British burned the White House in 1814, Dolley saved a portrait of George Washington from falling into enemy hands, telling servants to break the frame and extract its contents to avoid letting the president’s likeness “be mocked and desecrated,” wrote Smithsonian magazine’s Thomas Fleming in 2010.

As the National Women’s History Museum notes online, Dolley “pretty much created” the role of first lady, “setting the bar upon which all [of her successors] have been judged.” She hosted politicians from across the political spectrum at the White House, encouraging the nation’s leaders to put their differences aside in social settings, and she established the first lady’s unofficial duty as hostess. When Dolley died in 1849, President Zachary Taylor eulogized her as “the first lady of the land for half a century.”

Reflecting on the portrait’s acquisition in a statement, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III says, “This artifact will provide the Smithsonian another opportunity to tell a more robust American story and illuminate the vital role women like [Dolley] have played in the nation’s progress.”

According to the Times, the daguerreotype’s anonymous sellers discovered it while cleaning out the basement of a family member who had died. Recognizing the first lady’s face, they sent a scan of the photograph to Sotheby’s, attracting Bierman’s attention despite what she describes as the “fairly terrible” quality of the JPEG file.

The newly auctioned portrait isn’t the only surviving photograph of Dolley. Mathew Brady, the photographer who immortalized such 19th-century Americans as Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, captured Dolley’s likeness in 1848. More than a century later, two daguerreotypes from the sitting surfaced in a leather trunk once owned by Dolley’s niece, Anna Payne Causten. One of the portraits—both of which are now housed at the Greensboro History Museum in North Carolina—depicts Dolley seated next to a standing Causten, while the other shows the first lady sitting alone in a pose reminiscent of the Sotheby’s daguerreotype.

An 1848 daguerreotype of Dolley and her niece, Anna Payne Causten, by Mathew Brady.

A separate daguerreotype held by the Maine Historical Society was previously attributed to Brady but is now believed to date to the same sitting as the Sotheby’s one. The image offers a nearly identical view of Dolley, this time with her hands visible and expression slightly different. As Sotheby’s notes in the lot listing for the newly auctioned portrait, “new research and close examination” suggest Plumbe was the creator of both daguerreotypes.

Several clues link the Sotheby’s portrait to Plumbe, a Welsh-born immigrant who emerged as one of the U.S.’s most prominent 19th-century photographers. Visitor logs kept by Dolley indicate she met with Plumbe on February 22, 1846, and contemporary newspaper reports mention a portrait of the first lady featured in the photographer’s exhibitions that May. Most importantly, the back of the portrait’s case bears a printed message stating, “Manufactured at the Plumbe National Daguerrian Depot, New-York.”

According to the Times’ Annie Aguiar, the 1846 daguerreotype will go on view at the National Portrait Gallery in a 2026 exhibition marking both the 50th anniversary of the museum’s photography collection and the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

By Meilan Solly.

[a-pile-of-contented-ravens]

The Bifrost Incident has a happy ending, actually. (sort of.)

Disclaimer- This contains spoilers for every Mechanisms album

-This only discusses lyrics, not the music itself. This is because I have no musical background.

The Mechanisms are a band known for their queer steampunk retellings of mythology and fairy tales. These retellings inevitably end in the tragic deaths of all the characters, to the extent that a song in their first album is aptly titled “no happy endings”. However, despite the dark tone of all of the Mechanisms’ stories, it is important to keep in mind that they don’t take place in an utterly hopeless universe. In the words of frontman Jonny D’ville, they just avoid telling stories with hopeful endings because “it’s boring”. Superficially, The Bifrost Incident (TBI) follows the precedent set by other Mechanisms stories - all of the characters on the Bifrost die horribly or are transformed into monsters, and Loki and Sigyn’s sacrifices only delay the destruction of the rest of the Yggdrasil system.

However, when examined more closely, TBI’s ending is by far the most optimistic of any Mechanisms album. For example, Loki and Sigyn’s deaths can be seen as a happy ending for their characters, where they are finally together again. The idea of a character’s death being a happy ending for them also appears in Ulysses Dies At Dawn (UDAD). However, for Ulysses, “thoughts of revolution are long gone”, and their death changes nothing about their world, but Sigyn leads the Midgardian resistance until her sacrifice, which allows the “fall of the old order” to take place. Ultimately, Sigyn’s mission is a success. Both Ulysses and Loki die the last natural deaths on their worlds, but while Ulysses dies alone, Loki and Sigyn can comfort each other.

Another hopeful aspect of Loki and Sigyn’s deaths is that they emphasise that they are “together”, after years forcibly separated. Similarly, in OUTIS Cinders and Rose Red finally reunite after decades apart. The characters of Rose Red and Loki have parallels, as they both worked for a dictator who later removed their autonomy and separated them from their partners. Cinders and Sigyn are both high ranking members of worlds oppressed by the government that their partners worked for, and against which they later rebel. However, in OUTIS, Rose Red is killed by the antagonist, leaving Cinders “weeping” over her body, while in TBI, Loki tells Sigyn to “shed no tears”. Another contrast between these endings is that Rose dies as soon as Cinders finds her, whilst in TBI Loki is the one to seek out Sigyn, who she asks to slowly kill her. The repetition of “this time” in TBI may reference the similar ending of OUTIS. Perhaps this suggests that Loki and Sigyn are reiterations of Rose Red and Cinders, bookending the Mechanisms’ careers. However, this time Loki takes back her autonomy by seeking out her wife and choosing her fate.

Love is a theme of every Mechanisms album. This begins in their first album, Once Upon a Time (In Space) (OUTIS), where Cinders devotes her life to finding her fiancée, and appears again in UDAD with Ulysses and Penelope. The most interesting example is Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot from High Noon Over Camelot (HNOC), whose polyamorous relationship deftly sidesteps centuries of love triangle cliches. In the climax of the album, each of them finds that, “love war[s] with greed.” They choose love and aim to rebuild their world. The Mechanisms suggest that, “just this once, there could be a happy ending”. However, the fantasy that love could save the day is ripped away in the next very line when Mordred kills Guinevere and Lancelot and destroys Fort Gallfridean. This story is in conversation with the Mechanisms previous albums, as shown by the reference to the song “No Happy Endings”, but the impact of that is undercut by its ending, which is as hopeless as ever. This contrasts with TBI, where Loki finds Sigyn “for love”, and the message is that love can be an effective force for good. The real genius of TBI is in creating a story which manages the expectations for a tragic ending established by other Mechanisms albums while also featuring optimistic themes and showing real change for good.

[yanderefarm]

Does Nephite have any siblings

yes!! 3!

his older brother Cotton is an alpha and kind of a fucking creep. ive had to debate with myself how much i want to include him because he's creepy. purposely so like this guy is the horror movie warning sign as soon as you enter the compound. he's very protective of Nephite. let's leave it at that.

next is his younger sister! Ruth is an alpha and she's about her mid to late teens. she's sweet and helps take care of the farm. she sticks pretty close to her mom and helps her out. she's the one most willing to help you escape the cult.

last is the youngest sister Bethel! she's an omega but she's still a preteen so she spends all her time at home where her dad and mom can protect her. she's very nice once you get to know her but she's initially pretty quiet and closed off to you. she loves her big brother though and always wants to visit him.

his parents are Ulysses and Esther and they're pretty decent people. Esther is a quiet reserved housewife with a broken look in her eyes. Ulysses is a tough god fearing shotgun carrying man very stuck in his ways but he's very good to family and he likes you! their marriage is a little rocky, Esther doesn't like the cult and the way it treats her children and her but she really loves her husband. Ulysses knows Esther isn't as happy as she could be here but he promises it's better than the outside world and he always fights the cult when they try some shit with her.

Ulysses also hates i hate my wife jokes your wife is a blessing from god and you better treat them that way!!