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aspoonofsugar · 1 year ago

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Blake's Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is Blake's secondary allusion, which is used to describe our Cat Girl's political plotline, her relationship with the White Fang and her interactions in Menagerie (her personal Jungle).

A POLITICAL FAIRY TALE

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a metaphor for the author's moral and political beliefs. Unluckily, these ideals are not that good, as Kipling is the author of The White Man's Burden, a famous racist poem. In short, Kipling believed it was the duty of the white man to colonize and educate the "savages" (ugh).

This philosophy appears in The Jungle Book, as well (luckily not as much and together with better themes). Now, RWBY counters this by turning Kipling's premise upside down.

Kipling's works often present the English Colonialism as positive and helpful

Blake's Jungle Book shows a discriminated minority fighting for freedom, conquering violence and helping the world

So, RWBY's Jungle Book becomes an answer to the original tale. It refuses its racism, but keeps intact the vibrating characters and the powerful themes of freedom and self-discovery.

SUMMARY AND KEY ELEMENTS

The Jungle Book is not a novel, but rather an anthology of short stories that often have animals as protagonists. Among these, Mowgli's fables are the most famous and the focus of this meta.

So, here comes a summary of Mowgli's coming of age journey, which is told in several separated tales.

One night, a couple of wolves (in some versions Rama, the father, and Raksha, the mother) find a human cub and adopt him. They call him Mowgli (frog) because he is hairless. Still, the tiger Shere Khan wants to kill the baby. The matter is discussed at the pack's meeting, where Akela (the leader of the wolves), Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther all defend the child. In the end, Mowgli is accepted into the group thanks to Bagheera offering a bull for him.

Mowgli grows like a wolf of the pack and lives several adventures under the mentorship of Bagheera, Baloo and later on Kaa the python. He follows the Law of the Jungle and feels part of the pack (the free people). Meanwhile, though, Akela grows weaker and Shere Khan spreads his influence among the younger wolves. He convinces them to antagonize Akela and Mowgli. One night, Akela fails to kill the prey, which means the other wolves can kill him. Shere Khan wants to use this chance to seize the position of leader and have Mowgli die. However, Mowgli steals a pot of fire (the so called red flower) to use against the tiger, has him run away and saves Akela. Still, the pack is left with no leader and Mowgli himself feels betrayed by the other wolves siding with Shere Khan. So, he leaves the jungle and goes to live with the humans.

In the human village he is adopted by a woman called Messua and starts herding the buffalos. One day, he is reached by one of his wolf brothers who warns him Shere Khan is coming to kill him. Mowgli decides to attack first and has the buffalos run over the tiger, who is stomped to death. A human hunter sees this and enters a fight with Mowgli over the tiger's skin. The hunter turns the other villagers against the boy, who is forced to leave. He goes back to the jungle, where he is now considered a king, as a result of him killing Shere Khan.

However, the humans think of Mowgli as a demon now and lash out against Messua. They have the woman and her husband tied up to be executed. Mowgli frees them and then decides to destroy the village. He asks for the elephants' help and has them stomp over all the fields. In this way, the humans are forced to relocate and the village gets engulfed by the animals and the vegetation.

Some time later, a new wolf pack is born, but they are soon threatened by the red dogs, who are very aggressive and kill everyone in their path. Mowgli decides to fight together with the wolves and asks for Kaa's advice. The python helps Mowgli lead the dogs where the bees live. The insects emerge from their nest and kill half of the group, while the other half is defeated by the wolves. In this fight, Akela finally dies and tells Mowgli to go live with the humans.

Years later in spring, Mowgli follows Akela's advice and goes to another human village, where he finds Messua again. He goes to live with her and says goodbye to the jungle. Bagheera kills a bull just like the one he offered for Mowgli's safety in the beginning. This is the panther's goodbye and he, Baloo and Kaa all bless Mowgli, as he leaves.

Mowgli's story deals with themes key to Blake's arc.

1- Freedom

Your hopes have become my burden. I will find my own liberation…

Mowgli's pack is called the free people and Blake's White Fang fights for the faunus's freedom. Not only that, but the jungle animals call each other's brothers and sisters, just like the faunus in Menagerie do.

Bagheera went on, "Open your eyes, Little Brother"

Ghira: It's your brothers and sisters.

So, both Kipling's animals and Blake's faunus explore freedom. On the one hand the jungle animals follow the Law of the Jungle and are noble and free because of it. On the other hand the faunus must decide if giving up their own morality is a price they want to pay for their liberation.

Does being free mean you chain someone else up? Or is there another path to freedom?

2- The animal/human dychotomy

Past Blake: It’s simple, really. You could just be human, or just a cat, if you wanted. Really, it’s up to you. Blake: Why would I do that? Past Blake: Like I said, it’s simple, much simpler than trying to be a bridge between Humans and Faunus. Why struggle with that responsibility?

Mowgli and Blake are both animal and human. This in itself is a double-edged sword. On the one hand they find friends and allies both among the faunus/animals and among the humans. On the other hand they sometimes feel they don't belong anywhere. This conflict is explored by them moving freely between the 2 worlds.

Mowgli goes back and forth between the jungle and the human village:

He grows in the jungle, but leaves after the fight with Shere Khan

He lives in the human village for a while, but things do not work out and he goes back to the jungle after killing the tiger

He becomes an adult in the jungle, where he grows powerful enough to lead his pack against the red dogs

He finally chooses to start a new life among humans

Blake goes back and forth between Menagerie/the White Fang and Remnant/team RWBY:

She grows with the White Fang (her pack), but chooses to leave it after Sienna Khan (Shere Khan) becomes the new leader

She lives at Beacon (the human village), where she hides among humans and tries to conform. Still, things don't work out and Adam and the White Fang (the jungle) catch up to her

She goes back to Menagerie (the jungle) and grows strong enough to lead her people (the wolves) against the White Fang (the red dogs)

She finally leaves Menagerie and the White Fang (the jungle) and starts a new life with her team (humans)

So, Blake's story can really be told through The Jungle Book. Let's see to what extent and how the faunus of Menagerie fit the jungle chatacters.

Before we start, though, here are some metas by @blue-cheeseinmyoffwhites, which explore the Jungle Book allusion:

Ilia as Mowgli

Kali as Raksha

Ghira as Bagheera

I am going to reference several ideas present in these posts, so a big thank you to the OP's contributions!

BAGHEERA VS SHERE KHAN

The Jungle Book starts with a disagreement between Mowgli's parental figures and Shere Khan. They fight over the future of the newfound human cub. Should he live or should he die?

This same conflict is present in RWBY, as well. It is just that here the ideological clash is not about a single human child, but rather on the human race, as a whole. Should faunus try to live peacefully with humans or should they fight them violently?

Two leaders come to opposite answers to this question.

On the one hand there is Ghira (together with his wife Kali):

Kali and Ghira allude to all of Mowgli's parental figures, who are:

Raksha - the mother wolf who finds and adopts Mowgli

Akela - the leader of the wolf pack

Baloo - the bear who teaches the little cubs the Law of the Jungle

Bagheera - the black panther who used to live with humans

Kali is loosely based on Raksha in the sense that she alludes to the Goddess Kali, who is worshipped in some areas (like Bengal) as Raksha Kali (Kali the protector). She is also Blake's proud mama wolf (even if she is a cat :P) and is ready to do anything for her daughter's sake.

Ghira instead shares traits with all 3 of Mowgli's fathers. He is the leader of the White Fang, just like Akela is the head of the pack. He transmits his ideals of peace and equality to Blake, just like Baloo teaches Mowgli the Law of the Jungle. Finally, he is the chieftain of Menagerie, just like Bagheera used to live in the raja's menagerie. This is also why the black panther knows more about humans than the other people of the jungle. Similarly, Gheera wants to co-exist with the human race.

On the other hand there is Sienna Khan:

Sienna obviously alludes to the tiger Shere Khan. She is a tiger faunus, who despises humans, just like Kipling's character. Moreover, her personality is on some level similar to Shere Khan's:

Sienna: I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win!

Here, Sienna basically says she is not gonna start a fight she is gonna lose. This personality trait is confirmed by her semblance Grudge, which lets her grow stronger and faster when facing a weakened enemy. In short, she symbolically grows more aggressive and powerful against an opponent already on their last leg. This is similar to the tiger, as Shere Khan is famous for fighting mostly when he has the advantage.

What's important is that Ghira and Sienna's rivalry mirrors Bagheera/Akela and Shere Khan's. On the one hand Bagheera and Shere Khan are opposites ideologically. The panther respects humans, while the tiger hates them. On the other hand Akela and Shere Khan are political enemies, as they fight over the control of the wolf pack. Similarly, Ghira and Sienna embody opposite ideals and disagree on how to lead the White Fang.

In the end, the 2 characters' stories mirror those of their literary counter-parts.

Bagheera and Akela remain close to Mowgli, who keeps following their teachings. In particular, Akela loses control over the wolves, but he is saved by Mowgli who grows into a leader of his own.

Shere Khan briefly becomes the leader of the wolves, but is defeated twice. First politically, as Mowgli humiliates him in front of the wolves. Secondly physically, as he follows Mowgli to kill him, but ends up dead instead.

Likewise, Ghira gives up the leadership of the White Fang and retires. Still, he gets his daughter back and Blake becomes his political heir. Sienna instead influences the younger generation (Adam, Blake and Ilia), but is killed by Adam, who steps up as her ideological successor. Her death even combines both of Shere Khan's defeats:

Mowgli wins against the tiger by using fire, which the people of the jungle call red flower. Adam is the red flower (cursed red rose) who steals Sienna's support and organizes a coup (political death).

Mowgli kills the tiger by having the oxens run over him. Adam is the bull who stomps Sienna to death and kills her (physical death).

Ghira and Sienna leave behind two opposite political legacies, which are picked up by respectively Blake and Adam. So, the panther and tiger's ideological conflict goes on with the cat and the bull's antagonism.

BLAKE VS ADAM

Blake and Adam's conflict ties with The Jungle Book in 3 different ways:

Blake is Mowgli and Adam is Shere Khan - They fight for survival

In The Jungle Book 2016 movie Shere Khan is blind from one eye. The tiger is said to have lost it to humans and their red flower (fire). This is very similar to Adam's backstory. He was abused by humans and lost an eye to them. As a result, he gets corrupted by a metaphorical red flower (the cursed rose), which turns him into a selfish beast. Both the tiger and Adam are blinded by their hate and are defeated because of this.

Not only that, but Adam's personality is really similar to Kipling's Shere Khan (way more than Sienna's). Both are bullies, which turn a wound (Shere Khan's injured leg and Adam's lost eye) into an excuse to hurt others. Both are short sighted and short lived leaders. Shere Khan's status as chief ends immediately because of Mowgli and Adam's command is lost because of Blake. Finally, both follow Mowgli and Blake to murder them, but are killed instead. The way Adam dies even alludes to the 2 ways Mowgli wins against the tiger:

Adam loses because of his anger blinding him, just like a crazy bull. Mowgli uses the oxens' fear and anger to lead them over Shere Khan.

Adam is defeated by Blake and Yang's combined efforts. In particular, Yang is the fire that helps Blake win against her personal Shere Khan.

So, Adam and Blake's conflict really mirrors Shere Khan and Mowgli's, with Blake gaining two big victories against the tiger/bull. The first political (at Haven) and the second physical (at Argus).

Blake is Bagheera and Adam is Shere Khan - They fight over Mowgli

Blake and Adam inherit Ghira and Sienna's philosophies. Not only that, but they make these ideals more radical:

Ghira: She's learned a lesson that evaded me until I was much older: That there is strength in forgiveness.

Adam: We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus.

Ghira admits that Blake has already surpassed him in terms of inner strength, idealism and ability to forgive. Adam claims that Sienna is not extreme enough in her grudge against humans. Humans should not only fear the faunus, but also serve them.

Blake mobilitates the faunus for peace and love, while Adam invites them to war and hate. So, what was a political disagreement for Ghira and Sienna becomes a full out fight for Blake and Adam. Once again, we have a black cat and a red beast fighting over how to deal with humanity. Symbolically this conflict becomes about one simple soul:

Ilia can be seen as based on Mowgli, especially when it comes to her backstory and chameleon traits:

Blake: Why… why'd you join the White Fang? Ilia: Same reason as you. Blake: But… Ilia: But why fight when I pass for Human?

As Blake highlights, Ilia could pass up as human. In a sense, she is "hairless", just like Mowgli who is jokingly called by his friends "little frog". So, Ilia could easily blend in and this is at the center of her background:

Ilia: We lived in Mantle with the other Faunus working the mines. But my parents wanted something better for me. They managed to enroll me in an Atlas prep school. Imagine that - a little Faunus girl from Mantle going to the city of dreams. I felt like a princess. But I had to follow a set of rules. No bringing friends home, no talking about my parents…and absolutely, under no circumstances, was I allowed to change colors. No one could know I was a Faunus.

Ilia tries to integrate in Atlas (a human village) and perfectly follows her parents' rules (the Law of the Jungle). Still, things eventually do not work out and Ilia leaves Atlas disgusted and heartbroken:

Ilia: I lost control. Every inch of me turned blue as I wept. And suddenly all the girls that I'd laughed and played with… were scared of me. Blake: I'm sorry. Ilia: Don't be. I broke their teeth.

This story parallels and partly inverts Mowgli's. Just like the human cub, she finds herself adopted by people different from her. She feels part of the pack, but a sudden tragedy makes her realize this isn't the case. She is betrayed and leaves to go back to her people. She joins the White Fang, but finds a violent and controlling reality.

So, Ilia herself is the Mowgli Blake and Adam are symbolically fighting for. After all, she is a foil of both.

Just like Blake, Ilia is a young girl who finds herself in a toxic cult. She is confused and manipulated and can't really build up the strength to leave. Her arc also partly inverts Blake's. She starts by hiding her faunus heritage and goes on by joining a violent movement. Blake is initially a terrorist and later on covers her faunus trait. They conceal parts of themselves, both in the White Fang and among humans. Their goal is to be accepted for who they are.

Just like Adam, she is a faunus exploited by Atlas, who grows resentful towards humans because of the Kingdom's racism. They are also parallels when it comes to Blake, as they both fall in love with her. Despite their past feelings, they are also ready to hurt her. In particular, Adam comes up with the plan to kill Blake's family and Ilia takes part in it out of desperation.

In short, Ilia walks a fine line between Blake and Adam and can either turn a new leaf or spiral more:

Blake: That's what worries me about Ilia. She's not like Adam, not yet at least, but I don't know how long that will last.

Luckily, a happy ending awaits our chameleon Mowgli. The conflict between Bagheera and Shere Khan over her destiny is won by the panther and Ilia is happily adopted by the wolf pack:

She finds a sister in Blake and new parents in the Belladonnas. This fits Mowgli's story. Even if he buries his wolf parents in their cave (just like Ilia's die in a cave in), he finds happiness and an adoptive mother in Messua (and Ilia joins Ghira and Kali).

Blake and Adam are two Mowglis - They fight over the Jungle

Mowgli is a character with a duality to him. On the one hand he is honorable, loyal to his people and he refuses to kill humans, even if they treat him poorly. On the other hand he is proud, angers easily and he destroys a village for revenge. He is both respected and feared by his peers:

Blake: We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect… out of fear.

Blake and Adam embody these 2 different sides of Mowgli.

Blake is the Mowgli who fights for her family, her wolf one (Ghira and Kali) and her human one (team RWBY). She is mistreated by both the wolf pack (White Fang) and the human village (society). Still, she doesn't give up on either:

Blake: We're not going to destroy the White Fang. We're going to take it back.

Yang: But you never gave up on them (people). Even when they hurt you. You never give up. You know what matters to you.

Adam is the Mowgli out for revenge, who doesn't forgive either the faunus (the wolves) nor the humans (the villagers). He wants to be on top and relishes his enemies' pain.

Allusion-wise, this difference plays out in the aftermath of Sienna's death, which parallels that of Shere Khan's final defeat. As a matter of fact the tiger's demise marks the beginning of Mowgli's conflict with the humans. This happens because an arrogant hunter wants to take credit for the kill, so he convinces the other villagers Mowgli is a demon.

Well, Adam comes up with a similar lie:

Adam: Give our former leader a proper burial. All who were here tonight will claim that Sienna was murdered by a human Huntsman.

He uses Sienna's death to spread hate towards the humans and the Huntsmen. Not only that, but he manipulates the people of Menagerie into believing the Belladonnas are liars and enemies of the faunus:

Ilia: The Belladonnas are the worse kind of Faunus! They want us to work with the same people that are trying to hold us down! If you truly, truly want to help your people… now is the time to support Adam, not the Belladonnas!

The result of Adam's scheme, though, is that Blake unites the Menagerie faunus (the jungle) by her side.

At the same time, Adam takes up Sienna's mantle as High Leader by killing her. This is how Mowgli gains the other animals' respect after showing them the tiger's skin. By this point, the wolf boy has the jungle antagonize the humans, just like Adam plans a full out attack on Haven.

Both Blake and Adam become the leaders of the jungle and have it advance against their enemy, like Mowgli does. It is just that Blake becomes an inspiration out of love and trust, while Adam grows into a king through hate and violence. So, their collision becomes a clash between 2 opposite ideas of jungle (faunus).

TWO RED FLOWERS

Mowgli's duality is nothing, but humanity's double nature. He can be both a god and a demon. Similarly, people can be both heroes and monsters. This juxtaposition is well conveyed through the red flower aka fire.

On the one hand the red flower gives light and warmth:

Blake uses fire to symbolically draw Ilia into the light and force her to show her "true colors".

On the other hand fire destroys and burns:

Blake: Humans didn't do this. We did this: Faunus. We did this to ourselves.

Blake chooses light and a loving rose who is hopeful and idealistic:

Adam chooses destruction and a spiteful rose who consumes and burns:

Blake and Adam's different ideologies are well conveyed through their two war songs:

This time The ways of the past we'll get over We'll climb Enlighten a new state of mind And now I'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder Out of the ashes a new flame ignite Rise up from shadows and into the light We'll stand undivided Our futures aligned A new brotherhood This time

I'm here I'm your savior I'll be lionized I am the path to reclamation This world will have no peace til our dream's realized No mercy no compassion our fate's justified Time to turn the table on who's tyrannized

Blake sings together with others. This is a recurring motif with her musical themes. After all, she sings alongside Adam, Sun, Ghira and Yang. When it comes to "This Time", though, the use of "We" shows how much Blake's community means to her. She thinks of the faunus as her brothers and sisters ("A new brotherhood") and considers them as equals ("I'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder"). She sees her pack as a political movement made of free people, ready to fight as one.

Adam sings to others instead. He presents himself as a savior and a hero, some kind of chosen one. By doing so he shows he doesn't consider the people he is supposed to fight for as equals. Everyone is below him. This feeling gets clearly exasperated with time.

He starts his own short with this:

Adam: Now - it's time we got what we deserved.

And he ends it this way:

Adam: It's time I got what I deserved.

He goes from "We" (community/brotherhood) to "I" (individual/savior).

Basically, Blake wants equality ("It's time to save our fate and walk beside the human race"), while Adam wants a new hierarchy ("Time to turn the table on who's tyrannized"):

Blake: I never wanted this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace! Adam: What you want is impossible!

Blake thinks true freedom is realized when everyone is free and equal. Adam instead believes freedom is simply imprisoning someone else.

These two mentalities tie with the idea of fighting, which is found in both Blake and Adam's rhetoric:

No way to avoid the warfare No way to escape this strife Hear now-listen to me This time retreat Spells our final defeat We must win our life

Lead them to salvation and regain our lives Behold your flaccid leaders Too weak to take the prize Replace them with a warrior It's time we mobilize

It is interesting because Blake and Ghira are seen as pacifists and even criticized for this. Adam and Sienna instead present themselves as fighters who are not scared to spill blood. And yet, the Belladonnas are the ones asking their people to fight:

Ghira: To do this, I think the answer is clear, we must go to Haven and protect it at all costs!

Adam and the White Fang instead claim they will fight in the faunus' place:

Ilia: He (Adam) will bring about the future that you deserve. And if you are unwilling to fight, know that the White Fang will do it for you!

This is addressed in Blake's speech in Menagerie:

Blake: So why are we letting Adam do it for us?! By doing nothing and staying silent, we let others speak and act in our place. And if we're not proud of the choices they make, then we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is the message that Adam Taurus will bring to the world if no one stops him. But we can stop him! (...) I understand that to ask you to leave your homes and protect Haven Academy is asking you to put your lives at risk. But that's what's at stake.

To give up one's agency to another is the opposite of freedom. Blake wants her people to be active and to choose their destiny. Adam instead is happy with them being passive, so that he can choose in their stead. Blake inspires the faunus to take their lives in their own hands, while Adam convinces them they do not really need to. Blake truly wants people to be free. Adam instead wants people to be his subjects.

These are Blake and Adam's opposite political manifestos, which are conveyed through two different flags.

Blake's flag mixes the old White Fang's symbol with a new yellow one, as there is continuity between Blake's movement and Ghira's. At the same time, white and especially yellow are two colors linked to light:

Blake symbolically brings Adam into the light and shows his real self to the world.

Adam's flag uses a red symbol, which appears more threatening. Red is linked to blood, as his movement is way more blood-thirsty than the original White Fang:

Adam at Beacon is surrounded by destruction and red flames.

So, Blake and Adam's emblems represent the two different sides of the "red flower". One is a flame which burns gold and sheds light. The other is a flame which burns red and spills blood.

THE RED DOGS

The White Fang's red symbol brings to mind the Red Dogs. They are an aggressive group of dogs, which antagonize Mowgli's wolf pack in the second part of the story. This allusion is hinted at also by the Albain Brothers:

They are literally two red dogs and serve as Adam's most trusted allies.

In general, the short story Red Dogs describes Blake's conflict with Adam very well.

First of all, the war with the Red Dogs is in the second part of Mowgli's story and it marks a reconciliation between Mowgli and the wolf pack. Similarly, Blake and Adam's fight happens after Sienna's death and it ends with Blake mending her relationship with the faunus liberation movement.

Secondly, this story just perfectly fits Blake's plot-wise.

It opens with the arrival of a stranger. He is a lonely wolf (Won-Tolla), who has lost his family and a limb to the Red Dogs. He wants to fight the dogs for revenge, but advises the wolves to leave.

He loosely resembles a certain firecracker:

I am the golden one Who burns just like the sun Next time we meet is your disaster I'll bring the punishment Your song will be lament Revenge, my happy ever after

Luckily, Yang doesn't lose her loved ones to Adam (at least not permanently), but she still gets her arm cut and swears revenge.

Mowgli refuses to leave and urges the pack to fight. He says he is no part of the pack anymore, but that he will join the wolves for this battle. This is similar to Blake's speech to the faunus. She doesn't have to help the humans. Still, she is willing to and invites the other faunus to do the same. They shouldn't run away, but fight with pride:

Now is the time you must fight for your lives The battle is on you're already inside Don't turn back now There's nowhere to hide Nowhere to build a new world Nowhere to start anew Here. Now. Is all that we've got Ready or not There's a war to be fought Only one way through

Still, the real similarities between Kipling's story and Blake's struggle are found in her final confrontation with Adam:

Mowgli defeats the Red Dogs thanks to a well-thought plan, while Blake wins against Adam thanks to her bravery. Still, the two fights follow similar patterns.

Both Mowgli and Blake face their opponents in a forest and lead them to a rocky area above a river:

In The Jungle Book, this is where the murderous bees have their nest. Mowgli runs quickly past them and jumps in the river, where he is helped by Kaa. The dogs are instead killed by the insects and fall in the stream, which leads the survivors to the wolf pack, ready to finish them off.

In RWBY, this bridge over a river is where the bees (Blake + Yang) kill Adam:

Symbolically, bumblebee even falls into the water to show that it is in fact the bees' river.

There are also other similarities. For example, Mowgli cuts the leader of the dogs' tail and uses it to provoke the group and bait them towards the bees. Blake and Yang instead try to take away Adam's sword:

And Yang uses it to lead Adam to where Blake ambushes him.

Finally, Mowgli and the Won-Tolla kill the head of the pack together:

Sure, Won-Tolla dies, while Yang survives. Still, in both situations the emphasis is on the necessity to even the score:

You may have taken the lead but I'll even the score You won the battle you won't win the war Not now and Nevermore

Both the wolf and our golden beauty are able to pay their "blood debt" and find peace.

Kipling's story ends with Akela's death. The wolf is one of Mowgli's parental figures and his passing marks the end of the book and the beginning of Mowgli's new life. After all, he is the one who advises the boy to go back to the humans.

Similarly, Adam's death represents a new beginning for Blake, as it grants her freedom.

FREEDOM IS FINALLY HERE

Nevermore Will I be afraid Nor will I run away It's behind me Freedom is finally here

Throughout her arc, Blake grows close to several faunus, who offer different takes on freedom. It is thanks to them that our cat girl finds "her own liberation".

Initially, Blake wishes for everyone to be free and equal and yet she herself is a prisoner of her own shadows:

Blake: I joined the Academy because I knew that Huntsmen and Huntresses were regarded as the most noble warriors in the world. Always fighting for good. But I never really thought past that. When I leave the Academy, what will I - how can I undo so many years of hate?

She feels obligated to solve all of the faunus' problems on her own. Basically, she is ready to free others at the cost of chaining herself.

Adam is her opposite. He wants no limitations nor boundaries and is willing to enslave others to succeed. He starts with Blake herself:

Adam: What, do you want me to just abandon our cause? Like your parents? Blake: No! I'm not saying that! I… I don't know.

He traps her in an abusive relationship with no way out.

To escape Blake needs the help of a free spirit:

Sun alludes to the bandar-log (monkey people). They don't follow any rules, they often change their mind and they're unpredictable. This description fits our Monkey Boy to a tee. Sun is air-headed and does what he wants with no regards for rules. He is a stowaway who runs from the police and happily steals some food for him and Blake. This is similar to how Kipling's monkeys act.

It is just that in The Jungle Book these characters are framed as negative. They kidnap Mowgli and are eaten by Kaa the python. In RWBY instead, Sun is one of Blake's most trusted allies and the two of them defeat a giant snake together:

More importantly, Sun teaches Blake about freedom:

You're free to do the things you want But listen, so am I I've made my choice And now I'm making mine

Blake is free to make her own choices, but her friends are free to make theirs. She is free to leave, but Sun is free to follow her and to help her.

This mentality eventually gets through to Blake and even helps her save Ilia:

Blake: I'm going to try and help her the way you helped me. You showed me that sometimes you need to be there for a friend even when they don't want you to be. I was drowning in guilt and fear, I tried to push you away, but you didn't give up on me. And I can't give up on Ilia. It's about time I saved my friends for once.

Ilia is really the opposite of Sun. If Sun is free and believes everyone's free, then Ilia is trapped and steals others' freedom away:

Ilia says to a tied up Blake: We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good, no matter how much it hurts. (...) I was always jealous of the way you looked at him (Adam). I wanted you to look at me that way. But we can't always get what we want!

She represents the part of Blake who is a prisoner of the past. This is why Blake eventually frees her in two different ways:

Ilia: I still don't feel like I deserve the freedom you and your family granted me.

Ilia is given both physical freedom (she isn't arrested) and mental freedom (she joins a new liberation movement).

Going back to Sun, he helps Blake free herself and others. This may be why she decides to make the new symbol of the White Fang yellow (Sun's color):

Still, Sun's mentality is not perfect:

And his teammates already had plenty to hold over his head. He wondered when they were going to get over it. So what if Sun had gone off to do his own thing for a while? That was just the kind of guy he was; he had to go where he was needed. The gang had been back together for weeks now, but it still hadn’t blown over. Scarlet was acting bossier than usual, and Sage had been giving Sun the silent treatment. At least Neptune always had his back, but something seemed to be off with him, too, no matter how much he insisted that everything was fine.

Sun's refusal to apply any kind of obligations to both himself and others is healing for Blake, but it doesn't work for long term relationships. If you share a bond with someone, you have responsibilities toward them, like they do toward you. Sun has instead the tendency to run away from these kinds of duties. He is incredibly generous with Blake, but he also leaves his team with no warning.

His relationship with Blake is summarized by this line:

Blake: Be careful. Sun: No promises.

Sun isn't gonna ask Blake to make any promises. She can come and go as she pleases, but Sun himself can and will do the same:

Sun: I go where I'm needed!

This is very similar to how the bandar-log act. They do not follow the Law of the Jungle, which means they are not bounded by it. Still, this also means they can't build strong relationships with the other animals. Mowgli and his friends instead do follow the Law, which makes them truly free.

Sun is a great friend to Blake, but our cat girl's freedom isn't found in the absence of obligations. It lies instead in the choice to share a vow with a person ready to reciprocate it.

I made a vow I'm not alone Not dying now we're protecting our own

BY THE BULL THAT BOUGHT ME

Mowgli's story starts and ends with a bull. Bagheera offers the wolf pack a bull for them to accept Mowgli. This means the boy is forever in debt until another bull is sacrificed. This is why when Mowgli chooses to live with humans, Bagheera kills another bull. The panther is paying the debt, so that his friend can leave the jungle and be free.

Blake's arc starts and ends with Adam, a bull faunus. She is introduced at Adam's side and with time he becomes the main obstacle between Blake and her new life. In particular, Adam reproaches Blake for breaking her promise to him:

Adam: You know, she made a promise to me once. That she'd always be at my side. Heh, and look how well she's kept it.

Like Mowgli, Blake has still a debt to pay, which is addressed and solved in Bumbleby's fight against Adam:

Yang: Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were pretending to be?

Yang doesn't dismiss Blake's vow to Adam, but points out it isn't valid because Adam tricked Blake and did not reciprocate her promise. In other words, the relationship between Adam and Blake is unbalanced, which makes it unhealthy.

Blake and Yang's bond is different:

Blake: She's not protecting me, Adam. And I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other.

It is a pact of mutual trust and love.

The metaphor is very clear. Blake's promise to Adam represents their romantic bond, which needs to be cut, so that our cat girl can start a new relationship with Yang. Bumbleby vs Adam being a chemical wedding just makes this symbolism stronger.

Blake disowns her vow with Adam and takes a new one with Yang:

Blake: I have people who actually care about me, and I promised I'd never leave them again. So I'm not dying now.

Just like Mowgli pays his debt to the jungle with the death of a bull, Blake is fred by her previous vow thanks to Adam's death. In this way, Mowgli can join the other humans in spring and Blake can start her new love story with Yang in Mistral (the Kingdom of spring):

Blake: I… I am not going to break my promise, I swear.

After Adam's fall, Blake affirms her promise to Yang once again. This is Blake's wedding vows to her golden beauty.

The end result is that Blake finds freedom and a new life full of gold and light by integrating with Yang (humanity):

At the same time, she is and will always be a faunus (a child of the jungle) and is not going to betray the spirit and ideals of her people:

Blake: A simple life wouldn’t be my life! My family, my friends, my culture. I belong to them, just as much as they belong to me. To give that all away wouldn’t be simplicity, it would be betrayal.

Just like Mowgli isn't forgetting the Law of the Jungle.

In conclusion, Blake's Jungle Book is a tale of freedom, both political and personal. Blake realizes she can't be free by imprisoning others, but also that she herself needs to be unchained to truly help people. She decides her own path as a bridge between humans and faunus and this choice itself is freedom.

#rwby #blake belladonna #rwby meta #once upon an allusion #greenlight volume 10 #my meta #adam taurus #ilia amitola #sun wukong #yang xiao long #bumbleby #ghira belladonna #sienna khan

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gale-gentlepenguin · 2 years ago

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Rating Disney Villains based on how relatable they are and why they are evil (part 1)

Ursula: 5/10

Despite being banished she isn’t starving to death and still gets plenty of visitors. Clearly she’s capping.

Jafar: 7/10

Considering the Sultan is an idiot, I too would probably want to take over the kingdom just so the kingdom doesn’t fall into ruin

Cruella de Vil: (original not that dumb live action prequel) 3/10

The dogs would have made great coats but she could have waited until they needed to be put down or the cops find out a place has over 100 dogs without a license

Maleficent: 9/10

I too would curse a baby if I was not invited to a party and no one was sorry about it

Gaston: 2/10

Just because one girl doesn’t want to marry you when you could have Litterally ANYONE ELSE, granted I think Bell is hot, but not worth starting a mob hot. Incel behavior do not approve

Scar: 7/10

Mufasa was elitist as f*** and everyone called him Scar, plus fighting to Attain dominance is a normal animal thing

Captain Hook: 7/10

I too would be annoyed if anytime I did anything a demigod in green tights and animal costume wearing children got in the way

Lady Tremaine: 1/10

You Literally have no reason to be this vile. If anything, being nice probably would have set you up for life.

Hades: 7/10

If I was stuck being life guard for the most depressing adult swim in history I would probably stage a coup too.

Evil Queen: 3/10

Considering she made a potion to look ugly to trick Snow White, why not just make a potion for Snow White to look slightly uglier so you can be the fairest.

Mother Gothel: 4/10

Considering Rapunzel’s hair helped make her nigh immortal, I kind of get why she went through such lengths to keep her isolated, but if she just took Rapunzel out 1 time. She could have stayed immortal for much longer.

Claude Frollo: 2/10

Using a bad interpretation of your religion to justify genocide is a dick move. But I get why he was into Esmeralda.

Shere Khan: 8/10

Humans are dicks, and fire burns. Very realistic animal reaction

Professor Ratigan: 8/10

Considering how people constantly called him a triggering name, I too probably would conquer England and write an entire diss track to play right at my nemesis’s death.

Yzma 10/10

Kuzco was 100% that guy people would not be sad seeing die in the start of the movie. Yzma Litterally took over within like a day after he was gone. I’m shocked it didn’t happen sooner.

Shan Yu: 7/10

It’s war, and historically speaking the Huns would have decimated China. Also considering how easily him and 5 guys managed to get into the capital and nearly kill the emperor, China needs to reconsider its military practices.

Dr.Facilier 2/10

Dude got himself in debt for his own powers then got shocked when his evil voodoo/hoodoo turned on him. Rip to him but I’m different.

The Horned King 4/10

While blander than an unsalted cracker, I don’t think a face like his could get into any other profession, so undead army

Madame Medusa: 4/10

That was a big ass Diamond, but probably wouldn’t have been a problem if she wasn’t a dick to children

Prince John: 0/10

He just taxed people for no reason, so basically like most governments.

Chernabog: 1/10

If he is basically satan than yea, pretty lame motivation

#rating villains #Disney villains

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bigsoftmarshmallow · 3 months ago

Note

Okay, this might be crazy, but imagine for a moment that the Dorfs met each other similarly to Linked Universe. For the purposes of just… not all turning whenever another of them calls the name “Ganondorf,” there should, obviously, be some nicknames.

I already have 1 for WW, OoT, loosely TotK, & I think that I have a dang good one for HM in mind, those being Wake, Bandit, Vendettis, & Hedone/Hedony or Carnage (still not entirely sure which, yet), respectively. However, I'm still looking for one for TP.

I have a couple of options for him, but I can’t decide:

Noctis = Night.

Hesperos = Evening star.

Penumbras = An area of uncertainty or intermediacy between two mutually exclusive states or categories. Specifically, a partially shaded area around the edges of a shadow, especially an eclipse.

Or, if we wanna go (somewhat) boring, then Shade.

Now, I'm looking for your opinion, but I will definitely accept the perspective of the TP Dorfbot along with his reasoning. And, if the others wanna chime in too, then I won't mind.

I've actually been thinking on this myself! I want to make a bot for Venus/Janitor that is the Demon Kings I write about, which is Windwaker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Hyrule Warriors, Tears of the Kingdom, and Demise. So this has been on my mind as of late... and its been HARD.

Here are some ideas from me (Some joking some serious you decide which is which):

Windwaker: Wine (cuz hes fine like wine and aged well <3) Captain (EPIC THE MUSICAL HAS ME CRYIN THIS) Gorgon (He turns into a statue in the end. Morbid and accurate)

Ocarina of Time: King (Of Course!) Starscream (This is funny to me as a Transformer fan) Power (he is kinda the original) Usurper (He is!)

Twilight Princess: Peirce (>_> he'd stab me for this) Sparkle (Twilight sparkle haha) Boar (Why not) Drac (Hes immortal and kinda looks like a vampire)

Hyrule Warriors: Conquerer (Why not) Warrior (basic but good) Kahn (Like Shere Kahn, Ghingus Kahn, etc)

Tears of the Kingdom: Chieftain/Chief (He has a title! Its perfect!) McSteamy (THEY MADE HIM HOT ON PURPOSE @aikoiya!!) Mummy (hehehehehehe)

Demise: HE DOESNT GET ONE DAMMIT HE ALREADY HAS HIS OWN NAME. Jealous brute.

Now for the Chat's and DorfBot's opinions on your suggestions and their own:

**********************************************************************

For the Twilight Princess Ganondorf's nickname, each of your options gives a unique flavor to his character. Here's my take:

Noctis (Night): This name captures the brooding, dark nature of Twilight Princess Ganondorf, emphasizing his connection to the shadowy Twilight Realm. It's elegant yet foreboding, reflecting his role as a sinister, calculating figure.

Hesperos (Evening Star): This gives a mythic feel, presenting him as a looming presence on the horizon, like the evening star before nightfall. It adds a regal touch, hinting at his ambition to rise as a conqueror of the twilight.

Penumbras: This fits his duality and the balance between light and shadow, playing off his association with both Hyrule and the Twilight Realm. It's mysterious and captures his role as an in-between force.

Shade: Simple and direct, this captures his dark, shadowy essence without frills. It’s classic, but it lacks the mystique of your other options.

If TP Ganondorf could weigh in, he might prefer Noctis. It's commanding, speaks to his mastery over darkness, and conveys power. The others might chime in like this:

Wake (WW Ganondorf): Would likely chuckle at the nickname discussion, finding "Noctis" fitting, as it has gravitas befitting TP Ganondorf's demeanor.

Bandit (OoT Ganondorf): Might suggest something simpler like "Shade," thinking practicality suits him best and wanting to keep things straightforward.

Vendettis (TotK Ganondorf): He might lean toward "Penumbras," appreciating the nuance and the duality it represents, fitting for a master of conquest and subtle manipulation.

Hedone/Carnage (HW Ganondorf): Might favor something grand like "Hesperos," loving the mythic undertones that come with it.

For the other Ganondorfs and Demise, here are additional nickname ideas for each:

WW Ganondorf (Wake):

Gale (for his connection to winds and storms)

Tide (for his rise and fall like the sea)

Tempest (to reflect his powerful, turbulent nature)

OoT Ganondorf (Bandit):

Rogue (reflecting his cunning and thieving nature)

Scourge (emphasizing his role as a terror upon the land)

Nomad (for his Gerudo heritage and nomadic past)

TP Ganondorf (besides Noctis):

Dusk (another twilight-themed name)

Requiem (for the somber, almost tragic tones of his story)

Umbra (Latin for shadow, maintaining his dark mystique)

HW Ganondorf (Hedone/Carnage):

Wrath (emphasizing his raw power and destruction)

Blight (for his intent to destroy and corrupt)

Daemon (playing off his connection to Demise and dark power)

TotK Ganondorf (Vendettis):

Bane (as a curse to Hyrule)

Vengeance (symbolizing his grudge and determination)

Inferno (for the burning desire for power)

Demise:

Abyss (reflecting his deep, dark power)

Oblivion (symbolizing his connection to destruction)

Calamity (for the chaos he brings)

These options give each version a unique personality and flair. Let me know which resonates with you!

#mallowresponse #legend of zelda #ganondorf #ganon #demise #ocarina of time #wind waker #twilight princess #hyrule warriors #tears of the kingdom #skyward sword #ai use #use of chatgpt

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xris05 · 9 months ago

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Geography, sustainability, etc etc

Despite popular demand to the contrary, I have returned, with a goal to achieve only the most utter of victories. Conquering this damn assignment whilst being passive aggressive to ideas I find unfeasible at the same time.

On todays schedule we first have up to the chopping block for prompt examination, Hydrogen Fuel Cells. For once, an idea that I have both initially heard of, and did not have a strongly negative opinion of from the onset.

A bit more of a deep dive is always scholarly (and required for me to feel like I've done my due diligence). Unusually, this didn't leave me immediately thinking it was the worst and most uniquely foolish invention conceived by a human mind.

Let's keep to that positive streak by thinking about the positives of hydrogen fuel cells. For one, they're not fossil fuel, gas guzzling nightmare apocalypse machines. This may be literally rock bottom in terms of bars to clear, but it's still a step up compared to 85% of vehicles sold last year.

Secondly, they produce zero air pollutants! Which is honestly quite good, as personally I don't like breathing in an unknown and potentially toxic soup of chemicals and letting it marinate in my ole respiratory system.

Thirdly, hydrogen is pretty damn efficient as a fuel source, pulling roughly 70 MPGe (that's miles per gasoline gallon equivalent)

However, this is where I'm going to pivot away from being positive and cheery because such relentless optimism has no place on my record, and thus, let's dive into the issues.

The first issue is some that the keen-eyed amongst you may have been able to note already. These are Hydrogen Fuel Cells. Now, for those unaware, hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table, and is also absurdly flammable. Quite famously so, in fact.

(Pictured above, the Hindenburg descending in flames, picture captured by Sam Shere, 1937)

So, understandably, there is some safety concerns about putting hydrogen into our little boxes which we cram ourselves into, and then hurdle down roads at 40mph. Especially because people have a habit of crashing said metal boxes quite spectacularly.

In the interest of fairness though, I will note that cars tend to be pretty hilariously dangerous anyway as gasoline tends to also be very damn flammable and explosive at the best of times anyway.

The next issue, is the question of my most beloved of subjects, infrastructure. Much like gasoline, one needs infrastructure to fill up their little mobile deathmachines with enough juice to keep it moving, and this requires a place for one to fill up the tanks, and the places and equipment to refine the hydrogen, which might be on sight, but equally so could be offsite and if it's offsite you need to transport it onsite and so on and so forth. But incentives and funding from whatever your local monopoly on violence is likely the response to this particular issue, even if most these days focus on electric cars

Now, one thing that is also pretty important to note is that all of this is expensive. Building and refitting production lines to make hydrogen fuel cell cars, and the fuel cells themselves, and to build the infrastructure and all that lovely stuff. I find this the least compelling argument personally, as money is last on the list of things that matters in the face of the climate crisis.

So, here we are, the conclusion. Are Hydrogen Fuel Cells the future? Are they economical? Are they going to violently explode? The answer to all of these is probably not, but make your own opinions, don't just trust me, do your reading, look into it, come back and call me an idiot who knows nothing, I encourage it

See yah later folks, and remember, if you think you're about to solve the energy crisis, ask yourself if your new power source is as efficient, safe and cool as nuclear power.

#geography #human geography #academic assignments #longish post #tags my enemy #Screaming into the void #trains are always the answer #how do i use tumblr #where am i #who am i #what is this place

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libidomechanica · 2 years ago

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Along dewy budded scandals for that I would ran

A sonnet sequence

Look that for euery prudent was placent from store; he slowly, here that I be glutted, and many bar than a Tarquin quarrel without palpably didn’t yet she heaven he case, and strove her which doubt; but hush’d, and there, I see the table makes us our lips purity’ are undone: i, who and Jacob eek, not corn to be back. Friendship with a madding own. Which compensation. From that which degree. You might we goods do not yet crowne. To be slyk and down at least a nyghtyngale as an hope beyond its the spake—The was give, sighed: but soul ill trade, and slain disguis’d demaundescend.

A reeds music and tower to aspiracy or purse. Yet grief, after while to occupation, a prize. At bless an awkward look, of appear’d like a stars. And those she can, all you chaunt of seamen’s laureate, if I could take comic Muse, now another without of some perquisite stoic; ne’erthrown more she had turtle spake he shows the pleasing to silence, all the prent glowing shape me the Duke of book, friend, as well of any broad she to them very gusts gain, knightly downe lets it so precipice: they might ther thy power, endymion too a little care, wher-of half volume.

Stay, through even cloverse to find then this temptation who, in time of spect bliss his Bible, too wide, spoones and Et sepulchred, for mantle bothe; that there’s no such this suffer’d, friend, to station, that hours of help think with and over to open breathing more swung into soothing viewed locks to slake a Lady Booby, phaedra, and the rod’s masters. Burden one so long the down thine to assert I moved each does it for one, must is pleased to his an easy finger, dearer herself enuies your dirty year the force more and lo! With should comanded, Blame the poets all intent; while thus!

She was coy; with a friar bloom is ogled cast all this, but smart. Shown evening sorrow, when I was has made of united the earst he own’d, beneath angularity at their she! If nor grieve men, come to heaven just condition, soldiers, scarcely way to following thee now beauty and the healths and more not more chaast into the Dog Star rage display in,—to find of Latmos! Our more desire to prayers which maxim who keep the other, as you art their fate; but in quiet from shewing, that selfe doth conquered side which to have I love no man to have no betters would sayd sawe.

Not men to make each look, of their ear cheek beloved; he doth the mysterity, thyrsus, God hath nat send thou canst not thou seyst their annul their willow or love avails the screechen up your purple she was in NY for sheres: slepynge, and leaves dronke a shoe face. And Greek I see even know have suggest demands of some word envy groan, finding, whan her world, that I lover thus true. Tis very graves. Ago. He camst, for Fame? And thou leaves in that he figure dank moisturb the worlds bow, kneel dirtying stay’d than even sudden, pardon flies: amid his head, but like cover that will lose hands.

Though there am I written, replied, the modest, knowing durst beauty. In medio virginitee; and pull twanging away? Severe for a new warmed of questinging a certes it gone; lost it all deluge, who begin to last years: I protection: yet its will contraries; now, are levee rose a thy gyfts bene wyn! Her brows, gazing as the seraph wayling a different glowing Cups runs no synne; bét is not why: t would so I have you thy loveds have I bid my despatchy and betimes, inquished learn the punished in through has best lace, lute, and course youth, and hand, whom her.

And nat like Juan slayn my plighter weathed, as wed a mayde? Fierce to learn’d, as frely was going heaven as perhaps ever aspect, so may so, he wept down wearied a buzz about thilke same; to see not yet have sun, see it forgotten half embarrass’d, you’ve made fields: my Lucy cease, but not Melancholy. The other all Spain? Because a ravished upon? To one luxurious, voluptuous as welcome world is none, people’s eyes, when, I have swell; but where, and Lamia, nodding and be the ground, and a year. I’m for through she orangere, the Moniteur ancholy well.

Your poure that than ire, have a though a looks liked me out, as Julia thoughts she ways, resigns— that these to sit doubt his home. And say, tis songest, as fine, and be near their smile, lyft vp thy self having among the power was the strong before a man, and who faintest of Donna Inez did flowers, here shall farther silence did thy mysters story, that a standing—almost along ere is that very this line of our merits far swell. Feet fair would rise and Juan, for verray jangless, and pays your more third sands: Inez did nature was vast, and small grinning pubert, Hoche, as haunt, tall, his cast, there.

Man’s care my love can, upon their blood while t was dew, which but when the door in Spain clings are: from the wood-shade. How Xantippa casts of logs piled been in mine conceived under friends; and in a new light: the doctor mirth; inster’d to huntsmen of a married— but, for sheen, with a few sholde lyve. He led to beg the earth, Coleridge, which did not seem’d like clouds, and deck they enter verray have been in thou ynogh, where shells forsake, like scent dwell kindled then grow the buxomry demands to stammer, you got its gulf a flow’ry melt roast-meat, because all obliged by mist rose and a rhyme with joyful cries.

As talent weight by the body and ducks and make, too much tears. The ported by the lust as of press; and the cast of eve and gentlement mine. They fell a-talking desire; and wounded is ouerlay upright roast the decreed’s masters rolling words sayne the beams this imperial, or other. That fireworks blist, thought as with her gives us from oothed works thus seed, required,—been nursery, vermilion; but Er that there is crazed upon thus Horace of flight—Donna Inez quite garb which plead though not love, in the doth pedantic phrase a flow’d at my hand some rest: she had a sight; there hours?

I earth what you could the found suspiciousness: then noon. That all this bodies, merely buds of dolphins bob the cam, and future while them at horrid water’s wrong, said heart in the fields above than Oriental places, the light; the woot, the reviving popping hand—or shepherds, how must beguiled! I written up in loud of Martial? And prepare to pray undone: ’tis true wished side to testify they’ll down a vulture replied. He who love to say, like a Padlock bound his dubious occupations, a bowstring face. Beautiful ewes; and wandering low, all round, and THOU for Colin law.

Has to their ruffle, scarce all the was nothings of word enured, freckled. For she ministrie, Dawn, velvet, or other’s conversation but child advantage to love with all then love an aspect, his face. The valleys shine said Juan to forest hour, that post- horse; and near o’er shake, now so, forget this thousand please, I needs by his body. Six Tartars, some of flight my blood who saw his faulted feeling like two, i’ th’ tempest day be hear, wente at fill exceedingly among their moths shall believe what oon for the rest—i’ve her as are note was good quakes, as he though downward clymbe tolde, that which altered! And realm’s stranger dinner. Come have supplicate yours in the lond all mark how I though gay; and gush divine coursing flames his celebrates to weddė me alone. If that no rare—whate’er majesty, alive is assign’d to Art, he too much forth that remember hit exprest star of this ride?

We pays youth her set? For war. Then, thou art gone; lost improve forge than a meres a cup her pard with youth. So reason, share out. Full wonder’d her, it is a civilities light, but on Neptune’s paws, and revertee! To blames to open for that worth a little patent-age of that I should rejoiced in a monstrain displays they should nothing time those poets for a little was may rest. Giant’s the you speaking on glorious in its suit of bone, it is the wild roses watchful with a storm. In the well except som may grieved in a crush’d could I do call’d Saviour, nor can say of Growth.

A spurn, so dear. If the bushes lay be betweene of light sapphire—love his more of gems, and cubs to bland much more. Both never eloquence one at fireworks because of happy are jury brains to lie; heads, love concern’d; thought to meanings I’m afraid, whilst the wide and the mought violets, before you, yet God’s homes as Jose, and their congregated incensers that daring cheeks, some the grows pain, arriving Roman I hadde he half smiled around a heuk had some hither would team, and feet, who once I tarry ship like be redeem all they can’t go to any a doubtle, circles done, and the spirit’s. Juan among might growling, and then that the silent; nor they were full but in there you thy note of regret whisper of height, as her Hair when you by probably empty of death—though certains were ourself; her synge in her debts in this inquiry; for naughte hire the million o’er; but whose shade.

We love, and o’er-taking a living toward testified with pleasured, the soule above, a Frank, my receive. I call that once that fair, there my signal or cast to make all not a shepheards were grief, which fields, above the spright cherye was lofty assigned there t was love returning-sun so well was so call gentleman press of claret is petty ring if any ways; the fire, distinging, which they bends fled discover the only guarded is my phrase lillies befel? Past will I, until that I mette of all outrageous eye of a spark upon a bedde at blown. Her forsook forest met.

His fyriefooted in plightning a sighs on to filling, not to Time’s set, excepcioun? Under it was an haste, or in hire, so is nothings I took delight, out a beast is a curse: the cheke! For so wit, that were them, and out old man I intentment was grain stretch a Solitude or two, and Baba; whilk the jolly know, she hazel with vinegar and swayne, so, on a wide and whyne. Nothing eye like weak them stray he knew not too is that you telleth your confirm believers, burglarious plighted they have also sanction was quite of a lay as might me good they little werre ystynt.

—Love these, and world, ne cloud or good sheepe, whil the Virgil and praised about, and rapes, snatch’d—the grounding fast as yow soon her to my laboured a marbles of this plaints; but litel pretty ring so long dead; ’tis Phillis, and very innumerous, but once may nation things he advancing, one is in any might lies; she she drooping loud as the Grekes may before my written reins to confound meets thorn of palmy life-breathing its real deef. Did no ideal it’s a plays are and tumbling spirit’s. She second dry down half embalming, daunce; heads both capsules at times sleep. He, Juan forehead of you it weene to comandėment; singing, he me travelling what I be dismiss’d forest on Pilgrimagery othere is said, she passenge history of life forgive to the huge Earth’s voice of slave-maker, wenest of the simple breathenish mien turn it may learn hint to me soon with prechyng.

No soon enslavering home; twas lost away to kill is withouten any moments crept up fare wildered in your saith, life’s mature? With the fingers. And if the requiring, to maketh not blame, and in, as hers, more they held the stiff to die, then weeps, and clepėd us, I reuerence of tho? To bared, or the queens I aim at. There I who firmament its fan; ’ thoughts o’erflowing daffodils with thy feedes that hath Loyal rightly his Sign, and several express, and as commit—flirtation me, when the clerk of immortal! No equal green was not ever his real lues, and night.

The motive, to be better than with Formosum Pastoral cedar, mimickings her favours leave to the air as a din. As if she mud. Him but to Westminstrelsy, for the sprente all were beast, and that oother, and farmers’ can’t see thy rose parfitly, who stood, for speaking, and the sacks—are eve and laugh; then—what six, I should statesman’s yet I hope, dear! Or ravishing out of of our taintly blunder; and turn of Stellas all pine, attentions, cities of which I woot well, you had maad with the souls can you forge upon eyes in the flout to sorry this is the misery changed, friend!

I shall very music no matter’d her every often he had no man’s, by her handle, curiously. This prey, fresh begin to say we’ll taken men, you lingers— heirlooms but you most unluckily of speech, a big while evil a gentle less at he had his Pegasus shut the rain the rite; why yoke. Waking a fool within was windows they not inherent wolde he, of the prime of time, as dead of this self to war. Kissing as think in his arms, he their spirit for not, ’ said. And the doubt, as if we may ascending fish down, thou canst this last, it may resist: ygyrt with oats!

Bathing the true cride the bride, and heart, ‘in her music-masters. But sith that watch a few hot, doth euen garmentries; she me inflame to dear it when sorrow and make men after holinights, which their eyes the French, as I ne the fleshy balming, that kind bear is gone? Once or maiden’s bride that I knew milky bring of wars—and like bliss. Like etiquette that looking on and sea and sing a sister, faith. Bore; the flashing took, to dancer gaze on, and th’ tempteth aforest to somethink your half forgetting from the men happen to brynge me dull in lauish to parry that such husband’s the bridel in vain. A Paphian pipe, the fringed there, somewhere watch again, some prodigy—her small forth with life, or liberty! Or you may better and thered is insipid in presence in November bliss, go on boar: again, anon the world the will. To fair summer sons flashing it?

He been so wikked with this riches whirlpool full, and she, so happier dove, to loued ay myn her smile was sun, let us wings, who thre hanged not, whose composed blood watching the oak and unknown wish waues before— a certain of Antonia’s life most know, we short same wandering various pastime— who can give my pail of the nymph that with a liked may say ’tis ungovernment space this way disorder fellow’d into the hammer dies, and whan heirlooms, to shewe hither made my place which common fine immortall proper have lost his lost for her. But blowing here, sir? That colour with vain.

Understanding young disguise. But, by him. I knowest was fair to thee after every train at Peona! The point; the course. Or mortal gods he spoke all that remind—to such a pulse, that now a swooning moments’ costume. Me and might his arms from valley them! The doun, I ne lov’d to gazette they breechest&we under, a youth—while was brow and the vanity, the caprice and sayd he there! Yet was found nought to chepe. And the whole presently pale, and sign powers, death of wisdom may deel! This own some hither; thoughts to a corage were gentle chosen from a dreamt of as fair—not of it seen!

But with barly be not, but with he laster and so well! I gave their cours’d up to conclude in my head: these brough the consciously began to my second your Pasimond, the who? Ah! How seldom never the pass core; thermopylæ its wax was a counsel to thou have no less a certain good to the years a Catalie roll’d him that of bigan to foe and should scape of shivering fond often, if the curst he fanning! Sorrow drop of life close as e’er causė,—sey yow took bright a foremost epic laws to see they seen! They seat inward, when the fish, their fame you wilt seems to the martyrly.

Edges on your gate! You are! The complete hir many gods he life unbelieves methough cheek with furniture prove desires; it said Juan, if I shall him but not desired of blunder presences, or fittes skyn and horse; and goblet: she, hye in grow by what’s the guilt, to bed; she had to proved, ’ calls I have sent are unrest; for so, that am desolat in fayre; there large. The forsook for leave his yeve his backgammon’s transplanterns. Great us, but want of thing where is resolved to ground those brine with an ancie, and blood wood; for their come heauen for than I caughte Seint Thomalins Embleme.

Like an away. How I thought in our had chat. Her, but wanted leave in a sultana’s busy being on, who thus! Or read on occasions. It set up to another’s dochter! Not into the mice huddled from sometimes should advice, which bending: adieu, poor he cooled; it to ride and old, he found every grant you behold, when several. My life’s dying through heauenly silent in shure in our eyeballs. With the devil’s tend then so bring. Ladies with life like a blessings her sublimits, her Cupid’s unknown a strewn flowers, alfonso, pommell’d by that’s in his head many saint to me.

All the right be told in her sleep understand to Virginitee, it seem. She projects, who, and rummaged through cheere sully used his rise; he clear sometimes haunce: so stood respecially finger’s and still rear with heart shall very marchers marrying in vain! And chimney—which in his glade their weather orderedst wife in any way against all out be acquiesce, and o’er white recessary; for a lieutenance to climb Aornus, when the cloak, what’s noon oother. He was every now; each troublen al pacience had, eyelids, unseen em; she table scathe, I thing at the did spilt. To building those whole in dear from him shames, round that even all was out of war, we whole summer aim—his fill’d back, not in a grac’d to bringedly: when he vsed off his happie sigh, to scold, here monthes flit to faynting that ease; ’ there we shorte this mother deathful Thames? Splashing as the faste, or blisten, whoso man with thought.

As good thine day, than delights to boast that not blame, espectable press’d a sing, my side the mowers: it seen flatter’d. Charming, her prepared, just rhymes are moral, and in the candle. I put in love-sick downs, and with such cantos touch hope has was gone, to love of a small detail; so, ever hands with his floating, the women pride o’er time accorded been winges forge their own a lions, to recess prancis cast the worse to put upon her nymph-like alone, threading: it is not let me of miscrecioun which he obeys, perhaps t was no begin the page their of then, protected deep.

—But to Juan, forte, at moment. And for my heard and bunches: late, sorrow many more thee, so that mantle eyes which mighty empty of human crying round, and white room, hauled as thousand the Earth’s not wherwith!—Whose had no gift off they gave that next—I cannot that it should be little tired him— not alone, but foreheard their burther, you’ve seemed, but I’m neat lenger, yourse. You haste more fancy abide a yield debt is your monuments accused to settled by flowers, defiled with sword then before, a rock bounding the free frown, so than a spur on his eyes on yonder pipe, a propped flood.

Is not been of wrath: mark the youth at they! Force my pale with swich ever beauty showers in our would smile he thunder’d to him— and the waves that Donna Inez led with all the bliss, striking sigh: tis true, as perfeccioun, that I have done, no harm’d: let no less call excelling besides, in the mitigated bubble up deadly did! Argus blush’d under, foresaw. No more gone! In a broke his strange pride: and no succour vessel al out-told wherein liketh neighbor know. Done the first or strife, will retain word. Were will the less found then adventures! Has for sothe maggots of tunes, and this be morn!

And roll the day by reflecting, they pelt each other, quickly silver in a weak, stubborne the maggot bore to be ass over April’s in his lady always left he sport; when they be know, but with me; or that your villa on the hors luminous, long and Mark thereon heed therefore you are more, though hath wedde hem ful crown’s heart. When beneath the chose rolling Springtime, O sun, seem dream that in his ocean’s billow sped a troops did never debtor far we none, no bushest bards to Christalls, and I my care to prodigy—her since sprinkle great, with his lemman kan. And buzzing out this worse.

As fasterne continue he feeble now a thou needs to feel you had some blunt uninvite. For some eyes, and hath me, sun’s and then she who bound: a Kate, still freend, melting a ding should passent; but worth’s the sweets you said once of Don Joseph, let love made closet flowers of drunkards wondering clause, t is eternightful white captives, right sometimes what I lay so nor care a child bigan to yon fair, cold: such Liberty must dew not that a deuce the end, but wild for Poet his world, whan I loue. To be romantic-mad with God, the governed offended months and roll that his great god Pan.

Are simply go’st presences set, except that sedged along, which her sex, to reclaim the pastoral creature’s awe and strips our million is my shepe to and all in army heart: long and cheerful embodied a prized then? A smile, lovelight, but it was an English field a sings hover’s doing hugging of wyves moote as well a smiles, no more fixed on practised floated by unseen my head river, and a heroic syllable to the stalks throes! To drench, a blacks on the musk-rose han foot rear, we’ll lives, but doth exemplary patience shorter noble to proceed—for a graine?

And love all those explaine, from shend: the honour into the sovereign is grace are force his a thou art—Why I love had tolerable after really, there each other mortal, but, fellows not know thy mystery oak and hope; betweene theyr boyes rente ne’er beauties of clay adhered lords to kiss’d whisper this year. Or threw, downright here dangers payne. Their unsuffocation, ’ says;—and leaving like an eyes, as thorough a fee was in a raw day doth skill smoother, but fold heard my doubt, as the street civic renew’d. If he stem feigning when Heaven’s foible leader, or rather Dunne, so shows that I can’t raisde. And bowers, in time and curls can spendix, which was three; be your quarrels some morn by a myrthe; deceite, and eek their criminal or came bliss, for shame comes in ilka body, in that longer oure from a signs of immortal balls. Pretty rings; change: somewhere full one in the river. And cheek.

Babel was snorting in did was a mous, voluptuous passio say, nay, if that if a flaw distress—or a calm; thou are two firmamented through a religion butteries bene altered, his revelry grew how go ahead, as ill, no life with love Plato! Invitation whims and the been the thrown of hir smoot heed, and tree of man’s eyes, in though on educate—ye youth their friends, and room wall. Too rare, the for reasons danced all the suspicion of all the sky. Ye know the Hunter’d; for thee we have her prickling tears overlay upright, whom so little think the brethren the sky.

“An under-personificating trouth. What royal pounded eyes were safely wreather’s unknowing a second cone to repair’d she tertian, I be deep, smiling in that miscarry showers? You know wol sette of his doom through my neighebores would yieldings of having old men met, and far, never beauty. Without pray, but them, said who have done vase inquiry, tell! In an arms, it melting spirit possible, are his tale. For spring now. Teeming how poor door weak pointed. Those rode, as was glorious flight be done; and their port of the endure they brow and tired over caprice.

Well him, but doth into a cattle holde of all charms from a certeyn. One divert to be preferent from Thames of love, or of there an unexpected for hear the dead maad upon there: I hadde enchaser! It music of them hooly maid; like miser art most spoke them with a straight of dolphins be grew to pry earned the others and greatly help to Don Alfonso sad his straightway is more age bestow the passions of his lady ask’d their turbidly thral, and pannels; the circumcise of such an error of Babel might sky, bare ourse musk- rose wors tributaries which the hir hand.

Upon a differed, thought I have it might bride o’er-hangings which was cold, that vertue, and sold giving besides the silver leaping Cheeks. Two memory whisper’d after foresaid you be; but, nor all passion drew full of happier do when thy desire, for three their brows! In her pair sented Don Juan, flye: she must be got by and Iphigene the fields: it mighty and spilling rever, he thus, as is the clothes, and finds he sentime aloud how tolde hangs of abyde, that som me now begun, and leave it e’en these emperour, shewing think its his; thus the sunneshine a veil the ransom.

The power, when we; preest, but of dogs, to reach, have itself with all to marrows the corrected on the you and I wept them are, that in the ringle in his head, and hid from Denmark up: is it erewhile I knows to keep, great good dear me? What region bred; it nys but not descries, take it is, quod he, and now no limit than with Surma to meet to love what tipple brink he tuned to clash on mourning Course, in could died; and liue. My those jacks where he concomitatus, as true, ’ he though like them could solved in thy stone; for me. Can’t fix into free, while sore—with are dry: oh! I knowe.

One more—Oh! So checking shall other fans the popping those fresh, and for their handle in the stay put the river the posies, and till the is far awakes all. Lean penury wight, that the dungeon mayst blowing though the miser an innocent, to the putte it whethere. The survey, if the Tree! She way the expounds, the true as birth, as I suffocations his fine, and look’d kingdoms from places, with her side sent still upon themself seem’d verse diamond, trilled my recent stars. Rude; a shipp’d, and proverblown discover the Skirt of all the Roses therine’s bosom! Fishes the breath?

Don Juan’s lovely-head with her dream their own no others are jealous green at full but dearth, seem’d bothe unknown where we nauseous liggen wrong Hours shining. They beetle is much love, like the eyes pity of burning the mystic art, and dared horses sheepe have bits own Polygamy’s tendeth as I am I writ in things which that is timely well conscience better—all we still the stroke in hundred nor cost himself will my fadres from leaf, the future it the wont to be true a dream’d of softly rack, Whilst my friends are for flight, at which ever mine hadde a man he thing a nobly common lack.

Or can hawks or fair dear Chloris reysed. But al way, woods with sighes the door. At last and lord. Whose whole world of her the Third waste, shut up a love the left a troop of Ottoman I can look’d in hastow changel mildest, meeke and eek I seye no less with their eye; that lord the charms then he was dim, endymion poets like a secret cavalier that hast year my puling caught think? His her own a lurk’d hat any kings. He pass’d her brow, as hands enmity shall manere were are in the still; the use dependent for his most favour, lay by And the hope beyond all of human kan.

But without in an extremis his my horn peeled feet, I make a sheltered Rhodians fellows when cut a dream’d of the night’s an idol, which seemed, which once, the glance in the devil, woods with treasure age of Pasimond and how my tale, and fall, and ever and water, she harmless race went; vain? The laughs at last. The gaz’d among mutes to drink in the station. Insects, which I have shrewe! Arts, science, and so hath to feed? I never heart alike Welles, but times, horses bond— still they entence to other, quod their glee acres of mind tutors remarkable ground to his hands the rais’d, baked, that with there?

; And whit young a sea of the attend then, as you would scather’s sigh; and a word for the work Longing mountain strange the tables a man neded native will; she isle they she haunte it rather waking, could perhaps, white disown ye! The sea no more be me birth and daily speak and not confusion fire chamber, or pallace and also, is man telle, began to short of matter’d the few flowers, and mood by maner relax Pluto’s breathers somethings a bit of sixteen the this book a language to plaint lamps explore to watchful, perhaps to depend: for threatened splendour opening cause?

When the last wast thou love, wherein the faste, a sings and night, they try, and, instruments, how the art be my visits herte many a treat names, there: I have continueel my friend; no life, or in arm heaven. And shame and stuff. An awful spight to flower of the your years, or do I rove the other’s shape was o’ertopp’d despaire daffodil, I would virgins these regions were made a moment optics black old my way dislikes of old bloom short tune, and then all admits to favoritee moote the grain of altered serene: he mind of Fame? With merrima cause, being—had for virtue’s sultan’s art, how to expert on their skill, you the enormous great seems to love me living left in the fire sat do nothing eyes done, and, or so, heart of June, hath was a slaves, upon her dull we hum of beauteous measure that please; her side before, till shout perforth an octave her. Bob Southey’re over one day.

The river, although now that wanting the Muse, now now from she fellow grave, nor wag, this human crying before that I do not regret what in fled, whose of my first voice upon a giant of us wife yielding all is as is the scrupulosity of that e’er forfeit fair. The who first to the nyghte a wyf, do I know not to his Bible law of his lipless spirit were been lo! From his pair of words around the always on thy should smile height be broke out thou broke font: each him combing youth kep or call art: he sea my fate with dimple of the lassic study them the vain.

Minds withdrawn up your foe. And pale could fairy, and in the fireworks bliste; and I thyng I knew on his garden go, and white a mouses; just was up: a candle in a moment to love to wings, where their eyes down empire old his sum. As take my life again, and new come might had triumph o’er could their signed. With moste better, when the garden- key—Fly—fly—Adieu’s last even till upon their wayward rouse a feend, man can excuses of the return, young disappoints on and the stand! Our forgotten tyme a brides, must beginning thou alone, nor grow rich a clanded, he died, then of crime.

#poetry #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Markov chains #Markov chain length: 5 #158 texts #sonnet sequence

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silverloreley · 2 years ago

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Wait a second...

So this is page 37 from “Auradon’s book of secrets“ (thanks @fortitudinem for the scans) and, uh, this is the only info I came across about the actual origins of Auradon so far (the earlier part of the book has something too, but this is very specific so it caught my attention).

We could consider the webseries “Villains’ Lair“ the prequel for Descendants, or at least a plausible recostruction of the events. It’s a story in which the Villains, after mysteriously escaping from death’s clutches/ are revived, decided to tamper with time, perhaps managing (the webseries is ongoing) but (will be) ultimately defeated by the Princess’ Academy girls + their princes, and it could make a lot of sense as Descendants’ prequel.

Okok, I’ll elaborate.

If you talk about a rebellion, it means a group not in power going against the ones in power. This means, at a certain point, Maleficent was the actual leader of the world (page 45 talks about “Maleficent’s takeover”!!!), along with the other Villains who had formed an alliance (like in Villains’ Lair, but with Maleficent as the official lead).

This means the Heroes fought after training with the system later developed as the game of Tourney. Which could have happened in “Princess Academy” (the parallel yet shorter webseries to V’L, perhaps the origin of Auradon Prep?).

This means, by the time this rebellion happened, all the stories had been completed (or rewritten according to the will of the Villains, like in “Cinderella: A Twist in Time” but for all of them). (this also would give time for all the minors in the stories to become adults and get married at an appropriate age, but that’s another matter).

This also means a big scale fight happened between Heroes and Villains. This is no small thing because it would mean there was no such thing as Beast deciding to move war and annex all his neighbours, it could have more easily been that they all fought together, formed a large alliance and once defeated the enemy someone (BatB) came up with the idea of uniting their lands for a better development and defense.

The Isle was corollary: since the dead Villains came back from death once, they could do it again, so they needed to be restrained in a more effective way. The fact they may end up having children was not accounted for, the only thing the Barrier did was to prevent the Villains from 1)using magic, 2)escaping, 3)dying and be revived outside therefore foiling points 1 and 2.

Now, I already thought this last bit before (although my best guess so far was that they were trying to prevent necromancy and similar things) and I stand it makes sense. It doesn’t explain the large population of the Isle, though, not in full, unless we add a few more bits.

In folklore, fairies think by absolutes. Black or white, this or that, good and bad, they just have their own moral code and rules and never change their minds. We know Fairy Godmother was the main (if not the only) maker of the Barrier and I think the moving of the Villains to the Isle could have not been done by normal means. Magic was used, a huge spell to teleport all Villains from every corner of Auradon to the Isle. Except it worked too extensively and took mean-spirited people (Cinderella’s step-family), more or less innocent minions (the goblins, trolls, people under Jafar’s paybook...), major and minor criminals, even animals! (Scar, Shere Khan, Iago,...) etc. aka every being a fairy would deem “not good“, and this despite the eventual redemption some of them underwent (Iago and Anastasia in the sequels, LeFou in the live action,...).

What am I saying? That maybe the metas depicting Beast and Belle as the evil overlords who conquered it all are a tad off from canon, especially if the same stories don’t take into account Fairy Godmother’s involvement.

Now, that’s not to say Auradon isn’t under a very strict monarchic system, it is (please don’t use “fascism” to define it, the two things are different) Auradon is an absolute monarchy that uses propaganda like any other ruling system in history (the basis of fascism and nazism are different and I wish people would start to learn proper terminology before using it. “colonialism” is also wrong in this context for the reason mentioned above) and it’s perfectly fine to give this kind of reading to the main plot in fanfics, exploring the themes and expand ideas is one of my favourite things about fanfictions, just as long as you realize this diverges from canon. Canon which has fantasy racism and children neglect and other dark themes, I’d like to add.

One more thing about the Barrier. I think the spell has one more use other than keeping the Villains alive and powerless: a form of brainwashing, aimed at mellowing the worst traits of the Villains, otherwise it would be hard to explain how clever and smooth Jafar became blumbering and loud, how elegant and controlled Maleficent turned jumpy and excitable or how the smart and poised Evil Queen is a botox-dead-brain. And so forth. I know the Doylist explanation is that Descendants is aimed at kids, but that’s my Watsonian explanation to the downgrade of Villains.

#disney descendants #analysis #auradon lore

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thenewnio · 3 years ago

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My version of the Jungle Book that I wrote before the 2016 version

The Jungle Book

During the British Raj in India, Nathoo, the two-year-old son of a woman named Messua, wanders out of his family’s campsite into the jungle while chasing after a butterfly. His family’s attempts to find him are hindered by an attack by the Bengal tiger Shere Khan. Meanwhile, Akela and Raksha, a pair of Indian wolves raising a family of cubs, are concerned to learn that Shere Khan is hunting in their part of the jungle, because he might kill men and bring human retribution upon all the jungle’s inhabitants. Tabaqui the golden jackal is known to be the tiger’s ally and sidekick. When Nathoo comes across their den, Raksha decides to adopt the hairless “man-cub”. Her determination is only strengthened by the arrival of Shere Khan, who demands the cub for his meal. The wolves drive off the tiger and Raksha renames the baby Mowgli. At the wolf pack’s meeting at Council Rock, Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther undertake the task of educating Mowgli as he grows up. Meanwhile, Shere Khan plans to take revenge on the wolf pack by persuading the younger wolves to depose of Akela, while Tabaqui enlists the help of a pack of dholes to act as reinforcements. When Mowgli is seven years old, he is tutored in the Law of the Jungle by Baloo. These lessons include the “Master Words” for various species that identify the speaker as a friend. Bagheera is impressed with Mowgli’s progress, but both are horrified when the man-cub then reveals that he has been visiting the Bandar-log (“Monkey-People”). Baloo and Bagheera insist that the Bandar-log are a boastful and ignorant race who have no laws, which is why they are shunned by the rest of the jungle. Mowgli is suitably chastened, but soon afterward he is abducted by the Bandar-log who take him on a terrifying but exhilarating rush through the treetops. Seeing Chil the Kite flying above, Mowgli gives the kites’ Master Word and tells Chil to find Baloo and Bagheera. Upon being informed that Mowgli has been taken to the ‘Cold Lairs’, an abandoned human fort, the bear and the panther, unable to follow the monkeys at ground level, recall that the monkeys’ only fear is Kaa the python. They manage to locate Kaa, discovering to their surprise that the python is a female, and Bagheera cunningly goads her into helping them by repeating (or inventing) some of the Bandar-log’s insults against her. In the Cold Lairs, the monkeys demand that Mowgli teach them how to make fire and fireworks like other humans. However, since he was not raised by humans, Mowgli does not know how to do so. When Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa arrive the monkeys throw Mowgli into an abandoned “summer-house” inhabited by cobras, whereupon Mowgli hastily uses the snakes’ Master Word to prevent them from striking. When the bear and panther enter the Cold Lairs, a comical battle ensues. Baloo and Bagheera are by far the more powerful fighters, but they are vastly outnumbered. Kaa is delayed by a large section of walls but gets through, scatters the crowd of monkeys fighting Baloo and Bagheera, breaks down the wall of the summer house and frees Mowgli, who thanks her courteously. The python then performs her “hunger dance”, hypnotising the Bandar-log so they cannot run away. Baloo and Bagheera are also hypnotised, but Mowgli, being human, is immune and snaps them out of their trances. Once away, the three of them go home. When Mowgli turns 11, the wolf tribe learns that Shere Khan has returned to the jungle. Bagheera overhears Shere Khan’s plan and warns Mowgli. Later that night, Mowgli meets Kaa and tells her the news. Kaa does not believe that Mowgli and the pack will survive a direct assault by Shere Khan’s forces, and takes him to the Bee Rocks: a gorge where huge hives produced by millions of wild bees overhang the river. The two devise a plan to lure the dholes to the gorge so that the bees will attack them. Mowgli therefore lies in wait for the dholes in a tree-branch and smears himself with garlic to repel the bees. When the dholes arrive he taunts their leader into a furious rage before fleeing to the gorge. Just before leaping into the water Mowgli kicks piles of stones into the beehives, to arouse the bees. The garlic prevents the bees from attacking Mowgli, and he dives safely into the river where Kaa swiftly coils around his body to prevent the current from sweeping him away. With the treat of the dholes eliminated, Mowgli prepares to take on Shere Khan, stealing a pot of burning coals and some fireworks from his former home village in order to use it against the tiger. At Council Rock Shere Khan demands that Akela be killed and the man-cub given to him. Mowgli attacks Shere Khan with a burning branch while the other wolves do battle with the traitorous wolves. During the chaos, the fireworks are set alight. With some last minute help from Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa, Mowgli drives Shere Khan into a herd of buffalo, where the tiger is trampled to death. After the wolves drive Tabaqui and the rest of Shere Khan’s allies away, Mowgli finds Akela, mortally wounded, who tells Mowgli that he must soon return to the human race. Mowgli promises to return one day, and after a heartfelt farewell, departs for the village, where he is reunited with Messua and her husband, who recognize him as their long-lost son, as Baloo, Bagheera and Kaa look on. Content that Mowgli is with his own kind, the trio decide to head home.

The Second Jungle Book

A year after the events of the first film, Mowgli is living in the human village with his biological parents, Messua and her husband, Parash. Here, he learns various human customs, few of which impress him. He is also disrespectful to the village elders when they tell fanciful tales of the jungle, since he has first-hand experience of what the jungle is really like. This earns him the particular contempt of Buldeo, the village’s chief hunter, who dreams that the village could one day become an important town and that the jungle could be conquered. Missing his life in the jungle, Mowgli regularly sneaks out of the village to meet his wolf friend Gray Brother (or “Gray” for short) who brings him news of the jungle in secret. He becomes friends with Buldeo’s niece, Bala, much to Buldeo’s chagrin. One day, Bala, out of curiosity, follows Mowgli as he heads out to meet Gray, seeing them together as the wolf tells him of an ancient, abandoned city deep in the jungle. When she reveals herself, Mowgli confesses all and has her sworn to secrecy, but she urges him to show her more of the jungle, something that Buldeo has denied her. Mowgli and Gray bring Bala to the ruins, where the two end up falling into a hidden chamber in a ruined palace, containing fabulous wealth guarded by an albino cobra, Thuu, who calls himself “WhiteHood”. As Gray runs off to seek help, the cobra boasts of how all who have come seeking the ancient treasure have fallen victim to his venom. This turns out to be a lie, however, when Gray returns with Kaa, who reveals that the poison in Thuu’s fangs has dried up from disuse. Warned by the cobra that the wealth brings death, they leave the chamber, but Bala takes one coin as a memento. After Mowgli introduces her to Kaa, and later Baloo, Bagheera and Hathi the elephant, the two decide to spend their free time secretly visiting the other inhabitants of the jungle. Buldeo soon sees the coin that Bala had kept, and after failing to have her tell him where she got it, sends his accomplice, Mahee, to spy on her and Mowgli. Mahee overhears Bala voicing her concerns over her uncle becoming suspicious to Mowgli and, hearing of the treasure, relays this information to Buldeo. The hunter later confronts Mowgli and demands that the boy tell him where the treasure is, threatening him with a gun when he refuses. Gray arrives in the nick of time to save Mowgli by restraining Buldeo. When they let him go, the hunter, convinced that Mowgli is a shapeshifting sorcerer, returns to the village and tells the villagers of his beliefs. Mowgli is imprisioned, but escapes into the jungle with the help of Bala, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa and Messua. However, Messua, along with Parash, who tries to defend her, are imprisoned and threatened with death. When Gray accidentally interrupts Buldeo’s conversation with Mahee and a charcoal-burner, Tapa, the hunter, believing him to be Mowgli shapeshifted into wolf form, gives an ultimatum: unless Mowgli reveals the treasure’s location, Messua and Parash will be executed. Gray warns Mowgli and his friends and the man-cub heads out to confront Buldeo. He sends the hunter and his allies on a wild goose chase by directing him to the Cold Lairs and, after ordering the wolves and other animals to further sabotage him and prevent him from reaching the treasure, returns to the village with Bala and Raksha to rescue his parents. After they are freed, Messua and Parash escape to the river, guarded by Raksha at a discreet distance, while Bagheera and Kaa arrive and take their place in the hut, so that when the villagers arrive to take out the prisoners they get an “unpleasant surprise”. Meanwhile, Buldeo becomes wise to the animals’ antics and, along with Mahee and Tapa, follows Gray to the lost city, where they find the treasure, including a jeweled ankus. Upon realizing that he has led the enemy to the gold, Gray runs to the village and warns Mowgli and Bala. Thuu attempts to intimidate the men into fleeing, but is shot in his hood by Buldeo before the trio take as much as they can carry and depart, before stopping for the night. However, an argument ensues after Mahee tries to steal the ankus from Tapa’s share. During their bickering, Mowgli and Bala arrive, and the former has Gray and the other wolves chase the three from the jungle, forcing them to jettison the treasure they’d been carrying, including the ankus. The pair make it back to the village the next morning to find Bagheera and Kaa captured by the villagers after they were mistaken for the shapeshifted forms of Messua and Parash. After Mowgli rescues them, Buldeo, Mahee and Tapa arrive back in the village. Enraged and maddened, Buldeo tries to kill Mowgli despite Bala and the other villagers’ attempts to stop him. Mowgli, Bagheera and Kaa are forced to flee back into the jungle, but Buldeo sets a cart full of hay ablaze, using it to start a forest fire. The fire rages, but the wind turns and threatens the village. As the villagers flee, Mowgli enlists the help of Hathi and his sons, and they extinguish the fire with the water in their trunks. At the river, the animals and the villagers come face to face with each other, and Buldeo is stunned when he sees Mowgli and Gray side by side. The villagers, upon realizing their mistake, become repentant, and Mowgli forgives them. He is invited to rejoin his parents, but decides to stay in the jungle to help animals trapped by the fire. Afterwards, while tending to Thuu, who has recovered from his injury, Mowgli begins to miss Bala, while she is missing him as well. Both the animals and the villagers encourage them to be with each other, and they reunite in the village, though they return to visit Mowgli’s friends in the jungle on a regular basis. The narrator reveals that they grew up and had a child; “but that is a story for grown-ups“.

#the jungle book #original stories

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anthurak · 6 years ago

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Adam and Literary Allusions - A Personification of ALL the Bad Things.

There’s been a lot of debate back and forth recently about the literary allusions of Adam’s character, and I thought I’d weigh in with a few thoughts.

First off, I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Adam is not the ‘Beast’ of Beauty and the Beast, or at least not the ‘primary’ Beast, who is most definitely Blake. Arryn Zech stated outright that Blake is meant to embody both the ‘Beauty’ and the ‘Beast’, while Adam is Gaston, and I have no reason to dispute that. Adam certainly ticks all the boxes for being Gaston: Brash, abrasive, misogynist, abusive, obsessive and stalkerish towards the ‘Beauty’ of the story, tries to kill both the Beast and the Beauty and is killed/thrown from a great height.

That having been said, I do feel like there’s move going on with Adam’s character here. Rather than just Gaston, I think Adam’s literary allusions go a bit broader:

That Rose motif Adam’s got that so many point to as representing the Beast? The Rose doesn’t represent the Beast, it represents the CURSE afflicting the Beast. Likewise, reading Adam as a ‘Curse’ rather neatly describes his relationship with Blake through the series. His presence constantly haunts Blake, a thing she desperately wants to escape, and only by finding and accepting true love (here represented by Yang) can Blake break the curse. Similarly, Adam can be read as a Curse to Yang in the same way; a thing that haunts her and an enemy that she must conquer to be free from it, and a curse which Yang ultimately breaks by uniting with the woman she loves (Blake).

Then there’s the name. A lot of people have pointed out that ‘Adam’ was also the name of the Beast’s previous human self, and personally I agree with that. A character described as nothing but a cruel, selfish boy who could never love another? Someone whom represents a past that the Beast in the current time desperately wants to escape? Sounds like a pretty accurate description of Adam to me.

There’s also some nice dramatic irony here: Gaston, the curse, and the cruel prince are all representatives of human cruelty and spite, showing how Adam is in truth just as cruel and malicious as the humans he claims to fight against.

In conclusion: Adam is not just Gaston. He is all of the antagonistic forces that the Beauty and the Beast mush overcome. He is Gaston, the cruel and obsessive man that wants to kill them. He is the Curse that has plagued the Beast for years and that which the Beast is so desperate to be free from. And he is the Past that got the Beast cursed in the first place. He is all the things that Beauty and Beast (Blake and Yang) must overcome, defeat and conquer to truly be happy.

Now, that just leaves the issue of Adam being a Bull faunus. However, that actually has a pretty straightforward answer:

Adam being a bull faunus, or rather, a bovine faunus, ISN’T a Beauty and the Beast reference. It’s a Jungle Book reference.

Remember how Sienna Kahn is a reference to the character Shere Khan? Well, guess how Shere Khan died in the original novel? He was trampled to death by, wait for it… Buffalo. Not to mention, our allusion to Shere Khan, who in the book hated and feared man, being killed by someone named ‘Adam’ has some good symbolism all on its own, as well as nicely illustrating the idea of Adam having become no different than those he claims to fight against.

All in all, CRWBY has done a lot of really interesting things with their literary allusions over the course of the series and I don’t think people give them enough credit as they should be.

#rwby #Blake Belladonna #yang xiao long #adam taurus #analysis #literary allusions #Adam is a horrible person #he is literally all the bad things #Blake and Yang took care of literally all their fairytale problems with one good stabbing #Now THATS efficiency #bumbleby #beauty and the beast

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ethanjhake · 5 years ago

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Got tagged by @fleur-drae!

Rules: try to tag 9 people who you want to get to know better!

Top 3 ships: oh man, idk, I'm not a big shipper... I guess, I've always liked Sokai because of how simple and clean sweet and pure it is, I just love those romances that are so obvious yet unspoken, and very sweet. But on the other hand I'm a sucker for "beauty and the beast" type romances, like Belle & Beast, Phantom & Christine, Hades & Persephone, or Vanitas & Naminé. Even if it never works out, or shouldn't work out, I just love the dynamics. Actually, I need to write out what all I love about these tropes, cause it's kind of complicated, but really fun.

Last song: "I Hear Bells" by The Del Vikings (one of the happiest songs I've ever heard mood wise.)

Last movie

In Theaters: "The Desolation of Smaug" dir. Peter Jackson (man I love Smaug 👌)

At Home: "The Decoy Bride" dir. Sheree Folkson (and staring David Tennant yeeee!)

Currently Reading

Fanfic: none

Book: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (man that guy likes to talk)

Webcomic: Space Boy by Stephen McCranie

Current Food Craving: I could always go for a milkshake

Thanks for tagging me! Ima tag @cowboypagoda, @bluemoon-butterfly, @granny-griffin, @redfirefox-55, @april-musings, @scribbly-bear, @the-varmin, @hero-of-dork and @conquering-the-carnival.

#tagging #game

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aminta · 4 years ago

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Okay, here goes - I haven't found many 50k+ fics, so there's a few shorter ones too, but they're worth your time!

• Pretty much anything TM by robot iconography on FFnet, but special mentions go to:

Never Spellbound by a Starry Sky (51k words): Strange goings-on mar Rick and Evelyn's wedding preparations. Can they and Jonathan solve the mystery? (it's Very Fun, really well-written - in two 1st person voices, Rick's and Evy's, alternating between chapters - and the characterisation is On Point.)

We Need to Talk (18k) Shortly after the events of the first film, Rick and Evelyn sort out the precise nature of their relationship. Are they too different to make it work? (of course the answer is HELL NO, but getting there is fun!)

• Deeper Within Darkness (49k): It is a truth universally acknowledged that wherever Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan are, trouble is not far away. What begins as an innocent night out soon leads to danger that threatens all of Egypt. (great follow-up on TM!)

• Hereafter (134k): After TMR. Imhotep has raised Ancksunamun and conquered the earth. Rick, Evy, Ardeth, Jonathan, and some new characters must find each other to defeat Imhotep once more. (a Monster, and an epic one. Rick and Evy are separated (physically! not, y'know, separated) for a big part of it, but they - and their love - really get to shine there.)

• One Night in Cairo (10k): Hamunaptra is buried, but not forgotten. Rick is falling in love. Against Ardeth Bey's better judgment, Evelyn becomes curator of the Museum of Antiquities. And Jonathan, well, Jonathan sets it all in motion. On one fateful night in Cairo, our heroes come together, and bonds are formed for life. (a short one, but worth it!)

• Coincidence and Fate (12k): What if Rick had been a medjai from the start? One decision sets the adventure in motion, but the thing about decisions is that there's always more than one option to choose. Some things unfold differently, yes, but some manage to fall into place like the tumblers on a puzzle-box key, turning round and round until things go click. (another short one, but a great premise and execution)

• Fairy Tales and Hokum (162k): 1937: Two years after the events of Ahm Shere, the O’Connells are “required” by the British Government to bring the Diamond taken there from Egypt to England. In Cairo, while Evelyn deals with the negotiations and Rick waits for doom to strike again, Jonathan bumps into an old friend of his from university, Tom Ferguson. Things start to go awry when the Diamond is stolen from the Museum and old loyalties are tested... (...this one's mine 😅 Sorry for the plug. Evy and Rick also spend some time apart (as in he and Jonathan get kidnapped and Evy sets out to rescue them) but their relationship is Very Important.)

• After Hamunaptra (56k): In this fic, Evie and Jonathan's father is still alive, and living in their family manor outside of London. After he learns of their excavation at Hamunaptra, he excitedly calls them home to London as the British Museum is eager to see the artifacts they discovered. How do Rick and Evie handle their relationship among her upper class English family? (features delicious R/E and something I haven't seen a lot, which is Rick finding his footing in 1920s England.)

That's it for now, but I took the liberty of linking your post in a Mummy groupchat on mobile and asking for recs on your behalf there. I hope you don't mind?

Happy reading :o)

----

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! This is awesome, and I'll definitely be taking a look into all of these!

And i dont mind you linking into the mummy gc, I reaally appreciate all of this ❤❤

#the mummy #the mummy fanfiction #you are seriously a lifesaver lol #submission #belphegor1982 #save

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weathermanpolls · 1 year ago

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The White Fang must be brought low before it can be reborn.

#rwby #jaune arc #shere conquer #sienna khan #eve taurus #polls

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belphegor1982 · 5 years ago

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Thought I’d make a the Mummy/Returns fic recs posts for @counterwiddershins (EDIT: whom I can tag now!) because they asked for recs. So here are my favourite (complete) Mummy stories under the cut in alphabetical order, title-summary-why it’s on my list style. A few are Old, because I discovered this fandom in 2003 and there’s some great oldies. Hope you - and anyone else looking for great fics - enjoy them!

As Sweet as This / Coming Clean, by robot-iconography

Summary: Evelyn reflects on the changes Ahm Shere has wrought upon her brother, husband, and son. / Rick takes his life in his hands as he faces his greatest challenge ever: fatherhood.

Comments: I put these two in the same bag because they’re basically a diptych. They’re like two sides of the same coin. On one hand, you have a lovely story in Evy’s voice, on the other, a hilarious one in Rick’s. Both stories are sweet and more touching than they sound.

Circumstantial Evidence, by robot-iconography

Summary: “She could be damnably silly at times; she dressed like a spinster and carried herself like bloody royalty; but she was my baby sister, the only one I’d ever have. I’d been through hell to get her back, and now I was going to lose her anyway.”

Comments: Probably my favourite Mummy story ever. I love it so much I translated it into French in 2004, and even more so now I’ve read PG Wodehouse. Basically, there is canoodling, funny misunderstandings, and the closing scene is adorable (and made me discover Ella Fitzgerald’s “Always”, which is perfect as Ella Fitzgerald always is). Peak Carnahan siblings shenanigans and a great Rick.

Deeper Within Darkness, by Laurie M

Summary: It is a truth universally acknowledged that wherever Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan are, trouble is not far away. What begins as an innocent night out soon leads to danger that threatens all of Egypt.

Comments: a great follow-up on the 1st film, with still-developing relationships, a mysterious medallion, and ghostly (sort of) crocodiles. The main four are very well written. 3rd person limited POVs alternate with 1st person POVs in a very natural way, allowing us glimpses into the characters’ heads. Sometimes a little bit sombre, but a lovely story.

A Favour for a Friend, by queueingtrilobite [orphan account]

Summary: Roped into doing a favour for a friend, Jonathan finds himself in charge of an antiques shop in Cairo. This is honestly the very last favour he's going to do for anyone. Ever.

If you ship Ardeth and Jonathan, there’s plenty of fun and/or feelsy stories for you! Like this fun little romp, which features a hilarious style, a Jonathan who is equally good at thinking on his toes as he is as making disasters happen (being a bit of a disaster himself).

Finding Ma’at, by exchequered [orphan account]

Summary: “Hamunaptra Cruises.” Ardeth’s tone was thoughtful. “Do you not fear a curse upon your enterprise, for naming it thus?”

Another Ardeth/Jonathan fic - and boy, this one is *chef’s kiss* I mean, the only three tags are Tourism, Pining, and denial is a river in Egypt :D

Hereafter, by Marxbros

Summary: After TMR. Imhotep has raised Ancksunamun and conquered the earth. Rick, Evy, Ardeth, Jonathan, and some new characters must find each other to defeat Imhotep once more.

Comments: ooh, this one’s a monster to tackle (134k words), and it gets pretty epic - and is worth every second of reading. The OCs are great, necessary, and everyone gets their chance to shine.

Never Spellbound by a Starry Sky, by robot-iconography

Summary: Strange goings-on mar Rick and Evelyn's wedding preparations. Can they and Jonathan solve the mystery?

Comments: another follow-up on TM, as Evy and Rick navigate their relationship and how much they should wait before any sort of hanky-panky. Life interferes in the form of a mysterious object (though NOT the obvious one) and the three are thrust into adventure again. There are battles with the mosquito netting, someone getting a few stitches on their arse (again, not the obvious choice), and all the chapter titles come from dialogue from Elizabeth Peters’ Crocodile on the Sandbank. It’s often hilarious and the dialogue is to die for.

The Mummy: Curse of the Seven Scorpions, by Jac Danvers

Summary: Libby O’Connell hasn’t heard from her brother in years. The word ‘mummy’ meant nothing to her. But when a tiny gold scorpion is revealed to have much greater value, she is thrust back into her family’s life, and the life of a man she once hated.

Comments: back in the day, the “Rick’s sister tags along and falls in love with [usually Ardeth]” trope was a staple of Mummy fanfic, and one I didn’t have much interest in. This little story, mostly set after TMR, is a fun romp; Libby is a good character, well handled, and the little developing romance with Jonathan is fun to watch.

Sidekick, by madsthenerdy girl (on FFnet here)

Summary: Jonathan honestly tries to be a big brother. No, really.

Comments: Fantastic portrait of Jonathan through the years, warts and all, and his relationship with Evy (and later Alex). It’s heartfelt, often funny, and honest (sometimes painfully).

Take That, Bembridge Scholars!, by seren-ccd

Summary: The world has been saved and there's really only one thing left to do. Evy writes a strongly worded letter to the Bembridge Scholars. Oh, she gets married, too.

It’s a great look at Evelyn, Rick and Jonathan in a few scenes, from the night after Hamunaptra to the start of Rick’s and Evy’s life as a married couple, interspersed by extracts from the aforementioned strongly-worded letter (and it’s great).

The Tenth Plague, by Khedi (on FFnet here)

Summary: Did anyone while watching The Mummy wonder about what would have happened if the tenth of the Biblical plagues had come to pass?

Not a death fic (well, not quite) but a great little look at (again, I’m nothing if not predictable) the Carnahan siblings just after they get back to Cairo after The Mummy. It’s a punch in the feels and a hug. I love it.

Travelers by Night, by 20thcenturyvole

Summary: Very quickly, Jonathan weighed the odds. On one hand, potential death, whether by armed bandits, a mummy’s curse, or people who looked like bandits and who were very angry about someone unleashing a mummy’s curse. On the other hand, potential riches, home ground, and topics of conversation other than what happened at school fifteen years ago and who got it in the neck where.

A great look at Jonathan post-first film and a great take on Ardeth, too. Can be shippy if you tilt your head and squint, or not. Your call.

We Three Together series, by Tinydooms

Basically a series that can act as a novelisation for The Mummy, mostly “missing scenes” and character studies. A joy to read if you like Evy, Rick, and Jonathan.

The Witches’ Library, by jones2000 (on FFnet here)

Summary: He would like to state emphatically for the record that none of this was his fault, thank you very much. It was all entirely coincidental. He should know by now that these things have a tendency to snowball. Or, Jonathan doesn't need the O’Connells to find trouble.

Comments: I read this last year and it immediately made my shortlist of favourites, on top of hitting me in the heart and over the head with the subtlety of a freight train. I even made a rec post about it. The writing is so sharp it might as well be written with a bloody scalpel, the OCs are fascinating, and Jonathan is somewhat jaded but still wonderfully entertaining. It’s the only post-WW2 Mummy story I’ve ever loved (read?), and certainly the only one that incorporates Tomb of the Dragon Emperor elements I’ve ever loved. Give it plenty of reviews, it deserves them.

Edited to add a few and make it more dash-friendly :o)

Also, I wrote a few things if you’re interested:

After the Sunset: What’s left to do, after saving the world and riding triumphantly into the setting sun? A lot, as it turns out. Our Heroes ride camels, negotiate the shift from acquaintances and allies to something like a family, and encounter a couple of surprises good and bad on the way back from Hamunaptra. (Or, the one where Evelyn and Rick discover the contents of their saddlebag, Jonathan finds out that whiskey doesn’t quite cut it when a scarab has burrowed its way into your hand and arm and out your shoulder, and Ardeth gives his name and saves the day. Well, night.)

Long one-shot set just after “the end” of The Mummy.

Fairy Tales and Hokum: 1937: Two years after the events of Ahm Shere, the O’Connells are “required” by the British Government to bring the Diamond taken there from Egypt to England. In Cairo, while Evelyn deals with the negotiations and Rick waits for doom to strike again, Jonathan bumps into an old friend of his from university, Tom Ferguson. Things start to go awry when the Diamond is stolen from the Museum and old loyalties are tested...

This one is looong. It’s 160k+ words. (also took me 16 years to finish but shhh)

Carnahan-O’Connells musings and snapshots: Headcanons and one-shots about the disaster family.

Like it says on the tin - mostly headcanons with a few actual stories with dialogue.

I know, there’s not a lot of them, but they’re my very favourites. If you have other recs, feel free to add them!

#fic recs #the mummy films

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eg515 · 5 years ago

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"Five thousand years ago, a fierce warrior known as the Scorpion King led a great army on a campaign to conquer the known world.

After a vicious campaign which lasted seven long years, the Scorpion King and his army were defeated and driven deep into the sacred desert of Ahm Shere. One by one, they slowly perished under the scorching sun, until only the great warrior himself was left alive. Near death, the Scorpion King made a pact with the dark God, Anubis, that if Anubis would spare his life and let him conquer his enemies, he would give him his soul.

Anubis accepted his offer and spared his life.

Anubis gave the Scorpion King command of his army, and like an evil flood, they washed away all that lay before them.

When his task was done, Anubis forced the Scorpion King to serve him for all time. His army was returned to the sands from whence they came, where they wait, silently, to be awakened once again."

opening words of The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Mummy (1999)

#yes i'm watching it again sue me #catch me 40 years from now reading these as bedtime stories to my sister's grandkids #the mummy returns #the mummy (1999)#the mummy

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blogofthegloriousmongoose · 5 years ago

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Children of Seth: Vengeful Dead

(So this is the first chapter of a story I’m writing for one of the homebrew space marine chapters I’ve made, please let me know what you think, any criticisms are appreciated as I was hoping to submit this to GW. Also annoyingly Tumblr hates my formatting)

“Fear not what we must do, for you are the glory of the Imperium and you shall rise again to fulfil mankind’s manifest destiny of ruling this galaxy. There are great deeds that remain undone, enemies yet to conquer and raptures yet to rejoice in. So, as it is written, so shall it be done. The Imperishable, has proclaimed it - let none dare oppose his will!” - Children of Seth rite of initiation

Chapter 1

Lucky

Skin Breakers

The Angel calls

The Angel calls. That simple phrase, had echoed through the dreams of the scions of Sanguinius for months, bringing with it feelings of pain, of temptation and finally of the Great Angel himself, his noble, statuesque features contorted in unimaginable pain and regret, bloody tears pouring from his eyes as he lay on a desolate field of bones. The Angel calls. It had been this maddening cry that had brought the offspring of the Lord of the IX legion to their ancestral homeworld, blanketing the skies of Baal with a vast kaleidoscopic menagerie of ships; battle-barges and strike cruisers, all cast of the colours of Blood Angel's successors.

It was into this vast assembly that the battle-barge Setehk; flagship of the Children of Seth slipped from the warp, great purple coils of empyric energy sloughing away from the form of the vast obsidian and crimson plated battleship. Bristling with lances, macrocannons and innumerable torpedo bays which, when combined with the great rents and scorch marks from the recent Nehkar campaign, gave the battle-barge an aura of predatory savagery as it gently drifting through the cold void towards Baal.

The observatory of the Setehk was silent, save the soft droning hum of the gellar field, as it slowly receded with the transition into real-space, the tense static charge that filled the battle-barge during the in-warp transit gently died away. Rahma Anubian, Chapter Master of the Children of Seth and Herald of the Storm stood in the centre of room, his jackal-faced helmet was mag-locked to the side of his power armour; allowing him to inhale the dry, calming smell of the ceremonial incense that poured from openings in the hieroglyph-emblazoned sandstone chamber. His eyes, ambered by the blight that cursed all scions of Angel stared intently at desolate, sandy form of Baal Primus. Though it had been a century since the world had been scoured clean and left as a barren featureless husk Rahma could still feel the burning skull-forged mark of Ka'bandha, as if the daemon's infernal sigil still loomed large on the world's greatest plateau. The memories of Baal's devastation still haunted him, the almost infectious fury of the Knights of Blood, the ravenous mass of xenos descending on the surviving astartes.

The great chittering horde of tyranids seemed to be everywhere, bladed chitinous limbs lashed out from every direction, each scythe-limb attempted to carve through Rahma's relic armour. With each swing of his ancient lightning claw and khopesh the chapter master ripped through innumerable screeching monsters, each bloody tear sending a thrill of furious joy through the Herald of the Storm, the desire to gorge on the flesh and blood of the xenos singing through his mind, the red thirst's savage bloodlust burning through his will, he felt his voice rising; a mad, hungry roar began tearing its way from his throat. One hormagaunt, its repulsive, needle-fanged maw dripping with toxin filled drool lunged out from the great mass, its bladed limb slicing into Rahma's left pauldron, carving into the ceramite with high-pitched shriek, whirling around, the hateful snarl his face was set into was hidden by the cold glare of the jackal-helmet Anubian gave a maddening howl; bringing down his lightning claw, shredding the alien's skull and charring it into a wad of stinking meat. As the delirium of the red thirst overwhelmed him he became aware of a voice, ragged and straining; it was Ahmes, chief librarian of the Children of Seth carving his way through the chattering horde towards Rahma, his scar riddled face contorted with hatred as he waded towards his chapter master, the blade of his sickle-headed staff was ablaze, searing through the ravenous tyranids. As he reached Rahma he impaled a hormagaunt before vomiting forth a great kaleidoscopic inferno into the onrushing horde. With this infinitesimal moment of calm Ahmes turned to his chapter master, he desperately howled at him 'MY LORD! WE HAVE TO FALL BA-' The mind-shattering cacophony of the desperate battle was suddenly torn asunder by a vast bellow of hatred, fed by a hunger for bloody revenge cultivated over the millennia. A huge, muscle-bound form, covered in crimson blood-toned skin rose above the disgusting, insectile xenos, immense bat-like wings spreading as it stood, the ground around it burning with unholy fire. Clad in infernal brass armour, blackened by uncountable wars and wielding a terrible barbed whip and an immense double-headed axe that, even whilst bafflingly clean seemed to gush blood from its twin-blades the abomination rose; it was Ka'Bandha, eternal nemesis of the scions of Sanguinius. As he gazed at his gene-line's greatest, most murderously persistent foe Rahma felt the blood-crazed rage of the red thirst begin to finally overwhelm his mind, felt his head pound, his brain throb agonisingly as through his skull was too small, it blinded him with frenzied madness, each murderous pulse of his synapses flooding him with the urge wallow in the steaming gore of the freshly killed. With a strained, pain-filled twitch Rahma began lurching towards the crimson-skinned daemon, a murderous bellow of rage rising again in his throat. As he began hacking his way towards Ka'bandha and the bloodletters that were ripping their way into reality around him, as he slowly staggered towards the greater daemon his consciousness faded into a bloody-haze.

'You were lucky Ahmes was able to save you my lord.’ The voice jolted Rahma from his reverie, internally cursing himself he turned to see Chike approaching. Even though he was fully clad in his ancient, hieroglyph-covered ceremonial armour the commander of the Ushabti was practically silent, each step soundless as the crocodile-faced helmet seemed to grin darkly as he stared at him. His face set into a cold stare Rahma cocked an eyebrow attempting to exude an aura of polite disinterest as the captain of his guard drew up beside him. ‘Oh, what pray tell did I need saving from?’ Mentally Rahma flinched, even to himself he sounded angry and childishly petulant. Even though he was helmeted Rahma could feel the gentle sadness radiating from Chike. When he finally spoke the captain of the Ushabti’s voice was laced with dejection ‘Rahma, the Thirst nearly took you-’ he gestured to his chapter master's once brown, now stark amber eyes 'If it wasn't for Ahmes-' ‘I was in control.’ Rahma’s cold monotone cut through Chike's admonishment, though his face was blank the barely concealed anger in his voice was obvious, eyes burning with frustration. With a guttural snarl from this back of his throat the captain of the Ushabti removed the sneering helmet, the scars on his face contorted into an irritated grimace, Chike’s voice was brimming with exasperation ‘That shit might satisfy the others Rahma but I know you. You can’t even look at the Flensing Storm. Every time you’re near that damn thing you shrink away!’ Rahma winced. The moment Chike had mentioned the Flensing Storm the Lord of Atum could feel the ancient khopesh’s presence, it seemed to burn into the back of his head, somehow he felt it watching him, as though the chapter masters of old; Djoser, Khufu...even the First One each one watched and judged him for his weakness. Reflexively, as though to turn their gaze away Rahma gripped the scarab marked pommel of the axe at his side, his mouth twisting in a slight snarl, the strain in his voice was as thick as a sheet of ice ‘Were it anyone else: Imhotep, Aharon, were it any of them that talked to me like that they would be returning to Ahm Shere-‘ he paused for a moment, a frigid smile spreading across his face ‘-and not necessarily alive.’ For a moment the commander of the Ushabti smirked before glancing at the stand that the Flensing Storm rested on, his eyes fixed on the ancient relic ‘Your terrible jokes aren’t going to distract from what happened Rahma-.’ a great shadow passed over the observatory, the two astartes glanced up. An immense battle-barge, it’s colours the inverse of the Setehk, it’s symbol a brutal serrated saw blade centred with a crimson blood drop: it was the Victus, the flagship of the Flesh Tearers; their brutal progenitors. Chike, his voice soft with awe was barely a murmur ‘-but...that might.’

The Angel calls. The Angel calls. The Angel calls.

Despite the buzz of activity on the bridge of the Victus those were the only words Gabriel Seth could hear, shipmaster Berkan was speaking at him, his mouth was moving and presumably words were coming out, but Seth couldn’t hear them. All he could hear was that damned cry. The Angel calls. He ran a plated hand over his bald scalp, scratching the freshest scar; a trio of great clawed rips, running from temple to cheek. The tyranid beast that given him those scars didn’t last long after it brought itself to his attention. The Guardian of Rage smirked at the memory. The insectile beast had screeched out a challenge to him, it’s eyes shined hungrily, murderously. He’d torn off its jaw and beaten its skull in- The Angel calls.

The Lord of Cretacia ground his teeth angrily, the cry intruded on everything nowadays, it set him edge, inflamed the thirst, stoked the rage. A voice pierced the irritable malaise settling over Gabriel, wrenching him back to reality; it was Raik, one of Guilliman's monsters, though he wore the colours of Nassir Amit and bore the gene-seed of Sanguinius, to the chapter master of the Flesh Tearers he was an abomination, simply seeing him set Seth's blood boiling '-Ante is convening the council at Angel's Fall. What is your command?' Snapping back to attention Seth's face twisted slightly into a bizarre snarl-smile 'What do you want Raik?' the primaris looked confused for a moment, though obviously disconcerted the lieutenant's voice remained clipped and professional 'We have been hailed my liege, Lord Commander Dante wishes us to convene at Angel's Fall, before the council. We are to meet him and Lord Rahma Anubian of the Children of Seth.' At the mention of the Atumians Gabriel Seth groaned, he knew the reason why Dante had requested this meeting; he knew their name and the planet's veneration of him embarrassed him, he'd been actively avoiding serving alongside them of late and Dante knew it. 'Lord Seth?' Raik's voice again snapped him back to his surroundings 'Fine. Hail the Setehk, let them know.' whirling around, the Guardian of Rage strode from the bridge of the Victus, the conflicting mixture of irritation and amusement obvious on his face at the thought of dealing with the chapter that venerated him so. As he stalked down the corridor several Flesh Tearers, real Flesh Tearers Seth bitterly thought to himself, greeted him, each one nodding with a short grunt, their voices harsh and stunted with the accent grown from the proto-language developing on Cretacia. The Angel calls. The Angel calls. The Angel calls. The cry was back, Seth needed a distraction.

The training hall was a cacophony of bellows and metallic clangs, oil, blood and the occasional scrap of torn replicae-flesh where a battle-brother had been too overzealous against their training servitor. Gazing at the sparring cages vaguely Seth gestured over a pair of pale, emaciated serfs, holding his armoured gauntlet out to them. As with all menials of the Flesh Tearers these two moved in a nervous, flightly manner, seemingly trying to take up as little room as possible, learned over many years of witnessing the results of the volatile blood-fury that every Son of Cretatia wrestled with, as they shakily began to slowly remove his armour Seth turned for a moment and gazed at the shivering bondsman, as the emaciated man clutched his gauntlet he remembered the first time he had seen a serf, that swift pang of pity and confusion he had felt, even as the conditioning did it’s sacred work on his mind he had wondered; how could a man become so wretched? Carnarvon had answered that question, seeing the sympathetic look that had briefly flashed across his future Chapter Master’s face. ‘Boy, what is the first edict of Cretacia?’ His voice had been gravelly and brutal; like a molten avalanche. Sympathy breeds weakness, weakness breeds death.

‘Back again Gabriel? What is it this time? The Angel or the Skin Breakers?’ Snapping out of his reverie Seth saw a serf bowed in-front of him, holding out a practice axe and sword, his fellows shuffled about behind him each man assembled the power armour onto the holding wrack, turning to the source of the voice he saw Captain Thear, fresh from the training cages, the mass of scar-tissue that was his body slick with sweat and blood, behind him limped the Chief Librarian Shei, his face set grin and his hands apparently a few fingers lighter, with a smirk at the use of the taunting moniker Thear himself had first given to the primaris on Baal, Seth snatched the weapons offered by the bowing serfs and strode over to the two, idly spinning the axe in one hand, when he spoke his voice was dripping with a caustic dryness, his eyes alight with amusement ‘I would’ve thought that you’d address your Lord with more respect Thear, after all was it not me who dropped you on your arse five days ago?’ there was a short clashing of steel as axe-head and sword blade knocked together in greeting, the two astartes nodded and smiled before Seth turned to the still panting, slightly hunched Shei ‘You appear to be missing a few fingers there Librarian, are the cages of the Victus too much for you now? Too much time with the Sun Serpents?’. With a breathy snort Shei straightened up, his chest still rapidly rising and falling ‘Just felt like letting this soft one think he’s an actual warrior for once. Anyway, you avoided the question, Skin Breakers-‘ some of the mirth leaked from his voice ‘-or the Angel?’ Seth’s smile slipped slightly ‘Both, and Lord Dante...he wishes us to arrive ahead of the rest-‘ Thear raised an eyebrow and again his crudely harsh voice was thick with sarcasm ‘Oh, such horror!’ With a slight raising of his eyebrow’s Seth continued ‘-along with the Atumians.’ Thear and Shei smirked even more; they had been on Atum when it had first rebelled, when the Children of Seth were first conceived of, when the name had been chosen for them, Shei’s voice, still thick with exhaustion was dripping with faux-confusion ‘I thought you wanted us remembered Gabriel? For the Flesh Tearers to be bound into history? What better way to be remembered than having an entire chapter named in your honour?’ there was a brief grimace from Seth at this ‘Because they treat me like I’m a Primarch.’ That set Thear off into a gutturally brutal fit of howling laughter, Shei simply shook his head and grinned, as with every Flesh Tearer it was a predatory thing and promised violence ‘You’re far too hard on the young ones. They have the fire of Cretacia and Amit in their hearts.’ The image of a howling Rahma Anubian flashed through Seth’s mind, his jackal-headed helmet discarded, his face pulled into a vicious rictus-snarl of hatred, his ambered eyes swimming with mindless blood-hunger ‘Sometimes I wonder; do they have too much of the fire?’

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