#so chivalrous

[hnwcloset]

i love princess treatment

[gnfountains]

also idgaf I love sylvee hannah and george as besties I think it's awesome screw you guys

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

i don't have the words to articulate it at this moment but there's something about the way that people have specific expectations for "authenticity" and will dismiss anything that falls outside them as a mangled, anglicised version of the thing when actually that is the older and more traditional form of something, it just doesn't match their expectations. obviously in my personal experiences i'm mostly talking about medieval literature here especially medieval irish literature

sometimes this is as simple as spelling – i've had people argue that the name "finn" is anglicised and it should always be "fionn" to be Really Irish, but "finn" is an older spelling, glide vowels are later, if you wanna go real far back it'll be "find" (nd in place of nn is an older spelling pattern). or they'll hear someone say "ogam" and assume they're mispronouncing "ogham" due to lack of knowledge of irish and not consider the fact that medievalists tend to use the older form of the word. or they'll Well Actually you about "correct" terminology which wasn't standardised (and/or invented) until the 20th century

a lot of this is defensive and the result of seeing a lot of people ACTUALLY get this stuff wrong and have no respect for the language. in that regard i understand it, although it becomes very tedious after a while, particularly when people sanctimoniously declare something "inauthentic", "fake", or "anglicised" without doing enough research to realise it's not trying to be modern irish and is in fact correct for older forms of the language

more often however this search for the projected "authenticity" is ideological and has much larger flaws and more problematic implications. "this can't be the real story because it's christian" well... that's the oldest version of the story that exists and it postdates christianity in ireland by about nine hundred years, so... maybe question why you're assuming the only "real" version of irish stories can't be a christian one? this is especially true when it comes to fíanaigecht material tbh, but in general there seems to a widespread misapprehension about ireland's historical relationship with christianity (i have seen people arguing that christianity in ireland is the result of english colonialism which took their "true" faith from them... bro. they were christian before the "english" existed. half the conversion efforts went the other way. please read some early medieval history thank you)

however i also saw someone saying this about arthurian literature lately which REALLY baffled me. "we'll never have the Real arthurian stories only the christianised versions" and it was in the context of chivalric romance. buddy you are mourning something that does not exist. this "authentic" story you're looking for isn't there. that twelfth century story you're dismissing as a christian bastardisation is as "real" a part of this tradition as you're going to get

[artbyblastweave]

🔥Isekai/portal fantasy

I've got two!

In the same way that I think people confuse the Billionaire superhero archetype with deliberate billionaire agitprop instead of recognizing that it's just a narrative shortcut to handwave the logistics of the thing, I think critics of the portal fantasy genre sometimes jump right to "self-insert self-indulgent power fantasy" without giving a fair shake to how portal fantasy allows you to neatly pair constructed fantasy worldbuilding with a protagonist that thinks in legible 20th-21st century idioms and comes with a pre-built quest motivation (get da hell outta here). Obviously there are better and worse ways to flesh the protagonist out from there but it's an incredibly useful starting point.

I strongly suspect that that one XKCD edit of "Steven Moffat hates women vs Japan hates woman" miiiight have some applicability to some of the backlash I've seen against Isekai- For every yikes-inducing overly-wordy-titled power fantasy manga you present me with, I could pull something equally deranged and indulgent from the bloody pulps or the YA algae bloom. Mark Twain got in on the ground floor with this shit, good or bad none of it is new

[lady-corrine]

I do think people forget that when Rhaenyra walked the castle battlements of Duskendale weeping, refusing to eat or sleep, she was, in all the ways, heartbreakingly alone. She was a mother with five children lost, a widow too (for some reason people forget this aspect?), a dragonrider who had her dragon with whom she had shared her cradle killed (the canon literally tells us that Syrax's death left her inconsolable). It's just very interesting how for some people everyone else is allowed to suffer and their losses are blown out of proportion, but Rhaenyra isn't, and her total losses (which were devastating) are of little to no value to some.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[the-crooked-library]

One similarity between Jonathan and '24 Thomas I'd like to point out is the "unclean" scene.

Jonathan saw and experienced all the nastiest most vile parts inside of vampires, and when she declared herself unclean and when holiness itself burned her he loved her despite it all, and resolved that if she became one of those monsters he would follow her. Thomas also saw all the horrifying darkness in Ellen, and when she too cried out that she's unclean he like Jonathan said that she's not and that he loves her.

I mean... I don't think these scenes are really all that similar - and again, this is to do with characterization, because on the surface level, they do follow roughly the same script. They're both extremely significant to the dynamics between Jonathan/Mina or Thomas/Ellen - but more so as a juxtaposition.

Mina believes herself to be unclean and damned because she has been bitten by Dracula and is indeed at risk of becoming a vampire as well; and as you said, Jonathan vows to join her in that cursed undeath. It is an expression of beautiful, intense, blasphemous, extremely gothic devotion, and it defines their relationship throughout the story.

By contrast, Ellen believes herself to be unclean because of her own psychic ability - because she was the one who woke Orlok in the first place. Thomas does try to reassure her, he tells her he loves her; and he is trying his best, but this reassurance ultimately falls flat for two reasons - 1) he cannot convince her that she is not unclean, because that perceived "uncleanliness" is an inherent part of her, rather than something foreign; and 2) he wants her to eventually be free of it, which she cannot ever be - because, again, the horror is a part of her.

Unlike Jonathan, Thomas is terrified of that horror. He does not recognize it as a permanent aspect of Ellen, and he ultimately is incapable of making the same vow that Jonathan Harker did; and this limitation is crucial to the undercurrent of that scene, because it is the reason Ellen lies to him about her final plan. Mina trusted Jonathan and co. enough to openly ask them to end her life in the event of turning, but Ellen makes the arrangements with Von Franz in secret, before sending her husband on a wild-goose chase. She cares about him, yes, and he cares for her; but he does not love all existing aspects of her. He would not be able to accept her if she turned. Their goals in life, their desires, their perspectives are fundamentally incompatible, and so the only thing she can do for him is leave him behind.

Thomas may have good intentions and a similar choice of career, but he's no Jonathan. It's not exactly his fault, it's just that he's really not meant to be a Hero. He's a Damsel in Distress and he's being forced into the wrong role entirely by a patriarchal world - the existence of which only Ellen appears to recognize.

[choccy-milky]

hello!!! i just recently began to play Hogwarts Legacy myself and then saw your art and was like WOW💕 really love Clora/Seb dynamic! here's a small gift, he-he. genderbend version of my favorite art of yours. (if anything isn't okay, just let me know! sorry in advance.)

OMG THIS IS SO COOL??? IM SO IN LOVE WITH CLORA AS A BOY HOLY AAAAAA 😩😩seb, girl, id be jealous and protective if i managed to lock that down too🤺🤺 the OG is also one of my fav drawings of seb and clora ive ever done and omg, seeing it redrawn genderbent is such a treat i didnt even realize i wanted...also your painting/rendering is beautiful?? im so happy you like my art, esp enough to do something like this, this is so awesome😭😭THANK YOU🙏🙏💖💖💖

[eggtargaryenii]

re: jace jerking off to the thought of you in that dress. I must admit I lost control and started writing smut about it in the context of him reminiscing about it several years later after the two of you get hitched . here u go

-

You were so lovely before him in this dress. Beautiful. It made Jacaerys feel terrible of the thoughts he was having of you.

Even when you first wore it to that banquet so many years ago, back when you were both young and green for the Dance of Dragons had not yet happened, Jace had been rendered speechless by the sight of you in it. He did not know where to look, for it bared so much of your arms, your thighs, the swell of your breasts. And gods—even where the dress covered you, it did a poor job of it. The silks were so sheer; whenever the light hit it a particular way, it revealed too much of the soft contours of your body.

It was the silhouette of your thighs that made him feel particularly mad. The silk clung to you so snugly, and he could see the shadow of your thighs, the apex of them—but nothing else. All he could think at that banquet, agonised by how tight his breeches were, was whether or not you were wearing smallclothes. Whether you were laughing and drinking and dancing in that hall, body pressed against his—all while you were bare and exposed beneath that dress.

And Seven Hells, did he hate himself for it—but the thought plagued him the whole time. Plagued him all night once he'd returned to his quarters, plagued him until finally he gave into his base urges and took himself into his hand. His cock throbbed hotly in his grip as he sullied you with his sordid fantasies—as he thought about pressing against you so tightly against himself as he danced until you could not help but feel him against your ass. As he thought about your body’s reactions to his, your silks clinging to your thighs as they grew sticky with your need. As he thought about reaching under the slit travelling up your thigh, your cunt bare and wet and sweet for him as he touched you.

It was—filthy. He was loath to disgrace you with these thoughts. All his life, he'd only ever wanted to treat you honourably, to be a respectful friend and later a proper husband. But Jacaerys had not been able to stop himself from thinking of taking you to his chambers, had not been able to stop himself from imagining himself bending you over and mounting you like some kind of beast. He wanted to press his throbbing cock against that dress, feel the wetness of your core through its silk. He wanted to rut against your cunt through the sheer cloth, and then he wanted to tear it aside so that he could press the head of his cock against your bare cunt. As he spilled himself all over his hand, he wished that he was instead spilling into you, pumping your womb full of his seed.

And now that you were before him in this dress again—his lovely, beautiful wife—it was all Jace could think of once more.

[timblrdrake]

There is, in fact, video of Red Robin faceplanting. Also a video of Robin stepping on his cape and tripping off a building :) he's ok, he was saved by the Cool and Chivalrous Nightwing 🤭

-🐦

cool and chivalrous are not the words i would use.

i (because i care so much about his reputation and no other reason) am willing to pay whoever has the video 1000 dollars to delete it

[atopvisenyashill]

connections between naerys and sansa?

There’s plenty! She’s very much in a Naerys/Aegon scenario in ASOS & ACOK, where she has no ability to leave the capital, no one doing anything meaningful to protect her, and a King that is obsessed with sexually humiliating her. There’s a lot of romanticism and chivalry surrounding her character and how other people react to her character, the same as Naerys.

But also, Sansa makes the comparisons to Naerys herself, and she does it before she realizes what kind of person Joffrey is! In fact, it starts with her very first chapter where she compares Joffrey interrupting Ilyn Payne & Sandor Clegane to Aemon demanding a trial by combat against Ser Morgil:

A whole day with her prince! She gazed at Joffrey worshipfully. He was so gallant, she thought. The way he had rescued her from Ser Ilyn and the Hound, why, it was almost like the songs, like the time Serwyn of the Mirror Shield saved the Princess Daeryssa from the giants, or Prince Aemon the Dragonknight championing Queen Naerys's honor against evil Ser Morgil's slanders.

She will compare Joffrey to Aemon and herself to Naerys again later, to Ned:

"Father, I only just now remembered, I can't go away, I'm to marry Prince Joffrey." She tried to smile bravely for him. "I love him, Father, I truly truly do, I love him as much as Queen Naerys loved Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, as much as Jonquil loved Ser Florian. I want to be his queen and have his babies."

(lowkey she’s so fucking funny for that “i only just now remembered” comment, idk how ned kept a straight face for it)

She then uses Aemon (and the Cargyll twins) to make Tommen feel better and dunk on Joffrey:

Prince Tommen sobbed. "You mew like a suckling babe," his brother hissed at him. "Princes aren't supposed to cry." "Prince Aemon the Dragonknight cried the day Princess Naerys wed his brother Aegon," Sansa Stark said, "and the twins Ser Arryk and Ser Erryk died with tears on their cheeks after each had given the other a mortal wound." "Be quiet, or I'll have Ser Meryn give you a mortal wound," Joffrey told his betrothed.

Again, there’s a focus on Aemon’s romantic relationship with Naerys because that's what appeals to Sansa. But when people say "Sansa sees the world through stories" it's not just about how she romanticizes or idolizes knighthood, nobility, and chivalry - she thinks through information by comparing it with similar historical events or stories and analyzing it. She clearly sees the problem with Loras protecting Margaery from Joffrey by comparing him to the Toynes instead of Aemon, and Joffrey (once again) to Aegon the Unworthy:

She is so brave, Sansa thought, galloping after her . . . and yet, her doubts still gnawed at her. Ser Loras was a great knight, all agreed. But Joffrey had other Kingsguard, and gold cloaks and red cloaks besides, and when he was older he would command armies of his own. Aegon the Unworthy had never harmed Queen Naerys, perhaps for fear of their brother the Dragonknight . . . but when another of his Kingsguard fell in love with one of his mistresses, the king had taken both their heads. Ser Loras is a Tyrell, Sansa reminded herself. That other knight was only a Toyne. His brothers had no armies, no way to avenge him but with swords. Yet the more she thought about it all, the more she wondered. Joff might restrain himself for a few turns, perhaps as long as a year, but soon or late he will show his claws, and when he does . . . The realm might have a second Kingslayer, and there would be war inside the city, as the men of the lion and the men of the rose made the gutters run red.

She’s also not wrong in her assessment here because the Tyrells (my guess is Garlan and Olenna) are so worried about this outcome they just murder Joffrey and install Tommen; like Bethany Bracken, Margaery is groomed (with all the implications that are included in such a loaded term) to be sexually available to the King because her father wants power and doesn't care if his daughter is sexually abused to get it. Like Terrance Toyne, Loras is considered attractive, skilled, and has several brothers more than willing to start a war to avenge his death. I think it's incredibly intuitive that Sansa ultimately comes to the same conclusion as two seasoned political players like (presumably) Olenna and Garlan come to, and she makes this judgement call very quickly!

And Sansa also hits on a lot of (correct) similarities when she makes these comparisons between Joffrey's court and Aegon the Unworthy's court; Aegon and Joffrey both have wild, violent temperaments while being notoriously difficult to control. It’s not just Naerys that attempts to get Aegon to stop marital raping her; Aemon’s useless tears aside, Viserys does do the bare minimum here in sending Aegon away so Naerys can heal from her miscarriages, Daeron got shitty with the Brackens about being tacky over Naerys' marital rape and ill health, Baelor fasts himself to death over Naerys’ miscarriages, etc etc. All of the “authority figures” around Aegon think his behavior is wrong but Aegon proves stubbornly difficult to control or kill. Joffrey falls along these same lines - Cersei, Robert, Tyrion, Tywin, and even Varys all struggle to get some control over Joffrey but like Aegon, he knows once he’s of age and has that crown he doesn’t have to answer for SHIT and stubbornly resists every attempt to curb his behavior. Joffrey is a hell scenario waiting to happen because like Aegon, he’s petty and petulant enough to pull the stunts Aegon pulls like pitting his true born kids against his bastard born ones and causing another violent succession crisis. I say this as like, the ultimate Joffrey Apologist here, lmaooo, he has reasons for being a nasty piece of shit but the Tyrells are right to look at him and go “oh that’s trouble” because he is a ticking time bomb. And the crazy thing is, it’s not just Sansa who compares Joffrey to Aegon the Unworthy:

"A king can have other women. Whores. My father did. One of the Aegons did too. The third one, or the fourth. He had lots of whores and lots of bastards." As they whirled to the music, Joff gave her a moist kiss. "My uncle will bring you to my bed whenever I command it." Sansa shook her head. "He won't." "He will, or I'll have his head. That King Aegon, he had any woman he wanted, whether they were married or no."

Joffrey makes the comparison himself. He's a piece of work just like his hero and he is directly threatening to rape Sansa the same way Aegon raped Naerys and poor Bethany Bracken. He is directly admitting he is "unworthy" and practically daring all of KL to overthrow him for it because he thinks they'll blink before he does (and he is unfortunately deadly wrong in this assumption).

And when you extrapolate out from there, you can see other, similar patterns between Naerys' life and Sansa's, beyond the Joffrey-Aegon, Margaery-Bethany, Loras-Terrance, and Sansa-Naerys parallels. Tyrion himself aspires to be a sort of Viserys II type player (see: "It should have been called the Lives of Five Kings" rant he gives to Oberyn); a power behind the throne directing his crazy family to do what's right or smart or proper. There's an interesting echo in Viserys taking direct action in sending Aegon away from Naerys and Tyrion stopping Joffrey in his assault of Sansa - like Viserys, he can see the monster in the king he is raising, makes an attempt to stop it, but fails because he underestimates just how dangerous and erratic his little king has become. Like Viserys, Tyrion is suspected of poisoning his own nephew in an attempt to get closer to power and the throne (and Viserys, like Tyrion, is probably innocent - the sort of fasting that Baelor was doing regularly is hard on the body!).

I don't think any of this is coincidental or accidental either, because of that haunting scene where Joffrey destroys the gift Tyrion got him. Here's the scene, excuse the wall of text, but it's important:

He plays the gracious king today. Joffrey could be gallant when it suited him, Sansa knew, but it seemed to suit him less and less. Indeed, all his courtesy vanished at once when Tyrion presented him with their own gift: a huge old book called Lives of Four Kings, bound in leather and gorgeously illuminated. The king leafed through it with no interest. "And what is this, Uncle?" A book. Sansa wondered if Joffrey moved those fat wormy lips of his when he read. "Grand Maester Kaeth's history of the reigns of Daeron the Young Dragon, Baelor the Blessed, Aegon the Unworthy, and Daeron the Good," her small husband answered. "A book every king should read, Your Grace," said Ser Kevan. “My father had no time for books.” Joffrey shoved the tome across the table. “If you read less, Uncle Imp, perhaps Lady Sansa would have a baby in her belly by now.” He laughed … and when the king laughs, the court laughs with him. “Don’t be sad, Sansa, once I’ve gotten Queen Margaery with child I’ll visit your bedchamber and show my little uncle how it’s done.” Sansa reddened. She glanced nervously at Tyrion, afraid of what he might say. This could turn as nasty as the bedding had at their own feast. But for once the dwarf filled his mouth with wine instead of words... [Joffrey gets a Valyrian sword and figures out a name for it, Widow's Wail, it's a few pages, it's not relevant here] Joffrey brought Widow’s Wail down in a savage two-handed slice, onto the book that Tyrion had given him. The heavy leather cover parted at a stroke. “Sharp! I told you, I am no stranger to Valyrian steel.” It took him half a dozen further cuts to hack the thick tome apart, and the boy was breathless by the time he was done. Sansa could feel her husband struggling with his fury as Ser Osmund Kettleblack shouted, “I pray you never turn that wicked edge on me, sire.” “See that you never give me cause, ser.” Joffrey flicked a chunk of Lives of Four Kings off the table at swordpoint, then slid Widow’s Wail back into its scabbard. “Your Grace,” Ser Garlan Tyrell said. “Perhaps you did not know. In all of Westeros there were but four copies of that book illuminated in Kaeth’s own hand.” “Now there are three.” Joffrey undid his old swordbelt to don his new one. “You and Lady Sansa owe me a better present, Uncle Imp. This one is all chopped to pieces.”

God I love that passage so much. There's a lot there but what's relevant is a) both Oberyn and Garlan are trying to get a measure of who Joffrey is, and have some child murdering plans potentially in the works during this scene. Watching Joffrey destroy a priceless tome of history given as a well thought, well meant, incredibly generous (and pointed) gift from his uncle is more than enough proof for either man to decide Joffrey is not worth the headache, and please note Garlan is the only person to call Joffrey out to his face, and Oberyn is a few pages later the only person to acknowledge this was a fantastic and kind gift from Tyrion that Joffrey reacted absolutely deranged towards for no reason. and b) Tyrion is almost literally saying to Joffrey "I can be your Viserys, I can make it so you're remembered as a great king the way Daeron II or Baelor are, or a great warrior like Daeron I, but you have to understand the reason why I'm worried about your behavior" and Joffrey does the most destructive, unworthy thing he can possibly do - he quite literally destroys priceless, useful historical knowledge and wisdom with his bare hands, in favor of senseless, petulant violence. As Catelyn would say, Joffrey's real bride is not Margaery, but the war he's fighting and the crown on his head.

All of this to say - there's a lot of parallels between Sansa's situation in KL and Naery's life and these parallels are drawn not only by Sansa herself, but also by several people around her. However, I hope for better things for Sansa than what poor Naerys got - I hope for an Aemon the Dragonknight that will do more than just cry while she's raped, but actually step into that room and defend her, or else give her the power to defend herself. Despite the long wait for The Winds of Winter, I also think it's likely we will get some sort of Dragonknight, devoted sworn sword for Sansa and this person will help protect her, and Sansa will have agency that Naerys could only ever dream of.

[gawrkin]

[...]

[,,,]

A post for our lord Gawain.

Despite the anti-Gawain sentiment that runs throughout the French stories, I felt this was a very powerful and poignant moment for both Gawain and Arthuriana in general as a whole. Gawain can't find adventure in the Grail Quest like he normally does in other romances, which emphasizes why the Grail quest is a special undertaking.

This isn't your bog standard Action-adventure story, where you travel to a far away land to defeat a bad guy while encountering numerous sidequests and episodes along the way, getting into epic fights with Random Knights and Monsters.

Grail Quest is essentially a search for Enlightment, a journey to learn and realize the Christian Mysteries and develop ones' spiritual well-being.

Gawain doesn't even get a chance to do something meaningful (other than killing his own teammates) on the Quest, as he lacks even the minimum requirements to percieve, let alone resolve, the adventures of the Grail Quest, because he's tainted with Mortal Sin, which Gawain - being fundamentally an Knightly Action Hero - does not recognize as a major obstacle on this journey.

Which leaves us with this wistful scene of poor Gawain hopelessly looking around for something to do or find anything that would lead them to their objective.

[yume-fanfare]

good old-fashioned lover boy

[luisaenjoyer]

I can just imagine Luisa getting her time to relax and reclaim her freedom… and then start to gain confidence and be so charismatic, charming, and realizing it’s okay to take what she wants and be her own boss

She stands prouder, yet more relaxed, she takes up more space, speaks with more confidence and pride, and just accepts whatever good comes her way because she finally (truly) knows her worth

Instead of being the workhorse of the village, she directs others and acts as a coach for fixing their own problems and only does the heavy lifting when absolutely necessary. Otherwise she’ll give them a hard pat on the back, a “you can do this,” and goes about her day

[mascflowers]

So iconic of us butches that we have our own sun and moon lesbian flags.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]