#that’s what balefire is!

[divorceblogger]

wheel of time written by nuclear engineer robert jordan is actually about nuclear anxiety and the consequences of the development of new technology aiding and abetting unchecked usage of weapons of mass destruction. in this essay I will -

[dramadred]

“I see the Amyrlin Seat, and she’s wearing full regalia, and… She’s going to be your downfall” is hitting a little too much right now.

[asha-mage]

Because I am coping with current world events in a completely normal manner I've been thinking a lot about how one of the tensions that underpins the whole of Wheel of Time is Robert Jordan as 'person who likes history' vs Robert Jordan as 'person who had to live through the Cold War.'

Something that can be really hard for people born after the Cold War (like myself) to grasp is that for a long time history was the ultimate reassurance against existential dread. Civilizations could rise and fall, empires could crumble, disasters could wipe out a hell of a lot of people, but human beings as a species, where never in any real danger of dying out. New countries would eventually rise out of the ashes of old ones, societies would change to be unrecognizable but they would still be there, religions, cultures ideologies etc might all die out but the people would still be around. History provided the ultimate comfort: whatever happened in our brief finite lives human beings as an group would eventually be fine.

But that changed after World War 2 and the invention of a little something called the atomic bomb. Suddenly human beings had the potential to destroy not just ourselves but all life on earth if things went wrong enough. For the first time in history their was no real guarantee that human beings as a species would make it, and in fact their was a whole lot of reason to believe based on the patterns of history that eventually that power would get used and human kind would destroy itself. That was the Cold War- two nuclear states who really really wanted to start blasting each other to pieces but couldn't without risking the end of life as we know it.

The tension between these two realities- the assurance of history that life will go on and the reality that human beings could in theory actually end the fucking world, is built into the core of Wheel of Time. The first lines assure us: time is cyclical. It's all happened before. It's all going to happen again. Human being will live out the same stories in endless variation, the same patterns will always reemerge. And the world has already survived one apocalyptic event: the Breaking, and come out the other side not doing fantastically, but still around. The world has been reshaped forever and whole eras of progress have been undone, but humanity remains.

But at the same time doomsday weapons with the potential to wipe out the species are everywhere. The Choden Kal can crack the planet open like an egg. Balefire burns apart time itself. A plague of madness is waiting for any old schmo to wander into it's den and carry it back outside so it can infect and destroy everyone. Their are all kinds of different big glowing red 'destroy humanity' buttons laying around in WoT just begging to get pressed. And in a way the Dark One is the ultimate version of that because that button has already been pressed. The Bore has been opened. Left alone humanity is fucked and everyone knows it. It can be delayed and pushed back, but never truly stopped, except by the intervention of destiny- the intervention of the Dragon. That's the core conflict of the series. Rand is struggling to stop a missile that's already been launched, prevent an end everyone can see coming. It's not just 'I need to defeat the big bad evil overlord or everything will be bad forever', it's 'I need to stop the Dark One or that's the end of human beings as an idea'.

What's especially interesting is that Jordan isn't even framing the Wheel/Pattern as uniformly good, because it's history and history is messy and complicated and full of contradictions and no easy answers. The Wheel, the Pattern, is not some force for righteousness. It's a neutral fact of existence. Not what's best or what's ideal- those are subjective and grounded in human understanding of the world- but what's necessary and what's true. To want to break free from history, to break the Wheel, is to want to break free of being human. That's what the Forsaken all truly want (as I have talked about before): to leave behind their humanity, and their willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to do it. What that looks like and what motivates that desire is different for each of them but their united in that common goal, and they all either disregard the consequences of what it will mean or don't understand them.

The story of history is one of incredible suffering and amazing triumph: it's full of heartache and joy in equal measure. It's not fair or just or simple to understand, but it is a reflection of who we all are collectively. The fight to preserve the Wheel isn't a fight to preserve what is good or ideal, it is a fight to preserve what is human. Because as long as the story can keep going, we can have hope for tomorrow.

And Jordan promises right from the offing that their will always be a tomorrow. No beginnings. No endings. Just whatever comes next.

As we enter a period of history that is the most uncertain it's ever been in my lifetime, I can't help but I think of the incredible courage and strength it must have taken be staring down the barrel of nuclear armageddon and stubbornly insist that there would be a tomorrow. The man wrote eleven of the best books ever made exploring this exact struggle- about never giving in to despair or pain, never buying into the belief that things are hopeless, that humanity sucks and we're all doomed.

And remembering that...I don't know. It makes a little easier to breath and keep walking towards tomorrow myself.

[knavesflames]

hiii el! :D u may know me from ur messages a bit ago (PLS I SUCK AT USING TECHNOLOGY AND I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO ASK A QUESTION) but i wanted to ask for u to write maybe just some like cute morning arle fluff? sorry if it’s a bad ask 😞

also, could i be 🩵 anon?

Hi <3 of course you can! It is NOT a bad ask, I’ve been meaning to write a lil bit of fluff anyway. I was quite excited to write this :’) enjoy!!

Content: fluff, arlecchino is soft and tired

Word count: 1.1k

Utc <3

People say that once you get used to sleeping next to someone, it becomes impossible to sleep alone. You thought it would be the opposite. You enjoyed sleeping alone, preferred it, even. You like the space to move and roll around and you like to wrap the blankets around you to form you into a burrito-like shape. It became somewhat of a joke between friends that when you finally did find a partner, you’d end up sleeping in separate beds. Secretly, you agreed.

For Arlecchino, nobody assumed she’d even find a partner. The woman is so closed off with her feelings that one wonders if she even had any, if they died along with her best friend and Mother so many years ago. When the topic of relationships was brought up (seldom as it was to even get past the first two sentences- she would shut it down before anyone could get anything out of her), her excuses were dismissive, claims of work taking precedence over any interpersonal relationships, claims of the not-so-secret but somehow very-secret project the Fatui are working on, and her biggest excuse yet- the children. “The children need a stable figure to guide them as they grow. Relationships are most definitely not stable. It does not teach them how to fight. Sorrow and anger make you weak, yes, but I would argue that love makes you defenceless.” would be a sentence she uttered often.

Of course, that was not the only reason. Processing what had happened to the people close to her is something she neglected to do, and she does not need to be haunted further by yet another shadow, or even worse, another conscious body following her around the way Clervie had, whether as a manifestation of her bloodfire, or a manifestation of her conscience rearing its head when she had worked so hard to pretend it doesn’t exist. Love is not something she should get herself involved in, she has told herself time and time again. She has stared into the mirror an endless number of times, both as a newly appointed Father and more recently, when she finds herself alone. Her priority has always been the children, and she refused herself the privilege of living comfortably. Until you, obviously.

When you first began sleeping next to each other, you had been dating for a while. It took a while for her to even let you into her house. You seem to notice that her house has the faint smell of citrus. Lime, perhaps. You wonder where it comes from, but you assume it's some sort of air freshener. When you first began occasionally sleeping over, her touches were few and far between. Not in any malicious way, of course, but almost like she was restraining herself. You were too, in a way, not wanting to overstep any silent boundaries she had set. It was an awkward time.

Now, though, after a long period of time of getting her to open up, she clings to you like a moth to a flame. Case in point, this morning. You wake up to the soft light entering your room, filtered by the curtains covering the glass. The first thing you notice other than the light is a pair of strong, muscular arms wrapped around your middle, clutching you and keeping you close. You let your hand gently move across the marred skin, feeling each scar and muscle of the arm holding you so tightly. A face is buried into the back of your neck, gentle breath tickling the skin, and displacing the hair there. Arlecchino’s body is warm, warmer than the normal person's body would be due to the balefire that courses through her veins. You try (and fail) to escape from her grasp with a little wriggle, but her arms only pull you closer, her voice coming out hoarse and gravelly.

“Stay,” she mumbles into your hair. “It’s early. There isn’t a need to get ready for the day yet.”

“I have to, there’s so much to do today.” you yawn, twisting your body to face her. Your arms snake around her, one under her neck and one around her waist. There’s sleepiness in her dark eyes, and she looks up at you groggily. She looks vulnerable like this, and you think she’s almost smiling. Almost. She groans slightly as she stretches out, her muscles rippling as she does so. Arlecchino’s face buries back into you soon after, and her grip on you doesn’t loosen in the slightest. One of your hands comes to gently caress the waterfall of snow white hair, occasionally painted with black streaks (and the one red one she touches up every six weeks), massaging the scalp and gently scratching whenever she lets out a soft sigh.

“You smell good.”

“I just woke up, I’m not sure there’s much to smell.”

“That may be the point. You do not need to put on any fragrance, I enjoy the scent of you. Just you.”

“You say, as if you don’t fill your home with the scent of limes. Limes, of all things.”

“That is not what we are conversing about. We are conversing about you, not some citrus fruit.”

You can’t the small chuckle that seems to escape your lips. She’s so soft like this, you think, you can barely believe her status in the Fatui (you’d forget entirely if it wasn’t for the glint of the dagger placed deliberately on her nightstand. She says it’s for your protection- you know she had it there before, too, but now she has a reason to keep it there). Her nails, filed to perfection, trace circles on your back, and her free hand pulls your thigh over her hip, bringing you as close as you can possibly get.

“Must you go? Surely, you can push back any arrangements you have today and stay with me a little longer.”

“You know I can’t, and neither can you. Do you not have that meeting?”

“Yes. With some other Fatui, but none of them are worth my time when you’re here. They mean nothing to me. You mean everything.”

“That is why I'll be here tonight. You can hold me again.”

You find yourself reassuring her a lot that you won’t disappear. You don’t mind. Eventually, after five minutes of pretend bickering, you relent to ten more minutes before she drags herself out of bed. By the time she’s changed from her pyjamas into her usual suit, her hair brushed and pinned back into her signature ponytail, any trace of the sleepy, clingy Arlecchino is gone. What remains is a stoic, unreadable woman who lovingly kisses your forehead before she leaves, a slight plea in her voice when she tells you: “See you tonight.”

[ranger-potato]

My submission for the KOTLC Fanbase art competition: Draw your own KOTLC book cover!

I decided to draw what is arguably one of the most pivotal moments in KOTLC, the scene where Sophie burns down the Neverseen warehouse in Unlocked.

I tried to stay true to the original scene in the book, but, as usual, I took some creative liberties… such as adding the moonlark/black swan symbol in Sophie’s shadow.

This was a really fun piece to draw, but it had its fair share of struggles. I’ve never really drawn fire before (especially not balefire… which is canonically blue), and have always struggled with drawing people. Those on their own would have been hard enough, but adding the fact that it’s a digital drawing (a medium I’m still not comfortable with) to the mix just amplifies the struggle of producing a semi decent artwork. I also have this annoying habit of desaturating my colours when painting them because I’m not a fan of vibrant colours (they scare me).

But I’m still happy with how it turned out in the end :)

Theme: Create your own KOTLC book cover

Scene: Sophie burning down the Neverseen warehouse

Medium: Digital artwork. (Program: Clip Studio Paint Pro. Brush set: Jazza’s Ultimate Digital Brushes)

Time taken: Approximately 18 hours.

[thestormthatrises]

This piece of shit destroys every partner he's ever had and HE is the one that y'all are choosing to smash and not Hannibal?!

Y'all... Y'all just ignorant.

"Sexy irish pirate man with guy-liner"

[redsrooftopprincess]

Witchy Shit!

An ask from @footninja that I posted as a post accidentally. 🫣

The ask is here

HAPPY ALMOST SAMHAIN MY WITCHES!!! I may have gone a little deeper than "hippie hillbilly witch"... I've been practicing for a WHILE, and magic is one of my autistic special interests, soooo.....

All the boys are FOR SURE Pagan even if that isn't what they call it (Splinter raised them Shinto), and *very* eclectic, but definitely have their own flavors that they gravitate to...

Leo

Did you say MEDITATING? When? Where? How long? He is ready to sit with you peacefully for hours.

Want to start mixing your own incense/tea? He'll help you research and grow the herbs you need.

BONSAI ZEN GARDEN

Night time dates to ALL the secret/private botanical gardens in the city.

The first time he sees you in a garden in the daylight, surrounded by butterflies, he looses the power of speech.

When you're having a tough time at work, expect tea and a full body massage with all natural oils in a candlelit room when you get home. If you are feeling up to it, that massage can and will escalate to the most transcendent, mild blowing tantric sex imaginable, leaving you fully relaxed mind, body, and spirit.

NOTE: Depending on exactly how "crunchy granola" you are, you may find yourself in conflict with his OCD, so be EXTRA respectful of his space.

Craft: Green Witch

Element: Earth

Archetype: The Hero

Major Arcana: Temperance

Raph

Need help with Ritual? My guy is a WORKHORSE. Where did you want that solid stone altar, again?

Bardic circle like a BOSS. My guy is always down for drinks, songs, and good stories, and the reverb of his voice from his shell means you can feel his singing in your feet like thunder.

Speaking of his voice: guided meditations.

Speaking of guided meditations: guided meditations that take a filthy turn halfway through. 😏

Firetender extraordinare. Want it to burn forever? This guy can drop in literal trees that'll keep the balefire lit until next Solstice.

By FAR the most in touch with his animal side.

He's a beast who not only has NO PROBLEM chasing you, naked, through the woods, but will 1000% instigate. LOVES sex outside (I may have a story about an amethyst cavern, but you didn't hear that because it's not written yet).

Craft: Primal Witch

Element: Fire

Archetype: The Knight

Major Arcana: Strength

Donnie

Oddly accepting of the witchy shit for a techy guy. He's smart enough to know that he doesn't know everything.

Writes a program that will help you track EVERYTHING. Moon, planets, planting, hurricane season, you name it.

Builds you a whole ass Orrery, because despite his program you *still* missed a celestial event and you were sad.

Expect after hours dates to the Hayden Planetarium during eclipses, meteor showers, comets, or any other excuse he can come up with to look at the stars with you.

SIGILS ON POINT. Fractals and sacred geometry, this guy is PRECISE. Made a Mercury Square once that you're pretty sure caused a blackout. He disagrees, but he doesn't make planetary squares anymore.

A night outside of the city looking at the stars? Expect my guy to be drawing star charts on your skin, before "exploring the heavens."

Craft: Celestial Witch

Element: Air

Archetype: The Magician

Tarot Card: The Magician

Mikey

Is straight up pagan.

Beaded bracelets? Hell yes. Macrame? On lock. Candle making? Crystal Wrapping? This boy is DOWN with the Witchy Crafts.

Vibes with his semiaquatic nature on a grand scale. The first time you caught him meditating underwater you nearly had a heart attack until you remembered.

If you introduce him to your people, he will fully write and lead rituals for literally anything. Leo may be master of the Dojo, but *no one* directs people's energy like Mike.

If you even suggest it *vaguely*, he is fully ON BOARD to start a coven/grove/whatever with you as your consort.

Oddly good at High Magic, but only practices VERY rarely. Won't Oracle for evocations because the idea of having someone else in his head weirds him out, but has a 100% success rate negotiating with Otherworldly Entities.

Sex magic in the ocean under a full moon? Uh, why aren't you in the water already?

Calls himself "Magic Mike."

Element: Water

Craft: Water Witch

Archetype: The Lover

Tarot Card: Wheel of Fortune

....

Tag list:

@thelaundrybitch @the-cauldron-witch @fyreball66 @ninnosaurus @tmntngl @thegirlwiththeninjaturtletattoos @zagreustomb @ramielll @silverwatergalaxy @gornackeaterofworlds @footninja @daedric-sorceress @sophiacloud28 @iridescentflamingo

(if you want to be tagged lmk)

[lanfear-is-my-darkmistress]

Can someone please make a gif of The Forsaken using Traveling teleportation in season 3 episode 3 and send it to me because how is no one talking about this? Can't wait to see what Balefire looks like.

[butterflydm]

WoT 3x03 Deep Dive (book spoilers addition)

For thoughts that required additional book spoilers. Spoilers through A Memory of Light and show spoilers through 3x04.

I suspect that this meeting between the Forsaken is happening in TAR (simply because that was usually true in the books) but we're not told for certain. But the fact that Sammael talks to the group before he appears out of his portal feels like another potential indication that we're meeting in TAR.

Okay, so Forsaken locations -- Lanfear is flitting about but mostly keeping an eye on Rand; Rahvin is based in Caemlyn; Moghedien is now in Tanchico playing servant and gathering information on what Lanfear's minion is doing.

So the main questions we're left with is if the other Forsaken are in their book-accurate locations -- is Sammael in Illian? Is Semirhage with the Seanchan? Is Graendal out on the western coast?

And, of course, where is Asmodean? (or did they swerve and it's not a guitar in that one Forsaken idol and we have Demandred instead?)

I would guess that Semirhage still went to the Seanchan and Sammael still went to Illian. But Graendal is so far out of the way of our main characters for so long in the books that it's easiest to imagine her being plucked up and moved to another location. A theory that I first saw on reddit is that she could be combined with Berelain, and I can see how that would potentially work to give Perrin a Forsaken nemesis.

Because it seems like they might all be getting their own.

Nynaeve and Moghedien, of course. That's from the books.

Rahvin and Elayne's scenes last episode definitely gives me hope that Elayne is going to be part of Rand's 'taking Caemlyn' storyline, potentially in s4, and he would be her Forsaken nemesis -- a political character who is good at getting other people to listen to him. Dark mirror of Elayne.

Depending on how this season goes, I think that we might end up doing Lanfear vs Egwene at the end of the series, since Mesaana didn't make the cut, and they've used this longer version of Randgwene to really play up the "hanging on to your old boyfriend because you're living in the past" aspect for both Lanfear & Egwene (though obviously they have extremely different motives for wanting to cling to Rand -- possessiveness vs trauma).

For Mat, I was initially thinking Semirhage (because of the Seanchan) and they may do more with her and him, but obviously there's also Sammael. If the show does cut Ebou Dar (and they seem to be eliminating more and more of the threads that happened in Ebou Dar), they might also cut Rand taking Illian and keep Sammael as a final general in the Last Battle, vs Mat as the final general for the Light. And since we have the male a'dam, that inclines me towards thinking that Rand will kill Semirhage, like he does in the books. (of course if Demandred is in the show instead of Asmodean, then it seems likely that he'll be Mat's opposing general in the end and Sammael can die at the end of s4 and could be Rand using balefire for the first time)

And Perrin might get Graendal, which is where the potential merger with Berelain could come in. Berelain and Graendal are both written as characters who deliberately use beauty as a weapon and a tool, and Berelain's relentless chasing of Perrin might make more sense coming from one of the Forsaken.

And then Moridin/Ishamael is Rand's final boss again.

Rahvin cooling down the fight between Lanfear and Sammael -- him acting as the peacemaker here feels like another way of creating an Elayne parallel, as she acted to cool the tensions between Rand and Aviendha in 3x01.

Continuing that theme, Rahvin appears to be at the center of the different webs of alliances that are happening within the Forsaken -- he's talking with Semirhage and Graendal; he's doing these tentative talks with Lanfear and Sammael, and he was the only one aware of Moghedien hiding and listening.

Is Verin currently taking orders from Lanfear? I suspect that Tomas is the one who conked Mat over the head last season to deliver him to Lanfear. Of course, Verin absolutely has her own, separate, Black Ajah double-agent agenda but... she was key to the 13th Depository being opened up. She was able to counter the weave that Nyomi threw at her.

otoh, she seemed genuinely distraught at what happened to Adelas, and there was no one else in the room with them. And Siuan doesn't give us any indication that Verin being in the 13th Depository was unexpected, so it seems likely that she did ask Verin to go protect those items (on the other other hand, Verin might have been able to gently nudge the conversation to lead Siuan to giving her that order).

The show does plant a seed in this episode towards Verin being Black Ajah, by giving her the scene that (in the books) was originally a clue about Sheriam being Black Ajah. So there's that.

Amico and Joiya's respective lies do reinforce to me that we're likely to get Tear & Taim both in s4, because we're doing considerable set-up work to make sure both of them are well-established in the world. My current theory is that Rand will take Tear at the start of s4 (that the Shaido will go there instead of Cairhien) and he will put out the amnesty for men who can channel, and Taim will answer that call, being instrumental in the set-up of the Black Tower (most likely in Tear). Will he only be Taim or will Demandred have killed him and taken over? Not sure.

I still feel like Asmodean could make it into the show, but I was talking with @markantonys about how it feels like Lanfear took a lot of his "looks like he could be redeemed but is actually still really selfish" schtick, so it's difficult to say.

Did Elaida get her Foretellling in the show from the snakes & foxes instead of it being a natural Talent? That's a really interesting thought to me. We know that there's a doorway in the 13th Depository. It's possible that Elaida was able to go through it at some point, and ask for gifts or answers. I do feel like that doorway needs to be used at some point and won't only be foreshadowing for another doorway being used in a different location.

So, someone on reddit pointed out that the scene of Elaida attempting to bribe Tsutama into liking her by giving her a necklace is somewhat similar to the scene of Mat trying to bribe Tuon into liking him by giving her a necklace. That's interesting! The scenes are not identical, but definitely have similarities -- the necklaces are showy, and are rejected in part because they're being taken as an insult (Tsutama can tell that Elaida wants something from her & Mat accidentally tried to give Tuon a necklace that was worn by someone low-class in Seanchan society, potentially even da'covale).

"It does not suit me," Tuon says when she rejects the necklace that Mat attempts to give her. The necklace is "a heavy necklace of gold and carved amber".

"Keep it, Elaida. It's too gaudy for me. Suits you much better," Tsutama says, as she rejects the necklace that Elaida attempts to give her.

Not identical but the intent and the vibe of the scene seems pretty similar.

It's interesting because this is a pivotal moment in the books for the character of Egeanin -- when Tuon rejects the necklace, she makes Egeanin accept it, and strips her of her name, re-naming her to Leilwin Shipless, and this is the moment that really seems to break Egeanin when it comes to the way she views the Empire and the Empress. It's this moment, more than any other, that sets Egeanin down the road that leads to her eventually, briefly, becoming Egwene's Warder.

I have been keeping track of "Ebou Dar storyline" elements that it feels like are being stripped away, and this necklace feels like one of them. I don't think they would give Mat such a similar scene as one given to Elaida.

I liked that they changed Melindhra from being a Shaido Maiden into being Taardad. Her being a connection to Lan through Malkier also has a lot of potential, especially since I'm assuming she's still a Darkfriend. I think it's good to put the main Darkfriend Aiel into the Taardad instead of the Bad Clan That Breaks Custom And Does Bad Things.

Okay, so the show hasn't yet revealed this, but per the books, Melaine also walked through the footsteps of her blood ancestors when she underwent the ritual to become a Wise One (after she finished her apprenticeship), so viewing what she says about the Tuatha'an is very interesting in that light. There are a few different ways that the Aiel can deal with the revelations of their past, I think, and one of those ways is to fully embrace what the Aiel are now and condemn the original Aiel, the ones who followed the Way of the Leaf and did not waver, as fools who should have picked up weapons in their own defense. And that seems to be Melaine's stance. She is aware of their past but believes that Lewin's generation made the correct choice when they first picked up their spears in defense of their people. Better to break an oath than to watch your people die.

To be perfectly honest, I found Perrin burying his ring here more emotionally affecting than the scene of him mourning his family in the books, mostly because Perrin's family literally never being mentioned before TSR and then them all dying off-page means that they never really felt real to me. We got to actually meet Laila, to see hints of her relationship with Perrin, before she died. We've seen him carry his grief and refuse to let it go, so it's a gentle relief here when he finally sets that burden down, because he can see that she has gone into the land, the way that their people do, and her tree is growing up steady and strong.

"What we three had was different. We balanced each other."

So, part of why I think that the show has focused on Alanna & her Warders... two main reasons -- a. to show us both the strength and the vulnerability of the Aes Sedai-Warder relationship (including showing us that Alanna-Ihvon-Maksim all shared the bond together) and b. to establish poly relationships in the world and let the audience get used to the idea before it happens with Rand.

I do think it's interesting that we're focusing on the idea of a balanced triad, and it makes me wonder (another convo I had with @markantonys, who really helps me get my thoughts in order about the show <3) if we're going to get the same emphasis if/when we potentially go to Cold Rocks Hold and meet Lian, who is married to Rhuarc and Bair (Amys). If we continue the balanced triad emphasis, then that implies that the show might only be planning to do Avirandlayne, especially since the show has now chosen not to take two separate opportunities to reconnect Rand & Min (they were in Cairhien at the same time and didn't intersect; and Min only shows up in Tar Valon after Rand is already gone) and instead have been leaning on developing a (non-sexual) dynamic between Min & Mat. So it might be that they're planning to lean into the Seanchan endgame for Min.

And I do suspect that (if they get to play out the whole story) the show is going to imply (or maybe even outright show) that Rand is not planning to be a deadbeat dad and is going to take himself to Caemlyn for the birth of his twins with Elayne, and having Avirandlayne be happy families in Caemlyn while Min is alone among the Seanchan would feel like something of a cruel ending if Min is also in a romantic relationship with Rand.

But I could be completely wrong about this, for sure! Whatever we see with Elayne and Min in the upcoming Tanchico episodes will give us hints about the direction that the show plans to go with them.

We see so little of Lord Luc here that it's hard to parse out his deal. Is he still Luc/Isam, an assassin for the Shadow? Is he simply a Darkfriend? He's definitely still something -- if he wasn't, then the show would have cut him.

I like how having Natti & the girls kidnapped here, and taking Perrin's family out of the way off-screen, means that Perrin's actions here are tied into the friendship that Perrin has with Mat, so that they can all stay connected even when they're separated. The show reminding us that Perrin considers Mat's family as his own.

"The land here must be so tainted to raise such poisonous fruit."

There is such an irony in what Valda says here, because it's being raised in the Two Rivers that gives Rand the compassion and integrity that he needs in order to make the right choices later down the road. It was essential that he be "of the [Aiel] blood" so that he would be able to witness the past and understand the gravity of their current crisis, but it was equally essential that he not be "raised by the blood". Nature through nurture -- both working together to create a Dragon Reborn who will make the right choice when push comes to shove.

We also learn that they've sent for reinforcement -- I feel like that might be where Fain comes in, later in the season. I think he'll be leading the reinforcements.

"It was right there, the chance to be free of it. To be normal. And I chose you instead."

I wonder if this is going to be related to Mat's journey into the doorway this season -- is he going to get the chance to be free of his memories and refuse to take it?

The way that Tanchico is portrayed here, as a rough and dangerous place -- it reminds me a lot of how the Rahad in Ebou Dar was described in the books (though it's heavily tilted towards men being in charge instead of woman, so it's kinda like a gender-role swapped Ebou Dar). Is this another example of an Ebou Dar thread being used up now? I feel like this sort of vibe was not the focus of Tanchico in the book.

To continue the "show!Tanchico is gender-role swapped book!Ebou Dar" - the way that men are allowed to treat women as lesser and as pets does feel like a less "prettied up" version of how women treat men in Ebou Dar. It's interesting because, of course, the gender-role swapping in the books was a deliberate choice by Jordan but one that never quite landed for me because of the comical tone that Jordan took towards some of Tylin's abuse of Mat. There is absolutely nothing comical about the show's take on Tanchico.

"A Blue Sister once gave me a good piece of advice: watch which servants have been placed in your rooms." Intensely curious about this, and if it was Moiraine. We know that Elaida is the Aes Sedai that Moiraine thought was everything that an Aes Sedai should be, and who beat her to force her Power out of her, but that connection hasn't been directly mentioned by anyone on-screen, just lingered in the background if you know enough about the books to know that Elaida is the one who did it.

So... given that we know how well (how poorly) Elaida interprets her own Foretellings in the books, do we feel that her advice to Min is any good? Attempting to control the moments that lead up to and follow after her Foretellings is likely to be what leads Elaida into disaster in the show. Will it be the same for Min, or will her attempts to harness her Talent go better for her?

The bracelet getting called out here by Min definitely means that they really want the audience to notice it, and I am definitely thinking it is a gift from the 'Finn at this point.

Lanfear is the one who first creates the idea in Rand that perhaps the Dark One can entirely destroyed, which will be revealed as a fool's errand by the end of the series. Even after Lanfear is (likely) gone at the end of this season, this idea that she planted is going to linger inside Rand.

We are definitely getting Mat inside the doorway this season but I have a lot of questions about what he will learn there and what comes out of that knowledge. There's a lot of speculation that Min is going to be the one to get the Cauthor CPR scene which I... am not thrilled about conceptually, since it feels like it puts a lot of weight on the Mat-Min relationship, maybe a disproportionate amount, but we will see how events play out.

Mat's relationship with Nynaeve has also been really highlighted this season, so she might be involved instead of or in addition to Min, maybe another chance to let her use her knowledge as a Wisdom to help Mat, the way that she promised in 3x01.

I like that Mat's duel with the brothers is a personal scene and not a public spectacle. It turns it into a good character moment for him (and a relationship building moment with Nynaeve) instead of being a power fantasy.

Also, I firmly believe that Elayne is not there because it would have made her attracted to Mat if she saw him successfully win against her brothers, lol!

Having it be in private also means that the people at the Tower know about the bad things that Mat's encounter left him with (memories that haunt him), but only three people know about the good things (the fighting skills). Not sure if that'll come into play later, but it's interesting. In the books, Mat's path doesn't really cross again with Galad and Gawyn until the Last Battle itself (technically he and Gawyn are in Cairhien at the same time, I think, but they never interact), but this gives them reason not to doubt him as a fighter, if we get that far. If we do get that far, we might see Mat collecting his winnings from the brothers at the Last Battle.

The dynamic between Perrin and Faile is so good in this episode. I am really looking forward to seeing how the romance develops.

"Tanchico's pretty rough. It's a good thing I'm coming."

Yeah, that feels so much like the set-up that we got with Mat and Elayne at the start of their time together in Ebou Dar -- him deciding that he's there to help protect them, and Elayne being a bit exasperated by it. And we already used the boat trip to get in some of the cultural bonding that Elayne and Aviendha did in Ebou Dar -- will we get to see Mat and Elayne coming to respect each other over the course of their time together? Elayne also seems to have been given some of Birgitte vibes from the books, so I am very curious to see if she gets Birgitte's "drinking buddies who look at hot people together" friendship with Mat from the books, or at least some of it.

Again, if that does happen, it would be another "Ebou Dar" thing that happens before Ebou Dar, which may signal that Ebou Dar is being cut out.

[brainrotisseriechicken]

dr. balefire from the idn branch !! dk if ive posted any scpid fanart here lol

hes so fucking weird

[thragglikesrockzthragglikesblog]

Does the tablet have any other apps? (Little squares with pictures on them and have names below them) I want to see if there’s anymore we can learn about Dr. Keplar by the other things he has on it.

One called "Biosygn" Thragg tap it and slab say "please connect to Specimen Station" symbol on screen look like eye-ball.

Other called "Gamma Forge" tap on it and it say "printing station online" then screen fill with stuff, lots of stuff, words and shapes. "Canteen, wood axe, mining pick, climbing studs, 38 caliber carbonite bullet cartridge, thermal blanket, fishing lure, fishing rod" lots more stuff, symbol look like hammer and table thing.

Next is X symbol but when me tap it, it say Twitter, not sure what that about. Staying away from that one.

Another called "Balefire" look like tall tower shooting light out. Tap on it and it say "system within chronol net, attempting to reastablish contact, last connection 6 months, 22 days, and 6 hours."

Found one more, "Saturnine" look like yellow circle with rings around it, tap and it say "enter user id"

[bewitched-bullet]

Aaaaaaaaaand the first chapter of what has become a 2 chapter one shot is up!!

To Jump the Balefire

(A lovely Tumblr found the artist!!)

Kiu1023 is the artist

For all the SpringFrost/JackRabbit fans out there

[tierganoutsold]

what happens when they need more balefire when a lamp breaks. do they just say heyyyyy fintan 🥰🥰

[andthenthenothingcame]

"We're here." Her voice is a muted thing, dull with fear. It is no waygate, no carved, beautiful thing. It's huge and terrifying but so help her she feels hope light up in her breast because it's there.

Maker be praised, it's true. Salvation is not lost to us.

"How will we know-" More fear as Elspet swallows the words. Oh, how they all fear what will become of them.

"We won't." Tired and bedraggled, Glenna steps forward, followed by Moiruan and Avraeh, with Kyrah strapped to her chest. She addresses the small assortment behind her, though turning her back on that haunting door makes her feel vulnerable. "I fully expect we will lose access to the source when we cross over."

Naeva frowns. "But what if…"

In the distance others can be seen, the last of their people held in the palm of this strange, strange place only the Ogier understand. May the Maker guide them here. May they find this safety. But it's not for her to decide.

"This is the way, sister. This is the only way. We go forward or we are lost." I cannot falter. I must be brave. That much is true. So much has already faded, eaten up by a magic so dark it could not even be stopped with balefire. Some whispered it was the will of the Dark One, but Avraeh had seen darkfriends amongst the rabble, fleeing as they did. No one knew what it was, only that it was hungry.

Yet the Ogier had warned them when they'd come up with this plan, the dangers… especially for Aes Sedai. 'There may not be a source wherever you end up, Aes Sedai. Are you willing to live with the silence of your gift, the aching void where you know it should be?'

She'd been confident then, defiant even. The people needed confidence. But she did not feel confident now. "Open it, Master Ogier."

[esoteric-chaos]

Midsummer Masterpost - Spoonie witch friendly

Midsummer, also known as the Summer Solstice.  This day is the longest day of the year. Typically lands around June 21st  (December 21st in the Southern Hemisphere). 

Many cultures around the world celebrate the Summer Solstice in their own ways. Marking a very important event for most.  

Fire is the main association with this holiday as it marks the sun. This holiday also marks the end of the planting season.

Midsummer Correspondences

Colours

Green

Gold

Light Blue

Yellow

Red

Orange

White

Herbal

Basil

Bay Leaves

Lavender

Mint

Rosemary

Thyme

Chamomile

Mugwort

Vervain

Rose

Honeysuckle

St. John’s Wort

Yarrow

Calendula

Sunflower

Marigold

Jasmine

Oak

Cinnamon

Elder

Edibles

Honey

Berries

Cheese

Lemonade

Lemons

Oranges

Tea

Honey cakes

Mead, Ale, Wine

Ice Cream

Animals

Bees

Cow

Butterfly

Dragonfly

Horse

Summer birds (Wren, Robin, Hawks, Eagles, Swallows, etc)

Crystals

Emerald

Jade

Sunstone

Orange or Green Calcite

Carnelian

Citrine

Amber

Tiger’s Eye

Diamond

Pearl

Quartz

Ruby

Garnet

Metals

Symbols

Sun

Fire, Bonfire, Balefire

Sun Wheel

Sunflower

Phoenix

Fae

Herbal

Summer flowers

Rose

Spirals

Spiritual meanings

Love

Life

Light

Passion

Creativity

Healing & Health

Growth

Empowerment

Lust

Fertility

Power

Success

Prosperity

Warmth

Solar energy

Scents

Lavender

Sage

Lemon

Rose

Mint & Spearmint

Jasmine

Rosemary

Verbena

Coconut

Orange

Gods / Goddesses / Spirits

Gaia

Aestas (Roman)

Aine (Celtic)

Brigantia (Celtic)

Venus (Roman)

Aphrodite (Greek)

Apollo (Roman)

Apollon (Greek)

Zeus and Thor (Thunder Gods)

Ra (Egyptian)

Greenman

Oak King

Anuket (Egyptian)

Benten (Japanese)

Any other sun Gods/Goddesses

Need some suggestions to celebrate? I got you covered.

High energy celebrations 

Bonfires

Fae offerings

Create Fae garden

Weave flower crowns

Perform a phoenix ritual

Create a  Besom

Dance and sing

Leave offerings to solar Gods/Goddesses

Divination work

Any solar energy workings

Low energy celebrations 

Ritual bath

Light a candle in honor

Watch the sunset

Meditate with solar energy

Pray to solar Gods/Goddesses

Create solar water

No spoon celebrations 

If you have a sun lamp bask in it

Watch the sunset

Greet the sun at sunrise

Tell yourself kind words

Remember that it’s okay if you cant do much while you are unwell. That you come first and you simply existing is a blessing.

How you celebrate the holiday does not matter. You can choose to do any activity that feels right. These are only suggestions and remember that you're enough no matter what.

[knavesflames]

Also on topic of limes and citrusy stuff...

I belive that Arle is sort of partly spider, mainly couse of that boss form of hers.

And idk if you guys know, spiders hate citrus, thats the best way to get rid of them

And i cant help but imagine her screeching and hissing at [Y/N], who's holding a lime out.

Sort of Vampire and garlic situation

NAHHHHHHH HAHAHAHA ok listen i have a history with spiders— i can’t go into it because its so stupid but i have a history with spiders that means i am utterly terrified of them, i think they may GENUINELY be my worst fear. Because of that, (though you’re probably right and i do agree with you on her spider thing)

My personal belief is that when she was younger and figured out her balefire stuff she was grieving Bambi so she decided ah yes. The form of a spider. That’s me.

Either way, I have just pictured myself holding up a bowl of limes and screaming and crying and pleading for her to turn back to normal and she’s just fucking. Hissing and screeching at me. Anyone who knows what I look like (about 5 of all of you— I’m a faceless being) can probably picture said scenario and I think that makes it even funnier.

Also, my dear, choose an emoji. My bestie dildoblade I want you to have a hashtag emoji 💅