#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 -

[brainrotisseriechicken]

hi....scrapped wip again. im rlly not built for color. yap incoming

sorry my productivity tanked my 7 year old laptop is nearing its final breath and im just stalling buying a new one as long as possible to not violate the boycott but she (laptop) is making this shit DIFFICULT

im gnna be so honest w yall i havent had the drive to do shit all lately like. i need dopamine kicks to function but nothings working for some reason ??? i bought a jjk book and i fucking love jjk so i should be excited but im ??? not????? fucked up how that works

[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.

[onaperduamedee]

Before anything, let the wheel pick a character for you.

Please add in tags/reblogs/answers what you got. I'm curious!

Game concept from the incredible @queersoftime

Poll concept from the inspired @sillylotrpolls

[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.

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition) 2x8

So this post is gonna have some casting and location spoilers about s3, as well as book spoilers through book 14: a memory of light.

Thoughts about Egwene as the modern-age counterpart to Lanfear really get into spoiler territory because I think a large part of it is going to come out in Egwene's reaction to Rand moving on from their relationship vs Lanfear's reaction. Lanfear could never get over Lews Therin, but Egwene is going to move on and seek new paths and new relationships of her own. We will probably even (my guess) have Egwene be the one to initiate the 'final breakup' at the start of s3, just like she initiated the breakup in 1x1. I am definitely intrigued by the angle that they'll use for the breakup in s3. Maybe being able to protect Rand here in this episode is going to heal the part of Egwene that has been feeling so guilty over not being able/allowed to protect Rand in 1x8 and she might also then have some anger/frustration that Rand made choices that made it impossible for her to help him. And she wants a partner who isn't going to make choices like that on her behalf.

That they tied in Egwene's striving so hard at the White Tower in with her wanting to protect the people that she cares about also makes it easier for her not to go back to the White Tower next season (as I suspect that she will not; though we'll see - but I suspect that we'll get the arrival in the Waste in ep2 or maybe even the end of ep1). Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have all seen that there is a bigger fight that needs them right now and going back to train at the White Tower might well be at the bottom of their priority list, even before they hear from Moiraine about what happened in Cairhien.

2. I also feel like the Ishamael-Mat comparison is kinda foreshadowing the Mat-All the Forsaken Who Are Jealous of LTT comparison that we get in a lot of the middle/late books, which we may still get when Sammael and potentially Demandred come into play. Unlike the Forsaken with LTT, Mat is not envious of Rand's high status and title. He doesn't mind being 'in Rand's shadow' and is baffled when Melindhra keeps trying to push him out of said shadow and into seizing the spotlight. He doesn't want it!

Hmm, Forsaken round-up/confirmations. Obviously, we have Lanfear and we had Ishamael. Lanfear will continue to be a presence in s2, I'm currently assuming.

Confirmed:

Moghedien - likely going to be involved in Nynaeve's plotlines, for the most part, I'm guessing. I think she may also take over at least part of Mesaana's plotline. Since all five of the ta'veren are acknowledged as important by the Shadow, she'll even be acting within orders to get obsessed with Nynaeve!

Sammael - Illian is in the picture; I'm guessing we'll get some strong Mat-Sammael compare/contrasts once he's 'on stage'. I'm wondering if Mat will actually be allowed to finish out the Illian plan in the show instead of being yanked away prematurely, and only going to Ebou Dar afterwards? I'm not sure how much we need Mat-in-Salidar in the show. Too soon to really speculate. If we have Sammael... I'm not sure if we get Demandred. They kinda fill the same 'niche' in the Forsaken ecosystem.

Graendal - she just needs to handle chaos somewhere; it doesn't have to be Arad Doman. I think @markantonys suggested the idea of her being the Forsaken who takes over Caemlyn, which is interesting! Both Rahvin and Graendal are big into Compulsion. Not having Rahvin does potentially mean that we don't get Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Aviendha & Mat (and briefly Asmodean, lol), which would be tough to lose. Though they could put that in somewhere else, against a different Forsaken. If they are keeping Rahvin, then Graendal might end up being the Forsaken that gets attached to bothering Perrin, narratively.

Almost certain:

Asmodean - training Rand. I'm hoping he lasts longer in the show than in the books, lol.

Semirhage - taking over Ishamael's place with influencing the Seanchan. But we won't get introduced to her until Tuon also arrives, I'm guessing.

Ishamael died here, so that does imply to me that we're going to get Moridin. I would guess in s5 or s6, to give the rest of the Forsaken time to play on the board for a long while.

Maybe:

The last spot is, for me, a competition between Demandred and Rahvin.

If Demandred - I'm hoping that the show does Taimandred. We haven't seen Taim on-screen, so there's plenty of time for Demandred to kill him and take his place. Taim essentially behaves obsessively jealous over Rand's status in the exact same way as Demandred, just with even worse vibes, lol. They can be combined.

otoh, they already have one of the 'incredibly jealous of LTT' Forsaken lined up for the show, so they might want to bring in another who doesn't really care much about LTT, and do Rahvin instead.

If Rahvin - then he'll go to Caemlyn, but I suspect he wouldn't go there until after Elaida & co have all left the city. Keeping Rahvin in would mean that we would probably be getting Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Mat, Aviendha, & Asmodean.

We do have a pretty healthy variety of motivations among the Forsaken that are lined up for the show, I think. In the books, Semirhage had an alliance with... Demandred and Mesaana, I think, but Mesaana is definitely out and Demandred might be as well, so she might be flying solo.

3. I really love the implication in this scene that Rand is going to potentially design the Asha'man uniforms based on what he was having the male Aes Sedai (including himself) wear during the War of Power.

4. Now that I'm rewatching, I wonder if we're gonna get Rand being treated as a political leader in Falme at the start of s3! Since it may be echoing how Tear was used in the books, as a fulfillment of prophecy.

I love my idea about Caemlyn subbing in for Tear, but Falme really does work for most of that. Maybe something more like... ep1: Falme; ep2: the first split, where Elayne and Nynaeve head off to try to hunt down... idk something, and the rest of the group heads east, ending up in Caemlyn where they meet Gawyn, Galad, & Elaida, ep3: the waste/rhuidean, ep4: tower coup, ep5: alcair dal & capturing asmodean; ep6: battle of two rivers; ep7: nynaeve vs moghedien; ep8: battle of cairhien & the door incident

5. The people of Falme getting saved by Rand in this way also leaves them open to the influence of Masema, who definitely looked like he was Finding Religion at the end of the episode. So Falme may end up being the headquarters of the Prophet of the Dragon. That storyline kinda dragged on in the books in a very annoying way but the bones of it are genuinely fascinating and I think there's a lot that the show could do with it. Because there are two main threads of people who are dangerous due to the Dragon arriving specifically -- there are the people who will hate and fear him but there are also the Dragonsworn who believe that his arrival has broken all previous ties and take it too far due to religious zealotry.

6. Lanfear's full plan, from what I can piece out and with some speculation:

a. Write out a prophecy in blood on the moondial and sell the shattered pieces to Doman, knowing that Moiraine is a likely buyer. She may have done other things to arrange said purchase as well. What I love about this is that it means that she was poking at Ishamael when she asked why he hadn't killed Moiraine, even as she was figuring out how to use Moiraine for her own purposes.

b. Set up an inn in Cairhien and arrange for Rand to stay there. Figure out a way into a relationship with him by taking advantage of his vulnerability. I'm even wondering if all of Rand's bad dreams this season have actually been Lanfear and not Ishamael. I'm pretty sure that the one in 2x6 featured a fake Ishy.

c. I think that Verin & Tomas have potentially been under Lanfear's orders for most/all of the season, given that Lanfear has been invested in Moiraine. And Lanfear being invested in Moiraine makes it... more likely that Selene being a Moiraine cosplay was 100% intentional on her part which is... fascinating. A fascinating look into Lanfear's psychology. I mean, she really did cultivate a very sugar mommy dynamic with Rand.

d. Get most of the pieces in motion... and then her plans get screwed when Barthanes's mom tells Moiraine where Rand went, and Lanfear gets stabbed and temporarily loses her boy. But it's okay! She can adjust her plans! (Theory: I think this is why she had Liandrin talk to Barthanes; she figured out what happened and wanted to punish the Damodred family for ruining her plans -- there really wasn't any actual way for Barthanes to even get to Moiraine to kill her, so that wasn't the real plan; I think it was petty revenge on Lanfear's part)

e. So, Rand goes to sleep and she's able to start working on him. She gets him to agree to go to Falme! Yes! She's so close to her Happy Ending with Lews Therin Telamon Rand al'Thor!

...and then Rand gets captured by the Amyrlin Seat of these new Aes Sedai and Lanfear needs to break her future devoted husband Rand out of jail, ugh, he asks so much of her. (secretly, she wishes he would ask more)

f. So, jailbreak time! With a brief pause to ship Mat Cauthon to Falme. With Lanfear maybe suspecting that Ishamael is wrong about Mat and that things aren't going to go how he expects. She uses Verin to make sure that Moiraine & co are going to go to the Waygate, because she's figured out exactly where she plans to dump Moiraine so that she can play her part of the plan.

There is also some speculation that Maksim may be a darkfriend as well. If he is, then he was also used as a pawn by Lanfear to get another Aes Sedai to help with the plan.

Lanfear also takes this opportunity to further poison the White Tower against Rand, by having his escape tied to a Forsaken rampage on the Foregate.

g. Lanfear has complete faith that Lews Therin Rand is going to successfully take care of Ishamael! That's her man! He can do anything! She just needs to clear the way for him and get him in the right place at the right time, and he'll do the rest. She even makes sure to deliver the Horn of Valere to some of his friends! He's got this in the bag!

h. ...then she makes the mistake of stopping in to say 'hi' to Ishamael and gloat about Rand being in Falme, tipping her hand and causing Ishamael's decision to release the rest of the Forsaken. Oops.

i. Well, Rand has been proclaimed the Dragon (yay!) but now the rest of the Forsaken are free and she's been told she needs to stay away from him (boo!).

j. ...time to come up with a new plan.

6. "I know who kills him. And what he uses to do it."

The wild thing here is that, iirc, it's his unhealable wound that kills Rand's body at the Last Battle, right? Which would mean Min's interpretation of her viewing was absolutely correct -- Mat DOES 'kill' Rand in this episode. It just takes a while before the death actually takes effect. So one of my theories -- that Mat was taking the place of Alivia in being the one who 'helps' Rand die -- that I dismissed because we're way too soon for that... is kinda true?

7. I have to admit, it confuses me when I still see people arguing that Mat is going to need to go to the White Tower to get healed from the dagger. The show made it very clear that he was Not Touching the dagger. His entire plan centered around using the dagger without touching it. And Mat has already spent a lot of time in the White Tower and worked his hardest to try to escape -- why would he go back? Plus, the people making these arguments already know that we're doing book 4 next season. Mat doesn't go anywhere near the White Tower in book 4. And his WT stuff hits some 'rule of cool' buttons but it's not... narratively important (especially if Rahvin didn't make the cut).

Going to Rhuidean and getting his medallion is key to Mat's future developments. And the show has put so much work into his relationship with Rand, so it just seems likely that they would want to build on that in s3 rather than abandoning it so that Mat can doink around the countryside with a variety of companions (it's so bizarre for me to see people prioritizing Mat's book 3 plotline over "Mat enters an alternate dimension to get a special medallion and special weapon that are key to his narrative" - but it's probably the same people who spend, like, ten books hating on the Wondergirls for not being grateful enough to Mat at the Stone of Tear).

8. I do think that we're going to skip Lan's bond having a stop-over at anyone else and have him go straight from Moiraine to Nynaeve. I feel like this stressful period here between the two of them in s2 was standing in for a lot of the tensions that they faced in the books (and that broke them apart in the books) but in the show they are now both on the same page -- they're both committed to "protecting Rand, guiding him" and we know that Moiraine approves of Nynaeve (and that LAN knows that she does) from the end of s1.

They may have some friction next season over the best way to help Rand, potentially, as Rand may be frustrated with Moiraine proclaiming him as the Dragon without his permission, but I don't think it'll get as bad as it does in the books (especially since I kinda feel like we might be 'losing' Moiraine at the end of the season).

9. The fact that we did not see Turak's room of curiosities makes me even MORE curious about whether or not a certain redstone doorway is there. That we ended the episode at the climax of the battle rather than getting any downtime after makes me feel like we are going to have at least one episode at the start of s3 where everyone is together so that we can establish the new group dynamics. That could take place in Caemlyn, like I've speculated, or it could take place here in Falme. They also might have left it open because they weren't sure if they could get this location back for s3 filming, so didn't want to commit to where the doorway might be located.

Given what Rafe & co have said about s3 being a 'closer adaptation' of bk4, I am leaning towards us getting a lot of those early 'book Tear' elements in whatever city we open with next season.

10. I suspect that we may get an Ingtar-ish storyline with a different character in the future. In the books, it is a cool moment, but it's cool because we had time to build up Ingtar's relationship with Rand and Rand was able to offer him a kind of absolution. If we hadn't needed to recast Mat and then restructure the entire s2 plotline, then maybe we would have had that kind of time, but that's the realities of working in television, especially in this, our time of Covid.

We've had a lot of complex Darkfriends on the show so far (while in the books, we only really get Ingtar and... Asmodean, I guess? Literally can't think of any others, lol) and so we might see this plotline pop up again once we have the time to spend with one of our mains bonding with a character who ends up being a Darkfriend.

Potential candidates: Lanfear ("Light help you, Rand al'Thor" - calls upon the Light to give him aid?), Asmodean, Liandrin (via her relationship with Nynaeve)

11. "Lanfear, Lews Therin, and Ishamael were inseparable before the War of Power" kinda implies to me that... Lews didn't meet Ilyena until after the War of Power had begun? I really am curious about what they're planning to do re: Ilyena. She was LTT's main focus in the books, but hasn't even been mentioned by name yet in the show. I mean, in the books, she was one of the classic Fridged Wives ever tbh, so I certainly don't mind some adjustments, but I am VERY curious. And with what the precise timeline of it was, in this version of the story.

12. I'm thrilled that Seta and Renna were killed off, tbh. I'm hoping it means that the second circus plotline is just as dead as they are. It was... genuinely one of the Worst Times that I ever had reading any PoVs in the entire series. But Egwene wanted to kill Renna in the books too! She only didn't because Nynaeve stopped her! And Nynaeve's not here. So all that felt pretty in-line with the book characterization.

And it gives Egwene a big moment here, which is good because... honestly, she doesn't do that much in TSR that I can think of? She... trains, mostly, lol. She doesn't get any huge moments like this, as far as I can recall. That is maybe the one reason that I can think of for sending the Wondergirls back to the White Tower, to give Egwene the Big Moment of her Accepted test. But Egwene's next big thing is really becoming Amyrlin, from what I remember. Am I forgetting some stuff from TSR or TFoH?

Rand has Rhuidean and becoming Car'a'carn

Nynaeve has Moghedien (and maybe Egeanin, if they do that plotline - they might have the Seanchan take next season or two off to 'regroup')

Mat has Rhuidean and visiting the foxes

Perrin has the battle of the Two Rivers

But Elayne is mostly Nynaeve's sidekick in Tanchico, from what I remember, and Egwene is mostly just tagging along with the Wise Ones and training. They can get some cool stuff out of her learning to be a Dreamer but there isn't really a 'climatic moment' in that in TSR or TFoH that I can think of.

(I wonder if the Birgitte bonding might happen next season? because they'll want to show Moghedien's threat level and what she does to Birgitte is a pretty good show of force)

13. Talking about how the Mat & Rand relationship is more complex than Mat & Perrin's -- this is very true to the books, of course, (until Perrin became Everyone's Closest Friend in ToM/AMoL) but it also feeds into Mat being a part of Rand's storylines next season (and probably all/most of s4) while Perrin goes back to the Two Rivers for most of s3. Mat and Rand's relationship is going to be more relevant, so it makes sense to load it up with more tension and more complexity. And given how close they've made Mat and Rand, I suspect that their storylines may dovetail even more in the show than they did in the books (and they already did a LOT in the books). And they might even continue to TALK about all the trauma that they have in common instead of being right next to each other and never having a conversation about it.

14. Mat being Rand's only hope being connected to the Horn and connected to the unhealing wound that will eventually kill him in Shayol Ghul... they really have twined Mat and Rand's narratives more tightly than the books did, which is delightful (especially with Mat being a Hero of the Horn in this version of the story, which means that Mat and Rand hang out together in TAR between incarnations).

It does make me very curious if Olver is going to exist in this version, since Mat is now not just tied to the Horn by ta'veren coincidence but by his own nature. Olver is kinda an easy character to cut, since he only ever does two things: a. gets Mat trapped in Ebou Dar so that he can get locked into his fate & b. blows the Horn in the Last Battle. If they're doing something different with Mat & Tuon, then Olver might not be needed for the first thing. And there's no reason for Mat not to blow the Horn himself in the Last Battle.

Narratively, because they HAVE been winding Mat and Rand's stories more tightly together, it would be pretty unsatisfying for Mat and Rand to separate in s4 (or s5?) and then literally never see each other again until they get a five-minute conversation in, like, ep 4 of season 8, so I suspect/hope that the show will find ways to let them reunite sooner than that. I mean, it was pretty damn unsatisfying in the books, let me tell you.

15. The show did such a good job setting up the Two Rivers storyline for next season, imo. I love that they put together Perrin's two "whitecloaks crimes" into the same issue and that Dain witnessed it first-hand instead of going after Perrin based on hearsay. I think we'll potentially see a real exploration of Perrin's guilt over Laila vs his inability to feel guilty about killing Bornhald next season. Plus adding Faile into the mix is likely going to make Perrin feel even guiltier (and I believe that Slayer is confirmed as well? It's gonna be busy in the Two Rivers for Perrin). I think we might get the 'trap' for Faile next season and it'll be what make Perrin realize that he has feelings for her but I don't think we're getting the quickie wedding. That feels WAY too fast.

16. It's hard to talk about Hopper's death without spoilers! Because this is very much not the end of Hopper's storyline. I'm expecting that Hopper is still going to be Perrin's teacher in the wolfdream, so we're probably going to see him just as much next season as we did this season, if not more. What a good actor in that dog, though, wow. Such a good start towards Perrin at the end. Hopper has been so delightful and I've loved what he's added to Perrin's storyline.

17. @markantonys did a really good post on the differences between why book!Mat thinks of himself 'not a hero' vs why show!Mat does, and I just want to link it here and co-sign. But that's really why this moment in the show, for Mat, works for me so well.

All of the characters, while they do have a core that comes from the books, are affected by the changes that the show has made. And Mat has been particular affected, because the realities of television impacted his character more than most due to the recasting, etc.

But even apart from that, Mat is different because he has gone through different experiences: he's known for over a year that one of them would be the Dragon so when he reunites with Rand, knowing that Rand's the Dragon, he's not going to have the same reaction that he did in the books because he has had time to adjust to the idea and it's not a nasty surprise.

Mat has a different relationship with heroism in the show because we lost our original Mat due to the shooting delays of Covid, and we had to leave Mat behind at the Waygate, meaning that he abandoned his friends out of fear. That profoundly changes his trajectory and means that a lot of work needed to be put into building his character back up again. Show!Mat NEEDS to be a Hero of the Horn in a way that book!Mat never did, because it provides external validation for him coming through the pain and loneliness and guilt and shame that he has been living in for the past few months.

18. After checking discussion on the subreddit, it is GENUINELY fascinating to me how many fans misremember book!Mat as getting his own past lives' memories rather than getting a mishmash of (mostly) war memories from the random people who visited the 'finn. I do think it's possible that this moment HAS been meant to replace that and Mat gets to use his own memories for all his general'ing needs, but it's also possible that these memories are going to fade after a while (and maybe that's the drive that makes Mat go to the 'finn, instead of asking for his memory-holes to be filled, he wants his past lives' memories back?). Mat does have some ancient memories that get triggered a couple of times in the early books (before Jordan was planning to send him to the 'finn, imo, and when Mat was going to be the one to go back to the Two Rivers) but those are not the same as the memories that the 'finn gave him.

19. We're also seeing a bit of LTT foreshadowing here, I think, in seeing how Mat remembering some of his past lives gives him access to fighting skills that he didn't have before. So when Rand starts pulling from LTT's memories, viewers can go back to this scene and connect the similarities.

20. Uno is Gaidal Cain! (from what Rafe has said in interviews) Good for him! I wonder if they're going to split up the 'dream conversations' next season and have Uno be the one who talks to Perrin and warns him about things, since they already have an emotional connection, while Brigitte is the one who runs across Egwene & the other Wondergirls (I absolutely do not remember the timeline of any of that, to be frank). I believe also, from what has been said, that this is not the final Birgitte actress, which is why they didn't focus on her much. Maybe we'll get Uno and Perrin hanging out in s3, and then Birgitte's storyline in s4?

21. I really am wondering how they plan to play out Rand's romantic situation in s3. There are still quite a few show-only viewers who are invested in Rand & Egwene as endgame, but also quite a few show-only viewers who clocked what a romantically-framed introduction that Rand and Elayne just had to each other. I don't want the show to rush Rand and Elayne's romance, so I'm still leaning towards them not starting anything next season, with the focus in the initial episode before they separate being on Rand and Egwene's breakup, and then Rand and Aviendha coming together over the course of s3 but... that really was a very disney-princess Romantic (TM) introduction shot, very "Eric meets Ariel" in The Little Mermaid (someone made the comparison using screenshots).

22. Did Suroth die? We don't actually see a body. This may be a situation where it was left ambiguous because they don't plan to have her in s3 and the actress might not be available when they do need their Seanchan antagonist again, so safest to leave her in a quantum state.

23. I am absolutely imagining the rest of the Forsaken watching Rand and Ishamael's encounter and then immediately fleeing once they see Rand take down Ishy, with Moghedien being voluntold to stay behind to talk to Lanfear.

24. Hmm, thinking about Masema. So Masema watches Ingtar get cut down by the Seanchan soldiers, he watches Perrin's friend Mat open the box to the Horn and then rush off to deliver it. And then he sees the dragon on the tower at the end. So he's seeing this huge difference between what a normal lord can do, and what was accomplished by the Dragon and his people. I'm not sure how in-depth we're going to be going with the Prophet of the Dragon storyline, but we definitely had seeds planted for it here.

25. We also seemed to have an interesting progression of who stands next to Rand, where, and when. Because first Rand is up alone on the ledge (while everyone has a group hug behind him), then we see Mat revealed to one side while Egwene steps up on the other. Then Nynaeve and Perrin join together, between Rand and Egwene. And in the final shot of them, we see that Elayne is standing between Mat and Rand.

I'm not going to put any particular meaning on any of that (at least at this time), just noting it.

It's a great shot.

26. I wonder if Ishy gave the others like, a short presentation on What This New Age Is Like.

That was such a good season of television! I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do with TSR, it's one of my very favorite of the books.

[riacte]

Been reading dearly beloathed (and thoroughly enjoying it mind you) (the GC screenies chat loves Reina btw) and I’m genuinely so curious as to how you imagine their superhero fits/ them in general. Obvs tachy has his angler fish get up but what about Balefire and the rest :0 do you have any designs or descriptions or just ideas for the characters designs :D?

Hi thanks for reading and glad you like it! Quick Picrews from this link:

(Left to right, top to bottom: Lyra, Ben, Archie, Reina, Cora, Balefire/Uma)

Then my art: Uma with various shadow blobs, Lyra + Ben (part of this larger piece with their OC predecessors)

More detailed descriptions:

Balefire: brown skin, shoulder length black hair, brown eyes, thick eyebrows, strong nose, has a prominent glare (at least, from Tach’s pov). Slightly shorter than average. Fairly well built. Has a black scar on her chest from Tach. Likes wearing yellow. I haven’t quite decided on her hero costume but it’s black + reddish orange and has flame motifs. She probably added some phoenix motifs after her reappearance. (She didn’t start off with them.)

Tachythanatous: was obnoxiously into emo culture as a teen (belt buckles, straps, studded pads, metal chains, etc). Anglerfish inspired helmet with a dangly light that changes colours. The dangly light has a practical purpose of providing a light source in case he’s trapped in complete darkness as his shadows cannot appear. (Think Pride from Fullmetal Alchemist.) Sometimes he makes the light multicoloured so he can vibe to Caramelldansen. Dressed in black + dark blue. Probably has platform boots for the heck of it. Has a swishy cape because he’s dramatic. Surprisingly skinny (his suit is well padded for protection). He doesn’t have much strength as he heavily relies on his speed and his shadows. Without his speed and shadows, Bale can easily punt him into the sky while he goes “YIPPPPPEEEEEeeeeeeeeee 💫”.

Tach is usually in his suit. If he’s not, he’s covering up his skin with long sleeves + pants. When Bale stayed with him, sometimes Tach was too lazy to suit up so he would just walk out with a big black rectangle covering his body like a glitch in the matrix. Like imagine a stressed out Balefire with a headache coping with a complete 180 of the status quo waiting for the kettle to boil and then this floating black rectangle ominously enters into the kitchen like 🧍 “morning nemesis”.

Lyra: light skin, straight black hair with blue highlights, black eyes. Puts on hair clips and likes wearing her hair in a braid (she’s been growing out her hair for a while). Has a stoic resting face so people used to be intimidated by her until they learn she’s just a shivering pathetic wet cat. Her ears turn red when she blushes. Tall and lanky. Doesn’t like to show her legs and wears trousers and long skirts. Wears blue, grey, black, and yellow.

Ben: tan skin, short cropped hair, big brown eyes. A bit scrawny. Dresses like a tour guide at a marine park (orange shirt, cargo pants). Likes clothes with pockets despite owning a pocket dimension. (Maybe it’s his brand?) He’s clumsy and falls over like a piece of toast.

Archie: fair skin, wispy blond hair, watery blue eyes. Wears glasses. Likes vests and jackets. Wears in shades of green, beige, and brown. He tends to layer clothes and wear clothes made with different materials to practice his superpower of phasing through matter (one of his fears is phasing through a wall but leaving his clothes behind). Also wears accessories such as watches, hats, and chains to train his powers. Has a stocky build but born with a weak constitution.

Reina: fair skin, long straight blond hair to her back, brown eyes, short and stout. She later dyes her bangs black. Wears black and shades of pink (in particular magenta). Likes alt fashion (short skirts, corsets, platform boots). Occasionally wears plum / dark lipstick.

Cora: dark brown skin, shoulder length curls, dark brown eyes. Medium build, average height. When she’s in class, she wears a doctor’s coat. Dresses in shades of purple, green, and white. Her family wants her to dress “demurely” but her actual taste is more casual. Wore more androgynous clothes but leaning towards more feminine clothing lately. Occasionally wears silver eyeliner.

All of the kids can afford whatever they want to wear because the gov pays them to go to hero school. They’re rich kiddos lol.

These are the tentative designs I have of the main cast. Everyone else is more vague lmao

Arcus/Kai: brown hair, brown skin, well built. Has weather manipulation powers so his suit is probably sapphire blue with bits of dark grey

Cinder/Lillian: short hair in a bob, “mousy”, wears glasses, doe eyes, was weak and scrawny during her Academy years. Suit is a mellow yellow with white.

Moxie/Mona: black hair, black eyes. She looks lively and mischievous.

Sentinel/Milo: he’s like your fun uncle at BBQs. Probably wears his hair in a messy ponytail. Suit is maroon probably.

Harrison: brown hair, handsome, photogenic (which Ben complains about in his inner monologue)

Esme: freckled skin, sharp eyes, brown hair in two long braids

Here’s some art I drew of Bale and Tach :)

Also glad your gc likes Reina :D yes yes this is good info to me for plot reasons…. :)

Thanks for the ask <3

[wolframtheregulator]

Mors Dictares Joint Task Force

—Kill Team Project Megapost—

Our Kill Team campaign will start shortly, my friends had a session 0 the other day and atm were racing to get our models finished in time for the first night of matches.

Here’s what I’m starting the campaign with.

Moritat Bres, the Spitebound (Chosen with plasma pistol) [FINISHED]

https://www.tumblr.com/wolframtheregulator/757282462536810496/should-fortune-turn-away-turn-to-me-ancient

[UNNAMED] Balefire Acolyte [WIP]

[UNNAMED] Anointed [WIP]

[UNNAMED] Icon Bearer [WIP]

[UNNAMED] Heavy Gunner [WIP]

[UNNAMED] Gunner [WIP]

[UNNAMED] Butcher [FINISHED]

https://www.tumblr.com/wolframtheregulator/761089425946099712/regulators-butcher-badulf-transferred-to-the

[brainrotisseriechicken]

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

hes so fucking weird

[cosmxc-ars3hol3]

ahem… what are ur fintante headcanons

They were the kenric and oralie of their time. except they were actually dating. no one knew obviously

fintan would buy a whole bunch of his jewellery (rings and earrings)

based off of the cool queer signalling I saw @.bronte-deserves-better make. Having asymmetrical balefire jewellery is a form of queer signalling

fintan made and surprised bronte with a balefire earring

bronte broke up with him just after the accident with everblaze when pyrokinesis was banned. so fintan lost his bf, his ability and his place on the council

they stayed civil with each other in public but didn’t really talk outside of group settings (bc fintan stayed friends with some of the councillors)

bronte kept his earring and all the jewellery that fintan made or bought for him even after they broke up

oralie eventually knows what happened between the 2 of them (i love bronte and oralie being besties)

bronte still likes fintan even after every that has happened. he doesn’t want to still like him but he knows he does. he feels bad because of everything he’s done

at the lumenaria peace summit, fintan flirted with him. Bronte tried to ignore him. Sophie didn’t notice because she was too busy trying to figure out what fintans plans were

cant really think of many ohters, sorry this took so long. i forgot it

[guysonroblox]

sucks you cant even really go back to the old stuff bc of shit breaking, removal of hopperbin tools, etc. feel like i'd like to revisit some of my old favorites but i know for sure they just don't work. destroy the wall owned but it sucks now that you can't aim the rockets, they just shoot towards the center of the baseplate no matter what. balefire doesnt work either

[deeplyridiculouslyinlove]

I really loved the conversation Egwene and Moiraine have in Book 5 when Egwene tells Moiraine about Siuan being deposed as Amyrlin and stilled. I really resonated with the part where Egwene asks Moiraine how she can be so outwardly cool learning about what happened to Siuan given their long “friendship” and Moiraine basically says that she and Siuan made their choices years ago and they always knew payment would come due one day. I think it helps me contextualize where they both would be mentally in and after 02x07. I’m still devastated for them, but it helps to remember that their headspace is such that they are not only prepared to lose everything they have been working for at literally any time, but honestly *expect* it.

I also had obviously reacted similarly to Lan and Nynaeve to Moiraine swearing to obey Rand because I bristle at any narrative where strong women have to bow to reactive boys, but Moiraine’s perspective in this conversation helps get across just how much it’s not about Rand’s authority but about her knowing the best way to get him to listen to her and being willing to do whatever that takes given the stakes. (And he absolutely has to listen to her about balefire so like, any sacrifice that gets him to do that is a noble one in that context.)

I also loved this conversation because Egwene leaves it feeling like she just talked to Moiraine as an equal. Given that Egwene is one of few characters so far we’ve really watched grow and have an emotional journey (for many of them their character changes are thrust on us through plot, at least so far), her getting to have that dynamic with Moiraine feels really deserved. And it helps me understand how Egwene gets to the point where she could be Amyrlin, and I’m excited about it for her.

I’ve really appreciated Egwene for a while, but especially since we got to the Waste, and I’m excited to go along with her on the rest of her journey. I still think if I had read these books when I was younger and before the show Moiraine would still have been my favorite (I always like the Merlin/Gandalf/Dumbledore character the best), but I’m starting to see how much I think I’d have also resonated with Egwene on the more personal level, and that’s really fun.

[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

[moghedien]

You know what I'm curious about is Lanfear describing Moggy as 'insane'. Since vain idiot is arguably the persona Graendal intentionally plays up in thr books, honestly she right thst most of the men Foresaken can't plan their way out of a bag (Demandred and Ishamael are the two real exceptions), but Moggy's description just catches my ear. Also I am curious if they've say, cut Mesaana and Semirhage, aka two of the more competent Foresaken.

Mesaana I absolutely think is getting the axe, and I've been on that for a while. Like sorry to her, but she's barely in the books as it is and her role can very easily be given to Moghedien since she doesn't even do much between book 7 and the last battle anyway. If they wanna condense the Forsaken, she's the most obvious one to cut after Be'lal

Semirhage I'm not convinced of. She's a late series Forsaken anyway, so they don't need to start hyping her yet. I can see Lanfear just not wanting to bring her up up because she's scary, but also like, name dropping all of the Forsaken in that scene would have been to definition of an exposition dump, so I think its still entirely possible for her to still show up. Moghedien and Graendal make sense since they're some of the ones we're gonna see soonest. I am curious about "the boys" still

Anyway, about Moghedien being insane, she's extremely paranoid to the point where she refuses to attend any meetings with the other Chosen even when its a group activity sorta thing and definitely isn't the "Let's Kill Moghedien" party she assumes it is. But also despite being extremely paranoid to the point where it hinders her from doing basically anything, she still meets privately with fucking Graendal of all people (Graendal mentions this after Moghedien is captured and didn't make their meetings). Like she won't meet with the group because she's scared of them, but she'll meet with the most balefire happy of the Chosen who turns people into mindless pets as a hobby. The girl doesn't think these things through or make logical decisions. Or maybe Graendal is just her therapist, who knows.

Lanfear and Moghedien also have a sort of petty rivalry because they both claim to be the master of Tel'aran'rhiod. Moghedien is just obviously too scared to challenge Lanfear on this to her face, so it makes sense that Lanfear is just dismissive of her because she'll talk big about shit until she actually has to back that up, then she runs away.

Also I mean, like literally all of Moghedien's role is just her getting easily distracted by and obsessive over mean woman, to the point where it is actively getting in the way of what she is supposed to be doing for the Shadow.

So yeah,

[bronte-deserves-better]

I was reading some of your fics (Ancillary Verse)

I love the balefire coding. Its awesome

would there be anything else other than the asymmetrical balefire jewellery and the phoenix necklaces/is there anything else you would/could elaborate on

nonetheless, im a fan of the headcanon/idea and I would love to use it in drawings and/or fics (with creds ofc

Ooh another Ancillary verse fan- I'm slowly converting the fandom to my Bronte&Tiergan agenda. Anyways, thanks so much for the ask! I'm glad you liked the ideas about queer signaling in the Lost Cities (and yes, absolutely use any of my worldbuilding ideas in fics/drawings with credit! I would love to be tagged as well if you post anything using my ideas because I love to see cool art/fics.).

As for other ideas about queer signaling in the Lost Cities, I know I have some more lying around somewhere:

In general, I think fire/pyrokinesis has a strong association with queerness. As you can see from the ideas used in my posted fics, fire is a prevailing theme in how queer elves signal, from balefire to phoenixes. In my headcanon, this is because of one of my ocs, Alera Pyren. She's an original Councillor, pyrokinetic, and one of the first and most visible openly queer elves of the Lost Cities. (The Council of the time was very upset about this, but given that Alera was one of the most powerful pyrokinetics ever to live, there wasn't very much they could do about it.) Fintan, who was not as openly queer but still very much known as a queer figure in the Lost Cities, furthered this association during his own tenure on the Council.

One would think that the pyrokinesis ban and associated stigma around pyrokinesis would end this idea, but in fact most queer elves took up fire as a symbol even more strongly, as it was now just like them: banned and scorned by the Lost Cities.

Young elves who aren't able to use phoenixes or balefire to signal come up with a variety of replacements. Balefire is rare and expensive in the modern day, so aquamarine, which is similar in color, is sometimes used. Other options include drawings or tattoos of fire, often on the underside of the wrist or other easily hidden places.

Fire-related slang: a 'spark' or 'phoenix egg' is someone who hasn't yet discovered/is newly discovering their queerness. 'blazing' is openly/obviously queer. 'much like Alera' is a polite way to call someone a lesbian.

To some degree, since the elves are all about light and crystal, I think darkness gets associated with queerness as well. Darkness conceals queer elves and keeps them safe. 'In the dark' or 'under cover of night' is similar to being in the closet, though most queer elves are what we would call closeted given the bigotry of the Lost Cities.

This imagery is also seen in some of the places queer elves meet: a midnight ball is a late-night ball in one of the hidden ballrooms around elven cities, which is specifically for queer elves and provides a safe place to meet. As seen in my fic Chiral, these balls are often masquerade balls, as it helps protect people's identities.

Atlantis has gay bars. You can identify them by balefire crystals set specifically into the doorframe- all Atlantis is lit by balefire, but balefire in specific places on a storefront means this place is queer.

[riacte]

Back with my socmed hero&villain fic! This fic has me in a chokehold I've got 29k words / 208 pages in a single doc 😭 anyways this chapter includes Wattpad x reader fics and such which has no business being that fun to parody

⛓️ tach (he/him) ⛓️ @Tachythanatous · 12/8/823 Manipulate Murder Malewife <3 23 Replies 98 Quotes 3.3K Likes | Balefire @Balefire_Hero · 12/8/823 Stop murdering heroes. 37 Replies 480 Quotes 19.7K Likes | sammi @cl0vertowns · 12/8/823 im fsucking losing it she replied to him literally 2 seconds after he tweeted. i know she has super speed but i bet she has a burner that follows him with notifs turned on 😭😭 they’re so obsessed with each other what the hell 12 Replies 21 Quotes 451 Likes