#the anead

[day-night-darlix]

all this sparkly fandom nonsense is a farce. i’m actually a dark academia prone lover of classic literature and you’ve all been fooled

[wolfythewitch]

I feel like I did not appreciate the epics or the abillity to learn ancient greek and latin at school when I was still in it, but I am now loving them so much <3 and this blog is making me love them even more. And the recent conversation is making me want to watch the Anead play that's coming up here

PS your art is amazing! I love how you design the gods, they all look unique and interesting in way that feels accurate

Gasp do it! I'd love to watch a play but we don't really have that here sgdjdh. I'm glad you're getting interested in them :D

Ps. Thank you!!

[ianthomasmalone]

I’m casting spells with my sapphic magic circle to conjure up some cheap tricks anead of Valentine’s Day.

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From the hoard...

Thomas Bulfinch's Bulfinch's Mythology: A Modern Abridgement by Edmund Fuller

This 1967 version of Thomas Bulfinch's textbooks on mythology (finished in 1863) is a chronicle of myths that have influenced Western civilization and literature for hundreds of years. It is divided into three sections: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and The Legends of Charlemagne.

The Age of Fable takes up more than half of the book and is a great look at the myths of Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. The vast majority of this section (33 out of 40 chapters) is spent on the myths of Greece and Rome. Fuller chooses to follow Bulfinch in naming the characters of the myths in their Roman names, rather than the Greek names, although translations are given. Stories included in this section include the creation of the world, Hercules, The Iliad, The Oddesy, and the Anead, as well as many Norse myths, the druids of Europe, and Beowulf. This section is easy to follow and gives insight into any myth you'd want to read about (or take inspiration from for your games, particularly from Mythic Odysseys of Theros).

The second section, The Age of Chivalry, revolves around the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This section is where the "Abridgement" in the title starts to rear its ugly head. While not as bad as in the following section, this is where the fact that this book was originally a textbook comes out in the storytelling. Unlike the former section, where there were stories like the Iliad but quickly move on to other characters, this section is more or less about the same group of people throughout. This means that while we have these characters for a longer amount of time, we still do not get very much elaboration on their character traits outside of being told that they love people or are virtuous knights. Because we are with these characters for longer, I would expect more elaboration on them. This section also summarises Le Morte d’Arthur (1485), by Sir Thomas Malory, which is also located in the recommended reading of Appendix D of the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide (2014).

In my opinion, the last section, The Legends of Charlemagne, was the hardest to get through, even though it was only around fifty pages. Maybe this is due to the fact that it is around half the length of The Age of Chivalry, or due to the fact that Charlemagne was an actual historical figure, but this section dragged along quite a bit. It was also, especially in chapters four and five, very insistent on a mentality of "us Christians versus those Muslims," which while understandable for the time, was not exactly the most palatable depiction for me, as I am not a Christian.

All in all, this is a great reference book, but I would stick to using it as just that and not reading it cover-to-cover like I did.

[sparksinthenight]

Greek gods are so much more interesting once you know the secret history

Hermes: Originated from a nature god. (🐌 fam where you at?) Trickster. (🗳 fam where you at?) Journies and pathways and doors and exits and travellers and travelling and borders and roads. (❌🧊 fam this is for y’all.)

Dionysus: Y’all think he’s about wine but he’s literally OLDER than the presence of wine in Greece he wasn’t a wine god to begin with there was no wine to begin with when he first was worshipped. (Fuck you ✋🏼🧚🏽 I genuinely hope you get burned at the stake I will break into your house and set you on fire I swear to god.) GOD OF THE MARGINALIZED. LITERALLY. (This is for all of us. ❌🥛🍗🌾🍅❌) God of the marginalized. Literally. Also, god of breaking social norms and societal barriers. God of transgression. God of living authentically as who you are. God of embracing your true desires that hierarchy makes you repress. God of causing chaos against the status quo. Also, a nature god associated with wildlife, wild lands, wildness, and the retributive power of nature to fuck up anyone who disrespects Her. (🐌 fam. Hi.) God of madness. God of death and rebirth. God of the liberation that comes with death and the hope that comes with rebirth because the soul cannot die. (🗳 fam. Dukkra ba Dukkra child Dukkra is Dukkra but we can’t talk about that I am literally mentally ill I was in the hospital two months ago because I tried to off myself I am literally not going to therapy even though I should be 😂) ANYWAYS. Hi. So then, after all that, the RULING CLASS decided to mischaracterize the hell out of my poor sweet god with the chaos and insanity and horns and they made him into THEIR wine drunk extravagance party god and that’s how everyone sees him now wtf I’m so sad but TRUE Dionysus is still alive. And that’s the story there never trust the ruling class they will warp your equality god beyond recognition and turn him into an inequality god fuck them. Also, don’t trust society’s ideas about what gods represent society’s so wrong about Dionysus my heart breaks.

Aphrodite/Venus: I included the Roman name because that’s important. When the Trojans (precursor to the Romans) lost the war and everything was on fire, Venus, the mother of Rome, told the Trojans to get on some ships and sail away because the prophecy is that they would find, settle in, and being to greatness the Roman lands. So they sailed and they found Rome and they started a horrible war and fucked over the people that were already living there and then they eventually founded Rome and Rome obviously was a fucking shitshow. Yuck. But we can see that she’s not just the god of sex, she’s a fierce and devoted mother to her people and she is a nation builder who brings people together to collectively come together and create a nation. She also created Athens by helping the people there come together and create a nation. Athens, as we all know, eventually became a democracy and was the most famous democracy in Ancient Greece, though it was not the only democracy there or even the first one. She’s an interesting god but what with the whole being the mother of fucking Rome of all places I hate her. But I do really and genuinely like the first half of the Anead and like, if the Trojans actually respected the original inhabitants of what would become Rome and didn’t make Rome so racist and slave-holding and unequal and snooty and capitalist and horrible, then I would genuinely love Venus so much. Like, it’s a compelling story. A group of refugees who lost everything are trying to make a new life for themselves where they can keep their heritage and culture alive and that’s a really compelling story. It’s just that all hell broke loose once they actually landed.

Persephone: Y’all remember Hadestown? I know you remember Hadestown. But the first version of Persephone was an incredibly powerful eldritch death entity whose name was too terrifying and dangerous to even say. Spooky. I love death. Anyways, I’m probably going to get smited pretty soon considering how much I sing the Our Lady of the Underground song from Hadestown, which has her name in it many times. Very interesting god, I love her. But society also mis characterized the hell out of her, quite literally. She’s not a god of love and kindness and spring and flowers, she’s s god of death and destruction and devastation and I love her for it.

[treeni]

Sanders Side Theory: Creativity’s Name and Roman’s Struggles

Theories Masterpost

Well, apparently some people were interested in my Orange side theory and stuff.

So let’s talk about “King Creativity” and why I disagree with every name theory I’ve seen so far and what I think instead. I’m not certain “King Creativity” is ever going to be named in the show, just knowing he existed is probably enough, but wouldn’t it be fantastic if there was a backstory episode? Or even aside episode?

First! Let’s start with the fact that I actually think it’s really interesting that everyone’s defaulting to Creativity being “King” when it is in fact Emperors who ruled Rome. Not a criticize, just interesting thought. Second, Kings were supposed to sit back and let their knights and armies basically do all of the physical work (Unless your Arthur, but it usually got him into trouble so! Moving on!) while you lead them as whatever supreme ruler title you take. However, a Crowned Prince was often at the head of said adventures and battles, in the thick of it all, but was basically indisputably the accepted next in line. (Approved by the courts and all that jazz, I mean historically it didn’t always go that way, but that was the intention). However, a regular Prince and a Duke could absolutely have a power struggle, especially in the situation where the Duke was previously “next in line” before the Prince’s birth. So if Roman and Remus ever did duke it out (also mini theory that Remus chose Duke for the fighting reference) I think one of them could/would become King, but I don’t think that’s who creativity was before the split.

Now I have a particular crowned prince in mind that creativity is named after, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s start by talking about some of the most popular theories and why I disagree with them.

CW: for before the “Keep Reading” section. There is mention of metaphorical and fictional murder, war, lgbt theory (not that, that should surprise anyone). Roman backstory (aka things he might regret now.)

Romulus: While I suppose it’s convenient in the fact that its sort of the names combined, Romulus is already the role that Roman is filling in his relationship with Remus. Twins that supposedly found Rome, but Romulus killed his brother Remus to do so and become the ruler. Romulus literally named Rome after himself. This isn’t a hint, this isn’t something that’s upcoming or anything, this is backstory. Roman is literally just a modernized version of the name Romulus. Remus’ banishment to the darkside was his metaphorical murder. It also suggests that Roman took an active role in sending Remus away, which also helps explain a lot of Roman’s current struggle with Janus. Can you imagine the kind of guilt he might be feeling if he was the one who decided his brother was evil and he was good and then he passed judgement? If the darksides aren’t evil, then Roman and he metaphorically murdered Remus, then he wasn’t the hero slaying the beast anymore. Instead, he’s suddenly the bad guy.

Buuuut Treeni, what about Patton??? I hear you say. It would have had to have been morality right?

And to that I say you’re WRONG! And also right. Patton’s kinda been shown to be the most accepting bean of the whole lot, he doesn’t really try to force the others away the way some of the other sides do. Instead, he puts his foot down on his own convictions and refuses to listen to reason. (I didn’t say he was perfect.) Still, he doesn’t try to physically push the others away, not Virgil when he tried scaring Thomas, not Janus when they argued and Patton was clearly distressed by the courtroom situation, and not even Remus when Patton was clearly scared of him (also defensive of Roman). He doesn’t need to, he’s self-assured in his own place and convictions that he doesn’t worry about Thomas pushing him out. Instead, Patton kinda takes the family holiday party route and will do his best to put out the emotional fires and stand his ground on his opinion to Thomas when he needs to. (The ONLY time I could find Patton sort of pushing someone away was when they were in his room and Patton asked Logan to stop. While that could weaken my argument about Patton, I think it strengthens it because it shows how big of a deal it was at the time that Patton tried shutting him down. Logan reacted the way he did by immediately storming off because it’s not something Patton does.) While it could absolutely be Patton’s influence that caused the split, it would be out of character (as he’s currently defined) for Patton to actively push a side away. (I’ll get into some of his more negative aspects in another post if ya’ll wanna hear about it.)

Remember, Roman was the one who tried shutting down Virgil with bullying tactics, Logan too sometimes. Then he tried to use the same tactics on Janus when he tried putting his foot down on maintaining a black and white view point of the world after Remus’ appearance. Keep in mind that Remus actively told us that he blames Roman for his banishment. He compared himself and Roman to Cain and Able. While c!Thomas and even the audience as a whole were sort of led to think of Remus as Cain because of the “dark and evil” association, Remus is telling us that he is Abel. Roman is his destroyer. (Before you feel too bad for Remus, that misconception was also on purpose because while Remus isn’t a liar, he can manipulate a situation with honesty. Again, another post if you wanna hear about why.)

So now there is some general understanding of the twins backstory, you’ll see why Romulus would be a terrible fit for their combined name because Roman is already Romulus. Period. He’s the one who betrayed his brother by “murdering” him and taking over.

Making Romulus the name of who creativity was before because the names kinda morph together would lazy writing compared to very carefully woven details the show has had thus far (particularly in season 2). Okay, that went on a bit of a tangent, so next!

Caesar: This is a person who brought about the destruction of Rome, not the creation of it. (With Rome basically being the metaphorical state c!Thomas is living in now with clear lines between good/bad, right/wrong etc.) While it’s not a horrible ideology, it would be moving forward in a historical timeline instead of backwards. If you subscribe to the idea that Roman and Remus cannot go back to who they were (even with some kind of theoretical re-morphing) Caesar might be who they become, but it seems unlikely that is who they were. Remember that both sides are individuals now and those individual traits they’ve gained since splitting may not re-mesh cleanly back into who they once were. I personally don’t think there’s any “going back” for Creativity.

If they show him as he once was, it would likely only be in either a backstory bit or in a temporary situation where the re-combining doesn’t hold. However, if Creativity ever did become one thing again, I think it would be something completely new and I think Caesar would be a good fit for that in particular.

Aeneas: Again, it would be kinda lazy writing comparatively. Instead of using a sorta combination of the names that had some historical basis, this theory is based entirely on the idea of a convenient ancestor who quested and failed over and over to create Rome. I could have bought this had it been from lesser writers, but Thomas, Joan and the whole team do not mess around in story crafting and really carefully woven in references. I am literally degreed in writing and analysis and I keep finding myself impressed at the layers.

The name Aeneas also implies that the character Creativity was specifically questing for a change and that seems doubtful given the resentment between the brothers. Aeneas was essentially a left-over scavenger trying to scrape together a new home from what he could from already broken pieces and that does not sound like what Creativity is implied to be.

If we look at child development, I would theorize that Creativity is the oldest side. In the creative process, there are two major steps, first is information absorption, then second is application. The first thing any child must do is learn, anything and everything. The world is a limitless and imaginative playground. New material is around every corner and there it takes a while before the distinction between reality and fiction to be understood. It was probably just c!Thomas and Creativity for a while and as the others emerged, they looked up to him. It could even be potentially argued that Creativity was literally their creators.

This would imply that Aeneas would be a pretty terrible fit for him in that case because there’s nothing broken that he’s trying to salvage. The kingdom is his and c!Thomas’ to preside over with the other sides as his subjects. (c!Thomas being the distant “King” and Creativity being the “Crowned Prince”).

So, with all of that out of the way on why some of these theories are probably wrong, what do I think?

I think Creativity’s name is Hector.

Now, hear me out on this. For those of you who have read the Iliad you probably know exactly who I am referencing. You just may not know why. So stay with me here.

1. First, for those of you who don’t know, Hector was the Crowned Prince of Troy, the leader of the army that the Greeks (the perspective we’re getting) are facing off against. He’s also cousin to Aeneas, but actually accomplished things during the war beyond being saved by Aphrodite. This means he’s also an ancestor to both Romulus and Remus (albeit technically less direct). However, Hector’s family is where the royal lineage of Aeneas comes from. Though we follow the story mainly from the perspective of the Greeks (and the gods because they’re TROLLS), the Greek’s are pretty villainous in a lot of their actions throughout the story and they are most definitely the invaders. In this case, I would liken the Greek army to “outside opinion” for c!Thomas. Others interjecting their views on to someone and breaking his own beliefs. In this situation, Creativity would have been his biggest defender and hero, retreating into magical imaginary worlds to escape judgement.

2. So lets get onto the character and why him, shall we? Hector will literally do anything for his family. The war takes place because his little brother, Paris (one of a whopping 49 brothers mind you) either kidnaps, has Aphrodite kidnap or runs away with the Spartan Queen Helen because he fell in love with her. (It varies on the version and she was forced into her previous marriage at about 13 anyway, so Helen leaving willingly for the guy who the gods deem is the most attractive man alive is a popular modern reading.) It would have been so easy for the Trojans to yeet Helen back to Greece, but they don’t and Hector’s defense of her and his brother is a big reason why. Hector even chastises his brother for the mess he’s caused, but still stands by him and defends him. He also defends the hell out of Helen and refuses to blame her for their problems. Then in Troilus and Criseyde (Basically published Iliad perspective shift fanfiction with OCs) he defends the hell out of Criseyde when even Troilus, (apparently one of the 50 brothers) the person who claims to be in love with her, wont. Hector’s truly an all around good guy, great leader and has a very distinctive and personal moral compass that doesn’t always align with what’s being told to him is right. You want a character representation for someone who led the sides despite their clear struggles? Someone with Roman’s charm and heroism, and Remus’ understanding and drive? Hector is probably it.

3. Hector’s death is both a huge symbol for the end of Troy, but also isn’t? Let me explain, narratively speaking, Hector’s death is the point you know that Troy is basically doomed. His end is the representation of the end of it all. His corpse was literally paraded around as Achilles’s dragged it on the back of a chariot for days to show their doom. There was a distinct “aura” shift from Hector’s death as all of Troy mourned his death. We as an audience know Troy is basically doomed from Hector’s death alone. Hector was a person that even the enemy Greeks hella respected as a warrior and leader. Essentially, this was the point that the war that had been raging for about a decade became serious. At the same time, it just simply isn’t the end of the war. There’s the whole horse thing still to come and all that jazz. Still though, Hector’s death is very much a symbol of “everything changes, but nothing does.” Which is the perfect symbol for the twins split to me. Just because they split doesn’t mean that all of the sides did immediately, yet it was still probably the turning point that drove a wedge between the “dark” and “light” sides.

4. The character Hector arguably died in the name of gay love. Okay, story time. So in the Iliad, Achilles is being a little bitch and refusing to fight anymore because drama between him and the king of Athens, but he’s their best fighter and the Greek’s are basically sorta loosing because of him not helping. His boyf- I mean best friend Patroclus goes out in Achilles armor and leads his army in his place because Achilles is a whiny baby. Except Hector kinda immediately kills Patroclus, thinking he’s Achilles with reinforcements.(This was full body armor baby and distinctive cause baby of a god and all that mocha frappe.) Of course, Achilles has to immediately get angry revenge for his boyf- BEST friend and ends up killing Hector. This would make the character Hector a great metaphor for Creativity if his split had anything to do with sexuality or even acceptance as a whole. (Though we know acceptance is definitely a part of it considering Remus.) We know that Remus wants c!Thomas to explore darker themes and the struggle of sexuality and acceptance could be a possibility in what is to come as a previously “off-limits” theme.

5. A big one is that the destruction of Troy is what eventually brought about the creation of Rome. Essentially Troy would be the metaphor of c!Thomas’ existence/mentality before the sides split into dark/light factions. Then Rome would be the metaphor of c!Thomas’ existence/mentality after the sides split into factions.

6.Finally, the name Hector literally means “to restrain” which would work well for Creativity as he was likely trying to reign in the others from infighting (and you can see how well that went with him being gone). 

Cheers to another rant into the void. Huzzah! God this is nearly as long as some of my seminar papers. Do what you will with this information.

Please keep in mind that I adore Roman as a character. This post isn’t meant to hate on him. It’s meant to bring awareness of the layers of his character. Every Prince Charming was a villain to someone, every hero that slays the beast is a murderer from a different light. 

I don’t bring these things to light to cause pain, I bring them to light to help bring awareness of what’s probably going through his head.

(Yes, in regards to the Creativity being made first thing, I DO even have a theory about existence order, I promise you I have theories about everything. My mind does not stop with this crap. I have theories on everything from what animal association Roman and Logan have to Virgil’s key role in Roman’s backstory. I’ve ranted about a bunch of these things to a few specific people so if you ever want me to go on a rant about anything in particular let me know. I didn’t expect anyone to actually look at the other theory post tbh. Inbox me if you want me to go to unnecessary lengths on something else.)

(Also, correct me on the Patton thing if I’m wrong. I took notes on a recent watch through, but I wasn’t specifically looking for his rejection sooo, if there are other moments of it you can find that didn’t jump out at me I totally accept criticism.)

[mythosblogging]

After ten years and significant losses on both sides – including some of the most legendary heroes; Patroclus, Achilles, Hector, and Paris – both the Trojans and the Greeks were eager for the war to end. Unfortunately, there seemed no way for this to happen. The Greeks had been chosen to win the war by the divine ordinance of Zeus, but they could not break through the walls of Troy to take the city. It was then that Odysseus suggested the most famous trick of the war – the Trojan horse.

With the aid of the goddess Athena, carpenter Epeius crafted a great wooden horse. It was designed to be hollow, allowing 30 Greek soldiers to hide inside. It was also designed to be too large to enter the gates of Troy. This may seem counter intuitive, but this was also part of the Greeks’ plan. Leaving the horse behind, the Greek soldiers packed up their camp, got in their ships and, by all appearances, went home.

When the curious Trojans left Troy to find out what had happened, they were met with a Greek soldier named Sinon who they quickly captured. Sinon claimed to have deserted the Greek army following a rivalry between himself and Odysseus. He told the Trojans that the Greeks wished to abandon the war, but as their decision had turned Athena against them, the horse was intended to be an offering to the goddess. With Sinon’s encouragement, the Trojans decided to instead bring the horse inside the city and honour Athena themselves.

Keep Reading

[hotdogvicar]

havnt been tagged in one of these before :P my on repeat is kind of an embarassing mix of my sad playlist and my whore playlist rn but okay

1. when the sun hits — slowdive

2. my boy / twin fantasy — car seat headrest

3. you and i in unison — la dispute

4. bang — cobrah

5. carpenter / rebuild the body out of birds — jordaan mason and the horse museum

6. 808 — chase icon

7. we vs us — birds in row

8. such small hands — la dispute

9. dormouse sighs — mewithoutyou

10. jigolo har megiddo — ghost

i dontwant to tag anyone bc i have anxiety but if u want to do it and say i tagged u then go anead :3

Tagged by @autism-purgatory and @undefeatablesin. Thank you!!

Shuffle your on repeat playlist and post the first 10 tracks, then tag 10 people.

Prowler - Coyote Kid

2. Pan - The Veils

3. Captain - Derina Harvey Band

4. The Very Last Day - Parker Millsap

5. Ferryman - Shayfer James & Will Wood

6. In the Pines - Rob Coffinshaker

7. Fallen - Dirt Poor Robins

8. Devil's Short Hand - Komodo

9. City of Ghouls - Samtar

10. Leather for Hell - Bitter Ruin

Tagging @wikipedianna @synthwayve @rapturezoo @hotdogvicar if y'all are willing to share some good tunes 👀

[skymantle]

im a guy who knows latin.........

[pastel-cryptids]

Give me like,,, prompts for scenes in POTO,,, I need ideas for my sketchbook/digital art and want to flesh out my POTO story

[aliteralchicken]

Have I read the Iliad? No

Do I know enough about it to make me sad? Absolutely

[feanor-the-dragon]

I... I literally did this with a report on the Anead. It was... it was beautiful.

kinda funny when english teachers say stuff like “i can tell if you didnt read the book” or “i can tell when people bs their paper”

no you cant.  you can tell when people are bad at bs-ing their paper.  i didnt even read the sparknotes and i barely skimmed the wikipedia and you gave me an A.  you kneel before my throne unaware that it was born of lies

[videcoeur]

If I can’t rp before leaving for Cuba in 4 days, I’mma bomb the dash with as many sprites as I can

say hello to Ameoli’s dancestor, Aneade!

[hotvampireadjacent]

i actually screamed bob cant die what the fuck !!!!

[epqic]

Just a normal rant I went on while texting my wife earlier,

The best modern analogy for the inferno is that the odyssey would be one the only Harry Potter book left in existence(the goblet of fire, but the movie not the actual book), the anead would be my immortal, the part of Virgil is Robert Pattinson and the inferno is my immortal/Batman crossover fanfic with Robert Pattinson as the guide through hell.

[sashibunbun]

The theme song for Troy Story.