#the black hammer

[hinamie]

oversaturate

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

After months of research and development and market testing and perfecting the first item I feel confident selling online, I have realized... that it is an incredibly niche item that only a specific subset of absolute nerds would want to buy, and I will have to do a ton of explaining the basic idea over and over again before people generally get what it is I'm even selling. RIP me

[zegalba]

Hammer Barbara: Sanctus (1990)

[drenched-in-sunlight]

I didn’t want to write this out this early because I’m sure there are even more to discover, but people are already reblogging my previous art of Marika and Messmer & saying Marika doesn’t love him, so I write this out as a guideline that all my art is drawn with this theory in mind.

(While the DLC has changed the way I feel about certain events and characters, my view on Messmer and Marika remain unchanged. In fact, I think Marika skyrockets into my most fav in the game now. lol.)

* Beware of endgame spoiler under the cut

Please note that I wrote this without providing the item descriptions I use to develop this theory, because I want to make a proper post later with all evidence after I’ve played through all of the DLC. But those items exist and could be found in game.

Here is how I view Messmer and Marika’s relationship (he is her most beloved child):

For starter:

*the winged serpent - Messmer’s symbol, is considered a wise creature and is his friend. It is NOT the snakes that are viewed as traitors to the Erdtree, since the Serpent Crest shield was even made to commemorate his crusade. It’s also DIFFERENT from the evil snake he was born with.

*this is not to defend their actions, they are still horrible people, but I want to show that they have depths and are well-written characters with stories and emotions. My unhinged mother and son duo 😔✊

—-

I like the poetry in Marika starting the war against the Fire Giants in part as revenge for Messmer (it’s implied the Fell God is the Outer God that cursed him / it’s outright stated that he hated his fire), & now Messmer leading the purge against the Hornsent as revenge for Marika and her people (it’s implied the disappearance of her village has sth to do with the spirit calling rite the people at the Tower were doing).

I actually think Marika raised Messmer in her home village for a while too. She didn’t throw him to LoS alone, she was raising him in secret in her home, fearing people will judge him for carrying a malevolent snake. The two Tree Sentinels before the village dropped Marika’s Blessing. Yes. the Blessing she made specifically for him.

When you zoom in the Marika statue in his boss room, she was smiling when hugging him. I think ppl tend to forget that Marika, like Malenia and Miquella, carries tree/ foliage motif. RADAGON IS WEAK TO FIRE. If Messmer was cursed with fire and it started to manifest around him … of course she couldn’t embrace him anymore. It was physically hurting her, and Messmer wouldn’t have wanted to cause her pain as well. The soldier ghost at Ensis castle was begging Marika to embrace her child again, implying it’s sth that he yearns for. But couldn’t have now. Because of his damned curse.

If you look at the story that way, Messmer’s death dialogue makes perfect sense. It’s his lament that he’s gone from Marika’s precious (presumably firstborn) child, a source of her happiness, to a curse against her (*point to Radagon’s hair as another connection to Fire Giants and their curse). Robbing her (and himself) of the close bond they used to share.

It’s why Messmer alone has more blessings *directly* from Marika than any other Demigods. His army also receives more blessings than any other faction on the Lands Between, and they all refer to Marika as dearest Mother and Fair Mother.

Hell, after Messmer, Marika couldn’t connect to any of her other children again. This is like the ultimate doomed mother and son. Whatever I expected from them from the beginning, Fromsoft cranked it to eleven. Jfc.

[oxfords---notbrogues]

Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill in Rome

[baking-bugs]

Stop -- Hammer time !

[weirdlookindog]

Isobel Black biting Clifford Evans in The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

[blkmagicwoahman]

Congratulations to Annette Nneka Echikunwoke 🥈🇺🇸

She makes history by becoming the first American woman to medal in the Olympic Hammer Throw, bringing home the silver with a score of 75.48m

❤️🤍💙 Congrats Annette ❤️🤍💙

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

2.01 — 2.06 THE GREENS. THE KING WAS RIGHT.

[evagreen-stories]

Honestly, I'm DEVASTATED they've completely cut Nettles and are doing this whole Rhaena x Sheepstealer thing.

Not just because that means we will most likely never see Morning but because Nettles was such an important part of the story. Not just because of the battles she fought but because of her crucial role in Daemon and Aemonds battle and deaths.

Believe what you want, whether she was Daemon's lover or bastard daughter, it was Rhaenyra growing so paranoid after the two dragonseeds changed sides and ordering the ASSASSINATION of that young woman that pushed Daemon to go on that su*cide mission after Aemond.

With Nettles needing to flee and Daemon realising Rhaenyra doesn't trust him anymore and is willing to go after him/his lover/his daughter, he was willing to sacrifice himself and his dragon while bringing down Aemond & Vhagar.

Had it not been for that, the whole story would have been totally different. Perhaps the war would have raged on for far longer as well.

At this point it feels like they won't even do Rhaenyra's paranoia arch and her demise. That they won't have her order Addams arrest, imprison Corlys, order the assassination of Nettles, etc.

It feels like they've turned her into an empowered, always rational, never doing any wrong feminist-icon while her book version was SO much different.

That's what I liked so much about the books and the entire GoT/HotD universe; that there are no good people, only bad people and worse ones.

"Choose your favourite war criminal" type of stuff. That's totally missing from this show, in my opinion. It's all too black and white. It's almost... boring at this point.

At this point, I hold little hope for the rest of this show to get much better. Even George has (indirectly) spoken out against this change.

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Show Alicent: Deals with her abuse by the patriarchy by declaring war on her friend for having premarital sex, and works to uphold the patriarchy by usurping the first Queen of Westeros in favour of her serial rapist son. Despite claiming to fear for her children's lives she turns down the peaceful solution of a betrothal, citing disgust at marrying her daughter to a 'common-featured' bastard.

TG Stans: "TB just can't handle complex female characters - in fact when you think about it Alicent is the real feminist character!"

Book Rhaenyra: Upon ascending the throne she has to deal with a war-torn realm, an empty treasury stolen by the greens, and the sickening grief of losing four children. She is faced with the difficult decision of having to raise unpopular taxes while needing to keep the lords on her side - protecting both the fragile stability of her reign and the survival of her remaining children. Under these circumstances she is faced with the dilemma of deciding on the inheritance rights of two girls with younger brothers. Her Hand warns her that deciding in the girls' favour will alienate the lords forever. Her husband insists she should reward two dragonseeds with lordships by serving up the girls to be childbrides. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she placates the lords by deciding in favour of the sons, and placates the dragonseeds by offering them smallholdings on Driftmark instead. The decision backfires as said dragonseeds then turn on her, committing one of the most brutal war crimes of the Dance. This drives Rhaenyra into paranoia over further betrayals and the subsequent danger to her remaining children - made worse by her panicked council and the word of her trusted Mistress of Whispers. In a tragic twist, in her fear and paranoia she is encouraged to suspect the friends of her own deceased son, shattering his legacy of forming the Dragonseeds.

TG Stans: "SEE SHE WAS JUST A HYPOCRITE ALL ALONG! SHE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT WOMEN OR BASTARDS SHE JUST THOUGHT SHE WAS THE EXCEPTION - NO SHADES OF GREY HERE, SHE'S JUST A BITCH AND YOU ALL FELL FOR A GIRLBOSS-"

Book Helaena: Jumps out of a window

TG Stans: "And THAT is how you go insane with grief in a nice feminine way!"

[witchlingcirce]

IK Jaehaerys Targaryen is tweeking in hell knowing that SAERA TARGARYENS son is riding HIS DRAGON and that a WOMAN is wearing HIS crown 😭😭😭

Alysanne karma is real, Rhaenys TQWNW karma is real, Viserra karma is real, Rhaena queen of the east and west karma is real, Alyssa (his mum) karma is real, Daella is real, Daenerys karma is real

[theflorasdiary]

In the book two dragonseeds,known as Ufl the White and Ser Hugh,will betray Rhaenyra.

How much do you wanna bet that they won’t do it in the show?Or that they will be forced to betray her?

We already won’t have Nettles,another dragonseed and Daemon rumored lover,a little girl that has to flee Dragonstone helped by him because Rhaenyra became so paranoid about her that wants to kill her.

Just like we haven’t seen Corlys in this episode scream at Rhaenyra and leaving because he accuses her of Rhaenys death.

[cold-v0dka]

rhaenyra on dragonstone with her army of dragons

[miss-mollys-ballet-blog]

Queen Rhaenyra and her newest dragon riders.

Seasmoke ridden by Addam of Hull

Vermithor ridden by Hugh the Hammer

Silverwing ridden by Ulf the White

[atopvisenyashill]

the two betrayers were always very flat especially when they’re standing next to fucjing ADDAM and NETTLES they simply can’t compare and i’ve seen some grumbling but i actually really like the way they’ve incorporated ulf & hugh. folding them into the story by focusing on the fact that t they’re not just baseborn but lowborn as well. giving them real stakes in the war beyond “cartoon villain who wants power” by giving hugh a family to fight for, to grieve for, to eventually fall from grace for. giving ulf all these insecurities about these stories his mother told him, the way it’s been this dream he holds onto that maybe one day he’ll be drinking with the upper crust if only the stories were true. really digging into why THEY claimed the specific dragons they claimed by giving hugh this amazing moment where all he can do is stand his ground against a dragon and SCREAM in defense of another dragonseed, another baseborn lowborn cousin, and ulf being claimed by silverwing instead of the other way around simply bc she could see the goofy light heart in him and connected it to her previous rider’s love of song. making jace increasingly suspicious and angry over lowborn bastards claiming dragons because it clearly and obviously undermines his own claim as rhaenyra’s child. ulf and hugh are not just treacherous villainous touchy bastards overreaching anymore, they’re living breathing members of the smallfolk trying desperately to survive a war they don’t understand and don’t care about….until they’re given dragons and suddenly two bastards from flea bottom have tangible reasons to care about who wins this war they still couldn’t care less about.