#the moment i read heathcliff's story i was like

[to-hope-against-hope]

a toast

[cat-of-starlight]

tfw you are trying to Limbus Pull but the game's only Bonus Units™ are the ones that freak you out/irritate you lmao whoops

[dollishmehrayan]

# BATBOYS WITH A CLASSIC LITERATURE LOVER ── .✦ ( batboys with a s/o who loves/majors in literature )

a/n: this is requested by my amazing @kvfkas 🫶💕, I Lowkey for some reason also love literature too but like it’s hard for me to open a new book because I’m like so busy almost everyday but anywayss && I still can’t get over that one of my record players BROKE. So I can’t play my vinyls until I buy a new one which I ordered yesterday. Tags: (batboys x classic literature lover)

© dollishmehrayan — ( all rights reserved to me. These works cannot be reposted, translated, or modified. Thank you for understanding dollies! )

DICK GRAYSON ── .✦

Dick thinks it’s adorable how much you love classic literature. He often finds you curled up with a book that looks like it’s been through several lifetimes, the pages dog-eared and filled with your meticulous annotations.

He loves watching you get animated when you talk about your favorite books, even if he sometimes gets lost when you start referencing ancient Greek tragedies or 19th-century poetry.

“Wait, so you’re saying Achilles was in love with Patroclus? Why didn’t they just say that in school?”

If you major in classics, Dick would try to support you by attending your lectures or even helping you prep for exams. He’d quiz you on authors and historical contexts, even if he can barely pronounce some of the names.

Romantic Moments: On your birthday, he surprises you with a first edition copy of your favorite book, complete with a handwritten note tucked inside the front cover. “I don’t understand half of what’s in this book, but I know it makes you happy, so that’s all that matters.”

He’d ask you to read to him sometimes, enjoying the sound of your voice as much as the words themselves. "You make these stories sound even better, you know that?"

JASON TODD ── .✦

Jason is completely enamored with how passionate you are about classic literature. He gets it; books saved his life, too.

He finds your annotations fascinating and sometimes steals your books to read through them, not just for the story, but to get a glimpse into how your mind works.

“You think Heathcliff is a terrible person, but you still love him? Explain that one to me.” He’d genuinely love hearing your reasoning, even if it ends in a spirited debate.

If you’re majoring in classics, Jason would definitely tease you about it: “So, what, you’re gonna be the next Indiana Jones but with books?” But deep down, he’s incredibly proud of you. (He has dreams of being a literature professor)

Romantic Moments: One day, he surprises you with a day trip to a small, dusty bookstore he found, knowing it’s exactly your kind of place. “Take your time. I’ve got all day,” he says, leaning against a shelf as you lose yourself in the aisles.

He’d also write little notes on scraps of paper and leave them in your books when you’re not looking: “You’re way cooler than Jane Eyre.” “That’s a lie jason.”

TIM DRAKE ── .✦

Tim would be absolutely in awe of your love for classic literature. He’s a voracious reader himself, so he’d immediately start asking for recommendations.

He’s amazed by how thoughtful and detailed your annotations are. He’ll flip through one of your books and go, “You should publish these. People would pay good money for your insights.”

If you’re majoring in classics, Tim would make it his mission to help you however he can. Need to translate something from Latin or Greek? He’s on it. Got a big paper due? He’ll proofread it for you.

Romantic Moments: On a particularly stressful day, he sets up a cozy reading nook for you, complete with your favorite snacks and a stack of books he thought you’d like. “Figured you could use some time to unwind.”

He’d get into the habit of reading the same books as you so he can discuss them with you. “Okay, but why does everyone hate Tess of the d’Urbervilles? I think she deserved better.”

DAMIAN WAYNE ── .✦

Damian would find your love of classic literature incredibly admirable. He appreciates intellectual pursuits and sees your passion as a sign of your depth and intelligence.

He’d be the one to challenge your opinions on certain characters or themes, sparking debates that sometimes last for hours.

“I fail to see why Mr. Darcy is considered romantic. He was insufferable for most of the novel.” But he secretly loves how animated you get defending your point.

(I’m gonna age him up for this one NO NSFW THOUGH HE’S STILL A MINOR BUT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF MAJORS) If you’re majoring in classics, Damian would take great pride in your academic achievements. He’d even start reading some of the books you mention, just so he can keep up with you.

Romantic Moments: He’d commission a custom leather-bound edition of your favorite book, embossed with your initials on the cover. “For someone as remarkable as you, only the finest will suffice.”

He’d also secretly annotate one of the books you’ve been wanting him to read and leave it for you to find. His notes are sharp, insightful, and, of course, slightly snarky.

BRUCE WAYNE ── .✦

Bruce has always been a lover of knowledge, so he’d find your love for classic literature incredibly endearing.

He’d be genuinely impressed by your annotations and sometimes ask to borrow your books just to see your thoughts on them.

“You’ve given me a new perspective on The Great Gatsby,” he’d say after flipping through your copy.

If you’re majoring in classics, Bruce would offer to fund any research or study trips you need. “A visit to Greece would certainly enhance your studies. Consider it an investment.”

Romantic Moments: He’d host a quiet evening in the Wayne library, just for the two of you. The fireplace crackles softly as you sit side by side, reading and sharing passages that resonate with you.

He’d also make a habit of surprising you with rare editions of your favorite books, each one more breathtaking than the last.

[picaroroboto]

in book Wuthering Heights almost everyone is against Heathcliff from the moment he's adopted into the Earnshaw family, insisting that he's "of the devil" because he has darker skin and that him being quiet and sullen is further proof of being evil by nature. When he's mistreated and abused by people who are convinced that he's awful it becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy when he grows up into a mean and spiteful person, like how you can't be surprised when a kicked dog bites back. The novel is sympathetic to him at times, but it's also told from the perspective of an older Nelly who's grown to hate him as he's gotten worse, and it's also very Victorian, from a time period where it was believed that being in poverty was a sign of moral failing. If you read it in modern times you end up looking at it with knowledge of how cycles of abuse work, and see Heathcliff's character from a sort of nature vs nurture angle. The Limbus version of Heathcliff is basically plucked from the midpoint of the novel before this transformation is complete, his character is in thematic dialogue with that of the original.

In Canto 6 all of the antagonists - Linton, Hindley, Nelly, and the Erlking - all criticize Heathcliff by telling him in different ways that he hasn't changed at all, that he is incapable of changing, that he is and always will be a wretch. The abuse has seeped into the extreme of the Erlking's absolute self-destructiveness, where he's convinced that it would be better if every Heathcliff didn't exist. But he has changed, or at least started to, even the fact that he's returned to Wuthering Heights to confront his past and continues moving forward past everyone trying to tear him down counts for something. At the risk of sounding too sappy our Heathcliff has got something that the book version and seemingly every other Mirror World version doesn't, and that's friends - friends whom he can count on to bring him back when he's out of control, and who are still holding out hope for him.

Canto 6 is also the work of someone who very clearly read and loved the novel looking at the text and asking "Could anything change?". Say, if Heathcliff had stuck around eavesdropping for one second more to that one conversation and heard Cathy saying how much she loved him - well, I suppose things would have turned out better but there wouldn't have been a second half of the story then, but you want to ask this question anyways because you care about the characters. In some ways Canto 6 like a very good fanfiction and not just because it's a secondary work, but because it's striving for a better outcome for the pairing while also having a strong understanding and appreciation for the original, carrying through it's ideas, imagery, and themes while also looking at them differently. And because it takes the concept of AUs seriously.

[burningvelvet]

I finished Moby Dick. So, to continue my former post(s) documenting my thoughts, here we are (spoilers ahead):

captain ahab: i am once again asking hast thou seen the white whale

Narrator, for the 5 millionth time describing captain ahab: "MONOMANIACAL. MONOMANIAC. MONOMANIA."

I was thinking "the homosexual themes everyone talks about are really exaggerated apparently…" and then I got to the chapter about sperm squeezing

Stubb meeting with the French in chap 91 had the exact vibe of a filler episode on a comedy sitcom

there are a lot of moments that reminded me of The Office ngl like i could just imagine stubb in the little interview chair just talking. so much meme material. he's seriously just doing his own thing. the little random characters like the blacksmith and carpenter just talking shit and side-eyeing ahab in the background lmaoooo

Saint George didn't kill a dragon, it was a whale #THETRUTHREVEALED #WHALETRUTHERS

It would have been hilarious if the British people told Ahab that they already killed Moby Dick already before he could get to it. I was so hoping that would happen. Bonus points if it was the Rachel after he'd turned them away.

Ahab discusses the topic of madness a lot. It's almost like he's… mad...

I vote Ahab for the most Byronic hero to ever Byronic… Heathcliff and Rochester have nothing on him… The origin of the Byronic hero, Byron's titular character from the narrative poem Childe Harold, is literally mentioned by name in the novel and had to be a blatant inspiration - it could not be more obvious! (I have yet to encounter the famed Byronic heroes of Russian literature, most notably Eugene Onegin, a work where Byron is also blatantly name-dropped).

Everyone thinking Queequeg was dying and having a coffin made to his measurements and filled with grave goods at his direction and then him literally climbing into the coffin to test it out and then waiting silently to die…. then all of a sudden getting better and saying he chose to recover bc he remembered he had something on his to-do list….. iconic

Ishmael referring to Queequeg as "my Queequeg…" omg. Queerqueg

Queequeg drawing figures like the ones on his tattoos omg… au story where Queequeg is an artist/tattoo artist when???

I was literally saying "AWWWWW" out loud when Ahab and Pip were having their little moments

The irony of Ahab abandoning the Rachel then it coming back for Ishmael… the coffin lifeboat… etc… good stuff…

okay ahab is my man but yeah he was an asshole to the captain of rachel.

also feel bad for tashtego. he wanted that gold doubloon so bad and ahab was like SIKE, MOTHERFUCKER! umm tashtego did not get cut out of a whale by queequeg to deal with ur shit ahab!

Once again wanting a Black Sails/Moby Dick AU… I found this essay about the similarities between Flint/Ahab https://ijms.nmdl.org/article/view/22389/14361

They only have like 2-3 little moments together but like… Starbuck/Ahab kind of outdoing Ishmael/Queequeg there for a moment… chaps 132/134… oh my godddddddddddddd whyyyyyyy

Captain Ahab's moments in chapters 36/37 AAAAAHHHHH you will see me being normal about this

I noted some of my favorite Ahab moments/chapters and they are 36/37/41/70/99/108/109/113/115/116/119/125/129/132/134/135. Like I may seriously just re-read those chapters (no offense to Melville's whale facts, Stubb's jokes, & Pip's insanity)

the end is kind of similar to the great gatsby in the sense that you finally realize the entire novel was actually written for him to cope with his grief-related trauma & then suddenly it all makes sense. the lingering, the sentimentality regarding seemingly insignificant details or people, the meandering/digressing/procrastinating getting to the end, etc.

there are actually several moments -- i don't know if he actually referred to ahab or the others in past-tense specifically, but there were several moments where i felt like i kind of thought he was giving away the end before he did (it wasn't a shock to me bc i read about the end prior, but still)

[literallys-illiteracy]

PM What the fuck? Erlking Heathcliff Trailer Analysis:

So, lets start with what we already know from the Project Moon Stream a while back:

He has a mounted and demounted form, similar to the Philip EGO states, which changes his abilites. He has a counter akin to an LoR counter, which may be reuse seemingly. And he has some capability to resurrect dead allies.

now lets start with the trailer

Skill 1 looks like its 2 coins, the strikes look like he's slashing but dont be fooled, its probably a blunt skill somewhat akin to the Erlking boss's Smackdown, or Base Heathcliff's smackdown/Upheaval.

This skill also has the potential to be "Behead Heathcliffs" or "Hollow Coffin Mace"

Skill 2 appears to be 3 coins, im predicting this skill to be "Ride for Death, Dulluhan" as he summons a Wild Hunt Dulluhan even when demounted it seems.

Skill 3 has the potential to be so many things, i think its likely to be at least 2 coins, almost certainly blunt: This skill could be "the Wild hunt of Desolation", "You'll get shoved in this coffin too", "Sorrow and Lament in the Erlking's Wake" (my personal favourite option), "Fused Blade of Shattered Mirror Worlds", "Every Heathcliff must die".

The counter is almost certainly "Glass Shard of Wailing Sorrow", which was his counter in the combat stages. Alternatively it could be "Withstand" which was his Lust-Guard, or "Heed my Call, Wuthering Heights", however ill address that option in a moment.

it appears that whatever the case his counter is somehow linked to his Mounted form, as in the trailer, on the third activation he gets on the horsey.

Now, the skills dont seem to change too much in terms of the mounted form, other than skill 2 and 3 gaining an additional coin, however i am notably very wrong when counting coins sometimes so im not entirely sure.

The revive mechanic seems to be tied somewhat to his guard skill, which presumably changes to "Heed my call, wuthering Heights" when mounted, as he seems to have a guard animation in the section the revive is shown. another thing to note is how both revived allies seem to use their skill 2's, however im not sure if that's relevant at all.

And in the skill 3 animation the enemy seems to go inside the coffin, which is why im assuming that it will not in fact be "Sorrow and Lament" but rather "Get in the Coffin" on the skill 3.

--

I want to also note the final line, which implies that EVERY heathcliff is dead??? im confused now, maybe we get some elaboration later but i cant be bothered to read most of the uptie stories in Limbus Company, last time i read one was last Walpurgis because i had a hunch it would be interesting.

[devil-doll13]

Wild Imagination

(Brahms x Nanny!Reader)

Tw: G/N reader, I just use ‘nanny’ as a catchall term, Angst, Typical Jealousy/Possessiveness, Stalking, a.k.a Brahms being Brahms, Alcohol Mention, also sort of a character study? Idk

So I remember I said something about writing for Brahms and this is sort of a warmup/experiment for him! This is fairly short too, so I may or may not make a followup but for now have this.

Dividers by delishlydelightfuldividers

Brahms is fascinated by you.

This is understandable; you are a kind, attractive person, and he has rarely seen those not only as fantasy manifested in the pages of a novel.

But it is also simply because you are you, and uniquely so. All of your preferences, habits, interests; every minute detail he commits to heart.

Brahms likes routine. Brahms likes structure. He watches closely and memorises you as if you are his favourite story; playing those special little moments over and over again in his head.

Only, in his make-believe world, he is right there with you. In spirit, he always is; the doll is by your side, therefore he is as well. He cherishes your presence within his home, he loves your cooking if only because it is made with genuine care, he enjoys your piano playing, whether masterful or amateurish. He falls asleep - however awkward his position behind the walls might be - to your soothing voice reciting poetry to the doll, as if those porcelain eyelids might be closed.

But that isn’t the same as being with you truly, really, physically. That doll; his child persona, is a barrier separating you from him, perhaps even more than his place between his walls. All his little games he likes to play, you assume to be nothing more than a figment of your wild imagination. He has become so attached to you, but you don’t even know he exists.

Sometimes Brahms wonders what it would be like to be with you as the man. To welcome you into his home, as he should have when you were hired. To play the violin or cello or piano for you and impress you with his musical virtuosity. To hold you in his arms - a real human being, not only a sub-par effigy of your likeness - and softly read along with you. To conceal a laugh at your momentary fright as his cold hands run goosebumps down your spine. To be your Darcy or Rochester or Heathcliff.

But… No. He must be good. He must stay hidden.

He reminds himself of this every passing day, but by every passing day his desire to have you see him, as Brahms, in the flesh and blood and sweat, grows stronger and stronger.

His need for this surges, rather violently, when he sees you smiling and laughing with that damn Malcolm - only at the door, because you are a good nanny and follow the rules as you should - for he is reminded so unpleasantly that you will never smile or laugh for him. Not for him, not for Brahms the man, flesh and blood and sweat.

Brahms’ resentment for this fact soon bubbles over, soon he feels a sort of hateful jealousy directed at that doll and how beloved it is; for he is not scarred or ‘odd’ or wrong, not a failure of a son or a disappointment. He is ‘Brahms,’ without flaws, without blemishes, without room to embarrass or bring shame. Silent and perfect forever.

Now he cocoons you in his wool knit cardigan, safe from the outside world. Although you might struggle, he knows you need him as much as he needs you; you must, for all the nights you have imbibed wine and spilled your deepest secrets to him. To the doll, to a figment of your imagination. But it was him the whole time, and now he has revealed himself to you for you to love as deeply as you did that broken bundle of porcelain.

He loves you. You do too, right?

I didn’t tag any of my usuals bc I didn’t know who would want it but lmk if you want to be on my slasher x list!

[loving-family-poll]

For the love of God vote Catherine/Heathcliff you people!! They share such a transcendentally incestuous bond despite being adopted siblings, that Catherine literally fights for Heathcliff to be recognized as a member of the family as part of her expression of romantic love for him! Heathcliff approaches her as an adult by socially dominating and replacing her biological brother! Their incest-love is so powerful that their fucking children fall in love as a reflection of it!! (Also, Heathcliff bashing his head against a tree because he doesn't understand why society won't let him fuck his sister is such autistic representation)

"Wincest is the ultimate incest ship of all time"?? Fuck off!!! "There's nothing past or present that I would put in front of you" is a pretty enough expression of strong attachment, but Catherine's monologue is the quintessential expression of romanticized codependence!! "He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being." I get that tumblr users like their silly little shows--but if we take a step back, I don't see how this is even a question, especially imagining beyond our present moment. How could Kendall/Logan or Wincest or fucking Dave/Rose ever come close to the cultural power of Catherine/Heathcliff?? Our love for Kendall/Logan is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, we are well aware, as winter changes the trees. Our love for Catherine/Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary.

The book itself came out of a game where a trio of horny sisters were daring each other to write dark romance stories!!!!

I'm sleepy and shant be reading all that but yeah so true I'm happy for you or sorry that happened <3

[lu-is-not-ok]

Hello. I would like to ask what you think of the fact that Rhino Meursault, unlike most identities, has an Uptie III story written in first person, whereas the others are implied to be narrated by Carmen (as implied by the way she refers to Lobotomy Corporation as a place where "My Children reside"? Why Rhino Meursault specifically, and do you know if there's any others?

It's not actually just Rhino Meursault! Sunshower Heathcliff, Seven Heathcliff, and W Corp Ryoshu all have first person narration in their Uptie Stories. There might be more, but I can't recall them at the moment.

In fact, W Corp Ryoshu's Uptie Story gives us a hint as to why these specific narrations could be in first person.

We might not be reading the Sinner's internal thoughts/narration. Instead, it's very possible we might just be reading what they have physically written down, as the "I don't think anyone else would care to look at this writing" implies.

[wayfinderships]

I have arrived at last to give you a brief attempt at a gush about Hea.thcl.iff--that fictional man is the love of my life, I swear--

I can't even really tell you what drew me to him? I had a few friends who had him on their crush list when the game first released, and I knew someone who liked him up until they saw his teaser trailer mention Ca.ther.ine ... then they dropped him immediately. I went into the game expecting to like Gr.egor or Meu.rsau.lt, but no ... Hea.thcl.iff completely took me by surprise--although I did read his source novel before the game dropped, and I had a moment where I thought, "I really hope this doesn't awaken anything in me," because I thought he'd be a platonic--as you can see from the state of my blog, that was absolutely not what happened. /lh

I know a lot of people perceive him as "dumb" and "violent," but if you read the story--yes, even the early chapters--that really isn't the case. In the first Ca.nto, he actually picks up on a scheme some enemies are hatching: to let the Sinners through and then immediately attack them when they come back around to the exit. And the one time in Ca.nto II where he seems like he's being a problem, he actually gets the enemy to break something valuable, allowing the Sinners to advance a bit easier. Also, in Ca.nto IV, the enemy actually acknowledges Hea.thcl.iff's words as being wise, to the point he makes a point of hoping to avoid choosing people for his little band based solely on their education--in the future, that is.

He's also such a sweetheart--in Ca.nto IV the Sinners took a heavy blow from an explosive, and even though Hea.thcl.iff was hurt, he was more worried about Don Qu.ixo.te ... he tells Da.nte to turn back the clock because "the blonde lass is dying"--not because he's hurt. He also expresses concern for Is.hma.el in that Ca.nto that I feel a lot of people overlook because of how often they're at each other's throats--and even in the more recent update he's been telling people to leave Don Qu.ixo.te be because ... she's just being herself and there's nothing they can do to change her.

I said above I read his book before the game released, and I do feel that was part of why I immediately liked him so much. He's been through so damn much--you've seen me talk about the racism he's dealt with in canon--and I want the best for him. And Sherry's the same way--I think it's amusing I created her before Limbus released, but she happens to also be from a British series ... it's as if she and Hea.thcl.iff were meant to be ... and if I hadn't fallen for Hea.thcl.iff, I wouldn't be friends with a good chunk of my current Li.mbus mutuals, either! He's just incredibly dear to me ... he's made my life so much better, and I just like to imagine a universe (or multiple) where Sherry does the same for him.

This is not brief, my goodness--you let me talk about this man and I won't shut up--

~ 🪻

Hiiii Sarah!! :D First off I just wanted to say I was smiling the whole time reading this-akgnskf I can just feel how much you love Hea.thcl.iff and it's so sweet <3 So fun how he took you by surprise and now he's the love of your life!!

He sounds like such a cool and amazing guy!🥺 Acjsnfksjfjd I want to be his friend maybe even sibling so hard now!!!

Also awwww! You two were certainly meant to be if you ask me! Anytime I see Heathcliff I immediately go "omg that's Sarah's beloved!!" I'm sure that you've made his life so much better, just as he's done for you! He loves you sooo much! And thank you for telling me about him! :>

[muse-write]

Verlady Week Day 5

Prompt: “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

@verladyweek

I see a Wuthering Heights quote, I use it. This turned into a little bit of a character study and a reflection of one of my favorite books, but still heavily focused on Vergil and Lady’s dynamic. It was so fun to write!

Lady had never had much use for reading. She had enjoyed it occasionally in school, but most of her time and focus had been on her gymnastics program. Reading, even for school, had been reserved for car rides shuttling her to and from competitions or when she couldn’t sleep before a big day.

Wuthering Heights had always been a secret favorite, and even now, she kept a battered copy of it on the stand by her bed. It was a secondhand copy bought for a dollar at a thrift store years ago and had an awful pink cover and no margins, but she flipped through it and read her favorite parts every now and then. Reading now was reserved for slow moments in Nico’s van on the way to and from missions, or rare moments of peace and quiet before she went to bed.

One line had struck her on her first read as a 16 year old—only months before her mother would be found dead in their living room, when Lady had been Mary, a student reading Wuthering Heights for her sophomore English class. “Whatever our souls are made of,” Catherine Earnshaw had claimed, “his and mine are the same.” Wuthering Heights had enchanted her then, the story of generations impacted by one man’s lust for vengeance, by one woman’s insane love for someone who didn’t deserve it. And then months later that enchantment was utterly destroyed, when Mary’s mother died at her father’s hands and a tower rose from hell and destroyed thousands of lives and she threw herself into the world of demons and devils and one particular tormented, depressed, charming demon-hunter.

And now his brother had joined that group, and it had been 20 years since Mary Arkham had picked up Wuthering Heights, and she was a very different person than she had been then. Lady—for she would never go by Mary again—did not think of that quote with the childish naivety of a student, but with a jaded edge of derision: toward Catherine Earnshaw and the terrible thing she had called love, toward Heathcliff and his obsession, and toward herself, who had had no idea what was to come.

But something made her think of it now, as she marched beside Vergil up the isolated hiking trail, following the last of their quarry. The escaped demon wasn’t a real threat, more of a nuisance, but it was best not to leave it to make trouble. In the lack of conversation and with no need to make a plan for finding what they were hunting (the broken branches, crater-like prints, and demonic slime were quite enough to tell exactly where it had gone), Lady’s mind wandered. Perhaps it was the landscape around them—the bleak plains stretching out below the edge of the mountain range, the overcast sky heavy with dark clouds, the chill autumn wind whisking across her cheeks—that put her in mind of her old favorite book. “Whatever our souls are made of,” she murmured, partly to savor the taste of the prose on her tongue, partly to fill the silence that had fallen between her and Vergil. They didn’t go on hunts often together without Dante or Nero or Trish as a buffer, though they were perfectly capable of remaining professional on jobs. At least, Lady was.

“His and mine are the same,” spoke up Vergil from beside her.

Lady glanced at him, a little surprised, but on further reflection, she supposed it made sense that he would recognize the line. “Have I found another fan of Wuthering Heights in the wild?” she asked him.

“I read it when I was a child,” he said. “I don’t know that I can say I was a fan. But I liked Bronte’s prose.” He lifted his eyes to their surroundings, and she wondered if he had noticed the similarities that she had. “I’m sure much of it was above my ability to comprehend then, and I haven’t revisited it since.”

“I have a copy of it,” she found herself saying. “If you ever want to borrow it.”

His eyes lighted on her, a little surprised. “Perhaps one day. Thank you.” They walked along in silence until he continued. “What made you think of that line?”

Lady shrugged. “The landscape, probably. I read that book back in high school, and that line stuck out to me then. I think I enjoyed the drama of it. The tragedy.”

Something close to a smile played around the corner of Vergil’s mouth. Lady almost laughed; if she had realized sooner that discussing literature with Vergil was one of the few things that didn’t end in threats of death—not yet, anyway—she would have brought it up sooner. “That’s why I enjoyed William Blake as much as I did,” Vergil mused. “The drama of it. I remember Wuthering Heights primarily for the setting, the Yorkshire moorlands rolling out beneath a dark sky, ghosts haunting old houses.”

“Maybe the ghosts aren’t really there,” Lady suggested, her high school English class coming back to her. “Maybe they’re simply psychological manifestations of trauma.”

Vergil grunted noncommittally, and Lady winced, remembering too late what she had heard about V’s familiars. Perhaps the ghosts of Wuthering Heights should be just that—ghosts, to plead with and die with and be done with, instead of memories of trauma and abuse and other things that were altogether too real, and far too recent in both their minds.

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.

It struck her then, as it never had before, how different Vergil was now to who he had been in any of his other versions. This was not the power-hungry teenage Vergil who had raised a tower from hell. Neither was it V, the crumbling shell holding together the dregs of his humanity with sheer willpower. And, most importantly, neither was he Urizen, who had imprisoned her in armor not so very differently than Nero Angelo himself had been. This Vergil fought with his brother and killed demons at his side and sat through awkward dinners with Nero and his fiance and discussed a book he had not read in 30 years with someone he seemed to hate.

Lady was not a foolish girl like Catherine Earnshaw, but neither was Vergil a Heathcliff. He was working—however falteringly—to make amends with his family and to right his old wrongs. And Lady could respect that, because even if it was the bare minimum, it was more than he had done decades ago.

There was a flicker up ahead, and she put thoughts of books and change and decades of simmering resentment out of her mind for now. They had a job to do. But when the job was over, maybe she could give a little more thought to this new Vergil.

[alexilulu]

Books I Read in 2024 #7: Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë under the pen name Ellis Bell, Thomas Newby, 1847)

In a story related to the narrator by a maid intimately involved in its events, we see the life of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, the fallout of their doomed love and the decades following it, in which Heathcliff exacts a petty, cruel revenge upon the descendants of those who wronged him in his youth.

This one is technically a reread, but removed by over 20 years from my first exposure to it, so I'm allowing it.

This book is a fucking trip, y'all. Scarcely a conversation goes by without the threat of bodily harm upon the speaker or others around them. Early on, Catherine wishes she'd kill herself to make someone else kill themselves out of grief. Heathcliff, the lout-turned-mannered monster of the novel, is brutally physical with everyone around him both in his youth and later. Joseph, the poor god-fearing Yorkshire servant whose accent is transcribed beautifully (though at times unintelligibly without some careful rereading, given the length of time since it was published), damns everyone around him to hell for their various crimes but takes little action besides poisoning the brain of everyone around him with his hatred.

I think the thing I enjoy most about it is how deftly it turns the story of English manners on itself. People not familiar with the genre should know the English manners story to be one of refined men and women dueling in the battlefield of words and ideas, carefully cutting one another to shreds with a simple sentence that shows how déclassé they really are, and when that breaks down. Here, the jumped up brown boy (Heathcliff is unambiguously racialized in the story as probably being Romani or mixed heritage, a foundling that Hareton Earnshaw brought home) is the picture of manners with the Earnshaws and Lintons until his temper gets the better of him and he leaps to physical violence to signify his rule over others. Nearly every character is barely clinging to life as a proper Englishman or woman, confounded by the malicious haze that has descended over these entwined families, screaming epithets or bemoaning their wish to die rather than yield to their counterpart.

Heathcliff is a marvel. Brought into a country manor as a child and made into the favored son of his adoptive father over the parent's own blood, he is consumed by a rivalry between him and Hindley, the first son. He's beautifully human and delightfully monstrous, having lost the only love of his life to another man and then her death in childbirth, Heathcliff is consumed by a malignant hatred for the Earnshaws and Lintons both, and desires only to take everything from them to show his superiority. He uses everyone adroitly, moving people like pieces into his preferred configuration, even using his ailing son to ensure his capture of the Thrushcross Grove property by his marriage to Cathy and his subsequent death from wasting disease.

The novel sparkles with the sort of cruelty that true tragedy heads will enjoy. Hareton is a whipping boy from the moment Heathcliff has control of his life, a brilliant young man forced to work menially by his adoptive father and denied education, poisoned by Joseph into a manner of pride of his origin that does not reflect his upbringing and by Heathcliff into a debased, cursing cur. Despite this, he feels care for Cathy, but lashes out viciously when prompted. Everyone in the novel, generally, is insulted once and immediately and perfectly transitions into screamed invective at the other, threats and oaths sworn back and forth. It fucking rules.

[queenlucythevaliant]

In Defense of Wuthering Heights

This is not an “I can make him worse” book. It’s a “we can make each other better in the face of tremendous pressure to do otherwise” book. I promise. 

I’ve already written extensively about my love for Charlotte Brontë’s Villette and while I love lots of other Brontë books with all my heart, what I really want to do tonight is try to make you fall in love with Emily’s Wuthering Heights (generally the most divisive Brontë novel among modern readers) the way that I did.

The thing that a lot of people don’t know which I really think ought to be printed on all the dust jackets is that the Brontë sisters were the daughters of a revered. They were PKs and it totally shows.  

So Wuthering Heights is not a romance; it’s a family tragedy. Specifically, it’s an astonishingly hopeful book about generational trauma. 

Heathcliff is Mr. Earnshaw’s bastard son. This is never explicitly stated, but it is implied so heavily that it might as well be. To boot, Mr. Earnshaw favors Heathcliff over his legitimate son, Hindley. When Mr. Earnshaw dies, Heathcliff is immediately and violently cast out of the family and forced into servitude. Mr. Earnshaw’s hidden infidelity is Wuthering Heights’s original sin.

Of course, Cathy and Heathcliff love each other, but it’s a violent and destructive like-recognizes-like kind of love between two people who, on the one hand, absolutely should not be together and, on the other, totally deserve each other. They’re capital T Tragic and capital R romantic: co-dependent, sharp-toothed sibling-lovers who don’t understand their own relationship as kids because their father lied to them. That lack of understanding follows them into adulthood; they don’t really know how to make sense of what they feel for one another, but boy do they feel it. 

Cathy tells Nellie “I am Heathcliff” and “He’s more myself than I am” and “whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” and it’s half a reaction to the fact that one of her brothers (Hindley) has cast her other brother (Heathcliff) out of the family with a vengeance and half a statement of the fact that although she doesn’t know what Heathcliff is to her, she doesn’t know how to live without him. And while Cathy’s love for Heathcliff definitely fills romantic roles once they’re adults, it’s doesn’t really read as sexual. To use Lewis’s parlance: it’s not eros/gift-love, but rather need-love in the most emphatic sense. It’s storge. Actually, it’s really posessive storge that thinks it’s eros. Hence the problem. 

From the other side, Heathcliff is an outsider from the moment he enters the story. He’s an intruder and a presumed bastard. He’s coded as non-white, maybe Romani or similar. (Probably not actually African-black, but kudos to that one movie for at least making the attempt.) He’s… probably kind of a psychopath in that he displays cruelty to animals and then later on becomes a charismatic, manipulative monster. You can make a nature vs. nurture argument—Heathcliff is definitely on the receiving end of a lot of cruelty—but there’s also something Off about him and that too is othering. And after Mr. Earnshaw dies, Cathy is the one person who still loves him.

But of course, they can’t actually marry. On and off the page, that simply cannot be. Heathcliff runs away, Cathy marries Edgar Linton. They hurt each other badly in the process. Neither Heathcliff nor Cathy can escape the harm that Mr. Earnshaw began and Hindley perpetuated. Cathy dies, Heathcliff marries Isabella, and then things get really interesting.

Because the beating heart of Wuthering Heights, the place where you can profoundly see the fingerprints of the reverend’s daughter, is in the third generation. Cathy and Heathcliff devour each other in life and in death, but the children survive. They forgive. The patriarch died without knowing what he had wrought on his children, the second generation died in anguish, but the third makes it out. Or at least Hareton and Cathy II do.

Cathy’s daughter is named for her mother. Heathcliff’s son by Isabella Linton is named Linton Heathcliff. Heathcliff forces Hareton, Hindley’s son and the only one among the third generation not named for his parents, to live in the same debasement that Hindley once forced on him: he denies Hareton any education and forces him into servitude while simultaneously courting his admiration. In essence, Cathy and Heathcliff implore the next generation to go on living their parents’ tragedy and it. Doesn’t. Work.

Heathcliff tries to force them both into awful situations in which they must act out his trauma, his revenge, to go on perpetuating the pain and bitterness. And at first, it looks like they’re going to play their parts. For a time, they’re as awful to each other as everyone else is.

But then they change. Hareton tries to stand up for Cathy II while she’s essentially being held captive as part of Heathcliff’s 12-Step Revenge Plot. Cathy teaches Hareton to read. She laughs at him, but when she realizes that she’s hurting his pride she apologizes and learns to be patient.  

“I didn’t know you took my part,” she answered, drying her eyes; “and I was miserable and bitter at everybody; but now I thank you, and beg you to forgive me: what can I do besides?”

And after this, they both stand up to Heathcliff. They say, “This ends here. This far and no farther.” Heathcliff is their dragon and they face him together. And when everyone else is dead in grand, tragic fashion, Cathy II and Hareton are left living.

But it’s not just that Hareton and Cathy II survive. They specifically un-do the failings of the previous generations. There’s a kind of atonement to it. They’re honest with each other, unlike Mr. Earnshaw. Cathy recognizes Hareton’s humanity, something Hindley never did for Heathcliff. Hareton lets go of his bitterness and resentment, while Heathcliff let his fester into cruelty and Elaborate Revenge. Cathy II is willful, like her mother, but she is also kind. Hareton is proud, like his father, but he is also compassionate. They forgive each other, while Cathy and Heathcliff only ever held grudges.

At the beginning of the book, Cathy is dead and has explicitly not gone to heaven; with the Brontës, you’ve gotta take these things seriously. Cathy is not in heaven and Heathcliff is a monster and they both seem to be damned, but they do not succeed in damning their children. And in that (I would say because of that), even Cathy and Heathcliff find peace after death.

I also do think that the fact that the story is narrated by Lockwood (weirded out by all of this) and Nellie (unreliable, cares deeply about everyone involved) can make it difficult to see the redemptive arc in the story as clearly as we might if it had an omniscient narrator, or if, say Cathy II was narrating. We're presented the Cathy and Heathcliff love story as this great, horrible, compelling saga (and it absolutely is), but then the following generation can almost seem like a footnote. They're adapted out of most of the film adaptations. But they're the whole point!

I do get why Wuthering Heights just isn’t to some people’s taste. Really. Some people just don’t go for Big Romantic Family Tragedy and that’s fine. But too many people come to the Brontës looking for Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell and that’s just. Wrong. You’ve gotta at least read Wuthering Heights on its own terms before deciding that you hate it (not directed at anyone specific on here, but I do know people irl...). And you really ought to read it with an eye towards Emily’s faith. It makes a world of difference.

TL;DR- There’s a beautiful, very Christian center to Wuthering Heights and it’s one of forgiveness instead of revenge and kindness instead of cruelty. It’s a book about people who are destroyed by the sins of their fathers and those that manage not to be. In a way, it’s almost a fairytale.

[eggsploded]

awright how about don quixote for the character thing

telegram for a mr felix 'lemonmuncher' xboxhatewater

first impression: this is so fucking mean but considering shes popular meme character from a gacha game i initially thought insufferable mascot that has smug anime girl edits - after canto 1 i did like don but also in a snide way that wanted to see her humbled

current impression: don is like if some overzealous disney actor employee fought for their life to keep huffing the corporate magic fumes and in every universe except this one fails to keep it up needless to say she is fascinating and because i havent read don quixote i DONT know why shes like that (current limbus lit score: i read the wings at 3 am and hated yi sang real so fucking much for 12 hours before feeling bad about the guy and i read about 15 pages of l'etranger before wanting to die because reading french is Difficile)

favorite moment: her strongarming gregors angels during hells chicken was funny but also i like her blatant out loud musing to force heathcliff into fixer cosplay because his scars are photogenic

story idea: Can This Bitch Swim? is the question the masses are asking this fine summer event. stay tuned in 2 weeks

fav relationship: rosespanner rodyas favoritist specialist little henchman (romantic) is sooo interesting meurdon is a classic but TBH i dont think about them that much non romantically her and sinclair sticking together to stack and create one tall person is super powerful

fav headcanon: regarding her mentally ill compatriots sinclair and yi sang i think that shes like 30 or pushing it and they dont know that shes playing down her age to idk make her memoir have a plot twist

[cursedxwt]

Underrated aspect of Heathsang I feel is that even in the actual story Heathcliff is the one who consistently stands up for Yi Sang. Like that little bit in Canto 2 where he tries to hype him up because Faust was the only one getting recognition and then in 4 where he's the only one who comforts him about his guilt over the factories even though Heathcliff is usually spiteful towards these things and then in the Intervallos you have Yi Sang looking out for him too....if these interactions don't get expanded on more I'll be so so sad

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this one but I really wanted to take some time to replay the story and check those moments for a specific thing you said.

I really didn't care about Yi Sang when I started playing so now I'm dying at the amount of silly moments he had and I ignored lol, but that's not the important thing here.

While I love to see them together, the fact that these two had story with T corp (or district 20 in general) it makes me think if they were connected at some point.

it might be a stupid theory since we don't have Heathcliff's story yet, but it makes me wonder if he was a worker in any of the factories Yi Sang designed. If I remember correctly, in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff was forced by Hindley to do heavy work on the fields before he ran away. Considering the way Yi Sang described those factories, I wonder if that is the way Project Moon will translate Heathcliff's abuse into their world.

So, if this ends up being right (which I doubt) it hurts even more to know Heathcliff was the actor who had to comfort Yi Sang's guilt (yeah, Heathcliff was just reading Yi Sang's script at that part :') )

ANYWAY

Sorry for turning this ask into a possibly painful one but I wanted to say it before Heathcliff's canto lol

That being said, HEATHSANG'S INTERACTIONS ARE SO CUTE AND FUNNY AND WE NEED MORE

[burningvelvet]

more rambling thoughts about wuthering heights now that i've finished my re-read

1 wuthering heights is basically the looney tunes if the looney tunes were goth. 90% of the novel is people arguing, dying, and running around threatening to kill each other, and often all three of those at once.

2 love how it's filled with dark humor. "he's such a cobweb, a pinch would annihilate him" is such a camp thing to say about the terminally ill child you abhor and who you spend weeks trying to set up on dates with your dead lover's child so you can steal her property when your son finally dies. heathcliff lecturing his son on Seduction 101 right in front of cathy 2.0, trying ridiculously to play cupid and compel them to fall in love with each other before giving up and just kidnapping her instead... surely he's the most insane brontë man?

3 i can't remember what i had for dinner last night but nelly dean can remember what the weather was like on any given friday twenty years ago (love her and her snarky comments)

4 love how after nelly finishes telling the story to lockwood she's like "any way. so you know cathy 2.0 is single right ;)))" and then cathy 2.0 shows zero interest in him. so then he's like "oh i just remembered i have somewhere to be :/" then fucks off to london for nearly a year then when he comes back nelly is like "nvm as it turns out cathy and hareton are actually soulmates lol who knew! gee, it's a good thing she didn't like you!" and he's just silently suffering. emily was just fucking around here. hindley was the only linton/earnshaw/heathcliff who was wild enough to marry someone who didn't share either his gene pool or his neighborhood.

5 i imagine joseph to look like smeagol from the lotr films but taller

6 [heathcliff, after stabbing his alcoholic arch nemesis and then pushing his servant into the puddle of the blood] "Wash that stuff away; and mind the sparks of your candle—it is more than half brandy!” LMAO

7 this opinion list is just turning out to be a list of the most insane heathcliff moments but truly the novel should've just been called "heathcliff"

8 heathcliff's weird paternal feelings for hareton, saving hareton's life, him saying he would truly love him if only he wasn't hindley's child, basically giving hareton his blessing to love cathy 2.0 toward the end... so oddly endearing

9 heathcliff walking out just before the "i am heathcliff" part of her speech. why WHY

10 hindley protecting isabella from heathcliff before she flees was nice and i wish we saw more of their dynamic around the heights. honestly aside from the child neglect (which is par for the course in wuthering heights) hindley is a pretty sympathetic character; his rivalry with heathcliff was fueled by both sides and truly the fault of their father for pitting them against each other by letting heathcliff usurp hindley's place of favoritism as a boy. hindley's gambling and drinking, his general dissipation and failure to secure his son's future, are all tragic.

11 i think hindley/edgar/heathcliff are all interesting foils for each other; they each lose the women they love and are left to be single fathers, and each responds to the task totally differently. if we include mr. earnshaw, all the fathers in the story essentially fail their children after all the mothers die. hindley and heathcliff have a special parallel through their lifelong brotherly competition, the women they love both dying in childbirth, and in their own deaths. hindley slowly kills himself while ignoring everyone around him; heathcliff also kills himself, but only after trying to systematically ruin the lives of everyone around him. they also say that they want to kill each other but fail when they try; heathcliff nearly kills hindley but ends up saving his life at the last minute.

12 heathcliff jr. is so terrified of heathcliff sr. and so traumatized and petrified by fear and he doesn't deserve the hate he gets for being annoying. he's been sheltered his whole life, his mother just died, he was sent to his uncle/cousin only to be immediately torn away from them to be abused by a stranger who treats him horribly, he's terminally ill, he's still a kid, he's threatened into marrying someone he barely knows, etc.

13 if any of you have seen the british comedy show "the young ones" that's literally hindley's household in wuthering heights when joseph/hareton/hindley/heathcliff/isabella all live together. the filth, the slop for dinner, the petty games, the violence, the fierce hatred yet weird loyalty to each other, etc.

14 i really wonder how cathy would have reacted to heathcliff's treatment of everyone else if only she had known the full details (ie his harsh abuse of isabella, his son, cathy 2.0, etc.)

15 heights was my first brontë novel but i think i like jane eyre and tenant better now that i've read them all back to back! next on the list is likely agnes gray. anne, my underrated queen!