#the temptation i have to change my icon to her

[sunshineandviolets]

"just take my hand and follow my lead, darlin'."

[synesindri]

lucifer gender symbolism essay part 4: women in white

masterpost

this is far and away THE reason i started thinking about fem!lucifer in the context of spn back when i first got into the show. 

women in white are SO ICONIC on supernatural. the first scene of the show features mary dying in a nightgown that is technically pale pink* but registers as white, and later in the same episode jess wears a mostly-white nurse costume and then dies in a pale periwinkle* nightgown that also reads as white. the pilot is all about constance welch, who is literally a type of ghost called a woman in white. in bloody mary, sam has a vision of jess standing on a street corner wearing a starkly white nightgown. lilith goes to her death to break the last seal in a white dress. it’s a whole thing. 

women dressed in white especially in early spn are almost always either about to be the victims of something horrible, or are dangerous and monstrous — and often they’re both, especially if they’re dressed in all white. 

our two main victims from this costuming-based character category are mary and jess. both of them represent brutal, devastating, life-changing, unfair loss. mary’s death is the reason the winchesters uprooted; it’s the reason john is like that; it’s the reason sam and dean grew up the way they did in this heavily trauma-based and trauma-inducing lifestyle. it feels random (even though we later learn it wasn’t); it was definitely shocking; it was cruel and unfair. jess died the same way, and her death at least played some part in sam going back to hunting; it didn’t feel as random because there was already precedent from mary, but it felt just as shocking and just as cruel and unfair. these women in life represented idealized domestic bliss and normalcy for their partners and families, and their deaths caused the end of the possibility for that kind of romanticized normal american lifestyle for the men close to them. in death, they become symbols behind which the men mourning them rally to seek revenge.

(there’s endless more things to be said about mary and jess’s death and their costuming etc but i gotta keep my eyes on the prize here of lucifer analysis. ok. carrying on)

now let’s do two of the main monsters in this category: constance welch was a victim of her husband’s infidelity before she became a killer, and as a ghost she kills unfaithful men, never able to get the revenge she wants for what was done to her and becoming a monster (partly) because of it. she can never have enough, she can never break the cycle, and, importantly, she “can never go home,” because she also killed her own innocent children, who want their revenge on her. again, lots to be said here about how sam and dean also can never go home etc, but i gotta keep it pushing. so: lilith. lilith was once a human woman whose essence was warped until she became a demon. we don’t know specifically how that happened, something to do with temptation, but in any case, the transition from human on earth to demon in hell is typically portrayed as undesirable, to say the least. beyond that, stories of the human fall are stories about not being able to go home: a human in a fallen state can’t live in their home of eden anymore, and has to rough it outside of the garden. presumably, that’s part of lilith’s story. the story of demons on supernatural is very similar: human beings who die and go to hell, and then are trapped there until they manage to get out (which is portrayed as being very difficult to accomplish in the earliest seasons of the show, especially for demons in the deepest parts of hell, like lilith). so the earliest humans fell and could never return to the garden, and humans who go to hell struggle to return home to earth. 

so that’s all a whole symbol system, right? if you’re a woman in white on supernatural, either something horrible happened to you, or something horrible is about to happen to you. you’re going to represent horrible loss whether you’re just a victim or both a victim and a monster. you’re going to get trapped in an unending trauma cycle, or you’re going to be the reason for someone else’s unending trauma cycle — probably both. 

and lucifer…

well!

lucifer’s first two appearances (after the nun) are as sarah, nick’s dead wife (another character who fits the victim subtype of women in white), and jess. both times, lucifer wears a white nightgown. 

and for good goddamn reason, because lucifer fits the archetype perfectly. 

did lucifer once represent an ideal? absolutely: lucifer was the most beautiful of the host, god’s favorite, THE angel. 

does lucifer’s loss represent a loss of perfection and purity? yep, lucifer was proof angels could make choices they weren’t supposed to, even/especially the best of them.

did the loss of lucifer cause a huge upheaval for his family that sucks a lot and changes the course of their lives for the worse? big time: god left; gabriel ran away; heaven seems to have at least somewhat restructured in the fallout; everyone set their sights on the apocalypse after which the problems will end and they can finally rest. 

do those who lost lucifer miss lucifer/what was lost when lucifer fell (even if that’s complicated)? seems like it. uriel definitely does; michael seems to have missed lucifer, even while being angry at and blaming him; and raphael at least misses how everything was before it fell apart. 

was what happened to lucifer violent and awful? pretty unquestionably. regardless of how much you think he deserved it, what ended up happening to lucifer — being cast down, imprisoned in isolation in the depths of hell for millennia, total loss of reputation, and a death sentence — is point-blank brutal. 

can lucifer ever go home? nope.

does anyone want revenge for what happened to lucifer? well, lucifer does, at the very least

can lucifer escape the cycle of trauma? nope: he perpetuates it by doing the apocalypse among other things, leaning into the devil role, doing more of what got him that title in the first place, and even when he tries to escape it by offering to drop everything to walk off the chessboard with michael in swan song he gets shot down. 

that’s a signature supernatural woman in white, babey. 

so, ok. woman in white, though. men show up wearing white sometimes on spn. a man wearing a white shirt is less of a tell that something is going to happen to him or because of him than it is for women, but it’s still part of the visual shorthand. men also wear all white sometimes, especially in psychiatric contexts (notably sam as a patient in season 7 in the context of hallucifer, as well as sam in houses of the holy while he’s playing a nurse). but these instances are uniforms that the wearers have little choice about wearing, and they are not especially gendered: female patients also wear all white (e.g. marin in ‘the born-again identity). to my knowledge, there are no roles in supernatural specifically for men in white; men wearing white do so in contexts where women also would and do wear white.

the one** exception to this is lucifer in ‘the end;’ how much endverse is zachariah’s creation vs what literally happened in that version of 2014 is debatable, but either way, sam!lucifer was one of our few examples of a ~man in all white in spn. and like…this reads to me as costuming wanting to do a woman in white thing, but not wanting to put jared padalecki in a white dress. lucifer already appeared as sarah and jess in all white nightgowns; lucifer fits the woman in white archetype; there’s no Thing like that for men, so they put sam!lucifer in an all-white suit that draws a stark visual parallel to the women in all white we’ve seen lucifer as before, and there you go. still a woman in white archetype, just wearing a man costume at the time.

**i know asmodeus did a white suit too but that's way outside of the range of kripke-era symbolism i’m mainly talking about, and it seems like probably a direct reference to lucifer’s endverse look. i’m also probably not the right person to do an analysis of asmodeus even if i wanted to include a discussion of his suit. so.

to sum up, lucifer is a genderless non-human entity, but (s)he’s also a Woman In White™, even when appearing as a man. lucifer is, i would go so far to say, the epitome of the Woman In White, the maxed out, most op version of everything the show did with that symbolism. so. lucifer is fitting into a feminine archetype real well, there.

*i’m not trying to ignore that neither mary nor jess actually died in white. as far as i can tell, most of the fandom remembers mary’s nightgown as white, and i’ve had conversations about whether jess’s nightgown is actually white and it’s just a lighting thing, so they’re both Women In White (TM) even though they’re not actually that (and jess is explicitly turned into one in sam’s memory and in lucifer’s appearance as jess wearing the same nightgown as in ‘bloody mary,’ since that nightgown is actually definitely white).

it’s a great choice, i think, to have them fill this symbolic role while actually having been maybe more complicated than that; having their memory simplified and ~purified so they can serve the perfect fridged domestic woman role — regardless of their actual personalities in life or how well that symbolism actually applies to them (and it really doesn’t fit at least mary that well, given her hunter background that we learn about later!) i bring this up because of lucifer’s endverse white suit, which, you know, is an all white look, but also has that off-white shirt. so, like, something something, attempts to fit into a specific archetype, but there are inevitably going to be slight imperfections because no living thing can be JUST a symbol. 

(a lot of people have written extensively about women in white in supernatural, including me. i have focused largely on lucifer, because of course i have. some additional posts here, here, here, and here.)

part 3: the dead nun part 5: white women masterpost

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Not a Zucest shipper (more into Maiko) but that scene where Azula isn't wearing makeup and she and Zuko are in her bedroom and she's all touchy-feely towards him was honestly more sexual and intimate than the Zvtara cave scene. Honestly I would argue that Azula is a lot more on his mind than Katara, who only comes to mind when she's convenient for tracking down Aang. Heck, I would even argue Zuko has more chemistry and investment with Aang than he does with Katara.

Maiko might not be my OTP but it is still a personal favorite because MY GOD, these two are clingy with each other and it's so fucking cute.

Zuko and Aang's friendship is legitimately one of the best parts of the show, and, ironically enough, their dynamic is the closest the show ever got to the fanon zutara idea of "this hero can tell the bad guy has a heart and wants to offer him the chance of being a better person", only without the romance part - but it could have totally made for a perfectly reasonable endgame if just a few details had been changed.

Plus everything about them meeting the dragons was absolutely iconic, from "I don't care what people said, you're pretty smart", to Zuko suggesting they think about their place in the universe, to AANG ASKING ZUKO TO DANCE WITH HIM, to Zuko looking Aang straight (hehehe) in the face and going "You are source of my fire by the way. No homo."

I just love it whenever these two are on-screen together.

As for the bedroom scene between Zuko and Azula in the awakening... oh boy, did my mind go straight to the gutter the first time I saw it (and every time after that too).

Grey Delisle, iconic voice actor, former stripper, and former narrator of trailers for porno movies, really took a look at this scene of her character's older brother coming to her bedroom in the middle of the night and thought "Wouldn't it be really funny if I added some incest vibes here?" (not that the animation itself made it all that difficult).

And yeah, Azula was definitively in Zuko's mind ALL THE TIME. Like, this boy was trapped in a cave during a snow storm, Aang's soul had literally left his body and, for some fucking reason, he just... starts venting about the sister he has not seen in years. Like, I KNOW they are just setting up Azula as the villain of the second season, but that came out of nowhere!

And him imagining her as the blue dragon that represents temptation and is whispering in his ear stuff like "Just give into it" and asking when he will be going to his bedroom, even after he said he doesn't feel like sleeping... buddy. Buddy. What the hell is this?

Also I can't find that video anymore, but there was some panel Bryke was at in which they were "suggesting" many ships to the audience - and one just happened to be Azula and The Blue Spirit. If someone has a link to it, please send it to me because the audience's outraged reaction was the funniest fucking thing.

In case any of you want to see Grey being chaotic as fuck, and making Dante all embarrassed (and flirting with him) I recommend you check out these videos because they are HILARIOUS!

[tonydaddingham]

re: your hard truth meta, you're absolutely iconic for that. i feel like a lot of the season seemed to foreshadow that they're on two entirely different planes as far as what it means to care for someone, especially when a LOT of the flashback scenes we were shown seemed to included him constantly rejecting aziraphale's attempts at authentic communication: in the 1800s one, he straight up yells at aziraphale to be the one to say something that would keep that girl from ending her life, when aziraphale was already trying to do that on his own (never mind that aziraphale already miracled the vial empty & could have done the same with the glass). post-job, he laughs at aziraphale's assumption that he'll be cast out for lying when aziraphale is Visibly distraught about it. and then with maggie and nina, as they said in the final episode, az & crowley were doing what they'd always done with each other: throwing darts at the wall until something seems to stick. so then when crowley's finally put in a position to open an honest dialogue about their relationship and where he wants it to go, and is visibly anxious about it, aziraphale brushes it aside in favor of sharing his Good News, because that's what he's learned their relationship to vulnerability is. imo, crowley has had the time he needs to understand that heavenly/hellish interference isn't even necessary ("every time i think of something strategically cruel, they do it themselves and Worse"), and he expects aziraphale to reach the same level after like. One year of silence from heaven, because he figures that if he could do it on his own with no support system or anybody in his corner, so should aziraphale. meanwhile, aziraphale spent his ENTIRE existence with one purpose, being repeatedly manipulated into quashing his doubts and not raising questions, and then when he finally did the Right Thing for himself (stopping the apocalypse), heaven stopped talking to him entirely. of COURSE he would want to go back. he was cut off and lonely and couldn't go to crowley about it because he knew from experience that he would be brushed off. and of COURSE crowley wouldn't understand that, and like with maggie and nina was just trying to make Something happen However he could, regardless of how ethical it was, and would lash out in the most anti-heaven way he could think of: a temptation. like, my guy had a WEALTH of logical arguments about why heaven wasn't the place where real change could happen based on their lives together and the fact that aziraphale was about to be ERASED FROM EXISTENCE AND THE MEMORY OF EXISTENCE BY THE ARCHANGELS before the metatron showed up, but all he was thinking about was his trauma and he reacted to the shadow of a rejection that was centuries old. in trying to express their love for each other they just ended up treating each other like An Angel and A Demon again and it fuuucking kills me.

god i hope this makes sense, i am very tired. tl;dr i loved that meta

@rollforjackass, bestie, fucking *CHEF'S KISS* ✨💓 yes this is perfect part 2 to my meta and im so grateful you paid attention to the other parts where they fail each other time and time again and just sweep it under the rug... yes you get me!!!✨

aziraphale is as culpable as crowley, but i genuinely think he's trying... crowley feels like he's so wrapped up in his own pain and hurt (again, valid) that he can't see wood for the trees, and certainly not aziraphale's perspective 💀

[synergysilhouette]

"Starlight" (from "Stargazer")

(SPOILERS AHEAD!! I didn't finish these songs in chronological order, so I warned you. If you have any questions about the context, message me privately so I don't have more spoilers in the comments. The least spoiler-y way of setting the context for this would be explaining that our star is falling for our protagonist, who I've named Talia, but he's--or they're--concerned that she only likes him for the power he can give her.)

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a weird title for a Disney film, but it sounded beautiful and I think it captured the idea I was going for. And before ANYONE asks: I know "Anastasia" (the movie whose picture I'm using) isn't Disney; it's 20th Century Fox. However, I think for this musical sequence, it'd be GORGEOUS to have Anselm (my Star) use his magic to subconsciously summon magical royal couples during his song. They'd have original designs, but their color schemes would hark back to iconic Disney couples, but some of them with alterations, ie hero-villain couples (Gaston and Belle, for example), or a human couple with fox masquerade masks, inspired by Disney's anthropomorphic take on "Robin Hood." This also serves as inspiration for a part of the plot that comes after. I imagined this as a nice little pop/alt-pop song, with a mini mood-board for it below the lyrics. I never really decided if I wanted something slow to match the bittersweet tone, or something sad that makes you wanna get on the dancefloor.

Color guide:

Purple-Star

Blue-illusions/images

(Note: I haven't decided if there are certain moments where Star and the illusions sing together. I love strong harmonies like that.)

(Verse 1)

Ready, steady,

When do I say "go"?

Who do I give control?

Who sees into my soul?

Every, body,

Always has a wish?

Who put you up to this?

Should I regret that kiss?

(Prechorus)

(BUT!)

I can't fix the storm from inside

I'm lost in the eye

Soon I'll return to the sky.

(WAIT.)

When the sun's sure to rise

I change my disguise

To the shape that you liiii...

(Chorus)

Starlight, illuminate my night

Help me understand

Why I can't ignore this despite

All my reservations

Ignore the temptation

How can I love someone

When I'm supposed to be no one?

Starlight, tell me something tonight

Heart and mind in conflict,

Is this wrong? Is this right?

Is she on a mission

To make my own decisions?

Is she really different?

Or do my powers pique her interest?

(Verse 2)

Keep it simple.

Don't make me prolong your pain

Hearts broken in twain

Please don't ask it of me again!

I'm so sorry.

I won't give your heart's desire

Even if it stokes your ire

Granting it is fuel upon a fire!

(Prechorus)

(BUT!)

If I ignored my senses for you,

What would that lead to?

Do you care? I do.

(WAIT)

Can we ever reach a deal?

I'll miss the way it feels

To have a relationship so real!

(Chorus)

Starlight, illuminate my night

Help me understand

Why I can't ignore this despite

All my reservations

Ignore the temptation

How can I love someone

When I'm supposed to be no one?

Starlight, tell me something tonight

Heart and mind in conflict,

Is this wrong? Is this right?

Is she on a mission

To make my own decisions?

Is she really different?

Or do my powers pique her interest?

(Bridge)

You kissed me.

Do I kiss you back?

You used me?

How much do you lack?

I would give a lot

For this connection

The truth hurts too much

I want the deception.

But for all my reasons,

I can't be selfish

I'd break my own heart

To protect that wish.

(Chorus)

Starlight, illuminate my night

Help me understand

Why I can't ignore this despite

All my reservations

Ignore the temptation

How can I love someone

When I'm supposed to be no one?

Starlight, tell me something tonight

What if this wish isn't that harmful?

Is that why it shines bright?

Can I close this distance

With all of my persistence?

I would hate myself,

But at least I'd have somebody else.

Hope you enjoyed it! I'm really torn about this song, since it kinda showcases a big issue I'm having with writing the relationship between our star and our protagonist. I'm working so the relationship doesn't feel too strong, too one-sided and more romantic and cute. Maybe I'll fix this later!

[belovedtylerr]

Stu Macher x Reader 'Playboy💔'

So, since im a sucker for angsty fluff ig?? I decided to write smth.)

Warnings: just basic angst?

February. Love was in the air and the aroma was all over you're school! Lucky you! Well, maybe not. You had liked one of you're 'friends' Stu. Though it seemed he already had his eyes glued to someone else. You couldn't help but feel a slight bit of jealousy when he gaze went onto his new girl for the week. He changes girls like he changes socks. Its quite pathetic in you're eyes. And what you would give just for him to be with you, even for a sick and twisted bet or dare made by Billy. You didn't have high hopes for February, the 'month of love' according to most. Only thing you could think about is just getting through the month without embarrassing yourself.

You were currently sitting with the group, as stu came along, surprisingly late. "Man, sorry im late you guys. What'd I miss?" he had that iconic smile as always, before taking a seat next to you. "You're fine. We know you have girls dragging you down." Randy teased, though you didn't find it very funny. You continue eating F/F, (favorite food) Stu looks at Randy with a smirk. "I bet you're wishin' that was Sid holden ya down." Randy laughed awkwardly before putting a hand behind his neck. Sidney just looked over, before brushing it off. Stu wrapped an arm around you're waist, pulling you into a sideways hug. You smiled shyly before looking up at him. "Im havin' another party at my place- i figured that I should invite you, its a gentleman thing after all." a devilish smile came to his lips, before laughing. You're gut was telling you this was a bad idea, but you couldn't resist the temptation. "Ill come. Thanks, Stu." you smile once again. "Its a date!" he hugs you tightly before winking. "Cya later girlie." and with that, hes off. Tatum looked over. "There goes another broken one." she rolled her eyes before frowning. "What are you implying.?" you raised a brow. "You'll see, Y/N."

-------------------------------------

Later that night, you arrived at Stus house. Flashing lights, beer bottles, popcorn and snacks. You walked in, wearing O/F/C (outfit of choice) as Stu greets you. "Ayy Y/N! Bout time ya showed up." He swung his arm around you, giving a light peck on the head. "How about we get you somethin to drink. You look great." All you could hear was faint music and yells and laughter in the background. You decided to go with him, as if you had a choice. He walks you over and hands you a beer before grinning as wide as possible. "You know.. I was just thinkin.. Lately you've been on my mind and I dunno how to you know.." He looks away from you, as you felt yourself heating up. As you smile, feeling yourself swoon over him. He winked at you before smiling sheepishly. Oh the way you hated how he could be so charming. "I was thinking we could go on a date sometime, maybe that ice cream shop around town?" He said, a grin still plastered on his face. You blushed once again."yeah, that sounds nice." He makes finger guns at you."its a date!!" He starts to walk toward the living room, leaving you in the kitchen with a beer in you're hand. Randy came soon after."I wouldn't trust him, Y/N." You glance up/down/ at him."Who, Stu? No way he would be mean, everybody likes him he can't be that bad." He frowned."Thats the point. Everyone likes him, I wouldn't be surprised if you found him with another girl." You refused to believe him, though a part of you wanted to.

[itsaship-literally]

Hey! I just wanna say, you’re such a great person for making this blog for the fandom. It’s like an extensive and interactive guide for people who wanna enjoy fan-made content but don’t know where to start. I’m so glad you’re still active and I guess I just wanna say thank you. I almost wish for every piece of media to have a blog like this that welcomes and posts all kinds of content for people to browse in one blog but I love the fact that you’re a privilege we get in the fandom. Thank you again!

This may be a silly question but, do you have any beetlebabes fic recs? I’m almost finished with dream_weaver’s works and whenever I try to find fics that kind of give off the the same vibes I fail. And anyway, from the fanfic quotes you posted in your blog, something tells me you have really good taste.

Thank you! I am honored to hear you say so. I am equally honored to have been active for so long.

This blog started somewhere around 2015/16 after my first interaction with the fandom peoples. Back then it was only movie and toon fans and prior to that I was a lone fan who enjoyed the franchise without ever finding my people. Practically my whole life.

I felt alone in my obsession before my hubs encouraged me (post-baby #2)to find fanfics for this pair and I came across the slow-burn fic of Haunting Temptation by Fairdrea and quickly followed by the fun-times fic of Cinderjuice by LadyNorbert on Fanfiction.net I have a post of some iconic Beetlebabes fics on my pinned post

The Cinderjuice series actually brought me to tumblr with all their fourth wall breaking jokes and the super cute RP community of the time. I met the OG Beetlebabes here. All women who loved Beetlejuice with a passion. They are the Babes and the little group name somehow it changed to encompass the ship. Totally by accident.

Anyway, To answer your question, I suggest checking out the iconic list in my pinned post. Dream is rather unique in her MusicalBabes fics but you may find some writers in the movie and toon verse on FFnet. A lot of the old fics never made the transition to Ao3.

I highly recommend WithoutHesitation and Llelwyn for their darker fics. Fairdrea for her short smuts and that amazing slowburn. Ladynorbert for her campy-go-lucky safe for network TV fics and BD-Z because self-promotion is fun

I will end up making more fic lists in the future but for now thats what I have.

[iviarellereads]

Nona the Ninth, Day One, Chapter 1

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Locked Tomb icon)(1) In which we meet Nona.

Day One comes with a set of teasers.

REGARDING NONA—HOT SAUCE IS WATCHFUL—THE CITY HAS A BAD DAY—NONA GETS A BEDTIME STORY—FIVE DAYS UNTIL THE TOMB OPENS.(2)

Nona closes her eyes and recounts her dream to Cam. Someone with a painted face, who might be, no, is definitely a "her", is above her in "the safe water".(3) Nona knows that Cam's notes often include boring things like what face she makes when she says certain things.

Then, she forgets the rest of the dream, so Cam ends the session and clicks the button on the recorder. Nona launches into action, changing clothes for the day. She's proud she can get changed herself: she once got very upset and claustrophobic when her nightshirt got stuck over her head before she could handle dressing herself.

She had only ever had two tantrums in her life, but it would be humiliating to have a third.

When she's done, Cam praises her quickness, and Nona dives into her daily stretches. She pretends her leg muscles are extra tight, trying to get Cam to help with a certain stretch, but Cam doesn't fall for it. She calls Nona's bluff and says maybe she can't go to school, at which Nona insists she's done, she's up. Cam tells her to go see if Pyrrha(4) needs help with breakfast. Nona wonders, hopefully, if it's gone cold already.(5) Cam says Pyrrha should do Nona's hair, as well, since Cam's going to "talk".(6) Nona asks Cam to write down that she sends her love to Palamedes.

This Camilla Hect did unblushingly, though Nona had to take it on trust. When she squatted down on her haunches, following the strokes the pencil made, she could not make out a single word. She could not even make out a letter, not of any alphabet she'd ever been shown, which interested everyone but herself.(7)

Still, she trusts Cam fully. When the pencil stops, she tells Cam she loves her and asks if they know who she is yet. Cam says she's someone late for breakfast.

Still, Cam smiles a rare smile, and Nona can feel that it's going to be a good day.

Nona goes out into the kitchen. A baby is being loud a few apartments over, and the neighbours below and above are dangerous to piss off in different ways, so Nona walks on tiptoes. Pyrrha is preparing a pan with spray oil, and wearing a string vest(8) and pyjama pants but no shirt. Nona asks if the mix in the bowl is pikelet mix,(9) but Pyrrha says it's just eggs. Nona wants something cold instead, but cold eggs aren't the same, and Pyrrha insists the eggs aren't optional.

Pyrrha asks after Nona's dreams, and Nona says they're same as always, but she wishes she could dream of something else. She asks if Pyrrha dreams, and Pyrrha describes a nightmare about not wearing any pants while giving a speech.

During a pause in Nona's gurgles of mirth, she added solemnly, "It was no fun, my child. I knew I'd be okay so long as I was hiding behind the podium, but I didn't know what I'd do once I had to sit down again. Die, I guess."(10)

When Nona's mirth calms, she asks if Pyrrha was being serious. Pyrrha says yes, but put a mark on the chart for an ass joke anyway. She guides Nona's hand with directions until she's in the right section of the chart. Nona counts(11) seven this month, and chides that Pal will think Pyrrha is skewing the data on purpose. Pyrrha says she "could never help giving the girls what they wanted".

Pyrrha finishes cooking the eggs, fills Nona's bowl, and tells her to eat while Pyrrha braids her hair. Nona asks for one big braid, with two little braids coming off it, so it won't come loose. Also, to avoid the temptation of chewing on the ends of "plain plaits".(12) Pyrrha comments about wanting to get into the cigarette drawer, but Nona says they're bad for her and she loves her.(13)

Nona eats her eggs while Pyrrha styles her long, fine, black hair.(14) Eventually, Pal comes out, in Cam's body. Nona can tell them apart from their physicality, posture, movement, but the easiest way is the eyes: Pal's are brownish grey, while Cam's are fully grey.(15) Pal and Pyrrha banter about meat prices, and then go into the other room to talk while Nona is advised to finish eating her eggs. She eats three mouthfuls then goes to sit next to the door to eavesdrop.

They mention that someone gave them a year, and they're not giving "her" up early.(16) Then they move away from the door, so Nona can hear even less. Eventually they come back closer to the door, and discuss tactics. Why are the BOE running when they're in the best position they've ever had? Pyrrha doesn't know, despite sleeping with the enemy, and she won't tell Pal and Cam her suspicions in case they're interrogated.

There appear to be some barracks with some House personnel barricaded, and there's some discussion as to how to rescue them. Even the locals are split on how to handle it: some of Pyrrha's command are eager to kill the Houses, some would welcome them if they'd just clean up the gangs running wild on the streets. The divisions in the BOE are stronger than their common cause.(17) Pyrrha's ready to steal a ship and get the three-and-a-half of them off-planet and to anywhere else in the universe at any time.

A timer goes off, and Pal has to swap back out again. They discuss whether Nona should go to school or not, but Pal wants her calm. Nona tries to eat the last lumps of egg in her bowl, when Cam asks how long she was listening. Nona admits, nearly the whole time.

Cam eats the rest of her breakfast while Nona drops a cleaning tablet in the dishes and Pyrrha shaves. They dress for outside, with hats and masks, though Nona doesn't think they really need hats or masks. Still, the need to blend in outweighs the practicality of needing or not needing the protection.

Pyrrha runs them through this week's scatter and all-clear words, and what to do in an emergency. Both Cam and Nona defy what Pyrrha wants to hear on the latter, but she sighs and they get on with it anyway.

=====

(1) What could that mean, in this context? This is just meeting Nona and getting introduced to her life. Why is the Locked Tomb here? One fair guess is that it's used as a generic icon since this is the Locked Tomb series, since we know Nona isn't of the Ninth House. There may be other guesses to be made. (2) Awfully ominous for the first pages of a book. (3) Obvious allusions to memories between Gideon and Harrow. (4) Well well! We have located one person whose situation was in some jeopardy at the end of HtN. Only, how did Pyrrha get here? And where is "here" exactly? (5) Definitely something unusual about this young lady. (6) Presumably to Pal, via those notes and tape recorder. (7) My my. Why would someone not be able to read even when taught? (8) Elsewhere might call this a tanktop. (9) Australian and New Zealander name for pancake. (10) Guess I'll Just Die meme. The one with the old guy shrugging. (11) She can count, just not read. Fascinating. (12) This bit still makes absolutely no sense to me. A plait is another word for a braid. It's possible that Muir is distinguishing between an English/plain braid as a plait and a French braid as a braid, but even French braids get ends tied off that are temptingly chewable. You can pin a braid to a head whether it starts off French, Dutch, or English. (13) The tagline that "Nona loves everyone" or "Nona loves you" really isn't kidding, huh? She's so warm and open. (14) Black hair. Well, that rules out Nona being in Gideon's body. This must be Harrow's, then. The veiled allusions to how quickly Nona's hair grows throw back to Ianthe messing with the follicles during the lobotomy process. Only, how did Harrow's body get to the BOE with Pyrrha after the Mithraeum went down… and why isn't Gideon still in it? (Sure, she died, but we know how much that's worth in this series.) (15) Now that's a bit of a swap, isn't it? In Gideon, Palamedes is distinctly described with pure grey eyes, and Cam with brown in the mix. Typo/editing oversight, or intentional clue that something has happened to them in the process of sharing the body the way they do? (16) Presumably, Nona. (17) I can't fit it in without going into far more detail than I think this section really needs right now, so: Ctesiphon Wing is mentioned. Ctesiphon was an ancient city, not too far from modern Baghdad, that served as the seat of power for two empires. So, lots of the BOE wings have ancient powerful city names.

[lady-byleth]

I posted 14,349 times in 2022

That's 2,285 more posts than 2021!

679 posts created (5%)

13,670 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lvlbeginner

@fellowshipofthegay

@mikkeneko

@theonceoverthinker

@daedricgays

I tagged 1,520 of my posts in 2022

#tales of vesperia - 90 posts

#yuri lowell - 80 posts

#kurofai - 78 posts

#flynn scifo - 67 posts

#genshin impact - 65 posts

#elden ring - 57 posts

#fire emblem three houses - 52 posts

#fluri - 44 posts

#tales of symphonia - 44 posts

#byleth eisner - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i'm at an almost constant 5 which is great when the doctors tell me that i am capable of working full time even though i am definitely not

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

379 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

#4

Cyno: im small but knowing

Alhaitham, not looking up from his book: you don't be knowing what the top shelf looks like

388 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

#3

You know, Scaramouche might not do the fandango but his thunderbolts and lighting?

Very very frightening.

487 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#2

Like, listen. Listen, okay. The moment I learned they were making Galadriel's character revolve around needless revenge over a man (her brother who is currently happily traipsing across Valinor because that's how death works for elves) I was already mad enough to never touch RoP with a ten foot pole

But this? Taking one of her most iconic lines and attributing it to Sauron? I am livid.

The real Galadriel, the book Galadriel, was always an ambitious woman. She left Valinor to rule a realm of her own, to shape a land the way she thought right. She watched her male relatives do shit and was like "I can do better" and that's what she did

She was driven, intelligent and gifted, she was one of the greatest things that ever happened to the elves, and it all came from herself.

But now they changed her story. This Galadriel isn't traveling Middle-earth to find a place for herself, she's traveling it to avenge a man who doesn't need avenging. And then Sauron pops up and tells her she could be a queen "stronger than the foundations of the earth"? The line she originally said about herself?

The way this is all set up makes it look like a man planted the idea in her that she could be a queen, a man tempted her into becoming a queen, and then continued to tempt her until she refused the ring.

Her whole thing in the books was overcoming the temptation of power and choosing what was right and good. But it wasn't the ring that she needed to beat, she needed to overcome the desires and ambitions inside herself that the ring was using against her

She was her own greatest enemy and she won.

But now they made it all revolve around a man. A man gave her the idea, a man tried to tempt her, a man is who she quotes when she's overcoming temptation...

Do I really need to spell out why the story of a woman whose biggest enemy is herself being changed to so heavily focus on a man's effect is bad? Do I really??

1,879 notes - Posted October 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

There have been a lot of animated cats in games and movies and what have you but Stray? That is a cat!

The little "brgh" sound the cat makes sometimes when you jump, the way it just instantly drops when B-12 puts the little backpack on it and then continues to crawl across the ground like a dramatic little shit, the button prompt to push stuff off shelves for absolutely no reason except chaos, the quick little tap tap tap of the paw when it inspects something, how it just SLAPS the first two robots it meets (the dying one at the beginning and B-12 after booting it up), the way it licks its lips after hissing...

These people really paid a shit ton of attention to how cats work and it's given us an extremely realistic little guy that I will love with my whole heart until the day I die

17,581 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Five things we learned from our In Conversation video chat with Evanescence’s Amy Lee

The long-running band's frontwoman talks longevity, standing up for what you believe in and Evanescence's jam-packed 2023 schedule

It’s 2003: TikTok doesn’t exist, Olivia Rodrigo and Greta Thunberg have only just been born, and the airwaves are repeatedly blasting out the anthemic ‘Bring Me To Life’ from Evanescence’s debut album, ‘Fallen’. Teens are swapping Evanescence CDs in school canteens, while in the summer holidays they’ll head off to Download Festival after finishing their GCSEs to see their new heroes in action.

Fast-forward 19 years, and not much has changed: today’s teenagers are just as likely to be getting into heavy music through Evanescence as they were almost two decades ago, while frontwoman Amy Lee remains an alternative style icon. There’s even an ‘Evanescence Challenge’ on TikTok where users can see if they can remember the band’s big hits, while ‘Bring Me To Life’ has been used on the app over 220,000 times.

With Evanescence as relevant as ever, it’s an apt time for NME to be catching up with Lee. Speaking before the band’s recent show at London’s The O2 (part of their co-headline tour with Within Temptation), the frontwoman is in good spirits and excited for the future. For the past year she’s been on the road, and the novelty of being back on stage after being cooped up in lockdown still hasn’t worn off. “I’m so grateful for what I get to do for a living,” she reflects. “I can’t say we weren’t grateful before, but after having that time where we didn’t know if or when we’d ever be able to do it again, we’re all so thrilled to be back on stage and to have this whole new album.”

That album is ‘The Bitter Truth’, the band’s fifth record that dropped in early 2021. Like their self-titled 2011 record it was produced by rock heavyweight Nick Raskulinecz, whose credits also include Stone Sour, Foo Fighters and Ghost. Lee’s ice-clear vocals still lead Evanescence’s bombastic sound, and while the lyrics have a more mature edge that touch on political unrest and break-ups, all the classic Evanescence ingredients are still there: glimpses of Lee’s classical piano training, hard-edged guitars and melancholy balladry.

For the latest instalment of our In Conversation series, Lee discusses Evanescence’s longevity, the power of collaboration and the band’s big plans for 2023.

Evanescence’s new bassist Emma Anzai is the right person for the job

Earlier this year Evanescence parted company with guitarist Jen Majura, who had been in the band since 2015. Majura said that her departure was “not my decision” and later added: “I’m hurt and still in this blurry confusion of what just happened.”

Long-serving bassist Tim McCord has since stepped up to take on guitar duties, while Lee has remained diplomatic about the situation in subsequent interviews. During our interview, she heaps praise on the band’s new bassist Emma Anzai. “Emma [and I] have known each other for many years: I think we met in 2005 or 2006. She’s wonderful, she’s an excellent musician and we’re good friends. She’s just fit right in like she’s always been there.”

Veridia’s Deena Jakoub was crucial in writing Evanescence’s ‘Use My Voice’

As well as counting Anzai as an old friend, Lee is also good pals with Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and Veridia vocalist Deena Jakoub. Given that they all are based in Nashville, Lee was able to call on both musicians to help finish ‘The Bitter Truth’ single ‘Use My Voice’.

“I had Deena come over, and we’re showing each other ideas. I was like: ‘I love this song, but I can’t figure out what to do for the chorus’,” she recalls. “I thought it might be a solo song or something else. Then she just had this idea for the chorus, and helped write it. It opened the whole thing up, the idea of all the girls singing.”

Other musicians are friends, not foes

While women in the rock world can find themselves being compared and tokenised in the media, Lee says that her friendships with Hale and Jakoub are emblematic of her feelings towards women in the alternative community: they’re compatriots, not competition.

“A lot of us are a tight circle, because there are fewer of us and we want to support each other,” she says. “We want to see each other do well, and I’m a firm believer in that the more of us there are, the more of us there will be.”

Want to see something change in the world? Then speak up

Back in 2020, Evanescence teamed up with the voter registration organisation HeadCount to encourage people in the US to register to vote, with ‘Use My Voice’ played in the campaign video. Lee hasn’t publicly expressed her political allegiance, but was surprised to find that her declaration that voting is important was perceived by some as being political in itself.

“I find it fascinating that it can even be a political statement to say to vote,” she tells NME. “Over the past few years, especially in my country, everything has been politicised to the point that we all need to stand together and use our voice. I’m not telling you what to believe, just to get out there. I believe that if everybody voted, we’d have better leaders. There are very clear rights and wrongs out there.”

Evanescence aren’t taking a break any time soon

You’d think that after a year spent on the road, Evanescence would want to take a breather – but they have no intention of slowing down any time soon. As well as being announced for Download 2023 and “some other cool festivals”, the band have also booked a tour with Muse. “I’m so excited about that,” Lee says about the prospect of touring with Matt Bellamy and co. “I wasn’t looking to book that one, but when Muse ask you…”

Making music together has also taken on an extra sense of wonder post-COVID, Lee adds. “Making the album was very cathartic for us, because all of us at the time [of COVID] felt like we had no control, and didn’t know what was going to happen.” When restrictions eased and Evanescence could finally get back in the studio, “it was so good for our souls. We had so much to say and talk about.” As for whether they’ll return to the studio soon, Lee hints: “I try not to make too many concrete plans – it just happens. When you sit at the piano and just let it happen. But yeah, I want to make new music with this cool new energy we have with the band.”

[otakween]

One Pound Gospel - Episode 1

Omg, this was so fun! I actually found it more enjoyable than both the manga and the OVA (so far anyways). They just packed so much into one episode and the editing style was so fast paced that it felt really exciting. The music and acting was also really great and there was way more background detail to take in. The experience of watching the fighting was improved too because it was more "real" (more sweat and blood) and easier to follow. It's only episode one, so let me dial my praises back a bit until I watch the whole show lol...

Notes:

My stamina for hour long shows sucks lol. I've spent most of my life watching 20 minute anime which has damaged my attention span. At one point I thought I was almost done and I was only 38 minutes in 😭 That's not saying anything about the show, this is just a me problem.

I'm very new to dramas. In fact, I don't think I've ever watched an entire drama before (unless you count that weird 009-1 live action I watched). I got nothing against them, I just have too much other stuff taking up my time.

Lots of bad hair in this lol. I also noticed Kosaku was doing the "t-shirt over a long sleeve shirt" thing. Vintage 2008.

Boxing is so unappealing to me irl. It's one of those sports I might watch once just to say I did and then never again. That being said, I think the boxing/training scenes were done very well in this.

They replaced Kosaku's male coach with a female one! I actually really like this change. The manga was a total sausage fest and this new character seems to have a really fun dynamic with the rest of the cast. I liked her "badass tomboy" backstory haha

The random embellishments they added (some minor characters) were good. The manga's plot was probably way too basic for an hour long show and the additions they're making make Kosaku/Angela's world feel more fleshed out.

Food glorious food! I loved all of the food shots. Some looked yummier than others...(I've never tried oden but the oden they showed looked very...grey/beige).

Comedy was on point, I chuckled a couple of times (already more than I can say for the manga!) The actors have good timing.

I was low key impressed with the special effects. The scene with the basketballs flying towards Kosaku and the scene where Kosaku and Angela meet and things go all magical were standouts.

Kosaku gets so desperate for water that he tries to drink rain water...how does this work again? How do boxers-in-training not drop dead if they can't drink water? Can they drink other liquids (although most liquids have water in them)?

That katsu beef bowl looked simultaneously disgusting and amazing.

Just like the OVA, they switched up the plot to be more dramatic. We see Angela/Kosaku's meet cute again and it's slightly different from the OVA. It seems like Kosaku's Christianity is less prominent? (So far anyways). Like I'm pretty sure he wore a cross in the manga.

Didn't expect to see a title screen halfway through the episode. Is that common with dramas?

They switched things up at the convent. Mother Abbess is the nice, easy going one now and "Sister Millie" is the strict one. Love the casting for all of the nuns. They look iconic.

The scene with the kids trying to feed Kosaku was so tense lol. I don't think anyone could have blamed him for giving in to temptation in that scene! (The kids were really cute. And such talented chefs!)

Sister Angela suddenly caring VERY MUCH about Kosaku's career felt strange, but it felt strange in the manga too so...good adaptation?

That was funny that the coach also had a similar "meet cute" with Angela as Kosaku 😂 I want to see the crack ship fanfic

I feel like they aged up Onimaru. It was cool seeing an older character. His story was really touching, way more here than in the manga, in fact lol. They took away the pregnancy plot line which had horribly sexist dialogue and replaced it with Onimaru wanting to impress his (elementary aged) son. It was actually hard watching him lose one last time 😭

Wtf was Onimaru wearing in his intro scene? I think it was supposed to be a kind of kooky outfit, but no one acknowledged it so I was like "???"

[custommikes]

Today is my 4 year anniversary,... Yes, I'm very proud of myself today!

My hope is that my story might inspire someone else, to turn his/her journey around to a more positive outcome,...

* Woke up around 3 am, in a puddle of mostly dried blood, with my hair and face glued to the icy cold tile floor,... With a large gash in my head and my pants tangled around my legs/knees, realizing I could not feel either of them,.. After a not so proud of myself,.. 3 day "self pity bender,..."

* I realized somberly, as I went in and out of consciousness,...

That this bender really could "be it",... I humbly surrendered to whatever outcome, was decided for me, as everything went clod and black, yet again,...

* Hours later, when the sun warmed my battered and badly hung over body,... I managed to get the pants off my legs and slowly peeled my face and hair off the bloody tiles,...

* I laid stretched out finally, for what seemed like forever, waiting for my legs to fill with what was left of my blood volume, and get any feeling and function back,... I had some quality thinking time as the only one left, to account for last nights events was in attendance,.. Yes me, myself and I,..

* After realizing I've reached rock bottom by myself, I thought, who is the person that have turned things around, himself, that is very involved in my kar kulture, whom would provide the outmost accountability,?...

A person/ friend/ mentor/ successful and respected industry icon, whom I never would want to disappoint by not staying on track,..

* I texted Darryl Hollenbeck with a highlight of my last 24 hr journey and asked him for advice/ support. Less than 3 minutes later he responded. Ever so grateful my valued friend!

* With Darryl's support, I stopped cold, on the spot and have never slipped a single time. Hell yeah Im proud of my accomplishment.

* This is my journey and yours may be different but, what I have learned in the last 4 years of temptation is,... Until you own your own BS and stop telling yourself you can manage it, you will never stop.

* The only one that can make you change is you, for you.

* Having a friend like Darryl makes it easier to make your own positive change. However owning my own BS is the foundation of change. Darryl selflessly stepped up and supported me, when I decided to OWN MY OWN BS and change.

* Honor those who support you, by not succumbing to the temptation,.. No it is not easy, but it does get easier to choose my positive clean and sober journey, everyday,... every time,.. For me.

Thank you Darryl! Truly grateful you answered!

K. Mikael Wallin

Ps. Please realize that if you dont "own your own shit" and abuse them with drunk calls for self pity,... You are not honoring them and you will ultimately push them away too,.. That's on you,... Ds.

#sober#chooseyou#youcandoit

[tayarthur]

Important Images Over Summer Break 23'

“Hollywood’s Finest” by Christina House This image was taken by Christina House of the Los Angeles Times. I don’t believe this image was taken this year, but it was published along with a final piece that was. The project ended up earning House the Pulitzer for feature photography. The story of this image centers around a young adult named Makenzie who is homeless and living on the streets of Los Angeles. At such a young age, she found herself pregnant and forced to battle addiction, navigate governmental systems for basic services, the dangers of living on the street and learning to become a mother all on her own. I think this project and this image was especially both powerful and important because it reflects the state of so many Angelenos and beyond. Housing and the unattainability of it for so many hardworking folks is one of the major leading causes of homelessness. For young people, stagnant wages, student loans, and the temptation of drugs and alcohol pose real threats to our prosperity in society. This image grabs people because it shows the innocence of youth tangled with the harshness of real challenges that frequently are a hairline away from disaster. This image also focuses on motherhood in such a tender and loving way. This quality of the image is why I think it makes such an impact on the viewer. I think this image speaks to my generation as frustration grows around the lack of financial opportunity and social services that would make the “American Dream” possible. It may be the case that we will not be able to attain better lives than our parents. Lahaina Fires by Max Whittaker This news image by Max Whittaker, for the New York Times, is a more recent addition to what some may call “Iconic” images of our lifetime. Whittaker, among other photojournalists, have been covering the devastation of the fires in Hawaii. This particular image shows part of the Maui coastline with an overview of the sheer wreck the fire created of the town of Lahaina. One small structure remains, almost by a miracle. The impact of this image visually takes your breath away as it chronicles just another chapter of climate change and the battle over safe, sustainable power for an ever growing population and warming planet. The heinous nature of the fire might be flanked by the reality that on an island there are limited resources for shelter and safety resources such as fire departments etc… that could aid in curbing damages. Furthermore, as an island community, the prospect of rebuilding becomes further out of reach with extensive environmental damage, shark-like corporations that are lying in wait to gobble up locally owned real-estate and inflated costs for new materials. This image also shows the stark contrast between a once green, beautiful flourishing island community and parallel  histories of erasure of past indigenous culture and island life. I think it’s important to look at these images and recognize the true danger of a warming planet and let it force us to take action. Because, the consequences in my mind would seem to mirror Whittaker’s photo. 

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

HA HA HA YES

There are definitely irks I have with the show, some major (shaking my fist at the TV) some minor (eh, I would've done it like __) and I could critique quite a bit of it (mostly the writing sadly) and would be happy to do so, but this post is just a list of everything I like about the show.

First to set the stage, we have what I personally define as the Spirit of Tolkein: selflessness in the face of Evil, how virtue will overcome evil, the will to battle temptation, an emphasis on humility, wisdom and knowledge, the simple life, and strong relationships. All depicted through the beauty and wonder of the writing and the setting. (If you have a different definition.... ah, well, that's a different conversation. This is the conclusion I've come to.) Let me run through them and show how this show nails all of these. (also this is mostly spoiler free. I think. I'll try. Being vague does not come easily to me😅)

Selflessness in the face of Evil

Being selfless in the face of Evil is really important, and can be split two ways I think. A) Being selfless can be a smack back at evil in general, even if it isn't exactly an 'evil thing' you're taking action against B) Having to choose between Good and Evil and by choosing Good, is being Selfless, because often doing the Evil, selfish thing would be a lot easier and more beneficial towards you.

This is praised in the show again and again and again. Many characters have a choice presented to them: do x, the easy and good-looking thing, for their own self-interest, or do y, the harder and scarier and sacrifical thing that might hurt them but help others. And often as a smack in the face of evil. This kid is offered a change at practically unlimited power that is from an evil source, and allured by it, starts to stray down that path, realizes the consequences of his own actions, and pulls back, confesses the wrong that he did to save others. That's just one vague example, there are a dozen.

And characters who are presented with this choice and choose to be selfish, then as a byproduct or purposefully choose evil as a result, are, or will be in future seasons, punished. The one guy that encouraged this kid to choose evil and egged him on until the kid made the right desicion? He dies later.

How Virtue will overcome Evil

Virtue! One of Tolkien's biggest talking points ever! And how by being virtuous, it directly overcomes Evil, even if it seems like a small thing. Choosing peace (or righteous war, depending on the circumstance, that can be virtuous too), truth, compassion, mercy, loyalty, kindness, love, etc etc, and often when the other person doesn't deserve it, is so highly stressed. And all of these virtues and more are wielded against characters/circumstances that represent evil, and the virtue of those choices and moments overcomes the evil.

There are twenty million examples of this in the show. Big and small. You'll see it, the utter goodness is very apparent.

The Will to Battle Temptation

Frodo and the Ring is one of the most iconic depictions of battling temptation of all time, point-blank period. The show carries this on too. The temptation for this one character to succumb to wrath and rage and having to beat it back with a stick (and mostly having other characters help pull her out of it) is a very big theme in the first season especially, and it continues in other ways as well. Season Two absolutely nails this with a character getting carried away by their hubris and want to create something great, but then at the end overcomes this temptation and wins the fight, even though they technically lose. It's so well done.

Humility

*screeches* I cannot emphasize enough how much they nail humility. Every good character has it in one way or another, and every evil character is prideful. Very clear morals and message. And one character starts out pretty prideful but then as the show continues is becoming more and more humble, and I predict by Season 3 they'll have had their full character arc and settle into their 'true self' if that makes sense.

Wisdom and Knowledge

Ah yes. The seeking and having of wisdom and knowledge is highly praised and sought after. Do not even have to explain this, it's Tolkien we're talking about here lol. One of my favorite moments is when Elrond risks his and Gil-Galad's life to prevent the Library of Celebrimbor from being destroyed. The preservation of knowledge is so cruical. Because knowledge and wisdom point back to the source of knowledge and wisdom.

The Simple Life

One of the really good things about The Hobbit and Trilogy is how the Hobbit's lifestyle (while some parts of Hobbit society are teased, or their complacency is sometimes frowned upon), is that the idea of a simple, hardworking life, is greatly loved. Doing hard physical labor by growing your own food, having close relationships with your kin, and celebrating every part of life and enjoying the gifts you have are all commented on and esteemed by other characters in other societies.

This theme isn't as central to the show's plot, but it'd definitely there. Especially with the dwarves. Even though it's a grand, Second Age show and story, with a lot of BIG stuff, they do weave some of these moments in and its very sweet.

Strong Relationships

THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE. PERFECTLY DONE IN THE SHOW. BEST WRITTEN-PARTS. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TOLKIEN DOES EVER.

We've got sibling-like best friend relationships, a found father-son relationship, strong parent-child relationships, healthy romantic (married!!!) relationships, 'normal' best friendships, relationships full of loyalty, honor, respect, hard choices, trust, love, tenderness, I could go on and on and on. This is the strongest writing of the show. The characters all have incredible chemistry with each other, and the actors play off of each other so well, I have just died with happiness so many times getting to watch all of these character interactions and relationships come to life. I need to make more posts gushing about my favorite ones.

I am so thankful that the show is doing this, because it seems to me in mainstream media today that broken relationships are the normal and its really disheartening to see such brokeness to be celebrated. But getting to see all of these strong, amazing relationships so well written and so well played out is just... the best.

And best part? All of these strong relationships point back to Christ. Which I'm sure some, or maybe all of that, is unintentional. I'm 95% sure that the actor for Elendil, Lloyd Owens is Christian/Catholic (I can explain why later), but besides that, I don't know if anyone working on the show is Christian. But that's the thing about incredible storytelling, isn't it? Good things naturally point back to the source of good, Jesus, whether its intentional or not. And every good relationship in the show points back to Him. And in a masterful way.

All depicted through the Beauty and Wonder of the Writing and the Setting

This is the absolute best part of the show, hands down. The sets, music, costumes, setting, and just overall beauty of the show are unparalled. They are even better than the OG trilogy. I mean, look at these! (ignore the bad quality on some of these please lol)

Settings (GORGEOUS)

Costumes:

And I cannot even begin to describe to you the beauty of the music. Bear McCreary has 10000% lived up to Howard Shore's legacy and every single track in the show is fire. He's used so many cool and rare instruments and is an excellent composer! Every soundtrack theme for each place and character brings them to life so much and its amazing. And the songs that do have vocals, whether choir 'ahs' or actual words, have gorgeous singing! (Fun Fact: he also composed they Percy Jackson show soundtrack!!! The theme for the Underworld, specifically the desert scene, uses the same instrument, a duduk I believe, and it sounds so similar and so cool! [I actually realized that he was the one who did it by watching the PJ show, recognizing his composing style from RoP, then frantically Googling it to then be thrilled I was right lol])

Beauty in Tolkien is so important. This guy's descriptions of places and people are some of my favorite writing ever and the style I eagerly took inspiration from as a baby writer when I first started out. And the Peter Jackson trilogy did a really good job at capturing the physical beauty of Middle Earth! Each time I watch those movies I am filled with nostalgia and a longing for it. (*cough* human heart longing for Eden *cough*)

Rings of Power has absolutely bumped it up. Having a lot more money helps lol. They've hired incredibly gifted people to work super hard on all of this. The sets, music, costumes, items, the intricate detail of every single thing is utterly beautiful and incredible to see. Almost everything in this show is practical, they've used CGI a shockingly small amount and it shows. It is utterly gorgeous. I have just been blown away with every watch and rewatch.

Beauty points back to God. And this show points back to True Beauty in every way.

Finally, here are a few extra bits that I really like about the show that don't quite fit neatly into the categories above.

Acting and Characters

The acting! Superb! Every one of these actors deserves an award. They are I N C R E D I B L E. I need to make an entire post talking about how each of these characters is acted to perfection. The face acting some of these people have??? It's amazing! The way they carry their characters differently after different events! So so so good. I am just blown away, they all need awards.

Now. I am going to say something very controversal that many people who I've told this opinon to Do Not Like. I think it is absolutely stupid that people are discrediting the show because of its 'forced ethnic representation'. Sorry.

Yeah, in Tolkien's work, there isn't much of anything said about black elves or dwarves or Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Numenoreans and Southlanders. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. And having a diverse cast doesn't automatically make the show bad. It does the total opposite I think. Every one of these actors deserves to be here and is incredibly capable. And it is true that we do need good representation in media- and we've got to do it well.

Amazon has done this incredibly tastefully. Some movie companies (*hem hem hem* DISNEY I'M GLARING AT YOU) have just black-washed characters, called it representation, and have moved on with their day having checked all the boxes. Sometimes I think changing a character's ethnicity when doing a remake can be good, if it is done well. There has been a couple cases Disney switched things up and I thought it was good. But for the most part, its forced representation and poorly done. And nobody likes that.

But that is NOT what Rings of Power is doing. The thing about how Amazon is doing it that I utterly respect is all of their diverse and incredible characters are their own original guys. And it adds a LOT of depth to the show, and it is GOOD REPRESENTATION. If they had made Galadriel, Elrond, Celebrimbor, or another canonical white character that is white because it adds to their character and is central to the plot had been made black, I've probably would've been pretty upset. Because part of what defines Galadriel is her physical appearance. If that had changed that it would've changed her character.

But they haven't. And that's my point. They are doing the diverse representation in the way that I think all adaptation people should do it! With their original characters in a way that adds to the story and with incredible actors. Not to mention that the acting from those characters is some of the best in the show. Rings of Power is quite literally what I think should be the gold standard of representation in media, specifically adaptations.

Anyway. That's what I think. I'll die on this hill. Moving on.

Practical Stuff and Cinematography

Like I've already said, almost all of their sets were actually built and actually acted in. There are very few scenes that a green screen was used on. And it shows! Everything looks so real and so fluid beacsue it IS so real and so fluid. I love it. Sets? Real. Stunts? Real. Lighting? Real. Everything is real! To my knowledge, the only things they've used much CGI on is the monsters! And even then, they have practical frames as the bulk, and the CGI is to just smooth things over.

The practical effects in this show are some of the most amazing things ever. LOOK AT THE ORCS.

THEY USED REAL PROSTHETICS AND IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!

LOOK AT THE STUNTS THAT THEY'VE DONE!!

(Sadly I can't find many good stunt RoP gifs but just trust me on this. I have gasped so many times over what hard work these guys have done for fight scenes.)

And the way that they've used cinematography and lighting and camera angles is just... masterful. I'll have to give so many specific examples later. It's some of the best filmaking I've ever seen, they've used the budget ~wonderfully~ You get sucked into the moment and it's amazing.

Appreciating the Story

Now I'm gonna be slightly blunt. I think a lot of people hate the show because they're, for lack of a better term 'purists'. Which isn't a bad thing! Having these people in every fandom is super important! Keeps its foundation solid. I'm one of these people in many cases.

But when looking at a work where the literal purpose is to deviate from some of what Tolkein wrote, and then get angry when it isn't a word-for-word recreation is silly. In Amazon's contract with the Tolkien Estate, it was a key condition that they could NOT reproduce anything from the Silmarillion except on a case-by-case basis that had to be approved by the Estate first. They bought the rights to the Fellowship, Two Towers, Return of the King, Hobbit, and Appendices. And they agreed with the Estate to make a Second Age show. This means that they have limited material to work with. They are REQUIRED to deviate from Tolkien's original story about those early tales in many cases. So a lot of people are angry that they didn't do x, but they literally are not allowed to. They have to take creative licence with many of these storylines. And the way that so many people are ripping every single little detail about the show to threads just makes me so upset. You are getting hung-up over the tiniest things! JUST ENJOY THE STORY. If you nit-pick the death out of everything of course its gonna die. You are holding RoP to an impossible standard.

This is another reason why many people didn't like the first season so much, but love the second a lot more. Because in Season 1, they had to set the chessboard and make a lot of stuff up and change quite a bit so they could actually have room to move. Then in Season 2, we have a lot more canon stuff that we see in stuff like the appendices, which they did SO WELL. With the writing of the show, you do have to hold a lot of the canon stuff loosely because you have to. But once you let go and sit back and enjoy this new story, it is utterly fantastic, and lines up with the Spirit of Tolkien at almost every turn, which I've already shared.

Huzzah. This is why I love Rings of Power. I've probably missed a thing or two but that's pretty much all of it. Please watch it. *bows*

It annoys me to no end with so many people saying that Rings of Power isn’t ‘in the spirit of Tolkien’ when they haven’t even watched it.

Seriously? There are things I do not like about the show and wish they had done differently, but almost all of it is utterly amazing. Every person who’s worked on that project has poured so much time and effort into it, and for an incredible result.

And by the way, when you say ‘spirit of Tolkien’ what do you even mean? How are you defining that? Because that show absolutely screams Tolkien by my measurement, not to mention his literal family is working on the project personally, and it 100% measures up to Peter Jackson’s work.

And you haven’t even watched it. Just watch it and try it. You watch enough bad media already just to criticize it, why not this? You’re gonna like it more than you think.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAHHHH back to this stuff o.o

Uh ohhhh

Okay a lot of this is kinda review so far but still 😬😬😬

Ooope not liking this shifty looking people shots

OOOOOOPE BOBBY'S PUNCHING SOMEBODY

OOHHHHH NOOO THEY CALLING THE POLICE

UH OH

BOBBY IK YOU'RE LOOKING FOR RECORDS BUT YOU'RE GONNA GET ARRESTED

AAAAHHHHHH

WAIT THAT'S NOT THE END??

A F I R E???!!?!??

AAAHHHHH THIS IS N O T GOOD O.O

UH OHHHH THEY'RE BLAMING BOBBY

Oh no o.o for some reason they're gonna blame him immediately 😬😬😬😳😳

I mean even though it's wrong I'm sure there's a reason but xD

Still 😳😳😳 o.o

Oh dang xd

Holy crap xD

I am STRESSED lol y'all xDD

That's the last of my last thoughts! Now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I absolutely loved loved LOVED this episode!!! I ADORED it :'DDD!!! It was so so good :'))). All the metaphors, with the space in between stuffed with ANGST 😭😭😭? SIGN ME UP :DD. But seriously lol, clearly this was something Buck really needed :'). Like, the lessons he learned from it, or that he finally solidified <33. My point is it's an important part of his storyline and character development and it was great to see :D. Plus, again, angst lol. Everybody was angsting and it was g r e a t 🥰🥰🥰.

Now, it's time for the individual bits!

Hen! I loved seeing her sit with Buck :')). Yes I will say this about all of them lol <33. They were all there for him, as they should be :'D. And also, dream her was slaying XD. As Buck said, she didn't really change lol. Icon in, icon out xD. Like in or out of the dream lol. But I'm glad she helped Buck find his way home :')) 🥰. And sometimes she was just hilarious too XDD. Anyway, she was great at her job :')). I love her ❤️❤️.

Athena :)). She was great :'DD. Her little pep talk to Buck 😭😭. I loved it :')). It was almost like a lecture lol, but basically I just mean emotional moment. It was great <33. And while I know she wasn't gonna say it, I know she felt the pain too :')). She was scared as well ❤️. But at the same time, seeing her care (and dead) for Bobby was just :'))). It was lovely, they're lovely, I love them <33. And I'm sure she was great at her job whenever she was going it lol. I love her ❤️❤️❤️.

Maddie <3. She was amazing this episode 😭. Seeing her build back (or even just build) that relationship with her mom a bit :'))? Just beautiful <3. And the annggst 😭😭. Again lol y'all, I was having the time of my life xD. Her being at Buck's side was of course amazing <333. I felt so bad for her - and dream her too DD':. Still being married to Doug?? That's awful :'((. It was a horrible reminder, but it makes sense for how that dream world was working, and it was great, if sad <33. I love her so much :')) 🥰. And I'm sure she was great at her job at some point lol xD. My traditions are becoming too much lol. And too many xD. Idk, I might change em up sometime, we'll see :). It's just usually a good thing to remember, and sometimes reminds me of other things. Anyway! She's amazing <333 ❤️.

Eddie (and Christopher)! No matter how much I'd like to put him higher, and though his smaller bits of reactions that we saw were very important to me, I have bigger plot stuff to say about the others so I'mma put him here lol. And Chris, of course. Chris was wonderful 🥰🥰. His scene with Buck was so heartbreaking and also adorable 😭😭😭❤️. And that hug at the end :')). I'm sorry for dream temptation him <3, but that bit was a little funny lol. Anyway, I love him 🥰🥰. Now back to Eddie! I do wish we'd seen a bit more of his reactions, but I'm okay with what we got :)). We've had plenty of Buck being worried about him before to show their relationship as a whole lol, so this'll work for now xD. Anyway, him during Christopher's scene with Buck was just heartbreaking 😭😭. His little turn away at the beginning (idk how to describe it it's just aOUGh the angst xD), the tears 😭😭💔❤️. Wonderful, beautiful <33. And of course, he looked so hally when he saw Buck awake :')). I love him so much <33. Also though, poor dream him 😭😭! Dream Eddie was going through it fr :((. Ik it's just a dream but I hope he got it sorted out and was with Christopher again xdd <333. Also, he was amazing at his job :')).

Chim! I loved him this episode :'DD 🥰. He was great :')). All the scenes of him with Buck/waiting for Buck were amazing 😭😭, and the dream scenes were great too :)). Even though he was crazy (well yk not really but XD) he went along with it lol :'). An icon fr <33. Or maybe for sure lol. Eh, both :)) xD. I will say I didn't expect to see so much of Chim's storyline with his dad this episode! I mean it wasn't even that much but still. It was a pleasant surprise though! And I mean, they had to have some other storyline lol. But, anyway, I'm glad he's finally getting that relationship with his dad :')). Just like Maddie :DD. It's not perfect, obviously, and this is only the beginning, but it was really great to see :')). His conversation with Albert was great (as was Albert himself - love you by the way Albert 🥰🥰😌), and his stepmom's talk with him really shined a light on the whole situation :)). I'm so glad he asked them to stay longer :DD. Also his dad with Jee-un.was absolutely ADORABLE 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰!! Also, Chimney was great at his job lol :)).

Bobby! I loved him this episode :'D. We saw a bunch of his relationship with Buck, which is always cool to see, and again, the angst :))) 😭🥰. Seeing him at Buck's bedside (and how worried May and Athena were for him, just by itself and also because that means he was there a lot lol) was wonderful as well ❤️❤️❤️. And I love how even dream Bobby still helped Buck get home :')). And of course, passed on the ever-applicable and wonderful advice: You were being Buck :'))). Amazing 😭😭❤️❤️❤️ <3. I mean, original dream Bobby was going through it 😭, given that he was dead and all, but second dream Bobby was good xD. I am worried about Bobby next week, it looks like it gonna be intense o.o 😬😬😬. We've already seen how much this is affecting him, and I just know it ain't gonna be pretty :// 😬 :((. I'm sure it'll all end up okay though :')) <33. It better, anyway, lol xD. Nervous and excited for it, though!! Also the card game at the end was so cute :'DD. And of course Bobby was great at his job this episode <33.

Buck! Lastly :)). He was so, so amazing this episode <333 :')). Seeing his whole journey was awesome, and again, as I said, I think it was really important character development :')). He had a lot to work through, or at least finally solidify, to get out, but he did it :)) <333. And it was so beautiful (and plenty angsty too lol) the whole time 🥰🥰😭. Plus, seeing him even in supposedly "perfect" world trying to fix everything :')). Not in a bad way, even - I just mean like trying to help Maddie <33. It was amazing, and he was great :'DD 🥰🥰🥰😭❤️. And also, the scene at the end was so great :'DD. Him running, with the music, and then arguing first with Daniel, then visibly with himself (since technically he had been the whole time), clearing the pills and shelves out of the way, and then BREAKING THROUGH THE GLASS AND WAKING UP :DDDD!!!! It was all just so cool, and amazing :)) :'DDD. I loved it so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️. But yeah, he was just so great the entire episode :)). And he was clearly so happy at the end, after waking up 🥰🥰🥰 :')). And don't even get me STARTED on the COUCHHHH 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰. Just like Maddie lol xD. Except it's not the story itself but the symbolism and emotional story/meaning :')). I just- IT!!! Even though I was obviously hoping for it to be more directly associated with Eddie xD, it was still great lol :')). He has love :). And he knows it <33. I love him so so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️ :').

Overall, I really loved this episode. I thought it was absolutely amazing :)). Super emotional, obviously xdd 😭😭, but so great :'DD. The emotions just made it better :'))). So, not really a "but", but an "and" :). Seeing everyone there for Buck was of course heartbreaking but wonderful, and Chimney, Maddie, and Buck's newfound/healing relationships with their parents were beautiful :')). I'm so happy for them <33. And I'm so glad Buck is okay :'DDD. And I'm happy for the emotional stuff he managed to move through :')). He's made such progress, and he made even more this episode <33. In so proud of him :'DD. I'm worried for Bobby next week 😬. Like I already said, we've seen how much this is affecting him already, and I think we're just gonna see that getting worse and worse next episode o.o 😬. I really hope it all works out <33. Despite my nervousness though, I'm still really excited for it :D. We'll see what happens! It better all be okay lol 🥰🥰. But back to this episode, it was just so good :). All the little parts, little moments, little details, were so amazing. They complimented the bigger picture stuff so we'll, and it was just really well done :))) ❤️❤️🥰.

So yeah! I loved this episode. It was just so amazing and well done. I'm nervous for next time! This has been my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 6, Episode 11: In Another Life

It was so great! I'm scared for next episode, but really excited to see what happens. I'll be back next week with my review of. . .

9-1-1, Season 6, Episode 12: Recovery

See you then!

[destinysbounty]

zane and nya for character opinion bingo

ZANE

Oh god blorbo supreme. The original blorbo. This nindroid can fit so much trauma in him. I could rant about him for a million years. Im like this close to giving into temptation and making a 20-minute compilation of all my favorite Zane moments (listen, the party pooper scene lives in my head rent-free at all times). Oh god he needs so much therapy, and no, locking your trauma in a digital puzzle box does not count as therapy.

Some people characterize him as some emotionless and boring lawful good. Some people characterize him as an uwu wholesome softboi. But in my opinion, the most correct interpretation is Dorky Suburban Dad.

Think about it. He wore a button-up and khakis to the beach. He dresses up in a full scuba skin-suit whenever they have a party in their own damn hot tub. He once wore a sweater vest with snowflakes on it. On their lil desert road trip he entertained himself by reading about regional trivia, and delighted in sharing this trivia with his friends. He loves playing board games, especially chess. He likes to make ice puns. He loves cooking. He's the closest thing they have to a responsible adult. When he became the team leader in season 5 he kept everyone pumped with all those silly little sayings like "one team one dream!" He apparently loves detective fiction. He thinks that walking like a pirate with a peg-leg will get people to respect him. He loves astronomy and, according to Lloyd, "knows the solar system better than anyone". Whenever someone is upset he's always there providing a comforting smile and a pat on the shoulder. He spent 5 minutes debating the morality of making an ice ramp for a slug. He doesn't understand pop culture. Zane is a dorky suburban dad and you can't change my mind.

He's also a fashion icon. For example, when he died, the ninja all became a total fashion disaster in his absence. We all saw it. None of them matched. Like did you see Kai's horrendous lil fight club costume? Jay's atrocious tv host suit? And Cole just straight up wasn't even wearing a shirt anymore. And even when they came back together, their ninja suits still didn't match! And sure, it was meant to symbolize how disjointed they'd become in the wake of his loss, but STILL. The fact that their CLOTHES of all things were out of wack indicates to me that he's the only one on the team with any fashion sense.

And let's not forget the moment from Seabound where he decided to wear the breathing mask despite not needing oxygen because "I like how it completes my attire". And his Snake Jaguar costume!!! And his titty-out look in The Island! And not to mention how the Detective Zane outfit is a LOOK. He rocks the hell out of that trenchcoat.

This is all to say, Lego needs to release the forbidden bikini Zane content or I'm gonna break in and find it myself.

NYA

Ohoho, the fandom does Nya SOOO dirty. Especially since she's not as outwardly affectionate as Jay, so a lot of people interpret this as her being more callous and unloving towards him. She A) has a metric ton of childhood baggage, and B) expresses her affection in different ways! Jay might say 'I love you' with words more often, but she shows how much she cares through acts of service and quality time and whatnot.

Also. Hot take but Nya has some of the most compelling character arcs and subplots in this entire goddamn show. Teaming up with Dareth to spy on Chen? Overcoming her gifted child syndrome in season 5? The X Cave fight in season 7????? Struggling to keep the resistance alive even when all her friends were dead, doing everything in her power to keep Lloyd from losing hope even though they were the only ones left???????????? The entirety of Seabound??????????

The show definitely blunders often in terms of the whole sexism/performative feminism thing, for sure. Looking at you, Skybound. But she also has a LOT of character arcs where her being the Girl^TM isn't even at all relevant. Season 5. Season 7. Season 9. Season 10. Season 11. Season 15.

Anyway Nya is amazing and she deserves better from the fandom, and I will die on this hill. Nya didn't singlehandedly destroy hell itself just to be reduced to some shallow Designated Love Interest.