#the witch part one subversion

[most-screwed-by-writers-tourney]

Propaganda:

Ja Yoon and The Nobleman: Both were scientific experiments, but she managed to escape while he did not. Now he enjoys tormenting a seemingly amnesiac girl and threatening to kill those she loves, all for fun.

Yoonbum and Sangwoo: None submitted.

[khuantru]

If you are confused watching 'The Tyrant' on 'Disney Plus' - it's a mini show based on the same universe / time line as 'The Witch' part 1 & 2.

Hope season 2 gets picked up and they make it at least 8 episodes. Or maybe make a movie.

If you like 'The Witch', you'll enjoy this

[supremeshardan]

The lethal gaze be like:

[strongerpotions]

im like "choosing a profile picture is so hard" and then all the candidates are just various images of men soaked in blood

[shimuzuu05]

okay so idk but i have this sudden fanfic idea because of how hyped i am abt jjk while i watched both movies of The witch part 1 and 2. i suddenly imagined how fuckin sick it will be to have an oc or yn that is from The witch but got the attention of jujutsu sorcerers because of how powerful and questionable how she got her power from. they thought she was like Satoru but she she isn’t and thought she would be more like Sukuna then she becomes the greatest enemy of jjk world but Satoru found her weakness or something and even sukuna helped them HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA idk it’s so cool in my head.

[sasa-chan]

Day 13

White: Melody of Death (Hwaiteu: Jeojooui Mellodi - 화이트: 저주의 멜로디)

Year Released: 2011

Run Time: 1hr 46m

Director: Gok Kim, Sun Kim

Rating: PG-13

Genres: Horror, Music, Mystery

The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion (Manyeo - 마녀)

Year Released: 2018

Run Time: 2hr 5m

Director: Park Hoon-jung

Rating: Not Rated

Genres: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (Manyeo: Part2. The Other One - 마녀 Part2. The Other One)

Year Released: 2022

Run Time: 2hr 17m

Director: Park Hoon-jung

Genres: Action, Mystery, Thriller

[tranquildr3ams]

Double Feature: The Witch Part 1 The Subversion (2018) & Part 2 The Other One (2022)

Double Feature: The Witch Part 1 The Subversion (2018) & Part 2 The Other One (2022) #TheWitchPart1TheSubversion #TheWitchPart2TheOtherOne #Action #Horror #SouthKorean #Movie #Film #Review

The Witch: Part 1 The Subversion (2018) Director (and writer): Hoon-jung Park Cast: Da-mi Kim, Min-soo Jo, Woo-sik Choi, Min-Si Go, Hee-soon Park, Byeong-Ok Kim, Jung-woo Choi, Da-eun Jung, Ha-Na Kim A high school student with amnesia tries to uncover what has happened to her. All leading her into deeper troubles ultimately revealing a darkness she could not have imagined. – IMDB The first…

[four-unwell-lesbians]

Thinking about the way dungeon meshi does queer horror. Using horror to tell queer stories is already subversive, but dungeon meshi subverts it even more

Normal queer horror is like. A monsterous desire and immortal love of something isolated/hated and the uncontrollable but suppressed need to consume someone to live and they only die if you break/pierce their heart. its great.

In dungeon meshi, the group is STARVING. they do things the way they're expected to and they're so deprived that eventually, one of them is consumed by that monsterous desire.

Then when Falin becomes a monster, she doesn't eat Marcille because she doesn't NEED to, Marcille already offered herself up as part of Falin by mixing her own blood with the dragon's for the resurrection.

Also Marcille is a monster too!! She doesn't need to be turned by Falin. She's a 'witch' doing black magic for one but she's also very vampiric

Her name is super vampirey especially given one of the translation spellings was Marcilla, an annogram of Carmilla*. And Marcille is very similar to Marceline from Adventure Time so it's a name with heavy connotations to me. Also her staff is Ambrosia which means immortal.

*ps Carmilla is the original modern vampire that inspired Dracula and also a lesbian. she used annagrams of her name (Marcilla, Mircalla, Millarca) to disguise herself across hundreds of years.

Marcille is like. a vampire in that death is a big part of her theme. She can breathe that immortality into someone else using her resurrection black magic and death is a huge part of her character. She wants them to live as long as she does. To make them immortal. Like. Like a vampire. Vampires which are unholy when her love interest is a cleric.

But once again this is subverted!! she doesn't 'turn' Falin, she makes her undead by giving her own blood instead of taking Falin's. Falin becomes a monster not because she's attacked or turned, but because her DNA, something INHERENT about her is now intertwined with the monster. so a god-like figure merges them. Then the only way to free her from that frenzy and grant her autonomy again is to finally consume her. something inherently lesbian about all that i think idk about you

[anthurak]

Hey, I'm doing a presentation workshop at work and as part of it we each have to give a presentation about something we're passionate about, so I'm doing RWBY and focusing on the subversion of tropes (like how Jaune and Ruby have swapped the traditional male anime protagonist role and the backup role usually for a girl around) and multiple allusions for each character (Norse, LOTR, fairy tale, wizard of Oz etc) and how they're shown.

Do you have any favourite theories or allusions around the main two teams, the Ozluminati or STRQ? Thanks!

Oooh, sounds fun! XD

That's a great question, and honestly when it comes to Team RWBY, I think my favorite allusions are simply how the story flips and twists the core allusions of the main girls:

Ruby is a Little Red Riding Hood who, rather then being menaced and hunted by a monster in the woods, is HERSELF a hunter of monsters. A Red Riding Hood who goes into the woods to hunt the monsters so that others may be safe.

Weiss is a Snow White who is both the 'Disney Princess' AND the 'Knight in Shining Armor'. A girl who probably would have been pushed into a traditional 'princess' role by her controlling, abusive father, but who instead essentially became the 'Knight' to rescue herself, and strives to be a noble figure to help others as well.

And of course, Blake being BOTH the 'Beauty' and 'The Beast' of her allusion. With Yang complimenting said allusion by likewise being both the 'Beast' to Blake's 'Beauty' and the 'Beauty' to Blake's 'Beast'. And how Adam manages to likewise represent both Gaston and the Cursed Rose.

There is also my 'Odin!Ruby' theories, though I will freely admit those are more 'fun headcanons' at the moment, rather then something really held up by the narrative.

There is also something just so damn cool about Salem essentially being 'The Wicked Witch of the West' crossed with SAURON (with a bit of 'Galadrial if she took the Ring' vibes thrown in) XD

And Cinder presenting just this AMAZING dark, tragic twist on Cinderella as a villain origin story. Where Cinderella finally fights back and even KILLS her wicked and cruel step-mother and sisters who so long kept her under their boot, only for the people/person she trusted most to turn on her and side with those very oppressors. Showing just how much the society she lived in was entirely okay with the terrible oppression that was done to her.

The fact that the show manages to give us a Wizard of Oz who really is a powerful wizard, yet also STILL turns out to be a massive fraud who lied to everyone.

Even after all this time, I think some of my favorite allusions in the show are still the ones at the core of the main characters.

[ride-thedragon]

Part 1: Why is Nettles black?

TLDR: George subverts a bunch of stereotypes specifically tied to black women in media with Nettles, she's black, innocent, not practising magic, young, doesn't nurture or take care of anyone and her own sexual experiences aren't exploited in her narrative rather in a projection of someone. The closest she comes to any other race is when they call her a dragon lady at the end, which is an Asian stereotype but not something invoked to critique. Nettles is black.

So I said it before, but now again, this is a two part post because when it comes to this character, I think the relevance of her race is often lost because of what is percieved as a greater narrative purpose. But Nettles race and specifically her being black is important to her story. The next part will delve into her role in the narrative as a black girl, but this part is generally why I can say she's black with confidence using the written narrative.

STEREOTYPES/ TROPES

There are multiple stereotypes used to box black women in specifically from the inception of race in media. Some of the most prominent are the (in great reduction to the nuance):

Sapphire: angry, loud, and rude black woman

Jezabel: sex driven, lust bound, and seductive black woman

Mammy: nurturing, sexless and typcially bigger black woman.

Magical black woman: linked to some sort of witchcraft practice but not central to the narrative. Not to be confused with the magical negros trope which is different.

Tragic Mulatto: mixed raced stereotype that they belong no where.

Ghetto: I saw this recently, but this is basically the hood girl trope.

Grown black girl: this is when they treat black girls as older than they are, like adults when they are kids.

These concepts have smaller sub tropes, and there are more stereotypes, but even to this extent, there is a battle with media literacy when it comes to the way people see black female characters in media.

For the sake of Nettles, we'll be covering all in the next part. Along with the history, seeing as most if not all the origins for these tropes can be found in Slavery.

SUBVERSIONS.

With the sapphire trope, George manages to give Nettles these characteristics and add on to them, so while they are a part of her character, there is depth and nuance. She is rude, called foul-mouthed in the narrative, but she is also fearless and smart. She never gets angry in the written narrative, but she does cry and mourn and show an emotional intelligence we don't get from all her peers. She defies the expectation of a rude, lowborn character being crass, lusty or power hungry, and jealous alone.

The Jezabel story is a perverse fantasy. A black woman is solely driven by lust and desire, nothing more than a sexual object. It's a trope that actively harms young black girls as well. So, in the books, whether or not you believe Nettles has sex, she isn't solely there for it. She isn't just there to have sex with Daemon, and when it is brought up, the men around her prioritise the innocence of her youth rather than the treason she is said to commit.

Nettles doesn't really fit the many trope as she is younger than the trope typically allows for but within the narrative of all the connections we could've gotten we got one with a Prince rather than with children to communicate the fact that she loves but she isn't a care taker.

The magical black woman stereotype or black witch stereotype is rooted in the both spirituality and abuse. White women would use both the Jezabel stereotype and this one to claim that the reason their husbands would sleep with the enslaved women of the plantation were because they were sexually deviant seductresses who ensnared the men basically.

This is the clearest stereotype George both evokes and subverts. He purposefully wrote that in to draw a real world parallel and subverting it in his book.

Lastly, the tragic mulatto stereotype is the trope of two white for the black side to black for the white side. Basically, they are sad because they have nowhere to belong. Interestingly, George doesn't use this at all. Which to me was an indicator that Nettles doesn't have this complex. All the people of colour, especially the brown skinned ones, have a complex relationship with the Valyrians, but Nettles doesn't.

ONE EXCEPTION.

This isn't really an exception, but more so a name he uses that is tied to a trope. Nettles is called a dragon lady out of context of the stereotypes in the books. The reason I brought it up was because a lot of people seem to think Nettles could be any kind of brown in the narrative, which isn't exactly correct. The dragon lady stereotype is tied to many Asain women, but the content of it isn't tied to Nettles past the name.

I think we have moved past the need for the Ghetto trope. It's basically someone who grew up in an urban, low income area and whose behaviour represents the culture there. I don't think Nettles is a victim of Reaganomics so I don't think she's affected by this.

Nettles is also purposefully treated as a young lady in the narrative. She's the Westeros equivalent of 18 and is treated by the men of her narrative as a girl. She's called a child, said to be innocent and freed from her sentence because of it. The exception to this is with Daemon Targaryen, who sexualises her narrative, but it isn't meant to be explotative AS IT IS WRITTEN. It's presented as love.

OVERALL.

George uses black women stereotypes and tropes in media and subverts them with Nettles. He specifically uses her appearance to justify it and allows him to communicate with race without saying it out loud. Nettles is a black character written in a story where she can defy the media conventions of her identity. She is back for a reason and none at all.

[most-screwed-by-writers-tourney]

Propaganda:

Ja Yoon and The Nobleman: Both were scientific experiments, but she managed to escape while he did not. Now he enjoys tormenting a seemingly amnesiac girl and threatening to kill those she loves, all for fun.

Victor and Elizabeth, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein (art by Nanfe1789): As a child, he didn’t want to be separated from Elizabeth even for school, and he didn’t react well to Henry kissing her. As an adult, he’s much worse, orchestrating Justine’s death not only for his experiments but because he was jealous of Elizabeth's love for her.

[be-gay-find-cryptids]

(Part 1) Film & TV Recommendations for Halloween

1. Over the Garden Wall (Miniseries, 2014)

Over the Garden Wall features two half-brothers, Wirt and Gregory, who have become lost in a mysterious wood called The Unknown and attempt to find their way back home.

...

This beautifully crafted animated miniseries is the best thing to come out of Cartoon Network even after ten years. The unique atmosphere, which blends fairytale charm with Gothic eeriness, perfectly compliments the early 20th-century Americana-styled animation. At just ten episodes, Over the Garden Wall is a short but impactful experience that lingers with you long after it ends. I highly recommend this series.

2. Coraline (Film, 2009)

Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life.

...

This stop-motion animated film is a deeply unsettling and visually stunning experience. Blending a dark fairytale narrative with otherworldly imagery, it presents itself as a psychological horror for young and older audiences alike. Coraline explores the complex ideas about family, identity, and the dangers of wish fulfillment with grace. I strongly recommend this film.

3. ParaNorman (Film, 2012)

Norman Babcock, a young boy who can communicate with ghosts, is given the task of ending a 300-year-old witch's curse on his Massachusetts town.

...

This heartfelt stop-motion animated film blends humor, horror, and themes of ostracization and acceptance. While blending classic horror movie tropes with a coming-of-age story, it manages to portray strong themes of prejudice by using zombies, witches, and ghoulish imagery. If you're looking for a unique spin on classic B-movie horror, I highly recommend this film.

4. Happy Death Day (Film, 2017)

A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.

...

Happy Death Day is an entertaining mashup of slasher horror and Groundhog Day-style time loop storytelling. This film stands out from all the rest of the horror-comedy franchise due to its emotion, mystery, and character growth. While it doesn't push boundaries for horror, it makes up for its uniqueness that balances humor and suspense. If you're looking for a horror-comedy film, I strongly recommend this one.

5. Jennifer's Body (Film, 2009)

A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who kills her male classmates and devours their flesh in order to survive.

...

Though it was sorely misunderstood when it originally came out, it has recently garnered rightful attention for its subversive take on the horror-comedy genre. This film blends teen drama and supernatural horror and uses its genre to touch upon the objectification of women in horror and in reality. Its wit, self-awareness, and social commentary have made it a standout in the horror-comedy genre, and for that, I strongly recommend this film.

6. Sinister: Recut (Film, 2012)

Ellison Oswalt is a struggling true-crime writer whose discovery of snuff films depicting gruesome murders and strange supernatural elements in his new house puts his family in danger.

...

Said to be one of the scariest films ever from a research study, Sinister is a deeply unsettling horror movie that perfectly mixes supernatural elements with psychological tension. The haunting score combined with the grainy, nightmarish footage of the murders results in an unnerving experience that sits with you long after you turn the lights out. Instead of watching the original movie, I strongly recommend this fanedit version of the film. It elevates the movie by removing some of the cheesy jumpscares and awkward dialog. If you're looking for a genuinely haunting movie this Halloween, I recommend this one.

7. 1408 (Film, 2007)

Author Michael Enslin, who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences, checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel in New York City.

...

This film excels in building suspense, using minimal special effects, and relying on our main characters' isolation and psychological unraveling to create fear. While this movie isn't as overtly terrifying as other horror films, 1408 offers an eerie, slow-burn experience, blending supernatural elements with personal trauma. The film has two different endings, the theatrical version and the director's cut. I'd suggest watching both to come to the conclusion of your favorite. It's a must-watch for fans of psychological horror, and I strongly recommend this film.

8. Midsommar (Film, 2019)

A couple travels to Northern Europe to visit a rural hometown's fabled Swedish mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

...

This is a visually stunning and disturbing horror film set against the backdrop of a bright, idyllic Swedish village. The movie stands out for its unique approach to horror, unfolding almost entirely in daylight, creating a sense of unease through its striking visuals, unnerving atmosphere, and slow-building dread. Midsommar is a polarizing piece of media, mixing folk horror with psychological drama, and is filled with symbolism and unsettling imagery. I highly recommend this film if you're looking to be disturbed this Halloween.

9. Skinamarink (Film, 2022)

A young brother and sister wake up during the night to discover that their father is missing and that the windows, doors, and other objects in their house have vanished.

...

Skinamarink is an experimental analog horror film that trades traditional narrative for a surreal, nightmarish atmosphere. Shot in grainy, low-light cinematography, the film immerses you in a disorienting and eerie world where fear of the unknown takes center stage. The film’s strength lies in its ability to evoke childhood fears, using abstract visuals and unsettling sound design to create a sense of dread. However, its unconventional approach may alienate some people who expect a clear plot or resolution. The minimal dialogue and deliberate pacing make Skinamarink more of a mood piece than a traditional horror film, relying on atmosphere over jump scares. For those willing to embrace its experimental nature, Skinamarink offers a haunting and disquieting experience that lingers long after it ends, tapping into primal fears of isolation and helplessness. For all these reasons, I highly recommend that you check out this film.

10. Heck (Short Film, 2020)

A child wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of his mom's television blaring.

...

Heck is a short film that shares a similar atmospheric approach to the creator's feature-length film Skinamarink. Like Skinamarink, it explores the feeling of being trapped in a surreal, dreamlike space. The film's minimalist aesthetic, with grainy visuals and a haunting soundscape, creates a disorienting atmosphere that leaves much to the imagination. It builds tension through its slow pacing, relying on the viewer's discomfort with the unknown rather than traditional horror tropes. For people who thought Skinamarink's runtime was excessive, Heck is a great substitute that captures the same atmosphere of the former. I highly recommend this film to people who have enjoyed Skinamarink's take on horror.

[the-mortuary-witch]

DEITY MASTERLIST (PART TWO)

📿 Kuan Yin

Goddess of: mercy and compassion

Culture: Chinese/Buddhist

Symbols: vase, rosary, willow branch, fish basket, and pearls

Plants: lotus, willow, and bamboo

Animals: horse, peacock, dragon, and birds

Colours: white

Tarot: Judgment

Offerings: oranges, pomegranates, spices, oolong tea, incense, and love and compassion for both yourself and others

🌱 Lada

Goddess of: spring, beauty, love, and fertility

Culture: Slavic

Symbols: Lada Star, bells, and Spring Equinox

Plants: linden, dandelion, peony, and birch

Animals: lark, deer, ant, and eagle

Colours: red and white

Tarot: Page of Cups and The Lovers

Offerings: honey, music, mead, apples, sweets, lemon balm, cherries, and chestnuts

🌉 Lilith

Goddess of: love, demons, beauty, wisdom, life, rebirth, fertility, motherhood, inner-strength, illumination, mysteries, spiritual initiation, the night, and The Evening Star

Culture: Demonic

Symbols: sword, pentagram, scythe, moon, dragon, snake, crossroad, dark moon, and pentacle

Plants: apple, poisonous plants (belladonna, hemlock, and mugwort), sandalwood, rose, dandelion, red hibiscus, witch hazel, lilac, and patchouli

Animals: black cats, snakes, owls, dogs, spiders, bats, and goats

Colours: red, black, purple, blue, green, silver, and gold

Tarot: The Devil

Offerings: black candles, black stones, or black crystals, honey, champagne, seductive perfume, fancy jewelry, tea, exercise, having sex and/or masterbating, swords and daggers, pomegranates, dark chocolate, sex toys or other items related to sex and pleasure, dragon’s blood, flowers and herbs: lilies, red roses, sage, basil, mugwort, and rose, dancing, red wine, clay, depictions of owls, snakes, cats, dogs, bats, dragons, and spiders, mirrors, apples, red or black silk, and poetry.

🤘 Loki

God of: mischief and trickery

Culture: Norse

Symbols: serpents, wolves, ax, raven, masks, fire, Bjarken and Logr Runes, fishing nets, earthquakes, infinity snake and ouroboros, number 8, chaos star, runes that spell out his name: Laguz, Othala, Kenaz, Isa as well as the rune Hagalaz, and Helmet of Dread or the Helmet of Horror

Plants: mistletoe, birch, common Haircap moss (Loki’s Oats), bentgrass (Loki’s Grass), cinnamon, dandelion, beech, blackthorn, elder, elm, ivy, juniper, mullein, thistle, mint, holly, cedar, juniper, elder, clove, patchouli, tobacco, willow, and yew

Animals: salmon, crows, , ravens, falcon, vulture, flies, goats, flea, horses, wolves, foxes, and spiders

Colours: green, gold, black, violet, yellow, orange, and red

Tarot: The Fool, The Tower, The Devil, The Wheel of Fortune, Page of Cups, and Seven of Swords

Offerings: candles, especially black ones, incense, a musky or mysterious scent would be appropriate, red fruits or flowers, gems or metals, herbs, such as dill, ginger, and mugwort, art or poetry, toys, such as the ones you used to play with as a kid, acts of chaos, subversion, or mischief, flowers: daisies, roses, and lilies, crystals, hanging mistletoe at Yuletide, foods and drinks: sweet foods, alcohol, spicy rum, candy, mulled wine, chocolate with nuts or funny names, spongecake, coffee or other caffeinated beverages, honey, and pastries, knives and daggers, doing something you are scared of (safely), and cinnamon.

🌅 Lucifer

God of: illumination, light, darkness, change, rebirth, challenges, innovation, logic, truth, knowledge, wisdom, strategy, persuasion, revolution, luxury, pleasure, freedom, The Arts and The Morning Star (“Morning Star” is another name for the planet Venus)

Culture: Demonic, Pagan, and Greco-Roman

Symbols: Sigil of Lucifer, The Morning Star, violins and fiddles, dragons, wings, serpents, black goats, inverted pentagram, light, and the pentacle.

Plants: belladonna, mulberry, patchouli, myrrh, min, tobacco, marigold, lilies, hyacinth, rosemary, and black poppies, lavender, mint, blackberries, sage, apples, pomegranates, lilac, rose, black pepper, hyssop, gardenia, geranium, garlic, yarrow, and cypress.

Animals: black animals in general, snakes, spiders, ravens, wolves, dragons, eagles, crows, goats, bats, rats, moths, flies, peacocks, insects, and swans.

Colours: blue, red, black, gold, emerald green, and silver.

Tarot: The Devil.

Offerings: candles or torches, sweet treats like dark chocolate or pastries, red, black, or dead roses, incense like sage or cinnamon, red wine, whiskey, especially Jack Daniels, champagne, pomegranate/pomegranate juice, black tea, especially earl grey, cooked goat meat, venison, apples, honey, good quality cigars, tobacco, daggers and swords, silver rings, emeralds and emerald jewelry, goat horns, black feathers, seductive colognes, crow skulls, bone dice, devotional poetry and artwork, and classical music, especially violin.

🦁 Lugh

God of: the Sun, The Arts, storms, The Harvest, oaths, Kings, justice, craftsmanship, smithcraft, light, and warriors

Culture: Celtic

Symbols: spear, harp, and slingshot

Plants: apple, oak, hazel, holly, marigold, goldenrod, sunflower, carnation, rose, gorse, bay, basil, allspice, rosemary, and cinnamon 

Animals: lion, horse, raven, stag, crow, hound, and lynx

Colours: brown, gold, yellow, green, red, and blue

Tarot: The Emperor, Justice, Strength, The Sun, and Suit of Wands

Offerings: wine, mead, apple cider, corn, bread, apples, berries, potatoes, beer, harvested fruits and vegetables, corn dolls, cloves, gorse flowers, and handmade crafts

🪐 Ma'at

Goddess of: truth, justice, cosmic order, harmony, wisdom, morality, and balance

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: scales, ostrich feathers, Ankh

Plants: papyrus

Animals: vulture and ostrich

Colours: purple and black

Tarot: Justice, Temperance, and Judgment

Offerings: no drugs and alcohol, cold water, tea with milk, dates, plums, fish, chicken, olive oil, vinegar, hummus, barley biscuits, reeds, gold jewelry, and white linen.

🦭 Manannan Mac Lir

God of: the sea, weather, navigation, and Guardian of the Otherworld

Culture: Celtic

Symbols: cups, cloak, a silver branch with three golden apples on it, and mermaids

Plants: alder, apple, hazel, blackberry, bramble, reed, meadow grass, yellow flowers, and seaweed

Animals: horse, pig, cow, seal, crane, swan, boar, dog, dolphin, sea horse, and whale

Colours: blue, silver, and gold

Tarot: The Chariot

Offerings: yellow flowers, sea water, bread, ale, and mead.

🌒 Máni

God of: personification of the Moon and protector of children and the mentally ill

Culture: Norse

Symbols: silver, the Moon, and astrology

Plants: jasmine, carnations, night-blooming flowers, and aromatic flowers

Animals: horse, rabbit, and wolf

Colours: blue, silver, black, lavender, and white

Tarot: The Moon

Offerings: peppermint-flavored sweets, peppermint Tea, angel food cake, relaxing tea, and salt

♟️ Marduk

God of: justice, compassion, war, healing, magic, storms, and agriculture

Culture: Mesopotamian 

Symbols: lightning, war chariot, and weapons

Plants: grain

Animals: horse, dog, dragon, and eagle

Colours: gold

Tarot: The Emperor

Offerings: beer, ale, daggers, golden jewelry, bread and grains, coffee, artwork and poetry, feathers, meat, and fruit.

🕯️ Medea

Goddess of: Witch and Priestess of Hecate, invoke for justice, vengeance, and protection

Culture: Greek

Symbols: poisons, cauldrons, and golden fleece

Plants: juniper, olive, and wolf’s bane

Animals: dragon and snake

Colours: gold and white

Tarot: The Magician

Offerings: wine, frankincense, milk, honey, poisons, artifacts of Witchcraft, flowers, and snake and dragon imagery.

🤰 Mokosh

Goddess of: spinning, weaving, fiber arts, moisture, shearing, protection, childbirth, spell casting, fate, fertility, life, death, and rebirth

Culture: Slavic

Symbols: mokosh tones, rain, solar and earthly symbols

Plants: local seasonal plants

Animals: sheep, cat, and horse

Colours: gold, white, and red

Tarot: The Empress

Offerings: personal needlework, wool and flax, grains and bread, salt, oilseeds, dairy, berries, eggs (especially Pisanki), porridge, milk, honey, herbs, fruits, vegetables, a lock of your own hair, and locally sourced seasonal crops.

☃️ Morana

Goddess of: winter, death, and rebirth

Culture: Slavic

Symbols: poppets (spell dolls) and water

Plants: evergreen, berries, grass, rosemary, cypress, wormwood, mandrake, and elderberry

Animals: snake

Colours: white, red, black, and grey

Tarot: Death

Offerings: tea, water, rocks, bones alcoholic beverages, bread, oats, seeds, fruit, and homemade foods and baked goods.

🪄 Morgan le Fay

Goddess of: Witchcraft

Culture: Welsh/Arthurian

Symbols: artifacts of Witchcraft

Plants: honeysuckle, henbane, reed, aspen, oak, and willow

Animals: crow, crane, raven, black dog, horse, cow, and wolf

Colours: red, black, and lavender

Tarot: The Moon and The Magician

Offerings: red ribbons, crow and raven feathers, whiskey, rum.

✊ Nemesis 

Goddess of: retribution, fairness, and Punisher of Hubris

Culture: Greek

Symbols: sword, lash, dagger, scales, and apple branch

Plants: Apple Tree, Thistle

Animals: griffin and goose

Colours: red, black, silver, gold

Tarot: Justice

Offerings: wine, olive oil, water, fruit, honey, milk, feathers, apple seeds, apple blossoms, bones, scales, chains, daffodils and narcissus flowers.

😷 Nergal

God of: war, death, plagues and disease

Culture: Mesopotamian

Symbols: lion-headed Mace and sword

Plants: thistle, grapefruit, and pomegranate

Animals: lion, bull, and bat

Colours: red, black, silver, and gold

Tarot: The Tower, The Devil, and Death

Offerings: animal bones, thorn branches,  bitter lemonade, absinthe, and pomegranate juice.

🏋️ Nike

Goddess of: victory

Culture: Greek

Symbols: balm branch, wings, a wreath, sash, and lyre

Plants: palm tree and laurel tree

Animals: horse

Colours: silver, gold, and blue

Tarot: Wheel of Fortune, Justice, and Strength

Offerings: feathers, trophies, medals, palm branches or leaves, and athletic equipment.

🪴 Ninhursag

Goddess of: the Earth, motherhood, childbirth, fertility, nourishment, agriculture, and vegetation

Culture: Mesopotamian

Symbols: omega symbol, bow, and mace

Plants: all grown vegetation

Animals: Cow, Lion, Fish, Serpent

Colours: green, gold, white, and silver

Tarot: The World, The Empress, Suit of Pentacles, and Queen of Pentacles

Offerings: wine, beer, fresh water, cooked fish, eggs, vegetarian foods, bread, honey, butter, myrrh, and all flowers.

🐚 Njord

God of: the sea, the wind, abundance, and wealth

Culture: Norse

Symbols: ships

Plants: avens, ferns, oak, oak moss, polypody, verbena, rosemary, reeds, and bay

Animals: fish and aquatic creatures

Colours: blue

Tarot: King of Cups

Offerings: fish, seafood, pork, chocolate coins, sea salt chocolate, dark beer, gin, golden items, beads, shells, tobacco, and fishing gear.

🌃 Nut

Goddess of: night 

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: Ankh and water pot

Plants: sycamore and fig

Animals: boar, cow, vulture, and hippo

Colours: dark blue

Tarot: The Star

Offerings: milk, cool water, star-shaped foods, blue goldstone, and blue flowers

🌌 Nyx

Goddess of: the night 

Culture: Greek

Symbols: crescent moon, mist, darkness, and stars

Plants: poppies, night blooming lilies, moon flowers, and gladiolus

Animals: owl, crow, and bat

Colours: dark blue and black

Tarot: The Star

Offerings: milk, black coffee or tea, dark chocolate, silver jewelry, dragon fruit, dew gathered before the sun rises, wine, dark beer or liquors, and starry and celestial items.

📖 Odin

God of: wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, frenzy, knowledge, war, battle, victory, sorcery, poetry, and Runic alphabet

Culture: Norse

Symbols: valknut, right-legged horse (Sleipnir), wolves, ravens, spear (Gungnir), and the Othala Rune

Plants: mugwort, plantain, wormwood, chamomile, pine, apple, fennel, juniper, elfwort, and wotan’s herb

Animals: wolf, raven, snake, bear, and horse

Colours: grey, deep blue, and black

Tarot: The Hermit, The Magician, and The Hanged Man

Offerings: red wine, mead, beer, ale, quality alcohol, whiskey, smoked salmon, red meat, beef, leeks, asparagus, garlic, and honey

💦 Ọṣun / Oshun

Goddess of: water, purity, fertility, love, sensuality, freshwater, wealth, diplomacy, and The Osun River

Culture: Yoruba

Symbols: seashells, and amber beads

Plants: cinnamon, sunflowers, oranges, yellow squash, marigold, pumpkin, rosemary, and lantana

Animals: peacock, vulture, catfish, river fish in general, cricket, leopard, and crocodile

Colours: white, gold, amber, yellow, and coral

Tarot: The Empress

Offerings: honey (taste before you offer it) , bowl of water, flowers, seashells, beauty items, chamomile tea, cooked shrimp and spinach, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables, sliced orange drizzled with tasted cinnamon honey.

⚰️ Osiris

God of: the Underworld, death, resurrection, fertility, and agriculture

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: crook and flail, atef crown, ostrich feathers, mummy gauze, and djed

Plants: willow, tamarisk tree, and many types of houseplants

Animals: bull, ostrich, and dog

Colours: black and green

Tarot: The Emperor, The Hierophant, The Lovers, The Hanged Man, Death, and Judgment

Offerings: green and black crystals, bread, beer, beef, bird meat, and nice clothing

🌫️ Ọya

Goddess of: weather, death and rebirth, a psychopomp, and patron of the Niger River

Culture: Yoruba

Symbols: lightning, sword, machete, and fly-whisk

Plants: akoko tree, camwood, camphor, cypress, marigold, and mimosa

Animals: water buffalo, antelope, sheep, and locust

Colours: purple, burgundy, and the rainbow

Tarot: Strength, The High Priestess, and The Empress

Offerings: starfruit, black-eyed peas, plums, purple grapes, mine eggplants is a traditional offering (or one eggplant sliced into nine pieces), and red wine

🐐 Pan

God of: the wild, shepherds, flocks, rustic music, fertility, hunters, mountains, forests, and meadows

Culture: Greek

Symbols: panpipes

Plants: Coriscan Pine, Water-reed, Pine Trees

Animals: goat

Colours: green, brown, and purple

Tarot: The Fool, The Lovers, The Devil, King of Pentacles, and Page of Pentacles

Offerings: pine cones, pine branches, animal bones, musical instruments (especially Woodwinds), milk, honey, and lamb or goat meat

🌋 Pele

Goddess of: volcanoes, fire, Land lightening

Culture: Hawaiian 

Symbols: volcano, fire, and lava

Plants: ohi’a lehua, lehua lower, strawberry, sugar cane, tobacco, coconut, and pineapple

Animals: Hawaiian honeycreeper, sea turtle, fish, and white dogs

Colours: red, orange, yellow, green, and black

Tarot: The Tower and Suit of Wands

Offerings: fruits, flowers, forest plants, berries, vegetables, gin, and cigars

⚱️ Persephone

Goddess of: the Underworld and spring

Culture: Greek

Symbols: pomegranate, grain, torch, and flowers

Plants: asphodel wheat, willow, narcissus, lily, ivy, lily of the valley, daisy, and lavender

Animals: deer, bat, black ram, parrot, and monkey

Colours: green, black, light blue, purple, magenta, indigo, and yellow

Tarot: The Hermit, The Hanged Man, Death, Judgment, and Knight of Pentacles

Offerings: pomegranates/pomegranate juice, honey, floral tea, breads and sweets, flower crowns or arrangements, dark chocolate, flowers, crushed mint, animal bones, jewelry, and/or your artwork

🌊 Poseidon

God of: the sea, water, horses, and earthquakes

Culture: Greek

Symbols: trident

Plants: pine tree and wild celery

Animals: fish, dolphin, horse, and bull

Colours: blue, teal, green, and silver

Tarot: King of Cups and Suit of Cups

Offerings: ocean water, honey, olive oil, seaweed, white wine poured into water, wild celery, homemade seafood, seashells, sea salt, coral, mint, and sand

☀️ Ra

God of: creator god, and the sun

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: sun disk, ankh, , and sceptre

Plants: citrus fruits, marigold, sunflower, papyrus, daisy, and lotus

Animals: falcon, lion, and eagle

Colours: yellow, gold, orange, red, and white

Tarot: The Emperor and The Sun

Offerings: fruit juice, citrus fruits, honey, water, beer, wine, bread, barley, figs, dates, chocolate, chicken or duck, beef, and frankincense.

🚢 Rán

Goddess of: the sea

Culture: Norse

Symbols: Fishing Nets, Stormy Seas

Plants: beech, buckthorn, elder, elm, ivy, juniper, willow, and yew

Animals: aquatic Animals

Colours: black an sea-green

Tarot: Queen of Cups

Offerings: clean up the ocean, seashells, fishing with a net, seafood, gold, coins, sea rocks, flowers, sand, seawater, bread? cakes, and mead

🐎 Rhiannon

Goddess of: the moon, horses, songbirds, wind, gates, and horseshoes

Culture: Welsh

Symbols: the moon, horseshoes, waning moon phases, gates, the winds, and the number 7

Plants: cedar, pine, narcissus, daffodils, pansies, rosemary, sage, bay, lavender, and all white flowers

Animals: horse, frog, dog, songbird, dragon, badger, and hummingbird

Colours: green, silver, black, white, grey, red, maroon, and brown

Tarot: The Moon

Offerings: soft-sounding music, a white candle with the number 7 carved into it, white flowers, apples, willow, ivy, evergreens, caring for horses, caring for dogs, and studying liminal spaces and astral work

💀 Santa Muerte

Goddess of: healing, protection, financial wellbeing, and the afterlife

Culture: Mexican

Symbols: scythe, globe, scales of justice, and oil lamp

Plants: fresh flowers, apples, and marigolds

Animals: owl, dogs, cats, dove, crows, and snakes

Colours: red, white, black, blue, and green

Tarot: Death

Offerings: cash, cigars, apples, tequila, cannabis, fresh water, candles, candy, fruit, roses, and bread

🌙 Selene

Goddess of: the Moon

Culture: Roman

Symbols: crescent, torch, chariot, billowing cloak, bull, stars, moon, horse, lunar cycle, torch, and bull horns

Plants: willow, moonflower, lavender, wisteria, oak, lilac, birch, rose, dandelion, and jasmine

Animals: horse, bull, mule, and ox

Incense: frankincense, rosemary, guaiac, orris root, and tonka bean

Colours: silver, blue, white, and grey

Tarot: The Moon, The Star, and Temperance

Offerings: white foods, moon water, dew, glitter/shiny objects, olive oil, flowers, fruit, moon-shaped things, water, honey, nephalia (wineless libation), milk, statues of horses, cakes, and crystals (moonstone, quartz, selenite, and pearl)

🦁 Sekhmet 

Goddess of: war, destruction, healing, divine wrath, fire, and the sun

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: the sun, scimitar, ankh, the desert, and pomegranates

Plants: carnation, rose, cloves, cinnamon, juniper, and orange blossoms

Animals: lion and cobra

Colours: red, gold, yellow, and white

Tarot: Strength, The Tower, and The Sun

Offerings: red wine, rum, beer, meats, bones, tobacco, wild cat skulls, weapons like daggers and swords, pomegranates, spicy foods, gold Jewelry, red Flowers, milk, blackberries, raspberries, mushrooms, and bread

💣 Set

God of: the sky, storms, the desert, disorder, war, foreigners, and a trickster God

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: was sceptre and ankh

Plants: lettuce

Animals: hippopotamus, crocodile, scorpion, snapping turtle, wild pig, and donkey

Colours: red

Tarot: The Chariot, Death, and The Devil

Offerings: beer, whiskey, red wine, spicy foods, red meats, lettuce, shellfish, maces and daggers, bird eggs, cherries, dark chocolate, and shiny things

🪞 Sif

Goddess of: grain and fertility

Culture: Norse

Symbols: golden hair, loom, and mirror

Plants: birch, chamomile, fir, hawthorn, mugwort, rose, and willow

Animals: songbirds

Colours: gold and green

Tarot: Suit of Pentacles and Queen of Pentacles

Offerings: beer, honey, mead, grain, and bread

🎿 Skaði

Goddess of: winter, wilderness, mountains, bowhunting, and skiing

Culture: Norse

Symbols: skis, bow and arrows, snow, mountains, frost, and snowshoes

Plants: beech, blackthorn, elder, elm, ivy, juniper, mullein, and willow

Animals: wolf

Colours: white and brown

Tarot: The Hermit and Temperance

Offerings: vodka, traditional Scandinavian foods, meat from hunted animals (rabbit, deer, etc.), animal pelts, animal bones, and snow Water

🌞 Sol / Sunna

Goddess of: the Sun

Culture: Norse

Symbols: the Sun and gold

Plants: chamomile, cinnamon, corn, daisy, marigold, citrus fruits, rosemary, sunflower, and wheat

Animals: horse

Colours: gold, red, yellow, orange, white, and green

Tarot: The Sun

Offerings: mead, honey, bread, cider, and fruit juice

🪦 Thanatos

God of: personification of death

Culture: Greek

Symbols: sword, inverted torch, theta, wreath, wings

Plants: poppy and cypress

Animals: butterfly

Colours: black, silver, white, and purple

Tarot: Death

Offerings: (traditional liquid offerings are poured into the ground and food is buried), red wine, olive oil, water, honey, poppy seeds, black tea, dark chocolate, feathers, animal bones, snake skin, and graveyard dirt (collected respectfully)

🍃 The Dagda

God of: fertility, agriculture, strength, magic, druidry, wisdom, father-figure, King and Druid

Culture: Celtic

Symbols: club, cauldron, and harp

Plants: grains and oats

Animals: pig and bull

Colours: black, silver, white, and purple

Tarot: Strength, Wheel of Fortune, The World, King of Pentacles, King of Wands

Offerings: Porridge, Mead, Milk, Honey, Pork, Beef, Mutton, Music, and Laughter

Offerings: honey, olive oil, sweets, flowers, herbs, plants, bread, wheat, fruit, sunflower oil, beer, mead, spring water, vegetables, grains, and baked goods

🔮 The Morrigan

Goddess of: magic, battle, life and death, sovereignty, fresh water, prophecy, and fate

Culture: Celtic

Symbols: cloak, spear, chariot, sword, and shield

Plants: willow, aspen, rowan, snapdragon, hawthorn, yew, belladonna, mugwort, and nightshade (do not consume, handle with care!)

Animals: crow, raven, horse, eel, serpent, and wolf

Colours: red, black, white, blue, and green

Tarot: Suit of Swords, Queen of Swords, Justice, and Death

Offerings: red meat, red wine poured into the ground, apples, mead, milk, whiskey, storm water, crow feathers, knives and daggers, and artwork

🌩️ Thor

God of: thunder, lightning, strength, protection, fertility, masculinity, and protector of humanity

Culture: Norse

Symbols: Mjölnir

Plants: oak, garlic, onion, gorse, thistle, hawthorn, leeks, houseleek, mountain ash, hazel, pine, acorns, and oak moss

Animals: goat and bull

Colours: red, white, gold, and blue

Tarot: Strength and The Chariot

Offerings: hearty foods with lots of meat or onions, mead, beer, flattery, oak, whiskey, coffee, and honey

✒️ Thoth

God of: knowledge, wisdom, writing, mathematics, science, magic, truth, integrity, time, and the moon

Culture: Egyptian

Symbols: scales, papyrus scroll, stylus, crescent moon, and a pen

Plants: papyrus and sweet flag

Animals: ibis and baboon

Colours: white, blue, and teal

Tarot: The Magician, The Hierophant, The Star, and The Moon

Offerings: black tea, water, honey, blackberries, apricots, salmon, tuna, oranges (and orange-flavoured things), walnuts, cashews, quills, fountain pens, leather-bound books and journals, books you think he’d enjoy, silver, poetry, dark chocolate, whiskey, gin, mead, mint tea, and moon water

🗡️ Tyr

God of: war, lawgiver, justice, oaths

Culture: Norse

Symbols: weapons like arrows and spears

Plants: flowering spurge, holly, wolfsbane, and monkshood

Animals: wolf, bear, and eagle

Colours: red, silver, grey, and gold

Tarot: King of Swords

Offerings: wine, strong beer, salt, honey, bread, grains, beef, pork, and potatoes

🐄 Veles

God of: the Underworld, Earth, water, music, magic, trickery, cattle, and wealth

Culture: Slavic

Symbols: the symbol of Veles

Plants: willow

Animals: cow, bear, snake, wolf, dragon, and owl

Colours: gold, yellow, and red

Tarot: The Magician, The Hierophant, The Star, and The Moon

Offerings: cooked corn, bread, herbs (especially basil), wooden flutes and string instruments, black wool or fur, things carved from wood, coins, chicken, mistletoe, and music, 

🌧️ Zeus

God of: King of the Gods, the sky, weather, law, order, justice, hospitality

Culture: Greek

Symbols: lightning bolt, cloud, sceptre, throne, and aegis

Plants: oak, olive, wild celery, artichoke, white poplar, and linden tree

Animals: eagle, bull, cuckoos, and swan

Colours: gold, yellow, blue, white, purple, and silver

Tarot: The Emperor, Justice, Wheel of Fortune, King of Swords, and The Fool

Offerings: wine, olive oil, water, honey, milk, red meat, bread and cakes, rainwater, golden objects, crowns, scales, eagle feathers, oak branches and leaves, beef or mutton, whiskey, and cinnamon.

[bethanythebogwitch]

@fishyfishyfishtimes, I noticed you like mermaids and enjoyed my fish Digimon post, so you may be interested in mermaid Digimon.

The OG is Mermaimon and I really like that she's (I'm saying she but whether or not Digimon have genders depends on which setting is being used) also a pirate. The lore says she uses her beautiful singing voice to lure people in and rob them. She also carries an anchor as a weapon and is not afraid to give someone a thrashing.

Mermaimon is the OG mermaid in the sense that she debuted first, but in lore the OG is AncientMermaimon. She is one of the Warrior 10, a group of ancient Digimon from the beginning of the Digital World. The Warrior 10 are dead, having long ago died to stop Lucemon (as in Lucifer) from destroying the Digital World. While the Warrior 10 are long dead, their data went onto spawn many species of other Digimon. AncientMermaimon specifically is the ancestor of all aquatic Digimon. She was effectively a goddess of the sea, able to control the weather and with enough power to sink entire islands. While I like the original Mermaimon's design more for its pirate theme, AncientMermaimon also has a great design.

The only merman in Digimon is Neptunemon. As the name suggests, he is based on the Neptune, roman god of the sea. He is also part of a group, the Olympos XII, who are also based on the Olympian gods. They collectively rule a portion of the Digital World that is on a private server called Iliad. He is the absolute ruler of the oceans on the Iliad server. I really like his samurai-inspired armor and the trident made of shark heads.

While that's all the proper mermaids, I have some honorable mentions in that they still fill the aquatic creature/girl archetype. The first is Ranamon, who has a direct connection to AncientMermaimon from above. In the anime Digimon Frontier, which introduced the Warrior 10, it is established that their spirits, each representative of an element, survived their death and can be taken up and used by others. While half the spirits are taken by the heroes, the other half are corrupted into evil. The good spirits are fire, light, ice, wind, and thunder while the corrupted spirits are steel, water, wood, earth, and darkness (later redeemed). Ranamon and her evolution are the corrupted spirit of water. The only spirit that we saw both the pure and corrupted versions of was darkness and I think that's a big missed opportunity. Ranamon is easily my favorite of the spirits, which is largely due to the english dub making her a classic mean girl with a southern accent. Her name comes from the Spanish word for frog.

Ranamon's evolution is Calamaramon, who is deliberately designed to be a darker version of a mermaid. Instead of a fish tail, she has an entire upside-down squid for a lower body. She's also supposed to be a sea witch and has a major temper. Oddly enough, she's one of the only spirt Digimon from Frontier that has shown up in other series. In the Digimon Adventure reboot she shows up as a major threat and in Digimon Ghost Game she's a monster of the week that's only a villain due to a misunderstanding. In approve given her role in Frontier basically boiled down to a joke about her being uglier than Ranamon.

Last of the honorable mentions is the entire Jellymon evolution line: Jellymon to TeslaJellymon to Thetismon, to Amphimon. They're pretty recent recent Digimon, having been designed for the most recent anime, Digimon Ghost Game, where she's one of the main characters. She is also easily the biggest little shit in the franchise. I really like the jellyfish meets human design of the line. I also suspect Amphimon wearing a full-body dive suit is a deliberate subversion of the trend of feminine Digimon having sexy designs.

Jellymon

TeslaJellymon

Testismon

Amphimon

[horizon-verizon]

Daenerys is the Prince that was Promised. When she visits the House of the Undying, she is told she is the child of three, which relates to the three heads of the Dragon. And the child of three/three heads of the Dragon means she is the Prince that was Promised, the Stallion who Mounts the World, Azor Ahai. They are all myths retelling the same story, just in a different cultural lens.

People forget that Martin’s subversion of the Chosen One trope is based on 90s fantasy...which was overwhelmingly male characters and candidates, perhaps the most significant at the time being Rand al’Thor of the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. No one would expect, at the time, that the Prince that was Promised would be a princess. Most would have argued, as a significant portion of the fandom does till this day, that it is Jon, the standard male hero character. Jon being the Prince that was Promise would be a trope in of itself. Since we have gone beyond 90s fantasies, there have been more female chosen ones (Daenerys paved the way), but she still resides in that 90’s concept of a female Chosen One. (Also ignoring the obvious Jesus parallels such as her walk through the desert, her being born of fire, Bonfier Hasty worshiping the Maiden because of his love for Rhaella, etc).

I note as much ("They are all myths retelling the same story, just in a different cultural lens.") HERE. branwyn-the-half-witch has an interesting thought that that particular title accidentally developed from Aegon seeing a Targ from his own blood ("prince") be needed ("promised") for a future fight HERE.

Which justifies how the TPTWP title/meaning exists in Westeros; no other Westerosi (maester or otherwise) really spoke of it before Stannis, who of course received such from Melisandre and more a restored-but-half-realized knowledge of the original Essoi mythic body of a savior. Said "restored" because the Targs have been isolated from or cut themselves from Essos but were still magically/by blood connected to it...bc their very blood is that source for those dragon dreams.

(Ironically, the Seven faith--meant to mimic Catholicsm and the Catholic Church in its:

dogma

that dogma's rigidity's influence over the whole of Westeros' society (chivalry/warriordom; mores on hierarchy and obedience, childrearing/corporal punishment, the self-mortification of the carving stars in one's forehead [though this is present in many real-world religions and sects, in the West its immediately recognized and associated with Christian self flagellation])

the multiplicity of many aspects of one god, the aesthetics of stained windows or multicolored glass/translucent substances inlaid or making up part of a geometric, architectural structure [not just buildings but crowns of the high Septon and Aenys I]

the structure of High Septon, septons, and septas mirroring Pope, priests/deacons/measters-monks/nuns

the HS/Pope's relationship with monarchs as to sometimes affirm and sometimes condemn and be some sort of religious "check" but also support for the monarchy

"holy days"

the Knights Templar (who were aka "The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon") & crusaders inspiring the Poor Fellows & the Warrior's Sons

*EDIT* some rituals, as well

has no element of a Christ-like or a generally mythic savior figure in its mythos. The none Catholic/Seven faiths [except the old gods, but even here there is a hint of a need for saving against the Long night but its just so decreased bc of te nearly lost greenseers and twstsote and the giants] all have this focus on a savior figure instead.)

[mask131]

The Tolkienesque Renaissance and the woman-wizard

A long time ago I made a brief post about my personal vision of a certain "Tolkienesque Renaissance" era within English-speaking literature, following/coexisting with the "Tolkien Subversion" era that was formed by Earthsea, Elric, The Black Company and other classics.

It was meant to be the first post in a whole series but I kind of got busy with other things... That being said I do want to make this post about one of the fascinating traits of the Tolkienesque Renaissance. A trait which seems to be overlooked or misunderstood today due to the very polarizing matter and the quick shifts occuring in our societies about this topic, but needs to be highlighted: the gender roles. Well more specifically the gender roles within the magic part of the fantasy world.

In 1985, Terry Pratchett created a talk/article which was forgotten for a given time, until it popped up on the Internet in the 2000s/2010s, and was more recently reprinted in book format (in posthumous anthologies of his talks, articles and essais) and even translated in other languages (the only French translation of this text dates from a few years ago). This text is called "Why Gandalf never married", and it is a very important mini-essay when it comes to the English-speaking fantasy literature because it highlighted very well (and in Pratchett's usual humoristic way) the gender "norms" within the Tolkien-model of fantasy ; but more importantly how this gendered system was carried on, consciously or unconsciously, by other authors in the fantasy genre.

I strongly suggest you go check out the original article, it is disponible for free on several websites, and I won't recap it here. But it made a point that many other analysists and historians of the fantasy genre relayed. The Tolkien model of the magic-use has magic lying within the hands of a men, and escaping the hands of women. In The Lord of the Rings the magic is the domain of the Wizards - which is an order of exclusively male entities. That's the Gandalf of the title. There is no female Wizard in the Tolkienesque world, and the closest thing we get to a female magic user within The Lord of the Rings is Galadriel - but Galadriel is in this specific plotline a secondary character with not as much importance or active power as the likes of Gandalf and Saruman, and she even denies herself that what she does is magic, carefully explaining that Elves merely consider what others call their "magic" advanced craft, technology and skills. Galadriel has the appearance of an enchantress, but in truth is not, and all the true magic relies within the male-only Gandalf.

And this model was carried on into a lot of the fantasy series and novels that followed the publication of The Lord of the Rings, even those that were created specifically to subvert the "Tolkienesque fantasy". In his article, Pratchett ranked alongside Gandalf as the celibate wizard-heroes of male dominance, Ged from Earthsea... by Ursula K. Le Guin, which is an author as far from woman-hating as the Sun is far from Pluto. And yet... Pratchett did point out that in the Earthsea series it is made extremely clear that only men can be true wizards, the "wizarding school" of this setting only teaches men, and when a woman has magical power, she is a secondary and weak witch with only a handful of simple abilities, unable to match any great "true" wizard. Even worse: when a woman actually shows some great talent and manages to challenge or outbeat the wizard... it is because she derives her power from malevolent sources and evil entities. It is true in Earthsea.

Or at least it was true. Indeed, we have to put things back in context: when Pratchett made this analysis, Earthsea was just a trilogy. Not just "a" trilogy, but rather a halted series: Le Guin had written the first three Earthsea books, and she wanted to return to writing more Earthsea but in her own words something felt wrong, she didn't find how to go on, she sense there was a problem with Earthsea though she could not identify what exactly... This is part of why the fourth book of the series was released 18 YEARS after the third. And the exact reason Le Guin was weirded out by her own series is precisely what Pratchett pointed out - and something Le Guin herself had to re-discover within her own work (Now I cannot claim that Pratchett's article actually helped Le Guin see this "gendered flaw" within her own novels, because I have no reliable source about Le Guin reading Pratchett's text or being aware of this talk - but given I heard it had quite an influence upon its release I do think it played a part in it). This is also why Le Guin returned to Earthsea by the late 80s: she had identified the problem in her own work, women were trapped in a gendered system denying them access to "true magic". And from "Tehanu" onward, she worked to - not correct - but improve this worldbuilding fact, for example by pointing out the inherent misogyny of her own world, by explaining the reasons that led to women being excluded of the art of magic, and by revealing that women and men are in fact equal in magic by nature but not by society.

[Note: I do wish to say that it is not an inherently bad or evil thing to have a "gendered" magic system within your fantasy work. The entire point of the fantasy is that you can do everything and anything and explore any possibility. You can have a magic system where only one gender can have magic ; you can have a magic system where spells are bound to a specific age ; you can have magic system where only rocks can perform magic because flesh cannot stand it - in itself, it is not a bad thing... The problem here that Pratchett denounced was how a specific gendered-model of magic bearing misogynistic traits within it was spreading around and becoming an untold law of the fantasy genre, to the point even feminist writers applied it without realizing it.]

Pratchett completed his trio of "male-dominated and somehow misogynistic" magic systems by adding to Gandalf and Ged the figure of Merlin from the Arthurian romances and epics, as one of the main cultural influences of magic within fantasy... but also one of the roots of the unconscious misogyny that was growing within fantasy. Because in the Arthurian world, not only is Merlin the most prominent wizard and enchanter, he is seen as the "source" and "true bearer" of magic, with the two famous Arthurian sorceresses, Viviane and Morgan, being explicitely his students - women learned magic from a man. And not only did they learned it from him, they both used it in a bad and negative way. Morgan to become a wicked witch and the enemy of the heroes ; Viviane to betray her own mentor and trap the wizard forever (with in many versions this being seen as a selfish action, some authors even pushing it as far as making Viviane one of the instruments of the Arthurian downfall). Of course there are very interesting talks, debates and analysis to have about this strange triangle of magic-users - especially since one of Merlin's gifts was prophecy and foresight, and it is implied that he knew what he was doing when he taught these women magic, somehow accepting that his lessons would be used against him and his work... But that's a talk for another day and it doesn't change how it influenced mid-20th century fantasy in a bad way.

As such, from Merlin to Ged passing by Gandalf, Pratchett made this conclusion: in English-speaking fantasy as it existed in the mid 80s, "true" wizards were men, and magic belonged to the male gender. And when a women practiced magic (if they could even practice magic), they were either depicted as weaker and inferior to men, either as evil antagonists corrupting magic or using it for nefarious purposes. Hence "Why Gandalf never married".

This talk is also very important to understand the very origins and building of Pratchett's own brilliant parody-deconstruction-reconstruction of the fantasy genre, his "Discworld" series. In his Discworld books Pratchett prepared several entire plotlines to explain, dissert and explore the gendered cliches and normative stereotypes of magic in fantasy, with the archetype of the male-magic through the Wizards and of the female-magic through the Witches. "Why Gandalf never married" was created in 1985... two years before Discworld's third book "Equal Rites", which is a brilliant parody of these same gender norms as a girl becomes fated to become a Wizard and fights for it, in a cloistered world where women can only hope to be Witches and nothing else.

Now, all of that being said, I return to my point about the Tolkienesque Renaissance. And I will claim that this "movement" actually inherited Pratchett's point or was conscious of it because, interestingly, all these revivals of the classical Tolkien-like fantasy worked very hard to break the gender norms of magic, and have prominent female magic users not depicted as evil. Mind you, they never went as far as Le Guin or Pratchett did in their own work, and in fact several of these works came to be criticized by later generations for being themselves too-gendered, too-cliche, or even misogynistic... However I do believe that it is important to highlight how these works, which might not fit our own modern gender equality or our modern view of women, still were a first step forward, a certain breakthrough, in a fantasy landscape where women were either denied magic or locked withn the "wicked witch" stereotype.

The Fionavar Tapestry series has one of the main female characters becoming The Seer, a benevolent and respected magic user. She is not of the same "type" as the wizards of the setting and lacks a magic as powerful as them, but is still an heroic supernatural character on which the story focuses. There is also an exploration of the gendered norm by having a Council of Mages from which women are lacking (and coming with historical explanations about the role of women in relationship to them) clashing with an all-female order of priestesses of a Great Goddess (a conflict which itself also is echoed by a gendered pantheon of Great Gods and Great Goddesses working in mysterious ways towards each other).

The Belgariad makes a clear effort by "doubling" the typical wizard-mentor into a duo, Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress, with Polgara being a powerful magic user equal in strength to Belgarath and working alongside him, but staying a benevolent and heroic character (though there is a dark side to her, from her stern and harsh personality, to a worldbuilding prophetic element about her possibly turning evil).

The Wheel of Time seems to avoid the topic entirely by completely reversing the norm: all magic-users are female, the male magic-users were all wiped out, and if they exist they have to be deprived of power else they will become evil. Now we still have a more nuanced approached in terms of moral since the Aes Sedai mix in one go the all-benevolent Gandalf-like figure with the manipulative and dreaded wicked witch - but the gender treatment and balance within "The Wheel of Time" has been debated and discussed a LOT so I won't go further into this.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn literaly has a female Gandalf in the character of Geloë - who also has a few elements of Baba-Yaga in her most positive incarnations. There's still a bunch of evil witches throughout the series outgrowing in number the rare positive female magic users, but Geloë stands out as the big powerful helpful witch of the "hero's party".

As I said, these characters are of course not perfect. There are things to be said against them in a more modern light, or they might be judged as not good characters at all... But it doesn't change the fact that Geloë, Polgara and Moiraine are quite important in the history of fantasy as breakers of a system that was imposed by Merlin, Gandalf and Ged - and while they cannot answer the question of "Why Gandalf never married", they are proofs that "Gandalf can be a woman".