#thee and thou vs you

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

[bluejaysfeathers]

Love the switch in this post where op goes from “do you think a certain genre of queer person” (talking about other people) to “personally I don’t want” (acting like every reply is telling them specifically to do something, also somehow forgetting the existence of the “genre” of person they just asked about). Bonus points for implying that responders are not three dimensional people and that op is somehow superior for… not enjoying things? Enjoying them the Right Way? Neither option is good.

do you think that a certain genre of queer person is so obsessively weird about pride flag discourse becuase their flags fill the gaping hole in their personality where a hogwarts house used to be

[knight-a3]

Zestial the Spymaster Overlord

Hazbin Masterpost

Heavenbound AU

I went through quite a few rounds of rough designs for this. I was initially aiming for a 1400s vibe, but after looking at many reference photos, I ended up settling on early to mid 1600s.

More notes under the cut

So it's not totally clear how old Zestial is in canon. He has an older style of speaking, but his speech patterns suggest a Shakespearean time frame. Which also coincides with when the King James Version(KJV) of the Bible was released. I grew up with the KJV, so I think I have a fairly intuitive grasp on how to use all the thees and thous, particularly since he's probably been influenced by the evolution of language over time. So I have a plausible excuse for it to be somewhat modernized as well.

I saw a completely unrelated design for this Puritan guy, and I thought it was really cool and used it as inspiration. I know nothing about it, but I found a website for it that you can check out HERE

So Zestial is Puritan now. He was a witch hunter who would falsely accuse people he didn't like. And actually practiced witchcraft himself. For anyone unaware, witchcraft is not inherently gendered. It's not wizard=boy, witch=girl. Men could be and have been accused of being witches historically.

Because I went with a puritan background, his design is relatively simple. It's reminiscent of a stereotypical cloak over plain dark clothes, with the white collar and large cuffs.

The colors are halloween themed because puritan witch trials give me halloween vibes. So we've got purple(almost black), orange, and green. I made him a bit smokey(his hair, and at his feet) because I felt it fit his shadowy vibe, while also being different from Alastor's shadowy vibe. And because I thought it would be cool.

--Bat and Spider--

I know canon Zestial is spider themed, but he gives such dracula vibes, so I had to incorporate some bat too. His cloak is like bat wings mixed with spider legs. He closes the cloak by folding his arms like a bat. And the orange is similar to the Painted Bat (aka halloween bat).

I did tone down his giant spider...tie(?) because it got in the way. But it seemed pretty iconic to him, so I didn't want to totally get rid of it.

--Zestial vs Alastor--

I think a lot of Zestial's power lies in his information network. A web of information, if you will. He's got really good hearing to listen to all the juicy secrets to blackmail with. He's something of a spyder with his web of information. I'm not even sorry about the puns.

In terms of raw power, Alastor is more powerful and ruthless. He's more bloodthirsty in general. Zestial is more of an extortionist.

Alastor prides himself on being an enigma, and doesn't want anyone to figure out what he's up to. In that way, Zestial's skill in information gathering is a threat. The two are actually pretty similar(with their whole dark and mysterious and powerful shtick). They aren't openly hostile to each other(actually on pretty good terms), but they aren't friends by any means. Alastor prefers to keep his distance.

Alastor's overlord killing spree was largely on the command of his soul-owner,[SPOILER], who determined most of the targets. And Zestial is very cordial with [SPOILER], so he is lucky enough to be the only Old Order Overlord to be spared. Lately, he's effectively retired and mostly acts as a sort of advisor/mentor for Carmilla. Otherwise, Alastor would have killed him already due to the threat of uncovering secrets.

--Human Zestial--

Name: I chose Ezekiel as his name because it fits the naming patterns of the puritans. They liked biblical names and "grace names"(like Faith or Charity. But they could get more obscure like Patience, Tenacious, or even Humiliation; and could get even more bizarre still, like Fly-Fornication).

Hair: I gave him long, more cavalier hair because I liked it. And it's not unheard of for a puritan to have long hair. The mustache and beard are typical of the time period. His hair is greying because I imagine him being older. It was a dark brown when he was younger though.

Clothes: I went with the more stereotypical dark clothes, but avoided the buckles because those weren't actually typical for puritans. Also a doublet and jerkin combo, because that's what I kept seeing in pictures.

--background--

Life: He was a prolific witch hunter. He would find any suitable excuse to accuse the people he didn't like. He was selective with his targets, mostly going after people he felt the world was better without. His judgment had nothing to do with his victims' association with witches, because he practiced witchcraft himself. Witch trials were just the opportunity he needed to get rid of people in a socially acceptable way. He was well mannered and respected in the community, so few people doubted or challenged his accusations.

He went after people who were criminals, murderers, heretics, etc. He thought he was justified in ridding the world of these "terrible" people(like Frollo). He used witchcraft to find people and reasons to remove them from society. Unfortunately, he did occasionally have to remove people who simply discovered his witchcraft, even children. All for his perceived greater good.

Death: I haven't really decided. It could be he was finally found out as a witch and hung. Or he got sick. Or somebody got revenge and killed him. IDK, take your pick.

Afterlife: He had to come to terms with the fact that he landed himself in hell, despite believing he was justified and doing a righteous service. But he eventually determined sacrificing his chance at heaven was worth ridding earth of vile people. Now he doesn't have to feel guilty for killing innocent people, because those don't exist in hell. He's come to enjoy the terror of sinners. He sees himself as better than them.

Because he practiced witchcraft in life, he was considered significantly powerful for a new arrival. But his real power was in his ability to gather information. So he worked his way to Overlord, primarily through blackmail and extortion in exchange for souls.

Alastor's arrival and the consequent shift in power dynamics threw everyone for a loop. Zestial is very curious about Alastor's unprecedented rise to power. But is constantly thwarted in his attempts to gather information, which just piques his interest further.

Over the centuries, he's come to accept that there can be a greater good in hell too. He found a like-minded soul in Carmilla, and decided to retire in favor of mentoring her. She wants to protect her daughters above all else, and he respects her commitment to her duty.

----Bonus historical research time(don't quote me, it was just light research)----

--Roundhead vs Cavalier--

These were political factions of the time, and not strictly tied to puritanism. It was essentially Parliament supporters and Monarchy supporters.

Parliamentarians rejected King Charles I and were nicknamed Roundheads due to the general tendency to have short hair(basically a bowl cut). Puritans fell into this group along with a wide range of social classes and religious dissidents.

Royalists were derisively called Cavaliers, but they adopted the term for themselves. They believed in the King's divine right to rule. They were mostly upper class and known for long hair and courtly fashions.

--Puritan--

Puritans broke off of the Anglican church, believing it to still be tainted by Catholic ritualism. They emphasized simplicity and modesty. But that didn't mean low-quality. They believed wealth was gifted by God, so dressing below your station was inappropriate. Embellishments in clothing were not unusual, they just rejected excess of extravagance. There were a lot of other rules that probably wouldn't make sense to us.

Point is, they dressed relatively plain. Stereotypically this meant black, blue, grey, or russet clothing. But that wasn't universal or anything. Black is actually more of a "Sunday best" type of outfit, since the color can fade pretty quickly in the sun. I think the ministers wore black fairly regularly...?

Typical garb for men consisted of a shirt with a large collar and cuffs, a doublet(padded jacket), sometimes a jerkin (sleeveless jacket worn over the doublet), breeches(short pants) tied in place with garters, stockings, and simple shoes.

(edit notes will go here if needed)

[milkymolle]

I don't think a single person on planet earth cares abt this (except me) but I've seen some minos prime enjoyers using thou/thee incorrectly. so if you have mental problems like me and you DO care here's a small guide

Thou is a subject and Thee is an object (like he vs him)

Thy and Thine are both possessives, the usage depends on whether or not the following word starts with a vowel (like a vs an); you'd say "thy hand" and "thine arm"

feel free to ignore this post

[bones4thecats]

➸ Nobody vs. the G.O.G.; Poseidon × S/O

Characters: Poseidon A/N: This is kind of a re-write of my old piece of the Reader being Odysseus' ancestor. I remembered that I wrote it a while ago, and in honor of the next saga of the Epic musical, I decided to redo it for fun! Anyways, have fun reading! ➥ Summary: What happens when two long-time rivals end up meeting again due to one similar relationship? Something entertaining for poor you, that's for sure.

DISCLAIMER: THIS CONTAINS QUITE A BIT OF VIOLENCE AT THE START. READER'S DISCRETION ADVISED THERE.

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Poseidon ══════════════════════════════╝

🔱 It was years, centuries ago, that a human and goddess had a child. An accident was what the Gods called it as they reassured the female, whom had left the baby with its father

🔱 The Goddess had to observe her child's life, aging underneath the tyrannical hand of the man who made up half of them. She sobbed nearly every night in the arms of her fellow Gods, and they had to reassure every night that it had to be this way. As a human could never live among the Gods

🔱 While the child's mother watched, they grew, married, had children, and that happened multiple times before she began to leave the next generations to themselves. The Goddess did come back. And her current descendant, Laertes, smiled as his newborn son was handed to him

🔱 Unbeknownst to them, the baby's ancestor would check on him almost daily, floating above him on a cloud. She held her hand out to the young Odysseus and he giggled as he grabbed her finger, a steam-like print being engraved into her skin

🔱 She smiled and sung to him the song that her father would sing to her whenever she was homesick. Memories flashed of the giant male hugging her and humming while her mother just coughed sickly and laid on his shoulder. Perhaps this song could make better memories with this young man?

🔱 Odysseus aged tremendously in the Goddess' eyes. He had the most beautiful dark hair she saw, and his eyes always made her proud to see the glimmer of life in them. Especially when he met his wife and they had his son

🔱 As he sailed off to fight against Troy, his ancestor stayed around his family. She transformed into a beautiful phoenix, with her wings and body being whiter than the clouds and the fire affect resembling the fluffy-structures in the sky

🔱 The bird would fly by every day, making sure the mother and son were safe from the suitors. One day, she went to far in protecting them to lure one out of the castle, grab him by the neck, and tell him to warn his fellow suitors that;

"If thou dare lay one hand on Penelope or Telemachus, I shall lay waste thee and thy fellow suitors. Now leave. Say to the others of this warning."

"Yes, Goddess of the Ocean's Storms and wife of Poseidon, God of the Sea. This warning shall be told to mine fellow suitors. I just pray to be spared from thy rage." He replied, a pathetic tone coming out and not the overconfident one from before.

"Go. Thou hast received the mercy of a goddess. 'I return, I expect a sacrifice of four suitors by the end of this week. Understood, mortal?"

"Merely, goddess of the ocean's storms. Thou hast mine word to mere thy crave 'i exchange."

🔱 The suitor ran off in fear. But, despite the warning from him, the men just laughed, calling him crazy for swearing that a Goddess such as that to visit him for such a petty reason

🔱 The next day, he was found with a trident stabbed through his chest.

🔱 It was months that the woman watched, not intervening, despite the wish to do so. She had been held back by her close friend, Aphrodite. Much to her despair. She wanted those suitors to be torn piece by piece until the other way to recognize them was from their torn-out eyeballs

🔱 A smile crossed the Goddess' face as she watched Athena protest against her father, Zeus. Her words made sense. After all, she did know this boy the best out of them all. Well, other than you that is

══✿══╡

🔱 You smiled as you intertwined your arm with Poseidon's. You both were your way to visit a certain young man who had delivered a letter to your doorstep. It was the young Telemachus of Ithaca, the son of former King and Queen Odysseus and Penelope

🔱 Poseidon's blank stare remained as you pet the head of a cute dog, his long snout's darker tone contrasting with the pink-colored tongue he used to lick you

"What a sweetheart, right, Poseidon?"

🔱 He looked away before nodding. It was hardly noticeable to most, but after living with him for a few centuries, you get used to his small signs

🔱 You stood as you heard your name get called. The smile on your face grew largely as you saw the young man come running out, his arms wide for you to hug him. He wrapped them around your shoulders and you laughed at the actions

"Telemachus. You act as if you haven't aged since you were a young 20-year-old! It's impressive you're over 100 now!" You joked.

🔱 Telemachus smiled and laughed. He then looked behind you and saw Poseidon, his eyes slightly widening as he caught sight of the God. The same God his father told him so many scary stories about ever since he returned home

"L-Lord Poseidon." He said.

🔱 Poseidon let out a breath as you rolled your eyes and asked Telemachus where his parents were. He looked back at you and nervously chuckled before motioning for you both to follow him inside of his home

"Mom's most likely observing some of the birds in the garden. My dad's probably training his men in the fields. You know him..."

"Do I ever."

🔱 Telemachus and you two stopped in a living room. It had many piece of furniture that was a mixture of Ancient Greek and modern-times. He told you guys you could sit down as he gathered his parents to see you both

🔱 You smiled and looked at Poseidon. He just stared off at the nearby ocean, probably thinking out everything he had to finish once you two returned home. Before he or you knew it, Telemachus came back in with his mother being dragged by her arm, a laugh coming from her as it happened

"Penelope. It's so lovely to see you again!" You said, embracing the woman like how you did her son.

"The same goes for me. You haven't aged a year! You must teach me your secrets." She joked.

"Penelope, what's going on?" A new voice said.

🔱 Looking up, you saw another male walk into the room. He had long, near-black hair, and a lightly-grown beard. Your eyes lit up when they met his, memories flashing in your head as you practically ran up to hug the man

🔱 Poseidon glanced up and stood up firmly, slamming his trident into the ground as he remembered the guy. This was the one man he hated more than anyone

"Odysseus of Ithaca."

🔱 Odysseus slightly jumped and looked up from your shoulder. Seeing the God of the Seas there, he pulled your behind him, unsheathing his sword to keep his family safe from the heartless man

"Poseidon. What are you doing here? We settled our issues years ago."

"No! No! No, Odysseus, I brought him here to meet you guys. Wait. How do you two know each other?"

"It's a long story..." Odysseus mumbled.

"One that I would be lucky to be recanted on." You said sternly.

"Well..."

"Polyphemus. He went blind because of this mortal."

"Huh? I thought- you stabbed him?!"

"Uh..."

"Okay, let's start from the top."

══✿══╡

🔱 You looked down at the ground with a facial expression that made Odysseus and Poseidon look away slightly. You weren't glaring, but you weren't even close to smiling either

"Let me make sure this is all clear. Odysseus, you fought in Troy, left, got stuck at an island trying to find food. Then you tried eating Polyphemus' sheep, and after he killed multiple of your men, you blinded him. Then you opened a bag from Aeolus after Poseidon came around, started and storm and fled, got stuck with Circe, went to the Underworld, dealt with sirens, Scylla, and Zeus. And then you had to deal with Calypso, and eventually had to deal with Poseidon once again."

"Yeah..."

"And Poseidon. You heard Polyphemus' cries for you, came and found out everything. And, using the information and name that Odysseus' blurted out in a ego-boosted stupor, found him, and drowned most of his men. You then proceeded to threaten Penelope, Telemachus, and the entirety of Ithaca with drowning?"

🔱 Poseidon nodded in a reply as you sighed and rubbed your temples

"Well... this has become much more of a difficult meeting than I hoped it would've been."

"You're telling me..." Telemachus said.

[unraveling-plot]

This is what I get for not proofreading 💀

The Murderbot Diaries was like here's a person. The person doesn't feel like a person.

The person is starting to believe it's a person, and it's pronouns are still it/it's. It's uncomfortable with eye contact, it hates being touched, it doesn't like social interaction, it doesn't have great control of it's facial expressions. And the person's friends all know this and respect it, and it can show affection how and when it feels and it's ok if it isn't "normal." It isn't questioned or doubted in it's care because of this.

The person processes emotions through media, and uses it to figure out what to do in social situations. It has complicated feelings about what it was meant to be and reconciling that with who it wants to be. It doesn't always feel like a person but it's starting to accept that it is one.

Also it has laser weapons in it's arms.

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Epilogue

what in the biblical language is this, it’s such a contrast to Nona’s narration. love a good TLT epilogue shift to a completely different perspective and narrative style

Alecto’s first word is ‘You’, which presumably connects to the end of saying ‘i still love y-’ in the poem at the beginning?

HARROWHARK NONAGESIMUS is back baby!! my girl is finally in the same room as Gideon for the first time in two books. i cannot wait to see Harrow’s reaction to Kiriona Gaia in AtN

‘I only die in longing for thee’ ok so the language here is definitely coloured by Alecto’s narration style, but i love that Ianthe’s response to Harrow calling her ‘bitch’ is to apparently say something extremely romantic

THEN PERISH

pfff and Alecto just tosses Ianthe aside. the last third of this book has not been great for Ianthe’s ego 

ok so the the attitude of Alecto to Pyrrha here is very interesting to me, specifically the mention of ‘appeasement’ - Alecto says that John ‘laid [her] down’ to appease ‘them’, presumably the Lyctors, which fits with what we know about the situation of Alecto being put in the tomb already. but what stands out as slightly odd here is that Alecto also says ‘he fed you to them as an appeasement to them’ - the Lyctors seemed more upset by the whole ‘consuming the souls of their cavaliers’ thing, rather than ‘appeased’. again i think there’s a lot more to the original ascension than the reader knows yet

‘and now all he has done is teach me how to die’ well that’s ominous. and also horrifically sad that this is clearly something learned as Nona, who had accepted her death, in contrast to Harrow’s assertion in John 5:4 that the only thing that scared Alecto was death

between Ianthe and Alecto Harrow just seems to be extremely kissable 

also Alecto biting Harrow as her understanding of a kiss vs Nona having an innate understanding of body language … its so sad. i miss Nona so much already

‘Get in line thou big slut!’ listen that cannot be anyone other than my girl Gideon!! i have a feeling that Alecto being in service to Harrow is going to cause Tension in the next book

‘At which John awakened and said, Annabel, good morning’ WHAT. what the hell is going on right now

that is one hell of a line to leave the book on, and pretty fitting given that the book has essentially told both of their stories (Alecto as Nona, John via Harrow’s dreams), and ends with them actually being on page together for the first time. also it is just like John to be totally, annoyingly chill about his kinda ex stabbing him in the chest smh

[thedarkjerg]

I'm going do withers vs durge banter from now on.

Durge: was i sweet once?

Withers: Why dost thou inquire of me?

Durge: because you know everything. Now would you please answer my 'inquiry'?

Withers: Thou wert a wretched child, none like unto thee, and thou didst smell most foul.

Durge: that's not true.

Withers: How wouldst thou know? Thou knowest naught.

Durge: I know you made that up.

Withers: Thou didst pose a query, and I did but respond. 'Tis not mine own fault that thou wert a wretched child.

Durge: bitch.

Withers: Bhaal's foul heap of gore

[minugasakuranohana]

Thou shalt not die? Sometimes more like «Thou shalt think twice before dying»

Eng / Ru

I love English name of her ability)

«Thou» as an appeal to the soul and «Thou shall not» as an opening line of many of the Ten Commandments from King James Bible! Yosano hopes that when she heals the person, his soul will still be alive. «Thou shalt not die», the Commandment of angel Akiko.

We are delighted! Her majesty is charmed! We are charmed!

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Я люблю английское название способности Йосано. «Thou shalt not die» — «Ты не должен умереть». «Thou shalt think twice before dying» — «Подумай дважды, перед тем как умереть» 😈

Вместо прямого и современного (лингвистически) перевода 50% слов во фразе thou shalt not die редкие и устаревшие. При этом Thou [ðaʊ] — это настоящее "ты", местоимение 2 лица, единственного числа. Согласно Википедии, его ещё используют кое-где на севере Англии и Шотландии, и в США , но это правда скорее просто "кое-где" — You знают все, кто учит инглиш, а thou? Что интересно, это местоимение используют в молитвах, как обращение к богу, к душе. Йосано надеется, что когда она исцелит человека, его душа будет ещё жива.

8: «Смерть — это потеря жизни», 68: «Но... Он, несомненно, мёртв. Я, пытавшаяся исцелить его сотни раз, знаю это, как никто другой», 65: «У раненного тяжелее всех оторвало половину тела. С помощью способности я восстановила тело. Но его “души“ уже нет. Он не может даже назвать своего имени».

Когда я рисовала, я не сразу заметила, что там shalt, а не shall, поэтому в какой-то момент пришлось вернуться и дорисовать палочку к l) Что я узнала об этом слове? [shall vs shalt] 0) Устаревшая форма shall 1) Shalt использовалось во втором лице единственного числа (т.е. с местоимением ты), а значит это более прямое обращение к человеку, нежели все эти формальности с Вы, <...>. 2) Архаично. Используется в религиозных и поэтических текстах. Например, в «King James Bible» — Библии короля Джеймса (Якова/Иакова) перевода 1611 г. В ней со слов «Thou shalt not...» начинается большинство из десяти заповедей! [Только заповеди / Кусок из Библии] (Ангел Акико придумала свою)

«Thou shalt have none other gods before me» «Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image» «Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord the God in vain» «Thou shalt not kill» и «Neither shalt thou commit adultery» «Neither shalt thou steal» «Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour» «Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's»

[hubristicassholefight]

Hubristic Asshole Fight: Round 1 Part 1b

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Feanor (The Silmarillion)

Propaganda below cut

Anakin

Decided that he would become stronger than death to stop those he cares about from dying after failing to accept his mother's death. When he begins getting visions/nightmares like he had before losing his mother of his wife dying in childbirth, he decides to team up with an evil sorcerer and mastermind to learn the secret to stopping death. The price he willingly paid was leading the slaughter of the community of peacekeeping monks who had raised him from nine years old, feeling guilt about his heinous betrayal even as he unflichingly continued the massacre (sunk cost fallacy to a very extreme degree). The unintended price he paid was the loss of his limbs and independence after his injuries during a fight with his mentor and brother figure, his wife dying on childbirth due to the great stress of his heinous actions, and being separated from his children until they were adults firmly opposed to the imperial regime he became the attack dog for (only knowing of their survival until after he had personally attacked them both); He literally did not have to do any of that. his wife Padmè very very very very much did not want him to do any of that. He was completely absorbed in his own inability to deal with loss that he deadlock refused to consider losing family again and then he went and killed what amounted to his extended family, his wife and the man who raised and guided him from age 9. And his own kids unknowingly. In terms of accomplishing your goals there really really wasn't much more he could have fucked up. And when it comes down to key moments, all he had to do was not cut off mentor and co-worker Mace Windu's hand with a laser sword and everything would have been fine. He's a nominee for Fail King of All Time to me

He thinks he's hot shit which, he is, but like cool it dude you don't have to mass murder maim mutilate your way through life to prove you're the extra most specialest bestest psychic space wizard;

Hubrised so hard he 1) lost his limbs and his skin 2) became what he hated 3) caused the very death he sought to prevent, betraying and destroying himself for nothing; So soaking wet and self aware that he cried committing atrocities. If he knew what hubris was, he'd agree he has a lot of it

Feanor

The definition of hubris. Created the silmarils who were so perfect even the gods praised them. Got them stolen by the gods evil brother (so essentially fantasy satan). Then decided to go fight the evil god to get the silmarils back and swore an oath binding him and his sons to get them back no matter who would stand in their way. This drastically backfired when some other elves stood in his way so he murdered them. Got cursed by the gods for this (together with his entire family and everyone who followed them). Told the gods that they were of the same kind as fantasy satan and that they would end up following him

Morgoth (a god) shows up at his house and Feanor (professional hater of gods) tells him to get fucked* and slams the door in his face. *”Get thee gone from my gate thou jail-crow of Mandos!”; He has never spent anything wrong ever aside from all the war crimes.

The Valar (gods) asked Feanor for help in saving the world from being in total darkness and he said “no, figure it out yourselves”. Repeatedly and intentionally goes against their orders leading to war and chaos; I know it’s left open ended to what really happened to him after he died, but I hope he never repents. I hope he stays an antagonistic and egotistical bastard after being reimbodied (brought back to life) and continues to make it everyone else’s problem. I love him.

I’m gonna have to try to do this without a sing Tolkien scholarship words so bear with me. Basically my dude is one of the smartest and most talented elves in the world. Unfortunately he has a lot of daddy issues AND mommy issues largely due to the fact that his mom died when he was a kid and decided not to come back (as elves can do). No one else has this problem. He invented a ton of important stuff and had seven sons. His most prized creation was three gems called the Silmarils, which contained the light of the Two Trees, which gave light to the world before they were destroyed. When the Valar (the gods of Tolkien’s world) asked if they could use the Silmarils to potentially create another light source, he emphatically refused and in fact became so jealous of them that he and his sons swore an oath that anyone who so much as touched them would die by their swords. Sauron’s boss steals the gems and Feanor decides that he will lead his people on a crusade to retrieve and avenge them. This results in the death of him, most of his people, and almost his entire family minus one of his sons, Galadriel, and Elrond; He once yelled at the devil to get off his lawn

went to war with morgoth (satan basically) against the will of the gods and made a whole speech to said gods about how they were gonna feel really silly when he killed morgoth and saved the whole world. he never actually did battle with morgoth because he died on like day 1 of getting to middle earth (he left like 2/3 of his forces behind because he didn’t trust them) and spontaneously combusted upon his death; he’s a huge asshole and a mad scientist and linguist and prince with daddy issues and also mommy issues

Dude thought he could win a fight with the devil, tried to just walk into Angband (Mordor before Mordor actually existed), made an oath to kill everyone that tries to take his creations even the Valar (angelic like beings) and ends up causing his death, his sons deaths and a bunch of other deaths; His name is quite literally spirit of fire Is basically regarded as THE greastest elf Is in fact THE best smith of the elves and crafts their most precious jewels (that end up causing so much death) Is THE linguist to the point of creating the alfabet every one uses even after The Crimes, creates a bunch of things that are used even after The Crimes actually Loves his dad more than the things he made Is the only recorded elf with seven kids Is married to a sculpter that is so good that people confuse her statues as actual people (a propaganda because he had to be good to actually bag her you know) Manages to create jewelry so good even the the angelics beings sent by god are surprised he managed to do it So good at making speeches that it leads to a rebellion against said angelic beings and a lot of people to leave paradise with him His mother died because his spirit was too powerful Invented kinslaying after trying to steal some boats for said rebellion Swears an oath that destroys his whole family (but adds a great flavour to the rest of the story) Tells the devil to fuck off and slams his house door on said devils face Dies via auto combustion because his spirit was just too powerful for a normal death Gets stuck in the afterlife (that elves can usually just return from) for spiting the Valar Is said he will have an important role in Tolkien’s version of Ragnarok by letting the jewels he previously promised to kill for be destroyed to defeat the devil

Because of his pride, he went against the gods because the evil god Morgoth stole his life's work (the Silmarils, 3 shiny gems that radiated the light of the two trees that a huge evil spider had sapped dry). Swore (with his 7 sons) an oath to hunt Morgoth and retrieve his shiny gems. Commited kinslaying, burned some boats, combusted to ashes after suffering mortal wounds at the hands of corrupted demi-gods. Consequences of his actions could be seen long long after his death: the oath was passed on to his sons to hopelessly fulfill (failure after failure, including two more kinslayings, one of them casting himself into a fiery volcano, another wandering the shores for eternity);

[luka-labrathor]

Czech verbs in English fanfiction

This is a part 2 of my Language-in-Arcane-fanfics series.

Part 1 (nominative X vocative case) Part 3 (a guide to Czech dictionaries and other tools) – TBA

Verbs aren't as commonly used by Viktor in English fics but I've come across some problem grammar and contextual groups so here's a quick guide into some of the issues:

Infinitive vs. imperative

Politeness in the second person (tykání/vykání)

Gender in the adjectival predicate

WARNING this is targeted at people that want to use Czech without learning it. This is very simplified!

1. Infinitive vs. imperative

In English the infinitive and the imperative moods look (mostly) the same.

To do (smth) = infinitive

Do (smth)! = imperative

In Czech they aren't the same.

Dělat (něco) = infinitive

Dělej (něco)! = imperative

If you want to use a sentence in the imperative mood without any object, online translators (in some cases) automatically use infinitive or a noun even when you include an exclamation mark:

(úsměv = a smile, noun)

I recommend finding the verb you want to use in a dictionary (not a translator!!!) and then looking it up on Wiktionary or some other website (that you can find in part 3).

A good dictionary you can use: WORD REFERENCE

You can just google "[czech-word] Wiktionary" and something will come up (tho you might need to automatically translate it like I did in the screenshots above). Or you can use any of the dictionaries that I'll be mentioning in the next part.

2. Misplaced politeness

Czech singular uses something called "tykání" and "vykání" in second-person verbs to indicate politeness. Tykání could be the equivalent of using thou/thee in older forms of English or being on a first-name basis with the one you're talking to. Vykání is reserved for interactions with people you don't know (usually not online though) or people of a higher status than you.

Arcane example:

Viktor would use tykání when talking to: friends, students (while also being a student), family, children

And he would use vykání when talking to: Heimerdinger and other professors, students (while being a lecturer or a TA), strangers, colleagues (that he's not friends with), anyone he calls Mr./Ms./Mrs./Mx.

But why am I talking about all this:

Google Translator uses tykání and vykání as it pleases. So if you want to translate a sentence using the second person, you need to pay attention. Because I can't show you a good example using Google as its translations aren't really consistent, I'll be using Deepl in the examples. But first:

What tykání and vykání look like in Czech?

There's one more thing you need to know about tykání and vykání. While both refer to a singular individual, vykání (the polite one) looks almost exactly like the second person plural.

So finally here's the difference:

You are Jayce.

– Ty jsi Jayce. = tykání, singular

– Vy jste Jayce. = vykání, singular

You (y'all) are Jayces.

– Vy jste Jaycové. = plural

As you can see, both plural and vykání end with -te. That's the biggest clue for you.

I'll give you one more example, this one should sum up what I've told you so far:

When Viktor says this sentence, he's talking to a student he's just met so he would probably use vykání when talking to him. Deepl gave us 4 options, so which one can we choose?

"Trochu egoistické, nemyslíte?" This one can be both vykání and plural.

"Trochu egoistické, nemyslíš?“ This one is tykání. Viktor would say that to a friend or a family member but not a person he's just met.

"Není to trochu egoistické?" The literal translation of this one is "Isn't it a bit egotistical?" so we're avoiding the second person entirely. He could say this to anyone.

"Trochu sobecké, nemyslíte?" Same as no. 1.

Now a nerdy addition for the bravest of you:

I said vykání and second person plural are ALMOST the same. The difference is for example in the past tense indicative that uses an L-participle – nemysleL(i) – and an auxiliary verb "to be / být" in the present tense.

Did you stabilize it?

– Stabilizoval jsi to? = tykání, singular

– Stabilizoval jste to? = vykání, singular

– Stabilizovali jste to? = plural

Also as some of you may know, most participles are gendered. The examples I gave you are masculine, the feminine participles would be stabilizovala/stabilizovaly and the neuter ones would be stabilizovalo/stabilizovala. The rest is the same.

If you want to make sure you're using the correct second person, you can translate your sentence using Deepl and choose the option that uses / doesnt use the -te suffix. That applies for all the moods and tenses that recognise the 2nd person. If you want to make sure your vykání in past tense isn't accidentally in plural, you can add a name at the end/beginning of the sentence and then copy it without the name. For the opposite effect you can add for example a plural demonym (Did you stabilize it, Czechs?) or just use "y'all" instead of "you".

3. Gender in the adjectival predicate

Czech adjectives are gendered (as well as all nouns). Masculine adjectives (in nominative singular) usually have the final suffix -ý, feminine -á and neutral -é:

They can also end with í, that means it can be any of those three grammatical genders:

Plus some foreign adjectives aren't any of those:

But there's one sentence that could give you trouble. It was the first sentence I thought of when I was trying to find examples for this post:

As you can see, Deepl doesn't accept mpreg as it uses only the -á suffix for the adjective "pregnant". Don't get confused, you can just slap -ý on it (Jsem těhotný...) and you'll be fine!

That's all I have for you rn. If you need help, just send an Ask or DM me, I can answer any Czech and Czechia related questions or beta read your fic. If you know anyone that could benefit from this, send them my profile or smth, idk.

It'll take a while for me to make the third part of this, posts like these take a longer time than I thought lol

[citruswriter]

Hello and welcome to my writing blog!

I like to write. So uh, I'm gonna write. Yk, when I have the motivation. ANYWAYS-

Name: Lofi/Tavern

Age: Chrono young 20s (I'm secretly a primordial entity tho, obvi 💅)

Pronouns: They/Them, Thou/Thee, Ech/Echo, Bee/Bees & Fae/Faer

Honorifics: Vs, Sai, Mir, Miss (playfully), Ma'am (formal/if close)

Terms: Feminine, Masculine, Neutral, Nonhuman

Relationship Status: Single and Not Looking and Queerplatonically Taken x3!

Extras: Multireligous, Objectum, Fictospec, Queer, etc.

Divider Credit

My Omegaverse Ranks

Used your artwork and you want me to remove it/credit you? Send me a message and lmk!

Citrus Scale: The Levels and What They Mean

Orange 🧡 - General Writings. So this would be fluff, angst, comfort, and similar.

Lime 💚 - Slight spice but not flat out nsfw. Heavy make out, sexual tension, maybe some milder things like grinding or choking.

Lemon 💛 - The filth and sin. Full blown tango. Actually nsfw. Le sex. General kinks added in as well.

Grapefruit 🩷 - A rarer ranking not often used to be alluded to darker things. Such as yandere, Stockholm Syndrome, gRape, murder, body mutilation, etc. Usually sexual or has sexual themes but not always.

Fandoms I Write For

Baldur's Gate Three

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Hazbin Hotel

Creepypasta

Hetalia

Star Wars

Hogwarts

MeChat

Melanie Martinez/Crybaby

Anyways I think that's it. Send in those requests!

[dramatic-dolphin]

English does (well, did) absolutely have formal vs. informal "you" though. That's why the Lord's Prayer goes "hallowed be thy name". Thou/thee/thy/thine/thineself, and it changes the conjugation ("you are" -> "thou art", "you see" -> "thou seest").

Plot twist: because it's in the Lord's Prayer, people tend to assume "thou" is the formal. Nope! You were supposed to address the Lord like your pal.

(for further examples of its use, read Shakespeare or *checks notes* A Clockwork Orange)

oh yes, i know! what's wild for me is that english actually got rid kf the INFORMAL you. and it's not the only one! brazilian portuguese ALSO decided to get rid of the informal you instead of the formal. hell if i know why.

funnily enough, hungarian is the other way, in that we did not originally have a formal you until the 17th century or so. and even now, god is always referred to with the informal you. no distance from god, he is your friend and you will address him as such. i think that's cool :D

[shakespearepicnic]

I Present; Mimi Imfurst vs Everyone by William Shakespeare

Alexis: Troth, my bar in its entirety had no use for my service since the valiant Mimi hath conquered it. By my troth, I do love the lady, as it was, to my knowledge, no fault of thine. However, I do feel quite betrayed.

they pause

Alexis: In my own division, by my own heart, I am truly sorry, but each lady I do see before me, is of fairer face than thou.

Mimi: But pause, but pause, here is…if thy tongue hath a quarrel with thy head which doth possess, in faith, nothing heartier than thoughts of myself, I say do! Let us quarrel in the arena of these secretest of desires which I know you to have many: When a Lord does approach thee, or thee! Or thee! With talk of employment; wouldst thou not be a fool as to refuse him? I swear it, I caught no wind of news that the Lord of the bar had relieved thee of thy employment. And if thou hast a February face for it; do talk with me before such clouds overtake you, lady.

Alexis: Thou-

Mimi: Nay, nay, nay! I hath given over mine ear most graciously: Henceforth, you shall lend me thine for the briefest of moments, in which you will feel hellfire upon it.

Alexis: The fool struts, lady. The fool struts.

Mimi: We do live upon this earth, where man, woman and child, gaze daggers upon us like unskilled jesters in the king's court. Or such lowly creatures which serve only to their pleasure, but sour in the mouths of favour.

Tammie: O! O! I am a player.

Mimi: For what reason, are we gentlewomen, seated in this hour, to fleet and jeer at one another? I’ faith, tis’ vile.

Manila: Vile? Tis’ not vile! We ladies talk freely to one another now, as cousins do to cousins.

Chad: Fie! All you, stop thy mouths!

Mimi: Lowly jests and gossip like humour. I did not come to be whipped.

Manila: And what did you think to happen, trow? Thy mind and body are weary of such repetition!

Tammie: O! Advance Teletubbie! Bring us henceforth to a land redder than earth!

Manila: What means the knave?

Manila aside

Manila: Dost the dog speak in earnest?

Mimi: I did not think to… nay.

Tammie: Switch thy attires Mimi!

(Sung)

Switch thy attires, switch them around!

Chad aside

Chad: I did think the lady Mimi to have taken up new lodgings in a whiter heart. However I hath been much deceived. And do look upon the lady I do know as, the former Mimi.

Mimi: I must speak my mind; Tis’ odd to speak of any matter which did not see thy face, nor the walls of any room you may have here.

Raven: Then you must shield thy ear, Mimi. Because we ladies have spoken such.

A pause

Raven: Thy! The Lady Mimi Imfurst hath surpassed the spaces reserved for the fifth and the fourth? I did not dare trust my true judgement!

Mimi: Mock not my friends, stale!

Raven: Of the crowd I have seen, thou dost not possess so many to call it such. Meaning, of all fifty good and true ladies that hath set foot in this place, how didst thou surpass them?

Yara: Ay! Because the Lord Rupaul is in the need for a premier fool!

Laughter

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #5060:

People trying to use thou/thee/thy/thine, but using the wrong one, or using them in reference to multiple people (it's the SINGULAR, informal "you"). I know they're trying, but I've had to stop reading in the middle of dozens of fics because moon horse said something like "we hast seen the nightmares of all of thou" or "did thee truly sayest we were thine best friend?" Just… please, either quickly search "how to use thou and thee" or have her use modern pronouns. I never want to read the so-called word "thee's" ever again.

Also a bit irked by Luna using the royal "we" when speaking in private with her sister and fellow princess, but "we" vs "I" is more couched in social stuff as opposed to butchering relatively simple grammatical rules.

[bestworstcase]

ok wait. ok.

some roses will never bloom some dreams will rot on the vine some lives will end much too soon some evil will never ever die […] sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall and fight for every life

vs.

’tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone […] i’ll not leave thee, thou lone one to pine on the stem since the lovely are sleeping go, sleep thou with them thus kindly i scatter thy leaves o’er the bed where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead.

...hm. anyways.

"the lies come out of you so easily. like-minded souls, indeed."

summer rose telling lies! first time for everything—but the first first first inkling we get of summer's character is "now i'm nothing but a liar and you're thrown into the fray."

the way yang tells the story in 2.6 draws a direct line between summer disappearing and the fact of raven's existence being revealed to her; tai and summer withheld this information.

in 7.4 ruby asks qrow if summer's last mission was "another oz secret" and qrow answers "there were a lot of those back in the day" but that no, "this one was a summer secret."

9.10 we see summer put on a mask for tai and then a different mask for raven. "you're... just going to leave them?" raven asks, and summer deflects like a pro: "you're one to talk!" and "if i get this right, there's nothing to worry about. trust me."

"saw you in a dream/are you who you seem?"

"you were born to hypnotize them all."

she lied, ruby says.

summer rose is the reason raven has Trust Issues.

listen.

ozma lied. salem trusted him. he lied to her for years let her support his ambitions in the only way she knew how for years before he told the truth. "this isn't what he asked of me." "ozma told salem everything: the true reason the god of light had brought him back, the relics that lay scattered around the world, and the day of judgement he had been told to prepare for."

"if i get this right, there's nothing to worry about. trust me." "let's get it over with, i guess."

the god of light's mandate, the divine relics, the day of judgment he had been told to prepare for. don't you see? none of that matters anymore.

summer left her kids behind, but the spring maiden, a child whom raven loved enough to have a kindred link, died that night.

raven blames herself for that girl's death. salem blames herself for the deaths of her daughters.

"leave." <- there is a reason these scenes are paralleled. also

"and so we must... press on." / "and now i have to live with that forever." she blames herself.

anyway--the point is--

"if humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear..." "he had to destroy salem."

"how can i destroy salem?" "you can't! :)"

"we don't have to kill you to stop you; and we will stop you." "your mother said those words to me. she was wrong, too."

listen. listen to me.

what happens if ozma chooses to stay with salem?

what if—after he tells her everything, after he pours out all the things he's kept festering inside of himself for years because the god of light told him salem lives, but the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone and where you seek comfort, you will only find pain—after he tells her about the relics, about the mandate, about the blade hanging over remnant's neck—what if, when she says none of that matters, he answers you're right, and takes her hand?

what happens if salem chooses to stay with him?

what if, when he tells her that the world is doomed and that he alone is meant to save it because the god of light anointed him for the task, she says very well. let's get this over with, i guess. what if it's salem who balks in the end?

summer rose is both of these questions. she is the ozma who convinced salem to embrace the mandate and she is also the ozma who rose out of the smoldering ruin of the world she couldn't save and decided to take the hand salem held out to her.

(tai never leaves his isolated home in the woods. raven retreats into the wilderness to lead her bandits. ruby rose believes that the world is worth fighting for. summer left him—summer stabbed her in the back—summer lied.)