#tw afterlife

[moremysteriesthantragedies]

Afterlife Villain & Hero Thoughts

Had some thoughts on this concept that's been wiggling around in my head, so.

Heroes and villains are constructs or ideas come to life, so I don't really think they can be killed, at least in a traditional sense. When you kill a thought that doesn't mean it's gone, that just means it's been moved to the back of your mind until it becomes relevant to you again. Within that space, I also imagine ideas can change and grow just like they do when we rattle them in our brains for a while. In this context, I imagine it can be because of that idea's perception of themselves or their creator's (either mother light or mother dark's) perception of them.

Therefore, dying is kind of a big deal, and even though they can technically respawn, lots of heroes and villains don't really want to risk it on account of many come out of these temporary afterlives as changed people. However, this fear is mostly unwarranted as mother light and mother dark usually step in to stop, say, someone with low confidence thinking themselves into being a bad person, and often bring out the good in their creations rather than the bad (and without overriding who that creation truly is deep down).

Though it's an entire discussion for potentially a later post how the villains mother light accepts into her light are essentially overwritten, in the rare chance she doesn't outright tear their entire existence to pieces upon becoming aware of them in her domain.

Typically, heroes and villains only stay in these afterlives for as long as they desire or until the danger has passed. They typically respawn wherever they last were, only now completely healed. There are only a few rare cases where they outright stay within these afterlives. Either because they themselves choose to (as the construct they're based on is changed during their stay, I imagine this could lead to them later being reborn if that construct is commonly on the mind of the normal civilians) or because mother dark or light refuses to let them leave, usually because they've committed some crime that makes either believe the villain or hero should be kept within their darkness/light rather than roaming freely.

I think (especially from a hero's perspective) it's easy to assume that the hero afterlife is like Heaven and the villain afterlife is like Hell, especially since outsiders often see mother dark as colder than she actually is, but this is far from the case. They're simply both comforting in their own ways. Within the hero afterlife, basking directly within Luma's light, heroes basically find themselves in a field of light where they feel light on their feet and energized by everything they see or touch. Within the villain afterlife, basking directly in Obscura's dark, villains basically find themselves in a field of black where they feel heavy on their feet and soothed into restfulness by everything they see or touch.

Tag list: @verba-writing, @perasperaadastrawriting, @profoundlyhauntedclaws

[silverknight338]

Saw a post about not wanting an afterlife and it occurs to me that i’ve never really wanted an afterlife so much as i have just wanted unrestricted freedom. The afterlife i imagine is just me going to places i want to be in and take time to explore and be there. To create and enjoy. To be able to be with friends at the snap of a finger if we want. (but haven’t thought much of family because i’ve only ever associated family with repression so why would they be in heaven (ok actually maybe to occasionally talk to family, but more from a historical context, to understand experiences and personalities rather than commune with)). To experience or find out the truth of history. To go back in time and see for myself korean swordsmiths before japan imperialism. To see dinosaurs! Woolly mamoths!

[ohgreat-moretapes]

Not sure if this would help you, but something that helps with my visual hallucinations is using my phone camera to check if something is real or not!

...

What does it mean when it makes them worse...?

-Tim

[sasakisniko]

-Hector Xtravaganza

@deadboyween Day 5: Family

[eldritchbean-shapeshifter]

My alterhumanity is a bit..... Confusing.... It's hard to explain.

I'm not otherkin or therian. Neither feels right to me.

My soul is..... my soul. It just kinda....is....?

My body feels too rigid. Too constricting. I often feel like I should be able to physically shift and change, but there's something blocking me. Preventing me from doing so. That's why I identify as physically nonhuman. I feel like I just got trapped in one form when I was born and I can't change for some reason.

Human is still part of my identity. But that's not all there is to me. No matter what form I take, there is always something more to me. I am always more than what I appear to be.

I feel like I'm supposed to be able to do anything that I can imagine. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the verge of finally unlocking them. But my abilities are always just barely out of reach.

I am an Eldritch Shapeshifter. I am just a silly bean. I am a smol creechur and I am a Cosmic Horror. I can be anything I want to be. But no matter how hard I try it's just not possible right now, and that makes me really frustrated.

I don't believe in reincarnation or past lives (I will always love and respect those who do!). I do believe in an afterlife (and a spiritual life before this one). I really hope that I can be free to truly Be Me in the afterlife. I'm in no rush to get there though 😅. This world may be rough but there's still so much I wanna do.

I really hope I can make some IRL alterhuman/nonhuman/therian/otherkin/etc. friends. In the meantime, I have some really cool & supportive family members and friends I can hang out with :)

Thanks for being patient with my rambling. There's just so much I wanna say, and as many know, any ADHD story comes with bonus content/commentary 😆

hey, question for non-humans/alterhumans/therians etc.!

i would be curious to hear what y'all's experience/view on your own alterhumanity is: I'll explain mine to clarify

personally I'm nonhuman, because my soul isn't human. my soul shifts its shape constantly but never takes a human form. my soul is the reason why I'm alterhuman. because my soul is not human

this is only my own personal experience of course! I'm really curious to hear about everyone elses experiences! ^^

[taiistired]

i need you more than anything

[howlidae]

a comic i meant to clean up but never did for my Wright Afterlife Agency AU!! more info below the cut!!

basically, everyone who has died in ace attorney and is connected to phoenix feel a strange pull towards the WAA. spirits linger there and come and go as they please, with mia and gregory being the main spirits who greet and get new ghosts accustomed to their afterlife.

everyone in the WAA embrace the fact that there are ghosts and the ghosts can do minor poltergeist things in the office itself, such as shaking charley, opening books, and turning on the tv!!!

i have more rambly ideas on my twitter @ howlidae if u would like to see more though i also plan to make more content and post it here!!

ur free to ask or comment if u have any questions about it :3

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Petelia Tablet, Greek, c.300-200 BCE: this totenpass (a "passport for the dead") was meant to be buried in a human grave; it bears an inscription that tells the dead person exactly where to go and what to say after crossing into the Greek Underworld

Made from a sheet of gold foil, this tablet measures just 4.5cm (a little over 1.5 inches) in length, and although it was found inside a pendant case in Petelia, Italy, it's believed to have originated in ancient Greece. It was meant to aid the dead in their journey through the Underworld -- providing them with specific instructions, conferring special privileges, and granting them access to the most coveted realms within the afterlife.

The Petelia tablet, displayed with the pendant case in which it was discovered

The tablet itself dates back to about 300-200 BCE, while the pendant case/chain that accompanies it was likely made about 400 years later, during the Roman era. It's believed that the tablet was originally buried with the dead, and that an unknown individual later removed it from the burial site and stuffed it into the pendant case. Unfortunately, in order to make it fit, they simply rolled it up and then snipped off the tip of the tablet. The final lines of the inscription were destroyed in the process.

The inverse side of the Petelia tablet

These textual amulets/lamellae are often referred to as totenpässe ("passports for the dead"). They were used as roadmaps to help guide the dead through the Underworld, but they also served as indicators of the elite/divine status of certain individuals, ultimately providing them with the means to obtain an elevated position in the afterlife.

The Petelia tablet is incised with an inscription in ancient Greek, and the translated inscription reads:

You will find a spring on your left in Hades’ halls, and by it the cypress with its luminous sheen.

Do not go near this spring or drink its water. You will find another, cold water flowing from Memory’s lake; its guardians stand before it.

Say: "I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but descended from Heaven; you yourselves know this. I am parched with thirst and dying: quickly, give me the cool water flowing from Memory’s lake."

And they will give you water from the sacred spring, and then you will join the heroes at their rites.

This is [the ... of memory]: [on the point of death] ... write this ... the darkness folding [you] within it.

The final section was damaged when the tablet was shoved into the pendant case; sadly, that part of the inscription does not appear on any of the other totenpässe that are known to exist, so the meaning of those lines remains a mystery (no pun intended).

Lamellae that are inscribed with this motif are very rare. They're known as "Orphic lamellae" or simply "Orphic tablets." As the name suggests, these inscriptions are traditionally attributed to an Orphic-Bacchic mystery cult.

The inscriptions vary, but they generally contain similar references to a cypress tree, one spring that must be avoided, another spring known as the "Lake of Memory," the sensation of thirst, and a conversation with a guardian (or another entity within the Underworld, such as the goddess Persephone) in which the dead must present themselves as initiates or divine individuals in order to be granted permission to drink from the Lake of Memory. They are thereby able to obtain privileges that are reserved only for the elite.

Though the specifics of this reward are often vague, it may have been viewed as a way to gain access to the Elysian Fields (the ancient Greek version of paradise) or as a way to participate in sacred rites; some totenpässe suggest that it may have allowed the soul to break free from the eternal cycle of reincarnation. Regardless, the overall objective was likely the same: to obtain a special status and acquire privileges that were inaccessible to most of the souls in the Underworld.

Sources & More Info:

Altlas Obscura: The Ancient Greeks Created Golden Passports to Paradise

The Museum of Cycladic Art: The Bacchic-Orphic Underworld

Bryn Mawr College: Festivals in the Afterlife: a new reading of the Petelia tablet

The Getty Museum: Underworld (imagining the afterlife)

The British Museum: Petelia tablet (with pendant case; chain)

[thuganomxcs]

━━   ❝   𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭.   ❞   He rubs the center of his forehead after receiving his flick..he’s beginning to wonder if there’s a red spot there right now. More than two realms huh, well he’s known about purgatory which is one of the very VERY bad places. It wasn’t like he was afraid of where he’d end up, it was just…“Well I’ll let those judges know they can put me wherever they want..but when and IF your time comes then I’ll come lookin’ for ya.” He says with a grin on his face, it wasn’t meant to be a ‘heartfelt’ conversation but just one of the ways for Yusuke to say ‘I’m only COMPLETE when i’m with you’.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 & 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒

@thuganomxcs :

"You know what I just thought about? When our time eventually run out..I think that'd be it for us..I'm somethin' spawned from hell. Only the good ones like you get the taste of heaven. Eh.. at least that's how I think it'd work. Heard purgatory is like a fight every minute…doesn't sound all too bad if ya ask me."

It's a good question but she's still going to flick him on the forehead. "You are not some big evil thing. And you are most certainly not going to hell," even as a joke, she doesn't like him talking poorly about himself. She takes a minute to consider her answer. "Actually, there are more options than just heaven and hell. I guess I've never really talked about Reikai's process since you didn't get very in it. But the afterlives are separate realms that can only be accessed by certain beings in Rekai, like me. Although we rarely enter," or at least, they're not supposed to. "Anyway-- I know you, and you wouldn't qualify for any of the hells, even the least awful ones. You might think you've done bad things, but The Judges don't only look at actions, they look at intentions and circumstance, it's a very complicated process. And unlike the people you went to school with, they can't be fooled. You have a good soul, that's why your spirit beast didn't eat you. I know you'll be sent to a peaceful realm, I'd fight Koenma myself if it weren't the case."

[avayarising]

Deaths of Tim Drake

Part of the Batfam Death Project.

Unfortunately, Tim is wrong. At the time of the above panel (Robin War 1, 2015), Tim had died twice. To be fair, though, this being New 52 where Tim was never even actually Robin, they have presumably unhappened or, at least, been forgotten. (However, current canon is that all timelines have happened, so they still count.)

Tim has died three times and visited an afterlife once, if only barely. There are also a further three occasions when he might have arguably died, though it is not shown on panel.

Total time dead: a few days.

Verifiable deaths

1. Killed by the Joker (Emperor Joker, 2000)

Tim was killed by the Joker after Joker stole reality-altering powers from Mxyzptlk and remade the universe to his liking.

By the look of his corpse he was shot several times in the chest, possibly with a machine-gun.

Time dead: At least a few days. By the look of the corpses, Dick died before Tim – his body is noticeably more bloated – but neither has been dead more than about a week or two. On the other hand, Joker has powers over reality here, so he could have them appear at whatever stage of decomposition he wants.

2. Drowned in Blüdhaven (Robin 2:145, 2006)

Tim drowned in a water attack by a villain called Monsoon during an attack on Blüdhaven by a large number of meta villains, just hours before Blüdhaven was bombed by Chemo.

He was resuscitated by Laura Fell, the Warlock’s Daughter (his school friend Darla returned from the dead), who says she used CPR (the resuscitation is not shown on-page).

Of course, the person who gave her the CPR that didn’t help when she died was Tim, so that’s a hell of a thing to bring up just now.

Time dead: unclear, but probably in the order of minutes – Laura is grabbing him and pulling him out as he’s losing consciousness, so it can’t be long.

3. Electrocuted by Evil Future Tim (Detective Comics 1:966–967, 2017)

Tim’s Evil Future Batman Self (pulled from the future by Dr Oz) helped Tim escape Dr Oz’s extradimensional prison, where they were both imprisoned. When they got back to Gotham, Evil Future Batman Tim incapacitated Red Robin Tim with a powerful electric shock so he could go and kill Batwoman without interference.

Tim staggered to a nearby hospital, removing the more recognisable parts of his Red Robin outfit (which at this point in time actually looks just like his Robin outfit) on the way, and collapsed in the doorway. His heart stopped and he had to be revived by defibrillation.

Time dead: a minute or two at most.

Bonus extra deaths

(Implied, inferrable, ambiguous and arguable deaths)

1. Possibly died briefly during his splenectomy (Red Robin 5, 2009)

As Red Robin, Tim got stabbed in the spleen, and almost died from blood loss. He was picked up and treated by the League of Assassins, and woke up next to a Lazarus Pit. He was told, however, that he had not been resurrected, nor been submerged in the Pit for healing, but had only undergone surgery.

That may be so. It still leaves open the possibility that Tim did briefly die on the operating table and was resuscitated by more normal medical processes. It’s also possible that the White Ghost was lying by omission and, even if Tim wasn’t submerged in the Pit, some Lazarus Water was involved in the operation.

Time dead: Maybe a minute or two, if anything.

2. Arguably died when he was shot by a hundred drones at once (Detective Comics 1:940 (2016)

Jacob Kane (Batwoman’s dad and Bruce’s maternal uncle) had a plan to take out members of the League of Shadows (an offshoot of the League of Assassins) with targeted drone strikes. But the drones would have potentially killed a lot of other people too. Unable to actually disable the drones, Tim managed to hack them and reprogram them to all fire on him instead.

This was absolutely suicide, and it absolutely would have killed him had Dr Oz not spirited him away to his extradimensional prison. But you could argue that Tim did actually die at this point. Did he get transported just before the drones hit, or did his body get disintegrated and then reconstituted from his soul (which would count as death) in the prison?

Against the former, surely it wouldn’t have been hard for the other Bats to spot if his body had disappeared a millisecond before the lasers hit, and the panel appears to show his body beginning to disintegrate. Tim remembers the missiles hitting him.

On the other hand, when Tim manifests in the prison he is still as injured as he was before, with a swollen cheek and a bloody nose, and you’d think if his body was reformed it would come back fully healed.

Dr Oz’s answer is ambiguous.

Time dead: unclear. If he died at all, it was probably for moments.

3. Probably died in Death Metal along with everyone else (Death Metal 7, 2021)

Tim probably died in battle when the Dark Multiverse invaded and destroyed all the worlds of the multiverse. All the remaining heroes came together in a hopeless fight against an army of their worst nightmares, including an apparently never-ending swarm of groblins (mindless evil Jokerised Robins led by the Robin King, an evil child Bruce Robin).

Tim’s death isn’t shown on panel and neither is his dead body, but he is definitely in the group of Bats standing ready to fight (left, next to Spoiler):

As with Cass, Tim is likely to have died here, but he could have just been fighting elsewhere when we see Evil Child Bruce Robin taunt Batman over the fact that everyone is dead. In any case, everyone is fine again when Wonder Woman persuades the Creators to remake the multiverse.

Time dead: unclear; might be up to an hour, or longer if it takes longer to remake the world.

Afterlife visits

1. Pulled to the edge of the Abyss (Young Justice 1:19, 1999)

So apparently one of Greta’s (Secret’s) powers is the ability to create a portal to the Abyss – a rather horrific realm of the dead – within herself. She basically gathers people into herself to pull them in to the afterlife. She can also use this power to teleport/transport people by taking them through the Abyss – though it is not pleasant. She does this for Young Justice when Mount Justice blows up with them all inside it. In Greta’s internal portal, they experience falling into darkness, being burnt up, and being frozen and shattered. All the time, Greta is laughing cruelly.

And then they get spat out into a forest in the rain.

Greta is at pains to insist that she didn’t actually take them in to the Abyss itself, just the edge of it within herself. But it was still obviously absolutely nightmarish for all of them.

Time in in Greta’s internal afterlife portal: moments, or an eternity.

2. In the Abyss again (Young Justice 1:48, 2002)

Anita’s dad was tortured and left to die. Anita got there just too late, and then leapt into Greta’s internal afterlife portal to try and pull him out.

Ray and Slobo jumped in to get Anita back, and, after a little hesitation (unlike the others, he had been in before and knew the Horrors that awaited), Tim went in too.

Like last time, Tim experiences The Horrors, but Slobo (who says he has an understanding with death) stabilises him. They, with Ray, protect Anita from bat-monsters while she tries to reach her father.

Anita doesn’t get her dad back, but she does get to say goodbye to him. (This doesn’t help.) Everyone other than Anita’s dad is spat back out of Greta’s portal in the same place a short while after they left.

Time in Greta’s internal afterlife portal: a few minutes.

Batfam Death Project Masterpost

[boar-xam]

[m0ssyc0bble]

The gayest Vampire there is..... It's that time of year, y'know what that means! Vampire Scott!

[ohgreat-moretapes]

So is Brian gone now or is he still here? -🩸

01001001 01001101 00100000 01001100 01010101 01010010 01001011 01001001 01001110 01000111 :)

-⦻⦻⦻

[one-time-i-dreamt]

There was an afterlife but you were reincarnated as a space jellyfish (art by @dimensionsfae).

[sasakisniko]

Every Charles Rowland Scene (6/?)