#very vague book spoilers

[storiesconsumemysoul]

I don't know how to articulate this perfectly but I'm so happy for how the show is portraying Renna's desire for an emotional "connection" with Egwene as genuine because it highlights, to me, a crucial underlying aspect of Egwene's psyche going forward. A particular allergic reaction she'll develop let's say. The Seanchan are messing her up in about a thousand different ways but one of the more prominent ones is that it completely F U C K S with her relationship to power/authority. Especially within the context of a personal relationship.

Egwene is absolutely the embodiment of the "I'm going to get a good grade in ________, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve" meme. Which initially, while very strong-headed and singularly motivated, does make her quite amenable to being governed. She's a Grade A+ Student(TM) with a healthy dose of "respect authority" and "give benefit of doubt to the system and its enforcers" that generally comes with that. The only real conflict for her then was whose authority and which hierarchy of knowledge she was acquiescing to, Nynaeve/The Wisdom or Moiraine/The Aes Sedai.

Then she's made into a Damane. With all the horror that that entails. An absolute governing of every aspect of her being, a ruthless domination of her body, a weaponization of her mind against her. A complete stripping of personhood and agency while in the same breath exalting her power that is being put to "proper use". Now all of that is already enough to severely break her amenability to authority and people having power over her ever again. But it's more than that.

The horror is encased in intimacy. This forced intimacy that invades her body both on a physical level (all the ways in which her body is literally controlled directly by Renna) and magical level (the high/rush of touching the One Power even when done forcibly and against her will that is facilitated only through a connection with Renna). And Renna wants to have a third in genuine emotional intimacy. Renna sincerely wants to be close to her. She genuinely feels good and exhilarant when they're "connected". She offers, what are in her eyes, kindness, consideration, and thoughtfulness to this person who is, surely, resisting and defying merely out of stubbornness and spite. She is legitimately seeking a companion in Egwene to face the Last Battle with and make a stand for the greater good. Renna knows she is right and she wants nothing more than for Egwene to truly see that too. Why can't she see what is good for her?

If only ... she'd just ... submit. To being loved and held and ruled in the right way. For her own good.

To me, every interpersonal conflict that Egwene finds herself in, in one way or another, is tainted by this aspect of her time as a Damane. Renna poisoned her ability to navigate an interpersonal conflict as anything but an existential power struggle that she MUST win. No matter how much true love and care each party holds for the other, no matter which of them is right or wrong. Her sense of identity cannot survive anything else. Especially when it's with someone who does legitimately, in one way or another, have power over her and isn't afraid to exercise it.

I just ... I really love Egwene and I think her effed up relationship to power is really really interesting and heartbreaking actually. And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the lasting damage the Seanchan deal her.

[egophiliac]

I don’t think we’ve ever seen you draw knight of dawn before 🤔 what are your thoughts about him? Or take?

I've drawn him a couple of times, just really little/in the background. but I should draw him more, I love this guy a lot! I have many, many thoughts about him and the way he parallels Silver...and also I think it is extremely funny that his ghost is stuck in a ring. especially considering where that ring has been for the last 16-ish years.

[zombie-bait]

happiest girl in the whole entire world

thinking about my favourite kind-hearted eldritch horror trapped in the body of my favourite traumatized goth girl

(+ purple variant)

[sleepless-crows]

hearing "look i didn't want to be a halfblood" in the show, despite reading it multiple times over and over, it hit me just what it meant. percy was saying he didn't want to be a halfblood, he didn't want to be born this way, and i guess that's something many of us can relate with. a lot of the time, whether it be because of adhd, dyslexia, or whatever else, we are made to think that we are broken. that there is something wrong with us. and yet, when you hear percy say those words, and you see just how much he has achieved as a halfblood and because he was a halfblood, it gives you some courage and strength that despite and maybe actually because of your own halfbloodness, or whatever makes you different and singular, you too can achieve great things

[toasts-httyd-hyperfixation]

Ya think for a while after Berserk, after having to speak with a French accent for over a year, Alvin ever tried to talk and instinctively used the accent?

Cause im just imagining him doing it with Excellinor and her being like 'What the actual fuck are you doing'

[vickyvicarious]

Frankenstein annotators vs Dracula annotators FIGHT (this Ask brought to you by the Frankenstein weekly annotator takes)

For real, there do seem to be some blisteringly cold takes going on in academic circles.

I think Frankenstein suffers more with people tending to identify harder with either Creature or Victor, and thus skewing everything the other one does in order to demonize them. They get plenty of material to work with either way, because both are extremely flawed individuals. Both are self-absorbed, make bad choices, cause harm to those around them. Both also are extremely depressed/self-hating, do not want to hurt anyone until they're well caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of hatred, feel trapped and victimized by the other. I think a lot of the power of the book comes from being able to sympathize with both of them and spot so many moments of "if only-" while still feeling that the way things turned out was somehow inevitable. It's just ingredients of a great tragedy!

With Dracula, it feels more like people are trying to distance themselves from the characters. By reducing them to plot points, archetypes, and the like, these people stop engaging with them as characters. And as such, they try to force in negative nuance where it wasn't intended in the original, or view them only as a stereotypical Frigid Victorian Male (Jonathan) or say "this side character didn't do a lot so maybe they were secretly evil" (Quincey), or just get... super, super into horny symbolism everywhere in a way that actually saps away a lot of what makes the characters themselves. In doing so, they miss the heart of the story, which despite being a horror novel actually has some really uplifting stuff.

I haven't read tons and tons of academic takes on both books, but based on what I have read, I think those are the trends that seem to bring about some of the really weird or hostile takeaways. Getting too attached to a particular character in Frankenstein, and trying too hard not to care about the characters in Dracula. Opposite in a way, but both ending up missing a lot of heart/nuance that I think you can find in the original works.

I feel there also is an element of a kind of feedback loop in both cases. Each book has had a major impact on pop culture, but in ways which tend to diverge significantly from book canon. I do feel that some of the simplifications and reversals start out as either derivative of (Dracula must have a sympathetic backstory) or defiant to (actually, Frankenstein is the real monster) the film/pop culture versions. This as well as responding to so many other established lines of criticism and types of takes that have become almost a "standard" and which are somewhat removed from the actual canon of the page.

[lavenderjewels]

my only general predictions for jjk is that Yuuji will be able to target the different souls in Sukuna’s body to be able to reach Megumi’s suppressed soul and attack sukuna’s. Im actually interested in how this will all go down, especially with Higuruma in the mix, since these fights can’t be as simple as two overpowered characters with the loss of multiple special grade sorcerers. With the potential of a court trial domain or Yuuji’s knowledge of the soul, I imagine it’ll become more psychological or metaphysical in the fighting, with a lot of good insight into sukuna and/or yuuji, megumi, etc. As for Kenjaku, I have NO idea where their story is going (apart from Yuuta wanting to kill them), but i enjoy that part of the story being unpredictable—it fits their character

[dustyjumpwjngs]

the whiplash i got after seeing harry in the window all polished with his cap :) and a little mug of a nice hot drink:) and then immediately being hit 19 minutes and 13 seconds in with THAT

[sneaky-snake-907]

i've been complaining about Bill's lack of screen time for over 7 years and i still don't know if i'm ready for whatever's in that book

[autistickaitovocaloid]

Totk fire temple is so fun to me. You + your recently un-possessed friend go to the nether.

[winter-summer-and-inbetween]

I’m about a hundred pages into Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and i am really interested in how things are gonna go

[lakeofsilverpike]

Do you have a favorite chapter of "In This Life"?

Oh my gosh! I have been writing this story for a year and a half. I definitely don’t reminder chapter numbers! Sometimes I do reread sections, because I wrote this fic as fluffy comfort for me (and am delighted other people read it too).

I think it took a few chapters for me to get into the rhythm of things, but I remember in the early sections really liking some of the stuff I wrote with the fishwives’ anniversary and then their first trip to Tear. And then I remember liking some of the explorations of Lan’s guilt and Moiraine supporting him and trying to help him find peace.

I enjoyed some of the early Leanna stuff when she was a baby, and I had fun with all the animal friends. I really like food centric chapters (I’m sure that’s obvious). The fishwives being horrible cooks tickles me. Moiraine and her mangoes - I just like her being happy and enjoying these little pleasures she denied herself.

Some chapters are definitely better than others, but I’ve tried to just keep writing something regularly, and I think that’s worked for the sense of time. Some days are nothing but cooking pancakes or eating mangoes or watching the sunset. But I like trying to write the fishwives’ gratitude for those little moments and their joy in simply being together. I don’t love each chapter, but I do love that I’ve written a story that spans six and a half years now, and so there is room for really slow change, for healing that takes time and isn’t linear. And I like writing all these years later how Moiraine and Siuan only grow happier and more in love.

I still am unsure about how I wrote some of the stuff with Siuan. I thought the suicide attempt made sense in this world where she would have been deposed, stilled, and then immediately heard her wife was dead. And I imagine Siuan holding onto shame about that and about the coup, especially since she really couldn’t process any of that until much later with Moiraine. I hope I have written that plot line respectfully and that her progress in letting go of the shame she was carrying felt organic.

I definitely didn’t answer your question. Sorry! I just cannot remember chapter numbers at the moment (while I’m at work counting down the minutes to leave). Thanks for the ask and the interest in that story and giving me the chance to ramble!

[egophiliac]

So I was doing some math, and I THINK Skully is almost as tall as Malleus without his horns

I think the main reference to his height is Epel being surprised they're the same age because he's taller than Sebek, yes? which I find interesting, considering Jade and Malleus -- two of the tallest guys in the main cast -- are also there. and, since I've never been one to not think waaaay too much about the absolute stupidest minutiae about fictional characters, I see two possibilities:

one is that Epel is extremely good at eyeballing heights (I actually do feel like he could be? like. I'd believe he can estimate someone's height fairly accurately by calculating based on the life stages of an apple tree, or how many apples tall they are, or something else apple-related like that.) and Scully does, perhaps, fall into that narrow margin between Sebek and Jade in height.

OR two, out of the three certified Tall Guys there, Sebek is Epel's main frame of reference because he's the only one he's had any real interaction with for, let's be fair, pretty obvious reasons.

SO in conclusion, we still have no concrete answers and will probably have to wait until next year when we get his card profile, alas alas. 😔

[sapphoshands]

mat x tuon

my friend, you are greatly overestimating how much i remember about these books in general and anything to do with the boys in particular, but my honest opinion on this (and most of the wot book relationships) is: robert jordan's concept of heterosexuality is creepy, there are some great ideas in here, i look forward to seeing how the show makes it at least 50% less disturbing

[youremyonlyhope]

I'm at Episode 4... But it feels like we're about to finish the second book... either that or combine books 2 and 3 even more than they've already been combined...

[crunchycrystals]

siege and storm episode 4 spoilers am i insane wasnt this like near the end of the book