#wild unfounded speculation

[desertleviathan]

This is a post about my wild Dawntrail Speculations

Beware: Spoilers all over the damn place.

If you are not caught up on the FFXIV main story, and haven't watched the first couple hours of the Tokyo Fanfest, you need to not be here unless you just don't care about spoilers. I'll try to tag all the specific content blocks discussed, but I may miss something in this kind of sprawling analysis.

If you are caught up on all of that stuff... beware anyway. I've had far more hits than misses with this kind of guessing. I suspect it's because I approach this kind of thing from a standpoint of what kind of story I'd try to compose from the available elements as a writer/game designer, rather than from a standpoint of what kind of story I'd like to experience as a player.

Also, some of the spoilers will be for other games entirely, since FFXIV has a habit of drawing inspiration from other FF titles. There are two games in particular that I'm looking at, so if you've got any main series FF games you still plan to finish, maybe keep your distance.

(And I may of course be 10000% full of crap, and completely miss my mark. But if I don't, I don't want anyone feeling aggrieved that I called it before the opening credits were finished rolling.)

Still here? Ok.

First, the part where we lay out the individual elements that seem to be in play.

A location in Dawntrail has been identified as "Solution Nine", which sounds like it will be the new city where Tomestone gear is for sale.

Solution Nine is a high tech location in stark contrast to the vibe of the rest of Tural. It could be Allagan tech, but it's hard to say, since there's so much variance in designs over the lifespan of the empire. If it is Allagan, it's very late Allagan. It reminds me a little of Esthar in FFVIII, but it also reminds me of parts of Cocoon in FFXIII.

Solution Nine is also the name of one of Zidane's special abilities in FFIX that he can only use under Trance, that game's equivalent of a Limit Break.

The Viper job also strongly resembles Zidane's combat style, and I think it's safe to say that Dawntrail will be drawing on FFIX as a primary source of inspiration in the same way that Shadowbringers gave us both the FFVIII-inspired Gunbreaker job and the Eden raids, or Endwalker used FFX references as bosses for the Telophoroi tower dungeons and cribbed all its MSQ patch content straight from FFIV, or too many other callbacks in prior expansions to list. Every prior expansion has had one or two other FF games serve as a major source, although the degree and nature of integration has varied heavily.

The late-game plot of FFIX was about a dying world, Terra, that existed in a parallel dimension in the same physical space with the living world Gaia. Agents of Terra were trying to invade, conquer, and physically/spiritually absorb Gaia in order to revitalize Terra. It was confusing at the time but it had elements that I think were refined later into the concept of Rejoining in FFXIV. Terra had a more organic look to it than Solution 9 though...

... but one place related to Terra may seem very familiar to FFXIV players. This spooky wall of mechanical masks in Oeilivert was stranded on Gaia after a failed earlier attempt by Garland to merge Terra and Gaia, and told the history of the dying world.

Compare to Emet-Selch fully revealed as Hades in the trial The Dying Gasp.

The Allagan Empire was founded personally by Emet-Selch as a tool for facilitating Rejoinings, and was easily the most fruitful such tool so far, given Allag's direct role in two successful Rejoinings, and indirect role in a third via their legacy of demon summoning experiments giving rise to Mhach. It's entirely possible that some Allagan inner circle was privy to their master's goals, much like how in Garlemald, Emperor Varis and a handful of especially trusted aides knew that Emperor Solus was also Emet-Selch.

One of the enemies we've seen concept art for gives me fal'Cie vibes from FFXIII. The fal'Cie were techno-organic god monsters who wanted to also merge two worlds into each other... in this case by literally having their servants pull the hovering-too-close-to-the-planet-to-call-it-a-moon realm of Cocoon out of the sky and crash it into the surface of the planet Pulse. For reasons. The full story is complicated (and not particularly well-told in game).

Of the Thirteen Reflections that were sundered from the Source, the First (Norvrandt), the Thirteenth (the Void), the Fourth, the Eighth, the Ninth, and the Eleventh all survived. At least, if the order suggested was accurate in the helpful illusion the Crystal Exarch used to explain the whole deal.

The other seven shards were of course lost when the seven Umbral Calamities on the source were matched with a worldwide crisis bearing the appropriate aetheric qualities on the respective shard, which provided the right circumstances for that shard's aether to be merged with that of the Source, annihilating the shard and erasing any evidence that its inhabitants ever existed. Which makes Emet-Selch's admonition to "remember us, remember that we lived" particularly stomach-churning, but this isn't about that. Apologies for the digression. I mention it because all of the attempted Rejoinings that have occurred have granted primacy to the Source, but we've never really had it explained what made that one piece out of fourteen pieces more "real" than the thirteen shards to begin with, or what would happen if some enterprising Calamity Engineer tried to reverse the direction of the Rejoining.

The Allagans were known to have meddled with dimensional travel, mainly in the form of pioneering the summoning of Demons a.k.a. Voidsent from the Thirteenth Shard.

The first time the WoL has a chance to visit another shard, we use an Allagan portal at the top of the Crystal Tower to travel to the Void, a.k.a. the Thirteenth Shard.

Y'shtola's ongoing research into traveling to other shards is drawing primarily on Allagan sources. Notably, she has mentioned Allagan sources by name, rather than pointing to the just as accomplished demon summoners of Mhach when trying to punch a hole through to the Void. (To be fair though, Mhach is mainly elaborated on in optional side content, while Allag has its fingerprints all over the MSQ.)

And here's where I pin all the pieces up on my conspiracy board and try to string together all the links with colored yarn.

What if the cyberpunk city of Solution Nine somehow refers to the Ninth Shard? Possibly even originates there, whether as a part of that shard we visit, or an outpost of that Shard's agents built on the Source, or even some kind of extrusion into the Source from a partial rejoining?

What if the Allagans successfully invaded and conquered the Ninth Shard back at the peak of their power, and those colonies present there survived the downfall of the Empire at large? Although the gates may have been sealed behind them when the Crystal Tower was buried and Allagan magical infrastructure at large collapsed.

What if the these Ninth Allagans have figured out a way to punch back through to the Source and are here to "reclaim" the old Empire? This would allow the game's writers to comment on themes of colonial violence that are difficult to separate from the Americas and a setting inspired by them, but without casting any nation of the Eastern continents as the villain, since pretty much everybody on that side of the ocean is having some kind of positive political reform arc right now.

What if the Ninth Allagans are even trying to merge their shard back into the Source, but in a way that grants primacy to the Ninth rather than sublimating it, which would mirror the attempt by Terra to replace/consume Gaia in FFIX?

If my suspicions about the enemy who looks inspired by FFXIII are right, the tools of the Ninth Allagans may draw more inspiration from FFXIII than from FFIX. The tools of the Terran invasion in FFIX were straight up bioweapons for the most part, including the doll-like Black Mages and a lot of lab-grown monsters. But a type of fal'Cie-like servant that blurs the division between God and Machine would seem very appropriate for an Allagan Empire that was allowed to continue advancing.

In general, Y'shtola's been pouring so much effort into researching travel to the other shards that I think we're due for some kind of startling discovery that's less obvious than linking us back up permanently to the First or the Thirteenth (but opens them both up for future content as well).

I know I'm pretty far out in the weeds here, but a link between Solution 9 and The Ninth Shard is a guess I would bet money on. And the the specific details of that link is more... how I would fill in the gaps on that concept, with the elements that are available.

I would say that the big weakness in this theory is that the Allagans are a little played out as a plot device. But there really aren't any other civilizations we know of that could have discovered and visited another Shard. Not even the Ancients, since there were no Shards during the reign of Amaurot, and the later Ascian innovation of traversing the rift by being dead-but-not-really doesn't seem advisable even if it were replicable.

Anyway. I digress again. I think the Allagans are a marginally better fit for this concept than a totally new civilization, but just barely. Another strong possibility is that the residents of the Ninth Shard developed advanced technology all on their own, figured out that a bunch of Genocide Wraiths from the Source were trying to destroy their whole realm (and had done so successfully to a number of other realms), and decided to strike first. But when they got here, we'd already handled it, so now they've got this whole invasion army and nothing to do with it but threaten Tural.

[lunellum]

Alright, so, this is going to be incoherent as hell but I have some Thoughts. Regarding the Ahsoka show. (Spoilers for episode 6)

Specifically:

Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll are clearly a reference to the wolves Hati and Skoll of norse mythology

(Marrok might be a reference to the Arthurian werewolf knight but I digress)

Hati and Skoll are associated with ragnarok, which will start when they catch and eat the moon and sun respectively

Baylan's stated goal as of this episode is to disrupt the cycle of history. Not to find the end, but to find the beginning and stop it from happening all in the same way

Ragnarok and Norse mythology is cyclical in the sense that it all happens again and again

Events inevitably move along the same paths, as foretold, until Hati and Skoll eat the moon and sun and it all starts over again

Is Baylan looking for Ragnarok or for something a little more... cycle-breaking?

Also, the... world between worlds? The space Ezra and Ahsoka ended up, it connects everything. It's a big network of pathways, isn't it?

Almost like roots? Branches, maybe?

Hey did you know about Yggdrasil, the world tree, which is the center of and connects all of existence?

Do you know what happens to Yggdrasil during Ragnarok?

JUST SAYING

[pochapal]

interesting to view this emotional dilemma as a kind of extended conflict between approaching this as a mystery story versus as a horror story. is this a story where you should piece together the clues and solve the mystery? or is it one where you should be afraid of things you cannot and never will comprehend? i wonder which one is the intended answer.

[sunstaained]

yk .. maybe it’s nothing at all but i’d love to throw my hat in the ring for suvi subclass speculation

is war caster the easy out? yes. but aabria’s been coy with her hinting on the fireside that both that and abjuration aren’t gonna make the cut. now hear me out.

✨chronurgy✨

there’s something about the way aabria describes suvi self soothing that’s rhythmic tapping, making an effort for it to come off as “clock-like” and yk? could this just be fun flavor stuff? absolutely! but i’m willing to put my clown makeup on for this one.

suvi with the ability to make reality bend to her favor, no matter how small to protect the ones she loves (chronal shift) and doing her best to truly keep things down on lock, just nice and contained so she can help get a better handle on things (momentary stasis??) look, gang. it’s a tasty option.

[joannechocolat]

Two Boxers Walk Into the Ring...

No-one can have missed the absolute scenes on social media, both before and after the boxing match between Imane Khelife and Angela Carini, from which Carini withdrew after just 46 seconds, having received a blow to the face.

Social media had already been abuzz with unfounded claims that Khelife was a man, largely based on her athletic (and to Westerners, “masculine”) body type. (The same rumours had also been spread about Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting; also a woman, assigned female at birth, who got into boxing to protect her mother from domestic violence.) From this explosion of misinformation came increasingly wild claims from all the usual suspects: that she was trans (in spite of coming from a Muslim country where transitioning isn’t allowed); that she had “self-identified” as a woman in order to win (again, not possible in Algeria) plus some quite ghoulish speculation about her sex organs, her medical history and the type of puberty she might have undergone.

But here’s the thing.

Khelife is not trans. There is one trans boxer at the Olympics, a trans man called Hergie Bacyadan, who for some reason has gone almost unnoticed in this desperate attempt to prove a conspiracy that just isn’t happening. Imane Khelife was assigned female at birth, has a passport confirming it, and has spent her life as a woman, fighting against her country’s patriarchal ideas of what women are supposed to do. Not only this, but she is an ambassador for women and girls, who originally took up boxing to protect herself from those who disapproved of her interest in sports.

She was disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships because (according to a Russian source that becomes less and less trustworthy the more you look into it) tests apparently showed some kind of unspecified anomaly, which may have been either elevated testosterone (quite possible in a woman) or the presence of XY chromosomes, once more altogether possible for a cis woman.

Nor does her condition (if she even has one) mean she is automatically likely to win against her opponents. In 2020, she made it to the quarter-finals of the Olympics, where she was defeated by Kellie Harrington, and she has been boxing on the international circuit for years without any of her wins or defeats gaining much attention.

Until now.

But her fight against Angela Carini on Thursday made her a magnet for some truly disgusting hate, largely, it seems, from the kind of men who enjoy threatening women, whatever the reason or excuse. In fact, there were distinct parallels with this and the recent anti-Muslim riots in Southport after the murderer of three little girls was falsely rumoured by agents of the far-right to be a Muslim immigrant.

Let’s be clear. Even if the attacker had been a Muslim immigrant, this violence would have been completely unacceptable. But the mob just wanted the opportunity to scapegoat and attack a community, in exactly the same way that the people attacking, threatening and objectifying Imane Khelife wanted the chance to attack a woman for not conforming to their idea of what a woman should be like.

In this context, it’s hard to see the rage and violence levelled against her for this victory as anything other than misogynistic - and racist.

It’s also hard to understand why in a sport like boxing – where the whole point is to hit your opponent – a person should be criticized for following the rules of the sport. It’s almost as if excellence is allowed in men’s sports, but in women’s sports, it’s automatically viewed as suspicious. And Imane Khelife isn’t the only athlete of colour accused of “being a man” because she defeated a white woman. Serena Williams has spent her career fending off accusations that she “was born a man” both because of her muscular physique and her excellence in her field. Caster Semenya, who has naturally elevated levels of testosterone, has been likewise demonized. It’s almost as if the people driving this toxic narrative believe that only men can excel in sport.   

And as for the argument that claims that elevated natural testosterone levels in a woman is “an unfair advantage,” don’t all elite athletes have some kind of physical advantage? Do we dismiss basketball players for being unusually tall, or weight-lifters for being unusually muscular, or runners for being lean and light? Why do we celebrate Michael Phelps for his genetic advantage, but penalize Caster Semenya for hers? Women have fought so very hard for the chance to participate in sports that were once seen as the sole province of men. Now, when they dare to excel in them, they are accused of secretly being men, or of not being “proper women.”

This isn’t any kind of feminism I recognize. The feminism I believe in is about breaking down barriers, not setting them. I personally dislike boxing (both for men and for women), but I respect any individual’s choice to compete. And attacking a woman boxer for winning a boxing match is as misogynistic as claiming to “defend” her opponent by painting her as a victim. Both athletes chose to compete. Both accepted the risks. Both have had their Olympic moment ruined by people who don’t care about sports, or the facts, or even women. This isn’t feminism. This is the worst and most patronizing kind of prejudice, and it actively hurts women – all women, but especially women of colour and those who do not conform to traditional ideas of what a woman should look like, what sports she should enjoy, or how she should behave.

Women fought for years for the right to make their own choices, to have their own identities outside of the stereotypes set by the patriarchy. Questioning those choices - those identities - isn’t progress.

 Supporting women doesn’t mean protecting them from themselves.

It means not setting limits on who a woman wants to be.

[audioroleplayconfessions]

PSA because some of the asks I've had to filter out lately have been exhausting for me. I don't want to see confessions where you attack creators on a personal level or make rude assumptions about their personal lives. I want this place to be a safe space to post opinions that might be risky/troublesome to post publicly, but I'm deleting any posts that I think get too personal or take it too far with outright hate.

Speculating about a creator's sexuality and trying to psychoanalyze them over it is too personal and too far. Making unfounded accusations about people in the community based on assumptions isn't ok. Writing paragraphs about why you think a VA is "cringe" and attacking them on a personal level is way too much. Using the anon confessions to directly address VAs like you're having a conversation with them (where they are exposed and your identity is shielded) is also not cool. Sending a list of VAs that you hope/predict will get caught sexually abusing a child so that you can have a reason to add them to your "hitlist" is absolutely insane.

Go ahead, say whatever you want about the audios, characters, etc. Go wild. But when it comes to actual real life people I'm going to need some of you to reign it in.

[starlightseraph]

stream-of-consciousness regarding fandom discourse here:

i really don’t understand some of the posts i’ve seen lately.

david and michael are obviously drawn to each other like magnets, but such wild speculation about their most personal relationships is really just in bad taste. i know that if someone was saying these things about my private life, i’d be incredibly disturbed and honestly disgusted by it, no matter how untrue or ridiculous the claims were.

i’m really not sure how people can come up with such an expansive mythos from the tiny bits of their lives that we see. lots of the “evidence” i’ve seen really doesn’t add up. people get dates wrong and mismatch timelines, are missing (or deliberately ignoring) things that counter their beliefs, and completely misinterpret (i think) behavioural patterns to work in their favour.

now i’m not saying these claims are wrong. they could be completely correct, but people really have to be reaching to get to these conclusions with this information. i’ve half the mind to call it wishful thinking, that people want georgia to be messed up because she’s married to david (which might make her both the object of envy and an obstacle to other relationships) and try to antagonise anna because she’s “stifling” michael. i’d be lying if i said that anna has good chemistry with the others, but that is no reason to make these assumptions.

while i find all of this unfounded, i’m not gonna tell anyone what they can write on their blog, but i will say this: spreading these ideas about people can hurt them. even if everything theorised about is true, david and georgia and michael and anna will tell us if/when they want to. their identities, motivations, and dynamics with each other are theirs and theirs alone, and they do not need us to be scrutinising their every move and dissecting their relationships. we have no place in their lives other than to support their work and admire their accomplishments. if they don’t share something, it’s no one else’s story to tell. no matter how used to the rumours they are, no matter how many people are gossiping, why would you pile on? why would you say things that might be upsetting to someone that you admire? i’m certainly not naïve; i fully acknowledge that these people could be in the most convoluted and difficult relationships in all of britain (really saying something lol), and i’m not going to be all happy-smiley and act like they can’t possibly have imperfect lives, but it’s not my place to say. i can talk about whatever i want, but i simply don’t want to do something that might be hurtful to (or, at the very least, uncomfortable for) people that i look up to.

anyways, i hope i’ve stayed civil and level through this random rant; i’m not even irritated by this stuff, just genuinely baffled as to how people reach these conclusions lol

[misshoneyimhome]

How would Willy would react if the intern is multilingual when handling the press Olivia Pope style? Maybe like one of the journalist said something rude and she put them in their place . We love a smart and assertive queen keep the press in line.

Oh, this is an interesting one!

Willy would def be impressed and prob go a bit wild - given that he’s bilingual himself this def hits him somehow 😉 in a good way ofc 🤍

So it’s a bit short - and perhaps a bit of a teaser… - hope that's ok

Anyway, I apologise if you know Swiss German - I only know German German myself, so I had to use my trusty friend the internet for this 🙈

[Btw I think I just found a new show I need to watch]

Word count: 1.1K

[intern x willy]

・✶ ｡ﾟ

The locker room fell into a quiet lull, the echoes of cheers and applause for the triumphant Colorado Avalanche still lingering in the air further down the hall by the away team’s area. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs were grappling with the heavy defeat, and the post-game atmosphere was a mix of disappointment and frustration.

William Nylander, also known as your secret boyfriend, was usually not the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. However, tonight, his visible disheartenment spoke volumes. And as you helped tidying up the last of the equipment, you couldn't help but notice the quiet intensity in his eyes and the creases on his forehead betraying the internal turmoil.

The team had kicked off strong, enjoying a triumphant three-goal lead that sparked optimism for a different outcome tonight. Yet, the Avalanche's resilience proved formidable, turning the game around with an unexpected force that left the Leafs reeling. And the final score, a 5-3 victory for Colorado, narrated a tale of missed opportunities and a game slipping away.

Approaching William cautiously, mindful of the emotions swirling within him, you offered sympathetically, "Tough one tonight," as he packed away his gear.

"Yeah," he responded, frustration evident in his voice. "We had it, and then... I don't know. Just slipped away."

It was apparent that he took the loss personally. As he ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration, you sensed his self-reflection. He was likely replaying key moments in the game, contemplating what more he could have done to secure the win.

Your desire to comfort him was strong. Although you couldn't shower him with love in this public setting with journalists still around, you chose your words carefully, acknowledging his effort. "You gave it your all out there, Will. Sometimes, it just doesn't go our way."

But he merely nodded; the weight of the defeat still etched on his face.

Returning to the hallway to wrap up for the night, you could only hope that the next game would bring a different outcome and that William would muster the resilience to bounce back.

Yet, just as you were about approach the exit, a conversation in another language among a few journalists suddenly grabbed your attention, thrusting you into an unexpected whirlwind of gossip. The foreign language, uncommon in the Maple Leafs' world, stirred a mix of curiosity and unease.

"Ja de Praktikant vo ihne isch zimli was, huh?” (Yeah, that intern of theirs is quite something, huh?) remarked the Swiss German voice, initiating the exchange.

"Oh ja, grüchte zufolge isch sie mit einem spieler ligt…” (Oh yeah, rumour has it she's involved with a player...) The second voice, filled with a tone suggesting something more sinister, responded.

“Was?” (What?)

“Oh ja, und nöd nur mit einere - sie isch wie die chlini Sexpuppe vom Team.” (Oh yeah, and not just with one – she’s like the team’s little sex doll.)

Your heart sank. The words hung in the air, a poisonous blend of unfounded speculation and baseless gossip. The term "team's little sex doll" felt like a slap in the face, a crude and hurtful description bearing no resemblance to reality.

However, the journalists, unaware that you understood their language, continued their conversation, oblivious to the fact that they were discussing a colleague who had devoted herself to her work with utmost professionalism.

And as you processed the shocking revelation, a surge of emotions flooded through you – anger, disbelief, and a profound sense of violation. How could such empty rumours spread so easily? Was this the price of being a woman in a male-dominated industry?

The sudden tension in the air was palpable as you confronted the men. Their eyes widened in shock, clearly not expecting someone to understand the conversation they thought was discreet.

"Hey, you know it's not very nice to talk about others like that," you stated firmly and confidently, your gaze unwavering. The element of surprise now worked in your favour as you asserted yourself in a language, they didn't realise you understood.

Caught off guard, the two men stammered, attempting to backpedal and downplay their conversation. "Uh, we didn't mean... it was just a joke," one of them mumbled, his excuse feeble and insincere.

You maintained your composure, refusing to let their attempts to deflect responsibility affect you. 

"Jokes or not, spreading baseless rumours is harmful and unprofessional. It reflects poorly on both of you," you continued, your tone unshakeable. “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Something like this could really hurt someone – not just their career, but also their social life.” 

The sense of empowerment lingered as you delivered your parting words to the two journalists. 

"And for the record, next time you talk about someone in another language, perhaps you should make sure they don't understand it – one would think you were actually good at your job. Now piss off."

And as they then awkwardly shuffled away, embarrassment evident on their faces, a light chuckle behind you caught your attention. Turning around, you were met with William’s smug face.

"That… was amazing, babe," he said, the hint of pride evident in his voice.

"Shit, you heard that?" you asked, slightly taken aback.

"Oh yeah, every bit of it," he chuckled lightly, his eyes filled with a mixture of amusement and admiration.

"Well, glad you enjoyed the show," you replied with a wry smile, appreciating the support from your boyfriend.

Nylander's smug expression softened into a genuine grin. "Seriously, though, you handled that like a boss. Those guys won't be spreading rumours anytime soon. Though a part of it was true."

You raised an eyebrow, a playful smirk forming on your lips as William shifted the tone of the conversation. His seductive voice caught you off guard, but there was an undeniable twinkle in his eye that hinted at a shared understanding of the playful banter.

"Well, you know, I wouldn’t want anyone to think something was going on," you responded with a teasing glint in your eyes, matching the tone he had set. “But I do love that you liked me being a bit of a boss.” 

A brief moment of silence felt between you, as William’s eyes remained fixed, and he couldn’t help but biting down his lower lip, before taking a small step forward, leaning close to your ear, and once again speaking softly. 

"How about you show me how much of a boss you can be... in the bedroom?" William's low, seductive voice added to the playful atmosphere.

And a mischievous grin spread across your face. "Oh, you're in for it, Nylander," you replied, matching the suggestive tone.

[malachiasz]

Finished reading Emily Wilde’s map of the otherlands today and it was a wonderfully wild ride.

Spoilery speculations below.

Is it just me or is Emily probably a faerie descendant? Maybe daughter to that Taran guy? I think there are some things that indicate just that.

1) her bond with Shadow.

2) her stand-offish ways with mortals. Especially in book 1, she was like more faerie than Wendell.

3) her great luck throughout her career.

4) how she stepped through that faerie door easily even though Ariadne was having trouble. Emily explained it away but I’m still suspicious.

5) Wendell said that the only remarkable thing about mortal children of faeries is that they have a greater comfort in more unpleasant environments than mortals. And well…? Describes Emily.

6) Eichorn said that she has good insticts for faerie things and she really does.

7) She felt unfounded closeness with Irish Faerie. Why? Because her FATHER is FROM THERE!!!

8) She remained (relatively) clearheaded in Faerie which surprised that other mortal guy.

9) and lastly and most convincingly, as Wendell said, why else would the queen’s brother help her?

So I think she’s part faerie but not half, if Taran is her father. What I can’t make sense of is how Wendell has failed to notice (unless he thinks this also something she has to figure out herself) and why Emily isn’t stunningly beautiful then. Well. We will see. Maybe I’m wrong about all of this.

[thistle-and-thorn]

Dying to know what you thought of the goldfinch. I never read it and am very 👀

thank god you sent this because i was about to make an incredibly long, rambling post about this but now you have prompted this, it feels less unhinged to put it into the form of a solicited answer. @.@

I....have mixed feelings about GF. Like, really mixed feelings. When I was in college, I took a seminar on opera history and we studied the opera, Wozzeck, and my professor described watching it as "an act of endurance." I felt sort of similarly about The Goldfinch. Like I'm glad I read it, and I can't wait to never read it again lmao.

It's a really well-written book--God, I want to write like her--and it is a compelling story with a lot of really great moments, but I found it to be overall less thematically incisive than TSH and, though TSH had some pacing issues, especially towards the end, The Goldfinch felt much, much more uneven. There's a lot of crossover between the two novels--unreliable narrators that are closeted queer men, so much drinking, so much drugs, etc--to the point where I thought a twist would be that they were set in the same universe and that Theo's father was somehow Richard Papen. But TSH felt bolder in a way, more satirically cutting, funnier, wilder, and younger. The Goldfinch is a sadder book, unrelentingly anxious and grief-stricken. And I do think this is sort of the point and I don't criticize it for that. It did make the melodrama of the novel's conclusion feel a little...i don't know...less justified and a little more gimmicky? And anxiety is a monotonous state so I think the GF lacked the emotional texture that made TSH much less....exhausting?

The Goldfinch is DT's ode to Dickens and there a lot of nods to Dickens in both direct references and style (the book is basically like what if uriah heep from david copperfield was psychosexually obsessed with pip from great expectations). There are certainly class dynamics here, episodic adventures, varied characters, and a lot of ruminations on providence but I did keep wondering what about Dickens drew her to tell this particular story which on a surface-level seems to ruminate on the impact of beauty, as opposed to the impact of wealth. In a lot of ways, TSH, with its commentary on class and wealth, even more over-the-top characters, feels like a better fit for Victorian literary structures.

In my wild and quite honestly unfounded speculation, I think the conclusion that I have come to is that it is a really, really personal book. Dickens was an intensely personal writer who used his own experiences, including those with his difficult father and poor upbringing and young infatuations as material, even in sort of unrealistic scenarios. I made a half-joking post about Brett Easton Ellis serving as DT's muse but I think....like...that may be true? I spent a lot of time, while reading this book, googling and reading about BEE and his erratic personality, contradictory and sometimes controversial and nihilistic media statements, and drug addiction. (Something that stood out to me was that BEE said that Patrick Bateman was based on his father, which he later retracted, to say that he felt like he was more like Patrick Bateman and wrote that book from a place of intense depression and isolation and consumption. This third-eying of oneself through the lens of the father is so Theo to me.) It's an examination of a self-destructive person but feels so clearly written from the point of view of someone who loves them--there is a real tenderness in how Theo is rendered that makes me think that it is not directly autobiographical about DT's own life but is the record of someone else who is loved and who is grieved. I have no evidence of this, truly, but this is what I keep thinking.

Some random other thoughts: one thing that @attonitos-gloria and I have talked a lot about is how DT always writes from the point of view of men who desire other men but whose desire is so hidden and buried that it becomes warped and we think that this is fascinating. @.@ The women in both TSH cannot be held as whole people in the eye of the narrator, their wholeness exists but beyond the borders of the male narrators' understanding of them. I also love how DT loves places and loves things. She creates fantasias of real places that feel like they influence the narrative and I think that's really cool.

TL;DR: I thought TSH was better, but GF was more personal and thus more messy. But it won a Pulitzer so literally what do i know.

[themuppetarchives]

A note, since some of you seem to be taking it personally that I am being selective in which asks I respond to:

I have very few boundaries and, even if I should find something personally distasteful, will still share or post it if I feel it presents a relevant viewpoint or possibility for discussion.

That being said, there are some things that I consider off limits, and for my own ethical and moral reasons will not be engaging with. Examples of these include (but are not necessarily limited to):

1. Making a joke out of someone's genuine trauma, regardless of how "silly" or unserious you may think it is. I have known people who are triggered into complete meltdown by the smell of bug spray, or a certain children's cartoon character. We cannot pick and choose the things that hurt us and the associations our minds make when we experience trauma. You don't have to "understand" why something upsets someone, but it feels like common decency to respect their experiences.

2. Wild speculation as to someone's health, including attempting to diagnose them based on very limited information. I feel this is irresponsible, especially if it comes across as trying to influence a vulnerable person into aligning themselves with a diagnosis or disorder that may ultimately cause them more harm. Someone's health, mental and physical, should be a discussion between that individual and their healthcare provider, not a topic of debate for uninformed strangers online largely basing their conclusions off of unfounded pop science and blatant misinformation. That is not the purpose of this blog nor will it ever be.

3. Invalidating, mocking, or otherwise being disrespectful about someone's relationship with their gender identity and sexuality. I'm not sure at what point this became an ok thing to do within the queer community but I will be having none of it here. It isn't hard to respect people telling you who they are and how they wish to be treated. This should, frankly, go without saying. You don't get to ignore someone's identity because you feel they aren't performing up to your standards.

I hope that clears some things up. I am not obligated by anything or in anyway to entertain things that cross boundaries. Please, and I say this with all the sincerity in my heart, get a new hobby and leave me alone.

[underwhelmingclownfight]

Magnus Protocol speculating

I don't know if this is a thing that was discussed already (I know nothing about the ARG so it could easily have been resolved there). Do we know yet what what the Magnus Archive gifted children programme was doing? I'm wondering if they were trying to use children's fears to create avatars.

You have Needles right and his utter shock that anyone isn't scared of needles and like don't get me wrong some adults are definitely 100% scared of needles. But children in the UK at the end of the 90s with all the whole anti vax MMR scare kicking off. Injections and needles then were probably terrifying.

And then you've got mr bonzo (my new sleep paralysis demon) who explicitly children were scared of. Understandably.

There were avatars in TMA made because of a group of people feeling intense fear. And Jonah Magnus (assuming he was in charge in this reality) has a history of placing people in incredibly unpleasant situations just to watch them suffer.

It feels like reaching to guess what's happening at this point. I'm sure 100 episodes from now I'll relisten and all the clues for what's going on will be there. But for now wild unfounded speculation, take me away.

[morkaischosen]

Based on your tags on the "Why do some swingers hate polyamory" post: why DO you think that is?

so noting that this is wild, groundless speculation, and in particular that I don't know anything like enough about swinging to actually be confident in anything I'm saying:

I'd assume it has to do with the structure of the thing. Swinging as I understand it sets up quite a narrow context where the two partners in a couple set aside the usual boundaries of that relationship to do something they normally wouldn't; humans being humans, I imagine it's probably common for regular swingers to end up in a dynamic where they do their thing and then reaffirm the relationship afterwards in, you know, whatever manner works for them.

It seems natural to me that this would be one of those things where having clear exceptions strengthens the idea that they're an exception to something - and in that context, if you've built up momentum in the idea that you have a monogamous relationship except in this specific way, polyamory could easily look like it's doing exactly the thing you've been going 'but we won't do that' at for all that time.

I speculate (based, again, on no knowledge) that swinging circles - or at least the ones that are virulently opposed to polyamory - draw a very strong distinction between the defined sexual nonmonogamy they engage in, and it's easy for me to imagine that getting romantically involved with someone you met while swinging and starting an affair would be scandalous, breaching the structured boundary and calling all of the ritual of it into question. It's one of my favourite topics: it's easier to really loathe things you're closer to, sometimes, and I can see this being an example where the obvious common point of sexual non-monogamy really brings to attention the ways a swinging lifestyle centres the monogamous principles that underly some of it.

A lot of this is coming back to my conception of swinging as a couple activity - the norm as I understand it isn't a free-for-all, it's couples swapping partners, and that still structures itself around the monogamous couple in a way that polyamory's whole deal chips away at.

(I'll note that all of this is shot through with my assumptions about what polyamory means, which god knows don't seem to quite match up with the way a lot of people think about it; to me the default is individuals having their own relationships, which don't necessarily have much to do with their partners' relationships - I tend to become quite fond of my partners' partners, because I hear about them and I'm inclined to trust my partners' taste in people as much as in music or fiction, but I don't have the level of We Are All One Unit that what I've seen of wider discussions on tumblr seems to assume. As far as I know my angle lines up with how most people in my social vicinity look at it; I don't know if we're a weird niche and most people are doing the more closed-loop-looking The Polycule type shape that seems to be implied by a lot of Posting, or if we're fairly typical and much of what doesn't line up is an assumption from outside. Regardless, I'm coming at this from quite a long way from the sort of closed quad I could easily imagine coming about if two swinging couples who regularly see each other became a stable unit.)

This concludes my unfounded reckon based on a general interest in human psychology and a frankly very vague understanding of what swinging is all about.

[shipcestuous]

Burning Palms (film 2010) - father/daughter shipcest (submission)

Hey Shipcestuous. ShipCestFan here.Didn’t see Burning Palms on your master list, so thought I would mention it in case you want to post on blog and add to lists.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!

The 2010 film is billed as an “American satirical thriller” and “based on Los Angeles stereotypes”. The film is currently available for free on Tubi. The director brought together five short tales or segments that seriously push the envelope of societal “norms”, including one segment in which one Zoe Saldana’s character is raped and realizes she enjoyed it, seeking out her assailant again. But the segment near and dear to all of us shippers is one showing a possible shipcest between a father and daughter. The segment is titled The Green-Eyed Monster and stars Dylan McDermott as dad, the amazing Rosamund Pike as his girlfriend, and Emily Meade as daughter, Chloe. 

Wikipedia describes the segment as such: “Dedra Davenport meets Chloe, the 15-year-old daughter of her fiancé Dennis for the very first time. However, she is soon disturbed by how close father and daughter are, committing suicide by cutting her veins just like Chloe’s mother, feeling herself shut out and betrayed by the unhealthy close and bordering on incestuous relationship between the two.”

While the viewer is left speculating whether, or not, father and daughter have crossed the forbidden zone of consensual sex, the pair definitely portray a warm, lighthearted and loving shipcest to some degree. Dad, Dennis, denies that there is anything strange about his and his daughter’s relationship when his girlfriend, Dedra, confronts him. But her eyes do not lie, and her mind runs wild with conclusions.

One point in the story that I found interesting was how easily Dedra decided to cheat on her fiance just because she’s furious at (and jealous of) Chloe. Seriously? It was like she was thinking, “I think my boyfriend is too close with his daughter, so I’m going to cheat on him.” 

I really, really, really wish they would have made Chloe an adult and older. That’s just my personal wish. I have this (unfounded) belief that humans don’t mature and think rationally until well past 18 years of age. For me it would have given the cestship a lot more credibility. How many of us have encountered teens who “think they know everything” but don’t? For me, it was hard to watch Chloe’s actions and not think, “does she really know what she is doing?”. But on the other hand, if she would have been 25 or so years of age and canoodling with dear ol’ dad the way she was, then it would have made me think she was mature enough to know exactly what she was doing and is in it for the win. lol

Here are some screen shots from the film but feel free to edit, not post the images or not post this entire post at all, considering Chloe’s age.  Truth be told, I was quite surprise that major stars like Dylan and Rosamund took it on considering the subject matter and ages portrayed. 

--

Thank you so much for this detailed submission about Burning Palms. And for all of the caps, wow! That’s a lot of work and I appreciate it so much. 

I had never heard of this movie, and it’s always really great to learn about canon(ish) incest in a relatively recent mainstream film. 

It sounds like the writer/director may have wanted to push things with the age, given the “subversive” and “taboo” nature of the stories, but it would have been a lot more realistic for the girlfriend to suspect something if the daughter had been older. 

If there really was smoke without fire now, it doesn’t mean that will always be the case, when she’s older. 

[lizziestudieshistory]

I have most of my free lessons on Mondays (I actually hate it, I'm stuck in the staffroom for hours on end...) Anyway, I took the opportunity to finish Witches: James I and the English Witch-Hunts by Tracy Borman. The only good thing I can possibly say about this is that Borman had a core thesis and went for it. However, it resulted in an atrocious book, some key complaints:

It's only interested in presenting a black and white "evil men" and "powerless female victims" narrative. It only serves to strip the women accused of the little agency they had and dampen the echoes of their voices we've managed to pick up. These women are famously poor, social outcasts and it's hard enough to find out ANYTHING about them without reducing them to "innocent and powerless victims of privileged evil men".

When James is discussed at all, Borman is only interested in character assassination. If this is the only time you've met James VI/I then please, I'm begging you, read something else! James is not a "nice" person by modern standards, but he's not the man presented here. There is a reason he's my second favourite monarch (although I do have notoriously bad taste in monarchs *cough* Charles I *cough*)

This is riddled with unfounded, unsubstantiated claims and speculations. Borman does not have enough research or source material to support most of the "information" presented about the Belvoir witch trial, midlands court cases, the Duke of Buckingham, or English witch-hunts. Considering there IS a ridiculous amount of research on English witches I'm baffled by the limited bibliography and references.

She presents continental European sources to support claims about English witch-hunts. You just can't use Jean Bodin as a source for ENGLISH intellectual thoughts and legal proceedings. His work would have been read over here by the elite, but English and French writing about witches is very different and there are much better sources to consult for how ENGLAND thought about and hunted witches.

Hunting witches does not automatically make someone a sexual predator!!! Just because a profession can attract sadistic people with horrible motives does not mean that EVERYONE in that profession is a monster. I get the impulse, I really do. The witch-hunts are a tragic abuse of power that resulted in the wrongful conviction and execution of innocent people, most commonly poor women. But this is a completely different world to our own and it is NOT unreasonable for these people to sincerely believe in witches and the supernatural! Yes, there was serious doubt in the existence of witchcraft in this period. But is is entirely sensible for someone in this cultural and religious context to believe in witches and want to serve God by hunting them. THIS DOES NOT MAKE IT MORAL OR JUSTIFIED! I repeat, I am not defending witch-hunts. However, I am saying it is contextually rational and understandable! And to reduce the witch-hunts to acts motivated by a desire to enact sexual violence on women makes my blood boil.

It's full of unfocused tangents that do nothing except bog down an already convoluted book. For example, why am I reading about Buckingham's sex life? I love the Duke of Buckingham as much as the next person, but it's not exactly relevant to English witch-hunting?

An under appreciation of Daemonologie? That book is WILD! It's also the most relevant text you could reference for James I's views on witches? Why only mention it once or twice?

Just as a petty note, this did have better referencing than some other books I've read this year... However, reference your work! Over referencing is better than under referencing! Okay?

So, what I've learnt is...I can't read popular history! Great.

[space-ninja-fashion-show]

Alden socially transitioned in his 30s but by then he was already an established Anti Orokin Rebel

So what he did was essentially fake his own death in the eyes of the authorities during a heist and then lie low for a few months, after which a seemingly unrelated man in his 30s only known as "Jackrabbit" started to very efficiently cause problems for the Orokin also

The rebel woman who died in that one random heist was never connected to Jackrabbit beyond wild, unfounded speculation amongst other wild, unfounded speculations, at least as far as the Orokin were concerned

Alden and Kodiak both thought it would be the funniest fuckin way to transition and they were not wrong