#yes that one quote was intentional btw

[bleue-flora]

as much as I like the dsmp story and its message about how there’s a deep down, I can’t help but think about the Bojack horsemen quote about how there’s no deep down and you are the actions you do regardless of someone’s intent or backstory

[context]

I believe you are referring to this quote “That’s the thing. I don’t think I believe in deep down. I kind of think all you are is just the things that you do.” (Which btw yall its real annoying when I have to find whatever the hell you are talking about, no shade just as an aside…<3)

The thing is, both things can be true. Life is about choices, and your every action and inaction has a consequence, (which I think I’ve talked about before but I don’t feel like finding it at the moment). In other words, everything you do impacts the world around you and has lasting effects. You may not know it and are likely very unaware of the consequences (positive and negative). This is because like my post said we are all inherently selfish because we live and see the world from only one view - our own. So yes, you are the actions/“things you do” and choices you make, regardless of the intentions.

At the end of the day, whether you meant to or not, whether you had good intentions or not, if you hurt someone the facts remain the same - you hurt someone. They have a fundemental right to feel hurt and that is always valid, emotions and feelings are always valid, whether it’s logical or makes sense or not. The reason deep down doesn’t change the outcome or the hurt you caused. However, that is about the past action. If you want to learn and grow and form meaningful relationships, avoid conflict… etc. That’s where the deep down comes in. Then it’s important to look at the reasons, not as excuses or justifications but as explanations - a bridge to understanding and shattering our stereotypes, assumptions and judgement.

(Okay, my foot still hurts from you stepping on it, but yeah if it was just an accident then the relationship doesn’t have to just all end over something stupid like it would if I assumed it was intentional.) Yes the impact you make on the world is the sum of what you do and that impact is true regardless if there is a deeper reason behind it. But also, if you only focus on what people do and go no deeper, then you are missing the bigger picture and your relationships will not last long and you are going to live a very lonely and conflictfilled life.

That is why it is important. Not because in the finale of the dsmp Dream’s reveal changes any of his actions, but because it changes our perspective of him and that changes how we act next. Whether we show compassion and empathy or understanding or forgiveness of someone’s actions or run the hell away. (Whether a conflict breaks out over you stomping on my foot so I step on yours back.)

As an engineer, a nerdy metaphor I could use is that it’s kinda like if situations were an equation then the effect and action is the answer (the one side of the =), but sometimes we need to used the other side of the = to solve for x, so we can solve the next equations.

The deep down matters because it should change your action. It matters because in recent years after excusing my behavior because of something or the other, I realized ya know other people might also have a valid reason too. So while my automatic assumption of why they are late to class is that they are lazy, or rude, or don’t care, maybe maybe they actually woke up nauseous and were throwing up which prevented them from being on time, maybe they fainted coming out of the shower, maybe their car wouldn’t start, maybe they had a doctor’s appointment beforehand, maybe there was a car accident making them late, maybe there was a train blocking the road…etc. there are so many reasons, but our mind just jumps to the worst, and we expect grace from others when we are late but wouldn’t give others the same benefit of the doubt. If we had, if instead of judgment and criticism, we checked on them after class to see if they are okay then maybe we learn of their struggle, and maybe they need our help, or maybe we relate and become friends, maybe you share your notes with them, maybe you give them a hug. The deeper meaning changes what you do and like the quote says, what you do is the impact on the world…

[sgiandubh]

Hola, Sgiandubh.

Mordor no debe estar muy contento con esas fotos que publicaste. Nos acusan de publicar recibos antiguos cuando hay un avistamiento Tait y, ahora, BIF y sus seguidores se dedican a rebloguear antiguas entrevistas donde ella hablaba del prometido "sin nombre". Ya se encargaba el magazine de turno de editar el texto añadiéndolo para que no quedara duda de su identidad. Como ese bloguer de IG que ha cambiado la secuencia de fotos y no ha publicado las que han causado tanto revuelo pero si se ha dedicado a seguir insultando a las #shipperscrazies. Manipulando la información real que hay disponible. Si eso no es reunir a las tropas para tranquilizar los ánimos no sé qué es 😆

Dear Rallying the Troops Anon,

Me alegra mucho que Mordor no esté contento con estas fotos, por supuesto. La idiotez colectiva del Otro Lado es contundente y menospreciar al adversario - la peor estrategia que pueda imaginarse.

But without further ado, let's translate your comment:

'Hi, Sgian-dubh,

Mordor must not be very happy with the pictures you posted. They accuse us of posting old receipts every time there's a Tait sighting, but now BIF and her followers are busy reblogging old interviews where she talked about the 'unnamed fiancé'. The magazine had already dutifully edited the text, adding to it so there would be no doubt about his identity. Just like that Instagram blogger who changed the order of the pics and did not post those that caused so much commotion, but who did continue to insult the #shipperscrazies. Manipulating the real information that is available.

If that is not rallying the troops to calm things down, I don't know what is 😆.'

Well, then - LOL. As I just said: I am very glad that these pics irritated the shit out of Mordor, of course. The collective idiocy of the Other Side is blatant and of course, belittling the adversary - the worst possible strategy.

But remember (hahahahaha), darling: double standard is a paramount policy of the Best Fans and the Only Ones, FWIW. They feel they have a license to do just about everything: repost things when reality bites and people begin to realize maybe things are not just as black and white (but rather more than fifty shades of grey, LOL). Insult people who dared question their honesty and/or intentions, with a ferocity that says a lot about their unsavory mob. And also play the ostrich, when people come to them with info like this very recent one:

The reactions are just priceless:

Sure, Jan, wherever you'd live (a 500 people village, somewhere, I suppose). Because social and business dinners happen on Saturday nights, since the dawn of humanity (where is McIdiot, on that Saturday night, since it's all so social/business? rehearsing Smooth Operator with Blonde Bambino?). And yes, of course, 'pictures or it did not happen' (it did happen before, btw, albeit with chaperones, but never with the multi-millionaire, successful music producer!), on that we agree, and it's rare - this round's on me. That being said, it's priceless to read (and almost hear) those banshee shrieks: 'They are not romantically involved!!!!!!!!!!!!' I spat my Coke, again and remembered this wonderful Terry Pratchett quote:

 'Multiple exclamation marks,' he went on, shaking his head, 'are a sure sign of a diseased mind.'

So, as you can see, that rally cry was also very, very far away from being efficient. As Cambronne famously said at Waterloo: merde!

One last thing and please try and not hate me for it, since I might have misunderstood what you really meant: there was no editing, as far as I know, of that interview BIF reposted. That name was always there, but once more, never uttered by C and just added for context by the journalist, when she wrote her paper. See for yourself:

Reading that last phrase tells the whole story: 'finding time that suits both their schedules is also proving challenging'. ROFLMAO. For Christ's sake, the 'intensely private' one ain't no Quincy Jones! And this is how you just know Tatler sugarcoated a very bland, unenthusiastic interview. A very common practice.

Salud! Don't be a stranger, Anon. You inspire me. 😘

PS: that banshee shriek was completely unnecessary. Anon just said they were 'catching up', nothing more (which immediately makes me think there was something more about it). Nobody suggested anything romantic. Pavlov's dog will always react to the stimulus, though. And thank you, querida, for the heads-up. 😘🙌

[writing-for-life]

Sunday Mourning—About Dream Entities and Stars

Why Head-Canons Are Wonderful, But Forcing Them On Creators Isn’t

And as always: Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

First of all: I don’t want to take anyone’s head-canons away from them, it’s what fandom is partly built on. I support them, I love them, I have plenty of my own. The Sandman very explicitly tells us about “books never written” in Lucien/ne’s library, and we can be sure ours is in there.

But that’s not quite the same as harassing both creators and other fans in an attempt to make fanon canon, and that’s what partly sparked this post. So if a super-long meta exploration of “Sunday Mourning” (and there is a lot in this post) that also contains a bit of fandom criticism (feel free to skip that if you just want the meta) isn’t your thing—this is your warning 🤣

Also: Massive spoilers ahead…

The theory that Morpheus forever lives in Hob’s dreams (and with Hob) as a dream entity regularly makes the rounds. And it’s a nice theory, and I get why people like it. I also get that “The Wake—Sunday Mourning” is maybe ambiguous enough to consider it a possibility (which then goes into head-canon territory). All good so far.

What’s problematic is when fans begin to leverage their head-canons/theories as “true because Neil gave it a like”, and then proceed to present them as canon.

Neil likes posts, yes, but he said *several times* and *very explicitly* that’s never endorsement of anything, but rather valuing that people put thought into stuff and engage with his stories critically (and he also said that it’s sometimes just a slip of his finger, but that just as an aside, you’ll find one example here).

So if Neil liked a happily-ever-after-dream-entity post, that means he supports your head-canons as head-canons because he always does (or his finger slipped—I guess we’ll never know). Again: In a way, it’s even an integral part of The Sandman. It also means that he likes the fact you engaged deeply with the source material, in either a heartfelt or critical way.

What it *doesn’t* mean: Head-canon is the same as canon despite both being valid in their own way. He said all of this a million times in a million posts.

Let’s explore that particular theory and start with an ask:

His endorsement goes as far as acknowledging that “it’s never only a dream,” and that “dreams are where the stories are.” And we need to stop pretending it’s anything more than that, even if he likes a few posts here and there (posts that go in all different directions, btw). Neil used his own experience with grief and mirrored it 1:1 in how Hob handles Morpheus’ death in The Wake and Sunday Mourning.

Here is a quote from the Sandman Companion:

NG: […] Bette's stories have happy endings. That's because she knows where to stop. She's realized the real problem with stories—if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death.

HB: It also makes me think of Hob's dream in part 3.

NG: That was something that actually happened to me. [1]I dreamt about a friend who'd died six months earlier, woke up completely upset that she'd died, [2]and then realized I'd simply had a dream and felt enormously relieved... [3]and then I woke up all the way and remembered that she really had passed on.

[numbers and bold by me]

And then remember what happened to Hob:

1. He found out in a dream Morpheus had died and woke up upset and crying in The Wake, Chapters 1-3 (#70-72).

2. Then he had another dream that somewhat gave him closure and a sense of relief (Sunday Mourning, #73).

(Can I also just point out where Destruction’s fingers are pointing here and then contrast it with what he told Daniel in The Wake about “walking amongst the stars”, or Morpheus actually turning into a star?)

(What might the end of the story be? Who knows, but once again, have a look where Destruction’s fingers are pointing.)

3. Then he woke up all the way and felt peace (also in Sunday Mourning).

Make of that what you will, but to me, saying that scene was based on his own dream is basically Neil confirming that Morpheus has “really passed on.”

Will Hob remember Morpheus? Of course he will. That’s what humans do. Does Morpheus live a happily ever after in Hob’s dream with Hob? And would that be in character? And would he want his memories to be intact to make that happen? Would that truly be passing on?

I will explore why canonically, we don’t find much to support that notion, and why it would seem OOC. But if you believe it, it’s your personal truth. Should we call for the ending to be changed though to make our personal truth that of the author?

Life and death are our own, and it’s never just a dream

Destruction was in Hob’s dream (when Hob never really knew him), and Destruction walked away from it all. As did Morpheus. They’re both free. It was very likely (and I'm phrasing this carefully on purpose) a dream gifted by Daniel!Dream (who had a very long talk with Destruction during the Wake) to give Hob closure, and it seems straightforward enough if you read The Wake not just single-mindedly focused on one thing. Daniel!Dream is not in the original panel, but he is in the background of concept art of that panel for a movie pitch by Jill Thompson and Neil Gaiman, so we can probably assume it was always the intended subtext.

And what does Death say in Façade? Or what does Morpheus say to Orpheus, or to Delirium after he killed Orpheus? That life and death are our own.

Destruction’s life is his own.

Morpheus’ death is his own.

And Hob’s life AND death are his own.

The three of them are the literal embodiment of that sentiment:

One walked away and chose life.

One walked away and chose death.

One chooses life for as long as he sees fit and can choose death if he stops doing so.

It makes sense to put them in a panel together at the end for that very reason (and a few others of course).

That, right there, is already “more than just a dream.” It is the story, not just a metaphor. It is canon, and it is fairly explicit.

Would Morpheus ever want to be a dream entity with all his memories intact?

From this point onward, we get more into interpretation based on canonical character traits:

Morpheus living forever as a dream entity *tied to Hob’s dream* is canonically antithetical and OOC. There, I said it. He wanted to be free from the Dreaming, he even said so to Death (“But even the freedom of the Dreaming can be a cage, of a kind, my sister,” in #69).

But existing as a dream entity WITH ALL HIS MEMORIES INTACT (that alone should make people say, “He would never want this in a million years” because it’s the very source of his pain—he wanted punishment for Orpheus’ fate/death—Nuala called him out on it) would forever tie him to it. Plus, it would make him Daniel’s subject in a way. It would be, again, very OOC.

Also: Dream had very strong feelings about the dead NOT belonging into dreams/the Dreaming permanently, or the living building their lives around them. WHY would that apply to Hector, but not to Morpheus himself? Again, it makes no sense in continuity.

But Destruction was in that dream…

Destruction visited Daniel!Dream during the Wake. They talked about a lot of stuff that’s very relevant, I recommend a reread if you’re not certain (this is long enough as it is, so I’ll skip it at this point). And it makes narrative sense to anchor that in Hob’s dream for reasons already outlined (they might not make sense to Hob, but they make sense to us, the reader, if we are willing to see that “it’s more than just a dream” isn’t equal to two people riding off into the sunset together, as nice a head-canon that might be). What I *do* want to point out though is that Destructions talked about “walking amongst the stars” and again, where he points in Hob’s dream.

Someone said this somewhere else and drew parallels to Stardust: Morpheus *does* become a star (or returns to them, who knows), it’s all over The Wake. That star is in literally *every* panel with a window/sky after his barge has transformed. And what becomes of him as that—who knows, since we all know stars have some sort of sentience in Gaiman’s universe, and that “oblivion is not an option” if Death took your hand to lead you into the afterlife. Again: Head-canon territory…

Head-canons are beautiful

No one is trying to take them away from us. Let’s knock ourselves out in fanfic and fanart, it’s comforting and healing. The Sandman is a story about stories. Our stories are our own, and they are true for us, that’s the whole point. And Neil will *never* tell you your head-canon is not real, because for you, it is, and that’s all that matters. But the constant need to elevate fanon to canon really gets exhausting at times, especially if it involves pestering the creators, constantly being on their blogs/tagging them and trying to get them to confirm what we want.

And to those that insist we will undoubtedly get a happily ever after because “Hob’s dream says so”, and think the writers somehow should “read the room” and provide fan-service (side-note: What is it with this entitlement in fandom? The creator tells *their* story, not yours):

One of the main messages of the story is (already in 24/7) that stories only have a happy ending because we know when to stop, but that they ultimately *all* end in death. No matter how much people say that “the show is so much more hopeful”, that very line has already been brought into the show. They didn’t take it out. It will have weight at some point, I’ll put my money on it.

But show!Murphy isn’t comics!Murphy...

People point out that show!Morpheus is different from comics!Morpheus to justify we will get a different ending. Making Morpheus a bit softer around the edges seems, at least to me, a move to make him likeable as the protagonist, because it would be very hard to like early comics!Morpheus, to be frank. The fact that he brought Gault back from the darkness—I saw that as giving show!only fans a nicely wrapped end of the first season, because we didn’t even know if we would get a second one at that point. It also shows us that he is capable of change—a thing I am near certain he will repeatedly deny as we go on (he already did). So no, I personally don’t think it set him on a different path. There are even scenes in the show that very heavily foreshadow The Kindly Ones (the cracks in the window are overlayed onto his face in such a way that they heavily hint at the scar he is going to receive).

So yes, by all means, let’s have a bit of ambiguity in Sunday Mourning for the people who don’t like the tragic ending, but let’s also focus on more than just making everything about the ship. Their relationship is important, and even more so because it isn’t romantic—that’s why it grows and lasts (unlike Morpheus’ romantic relationships). But it’s only the tiniest fraction of what The Sandman is about.

I write fanfic. I give Morpheus happy endings, too. I get it, I want him to be happy, too. But no matter how much we write him in character, we will ultimately break character the moment we make him do things that lead to a different outcome. In canon, he is the way he is. And I am afraid to say:

I personally think he is also like that in the show, even if they softened him a bit around the edges and shoved certain messages down our throats that people who know the comics didn’t need, but newbs to the Sandman did (“I’m listening now…”)—it was a good move, and all of that made sense for show-narrative reasons. But not once did I have the feeling that he wasn't exactly the same Morpheus underneath it all, and we already had too much foreshadowing to think that we would really get a different ending.

Why chemistry isn’t confirmation of the ship

That’s another one: To turn one (!) show-writer’s comment that Morpheus’ and Hob’s chemistry was a thing, and that they allowed that type of ambiguity, into, “Their romantic relationship is canon.” These two things are not the same. And Neil said that Benton’s comment did not make Dreamling any more real/canon, but people conveniently forget that. He also didn’t deny it, he just didn’t confirm, because, again: He doesn’t confirm or deny head-canons. They’re ours. Let's please stop pestering the man to confirm our head-canons and fantasies, but that just as an aside.

It shows one thing, however:

How conditioned fandom is to make everything about romantic relationships (ideally m/m), even if they have nothing, and I say nothing, to do with the main message.

And it’s okay the wish for these relationships matters to some people, but they don’t have to matter to everyone else, to the extent that we expect the actual story to change. Why try to twist his arm into changing his own story, and the way he wanted to tell it?

So again: Head-canons are beautiful. Trying to get them confirmed by creators and foist them upon everyone else (to the extent that people get harassed) is not.

And if I'm proven wrong on this, I’ll still die happy, but I'm putting my chips down right now and say:

Morpheus will die in exactly the same way as in the comics. And if we get The Wake, we will get a scene in Sunday Mourning that can hold ambiguity for processing our grief, just like the comic can. And the shippers will say, “He’s with Hob, yay!”, and the non-shippers will say, “Nah, not what I saw.” And Neil will get a million asks and answer each single one with:

“What do *you* think?”

[dealingdreams]

The Acolyte s01e01 : Lost/Found

I'm going to put all my thoughts as I go into this one post, and at the end summarize some of my thoughts over the whole episode.

Also before you get any further just an fyi obviously there will be spoilers for this episode but I have already watched the whole season so I'll be referencing things later revealed so proceed with caution.

Notes while watching:

Mae's outfit is so fucking cool. I love the subtle pattern on her cloak.

She does crack me up...she's so dramatic 'attack me with all your strength'

I love this when Indara says 'the Jedi do not attack the unarmed' and Mae's response is 'yes, you do' what an efficient way of peeking interest into what this conflict is about.

I also idk. I don't know how to explain this well but...I don't like when shows make their characters unnaturally gifted. Like Indara has been doing this for a long time so her fight skill would have been better than Mae's so I like that it indeed was yaknow. Mae however, doesn't fight fair which also love.

Osha waking up and putting her hand over her heart...right where Indara was stabbed. I think this was the first real sign that Osha might feel like she hasn't been accessing the force she still is very connected to it.

Little hints at what to come there with the trade federation needing shields prepared. Love to see it.

Osha is so snarky.

Osha is doing an illegal job btw

She does seem genuinely happy to see Yord. It kinda what makes him reaching for his saber even more upsetting.

Sol's quote 'close your eyes, your eyes deceive you' really fucks me up when you think about how that's exactly what Sol's eyes did. He saw something he didn't completely understand, he had good intentions but ultimately he let it blind him.

I like the texture they did to Vernestra's makeup

I do like that Sol immediately was in Osha's corner.

I think Osha's kindness is so sweet. she immediately was concerned for that prisoners wellbeing and saved his life when she could have just left him.

Amandla's scream is so good.

Sol saying let me take accountability is interesting. I think he always was caught between genuinely believing he did the right thing and knowing he was in the wrong. I don't think you need to justify your actions if you genuinely think you were right yaknow.

Yord steaming his cloak cracks me up.

'as above sits the stars, and below lies the sea. I give you you, and you give me me' very as above so below vibes. I feel like the twins might be destined to remain on opposite sides.

I don't think Sol remotely thought Mae was dead when Jecki asked him.

Yord is that know it all in your intro to sociology class.

I think Osha slipping was more to show us her disconnection with the force.

"the Jedi live in a dream. A dream they believe everyone shares. If you attack a Jedi with a weapon you will fail. Steel or laser are not threat to them. But an Acolyte an Acolyte kills without a weapon. An acolyte kills a the dream."

See, I think everything The Stranger says is layered. He's talking about killing without a weapon but also that it's more than the physical death of the Jedi...but the dream as well. This idea of the Jedi supremacy, that they are so powerful. That only the Jedi can access the force. Anyone Killing a Jedi without the use of a weapon would ultimately show that there are others that are capable of using the force.

Anyways so thoughts:

I think this episode was immediately engaging. I really enjoyed how the set up the characters...layed some hints on what is to come. Overall I think it is a solid pilot episode.

Also I think it's heartbreaking that Osha has so much faith in the Jedi but aside from Sol they all were very much convinced of her guilt from the jump. Sure her having a twin wasn't in her file but they had her convicted before they even really investigated it.

Amandla carried herself just a bit different for Mae than with Osha and I adore that. She is so amazing.

Anyways love it...I also think this is the type of show that gets better with every rewatch it's so rich.

[one-squash-one-end]

An analysis on gender and sexuality - Blue Sargent

Hi! This belongs to my big Raven Cycle analysis, click here for the masterpost!

This part will deal with our favorite short ant, Blue Sargent. A sort of silly but still intentional analysis/essay on why I think she's nonbinary, where I go off on random tangents because i have adhd and access to the internet. Enjoy! (This will be so fucking long though, I had Thoughts)

3. Trust me, the characters are queer as fuck and I can prove it (+ my professional opinion on whether they’d wear a crop top)

a) Blue Sargent

Look. No matter how I look at this entire character, there’s simply no way Blue is not genderfluid. (The fluid is one of Maura’s footy healing teas btw.) And I am here to spread the agenda and force my own identity onto fictional characters so that after you have read this analysis and interpretation, you will agree with me on my correct opinion.

To begin with, there is this entire theme of not fitting in and dressing in an “unusual” way. It becomes very evident that Blue is really proud of being weird and eccentric, this displayed in attitudes towards her mom, the boys and her internal monologue about Mountainview High. She does not want to fit in if it means changing for others, yet she says “the problem with being weird was that everyone else was normal”. This could possibly be a metaphor for being trans; being proud of it, yet being only surrounded by cis people, who conform to all those societal gender norms. It means one would feel sort of isolated (as Blue does mention she is), not being able to relate to or feel deeply understood by anyone in their environment.

Additionally, alternative fashion (or at least that’s how I would describe her aesthetic in general) has quite typically been claimed by queer people. I know this is a lot of interpretation here, and it’s worth mentioning that you absolutely cannot tell someone’s gender by how they present on the outside. However, the evidence gets stronger as we dive deeper. If we look at her fashion sense together with the statement of “I don’t care to be pretty, I care to look on the outside as I do on the inside.”, it sends quite a clear message: Her outside is very jumbled, not conforming to societal norms, a mix of many different styles that seems to change its focus daily. In my opinion, that’s pretty gender of her. If that’s how she presents on the outside (which is not traditionally “female”, among other things I just mentioned), just think about what that would mean for her inside. It’s chaotic, it’s messy, it’s just a lot of things. It’s called being genderfluid.

The second big theme we have is her constantly being treated as “one of the boys”. And yes, of course cis girls can be friends with large groups of boys (and the other way around) but it is quite rare or unusual, especially if all of them are straight (so my point is this: Blue is not cis and also the boys are all queer, more on that later). Either way, Blue defies traditional gender norms and “girly” hobbies by taking part in fun teambuilding activities such as cave exploring, trespassing, grave robbery and burying a body. We stan.

Then we have this quote, which is talking specifically about Blue truly being part of the group for the first time: “They were loud and triumphant and kings of Henrietta.” Now, while kings are a theme that is quite consistent throughout the books, each of the boys and Mr. Gray being called one at least once in significant scenes of their character arcs, by that time it is not yet that established. There would have been so many other words for Maggie Stiefvater to use. First of all, kings and queen, though that would be a bit unwieldy. She chose not to alienate Blue. But there were other alternatives, something not quite so gendered, such as royals, or gods even. Yet, that specific wording happened, showing she is in no way other than the boys. And maybe in that scene she really wasn’t, feeling more masculine that day perhaps.

Furthermore, “whatever her identity crisis was, it seemed to live at home, not with the boys”, meaning she does feel alienated around all those women, but she does somehow fit in with the boys. Yes, this is also a teen thing of being misunderstood by parents while identifying a lot with peers, but when what she rejects is femininity and she seems to embrace masculinity, it’s a bit sus, don’t you think? And then lastly it’s not only the Gangsey, but also the Vancouver crowd as well, a group of boys held together by somehow being different than the rest of Aglionby (if I remember correctly), that she feels immediately at home with.

Next, there are the 300 Fox Way women. As we just established, Blue feels a sort of identity crisis in this house filled with women. She does not fit in, because she is the only one without any psychic abilities, meaning she is already “other”, but there is a clear focus on showing how she is so, so loved, by her direct family (like Maura) but also the others (Calla, Persephone) have accepted her as one of their own. Now, what if she was also genderqueer? Wouldn’t that give her one more reason to be different, while simultaneously putting emphasis on the fact that trans people can and deserve to be loved by their families?

I saved the strongest evidence for last (well, sort of, there’s still more to come actually). The following quote is the ultimate confirmation Blue is not female. As she, the Gangsey and some of her family group together in the kitchen, she says there were “three boys, four women, and one Blue”! Here she is specifically not assigned either of the aforementioned genders, not grouped together with the 300 Fox Way women in a “five women, Blue being one of them” manner and also not one of the boys in this scene. This might be an age issue (like how for months I wasn’t sure if I dislike both the terms “woman” and “girl” being used for me because of age or gender), but the scene could have easily said “women, boys and one teenage girl”, focusing on groups divided by age and gender like the original intention might seem to be. And yet it didn’t.

Now for some more quotes. After some guy from her school draws a penis on the unicorn on her binder, she says “she preferred her unicorns ungendered”. For the reasons already listed I deduce that, much like the unicorn, Blue prefers herself ungendered.

“She felt one thousand years old. She also felt like maybe she was a condescending brat.” is of course supposed to show how contradicting growing up can feel, perception of oneself flickering between being terribly grown up and still being a little child, who cannot know anything. I would also argue, though, that this duality can be quite reminiscent of her gender identity, feeling like multiple, supposedly contrasting, things at once. As an additional afterthought, the theme of being ageless is sometimes associated with omniscient beings, detached from being human, such as deities. Another thing that would be quite typical for gods, especially when they are so apart from society, is being genderless, or having a gender that fluctuates. Some examples for this would be Dionysus, Loki or the ancient genderfluid entity Asushunamir, stemming from the mythology of one of humanity’s first civilizations, Mesopotamia.

Then, naturally, we have other people’s perception of her. While she probably has been described as a girl in quite a few instances in the book (one of them being Henry, though before he really knew her), to me it sticks out that she describes herself as a “sensible teen”, not a sensible girl, though that might have made even more sense in the context of not going around kissing random boys (but yes, let’s be honest, that’s some antiquated slut-shaming, people can kiss as many consenting people as they like). Further instance is that Gansey says “Blue was a fanciful, but sensible thing. Like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches […]”. Like, he goes out of his way to not describe her as a girl in that scene, instead drawing weird-ass comparisons. Now, while calling his friends magnificent creatures is totally his thing (maybe Gansey rejects gendered terms and embraces silly greetings), this did seem intentional to me. Not to mention the obvious parallel of platypuses being mammals but laying eggs, somehow combining different species. Despite reproducing differently than “normal” mammals (also having different sexual organs), they are still recognized as such, and if that isn’t very trans rights of them, I don’t know what is. (Yes I know being a mammal is not derived from reproductive organs and this is probably all somewhat wrong, but I am relying heavily on metaphors here and also I dropped Biology.)

Now as a last thing I chose the entire theme of “something more”. If I’m not mistaken, “something more” is important for every other character as well (I specifically remember Henry), but it begins with Blue and seems to be most relevant to her either way. As I’m writing this I realize so much of the evidence I have collected can also be read under points of view of growing up, but still fits her gender, showing not only that Blue is pretty reminiscent of how teenagers feel, how things in their lives contradict, but also that we come to realizations about our own gender as we grow up, whether it’s realizing at five, fifteen or fifty years old, self-discovery is an ongoing process. So “something more” is absolutely about her future, but it might also relate to her gender being something more than simply female, more than the binary dictates.

If you read this entire series with the opinion that Blue is not cis (like I do! And like my real life friends hopefully will after reading this J), there are masses of hints pointing towards it and creating evidence. Smash the cis-tem.

By now I’ve made my point about her gender pretty clear, so now it’s time to point out that Blue isn’t straight either. First of all, if she does not confirm to either of the binary genders, she cannot, in any way, be heterosexual, but either way, there’s just no way she’s straight.

Now, if you read this essay (? analysis? meta deep-dive?), you will soon be convinced that her entire friend group is queer somehow, which absolutely accounts for something because I can confirm, from real life experience, that queer people seem to flock towards each other. I will admit that we don’t really see her interact with many female characters outside of family (yes I will admit this is a red flag, but I promise the book passes the Bechdel test), but the vibes she gives off are clearly m-spec.

Additionally, because I am always looking for some representation of my own identity, Blue could potentially be somewhere on the aro-ace spectrum. This isn’t shown super strongly, especially since she does get a canon relationship and it’s very sweet and romantic. Yet, she is not really sex-driven or anything like that and seems to value friendship a LOT, though the entire theme of friendship in general throughout the series will be explained in a later part of this analysis. Also, while I am aware that the books are YA and thus won’t focus on sex too much either way, especially in teen characters, it’s comparably low, considering the premise is (wrongfully) about true love’s killing kiss. We can also compare her storyline and character to Kavinsky, someone her age who seems to be very obscene, and characters like Ronan, who are somewhere between them on that scale. Overall, I would probably call her pan, but once again, there might be some greysexuality or something similar in there.

Lastly, Blue would absolutely wear crop tops of course. Now that I think about it, she probably even does at some point in the books.

[veganbread1]

hey guys i'm finally posting entity refs again

JEFF!! THE SILLY GUY (srry it looks like the behindcloseddoorsask one that was not exactly intentional i wanted to make him look like cthulhu or the kraken or smth)

ANYWYAS JEFF FACTS!!!!:

surprisingly enough, he was human once. although, he was put in the hotel by accident. he was murdered and guiding light accidentally brought his soul to the hotel instead of the person who killed him

bro is fucking huge no seriously he could probably hold you like a cheeseburger (btw i don't mind ya'll sending asks to the entities so yes, you could give him a hug)

his face is sorta like a mask and it opens up to reveal a big mouth with teeth, which he uses to kill the people who steal from him

DON'T STEAL FROM HIM!!!

he and Goblino are besties do not separate them

he can turn its glowy patterns on and off

yeah that's all lmao (btw the quote in the image is smth el goblino said ingame if ya'll didn't know)

[fefairys]

okay bear with me

one thing that’s happening is posting all those hussie book commentary quotes and seeing people sort of like criticize not just what he says but the way they speak ? is getting me because i actually quite enjoy the way they speak i always have. i find it entrancing in a way, and i think i’ve taken a lot of their -isms into the way i talk as well and so there’s this fear that people have the same annoyance towards me when i use a million words when i could have used just a few to say one thing, as there is towards hussie about it.

but i literally don’t know how to say less and that’s probably the case for them too lmao like it is just how my brain works ??? but like yeah something i see people say a lot is how pretentious they sound and how they use way too many words “to make themselves sound smart, to trick you” and i’m like uh oh. haha i do that! but not to make myself sound smart it is literally just how i talk, that’s just how some people talk. and it is so frustrating of people to assume that we do this “to make ourselves seem smarter” i mean for me it is an autism thing i think and it is like that for a lot of people i’ve seen who say they get told they do that.

for me i think it’s also a trauma thing because the big falling out i had in my life was people misinterpreting my intentions as manipulative when i had no idea it was coming off that way and had no intention of manipulating anyone. like it was so crazy to me to hear “you did this because you wanted to control us because you didn’t trust us!” and me being like uhhhhhh no i did that for an entirely different reason unrelated to you at all but okay. and so now i’m like oh god i need to always state my intentions on everyrging no matter what—this is completely unrelated to the hussie thing now btw i’m just rambling—or people are going misinterpret me as malicious!!!

dude i wish i could let people be wrong about me but when people think i am doing things specifically to hurt or control them when i am Fucking Not it is kind of fucking hard to let them be wrong about that!!!!! that is like the main thing people have been wrong about me in my life!!! that i act maliciously when i am just acting stupidly or perhaps selfishly, yes! definitely selfishly, but not with the deliberate intention of hurting other people. just without any forsight. i think i’m better about that now, about not being as selfish, i think i learned that lesson pretty damn well.

anyways i ran out of things on my mind for now goodbye. thanks for reading my diary

[masked-and-doomed]

Wwho is conclave actually because I keep imagining just like . Some generic concave shape.

kats love interest according 2 me

PFFFFFFTTTT ah yes. My lambs..... Certainly a shape...

These 4 bitches. In like 2000 (in the GG universe) they were among the first 5 people to learn magic, from the man that discovered magic, The Original. Funny thing is they got abandoned because The Original put his hopes of humanity into the 5th guy that learned from him, this twink. Asuka.

(this guy's like the biggest war criminal ever btw. But he's genuinely trying his best the world just got his good intentions fucked up hard. Worst thing was like an unethical turning his best friend into an immortal beast so that the guy could have the time in the world to be with his also immortal girlfriend. Anyway this isn't about him)

I'm sure they've gotten miffed about the twink favouritism in some way.

At some point they decided that. Well like. Great power comes great responsibility, that spider.man quote. Y'know what they thought to do with their power, being like top 10 most powerful guys in the world?

"what if we kill all of humanity and make new and better humans." "Yeah that sounds like the best way to push humanity forward"

So um. Okay the stuff of Asuka is related here because. The girlfriend of his best friend, Aria. She turned into a similar immortal beast that was so powerful (and also very angry about being made as a weapon of war to be used by humanity) that she waged a war on humanity for 100 years. She did get killed and her body was kept into a dimensional prison.

So they saw this and was like. Ah yeahhh she powerful we can use this to kill all humans.

So they pull some stuff, they had a tournament done to 'revive' justice. Using bloodshed to power her up or whatever? Which only kinda worked. This was in 2180~ ish..

Back to the writing board for em !

One of the guys die at this point. Baldias. In July 2187. He fucking died in a pachinko game. And he died trying to stop a guy from getting a glorified lightbulb.

So! Now three months after, very late October.

They then learn how to properly revive people, and managed to revive some guy named zat.o 1. There isn't a Zato 2 btw. Idk he's weird.

They revive him, but in a certain way that he does not feel any emotions. And is like empty probably. Rip bozo. Not our problem.

Well! Time to revive the living weapon built for war, and use it for war!!

They had her kept in an egg. Called the Cradle. They were testing(?) the teleportation of it since it was mostly kept in a different plane of existence. So during these testings like 20K people died. Yeah. Even more, there were at least like 5 fleets that were sent to investigate and most of them died also. Rip bozos. But erm. For humanity, right? :)

Though, the leader, Chronus himself says that humanity won't forgive em for this betrayal so. Shrugs?

They teleport the egg holding our war weapon into a castle. Because that castle has a lightning rod meant to attract the biggest lightning strike in ever, that only happens like every 5 years. St Elmo's Fire. And I suppose that lightning strike has enough energy to get the plan started.

They do it, Axus and Libraria fucking diee. Plan failed bad due to the heroes doing their hero shit.

Only one is left out of the four, Chronus! And Doctor Faut found him. They're travelling together now :D

I love them. The funnies. They're sooo fucked up. How did they come to that conclusion. Why. What the hell, man. My lambs... My stupid lambs..

[anymouslydone]

Things zionists told me on tumblr so far. Time to raise questions. Lets expose some piece of shits.

1. Youre like antisematic

Duh.

If being on the side of humanity is being antisematic then yes. Some of your own jeweish people actually recognize this as a genocide. Speak for yourself.

2. How can you compare this to the hiroshima massacre? You think it is equal to a nuclear bomb?

Karen, first of all, nobody is saying that. The amount of explosive substance used in the bombs in the last month is equivalent to more than a neclear explosion. Of course they have different outcome. Lets not forget that gaza is less than half the size of hiroshima. AND THIS WAS CAUSED BY INTENTIONAL BOMBARTMENT. 6000+ BOMBS IN 25 MILE, IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU?

3. One of the big target in the "war" (cough, cough*, excuse me) is the infrastructures. Hamas built their bases under general building, hospitals, tunnels, mosques.

May i quote this fathead person

"Hamas has since they took over in 2006, turned the Gaza Strip into the world's largest open air terrorist base with 300 miles of tunnels running under it. No building is too sacred for them to use for their work of killing Israelis. School? That's a weapons factory. Mosque? That's a hideout. Refugee camp? Build an HQ under that thing.

And not necessarily killing people in the process."

Mm hmm okay.

So we just blow up the whole coutry with thousands people in. Lets cut down their water, food, electricity and watch them die slow. Sounds fun eh?

4.

If they've spent 75 years committing genocide and the population has only tripled, then either Palestinians have super-fecundity or Israel was never trying to commit genocide.

Population control summer camp yall. Roll in

5. Gaza will be soon the largest parking lot..Wait mother fucker.

This @gb_75 btw

[kazscrows]

Six of Crows Reread 🪶

Chapter 25: Inej

Six levels to climb in the dark with her hands slippery from sweat and the fires of hell burning below, with the rope weighing her down and no net to catch her. Climb, Inej.

Inej is, dare I say it once again, absolutely incredible

The way I probably squealed reading that she put Kaz’s gloves on the first time that I read this book

…she felt curiously guilty as she slid the supple black leather over her hands, as if she had crept into his rooms without his permission, read his letters, lain down in his bed.

The gloves were unlined, with the slenderest slashes hidden in the fingertips. For sleight of hand, she realised, so that he can keep contact with coins or cards or finesse the workings of a lock. Touch without touch.

Touch without touch

I really love the Inej notice and then realized what the small slits in the fingertips were for

Her and Kaz understand one another

But again her wearing Kaz’s gloves is just ajgaghfdgh

It’s almost like he’s holding her hand-

He’s right there with her in the shaft

Protecting her

Oh gosh they must be so big on her though

Inej is so strong though

She’s climbing six levels with seventy pounds of rope and she’s doing it free hand?? Like???

Daaaaang—

Climb, Inej

I hate that her shoes start to melt

It must’ve hurt so badly

Seeing what was happening had somehow made it worse, as if the rubber was fusing with her flesh.

Because it basically is!!

That’s gross and probably hurts so badly!!

They were all going to die – Kaz, Nina, Jesper, Matthias, Wylan – and it was her fault.

No. No, it wasn’t.

She hefted herself up another foot – Kaz brought us here – and then another. She forced herself to find the next hold. Kaz and his greed. She didn’t feel guilty. She wasn’t sorry. She was just mad. Mad at Kaz for attempting this insane job, furious with herself for agreeing to it.

And why had she? To pay off her debt? Or because despite all good sense and better intentions, she’d let herself feel something for the bastard of the Barrel?

Yeah definitely blame this harebrained idea on Kaz

He’s got quite a way to make people believe in him though, doesn’t he?

I had forgotten that Inej tried to escape the Menagerie

I just want to protect Inej at all costs-

“Is Inej Ghafa your real name?”

A strange sound escaped Inej’s throat, part sob, part laugh, a weak, embarrassing sound, but it had been months since she’d heard her own name, her family name. “Yes,” she managed.

Don’t mind me just sobbing on the floor

She won’t be called little Lynx anymore

Reduced to something no better than a animal

Nope

Hate Heleen

I’m kind if surprised she didn’t refer to her this way in the show though? Like at one point Heleen calls her “little bird” or something, but not little Lynx

No but I love the Kaz won’t let her say he bought her. It’s always that Per Haskell is paying off her indenture

It’s important to him that she never feels like she belongs to them

What happened to Per Haskell btw? They just didn’t include him in the show??

He’s kind of important… smh..

Maybe he’ll show up in S2

Anyways so basically Per Haskell is just loaning her money to pay off her indenture

She asks if it’s a trick but of course it’s not

The shadow of something dark moved across Kaz’s face. “If it were a trick, I’d promise you safety. I’d offer you happiness. I don’t know if that exists in the Barrel, but you’ll find none of it with me.”

A fake loan and offer of happiness is what got Jordie and Kaz Rietveld killed

Buuut… she might find happiness with you… someday-

It was as if once Kaz had seen her, he’d understood how to keep seeing her.

I love this quote

Kaz sees her. The real her

He told her she could be dangerous and he was right

She likes that she can be dangerous

I like to think that Inej’s parents receive her back lovingly without any judgement

Climb, Inej

This exact thought echoed three times in her head in chapter 12 too

She’s about to give up and let go-

But then…

Rain

It felt like a blessing, though she knew Kaz would just call it weather.

It’s okay to not think the same way as Kaz

I think it’s really beautiful that Inej never loses faith in her Saints and that she thanks them for the rain

I want to call that storm, she thought. And four million kruge might be enough to do it. Enough for her own ship – something small and fierce and laden with firepower. Something like her. She would hunt the slavers and their buyers. They would learn to fear her, and they would know her by her name. The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.

She was not a lynx or a spider or even the Wraith. She was Inej Ghafa, and her future was waiting above.

So she climbed

First | Previous | Next

[animation-is-my-jam]

im so utterly curious, what are your gripes with saving tobey? Is it where he almost kills worgirl? That was definitely jarring to say the least...

WOAH! Oop, Someone caught me/lhjj

Nah wait-wait. Yup, I'm guessing you saw a bit of my little sentence about it on my fic recommendations, and LET ME BE CLEAR, it's not that I have total gripes with Saving Tobey...

I just think it's a bit overrated compared to its sequel fic and other fics at the time//

HOWEVER, I will acknowledge that maybe that's because of my own taste.

AND that the fic in general did help with the tobecky momentum, and it's part of fandom history. So I appreciate it for that and I get why some praise it.

Idk, I guess. Even since I first read it back in 2018, I haven't been super in love with it, and I ate everything up back then. I guess to put it into better words, I'll just insert an excerpt from my unreleased Tobecky fanfiction list/reviews on Saving Tobey:

"I will say that looking back upon this fic many years later, I do have some personal story things I'm not crazy for. For one I'm not the biggest fan of the 'Becky has to change or fix Tobey before it's too late' plots because it really just leaves Tobey feeling like the world's most insecure boy who can't work self-reflection until the nice pretty girl tells him to. And that lie and reveal (one of the essential tropes in tobecky) was juicy when I first read it, but that last final climactic battle really didn't do too well in a re-read especially if by the end we expect Wordgirl/Becky to not feel cautious on Tobey's friendship and trust and she just guilts herself. This fic is more of a better platonic Tobecky and tobey character analysis story than a romantic story like what others think, and I think that was very much the intention of the author. As the next fic wants to make it clear, this was set up before anything romantic going to be on Becky's mind."

And yes, anonymous, it's a little bit of that. Even though that might be in character for Tobey (sigh, at least according to Tobey goes good), I'm in the world of fanfiction, and I don't want the read thaaat, even it was for the angsty, like I mentioned in my quote, it felt rushed for Tobey to just do that, like I get him being upset at Becky for technically manipulating him but stilll, and I did get sad but not in a good way, I'm a dumb person who let's media dictate her mood for a couple of hours//

(Thanks for the Ask btw!! (^.^))

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Hi!~

Do you think that "desperately wanting to give/guarantee to someone else what you didn't have/do/were" would help to describe Napoleon? Hope it doesn't sound pretentious or whatever, I just like and trust deeply your takes on him! Nice to meet you btw🤩

Hello!

This doesn't sound pretentious at all - just a regular question :D

Answering this strictly as a writer, I would say it does to a certain degree. Just as no one thing explains all of our actions, intentions, motivations, no one thing would explain Napoleon's.

In terms of the culture and time he was raised in, yes I would say aspects of this statement probably did apply. Primarily as it relates to his family. He certainly felt a duty towards them, a need to provide for them, an onus to be the one who makes the family fortune. Some of this is self-appointed, some of this is also likely fallout of being the second son, but the one who was making clear strides in his career in the early days in comparison to Joseph who was floundering and a bit lost in determining what he wanted to do (other than be a country gentleman, of course).

Corsican culture, too, at the time required a certain amount of “repayment,” so to speak, to the family to demonstrate that the investments and sacrifices made to you for your education and advancement in life were worth it. And many sacrifices were made for Napoleon and Joseph’s (and Lucian’s) education by their father (well...Carlo tried). And I can see that sense of needing to demonstrate that the sacrifice had been worth it being strong in Napoleon. He hated feeling that he owed people or were somehow indebted to them, so even if at a unconcious level, it could have been a motivator. But only one of many. 

- 

Napoleon could be an extraordinarily selfish and self-centered person at times, and the longer he was Emperor the worse that part of his personality became, but there remained beneath it all the thread of him that wanted to help people. I believe it was Meneval who noted that Napoleon, for all his faults, was generous at heart. He just, uh, forgot that bit of him, or, perhaps more accurately, shut it away on purpose.

He was performing emperor from 1804 on and I believe he had an image in his head of What Made an Emperor and How an Emperor Behaved etc. Vulnerability was not part of that. Nor was soft-heartedness - though, again, he could be quite generous when he wanted to be and I don't subscribe to the idea that every generous action of his was motivated by a desire to manipulate.

Oh the man was manipulative, to be sure, but I don't think it's fair to say that was the sum-total of his actions. That he was nice or empathetic (for a small, given value of empathy - it was notoriously not a strong point of his [he was capable of great depths of feelings, of sympathy certainly, but his empathy muscle, from what I can see, was under-developed]), only for some selfish, manipulative reason. At times, yes, absolutely. But every time? No. That's ridiculous.

Anyway, I've digressed. All this to say, I think this quote or concept you've floated can apply to Napoleon in certain situations and with certain people - primarily his family and very close friends.

His broader motivations for things like making education more accessible to those previously excluded from it, or the other more socially liberal concepts, did stem a bit from his desire to make sure people (men, women less so) had all they needed to proceed successfully in life. That desire itself was likely rooted both in some true altruism as well as political and economic considerations. (i.e., educated work-force = better economy, down the line. For gross oversimplification.)

I hope this gets at what you were trying to ask! As I always sign off on these things: he was human, he was multifaceted, no one singular thing can be prescribed as sole motivation for various and sundry actions of his, he was not wholly evil, not wholly good, he was a product and continuation of the revolution, he was reactionary to the revolution, he enslaved people, he freed people, he believed in a merit based system, he was also creating his own aristocracy, he was complex and so is his legacy etc. etc. etc. 

Thank you for the very kind ask! And lovely to meet you as well! :D

---

(Obligatory discalimer: As for trusting my Spicy Opinions on Napoleon, I mean, just take them for what they're worth. I'm one person. I'm a rando on the internet. There are plenty of people out there who have some great insights into Napoleon, those around him, the world he operated in - and people with proper credentials, too, which I don't have. Always worth getting multiple view points - even if you don't agree with all of them!)

[terramcgarden]

I wanna go on a smidgen of an art rant. Because recently I went to an art museum of modern art.

You might as well have brought me to Disney world. I couldn't stop stimming and was doing everything in my power to keep my mouth shut and just appreciate the art.

Fortunately I had a friend who glued herself to me so I can talk her ear off over the history, symbolism, and importance of said art.

Good example- I've NEVER seen a Virgin mother Mary holding baby Jesus WITH HER HAIR DOWN! It's always tucked away to symbolize the roll of motherhood. But no! It was down! Reminding me of the maiden, which makes sense because she was a Virginia.

Anyway I get carried away that one was so amazing to see. Religious art is so fascinating.

Back in college my professor had us write at the beginning of the semester, and at the end; What is art?

And quite frankly, there is no right or wrong answer. "Oh its something made by man!" What about the paintings that an animal did?

For me personally I thought it was "art is made by a person with intent of it being art." Which... has lead me to quietly rage.

There's this semi important artist in the upperclass fine arts. Donald Judd. I have a massive love hate for him. Because he sketches his pieces and commissions people to make it. It's not considered a collab!

It's like pre Renaissance! Artists weren't allowed to sign their names on the religious art pieces they made. Because uppon finish, it was nolonger their art. It was "God's art". Btw here's some Donald Judd art:

The blue shelf one you will see at nearly every fancy art gallery you go to (in the states at least). I can point out a Donald Judd anywhere and it bugs me so much. So while I don't like it for how basic it looks. I also begrudgingly appreciate it because it's an interactive art piece. It's suppose to show you the illusion perspective.

I get it, and because of it I don't like it. (Yet I some how do.)

But then Duchamp's fountain is called into question:

Incase you are wondering, yes, that is a toilet. Yes, it's in an art museum. And yes, I see it as something I call troll art.

The story goes that there was a art gallery that was being very picky on the question "what is art." They believed so long it was made by hand or so, it was art. I don’t recall the full story. BUT WHAT I DO RECALL is the "artist" thought to challenge them by going to a plumbing store and buying this glorious abomination.

It angers people to this day. "How is this art?!" Exactly. But his reason was "it was made by man. Just not by me." (Not his quote.)

But what I love about this is the fact every day it will enrage people and create a debate on if it's art. Honestly for me that's the best part is trying to decide what is and isn't art.

Hope you enjoyed my random art rant, I really hope this post doesn’t get taken down for the fountain bit. But if it does that be pretty funny.

[purble-turble]

So I've got some thoughts about DKR and TT if you'll indulge me for a moment, Purbs. Not plot stuff but like, Meta thoughts.

I've always found it a little odd about myself why while the time travel Au is highkey one of my favorite lmk AUs in the Fandom, and I absolutely ADORE TTRed, I could never really get into DKR other than as the villain of TTRed's story. But i've been in a lord of the rings mood lately and I think i figured it out

so everyone knows that speech Samwise Gamgee gives in Two Towers, yeah? the importance of still keeping hope alive even in the most dire of circumstances because a new day WILL come eventually. the folk in those stories had plenty of chances of turning back but they didn't because they believed that there was enough good in this world to be worth fighting for, and all that.

And keeping hope for the sun to rise even when lost in the darkest of nights is kind of TTRed's whole thing.

Whereas there's very little HOPE in the DKR universe without TTRed there swearing to change the course of fate, which is kind of the point, yes, but the fact that the only permanent solution that's not a full stop bad-end is DKR dying since nothing else will stop him for good as the Calabash storyline proves. and the only way for that to be narratively satisfying is for MK to be the one to kill him, putting more pain and trauma on someone who's already suffered far too much at DKR's hands. leaving that finale while on some level cathartic for the end of a nightmare, still a phyrric victory at best.

i'm not sure if i have a point to all of this so i'm just gonna go reread Test of Time and cry about that one terry pratchett quote and think about the poor traumatized muffin (and btw thats the cutest pet name for TTRed poor dear) "Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain"

Oh my gosh Anon, yes, thank you for this, you absolutely hit the nail on the head here with this analysis!

Demon King Red is about a person losing himself into madness because he doesn't understand what it means to love, and when he's forced to choose between two things he loves he tries to force them both together and it ends up destroying all of them. It's a story of devastation and ruin and nobody comes out of it better than they went in. Meanwhile, Time Travel Red Son's story is about seeing that horror and the cruelty and selfishness and deciding that he will not let it be his own fate, and in doing so he learns what love truly is. It's not something you have or take, it's something you give and receive, and it cannot be forced. And while he doesn't exactly get out of it unscathed either, he's still always working to be a better person and that intent is the most important thing about him and his story.

TT Red is definitely the hope of morning to DKR's black, somber night. So it's completely understandable that you weren't so interested in DKR's story without TT Red there to give it that spark of hope. I definitely agree that a story with only a bleak outcome possible isn't quite as interesting. It's fun to make characters evil and have them suffer, but when it comes to having a full narrative, the lack of hope certainly makes it less appealing. Which is why the traumatized muffin's story is the one I chose to tell in full via a fleshed out fanfic (and yes I agree, that's the best nickname for him lol) and not to spoil anything for that fic, but you're definitely right about the only good ending is going to end up in more trauma for MK (and you're even more right that the story demands it to be MK who kills DKR ultimately) And that ending is only possible because of TT Red's presence.

Also I'm super mega flattered that Samwise Gamgee, the goodest boy of all, reminded you in any way of my story and my traumatized muffin. And that Terry Pratchett quote, it’s one of my favorite quotes by my favorite author to boot! You're gonna make me blush bringing these amazing things up in reference to my silly lego AU lol 🥰

[igniting-quill]

for the writing meme thing

“This will sound weird, but you’ve got…” Quinn’s eyes darted over to Ace’s cracked skin. “Magic flowing out of the cracks on your arms. It’s like your’re an orbula orb or something.”

Magic always flowed out of Ace. But back during their orbula days, Ace used to bandage the cracks in their skin up every time they occurred. But then their skin became more brittle, and more cracks showed up regardless of what they did.

“Why, I would be cheering with delight if you had told me that during my time with the Winster White Claws.”

She brushed some of her hair behind her shoulder. “Are you taking care of yourself? Is there anything I can do to help? Any way to reverse this? Or…”

“No.”

She bit her lip. “Well, I got your request a few weeks back.”

“Ah yes. How much would that cost?”

“I mean, renting out an entire bar? Harley and I have never done that before. But we agreed on this: drinks will be on the house.”

“Your bar, The House?”

Quinn grinned at the pun. “It’s the least I can do.”

from The World Orbula Cup

This ask is from the writing meme here.

I have so so so much to say about this! To spare people looking at my blog from scrolling forever, I’ve kept this to a Read More. Click to find out what I have to say.

I had this great one shot idea back in 2022 during the World Cup, like the real world event in Qatar and everything. And as we all know, beloved Ace from Unprepared Casters has this thing with really wanting to compete in the equivalent of the World Cup and for it to be their last and final moments before they pass away.

I struggled, and am still struggling haha I promise I haven’t ditched this fic (yet), to describe how to show this incoming death. How Ace would handle telling their friends, or maybe they wouldn’t even do that. Sometimes I look back at ch 2, which is where you quoted this from, and I find some pieces too rough/ not handled for a topic like death. But, sometimes the other part of my inner voice is just like, yeah. Death doesn’t ever have a nice streamlined process. It’s tradition and it’s agony. 

^Don’t quite have the words to describe this. Yet. 

Alright with my kind of “behind the scenes” out of the way, I don’t want to reveal too much because my fic isn’t over (yet!!!! Future Quill hold yourself accountable dammit YES I KNOW YOU’RE IN COLLEGE), let’s talk about the passage itself.

I mentioned the cracks in Ace’s body, because it was a sort of flavor thing that Bri (who plays Ace in canon) added onto her character. For example, they have this crack in their ear from Aster’s attempt at piercing their ear. Russ is also sometimes pretty carefully with the typical contact-filled celebrations sports teams usually share (hugging, chest bumps, etc.). I thought it would be a cool visual to show that Ace is being whittled down physically instead of just disappearing into the unknown. Like, if I was a Dungeon Master of this scene instead of a writer, I’d have Ace run these constitution checks to last longer. Bri had the intention of Ace dying during the awards ceremony during the World Orb Cup (not canon btw! Everything about this is my creation and Bri hoping to have an equivalent of our world’s World Cup in Hyranor), so I thought that by that point Ace would already be kind of in their last moments. 

“This will sound weird, but you’ve got…” Quinn’s eyes darted over to Ace’s cracked skin. 

So, as Ace meets all their friends, they are too nice to bring it up to their face, especially during Arc 4. But I think Quinn’s the most caretaker-y (literally one of two in this party with access to healing spells), and would care about Ace’s physical breaking skin. It’s awkward, and she feels it when she brings up the injuries Ace has.

This magic bit is also a bit of flavor. Like, Ace is made of magic. The idea of cracked skin is kind of morbid, and blood flowing from them is even more so. That’s kind of what the magic is in place of honestly: Ace’s life is slowly being drained away from them.

She brushed some of her hair behind her shoulder. “Are you taking care of yourself? Is there anything I can do to help? Any way to reverse this? Or…”

“No.”

I still kind of worry that this fic sounds too much like a suicide note, and maybe that’s why it’s taking me so long to write the next few chapters because it’s been hard to walk that fine line between. Otherwise, in every scenario, if someone is on the verge of death people keep pushing for you to stay alive. Quinn, as I said earlier, would also try. As I said earlier, out of the good of her heart, she sees this scenario sort of like a sickness to be cured, or something to fight against. She doesn’t see Ace’s close death as inevitable.

Ace’s abrupt response, just a simple “No” is enough to get Quinn to stop. They might have been friends for a short time (not for Ace, but for Quinn), but their friendship ran deep. Like if I actually wanted to revamp chapter 2, I’d add a bit more to Ace’s response. (I’m not going to as of now I want to focus on completion instead of perfection) But Bri played Ace as a very straightforward, sometimes even rude or cruel without meaning to, character. I tried to incorporate the sort of Aetherborn philosophy of not being sad that their lifespans are short, but rather being fearful that they haven’t truly lived while being alive. Ace is pretty fulfilled at this point. (in all honesty, I don’t think they are satisfied, but at least on a surface level with what they could do with their time alive, it was pretty impressive). What’s the point of extending their life a few more days if there’s nothing to do, truly live for, with all those moments alive? 

She bit her lip. “Well, I got your request a few weeks back.”

“Ah yes. How much would that cost?”

“I mean, renting out an entire bar? Harley and I have never done that before. But we agreed on this: drinks will be on the house.”

I researched Aetherbornes a little bit before writing this fic. Before they die, usually they host a party. Since Quinn opens a bar, no proof of this in canon but Grace (who plays Quinn) really likes the idea and has brought it up in the Verbal Component + the Battle Royale livestream. So yeah, I thought it’d be a cute idea if she just opened it up as Ace visits. I had the idea of not-that-interested in orbula Quinn and Aster to be in Tyle, the capital, for less travel distance. The drinks being on the house is kind of a continuation of Quinn feeling horrible. She’s the least ready for Ace to leave I think. (They’re all not ready to be honest, but she’s in this space of some denial about it.)

“Your bar, The House?”

Quinn grinned at the pun. “It’s the least I can do.”

It started to get really sad here, and I felt like Ace would never let it get that dark with their death. Of course they bring up the pun, as Quinn established earlier it was named the House. The reason why it’s called the House is directly from Grace’s idea of Quinn establishing a bar called the House of Aces. I planned the kind of outline for this fic before I realized… hey if she names the bar the House of Aces after her friend Ace, that’s a little weird if they’re still alive. So, you know she’s young and such, so maybe it didn’t used to be called that. Going from a bar called “The House” to “The House of Aces” is not that big of a stretch.

Thanks for letting me info dump this was so fun! I also wrote this all in one go, so apologies for any typos/grammar issues. If you have more questions (both you heather and anyone else reading this), feel free to ask. My inbox is open!

[blessed1neha]

Proof of Krishna in Vedas

LORD KRISHNA IS MENTIONED EVERYWHERE IN THE VEDAS

Lord Krishna is mentioned everywhere in the Vedas. If this were not true, He would be at serious fault for making the following bold statement in Bhagavad Gita.

vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo

‘’By all the Vedas, I am to be known’’- Bhagavad Gita 15.15

Before jumping into quoting the various verses from the Vedas, please hear my two cents of blabbering. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

BE A SEEKER NOT A SKEPTIC

There are many such bold declarations, such as Gita 15.15, made by Krishna, throughout the Bhagavad Gita. Are all these statements not to be taken at their face value? Did some ghost speak through the transcendental body of Krishna? Should I attempt to screw up some indirect meaning of such direct declarations? We should ask ourselves such tough questions, before making any judgment call on whether Krishna is mentioned in the Vedas.

The whole thing hinges on a few important questions. Are we ready to sincerely explore? Do we seriously wish to study scriptures with an open mind, without any pre-bias and envy? Do we really have faith in the words of the Vedas as something divine, and not as a man-made concoction?

If the answer to the above questions is yes, we will find that Krishna has been glorified throughout the Vedas. Else, our intent will be no different from western orientalists such as Max Muller and H.H. Wilson, who wanted to look down upon Hindus, proving to us that we worship many man-made, pagan, mythical, and polytheistic gods.

Are we okay to buy into the above colonial mindset? If not, Hindus should become more responsible, less skeptical, and more a seeker, a seeker who is curious to explore the knowledge of Brahman. Knowing well that I am incapable of deciphering the terse Sanskrit texts of the Vedas (BTW, thanks to the colonial mindset, I know English well), one should humbly approach a qualified Guru- the spiritual master, who follows a proper disciplic succession (Parampara) and learn Vedic scriptures from them, for they have realized the absolute truth. More on this later.

THE MEANING OF THE VEDAS ARE DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND (BE HUMBLE)

In Srimad Bhagavatam, Lord Krishna explains to Uddhava as follows

śabda-brahma su-durbodhaṁ prāṇendriya-mano-mayam ananta-pāraṁ gambhīraṁ durvigāhyaṁ samudra-vat

‘’The transcendental sound of the Vedas is very difficult to comprehend and manifests on different levels within the prāṇa, senses, and mind. This Vedic sound is unlimited, very deep and unfathomable, just like the ocean.’’- Srimad Bhagavatam 11.21.36

In the above verse, Krishna explains the difficulty of comprehending the actual meaning of the Vedas, for Sabda- Brahma (Vedas) is another form of the Lord Himself. Thus, even the great sages such as Jaimini and others find it difficult to arrive at the proper conclusion of the Vedas.

LORD KRISHNA ALONE CAN UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MEANING OF THE VEDAS

One may ask if the meaning of the Vedas is so difficult to understand, who is capable of knowing it? In this regard, Lord Krishna explains

kiṁ vidhatte kim ācaṣṭe kim anūdya vikalpayet ity asyā hṛdayaṁ loke nānyo mad veda kaścana

‘’In the entire world, no one but Me actually understands the confidential purpose of Vedic knowledge. Thus people do not know what the Vedas are actually prescribing in the ritualistic injunctions of karma-kāṇḍa, or what object is actually being indicated in the formulas of worship found in the upāsanā-kāṇḍa, or that which is elaborately discussed through various hypotheses in the jñāna-kāṇḍa section of the Vedas.’’- Srimad Bhagavatam 11.21.42

māṁ vidhatte ’bhidhatte māṁ vikalpyāpohyate tv aham etāvān sarva-vedārthaḥ śabda āsthāya māṁ bhidām māyā-mātram anūdyānte pratiṣidhya prasīdati

‘’I am the ritualistic sacrifice (Karma Kanda) enjoined by the Vedas, and I am the worshipable Deity. It is I who am presented as various philosophical hypotheses (in Jnana Kanda), and it is I alone who am then refuted by philosophical analysis (Neti Neti). The transcendental sound vibration thus establishes Me as the essential meaning of all Vedic knowledge. The Vedas, elaborately analyzing all material duality as nothing but My illusory potency, ultimately completely negate this duality and achieve their own satisfaction.’’- Srimad Bhagavatam 11.21.43

veda-vid eva cāham

‘’I am the only true knower of the Vedas.’’- Bhagavad Gita 15.15

Thus, only Krishna knows the confidential meaning of the Vedas, in truth.

THE ESSENCE OF THE VEDAS CAN BE UNDERSTOOD THROUGH THE MERCIFUL REVELATION OF LORD KRISHNA

Considering the above verses, one may ask if Vedas are so difficult to comprehend that even great sages fail to arrive at the proper meaning of the Vedas and if only Krishna knows their confidential meaning, how can a common man understand the essential import of the Vedas? To this query, Upanishads state as follows

nāyam ātmā pravacanena labhyo na medhayā na bahunā śrutena yam evaiṣa vṛṇute tena labhyas tasyaiṣa ātmā vivṛṇute tanūṁ svām

‘’The Supreme Lord is not obtained by expert explanations on Vedas, by vast intelligence (Sanskrit scholarship), nor even by much hearing. He is obtained/understood only by one whom He Himself chooses. To such a person He manifests His own form (revelation of Sabda Brahma and Param Brahma).”- Katha Upanishad 1.2.23 & Mundaka Upanishad 3.2.3

deva prasadat ca

‘’Only by the mercy of Lord, one can understand Him.’’- Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.21

In the above couple of verses, it is explained how the essential import of Vedas, verily Lord Krishna Himself, is revealed only by His mercy. If one doesn’t have Lord’s mercy, he will never understand the import of the Vedas, even if one goes on studying the Vedas for innumerable lives. Thus explains the Lord Brahma

athāpi te deva padāmbuja-dvaya- prasāda-leśānugṛhīta eva hi jānāti tattvaṁ bhagavan-mahimno na cānya eko ’pi ciraṁ vicinvan

‘’Lord Brahma says: My Lord if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your personality. But those who speculate (through misinterpretation of Vedas) to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they continue to study the Vedas for many years.’’- Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.29

MERCIFUL REVELATION HAPPENS ONLY BY BHAKTI, PERFORMED IN BONAFIDE SAMPRADAYA

If only by Lord’s mercy, one can understand Him, one may ask how Lord’s mercy can be obtained. To this, Lord Krishna states

bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ

‘’Only by Bhakti (devotional service), one can factually know about Me.’’- Bhagavad Gita 18.55

Thus Bhakti is the key to unlocking the mystery of the Vedas and to accessing the Lord’s mercy. Now, Bhakti is channelized to us through a system of Parampara, which gives us an opportunity to render service to the Lord and His devotees, following a bonafide Sampradaya. The Guru should be following one of the four authentic Sampradayas. In fact, one of the qualities of the Guru is mentioned as ‘saṃpradāyī’ (belonging to the bonafide Sampradaya), as quoted in Padma Purana, Patala Khanda 82.8.

LORD KRISHNA IS CONFIDENTIALLY MENTIONED IN THE VEDAS.

Now that we have understood, at least theoretically, that Krishna is the purpose of all the Vedas, one may ask, if Krishna is so clearly declaring, in Bhagavad Gita, that by all the Vedas, He has to be known, why doesn't it appear that simple and clear? Why does it seem, to many people, as if Krishna is not mentioned or somewhere missing in the Vedas? Why such confusion?

To answer the above question, before throwing any speculation in the air, let's hear what Aitareya Upanishad 1.3.14 has to say

tam idandraṃ santam indra ity ācakṣate parokṣeṇa parokṣapriyā iva hi devāḥ parokṣapriyā iva hi devāḥ

‘’The word Indra means idam drah (one who is beyond the range of senses). Thus wise one confidentially calls Him (Hrisekesha or Krishna) Indra. He likes to be invoked confidentially (paroksha priya). Yes, He likes to be invoked confidentially. ‘’ -Aitareya Upanishad 1.3.14

Thus Vedic scripture declares that Brahman or God likes to be invoked confidentially (in a terse or esoteric manner). Thus, Vedic seers and Mantras invoke Him accordingly.

REASON FOR THE CONFIDENTIAL DESCRIPTIONS OF LORD KRISHNA (IN THE VEDAS)

Now, one may ask why God likes to be invoked confidentially. Why does He want to hide His glories in the Vedas? Vedas seem to glorify Him so confidentially that even many Sanskrit scholars fail to recognize the presence of Lord Krishna in the Vedas.

To answer the above query, we have to understand that such confidential descriptions serve two important and necessary purposes.

Firstly, it inspires followers of the Karma Kanda to practice their fruitive rituals, which serve their evolutionary needs (since they are not, currently, ready to take up the Jnana Kanda).

Secondly, it helps conceal the confidential glories of Krishna from the faithless and envious people, who are simply not ready to understand His Tattva or surrender to Him. In fact, the only reason Lord Krishna explained Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna was that Arjuna was a devotee, a friend, and a non-envious of Krishna. This is mentioned by Lord Krishna as follows

bhakto 'si me sakha ceti rahasyam hy etad uttamam

‘’Oh Arjuna, since you are My devotee and friendly to Me, I am speaking this confidential knowledge to you.’’- Bhagavad Gita 4.3

pravakṣyāmy anasūyave

‘’Oh Arjuna, I am speaking this confidential knowledge (of Bhakti) to you because you are non-envious of Me.’’’- Bhagavad Gita 9.1

Further, Lord Krishna doesn’t want Him to be taken cheaply by others, for things that are obtained cheaply are also lost easily, for people don’t tend to value cheap things and, unknowingly, end up committing various offenses to Krishna that only take them away from the ultimate goal of life.

LORD KRISHNA WISHES THAT HE BE GLORIFIED INDIRECTLY (OR CONFIDENTIALLY)

The fact that Lord Krishna has been glorified indirectly in the Vedas has been confirmed by Krishna Himself, in Srimad Bhagavatam 11.21.35, as follows

parokṣa-vādā ṛṣayaḥ parokṣaṁ mama ca priyam

‘’The Vedic seers and mantras deal in esoteric terms and I am pleased by such confidential descriptions.’’

Thus, in the above Bhagavatam verse, Krishna acknowledges or re-affirms, without doubt, the Aitareya Upanishad verse as referring to Himself (parokṣapriyā iva hi devāḥ; parokṣaṁ mama ca priyam)

EXTENT OF THE REVELATION OF THE CONFIDENTIAL TRUTHS IN VARIOUS UPANISHADS

Due to the above-cited reasons, generally, many people, apparently, don’t find enough Vedic Mantras that directly glorify Krishna, although that is not the case, as discussed before and as will be proved later. This confidentiality applies not just to the Mantras of the four Vedas but also to the Upanishads. It is for this reason that Muktika Upanishad states that for realizing the knowledge of Brahman, only Mandukya is enough. If knowledge is not realized from this Upanishad, study all ten primary Upanishads. If still, the knowledge is not realized, then study the 32 Upanishads, etc.

The reason such a hierarchy of Upanishads is presented is that the primary Upanishads generally employ terse and esoteric means to offer the knowledge of Brahman or Krishna. Thus, their revelation is much more indirect and confidential. Thus, many unqualified people are unable to comprehend Brahman from such indirect descriptions. At best, they misinterpret. However, it is also true that Brahman is best realized through such confidential descriptions mentioned in the primary Upanishads, for other secondary Upanishads in the canon may tend to confuse readers through their apparently direct glorifications of various deities, thus making people confused as if which deity is Brahman or Supreme.

However, those who are truly qualified to know Brahman can sufficiently know Him from the ten primary Upanishads, for those are declared to be enough. So, others, who have failed to know Brahman through the primary Upanishads, may not yet be ready or may be qualified to know Him. This is the implied meaning.

Those who are truly able to understand the nature of Brahman from the primary Upanishads should be understood to have properly grasped the true meaning of paroksha jnana (confidential jnana described indirectly). Since they have been able to realize such confidential descriptions, they have themselves proven their qualification and spiritual stamina to know Brahman, and, thus, they don’t take such knowledge, so realized, cheaply. This is another implied meaning. This makes their conviction firm and devotion steady.

However, the general mass may not be able to decipher such confidential descriptions, so commentaries of the qualified acharyas and taking instructions from Guru become an important necessity. It is for this reason that various Vaishnava acharyas have kindly provided us sufficient commentaries on such principal Upanishads, duly following the chain of bonafide Parampara (disciplic succession). This indeed is the requisite qualification to know Brahman.

VEDAS FEAR MISINTERPRETATION FROM NON-DEVOTEES

Now, that we have understood the reasons for such confidential descriptions and their place of importance, it won’t be surprising to see that many unqualified Sanskrit scholars would immediately want to jump onto the Vedas to translate or, put another way, mistranslate them, to serve their ulterior agendas. Naturally, that which is too terse is expected to have lots of misinterpretations too.

Thus, Vedas fear such misinterpretations, for they cloud the real knowledge of Brahman from the innocent masses. This fear of Vedas is stated as follows

Itihāsa purāṇābhyām vedam sam-upabṛmhayet |

Bibhetyalpa śrutād vedo mām ayam prahariṣyati ||

‘’One should interpret the Veda through means of the Itihāsas and Purāṇas. The Vedas fear a person of little learning fearing “he will misunderstand me!”

Quoted in Vasistha Dharma sutra 27:6, Padma Purana 1.2.52, & Skanda purana 5.3.122

TO AVOID MISINTERPRETATIONS, ACCEPT ITIHASAS AND PURANAS AS THE FIFTH VEDA

Since the four Vedas fear misinterpretation of their confidential and indirect glorification of Krishna, Vedas consider Itihasa and Purana as authoritative means of knowledge, and thus consider them the fifth Veda, for they are much more direct and accessible to the masses. Thus, states the Chandoga Upanishad

nama va rg-vedo yajur-vedah sama-veda atharvanas caturtha

itihasa-puranah pancamo vedanam vedah

"Indeed, Rg, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva are the names of the four Vedas. The Itihasas and Puranas should be considered the fifth Veda." (Kauthumiya Chandogya Upanisad 7.1.4)

Thus, one shouldn’t proudly assume ‘’I will only follow the four Vedas as the authority. Puranas are recent and thus I don’t consider them authority’’. Such understanding is grossly defective, for Vedas themselves declare Itihasas such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, and Puranas such as Bhagavatam, etc as authentic. Thus, states the Skanda Purana

veda-van niscalam manye puranartham dvijottamah vedah pratisthitah sarve purane natra samsayah

‘’O best of the Brahmanas, the meaning of the Puranas is unchanging just like that of the Vedas. The (confidential meaning of) Vedas are all sheltered within the Puranas. Of this, there should not be any doubt.’’- Skanda Purana 5.3.121

Thus, one should corroborate Vedas with Itihasas and Puranas.

FEW GLIMPSES OF LORD KRISHNA FINDING THE MENTIONS IN THE VEDAS

Now that we have discussed a lot, giving a backdrop on the confidentiality of the Vedas, qualification to know the essential import of the Vedas, and difficulty in interpreting the Vedas, let us now find some glimpses of Lord Krishna in the Vedas.

apaśyaṃ gopām anipadyamānam ā ca parā ca pathibhiś carantam |

sa sadhrīcīḥ sa viṣūcīr vasāna ā varīvarti bhuvaneṣv antaḥ ||

‘’I saw a cowherd boy. He never falls from His position; sometimes He is near, and sometimes far, wandering on various paths. He is a friend, decorated with a variety of clothes. He descends again and again to the material world.’’ -Rig Veda 1.164.31

tā vāṃ vāstūny uśmasi gamadhyai yatra gāvo bhūriśṛṅgā ayāsaḥ |

atrāha tad urugāyasya vṛṣṇaḥ paramam padam ava bhāti bhūri ||

‘’We wish to go to Your [Rādhā’s and Kṛṣṇa’s] beautiful houses, about which cows with large, excellent horns are wandering. Yet distinctly shining on this earth is that supreme abode of Yours that showers joy on all, O Urugāya [Kṛṣṇa, who is much praised].”- Rig Veda 1.154.6

govinda pundarikaksa raksa mam saranagatam

‘’Oh Govinda, Oh Pundarikaksha, please protect me. I have surrendered unto You.’’-Vasudeva Upanishad

Sac-cid-ananda-rupaya krsnayaklista-karine

‘’I offer obeisances to Krishna, the form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss, whose every act is wonderful.’’- Gopala Tapani Upanishad 1.1.1

brahmanyo devakiputra brahmanyo madhusudanah

‘’Brahman is the son of Devaki. Brahman is the enemy of the demon Madhu.’’ -Atmabodha Upanishad & Narayana Upanishad.

taddhaitadghor āṅgirasaḥ kṛṣṇāya devakīputrāyoktvovācāpipāsa eva sa babhūva so'ntavelāyāmetattrayaṃ pratipadyetākṣitamasyacyutamasi prāṇasam̐śitamasīti tatraite dve ṛcau bhavataḥ ॥

‘’The rishi Ghora Angirasa practiced this Purusha Yajna with the dedication as "This is subservient to Krishna, the Son of Devaki". That Ghora Angirasa had no thirst, as he came upon Brahmavidya through this. At the last moment of his life, he said to Brahman, "You are imperishable, You are unchanging reality (Achyuta), and You are the subtle truth(prana) enlivening this universe"- Chandogya Upanishad 3.7.6

eko devo nitya-lilanurakto bhakta-vyapi bhakta-hridy antar-atma

"The one God is eternally engaged in many sports (pastimes) in relation with His devotees.’’- Purusha Bodhini Upanishad (Atharva Veda)

dve parsve candravali radhika ca yasya amse laksmi-durgadika saktih

‘’In the land of Gokula in Mathura-mandala, Lord Krsna resides. His two sides are Radha and Candravali. Laksmi, Durga, and the Lord's potencies are expansions of Sri Radha.”- Purusha Bodhini Upanishad (Atharva Veda)

Above are just a few glimpses of the mentions of Krishna in the Vedas. This is in no way exhaustive, for there are innumerable such references. For fear of becoming too voluminous, I will not anymore quote such miscellaneous verses.

COMPLETE KRISHNA LILA FOUND IN RIG VEDA (BASED ON MANTRA BHAGAVATAM)

In this last and very important section of my answer, I will try to showcase the pastimes of Lord Krishna that are mentioned very confidentially in the Rig Vedic Mantras. All these pastimes are already mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam, which is considered the cream essence of all the Vedas. Thus, it shouldn’t come as surprise to the devotees.

I will divide these pastimes progressively into four broad Khandas, along with one miscellaneous section, as follows

Gokula Khanda

Vrindavana Khanda

Akrura Khanda

Mathura Khanda

Miscellaneous Section

This has never been presented before and will showcase the extraordinary brilliance of how Rig Veda has managed to conceal Lord Krishna- The Supreme Brahman- through its complex and esoteric Mantras. I will not be explaining the complete meaning of any Mantras but will just briefly be indicating which Mantra denotes which pastime of Lord Krishna, in a progressive manner. For a complete explanation of the Rig Vedic Mantras, I would suggest inquisitive readers make a careful study of the book ‘’Mantra Bhagavatam’’, composed by Sri Nilakantha, who is also the author of other famous works such as Mantra Ramayana. He has also written a complete commentary on a hundred thousand verses of the Mahabharata.

Following the explanations of Sri Nilakantha, I have compiled a tabular excel worksheet that progressively explains the eternal pastimes of Lord Krishna, as performed during His Avatara Lila, in reference to the Rig Vedic Mantras.

Note: In case the below worksheets are not clearly visible, please click on the same, it should get zoomed in.

I. GOKULA LILA IN RIG VEDIC MANTRAS

CONCLUSION

Thus, one can see the extent of the numerous pastimes of Lord Krishna that are mentioned confidentially in the Rig Vedic Mantras, in a very indirect way ( parokṣapriyā iva hi devāḥ). One who is interested to go in-depth into the explanation of the above Vedic Mantras should consult ‘’Mantra Bhagavatam’’. The link is shared in the reference below. Again, this is in no way exhaustive, for Krishna Lila is unfathomable.

However, if one is not interested to study the explanations of these complex Rig Vedic Mantras and has complete faith in the statement of Lord Krishna, as stated in Bhagavad Gita 15.15, ‘’By all the Vedas, I am to be known’’, you may stop here and simply go on chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra, for this indeed is the essence of all the Vedas, in this age of Kali Yuga.

*** unable to upload more pics of excel sheet (i wonder why), However if u read this article u will get the jist of it w/o excell