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This post has been in the works for the better part of three years. The language around observance, religiosity, and identity is more important than ever. What it means to be a Jew is more important than ever.

Whether or not Jews are ‘religious’ in a world of non-Jewish religion has always been political: from the public debates Jews were forced into throughout Europe (like the Paris and Barcelona Disputations) to modern alt-right Republicans weaponizing their designation of only right-wing Jews as ‘religious’ enough to be taken seriously, this has always been more than a personal label.

This doesn’t mean you have to change your personal label, but rather it asks that you consider more than how you personally identify when you engage in public discourse. How we understand the unique, multi-faceted aspects of Jewish life is vital: disentangling it from the Christian hegemony that we are both crushed beneath and uphold is important work.

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A) Holy cow I will never recover from this episode

B) Can we talk about Ame choosing to check under the tarp? I've seen this decision generating some frustration, but I think it makes a lot of sense and is so interesting. Don't get me wrong, when it happened I was metaphorically rattling the bars of the fourth wall and literally almost screaming at my computer. But there's a world (in Umora) where that decision could have been the thing that saves them. Maybe actively honoring the Great Bullfrog would have given him enough strength to resist the worst of whatever is binding/dispelling/whatever him. Maybe another spirit hears it and this episode ends with a local river spirit coming in clutch to speed their rowboat down the river out of the grasp of the imperial guard. From Orima's shrine to Naram to the river spirit in Abassin, we know these things are possible.

Also I don't think it's fair to say that it was obviously a trap for Ame, why would she think there was a trap for her in this town. (Now, a trap for anyone who would publicly honor a spirit? Sure, that's more likely. Sending the fox was definitely a better idea)

To be clear, I definitely don't think Ame was doing it for selfish reasons like thinking that a spirit might save them; that's more just me speaking to the audience's expectations that this would go badly.

But I think that this decision is really about her trying to be the Witch of the World's Heart and figuring out what that looks like. What that looked like in this moment was choosing to honor a Great Spirit regardless of the risk to herself, her friends, and the mission to save the kids. Like I really don't see this as her being totally foolish and impulsive. She knew the risk! And if she didn't, Suvi just told her. And she does it anyway. I think it really follows from her kind of conflict with Eursulon last episode about prioritizing the kids or the Great Bullfrog. We know that she's prioritizing the spirit, and it shows here. They say they're the most aligned that they've been since childhood, but how aligned are they really.

I hope there's room in the story to thoroughly address this decision, because I think it is extremely meaningful.

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hahaha omg so true, he was just like "I'll wait" until Brennan was finally forced to interrupt himself.

Lou doing the full power move just letting Brennan Keep Counting

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Made a quiz inspired by The Wizard, the Witch and the Wild One! 🌟

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i need to know what happened to Ghost like, YESTERDAY already.

fuuuuuuuck, like we’ve been known that the empire is bad news, but them fully kidnapping any magically gifted people and children is haunting. i am not prepared for what other horrifying things we’re gonna find out during the rest of this arc

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i'm enjoying the jokes about the power of thirst as much as the next guy but a thing that crossed my mind was that scene when they first met bennett, and tula kissed his paw and healed him, aabria had said something to the effect of "bennett isn't used to receiving kindnesses that aren't transactional", and that like. bennett has a vibe check on tula that he does not necessarily have on the others, and that vibe check is he sincerely believes tula is good and kind and reasonable.

when he fully clocks tula's involvement in this goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation, the way he immediately changes his tune from "do you understand what you've done" to "do you understand what this looks like", because tula, she's not cruel or scheming or whatever else he's willing to believe about the other members of the family. he's much more willing to believe there's an explanation when tula is the face of it.

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i mean Ame isn't actually a random stranger. She's on an incredibly powerful and influential coven of witches and is the only one of those witches on these soldiers side. They don't know that obviously so their actions make sense, but Ames actions also make sense from her perspective. She knows she holds responsibility for this people, in a different way than they are used to, but nevertheless

Truly crazy to watch people pop off on Silver and Sworn for having Suvi’s back and letting Ame know that despite her intentions, her actions were out of place and unhelpful.

Silver and Sworn, the ones that were *actually* by her side when she was on her way to the horses to make sure no one starved, because Eursulon outright refused to help (and spoke of not wanting to be there at all) and Ame was bopping from fraught conversation to fraught conversation.

Silver, the one who understood that what Suvi actually needed when they were finally alone was to put down the devastating burden of trying to keep three dozen people alive behind enemy lines for a night and rest.

Sworn, the one that volunteered to handle the horse problem since he saw how much it gutted her to resort to it.

Feel however you want to feel about their phrasing or tone, but neither was wrong for taking Ame to the side and speaking with her on points Suvi’s also made to her in the past. It is neither empathetic nor community-serving to repeatedly refuse to adapt to a different culture’s way of doing things.

Truth is, Sworn and Silver are the ones being a good friend to Suvi right now, and if you can’t see that it’s because your Citadel-blinders make you instantly dismissive of anything Suvi wants or needs that diverges from Ame and Eursulon’s preferences. And that sucks to see. Again.

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To be clear up top, I really love Worlds Beyond Number, and I love the stories and the authenticity and groundedness of it. But listening to this last episode and then the fireside was doubly difficult because:

- I come from a military family that is not officer class (aka my fam would have been imperial infantry and not wizards)

- I grew up rural around lots of farmers and hunters

And some of the statements around both rural people and rank and file military (while likely very true in the story and in this world) in the fireside rubbed me the wrong way. I love Brennan and his mind and worldbuilding, and I understand the purpose of this episode was to lean into the tensions in Ame’s worldview and the truth of Eursolon’s backstory, but damn. The whole ‘these people are stupid and ignorant’ thing sucks, because yeah, there are stupid and ignorant people for sure that are rank and file and rural, but also the perspective feels quite privileged. We got to see good wizards AND bad wizards, but we only get to see shitty and dumb lower ranks. And that’s not the truth I knew growing up military, at all. We got to see very kind but stupid farmers, and while the kindness was a bonus the stupidity across the bar sucked, because some of the smartest people I ever met didn’t make it through grade school.

There was talk in the fireside about xenophobia, and it just felt kinda bad that this person I see as a very clever smart and educated person couldn’t see some of the hypocrisy in that.

So to counter some of what I heard, I want to put out some of my experiences.

Military

- there are xenophobic idiots in the lower ranks, that’s for sure, but there are also a lot of people who are much more involved in the ‘boots on the ground’ field work, especially in peace-keeping, in the lower ranks. This includes cultural exchange and engaging and helping the populace. They often see more and know more, speak the language, and learn proper customs.

- Promotion is supposed to be a meritocracy, but often it is not. If you buck against the system and call out its errors, you won’t be promoted, much like my mother, who was a woman, a corporal, and got the wing commander’s commendation more times than most officers in her squadron, started a mediation program, and was an outspoken feminist who was constantly pushing for justice and fairness.

- typical, lower ranks consider anyone above a seargent fairly ‘out of touch’ with reality, and may have to do their best to work around bad orders, because often, officers are seen as ‘not getting their hands dirty/knowing the truth of a situation’.

- typically higher ranking officers are arrogant and rude and have an elitist mentality, thinking they are better than the lower ranks. In my experience, this is often not the case, as higher-ranking officers typically pay their way for their rank (can afford officer training) which is typically not something available to they generally poor and lower class rank and file.

- sometimes people in lower ranks think very simplistically, and are not good people, but that’s a general outlier in the same way that it is for other groups of people. The bell curve applies to pretty much everything.

- many people in lower ranks join up because they are poor and need money, and the military pays for schooling and is an opportunity to travel. They typically don’t join up because they’re stupid, crude, crass fuckos who like to hurt people. The military is predatory and it feeds on the poor and lower-class citizens who don’t have much social mobility. They’re often not stupid, but they are typically pragmatic, and yeah, the language can be crass, but speaking crassly speaks to culture not goodness.

Rural

- intelligence is, in my opinion, situational. I might be able to quote Shakespeare and get into a deep philosophical debate but that’s not doing me any good when I need to help a cow that’s scared and in pain give birth to a breeched calf. But this very cool farmer I knew could talk down this cow and know just where to position his hands to turn a calf inside the womb. Show me a typical master’s student who can do that.

- I knew people who could read weather sign, bird sign, tree sign, and bear sign, who could read the woods and the trails like a picture book. They might not be able to speak much about the science of climate change, but they damn sure know it from a micro level by being able to spot the size of tree buds in the winter to know spring’s coming earlier, and that’s bad for a lot of plants and animals and the ecosystem that sustains itself, which they are intimately aware of.

- I also knew farmers and rural folks who were highly educated and moved out to the country to enjoy the wide open spaces and privacy, who had big libraries and talked about history with me, who fed my curiosity and helped me stay humble and ask questions.

- I knew rural folks so poor they lived in a shack and ate squirrel, and I also knew how everyone in the community took care to give their kids’ piano lessons because it was the only money coming into that household, and took care to just have accidentally bought a little more than what they needed of this or that and ran it down to that family.

- I also know we were so poor sometimes that I went without a winter coat in northern Alberta for 3 years, but that I was always given lots of hats and scarves and mittens and sweaters by the neighbours.

- I also knew lots of shitty, stupid, sexist and racist people who were essentially brainwashed by a cult and who were never taught to think critically or encouraged to do so. I know that they are afraid of the world because that’s what they’ve been taught. And yes, it’s on them for never getting out and being way more comfy in their bubble than outside of it, but that’s what being in a cult does, it stacks the deck against your own intelligence and curiosity.

- I knew too, many of rural folks who would have been extraordinarily embarrassed to be impolite and refer to a trans woman as a man, or vice-versa, because manners and politeness matter a whole lot in a small community. At the same time, there was definitely the opposite as well, and I knew kids who gotten beaten up regularly for being 2SLGBTQIA+.

It’s complicated, complex, and nuanced everywhere. No group is a monolith, even if it feels justified and easy in the world we live in to lump all ‘like’ people together. I just really hope in the next few episodes we see some nuance in the infantry and the officers, as well as with any rural folk they engage with too. They’re all usually so good with a nuanced take, and I really really hope this was just one episode and an off-the-cuff, didn’t-really-think-about-what-he-was-saying discussion.

And I get it. To my knowledge, Brennan grew up in New York (or at least a city?) and may have not had a ton of experiences living rural outside of the summer camp he was a counsellor at, so he may not have had a lot of time or opportunity to engage with rural people at a true community level. I don’t know his engagement with the military community either, and my experience is with Canadian and not American military, so there’s likely some difference and nuance too.

I dunno. I have a lot of hope and faith in this very cool group of storytellers, and they have not disappointed me in the story thus far, so I believe we’ll see some great nuance to come. Just had to put it out there.

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i actually think that Ame is too nice, Suvi is a jerk, and Eursulon is the one who exhibits kindness and empathy routinely. He's the only one that consistently threads that needle - epitomised by "Suvi, will you lend me 5 gold pieces"

I feel like Ame and Suvi really demonstrate the difference between niceness and kindness, and sympathy and empathy, respectively.

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Aight.

If Silver had pulled Eursolon aside instead: for commanding soliders in a turbulent, deadly, and confusing moment of escape where Suvi, Sworn and Silver were all present shouting agreeing commands with Eursolon, and what have you, and told him to his fucking face after the fact, "thanks for all your assistance, servant of Suvi, in saving our lives and leading us from danger, but it wasn't your place to ride out front leading the way, its confusing the chain of command here, stop it and take your orders from Suvi going forward...."

Would it be dismissed as not being as back handed and out of pocket, as his convo was with Ame ooooooooooor are we just ok with ignoring a request to be kind in a place not your own? Oh wait he felt like he was owed for liberating them. Never mind, my bad. Hes right. /sarcasm

Silver being a "worried over chain of command" does not give him any right to piss on the one who saved him from making a fatal error. If that was the case, bring it up to Suvi; his Co, for her, gag, underlings misconduct. Let her tell Ame that she interjected over Suvi and confused Chain of command on his poor soliders. Its Suvi's place to bring Ame aside if she feels its necessary. Not Silver. Cause Suvi brought her here. She didnt tho. SWORN didnt either.

Hell. Shouldve brought it up during the horse meat discussion, and say thanks but we'll handle it from here. Not after the fact in realtive safety. Not after food and drink are given out. Dont say "thanks for the help, but your fucking input is not required from here on out for the sake of the team. Understand? You arent apart of it."

Id feed him to gerbils for that slight.

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i always find it funny how defensive Aabria is about Suvi/Suvi's friends. She's a character. People are allowed to not like the same types of people in their fictional content. Why are you angry?

Truly crazy to watch people pop off on Silver and Sworn for having Suvi’s back and letting Ame know that despite her intentions, her actions were out of place and unhelpful.

Silver and Sworn, the ones that were *actually* by her side when she was on her way to the horses to make sure no one starved, because Eursulon outright refused to help (and spoke of not wanting to be there at all) and Ame was bopping from fraught conversation to fraught conversation.

Silver, the one who understood that what Suvi actually needed when they were finally alone was to put down the devastating burden of trying to keep three dozen people alive behind enemy lines for a night and rest.

Sworn, the one that volunteered to handle the horse problem since he saw how much it gutted her to resort to it.

Feel however you want to feel about their phrasing or tone, but neither was wrong for taking Ame to the side and speaking with her on points Suvi’s also made to her in the past. It is neither empathetic nor community-serving to repeatedly refuse to adapt to a different culture’s way of doing things.

Truth is, Sworn and Silver are the ones being a good friend to Suvi right now, and if you can’t see that it’s because your Citadel-blinders make you instantly dismissive of anything Suvi wants or needs that diverges from Ame and Eursulon’s preferences. And that sucks to see. Again.

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she planned with Sly to help Suvi, too, and Sly knew. She probably didn't want to scare her.

The one thing that bothers me about this whole conspiracy to murder Wren’s replacement is that Wren MUST have known it was coming. Which means she would have prepared Ame to face this threat.

So she DID prepare Ame, but without telling her btw your new sisters are coming for you. Why? I assume there is a satisfactory reason we don’t know yet.

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this is nice but if Suvi wanted Ame to share her feelings maybe she shouldn't have shut her down and belittled her every time she raised a hint of any concern or worry throughout the entirety of arc 1 and 2????

Suvi wants to feel noble and right, but she has a lot to learn. Suvi wants her friends to trust her, but she needs to learn listening and empathy skills first.

#hashtagsareobligatory?

I love love love the contrast between first Suvi and then Sworn extending care to Maddy as an untested young Wizard under harrowing circumstances vs. Indri taking on all of these young Witch apprentices with the express purpose of consuming/destroying them once they actually learn any magic.

I love the reminder that for Suvi, the Citadel is her home and school, and also all of the other things.

It's not just the army she's wanted to fight for, it's also the streets and people of her family and community, it's all her teachers, professors, the panel for her Wizard grad school thesis. It's the place where she did a bunch of stupid kid stuff that almost got her killed, and it's where whatever she's going to become with Silver started.

It's also the place that's crushing the life out of her best friend. It's the thing that Morrow was aiming for when he trapped Naram. It's the thing her parents died for instead of coming back to her.

And Indri, by very funny contrast, is just the world's worst Intern supervisor. 0/10 experience, would not get my magic consumed again. Just absolutely the worst.

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I feel like everybody is talking about how badly ame performed at the meeting but ame did exactly perfect the whole time. She was honest and direct and respectful.

All that stuff about insulting the other witches and their domain was clearly the coven projecting. Srsly ame stays in her lane and is super collaborative and professional despite her covens awful behaviour.

THEY were being rude

THEY were questioning ames capacity to steer her domain

THEY were the malicious party spitting in their sisters eye

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i feel like i need to pick up the slack with my ame defending. if ame has a million fans I am one of them. if ame has one fan i am that one. if ame has no fans i am dead. i think she makes right choices. i stan and will stan!!!