#Like... that's literally Adam and Eve before Eve ate the apple

[amtrak12]

The idea that a god-like character with (supposedly) unlimited powers should snap their fingers at the end of a TV series and remove all pain and terrible things in the world so humans no longer had any suffering is the most BAFFLING thing I have ever heard. WHY DID THE SHOW EVER EXIST IF FIXING THINGS WAS THAT EASY??????

[anonymouscheeses]

Hazbin hotel theory (not circus related 🙄)

So we all know Charlie and Vaggie resemble alot of Lucifer and Lillith right?

Lucifer is a fallen angel and Vaggie is a fallen angel. Both sacrificing so much for their lovers. Both having different ideals and beliefs aside from the majority of heaven, because of that they both end up in hell. Also literal head over heels for their wives. Lucifer still wears his ring and Vaggie has very few scenes outside of Charlie.

Charlie and Lillith are both demons, although I guess Lillith is more human I think. But, they both fit in the other category. They both have fallen angel lovers. It's said in the opening cutscene that Lillith was an activist who sang as a way to influence. Charlie is an activist who sings in "ready for this" to persuade the cannibals to join her fight against heaven.

Personality and design wise though, Charlie and Lucifer are the most similar. Lillith and Vaggie? From what we've seen Lillith seemed loving in her pictures but calm and serious at the majority, if that doesn't describe Vaggie I don't know what does. Also Lillith wears purple and Vaggie is at this point purple coded 💀

It's implied that Lucifer had romantic or at the least smeggsual 🤭 relations to Eve. Sure it could have been a joke/lie, but clearly Adam gets pissed and doesn't say that he's wrong. I'd like to think Lillith and Eve also had romantic ties but there's not enough shown of them to make even an evidential guess. It's obvious tho that Lucifer at least was with the both of them at some point. (Maybe even Eve gave birth to Charlie since Lillith was cursed with miscarriages. At least if Viv still wants to keep that. No. No... Lucifer did NOT give birth to Charlie... youre jst weird... /j)

So... if Lucifer, Lillith, and Eve were once all in a polycule or at least a vee(two date one)....

who would be the one that stands in as Eve since Charlie and Vaggie are Lillith and Lucifer?

Plot twist. I'm a two and half halo shipper. It's Emily yall... 😨

HEAR MEE OUTTT!!!

In this image below, Vaggie is jealous that Charlie is holding Emily's hands(YES. CHARLIE IS HOLDING HER HANDS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Charlie is very touchy sshh) which is kind of weird they would include that tiny scene. Sure, it could just be comedic but what's comedy except a person who looks too much into a small 1 millisecond scene. It still puts in a dynamic that at first isn't implied to be romantic but! But, having this one scene still creates a slightly romantic undertone dynamic. Even if it's not heavily implied, Vaggie sees Emily as someone who's taking moves on her girlfriend. (Which could also imply Lillith and Eve's first impression before they got in a polycule.)

What I'm about to say is pure speculation, there still isn't much to go off of in the show at the moment with these six. But I think I have some points that maayyy just be smart for an idiot like me :3. Emily is an angel yes, but we aren't sure what Eve's fate was, where she went or what happened to her after. Maybe she stayed with Adam(after the creation of sin), and if Adam could go to heaven, a man who also ate the apple, then I believe Eve could too, it doesn't matter who started(assuming Adam did eat the apple in the show. Most likely.) What I like to speculate is that Eve went to heaven with Adam, although she didn't feel happy in their marriage and decided to make herself a fallen angel to be with Lucifer and Lillith, her true lovers.

Now the similarities with Eve and Emily? They both are against the ideas of those higher than them in heaven. Emily is against the idea of extermination in hell because she feels its unnecessary genocide. Eve went against heavens orders and ate the apple from Lucifer for knowledge. Oh also look haha their hair is kinda similar in the images below(not actual evidence but still its kinda cool) That's where the current canon similarities end. But ofc the big well known theory is that Emily will become a fallen angel because she goes against Sera's wishes. I HOPE she doesn't but in this show? Yeah, most likely. Currently Emily hasn't taken action, but maybe one day she will, which is the most likely situation. And if I'm right that Eve was a fallen angel then that would also be ANOTHER similarity. (Also. Ya'll.... the woman who picked up baby Charlie in "more than anything" was NOT Lillith. Like okay, maybe she is, but that didn't look like her AT ALL. She didn't have the same slick back mullet. But, in the image below, Eve and the woman who picked up baby Charlie have the exact same hair. Jst another thing I wanted to throw in to further evident that Lucifer Lillith and Eve were in a polycule/vee)

I LOVE TWO AND A HALF HALOS SO MUCH GUYSS. PLEASE FEED INTO MY NAIVETY. LUCIFER'S STOLEN WIVES AND CHARLIE'S ANGELS ARE LITERALLY CANON AND NO ONE CAN SAY OTHERWISE TO ME 😭😭

BONUS!! Adam is Lillith's ex rightt??? Well Lute is basically Vaggie's ex. Sure, you could argue that- no. No girl, they was exes, I know, Viv told me herself smhhh..... not only are both Lucifer and Vaggie fallen angels because they had different ideals from heaven, Lillith and Charlie are both activists who use their voice as powers, Eve and Emily go against heaven, BUT LILLITH AND VAGGIE BOTH HAVE EXES??

Bro, Adam and Lute are also besties like? The polycules kicked them out and then they were like, "nuh uh, now we're gonna date eachother since yall don't want us" 😭

Basically what I'm saying is that Lucifer's stolen wives and Charlie's angels are Canon and no one can say otherwise because I'm so smart. If anyone says they aren't just link them to here and BOOM we got another one added to the small ship. Also. This is so underrated. Ya'll.. the potential is so crazy. And since Charlie and Vaggie are already established it would be so intense and adorable to watch Emily try to impress and date them both. Uggghh so.... hyperfixated..... I hope this isn't my special interest now 😭

[marnanel]

The morning of the world

England, 1649: the king has been executed, the monarchy has ended at last, but it's been replaced with a dictatorship. Yet suddenly we're back in the morning of the world.

It's a mindset. In the evening of the world, life will always go on as it's gone on before. If it changes, it can only get worse. In the morning of the world, everything seems possible.

Into this churn of chaos, worry, and excitement steps a 40-year-old man named Gerard Winstanley. He has a story and a plan.

You always need both, you see. If you don't have a plan, nobody can hope. And if you don't have a story, nobody will believe the plan: they've been given too many lies before to believe the truth.

Winstanley's plan was, literally, radical. He was going to build a community which planted crops on common land. They would live together, work together, eat together.

Today, we might call it anarchism or communism. But then, people called them the Diggers.

You see, common land was a contentious topic. For centuries, ordinary people had had the right to grow food to eat.

But in the last fifty years, the lords of manors had obtained legal permission to take these rights away: to "enclose" common land.

(Modern privatisation is similar.)

So the ordinary people lost their right to plant crops on the land they and their forebears had used for centuries. You might have heard the rhyme:

The law condemns the man or woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

But lets the larger villain loose

Who steals the common off the goose

This was the first part of Winstanley's story.

The second part looked back a few centuries, to when the Norman aristocrats took over England by force— as they soon did to Wales and Ireland, too.

Winstanley said that Cromwell had had a chance to undo the damage the Normans had done to England. But instead, he had set up his own dictatorship. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

But the third part went back to the beginning: the literal morning of the world.

You know the story of Adam and Eve, and how taking the apple was the original sin. But what *was* the sin? Aquinas thought it was pride. Many people have suggested it was lust.

But Winstanley said the tree was for everyone and they wanted it for themselves; so their sin was covetousness— greed, if you like.

He punned that Adam was "a dam": he wanted to take things and hold them himself.

And the lords and the landlords were still living in Adam's sin.

That was the story: what was the plan? Occupy the land they'd lost once more, and build the new world piece by piece.

Communities of the Diggers sprang up around the country, most famously in St George's Hill in Surrey. They lived together, ate together, worked together.

They were peaceful, but the landlords saw their very existence as a threat. So they had them arrested, and destroyed their fields and their houses.

I mention all this because a Marxist-Leninist asked me "What is the anarchists' plan to change the world?"

When I said, "hope", he didn't take it for a serious answer. But it was.

What do you need, to live in the morning of the world? What story, and what plan?

Resources:

"The Law of Freedom in a Platform", Winstanley 1652:

Leon Rosselson's song "The World Turned Upside Down" (famously covered by Billy Bragg)

Elmen, P : The theological basis of Digger communism

[gothamcitycentral]

Hazbin establishes very strong parallels between Charlie and Vaggie’s relationship and Lucifer and Lilith’s.

Charlie being as to Lucifer, the fantastical dreamer discouraged and rejected by the world around them.

Vaggie being as to Lilith, someone who failed their assigned role and were driven out of ‘paradise’ (Heaven/Eden) by someone they should have been able to trust (Lute/Adam).

In their most vulnerable moments Lucifer and Charlie find them, love blossoming between each pair because they defied the norm, Lucifer and Lilith being rebellious in a world of order and Charlie and Vaggie being kind in a world of cruelty.

Though at the same time, Charlie is to Lilith while Vaggie is to Lucifer.

“This kingdom was something she really cared about. Something I care about.”

Charlie acknowledges she is the last thread of the hope her mother gave to Hell all those thousands of years ago. The responsibility to her home Charlie puts on her shoulders is born from the love Lilith had for it. She is directly following in her mother’s footsteps, truly believing her people deserve better and that they’re worth fighting for.

Then there is their partners, the fallen angels who don’t share their love’s connection to Hell. Lucifer saw sinners as horrible people who wasted the gift he went to Hell for giving them. Vaggie always kept everyone not named Charlie a spear’s distance away, treating them as people she tolerated but never trusted for a moment. Despite what Heaven had done, had done to them, they were still thinking like angels.

(Though, these mentalities would change throughout the first season, Lucifer choosing to support Charlie no matter what and Vaggie accepting the hotel crew as a part of the in-group which she wishes to protect)

Lucifer’s distaste for his people, not fighting alongside Lilith’s rebellion and instead agreeing to the exterminations, seems to be why they eventually split, despite the love they held for each other. In extreme contrast, Vaggie always supporting Charlie is what keeps them together despite bumps in their relationship. Vaggie always chose to believe in and support Charlie and that means the world and more to Charlie, who spent so much of her life unsupported.

The show also juxtaposes Lucifer’s parental love for Charlie with Vaggie’s romantic love for her, most prominently with Vaggie starting the reprise of More Than Anything to express her love as Lucifer did originally.

(They’re also just. Charlie and Lilith being these tall powerful demon women with Vaggie and Lucifer being their short and tiny fallen angel loves)

What becomes interesting is during the finale when Lucifer (very strongly, very tastefully) implies he ate out Adam’s first wife before fucking his second.

This seems to based on sexual interpretations of original sin. However, in Hazbin we are very much lead to believe the Fruit of Knowledge is a literal apple. Given that Lilith is said to have also offered the apple to Eve, I doubt the implication is that Luci had any sort of one night stand with Eve. Rather, I think Lilith, Eve, and him were once, or attempted to be, in a romantic relationship.

(Considering Eve was made to be Adam’s lesser and Lucifer and Lilith shared the gift of free will with her specifically, I do wonder if Eve had fallen in love with the two, but was unable to leave Adam. The Fruit of Knowledge being given to her so she would be able to be free and join their relationship, but ultimately resulted in their separation as Lucifer and Lilith were casted into Hell)

Which certainly has implications about the future of Charlie and Vaggie’s relationship.

I think the show has actually set very compelling parallels between Eve and Emily.

Much as Lucifer shared forbidden knowledge with Eve, it’s Charlie’s actions that revealed the hidden truth of Heaven’s exterminations. There’s the specific ‘free will’ which Eve was gifted, which fits with Charlie’s influence giving Emily the ‘free will’ to defy Sera and act against Heaven.

I’ve also talked before about the possibility Emily was brought into existence to fill Lucifer’s place in Heaven. Considering the protective relationship Sera has with Emily, along with her looks of genuine horror at her acting against Heaven, it brings to mind the idea Sera has been fearful that Emily would fall just as Lucifer did for Emily’s entire existence, and as such raised her to be more likely to never stray from Heaven as Lucifer did. Which could add to why Sera hid Heaven’s genocide from her despite Emily being a high ranking seraphim; she couldn’t risk giving Emily a reason to rebel.

Which would be a very striking analogue between the two. Both living replacements for the fallen, born into someone else’s shadow to take their place, intended to be the more docile and proper version of Lilith and Lucifer, less likely to stray from the roles they were created to fill. Though, of course, we know Eve fell to temptation and maybe-probably-definitely left or tried to leave Adam, and that Emily is walking the edge.

(Emily having ties to both Lucifer and Eve seems relevant with how Charlie and Vaggie each have parallels to Lucifer and Lilith. Perhaps in her fall, we’ll see Emily ‘thrive in Hell’ just as Lilith did, and similarities between Charlie and Vaggie to Eve will pop up the more we learn about her?)

What’s also interesting is that Eve ‘falling into temptation’ (choosing Lucifer and Lilith over her preordained role) is what separated her from them. However, if Emily were to choose supporting Charlie’s dream over her place in Heaven, then her falling would be what brought her to Charlie and Vaggie. Thereby their situation acts as a foil to the previous generation’s.

And Emily supporting Charlie is very relevant. In More Than Anything we get the exchange of:

“I’ll support your dream whatever lies in store.”

“And who could ask for more?”

Because Charlie can’t think of anything more she could ask. Charlie’s idea of love and being loved is so heavily based on support and being supported. It’s a part of the conflict in Hell’s Greatest Dad, that Lucifer is being genuine and Alastor manipulative, but Alastor is the one actually providing Charlie with what she asks of him, which Lucifer never has. Charlie shows her love for Hell by believing in them, that they can improve, they deserve safety, and they have worth. It’s why Vaggie’s love is so important to Charlie, because for a long time, she was the only one believing in her.

And what does Emily do?

“I don’t know-”

“Yeah, let’s give him a chance!”

She supports Charlie! She believes and trusts her and argues on her behalf. She’s the only angel in Heaven to have faith in Charlie’s dream. Having Emily in the position of a fallen angel, falling right into Charlie’s arms, Charlie caring for her and nursing her back to health, with her being someone who very deeply believes in her, would be the same conditions that made Charlie fall in love with Vaggie three years ago.

Then for Vaggie, Emily also has a lot of the textbook traits that she loves Charlie for. The overexcited-ness, the care she has for others, even the way she doesn’t pull rank. And what she hasn’t expressed, that being seeing value in Vaggie where she herself does not, it feels natural that Emily would express that in the way Charlie does upon learning Vaggie’s history. We’ve seen her sense of justice and her horror at Heaven’s actions, so her deeply sympathizing with Vaggie would be entirely expected, and would be a very easy way for Vaggie to catch feelings for Emily.

However, there is this:

Which suggests the direction of a jealous Vaggie. I think that works, at least initially, with Vaggie feeling insecure in her relationship with Charlie after Emily falling and being cared for by Charlie in the way she was all that time ago. Those feelings heavily changing however, at the realization that Emily is crushing on her just as much as she is Charlie and how deeply relatable to her Emily’s circumstances and trauma would be.

Then on Emily’s side, not only would she have very much been thinking and focusing on Charlie prior to her fall, once she does, she lands in a very emotionally volatile situation where Charlie and Vaggie are supporting her so much and caring for her so deeply. It makes sense that this would translate to her developing feelings for the both of them.

(Now, this is a bit less definitive, but with Emily’s design, the long hair and dress that covers every inch of her short of her fingers, and Heaven being a stand in for the imperialist church, I do read the coming-of-age story the show has set up for her to be one of a conservative christian raised girl striking out of the doctrine she grew up in and finding community in the people her home had demonized, or at least an allegory for such. So having her develop romantic feelings for two ‘vile and blasphemous’ women in a very non-monogamous way would be very thematically relevant I think)

I would say this all works great as an analogue to Lucifer, Lilith, and Eve. Eve being in the unfortunate situation of Adam’s wife but finding comfort in Lucifer and Lilith and falling for the both of them as Emily would as a fallen angel being comforted by Charlie and Vaggie. Lucifer seeing Lilith reflected in Eve and caring for and helping her as he did before being parallel to Charlie helping Emily as she did Vaggie. Lilith initially feeling negativity towards the woman made to replace her bond so closely with her new love, only to realize Eve is falling for her just as much as she is for Lucifer and empathizing with Eve’s situation so deeply, just like Vaggie.

Then, there’s Adam and Lute. I already mentioned that they play parallel with forcing Lilith and Vaggie out of their respective paradises. Their dynamics are built on Adam and Lute punishing, and their domination over, Lilith and Vaggie, because they need to know their place: beneath them. (There’s also the interpretation of that Lute had or has romantic feelings for Vaggie, which is certainly relevant) The show is being very clear with Lute being Adam’s successor I feel, with her taking on his position as leader of the exorcists following his death.

Then, her line: “Your brat is threatening the very foundation of Heaven.” Personally, that makes me think of a sediment Adam would feel towards Lucifer. That’s he is the source of every problem, that he stole his wives (ignoring that Lilith left him before even meeting Luci), and that he destroyed paradise, Eden. Now that Vaggie and Lute’s conflict has seemingly come to a close, I think the show will be shifting to a Lute vs Charlie conflict, much as Adam shifted from Lilith to his hatred for Lucifer.

Now, if the show wants to push a Adam-Eve dynamic with Lute and Emily, what I could imagine is Lute protecting onto Emily in a very one sided way, where she thinks Charlie has ‘corrupted’ the seraphim (threatening heaven’s foundation) and she must personally ‘save’ her, which would very much align with how Adam would feel towards Lucifer’s influence on Eve.

Now, we can tell that Lucifer, Lilith, and Eve’s relationship Did Not pan out particularly well. So I think much like how Charlie and Vaggie have succeeded where Lilith and Lucifer failed, Charlie, Vaggie, and Emily is going to be the successful foil to their attempted relationship. Then for Lute, I think it becomes a question of: does she accept the olive branch Adam did not, does she eventually understand that she is doing wrong, does she accept mercy, or does she continue down Adam’s path, digging her own grave as he did; except that unlike Adam, there won’t be anyone to cry for her?

And y’know, the angel and 3 immortal humans versus the demon/half immortal human and 3 angels serves as a nice counter.

[bloogers-boogers]

Hi! I have a lil au idea for you! Pretty much my first idea for Adam and Michael. Get the popcorn 'cause this is gonna be long.

Lucifer and Michael were quite invested in the two humans. Lucifer kept drooling over Lilith but Michael was the opposite. Something about Lilith's attitude just pissed him off. She was quite arrogant and bossy, always shooing his lover away or ordering him around to make him go away then telling Lucifer something else. Adam from the first moment adored Michael and Lucifer but Lilith also hated Michael.

Michael once made the mistake of calling Lilith out on her behaviour. A fight between Lucifer and Michael broke out. Fortunately it was broken up by Sera and no one got seriously hurt. Adam tried to ignore all the things Michael said but some things started to click. Adam distanced himself from Lilith and Lucifer.

Michael got punished, worsening his punishment by arguing with the elders about Lilith. He felt betrayed. They used to stand by him. They used to trust him but now, things are changing. Michael started to leave his office less and less 'til another fight broke out between Michael and Sera. Michael ended up leaving to the garden to meet Adam again. Adam told him that Lucifer told him that he is getting a new wife. A woman named "Eve". Michael was surprised. No one even told him about it. Lucifer and Lilith in the meantime are living their best lives in the garden. Eve was created and Adam hell for her like no other. He was finally happy.

Lilith got jealous and asked Luci to help him.

A couple of days went by and Adam was going to his lover with Michael to introduce him to her. They've found Eve but...she was on top of Lucifer, both of them red in the face. Michael was furious with his brother.

Eve tried to explain but all Adam said to her was "You're just like her" then ran away from the scene. Michael asked Lucifer if he was proud of himself but before Lucifer could answer, his brother was already gone.

Michael went after Adam and had an idea on the way. Maybe he could help Adam get revenge. Michael forged up an idea to manipulate Eve into eating the apple.

They did just that. Lilith got curious after seeing Eve's change in personality and ate the apple as well.

The elder angels found out and banished Eve and Lilith onto Earth, giving them help to create humanity on their own but other than that, they were on their own.

Michael and Adam were banished to hell for what they've done.

A long time later, Adam and Michael had a daughter, Charlie...

Ik it's just a swap au but it's kinda fun. I haven't yes Adam AND Michael in the places of Lucifer and Lilith yet.

Have a rose for reading all this:🌹

DUDE I SWEAR I READ THIS LIKE THREEE TIMES ALREADY I’m such a sucker for swap au and let me tell u this is the type of fic I’d read omygod lsbelwbdwñeb 💖💖💖

I love the idea that initially Lilith would hate Michael but eventually grow to like him once Adam deals settles in heaven (so not only Adam speaks of him but she has to meet up with him in the meetings so she eventually starts developing feelings for the king of hell), so in the exterminations maybe she’s the leader of the exterminators now? And she’d go there and try provoking Michael and flirting but Michael is so down bad for Adam he doesn’t even bat an eye!

Lucifer is literally being cucked as a great karma for what he did to Adam in this au! Like, Lilith is no longer in love with him but uses him to hold power in heaven (she literally picked Eve over him back in the garden). She also flirts with Adam at his arrival albdwlsbwlw at first it was just to be a bitch to him but eventually she genuinely wanted to score him. (but ofc Adam was only annoyed by her advances.)

Adam deal has something to do to protect his family so he’s forced to be up there but he’s still madly in love with Michael, though, he’s also force to be around Lucifer a lot more (the angel would look for him, *cough cough* he’s enthralled by the first man. Also bc this is kinda of a great excuse for him to speak with his brother which he misses to inform him of Adam’s doings.) Adam is not allowed to be with Michael, speak with his daughter or in hell unfortunately.

Eve whereabouts still remains a mystery (but Adam knows where she is. I feel they somehow made up at some point and are acquaintances at the very least.)

And I feel Michael’s way of dealing with his depression unlike Lucifer’s who tries to avoid his responsibilities and locks himself away, Michael will indulge with them and even add more to the pile, working nonstop. Shutting himself in his office (instead of workshop) and be like this workaholic king who shuts down any possibility of distractions and family time (poor Charlie…) he may even do the opposite of Lucifer who was always hiding in his castle, while Michael would rarely ever be home! Like traveling through all rings dealing with deals, meetings and all that stuff.

Either way I NEED MORE OF THIS OMYGOD 🔥🔥💖

[curseanon]

The Issue with Eden Polycule

So I wanted to articulate my thoughts on a relationship that ive seen in fandom spaces and lots of fan art or fanfiction. I don’t have any opinions or problems with Adam/Eve/Lucifer/Lilith, but I feel like there are some implications and tropes that we should be more careful about when it comes to Eve/Lucifer/Lilith or even just Eve/Lucifer. Before getting into it though, just a disclaimer: this post is not about polycules in general. It’s not my cup of tea personally, but ship whatever you please! This post is just me rambling about my own thoughts. Feel free to have your own interpretations. ALSO! None of this justifies Adam’s behavior. He is responsible for his decisions, including his cruelty towards people, language, and his decision to essentially wage mass genocide each year. And this post isn’t to say that this relationship drama is the sole reason why he ended up doing exterminations.

1. I don’t really like portrayals that have Lucifer/Lilith (L/L) sleeping with Eve and having her cheat on Adam, especially when it takes place in Eden. I’m afraid Vivzie might have this narrative take place in HH, but doing so does a real disservice to Eve’s (and Lucifer’s if he acted alone) character by having her be willing to cheat, and also does a disservice to Adam by having him be cheated on for reasons that are probably not entirely his fault. Not to mention a lot of media where this happens often has the tone of just “haha let’s cuck Adam twice,” which comes off to me as petty and unfair. Not only is it not a funny joke, but it essentially reinforces and justifies Adam’s misogynistic tendencies later. Especially the ideas that women are promiscuous, always willing to cheat and be unfaithful. The narrative would do nothing to disprove this if BOTH of Adam’s wives did in fact cheat on him.

2. Another thing about Eden. Lilith was Adam’s first wife, literally created for the purpose of being his partner. This is also pre-Apple, meaning that Adam has no concept of right vs wrong. The way he acts, if he truly was controlling and mean and the story book wasn’t exaggerating (which I doubt), is entirely the programming of the angels and the way they tolerate or enable his behavior. Assuming we went with the theory that Adam never ate the apple, it’s the same situation with Eve if she left him and/or cheated with L/L. The way I see it, Lilith’s cheating on Adam is not justified, even if she disagreed with Adam on certain things.

3. I also want to note that cheating on one’s partner is not a justifiable punishment for Adam’s behavior. Whether pre or post apple (now assuming he did eat it), I see it as fighting fire with fire, and all it usually does is create even more hostility and problems than if the person just clearly broke off the relationship first. L/L/E runs the risk of inadvertently encouraging unfaithfulness in relationships and marriages as solutions to a problem, but this is rarely the case. As stated earlier, it only makes Adam justified in acting the way he does. And with that justification, is he really in the wrong for how he treats women? What reason does he have to change his behavior if he is right about them? I could probably accept both wives leaving him if the purpose is to justify Adam’s behavior and not just mock him, to show how morality is not just black and white and the villains sometimes have justifiable reasons for thinking the way they do. But it still seems very shallow on Lilith and Eve’s parts.

4. This part is just my opinion on L/L/E, but I don’t find the idea of Eve getting with the people who caused her to lose Eden very convincing. L/L are the reasons her and Adam were cast out of the garden and made to live for centuries laboring to survive, farming cursed ground and painfully delivering several children. Not to mention the bringing of sin and death into the world, losing Abel at the hands of his brother and Cain being cast away to wander the Earth. All the suffering she faced in life and the suffering of all of her descendants, all of humanity. Her sleeping with Lucifer makes no sense to me unless he seduced her (when she was more naive, maybe even pre-apple) intentionally, either for the purpose of hurting Adam or if he did just love her also, which makes him complicit in ruining someone’s marriage. None of this fits with Lucifer’s character, a malewife who adores his Tall Queen and comes off to me as being very loyal. The idea of open marriage is better, but Adam does not seem like the type of guy who likes to share anything, and his marriage is very clearly between Adam and Eve. That controlling personality indicated by the story book leads me to see him as likely having some jealousy and possessiveness (though not in extreme ways).

5. The only other option is Lucifer sleeping with Eve after her death and if she goes to hell, since we know Adam and Eve lived a thousand years married together on Earth, starting humanity. But I don’t see any reason for this. We need much much more information about Adam and Eve’s relationship and all four of their relationships’ to each other in general first before we can talk more about this. But until then, I don’t see any reason to break up Adam and Eve unless there’s some importance to it in the narrative. For me, I see Adam’s womanizing in heaven as a sign that Eve is probably not in heaven. And thinking that he’ll never see her again because “Hell is forever,” he eventually becomes bitter and jaded over thousands of years and decides that his relationship with Eve must be over then. Possibly the same case with Eve in hell, somehow leading up to sleeping with Lucifer. But considering she’s no where to be found with L/L and Lucifer only references her once, there seems to be zero indication of anything between them.

6. To briefly touch on the idea that once in heaven, Eve eventually left Adam because of his horrible personality and womanizing. This is still possible, but it seems like WAY too big of a personality shift to go from married and raising a family for a thousand years to suddenly being a massive asshole and a philanderer. Something must have happened that magnified all the worst aspects of his personality. There’s no way he is the same today as he was in Eden or on Earth. If he is, that’s just shitty lazy writing on Vivzie’s part and Adam is nothing but a one dimensional villain with no depth at all. Massive waste of a character with huge potential.

Tl;dr This post is already too long so I’ll just summarize everything. Although I agree that Adam is definitely an arrogant and annoying villain, Lilith and Eve cheating on adam is unjustified imo, there is no reason for Eve to cheat on Adam or leave him at all from what we can tell now, and her having any relationship with Lucifer also makes no sense considering what his choices turned her life into. But let me know your thoughts on all this, if there’s some point you want to make or a disagreement on something else!

[junebug-draws]

I had a vivid dream yesterday and my mind made me a fake ‘Hazbin Hotel’ Season 2 which I was disappointed to find wasn’t real. Basically it turned out Alastor had technically been a fraud: you know when Mimzy talked about how shortly after when he first came to Hell, and would be dismissed by others, overlords started going missing, no one knew what had happened to them, and then Alastor started sending out his radio signals filled with screams before revealing himself as the Radio Demon, whom no one would mess with? My dream saw overlords start to go missing again in the present, being the new big mystery to replace the dead angel, and for it to turn out Alastor didn’t actually kill those overlords the first time, he had just taken the credit, along that philosophy Zestial went by, “Why not let your strength be known?”. So Alastor had figured whoever it was who was killing overlords didn’t want it to be known they were doing so, and so took the credit to gain himself a rep faster, slowly building up some real power using this rep, in spite of no real power himself beyond that of any sinner. It also turned out Husk had actually been more powerful than Alastor when he beat him in cards, being the first powerful soul Alastor really got under his sway, the reason he didn’t kill him being that he couldn’t, but didn’t want that to be known. Also being why Alastor turned down joining Vox and the Vees. Leading to Alastor then making his deal, with the true force behind those overlords going missing: Eve, the first woman. And the moment he made this deal, Lilith felt it, and fled to Heaven. To say Alastor and she never met, but once Lilith felt what had happened, she knew she had to get out of Heaven lest her existence finally be ended. As for how Eve had any power at all: you know how during the storybook montage in the first episode, there was this shot where when they showed Heaven and the biblically accurate angels in the background, to the right there was this black glob with red eyes and a smile, and on the left there was this light glob with a closed eyelash? And how at that moment Charlie was talking about good and evil? Well in my dream season it was revealed that those two globs were literally Good and Evil, who in ‘Hazbin Hotel’ were actual characters, and that Good inhabited the form of God, to say his name was literally just ‘Good’, who kept Evil at bay, until Lilith made that apple of free will and gave it to Eve, infecting her with Evil the force, and making her its avatar. With the real reason for the Exterminations then being to prevent her from attaining enough power for Evil to engulf creation, and destroy Heaven, Hell, Earth, and all of creation, Lilith remaining Eve’s jailer, before leaving Hell to fend for itself on Eve managing to get herself a representative. All Alastor would have wanted would have been to actually have the power he claimed was his (hers), and so that would have been why he sold his soul, was so confident all season: before he had merely the illusion of power, and now he had it, or at least a taster. Only then he went up against Adam with the power of Eve, and lost, which he didn’t expect to: my dream season basically said that Adam was one of the only ones able to stand up to evil’s power, since in the world of ‘Hazbin’, he never ate of the apple (a departure from biblical canon). The reason his personality was like that was that Adam literally did/could not, know the difference between right and wrong, and so in spite of his speech was in the eyes of creation an innocent soul. A sword of good (God) smiting evil (Eve). So since Niffty took him out, the only ones able to ever defeat Eve would be Lilith or Charlie, Lilith terrified of what she unwittingly created, so refusing, leaving Charlie. My dream also saw Eve kill Vox, and then Valentino and Velvette had this mournful ballad that you’d swear you would feel sorry for them. Plus since she was the source of all evil, my dream saw a lot of Val apologists come out of watching, arguing away everything he did as a result of her influence.

bro your brain comes up with more elaborate shit asleep than mine does awake

[dialalagirl]

OK about the YB Manga and the Sakamakis blood drinking.

Obviously Rejet is SO DAMN INCOSISTENT. even the whole fig plot isn't relevant at all in the games because that would fuck up the Cordelia plot if Yui is supposed to smell like the fig 🙄. BUT funny enough somehow the "ritual " it's consistently Canon even in the games because there are Drama CDs discussing it ( not in depth of course because why would REJET give us any actual good lore ). The whole idea is that young vampires shouldn't consume blood because it would mess with their head presumably. So I'm guessing that consuming blood maybe inacts that predator response with the thirst for blood. It's like how you can't give babies real food when they are too young but in a more messed version. I mean even the way drinking blood is described within DL it's equivalent to drugs or alcohol so it's probably prohibited for young vampires to not screw their mental health ( 🙃 failed that area clearly ) I do think the whole " Special " thing with the ceremony was just for the Adam project and had nothing to do with the sucking blood. I have to assume that all Vampires perhaps do go through this but in a less elaborate way. Like a sweet 16 or Quincenera for once they hit puberty. Like turning 21 and having a drinking party.

We obviously have no details on how they were before the ritual other than knowing they didn't consume blood. I do remember that they can eat flowers and it acts as a substitute almost ( Laitos HDB route ). Also in one the boys Daylight Drama CD ( I can't remember who it was but it doesn't matter ) Yui is obviously Dieing so they're not drinking her blood so she questions how they are eating, and theu just respond with " I have other ways to get my fix " I'm gonna assume they're not drinking other girls blood, they could be but the context doesn't add to that and they specifically say. So maybe there is some way they are able to not go crazy or hungry without sucking blood?? ( pulling a Cullen and becoming Vegans 😭)

But what I CANNOT attempt to analyze is HOW THEY THINK BLOOD DRINKING IS LIKE A MYTH?? how does that work?? It's wasnt even fathomable to them. Which is Crazy considering that at least for the triplets, they witnessed multiple men drink Cordelias blood ( unfortunately 😞 save my boys ✊️ ) we can only assume this is just another one of Karl's alternative timelines. Or just Rejet keeps changing the lore and story ( which is probably the more likely answer)

yall don't know how BADLY I wish we got a details CONSISTENT worldbuilding and lore for vampires, I feel like we're in the wrong place for this because this is a dark romance game for masochists. BUT I WANT A PLOT AND STORY WITH LORE 😭😭. Honestly it's like a buffet just pick what storyline you like better 💀 even the whole thing with Reijis plot and trying to discovering where vampires came from ( which I ate up ) is so inconsistent because remember when Karl told us that that the first people WERE VAMPIRES??! How Adam and Eve were both vampires and then Eve ate the apple and turned Human so they couldn't be together. BUT NOW ITS " Vampires were originally humans and we need to teach them how to act and feel human again " LIKE MAKE IT MAKE SENSE?? 🤔

ANYWAY that's me yapping to you again sorry 😅

no, don't be sorry--i quite literally look forward to your detailed ramblings 'cause I cannot be bothered to wade through so much trash DL content

I just finished the YB manga ('cause your girl can read 900-1000 word a minute naturally so the pain was over quick) and, ignoring all the terrible plot contrivances, let's examine that godawful fig twist really quick if we are going along the adam/eve plot, wouldn't a rotten apple make more sense idfk. if we try to force it to reconcile with the Cordelia plot, maybe karlheniz also pulled a 'wtf' magic maneuver and made her dna like figs, so he can plant her heart into yui eventually????? man just likes a challenge where he is drowning in a shallow pool, amirite?

BUT at least there is a panel of shu and reiji having good relations. my reiji analysis is CONFIRMED, yaz

i can see it sorta being a coming of age thing, but then why would Karlheniz rush that process? was he planning to mate them off with eve even as younguns?? ...figures he is that kind of cray cray, since he also intended the trauma they went through as part of their adam process

i remember that they could eat flowers to replace blood, but I am struggling to figure out why they act like the hunger drives them mad? like, are they missing some b-12 vitamins or some DL equivalent if they don't drink 😭😭😭😭

also, is the ceremony why subaru can't taste shit? if so, why can all the other diaboys taste??? also, why is subaru now canonically a baker if he can't taste shit????

i also don't understand what would even be the utility of making it a myth that they drink blood. we know alcohol is real and we don't give to kids. kids also don't tend to seek it out either. we don't make alcohol a myth. given that blood-sucking is VERY sexual, I am sure that vamp kids would be put off from trying it further. i just don't get it. I guess ketchup man just likes to fuck around with his condiments with no rhyme or reason

i demand justice for the world-building and lore. I need the buffet eatery out and a Michelin level kitchen up in here, stat 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[alexandradel7]

My love for villains and antagonists is so deep in me. I have almost no sympathy for the good. I love looking at evil in media and what it does. Adam is a fun, awesome character. He had more point in canon, like lol in the actual canon of Biblical Canon, the apple Eve ate and then him, they went to earth (in the mud, cold and sicks and suck) and their son killed their other son, and if they were in heaven, perhaps, maybe.. this wouldn't have happened.but it might be too serious Poking Eve with goofy apple behind the tree is also meddling, if she would have found it herself (like Lilith) another conversation. I was hoping for that revealed partially. In the spirit of the show ofc. The image itself like his "pathetic" speech of a defeated pathetic anagonist. Well, uh. Just because he's sexist and a bunch of other "-ist", it doesn't matter to me. I think in gineral he's pierced with hatred for sinners. But there is no deep revelation of that. I think I'll add the criticism tag now It would surprise me more if he actually said, his point, the meaning, the evil, distorted, but valid meaning specifically for him. And did he really die? That fast? I'm hoping for a comeback. Big Daddy gonna let his first rock-son die so easily? If there is one at all Maybe that's it. Okay. And no I didn't want his Redemption. I also don't want Lute's Redemption at all. I don't want Lute to give up on Adam, or maybe she recognizes his mistakes and flaws (though geez I think she knows) and still won't give up on the memory of him. I'm really glad the last thing he saw was Lute. How she cries for him and he had time to smile to her.

***

Since I love crazy ships. I literally thought of Lucifer and Lute. But not so she's saying "wow how you're better than Adam" he's heard it before, boring. You're kind of like him (the dark side of Lucefer that pie, could beat someone to death with his bare hands), but you're not better or worse, you're different.

[hellwurld]

This is an open invitation to "talk about the Bible in a chill way". I'd be fascinated in your chill Bible opinions.

okay this is lowkey such a late answer to this but recent chill bible opinion has some context to it. i'm religious but in like a weird way i don't super want to get into, but basically i read the bible for the story aspects: the morals taught, the themes within, etc etc. i don't really view it as a strict religious instruction handbook, more so as like . stories meant to teach lessons and morals. kinda. its complicated!

erm. im so glad u asked tho

anyway! more importantly, i'm reading the old testament right now, and something that deeply bothers me is that i find the stories in early genesis deeply fascinating, and yet incredibly not dived into at all! and i think that's a shame, because there's so much interest and tragedy in the story of adam and eve, and in cain and abel, together and alongside adam and eve. i just think there could've been so much more done with the first ever family on earth, that is really never dived into popularly or well in adaptations. which is like chill EXCEPT for the fact that i think there's a lot of . persephone and hades tumblr bullshit going on and let me ELABORATE!

eve is a fascinating character to study as the first woman, and there's a lot to be said about eve, which is why a lot of modern looks at her that depict her as a #slay girlboss that ate the apple on purpose or as like . cheating on adam with lucifer . and i also don't fuck with the very long history of her being treated as though she's stupid or wicked or a transgressor. basically, what i'm trying to get at is that eve wasn't stupid for eating the apple, she was lied to, and in her defense, no one had ever lied before. quite literally she was the first to ever be lied to, ever, and she cannot be solely at fault for being tricked. i think it's hard to argue that eve shouldn't have fallen for it, because she was in such an incredibly unique, quite literally never happening before situation. i just think that depictions of her as a scheming seductress will never be as feminist as people think they are, because the core of eve was not someone looking to like . stick it to the man . she was curious, and trusting, and i refuse to blame her for searching for something new, because if god did not want man or woman to long for knowledge, he never should have create sapient beings 🤷

that was a long, kinda rambly way to say that i think genesis, despite being a really interesting book especially pertaining to eve, adam, and the fall, and especially relating to what could be said about abel and cain, and abel, cain, and THEIR PARENTS!!!, fails in a lot of ways as a book. mostly because of the lack of expansion on any of the interesting parts of the early story. i dont gaf abt how adam lived for 930 years. i gaf about adam and the horror of raising children and loving them and that still not being enough to save them from each other or themselves. it must have been horrifying to see your children, both your first children and the first children ever born, suffer and die, one at the hand of another and one at the hand of your own father. like idk eve adam and the horrifying fact that their sin (mistakes) passed along to their child and could've played a role in his own sin (devastating mistakes) and what you do as a parent when you realize that loving someone isn't enough to raise them perfectly and keep them safe.

but yeah sure . adams a weirdo misogynist and eve is a girlboss that cucks him with lucifer and abel and cain don't matter or exist. okay. epic.

and like this isn't to shit on fun or serious retellings based in feminism, bc i #love feminism fr, but i think it tired me out in the same way that (look at me circling back) things like the feminist retellings of hades and persephone did. bc like, it's interesting sometimes, but other times you are IGNORING the reality and interesting parts of the real story in favor for whatever fantasy you've created. hades and persephone is a fascinating story, and demeter and persephone's relationship is a tragic, lovely story that should not be boiled down into omg age gap forbidden romance with EVIL strict mom in the same way that eve and adam shouldnt be simplified to adam is mean to eve and she eats apple as REVENGE >:) . like ok guys lets get creative!

anyway to make a long story short im not an expert on the bible im just a girl raised spiritualist who fucks with books hardcore and wouldve liked to see more interesting shit in the oldest fucking book i own . or whatever .

[ian-the-existential-crisis]

Hi! Sorry! I've just got a genuine question, didn't Adam ate the apple and a bit got stuck and that created "adam's apple" or smt like that? (i know we never saw Adam eating it in Hazbin, but neither do we see Lilith) Anyway "Eden polycube" is a tag that works and is straighforward, you're right! but maybe shiname-wars isn't the solution? (sorry if that's direspectful in any way!!)

Adam did not eat the apple. Some people think that Eve tempted him, but depending on the kind of Christian you are, he left the garden of Eden to be with her, never having eaten the apple himself, which is why this is so offensive to specificly me.

Also, no, you are right, a shipping war isn't a good thing. I have changed how I view it to please never tag my works or anything I post as Applecore instead of asking people to fight a battle.

#IanAgainstApplecore is literally me, as a polyamorous person, in a polyamorous relationship, against it. I asked one person early about it in their askbox before realizing that I have no right to police. On my blog and in my 300 chapter fan fiction is will never be Applecore only Eden Polycule.

Also, thank you /Gen, I'm pretty prepared for negative stuff to come my way. This is what I get for picking fights. I've also made sure to tell everyone not to pick fights.

[ninjasmart]

Hey ninja.. I think hugh n olive oil red married already. They announced the date before a year to make people fool. So that the people will be focused on the date rather then them. Of course they will hva church ceremony marriage. But before that for sure. And also all those unlucky wannabe duchess westie girls bashing Olivia in lipstick alley. Those girls re the reasons why hugh kept his relationship low key. So much of hate they re spreading there (in lipstick alley), I wonder what those girls want. Does they want hugh to be single his entire life????

I am genuinely certain that those ladies on the blog you mention are not there coveting HG's title. Such assumption objectivies not only them but HG as well and that's not nice.

Literally anyone with some sense if self-worth outside the UK class system is not placing titles on a pedestal. Except for Megsy but she's the unkind kind.n

Also, even though we are on a blog, there are real human beings with real feelinga behind the user names. If you are not a snotty, rude and disrespectful person in real life - don't be online too. It's simple as that.

As for bashing O - see, I haven't seen much of her prior to engagement life but I think she needs some time to get proper not an early or secret wedding. And that is soming from a huge elopment and destination weddings fan.

I'll leave you with one thing to think about. It is a bit weird and just bear with me. In the Bible we all know the story of Adam and Eve - the snake whisperred into the ear of Eve abd she took the apple and gave it to Adam and they both ate it.

This is a garden which is not an empty space. A garden full of magical beings and with angels. How do you suppose that no one warned Eve of what she was about to do? Did they not like her? Did they not want to help?

Or was it that it's a free will if you are going to do something or not and no one in the Universe should meddle with free will. If you choose to perish - you will, if you choose to follow your Creator - you will.

A huge rule is: ask for help. Ask ask ask. And then quiet yourself and listen for the reply and the look at the signs. They are usually quiet? subtle. But they are there.

Why didn't Eve ask for help? Why didn't she? She thought she's talking to an angel. But she also knew the Law. And yet, she believed the whisperer.

.. Maybe this example is too confusing. I'll give one more. Few years ago I went to a past life regression therapist. He's really good. Helped me to experience how pretty you can feel as a sweet little fatty dragon.

We chatted before the session. I had just completed my akachic records and life path training and we discussed the place before you get born - the place of choices. With past life regression you can get there as well.

And we discussed a certain couple who give akashic records trainings and certification too. I told him - don't go there. I went and they do have connection to something, but they tell you that you need them to be initiated to talk to the angels and that is not how life works.

He immediately said - so that's what it it. I felt I didn't want to go there and I didn't know why. Now it makes sense.

.. I can spell it out some more but I feel like I shouldn't.

[alephskoteinos]

Disgorging foliate heads as medieval symbols of Christianity

Here's something of a pagan PSA: The Green Man is probably not a pagan symbol or deity.

I probably should have dug into this when that coronation invite was doing the rounds last month, but I reckon now's as good a time as any, as long as it's on my mind.

Don't let the grass horns on that coronation Green Man or decades of modern pop cultural mythology fool you: there's not really anything "pagan" about the Green Man. The idea of the Green Man as a pagan deity or mythological figure has been prevalent in the popular imagination for almost a century now, first proposed by a woman named Lady Ragland in 1939, but while people have made all sorts of connections to various pre-Christian gods, there has never been any evidence of the Green Man as an actual figure of some pre-Christian religion. Instead, the Green Man as we know him was probably actually a figure of medieval Christianity. But even that's only scratching the surface, because even the name "Green Man" itself is just a modern name for a series of faces that appear on medieval churches all over England as well in other parts of Britain and Europe.

Historian Stephen Miller suggests that the more accurate name for this motif is the "disgorging foliate head motif". It's not as catchy or pleasant as "Green Man", I admit, but several church icons do literally look like that.

According to Miller, these heads became part of medieval British Christian iconography after having imported by occupying Normans who came from France. So, in a way, you can probably think of the Green Man as a relic of Norman occuption, originally a French motif brought in by the Normans who invaded and colonized England and Wales before eventually becoming part of British iconography.

As to its religious significance, Miller tells us that it represents a motif from the Quest of Seth (or Legend of the Rood), a set of medieval Christian legends about Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve. The basic legend goes that Adam, on his deathbed, sends Seth out to Paradise to find an elixir of immortality. There Seth meets an angel who refuses to give him the elixir, but the angel does instead give Seth a seed (or perhaps more than one seed) from the forbidden tree where Adam and Eve first ate the apple. When Seth returned, Adam had already died, and then Seth planted the seed(s) in Adam's mouth or beneath his tongue, and then buried him in the soil of Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified. Then a tree grows from Adam's corpse, which is then cut down and turned into the cross on which Jesus was crucified. In some versions of the legend it's not a tree, but rather a bunch of twigs and shoots, which would explain some of the motifs.

I suppose you can loosely derive the theme of rebirth in some context, but it would not be a pagan context. The "Green Man" was not meant to be understood as a pagan god. Instead, if anything the "Green Man" was probably a medieval representation of Adam, who in the Quest of Seth dies and is reborn into what becomes the cross at Golgotha. So the "rebirth" of the Green Man is a strictly Christian "rebirth": the resurrection of Jesus, which in the Quest of Seth is prefigured by "rebirth" of Adam. That is what Miller refers to as "new life to humankind" - the "new life" promised by Jesus.

So, although the "Green Man" has sort of become a fixture of British popular folk myth and culture, it was originally a Norman icon, a fixture of the Norman occupation of Britain, that also represented medieval legends about Seth and Adam. The disgorging foliate head, which we now call "Green Man", was never really a "pagan" symbol, though it does sort of resemble many similar symbols from various ancient cultures (such as the Kirtimukha in India). The motif we know today and call "Green Man" was probably always a Christian symbol, not a pagan one. I suppose if you want to keep brandishing it, that's your business, but don't refer to it as a pagan symbol or the image of a pagan god, because it just isn't.

[katzkinder]

Normally, I like to wait until the chapter has been translated to start popping off about ideas and theories, especially in cases where dialogue could provide further info and help me string clues together a little better than before (and also so I don’t embarrass myself by missing on something that wasn’t mentioned in a summary but would have been important to have context on for the particular activity I like to do, which is analysis!)

HOWEVER

This little lovely bit right here had NO dialogue, so I will allow myself to indulge |D

Okay so. The most eye catching thing about this is the carvings on the doors, right? They seem to depict two (weirdly man faced) lions, and beneath them, a sword wreathed in flames.

Now, the significance of the sword is easy peasy to figure out, and that in turn helped me to place the significance of the lions as well!

When Adam and Eve were forced from the Garden of Eden, God placed Cherubim to the East of Eden to guard the entrance, and gave to them a sword made of flames so that, turning together, they would guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Within the bible, the Tree of Life was one where if you ate its fruit, you would gain eternal life! A similar idea is found in Norse mythology, with Iduna’s golden apples, so I always ended up picturing the fruit of this tree as an apple, rather than the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That one I ended up imagining as a pomegranate for no other reason than it’s more aesthetically pleasing to imagine Adam and Eve with their lips stained by its bright red juices, futilely trying to hide the evidence of their Sin.

Anyway, onto the lions. These strange, unsettling lions shown here are probably actually the Cherubim! See, while they may not fit the biblical description of Cherubim, the Cherubim themselves bear a remarkable resemblance in function to the Winged Lions of Assyria, which were winged lions (duh) with the faces of men, most often placed outside the entrances to temples and palaces to guard these sacred places.

However, there is one problem. These imposing, towering guardians were always placed facing one another at the entrances. So why are these lions back to back?

Thanks to amazing theories by both @alisamakora​ and @xthunderbolt​, which you can read for yourself here and here (warning for heavy spoilers for chapter 110 in each of those posts! And a big thank you to Alisa and Thunder both for giving me permission to link to each of them ❤)

Well, I kept thinking about it and thinking about it, and after reading the above theories, this is the conclusion I came to.

The lions are also meant to invoke the appearance of the Roman god Janus.

Janus is the god of doors, beginnings and endings, and transitions, and is often depicted as literally two faced, with one face looking towards the future, and the other looking to the past.

It's also notable that one of the most famous shrines dedicated to this god was the janus geminus, or twin janus, and that during times of peace, the doors to the shrine would be left closed, and conversely left open during times of war.

The first month of the year, January, is also named in his honor, and Kuro's birthday falls on the last day of the year, placing Kuro squarely in that transitional phase between past and future.

Given the apparent themes of this chapter, Sloth’s preoccupation with showing Mahiru Kuro’s past, and how door upon which the lion who would be looking to the past is colored darker than the one looking to the future, I think those carvings might be meant to represent Sloth and Kuro.

One last, final bit of evidence I have to offer is that, because Janus was considered a god of doors, one of his symbols of power was a key.

Like the one Mahiru had used to access Kuro’s Inner World once more, under Sloth’s guidance.

[arabian-bloodstream]

I saw ‘Annette.’ I haz thoughts.

This movie was brilliant. I can't wait to watch again because the brilliance of it didn't really truly hit until the final scene. It was in that final scene when it all came together. Leos Carax didn't waste a single frame, a single line of dialogue, music, etc.

There are MAJOR SPOILERS!!

The performances were brilliant all around. Adam was fantastic. Simon Helberg's stand-out scene with his solo was absolutely stellar,  at turns funny and heartbreaking. Marion Cottilard was beautiful and haunting. Devyn McDowell as the (finally) human Annette was wonderful, holding her own against Adam Driver while singing!

Henry McHenry truly is a monster. I mentioned above that Carax didn't waste a line. Henry mentioned in his comedy act early on that he became a comedian to say things he could say without being hated/judged. He says awful things. And there are so many little things that point to that he IS a monster so that...

* When Ann dies it's a little ambiguous. There *is* a storm. He is drunk. He isn't in full control of his facilities. * When Baby Annette begins singing, it's less ambiguous, he *is* using her, but it's still a miraculous thing and Simon Helberg's character, the Conductor, is in on it because sharing the miracle of Baby Annette with the world is amazing. * When Henry finds out that the Conductor could likely be Annette's father and that the knowledge of it could take away his free ride, he murders him. Yeah, no ambiguity there.

So after Henry has been outed and is in prison, Annette comes to visit. Up to this point, Annette has been varying aged up freaky looking puppets (like a female version of Chucky, but less malevolent like).  Henry points out she looks different, the puppet-Annette sitting in from of him agrees, but the voice comes from across the room and lo and behold! It's an actual little girl standing there.

The rest of the scene continues between Henry and this real girl and I was astounded. Everything fell into place. Annette told him it was good he was in prison because he couldn't kill anymore. She also told him he couldn't love anymore. He tried to tell her he could love her. But she wouldn't let him love her. They began to sing. She wanted to forget, couldn't forgive both of her parents. He didn't want Ann blamed. It was a back and forth, beautifully done. Young Devyn held her own so well opposite Adam. He again tried to tell her he could love her, but no, no, she would not let him.

What was so incredibly powerful about this scene, how this scene and how it ended once Annette left  -- which I will not describe  -- is that it brought the entire film into focus. Everything made sense. Prior to this scene, Annette was a puppet because the entire film up until this scene was from HENRY's POINT OF VIEW.

Remember when I said that at the top that "Leos Carax didn't waste a single frame, a single line of dialogue, music, etc. " That's where this really comes into play.

The film begins with the director, Sparks, cast and crew singing "So May We Start," let's break a few things down in there. First of all, Adam is the first actor who sings, and more importantly the first character that is addressed is his character, Henry McHenry... meaning it is HIS story that we're watching unfold.  And almost every single scene includes Henry, focuses on Henry, but if you look at the scenes that don't... ah! That's when the latter scenes come into play and show that, yes, it's ALL from Henry's point of view indeed.

The Conductor's solo scenes has information that, again, in retrospect we know that Henry must have known from Ann. Henry knew, Henry absolutely knew...

All of Ann's opera scenes focus on her dying because Henry's jealousy grows and grows until he's ready to take her out, and his love for her becomes twisted into monstrous hatred. And in retrospect, no, her death was not ambiguous, he meant for her to die, absolutely.

Then there is Ann's #MeToo dream, why that? Well, again, Henry's point of view. Take that scene paired with Henry's later scene when he's surrounding himself with all of the different women. Ann's dream was foreshadowing Henry's treatment of her, and paired with his callousness towards women in the latter scene, how he has always used and manipulated people.

Which brings us to who Henry is as a user and a abuser. Someone who used everyone as puppets. He manipulated everyone, using them to do what he wanted, to make him happy, to give him what he wanted, to thrill him, to give him a high. His back-up singers. His audiences. Ann. The Conductor (who didn't even have a name, he was just "my conductor friend"), and then, of course, Annette. Annette was literally a puppet.

Annette was LITERALLY Henry's puppet until the final scene when he was locked away and he could use her no more. That is when she was finally able to be a real girl, when she broke free from him and it was no longer Henry's story. She was no longer his puppet.

Aah, so brilliant. So beautiful.

A few random comments...

- The song "We Love Each Other So Much" that I didn't think much of when I listened to some of the soundtrack, I remember remarking that I hoped it worked better in the context of the film. It does. It DOES SO MUCH. It's absolutely perfect in the context of the film, and then is a sucker-punch when it's true origin is revealed later.

- The courthouse scene was the first (but not the last) time I teared up. Henry desperately searching for, singing to the sweet Ann, but in the end, the vengeful Ann found him. So, so well done.

- Now why was Ann always eating an apple? Because of Eve. Eve ate the apple because she was tempted by the devil. Henry is the devil. Henry is evil, a monster. That's why we saw Ann always eating an apple. And in her solo song, she was describing the sweet, innocent girl--the voice of an angel, a good girl, who was used and abused by men when she came into her beauty. At the end of that scene, then who showed up when she had Annette protectively with her? Henry, looking quite malevolent indeed.

- The mark on Henry's face  -- which one critic was like 'wtf? is up with that? random!  -- appeared after Henry killed Ann and kept growing. Was it an outward reflection of Henry's guilt over what he had done to Ann? No. Henry always had that mark on his face. We just didn't know that until the final scene because prior to that it, we'd only seen Henry's version of himself, not the REAL Henry. Think of it, Annette was barely older than we'd last seen her before he was jailed when she went to see him in prison, but Henry looked SO different. Why? Because that was the REAL Henry McHenry. Not the stylized, romantic version of himself that we'd seen through his eyes.  After he killed Ann we started to see him look more and more like the real Henry. In prison, that was the real Henry.

Again, this film was just absolutely magnificent. I simply can't wait to watch it again. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[tomdiddlyumptious]

T.H| This Is Odd

Summary: sometimes coming to a high school when your not supposed to has some... odd features

Warnings: rant about black hole, DRUGS, small RAPE MENTION, languange, OD (overdose), and idk

“Yeah his brother is like Indian or something, which makes absolutely no sense” you heard from a distance, you turned and followed the voice, finding one of your classmates, crowded with other ones.

Ding ding

“Class class- we have a new student!” Your teacher, let’s call her ms Barbra. You sat in the back of the class, not wanting any attention of the sort. “His name is Ben Perkins!” The student stepped up, an awkward smile across his lips as he looked through the class.

“Everyone say hi!” “Hi Ben” “hey Ben” class said one or another, expect you of course. “Go ahead and find yourself an open seat” Ben took his time but made his way to the back, sitting in between you and a girl that was your..... friend? You are cold but she got along with you pretty well, I guess.

About 20 minutes in, you look over the class, eyes cold and in an over-sized dark green sweater, black biker shorts, and a over-sized plain black shirt that came down just revealing a few inches of your shorts.

“What the fuck is your problem?” The girl asked, Tracey. “Okay so I’m Spider-Man, if you want me to be honest yeah” Ben shrugged. “Your fuckin nuts” she whispered, leaving Ben chuckling.

“You hear this bullshit y/n?” Tracey asked, making both of them turn to you. “Eh, don’t really care about it” “so you don’t like Spider-Man?” Ben whispered. “No, I don’t like anything, or anyone, except for Tracey, isn’t know why but I really like her” “as in-“ “no dipshit” you turned to him, giving him that cold stare, he stopped looking at you and cleared his throat, looking at Tracey panicked as she only shrugged.

You walked through the cafiteria, computer in hand as your hair bounced with each walk, sitting down at a table alone you open your computer. “Can we sit here?” “Don’t care” you heard bags drop on the table as you look up, “Spider-Man huh?” You looked at Ben and he nodded, “ID please” “I don’t think-“ “I’m not trying to fuckin rob you or anything, just give me the ID” you looked at Ben, you made eye contact as he tried not to fail.

“Fuck” he lost when you raised your eyebrows at him, he took out the ID and handed it to you. “Let’s get this out of the bag, you aren’t Ben Perkins, who is stupid enough to give someone that name-“ “ouch” “this ID, made, of course it is, it’s the school ID, is it?” You mostly talked to yourself, Ben and Tracey just starring at you as you were in detective mode.

“What’s your real name?” “Should I be giving this information?” You snapped your fingers at him “that’s a fake accent, your brother is indian” “he was adopted” “shut up” you type in your computer ‘soon to be Spider-Man’ “any trailers out yet?” “No” “aha” you scrolled down on marvels Instagram, clicking it “this is fun, I should do this more often” you nod to yourself, you scroll down to the Spider-Man post “Tom holland, so it’s true?” You turn the computer, “duchess, your from the UK” Tracey scrolls through the computer reading it.

“How would you know that” “you came to a geniuses school didn’t you?” You smirk. “How long you gonna be here?” “For about three more days” “there’s a party” Tracey smiles. “Tracey no, Thomas is like 19,20” “I’m 19 and how did you know my name is-“ “because your from the UK, duchess, it makes sense”

“Hey ms Johnson can I get some water?” You ask, Tom and Tracey behind you. “Yeah sure huh you know where it is” the office manager smiled at you, you smiled back and grabbed a cup, instantly going to the coffee machine. “That isn’t water” “want one?” You ask them, they all nod. “Okay so like, what’s going on, how did you get here, and why?”

“My British humor is something that people don’t get” Tom smiled. “Yeah... I bet” Tracey mugged Tom, he looked at her as in ‘what did I do?’ “Are you coming to the party?” Tracey asks you. “Is there drugs?” You say, standing infront of the coffee machine and turning back to her, your lower lip puckered. “Your an addict” “I have my problems” you shrugged, handing the black coffee to Tom as he grabbed the things he needed for the coffee.

“Are you?” He asked, looking back at you. “I’ve been clean for.....yeah I don’t know” you shrugged, know handing one to Tracey. “Is that a good I don’t know” “no she literally likes to wipe her memory- I’m suprised you haven’t OD’ed yet” “in your dreams Tracey, in your dreams” you smiled, now coming over with them and making the coffee, until the door opened.

“I thought you only wanted some Y/n?” “Hey, the more the merrier am I right?” You winked at her, “whatever” she playfully said, closing the door. “And you call yourself a genius right?” “Sometimes duchess, why?” “I’m pretty sure geniuses don’t do drugs” “but geniuses do find out when a fraud enters their school, and cracks the case under 20 minutes” you glared at him “touché” he cheered his drink at you. “I really hope you don’t plan on skipping this party y/n” “ayo, I’ll think about it trace- how about you pretty boy, you comin?” “What’s the age range” “we are both eighteen, as long as you don’t thot around you’ll be fine” you smile at him as he nervously chuckles.

“The black hole, do you know what you’d find?” The teacher asks, nobody knew. “You guys suck” you said out loud, standing up and taking the marker from the teacher you drew a black whole. “Black whole, if you went in you wouldnt find anything, it’s called the black whole for a reason, it’s basically a planet vacuum, if we ever got to close we would be sucked in” you explained. “And that would take us to the fifth dimension, this black whole” you hit the drawing “can pop up anywhere, it can take the sun, Mars, I’m suprised it didn’t take Pluto yet, but what you didn’t know is” everyone paying attention to you “there’s multiple versions of yourself, beck give me a fruit” “orange” “see, there’s another reality, deminsion- whatever where you said apple, or even lemon, or even grapefruit. Now let’s not get off topic, but there’s like four different deminsions, if you were to enter and go to earth, you’d probably find another one of yourself, maybe the same, maybe different, but there’s a reality, a dimension where you didn’t have gravity, where you don’t live on oxygen, where you don’t have to live on water, but as the time passes, things change, puberty, teeth, clothes, everything, so imagine before Christ, what was here?” “We don’t know” “read about it, anyways, not to get religious or anything but Adam and Eve, eve being the dumb person she is she ate the apple, then she tricked Adam into it, but god didn’t set up any kind of snake so where did it come from?” “Satan, who is a fallen angel, this makes absolutely no sense” “shut up and let me explain. Imagine a different deminsion, one where you can’t make mistakes because really, earth is what we make it, we as a community are fucking up this planet, so in the different dimension what are some things that would be in there, duchess” “I-uh, no plastic out in public for animals?” “Yes, good job, what else?” “Green grass” and a whole bunch of other answers. “Correct, but there has to be one bad thing right...? Sinning, we do sins everyday but we are human, but if we were in this dimension... that would be the definition of human, but why would god make this ‘black whole’? He must want us to go in, right? Or are we the adams, the eves, the fallen angels, the angels who are still here, having to face consequences. Getting sucked in this black whole makes you get lost, it’s obvious that we shouldn’t go in, because anyone who have probably died, because the black hole is everlasting, here, this is where we stay, the fifth deminsion is where you don’t go, thank you” Tracey slowly started to clap as everyone else did, some standing up as you turned around looking at the board, noticing you impulsively drew a lot of notes on it. “Well, that was a lesson but also some intresting theories, thanks for sharing y/n. I guess that sums it up” the teacher shrugs, “no actually the fifth deminsion is a five-dimensional space is a space with five dimensions. If interpreted physically, that is one more than the usual three spatial dimensions and the fourth dimension of time used in relativistic physics. It is an abstraction which occurs frequently in mathematics, where it is a legitimate construct,” you make you way back to the seat. “So you are a nerd! I fuckin knew it” Tracey whisper yelled. “I’m not a nerd!” “Oh you so are a nerd” “shut up duchess!”

It’s the day of the party, and you aren’t that exited.

You sighed “I’m not wearing this Tracey” you say, in the body con dress. “You look good!” “I look like a box” you glared at her, “you going just like that, let me-“ “your not doing my hair, leave it” you looked in the mirror “at least have a side part” “fine”

Most people dancing, others drinking, Tom, Tracey, drinking. “I’m not gonna ya know Uh-drink” “now that’s not y/n, I have never heard you say that before” “well maybe- fine” you shrugged, looking over you found a bowl full with pills, you sighed as you walked over, taking two handfuls and slipping them into your pocket, walking back over they both look at you as if your crazy “hey I’m gonna take my time with these!” They still looked at you crazy, Tom taking a sip of the beer. “I’m hungry” you muttered, going to the kitchen and opening the freezer getting pizza rolls, pulling out a pan and slapping a whole bunch on and popping them in the oven. While you waited you looked at the heavy pills in your pockets, taking one out you slipped it in your mouth, just curios. “Oh fuck me” you were clean for about a week, now giving up made you feel like a pussy, you waited for the pills to kick in, the purple and pink lights getting bigger and seeing spots “fuck- how psychedelic is this?” You asked yourself, your dirty converse helping you stand. “I should go upstairs” you whispered to yourself, this wasn’t that strong but the colors really got you.

The oven went off.

The beeps and the distant music, a smile across your face as your steps stuttered “excu me, haha!l you smiled, grabbing a towel and pulling out the hot pockets, grabbing a large bowl you put them in, making your way back to your friends Tracey was gone. “Heyyyy, where she goooo!” You said. “You don’t look okay, hot pockets?” Tom said. “Take one please” you slipped in your pocket and handed him a pill. “I can’t I have a job I’m not really suppose to be here-“ “it’ll make you so happy, look at me! I feel great, please” you now begged, his jaw clenched as he looked around, he put the beer down, taking the single pill and placing it in his tongue and swallowing “good let’s go upstairs!” You grabbed his hand, pulling him to the stairs and going up whole the other was filled with hot pockets.

You searched the rooms “oh-sorry!” Until you found a room, you pulled Tom in, closing the door behind both of you and locking it. The pill wasn’t strong for him either, so you both were pretty sober. ‘Tame impalas borderline song booming through the walls. “So?” He asked, throwing himself on the bed. “Aren’t you happy” you said, sitting on the bed, placing the pizza rolls down. “I don’t really feel anything honestly” he shrugged. “I have more” you smiled at him, taking two out. “Open” you smiled, he sat up and opened his mouth, placing his tongue out, you placed it right on it “don’t swallow” you placed one on yours. “Now” you both swallowed, sitting there as it really now hit you. “I hope you don’t become like me” “I really wanna kiss you” you looked at him confused. “I think your smartness is really, really sexy” “Thomas your high” “you are too” “I-“ you take out another one ‘god please don’t let me overdose’ you thought. “I’m not that high Thomas” “then join me” he took your hand, you looked at the pill, “this-this can’t hurt me, I’ve done more then-“ “please y/n, I don’t wanna be hanging here” you looked at him, eyes watering “I’m scared” “don’t be, I’m right here darling” he wiped your tears away. “I-I just don’t want to die” “you won’t, I’ll be here, I promise” “Tom your high right now, I” “take it” you looked at him then at the pill, putting it in your mouth you swallowed. “I don’t want to die” “it’s to late, you took it” he reminds you, were you imagining this whole thing? “I fucking love you, I want to fuck you” soon someone’s else’s face popped up, his name is bray “I love you, I’m so sorry” “you rapped me you prick, I hate you” he pinned you to the bed, the leds purple as his face was there, you spit in his face “I’m so sorry, I love you so much I did it because I love you- I-I’m sorry”

“Y/n? What’s happening” Tom said, you throwing up in the floor, he instantly sobered. “Get off me!” You screamed and bray, he is still pinning you on the bed. “Y/n!” You fell to the floor. “I love you so much, I did it all for you, for us” bray yelled at you, your heart feeling heavy. You body shook. “Y/n are you having a seizure?! Help! Help!” Tom screamed, your body on the floor shaking, laying down next to your vomit, you choking on it. “Please get off of me” you begged, tears falling down your cheeks as you gave up, your vision blurry. “Your gonna die, nobody is gonna morn you, 6 feet under, no one to save you, not even Spider-Man, you pussy” he smiled at your weak figure.

Tom pushed through people, finding Tracey “y/n is dying in need your help!” He screamed over the music, traceys bottle falling as he pulled her upstairs, “CALL 911! PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU!” Tracey screamed through the music, Tom pulling her to the room your body is on the ground, still shaking and choking on your spit, it made Tracey fall to her knees, “911 is being called I- how many did she take?” “Three full pills” Tom said, dropping to your side, trying to sit you up as he choked on his sobs “fuck,” he just looked at you.

You woke up.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

You looked over and found duchess and Tracey, both of their eyes red and blankets covering their bodies, just starring at you. “What happened?” You asked. “You overdosed” a single tear ran down Toms face as he looked away from you. “We only knew each other for three days, why are you crying duchess?” You smiled. “I- I honestly don’t know, I feel like I knew you my whole life and seeing you, almost dead it just breaks me” “your parents couldn’t see you like this, they just went outside” “you guys slept overnight here?” “Yeah we did” Tracey weakly smiled. “I’m gonna sober, you don’t have to worry about me” “yes we do, we wanna help, and we are” Tom smiled at you, sitting next to you on the hospital bed, taking your hand and playing with your fingers. “I’m sorry” you whispered, tears filling your eyes as your parents came in. “It isn’t your fault” your mom reassured. “Yes it is, I just keep walking in these traps and I- I’m just slipping away piece by piece, what if I’m just cheating death, what if I’m not supposed to be here?” You said, the tears now collapsing. “Don’t say that, we aren’t losing you” Tom whispered, the 19 year old looking down at the 18 year old, not losing her yet.

He doesn’t know why he feels this way about you, he just got hooked, it was amazing at first but know that he knows what’s going on is even better, letting him seeing you vulnerable is making baby steps into something, right?

“Yeah sat next to this pretty girl and she said what’s your problem. I told her im Spider-Man, your fuckin nuts she said, then she turned to her friend who is the most intelligent, beautifulest girl I’ve ever laid my eyes on, then she found out who I was, called me duchess, yeah I had the best three days, then left, but hey that’s how I have my girlfriend now” everyone clapped and let out some ‘aws’ “and you met this girl at the school you say?” Graham Norton says. “Yep she was a senior, 18” “the one who called you fuckin nuts or?” Jake said making everyone laugh “no the one who cracked my code under 20 minutes, and ya know it’s crazy, I had a good accent but she found out!” He stuck his hands out and everyone laughed again. “Hey you went to a genius school didn’t you” “yeah... she is one genius still to this day”