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dsandrvk · 2 months ago

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Saturday, May 3 - Hook Peninsula to Cahir

Tintern Abbey

William Marshall and Isabel de Clare

Woodland walk between abbey and garden

The Swiss Cottage

A very elaborate fairy house

Cahir Castle

We're winding down our time in Ireland, and today we started heading back towards Limerick and Shannon Airport to turn in our car in a few days, but we still wanted to combine our traveling with additional sights. We started today at Tintern Abbey, just north of where we were staying. It's a lovely setting with lots of surrounding woodlands - so many of the sites are hemmed in by development or farmers' fields, but here the property extends in all directions.

The Abbey here was quite large, and the growth and changes to the original property have been documented and well explained. Unlike some abbeys which were ruined during Henry VIII's rule, this abbey was given to an officer in the English army who converted the tower section of the church into a residence, and the property passed down through the ages until the last survivor of the Coclough line handed It over to the State in 1963. At that time restoration was done, but in keeping with the trends of the time, most of the evidence of the residence was removed to try to bring it back more to the original look when it was an abbey. Today the restoration would probably incorporate those residential changes as part of the ongoing evolution of the space.

There is an intriguing display of how the walls were made when it had been a residence with both wattle and daub construction as well as wood paneling, and there were original examples of each. In addition to the abbey itself there is a nearby walled garden that was part of the estate, and has beautiful grounds and border beds, and also contains a kitchen garden, for which planting was just getting started. The woodland walk between the abbey and the garden, divided by a small river, was full of spring ground covers and birdsong.

We have found many of the abbeys and castles to be popular nesting places for birds, especially Jackdaws. One reason it is so attractive to them is that there are square holes everywhere on the facades - the places where wooden scaffolding was inserted while the buildinga were constructed. Since then, the wood blocks that remained in the holes have long rotted away, and perfect nesting cavities have been left.

A note on William Marshal - he was considered the ideal model of a feudal knight. He served several kings, from Henry II through Henry III, especially King John, and was married to the eldest child of "Strongbow", who in 1170 successfully invaded Ireland with his Norman army. This marriage gave him title to much land in the south, and Marshal was the original founder of the abbey, which was affiliated with Tintern Abbey in his original home in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He was also responsible for building Hook Lighthouse, which he built to guide ships into the harbor of New Ross, a town he founded. Monks were responsible for the operation of the lighthouse for much of its early years.

We chose to head back west along a fairly good "national" road, which had wide lanes and fewer bends, and we made good time to the town near tonight's lodging, Cahir. Here there was both a castle and a "cottage orne", the Swiss Cottage. The latter was built in the early 1800's by the wealthy landowner and lord of town and surrounding area at a time when the "simple rustic life" was a popular idea. As a result, no expense was spared to create the illusion of simplicity, including having the building designed by John Nash, who also designed Buckingham Palace.

The cottage was used for parties primarily, as being only two kilometers from their main house, it was only a short carriage ride away for the Butler family. We were lucky to arrive just before a scheduled tour, as that is the only way to see the interior. Although a lot of the original furnishings had been sold or destroyed through neglect, the OPW have done a good job of researching what was most likely there originally, and trying to recapture the look and feel. The "rustic" nature of the design has no two windows or doors the same, and the thatched roofline is purposely uneven.

From the cottage there is a lovely path through the woods into the town of Cahir, and we had time to visit the castle there. It is one of the more intact castles simply because when the Earl of Essex attacked in 1599, the Butler family simply surrendered. The castle has been featured in several movies and films, including "Excalibur" and "The Tudors". The castle itself is on an island, and the grounds outside are a lovely park with lots of bird and bee boxes, and filled with families on this holiday weekend.

After walking back to our car parked near the Swiss Cottage, it was time to check in to our B&B, about 5 kilometers out of town, and far enough away from the popular tourist town. We are planning to head just north to the Rock of Cashel tomorrow morning, which is also a major tourist spot, but we may be able to beat the crowds if we go early enough. And it's supposed to be another beautiful day!

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burningblake · 4 years ago

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ok i just finished my 8-hour long marathon of the witcher and I have opinions to share, some bitter some good, so let's start with the good:

I absolutely adored the yennefer-jaskier bonding scenes, especially when she hugged him and he was so surprised asdfgh and then how she saved him, my lovely girl has such a big heart and love to give. also bonus jaskier later defending her actions to geralt omg adorable

the moment tissaia sees yennefer after she thought she was dead 😭😭😭

the yennefer - geralt reunion I freaking replayed it so many times!! And then when Geralt introduced her to Ciri and that talk they had, asdfg found family united at last. (Would have loved the "dear friend" letter but I understand it wouldn't fit the pace and the vibe of the show to suddenly see geralt and yen writing letters)

The dessert!!!!

The unicorn reference!! 🤭🤭

I loved that Ciri's training is slow and gradual and she didn't like get all perfect and fearless at once

Ok that about sums up the good things, now the bad things, well!! I have a lot of complaints and quite honestly I am salty, if you don't want the negativity, don't read further but I need to express it so..

Why oh why the fuck did they change the plot so much?! What was this absolute shit with the hut spirit? Why???????? I am so pissed!!!

Listen!! Yennefer met Cirilla because Geralt ASKED her to take care of her and help her control her magic and YENNEFER was so different from Geralt in her teachings that Cirilla instantly made her her role model and thought of her as a mother figure!!!

THEY FLEED WITH THE HORSES FROM MELITELE BECAUSE YEN WAS PROTECTING HER WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HORSESHIT

yennefer would have never sacrificed an innocent life (much less CIRI!) no matter the cost, she valued life more than anything, SHE FREAKING RISKED HER LIFE TO SAVE A RANDOM BABY and you're telling me she would steal Geralt's baby and give her to the wolves?! EXCUSE ME but I call bullshit. Like sorry for the all-caps but I'm feeling strongly about this, they destroyed the perfect mother-daughter relationship from the books and I AM BITTER

why spend an entire episode at the beginning with that meaningless non-canon plot about yen fringilla and francesca finding some ancient spirit that determined their paths for the entire show WHEN WE COULD HAVE HAD AN EPISODE OF YEN TRAINING WITH CIRI WTF!!!!!!!!

Why the fuck is tissaia with vilgefortz? Where did that freaking come from?! LISTEN! TISSAIA IS EITHER A LESBIAN OR ASEXUAL LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE

The Geralt-Rience fight scene was supposed to be like this: Rience finds Geralt and he insults Yennefer in his face and so Geralt pretty much tells him that that insult just determined his fate and killed him on the spot because no one insults his wifey. INSTEAD Yennefer somehow freaking led him to Geralt?! As a distraction to take away Ciri?! HONESTLY FUCK THE FUCK OFF

Also why all that queerbaiting? Like excuse me but I am fairly certain that when Cahir asked Fringilla about her relationship with Francesca and he said "is she just a friend?" and that look fringilla made?! Yeah that was gay and then they twisted it to "she is your plan" yeah I'll tell you what plan her freaking wedding plan!

Even though I understand the cost Yennefer paid for her heroism at Sodden, I still think it was too far-stretched for her to only get her magic back at the very end and only to perform a small healing. My girl should have been able to join the final fight and save Ciri single-handedly along with Geralt and not be like "oh I made a potion"

Which leads to another thing I am bitter about, how did her "making a potion" serve the plot? Such a lazy writing ugh!!!

I HATE NETFLIX

All in all the bad things far outweigh the good for me - they changed so many freaking things without freaking reason!!!!! Ugh I am so annoyed and dissapointed! Truly sorry for the negativity, you can block me if you want, I am simply having a moment and I can't help being so salty about this

#the witcher #the witcher spoilers #yennefer of vengerberg

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seancekitsch · 4 years ago

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Hi. 'Modeling suggestive clothing' with Cahir, please?

this plus bodyguard AU bc i was asked for the same prompt twice, but once with bodyguard AU!

“Cahir, what about this one?” you call from the other side of the privacy screen in your room. You’ve had to have modeled half of the outfits in your closet now, one beautiful gown after the other, or so he thought. Cahir thought you looked beautiful in all of them, even having a favorite of your party gowns. You were beginning to hate all of the parties, which he recalls was the reason he was even given this job. He was tasked with making sure your partying and crassness didn’t damage the reputation of one of Nilfgaard’s most noble houses, but more often than not you were faking sick or tired to pull Cahir back into your room to have a little after party of your own. And now, picking out outfits was getting harder because your motivation to even be at these events was dwindling. Their plan to keep you in line was working, but certainly not in the way they had expected.

“I’m certain you look beautiful!” he calls back, and thinks to himself about what his consequence for this would be. Being your bodyguard was the best demotion he had ever received, and despite being a count himself, all of it would probably be taken away were anyone to find out of your torrid love affair. He wouldn’t mind it though. It would be all—

Any thoughts in his head fly out the door when you step out from behind the screen. This was not something you could wear out of your room, nor would he want you to. There’s a twinge of possessiveness in his gaze as it travels up your body, from the slit in the skirt of the dress that travels all the way up to your hip, the way the corset of the dress leaves nothing to the imagination.

It takes all of his self control not to jump up from where he sits on your bed to pounce on you. No, that wouldn’t be polite, but oh how he wants to.

“Is beautiful still the word you want to use?” your tone and the wicked smile on your face tells him everything he needs to know.

“No,” he answers simply.

You crook your fingers in a come hither motion, and like magically drawn to you, his body immediately obeys. You take his hands, and place one on your bare shoulder, the other on your hip, letting his fingers dip under the slit; touching only your skin.

“What words would you use, darling?”

“Words that are not becoming of a knight.”

“Use them anyway, it won’t offend me.”

And his hands slowly begin to travel your skin, fingers rubbing circles into your shoulder, your hip.

“Sinful, ravishing, delicious, tempting... shall I continue?”

You smile that wicked smile again.

“Only if you are about to give me a reason to stay in tonight.”

He does.

#my work #cahir imagine #cahir x reader

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witcherscreenshotsdump · 4 years ago

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Hello! Thank you for all of your excellent mod work. I was just wondering what other characters you plan on doing your "Rise and Shine" series with?

Heyy! Well you're welcome, thanks for the nice words :')

Idéalement every characters that will get a d*cks out for temeria model,i plan to use those as a preview for the models when i release them 🤗

I have only 1 left in the queue, and since that one is technically still a wip it won't make it to the release post yet

( and it will be the last one for a while i'm afraid 🥲 i no longer have time to make mods, i'll try to make release posts for the mods that are finished and then i'll go on a hiatus )

As far as future models (and rise and shine gifs )

Letho is the most interesting to me, i dig the challenge (and what a challenge it is 💀 )

Once i get a working Letho body, it should make Eredin a breeze to make ( they share the 'big guy' skeleton ) also looking forward to him, could be a good time to experiment with tattoos

Regis is mostly finished, i just have issues with finding the correct skintone (i think i have screens of it queued)

Avallac'h

And that's it for the one that are on the way

I'd also like to make

Dandelion, but it will be based on the lore friendly version so blonde chest hair, (and inevitable neckseam )

Crach

Zoltan is going to be interesting too i think ( but i won't be able to make a rise and shine because skeleton )

Hjalmar

Vesemir curious to see what i can come up with for an older witcher body look

Olgierd

Brienne since she's using the male skeleton, and it will allow me to make a buff female body that actually works with doppler male anims (sapphic edits here i come)

Possibly a Cahir one, if i ever manage to make a face model i like for him :'D

Then i'll see for others maybe, i'm open to suggestions 😉

But anyway, keep in mind that none of those are on a priority list, and as i said i'll be on hiatus so it could take a very long time ^^ when i'll get back i'd like to finish yennefer's lore friendly wardobe and the Angoulême source mod first

#twsd.txt #the witcher #the witcher 3

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mysticalnightenthusiast · 3 years ago

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S.N.A.F.U CH-59 ‘Now What?’

Eadaoin went straight to her liquor cabinet in the corner of the lounge room and immediately poured herself a triple whiskey.

“Why don’t you just drink straight out the bottle?” Cahir asked in amusement.

“I might in a minute ugh.” Eadaoin replied screwing up her nose as the expensive liquor burned its way down her throat “alright let’s get this shit happening, I want to get this vision of that bitch fucking with my car then I’m going straight to the cop shop.”

“There’s no point at this time of day, only the skeleton overnight staff would be there,” Cahir reasoned as he pressed a few buttons on the TV remote to bring up the security camera feed.

“How the fuck am I going to get to work in the morning?” Eadaoin moaned “and how are we going to see Mum and Dad off at Heathrow?”

“Pre-order a maxi Uber,” Cahir replied “then take the day off work and go car shopping, your truck is a write off, it’d cost five grand just to re-paint it. You’d be better off parting it out and hocking the parts on eBay. Land Rovers are super popular cars, you’d sell everything pretty soon.”

“Yeah I reckon I might,” Eadaoin replied with a sigh “well at least now I can go for that fancy pants Range Rover I’ve always wanted.”

“If I had your income and a partner who worked for a luxury car manufacturer like you do I’d be heading straight to the MTC and hooking myself up with the latest model McLaren,” Cahir said with a grin “maybe I should invite Charles and Carlos for a round of golf or squash and see if they know any smoking hot birds in the Ferrari garage.”

Eadaoin rolled her eyes.

“Both those lads are taken,” she said “I’m pretty sure they would be looking at any girls, Charlotte and Isa would have their hides.”

“Pity!”

With Eadaoin stewing in a corner Cahir found the recorded footage from her security camera system and began skipping through it, an hour and a half into what would have been the Sky Sports F1 telecast a dark figure appeared at the top of the screen as it neared the camera above the figure revealed itself to be a heavily pregnant woman dressed head to foot in a dark coloured tracksuit and wearing a matching beanie and face mask carrying a bucket full of items she couldn’t quite recognize.

“Fucking bitch!” she exclaimed “I knew it!”

“So that’s her then?” Cahir asked “bit hard to say.”

“Nah that’s her,” Eadaoin snarled as Cahir paused the feed “zoom in on her face, there should be a mole just above the bridge of her nose and between her eyebrows.”

Cahir pressed a few buttons on the controller and the picture zoomed in. As Eadaoin predicted a noticeable mole was visible between the woman’s eyebrows.

“That’s fuckin’ her!” she stormed “bitch is lucky I don’t know where she lives or I’d go and cave her fuckin’ face in!”

“D’you think Danny would recognize her?” Cahir asked.

“If I did he certainly would,” Eadaoin grumped.

“Alright, what you need to do is go get your laptop log into the system’s cloud and isolate the time period that shows Jemma vandalizing your car, then put it on a flash drive and in the morning I’ll go to the cop shop with you and we’ll put in a report,” Cahir informed his sister assertively “you weren’t sure about having enough evidence to get a restraining order now this is the evidence. Look-she’s using an offensive weapon to cause criminal damage to your property. I don’t know of a jurisdiction in the world that wouldn’t grant you a restraining order.”

“How do you know this?” Eadaoin asked in amusement.

Cahir rolled his eyes.

“Remember I helped you study for your bar exam so you could get your practicing certificate here?” he said “we spent hours pouring over the Criminal Damage Act, I don’t remember the section or subsection that pertains to personal property damage but I could probably do a bit of Googling.”

“Oh yeah I’d forgotten that,” Eadaoin replied “I am going to take the day off work tomorrow but still to go to the office and talk to Darren. I’m going to apply for a restraining order and he has the clout to get things hurried up a bit.”

An hour later after isolating the security camera vision she needed and putting it onto a new flash drive Eadaoin made her way to her office and rang Daniel. He answered after two rings.

“Darling?” he said in a surprised tone “what’s up? Are you alright?”

Eadaoin sighed.

“I’m fine,” she said “but we need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked his voice tone a combination of concerned and suspicious.

“Jemma’s been at it again...”

“What? When? How?”

“Well it started abut an hour ago when Cally and I went to put then bins out for collection day tomorrow,” Eadaoin began “the security light went on and I saw that someone had slashed all my tyres, squirted glue into the rims and poured paint all over the bonnet and rear hatch.”

Daniel swore.

“And you’re sure it was Jem?” he asked in an even tone.

“A hundred percent,” Eadaoin replied earnestly “Cally and I went through the security system footage and about an hour and a half into the Sky F1 telecast a very pregnant woman dressed in all dark clothing showed up with a bucket of stuff and then the feed switches to the camera I have on the roof of the carport and shows said woman slashing my tyres, gluing the rims and pouring paint stripper all over the duco. I know its Jemma because Cally zoomed in on some of the early footage and the woman in shot has a mole in the exact same spot between her eyebrows as Jemma has. It’s her Babe I know it is; you’d know it’s her too.”

“I believe you,” Daniel replied with a sigh “what are you going to do?”

“Well I wanted to talk to you before I did do anything,” Eadaoin replied “I wanted to go straight to the cop shop as soon as I saw the damage on the car but Cally convinced me to wait til the morning and gather the security footage on a flash drive first. I was going to go to the cop shop first but I might go to the office right after seeing Mum and Dad off to Heathrow and talk to Darren.”

“Well I’ll support you in whatever you want to do,” Daniel said “I’m really sorry you’ve had to put up with all this shit sweetheart, you don’t deserve it, you don’t deserve to be the brunt of my relationship fallout.”

“Don’t apologise,” Eadaoin said at once “it’s not your fault all this shit, you’re not the one that fucked up. You only ended a uneven relationship, you’re not the one that cheated, you’re not the one that fucked up.”

“Yeah I know b-”

“There are no buts,” Eadaoin said softly “this is not and has never been your problem. It is not your fault Jem can’t move on.”

“Yeah I s’pose,” Daniel said reluctantly “your folks head back to Australia tomorrow how are you getting them to the airport?”

“I’ve booked a maxi Uber, that’s the only way Cally and I can see them off,” Eadaoin replied with a sigh “it’s due to come at 5AM then after they’ve left we’re going to go to Paolo’s for breakfast before heading to the office. Cally doesn’t start work til three in the afternoon so once we’ve finished at the office and cop shop he’s going to come car shopping with me.”

“What are you looking to get?” Daniel asked “if you go to the MTC I could probably hook you up with an employee discount.”

Eadaoin laughed.

“Thanks for the offer but I think I’ll stick to driving yours for the time being,” she said “nah I’m going to get a Range Rover one of the fancy ones, even with an employee discount I can’t afford a McLaren. I’ve had a bit of luck with my investments late so I’m going to get my dream sensible car.”

“Dream sensible car?” Daniel asked in amusement.

“Yeah everyone in the world wants three types of car a dick extension dream car, sensible dream car and an actual sensible dream car. My dick extension car is the S90 Ferrari Spider, my luxury sensible dream car is a Range Rover and my sensible dream car is a Land Cruiser.”

“Might have to get you the first one as a present,” Daniel said with a chuckle “Christmas is coming up.”

“Don’t buy me a Ferrari you dick,” Eadaoin said in amusement “I don’t need a Ferrari.”

“I could buy myself one an you could just drive it more than me,” Daniel wheedled.

“I’ll let you rent me one for a week, will that keep you happy?” Eadaoin asked in amused exasperation “crazy man.”

“I suppose that’ll do.”

*******************************************************************************************

Early the following morning Eadaoin rose before the sun and began getting ready to see her parents off at Heathrow for their return to Australia. She shucked on one of Daniel’s oversized hoodies, brushed her hair into a high ponytail then made her way downstairs. Cahir was already in the kitchen and had the coffee machine going.

“It’s going to be too quiet here when Mum and Dad go home,” Eadaoin said with a sigh “I’ve kinds missed living in a busy house.”

“Yeah it’s been good aye?” Cahir replied “ah well only another five weeks and they’ll be back, and only another three and you and Danny will shack up together and you’ll have someone around.”

“Yeah for the Winter break,” Eadaoin said “then pre-season starts and he’s off travelling the world again.”

“You’ll be able to travel with him a bit more though,” Cahir said spooning sugar into the mugs in front of him “especially to the GP’s in Europe.”

“Well I’ve already put in for some time off to go to Albert Park,” Eadaoin revealed “there’s two weeks between Saudi and Melbourne and I know Danny plans on flying home to spend some time at the farm and I figured if I took the time off with him I could go to Saudi then to Oz and visit Joe and Grace and Mum and Dad in the same period.”

“You’d be super popular if you ended up doing that,” Cahir said with a snort “especially with all your old law school mates.”

“Yeah I s’pose,” Eadaoin said with a sigh “m’bit apprehensive about going home though, I mean the last time I was there I had my heart broken very publicly and had a really shitty time of it.”

“I know you did,” Cahir said sympathetically “but you’ve grown and are in a much better place now and people will see that. You waltz into town with Danny on your arm and everyone will hear about it including you know who and they’ll be jealous as fuck and that sister dear is the best revenge.”

“What’s the best revenge?” Donna asked as he appeared in the doorway hauling two suitcases.

“Eadie going back home to see all her old law school mates with Danny on her arm,” Cahir replied with a grin “all her good law school mates that is.”

“Well maybe letting you know who see you back home with Danny on your arm wouldn’t hurt either sweetheart,” Donnacha said “you know Adelaide’s a small town compared to the rest of the mainland Australia capital cities, you come home looking like the wife of a world class sportsman and it’ll piss off all the right people.”

“Yeah but I’m not the wife of a world class sportsman....” Eadaoin pointed out.

“Eh whether you are or not is irrelevant,” Cahir piped up “it’s all about the look and swagger.”

“Oh my god you two are terrible!” Eadaoin exclaimed with a snort of laughter “you two seriously want me to turn up back in Adelaide looking like one of those rich Monaco bitches just to get revenge on Eamon and Louise?”

“Yeah because the fuck look what I missed out on look on that fuckwit’s face would be so worth it!” Cahir replied with a cackle “turn up with all the designer shit you own on and I can guarantee you word will spread.”

“I literally only own a LV handbag, purse and a pair of Prada sunnies,” Eadaoin pointed out “word would spread if that’s all I arrived home in.”

“Might be worth going out and spoiling yourself in a few boutiques in Monaco before you do come home,” Donnacha suggested.

“Oh come on Dad I am not going to drop the equivalent of a month’s salary on designer shit just to make my ex jealous!” Eadaoin exclaimed in exasperation “sometimes the best revenge is not to give a shit what the other person thinks.”

“Ugh you’re no fun!” Cahir groused.

“Your sister is plenty of fun!” Roisin said as she arrived with her own suitcases.

“So you heard all that then?” Eadaoin asked in amusement.

“Bits of it.”

“I was telling Cally I’ve put in for some time off work around the Saudi and Aussie GP’s and that if it’s good with Danny I’d come with him and spend some time in Perth with his parents then go to Melbourne via Adelaide to visit you and Dad and Cally reckons I should turn up dripping in designer gear on Danny’s arm just to make Eamon and Louise jealous.”

“Just turning up on Danny’s arm would do that wouldn’t it?” Roisin questioned.

“Eh that’d make Louise jealous, Eamon wouldn’t give a shit.”

“He would to know you’ve moved on,” Roisin suggested “last I heard he hadn’t and had gone through half a dozen girls since you two broke up.”

“Okay how about this.....” Eadaoin began “I’ll turn up in Adelaide with Danny and go visit all the people I’m still friends with and if I just so happen to run into Eamon or Louise I’ll say hi okay?”

“That’s the best we’re going to get isn’t it?” Cahir asked in exasperation.

“Yup!”

An hour later, freshly caffeinated the Uber arrived and transported Donnacha, Roisin, Eadaoin and Cahir to Heathrow airport arriving just as the sun began to rise.

“I wish we could come through to the gate with you,” Eadaoin told her father sadly as they gathered in the furthest corner of the airport the public could go without a boarding pass and passport.

“Don’t worry kiddo we’ll be alright,” Donna informed his teary daughter as he hugged her tightly “only a few more weeks and we’ll be back for Christmas and to see you new place. Work hard and stay safe alright?”

“And keep your brother in line,” Roisin said with a chuckle as she hugged her daughter next.

“Oi I resent that!” Cahir exclaimed “I don’t need supervision! I’m a grown arse man!”

“Then act like it ya dick,” Eadaoin teased.

“Oh shut up.”

“You two look after each other,” Roisin instructed her children in a thick voice “keep us updated on everything and we’ll text you when we get to Dubai and ring you when we get home alright? Give our love to Danny.”

“I’ll make sure to send him hugs and kisses,” Cahir said in amusement “Eadie can send the more pornographic stuff.”

“Idiot!”

With one last hug Donnacha and Roisin turned and with a wave made their way through security and into the bustling crowd.

“Well that was a fun couple of weeks” Eadaoin said with a sigh.

“Yeah, now its time to get back to reality,” Cahir replied “c’mon sad sack, my shout for breakfast then let’s go car shopping yeah?”

“You got it!”

#Daniel Ricciardo FanFiction

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gayregis · 5 years ago

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wacky and definitely incorrect idea but,,,they killed off renfri in TWN because she'd take one look at duny and be like "ok thats a predator" (pavetta is 15?!?!)and unlike Netflix!geralt (who's very busy being mean and grunting and not talking to anyone)she'd actually get rid of him(Throw HIM off a ship, etc) before he had the opportunity to plot pavetta's murder an creepily gaze at ciri/ciri's potential for immense power

netflix nerfed themselves by controversially introducing a clear protagonist (Renfri) who's interesting and likeable and complex with a strong definable goal (revenge) and then immediately killing her off in favor of following the static antagonist (Netflix!Geralt) for the rest of the season. like interesting stylistic choice! I especially liked how they had him carry around her broach like a trophy!!! Totally not creepy to take something from the 18 yr old he could have avoided killing

uhhhhh i understand this take coming from solely the netflix show and seeing the witcher as a continuous story that’s like a bunch of episodes that fade into one another, but yeah, its a “wacky and definitely incorrect idea.”

renfri continuing to be a character in the rest of the series wouldn’t make sense for a number of reasons. to begin with, she is confined to her own story. understand that these are short stories that are meant to stand on their own to each have certain messages. the lesser evil and a question of price are different stories and renfri belongs to the lesser evil because to kill her was “the lesser evil.” she isn’t meant to be a character outside of this story because the short stories aren’t really meant to overlap. they each have their own specific cast of characters, setting(s), plot, and morals that define them. i think the best way to think of them are like fables or folk tales. if snow white suddenly showed up in another fairy tale, that wouldn’t make any sense. i’d be like, get out of here, this isn’t your story!

not to say that it wouldn’t be cool, i mean, i definitely think it would be cool if princess adda and vereena teamed up and kicked geralt’s ass back to kaedwen, but that would defeat the entire message of both of their stories.

in addition, i think you are misunderstanding renfri’s character (but this is just my opinion and interpretation of the lesser evil). renfri and stregobor are both bad people, they are both evil that geralt is forced to decide between. i see way too many netflix fans saying renfi is cool/hot/sexy/a good character solely because she is a woman that fights with a sword and kills people, when in the witcher there are many women that fight with swords and kill people and the fact that they are woman is not really something the witcher ever focuses on. i don’t think sapkowski thought of making “strong female characters” to impress an audience like lauren hissrich did, he wasn’t trying to appeal to a diverse demographic by having more diverse characters. thus, it’s not really any better when a woman has a sword than when a man has a sword in the witcher.

the sword is a burden. the sword kills, the sword is merciless. causing death with no feeling and no remorse is a bad thing, it is so horrific to geralt that it literally drove him to part with his daughter which he loved and adored and wanted desperately to raise, it drove him away from her because he was terrified that he would give this burden to her and thrust death and killing upon her. this is the message of the witcher, that to cause death is horrible. geralt was born into a profession that kills, he was raised and trained to kill, and he abhors this about himself, he loathes himself so viciously it annoys the absolute fuck out of anyone he’s around and they end up arguing with him that he needs to stop focusing on the fact that he’s a witcher and think about himself for himself. the fact of the matter is that

a woman with a sword killing people isn’t a revolutionary thing in the context of the witcher, it’s not intended to be a feminist statement or a “cool” or good thing to admire. in other pieces of media, it might be because that’s their messaging, but in the witcher, the gender of the swordwielder doesn’t matter, it’s about how they wield the sword. there are certainly badass women in the witcher that are cool and easily idealized and seen as role models because of how cool and powerful they are, but you have to understand why they are powerful. renfri has turned to banditry because she was scorned from her royal inheritance, she feels cheated by fate. she is hateful towards her past and has no reason to adhere to peace, she is blinded by revenge.

revenge is a very powerful and encompassing theme of the witcher. renfri is only one taste of it. revenge consumes another princess that later picks up the sword and turns to banditry out of desperation for something to rely upon and the feeling that she has been cheated by fate. she kills blindly because she is in pain. this is tragedy. this is sadness, cutting down innocents out of one’s own vicious pain is not an act to admire.

but on TV, “a girl has a sword” is such an incredibly revolutionary statement because everyone is starved for such a thing that they all become immediately thirsty to see more of this girl, more of her actions, even when she is not meant to be an ideal, not meant to be seen as something to emulate.

i think of the scene in baptism of fire when the rats arrive and begin to kill mercilessly, ciri runs men down. she ends up sparing one of the men, who saw such hatred and fury and pain in her eyes. when he returns home, he finds his own daughter trying to dress up like ciri, wearing her mother’s scarf tied around her neck and a stick tied to her back like a sword, because she thinks ciri falka and the rest of the rats are powerful and beautiful and wants to be like them, even when the girl she is dressed up as came a hair’s width close to slaying her father mercilessly in the street.

renfri is not a protagonist by any means. she is literally the antagonist of her own story. she’s a tragic character, her life was lost long before she gave geralt her ultimatum.

i think what is important to keep in mind here is that these were meant to be adaptations of books. books that were published 30 years ago. if lauren hissrich and the rest of the team had done their jobs correctly and successfully, they would have abided by what was written and not written their own fanfiction which detracted massively from the themes and meaning of what was written. i understand that you dislike netflix geralt (who doesn’t?) but had they actually stuck to the books which they were meant to be adapting, you would likely like him. he doesn’t waste his time grunting instead of speaking. but netflix didn’t “nerf themselves” by killing off renfri... that’s literally what happens in the books that they are adapting, and in the books it happens for a clearer reason driven by themes and messages that the story conveys to you (not just flashy gore).

i also understand wanting to kill duny because he is a 30 yo engaged to a 15 yo pavetta, but that is more of sapkowski’s effect on the story as he treats this and other situations of dating 15 yo girls completely normalized within the fantasy society he has created, which is his fault as an author and not a character flaw of the characters in-universe. they didn’t have a choice for that to be normalized in their society, they’re characters. it’s wrong, but you can retcon it if you choose. also i think the idea of killing duny is just amusing because if you kill him, you would not get the massacre of cintra, you would not get cahir, you would not get rience, stefan skellen, vilgefortz and thus leo bonhart, schirru and thus nightingale and fulko artevelde and angouleme, there would be no stygga, there would be no lodge of sorceresses, there would also likely be no thanedd coup. the entire conflict of the entire series would just be gone. so interesting idea but it wouldn’t make sense at all and would defeat the entire story

#like idk i guess you can have fun with this AU in your head but this isnt the kind of storyrevisionism that i like for the witcher #ask #anon #renfri #the witcher #the witcher netflix

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hamliet · 5 years ago

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Girls Don’t Want Boys, Girls Want Monsters: Netflix’s The Witcher Review

Finally, the show we deserve.

Men get all their superhero power fantasies of kicking villain ass. Finally there’s a story that has that and includes women’s emotional power fantasies about falling in love with monsters who change. It doesn’t treat either as ridiculous or limited by gender, either, since Geralt falls for a monster too and women get to kick ass as well.

Essentially, it’s a story about defeating monsters: often through integration with the shadow, sometimes involving love and connection, sometimes violence, but the violence is never glorified. It’s good.

NB: I’m in the middle of reading the books (in the middle of Blood of Elves so far). I haven’t played the game since video games aren’t really a medium I enjoy. So I’ll make some comparisons since the show covered the two books I’ve read thus far, but please don’t put spoilers for the books below!

Let’s talk my favorite aspect of every story: characters.

Renfri.

Her story was somewhat sanitized from the books (it’s a lot more brutal what happened to Renfri) but well adapted. Both versions--the book and show--depict sincere empathy for our deconstructed Snow White. I loved her dialogue with Geralt, in which Geralt praises her for escaping the huntsman her stepmother hired to kill her, and she laughs and says that she didn’t. He let her go, but not before raping and robbing her. The story never directly answers if the prophecy was true or not; Geralt doesn’t believe it, but a lot of things Geralt doubts turn out to be true. Renfri was supposedly attacking animals as a child; however, the person reporting that is highly unlikely to be unbiased (Stregobor) so is this even true? Did Renfri become a killer because she was horribly abused and left with no other option? (That’s the option that I think seems most likely.)

We can’t know. The Witcher isn’t interested in giving its audience palatable answers. It’s interested in provoking questions. The show gives more answers than do the books, again likely due to the medium, but it still lets these questions linger.

Renfri’s story is not the first one in the books, but it is the first one the show adapts, and that’s a good decision imo. Her story embodies The Witcher’s themes and questions:

By acting the monster, we make monsters out of others.

To defeat monsters, you must be a monster.

What, then, can heal, especially in a world so broken?

Ciri.

Our deconstructed Rapunzel (yes, there are a lot of fairy tale references). As far as her story goes in its adaptation, the addition of Dara was well done. Sadly, no, Dara is not in the books, but his addition gave Ciri an arc beyond merely running in this story.

That said, Ciri in the books is much younger than she is in the show. Which is okay, because Ciri is somewhat emblematic of the future: there’s a lot unknown about her powers, she needs to be protected from everyone trying to grab her and use her powers for themselves. She is Geralt’s destiny, and she is the future of the world of The Witcher.

NB: I can’t discuss Ciri without shouting out to the casting director for casting Pavetta: how did they find an actress who looks so much like Ciri’s actress? It’s almost eerie.

The episode where Geralt finds out about the Law of Surprise and his reaction to Pavetta’s pregnancy is perhaps the only story that I felt was better in the show than in the books (again, this isn’t inherently a quality thing but a medium preference). It added some much-needed hilarity (Geralt’s perfectly-timed “destiny can go f--” *Pavetta vomits* and all he can say is, “fuck”) and gave Geralt an arc.

Geralt.

Mm.

I liked how they handled his character and his struggles with what it means to be a Witcher and/or human. His struggles to understand himself are relatable, and fairly well set-up for future exploration. He’s a foil of Ciri, Yennefer, Jaskier, and Cahir so far, and I’m particularly intrigued by the monster theme and the foiling that is already set up thus with all of the above except Jaskier (who is no monster). Geralt was skeptical about saving the striga for her father, but managed to succeed, and I wonder if he will somehow be able to save himself from his own inner fears/monster by being a father. (Basically, I am curious as to how being Ciri’s de factor dad is going to challenge him.)

Jaskier.

Or, Dandelion, as he’s known in the books. The bard adds some much needed levity to the tale, and as @aspoonofsugar says, he’s pretty much Donkey from Shrek. But he is used fairly well within the story: he shows Geralt even before Ciri and Yennefer enter his life that he has a purpose beyond being a killing machine. In that sense he’s the foil of Renfri (Renfri accomplishes the same, but through violence) in that Geralt saves him and he clearly thinks highly of the Witcher. Jaskier is in some ways humanity in all its paradoxes and foibles, annoying and stupid, kind and clever, funny and truthful, deceptive and respectful.

Cahir.

I’m a sucker for ravens as part of an aesthetic, as well as pretty, tormented bad boys. Yes, I know he’s a character I’m sure will arouse much handwringing and puritanical policing a la his other archetype brothers (Loki, Kylo Ren, Snape, etc). I don’t care. I do think the show made him much darker when compared to the books, but I still expect his arc to go in the same direction as the books. He’s a complicated, conflicted, complex character, and I’m not sorry for feeling empathy for him.

But I am curious about his foiling with Geralt. Both are characters seeking Ciri to fulfill... something, and monstrous in a way (Cahir more for what he does, but there’s a humanity to him as well).

Yennefer.

Finally, my favorite, my baby murder daughter.

Yennefer’s character was fascinating. I appreciated that she’s allowed to want deeply, her own wants, instead of attaching her wants to be whatever the male character desires. She wants to have children. She wants love. She wants to be beautiful. Her desires are traditionally feminine, and the show doesn’t put this down. And she also kicks ass and takes names, she fails, she’s allowed to be angry, to be mean often, to want to learn and to want to be the best.

The show doesn’t punish Yennefer for her ambition. Neither do the books. She experiences consequences, both positive and negative, for her every choice. The show reveals her backstory right away, whereas the books don’t, but again that’s a medium thing. I think both do excellently in setting up Yennefer for our empathy. It doesn’t apologize for her or her wants or actions; it lets her arc and the story itself do the talking.

Yennefer’s not here to be your cautionary tale or your role model. She’s just there to be her and to live.

That is, to an extent, perhaps the best kind of role model.

That doesn’t mean the show did everything in Yennefer’s story justice. I wasn’t thrilled with the adaptation of her first meeting with Geralt--the orgy in the background isn’t in the books and is a very bizarre decision given context. While, I loved Tissaia’s character and her foiling with Yennefer: they are too alike to ever get along, I really didn’t understand the point of Tissaia turning the other girls into slugs in episode 2. It was unsettling and not in the books. It was a heavy-handed metaphor not explained until episode 7 (about treating people as expendable slugs) that didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about how the world and Dark!Hogwarts worked. If anything it made the school seem foolishly cackling-mustache evil instead of the true current of darkness within it: manipulation and utilitarianism. As part of effort to control things, that control itself can lead to chaos.

I think the rest of the series set this precise dilemma of a precarious balance between self-control and manipulation/utilitarianism quite well, though (it goes hand-in-hand with the theme of a “lesser evil” to quote Renfri’s story). I’m excited to see this explored more.

Other comments:

When comparing the show to the books as I’ve read so far, I think the show made some smart changes for adapting to a visual medium. For example, Foltest and Adda’s story was adapted as a mystery: what is the monster? Who is the father? Who is the curser? Can the monster be saved? Whereas the book doesn’t do that: you know immediately that the monster is a striga, Foltest is the father, and he wants the striga saved. The answer to who cursed Adda is never clear in the written story either, whereas the show declares it was Ostrit (the book leaves it very much up in the air as to whether it was Ostrit or Adda’s mother). However, the way this particular episode weaves Adda’s story of rebirth with Yennefer’s rebirth was beautifully done. (Foltest is a good dad. We need more good dads in stories; of course, if we had more good dads, we’d have far less stories.) (I’m jesting.)

The dialogue is at times... well it’s not like it’s The Rise of Skywalker levels of “who wrote this???” but it’s not always stellar. Actually, I’d say the quality tends to swing wildly about between clever (episode 4) and just confusing (episode 5). But in general, I think the dialogue issue is representative of the show’s largest issue: it struggles to know when to trust its audience. When should it give details? When should it trust them? When is it spoonfeeding, and when is it just confusing? It tries to walk a fine line and stumbles a bit. It succeeds, however, with the characters as I mentioned earlier with Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri.

My advice for the show going forward (not that they should definitely listen to me) is to forget Game of Thrones. It’s pretty obvious that this show is a passion project made by people who love The Witcher. I really hope they lean into that aspect instead of into the GoT-replacement aspect (because there are definitely aspects of that, particularly in the mood/aesthetic, tone, and gratuitous nudity--which is not exploitative or disturbing, but it also wasn’t necessary, isn’t in the books, and so felt like pandering).

However, the sheer love for the material still really shines through. They made me care for the characters, they interested me in the world, and they have me hooked for season 2. The showrunners’ excitement for the story and adoration of its characters is contagious, and I hope the show lets this excitement spread.

#the witcher #netflix's the witcher #geralt of rivia #yennefer of vengerberg #cahir #ciri #princess cirilla #hamliet reviews #jaskier #renfri

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gotarcher94 · 6 years ago

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The Witcher

So I’ve watched the first season of the Witcher on Netflix and all I can say is holy motherfucking shit. That was a good season.

I wanted to jot down a few things that I liked about the season, bearing in mind that I haven’t yet read the books and have only played the Witcher 2 and 3. I will be using spoilers so consider this a spoiler warning.

(Also this will be a long post)

OK? OK

Henry Cavill

When Henry was announced I gotta admit I had some doubts over the casting. Not because I don’t rate him as an actor but I just couldn't picture him as Geralt. My personal pick was Zach McGowan, known for playing Charles Vane in Black Sails. He had the gruff voice, he looked like the game version of Geralt, and he even had similar hair. Just dye it white and he was good.

But having seen the show... I recant every syllable of my foolishness.

Henry Cavill is perfect as Geralt. He perfectly embodies the White Wolf. From his sarcastic sense of humour, to the subtle emotion on his face to the conflict he has while making the decisions he does. Absolutely perfect casting.

Anya Chalotra

Speaking of perfect casting, Anya is an incredible Yennefer of Vengerberg. Like Henry she perfectly embodies Yennefer. Anya plays the evolution of Yen superbly, from her beaten down and almost broken early days to the immensely powerful and confident sorceress she becomes later, she performs both absolutely perfectly.

And to all those who say that Anya is wrong to play Yennefer because she doesn’t “look like her”.... I cannot say shut the hell up loud enough. She was incredible and deserves all the accolades that should be sent her way.

Freya Allan

And rounding out the three main characters, the show is three for three in terms of perfect casting. I loved her independent and driven nature, continuing to keep going on despite all the trouble going her way despite only been about 11 or 12 (i think, not 100%). Her strong bond with both Queen Calanthe and Mousesack is evident, despite the relative lack of screentime devoted to it. I can’t wait to see how both the character and actress evolves over the (hopefully) seasons to come.

Geralt and Ciri

I loved the “the girl in the woods will be with you always” transition in the first episode, that eventually came full circle in the finale with the two finally meeting (with the run and hug scene!). Having seen their bond fully established in the games (I know they aren’t canon) I cant wait to see it develop on screen

Queen Calanthe

Is a badass. End of story. Ruling a kingdom, fighting at the front of every battle, effectively flipping off destiny and law of Surprise and being an incredible role model for Ciri. Absolute awesome character and Jodhi May did such an incredible job playing her.

Yennefer’s backstory

As a game only fan in terms of knowing much about the characters when I went into this season, my knowledge of Yen’s backstory was pretty much nonexistent, as I can’t remember it even being mentioned in the two games I played (of which Yen was only physically present for one). However, the show delved deep into it, and I’m glad they did. It simultaneously made us empathise fully with Yennefer but also established the basis for her desire to grow stronger and be in control of her own destiny and future, and why she was then so frustrated being in the mire of courtly intrigue, not able to grow higher.

The Yennefer and Tissaia dynamic

One of the most unexpected but welcome events of the show was the dynamic that they two shared. It was not the typical mentor and apprentice relationship and I appreciated the change from the norm. From Tissaia’s initial attempts to bring Yennefer to heel before eventually being the one to tell Yennefer to unleash her chaos during the battle at Sodden was great.

The striga episode

I mean..... just wow. As soon as they mentioned Temeria I had a feeling that it would be the striga, as it was one of the few things that I knew about from the books. And holy shit they did not disappoint. From the investigation aspect, to the fight scene, to the music. It was incredible episode and one that I cannot wait to get back to when I re-watch the series

Battle of Sodden

The main focus of the incredible finale. I had heard of the Battle of Sodden during the games but to see it was something else. A great battle scene combined great fights, solid battle plans and incredibly cool magical skills. And also,during the night scenes, you could actually see what the fuck was happening. See GoT! It isn't hard!!

Vilgevortz

As soon as his name was revealed in the episode, I’m not gonna lie but i may have gone full fanboy. I know a little from what was mentioned in the books and have read a little from other sources about his story in the books and was immensely excited when he showed up. And I cannot wait to see his story unfold on the show and see him interact more with Yennefer and meet Geralt and Ciri.

Jaskier

From what I know, calling him Jaskier (his original name in the Polish stories) instead of the English name of Dandelion was one of the problems people had with the show. And I have to ask... does it really matter? He still acts like him, talks like him, annoys Geralt like him. He is the same character, the showrunners are just honouring his roots.

And he brought some comic relief to the series in just the right ways, especially in the djinn and dragon hunt episodes. Joey Batey was great.

Music and Cinematography

Both of them were absolutely fantastic. Every episode looked and sounded phenomenal. I’ve been listening to a few tracks from the soundtrack that have made it onto YouTube on repeat for a while, most notably “Toss a Coin to your Witcher”. However, one track that I really liked but haven't been able to find is the battle theme from the striga fight. If anyone could send me a link to it, I would be incredibly grateful

Fight choreography

All of the fights this season were absolutely fantastic. Both the human fights and the monster battles. Geralt and Duny vs the Cintrian soldiers, Vilgevortz vs Cahir and (my personal favourites) Geralt vs Renfri and her gang from episode 1. All of them superb and I couldn't have asked for more from the fight scenes.

Magic

I really like the magic system they set up in this series. Not only is it incredibly diverse (with the finale alone showing us Vilgevortz constantly creating swords, Triss making poison mushrooms grow beneath the feet of the army and Coral wiping out a whole section of the Nilgaardian army) but I really like the idea that it isn't just them tapping into a great power, that there can be a great cost to performing these spells. Not something that a lot of fantasy series do.

Cahir

He was a great antagonist throughout the season and again I know little in specifics about him but I know that he is important to Ciri’s story, so I am looking forward to seeing that develop further.

Geralt and Visenna

I loved the scene of the two of them in the finale, even if it proved to only be a dream/hallucination. The “How do you like my eyes?” line legit gave me chills. Incredible acting by Henry there

Geralt and Yennefer (Yenneralt?, I think certain parts of the fandom have settled upon)

Now, as a game only fan prior to this, my exposure to the relationship between the two of them was limited, as the games only touched upon it in the Witcher 3. Before then it was told that Geralt and Yennefer had an epic love but it was very much tell and don’t show, as Yennefer didn't appear in person until the Witcher 3 and by then CDPR had developed the Geralt and Triss romance story in the Witcher 2. And I’m not gonna lie, I was fully into their romance during my playthroughs. Not that I didn't like Yennefer but I just didn't have the same basis into their bond that the book fans did.

After Season 1, however, I am fully onto the Geralt and Yennefer ship, having seen it develop as it did.

Methinks it may be time for another playthrough, as well as buying the books.

Things I’m looking forward to seeing on the show in the future

1. Yennefer and Ciri meeting

2. Seeing Geralt and Ciri bonding more, with some time together at Kaer Morhen

3. Thanedd Island (eventually)

4. Zoltan!

5. Regis!

6. Vesemir!

#the witcher #witcher spoilers #henry cavill #anya chalotra #freya allan

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mikebrassil-blog1 · 8 years ago

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Stefan Greenberg takes Irish Students Amateur Open

Ulster man Greenberg wins in photo finish

Ulster University’s Stefan Greenberg blitzed the back nine to clinch his first championship, the Irish Students Amateur Open in Bray, by a single stroke. Home in a four-under 32, Greenberg with rounds of 68, 69 and 67 for 214 edged past a spirited challenge from Maynooth’s Ronan Mullarney who signed for 68, 70 and 67.

When the Galway man rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a closing 67 to post a five-under clubhouse target of 205, he led Greenberg by one, but the Tandragee man replied with an eagle three at the 15th to take a one-shot lead.

A par four at the 17th left Greenberg needing a par five at the last, and he duly delivered, finding the putting surface in three and two-putting, holing a nerve-testing three-footer to secure victory.

Maynooth’s Mary Doyle with rounds of 74, 72 and 70 for 216 raced home in the Women’s event, five shots clear of her college team-mate Ciara Casey (73, 77, 71 for 221), while Maynooth Scholars (b) clinched the team title by one shot on 413 from Maynooth Scholars (a).

Europe best in Jacques Léglise Trophy

The Continent of Europe won the Jacques Léglise Trophy for a second successive year by defeating Britain and Ireland 15½-9½ at Ballybunion Golf Club. It is the 12th time The Continent of Europe has won the Jacques Léglise Trophy since the boys international match between the two teams was rejuvenated in 1977. B and I have won the Jacques Léglise Trophy on 28 occasions.

Leading their opponents 6½-5½ at the start of the second day, the morning foursomes were tied 2-2 to give the Continent of Europe a single point advantage at 8½-7½ going into this afternoon’s singles matches.

2017 Boys Amateur champion Pedro Lencart Silva extended the visitors’ lead to two points after securing an impressive 5 and 4 victory over B and I captain Mark Power from Kilkenny. A superb eagle three on the par five fifth gave the 2016 Junior Open winner a one hole advantage which he extended on the sixth with a birdie to go two up.

Despite bogeying the seventh, the Portuguese won a third consecutive hole after Power could only make double bogey and he was four up by the turn after winning the eighth.

Lencart Silva picked up another hole on the 13th to move five up and he closed out the match on the 14th after matching Power’s par to halve the hole.

Eduard Rousaud Sabate chalked up another notable win for the Continent of Europe with a 6 and 4 victory against Luke Harries. Sabate’s compatriot Alejandro Aguilera edged the Continent of Europe to within a point of retaining the trophy at 11½-7½ after defeating Darren Howie from Peebles by 6 and 5.

Debutant Robin Williams collected B and I’s first point of the singles after the 15-year-old secured a two hole win against Sweden’s David Nyfjall to reduce the deficit to 11½-8½.

However, the joy was short-lived for the home side and Norwegian Markus Braadlie ensured the Continent of Europe would retain the Jacques Léglise Trophy after beating Thomas Plumb 4 and 3 to reach the vital 12½ point mark.

The outright win was confirmed shortly after by Matias Honkala after the Finn put the Continent of Europe 13½-8½ up courtesy of an excellent 3 and 2 win against Alex Fitzpatrick.

Rasmus Hojgaard notched up the Continent of Europe’s sixth point of the afternoon singles to nudge his side further ahead at 14½-8½. The Dane produced a two holes triumph in his match against Ben Jones after winning the 17th and 18th.

The 2016 Boys Amateur champion Falko Hanisch defeated Toby Briggs 3 and 2 to increase the Continent of Europe’s lead to 15½-8½. The German won three holes in a row from the 13th and the match finished on the 16th after both players made birdie to halve the hole.

Charlie Strickland salvaged some pride for B and I by beating Adrien Dumont de Chassart 3 and 1 to make the final score 15½-9½ in favour of the Continentals.

Athenry win Fred Daly Trophy

David Kitt might have lost the AIG Irish Amateur Close final the previous week but he was smiling again last week when he helped Athenry win the All Ireland Fred Daly Trophy at Bray Golf Club.

The 17-year-old had a 7 and 6 win over Muskerry’s Sean Geary in Athenry’s 4½-½ semi-final win. And while he lost his match in the final, falling by one hole to Kyle Patton, the Galway side beat Lisburn 3½-1½ to lift the trophy.

Aaron Marshall, Patton and Jack Shellard all won comfortably as Lisburn cruised to a 4-1 over Leinster champions Dundalk in their semi-final.

But Athenry were worthy winners in the final. While Kitt lost, Alan Hill beat Marshall and Cillian Lawless beat Joshua Robinson to make it 2-1 before anchor man Sean O’Connell clinched the winning point with a 4 and 3 win over Mark Stewart.

Tour School for 17 Irish

Amateurs Stuart Grehan, Conor O’Rourke, John Ross Galbraith, Colin Fairweather and Robin Dawson are among the 17 Irish golfers entered for the First Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School.

Dawson is entered at three venues - Ribagolfe in Portugal, Golf Club Bogogno in Italy and Golf d’Hardelot in France - as he awaits his final designation. Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney is at Flesensee from September 12th-15th with Galbraith at the Roxburghe in Scotland with Mark Whelan and Headfort’s Joe Dillon.

O’Rourke, who is first reserve for the Walker Cup and will turn professional immediately afterwards, goes at Frilford Heath from October 3rd-6th with Grehan, Fairweather, Kevin LeBlanc, Brian McElhinney, Dermot McElroy and Chris Selfridge.

Brian Casey and Peter Williamson are at Stoke by Nayland from September 19th-22nd while Mount Juliet’s Kevin Phelan, Narin and Portnoo’s Brendan McCarroll and David Carey at Ribagolfe in Portugal from September 26th-29th.

Limerick’s Tim Rice and Monkstown’s Cian McNamara are entered at Golf d’Hardelot in France from September 26-29. Mount Juliet’s Stephen Grant is also entered at both the French and Italian venues.

Smith claims Under-16 title

Adam Smith made it a week to remember at Rockmount as the Mullingar teenager won the Irish Under-16 Boys Championship with two shots to spare.

Smith completed a sweet success with rounds of 69, 74 and 73 to finish the tournament on level par, two clear of Slieve Russell’s Odhran Maguire. Joseph Byrne (Baltinglass) and Max Kennedy (The Royal Dublin) were tied for third on four over with Byrne clinching the prize for leading under-15 player.

However, the week belonged to Smith. Level with Maguire going into the final round, the pair began the day at minus one but Smith put down a marker early with four birdies in his first six holes.

Both players began with a birdie but Maguire could not keep pace with Smith on the front nine, who raced to the turn in 34 (-3). A run of three successive bogeys threatened to derail his title charge, and with six holes remaining Smith and Maguire were locked together at the top of the leaderboard.

Just as Maguire started to stumble, Smith regained his composure, making four straight pars, which eased his concerns. And even when his drive went awry at the last, Smith produced the shot of a champion, and sent a stunning iron shot soaring over the trees and onto the putting surface for a two-putt par that sealed the victory.

Cork pair win the Australian Spoons

Despite wet and heavy conditions the Cork pairing of Claire Coughlan Ryan and Oonagh Barry were a model of consistency with 19 points on both the front and extremely tricky back nine at Co Longford Golf Club in a round that had birdies at the par three eighth and par four 15th.

In second place on 36 points were Cristina Rush (19) and Hannah Grant (20) from Claremorris with Caroline Delaney (21) and Mary Dolan (30) from Mountbellew taking third place from Carmel Mullan (33) and Maura Ryan (25) from Elm Park after both pairs finished on 35 points. Last year’s winners Helen Jones and Vivienne Houston (Royal Portrush) won the best gross with 30 points.

Killeen bring home the Metropolitan Trophy for the second time

In the second leg of the Metropolitan Trophy Final at Hollystown Golf Club Killeen Golf Club defeated Hollystown to bring the trophy back to the club.

This was Killeen’s second Leinster Pennant in two years in the Metropolitan Trophy following their victory over Clontarf in 2016. Hollystown, no strangers to victory, had previously taken the title in 2015.

With the upper hand following a 6-3 lead after the first leg, Killeen quickly got a point on the board when Paul Magee won the top match by 2 and 1 against Keith Coffey. Hollystown fought back with wins in the second and third matches but Killeen were too strong, eventually winning by 5½ -3½ for an overall score of 11½ - 6½.

McGeady makes it two wins in a row at Cairndhu Pro-Am

Michael McGeady made it back-to-back successes on the PGA in Ireland circuit with victory in the 36-hole Cairndhu Pro-Am. Trailing by two shots as the final round got underway, McGeady fired a three under par 67 to top the leaderboard on five under par 135 at the Co. Antrim venue. Overnight leader Colm Moriarty (Drive Golf Performance) shot rounds of 66 and 70 and David Higgins (Waterville Links) with scores of 70 and 66 shared second place on 136.

The team event was won by Richard Kilpatrick (Banbridge) and his amateur partners, Paul Steinson, Stephen Watts and Hugh Logue with 175 points.

Mountbellew chase All-Ireland treble

Mountbellew are in line for an All-Ireland treble at Malone GC later this month after winning the Connacht finals of the Intermediate, Minor and Challenge Cups over the weekend, Shandon Park won two of the six Ulster titles - making it through in the Intermediate and Junior Foursomes.

Killarney will be hoping to add to their first All-Ireland Senior Cup title after they qualified for the Senior Foursomes decider.

Qualifiers: Junior Cup: Athenry, Stackstown, Royal Curragh, Limerick and Lurgan. Intermediate Cup: Mountbellew, Carton House, Wicklow Cahir Park and Shadon Park. Minor Cup: Mountbellew, Headfort, Wexford, Lee Valley and Donaghadee. Challenge Cup: Mountbellew, Malahide, Courtown, Doneraile and Royal Belfast. Senior Foursomes: Roscommon, Lucan, Carlow, Killarney and Lurgan. Junior Foursomes: Portumna, Woodbrook, The Heath, Ballykisteen and Shandon Park.

Mon, Sep 4, 2017, 10:39By Shaly Keenan

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hanzajesthanza · 3 years ago

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Since you read both the books and played the games, I was wondering what you thought about the games making Zoltan Chivay a major character? Do you think it was a good decision?

(clarification that i’ve only played tw3, still though i’ve heard about tw and tw2 from my friends)

i think it was a good idea to make zoltan a character with a larger role. i’m definitely biased because baptism of fire is my favorite book, but it’s also not my favorite book just for no reason — it introduces some exceptionally strong characters in a very short span of pages, and zoltan is one of them.

the purpose zoltan serves when he’s introduced is that he is a model for geralt, as a leader of his own company and also geralt’s friend. geralt in baptism of fire is not a leader and does not want to be a leader, he wants to suffer alone in penance for his wrongdoings (see regis’ dialogue with geralt, chapter 5).

geralt, despite being surrounded by friends and potential allies, wants to manufacture loneliness as it’s easier for him to cope with and feel like he has control over, this is especially important because of his paranoia that he is a major target — which is only vaguely true, he doesn’t become hunted until a month into his journey, when vilgefortz sends schirrú after him in early september — this isn’t to say that geralt was in a cradle of safety, of course they were literally in a warzone, but that shunning friends due to the unsupported fear that they will betray him is not the wisest move.

zoltan and his company are the first “strangers to friends” that geralt encounters in the warzone — he already knew and trusted dandelion and milva very deeply — and so geralt is upset at first that dandelion told zoltan and the rest of his company about geralt, geralt’s own goals. however, this is how friendship works — you have to be honest and forthcoming with friends in order to reap any benefits. and it’s just what is done, too, because imagine travelling side by side with someone for a fortnight and they don’t even tell you where they’re going or where they came from.

dandelion’s decision to tell the dwarves (and percival) about their company proves to be a good one, as zoltan is from cintra and knew of little ciri… zoltan’s presence therefore demonstrates to geralt that it’s not only good to, but is wise to try and make friends when you have a reasonable amount of reason to trust them (and of course, the friendships with regis and cahir prove that it can be wise to make friends even when you don’t have a reasonable amount of reason to trust them).

the next point of why zoltan is important is his altruism. he explains to geralt that, “unbridled altruism is a huge vice of mine. i simply have to do good. i am a sensible dwarf, however, and know that i’m unable to do everyone good. were i attempt to be good to the entire world and to all the creatures living in it, it would be a drop of fresh water in the salt sea. in other words, a wasted effort. thus, i decided to do specific good, good which would not go to waste. i’m good to myself and my immediate circle.”

of course, this is a rule that can be bent, as we see he extended protection to not one but two groups of refugee women during his appearance in baptism of fire… zoltan is very compelled by his heart and wants to help the helpless, even when it puts him at a disadvantage. he is proof that, even within a cruel desolate warzone, even in the belly of hell, there are people that will look out for one another and defend the defenseless. even for no “thanks”, for little reciprocity. when the refugee women of kernow find their husbands in the camp, they do not thank zoltan and his company for sheltering them in their journey to the camp, only one girl has the mind to thank them. but in this moment is when geralt expects thanks, and zoltan does not. zoltan went into this knowing that he would not get a “thank you,” only bigoted statements from the human women. but that did not deter him from helping them, as it was the right thing to do.

however, zoltan is not a perfect saint. he and his company robbed a merchant near dillingen, he confesses, because they needed the money, but the robbery turned into battery and likely a murder. the guilt has been eating him alive ever since. like zoltan, geralt is not perfect, and has spilled the blood of many — so much so that the prophecy in ch 7 refers to him as “he who spills blood” who will “pay in blood.” geralt is reckoning with his identity as a witcher — a killer for hire, let’s not mince words about geralt’s code and refusals to engage in killing monsters, his job is to kill whether he lives up to it or not. and this is why the book is called baptism of fire — a moral absolvation of guilt from previous actions which can only be achieved through pain and suffering. the fire burns, but it also purges.

these are lessons about altruism and guilt that geralt needs to learn from in order to progress in his journey. because in the past two books, it has been hammered into us that neutrality is unacceptable. it is never ok to be neutral, “neutrality is always contemptible.” now that we’re at baptism of fire, the narrative asks, “what now?” the question the book tries to answer is how can one not remain neutral, while also remaining alive — because although you may want to act on every injustice you witness, it would soon throw self-preservation out the window, leaving you exhausted and with nothing, and those you help would soon not have any effect from your exhausted benevolence. geralt, like zoltan, has this inner moral compass that he desperately wants to follow, but is at a loss on how. he feels immense guilt for the loss of ciri, and needs to undergo a baptism of fire — a moral purging. as yennefer describes it, “he will get entangled in something, get lost, start philosophizing and feeling sorry for himself. then he’ll vent his rage, hacking whatever he can to pieces with his sword. afterwards, to atone for it, he’ll carry out some noble, but senseless feat. finally, he’ll be killed, foolishly, senselessly, probably by a stab in the back…”

zoltan impacts geralt so much that geralt responds, when zoltan asks geralt to remember him and the dwarven forges when he uses sihill: “you can be certain i will. you can be certain i’ll remember. in this rotten world, zoltan chivay, goodness, honesty, and integrity become deeply engraved in the memory.”

sidenote that “zoltan” is a spelling of sultan, i.e. a ruler, a king, and “regis” is the genitive declension of rex, latin for king or royal. geralt is helped by and inspired by two altruist, humanist kings in his journey. this is just a little bit interesting to me. if regis is the epitome of humanity, then zoltan is the epitome of altruism.

zoltan is a reminder to geralt of the good in the world and the need to do good. to me, the amount of impact he had upon geralt in such a short amount of time makes him necessary to bring back, if only as a reminder.

so for those reasons, to me, it’s a no-brainer as to why zoltan would have a larger role in an adaptation of the witcher world where the medium has become not a written story with only one predetermined end, but a playable story whose endings and outcomes depend on the player’s decisions and choices. zoltan’s presence is a reminder to do good and choose an altruistic option, while also being reasonable about how much good you can do.

#c: zoltan #zoltan chivay #ask #anon #the witcher books #book: baptism of fire

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witcherscreenshotsdump · 4 years ago

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Hi😊 I've been watching your creating Hanza's characters. It's a new and unique thing, brilliant idea! I've got a little dream: I was trying to customize a character in the hope of getting Pavetta. But I see - it's not exactly what I want. Clothes and body aren't big thing for Pavetta's character, it's possible to select the proper one, but face and hair - you know. If you'd just say how can I change face and hair like you did Hanza's characters.If you don't want to - it's okay, I'm sorry!

hi !! 😊��😊

Thank you ! have to say i love making ‘new’ characters for the game, so i’m happy to know you are enjoying to see the results ! :D

sure i can explain the process but understand that it won’t be a step by step detailled tutorial ( that would take a loooot of time )

i love seeing people making book characters or their own OCs in game 😋

basically, i take a npc face from the base game and edit the shape in Blender ( a random novigrad woman for Milva, one of the only young-ish not Michael Cera looking random male npc for Cahir, one of the only 3 male elves face for Iorveth and Angoulême is a very heavily edited Triss face )

then i edit some textures and i SUCK at making textures, lucky me the game is filled with good textures and most npcs have interchangeable face textures :,D

so i look through the game textures, selects the ones with parts that interest me ( lips,global face skin textures,eyebrows, makeup... i try to always keep the nose from the base model’s vanilla textures since more often than not the nostrils don’t align correctly ) and then i mash them all up in Photoshop to get my new texture 😂 ( you need to do that with all 3 textures map, diffuse,ambiant and normal )

then i import all those in Wolvenkit, I get the textures on my new model, create a new .w2ent ( just rename a pre-existing one, add your own paths to your own models to it and paste it wherever you want to store it ) for the new head or hair and THEN i make a separate swap mod to replace an existing character with my new creation

i’m still in the process of finding out how to add these new models to the doppler mod ( like i know how to do that in theory, but in doen’t work in practice lol, but i’ll figure it out )

i’m aware this is a very surface level view of the process, but as i said a step by step tutorial would take forever to do :’D and i just don’t have the time right now

i’ll point you to this post: https://tmblr.co/ZEJphWZ4HWZ7au00 for some already extracted faces and textures and a link to a good tutorial on how to deal with mesh modding ( i know the tutorial says it’s outdated but it’s still very helpful )

#twsd.txt #this is probably not as helpful as you wanted #sorry ^^'#the common women faces and textures are uploading right now #the men will come later #Anonymous

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hamliet · 5 years ago

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Hey I love your Witcher metas/fic and I just wanted to say I've been reading some comments about the stuff they've changed on the show and one of them is that they've made Cahir too bad/unredemable which made me think how the people who haven't read the books will view Ciri since she becomes a relaly dark character and who accoring to the author was meant to be evil and monster because almost veryone made her out to be one.(pt 1)

Also having recently finished the books the hansa are definitely the highlit to me in the later books don’t get me wrong Sapkowski is a great author but I just couldn’t find myself to care for Ciri’s SL post Time of Contempt her becomign dark had a lot of potential but the whole Rats and after that verged on torture pron almost especially since she was only 13-14 Yennfier also desrved better than being a frozen statue and then tortured until she’s aved but again that’s my opinion.

Hello! Eeeeep, thank you for reading my metas!

You bring up so many interesting topics! Do you mind if I blabber a bit about… well, all of them? :P

I’ll get to Cahir last, because I have more to say about him.

So this is purely a taste thing, but I hella loved Dark!Ciri. She wasn’t whitewashed to become likable, which makes her one of my favorite main characters ever (most main characters I find rather bland when compared to side characters, because the writers want to ensure you like them and thereby sanitize them of interesting qualities). Honestly, my three favorite characters are Yennefer, Ciri, and Cahir.

I am definitely expecting the fandom to argue that Ciri is either Still Good 100% and doesn’t need no redemption, or a Terrible Role Model for Young Girls and think of the children! The point of Ciri is that she’s not a role model but that doesn’t make her someone you can’t admire. She’s not an object for people in her world to view as a savior, and in that way I found the books very meta. That said, I also get why people did not like how Dark!Ciri is handled, and that’s completely valid too. I think Mistle in particular was… yeah.

I would agree about torture p*rn specifically when it comes to Bonhart’s behavior. (I think Ciri’s age comes across as rather contradictory, but I’m pretty sure she was 14-15-16ish in the later books?) But I had to set the book down during The Tower of Swallows because of Bonhart’s treatment of Ciri. I’ve thought about writing a meta on what Bonhart represents in the books (or aims to represent, because I don’t think it’s entirely successful). Bonhart’s treatment of Ciri in ToS can be justified as not gratuitous depending on what’s done with him in Lady of the Lake, and imo I go back and forth debating whether it was justified or gratuitous. I do think Bonhart turned into a stereotypical cackling villain by the end and his attempted assault of Yennefer was unnecessary and was a sharp change in his characterization. (Sapkowski, in general, doesn’t write great villains–mostly because the main enemies the characters have to overcome are themselves.) That said, Ciri’s defeat of him towards the end was absolutely narratively perfect, and hence I waffle.

For Yennefer… I too wanted more of her, so I am with you there. Yet, I also think it was perfect for her to be turned into a jade statue temporarily, because Yennefer is a control freak. For Yennefer to utterly lose control of everything and wind up a prisoner at various points was a good way to narratively face her flaws and grow. But I would have liked more of her struggles in those situations, especially in Baptism of Fire and ToS.

Now, Cahir.

I disagree strongly with the sentiment that the show made him irredeemably evil. That said, I also think the show’s writing is very, very flawed–not just of Cahir, but of everyone. Many of the writers are apparently Marvel writers which… shows. And not in a good way.

A lot of that is probably my perspective from how I consumed the story, as well. I watched the show before I read the books, and I remember when Cahir appeared again in episode 5 of The Witcher. The moment I saw who they had cast and his storyline there, I told the friend I was watching it with that he was clearly a conflicted Byronic hero archetype and would likely have an arc along the lines of Loki in the MCU and Kylo Ren in Star Wars. Look, it’s not a coincidence they cast attractive actors with unusual facial structures to play these roles, nor is it a coincidence that people keep debating if they seem redeemable or if they’re fully committed to the dark side.

(NB: I think it’s more than a little racist that all the actors for these type of Byronic characters are white, but I also don’t like the “they’re actually poor sad white boys we shouldn’t feel sympathy for” argument. These characters are written to be sympathetic and complex, and it’s not the actors’ faults (for Cahir, Eamon Farron is incredibly talented); just… cast PoC in these types of roles for the love of God.)

Is Cahir darker compared to what he was in the books? In some ways, yes. Did the message of what his character’s arc is meant to be translate to the audience of only show watchers? I honestly think it did, because it did to me as I watched it. I messaged the friend who got me into The Witcher “he’s a conflicted wounded bad boy” and asked if he would have a redemption, likely through a love relationship (Thor and Loki’s relationship is love, but brotherly; Kylo and Rey’s is romantic). I did not know anything about the books’ arc for Cahir then, but this is exactly what does happen.

#the witcher #netflix's the witcher #cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach #princess cirilla #ciri #cirilla fiona elen riannon #yennefer of vengerberg #byronic heroes #leo bonhart

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