#it rather got away from me

[misscrawfords]

I've been thinking about colonialism in the Aeneid.

It’s fascinating the way Turnus is depicted as someone standing in Aeneas’ way, blocking his marriage to Lavinia and by extension the founding of the Roman empire. He’s the leader of a Rutulian tribe. The word feels pretty deliberate here. Very politically charged.

Which got me thinking about the colonisation of the Native Americans, and how strikingly similar it is to what the Trojans do to the Rutulians. The NAs were displaced so that the settlers could lay the foundations of a country that will one day become a global superpower. Just like the Trojans laid the groundwork for Rome to become a political juggernaut.

And then it occurred to me that Pocahontas and Lavinia play virtually the same role in their respective situations. We don’t have a first-person account of Pocahontas’ thoughts and feelings - she’s been talked over by imperalist voices, the same way we don’t know what Lavinia’s like as a character, since she doesn’t have any speaking lines in the Aeneid. Also, both women are used as silent bridges between imperialism and indigeneity. Pocahontas’ love affair with John Rolfe mirrors Lavinia’s marriage to Aeneas. They’re used as symbols of connection and add a touch of romance to justify colonialism. Myth became history - it’s almost like the Aeneid is a blueprint for imperialist ideologies!

What do you think? :)

Beyond a visit to Jamestown about a decade ago, guided by a historian friend, I really don't know anything about the American conquest, so I am very much not qualified to talk about that and any comparisons that could be drawn between that and the Aeneid, though I am struck by the fact that the American conquest very much did happen historically and Aeneas arriving in Italy and fighting the native Italians... almost certainly did not! I do not know how much the story of Pocahontas has been romaticised by later colonialists as a justification and how much is factually true. So I am very much not qualified to comment on the mythologisation of the American conquest.

I do have thoughts on the Aeneid however!

The "Aeneas as coloniser" interpretation is attractive in some ways and I do discuss it with my students - "Aeneas starts the poem as a refugee and ends a coloniser" but with several important caveats. Like all interpretations of a historical texts through the medium of modern theory, care needs to be taken lest a desire to impose modern values and interpretations on the texts obscures what the texts themselves are saying. (I've just marked a set of essays on women in the Iliad filled with such astonishing incorrect interpretations that I am still feeling extremely salty about this several weeks on.)

Virgil was not trying to write about colonisation because he did not know what that was. If he was trying to do anything along those lines, he was writing about the effects of war and how it can be the case that experiences of war and loss can lead even the best and most rational people to end up committing atrocities. One of the most heart-breaking moments for me in the Aeneid comes in Book 12 when Aeneas attacks and burns Latium in a way that invokes the destruction of Troy in Book 2. How could a man who escaped a burning city, saw his king slaughtered, become homeless and stateless inflict such similar suffering on another people? And yet we see continuously through history that such things happen. If we look at Homeric comparisons, since the second half of the Aeneid parallels the Iliad and therefore Aeneas and Turnus must parallel Achilles and Hector, then Aeneas was always going to end up as Achilles. How would he feel, becoming the bloodthirsty warrior of his city's great enemy? Not that great, I'd imagine. Aeneas' story is a tragedy.

But is he a coloniser? Well, I would say, "not really." That's a very loaded term and I think obscures what actually happens at the end of the Aeneid.

For a start, Aeneas has no interest in fighting the Italians. He says so multiple times. In Book 12 he continuously tries to keep from all-out war. The whole of Book 7 is an exercise in examining how war breaks out between two peaceful people who don't want to fight each other. It's an absolute masterclass and a chilling reminder of the arbitrary and manipulative ways in which conflicts can break out out. The marriage with Lavinia could have and should have happened peacefully - if Juno had not interfered. I also resist the idea that it is "romanticising" a political marriage because the ancient world at this point had no concept of what we understand as "romance". They understood sex and passion (and passion is always destructive in Virgil), they understood marriage (a political union in order to bring forth legitimate children to continue a lineage) and they understood close ties and bonds of love between men. But romantic love that is something more than sex between men and women and linking that to marriage? I am sure real human beings who were not upper class experienced these emotions but the only literary genre that explored that at this time was New Comedy which was a very low genre. I think it wouldn't even have occurred to Virgil to give Aeneas and Lavinia a love story, even if they did come to feel love for each other after their political marriage. (It's only in post-Christian literature like the Greek novel that men and women are allowed to have romantic love for each other as a motivation for their characters.) The marriage with Lavinia, however, is there to legitimise Aeneas' rule and join the Trojans to the Italians.

However, I think we need to examine the vital scene between Jupiter and Juno in Book 12.

Firstly, we need to acknowledge that Virgil has two pretty big problems when he is writing his epic about "Aeneas the Trojan is the ancestor of the Romans". Firstly, contemporary Romans are very definitely not Trojans. They are Italians. Secondly, I doubt they'd want to be Trojan. Romans were xenophobic towards non-Romans and they stereotyped people from the East as oily, effeminate, caring too much about their appearance, overly clever and sly and likely to trick you. As you can tell, the root of a lot of Oriental stereotypes which sadly persist to the day. This comes across in the Aeneid itself both in the characterisation of the Greek Sinon in Book 2 but also in the way that non-Trojan characters freqently talk mistrustfully about Aeneas and the Trojans as Phrygians (Phrygia is the area of Turkey where Troy was). So Virgil's Roman audience isn't going to be very happy if the conclusion to the Aeneid is "We are all descended from an Eastern foreigner who came over and defeated all the natives and imposed himself on them".

So we come to the speeches in Book 12 in which Juno is forced to capitulate to destiny and let Turnus die but at the same time forces Jupiter to massively compromise on what this destiny looks like for Aeneas.

This is what Juno requests:

'Yet I beg this of you, for Latium’s sake, for the majesty of your own kin: since it is not prohibited by any law of fate: when they soon make peace with happy nuptials (so be it) when they join together soon in laws and treaties, don’t order the native Latins to change their ancient name, to become Trojans or be called Teucrians, or change their language, or alter their clothing. Let Latium still exist, let there be Alban kings through the ages, let there be Roman offspring strong in Italian virtue: Troy has fallen, let her stay fallen, along with her name.’

In other words, this is truly the end of Troy. The descendants of Aeneas and his people will have Italian characteristics and they will not be called Trojans, they will not speak whatever language the Trojans speak, they will not change what they wear. (People from Turkey notoriously wore trousers which was seen as very weird to the Romans.) They will keep everything that made them Italian. It is the Trojans who must adapt to them.

Jupiter in his response actually goes even further:

'I grant what you wish, and I relent, willingly defeated. Ausonia’s sons will keep their father’s speech and manners, as their name is, so it will be: the Trojans shall sink, merged into the mass, only. I will add sacred laws and rites, and make them all Latins of one tongue.'

The only thing, Jupiter says, the Trojans are contributing here is their bloodline. Everything else culturally speaking is Italian. Again, from Aeneas' perspective, the Aeneid is a tragedy. He thought he was going to re-establish his destroyed city somewhere new and be able to continue living as a Trojan. In reality, he has to totally lose his identity and be subsumed into the culture of the place he arrives at - and he will only survive three years to enjoy the peace.

To me, this doesn't look like colonisation as we understand it in a modern sense.

[mortalscience]

[glitter-stained]

Are the people who keep complaining that jason got away with what he did completely unscathed actually okay? Like, did we read the same comics? There's extremely little I can think of that didn't happen to Jason as "punishment"

like why are the people who want him to be punished forever not happy he is already getting punished forever what else do you want

[voidedtea]

[ID in alt]

my pieces for @strawberrij's thespius fashion zine!! quite the endeavour and adventure that turned out pretty neat i think :]

special thanks go to @ratchetclankarecute for posing/cloth references + the bulk of the image descriptions! that first image would Not have happened without them <3

[chawliekin]

and if I said that dennis’ insistence on being the breadwinner/provider despite literally being a pampered princess who dgaf about traditional roles of masculinity in every other regard (aside from ego) is because his mom only stayed with/chose frank for his wealth and dennis is highly aware that he’s difficult to love and unable to show his emotions openly so he has to be contributing something to the relationship materially in order to feel like he’s worth staying for… and mac grew up with parents who were extremely ambivalent to him and eachother so he has to overcompensate by proving his worth at every given moment and seeking praise/validation from people (and religious icons) who will never demonstrate the same amount of dedication to him but he has no idea how else to desperately keep himself close to those he loves other than by eroding himself into something they’ll approve of… dear god they’re both exactly what the other needs — someone who can’t and won’t leave them even if they try — and they don’t even see it…

[marshmallowgoop]

no thoughts just Heiji Hattori (HD)

[willowser]

katsuki manages to take halloween off for the first four years of your daughter's life but he has to miss out on her fifth and he won't show it but he's devastated 🥺

[abyssal-ilk]

trespasser wedding with sera and my viv/bastien kid (who has been named luciana and nicknamed lucia/lucy/luce!! inspired by @kitkaedatidler who suggested lucienne 🫶!) hits so different with the added tension of lucia being bastien's bastard. in what i have for her so far in terms of lore, bastien's son and lucia's half-brother, laurent, raises lucia's status as a recognized bastard/potential heir as it was bastien's wish before he died, and it causes. so many interpersonal issues for lucia. namely with the fact that since lucia is both inquisitor and has the blood of such a prestigious family, there is a constant pressure from other noble families of orlais to try and form alliances through marriage. lucia has no interest in becoming any more involved in orlesian politics than she already is, has no interest in marrying or having children with any of them, and it is a massive strain on her when she's already struggling with everything going on with the inquisition, solas, and the anchor actively trying to kill her.

sera's solution is to, of course, marry her. no bigger way to flip the finger to the entire court of orlais than to have the inquisitor marry an elven fereldan woman who fucks over nobles on a daily basis.

[byemambo]

KIM NU RIM AS DOHOE

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (2024) | 1.01

Ready to get my heart crushed by another Hwang Da Seul production </3

[mxwhore]

[darkdragon768]

Looking up the different routes on the deltarune wiki and... yeeaa I would have never discovered the snowgrave route on my own.

[marvelstarwarshero]

At first I was annoyed Karen was like "you hear mine [heartbeat] when I saw you?" and felt like it was downplaying the Kastle.

Upon a dozen rewatches (when I should definitely be asleep...) I have changed my opinion. The more I watch the more it feels like Karen trying to throw Matt off the scent of her feelings for Frank.

[sugarcarnation]

thinking about how ultimately it was dazai who was too sentimental to stay in the mafia

[seaofreverie]

YAYYYYY‼️‼️‼️‼️

[mollysunder]

Shimmer & The Glorious Evolution: A Love Story

We can see how a specialized high quality strain of Rio's shimmer can alter the biology of living organisms to make users produce their own shimmer, as is the case with Jinx. So what will happen now that Rio's specialized shimmer has been exposed to an artificial life form, i.e. the hexcore?

What Has the Hexcore Done Without Shimmer?

Prior to the hexcore's exposure to shimmer infused blood we've only seen it capable of releasing short bursts of massive energy when Viktor experiments with it.

When exposed to human blood the hexcore reacted by "consuming" a drop of it. The blood effected the entire magical dimension the hexcore connects to by turning it to a shade of purple similar to the plants found in Singed's cave.

Later we see that this newly blood infused hexcore's magic turned purple and is able to not only react to organic matter such as plants, but stimulate their growth in turn (not for long of course). The affected plants also take on the purple tinge similar to the hexcore's magic.

What Have We Seen the Shimmered Hexcore Do So Far?

Once Viktor exposed the hexcore to his shimmer infused blood it was capable of producing a longer lasting stable state with its test subject twice. Initially, what exactly happened to Viktor's leg was up to interpretation, but later on animators in Bridging the Rift confirmed that Viktor's new leg and hand are made of metal.

This means that the hexcore took Viktor's flesh and shimmer infused blood (more than the first time) and exchanged it for an arcane/shimmer configured metalic replacement. His skin is gone and we're looking at what his muscle has been converted to.

The transmutation of Viktor's hand and leg into metal could have only been facilitated through the use of shimmer. It was likely the remaining shimmer in Viktor's system that prevented him from being absorbed into the hexcore. Without a sufficient amount of shimmer, a regular human hand does not equal a shimmerized arcane metalic hand. The flesh, bone, and blood of an entire adult woman and a pitance of shimmer is worth the hand it provides.

What Will Happen Next Season?

The further the hexcore directly interfaces with organic matter the more similar it becomes in appearance and ability to shimmer. Where it improves health and strength at increasing biological costs. Once Viktor realizes that he's missing the "Inspiration" rune, the rune matrix will finally be complete and reach a "stable" state.

A "stable" state could mean the hexcore could reliably interact with and alter organic matter like Rio's shimmer is capable of. Based on the notes Sky left behind, her research focused on plant biology. In theory, a "perfect" hexcore could not only stimulate plant life to grow impressively, they could be durable enough to survive in extreme environments like Zaun.

While there is evidence that shimmer and its byproducts can enhance plant growth, especially in Zaun, there is a catch. Any plant affected by a hexcore corrupted by Rio's specialized shimmer would be altered in a way that makes them capable of being producing shimmer independently.

Just from Viktor's experiment with a hexcore exposed to a single drop of blood, the plants began to glow purple like the plants Rio would eat and break down into shimmer. Except, like Jinx the hexcore would pass down its own strain to the plant subjects that's compatible with the hexcore's "exchange" requirements.

But why would Viktor want to create plants capable of producing MORE shimmer for Zaun. Simple! Without shimmer you can't get... The Glorious Evolution. It's already been mentioned that Viktor's limbs have become metal, and to make his transformation complete he'll need more shimmer. For others to become like him, he needs more shimmer.

but...

Who Would Be Willing to Follow the Herald's Path?

Shimmer addicts like Huck and those who live in the sump with dying flesh and residual concentrations of shimmer in their bodies could be "healed" from their state of deterioration through the hexcore.

In Bridging the Rift we actually saw an unfinished clip of Viktor reaching his metalic hand to reach out and grab the face of a shimmer addict. Upon further inspection of the unidentified character's scars, we can guess this is Huck.

There's also the underlying culture of flesh sacrifice in Zaun, which is actually in the same vein as the Church of the Gloriously Evolved. In League, specifically through Camille's lore, the Church of the Gloriously Evolved actually exists outside of and likely before the Machine Herald came to the scene. The Church's roots even stretch into both Zaun & Piltover.

They believe that you must sacrifice something close and dear (like diseased flesh) with the faith that something better will take its place. Splinters of this organization likely made Silco an object of worship admiring his power and assuming the shimmer he brought was the miracle they sacrificed so much for already. Without Silco and his shimmer, Viktor and his hexcore would become the Church's new object of adoration as they bring shimmer AND immediate transmutation.

Finally, there's Sevika. In the tarot seen, Sevika drew a winning hand with a pair of card, Death and The Magician, that resemble Jinx and Viktor respectively. The scene may foreshadow that Jinx and Viktor will be the trump cards to win her Zaun's independence. But How will that work with Viktor?

You could argue that Sevika could bring Viktor in to repair her arm, but there's an entire industry backed up by a chembaron, Smeech, to fulfill that need. Viktor's going to need to bring something new to the table to be brought into the fold, and that could be shimmer infused plants and the "healing" properties of the hexcore. And I'm sure Sevika's pragmatic enough to know that for Zaun to survive Piltover's retaliation she'll need to bolster her resources in manpower and shimmer... lots of it.

Whether Sevika will be able to handle the cult of personality around the Machine Herald, especially if Jinx ends up siding him is a whole other discussion.

[robbyykeene]

Potentially unpopular opinion, but I love that Miguel was an asshole again in the second part of this season! It’s a reminder that he’s a character and not just Johnny’s main support. I mean Robby didn’t deserve it at all, but it makes sense that Miguel couldn’t help taking his anger out on him. And I love that Johnny was on the receiving end of it, because it feels like the tension between them just went away for no reason.

Sorry if I’m bothering you!

You’re never bothering me, and I completely agree! They so rarely give Miguel any narrative agency these days, and like Johnny all it does is reduce him as a character. Miguel is a whole, complicated, messy teenager. He isn’t a saint. He isn’t perfect. He makes mistakes and has ugly unfair feelings sometimes, like every single teenager does. And I love when this show actually lets him be like this, lets him be wrong, lets him be a little bit of a dick to the people he cares about who don’t deserve it. Lets him be a real person with actual human feelings. And then also lets him take accountability for what he does wrong, apologize, show how much he’s grown, that he is a good person and a good friend. I love it truly, and it feels like it’s something that in a lot of ways hasn’t really been granted to Miguel since he fell off that balcony.