#my tower talks

[t4ngledinf41th]

Women struggle with lust just as much as men. Like I can't even count how many times I fell short of this sin, lust can trap anybody, and to me, it's just not sexual impurities. Lust can be a bad habit that people don't even realize they are giving in to their bad habits in a place of lust.

[critterbitter]

A trip down memory lane! Though the tower seems to have changed…

Celestial tower! Built during the direct aftermath of the Founding Unovan Civil War, it remains a cultural landmark in memory of those lost in the fire and storm.

Time has dulled the scars left behind by the twin dragons. Today, the tower is primarily used as a mausoleum (the preferred method of burial are urns) and, well, a tourism site. Legend says if you climb to the top of the tower and ring the bell, you can lay your ghosts to rest. But mostly? You can ring a GIANT bell.

Course, you gotta GET to that bell first.

Masterpost for more pokemon shenanigans here!

[giga-queen]

[egophiliac]

LEON

LEON YOUR EYEBALLS

[thetenthsunrise]

one of the things that struck me, when reading wheel of time, was just how much the white tower is so clearly meant to be the encapsulation of the idea of an ivory tower

for the aes sedai there is only one way to live and to work with the power—their way. wilders, aiel, atha’an miere, (and to an extent as we get further on, the asha’man) are all ostracised and looked down upon because they work with the one power in a way that goes beyond the boundaries of accepted practices that the aes sedai have arbitrarily enforced. and these places stem some of the best minds and powers of the generation, but they’re seen as threats and insubordinate because they don’t bend over backward for the aes sedai. they’ve shot themselves in the foot by refusing to change, by refusing to try and make the world better. they spend their lives scheming, pulling the world from the shadows, instead of truly trying to fight the rising darkness.

this works hand in hand with the other thing I am so fascinated about when it comes to the aes sedai—they are no longer worthy of the respect they expect and demand of the world. they’re a bunch of bickering women who are full of strife and decision, are broken soundly in half and get try to pretend everything is fine, who look down upon a former amrylin seat for the simple fact she was stilled. they’re full of contradictions as they pretend at a glory they lost through being an ivory tower that was so terrified of change or alternate perspectives they just kinda dug their own graves

The Aes Sedai are fascinating yall

[shalkapilled]

Now, I've only seen clips of logopolis but WHY is the master always toucing/sticking to the doctor like that

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

looking around my bedroom like "damn i really did manage to cram books into every spare inch of this space, huh"

[patron-saint-of-lesbeans]

‘What do you even do in adoration?’

Thank you for asking I basically show up and start with, ‘my beloved, you already know the day I’ve had but let me tell you - ’

[t4ngledinf41th]

Repentance & Accountability

Drinking from a cup of shallow repentance is like sipping out of a cup that will never satisfy you; in other words, drinking from an empty cup.

1 John 1:9 NLT But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

True repentance is acknowledging your wrongdoings and making a conscious decision to change (season of conviction is not for the weak 😭😭)

Think of it like this: when you're drinking from a cup, you expect it to fill you, right? But if you fill the cup up with just words and not a change of actions, it will never satisfy you.

How do we move forward? When you repent, choose to walk in accountability and repentance, which brings a cup full of transformation. May my brothers and sisters in Christ and I continue to learn in faith.

[rosefires20]

My brainrot today is thinking about just how incredible for a character Eowyn is.

Genuinely. The series might not have many female characters but the ones we do get go so fucking hard.

To me, Eowyn is literally the definition of defining being a woman for oneself. She rejects the roles she is given despite acknlowdging the importance and its mostly because she knows part of the reason is that she is a woman.

The reason why she is obsessed with Aragorn isn't because she loves him but because she wants what he has. She wants the freedom and courage and bravery that Aragorn has at every turn. She literally has multiple conversations during the Two Towers about how what she fears most is a cage. All this girl wants is the freedom to be and not be forced into a role. The best thing is that she literally gets that.

The segment of Return of the King about Eowyn and Faramir is literally about her piecing together what she truly wants. She doesn't want Aragorn. She wants freedom and the ability to choose. Faramir does nothing but encourage that in her. Their love story is literally one of the healthiest love stories I've seen in a long time because at the heart of it, their love is a place to return home to for both parties. Both go off to lead and help their people for a considerable amount of time before returning to each other but that does not diminish their bond. Even Faramir, I believe, falls in love with her bravery and dedication to her loved ones. The reason she went to Pelenor Fields and Gondor with the troops of Rohan was because she had things she wanted to fight for. She wanted to fight for herself, her people, and her loved ones. She is the one who protects Theoden after he is killed so that his body gets the treatment it deserves. She encourages Merry and helps him go to the battle because she sees her struggle in Merry. They feel helpless standing around when there are things to be doing.

Let's also not forget the fact that she was around Grima Wormtounge just as much as the King was. She was exposed to the same poison and awful words that eroded the king. It's even implied that her care for him is part of the reason why Theoden was savable when Gandalf showed up. She had the same power and bravery as everyone else even if she didn't see it in herself.

Then at the end of the day, SHE decides where she wants to go and what path she wants to walk. She walked the path of a warrior. The path of a princess/ruler. The path of a caretaker. But in the end she decides which elements truly mean something to her outside of gender definitions. That is what makes her character so incredible to me. In this she literally kills one of the biggest enemies in that battle with such a badass line.

[superkirbylover]

peppino and noise character studies

in this essay i will explain why i am the only one to understand these characters

[never-ending-pizza-time]

OHHHH MY GOD I NEED IT I NEED IT SO BAD

(close ups of artbook pages under cut)

Transcripts of the Mcpig commentary in case its hard to read:

3rd Image: The storyboard for the intro of the game. This stayed pretty similar, but there were some small changes.

4th Image: There was an idea for Mr. Stick to replace Brick in the Gustavo segments of the Noise campaign. Peppino, Gustavo and Mr. Stick are all censored from the Noise campaign, so it didn't feel worthwhile to go through with this idea.

5th Image: Lifetime of a Stupid Rat.

[c0nn0rsseur]

Can we take a moment to appreciate Bryan Dechart’s performance as Cyberlife Tower Connor aka Sixty and Sixty as a character? 🤌

Though Sixty and deviant Connor are physically identical (minus their demeanors, e.g. the way they stand and walk, like wow, Bryan, wow) and their voices technically aren’t different from each other, the distinction is still clearly there, at the same time it’s so nuanced too. Sixty sounds condescending, imperious and callous compared to deviant Connor whose voice is empathetic, curious and sincere. I’m not even talking about their lexicon, their choice of words here (there’s of course a difference too). Even when Sixty tries to convince Hank he’s the real Connor, you can hear how he’s failing to sound exactly like his counterpart because he can’t replicate deviant Connor’s voice and speech pattern just so. Sixty’s also being very commanding when trying to fool Hank into shooting the real Connor (Hank even gets irritated because of it). Damn that’s brilliant acting, all hats off to Bryan. His performance in this game never fails to impress me. (I wish there were dialogue for RK900 too, I would’ve loved to see Bryan’s take on his voice and presence.)

Also also I have to mention I love the take that Sixty really was a deviant all along too, an ”evil” version of Connor if you will; cold, calculating and even enjoying the situation he had Connor (and Hank) in. You know, doing all of it because he wanted to, because he liked it. Why else would he deliver a whole ass villain monologue before executing deviant Connor, gloating about how he knows what he is and that he is the obedient, favorite child, plus calling Connor a disappointment (and a disappointment to him especially, like how Connor should care in his final moments that Sixty despises him for not being a good little robot)? AND shooting him several times non-lethally before landing that final shot (if the story goes there), like savoring the situation. Of course he also has to ask if Connor has any last words too. That’s definitely not what an efficient machine would have done to make sure it accomplished its mission. In some outcomes his stalling costs him the victory.

Top that off with the ending where deviant Connor dies but the androids still wake up, Sixty is scared and emotional because he failed, scared to be deactivated because of his failure. Then there’s this scene where he shoots deviant Connor eleven times in front of his friend. After that Sixty takes in Hank’s reaction and even torments him by saying Connor’s death was his fault. Still doesn’t sound like a machine much, huh? More like a sadistic psychopath.

Man, I wish we could’ve seen more Sixty, it would’ve been chilling to see if he went full-on rogue, maybe being Markus’ right hand/attack dog on a leash in the violent revolution arc, maybe with his own agenda of taking Markus’ place and wanting to subjugate humanity. Or maybe deviant Connor could’ve persuaded him to their side by making Sixty to see he was nothing but a tool, unintentionally prompting him to seek revenge and to reduce Amanda and Cyberlife to atoms (not what Connor intended haha). There could’ve even been a redemption arc for him, like in a ”what’ve I done?” type way. You know, a bit of an internal moral struggle. And of course, our fave ”sack of shit” (as Hank so eloquently put it) demanding answers from his maker, Kamski, in a not-so, uh, conventional manner. Let them measure their respective arrogance and wit and see who comes out on top. Or would they team up?

Such a delicious character, so many delicious what-ifs.

[severevoiddragon]

I haven't seen anyone talk about how Joel and Bdubs genuinely helped Pearl. Like, they knew what her task was. But they valued their alliance more than the reward they may have gotten for guessing correctly. And pearl was. So scared they'd guess seriously, like she was literally running away as Joel spoke his 'guess', and then turned around like 'oh'. She'd put so much into that alliance, but didn't expect them to reciprocate it. But they did. And I think that shocked her in a positive way.

[blorger]

As a seasoned Draco Malfoy stan, I appreciate and enjoy reading too much into every single one of his book appearances but if I was forced, gun to my head, to pick just one as my favorite I'd probably go with the astronomy tower scene in HBP.

Draco and Dumbledore's conversation is truly a standout gem like few others in the books and any Malfoy scholar worth their salt ought to be well-versed in it; it's a veritable keystone moment for Draco's character development as it offers a glimpse into his inner workings like nothing else does, not to mention the much needed nuance and depth it adds to his characterisation. I felt like it was my civic duty to contribute to the Malfoy studies curriculum with a deeper look into Draco's Big Moment so I went ahead and produced this,

Draco's big day out: a retrospective

To set the scene: Draco has just spent the better part of a school year trying to kill Dumbledore under orders/threats from Voldemort himself and we join him atop the astronomy tower just as his plan comes to fruition. Dumbledore and Harry -our hidden observer- land there after a hectic day of Horcrux hunting (having been lured there via morsmordre), at which point Draco proceeds to disarm Dumbledore

Dumbledore has just consumed large quantities of poison and is actively dying on account of a curse he received earlier in the year ( also he's not planning on defending himself for Big Byzantine Plan reasons) but, according to Harry, Dumbledore gets disarmed fair and square

so let us give a round of applause to our boy Draco because, as Dumbledore begins talking to him, things stop going according to plan .

As the book's denouement takes place through Dumbledore and Draco's conversation we begin to notice that a few things are off with the tableau; the roles of captive and captor seem reversed and Draco, who ought to be more confident than ever, is having trouble going through with his plan.

We learn a few things through Draco's various appearances in the books but something that has perhaps not been obvious thus far is that he is just not a violent person. In all of Harry and Draco's skirmishes throughout the books, Draco has never once initiated a physical confrontation and his inexperience and uncertainty are made manifest now that things have come to a head: as the Deatheaters that Draco let into Hogwarts via the vanishing cabinet confront members of the Order, Draco shows more and more signs of unease with the violence taking place:

and

and

Draco is so distressed by the violence he's witnessing that he feels the need to tell Dumbledore he isn't involved in it. Here he takes pain to both distance himself from what he believes to be a murder and to inform Dumbledore of what happened

and here he feels the need to inform Dumbledore that he didn't intend for the notoriously bloodthirsty Fernir Greyback to come to Hogwarts

As Dumbledore and Draco talk, we see that Dumbledore understands fully not only what is happening but also Draco's feeling about it.

Dumbledore is certain that Draco won't kill him (and he will later be proven right); another important thing to notice is that Draco is labelled an "innocent".

In one of Snape's memories that Harry witnesses in DH, we find out that Dumbledore, aware of the mission Draco had been entrusted with and fully intending to die by the end of the year, wanted Snape to be the one that killed him precisely because he saw Draco as an innocent

Perhaps because of this (or maybe just to stall long enough until Snape can come in and kill him), Dumbledore's attitude towards Draco is paternal and teacherly through their conversation; he encourages Draco to tell him all about his various schemes and praises his inventiveness throughout

and

and

Draco, for his part, seems to crave this recognition and, as the conversation progresses, begins showing his reluctance to kill more and more openly and shows sign of self sabotage

As Draco and Dumbledore dissect the situation they find themselves in, Draco also feels the need to warn Dumbledore of Snape's duplicity

Another thing of note is just how young Draco sounds throughout the scene. In front of Dumbledore, who acts almost paternal, Draco sounds like a boy, petulant and insecure:

and

Finally we come to the crux of the matter: both Draco and Dumbledore know that Draco is not a killer

so Dumbledore attempts to save Draco from the impossible situation he finds himself in

and

it's here that we find out that, for all his bluster about wanting the glory that would come from killing Dumbledore (and aside from his very founded worry for his own life), Draco has been motivated to participate in his mission out of worry for his own family

it's because of them that he still tries to make himself kill Dumbledore and it's Dumbledore's offer of saving them that ultimately makes him lower his wand

and

[himejoshiangels]

I adore this cover but also I hate it more than anything. u can literally see how warm and light filled dukes childhood was