#these sentiments are just... so ass

[val-of-the-north]

The "Hornsent deserved it" sentiments make me lose my goddamn mind

Short answer: No they didn't.

Long answer: Oh my gooooooooooood can we NOT do this shit, please???

There are two underlying sentiments to this line of thinking.

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people, thus Marika did nothing wrong, therefore they deserved to die badly

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people + Midra and some others, Marika is still evil, but the Hornsent deserved to be destroyed

Both may even come to the extreme of "Messmer wasn't cruel enough" or some other nonsense in the same vein.

-

Number 1

To tackle number one, we need to remember a little thing called Elden Ring's base game. The Hornsent's jar ritual is undoubtedly abhorrent, that much is true. But I urge you to remember the things that happened during Marika's reign. She:

Murdered all of the Fire Giants but one, subjecting him to a fate similar to hers but worse, forced into labor confined on the mountain among the remains of his people and culture. She mocked him, to boot. All of this because they might have burnt the Erdtree.

Enslaved the Misbegotten from birth "or worse" because their species just so happened to have made contact with the Crucible.

Rewarded her own loyal Crucible Knights with scorn because of it too, as they didn't fit her current society that they fought to establish.

Made sure the Albinaurics were seen as lesser just because they were graceless, which influenced the way they were treated. She even had her Inquisition, run by Rykard, torture them in needlessly cruel manners, as they appear to be their main victims.

Just in general, she allowed Rykard to run a sadistic Inquisition to torture heretics to the Golden Order in the first place, and she saw nothing wrong with it or their practices.

She entombed the entire Great Caravan over a false rumor, which is the sole reason why the Flame of Frenzy was even a problem during her reign. This has also scarred the remainder of their people greatly.

Made the lives of all Omen a living hell either by cutting their horns just as they were born which often kills them, hunting them down in as cruel a way as possible by using their trauma and body parts against them, or throwing them in a sewer to fester with evil spirits hidden from view. She also used to shackle them, including her two children, just to make extra sure they wouldn't crawl out.

Shunned anyone who saw a vision of the Erdtree burning, regardless of who it was, and chased them away from their homes.

Literally allowed the belief that shorter people are somehow lesser, for apparently no reason at all (her most random discrimination decision tbh). This forces them to band together and take up honorless jobs just to get by, and in turn, people start to spread rumors of their inhuman practices, which are likely all untrue.

Had people literally work as slaves for the nobility just by virtue of "being born into obscurity", whatever that means. As well as other accounts of slavery like the Fallen Hawks (likely tied to the defeated soldiers of ancient Stormveil).

Likely endorsed viewing anyone without Grace as inferior beings, which includes the Tarnished that only exist because she divested them of it. She has done nothing to ease their discrimination (despite potentially seeing them as a future asset of sorts), as even the members of the Crusade are more than ready to kill us, like Fire Knight Queelign.

All of this was done in service to HER religion and order. Killing all the Fire Giants and burying the Nomadic Merchants alive? Oh, they could have ruined her age with those pesky flames of theirs.

Systematically oppressing Omen, Misbegotten, Albinaurics and the likes? Oh, they are impure creatures, unlike her people, blessed with the Grace of Gold, elevated from the rest. (Which is the exact same line of thinking as the Hornsent and their horns for crying out loud).

"Oh but the Hornsent stuffed her people into jars" yeah, and I am not arguing the contrary! It was a cruel, deranged practice, born of simple superstition that their victims would be reborn as "good people". But Marika's answer if you don't fit her vision of the world is to either get rid of you and your people through extermination, by literally hounding you from your rightful home, or by enslaving you.

Both sides are genuinely awful... but there's only one side that people are justifying, and it sure as hell isn't the Hornsent.

Marika's backstory is meant to make her less a god, which is all we have ever known her to be before the DLC, and more a human, which is what she once was. It gives her complexity as a character, it's meant to be the catalyst from which we learn why she took the path that she took. It is absolutely not meant to make us go "holy shit guys, Marika was the good guy all along???", because what she brought upon this world through her burning desire for vengeance has ruined it irreparably, and ruined the lives of most of the creatures who inhabit it.

This includes her ruthless, honorless, pointless Crusade against the Hornsent. Sure, it was her own son that started it, but it was for her sake. It was her who allowed him to wage it, he had her full support... until the thing turned to such a slaughter-fest that even she could not associate with it anymore due to how appalling it all was. And what better way to do that than to seal her own son away to wage war endlessly? And not just because his actions made her look bad, but also for the same crippling fear and prejudice that saw her kill all Fire Giants but one and scar the Great Caravan.

Gratuitous violence across the board, and for what?

(I want to make it absolutely clear that I don't mean you can't like Marika now. In fact, I'd say the DLC made her much more of an interesting character to me as well. I just cannot fathom seeing the entirety of Elden Ring and coming out thinking "wow Marika was the good guy" because she isn't. Heck, coming out thinking that she'd be disgusted with what her grandson Godrick is doing with grafting as if she isn't the queen of having zero empathy for those who are graceless or aren't her family, which the Tarnished he grafts are neither. She'd probably be very proud if anything. Marika is a monster. She became one the moment she obtained godhood, because no milestone would quell her. She did all the wrongs, so take this whole section as a refresher in case you had forgotten)

-

Number 2

Now, to tackle number 2... this one seemingly has more nuance, but falls for the tried and true pitfall of "the many must pay for the crimes of the few" which is exactly where it rots and collapses onto itself.

Apparently, because of the perpetrators of the Jar Rituals, ALL Hornsent, INDISCRIMINATELY, deserve to be destroyed. They all, each and every single one, deserve the Crusade and the absolute pointless ruin that it brought them. From the children, to the ones who were friends with people with no horns, to the ones who found their own practices grotesque, to the ones that weren't even tied to the Tower's religion and were just simply living their lives.

They ALL, EQUALLY deserve to be burned, to have their cities destroyed, to have their lives ruined. All of them. Ok.

Number 2 works with the assumption that the Hornsent are some sort of hive mind. Some sort of all-encompassing religious order who believes in their superiority. But that's just the Tower's religion. Hornsent are a people. And people are individuals, with their own opinions, their own lives. In fact, from the perspective of the average Hornsent citizen, they were attacked out of nowhere as they were living in peace, which likely means they weren't even at war with Marika before this event.

People also have the assumption that all of the Hornsent were benefiting from their society, which is blatantly false. In fact, outside the treatment of the Shamans, the people that we know the Hornsent have hurt the most are their fellow Hornsent. We know of quite a few of them suffering at the hands of their kin BECAUSE of their religious and cultural practices.

Being Hornsent isn't a "free from mistreatment" card. If anything, the large Gaols where they were imprisoned were built specifically to house them. The main prisoners we find in large numbers are commoners, the same types as the ones scavenging the ruins of their ravaged towns. They are often seen eating maggots off the floor and cowering in fear. All of them were Hornsent too, locked away for who knows what crime. Could have been big and important, small and insignificant, or even just a failure to do something properly (there's precedent), point is, it's clear the Hornsent weren't having a good time in there.

The jar rituals were used mainly as punishment for the imprisoned Hornsent themselves, as a way to have them become "good people". This was just as horrifying for the Hornsent prisoners as it was for the Shamans I assume. Look how terrified this Hornsent seemed at the prospect of sharing that fate. This is the reason why they chopped up Shamans in the first place, as ritual ingredients for a punishment meant primarily for their kin.

And there were more Hornsent who suffered because of the leading ideology. Curseblades were once shunned because they failed to become tutelary deities, and so they were thrown in the Jar Gaols. They were only let out so they could use their expertise and flowing movements to defend their homeland when Messmer invaded, otherwise they'd be rotting with the Innard Shamans and the other Hornsent prisoners the way Labirith is.

It's also worth pointing out that Midra's Mense was filled with Hornsent attendants who sided with their sagely master regardless of his lack of horns and what the Inquisition believed of him. If we were to operate with reasoning number 2, they too would deserve to be murdered in the Crusade because they just so happened to be Hornsent. Because ALL Hornsent deserve extermination for what happened to the Shamans.

And we also know that the Hornsent can find what happens in Bonny Village revolting. In fact, we know that from someone who was born and raised there.

This sounds nothing like someone who thought any of that was ok. So who is to say other Hornsent weren't like this too, especially those who DIDN'T live in Bonny Village? Those who risked being stuffed into those same jars themselves? We make waaaay too many assumptions about an entire race, and that in itself is foolish enough.

If there's someone to blame, it's the Tower's Inquisition. They are the religious order that governs the Hornsent. They have all the power in their society... and yet, would you look at that? Enir-Ilim, their sanctum, the one place where those calling the shots reside, is completely untouched. And what about Bonny, the most structurally fine Hornsent settlement, when you'd expect it to be a black stain of char by now. But nope, no sign of Messmer activity and the Greater Potentates are just running around naked, doing their thing as usual.

The Crusade isn't even a good tool of vengeance, the only ones suffering are the civilians who were likely the ones with a higher risk of ritual jar punishment anyway. If this isn't proof enough that the Crusade is a completely petty, useless revenge war that accomplishes nothing I don't know what else to say. I'll just leave with what the people taking part in it were taking pride in doing.

These are people who, without a shadow of a doubt, would have chopped up most of the oppressed groups described earlier and stuffed them into jars if Marika had told them to do so. (Heck, something like this was being done to the Albinaurics already, as we have seen previously...)

They have zero moral superiority, their deranged zealotry is the only reason they act in the first place. Not to mention that they have no connection to Marika's struggles or past, nor were they informed of them I bet. It's likely only Messmer truly knows the reason for the Crusade, and that's only because he is her child and shoulders all the blame onto himself.

"Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death" is LITERALLY their motto. Do you really think they stopped at the Hornsent? They were just their main target, but judging by the way all of Messmer's soldiers, including Queelign and the other Fire Knights, and even HE HIMSELF, attack us on sight for the simple fact we are Tarnished and lack Grace in our eyes, I have no doubt in my mind these people were just rounding up and killing anyone who didn't conform with the Golden Order.

THESE are the people who should be allowed to play judge, jury and executioner with the entire Hornsent race. And people will genuinely, with a straight face, tell you "That's right".

-

To conclude... I think I actually hate reasoning 2 more than reasoning 1 lol, despite not liking either at all. At least 1 is understandable. Marika is a very interesting character, one that we have known for a few years now. We have an attachment to her, heck, sentiments of her being some sort of misunderstood/rebellious figure were already there before the DLC. In that regard, I understand the emotional response, even though I still think it's a wrong mindset to have. I have at least some hope that it is purely in the realm of fiction because it's a beloved character, nothing more...

Reasoning 2, on the other hand, attempts to be nuanced, or at least pretends to be. In reality, all it peddles is the "an eye for an eye" mentality which is much too common irl as well. Not only that, but it deals in monoliths. All people belonging to a group or race are equally responsible for stuff they didn't even commit, stuff that could have even harmed them, because their leaders decided to commit crimes against another set of people. And don't get me wrong, there will be even commoners from that group or race that will agree with and celebrate that bad deed, but just as many will not, but will be either scared, powerless, already being punished for speaking up through physical violence or elaborate shunning, or currently protesting and doing something to hopefully ignite a change.

But that reasoning only exists to perpetuate cycles; of war, violence, and hate for the most part. And sadly, this mindset is very prevalent, a lot of people fail to see the issue with wanton violence as long as it's to stroke that lust for vengeance. And vengeance is a theme that Elden Ring criticizes multiple times in a row, even beyond the obvious horror of the Crusade.

[bryverros]

im soooooo normal guys

[itadooori]

yea i rewatched the s1 finale. did a lil doodle about it

[pigidin]

UMM?? GUYS??

Alt coz ik the quality is bad::

[The mind Bill knows best. Pure ego. Putty in Bill's hands. Bill will also reveal that, while he was possessing Ford in the 80's, he ripped out a number of pages from Ford's journal and erased his memory of them. Bill will show the LOST PAGES from JOURNAL 3 that have never before been seen]

DOES ANYONE WANNA TALK ABOUT THE MEMORY ERASE THINGY COZ IM GOING PRETTY MUCH INSANE OVER THIS INFO. WHAT.

[the-funniest-bunny]

Gonna Start Working on the FunnyBunny Hero x Villain Fic Tomorrow

For now, have this

Jax, post violent sex: *Smoking Behind a Pillar in the Atrium*

Zooble: Where did you even find that?

Jax: Didn't. Made it.

Zooble: Okay... why?

Jax: Had to. Didn't have any other way to wind down after Pom-Pom practically sucked my soul out of my body through my-

Zooble: AH! NO MORE! *Sighs* What about Pomni? What's she doing?

Jax: Sleepin'. Poor gal always wears herself out, uses way too much energy for that tiny body. It's cute; concerning, but cute.

Zooble: Ugh, you two are weird.

Jax: Did you come find me just to insult me and my doe?

Zooble: What? No, I- Will you stop calling her that? She doesn't belong to you.

Jax: *Shrugs Nonchalantly and Takes a Drag of His Cigarette* Poms doesn't seem to mind.

Zooble: Yeah, probably because you've got her convinced that you actually care about- *Goes Silent as Jax Flexes His Claws*

Jax: I don't like using these, Zoobs. You know that. But I will. If you finish that sentence, say the words I know you're just dying to say, I will hurt you.

Zooble, hesitantly: You can't keep lying to her.

Jax: Who says I'm lying?

Zooble: ...She's awake, y'know. Started knocking on everyone's doors saying Caine snatched you away or something.

Jax: What?! Why didn't you start with- Agh, goddammit, Zooble! *Throws His Cigarette Down and Runs Off Towards the Dorms*

Zooble: *Stares at the Cigarette* You better not be lying, Jax.

[mo-ok]

i'm

[starheirxero]

OH YEA BTW BTW. I got caught up in another fixation so I didn't comment about this the day-of or when I watched it but. The Lunar's apology video!!

And frankly? I don't see anything wrong with this episode actually! This looks really promising and there's even acknowledgments of topics I wasn't sure they'd ever bring up on the show. I still hold a lot of feelings on past episode leading to this point, but I think am overall wildly relieved that this was where we ended up. Lunar could have easily forfeited everything out of shame and stayed in that dingy apartment, not ready to take their mental bandages off yet and start the process of disinfecting the wounds.

But they swallowed their pride and not only initiated the conversation but also admitted they were wrong!! They were just dripping with vulnerability in this episode and ghod don't I know that takes a lot. I must confess I am also terribly excited for their conversation with Eclipse because I feel like, this time around, it will actually be more of a conversation instead of... Lunar talking at Eclipse about how they're not scared of him anymore while Eclipse tries to rile them up.

Because Eclipse is at a place where he has actually changed for the better and because Lunar is at a place where masking doesn't do them good anymore, I feel like they will actually have to both contribute time the conversation instead of it just being like it was last time. I am,,, very hopeful for whatever happens in it, to be quite honest HSJABD

I'll also add that honestly, most of my worries stem from just,,, wondering how this is going to be moving forward. Like, in a more meta sense. Earth had acknowledged that trauma takes a long time to heal, but I worry that process may be sped up for the sake of videos. Not to mention, Earth honestly has every right to be upset at Lunar, like, forever tbh. They did something that is going to affect her for the rest of her life. I'm worried this is gunna be, like,,, a wedge between them for good.

I actually have a lot of thoughts abt how things were and are and will be around this but uhm I have talked so much longer than I intended to so that's all for now. Overall, happy with this direction!!

[transtalesofdoom]

One year of Being Trans - A Review

If I timed this right, this post goes up exactly one year after I realized I was trans. Like, down to the hour. A lot happened since then.

I did some trial and error with labels, decided none really fit me, but settled on nonbinary transmasc to communicate it to others.

Picked the world's most stereotypical trans name for myself.

Came out to friends pretty much immediately, family to come soon.

Tried on a binder and fucking hated it.

Made this blog to organize my thoughts.

Deliberated on pronouns and how I want them to be used.

Came out to my therapist. Got a written confirmation for being trans. Scheduled an HRT consultation. Came out to several more doctors.

Developed a new, different kind of body image issues. Possibly dysphoria? Maybe just internalized fatphobia but for a different gender.

Worried about whether this new, more authentic, me might be unlikeable especially to my friends.

Looked at pictures of top surgery results and almost cried.

Hated my periods more than ever before.

Managed to schedule a top surgery consultation (one year in advance because waitlists are crazy like that)

Scheduled a different HRT consultation because the original one cancelled on me.

Learned a lot about trans issues and the hurdles in Germany.

Watched a new law pass to enable easier changes of legal name and gender.

Officially and legally changed said name and gender through said law!! Got a new ID, too. Started changing my name on all sorts of official documents.

Cried to at least one Philosophy Tube video.

Cried a lot, in general.

Watched a verdict take effect that allows health insurance companies to deny gender-affirming treatments.

Fought with my Health Insurance. Fought with the Committee that has the power to change these regulations again. Oh yeah also watched my government fall apart in real time and next up is eternal conservative leadership forever lol. Fought with my health insurance some more.

Wrote more goddamn emails than any person should have to in a lifetime.

Overheard my roommates talk about me with my new name and pronouns, several times.

Discovered a near eternal amount of bizarre gendered concepts hidden in my brain. (did you know hair is girlier if it curls right instead of left?)

Stopped hating my reflection. Started hating my reflection, but for other reasons. (Honestly I'm pretty sure that one's a depression thing)

Learned a lot about myself.

Fully moved past the concept of gender as it's enforced today.

Played a Pokemon game with my real name for probably the first time since I was 9.

Learned an absurd amount of platypus facts.

Felt so drained and tired almost every day, fighting for my basic rights and personal fulfillment.

Lived more as myself than ever before in my whole life. Finally took an interest in the person I am. Finally took my existence into my own hands. Finally dared to become someone, rather than just be.

Overall score: 9/10, wouldn't miss it for the world.

[wewontbesleeping]

The through line of windows as avenues for yearning in Taylor’s discography (All i really want is you to stand outside my window, throwing pebbles, screaming "I'm in love with you!" / I tapped on your window on your darkest night. / I look in people's windows in case you're at their table. / I peered through a window. / Headlights pass the window pane, I think of you. / I look through the windows of this love, even though we boarded them up. / I'll leave my window open. etc etc!!!) culminating in “the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light”… she isn’t just closing the window on Peter. She’s turning the light off entirely. She’s giving up hope for ever finding true love. The shelf life of those fantasies has expired.

[dreadfuldevotee]

Do you believe that Lestat confessing his love to everyone means he is romantically in love with all of them? That's odd i find it weird how every other character's abuse and trauma's inform their character and behaviour but when it comes to lestat it all gets waved away and he just happens to be a happy idiot whose in love with everyone including the people who abuse him, no one stops to think that this 'love' is a known reaction to trauma which later affects other relationships and bow you view love itself... but anyway nvm lestat made for poly bc he loves everyone and was born yesterday

I say this a lot about this show, but... these things can absolutely co-exist? Lestat is seriously insecure in his relationships and is aware of how selfishly he desires to hold all that he loves against his chest. He restless and craves attention and the next thrill and that often brings a new love into his life.

But truly he is a real lover, its one of his interesting parallels against Gabrielle. How she is bored of humanity and finds intrigue in the natural world, while Lestat is hopelessly tied humans and other monsters. He's oscillates between being jealous when the people in his life are together without him and delighted that they can all be under the same roof- even if for a short amount of time.

So where I'm going with this ends up being: I think your issue is more that Lestat could be non-monogamous? I'll admit that the phrase "vampire polycule" is a simplification of the arrangement, but if we are getting into the business of splitting hairs the show will have aired its final episode before we reached any satisfying conclusion. But, yes I do think that Lestat holds romantic love for several people at the same time. Some of those relationships fall to the background or feelings change, but his love for Louis and Armand is enduring throughout the books. Like feel how you want to feel, I am just one of many people who doesn't think that height of romance or healing of romantic trauma has to be a monogamous relationship

[moonshapedbox]

put my two weeks notice in at work today and no one tells u how hard it is to say goodbye to everyone…i was so blessed to love and be loved by so many of my coworkers and i’m gonna miss them so bad :(( i had to say goodbye to a lot of the ones i was close with today and it was so difficult i teared up multiple times….their reactions were so sweet and encouraging and some of them hugged me….i’m gonna miss them so so much bc they made that place bearable for the last year and a half and it’s gonna be hard not seeing them anymore….and idk i feel sad bc i don’t feel like i have enough time to say goodbye and thank everyone and tell them what a positive impact they had on me

[queen-mabs-revenge]

I'm just saying maybe you shouldn't talk about the Luddites if you actually refuse to engage with their historical struggle and the reasons for it and instead just perpetuate the bourgeois propaganda about them and somehow act that's the materialist take. get fucking serious please.

[arsonstatistic]

something something screwtio something something the woes and wonders of a human-robot relationship something something learning from each other as equals something something affection displayed by mental connection sometjing something time passing and the memory of one living on in the other eternally idk idk

[the-way-astray]

you guys know that instead of complaining that there's too much hate for a character in the main tag, you can just. make positive content and posts about that character yourself and block the negative tags right. you know this is a thing you can do. right

[gothteddiesdotcom]

okay small complaint though the whole “tumblr’s not a dating app” “if you’re coming on here to find people to date or fuck just leave” etc. stuff does kind of annoy me not because people aren’t allowed to have boundaries but because they’re trying to enforce them on others, and specifically in context of the tumblr kink scene it feels particularly out of touch considering how kink scenes are kind of…literally for that? Obviously not the whole point of a kink community, there’s education and community and socialization and freedom and all sorts of reasons, but you cannot deny the aspect of like-minded kinky deviants coming together to find other kinky deviants. Like….for a community where sex and sexuality is such an integral and important of our lives, where we can’t really expect the general population to want to date us or accept those parts of ourselves, finding a community like this where we can be our Entire selves and seek others who will love us not just in spite of that self, but Because of that self, it seems really really strange to try and eliminate such an important aspect of the kink community for everyone around you. People are allowed to not want to engage with the kink community like that and lord knows there are plenty of people that do need to told that people in the kink community aren’t just attainable sex objects for them to aspire to play with. But to pretend finding like-minded kinky individuals to get closer with is something completely alien to a kink community is just incredibly bizarre to me and almost feels like a sanitation of the kink community experience.

[sandycookie]

fellas the book 7 update…. *crying*

(refer to the tags for my rambling, just to minimize ppl accidentally spoiling themselves)