darklygophilia

[darklygophilia]

Do you think there was any undercurrents of jealousy on LL's side of the whole olicity romance. That love of my life line that LL said on her deathbed makes me reexamine all prior interactions between oliver and laurel. Did they give off a vibe of unrequited love on Laurel's end? Or was that how Katie decided to play Laurel? There was a moment where Laurel was laying on the moon eyes in 4:17.

This is one of the more frustrating things about Laurel: she got such a bad rap after seasons 1 and 2 that all appropriate ugly emotions in seasons 3 and 4 were swept under the rug, because the writers knew the hate would get even more intense.

This is how we get Saint Laurel in season 4. She resurrects Sara without caring about what impact that would have on anyone but her. Buffy’s resurrection in season 6 is one of the most famous TV resurrections of all time, but she was ripped from heaven and spent the season with major depressive disorder (this, btw, was the best example of what it feels like to have depression I’ve ever seen; Laurel’s addiction/depression arc is a joke in comparison, even without the season 4 retcons). In this case, resurrecting Buffy was bad.

What impact would resurrection have on Sara? What would the difference between Thea, who still had maybe 5% life (if we’re thinking in video game terms), and Sara, who had been dead for over a year? What are the implications for Quentin? For Oliver? For Nyssa? Both Nyssa and Malcolm warned Laurel about the dangers of the Lazarus pit, but she resurrected Sara anyway.

What were the consequences of this resurrection? Oliver and Laurel had a shouting match, and then they’re back to being best friends. I swear to God Oliver was on Percocet in that last scene, where he refuses to distance himself from Laurel. I was absolutely thrilled to have Sara back, but Laurel got off the hook–just like she did with her alcoholism and blackmailing her way back into the DA’s office and after lying to Lance about Sara’s death for half a season.

After that? It was 100% Saint Laurel.

Laurel never showed any jealousy towards Felicity, even though Felicity basically had everything Laurel could ever want with Oliver. Laurel wanted to change Oliver into a better man so they could move in together and be the power couple of Starling City. Instead, Oliver bailed on her and ran off with Sara. However, it was Felicity’s belief in Oliver that actually helped him grow and change, and he was now the committed partner Laurel so desperately wanted. 

And we know he was “the love of her life,” so why is there no jealousy? That’s when things get fishy.

Like with her anger at Oliver in season 1, Laurel was completely justified to be petty and jealous about Felicity (and there’s a parallel between Emily and Katie I could throw in, but you probably can already see it anyway. These were emotions she had a right to feel. These were emotions that would have also been completely in-character for her.

I think the “unrequited love” may have been all in Katie’s head. She continued to insist Laurel and Oliver were soulmates long after Oliver and Felicity got together. She “wasn’t concerned” with the Olicity-heavy ending of season 2, and I don’t know if that was because she actually still believed Laurel and Oliver would get back together, or if she was doing it to campaign for a reunion. She has said at cons that fans should tweet the producers to let them know they want Laurel and Ollie together again, even while Stephen was joyously claiming Oliver’s life with Laurel and Sara was over, and it was all Olicity from there on out.

We know she’s the force behind the flashbacks in 4x19 as they were the conditions she made for leaving her contract. She wanted Laurel to have a “lasting impact” on Oliver’s journey, so we got them cuddling by the fire before Tommy was even cold in the ground. I think the “love of her life” line was all her, because the real Laurel Lance actually did love Tommy.

Amusing side note: at one of the Heroes & Villains conventions Katie and Colin were in a panel together, and someone asked if there could ever be an Arrow/Chicago Med crossover. Colin said he’d love Dr. Rhodes to have Felicity as a patient because she’d be a good listener to help him out. Katie asked “what about Laurel?” And Colin replied “I can’t do miracles.”

[darklygophilia]

So we all know the 75th Quell wasn��t just for Katniss now, right??

It was - get rid of Finnick, people tell him too much and like him too much

It was - get rid of Mags (she’ll volunteer to save anyone), she’s always been too much of a rebel and cares more about the tributes than the games (i.e. hiding Finnick from cameras)

It was - get rid of Beetee, we’re finally done with him (I want to know why he’s suddenly disposable though). But let’s make it as awful as possible and remind him every day what his son was feeling in his own last days

It was - get rid of Wiress (and also show the world what she’s become) because she never should have won (and we’ll show people what happens when you think you’re smarter than the Capitol)

It was - get rid of Johanna Mason, we killed everyone she loved and it didn’t break her enough so now we can’t control her

And of course, it was - get rid of those rebels from 12

But it wasn’t just punishment for Katniss. She had no idea how influential and volatile of a group they were.

Honestly, I feel like the 3rd Quell might have actually worked if the Capitol hadn’t decided to just send all the most rebellious and threatening victors into them. You can’t put 10+ people who rebelled in their own games back into an arena (and this time they’re all together) and expect it to go well for you???

[darklygophilia]

Peter, over the phone: Mr. Stark

Tony: yeah?

Peter: hypothetically-

Tony: I’m on my way

[darklygophilia]

[darklygophilia]

Dating Jasper Hale Would Include...

MASTERLIST

look at this boy - showing off

You two would probably get off to a rough start – especially if you are human, because this is Jasper we’re talking about and this boy struggles.

Jasper would be one to make a large deal every time his skin so much as brushes against yours. 

Sharp inhales whenever your breath warms his cool skin, white knuckles when you mindlessly draw circles on the centre of his palm, rigid muscles when you coil your arms around his neck and pull him into you. 

But of course, this only lasts so long, because he will learn to deal with the thirst just so he can hold you when you need it.

This means that your first kiss probably had the build up of the century. Both of you kind of in a daze wondering if this really was about to happen.

Unlike Edward, Jasper keeps the vampire thing away from you for as long as possible because even though he’d never admit it with you, he felt human again. And the fact that he wanted to keep it that way made him so spiteful towards himself.

You’d probably find out about the vampire thing through the rest of the Cullen family assuming that you already knew. Like you meet Alice for the first time and she doesn’t come right out and say Jasper’s a vampire, but she makes lots of hints through jokes and stories.

You wouldn’t confront Jasper right away, you give it a few weeks of stewing and stressing before you can’t hold it anymore. You quickly become agitated by Jasper because the fact that he’s withholding something from you just becomes so clear when you think about it. 

Then, your having a fight when…

“There’s something you’re not telling me,”

“Where are you getting this from?”

“Oh, bite me…”

“…”

“So, it’s true,”

You two spend exactly one week away from each other after this to think things through, Jasper especially.

That is until he shows up on your doorstep at 3am.

Jasper only ever staying with you through the night when you ask.

BECAUSE JASPER IS THE BIGGEST GENTLEMENT.

Opening all sorts of doors for you, calling you ‘ma’am’ in his sweet southern drawl, tucking your arms neatly through his when you walk down the street. But there’s a weak spot to this polite exterior. 

For example, his eyes always get playfully dark whenever you call him ‘major’.

Jasper reading in the corner while you study and shouting out help when you need it.

“Babe, I keep getting-”

“You’re getting the right answer you just need to square root it at the end,”

“Ahhhhh…thanks babe,”

You two always end up having the most interesting and philosophical conversations:

“Jasper, if 2 mind readers read each other’s minds whose mind are they really reading?”

“Y/N, what if I try to fail but succeed, which one did I actually do?”

“Hey Jasper, did you ever think about who closes the bus doors when the bus driver gets off?”

“Y/N does Lightening McQueen pay car insurance or life insurance?”

Jasper is a little bit of the jealous type, though he’d never admit it.

But whenever he sees you laughing with your friends or embracing another guy, he can’t help but feel how much easier it would be for you if your boyfriend wasn’t him, if your boyfriend was human.

He just wants what’s best for you, even if that meant he would have to leave you.

But he would only do that when you asked.

Which of course you would never.

Sometimes you notice him staring at you with this slightly tortured look and you just know what’s running through his mind.

So, you wait until you’re alone and then you just pull him into the frothing sheets of your bed and hold him silently. Trying to find words to express how much he means to you, but before you do find them you’re already slipping into sleep leaving Jasper to gaze upon your relaxed features, his mind now calm and sure once you’re in his arms.

[darklygophilia]

The Note

I saw a post on here that was really funny, but I lost it. It was a Venn Diagram with three circles and each circle had one word in it: “what” | “the | “fuck” Someone said that it would be funny if Bella gave that note to Edward (or his siblings I can’t remember because I lost it) after that first Biology lesson when he almost killed her. I thought it was really funny, so I wrote it. 

Edward Cullen wasn’t in school on Tuesday, my second day at Forks High, the day after he glared murderously at me for the entire hour of Biology from a distance of about six inches from my face. His absence pissed me off more than it should have, since he was a boy I had not even spoken a single word to yet, and I should have been relieved not to have to sit through another such uncomfortable, terrifying hour.

All through Biology, I stared at the empty seat to my right, glaring at the space he would have taken up next to me, and imagined what I would have said to him.

By the time I walked out of the gym and into the parking lot to head home, I had worked myself into a frenzy. He was clearly an asshole, and as rich and beautiful and self-important as he clearly was, I doubted anyone had ever let him know just how much he sucked.

I saw them, then, standing next to an obscenely large silver Jeep waiting for the parking lot to clear so they didn’t have to fight through a traffic jam, all four of them beautiful and pale and bruised around the eyes. Their clothing was crisp and new and pricey, and their skin was completely unmarred. The girls were huddled together under an umbrella and the boys looked completely unaffected by the cold slushy sleet that fell from the sky and soaked through their clothing.

I stalked to my truck – really, slid my ungainly way across the slick pavement – and fought to get the door open. With a huff, I threw my bag and then myself into the driver’s seat and glared at them through my rearview mirror.  Overcome with annoyance and rage, I dug into my bag and pulled out a sheet of paper and the first pen my cold, fumbling hands could find.

In bright red ink, I scratched three words into the sheet of white, then traced and retraced and retraced them again until my frazzled, enraged state of mind was clear in the lettering. Honestly, I just thought the act of writing my frustration would make me feel better. Maybe when I got home I would burn the paper for some symbolic catharsis or something. Then I made the mistake of looking in the mirror again.

They were looking in my direction. It could have been a coincidence, but I just knew it wasn’t. They were looking at me because of him. Because he had told them about me. About how, for whatever reason, he hated me and seemed to want to rip me limb from limb.

Before I could reason with myself, I threw my door open again, slammed it right into the boy getting into the car next to me, who looked horribly offended when I only slammed the door shut again and walked, as quickly and haughtily as I dared, across the row.

They watched me approach with trepidation, suspicion, and surprise. I stopped and held out the paper in the general direction of the two girls.

“Give this to your psycho brother for me, please,” I said through gritted teeth.

There was a brief pause before one of them – in my anger, I couldn’t even process which of the two beautiful girls it was – reached out and took it primly from my hand, just the tips of her fingers touching the edge of the folded paper.

I turned on my heel and stalked properly away, forgetting myself and my surroundings until I lost my balance about three feet from the back of my truck.

“Shit!” I screamed as my legs flew out from under me and my butt hit the pavement hard.

It knocked the wind out of me, and my face burned. Everyone was looking at me now, not just Edward Cullen’s siblings. I was sure I looked like a crazy person as I struggled to regain my feet on the slick pavement not all that unlike Bambi on ice.

“Are you okay?” The little one whose name I thought I remembered Jessica saying was Alice asked, bending down in front of me so that her face was only a few inches from mine. “Here, let me help you.”

“I’m fine,” I insisted, but she wrapped her gloved hands around each of my forearms and yanked me, surprisingly firmly, to my feet. Trying, and clearly failing, for dignity, I tugged the hem of my jacket down and sighed. “Thank you.”

She didn’t let go of me until I made it back to my door, and I didn’t fight her because I knew if I did I would either lose to her strong grip or to gravity. I swallowed my pride and thanked her again, not looking her in the eye as I climbed back behind the wheel. She was already gone by the time my truck roared to life, already back with the others, all of them still watching me. I backed out of my spot very cautiously. The last thing I wanted was to wreck my truck in front of them now when they obviously already thought I had lost my mind. I stared straight ahead, determinedly not glancing at them, as I drove away.

“What is it, Rose?” Emmett asked, leaning over and peering at the paper curiously as soon as the odd little awkward, angry human was gone. “What does it say?”

“Should we wait and see if he comes back? Give it to him to look at?” Jasper asked, but he was staring at the small square of paper too.  Her scent, stronger and more alluring than most of the others around them, still lingered on the paper Rosalie grasped gingerly.

“Open it,” Alice urged. “He’ll be back on Sunday, and everything will be fine. He’s not going to kill her.”

“Should we even give it to him at all?” Rosalie wondered with a small scowl. Why did he need to know that the human girl was so affected by him?

“He’ll see that it happened,” Jasper reasoned. He was tempted to play with Rosalie’s mood, make her feel more at ease with playing along, but she always got so angry with him when she realized that he had affected her emotions. “We have to.”

“He’s right, babe,” Emmett said, and pulled her into his side. “Open it.”

Rosalie sighed and unfolded the paper and held it out flat in the middle of the curious little circle they formed around it.

There, in large red letters, looking quite like someone absolutely insane had scratched them into the paper, were the words:

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

Emmett’s laugh roared out of him, startling the humans nearest him.

“I like her!” he declared loudly. Edward could stand to be called out on his bullshit a little more often.

Jasper shook his head with a smirk, and the laugh tinkled out of Alice. Even Rosalie smiled a little as her eyes traced the crazed letters. Maybe not all humans were boring and worthless.

[darklygophilia]

Do you think jasper ever raises his voice loud cuz In the book Bella make it seem he just has a low shy gentle voice he doesn’t talk loud he’s just very calm and is always in the back

hmm. I think he has basically no need to raise his voice. he’s 6′3��� and radiates “I could kill you with my little finger” vibes. plus he’s a white man so people are already more likely to listen when he talks  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

but I see the point you’re making, anon, and I agree—I don’t think his personality lends itself to loudness in any sense. in midnight sun, when things are getting very heated during the “Should We Murder Bella?” debate, he holds himself aloof and speaks calmly and matter-of-factly even as edward and rose are having their respective loud meltdowns.

But I’m not sure I’d characterize jasper’s quietness as particularly shy or gentle. It’s a very self-assured silence—he just doesn’t see the point in talking unless he has something important to say. he’s an action-oriented guy.

[darklygophilia]

god what a nightmare the cullen household must’ve been in the two years between rosalie being changed and emmett being changed?

because for two years it was just carlisle, esme, edward, and rosalie, and i can only imagine how tense that must have been

carlisle and esme are just trying to live their lives and enjoy themselves. meanwhile their two children absolutely fucking hate each other and are constantly bickering. i can only imagine what their family meetings were like

carlisle: alright, i’ve gathered you here today to talk about this week’s incident

rosalie: which one

esme: please, rose, let him speak

edward: she started it

carlisle: you both started it

rosalie: i think YOU started it, carlisle, by cursing me with this eternal damnation,

edward: i mean, mood

carlisle: listen. one of you is responsible for breaking the chair esme just finished restoring

rosalie: i only threw it at him. it was his shitty body that broke it

carlisle: [puts his head in his hands and sighs] why did i do this to myself

[darklygophilia]

“so you… you LEFT HER in the WOODS? And now we have to move?!?”

[darklygophilia]

The first thing everyone says when discussing asoiaf and/or game of thrones, the very first thing they say is: you’re never prepared for what they’ll do, your favourite characters aren’t safe, you won’t see where Martin takes it, you have no idea

And this is where my brain short-circuits - because.

You know that line about how can you hate Sansa Stark for enjoying stories about knights and maidens when you’re enjoying a song of ice and fire, a story about knight and maidens? To add to that:

How can you hate Sansa for not preparing for the worst, for not immediately knowing Joffrey would kill Eddard, for trusting everything to somehow work out, when the first selling point of this series is always: you think your favourite is safe, but they’re not. We all thought Eddard would live. When I read the build up to it, I kept wondering how Martin was going to trick his way out of this without it feeling like a cop out and then he didn’t

How can you speak derisively about Sansa expecting Joffrey to save Eddard, when every single fucking person reading the books thought exactly the same?

Sansa is the audience. There are plenty of metas on this, excellent metas, but this is the thing that sticks out the most to me. You just cannot fairly despise Sansa for expecting life to be the song she was always told it was, when the selling point of this series is that we’ll all think the same and then be wrong. You just cannot.

And by the by, on Sansa being the audience; she was handed a monster out of a myth, named it Lady and covered her in ribbons - if that’s not what every single fantasy-fan would do if someone handed us something similar.

[darklygophilia]

#tony you little shit

[darklygophilia]

Tony Stark: You make my heart skip a beat Steve Rogers: *Still drinking his coffee nonchalantly as if it’s nothing. But in reality is secretly trying to hide a big ass smile from arising by hiding his mouth behind that cuppa coffee*

Tony Stark is a hopeless romantic who is in love with his 100 year old teammate Steve Rogers who strays miles away from anything that remotely relates to love. But that doesn’t stop Tony from flirting with Steve any moment he gets, in the hopes that maybe one day this super soldier will finally realize it. 

Steve is not blind to Tony’s attempts. He has already fallen for that genius, billionaire, philanthropist who is no longer a playboy. The only thing standing in the way is his utter denial.

[darklygophilia]

Would you link some sansan wedding symbolism meta? I can't find it anywhere, but I know it exists.... :D

Actually I thought this would be easy to find, but anon you were right.  There’s not much devoted specifically to the topic of wedding/marriage symbolism, which kinda shocked me.  So often it’s mixed in with related topics of general sansan, love, sexuality, agency, protection, children, but it’s not the main focus.  Which is why it took me so long to put this together, sorry!  So this will somewhat be a collection of wedding and marriage specific metas, but there’s mostly smaller blog post observations, commentary, and quotes.  Okay, so we’re looking at two basic categories here: cloaks and wife-stealing, which is both a Free Folk marriage proposal and wedding if she accepts.  There’s also the marriage bed / wedding night, which is closely related so I included it.  

Cloaks 

Marriage Symbolism (parallels with Alys x Sigorn) by @sillier-things

Sansa’s Dream Wedding / Alys’s Wedding to Sigorn by @omgellendean

On Sansa Choosing to Cloak Herself by @maidenoftheforestlight 

Sandor’s Cloak by @eyesofmist 

On Sansa Keeping Sandor’s Cloak in her Cedar Chest (Hope Chest) by @sillier-things and commentary by @kateofthecanals

On Sandor’s Cloak versus the Lannister Wedding Cloak by @corseque

Sandor’s Cloak in Her Cedar Chest versus Littlefinger’s Cloak and the Cedar Chest He Gives Her by Milady of York and @brashcandy (Pawn to Player Project)

Wife Stealing

Ygritte, Tormund, and Jon explaining Wife Stealing: here, here, here, here, here, and here.  A suitor must prove himself quick, clever, and strong to his bride.  This is not a rape or kidnapping to the Free Folk and the woman is not supposed to be harmed.  It’s a demonstration of his prowess as a warrior, provider, and what kind of sons he will give her.  Jon held a knife to Ygritte’s throat (as did Sandor to Sansa), but to Ygritte this was Jon’s proposal, unbeknownst to him.    In the end, we can see Munda approved of Ryk and took him to husband.  Note that Munda bit off part of Longspear Ryk’s ear and Sandor is missing part of an ear.  She’s also referred to as Tormund’s “autumn apple” and Sansa also has strong parallels to the goddess Idunn and her apples of youth.  Apples ripen in autumn.  Ripening fruit is symbolic of female sexual maturation.  The final decision was Munda’s to make and she made hers based on Ryk being a “stallion.”  He isn’t called Longspear for carrying the literal weapon after all.  

So we can see why then Sandor, who was drunk and afraid at the Blackwater (a symbolic wife stealing), was at the time rightly refused by Sansa.  His casting off the cloak acknowledges his unworthiness, but her keeping it says she has not rejected him, but his worst trait.  Actually, the first time he held a blade to her neck, he was posturing and boasting – all talk, no action, so it doesn’t count as a proper wife stealing.  Third time’s a charm, perhaps?

We look up at the same stars, and see such different things. The King’s Crown was the Cradle, to hear her tell it; the Stallion was the Horned Lord; the red wanderer that septons preached was sacred to their Smith up here was called the Thief. And when the Thief was in the Moonmaid, that was a propitious time for a man to steal a woman, Ygritte insisted. “Like the night you stole me. The Thief was bright that night.” – Jon III, ASOS

the Stallion (Stranger) is the Horned Lord (the Consort of the Goddess figure); “red wanderer” is an analog to Mars, God of War (warrior), but he’s also the Smith (laborer, gravedigger) and the Thief (wife-stealer).  The most auspicious time to steal a wife is when the Thief is in the Moonmaid (Sansa, associated with pearls, moonstones here and here.  Currently residing at the Gates of the Moon).  

“Off to Gulltown” song that references stealing kiss from a fair maid at knifepoint, then making her his love and taking her to rest in the shade.  Alayne Stone’s backstory is that she is from Gulltown.  

Wedding Night / Marriage Bed

All the times Sandor or his stand-in is connected to wedding nights or marriage beds:

This one is a little looser connected, but she associates “her Florian” coming to save her on Joffrey’s wedding night.  The drunken fool knight, Ser Dontos, is the pathetic, funhouse mirror version of Sandor, complete with smoochies, heart eyes, and drunk crying. 

Lysa and Petyr’s very loud wedding night triggers the dogs to bark and Sansa to think about her own wedding night to Tyrion, then segues into thinking about Sandor and wondering what happened to him.

That same night, Bryen’s old blind dog joins Sansa in her bed.  After Marillion tries to rape her, it’s Lothor Brune, who she mistakes for Sandor, that saves her.  That night, she has her first erotic dream about her wedding night.  

Myranda Royce asks Sansa if she knows what happens in the marriage bed.  She thinks of Tyrion, then Sandor, and nods.  While Sansa is only thinking of kissing, Myranda bluntly calls it “fucking.”  She complains of her late husband dying in their marriage bed leaving her “scarce used” and childless.  It’s not unlike the frustration feels when she says Sandor “took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak,” especially if we think of the bloody cloak as synonymous bloody sheet of a wedding night.   

Other Reading That May Be of Interest 

Quotes of Sandor and Sansa choosing to wear each other’s colors, as if they belonged to the same house or made one of their own: here and the next day here, here and then later here, and when she cannot wear Stark or Tully colors, she chooses autumn gold with a brown wool gown, the color of House Clegane.  Wool is also a plain, practical material she associates with Sandor.

What did Sandor Really Win at the Hand’s Tourney by @eyesofmist

Hieros Gamos by @sillier-things

Bears and Maidens:  The Song by @sweetsunrayssr  Of particular relevance is the subsection on The Bear Wedding.  Breaking down “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” stanzas as explaining a proper wife stealing and the importance of the woman protesting/fighting the bear.

Sansa’s Gut Reaction to the Idea of Marrying Loras is Revealing by @bluelemonsforever

On Possible Origin of Names:  Freya, her husband Odin / Óðr, and Sansan by @bluelemonsforever 

[darklygophilia]

 After seeing someone get outraged on twitter when a writer I follow pointed out the tropes used in a popular book series are super racist I feel compelled to re-read The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectatorship by bell hooks. The essay validated a lot of my feelings about pop culture when I read it in college. And I keep remembering  the quote,“Not only will I stare. I want my look to change reality.”

In the essay hooks talks about being punished as a child for looking too hard at grownups and how in historical context slaves were punished for looking too hard at slave-owners. She says that looking, challenging, and examining is power. Which explains why people who criticize things like Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and Sarah J. Maas’s work are so casually written off as just being haters. Because after-all, why shouldn’t you just shut up and accept the scraps you’re given? I don’t think anyone should be shamed for what brings them joy. But, I’ll always contend that marginalized people will always have every right to critique the sexist, racist, homophobic portrayals we’re given in media.  

[darklygophilia]

im curious what you think about the place of the origin of vampires in the vampire chronicles because to me it feels sooo weird when marius's story is brought up in tvl because up until that point the vc have been about coping with loss of faith or trying to find meaning in immortality when there seems to be no clear answers and then marius just dropping this information on lestat right after you had a whole book of louis's quest for answers and armand had literally just had his whole world rearranged after lestat killed most of the children of darkness and it feels almost like oh silly louis and armand there are answers you just arent worthy of having them you went thru this crisis but actually there is objective truth you just are too stupid and unimportant to have it and it feels like it kind of breaks the series after that

Mm, I see what you mean. I don’t think that TVL’s problem on that front is the inclusion of vampire lore/an origin story in-and-of-itself so much as how it frames it.

I mean first of all the style is crimes; I know no less than three friends who I got to read TVL who either or almost or completely bailed when they hit the Marius section because it’s so. Fucking. Boring. It’s just this long exposition dump by an asshole we’ve just met about characters who are all dead and unimportant except, basically, for Akasha. It is, structurally speaking, a nightmare. Most of VC is literally or figuratively characters sitting in a room spewing backstory at each other (TVL does the same thing earlier in the book with Armand but crucially it’s A) short and B) reveals something about a character we’ve had time to get invested in), but since Marius isn’t really a character proper at this point it’s kind of a crap way of asking the audience to invest in him (putting aside, obviously, all the other reasons Marius sucks).

I feel like I’ve harped on this a lot but I think there’s something there in the broad setup from TVL to QOTD where Lestat hears this potted history intoned by an old white dude who has spent centuries deciding what art and history is worthy of being curated, who then sets Lestat up to replicate that secretive gatekeeping role. Doing so is the seed that spirals out into Lestat ruining his relationship with Louis. He decided open access to information is the best apology he can make, which also effectively strikes at the heart of the power imbalances on which vampire society is wholly predicated.

Then Akasha breaks out of her confinement and tells Lestat that Marius sucked actually, going a step further in undoing the personal mythology Lestat had been building up around his handsome knowledgeable daddy figure. In a better world this would lead to some kind of personal reckoning about Lestat squaring his need to be a rebel with what that means when it challenges stuff that hurts to throw off. And also Akasha’s character would have something more to say than “lol misandry.”

Also good God, Marius should’ve died during QOTD. It just makes narrative sense: he’s the gatekeeper of the old system Lestat and Akasha both oppose, and it’s a powerful upping of the stakes if we see Akasha killing not just nobody scrub vampires but the person Lestat has viewed as wise and untouchable up to that point, leaving only the equally ancient twins able to face her on equal footing (something something women’s history doesn’t really work when all the main characters are men but hey).

But none of that happened and so what we get is “Anne read The Hunger and dug on the Egyptian stuff in there” mixed with the fact that IWTV is a deeply personal novel with a fairly bleak outlook on the cost of breaking the cycle of abuse (Louis is prepared to do it even if it kills him with loneliness), while TVL wants to be restorative rather than cathartic and falls apart on thinking through the much grander consequences of that narrative goal.

[darklygophilia]

The Baltimore Origins of Hannibal

~All right kids, sit your butts down for some original Hannibal research ~

Baltimore is one of the best cities in America. I miss living there. Yes, Baltimore has gone through waves of post-industrialization crime (if you haven’t seen The Wire, go watch it now). The infamous Bodymore, Murderland graffiti is where I got my blog title. But Baltimore is also a center of American history, culture, and academia. I’ve followed the Lecter universe for ages. Since Thomas (a former Baltimore reporter) Harris doesn’t give interviews, I have fun guessing at his inspirations from the city. 

Dr. Lecter’s world starts in Mount Vernon, the the city’s cultural center. This is absolutely where Hannibal would live- grand, prewar brownstones, the Peabody Instittute Library.The Garrett-Jacobs Mansion is located in the neighborhood; it’s currently the home of the Engineers’ Club of Baltimore (membership is not limited to civil or mechanical engineers- more of a general brain trust). 

William Graham Bowdoin, an influential banker and trustee of Johns Hopkins University, built his city residence in Mount Vernon. ‘Baltimore: Its History & Its People, Volume II’ (1912) described him as a civic leader, writing that “by strength of his own force and character, he overcame obstacles which to others less hopeful and less courageous would seem insurmountable.” Good basis for a protagonist. His mansion is now home of The Brewer’s Art, the best bar in Baltimore (and America- I will fight you on this). Brewer’s opened in ‘96, long after Red Dragon, but I was so happy to discover this Balty institution has a Harris connection.

There’s a Chilton Street in a less glamorous part of town; Chilton is an old, old family dating back to the founding of Baltimore (and even further back from descendants of Mary Chilton, a passenger on the Mayflower). Rev. Arthur Chilton Powell was a manager of the Maryland State Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Frederick County, and vice president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. William Chilton was the mayor of Frederick, MD, both in the 19th century.

The obnoxious characters (Lounds and Chilton) are named for Frederick County, Maryland. There’s a stereotype in Baltimore/D.C. that the population of Frederick County is… provincial *cough*they get called Fred-necks*cough*. The county also has a statue of Justice Roger Taney, author of the most horrifically racist judicial opinion in American history, but a complicated individual, in his birthplace- Frederick, Maryland. There’s another statue of Taney. Guess where? Mt. Vernon, Baltimore, Maryland.

Lounds and Hobbs are also old family names in the Baltimore area.  But I’d venture that Graham’s first killer was named for editor of The Baltimore Evening Sun, Clark S. Hobbs, who died shortly before Red Dragon was published.

The name Lecter has nothing to do with Baltimore as far as I can tell. I like to think that since a lectern  is a desktop/podium often used by professors to lean on/organize their notes as they teach- Graham is a professor, and there’s a long, symbolism-laden exchange about ‘terns’ in Silence of the Lambs- it’s Thomas’s wordplay for the thing on which the protagonist relies to tell the story. And for Hannibal… it. rhymes.  

Personal nitpicks- Yes, I know this is a universe where it’s winter, then fall, then spring again, but still, Wolf Trap is not the middle of nowhere. It’s the pastoral side of suburban, but it’s a pretty ritzy area with a heavily-attended summer concert series. I guess they just liked the name. Also, it is absolutely ridiculous to drive from Quantico, VA (aka FBI HQ) to Baltimore, MD at rush hour. Graham better have left at 3:30 PM to make his 7:30 PM appointment with Lecter, ‘cause he’d be in gridlock the whole way. 

This is all my original research, including reading through some very old books, so I would much appreciate being credited. Ignore anyone who says you can’t be a successful, disciplined professional as an adult and a major fandom nerd at the same time.

[darklygophilia]

Ok hold on apparently I'm not done ranting about bridgerton BECAUSE THE WAY THEY PORTRAY THE REGENCY ERA. Yes I could screech about the inaccurate clothing and hairstyles and makeup but to narrow it down to two points: the entire "rake" personality was LOOKED DOWN UPON. A man was valued for being chaste and not sleeping with prostitutes every night, that kind of personality would have been ostracized from society and everyone associated with him. ALSO I had to laugh because in the first episode when Lady Danbury is telling Edwina about suitors she mentions this one dude and FLIPPANTLY states that he made 10 thousand a year???? She said that as if it was nothing when Darcy made that much and he was basically a GOD who was revered and respected in social circles??? I could not look past it it was so-

hmmm...

i will say i'm incredibly lenient towards bridgerton when it comes to historical accuracy, because imo, it's more of a fantasy than it is a reality, and if it's pretty, i don't care if they are getting married to a cover of sign of the times (though material girl and you oughta know felt a little jarring to me? idk why. i think i knew less of the ~popular~ songs in season 1 so it didn't bother me like this season) and if they have glitter on their gowns to make them feel sparkly and pretty, or if the actresses have block eyebrows asdfghgfdfghgf. (i will say, though, i hate the fact that in season 1 there was a scene where they were putting on corsets. like,,,, ma'am, those dresses are not form fitting???? there's literally no reason as to why you should wear a corset for a skinny waist when those dresses Don't??? Hug??? The Waist?????)

AND OHMYGOD THE RAKE THING!!!!!! i have said it once and i will say it again: why. is anthony. the greatest catch. when he's a Rake???? in your other take i broke down the issues abound i had with anthony's status as a rake and i just,,,,,,,, can't get over it. i mean i know the season tried to downplay it by never actually showing anthony having sex - only ever leaving afterward - but it doesn't change the fact that he's a Rake? and this new invented personality and character of anthony's certainly makes him more palatable for a love interest, but it doesn't change anything???? if i were a mother i would steer my daughters away from him and into the arms of either of his brothers, asdfggfdssdfg. anthony is not the catch??? if anything colin or benedict should be the one everyone wants to go after and anthony falls in love with kate while she is setting up edwina with benedict or colin asdfghgfdssdhj

and omg, yeah, i know nothing of finances, but based off of that comment: justice for the marquis of ashdown who makes TEN THOUSAND A YEAR and no one seems to care,,,,,,, he gets rebuffed on like three (3) different occasions for comic relief,,,,,,,, justice will one day be served for the Mr. Darcy of bridgerton asdhgfdghjkllkjhg......

(and ohmygod, i just remembered that a marquis is HIGHER RANKING than a viscount,,,,, truly, justice for the marquis of ashdown. ANYONE would want that title!!!!)