fairymousse

[fairymousse]

queen of nothing/ wearing such a heavy crown

A little late now, but Happy Anniversary for SOTE, and an adaption of what was going to be an animatic. Miquella is easily one of the most fascinating characters I've been obsessed with, and he was a joy to draw.

Quotes from The Handmaid's Tale and Queen of Nothing by the Crane Wives, likes and reblogs really appreciated.

[fairymousse]

queen of nothing/ wearing such a heavy crown

A little late now, but Happy Anniversary for SOTE, and an adaption of what was going to be an animatic. Miquella is easily one of the most fascinating characters I've been obsessed with, and he was a joy to draw.

Quotes from The Handmaid's Tale and Queen of Nothing by the Crane Wives, likes and reblogs really appreciated.

[fairymousse]

// WILDLIFE SMP SPOILERS

ZombieCleo and her zombies!!!

[fairymousse]

i don't like a lot of discussions i've seen regarding whether radahn said yes or not to the vow for a couple reasons. 1) it's never tied into the greater theme of bodily autonomy/the loss of it in elden ring and is instead only ever brought up to make miquella seem worse and 2) i think it's not supposed to be the MAJOR focus regarding radahn becoming miquella's consort (yes you can still discuss it and i will).

I really do believe the reason why there's no solid proof in the story (aside from freyja, who is an important member of radahn's army, blatantly stating radahn would've wanted this. not saying to take everything at face value but her character does seem reliable enough when talking about radahn) is because that's not the point regarding miquella and radahn's vow. there is emphasis on mohg's body being used against his wishes but not radahn. if the game wanted to let you know it was not what radahn wanted they would've said it clearly because ansbach does so for mohg. radahn and miquella's unity (or rather failure to unite) is supposed to be representative of miquella's failures due to his misunderstanding of the world and the golden order. at the end of the day radahn and miquella do share similar enough motivations

the reason why radahn most likely sought to become miquella's consort is because miquella does not intend to usurp the golden order. miquella infact is representative of regression. his unalloyed needle returns things to its former state, his nascent state prior kept him in an ever looping cycle of nearing the crest of ascension and then going back to the beginning... he is literally the son of radagon, whose major contribution to golden order fundamentalism is the concept of return and regression being a way to achieve unity and completion. miquella is trying to restore the golden order to what he believes it once was, hence why he follows his mother's path. he seeks the land of shadow and abandons his flesh there because that is the root of marika's journey, by allowing himself to be rebirthed anew in this banished place of marika's psyche he brings the shadow to light in an attempt to integrate it into his new self. he completes this ascension at the same site marika ascended: the gates of divinity. the only example we have of a demigod who ascends successfully (i personally don't think marika is supposed to be viewed as a successful ascension) after shedding their flesh is ranni, who purposefully does not pick the same path as marika and rather seeks a defiance of the golden order's laws. regression and its failures is the whole point of the dlc. it is why we fell characters like messmer who are not carving a solution to a problem but rather are allowing a reignition of it, continuing the cycle of karmic accumulation and retribution after reincarnation.

importantly the basis of radahn's loyalty to the golden order is that he idolises what it was before, not what it is now. his appraisal for godfrey and also his friendly relation with messmer is meant to show you that he is a follower of the ideal that the golden order has fallen victim to some sort of degredation of its 'true values' over time. godfrey ushered in the new age through battle, and his consortship to marika marked the start of the golden order's reign. as for messmer, messmer is upholding the crucial foundation for the golden order's existence; marika's spite for the hornsent, but as i mentioned prior... his crusades against the hornsent only serve to repeat the cycle of violence, and by extension this makes radahn related to the ideas of stagnation and repetition. godfrey and messmer can be considered the building blocks of the current era, but both were banished and had their image ruined in the favour of some sort of progression/shroud over the origins of the golden order. like miquella, radahn is the son of radagon, and he boasts his red hair in honour of his father; yet again, the most important establisher of regression in golden order fundamentalism. in truth the impacts of the golden order we see now have always been the true values it has upheld, but like miquella, radahn doesn't see that. all of this aligns radahn well enough with miquella, both characters have always served to 'fix' the golden order rather than destroy it and establish their own orders.

it is also why miquella and radahn are an incestuous involvance. why they make a point of having miquella refer to radahn as his lord brother. they are both regressing so fucking hard they fall back on the 'true' heirs to the golden lineage; themselves, which is yet again another idea of purity and perfection as put out by the conservative ideation of the golden order. (the circle, the symbol of unity, which is also an everlasting loop closing in on itself. hence why miquella's choice is radahn. whereas ranni picks you, a tarnished who was exiled from the lands between and has no prior relation to her family. yet another way she breaks the concept of regression and recirculation)

it can matter on a larger scale when we are discerning the meta narrative and what this means for us, the viewers, and what we can retrieve from this. but in this case, both radahn AND miquella demonstrate how systems like the golden order strip one of their self autonomy in the name of a greater, holier force that must be worshipped (the concept of a percect leader and empire). miquella rescinds what makes him himself (his love) because of his attempt to participate in this system, even if he means to 'reform' it (which is clearly impossible if you know literally any amount of political theory at all). radahn lacks his own identity and defines himself via others. because he strives to be the perfect servant and defender of the system. hence why this also applies to malenia, she gives herself up fully to miquella in hopes of ushering in his era. but i literally have not seen any discussion about this when it comes to saying radahn might've said no... it's not discussed in an interesting way and instead seems like an excuse to place miquella as a sort of black and white villain.

[fairymousse]

🍻

[fairymousse]

Nightreign is fun. I love the Nightlords too.

Reupload because I've made an incredibly stupid oversight the first time due to lack of sleep (I wanna kms lol)

[fairymousse]

Gun Witch Recluse

[fairymousse]

Here's a key part of the transfemme experience that is very overlooked: when you don't pass, people don't actually see you as a man, or treat you like a man.

[fairymousse]

Heolstor was in the base Elden Ring

Okay ok ok so, his lore is basically that he was one of the countless victims of a "hero" (a term very often adjacent to Erdtree/GO people in Elden Ring setting), bent on resentment and revenge, and it took the form of the 'rain', right?

But!!! Do you remember that!!! In base Elden Ring, there was a character who was one of the countless victims of Godfrey, bent on resentment and revenge, and ASSOCIATED with the sole location where clouds never dissolve and where the rains never cease?

Castle Morne is one of the places usurped by the Erdtree/GO (Edgar is a servant of Godrick). Heolstor is also apparently an enemy of Erdtree/GO people in particular; Revenant's family 100% hails from Leyendell, Wylder's clan are like model Tarnished descending from Godfrey's warriors, initially his shape is restricted with a golden dagger binding his arm and bandages with golden runes, the last thing to stand against the Nightfall is an apparition of the Erdtree, the whole thing about the Night is that it nuked the actual Erdtree and what stemmed from it...

Lmao Hornsent is welcomed to hold Heolstor's beer I suppose. Get the FUCK out, GEQ and Stormlord, we are having a fuckin AU version of the Revenger xD 😎

[fairymousse]

any chance you could post the cut “how do you do fellow kids” propaganda you mention in the ep 39 commentary? it sounds incredible

Sure!

So for context, this was another pro-sacrifice advert that would have appeared in Chapter 39:

This one has a young woman speaking as she spars with a punch-bag. Uplifting music is playing. This one should remind us of punchy sports ads cynically profiting off ‘inspirational’ personal stories. VIDEO: My whole life, I was told I couldn’t do things. (In a variety of spiteful, bullying tones) “You’ll never go to university - don’t even bother applying.” “You’ll never learn to box - you’re only a girl.” “Don’t speak up; don’t let your voice be heard; don’t be too loud, don’t take up too much space, don’t be yourself.” Now they tell me,  (In spiteful, bullying tones) “Don’t be a sacrifice.”  Well - what do they know? (Proudly, with finality) I’ll show them just what I can do. The VIDEO ends. CARSON: (Enthusiastically, like he’s sharing an interesting fact) The girl in the ad actually was sacrificed, too, which is important for authenticity.

[fairymousse]

boy just wants to live…. 🥀

[fairymousse]

it just hit me that the average watcher lore enjoyer doesn’t even know about the actual basis of watcher lore. they don’t even know the entire fanon is largely derived from one fanfiction written in 2019

[fairymousse]

missed the party, might as well miss the funeral.

[fairymousse]

Might be a hot take, but idk, Empire of Death is worse than the Reality War, because it was chosen to be written that way.

Cause, Reality War is awkward, anti climactic, and low-key misogynistic towards Belinda, but I mostly feel all of that was unintended. There's too much set-up without pay-off, and pay-off without set-up, and we already know there were reshoots. Ncuti wanted out, most likely due to delays, and the episode has to pivot on itself and it breaks. It's a bad episode, but you can understand why.

Empire of Death on the other hand, no one forced them to make that. No one held a gun to their head. No one made them make an episode largely compromised of sitting around doing fa in a wasteland, and bungling a mystery. It wastes it's villain even more than they say the Rani was wasted, but at least the Rani did something. And there's no behind the scenes drama really, it's just poorly executed.

Also, Space Babies is overhated but that's another story

[fairymousse]

penis

vagina dentata