lily4731

[lily4731]

@lily4731 and I thought this song would match perfectly for trials...

Credits for the fanart and pics go to their creators ( @nataliabdraws (thank you so much for the GREAT fanart you shared) and sry I have no idea who made those epic Avar in trials armor and the one with Avar looking down on Elzar (if you know if be grateful for any comment :). The other images are from pinterest) Overlay for lyrics is from @overl.ayz on TikTok.

[lily4731]

Who do you think/hope will write the SOTR movie song?!

I've seen people hope for Noah Kahan or Hozier, but personally I hope it'll Alex Warren

[lily4731]

I need Kit and Ty to have a picnic on Szabadság híd (Liberty Bridge) when they'll be in Budapest.

[lily4731]

Why did no one tell me how stunning the Czech TSC editions are?!?!?!? These are TID and TMI's sprayed edges, EXCUSE ME?!?!? It's beautiful?!?!?!

[lily4731]

[lily4731]

Something about a blue-eyed dark-haired man haunting the narrative

Something about three people loving eacher other's soul more than they love themselves

Something about one of them dying long before the others

Something about him smiling from the afterlife because the two others found happiness

Something about him waiting for them

[lily4731]

Everyone talks about "she had realized that she had forgotten the precise blue of his eyes", but

"Jem played, and he played the years of Will’s life as he had seen them. [...] He played that love, and he played their love for Tessa, and hers for them, and he played Will saying, 'In your eyes I have always found grace'. [...]" ?!?!

It broke me first

[lily4731]

Will and Jem and their love letters to Tessa.

something about the straightforwardness and simplicity of the language in both that makes their words feel all the more sincere and heartfelt.

but what gets me most is the closing phrases: with hope at last, Will Herondale. whatever else I may be, I remain always, your Jem.

[lily4731]

Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 was two years ago, damn, time flies

I can't wait to go to another SW Celebration one day, it truly is an amazing thing

[lily4731]

Randomly remembered I made some THR memes back in 2021/2022 so here you go

[lily4731]

TWOM Rant: Rebellion

this is going to be me rambling but the way The Will of the Many by James Islington talks about responsibility and rebellion is so interesting because even though they realize that the people at the top are corrupt and the system they built is terrible, the anguis despises people at the bottom for being complacent in the system.

page 172:

"They were innocent"

"Innocent?" Estevan has just been listening thoughtfully but he stirs at that, offended. "Were they not Octavii and Septimii, ceding their Will to Canten, for Canten's purposes?"

...

"Should we not hold others to the standards to which we hold ourselves? Anyone who does not resist them, Diago, is lending them their strength. Is complicit in all that they do. The Octavii are not just guilty - they hoist the entire Hierarchy on their shoulders."

Estevan/Melior knows that the lower-ranking members of the Hierarchy outnumber the higher ups. It's important to recognize that when you are at the "bottom" rung of society you have so much more power than you realize. The Hierarchy has 24 million people and people ranking above Octavii make up barely 2 million people. They would be terrified if people at the bottom ever joined together to overthrow them because when the Octavii die, they are losing the amount of Will being ceded to them, making themselves weaker. It would be extremely complicated to go to war with the Octavii and keep their power because the more casualties there are the more exposed they become; either way it would make it easier for some other group to take power.

pages 281 - 282

"Based on a standard pyramid, how many people out of every hundred would you expect to be Ovtavii?"

"A little under ninety?"

...

"About ten should be Septimii, a couple of Sextii. Quintii and above don't even factor into it at those numbers, but you get the idea. Given that, with twenty-four million people in the Hierarchy, how many would you expect to be Octavii?"

"About... twenty-one million?"

"A little less. Then two and a half million Septimii. About half a million Sextii." He jots the numbers, then glances up at me to check that I'm following.

"So?" The rations do sound a little off to me- I'd say that Sextii were more rare than that- but then, I've hardly shared the same space as senators and the like over the past few years.

...

"Regionally, most communities are arranged so that the Sextus is the highest position; everyone else of importance out there is a Septimus. Census data from last year said that there are only sixty thousand Sextii, eight thousand Quintii, and about two hundred Quartii in the Republic. Not in Canten, or in Deditia. In the entire Republic" He looks at me significantly.

I frown, doing the calculations in my head. "That's..." I shake my head. "That doesn't change the Octavii and Septimii numbers much, but it means that one person in every thousand is a Sextii. Not one in every hundred."

The illusion being sold to the people of the Hierarchy is that anyone can become a Sextus based on merit, anyone can climb the ladder to become a high ranking member of society, is based on false claims. The people in charge of the system are greedy, ensuring that people have false hopes or believe that society is somewhat fair helps squash feelings of resentment towards the Hierarchy. If you are an Octavii it's not that hard to move up to Septimii?? You're just not cut out to be a higher ranking member of society. If you believe that you aren't worth that much to the Hierarchy and that you are weak and replaceable it crushes your spirit to rebel against them. This mirrors how people are sold the false narrative of how anyone can become rich if they just work hard enough. The factors that limit opportunities and growth are ignored, success is in reach and it is your responsibility to take it. Additionally, because they are so "weak" they need to continue ceding their Will to the Hierarchy in order to protect them from threats like the Anguis, like people who have to work in low-paying jobs with limited protections in order to keep society running. But this is why Vis is sympathetic towards the Octavii and other people who are complicit with the system the Hierarchy has put into place, when you have nothing, why would you care about issues you aren't aware of? The Hierarchy is corrupt, but it is a way of life for these people.

page 280 - 281

"A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved." He gives a soft snort, shaking his head. Which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved"

...

"The Academy's a perfect example of what he talks about; we're meant to be the brightest of the Republic, but almost all of us here are the children of senators and knights. We've been trained, educated, since we could walk. Of course we're going to be 'better' than some fifth son of an Octavus who's been ceding half his life, just so his family can get by. Especially at tests which are devised by the same people who trained us. Who decide what merit is"

They were born into a world where it is normal for you to give up half your life force in order to "benefit" society as a whole, "Stronger Together" and whatnot. If they don't cede their Will, they'll be whipped until they comply. They aren't aware of the disparities in the power distribution, the corruption going on with Military and the Anguis, or the horrors of the sappers. Even Vis and his peers are barely aware of the census data and the only ones who know the true horror of the sappers are Vis and Eidhin. Vis and Estevan are able to see the corruption of the Hierarchy from an outsider's perspective- a prince and an advisor who know the horrors of Will. But Vis' time in the Republic mingling with people who were born and raised with the ideals of the Hierarchy showed him another side of these people. He wouldn't have been able to get by without the help of the villagers when he had just escaped from Suus, but the Anguis had burned their village down. (pg 171) It is impossible to fix a broken system without violence. It is also impossible to have a successful rebellion without good people dying. What matters more? Human life or ending human suffering?

page 486

"No country's governance is perfect. Anyone who looks at a system of people and thinks the system is the problem, is a fool. But I also want you to understand that the Hierarchy's is far more insidious. Because it's not imperiled by flaw. It is built on one."

"The Hierarchy?" I was puzzled. The Hierarchy were a wall, smooth and strong and impossibly tall. They were an insurmountable obstacle, a force beyond my comprehension. "What flaw?"

"Greed." My father turned to me then, and his dark eyes held mine. The wind whipped us, a chill to it that far up. "Greed is by definition the moral ruler of the Hierarchy, Diago. All decisions are based upon it. It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say- it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it"

Estevan and Vis’ father, Cristoval recognize the way the Hierarchy has brainwashed its citizens but still hold them to a higher moral standard. Vis recognizes the issue but is torn on what to think (I would be too if I was a double agent and always on the verge of death) 

However, he sees the way the Anguis works and how the people within it have to cede to its leaders. 

even tho they hate the system of the hierarchy they use it nonetheless with sedotia ceding her will to estevan

they have birthwright that means you can't kill people

"hate is a form of violence"

quote about the right to die from edwin

them working with the high ranking officials in the senate quotes

shows how rebellion is complicated and there are many aspects to it that are ugly but would you rather be in a world where you have to kill people to get the freedom that you deserve of be complicit in the suffering of 22 million people

hard choices to make

did I say anything meaningful at all? probably not but I finished this book last night and cannot stop thinking about it

[lily4731]

do you think dead Shadowhunters watch from heaven what their descendants do? Nah cause just imagine

Jace: To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be destroyed

Everyone in heaven: *staring at Will*

Will: ok first of all, this isn't my fault

...

Kit: *moves with Jem and Tess after feeling rejected by his crush*

Cordelia: oh my angel

Cordelia: oh my angEL JAMES COME HERE YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I'VE JUST SEEN

...

Alec: *coming out to his parents*

Anna: *aggressively slams her hand on the table* OK EVERYONE, YOU OWE ME AT LEAST FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. I DON'T CARE IF I'M DEAD ABD DON'T NEED MONEY CHARLES JUST SHUT UP

...

Kieran, Mark and Cristina: *being poly*

Will: OH RAZIEL, WHY DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT THAT, THIS IS A BRILLIANT IDEA

Matthew: Yeah! *Looks at Cordelia and James* Wy didn't we think about that too?!

Cordelia: Matthew, we don-

James: no no wait he has a point

...

Kit: some idiot named W.H. wrote on this books

Will: WHO YOU CALLIN AN IDIOT YOU LITTLE SHIT

Charlotte: Will wait hES A BABY-

...

Sophie: look at Isabelle. She's just so good. She has a lot of dates!

Gideon and Gabriel: *proud*

Cecily: yes but ... where's the flirting awkwardness that distingues Lightwoods? The thing that Thomas, Gideon and Gabriel have?

Thomas: hey-

Alastair: yeah she's right, where is it?

Alec: *just doing anything*

Alastair: ah there it is

[lily4731]

Catching up on Phase III of The High Republic is giving me a newfound appreciation for people who started THR after the initial release. It must've been so hard to read all the comic issues in the right order

Back during Phase I & II I'd read everything in the week of its release at most, so I never hesitated about what the next one to read was, it was soooo easy.

[lily4731]

Did Jem had to cut his hair as a Silent Brother?

Did he do it himself? Do they even have mirror in the Silent City? Did he go to like a hair salon?!

[lily4731]

Omg yes it's criminal how they've set Lina Soh aside. Her and the politics of the Republic, with its growing alliances, the Great Works, etc, was such an interesting part of Phase I, Waves 1 & 2 and now in Phase III we're lucky if Lina gets two sentences in a book.

I also miss how each Jedi had they're own way of seing the Force, if feel like they don't do that as much now.

THR is still my favorite part of SW but it doesn't feel the same as it did with Phase I

Remember when The High Republic used to get trailers for each wave, character videos, posters, quizzes, special editions covers, and 6 episodes a year of The High Republic Show that the whole THR fandom analyzed?

Because I do, and I miss that time.

The entire starwars.com homepage was once full of only THR content and nothing else.

Take me back to Jan/Feb 2023 when we all cried our way through Phase I Wave 3 together

[lily4731]

Remember when The High Republic used to get trailers for each wave, character videos, posters, quizzes, special editions covers, and 6 episodes a year of The High Republic Show that the whole THR fandom analyzed?

Because I do, and I miss that time.

The entire starwars.com homepage was once full of only THR content and nothing else.

Take me back to Jan/Feb 2023 when we all cried our way through Phase I Wave 3 together

[lily4731]

I FEEL THIS

I was in my first year of high school when THR was announced and now I'm about to graduate with a bachelor's degree

I'll never forget THR

I can’t believe we’re in the endgame for The High Republic. I got into this series in the middle of my sophomore year and now I’m months away from going to college. It’s been such a huge part of my life for the last few years and it feels unreal it’s ending soon. This is what got me into Star Wars book and comics. These characters and stories are always going to have a special place in my heart and I can’t wait to see what the authors do next.