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hopping onto my oft-forgotten tumblr during alectopause to talk about something i've been mulling over re: mythology, namesakes, and foreshadowing in tlt.

so here, have a rambly mess of classics, nomenclature, dooming and un-dooming characters, and cornplating about ianthe. enjoy??

obligatory disclaimer: tlt is obviously its own property and is most certainly not a one-to-one retelling of anything in particular.

however!! as we all know, tazmuir loves a good reference, and in particular, a good name reference. often, we've seen those names foreshadowing (usually bad) events that happen to the characters that bear them. some examples:

protesilaus: from πρῶτ��ς, first, is the first to die in both tlt and the iliad. both pros also have wives named mia and laodamia.

palamedes, who was almost diomedes: from two mythological clever smart boys (cf homer, hyginus, apollodorus). also, palamedes (myth version) def gets murdered.

pyrrha: from πυρρός, red-haired (well, yeah), relations to achilles (cf hyginus) and neoptolemus (originally pyrrhus), as well as to epirote king pyrrhus, whose battle casualties led to the term "pyrrhic victory."

camilla: from camilla in virgil's aeneid, another fantastically capable warrior maiden who makes a devatasting eleventh-hour sacrifice after getting stabbed. rip sweet princess :(

plenty more from other works (see: dulcinea, augustine, paul). point being, this is a trend, and it's often oof ouch.

anybody else i'm forgetting? anybody missing? oh, hi, ianthe, didn't see you over there!

ianthe is a character who's been a thorn in my theorizing side for years. and her name is no different!

perhaps the simplest explanation is that her name is just meant to be an aesthetic choice, not a referential one. we know from nona that the twins' mother is called violabeth. presumably, coronabeth is named after her mother, à la priamhark - harrowhark. and ianthe, likely derived from the greek ίανθος, violet, is a good tie-in to both their mother's name and the third's house colors.

in all fairness, that's probably it. but stick with me here!!!

there is an ianthe in mythology – in book 9 of ovid's metamorphoses, to be exact. and the really interesting thing? that ianthe gets a happy ending.

iphis and ianthe is a super interesting story. to sum up: iphis is born afab but is raised male, falls in mutual love with schoolmate ianthe and the pair are engaged, laments being afab and longs to be a man so the marriage can come to fruition. isis intervenes, iphis is metamorphosed into a man, and the pair happily marry.

so, elle, this is very cool and all, but does this have anything to do with tlt ianthe? if there are parallels, they're certainly significantly less obvious compared to, say, mr. "dies first" protesilaus.

the connections are loose, but, dare i say, they are...there?

i+i is one of the only extant mythological examples we have of homoerotic desire, which feels very on the nose for tlt lmao

we also have this emphasis on marriage in i+i, with ianthe in particular "keenly [seeking]" a marriage that iphis is trying to delay. someday she's going to marry that girl? anyone?

most importantly: we have a clear emphasis on gender. while it is more in relation to iphis than ianthe, iphis does wonder whether "either" of them could be changed, and there are clear anxieties and discomfort around gender presentation and social ramifications of gender that line up very well with tower prince, naberius-soul-concoction ianthe.

I find ianthe very interesting in relation to this naming trend for two reasons. ianthe, unlike any other character with a "myth" name, doesn't have a clear connection to her namesake. and mythological ianthe, unlike any of the other namesakes, is a relatively "happy" story.

is this in service of saying that ianthe is bound for a happy ending? well, no. of course, I think ianthe is a very likely candidate for the alecto wedding, and, while I would be absolutely shocked out of my seat if she ended the series alive, it's somehow on-brand for her in my mind for her to live as much as it is for her to die. but i'm also team ianthe-was-originally-abella, per the gtn naming system guide, and abel is notorious for, uh, not getting a happy ending.

what this is hopefully in service of saying is that I find it really interesting when references do and don't apply. when I initially made the ianthe-ianthe connection in my brain, I dismissed it out of hand – ianthe, love and light, bestie, is doomed! of course she has nothing to do with one of the few hopeful, happy stories in the greek and roman mythos!

but the more I think about it, the more I realize how perfect this is for her. she isn't like the other mythologically-named characters, all of whom are named for characters in mythological epic, those big, classic, dramatic narratives of homer and virgil.

no, ianthe is from the metamorphoses. the epic written by the guy who is clever, cheeky, who knows rules and epic convention so well that he flouts and plays with them where he pleases. ovidian epic, the metamorphoses, is in itself a metamorphosis and collision of genres and tonalities and styles. this isn't the story of a hero. this is the fucky, wonky, anti-epic epic that doesn't fit into any tidy boxes.

sounds familiar?

this is, as I said at the top, completely and utterly cornplating at this point. but I just think it's so silly goofy and absolutely sensical for this series to have this mythological naming trend, to buck that trend, only to have this understanding that the trend has indeed not been bucked on account of a character's own trend being bucking all the trends.

and as for the saint of awe herself? whatever big dramatic horrible thing she does in alecto is anyone's guess. she's metamorphosing, baby. nobody can quite pin her down, and if ovidian references have anything to say about it, that's entirely by design.

anyway I Just Think She's Neat. if you've made it all the way here mwah lots of love for reading my silly rambles <3

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Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends) Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Heimerdinger (League of Legends), Jayce (League of Legends), Viktor (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Enemies to Lovers, Alternate Universe - College/University, Mutual Pining, Rivals With Benefits, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, flirting via academic competition, Other Additional Tags to Be Added Summary:

If someone had told the Ekko of three months ago that he’d be starting the school year in Professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger’s office at the Piltover Academy, he would’ve point blank, straight up, no hesitation laughed in their face.

But he's somehow managed to luck his way into a full-ride, four-year scholarship, complete with a double major in mechanical engineering and fine arts. It's everything he could ever ask for.

The only problem? Who he has to share it with.

Or, a childhood friends to academic rivals to lovers art school AU.

it’s that time again, when I remember I have a tumblr and use it to talk about the things I write! very excited for this one :D

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loose ends to tie up (12065 words) by patiencespardon Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ekko/Jinx (League of Legends) Characters: Ekko (League of Legends), Jinx (League of Legends), Vi (League of Legends) Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Fix-It of Sorts, Bittersweet Ending, Character Study, Mutual Pining, One Night Stands, of a sort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Time, Sharing Clothes, Penis In Vagina Sex, Gentle Sex, Canon Compliant, Hurt/Comfort Summary: Jinx'd had big plans involving herself and a date with an airship headed who-knows-who-cares-where. But if she’s too busted-up to crawl in a straight line through a fucking ventilation shaft, she doesn’t have a chance at clambering through rigging. Time to think about this critically. Where’s a girl to go, after she’s faked her own death? What hidden hearth is she to crawl to, what savior is there to give her refuge? Well. Of all the girls in the world who have faked their own deaths, she must be an especially lucky one, because, even if she has to scoot on her ass through an air duct to get there, she knows exactly where she’s going. Or, a season two post-finale timebomb fix-it, wherein some very important conversations are finally had and some very long-term pining is finally resolved.

long time no see!! I have remembered I 1. have a tumblr and 2. write things sometimes!! so here, some timebomb for my dash. more fic to come in the new year!! <3

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Chapters: 5/10 Fandom: Our Flag Means Death (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Israel Hands/Jim Jimenez, Oluwande Boodhari/Jim Jimenez, Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Israel Hands Characters: Israel Hands, Blackbeard | Edward Teach, Stede Bonnet, Jim Jimenez, Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death), Benjamin Hornigold Additional Tags: Character Study, Canon-Typical Violence, Pining, Grief/Mourning, Bonding, Slow Burn, not daddy kink but like. dad kink?, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Season/Series 01, Sharing a Room, Touch-Starved, Hurt/Comfort, Sharing a Bed, Making Out Summary:

After Stede Bonnet's untimely exit from his life, Izzy Hands can't wait for things to finally go back to normal. Several months on, though, Edward isn't snapping back as quickly as anyone had hoped.

It would really help matters if there wasn't an assassin trying to kill the both of them. And, as time passes, it's becoming increasingly apparent to Izzy that it would be much easier to find a way to get along with Jim instead of constantly hauling them back to the brig. Perhaps he'll even find that they have more in common than he'd anticipated.

(He doubts it. But it's worth a try.)

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hi hello it’s me again! long time no see etc. etc. 

this has been possessing me for a VERY long while now and i’m very happy to finally be putting it out into the world. don’t ask me about how this happened because i really don’t know :)

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it’s been a long, long time since i’ve used tumblr, but!! fic is here once again!

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fic update!!

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returning from a brief hiatus with...new fic!

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final persuasion tactics update is finally up on my ao3 ! first ever multi chapter fic in the books :)

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penultimate chapter of persuasion tactics just went up at long last!

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full nona spoilers for this whole fic but...it’s the 16k fix it au nobody asked for but that is here anyways :)

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persuasion tactics just updated!! no nona spoilers, just more yearning content :D

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new persuasion tactics update on this lovely monday evening

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persuasion tactics just updated!! chapter two is a little later than I was expecting it to be, but better late than never!

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never going to stop thinking about as yet unsent. what a tragedy it is that corona, judith, and camilla didn't have more time. all three of them were really just taken prisoners of war without any warning.

no time to process. no time to properly say goodbye. no time to gather their things and try to get themselves together. everything else just left to languish in canaan house.

did corona and ianthe have friendship bracelets stored away somewhere in their room? did judith ever get to give marta a proper burial? did she get to bring any of the books they both read with her? and cam!! all that she has left of palamedes is his bones. not a scrap of paper with his handwriting, not a sweater of his that she can wear, nothing but the little bag around her neck.

how terrible it must be to have the most important person / people in the world taken from you and have next to nothing to remember them by.

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oh boy! more fic!! this time multi chapter!!

(there will still be heart crimes, don’t worry, they just come with a side of humor this time)

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fic: take two is here!!