#Absalom Absalom!

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

Absalom, Absalom! & IWTV

Reading Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner, considered to be one of the granddaddies of the Southern Gothic genre, I’m increasingly cognizant of the influence this book must have had on Interview With the Vampire (it’s style and structure), to the extent I do not think it would have existed without it. The book begins with an interview of an old woman’s recollections of the Old South by a young man for starters. But I also think this had great influence on the writer’s room for the TV series- one of the prevailing motifs are unwed brides and “troths which failed to plight,” much like Louis’ never official, failed marriage.

[theblackestofsuns]

Absalom, Absalom! (1936)

William Faulkner

Vintage Books

[samasmith23]

So here's some really fun trivia for y’all!

For my "Idea of the American South" graduate school class, we just had to read William Faulkner's novel Absalom, Absalom! this week, since Faulkner is highly regarded by historians for his nuanced portrayal about the darker side & systemic injustices of the Deep South. But this was actually not my first exposure to Faulkner, since one of his other novels, Go Down, Moses, was actually directly referenced in The Adamantium Men arc of Jason Aaron's Wolverine run. In the arc, the evil Roxxon corporation managed to duplicate the Weapon X procedure which gave Logan his adamantium claws to a bunch of private mercenary henchman in order to act as bodyguards for the company's illegal activities overseas. And they all have lightsaber claws!

One of the titular Adamantium Men was apparently a huge Faulkner fan and was even reading a first edition copy of Go Down, Moses before being told by a Roxxon higher-up to assassinate Wolverine. But when said-mercenary realizes that he's about to lose the fight, he actually asks Logan to spoil the ending of the novel for him before he dies, and Logan honors his request!

I was told that the copy of Go Down, Moses displayed in the comic is actually the original first-edition copy from the guest-lecturer for said-class since it was the only version to ever feature the subtitle “And Other Stories” on the front cover.

And it honestly makes sense that Aaron would reference Faulkner's work since he's similarly written stories which are highly critical of the American South such as his Image Comic series Southern Bastards. One issue of that series even had a variant cover featuring glorious sight of a dog ripping a Confederate flag to shreds!

So beautiful! I would love to train my dog Zoe to do the same thing to one of those AWFUL flags! Plus, the royalties for that variant cover were even donated to the survivors & families of the Charleston mass-shooting in 2015.

From Wolverine: Weapon X #4 by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“That is the substance of remembering—sense, sight, smell: the muscles with which we see and hear and feel not mind, not thought: there is no such thing as memory: the brain recalls just what the muscles grope for: no more, no less; and its resultant sum is usually incorrect and false and worthy only of the name of dream.”

― William Faulkner, ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

[cuties-in-codices]

absalom caught by his hair, hanging from a tree

"Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going." - 2 Samuel 18:9 (NIV)

illustration from a manuscript copy of the weltchronik by rudolf von ems, zurich, early 14th c.

source: St. Gallen, Kantonsbibl., VadSlg Ms. 302, fol. 186v

[anniflamma]

Absalom finds Mephi's wood-carved figurine.

I borrowed your design, @sir-davey!!

[axel-tiredstudent]

mha doodle requests from instagram stories!

these were so fun !!

[opbackgrounds]

This is such a Sanji gag it's almost painful. I've written before about how one of Oda's favorite techniques for fleshing out characters is writing foils for them, but Absalom highlights the potential danger in that approach. Sanji and Absalom are way too similar to one another to be effective foils--Sanji a smidge too pervy and Absalom presented as a smidge too likeable (I use that term as loosely as possible). A lot of the hate for Thriller Bark could have been avoided if Oda hadn't given Absalom these kinds of gags and not had Sanji say he wanted the invisibility fruit to look at naked girls without their consent. There still would have been elements to criticize, but accentuating more of the difference between these two would have made their eventual fight so much more compelling.

[thecrazyxeniacat]

Another version of "Kids and Parents", younger one.

[piratespencil]

Something something Sanji being there to rescue Nami from the wedding with Absalom, and Nami being there to rescue Sanji from the wedding with Pudding...

Whole Cake Island really giving me a whole new appreciation for the Sanji and Nami dynamic. (Nami should have gotten to bridal carry Sanji tho smh.)

[soranatus]

Invincible & Firebreather 👊🔥 By Ky Williams

[scarletknightreterns]

Stupid shenanigans I drew.

Ignore her mysterious 6 fingers. I don’t feel like making the edit.

[blacklegsanjiii]

•°♤°• For your Allsan AU what would happen if Sanji was a female? I couldn't imagine all of those different situations they would be in. Also, have you read The Prince by abrxsjaeger (klmrnngstr)?

It's not just men it's also women. She's still getting kidnapped and hit on the entire time. She's gifted a lot of clothes and ingredients and she still needs a lot of overt attention from her partners to feel secure. She's the one who is kidnapped by Absalom on Thriller Bark to be his wife. Zeff is pissed she's fighting but so glad she is but like jfc. She gets regular proposals of marriage, blatant and obvious but she doesn't understand why? Most of them don't know her that well.

She's not going to marry Law because of his obsession with Germa and they're on separate crews, also he only told Sanji he would eat her cooking forever? Luffy says that all the time.

Katakuri looked visibly pained and told Sanji he wished to be the one marrying her which she doesn't understand because she's the failure, she figured he was just being nice despite the death plan.

Hancock called her cute with a wink when they met.

Hiyori may climb into Zoro's bed but she keeps staring at Sanji too and mumbling to herself about decisions. Yamato also blatantly hits on Sanji in a similar vein to Marco and asks Sanji if she wants him to show him what a real man can do. Sanji's nosebleed is horrific and Hiroyi yells that Yamato can have Sanji if she can have Zoro.

Also I don't know truthfully, I read a lot.

[warlordgab]

Short analysis: Absalom and his namesake

After seeing Oda revealing Kuma's past, I felt inspired to dig deeper into one biblical reference that many people take for granted...

Back in Thriller Bark, we're introduced to one of Gecko Moria's henchmen: Absalom

Due to the other biblical references found in the story, the name chosen for this character is pretty unlikely to be a coincidence. But, who was Absalom?

He was the third son of King David. He was a pretty cunning guy who tried to overthrown the King to take the throne for himself. During his rebellion, what was his point of no return?

He forced himself on his father's concubines. To put it in other words, Absalom forced himself on the King's partner(s), which earned himself a death sentence going by the law of that time.

During his final battle against David's forces, Absalom meets his demise at the hands of the angriest general of the King's army

How is Absalom's life and death relevant to his One Piece's namesake?

Well, during the Thriller Bark arc, we have Absalom kidnapping and trying to force Nami into marrying him. Fighting and losing a battle against Sanji. And even using his dream of becoming the "Graveyard King" to convince her to stop resisting

So, we have a wannabe king trying to force himself on a companion of the future Pirate King, and suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands (or feet) of one of the angriest fighters at the "service" of a "true king"

Of course, it's not a one to one comparison, for example, Israel's Absalom didn't survive his battle, while One Piece's Absalom survived and escaped Thriller Bark.

However, if we take into consideration how Oda uses or references other literary works, the parallels found here might be all intentional. But, what does mean for LuNa? I can't tell...

However, what I can say is what we know so far: Oda could've gone a different way and have Absalom focusing on Robin. Instead, the author chose the woman that, by his own admission, has a "natural queen-ly-ness" to her

A 'Queen' that not only commands authority in the strawhat ship, but also acknowledged only one man as a future king...

Absalom tried to force himself on a 'queen' just to get a beating from a fighter of her "king." It feels poetic, if you ask me

[auryborealis]

dreamt this a few day ago and I had to draw it

[rawrasourusrex]

Did not live, laugh, love this.

I feel like this is the part that made Thriller Bark so horrendous. No it was not Gecko shit or non of those asshats, I mean fuck them too but it was Kuma fucking shit up. that fucking asshole

Sanji did not live, laugh, love either.

zosan

Episode 377 - Thriller Bark