#Frederica's Poem

[overleftdown]

farleigh analysis part 2, because the first post wasn't enough. this is going to cover all scenes set at oxford university that i find significant to my understanding of the character (this ended up including pretty much every scene with farleigh in it). once again... buckle up.

[0:03:48] farleigh: oh, he's got the scarf. hey, cool jacket! and the tie?

starting off with a banger! this is farleigh's first line, his introduction as a character. this is how the viewers are intended to see farleigh, at least for this portion of the movie. this is what i'd consider an outer-circle perspective of farleigh, how the majority of his classmates understand him as a person. catty and casually rude. it's significant how surface-level and mild this introductory piece of dialogue is. farleigh is pointing out how hard oliver is trying to appear mature and scholarly, because farleigh is too nonchalant to try hard to fit in (haha).

[0:07:10] farleigh: i'm so sorry. got completely lost- hi, nice to meet you. so sorry. tutor: you're farleigh start, i take it. nice of you to join us, finally. you're not a, uh relation of frederica start, by any chance? farleigh: uh, shes my mother. tutor: no! i knew her when i was your age, when we were both here! when she was frederica catton, before she went to america. farleigh: no way! oh my god, i'll tell her! she's gunna be thrilled that i'm being tutored by one of her friends.

and again, an outer-circle perspective. here you can see the supposed influence of farleigh's family title. "when she was frederica catton," signifying the beginning of the end of frederica's social rappour. farleigh is a product of his mother's abandonment of everything the catton's stand for; wealth, coldness, heartlessness. however, from this perspective, the one we've been introduced with, farleigh is still hiding in the ghost of his mother, before she moved, before she had him.

[0:07:48] tutor: not sure we ever spoke. farleigh: ...oh.

HEHEHEHEHE. i giggled.

[0:08:48] oliver: so you're picking apart the style of my essay instead of the substance? that's kind of... farleigh: kind of what? oliver: lazy? farleigh: it's completely valid to debate the rhetoric of an essay. it's not what you argue, but how. tutor: great point. oliver: yeah, especially if you haven't read any of the poems.

i think this dialogue is incredibly fitting for farleigh's character. as in, it represents how farleigh interacts with people at oxford, with the cattons. picking apart the style rather than the substance, because it's not what you argue, but how. using that comparison, oliver pointing out that farleigh clearly didn't read the material is synonymous with farleigh being clueless to how and why the cattons truly tick. this makes farleigh's socializing hollow by nature. whereas oliver... he does his research. he learns how the cattons function, what motivates them, what their dynamics are. he doesn't play into style or rhetoric; he doesn't need to.

[0:13:11] felix: oh, there he is! oliver! ollie! oliver, come here, mate! yeah, come here. come here. what? come here!

farleigh's face visibly drops, and he sits up straight where he's sitting beside felix. he's not disgusted, nor offended. he looks anxious. a few seconds later, as felix says "this is my fucking hero, right here," farleigh is giving oliver the gnarliest look. he's fidgeting with his hands, and you can see him swallow. i think he looks a healthy blend of angry and exasperated. as it's made known later in the movie, felix has a notorious savior complex. farleigh knows exactly what's happening.

[0:14:00] (shots) you can see that, between the last timestamp and this one, farleigh has been displaced to the other side of the table. previously, every single sighting of felix has farleigh glued to his side. standing right next to him. farleigh on the opposite side of the table as felix is very indicative of the very real threat that oliver poses to farleigh's stability.

[0:14:10] farleigh: it's your round, man! oliver: i should go to bed. farleigh: wait, no no no. you can't snake your way out of a round. oliver: i'm not. farleigh: it... looks like you are.

the most important thing about this scene that i'd like to point out is that oliver would not have, and should not have, stayed for his round if it wasn't an intentional plan. the nature of "buying rounds" was made clear and is clear. he reasonably shouldn't have stayed and specifically left when it was his turn to pay. that's gnarly. that's generally just rude.

[0:14:30] felix: farleigh. farleigh: what? felix: just cut him a break, mate. farleigh: what? felix: that round's gunna cost a fucking fortune. farleigh: pub rules, felix.

yes, i understand that farleigh is being intentionally confrontational. but felix consistently falls flat when "combating" the judgmental attitude of his family and classmates. although he did exactly what oliver wanted him to do by paying for the round, he lacks a genuine purpose behind his verbal condemnations. felix wants to believe he is morally better than his family, the people he surrounds himself with. because of this, he lacks passion. farleigh surrounds himself with whoever felix surrounds himself with; he has become part of felix's background noise. he has become another steppingstone to felix's upward climb to righteousness. another blurring, booing voice, antagonizing the people felix protects and defends.

[0:16:09] felix: yeah, well you know farleigh basically grew up with us. oliver: i didn't know you and farleigh were cousins. felix: mmm, my aunt, farleigh's mum, ran away to america when she was 19 to escape the cold-hearted english. ciggie? oliver: eh, i don't smoke. farleigh: dear aunty fred married a lunatic who pissed everything she had up the wall and a fair chunk of dad's money, too, until he had to finally cut her off.

(oliver did know that farleigh and felix were cousins tbh what a liar, can't believe he would lie like that. unbelievable. truly criminal).

at 0:16:10, farleigh watches felix and oliver sitting with each other at a party. this is played behind felix's voice-over, as he tells oliver about farleigh's family history. i find that so emotionally impactful. jealousy is a hard emotion to read on someone's face, but almost always, farleigh just looks sad. i often see him glancing down; this can often mean disappointment, insecurity, deep thought. at 0:16:27, you can see him briefly scrunch his eyebrows together as he watches felix light oliver's cigarette. he looks confused, judgmental, or surprised. the only thing i can compare this to is taking a bite of food that you didn't expect to taste horrible.

i wish we got to see more of farleigh and his mother, or at least what their dynamic entails. we know he asks (begs) james and elsbeth to give frederica money. we know that frederica was either too kind or too weak to cope with her family. we know that she was well-loved at oxford, or at least had some admirers. i find it poetic, that frederica ran from the english, and now her son is running back in place of her. i also wonder about farleigh's dad. there's no mention of him, past this scene; but if he's no longer with frederica, why would she still be cut off by the cattons? are the cattons really that cold to her, or is frederica still married? curiosity, man. i'm about to start making stuff up on the spot.

[0:16:42] felix: well dad, you know, he felt so guilty about the whole thing that he decided that he would pay for all of farleigh's education. oliver: lucky farleigh. felix: oh, fat load of good that's done him. he's been expelled from almost every school in england for sucking off the teachers.

at 0:16:50, farleigh is shown with a woman on his lap. she's more adult than farleigh. i think it's relevant, considering the voiceover.

i think an important word in this dialogue is guilt; it's a strong motivator among the cattons. yet, it's an inconsistent one. because the cattons guilt is so external as opposed to internal, there is a threshold at which their guilt feels resolved. they just have to convince themselves that they are charitable and therefore good. there is no real understanding of love, and what comes with it. there is no intrinsic need to support their family, simply because they are family.

i don't know what to say about farleigh and his relationship with authority. clearly, he has an unhealthy attachment to transactional and exploitative relationships. how does that complex interact with his social life? his family life? to live surrounded by money and to surround your life around money creates a need to quantify everything. it means you're trying to understand what you're worth, and what your actions are worth. this can also be a testament of farleigh's character; is he just unwilling to put more effort into school? is he unable to compete with the schools that he's attending through money instead of merits? yes, james is paying for his education, but since when? how long has farleigh attended school in england, and what schools did farleigh attend in america? there's a large difference in education. i digress. i find this detail about farleigh significant and upsetting in a lot of ways, and it would be just as upsetting if he really did just prefer transactional sex over doing his homework.

[0:22:27] (oliver sees felix at the bar without him) and this is where farleigh regains his place next to felix. the framing of the shot specifically includes farleigh and felix, centered together on screen. oxford is the only period in this movie where you can truly consider oliver and farleigh mutual threats. this is the limbo, where both of their minuscule actions could change the course of their relationship with felix. oliver and farleigh are both intimately aware that only one of them can exist at felix's side, only one of them can be felix's accessory. oliver's motivation to be in this position is infatuation. he hates what felix represents and loves felix as an individual. is this the same for farleigh? how much is farleigh motivated by his love for his cousin? how far devolved is their relationship, since farleigh realized he needed to play a game just to be treated with compassion by his family?

[0:26:30] farleigh: oh, nice tux. oliver: thank you. farleigh: wow! it's a rental, right? oliver: yeah- farleigh: yeah. yeah, the sleeves are too long. always check the sleeves! but still, not bad. i mean, you're almost passing. oliver: for what? farleigh: i don't know! a real human boy.

he's so petty, it's hilarious. there's not much to say about the majority of this interaction, other than the fact that farleigh is overcompensating for his own social insecurities. to be expected. i like that last line, though. "you're almost passing for a real human boy." does that have anything to do with oliver's poverty? maybe it's just a jab at his fashion choices. i think it's also safe to say that farleigh finds something legitimately unsettling about oliver. or maybe he really is just prepared to give felix's new project a tough time. there are a few reasons for farleigh to go out of his way to make felix's friends uncomfortable or inconvenienced; almost all of them are petty. venetia does the same. elsbeth, who shares felix's habit of hosting people, seems thoroughly entertained by oliver.

farleigh's oxford era is hard to get a read on. he's truly just... rude. he's also scared. his dynamic during the school year with oliver is so compelling to me, because oliver is still in a place of deep instability. he almost lost felix halfway through the year; he needed a high card to win him back. farleigh doesn't play cards, though. that's one of the biggest differences between the two characters. for all their similarities, the only action against oliver that farleigh seems to have is being mean. oliver is driven by an obsessive ambition to control, interfere, dominate. during the school year farleigh is shown, repeatedly, that he just wants to get through it. he's coasting, truly. he slides right back into place next to felix when the spot opens up, and he stays in the background. again; all style, no substance. no research. the cattons were never a game, to farleigh. they were just an uphill battle. they were his family.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Curse Killing Final Chapter

In the intro poem, Frederica Bernkastel talks about herself and several others being trapped in a maze. Of note, the person who knows they're in a maze but doesn't know there's no exit is referred to as "he". I guess "he" is Keiichi who's been trying for three arcs now to figure out what is causing all these terrible events.

Everyone else just lives their lives oblivious to the maze they're trapped in.

And the story as a whole has escalated from the death of a few friends to the death of several villagers to the death of the entire village.

On the one hand, shock would probably make it hard for him to process the situation even when he sees the body bags and the corpses packed into the trucks. On the other, I feel like the buildup to everything was longer than it should have been.

Like, it shouldn't have been gentle. We should have seen Mion or Rena's bodies being packed into a body bag. The story should have slapped us in the face and said 'Yes. Everyone is dead!" and then we get the shots of the hundreds of body bags and the news reports about the disaster.

And then Keiichi freaks out when he remembers that he wished for the death of Hinamizawa.

That one line from the personnel with Keiichi as he passed out "It's not okay for life to die", I don't know why, but it resonated with me.

And some things of note in the death list:

Jirou Tomitake is not his real name

Chie and Kameda (The guy from the baseball game) died in an accident in the mountains.

Teppei is still not reported dead

Shion and Kasai (Who we haven't met) died two months later at the hospital

The very last part of the chapter is like something you'd hear on a conspiracy theory true crimes podcast. A bunch of dudes would be talking about Hinamizawa and claiming it was some government conspiracy and the government killed all these people and claimed it was a gas leak cause government gonna government and this was actually to hide the aliens or something.

And then they'd bring up Keiichi and be all "There was one survivor Keiichi Maebara, who died four months later" "Of course, the government wants to keep him silent." "And he never testified about the disaster" "Oh he probably did but the government came in and stopped any testimony from getting out there." "Or so we thought cause in 2003, a tape recording believed to be an interview from November 1983 was found. Here is that recording."

I kinda want to see if it would be possible to trick an actual conspiracy podcast into thinking this was a real thing that happened.

I was going to mention this in the spoiler section until it got brought up in the chapter itself. Yeah, Keiichi should not be alive if Onigafuchi swamp released enough gas to asphyxiate an entire village. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air so it can be trapped in lower areas. And Keiichi was at the bottom of a ravine so the gas should have settled around there first.

And that reporter did not escape Keiichi's curse. It took 12 years but he drowned just as Keiichi said he would.

At this point those true crime podcasters would be freaking out and be like "Yo, this ain't aliens, it's ghosts! The governments trying to hide that they made contacts with ghosts!"

In chapter 5, Rena asked Keiichi how would he react if the village was destroyed in a volcanic eruption and he was the only survivor. She was trying to make him understand that he should cherish the fun times he has with his friends because those days will end eventually.

It's almost ironic what ended up happening though. An eruption did destroy the village, but it didn't mark the end of Keiichi's happy days. His happy days had already ended so he let the village be destroyed.

back

Spoiler Discussion

I'm making a lot of conspiracy jokes, but there is definitely one here.

Alongside what the interviewer mentioned in the chapter, I also want to bring up how Keiichi had apparently attempted suicide in August. Do you know what else happened in August? Shion committed suicide.

And isn't it interesting that Chie and Kameda died in an accident trying to evacuate from the disaster? People from the nearby area had to evacuate as well but isn't it quite the coincidence that someone from the village ended up dying in an "accident".

What I'm getting at is everyone connected to the village died. I bet Shion and Keiichi didn't attempt to kill themselves in August. Someone tried to get rid of them, but medical staff found Keiichi before he was killed.

[thyramalie]

were there any royals who interested in art such as painting, poetry, or anything that i can find on internet? if there were, what's your favorite?

Off the top of my head;

Queen Alexandra - she had numerous hobbies, including photography, painting, writing, and making collages. She'd combine her talents to make collages, prints, and paintings to give away to friends and family as presents. She used to take photos and render them, and then paint backgrounds and stamp them on with crafts. You can find her work here, just type her name and add the 'as a creator' filter.

Empress Maria Feodorovna - just like her sister Alix, she too inherited her painting talent from her mother Louise. Her paintings are truly stunning, I dare say she was the most talented in the family. Here's an article listing various Romanovs and their works.

Grand Duchess Adelheid-Marie of Luxembourg - like a true Hesse-Kassel [her mother and Queen Louise of Denmark were sisters, thus making her Alix and Dagmar's first cousin], she was remarkable at painting. Her talent was encouraged at an early age by her parents, and she took lessons from different renowned painters throughout her life.

Prince Philip - according to Telegraph he painted in oils, capturing landscapes and interiors on his travels, including at least one self-portrait at an easel and a candid painting of the Queen at breakfast. Another post about it.

Queen Frederica of Greece - I've never come across any of her actual paintings, but there exist photos of her painting in Corfu.

Princess Mathilde of Bavaria - after her death, her family anonymously published a collection of her poems titled Life-Dreams: The Story of a Blighted Life.

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll - she was the most artistically talented of Victoria's children and was a prolific artist and sculptor. You can find her work here and here.

I don't particularly have a favourite, I think they're all wonderful. ☺️

[onewholivesinloops]

thinking about how frederica’s poem from tsumi perfectly sums up satoko’s descent into witchhood in meguri

[porfiriea]

Pt.1 of the EPIC Poca Jr. Higurashi readthrough

So a couple of days ago when i decided to reread higu, my little 9yo brother got absolutely PUMPED to have a new game on the pc.

Last year he watched me read umi, and actually made me translate the anime for him, and in 2020 he watched like 5 episodes of gou. So he has some idea what WTC is about.

Basically, he saw me reading it and decided to join. We're maybe 4/5 hours in Onikakushi, and the blud wants to present his thoughts.

1. Keiichi keeps looking at things from the way he sees it and is a hypocrite because he also has secrets

Surprisingly accurate blud! I'm really, really liking how well he understands the things we read, and it might kinda sorta make me proud.

2. He saw the Frederica Bernkastel poem and absolutely flipped out. He really, really liked Bern. So when he saw Furude Rika, he got like,,, rly happy.

3. He actually really dislikes Satoko. Why? Because he says that the OG sprites look like balloons and Satoko's steam sprite has 'evil red eyes'.

4. Because he saw the first gou arc, he thinks that he knows what will happen, so he's pretty distrustful if Rena

5. He likes Tomitake. He calls him Đura Tomić. Balkanification at its finest.

6. He saw the gousotsu OPs and knows that 'Zoe's alpha lizard' (eua) is there. He's really excited about seeing her at some point.

Honestly I'm really enjoying reading it to him! I think that his comprehension is much higher than mine was at that age. I thought about letting him watch the anime adaptation, but then realised that it would just sabotage his enjoyment of it.

Also. He won't let me read it without him, and he can't read it alone because he doesn't understand English. So he wakes me up to read it🥺🥺🥺

[scotianostra]

On September 1st 1863 the Angus poet Violet Jacob, author of “The Wild Geese” was born at the House of Dun near Montrose.

Her full name, take a deep breath, was Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, known for her novels of Scottish history and her poetry written in the rich dialect of Angus, Violet was born into an aristocratic family, and lived her adult life as an officer’s wife in England and abroad, the majority of her work however was from around Montrose, and Dun, the seat of her Family.

Perhaps here most famous work is the poem The Wild Geese a sad poem of longing for home, Violet is honoured at Makars Court just off the Lawnmarket, Royal mile with the line from the poem below “There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life.”

Violet Jacob was described by a fellow Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid as “the most considerable of contemporary vernacular poets”.

She died of heart disease on 9th September 1946 and was buried beside her husband at the graveyard at Dun kirk.

There are many versions of this online but the best by far is by the late Dundee folk singer  Jim Reid, please if you are going to listen to and watch one wee video today, make it this one, it’s only 3 minutes of your day and it’s worth it just for the spoken intro, rarely will you hear an Angus accent so rich. The song isnae twa bad either.

Norlan’ Wind (The Wild Geese)

This sad poem of longing for home, by Angus poet Violet Jacob, was set to music and popularised by Angus singer and songmaker Jim Reid.

Oh tell me what was on your road, ye roarin’ norlan’ Wind, As ye cam’ blawin’ frae the land that’s niver frae my mind? My feet they traivel England, but I’m deein’ for the north. My man, I heard the siller tides rin up the Firth o Forth”

Aye, Wind, I ken them weel eneuch, and fine they fa’ and rise, And fain I’d feel the creepin’ mist on yonder shore that lies, But tell me, ere ye passed them by, what saw ye on the way? My man, I rocked the rovin’ gulls that sail abune the Tay.

But saw ye naething, leein’ Wind, afore ye cam’ to Fife? There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life. My man, I swept the Angus braes ye ha’ena trod for years. O Wind, forgi’e a hameless loon that canna see for tears!

And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee, A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings wi’ their heids towards the sea, And aye their cryin’ voices trailed ahint them on the air – O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!

The lyric is a conversation between the poet and the North Wind.

[kaatiba]

Original photo by Valerie Blanchett on Unsplash

2022: A Year In Review

I made a post like this for 2021 and I thought it would be nice to do the same this year too. I have a hard time remembering and/or focusing on the positives rather than the negatives, and an overview is usually pretty uplifting. So let's get into it! 

✧.* January

made several writing related intentions

wrote 18k of CofM; in this draft a prophecy took more precedent, there was a Nameless Queen, magical books, and Halah becoming the granddaughter of a Keeper of the Great Library. Halah was also able to hear a mysterious, unknown being (a hatif) that had a vested interest in the safety of Qusaiy and was the driving force behind her involvement in his rescue

brainstormed some more about a Muslim writers network, but eventually shelved the idea

started writing a second draft of Rivener, where Wren is more of an anti-hero, has a redemption arc, and had a history with Kai and Cormac (the villain). It was my first time working on revamping a completed draft!

began an A to Z glossary of creatures, places, and notable people for the world of CofM

decided the world of CofM would have two moons

✧.* February

completed the aforementioned glossary

wrote a book review for Frederica by Georgette Heyer

experimented with writing a mute Wren and verbal Kai, a reverse of the original draft

​✧.* March

contemplated removing the existence of two character in CofM that I didn't feel needed to be there, as their absence had no impact on the plot; I just liked them

wrote out the entire plot of CofM on flashcards, which helped iron out some kinks and give me a better view of it all

took a hiatus from writing

✧.* April

on hiatus from writing

learned about discovery/gardener writers (term via Brandon Sanderson) and felt it resonated with me!

✧.* May

travelled, and on my way home was struck by an idea that completely and totally restructured the entirety of CofM, which led to it being rebranded into Legends of Mourra to reflect this change!

✧.* June

further reflected on the types of stories I like to actually write vs. just imagine

went forward with Legends of Mourra with a lot of brainstorming and chatting about it and finding new joy in what had become a very tired story over the past decade

shifted my Alice in Wonderland retelling into my Oracle wip

decided to put rewriting Rivener and writing Glitch on hold for now

released a re-introduction to Legends of Mourra

released an intoduction to Oracle

✧.* July

started a mini blog series for work called ‘Type Talk’, the first installment was on non-linear narratives

began writing Oracle from Ro's pov

tried writing Oracle from Sage's pov, giving him a more fractured mindset

✧.* August

second installment of ‘Type Talk’ published, about gameified reads

continued the draft for Oracle that was in Ro's pov, with added snarky footnotes from the omniscient 3rd person narrator

✧.* September

started learning Korean, for fun!

started another draft for Oracle, this time experimenting with writing Sage's pov using 2nd person

wrote the start of a prompt fill that eventually became my first fictober entry

✧.* October

revived my writeblr account

started Fictober 22 using prompts from the wonderful deepwaterwritingprompts, wrote for fourteen days

wrote a fragment of a poem

wrote another poem titled 'hamartia'

wrote my final entry for the ‘Type Talk’ series, on fanfiction

✧.* November

decided to do my own version of NaNoWriMo, only I would aim to write content for LofM for 20 mins a day

wrote for 19/30 days (so I only missed 11 days total!)

✧.* December

picked up a fragment of a Lord of the Rings fanfiction that I'd started last year, and expanded upon it

started to learn crochet

wrote 10k of LofM

wrote a review for The Last Battle, the final book of the Narnia series, which I haven't read since I was a child

read (or listened to) 20 books, when my initial goal was 15!

wrote this post!

Wow. I'm genuinely flabbergasted that I did all this! I worried I'd have so many empty months, or barely anything to say for this year's creative endeavours but—look! I'm so glad I made this post, I feel a lot better about how I handled this year. I encourage you to do a similar recap of your year if you're also a writer or creative (or even if you're not!). You may surprise yourself too.

Here's to 2023! Happy reading and writing!

[onebluebookworm]

September 2022 Book Club Picks

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen: Auden doesn’t sleep at night. That’s her time to escape - from her parents’ bitter divorce, from the demands of her perfectionist mother, from her father’s new marriage, and from the loneliness all that brings with it. But when her father invites her to spend the summer with him at the breezy beachside town where he’s settled with his new family, Auden is given a chance to make friends, have a job, get into trouble, and get to know the charming Eli, a fellow insomniac who offers to share the night with her.

Colonel Sandhurst to the Rescue by Marion Chesney: When a wager by Sir Philip goes horribly wrong, the owners of the Poor Relation are once again in need of funds, so the formidable Colonel Sandhurst is to settle a six-month bill with one Sir Randolph Grey. It’s not Sir Randolph the colonel ends up encountering, however. It’s his lovely young daughter, Frederica, fleeing home and an unwanted marriage to Lord Bewley. Taking pity on the poor girl and seeing the perfect opportunity to force her father to pay his bills, Colonel Sandhurst brings her back to the Poor Relation, pretending to hold her for ransom. But when Lord Bewley himself shows up instead, the hotel staff must scramble to save themselves from prison, in a madcap adventure involving mistaken identity and whirlwind romance.

Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson: Horror and speculative fiction as we know them would not exist without women. From the day a young Mary Shelley dreamed of a corpse brought back to shambling life with electricity, women have been pioneering the genres of horror and speculative fiction, with lives just as interesting as the stories they write. From the stories of Margaret “Mad Madge” Cavendish, writing 150 years before Shelley and wearing topless gowns to the opera, to the haunted life of Shirley Jackson, to new vanguards of the genre to check out, this is a great history and reader’s guide for all fans of the spooky and chilling.

An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems, 1988-1991 by Adrienne Rich: Rich’s thirteenth anthology of poetry, where she reflects on war, race, oppression, and love.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: It’s 2024, and Lauren Olamina has been thinking a lot about God. She and her family live in a walled fortress on the outskirts of Los Angeles, one of the only safe neighborhoods left in a country plagued by water shortages, violence, and political upheaval. Her father insists that as long as they have their walls and faith in God, they’ll be safe. But Lauren isn’t so sure. How can any loving God allow what’s happening around her? When Lauren’s father goes missing and a fire destroys their compound, Lauren and a handful of refugees are left to face a world fraught with danger, making their way north to safety.

[magicofmiracles]

I decided to do a voice over thing of this bit from Bernkestel because why not?

Message from Frederica Bernkastel

I am who I am; Frederica Bernkastel. Furude Rika and Frederica are different. Shame on you if you thought so. My age? I've gotten bored with it, so I've quit counting.

Huh? Are you speculating that the real identity of the Oyashiro-sama is me? Giggle giggle. You are so insolent. The Oyashiro-sama is the Oyashiro-sama. You want me to introduce it to you? It's rather shy. It gets frightened easily so don't scare it, okay? However, it seems that you are the one that's scared.

Giggle giggle giggle

[pinkie-satan]

satorika x Frederica Bernkastel's poems

Everyone is entitled to happiness.

The difficult part is accepting that.

Everyone is entitled to happiness.

The difficult part is fulfilling that.

I, too, am entitled to happiness.

The difficult part is working out a compromise.

誰だって幸せになる権利がある。

難しいのはその享受。

誰だって幸せになる権利がある。

難しいのはその履行。

誰だって幸せになる権利がある。

難しいのはその妥協。

[kinart05]

Por favor, no te condenes,

aunque el mundo no quiera perdonarte, yo te perdono.

Por favor, no te condenes,

aunque tú no puedas perdonar al mundo, yo te perdono.

Así que por favor, dime

¿Qué será necesario para que puedas perdonarme?

Frederica Bernkastel

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Abducted by Demons Final Chapter

In the Garden of Eden story, when God asked Adam why he had eaten the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam blamed Eve for giving it to her and Eve blamed the serpent for tempting her. Afterward, God banished them from the garden.

I think Frederica Berkastel's poem is saying the actual sin committed was refusing to acknowledge what they had done.

I think Rena has given up on trying to help Keiichi. She just walked past him without saying a word.

Keichii is shouting at Mion over keeping secrets from him, but he's only been in Hinamizawa for three weeks. Telling the newcomer about a history of mysterious serial murders is not really the best ice-breaker.

And besides, it's not like he's been honest either. He's been hiding his involvement with the police and that he's aware of the murders and Satoshi. Granted, he's kind of following Ooishi's orders to not trust them.

So the big lesson here: Never trust cops. They can only tear apart a community.

Rena has gone full psycho this chapter and she is loving every moment of it. I love the uncanny expressions she makes throughout that scene.

And then the rest of the chapter is just a rollercoaster. Keiichi is chased by a deranged Rena, only to be attacked by some random townspeople. Then he wakes up in his room, and Mion and Rena are cheerfully greeting him. Then Rena holds Keiichi in place and Mion prepares to give Keiichi his punishment for not eating the ohagi.

In earlier chapters, the artist uses the manga format to their advantage to give the best jumpscares. The page you're reading would create a certain mood or buildup, then you turn the page and BAM!! Full page spooky panel.

But in this chapter, we get two blank pages right as the tension reaches its peak. It makes for a good mindbreak. It's like that quote from a Christmas Carol: "Being prepared for almost anything, he was not prepared for nothing."

And those blank pages also help transition into what happens next. They break our focus for a moment and let the story shift to a calm moment where Keiichi wakes up, relieved it was a dream and he was was foolish to ever believe Rena and Mion would try to kill him.

Then you turn the page.

Keiichi recognizes that man as a doctor, but doesn't know that's the same doctor he visited in chapter 4. The men he's talking to seem to be the same guys who attacked Keiichi.

I don't know if it's a translation mistake or not, but Keiichi said the dam construction director was killed 5 years ago. That's incorrect. He died 4 years ago.

In the end, Keiichi dies from scratching out his throat, just like Tomitake. All the information he'd gathered to find the murderers was lost. It ends in the sort of way a horror murder might end. The protagonist dies, the villain escapes; Evil lives to kill another day.

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Spoiler Discussion

So what is real and what is not?

Mion's remarks about wanting to kill Ooishi is likely real. She mentioned he's retiring, which is something Keiichi wouldn't know.

As for the scene with Rena, I have two ideas. Either the entire scene was a hallucination OR Rena was there but Keiichi hallucinated the cleaver.

I'm willing to accept arguments for either one. With the second, the dialogue could be read as Rena understanding something is wrong with Keiichi and genuinely trying to reach out and help him.

The two guys who attacked Keiichi are probably part of Irie's research team. They saw Keiichi screaming and panicking, realized he was suffering symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome and intervened.

The director Mion mentioned is Irie. He leads the local baseball team and is called the director as a result.

The part of Keiichi's final note that was removed was the part mentioning the construction director was still alive and Tomitake was killed with some drug. Ooishi was suspected of removing that part but denied it. I think Ooishi really did remove it though.

Irie would know everything going on and wouldn't have left part of the letter lying around if he found it. Meanwhile Ooishi would have a reason to let part of the message still be found.

The part of Keiichi's message that was found implies some greater conspiracy in the village and would therefore leave the case open and tie Keiichi's killing Mion and Rena to the dam construction murder that Ooishi has been trying to solve. But if the second part of the message and the syringe were kept, Keiichi's notes might be assumed to be part of some paranoid ramblings instead.

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[ayasugi-san]

Reading through Frederica Bernkastel poems and deciding which ones apply to Loki (my AU version or otherwise):

Onikakushi-hen: Both. But more someone talking to Loki, probably Frigga or Thor. The second one especially is one he needs to hear and wrestle with.

Taraimawashi-hen: Again, said to Loki, to try to make him accept reality so he can start working towards healing.

Watanagashi-hen: Both. First one is very Frigga to Loki, because she is partially responsible for the whole mess that led up to his fall, and she’d want to make it better for him, but there’s no clear roadmap.

Meakashi-hen: Little girl = Loki, the marbles could be his identity or his goals.

Tsukiotoshi-hen: First one, at least the first two stanzas, are very Loki in TDW.

Tsumihoroboshi-hen: Not the MCU version, and I haven’t read the comics so I don’t know for sure, but if the whole “everything repeats in cycles” thing is accurate, the first could be Loki’s reaction to his downfall and causing Ragnarok happening over and over.

Matsuribayashi-hen: First one, another thing Loki probably has going through his head, when he stops to think the hard scary thoughts. Second one might well be my AU Loki’s mantra now.

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Witches and Fragments in Original Higurashi

<< Introduction

If we want to talk about witches, we actually need to start with Higurashi proper. Bernkastel and the Sea of Fragments are introduced in the original Higurashi visual novel, but they were almost entirely left out of the anime. This section covers anything anime-only viewers may be missing.

Reading List: Highlights

Matsuribayashi Secret Ending [ Video ]

Bernkastel grants young Miyoko a miracle in advance.

Bernkastel-Birth and Poems [ Video ]

A roughly six minute compilation of the Bernkastel references in Saikoroshi plus all of her Higurashi poems.

Reading List: I want it all

Minagoroshi-hen / Massacre Chapter

Matsuribayashi-hen / Festival Accompaniment Chapter

Saikoroshi-hen / Dice Killing Chapter

Wiki pages

https://07th-expansion.fandom.com/wiki/Sea_of_Fragments

https://07th-expansion.fandom.com/wiki/Frederica_Bernkastel/Character

The Sea of Fragments

-In the prologue to Minagoroshi, it is revealed that all of the previous arcs are "Fragments" (aka “shards” or "カケラ / kakera") - separate, parallel worlds that appear as crystals floating in an abstract void.  

-The general term for this void space is the "Sea of Fragments."

-In Higurashi, the only characters who usually exist in this space are Rika(s) and Hanyuu. The Minagoroshi prologue confusingly implies there are many Rikas in this space, but this gets retconned by how it is depicted in Umineko. (I’ve heard the Higurashi manga matches the Umineko depiction.)

-The start of Gou Episode 2 takes place in the Sea of Fragments, as does part of Episode 14 and the last part of Episode 20.

-Gou is the first time the Sea has had the Furude Shrine floating in the background.  Or any ground to stand on, for that matter.

-The Sea does not contain just Higurashi timelines; presumably it contains infinite variations of infinite worlds.

-In both Umineko and Gou Episode 14, characters leave to explore further reaches of the Sea. In particular, Bern and Lambda’s games are created out of sections of the Sea, either a single Fragment as seen in “The First and Last Gift” or many related Fragments as in Higurashi and Umineko.

Frederica Bernkastel in Higurashi

-First "introduced" as the attributed author of the poems that preface each Higurashi arc.

-There is a (very old) character guide that includes “Message from Frederica Bernkastel” where Frederica teasingly denies being Rika. See this Reddit discussion for more context.

-However, in Minagoroshi, we see Rika recite one of "Bernkastel's" poems, as well as Rika making several references to thinking/acting like a "hundred year old witch."

-The Saikoroshi arc explores this contradiction in detail:

While being trapped in a dream of a perfect Fragment, Rika begins to consider her mature personality - essentially her memories of other worlds - as a separate being from the “Furude Rika” she replaced in this Fragment. She names her current, looping-aware persona "Frederica Bernkastel".

After Rika reawakens in the Matsuribayashi Fragment, she resolves to abandon thinking like “Frederica Bernkastel” and live fully as the “Furude Rika” who only has this one world. However, she speculates that her other persona might still live on in a higher plane of existence.

At the end of Saikoroshi, Hanyuu ambiguously mentions making a new friend. It’s possible to read this as implying that “Rika” and “Bernkastel” have fully split their consciousnesses.

-Because of that “higher dimension” idea, most people use "Frederica Bernkastel" to refer to the Rika that appears in the Sea of Fragments, i.e the narrator at the beginning of Minagoroshi who names each arc.

-This same narrator also talks to the reader/Hanyuu during the Connecting Fragments puzzle in Matsuribayashi, even going as far as to describe Hinamizawa and the characters within as a game board and pieces.  

-She also appears in the secret ending to Matsuribayashi, where she enters a Fragment as a mysterious adult woman who sets young Miyoko on a path to a life where her parents don't die.

Lambdadelta

Neither Lambdadelta nor Featherine appear by name in Higurashi.

With Lambda, in hindsight, you could perhaps argue that some scenes in Takano's backstory (where she references wishes and the power to write fate) might be alluding to and/or influenced by her. However, in interviews, Ryukishi07 has poked fun at the idea of Lambda existing in Higurashi. For example:

“I admit there's a character named Bernkastel in Higurashi, but I don't remember there being a character named Lambdadelta. Why does anyone think [Lambda] has appeared in Higurashi? When human beings encounter an unknown thing, they would automatically regard it as something that exists in their memory. Those who've played Higurashi might have directly fallen into a trap.”

(Source: Interview with Ryukishi07 (2009))

Featherine

With Featherine, the absence is complete (before Gou) - while Hanyuu and Featherine share some similarities, even Hanyuu’s adult form from the past had no direct connection with witches. (At least as far as I’m aware - people familiar with the console arcs or Kamikashimashi, feel free to correct this!)

However, those similarities are vague but intriguing.  Most notably, in Saikoroshi, Hanyuu says that the “her” of the dream Fragment ascended after being satisfied with how the human world. It is then implied that she may have done the same herself at the end of the arc, allowing Rika to live a normal life. (Another case I’ve heard is more explicit in the manga.)

In addition to likely being the explanation for Hanyuu’s disappearance in Gou, this ascension is something referenced in Featherine’s backstory as well...

Next (Witches and Fragments in Umineko) >>

[fragmentwitch]

I just wanna point out that in the scene between Takano and Tomitake, he straight-up quotes a line from Frederica's poem that comes out of Onikakushi-hen (The very first original chapter).

Is Ryukishi hinting to what Lambdadelta said about "the beginning and the goal/end were connected together... in other words, a logic error" with this line or could I be overthinking?

[scotianostra]

On September 1st 1863 the Angus poet Violet Jacob, author of “The Wild Geese” was born at the House of Dun near Montrose.

Her full name, take a deep breath, was Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, known for her novels of Scottish history and her poetry written in the rich dialect of Angus, Violet was born into an aristocratic family, and lived her adult life as an officer’s wife in England and abroad, the majority of her work however was from around Montrose, and Dun, the seat of her Family.

Perhaps here most famous work is the poem The Wild Geese a sad poem of longing for home, Violet is honoured at Makars Court just off the Lawnmarket, Royal mile with the line from the poem below “There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life.”

Violet Jacob was described by a fellow Scottish poet Hugh MacDiarmid as "the most considerable of contemporary vernacular poets".

She died of heart disease on 9th September 1946 and was buried beside her husband at the graveyard at Dun kirk.

There are many versions of this online but the best by far is by the late Dundee folk singer  Jim Reid, please if you are going to listen to and watch one wee video today, make it this one, it’s only 3 minutes of your day and it’s worth it just for the spoken intro, rarely will you hear an Angus accent so rich. The song isnae twa bad either.

Norlan’ Wind (The Wild Geese) 

This sad poem of longing for home, by Angus poet Violet Jacob, was set to music and popularised by Angus singer and songmaker Jim Reid. 

Oh tell me what was on your road, ye roarin’ norlan’ Wind, As ye cam’ blawin’ frae the land that’s niver frae my mind? My feet they traivel England, but I’m deein’ for the north. My man, I heard the siller tides rin up the Firth o Forth”

Aye, Wind, I ken them weel eneuch, and fine they fa’ and rise, And fain I’d feel the creepin’ mist on yonder shore that lies, But tell me, ere ye passed them by, what saw ye on the way? My man, I rocked the rovin’ gulls that sail abune the Tay.

But saw ye naething, leein’ Wind, afore ye cam’ to Fife? There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life. My man, I swept the Angus braes ye ha’ena trod for years. O Wind, forgi’e a hameless loon that canna see for tears!

And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee, A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings wi’ their heids towards the sea, And aye their cryin’ voices trailed ahint them on the air – O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!

The lyric is a conversation between the poet and the North Wind.