#HE IS THE ULTIMATE FATHER

[whitenoface]

Just to recap Lilia’s absolute love for his children:

Dragon eggs can’t hatch without “true love” aka “parental love.” Lilia believed he wasn’t capable of having those emotions, therefore he could not hatch Malleus’s egg if both of his parents died. And yet, and yet, Malleus hatched under the love and care of Lilia.

Lilia learned to love with Malleus (or a better way to say this, learned that he could love with Malleus)

Lilia sings Mallenore’s (Malleus’s mother) lullaby to Malleus often as a child

Silver was put under a spell by the fairies to sleep until the war was over. He could only be woken up by someone who truly loved him. Lilia finds him sleeping as a baby, still under the spell. Guess who wakes up?

Lilia upon meeting baby Silver, talks gently to Silver and says he looks a lot like Malleus when he was a baby. Lilia sings Mallenore’s lullaby to Silver too

He blesses Silver to be blessed by the night. He names him Silver because Silver radiates light, and “like the moon that lights the dark sky, Silver will light the dark path.”

Lilia does everything to learn how to raise a human, including buying baby formula/milk powder. He sings him to sleep.

Child Silver gives Lilia an acorn bracelet so that he can live a long time. Lilia responds, “…I feel I can live another thousand years with this bracelet.”

[turtleblogatlast]

Sometimes I wonder if Leo’s instant latching onto Señor Hueso is due to the fact that Hueso is an older adult man (specifically a father at that) who, while fed up with Leo a lot of the time, still deigns to give him a modicum of attention.

Considering Leo’s a Leo, he craves that attention from a father figure, even if said attention isn’t positive. As long as he’s acknowledged, that’s enough for him, since he’s already used to being his own biggest (and often only) fan as is.

Luckily, Hueso does come around and (reluctantly) forms a connection with Leo as well, but again, I have to wonder if Leo picked out Hueso for a reason.

[earlgodwin]

"For the good of those who see in us, the defense of our beloved people, whom we love above all else and whose love we reciprocate, requires us to use our children as instruments and bargaining tools to obtain the necessary ends." — Rodrigo Borgia (Lucrezia Giovane, directed by Luciano Ercoli)

[bonefall]

i'm ngl depicting thunder's prosthetic as a burden is pretty uncomfortable even if it is something some amputees experience because like. there's a huge stigma around prosthetics already you know? it's like having a parent forcibly strap a child into a wheelchair when they don't need it and having a horrible experience with it and that being your only character in a wheelchair. some full-time wheelchair users do resent their wheelchairs but when that's the only time you're bringing it up at all it feels like you're playing into our society's perception of wheelchairs and mobility aids in general as useless and best and divine punishment at worst. idk do let me know if i'm wording this wrong because i really do love better bones! it's just that this detail is... strange.

I mean, I'm open to feedback if that's not something I should do-- but I do actually have other characters in prosthetics and mobility aids! A lot of them! Thunderstar's actually the only one who ends up rejecting his own, because I also wanted to depict that it's bad to force a device onto someone who does not want one.

Especially in circumstances like Thunder Storm's, where that sort of device would be actively unhelpful for his lifestyle. It might help in open field environments like moorland, but then I got more feedback and realized that it would just make a lot of unwanted noise in a forest (since cats have carpal whiskers to help them figure out where to place their paws). Then I figured it was a good way to show how BB!Clear Sky doesn't actually listen to his son's needs and acts differently when he's not "grateful" enough for his gift.

But he's far and away from the only one with a mobility aid or prosthetic!

I haven't figured out Frog entirely yet, but he's going to be the first cat with a "wheelchair" type device, to set up a long line of cats through the generations improving on it (Probably not much more than a reinforced canvas or durable leather, as this was the age of very early flax processing)

Wildfur's the next in the big advancements, even making the Great Journey in his own and getting a side story based around Littlecloud and Cinderpelt collaborating over this

The device is then improved upon by Jessy for Briarlight, giving her a level of independence and confidence that she needs to finally cut her mom out until she learns how to behave

Deadfoot has a brace for his front paw because the joint is loose (it was based on a friend's carpel tunnel bracelet) which is affectionately referred to as The Bonker; his name is also now an Honor Title (Old name: Hoprunner) for inventing a battle move by distracting with his good paw, and then SLAMMING his other limb down hard on his opponent. It's called "deadfooting."

I think mobility devices are super important, usually massively improve quality of life, and I just enjoy designing them, so the choice to portray Thunder Storm's as negative was a very deliberate one that I did in response to what I thought was a desire in representation. Even the fact it's a hind-leg prosthetic was thought out, since those have a much higher satisfaction rate in humans than hand prosthetics, but in a cat would probably be the opposite.

Still, I'm not missing a limb, so now with all of that context presented, do you still think the same thing? Should I just add even more limb prosthetics to make the ratio of satisfied prosthetic users vs Thunder Storm even steeper?

Sunlit Frost is actually going to have a bite on his good paw go septic (the other side has permanent damage from the fire). I could have that paw get amputated and have Thunderstar "return the favor" for how Sunlit Frost created the prosthetic he rejected by helping him build his own. A pawsthetic, if you will

OR would it be better to just remove the subplot of Thunder Storm grappling with/rejecting a prosthetic that is unfitting for him entirely, and have all prosthetics be 100% treated as positive in the narrative?

[theosconfessions]

if youd like to read the stephens from the beginning you can over here :)

if youd like to read the stephens continued you can over here:)

@ohsosims

blake- im just saying shes obsessed with me and you need to talk to her. get her to stop. all im hearing is shit from the guys now..instead of football its like hey did you bang her too. its a whole thing

river-goddamnit youre so cute,ted

blake- riv ! are you hearing anything im saying

river: i am but im having a hard time sympathizing with it to be honest,man

blake - we were broken up man

river: i know. im not faulting you for having a fling with someone. the issue isnt that. i did it too. the problem is it was SID. and you knew that was her boyfriend

blake- you dontknow the whole story man. it was more on the level than you think

river- i dont want to know the whole story. because its probably going to make you look like an asshole.and we're in a good place now,right? we have teddie.we are getting a new house finally. we're in a good place

blake: i know but its just irritating me that she has this way to speak what she said happened and i dont

river- i may be pulling a my dad here but i do not want to know if it was anything more than what she saying. you did something shitty. youre owning it now. leave it where it lies, man seriously. like just take the hit. you did something shitty because of who it was with . she has the right to be upset about it no matter how 'on the level ' it was. like just man up blake . we're 22 years old. like grow the fuck up. im putting him to bed

blake- riv

river- dude if you followed me in here to fight..no

blake-i followed you in here to say youre right. i was kinda like makign excuses for the things ive done and i dont want to do that. i dont want to be another version of your dad so youre right. and ill just.. keep my mouth shut.

river- im not saying keep your mouth shut. but probably..possibly..maybe find it in yourself to maybe apologize to scarlett. you literally have never done it

blake- theres no way she'll give me the time of day man. shes hard to talk to . as soon as i walk in the room she walks out

river- well again, you slept with her boyfriend. id do the same. HELL i do the same whenever im at your games and that prick comes up to me. text her. just apologize. youre going to be in eachothers lives even if i divorce you

blake- [laughs] looking into the future

river: [winks] little bit. now get out so i can put ted to bed

[brother-emperors]

‘Is there a point to any of this or do you just want to see how much more I can take?’ snaps Crassus. ‘Oh, I knew there was still some bite left in you,’ says Cethegus, thrilled. Cethegus teaches Crassus the art of politics and the ways of business. Sulla is not a fan.

Sulla: the Last Republican, Arthur Keaveney

Crassus, Catilina, and the Vestal Virgins, Ronald Syme

Sulla: the Last Republican, Arthur Keaveney

[gorydean]

just... yes. dean loves his father bc dean felt love from his father (!!!). the way he also talks about how similar john and dean are... exactly

[northstarscowboyhat]

Wouldnt Chujin be pissed that the guy he cant stand is rizzing his wife up after he dies?

Funny short answer? Yeah, he'd be pissed. He cannot stand Starlo and the fact that Star's flirting with Ceroba long after the fact would make him gag

Serious, longer answer (because I am diseased and must talk about them)? No, I don't think he'd actually be upset.

If Chujin's ghost gets to witness everything that happens after his death, I don't think he'd be angry Ceroba eventually enters another relationship. He's dead, but she's not; he wants her to be happy and move on. Honestly, he'd probably be very worried watching her not make more connections, platonic and romantic, after he passes away. She doesn't NEED another romantic relationship necessarily, but it's not good for her to close herself off from others.

Being with Starlo helps her connect with people again. She makes friends in Dalv and Martlet and others, stops closing herself up emotionally, stops drinking to cope with the pain at the saloon. A lot of that is her own strength, her own determination to keep living on and be happy for herself, but Starlo does play a part in that and helps her out. That's something Chujin's ghost would appreciate.

Starlo treats her right, is always there for her emotionally, offers her comfort and any kind of support she requires, makes her smile and makes her laugh. Yes, Chujin finds him very aggravating and honestly still disagrees with a lot of his politics and opinions, but even he can't deny Starlo's a good man. And if being with him makes Ceroba happy, he has no complaints. He would fully support her dating and eventually marrying Starlo.

Them adopting a human child and having them move into the house he built, though...

(He's okay with it. He's learning to make peace with it. It's fine. This is fine.)

[thatscarletflycatcher]

The more the time passes, the more convinced I am that a reading of Jane Eyre that omits the theme of mercy as key to the story is incomplete at best and bad at worst.

[sadiecoocoo]

You guys should watch Ultimate Spider-Man. They give Peter so many boyfriends. Also it deserves more recognition and fan content that I don’t wanna make rn and literally cannot make since I don’t have access to my computer rn

[electric-friend]

wait hang on 😭😭 are people seriously debating “he’s a complicated man” right now??

i agree that izzy’s an unreliable narrator, and i think that some of the things he’s said about ed aren’t necessarily true, much as many other things he’s said are also not necessarily true. he’s not really aware of the full picture the whole time, poor duck, as much as i adore him.

but like… besides the fact it really doesn’t have anything to do with wether or not you think izzy’s doing complex evil shit to ed on purpose, and people seem to be making it about that…

ed is VERY MUCH a complicated man. as someone who relates to ed probably more than stede or izzy… he’s absolutely a complicated man. ed can be violent, and suicidal, and he clearly experiences some form of emotional dysregulation, and he’s done things to people that weren’t justified. the crew was traumatised by ed’s behaviour and how much violence he placed them in a position to commit.

the way ed responds to rejection is so violent and out of proportion, his consecutive raids, his suicidal antagonism towards the crew… and for me and my personal issues, that’s extremely relatable… but it is NOT mentally well behaviour.

ed also exhibits patterns of disordered alcohol use, and his anger often causes him to lash out (yes, often at izzy who pushes his buttons, and yes, izzy’s behaviour is a factor in this. but it’s also worth noting ed has agency as a character and his violence is still violence, provoked or not) and one of his most integral traumas is how an act of violence saved him from the violent alcoholic who was his father.

there’s nothing about ed that’s not a complicated man. he’s done bad things that weren’t justified. that doesn’t make him a bad man. it makes him a complicated one. it’s very clear he knows how to be a better person. and that he can be. that the show left out a lot of that journey is really disappointing, but ed feels like he’s a monster and he does bad things to become the villain he thinks he deserves to be treated as, you know?

he is SUCH a complicated man. that doesn’t mean he’s irredeemable or bad, it doesn’t mean there’s a moral obligation to dislike him either. none of that’s the case. but izzy got it right when he called ed complicated. i think in some ways izzy had finally realised that he wasn’t always going to understand ed because ed wasn’t always going to think the way he did, but he was coming to accept that he didn’t need ed to be someone he could understand as long as ed was happy? does that make sense? i know that’s a sappy outlook on a canonically toxic relationship but i just cannot believe that there’s a genuinely widely accepted take going around which boils down to people thinking it’s wrong to call ed a complicated man. like, huh???? girl….

[musclesandhammering]

Once again thinking about how every single one of Loki’s emotional problems stems from his abandonment and rejection issues, which originated from him being rejected and abandoned as an infant.

[fruitjuices]

theon greyjoy is like those mice they use in scientific experiments to like. test learned helplessness and if they’ll hurt another mouse for cheese or whatever. except in this case there’s a big sign hanging up that just says You do not have to do this there is a way out for you but he is a mouse and cannot read and thinks it’s mocking him. so he keeps hurting the other mice and feels miserable about it but the only way NOT to feel miserable is to keep doing it. because maybe then it’ll be worth something. and his mouse father will be proud. and then right at the end right when he’s about to make a good mouse choice and free himself from the cage he’s both physically trapped himself in and the mental cage that’s been building for the last ten years of his life. A hawk swoops down and grabs him

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Currently feeling a bit feral over the fact that Natalia means Christmas Day - as in the birth of Jesus Christ and Bucks story is so heavily leaning into the birth death and resurrection of Christ - the saviour - as a central part of his narrative arc. Her presence is literally about the birth of buck - as in processing his grief about why he was born - as a saviour baby.

[hecksupremechips]

Details that make me FERAL

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

The similarities between Julius Caesar’s assassination and the Ides of Marsh are well documented in fandom. It’s also generally agreed that the fall of the Night’s Watch will mirror the fall of the Roman Republic, which was quite ironically brought on by Caesar’s death. But I never see it acknowledged that Julius Caesar, some time after the establishment of Octavian’s Augustus’ rule, became deified (meaning that he was worshipped as a god or to put it bluntly, Julius Caesar ascended to godhood).

What does this have to do with Jon Snow? Well, apotheosis (1, 2) is one of the most important stages that comes towards the end of a hero’s journey. Here, the hero reaches some higher level of understanding or personhood, and this allows them to complete the hardest trials still to come in their journey. We see mental changes, but these could also be accompanied by physical changes. A good example of this in high fantasy is Gandalf’s death and return as Gandalf the White. In other myths and stories, we can point to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In ASOIAF, we have mini versions of this with Bran Stark and Jojen Reed, two children who experience life or death situations but came back with heightened magical power (Bran especially).

Jon Snow is currently at his “journey to the underworld”/“belly of the whale” moment, where he is to (presumably) face his greatest trials. Apotheosis usually comes after this stage (and is often preceded by other stages such as the “meeting of the goddess” and “atonement with the father”, both of which could very well appear in Jon’s journey as he learns of his true identity and purpose).

But what would apotheosis mean for Jon? That’s the key question. He is sure to experience profound mental changes and trauma, but these are sure to be accompanied by great magical changes that manifest physically. In the same way that Bran came out of his coma and started his journey as the last greenseer (well, once Bloodraven kicks the bucket), Jon is sure to come out of his death experience a far more powerful being. The thing is that Jon needs to change into the hero Westeros needs and the magical act of dying and coming back to life should play a role in that.

However, it won’t all be fine and dandy for him. GRRM has criticized Gandalf’s return where he seemingly came back to life better than ever with no great effects. In the same way that Jon is literally experiencing a descent into the underworld (a step that is sometimes figurative for many modern heroes), we can also ascertain that he will experience a very literal ascension into godhood (or the closest thing we have to that in ASOIAF). But magic always comes with a price. And whatever sort of “god” Jon turns into post-resurrection, he won’t be a very pretty one.