#Hugo Haring

[incorrectredwallquotes]

Friar Hugo: You are what you eat. Basil: I am thirteen tacos and a stick of butter.

[angelamontoo]

I Don't believe I've made any alignment memes for lorre caricatures yet

(BTW this definitely doesn't cover all of them, I just picked out some favourites and popular ones)

[thesablequear]

The one thing I did not expect when showing my friends Redwall was them being indescribably horny for Friar Hugo

[cyberstarlope]

Merrit and Hugo! I’ve always really struggled getting designs for them I like so they’re def still subject to change but I’m pretty happy with how they came out this time round ^^

[simblrbyambsey]

Hare Square is Pippie’s spot to take Kavinna. The two of them sing, Kavinna wants to be a famous singer, just like her mom. Her singing voice could be better, but she makes it work with her humour.

[itscolossal]

Freewheeling Hares and Bespectacled Kangaroos Hop Into Hugo Horita’s Playful Wooden Menagerie

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #12 – What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

I initially meant to read this back last year when it was up for a Hugo nomination, but well – honestly I forgot my copy in an airport waiting room and it’s presumably now living a good life somewhere in a New Jersey compose heap. But a friend had a copy and said they enjoyed it, so! Stole it for a few days, and very glad I did. It’s a quick, fun shot fungal gothic, great for stormy nights.

The basic plot is, well, it’s very explicitly Fall of the House of Usher with a slight admixture of Ruritanian Romance. The Ushers are a genteely impoverished family of minor aristocracy in Ruravia, a less than impressive principality in Eastern Europe. Alex Easton, Roderick Usher’s former commanding officer in some recent war (the Gallacian Army they served in having a habit of getting into these quite habitually) receives a letter from Roderick’s sister Madeline begging company and help, as she is deathly ill. Of course by the time Easton arrives the pair of them look like they’re one stiff wind away from dying, and the estate and the lands around it are both decaying and full of unnerving strangeness. The only person who seems happy to be there is Eugenia Potter, an Englishwoman and amateur mycologist studying the great variety of mushrooms and fungus to be found in the area.

So yes this is very much aiming to be Gothic Classic, at least in aesthetics and trappings. An overgrown and decaying estate several times too large for the last remnants of the family who now occupy it. Genteel madness and disease, hidden behind polite euphemisms and high walls. A deep, atavistic horror at parasitism and the desecration of the human (especially the well-bred, young and female) body by an alien presence. There’s even a cowboy for some reason. It definitely all works for me, but then my exposure to the genre is all a bit second hand.

Speaking of parasitism – mushrooms! The book expresses decay and desecration basically entirely through the idiom of fungal infections, both in terms of metaphor and imagery in descriptions and just in the actual source of the horror here. The lights in the tarn are fungal blooms, Madeline’s disease and her reanimation are both the result of almost drowning and inhaling that fungus into her lungs, and so on. There are two really effective horror beats in the book for me – the image of an infected hare which had just had its head shot off slowly jerking back to its feet as a dozen others placidly stood there and watched it be shot, and the moment of realization that Madeline’s oddly long and wispy body hair is in fact mycelia growing out of her skin – and both play off of this pretty directly.

I very awkwardly didn’t use any pronouns for Easton when giving the plot synopsis because the book actually plays around a bit with gender and pronouns in a way I’ve always loved and wish I saw more of. Easton is Gallacian (unrelated to the actually existing Galicia, I think), and the Gallacian language has a variety of pronoun sets beyond just he and she – one for children, one for God, and one (ka/kan) particularly for soldiers. Which, due to the exigencies of early modern warefare’s manpower requirements, eventually led to both men and women being perfectly eligible to become ‘sworn soldiers’. So y’know, Enlist today! Service guarantees citizen-transition!

(But actually I enjoy the thought and at least superficial sociological plausibility/consideration of what gender means in Gallacian society a lot more than how a lot of modern spec fic just kind of assues that every culture in the world has the perspective on gender of a well-educated 21st century progressive, material conditions be damned).

Anyway yeah, overall very entertaining read. Though Goodreads tells me it’s now the first in the series, which given how cleanly this one ended is not something that fills me with an abundance of faith.

[breadvidence]

Toggling between I.V.V and III.VIII.XXI trying to square this character with himself—how do you start with "stoical, serious, austere", a man whose "laugh was rare and terrible", and pass through "you’ve got a beard like a man, mother, but I have claws like a woman"? Lemme say, I was far more blithe about this before I had to decide how many cock jokes he might conceivably tell in a 20k span. Meta flavored by authorial navel-gazing ahead. For a somewhat unnecessary context, I'm working on a modern AU that depends on the musical but is beholden to the Brick.

First: my favorite thing about fandom is watching people hare off in wildly different directions, and while there are interpretations of this character I'd flat disagree with (the conservative ones that think he's in the right, mainly), there's many many more I'd thumbs-up gleefully even as they contradict my own reading. Shit, I will go so far as accepting your Javert who is based on the premise that Jean Valjean in I.VI.II (1) means his compliments and (2) is making a good character assessment. I might someday write a second thing that has a wildly different version of the character in it—why not? This is a sandbox, you can dig more than one hole.

Anyway, I've come to a few different conclusions.

The comedic one: When "Jean Valjean stepped up to this bed, in a twinkling wrenched off the head-piece, which was already in a dilapidated condition, an easy matter to muscles like his, grasped the principal rod like a bludgeon, and glanced at Javert" (I.VIII.IV), all of the emotional stressors and situational whiplash of the past few weeks catch up to Javert, the flexing is too much, he has a small frontal lobe aneurysm, it is nonetheless large enough to impact his inhibitions, his inner cunt is released. The "stoical, serious, austere" man described in I.V.V becomes the one who plays—plays!—cat-and-mouse with Jean Valjean during the first Gorbeau encounter and later runs his mouth at all and sundry. The contrast between the descriptions in I.V.V and subsequent on-the-page behavior is a deliberate character development and entirely the fault of Jean Valjean.

More seriously—yes, it's character development, logically because of the events in Montreuil-sur-Mer. We do not see Javert "play" with Fantine in I.V.XIII in the way he "plays" with PM in III.VIII.XXI, and while I would argue that some of his rambling in I.VI.II hints at his shitty sense of humor, there's no overt witticisms; he laughs in I.VIII.IV but absolutely not from humor. Based purely on his Tome I behavior, sure, austere and serious. Related: M-sur-M really should fuck this man up: regardless of it being set to rights, for years a figure of authority was perverse, and he himself operated as a lower functionary of that perverse authority. You could argue that Jean Valjean didn't "count" as a mayor because he was a convict, but going down that road you can end up at an almost normal psyche (one where bad authorities exist), which is undoubtedly unacceptable in interpreting Javert, so. While he's ecstatic in the moment of revelation and arrest, in the longterm—what's the impact? Bitterness and instability expressed as humor, maybe, in the way you dredge comedy out of cognitive dissonance? I can see why correctly identifying a criminal would make any other cop more confident, and how (cruel)playfulness/humor could stem from that, but I can't help but think it's a bad sign psychologically in Javert's case.

Victor Hugo looked us in the collective eye and said, "I am going to describe this character abstractly one way and then have his concrete actions be contradictory simply to fuck with you."

I'm perceiving a contradiction where there isn't one. The style of his humor—which is very dry, even morbid—and of his play—fucking with helpless people—are not in and of themselves unserious. And if I'm not mistaken, the last time we see him laugh is in I.VIII.IV (oddly the other time is in I.VI.II, but it's lugubrious/sad bitch behavior). I'm not thoroughly convinced, but I'm not thoroughly convinced of the character development theory either.

An alternative completely different from the above that I have failed to think of, but which someone will helpfully put in the tags?

(My current plan for the project semi-affectionately titled DAMMIT is to 🙈 at I.V.V in preference of III.VIII.XXI—which is not my greatest yeehaw of a characterization choice, anyway (for DAMMIT, as I don't generally, I'm digging in my heels that when Hugo talks about honesty and Javert it is always with the understanding that it is a spy's honesty, self-contradictory and self-deceptive—a decision not unrelated to choosing to go the promiscuous/closeted route for his gayness, which is itself not unrelated to the fact that promiscuous/closeted plays best into contradiction as a central character trait... and is also the funniest option, banter-wise).)

[cliozaur]

Oh no, now they are exterminating the prisoners of war. And, of course, Blücher disgraced himself with this barbarous act. This disgrace is much worse than that of chaotic escape of the French army from the battlefield. Their escape can be excused, as Hugo explains it was caused by “the present shadow of a terrible presence.” And then he offers an epic summary of what happened in Waterloo: it was a decline of the great man leading to the advent of the great century. Oh, he still believes that the nineteenth century was a great one.

It's amusing how lions in different translations are transforming into different animals: into hunted deers, goats, and even hares.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Beautiful Girls & Chicken Nuggets

Sponge, going through their datapad with obvious interest while sitting on a bench at the dog park: Hugo, settling down next to them after buying a bag of cotton candy for them to share: I thought 'Walkies' meant no more work until Beau's done and satisfied with downtime. Sponge, taking a piece of cotton candy for themself and popping it into their mouth: This isn't flimsywork. Hugo, tilting his head to the side: Oh? Then what are you so focused on? Sponge, showing Hugo what they've been looking at: I've been thinking about finding Beau a suitable mate. She's very nurturing and quite intelligent, so I thought maybe she could benefit from having a litter of her own... Hugo, scratching his chin in thought: Hm... Beau does strike me as rather maternal. Any pup she'd have would definitely be looked after... Not to mention have the potential to become service pets. Sponge: Exactly. Which is why I want to find her only the best possible mate. I made a profile for an app where pet owners can match up their animals to pair them up. Been looking for a healthy, strong and good natured male barghest. Preferably one just as clever as she is, so that the pups turn out just as receptive to training... Hugo, glancing over to where Beau is currently playing with a charhound: I don't know... Dating apps for pets are a little out there. Doesn't feel super organic... Beau might not even like the other barghest. Sponge, scoffing: I'm not planning on just dropping her off on a 'blind date'. There will be arrangements. An introductory walk, some play dates, all of the necessary steps to acclimate them to one another and have them form a connection. Hugo, still watching Beau and slowly beginning to fidget nervously: Uh-huh... You've uh, got this all thought out, yeah? Sponge: I only want the best for my precious little princess. She's too good for any common mutt. Hugo, pointing: ...She certainly doesn't seem to hold the same opinion. Sponge, looking up from their datapad only to see Beau and the charhound going at it like wild hares: BEAUTIFUL NO!!! Hugo, watching his partner run to separate the two lovestruck beasts: I wonder what a barghest-charhound cross would look like...

[linxrouge4life]

I FINALLY finished my Arkhamverse OC refrence sheet after days so here u go!:

What I haven't mentioned:

Her allies/aquaintances/Possibly friends: Penguin, Poision Ivy, Firefly, Mad Hatter, Arkham Knight/Red Hood, Catwoman

Close allies/friends: Scarecrow, Harely Quinn, Two Face

Enemies: Batman

Rival/people she has beef with: Riddler

Neutral zone: Joker, Calendar man, Hugo Strange, Professor Pyg (he kinda creeps her out), Bane, Mr. Freeze.

There is much more interesting info about her following the Arkhamverse and my post Arkham Knight AU verse about her but this is all ill cover up for now.

Please feel free to ask questions about her!

[march-harrigan]

Feel like talkin' about my top 3 Jervi now. I don't mean top 3 like a ranking list but rather, these three Hatters are tied for first place in my heart. I love damn near every Jervis I've come across but these. THESE are the ones I'm thinking about constantly. Since they're all equal, I'll just post them in the order that I 'met' them. Spoilers ahead.

BTAS

Baby's first Hatter. I make it no secret on here that I'm an old fogey. Batman: The Animated Series got it's start when I was just a little thing. A couple of years later, I was watching reruns whenever I could catch them, and one of those was Perchance to Dream. So imagine a little hare, sat in front of the TV. I don't remember how old I was exactly but it was single digits and I could READ. I remember this because I was pissed when Bruce pulled the whole "can't read in dreams" line because I had absolutely read things in dreams. But anyway, probably about 7-8 years old. Now obviously Jervis wasn't revealed until near the end of the episode and we didn't get a whole lot of time with him but I was little, okay? So when I saw a character design I liked or enjoyed a character's voice, that stuck with me. Jervis had both of these things going for him in SPADES. I was very confused by "the Mad Hatter" being in a Batman cartoon but I was THERE for it. Not much later, I managed to catch a rerun of Mad as a Hatter and that cleared a few things up for me. By that point, I was smitten. His pretty blue eyes in the first half of the episode(god I wish they'd kept that), those big teeth, his SMILE, Roddy McDowall's voicework. And in some ways, even though I knew he was doing bad things, I kind of felt for him. Even as a kid, I could kind of recognize when a character was tragic. I just didn't really have the words for it at the time. I'd go through phases, in and out of BTAS throughout my childhood. But any time I could catch one of his episodes was an absolute joy for me. I fully admit that part of this one is the nostalgia goggles. But I truly do love him as well, especially as I've gotten older and better at analyzing why I like him, even coming to relate to him in some ways(mainly the hyperfixation on and tendency to withdraw into fictional worlds. I know this applies to all versions, but this is the one I grew up with and where the comfort of someone who was 'like me' in that way began). I also relate to the meek persona he shows early on, and the eventual temper more than I probably should. I've gotten better at managing it. But it's safe to say I've been the quiet guy with the eventual hare trigger temper. If there's one positive thing I can take away from my shared experience with him, it's that I've learned to drop the facade and be as cring-I mean WHIMSICAL as I want to be.

Arkham Games

You have NO idea how excited I was when I heard that Arkham City had a Mad Hatter side mission. My main goal when I started the game, even after doing the research and finding out how many I would have to play, was to get to him. I was definitely in it for the Riddler challenges as well, but Jervis was my top priority and bonus points for the audio logs(have I mentioned I hate every iteration of Hugo Strange I have seen to date?). I was... Disappointed? But not by Jervis himself. No, Jervis was absolutely delightful. From his dialogue, to the way he moved, and right down to his disheveled appearance. And lord knows Peter MacNicol's voice has an effect on me. This man does 'crazy little bastard' SO fucking well. Not just the voice but the mannerisms were absolutely flawless. I listen to Arkham Hatter voice lines at bedtime just so I can go to sleep in a good mood. He makes me giddy and giggly and I don't even know what else to say on the matter! No, the reason I was disappointed was that the side mission was so short! The cutscene leading into it was enough to have me instantly smitten with the man, only for it to be a short beat 'em up section. My heart hurt for him when I unlocked the audio logs. Just listening to Strange actively and purposely making Jervis' mental issues worse(Did I mention... I hate Hugo Strange?). After that I played Origins. I think it did better in giving us more Hatter content(uncomfortable ending aside). When I climbed out of that sewer and those rabbit mask goons started singing, I was CACKLING. I was SO excited to get into another Hatter mission, just hoping this time I'd get more and it delivered! Finally getting to go into the hat shop I saw in Arkham City, the 'sir' dialogue, taking screenshots because I wanted to capture how fuckin' SHORT he was. All leading into a fun and beautiful Wonderland platforming section. My first time through, it took me a damn while because I had to stop and admire every little detail. It might have bee a different dev team, but they went all out to make this section scream 'Jervis'. From the cards replacing the experience bats, to the stone faces and stained glass images of Jervis, right down to the tea river with sugar cubes floating down it. GOD, it was an experience. Also. "No one ever wanted to hear what Jervis had to say, he might as well have been INVISIBLE." That. Should not have given me childhood flashbacks, but MORE RELATABILITY I GUESS. And finally Arkham Knight. This game cemented his place as one of my favorite Hatters in any Batman media. He's gone from a sometimes rhymer to an always rhymer and as much as I hate it, knowing it's indicative of his mental state, I also find it kind of endearing? The interrogation recording with him and Cash never fails to make me laugh and, OOOOH speaking of laughs, his makes my heart flutter. By this point, Peter MacNicol had been cemented as my favorite Hatter voice(not an easy feat when you have Roddy McDowall to compete with). I liked this one because we get to talk with him a lot. SO much good dialogue. And the pop-up book setting of the finale was just... Masterfully done. I spent so much time taking screenshots, admiring all the little details in his face and hands during this section. The sweat and grime and stubble on his face, that little smirk as he turns the page the first time, the painful-looking cracks in his fingernails. Even the fuzz on his fingerless gloves looked good. I usually don't make a big deal about graphics in games, but this? I loved. PS - Diversity win, Jervis is bisexual.

Secret Six

Where do I begin with this one? At first, I read it because I wanted to see him fight Doctor Psycho. But by the end, I was madly in love with this Hatter. So how about the fact that he's introduced fully nude and looking like absolute shit, high off his ass and wrapped around a skull hookah? Or the nonsensical speech patterns that are introduced with that scene? How he manages to simultaneously be a horrid little bastard and the cutest man I have ever seen in my life? And the wide range of expressions that accentuate how awful or cute he is in those moments? The bizarre but honestly funny writing choice that is him being, to quote Deadshot, a 'hat junkie'? And when I say hat junkie, I mean he built a setting into his hat that allows him to hypnotize himself into a state of euphoria. Also, he likes to get naked when he gets high. Sensory thing, maybe? Hell if I know, but here we are. High, naked Jervis. Honestly, they went into such detail with all of his weird little quirks. From the hilarious shit that comes out of his mouth to the fact he was making little hats for his fruit before he ate it. But then in his moments of lucidity, he's easily the smartest fucker on the team. And dangerous too. The fact that he was their secret weapon to block Doctor Psycho's mind control(and keep in mind that Psycho is one of the most powerful telepaths in the DC universe) is enough to attest to that. But then they go and up the ante by showing just what he's capable of when he singlehandedly defeats the Doom Patrol. After all the fun we'd had with him up to that point, it was incredible to see. I like scary men, and in that moment, Jervis was terrifying. But THE big moment that had me in awe of this Jervis was in the final battle. Stabbed with Cheshire's poison knife, finding himself in a hallucination of Wonderland. He's happy there, he's ready to accept his fate until his teammates explain what's happening to him. And what does this little son of a bitch do? He takes the knife out, walks it off, and hunts down Doctor Psycho by himself. And why does he do this? Why, because he thinks Psycho's a little bitch, of course! "When the real fighting starts, you always run. Why is that, do you suppose?" he asks. "See, that's why you'll never make the grade, doctor. Always hiding from the eye of madness." He proceeds to comment on Psycho eating tuna and not flossing afterwards and cuts him with that same poison knife. This Jervis is a genuine fucking badass! But as many Hatter stories do, this one ends in heartbreak and I'm left feeling for him. Man feels like he's finally made some real, genuine friends and gets pushed off a building. I'm not about to join the Ragdoll hate club for that moment(a lot of my faves in various media hurt a lot of my other faves so I'm used to that). But damn it hurt.

[angelamontoo]

Don't worry if your favourite isn't here, I'll probably make another

[iliektehhaxs]

sometimes i go back to that lion/hare cutscene and i’m astounded by how fucking massive hugo’s bald head is.

[rueroyale]

Lines Written in Oregon

Vladimir Nabokov

Esmeralda! now we rest
Here, in the bewitched and blest
Mountain forests of the West.

Here the very air is stranger.
Damzel, anchoret, and ranger
Share the woodland’s dream and danger

And to think I deemed you dead!
(In a dungeon, it was said;
Tortured, strangled); but instead –

Blue birds from the bluest fable,
Bear and hare in coats of sable,
Peacock moth on picnic table.

Huddled roadsigns softly speak
Of Lake Merlin, Castle Creek,
And (obliterated) Peak.

Do you recognize that clover?
Dandelions, l’or du pauvre?
(Europe, nonetheless, is over).

Up the turf, along the burn
Latin lilies climb and turn
Into Gothic fir and fern.

Cornfields have befouled the prairies
But these canyons laugh! And there is
Still the forest with its fairies.

And I rest where I awoke
In the sea shade – l’ombre glauque –
Of a legendary oak;

Where the woods get ever dimmer,
Where the Phantom Orchids glimmer –
Esmeralda, immer, immer.

Annotations

Title. In Oregon. VN rented an apartment in Mount Ashland in the summer of 1953, where he wrote Lolita and hunted butterflies in the local woods.

1. Esmeralda. A butterfly or moth. Several species of moth or butterfly share the species name esmeralda/-us, or are commonly called “emerald”, but it seems clear to me that this is a mythical green butterfly that reminds Nabokov of one he found during his boyhood. Cf Speak Memory, Ch. 6, in which a butterfly flew (in VN’s imagination) from Russia to North America, “and southward along the Rocky Mountains- to be finally overtaken and captured, after a forty-year race, on an immigrant dandelion under an endemic aspen near Boulder.” “Esmeralda” recalls Victor Hugo’s gypsy, Lucette, called "our Esmeralda and mermaid" in Ada, Esmeralda and Her Parandrus from Look at the Harlequins, and Gerald Emerald from Pale Fire.

3. … West. Cf LATH, Part 4.1 on rediscovering Russian landscapes in the Rocky Mountains: “I spent what remained of the summer exploring the incredibly lyrical Rocky Mountain states, getting drunk on whiffs of Oriental Russia in the sagebrush zone and on the North Russian fragrances so faithfully reproduced above timberline by certain small bogs along trickles of sky between the snowbank and the orchid.”

5. Damzel, anchoret. Damzel, Cf The Blessed Damozel by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. An anchoret is a religious recluse.

11. coats of sable. Other examples of heraldic language in Nabokov include the obvious Bend, Sinister; in Pale Fire, the crest of King Charles and the multiple appearances of a “heraldic butterfly, volant in arrière, sable, a bend gules”; Nabokov’s family crest in Speak Memory; The Blazon, a poem from Poems and Problems, in which: “I adopted the blazon of exile: on a field of sable a starry sword.”

12. Peacock moth. The Great Peacock Moth Saturnia pyri is the largest moth in Europe.

17. L’or du pauvre. French, poor man’s gold.

20-21. Latin lilies… Gothic fir. Metonyms for the southern Europe and Russia of VN’s youth, respectively. Cf VN’s poem Provence, a Russian poet in a French setting: “What bliss it is, in this world full of song,/ to brush against the chalk of walls, what bliss/ to be a Russian poet lost among/ cicadas trilling with a Latin lisp.” Also parallels the European languages used herein, ie French and German. Russian is notable in its absence.

26. L’ombre glauque. French, pale green shade.

29. Phantom Orchid. Endemic to the Pacific Northwest, the Phantom Orchid Cephalanthera austiniae is a species of orchid whose entire body is white.

30. Immer, immer. German, always.

[hannahhook7744]

Miranda Madrigal revamped and headcanons;

Miranda 'Madrigal' is actually named 'Miranda Olga Botero-Yee.

She is the niece of Alma Madrigal.

She is Alejandra Yee and Raimi Botero's oldest daughter.

She is 3 years older than her sister, Beatrix, and her cousins—Pepa, Bruno, and Julieta.

She has no children even though she desperately wanted them because she is infertile and was never able to find a husband.

Miranda gets along best with Julieta because of their similar personalities.

She also gets along well with Hugo, Ryder, and Antonio because of their shared love of animals.

Her hair is usually in a over the shoulder front braid.

She has a pet hare named 'Chang-o' that she rescued from drowning not too long ago.

She loves meditating, playing with animals, taking care of animals, making hats, making lanterns, playing Lotería, Yoga, and watching Bruno's televonas.

Her red panda form is a bit small compared to her family members' panda forms.

Her favorite color is any shade of pink, straw yellow, and indigo.

She loves braiding the kids' hair.

She helps Isabella out in the garden with Princesca.

Miranda and her sister, Beatrix, grew up in Alma's old village with their father and aunt, Catalina, after getting separated from the original Encanto members while fleeing from the soldiers.

She was very shocked when her mother's ordinary taxidermy animals began to talk and insult people upon being placed around the Encanto.

Her father thought it was funny.

She can almsot always be found wearing a straw hat.

She loves helping people out.

She is 71 years old by d3.

She is the one who made her sandles.

Miranda loves puffballs and allows Mirabel to add them to their outfits whenever she wishes to.

She has a pink and purple tussle braided into the end of her hair.

Original concept art of Miranda and her door: