#I'm not Greek but I have a deep love for mythology/Greek culture so this is just my take on things

[moony-2001]

The real-world impact of Lore Olympus

i.e. do your research Rachel

Trigger warning: racism, fetishization, appropriation, mentions of SA

Long post ahead

A while ago, someone told me that Lore Olympus was just a silly little comic written out of boredom. That it was made to be "funny". They told me that "[I] can't hope [for] an extremely [well-written] story when it was just made with the intention to make something goofy" and that if Rachel actually wanted to make something serious like I had, she would write a book and not a comic.

At the time of this exchange, it was past 1 a.m. and I was exhausted. I did not want to argue with this person and it simply wasn't worth my time or energy in the moment.

But looking back at that (mostly one-sided) interaction, I can't help but think that there is so much wrong with that point of view. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion about Lore Olympus, whether good or bad. But Lore Olympus isn't just some silly little nothing comic about nothing important. It is a comic that actively appropriates and erases Greek Culture. It is a comic that has no respect for the actual stories that have been passed down over thousands of years whether by word of mouth or written text. It is a comic that perpetuates a false narrative and harmful stereotypes about characters or certain groups of people. So, no, it's not just a silly little comic.

Incorrect information

Here’s an example of what I mean:

When I was doing research for my post about the 10 year time skip, I looked up Leuce to reconfirm the little information I knew about her. Wanna guess the first thing that popped up about her?

A Lore Olympus Wiki article.

Okay. How about Minthe? Hundreds of pictures of her from Lore Olympus and a LO Wiki article as one of the top 3 results. Both character are horribly represented in LO and unfortunately there isn’t really any documented stories or records that can refute how LO paints them. Because of this, other characters in Greek Mythology like Leuce and Minthe, whose stories have little to no documentation, stand to suffer the most harm from deliberate misrepresentation on Rachel’s part.

Of course well-known and better documented figures in Greek mythology face slander as well. What about Thetis or Leto? How about Apollo? All of their portrayals in LO are HORRIBLE. I have seen people online absolutely drag them to filth not because they're upset about how the character is portrayed compared to their mythological counterpart, but because they have no knowledge of how they are actually portrayed outside of LO. They just assume that's how the characters are. Similarly, people who have either very little or no prior knowledge of Greek Mythology and Culture would look at the comic and go "Yep, sounds legit. It must be true." and go about thinking that what is portrayed in LO is accurate to what was transcribed thousands of years ago.

Creative interpretations and racism/fetishization within LO

Don’t get me wrong. Creative interpretations and artistic liberties can be great. When they’re done tastefully. I personally think if done correctly, a Greek myth spun in a modern way has the potential be very good. But that's not what we were given.

Characters like Minthe, Leuce, and Thetis (all nymphs btw) are portrayed as trashy tramps who put out and are used as a foil sabotage Persephone and/or her relationship with Hades. Compare that to Greek Mythology where in the Iliad, Thetis is very well-respected by the gods, particularly Hera. Unfortunately, other similar characters like satrys (and basically any character that isn’t a god) are usually portrayed as a low-class POC that can be easily exploited, manipulated, or used as a temporary villain/lover/pawn to “get back” at Persephone, our white-coded protagonist who can do no wrong.

Additionally, there is a clear race/class bias against characters like nymphs in LO. We see many cases scattered throughout the comic of gods like Hera or Aphrodite referring to nymphs as "trash" or "low class" or the idea that nymphs do not belong with gods being heavily implied if not outright said. I cannot tell you how often I've seen Minthe be called some variant of "cheap" by the readers of LO. Even Persephone (who created the flower nymphs) treats them with such disrespect. She frequently calls them some variant of "stupid" or "simple" like saying how they're not the sharpest crayons in the box even though she's the one WHO MADE THEM. However, it's so odd not really to note that nymphs like Echo, Amphitrite, or Psyche (who was previously disguised as a nymph) are not discriminated against. This is because they are liked or trusted by the gods they are around and ergo are often portrayed as the "good ones", which is a disgusting mindset to have.

We also see the fetishization of nymphs in the comic that is disturbingly similar to the fetishization of women who are Black, Asian, or Latina. It is a known fact that Hades has a flower nymph fetish. Not only is this implied in the comic, but Rachel stated it outright in an old Patreon post. Nymphs are also generally treated as sex-symbols, disposable, and as a lesser-than. Zeus frequently displays this behavior by abandoning nymphs he knocked up in the mortal realm.

For example, when Persephone finds out Apollo is dating Daphne, she isn't upset he's dating her friend. She's upset he's dating a flower nymph, beings that are generally considered to be "rare", "dumb", and objects of sexual desire. Ew.

Even on the Lore Olympus website (loreolympians.com) nymphs are regarded as "beautiful", "desirable", and "very exotic". And when they're not described in a sexual manner they're say it with me now regarded as "low class" or "workers" for some kind of god/goddess.

Final thoughts

So not only is the characterization of characters like Minthe or Thetis harmful to Greek culture and the stories that are so ingrained in their society, but it is also perpetuating harmful stereotypes about people of color and women who are confident in their sexuality.

Of course, the characters within Greek Mythology had their own issues. Zeus was a serial rapist, many of the goddesses deemed to be "feminist" by today's standards were actually horribly misogynistic looking at you Athena. But 1. that's just how things were back then (but that does not make it right) and 2. all of the good, the bad, and the ugly is still there in Greek Mythology. They're not denying how fucked up it is, but they're also not changing their history to better fit their own narrative or the narrative of the modern world. It exists, it happened, but now it is studied and called out by historians.

Rachel, on the other hand, is doing exactly that. She is actively changing the Greek's cultural history to better fit her fic's narrative. She is constantly sweeping things under the rug or going "No this is how it ACTUALLY happened". Lore Olympus is marketed as a "feminist retelling" yet somehow, it takes allllll the ugly parts from Greek Mythology (rape, incest, problematic age gaps, dubious consent, etc.), mixes it with a majority of the issues we have in the modern world (white feminism, rape-apologists/rape culture, grooming, fetishization of certain minority groups, etc.) and then amplifies the concoction to 20. Lore Olympus cannot be a "progressive, feminist, retelling" and also have characters that are morally apprehensive/come straight from the ancient myths. It does not work. In fact, IMO it makes all the problems from both eras worse.

News flash: actual cultures that are still thriving today are not your toys. They are not "made up". They matter. Do better.

[fantastic-nonsense]

im soso curious, i need to know... why is tim a child of apollo? bless u for not going with fanon<3

[referencing how I decided who the Batfam's godly parents were in my PJO AU WIP]

People like to sort him into Athena because DC has spent the last few years emphasizing how smart he is and how he's better at the more “cerebral” and detective aspects of the job. But Tim’s most prominent pre-reboot traits are not actually his detective or tech skills: they’re his reckless, impulsive bravery, his ability to analyze and think very quickly on his feet in dangerous situations, and his "power of friendship" idealism.

He's a people person; it's one of his greatest strengths. Tim is like...physically incapable of going somewhere and not making at least one friend while he's there. Hell, when he ran off to travel the world on his "fuck you, I'll find Bruce on my own" trip he still managed to pick up his own little crew of assassin friends along the way. Making connections and talking to people and relying on others for help is how he successfully navigates being a hero, as he himself notes on multiple occasions:

"Did you think I was going to run all around the city, desperately trying to save everyone all by myself? I'm not Batman. I have friends." -Red Robin #12

Tim loves his family and friends, and losing so many people he's close to within such a small timespan sends him off the deep end in multiple ways (trying to clone Kon, fighting Dick to get the Lazarus water, isolating himself from everyone, fighting with Dick and running off to find proof that Bruce was alive on his own, etc).

At his core, Tim is an idealist who becomes a hero for no other reason than a) a broken man needs help and a broken family needs mending and b) if Dick won't go back to being Robin he might as well do it, because someone has to be Robin. He sees what will happen if Bruce stays on the path he's on and says "no. I'm not going to let that happen." He's a hero because someone has to help, and he's able and available to do so. He doesn't work on cold hard logic and facts. He works off of gut instinct and then uses his big brain to go find facts and logical conclusions that support those instincts.

Tim was never going to be an Athena child.

So I started thinking. At first, I wanted him to be a Hermes child; it seemed right to frame his parentage around being the child of the messenger of the gods given how he became Robin. But that's not really him, either. Apollo, within the scope of both classical mythology and the PJO-verse's depiction of him and his children, fits him better.

While modern culture tends to zero in a lot on Apollo's status as the god of music, poetry, and the arts (for good reason), Apollo in classical Greek mythology was first and foremost known as the god who (for lack of a better term) helps his people. He's the god of the sun, of light, of medicine and healing, of prophecy, of truth.

Tim comes into Bruce's life at a time when Bruce is at his absolute lowest point. Jason is dead. He's estranged from Dick. He's failing in his mission to save Gotham. He's highkey passively suicidal. And Tim takes it upon himself to fix that. And he does it by being a solid, bright, stable presence in Bruce's life and an extremely blunt, truthful messenger of the future he sees: Batman needs a Robin, and if Bruce doesn't have one he's going to die.

And I didn't abandon his intelligence in the calculations: Apollo is also the god of rational thinking, order, and knowledge, contrasting and working in harmony with Dionysus (the god of irrationality, chaos, and passion). He was also known to be the god whose job it was to interpret the will of Zeus to humankind, which I thought was appropriate for a boy who spends quite a lot of his time being the living communication translator between Bruce and everyone around him.

So. Apollo child.

............also I thought it was funny to make the god of youth the father of the boy DC refuses to allow to age.

[concerningwolves]

do you have any like, folkore book recommendations? it could be of any folklore! although, i mainly know about Greek & Norse. or maybe perhaps, books about witchcraft & demonology?

Anon I am kissing you on the forehead. thank you for this ask

If you like Norse myths, Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is a really good starting point – I adore how Gaiman weaves a narrative through the tales so that they feel cohesive. (I think this can be a slightly problematic practise, but imho it's also very effective if you want to just read and enjoy some myths). I read it in one day and then had Many Thoughts for the rest of the week.

Northern Lights: Legends, Sagas and Folk-tales edited by Kevin Crossley-Holland is a collection of Norse and Germanic stories. I've been meaning to reread this one because I don't think I was in the right headspace to really enjoy it the first time, so I can't give much of a review other than I feel it gives a really nice entry-point to anyone who wants to branch out beyond the more popular Norse myths. (Plus, it's up on the Internet Archive)

For a more scholarly deep-dive into Norse myths, I wholeheartedly recommend Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H. R. Ellis Davidson. It's a deeply fascinating book which looks at the cultural history around Norse myths, then walks through how much we actually know about each Norse god and goddess. (I am still haunted by the fact Davidson says that Heimdall has been described as a "woodpecker god" and then doesn't elaborate)

Moving into Greek myths, I'm a big fan of the Mythos series by Stephen Fry. It's three books, one covering the cosmology of the Greek mythic world; one focusing on the myths around heroes and demigods; and the last telling the story of the Siege of Troy. Like with Gaiman's Norse Mythology, Fry brings a sense of narrative cohesion to the myths, but he's not just telling a story – he talks about the sources and different variations of the myths, which I find so fascinating. I've listened to the audiobooks three times now.

The folklore I'm most into is British Isles folklore. The Fairies in Tradition and Literature by Katharine Briggs is a fast favourite. Despite the title, she also looks at a wide variety of fairy-adjacent folkloric beings. I had so so much fun reading it.

(And on the subject of English folklore, two recent-ish favourites are The Folklore of Sussex by Jacqueline Simpson and the Folklore of Hertfordshire by Doris Jones-Baker; they're part of a collection of regional folklore books which I'm determined to read in its entirety. I really appreciated the way Simpson wrote about witchcraft and the kind of people most often accused of being witches).

I cannot talk about folktale books without recommending English Fairytales and More English Fairytales by Joseph Jacobs. I've only read More English Fairytales, but I've read it... so much. I killed my first copy with love and had to get another one. I picked up English Fairytales in a secondhand shop last week and I'm excited to start reading it. I think both are available online for free, too.

I'll have to go look at my cabin bookshelves tomorrow because I'm sure I'm forgetting some other favourites; I just wanted to answer this now before it got swallowed by my drafts forever

If anyone else has any recs of books on folklore, I would greatly appreciate them :3 (and I'm sure anon will too)

[birdyverdie]

i love harpy eagles! you mentioned you'd imabine Baldwin as one? and if not, what bird would he be? :}

Hi hi Coffee!! Heehee this series is honestly super fun to make! Baldwin really left me scratching my head I'll be honest! Characterizing and analyzing the character's personal traits, mixing it with game play, and then transferring it to a bird form is definitely a challenge! A fun one though, so I am not complaining. So Baldwin, our favorite self-exiled king. His leprosy makes it hard to interact with others and he left his kingdom to fight til his inevitable premature death. Due to his leprosy, he's most likely going blind, thus his low accuracy. He's a tanky damage dealer, with the highest base damage output and HP of the game, with low disease resist, but a pretty average blight resist. Now I don't know all the birds in the world, so I tend to look aesthetically first and then deep dive for features, and for Baldwin I thought a large white bird would fit him. I summarized the options down and ended up with two interesting choices. I'm incredibly biased for one though, and I think that's what I would assign to him, however there's a huge flaw in the logic so I'll maybe talk about the other in a separate reblog (this ended up really long). King Baldwin, The King Vulture.

Now hear me out! I know vultures are very disease resistant and have weak neck muscles and that's why they eat carrion, but the other factors of this bird make it so cool and fitting that I thought it should at least be a contender! King Vultures are part of the New World vulture classification, which means that they're a part of the species of vultures that doesn't depend on sight to find carcasses to feed on. However, compared to other new world vultures, their sense of sight AND smell are fairly poor, so they follow other vultures to lead them to carrion. I sorta associated it to how mechanically, you need the Leper to have some sort of accuracy buff, or else you'll just keep missing. The main problem with this association is the fact that King Vultures are not aggressive at all, in fact, they tend to shy away from any confrontation. Which doesn't match Baldwin at all. To contrast that though, is how out of all the new world vultures, the King Vulture's beak is the strongest and thus if present, other vultures let King Vultures tear at the carcass before feeding on the remains. (Kinda why you always place the Leper at the front.) Another reason why I chose the King Vulture is because of its history. The ancient Mayans believed that the King Vulture was a messenger of the gods, and therefore made him a King. The mythology of this bird is varied across cultures though, since the Mayans believed that vultures are powerful by taking in disease as a sacrifice for humanity, whereas other cultures like the Greeks, or Christian religions, believed them to be evil and therefore their choice of diet and baldheadedness is a punishment from the gods. (I recommend you to read this excerpt I found while researching because I found the cultural distinction to be awesome.) Some other key factors is the general association of leprosy and disease, I thought that since these birds have such a strong association with disease, that symbolically it rather fits. Also, these birds are fairly slow and stationary most of the time, as they spend most of their day perching, which relates to his in-game slow speed and refusal to move backwards. Aesthetically I think it fits him too! The bald head for his disfigured face, the yellow caruncle for his mask, the huge size to mirror his high HP, and the white feathers for his cloak!

[gemsofgreece]

Γειά! I'm very interested in reading about Greek mythology. Mostly interpretations and deep dives on the origins and context of said mythology. All I've read so far are texts authored by British and American scholars but those are always biased and fitted into not-hellenic cultures. I wonder if you know of an actual Greek source that I could access in Spanish or English? I'd really appreciate it. Have a great day!

Γεια σου! Unfortunately I can't provide very accurate recs because I haven't read much about mythology and because

Foreign scholars hardly translate Greek literary classics (meaning modern classics), let alone Greek research on fields that they have already totally called dibs on.

Greeks themselves traditionally did not care much about mythology and have been studying history way more. The stance they hold towards mythology is that it is a bunch of fairytales suited for kids.

Younger generations are getting more interested in it which had led to an increase in books, references and podcasts about it, however the extreme majority are still adressed to kids. I searched one of the biggest book stores in Greece for recs and out of the 192 Greek mythology books available, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the 170 were meant for kids and then most out of the remaining were translated foreign works.

The most famous Greek book about the mythology is Ελληνική Μυθολογία by Nikos Tsiforos, 1964, 644 pages. This book is very informative and detailed however this is not its actual intent. Written by Tsiforos, who was a screenwriter and director with a very sharp humour and notable for the use of slang (of the time), its main point is the social and political commentary on religion. He was also very interested in drawing parallels and finding influences with other eastern civilizations. A drawback I have seen mentioned lately is that since this is edgy humour of the sixties, it completely lacks in political correctness, which makes some jokes appear irrelevant and insensitive. Greek readers seem to love this book enough to forgive such jokes and all agree about the surprising amount of knowledge and detail concentrated in this book, however unfortunately it is not translated into other languages.

I can translate to you the excerpt above to give you an idea:

"... turned against the idols of the Philistines, those people who historically had Greek origins, the Egyptian gods marched drenched in gold alongside the army to confront the iron gods of the Hittites, the patron saints of Cortés were caught in a catfight with the monstrous gods of Motecuhzoma, and whoever won the match also won the glory and the faith, so try arguing with men thinking that the "protection from above" excused their rights or their injusticies... A deity is necessary in war, because it is based on the highest power of the universe... The human stupidity. The mass human stupidity. The despicable Mr War could not not become a god by the Greeks, people who fought constantly, from their very first day. So he did, and his name was Ares. Behold, then, a Gentleman whom deep inside nobody likes. Neither the people who created him nor the gods who had a brawler in their company. A troublemaker, vile, unconscionable, most rude, never keeping his word - war never has honour anyway..."

It is a great read, but not translated and probably not exactly what you seek.

Then some other ones that are not translated, at least so far, are

Ελληνική Μυθολογία Τόμος Α Εισαγωγή. Ανάλυση και ερμηνεία του ελληνικού μύθου - Greek Mythology. Volume A. Introduction. Analysis and interpretation of Greek myth by Konstantinos Tsatsos, Ioannis Kakridis, Eleni Kehayoglou. Also writes a lot about the origins of every myth and explores the reasons behind their creation. Part of a series on Greek mythology, where most of the work is done by Kakridis, I believe. His full book series is 1680 pages. I believe the Greek Mythology by Kakridis is what you are looking for, but again I don't think there's a translation.

Ελληνική Μυθολογία: οι Θεοί - Greek Mythology: The Gods by Dora Papaioannou, 180 pages. This is an edition in simple, easy Greek, ideal for Greek learners, so I don't know if you are studying Greek, I add it here just in case. Obviously this must mean it doesn't get extremely detailed, although a reader in Goodreviews said it also had myths they did not know about. Papaioannou has written more relevant books in easy Greek, such as for the Trojan War and the Odyssey, with 225 pages.

Even though there are no translations, I thought this was an opportunity to mention these ones for interested Greeks and Greek speakers / learners.

There were more books of course, but they were for children or they focused on beautiful illustrations rather than analysis or didn't have enough ratings in Goodreads yet for me to recommend them.

[johaerys-writes]

Hey!

That ask about favorite mythological characters made me wonder…do you have favorite mythological relationships? With "relationships" I consider them all (romantic, friendship, family, etc...).

Homeric relationship canon.

Homeric headcanon relationship.

General relationship canon.

General relationship headcanon.

Obviously we know that Patrochilles is one of them, but if you want to talk something about them that maybe you don't usually talk about here you can consider them for the ask too!

(And anon from ask about the characters, sorry for copying your model a little lol)

Hi there!! And sorry for taking so long to answer but this is SUCH an interesting question and I have so much I want to say here. I'll try to be as concise as I can:

1. Homeric canon relationships 

Homeric canon has an ABUNDANCE of relationships, both romantic and platonic, and it's just really hard to choose a favourite, or even just a couple of favourites. I feel like I could talk forever about every single relationship in the epic but I'll try not to 😅

I love the relationship btwn Hector and Andromache, the scene with Astyanax and Hector essentially telling them goodbye is one of the most powerful and enduring scenes in the epic. I also really like Hector's relationship with Helen, as well as Helen with Priam; it just feels like they accepted her wholeheartedly into their family despite Paris bringing her there being the root cause of their suffering! And that's so neat to me!! I feel like Homer is a masterclass on subtle characterisation and *showing* the Trojan culture instead of telling us.

Other relationships that I find fascinating in the Iliad are the deep bond between Agamemnon and Menelaus and how protective they are of one another- like you can always count on Agamemnon to look after his little bro lol. The bromance between Diomedes and Odysseus is also really interesting and it's also kind of funny the way other characters in the Iliad acknowledge it. Also pretty much any relationship that Achilles or Patroclus have with other people in the Iliad (Phoenix, Briseis, Iphis, Thetis, Ajax, Odysseus) that shit is like catnip to me I want ALL OF IT and it's literally what I spend a LOT of my time thinking about ahah

As for Odyssey relationships, Peisistratus and Telemachus are CANON okay :)) and they are among my favourites, and another one that's really sweet and heartbreaking is Odysseus and Argos. The best doggo in the history of doggos

2. Homeric headcanon relationships

- Aaaaaahh gosh where do I START!! okay okay so I have a looooot of headcanons about the gods in the iliad and their relationships to their pet humans, I just fucking love thinking about Apollo being obsessed with Hector and maybe something dubcon-y going on between them 👀👀 As well as Aphrodite meddling in Paris and Helen's relationship and maybe having a taste trio somewhere in there 👀 SPEAKING OF TRIOS how cool would it be if Menelaus and Paris decided to settle their differences in a DIFFERENT FASHION and maybe agreeing to a menage-a-trois of sorts >:) Maybe Aphrodite has her hand in that too...... hehe

Also damn listen I'm not going to go into too much detail here but I am literally feral thinking about Achilles and Patroclus who have a sort of more open relationship and are free to mingle as they see fit. Like think of young Antilochus having a huge crush on the Best of the Greeks and Achilles taking advantage of that.... or Patroclus deciding that he simply *has* to invite Automedon to their bed one day, or maybe even fool around with him when Achilles is off with his ships warmongering somewhere. And then when they meet again they tell each other all about their escapades, and.... well..... can't blame a guy for getting all hot and bothered all over again >:))) huehuehue

3. General relationship canon

Generally, I'm always really interested in the relationships between the gods, both the Olympians and the Titan-born. I love thinking of the sibling bond between Artemis and Apollo for example, that they might have wreaked havoc together growing up lol. I also like thinking about Aphrodite and Ares and the way the ancient greeks used to ship those two and how that association came about (love and war), as well as the relationship itself which is both familial (brother-sister) and romantic in nature.

I also really like some of the tragic love stories in Greek mythology, such as Artemis and Kallisto, Apollo and Hyacinthus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Iphis and Ianthe. The lore is full of love stories with unhappy endings like that, but it’s kind of neat that we have some queer representation at least 😅 (except in the case of Iphis and Ianthe who got their happy ending!!) 

In another ask I also mentioned the relationship between Medea and Jason which I also find super interesting, as well as Theseus/Ariadne/Dionysus/the Minotaur (now THAT would have been an interesting polycule lmao... jk..... unless 👀)

4. General relationship headcanon

Okay so there's no headcanon that springs to mind right now, but there is a slightly niche thought I've been entertaining for a while now. So there's this play by Aeschylus called 'Prometheus Bound' which presents the story of Prometheus and his defiance of Zeus as we know it, HOWEVER Aeschylus introduced a plot twist in that play where Prometheus is the son of Thetis. His inspiration for this was a little detail in the wider legend of Achilles, where the prophecy that is given to Thetis is that the son she will bear will not only be greater than his father, but if the father is Zeus, their offspring will change the world order. Zeus doesn't know this so he sleeps with her, and then Prometheus is born who indeed changes the world. I really love this little spin on the myth of Thetis and the famous prophecy, and it also got me thinking about how Achilles would fit into that, like what would it be like if he learnt about it or even met his stepbro?? That is just fascinating to me.

Thanks once again for this ask!!

[illeaadante]

Concept: the Alien Legendarium

We (the people in the Humans are Weird fandom) have touched on humans love of story and storytelling despite medium, but what I don't think we've really gone into is just how much.

And especially stories from other cultures. Every kid I knew growing up went through a(t least) a phase of obsession over different mythologies. I myself have a deep love of all fairytales.

So, maybe Aliens would be surprised at how much we love stories and how many stories we tell and retell, especially to them. What if other alien cultures didn't share their stories? Their histories, sure, that's necessary for politics and stuff, but what if they never thought to be interested in each other's myths or religions.

We all know that would never fly with humans. The first time someone caught a whiff of a culture's founding myth or creation story there would be at least a small, dedicated group of humans ready to ferret out every version they could get their little raccoon hands on.

Even more interesting if an alien culture doesn't seem to have any myths, legends, or urban legends. I honestly can't imagine a society without things like local ghost stories or religious conspiracy theories, so seeing one, or at least one that appears to not have any of those things, would be fascinating.

Of course, my definition of legend is very broad, so, for instance, it would be incredibly funny for an alien to come up against some of the common social myths. (The first alien to take an exam with a bunch of humans and hear "Y'know that if someone dies during an exam, everyone else gets an A. So, who's takin' one for the team?" definitely almost has a heart attack.) And, and! the aliens know that plenty of humans are alien/monster fuckers, but they're absolutely flabbergasted at the idea that the humans want to fuck their monsters??? Like, the ones from their mythologies??? How did you even know what a Xin'krakx is much less what it looks like?

I'm digressing a bit. Think of how strange humans would seem though, if aliens suddenly had to figure out how to deal with converts to their religions? They go out to see a movie and it's a human retelling of their creation myth that most of them barely know, so how did the human know about it?

And then! The aliens start hearing their own stories, songs written about their folk heroes and legendary kings, seeing artwork and religious writings hundreds of light years away from their home. How did it get there? The humans liked it. Your culture's creation myth is now written down in this beautifully illuminated and hand bound leather tome in both a human language and your native language.

Imagine the confusion.

Imagine the culture clash.

Imagine the space sjws who are convinced that making a short film based on a myth from an alien culture is appropriative, despite the people from the culture in question having no problem with it other than being perplexed at why the humans care about heroes that aren't human or otherwise from earth and from their own stories.

And of course, humans being humans, we would do what we do and collect all of these myths in one place. I can imagine that each alien culture would have at least one volume of legends translated into a human language each that are constantly getting new additions when the researchers resurface. The Aarne-Thompson-Uther multilingual folktale database expands rapidly as well as any cryptid compendiums. Children start going through Andromeda-6 and Corscal-14 mythology phases as well as greek or egyptian or japanese or aztec.

And we do what we also do, and we mix up those stories. We retell them and mash them together regardless of cultural origin. We tell them and retell them and many of us dedicate our lives to studying and learning about them and what they can tell us about the perceptions of the early culture and their values and experiences.

Idk, I just think it'd be interesting.

[iheartchv]

hihi I’d like to request a dmc male matchup please! (also, I’m happy to make this an exchange if you would like! my requests say closed but I’m still happy to take an exchange, completely up to you!)

appearance: 5’7”, long light blonde hair, i have glasses but usually wear contacts. i don’t have one specific style but i love alternative and girly styles especially. i put lots of effort into my fashion and makeup.

personality: ENFP, very talkative, outgoing and loud. im quite often joking around but I have the capacity to be serious if needed. im on the more sensitive side and my feelings will guide my decisions before my mind does. everyone says I can be very dramatic haha. i do take a bit of time to be open and vulnerable though. I am extremely loyal, ride or die. i stand up for what I believe in firmly (but I don’t like causing a lot of trouble really, im not intimidating at all and i can’t fight 😅) im a typical sagittarius- extremely creative and always craving new adventures and experiences- unless they involve heights then I’m totally out lol.

my likes: travelling, throwing myself into any artistic hobby I can manage, having my music on full blast (i love rock, metalcore etc but im also a sucker for pop and kpop. hell, i even love a musical soundtrack. whatever I’m feeling.) i love both consuming and creating stories, and I love certain aspects of history. things like greek and roman mythology, or monarchies and culture from thousands of years ago. i also love geeking out over video games, cartoons etc.

in a partner i don’t have a set type much. introvert or extrovert is fine so long as you’re willing to have long conversations with me. i can talk for hours about basically anything. im the physically affectionate type but only with an s/o, not really with anyone else at all. i like when someone knows how to flirt a little, but it’s not a necessity. im just lowkey a sucker for cheesy romance.

i think that’s all. I hope this is ok! thank youu :D 💕

//I'm curious who you'd pair me up with, so I'll send you a PM with my info x3; hope you like your match ^v^/~♡

🤔 I'd pair you with...

Virgil 🗡💙

Possible matches: Sparda

I think you'd be a perfect match for Virgil

Your personality balances out his

You're basically his opposite

One can't live or exist without the other

.....

But ofc at first he thinks you're too loud and talk too much

You take no offense to it, you just let it roll off your shoulder and just tell him to 'lighten up more'

Being with you sparks something inside him

It's more like a rekindling of a flame

He felt his human side trying to surface but always drowned it out

You, however, unintentionally bring that side of him out...

He'll deny anything when he stares at you, admiring you, or he saves you from any danger

But you know better

You could only smile to yourself as you feel yourself falling for this white haired half demon in blue

💙

He'll listen to you prattle on about your cartoon and other media you like

He'll make a mental note to research more about whatever you were talking about so he could have some conversations on that topic

But he'll start to talk with you more with history or philosophical topics

The more he listens to you, the more he likes hearing your voice

He will take the excuse of being quiet as listening to you... while he looks over you, memorizing every small detail of your face

You'll be the first to make a move

But Virgil will be the one to engage in more displays of affection when he's alone with you; he'll kiss you, hold you tight against him

Deep down he wants to make you his but he holds back... he doesn't know for how long though

It's been so long since he's been with anyone

But you're the one he wants

And whether he admits it or not, you make him a better man

He will tell you he loves you in his own way

But during a few intimate moments he will outright say "I love you" after hearing you say it plenty of times

He will have an inkling of knowing why his father loved his mother

He wants more, he wants more with you

The one thing he thinks about now is what it would be like to not have you in his life

One thing he doesn't want to happen is what happened to his mother: she died trying to protect him and Dante

He doesn't want that to happen to you at all; he doesn't want you to die

"Promise me that you'll let me protect you... till the end"

"You've already saved me... in more ways than you know"

💍

He gives you a ring he had picked up, telling you to wear it and never take it off

With how his life is, demons coming to try to challenge and kill him for his father's power, this could be the closest you could get for a wedding and wedding vows

[tired-reader-writer]

*deep breath*

HOO BOI AM I INCREDIBLY NERVOUS.

The first outfit is just a very casual, home wear type of thing, I suppose! It's not much but he can just throw a coat on if he has to like say, receive a guest or meet someone or go out. Since I assigned the season spring to him for numerous reasons, I wanted to give this outfit soft spring sort of colours:

“Long associated with the cycle of life, birth/rebirth, and renewal/resurrection, the Vernal Equinox – Spring – signifies a time when light and darkness carry equal weight, creeping towards the Summer Solstice when the sun holds sway, extending the light of day.”

Hence, light green!

Those are almond flowers on his clothes, and as for my reasons for choosing almond flowers...

Buckle up babes, we're going on an Almond Journey.

“Highly revered in many cultures, the almond symbolizes watchfulness and promise of new life, as this tree is the first to burst into bloom in many countries. For the Jews, the almond branch was the model for the menorah, and for the Christians, it is a symbol of Jesus’ virgin birth. The almond blossom is also a symbol of bravery and courage, purity, hope, and love. From Greek mythology, the almond blossom is a symbol of eternal true love, unconquerable by death.”

×

“Blossoming branches of fruit and nut trees hold a special place in our ancestors’ collective unconscious. To them, the blossoms were sacred and held the Goddess’ promise of life and abundance. Ancient Romans revered the blossoming almond, showering newlyweds with the nuts as a fertility charm.

For our modern human psyche, the seemingly sudden bursts of color remind us of an eternal cycle of fresh starts, a recurring miracle. One day cocooned buds add diminutive points of color to dark branches. Overnight, the buds unfold into tiny blossoms, multi-petaled gems. Life begins anew, offering the promise of sustenance as the year ripens.”

Almond flowers bloom in spring, his assigned season (also, do you know how much of a hassle it was to find out when they bloom?? Google is such an asshat, it keeps giving mixed answers like “oh almonds are harvested in autumn” LIKE NO DUDE I WANT TO KNOW WHEN THEY BLOOM JFC—) (ahem anyways) and spring is... new beginnings, a fresh start, youth, idealism, that sort of stuff, right? And due to the role he plays in the AU (giving the clan a new start and some land to settle on, he's very idealistic and even though he matures he never lets go of said ideals, I've been wanting to write a scene where he “sat in vigil” alone as his two little ones slept kinda watching over them but I have not gotten to it I am so sorry, and while I'm guessing that the eternal true love business is supposed to be of romantic love I'm stretching it to include both romantic and platonic loves— aka he's a devoted and loyal husband to Kazai but also he will never stop treasuring Ayunnen and Kashi til the day he dies. And of course, there's no way he's gonna stop loving his little brother, and also his son.) almonds/almond flowers felt quite fitting. Also the Alborz mountains have almond trees, though I fucking forgot if almond trees originated from said mountain range. They probably did, iirc? Anyways, geographically it was a fit. (You have no idea how many times I've visited the Wikipedia page of the mountain range, bless them)

And the fact that it was used in wedding ceremonies is justba cherry on top. Not like he and Kazai are gonna need the fertility charm though LMAO

Anyways, moving onto the next one, it's just the same type of clothes as the first + a coat, suited for less relaxed settings! I tend to associate him with red, I wish I knew why, maybe it's his eyes, and I thought he'd look good in red so here he is, in red. A purple coat over that, and I tend to think of purple as the “family/household colour” as opposed to “personal colour” so I just made it the outermost layer, the “family/household colour” worn overtop the more personal colours, for more... I don't want to say formal, that's too stuffy for what I have in mind, but for like situations where he's not just with close/loved ones in a relaxed setting. That's also why I deliberately chose not to include purple in his first outfit. I thought I didn't have much to say about this one but huh, looks like I had a bit more than I initially thought. The yellow just looked nice on purple, haha. Though I did choose a softer, brighter yellow than what I'd give Kazai, to invoke the spring feel.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, WE ARRIVE AT HIS WEDDING OUTFIT. BOI I WENT HAM ON THIS ONE AND I THINK YOU CAN TELL. I have like. SO MANY THOUGHTS.

First of all, GREEN. Green is the favored wedding colour of the clan, and he's wearing lots of green to honor that. @innerchorus said he'd look good in green and I wholeheartedly agree. Look at him.

The pin I'm having him wear on his innermost layer is supposed to be of an ash tree seed, though I did take some creative liberty with the design so uh, does it look like an ash tree seed anymore? Anyhow, the reason for choosing it is:

What do the seeds of ash, sycamore and maple trees have in common? They all are enclosed in a wing-like structure that helps them disperse - away from the parent plant and indeed each other.

It was just smth I saw on some tumblr post, and I was like... “so the apple fell faraway from the tree” and kinda interpreted this as him distancing himself from his parents' deeds and attitudes to pave his own path. He did not agree with their actions and thought processes. The mountain range does have ash trees, too! So yeah.

As for the leaves on the red parts of his outermost robe, I did choose a very particular tree's leaves, and said tree is Persian Ironwood!

Parrotia persica, the Persian ironwood, is a deciduous tree in the family Hamamelidaceae, closely related to the witch-hazel genus Hamamelis. It is native to Iran's Caspian region (where it is called انجیلی anjili) and Iranian Azerbaijan (where it is called Dəmirağacı). It is endemic in the Alborz mountains, where it is found mainly in Golestan National Park.

And Golestan is:

Golestān Province (Persian: استان گلستان, Ostān-e Golestān) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the north-east of the country and south-east of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Gorgan.

Oh but I'm not done yet. That's not the only reason I chose this tree,

The name 'ironwood' comes from the almost indestructible nature of the tree's timber which may explain why it is not commercially grown. Herbalists have used the species for the treatment of various fevers and respiratory infections. It is also used for food colouring and food flavouring.

Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water.

The wood is beyond strong, toughest in the face of floods, axes, and anything else.

I've even seen ironwoods described to have “unyielding strength”. Shapur, as I see him, is a very strict and stern (hence hard) man, but he is fair too. Maybe he and Kazai choose to plant an ironwood sapling? Undecided as of yet but I like the idea. I decided to include this in place of an entire tree like on Kazai's robe, mainly because I couldn't fit it on here but I still wanted to incorporate something for it. Tried making the leaves white, it clashed badly with the red imo, so... yeah.

The necklace! I feel like it's kinda lackluster but... I chose to stick with it. You'll see some similar choices as in Kazai's necklace, like the three repeating colours and such. There's also a wolf, I wanted more wolves on his actual clothes but... like with the tree, no place to put them on without it being cramped/jarring so... sadly I couldn't. The wolf is both Isfan and Areyan. His second layer, I really liked the asymmetrical trim look on his first outfit so I repeated that here, and of course, more almonds. This time it's the almond seeds, to reference the wedding thing. I tried to incorporate the colours from Kazai's wedding attire onto this too, to hopefully give a more cohesive feel. And as for the embroidery/detailing on the purple layer... I tried a bunch of times and decided this was nice. Also I wanted more pink on his clothes so... pink I included. In hindsight I probably should've included more white, this outfit doesn't have much white. But that could be in my favour too, since it could be said it's because Shapur doesn't follow that faith so he doesn't have as much but he still chose to honor it in subtle ways.

The ornaments on his braids, I don't know if they can be seen but there's dark blue beads! I probably should've chosen a lighter colour but... that's Kashi's colour, haha. And the white string was for Ayunnen. I like to think that that ornament originally belonged to Kashi (maybe she wore it at her own wedding), that Kazai gifted to Shapur instead of wearing it in his own hair.

I tried to reuse the colours from Kazai's wedding clothes sleeve for the trim on the neck of the purple layer but somehow in my eyes the colours didn't work so I scrapped that and included silver/white instead, and a lighter purple instead of the pink of Kazai's puffy collar shirt layer— hence why I included that pink on the bottom instead. The earrings... I just thought they looked nice, haha.

So this is it!! This was... A Trip™ to write, and I can only hope it'll be A Trip™ to read too. If nothing else my mental gymnastics should be rather entertaining.

[iviarellereads]

A query!

We're coming up on the end of Harrow and about to start Nona the Ninth. Nona will wrap some time in July, but I like to have a lot of lead time to settle the details of projects, so here's a question for everyone following here:

Do you think there's a book or book series that would benefit from this kind of close read, looking for references, foreshadowing, and theme?

(I'm not looking for book recs generally, this is specific to this blog's format. And ideally I want to read something at least slightly lesser known, not the big 4 or 5 names of cishet white dudes that get thrown around whenever someone asks for recs.)

As I say in my first, pinned post, I've done the Wheel of Time in this format for some friends and shared the rough cut notes with a few Discord servers focused around that series. It wouldn't be a particular hardship to reread and refine those notes for posting here. Indeed, the Wheel of Time and the Locked Tomb have a lot of DNA in common, and not just the chapter icons. It would be the easy answer, and I think a lot of TLT fans would find that they enjoy WOT more than they expect to based on the premise. An epic fantasy political saga that takes place across a whole continent, told significantly from women's points of view within the world (after the first book which is 80% one dude), written by a man who was trying, in the 1990s, to upend misogyny without quite understanding what misogyny was. It's imperfect, but incredible, and his setup/payoff, foreshadowing, and worldbuilding have some great and terrible lessons to be taken into the next generation of epic fantasy. This would be my fourth time through the series and I wouldn't regret or resent it.

But, I've also considered doing this for other stories. Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, Naomi Novik's Scholomance (recent as they are, they've stuck in my head as examinations of chosen hero and fated villain tropes). Perhaps something like Michael Ende's The Neverending Story, or get real meta with William Goldman's The Princess Bride, in conversation with its genre trappings and the film adaptation, or John Scalzi's Redshirts, in conversation with the Star Trek franchise.

Then there are the books I don't feel qualified to examine in my way, or that I feel my particular analysis would fall short of doing justice to. I'm not so well versed in any mythology to address any of the various, wide-ranging modern takes we've seen of particularly Greek mythology in recent decades. A lot of stories don't have as much in the way of long-term arc foreshadowing or references to pop culture for me to feel confident interpreting in this format. And then, some stories like Becky Chambers's Monk and Robot which is both too short and too self-explanatory, there's little for someone like me to add.

There are stories I'd love to deep dive into one chapter at a time for indulgence's sake, but wouldn't necessarily add much value to the series unless you count detailed chapter summaries existing.

So, I ask the people who have come to see my format: what do you think I should deep read next? Can you think of a series that fits my vibe better than my thoughts above? Let me know in the replies or an ask!

[kebriones]

are you against mythology retellings? if yes, would you mind telling me why? (in my opinion they are harmless and each one of them adds something new to the ‘source material’) just asking since i’ve seen a lot of classicists harassing people just minding their business and having fun 💀

-Absolutely not at all! I came very near to spending all my savings to go watch hadestown a couple years back, and at the very beginning I even enjoyed lore olympous (the story lost me at some point).

-Do I think they're harmless? No story is harmless and all of them are. It depends on what you consider harm.

-I don't think they add to the source material. If we're talking about ancient greek mythology specifically, it's been dead and burried for centuries. Whatever new is created, is a modern thing and seperate, in my opinion.

-However, it is the very nature of mythology, that people are meant to make their own stories inside it freely. If anything, I enjoy retellings, and even more than retellings I absolutely love the taking of characters (heroes gods, whatever) and making completely new stories with them. "retellings" as a concept can fall into the trap of trying to fix myths, to make them more palatable and enjoyable to a modern audience, which is what rubs me the wrong way.

-But there's no storytelling police so that's up to me to avoid reading those stories of course. Others may enjoy them, and not everyone has to care about the historical contexts or original messages of specific myths. I certainly think there are benefits to it and personally I find it adds to the enjoyment , but each person enjoys different things. I have spent many years stewing in my overprotective feelings towards ancient greek mythology but recently I decided I just want people to have a nice time. I'm also trying to teach myself to understand that other people are completely different to me, so if I find somethign sickeningly bad and others like it, that's just how subjective things work. So I might complain, half-jokingly always, about stuff but it's just to blow off steam and deep down i'm chill about everything.

I specifically don't like what I've heard about the song of achilles, plus I'm extremely, extremely biased when it comes to the iliad, so I am very picky about retellings for that specific part of mythology. the iliad has been my baby since I was very young and it's the one thing I allow myself to be completely crazy over, so when I say I cannot get through the movie troy because it's too painful, I 100% mean it. if you enjoy it, that's great. I will complain and bitch about it forever. I slept with that book under my pillow for my entire childhood and to have some randos come and spend millions to butcher it and drag its corpse like achilles dragged hector, for the whole world to see is too much.

As a last point. I think sometimes with retellings, especially of ancient greek mythology, we're a bit too sensitive because it has been too oftenly taken out of its cultural context and used willy-nilly to tell stories that reflect nothing greek, be it modern or ancient. It is a flashy topic for people to use however they want, and it's been changed to fit western cultures so so much, that I wish people would just leave it alone. Ancient greek mythology isn't about flashy god powers, it's about the values and experiences of a culture (or more correctly, multiple cultures), whether those align with modern ones or not, but when "retellings" are first and foremost made to be sold as products, the stories have to be altered to hell, to be nice and tame for the audience, to sell well. Which is a whole other discussion.

so yeah that's why I prefer all-new stories that maybe use mythological characters, over straight up retellings. But, as most ancient greek myths were very regional, had a million variations of which we know a tiny amount of, and were told and made for a long period of time, I don't think that retellings now are in any way inherently bad. But all the nice marble aesthetics (tm) and hot dudes will not fix a bad story, is what I wish people understood. Also I wish they didn't think they know or even claim to like the mythology from having read only retellings.

Anyways I am not a classicist, I am a fine arts student, so I might be saying absolute nonsense, my brain is too fried. on the other hand, i am born and raised in greece, and I have grown up with these myths everywhere around me and I really like them, so I have a lot of feelings about them, but that doesn't really mean anything. And I haven't noticed much harassing going on (lots of complaining, but that's the lifeblood of the internet) but then again I'm here on tmblr only a very short time. That all said, I absolutely do not condone harassing people for what they enjoy, especially for things that can only "harm" the person doing it, like reading stories.

[a-s-levynn]

For the questions, 9, 30, and 37! Hope you have a good day ♥️

It's a fairly good day so far, thank you 🫶🏻

9.) what is your favorite environmental season? why?

Autumn for sure. Especially late autumn, so the tail end of october and mostly november. I love the heavy rains and storms that tend to happen around this time. Maybe me being born late autumn has something to do with it.. But in general i just love how autumn is kind of.. a clensing for nature at the end of the year? Everything slows down a bit but not so much as in winter. I love the inherent melancholy of the season and it's contrast with the fact that the greens become vibrant yellows and greens? A last dance before the snow settles so to speak. (Not that we had much snow in the past few years but i still hold out hope for a winter like we used to have when i was a kid.) And then it fades into browns and the rain washes it all away? Uhh... i love the inherent poetry of it all. Anyway, yeah it's autumn.

30.) favorite mythological creature? and why?

It's a hard pick for real because i love mythology in general. Probably the one i loved for the longest is either Leviathan or ignis-fatuus/will-o'-whisp and anything in that cathegory in general. I loved big water creatures as a kid and i hardly grew out of it. I had a brief period when i was deeeep into egyptian and greek history and especially mythology as well and all the creatures they line up but Leviathan man.. that is where it's at for me. Ignis-fatuus is a fairly recent interest even if versions of them are part of the folklore around here. I always loved these types of ghostly lights and bog spirits as a concept but a few years back i did an essay on them for a class at uni and i dove in deep and oooh boi i fell in love. But if i have to pick one over the other also not betray my childhood self, i need to pick Leviathan.

Let me run down how my 8yo brain worked: i loved dragons and i loved pirates. So the sea was cool. Dragons were cool. The Leviathan is a big ass serpent. So Leviathan is basically a water dragon, therefor i love it. 8 years old me wasn't much smarter than 2 dacades later me. So at the core the short answer is still, Leviathan is cool so i love it.

The long answer of course is that in retrospect i learned more and more about it along the years. Like the ethymology of the different names in different languages and such, which i'm absolutely in love with. Love the supposed word roots in the names of things. It makes my imagination run wild what other interpretations of it could have been out there that may have been lost to time. Also how other cultures and religions interpret the concept of this creature, what roles they gave to it in certain cultures, how the word itself lost some and gained new meanings, nowdays basically referring to a wide variety of large water based creatures. I know this could be said just about any mythological creature, in my case it just happens to apply to the "big ass water dragon."

37.) do you have any strange habits?

I tried really hard to think up some more but i kinda failed so here is the answer i gave before: LINK

[insurrection-if]

If I may ask what are some of ur favourite names? And what's ur favourite genre to read/write? I would also love to hear more about your brainstorming and outlining process when it comes to ideas/characters? You've built such an amazing world with such deep characters. I'm just fascinated by your big brain. Great work!! 💗💗💗

(づ•ω•)づ♥ I'm so unspeakably flattered!! Thank you so much for your curiosity, interest, and kindness - this message was so nice to see in my inbox! My response is so long, apologies in advance(!), so I've broken it into parts!

Part One: Names

Aha, my favorite names in-game or for people in general? （；^ω^） In general, my favorite names off very the top of my head would be: Damian, Ignacio, Antonio, Dmitri, Roman, Stepka, Maria, Dolores, and Diana. In-game, my favorite names would be: Elouan, Imka, Falda, Elov, and Leysa!

In my writing process for original characters, I typically choose names after the character's ancestry / region of origin / background has been established. I research baby names based on nationality / region / ethnicity and take into consideration the meaning of the name (hopefully across multiple websites), its sound / pronunciation (to see if its fitting to the image of them in my head), the likelihood of the parents / guardians of the character choosing that name, and how realistically I can buy someone having that name if I were to meet them in the street (rather than something that clashes or jumbles as a 100% fictional moniker when paired with their surname).

Then, the hardest part for me and the true test for its finalization, I look up the numerology of the given name and its breakdown to see if it reflects the character I've imagined them to be - just to reassure myself the vibes are truly right, haha! Some names in Insurrection might not have the most fitting numerologies anymore for certain characters as they subtly morph over time (unless I were to take the time to verify them all again) but they're all established enough to be sticking as the final names. Honestly, I'll have characters nameless for the longest time as I draft everything else about them, haha!

Part Two: Genre

When it comes to reading, I adore fiction so much! Particularly, I find myself drawn to fantasy and westerns as a whole, though general mythology readings are always captivating to me! (I was obsessed with Greek mythology in elementary school, haha!) In college, I developed a deep love for modernism as well - I could read and analyze modernist literature endlessly, I loved it so much! I like romances as well, though rather sparingly outside indulgent fanfiction. If it's romance novels, I tend to prefer historical settings with a deep consideration to the cultural / societal / psychological constraints on the relationship and complex interpersonal relationships to add some drama atop it all. I also love court intrigue in general, especially if it has romance threaded through, haha!

As for writing, well . . . I always hate my writing! My online fanfictions (drafted, shared, or simply brainstormed) all pertained to romance (reader-inserts too, don't shame me!) with not a one spared from a love triangle at minimum, haha! I am terrible at identifying the genres for my ideas, but my absolute favorite concepts all carry an element of the supernatural or fantasy, maybe mythological too - either to maximum extremes or subtle nuances.

Part Three: Brainstorms and Outlines

My brainstorms are somewhat different for every project, though a running trend tends to be a song acting at the center-point / anchor for the overall feel / a climatic moment / general idea that inspires me.

I can name these songs across three different (favorite) fanfiction concepts of mine: L.V.S. Your Lady Waits by Shayfer James (climatic moment), Wooden Heart by Elvis Presley (an overall feel), and Säkkijärven Polkka + Dark-Eyed Cossack Girl (combined for a general idea).

If you can identify my fanfictions based on that . . . Please keep them secret, haha! 人 ´∀｀)

For original fiction ideas it’s the same: If Only by The Kooks (for a general feel of In Blind Reverence), Old Yellow Bricks by Arctic Monkeys (for the protagonist and world atmosphere vibes of Bird Caught in Wires), my beloved Roma Fade by Andrew Bird (for my even more beloved "Faith & Beauty" - bleh placeholder name - for the general intrigue and corruption of the romances). Works like Hunters (image origin), This World Was Never Ours (image origin), Retribution (personal doodle inspired), and Insurrection (fandom origin) are outliers to this general music cornerstone to the core thought.

Though, in its current edition, Saints at the Gates by The Golden Dogs might be serviceable for a centerpoint as it’s easy for me to imagine the characters and events in relation to the MC almost like a theme song, haha! (　´∀｀)b

Character creation varies as well across works. For "Faith & Beauty", characters are largely influenced by spirit animals (or, more so, the values associated with them and their relation / embracement / challenge of those values) and a specific art-style. In Blind Reverence has characters that largely originated from Pinterest images of a similar aesthetic / design which I projected "personality vibes" and backgrounds onto before then further them fleshing out in relation to the Seven Sins and Heavenly Virtues as the basis.

Insurrection characters, however, started in the framework of a fandom before being essentially melted down and reforged anew - some much more drastically than others. The Superhuman AU they ended up in allowed me to retain numerous elements of their original designs and then toy with essentially throwing them a new world.

Music is often key to characters for me, especially with Insurrection. Many of their dynamics or changes came because I would be daydreaming in the car as a song played and my youthful mind wanted to make a "music video" out of it. I'd consider what character(s) best fit the song, create some scenario / relationship / trait to go along with it and voila!

For Example: In early character development, essentially his conceptualization, I attached Uriel to Puttin on the Ritz as sung by Rufus Wainwright. It inspired his fixation on status—his deep need to be accepted into some sense of social standing, particularly a class of people perceived greater, finer, or lording over others. He has a desire for flashiness and elegance, extravagance and understated refinement. Appearance is crucial to him; wanting both to comply with and blend into the ideal image of high class while also wanting to be striking enough to be distinct from all the rest. He wants live seamless among the upper echelon yet cannot help but always feel like the outside observer simply mimicking and commentating upon what he can never be apart of. He's also a bit of a showman, trying to appear suave and familiar while catching the eyes and ears of all those around. So, yeah, my brainstorms are sometimes like that.

If I want to imagine a younger Elouan, I listen to This Charming Man by The Smiths, Blue Diamonds by The Long Winters, Atomized by machinegum, or Rue Saint-Vincent by Yves Montand. If I’m imagining the antics of Fyodor, Anatoly, Panya, and Gabriel all together then I do so while listening to Hard Bass. For Niccolò, I used to listen to a lot of jazz and (electro) swing. And if I want to imagine all the HAWKS in a more casual setting, vibing and socializing and dancing, its always to the sound of either Soda City Funk by Tim Legend or the Dancing in the Moonlight Remix by Johnny Lectro (and original track by King Harvest), haha!

Oftentimes, I become so distracted by the daydream in association to the song that I forget I’m listening to music entirely as just let my mind wander around the vibes set in place or an idea I stumbled on during the process . . . And then I have to restart the song because I didn’t actually get to enjoy it, haha! ₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾

My general rule when it comes to character writing, however, has become background, background, background! I remember my constant fascination with the parents of characters as a kid, always wondering how someone went from a child to something like a General, Assassin, or anything. This might have originated from two things about me:

1) I tend to have this constant, persistent thought towards all real-world and historical individuals: "That person was a baby once." I watch a documentary on some notorious criminal or leader or icon and I think, "Someone had to feed them, change them, and teach them how to speak. Enough basics to keep them alive, and their treatment towards that life in their care affected them long-term."

2) I like to consider nature vs. nurture, which perhaps explains my love for modernism, haha! I consider the innate core of the character, how they might act or think or desire at their roots, and then I try to filter it through what I've laid out from their background (which sometimes might not bear any affect at all) to see if the end result changes.

When it comes time to really flesh a character out, I like to backtrack to childhood. Who are their parents / guardians?: personality-wise, occupation, lifestyle (financial or aesthetic, in their past and present), their relationship to one another, their presence / absence, parent-figure or blood relative, what were their circumstances pre-, during, and post-birth, etc. How would those parents raise their child (expectations, discipline, attitude towards parenthood, etc.) and how might that style of parenting mesh with the childhood personality I imagine the character to have? It's not all so detailed as an entire biography, but the general beats / feel / lessons are there.

The end point is already known to me as I undergo this process, yet it can be reformed or altered as I connect the dots from A to B. This helps me to better "walk in their shoes" as I try to consider what they might feel, perceive, know, or do, though I'm no omniscient being that'll always have my bases covered, haha!

For other WIPs, I haven't delved all that deep for every character's roots and detailed origins, but I still try to conceptualize the most recent and impactful years of their life to sense what they cling to, desire, claim, feel, perceive, etc. It sharpens their image more from a blob to an outline in my mind to do so, though I still like to have a few "blob" characters to make versatile in my daydreams - leaving room for them to morph or split or meld over time. (Like how Anatoly and Dearil are split from a "blob" character!)

Insurrection characters predominately originated as fandom OCs, which makes them unique compared to all my other original characters (outside fanfiction). This influenced some aspects of their foundation: social hierarchy, their gift type (to an extent), and relationships to one another (factions, friendships, romances). They've all changed plenty since then though, so their fandom roots might not be so obvious anymore.

Originally as well, the HAWKS had not been the protagonists. The original protagonists had been: Spoiler Character, Kyle Kelly, Marcus Fan, Irene Loveridge, Aisling "Abigail" Ryan, and Benoni "Viorel" Briedis. Yet, upon switching to interactive storytelling, I felt it railroaded the MC's ideological range on the Gifted to band with this unit . . . and it would be difficult to introduce all the other characters at this point in the timeline as well. (That point being when this particular ensemble is formed.) Not to mention that I struggled to conceptualize them as serviceable ROs. Then it became a crossroads on which faction to make the new protagonist ensemble: CARDINALS or HAWKS.

Since the HAWKS could include an MC of any ideology due to the forced nature of their recruitment, they won out, haha! Minor characters (outside Sigmund) suddenly became protagonists, and it was quite the transition and what had once been distinctive but minimal characters needed the depth and draw to create an appealing ensemble. So it simply became a task of fleshing out those backgrounds based on what had already been asserted about them, scrapping and reviving elements from their original conception and dynamics while seeking out songs that struck me as suitable for their brainstorm sessions.

Its also just a lot of loose associative thinking in the early days, "trying on" this event or that occupation to see what's most appealing to me. Some characters have had countless "wardrobe changes", and others simply had a "hat quickly stuck on their head" as they walked out the door with their first outfit, haha! Then comes the fun part of seeing how they all might then interact as an ensemble.

Or, well, sometimes a character is simply born from a role in relation to another that expands without my notice until I can't shake them loose, haha! (´∀｀)

TLDR: My brainstorm and outlines for characters are largely determined by whatever music I happen to be listening too and my fascination with childhood influences.

[insomniaccipher]

Okay thought I made a very quick post just saying thank you for showing interest in my Sleep Token Oc! I wasn't expecting anyone to care 😅

I'm getting all the notes together now (both physically and on my phone) so that I can make the post somewhat presentable. It's going to be pictures of my notes and ramblings with text elaborating on them. Mainly cause my handwriting is one of those I can read but looks like a mess to others.

For now here are a few very quick little facts about them, I swear I'll have the main post out maybe today, tomorrow at the latest, and thank you so so much!

- Despite initially tying them directly to the band and then later mostly removing that connection, I believe both parties would have heard of one another and have occasionally interacted but not enough to be super close, I always liked the idea of them being able to play the violin.

- HATES bitter food, like they cannot stand it at all.

- Despite spiders somewhat unnerving them, only the ones with long legs and tiny bodies for some reason, they have a pet spider and can often be found talking to it (It's name is Arachne).

- "Arachne is smarter than this entire cult, and furthermore she doesn't talk back"

- Ex-greek mythology nerd. Or just a mythology nerd in general, they had or have a profound love of looking into different cultures, religions, myths etc. Still semi-true

- I'll talk about their relationship to the band in the proper full post but for a quick summary: like I stated before both parties know each other but aren't close-close but I think that if given the chance, they would get along well with IV.

- Is occasionally prone to being so deep into their work that sometimes they forget basic necessities and have to be snapped out of it.

- They fall into a weird area of having run out of fucks but still very much cares. Like they still worship Sleep and do as they say but there are definitely moments where they'll crack a light joke, they don't joke around a lot so it comes across as more of a sarcastic remark, against Sleep. Nothing that would get them in trouble, but they joke so rarely that it's a bit jarring.

- They can go from giving deep and profound advice to 'Sleep give me fucking strength, just do this you fucking numbskull'. So ya ran out of fucks but still very much cares.

That's all for now sorry! I promise I'll have the full thing out sometime today (maybe tomorrow at the latest)! I'm always open to criticism so when I post the full one feel free to rip into it. Thank you so much again!

(Obviously when I'm referring to the band I'm referring to them as their on stage personas, no connections to the people behind the masks. I know I probably don't have to clarify but I wanted to make it clear I'm firmly on the side of fucking respecting their wishes when it comes to keeping their identities private.)

[alisheaburgess]

Korean Birthday Flower -Saffron/Crocus

So...

I have recently found the Korean Birthday Flowers again (I often find things before I'll need them and then go back)

This time around I have more information that really helped me see and understand the info a bit better.

Whether or not you take this seriously, I couldn't help get into it.

I was born on September 21st and my flower is Saffron/Crocus (sometimes listed as Autumn Crocus, Fall-Blooming Crocus, or even Meadow Crocus...which isn't even a Crocus...)

It was a bit confusing, to be honest. I like straight forward answers and this for sure wasn't one. But in the end I can see how all of that actually made it more relevant to my story.

The part that stays the same for all the listings though is the saying that goes along with the flower:

"Youth without Regret"

Mhm, sure...

They are supposed to be joyful little flowers that bloom in the Spring! Except, September is the fall... My birthday is specifically the last day before Autumn starts. And all the ones listed are fall blooming, not winter, not spring!

So I looked a little further (too much further, perhaps).

I was already getting far too into Greek mythology and was ecstatic to learn that Crocus had a myth there.

Like all flowers in these myths...it was about death lol so lovely and flowery XD

This particular story was that Hermes accidently killed him (Crocus) with a discus (a lot of that going around in ancient Greece...). So he got turned into a flower. This is one of the few stories where nobody was trying anything sneaky... I appreciate that. No jealousy, just a bad throw. Which is a bit more hilarious when I realized that one of my worst fears is for people to get hurt doing something stupid. Yikes...

Hermes was a GOD yall. If he can accidently kill people...nobody is safe...

There is obviously was more to the flower, it's meaning, and my story unfolding while I looked into it. This was just the funniest part to me.

The flower language seems to mostly be about love (platonic or other) and the myths that I have found of people turning into flowers is from love-tastophies... They didn't end well so they get turned into a flower. Yikes...

I figure this means that maybe we have some lessons packed away in our little flowers. I certainly saw my story in my flower like I haven't in any other flower. The layers!!! It also HIGHLY depends and involves what you think love is. Lot's of thoughts for sure.

"Youth without Regret" meant nothing to me at first, it may even have upset me... When I got further into it though, I do agree.

Saffron and Crocus in general have so many mythologies and cultural uses that I could write a post about each one for maybe forever (at least a week). Not even counting the Meadow Crocus which again isn't a crocus at all. They all show up in my story in some bizarre ways that make me giggle and wanna keep reading... it's like a reverse book. It's my story and I have to go find it, but I'll know it when I get it.

It's been fun so far 😊

I think I'm going to write about the different parts of the journey. I'm not sure where I will start. It'll probably be whichever part upsets the most that I need to figure out lol

I did so much in just like 3 days.

I created a deck with each piece meaning something.

I purged an extraordinary amount of baggage that wasn't mine (some call it 'Tea' lol

I even outlined a little story for the flower hehe

and so, so much research 😂Just because

Anybody else know their flower? Especially if you went full deep dive 😅😂

[givereadersahug]

What are your thoughts on a Harry Potter AU with Norse Mythology?

Thanks for the ask!

I wish I have more of an articulate answer for this ask, but I actually don't know that much about Norse mythology. I should, given that my OTP is Thorki, and a lot of fics and art take inspiration from Norse myths (Loki's gaggle of children, his lips being sewn shut, Baldr showing up as the third brother and his tragic death, etc).

But for HP and adaptations? Or any of my fandoms being adapted with Greek/Norse/Chinese/Japanese myths/folklore or with any TV series/comics/films/etc? I am all for it.

How would the tragedy of Baldr work within the HP universe? Can it be used in telling a tragedy of the Black sisters? Or even the Peverells? Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters children -- how an outside force, maybe Albus Dumbledore or Gellert Grindelwald, take Voldemort's offsprings for his own nefarious purposes, saying that Voldemort's children are an abomination? Sybill Trelawney's lips being sewn shut so she couldn't give voice to what would soon become?

I can think of many fairytales inspired fics ( a forest, dark and deep ; Red as Blood; head full of doubt; The Detective's Ballet, Snowblind), fics inspired by films/TV & books (Sudden Light; All Heaven's Glory; Strong at the Broken Places, The Curse of Anteros), fics inspired by plays (Severus Snape and the Ghostwritten Romance; The Taming of the Shrew) and Greek myths (A Strange Fate; The Fall of Spring; Requiem At Dusk) ***all linked fics are Snarry. But, so far, I can't think of any specifically Norse inspired fic.

There are common threads in adaptations, I noticed. Fairytales are popular. Western media is another. Greek myths are more widely known and used compared to other myths and folklores. I've even written my fair share - a Sleeping Beauty/Snow White fusion, a short Princess and a Pea drabble. So far no Greek myth inspired fic, but I've written an Old Guard (film) inspired fic and a fic inspired by the film Before Sunrise. And I'm itching to write more fairytale inspired fics. I was talking with @danpuff-ao3 and others about wanting a Snarry version of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid - the one where in the end the mermaid turns into sea foam.

But, I also have desires to see non-Western media influenced HP adaptations. I've written a Mushishi (anime) Snarry fic for Snape Bang, and I have thoughts about a Snarry version of Your Name (anime film) and a very vague idea of a Snape's centric Poco's Udon World (anime) fic. I like exploration of other cultures and other forms of magic. We are all not a singular human being with singular experiences.

Or maybe there are more non-Western adaptations in the HP fandom than I realized. This fandom is so big and so varied and I only just ventured out of my Snarry bubble.

But back to the original ask. I would LOVE to see a HP AU with Norse mythology. Who is Loki and who is Thor? Odin or Frigga? Hel and Balder? Which myth to adapt? Is seidr its own magic or an extension of wizarding magic?

Thoughts to consider and a whole new playground to play in.