#Moondial

[horrortvfilmsource]

Moondial (1988) Eps. 3, 4 & 6

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Moondial | Author: Helen Cresswell | Publisher: Faber Children's Books (2001)

[masterblackoak]

“Even before she came to Belton, Minty Cane had known that she was a witch, or something very like it. She had known since she was tiny, for instance, about the pocket of cold air on the landing of the back stairs. (Though she could not have known that a man had hanged himself there.) She knew, too, that she shared her bedroom. She had woken at night to see shadowy presences gliding across the floor. She had never spoken to them, merely watched, sensing that they were on some silent business of their own. At other times she had seen blurred faces hovering over her, and pale hands floating like blossoms in the dark. There had been invisible footsteps, breathings.

   She did not talk about these things for the simple reason that they did not strike her as remarkable. Their appearance was as commonplace to her as that of the milkman. The only difference was that the milkman did not cause her spine to prickle. When she was younger she had once or twice mentioned a dark visitor to her mother, who had talked vaguely of car headlights casting strange shadows, and curtains blowing in the wind.” 

 (This passage comes from ~ Moondial ~ by Helen Cresswell.)

[cultfaction]

Cult Faction Podcast Ep. 79: 100 Years of the BBC (Part 1)

Cult Faction Podcast Ep. 79: 100 Years of the BBC (Part 1)

This week’s episode is the first part of our celebration of 100 years of the BBC aka the British Broadcasting Corporation. We look back at what programmes stood out for us and why! Expect conversations on Rentaghost, The Box of Delights, Neverwhere, The Children of Green Knowe, Moondial, The Witches and The Grinnygog, The Worst Witch, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Running Scared, M*A*S*H, Fawlty Towers,…

[partywithponies]

When the ghosts in the show about ghosts died (that's why they're ghosts):

[unsettlingcreature]

decided to sleep because skyrim bugged like fifteen minutes into playing it

[yaeggravate]

in an old offical cn blogpost celebrating kaeya's birthday, kaeya took the traveler to the nameless island.

看到对面的小岛了吗？有没有兴趣过去郊游一趟？ See that island in the distance? Are you interested in joining me for an outing?

…why would you celebrate your birthday on a mysterious hidden island with the god of time's broken moondial, portal like structure and a distorted creepy atmosphere if you weren't connected to it

according to teyvat travel guide, kaeya immediately shut down alice's attempts to blow up starsnatch cliff which overlooks this island. he even asked her to stay away from it.

Ravaged Carving: "Stories brought on the wind will bloom into legends in due time."

that's so funny because kaeya came to mondstadt during a STORM (in the (death) afternoon), and he has several references to the wind. icy featherflight, frostwind swordsman, sailwind shadow, glacial whirlwind, decrease in stamina passive etc. to quote noelle: he comes and goes like the wind. and if you click on the story summary in his hangout you get this fun message:

The wind has brought an old friend of yours here.

further fucking more, the SAME platform can be found in the dragonspine mural room that depicts the huge angel/seelie

who brought kaeya to mondstadt? someone related to fate, time and seelie? istaroth? nabu malikata? mom!? well, right now i think our number one suspect is this wind propeller over here 👇🏽👇🏽

nicole reeyn, famed prophetess, dawn winery teacup and schrodinger's seelie

[ltwilliammowett]

Nocturnal (left), c. 1567 and another Nocturnal (right) which is also a sundial and lunar volvelle. The sundial on the back carries a lunar volvelle which allows it to be used also as a moondial. 16th century

[moontheyo]

anyway I love you serana I love you soul cairn I love you moondial I love you gelebor I love you ancestor glade I love you arvak I love you falmer and snow elves I love you forgotten vale I love you durnehviir I love you dawnguard dlc-

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x1

And here is the very spoiler-filled follow-up to my earlier post!

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers, it will also have book spoilers through book 11: The Gathering Storm.

Thinking of the Darkfriend Social in terms of spoilers -- the x-ray notes that the 'location' for the scene is Tel'aran'rhoid. What does that mean for the little girl? Hmm.

2. I also wonder if this scene isn't set a little earlier than the rest of the episodes are set. We know that by the end of this episode, it's been a full year since 1x1, because Bel Tine has rolled around again. Other things that this being in TAR could mean: that the fallen seal is symbolic rather than reflecting reality and is a representation of the fact that Ishamael has been released from his prison.

3. Darkfriend roll call! We've got Fain, who is still a member in good standing (has not yet killed a Fade); we've got Lord Ingtar; we've got High Lady Suroth; we've got at least two Black Ajah sisters (Sheriam and Liandrin? One of them is wearing a black dress and one is wearing a red one, I think); we've got Unnamed Tuatha'an Mom; we've got a Whitecloak (probably Carridin). I'm not 100% on anyone else at the table. I'm pretty sure our main characters are basically surrounded by Darkfriends right now in their various storylines!

4. The storyline of Moirine fighting her depression over not being able to touch the One Power by forcing herself to have a sense of purpose each day and not give up to the despair... it really does show how poorly served the male channelers are by the Tower. After they get gentled, they get shoved into prison, basically, but the White Tower knows that a sense of purpose is what makes severed (or, in Moiraine's case, probably shielded) channelers have the will to keep living. And that gets denied to the men who are gentled.

5. Verin being merged with Vandene feels like a perfect example of a merged character -- the much more important character is plucking bits and pieces from the minor character and folding them into her characterization. It does really make me wonder how the future is going to go down, though! Will Verin be ordered to kill her own sister and feel like she has to do it in order to maintain her cover? Also: I wonder how much of the reason why Tomas 'picked' Verin over Adeleas had to do with him being a repentant Darkfriend and Verin finding out about it. Also, in our first major storyline, we have two Darkfriends interacting with main characters. Total count so far: 2.

Both the Verin/Vandene merger and the Elyas/Hurin merger should be, I think, our hints as to how the show is handling mergers and it's roughly what I would expect: the more important character swallows up the more minor character. This is why I don't think Liandrin & Elaida would be merged, because Elaida is a more important character than Liandrin, so 'Elaida' is what the merged character would have been named imo.

6. Haha I can't believe that I got so caught up in everything else that I didn't even mention Doman in my first impressions post! I loved his scenes. I think they did a good job giving him a purpose that suited what he does in the books, and he also delivers key plot info to Moiraine. Given that he calls the broken piece part of a 'moondial', I'm guessing he found part of Lanfear's seal (and he's being chased by the Shadow to recover the prophecy that he sells here to Moiraine, maybe?). I suspect that the poem is the Dark Prophecy, which means that we've already got a way for Rand to find out that he needs to go to Falme/Toman Head and he may even go there having zero idea that his friends are in trouble there (which makes sense since he's already in 'stay away from them to protect them' mode; either way would make sense to me, so I'm just curious what road the show takes).

But if Doman takes Moiraine's advice, he might be sailing right into the Seanchan's arms.

7. Egwene taking a moment to look at the official Amrylin outfit. I See You, foreshadowing. I See You. And as much as it pained me not to get my girl Elayne in the first episode, I do think it was a good idea for us to focus on Elayne and Nynaeve as they are before we get our third Wondergirl added to the mix.

8. Given that both Nynaeve and Egwene have learned about The Wonders of Poly (That Are Not For Them, Personally), I wonder if that means that we're going to get them finding out about Rand's polycule situation over the course of the series (maybe as someone for Elayne to talk to?) but in a more gradual and natural way. Also, I noticed a handful of novices watching the sparring down there, but we don't get to see the faces of the people sparring -- could one of them be a Certain Someone?

9. Haha, it's kinda weird seeing Nynaeve as a novice given that she spent zero time as one in the books. But this scene with her was a perfect illustration of why she makes a terrible novice, lol. She's perfect, but she's also a terrible novice. But also, the show is continuing to build up the characters' toolkits for the future - last season, Rand watched Moiraine pull the corruption of Shadar Logoth from Rand and this season, Nynaeve is learning how to purify water (and the Power is often compared to water/rivers). It does also point to the cleansing being more of an actual team-up instead of just Nynaeve being Rand's battery.

10. Poor Alanna is surrounded by Darkfriends in this next scene. We have Liandrin, Sheriam, and Joiya (literally every speaking character apart from Alanna is a Darkfriend in this scene, lol RIP). Total Darkfriends hanging out in main character plotlines: 5. If the show has preserved the 'heart' format from the books, it's entirely possible that none of them actually know that they're hanging out with other Black Ajah Sisters right now, too. Were Liandrin and Sheriam working together or are they both working under their own interpretations of their orders but don't know the other one is also Black Ajah? Given the way Joiya backed up Liandrin in this scene, I suspect that they may know about each other.

The show has done such a good job making Alanna understandable, empathetic, and charming. But she also has already shown herself not to be great at... appropriate boundaries.

11. We don't get much time with Uno before, well, Future Events, but the show did a good job painting his character very vividly, and using him to show the comradery that has built up between Perrin and Loial.

12. So I did a little post mentioning it but the girl who runs away while Fain is killing the other girl! I think that's the girl from the Darkfriend social scene! She looks like she's wearing the right outfit and is the right age with the right color hair. "There was a child who made it out." Her entire family (except her Darkfriend mom?) was slaughtered by Fain and his Trollocs. I wonder if we'll see her again. Hmm, actually, if Fain attacked a Tuatha'an caravan that he knew had a Darkfriend in it, was this his first move of going against the Dark One's/Ishamael's wishes?

13. Now that we're in Perrin's plotline, time to mention that Lord Ingtar, who doesn't want to hear Uno go on about how evil the traitor soldier was, is also a Darkfriend. Total Darkfriends surrounding our main characters: 6.

14. They did a good job in hitting all the main points of the actual Hunt for the Horn, tbh. In the first two episodes, we've got Perrin using his heightened senses, we've got the abandoned village and the room of flies, we've got the Fade nailed up that imo shows the moment when Fain stopped taking orders from the Dark One/Ishamael, and we've got Ingtar bonding with one of the main characters. And Rand's 'pushing people away' arc was pretty well covered with him faking his death. And Mat Suffering Terribly is also covered, lol.

15. I do feel like what Alanna tells Egwene here about poly relationships is probably something the show is going to lean into once Rand's situation starts rolling. "things are messy before they are perfect; nothing worthwhile is neat and tidy". Them leaning so much into Alanna's relationship is definitely giving me some good reassurances about poly plans for the future, because they're investing a relatively large amount of time into showing that this is a valid type of relationship to have, and explaining it to the audience.

16. Per Fain, the Darkfriends do know that 'all five' ta'veren will be important and will matter to how things go down with the Last Battle, so I feel like Liandrin trying to cultivate Nynaeve makes a lot of sense in that case. She wants to take Nynaeve under her wing to turn her to her point of view and her side. It's actually interesting to compare and contrast what Moiraine knew vs the Dark One, because they were actually pretty close in their timelines of figuring out when the Two Rivers was the hot spot.

17. I feel like it really works to give Siuan's scene to Liandrin here, in training Nynaeve. The Two Rivers folk are more vulnerable and more 'exposed' in the show than in the books. So it makes a lot of sense to me. It also feels like they are leaning into the idea that not all Aes Sedai have to 'surrender' in order to channel (so women don't always need to submit and men don't always need to dominate, per Jordan's canon), which is a change that I like.

18. And the Perrin and Ingtar stuff is also working really well for me. I think it helps his character a lot to have him be the one who is going through this with Ingtar instead of Rand (who has plenty going on already). And Ingtar! "Perhaps Padan Fain had a reason for doing what he did."

19. Moiraine's platonic breakup with Lan feels a lot more grounded in the show than it was in the books imo.

20. The letter! Oh, gosh it's so beautiful. It does feel like a little promise from the show that they aren't going to forget about the EF5 bond, and I'm hoping that we'll get more moments of reconnection than we got from the books.

21. So, what are everyone's thoughts on if what Liandrin tells Mat about the letters ("not a single mention of Mat Cauthon") counts as a lie and our confirmation that she's already Black Ajah or was it a wiggle around the truth (either going by the logic of there being multiple mentions of Mat and/or SHE didn't mention Mat and or well it doesn't ever say Cauthon)? I mean, she also seems to be keeping him as her completely isolated little secret. I feel like it's a Black Ajah clue but maybe there's wiggle room.

22. Mat also seems VERY aware that Moiraine is partly responsible for his current circumstances (he notes her along with Liandrin when he's saying he's not a danger to anyone). Liandrin probably read him the note that Lady Amalisa sent from Fal Dara. The show is doing such a better job of actually establishing Mat's motives for various ways he behaves than the books did -- in the books, he seemed to take against Aes Sedai for the terrible crime of... healing him? But selling him out to someone who has kept him locked up for six months and who spent that time psychologically torturing him is an EXCELLENT reason for him to feel wary about being around Aes Sedai. He's seen the worst of them! Because it's not just Liandrin and the Reds. It's Moiraine too!

And they did this in s1 too, giving Mat actual reasons for his canon-typical behavior by changing his background to one more fraught with tension.

[horrortvfilmsource]

MOONDIAL 1988 | ep. 3

[monstersandmaw]

Courtyard moondial and Valerica's Garden, Castle Volkihar

(feel free to use for reference etc)

[thewatercolours]

King's Quest Ficlet: "The Snow Moon Temple"

@telthor gave me the prompts "memory of cliffs," "snow moon," and "temple." Here's what I got.

A great stone wedge stood as through in mid-eruption from the floor – there were even chunks and chips of marble round it. The round room was marked at the edges with twelve clock *marks, but instead of ordinary markings, circles and crescents were carved into the floor. Moon phases.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Gart muttered, kneeling to examine the nearest, a thin sliver reflecting the cold light from the white flames in the sconces.

Gwendolyn leaned over by his side. “What doesn’t?” She instinctively hushed her voice. Every sound here was magnified.

Gart frowned and rubbed his newly stubbled chin. “A sundial – or moondial, I suppose – in a roofed room? There’s not a skylight, or even windows. And even if it were open to the sky, the shadows would change all the time. They wouldn’t stay long enough on the correct phase. And the light from those lamps would throw it off too. Now, a specially made clock, I could understand. But this dial…” Gart stood up, brushing the white grit off his knees. His eyes darted about suspiciously. “There’s more here than first glance can tell us.”

She shrugged. “I mean, it’s a temple. Maybe things work differently here.”

“You might say that,” said a voice, echoing from every surface in the room.

The cousins froze, and locked gazes. “Just like they said,” Gwendolyn murmured, pulling up her purple hood reflexively. “Stay within arm’s reach. It might try to separate us like it did to Grandpa and Grandma.”

“I don’t like separating my guests,” said the voice, a little petulantly. “That is, not from each other. Unless they ask nicely.” Gwendolyn at first guessed the voice to belong to a young woman, though as she listened, she became less sure. The unnaturally clear voice rang up and down the octave with ease, sometimes settling into a bell-like bass, sometimes raw and birdlike. It went on. “Whom do you imagine yourself to be?”

What kind of a question was that?  She shivered. “I am Queen Gwendolyn of Daventry. This is my most trusted blade, Sir Gartholomew.” She dropped into the half bob, half bow she’d invented when both bows and curtsies ended up looking silly in her mirror. Gart nodded curtly, spiralling his fingers nervously round his sword’s pommel.

“Children,” said the voice. Chiding? Amused? Unclear.

Gwendolyn gritted her teeth. “They literally told me to say it that way.”

Gart cleared his throat and elbowed her. She shot a glare in his direction, but he studiously avoided eye contact.

“They should have come themselves if they wanted their own words spoken,” said the voice. “Let that go, and breathe freely. Who do you want to come here as?”

The chill was a back, strangely tangible, snaking up one arm and down the other. She felt a strange push to call herself by all the names she had ever heard, to pass herself off as people whose names she had read on gravestones, or as someone from the village. I am Cassima, Alexander, Edgar, Rosella,  Valanice, Graham.

Her whole body shuddered. These names, and the impulse to take them, all came from outside her somehow, not from within. She held out her hands before her, palms outs, as though she could push the instinct back.  “I told you I was the queen,” she said sternly. “That’s good enough for you.” And the rock-strewn floor became real again beneath her boots.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Gart turn to look at her sharply. Perhaps he was signalling her to be more diplomatic. But his expression was more… startled. Not startled at her audacity. More as though he were taken aback she were there at all. Like he had forgotten her in the space of a few seconds. “And I’m Gart,” he said, very slowly.

“Gart and the Queen. Very good.”  Now the voice seemed to come from much closer, less like it came from everywhere, more like it stood with the wedge in the centre of the dial. “It’s not my first time seeing your faces. I remember another queen and her trustiest blade climbing up the cliffs, how one would forge the way and the other followed. Another queen all in purple. Coincidentally, they also had the fabled mirror of Daventry stuffed into a rucksack, and came to show it to me. Although in their case, it wasn’t broken.”

“How do you know about the broken mirror?” growled Gwendolyn, stamping her foot. It probably made her look childish. But every new turn of this conversation was unnerving, and if she didn’t channel it into frustration it would come out as fear.

Something brushed Gwendolyn’s cheek, light as a raindrop. “The mirror was mine to make, and it’s mine to remake. Your folk only ever brave the cliffs and come to the Snow Moon Temple when its magic falters.  Bargainers, every one of you.”

Gart set his jaw. He slipped the pack from his shoulders and reached for the buckle. He paused. “Gwendolyn?”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the dial wedge. “Show it.”

Having opened the pack, Gart dug about among their provisions until he found the wooden box. Gwendolyn fished the key from the buttoned pocket in her boot, and clicked it open. Gart carefully unwound the canvas package full of the mirror’s dozen or so shards, laying it flat on the ground. They shone like fragments of the snow moon itself.

“Ahh…” The voice seemed pleased, as though it had just drawn a long breath after being submerged too long underwater. “It hasn’t been so many years, and yet too long. Too long.” Gwendolyn crossed her arms and summoned her best air of royal authority. “We’ve tried to fix it ourselves, three times. We need your help.”

“Yes, you do. My un-owed help.”

She tried to remember the words as she had practiced them for this moment. “The priests who built this temple were all sworn subjects of the king of Daventry. I’m their heir. You have shown your loyalty before. You helped my grandparents when the mirror stopped working right. Help us put it back together so that it will work again.”

The voice sank to the bottom of its register. “I’m prepared to consider it. How wise of you, dear queen, to bring a friend. Or no, a kinsman! Even better. High stakes. And it’s much more comfortable than having only yourself as the bargaining chip, isn’t it?”

The cousins didn’t look at each other this time, but each reached for the other’s hand at the same moment.

Gart cleared his throat. “Can’t help noticing there’s only one of you, though.”

“I only need one of me.”

Gwendolyn was certain the voice could hear even their whispers, but this didn’t stop her from leaning over and whispering to Gart, “And that’s where we’ve got the upper hand. We actually need each other. Which means neither of us is walking out alone.”

Then she raised her voice, holding his hand even tighter. “Fine. Bargain time then.”

[cultfaction]

Cult Faction Podcast Ep. 80: 100 Years of the BBC (Part 2)

Cult Faction Podcast Ep. 80: 100 Years of the BBC (Part 2)

This week’s episode is the second part of our celebration of 100 years of the BBC aka the British Broadcasting Corporation. We look back all the BBC gave us in kids tv including Going Live, Saturday Super Store, The 8:15 From Manchester, Parallel 9, Swap Shop, Saturday Supertstore, Cheggers Plays Pop, Jackanory, Newsround, Record Breakers, The Children’s Film Foundation, Grange Hill, Degrassi…

[mazurga]

Ganirel by the moondial in Volkihar Courtyard

[cxsmiicc]

hit s2 on the rewatch and like. i am physically incapable of being normal about lanfear. thanku bayle domon for telling me the cuendillar moondial in cairhien shattered and was covered in a poem written in blood in the old tongue bcs i most definitely missed that the first time hi bbygirl fucking shit up already i see LIKE ugh i just love her we stan a dramatic queen. i too would feel the need to pop out of my seal naked and covered with blood thats just so iconic. plus moondial and daughter of the night do i even gotta say anything else. already ranted once about this and nothing will stop me from doing it again. except my own laziness byebyes back to editing best girl lanfear xx