#Theory?

[the-cinnamon-snail]

Okay. Here's what I don't get. So here the nine headed demon has nine snakes on his head. All fine and dandy, makes sense, nine heads (ignoring his actual head because yeah I get it for character design.)

But here? He has 8 snakes, and the demon bird thing head.

Now, if we ignore the middle head like we do for the more humanoid form, what does this mean?

Well, maybe it could be a reference to how in actual mythology and the like, The Nine Headed Demon had one of his heads bitten off by the celestial howling dog, Erlang Shen's companion, Xiaotian Quan.

Is this just being said because I want to see Erlang in LMK? Yes. Yes it is. But also because I love NHD

[when-the-sun-and-moon-collide]

Okay so Was thinking about this randomly but....

Wednesday is obviously not good with emotions and social cues so...what if her family adapted to that and basically did this whole 'show not tell' sort of thing toward her because:

A. They didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

B. Physical affection went out the door sometime during her preteen years

So she just became accustomed to a sort of 'show not tell' thing....so when Enid accuses her of not caring during that whole exchange during the whole Hyde thing where she literally puts herself between Enid and the monster she was actually shocked because "what the heck do you call that?" Because she doesn't realize some people need to hear that they are cared about as well.

[sansa286]

F&B Propaganda: Paternity Disputes (or Lack Thereof)

Something that's always confused me when reading Fire & Blood is why some characters have their paternity placed under scrutiny due to a lack of resemblance to one parent, while others are given a pass. These are some thoughts and analysis I had on the subject.

So, we all know F&B is a pseudo-history book written from a plethora of unreliable pseudo-sources, some of whom very well may be telling the truth, other's who are fibbing a bit (or a lot), and the rest that told flat-out lies and regurgitated gossip. Therefore, certain inconsistencies, like paternity debates, are not showing that GRRM is an inconsistent writer, but rather him pointing out the blatant favoritism and narrative spinning that happens when history is written. Simply put: unless/until we get the events of F&B written in an ASOIAF style multi-POV structure, most of the stuff in F&B is meant to be taken with a grain of salt, some grains bigger than others. For example: Visenya being "jealous" of Rhaenys over Aegon preferring her romantically is clearly out-of-character, but treated as legit because Visenya is not a well-liked person in the grand-scheme of Westerosi history and culture. Therefore, painting her as envious is a way to spin her as "bitter" and "unlikable," when she more than likely just had a lot of ambition, and/or did what she thought was right for the Targaryen cause (flawed those actions may be).

We all know Rhaenyra was the subject of side-eyes over her three eldest sons, Jacaerys Velaryon, Lucerys Velaryon, and Joffrey Velaryon, who are officially recorded as sons of Laenor Velaryon; however, it's widely believed (and canon in the show) that they are biologically the sons of Harwin Strong, who Rhaenyra had an affair with because Laenor was gay and their attempts to conceive children were not successful. The reason in-universe people believed (both in the books and the show) that they were Harwin's is due to their dark hair and eyes (Harwin has green eyes in the show, but in the books it's inferred that they're brown like the Velaryon boys'.)

However, the Velaryon boys are not the only ones who don't share the same coloring as their parents (or the parents on paper). There are actually two others that come before them in the Targaryen bloodline that share that in common, however their paternity is never called into question. They are Alysanne and her daughter, Alyssa.

Biblically accurate Alysanne Targaryen. "Her eyes were blue rather than purple, her hair a mass of honey-colored curls." - Fire & Blood (pg. 131, ch. "The Year of the Three Brides")

Alysanne is the fifthborn child and secondborn daughter of Aenys Targaryen and Alyssa Velaryon. Her older siblings were Aegon, Rhaena, Viserys, Jaehaerys (who she married), and Vaella (passed away in the crib). All of Aenys and Alyssa's children are inferred to have had stereotypically Valyrian features (silver hair and purple eyes); Rhaena is the only one we get a full description of outside of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, but if the others didn't look Valyrian, it definitely would've been noted in the book. Aenys and Alyssa are noted for both having Valyrian features (par. 3 here & F&B p. 127; Aenys weirdly enough never gets hair color mention, but if it were anything other than silver we'd know, but we'll get to Aenys in a minute). We're told explicitly Alysanne has a head full of honey colored curls and blue eyes. But this is never brought up as a point of contention or placed her paternity up for debate. It's just assumed that it's due to her maternal grandmother, Alarra Massey, being an Andal woman.

However, this assumption is never mentioned in F&B. Her features are just mentioned and that was it. The theory laid-out by fans is that her hair and eyes come from her grandmother, however, Alarra's looks are never detailed in F&B. We only know that she was considered very beautiful (p. 127); and there are plenty of people of Andal descent who do not have blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Her [Alyssa Targaryen] hair was a dirty blonde tangle with no hint of silver to evoke the dragonlords of old, and she had been born with mismatched eyes, one violet, the other a startling green." - Fire & Blood (pg. 287, ch. "The Long Reign-Jaehaerys and Alysanne: Policy, Progeny, and Pain")

Which brings me to her daughter, Alyssa Targaryen, who was also noted for having non-traditional Valyrian features (dirty blonde hair, green and purple heterochromia eyes). But Alyssa's paternity is also never brought up as possibly being anything other than what was recorded at her birth. (As for the show, Daemon's perspective on his mother is warped due to being knee-deep in the Targaryen sauce, so that's why I think his mother doesn't look like what she's supposed to in the show. If they ever do an adaptation of Jaehaerys' reign, I hope they don't throw a silver wig on her, but given what they did to Rhaenys who tf knows?) Interestingly, Alyssa is also described as long-faced, which is a trait associated with the Starks, and Alysanne was noted for being close to...Alaric Stark (I'll spare you that theory though.)

This is all fascinating with the knowledge of the dance being in the exact same book, because Rhaenyra has three dark haired and dark eyed boys and there's all of this speculation. Some may assume it's because both Rhaenyra and Laenor have silver hair and purple eyes, but so did Alysanne's parents, Aenys and Alyssa V. And like their great-great grandmother, Alysanne (if we're to believe she simply looks like her grandmother), Jace, Luke, and Joff also have a grandmother with non-Valyrian looks in Rhaenys, who in F&B had dark hair. There is no report of catching Rhaenyra and Harwin screwing around, jut observing the differences in looks of her children and Laenor. Surely, if we're to never assume that Alysanne is not a bastard because her grandmother (may have) had the same features/genes that simply skipped a generation, we could also do the same for them?

Sidebar: I am not saying that Alysanne is secretly a bastard or that the Velaryon boys' actually are trueborn, just that the reasons for this assumption are silly. If one kid is going to have their paternity scrutinized for not resembling their parents coloring-wise, then all kids who fall in that category should. That being said it is important to point out that it's not IMPOSSIBLE for Alysanne and the boys being/ not being a bastard to be true. It's been pointed out for years by the fandom that the people in ASOIAF don't understand genetics. The only reason Ned had a leg to stand on is because Cersei straight-up admitted to sleeping with Jaime, and letting him father her kids. Had Ned realistically went to Robert without Cersei's admission, and said that her children are not his because they have blonde hair and green eyes, he would be laughed at because a child resembling their mother and not their father is common. And on the off-chance that he does get some traction with it, well, not enough people would believe him, and Tywin would make a bigger example out of House Stark than he already has.

But again, secret-bastardy/secret-trueborness is not the point I'm trying to make. And if Alysanne were really a secret bastard, then, honestly, more power to her. She'd only become more iconic in my eyes.

So this begs the question: why are some people not speculated on for not resembling one or both parents coloring-wise while others aren't? It brings me back to the introduction: F&B is propaganda and certain pseudo-historical figures need to be portrayed in a certain light in order for the story they want to tell to be successful. This goes doubly-so for those that were close to Jaehaerys, and in this case: his mom (Alyssa V), his wife (Alysanne), and his daughter (Alyssa T).

Jaehaerys is considered the peak of the Targaryen dynasty and well liked by the establishment in Westeros (the Citadel, the Faith, various lords and ladies of the major houses). He is the Great Conciliator. Therefore, certain "creative liberties" being afoot is quite expected and this is not above the antics we see take place during his reign. Just look at how the true cause of Gael's death was covered up for years and the fishiness of Saera's disappearance and Viserra's death.

Alyssa V is considered a perfect mother, despite the less-than-stellar choices she made with her children outside of Jaehaerys. She's considered to be so great that the lords that sat the Small Council were able to put aside their misogyny and allow themselves to be ruled by a woman until Jaehaerys came of age. She is one of the main reasons Jaehaerys was able to take the Iron Throne in the first place. It would not go well if the man who was considered to be the greatest king of Westeros had a mother who may have cuckolded his father. Compare this to Aenys, who despite having Valyrian features had a one-off rumor about him being the secret bastard of Rhaenys the Conqueror and one of her male favorites mentioned in F&B; and this is 100% due to the fact that Aenys is considered by Westerosi historians to have been a weak and incompetent king. (Just think: if Aenys, who resembled his parents, had bastard rumors - do you seriously expect us to believe that neither Alysanne nor Alyssa ever had any?) "But, Jaehaerys is strong, brave, diplomatic, wise, etc... of course he comes from a mom who embodies Westerosi ideals to a tea. She even died trying to give her second husband more heirs despite her delicate age. Such a moral [debatable] man could only be born from a woman who was nothing but dutiful."

Alysanne is considered the perfect wife and queen consort, highly regarded for the active role she took during her husband's reign. She was intelligent, altruistic, birthed many children, and rode a dragon. She was so good at her job as queen she got several laws passed that now share her name. "Not only could such a woman not be born a bastard, but she in addition to being Jaehaerys' wife is also his sister, and could surely not be born from a woman who would ever risk bringing a bastard into this world."

And then, there's Alyssa T, the secondborn daughter and fifthborn child overall of both Alysanne and Jaehaerys, and was a wife to the highly regarded Baelon (also her brother), which means she was never going to be on the receiving end of those accusations. She even escapes having the usual witchcraft practitioner and/or lesbian/queer rumors that are usually thrown at women in Westeros who do not fit the traditional ideas of being a woman (even Visenya had those accusations). Her preferring boyish activities is never painted as a negative by the narrative unlike with other women in Westerosi culture. "Of course she's straight as an arrow and brags about how much sex she's having with her well-beloved and cherished-by-all brother-husband who was considered a peak heir and would neverrrrrr marry a bastard. Of course she thought most girls were idiots. Of course she brags about how many sons (never daughters) she's going to give her husband. Of course she does not care about anything outside of being a broodmare after being married like all good girls do. Bastard? Never. Two of her grandsons were kings we fondly remember. She is trueborn like her mother. She is Athena if she fucked."

But Jace, Luke, and Joff? Their mother was the first ever female heir apparent (not presumptive, apparent) to the Seven Kingdoms, and kept this status even after her father had three sons. She never apologized for this. And she entered a war over for her claim. "She wore a braid like that crazy warrior-witch Queen Visenya. She's breaking tradition by going ahead of her brothers in succession. She's bitchy sometimes. She's not thin like good women are supposed to be even after birthing several children. Speaking of children, yeah she did her duty and had many male heirs but some of them have dark hair and she's a whore, so they must be bastards. She's trying to take over a man's place. Of course she's evil and reveled in the deaths of her baby nephews. Of course she fucks outside of marriage. Honestly, I'd be more surprised if they weren't bastards!"

TL;DR: F&B uses paternity debates as a way to attempt to delegitimize/sow doubt against people the narrators don't like, this only prove by how inconsistent one's potentially faulty paternity is evoked on the basis of looks and nothing else. The chances of any of your trueborn faves secretly being a bastard is never zero. Now, I kind of want Alysanne to be a secret bastard.

UPDATE Sept. 5, 2024: Edited for grammar, word-flow, and minor spelling mistakes.

[aha-chuu]

Kaveh's Drip Marketing

I have a lot to say about the connections between the Kaveh info that released today and Alhaitham (and what we know about their relationship with each other). I'm not looking at this in a romantic way necessarily, but just in how tightly knotted their characters are with one another.

First, Kaveh's title and description:

"Empyrean Reflection", or more simply, 'Heavenly Reflection'. This ties to his constellation, "Paeadisaea", which is the genus for the birds of paradise. 'Paradise' is a more general term for Heaven, but neither of these are particularly divine in nature in a deity sense. Personally, I think they might be denoting a reference to the Golden Ratio, AKA: Divine Proportion. It's a mathematic concept often used in artistry, which matches well with Kaveh's archectural design profession and his education from the Ksharewar Darshan, which is the Sumeru school of technology.

So that's what it means for Kaveh's own characterisation/lore imo, but it also links to Alhaitham. Firstly, Alhaitham's constellation is also a bird (Vultur Volans, or essentially 'vulture' even though his name means hawk), which is a nice match to Kaveh's birds of paradise. But more interestingly, this is what Alhaitham's Character Story 4 has to say about why he lets Kaveh live with him:

He views Kaveh as a "mirror". What is Kaveh's title again? "Empyrean Reflection".

And the mirroring is all over the place. Here's a section from Alhaitham's drip marketing from December:

He is

Largely unknown

Only puts in the minimum effort required to do his job

People don't pay attention to him

In contrast, here is a corresponding section that came out with Kaveh's drip today:

He is

Extremely well known

Incredibly hardworking

People pay attention to him even when he isn't asking for it, as a by-product of his career

Basically exact opposites; complete mirrors. Here's something else, first from the end of Alhaitham's description and then second from the end of Kaveh's:

Alhaitham's life is super comfortable, ideal in every way he desires. Meanwhile Kaveh is practically crippled by anxiety, made uncomfortable by his life circumstances. The wording itself is mirrored!

Ofc, Kaveh and Alhaitham provide one another's corresponding quotes in the drip marketing. Here is what Kaveh has to say about Alhaitham:

This is an amusing quote, basically a backhanded compliment of "oh he's very smart but he's too self-centred so his talents are made worthless since he never uses them to help others". Alhaitham's quote about Kaveh goes like this:

Alhaitham is a little more wordy so I'll simplify -

Talented people have a lot of outside pressure on them, which can be a burden

However, letting other people get you down is a character flaw, not an inherent part of being talented

Kaveh disagrees

Once again talking about an individual's talents and how worthwhile they are in the context of a society. Where Kaveh complains that Alhaitham can never accomplish anything worthwhile with his skills because he doesn't take other people into account, Alhaitham argues that Kaveh gets nothing done as a consequence of listening too much to other people's expectations. It's not surprising, then, that Kaveh is bankrupt but successful and Alhaitham is comfortable but unknown.

It's like - can these two stop talking about each other for five minutes? Anyway, this post turned out to be more of a collection of Kavetham quotes, but I think it's hard not to draw comparisons. I'm looking forward to seeing Kaveh's actual voicelines if there's this much material just from one marketing post lol

[honestlyobsessed]

I'm Losing my shit!

During episode 2 of season 5, we get a moment when Robin (aka Dick Greyson) saves Batman from falling to his death.

Because he couldn't save them from falling...

*screaming. crying. throwing up.*

[urei1031]

So the Hive Five Heroes and Jace got TPK’d in the Mountains of Chaos right? That’s what we’re guessing? I guess that doesn’t explain why Lucy is in Spyre, but maybe she revived the others and after the name change someone snapped and then they killed her and she refused to come back.

[porter-pumpkim]

just rambling

Ngl I'm kinda hoping the "mephone dies" and the "mephone is the missing shimmer" theories are cannon cause like, imagine dude straight up dying, somehow waking up, then realizing his life was even faker than he thought it was, he wasn't even actually a mephone, he was just some kid shoved in a body he wasn't supposed to be in that wasn't even supposed to last as long as it did, dude was kidnapped just to be killed off when he wasn't useful anymore,

Like, on one had there woukd be the realization he's technically free now, but at the same time one hell of a crisis cause his entire life has been a lie from a greedy business man, and I don't think he even knows what the hell a shimmer is so that's even more questions for him

I'd also like to point out with every other meeple product none of them seem to start with proper emotions, 5s, meepad, they both needed time to develop their emotions beyond what was pre programmed, they started blank or one note, while meephone4 seems to have just had them, which also kinda fits with why he's a bit irrational compared to the other bots, sense his emotions didn't come at a manageable time later in life for him, they just were there and were likely overwhelming sense logically he's only in his teens right now and was expected to act like an adult at age 1, and unlike meepad, he just can't do that.

Either mephone4 was just built different, or cobs just stopped giving his products emotion after 4 to make them easeir to control (sense we can't rule out 3gs or the computer that suitcase talked to, but we dont know if they started with emotion or developed it later)

Anyway I'm just rambling nonsense, Hella hyped for when the ending comes out and how everything ties together!

[paper-starz]

Me sleeping peacefully knowing I’ll do so much theory crafting

Cause I have THOUGHTS about the new update

And theories! Don’t forget those!!

[aury303]

I Dunno if anyone alrd did this😭

THE NEW AVA EPISODE WAS... well... CMON VIC I DID NOT EXPECT THAT FROM YOU...

[ AvA VI ep 2 SPOILERS ]

I expected him to some kind of extremely professional boss, but now it looks like he was planning to beat up TCO from 16 years?

|

Victim must have praticed it before since Agent Smith knew exactly what to do corrisponding his signs (esample: vic knocked twice on the wall and agent knew he had to turn the room dark)

I know everyone communicates through body language, but how can you understand the command "duplicate" if someone simply points himself? I would have understood he meant "make me stronger" or smth

Also Bathroom sign guy and TCO look so silly there

I'd have much more to say but I'm scared someone might have already said it, so...

..can we talk about how amazing these 3 scenes are??

[lovelyloves]

Thought I had a while ago... Astarion literally looks like if you took Neil and David Bowie's best features and combined them. BAM and there we have our vampire elf boyfriend

[gojossugarcandy]

I don't know why I get the feeling that undertaker is one of the Phantomhive's descendent.

Like, there is some relationship between Claudia Phantomhive, Ciel's (and his unnamed twin brother who plays the protagonist all along) grandmother, and undertaker which is like marriage or like undertaker is a member of Phantomhive family or something?

Because he protected Ciel from burning and is like ruining the whole world's dead people and killing living people just to find a way to make the real Ciel live.

Another reason is because it was once said that Shinigami-s were also humans, but they committed a suicide and as a punishment had to collect others souls and witness death until the punishment was over.

Also, in one of the side stories, he cries while seeing Vincent Phantomhive's photo, Ciel and the protagonist's father.

And, please clear this doubt of mine

Is the Blue Revenge Arc, the final arc of black butler?

Because the series is going on since 2006, and it is already like 18 years.

[autumn-lavelle]

ratio thoughts??

So I'm going through Sunday's Three Act thing before I'm going to fight him

came across this lil card, with an owl face. And its color scheme of blue, white and gold sash. His whole thing was gifting knowledge, and wisdom as gems to the ignorant to help them. Then something about lighting the sky with Stars

anyway, I thought "Oh hey, this guy reminds me of Veritas!" Cause the owl mask he has on his shoulder, and him spreading truth and knowledge and wisdom to people to cure people of ignorance. Or cure idiots XD. And he does it cause not only is he a doctor, doctor, but a scholar who wants to make the world better. XP

anyway yeah...just a funny thought.

[veronica--blog]

"Come on, little brother. All the stars are asleep."

I'm so afraid of working with color that even those little yellow spots are starting to look like a mistake to me.

[belalugosisgravestone]

Maybe I’m reaching BUT PLEASE HEAR ME OUT WHEN I SAY JASON THE TOYMAKER TIES REALLY WELL INTO OUSPENKY’S THEORY OF LIFE.

Ouspensky’s theory follows the idea that we live the same life over and over and repeat our mistakes until we make a drastic enough change to be reborn into another life

Jason is an objectively horrible person with almost no redeeming qualities.

It’s implied that Amelia kills him, which is why he becomes this supernatural being.He’s repeating the same life but with no change, repeating the same mistakes due to the environment he grew up in and how his parents exceptions are cemented into his brain.

And in order to find that eternal friend and reach rebirth, he has to realise his wrongs and change his ways.

However, this likely would not happen, as Jason is raised under this concept of perfection, while still being neglected, causing him to become needy for attention, also being narcissistic, self-centred and playing as the victim despite being the purporter

(This also ties into Freud’s theory of the human psyche and the superego)

And this will continue forever and ever, never being satisfied and his ego continuing to grow, never reaching rebirth as Jason needs attention to be validated

IS THIS FUCKING INSANE?YES.

YES IT IS.

I’M THINKING ABOUT THIS WAY TOO MUCH BUT AUTISM HYPERFIXATION GO BRRRR

[lizeliz]

Day 28 drawing Ragatha.

Abstraction. When you reach your breaking point.

Ok, listen. I have this kind of... theory(?) since episode 2 that Ragatha's mental stability will get worst with each episode.

I mean, she's been in the circus for years (the second oldest member of the cast) and she's been doing just fine until now. But It's like a fact that she will abstract in later episodes (I hope not).

And after so many years trapped in that digital hell, what will make her break? What will be her trigger? Because she endured a lot of things there.

To me, this is something that has to do with her mind (her doubts, guilties, blaming herself, overthinking, etc) and how she internalize it (she doesn't take care of herself either) and how this could be her downfall.

So, yeah. I hope I'm wrong and nothing happens. But it really makes me think about it, that maybe she'll regress as a character, and there will be a point where she can't take it anymore. Ofc someone will help her with it, and with someone I mean Jax.

[honestlyobsessed]

We have an addition!

Mr.clock looking MF.