#also extreme extreme amounts of emphasis on beauty

[hippo-pot]

i watched Barbie because they made an ASL-interpreted version (with a Deaf interpreter, as they should) and i was like oh okay, even if i don't think i'll LOVE the movie, this should be a fun way to get some ASL receptive practice. unfortunately it was only fun for like 20 min. did not enjoy the movie

[vindelllas]

victoria's astrological secrets 🫧

🫧 with the recent announcement of the victoria’s secret show and angels resurrecting in december, i decided to examine the placements of the women deemed “most beautiful” and dissect what astrological placements are potential indicators and detractors of this belief. the following graphs i have made used data collected from the available birth information of all 41 victoria’s secret angels. any information regarding house placements should be treated lightly, as a vast amount of the angels do not have verified birth information. the same is applicable for karakas and nakshatras, i calculated both assuming angels with unverified birth charts were born at noon their time!

🪐 atmakarakas of the angels:

🪐 with my recent post on shani’s prevalence in western femininity and beauty, i am sure it comes to no surprise that he was by the far the most prevalent atmakaraka of the angels. as a brief refresher, the atmakaraka is the graha that one relates to the most. it is our innermost self, that is why surya is said to be the natural atmakaraka. shani himself lords over one’s bones, hair, and teeth, all of which—when heightened or emphasized astrologically—bestow its native with abundant beauty. despite shani’s traditional connotations of sorrow and pain, it is also associated with the sense of touch. thus, resulting in its natives’ preferences for fields that require manipulation and emphasis of the physical life form. through sculpting one’s body with the likes of fitness, diet, and self care, these models are able to fulfill the physicality of their shani atmakaraka. additionally, shani is said to bestow hazy, gilded eyes, thin and tall figure, whitened teeth, and an overall ether body (which is overall many of the dominant physical traits of models in the industry). when shani excels here, natives are blessed with the loyalty, frugality, self-control, patience, steadfastness, perseverance, and industriousness required to succeed in the industry of modeling. it is important to note these same qualities are often heightened in the darker contexts of the shani-dominated modeling industry, such as dis*rdered eating patterns and exploitative management. this placement is beautiful for heightening one’s worldly desires of democracy, achievement, and experience, but also results in lessons of the harsh realities of this world, facing loneliness at the zenith of achievement, extreme bouts of fear/doubt, and disappointment. i encourage any natives of this placement to especially look at the house this atmakaraka rules to find what will bring you fulfillment and growth on an individual level (primarily examining its mooltrikona, the area in which grahas feel most at home).

🪐 note that only two of the angels had a shukra atmakaraka, which desires transactional relationships and luxury. this is likely due to this placement being more common in the arts, as it has an innate gift from telling and conveying the stories of art. whereas, shani is gifted in the realm of wearing the art of shukra (serving as his grounding canvas). shani being the servant of the asuras aids him in feeling the most comfortable in shukra’s demanding presence; allowing him to thrive. in a similar way shani atmakarakas thrive when being in the eyes of shukra (the constructive teacher). they take heed to his teachings and internalize them for quick reciprocation and emulation.

🎀 amatyakarakas of the angels:

🎀 this reasoning for the lack of shukra serving as an atmakaraka is why i believe it best serves as the most prevalent amatyakaraka. while the results are less statistically significant than those for atmakaraka, shukra is still the most common graha for this placement. think of the amatyakaraka as the second house almost, ruling your career, profession, behavior, karma, and deeds—not necessarily ruling your internal self but how you externalize your atmakaraka. shukra bestows materialistic prosperity, comfortability, wealth acquired through women’s merchandise, and luxuriousness to the fruits of shani. this is why this karaka placement brings forth professionalism in the fields of any inventive, artistic discipline such as fashion without serving as the primary lifestyle of the native. in this way, the natives’ atmakaraka can reduce shukra’s issues with clouded self-perception, heightened sensuality, exaggerated behavior and ideologies, and intense over-romanticism. the restrictive nature of having a shani atmakaraka refines this amorousness and excessive behavioral patterns and, in turn, shukra balances his frugality and conservatism with a healthy pleasure from enjoyment of the touch/physicality he so rules.

🌙 grahas in the first bhava:

🌙 the first house is the realm of one's lagna. this house is considered to be most representative of your existence and true self. the lack of the two most intellect-based grahas, brihaspati and buddha, can give us an insight into the existences of vs angels alike. these grahas' lack of presence is indicating a certain removal from scholarly pursuits and a calling towards the physicalities of the flesh, as seen in rahu and chandra, at an early age. think of the stories of models like adriana lima or candice swanepoel who wanted to serve their communities initially through catholic abstinence and dentistry or dairy and meat farming respectively. instead of continuing to obtain the education and discipline required to succeed in these fields, the models decided to devote themselves to their fashionable craft instead at very young ages. having chandra and rahu in the first bhava can bring self-centricism, sharpening of communicative/professional intellect, and business inclinations. thus, allowing the angels to accumulate success and individuality in the worldly fields of modeling through expertly commodifying themselves.

🌙 grahas in the second bhava:

🌙 in a sudden role reversal, we see no models with verified birth times had chandra in their second house. the second house is all about growth and development. chandra or shukra lying in this house is often indicative of requiring materialistic pleasures to ensure emotional satiation. this is why individuals with these placements can truly struggle with financial and emotional fluctuations. contrarily, surya, ketu, and buddha were the most common grahas in the second in the bhava. these grahas lead to excelling in the matters of the second bhava (wealth and possessions) but issues with detachment and grief surrounding one's family. unfortunately, we see this placement manifesting in many of the angels having to leave their families at a young age to model in other countries for months to even a year at a time. this additionally requires a certain dis-attachment from the home (chandra) and comfortability (shukra) to gain worldly knowledge (buddha), authority/grounding (surya), and self wisdom (ketu) in the industry.

🌚 grahas conjunct luminaries (surya and/or chandra):

🌚 buddha was overwhelmingly the most prevalent graha to be conjunct the angels' luminaries. approximately 59% of the angels had this placement, meaning 24 of the 41 models. buddha, being the graha of communication, results in a penchant for inquiries, analyses, and wit in conjunction to the undertones of their luminary grahas. essentially natives of the placement excel at marketing themselves: identifying their target audience, knowing their unique selling points (such as creating their signature, inventive catwalks and collaborating with trainers to give onlookers an insight into their workout regime via the "train like an angel" series), clarity, consistency, constancy, and intellectual savvy. buddha's sensual undertones attract customers and a worldwide fanbase of feminine emulation and masculine adoration.

🌚 primary placement (surya, chandra, and lagna) rashis of the angels:

🌚 the cancer rashi was most common in the primary placements of the angels. chandra, the overlord of cancer, aids cancer natives in utilizing their fertile imagination and emotional disposition. due to this, these natives are drawn to artistic expression and emotional retention, exacerbating the canvas-like jobs of the angels in their modeling efforts for the brands' bikini-clad, glamorously unachievable campaigns. while seemingly sentimental, cancers' personalities are said to be extremely changeable, ranging from extreme warmth to secrecy which is often mistaken for hardened coldness. this emotional chameleon-like behavior allows the angels to physically transmute the emotions of their photographer and designer to the consumer/onlooker. however, their need for safety and security allows these natives to sometimes go throughout their entire lives in search for family and the comforts of home (as evidenced by the lack of shukra and chandra placements in their second bhava).

🌚 the second most common rashi is aquarius. who is symbolized by the angel carrying water over humanity and pouring it over the earth. in a similar fashion, aquari nurture their environment by quenching the thirsts of the collective--instilling passion within the masses and motivating them to bring change to one another. this is why this rashi is symbolized by "the star" tarot card. similar to the water-bearing aquarius figure, the star card features a feminine being pouring water into a body of water and into the earth, providing nourishment and restoring hope for the future. she has one foot in the water, symbolizing intuition, and one on land, symbolizing stability. this echoes the same duality in aquarius, which is the only zodiac sign represented by two astrological elements: water for her emotional side and air for her intellectual side. the stars symbolize the card’s overarching message of guidance, hope and inspiration. aquarius pertains to setting oneself apart from others, as illustrated by the large, yellow star on the card. aquarius natives have a strong connection to their own intuition and will listen to that internal voice above all others. which ultimately guides these natives to setting their own trends in fashion: think of the infamous and constant quests for a vs angel body even today. the bird on the card symbolizes the sacred ibis of thought who roosts in the tree of the mind, representing the boundless intellect of aquarius. whether it is improving humanity, inventing the next fashion trend or just bolstering our sense of hope and inspiration, aquarius excels.

🌚 primary placement (surya, chandra, and lagna) rashi lords of the angels:

🌚 shani was the most occuring lord of the angels' primary rashis despite cancer's general abundance. think of when shiva came under the influence of shani, he experienced the loss of sati, the first incarnation of his wife. "daksha, the son of brahma, prayed to the mother goddess that she be born as shani's daughter. she agreed on the condition that he would never displease her. he agreed and she was born as sati. when sati matured she fell in love with lord shiva and married him against her father's wishes. daksha disliked this alliance as he felt that the ascetic shiva was not good enough for his daughter. daksha expected shiva to pay obeisance to him but shiva refused to do so, as he was the supreme god and most revered of all. according to vedic tradition, if shiva were to venerate daksha who was lower in stature to the great shiva, the former would be cursed forever. daksha's ego did not allow him to recognize the true shiva. shiva refuses to pay respect to his father-in-law and thereby created an ongoing feud which caused a lot of sorrow to his wife sati.

"daksha decided to avenge this humiliation by organizing a yagya in kankhal near haridwar. he invited all the gods in heaven and prominent men on earth, with the exception of shiva and sati. when sati heard that her father was holding a ceremony, she wanted to go despite not being invited. shiva cautioned her that only misery would result of her going uninvited but she was adamant.

"sati demanded an explanation from daksha as to why she and shiva were not invited. daksha said that shiva, a person who dressed in rags who adorned himself with ashes, skulls and snakes and frequenter of graveyards, had no place in this elite gathering. unable to bear the insult, sati proclaimed that she is giving up her life and in front of an astounded audience she stepped into the sacrificial fire of the yagya.

"when shiva learnt of this, he was inconsolable and in his grief destroyed the yagya and all saksha's army. saksha's head was also cut. then shiva held aloft sati's limp body and began the dance of destruction or tandava nritya. this is the dance that heralds the destruction of the universe.

"guests approached vishnu who was also present at the ceremony. he realized that it was too late to reason with shiva. he let loose his chakra (or disc-like weapon) and cut up sati's body into pieces. the various parts of her body got scattered all over india. wherever a part of sati's body, fell people built a shrine to the goddess shakti. vishnu consoled shiva and requested him to give back life to the dead. shiva did so but insisted that daksha had to be punished for his pride. he cut off a goat's head and attached it to daksha's lifeless body before making him alive. the ceremony was then completed and to this day daksha is depicted with a goat's head

"shani was said to have create all this mayhem in order to punish daksha for his pride and created inconsolable sorrow for shiva. shiva went to mount kailash and lived a life of a recluse and ascetic until parvati (the next incarnation of sati) came into the life and brought him out of the sorrow."

🌚 shani being the destroyer and stripper of maya, it may appear to be an odd placement for such a physically-focused profession. shani basically serves as the personification of spiritual accountability. he was dutiful even when sacrificing his love sati, serving as the emblem of the importance of the sacrificiality of pleasure and needs for greater gain. in a more minute, physical practice, the angels continued to give up what brought them physical comfort: consumption and familial need for the gain of world recognition and beauty. thus, bringing similar acts of concern or judgement from the public (similar to that of shani) due to the past extremism of their efforts to remain in the show and keep their angel status.

☄️ nakshatras (surya, chandra, and lagna) of the angels:

☄️ chitra was the most occurring nakshatra of the angels. think of this nakshatra as the embodiment of succubic understandings. in it, lies the power of evoking female spirits for spiritual purposes. the goddess of its temple is known as bhoom devi. bhoom devi is the personification of all earth/flesh. bhoom devi is the consort of the varaha, an avatar of vishnu. in the satya yuga, "the demon hiranyaksha kidnapped her and hid her in the primordial waters, and vishnu appeared as varaha to rescue her. varaha slew the demon and retrieved the earth from the depths of the ocean, lifting it on his tusks. he restored bhoom devi to her rightful place in the universe, and proceeded to marry her. mangala and narakasura were the sons of varaha and bhoom devi.

"narakasura was the first born of bhoom devi. there are two stories about narakasura's birth: in the first one, he was the first son of bhoomi and varaha. he was born when bhoomi requested varaha for a son. narakasura later performed a penance to receive a boon that only his mother would be able to kill him. in the second story, narakasura's father was hiranyaksha and was born when hiranyaksha's horns touched bhoomi. narakasura is believed to have been the founder of the legendary bhauma dynasty among the boro people.

"sita, the wife of rama, emerged from the earth, and thus bhoomi is her spiritual mother. the story goes that there was once a drought in mithila, the hometown of sita. janaka, the future father of sita, was ploughing the ground. under his plough, he found a baby girl (this girl being sita). raiin showered upon the earth and janaka and his wife, sunaina, decided to adopt sita. as she was born from the earth, she was also known as bhoomija."

☄️ chitra natives mirror the properties of bhoom devi, often struggling with the seemingly never ending attractions between them and draining masculine life forces. while this nakshatra bestows its natives with bursting beauty and abundance, this masculine attention usually begins to sour and darken with time (similar to the trials and tribulations of bhoom devi). while i have spoke about this phenomenon before, i will note that masculine individuals' preference for serving as varaha to that of bhoom devi is directly correlated to the mass masculine adoration we have seen towards the angels in the media. with recent exposures of the toxic happenings behind the scenes of the brand, it is only more evident that chitra natives have been prone to struggling with exploitative behavior. in an attempt to reverse the narrative and make profit from this immense adoration and attraction, we see chitra natives enjoy leaning in to the succubi narrative as they begin to embrace their spiritual awakenings. think of the angels who have recently begun to explore occultism and religion more intensely, such as gisele and adriana. despite their previous strugglings with exploitation, their role in the bhoom devi-varanha dynamic and call to occultism has aided them in their journeys towards healing from the darker undertones of the industry.

☄️ given uttara ashadha's prevalence in the music and fashion industry as a whole, it comes to no surprise that it ranked #2 out of all of the angels' nakshatras. surya is said to uproot poverty, wantonness, malignity and adversity, and procure all those things which are good for current and future generations. thus, its natives are inclined to prosperity in the face of adversity. surya, the cosmic creator’s natural inspiration, is the teacher and ruler of our innate human senses of judgement and discrimination between truth and falsehood and between freedom and responsibility. it is the senses of love and friendship juxtaposed with our rational sense of justice and reason; our passion for progress with our sense of purpose; and direction and destination for life’s values. thus, bestowing great creative wisdom and the brilliant, generous divinities of nature. it separates the good from the great people in this world; removes the sloth, negativity and adversity on this earth; and inspires its natives with enthusiasm for the achievement of dynamic peace and balanced prosperity. forbidding fearsome and ferociousness in one's body, mind and soul and positively transforming the word of divine love and wisdom. in uttara ashadha, he creates fires under the asterism of the final vimshottari nakshatra in his rulership, whosoever should wish that should be offered him: then indeed forthwith; for whatever is offered with the touch of shani (that lies in sagittarius-capricorn), that indeed is given to him. meaning natives of this nakshatra are able to lift their struggles with the aforementioned topics to surya himself to have their wants transmuted into dominance of the earthly realm. these natives greatest longings for spirituality and initial abstinence from bodily superficiality are ultimately what causes them to appear so beautiful and become so successful. in applying the ketuvian principle of abandoning what one initially wants for seeking what the universe knows is right, these natives are granted what it is they so longed for as they sacrificed their initial wants for the promises of surya's delayed gratification.

☄️ it is likely surprising to some that there were no angels (as we currently know of) who possess the bharani nakshatra abundantly. bharani dwells at the very heart of aries. its exaltation place of its nakshatra lord (shukra) lies in the twelfth bhava from it, while debilitation place of its nakshatra lord is in the sixth bhava. since the energy of its nakshatra lord exalts in the twelfth house from itself, it is the nakshatra, which is connected to death, sacrifice, surrender, letting go with the flow, forgiveness and creativity. yet, as its energy debilitates in sixth bhava from itself, bharani natives sometimes have issues with self-restraint, discipline and escapism. which is ultimately why yamaraj becomes its presiding deity, to help these natives integrate surrender and detachment with healthy self-discipline and hard work, which is the domain of yamaraj. think of bharani natives' figures as being the primary subject of arts throughout centuries. yet due to the intense internal reaction it causes amongst others and their immense ability to fixate all attention, it is something that has been hastily and forcefully covered, and correlated with the principle of punishment (the realm of yamaraj).

☄️ remember when krishna states yamaraj punishes sinners, as relayed to vidura (an incarnation of yama) by maitreya during their conversation about the origin and creation of the multiverse: "the brahmanas, the cows and the defenceless creatures are krishna's own body. those whose faculty of judgement has been impaired by their own sin look upon those as distinct from me. they are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulture-like messengers of yamaraja, the superintendent of sinful persons." instead of one's beauty bringing immense adoration to the point of exploitation and celebritization, their beauty brings a religious-like quality reminiscent to the beauty-based punishments of zeus. instead of entertaining the "furious serpents" of the collective for gain, bharanis spiritually castrate them with their meer being.

consider chanting 108 times a unique mantra to surya (on the days it lies in its corresponding nakshatra) and focus on (or worship) the different body part of the body associated with this nakshatra. do exercise extreme caution when doing so and be sure to actively research the pros and cons to this practice and the correct pronunciation and behavior associated with each mantra

while reciting the mantra, visualise the healing rays of surya filling the part of your physical body associated with the nakshatra

doing so will allow you to embrace the energetic properties of the placement!

chitra mantra: om arkaya namah (ankles)

uttara ashadha mantra: om tvashtre saptaturamgamaya namah (navel area)

bharani: om kathoradhamne namah (throat)

☄️ nakshatra vimshottari rulers of the angels:

☄️ surya was the most prominent vimshottari ruler and yet again we see shukra being the least prominent of the angels. solar beauty is foundational for all the beauty around us, it rules the carbon that encompasses our surroundings, creates human life, materializes clothes and homes, etc., as surya is the ultimate life force. surya is the illuminator, the creator, the increaser, and master of truth. his rays are supramental activities of revelation, inspiration, intuition, luminous discernment, and they constitute the action of the transcendental principle of perfect knowledge and whole truth. however, these rays also descend into the human mentality and form at its summit the world of luminous intelligence. in a similar fashion, these natives transcend the human mentality and produce innately unique beauty that has never been seen in the industry before. the rays of surya, as they labor to and fro from our mental existence, create three successive worlds of mentality--one superimposed on the other— the sensational, aesthetic and emotional mind,;the pure intellect; and the divine intelligence. the fullness and perfection of these triple worlds of mind exists only in the pure mental plane of being, where they shine above the three heavens, as their three luminosities. but their light descends upon the physical consciousness and affects the corresponding formations in its earthly realms of light.

☄️ surya enlightens the mind and the thoughts in which contain the illuminations of the truth. he is vipra, the illumined. it is he who delivers the individual human mind from the circumscribed consciousness of self and environment and enlarges the limited movement which is imposed on it by its preoccupation with its own individuality. therefore, surya has clear discernment of things in their totality, such as their parts and their relationships to the spiritual plane, and is clear in perception. this is why it is said men as soon as they begin to receive something of this solar illumination, they strive to yoke their whole mentality and embody a conscious existence of the divine surya within them. thus, all of their obscure mental state and all their erring thoughts are manifested in this light so that it may turn the obscurity of the mind into clearness and convert the errors of thought into those truths which they distortedly represent. this yoking becomes the masculine yoga: "they yoke the mind, and they yoke their thoughts, the enlightened, of the enlightened, the large, the clear-perceptioned.” this is ultimately why surya, the lord of knowledge, aligns all creation into their rightful place in "the sacrifice": “knower of phenomena sole he arranges the sacrificial energies.” yet again we see this prominence of sacrificial attitudes surrounding these natives, beckoning their masculine adorers to yoke the impurity in their physicality and heighten their consciousness to experience being near these natives' glorious presence. yes, shukra is undoubtedly beautiful and luxurious in nature, but what is beauty without adoration? what is self care without transmutation into the likes of awakening sexuality/creativity (shukra) into mass attainments and heights (surya)? do let this post serve as good reminder that all grahas, not just shukra, have immense beauty. the physicality of shani, authoritation of surya, emotion reflectivity and conveyance of chandra, sensuality of buddha, mahamaya and business intellectualism of rahu, spiritual refinement of ketu all lead to the overarching beauty witnessed in both the angels and our overall surroundings.

*all of these placements were found using astrotheme/.com and/or astro-charts/.com. it is important to note that some chandra (moon) placements may be off by up to 6 degrees and lagnas (ascendants/rising signs) as well, due to the fact that many websites do not have 100% accurate birth times for the given celebrities.

xoxo, angel 💋

[sprintingowl]

TTRPGs As Terrariums For Blorbos

One thing that I think isn't covered enough in TTRPG recommendations is styles of play.

There's a lot of "this game has this tone," or "this game is this amount of crunchy," but less "what are you playing towards?"

In games like Microscope and I'm Sorry Did You Say Street Magic? and The Quiet Year, you're playing to see what happens to the setting.

In games like Mork Borg and Into The Odd and Mothership, you're playing to see how far your character can get.

And in a lot of games, you're playing to create a blorbo, an OC, just a little guy, and the soul of the gameplay is the story of who your guy is and who your guy becomes.

This is blorbo style play.

And the thing about styles of play is that you can apply them to any game, even games that aren't really built to enable them. So I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight onto some games that do specifically enable you to fully blorb out. (I'll try to cover a mix of genres and tones, but the rpg scene is vast so if you have a favorite that I missed please feel free to shout it out in the replies.)

-Golden Sky Stories. This is the English translation of the Japanese TTRPG Yuuyake Koyake. You play as shapeshifter kids and spirits in a small town and, instead of tracking EXP, the thing that you carry from session to session is your relationships with other characters. The tone of the game is heartwarming, and if combat happens, both sides lose. There can be emotional turmoil, but this isn't a game where you have to worry about bad things happening to your blorbo.

-New World Of Darkness. On the other hand, let's say you *want* bad things to happen to your blorbo. You want to play a guy that's really going through it. If you also like modern supernatural stories, New World Of Darkness was built for you. Characters in NWoD can be entirely non-combat, or a literal werewolf, or a noncombat werewolf. The game places a lot of emphasis on navigating through the setting socially, as its supernatural creatures tend to run in factions and starting a fight usually means making a bunch of enemies.

-Pasion De Las Pasiones. Of course, not everyone wants a fantastical setting. Sometimes good old melodrama is hearty and comforting. Pasion De Las Pasiones is a playable telenovela, and it encourages you to play your characters bold and recklessly. Every class even has a built-in Meltdown, where if you're pushed to the edge they become extra reckless, ensuring a broad fallout of messy drama when they do manage to calm down.

-Cortex System / Unisystem. Perhaps you want to drop your blorbo into an existing fictional universe? But you also want stats and meaty character creation instead of just freeform roleplay? There are easily a dozen games on the Cortex engine, including Supernatural, Firefly, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel, and Leverage. And on Unisystem, there's Buffy, Army Of Darkness, as well as a somewhat rare I Can't Believe It's Not Planet Of The Apes.

-Lancer / Gubat Banwa. If you like blorb-y play but still want a heavy side of combat, both of these games have you covered. Lancer has a sprawling scifi universe focused on mech pilots, and Gubat Banwa has a violent and lavish mythological Philippines setting. Both of these games also have stunningly beautiful artwork, so if you like seeing a setting visually come to life, these are for you.

-Fabula Ultima. My final recommendation is also an extremely gorgeous looking game. Fabula Ultima is built on the bones of Ryuutama (itself an excellent travel-fantasy game) to enable meaty, blorby Final Fantasy style campaign play. Combat is a rich and deep option in Fabula Ultima, but so is everything from spellcasting to crafting, and players have built-in resources they can spend to affect the story. If a scene isn't quite going the way you want it to, you can spend a point to nudge it in the right direction. Fabula Ultima also feels extremely complete without being too complicated.

So there you go. Eight options, and that's barely scratching the surface of the sea of blorb-y games (Seventh Sea, Exalted, Blue Rose, Legend Of The Five Rings, Coyote And Crow, Timewatch, Nahual, and more!)

It's also not wrong to play non-blorb-y games in a blorb-y way. Do whatever you're comfortable with! But you might enjoy dipping into these titles.

Finally, if you've read this far and you're somehow still looking for MORE recommendations, I wrote this game about runaway changelings trying to find their place in the world, and it's probably the blorbiest in my catalog.

[rewildling]

Using Songs to Predict Sansa’s TWOW Arc Part I: The Bear and the Maiden Fair

Let’s put on our tinfoil hats and have some fun.

When Sansa meets with Olenna and Margaery Tyrell in Sansa I, ASOS, Olenna’s fool sings The Bear and the Maiden Fair extremely loudly so that their conversation isn’t overheard and Sansa is free to tell them the truth about Joffrey. In the text, the lyrics appear in all caps. This emphasis isn’t only to indicate the volume of the fool’s voice — the words are practically screamed at the reader:

A bear there was, a bear, a bear! All black and brown, and covered with hair. The bear! The bear! Oh come they said, oh come to the fair! The fair? Said he, but I'm a bear! All black and brown, and covered with hair! And down the road from here to there. From here! To there! Three boys, a goat and a dancing bear! They danced and spun, all the way to the fair! The fair! The fair! Oh, sweet she was, and pure and fair! The maid with honey in her hair! Her hair! Her hair! The maid with honey in her hair! The bear smelled the scent on the summer air. The bear! The bear! All black and brown and covered with hair! He smelled the scent on the summer air! He sniffed and roared and smelled it there! Honey on the summer air! Oh, I'm a maid, and I'm pure and fair! I'll never dance with a hairy bear! A bear! A bear! I'll never dance with a hairy bear! The bear, the bear! Lifted her high into the air! The bear! The bear! I called for a knight, but you're a bear! A bear, a bear! All black and brown and covered with hair She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair, But he licked the honey from her hair. Her hair! Her hair! He licked the honey from her hair! Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air! My bear! She sang. My bear so fair! And off they went, from here to there, The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair.

There are two ways to apply this song to Sansa’s relationship with Sandor. The first is to read it as a motif, which is more straightforward, so we’ll start with that.

The description of the bear and the maiden are clearly evocative of Sandor and Sansa — “black and brown and covered with hair” (ugly, beastly, coarse, etc.) and “a maid pure and fair.”

Then there’s the obvious sexual subtext of the song. This is the first chapter where we see that Sansa’s sexuality is beginning to emerge. Her childish crush on Loras Tyrell has matured into a sexual fantasy:

She remembered Ser Loras in his sparkling sapphire armor, tossing her a rose. Ser Loras in white silk, so pure, innocent, beautiful. The dimples at the corner of his mouth when he smiled. The sweetness of his laugh, the warmth of his hand. She could only imagine what it would be like to pull up his tunic and caress the smooth skin underneath, to stand on her toes and kiss him, to run her fingers through those thick brown curls and drown in his deep brown eyes. A flush crept up her neck. Sansa I, ASOS

We know that Loras isn’t interested in Sansa, and this is also when she realizes that he doesn’t remember giving her the red rose at the Hand’s tourney. Her attraction to him will amount to nothing. The point is that she’s starting to experience sexual attraction in general.

Consider the line “I called for a knight, but you’re a bear.” Sansa prays for a true knight to rescue her while she’s a hostage in King’s Landing. While Sandor isn’t a knight, he is her protector after Ned Stark’s murder. But the line is also evocative of the following scene:

If I close my eyes I can pretend he is the Knight of Flowers. Ser Loras had given Sansa Stark a red rose once, but he had never kissed her… and no Tyrell would ever kiss Alayne Stone. Pretty as she was, she had been born on the wrong side of the blanket. As the boy’s lips touched her own she found herself thinking of another kiss. She could still remember how it felt, when his cruel mouth pressed down on her own. He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak. Alayne II, AFFC

Like the previous passage, this is a sexual fantasy. Except this time, Sansa isn’t fantasizing about Loras Tyrell — she’s fantasizing about Sandor Clegane. At first, she tries to imagine kissing Loras but ends up picturing Sandor instead. She called for a knight, but she got a bear.

Notably, singing is used in the last verse to imply sex, which is a recurring motif throughout Sansa and Sandor’s relationship:

"I... I know a song about Florian and Jonquil." "Florian and Jonquil? A fool and his cunt. Spare me. But one day I'll have a song from you, whether you will it or no." "I will sing it for you gladly." Sansa II, ACOK

He gave her arm a hard wrench, pulling her around and shoving her down onto the bed. "I'll have that song. Florian and Jonquil, you said." Sansa VII, ACOK

And she dreamed of her wedding night too, of Tyrion's eyes devouring her as she undressed. Only then he was bigger than Tyrion had any right to be, and when he climbed into the bed his face was scarred only on one side. "I'll have a song from you," he rasped, and Sansa woke and found the old blind dog beside her once again. Sansa VI, ASOS

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is one of many allusions to Beauty and the Beast that appear throughout ASOIAF, including Sansa and Sandor as a romantic pairing. In some versions of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is depicted as a bear:

The Norwegian fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Beauty and the Beast story in which the Beast is actually a literal bear:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is featured multiple times throughout the series and applies to several romantic pairings, particularly Brienne and Jaime (who are also a Beauty and the Beast allusion). But there’s a reason the song is literally screamed at the reader in one of Sansa’s chapters — after Sandor has already left her during the Blackwater.

When asked in a forum chat, "Is there any connection between Sansa’s story and the song The Bear and the Maiden Fair," GRRM replied, "Well, we’ll have to see," (So Spake Martin). So whatever this connection is, it hasn’t necessarily manifested yet, even though there are already obvious parallels between the song and Sansa and Sandor’s relationship dynamic.

This brings us to the second reading of the song: as foreshadowing.

The second verse of the song mentions a fair. There haven’t been any fairs featured prominently in the series so far, and apart from the song, they’ve only been mentioned a handful of times. In the most basic sense, a fair is a temporary gathering of people. Arguably the closest thing to a fair that appears in Sansa’s arc is a tourney. The Hand’s tourney and Joffrey’s Name Day tourney take place in King’s Landing during AGOT and ACOK, but the Winged Knights tourney is an upcoming event at the Gates of the Moon. It’s Sansa’s idea and is being organized by Littlefinger:

Four-and-sixty knights had been invited to vie for places amongst Lord Robert Arryn's new Brotherhood of Winged Knights, and four and-sixty knights had come to tilt for the right to wear falcon's wings upon their warhelms and guard their lord. The competitors came from all over the Vale, from the mountain valleys and the coast, from Gulltown and the Bloody Gate, even the Three Sisters. Alayne I, TWOW

In the song, who is it that goes to the fair? “Three boys, a goat, and a dancing bear.” If the song is foreshadowing the Winged Knights tourney, analogs to these figures should already be present in Sansa’s AFFC chapters.

When Sansa descends from the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon, she finds Petyr drinking with three unknown hedge knights:

The hour was closer to dawn than to dusk, and most of the castle was asleep, but not Petyr Baelish. Alayne found him seated by a crackling fire, drinking hot mulled wine with three men she did not know. … Alayne laughed. “Are you louts?” she said, teasing. “Why, I took the three of you for gallant knights.” “Knights they are,” said Petyr. “Their gallantry has yet to be demonstrated, but we may hope. Allow me to present Ser Byron, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich.” Alayne II, AFFC

These are potentially the three boys: Ser Shadrich, Ser Morgarth, and Ser Byron — but the goat may be here, too.

The Bear and the Maiden Fair is a motif that applies to both Brienne and Sansa. In Brienne’s story, the goat is Vargo Hoat. In Sansa’s story, it’s Petyr Baelish. There are several notable similarities between the two: Vargo and Petyr are both cunning, slender, have dark hair and goatees, and were/are Lord of Harrenhal (which didn’t end well for Vargo and doesn’t bode well for Petyr). Petyr’s great-grandfather came to Westeros from one of the Free Cities (Braavos) as a sellsword. Vargo Hoat also came to Westeros from one of the Free Cities (Qohor) as a sellsword.

Because of their association with the god Pan, goats often symbolize male lust. Vargo Hoat is a serial rapist, while Petyr Baelish is a brothel owner with the lifelong obsession of seducing Catelyn Tully (now transferred to her daughter, Sansa Stark).

Goats (specifically black goats) are also affiliated with the devil in European folk traditions. In the medieval era, the devil was commonly depicted as a man with a goat-like face, horns, and a small beard — a goatee. Vargo Hoat is a torturer and sadist, and Petyr Baelish is a devious megalomaniac. Both are certainly devilish characters.

During Sansa’s descent from the Eyrie, she stops at the waycastle Snow for "a hot meal of stewed goat and onions." When she reaches the Gates of the Moon "closer to dawn than dusk," she’s summoned to Petyr’s solar, where he’s been drinking hot mulled wine all night with the three hedge knights. As others have noticed, "stewed" is another word for "drunk." So Littlefinger can be read as a "stewed goat" in this scene.

Let’s take a little detour here and talk about the ghost of High Heart’s prophetic dream:

"In the hall of kings, the goat sits alone and fevered as the great dog descends on him." The old woman took another long gulp of wine, squeezing the skin as she raised it to her lips. The great dog. Did she mean the Hound? Or maybe his brother, the Mountain That Rides? Arya was not certain. Arya VIII, ASOS

The irony of this prophecy is that the great dog could be both Gregor and Sandor. The events that take place at Harrenhal in ASOS make it seem as if Vargo Hoat is the goat and Gregor Clegane is the great dog, which is true. But it could also be the case that Petyr Baelish is the goat and Sandor Clegane is the great dog. This is potentially more fitting, since Sandor is more closely associated with dogs than Gregor. After all, Gregor is "the Mountain That Rides." It’s Sandor who is "the Hound."

Littlefinger is currently Lord Protector of the Eyrie and the Vale of Arryn. He’s taken up residence at the Eyrie and the Gates of the Moon, the historic seats of the Kings of the Mountain and Vale: halls of kings. In addition, Petyr is Lord of Harrenhal — the same hall of kings Vargo Hoat sat in.

In the Vale, Petyr Baelish is also very alone. He murdered Lysa Arryn, arguably his only powerful ally there. The lords of the Vale dislike him, and several are actively working against him:

"They have the Vale." "Oh, much of it, that’s true. Not all, however. I am well loved in Gulltown, and have some lordly friends of mine own as well. Grafton, Lynderly, Lyonel Corbray… though I’ll grant you, they are no match for the Lords Declarant. Still, where would you have us go, Alayne? Back to my mighty stronghold on the Fingers?" Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, AFFC

He thinks he’s bought the violent and dangerous Lyn Corbray with gold and boys. But as Sansa observes, Ser Lyn’s loyalty is tenuous at best:

Corbray’s lips drew back in something that might have been meant as a smile, though it gave Alayne a chill. "But what need have I for heirs when I am landless and like to remain so, thanks to our Lord Protector? No. Tell your lord father I need none of his brood mares." The venom in his voice was so thick that for a moment she almost forgot that Lyn Corbray was actually her father’s catspaw, bought and paid for. Or was he? Perhaps, instead of being Petyr’s man pretending to be Petyr’s foe, he was actually his foe pretending to be his man pretending to be his foe. Alayne I, TWOW

Littlefinger is so lacking in allies that he’s placing his trust in three strangers whose true motivations are completely unknown to him:

The three knights bowed and withdrew, though the tall one with the blond hair kissed her hand before taking his leave. "Hedge knights?" said Alayne, when the door had closed. "Hungry knights. I thought it best that we have a few more swords about us. The times grow ever more interesting, my sweet, and when the times are interesting you can never have too many swords." Alayne II, AFFC

He has completely misjudged these men, at least one of whom is actually in the Vale searching for Sansa Stark:

Ser Shadrich laughed. "Oh, I doubt that, but it may be that you and I share a quest. A little lost sister, is it? With blue eyes and auburn hair?" He laughed again. "You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well." Brienne I, AFFC

And he’s led them right to her:

"Lady Alayne," he said, "the Lord Protector has been waiting for you." … Alayne found him seated by a crackling fire, drinking hot mulled wine with three men she did not know. … "You are never an intrusion, sweetling. I was just now telling these good knights what a dutiful daughter I had." Alayne II, AFFC

So Littlefinger is sitting alone in halls of kings. But is he fevered? Maybe not literally, in the way Vargo Hoat was, but the word "fevered" also means excited or agitated. And Petyr Baelish is definitely fevered around Sansa Stark:

"I wish you could see yourself, my lady. You are so beautiful. You’re crusted over with snow like some little bear cub, but your face is flushed and you can scarcely breathe. How long have you been out here? You must be very cold. Let me warm you, Sansa. Take off those gloves, give me your hands." "I won’t." He sounded almost like Marillion, the night he’d gotten so drunk at the wedding. Sansa VII, ASOS

He’s also fevered in the sense that he’s making a lot of moves very quickly. He steals Sansa away from King’s Landing, weds Lysa Arryn, kills her almost immediately, covers it up by blaming Marillion, takes Robert as his ward, starts poisoning him, gives Nestor Royce the Gates of the Moon, arranges a marriage for Lyonel Corbray (enraging Lyn Corbray), betroths Alayne to Harrold Hardyng, takes mysterious hedge knights into his service, and organizes a large tourney all in rapid succession.

Up until AFFC, Petyr’s schemes have generally taken years to play out. He himself acknowledges this:

"I had hoped to have four or five quiet years to plant some seeds and allow some fruits to ripen, but now… it is a good thing that I thrive on chaos." Petyr Baelish, Alayne II, AFFC

It’s possible that the moves he’s making in the Vale are an example of his advice to Sansa:

"Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you." Petyr Baelish, Sansa V, ASOS

But it’s also possible that his fevered pursuit of her is making him shortsighted. It’s likely that Littlefinger’s ultimate plan for Sansa is to marry her himself, which is fevered in the sense that it is delusional:

Petyr Baelish had offered to wed the girl himself, she recalled, but of course that was impossible; he was much too lowborn. Cersei II, ADWD

Okay, back to the The Bear and the Maiden Fair. There are three boys and a goat, so where is the dancing bear?

Throughout the series, "dancing" is often used as another word for "fighting," and we know that Sandor is the bear to Sansa’s maiden fair. As applied to Sansa’s arc, the "dancing bear" in the song could be a fighting dog descending on a goat, fevered and alone.

Though they have been mentioned, we still haven’t gotten a mystery knight as a major plot development in ASOIAF. The Winged Knights tourney could be GRRM’s last chance to include one in the series. And there are already hints that Alayne will give her favor to an unknown competitor:

"Saving yourself for Lord Robert?" Lady Myranda teased. "Or is there some ardent squire dreaming of your favors?" Alayne II, AFFC

"Who would ask to wear a bastard's favor?" "Harry, if he has the wits the gods gave a goose...but do not give it to him. Choose some other gallant, and favor him instead. You do not want to seem too eager." Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, TWOW

He grinned. "I will hold you to that promise, my lady. Until that day, may I wear your favor in the tourney?" "You may not. It is promised to...another." She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone. Alayne I, TWOW

The Winged Knights tourney mirrors the tourney at Harrenhal in several key ways. Ned Stark was living in the Eyrie when he descended to attend the tourney at Harrenhal. Similarly, Sansa has been living in the Eyrie and descends to the Gates of the Moon, where the Winged Knights tourney will take place.

The tourney at Harrenhal was hosted by Lord Walter Whent to celebrate his maiden daughter. The Winged Knights tourney is Sansa's idea and is being hosted by Petyr Baelish, who is posing as her father and certainly seems to be celebrating her at the feast:

And best of all, Lord Nestor's cooks prepared a splendid subtlety, a lemon cake in the shape of the Giant's Lance, twelve feet tall and adorned with an Eyrie made of sugar. For me, Alayne thought, as they wheeled it out. Sweetrobin loved lemon cakes too, but only after she told him that they were her favorites. The cake had required every lemon in the Vale, but Petyr had promised that he would send to Dorne for more. Alayne I, TWOW

The tourney at Harrenhal is where Ned Stark first met Howland Reed, who became his close friend and ally during Robert's Rebellion. At the tourney, Howland's honor was defended by a mystery knight, the Knight of the Laughing Tree — widely considered to have been Lyanna Stark in disguise.

Sansa’s arc in the Vale closely mirrors her father’s. A mystery knight appearing as an ally to her at the Winged Knights tourney would neatly harmonize with the events at Harrenhal. Regardless of whether or not Sandor Clegane is disguised as Ser Byron via a glamour, it isn’t unreasonable to suspect that he might show up at the Winged Knights tourney.

Back to the song. Sansa is certainly a maid, pure and fair, but does she have honey in her hair?

The color gold is often associated with deception in Sansa’s chapters. This imagery appears directly in relation to Littlefinger:

“We shall serve him lies and Arbor gold, and he’ll drink them down and ask for more, I promise you.” Petyr Baelish, Sansa I, AFFC

Sweetness is also associated with deceit in ASOIAF:

Give me sweet lies, and keep your bitter truths. Tyrion IX, ASOS

Littlefinger often calls Sansa “sweetling” or “my sweet,” particularly when he addresses her as Alayne Stone:

“Alayne,” he said. “My sweet. What brings you here so late?” Petyr Baelish, Alayne I, AFFC

Honey is both gold and sweet. There are plenty of examples of it being associated with deception and pretense throughout the series:

Her mouth tasted of honey and cloves, and her fingers were deft and practiced as they found the fastenings of his clothes. … Tyrion suspected her delight was feigned, but she did it so well that it did not matter. That much truth he did not crave. Tyrion VIII, AGOT

And Joffrey was the soul of courtesy. He talked to Sansa all night, showering her with compliments, making her laugh, sharing little bits of court gossip, explaining Moon Boy’s japes. … Snails in honey and garlic. Sansa had never eaten snails before; Joffrey showed her how to get the snail out of the shell, and fed her the first sweet morsel himself. Sansa II, AGOT

Reek was there too, he remembered, but he was a different Reek, a Reek with bloody hands and lies dripping from his lips, sweet as honey. A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD

So honey can imply deceit. Is there something in Sansa’s hair that is associated with deception?

“It was not meant as flattery. If truth be told, you look too much like Catelyn. Something must be done. We shall darken your hair before we bring you back to the Eyrie, I think.” Darken my hair? “If it please you, Aunt Lysa.” Lysa Arryn, Sansa VI, ASOS

To keep up her disguise as Petyr Baelish’s bastard daughter, Sansa dyes her hair brown:

Alayne had darkened it again last night before she went to bed. The wash her aunt had given her changed her own rich auburn into Alayne’s burnt brown, but it was seldom long before the red began creeping back at the roots. And what must I do when the dye runs out? The wash had come from Tyrosh, across the narrow sea. Alayne I, AFFC

Deep down, at the root, she’s Sansa Stark, not Alayne Stone. Her true identity is constantly creeping back. She can’t keep up the charade forever. This chapter even features a reference to gold in her hair:

In the end she chose a simple velvet ribbon in autumn gold. When Gretchel fetched her Lysa’s silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne’s mass of dark brown hair. Alayne I, AFFC

There are layers to this imagery. Autumn yellow is one of the colors of House Clegane. In this scene, she chooses to wear a simple ribbon rather than the opulent jewelry Littlefinger gave her. The ribbon is certainly a possible reference to Sandor and a hint that she’ll choose his directness and honesty over Petyr’s scheming or any other man. But gold is also the color of honey, and it’s in her hair — perfect with Alayne’s hair, specifically.

As applied to Sansa’s arc, the honey in the song could allude to deception, or lying. And how does the bear find the honey? He smells it:

Sandor Clegane snorted. “Pretty thing, and such a bad liar. A dog can smell a lie, you know.” Sansa II, ACOK

Sansa has gotten better at lying, but if Sandor shows up in the Vale (if he hasn’t already), he’s going to see straight through her disguise.

In the next verses, the bear “lifted her high into the air” while the maid “kicked and wailed.” This imagery is evocative of wife stealing. There are a lot of allusions to wife stealing in Sansa and Sandor’s dynamic. Sandor’s attempt to steal Sansa during the Blackwater failed — he wasn’t worthy of her at the time and couldn’t win her consent, but maybe he’ll do better now that the rage inside him has been gentled.

There is symbolic foreshadowing of a successful attempt at wife stealing by Sandor at the Gates of the Moon in Brienne VI, AFFC. That’s in addition to Littlefinger’s explanation of why Harrold Hardyng is Robert Arryn’s heir:

“The fourth was on her way to the riverlands to marry some Bracken when Burned Men carried her off.” Petyr Baelish, Alayne II, AFFC

Alayne is betrothed to Harry — figuratively “on her way” to marry him. And Sandor is literally a burned man.

The context in which The Bear and the Maiden Fair appears in Sansa I, ASOS is also an important hint at its significance: marriage. The Tyrells and Sansa are discussing Margaery’s upcoming wedding to Joffrey and Sansa’s potential betrothal to Willas. Neither of these marriages actually come to fruition. The Tyrells poison Joffrey the day of the wedding and the Lannisters force Sansa to marry Tyrion. Part of the scene's significance is that the song is associated with marriage — Sansa’s marriage.

In the song, the bear licks the honey from the maid’s hair — an obvious euphemism for oral sex. But if we read it as foreshadowing, this line implies that Sandor Clegane is the key to restoring Sansa Stark’s true identity:

He had come to Sansa in the darkness as green fire filled the sky. He took a song and a kiss, and left me nothing but a bloody cloak. It made no matter. That day was done, and so was Sansa. Alayne II, AFFC

Sandor Clegane and Sansa Stark — the two are connected in her mind. Her true identity is tied to Sandor. If she encounters him again, it will likely force her to reclaim her identity as a Stark and abandon the role of Alayne Stone. Then the deception will literally be rinsed out of her hair.

The lines "Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air" combined with "My bear! She sang. My bear so fair!" have obvious sexual connotations. But these lines also imply that the maid is happy with bear. This is something Sansa deeply desires, even though at this point she’s resigned herself to never having it:

Tyrell or Lannister, it makes no matter, it’s not me they want, only my claim. Sansa III, ASOS

It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love. Sansa VI, ASOS

And now the last lines of the song:

And off they went, from here to there, The bear, the bear and the maiden fair!

Read as foreshadowing, this verse could imply that Sansa is going to leave the Vale with Sandor — but how? And where would they go? Stay tuned for part 2.

[theheirofthesharingan]

tolkien said sam was the chief hero of lord of the rings. also frodo wouldn't have made it out of the shire without him. sam carried frodo on his shoulders in mordor and fought shelob all alone.

tolkien said sam was the chief hero of lord of the rings.

He didn't, apparently. The chief hero quote is a heavily misquoted, perverted phrase LotR fandom has perpetuated without using any critical thinking because it serves their bias. The entire quote, within the context of the letter, means and says something else entirely.

Since we now try to deal with 'ordinary life', springing up ever unquenched under the trample of world policies and events, there are love-stories touched in, or love in different modes, wholly absent from The Hobbit. But the highest love-story, that of Aragorn and Arwen Elrond's daughter is only alluded to as a known thing. It is told elsewhere in a short tale. Of Aragorn and Arwen Undómiel. I think the simple 'rustic' love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) is absolutely essential to the study of his (the chief hero's) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the 'longing for Elves', and sheer beauty. But I will say no more, nor defend the theme of mistaken love seen in Eowyn and her first love for Aragorn. But altogether it would hardly amount to the excision of a single long chapter.

People miss the whole context. Here, the theme is that of Love. The characters in question are Sam (rustic, simple love) being compared to Aragorn (higher, nobler love). Tolkien also mentions Éowyn because of her feelings towards Aragorn. It's not a comparison between Frodo and Sam. LotR is a story about the hobbits and all four serve a purpose in the story. They all start out as fairytale heroes but only three return with a gain. Frodo is the tragic hero of the tale.

Furthermore, in many of his letters, Tolkien talks about Frodo as the central character.

Here is a small consignment of 'The Ring': the last two chapters that have been written, and the end of the Fourth Book of that great Romance, in which you will see that, as is all too easy, I have got the hero into such a fix that not even an author will be able to extricate him without labour and difficulty. Lewis was moved almost to tears by the last chapter. All the same, I chiefly want to hear what you think, as for a long time now I have written with you most in mind. (letter #91).

Many people think since Sam is the only one (physically) present there, Tolkien is talking about Sam; but in truth, the one character who is in 'fix' here is Frodo. The main objective of the story is how will Frodo, with Sam's help, go to Mordor and destroy the Ring. Since Sam abandons the idea of destroying the Ring and chooses to follow Frodo's 'dead body', hence endangering the fate of the world, I doubt it has to be about him. We need Frodo to save the world. And we need Sam to save Frodo. Without Frodo, Middle-earth is doomed and the story and the plot cannot go any further than this.

In another letter to David Masson (1955), Tolkien says this:

'Surely how often "quarter" is given is off the point in a book that breathes Mercy from start to finish: in which the central hero is at last divested of all arms, except his will?

(emphasis is mine)

Frodo is the one who divests himself of all arms. And it's his will that's repeatedly talked about throughout the story. The central hero Tolkien talking about here is him.

In The Silmarillion, Frodo is the only character mentioned from the Fellowship. Gandalf is mentioned as Olórin, not Gandalf. Surely, it's a bird-eye view of LotR, but the sentence that was phrased as 'Frodo with the help of his servant destroyed the ring' could also have been said differently with Sam being in focus instead. In the letter #246, JRRT goes in extreme detail regarding Frodo, his heroism, his contribution to the quest, and his relevance in the story thematically. Frodo was the antithesis of Sauron and fought against him singlehandedly. The battle of wills, not any physical battle. In the Field of Cormallen, both Frodo and Sam are honoured, but Frodo is still bestowed with the highest honour for his service (they sang 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers in his honour). Tolkien's words on this:

Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said). (Letter #192)

also frodo wouldn't have made it out of the shire without him.

It's been many years since I read the book, so my memory might betray me, but if I remember it correctly, Sam helped them in the Old Forest because he was the only not under the spell of the tree (Old Man Willow, I suppose). In other instances Frodo took precautions himself. He knew whom to trust. The rest was handled by Merry and Pippin while they left their home and met Strider. Frodo saved his friends from Barrow Wight at the Downs, was the only one to summon courage enough to get back at the Nazgúl while the other three hobbits were terrified. Are you sure you aren't making any overstatements in your comments?

sam carried frodo on his shoulders in mordor and fought shelob all alone.

His contribution in helping Frodo and getting him to Mordor, even on his shoulder, are undeniable. He has a long list of accomplishments, for which he was generously rewarded in the end. But his accomplishments don't make him the 'true hero of LotR', definitely not greater than Frodo.

I can't recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass. I'm naked in the dark. There's nothing — no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I can see him with my waking eyes.

This was Frodo's condition while they were nearing Orodruin. He still didn't give up. No one else, I repeat no one else, was put through these conditions, not even Sam. There comes a time when the Ring physically forces Frodo to put itself on. He resists it and then finds Galadriel's phial. When Sam carries Frodo on his shoulders, he states Frodo hardly weighed more than a hobbit child. It was either Sam was rewarded for his kindness or Frodo had actually lost so much weight that he didn't even weigh more than a child at that time.

'All gave some and some gave all' is a quote I read somewhere. Frodo was the one who gave all he had. He was the kindest, bravest, and most selfless hobbit. Tolkien might have meant Sam to be the chief hero/main character, but that means that for a 'supporting character', Frodo is far more heroic, relevant to the story, because without him, the story wouldn't even exist.

___

I hope this answer was convincing enough for you, anon. Thanks for reminding me why I grew to dislike LotR fandom so much. Apparently, anything pro Frodo must be responded with "sam is the true hero" and "tolkien said so" without looking at the context of the phrases because it helps you with your own bias.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Off-topic weekend: My top five games of 2023!

Hey folks! How's Splatfest going? I've had mixed success so far, winning two 10x battles but losing a 100x, which evens out, right?

But let's not focus on that, this is the off-topic post of the month, after all. In 2023 I played an unusual amount of brand-new games, and I like talking about the stuff I like, so let's real quick go over my favourite games of the year, in order!

Starting with:

5. Wildfrost

Wildfrost is a roguelike deckbuilder about disparate tribes banding together to fight off a supernatural, eternal snowstorm. Over the course of three areas and many battles you assemble a deck of allies and items, augment them with upgrades, and face off against a whole slew of unique and challenging boss battles. The thing I wanna highlight about this game is just how gorgeous the presentation is. All the character designs are delightful, and the way everything bobs and shakes as you pick cards to play or reposition feels just right. The soundtrack is also a complete slam dunk, using a ton of traditional instruments to help sell the vibes, whether they're cosy like in your hubtown or intense like the battle themes. If you like games like Slay the Spire or Monster Train then this is definitively a game for you.

4. Cocoon

Cocoon is a puzzle game about exploring alien landscapes with tools that are also full-on worlds in themselves. As a little... alien? Moth? Robot? As a little guy, you're tasked with solving a wide variety of puzzles by using differently colored orbs that, when placed on certain pedestals in the environment, opens up portals to entire new realms. Nestling realities within other realities and traveling between them soon becomes a core facet of your problem-solving, and the beauty of Cocoon is that its puzzles thread this extremely thin line where the solution is neither too hard or easy, but will always be very satisfying and frequently mindblowing in the way it makes you bend reality(or realities as the case may be) to your whims. Cocoon is lean, slim, and polished, and likely won't last you more than ten hours, but those ten hours will leave you feeling a smart and satisfied in a way you've never experienced before.

3. Remnant II

In 2019, Remnant: From the Ashes asked a bold question: "What if Dark Souls, but guns?" The answer turned out to be that you got a fun, interesting third-person shooter with defensive play inspired by Fromsoftware's lineage of action RPGs but with a greater emphasis on co-op play and replayability, and in 2023, that game got a sequel that looked to expand on all of its predecessor's most interesting ideas. One of the most impressive things about remnant II is just how much content it has that it doesn't show you, because it's designed around the core idea that every player's first playthrough feels different and so it only shows you a sliver of its hand in every playthrough, confident in its breadth of content to such an extend that the game let's you roll an entire new randomized campaign with a single press of a button. I'll admit that out of everything on this list, Remnant II is probably the most "by-the-numbers" game on this list, in part by virtue of being the only sequel on it, but I had a blast playing this game, and if you're looking for something to play with a friend or two, then I think you will too.

2. Cassette Beasts

Cassette Beasts is a creature-collector RPG in the style of Pokémon, and I actually already wrote a whole post about Cassette Beasts earlier this year, but I want to reiterate that this game is really good. In a lot of ways, it feels like Bytten Studios, the developers of Cassette Beasts, took the formula of the DS-era Pokémon games and utterly perfected it. It's got a big open world for you to explore, deep and snappy 2v2 combat, over 120 monsters, all of which can be fused mid-combat as the ace up your sleeve. Rather than type weaknesses just increasing damage, they inflict various buffs/debuffs that add a lot of complication to battles and force you really consider your team composition. There's adjustable difficulty, including a built-in nuzlocke mode. There a bunch of cool companion characters with their own entire storylines, and most of them you can romance if you'd like. If you like Pokémon or the whole creature-collector RPG genre as a whole, then you need to play Cassette Beasts, because at the moment I really do think it's the king of the genre.

1. Lies of P

Lies of P is an action RPG of the Soulslike variety, taking a stab at replicating the formula that made Fromsoftware and their critically renowned games such a household name. I like Fromsoftware and their games lot, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, and Elden Ring are all pretty high on my list of favourite games of all time for their excellent world design, wonderful atmosphere, and captivating combat. I mention all of this so that you understand that it's a big deal when I say Lies of P is so good that it sometimes beats Fromsoftware at their own game.

It's not a game without flaws. I found the english localization to be awkward and stilted, sometimes to the point of being distracting, and its level design is very simple, especially compared to its peers. What sets Lies of P apart however is that it has the best goddamn combat in the genre. Explaining why I think that would take a lot of time, and this post is running long as is, so to keep things short the gist of it is that Lies of P manages to make your offensive and defensive tools flow into each other seamlessly, with dodges, blocks and parries allowing you to keep up the pressure even as enemies are attacking. Couple that with a ton of different weapons, all with their own special moves, most of which you can take apart and combine with other weapons, and a mechanical left arm that can be equipped with a variety of tools like a flamethrower or a grappling hook, and it results in one of the most nuanced combat systems I've ever seen.

I adore Lies of P. I bought it at the end of December, beat it once, and I am currently doing three more playthroughs with different builds, weapons, and restrictions. I've never enjoyed mastering the systems of a game as much as I have playing Lies of P, and that is ultimately why it's my favourite game of 2023.

And that's the whole list! I hope something I featured here caught your attention, and I'm very curious to know what y'all's favourite games of 2023 were, so go ahead and tell me below, if you'd like. Happy continued FrostyFesting!

[chounaifu]

I’m really glad that those asks I sent out are being well-received. There’s still a few more that I need to write up, but, I’m pacing myself. :’)

Thoughts about my own current state beneath the cut, since my therapist always encourages me to open up to the people in my space. Some of it can be potentially triggering, so, please do not open if the discussion of trauma, stalking and abuse is harmful to you:

I’ve been vocal about the horrifying, traumatic stuff that caused me to leave the RPC in 2017, to a few of you before. Without going into deep detail, between the years of 2017-2021, I was trapped in an extremely, extremely abusive relationship with a member of the RPC who is no longer here, thank fuck. Because of my poor coping skills and extremely fragile mental health at the time, he managed to keep me in a social isolation until I finally left him in 2021. And I mean true social isolation; I wasn’t allowed to talk to anybody but him. (I literally had to lie and pretend like I was having internet troubles if I even wanted to open up another chat box on Discord to talk to somebody, because he would literally point out the amount of minutes it took for me to respond to him.) He tracked my location in real time with GPS. He controlled what I ate when we spent time together irl. He forced me to quit one of my jobs before, because he wasn’t pleased with how busy I was. Any free time I had, had to be given to him. I had no identity, no autonomy, no sense of self.

Since I left him in 2021, I’ve been in a long process of learning how to be a human being again, how to exist around multiple people, and how to monitor my energy levels. It’s been hard, and, there’s a lot of times where I have to learn that I am adapting to an entirely new way of life. I used to be able to write a lot of thread replies, ask replies, and drabbles in a short period of time, but, my brain just does not do that anymore. And it makes me sad, but, I know that my RP partners understand my situation.

I cannot emphasis how much going from *one* person to— well, a lot of good friends has been good for me, but also a difficult experience in itself, because I’m still fighting with my own hypersensitivity and paranoia.

Choosing to come back here was one of the scariest decisions I have ever made. And, even though I don’t vocalize it, I actively fight trauma responses every single time I open Tumblr— not because anybody is doing anything to me, but because the experience I went through was so deep.

That’s why I’ve been trying to take a minute to sit down, and send some nice words to everybody. You never know what somebody is going through. *Nobody* knew what I was going through, because I hid it so well— because I was forced to. We’re all human beings, on this rock, and we all chose to sit here and write, whether because it is a coping mechanism, something we’re passionate about, or because it’s simply fun. And I think that’s really, really beautiful.

I don’t think I’m ever going to be the same, energetic Rex that I once was. And I wish I could be. But that is okay.

So, for the people who welcomed me back, and remembered me: thank you for accepting my return, and accepting my apology.

And for the people who didn’t know me, who have become my friend lately: thank you for giving me a chance.

I’ve lost a lot of people, both friends and family, in the past decade or so. Nobody can fill those gaps, but, you guys make me feel a lot less lonely. Believe it or not, I don’t have many friends irl, and I really don’t know what I would be doing with myself right now if I hadn’t chosen to come back to Tumblr.

I wish there was more I could do to help uplift everybody who has been having a difficult time lately, I really, really do. But, at the end of the day, I cannot; what I can do, is point out that there’s at least *one* person out there who wants to see the best happen for you.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I just want to be a good person, despite of the horrible things I was called by my abuser, and I hope I am doing that.

[nonsubstantial]

FEBRUARY 2024 ART FASCINATION DIARY

If you missed my post last month, then I'll briefly explain that I thought it would be fun to write a short diary post each month, about the art that I've been obsessed with. Then, I can easily look back and remember what was making me happy all throughout 2024. If you are reading this, then I hope you will enjoy hearing about these things, or checking them out too!!!

MEMOIR / AUDIOBOOK: The Anthropocene Reviewed is John Green's memoir, framed as a collection of reviews of seemingly random aspects of 'the current geologic age'. I want to note that I had never finished any other John Green book, so I was going into this one as more of a hater than a fan. However, I was unexpectedly moved by it and now consider it one of the greatest books I've ever experienced. I also want to note that listening to the audiobook, narrated by John Green himself, really added a lot to the experience (including two additional chapters). Despite the subject matter being intensely personal, the genius of this memoir is that, by framing it as a collection of reviews, John Green is able to place greater emphasis on things outside of himself. Rather than just narrating his singular experiences, he creates a memoir to celebrate and sympathize with all life on planet Earth. It is informative and humbling— fascinating and earnest. I want to highly recommend this book (or audiobook) to everyone, because I feel like it will genuinely enrich your soul. There are chapters that will probably make you cry, but in a way that is healing and constructive. I give The Anthropocene Reviewed... 5 stars.

REALITY / GAME SHOW: RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 started in January of 2024, and has remained as my favorite thing on television for these past two months. It's another example of something that I had no interest in, until I was forced to watch it, and then it became one of my favorite things ever. Obviously, take all reality television with a grain of salt, but if you can do that then it's extremely inspiring to see the immense amount of talent that every contestant brings to the runway. I'm not really into fashion, but even I can appreciate the blend of comedy, creativity, and practiced technique that's on display here. These performers really do tell stories with their drag, and I look at the artform much differently than I did before I started watching. It has made every Saturday something to look forward to, and if you've never checked it out before, then I've got to recommend it.

MUSIC: my favorite album of February was 「Wall Of Eyes」 This is actually a new album, by a band called The Smile, that was released in the final week of January, and I only heard about it because Vinny Vinesauce featured it on one of his streams. If you've heard of Radiohead, then you'll at least recognize the singer, Thom Yorke (although the three person band also features Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, and drummer Tom Skinner). Despite The Smile seeming (at first) like just a side project of a couple Radiohead members, let me honestly admit that I have never connected with any Radiohead album as much as I've connected with this. I truly think every song on this album is incredible, and I listened to it front to back almost every day this February. Its genre is hard to describe, and maybe that's where some of the magic lies. It's light and acoustic, soft and jazzy... beautiful, but also a little tense and attention grabbing at times. As usual, I'd recommend just listening if you're curious about it at all, with my favorite song linked HERE!

MANGA: I was able to read a few more volumes of Dungeon Meshi this month, and I feel like it might soon claim the title of the single best manga I've ever read. Honestly, it's got it all. The themes, the artwork, the characters, the pacing, the paneling, the story's structure... I'm not exaggerating when I say that any way I look at this manga to critique it, I find excellence. In everything, there is deliberate ingenuity and soul. I will reveal that there is less focus on cooking, and more focus on worldbuilding as the story goes on, but I'm not even disappointed by that because everything it dishes out is still so good. I'm serious about this, especially if you're watching the show, try to find some copies of this manga or read it online. It's absolutely worth it.

[gazeofseer]

Hello! Hope you're doing well! May I participate in your free reading event?

My status: Single

What do I except from a partner:

Someone who can Balance me out and when I can do the same.

I really put emphasis on give and take, at equal amounts, so not someone who spoils me endlessly, not someone who doesn't give at all. Also I believe communication is the key, I want them to provide the comfort space where I can confide in them, where they can do the same.

And, I value emotional connection the most, someone I can relate to, someone I can provide my full support, someone who can utilize my support

Although it all seems extremely, umm sophisticated, I just want someone who gets me like no one else, someone I can love without holding back

Hehe that's all! Thank you!

I see you look more beautiful in pink, it is your go to color especially the pastel ones

Is also because you are dreaming too much, and i understand your concern when all you have must not go in vain

It won't there will be someone who will entering into your life following this march where things will grow from strangers to knowing to friends ( Rest Dream you have says the next )

Focus on the flaws of you when you are upset because this can push people off the edge to go like, seriously?

Practice self talking and reflection this will ground your thoughts and dreams well in your heart !

Message : Ground your dreams with the faith of having a profound love story ahead !

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Venus enters Sagittarius

Wednesday, November 16 - Saturday, December 10, 2022

As I warned in my weekly forecast, this is probably going to engender within us all some “holiday spirit.” We’re in more of a forgiving, indulgent mood, and we want to go whole-hog with the decorating!

Art - national styles of folk art, of course. Religious themes. This is a good time to try something new, artistically, provided we don’t do any cultural appropriation.

Beauty - very natural looks, and very ethnic looks. Long hair, like a horse’s mane.

Love - Sagittarius has sometimes been called “the bachelor sign,” perhaps due to the typical mutable-sign commitment-phobia. Venus here can also over-commit, in her excess of high spirits. We can be extremely generous with our loved ones, which leads us to….

Money - can be completely profligate. Can also luck out. We can get really sloppy about recording our finances.

Twenty-five days isn’t the longest amount of time for Venus to do much lasting damage. But, we’re likely to start something that mushrooms beyond all recognition. And the most likely time to get into trouble is the week of November 28-December 4, when Venus (along with Mercury/Sag) will oppose Mars and square Ceres and Neptune - there’s potential for much romantic confusion if we aren’t careful.

There’s another “situation” possible over December 8-9, when Venus squares Jupiter. Beware excesses.

And as far as holiday spirit goes: by the time the holidays actually arrive, Venus will be in Capricorn. Quieter celebrations with more of an emphasis on the spiritual pieces, rather than the capitalist consumer pieces.

[carterkeller1234]

2/14/24: Sailor Moon, Beautiful Fighting Girl, and Girl Power

Sailor Moon: I'm so glad that we get to cover yet another classic piece of Japanese media that has had profound impact on the medium as a whole with Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon. The series follows the misadventures of Usagi, a compassionate teenage girl who discovers she's the reincarnation of a powerful warrior named Sailor Moon. This leads to her having many misadventures and battles with these newly discovered abilities, a stereotypical set up for a manga of this era, but with many more aspects that make it stand alone in its field. What I mean by this can best be identified with how the series handles female empowerment and identity, with it focusing on a teenage schoolgirl that transforms into a superheroine, with that very concept effectively challenging stereotypes and trend that femininity and traits like courage and strength are not mutually exclusive. This emphasis on the ideal of female pride and strength is an extremely significant theme that can be bogged down at times in this medium as it usually follows male characters to appeal to the majority population of male manga readers. Aside from that theme of gender identity and empowerment, the series also explores the standard "shonen" ideals like the themes of friendship and teamwork, the ever-present battle of good and evil, and of course in Usagi's case her story of coming-of-age.

Beautiful Fighting Girl and Girl Power: These were both great reads on the analysis and development of the "fighting girls" genre that is still a strongly followed subset of manga even today. With works like Kill La KIll, Madoka Magica, and many others still providing female role models of strength and courage, alongside female villains, showcasing diversity and a breaking down of walls that females can be more than just love interests or side characters. It's interesting to note the amount of empowerment that is present in Sailor Moon but at the same is still muddied by the sexualization of the female characters, with it being in poor taste as a lot of the main cast is in middle school. So while it is important to note that this manga has been a force of positive change in the roles of females in manga, it still has the same issues that are perpetuated by the obnoxious tropes of the medium.

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

Expectations of French Filmmaking During the Occupation

Julia Merolle

     Based on the Greene, Misek, and Sadoul readings regarding topics in poetic realism, cinema during the occupation, and Cocteau as a filmmaker, I expect to learn a lot from watching the two films that I picked this week. The first film I chose was La Regle du Jeu more commonly known as Rules of the Game directed by Jean Renoir, which was released in 1939. and the second film that I chose was La Belle et le Bete more commonly known as Beauty and the Beast directed by Jean Cocteau, which was released in 1946. All the readings that related to both of these films were really informative and made me even more excited to watch the films this week.

     The first reading was from Georges Sadoul, which focuses on Jean Cocteau and how he directed La Belle et la Bete during the time of the occupation. The quote states, “During the Occupation, poetic and fantastic films had been almost obligatory for directors who did not want to deal with reality as it existed under German control. This genre now seems to be disappearing. Its last expression was Jean Cocteau's brilliant, glacial La Belle et la bête.” (page 243). This quote shows me that films such as Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bete disappeared, especially after the German control ended, which makes sense for this film since it was released in 1946, a year after the war ended. This quote also makes me feel as if the film tries to distract the audience from the terrors of the war, especially those committed by the Nazis who took control of the France film industry for a short amount of time.

     The second reading was from Naomi Greene, which focuses on the Rules of the Game and Jean Renoir. The quote from this reading states, “To a certain extent, of course, the emphasis interrelationship between life and theater recalls Renoir's pre-war films, particularly La Regle du jeu. But, once again, later films reveal an enormous shift of emphasis. In Renoir, the dialectic between theater and life, to put it somewhat simplistically, was a balanced one: in La Regle du jeu, for example, the roles the characters played in masquerades, and those they assumed in life, shed light on each other, while the film itself commented, with a kind of lucid nostalgia, on the ways we assume roles in society. In the films made during the Occupation, the emphasis has shifted in favor of theater, eclipsing the dialectic at the core of Renoir's theater. Characters have become the roles they play, "true" identity has disappeared. Even in films where the interweaving of life and theater is not an explicit theme, it is clear that everyone has assumed a role, that the "true” self, even if that exists, is hidden.” (page 443-444). Similarly to Cocteau’s film, La Belle et la Bete, this quote also shows that Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game was different because of the films made during the occupation, and how emphasis moved from theater and masquerades to losing its sense of identity in these films, which is saddened because people were once again distracted from the terrors happening in the real world at the time that this film came out, which was in 1939. When watching this film later on, I will pay attention to this and see the lost identity in the film.

     Lastly, the final reading was from Richard Misek, which focuses on Jean Cocteau once again, and something that I found really important was that he kept a diary during filming and consistently wrote in it. A quote from this reading by Misek states, “From the evidence of the diary he kept during the filming of La Belle et la Bête, Cocteau seems to have believed that he was making an avant-garde work. Many of his artistic choices seem to have been made as an explicit response to conventional visual ideology.” (page 7). This reading is extremely important because it shows that Cocteau thought he was making avant-garde work when in reality he really wasn’t and instead thought of himself as an amateur filmmaker, who was making Beauty and the Beast seeing as how it was a fairytale from years prior. Additionally, the reading, also states that Cocteau didn’t want any camera movements, making him seem less avant-garde than he thought he was.

     In conclusion, after analyzing the different readings from Greene, Misek, and Sadoul, I expect to see these films as more of a distraction to what was happening with World War II, which was again happening at the same time that these films were being made. This is also important to point out, especially since the Nazis did have control of France for a temporary period during this time. It will be interesting to see how these films are different from ones I have watched previously from this time period and how Cocteau and Renoir are as filmmakers.

Sources:

Greene, Naomi. Mood and Ideology in the Cinema of Vichy France, about.jstor.org/oa-and-free/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2023. 

Misek, Richard, et al. “Senses of Cinema.” Senses of Cinema, 18 Oct. 2018, www.sensesofcinema.com/2004/great-directors/cocteau/. 

Sadoul, Georges. The Postwar French Cinema - JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1209394. Accessed 23 Oct. 2023. 

[diinferi]

ORIGIN

[THE FIGHTER] National championships, martial arts exhibitions, the perfection of lost arts. All of these are your claims to fame. You’ve excelled at the physical skills, becoming a cultural icon. You more than likely know one or more classical combat styles, and could teach them to others. You probably would, after Z­day.

PERKS

[FINESSE] Your bodily coordination is perfect, to the point that you can dodge bullets by the smallest of margins­ if you’re aware of them. With this perk, you have the grace and poise of an olympic gymnast or world­ renowned dancer, no matter what form or figure you have. Every motion is a work of art.

[FASHION] Your clothing and entire body acquire defensive properties equal to the most superior protective items you have currently equipped. Emphasis on protective item­ an iron or steel ring won’t give you metal ­tough skin­ the minimum is things like knee pads from extreme sports, helmets­ even an apron would count, though all that’d do is protect you from the dangers of a kitchen…

[FUNCTION] You have a definitive grasp of your chosen skill sets, and this commitment to excellence propagates through your entire being. As a base effect, this perk grants national tournament levels of mastery in a specific martial art, including close combat weapon styles. You also have mastery over the unarmed aspects of those styles. (Swordsmen are trained to fight without swords too, after all). The secondary benefit, is that as long as you maintain one skill, all other skills in that category do not degrade from lack of use. In fact, you see a small increase in overall competence­ gains in a primary skill show a modest improvement in other related skills. This perk functions on categories; martial arts improve martial arts, while culinary arts improve culinary arts, and so on.

[FORM] To be a peerless warrior, you need more than personal skill. You need awareness of the world around you, of all the things and beings, down to the texture of the air itself. This perk improves your environmental awareness and allows you to break down any street ­level combat situation into its component parts. Because of your environmental sense, you may maneuver at full speed with only an image or quick glance at a location. Blindness, Deafness or other non balance sensory disruption has no effect. You also will never trip on any surface or obstacle you have present knowledge of. You are automatically aware of any opponent who is not actively hidden, and know all the likeliest hiding places based on what you know of your foes. This tactical mastery and mental breakdown tells you the most dangerous individuals relative to your own position and objectives. You will have an objective sense of their threat level, though you might not know why they’re threatening. This means you can pick between people with concealed weapons or without.

[HARD TARGET] You’re a tough nut to crack­ because you know how to wear armor effectively! This perk ensures that any armor or protective gear you wear feels comfortable and doesn’t get in your way no matter how bulky or awkward it seems. Further, your skills make rips and breaks in the armor much less likely, and far easier to repair. One of Them won’t down you with a lucky one­bite hit!

[THE GUNSHOW] You are fit, sleek and toned, just what you need to survive in a chaotic apocalyptic world. This perk improves your endurance, changing how you respond to exertion. You can move or work faster and harder the longer you’ve spent exerting yourself, like the reverse of being out of breath. Your actual endurance has not changed­ you’ll get tired in the same amount of time, but you’ll be working at your peak right up until you collapse. As an added effect, you look good no matter how hard you’ve been exerting yourself. Better even. Perspiration is always flattering, and the way your hair gets tousled during bursts of high action is a thing of beauty.

GEAR

[COMBAT OUTFIT] It looks like a blend of a school uniform, a soldier’s tactical gear, and maybe some sports equipment. Regardless, it is surprisingly flattering and easy to wear. The armored parts will provide good protection against Them or other things that can bite or claw you. If damaged, it will repair itself overnight.

[COMBAT SPEARHEAD] This is an 8” long, razor sharp knife with a serrated back edge. It’s heavy but easy to carry and wield as a combat weapon or a normal tool. It can be used as a pry bar without risk of breakage. More importantly, the hilt comes with a mounting brace that can attach to either a pole of some kind, creating a spear, or the barrel of a gun like a bayonet. In both cases, the combined weapon will not break, dull or get stuck in an opponent.

[SOUL OF THE SAMURAI] Normally, a sword requires careful care and ritual to keep it in condition­ cleaning to prevent rust, regular sharpening, replacing bindings­ not this katana. You could cut slabs of solid steel with your katana. Thrice as sharp and thrice as hard as any mundane blade, it basically does everything any other sword could do three times better. You can explicitly use this blade to bisect a man with a simple vertical slash, to say nothing of how easy a decapitation would be­ you wouldn’t even feel the resistance. Even though it’s three times harder, it won’t ever shatter or dull. That was dealt away with somewhere in the mystical process of being folded over a million times in construction. This is, quite simply, the best sword the world has ever seen.

[NOT-QUITE-OMICON] This tome is bound with a thread that isn’t human hair, and covered with leather that isn’t human skin. Really! It just looks like that, because someone, somewhere, is tasteless. It’s just a prop. Seriously. It has infinite pages­ that look like vellum­ but not a drop of ink is anywhere in the book. Opening the book with a subject in mind will cause the correct page be opened to. Killing can fix that. Every time you kill something, a page fills itself out, providing a detailed and insightful analysis of your victim, with conjecture as to what will be common to a ‘species’, how to recognize more, and how to best injure, maim, or kill them. By touching the book to the body, or splashing a bit of their blood (or blood­alike) on their page, the breakdown is widely expanded, as if a dissection (or vivisection) was performed to truly understand all they would have been capable of. Ominously, as you fill the pages, you can’t help but notice a certain organizational system. It’s less like the book is adding information, more like it’s being revealed to you, and the book already knew…

[I’M FEELING LUCKY!] When society falls apart, you can’t just Google or Wikipedia for the answers for random­ yet horribly important­ knowledge. Luckily for you, you have the Ultimate Pocket Encyclopedia. If you think about a subject while you open it, you’ll find a complete entry on the subject. It’s accuracy, relevance, and detail will be the equivalent of using the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky!’ feature of the Google search engine.

[SHOOTER’S GAUNTLETS] You have in your possession a pair of custom made forearm guards with the option to have fully gloved hands, fingerless gloves, your index finger fully exposed, or some combination of the above. Looking like a tactical badass aside, as protection these bracers offer the standard benefits against hand to hand and head­-to-­hand attacks. More importantly, they improve your resilience against powder burns, chemical burns, explosive damage and so on. This is a combination of the armor protecting your arms, and it granting you a steadier hand when using firearms or explosives. If you need to set up a claymore mine, measure out a drop of nitroglycerin, or overload a rifle round, these gloves will make sure nothing blows up. And if it does, you won’t get burned.

[THEM ​DEFENSE KIT] This sleek, incredibly tactical roll­away bag has everything you need to survive in the field, medically speaking. Inside is a constantly replenishing supply of ointments, clean bandages and sterile field surgical tools. As long as it’s nothing like an organ injury or internal bleeding, this kit has what you need to fix it.

COMPLICATIONS

[BIOHAZARD] There are more things out there than just Them... By taking this complication, Their ranks will be punctuated by mutants and abominations, violent and horrible variations on humans somehow optimized for hunting humans. They’ll be faster, stronger, tougher and stranger than you can imagine. Combat will be much more difficult. Prepare accordingly. If you are one of Them, the survivors quickly arm themselves with better and more exotic weapons.

[EMP] In the face of crisis, the world leaders have fallen back on some of their most terrifying weapons. They believe the ongoing chaos is the work of rival nations and fear has gripped the governments of Earth. Fortunately for the world, cooler heads among the lower ranks have ensured that nuclear weapons, when deployed, are set for tactical EMP burst and not city­busting. As a result, fallout is negligible as is structural damage. However, as a part of this complication, a nuclear weapon/EMP device will be detonated above whatever city you happen to be in, immediately destroying any active unprotected electronics, along with a lot of inactive ones. This occurs every 5­-6 months. If you are one of Them, a city is reclaimed from the hordes every six months. Try not to be inside the city limits when the kill teams arrive.

CONTINUATION

[CARRY ON] After these ten years, it’s been a trip and you’ve learned a lot about yourself, what you’re willing to do to survive, and what you’re not willing to do. Going forward, you’re that much tougher, but also that much more humane. Ish. Still, there’s all kinds of worlds left to explore!

[angelinaaspires]

Virtual sketchbook 2 !

JOURNALING               

Unity and verity is a principle that are extremely important because they can both work together to balance the piece of art. This particular principle of design helps to expand the creative factor while pronouncing its complementary elements. Unity communicates a complete feeling and lacks diverse elements. Verity on the other had expands the amount of unique and diverse elements, it’s almost the opposite of unity in the that it draws in more expression.

2. Balance is critical in many forms of art because of how many viewers receive it. there is a natural human desire for balance, when we experience a piece of art and it has balance we are more likely to find it visually appealing. Another important aspect of balance is the fact that most artist find ways to incorporate this principle with out the obviousness of exact parallels.   

3. Emphasis and subordination is almost a form of balance because when the two work together they can level out a piece of art. Emphasis helps to draw in the viewers  focus to a specific area, while subordination creates array of other visual elements that capture your attention in a less intense way. when used together they complement each other by having a main focal point, and other less prominent features. 

4. Directional forces are suggested lines or purposeful elements that direct the viewers eye to a particular places. Directional forces used to provide many different visual dynamics to help spotlight certain areas of an art piece. 

5. Repetition and rhythm is used in in various ways in art. Repetition is mainly used to embrace unity as well as providing themes in patterns .rhythm is key for having flow and displaying consistency. 

6. Scale and preparation are vital when it comes to art because of the impact they have on how the piece will be perceived. scale is basically an adjustment of size, the scale at which a peice of art is or how much space it can take up plays an important role. scale is a diverse principle because it can hold various meanings, for different artist/viewers. Proportion goes hand-in-hand with scale, and when both are used together they can create illusions or realistic scenarios.

WRITING AND LOOKING -  I chose Edward Hoopers (1939) painting, titled New York movie . This painting has much to do with shading and contrast in order to fulfill the look of movement. it also defines the cinemas ambience with smooth contours . The painter uses thickly painted lines to intensify bold and strong portions such as the walls and ceiling.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Another thing to note is the color palette that he uses to set the tone of the evening, cool dark shades in the center of the theater and warmer yellow tones toward the light. 

CONNECTING ART TO YOUR WORLD - I find that color can be taken for granted very easily, but we are reminded of its beauty when we see a vibrant piece of art or a uniquely colored flower. Color has impacted me throughout my life in various ways, but I would say the most important is through the beauty of nature. Being able to enjoy looking out at the water or simply taking a picture of a butterfly can uplift your spirit almost immediately. 

Prism Window by Angelina Smith

[itsbulkgemstones]

Story About Gray Moonstone

"Welcome to the World of Gray Moonstone"

 A gray moonstone stone that allows you to see Beyond the veil. Gray Moonstone is a powerful Stone that aids you to enter the undiscovered realms. Gray Moonstone is also known as "New Moon Stone" and is the symbol for the mystery and power that are associated with The New Moon, where all things are possible. This Gemstone is an extremely powerful magnifier of your intention and is able to help you create new ideas out of the void.

It is a Gemstone with a decent amount of energy. The Gemstone has a long-standing history and there are many stories about it from various Countries. It was used as a present to those who were in the top position or who held a certain standing. Also, this Stone is used in ceremonies of religious significance and fortune-telling. It is a stone with the properties and meaning of solving issues correctly. If you are looking to cleanse your energy, or get an angelic message this Moonstone is the right Gemstone to possess. It is a Gemstone that has the powers of a Goddess and the energies that is Love as well as Healing is condensed into it.

Know the Origin!

 It shares the same properties as White Moonstone, with extra emphasis on the mystical aspects of the stone's attributes. It's also known as"the "New Moon Stone." it is the most sought-after stone used by Psychics and shamans as well as other spiritualists. It is found across Madagascar, Australia, Myanmar, India, Poland, the United States, Sri Lanka, Armenia, and Mexico. In the Art Nouveau period, this Moonstone was rediscovered in its popularity. Many jewelers throughout Europe, the US, and Europe began to use Moonstone once more.

It was utilized as Roman Jewelry since the year 100 AD. Ancient Greeks along with Romans both linked the Stone to moon goddesses. The Gemstone originates from the family of minerals called feldspar that is abundant throughout the world, however, high-end gem-quality Gray Moonstone is decent and will get better with time. Gray Moonstone found its way into Jewelry throughout time, but it wasn't until around the century that this Stone became a recognizable and important central point. Prior to the Art Nouveau Era, Gray Moonstone was commonly employed to create a smaller accent stone.

Let's discuss my quality, use, and Purity!

 It is a Gemstone with a decent amount of energy. The Gemstone has a long and rich history and there are numerous stories about it from various Countries. It was used as a gift for individuals with power or Standing and is used in religious ceremonies and fortune-telling. If you're looking to cleanse their energies or receive messages from the sky It is a good Stone to own. Gray Moonstone has the quality to assist you in dealing with your emotions with ease. It is often used by people who tend to have multiple kinds of emotions. It assists in releasing your energy slowly before it becomes overwhelming. You can use it as an amulet to ease stress.

It is most famous for its Schiller effect which is when light bounces off the two kinds of feldspar used to make this Stone, orthoclase, and albite. The two minerals are raised in layers of alternating thickness and a process known as adolescence takes place when light hits the two minerals, albite, and orthoclase. The ancient Indians believed that in India, Gray Moonstone was the most beautiful stone. The power of Gray Moonstone as a Love Stone made it useful as a wedding present and was believed to aid in reconciling distant Lovers. The story of the Gray Moonstone's origins in India is based on the belief that from the beginning of time, the Moonstone was placed on the forehead of the god of the moon in India, Chandra.

A high-quality Gray Moonstone should be nearly transparent and without inclusions as it is. Inclusions can be viewed as interfering with the adolescent process. The most prominent inclusions within Gray Moonstone include tiny tension cracks, which are also known as centipedes. We were named after them because they look like those slim, long creatures that have numerous legs. Gray Moonstone might be Shaped into Beads to make Strands however, the most popular cut style is the Cabochon the form that shows its amazing colors or color to its greatest benefit.

Moonstone Cabochons are typically Oval however, cutters may offer Cabochons with interesting shapes like the sugar-loaf-shaped tapered Cabochon with the square base. If the Gray Moonstone is cut as a Cabochon it is important that the measurements be even and the profile should not be too flat, as flat Cabochons aren't able to display sheen properly and are of little worth. Faceted Gray Moonstones are now becoming increasingly popular. The cut increases the brilliance of the stone and can hide any inclusions visible. Gray Moonstone is a stone that has been used over the Centuries and its distinctive characteristics have always held a particular attraction.

It is my job to be a healer!

It is believed to possess numerous emotional and intuitive properties. It is believed to have many emotional and intuitive properties. Gemstone assists in tapping into the gentle qualities that are associated with Love as well as Peace specifically in the case of someone who must shut off their feelings in order to protect themselves. Gray Moonstone helps bring out an intense response, which brings emotions back to those who have been completely numb. But Gary Moonstone is protective as well and can let a person open up in the way they're capable, but not too much that they feel overwhelmed. Gray Moonstone naturally helps compassion and tenderness to unfold in a healthy manner.

This capacity to boost empathy can make this Moonstone beneficial for those who are in positions of leadership, management, and coaching as well as to keep them connected to the people they have to lead as well as make choices for. If you are already feeling the need to express your feelings, this Moonstone could bring back old old emotions that require work through. This Stone assists in calming fears and smoothing out hormone-driven Mood swings. Moonstone is a stone that helps to calm the nervous system. Moonstone is a stone that can bring out warmth in the body.

[marinaelaine]

A Great Timeline

      Throughout the years of time, art has had the opportunity to grow and progress, while changing the course of history in the process. The advancements in art throughout time, from the prehistoric Paleolithic period until the Late Medieval period in Italy, brought about ways in which both self-expression and identity could be discovered and portrayed through art while also celebrating cultural and religious beliefs. 

      Beginning at approximately 33,000 to 30,000 BCE in what is considered the Paleolithic Period, some of the first examples of paintings and engravings by humans were created. Covering the walls of the Chauvet Cave in southern France are hundreds of paintings and engravings featuring handprints, geometric patterns, and over 400 representations of different animal species. The prehistoric creators of these works of art scraped their wall canvases clean before utilizing charcoal, manganese dioxide, and hematite to create forms of paint. In a time in which language, ideas, techniques, and cultures were still forming, the paintings of the Chauvet Cave show that the people of the Paleolithic Period respected and valued the beauty of nature. The handprints on the walls provide one of the very first representations of a sense of identity. While it remains a subject of debate, there is the possibility that the paintings of the cave have symbolic and religious importance, and that the art might have played an important role.  

      The Sumerian culture of Mesopotamia excelled greatly in forms of art such as pottery, sculpting, weaving, and the creation of large architectural structures called ziggurats. Religious values and beliefs were of extreme importance, something that is reflected in both the artwork and architecture of the Sumerian people. The votive figures known as The Sumerian Worshipers from the Temple of Tell Asmar date from approximately 2900 to 2600 BCE. Crafted from limestone, alabaster, and gypsum, each has its own individualized size and appearance, yet all stand in the same solemn upright stance. The large, focused eyes display the attentive and respectful gaze towards the deities that they believed in and were dedicated to worshipping.  

      Some of the Sumerian votive figures that have been recovered have names inscribed on them, a portrayal of individuality incorporated with celebrating religious beliefs. The votive figures of this time period are an early example of religious sculptures, an inspiration for the advancements in religious art that were yet to come.

      The Egyptian people had a fierce devotion to their rituals and beliefs, especially when it came to the event of death. To the Egyptians, death was not considered to be the end, and a great amount of time went into the creation of individual tombs and coffins to help the deceased on their way to the afterlife. The paintings within Egyptian tombs show the clear devotion that Egyptians had to their rituals and beliefs, and the hopefulness and determination that they had to achieve their goal of eternal life.  

      Located in Thebes in the Valley of the Queens, Queen Nefertari’s tomb is considered to be the largest, most well-known, and exquisitely embellished tomb of the site. A woman well ahead of her time, Queen Nefertari was very educated and highly active in the diplomacy of her country. In the tomb painting Queen Nefertari Playing Senet dated from approximately 1279 to 1213 BCE, Nefertari is sitting playing the game of senet while dressed in her regal attire. The complicated game involves thirty squares which can help or hinder a player’s progression to winning against their opponent. When shown in a tomb, the squares symbolically correlate to the assistance or threats that a person might face while on their way to the afterlife. Nefertari is shown playing senet alone, illustrating her independent struggle and fierce determination to win on her journey through life and achieving immortality.  

      Known for their Classical art and emphasis on honoring gods or the achievements of rulers, the Greeks could at times focus on softer, more personal art. To honor their dead, the Greeks would use stone slabs called stelai (singular is referred to as stele) and carve images of the person to be remembered for use at the burial site in the cemetery. Marble grave stele of a young woman and servant circa 400 to 390 BCE portrays the typical Classical Greek style, but in a more intimate way. A woman is shown leaning in a pose potentially inspired by Aphrodite. Standing beside her with a jewelry box is a younger, smaller girl with her hair cut short in mourning. There is a tenderness between the two, insinuating that there is a possibility that they are sisters rather than mistress and servant. The Greek people were able to show individualized depictions of lost loved ones, while still honoring their gods and cultural beliefs in regard to death. 

      The Qin Dynasty ushered in China’s first emperor, Shihuangdi. Shortly after taking over the throne, Emperor Shihuangdi began the construction of his large tomb which took almost four decades to complete. Though the tomb blends in with the lush natural landscape from the outside, the inside consists of several thousand terracotta soldiers complete with 100 wooden chariots. The soldiers stand ready for battle, some with remaining traces of bronze or wooden weapons. Each soldier has a similar yet different face, with each having slightly unique and abstracted physical or facial features. Emperor Shihuangdi is said to have had hundreds of thousands of men in his army that protected his empire. Even in death, his terracotta soldiers proudly and symbolically stood to guard and protect their ruler and his final resting place. The Chinese were exceptionally skilled and achieved great artistic and technological advancements that have been beneficial contributions to the world. Shihuangdi’s mausoleum of soldiers brings the cultural belief of protecting the spirit into an exceptionally lifelike and artistically revolutionary portrayal. 

      Portrait of a Married Couple (Terentius Neo and Wife) from approximately 75 CE illustrates the advancement of personal portraits in the era of Imperial Rome. Instead of the ideal proportions and features of the Classical style, the lineaments of the couple are extremely lifelike. From the spacing of the eyes, to the shapes of the ears and mouths, it is safe to assume that this wall painting resembles what the pair would have looked like in actuality.  

Not only do the physical characteristics of the pair create a more personalized work of art, but the objects that they hold in their hands also signify even more about them in a subtle way. Terentius Neo holds a scroll, displaying his academic achievements. His wife holds a writing tablet with a stylus, demonstrating her abilities to read and write. This portrait is of two educated individuals that were proud of their accomplishments and were able to express it through art. It is also worth noting that this portrait shows a wife at the same level as her husband, something relatively rare for the time period. Rather than being painted smaller in the hierarchal scale or shown without her writing utensils, she was shown as the intelligent and equal woman that she was.  

      In the Basilica of San Vitale located in Ravenna, Italy, the south wall of the apse features the impressive mosaic Empress Theodora and her Attendants from the year 547 CE. San Vitale contains some of the largest, most intricate, and best-preserved mosaics of the Early Byzantine period. While Emperor Justinian was an avid church builder, Empress Theodora was the main driving force behind the design and construction. Her place in prominent artwork that mirrors the mosaic of  Emperor Justinian and his Attendants, located on the north wall, displays both her regal importance and influence. Dressed in royal purple with a nimbus around her head to symbolize her power, Empress Theodora is shown bringing offerings to Jesus Christ.  

      The mosaics throughout the Basilica of San Vitale follow the theme of offering, something of great importance to the Christian religion. Empress Theodora and her Attendants, along with the other mosaics of San Vitale, portray self-expression and identity as well as the high regard that religious beliefs were held.

      Considered to be “the first great monument of Islamic art,” the Dome of the Rock was created at the location where Muhammad is said to have been lifted to Heaven. The rock is also believed to be the site in which God created Adam, the place in which Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his son, as well as the location of the temple of Solomon. While it is of great importance to the Muslim people due to Muhammad, it also is significant to those of the Jewish and Christian faiths as well due to these other biblical stories. Completed in 691, the Dome of the Rock is the Islamic religion’s way of honoring itself and its beliefs through architecture. With its beautiful marble detailing and stunning glass mosaics combined with Byzantine style, it stands tall as a way to honor the triumph of the Islamic religion. The Dome of the Rock serves as a reminder of the unique connections between different religions and remains a very holy site to this day.

      The mid 11th through the 12th centuries brought about the introduction of Romanesque art. Quite literally meaning “Roman-like,” this style of art took inspiration from Roman art while also merging other artistic and local styles and traditions to form something all its own creation. Hildegard of Bingen’s book paintings are a great example of the Romanesque style. As a very young child, Hildegard was said to have begun receiving holy visions from God. She began recording these visions, creating books filled with words and powerful images. The Universal Man illumination from Liber Divinorum Operum circa 1165 shows the rare self portrait of Hildegard herself. Seated at the lower left-hand corner, Hildegard is shown recording the vision of the man. This sense of identity and self-expression in what is considered a holy artwork is revolutionary, especially for a woman of the time.  

Taking inspiration from the Romans, the man shows ideal proportions and appears to be at one with the world. At the very top, we see the head of God above his creation of man. The Universal Man shows immense similarities to Leonardo da Vinci’s ideal proportioned Vitruvian Man three centuries or so later, and captures how Roman artistic influences have continued on throughout time.

      Italy in the 13th century faced political problems as the Holy Roman Empire fought to maintain full control. Many individuals, particularly those of higher classes, commissioned art with religious themes to show their dedication to the Church and to their faith. Late Medieval Italian art such as Giovanni da Milano’s Madonna and Child with Donors from the year 1365 exhibits a couple being welcomed into Heaven by the Madonna and an infant Jesus Christ. Most likely set above a tomb, the donors were able to honor their religious beliefs even after death. The tempera on wood painting with gold ground may portray flatter and more two-dimensional figures, but the symbolism is as bold as ever. With hands clasped in prayer, the couple celebrates their faith through art while incorporating themselves into it.  

      In conclusion, the evolution of art has been both noteworthy and largely significant. What began in the Paleolithic Period as simple paintings and engravings of animals and geometric shapes on the walls of caves led the way to more individualized and self-expressive works of art. From the embellished tomb walls of the Egyptian New Kingdom, the defensive Qin Dynasty’s terracotta soldiers, the lifelike and symbolic wall portrait paintings of Imperial Rome, the mosaics of Byzantine churches, to the first Islamic architecture all the way to Late Medieval Italy’s portrayals of real people devoted to their faith. Each time period brought about some sort of change in the history of art and incorporated ways in which both self-expression and identity could be discovered and portrayed while also celebrating cultural and religious beliefs.