#and as for christianity well i think a lot of people forget that at its core its a very beautiful and welcoming faith

[kafkaguy]

i do think it's really sad when faith is misinterpreted because of the effects of organised religion. like certain views and analyses of a religion completely invalidate the individuals experience, and something that one person mocks or is frustrated with is something holy and important to another person, and its even more frustrating when 9 times out of 10 the person mocking this thing has completely misunderstood it or isnt even attempting to see the good in it. not trying to say anything with this i just think there's a lot of misunderstanding and assumptions based on personal bad experience with or surface level understanding of a certain religion and it does way more harm than good. or whatever

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

A brief History of Mizrahi Jews in Arabic countries and Their expulsion

A\N: While I am an Ashkenazi Jew, I have done A LOT of research, and have both Iraqi friends and relatives to corroborate this with. Also, I'm petty - an Iraqi user who comments regularly on my posts seems to forget about his own country's Jewish history... Well, I hope he forgot instead of the more likely reality: It seems like Arabic people nowadays aren't aware of Jewish history in their countries since they either killed to expelled them all. Thus is born the constant argument that all Jews originated in Europe and are merely settlers in the Middle East.

I realized that what may be obvious to me won't be obvious to others since I'm a history nerd who grew up in Israel with plenty of rich archeological evidence and resources surrounding me. I'm happy to make these posts in hopes of educating others and contributing my part to ending antisemitism and prejudice. ___________________

You might have seen the following picture in one of my previous posts:

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, in this case, it concludes hundreds of years of discrimination, violence, and exile for Mizrahi Jews. * It is important to note that numbers are slightly varied between sources, but the meaning is clear.

In a nutshell- all throughout history, the fate of Jewish people in countries where they weren't the religious majority was the same:

Discriminatory laws, blood libels, being blamed for disasters > violence & murder > Pogroms * > and eventually- exile or mass murder AKA ethnic cleansing \ genocide.

Pogrom-  the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries.

Every Jewish community has its own Pogrom. While my side of the family might immediately think of the Kristallnacht or persecution & pogroms in Hungary, it is different for Jews from different backgrounds. You can read about a few cases of forced conversion to Islam here.

A brief History of the land of Israel

The land of Israel has always been considered a strategic passageway, and so many empires throughout history have conquered it:

* I simply cannot accurately write 3000+ years of Jewish history in the land of Israel. I found that this video summarizes it perfectly.

Exile from the land of Israel

Jews were exiled from the land of Israel numerous times since the Assyrian empire conquered Israel in 732 BCE, to what we call "the diaspora" גולה. It was not by choice and we were persecuted everywhere we went.

Jews were not allowed to legally return to Israel until 1948 when the British mandate over the land of Israel ended and Israel was formed. Yes, even during the Holocaust.

The Jewish answer to exile - Aliyah עליה There have been 5 waves of illegal immigration from all over the world to the land of Israel before 1948, recorded in modern times.

Chart taken from Wikipedia (their chart was the best I could find in English)

Forced Conversion

Whether in conquered Israel or in exile, Jews were often forced to convert to either Christianity or Islam. The choice was between conversion or death.

*You can read more about some of the forced conversion of Jews during history here and here.

First Case study- The last jew of Peki'in, Margalit Zinati

Peki'in is an ancient village in the upper Galilee, Northern Israel. Nowadays, its population is mostly Druze.

Peki'in has had a Jewish presence since the Second Temple period, until Arab riots in the 1930s*. Meet the remaining member of the Zinatis, the only family who returned. (aish.com)

*Read more on the Arab riots of the 1930s here and here. Margalit is currently the last Jew living in the village of Peki'in . She is the last direct descendent of the Zinati Cohen family. The Zinati family's origins are dated back to the Second Temple era. The former Jewish community of Peki'in maintained a presence there since the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). That is when the polytheistic Persian Empire conquered the land of Israel. For reference- that was approximately 500 years before Jesus was even born! "During which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem." (Wikipedia)

As an adult, Margalit chose to not marry so she could stay in Peki'in and continue her family's Jewish legacy in Peki'in. She later became in charge of the ancient synagogue in the village and turned her basement into a visiting center \ museum of Jewish history in Peki'in- "House of Zinati". in 2018, she lit up a torch as part of Israel's 70th Independence Day Torch lighting ceremony (which is considered an honor given to influential and trailblazing people).

-Margalit Zinati pictured in the Peki'in Synagogue yard, 2016 Picture taken from Wikipedia, uploaded by Deror Avi.

Second Case study - Iraqi Jews (Babylonian Jews \ יְהוּדִים בָּבְלִים)

Iraqi Jews are one of the oldest documented Jewish communities living in the Middle East. It is estimated that they originated around 600 BC.ת

The Farhud الفرهود הפרהוד

Unfortunately, Iraqi Jewish history ended in the same pattern I've described earlier. The Farhud was the violent mass dispossession against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq between 1-2 June 1941. was the pogrom or the "violent dispossession" that was carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941, It immediately followed the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War.

Background for the Farhud:

WW2- At the time, many Arabic countries in the Middle East agreed with Nazi ideology.

History of violence towards Jews.

The Anglo-Iraqi War (2–31 May 1941) - caused rising tension, and as usual, it was turned on the Jews.

personal family ties to the Farhud My relative was born in 1939 in Iraq, to a big upper-class Jewish family. Unfortunately, the mass exile of Jews in the 1950s didn't skip her family: she was stripped of her belongings and exiled to Israel along with her family. In the 1950s there were approximately 140,000 Iraqi Jews. As of 2021, there are only 4 left.

----------------- Please feel free to add anything I missed in the notes. And as usual - remember I am a human being. If you cuss or harass me, I will block and report you.

______________

Online Sources: * https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/865383 - Hebrew article, Title means "Sad ending to a magnificent history: Only 4 Jews left in Iraq".

What was the Farhud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhud

History of the Jewish community in Baghdad https://cojs.org/the_jewish_community_in_baghdad_in_the_eighteenth_century-_zvi_yehuda-_nehardea-_babylonian_jewry_heritage_center-_2003/

What are Pogroms?https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/pogroms?gclid=Cj0KCQiAkeSsBhDUARIsAK3tiedM7DuwIaSQX-kRxvXTgCDxN6-zqeo_DNNFgyanSYGyGOhwu_0vfrkaAg6REALw_wcB

The last Jew of Peki'in, Margalit Zinati https://aish.com/the-last-jew-of-pekiin/

Arab riots of 1930s- https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/General/ben_zvi_30 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-1936-arab-riots

Israel's history from ancient times & timeline : https://www.travelingisrael.com/timeline-land-israel/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=iiUIWnU-Ofk

Second Temple era - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Temple_period

Forced conversion of Jews across history- https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18mvnct.7?seq=4

https://academic.oup.com/book/32113/chapter-abstract/268043723?redirectedFrom=fulltext

[saminsecret]

How the slashers would react to a male s/o

just a little something to jumpstart this page ❤️

tw for some mentions of homophobia/outdated views

Michael Myers ('78):

He wouldn't care. He's got a lot more on his plate than worrying about whether his partner has a dick or a vagina. The fact that he hasn't killed you yet should be enough for you.

He wouldn't understand your insecurities. Why does it matter so much to you? He thinks you focus on the wrong things, but he won't say that to you. Not because he cares if he hurts your feelings, he just doesn't want to deal with your emotional turmoil at the moment. Although, if someone were to criticize your relationship, he might get irritated enough to kill them. Depends on your reaction and his current mood at the moment. Michael isn't the best at emotional support, sorry.

He'd defend you after a while. Lets not beat around the bush, its the 70s/80s, your gonna experience a lot of homophobia if your openly gay/bi. Michael knows what it's like being tormented by others, he was in a mental institution his entire life. If you end up getting discriminated against, verbally or physically, he'd kill the bully, plain and simple. He doesn't see this as an act of affection though; just something he needed to do. Still, your heart swoons a bit when he protects you. Enjoy it Y/N!

Daniel Robitaille

He'd be...confused. Daniel grew up in the late 1800s, and while being gay wasn't unheard of, it was definitely seen as a sin. He never thought he himself could ever be in love with another man.

He'd need time. He wouldn't know what to do with himself as this was entirely new territory for him. Homophobia was most definitely a value he grew up around, although he himself might not be homophobic. He was the son of a slave, a black man in the 1800s, an artist only loved for what he could make. He understands discrimination more than anyone else, so he defiantly wouldn't use your identity against you. Still, its a change so he'd be cautious to start anything with you.

He loves you no matter what. Ultimately, it only takes him a little while to come to terms with the fact that he doesn't care what you are, he loves you all the same. "We are one of the same, Y/N. Without you, I am nothing. Our pain will be told for generations. Be my victim, Y/N."

Jason Vorhees

Is this okay, mother? Pamela was a christian woman, so its pretty likely she had some outdated views on gay people. Not necessarily homophobic in nature, but she said some questionable things out of ignorance. Jason was raised with her values, so he'd have the same outdated views. He'd have to unlearn a few things for this relationship to really work. That being said...

Jason understands you. This is what really brings you two into an eventual relationship. He was born disfigured, and the world never let him forget it. And you? Well, it was the 80s, so... both of you were treated harshly for things you have no control over. Pamela would be more sympathetic towards you as well, and would eventually approve of this relationship, as you've proven you can give Jason everything he deserves. "Oh Jason, I knew Y/N was a good boy, just like you!'

He'd adore you all the same. Oh, to have someone (other than Pamela) who loves him! He would ultimately not care about your gender, and would make sure to let you know it. He loves you Y/N, don't ever doubt it!

Brahms Heelshire

Realistically... You wouldn't have been considered for the babysitting job as Brahm's parents probably only considered female candidates. That being said, you'd be hired after a slew of failed female nannies; Brahms wanted to try something new!

He'd love watching you. Oh Y/N, you may be a boy, but you're the prettiest boy he's ever seen! Seriously though, he loves to watch you taking care of doll, cooking food, moving around the estate, existing...you're just so different, Y/N! And he'd feel more connected to you because you understand certain problems...especially morning problems if you catch my drift.

He'd fall into stereotypes. Listen listen, Brahms was raised with old values, like 18th century old values, so even though you're both guys, he still expects you to fall into the "woman" role (cooking, cleaning, taking care of him, ect..). Brahms is a man, Y/N! Treat him like a king! Wait, what do you mean you're a man too? I-Its different, okay?! (You're gonna have to sit him down and talk out all those old value views if you want to be able to tolerate him).

[kindlespark]

this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here

MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //

i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.

and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee

[truthfully-system]

Some of you guys will now unfollow me for this, but hey atleast I got it out sooner then later! I'm pro-ship, your media illiteracy and general disrespect to grooming victims like me is insane, all over pixels on screen, you guys say fiction effects reality but have a HUGE revenge complex despite fiction over and over depicting it as a bad thing, its almost as if fiction doesn't have effect on morality like you think it does... Not to mention, your "DNI problematic sources" list is full of things that are full of autistic, disabled, disordered, poc and queer communities, who are more likely to expirience any sort of abuse in real life! But things like Game Of Thrones I fail to see in any of those lists despite having incest in it on full blast- maybe cuz the whole community liking it tends to be cishet non-disabled white folk, its like you guys spesifically want to harm people weaker then you and bully real victims of abuse just for fun- oh yeah, cuz thats exactly what you do. Big corporation makes something problematic? You complain about it for maybe 1-2 posts and then forget it, small artist made by a kid who has maybe 30 followers max and draws enemies to lovers? You make a blog dedicated to harrassing them till they literally end their life. Antishippers are not some sort of heroes, you are the abusers, HELL, i literally got GROOMED BY AN ANTISHIPPER!!! You guys DO realize that actual real pedos walk in the shadows, right? sure you got the few fools- but even proshippers kick them out, so what do you think actual pedos will do, go to the group where they are less trusted by default due to all the rumors and bs, as well as most proshippers being victims themself and knowing how to detect people who dont keep that in fiction, OR, the group where you simply gotta make one post saying "omg they drew a cookie with a croptop" and everyone trusts you arent fucked up- especially with the idea that antishippers are anti-pedophilia so OBVIOUSLY no pedo would use that against anyone! And thats a group where abuse and judgefullness is engouraged, where being shunned is normal, where you always gotta doubt your actions, especially as a child, you think they'll not use that to their advantage? and that sounds a lot like christian extremists I'll be honest. and before you say "thats now how we are" fuck you, I was an anti for years, I KNOW what it was like, and I wasn't just in one group, I was in many groups and kepth joining multiple different servers with antis in them, being on social medias with antis in them, all of that BS, dont hide the fact you are a fucking breeding ground for grooming and pedophiles.

[genderkoolaid]

I think people forget that atheism ≠ anti-theism. Like in the same way, say, asexuality ≠ anti-sex/sexuality. Somebody talking about how antisemitism is bad is not saying people who don't believe in god are Bad, they're saying being against religious people is bad. And for asexuality, not being sexual yourself does not automatically mean you are against people who are

From what I've seen the basis for antitheism is "religion is inherently harmful and getting rid of religion will improve the world." but the problems with that imo are:

religion is a made up concept that's almost meaningless. like its a well known issue that "religion" is such a vague concept that is deeply western which is why its often really really hard to apply it to the vast majority of human spiritual traditions. hell even "religio" in the context of roman polytheism doesn't map exactly onto the concept of "religion"! like in a lot of cases the line between "religion" and "philosophy" is blurred or nonexistent. not to mention that there are religious atheists. jewish atheists are probably the best example since judaism tends to be far more open to that kind of complexity & fosters a culture which allows people to engage with judaism in a variety of ways. but there are people who don't believe in god or jesus-as-savior but are christians for cultural or philosophical reasons. there are tons and tons of atheists buddhists because its a helpful way of engaging with life regardless of whether or not you believe in samsara literally. the idea that there is this strict binary between Religion and Atheism is, like all binaries, made up.

scapegoating religion for all of humanity's problems is just unhelpful. the idea that religion is this force will propels people to do bad things, and that without religion we wouldn't do them, ignores how humans shape religion to our benefit. there's a reason that wealthy kings who want to maintain power emphasize interpretations of the bible or quran that endorse war while downplaying the ones that endorse peace and compassion. for the same reason that people will support philosophies that view humans as inherently mean and violent and in need of control instead of ones that view us as capable of communal care and cooperation- you don't need to believe in a deity to create a reason why you need to kill another group of people and take their shit. religion is a way this happens, and its important that this is dealt with, but this is not a unique feature of religion. getting rid of religion will not fix our shitty behavior.

going off 1 and 2: trying to get rid of "religion" will inevitably mean fucking over marginalized groups who have already had their spirituality attacked and whose culture cannot be so easily separated from their spirituality. and even beyond that, antitheism is just another way of trying to force a belief onto people. believing in no god is no more objectively correct than believing in one, or any other spiritual concept. there are always going to be spiritual people. also you can say "but there are nonwhite/formerly nonchristian antitheists!!" as much as you want but that doesn't change that saying shit like "all your beliefs are childish and mentally ill, you need an educated intellectual to make you realize you are being stupid and irrational and make you think correctly" is absolutely some classic colonial white supremacist bullshit.

also trying to force atheism on people actually does not help atheists. because it in fact only makes it easier for people to stigmatize atheism as inherently destructive and hostile.

anyways now that anon can get mad for being a wretched child ranting about antitheism. now i've earned it.

[torgawl]

i was a reading a bit more on purgatory and purgatorius ignis (cleansing fire), which is a concept that existed even before the notion that purgatory itself was a third other-world domain, similar to heaven and hell, when i suddenly remembered dante's la divina commedia and decided to revisit the story a little. and i found something interesting as i was scrolling through the wikipedia page.

so, purgatory is the second part of la divina commedia, following inferno, and is an allegory telling of the climb of dante up the mount of purgatory, guided by the roman poet virgil. alegorically, purgatorio represents the penitent christian life (and christianity, as we know, is one of the core themes of fontaine's archon quests that arlecchino was a part of). while describing the climb dante focuses a lot on the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the church. what's interesting, though, is that the poem posits the theory that all sins arise from love – either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things.

why is this interesting, you ask? let me add here a few quotes before i contextualise it:

"she is a god with no love left for her people, nor do they have any left for her" - dainsleif about the cryo archon, the tsaritsa

"her royal highness the tsaritsa is actually a gentle soul. too gentle, in fact, and that's why she had to harden herself. likewise, she declared war against the whole world only because she dreams of peace. and because she made an enemy of the world, i now have a friend in you." - childe about the tsaritsa

"everyone praises her for her kindness and benevolence, but they forget that love is also a form of sin. what if she's just trying to compensate for something?" - wanderer about the tsaritsa

the tsaritsa, the cryo archon and the person arlecchino is devoted to, is theorised and hinted multiples times to be the god of love. yes, the love that is said to be the origin of sin in la divina commedia. we can also draw parallels between the idea of perverted love talked about in the poem and the relationship between arlecchino and others, for instance the kids of the house of the hearth.

arlecchino's drip marketing including an excerpt where the scene goes from a gentle warm environment, seemingly mistaken as a loving family home full of innocent looking children, that quickly shifts into a somber and dark atmosphere under her authority - the children answering instantly, without hesitation and completely obedient -, is the perfect illustration of the duality within her character. there's an obvious exploitative and manipulative system making use of the house of the hearth and the orphans under its roof, where arlecchino (as the one running the orphanage) is the provider and the kids are brought up to be dependable and further dispatched as fatui soldiers when "potential" is recognised. and we can deduce that there's ways that their education is done from a very young age so it prevents or punishes any sort of dissent, something not hard to imagine when we know from freminet that arlecchino doesn't like when the kids cry or show emotional vulnerability, something she sees as weakness, for example. but if there's this dark side to her, there's also certain attitudes that demonstrate her care for the children or even her care for the world around her. arlecchino helping freminet get closure on his mother's death, the reformation of the house of the hearth (which we know used to have a much more punishitive and strict leader before arlecchino took over) or even her devotion and deep respect towards the tsaritsa are some examples of the way she shows care for other people. now, we can theorise that these good deeds directed towards the orphans under her care are very much purposeful to better manipulate them, but i think that's exactly what the notion of perverted love in la divina commedia tries to hint at.

besides this concept, there's something else that peaked my interest in dante's poem. dante pictures purgatory as an island at the antipodes of jerusalem, pushed up, in an otherwise empty sea, by the displacement caused by the fall of satan, which left him fixed at the central point of the earth. it's a cone-shaped island that has seven terraces on which souls are cleansed from the seven deadly sins or capital vices as they ascend. at the summit is the garden of eden, from where the souls, cleansed of evil tendencies and made perfect, are taken to heaven.

as we know, arlecchino is being introduced in fontaine, her homeland, and the idea of purgatory as an island in the sea leading its way to heaven caused by the fall of a sinful being sort of reminded me of remuria. remuria was the civilization in fontaine which directly preceded the previous hydro archon egeria's rule. its downfall occurred as a result of remus' attempt to avert its predicted destruction, and in particular, by his act of sharing his power and authority — reserved only for gods — with the four human harmosts he appointed to govern his cities. remuria eventually ended up being sunken into the abyss, devouring everything including the people and remus himself. we know there's still a region in fontaine's map that wasn't yet released, so how odd would it be that the last part to be revealed in fontaine might just be the land that was once sunken? after the little note about the samsara cycles near the tower of the narzissenkreuz ordo, which referenced a cycle called remuria, i would not be surprised at all. it's also particularly funny that fontaine is directly below celestia. yes, the floating island in the sky above teyvat which is the residence of the gods, the same gods that made remuria fall. as the contemporary philosophers of our time have said, that's sus!!!

i don't want to get too ahead of myself because i don't have a theory about what's going to happen or what role arlecchino will play exactly but i don't think it would be shocking if we got to know more about remuria during her release. and still in the purgatory idea, i think the angel of death (azreal) might be an interesting parallel to make with arlecchino. azrael's role is seen as benevolent, transporting souls after death. it fits perfectly well with the idea of purgatorius ignis, that signifies transformation. in different cultural and religious contexts, fire can also symbolize destruction renewal and even rebirth so i'm very very curious to see what arlecchino's story will be like.

[beevean]

We finally watched Nocturne.

... what? No, no endless post this time :P not only because it's just one season. It's just as I expected: it's not as infuriating as its big sibling. (unless you're familiar with the French Revolution coughcough@the-crow-binary)

We only watched the first four episodes so far, and I have already said a lot, so let's go.

The thing I complained the most about, I noticed, was the worldbuilding, mostly how vampires work. The original show "elfified" vampires, only keeping the basic traits "need blood, don't like sunlight or running water, can turn into things like bats and mist". They were portrayed as this ancient rage, one with its own culture (much superior than the dumb humans who forget everything because church bad): they sleep normally, they can eat food if they so wish, apparently they can have sex with zero issues lol, and infamously child vampires are treated as, well, innocent children and not as poor human kids suffering a terrible fate. Trevor even kindly tells us that the reason vampires hate crosses regardless of their faith is because their eyesight is so advanced that they freak out at the sight of geometrical shapes. The only monstruous trait they have is that apparently they have a tendency to go insane and crave power. Honestly, they kind of remind me of Twilight.

And somehow Nocturne manages to get it worse.

Now, yes, vampires in Nocturne bite far more often than in the OG show. I think in that other show we see them doing that... twice? And Carmilla and Lenore lick Hector's blood; then they just drink from their stock of blood à la Drac from SoTN. Anyway, Nocturne is more willing to show them as beasts, so good job. Hell, Sun Thundercat even turns a human!

But in this setting, vampires seem to not even have those few weaknesses they had in the OG show. For a story centered on how Sun Thundercat will bring eternal night to the world because sun is the number 1 obstacle to vampires, it's baffling how easily they can just walk around in plain daylight. Olrox looks out of the window with his face illuminated by the sun. Drolta can literally walk just fine, even without a parasol. @spinningbuster98 kept asking "why don't peasants or slaves just destroy the windows of the places where they know vampires live?" - well clearly they'd be fine!

And special shoutout to Drolta who openly mocks the concept of her being hurt by being in a church. At least in S1, Blue Fangs explained its presence in the Bishop's church by blaming his heinous actions for pushing God away.

Vampires are also shockingly well integrated into society. These extremely pale people, with visible pointy ears and long fangs, can chill around in a nice palace or stroll into a theatre, and no one bats an eye. How? In the OG show, vampires could be in a position of power (see the council of Styria), but they mostly worked from the shadows. Did humans just... accept the presence of these monsters?

(the cross weakness becomes way funnier now. Vampires are weak to the religion they used to believe in, so Annette can ask the help of the Christian God to harm previously Christian vampires. I actually like this. But then this makes that OG "vampires have super freaky eyesight" scene even stupider than it used to be)

Another point for the clumsy worldbuilding. Hey, remember how I complained that N!Hector wearing Hector's CoD outfit makes no sense? Because that's what he could cobble up from his old Devil Forgemaster uniform and it's basically the best he can wear for running through the country and fighting, while N!Hector 1) is still in Drac's service in S2 so you'd expect a more professional uniform from him, like the one worn by N!Isaac, and 2) he very much does not fight, making details like the arm guard and the single glove look redudant. We have a similar issue here: Maria, whose design was taken straight out of DXC, complains in the first episode that her mother is too poor to pay taxes. You can tell that she doesn't look that poor. To make things even worse, in the second episode, Tera is able to offer bread to Annette and Edouard: the French Revolution started, among other reasons, because even bread got ridiculously expensive for common people! So which is it? Is Maria one of the common people, or a well-off young woman who really has no business leading the revolution?

And this... is tied to other problems.

The French Revolution is nothing more than a shallow backdrop for the main plot being the Vampire Messiah being hyped up as the greatest evil to ever evil. You can tell the writers did not care when they cast Vaublanc, a real person who fought against slavery, as a vampire slaveowner. I think. I think you shouldn't do that.

The point is, it becomes increasingly jarring when you see that the main protagonists, the ones who spout the most generic "liberty, equality, fraternity"... are not even French. Maria has Russian origins, and as I've shown she seems to be doing well. Richter is a Romanian who grew up in the US. Annette, who gets to make a super epic speech about freedom, is a runaway from Saint-Domingue. Edouard is a rich opera singer, also from Saint-Domingue.

Oh, Annette.

You know, I want to say something. I'd have much more patience for her abrasive, ungrateful, condescending behavior, I'd justify it as a result of her trauma, if it weren't for how mean-spirited she is and for how no one seems to even react to her.

bruh.

You did that, huh. Richter has been nothing but kind and supportive to you, relating to the loss of your friend and of your mother - this isn't a Trevor situation where you can fall for what the story tells you and believe he's actually rude, no, Richter is on-screen a very nice guy! And you say that? To his face? After he revealed to you that the Belmonts used to do magic but he can't because he lost his mom? Something you should know how devastating it feels? And you THROW THAT TO HIS FACE??

Richter is the one who gasps, by the way. Maria and Tera over there? Nah they're just eating popcorn as this stranger is deliberately hitting Richter where it hurts the most. Thanks girls.

Oh but she's not done!

I know what this is. Look at her, the Stronk former slave who suffered Hardships which inherently makes her more Mature and World Wise, looking down on the two white French people who obviously had it so easy in their lives.

Hey, Ms. Adult. Who's the one who lost control of her powers, leading to Edouard becoming a Night Creature? Richter is too nice to throw that in your face. I'm not :)

Hey, Ms. I Suffered More Than You. Who's the one who only managed to save herself from the plantation only due to magical god-inherited powers? Which is also incredibly insensitive to the real-life slaves who managed to escape with nothing more but human skills and intellect?

Hey, Ms. I'm More Mature Than You Whiteys. Who's the one who needed the help of a rich half-white man to be protected? Not that you even know the concept of being grateful.

Uh, and Tera? You mind chiming in? You mind defending your daughter and your adopted son from this stranger who keeps being rude and disrespectful? No? Okay. She just suggests how to save Edouard, but lets Annette's words slide. You and Lisa can compete for the title of Mom of the Year.

Oh, but this is not a sexism or racism issue. This is literally the same thing as Alucard in S2 being the biggest hypercunt to Trevor, making fun of his traumatic childhood, cruelly mocking his family and his legacy, and treating him like he's nothing more than a failure of a drunkard when the dude has been nothing but a help in fights and gave them access to the vast Belmont Hold... and Sypha always rushed in Alucard's defense because boohoo his depression is an icy well of sadness, he Suffered More Than You!

This is just the writers shitting on the Belmonts, and I am sick of it. Trevor did not deserve this, and Richter doesn't deserve this.

Anyway, characters. I have little to say. Richter is the best one, being reasonably cocky as you would expect from him; not to an insufferable degree, just yeah he comes off as an immature young man who needs to grow up. I like him. Maria is a parody of teens on Twitter talking about seizing the means of production, and I kind of forget she's there. Annette, yeah :) Edouard got retroactively characterized after his death, but I still don't know how to describe his personality beyond "helpful" and "source of infodumps". Tera exists. The abbot is profoundly stupid for allying himself with vampires for the sake of crushing the "Godless" Revolution (there's an N!Hector joke to make here but it's not worth it). Drolta is basically Isaac who slapped a pair of tits on himself and just like that she's a beloved slay queen icon. Templar Agent Stone Mizrak is mere bara bait so far. Olrox... well, so far he's mildly intriguing for being outside of the hero/villain dichotomy. Kind of a tryhard, though, and I still don't know why he didn't just kill Richter.

My last complaint is that it's really boring how they hype up Sun Thundercat as this harbinger of DEATH AND SUFFERING AND PAIN AND TERROR way before we even see her. It reminds me of Alucard exposing how a world without humans would be: just this empty, edgy narration with nothing to show for it. But at least by then we had a taste of Dracula's anger and powers, so this is even worse. You need to try harder to build up an antagonist.

and finally, have the best moment in the whole franchise

BUT, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[traegorn]

Here's the thing about that ask I got this morning that sits with me. I feel like some folks don't really understand that Wicca is literally my religion.

The historic conflation of Wicca with Witchcraft has led to a lot of (well deserved) pushback that not all Witchcraft is religious. People have had to constantly clarify that Witchcraft itself is not a religion.

And that's important.

But I also think that makes some people forget that for a good chunk of us... these are literally our religious beliefs. Like someone asks me why I'm still a Wiccan even though there have been problematic members of the faith or its complicated history and I'm like... do you not know how faith works?

Over the decades I have modified my rituals to remove appropriated elements (my track record is pretty good, but yeah, even I have fucked up). And I didn't come to this faith because of the wisdom of any one person -- in fact part of what brought me in was the absolute lack of hierarchy outside of specific traditions. No Wiccan is any more special than another (or than any other person of any other kind).

And conversations with our fellow witches about appropriation and not trying to force our personal gnosis down other's throats are important.

But why is it assumed that my inner spiritual life is so shallow that pointing out that Gerald Gardner was a dick would shatter my world? Is there that little respect or understanding of what faith actually is?

I know that a lot of folks who say this stuff grew up Christian, and it's a religion that often pushed folks to pretend to believe harder than they do. Or have folks repeat things as kids, and just say and do them because that's what they're supposed to without analyzing it further when they grow up. And maybe that's been their only example of someone with faith in their lives, and why they think it's as fragile as glass.

But that's not how it works for a lot of us. And maybe it's getting a little exhausting having to justify my existence to strangers on the internet.

[anjels001]

Secrets of Devildom: Pride Demons (Part 1)

Those who have read the theory of the 7 Og and the cycle of life (thank you @sparkbeast20 for the cooperation) know that there are many gaps in the annon, and many of the events that occurred in the annon are not explained, and/or left implicit without any context.

For those following these moments of theory, you may notice that I have been talking a lot about the demonic classes, their "history," and culture before, during, and after the fall of the brothers, focusing most of these moments on philosophical/mythological debates, pointing out plot points that few would see and understand.

Well, we have already talked about 6 of the seven sin classes, namely Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony, Wrath, and Envy.

In the shadowy corridors of Devildom, where envy boils and desire twists, there exists a sin that transcends all others—a sin that has spawned legends and shattered them equally. Sit back in your chairs and fasten your seatbelts because today...

….(insert supernatural intro)…

...we will talk about Pride

But before starting this moment of theory, I ask you, dear reader, to keep an open mind for this moment, and if you want to point out any flaws, or if I am forgetting something, remember that this is just a theoretical post. I won't be upset if you want to add something to this conversation; I just ask that you reblog and tag me so that we can exchange theories on the subject. As with all theories about demonic classes, I will start with the famous question: what do we know about Pride? Pride is a concept widely explored by philosophers throughout history and analyzed from different perspectives.

One of these perspectives describes pride as an excessive love for oneself, characterized by an individual who considers themselves self-sufficient and admires their works, wishing for others to share this same elevated view. Descartes, in his book “The Passions of the Soul,” considered pride a vice, arguing that those with an unjustified high opinion of themselves do not possess true generosity.

The views of famous philosophers on pride offer valuable insights. Socrates, for example, focused on human relationships and reflection on one's thinking. Cicero, on the other hand, warned about the dangers of excessive pride leading to arrogance, considering it one of the most unpleasant forms of human behavior.

Nietzsche, a 19th-century German philosopher, saw arrogance as a manifestation of resentment and weakness, questioning traditional morality and exploring human nature profoundly and provocatively. Therefore, these different philosophical perspectives enrich our understanding of pride and its impact on human life. In philosophy, the concept of arrogance is often addressed in the context of ethics and morality. Arrogance is associated with a morally reprehensible attitude of excessive pride, arrogance, and disrespect for others. This idea is frequently explored in philosophical and religious traditions.

Moral philosophy also examines how this attitude can influence human behavior, interpersonal relationships, and the pursuit of virtue. In many philosophical traditions, overcoming arrogance is seen as a path to moral and spiritual development. In the Christian tradition, arrogance is considered a cardinal sin and is associated with excessive presumption and elevated self-esteem that goes beyond the limits of humility. Psychology identifies two definitions of the types of pride: positive, known as self-esteem and self-confidence, and negative, called arrogance.

Proud people often face internal conflicts resulting from traumatic experiences or parental neglect. These experiences can lead to a desperate search for compensation for failures or negative behaviors, revealing the significant influence of the family environment on the formation of pride and its psychological repercussions. They exhibit signs of control and resistance to external help, demonstrating a reluctance to acknowledge their weaknesses or seek support from others, which evidences a tendency towards excessive control and self-imposed independence.

In the annals of demonology, Lucifer remains the quintessential embodiment of arrogance. His wings, once resplendent, now bear the weight of his disobedience. His eyes, once aflame with celestial fire, now burn with the remnants of rebellion. His fall from grace was not just a descent—it was a seismic rupture that shook the very foundations of existence. Pride is a valuable currency in Devildom. We observe that this emotion is a powerful engine for narrative and character development. Lucifer, as the Avatar of Pride, embodies the constant struggle between self-confidence and arrogance, between self-acceptance and self-alienation. This duality is visible not only in his actions but also in his interactions with other demons and with the humans who cross his path.

Lucifer’s psychology is marked by profound internal conflict. His celestial fall, resulting from his pride, created not only a physical separation from the divine but also an emotional and spiritual fracture. This traumatic event shaped his view of himself and the world around him, creating a cycle of self-affirmation and self-destruction. Pride, in this context, is not just a characteristic but an armor he uses to protect himself from his vulnerability.

Lucifer’s relationship with wrath is particularly intriguing. Pride, as the father of wrath, manifests whenever he feels his authority questioned or his dignity threatened. This exacerbated emotion reveals his deepest insecurities and his struggle to maintain control. Lucifer’s wrath is not just a reaction to frustration but a defense against the fear of being seen as weak or fallible. This dynamic between pride and wrath is a constant dance that defines his complex personality.

The concept of the "virus of pride," as mentioned by Pope Francis, is an apt metaphor to describe how this emotion can spread and infect all aspects of a person’s life. The mind and heart of someone "infected" end up being consumed by this emotion, distorting their perception of reality and leading them to make decisions with catastrophic consequences. Pride, in this sense, is both a destructive force and a reflection of the human desire to transcend one’s limits.

The exploration of pride in the canon of the game “Obey Me!” offers a unique view of how this emotion can be both a source of greatness and a trap. Lucifer, in his quest for redemption, represents the eternal struggle to balance self-confidence with humility. His journey is a reflection of what it means to be human, with all its weaknesses and strengths. Pride, ultimately, is a lens through which we can better understand the motivations and dilemmas that define our existence.

The relationship between pride and other sins, such as envy and lust, also deserves attention. In Devildom, these sins do not exist in isolation but interact in complex ways to create an intricate fabric of emotions and actions. Pride can fuel envy, leading to competition and conflict. Similarly, lust can be an expression of excessive pride, a search for validation through conquest. Understanding these interactions is essential to decipher the characters’ motivations and the power dynamics in Devildom.

It is no surprise that the circle of pride is considered the penultimate level, the first and last line of the tomb of kings, which I will explain in the next post. Comparing it with the other circles of hell, we will see that although it has less "territory," the circle of pride is considered the most luxurious and densely packed with magic than the others. The circle of pride is one of the main pillars, if not the main one, that keeps the structure of the whole kingdom intact. This realm has multiple space-time pockets that contain small kingdoms and fiefs that constantly conflict with each other due to their pride and instinct of superiority. It is there that much of the Devildom nobility lives and where the original Castle of the Demon King was founded before the prince decided to place an imitation on the surface to 'play with the lower castes.'

From the perspective of demonic history and tradition, including the brothers is quite controversial. These brothers lacked any ancestral lineage or demonic pedigree. To the noble demons, the brothers were seen as mere mongrels that their prince had picked up on a whim and would soon tire of and discard. Despite being named the Avatar of Pride and possessing the keys to the castle of the Lord of Pride, Lucifer's predecessor had not removed all the traps or imbued the castle with Lucifer's essence as the new lord. On paper, Lucifer was recognized as the Lord of Pride, but in practical terms, he lacked access to the deepest secrets held by the former lord. It took him thousands of years of struggle and hard work to achieve what he did, and even then, he did not possess all the necessary information. This also explains why the brothers lived in a haunted mansion on what was known as the "ground floor" of the demonic realm instead of a castle at its pinnacle.

Lucifer’s story is a warning about the dangers of excessive pride, like the myth of Icarus where Daedalus warns his son not to fly too close to the sun or too close to the waves of the sea, but also a celebration of resilience and the capacity to seek redemption. His fall is not just a punishment but an opportunity for reflection and growth. In “Obey Me!” we see how Lucifer navigates these turbulent waters, facing his demons while trying to guide and protect his brothers. His leadership, despite his flaws, is a testament to his strength and determination.

In the end, Lucifer’s journey leads us to question our attitudes towards pride. To what extent are we driven by healthy self-confidence, and when do we cross the line into arrogance? How can we balance our desire for personal achievement with the need to maintain humility and respect for others? These are questions we all face, and Lucifer’s story offers a powerful lens through which to examine them.

For those who want to know more about this specific series in this theoretical series, just search my page #Secrets of Devildom or go to Obey-me masterlist

[gammagoop]

saw your ask for the canon/fanon/your design challenge, have you done skizz?

tempting because i love drawing skizz but honestly my design for him isn’t all that different from canon or even fanon

i know the fanon right now is that he’s an angel/part angel but recently i’m not the biggest participator in hybrid designs :p

(i answered this ask and then proceeded to use this ask as an excuse to ramble about some of my design process….)

i do think its really cute though, especially when paired with demon impulse, because their personalities don’t perfectly match what would be expected from angels and demons typically.

skizz is wayyy more chaotic and impulse is betrayed more times than he betrays other people, just as examples, yet i still find the designs fun as a duo!

(begs the question though — angel and demon from what? the christian heaven and hell? the minecraft heaven and hell? is this a watcher lore thing that i don’t know about because i don’t keep up with the watcher lore? probably none of those actually, it doesnt really need explained [like how theres no explanation really needed for how cleo’s a sentient zombie, its all for fun])

i don’t really do hybrid designs as much as fanon does because my goal with designing them is to capture their vibe, or how i perceive their personality. like a person who’s watched a lot of hermitcraft but has never seen hermitcraft fanart could look at my drawing and say “i’m almost certain that’s bdubs”. and doing hybrids doesnt always fit in to that for me! you’ve probably noticed i’ve gone super back and forth on my zed design, particularly whether he should have long or short hair and whether he should be a sheep hybrid or not. i’m partial to the ‘not’ but i havent really decided yet— we’ll see!

though if a person’s mc skin is already a hybrid or if that just fits well with their energy (ren the canonical dog ; gem just reads as a deer/similar to me) i do draw them as that! i just don’t always hop on fanon hybrids, like grian is never an avian or any other hybrid in my recent drawings, and etho has become more and more human as well, etc.

i should make a chart or something of how i choose these things. like a tierlist— human to nonhuman. would anyone want that. would anyone be interested. leave a comment below if you are intwrested and dont forget to subscribe and smash that. fucking like button 🫡

[firstdivisiongirl]

hello^^ id like to request a romantic match-up if its okay with you My pronouns are she/her and im an asexual. My MBTI is INTP and so please understand if im not able to identify myself that great. Yk the kid in the class who doesn't do any hw but passes all of the subject? Well yes thats me. Also im great at mathematics. I have kind of strict parents but more protective type so im not allowed to go to any person's house. I get told by my friends that when they first saw me i looked like a rly cold or egoistical person and all , as for my best friend (i asked her) to describe me in 1 word she said "comfort" so hope that makes sense. Im 5'2 tall... really bad eyesights like -6.25 and 5.75 (if i can remember correctly) . Im not really the outstanding type, but i do have some amount of confidence honestly. Also im a Christian and hope you get what i mean^^ Im able to like uhh copy people's personality and i currently have "the perfect girl" personality copied from the class president. I kinda sound like only complimenting myself soo here's some weaknesses or things like that I procrastinate so much and mostly doesn't get hw done until the deadline (im trying to stop even in the littlest). Horrible sleep schedule. And sometimes pushes ppl away out of frustration. I hate gathering any useless attention (like social anxiety). And mostly i do not feel much emotion until i like be burst of emotion. I really have a lot of great idea and is able to tell people if they're lying or not like kinda reading people but i dont really talk out loud about it, i only talk rarely about them out of fear they think im weird or smth because i was neglected and talked behind my back in 6th grade before. And a lazy fashion sense coming in!!!!!!!! i usually just wear baggy clothes or like wear smth the same mostly because im too tired to make another outfit and memorize it I like yanderes pretty much (crybaby, possessive, manipulating , clingy, obsessive type...) Deep inside im really clingy, childish and a sore loser , i don't really realize my surroundings so i tend to forget roads a lott I can be a motormouth if im comfortable by it and can be really quiet , some things depends on my mood tho Weirdly scared of person using the stairs behind me , bcz its really creepy. If a conversation annoyes or bothers me i really try and make excuses to get out of it.. Hope u can get smth out with my horrible explanation TT

and please remember to take care of urselff!!!!!! its my first ask so im a bit nervous TT its currently 10;37PM here, so have a great day and good day/night/morning!!!!!!^^ (me trying to come cheery and nice as much as possible)

cyaaa!!!!!:DD

Hey there. I try to take care of myself, but I am always a mess lol. Don't be nervous about asking. You did a good job. So onto the Tokyo Revengers matchup!

You Got...

Taiju Shiba!!!

He is a tough nut to crack, but I think he would love you.

Both of you are religious and would bond over that and go to church together.

He needs a a partner who is confident.

He'd love how you can be anything you want to be and copy others.

I feel like he needs someone who can read people well, since he is a lot. You would be able to understand what's going on in his mind. Good luck, I think it is scary in there.

Would scare off people who walk behind you

He's the type of guy who would make sure you never get lost

Wouldn't really care if you were in tight clothes or baggy clothes. He loves you for you. (If he cared about looks he would have kicked Inupi out for looking like discount Sabo lol)

Dates would be anything you want. But there must be good food!

Would like your clinginess. That means he gets to spend more time with you.

I hope you like it!

[aikoiya]

My Thoughts on the Fierce Deity

I think I see the Fierce Deity as a god of war, battle strategy, wrath, retribution, protection, heroism, courage/bravery, balance, the wild, the truth, music, the forge, death, spirits, tutelaries (specifically kishin), psychopomps, & the moon.

And while not actively a god of food/cooking himself, they are things that he very much enjoys for himself, & as such, he is regularly associated with them regardless of the fact that he does not hold any power over those domains.

He's also a symbol of manhood. Specifically healthy masculinity even though, much like with food, he has no power over such a domain.

A dark god, but in the way that the moon is dark compared to the sun. How a clear, full moon night is dark compared to even stormy days.

A very kind & compassionate deity who loves deeply, but is also somber & melancholic due to the hardships he's had to endure. Is gentlemanly, chivalrous, & polite, if extremely quiet & outwardly phlegmatic or stoic. So much so that he is selectively mute. Even still, he is vicious, even monstrous & merciless, in battle. You wrong those under his protection, expect nature's fury to come down on you.

The fact that his mask is referred to in Japanese as the Kishin no Kamen (鬼神の仮面), which actually lends credence to this as, as I've seen discussed before, in Japanese folklore Kishin (鬼神) are referred to as wrathful deities or demon gods, but you have to remember that the Japanese concept of demon is entirely different from the western or Judeo-Christian concept of demons. In a lot of ways, demon is a mistranslation & a more accurate one would be fae or genii.

The closest parallel that the Japanese have to the Judeo-Christian concept of demons are Akuma (悪魔) meaning devil. This being due to the use of the Kanji for evil (悪). While Ma (魔) is translated into evil spirit or demon in English, I feel that that is due to a cultural bias more so than being an actual indication of the moral tendencies of said spirits. After all, if these spirits were already evil by default, then what point would there be in specifying that Akuma were evil? To make them seem doubly evil?

Rather, Kishin are more so Oni Kami or Ogre Gods. And despite there being many evil ogres in Japanese lore, there are also many benevolent ones. Kishin specifically are based on a type of Hindu god known as Pāla, a.k.a. Protectors, which are depicted as being wrathful & fierce, even being described as scary-looking, but also compassionate & benevolent at their cores. These deities are said to exact just & righteous vengeance on behalf of the practitioners of Buddhism & are known to destroy obstacles on the path to humanity's enlightenment.

Thus being figures of duality & healthy masculinity in a way. As a good man is one who is strong, but also gentle. Is innately dangerous & even scary at times, but knows where he needs to aim it. Has those primal urges, but controls them. Often tough & possibly even stoic, having to do what's difficult because it is right, as well as a distributor of tough love & corrective punishment. However, as a result of this, is often seen as the bad guy & demonized by the shortsighted because of it. I think the Fierce Deity is similar.

However, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are depictions of Kishin in which they are known to eat people. At the same time, I do not know the specificity behind this. For all I know, they may eat any person, or they could instead only eat the wicked. I do not know. It requires further research.

Though, per prompting, I may make it so they don't actually eat people, but more so the souls of the most wicked of sinners. This is done to fast-track to process of the soul forgetting its previous life. Now, normally, it's best to let souls do this organically, however it never a good idea to just let evil spirits wander around unsupervised, spreading their On'nen everywhere.

There's also how Majora's Mask seems to parallel Buddhism in many ways.

And, as I've come to understand, in Japan, one wears an oni mask to bring safety, peace, & to avoid disasters.

At least, that's the cultural significance as I've been told.

At the same time, I also see him having several things in common with the Norse god, Týr. Who is both a god of war, but also justice & is depicted as being self-sacrificial & brave as well as being known as a noble & just god by virtue of having sacrificed his own hand to Fenrir in order to hold off Ragnarök. Which would very much parallel my story for him.

Anyway, within Japanese myth, Kishin are minor deities. However, here, Sheikaku is sort of the King of Kishin (remember, Hyrule's religion isn't actually Buddhism or Shintoism, merely inspired by it), so you could call him the Daikishin even though I don't think there is such a thing in Japanese mythos. In this way, he more resembles a Dharma Pāla.

Moving on, notice that when he's called the "bad guy" in MM, it's done by Majora, who is portrayed as a kid who's forcing Link to play a twisted game with them. And kids often see the one who stops their fun as being "bad." Add to that, the fact that Majora is the one trying to literally kill everyone in Termina & calling itself the "good guy" while doing so, I'm just not inclined to believe it. Which considering the fact that those who do bad things often see those who try to stop them or punish them as being "bad," actually makes sense. In this way, if we continue with the child imagery, this would paint the Fierce Deity as the responsible father figure who comes in at the end of playtime to tell the kids to put their toys away. Though, only in a symbolic way.

The Gyorg Mask child even questions if doing the right thing actually makes everyone happy & the truth of the matter is that no, it doesn't. Not everyone's gonna be happy no matter what you do & that's just reality. And this, I think, is the Fierce Deity's true role in MM.

Anyway, I think FD's sacred animals would be dragons, wolves, foxes, moths, & surprisingly rabbits, but he is also heavily associated with hawks, horses, & bucks. And that he was associated with music (specifically wind & string instruments) & nature/the wild which I think would be due to his less hectic childhood where he'd been a boy with a heart of gold & love of such things even if he could also be a bit mischievous at times, maybe a bit shy too. Back then, he'd been far more open, social, & outgoing than he is now. Some of his favorite pastimes are fishing & whittling since he was a little boy as it reminds him of hunting trips with his father, Hebrogar (who is an oc of mine), & his sister, Karina (another oc of mine). Has also always been extremely good with animals.

Interesting thing, he actually had the singing voice of an angel, but initially he was too shy, then later was too traumatized. As such, he mostly utilized his music magic through instruments. Despite this, the voice is the most powerful musical medium as it simply connects with the soul on a more intimate frequency than physical instruments can.

Another interesting thing being a connection to Farore based on this one fanfic I read that was really good! In it, he was Farore's son, so he'll be similar here.

The thing is, the core of the Fierce Deity is that no one told him to pick up the sword. No one pushed him into it. Instead, he chose to of his own accord when he realized that simply talking to the people who wanted to hurt those he was tasked with protecting would end in his wards being hurt or even killed. Thus began his journey to become a protector of Hyruleans & an avenger of wrongs.

As a man, he became known for using instruments to sooth the souls of the departed with the Song of Healing which he wrote & shepherded them off to the Realms Beyond Death in a manner similar to a pied piper. On occasion, he'd also have to fight them (namely the Poe enemies) to calm them down before sending them on.

Thus, making him somewhat analogous to the Dharma Pāla, Yama, the Hindu god of death & judge of the dead who presides over the cycle of the afterlife.

If so, then this might explain why Link is always able to see & interact with the spirits of the departed in one way or another. Why he can see the Poes. Why he can see the Shadow Soldiers upon the rock stacks in the Depths when no one else can. He's fulfilling his own bygone task from millennia gone by.

Fierce's magical elements are Twilight (which can be broken up into both Light & Shadow), as well as Spirit, Wind, Nature/Wild, & even Ice to a degree. He also has a natural inclination towards Music magic due to being a god of music.

I also subscribe to the theory that just like Zelda is the mortal reincarnation of Hylia & Ganondorf is the mortal incarnation of The Bringer of Demise's hatred, I believe that Link is the mortal reincarnation of the Fierce Deity & I'd like to know the story that led to him becoming mortal.

My guess is that he held off Demise while Hylia created the Goddess Sword, but was fatally injured in the process. At which point, rather than leave Hylia to fight Demise on her own, he chose to relinquish his godhood in death so that he'd be reborn as a human & be able to use the Triforce to save Hyrule from The Bringer of Demise. As only non-deities can use it.

At the same time, I see the Bargainer's Statues as being very early depictions of the Fierce Deity that act as "bunshin" for him in the same way that the Goddess Statues act as "bunshin" for Hylia.

However, as a result, this would mean that the Fierce Deity might've had 4 eyes in a similar way to how Rainbow Quartz from Steven Universe had 4 eyes. Which I'm very cool with!

I get the idea that, physical attribute-wise, his true form likely had a similar appearance to Sesshoumaru from Inuyasha, but with different facial markings, 4 eyes, & darker, more tanned skin resembling Impa's from Skyward Sword. Not to mention different clothes. Possibly with a look like a mix of what we associate the Fierce Deity with, but with a Depths Set script, & made to look like the armor of a Sheikah samurai of sorts, maybe with elements of the Mystic set, the Double Helix Sword acting as a Zanbatō.

I also think that he was, at least physically, more similar to TP Link in that he actually had some damn muscles on him & was specifically a hunk, not a twink nor even a twunk. A hunk. Not, like, Ganondorf levels of hunk, rather being more slim or compact in build, but still very muscular.

Anyway, "bunshin" are, again, something based on Japanese folklore. Though, I've heard it be described 2 ways: Bunshin & Bunrei. The first is the one that I'm going with, which is where deities are able to split themselves up into "bunshin" which are sort of regional versions of the 'source' god that govern over specific domains. Think Kage Bunshin from Naruto. Only one is real, but the others are able to accomplish tasks given to them by their source & have a much more limited well of power than the original.

The other, Bunrei, described thr Shintoist concept, process, & spirit produced as a result of said process. In which, theologically speaking, the Kami isn't supposed to be decreased in any way by the act, even functioning the same. It is specifically compared to the act of using a candle to light another candle.

However, I am personally gonna be taking a couple of creative liberties in certain instances & this happens to be one of them. If this were the case in my hc, then I'd have to get a bit more convoluted with things than I'd personally prefer. As such, I'm instead making it more similarly to the Kage Bunshin technique from Naruto. Which I've already gone into above. If this upsets anyone, my apologies, but I wanted to be upfront about the tweaks that I'm making.

Anyway, in this way, even though Hylia & the Fierce Deity themselves have both been reincarnated several times over, their bunshin still exist & are able to watch over Hyrule & the Depths via their statues. Thus, in a way, the statues' bunshin are like siblings to each other & the source god their parent in an abstract sense.

I also theorize that the Fierce Deity created the Sheikah in a similar way to how Hylia created the Hylians. Thus if the naming conventions hold, his true name would start with, or at least have, the word "Shei" or "Sheik" in it. I'm thinking of going with Sheikaku.

The Sheikah & Hylians having come forth from the union between the Fierce Deity & Hylia. Not as actual blood offspring, but as their spiritual children in a sense. The Sheikah actually came about first, then when the first Hylians came to be, the Fierce Deity instructed the Sheikah to always watch over their younger siblings as that is the duty that comes with being the eldest. As such, the truth is that the Sheikah weren't simply supposed to protect only the Royal Family, but the Hylians as a whole.

Similarly, Hylia is based on the Greek term Hylia presina meaning "sunny green" & is likely the ancient Hyrulean word for the sun as well. In this way, if the naming conventions do follow through, then I also think that "Shei" would be the ancient Hyrulean or Sheikan word for moon. Which would make sense because I see the Fierce Deity as having connections to the moon.

Also, the symbols on the Depths Set & the Dark Clumps are ancient Sheikah script. Those who were tasked with not only bringing spirits (non-combative poes) to the Bargainer Statues, but also fighting the Poe enemies on the Surface after the Fierce Deity gave up his immortality, were the Sheikah.

---

Something else I read somewhere that I quite liked was, "The never-ending battle between Zelda/Hylia and Ganondorf/Demise represents Chaos. Link brings order and balance to this conflict every time."

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Either way, I'd love it if LoZ had more lore for him or made him a major focus of a game's plot.

At the same time, I wonder why there isn't anymore talk of the 3 golden goddesses? They used to be the main goddesses that people in Hyrule talked about. Now, it's all about Hylia & I wonder when this changed & why.

LoZ Cultural Masterlist

[small-strong-bookish-butch]

I'm almost done reading The Handmaid's Tale, and I don't like it. I've never read it before, I know it's a classic, and I was intrigued enough to keep reading.

But.... God, where do I start? Ranty jumble below the cut.

Especially after Roe V. Wade got overturned, a lot of people were like "Ooooh, it's just like Handmaid's Tale!"

I Googled if Atwood is transphobic, and got mixed results.

Within the interview I read, she said she doesn't predict the future, she just reads a lot of history, which put a lot of the book into context....

I think, as someone who does not know a lot of history and isn't interested in history, a lot of the events in THT seemed to be just:

[Atwood in 1985 voice] "Ooooh, what if slavery [against Black people] in the U.S. happened to white women?"

The no-reading rule. Only used for their bodies. Punished by mutilating their hands and feet. Public lynchings, to put it bluntly. De-gendered (?) for 'running away.' All dressing the same. Not allowed to use their own names. Being sent to 'the Colony.' Being traded among men if they misbehaved.

There are probably many more examples I'm forgetting.

But what really got it for me was the mention of the "Underground FemaleRoad." Really?? You're going to basically name-drop the historical way that enslaved people could actually escape and give them and their allies no credit for any of it???

I know, I know, practically the definition of cultural appropriation is "a white person does something that POC have been doing for a while and doesn't credit them/takes it as their own invention", but like, seriously?!

She wrote this whole book about "oh no what if Bad Things happened to White women 😢😢😢" and didn't mention anything about like, slavery or colonization or imperialism or anything like this that's happened to people of color in history, let alone the US Slave Trade.

Uhhhhh what else....

A lot of the ways the book talked about sexuality and purity culture and Christianity felt very like.... a mix of dramatic irony, regular irony, and almost post-ironic?

Like, especially with the prayers— you could tell that the Aunts did mean it sincerely, but I couldn't tell how much Offred herself did (or would have) actually disagreed with the Biblical teachings if they hadn't been used to like..... oppress her into subservience or whatever.

(Like when she talked about how her mom was pro-choice and how she, as a teenager, was 'humiliated' by how her mom would like, go to pro-abortion protests and be proud of people's right to choose. My personal reading of it was that, had they not been in this new overdramatic apocalypse, Offred would still feel like that and not be pro-choice at all.)

I think I need to cite my sources on all that; like, most of the time, with how THT talked about [patriarchy, reproductive rights, 'women's' bodies, abortion, Bible verses, the paranoia of getting caught doing something wrong, etc.] I couldn't tell if the narrator was saying something ironically, or if it was meant to be taken ironically, or if it was supposed to be post-ironic, and we all— including the narrator— were supposed to understand that it had started ironically and had now evolved past that to mean something totally opposite its original meaning....

(Though honestly, I don't think the book or Atwood is smart enough to be as post-ironic as you'd think for most of it.)

The fucking. "Pen Is Envy." I wanted to scream. 'Aunt Lydia told us that. They were right. I see the pen and do feel envy" are you serious right now? Really?! Really. It's all so fucking absurd. To take Freud's words, who was well known as a pseudoscientist, and use it as a 'male privilege' analogy in the sense where it's logical??? Get real.

The Marthas were mentioned briefly as having brown skin, and I assumed, given the almost no context of any of it, that they're women of color who are like, housemaid slaves and aren't seen as good for anything else?

I don't remember any mentions about what happened to the men of color, anywhere.

Overall? I hated the book. I spent most of it waiting for it to get interesting, or even to feel like Offred gave any fucks about like, courage or anything meaningful (beyond surviving a room without a light fixture or whatever the fuck). I didn't like her as a character, I didn't think she was a useful narrator, I think there were whole swatches of things that were left out and unexplained, and the book doesn't make sense. Full stop. It doesn't make sense. I felt a sense of unease while reading.

Overall I interpreted the book to be very...... pro-gender- and biological essentialism and white supremacy and eugenics in a "white people can be the only people" kind of way, and I think Atwood's perspective is NOT well-clarified enough to be strongly against any of that in a way that is meaningful, let alone action-oriented.

[isekai-crow]

Doctor Elise Ep 2

So much for trying to do individual episode posts every week! We gonna do them in clumps and queue-away instead because life gets in the way some times! Trying to still break them up by episode though~

If episode 1 was the introduction to how the reincarnation stuff works and her previous life, episode 2 is the introduction to Fantasy Britannia/Germany/Russia before the Fantasy Crimean War, and setting up the premise of the show. The royal family are the de Romanoffs but they're blond haired and blue eyed, and the world feels more German than British, so FANTASY EUROPE IT IS YALL.

BY THE WAY Elise is from the de Clorance family which is hiLARIous play of FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE!!!

Also. We get a character that WAS NOT IN THE MANHWA and LOOKS LIKE HAKU FROM SPIRITED AWAY. I didn't completely forget this man from the manhwa did I???? It's been a year or two since I read it but I wouldn't forget a long haired man.

Spoilers and Pictures below the cut

HELLO WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU??? THE SNARKY KING'S GUARD??? (IS THIS GOING TO BE A RARE PAIR SHIP because I'm here for it. A guard who demands that everyone respects the king but keeps interrupting the man himself??? yes, hello, thank you lmfao)

MAN I wish I had hair as gorgeous as this king. (Who is voiced by Inoue, Kazuhiko who plays Kakashi (Naruto), Madara(Natsume), and fricken YUKI FROM GRAVITATION BTW LMFAO)

and HERE he is.. Prince Sparkly Himself!!! Prince Linden de Romanoff.

He looks like he's going to be your typical Ice Prince, but this man blushes SO DAMN MUCH ITS REALLY CUTE.

I was trying to figure out why he has two voice actors and... Well. His main voice actor is Azakami, Youhei who plays a ton of supporting characters, including a dozen of small roles in Aggretsukko which is hilarious to think about.

Anyways, we get a lot of set-up about who Elise was before she died in her first life, and a declaration that she no longer wants to marry the crown prince and instead wants to be a doctor, setting up the stakes for the story, and gives us some fun Doctor flavored power fantasy tidbits, with a fairly accurate(?) diabetes diagnosis!

She's not trying to hide her knowledge at all, including knowledge about what's to come like war tactics, but the hand waving of (OH, I read about it in a book! Oh, I was just thinking about the topic very hard!) is very powerful magic in this world it seems.

Elise makes a wager with the King that if she can pass the medical exam, she gets to call of the engagement. Everyone thinks she's craycray, but this girl has a one track mind that has jumped of the rails of PrincePrincePrince and on to ScalpelScalpelScalpel.

But also. This girl legit smiles at him while thinking about surgery and doctor stuff, and has him blushing. This man has zero interest or experience with women up until now, and it shows, or will show in later episodes.

ELISE is also oblivious to this as she apologizes for everything she's done up until now, and everything she hasn't dont yet in this time line. And is like.. "I know you don't want this engagement, so sorry for forcing you and always stepping over your boundaries."

YOU DID BRUH. IN YOUR PAST LIFE.

It feels like your typical self sacrificing female protag in a shojo. BUT. She's self-sacrificing for the selfish (positive) sake of CUTTING PEOPLE OPEN!!! It's cute to know the romance will have a base to build off of though, and hopefully be realistic.

My favorite take from this episode, and in the series so far though is...

Capybara: THERE IS NO CULTURAL TOUCH STONE IN THIS WORLD FOR MOTHER TERESA!!! Crow: YOU DON'T KNOW THAT. Capybara: ...I don't know that. But there's no Christianity in this world!!! Crow: You don't know that. Capybara: ...I don't know that. NO CHRISTIANITY IN MY ISEKAI PLEASE!!!

Moral of the story: Anything goes in an Isekai. Just don't look to closely or you'll break it. lolol

[bethanydelleman]

Why did Jane Austen make Mary Crawford so Right?

Jane Austen has a funny habit of putting very quotable or correct ideas into the mouths of villains, or at least characters that we are not supposed to admire. Like Caroline Bingley’s praise of reading or Isabella Thorpe’s commentary on friendship. But it is readily apparent in those cases that the characters actually mean something quite different (Caroline pretends to love reading to attract Darcy, Isabella is using emotional blackmail). What is harder to understand is Mary Crawford. I do believe we are supposed to view her character negatively, but Mary’s commentary on the church is very poignant, even today, and I think in many ways, Jane Austen herself agreed.

Mary’s first commentary on the church is in the chapel at Southerton, where she basically says, (I paraphrase) “You can’t force piety on people. Make them sit in a chapel and if they are not there with their heart, they will think of something else. Also, those in power neglect church while demanding piety of those lower than them.” She is right, and Edmund knows she is right (he says, “but I have not yet left Oxford long enough to forget what chapel prayers are.“ and I can’t really see the rich, hung-over students at Oxford paying a lot of attention in chapel). And yet, Edmund is “too angry for speech” when Mary makes this critique.

(As an aside, having grown up in the church, I have seen this a lot even today. There are many people who attend as often as they can, and yet fail completely to live out Christian values. They seem to believe that quantity alone can replace quality and that attendance is equal to living out moral principles.)

Mary is proved correct throughout the novel. Sir Thomas later reflects that his daughters knew their religion theoretically but did not take its lessons to heart. Henry admits that while he sits in church he thinks about other things (like how to read the liturgy properly) and Edmund later reflects that London preachers who are listened to as great performers don’t actually do much to change minds and hearts because they don’t actually interact with the people they preach to or model good behaviour. Going to chapel does not a religious person make. 

Another commentary from Mary, which comes up several times, is that those who go into the profession of the church do it not because they are called but because of the stable income of a living. Edmund insists that he chose the church himself, and we know from narration that he does mean to do his job well, but I do think Mary’s opinion more captures the state of the profession:

“Oh! no doubt he [a clergyman] is very sincere in preferring an income ready made, to the trouble of working for one; and has the best intentions of doing nothing all the rest of his days but eat, drink, and grow fat. It is indolence, Mr. Bertram, indeed. Indolence and love of ease; a want of all laudable ambition, of taste for good company, or of inclination to take the trouble of being agreeable, which make men clergymen. A clergyman has nothing to do but be slovenly and selfish—read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife. His curate does all the work, and the business of his own life is to dine.”

Mary and Henry represent more of a London way of thinking, but given Mr. Elton and Mr. Collins and the fact that the British government would soon reform the livings system, I tend to think their opinion here is generally correct. Henry is kind of shocked that Edmund won’t just take the income and install a curate, which I take to mean that he has met a lot of clergymen in London who ride back into the country twice a year to give a sermon and let their underpaid curates do the rest.

This all leads to the question, why is Mary the one who says all this? Why do the moral characters become angry and oppose her? Why is the truth given to someone who is basically amoral? My idea is this: Mary is telling us what has caused her jaded view on the church and the jaded view of the whole of England. Edmund wants to do the right thing, to live among his parishioners and provide an example of moral living, but Mary has not seen that before. In her life, she has experienced preachers without substance and church without meaning and she’s rejected it all. Part of her attraction to Edmund is that he actually lives out his moral values. (She finds charm in, “his sincerity, his steadiness, his integrity” and as a side note, this is also what Henry finds fascinating about Fanny). The moral characters become angry, I think, because they don’t actually have a solution.

To summarize, Mary’s criticism of the church says this, “Look what you have created.”