#and u know.....bc the nutcracker

[bingoboingobongo]

task force 141 + holiday traditions

Characters: Simon "Ghost" Riley, John "Soap" MacTavish, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, John Price, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra

Warnings: none

A/N: buhruh the hardest thing abt this series is finding gifs istg

john price:

okay so i feel like price's favorite holiday tradition is watching the nutcracker

fhhdhshs ok this is like a super duper random headcanon that's gonna go off on a tangent here and if ur a possessive price girly maybe u won't like it but oh well

but i can see price like at one point having a small little relationship with some other lady whatever she's kinda irrelevant ngl

what matters is her child

omg that sounds bad wait lemme finish

what im trying to say is that the ex's child danced in the nutcracker and his ex brought him to see it

but this was like quite a few years ago

either that or he just dated a dancer that was in the nutcracker

idk man all that matters is that the tradition of watching the nutcracker was started

he likes going to a different theatre/company every year so it sorta switches it up

so sometimes he'll go watch the royal ballet or sometimes he'll watch some amateur recital thing

he just enjoys watching people dance and listening to the music

he thinks it's so cool how effortless they make it look

especially since he knows it's anything but

he really likes the mouse king vs nutcracker part in the beginning

and he thinks the dance of the sugar plum fairy is overrated

lives for the snow queen tho

kyle "gaz" garrick:

man kyle just likes to hang out with his family

mainly because his family has like twenty different traditions they do together

making gingerbread houses, making christmas sweaters, making ornaments

i mean it's like an advent calendar of christmas festivities at the garrick household

honestly gaz is a family man but he's not ready to have his own family yet ykwim?

like he loves his family

but he want to wait until he's older to have his own family

absolutely loves hanging out with his younger brother and sister tho

and we've already established this before but they're like little kids

so he likes sorta bringing the magic of the holiday traditions to them

one of his favorite traditions is to take his younger siblings on a drive to watch christmas lights

and then he drives until they fall asleep

it's so sweet

guys im becoming a gaz girlie ngl and it's criminal how little fics there r of him

anyways

simon "ghost" riley:

ok so idek if this counts as a tradition im ngl my family is not very festive but whatever

but simon really enjoys (and is really good at) making popcorn and cranberry garland

i mean guys let's be real

simon is a seamstress at heart and on the surface

i mean it's not like he has the time to stop by the store and get someone else to sew his mask on for him

there's just something so therapeutic about sewing

and he really likes the sweet and tart smell of cranberries mixed with the buttery smell of popcorn

it sounds weird on paper but irl it's really good (i assume)

he also eats a lot more cranberries than he probably should but tbh who can blame him

on another note he also really likes making sugared cranberries and just keeping them in a bowl so he can snack on them

and i can't even blame him bc i tried them for the first time during thanksgiving and oml they slap

so yeah he honestly just lives for cranberry stuff

but ofc like everything else about his life this is a secret that can never come to life

but he will decorate his house with strings of popcorn and cranberry garland

also every year he always eats some by the end

kinda gross ik but like same

he doesn't eat the popcorn tho only the cranberries

and even then he pulls them all off and washes them

but he doesn't always eat much because they taste sorta weird by then

but yeah ghost is an ocean spray cranberry juice kinda guy

john "soap" mactavish:

soap absolutely loves gift exchanges

white elephant, secret santa, or just general gift giving

it doesn't matter soap loves them all

he loves to see who he gets and to buy presents for them

and ofc he loves getting presents in return

plus he really likes seeing just how much thought and effort everyone puts into their gifts

and he always keeps a camera on hand during gift opening so he can try and get that perfect moment of surprise

he's gotten a few good shots but a lot of them are really blurry

he's not the best photographer okay

but yeah he just loves seeing everyone so happy

his favorite one is probably white elephant though

because the randomness adds to the fun

and he likes to be able to look back at some weird object and be reminded of the good memories

rodolfo "rudy" parra:

okay so call it corny call it cheesy call it lame

actually don't call it lame i will fight you

but whatever

anyways rudy really likes taking christmas family photos

his family does one every year on christmas day and he lives for it

one of his uncles is a photographer so it works out anyways

and they always get the family matching pjs or outfits or costumes or something

and his family has a whole album of them

so he literally has like a christmas picture every year since he was a baby

his favorite one was a few years back where his grandpa was santa, his grandma was mrs. claus, his parents, siblings, and him were elves, and then his nieces and nephews were reindeer

he keeps that one on a frame in his desk

and it's cool to see how every year the crowd gets bigger and bigger as people get married and have kids

and guys it's been happening for a while but i am a rudy girl at my core

i can't help it im sorry

alejandro vargas:

honestly i feel like alejandro really likes advent calenders

he doesn't even really know why it just gives him something to look forward to everyday

before his break starts he always brings rudy over to open the day's gift with him too

he usually gets different calenders every year

some years he gets ones that have candy or chocolate

and other years he gets some with pocket knives or tools

is that a thing?

tactical advent calenders?

idk they should be

sometimes when he's feeling especially festive he'll get himself a few different ones that way he can have multiple things to look forward to

his favorite one is the neuhaus chocolate ones

he really has to fight the urge to sneak one in a day early

idk alejandro's just a fan of chocolate in general

but like fancy chocolate not just like hershey's

he needs truffles or cadbury or specialty chocolate

is cadbury even fancy?

idk i've never had one

[uriekukistan]

right so here i am w MORE URIE BALLET HCS

- the first time urie went to a ballet class was against his will

- i wanna say hsiao took the quinx bc the way i see her move in the manga reminds me of a dancer…yeah she probably goes for cross training or smth

- urie was pretty reluctant and not looking forward to it at all. probably thought it was a waste of time

- but he so quickly came to love it. like by the time they were done with tendus (literally the second thing you do in a ballet class)

- i wanna say he was one of those people who didnt think much of ballet and ballet dancers, but after that class he really came to respect the art

- i’ve said before that i think he would appreciate the way it combines all of his fav hobbies - the creativity of art, the athleticism of working out, and ofc we rarely see him not listening to music in his headphones

- but i think what he likes most is the structure and discipline of ballet

- he’s someone who has a lot of thoughts at all times. ballet classes are very predictable and you should be focusing on the technique, so your brain kinda goes quiet. i think he would appreciate that

- anyway after that first class he’d kinda get obsessed w ballet but he would keep it to himself

- his fav company is the bolshoi ballet btw

- after a few weeks of obsessing, he would finally go to another class, but he would figure out when hsiao went and specifically go on different days. or he would straight up find a completely different studio

- idk why he’s so hellbent on hiding this new hobby bc you know the quinxes would be supportive as fuck

- the teacher really likes him because he’s always super focused and looking for corrections

- so the teacher asks him if he’d be interested in performing in the nutcracker with the company they’re part of (omg time for my fav urie ballet hc)

- urie hesitantly accepts because he really does enjoy ballet but he’s worried he’s not good enough and also that the quinxes will find out (again- why???)

- so he ends up being the cavalier for the sugar plum pas de deux, which he’s kinda like ???? because other than the nutcracker prince it’s one of the most coveted male roles in the nutcracker

- he’s also never done partnering before so he’s kinda nervous. very shy in rehearsals but also very cooperative with his partner. he wants to do well in everything so he works very hard and always asks for tips and feedback from his teacher and his partner

- he also finally comes clean to the quinxes about where he sneaks off to every night and theyre so excited to come see him dance. he thought they would tease him, but no one does because they can see how much it means to him

- they all come and sit in the front row. saiko also told takeomi and yoriko, and kaneki and touka so they all come too and urie is lowkey mortified

- he slays tho as expected

the dance if u were interested! one of my personal favs! this was so long omg

also his dream role is prince siegfried from swan lake (bc his fav ballet is swan lake), and he kinda wants to do the russian dance from the nutcracker bc of all the jumps

[thepringlesofblood]

Dimension 20′s Neverafter FPE (Fairytales Per Episode)

im going out of my fuckin gourd on this neverafter shit, and i have decided to make a list of what and how many fairytales/nursery rhymes are introduced in each episode. will update as time goes on but i make no promises as to how frequently. theories are not included in totals. allusions/references are.

disclaimer: i am coming at this from a primarily american, english-speaking, culturally christian background, though I have studied a lot of ancient mediterranean myth and religion, a little bit of norse myth and religion, and a little bit of arthurian legend.

please let me know if there’s a reference to something I missed or if you know shit I don’t. i’ve decided that for our purposes, whether a reference/allusion is intentional or not doesn’t factor into our final count - unintentional/ambiguously intentional allusions/references count too, not just obvious ones.

(especially about mythical middle eastern spiders. I only know anansi & arachne, and have a passing familiarity with jorogumo & ye xian, and none of those are middle eastern or fit the situation.)

update: the show is finished! I won’t be taking my various theories off, i think it adds flavor. just remember as you’re going down that I was updating this weekly-ish. I’m going to do another post in the future that is Just The Numbers, but for now, enjoy my rambling! [updatier update: here’s the Just The Numbers post]

Ep. 1

The PCs (and their backstories)

 Mother Goose (+1)

Hubbard (old mother Hubbard who lived in a cupboard) (+1)

Jack

jumped over the Candlestick (+1)

(implied) and the Beanstalk (bc of the giants everywhere) (+1)

theory: Sprat? (the rhyme goes “Jack sprat could eat no fat his wife could eat no lean/and so between them both, you see they licked the platter clean.” not directly mentioned but that was my first thought upon the whole turning to bones thing that like all the fat was removed from his body or smthin)

Ylfa (Little Red Riding Hood) (+1)

there are 2 wolves inside you. you are 12.

the big bad wolf is mentioned in the context of 2 stories, the 3 little pigs and little red riding hood, so (+1) for the pigs

Pib (Puss in Boots) (+1)

Pinocchio (+1)

Cinderella (stepmother’s official art says “Cinderella...” at the bottom) (+1)

theory: “The second fairy you have met in your life” so also a character in smthin else probably since cindy’s stepmom isnt usually magical

update: maybe the whole cannibalism thing made her magical? who’s to say

updatier update (post ep 7): so it turns out that the evil fairy =/= the stepmother, but is the evil fairy from sleeping beauty. i was right about the stepmother being in multiple different stories but boy howdy do i wish I wasn’t. 

Rosamund (sleeping beauty/briar rose) (+1)

Gerard (the princess and the frog) (+1)

Snow queen (mentioned by Elody) (+1)

the rest of the episode

the little red hen (+1)

i fuckin love this one.

the story’s basic but good - she’s makin some bread and at every step asks for help from the other barnyard creatures and they’re all like hmm nahhhhh and then when it comes time to eat the bread they’re all like yes please lemme help w that and she’s like uh no, where was this energy when i was making the damn thing? and eats it ‘without any help at all’

so brennan doing her as like ‘u gotta help or you don’t eat’ is fantastic. 10/10

Ol king Cole (+1)

The little old lady who lived in a shoe (+1)

(alluded to) Alice n Wonderland (rabbit and teapot) (+1)

theory: “the chandling caravan” sounds like it should be something, but I don’t know what it is, and google has not been helpful. same w boffit, lord bandlebridge, and cressida lumley.

total tale count: 16

Ep. 2

The nutcracker (+1) (herr drosselmeyer is the weird uncle who gives clara the nutcracker. also in every ballet his drip is consistently immaculate)

Snow White (+1) (mirror mirror…..leaned up against the wall)

(alluded to) Beauty n the beast (furniture coming alive) (+1)

theory: Eidelgrin means something, but I don’t know what it is.

total tale count: 3

Ep. 3

.........nothing new to report

Ep 4

the fairy with the turquoise hair (aka the blue fairy) is actually not exclusive to Pinocchio - she has her own book n everything. (+1)

(alluded to) the little mermaid (+1)

“a dancing princess who either cannot or will not speak near a beach.”

the little mermaid trades her voice for legs and in the OG grimm story it feels like stepping on swords whenever she walks so she kind of “dances” (rip)

there’s. So many rabbit and fox tricksters. And other clever cats. I don’t think any were directly mentioned (except that Pinocchio has some in his many adventures, which isn’t a new tale) so I’m gonna say (+1) for rabbit and (+1) for fox.

Update: a reply to this post mentioned a character named Reynard the Fox from medieval French literature that might be the reason that the Fox speaks with a French accent. I found more support for this theory below!

“Isengrim”

this is the name of the daggers Pib gets. Rabbit mentions that it’s a name that Fox called the Wolf.

In fact, there’s a tale called Ysengrimus from 1152 CE where Reynard the Fox tricks the titular character, a wolf! So, there’s one Fox story confirmed. No additional points since Fox already had 1 point, this is more confirming the specific story he was inspired by.

theory: also, if we know the accents Mean Something, then Rabbit having a British accent might point to Peter Rabbit.

update: i have noticed several posts calling Rabbit’s accent Australian. it can be hard for me to tell the difference and idk if the general European bent of these tales means that brennan’s British just sounds kind of Australian or if it Means Something. I’m sure there’s Australian trickster rabbits too i just don’t know them

no fuckin clue where the ring came from tho :/

the golden goose (another Jack/Mother Goose tale not specifically mentioned before) (+1)

plus the beanstalk thing is talked about more (not new info though)

total tale count: 5

Ep. 5

hey diddle diddle (+1) (the dish ran away with the spoon + the cow jumping over the moon are from this same rhyme)

also anyone catch brennan mentioning fiddle music as tim was healing pib? ik it was king cole related music, but also...hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle.

itsy bitsy spider (+1)

(alluded to) little miss muffet (+1) (tuffeton)

(alluded to) goldilocks (+1) (”just enough” oats)

1001 nights (+1) (scheherazade is the author of these tales, as well as a myth in her own right. I have not read 1001 nights. please tell me things if you know them)

“spider queen” (+1) idk what it is but its fuckin something

identifying information: guardian of a cave/maze. supposedly has a throne. 1001 nights-adjacent.

theories:

“the spider and the wind” tale 909 of 1001, spider isn’t in this one that much actually

not all folktales in the neverafter are in mother goose’ book, so it stands to reason that not all folktales in the Endless Nights are in 1001 nights.

however, all the folktales in the neverafter are European in origin (mostly medieval), so it would make sense that the folktales in the endless nights would be middle eastern or adjacent

ye xian - chinese folktale where there’s a spider queen

“that’s east asia not arabia” fair but consider: in the older translations, aladdin is a chinese peasant. the world of 1001 nights is already bigger than arabia, and stories travel much more easily than the goods being traded across asia and the mediterranean on the silk road at the time the stories were written.

jorogumo - japanese yokai. a spider that turns into a woman. again, extremely far away from arabia, but girl i am looking.

cave of thawr - islamic oral tradition of muhammed hiding in a cave and a spider protects him. there’s a similar jewish tale w david hiding in a cave.

unlikely, but if there’s beautiful tapestries and the mother of all spiders i have to mention my girl Arachne (greek myth)

all time famous mythical spider anansi (west africa) still doesn’t really fit the bill, and is farther away from arabia than arachne (greece, which had colonies in the middle east (along the mediterranean shore but still. water = trade = exchange of goods = exchange of ideas/stories)) but still possible

yes i got a degree in ancient mediterranean studies and am using it to ruthlessly analyze a comedy show instead of sleeping, what about it?

sinbad (+1) “Sinbad the Sailor” (the roc is part of this as far as i can tell)

magical palace w the tapestries of starlight (+1) there’s a fuckload of magic palaces in 1001 nights. idk which one this refers to but it’s Something. am currently combing the stories more closely to specify at least one.

theories

the bartender with the icy wound is definitely someone. my gut says someone from the snow queen - people get icy mirrors in their eyes n shit in there and oftentimes straight up don’t get better

the peddler of wares in the corner has to be someone

the name of the tavern being “the cock and toad” has to mean something. i did some googling. there’s lots of fairytales w toads and lots of fairytales w cocks (lol) but none I could find where it’s just the two of them together. it’s weird, w a lot of fairytales/fables/nursery rhymes its like rolling 2d8 on a table of 8 animals and then just making the title out of the two animals you get. statistically its likely that there’s a story out there called that but I can’t find it.

the fucking spidersilk ring. i will solve this riddle one day.

they say the name “Aesop” as in “Aesop’s fables” (like the tortoise and the hare) but no tales mentioned yet. worth looking into if you’re the curious sort tho. Pib is going to fuck this guy up, his stories are very animal-centric and definitely have some trickster cats.

total tale count: 8

Ep. 6

No new tales - expands on ones already mentioned.

It’s just Muffet and whoever Scheherazade’s spider is

at least we find out that the “spider queen” referred to the monstrous form of muffet and Scheherazade’s spider combined, and not some new wholly separate myth.

Scheherazade’s spider seemed a little...riddly? for lack of a better term? like the whole “something that does not breathe” thing was weird, and if it’s supposed to be a guardian or guide of some sort, riddles make sense.

honorable mention: In the adventuring party episode, brennan tells the fable of the scorpion and the frog.

total tale count: 0

Ep 7

many theories with little knowledge.

In the adventuring party, brennan straight up says that the sword of truth is a general archetype, not from any specific tale. didn’t know that was an option! so no points for the sword of truth, dope as it is.

p.s. anyone else get flashbacks to fhsy with the whole truth mirror thing? it’s a good concept I’m glad brennan’s bringing it back

I am assuming each artifact found in the spider’s lair either comes from a separate tale, or is an archetype. I’m only counting it if I can pin down a specific tale that it is from.

the gillesuit/haystack cloak (+1)

update: As of Ep. 9, we now know that this is called “the cloak of rushes” and grants advantage on stealth checks. it is almost certainly from the English fairy tale “Cap-o’-Rushes” which, confusingly, features not just a cap but a whole outfit made of rushes!

my first thought was little boy blue, which does come from the tales of mother goose. this makes more sense tho lol

the golden bridle (+1)

some cursory googling indicates that this is from the celtic tale of Guleesh. one night, upon hearing the Fair Folk partying in some ruins (had to look up what a “rath” was lol) and saying “My horse, my bridle, my saddle!”, he repeats what they’re saying and is suddenly on a horse with a golden bridle. the story isn’t about the bridle itself, but the horses feature prominently, and can fly and stuff. When Guleesh kind of breaks the magic, the horse turns into a wooden beam, so maybe putting the bridle on a wooden beam summons a horse?

update: in ep 13 & 14 (& the adventuring parties) they mention that a. it does not summon a steed - you need to already have a steed there, and b. it would only work on a beast, not a monstrosity.

so.......maybe it’s not the one from the tale of Guleesh. I remain optimistic.

the golden chair (+1)

an obscure one, to be sure. from a grimm fairytale with a weirdly christian bent, where a tailor convinces st peter to let him into heaven but then sits in a big golden chair which as it turns out is the chair god sits in, and fucks up by throwing the footstool at some lady on earth washing veils (?) and gets kicked out again.

it is very possible that this was not an intentional allusion, but rather meant to evoke a fairytale-like atmosphere. either way, mission accomplished!

honorable mention: mayor harold hopps, while not a fairytale character himself, looks exactly like and was apparently inspired by the guy on the Pringles can, who is 100% a modern-day folkloric character.

theories:

the black velvet cloak with stars on it

idk where this is from. the only story I could find w a cursory google that had star clothing was Allerleirauh aka Thousandfurs, about a princess whose dad who wants to marry her (gross) so she asks for a bunch of impossible stuff to be made before the wedding can happen to try and stop it, including a dress made of stars (and one made of every kind of fur in the world hence the title). but it’s not a cloak so no points.

i s2g i have heard of something called ‘the cloak of stars’ before but I can’t fucking find it. pls lmk if you can think of something

update: ep 9 - they ALMOST told us what it was fuck, they mentioned wearing it to escape from the stepmother but we have no name. also the ‘cap-o’-rushes’ tale is extremely similar to thousandfurs minus the incest, so I don’t think it’s from that.

the stick skeletons w/ flesh on them were minions of the evil fairy from sleeping beauty - not a new tale

total tale count: 3

Ep 8

correction: brennan mentioned in the adventuring party for this one that aesop himself may also be fictional, and that many fables contain him telling the fable as part of it, so we’ll officially count him as his own fable like we did with Scheherazade (+1)

the lion and the mouse (+1)

the boy who cried wolf (+1)

they did finally mention the scorpion and the frog (+1)

alphonse is there but “the mule” isn’t actually referenced as being part of any of aesop’s fables in the show (like, there’s plenty of mules in aesop’s fables but no specific one was referenced in the show)

total tale count: 4

Ep 9

BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABA YAGA BABAYAGABABAYAGA!!!!!! (+1)

i love her so much. i truly understood emily’s excitement this episode. 

(alluded to) the princess and the pea (+1)

first time around I didn’t hear siobhan ask if anyone sees any stacks of mattresses without peas under them to sleep on lol

(alluded to) this little piggy went to market (+1)

idk if that’s the name of the rhyme or not, or if it has a name

it’s not in the captions but emily axford saying ‘well there has to be a market, right? cause this little piggy went to market’ is iconic

some sources say this rhyme is from Mother Goose lol

total tale count: 3

Ep 10

(alluded to) peter and the wolf (+1)

the baron’s named peter and there’s a wolf. that cant be a coincidence, the 3 little pigs don’t have set names

mostly retreading 3 little pigs territory. awesome battle set!

theories:

the soup could be an allusion to something but i think its just playing into this season’s theme of consumption and the end of the 3 little pigs

the council of kings might be from something

total tale count: 1

Ep 11

we get 5 kings from 5 tales on the Council of Kings (which seems diegetic and not a reference to anything), 3 of which we already knew, 2 which are new.

the little mermaid (the mer-king)

the snow queen (the tsar of snowhold)

the nutcracker (the mouse king)

the emperor’s new clothes (the naked emperor) (+1)

rumpelstiltskin (FINALLY) (the king of apogee) (+1)

Koschei the deathless (+1)

i had no fucking clue who this guy was until emily axford recognized him, thank you emily

at first I was scared the sealskin would be a selkie thing. it may still be, but that doesn’t appear to be the case in this specific situation

(alluded to) the binding of Fenrir, the wolf at the end of the world (+1)

there’s a norse myth where tyr (a god) puts his hand in fenrir’s mouth to show good faith. the gods want to put this magical leash/collar on fenrir, and since he’s not an idiot he says that he’ll consent to it only if tyr puts a hand in his mouth while they do it, to show that what they’re doing will not hurt or bind him in any way. the gods agree, but oops they lied, the chains are very much to bind him, and tyr loses his hand but the wolf is still bound.

but ylfa and mother goose are telling the truth! happy ending (for once lol) ^v^

I didn’t catch this one at first - thank you to the many posts about it in the #neverafter tag!

honorable mention

sheldon from ‘garfield and friends’

theories

the tavern-keeper (Natalia) doesn’t stand out to me as anyone specific so far, though her daughter is the second “snow-touched” person we’ve met (the bartender at the cock and toad had an icy wound over one eye) so im thinkin snow queen

there’s dwarves in other stories than snow white I’m sure, but these ones specifically say “snow white” on their intro card.

also, their names, Mürrisch, Schläfrig, & Arzt, mean grumpy, sleepy, and doctor in German. Grumpy, Sleepy, and Doc are all disney snow white dwarf names. nice.

another infuriating mention of the cloak of stars without any indication of what it does. I’m going to spontaneously combust.

one thing i do appreciate is the amount of taverns they run into. this is the third and i am very pro

total tale count: 4

Ep. 12

so many princesses!!!!! most of them already counted but still!!!

Rapunzel!!!!! (+1)

The North Wind (+1)

my classics major ass immediately assumed they were talking about Boreas, the Greek god of the northern wind lol

from what I can tell, this is from "East of the Sun and West of the Moon"

i’m sure The North Wind is from other things too, everybody loves personifying the wind

honorable mentions

Beast!!!!! i already counted the tale early on as a reference but it’s here fr now!!!!

Finally meeting the little mermaid!!! Also counted early on but this is her first appearance!

“the beast beyond no name” that Mira mentions in combination w the taut string that Pinocchio feels that means part of his story is happening soon whether he likes it or not makes me think it’s Terrible Dogfish time. But. I also think that it could be the literal Kraken.

there’s so many monsters in folklore that are just “really big scary fish thing that lives at the bottom of the ocean yet somehow also wrecks ships on the surface” i just don’t know which one brennan’s going for. my money’s on either Pinocchio’s Dogfish or The Kraken

Candlewick! jesus fucking christ! every time a bit of Pinocchio lore shows up, it’s already horrifying just from the whole story of Pinocchio being horrifying, but then Brennan leans into it in just the right way for it to be so much worse!

in the adventuring party, they mention several other tales, including the tortoise and the hare and the little matchgirl. they also (rightfully) dunk on Hans Christian Andersen for writing ludicrously depressing children’s stories.

total tale count: 2

Ep. 13

no new tales, dogfish, mer-king, & sea witch are from existing tales, but

CLOAK OF STARS LORE CONFIRMED

WE NOW KNOW THE CLOAK OF STARS IS CAPABLE OF CASTING 5TH LEVEL MAGIC MISSILE

THIS DOES NOTHING TO NARROW THINGS DOWN! BUT IT’S SOMETHING!!!!

also MANY tantalizing mentions of the golden bridle with 0 hints as to its capabilities.

total tale count: 0

Ep. 14

the sea witch is named Alba Mac Lír

several allusions here!

thank you @twoeelsforsupper for this observation!

“there is a legend called "the children of Lír" where a witch/stepmother turns King Lír's children into swans but does not take their voices, which ends up getting her found out. like the threads about voices and witches and stepmothers and transformations???”

“Alba” can mean several things

it’s the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland (this is probably what was being referenced)

in Latin, it’s the feminine nominative singular of the adjective albus, meaning “white”

in Spanish and Italian, it means “sunrise”

In Scottish Gaelic, “Mac” means “son of” so we have “Scotland, son of Lír”

good for her

also, if she’s one of the children of Lír, does that mean she’s one of the ones that got turned into swans?? much to consider.

so, plus one for the legend of the children of Lír! (+1)

FINALLY (finally) we get full cloak of stars lore.

its a fucking dnd 5e item. all this time and it’s legit just a reskin of Robe of Stars

it can take them to the lines between and shoot magic missile

i don’t know why i’m mad

total: 1

Ep. 15

yikes

no new tales, unless you count Clara The Horse Princess (she is not from anything as far as I can tell but I love her. also like Clara is the name of the nutcracker main character but we already counted the nutcracker so it wouldn’t be anything either)

total: 0

Ep. 16

thumbelina! (+1)

tom thumb! (+1)

I thought they were from the same thing but it turns out they have different origins, though there was a 2002 movie that had them be in the same movie.

tom thumb - English folklore, there was a 1621 book called The History of Tom Thumb

thumbelina - hans christian anderson tale from 1835, in the second volume of his Fairy Tales Told For Children series.

turns out he was actually inspired by Tom Thumb a bit, so it’s not convergent evolution or anything.

ngl - I mostly know the story of thumbelina from hearing julia from drawfee rant about how shitty of a movie it is in various streams/videos lol

all the jack stuff is stuff we’ve seen before - golden goose, giantslayer, nimble

UPDATE: in ep 17 adventuring party, brennan talks a bit about the multiplicity of jacks, and clarifies that there are TWO separate giantslayer myths.

Jack the Giant Killer - a Welsh fairytale about a warrior named Jack who fights a bunch of giants with a huge club and wins

Jack and the Beanstalk - an English fairytale about a young boy who accidentally grows a beanstalk to the Giant World and only “kills” the giant at the end by cutting the beanstalk down, leaving the giant to fall to his (their?) death.

So, while we’ve already counted Jack and the Beanstalk, this episode does introduce a new variation on Jack - Jack the Giant Killer. (+1)

henry hubbard is BACK!!!!! yes!!!!!

and tomás!!! and A L P H O N S E

I am v psyched for what comes next.

honorable mentions:

these aren’t explicitly Liliputians, but they do talk about gulliver in the adventuring party. I don’t think they talk about him in the actual show though.

total: 3

Ep. 17

holy shit. so many right off the bat, with brennan and siobhan going through a list of c-list folktales!

Fear Not (+1)

another grimm fairytale - not their finest work i see why this guy would be c-list lol

the brave little tailor (+1)

aka “the guy who kills a bunch of flies with his belt”

this is a for-real grimm fairytale about a guy who kills 7 flies at once, is very proud of it, makes a belt that says “Seven at One Blow” on it, and then goes out into the world and has his shit wrecked from various people misinterpreting what “Seven at One Blow” means

it’s hilarious

another jack tale!! Jack and Jill! (+1)

three blind mice (+1)

honorable mentions:

Henry talks about reuniting a clockwork man with a man in an eyepatch

this is all consistent with the Herr Drosselmeyer lore from all the way back in the first episodes of the show! We already counted him, so no new points, but still very cool!

also cool how brennan combined shoeberg w giant-slaying bc i mean how did they get all those ludicrously big shoes?

the golden goose shows Timothy all the versions of his story where they are one and the same. I’m not counting this as her showing him a new, separate fairytale, since it just overlaps two tales that we already have counted. also, I cried, that was a really intense part of the episode.

in the adventuring party they talk a lot about Narnia and “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”

ik those aren’t exactly ye olde english fairytales, since they came out in 1950, but if Aslan wandered into the neverafter I’d count him for sure

we learn what the harp does!

the harp’s power is consistent with the jack and the beanstalk myth, but it also reminded me of several other myths about lulling beasts to sleep

e.g. Hermes of Greek mythology fame (and supposedly the inventor of the lyre) also killed the giant Argus after lulling half of his eyes to sleep with the lyre and boring the other half to sleep with various tales of his exploits. (Argus’ big thing was having a bunch of eyes all over his body)

lulling a beast to sleep is a common theme across cultures, makes sense that it’s the kind of archetype useful for the gang.

it’s very possible that some aspect of how baba yaga’s cottage was described alludes to some other Slavic folklore that I didn’t pick up on

total: 4

Ep 18

“The Wishing Star” (+1)

fuck disney for making it impossible to find real fairytales about wishing stars on google

there are many tales/nursery rhymes about wishing on stars. “star light, star bright” is the first that comes to mind, but I’m sure there’s others. we’ll count this as a multi-tale figure and give it +1

honorable mentions

so. The Trials of Baba Yaga could refer to several things.

The Tale about Baba-Yaga is a 18th c. folk story where Baba Yaga has one normal human son (???) who marries a normal human woman, who then has to prove herself by doing seemingly normal chores (milk the cows, shear the sheep) that she then finds out from her husband are secretly meant to kill her (the cows are bears, the sheep are wolves).

(aka a fucked up slavic version of the tale of eros and psyche.)

(not that eros and psyche isn’t fucked up, just in a different way)

There is a 2017 book called “Winston and Baum and the Trials of the Baba Yaga” I do not think this is what was being referenced, and as it is modern and not a folk story, I’m not counting it.

other stuff I can find about Baba Yaga also includes stepdaughters having to do chores with secret meanings - it’s a part of her Thing

I’m including this under the general Baba Yaga mythos, not as its own thing, but still cool stuff to know about.

Prince Johnathan of Apogee (that’s how the subtitles spell it)

so. wayyyy back in episode 11 we find out that the kingdom of apogee is where Rumplestiltskin happened.

I think that’s all the Apogee info we have, and with a name as vague as Johnathan I don’t think we can call it a reference to anything.

We got Mother Goose’s OG rhyme!!!

not a new story but very cool!!!

there’s more but I think they stopped at a good place

fun fact: I found an extra verse that isn’t in the one linked above

“Then old Mother Goose/that instant came in/and turned her son Jack/into famed Harlequin/She then with her wand/touched the lady so fine/and turned her at once/into sweet Columbine”

and then they go on with the rest of the book like that bit never happened

other fun mother goose shit

i thought that littlefinger and “chaos is a ladder” were fairytale quotes but they’re from game of thrones it turns out. ._.

total: 1

Ep 19

no new tales (it’s the finale pt 1) but several honorable mentions

“As you wish”

cinderella girl you are KILLING ME

for those not in the know, this is an allusion to The Princess Bride

in the context of the book & movie, it means “I love you”

could be unintentional but i highly doubt it.

the book is too recent to count as fairytale for our purposes (1973) but it is very much in that genre. god damn.

la bête saying “be our guest” alludes to the disney beauty and the beast movie obvs

“Something wicked this way comes”

quote from Macbeth, by Shakespeare

I don’t think Shakespeare counts as fairytales. idk the vibes are just off. ik it’s an Old Story but it isn’t a fairytale.

total: 0

Ep 20

this is it gang!

The Fairies

so in the 1880s, Andrew Lang wrote a series of fairytale books named after fairies of various colors. I’m counting each fairy who has a book named after them as a new tale.

EXCEPT: the Blue Fairy

ok look i fucked up yall. The Fairy With Turquoise Hair is re-named “The Blue Fairy” in a lot of adaptations, so when I previously counted her separately from Pinocchio bc she had her own book, I was referring to “The Blue Fairy Book”

so we’re not counting it here bc that would be counting it twice. apologies to the actual Blue Fairy.

The Red Fairy Book (+1)

The Green Fairy Book (+1)

The Orange Fairy Book (+1)

The Yellow Fairy Book (+1)

this is by no means all of Lang’s color fairy books. he’s got crimson, violet, grey, pink, you name it.

honorable mentions

Calvin & Hobbes is modern day folklore

I looked up to see if there’s any actual Aesop fables with a shark in em, closest I could find was a dolphin. Rip.

Beaky’s stint in the TAA lines up with Pinocchio’s story, so not a new tale. thank you for your service beaky o7

total: 4

total series tale count: 62

alas, the only mystery remaining is Scheherazade’s spider. someday I may come back to this post with new information about her, but today is not that day. If you know any middle eastern myths/fairytales/folklore/nursery rhymes that prominently feature a spider that guards a maze or guides people through caves, please feel free to reply/reblog with your knowledge.

this show has been a fun and wild ride. Here’s a shortened version of this post with just the numbers

thank you for coming on this journey with me - see you in the stories!

[fluffydragonchips]

whats some specific things you really like about the jester lethal company im curious

they feel out of place in a positive way bc, the other enemies are like giant spiders hiding on the walls,, centipedes that lurk on the ceiling waiting for players, a shadow that constantly stalks you, and then the jester is a brightly colored box w legs that just walks up to u and follows??

when i first found one i thought it was 'friendly' and only smthin thatd block pathways tbh. finding out that its like the deadliest thing in the game was !!! it was just a box!! they block doorways, they used to HAVE AN AURA THATD STOP YOU FROM ATTACKING ENEMIES, they literally throw you cliffs, theyre menaces actually

the music is like an instant tell to runnnn even for new players i love it. its a little guy that sends the entire crew into a panic the moment its found,. jesters always know where everyone is when not in their box,, thats crazy, and its rather haunting to hear the ambience and stomping get closer and closer to where u are

the mods that change its music to silly cat music are so 💖 its veryyy fascinating to get a noclip or invisibility mod and observe jesters while they roam.. they way they literally zoom across jumps is lovely. also jesters animations are soo goofy looking theyre having a great time. extra thing apparently you used to be able to run in circles to avoid getting eaten?? what????

if i could id hold up a jester like a small kitten. itd be so fun to stand on a jester box and see where it wanders. i want to hit one with a shovel. theyd love to eat the lollipop scrap. nutcrackers would probably kick jesters across rooms if they couldd

[superioritea-complex]

new ballets russes

ngl if i ever ended up with a ridiculous amount of money i'd probably found a ballet company, i'd wanna do something new and interesting like the ballets russes did back in the early 20th century- minus Diaghilev being a strange and quite frankly gross individual- I feel like so much of ballet has gotten repetitive, in the sense that we've focused to much on perfection we've forgotten that we are a performing art form- so often we get hung up on body proportions and things like hyper extension and body shape that we end up losing the emotion of the dance completely. I've recently watched dying swan- the og version with anna pavlova and now i can't help but feel newer versions are overly santized, like the concern is to look beautiful and not the real tragedy that is happening on stage. I think it's not only a disservice to audience members but to dancers as well as we are robbing them of developing their creative expression. That and it would also help with the fact that many ballets are quite frankly dated- for example the bolshoi black face scandal for their production of la bayadere (this happened in 2019 btw).

I would love to see a new fantastical adaptation with elaborate costumes, choreography, sets, and music- (bring back camp!!). Plus there are so many myths and cultural things to chose from a ballet could be done on Sappho's life, or on La Maupin (if you don't know who she is PLEASE look her up- she's unhinged and my hero), or even take from more myths like eros and psyche, or apollo and hyacinth, or a full length version of orpheus (i know balanchine did a short version with music by Stravinsky but imagine an entire set for the underworld- like fully fleshed out costumes for hades and persephone- it's actually a shame how minimalist balanchine's sets and costumes are given the inspo (bc they weren't originally!!- look at old apollo costumes vs the more recent ones- like bro HOW did we get here???) or we could start adapting Dostoevskyballet and Kafka like we've been adapting Shakespear (METAMORPHASIS BALLET GUYS- I MEAN COME. ON.) and these are just the ones off the top of my head.

I think now would be a good time to reinvigorate the artform especially with increased interest due to the overall ballet core trend- it could be a great way to bring in more people not only as those who take classes but also as viewers. Also ballet company's have shitty marketing- ofc if you only push the nutcracker for the entire year then you're only going to get people to watch the nutcracker and your other repertoire is gonna flop. duh. By investing a bit in marketing instead of lining the artistic director's pockets (be so fr do u really need a second vacation home?) the company would be more successful overall-( more people to come in and see shows, more artistic outreach, more outreach means more tickets means more money so hopefully better conditions for the dancers, etc. etc.)

tldr. people only say ballet is boring bc y'all have made ballet boring, the lack of artistic expression, lack of new creative sets and costumes, elitism, racism, homophobia, etc. etc. etc. are what have made people less engaged with the art form over the years NOT the actual style of dance itself.

[elijah-terry]

For that OC ask game how about 3 for Kieran and Yuuha and 9 for Stewie :]

oh man 3 is such a good one for kieran and yuuha, thank u prince !!!!

so okay. UM this got kind of long so i put it under a readmore <3 can you tell i'm back on adhd meds <3

questions are from this post!

3. What is your oc's fatal flaw? Are they aware of this flaw?

So, first, Kieran. For full context, Kieran is originally my partner's oc, but now we both have custody of him <3 And when I mentioned this question to him he immediately said, "Oh, god, just one?" But anyway my answer for this is that Kieran's fatal flaw is love. (not romantic, he is arospec) .He would do anything for the people he cares about, at the risk of literally killing himself. He sees himself as worthless and irredeemable, and values the people he loves more than anything and definitely more than himself. If what that person wants hurts Kieran, he'll do it anyway. He'll do it to the ends of the earth. Part of this is because Kieran is a coward, and he considers that to be his fatal flaw. And to be honest the two are undeniably and inextricably connected. He doesn't want to let himself love. He feels it so much and buries it deep because he doesn't think he deserves it and he's too scared. His brother hates him and Kieran accepts that because he hates himself. He's just a big scared vulnerable feelings guy. :( but. tldr his ass is NOT aware of that flaw, he thinks it's that he's a coward. This love pertains specifically to like... platonic and familial love. His brother, the girl he considers his sister, Stewie, etc. When Kieran actually experiences romantic love he's kind of. chill with it. though that probably has to do with who the guy is tbh ( real quick i have to say now that i am talking about this story with people ((which is super exciting and fun for me!!!)) i need to say. kieran and stewie are not love interests. and in selkies it explicitly states that stewie reminds kieran of his brother evelyn for this reason specifically bc i can see it now. i can see if this ever somehow got published the biggest ship in the place would be kieran and stewie. crying emoji but im on my laptop)

3 for Yuuha:

His biggest flaw is definitely his pride. Yuuha is trans and at his old ballet studio, his instructor didn't acknowledge him as trans, and kept giving him parts that are generally for girls y'know. Often leads bc the instructor was obsessed with Yuuha (is the bad guy of that arc, has a palace, etc) and Yuuha kept taking them every time because he would rather be seen as a girl and be in the spotlight than be on the sidelines. And people used to talk shit about him because of it because he would complain about not being seen as a guy and then take like. idk clara from the nutcracker and people just saw him as a hypocrite. His pride is also what kept him from approaching Hifumi for years after they grew apart. Her success from afar made him feel bad after he quit dance and became a nobody, and he didn't know what she was going through and just assumed that she was too good for him. And he started to kind of believe it. His pride is also what almost gets him killed in the Metaverse, because he gets cocky and runs ahead without the PT. (in black mask au it's his pride that also gets him found out.) But he's extremely aware of this flaw, he just can't overcome it alone. He struggles with it constantly, and it's his Confidant route with Joker that helps him come to terms with it.

9. Do you have a specific lyric or quote you associate with your oc? For Stewie

I had to go through the songs on his playlist real quick but. look. there's a lot of things i associate with stewie but he is, before he is anything else, kindness and love and acceptance. and this is gonna sound so small and stupid and simple but "Everyone you know will lie / those you trust will make you cry / all hellos end with good bye / so who's afraid to love? Not I." it's just. the quintessential feeling at the heart of his character. he's not afraid to love. why yes he is kieran's foil how did you know? sidfjdsf i wrote so much stuff for kieran and yuuha and like. nothing for stewie but like. stewie is full of love. that's his whole him. full of love. like he's still a complex character with other emotions but the things that remind me the most of stewie are his determination to love people who are equally as determined to not be loved. to help people who insist (lying) that they don't want to be helped. to accept those who feel they'll never be accepted.

thank u for reading this long thing sfsdf thank u SO much for asking !!!! aaa!!!!!!!

[svankmajerbaby]

hii ❣️ 1, 2 and 3 for the movies ask game?

helloooo, thank u for the ask <3

1. what is your current favorite film?

oof, tough question..... my usual favorite movie is either alice 1988 or the fall 2005 at any given time. the wolf house is up there too but i havent watched it nearly enough times. i think alice rn but only bc i havent watched the fall in a long while. i should probably rewatch......

2. what was your favorite film as a child?

monsters inc!!! i got it super memorized, fron the music to the dialogues, i loved the latinamerican dub and tbh its still just my favorite pixar movie even if i know its not the best of theirs. barbie nutcracker and atlantis are close seconds, i remember rewatching them about a hundred times. i also think even earlier on, so about when i was 3 or 4,i had a dinosaur phase? so i watched the matt damon disney dinosaur movie a lot. and also manuelita, bc ive always loved maria elena walsh <3

(i had vhs of a bunch of the 90s and 2000s disney movies so theres that of course. but i also had shrek on vhs which my dad loved so i also have good memories of that one :)

3. whats a film you absolutely despise, and why?

i try not to hate movies bc apart from all the effort ppl put into them i also know that any movie must be someones favorite movie, and tbh most of the time there is always sth to love about a movie no matter how bad it is...... but going over my letterboxd my last low-rated movie was the mulan remake. im usually too charitable towards disney remakes bc i dont care about the source material too much and i just want to be entertained and dazzled by high value production design for a while but the mulan remake was just. Dull. even the aladdin remake could halfheartedly hold my attention a bit more. mulan was boring and unfortunately for it i actually have some nostalgia towards the original. so it was just a disappointment

[moonchildstyles]

i just watched a nutcracker performance and it got me thinking...i know that u are thinking about a ballet story and like if u don't want to post this u don't have to u could just be like vague post "bestie YES" or "bestie NO" bc i'm wondering......is balletrry going to be 🥸 Strict 🥸 bc if so.....i have many many many thoughts

bestie...........I do have.........like 3 different ideas of what balletrry is going to be and I don't want to spoil too much like you really know me but there is a version of him that is 🥸 Well Disciplined and Strict🥸

[dreamerwitches]

Can I ask y is homuras witch form in the movie different from the portable (same with the Magia reco game)

I assume it’s bc of different stuff that happened but idk 🤷 asking u bc I would like to hear ur thoughts on it

Phew, what a hard question...

Yeah, I've always thought that it's because of Kyubey's meddling that Homura's witch has a different appearance. We do know that timelines effect the witch's appearance as seen with Oktavia from timeline 1 and 3 (where in 3 she has a red appearance and a more rock themed labyrinth)

I wonder if it has something to do with Homura's desires and goals being altered. In Portable, she is the mortal world witch of closed circuits. I've always linked this version to glasses homura (kinda like magireco) and her loops. Homulilly is linked to Homura looping and reaching her goal of saving Madoka. Though we do know regular Homura still has this version of Homulilly cause she appears when regular Homura dies to Walpurgisnacht in Portable.

Rebellion Homulilly is the Nutcracker witch of self-sufficiency. Her card states that she's a nutcracker that has cracked many nuts but is now useless. This fits with Homura beginning to give in in Rebellion and how she constantly fights things alone (even when she doesn't have to in the fake world).

I guess since Homura is technically out of her loops, Portable Homulilly might've been gone since Madoka's wish. I'm not so good on wraith arc knowledge but I think in that it states that her wish/powers was changed because of Madoka's wish so I'm wondering if that's actually what changed her.

I also think maybe Homulilly changed appearance to look far more like Homura because of Homura's unique change into a witch. She was technically a witch all along since she was in her labyrinth.

I'm sorry it's not a very concise answer... I had to think about it a lot.. other people might have good answers on this post too!

[trobeds]

here to shitpost about the dancing bylers again so once again im backstage and i dont know anything abt the extent of your knowledge of the nutcracker but theres this pas de deux partner duet thing that is INCREDIBLY complicated and ridiculously hard to do that lasts a good part of five minutes and i look over and they are doing it almost full out and they finish it and do a Bro Handshake (that involves them holding hands for a good thirty seconds LMFAO) it was hilarious it was gay and byler absolutely. would.

also i heard this from a friend but they apparently had some kind of falling out and aren't as close as they were before?? which shocks me bc this is still. really close?????? coughs pointedly and turns away from stranger things s3-4

in this situation im probably like. nancy bc ive known them for abt five years and we're loosely friends but my dance friend group mostly does our own thing unless we absolutely Have to. yknow how like s1-2 where the teens have separate plotlines until theyre fighting the interdimensional monsters together. yeah that

u should write a byler ballet au omg this would inspire the shit out of me if i were u also :00 they had a falling out???? oh damn :0 ALSO NANCY MF WHEELER I LOVE. I LOVE NANCE TO BITS ANON AND MEANING I ALSO LOVE U ANON

(@etchedstars overdue etchedstars my beloved writer mutual how about the ballet byler au /j no pressure ofc)

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

@ohmy-eye here! I know u asked to send platoria asks, so I have one for ya:

What are Plato and Vic’s date nights like? :)

YES they're so important to me <3

so within my human AU, Plato and Vic have date night once a week, and it always varies!

they like doing creative things where they're just in each other's company, so things like those places where you can paint your own ceramics, or the wine + painting things, they love doing those, and their apartment is filled with all sorts of projects and little things from their nights together!

bc it's getting colder, i'm specifically thinking about their winter date nights, when Nutcracker season starts up. Their date nights are few and far between as Victoria's spending so much time in rehearsals, but every performance, without fail, Plato is sitting in the front row, ready with a bouquet of flowers and a bath + massage ready at home for Victoria. Those are their favorite date nights, just spending time with each other, being soft and loving, and doting on each other.

[aetherknit]

Hello, I know you love king stuff and since it’s Christmas time…. DNF with nutcracker more specifically nutcracker and the 4 realms!!

im going to watch this movie just bc of this ask tis the season

[juuheizou]

haha i finally finished paint the roses ch.4 and it is an eternity long unedited. proofreading this monster is going to be fun.

[steakbones]

goodmorninggggg 🤗🧡💞❣️💖😘💝💗💘❤️💙💗 i think im going to not bother with another try of this fuckin medication i do Not want another 5 am nightmare

[cadykeus-clay]

me: no one commented on my fic :((( me, every single fucking time: oh wait i didn’t post it yet

[frcderick]

characters + arcana – frederick stahlbaum, the death

while it is associated with foreboding and doom, death arcana also symbolizes metamorphosis and deep change, regeneration and cycles. in the original tarot deck, it is the only arcana that doesn't have a name, but the drawing of a skeleton wielding a scythe led people to call it death. in recent games, characters of the death arcana are associated directly with death, but a commonality that connects all death arcana characters is the cycles of change they experience.