#as a scala born character

[tarudce22]

Well time to dig around again to find as much ref material as I can so I can finally draw my keykid Hunlu is her Scala fit, and also my new keykid Gabrel who I don't know why I made him but hes here to be dragged along side into what ever the player (hunlu) and Brian where going to be getting into in ML

This little shit is going to be waiting even longer for his outfit.

[lightandfellowship]

It truly is fitting that the Xehanort game was the one that explored this idea of like. Love and empathy having the potential to turn into corrupting forces. People hurting each other and themselves due to the despair and insecurity born from intense love. Things that ought to be associated with light and goodness (and that usually are in the main games) instead leading to darkness and suffering.

Eraqus with his bright and well-meaning comments to Baldr that are nonetheless ignorant and hurtful (Scala's teachings in general). Vidar's feelings of love and mercy compelling him to destroy darkness and save Baldr for his friends' sake, a normally heroic and selfless desire that would be awarded in any other KH game as others before me have noted, but because this quest is misguided, Vidar's methods too extreme, it turns into a fruitless, failure of an endeavor that ends up causing more death rather than preventing it. Baldr's adoration of his sister, his love for her, twists into an obsessive, self-esteem destroying dependency that leaves a gaping hole in his heart the perfect size for darkness to call home.

Over and over again, examples of the "false light" that the Master of Masters described to Xehanort.

Like yeah no wonder Xehanort turned out like that. He was trapped in a story where—what were ostensibly—acts of goodness and light were either utterly ineffective at preventing tragedy or were easily corrupted under the right conditions. The form of "light" wielded by his instructors and peers, the people who were supposed to protect and guide the world, let him down on such a profound level that his perception of its efficacy and righteousness suffered as a result; he completely lost faith in whatever was masquerading as "true light" in this world...or, you know, that's probably how he viewed it, anyway.

In his eyes, better to turn to darkness for his goals because at least it's good at getting shit done and not pretending to be something it isn't, assuming you're strong enough to bring it to heel and not let it corrupt you. And Sora wasn't around yet to prove him wrong, to prove that true light and goodness still exist in the world and you don't have to throw everything away and start over...

So yeah out of all the potential KH games that could've introduced (debatable)/explored this topic I'm glad it was the Xehanort one because it just makes so much sense for his character and where the series is at now, especially with the Lost Masters arc on the horizon featuring: the Master of Masters, a villain (question mark) seemingly motivated by light and light alone.

[queer-ragnelle]

All three! Apologies. I want to learn as much as I can about him.

You got it!

The first text that Galahad appears in is the Vulgate. His predecessors and legacy are first described in The History of the Grail; then he’s conceived, born, and raised during the Lancelot books; finally in Post-Vulgate he’s a knight on Grail Quest where he achieves his life’s purpose and passes away. Additionally, here’s A Companion to The Lancelot-Grail Cycle which may help you navigate the text.

Another book I suggest for your Galahad research is The Legend of the Grail by Nigel Bryant and Norris J. Lacy. It’s got a lengthy introduction about the history of the Grail story and touches on all the characters who’ve achieved it throughout Arthurian literary history including Perceval, Gawain, and of course, Galahad. Each chapter is taken from a different text and newly translated by Nigel Bryant for this publication. It’ll give you an idea of the progression of the Grail story which eventually led to Galahad and introduce you to some adjacent texts that may be of interest.

The next medieval text that includes Galahad is La Tavola Ritonda. It’s mostly a Prose Tristan story, but does cover the whole Grail Quest with a fun Italian Galahad named Galeazzo/Galasso. I enjoy this one a lot! Regarding Galasso specifically, it’s an interesting take on the character—he’s described as very gracious and he wields a cool named sword. Plus his purity grants him necromancy powers—at one point he convenes with the dead and doesn’t bat an eye. Just keeps on adventuring. Focused. In his lane. Pretty neat!

After that comes probably the best known Arthurian text, Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. I’ve attached the version of this story abridged by Keith Baines. It’s much easier to read with proper formatting to add quotation marks to dialogue and tighten up the prose. This one also comes with A Companion to Malory which I found exceedingly helpful in breaking down the sometimes convoluted plot threads and character dynamics present in Malory’s story. Many of the essays I’ve attached below relate to this text specifically.

Lastly I would be remiss to exclude The Arthurian Handbook by the goats Norris J. Lacy and Geoffrey Ashe. This volume not only covers medieval texts, but much of the art history that goes hand in hand with Arthurian literature too. There are many paintings, tapestries, stained glass windows, and murals featuring Galahad highlighted in this book. It also includes family trees, heraldry, and maps which can help you conceptualize things detailed in writing throughout the Vulgate.

Now I’m going to list essays without descriptions since there are so many and the titles are pretty self explanatory.

Absent Fathers, Unexpected Sons: Paternity in Malory’s Morte Darthur by Cory Rushton

Born-Again Virgins and Holy Bastards: Bors and Elyne and Lancelot and Galahad by Karen Cherwatuk

Constructing Spiritual Hierarchy through Mass Attendance in the Morte Darthur by David Eugene Clark

Disarming Lancelot by Elizabeth Scala

Galahad, Percival, and Bors: Grail Knights and the Quest for Spiritual Friendship by Richard Sévère

'A Mayde, and Last of Youre Blood': Galahad's Asexuality and its Significance in Le Morte Darthur by Megan Arkenberg

Gender and the Grail by Maureen Fries

Malory and Rape by Catherine Batt

Mothers in the Grail Quest: Desire, Pleasure, and Conception by Peggy McCracken

Seeing Is Believing and Achieving: Viewing the Eucharist in Malory's 'Sankgreal' by Sarah B. Rude

Wounded Masculinity: Injury and Gender in Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte Darthur" by Kenneth Hodges

And that about covers it! This should give you plenty to work with. Beyond these, we’re left with literature outside the medieval era, which is a different conversation. No doubt Alfred Lord Tennyson had a huge influence on how Galahad is perceived today, but that’s irrelevant to a discussion regarding medieval source material, and a topic for another time. Hope this helps you out and you learn all you want to about Galahad!

Take care!

[starlightwayfinder]

(Khml rumor/spoiler)

After giving it a quick rewatch, I’m actually very excited for Raya in khml, it feels thematically on point. I can see the potential for parallels between Kumandra and Scala: them dividing into rival groups, fighting over the source of light that holds back the darkness (born of human conflict). They even phrase it as ‘the world breaking apart’ in the film. The flashback scene with the 5 last dragons is reminiscent of the Union leaders vs. darkness at the end of UX. (The dragons as a whole could be seen as a parallel to the lost dandelions too.)

It makes total sense that trust/hope will be theme of KHML, what with the various societies and characters like Remus and Nept who seem a little.. sketch. Maybe Player will come out of this world with renewed hope for a united Scala?

[rosie-kairi]

I am on a new mission to visit kh blogs I know and ask for their fav kh ocs to draw! If you're up to it could I ask for yours and perhaps a bit about them personality wise? I've already asked a couple others cause I think this could be fun!

oh of course!!

My fav kh oc is extremely difficult to choose asdfdsa but I'd have to narrow it down to either Angelica or Juniper.

Angelica Grace (known as Angie by her close friends) is a 17-year-old Keyblade Wielder from Scala Ad Caelum. She's a natural born leader and the class valedictorian, being extremely skilled in all forms of combat, treating a battle like an elaborate dance. Personality wise, she is hardworking, straight-forward, no-nonsense, and intelligent, but also extremely stubborn and argumentative. Her Post-time skip outfit is her as a Keyblade Master, a time in which she becomes very closed off and bottles up her emotions.

Juniper is a 16-year-old keyblade wielder from the union Unicornis. She is a level-headed and determined, and always goes above and beyond for her union. Her keyblade of choice is "Bad Guy Breaker". She has no main attribute, she uses all three equally. Juniper takes the role of the Player Character in the game Kingdom Hearts Union X.

Hope this suffices!!!

[whencyclopedia]

Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) was an Italian composer best known for his operas La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot. Puccini drew inspiration from a wide range of literary sources, and his late Romantic music with its immortal melodies emphasised the strong characters, drama, and fast pace of his emotional operas, which remain today as popular as ever.

Early Life

Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca in the Italian region of Tuscany on 22 December 1858. He came from a long line of musicians who had held the position of organist at Lucca's San Martino Cathedral since the previous century. Giacomo's father Michele (1813-1864), was both the cathedral's organist and choirmaster, and he was the director of the local music school, the Istituto Pacini; he died when Giacomo was just six years old. Unfortunately for tradition, Giacomo, although interested in music, would take an entirely different career path from his forefathers.

Giacomo, the fifth of eight children, was raised by his mother, Albina, who ensured he learnt to play the organ and sing. Giacomo sang in the cathedral choir from age ten. He attended the Istituto Pacini and graduated in 1880, his final exam piece being his Messa di Gloria. Thanks to financial help from a cousin and a successful application for a grant, Giacomo moved on to the Conservatory in Milan. Aiming far higher than the position of organist in Lucca, Giacomo's fate had been sealed back in 1876 when he heard a performance in Pisa of Aida by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). The magic of Verdi's tragic opera set in ancient Egypt convinced Puccini that he too should earn a living writing operas.

The young composer's graduation piece at the Conservatory was Capriccio Sinfonico, a promising orchestral piece, but it was Le villi (The Fairies), a one-act opera, that would open doors for Puccini. The work was staged at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan in 1883. Puccini's professional career took off in 1884 when he performed music from his opera at a private party and it happened to be heard by Giulio Ricordi, the famed publisher who had Verdi on his books. Ricordi added Puccini to his publishing stable and commissioned him to write another opera. The result was Edgar, which premiered at Milan's La Scala theatre in 1889. The La Scala audience has always been a testing one to win over, and unlike his first, Puccini's second opera fell flat. The composer himself considered the work a "mistake" (Thompson, 174).

Puccini was on safer ground with his third opera, Manon Lescaut, a tried and tested libretto that had been used for Jules Massenet's opera Manon (1884), which was itself based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. Puccini also tried a new city for his premiere: Turin on 1 February 1893. Manon Lescaut was a raging success – the composer was obliged to take 30 curtain calls – with further productions in London and Philadelphia in 1894. The composer's career was finally launched. The story of Manon Lescaut, told in four acts, has Des Grieux fall in love with Manon, and they elope to escape the clutches of the elderly Géronte. Nevertheless, Manon is attracted by the life of luxury she could lead with Géronte and chooses him over Des Grieux. Géronte is suspicious that Manon has rekindled her affair with his rival, arrests her, and so she will be deported. Des Grieux boards the ship taking away Manon, and they are reunited only for Manon to die in his arms. Audiences loved it. The story of a tragic soprano heroine who dies in a singing finale would be used time and again by Puccini.

Continue reading...

[luxuriainash]

i don't have the energy to do this proper rn and tbh i'm not sure if i'm gonna keep it so i'm honing in on edgy 2010 deviantart wolf oc art vibes or if i'll draw the actual characters but. kill everybody xehabaldr sketch. you understand.

baldr is an albino wolf and xeha is some kind of spitz. to be clear. xeha not being a wolf is me playing off how he's like the only one there who wasn't scala-born and thus is sort of an outsider ykwim......

a true shipper can find their ship anywhere and this is proof /silly

[corishadowfang]

It's appreciate a dragon day, apparently, and I don't have time to do art or fics because. Time. And Energy. But for the past week or so I've had my Kingdom Hearts dragons AU on the mind...which wasn't supposed to be an AU AU, but just kind of a way to draw the characters since I'm not good at drawing people. But because I have no self-control, there's worldbuilding suddenly, and I really want to ramble about it, haha.

I really need to stress that this was originally just me thinking, "Hey, if I'm drawing them as dragons, wouldn't Scala have to look different, too? Since dragons would probably need different things than humans." And then it just. Spiraled.

I didn't know what to do with the Keyblades initially? I, uh. Wasn't sure if I wanted to go the "wielding Keyblades in the mouth," haha. Which kind of spiraled into, "What if the dragon thing just...replaces the Keyblades? Like, people become dragons, basically."

So the idea is kind of like...magic is still A Thing. Everyone can use it, with the right training, but the more you use magic, the more it changes you. (Yes, I've used this idea before, but shhh.) It very gradually changes your appearance, abilities, etc. Your magic gets stronger, but you become less and less human. Eventually, according to most people, you basically lose yourself to it and become a monster, so it's something of a controversial subject.

(The "become a monster" thing is only partially true. You can become a Heartless, but there are a lot of people who just become normal dragons, too. Unfortunately everyone just groups the two together.)

Anyone who used magic kind of like...filled a very weird niche in society where they weren't exactly accepted, but their abilities were still useful, so they were kind of both shunned and respected equally.

The Master of Masters and the Foretellers are the ones who really changed this; MoM went hardcore on the narrative that the "normal" transformation wasn't really monstrous at all, and painted the Foretellers very much as mythological heroes who could fight the actual monsters much more effectively than any normal person. Magic and dragons still made a lot of people wary, but it was tempered a bit, especially with kids.

SPEAKING OF--that's why a lot of kids ended up in Daybreak Town. Less pre-existing ideas on magic and dragons, so it's easier for them to see this as a good thing.

(And then MoM goes and ruins it with the whole "war" thing.)

Once you turn into a dragon, you can take human form again for short periods of time, but it's often uncomfortable, so Daybreak Town and Scala are both designed more with dragons in mind.

Daybreak Town was an abandoned human town that MoM and the Foretellers just repurposed, so while there are still buildings, they had to be modified a lot. The Clock Tower is an abandoned castle, haha.

Scala is basically a mountain range on the edge of the ocean! Or mountains on islands...? Uh. Something like that, haha. Lots of bare white rock and caves and stuff. I think the main island's a little more open, just because like...I like the idea of them wanting more "light" as a sort of symbolism thing.

Dragons are the only ones that can fly to other worlds without assistance! Their magic kind of protects them, basically, but they do actually have to fly. Lots of young dragons like to bring back trinkets from different worlds (which is generally how their hoards are formed, haha).

Uh, I only have loose ideas of how some characters would've actually gotten into this. Ven I think was basically born with an excessive amount of magic that he couldn't really control, so he turned really, really young, and there wasn't much he could do about it. Brain thought that the fear about magic was stupid and actively fostered his out of spite. Ephemer was super curious about the idea, and ended up digging deeper into things. Skuld and Lauriam I'm less certain on. (I could see Lauriam doing it as a way to help protect Strelitzia--maybe she was like Ven, and turned accidentally? And Skuld--honestly just could've done it because she was swept up in what MoM/the Foretellers said, haha.)

Aaaaand I'm looking at how much I've rambled and will spare your dashes, but uh. Yeah. Dragons!

[thedeliverygod]

So I know everyone's joking about how every game set in the past that has a female character we automatically decide it's Kairi's grandmother

BUT

the trailer is talking about arriving on the night of a meteor shower (presumably the player, aka you) just like Kairi arrived on Destiny Islands.

Secondly, the 'new' version of Scala Ad Caelum is very reminiscent of Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion to me. Especially the areas under construction.

Kairi and her Grandmother are from Radiant Garden. Kairi's Grandmother is also the first person to tell us that all worlds used to be one.

Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived... in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world.

The plotline of KHUX and arguably Missing Link as well, as Scala Ad Caelum is built from the remains of Daybreak Town.

It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. So listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away.

The rest of the story is arguably the Xehanort saga aka BBS through KH3 and possibly continuing into the new saga.

Basically what I'm getting at is Radiant Garden literally a broken off piece of Scala Ad Caelum? Or influenced by its architecture/style because its first residents wanted to build something reminiscent to their first home? Because those things would certainly lead to Kairi's Grandmother being involved, wouldn't you say?

I don't think it's grasping for straws or Kairi fans just wanting more to her backstory, I think it genuinely makes sense given the lore that we've been presented in the series so far.

[opera-ghosts]

Enrico Caruso in Mefistofele; Teatro Costanzi, 22 November 1899

From The great Caruso by Scott, Michael, 1935-:

On January 22, 1900, he was Faust in the Russian premiere of Boito’s Mefistofele with Arimondi in the title-role. It was on the morning before the last performance of this that Ada Giachetti and Maria Arimondi, the basso’s wife, were expected from Italy. Lorello, Caruso’s secretary, was despatched to the station to meet them. However, after waiting some hours in the arctic cold he returned alone to the hotel; without being able to speak any Russian or read Cyrillic he could not discover what had happened to them. Caruso and Arimondi were frantic, but at length a telegram arrived from Maria Arimondi; it had been transmitted in Russian, although she spoke not a word of it. They rushed down to the desk clerk but all attempts to decipher it proved unsuccessful. At length, braving the elements and altogether unsuitably clad, for the temperature was thirty degrees below zero, Caruso himself went round to the station. There, he managed to find out that the delay had been caused' by a derailment, although there were no serious casualties. Eventually both ladies arrived by relief train and, except that they were suffering from exposure, they were well enough. The next day, and after Mefistofele, it was Caruso who was suffering from exposure and he developed bronchial pneumonia. He was obliged to take to his bed for two weeks while Ada ministered to his every need.

Caruso concluded his first La Scala season as Faust in Mefistofele. The performances began on March 1 6, 1901, and introduced into Western Europe the Russian bass Feodor Chaliapin, who, like Caruso, was born in February 1873. Chaliapin ranks along with Caruso as one of the greatest singers of his day. Indeed, in one respect, Chaliapin’s achievement was even greater. The naturally affecting quality of high voices, as we have already noted, gave sopranos and tenors the ascendancy in opera. Up till then even the best basses had been used to singing supporting roles. Chaliapin changed all that, .transforming the bass from a character and secondary player into the protagonist. And it was inevitable after he had undertaken the title role in Mefistofele with success at La Scala that it should have become established in the international repertory. After seeing Chaliapin in the part, Boito wrote: ‘Only now do I realize that I never had up to this time, any but poor devils!' Chaliapin’s first appearances in Western Europe almost eclipsed Caruso; the Gazzetta dei teatri , for example, found only space for two or three lines about his Faust: ‘His heavenly voice vibrates in the air and in our hearts like the echo of a fascinating enchantment, and applause broke out whenever he stopped singing.�� Perhaps it was to their mutual advantage that they only appeared together in two seasons in their careers, for few impresarios would have cared to pay out both their fees at the same performance. After Caruso’s death Chaliapin recalled those rare occasions:

I met him first in the rehearsal rooms at La Scala before undertaking Mefistofele. Caruso and Carelli were singing in half voice and I must say that I was very greatly relieved; it had been a strenuous journey from St Petersburg, so when I had to sing I did as they did and just hummed. Toscanini hesitated a moment but he did not say anything. After a minute or two, however, he went to speak to Gatti, who thereupon told me to employ my full voice, as was the custom at La Scala with someone they did not know. I did so at once and was sincerely congratulated, but I was a little nervous of Toscanini, at the way he acted. Caruso explained that Toscanini was like a dog that barked a lot but did not bite; he knew the other singer’s voices, but was another matter. ... I gained the most delightful impression of Caruso, he had the face of goodness. And his voice — it was the perfect tenor. What a treat it was to sing with him! I met him on the working stage only once again, that was in New York at the Metropolitan in 1908, when we were both singing Faust in French for the first time. [In fact Caruso had already sung Faust in the original at the Metropolitan in 1906.] I remember how scared we were, and we agreed that we should care more about the emission of notes rather than the pronunciation of words. But everything went well and we even managed to pronounce the text correctly!

[mythicalartistx]

The KHML trailer has us all wondering....

WHO IS SHE!?

Skuld is X theory and bloodline theory/ Necklace Theory also mentioned

And I'm going to be analyzing and deciphering who I think she is.

In KH UX Ephemer goes to an era in the future and founded Scala ad Caelum

Skuld also came there when they both traveled through time.

And we know that they are the parents to Xehanort.

In Dark Road, we see a dark haired girl who looks like Skuld give blue-coated person, "player" Xehanort.

Then child Xehanort tells Player that he had dreams of Player's friends and states there was a dark haired person kind of like mom.

Then player reveals that Xehanort has the same bloodline as his friend Ephemer.

Now wait, what does this have to do with this girl?

Well this girl could also be related to Ephemer or Xehanort.

NOMURA also revealed in a previous interview when the first trailer — the 2022 ML trailer got released that it is four generations after the character Player arrives

If she is that means she could be a relative or sibling of Xehanort. And what if this relative or the relative's descendants eventually goes to destiny Islands after Xehanort leaves.

And that's why I think Riku might be their descendant who is also Ephemer's descendant. It explains him being Light and him having a necklace that relates to Light which he gives to Sora.

It explains why Riku is seemed as special.

Then I also think Player might have reincarnated into Sora... But that's for another time.

Now we get to Skuld. Now she is an interesting case especially since many people including myself think she is X as in Experiment X from the reports in KH3

The person that Lea/Axel and Isa/Saïx snuck in Ansem's research area to see. And they planned to save her, but she disappeared. And that's Saïx whole reason for how he is in the organization but he got lost on the way.

But X was clearly stated to be younger so maybe she went to where Ansem and his apprentice were first. Then Luxu got her and sent her back to the time right before ML era.

Or Ephemer and Skuld traveled through time again after the silver haired person was old enough to take care of everything. Skuld just looked young or maybe they just used the term girl because that's what she was.

Skuld arrived at Radiant Garden where she lost her memory and Ansem did experiments on her. Then Ephemer arrived after four generations in the future after Brain arrives and after Player arrives.

Luxu then takes Skuld to the ML timeline after player and Brain arrives and Xehanort is born.

And Missing Link will be the key to these questions the hidden chapter that probably will be forgotten to many in the KH world.

Anyways Kingdom Hearts Missing Link Hype

[goldenchocobo]

Text reads: Zephyr -Very Gender. -Has singular brain cell. -Sociable + excitable -Woke up on the beach with one purpose: Causing trouble

I decided to make a ML OC pre-emptively!

While I technically have a few Keykid OCs from before- I never used them. At the time, my phone wasn’t able to handle UX's size, and when I got one that could; UX was over. I was in time for Dark Road, though- and I enjoyed playing that when I could.

So- in all the excitement of October 30th’s trailer, I made Zephyr.

They were pretty easy to come up with design-wise. The name, not so much. I originally wanted to keep with the Norse theme Scala has been using. But I couldn't find a reliable source for words, and if I chose a name; then that name could be used in-game for a character. At first, I did find the word Veðr; which was said to mean 'wind' or 'Storm', but it looks suspiciously close to Zephyr. So I chose that name instead. And anyway, <Player 2> was born outside of Scala, so I'd think they'd have a name that didn't conform to the standards there.

I'm not sure what hairstyles or cosmetics we will get, but even if we don't get a look like above; I'm still going to draw them this way. I do hope we get cosmetic armour/weapon slots- it's something I've wanted for Kingdom Hearts for a while. I've seen shots of <Player 2> with different outfits, so I hope there's going to be a 'stats only' option for gear and clothing.

[lightandfellowship]

Songs that remind me of Baldr

Not planning on making any KHDR playlists any time soon, but I still collect songs that remind me of the game's characters/events as I come across them. We'll start with Baldr.

Under the read more will be the songs in question along with some lyrics snippets that I feel illustrate why the song fits Baldr.

Villains Aren't Born (They're Made) by PEGGY - Baldr and Xehanort

I've shown in the past how these lyrics fit Baldr and Xehanort almost perfectly, here, here, and here.

Panic Room by AU/RA - Baldr

Relevant lyrics:

The lights spark and flicker With monsters much bigger Than I can control now Welcome to the panic room Where all your darkest fears are gonna come for you

"The lights spark and flicker" makes me think of how Baldr's room gets darker and darker over time. "Monsters much bigger than I can control", "darkest fears", and "panic room" are self-explanatory.

There's no crying wolves now 'Cause the truth has settled in Hiding under goose down For your nightmare to begin

The mention of wolves, like Xehanort's line "sheep pretending to be wolves." Also "hiding under goose down" (white feathers) makes me think of Baldr's hair, and Darkness hiding inside him.

The Bird Song by Noah Floersch - Baldr, Hoder, and Xehanort

Relevant lyrics:

She was a bird I was an arrow Both of us sure we were sword and a sparrow

An arrow/spear of mistletoe is important to Baldr, Hoder, and Loki's mythology. "Both of us sure we were sword and sparrow" I like to interpret as, they both thought Baldr was the soft one and Hoder was the defender, but then it turns out he was the arrow instead, killing Hoder.

I'm a killer, and a killer is a bad, bad thing to be She's a giver, and a giver's even worse to folks like me

Self-explanatory I think.

I was a bird He was an arrow I was allured by the straight and the narrow What could I do? His aim was true Straight to the heart I let it happen I couldn't hardly have ever imagined That when he went through me He'd hate what he's doin' And make me feel stupid for choosin' him too 'Cause i'm a giver, and a giver is a bad, bad thing to be He's a killer, and a killer's even worse for folks like me

I like to interpret this part as being about Baldr and Xehanort, and Xehanort having to kill him in the end.

We can't really help who we are Damned to the end from the start

"There's them...and there's us."

Pox by Good Kid - Baldr

Relevant lyrics:

A pox, a pox, upon this ground I'd give it up just to burn it down And if they die here you can blame it on me I've been setting up gravestones in my hometown I wish I had been born at sea Then you wouldn't care, and you wouldn't know me Ebb and flow, they just won't carry me home It's only water and air as far as I can see

Hatred of Scala and his friends, then self-hatred, and "it's only water and air as far as I can see" being a reference to the Final World where Baldr surely ends up.

Mind Games by Sickick - Darkness to Baldr

Relevant lyrics:

Now that I'm in there's no letting go And your emptiness begins Once I grip onto your mind and soul Your brightness starts to dim

Once I'm in there ain't no letting go, letting go Watch me turn your mind into my home Mind, mind games until you lose control

A simple one, I imagine this being from Darkness' POV as it manipulates Baldr. The song begins with some ghostly audio too, like its Darkness speaking, which fits pretty well I think.

And that's it for Baldr. Note that I'm not really a big music person and I come across these songs randomly while just casually listening to whatever, so I don't know anything about the artists or what the songs are supposed to be about or anything. The lyrics just remind me of Baldr so here they are.

[sweeteastart]

💫KHOCWEEK 2023💫

Day 1 - Instructions (1/2)

Hiii I'm back this year again with my OCS for the @khoc-week ! I have to say, it's my yearly tradition now ahah it's always so fun to do. Hold and behold my beautiful OCS for this year :

Anis

(He/Him)

Surprise ! Anis is back this year ✨ I'll mostly draw him along side his twin, Bunny, but he deserve a brand new character sheet !

To extend a bit the sheet : post khux, Anis ended up in Scala and Caelum. He started a family all the while continuing his path as a wielder and ultimately a wise master. However, fate wasn't so kin and he was given a task in his older years : taking care of a child said to be the bringer of light. We love some mysterious shenanigans here. The kid is Xehanort imo ahah

Anis is mostly a khux oc but I explored his future a bit more since last time ! It's mostly time travelling shenanigans its mostly silly and fun ngl but I love it

Bunny

(She/her)

Talking about this lady ! Here's Bunny !

Bunny mainly follows the player's story throughout khux. The small BIG difference is that she enters a pod alongside Ephemer and doesn't sacrifice herself. She ends up stranded along side the teenager in the ruin of the once beloved Daybreak town.

As the years tick by, one thing is for sure for the couple : Rebuilding a city is easy but letting go of the past isn't so. Tin tin tiinnnn. We love time travelling silliness in this house so yeah, they are going to time travel for sure. I'm spoiling it lmao but I had to do so much mental gymnastic to make it work

Bunny's was my character in Khux when it was still running. She would have stayed this way if not for the KHOCWEEK !

Mikana

(She/her)

Without any surprise there, Mikana will also be present again this year ! I just can't leave my first keykid behind.

I won't lie, Mikana's canon story as always been VERY murky in my head. I'm not quite sure of a lot of the element ngl. Soooo, she is a child who grew up in a costal town along side her parents, Bunny and Ephemer, and her older Sister Sakore told you there was tile travel shenanigans. The rest is a work in progress ahah I have ideas but for now it's a melting pot of uncertainty.

Peche

(They/them)

Pêche's also back ! So happy to draw them again this year !

My dear Peche ! Ah, their story is a hell of ride the ones who read it last year know it well. To put it simply, Pêche was named Piry before. She was the adopted daughter of Eraqus and Xehanort before Aqua and Terra were born.

As years went by, Xehanort became more and more overtaken by darkness and she was given the Ventus/Vanitas treatment by Xehanort before the boys. Except... it wasn't a great success. The part weren't really as clearly Light/Darkness and we're ultimately a failure. So to try to make it better and on the off chance they could still summon the Xblade. Again, it somehow worked but was on all other aspects a complete failure.

From all those heart experiment, all that was left was a apathetic yet competent fighter who is known as Peche. A very cold and of little word person who seems to know more than they let on.

Unfortunately Tumblr doesn't let me show any more of my kids for this year in this post so I'll do a second part to show them off right away ! I hope the new more info driven sheets are readable ahah I'm a novice in design

[lboogie1906]

Roberta Alexander (born March 3, 1949) is an operatic soprano. She began her career as a leading soprano in 1975 and spent the next three decades performing principal roles with opera houses internationally. She has performed secondary character roles on stage, including performances at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in 2013, La Scala in 2014, and La Monnaie in 2015. She performed the 5th maid in Strauss’s Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera in 2016 and Curra in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2019.

She studied music at Central State University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

She moved to the Netherlands at age 23. She made her debut at the Netherlands Opera in 1975 in La cambiale di matrimonio. She created the role of Bubikopf in the world premiere of Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis.

In 1980 she made her American debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute with the Houston Grand Opera. She was an apprentice singer with Santa Fe Opera and made her feature role debut with Santa Fe Opera under conductor John Crosby in the title role of Strauss’ Daphne in 1981. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was in 1983 as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. In 1984 she made her debut at The Royal Opera, London, as Mimì in La bohème. In 1989 she gave a lauded portrayal of the title role in Jenůfa at the Glyndebourne Festival. She has recorded for the Dutch label Etcetera Records, in addition to selected recordings for such labels as Philips. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenhistorymonth

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Silvana Pampanini by Truus, Bob & Jan too! Via Flickr: Franco-German card. Ufa, Berlin/ Editions P.I., Paris. Unitalia Film Silvana Pampanini (1925) is an Italian actress who knew enormous popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1950s, before Sophia Loren e Gina Lollobrigida reached stardom, Pampanini was one of the most well-known symbols of Italian beauty. Born in Rome from a family that had moved there from the Veneto some three centuries ago, Silvana Pampanini got her law degree during the war and visited the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia where she got a degree in piano and song. As a singer, the young Pampanini made career within entertainment music, not only were her songs widespread on unique records, she even got an audience with pope Pio XII. Over the years she also was a frequent visitor of the opera seasons. Her cousin was the soprano Rosetta Pampanini. When war was over, her singing master inscribed her for the Miss Italia contest in Stresa in September 1946 which she won ex aequo with Rossana Martini, thanks to a fierce audience reaction after Martin had originally been chosen by the jury. Her Miss Italia title was her introduction to a career in cinema and from the film L’Apocalisse (Giuseppe Maria Scottese 1946) Pampanini performed in various films, often musicals. She became also the toast of weeklies and film magazines. Her father, who originally had been against his daughter having a career as actress, became her agent. Even if she was dubbed in her first roles Pampanini became a star, performing with all the great actors of postwar cinema: Totò, Peppino De Filippo, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio De Sica, Marcello Mastroianni, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman, Walter Chiari, Amedeo Nazzari, Renato Rascel, Raf Vallone, Nino Taranto, Massimo Girotti, Ugo Tognazzi, Carlo Dapporto, Paolo Stoppa, Rossano Brazzi, Massimo Serato, Folco Lulli, Aroldo Tieri, Carlo Campanini. Among her foreign film partners were Jean Gabin, Henri Vidal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Raymond Pellegrin, Pierre Brasseur, Curd Jurgens, Pedro Armendariz and even Buster Keaton. In the 1950s Pampanini played in one film after another and many of her films were distributed worldwide. Well known was for instance the Dino de Laurentiis production I pompieri di Viggiù (Mario Mattoli 1949), which Ennio Flaiano considered rather a series of vaudeville acts than a film, and thus preceding TV vaudeville. With Quo vadis? parody OK Nerone (Mario Soldati 1951), Pampanini had her first international success as Empress Poppea, opposite Gino Cervi as Nero, and Walter Chiari and Carlo Campanini as two American sailors who dream they are in Nero’s Rome. In the romantic comedy Bellezze in bicicletta (Carlo Campogalliani 1951) she formed a pair with Delia Scala and sang one of the most beloved songs of the time: Bellezza in bicicletta. In 1952 Pampanini performed in the much awarded Processo alla città (Luigi Zampa), starring Amedeo Nazzari; La presidentessa (Pietro Germi), based on a French pochade; and La tratta delle bianche/White Slave Trade (Luigi Comencini). The latter also casted Eleonora Rossi-Drago, Tamara Lees and (in a smaller part) Sophia Loren, but the leading men Vittorio Gassman and Marc Lawrence both have set their eyes on Silvana. In 1953 Pampanini played in an episode of Un giorno in pretura (Steno) for which her makeup man transformed her in a lady 30 years older. That year she was also the title character Anna Zaccheo in Giuseppe de Santis’ Un marito per Anna Zaccheo, which costarred Nazzari and Massimo Girotti. In 1955 Pampanini performed in the comedy La bella di Roma by Luigi Comencini, which co-starred Alberto Sordi and Paolo Stoppa, and she played in the box office hit Racconti romani (Gianni Franciolini), based on a story by Alberto Moravia, and starring Franco Fabrizi. Finally Pampanini played in La strada lunga un anno (1958) by Giuseppe De Santis, an Italian-Yugoslavian coproduction, an Oscar candidate in 1959 and Golden Globe winner for best foreign picture. Even if she went to America, Pampanini refused to act in Hollywood, presumably as her English was not good enough, but she did play in France, where she was known as Niní Pampan. Examples are La tour de Nesle (Abel Gance 1955) in which she played Marguerite de Bourgogne opposite Pierre Brasseur as Jehan Buridan, and La loi des rues (Ralph Habib 1956), with Raymond Pellegrin. She also played in films in Spain, Germany, Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Argentine, and in particular Mexico, where she played in some films that never were released in Italy, such as Sed de amor (Alfonso Corona Blake 1959) with Pedro Armendariz, and Napoleoncito (Gilberto Martinez Solares 1964). In the meantime the yellow press published flirts of Pampanini with prince Ahmad Shah Khan, Tyrone Power, William Holden, George DeWitt, Omar Sharif, Orson Welles, king Faruq of Egypt and others. Pampanini herself told how her one true love, a man ten years older than she, not involved in cinema and never identified, died of a disease one month before their wedding. After some short experience as director and screenwriter in 1958, Pampanini slowed down her film career and focused on radio and TV, where she worked as announcer and host of manifestations. In 1964 Dino Risi directed her in Il gaucho, a partly autobiographical film in which Silvana played a declining diva, who pathetically searches for her lost glory and for a millionaire to marry. In 1966, after twenty years of career, Pampanini quitted cinema in order to assist her aging parents whom she took care of till their death. She returned for one last role as a prostitute in an episode of Mazzabubù... Quante corna stanno quaggiù? (Mariano Laurenti 1971). After that she was only visible once more as herself in Tassinaro (1983) by Alberto Sordi. Silvana regularly appeared on television from 1951 on, so from the very first emissions on. In 1956 she launched the debuting wizard Silvan to whom she gave his stage name. Her only piece of television prose for RAI was a comedy by Gustave Flaubert in 1971. In the Mediaset mini-series Tre stelle (1999) she had a bit part as the old mother of Alba Parietti and in Fall 2002 she was part of the cast of Domenica In during two months. Pampanini is devoted to Padre Pio and San Antonio, she never married nor had any children, though she was proud that once Totò proposed to her, on the set of 47 morto che parla (Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia 1950), even if he asked in vain. For decades Pampanini claimed the torch song Malafemmena was dedicated to her, but in reality it was inspired by the divorced wife of the Neapolitan comic, as has been indicated by Toto’s daughter and a document of the SIAE. Though living in Monaco, Pampanini was nominated “Grande ufficiale dell'ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana” in 2003 by president Ciampi. In September 2009 she returned at the Venice film festival for the projection of the restored version of Noi cannibali (1953) by Antonio Leonviola, a film inserted in the section Questi fantasmi 2, dedicated to Italian films to be reconsidered. Silvana played a chorus line girl who is pestered by men making passes at her. In the same year (2009) the Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar declared in an interview that Pampanini was one of the Italian actresses with whom he’d like to do a film. In her roaring years Pampanini was not very beloved by the critics and did not receive important awards, which caused her in her autobiography of 1996, Scandalosamente perbene, to compare herself with Greta Garbo. Pampanini never was afraid to keep still, so in December 2006 she publicly mocked Gina Lollobrigida for marrying a man much younger than she, and when in 2008 mayor Walter Veltroni did not invite her for the Festa del Cinema in Rome, she started a serious polemic. In 2007 she did participate in the festivities of 70 years Cinecittà and in 2009 she hosted the Mostra del Cinema dello Stretto which brought a warm welcome and the recognition of her career. Sources: Italian and English Wikipedia, IMDB. “Ma dove vai bellezza in bicicletta, così di fretta pedalando con ardor? Le gambe snelle tornite e belle m'hanno già messo la passione dentro al cuor!”