#betrayer of hope

[theoraclej]

Fares Fares as Ishamael is *mwah* I cannot imagine a better Ishamael

[randomfantasyexplorer]

Thoughts On Mat

My opinion on Mat has really gone down since the middld of The Great Hunt or so. He's gone from one of the good guys, to a neutral guy, and seems to be heading in the wrong direction still.

Mat is SEVERELY lacking in loyalty, and to say I find the extremely disappointing would be an understatement. After everything Rand did for him, everything he risked for Mat, to have Mat ready to throw away a lifelong friendship at the first sign of trouble with Rand is just so disheartening.

He had the nerve to compare Rand channeling with someone torturing small animals, which is just so inaccurate a comparison it's hard to understand. Harming small animals in the way the comparison suggested would be a CHOICE; something by definition done with intention. Rand did not choose to channel, and would stop if he knew how, if he had any idea how to control it.

The more I learn of Mat's character, the less I like him. Aside from clearly having no loyalty, he also has shown little sign of empathizing with others. He has little regard for rules, and doesn't seem to spend much time considering right or wrong. He appears to care about his own well-being over anything else, and most concerning of all, has show signs of being strongly drawn to riches and to a lesser degree glory.

All if this make Mat a prime target for recruitment to the darkness. There is foreshadowing of him betraying Rand, with him telling Rand after the portal stone the he would never betray him, suggesting that in many of the lives he saw, he DID betray Rand.

When you take this with some of the other context from the books so far, it suggests that betrayal could be central to this story. After all, the PROLOGUE to the very first book in the series focused almost entirely on betrayal. The way Ishmael was speaking to Lews Therin strongly suggested that they had long known each other. He literally called himself the Betrayer of Hope. And while the name undoubtedly refers to hope for the world at large, I also seem to remember something about the Dragon being the hope of the light, and of the world, which suggests the Ishmael may have been a frined, or someone Lews Therin trusted, whose defection to darkness represented a personal betrayal.

He then forced Lews Therin to understand that he had unwittingly become a betrayer, too, by becoming the Kinslayer and killing everyone he had ever loved, and everyone who had ever loved him.

Most of all, is the theme that comes up again and again, of the pattern, and stories, people, and relationships repeating lifetime after lifetime.

Right now, there is no reason to think that Ishmael is not still locked up in Shayol Ghul, likely not far from the Dark One himself, since the Betrayer of Hope is said to have been the leader and most powerful of the forsaken. So it doesn't seem likely that Mat is the reborn Ishmael, and yet I still get the feeling that he is being put on the road to betray Rand, and join the darkness.

I wish I could end on a more cheerful note, but things are almost certainly going to get worse, before things can get better.

[amuelia]

small drawing as im looking forward to watching tales of the empire tomorrow

[lightasthesun]

art by Chris Trevas/// Mhairi McFarlane, You Had Me At Hello/Holding On by Shane/ Lang Leaf, Twin Flames/ first eye drawing by Alice X. Zhang/ second eye close up art by Tony Pro/ The Song of Achilles/ to speak of precious evenings by littlekaracan/ battlefront ll stills/ Hamilton the Musical, who lives, who dies, who tells your story/mark z. danielewski, house of leaves/ 5000 letters/ Bastille, the Anchor/ fyodor dostoyevsky, the brothers karamazov/ Kote Darasuum/ Vode An/ street art/ The Arcadian Wind, envy green/ Margaret Atwood, There are better ways of doing this/ Power Politics Emily Dickinson, In this short life that only lasts an hour/ Maggie Smith, First Fall/ Carl Friedrich Lessing, "The Hermit" (art) + November by Margaret Atwood/ Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire/ The Bad Batch s2EP03 screenshot of Cody/ Alan Stephan Foster, "The Fall" (art) + poem by @erdarieldraws

a gift for my codywan besties cilly, tea, kasey, aixa and lauren🫶

[orbitunbreakable]

had to make this joke before anyone else could

(reference source under the Read More)

[fandom-trash-goblin]

IN DEFENSE OF ARIANNE MARTELL

My 1980s and Other Essays, Wayne Koestenbaum // Looking in the Mirror, George Tsui. // A Feast for Crows, Chapter 40, Princess In The Tower

for @alicentcole, my long lost twin

lyanna stark || elia martell || sansa stark || arya stark || alicent hightower || jaehaera targaryen || cersei lannister || myrcella baratheon || joanna lannister || aemma arryn || catelyn stark || sansa stark (2) || margaery tyrell || rhaena targaryen, daughter of aenys i || arianne martell || aerea targaryen || obara sand

[turtleblogatlast]

Don’t think I ever quite said what my LGBTQ+ headcanons are for the boys, so these are my current thoughts! Always changing of course but this is what I feel most strongly right now.

[shy-marker-pliers]

so has anyone talked about the fact that Alastor gave Charlie his microphone (literally an extension of himself!!) in episode seven so that she could talk to the people of cannibal town

and like there was a microphone there already! my man did not need to do that! and we know from episode eight that if his microphone gets damaged he loses some of his power (as evidenced by his voice becoming normal when adam broke it) so the fact that he gave it to charlie is just. idk?? it seems like a really nice thing to do? and it shows that he trusts her?

people may cite his deal for a reason as to why he did that but i highly doubt there’s a clause in there that says “signee must relinquish a treasured possession for the duration of one (1) song” or some shit

i really do think he’s warming up to everyone in his own weird Alastor way

[jupiterslibrary]

thinking about the second coming and the jesus/judas parallels...

you're the nice one. here's your friend. best friend even. and you love him even as you worry you're doomed. and now they're here to take you away. he comes up to you. he kisses you. its a kiss that condemns you but nevertheless you forgive him. you give up everything for humanity. and you do it all with a smile! you turn the other cheek!

you're the evil one. you have to do the dirty work so heaven doesn't have blood on its hands. maybe one day humanity will be grateful to you for what you gave them but for now it's a thankless job. you never wanted any of this but here's your part in the great plan. here's your friend. best friend even. you kiss him. they take him away and you are alone.

[tnnrrdchclt]

[movedtodykedvonte]

Not enough people talk about how Miles called out for Peter while Miguel was slamming him down on the train. A part of Miles still trusted and was looking for safety in Peter, at least enough to think he could’ve helped him…

[wynandcore]

Okay lemme go crazy for a sec

Season 2, episode 9: Guilt

When Tron’s simulation machine malfunctions while he’s attached to it, Beck has no choice but to manually figure out what’s wrong, getting transported into Tron’s system. Time for a trip down memory lane.

As Beck travels through Tron’s system, things start to freak out, as it slowly starts trying to fit Beck into these simulations so as not to disrupt or alter them. This leads to him being put in some weird positions.

When Beck finally gets to the dream simulation that led the machine to malfunction, he finds a horrifying sight.

If Tron doesn’t stop, he’ll end up not just hurting his subconscious.

[chibibunnis]

day 6! jealousy

sanji! dont be jealous!! you have a marimo to take care of!!

day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6 day 7

[orykorioart]

TAZ Sapphic Week Day 5: Haunted

Couldn’t finish what I originally scheduled for day 5 (so itll have to be pushed back), but I still wanted to have something. So let’s have a quick experimental Lureen (if that is the ship name?) angst! Because that little scene in the GN really got me 😔✌️.

[marblerose-rue]

click for better quality!!

lionkit/hollykit/jaykit

big, big plans

[beedreamscape]

To pair my last post, but in happier tones.

Part of me thinks Kiriona was so set up on turning John back to mortal, after any Harrowhark intentions that overrule everything else, not because she has lofty plans of ruling over anyone but because if he isn't immortal anymore, he's not god anymore, and if he's not god nor the emperor, he's free to be just her dad.

I want the griddlehark drama and angst and romance for the next book, but I also want to see Gideon experiencing some, at the very least, normal times with an adult figure that doesn't hate her, that feels responsible for her, that might even love her, in an environment that isn't 'headquarters of an empire at war'.

Which alternatively could also be achieved with Pyrrha once they overcome the larger-than-life wall that is Wake between them, but that'd still be different than the father figure of John who, in his best days, has a personality that matches Gideon's so well and could very well offer the tenderness she's never been shown before, tenderness he's very capable of when he's not drunk in his own revenge plots.