#but I think I need more context or a better translation before I really want to dive into that

[tyrantwombat]

There is a lot happening right now, but the authorial decision to relay this to the reader by putting Song Taewon, Han Yoojin, and Sung Hyunjae alone in a room together had to have been The most chaotic way to go about it.

Case and point: Song Taewon heard 'possibility of double suicide' and didn't think twice. Sung Hyunjae is lovingly feeding them personally baked goods while nearly actually vibrating with the desire to absolutely murder both of them. Han Yoojin - the man who walked into this building prepared to blow it up with a bomb as an expression of disgruntlement - is currently the acting voice of reason as he desperately tries to referee this shit with a gun.

Some highlights:

SHJ: I'm still trying to decide if I should kill you.

HYJ: *oh free juice!* Officer Song, sit down please, he said he's still thinking about it.

---

STW&SHJ: *very literary showdown scene, very dramatic**you who are better than I at stripping away the monster and swallowing it whole-* *pst use looting* *pst I got it*

HYJ, in background: *staring into camera like he's on the office are you seeing this shit*

--

HYJ: You know you could die, right?

STW: I'm fine with that.

HYJ: Of course you are.

---

HYJ: WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP NO ONE IS DYING THIS TIME

---

STW:

STW: why

STW:

STW: why is there a child?

---

HYJ: okay but hear me out...

HYJ: what if you could kill me?

[dunmeshistash]

Okay I think I'm ready to write the second part of this post about Milsiril

To make it easier for me I'll just divide this into her relationship with Kabru, Mithrun and Helki (her ex-canary prisoner teammate)

First about Kabru

This is an extra from the daydream hour 5. The caption says "Something like this might as well have happened" so its probably not canon but could be. I honestly think his reaction to Milsiril visiting and being overbearing says a lot about the type of relantionship they have. This is the fakest bitch in the whole of dungeon meshi, he never says what he trully thinks unless there's an advantage to doing so, he's a people pleaser that does and says anything to make people like/trust him. And yet he immediatly converts into "Mooooooom you're embarassing meeeeee" when he sees it's Milsiril.

This translation used "Mom" but as I understand the original he uses the more formal version so I think it would be closer to "Mother" but still he acknowleges her as his Mother, and he acts like her kid in every interaction we see between them.

I really don't understand where the idea that he learned to be fake from being "forced" to be her adoptive son comes from.

(Continuing under a cut)

The other interaction we see between them is the Kabru extra from the Adventurer's Bible

Kabru comes to her with a deep fear he clearly has had even before she adopted him, he trusted her with this fear and she did not disappoint him, she comforted him and then gave him the information he needed to believe what she was saying

I'd also like to point out in no moment she discouraged him from calling his his bio-mom "Mom". He also says she taught her children everything they asked

I doubt this would only be true for him, it also mirrors something she said in the manga

"You can go ahead and learn all you want about something else." I believe it when Kabru says she made every effort to answer her children's questions. I think this is also the way she expresses the love she has for them. Plus I love the thought bubble with Kabru mirroring what he learned from her. I also love this daydream hour, she sacrifices her own comfort to do something for Kabru.

Milsiril isn't a perfect mother tho, besides the fact she is overprotective she comes from a very different culture from her children. I like to call her Kabru's white mom cause I think that would be the real world equivalent. This extra is the one I think the most about showing this context perfectly

Kabru wants to share Utaya sweets but looks at his mom looking gloomy/rejected so he talks about fruitcake instead. This very rude for Milsiril to do since she's kinda trying to overwrite his actual cultural background, but I think its done more as a "I want you to like the things I like" rather than something nefarious, and once again Kabru doesn't hide at all his distaste for it, he does the bare minimum to please his mom since she's being dramatic but he doesn't lie to her, he shows how displeased he is about fruitcake, something he refuses to do when eating the harpy omelette that is way worse, because he must make a good impression for Laios. Kabru is honest with his overbearing white mom once again.

Now a little about Rin, from Kabru's context, this is her extra in the Adventurer's Bible

(look at Helki he's such a gremlin i love him) anyway, Rin has a trauma about elves, they really mistreated her so she hates them, but when they notice she isn't thriving they go to Milsiril for help (Helki specifically I'll talk more about him next). I think this indicates she really has a better understanding of short lived kids, her kids are thriving differently from the ones the other elves try to care for. I'd also like to remember she lives secluded from other elves so while Kabru probably had lots of interactions with elves during his life, most of it was probably spent with Milsiril and her other adoptive kids. She also asks Kabru if he would do this to help Rin, he isn't being forced or anything, I also think it's good that Milsiril knows she cant take in any more kids, this to me shows she's worried about the quality of life her kids have. That is all to say, Rin is the one with elf trauma, not Kabru, because Kabru had Milsiril to shelter him from them.

Helki

This will be short and sweet since there's barely anything about Helki, he's her prisioner companion from her time in the canaries, but he was pardoned after Utaya, it says so in the Canarie's Structure page in the new adventurer's guide but I cant really find it translated again... so here's google's machine translation (I remember it saying "Retired and pardoned as a reward after Utaya", something like that)

so officially he isn't a prisoner anymore, but I think he still works as a canary, even so he and Milsiril seem quite close, he is the one to go talk to her about Rin, He is there when she's training Kabru (both laughing at Kabru and then participating). I saw people theorizing she stays close to him because he is also someone who she can feel superior to, but I don't believe it at all, he's STILL in contact with her even after they have nothing to with each other, I think they really have a friendship, and there's no point where it seems like she feels like she's better than him or that he's less than her, people seem to interpret Milsiril and her relationships in the worst possible ways every time and I don't understand why.

This segways into Mithrun

I've also seen people assuming she only got close to Mithrun because now he needs her and has no power over her, once again with the theory that Milsiril surrounds herself with people she can feel superior to. But once again, Milsiril had a change of perspective about Mithrun after seeing his Dungeon

Rather than she feeling superior to him I think rather she realized he was just like her. (And I think she's friends with Helki for a similar reason, it's probably easier to see him as an equal than other nobles)

I've also seen this part used as proof of that. "He said that you've got suspicious ulterior motives and that I shouldn't listen to you" as if that's true, but this is past Mithrun, the one that didn't trust anyone and thought ill of all his teammates, ofc he doesn't believe someone would help him without an ulterior motive. This doesn't prove much about her real motivations.

Also before she showed up, Mithrun was being cared for by servants hired by his brother, he isn't someone helpless she has power over, he is still a member of an important Noble family that has a caring brother providing for him, he can do without Milsiril, he had done without her for 20 years before Utaya happened and she quit the Canaries.

This is all to say I think Milsiril is just a white(elf) adoptive mom doing her best, I don't see much of anything nefarious about her or her motivations, she is flawed as all the dunmeshi characters are, she isn't a perfect mom, she isn't an evil mom, she's just a person.

Elves in general also see short lived species as "children" so I imagine this makes her "You'll always be my baby" attitude way worse, she really treats pre-teen/teen Kabru like he's a toddler sometimes. But she also respected him enough to go all out in training him. I think they're a family with everything that entails.

PS: I didn't get much into Interracial adoption since this is something that happens irl too and I don't know much about all the issues that entails, but in the end, in this case, it seems like a net positive for the kids she adopts considering all we see about how she raised Kabru.

[hobiebrownbrowser]

Constant Arguments

I know there is a lot of angst like this going on but for some odd reason it just feels right to make. I feel as if 42 Miles won't be as affectionate then others make him appear to be. NO HATE ON THEM. I love reading them.

I feel like he'll still have a somewhat cold demeanor. I haven't seen many where Y/N doesn't really care that Miles is The Prowler. Just needing him by her side more than anything was a blessing in her honor.

Earth 42 Miles Morales x FEM!Reader

Context: Angst, fluff, sadness, Mild cussing, happy ending

Translations: 'blame google if they aren't correct' 💀

"¿Por qué no puedes decírmelo? = "Why can't you tell me?"

Necesitamos hablar mami. = We need to talk mommy.

"Quítate de mi camino Miles." = Get out of my way Miles.

summary: Y/N doesn't give a shit if Miles is The Prowler.

"¿Por qué no puedes decírmelo? You avoid my calls, my texts, everytime I try to talk to you! You act like I'm not even 'ere!" It felt like a train hit her when Miles didn't respond, Breaking the eye contact they held for so long. Y/N just rolled her eyes, fed up with a relationship that clearly wasn't working.

"When you wanna talk, hit me up Hombre, other than that you can leave." Y/N shook her head, grabbing her book bag off the floor and walking towards their shared room.

She was acting like this because he wanted to disappear for more than a whole ass week. Ignoring her, leaving his own girlfriend on read when she was worried sick for him. Only think he had to say was "he was busy." Apparently it was more important than she'll ever be.

Slamming the door once she got inside just to feel tears swell in her eyes. Everything was frustrating her, constant arguments, school. The girl was overstimulated to say the least. Her back pushed up against the wall as she attempts to calm herself down with shallow deep breaths.

It felt like everything she worked for was against her. The man she loves not giving her the care she needs to pull through with all of this shit. Her family pressuring her to do a good job in school.

She just wanted to settle down on a peaceful path, but that seemed to redeem to much in her life. Having to work two jobs day and night was a struggle and Miles knew that. Yet he still did what he said he wasn't going to do.

Leaving her when she was the most vulnerable. She felt as if she wasn't valuable in his life at all. Wanting to cut off the one thing that used to make her life better.

But oh how she loves Miles. At the same time she wanted to apologize, pull him in a strong embrace. But she knew in the end he'd do the same thing. Disappear on her for decades on end.

The last string she held onto snapping just from his cold words. The silence was preposterous yet it kept her in a safe haven, able to run away from her problems just like now.

Taking a few more deep breaths and finally getting up off the dirty floor. She needed something to occupy her mind with, scrolling through her phone just to look at good memories.

She needed to wind down, Wanting to just drop out of school and cut off anyone she thought she knew well. She needed to breathe in this already suffocating air. The man on the other side probably long gone and out the door.

She was right, his figure not on the couch any longer than it should be. She wiped her face before stepping out. Going into the kitchen and grabbing a tub of ice cream before heading back into her confined space.

"Princesa." She cursed under her breath. Hearing his soft genuine sweet voice call her by her nickname. The real question was why was he still here. Turning around to be met with dead eyes. It was funny. They'd been together for a year, yet he looks at her the same way he looked at others.

She simply ignored him. Grabbing a spoon from a drawer and trying to push past the firm man.

"quítate de mi camino Miles." He didn't budge, doing the complete opposite infact. Blocking the exit with his body, She threatened to climb over the table if he didn't.

"Necesitamos hablar mami." He simply just tilted his head, A serious look plastered on his face.

"Oh now you wanna talk, ain't your job more important than me?" She got him right there. Miles eyes avoiding her's before looking back up, his chest withhelding big sigh. He wasn't gonna lie because he knew it was. She wasn't in his shoes. She wasn't constantly having to kill people for money.

No. He wanted her to sit still and be the most cherishing thing he had left besides his madre and his uncle. He was in a stressful predicament. How the hell was he supposed to tell his future wife that he was 'The Prowler'?

Miles was stomped, Looking the love of his life in her eyes before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. The look of confusion on her face as he told her.

Miles watched as she rubbed her temples, her eyes narrowing down to nothing but disappointment. It all made sense now. Why she'd wake up to an empty bed in the middle of the night. The window sometimes left open on countless nights.

He'd even shown her the exact suit he'd killed in, leading her to a small hidden room she didn't even know they had in the first place. She poked her head in which Miles found a bit cute, Taking it out and putting it on like it was nothing but clothing.

You let out a deep sigh before saying what was on your own mind.

"Miles I don't give a shit that you're The Prowler. I just wanted you to tell me." A sigh of relief left Mile's throat. Apologizing to his chica before pulling her into a tight hug and kissing her soft plump lips.

"I'm sorry for not tellin' you sooner Hermosa."

Part 2 here 💜

[dipperscavern]

hiiii! the anon who requested the Mike x fem!reader fic here. please don't apologise, I can totally understand😭😭 the show's too addictive, I binged watched the first few seasons really quick too, you can take your time🫶🏾

HII IM SO SORRY FHIS TOOK SO LONG GRR. honestly, i really struggled w this 😭 i didn’t make it very long or defined (i wanted this to set the tone of their relationship), and i left it pretty open ended (on purpose) so it could be built off of in other continuations as maybe a clientsdaughter!reader 🙂‍↕️thank u sm for the ask & i hope u enjoy!! (this is ass)

mike ross x fem!clientsdaughter!reader

mike had learned a countless amount of knowledge since joining the firm. how to talk to people, how to negotiate, how to work, how to win. along with this, he also learned the workings of the office itself — more so the people that were in it.

kyle talks to his girlfriends throughout the day. it’s often mike can catch him leaned back in his chair, not-so-discreetly checking his phone, eyebrows raising as he clicks on the selfie he was sent.

louis keeps his favorite breakfast bars in the top cabinet. rachel chews her lip when she’s thinking. the fax machine only listens to donna — don’t mention if harvey’s having a bad hair day, he knows.

oh. and don’t sleep with clients.

not getting involved with clients was a general rule of thumb. according to harvey, the less emotion involved, the better. even so, harvey himself was guilty of sleeping with a few clients — after business was done, of course. but that was different. harvey was harvey, and mike was a first year associate, already tap dancing on thin ice. he could absolutely not afford to break any rules — no matter how unspoken they might be.

truly, it was all going fine. until he met you.

you & your father are in the racehorse industry. famous for the record breaking times your horses submit (& the world-class conditions they’re always in), thousands come to the races to bet on them. your family has been breeding, training, and racing horses for decades, and your father loves his job. there’s only one issue.

he’s currently being sued for “wrongful termination” by an ex employee. the employee mistreated multiple horses during his time working for you & your father. once you both found out, he was gone.

now, 4 months later, when your most famous horse “knights honor” has died, the employee is claiming the horse was milkshaked before his races (he was not).

“Milkshaked? What the hell is that?”

harvey’s voice carried through his office as jessica presented the case to him & mike. your father was a friend to her, and it was important that harvey got this done. mike remembers the article he read years ago on racehorses when knights honor won his first championship.

“In the context of horse racing and illegal substances, a milkshake is any compound or combination of compounds administered to a horse, pre-race, for the purpose of causing.. metabolic alkalosis of the blood and extracellular fluid of that horse. Although, a previous widely used method to ensure placing times, milkshakes are a prohibited practice on race day in all U.S. jurisdictions.”

harvey and jessica exchange looks between themselves & mike. they're about to raise questions when donna's voice crackles through harvey's phone.

"Translation: Its when the horses are given a “milkshake” of different drugs before a race. It can kill fatigue and improve their endurance."

all heads look down to the phone, then at donna's desk. donna's already looking their way, of course, and she swallows under their field of vision. she shrugs.

"What? I can't.. watch tv?"

she abruptly puts the phone down, turning her chair around to type on her computer. jessica clears her throat.

"Tom is an old friend. He's genuine."

harvey interrupts. "You need me to make it go away.”

“No. This could tarnish his entire reputation… his life’s work. I need you to kill this thing in its tracks. Get it done.”

with that, jessica turns & exists the office. harvey sighs, skimming over the case file jessica dropped on his desk. he looks at mike.

“Find the daughter. Find out everything — previous arrests, divorces, a stolen tangerine from publix- I wanna know about it.”

mike nods, offering a-

“Yes, captain,”

(which makes harvey give him an exasperated look) before he retreats back to his cubicle, moving to start his manhunt. donna winks as he passes her desk.

꧁——————————————————꧂

“No, he doesn’t.”

you can sense the presence of the associate approaching behind you. you quickly thank the man working the stand as he hands you your pretzel, and you turn to face harvey’s right-hand. mike ross.

“I- You don’t even know what I was about to say.”

“Yes, I do.”

he’s cute. pretty blue eyes, a photographic memory, and a boyish charm that you can’t say you’re immune to.

“You were about to ask if he’s had any previous arrests. No, never.”

mike shakes his head. “Sorcery. Speeding tickets?”

you turn to look at him with an exasperated look. “No, officer.” he smiles.

“How did you know? That I’d ask.”

you shrug. “Ancient blood magic.”

a few moments of silence pass, and he’s silently moving his head in tune with his thoughts — like he actually believes you. you decide on mercy.

“It’s the first question lawyers always ask.”

“Ah. Been through this before?”

you shrug.

“Do you always stalk your clients?”

he doesn’t miss a beat. “Only the pretty ones- a hobby of mine.”

you hum, breaking off a piece of your pretzel and handing it to him. he sighs, leaning back.

“Oh you sweet, sweet angel.”

you both continue your walk to pearson/hardman, wanting to get there early to prep for the deposition today. mike breaks the silence once he’s done chewing.

“Do you always feed your lawyers?”

“Only the cute ones,” you break off another piece, handing it to him. “Its a hobby of mine.”

꧁——————————————————꧂

the elevator rings, signifying the end to your journey. mike is in disbelief as you step out of the elevator — mind trying to wrap around your last statement.

“What- are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

mike moves to catch up with you. “Okay, multimillion-dollar horse racing company, and you just.. have no security cameras? Zero?”

you turn to face him, giving him a defiant look that makes his heart flutter.

“I don’t see any cameras around here.”

as you approach the glass-doored conference room, mike opens the door for you.

“Touché.”

you shoot him a look across your shoulder before you move to greet your father, already waiting. mike pauses outside, staring, as you hug your father, no doubt offering some sort of reassurance.

“No.”

mikes head snaps toward the voice, harvey’s un-foreseen presence making him jump a little. mike looks around a bit.

“I.. didn’t even-“

harvey points a finger at mike, then at you, then slowly wags it back and forth for dramatics. mike sighs, looking around and putting his hands in his pockets, waiting for his scolding to be done.

“Harvey-“

“Uh uh.”

“Harvey.”

harvey continues his finger wag. “Micheal.”

“Harvey.”

harvey walks backwards towards the door, opening it with his free hand. “Don’t.. do it.”

mike rolls his eyes, following harvey into the room.

okay. don’t get with the funniest, most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen. got it. easy.

easy. right?

the look you give him as he sits down proves him otherwise.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

Had my ninety millionth rewatch of Yellowjackets because I wanted to work on drawing the girls. Been thinking about Jackie's butterfly shirt and how Shauna later on wears it. Not to mention to Shauna wears other butterfly shirts. any thoughts on if the butterfly symbolism was intentional? -💀

HI YES. i had like. so many thoughts on this all at once. i reasearched a lot of butterfly shit for a personal project before and it all just clicked in yj context. a warning that this is going to be rambley its going to be messy and some of it might be a stretch. yippee!

SOO first off its def like. butterflies are a very common just design for shirts in the 90s so its def just like part of the period wardrobe. HOWEVER. jackie and shauna, as far as i know, are the only characters seen wearing butterfly shirts (and i could be wrong but even so theyre the only characters with repeated obvious butterfly shirts including in the adult timeline). which is very interesting.

so heres shaunas butterfly shirt (note the words)

jackie's butterfly shirt and.. shauna wearing it (note the scene)

adult shauna also wears a butterfly shirt im 99% sure it was like black with a white butterfly design. i need to find a pic rgh

SO LETS START

first off - what is butterfly symbolism?

butterfly symbolism is literally anything you want it to be. its such a common symbol if you look it up theres millions of websites on weird slightly not so slightly appropriating spirit bs and a shitton of vague statements. so lets narrow the question.

what is butterfly symbolism in the context of yellowjackets?

much better. my personal view on it is this - butterflies, in a multitude of cultures, are a symbol of hope. theyre pretty theyre flappy theyre whatever. but butterflies are also a symbol of change, of transformation. but what i think is so interesting about butterflies as change is when we look at how butterflies change.

butterfly transformation is inherently something of horror. its a gorey, bloody transformation where the caterpillar literally dissolves in a chamber of its own making and reforms into something completely different. but the thing i find so fascinating is that its not a whole new thing - its literally a restructuring of the caterpillar. its something that was always there.

and this exact thing is imo one of the central themes of yellowjackets - they were always these people. What the wilderness did is amplified it, twisted it, made it louder and more obvious and definitely more bloody. but the violence and the competitiveness and the drama? was always there. look at allie, look at shauna and jeff. what the wilderness did was give them a stage (a chrysalis, if you will) to transform.

What about the specific shirt designs?

Lets start with shauna. Its a basic design with 6 butterflies of various kinds, but the most notable thing for me is the text. "Lueur d'espoir

yeah i used google translate whatever its not like ive been taking french classes for years. or something. let me live.

so. as you can see its "glimmer of hope" which goes hand in hand with the common butterfly symbolism. but actions overpower words because with a lot of shauna's actions, (ie 2.07 massive girl on girl violence) shes pretty much the opposite of hope. shes giving into the brutal violence that the wilderness is bringing out in all of them and hell she even relishes it. its an almost comedic grasp at imitating jackie when really shes the opposite side of the butterfly symbolism coin - transformation. but specifically metamorphasis. this side of her was always there.

now its number time!!

shaunas shirt has 6 butterflies and jackies has 3. jackie is literally half of what makes up shauna - without jackie she loses a significant piece of herself. i might throw up.

after jackies death shauna does everything she can to get her back. not only does she talk to jackies corpse for months, she literally EATS her. but theres also more subtle attempts to get that part of herself back - like wearing her "missing half" - the butterfly shirt. its all in vain really because its with that grasping at anything she has left of jackie and order and everything she used to know, with that shirt, that she commits one of the most brutal acts of violence in the entire show. also shauna wears it while beating up lottie after wilderness baby dies and wb was basically the last living (rip) thing she has of jackie. ough.

back to shaunas original shirt, the one with six butterflies. 6 is a number commonly associated with nurturing energy, and sometimes maternal. sound familiar?

similarly, jackie(shauna)'s 3 butterfly shirt - 3 in general is a very powerful number symbolically. the birth-life-death cycle, the mind-body-soul connection, things coming in threes. jackieshauna and whatever they connect to be that wilderness baby, jeff, callie, the wilderness in general maybe lottie. who knows!! the toxic homoerotic bestfriendship spares no one.

ALSO the butterflies on jackies 3 shirt are monarchs which are commonly associated with the dead and more specifically remembrance of the dead. throws up.

so overall!

the butterfly shirts could very much be just be time period wardrobing but i do think there is at least some significance given jackie and shauna are the only characters (as far as i know) who repeatedly wear butterfly shirts.

butterflies in jackie's context are almost a satire of the hope theyre supposed to represent - jackie has lost all hope by clinging to a past she can never get back to. in most cases she would be a hopeful character - take akilahs clinging to wiskayok, doing SAT prep and talking about her family. but the difference with jackie is that she clings to it as if it were already dead. she has this passive suicidality because she knows that shes never going back to what was and she REFUSES to transform. a catterpillar who doesnt pupate and dies never changing.

butterflies in shauna's context i think point to the gorey, transformative yet revealing nature of the wilderness. similar to metamorphosis, through a complete restrucuring of what was already there in the optimal conditions for change, we see this violent, bloody, version of Shauna emerge in the wilderness. Similarly to the twisting of butterfly metaphors, shauna also represents a twisted kind of hope through her pregancy. Inherently a birth is supposed to be a symbol of new life, of hope and joy. And for a while the baby is a symbol of hope! you have the babyshower raising spirits etc. but everyone knows it was doomed from the start. in the wilderness a birth is not a thing of hope but a thing of horror - its seeing your teammates mouths covered with blood and its burying your son when you too are still a child.

soo yeah. butterflies. dont know how much of this is gonna make sense but it definately made me think about things

[queens-of-spirits]

Why the svsss papapa scenes are literary genius actually, Part 1:

So, fun fact, I originally wanted to do a funny little post where I ranked the four papapa scenes in svsss (with special mention to the start of the return to childhood extra and LMY’s writing) but my deranged ass decided to go full quirky English prof and turn this shit into a proper analysis.

So, believe it or not, the svsss papapa scenes are actually really important for understanding a lot of the characters and themes of the story. So yes. I am going to go through them all and explain why. Starting with…

Maigu Ridge (spoilers, obviously):

If this were actually my silly rankings post (which I still may make), Maigu ridge would rank dead last in any category related to actually being an enjoyable smut scene to read. That’s fine, because, to put it bluntly, that wasn’t the point.

It’s a subversion of the pressure and idea of the perfect first time or instinctive sexual skill seen in both power fantasy and romance/bl novels. That subversion and the shock of what happens is meant to take us out of the scene and make us think about the characters, the situation, and the tropes we take for granted. Remember, svsss is genre savvy twice over, both in Danmei/bl and power fantasy fiction. It explores both those worlds and the complicated aspects of both (I.e the obsession with revenge). It’s not trying to be a good smut scene, it’s setting up the characterization of the couple and the character arc seen throughout the rest of the papapa moments in the extras (more on that in future posts, but it’s about SQQ learning to be more open with his desire and pleasure) and exemplifying the main themes of the book (forgiveness and intention)

So without further ado, here is my analysis on this scene.

The notes about SQQ’s character in the Maigu Ridge scene should be obvious and understood by looking at the broad context of the scene. Like the Without a Cure moment, it shows how much he cares for LBH and his willingness to put his own life and body on the line to save him. It is devotion, pure and simple. However, more depth is revealed when examining specific passages (note all quotes are from the English publications because I don’t speak Chinese, so I’m sorry if the translation muddled the meaning).

The most vital part to me for Binghe’s character is this line:

“he’d done this out of consideration for Luo Binghe’s convenience, but unexpectedly he was flipped back around. Luo Binghe jammed himself between Shen Qingqiu’s legs, his entire attention rapt on Shen Qingqiu’s face.”

This refers to how SQQ tries to turn around so that LBH would not see his face during what is about to happen and LBH flipping him over again.

This, I believe is symbolic. SQQ turns around because he thinks that anyone will do and he is the only one willing, but that’s not true LBH wants SQH specifically. He needs to relieve the energy from the sword’s influence, yes, but despite that pain, he is focused solely on SQQ’s face.

The transformation from the stallion protagonist Bingge to our Bingmei is exemplified here better than any scene before it (I would argue it is later topped by the Bingge vs Bingmei extra). Unlike Binghe, Bingmei is not looking for mindless pleasure to escape his lonely life (represented here by the corrupting energy of the sword) he is seeking the one he adores above all, the one who he cares for more than anything. He has found true connection and THAT is what drives him to madness (remember, he’s trying to destroy everything to be the only one in SQQ’s world so he can’t be abandoned). That’s why, even when supposedly in a mad state, he seeks to look at SQQ’s face, because it isn’t about the sex, it’s about them, the two of them together.

The other vital part is the aftermath, before even the jade pendant. Specifically, this exchange:

“Shizun don’t hate me…I didn’t know…I never wanted to hurt you…why didn’t you push me away? Why didn’t you kill me?”

“This master knows. This master was willing”

Again, this was an act not born out of lust, like with Bingge and his wives, but something different. Bingge takes what he wants and feels no guilt because nothing was ever given to him, but Bingmei was given the world by one person and struggles with not feeling like, with not BEING the animal or monster that the rest of the world sees him as’

LBH had no intention to hurt SQQ

Just like how SQQ had no intention to hurt him by avoiding him

It’s symbolic of their relationship as a whole. Unintentional hurt and the forgiveness that follows. THATS why the remaining papapa scenes are so important. It’s about them learning to not hurt each other. Every single papapa scene that follows builds on this idea of them learning the right way to love each other (remember, their story together is just beginning after the last page of the book) and learning how to not hurt each other unintentionally, LBH physically, SQQ emotionally.

Again, clear themes of forgiveness and intention. The reasons behind why people do bad things (hence the focus on SJ and TLJ as complex characters) and the act of forgiveness and learning from mistakes, which I argue are the two main themes of SVSSS

So while Maigu ridge is terrible in terms of being an enjoyable scene to read, that was not it’s purpose. It’s purpose was to utilize the tropes of both Danmei and male fantasy to take us out of those genres (where first times always go well) and get us to THINK about the characters and why they do what they do, their intentions.

[tomyo]

A long examination of Amy and her character treatment.

This was initially a YouTube comment lol.

I truly loved the Sonic x dub cast but it really always came down to an issue of script and possibly the voice director. It always stung to me how much vitriol Amy used to get and while I like how she is better treated (being more recognized as one of the core 4), I do miss the sassiness she was given in the 00s. Sonic is meant to be kinda edgy and often in the anime he’s portrayed with immature traits because he’s a teenager, Amy often was the counterpart to that, a modern posh girl who was stubborn about what she wanted but not solely defined by that. I don’t think it was revolutionary but I do think compared to the Japanese ideal woman, Amy would be more akin with trickled down gyaru culture (Mat[ure] gal, something in line with the image of posh spice). It’s unfortunate that headstrong translated probably somewhat to boy crazy and desperate to an English audience and where Sonic’s immaturity was toned down removing that feeling they were on the same level. Often my biggest issue with her modern voice is she comes off as a knock off mini mouse (more so in the earlier games with her current English VA).

Maybe ironic is it sounds more alike to her Japanese portrayal which also ironically I’m very conflicted about since it somewhat aligns her more with cream age wise. But what I do like about it is the difference in character portrayal. If I were to guess Sega’s stance on Sonic and Amy it would be two people loosely dating, similar in the way Mickey and Minnie are a couple but that validity fluidly changes depending on the situational need. Keep in mind that Amy’s first portrayal is as a version of Sonic’s girlfriend. Given that there was apparently a valentine’s plush bouquet of the two I think to some degree they’re meant to be as such. When it comes to the Adventure era to just before generations, the context of this relationship is greatly changed between languages. American Sonic often gave off the feeling of a laid back but heroic guy who puts up with a girl because he is too kind and she’s too pushy. And I think even just the voice direction plays into that perception because of how they sound a different maturity than the Japanese portrayal. In Japanese, Sonic is often more playful and less uncomfortable than he sounds in English. A great example is adventure 1’s park segment when Amy gets excited for free couple entry, in English Sonic is clearly annoyed and calling her a pain while in Japanese he’s caught off guard but going along with it. I’ve only just been digging into the Sonic X sub but the comparisons I see give off more the feeling that Amy is casually dating Sonic and regularly fighting with him to take her on dates (gonna point to Goku and chichi in this case). He cares about her enough to go to her place first at the end of the first season but reflexively avoids responsibility, she’s the scary girlfriend always mad at him. Specifically pointing back to episode 52’s ending, they use a song associated with specially the relationship between Amy and Sonic that also is explicitly romantic (and in terms of the song presumably reciprocated) when she asks him to tell her He loves her and the lip flaps of his unheard response *could* match up to “Aishiteruze Amy” (my conjugation isn’t that good and google isn’t helpful but to me vague knowledge a more casual masculine way to say I love you) and a white rose which symbolizes “chaste love”.

Ultimately I read their relationship being Amy trying to find compromise with Sonic’s free spirit. They’re by no means official and probably never will be because it’s not in Sonic’s priority (in his game portrayal). The most I think that would ever become of him being with someone would be almost completely out of the picture and light hearted at best.( But that is also due to him eternally being 15/16 as for now. ) Amy trying to get him to spend time with her and show some reciprocation is I think all Sonic X Amy is looking for. But going back to my thoughts on why Amy got so much backlash for the longest time is I don’t not think the first wave of Sonic fans in America understood that. The image of who Sonic is was completely treated different and even before Amy (who you could technically call the second character created in game universe) could appear stateside, the U.S. already created the answer that “Yes, Sonic is interested in romance and here is the type of girl he likes.” My feelings toward Sally always lie in, I did not hate Sally but I hated the way fans pointed to Sally as the reason to hate Amy. It doesn’t help that when Amy was introduced, she was defined by being young, bratty and blind to Sonic not loving her back. She was the little sister trying to steal your boyfriend and the age gap they share was even more so focused on. Even with just the English dub of Sonic media, it was leaning into the concept that boys should feel disgusted at the ideas of romance that isn’t as prominent in Japanese media. It paints the picture to the average 90s Sonic fan that “Amy will never be his type because he’s more interested in a cool mature girl like Sally.” Of course the same comic that particularly created that shipping divide collapsed leaving Amy once again to be the sole main girl that now had a fandom known for hating her. Already doing a whole reset with Colors on scaling back the grand stories and cast, by the next time we really saw her in generations she was just…….dainty. I remember being very effected by her Disney princess hand posing in Lost World. To be honest she hasn’t been that deeply tied into any mainline stories too much, at least not in her modern styling but to also be fair, I’m trying to enjoy Forces despite being late to the game (There was a decade gap of buying a major console) and while I have seen pretty much the full extent of her rep in Frontiers, I’m holding off on dream team currently(also want to play the murder of Sonic on my own time). From the way I look at it, this has lead mainly western media to define her character and often working off said issues that previously arose with her portrayal. As much as I love Sonic Boom, I see Amy’s straight forward pursuit to awkward denial of even feeling that way as nothing less than an absolute failure of her character. That mixed with making her the “The girl annoyed with the boys because she’s just so much more smarter and sophisticated than them” just switching her to a different girly stereotype that ultimately pacified her, then further extending into prime emphasizing how nature loving she is in a way that again really just feels like a Disney princess cliche. Ultimately she’s become “The nurturing homebody who is a little annoyed at the brutish guys she’s around and doesn’t want to address having feelings for her guy friend because that would just bother him.” Maybe it's just aging to that point but its come to a girl minimizing herself is more frustrating that a girl obsessed with a guy. I get why they chose to pivot her in that way but it often also feels directionless.

Actually looking back at all the media that sparked this, even Sonic X doesn't feel that bad as she was made out to be. Granted I'm only a 7th of the way in but she's not often making a huge deal about sonic as much as sonic is the heavy hitter especially with knuckles gone and he's not taking his duties seriously. But it's also interesting to try and see what's going on in the Japanese dubs of the games now that I also have a decent hold on the Japanese language. Sonic adventure 2 gives the impression of her being a part of the crew just constantly not caught up in what's going on. Naturally she'd be invested getting her beloved out of prison but he is so tied up in what's going on that he (and tails) don't stop to fill her in before she's also a wanted criminal. Notably as well, when the island is set to explode, where sonic says "I got to warn the others!" Others is addressed as "Amy-tachi". The word the Japanese use for we is "Watashitachi" which is the word for I with Tachi denoting people with them (watashi can also be replaced with of pronouns if you don't use watashi). It took my by surprise that between tails and Amy, sonic refers to any instead. Something about Japanese sonic makes Amy feel more a part of the group and part of me cries the many ways English sonic fans did not get it.

Edit: I have now played The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and the writing team GETS Amy. I'm starting to wonder if Amy's Disney princessness is due to most of the media being kids shows right now and this was a steam game (mainly aimed at an older crowd). What's best is if plays well into the whole "Sonic is a bad boyfriend" concept I was talking about, he forgets her cake and is panicked. But Amy is also much more aligned with her old portrayal, she's excited and a little hot headed. Clearly she's had to organize a lot but also lavishes in it being her birthday. She doesn't over obsess on Sonic but she's definitely happy that he supposedly brought her cake and she gets to avenge his "murder". At the same time she's happy to be with all of her friends who clearly care enough to go along with this, even people you wouldn't expect like rouge and shadow. I know Blaze travelling dimensions is a joke but yeah it is crazy she did that for Amy who I think she only really knows though the Olympic games(I've only just started Rush). A murder mystery feels also such a good take for her, it's something extravagant but also a little occultish. Aligns really well with someone into tarot.

[tossawary]

As I post about rereading SVSSS for lore and characterization, and about sometimes ignoring canonical details for the sake of whatever story I want to tell / explore in fanfiction for fun, I want to make it clear that I don't make these changes because I think it makes a "better story" or that I can write a "better story". I don't even like using the term "fix-it" for my canon divergence AUs that avert some in-universe tragedy, even if it is the "correct" fandom term in some cases, because I don't think that SVSSS is a story that needs to be "fixed".

(Honestly, a lot of my minor alterations to canon's details are because I can't remember what exactly canon is and can't always be bothered to hunt for one sentence (which I may or may not remember existing at all) across multiple volumes, especially when I don't always think strict faithfulness to canon is that crucial to the main concept of what I'm doing. I wrote PINTWILF and several other fics before the official English translations were fully released, when checking minor details was an even greater pain in the ass. Sometimes, I'm cooking without the recipe in front of me because I just want to eat.)

Like, I have criticisms of SVSSS, definitely. When I first started writing SVSSS fic, I was more frank about this (fond but less fond of the characters and world than I am now), and I've talked about things I wished the story expanded on more. I think it has flaws. I know those flaws are a dealbreaker for many people. But it's not my story. I can't tell MXTX's story better, because I believe that every author's story belongs to them and only they know what they're trying to achieve, even when I may personally think that the story might have been stronger if it had done something differently or I'm ignoring some minor detail specifically because I don't really like it.

It's awkward, sometimes, occasionally being told by someone that they enjoyed my fic more than the original story. It's very flattering (I can't pretend I don't have an ego) and I don't think anyone means any harm by this, people enjoy stories or don't for many different reasons (enjoyment is not necessarily an indication of quality and I think engaging with fandom can often be more fun than just reading a story on its own by yourself), but it is a little awkward, especially when SVSSS is not an English / western story. I have an advantage appealing to western readers. Reading a translation of the original story, I know there are details of SVSSS going over my heard, references I'm missing, nuances I don't recognize, even as I endeavor to keep learning. I personally enjoy some of my fics more than SVSSS itself because I associate them with good experiences and a lot of them appeal to me personally in some way or another (all of my favorite tropes! we all have favorite tropes!), but they are built on the back of someone else's original work on the other side of the world, and I want to be respectful of that.

I don't want to compete or fix. I'm not trying to compete or fix, I think I would fuck it up if anyone seriously set that task on me, and I don't think that's a good way to view anything. I want to explore and appreciate. I'll type up a lengthy post at some point as to why I'm generally not interested in concrit on my fics (honestly, mostly it's because I'm not interested in being told that a reader hates the present tense and wishes I would rewrite the entire story, which has happened to me before), but I hope that doesn't come off as disinterest in the original story or its cultural context, or as me thinking even a little bit that any of my stories are flawless and/or better than the original.

I want to make a "why would you put two bad bitches (compliment) against each other like this?" joke here, but I also want to be clear: I think MXTX is by far the badder bitch (compliment) in this situation.

(Turning off reblogs, btw, because this post skews more on the personal side.)

[thepersonperson]

just to clarify the reading of 「凡夫」

while common translation for 夫 by itself can be ‘husband’ (read as おっと / otto), the 夫 in 「凡夫」 is read as そ, giving the meaning of ‘that person.’

「凡夫」 meaning ‘that ordinary person.’

apologies if my English is not correct. I want to help with translation Japanese. :)

Yes, you are 100% correct. No one would ever think to read Bonpu as “mediocre husband” and that’s my point. Sukuna’s wordplay banks on you breaking the rules a little to see the hidden secondary meaning.

Take for example Sukuna's Shrine or 御厨子 (mizushi).

When analyzing the kanji, the person in this post says this:

"A “厨子/zushi”, ignoring the “mi”, is a small Buddhist shrine used for storage." 

"Also - the “厨/zu” kanji is most directly translated as “kitchen” iirc."

By isolating the kanji, the poster was able to explain why the Mizushi was translated as Kitchen or Shrine. They also concluded that both meanings were probably to be taken at the same time. That makes sense—it is quite literally a shrine in his Domain, but because we know Sukuna loves food and the rest of his Curse Technique (CT) is cooking prep themed, the kitchen reading is just as valid.

I linked another example in the Bonpu post...but the account that explained Enchain=Megumi Activities got nuked (screw you fElon Musk). I did take screenshots though!

So we have the translation of Enchain from 契闊 (keikatsu) which might be better localized as Separation.

契(kei)闊(katsu) can be written as 恵(kei)活(katsu). 恵 can be read as kei or...Megumi. (It's the literal kanji used for his name.) 活 is where you get "activities" from, which leads us to Enchain=Megumi Activities.

Sukuna is also referencing a poem about lovers. (Here's a link to the full poem and context of it.)

In summary, it’s about a soldier who is on the brink of death, having lost nearly everything after being abandoned by those in power, lamenting the happiest days of his life with his love are ones he can never get back. (Hey that sounds just like what Sukuna did to Yuji!)

Sukuna here is not only straight up telling Yuji he's going to steal Megumi's body, he's also mocking how the two will be separated by the act. (And he appears to be acknowledging the love between them is more like a couple's than it is friendship.)

But as you can see, the reading of “Megumi Activities” is not something the character hearing this or person reading the kanji would think of first. In hindsight we recognize that Sukuna was most certainly using that hidden secondary meaning.

With all this in mind, let's go back to Bonpu.

There are other kanji you can use for ordinary and unenlightened. There's also the fight being framed as a date and Gojo showing up to it dressed as a groom. That's why the kanji 夫 for husband is so sus. Perhaps Sukuna really did mean it that way too. (It doesn’t help that Sukuna hesitates slightly before he says Bonpu in an isolated bubble. This framing draws attention to it in a way I can’t ignore.)

Hopefully this explanation makes sense?

Completely unrelated...

I'm choosing to ignore that 契 (kei) in Keikatsu/Enchain is also the kanji used for sexual intercourse, especially between husband and wife, since it might mean there's a 3rd layer to Sukuna's Keikatsu wordplay of 契(chigi, spousal sex)活(katsu, activities). Hang on maybe I need to update Sukuna's Negative Rizz again.

[rottenpumpkin13]

I think CC had a huuuge problem with fleshing out Genesis and Angeal to be honest. I feel like the personalities they’ve been given by the fandom are mostly fanon and don’t have that much substantiation in canon because AG were both largely used as plot devices- which again I think is a big problem because it doesn’t make you feel or understand either of the characters or why they behave the way they do. By the end of CC I felt really bad for Sephiroth, was ambivalent toward Angeal but still felt a twinge of sadness because of how sad Zack was over him, and absolutely loathed Genesis. I’m still not Genesis’ biggest fan but the canon characterization has made him a bit more endearing, though when I go back to canon and see him I’m left disliking him all over again. Unless you really dig into CC lore you have no idea how Genesis felt about Sephiroth, it just comes off like he was always jealous of him and that the relationship was painfully one-sided with Sephiroth practically begging for his friendship. It doesn’t help that 80% of Genesis’ dialogue is Loveless quotes and the other 20% is him being angry and hateful. I guess it’s justified, but unlike with Sephiroth and Angeal you never see Genesis being anything but hateful. With the other two I found myself sympathizing and mourning the loss of the people they were prior to realizing the truth, but with Genesis I wished he’d just shut up and go away already. The training room scene also doesn’t help his case, because first it starts out with Genesis being cocky and wanting to take Sephiroth alone- despite Angeal’s warning- and then later on blasts his best friend in the face with a fire ball all while talking about being a hero. He purposefully escalates the fight, then when Sephiroth gets serious Genesis gets injured and crap really hits the fan- and all this could’ve been avoided if Genesis hadn’t had an inferiority complex the size of the moon. I also find it hard to excuse this whole sequence of events because this was prior to his degradation, and while it’s unclear whether it had started even before his injury, I’m going to say he was still mostly in his right state of mind and he still behaves like he has no care for his friends, even his childhood friend who was trying to keep the spar friendly and prevent it from turning into a fight to the death.

Sorry about the rant, but that other anon talking about Genesis also brought back my thoughts about him and I felt like sharing since I’ve never really written them out.

Canon vs fanon aside, there's a lot of context and nuance often lost when adapting Japanese dialogue to fit English contexts. My biggest gripe with the training room scene in english is how Genesis proclaims "The world needs a new hero" right before he fights Sephiroth, suggesting he wants to take Sephiroth's place/ be better than him. But then you look at translations like this one and that scene gains a whole new meaning. Genesis instead says "I too would like to become a hero." And rather than the cocky "That's no way to talk to a hero," before he blasts Angeal in the face with a fire ball, he states "All I want is to be a hero."

The training room scene is a lost cause, because it's easy to place the blame on any one of them, or on whoever decided to go in there that day, or even on the fight itself, but accidents happen. But in the end, no one is truly to blame because none of them asked for Jenova cells or to be part of the Jenova Project, and the truth is that if it hadn't been the training room incident, something else would have triggered the degradation, or the conflict as a whole, and they would have been doomed regardless.

And that's why Genesis is so angry, and why he's so desperate for the cure that he keeps reciting what (in his mind) is the answer to the cure. I guess the reason we never see him be anything but reactive to the situation he's in because when we're introduced to him, shit has already hit the fan. He's deserted already. The first scene we see in Crisis Core literally has Angeal answer the phone and get the news that Genesis left. The only crumb of pre-degradation Genesis we get is the training room scene which—as mentioned above—got mistranslated in English, so of course we're going to think Genesis was hot-headed and envious (which in all honesty he could've just as well have been).

It's easier to sympathize with Angeal and Sephiroth because everything that's happening is happening because Genesis revolted against Shinra, and I get that. But what makes me sympathize with Genesis (and this is coming from someone who used to hate him) is the degradation and his motives. He wants a cure. He wants to live, and it's hard to live when your body is working against you and literally degrading because of something completely out of your control. On top of that, the people after you, the organization you've always aspired to be a part of because of your childhood hero, your friends including that hero, are on the side of those who did this to you.

Don't know if this makes any sense because I'm literally trying not to fall asleep writing this out asfshsjska

[sweetbottletops]

Well I don't think her Clark Kent glasses have fully slipped off around two of them, but it's a cute thing for Chizuru to say.

Ch 92

Koga out here just existing as the school flows around her. All of that anxiety the day before and it was shorter lived than that Walmart yodeling boy in 2018. The attention market is saturated these days.

You're a main character to Aya and your friends, but ultimately it takes quite a bit more to be that for a whole school, thank god. (Koga’s goofiest face to date. What even...)

Chizuru doesn't know Koga Rizzuki as well as she thinks. She really needs to let the other two into the secret and not wait til the wedding invites arrive. I really want to see the whole group at the CD shop someday, dammit. (that bonus booklet exists in the bubble universe and doesn't count)

It is nice she's not self assigning outsider status anymore and can feel their friendship better.

Chekhov's maths book.

I don't feel like we've met him before. He's not the guy who bumped into her with her crutch, right? Probably an entirely new Jerkface.

I’m going to put my bet in and say this is about the school festival. It probably looks to him like she’s working out lyrics in a school notebook and thus is a school music related event.

Hard to piece out by what "That 'thing'?" means with this being a translation, but the context is music lyrics. It's probably written in English, but still looks like lyrics.

Hopefully it isn't too exposing, but Koga seems to use Aya as a muse on some level so... that might be exposed in the lyrics some way. (Not in a homophobic way, the manga hasn't really included that downer, but an emotional reveal that has gone over Aya's head since she doesn't know English).

Maybe there's a music "thing" going around that's not the festival, but it's probably been about a year since the last one so easiest explanation.

[madelynhimegami]

To my knowledge, you like Puyo Puyo! But what do you enjoy most about it?

Honestly, it might be easier to explain my intoduction to the series. Ideally we'll get there in the end either way. You ever seen one of those "What I Played/What I Expected/What I Got" memes? My story is pretty much like one of those.

I don't remember when I started learning bits and pieces about it, or when Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine went from being itself to a Puyo game in a trenchcoat in my mind. But by mid 2017 I knew the aforementioned (I called the CPZ boss in Sonic Mania a Puyo boss on twitter when I played it), recognized Carbuncle, recognized Draco Centauros (thanks to a friend who is still a big fan of her), and had heard that there was some sort of story to it, but didn't know a lot of details.

Then in September of 2017, a friend of mine mentioned that he had been playing Puyo Puyo Tetris lately as his go-to "pick up and play" sort of game. I looked it up in the eshop, saw it was cheap, and thought a pick-up-and-play game was what I needed and bought it. Not that I knew shit about playing Puyo well, but I at least had some basic competency at Tetris to balance things out.

And hey, at least the story mode would be a good way to learn! So I dove in to the story and started playing.

I was expecting the story to be inconseqential to my enjoyment of the game. Something either generic or corny, with characters that ranged from "tolerable" to "painful anime cliche."

The thing that knocked me on my ass almost immediately was that the writing was actually funny, made better with the English cast's fantastic delivery.

Those are all from just the story's first chapter! The first one is from the prologue! The other two are from the third scene (couting dialogue before and after a round of gameplay together as one scene)! And it kept going!

For the record, even though I was picky with what to include, and stitching lines from the same scenes together, I still had almost fifty (50) funny moments I wanted to drop out of context, in a game with a rough total of two hours of story material collected to write this post. And then I had to narrow it down further just so I wouldn't hit the image limit too quickly.

Was it a little corny and awkward at points? Sure. Several voice actors had to grow into their roles. Plus, the impression I always had from the script-- an impression that's only gotten stronger the more I learn about this series and then come back to this game-- is that someone on the development team was not expecting this to be all that successful overseas. And not for no reason, since Puyo Puyo's tried to get its foot in the door in the west several times by this point. But the end result of this lack of faith was a localization team that tried very hard to make this game stand on its own merits with as little understanding of the games that had come before as possible. Which, honestly I think they did a pretty dang good job of! Especially since it didn't shy away from the hard-hitting stuff when it came. Which I'm going to intentionally leave even further out of context so as to not give away all of it.

There was also this line here, which was what first clued me in that the writing's quality wasn't an accident, that the writer is actually thinking all this stuff through:

Fun fact, the only people you will see in your dreams are people you have seen while you're awake. The parts of the brain responsible for dreams can't make up new faces, or throw together composites of preeviously-known ones. Hence, this question, which does in fact get answered in the next scene, in a way that made me go, "Ohhh, that's really smart, actually!"

But yeah. That was just this one game. It took me a few more years before I tried other games that had been translated, fan or otherwise, but the more I've played and the more I learn about these characters and their worlds, the more engrossed I get. It's a hyperfixation now. It seems like there's always something new I'm learning about it, but it's not overwhelming, it just feels like I'm knowing a good friend better and better. The modern artstyle is deceptively simple and very endearing, and so many of the characters are interesting and fun. And the current writer is just so galaxy-brained, I'm not even kidding.

The characters in the Puyo Puyo series are all morons. They're all crazy. But at the end of the day, they care about each other, no matter how little they want to admit it. And they all have their own theming to the magic they use. It's a lot of fun. From your standard-fair RPG spells, to cosmic forces, to math terms,

I can't recommend this series enough, no matter what your skill level with puzzle games is! There's something in it for everyone.

Unless you're looking for genuinely evil characters, I guess. Like, there are characters that are intimidating or sinister or threatening, but almost none of them are actually evil. Fraid the closest to that this series has is a(n as-of-now) gender-ambiguous Elon Musk with better hair in the Japan-excusive gacha game.

Further reading from the author (that isn't already on their tumblr):

[1]

[2]

[3]

[mewling-central]

I wanted to give a more in depth example of how I'd go about translating something into Collective Seraphic, as I feel it'll give a better understanding on the syntax. So today I'm gonna walk you through translating two sentences; one from English to Seraphic, and another from Seraphic to English. I'm going to explain the grammar in detail, and explain the semantics behind a typical Seraphic sentence.

This is the sentence I'll be translating from English to Seraphic:

"I wanted to go, but my parents wouldn't let me."

Starting word-for-word, the word for "I" is zāfl. Seraphic has pronoun equivalents called "pro-forms". They act similarly to pronouns, standing in for another noun, although they will change their class to agree with the class of the nouns they're replacing. They aren't used nearly as often as in English, only really used when you don't know the name of someone or something, or if you feel you've been repeating that name too often. The pro-form zāfl is the proximal demonstrative fl declined into the Solar noun class, which is used for people, so in this way zāfl literally means "this person", but it contextually is meant to be understood as the first person pro-form "I" or "me".

For the verb "to go", it's a bit more complicated. Expressing motion, especially intentional motion, is usually done by adding the resultative prefix nd- to the patient noun (the one taking the action), and using some preposition of motion. You can think of it, since the resultative describes "becoming" or "happening" or a change in state, as if you're "becoming" someone in a new direction. Like your state of being is changing from being someone that's over here to being someone that's over there. Movement isn't really seen as an action, but as a process. You can use your legs to walk, but it doesn't matter what you use to move, you just do. So in this way you would use the procedural phrases nd() xel- or nd() fān- which literally mean "to become towards" and "to become away from". The phrases for "to go" and "to come" are interchangeable, and mostly rely on context. I think of it more being like "to proceed". Like, if you wanna say "I will go", then both "I proceed towards there" and "I proceed from here" are both semantically the same, it's all personal choice. In our example sentence, "wanted to go" implies a meaning where "wanted to go there" seems more contextually sensible. So we'll use the word voxl which means "over there" and have the full phrase as nd() xel-voxl. Since what's going is ourselves, the subject would take the procedural prefix.

nedZafl xel-voxl

This clause is incomplete though, as the procedural is currently declined into the infinitive, making the meaning something more along the lines of "I to go" which is nonsensical on its own. So in order to express "wanted to go", well need to do two things: firstly, we put it in a past tense. The speaker is talking about the action as if it happened a while before their present conversation, so we won't use the recent past, and they aren't speaking as if the desire to go has been completed or is no longer applicable, so we won't use the pluperfect or discontinuous past. That means we should put it in the remote past, making our sentence out as this:

ŋ̄ğōdZafl xel-voxl

Now the meaning is "I went a while ago". The second word we need to add is the word for "wanted". You would do this by adding one of the six modal particles at the beginning of the clause. In this case to express "to want" or "to need", expressing desire or intent, you'd use the volitive particle tcān. With this the first clause is fully complete:

Tcān ŋ̄ğōdzafl xel-voxl

"I wanted to go", or more literally "This person intended a while ago to become towards over there".

The word for "but" is cnets. In the phrase "my parents", you wouldn't need to translate "my", as it's implied from context that you're referring to your own parents, so you would just use the word for "parent" which is zōxō. "Parenting" is a bit complicated in seraph culture, so I'm using deciding to translate it under the context of human culture. Thus I'd be referring to two parents, and would put this into the dual and not the plural, making it now zōxōc. Leaving us with this so far:

cnets zōxōc

For the phrase "wouldn't let me", we gotta break it down again. The procedural phrase for "to let" or "to allow" or "to give permission" is azr() in-ut'ēn which literally translates as "to act freely" or "to act unrestrained". Since "I" am the one who's being given permission, the actional prefix would decline onto zāfl, giving us:

cnets zōxōc in-ut'ēn ezrezafl

Once again we need to decline this into a tense that fits "would let me", which is a bit harder to do. In English this conjugation is called the future-in-the-past and it describes a past action that occured in the future from the reference of the speaker in the past. So in order to express that we'll first add the future-simple auxiliary copula t'enr before the procedural noun:

cnets zōxōc in-ut'en t'enr ezrezafl

We can leave the procedural noun in the infinitive when we use an auxiliary copula. Now it reads "but my parents will let me", as the future-simple copula describes a future action regardless of whether it will happen soon or eventually. Normally we would leave this as is, but since we want to emphasize that this is in the past, we'll need to decline the procedural noun into a past tense. For this I'll use the remote past again since I already used it in the first part of the sentence, and seeing as we're talking about generally the same time period it'd seem more fitting to use the same tense.

cnets zōxōc in-ut'ēn t'enr eğrezafl

Finally we'll put this whole phrase into the negative so "would let me" becomes "wouldn't let me". The main way it's done is to take the first syllable of the procedural noun and invert it's tone. high tone becomes low tone, low becomes high, rising becomes falling, and falling becomes rising. So eğrezafl will become ēğrezafl instead. Additionally, you could also add the negative particle tu at the beginning of the clause. This is the more formal, standard way of indicating negation, usually you would use the particle in colloquial everyday speech except for emphasis or clarification. In this case, I do want to emphasize the parents not giving permission, so I'll add. That gives us the full clause:

cnets tu zōxōc in-ut'ēn t'enr ēğrezafl

Combining this with the previous clause, the final phrase will be this:

Tcān ŋ̄ğōdzafl xel-voxl, cnets tu zōxōc in-ut'ēn t'enr ēğrezafl.

"I wanted to go, but my parents wouldn't let me." Or more literally, "This person intended a while ago to become towards there, but both of (my) parents would not act on this person freely." Now that I've shown how to go from English to Seraphic, let's do it the other way around.

For this part, this is the sentence that we'll be translating:

Tu zāsl īzl ēdrayuln ojnzn nun ēdzt'u pi-lizt'n pr̄-yuln cu-zāsl.

We already know that tu is the modal particle for negation, so this clause must be in the negative. The next word zāsl is the second person pro-form in the singular, so it means. "you", and since it's near the beginning of the clause and not declined into a procedural we know that this is the subject of the clause. Īzl is the auxiliary copula for the progressive aspect, it describes an action that's happening at the very moment of speaking. It's the equivalent to putting "-ing" at the end of a verb in English. And the word ēdrayuln contains the procedural "ēdra-", which is the actional declined into the infinitive since it's being modified by an auxiliary copula. The actional describes an action or performance that the agent does onto the patient. The first syllable is also a high tone, which constrasts with its usual pronunciation or a low tone, so this and the presence of the negative particle reaffirms that this clause is in the negative. So far all of this together can be understood as such:

You are not doing...

But we still don't know what is not being done. So we have to see what the procedural is attatched to, and we see the noun yuln, which is the plural form of the noun yul meaning "action" or "deed". The final word of this clause is ojnzn, the plural of ojn which means "wrong" or "incorrect". Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number, so in total this means "wrong actions". Putting it all together, the first clause can be read as:

You are not doing wrong actions

The next clause once again starts with a modal particle. This modal particle, nun, is the conditional particle. It describes something that the speaker believes will happen under certain conditions. It's equivalent to English "if" or sometimes "when", so the clause is being presented as a condition. The next word is ēdzt'u. This is the procedural noun, the noun declined with a procedural suffix, and being that this is at the beginning of the clause we know it's acting as the subject, and thus this clause is either passive or intransitive. The procedural prefix being used is ed-, the resultative in the present tense. But the tone is high, being contrastive, so once again we know that this clause is in the negative. Since there is already a modal particle on this clause, the negative particle can't be used and we have to rely solely on procedural tone. The noun attached to the procedural is zt'u, which is the inflected form of tsu, meaning "no one" or "nobody". In Seraphic, words starting with affricates like "ts", "pf", "kx", or "tc" will usually become "zt'", "vp'", "ğk'", and "jt'" when a prefix is attached to them. Purely just a result of historic sound changes. Also, although the procedural is in the negative, the presence of the indefinite pronoun "nobody" actually means the clause is meant to be read in the positive. Seraphic allows double negatives, and actually requires the procedural to be put into the negative when a negative noun is used. So given all of that information, the clause so far can be translated as this:

if nobody becomes...

The next term is pi-lizt'n which means "with (an) idea". Since this prepositional phrase is the closest to the procedural noun, we can assume this is the lexical phrase that completes the whole procedural phrase. Thus, the full phrase would be ēdzt'u pi-lizt'n which literally translates as "nobody becomes with (an) idea" as in "nobody becomes (the same) nobody that is with/has an idea". This is the procedural phrase for "to understand", to not have an idea of a topic and then suddenly having an idea of that topic. It's a change in state from "not knowing" to "knowing", thus the phrase can now be read as:

if nobody understands...

The following phrase is pr̄-yuln. Pr̄ is the dative preposition, it describes an argument that isn't solely affected by an action, but benefits from it. It's the "to" in "I gave my mail to him". In a passive or transitive clause, the patient becomes the subject and what would've been the subject is instead downgraded to the dative. In this case, pr̄ can be read as "to" but given the context of this clause it'd be easier to translate it as "about". Of course yuln means "actions", so all together the clause is now:

if nobody becomes with (an) idea about (the) actions...

Or more accurately

if nobody understands the actions...

The final words are cu-zāsl, which mean "of you". So together the full clause becomes this:

if nobody understands the actions of you.

And together with the first clause our final sentence is read as this:

You are not doing the wrongs actions if nobody understands the actions of you.

Or you could also rephrase it like this:

You aren't doing it wrong if no one knows what you're doing.

So, ipso facto, tl;dr, in summary and conclusion, that's kinda my thought process when translating sentences into and from Seraphic. I hope anything I said made a lick of sense, this whole grammar and syntax is pretty experimental for me so if you made it this far you get a gold star 🌟. Congrats I'm so proud of you. Anyways thanks for reading buh-bye.

[doctorbunny]

Hi! I hope you don't mind the sudden question, but i got really into Milgram recently and was wondering: What reasoning did people give when they voted Haruka guilty in the second trial? Like, generally speaking, what did the consensus seem to be?

Haruka is a character i strongly relate to, so i have a lot of Thoughts about him.

Firstly: Wow the start of the second trial was that long ago, huh 😅

Secondly: I need to explain that Haruka's trial was a bit different than most Not sure how recently you joined but in a normal trial, the MV will upload the same day a CD releases, and stuff like the instrumental, DECO covers and most importantly the voice drama will be officially uploaded at the same time

But for Haruka, due to some unspecified CD issue, we were getting the MV as planned then wouldn't get the voice drama for another two weeks This will be very important to his voting

Thirdly: Going into his trial, things were uncertain, a lot of people really liked Haruka and were very worried for him due to his new relationship with Muu. Whom many saw as a potential bad influence or threat. I won't get into it too much, but before this trial it was definitely more common to have a.... soft image of Haruka as a harmless little guy who had gone through a lot, who just made some mistakes because he didn't know any better

Its worth remembering that without the context of AKAA, Weakness is a very dream-like MV and not many were sure which parts were real or imagined One of the biggest debates about weakness was about if the blue haired child was a younger bother or Haruka himself It all seems quite quaint from here Some people thought Haruka might not have even killed a person, just animals, I was even considering a theory suggesting Haruka was in milgram for his own suicide (in the words of Danganronpa 'killing the person who is most important to you: Yourself') The girl with the plait wasn't thought about much as other than a possible childhood friend due to her being shown running next to young Haruka.

Fourth: The premiere of AKAA was super emotional and intense, it was a beautiful MV But like Purge March later, it would contextualise parts of Weakness we didn't expect it to Mainly the animal murder and the girl's death.

But without the voice drama, many were unsure what verdict would be best for Haruka Despite the failure of T1 Amane, many still thought we could fix the prisoners through voting right Some people saw this vote as a chance to get Haruka to break up with Muu if we played our cards right Overall people were confused and conflicted and couldn't wait for the voice drama to come out I think the best summary of feelings is a comment from the top of the AKAA comments section

This was posted right after AKAA came out and reflected a common mood

This part of his voting period was very strange. Because of the uncertainty, people were pretty split People didn't think he deserved an innocent verdict, but they didn't want to punish him so harshly with a guilty one either And it turned into an interesting situation: What happens if a prisoner gets exactly 50%? It was an unlikely truce between two passionate sides but for about 2 weeks straight, 50-50 was sustained Or more accurately, it was a constant flux of 49.9-50.1, changing by the hour if not minute (I actually dreamt up a fic of this causing Haruka to get a migraine but like most of my fics it never materialised)

Then the voice drama released

At the time I was the mod of the second biggest milgram server (rip Fancult - unfortunately that place got nuked so I'll have to go off memories alone) so I got to watch as a lot of people gathered and listened to the VD at the same time We were still waiting on translations, but still people could appreciate the acting and pick out key words like the prisoners' names and... other common phrases

お母さん, "Okaasan" The Japanese word for 'mother' or 'mum'

By the time we got to here it was Harukover 😔

Then a second Okaasan hit the verdict

And this giant mess ended with the suicide threat that's been haunting us for the rest of the season...

Needless to say, people were not too pleased

The 50-50 pipe dream was immediately shot down and betrayed

This graph (by paiplushie on twt) shows it pretty clearly

One thing to keep in mind is that even before Muu's MV was out, people were certain she'd be voted guilty, there was a fervour for it (mostly because people saw her as having taken advantage of Haruka and having the wrong attitude towards her verdict)

For some reason, voting Muu innocent was never really considered an option

It was 'Haruka threatened to kill himself if we vote Muu guilty, how do we stop him doing that after we do' [personally I voted him innocent because I had a pipe dream that if both Haruka and Muu were inno then they'd be obnoxious about it but unharmed]

People justified voting guilty in different ways, some thought it'd make him break up with Muu and not want to die for her, some just didn't want to enable his action (threatening suicide is awfully manipulative) and some people genuinely believed that physical restraint was the most effective way to prevent him from attempting suicide... which all I'll say is I disagree with that logic

But yeah, once the VD was out it never really showed any signs of returning to inno

[archiveikemen]

'All Because Of A Slight Fever' Collection Event

Liam Evans

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection. I do not own any of the original content. Please support CYBIRD by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

❥･• Warnings and FAQ

Kate: Liam, are you okay!? I heard you caught a cold…

I was told that Liam had caught a cold due to the rapid changes in the temperature of the air over the past few days.

Feeling worried about him, I immediately rushed to his room to see him—.

Liam: Wow, thanks for coming to see me, Kate. But I’m feeling perfectly fine. Look!

Instead of resting in bed, Liam turned one round on the spot to show me that he wasn't feeling ill.

Kate: Is… that so? Glad you're feeling well…

Liam: I was only feeling a little under the weather, and everyone got so worried already. I’m actually thinking of going outside for a walk right now.

Liam: Shall we go together, Kate?

Liam took my hand, his behaviour no different than usual.

(Huh…?)

Kate: Liam, please stop pretending to be well.

Liam: Stop pretending to be… but I’m really fine?

Kate: … Your hand is burning hot.

However amazing Liam’s acting skills were, it was impossible to fake his body temperature. Feeling his hot hand made me worry even more.

Liam: That’s because… I was just doing some stretches earlier, so my body’s all warmed up now.

Kate: But…

Liam: If you don't feel like going for a walk… shall we do something even better?

Liam took my hand and led me to the bed before pushing me down onto it.

Kate: Liam… hey…

Liam: Mm… no?

Liam wasted no time in removing my clothes and dropped light kisses on my check and neck like a playful kitten.

Kate: It’s still morning, and don’t you have a cold… ahh

A high pitched noise escaped me when his teeth touched my nipple.

Liam: I’m telling you that I didn't catch a cold…

Liam: If it’s bothering you that it’s bright outside, I won’t go all the way… okay?

Evading my question, Liam dropped hot kisses all over my body.

My neck, chest, and abdomen — red marks were left on places only my lover had access to.

But I knew that he was only trying to distract me with his actions.

(... I can’t just leave him be right now.)

Pushing aside my desire for more kisses of affection from my lover, I met Liam’s eyes directly.

Kate: You always give me lots of kisses… aren't you going to kiss me on the lips today?

Liam: … Uh…

Kate: You know that you have a cold, don't you…?

Liam: That’s…, ….

Liam avoided my gaze and was at a loss for words.

I could kind of understand why he was trying hard to pretend that he was fine, despite having caught a cold.

And I knew that probing him further for an explanation wouldn’t solve anything.

(What Liam needs to hear now is—)

Kate: … I love all versions of you, Liam.

Liam: Huh…

My words sounded out of context at first, but Liam looked up at me like he figured out my intention.

Kate: Liam the stage actor, Liam the member of Crown, Liam who’s weak… I love all of them.

Kate: Nothing that happens can ever make me dislike you.

Kate: … Can you trust me?

Liam: …

Liam: I want to trust you… . … I trust you.

Liam: I’m sorry for lying…

Liam finally admitted that he was lying, he revealed what happened a little at a time.

Liam: I feel like I’m inferior to other people, like I’m a good-for-nothing…

Liam: I thought that if I caught a cold and it led to a gap in my work, I would be cast aside and I would lose my place…

Liam: I didn't want you to dislike me. I want to always be the person who makes you happy…

Liam: … That’s why I pretended to be fine.

Liam: And yet you saw right through my act and got worried about me… I’m so pathetic.

Kate: … You’re not pathetic.

Kate: This Liam is the one who’s been there for me ever since I started working as a fairytale writer, because that’s who he is.

Kate: I love you even when you hate yourself. Yes, I will get worried about you, but… don’t hide from me.

— Through my words and actions, I wanted to let him know over and over again just how much I loved him.

I wanted Liam to know that I was more than willing to embrace his weaknesses.

So that Liam’s dangerously imbalanced heart would always come back to me, no matter how close it was to breaking.

Liam: I… I love you too, Kate.

Liam muttered as if digesting the love he received, and he put his lips on mine like he were patching up his broken heart.

Kate: Liam… nngh…

Liam: Nn…

The repeated gentle pecking kisses filled me with much more warmth and affection than the kisses placed on my body earlier.

Liam: … Sorry… I wanted to hold back so I wouldn't pass the cold to you, but I ended up doing this anyway.

Kate: … I want this too, so we’re even.

Kate: If I catch a cold because of this, will you take care of me?

Liam: Of course! I don't want anyone else touching you… *cough*

Perhaps because he strained himself too hard, Liam started coughing.

Kate: A-Are you okay!?

Liam: I feel exhausted and sick…

Kate: Lay down on the bed, I’ll lend you my shoulder for support.

Liam: Okay…

With me supporting him, Liam finally laid down to rest in bed.

Liam: I’m sorry to trouble you, Kate…

Kate: You don't have to apologise. I’ll stay by your side until you’re all better, so you can focus on resting well.

Liam: Really? I’m glad…

Liam nuzzled his cheek in my palm affectionately.

(As much as I feel sorry for him… I find Liam’s vulnerable side adorable.)

My love for him only grew stronger as I witnessed a side of him only I could see.

…

After eating, taking his medication, and resting well, Liam’s fever significantly subsided.

(I think this is a good time to give it to him…)

Kate: Liam, here.

I gave him something I received from Tom, the Director of The Scala. I had been waiting for a suitable time to do so.

Liam: This is…?

Kate: This is the script for your next play. Tom told me to pass it to you, so that you can read it through during your break if you have the time.

Kate: Everyone at the theatre said that they’re waiting for you to recover soon and return to the stage.

Liam: I see…

Liam held the script close to his heart like a precious treasure.

(I hope he spends the time resting his body, instead of reading the script…)

(But I think he’ll feel much more at ease knowing he still has a place to go back to.)

Liam’s relieved expression proved me right.

(While I want to be there as Liam’s support pillar whenever he needs me… I also want him to know that there are other people who also need him besides myself.)

Liam: … Thank you for everything, Kate.

Liam: I felt so anxious when I first caught the cold… but I’m glad you were there for me throughout.

Liam’s smile showed that he felt truly at ease.

And I wanted to continue staying by his side and protecting him like this from now on.

[bookishblogging]

THE ILIAD: FOR DUMMIES ☀️ MASTERPOST

just kidding you're not a dummy, you're some hot stuff right there! i will be going through the entire iliad and giving you a general overview, some interesting plot points, additional context, and some other analysis tools to better help you understand the epic!

This post will serve as a table of contents (at the end) to my Iliad posts and a general overview that I will be constantly updating! I am using the Richmond Lattimore translation of the Iliad, alongside my companion book by Malcom M. Wilcock

Before we get into analyzing the actual Iliad, we need to get into some essential questions and context about the book

WHAT IS THE ILIAD:

The Iliad was written by Homer (this is actually debated but we can get into that later) around 750 and 550 B.C.E.

At its core, the story is about heros and humans. It's an Iron Age poem about an event, the Trojan War, that was supposed to have taken place in the Bronze age. The Iliad is considered to be a poem comprised of multiple books, 24 to be exact

This story is only a few days of the tenth and final year of the Greek siege against the city of Troy- this means it relies on the audience already knowing most of the basic details about the Trojan war and the gods themselves (don't sorry, I will provide this for you as we go along)

WHO IS HOMER:

The age old question: who the fuck is Homer?

Literally nothing is known about this dude except that he wrote (or was credited with writing) the Odyssey and the Iliad

People have referenced his writings for EONS. Archilochus, Alcman, Tyrtaeus, Callinus, and even Sappho have referenced the poems of Homer in their own works. These also were popular in fine art in the late 7th century B.C.E.

There is a general consensus that Homer was from Ionia- a territory in western Anatolia or modern day Turkey that was populated by Greeks who spoke the Ionian dialect, aka the birthplace of Greek philosophy. Want more info on Ionia? Click Here!

His descendants were called the Homerids/Homeridae

There is scholarly debate on if he even wrote both the Iliad and the Odyssey, or if he only wrote one, etc etc etc. This is due to some very specific differences in the structure of the words used (like the use of short vowels, and the seemingly unimportant semivowel of the digamma being missing from the epics...yeah it's a lot)

The poems were reproduced ORALLY. This means that the poems were passed down by word of mouth, which if I were to sit and listen to this entire book via a guy singing at me...idk man I think I would leave

All of this to say, we really don't know who Homer is. There's a lot more information about what he could have looked like, if he really did write the Iliad, and a million other things, but I've already talked your ear off and we haven't even gotten into the book yet. If you want more information about Homer, check out my sources at the end of the post!

WAS THE CITY OF TROY REAL:

Yeah. There were nine layers exposed at the site of where Troy was expected to be, and nearly fifty sublayers at the mound of Hisarlik

Troy was a vassal state: meaning it had an obligation to a superior state, which happened to be the Hittite Empire

Troy had a lot more allies than original fighters in the city, meaning they had many language barriers- making the army harder to control than the unified Greek enemy.

THE STYLE OF THE ILIAD:

Cause - Effect - Solution

The poem is concluded with a mirror image of its beginning: an old man ventures to the camp of his enemy in order to ransom his child

The poem foreshadows the death of Achilles in MULTIPLE passages! He knows he is destined to die young if he fights at Troy, and the demise of his lover (don't fight me on this) Patroclus gives us an even more extended foreshadowing of the grief that is to come

When Achilles dies, Thetis (his mom) takes his body from the pyre and takes him to a place called the White Island. It's not clear whether he is immortalized BUT the reference to Achilles funeral in the Odyssey states that Achilles is cremated and his bones are placed in a golden urn along those of Patroclus, and the urn is entombed under a prominent mound (tsoa fans...you're welcome)

This isn't really necessary knowledge but moreso something I think is cool: the backstory from the Iliad of an abducted bride also appears in the Sanskirt epic Ramayana (circa 4th century B.C.E.)

okay now here is the ACTUAL important stuff

Humanity is the center of the universe in the Iliad. Humans motivations and concerns generate action in the poem, while the gods are often reduced to the role of enablers or spectators

The style of the poem collaborates with the vision that the speciousness of this epic means that every thought and gesture, spear cast and threat, intimate conversation and lament CAN be recorded. It gives a consciousness behind the demands of the iliad that these interactions MUST be recorded, this attention to detail is another way of showing centrality and the worth of the human experience (Greek OR Trojan)

The Iliad is ultimately a poem about death, the chief elements that distinguish the mortals from gods are: Death shadows every action, and death is neither abhorred nor celebrated. Instead it crystalizes by means of this one theme, death in battle, the essence of what it means to be human (Life is a struggle each person will always lose, the question is how one acts with that knowledge)

Modern readers and analysis blogs will state that one's inner spirit is somehow the "real" self, however the Iliad assumes the opposite: The psykhai (soul, spirits) of dying heroes fly off to Hades while their autous ("selves") are left behind in the form of dead bodies

Glory is INCREDIBLY important in the iliad, why? If mortals could live forever (like gods) then glory would be useless. It's a commodity to be exchanged, and because of this it has an economic and symbolic reality

Companionship is incredibly important

Pity is also very important, it's the concluding note of the poem. Even the gods feel pity

THE GODS AND THE ILIAD:

The Iliad gains depth by the divine dimension shedding glory on the humans at Troy. The gods are so intensely concerned with warriors and their fates which elevates the mortals to a special plane

Mortals are only separated from gods because they grow old and die

The symbiotic bond of gods and mortals is always see-sawing between adoration and antagonism

Humans who get too close to the gods risk being struck down, case in point, Achilles. He's young, well-made, he's a warrior but also a singer/musician (the only hero to be seen doing such a thing), he looks and acts like Apollo. THEREFORE...it's no coincidence that Apollo is ultimately the god who slays Achilles, just as he did Patroclus

Poetry supplemented or even guided ancient Greek religious interpretation much more than the activity of priests due to the lack of any official religious text. This gave ancient Hellenism a very fluid nature

This was a long post, and it's only the first of many! I will continuously update this with more sources about the Iliad and answer any FAQs that come up! I love classic literature, and as a STEM student I need to entertain my passion somehow lol. There is a table of contents at the top of the post, as well as right here. This will be updated for each book of the Iliad I write about, as well as any supplemental posts I make about certain topics and themes as I go along. I am putting a LOT of work into this series of posts, so let me know your thoughts or anything you'd like me to change/add/etc! Happy reading!

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

(This is empty because this is the only post...more posts coming soon)

Sources/Citations/Additional Material

Homer- Britannica

Homerids- Britannica

Who Is Homer- The British Museum (fuck the British Museum)

Ionia Information- World Encyclopedia

The Hittites- Britannica

Ramayana Overview- British Library

Overview of Greek Mythology- Theoi

The Iliad- Overview via Britannica

Thetis- World Encyclopedia