#cauldron asks

[comingoutofthecauldron]

hows it going how are the notificatioms

yeah rly enjoying it

[suntails]

🦦⚔️

this is a piece from my silver artbook, currently accepting preorders!! u can get a copy here!

non-UK: suntails.bigcartel.com

UK: etsy.com/shop/SuntailsArt

[princess-ibri]

New headcanon idea, what if Veil, the demon priestess overseer over Frollo, was actually either the sister or daughter of either Lord Dickon from Feathertop, or Orcus, the father of Maleficent?

Oooh! She might not be a relation exactly, but she definitely could work for them! Most likely Dickon as I feel like despite his lust for Esmerelda Frollo's greatest sin was Pride. Here’s my idea I’ve had for the Demon Court

Chernabog, Vor and Voland are the Evil Royal Family basically

Then the Demon Court consists of :

Lord Dickon -Pride

Zhan Tiri- Envy

Arawn- Wrath

Koschei- Lust

Orcus -Greed

Coppelius/The Coachman-Gluttony

Mara-Sloth

Of course a few of these get bumped off over the years, and each time Rumplstilstkin tries to get into an open seat. He’s incredibly upset that he as the grandson of Chernabog isn’t awarded the honor of a demon lord.

[hcnnibal]

my beloved a2 is the kinkier one but like...what does he like specifically?

its.. its not kosher

[v1p0]

Ok FINE since everyone has been dropping their amazing irkensonas and cool ocs I'm gonna share mine as well, ehem...

BE AMAZED!!!

This is my sona, an irken without antennae, and this is her tragic backstory:

[cpericardium]

How would you rank the members of Cauldron in terms of hypothetical parenting skills?

there is a fic about this very thing if you would like to see

I considered just copy pasting "distant and emotionally neglectful" for all of them but,

Doctor Mother: She raised Fortuna all right didn't she. Didn't she

Alexandria: Places high expectations on the kid and they definitely feel it. Also overengineers many trials by fire to fuel the kid's personal growth, but other people (e.g. faculty, bosses, daycare employees) are not allowed to administer those trials unless given explicit instructions

Eidolon: Somewhat protective and not bad in the beginning, gets increasingly insecure about his parenting skills over time and buries himself in hero work. Child most likely drinks a vial to get attention and becomes his arch nemesis

Contessa: She tries her best -> child eats ice-cream for dinner -> police can't find enough evidence to make the charges stick -> the case goes cold -> she tries her best ->

Number Man: Reads parenting books in secret and attempts to follow them to the letter. Gets flummoxed and disgruntled when the child doesn't behave in exactly the way they're supposed to. Starts reading classified cia manuals on enhanced interrogation techniques instead

Custodian: Enjoy your surveillance state kiddo

Slug: Most likely to raise a child who isn't damaged by their childhood

William Manton: We saw how this turned out

I just realised I didn't even rank them. From best parent to worst

Slug

Custodian

Number Man

William Manton

Eidolon

Doctor Mother

Contessa

Alexandria

[akanemnon]

What does Ralsei do when Susie and Kris aren't in the Dark World?

This poor boy has no life

[crunchchute]

When you draw Dave it looks so much like the comic but manages to avoid any uncanniness 👍

well, i can certainly do whatever the hell this is:

but obviously i wanted to put some of my own ingredients into the design like people do, however thats more specifically for william, i made a "reference sheet" for him how i wanted to draw him initially

but when it comes to Dave, i like to mix it up and go for something in the middle i guess? like taking my Will design and Dave and put them in a blender and whatever comes out of it is what you see

but obviously im taking full inspo from pinky, and all controversies aside, i do like her artstyle and i think the comic has just been drawn in more rush? no idea, but her personal work seems more polished atm. and yeah the comic panels do look quite uncanny but i think the design is a great one, and somehow it just stuck in my brain as The William design, not even the movie one took the spot (even reading parts of the novelization, i just see Dave in that Williams spot)

also gotta add, i prefer my Will at least a little bit "ugly" unstead just conventionally hot. (well he is hot to me like this lol) so i will still try to implement the goofy comic style as i go aaand i do love drawing in a cartoony style, it just looks weird if i do shading and painting so. yippee inconsistency!!

ALSO have to mention gorillaz. i wonder if it shows but Jamie's artstyle is a huge inspo to me so, my Will is like, Dave if he was gorillaz or something. uncanny Murdoc 🤝 uncanny William. and i make them more pleasant looking. i think

[heyitschartic]

Who is your favourite Cauldron character?

It is, has been, and always will be Contessa. Hell, I got so mad at the way things ended for her in Ward that I wrote a whole story about her getting a happy ending.

It's a lot of things really. She's a woman in a suit whose first appearance is taking out a team of mercenaries without batting an eye. She's just incredibly hot and cool and I always appreciate that. Especially since for most of Worm she's just this threat lurking in the background. Like so many minor characters in Worm, she just shines once she gets her interlude.

I think it's interesting the comparison between her and Taylor in the last chapter. Two women who gave up so much to stop Scion, both with completely different views on it. That last conversation between Contessa and Taylor manages to make me cry half the time. Contessa hoping to get something from Taylor, some understanding, some insight into herself. And she sends Taylor away to go live a normal life because similarly she hopes she can be redeemed now that everything is over.

I think what really gets me is this. A nine year old girl saw her entire village mutated and killed. She witnessed the horrible vision of what the entities were planning. She saw the cycle, their power, the Endbringers, everything. And she decided she would give up everything she'd ever known, any future available to her, to make sure that didn't happen.

She's a really compelling character and it's a shame so much of the fandom reduces her to just her powers. The person underneath is vastly more interesting.

[eyedoeluhn]

are you a cauldron stan. tell me quickly

I don’t know what a “cauldron” or a “fedora” is

[comingoutofthecauldron]

Holy shit, love at first sight by the brobecks? You've got taste.

Do you listen to anything else by them? Or idkhow?

their album violent things RAISED me !!!!! my faves are probably love at first sight, if you like it or not, and the nerve :) i only had the one CD though growing up so i don’t know their other stuff that well lol

i don’t tend to go out of my way to listen to idkhow but i have always loved absinthe it just wakes me tf up you know

[mischeva]

Bounty Boyfriends yippie! They’re the first redesigns/reimaginings of characters I’m cooking up for a personal au that I will share…. eventually. Anyways they’re partners in every sense of the word cuz I said so tehe

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

hey mac if cauldron's making half the capes and cauldron's the protectorate and cauldron's saving the world then who's watching foxy?

hate that I read this in his voice. btw. bitch IM watching foxy

[shsl-heck]

Worm fans are really bad at making the connection between "Cauldron is really ruthless" and "Cauldron regards all parahumans as numbers on a spreadsheet at best, livestock at worst". The mentality is that Cauldron is only ruthless when they choose the Renegade option in a specific situation. The idea that their ruthlessness is systemic doesn't register

I guess that explanation makes some sense, but also, its so central to the story's themes that Cauldron isn't just mean or something, but in fact systematic and unrelentingly ruthless in their pursuit of any chance to save humanity. The way Cauldron mirrors how the entities operate, the fact that they control the PRT/Protectorate, Doc Mom genuinely not remembering who Sveta is, etc. There's a lot there, and it all impacts the narrative!

I could even kind of see how someone would miss that if they were caught up in the personal tragedy of Doc Mom and Contessa... except Worm fans are also really bad at realizing that Cauldron is run by two or three people who gave up their entire lives at very young ages and are now desperately throwing things at the wall hoping just one of them will stick so that this won't all have been for nothing.

They're somehow simultaneously overestimating and underestimating the inhumanity of cauldron, and I think it has a lot to do with the whole "one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic", and "banality of evil" thing. Seeing Contessa curbstomp the found family that is Faultline's crew feels horrific because of how visceral and small scale it is. Meanwhile, even if we intellectually know that Cauldron is treating human lives as abstract numbers like currency, it doesn't stick in some people's brains the same way. Or at least that's my best guess.

The real take away of this though is that Worm fans are bad at book.

[starry-nights12]

I am a greedy soul, and I want to ask them all. But for now, rolling a d8, I ask: I Need A Doctor!

I Need a Doctor! (WIP Ask Game!)

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.

Ekko's arm was slung over Jinx's shoulder as he trudged to the infirmary.

"That dumbass, fucking little bitch! I'll decapitate her and crush her damn skull!" Jinx spat as she carefully set him on the bed.

"It's a cut but it still stings. At least she didn't gut me like she intended to."

"She should have never touched you in the first place."  Jinx groused. "Let me see, "she gingerly took off his jacket for him. Ekko removed his hand his side and winced.

Jinx hasn't been squeamish after Silco adopted her. Blood and murder have been the norm for her growing up with him.

Her monkey mask had blood running down her eyes and on her fangs to standout from the other firelight members.

He didn't know it yet but she liked-liked him. He was precious to her and saw him as an angel.

So, the sight of Ekko's blood had made her queasy.

Her friend had gotten hurt and Sevika would have killed him if he wasn't fast enough to dodge her attack.

"I'm either going to slit, that ogre's throat or blow her brains out. Either way, she'll be dead!"

Jinx rant managed to make Ekko smile at her.

Life was funny, wasn't it?

He planned on killing both of Silco's goons, he pummeled Jinx's face and nearly succeded in killing her-only for to get enraged that Sevika harmed him.

"Just you? Taking down an enemy is a team effort." He said wryly. "But no one else got hurt. So, I'm glad it was me."

"No. It shouldn't have," she scolded. "I should have protected you. It should have been me," she peeled his stained, white tank top from his head. "There's a big difference between us."

Ekko frowned and furrowed his brows. "What's that?"

"I'm not afraid of death." Jinx's unblinking gaze showed how serious she was with her statement.

[bookofmirth]

Hello! I was wondering if you could clarify something for me about acotar mating bonds. Azriel mentions in the bonus chapter that the cauldron could be wrong, and he could actually be Elain’s mate. I’m confused why he’s connecting mating bonds to the cauldron, when the cauldron has never been implied to have created mating bonds before? Rhys had dreams of Feyre when she was a human even if the mating bond only clicked into place for him after she became fae. I interpreted this is meaning that Feyre and Rhys were always mates, the bond just didn’t click into place until she was Made, but the bond itself has nothing to do with the actual cauldron. With Elain and Lucien, I also thought it was obvious that the bond clicks into place right after she is Made not because of the cauldron creating the bond, but because it’s the first time they’re meeting face to face or because she’s now fae. Is there something I’m missing about the link between the cauldron and mating bonds? It has been a few years since i last read the original trilogy

Hello friend! I was actually just writing something about this in the last ask I was answering and held off, but here goes!

Azriel saying "what if the Cauldron is wrong" is him speaking out of desperation. Whether you think he's desperate for Elain or for a mate in general is neither here not there - he's clearly emotional and lonely.

Here is what Rhys says in acowar, when he and Feyre are having a discussion about where bonds come from:

“What decides it? Who decides it?” Rhys straightened his lapels before plucking an invisible piece of lint from them. “Fate, the Mother, the Cauldron’s swirling eddies …”

Rhys, the most powerful High Lord in history and often our source of knowledge about the world, doesn't know where mating bonds come from. And this was an actual conversation about where the mating bond comes from, not an offhand comment from someone who is sad and upset.

So why would we take Azriel's words, when in context they are not even having a discussion of how the world works, over the words of Rhys, when he is trying to discuss what he understands about his world and the mating bond with his mate, discussing Elain's mating bond?

Honestly, we've been having this argument for ages. You're right, mates are mates from birth, not after they are Made.

Rhys dreams about Feyre before she even crossed the wall.

Cassian was drawn to Nesta even when she was a human.

Lucien tried to help Elain before she was Made by the Cauldron. He literally broke a spell trying to go to her.

And one reason people think Ruhn and Lidia are mates is because they were able to find one another psychically before they even met in person.

There are probably other examples of this, that's just off the top of my head. Anyone can feel free to add on!

One more point that I mentioned in the last ask, and it wasn't mine but I can't remember who said this initially - the Cauldron made the acotar world, yeah? If the Cauldron makes mating bonds, then there likely wouldn't be mating bonds in Erilea or Midgard because the Cauldron is in the acotar world. It's something bigger, more far-reaching, that creates mating bonds.

But let's be real - sjm is what makes mating bonds. She decides "hey this couple is going to be endgame" and then it just works, magically, which is probably why Rhys didn't have a real reason to explain them. And we have to have the contrast of mating bonds that are incompatible to highlight the fact that, despite fate, people do have a choice in her stories.

The fact that people can say "no", is what makes the "yes" meaningful.

I don't expect this argument to go anywhere any time soon, unfortunately. But I can tell you that hofas only reinforces the fact that sjm loves mating bonds, that once she mates a couple they are endgame, and people are just going to be in denial for however long they feel like. I'm not going to tag that as a spoiler because hofas was basically just sjm doing the same things she's always done, no surprises in terms of the big things she likes to write in romantic relationships.