#ciri watches

[ciriwrites]

i’m late to the love like the galaxy train, but while watching episode 53 the scene with niaoniao’s parents talking to zisheng about the pain and injustice he gave to their daughter really struck me. they bring a decidedly parental perspective of love, marriage, and how that affects more than just the people directly involved: but more than anything it reminded me of how there was no one to do that for zisheng. much of the drama is about how he’s the last surviving huo but it doesn’t really linger on about what that means: unlike niaoniao, he has no family, has no friends, and has no friends via virtue of his family. he alienates himself from the ling family (for good reason!) but is also alienated from their allies in turn; the imperial family are his allies/friends/close ones but only within reason where they are both restricted by their positions and let’s be real the imperial family is not where you go for uncomplicated family matters anyways but in any case is not the type of family where you could expect them to do half of what niaoniao’s family does for her in the later parts of the drama, and he has his black armor guard but truthfully speaking those are clearly his subordinates even if he gets along with them and cares for them deeply.

contrast that with how much and how deeply niaoniao is connected with the world around her: just take qiqi, the daughter of her father’s brother-in-law (see: another friendly connection that derives from her having family!), who also turns out to be her sister-in-law via her marriage with her brother, or even her extended family (third aunt and third uncle, looking over them in hua country). yuan shen meets her through his master’s connection to her third aunt, and he ultimately even becomes her brothers’ teacher (and the girls’ too, but the ad was originally for the boys etc etc). there’s a whole arc about mothers and how her majesty empress xuan makes her mom feel envious about her place in niaoniao’s heart, empress xuan talks about how she wants niaoniao as her biological daughter, and even in the lou family she was ready to receive and be received by (at least part of) a family.

this really drove in one of the central repeating themes that the drama really centers around IMO: niaoniao suffers from not receiving enough love in her childhood, abandonment and neglect, but zisheng’s problems all stem from him having too much love — the huo clan who loved him, took care of him (his aunt), and depended on him to get their revenge for him and even niaoniao who he didn’t plan on falling in love with and couldn’t fathom a future with at what he thought was the end. (obviously this isn’t to say that niaoniao is a problem, but rather that he had problems centered around loving her LOL.) he talks to her about it in one of the earlier episodes and tells her how the chengs are his only family left in the world including her, but in the absence of that connection it really strikes you how he is so completely and utterly alone.

[maddie-w-draws]

my piece for @ witcher-fanzine

[tiffanyachings]

hey remember tim aslam’s costume design for the witcher s1? remember how he incorporated parts of calanthe’s armour into her court attire? that was some next level costuming

[evakant]

just saw some witcher gifs from the new trailer and i'm sorry but they all look so bad who's on hair/make-up/wardrobe

[essskel]

Francesca Findabair and her eternal symbology. Man. To Nilfgaard she’s the symbol of Elven alliance, to the Lodge she’s Dol Blathnna’s complacency and the encyclopedia of Ciri’s bloodline, to the elder races she’s the image of bourgeois betrayal of the oppressed common people, to the Elven aristocracy she’s a call to power, to her father she’s the failure of the liberal youth, to the scoiatael she’s proof of Nilfgaard’s final betrayal, she’s a metaphor for everything but she’s unable to act!!!! Even within the narrative she’s a means to deliver exposition and prompt emotion in other characters!!!!! She’s known for her beauty she lives behind a window she exists to be stared at and contemplated she’s nothing she’s everything!!!!!!!!!!!

[artistsfuneral]

😁 Looks better in person, but I'm too lazy to find the perfect lighting for taking a picture.

@spielzeugkaiser thank you, friend 😊

(here would be a cut if I wasn't posting this from my phone)

[hannahwatchesbigbrother]

This has been a worse than average endgame (to say the least), but I want to acknowledge the highlights of bb25. I’ve been watching since bb16 (been a feedster since bb17), and this has truly been the most invested I’ve been. Despite how frustrated I’ve been with production this year, I really think this season has some really stellar stuff in it (especially pre-jury). So here is a (lengthy) list of how I’ll remember this season:

Cirie motherfucking Fields showing up!!

Izzy immediately clocking that Jared was Cirie’s son before the live premiere even ended

Izzy immediately clocking that Cameron gives serial killer vibes

Felicia destroying four mics by the end of the first week

Felicia falling into the hot tub

“Clean that shit up a bit”

Cameron thinking Felicia was related to Denzel Washington

“Izzy Fields” and the beautiful friendship between her and Cirie

Hisam’s villain arc

Cory in Blue’s pink outfit (and later Americas jumpsuit)

(Honestly just Cory being a genuinely good dude who would call out things that crossed a line and fought against toxic masculinity)

The target flipping every other hour for like the first six weeks of the game

Every time Zach Wurtenburger tweeted about BB

The nickname “fucking Bowie Jane” which was then just shortened to fbj

The still of Cory’s mouth wide open while he was saying “what the fuck” when they were thinking of keeping Hisam

Meme’s storage room rants

“If I’m a have not next week, I’ll self-evict” “I’ll be a have not with you” *america leaves* “(to self) Cory, are you the most pathetic person? They were right about you — you’re a pick me”

Felicia yelling at Jag while he was in a chicken suit

Felicia and “Mr. B” (smooches!)

The slow burn Americory showmance (I could write a thesis on how much I love it but I’ll spare you)

The fact they brought the pressure cooker back

Izzy crying about how much she hates being in the same room as Cameron

“Fuck jag and I said that shit” -America Week 4, a prophet

When Matt used the power on jag and even live feeders were shook because we had no idea

The fact that Cameron’s 14 hours in the pressure cooker didn’t matter because jag was just brought back into the game

Blue sucking up to Felicia bc she thought she was Jared’s mom for a solid 24 hours

Felicia’s sleep screaming/singing

The dramatic and out of no where red/Cameron break up

“Cam thinks he’s like a father to me, but really he’s like an absentee father who wants to sleep with my girlfriend”

Blue volunteering jag to go up as a “pawn” during Jared’s hoh

Cam winning hoh after being blindsided by the red vote (hate him but the absolute silence and his thumbs up is so funny)

“Okay Jasmine” “*crying* who’s jasmine?” “*singing* a whole new world”

Cam not telling anyone including production who he was putting up

Matt winning the prize swap veto but choosing the punishment bc he thought he’d get to hang out with the real Josh Duhamel

The Josh Duhamel punishment in general

Izzy’s kick jump during the piggy pals punishment

Jared destroying his game because Cirie was stuck in a kayak with Felicia for 48 hours

THE IZZY FLIP

(The fact the izzy flip happened bc she told Cory that he couldn’t sleep in the same bed as America anymore lol)

The Cory/Jared humiliverse fight

“To all my friends and family, trust I know that they are all liars and snakes… and cowards!”

“See you soon, pig!”

The Cirie/Felicia fight post-Jared’s eviction

Peak Unreliables when Jag fought for Cory’s LIFE against cams plan to backdoor him

People retweeting Meme’s tweets from over ten years ago that were weirdly relevant to the season

America lifting Cory after it was confirmed that they made jury

The musical that Cory got for his zing

The one time all the different stans came together was to celebrate Cams eviction

The “exquisite” bit

America causing Jag to want to shit his pants after telling him to “literally fuck off”

“Literally in this world, I am your biggest fan” 😭😭😭

Felicia being Cirie’s best friend and worst enemy (aka when she shaved her foot on her bed)

Americory saying “I love you” on Cory’s way out the door

Americas shrine to Cory/transforming into him

Cirie’s DR of her flipping off Jag, Matt, and Bowie

Izzy/Paige going as Americory for Halloween

The Americory “cradle robber” Halloween costume

“I’d be more impressed if [the wins] weren’t against two senior citizens, an airhead, and an idiot”

[burningblake]

"After all this time you did it"

"did what?"

"became a mother"

[spielzeugkaiser]

[MASTERPOST]

Eskel tries to be calm about it all, besides his initial reaction, but it's hard. (I think he does cry in private, which is something he very rarely does.) That being said, and all the worries aside, I think he's also the first one to go "...huh" about them. Something might be up, but he isn't sure.

[tragicotps]

The lord of the rings (2001) vs The witcher season 3 trailer (2023)

[dancingwiththefae]

modern au jaskier and ciri learning kpop dances together that’s it that’s the post

[ciriwrites]

i went and watched my liberation notes a moment behind everyone else, and freshly finished with it i have to say that i enjoyed it quite a lot and recommend it. for a show so heavily set in summer during the majority of episodes, it really felt like a colder-month show; autumnal, maybe, heavily suspended in a wintertime filter. maybe to me it was what mi-jeong said to her coworker friend: a memory of summer to hold onto during the winter.

i will say that though mr. gu colored every section of my dash for a good while during and after the show’s airing and though i do have very many colorful and passionate feelings about this particular iteration of son suk-ku, the real revelations in this show to me were the yeom siblings, especially mi-jeong through kim jiwon. though i couldn’t in good conscience claim to like them all the time, i did emerge loving them thoroughly and wholly: and, yes, they were wholeheartedly lovable. 

[whoblewboobear]

I think my main problem with Blue is that like… her hatred towards people that only wanted to help with her is so misplaced more often than not. Like the way she goes in the DR to roast someone, shit talking them in the house, and then her scathing goodbye messages would be a serve if she was really about it. But she NEVER is. Or if she stopped ratting on the people that are telling her the truth? Like she probably would’ve been in so good with Jag and Matt rn if she didn’t run everything Jag said back to Jared (who didn’t even respect her in game, let alone as a person) If she didn’t win veto she was toast. So Blue getting comfortable now and burning her bridge with America who’s TELLING HER THE TRUTH about Jatt is wild. She’s pretty much an island in a house full of duos and the only options she has left are America or Bowie for a final 2 deal. Maybe Cirie if she cuts Felicia again.

She’s not loyal to anyone which is fine, but she’s tanking her social game and burning any jury votes she could’ve had by shit talking so much with people that aren’t loyal enough to keep it between them. She doesn’t have Cam, Cory, or America at this point. Idk where Fe, Cirie, Bowie, Jag, or Matt lie with her but I feel like whoever she sits next to in the end would have their votes before her.

Sure that veto came in clutch for her this week, but she’d have to comp out to even get to final 2 at this point because no one is willing to carry her there when FBJ is THEE best person to drag to the end imo.

Also I’m so fucking sick of the blaccent and the TikTok-isms. Like I’ll never stop yelling about 🔪

[phalpz]

“I can’t wait for y’all to meet my boys. Y’all going to be like ‘what well-mannered, respectful young men.’”

-Cirie, to Matt and Felicia

…

WELL-MANNERED?? RESPECTFUL?? ma’am we’ve met one of them and he didn’t believe women were people for 25 years

[finleycannotdraw]

ITS THEM,,,,

THE KAER MORONS,,,

show designs bc I have not played the games or read the books (yet)

eskel is there because fuck you canon

[thewingedwolf]

i’ve been back and forth on cirie’s game play (it’s messier than expected but everyone has said that lol, and it tickles me that someone so well known for excellent game play is like, suuuuuper chaotic lmao) but i think one thing she does well is use her innate feelings of compassion to build bonds. she knows she’s a softie who can’t stand to see other people crying but instead of letting her emotions cloud her judgement she uses her feelings to build a bridge with america. i think that’s why she was so close with izzy, izzy wears her heart on her sleeve and cries allll the time and it drew cirie to her. it’s why she managed to fade into the background in a way fe couldnt - cirie spent a week letting people just talk and used the way her natural adoration for other people and their stories re-insulated her against being put up.

i think that’s a mark of a good player more than anything, is not to be an emotionless robot but to acknowledge you have certain feelings & weaknesses and then use your own emotions to help yourself out.