#considering she has NO support system for this particular argument

[sailormoonandme]

Mamoru is NOT useless in the Anime

Yes, yes, the memes are funny and all, but this is simply objectively not true and I'm rather exhausted of folks critiquing the character/the anime as though it were.

I will hopefully kill his BS once and for all.

"He just throws a rose and leaves!"

For those who have actually watched the anime (or even just the very first episode) to describe Tuxedo Mask as 'useless' is reductionist to the point of being outright disingenuous. In particular when this argument is made in such a way as to negatively compare him to his manga counterpart, who is put over as allegedly superior on this point.

The original 1992 Sailor Moon anime had 200 episodes, 3 TV specials*, 2 theatrical shorts and 3 films, with these latter theatrical releases being dubiously canonical to the anime. Mamoru appears in the overwhelming majority of those 208 entires, even accounting for the final 34 episodes where he was dead/functionally absent almost all of the time. Even if we seriously low balled things, the majority of those appearances feature him partaking in the following scenario.

Sailor Moon, often with her fellow Senshi, are fighting the monster of the day (maybe it's a higher ranking villain, or a general threat they are dealing with).

They get into a tight spot where either they or whoever/whatever they are trying to protect is in danger from whatever threat they are combatting.

Then, out of the blue, a rose slices through the air and imbeds itself into the scenery like a dart. Typically, this action saves the lives of Sailor Moon, her friends or whomever they might be protecting.

Tuxedo mask gives a speech and either leaves or else sticks around to see Sailor Moon perform her finishing move that effectively ends whatever threat she was dealing with, often with Tuxedo Mask being the one to prompt her into performing this finshing move.

For the sake of argument lets pretend that the above is literally the sum totality of what Mamoru does in regards to the superheroics of Sailor Moon. How could anyone describe the above as 'useless'?

If his interventions regularly save Sailor Moon's life then that is a zillion miles away from useless. For him to be useless, his actions need to be superfluous, pointless, contribute nothing. Even if he contributed a little bit he would by definition not be useless. And saving the protagonist's life is much more than 'a little bit'. If the protagonist dies then the story is over. Evil has won, the world is doomed.

And this isn't even considering all the ways Mamoru contributes OUTSIDE of the above scenario.

He has, whilst untransformed, stabbed a Lemures with a knife to save Sailor Moon.

He has willingly acted as a magical life support system for Chibi-Usa when her Pure Heart was stolen, an act that maybe anyone else could have performed but it is still a noble thing to do, in particular when it freed up the more powerful characters to go get her heart back.

He personally met up with the Outer Senshi to learn about them on behalf of the other girls, going alone which might have been dangerous, but the episode also gives the impression that he, as the oldest member of the team, was better positioned to get info from the older Outer Senshi who has a demeaning view of the younger Inner Senshi. In this same episode, he tried to convince the Outers to join forces with the Inners, acting as a diplomat.

He went 1-on-1 with Rubeus to defend an injured Sailor Moon who was herself acting as a human shield for Chibi-Usa

He has personally gone on a one man mission to infiltrate the Black Moon Clan's HQ to rescue Sailor Moon from being sexually assaulted by Prince Demande.

Mere episodes later he and Artemis went on a scouting mission to learn more about the Malefic Black Crystal

He formed a double team with Sailor Moon to tackle a tennis themed Youma, an encounter that involved more than a singular rose throw and a speech. One of the multiple times he got more directly involved in fighting the monster of the day

He literally carried Sailor Moon on his back to save her when they were both trapped in an elevator courtesy of Nephrite

He was prepared to willingly reveal his identity and hand both himself and his Rainbow Crystals over to Zoisite in order to save Sailor Moon and her friends

The love he shared with Usagi directly led to the manifestation of the Silver Crystal, to the salvation of Chibi-Usa when she'd been brainwashed into Black Lady & the creation of a new weapon and transformation brooch for Usagi in season 3

As Prince Endymion, he went against his own subjects and risked his life to infiltrate the Moon Palace and warn his beloved Serenity that his home planet was going to invade her home

He took not one, not two, but three impalements to protect Sailor Moon's life

More often than not he has acted as reliable emotional support for Usagi and Chibi-Usa, encouraging them, helping them with homework or just being there for them. i.e. he is an imperfect, but ultimately good husband and father. Which is particularly impressive considering he hadn't yet married his wife nor conceived his child.

There are those who might scoff at the latter. Is emotional support really useful? Well, putting aside how the Sailor Moon universe clearly demonstrates how magical power/energy is directly linked to emotions, this is categorically true in the real world as well. There are no end of testimonies from fire fighters, doctors, people who have serious illnesses, or soldiers that the emotional support of thier loved ones have kept them going and kept them alive. So, this is rather useful for our heroine Usagi who's job is that of a Sailor Soldier.

The Outer Senshi

Furthermore, there is an inherent hypocrisy in the 'Mamoru is useless' narrative because such criticisms are never levelled against other characters whose typical role in the narrative are similar to Mamoru's.

The most popular season of the original anime was season 3 (Sailor Moon S) and one of the biggest reasons for that show's popularity were the fan favourite Outer Senshi: Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Saturn. Let's exclude Saturn as she wasn't active as a Senshi for most of season 3. Uranus and Neptune's role in the first half of season 3 typically amounted to

Attacking the monster of the day, usually to the same end that Mamoru's rose throws did, i.e. a distraction or last minute save

Swiping the Pure Heart of that episode's victim

Checking it over before concluding it wasn't a Talisman

Leaving, or else at least standing by as Sailor Moon administered her finishing move on the monster of the day

Golly...that seems just as 'useless' as Mamoru now doesn't it? In fact, maybe more so considering they weren't even trying to help Sailor Moon in the first place. In fact, during their second appearance, they unintentionally saved the lives of a powerless Usagi, her friends and an innocent civilian to check a Pure Heart, then uncaringly left them all in danger.

You know who then saved them immediately after that? Mamoru!

Later when he too was overwhelmed by the monster he directly contributed to saving the day as his emotional bond with Usagi generated the Spiral Moon Heart Rod, upgrading Sailor Moon and giving her the power to save everyone.

During the third sub-arc of season 3 (where the recurring villain was Mimet of the Witches 5) Sailor Pluto joined the Outer Senshi's ranks and their role in the typical monster of the day plots became yet more minimal. More than once, the trio literally appeared but did nothing, something that had also happened at least once before Pluto joined the team. Examples include (but are not necessarily limited to) episodes 97 (The Labyrinth of Water – Ami Targeted), 116 (Sunny Skies After a Storm – A Friendship Dedicated to Hotaru) and 118 (Battle Inside the Demonic Space – The Sailor Guardians’ Gamble). In some of these instances the Outers deliberately choose to do nothing.

Barring 2 of the specials mentioned above (one of which was a clip show), the Outer Senshi were wholly absent in season 4/Sailor Moon SuperS. In one of those specials, upon learning that a new threat had arisen Uranus and Neptune...choose to continue their road trip and leave the fighting to Usagi and the others...How...useful???????

They, along with Pluto and Saturn get much more involved during the course of the final season/Sailor Stars. Even then, Saturn only appears in the first few episodes and the last few. Pluto only gets involved in the monster of the day schemes once or twice and Uranus and Neptune three or four times, if that. Whilst Mamoru is barely involved at all in this season, he at least has the excuse of being dead for most of it.

So, the fan favourite Outer Senshi got far LESS involved and were LESS useful than Mamoru typically was in the course of the whole show. In fact, even if we exclude the first two seasons where (exempting Pluto) the Outer Senshi hadn't appeared yet, Mamoru overwhelmingly contributed MORE than the Outer Senshi did.**

The Other Senshi

Much the same can be applied to the Sailor Starlights. The Starlights more often than not actually got MORE involved in fighting the monsters of the day during season 5 than the Outer Senshi did in season 3; or at least they were interested in defusing a direct and active threat to innocent lives. But even they literally showed up and did nothing on at least one occasion.

Whilst the Starlights are nowhere close to the Outer Senshi's popularity, they are also never subjected to the 'they are useless' narrative Mamoru frequently is.

Nor in fact are the Inner Senshi of Sailors venus, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury. Now, whilst it's easy to argue due to their superior screentime, the fact that they often initiate combat with the monster of the day and are generally heavily involved in whatever crisis is happening, that they are obviously more useful than Mamoru is.

And you know what, even including the rare occasions they too show up and do nothing else (or do a last minute save like Mamoru is prone to do) this is perfectly true. It is also perfectly true however that the quartet have rarely ever defeated any monster of the day on their own. The overwhelming majority of the time the Inner Senshi act as a distraction to the Monster of the day or else sufficiently lower its HP so that Sailor Moon can actually beat the monster. That might be more useful than Mamoru's typical contributions, but, call me crazy, it seems like Sailor Moon is doing the lion's share of the work there. So, how 'useful' are the Inner Senshi really if we run by the 'Mamoru is useless' narrative?

If Mamoru is useless so are many if not all of the more popular heroic characters in the series.

But...how useless is Mamoru in the anime compared to the Manga?????????

*Well, one special with three segments, but go with me on this.

**They were mostly absent from season 4 whilst he appeared routinely in that season. Meanwhile, in the season he was mostly absent, they rarely helped out.

Obviously, there are real life writing reasons behind that difference, but my point is why is the fandom not treating the Outer Senshi as 'useless' too?

[angel-of-the-moons]

A Rose Under The Moon

Moon Knight System (Marc/Steven/Jake) x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: None mostly. Goldfish slander, some minor injuries resulting from clumsiness, mentions of events from the show. Layla is here! We stan a healthy, happy divorced couple in this house >=\

A/N: There will be multiple chapters like these in this series, mostly dialogue and filler to help facilitate plot.

Taglist: @shirukitsune @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @bad4amficideas

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Chapter 4:

Old, Unhappy, Far-Off Things

"You guys can't keep doing this." Layla said over the phone.

"I know, I know." Marc sighed, running his hands through his hair. He haphazardly sprinkled some fish flakes into the tank to feed the ever chubby goldfish; looking at the glass to see Steven's reflection staring back at him, a frown creasing his features.

(Marc, you're going to make 'em pop!) Steven scolded.

"Well, how am I supposed to know how much to feed three goldfish?" Marc groaned.

"Steven told you the fish were gonna explode, eh?" Layla laughed softly.

"Yeah. Almost exactly that. I swear, I've never met a man who needs an emotional support fish." He replied, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, screwing the lid back onto the tiny container of nasty-smelling flakes.

(How dare you! Gus and his friends are members of this family! You're going to hurt their feelings!) Steven said, absolutely aghast at Marc's summary of how the little aquatic creatures fit into their lives.

(The other two don't even have names yet, hermanito.) Jake finally piped in, coming to co-front to see what all the fuss was about.

"But seriously, Marc. You have to take it easy. Just tell Khonshu to shove off and ignore his bony ass for a few days!" Layla sighed. Though they weren't married or intimate anymore, Layla still cared deeply for "her boys"; even Jake, to a point. Even if she didn't fully trust him, he was a part of Marc and Steven. Part of their system. She knew Jake was the protector. She knew that he was only violent when he absolutely had to be.

Or when Khonshu sent him after fresh targets. She still didn't like that.

"You think I haven't tried that?" Marc flopped onto the sofa, his hand resting over his face as he sighed.

"He's a god, Layla. It's not so easy to just say no."

"Taweret doesn't seem to have a problem with boundaries." She pointed out.

"Because Taweret is a big softie, Layla. She literally mothers you." Marc retorted with a grunt.

"Well… she is the goddess of motherhood. One of them, anyway." Layla conceded.

"And Khonshu is the god of being a tall, harping asshole who refuses to let me rest." Marc leaned back, closing his eyes as the leather on the sofa softly groaned under his weight.

"You think we like working for him, still? We don't. We need the suit, and people need to be kept safe..."

"Have you considered just… giving it all up? Telling Khonshu you're done? Just hang up the cape?" Layla hummed.

Marc could feel Steven and Jake fade into the background of the headspace, leaving him alone to his conversation with Layla, not enjoying the current topic at all. And it would be smarter to prevent a possible argument between Jake and Marc, right now. They had enough headaches.

"I already tried that, remember? Khonshu just used Jake before we knew he was here and had him kill Harrow."

"Right…"

"And besides…" Marc said, conspiratorially. "...I think he already has his sights set on another person to be a Moon Knight. And I don't know who it is, but I know he's going to hold it over my head. Steven, Jake and I would rather be dead than let some poor, innocent person see the shit we have."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Okay… You obviously need a mental health break. Anyplace in particular you can go to get away from everything?"

"Well… there is one place. A little shop Steven found that's nearby." Marc replied.

"Is it a bookstore?" Layla laughed.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Marc chuckled. "Some woman runs it. American, if you can believe that. Apparently the store was her aunt's or something and she inherited it from her when she died. Steven's built a bit of a rapport with her. Me too. Kinda. She also sells stuff like coffee, tea, snacks… kind of like a one-person cafe."

"She runs it alone?"

"Yeah, impressive actually. But, it's not always safe, I saw that the other day." Marc nodeed.

"Oh? What happened?" Layla asked, wholly invested now. They had a friend? She likely didn't know about their DID, but Marc, and by that extension Steven, and possibly Jake having friends was a win in Layla's book.

"Some abusive drunk ran in after his girlfriend. Apparently she hid his girlfriend in her flat upstairs when she came in covered with bruises and freaking out." Marc said, smiling a bit at remembering your tenacity and urge to protect somebody you didn't even know. Even Jake respected you after that. And Jake respects very few people.

But it proves you were a protector, like he was. Not to the same extent, but close.

"Sounds like a good person."

"She seems like one. I just hope she doesn't get herself into trouble with anymore–ah!" Marc hissed, dropping the phone and waving his hand in the air as pain whipped through his fingertips.

"Shit!" He cursed, picking up the phone again with his other hand. He glared at the red marks appearing in his palm.

"Marc? Are you okay? What happened?" Layla asked, her voice just a hair above worried.

"Yeah, just my fucking hands again. Last week it was my shins." He grunted.

"So either you're getting old," Layla teased. "Or a certain someone hurt themselves again."

"Yeah, just wish they'd quit it. It's really inconvenient."

"That's a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"What?" Marc asked, his brow furrowing as he watched the burning red marks blossom on his skin. Pretty, almost, if you were into that sort of messed-up body art.

"Marc, please don't tell me you haven't considered that every time you got hurt, your soulmate felt those pains, too?" Layla deadpanned with a sigh, most likely pinching the bridge of her nose. He could picture it now. She was probably pacing in the kitchen of her flat in Cairo; the sun illuminating her figure, making her curls glow in an amber light, highlighting her jaw as she frowned.

But the thought she triggered in his mind sent a stone dropping into his gullet. Had he really not considered that? He thought that maybe, being Moon Knight would… would dull the pains, or maybe negate them entirely. Or… was he just stupid and didn't put them into consideration?

If they can feel his pain, and he can feel theirs... what about when he…

But sometimes it felt redundant to think about and worry for someone he never met, but at the same time…

"Fuck." Marc hissed, wiping at his face.

"Oh, my gods! You haven't been careful at all have you?" Layla gasped.

"I…"

"Marc! You and the other two need to get it together and take it easy. You think you don't understand things? Imagine how your soulmate feels. They're probably going about their normal daily routines and feel it when you get shot! Oh gods, what about when we were in Egypt and you got impaled?" Layla murmured. "Gods, I almost forgot about… what about when you died? I don't even want to imagine what they felt."

Marc dropped back into the cushions staring blankly at the ceiling. She voiced the very thing he himself was hesitant to mention.

"I… I forgot about that, too." Marc said, his voice almost flat.

"I imagine they must have been confused when their mark reappeared."

"Fuck…" Marc groaned, feeling exhaustion suddenly creep into his body. But then, he jerked, gripping the back of his head. "Damn it!"

"Another pain?" Layla mused.

"God–yeah. Right in the back of my head." Marc grunted.

"Yikes. Your soulmate must not be having a good day." Layla chuckled.

"Whoever they are, they're accident-prone as all hell!" He grumbled, pouting as he rubbed the fresh sore spot.

"Pot callin' kettle, Maaaarc." Layla sang softly over the phone.

"Yeah, yeah. You sound like Steven."

"Good."

"Ugh, please don't say that." Marc said, a smirk cracking his mask of discomfort. "He's already nagging me."

"Okay, okay…" Layla quieted for a moment. "Hey, Marc?"

"Yeah?"

"I might take a trip to London. Maybe if I'm there, Taweret and I can run interference for you to give you a break." Layla suggested.

"Layla… You don't–"

"Already looking at plane tickets." She interrupted.

"Of course you are." Marc smiled. That was one of the things he loved about Layla when they first met. He was drawn to her. Her snark, her determination…

"Yeah. I'll pack a bag and hop the flight that leaves in a few hours."

"Wow, okay." Marc said, his eyes widening. "You're serious about this?"

"Who else is going to babysit you three and get Khonshu off your back if me and the Hippo Mama don't?" Layla jabbed playfully.

"Oh my god, you do not call her that." Marc snorted, shaking his head.

"She thinks it's a cute nickname. And she agrees with my plan, so…"

"Oh great. You two gonna just harp me and remind me to take my vitamins, too?"

"I mean, if we have to…"

"Ugh. You're impossible."

"But that's why everyone loves me!" Layla laughed.

"Sure, sure. And Layla?" Marc asked, looking at the mark on his wrist, a soft fond look in his eyes. It was blooming today, the rose.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem, Marc. Go hang at that bookstore and get a coffee or something, yeah?"

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You hurried up the stairs and rushed to your oven, frantically cursing with each step as you hauled yourself up the stairs and into your flat.

You practically ripped the oven door open, coughing as smoke filled your nostrils as the burned pastries greeted you.

"Damn it!" You whine, slipping your oven mitt on and grabbing the small pan with one hand.

Your phone started ringing and you spun on your heels to glare at the offending object secured to the wall.

"Oh, shut up, you–"

You felt the pan tip when you turned, the blackened treats threatening to fall to the floor, and without thinking you reached out with you other, unprotected hand and gripped it, before making a sharp yelp and throwing the pan onto the counter with a loud bang, blowing air over your burning and blistering hand.

"Shit, shit, shit!" You hiss, turning to your sink and hitting the tap for some cold water. The stinging subsided, if only minutely.

The phone rang incessantly again.

You dropped your shoulders and rolled your eyes with a groan, and pulled away from the soothing coldness of your tap.

But, of course, as your natural "luck" would have it… You trailed water onto your floor, and slipped into it, cracking the back of your head on the tile. Not hard enough to knock you out, no, but it was just enough to hurt, and leave a rather nasty bump.

So. There you lay, flat on your back, water still flushing into the drain of your sink, smoke detector now going off, and your house telephone ringing impertinently.

"I didn't do anything! Why're you guys always giving me the short end of the stick?" You shout at nothing in particular; maybe whatever gods could hear your lamentations and rueful words.

For extra effect, you flipped the bird with your uninjured hand.

Yeah.

Fate was a funny thing, all right.

Chapter 5: Link

[thumperdaetime]

A Gentle Reminder:

if you feel like you're spinning your wheels, and stuck doom scrolling this week -due to the current political landscape. I highly recommend logging off for a bit and seeing if you have the stomach to call a loved one who has political veiws that clash with your own.

social media and news coverage is fantastic for getting info out to people who want to listen, but it is an ineffective tool for actually communicating with people you disagree with.

I'm not a people-scientist but every time i see "yelling at each other online doesn't actually help" and have the energy to look into What does actually help, experts always say that it's empathetic, long term relationships between people that disagree.

so if you have a bunch of nervous political energy and no clearly helpful place to put it right now:

go call your grandmother. talk about the weather, and the way you miss her cooking. give her a real living person to picture The next time a newscaster talks about the radical-left-mob. if you talk to her regularly consider asking what she thinks about the recent political thing. you're not there to debate or prove her wrong or even change her mind. just listen to someone you love confess their fears, and then share your own fears. you are probably actually on the same side when you get down to it. you both want a safe place to live and the people you love to be happy, (most people do) its just you dont agree about how to go about that.

text your little cousin a random meme, when they send back a thing about how voting is a scam, let it go. share a vine to find out if they know the deep lore. make plans to meet up and play whatever video game they're obsessed with right now. and if the vibe is right and its not going to become an argument, try talking a bit about why the whole not voting movement scares you. don't talk down to them, talk like your two friends who respect each other's opinion (Thats The whole goal actually) ask them why they think its a good strategy, collaborate on other activist things you can do together. included them in your politics instead of dismissing their points.

and its not easy, as wild as it is to think about having a deep but pleasant conversation with your worst Uncle. the fact remains that Your Problematic & Uncle is much more likely to speak up for gay rights. if you can get to a place where you enjoy each others company, and you feel safe talking to him about your struggles as a queer person. and to be fair, you are more likely to take into account the effects of a gun ban on the local wildlife balance, if you sit through your Problematic Uncle complaining about how local restrictions made deer season hard to do last year, and now the tic population is up and the food banks are empty.

divide and conquer is a long standing tactical strategy. and we have seen that fascist in particular like to divide people into a hierarchy of ""real people""" and an ""inhuman enemy"" . when we let their rhetoric turn our peers and neighbors into an inhuman enemy, we can loose sight of what we should actually be fighting for and against.

and if you spend all your time yelling at Doug Nobody who was taking an angry shit when you were typing out that essay, you take energy away from the real fight (the systems and actual active oppressors). the best way to stop that tactic is by standing together with people outside of the box you've been assigned (as much as ethically possible). and refusing to let the system make you perpetuate usless infighting.

When we let the political fandom (yes i mean the media made around politics and not actual political action) act as a wedge between us and people who could have been in our lives, we end up with weaker support groups and less per review for political ideas. it is easy to believe Q-anon if the only people you talk to believe in Q-anon. the same way it is easy to believe that Taylor Swift is a lesbian if everyone you talk to believes Taylor Swift is a lesbian. sometimes we need a person to stop and say "wait, can you run that idea by me again? it doesn't fit my perception of reality"

and Yes. it is probably unlikely at this point to convince someone who has voted one way their whole life to change their political views before November. but that doesn't mean we dont reach-out ever. there will still be politics in September and October, you will still need a diverse support group, and people you trust to bounce political ideas off of. and if you are as worried as i am about this upcoming election, it is very possible that having a community of people who are okay with working together despite political differences will be very helpful in the coming years. (and holding a meaningful, satisfying conversation with someone you disagree with on a fundamental issue is a huge skill to have if you want to take part in alot of activism, community building, or family gatherings)

a quick list of things Op is NOT Saying in this post:

it is your duty and responsibility to do this thing and you're a bad person for not doing it.

this is really easy and everyone should be able (and willing) to take on the emotional energy needed to do this for everyone they know who doesn't agree with them.

watching news or being on social media doesn't help anything.

this is the best way to help and there are no other things you should be doing with your time/energy.

the conversations will be pleasant and/or will always have a positive outcome.

any beliefs i listed together are some how morally equivalent.

you should compromise your beliefs for the sake of getting along with others.

the best answer is most likely centrist because both sides are extremists.

voting this one time will fix all of the things and you're evil if you are conflicted about it.

voting is the best way for a single individual to enact change in their country.

i love the president, and the candidates, and the voting system, and the two parties, and the electoral college, and the bombs, and the genocide and all the death and corruption and violence its all holding up and being held up by.

we should listen to "both sides" to get a fair and balanced picture of the issue

we should let nazis, and bigots, and fascist talk openly about their ideas openly as if its not hate speech calling for violence against marginalized people.

you Have to go reconnect with your abusers and toxic relationships from your past in the hopes you can convince them to vote correctly.

the current political thing that made me make this post is The Most Important Thing!!! that has ever happened in the whole world over all of written history, and we should all be talking about it for forever, otherwise you're helping the inhuman enemy!!!

things are already fucked so theirs no point in trying to get enough votes.

things will be fine and ok if nothing changes and we just keep on this projected path forward.

i know so much and am so smart and I've solved political discourse and if only everyone listened to me we would have world peace already.

Taylor Swift is a wlw

things I am saying. now. here. at the end of the post:

be kind. go look at the sky. i love you <3

[achorusofnonsense]

Of Stoats and Systems

Things are getting heated on various platforms but rather than @ anyone and contribute to the engagement spiral I thought I'd just lay out the various pieces of information that have caught my attention about Dimension 20's upcoming season, and the inferences and assumptions that I'm bringing to them, and see whether any of it resonates.

Evidence

Exhibit A: In the first Fireside Chat, the talkback show for actual-play podcast Worlds Beyond Number, Erika Ishii references a "cyberpunk Watership Down" concept, and is hushed by Aabria Iyengar, who says that it may be coming up sooner than Erika thinks.

Exhibit B: In the SAG-AFTRA production signatory database, a season of Dimension 20 is listed with the working title of Stoatal Recall.

Exhibit B.5: The 1990 film Total Recall (as well as the 2012 remake), based on a 1966 short story by Philip K. Dick, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," concerns a man who undergoes a memory-alteration procedure which may or may not turn him into a superspy, depending on whether the events of the movie are all in his head or not. The important part here is the theme of ability enhancement.

Exhibit C: Once the Burrow's End trailer was released, the two pieces of media that were officially referenced by Dropout as inspirations for the season were very obviously Watership Down (1972 book, 1978 animated adaptation) but equally consequentially, The Secret of NIMH (1982 animated adaptation of the 1971 book Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH).

Exhibit C.5: The central premise of the NIMH stories is that experiments done on rats by the National Institute of Mental Health gave them human-like intelligence, organizational capabilities, and (in the movie) access to magic and the use of weapons.

Exhibit D: Aabria, in both a Bluesky post and a Tumblr tag essay which have been widely shared, has explained that she chose 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons as the system for Burrow's End not due to comfort with a familiar system or to commercial pressure to not deviate from what fans are used to, but because particular elements of the system design lent themselves to the specific story she wanted to tell in ways that no other TTRPG she knew could.

Cross Examination

Now, many people have taken this to mean that intense and recurring violence is a central aspect of the season, since one of the most obviously robust elements of D&D is its battle simulation mechanics. (There are, of course, many TTRPGs which incorporate mechanics for drawn-out, granular combat, several of which position small woodland creatures in a big dangerous forest instead of traditional fantasy races in a fantasy realm as the protagonists.)

Others have suggested that D&D's elaborate magic system is the key element, since bits of the trailer suggest that the Stupendous Stoats are granted some kind of magical abilities by the Blue. (Games where woodland creatures specifically use magic are rather thinner on the ground, but there are again many TTRPGs that support a wide variety of magical abilities with a high degree of customization.)

I've even seen people proposing that D&D's fundamental origins as a killing-and-looting game rooted in 20th century imperialist narratives in which powerful people go into uncivilized lands, plunder their treasures and are considered heroes for it, is the point, especially since stoats are predators that take over the burrows of animals they kill, and are an invasive species in some parts of the world. (Other games about imperialist conquest and the ramifications of power achived by violence do exist, although it would be untrue to say that D&D is not the market leader there.)

Closing Argument

But if I'm looking at the themes of the works that appear to have been the most direct inspiration for Burrow's End, there's something else that D&D does more completely, if not actually better, than just about every other system.

A fundamental theme of the cyberpunk genre is the use of technology to exceed current human limitations, whether through biohacking, neuromancy, or even merely robotics so advanced as to be indistinguishable from humanity. Even if the technological element does not seem to be overtly present in Burrow's End, exceeding limitations does.

As a film, Total Recall was deeply influenced by cyberpunk, which was itself deeply influenced by Philip K. Dick's work, but the concept of a procedure which could endow a normal man with the capacity for action-movie violence and a deeper awareness of the reality behind the façade of the everyday is, obviously, older than cyberpunk.

In Watership Down, rabbits whose mental abilities exceed those of other rabbits often attribute them to a kind of mystical communion with deific figures in rabbit mythology; in the NIMH stories, the rats' enhanced abilities are more straightforwardly attributed to human experimentation.

In every case, the concept of abilities that increase over time and exceed the natural physiology of the protagonist species is an essential part of the worldbuilding of the source material. And what D&D does more of than almost every other system, perhaps what it does to excess, even to the exclusion of design elements that would better contribute to a satisfying narrative, is power leveling.

Speculation

As you might expect from the foregoing, I take the position that power leveling is, in itself, not particularly compelling as a central narrative (unless your horizon for compelling narratives is limited to video-game RPGs and shonen anime, I suppose), even though it's endemic as a narrative device. As I sarcastically noted elsewhere: "it's impossible to have adventure without also having power fantasy, I've been told by every media property aimed at boys since the Carter administration."

But the tone of the trailer for Burrow's End is hardly that of a shonen anime or Schwarzenegger film. And as a listener of Worlds Beyond Number I can't really believe that Aabria just wants to level up her stoats to a point where the dangers of the forest are trivial and even the dangers of whatever human institution (there are camo-covered trucks tucked away in the DM screen) may be responsible for their ability score increases are managable. What I can't stop thinking about, what tantalizes me, is the possibility of power leveling as a narrative device that can go both ways. What if deleveling is also on the table?

And the work I haven't seen anyone else reference but has always been paired in my head with Mrs Frisby & the Rats of NIMH since I read them both as a tween, one of the supreme works of sci-fi psychological horror (even though it isn't usually discussed in those terms), is Flowers for Algernon.

[anarkissm]

claudette’s experience growing up as an autistic child was cushioned by loving parents who accommodated her needs almost every step of the way. aided by a compassionate teacher, ms. cahil, who empathized with claudette’s struggles with her neurodivergence. and, eventually, a few rare friends that understood her, shared her interests (mostly online). ultimately, the support she received from the small group of people who loved her was enough. it was all she needed. over time, the struggles she had faced in academics had become manageable. for her efforts and hard work, by the time she was an undergrad she was considered a brilliant polymath by most standards.

but claudette understands that this experience was not universal, evident by her mother’s general anxiety disorder as a result of the traumas mrs. morel endured from ableist parents and school bullies, frequently experiencing anxiety attacks while worrying about her daughter’s future. “i don’t want her to be bullied in school like i was,” her mother would sob, arguing with her husband late at night, when they thought seven-year-old claudette was sleeping instead of spying. her relationship with her mother was complicated. claudette never doubted that her mother loved her, but she realized quickly that people had hurt her, and this carried into every relationship she has ever had. just for being different. for the rest of her life, it haunted mrs. morel. to claudette, this cruelty made no sense. it seemed irrational. counterproductive. her parents’ arguments were always about her. their fears, for her. they seemed to understand how harsh the world really was. stress is the worst thing for a child’s developing brain. stress shrinks the brain. that’s what her father would say. always, always defending claudette. these memories of her early childhood were burned into her mind. it shaped her thought process. claudette pursued a “higher education” at yale specifically to get the best chemistry programs the americas could offer, focusing on biochemistry and, in particular, brain chemistry. she wanted to understand people, the way ms. cahil understood her. the way her father understood her. claudette did not always understand society, or people, or how to be a (neuroconforming) person, but she understood science. that was a start. by the time she had began interning for an international pharmaceutical research company, claudette had learned so many things. things that people don’t even think about. things that were often taken for granted.

the brain is a soft, malleable thing inside a skull full of sharp edges and blood. trauma, neglect, and stress can physically hurt it, damage it. and that damage has consequences, induces violent behavior, disorders, and cognitive disabilities. more importantly, the damage can mostly be healed. with community. with a support system. with noninvasive treatments using the chemical compounds of fungi and plants. the chemistry for tears of grief is different from joy and anger; more proteins in the fluid, causing them to fall slower down a  grieving person’s face, prolonging the tears in order to be seen, noticed, and cared for by their kin. people evolved to love. were conditioned to love. love was survival. claudette was loved, and she was better for it. she was sure that this was the answer. the solution to—   everything.

big pharma did not agree. it was just not profitable to support the medicine. eventually, the funding for her research was cut.

claudette spent the rest of her short career in pharmaceutics with severe burn out, exhausted and numb. this is when, and how, the entity takes her. when claudette was at her most vulnerable, mentally drained, riddled with an inexplicable grief she could not compartmentalize. in the fog, claudette found herself in a transformative realm that was just as cruel as her own reality. and if she truly escapes, when she escapes, years and years and years later, claudette will know, then, what she has to do. knows the real solution. for all of it. all the suffering. all the pain. she needs to kill the entity.

and she will do it with kindness. rehabilitating the traumatized, the abused, the outcasts. searching for the entity’s next victims in her universe, and protecting them.

[tathastuedu]

Parent’s Guide to IELTS Coaching for Your Child - To Score 8+ Bands

IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System and is a proficient test for students who wish to study or work in an English speaking country. For a parent, the fact that they have to help the child with preparation towards the IELTS test is very essential especially in a city like Delhi. Due to the prolific presence of several coaching centres in Delhi that offer many different programs and courses, it becomes slightly difficult to choose the appropriate centre and guide the students in the right way. Hope this guide will be able to help parents in assisting their children in IELTS coaching in Delhi. 

Understanding the IELTS Exam 

Before proceeding to the coaching options in Delhi, it is necessary to clarify the format of the IELTS test. The test assesses a candidate's proficiency in English across four sections:

Listening: An effective tool to check the understanding of spoken English through different types of recordings. 

Reading: Assesses ability to read and understand different types of texts.

Writing: Implies essay writing and answering to data or arguments. 

Speaking: This involves being assessed on the spoken English skills through an interview with an examiner. 

Each of the four sections is graded individually and the scores are then averaged to give an overall band score. 

Choosing the Right institute for the IELTS coaching in Delhi 

The choice of the right coaching institute in Delhi is relatively important as it forms the foundation of the preparation process. Here are some factors to consider:

Reputation and Success Rates: The best coaching institutes can be found and identified based on the previous records and their reputation. Be sure to find out if there are some words by preceding students on the services of the particular institute in Delhi. 

Qualified Instructors: Make sure that the institutes in Delhi have experienced and certified trainers who are able to train the students on IELTS. 

Course Structure: Like it has been discussed above, identify whether the entire course has been structured to address all the four sections of the exam effectively. Always search for a combination of theoretical and practical assignments given to the students. 

Mock Tests: Ask if the institute provides sample tests that they provide in simulated testing conditions. These tests are important to monitor progress and pinpoint the problems in learning. 

Personalized Attention: Smaller class sizes or options for individual coaching can be beneficial for personalized attention and customized study plans.

Flexible Timings: It is an added advantage to go for institutes in Delhi that have classes which are taken at convenient times that don't interfere with the school or college timings of your child.

Supporting Your Child at Home 

This is a crucial part, and your involvement and support can greatly influence your child’s readiness. Here are some ways you can help: 

Create a Study Schedule: Assist your child in making a schedule that consists of coaching class, time for preparing by him or herself, and time for rest. Ensure they allocate time to each section of the IELTS exam.

Provide Resources: Buy quality books, practice papers and other materials that are available online or provided by the Top IELTS Coaching Institute in Delhi. Most of the renowned publishing companies provide IELTS preparation books. 

Encourage Practice: Motivate your child to practise more especially in the topics he/she finds difficult. To get confidence and proficiency, actively practise in reading, writing, listening, and speaking daily. 

Simulate Exam Conditions: Arrange a suitable and comfortable environment of the house to practice by minimising all kinds of distractions for your child. Getting familiar with the format of the test and taking practice exams can assist them in adapting to the format as well as the time limit. 

Positive Reinforcement: Reinforcement and appreciation should be done frequently. One should encourage the other to achieve their goals by celebrating when they have had an improvement in their work. 

Understanding the Role of Mock Tests

Practice tests are one of the most important elements of IELTS preparation. They provide several benefits: 

Familiarity with Exam Format: Daily mock tests assist the learners in mastering different areas of the exams thus minimising fear on the real examination. 

Time Management: Practising under time constraints assists the students to understand time management of each section of the paper. 

Identifying Weaknesses: Specific information that is gathered from practice that is done by giving mock tests can show the aspects which your child requires to improve. 

Building Confidence: Such practice enhances confidence, and enables the students to develop an understanding of how prepared they are for the exam. 

Communication with Instructors 

Try to be in touch with your child’s teachers because they can give you updates about how your child is progressing. Communication often can be useful to know their prowess and areas of weakness. Discuss any concerns you have and seek advice on how to provide additional support at home.

Encouraging a Balanced Approach 

While preparation is crucial, it’s essential to encourage a balanced approach. Make sure your child has free time and spends time doing what he or she likes to do. Parents should encourage them to engage in exercises, take part in hobbies that lower stress levels and keep them motivated. 

Conclusion 

In Delhi the path to IELTS preparation can be quite difficult, but with proper guidance and assistance, your child can get the band he or she wants. You can inevitably contribute a lot to your child’s success by choosing the best IELTS coaching institute in Delhi, supplying your child with the required facilities, persuading the child to practise daily, and talking to the instructors.

Visit: https://tathastuedu.com/ielts-coaching-in-delhi/

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[vegashealthlaw]

Healthcare Compliance Program in Las Vegas

In a large number of traditions, doctors are placed next to God because in many cases, the only difference between a potential death and survival of a patient is the doctor himself. The doctors also make the patients patients sign a declaration that if the patient does not survive after the surgery, the doctor will not be held liable.

Doctors belonging to other fields also operate in a similar manner however, there are patients who ignore the importance of their doctor and they file a lawsuit against them. Such lawsuits can cause great damage to the reputation of the doctor and the very first thing that is done once a lawsuit is filed against a doctor is that the licence of the doctor is suspended on a temporary basis.

Hence, saying that a potential lawsuit against a doctor causes damage to both the reputation of the doctor as well as the pocket of the doctor, would not be wrong.

The very first thing that a doctor should do when a lawsuit is filed against them is to contact a Healthcare Business and Corporate Law in Las Vegas. Healthcare and business corporate law experts have in depth knowledge about their work and the most experienced lawyers have more than ten years of experience in dealing with such cases.

Experienced lawyers understand all the tactics that can be used against the doctor to get his or her license cancelled. The reason why enough emphasis is being laid upon the experience of the lawyer defending the doctor is because the profession of the doctor is at risk and when it is such a serious issue the concerned doctor must not even consider contacting lawyers who are offering their services at comparatively cheaper prices.

The most experienced lawyers also have the in depth knowledge of healthcare business and corporate law in Las Vegas and this is why they are aware about the various perspectives that can be put to understand a particular law.

Not only that but the lawyers also have a better understanding about arranging proofs to support the doctor in such a way that he or she can be proved innocent before the lawyer. The Healthcare Compliance Programmes offered by the most well known doctors is obviously more expensive but the doctors should not look at the fee charged by the lawyer as they should be more worried about the Damocles’ sword dangling on their licence.

Reaching out to professional lawyers  for healthcare compliance programme has become easier in this age of Internet because some of the most well known lawyers have got themselves a website which has allowed their potential customers to reach them before a permanent cancellation of the license.

There are a large number of innocent doctors who do not contact reputed lawyers to support their argument because they have full faith in the justice system and they feel that since they have not indulged in any kind of fraudulent activities, they won't be punished. However, such mistakes must be avoided at all times.

[booasaur]

Amar a Muerte - 1x85

[lime-bloods]

returned to the roots of my url the other day and discussed at length with @mmmmalo some of the myths and potential significance of the lime bloods...

while I'm still not convinced by the conventional arguments for lime karkat theory, the worldbuilding part of my brain in particular has always been caught by this idea that the lime bloods sit in a sort of middle ground between lowbloods and higher bloods that makes them the most "like humans". andrew's commentary on the lifespans of the castes in particular seems to point at the sweet spot between gold and olive having the lifespan closest to that of a human:

Red through yellow probably having such a range [similar to a human's], and then climbing through the greens is where it begins escalating beyond the century mark. [...] The lowest caste or two may have a lifespan shorter than a human’s.

with rust bloods expected to survive "a dozen or two sweeps", this puts a hypothetical caste between gold and olive firmly in the 26-52-to-100 year range. so if we were to say that Karkat's biology did align with a troll in that blood colour range, it wouldn't be too out there to suggest that in addition to being one of the more "human-like" trolls, his biology would also be the most similar to that of a human's.

this is all old speculation, though... what I started to consider while we pondered the significance of Calliope's exposition was that if the lime bloods as a caste might be intended as a stand-in for humanity as a race? the history of b2 Earth seems to map closely to that of Alternia to the point where each of them can be used to enlighten the reader on aspects of the other; ICP's rise to power for example sheds light on the Condesce's habit of delegating responsibility to subordinates first touched upon in Scratch's exposition. so when Calliope mentions the lime caste being hunted to extinction just around a hundred pages after Dirk tells us that Meenah drove the human race into the ground, it seems reasonable to assume the things she says about the plight of the lime bloods should also be taken as indicative of events on Earth - it's her own home planet after all.

Calliope's speculation that "their extermination had to do with the extremely powerfUl abilities they tended to have, and the threat to aUthority they represented" seems easy enough to apply to humanity; humans after all are immune to troll mind control, and Dirk and Roxy had the sort of powers that would threaten and ultimately overthrow their alien tyrant. but knowing that Roxy was actually essential to the Condesce's plan to resurrect her race, it seems that the Condesce never actually intended to fully extinguish humanity. so if we apply this backwards, perhaps it suggests that the Condesce might have left some lime bloods alive for her own purposes?

schools of thought obviously diverge here... if we take it at face value that the lime blood mystery is something for Hiveswap to explain then that's where the trail ends. if we were to presume, though, that Karkat fit into this lime category, I suppose it would indicate that Karkat's survival was thanks to deliberate support from the system behind the scenes... the Signless and Dirk and Roxy's ancestors certainly share similar roles as revolutionaries who tried to set the scene for their descendants to take after them, and I've drawn the symbolic bow between the two groups before. and if Meenah foresaw Kanaya's arrival and participation in the grand plan, it's not too far-fetched to think Karkat's involvement was anticipated too? it would also add a layer to be read into the working relationship between Karkat and the pre-scratch Meenah... and also bring us back to the curiosity malo brought to my attention that started the conversation:

KARKAT: HOW MUCH BULLSHIT IS IT THAT WE'RE PRETTY MUCH THE ONLY TWO ASSHOLES LEFT WHO CAN'T FLY?! KANAYA: It Really Is Such Bullshit

Kanaya's jade caste are never meant to leave the planet, ostensibly to live out their lives taking care of the mother grub, but plausibly also because the Condesce had particular plan in mind for Kanaya... by this same token, when Karkat spills the beans that only extraneous circumstances would ever allow him to ascend to the ranks of threshecutioner:

[...] IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO MAKE THE CUT, BECAUSE OF MY BLOOD. SO I USED TO THINK OF ALL THESE ELABORATE SCENARIOS TO HIDE MY BLOOD COLOR. OR IN THE MORE RIDICULOUS FANTASIES, MAYBE I COULD EVEN PROVE MY WORTH AS A SOLDIER? LIKE JUST BE SO AWESOME WITH A SICKLE, THEY WOULD JUST HAVE TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION. MAYBE EVEN BE LIKE A FOLK HERO AND RISE THROUGH THE RANKS TO BECOME THE LEADER. HAHA.

[...]

AS THE NEW EMPRESS, YOU HAVE TO APPOINT ME AS GRAND THRESHECUTIONER OF YOUR ARMY. DO WE HAVE A DEAL? oh yes yes you got it yessss

it could be read as implying these are not only the only circumstances by which Karkat could ever ascend to an adult Alternian warrior, but also those intended for him to take?

[ranboo5]

The Syndicate manifesto - a breakdown

I’m seein misconceptions go around again so I’m gonna break down the Syndicate manifesto. It, once again, got long, so ’s under the cut

This Syndicate is formed to serve as a network for fellow Anarchists to meet, exchange information and cooperate in the mutual pursuit of Anarchy and the fight against Tyranny.

We shall have no Leader; no Member shall be compelled to act against their will.

No Member shall reveal information about the Syndicate to outsiders.

Technoblade shall serve as the Recruiter to induce new Members into the Syndicate with Approval from a majority of Members. 

This is not a complicated manifesto; it is a mission statement, a restrictive statement/statement of the members’ rights, a single rule, and a codified procedure 

Please note how the mission statement that describes what the Syndicate is describes it as formed to serve network for fellow Anarchists. It’s a superstructure for people with a similar goal to commiserate if they so choose. What is that goal? The pursuit of Anarchy and the fight against Tyranny. 

It doesn’t even say “government,” technically! It says “Tyranny”! That word choice and sentence strucure is meaningful because it is contextualized: the fight against Tyranny is something that goes with the pursuit of Anarchy, and it’s something that someone who is an Anarchist would choose of their own volition to pursue (italicized pt further supported in next part), because they would want to perhaps join a network of other people who chose the same. Since the Syndicate is explicitly a “network to cooperate,” the implication is woven in that its members will cooperate in helping each other combat and thus identify Tyranny, and seek out and thus further codify Anarchy. These words have meanings not because they’re defined, but because the implication is they will be defined by the members through equal discussion; this is almost certainly intentional, because it gives the power to define those terms to the people and their case-by-case judgement rather than to the superstructure! With this one paragraph it’s immediately clear how the Syndicate is fundamentally different from the other factions on the server, and why it is not a side like people accuse it of being: all the Syndicate is, conceptually, is a superstructure that serves the people within it as a tool. The Syndicate is essentially a table to discuss at for the pursuit of a general goal. It’s a forum. It’s an enjoyers Discord server 

The second sentence hammers this home. They don’t have a leader, they don’t need a symbol, and, most importantly, no member shall be compelled to act against their will. The power is given strictly to the members; no one and nothing has power over any of them in any capacity. They cannot be coerced. The people and their will comes before the side. 

This is also such an important line for peerpressureduo especially -- note that Techno pens the manifesto and Ranboo explicitly comments on this line when it’s given to him. These are such moments of self-actualization when for reasons evident in the duo name these are active things these characters have struggled with! Technoblade who’s had to act against his interests and at least once actively against his will and Ranboo who folds immediately if you ask him firmly enough! 

These two points -- no coercion, and mutual cooperation -- are also points on which the Syndicate puts its money where its mouth is, concretely, in the actual first meeting streams, with Ranboo and Niki respectively 

When Ranboo shows nerves Technoblade backs off from the [backs you into an alleyway] bit he’s doing, saying explicitly that they’re not trying to make him do anything, and even when after the meeting Ranboo still has his concerns Phil reassures him again that no one is going to hold him to any promises irt the Syndicate and that he’s not obligated to anything. Whether Ranboo has fully processed this is admittedly arguable, but he is actively reassured and shown that “no member shall be compelled” isn’t a platitude -- it’s a concrete, actionable standard that will be applied to him 

(This also shows character development that comes with ideological codification and healing from Technoblade! “Technoblade acts coercively sometimes” arguments aren’t wrong he literally did intimidate Ranboo into giving back his armor their first interaction and now that he has explicitly codified an anti-coercion ethos Technoblade is making an active, conscious effort to be aware of the effect he has and not leverage it! The fact that Ranboo is explicitly his friend now as opposed to a govt official who abetted in Techno’s execution also contributes (and wow! Abetting in Techno’s execution... against his will... sounds like smth this is explicitly helpful wi--) (I’m sorry I care peerpressure and I am so, so tired of hearing arguments about Technoblade, one of the most blatantly reactive and dynamic characters, being static))

Meanwhile, when Niki is standing back letting Philza and Technoblade make the pitch, Technoblade actively invites her over to stand with them. She is one of the Syndicate; the members of the Syndicate will actively encourage and enable her to be included and heard and to prevent her from being sidelined. It’s a priority. She’s a priority. An actionable promise has been made her and is being upheld; this is especially important to Niki, considering her history with factions that left her in the dust to die and that never considered her and her agency and empowerment a priority 

The only “rule” the Syndicate has for its members directly is less of an enforced rule and more an agreement, around a point that can easily be explained. Don’t Talk About Fight Club, for security reasons; the last line is really just a detailing of current logistical status quo and not very ideological but is important to how it operates 

Tl;dr: - the Syndicate manifesto lays its mission statement and modus operandi out clearly - anything that isn’t stated outright follows from the clauses, which are concrete and actionable - it’s unique also from most of the other factions on the server in that it explicitly and actionably keeps power in the hands of the individual members, rather than of any particular one or of a system - it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: a superstructure meant as a tool to serve the people, like a forum or a table  - you could say it prioritizes empowering people, not sides, 

- 

EDIT: There was a typo in here and also I fucking misremembered what “commisseration” means :freezer: 

[theemptyskies]

Real talk.

Note that this is all my own opinion.

In an Azula Redemption fic, in my opinion, she would not have to apologize for anything she did during the war to anyone. Not Aang for shooting him with lightning. Not Mai or Ty lee for imprisoning them. Not the Gaang for chasing them. The only one I might concede is targeting Katara during an Agni Kai.

What she probably should do, is apologize for the way she treated Mai, Ty lee and Zuko when they were children. If it takes place post smoke and shadow then she should apologize for what happened then as well.

She does not owe Ursa anything. While Ursa did love her, she very much neglected Azula which left her feeling that something was wrong with her. She has every right to never let Ursa in her life again. There is no argument that can be made against it. Azula's feelings are valid. She was neglected by her mother. Ursa's personal feelings don't matter. She may have loved her but I don't recall any instance where she actually told Azula that, or spent time with her, or showed even close to the same level of affection. Ursa did kiss her on the cheek the night she left, however I will point out that she woke up Zuko and made sure the last thing she said to him was basically I love you while she left Azula unconscious, unaware of the action. We never even see a scene where Ursa says "I love you" to her.

It's what makes the hallucinations so tragic at the end of season three. Those scenes can be read in a multitude of different ways. My reading of them, examining Ursa's relationship with Azula, noting that every interaction they had was shown to be confrontational, referencing "The Beach" where she did show that Ursa's relationship and abandonment did hurt her deeply, implying that she did want her affection, is this.

Ursa's neglect of Azula throughout her childhood caused Azula to develop feelings of inadequacy. This feeling pushed her to try as hard as possible to earn Ozai's affection, where she succeeded until he left her behind before the final attack in the Earth Kingdom. Coupled with Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal, this caused her feelings of inadequacy to resurface stronger than before. Everyone left her behind. Her mind conjured the image of Ursa, the origin of her feeling, saying "I love you Azula, I really do.", things we never saw her say.

I read these scenes as the hallucination saying things Azula always craved to hear. Affections that were always withheld from her, hammering away at her already fragile psyche. Reminding her repeatedly that she was never good enough for either of her parents.

So no. I don't think Azula ever needs to forgive Ursa or give her a chance and there isn't an argument that could be made to convince me. At most, I think Azula should confront her as the core of a majority of her trauma, similar to how Katara did with Yon Rah.

For me, an Azula redemption is about her coming to terms with her trauma. It's about her finding her place in a post war world. Her rebuilding her relationship with Zuko, the only family she was ever truly close with. It's about her seeing through the lies and manipulations implanted by Ozai from a young age. It's about her gaining a good, healthy support system that won't give up in her.

It's about her, in the end, finally finding peace, whatever that happens to mean for her in your particular fic. If it involves romance, that's great. A lot of people who make "shipping tier lists" rank almost every ship with Azula at the bottom, often saying things like "nobody deserves to deal with a relationship with Azula" which, as someone who grew up in an abusive household who also relates a lot to Azula, I gotta say it kind of hurts hearing people say those things. Everyone deserves love.

If your fic doesn't include romance and focuses on her familial relationships then that's also great. She definitely has a lot on her plate and building that healthy support system is an amazing route to take your fic, leading to a great heartfelt ending.

Please note, Azula's misdeeds should not be overlooked. Anyone you want to have her connect with, she will have to earn it. But I feel like it's important to understand why some people behave the way that they do. Not excuse thier actions, but to help map out how they can make up for them. That's why we were shown Zuko's tragic past while also seeing him burn down a village and threaten defenseless elderly people.

With the way she's portrayed, it easy to forget this powerful, intimidating character, is just a child. She's just 14 years old. It's something I think a lot of people who write off her character as irredeemable don't account for. Whenever I dig past her surface level "bad guy" traits with this in mind, admittedly, I'm often brought to tears. She's very much a product of her environment. It's because of that, that I think she can learn to be a better person.

To recap, an Azula redemption in no way shape or form NEEDS to include Azula trying to make the Gaang like her. It was war and every one of her actions during it have no bearing on her, from her perspective. If you want her to connect with them then you can, just don't be someone who talks bad about a redemption fic because she doesn't. 🙂

She did treat Zuko, Mai, and Ty lee very poorly as a friend and sibling. So she does owe them an apology and they are also under no obligation to give her another chance.

Ursa does not need to be forgiven, nor should it be portrayed that Ursa did nothing wrong. Azula's feelings are valid.

The core of a redemption fic (for me) is character growth, in this case for Azula.

Romance is ok in an Azula redemption fic. I personally enjoy Azutara fics where she helps Azula through her mental health recovery and trauma. Citadel is an interesting fic that takes place several years into Azula's stay in a mental institution. Here's a link if you wanna check it out. Keep in mind, it's nine years old so comic events aren't a thing 🙂 https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6939866/1/5

Not having romance is equally ok. There are a multitude of great fics both post canon and AU that follow this route. Here is a fic recommendations for it. This one is an AU taking place during the war.

Her actions should not be excused because her story is a tragedy. She still did bad things.

Hopefully you all enjoyed my little ramble that I also hope is understandable. I tend to go off on tangents a lot. Considering it's 6:30 am where I'm at and I still haven't slept, this probably has horrible grammar and is likely riddled with typos. So I'm sorry about that bit lol 😅

[writcraft]

you said to message you about the jrk thing. she said sex is real and that's pretty much it. she said biological women should be able to address issues that affect only them and that the type of seemingly progressive language of "people who menstruate" is only used on women's issues. never seen "prostate havers" or "dick owners" from men's cancer groups. + every social/cultural group gets their own "space" other than of course biological women. why should gender supersede sex in these spaces?

Thanks for the message Anon. I’m going to break down my reply to this using your message. She said sex is real and that’s pretty much it. She’s said quite a bit more than that and at some length, but on that point specifically there’s a rigidity to the ‘sex is real’ argument that I don’t consider to be particularly helpful. As science has developed we are beginning to understand sex isn’t as binary as we once thought. 2% of the population are born intersex, hormone levels vary, chromosomes are not binary. We can argue back and forth on the science as it’s a conversation that remains unsettled, but I do not take an absolutist approach to sex. I believe I can be persuaded by more inclusive scientific studies around sex, use language that doesn’t exclude marginalised groups and still fight for women’s rights without erasure of the specific, gender-driven violence and inequalities women experience.

She said biological women should be able to address issues that affect only them. I remain baffled as to why we would be unprepared to adopt our language to talk about a biological matter in a way that includes all those that experience it. There are publications that explore the risk of prostate cancer in transgender women so it’s incorrect to say you never see that addressed, but I would advocate for making language around specific biological issues more inclusive across the board. To take the menstruation example, I have zero issue including transgender men and my non-binary siblings in conversations around menstruation and referring to them under the umbrella of “woman” is invalidating, exclusionary and it denies them that place in the conversation. To me, using inclusive language is simply a respectful way of enabling transgender men and non-binary people who face the same issues around things like tampon taxes to be part of the conversation. What does a woman whose gender corresponds with her sex lose from that inclusion? Aren’t we ultimately stronger together than apart?

Every social/cultural group gets their own “space” other than biological women. Why should gender supersede sex in these places? I guess I would flip this around and say what is it about the current system that suggests that kind of space is necessary? I find the debate around access to single-sex spaces very confused because in the UK transgender people can use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender and transgender women can access women-only spaces such as crisis centers. Removing access to these essential services based on the mythical ‘trans villain’ the ‘man in a dress’ masquerading as transgender to cause harm to women is preposterous, dangerous and reinforces the kind of thinking that places transgender people at particular harm. If that was a legitimate concern we would already have seen evidence of the right to access single sex spaces being abused, yet we haven’t. Why? Because the brutal reality is men do not have to go to those lengths to commit violence against women. Is the suggestion honestly that we roll back existing rights, taking a legislative step backwards, in a way that would enable the turning away of transgender women who have experienced violence and are seeking refuge because we are scared of a monster that doesn’t actually exist? I really struggle to understand what excluding transgender women from vital women-only services actually accomplishes. I don’t believe it would make cisgender women any safer from male-perpetrated violence but it would make the position of transgender women even more unsafe.

The patriarchy oppresses women and gender based violence does not discriminate, treating femininity with suspicion and posing a threat to transgender women and femmes together with cisgender women. The suspicion of the feminine operates at all kinds of levels, including the way it manifests in violence against effeminate gay men. Together with misogyny, transgender women also experience queerphobia and if it’s a woman of colour, systemic racism too. Recognising and wanting to support women who experience those intersectional struggles seems to me to be at the very heart of the feminist movement. As Audre Lorde said, “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” I really struggle to understand what the feminist movement gains from gatekeeping who benefits from it and fail to see anything progressive in enforcing rigid male/female binaries which are rooted in colonialism that were specifically designed to oppress women, permit gender violence and create deep inequalities.

[mallowstep]

For the love of god, please consider renaming some cats, I've seen names like

"One-Eye, Halftail, Oddfoot, FLIPCLAW (what kind of prefix is 'Flip'?) Twigbranch, Clawface etc. Don't get me started on those atrocious SkyClan names with KITTYPET PREFIXES

Harrybrook, Snookthorn, Rileypool

Like tf?

so i'm going to start with saying! as a general rule, i love these names. i will address them each in turn, but i don't have a problem with warriors having "bad names," i have a problem with names that don't make sense given their context.

it does not make sense for blackfoot to be named blackkit, when he's mostly white. (and, as a colorpoint cat, i assume, would be born entirely white.) etc.

but i have no problem with bellaleaf, because well, yeah! makes sense to me.

after all, leaf was named leafdapple, why shouldn't bella be named bellaleaf.

i'm going to discuss each name you brought up in turn, and then, under the cut, i'm going to ramble about naming philosphies.

one-eye: i'm fine with this. i don't mind cats being named after their disabilities, not when it's an established part of warriors culture. (even if it doesn't happen anymore because people would be pissed about it.) i don't know if i think it's right, or if i think cats would have a problem with it, but i think it's good. i'd like to think most cats wouldn't have a problem with it, though. that said, for one-eye in particular, her name was already white-eye, so it feels redundant. food for thought, i suppose.

halftail: i'm not okay with this, because he lost...half his tail? trust me, as someone who had a cat with half a tail, you don't notice it. doesn't make sense. he can keep sparrowpelt, altho tbh i almost always forget about him.

oddfoot: oops i forget him initially! i actually assumed he was named odd because of numbers or something, but apparently it’s a deadfoot situation. we don’t know his kit name, so i’ll assume he was named as either an apprentice or a warrior to fit. it wouldn’t make sense for him to just have the prefix odd, and i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he didn’t. if he did, however, i would have a problem with it because that makes his name a compound name, not because his leader renamed him.

flipclaw: i don't have a problem with it. what kind of name is flipkit? the kind of name a mother would give who looks a lot like the cat who traumatized her, i think. more importantly, i think it's cute! doesn't bother me. would i name an oc flipkit? probably not, but that's just me.

twigbranch: oh no i love her name. i love it! it's so cute. it means something, too! it has meaning. nope. no one is taking twigbranch away from me. i love it.

clawface: mixed. i don't really have a problem with a cat being named clawkit, but it feels...violent. shrug. i don't like it, but like, i also don't like sandynose.

and i won't directly address skyclan because uh i already stated my thoughts on them.

skyclan in particular, tho, it actually makes a lot of sense for their names to be like that. there is no reason to apply any clan norms to skyclan names.

i really hope they keep their names, too. tradition and legacy of names is important to them (pebbleshine and violetshine for the most direct example, but it's everywhere), and i want that to stay. i love that leafstar named her kit harrykit. never change skyclan.

as always, i want to say that i do not have a problem with anyone's methodology of naming cats. i do not care. i support every single name in existence (barring certain combinations of color and "-face," and anything in that vein), and i do not want to come across as telling you what you should do.

that includes you, anon! i do not think you should listen to me when i say i like these names. i think you should rename them whatever you want. (i strongly suggest reconsidering skyclan renames, tho. there's established reasons in canon for them to have those names, and i think it's a cool cultural thing worth exploring. i keep meaning to write a funny lil one-shot about it.)

but you know! if you want to rename them, go for it! i support you!

that said, here is what i think (and i am not an authority on this in any way, shape, or form) about names:

i've written extensively about naming traditions in the clans. if you want to read that, "names. leaders. meaning" and "names part two" are where i recommend you look. (note: first link is to my main, before i migrated warriors content here.)

i'm not going to go over any of that in detail, because well, i'd rather talk about something new?

anyway, i don't think there's a reason to rename the vast majority of cats. i have very, very, few rules. heck, in ashes, i even had squilf come out and say that there's not even a problem with cats sharing a prefix.

the two cats i have renamed are yellowstorm and runningcloud, both for very specific reasons: -fang is a suffix that only makes sense if you're a warrior, and yellowfang names runningpaw runningnose, but in this au, sagewhisker names him, and she doesn't seem like the type to give that kind of name.

in yellowfang's secret, which i do generally treat as canon, yellowfang explains runningnose's name. i don't have a problem with her giving that name to him in the slightest. i just don't think sagewhisker would, and that overrode my general conservative approach to cat names.

but i do think, to an extent, cats are named for the world around them. i explored this in "without warning," where cats can be named after all sorts of strange things (elevator is my favourite), because well, they don't know what strange names are and are not.

so, for example, if there was a kit named, say, chaffinchkit, i would probably rename them, because i've set my warriors in the pnw, and there are no chaffinches in america.

i would just name the kit finchkit, because really, a chaffinch just a specific type of finch anyway.

i also refuse to name a kit maggotkit. there are probably other canonical prefixes in this nature that i refuse, but maggot is the big one that comes to mind.

but i don't care that ferns are green and cats aren't green. maybe it's a name passed down through the generations, one they don't even remember the origin of, but now, it is a thunderclan name.

or maybe, it is given to a riverclan cat simply because their mother thinks ferns are nice and soft.

none of that matters to me, because i personally find limiting name to appearance is incredibly boring, and gives up a really nice chance to worldbuild.

in "fair is the night," ivypool and tigerheart have a brief conversation exploring this.

"ThunderClan is different," he says. "You don't use names in the same way. You don't know the Ivy before you. But ShadowClan isn't like that. Dawnpelt knows Dawncloud and Flametail knows Flamefur, but...I have Tigerstar." "That seems ineffective," Ivypool says. "You can get more mileage out of your names. Here, Ivy is for grey kits, right? But wiry ones. We need strong roots. And Dove is for grey kits, or white ones, but its for the ones who are born soft."

they go on, but i would never pass up an opportunity to explore that type of thing. (and yes i see the typo)

similarly, i like the renaming system. i am like, this close to saying i love it.

the only reason i don't make brightheart lostface in everything i write is because it'd be too much of a headache to remind people, and i also don't want to needlessly invite arguments about it.

she keeps her name in "saccharine tithes of love and glory" because it's the kind of au where i can throw small things like that, without worrying, because it fits, tonally.

i wish it didn't set a fic in a very specific tone, but it does, and so, i usually use brightheart.

(also, it's clear that she prefers brightheart in the books, and i respect that. i don't think, in my culture, that makes sense for her, but i've talked about my works as being on a spectrum between canon and me, and most stuff is far enough away from me that i call her brightheart.)

anyway.

part of it is, renaming cats is imposing my rules over canon. i feel that saying "flipclaw should be named something else" asserts that my world is correct, and canon is wrong.

like, tallstar as a name does not make sense in my windclan. a kit can't be tall, and i've established that windclan names are very literal. but i've let it go, because i chose to make that a rule, and now i live with it.

i hope i didn't come off as prescriptivist, here, because i honestly believe if you want to rename cats, you should. i'd even be happy to discuss alternatives.

for clawface, might i suggest scorchface? (the suffix is malleable, frankly, but i don't feel like thinking much about it.) scorch deliberately has negative connotations in shadowclan, so you keep the same effect as clawface. especially since it just kind of sounds ominous.

but as for what i will do, it is not rename cats. i like their names (especially skyclan's), in all their idiosyncratic glory.

[reallifesultanas]

Portraid of Ahmed I's sons / I. Ahmed szultán fiainak portréi

Ez a portrésorozat nem tartalmazza I. Ahmed három fiát, akikből később szultán lett (II. Oszmán, IV. Murad és I. Ibrahim). A szultánoknak különálló portré készült vagy fog készülni.

This series of portraits do not include the three sons of Ahmed I, who later became sultans (Osman II, Murad IV, and Ibrahim I). Separate portraits have been or will be published for them.

Şehzade Mehmed

Ahmed ascended the throne in December 1603, his first son Osman II was born in November 1604, followed a few months later by Prince Mehmed. Mehmed's mother was Kösem Sultan and he was born in March 1604 in Istanbul. The identity of his mother has long been in question, but nowadays we have evidence that indirectly clarifies that he was born as the son of Kösem Sultan. One such proof is that Kösem Sultan became a Haseki in late 1605 or early 1606, and this would hardly have been possible without a son. Another piece of evidence is an ambassadorial report from 1611/12 that says "The King has two sons, one is seven years old, the other six. His Majesty has three daughters as well, and to him sons are born very often, both for the abundancy of women and both for his youth and prosperity". Simone Contarini, who wrote this understood Osman and Mehmed as the two boys, but the three girls must have been mistaken, as Ahmed had four daughters alive at that time (Ayşe, Gevherhan, Fatma, and Hanzade). Perhaps Contarini only knew about the existence of Ayşe, Fatma, and Hanzade, as they were the children of Kösem Sultan, the famous favorite of Ahmed.

The counter-arguments that Mehmed was not the son of Kösem Sultan have now been overturned. In 1614, Della Valle recorded the second son of Sultan Ahmed as Sehzade Mahmud, which was mistakenly identified with Prince Murad by some. Murad was born in 1612 though. Mahmud was certainly a misunderstood version of Mehmed, not Murad. Another counter-argument was Valier's account of 1615. In that, he wrote that the Sultan not allowing the two older princes near Kösem Sultan, for the Sultan is well aware of Kösem Sultan's ambitions for her own children. Many identified the two princes as princes of Osman and Mehmed, so they though none of them were Kösem's sons. However, it was more likely that Valier meant Mustafa, Ahmed’s brother, and Osman, Ahmed's firstborn son. This is supported in particular by an earlier account of Valier, where he clearly describes that the sultan has four sons, two from the dead sultana and two from the living one. Since Mahfiruze - the mother of Osman - died around 1612, it is clear that she was the dead sultana. Mahfiruze's other son may have been Prince Bayezid, who was born in 1612 soon after Murad, the second son of the living sultana, Kösem.

It can be seen that the counter-arguments are much weaker, so we can say with relative certainty that Prince Mehmed was the firstborn son of Kösem Sultan. Not much is known about Mehmed's childhood. It is known that although they were taught and raised separately with Osman, their teacher was the same Ömer Efendi. Mehmed had joint programs with Osman after 1612 though. Kösem Sultan visited the Old Palace regularly to meet with Safiye Sultan, Ahmed's grandmother, and she regularly took Prince Mehmed with her, and occasionally also Osman. After Ahmed forbade her to spend time with Osman, she probably traveled to the Old Palace with Mehmed and possibly with her daughters or her second oldest son, Murad.

Mehmed's first real public appearance was shortly before his father's death, in 1617. It was then that the mosque complex of Sultan Ahmed was completed. Ahmed took his two oldest sons, Osman and Mehmed, to the opening ceremony. Ahmed died at the end of the year and a chaotic period ensued. The abolition of fratricide has long been a central theme in the Ottoman Empire and although Ahmed himself was against it and he did not execute his brother, Mustafa, he never made a legal decree about the topic. The only chance to save the lives of Mehmed and his younger brothers was to change the succession-system. Kösem Sultan for years tried to convince Ahmed and although she undoubtedly had something to do with Prince Mustafa surviving, after Ahmed’s death she could do nothing. However Haci Mustafa Aga, the chief black eunuch who was in close association with Kösem Sultan, was able to do something. He influenced the divan and ulema to enthrone the oldest living prince and spare the lives of the others. Thus the brother of Ahmed, Mustafa I, was put to the throne, so Mehmed and his brothers were locked up in the harem, but stayed alive.

Little is known about this short period since Mustafa was soon dethroned and Osman was enthroned. It was easy to influence Osman and this often pushed him to make wrong decisions. Osman was not popular, there were no supporters of his, there was no strong mother behind him who would have helped, so he was understandably terrified of Prince Mehmed. Mehmed was only four months younger, but his mother was an extremely popular and influential woman. Kösem Sultan never did anything against Osman, on the contrary, she tried to build a nice relationship and Osman also visited her in the Old Palace regularly. Over time, however, Osman's paranoia grew bigger. In the spring of 1621, he wanted to leave the capital to go on a campaign but was afraid to leave Mehmed in the capital. Osman feared that Kösem Sultan and Mehmed would do something and would enthrone Mehmed while he was at war. The logical step would have been for Osman to take Mehmed with him to the campaign, but Osman wanted a more definitive solution. For this reason, during the preparations for the campaign, he executed his brother in January 1621.

Mehmed certainly saw exactly how dangerous the situation was, and we can assume that during Osman's reign he feared that Osman would eventually revive the law of fratricide. Mehmed’s death shook Istanbul, poets of the age often write about this bloody event with immense disgust. Naima, for example, openly condemns and calls Osman a tyrant for making an innocent prince, Mehmed Khan, a martyr for his own power. According to legend, while Mehmed fought for his life with his executioners, he cursed Osman: "Osman! I beseech God that your life and your reign be full of dread, and as you have deprived me of my life, may the same fate be yours."

Whether the curse is true or not, the end soon reached Osman. A few days after Mehmed’s death, a huge snowstorm struck Istanbul, killing thousands of people. Commoners interpreted this as Revenge of Allah for Osman's disgusting act, so his popularity sank to unprecedented depths. And soon after his failed campaign, Osman was dethroned and brutally executed and mutilated.

Şehzade Cihangir

All we know about Prince Cihangir was that he was born in 1609 and died soon after. The identity of his mother is unknown, but it is almost certain that it was not Kösem Sultan. Kösem Sultan gave birth to another child, Hanzade Sultan, in 1609. It is unlikely that she would have given birth to two children in one year.

Şehzade Selim

Prince Selim was born in the summer of 1611 and died a month after his birth. The identity of his mother is unknown. He was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Hasan

Prince Hasan was born in November 1612 between the later sultan Murad IV and Prince Bayezid, as the child of an anonymous concubine. He died shortly after his birth and was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Bayezid

Prince Bayezid was born in December 1612, a few months after the birth of Prince Murad (later Murad IV) in July. Accounts suggest that Bayezid was Osman's full-brother, so his mother was Mahfiruze, too. Mahfiruze disappears from the harem records around this time, perhaps for complications after childbirth, perhaps for other reasons, but she died during this period.

We don't know much about his childhood. After the deaths of Prince Mehmed and Sultan Osman II, Murad, who was barely older than Bayezid, ascended the throne in 1623. This essentially made Bayezid the heir to the throne, with many dangers, especially since he was only a half-brother to Sultan Murad. Because of Murad's youth, his mother, Kösem Sultan, ruled the empire as a regent. The situation was very bad, in recent years the empire has gradually sunk into anarchy and the situation has become increasingly bleak. Kösem Sultan and the statesmen fought hard to pull the empire out of the chaos, and although they achieved success, they failed to solve all the problems.

Then, in 1632, tension peaked in a Janissary rebellion. The Janissaries executed several of Murad's close confidants and demanded that the Sultan show them the princes. Murad was forced to agree to this and showed his brothers the Janissaries, who at this time began to rejoice for the princes. This humiliation was never forgotten and forgiven by Murad later. It was then that he experienced for the first time in his life that Bayezid (and also his other brothers) posed a huge threat to him. It is not known how Bayezid felt about the situation, however, given that he was not the son of Kösem, he could not expect too much support, which made it probably a difficult time for him.

In fact, we know almost nothing about Bayezid's life and personality, he lived his life locked up in the palace. Contrary to the picture conjectured by the series, Bayezid was not particularly close to Murad and there was no bond between them. This, too, certainly played a role in Bayezid's destiny. Murad considered Selim I to be his role model, trying to follow him in everything, so he also wanted to bring back the old succession-system so that his son would follow him on the throne, and not one of his younger brothers. In addition, Murad was getting worse mentally and physically over the years, so he began to become paranoid and saw conspiracy against him in everything. These things together caused the end of Murad's brothers. After the victory of Revan in 1635, while the people celebrated he ordered the execution of two of his half-brothers, Prince Bayezid and Suleiman. Bayezid was buried in the mausoleum of his father, Ahmed I.

Şehzade Orhan

The birth, death of Prince Orhan, and his mother's identity are all unknowns. Most give his birth date between 1612 and 1617, but there is no primer evidence to suggest this. Since we know so little about him, he probably died shortly after his birth.

Şehzade Hüseyin

Prince Hüseyin was born in November 1613, not knowing who his mother was, but it is certain that it was not Kösem Sultan. The time of his death is 1617, however, we do not have a more precise date. It is interesting, however, that he was not buried in the mausoleum of his father, Ahmed I, but in his grandfather's, Mehmed III's mausoleum. The reason for this was perhaps that Ahmed's mausoleum was not completed when he died (very early 1617), which is why he was buried in Mehmed III's mausoleum. Of course, they could have been reburied him to Ahmed's mausoleum as they did with Ahmed’s previously deceased sons. We don't know why they did not rebury him. Maybe since Ahmed himself had soon passed away, there was no time for that. Maybe the prince's tomb was too fresh when the other princes were reburied so he was left out?

Şehzade Kasim

He was born in the beginning of 1614 as the son of Kösem Sultan. Prince Kasim spent a significant part of his childhood separated from his mother, locked in the kafes during the reigns of Mustafa II, Osman II, and then again Mustafa I. From 1617 to 1623 he had little or no access to his mother. It is not known how Kasim spent his childhood after 1623. As the son of Kösem and Murad's full-brother, perhaps during Murad's early reign, he was able to enjoy a little more freedom in the palace than his half-brothers. At least we can assume this when Kösem's reign lasted, until 1632.

In 1632 his life changed radically, for Kösem lost her regent position and Murad began to rule by himself with extreme strictness. This year there was a Janissary uprising in which the Janissaries, fearing that Sultan Murad had secretly executed his brothers, demanded that the Sultan show them the princes. Murad complied with the demands of the Janissaries, but never forgave the humiliation.

Little is known about Kasim's life during Murad's later reign. There are several legends based on contemporary and somewhat later accounts, however, their reliability is rather doubtful. These legends suggest that Kasim was very close to Murad. Knowing their mother, it seems logical that she tried to push the two boys to love each other, as this was how Kösem could protect her other sons from Murad. Murad and Kasim spent much time together, which Giovanni Cappello also confirms in his account from 1634. According to him, Murad regularly took Kasim with him, treated him very kindly, and even allowed his brother to grow a beard, which was not a custom among the princes living in the palace.

Knowing this, it is particularly surprising that Murad eventually turned against Kasim. Murad considered Selim I to be his role model, trying to follow him in everything, so he also wanted to bring back the old succession-system so that his son would follow him on the throne, and not one of his younger brothers. In addition, Murad was getting worse mentally and physically over the years, so he began to become paranoid and saw conspiracy against him in everything. As a result, Murad first made a fatal decision in 1635 and executed his half-brothers, Bayezid and Suleiman. He spared Kasim and his other brother, Ibrahim back then. But over time Murad's paranoia continued to grow and in 1638, after the victorious campaign in Baghdad, he also executed Kasim in the Revan Pavilion. Interestingly, barely two years later Murad died in the same place. Prince Kasim was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Suleiman

Prince Suleiman was born in 1615 as the son of an unknown concubine. Some believe he was the son of Kösem Sultan, but this is completely ruled out for two reasons. On the one hand, Kösem gave birth to Ibrahim (later Ibrahim I) in November 1615, who was surely her son, so it is not mathematically possible that in 1615 she would have given birth to another child; on the other hand, Suleiman was executed by Sultan Murad in 1635, while his full-brother Kasim was executed only in 1638. It is clear that Murad first wanted to get rid of his half-brothers, so the fact that Suleiman died in 1635 along with Bayezid (who surely was Murad's half-brother) is in itself enough proof that he was not the son of Kösem. Prince Suleiman was also buried in the mausoleum of Ahmed I.

Used sources: C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; : F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad

*    *    *

Şehzade Mehmed

Ahmed 1603 decemberében került trónra, első fia II. Oszmán 1604 novemberében jött világra, őt néhány hónappal követte Mehmed herceg. Mehmed édesanyja Köszem szultána volt és 1604 márciusában jött világra Isztambulban. Édesanyjának kiléte sokáig kérdéses volt, azonban napjainkban rendelkezésünkre állnak olyan bizonyítékok, melyek közvetetten egyértelműsítik, hogy Mehmed Köszem fiaként jött világra. Egyik ilyen bizonyíték, hogy Köszem 1605 végén vagy 1606 elején lett Haszeki szultána, ez pedig fiúgyermek születése nélkül aligha lett volna lehetséges. Másik bizonyíték egy 1611/12-ből származó követi beszámoló, mely úgy szól "a szultánnak két fia van, egyikük hét éves, másikuk hat. Emellett a szultánnak három lánya is van. Fiatalsága és termékenysége, valamint az, hogy nőkben nem szenved hiányt arra enged következtetni, hogy hamarosan több fiú fogja követni az első kettőt. Simone Contarini, aki az írás szerzője a két fiú alatt Oszmánt és Mehmedet értette, a három lány viszont minden bizonnyal tévedés lehetett, ugyanis Ahmednek ekkoriban négy lánya volt életben (Ayşe, Gevherhan, Fatma és Hanzade). Talán Contarini csak Ayşe, Fatma és Hanzade létéről tudott, ők voltak ugyanis Köszem - a kedvenc ágyas - gyermekei.

Az ellenérvek arra, hogy Mehmed nem Köszem fia volt mára megdőltek. Della Valle 1614-ben Ahmed szultán második fiát Sehzade Mahmudként jegyezte fel, melyet tévesen Murad herceggel azonosítottak néhányan, aki 1612-ben született. A Mahmud minden bizonnyal a Mehmed félreértett változata volt, nem a Muradé. Másik ellenérv volt Valier 1615-ös beszámolója, aki arról beszélt, hogy a szultán nem engedi a két idősebb herceget Köszem közelébe, ugyanis a szultán jól ismeri Köszem ambíciójit és tudja, hogy Köszem csak ártana a két hercegnek saját gyermekei érdekében. Sokan a két herceget Oszmán és Mehmed hercegekkel azonosították, azonban valószínűbb, hogy Valier Musztafára, Ahmed öccsére és Oszmánra gondolt. Különösen alátámasztja ezt Valier egyik korábbi beszámolója, ahol egyértelmen leírja, hogy a szultánnak négy fia van, kettő a halott és kettő az élő szultánáról. Mivel Mahfiruze - Oszmán anyja - 1612 körül elhunyt egyértelmű, hogy ő a halott szultána. Mahfiruze másik fia talán Bayezid herceg lehetett, aki nemsokkal Köszem - az élő szultána - második fia, Murad után született 1612-ben.

Látható, hogy az ellenérvek jóval gyengébbek, így relatív biztonsággal állíthatjuk, hogy Mehmed herceg Köszem szultána első szülött gyermeke volt. Mehmed gyermekkoráról nem sokat tudni. Ismert, hogy bár külön oktatták és nevelték Oszmán hercegtől, tanítójuk ugyanaz az Ömer Efendi volt. Oszmánnal 1612 után is voltak közös programjai Mehmednek. Köszem szultána ugyanis rendszeresen látogatott a Régi Palotába, hogy ott találkozzon Safiye szultánával, Ahmed nagyanyjával és ezekre az utakra rendszeresen vitte magával Mehmed herceget, és alkalmanként Oszmánt is. Miután Ahmed eltiltotta Oszmántól valószínűleg Mehmeddel kettesben, esetleg lányaival vagy Muraddal kiegészülve utaztak a Régi Palotába.

Mehmed első nyilvános megjelenése nemsokkal apja halála előtt volt, 1617-ben. Ekkor készült el ugyanis teljes egészében Ahmed szultán mecset kompelxuma, ahová két idősebb fiát, Oszmánt és Mehmedet is magával vitte a megnyitóra. Ahmed még az év végén elhunyt és kaotikus időszak következett. A testvérgyilkosság eltörlése régóta volt központi téma az Oszmán Birodalomban és bár maga Ahmed ellene volt és nem is végeztette ki édesöccsét, Musztafát, sosem hozott döntést arról, hogy halála után ki kövesse a trónon. Az egyetlen esély Mehmed és öccsei életének megmentésére az volt, ha az öröklési sorrendet örökre megváltoztatják. Köszem éveken át próbálta Ahmedet meggyőzni erről és bár kétségkívül köze volt ahhoz, hogy Musztafa herceg életben maradt, Ahmed halála után ő már nem tehetett semmit. Nem úgy a Köszemmel szoros szövetségben álló Haci Musztafa Aga, a fő fekete eunuch, aki befolyásával meggyőzte a divánt és ulemát, hogy Ahmed helyére a legidősebb élő herceget tegyék, a többiek életét pedig kíméljék meg. Így került I. Musztafa néven Ahmed öccse a trónra, Mehmed pedig testvéreivel együtt elzárásra a hárembe.

Keveset tudunk erről a rövid időszakról, hiszen Musztafát mentális betegsége maitt hamarosan trónfosztották és helyére Oszmánt ültették. Oszmán nagyon befolyásolható volt, mely tulajdonsága maitt gyakran hibázott. Oszmán nem volt népszerű, nem voltak támogatói, nem állt mögötte egy erős édesanya, aki segítette volna, így érthető módon rettegett Mehmed hercegtől. Mehmed csak négy hónappal volt fiatalabb, édesanyja viszont rendkívül népszerű és befolyásos asszony volt. Köszem sosem tett semmit Oszmán ellen és Oszmán maga is igyekezett jó viszont ápolni a nővel, rendszeresen látogatta a Régi Palotában. Idővel azonban Oszmán paranoiája eldurvult. 1621 tavaszán el akarta hagynia  fővárost, hogy hadjáratra induljon, azonban félt Mehmedet a fővárosban hagyni. Oszmán attól félt, hogy Köszem és Mehmed puccsot elkövetve elfoglalják a trónt, amíg ő háborúzik. A logikus lépés az lett volna, ha emiatt Oszmán magával viszi Mehmedet a hadjáratra, azonban Oszmán ennél véglegesebb megoldást akart. Emiatt a hadjárat előkészületei alatt 1621 januárjában megölette testvérét.

Mehmed minden bizonnyal pontosan látta, milyen veszélyes helyzetben van és feltételezhetjük, hogy Oszmán uralkodása alatt rettegett attól, hogy Oszmán végül feléleszti a testvérgyilkosság törvényét. Mehmed halála megrázta Isztambult, a kor és későbbi korok költői gyakran írnak erről a véres eseménnyel hatalmas undorral. Naima például nyíltan elítéli és zsarnoknak nevezi Oszmánt, amiért saját hatalma érdekében mártrírrá tett egy ártatlan herceget, Mehmed Khant. A legendák szerint amíg Mehmed életéért küzdött a kivégzőivel elátkozta Oszmánt: "Oszmán! Könyörögni fogok Allahnak, hogy egész életed és uralkodásot rettegésben teljen és sorsod legyen ugyanolyan, mint az enyém."

Akár igaz akár nem, Mehmed átka hamarosan elérte Oszmánt. Néhány nappal Mehmed halála után hatalmas hóvihar sújtott le Isztambulra, több ezer ember halálát okozva. Az emberek ezt Allah bosszújaként értelmezték Oszmán undorító cselekedete miatt, így Oszmán népszerűsége sosem látott mélységekbe süllyedt. Sikertelen hadjárata után pedig hamarosan trónfosztották és brutális módon kivégezték és megcsonkították Oszmánt.

Şehzade Cihangir

Cihangir hercegről annyit tudunk, hogy 1609-ben született és nemsokkal később el is hunyt. Édesanyjának kiléte nem ismert, viszont szinte bizton állítható, hogy nem Köszem volt. Köszem ugyanis 1609-ben egy másik gyermeknek, Hanzade szultánának adott életet, így valószínűtlen, hogy egy évben két gyermeket is világra hozott volna.

Şehzade Selim

Szelim herceg 1611 nyarán született és születése után nemsokkal meg is halt. Anyja kiléte nem ismert. Apja mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Hasan

Hasan herceg 1612 novemberében született későbbi IV. Murad és Bayezid herceg között, egy névtelen ágyas gyermekeként. Születését követően nemsokkal elhunyt és apja mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Bayezid

Bayezid herceg 1612 decemberében született néhány hónappal Murad herceg (későbbi IV. Murad) júliusi születése után. A követi beszámolók valószínűsítik, hogy Bayezid Oszmán édesöccse volt, így édesanyja neki is Mahfiruze volt. Mahfiruze innentől eltűnik a hárem jegyzőkönyvekből, talán a szülés után fellépő komplikációk, talán más okok miatt, de ebben az időszakban elhunyt.

Gyermekkoráról nem tudunk sokat. Mehmed herceg és Oszmán szultán halála után kisebb kitérővel a Bayezidnél alig idősebb Murad jutott trónra 1623-ban. Ezzel lényegében Bayezid lett a trónörökös, ami igen sok veszéllyel járt, különösen, hogy csak féltestvére volt Murad szultánnak. Murad fiatalkora miatt édesanyja Köszem szultána uralkodott a birodalmon régensként. A helyzet igen rossz volt, az elmúlt években a birodalom fokozatosan süllyedt anarchiába és vált egyre kilátástalanabbá a helyzet. Köszem és az államférfiak erősen küzdöttek, hogy a birodalmat kihúzzák a csávából, és bár értek el sikereket, nem sikerült megoldaniuk a problémákat.

1632-ben aztán egy janicsár lázadásban csúcsosodott ki a feszültség. A janicsárok kivégezték Murad több közeli bizalmasát és követelték a szultántól, hogy mutassa meg nekik a többi herceget. Murad kénytelen volt beleegyezni ebbe és megmutatta janicsároknak testvéreit, akik ekkor éltetni kezdték a hercegeket. Ezt a megaláztatást később Murad sosem felejtette el. Ekkor tapasztalta meg életében először, hogy Bayezid hatalmas veszélyt jelent rá. Nem tudni, hogy Bayezid, hogyan élte meg a helyzetet, azonban tekintettel arra, hogy nem Köszem fia volt nem számíthatott túl sok támogatásra, emiatt feltehetőleg nehéz időszak volt ez számára.

Tulajdonképpen Bayezid életéről, személyiségéről szinte semmit nem tudunk, életét a palotába elzárva élte. A sorozat által sejtetett képpel ellentétben, Bayezid nem állt különösebben közel Muradhoz és nem volt köztük semmi kötelék. Ennek is minden bizonnyal szerepe volt Bayezid végzetében. Murad példaképének I. Szelimet tartotta, őt próbálta követni mindenben, így a régi öröklési rendet is vissza akarta hozni, hogy utána fia kövesse a trónon, ne pedig öccsei közül valaki. Emellett Murad mentálisan és fizikailag is egyre rosszabb állapotban volt az évek során, így kezdett paranoiddá válni és mindenben konspirációt látott személye ellen. Ezek együttesen okoztákazt, hogy 1635-ben a győztes revani hadjárata után, míg az emberek ünnepeltek ő elrendelte két féltestvére, Bayezid és Szulejmán hercegek kivégzését. Bayezidet apja, I. Ahmed mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Orhan

Orhan herceg születése, halála és anyja kiléte egyaránt ismeretlen. A legtöbben 1612 és 1617 közé teszik születését, de nincs erre utaló bizonyíték. Mivel ennyire semmit nem tudunk róla, valószínűleg röviddel születése után elhunyt.

Şehzade Hüseyin

Hüseyin herceg 1613 novemberében jött világra, nem tudni, hogy ki volt az édesanyja, ám az bizonyos, hogy nem Köszem. Halálának ideje 1617, azonban pontosabb időpont nem áll rendelkezésünkre. Érdekesség viszont, hogy nem Ahmed mauzóleumában, hanem nagyapja III. Mehmed mauzóleumában temették el. Ennek oka talán az volt, hogy Ahmed mauzóleuma még nem készült el, mikor meghalt, emiatt III. Mehmedébe temették. Természetesen újratemethették volna, mint Ahmed korábban elhunyt fiait, azonban mivel Ahmed maga is nemsoká elhunyt erre nem jutott idő. Esetleg túl friss volt a sír, amikor a többi herceget újratemették, így ő kimaradt?

Şehzade Kasim

1614 legelején jött világra Köszem szultána fiaként. Kasim herceg gyermekkorának jelentős részét édesanyjától elszakítva töltötte, elzárva a kafesben I. Musztafa, II. Oszmán majd újra I. Musztafa uralkodása alatt. 1617-től 1623-ig nem vagy csak alig találkozhatott édesanyjával. Nem tudni, hogy Kasim gyermekkorát hogyan töltötte. Mivel Köszem fia volt és Murad édestestvére, talán Murad 1623-ban kezdődő uralkodása alatt valamivel nagyobb szabadságot élvezhetett a palotában, mint féltestvérei. Legalábbis feltételezhetjük ezt amíg tartott Köszem uralma, 1632-ig.

1632-ben élete gyökeresen megváltozott, ugyanis Köszem elveszítette régensi pozícióját és Murad kezdett vasszigorral uralkodni. Ebben az évben zajlott egy janicsár felkelés, mely során a janicsárok félve attól, hogy Murad szultán titokban kivégeztette öccseit, követelték, hogy a szultán mutassa meg a herceget. Murad eleget tett a janicsárok követeléseinek, azonban sosem bocsátotta meg a megaláztatást.

Kasim életéről Murad uralkodása alatt keveset tudunk. Több legenda is létezik korabeli és valamivel későbbi beszámolókra alapozva, azonban ezek megbízhatósága meglehetősen kétséges. Ezek a legendák azt sugallják, hogy Kasim igen közel állt Muradhoz. Ismerve édesanyjukat logikusnak tűnik, hogy igyekezett úgy nevelni, hogy a két fiú szeresse egymást, hiszen így óvhatta leginkább Köszem többi fiát Muradtól. Úgy tartják, hogy Murad és Kasim sok időt töltöttek együtt, amit Giovanni Cappello követi beszámolója is alátámaszt 1634-ből. Szerint Murad rendszeresen vitte magával Kasimot, nagyon kedvesen bánt vele és még azt is megengedte öccsének, hogy szakállt viselhessen, ami nem volt szokás a palotában élő hercegek között.

Ennek fényében különösen meglepő, hogy Murad végül Kasim ellen fordult. Murad példaképének I. Szelimet tartotta, őt próbálta követni mindenben, így a régi öröklési rendet is vissza akarta hozni, hogy utána fia kövesse a trónon, ne pedig öccsei közül valaki. Emellett Murad mentálisan és fizikailag is egyre rosszabb állapotban volt az évek során, így kezdett paranoiddá válni és mindenben konspirációt látott személye ellen. Ennek eredményeként Murad először 1635-ben hozott meg egy végzetes döntés és végeztette ki féltestvéreit, Bayezid és Szulejmán hercegeket. Ekkor Kasimot és másik öccsét, Ibrahimot megkímélte. Idővel azonban Murad paranoiája tovább nőtt és 1638-ban a győztes bagdadi hadjárata után kivégeztette Kasimot is, a Revan Pavilonban. Érdekesség, hogy alig két évvel később Murad ugyanitt halt meg megtörve. Kasim herceget édesapja mauzóleumában temették el.

Şehzade Szulejmán

Szulejmán herceg 1615-ben született egy ismeretlen ágyas fiaként. Egyesek úgy tartják Köszem szultána fia volt, ám ez teljességgel kizárt két okból is. Egyrészt Köszem 1615 novemberében adott életet Ibrahimnak (későbbi I. Ibrahim), aki tudottan az ő fia volt, így matematikailag nem lehetséges, hogy 1615-ben egy másik gyermeknek is életet adott volna; másrészt Szulejmánt 1635-ben végeztette ki Murad szultán, míg édestestvérét Kasimot csupán 1638-ban. Egyértelmű, hogy Murad először féltestvéreitől akart megszabadulni, így a tény, hogy Szulejmán 1635-ben halt meg, önmagában is elég bizonyíték, hogy nem Köszem fia volt. Szulejmán herceget is I. Ahmed mauzóleumában temették el.

Felhasznált források: C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; : F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad

[timothypines]

Is Classical Music Dead? (Essay)

How does society determine when a particular genre of music is dead? From this question, multiple others are born. For example, do we consider that the inspiration from music continued throughout popular genres as the survival of what it was originally? Or is it dead because it has changed into something different from its original form? When it comes to classical music, it isn’t really as question about whether or not it is dead, but if it’s dying. Classical music is still being performed, listened to, and celebrated in communities today, so calling it dead seems premature, even foolish. That’s not to say that the average person believing classical music is dying is without merit; classical music isn’t usually on the radar for say a random person asked off the street. However, when looked at from the perspective of the musical community, classical music is positively flourishing and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

           In a New York Times Article, a violinist showed concern that the classical music industry was dying. Some readers responded in letters reacting to the concerns she expressed. The violinist started by saying, “A schoolboy recently asked me if Richard Wagner was a pitcher for the Yankees. At that moment I feared that classical music in America was doomed” (Dreyer). Like this violinist expressed, most people in the music community, and outside the community, acknowledge that classical music isn’t a subject that most people going through life know a whole lot about. While many know some parts of classical pieces and perhaps some names of famous composers, their knowledge is surface level and, for the most part, they don’t seek to learn more. This reflects in some worrying trends in the industry. Classical radio stations were shutting down, concerts were being reduced and canceled, less and less were classical musicians being discussed (Dreyer). Classical music simply isn’t popular. But from this trend came a great wave of musicians, teachers, and lovers of classical music who were determined to spread the love and knowledge of a music they deemed immensely important, and rightfully so.

           Most all of the music we have and enjoy today has elements that came from classical music, from the most basic to the more complex. The major-minor scale system that is commonly used in the majority of today’s music was first put into use in the baroque period. It was in this period that the scale system was also standardized (Willoughby). In fact, the baroque period standardized a great many musical tools, styles, and elements. From this period developed keyboard music, which lead to the invention of the modern piano, an instrument that can be argued to be the most important instrument when it comes to creating music, harmony, a base element in most music performed today, and the establishment of the orchestra (Willoughby). It would take a long time to list all of the musical elements gained and standardized in the baroque period, but it is certain that music would not look nearly the same if not for the major development that occurred.

           The baroque period, while very important, wasn’t the only period that significantly influenced music. The romantic period brought what was missing from music in the baroque period back into the musical community, emotion. A big emphasis on music today is how it makes the listener feel. While the baroque period brought technicality, all emotion was sacrificed for ridged structure and extremely complex technique. Beethoven put emotion into his music, effectively shifting people’s approach to composing. Willoughby writes, “These attributes of Beethoven mirror the attributes of the Romantic period as a whole; it was a time when artistic expression became highly individual and personal, and also highly emotional” (Willoughby, 253). With this wave of emotion came another change; music started being made for music’s sake. Composers started writing what they wanted to hear instead of what was popular or what the church needed for service. A large part of what music is now has come from classical music, and most people within the music community, of many genres, understand and respect this.

           It is important to be noted that while people respect the roots that classical music has provided, that doesn’t mean that people are very supportive of how it exists, or rather, how they believe it exists. There is a notion that classical music is elitist, for the rich and privileged only. One could point to the expensive ticketing for opera and ballets and orchestra performances to prove this point, but there are many things that are just as or even more expensive than these tickets that people don’t find elitist—for example, sporting events (Cross-eyed Pianist). Some people will point at the etiquette and dress for attendance at a concert hall. The fact remains, however, that opera houses and concert halls have no official dress code or strict rules everyone must follow. Music blogger and commenter goes on to say, “It troubles me, this negative perception of classical music and its fans, and it strikes me that currently there is an image crisis surrounding classical music. It wasn’t always like this. When I was growing up in the 1970s, there was more classical music in our everyday lives” (Cross-eyed Pianist). Most people have the notion that classical music is only accessible to and is only made for those better off than themselves, even though it has been available to and made for everyone’s ears for centuries now.

With that in mind, the love for classical music itself has not died out yet. There is a vast and passionate community of musicians, teachers, and listeners who adore classical music and saw it failing in the wider community. These people have worked hard and are continuing to work hard to spread a passion for classical music. An excellent example of some people doing this is the YouTube duo who run the channel Two Set Violin. On this channel they make comedy sketches, play games, and react to videos. All of this content is tied together by one thing, classical music. Brett and Eddy, the two friends who run Two Set, are professionally trained violinists who decided to make a YouTube channel to try and spread love for classical music. It was also important to them to make classical music and the education of classical music more accessible. They teach about music in an engaging, funny way all while encouraging their audience to create and perform music. Their saying is simply ‘practice’. They encourage their musician audience members by reminding them that no one who is really good at playing an instrument got there without hard work and tell them to keep practicing. Two Set has even brought on large musicians like Hillary Han and Benny Chen to talk about their experiences and the importance of practicing. This helps to break the stereotype of not only what a classical musician looks like, but how they act and how much work goes into their music. In one video, while reacting to an American Idol performance with two violinists, one of the judges says, “It’s so nice to see such young, good looking guys that play the violin because usually they’re like old and bald and, you know, a bit greasy” (Two Set Violin). They respond by pointing out that they themselves are young and that this is a negative stereotype. In another video they react to a man that says he is the fastest violin player in the world. Brett says, “the world needs to know that classical music is more than just playing fast” (Two Set Violin).  In these two videos, Brett and Eddy are challenging the media’s, and greater public’s, view of classical music, the view that classical music is old, for old people, and the people who participate are elitists who only care about perfection and technicality. And they have done so much more than videos like these reaction to other musicians. They have had videos where they have their followers compose a piece and send it to them to play. They have asked people to send in clips of them performing for them to react to. In so many ways these two violinists have gotten so many people involved in classical music. Over the years they have grown a great following of people who love participating in classical music, whether that be through performance or listening; as of today, they have almost 3 million subscribers (Two Set Violin). Brett and Eddy aren’t the only people who have gotten the public more involved in classical music. As social media has grown, classical musicians have become increasingly accessible to the public. The violinist Hillary Han often posts on Instagram videos of her practicing and other music related things, but she also speaks on social issues and gives insight into her life. This shows all 300,000 followers she is human (violincase).

           It is difficult to say whether or not a musical genre is dead, and even harder to say if it’s dying. The act of music dying would take centuries, and even then, there are arguments to be made that because other music that exists was influenced by the ‘dead’ music, it still lives. Classical music was the popular music for centuries, its memory will not so easily fade, especially to the point where it is considered a dead genre. Even if it is not a popular genre today, classical music is being kept alive by the musicians who perform it and the people who love to listen to it. Music is art that decorates and marks time, and so, as long as people paint time with classical music, it is not dead.

     Work Cited

Dreyer, Les. “Sunday Dialogue: Is Classical Music Dying?” The New York Times, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-is-classical-music-dying.html

Willoughby, David. The World of Music. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Kindle Edition.

The Cross-Eyed Pianist. “Who Made Classical Music ‘elitist’?” The Cross-Eyed Pianist, 2019. https://crosseyedpianist.com/2019/07/24/who-made-classical-music-elitist/

Two Set Violin. “The World's FASTEST (and most INACCURATE) VIOLINIST!” YouTube, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsvaCU6i1M&ab_channel=TwoSetViolin

Two Set Violin. “Classical Violinists React to Mainstream Violin Competitions” YouTube, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uVN5Fb_Z44&ab_channel=TwoSetViolin

Han, Hillary. “@violincase” Instagram.

[southeastasianists]

On Monday, 1 February, in the early hours before Myanmar’s Parliament was set to convene, the military (Tatmadaw) overthrew the country’s elected government and detained more than 100 prominent lawmakers and activists. The move seems to put an end to the country’s inchoate democratic transition, which first began in 2010 when the Tatmadaw allowed multiparty elections, paving the way to a semi-civilian parliamentary democracy in 2011.

What events precipitated the military coup? Why did the military intervene in electoral politics now, only ten years after the country’s partial democratic transition? And what comes next?

In the last week of January the military had rung alarm bells by repeatedly raising complaints of electoral fraud and erroneous voter lists that its close affiliate the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) had initiated in the wake of national elections in November 2020. Most observers were surprised given the military had previously affirmed the “successful holding” of the general election and at first refrained from endorsing the USDP’s claims of election fraud. Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun refused to rule out the possibility of a coup in a press briefing on 26 January. Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing ominously stated that if the law was not followed, the military might have to “discard” or “tear up the constitution.” However the military quickly alleviated fears of a coup days later when the Tatmadaw issued a statement insisting that the media had mischaracterised Min Aung Hlaing’s statement and that the military pledged to “abide by the Constitution.”

In retrospect, the specific wording of the statement should have been seen as a red flag: “the Tatmadaw will perform its tasks within the frame of enacted law while safeguarding the Constitution.” The Tatmadaw views itself as the defender of national unity and sovereignty and is committed to its particular form of “disciplined democracy.” As such, the military claims to be acting in defence of the 2008 Constitution and attempts to justify its actions as a legitimate recourse to uphold the rule of law.

Soon after taking power, the military issued another statement announcing that Vice President Myint Swe, now serving as Interim President, had declared a state of emergency and transferred all power to Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing. The military furthermore stated that it would serve for one year, citing sections 417 and 418 of the 2008 military-drafted constitution, and multiple complaints of election fraud, as pretext for its seizing power. Section 417 grants the president the power to declare a state of emergency “after co-ordinating with the National Defence and Security Council” in the event of a crisis “that may cause the loss of sovereignty,” while Section 418(a) specifies that the President shall transfer all “legislative, executive and judicial powers” to the Commander-in-Chief “to carry out necessary measures to speedily restore its original situation in the Union.”

The military has since announced a new cabinet featuring many familiar faces from the previous USDP government. Two days after the coup, the Tatmadaw filed charges against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for violating the Import and Export Law after allegedly finding six unregistered walkie-talkies searching her house. President Win Myint, who also represents Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), is facing similar charges for breach of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions by greeting NLD supporters during the pre-election campaign period.

The series of coordinated steps, the widespread presence of security forces in Naypyidaw and Yangon on the day of the coup, and the constitutional justifications put forward to justify the military takeover, all suggest that this move was premeditated. Yet Myanmar analysts are left wondering why the army decided to take power now.

Let us consider several possible explanations. First, it is worthwhile—for the sake of argument—to take the military’s claims that they are defending the Constitution at face value. It seems clear from many conversations with sources in Myanmar and based on cursory analysis of Tatmadaw statements throughout January that the military genuinely believes its own propaganda and thus committed itself to a path with no offramp except constitutional crisis. The consistency of the military’s rhetoric supports this explanation. In a statement harking back to the language of the former military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing vowed “to practice the genuine, discipline-flourishing multiparty democratic system in a fair manner.” If the armed forces truly believe that the NLD had impeded the legitimate functioning of constitutional democracy by refusing to hear complaints of electoral fraud (the Union Election Commission had dismissed its complaints, while the Supreme Court was set to deliberate a case prior to the military coup), perhaps it felt it had no choice but to block Parliament from convening.

Yet several factors indicate the shortfalls of relying on this explanation alone. For starters, if the military simply wanted to ensure that its claims of electoral fraud were heard and that the Supreme Court was able to issue a decision before an NLD-led Parliament could convene, then why did it need to declare emergency rule for a whole year? Secondly, if the military’s appeals to the legitimacy of its coup rest on Sections 417 and 418 of the 2008 Constitution, why did it file relatively minor criminal charges against Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint? If the real threat was to the integrity of the Union, why would it not pursue more serious charges of sedition against Suu Kyi and the NLD? As Myanmar constitutional scholar Melissa Crouch has pointed out, “Even if the military had evidence of voter fraud, it is not self-evident that election fraud constitutes an emergency. The Constitution is clear that an emergency is an extraordinary situation that poses a grave threat to the country.”

Significantly, by detaining President Win Myint in the process, the military also bypassed the constitutionally mandated decision-making process to declare a state of emergency, which power falls to the President alone. However, as Win Myint was detained, it’s not clear how he could have convened the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) and declared a state of emergency. Thus, the military’s claims of defending the constitution break down under closer scrutiny.

A second possible motivation for the coup is tied to the underlying power struggle between the military and civilian government. Many observers note that the Tatmadaw sees Suu Kyi as a threat to its interests. Her party is committed to amending the undemocratic 2008 Constitution, which the military drafted without input from other parties or civil society under the previous junta. Its failed attempt rankled the Tatmadaw in early 2020. Aung San Suu Kyi has also refused to convene the powerful National Defence and Security Council dominated by military commanders. Reflecting the deep state of distrust between the State Counsellor and Commander-in-Chief, the two reportedly had not met for more than a year. Perhaps a collision was inevitable.

Yet this theory seems overly simplistic for several reasons. First and perhaps most obviously, Suu Kyi’s efforts to reform the 2008 Constitution met with failure after the military quarter in Parliament blocked a vote of support. So the NLD’s threat to the military’s constitution was mostly symbolic. Moreover, the Tatmadaw had little incentive to interfere in politics since its interests were protected by the fact that it wrote the constitution to guarantee its continued power and control over several important government ministries. Further undermining this line of reasoning is the fact that Suu Kyi has been careful not to criticise the military. In fact, she went to enormous lengths to try and earn its trust, repeatedly praising the Tatmadaw, which her father General Aung San founded. Most notably in 2019 she appeared at the International Court of Justice to defend the military against accusations of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Barring the first two possible explanations—that the Tatmadaw was genuinely acting in defence of the 2008 Constitution, or that the underlying struggle for power between the NLD and armed forces led to a breakdown—a third motivation may have been Min Aung Hlaing’s personal ambitions. Supporting this third explanation are several related factors. Min Aung Hlaing was set to retire from the position of Commander-in-Chief in July, after the retirement age was officially extended to 65 in 2016. There were also rumours that Min Aung Hlaing had held presidential ambitions of his own. But which party would he join? The USDP had lost credibility and performed abysmally in both 2015 and 2020, and newly created parties in 2020 fared equally poorly. The senior general likely refrained from stepping down to contest elections (he would have had to first win a seat in Parliament to be eligible for the presidency) as he saw no discernible path to the presidency.

Second, as stated above, the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi had refused to convene the National Defence and Security Council almost certainly grated on the Commander-in-Chief. More specifically, the NDSC was expected to appoint Min Aung Hlaing’s successor following his retirement, a decision made in conjunction with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a member of the NDSC in her position as Foreign Minister. It is plausible that Suu Kyi wanted to wait out Min Aung Hlaing’s retirement before proposing a more reform-minded general to succeed him. These concerns likely loomed large in the senior general’s calculations leading up to the military putsch.

Yet even if the decision to launch the coup ultimately fell to Min Aung Hlaing alone, he needed to persuade a significant coterie of underlings to support it. The Tatmadaw works as an enormous institution. While commands may be directed top-down, they require broad buy-in to enforce. Rather than owing to the senior general’s boundless appetite for power alone, the coup was more likely the result of a combination of the above factors: the military sincerely believed that election fraud occurred; it felt backed into a corner as tensions with the elected leadership came to a head; and Min Aung Hlaing, hungry for personal aggrandisement and bitterly opposed to Aung San Suu Kyi’s dominant position, sensed an opportunity.

Despite the seeming incredulity of the military and USDP’s claims of fraud, there is reason to take the Tatmadaw’s insistence on the legitimacy of such claims seriously. That is not to say that fraud occurred—numerous election observers and the Union Election Commission found no evidence to support these allegations. But what matters is that the military believes it occurred and acted with complete conviction that the NLD had rigged the election. After all, it has been repeating such claims for the past month ad nauseum—though foreign analysts, not wanting to hear it or not wanting to acknowledge the military’s grievances, treated the claims as absurd and roundly dismissed them.

When it doubled down on its dispute of the election results, the Tatmadaw backed itself into a corner from which there was no way out. Thus the standoff between the military and civilian camps reached a boiling point when negotiations broke down in the days immediately preceding the coup. Finally, sensing a shrinking window of opportunity to block the NLD from forming a new government despite the military’s objections, Min Aung Hlaing, nearing retirement and running out of options, decided the time to act was now.

What comes next largely comes down to the Commander-in-Chief’s calculus and perception of regime stability, the Tatmadaw’s response to domestic protests (which are mounting), and potential for defections, which cannot be ruled out entirely.

Whether the current crisis leads to a peaceful resolution or crackdown also depends on what the regime decides to do with Aung San Suu Kyi. If they block her from participating in politics the people will almost certainly revolt. If instead they choose to negotiate with her and NLD leaders (which seems less likely), it is possible Myanmar’s democracy will re-emerge, though significantly hobbled by any power-sharing agreement struck with the military. The military may be intent to follow through on its pledge to hold elections, but they will be neither free nor fair, ensuring the continuation of “soft” military rule in one form or another perhaps akin to Thailand.

The military almost certainly recognises that it cannot turn back to the clock to a dictatorship identical to that before 2011. If it is to peaceably withstand the enormous pressures building from popular resentment against the coup, it will have to make significant concessions to the people. One avenue that Min Aung Hlaing has likely considered is a Thai-style constitution which cements the military’s dominant presence in the legislature (perhaps over and above the previous 25 percent guaranteed by the 2008 Constitution) as well as more control over the appointed Union Election Commission, the leadership of which the NLD nominated after winning the 2015 election. However, this will not assuage the demands of angry protesters, who have called on the military to relinquish power entirely.

It is conceivable that popular protests, which this week expanded to tens and likely hundreds of thousands, could force the new regime to step aside and release NLD leaders sooner than anticipated. The Tatmadaw and Min Aung Hlaing, however, do not have a history of backing down in the face of resistance. Further bloodshed and repression therefore remain probable. The international community will be watching closely for opportunities to persuade the generals to exercise restraint in the hopes of finding a political solution.