#devotion is definitely considered a fundamental aspect of relationships!

[trashlie]

kousuke.exe not only stopped working but was unable to process the input and was glitching and malfunctioning the entire night lmaooo sigh. i want to remain hopeful that this night will spark at least some kind of change in him despite yui doing yui things… but we'll see.

speaking of yu jing, do you think rand has assured her some kind of protection from yui once the article comes out? yu jing must be aware of how risky all this is. is she prepared for when yui seeks her revenge? idk maybe i'm overthinking this because i'm from a country where journalists get killed all the time, but i still wonder what makes yu jing so brave. what is, to her, worth making an enemy of yui? is it really just righteousness? i'm lowkey really scared for her tbh but ahh i can't wait til we get to the article.

aahhh i'm glad the romance is giving you everything you want!!! it may not be my personal focus but i do enjoy the romance in ily a lot. slowly learning about all the ways shinae and nol are delicately interwoven has been a delight. it adds so much to the story and i can see their romance blooming into something very beautiful! and please, i'm looking forward to you talking about them in more detail when/if you have the time <3

…..actually, thinking about it, maybe "devotion" wasn't the word i was looking for 😅 sorry, i'm not a native speaker so i wasn't aware the religious connotations were so strong. but i really like your interpretation, and it was very kind of you to not dismiss it! i guess i was looking for something stronger and more emotional than "loyalty". because to me, shinae's actions read not only as "you were a good friend to me so i'll be a good friend to you", but also as "you mean a lot to me and i don't want to lose you". idk if there is even a word that captures this?

and not to get too analytical but i find it interesting to compare nol to minhyuk in that aspect. maybe you will disagree but imo shinae's actions aren't necessarily romantic. i believe she'd be just as affected and do the same things if it was minhyuk, who is similarly meaningful to her. except with nol, there is a different layer to it. there is the soulmateism she isn't aware of (yet), but she IS aware of her heart thumping and not being able to hold his gaze, there's also the change in his behavior, and her attraction to rand which she still has to unpack (it's not just for comedic effect it's obvious she's projecting lol) and i cannot wait for her to do the math and realize what's happening lmao it will likely take her some time but that's fine. she'll get there 👍 and yes yes yes after everything these two (and kousuke too) have been through all i want is a happy ending whatever that may look like 🥺 and therapy for all of them. maybe they can get a group discount /j

-lil anon 😼

That is a REALLY good point about Yujing. It's partly why I do believe this piece she's working on started with her friend at the root - it HAS to be worth risking her career and potentially life. Yujing surely knows the risks she's taking. I remember at the beginning of 151 she tells her friend that what she's working on might take several years, but that it's something her friend would be very interested in. If Manli is the friend Yujing has that was sa'd, then it would give her a reason to chase the story, I think. Once she finds out Nol pled guilty, though, she calls her mysterious contact and the story that once was seemed like it would take years suddenly has only the amount of time as Nol's sentencing.

Isn't that interesting? I still am not entirely sure what to make of it. Clearly everyone expected Nol to plead not guilty, for the trial proceedings to take place, for Shinae to give her testimony. Also something that stands out to me - Meg was told her testimony wasn't needed, that it wouldn't matter if she testified anyway because it'd get thrown out and before Nol could get much more out of her, Yui appeared. Not so subtle, right?

That's a small tangent lol but the point is: yes, I think that this is an important story to Yujing, not just for her journalistic integrity, but for something more personal. Vindication for a friend? For multiple friends? Because while I don't know if Yujing is aware of the full extent of how Yui has raised Kousuke, I think she knows enough to sense otherwise. She was disappointed to find that Kousuke hadn't changed, much like Nol is disappointed he hasn't changed - in a way, they've been rooting for him to come to the conclusion we have, right? They've been waiting for him to really comprehend the full scope of his life the who his mother is.

Another interesting thing is that Yui absolutely tries to play her tricks with Yujing, to put on that maternal mask, but Yujing doesn't even bother entertaining her. Also, that day that she was interviewing Nol, Yujing wrapped up with Yui's entrance. She definitely has an inkling that Yui's presence would compromise Nol's responses and make him uncomfortable, and she could probably deduce that was exactly what Yui was hoping for, to meddle more than she already had.

And that comes to another point about Yui. She notes that what she's doing with Nol is below her paygrade and she's doing it as a favor to Rand, but I have to wonder if it wasn't rather self-serving. Nol's drug-related charges link right back to Yui, and we have enough to deduce that this isn't the first time Yui has provided such drugs. If you haven't read this post yet, please do! It poses an interesting link between Kousuke's college incident and Yui providing drugs.

All this to say: I think the story must be very important to Yujing for her to tackle it, knowing who Yui Hirahara is and what she's capable of. But it also leaves us wondering what kind of protection can Rand even provide? He couldn't protect Nol. He couldn't protect Kousuke, though perhaps he was just too late. He can't even really do much to protect himself. And the way the judge managing Nol's case just so happened to retire? We know she pulled some kind of strings, intimidated someone, something. She has so much power and we don't even know the extent of it all. So. What kind of protection can Rand even afford her?

But yes, I do worry about the outcome of this story, even though I also look forward to it. It feels like it will end up being a bombshell in a lot of ways. I also wonder about how the setting of ILY plays into this. In the past, quimchee has referred to it as the United States of Korea - not quite Korea, definitely not America, but as the story has unfolded and characters have gone to and from America, England, Ireland, Japan, does that mean we definitively are set in Korea - and if yes are we following Korean laws? Libel and slander in Korea are a big deal - you could sue someone for running a story defaming you, even if they reported the truth! And again, with the contacts Yui seems to have, I have to wonder what her reach is.

I guess that's what makes Yujing seem like such a cool and formidable character. I want to know what she knows lol i want to know what her angle is. Also while I'm talking about her, here's something interesting I just noticed. Yujing spoke of Kousuke and Nol with familiarity when she interrupted their fancy meal. She said that it was a surprise to see them getting along enough to eat because the atmosphere would be hostile whenever they were in the same room together. There's also that history between her and Nol and her dog Senator. It raises some questions - when has Yujing been around them together? Especially because of the way Yui played dumb about her; it could be an act altogether, asking if they went to university together full well knowing it's so.

Also one other thing while I'm on this subject lol. The morning that Yujing saw on the news Nol pleaded guilty, she was going through a news story about an altercation between Nol and Kousuke. Without knowing the angle of her story, I wasn't sure what this had to do with what she's working on - sure the framing of Nol as a bad person plays into it, but also - during his interview with Yujing, before it got cut off, he says to her "It's not the first time the truth has been twisted in the media to fit a narrative". Is he speaking about that article, the one that frames him as the aggressor? Is that the one Kousuke has that fabricated memory of? Ahhhhhhh the more I think about what Yujing is working on the more desperate I become to read it!

and please, i'm looking forward to you talking about them in more detail when/if you have the time <3

This will definitely be coming hopefully soon! It's just something that's been on my mind as I reread lol. Like you said, it's very delicately woven! For me, there's something about watching two characters really come to matter to each other; it's not something I feel like I'm good at writing myself, but it's something that just really gets to me. I'm definitely ILY for the story and learning about their pasts, and seeing what will come of everyone, but the possibility of romance is just the icing on the cake, tbh! I really enjoy scenes where we get to see Shinae be honest, and we tend to get those when Nol is involved lol. (But also while looking at some earlier chapters I got weirdly emotional re-reading Yujing and Shinae's first meeting at the mall, when she helped pick out clothes that flatter her and Shinae asked if it was weird or wrong to favor comfort over style and Yujing reassured her it's not. idk it was a nice little moment, Shinae deserves all the reassurance!)

But I definitely get what you mean! I think devotion DOES work - frankly I'm not a particularly religious person I think of devotion as lol one of those foundations for a lasting marriage/partnership lmao. And I don't think it necessarily needs to be seen as a romantic thing, either! I just enjoy the religious imagery of it because it makes it feel somehow... idk, transcendent? Since right, it's a stronger word that loyalty is! And I do agree that her devotion, her dedication, her insistence on being there itself is not inherently romantic, which is what I love about it!

Idk how to explain this so please bare with me lol. It's like... to me romance isn't a raging forest fire, because eventually that kind of fire will just. Burn up and one day all that will be left is ash. It burns hot and strong and it's passionate, until there's nothing left. But a steady burning flame? Something that isn't so extreme, isn't so magnificent? But it's steady and constant, it's reassuring. You can trust it to continue. Sure a candle will eventually burn itself out but it's not like that wildfire that just burns and consumes until there's nothing left.

So when it comes to romance and things that seem otherwise mundane, I love it SO MUCH. Because I think it really plays into that narrative of how do you even define platonic vs romantic love? Shinae could very well have the most platonic feelings about Nol and still want to sit by his bed and keep watch over him, to make sure he's okay, to make sure he doesn't go out of her sight again. She absolutely would do the same thing for Minhyuk, someone we know is one of the most important people to her outside of her family. She did it as much as she could for her father when he was in that same position, too.

there is the soulmateism she isn't aware of (yet), but she IS aware of her heart thumping and not being able to hold his gaze, there's also the change in his behavior, and her attraction to rand which she still has to unpack (it's not just for comedic effect it's obvious she's projecting lol) and i cannot wait for her to do the math and realize what's happening lmao

THE BIG DUMB SMILE THAT GREW ON MY FACE WHILE READING IT because that's it THAT'S EXACTLY IT lol that's why it just GETS to me! Because she WOULD do this for any other person she loves, anyone else who is important to her, but this isn't any other person, it's him, and it's the way she can't hold his gaze, it's their tendency to lean towards each other (metaphorically or literally), it's the way he's let his defenses down a little more than she's used to, it's the way he's acting on something she once upon a time thought he was and told him not to but now she's not so concerned about crossing that line. In fact, that's BEEN going on! She went from telling him not to be too familiar with her lest he make his girlfriend mad at him waaaaaaay back before the formal to LMAO holding his dumb hands because it brings her comfort so she assumes it will do the same for him. It's all those little things!!!!!!!!

I, too, am waiting for her to have that realization that this version of Nol, this side of him he's shown her, that intensity, is SO much like Rand LMAO. I fully agree - that was not simply for comedic affect LMAO that was a little seed planted (although, hands down, the conversation Nol and Kousuke have following that is one of my FAVORITE scenes. There's something about the way Nol is just. Talking to Kousuke like maybe they don't hate each other and maybe they aren't at each others' throats all the time, casually noting that sure he finds Dieter's mom hot but is he going to SAY so and Kousuke just like PLEASE SHUT UP THIS IS SO UNCOMFORTABLE such a FUNNY scene lmao).

BUT ANYWAY YEAH IT'S EXACTLY THAT!!!!!!! I love love that isn't grand and overstated. Like, that's fine and I definitely can enjoy a really grand gesture, they're fun to read! But I love the kind of love that blooms from a seed that was planted long ago and maybe you didn't even realize you were nurturing it but eventually it grows and will bloom and that bud has grown and it may not have completely unfurled itself but. In time!!! Soon!!!!! It's the "calling insistently to check up on you and worrying even when i'm told you're okay because i want to hear it for myself". It's the "defending you even when you aren't around to see it because it's not an act i put on you are special and i don't like it when people mistreat you." It's the way!!! Her acts of care!!!! Linger even after she's gone!!!!! It's the way he always seems to reel from whatever mark she's left - her hands bunching up his coat, the earbud she returns to him, the stupid chicken nugget hand holding. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH all these little moments that could just as easily remain platonic, except they're stirring something up!!!!!

That they are each people who aren't good at receiving care from others but end up doing exactly that for each other! And how they receive that concern and care! Nol always seems SO affected by the times she pays attention to him, when she notices things. The medicine she bought him!!!!!!! Because he is a person who deserves to be taken care of!!!! When no one else but Nana does that. ;A; Like alfkjakfjkjaf lmao see I'm accidentally going on the tangent already but that's! Exactly what I love about them. That, as you put it, they are so delicately woven, it's been happening all along but NOW we can see that tapestry they've been weaving. We can see exactly how they've affected each other in a way that's led to these flirty little fingers dancing, to this additional layer atop something that could be otherwise so platonic. It could be Minhyuk and she'd still be asleep at the side of his bed, but it's not, it's Nol, and that makes all the difference.

;A;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GROUP DISCOUNT THERAPY FOR ALL!!!!!!!!! lmao I really do look forward to the end even though I HATE things ending and I tend to hold off finishing them as long as I can lmao because I get sad but ILY is special because I DO hope as many characters can get the happy endings they deserve, can find the comforting peace they need. I think everyone will always carry some kind of baggage, but bagage isn't as heavy if you can share it with someone, if someone can lighten the load. I mean that very platonically, too - I just want to see these characters find some kind of peace and have someone who understands, who gives them that space.

But I definitely want them all to get therapy LMAO PLS

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

2, 15, 18, 19 for the pagan ask

lmao another pretty long one. keep reading if you dare.

2. What draws you to your Gods? What do you like about them?

i like that they're good and true and powerful and inspiring. they embody virtues and qualities that we, as mortals, aspire to emulate. zeus and his justice, athena and her wisdom, dionysus and his vitality, etc. also, they offer us ample opportunity to celebrate. the festivals, rituals and offerings allow us, through joy and sacrifice and meditation, to stop a moment and really appreciate this gift of life. the gods embody the essence of nature and through them we are able to connect ourselves to a larger cosmic order and recognize the divinity inherent in every aspect of life. i can keep going but you get the picture.

15. Are you faithful to one specific pantheon or is your belief more eclectic?

i consider myself to be a sort of perennialist with special emphasis on indo-european pantheons. i view all indo-european pantheons as different expressions of the same fundamental metaphysical principles, as they all come from the same source. of all the pantheons in the world i think they come closest to approximating some kind of "truth" about the world. so i'm "receptive" to all indo-european pantheons, a sort of indo-european syncretism.

with that said, i do tend to primarily focus on germanic, greco-roman, and vedic pantheons. but that's mostly because that's where the bulk of our information about prechristian indo-european paganism comes from. (and also i am, genetically, mostly germanic and my country is, spiritually, connected to greco-roman civilization.)

which god and from which pantheon i invoke and/or venerate in a given moment is pretty ad hoc. sometimes it's jupiter, sometimes it's zeus, sometimes it's indra or odin or woden or taranis. it depends on what feels right in a given moment. if i'm out in the woods doing something with my asatru buddies and i'm surrounded by runes or something then i'll probably emphasize the norse pantheon.

so yeah, i'm pretty "eclectic" and syncretic but within the bounds of indo-european paganisms. but i don't really think of it as particularly eclectic since i consider them all to be expressions of the same principles. but i get that it probably appears pretty eclectic compared to people who are devoted to a single pantheon. but i have my opinions about what it even means to have a single pantheon. historically, pantheons can be pretty expansive and syncretic. but everyone draws a line somewhere.

18. What are your thoughts on godspousing?

oh god. the way i typically see it expressed? it's really really really fucking cringe. probably one of the cringiest parts of neopaganism. it's so bad. i have seen so many women who claim to be married loki and they treat it like a real romantic/sexual relationship where they have sex and go on dates and stuff. it's fucked. lmao. i hate it so much. it always reads like a mentally ill, horny, lonely woman who conjures up an imaginary friend to cope and to feel like the main character.

however! i have seen /some/ people on very rare occasions where people treat it with more respect. kinda like christian nuns. women who devote themselves to a /spiritual/ marriage to a god. i don't know of any historical examples of such a thing but i think it's fair. like i said in another ask, i'm all in favor of creating new traditions. if someone feels so compelled to dedicate themselves to a god like that then so be it. i'm personally not a fan of celibacy but different strokes for different folks and all that. this is a very different thing from the type of "godspousing" i typically see though.

with all that being said i do want to make note that i /do/ believe experiencing the divine can definitely have an erotic/sexual component and i think sex has great magical/spiritual power. but i think there's a distinction between some erotic, orgasmic religious ecstasy versus a lonely, horny woman playing house with their imaginary friend.

19. How have your Gods affected your life?

in countless ways. literally. both in great ways and in small ways. they govern this world i live in and give it order and beauty and they bless me and my family with health and well-being. even before i was "officially" a pagan i believe they were always with me and subtly guiding and protecting me. they inspire me. like i mentioned earlier. but not just through embodying virtues that i admire. but also by filling my spirit with beauty and hope and wonder. they inspire ideas in me and this fire to create and achieve. and indeed, everything i ever create or everything i achieve is always, at least in part, in honor of them because i owe them literally everything. i like around and i'm just overwhelmed by all the ways in which they move through the world and my life and fill it with so much beauty and goodness. they are in all things. it's impossible for me to conceive of a way in which they haven't affected my life.

[jessieboy]

ACTIVITY #1

Strand 101

Politics

Are the action or activities concerned with achieving and using power in a country or society

Example in sentence: The key question in British politics was how long the prime minister could survive.

Religion

Is a set of beliefs concerning the cause ,nature ,and purposes of the universe ,especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs

Example in sentence: The woman wasn’t a fan of organized religion, but she did believe that a higher power has a plan for us all.

Law

Law is rule or set of rules, enforceable by the courts regulating the government and the subjects of the states, the relationship between the organs of government and the subjects of the state and the relationship or conduct of subjects towards each other.

Example in the sentence: The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you can do with this work.

Literature

Literature broadly is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly foe writings specifically considered to be an art from, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of wich has been transcribed.

Example in sentence: she took courses in history and literature.

History

History is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human society. Political, social, economic, scientific, technological, medical, cultural, intellectual, religious and military developments.

Example in sentence: History is the life of nations and of humanity.

Philosophy

Philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves

Example in sentence: Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”

Economics

Economics is the study of scarcity and its implications for the use of the resources, production of goods and services, growth of production and welfare over time and great variety of other complex issues of vital concern to society.

Example of sentence: When corn crop production increases the farmers decrease the price of the crop so that they can sell off their produce.

Sociology

Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions.

Example sentence: Studying the relationships between culture and society, examining social movements, or researching how communication affects human behavior.

Psychology

Psychology a person who specialize in the study of mind and behavior or in the treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

Example in the sentence: A study in psychological science demonstrates that people under stress tend to eat high – calorie foods.

Political science

Political science is the study of politics and power from domestic international, and comparative perspective.

Example in sentence: Comparative politics, international relations, and political theory.

[dairy-farmer]

hi!!! I think I perhaps frequent your page too much but I had a thought (you can totally ignore this!) and I just wanted to run it by you

I think I've been noticing you mentioning marriage between Bruce and Tim recently in some of your threads so I just wanted to ask specifically what are your thoughts about everything to do with their wedding day?? theres so much potential for things to get dramatic or sexy or violent and I love your takes on everything so I just had to ask

there's so much to consider from the way Tim dresses to who's invited (and who may be tempted to object 😓)

I've loved the civilian au posts that feature Tim being so devoted to Bruce but there's a tiny part of me that also somehow imagines a scenario like the end of pineapple juice where Tim entices his brothers with sex to get them on board with his relationship w/ Bruce... like idk the image of Tim getting railed by his brothers on his wedding day is somehow stuck in my brain

just any wedding day content, it's just such a delight to read your writing ❤️❤️

thank you!! i'm so happy you're a fan of my little snippets and posts!!!!❤️

and as for wedding ideas they're just to aww to me. tim and bruce both strike me as more inching for the aesthetics of a traditional weddings, like the both of them seem so honor and code bound as skewed as it may be and despite exteriors i think they both fundamentally value things like stabilities and 'rooted traditions' even if they might no be typical traditional people. that plus their general social class which affected them more than they may admit means they'd do almost 'boring' weddings according to guests who are expecting fireworks and people sword fighting as entertainment. but their lives are already so exciting! so it feels like a natural sort of resting point.

but there's also an underlying aspect of them getting married in a chapel under god's eyes and all that- neither of them are paritcularly religious. they're doing that for the show and aesthetic of it and in many way it's insincere! just the whole idea of them doing something "sinful" under the guise of a nice wholesome wedding it soooo ❤️❤️

one thing i love, is that if tim is already in the family then i love the idea of him being walked down the aisle by one of his brothers or alfred even. just the whole 'giving away' being done by someone he's already related to is soooo ❤️❤️❤️❤️.

given my imagination for them being aligned for tradition, i think tim would be in a wedding dress. a pretty little bride in virgin white with a nice veil for bruce to reveal. also gloves!!!!! i don't know why but a bride who wears those long white gloves up to her elbow just look so graceful and beautiful and i think tim would look so cute in them.

like this photo of krysten ritter encompasses what i think tim would look like, just a very sleek classic dress maybe with a big bow tied behind because it reminds me of the wedding dress i used to put on my barbie when i was little❤️

they definitely spring for those plain white wedding cakes where the decoration is just elaborately piped icing.

but those are just aesthetic details the actual day of!!!!! oh the drama that could unfold that day. on twitter i wrote a thread of bruce attempting to babytrap tim so he can't leave when he announces he'll be retiring and it ends with them getting married and of course people are furious with them. but they go anyway. dick even walks down the aisle in it despite disagreeing with the wedding because tim begged him to. nobody objects because in that scenario tim was pregnant and was in their eyes "depending" on bruce to help.

but yes!! the tension and drama present on that day. people looking at each other and around them like they were making sure this was really happening. but this is in universes where people don't support it as much if not are outright against it but in others????

the bridal room for tim is so much sexier. he's with his brothers getting tag teamed because in a few hours he;ll officially be all bruce's so they need to get in what they can while they still can.

one idea that i keep rolling around in my head is tim, in this huge dress with a poofy skirt in a limousine heading towards the chapel or wherever they're getting married, getting fucked. his wedding day lingerie panties pushed to the side so dick who's going to be walking him down the aisle is getting in one last fuck maybe hoping that when bruce and tim get back from their honeymoon he'll be knocked up with dick's child rather than bruce's. a lacy garter belt is around his thigh with one of dick's fingers under it, stroking at warm skin and snapping the fabric back until there's a small red welt on his skin so bruce knows, when he sticks his head under tim's dress in the middle of the dance floor to yank that piece of fabric off with his teeth. he'll be greeted with tim's stuffed reddened pussy and the signs of dick having scratched one final mark into tim.

(so many things about weddings or oddly erotic too.)

bruce and tim having their first dance as well as doing the father-"daughter" dance. 😊😊😊😊 so many details and things that could make a wedding scene so dramatic or erotic!!! 

[greylunar]

I have a house lore question. Would you agree that Gryffindors and Ravenclaws tend to be more ideologically motivated and that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs tend to be more... personally motivated? Not sure I am phrasing this right but basically: Gryffindor/Ravenclaw: This is my cause, I believe in it. Slytherin/Hufflepuff: This is my person, I believe on them. Just as a general rule, not true in every case. (1/2)

Also, Gryffindors and Slytherins are more devoted to their cause/person whereas Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are more likely to be able to be able to reevaluate their standing with the person or cause if they feel they are no longer totally aligned with it/them. Again, just as a rule of thumb. (2/2)

I wrote an insanely long answer to this so more under the break, warning there’s a LOT of like, psychoanalysis down here and a lot of its very personal and about core aspects so like please proceed with caution and PLEASE ask me to tag if I forget something

Super weird note to start this off with but did you have an icon of a dog like two days ago because if that was you it looked like my dog and made me really happy (I love the aesthetic of this one too, A+ design)

Anyways! I do have A Lot of thoughts on this topic in particular, and I’m glad you asked because I know that my interpretation of the houses verges more into “Casper has a specific idea of the sort of personality spectrums he would align into these broad JK-based categories” than “canon” haha c: My “rule of thumb” for causes/ideologies is this:

Hufflepuff: “This is my belief.” This is what is good, what is right, what I know I should fight for and stand up for when the time comes. I will stand by this belief, because a part of me wholly excepts it as fact and uncompromising. I may, however, not always be able to stand up for this belief, as there are situations where I have to evaluate what will be the safest for me and the people I love. But you will have a Hard Time changing a hufflepuff’s mind on something they believe unless you can prove to them that its hurting people and somehow in the wrong. In that case, a new belief is formed to account for this information. Now, here’s where people (in I guess my version of house lore) tend to misjudge hufflepuffs. If one of their People repeatedly acts against their fundamental beliefs, they will either A) fail to remain one of that hufflepuff’s People and get dropped from that sort of list or B) just,,, badger them with facts/reasoning/their opinion until either the hufflepuff changes their mind or they change the Hufflepuff. (Side note, but on how Puffs handle ending relationships of any kind with folks: Hufflepuffs tend to,,, ‘ghost’ toxic people because of their uncompromisable nature on these very core beliefs. A hufflepuff will often give someone a thousand and one second chances until they realize that person either refuses to or is completely unable to accommodate one of their core definitions of good/justice/kindness/personhood and then usually hufflepuffs just kinda bounce. They often struggle with conflict in an overarching sense and, to put it in a Puff’s terms for avoiding a person they couldn’t handle being around anymore “Damn, wish I could just like, disappear into the woods in Oregon somewhere and get a dog and not have to think about this and my friend Tim could make a true crime podcast about having known me.” This is normally a MOMENTOUSLY hard decision for a Puff (i mean yall get it its the house of loyalty) but its very key that Hufflepuffs don’t align themselves with people, they align themselves with beliefs or personal truths. When push comes to shove, the loyalty a Puff has is often to the concept of goodness and kindness and the Concept of People rather than clinging to a specific individual if they directly oppose those beliefs)

Slytherins: “This is my person/these are my people.” Slytherins are a house of change, and their belief systems are mostly fluid (often based on social rules, for example, “I know people don’t like it or get hurt when these types of things are said, so I will now no longer say things like this from now on” OR alternatively “I am Very Aware that acting like this makes people vaguely unnerved, and I Am Choosing To Act Like This Continuously because I am using it to separate myself from others/people deserve it/god wouldn’t that be hilarious”). Slytherins don’t have a lot of ‘fundamental beliefs’ in a way that at least they would refer to as fundamental beliefs, our lovely snake friends often struggle with knowing themselves and defining themselves rigidly enough to label them like that. In a,,, slightly depressing note some common ones are “I have to earn my worth” and “other people deserve more than me.” Hey Slytherins, I don’t remember where I heard this, but worth is a capitalist concept fed to you by corporations and you are inherently human and therefore loved and important and deserve the world. That all said, what Slytherins do not waiver from their people. Slytherin friends will text you three years after you last talked because you posted something vaguely sad on Instagram and they wanna make sure you’re good. Slytherin partners and friends will love you with all of them, the whole of their being. If someone is mean to me, my Slytherin friends will end them, and I have to be like “bro I’m not even mad, you’re being mad for me.” Slytherins don’t ghost their People, they will drag your ass through the mud until you are healthy or By God They Will Fist Fight Your Mental Illness Themselves. In this way, Slytherins are a lot like Hufflepuffs. The problem lies in when Slytherins find they don’t have any more belief or energy left in their stores to drag themselves up too. Perhaps now is the time to realize you should be one of the People you will fight for too.

Gryffindors: “This is my cause/this is a fact” I’m not going to touch too much on the “here is my ten-step plan to save the world, step one is I Do It” Gryffindors, because I think we’re all familiar with that concept of them. Again, Gryffindors will join the Peace Corps, hufflepuffs will give the person who needs cash twenty dollars if they see them, its a scope thing. What I want to dive into with Gryffindors is the Stubborn Bastard Energy that we know and love them for (I do legitimately mean that as a compliment). Gryffindors RARELY and I’m talking Borderline Never bend or leave behind a fundamental belief once they’ve established it. Gryffs often assume that these beliefs are inherent, they would not be themselves if they were not Certain about this, and therefore that certainty is essential to who they are. Therefore Gryffs deal in personal truths, or things they have decided are facts, pillars that do not change. You will want to punch your Gryffindor best friend sometimes because they put something in their head when they were six because of what someone on the playground said and now they live by that and sometimes physically struggle with processing contradictory information. This can be great, if a Gryff internalizes something like “I should do no harm” or “I will Fight A Bully” but has more frustrating consequences when its something like “If someone does something bad they are irredeemable, and I should never again respect them.” For Gryffs, sometimes the best thing to ask yourself is “wait, Why do I think that, and are there any cases that are exceptions to these rules.” But fundamentally, Gryffs often are the ones to save the world because they already believe it is a fact that they will, and that they should.

Ravenclaws: “This is complicated/This should be seen from all sides” and THEN “I’m about to end this mans whole career over this” Ravenclaws are such a fun house for this question. Ravenclaws often have a sort of information gathering stage before they even consider the idea of having an opinion in their head. Ravenclaws want to make sure they know everything they can about a cause/an issue/a person before they make that Final Call of verbalizing or standing by something, because a very serious fundamental fear for Ravenclaws is being embarrassed. I don’t mean to minimize that or invalidate it in anyway, a lot of Ravenclaws would rather be dropped in a pit of [insert distasteful creature here} than have the shame in their minds of being caught on the wrong side of an argument, without all the facts, or unprepared for a thorough discussion. Ravenclaws in this information gathering stage will often say things like “I’m not sure to be honest, I haven’t looked into it that much” or even “I don’t really like to have opinions on matters like that because I don’t think I could ever know enough to represent what I should correctly.” THAT SAID. That’s phase one. But y’all if a Ravenclaw Decides, even without acknowledging they have, a Raven Decides. From anything from “this 18th century poet was a lesbian and you simply will not convince me I’m wrong, here is a list of reasons why I’m right” to “So Determinism exists, and I fundamentally believe that, I am fascinated on what you think about Free Will though,” Ravenclaws are the probably the most complex on this subject inherently because of how much they want to make sure they know the truth. Ravenclaws will re-evaluate their beliefs, but if the information you’re bringing to the table isn’t valid enough to hold up against their previous evidence, there’s not a whole lot you’ll be able to do about it. Ravens will struggle if asked to take a stance before this phase though, so friends, please remember that no one is ever going to remember if you raised your hand and said something a little less intelligent in high school English than you would have liked other than you. It is more than okay for you to forget that too.

[astrologia-zodiacus]

Cognitive Abilities of the Horoscopes

     Hardly everyone appears to have a personal intellectual capacity of their own. The Signs undoubtedly have such a tremendous influence on its bearers at a certain point. All of these are reasons enough for the Astrological Signs to include certain typical behavioral attributes, particularly intellectual capabilities that have already been interacted beyond its believers.

     Astrology is a science that deals with the study of man's celestial influence. People often ask, “How can we be influenced by planets and stars?” There is no answer to the question, but one thing is for sure: realistic results and projections were given by astrology.   

     Now, let us grasp the concepts that are based on these reliable sources from “Astrotalk Online Astrology” and “Astrology Bay” of the following horoscopes: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. 

Specific behavioral characteristics within each zodiac. (Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Gemini) 

     People who were born from March 21 to April 19, are given the star sign which is Constellation Aries. They are portrayed by a ram that is confident and has a dominant character which is identified as committed and strong. Aries loves being number one that dives headfirst into even the most tricky times. 

     People who were  born between the 20th of April up to  the 20th of May are known as the Taureans, portrayed by the bull. They enjoy relaxing in a serene, woodsy environment surrounded by gentle sounds, calming aromas, and succulent tastes. The Taureans are trustworthy people who are devoted to their daily routine, and determined to bring a duty to their well-being.

     Gemini or Twins are considered to be those born on May 21st-June 20th, are known to flourish in the debate, and may also be excellent individuals with infinite sources of knowledge. Have you ever been so busy that you hoped to be able to duplicate yourself just to get everything done?  That is the experience of a Gemini in a nutshell, having been involved in so many pursuits that they had to double themselves.

     Cancer, individuals who were born on the 21st of June up to the 22nd of July, are called “healers” because their touch is like the magic of other sun signs. Crab's sense of intent is mostly about fostering and cultivating emotional intelligence, language, and knowledge. Along with their adaptive and intuitive minds, they will risk their happiness for others.

     On the other hand, related zodiac signs such as Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio also have their fascinating attitudes to display.

Popular but also unique behavioral traits of every zodiac. (Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Libra)

     Those who were born on the 23rd of July to the 22nd of August are known as Leos, portrayed by the Lion, who are the royals among the zodiac signs. Leo's sense of mission is to crack boundaries, achieve victory, and rise to fame. They are artists who fly to guide and inspire others at the heart of life.

     Virgos who were born between 23rd August up to the 22nd September are observed to obey their own decisions and also to aspire for the excellence of anything and everything in life. If no one else can do the same, Virgos are always prepared to overcome challenges and take initiative. They are independent, adventurous. and also enlighten individuals around them.

     Represented as the only non-living item on the list, born on the 23rd of September – the 22nd of October, Librans are dynamic thinkers and outstanding caregivers. Librans are known to be perfectionists and are level-headed. This represents Libra's emphasis on equilibrium and harmony. Libras are fascinated with symmetry and aim in all aspects of existence to achieve equilibrium.

     Scorpio, born between October 23rd to November 21st, is one of the most confounding zodiac signs. The Scorpion's purpose is to discover the shadows of nature, reveal hidden realities, and acquire power. Known as the passionate creatures, intuitive with a strong personality and often manipulative. They use their lessons and knowledge gained to correct their future selves.

     Moving on to some zodiac signs such as Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces with very intriguing mentalities and behaviors.

 Several familiar, common but also peculiar attributes between each zodiac. (Capricorn, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces)

     The Sagittarius, the archers, were born from the 22nd of November to the 21st of December. The Sagittarians, open to new thoughts, find satisfaction in everything they put their sights on. They are all about questioning the universal concepts of life, and this symbol will go to the absolute ends of the earth and discover for itself all that life has to offer.

     Capricorns are the last earth sign holders, born on the 22nd of December – the 19th of January.They have a clear mind that hard obstacles cannot bring them down. These can be accomplished through the growth, management, and maintenance of organizations and communities that work hard through strong cardinal leadership skills for a common cause.

     January 20 - February 18 Aquarians, represented by the water bearer, known as free-spirited and eccentric.  Aquarians are strategic thinkers and have exceptional leadership abilities. They are easily attracted to any relationship wherein thinking, economic equality, and awareness structures can both be deconstructed and restructured.    

     Pisces belongs to the water and signifies the fish. Born on the dates between February 19th-March 20th, they are the ones who will never get tired of giving you all the love and support that you need. Pisces has a great creative skill and innovative inspiration that is intuitive and imaginative. Pisces adapts and communicates their healing talents to their peers in a mutable way, channeling their transcendental emotions into their artistic projects.

     Zodiac signs allow us to understand the features related to each person. Astrology seeks to help us direct these efforts on the positive aspects, gain a deeper understanding, and cope with negative aspects of our potential and our positive traits.

     Zodiac signs encourage us to identify the characteristics of each person. Each sign has several specific qualities found in each entity of that particular sign. Every person has their own personality, but they all have some common traits that are unique to their horoscope.

     Astrology is expansive, dynamic, and transforming. Despite the nuances, the most fundamental definition in astrology is based on the 12 familiar signs of the zodiac. Over time, each emblem has developed its associations, including myths, animals, and its characteristics. Each icon boasts an independent approach to life, with dynamic abilities and troublesome weaknesses.  

     Many people still believe in awkward and sometimes absurd thing such as superstitions, sorcery, astrology, and so on. This work refers in particular to astrology; although many people assume that horoscopes are "completely true" to their zodiac signs, research reveals that it is merely a matter of perception.

[metvmorqhoses]

Why do you think Voldemort never hooked up with another woman but Bella ? Were his choices limited to his ranks ? Were most women afraid of him ? Did he find Bella convenient since she was his DE and married? Don't men get bored with too much devotion ? She let him know how much she cared about him . Was she simply good in bed so he didn't need to look elsewhere? Was her being married another thing he found convenient? Was she convenient or special ? How was he as a 'lover' in your opinion ?

well, you provoke me and i oblige - or as i like to call it: the 100th novel-length essay on bellamort.

the reasons that in my eyes ultimately made bellatrix “the only one” for voldemort are many and various, but at the end of the day it has everything to do with who and how i think he was as a person.

as i said many times before and i feel the duty to keep specifying, over the years i started to consider these characters in a more adult and complex way, imagining them as real life persons and not fairy-tale villains and that’s where my analyses of them come from. sadly what jkr told us about their relationship is close to nothing, so all we have here is thought processes and fervent opinions about their few, filtered by harry’s eyes and painfully public interactions.

now, voldemort’s character, if looked at beyond the pure ideal of power and darkness that he so carefully built around himself, is clearly a human being as deep as the very pit of hell and full of contradictions, twistedness, beauty and voids to fill.

bear with me, because you cannot really understand what i think bellatrix was for him without explaining how i see his psychology first, which i think many many times is overly simplyfied and excused with a shrug and a “well, he’s evil”:

voldemort was born with a genius intelligence and magical talent, the most handsome looks and yet he was not only completely and utterly alone, but also a completely broken human since birth. his mother porpuselly conceived him putting his muggle father under a love potion, so he’s basically the direct offspring of the worst kind of rape: not only his mother abused his father physically, forcing him to have sex with her without his consent, but even emotionally, because she forced him to have feelings for her - as untrue as they might have been. not only that, but voldemort was clearly unloved by his parents from the very start, abandoned by them both in different ways before he was even capable to remember them. he had then been raised and abused since the most tender age in a filthy orphanage where everyone shunned and feared and made him believe he was insane, treating him god’s knows how badly, because he was able to do “things” no one else could, things that made people uncomfortable (think at how bigots can abuse children nowadays with the excuse of possession without magic or the devil even existing, i wouldn’t be surprised if tom as a child was put under monstrous rituals with the hope of exorcising him, it was after all the 30s in a really degraded and poor environment). imagine the hate, the resentment, the fear, the basic instinct to survive and only caring about himself that must have started to boil inside of him in the most dangerous of ways. he surely had the inclination to became what he ultimately became from birth, but goodness how life helped him. he learnt to defend and avenge himself from such a hostile world from the very start, it was a matter of surviving or succumbing. and then, at some point of his young age, he finally started to master and taste something that made him feel good, that made him feel right about himself, he started to enjoy the feeling of being in control of his abusers, of manipulating them, of hurting them, of taking what he wanted from them, the feeling of power - and moreover, a power that directly originated from inside himself - his power. he obviously started to consider himself his own savior, he started to intimately feel special, better than anyone, superior. at the same time he started to hate muggles, because muggles had been his first real source of utter isolation and pain (thing reinforced by the discovery, many years later, that his father, the reason he had to go through all that, was one of them). then, out of the blue, he was told that “more” he had so strong inside of himself was indeed magic. imagine the feeling of validation he must have felt about his uniqueness and superiority, imagine how powerfully his addiction to this wondrous thing he could finally name must have taken definitive root inside of him. magic became his everything, his religion, his purpose, his assurance of never having to feel weak, vulnerable or defenseless ever again. magic was the fuel that alimented everything he literally had in the world and that he ever felt comfortable to ever want (uniqueness, power, superiority, extraordinariness). human relationships were ludicrously out of the question in his eyes since he was a child. human beings were not reliable nor trustworthy. human beings were an utter disappointment, everyone was beneath him and no one really deserved his consideration anyway. magic was everything that really mattered. without magic, he was literally nothing - or at least that’s what life had convinced him of. an existence of his not desperately clutched on and inextricably intertwined with it was not something he even dared to fathom for himself. if you understand this, if you understand the perversion of his dependency towards magic, everything he ever did becomes painfully clear. magic for him was something so fundamental, so deeply mingled with his very being (and this is probably also the reason he indeed was the most powerful wizard that ever lived), that growing up he became more and more desperately obsessed about preserving and strengthening it. this is the root of his every choice, from venturing into the dark arts turning out completely disfigured but incredibly more powerful, to believing he could actually be the first immortal in history, to his entire anti-muggle politics. not only muggles were inferior and disgusting to him, but their mingling with wizards was in his eyes a dreadful threat to the very existence of magic and therefore everything special he ever had been. as a result, he ventured deeper and deeper into it, never to come back. no magic act seemed against nature to him, because he considered himself one with it. this is where his iron-rooted god complex comes from and i think it’s something a little more complicated than simple megalomania. but this is also where his problems with his own humanity (and other’s) started. at some point he really considered himself more than human, of a different species. no aspect of humanity meant anything to him, on the contrary, i think he had terrible problems with every basic human behavior, from caring, to having to eat and drink to survive, to sweating and having sexual impulses - and, of course, to the ultimate form of humanity, dying. i think he was profoundly disgusted by his and other’s physicality, to anything that could remind him of his mortality, even a breath.

and that’s why i don’t really think even as a most handsome young men he even spared girls or women a glance. i think he considered the whole thing far beneath him, as if a god was interested in exchanging fluids with worms. i also think deep down there was simultaneously an intellectual and not only a physical element in his disgust: i think he considered his good looks something pleasant to look at in a mirror (he only deserved the best, even in a face), quite useful, but in general absolutely meaningless and void. not to mention that was his muggle father’s face, the revolting beauty that doomed it as a child and that shamed him every day looking back at him in the mirror. the entire crowds of girls that without any doubt must have fawned over him at school were probably amusing to him in rare particularly good days and insufferable and despicable the rest. no one deserved to be around him, no one could understand his real greatness or void anyway, no matter how low they rightfully bowed - and they had to bow, but from a fair distance. i think the mere thought of sex was something absolutely revolting to him.

until.

now you are probably starting to understand why i needed this endless preface to answer your question.

i think bellatrix was something really unexpected for him, that came relatively late in his life while he was busy with everything else, building an empire and becoming a most powerful immortal creature, and it was extraordinary enough to enkindle something in him, in his humanity, at first even without his consent or him even noticing.

yes, you heard me right, despite all i have just written, lord voldemort was still human being and of a really damaged and flawed kind, no matter what he stubbornly wanted to believe about himself.

i think the first immediate reason that sparkled voldemort’s interest was that bellatrix somehow reminded him of himself. and we do know that he was really able to love only himself. this is the ultimate narcissistic thought process. she was everything he admired of his own qualities: beautiful, dark, incredibly intelligent and magically skilled, proud, ambitious, ruthless, power-angry. they were incredibly similar. but she was at the same time somehow more than him, she actually was what he thought he was supposed have been: the heir of one of the most noble and ancient magical families of britain, pure powerful blood in her veins. it’s obvious he took her under his wing, thinking such a talent was a most valuable addiction to his cause, especially because along all that, bellatrix was able from the start to show him a loyalty, usefulness and adoration of a different, truer kind from all the others. and i think he really valued that, i think he was completely aware she was the only person he could really trust and i think it wasn’t a secondary thing for someone who had never really trusted anyone from the day he was born - that he was aware of it or not. one thing is believing your followers are loyal to you and your cause (an example is snape), another is having the absolute certainty that someone will always be at your side, no matter how desperate the situation - and only bellatrix was ever able to provide him that. he was intelligent enough to tell the difference. i think bellatrix’s unfaltering loyalty and mind-presence at azkaban for fourteen years after his apparent demise was something that really won his respect and admiration. and no, i don’t really think voldemort was the kind of person that gets tired of too much devotion, at least not a true, sincere one, as the kind bellatrix’s provided him from day one. i actually think he was in desperate need of it, consciously or not. voldemort probably had, in my vision, a peculiar relationship with devotion and servility: he thought everyone owed him as much, but was at the same time quite annoyed by too much of it (killing people who said too much “my lords”). but not too much of bellatrix’s, and it’s probably because of the fact hers was of a deeper and more honest kind of devotion.

we don’t have to forget bellatrix was almost as egocentric, proud and vain as him, this is the woman who sits on chairs as if they were thrones. she was wizarding royalty and she sure as hell acted accordingly, she was used to have everyone bow to her (and if they didn’t, she made them). and the fact that she, this fearless tigress, only bowed to him, out of admiration and not blind fear (even if a healthy component of fear was indeed present in her as well), was certainly a reason of great pleasure and amusement to him. don’t even forget i totally believe bella amused him as hell. can you imagine anyone else rendered a blathering idiot in front of him, following him so closely, too closely, speaking without asking, etc, who would have lived to tell the tale? bella was allowed things no one else was, pet name included.

she was one hell of a woman, painfully like him, that literally melted and would have died any moment for him. this started to move things inside of him that i’m sure at first he didn’t like, especially the physical impulses. i said many times i’m convinced at first he was resolute into killing her. the fact that in the end he didn’t tells the tale for me. who knows, maybe the killing in the middle turned into other primordial activities. sexually, i do think he had the need to use a fair amount of violence, not so much because he wanted to hurt her, but to deal with the mortality/humanity aversion, and i think bellatrix was the only woman who was mentally built to not only understand, but enjoy that. i think bella’s legs went week in front of his displays of power, no matter if the victim was her. i wasn’t really a matter of dominating her spirit, but totally possessing her body for him. funnily enough, i think he absolutely respected her in his own twisted way and that she totally thought the same. that respect had nothing to do with their physical and political power dynamics.

again, they were absurdly similar and well-matched. i think at some point she became invaluable to him in a similar way magic was, so much he actually risked his own life and failure to ensure she wasn’t captured again. everyone else was disposable, but not his bella. he could have punished her the rare times she let him down, but as a death eater, not as a person. i think bellatrix was the only case in which the two things in his mind were actually separate even if linked.

they fond each other in darkness and voldemort, lover of uniqueness, surely understood the extraordinary quality of such a relationship. he wanted only the best for himself, he deserved as much, and bellatrix was the actual best in his mind. she, having a similar thought, had inside of her a dramatic and overwhelming pull towards darkness, power and violence, and he embodied them all and much more in her eyes.

so, in conclusion (because i could go on for several other hours), for sure bellatrix was also, along with all the other things, convenient to him, not so much because she was married, because i think neither of them gave an effing fuck about it, but because she was perfect for him in basically every single way (best death eater, genius, skilled, pureblood, devious, not afraid of his darkness but drawn to it, loyal, submitted to him but only to him), as if he himself had carefully molded out of clay his ideal match.

as to how i think voldemort was as a lover - really, really painfully disturbing, as his whole character. i don’t think him really able to separate passion and violence, for example, and i see him really prone to dangerous mood swings, trust issues and destructive tendencies. he was also surely overly possessive of bellatrix, his bella. he was the only one entitled to treat her as he pleased, no one else, no matter if he had just crucioed the hell out of her. lay a finger on her and you are dead. also, i don’t really think he ever told her just how much she meant for him, on the contrary i think whenever he thought she was getting too close and him too attached, he would mercilessly push her away, even violently.

but at the same time i see him quite thoughtful and appreciative of everything bellatrix was, much more than any other man or husband of that society. he really thought she was the best besides himself. that he told it out loud or not, i think he was well aware of all bellatrix’s qualities, especially the ones she directed towards him, and was intimately and very deeply proud of her. i think he was really grateful for her existence and the moment she died he just knew everything was lost.

[gondorosi]

How do you see Jon's personality being if he had been raised by his biological parents?

I have to thank you for this ask since it ties perfectly into something I’ve been thinking of - just how much of Jon, Dany and Arya’s personalities are tied to innate characteristics vs those molded by environment? Since you’ve asked me about Jon specifically, let’s focus on him.

Background:

Before anything, we have to establish Rhaegar and Lyanna’s situation. Since you mention both parents, I assume this means you consider a world where Lyanna is Rhaegar’s queen in King’s Landing. Lyanna’s political position will greatly influence Jon’s own experience, upbringing, and as a result, his personality. Does Rhaegar somehow get away with having two Queens? Is Elia alive and estranged from Rhaegar (the only likely minimally happy scenario imo)? Is Jon considered to be a trueborn Targaryen or a legitimized bastard? Does Lyanna have a say in the matters of the Kingdom or is she relegated to Dragonstone/a renovated Summerhall? If Elia is alive, does she allow a relationship between Rhaenys, Aegon and Jon? Is Rhaegar disappointed that Jon didn’t turn out to be his Visenya? Does Rhaella survive Daenerys’ birth?

For this post, let’s assume that Lyanna is (a) Queen, has a definitive say in matters, and has a proper loving relationship with Rhaegar. Jon is allowed to have a normal sibling relationship with Aegon and Rhaenys and Elia is a better human being than Catelyn. Rhaella survives, so does Dany and both are active presences in the Red Keep.

A Mother’s Love

Let’s get to the most obvious difference a life as a Targaryen would have entailed - Jon would have his mother. Even in her absence, so much of Jon is Lyanna - his quick temper, his sarcasm, his championing of the underdogs, his ability to judge character. A world in which Lyanna is alive to bring up her boy is likely to result in a firm, principled, headstrong young man completely devoted to his mother. Not too different from what we have, right?

In this world, however, Jon would have no reasons to hide in the shadows. If he stays in the background, it would be solely because he doesn’t wish to be in the limelight, not because he feels it’s not his place.

Prospects

Our first introduction to a Jon action is when he discounts himself from the list of Ned’s children so that the pup count adds up, and Bran doesn’t have to see the pups being killed. That’s:

Quick thinking

Big brother of the year

These aren’t character traits which can be molded. Thus I’m led to believe that a Jon raised by Lyanna and Rhaegar would be no different in these aspects. However, a different social dynamic to being the Bastard of Winterfell would mean:

He does not need to hide his intelligence or ability for fear of attracting anyone’s wrath

He doesn’t have to be constantly and forcibly reminded of his place on the fringes of the family and thus forms a more natural relationship with his siblings

He actually has prospects and options of futures in front of him

That last factor would mean that he has the freedom and ability to indulge his natural curiosity and wonder about the world. This is the guy who was mesmerized by the beauty of the snow stretching all the way to the horizon beyond the wall. This is the guy who took the initiative of learning all he could about Free Folk culture because he wanted to know them, when as a spy all he needed to find out was their attack strategy. This is the boy who lamented never being able to see all the places in the world since he had effectively barricaded himself.

Jon is a naturally restless soul with a thirst for adventure and knowledge - in this he’s the perfect combination of both his parents. Jon Snow, the Bastard of Winterfell would never have had the ability and freedom to indulge his wanderlust and thirst for adventure, but as a Prince of the realm and with his parents actively encouraging it, I think he will barely stay put in King’s Landing once he’s allowed to travel on his own.

Relationships

It’s quite entertaining to speculate the differences between big brother Jon and little brother Jon. I would like to imagine Rhaenys and Aegon not being tainted by Court gossip about Jon (and believe me there’s no happy universe I can think of where Jon’s birth would NOT be a scandal for the ages) and considering him to be their little brother.

I do see a little brother Jon being a bit of a brat - his escapades as a child in Winterfell with Robb certainly give enough fodder to imagine that. In case Rhaegar allows contact between his son and his cousins in the North (and he better, else Lyanna is going to have WORDS), Jon would likely get along with Robb just as well as he does in canon, albeit now they will be on a level playing field socially.

I don’t know about Dany really - they are both similar enough fundamentally that I see them getting along fabulously in any and every iteration but I’m not sure about anything more than being each other’s closest confidantes. To me the Jonerys jumps out due to the parallels of their experiences and their decisions and ultimate journeys. In the absence of that - I can’t say.

His relationship with Arya will likely be different as well - even if he’s fostered at Winterfell for a time he would not have been present in Arya’s life since birth and the closeness they share at being the ‘outsiders’ of the family would likely not exist. I still think she would be his favourite cousin - but a royal cousin is different from a beloved brother.

Another aspect a Jon who is raised in King’s Landing will not be able to avoid - he will be the subject of rigorous matchmaking exercises. As a bastard of the North he had nothing to offer anyone thus wouldn’t have been considered even for a third daughter of a minor house. As the second son of the King, however, he will be the one all Houses focus on once Aegon is betrothed.

You know, at the end of it, there’s so many ways Jon could have turned out differently. Lyanna could have still died birthing him and he would have been thrown to the wolves of the Court as a child. He could have gone through life as a royal bastard and faced continuous comparisons to the Blackfyres. He could have grown up the Crown Prince if Tywin picked the wrong side before waiting for the result of the Trident. In every iteration though I have to ask myself, would I like a Jon Snow who did not face all that he has and turn out as he has?

A person is the product and the sum of their circumstances, their experiences and their innate makeup. One is no less important than the other - thus a Jon who grew up with his parents but without Robb and Arya, without Ned and without the Night’s Watch would be a very different person than the one I know and love. He might still have turned out to be one of my favourites, but I think I’m ok with the one we have.

[aslamdiaz]

Intro to IR: Answering Question

Aslam Luqman Diaz-072011233076-USA

Nationalism is an ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests. Nationalism is a modern movement. Throughout history people have been attached to their native soil, to the traditions of their parents, and to established territorial authorities, but it was not until the end of the 18th century that nationalism began to be a generally recognized sentiment molding public and private life and one of the great, if not the greatest, single determining factors of modern history. Because of its dynamic vitality and its all-pervading character, nationalism is often thought to be very old; sometimes it is mistakenly regarded as a permanent factor in political behaviour (Kohn, hans, 1949-1962).

National character is an expression which describes forms of collective self-perception, sensibility, and conduct which are shared by the individuals who inhabit modern nation-states. It presupposes the existence of psychological and cultural homogeneity among the citizens of each country, as well as the idea that each nation can be considered a collective individual, with characteristics analogous to the empirical individuals who are its inhabitants. The noun character seeks to describe a universal aspect of social life-an internal dimension to the existence of individuals and an external one, observable through collective behaviour. The adjective national situates this universal aspect of social life in the specific context of those social units we call nations. Social theory interested in understanding the social force of feelings of national belonging has turned once again to this expression, which was first formulated in Europe during the second half of the eighteenth century. What distinguishes this trend is the fact that there is no attempt at attributing any theoretical status to national character; instead, it is more concerced with it as a practical category used in the discourse and action of the social agents and groups. The aim of this article is to summarize the genealogy of the expression and to discuss its current heuristic value (Neiburg, 2001).

One can differentiate between hard and soft power tools in international relations. Traditionally, the states opted for hard power tools in the framework of realpolitik thinking. Meanwhile, the scholars and practitioners start to recognize that the world is in need of a shift from old assumptions and rigid distinctions about ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power since the economic and political challenges can no longer be simply resolved by military power or policy innovation (Bound, et al. 2007: 13). However, the concept of soft power, initially introduced by Joseph Nye (1990), is still in its theorization process and requires further studies. Hence, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the concept of power, with specific reference to Nye’s frames: hard, soft, and smart. The research objectives are three-fold; first, to provide an brief overview of the concept of power in international relations, second, to evaluate some of the key issues pertaining to the concept of soft power and, third, to assess education as a tool of power. This paper is based on the on-going research for the author’s Ph.D. dissertation.

The subject of power has been an interest of social scientists for many decades, if not centuries, if one were to go back to writings of Aristotle, Plato, and Machiavelli. Despite such great deal of attention, however, there are still notable academic debates over power’s specific definition and its features, which lead to the topic’s complexity and ambiguity. In discussing power, it is important to note whose power one is referring to. For instance, Arendt (1970: 44) defined power not as the property of an individual, but rather 2 argued that it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so long as the group keeps together. Meanwhile, Dahl (1957: 203) proposed to call the objects in the relationship of power as actors. The term actor is inclusive and may refer to individuals, groups, roles, offices, governments, nation-states, or other human aggregates. One of the most influential definitions of power in the field of social science belongs to Max Weber (1947: 152) who defined it as the probability of one actor within a social relationship to be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance. According to Weber, power is a zero-sum game and is an attribute that derives from the qualities, resources and capabilities of one subject. However, the Weberian definition attracted a number of criticisms. Martin (1971: 243) pointed out that Weber did not define power, but rather provided the basis for a comparison between the attributes of actors. Moreover, the author argued that, by building the element of conflict into his definition and viewing power solely in zero-sum terms, Weber disregarded the possibility of mutually convenient power relations (Martin, 1971: 243). In contrast, Talcott Parsons (1967) offered a conceptualization of power, which did not define it in terms of conflict, but rather views it as a system resource. Parsons (1967: 208) argued that power is a capacity to secure the performance of binding obligations by units in a system of collective organization, when obligations are legitimized with reference to the collective goals, and where in case of recalcitrance, there is a presumption of negative sanctions. In this regard, Anthony Giddens (1968: 264) stated that, among other things, the Parsonian definition does not take into account that power is exercised over someone and by treating power as necessarily legitimate and assuming a consensus between power holders, Parsons ignores the hierarchical character of power. To sum up, the two major threads in this discussion about power, the Weberian and the Parsonian, both suffer from major problems of definition (Martin, 1971: 244). These are just two instances of how power discussion attracts intense debates and disagreements. The purpose of this short discussion is to emphasize that power is one of the most central and problematic concepts in social science. Despite widespread use, there is little agreement upon basic definitions, with individual theorists proposing their own idiosyncratic terminologies of power (Bierstedt, 1950). Gallie (1956) confirms that due to the existence of competing theories and meanings, power is essentially a contested subject.

Power remains one of the critical subjects in political science, including the sphere of international relations. The discipline of International Relations incorporates a number of competing schools of thought, but for the long time, the discipline has treated power as the exclusive prerogative of realism. In fact, there is still a tendency among scholars and 3 practitioners to view power predominantly through the realist lens. To reiterate, the five basic assumptions of realists about the international system are that it is anarchic; all great powers possess some offensive military capability; states can never be certain about the intentions of other states; survival is the primary goal of states; and states are rational actors (Mearsheimer, 2001: 30-31). The realists view the nation-states as the key actors in the international system. Hans Morgenthau (1954: 25) famously proclaimed that international politics, like all politics, is a struggle for power and ‘whatever the ultimate aims of international politics, power is always the immediate aim’. According to the author, the ‘ubiquity of the struggle for power in all social relations on all levels of social organization’ made the arena of international politics a necessity of power politics (Morgenthau, 1954: 31). Carr (1964: 102) was in agreement with Morgenthau and asserted that politics, at its heart, is power politics. For all realists, calculations about power lie at the core of how states perceive the world around them (Mearsheimer, 2001: 12). While realists are in agreement that power is a key determinant in political relations, there is there is a variation in how individual realists understand the concept. For instance, classical realists posit that the permanent struggle for power stems from the fundamental human drive for power (Morgenthau, 1954). In contrast, for structural or neo-realists, it is the architecture of the international system that forces states to pursue power and maximize their power position (Mearsheimer, 2001; Dunne, Kurki, and Smith, 2013). Furthermore, there are disagreements as to how the power should be conceived and measured (Walt, 2002). There are two dominant traditions of power analysis in IR: the ‘elements of the national power approach’, which depicts power as property of states, and the relational power approach, which depicts power as an actual or potential relationship (Baldwin, 2012: 2). In other words, some realists define power in terms of resources, while others define it in a relational manner as the ability to exercise influence over other actors. Proponents of the elements of the national power approach associate power with the possession of specific resources. All of the important resources that a state possesses are typically combined to determine its overall aggregate power. The resources that are indicators of national power are the level of military expenditure, size of the armed forces, gross national product, size of territory, and population. In line with this tradition, Morgenthau (1954) equated power with the possession of identifiable and measurable resources and listed geography, natural resources, industrial capacity, military, and population as stable power elements of a nation. Carr (1946: 109) argued that military power was the most important form of power in international politics, as it serves as both a means and an end in itself. However, one of the difficulties with the elements of the national power approach is the issue of power conversion.

Refrensi:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/nationalism

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/national-identity

http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/content/pdf/participant-papers/2015-12_annual/Power-In-Ir-By-Raimzhanova,-A.pdf

#IRFEST_USA_Intro to IR

[sasorikigai]

Ten Most Pivotal Emotions for Hanzo Hasashi and Kuai Liang. 

1. Happiness (or lack thereof): One of the first core emotions Hanzo experienced was happiness; when he was younger, happiness was an emotion derived from a sense of safety and security from his parents. It arose from the knowledge that he was being loved and being taken care of. as he grew older, he began to associate it with feelings of contentment and emotional connection originated from building solid, trustful relationships with his peers and later, with Harumi. Joy, pleasure or satisfaction all existed to remind him of what it is he values the most. Kuai never got to experience the true sense of happiness, at least the safety and security aspects that he could get from his parents, since he was orphaned at a very young age along with his brother. 

2. Sadness: Sadness is probably the most complex and nuanced emotions that they can go through; because they can vary in degrees and manifest in a lot of different ways. And it also helps them to process grief and disappointment. Feeling sad allows them to take a step back and allow themselves to take a look at themselves and their situations to better understand what it is that’s causing them such pain. It teaches them to be introspective, resilient, and to learn from their mistakes. Hanzo’s rebirth as a hellspawn specter was originated from the very guilt and incompetency that he could not stop not only his family’s death, but the Shirai Ryu’s complete extinction. Kuai has lost so many of his peers, and notably Bi-Han (in the hands of Scorpion) and Smoke (in the Netherrealm) due to the corruption of the Lin Kuei. Sadness is one of the most raw, visceral and persistent emotions they would experience throughout their lives, only exacerbated by their PTSD and depression. 

3. Anger: Clenched fists, tense muscles, flushed face may constitute as negative somatic sensations, but anger could be a learning experience if they take their time to introspect in their own ways. Anger definitely does more than beg an individual for it to be unleashed; it forces them to act and fight against the problems that they’re facing. One of the most associated emotion towards Scorpion had been anger (along with vengeance), deeply originated from his guilt and incompetency to protect his loved ones. That manifested and exacerbated his need to be manipulated and misguided by Quan Chi, to stand against the Forces of Light protecting the sanctity and sustenance of the Earthrealm to fight for the Forces of Darkness. While Kuai was turned towards the evil’s side against his volition, he too, is, like any other human, is susceptible to be prone to anger, mostly at himself for killing the innocents. 

4.  Anticipation: It is the psychological state of arousal, that they experience when excited, anxious, or uncertain about what’s to come. It’s mind’s way of reminding them to plan ahead of time and better prepare themselves for the future. It’s less of nervous excitement that pushes them outside their comfort zone, because they both has mounted spectrum of experiences that define them as capable, hardened and ferocious warriors. As both of them being mortal humans with only supernatural powers (pyromancy and cryomancy) as their weapons, both Hanzo and Kuai obviously cannot predict anything for the future, but as they are prominent figures in the Earthrealm as two of the most popular clans in the Earthrealm (the Shirai Ryu and the Lin Kuei, respectively), they do their best in their abilities and capabilities to prepare for what’s to come. 

5. Fear: Evolutionary psychology tells them fear is the basic survival mechanism of their ancestors, which is meant to keep them safe from potential danger. That’s why they have innate fight or flight response that is triggered whenever they feel physically or emotionally threatened by someone or something. Most often, they feel fear towards something that are not lethal; such as failure, uncertainty, emotional vulnerability, and loss of control. Both Hanzo and Kuai never let fear take complete control, despite highly probable to experience such fear mentioned above (Hanzo much more prone to all of them compared to Kuai), preventing them from taking risks, challenging themselves and going after what they want. Hanzo tends to experience extremes of such, for his depression runs more bone-deep and he still faults and blames himself for being turned into the wretched Netherrealm spectre. Despite his fear of all those four aspects mentioned, he is paradoxically more likely to take risks, jump into danger to protect another and act on his aspirations quicker than Kuai. 

6. Loneliness: Loneliness results when they feel isolated even with people around them. One of the most basic human needs is the need for belongness, along with the physical needs for food, water and shelter. As a human being, one of the deep-seeded requirements is social interactions, and feeling of loneliness tells them they need to reconnect with their loved ones and attend to relationships with those who they care about. While loneliness is a common emotion they both go through, Hanzo had more luxury of experiencing various kinds of relationships, including platonic, fraternal (with some of his peers, as he was an only child), romantic/sexual (Harumi) and paternal (Satoshi), and even serving as a surrogate father for Takeda Takahashi. Obviously compared to Hanzo, the scope of Kuai’s relationship lacks both depth and spectrum, as loneliness is more of a Kuai’s deep-seated fear that he has accepted as his fate. 

7. Jealousy (or lack thereof): Jealousy gives way to insecurity and lower self-esteem, because it makes you to think that you are not good enough to have everything that you want. It’s important for you to pay attention to what sparks that very feeling in you, because it speaks volumes about what exactly is missing from your life. Jealousy isn’t something both Hanzo and Kuai feels; because they are confident, proud, assertive in their mannerisms without coming off as too imposing and commanding (although their gravitas as the Grandmasters of their clans may exude such aura), and when they get into any relationships, they are based on utmost trust and devotion. 

8. Disgust: Disgust is another emotion rooted in their evolution; they could feel repulsed by things they consider unclean or disease-ridden. Most likely, they often feel repulsed by things that go against the most fundamental social norms, such as heinous crimes or abnormal sexual behaviors. Feelings of intense dislike and aversion and disgust are emotional responses they feel towards something that is unhealthy for them. Since they have faced other nonhuman kombatants and literally been hell and back, both of them find repulsed by amorality and lack of honor and code of ethics; for example, they both find D’Vorah disgusting, not only because she is a non-human insect who has ovipositors, but her morality is abominable and contemptible. 

9. Surprise: Surprise is something they feel when something unexpected happens to them, or those around them. Shock and surprise can intensity their current emotion, like happiness, anger and despair. When they become surprised, they become more curious and alert, because it forces them to change their perspective, and adapt to new situations. While Hanzo and Kuai has experienced ample positive emotions, such as for Hanzo, when he married Harumi, he watched Satoshi being born, and when he rebuilt the Shirai Ryu multiple times and watching it thrive and prosper etc. Kuai has only experienced shock in such negative connotations. He has came to acknowledge Bi-Han’s death, had gone through excruciating change from being cyberized, back to turning into a Revenant, and losing so many loved ones to evil including Smoke and Frost. And he also lost Hanzo in MK11 storyline. Hanzo also has fair share of dealing with negative shocking, as mentioned above, including his own death and reliving his family’s death and clan’s massacre over and over again. 

10. Trust: While trust isn’t as an instinctive feeling as the other emotions, it is still a feeling that they both experience in daily to daily basis. Trust is an emotion built on their experiences; and it’s meant to remind them both the good and the bad that the other people have done to them, so that they can better protect themselves against emotional pain. Often times, trust and love go hand and hand. In the end, the self-exploration towards emotional awareness towards the other through trust will help gain more emotionally fulfilling lives. For both, trust is a hard-earned trait; they had been deceived, manipulated and violated as pawns doing the bidding of the darkness and evil, and as protectors of the Earthrealm, the one that serves the light even in the midst of the dark, they are loyal and fully devoted almost to a fault once such hard-earned trust solidifies and anchors. 

[parentsnevertoldus]

Characteristics of Patriarchy

From CADTM.org

cw// violence against women, r*pe, sexual violence

Male domination cannot be reduced to a sum of individual acts of discrimination. It is a coherent system that shapes all aspects of life, both collective and individual.

1) Women are “overexploited” in their workplace, and in addition, they perform many hours of housework, but housework does not have the same status as paid work. Internationally, statistics show that if both women’s paid professional work and their housework are taken into account, women are “overworked” compared to men. The separation in terms of household chores and family responsibilities is the visible face (thanks to feminists) of a social order based on a sexual division of labor, that is a distribution of tasks between men and women, according to which women are supposed to devote themselves first and foremost and “quite naturally” to the domestic and private sphere, while men devote their time and efforts to productive and public activities. This distribution, which is far from being “complementary”, has established a hierarchy of activities in which the “masculine” ones are assigned high value and the “feminine” ones, low value. There has in fact never been a situation of equality. The vast majority of women have always performed both a productive activity (in the broad sense of the term) and various household tasks.

2) Domination is characterized by the complete or partial absence of rights. Married women in 19th century Europe had almost no rights; the rights of women in Saudi Arabia today are virtually non-existent (generally speaking, women who live in societies in which religion is an affair of the State have very limited rights). The rights of Western women have increased considerably, partly under the influence of the development of capitalism, which needed them to work and consume “freely,” but even more, as a result of their own struggles. Women have continued to struggle collectively for more than two centuries to gain the right to vote, work, unionize, exercise their motherhood freely, and to full and total equality in the workplace, family, and public sphere.

3) Domination is always accompanied by violence, which can be physical, moral, or in the realm of ideas. Physical violence may be conjugal violence, rape, or genital mutilation: this violence can go as far as murder. Moral or psychological violence may be insults or humiliations. In the realm of ideas, violent acts are represented in various ways, such as in myths and various forms of discourse. For example, among the Baruya (an ethnic group from New Guinea) where male domination is omnipresent, women’s milk is not considered to be their own product but the transformation of male sperm. Obviously, this representation of milk as being a ‘by-product’ of sperm is a form of appropriation by men of women’s power to procreate. It is also a way to codify the subordination of women in the representation of the body.

4) Relationships based on domination are often accompanied by discourse that represents social inequalities as natural. The effect of this discourse is to make people accept these inequalities as an inevitable destiny: they have natural origins, and cannot be changed. This type of discourse can be found in most societies. For example, the Ancient Greeks referred to the categories of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’, and ‘dry’ and ‘moist’ to make a distinction between “masculinity” and “femininity”. Aristotle offers the following explanation: "The masculine is hot and dry, associated with fire and a positive value; the feminine is cold and moist, associated with water and a negative value (...).” It has to do, he says, with a different nature in their aptitude to ‘cook’ blood: women’s menstruations are the incomplete and imperfect form of sperm. The perfect/imperfect, pure/impure relationship Aristotle establishes between sperm and menstruations (and therefore between the masculine the feminine), has its origins in a fundamental biological difference. Thus, a form of social inequality codified in the social organization of the Greek city-state (women were not citizens) is transcribed as being natural, through the representation of the body.

In other societies, other “natural” qualities are associated with men and women, also resulting in a hierarchical ordering of the two genders. To cite one example, in Inuit society, the cold, the raw, and nature are associated with men, whereas the hot, the cooked, and culture are associated with women. Just the opposite is true in Western societies, in which man is associated with culture and woman with nature. We can thus observe that with different “natural” qualities (cold and hot for women, for example), the ultimate result is always a hierarchical social order of men and women, and whatever the “natural” quality may be, it is always less good in women.

My goal is not to deny that there are biological differences between men and women; however, observing a difference does not mean automatically accepting that there is inequality. Likewise, when a set of “natural differences” is exaggerated in a society, not between various individuals but between social groups, we must suspect that there is a social relationship of inequality hidden behind the discourse of difference.

This discourse of “naturalization” is not specific to the dominance-based relationship between men and women; it may also be used to refer to the situation of blacks. For example, some discourses have justified the various forms of exploitation and oppression of blacks by referring to their congenital “laziness”. A similar assertion was made about workers in the 19th century: at that time, their inability to escape from poverty was explained by the fact that in was in their “nature” to be drunkards from father to son. This type of discourse tends to transform the individuals involved in social relationships into “species” with definitive “qualities.” As these qualities have natural origins, they cannot be changed, which justifies and legitimates the inequality in relationships of exploitation and oppression.

5) If there are no social struggles, discourses based on “naturalization” can be easily internalized by the oppressed. For example, as far as women are concerned, there is the commonly held idea according to which it is because they bear and give birth to children, that they are “naturally” more gifted than men for taking care of them, at least when they are young. However, young women are often as unprepared as their spouses in the first days after a child is born. On the other hand, they have often been prepared psychologically (through education and the norms that permeate society) for this new responsibility, which is going to require them to learn new skills. This distribution of tasks concerning young children (which means that women are almost exclusively responsible for the actual care given to babies) is not in the least bit “natural”; it is a question of social organization, of a collective choice made by society, even if it is not explicitly formulated. The result is well known: it is mainly women who must do what they can to “reconcile” professional work and family responsibilities, to the detriment of their health and professional situation, whereas men are deprived of this continuous contact with their young children. This naturalization of social relations is unconsciously (subtly) codified in the behavior of the dominant and the dominated, and pushes them to act in accordance with the logic behind these social relations: in Mediterranean societies, for example, men must obey the logic of honor (at any moment, they must be ready to prove their “manliness”), whereas women must adhere to the code of being discrete and docile while serving others. The result of this discourse of “naturalization”, expressed by the dominant, is that individuals of both sexes are labeled, assigned a single identity, and in some cases persecuted or at least mistreated, in the name of their social origins, the color of their skin, their gender, sexual orientation, etc. In Western societies, the white, middle class, Christian, heterosexual man has been and is still to a large extent the reference model. Only a person with these types of characteristics could (can) pretend to be a complete individual who can speak for humanity. All the others - black people, Jewish people, g*psies, gays, immigrant workers, and their children, and women (who can, in fact, be burdened by several of these “afflictions” - had to, and must still today, justify themselves to enjoy the same rights as the dominant group.

[yogainstructions3-blog]

Studying the Different Types of Meditation

Yoga is usually understood while a process of concentration. This unification is multi-dimensional. In one dimension, the idea is a union associated with the various systems that you can get within the human currently being including the mental, bodily, mental, and psychic methods. In total there tend to be thought to be five different programs within just human life. All these are generally referred to be able to as the koshas some of the physical, energetic, mental, refined, and bliss sheaths. Inside our current understanding of meditation, we could working to unify these several bodies or maybe layers with the human staying. Another process of concentration occurs between of the particular personal consciousness and typically the universal mind.

.Check out more info on the basics of yoga mindset on this article

This union is often called Samadhi and is one regarding the primary changes which occur within the training of yoga. Observing this particular from a different viewpoint, Samadhi is a modification of notion in which often disillusionments about the universe are reformed so that will the fact behind actuality can be seen with the purest of application form. Yoga exercise, as a method, has developed in different branches through which men and women pursue the evolution and also unification of the factors in their being. Each department holds its own special set of concepts along with philosophies which outlined often the process and eventual obtainment of complete unification.

There is not any right or wrong technique of yoga as being the every single possesses their own specific characteristics that accommodate the wants of various characteristics in addition to personas that exist between human beings. Each and every process is designed to allow for another personality type, as well as yoga exercise has developed in to a broad getting program that can be used simply by nearly anyone who all is interested in seeking a spiritual life. Any practice like Jnana yoga exercises is ideal for an individual who is philosophically oriented whereas the process involving bhakti yoga is useful for anyone who is emotionally perceptive and inclined towards a sense devotion. In this content we will be looking at the more mainstream routines connected with yoga which are usually derived from the actual traditions of yogic spiritualty. These kind of traditions of pilates are generally as young as five-hundred a number of as old seeing that thousands of. While there usually are many modern techniques associated with yoga which have also been characterized by various instructors, the particular systems we can be discussing tend to be standard systems which have been recently offered to throughout many years.

Bhakti Yoga The initial system you will discuss the item is Bhakti meditation. Bhakti yoga is a train in which the non secular practitioner targets developing any state of commitment in the mind and typically the coronary heart. In bhakti yoga exercise a powerful sense of beliefs is needed together will be expected to submit them selves to God through some sort of means of self surrendering. The particular methods and techniques regarding bhakti yoga are as a result built to help surrendered often the vanity and embrace having like the thought of the actual creator. A lot more common procedures of bhakti yoga are usually kirtan (chanting/song), japa (mantra repetition), and also meditation about the divine.

Typically the particular practice of bhakti yoga exercises is advised to possibly be applied by those who else are well attached to their very own emotions and also responsive of more subtle sensations within themselves and other folks. Passionate love defines typically the exercise of bhakti pilates since the practitioner devotes all their complete being towards often the spiritual keen. A opinion in The almighty or a new higher being is critical for you to the practice, and with no it, it is around to extremely hard to training bhakti yoga. Typically the love that is practiced from the bhakti Yogi is certainly not certainly one of slavery towards the actual divine. Somewhat, it is usually a relationship that is definitely filled up with love, friendship, along with company. In bhakti meditation persons view God because a good friend, a fan, a father, as well as mommy. It is through this specific relationship that bhakti yoga exercise is practiced. There are generally many areas of devotion intended for the bhakti yogi; presently there are many forms involving God which can be worshiped within yoga which includes Shiva, Vishnu, Brahman, Parvatti, etc. Besides from the metaphysical kinds of God, a guru or even teacher can also become worshiped in the practice. Often the primary purpose of this kind of practice is to aid in relinquishing the confidence and unifying the specific being with the widespread.

Karma Yoga Karma is surely an aspect of human living that may be responsible for the thoughts, inner thoughts, and steps. It is supported yoga exercises that Karma helps to keep the particular cycle of revival inside motion as recent measures and events push people to take another existence in the world to help balance out typically the inequalities that we have added within our spirit in addition to the galaxy. Once accrued Karmic value is well-balanced or damaged then routine of labor and birth and dying is ceased and often the spirit is come back to it is origins within the worldwide divine. The practice connected with Karma yoga directly includes this primary aspect associated with lifestyle, works to remove the effects of Karma with disciplined action in which formulates a separation involving the individual and the outcomes of Karma. This separating occurs by way of a process regarding disassociation in which the actual unique separates themselves coming from the rewards or failures from their things inside of the world.

The process of Karma yoga is commonly based around one's Dharma or duties within the particular globe. Dharma is established by the actions from the individual in the previous, including the past involving the current lifetime since well as the earlier of prior lives. Throughout some respects, Dharma is actually the most effective approach for someone to make use of their time on the planet to get spiritual progress currently centered upon the realistic sizes and potential of typically the person. One of often the main components of Dharma will be acting in the actual world without idea of the particular benefits or losses on the actions. The practitioner lifestyles and acts within typically the planet without any anticipations or included impressions connected with how the future must unfold. The mind is usually focused with selfless services and earning a living for the profit of the greater very good rather than the independent needs associated with the personal. In Karma yoga often the practice is definitely gradual because the individual little by little relinquishes the actual bonds regarding karma as well as liberates the particular spirit from your confines involving egocentric considered processes.

Despite the fact that a Karma yogi may possibly practice approaches such while the asanas, breathing routines, and meditations, the major concentrate of the their spiritual train is actually service and activities with all the focus of selflessness and humbleness. The initially mention of Karma pilates is within the Bhagavad-Gita inside a dialogue between Arjuna and also Krishna. In that dialogue, Krishna informs Arjuna that he can easily blend his consciousness along with Krishna's when he surrenders his or her actions to the work (which in this circumstance is Krishna). Krishna promotes Arjuna to act along with follow out his obligation without worry or thing to consider of the benefits or perhaps cutbacks of his steps. He or she informs Arjuna this behaving in the label of Krishna (or divine) will provide the dog together with the liberation that he or she provides set forth in order to achieve.

Kundalini Yoga exercises Kundalini yoga is a exercise of yoga which descends from the practice of tantra yoga. Historically speaking, tantra yoga is believed to be able to be one of several oldest varieties of spirituality which can be continue to in practice today. One of many key components of tantra meditation is the agglomération of kundalini which will be considered to be typically the esencial force existence inside each one human being. The actual practice connected with Kundalini yoga exercise was formed to regulate in addition to harness the potential associated with often the kundalini energy within just the body. As opposed to the actual other systems of yoga exercises, kundalini yoga can end up being a remarkably unstable training of pilates as the particular release of kundalini power can lead to intense mental and physical issues or even controlled in typically the proper fashion.

Therefore, often the practice regarding kundalini meditation is a really innovative system which is typically only practiced by those who find themselves well advanced in the actual techniques of spirituality. One particular of the primary specifications of kundalini yoga is actually a strong mind and the healthy and balanced body without which will the let go of kundalini energy may be damaging or maybe even fatal. A good certain term in mindsets identified as kundalini syndrome have been developed for those who also have gone directly into dementia because of the inappropriate launch of kundalini vitality. With kundalini yoga the particular tactics presented are developed to help rise typically the kundalini energy. Besides their definition as the fundamental energy, kundalini is furthermore called the serpent electricity. Before its awakening, often the kundalini energy rests from the bottom of the actual spine in the type of any spiraled coil nailers similar to regarding some sort of serpent. When introduced, the particular kundalini energy shoots out way up through the spine, moving towards the crown involving the brain. Depending after the purification in the strength channels along the backbone known as chakras, typically the kundalini will either get to it has the final destination as well as the head as well as will probably be stuck within on the list of chakras. Usually kundalini yoga exercise starts by purifying just about all the chakras. This is purified helps to keep things in balance movement of prana inside the body. That is believed that a new equilibrium flow of prana internally leads to the sound state of head and also body. Once often the body, imagination, and pranic channels usually are purified, the actual practitioner connected with kundalini yoga exercises works to discharge the particular kundalini energy. The particular filter process an essential top quality of the practice seeing that it really helps to ensure any smooth move of kundalini energy from the chakra method.

[estrangedocean]

To whomever it may interest.

I recall a vivid memory in which I was in the living room with my parents and family. Being about four years old, my mom was speaking about the things I would do as I grew up. I would finish school; then I’d go to university, get my bachelors, then I’d finish my masters, and finally complete my Ph.D she said. All of this would take quite a long time, perhaps as much as 30 years. Funnily enough, as I heard closely every dreamed aspiration she had for me, I spurted out a slowly looming question that lingered in my head and said, “If that’s the case, then, when will I marry?” The sting of desire was alien to me, and it didn’t mean much to me back then. However, out of all the questions a kid would ask, why would I ask this one?

Love shared by two people for each other is intense, passionate, scary, and an all consuming fire. When I fall for someone, it is a cathartic process by which I empty myself so that I can fill my being with the object of my desire. For “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If I truly love someone, I empty my heart and being (existence) for them; if I truly love someone, I live for them, and everything else comes afterward and is of little importance in comparison to my burning desire for the object or person. Once I’m burned with the insignia of love, I am truly and wholly theirs. This innate desire that props up for different objects in my life is an essential aspect to understand who I am.

I love God, I love philosophy, and I’ve devoted my whole life to them. Someone asked me “How do you wish to live your life?” I replied by saying, “by studying philosophy and theology, and spending my entire time thinking about them.” This is how crazy I am, greater than this motivation, greater than the desire to live for that which I love, I have nothing. If I do fall for a woman, it would be no different, my entire life would be forfeit; and it would not grieve me, it would make me happy beyond compare, as it would fulfil the deepest desire which lingers throughout my deepest crevices in my being.

The Snares of Language

Today, failure is widely considered unacceptable, and it is necessarily frowned upon. For most, “failure is not an option.” These are not cliches that people believe in, these are the core and fundamental values which make up many people today. In my take, the most important commandment in the Bible is “Be Holy, for I am holy.” Propositions like this can be found throughout the Bible, and there is a counter narrative that goes against the language of success that you find therein. God has plans for Israel to prosper, he wants her to multiply, and be fruitful. Being fruitful and being successful are the same thing, but a tree that is premature and has failed to grow can bear no fruit. Growth is a necessary part of begetting fruits; and fruits doesn’t necessarily mean children (just a reminder).

One can imagine being in a relationship that seems to have utterly failed, but failure is part and parcel of life. Failure is not the end of all things, it is an instruction from God that there is something that needs to be attended to. This is more important than merely gaining success from having a stable relationship with seemingly has no blemishes. For scars and imperfections are easy to hide, but they are very hard to embrace and ratify. For this reason; failure is essential most endeavours in life, and they don’t have to big ones, little ones count too, as any kind of failure is an opportunity to teach us something. This doesn’t mean that successes are irrelevant, it only means that failures are important aspects which signify an area that needs work, so that you may grow and finally succeed in being fruitful: that is success, and it cannot be had without the sweat of the brow.

Sacrifice & Love I

According to the modern practitioners of the distortion of the term sacrifice, they think it means to “give something up, for something else.” To give an example, if you wish to sacrifice yourself for someone, it means to give up something that you love, so that you can satisfy someone else. This interpretation has had terrible consequences on those who truly seek love. Consider for a moment that a woman who wishes to “sacrifice” herself for her man, and so she notes, that even though the man is deceitful and cheats on her, she has to give up her ideal of loving a man who loves her back just as much, in order to satisfy him. Here we see that she has a desire for an ideal, something that he fails to live up to, but she nonetheless uses her will to make a choice and abandon that ideal for him.

The curious dynamic here is that her will necessarily separates itself from her desire, and it moves to diminish her desire and aspiration to love and be loved by a man who loved her back just as much or more. She has “given up” her deepest desire, and her will has taken the forefront, even though she may not feel anything for the man anymore. This shows everything that is wrong with the idea. For there is a clear desire that the woman clings to, however, she has to abandon it for the sake of a promise made purely by the will. Naturally, this will become incredibly harder for her overtime. While such an act indeed takes a lot of courage, it is ultimately doomed to fail.

Courage is no substitute for the limitations of man. Torture him enough, and he will give. This is the nature of mortality, and it is the reality of things achievable with torture. By this definition of sacrifice, the wife has to give up what she desires in order to stick with a promise of marriage to the man. The word takes precedent, but it cannot substitute desire. If this continues, without the grace of God, her will will weaken and slowly fade; and even if it doesn’t, this paints for us a picture which divorces desire from the will, and makes love; an act of sacrifice, subordinated purely to the will of the human.

Although her choice to make the promise of marriage and seal it with a kiss is something that could only be done with her willing it, it couldn’t have been borne without love. Courage is underpinned by love, even if men and women are afraid to the brink of collapse, their bodies and feet move, because it is love which fuels their action. It makes no sense to say that a man is going to stand up for a woman because he simply wants to. A man stands up for a woman because he is motivated by something; either by virtues of justice and truth, or by love. Any man or woman who is not motivated by desire to do these things, is but an irrational being who does things purely on the basis of their whim, or something far worse: apathy. Justice, truth, love, these virtues motivate act, and action does not precede virtues and desire. Similarly, the seal of marriage and her kiss is posterior to something prior, to the desire tempered in the fires of love. It is ultimately this, that the modern definition which uses the language of “giving things up for what you want,” fails. It fails to capture the reality of love, her power of influence as a desire, and it eviscerates desires from will completely.

Sacrifice & Love II

Consider another scenario: suppose we raise a being in a cave, although we give him or her everything she desires, we deprive her of food and any knowledge of it. We shoot nutrients through her veins, and she has no concept of the notion of food. She might be inclined towards something; an outward movement from her soul would be present, but we couldn’t really say that she is ever hungry, or that she has ever felt what it is. Inclinations are such movements, which have no specified object, no goal.

Desires are different. When I desire, I desire “something.” There is always an object attached to the end, and my desire directs and leads me towards it. The job of the desire is to necessarily lead you to her object. Once we do know what we want, there is a final aspect to the puzzle, our dear friend will. The activation of choice is the final part which determines whether we indulge in our desires, or we overlook her force and change our course. The term sacrifice comes from two words, “sacer,” and “facere.” Sacer, means “sacred,” whereas “facere” means “to make,” and “artefact.” When conjoined, it means “To make sacred.” Although the term sacred has religious connotations, it doesn’t have to. For all it means by sacred, is “to set apart for specific use, purpose, or person.” Lots of things can be sacred, including persons. To love, means to sacrifice, to sacrifice, means to make sacred, to make sacred, means to set yourself apart for that which you love.

When in love, then, the desire one has for something will be overbearing, and it could not be merely willed away. This is why love is usually considered to be a desire that transcends and overpowers the will; you cannot merely will to fall in love, and similarly, will to fall out of it. It is an overarching desire that directs both your being and your will towards the object. If then, the woman truly loved her husband, then she desires to see him happy above all things. If that is the case, then she will not be “giving up” anything, it will be subservient to seeking happiness for what she wants the most: to love her man and make him happy. She will set herself apart to get what she desires above anything and everything.

Fencing

But what then should we say about her feeling upset? The infidelity of her husband will necessarily make her upset, and what place does it have in our philosophy? Jealousy is a strong tool because it means to be deprived of something that is rightfully theirs. After marriage, her husband is rightfully hers, and she is his, the good of both these people lie with each other, and not other men and women. For if other men and women have not set themselves apart for them, how then, can their efforts of desire surpass one who has literally forfeit her life for the happiness of her husband? They can’t.

One could now argue that we see that more than one person can pledge allegiance to a flag, and similarly, more than one person can swear their love for another person; however, now I turn the question on to the one who has ever felt such a thing as love. Why would you entrust the object of your deepest desires, someone or something you feel so strongly for, in the hands of someone else? Is your desire not strong enough to make you believe that the goodness of the object lies in your hands? Is your desire not strong enough to make you fiercely attack someone who wishes to threaten your man or woman, or your relationship? Don’t you know that you should have the task and that only you could make them happier than anyone else? If you don’t, then you should thoroughly question how strong your love is.

Can we honestly trust thing that we hold dearest to our hearts to someone else? I don’t, and I wouldn’t. This feat requires an extraordinary faith in other human beings, more faith than you’d have on what is necessarily in front of you, i.e., your desire for someone, and I refuse to have this faith. For if I love someone, I refuse to leave it someone else to make them happy. People are untrustworthy, and I have no reason to believe that the person who challenges my love with theirs will make the one I love more happy than I can. This is the battle of love, and only a defeatist with a confused faith in humanity would abandon their dearest in the hands of others. If you want to do something right, you do it yourself. You can only assure yourself that this task can be done by you, leaving it to others is playing Russian roulette, if you are cynical enough to do this; then indeed, you shouldn’t have ever loved at all.

Guarding their heart and directing their will, guided by the desire for their beloved everyday is the only way a strong relationship can be maintained. Only the ones who truly feel such a burning desire can raise their hearts and feet to have courage and act. Anyone’s hearts which hasn’t been raised to the level of action, is still young and their love has yet to mature. However, when it does mature, rushing with their feet will hardly be a problem; what will be an issue, is how jealous this will make others feel, as this will radically change your life and transform you, and it will keep changing you, making you stronger everyday as you grow deeper in that love.

Who do we love, and how do we know it?

Growing up, I always desired the ideal of helping a girl who is need. As a man, I’ve been taught to protect people, especially women. There is a natural attraction that occurs between the damsel in distress and the knight in shinning armour. However, this doesn’t tell us the full picture. We live in a world which is inhabited by more than 7.5 billion people, and there are many people in distress. If one is to choose who they love simply on the basis of need, then they’d have to love everyone, there’s only one problem: you can’t love everyone, you cannot be in more than one place at one time, and you will always have a priority in your heart. Being in need is a common attribute, lots of people need help. The bane of the knight in shinning armour is that he pours his heart out for that which is commonplace and everywhere.

Suppose that a man confesses his love to a beautiful woman, because she is beautiful. Beauty, although definitely desirable, is not that uncommon in our world. We see men and women with beautiful appearances everywhere. If the man decides to pour his heart out for a woman for this seemingly common trait, then, what if someone who is equally beautiful or more comes up towards him? Given that we do not control our desires, the man will not be able to control his desire, in the sense that it will plant itself in his heart, and there will be a war of attrition. This is an entirely undesirable state of affairs, and it is for this reason that one should be discriminative with love. One should love things which are noble and rare.

For if you love things which are rarer to find, there is less of a chance that this desire can be uprooted by other temptations in this world. The harder it is to find a man or woman who has a trait that you are attracted to? The harder it is for someone else to replace the object of your desire and uproot your beloved from your heart. This is not to say that beauty is irrelevant; if you are not sexually attracted to your partner, that is a decisive end to romantic aspirations about passion and love. While sexual attraction and physical beauty are important, they shouldn’t be the primary things you should be attracted to. When you’re looking into a person, you should be searching them for virtues. For these are rarer and harder to cultivate, and as for physical appearance, we have everything under the sun that can fix and rectify; and though important, it is of secondary importance to the primary traits that we are attracted to.

A kingdom needs to be defended from outside attacks, for this we have foreign policy, a peaceful way to resolve disputes. However, if a kingdom loves her own people, she shouldn’t be afraid to take necessary action in order to save them. The question is not whether it is justified that they should protect their people, it is rather, whether the actions it takes upon the rest is necessary to protect her people. Letting go of some people forever might be a necessary action in order to save a relationship, these are the hard facts about life. No heart can serve two masters, it will either hate the one and love the other; or vice versa. We can draw a scenario in which you are contacted by your best friend and by someone you claim to love, where your decision to save either one of them will necessarily lead to the death of the other.

This is what I call the victory of priority, and the heart can only ever have one thing above all else. Similarly, it is in times like these that we realise who we truly love. These are times of test to help us grow and see where our happiness really lies. Anyone who wishes to save both the friend and the one they claim to love, is but fooling themselves, and others. For no human being can be present in two places at once, and no one can be there for two distinct people, at all times. You cannot set yourself apart for two distinct things, where serving either one deprives the other of your aid. You can only ever set yourself apart for one thing, whoever hasn’t come to this realisation is living but a false and confused dream, and isn’t strong enough to love. That is to say, they haven’t loved. Only the ones who love can set themselves apart, to the exclusion of someone or everyone else. The moment you say “I do,” to someone, you’re saying, “I don’t,” to everyone else, this takes courage and is built upon the strong desire of love.

I for one, am attracted to courage and passion, something that I don’t see in most women. This saddens a part of me, but it also gladdens my heart, since if and when I do fall for someone completely, she will be very special and won’t be easily uprooted from my heart from he wiles of the world. In order to discern that you love someone, you should sit down and think of the person you like, then, write in the order of priority, the things you like about them. Then, consider whether the qualities that you like about the person are rare, and if they are incredibly rare? Then be assured that you’re very close to love; indeed, this kingdom is worth living, fighting, and dying for.

[heart-of-the-sky-blog]

Book List Building Made MSPeasy

The term list building is one that you regularly hear if you are in the online sales and advertising and marketing globe. With integrated, consumer relationship monitoring, lead management, email advertising, on the internet seminars and also education, safe and secure kinds, and also occasion organizing, Increase MD provides effective marketing and also sales attributes for solo, hospital, and also team medical techniques at a budget-friendly price. Considering that professionals in advertising and marketing have been pressing web content advertising and marketing for the last couple of years, it's not surprising that more business are seeking information on just how to drive sales and consumer involvement via web content advertising and marketing. With the white label Search Engine Optimization record, most of the involved prospects would certainly either be offering their collection of clients or looking to understand the state of how friendly their site is, according to Google's internet search engine criteria. So, that is why I still choose natural Search Engine Optimization when it involves internet marketing given that it is totally free to rank on the very first web page of Google's as well as various other online search engine results page, where you will certainly get huge site traffic for free and for a long-term, years and also years ahead without paying a solitary cent. Kevin: Yeah, definitely, and I would add to what Mark stated that along with the on the internet aspects which are very essential these days, there's a lot of offline advertising methods that are offered to regional organisations. Which things is a found diamond as a lead generation tool, as well as while you can not proactively necessarily advertise on those groups, people are speaking about the type of demands that your company solves out there as well as you have actually reached be willing to listen and also study that conversation. This problem came to light in 2016 when ProPublica reported that it was able to buy real estate ads that omitted African American, Asian American and also Hispanic people from viewing them, a practice that the Congressional Black Caucus explained to Facebook was a "direct offense of the Fair Real Estate Act of 1968." The social media sites titan later stated it would certainly disable settings that allow marketers promoting credit history, employment and housing to leave out ethnic and racial teams. The Concepts (in particular Principle 6 and also Principle 7) put on actions of a company managing a customer that has been described it through a lead generator For example, where a company acts upon a sales lead and also understands or should certainly understand that the lead generator is making use of misguiding information, advice or actions to get a client's individual data is likely to total up to a violation by the company of Concept 6 and also Principle 7. If you depend more on repeat organisation than preliminary sales, or if a lot of your revenues as well as sales happen when consumers repeat buy from you time and again, you must be doing whatever possible to inspire as numerous consumers as you can to make their initial purchasing decision as rapidly and also conveniently as feasible. Marketing Qualified Leads, generally referred to as MQLs are those people that have actually elevated their hands (metaphorically speaking) as well as recognized themselves as more deeply engaged, sales-ready contacts than your typical leads, however who have actually not yet come to be fully fledged possibilities. This understanding caused the idea that businesses would love to have the possibility to have their marketing needs met by an organization devoted to using the very best Online marketing Programs readily available at an affordable price with a high roi. Messaging your leads throughout your sales process entails more that simply an online conversation function on your web site, that's why Jumplead includes an onboard lead messaging system that takes care of as well as tracks e-mail conversations in a shared inbox. supplies you with online marketing leads such as SEO leads as well as Pay Per Click leads, yet likewise helps your organisation construct added regular monthly earnings by allowing you to offer leads back to us. By selling clients to, you can quickly make additional money for your service. If content marketing professionals don't know the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization, they stand to develop web content that isn't as successful as it could be. What's more, by handing these SEO standard tasks off to somebody else instead of doing these jobs as they are creating web content, it might set you back various other workers more time that they could be invested doing something extra effective.

[leviohhsa]

The Marauder’s Map: A Horcrux?

My friend had an existential crisis at 4am and sent me this.

(I definitely don’t think this is “canon” but it’s an interesting theory if you open your mind to interpretation/look at the HP universe as a whole instead of just what’s in the books)

What we know about the map (from Pottermore/the books/J.K. herself):

Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James created it.

Its magic is “advanced” and “impressive.”

They used the homonculous charm for tracking people in the castle.

It’s “enchanted to repel Snape” (Pottermore specifically says Snape because he was their “nemesis,” but he is also the only person seen trying to force the map to “reveal its secrets,” so it’s unknown/unlikely in my opinion that this feature is unique to him)

They were able to map the grounds from exploring them as animagi.

They mapped the inside of the castle using James’ invisibility cloak.

Filch confiscated the map in their 7th year.

Fred and George steal the map back in their first year.

The twins have always been drawn to mischief as naturally born troublemakers, but this wouldn’t explain why, out of everything in Filch’s “Confiscated and Highly Dangerous” drawer, they would take a piece of parchment? Yeah, they tossed a dung bomb and just grabbed whatever, but it’s a pretty amazing coincidence. Even more amazing is that they somehow figure out how it works with nothing to go on. How did they even know there was anything to work out? With enough certainty to devote “ages” to crack it? The label on Filch’s drawer could be it, I suppose, but even Filch only put it in there because of its association with the Marauders.  

“I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good” is not a common phrase… which is why the map had to help them, “flickering to life” when they got close. I could go on and on about this, I really could, but to keep it short: why would the Marauders waste time putting this into the spellwork? Hints for someone to try and get into the map? They wouldn’t. It just doesn’t make sense, meaning the map must be able to think for itself, and decided that the Weasley’s were fellow mischief makers…

Which brings me to my second Weasley-related-point.

“Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can’t see where it keeps its brain.” - Mr. Weasley, in the second book, which is ENTIRELY ABOUT THE ONE HORCRUX WHICH RESEMBLES THE MAP THE MOST.

Moving along.

Fred and George pass the map along to Harry in his third year.

Nobody talks about how weird this is. The map is the twins’ most prized possession- I mean, why wouldn’t it be? It’s amazing. And, yeah, they give it to Harry because they want him to be able to go to Hogsmeade/because they’ve already learned everything on it, but they’re giving up the ability to know exactly where every professor, let alone person, in the entire school, is at any given moment. All so some kid their brother is friends with can get butterbeer? I get that Harry is basically an adopted Weasley but that’s feeble. They could’ve just shown him the passage and kept the map!

Note: I recognize that coincidences are necessary in book land. I know that The Map is fundamental to PoA and is used as plot-lube. J.K. isn’t purposefully constructing a marauders-map-horcrux-connection, but it fits in with canon effortlessly when you actually apply logic outside of “well, that had to happen for the story.”

We already know that horcruxes can influence people in close proximity. It’s not an insane leap to make that, if the Marauders Map were a horcrux, it might influence Fred and George to pass the map along to the direct link of one of its founders. Or maybe, they were beginning to feel a bit too dependant on it… As Hermione said in DH, “You’re in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on a Horcrux.“ Maybe this was their version of when Ginny tried to destroy the Diary…

Okay, so, horcruxes. Deep, dark, horrible things. Bad.

This is sort of where, in order for this theory to work, you have to bring the HP universe into a sort of reality and challenge wizarding society as a whole.

For example: who decides what magic is dark? Who decides what is good and evil?

What we know FOR SURE about Horcruxes:

Definition: splitting a damaged part of one’s soul off and putting it into another vessel.

Each of Voldemort’s horcruxes were created following an intentional murder, an act so evil it permanently wounds a person’s soul, and this damaged fragment can be extracted for the horcrux. This has lead us to believe that a murder must take place, however, J.K. Rowling’s definition says a horcrux is "a receptacle prepared by dark magic in which a dark wizard has hidden a fragment of his soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.” Nothing is said about murder. Murder, however, is likely the easiest and/or original method, and would explain why Horcruxes might have become a symbol for “dark wizards.”

“Hor” means “dirt, evil, impurity” and “crux” means “container.” This could translate into “container for evil”, which would explain the requirement of an act such as murder, but it could also mean “a container for impurities.” (This will be relevant later).

Horcruxes, to some extent, retain the identity of their creator at the time of creation. Example: Voldemort created the diary when he was 16 (around the same age the Marauders would’ve been when the map was created), and took the form of 16-year-old Tom Riddle when the time came. Despite this, though, it still seemed to be aware of events which had happened since that time, and who he was connected to. Example: “I am Lord Voldemort.”

Horcruxes can think for themselves but in the same thought patterns of their creator.

Horcruxes have certain magical abilities such as influencing those around them or even possessing them. Example: Ginny, obviously. Or Slytherin’s locket worsening the trio’s mood whenever they wore it.

They can sense destruction and will defend themselves magically.

Anyone with a horcrux may never be unable to leave “limbo” after death, unable to become a ghost or go to the land of the dead because the soul is unwhole.

So basically, horcruxes are putting your soul into something that is not your body. They were invented/discovered by a dark wizard and then used again by the evilest wizard of all time, so obviously they’d be revered as dark magic. But what would happen if a horcrux was created by one, or perhaps four, not evil individuals?

Answer: The Marauders Map.

Theory holes debunked:

1. “But what about that part- ‘For the purpose of attaining immortality?’” My theory is not stating that James, Remus, Sirius or Peter wanted to remain immortal- At least, not in the literal sense. Immortality doesn’t necessarily have to mean living forever. If you think these four boys wouldn’t have been into the idea of a way to continue to wreak havoc at Hogwarts forever, you’re wrong. This map would be their legacy. Wanting to live on, but not live forever, could have been enough.

2. “How did they split their souls apart without killing anyone?” My theory for this is, in a way, a reverse Patronus charm. There is a lot of soul-talk when it comes to patronuses and dementors, and a Patronus is a physical manifestation of the lightest parts of a person’s soul- but what would happen if a spell was created for the darkest parts? Parts so dark they were damaged and marred. A person’s absolute worst, more traumatic thoughts or memories. For Sirius, just about anything from his childhood as a Black would probably work. James is less clear, but as it’s never mentioned when James’ parents died, his father’s death could easily be it. For Remus- duh. Just duh. And for Peter, as we know, he had darkness lurking just below the surface.

3. “But then why didn’t they all turn into bald snake looking assholes?” The form we see of Voldemort is his new body, completely reconstructed from that weird potion thing that happened. That isn’t to say that splitting your soul up wouldn’t have an effect, it does, but at 7 Dumbledore said Voldemort’s soul was “pushed to the limit.” His physical body isn’t ever mentioned in regards to the horcruxes. In fact, Dumbledore says he underwent “magical transformation.” So sorta like plastic surgery. Makes him even lamer.

4. Why didn’t the map do evil stuff?” Because none of the marauder’s souls were, inherently, evil. My theory is that a horcrux’s influence reflects the original person and brings out those traits in whoever interacts with the object. For example, the trio all acted very differently with the locket. Hermione got sad (mostly), Harry got angsty, and Ron got angry and insecure. The horcruxes don’t make new behavior (with the exception of Ginny, but this was only after she was possessed), they just amplify already existing behavior in a way that mirrors the original soul. Starts to make a whole lot more sense when you think about the Twins, doesn’t it?

5. “How are they all dead then?” Okay, first of all, fuck you. Second of all… maybe they don’t have to be.

Other points:

If the map was just spell-work, it’s safe to say a good portion of it was done by James, yet when he died the spells remained intact. Throughout the books, the lifespan of spells in inconsistent, but for example, Lily transfigured a lilypad into a fish for Slughorn, but when she died, it disappeared.

This theory would explain some of the patterns of un-feeling when it comes to the Marauders. Remus sucking at relationships and remaining alone most of his life, Peter’s ease in betraying his friends, and even Sirius has flashes of difficulty dealing with emotions or having inappropriate/disproportionate ones

Another aspect of this I’ve considered is that, if the marauders figured out a way to do this, they might have given even less of their soul up because they were putting four pieces into one object, which would lessen any effects even more.

The map insulting snape shows that it can think in the present and on its own. (As well as it recognizing that Snape is currently a professor!) This is all speculation, but if James or Sirius tried to just enchant the map to insult Snape, Remus would absolutely point out the missed opportunity to insult anyone who tried to force their way in. It also proves the theory by showing the marauder’s personalities and that they know who Snape is and have opinions about his greasy hair. I think that if someone the marauders never knew tried to breach the map it would just write generic insults, but if it’s someone they knew by the time of making the horcrux the insults would be more specific.

The map would have remained undetected by Filch. He was a squib, so if he tried to destroy it or reveal it would have been without magic, which the map, or rather the soul fragments of the Marauders, wouldn’t have considered him a real threat. It’s also not very likely to have influenced him at all since he was so completely opposite to the marauders soul-wise.

Also, if all four souls were even smaller parts than what Voldemort had to use for his horcruxes, it’s likely any influence would be minute for anyone since the Marauders were four very different people.

Fred and George said they owed everything they knew to Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. They opened a prank shop. They were incredible wizards who used their power to make people laugh even in the middle of a war. I refuse to let go of the fact that their biggest influencers were the marauders in their younger years. Just look how different they are from everyone else in their family, and McGonagall even says they’re the same as the marauders at one point doesn’t she??? I’m pretty sure she does.

Harry uses the map in every book after the third, when he first gets it. I haven’t gone through the books to find every instance the map is used, mostly because it’s pretty often. I mean, obviously. Without doing any sort of research I can’t definitively back up the idea that the map somewhat influences Harry, but since this wasn’t a part of the story it’s unlikely there would be anything outright stating that anyway. This point is a loose one, but I think it’s valid enough to point out that Harry has a certain amount of assurance when using the map that might come from the resource itself, or possibly, something else entirely.

I honestly think the most undeniable truth is how similar the map is to Tom’s diary. Eerily. Sure, it didn’t converse with anyone per se… but it did give hints in response to the twins trying to crack the code, and honestly, did anyone ever try writing on it? Hm? Ugh.

They could’ve found out about horcruxes from anywhere, especially with James having an invisibility cloak. I think it probably started with them creating the map, but deciding it was missing something and being unsatisfied with it not being more clever, so they started to look for ways to achieve that.

Like a lot of things in the HP universe, a “soul container” isn’t an original concept and exists in mythology, legends, religion etc. and it is not always a sinister object. I think a lot of the idea of it comes from power leading to corruption of the mind, though, which is why a “good” horcrux would need to be made by people who didn’t have those corrupt intentions in the first place. Sort of like the whole “those who wanted to find it, but not use it” lesson from the sorcerer’s stone.

This is completely abstract and not really part of the theory so much as wishful thinking: it’s possible that, because they all did this, all four marauders end up stuck in limbo between the land of the living and the land of the dead forever. How to make this suck less: since Sirius entered through the veil, he stays close to it, and when James and Remus find him and figure out he can still see through the other side, they decide to walk back through together and live. Somehow. Let’s say that the freak hand Voldemort kills Peter with is enough to obliterate his soul so he doesn’t get this luxury. Only downside: Lily.

[fantroll-purgatory]

Lycosa Robess - College Student Communist

@chaoticevilfantrolls

I’ve been considering making her a purpleblood, rather than a tealblood. I’d love some ideas for tying that into her re-design, if possible!

Reading her profile, I’m definitely interested in making her a purpleblood. So I’ll absolutely address that as we continue! I think linking her back to teal a little bit may be reasonable, though, given the setting.

Planet: Alternia, AU where she plays SBURB and as well as the age of being shipped of planet is 10 sweeps. Also, caste traits can be mixed up thanks to linked traits and genetic weirdness (like with Vapula).

Name:Lycosa Robess - Lycosa: From Lycosa tarantula, the animal originally known as the common tarantula. Ties into her lusus, horns, and just about everything else relating to bugs in her theme. 

- Robess: From Maximilien Robespierre, one of the most prominent figures of the French Revolution. Connects to her ‘revolution for the sake of it’ ideology, as well as her typing quirk (As the two numbers she replaces are also part of the year of the beginning of the French Revolution).

Oh man… I used to be a bit of a French Revolution nerd. I adore this connection to her revolution for the sake of it ideology. Robespierre was a really chaotic man who was willing to go to some incredible extremes. Nice link!

Age:Typically between 8-10.

Strife Specibus:chainKind. Her iconic weapon is a Kusarigama with a hammer on one end and a sickle on the other. 

I See Your Joke And I Love It. 

Fetch Modus: Hive Modus. All items are stored within a hexagonal grid, forming rings around a core item. Only items on the current outermost row can be accessed, and each row needs to be completed before items can be added to the next layer. She picked up this modus when she was still really in her bugs phase, which she kind of regrets now that she’s going for a cool hip college communist aesthetic.

Just inconvenient enough to be fun. I also like that even though it harkens back to her old bug interest, it’s also a modus based around the structure of a communal species, making it still count for a reasonable communism reference.

Blood color: Currently Teal, though I’m thinking about making her a purpleblood (maybe a defector from the cult? Especially because her rebellious nature is taken to an idealistic extreme- she doesn’t have a moral end goal, she just wants things to change.)

I do think that a purpleblood defector is a great thing to do. It ties into her theme of a desire for change and development to have her rebel against a structure like that. And even if we change her, we can still link her back to this tealblood root a little bit. See, a desire to change Can be her moral center. Her view of right and wrong can be ‘anything goes as long as it is in the name of change.’ She can have a judicial nucleus built around the conception that change is the ultimate right. 

Symbol and meaning: It kinda looks like a bug? I don’t necessarily want to go with an extended zodiac sign, because her symbol is technically from the same family as Vapula’s. Maybe a small adjustment to match the teal sign language would be good, if not changing the symbol to something else entirely (if she ends up as a purpleblood).

Oh yeah, I’ll definitely give her a custom sign. It fits teal sign language well enough that I might leave it mostly untouched even when I change her to a purple.

Trolltag: malcontentMarionette  - Malcontent: Someone who is displeased with their current situation

- Marionette: I feel this would tie in well to making her a purpleblood? She ends up as a sort of puppet, controlled by the violetblood in her session and becoming the leader of his consort army. Additionally, a marionette would tie into the inherent circus theme of most purplebloods, and her status as a mind player (controlling choices in some form).

Oooh I love this… It expresses her original feeling of being malcontented with the state of things and feeling like a puppet of her institution while also acting as foreshadowing for her story… And if she’s a purple, it Does indicate the general clown theme as Well as the chucklevoodoos. And if we do make her a time player (I’m on the fence there… Maybe. Mayhaps), it’s a good reference to that too.

Quirk: Actually has two different quirks, although they’re not used simultaneously.

Originally, she typed in all caps, replacing b with 8 and t with 7, representing insect eyes and mandibles. She would use horizontal emoticons with two sets of eyes (oOwOo) to represent a jumping spider’s face. She also wouldn’t use much ending punctuation, instead sticking to commas to denote pacing.

“MM: 7HE QUICK 8ROWN FOX JUMPED OVER 7HE LAZY DOG oOwOo”

As time goes on, her quirk becomes much more ‘refined’, cut back to proper syntax and grammar, with a distinct lack of emoticons. She maintains the symbol replacements out of some deep, in-borne spite, but that’s about all.

“MM: 7he quick 8rown fox jumped over 7he lazy dog.”

I like it a lot!

Special Abilities:Nothing in particular as a tealblood. As a purpleblood I’ve considered giving her chucklevoodoos that incite feelings of outrage, overconfidence, and anger, which can cause riots and rebellion. Additionally, being able to manifest insects (ala Gamzee creating Lil’ Cal, on a much lower level).

That’d be pretty neat, because chucklevoodoos are said to be a way for purples to keep the lowbloods in check/keep them in line. Her abilities having the direct opposite impact could be good… Maybe her abilities naturally started as an ability that influenced individuals to cause infighting, inducing rage against companions and manifesting visions of insects to get people to swat at each other and exacerbate fights? But she’s been actively teaching herself to move away from that ability because she does not want to be a tool of the system or a tool of control. Of course she could then try to utilize it as a power for unifying feelings of anger and giving it motivational direction. 

Lusus: A jumping spider the size of a kitten at most. A sweet, gentle lusus whom Lycosa most definitely doted on when she was younger. Her lusus will knit you sweaters out of web silk. 

Oh I love… If we make her a purple, we could just shift that to a sea spider probably. The silk’s still fine. Make some fishing nets out of that silk, little cute spider.

Personality: Lycosa, as a person, is fundamentally unhappy and ill-at-ease, banking on rebellion and change for the hell of it to fill some sort of thing that she can’t seem to place. She doesn’t care about the morality of the change she’s advocating for, as long as it happens, and as long as it soothes whatever emotional turmoil that is bubbling inside of her. 

She tends to let herself get swept away on flights of emotional fancy, elaborate stories of ‘what if’ that eventually become ‘it will’. Her belief that she can find all of the answers to her disillusionment in the form of others, or in the form of external relationships is one of those things. She ends up clinging far too much to a fellow player in her session, who uses her fancy to manipulate her into becoming his second-in-command, and an essential puppet under his control. 

She also tends to hold back any signs of her old interests, and any traits she has that others might not like. When the violetblood in her session expresses distaste in her interest in insects, she drops any signs of interest besides the most minimal, retaining only her quirk in some subconscious spite, justifying the lack of change as simply matching his.

A big part of her story line is learning to cope with her general malcontent with life in a way that doesn’t involve deep-throating molotovs for revolution, or clinging to the first person who offers her some sense of stability no matter how much they’re using her for their own gain. 

The relationship clinging is another of those little teal traits that I really like shining through in her. Picking someone that is bad for her and committing too powerfully to him… With the added purpleblooded fun of the dedication. 

I definitely love her. I love her a lot. She’s a very detailed and thorough character with a lot of story growth potential. She has a wonderful character arc here… And she has so many aspects that she’s throwing around that you can develop her in a million directions… 

Interests: Lycosa’s interests are few and rather simple, often shoved to the side in favor of mimicking whatever interests her current lover or friend happens to possess. 

She spent most of her youth obsessed with bugs, from their physiology to their behavior. She knows how to manage just about any insect, from wasps to butterflies to mosquitos, and she has a deep fondness in her heart for arachnids as well. She can draw detailed drawings of them from memory (which ends up becoming relevant at a point in her quest), 

Lycosa also has a deep and involved interest in illegal histories and recovering the names of banished and excised revolutionaries, recovering propaganda, symbols, and techniques they used to further their causes. Not out of any legitimate desire to bring those ideals to fruition, but because they’re a personal aesthetic and something to devote herself to. 

Lycosa has a secondary interest in improvised weaponry and field first aid, which she learned as part of her research into revolutionary tactics. 

God these are good interests… You’re great at picking a theme and sticking to it STRONGLY. Just to tie into that last bit, you should include interest in guerrilla warfare tactics, laying traps, Disarming traps… Just a little additional information that she could brag about having for theoretical revolutionary purposes.

Title: Her session already has a Void, Doom, Life, and Light player, so unfortunately those are off the table. I’ve been leaning towards Rogue or Thief of Mind or Heart, though. 

Rogue of Mind might work for her over-abundance of options, which she has difficulty coping with. Thief of Heart would better show how she takes parts of herself from others, mirroring them more than showing much of herself in a relationship.

Okay… I’m definitely struggling to make a decision here. Right now I’m between Mind, Heart, Rage, and TIME. 

Rogue of Mind works for sure. She needs to learn redistribute and allocate all of those choices, needs to learn to balance them out and move them around. To find the right decision among all the crap. And also to take back her own mind, her own free will, her own actions. She’d be able to redistribute logical thought and action. Her inverse is Knight of Heart, which would mean she could actively utilize the strength of her personal will, her emotions… 

If she were a heart player, I’d argue she’s a Page of Heart. She’s someone who has a weak identity. She cares so much about her aesthetic and what others think of her and moving herself to their whim instead of being capable of defining her own identity and having her own self confidence. This would leave her in a really malleable and endangered position. She would have to break out of this mold and reach her potential and figure out her identity and confidence in order to start utilizing her power, her soul, to its full capacity. With the inverse Thief of Mind, she’d also be able to steal back the right to action for herself, steal the options and activities while utilizing the strength of her will… 

Rage references strongly her malcontent and her firm desire for a little chaos, a little mess, a lack of care for whether something is right or wrong and just a strict need for MOVEMENT. If I were to recommend this I’d probably say Prince of Rage? Someone who is actively destroyed by all this pessimism and this need for everything to be torn down, but who is then able to learn to use this to destroy the systems around her… 

And time of course discusses her struggle, her want for social development. But it would also challenge her to engage in active struggle instead of passively accepting things as they come and taking a backseat goal. It would make her need to find a goal to focus on and strive towards it instead of vaguely aesthetically aligning herself with real struggles. I’d probably recommend Page of Time here for the reasons I detailed in the heart segment… 

God but it’s really hard to pick. She has so many possible routes… I think I’d personally recommend Page of Heart, but it’s really up to you to decide.

Land: Land of Streetlights and Discord

I almost joked about changing it to Land of Lit Streets and Discord so the acronym would be LOLSAD. But that feels a little rude. I might actually recommend something that implies control/a search of identity more? Maybe Land of Streetlights and Nevron. Nevron is the greek word for string and harkens back to the word for puppet, nevróspastos. It literally means “muscle” as well as sinew/tendon/string, which is a nice reference to the heart if you go with the heart title.

Dream Planet: Derse

Very suiting, especially considering her tendency to hide her interests because of what others think.

Now design fun!:

Hair: Because I moved her to a purple I decided to make her hair a little bit wackier. Not too much, but just a couple more flips and bits. 

Horns: I gave her some longer horns. I didn’t really see a reason for her to have two sets since she doesn’t have much link back to goldbloods? So I created a sprite with just one set and a sprite with two sets for your selection convenience. 

Glasses: I just edited them a bit darker because they looked awkward at that middling shade. 

Eyes: I changed them to purple, obviously. On the right side I also gave her a little facepaint? I knew she’s defected from the cult but it still does at some rebellious visual interest. And it hints casually back to her old insect interest. I additionally added some bags under her eyes because she is exhausted. 

Shirt: I changed her jacket to a lighter shade to provide contrast because of some of my other changes. I also lightened her outline on her shirt. 

Symbol: I decided to mostly keep it the same. I deleted like a single pixel between the two connecting lines to make a set of four open arc. It matches the teal sign language more than the purple, but I think it’s still at least tangentially similar enough to purple visually to be acceptable. 

Pants: I know that fashion is considered an object of consumerism and a lot of communist rhetoric frowns upon it, so I kept the rest of her outfit really simple. But I wanted to use some level of patterns on her clothes, since she’s a purple. So I used the Iconic Communist Yellow Star.

Shoes: Just edited to purple and given some laces.

I love her! Thanks for sharing.

-CD