#filodox!

[nulla-dies-sine-rosa]

waiting for the inevitable 'what goncharov (1973) character are you' uquiz to show up on my dash and absolutely eviscerate me <3

[haec-est-fides]

It just struck me again out of the blue today that Nico really let Octavian accidentally kill himself via onager because he thought Octavian would miss the most important shot of his life. I have, perhaps, never been more insulted. I will never forget this.

[opting-for-oblivion]

Do you ever think about how the Golden Age of Piracy supposedly ended around 1730 and Beckett died in 1729

I hadn't known the years exactly, but thinking about it now...

I mean, you could of course go and say, "Beckett successfully killed piracy!!!" or something about how the two went down together, and that'd be neat. Something seems inevitable, seems Pyrrhic, about that, somehow. Something something what is victory what does it mean to lose or die here etc.

However, I'm not sure if the "Golden Age of Piracy" as we understand it historically (in reality) maps onto PotC so exactly? There are plenty of subtle differences / "inaccuracies" that make the world of PotC unlike our own. Does the height of piracy "actually" (per canon) end circa Beckett's death?

Above all, I think I personally find it most interesting (if we are seeing that Beckett died just before the end of the height of piracy in the timeline) to think of Beckett as a symptom of bigger currents in the world rather than as a direct cause, y'know? That's something that Beckett's arc was always about, about the end of piracy looming because the world was changing, not so much because of the actions of one man (and his private army). The world "made" Beckett, far more than Beckett "made" the world going forward, in a sense. Beckett... Gosh, he really was a sort of manifestation of everything anti-piracy that had been building in the world of PotC. In that way, like many villains, he's...less a person than a conflict or phenomenon given a face.

I could think about this much further, and perhaps I will, so thank you for the ask! On a more humorous note, we can always imagine Beckett looking on from the afterlife and going, "Oh, come on! How could I have JUST missed that! That was my whole THING!" asfdghjkl.

[adventuresinjumanji]

HEY YOU! YEAH YOU!

..You have great taste in movies! :D

omgs thank you :D

[epistaxis]

literally just thimking about him pajamas...

[fractalobsessed]

okay so just fyi this playlist is awesome

[nicespeksrdlr]

what's up, riddlernation 💚 my usual glasses site (firmoo) is having a 50% off sale on clear frames for some reason and I think my fellow glasses-wearers here might be inchrested ❓

[viola-ophelia]

tagged by @rosalinecapulet <3!

rules: tag 9 people you’d like to get to know better!

three ships: this is gonna end up being one ship bc im not a huge shipper (regrettably i’m more of a canon/oc person ahhaha) but i do love john andre and peggy shippen from turn lol

first ever ship: ooh i think it was legolas x arwen HAHAHA… i thought legolas was super hot when i was 10 and i wanted to be arwen so bad

last song: over by CHVRCHES

last movie: i can’t remember, but it was definitely a mid-to-bad movie that i watched only bc jj feild was in it ALSJSJK

currently reading: bleak house by charles dickens, for my nineteenth-century gothic lit class. it is soooooo long and i am rapidly running out of time before wednesday when i need to finish it by lol, help.

currently watching: about to start watching the last of us, with friends, literally rn haha!

currently craving: a glass of ice water, it’s so hot in my friend’s room lol

currently consuming: strawberry gum

i’m tagging @filodox @rhogeminid @jackyfalahees @deathicus-sling (even though we already know each other LOL) and anyone else who wants to do this!

[cage-core]

you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people! no skipping!

tagged by @filodox

playlist: probably just my liked songs

Vamp Anthem by Playboi Carti

The Body Builder (Dressing Gown mix) by Squarepusher

Fingerbib by Aphex Twin

Love Me by Justin Beiber

Mary on a Cross by Ghost

I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock of Seagulls

I'd Like to Walk Around In Your Mind by Vashti Bunyan

My Dog's Eyes by Zammuto

Love Song for a Vampire by Annie Lennox

Sand Canyon by Little Wings

yo if you see this consider yourself tagged.

[firstorderworstorder]

[the-uttermost-ends-of-the-earth]

Viridescent

"We live in the flicker."

an expeditioncore playlist

Ends of the Earth -- Lord Huron // Elephant Gun -- Beirut // The Jaguar Sun -- Helios // Taro -- alt-J // Orinoco Flow -- Enya // Mykonos -- Fleet Foxes // Islands -- Cosmo Sheldrake // Scenic World -- Beirut // Can't Help Falling in Love With You -- aeseaes // Dear Fellow Traveller -- Sea Wolf // The Traveller -- Matt Tondut // Dead People Tea -- Autumn Orange

Listen

[nulla-dies-sine-rosa]

not this scholar pulling an ebony dark'ness dementia raven way re. alexander the great...

[haec-est-fides]

Still thinking about this actually. Even though Nero is the direct reason "haec est fides" is my url, it also just hits perfectly as someone whose bias is (New) Roman. I loved Camp Jupiter and New Rome from the moment I laid eyes on them, Octavian was my first favorite character in the series, and then when ToA entered the picture I was beyond excited about the Triumvirate and the imperial households.

"This is fidelity" in Latin. Nero's last words, supposedly, yes. My favoritism of Nero, absolutely. My loyalty to the Romans at large in the Riordanverse? Of course.

[opting-for-oblivion]

The idea of Beckett being undead somehow is an interesting one, but there are almost endless different ways you could go with it. A few that have occurred to me:

Porcelain doll ! Beckett? He looks and acts normally, for the most part, yet is simultaneously fragile and impossible to truly harm. Things,,,crack. Things get snapped out of place, and he has to force them back. He doesn't bleed. He can't feel anything. He's cold. Hollow. Inhuman. A mere imitation. I'll admit this idea came to me for aesthetic reasons first and foremost, but the plot / magic behind it could be terrifying...

Ghost ! Beckett? Again, he almost looks and acts entirely as he did in life, but he can't interact with the physical world like he once did. Anything he tries to touch is,,,out of his grasp. He can't physically interact with others. He'll phase right through. He can't hold a teacup, or a pen, or anything else. Sometimes he can't even be heard. Sometimes he can't even be seen. I wonder where, what, or who he'd haunt...

My personal favorite idea, however, is demon ! Beckett. I think it's most fitting, given his character. Perhaps, as he's dying or dead and sent to Hell, he's seen as valuable. Perhaps he makes a deal. Business, after all, is his speciality. He comes back looking oddly better. Not in ostentatious ways, but something -- his smile too sharp, his eyes too gleaming, his smugness too confident. Again, he seems normal, for the most part, which itself is impossible. That is, until he gets angry, or until he's hurt. His eyes flash black, only for a second. The air crackles. He's more noticeably different to the few who know his secret, who knew him before. And his new state of being isn't all it's cracked up to be. His blood is black. He's constantly wanting. Wealth seems to momentarily satisfy it, but then it only hurts more. His existence is now defined by that pain, but he has a job to do. He has a master to serve. He talks about it casually, candidly. Mammon has been the only god in England for a long time, he says, a placid smile on his face as he gestures with his drink. He takes a sip and glares at it, unsatisfied, before carrying on. He's a very good businessman, a very convincing negotiator, and an unparalleled thief in his time. He quickly perfects the art of stealing souls. That brings his shell of a former self something closer to satisfaction.

[adventuresinjumanji]

Battle of the Smithsonian is awesome in part because it shows us just how real Egyptian mythology is in the NatM universe and it expands on the story of Ahk’s family. Yeah, we don’t get scenes of ancient Egypt until the third movie, but Kahmunrah and his gate to the actual underworld are some pretty significant steps in the world building -- expanding beyond the confines of any museum, beyond Ahk, beyond the tablet itself.

I mean, I have so many questions!

Why did Ahk’s family harness the power of Khonsu, of all deities?

On that topic, why would they choose to only come to life at night? Did they not have a “come to life during the day” spell? Did Merenkahre anger Ra?

And, ofc, where was Kahmunrah when all of this happened?

I’m like,,,really curious about Kah.

First off, he’s wearing the Blue Crown of Egypt. The Khepresh is specifically Egypt’s battle crown so !!!

Interestingly, Ahk wears the crown of lower Egypt (the Deshret) and their dad wears the combined crown of upper and lower Egypt (the Pschent) iirc.

I feel like everyone knows that Kah killed Ahk by now, even though that never explicitly made it into the movies. That’s big. 

Also, the Kah we see is a wax figure, not a mummy. He wasn't buried with his family, as we see in the third film. He may not have been properly mummified at all, because there is no evidence that his tomb was ever found. All we seem to know about him is in relation to his gate.

I’ve seen it speculated that Kah was the pharaoh's son via a concubine, while Ahk was the son of both Merenkahre and his queen -- thus Kah being second in line despite being first born. It’s an interesting idea, and I think it’s plausible. I really don’t know what other reason they would have for being all “Ahkmenrah, precious child, light of our life and glory of the gods! Oh and Kahmunrah, who we found in a Taco Bell dumpster.”

Plus, I would love to know what the timeline is with all of this.

Did their parents die and leave the throne to Ahk and then Kah killed him? But then how did Kah die? How was it decided that Ahk and their parents still got their grand family tomb?

Did Ahk ever officially inherit the throne of Egypt or was he killed when their parents were still alive? Hence the crowns? That would also give them some power to make sure they got the burial they wanted and that Kah didn't get buried with them.

How much of a coup was this?

The likelihood of Kah being buried in a tomb is pretty low, considering. It seems like if he really were "Kahmunrah the Bloodthirsty" there's only so many ways this could go.

1) Kah killed Ahk before their parents died, was found out, and was executed or exiled and torn apart by jackals in the desert. The rest of his family all got buried together and he was left to rot.

2) Kah killed Ahk before their parents died, was found out, was executed, and was given a small tomb far away from the rest of his family (which was never found).

3) Kah killed Ahk after their parents died, but Ahk was beloved of the people and Kah was an awful pharaoh. Kah was overthrown and killed by angry peasants / military. All of Egypt decided to bury Ahk with his parents out of respect and Kah was left to rot.

4) Kah killed Ahk after their parents died, but tried to look sane and so buried Ahk with their parents himself. This only really makes sense if he didn't want the tablet while he was still alive, but would possibly get him a tomb of his own.

A lot really depends on the tablet. It was apparently made for Ahk, by their parents, to keep the family together after death (which is weird considering the Egyptian afterlife, but I digress). It does seem like Kah wanted it and knew how to use it, but more importantly it seems like he got a hold of it. His gate is built around a false sarcophagus with parts of the tablet embedded into it, so that it fits perfectly. That definitely implies that he’s opened the gate before -- especially with the "changed the password" bit, implying that he knew the old password (but hasn’t seen the tablet since his death).

This is looking more and more like scenario 3. Kah must have killed Ahk after their parents were dead (or killed his parents too) and then used the tablet to summon soldiers of the Duat to rule Egypt with an iron fist / go to war. He was overthrown (somehow), wiped from the record, and the "true" royals were buried properly with their tablet.

[epistaxis]

The extent to which I am babygirlifying Dr. MK Ultra himself... I see Brenner act so insane at everyone around him and it's like YAS QUEEN 💕 SLAYYY !!! YOU ARE SERVING, BABYGIRL !!! 🌟💕😉 ALWAYS ON THAT HOT GIRL SHIT 💕 WE LOVE TO SEE A BITCH WINNING !!! (<- about some white man in his 50s who works for the CIA) like what