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vintagegeekculture · 1 month

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The Evil Little Hairy Cave People of Europe in Pulp Fiction

From the 1900s to the 1940s, there was a trendy theme in occult and horror stories that the explanation for widespread European legends of fairies, brownies, pixies, leprechauns and other malicious little people, was that they were a hereditary racial memory of the extremely small non-human, hairy stone age original inhabitants of Europe, who still survive well into modern times in caves and barrows below the earth. Envious of being displaced on the surface, these weird creatures, adapted to the darkness of living underground and unable to withstand the sun, still mean mischief and occasionally go out at night to capture someone.... usually an attractive woman....to take to their dark caves for human sacrifice.

Displaced by the arrival of Indo-European language speakers at the dawn of the Bronze Age, these original, not quite human stone age people of Europe were driven deep underground into caves and barrows below the earth, where they went mad, adapted to the darkness and acquired a fear of daylight, became extremely inbred, in some cases acquired widespread albinism. It is these strange little people who gave the descendants of Europeans a haunting racial dread of places below the earth like mines and caves, and it also is these strange, hairy troglodytes who originally built the uncanny and mysterious menhir, fairy rings, and stone age structures of England, Scotland, and Ireland that predate the coming of the Celts and Romans.

In some cases, these evil troglodytes are usually identified with the mysterious Picts, the pre-Celtic stone age inhabitants of the British Isles. In some cases, they are identified with the Basque people of Spain, best known as the inventors of Jai Alai, and the oldest people in Europe who speak a unique language unrelated to any in the world.

The original codifier of this trend was Arthur Machen, a horror writer who is less remembered than his contemporary, Henry James, but who may be the best horror writer in the generations between Poe on the one end and Lovecraft/CL Moore/Clark Ashton Smith on the other. His story, "the White People" from 1904 (a reference to their strange cave albinism) was a twisted Alice in Wonderland with a girl who is irresistibly attracted to dark pre-Roman stone age ruins and who is eventually pulled underground.

In addition to being a great horror writer, Arthur Machen was a member of the Hermetic Society of the Golden Dawn, an occult organization, and was often seen at the Isis-Urania Temple in London. Many of his works have secretive occult knowledge.

H.P. Lovecraft in particular always pointed out Arthur Machen as his single biggest inspiration, though he combined Machen's dread and occultism with Abraham Merritt's sense of fear of the cosmic unknown, seen in "Dwellers in the Mirage" and "People of the Pit."

Another and scarier example of this trend would be "No Man's Land," a story by John Buchan, a Scotsman fascinated by paganism and horror, who often wrote stories of horrific discoveries and evil rites on the Scottish moors. He is often reduced to being described as a "Scottish Ghost Story" writer, a painfully reductivist description as in his career, Buchan wrote a lot of thrillers, detective, and adventure stories as well. In later life, he was appointed Governor General of Canada, meaning he may be the first head of state to be a horror writer.

It was Buchan who first identified the cave creatures with the Picts, something that another Weird Tales writer decades later, Robert E. Howard, would roll with in the 1920s.

Howard is a very identifiable kind of modern person you often see on the internet: a guy who talks tough, but who was terrified to leave his small town. He created manly man, tough guy heroes like Conan the Barbarian, Kull, and El Borak, but he himself never left his mother's house. It's no wonder he got along well with his fellow Weird Tales writer and weird shut in, HP Lovecraft. With 1920s Weird Tales writers, despite your admiration for their incredible talent, you also can't help but laugh at them a little, a feeling you also apply to a lot of Victorians, who achieved incredible things, but who are often closet cases and cranks who died virgins ("Chinese" Gordon comes to mind, as does Immelmann).

With Howard, his obsession with the Picts and the stone age cave dwelling people of Europe started with an unpublished manuscript where at a dinner party, a man gets knocked out and regresses to his past life in the Bronze Age, where he remembers the earliest contact between modern humans and the original inhabitants of the British Isles, the evil darkskinned Picts. This is a mix of both the "little cave people" story and another cliche at the time, "the stone age past life regression novel," another turn of the century cliche.

Still with the Picts on his mind, Howard would later create Bran Mak Morn, a Pict chieftain, who predated Kull and Conan as his Celtic caveman muscle hero. Howard was of Irish descent and proudly anti-Colonial and anti-British, with his Roman Empire and Civilized Kingdoms as a stand in for the British and other Empires, which he viewed as rapacious and humbug, a view shared by his greatest inspiration, Talbot Mundy. His "Worms of the Earth" gets to the heart of why these little cave people scare us so much: they remind us that we live on land that is impossibly ancient and we don't fully understand at all.

It was another Weird Tales Writer a decade later who wrote one of the last stories about the little hairy cave people of Europe, though, Manly Wade Wellman in 1942. Wellman was mainly known for creating the blond beefcake caveman hero Hok the Mighty set in stone age times, and for his supernatural ghost stories of Silver John the Balladeer set in modern, ghostly Appalachia (like many ex-Weird Tales writers, he made a turn to being a regional author in his later career, in the same way Hugh B. Cave became a Caribbean writer), but Wellman also had a regular character known as John Thunstone, a muscular and wealthy playboy known for his moustache who used his great wealth to investigate the supernatural and the occult. Thunstone had a silver sword made by St. Dunstan, patron of Silversmiths, well known for his confrontations with the Devil.

Most John Thunstone stories featured familiar stories, like a demon possessed seance and so on, but one in particular featured a unique enemy, the Shonokins.

The Shonokins were the original rulers of North America, descendants of Neanderthal man displaced by American Indians. This fear that the land we live is ancient and unknowable and we just arrived on it and don't know any of its secrets is common to settler societies, who often hold the landscape with dread, as in Patricia Wrightson's fantasies of the Australian Outback. It was easy enough to transport the hairy cave people from the Scottish Moors to North America. I suspect that's what they are, a personification of a fear shared in the middle class, that in the back of their minds, that everything they have supposedly earned is merely an accident of history, built by rapacity and the crimes of history, and that someday a bill will come due.

A text page in the May 1942 issue of Weird Tales gives strange additional information on the Shonokins not found elsewhere:

Since then, there have been too many examples of evil cave people who predate Europeans. Philip Jose Farmer's "The All White Elf" features the last survivor of a pre-European people who live in caves. A lot of other fiction of course has featured the Picts, but according to our modern scientific understanding, which describes them as much, much less exotically, as a blue tattooed people not too different and practically indistinguishable from the Celtic tribes that surrounded them, and which they eventually blended into.

#pulp fiction #horror #pulp novels #stone age #picts

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ceilidho · 8 days

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why is your brain so wrinkly i'm eating up your ideas and thoughts about the cod boys in the fallout universe.

just ghost being unapologetically unbothered in the wastelands, soap being a raider because he's a wild man that needs something to do, price as a CULT LEADER (i eat that up every time) and our poor vault dweller gaz i just UGH

Ghost just lives on his own, eats whatever he can, sells the remains of whatever happened upon his property in town, and then uses that extra income on RadAway. he's either full ghoul or just deformed and deteriorating, but in either case he still wears the mask, and in this 'verse the skull on it is real. a grisly little memento of someone who maybe got too close to killing him. he catches you wandering a bit too close to his property, dehydrated and hallucinating because you've been out on your own for too long and rather than killing you, he hogties you and drags you home. it gets lonely without a pet to call his own.

Soap is a scavenger/raider who's been travelling with the same band of raiders for several months. before that he was on his own for a spell and before that he was in a much larger group that dissolved due to in fighting (dissolved = bloodbath, very few made it out). when his group breaks into your vault and kills most of the people inside, he takes you as his own and guards you jealously, territorially. bites you in order to put his mark on you. he makes you bunk with him and gets vicious mad when you stray too far from him because it's not safe. it gets to a point where he's too paranoid to go on raids anymore because he can't trust you to be on your own and he also doesn't want you coming with them and getting hurt. tells the group he's leaving and goes to take you with him and when they refuse to let him take whats "theirs" (aka anything they took from the vaults), he snaps and kills all of them

Gaz is a vault dweller who volunteered to come to the surface after his community's vault door failed, forced to scour the wastelands and nearby towns for replacement parts. when he comes across you working as a freelance mechanic, extremely taciturn and hard to get to know, he can't help but bring you back with him when you help him acquire the parts that he's been looking for, convincing himself that kidnapping you is for the greater good. he'll be able to give you a proper life free of stress and scarcity back in the vault, and you'll be able to ensure that the door never, ever opens again.

Price is the overseer of a vault that over the years has gradually devolved into what most would consider a cult. it's only too bad that there's no one objective enough to label it as such. his vault is also part of a dual vault system similar to vaults 31/32/33, but the two vaults haven't had any communication in the last two hundred years, so the other vault has no idea what's become of Price's vault. it's only too bad that due to a catastrophic blight in your vault, you're the only survivor of a plague that wiped out your entire community, forcing you to enact the emergency protocol and contact the vault adjacent to yours. Price is quick to welcome you in with open arms, but you only start to feel a bit uncomfortable when the other inhabitants start making comments about how nice it'll be to have a new resident as they've been lacking members of "good breeding stock". you don't like the way Price hums in agreement when someone brings that up at the welcome feast.

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1990jeevas · 2 years

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dyou think you could tag that post with “dream situation” if its okay? if its not thats fine!!!!

ya thats fine!!

#shit self #will tag all other posts about it like that as well actually #makes more sense than just tagging them as dream alone #asks #ghost-town-dwellers

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mcc-updates · 3 months

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The MCC banner is complete! Thank you to everyone who contributed and to @mc395686 for putting the event and the art together!

See the full list of artists under the cut:

5up- u/Aquaxii_Axolotl

aimsey- u/SuPlime5

Antfrost- u/raenavolante

awesamdude- @1randomperson15

BadBoyHalo- @curopeez

BajanCanadian- u/JolteonUltra

bekyamon- u/Mysterious-Town-8541

Blushi- u/SmallerRocket

Capitan Gato- u/SparklezSagaOfficial

CaptainPuffy- u/Despairley

CaptainSparklez- @yourfriendphoenix

ConnorEatsPants- @oneleggedgiraffe

cubfan135- u/kanwasabi6

DarkEyebrows- u/AIOcross

DrGluon- u/TheCeriseHood

ElainaExe- u/Grimaussiewitch

Eret- u/Mika123D

FalseSymmetry- u/username6702

FireBreathMan- u/TheMCCGuy_

Foolish Gamers- @asonr

fruitberries- u/1616161660

fWhip- u/Guava_juicers

GeminiTay- u/SmallerRocket

GeorgeNotFound- @draphty

GoodTimesWithScar- u/MyriadLeaf

Grian- u/Draphty_01

Guqqie- u/XxMysticDaisyxX

hannahxxrose- u/AlyatheStarrrr

HBomb94- u/HiyeeFe

impulseSV- u/axo1otl72

InTheLittleWood- u/Cariadieu

James Turner- @koboldkurios

JeromeASF- u/SparklezSagaOfficial

jojosolos- u/Despairley

Kara Corvus- u/kazkatai

Krtzyy- u/Lidlovec

KryticZeuz- u/HiyeeFe

LDShadowLady- u/Nor_The_ArtMan

Michaelmcchill- @notsogoodangel

Mythical Sausage- @milipika

OllieGamerz- u/TheMCCGuy_

OwengeJuice- @endcoral

PearlescentMoon- u/crysstall_

PeteZahHutt- u/Cyburic

Ph1LzA- u/Ready_Translator6371

Ponk- @this-hound

PrestonPlayz- u/SparklezSagaOfficial

Punz- u/TIMB_xddd

Purpled- u/chickenflyguy

Ranboo- @thirty-five-portland-row

Ryguyrocky- u/Technosnap64

Sapnap- u/phoenixoxoq

SB737- u/MccFan43862

Seapeekay- u/pengwinftw

Shadoune666- u/Cariadieu

Shubble- @ghost-town-dwellers

Skeppy- @thatonewatercat

Smajor1995- u/KittyPurrMeowCat

Smallishbeans- u/x_L3m0n

Sneegsnag- @ozzybutweirdthistime

Snifferish- @theoneandonlyyeti

SolidarityGaming- @cuippedtea

Sylvee- u/GamingStarr

TapL- u/Med4g

TheOrionSound- @meecru

TommyInnit- u/SupahSplendah

Tubbo- u/HelloPotatoGirl

VelvetIsCake- u/Wall-ethetrashrobot

vGumiho- @voidpidgeon

Vikkstar123- u/ShiftSilvally

Vixella- u/bubblesgame

Wallibear- u/Cyburic

Players not seen in the list are due to us not receiving art for them.

#mcc.art #thank you everyone that's a lot of people!#mod snow #mcc

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rejectedmcytpollshowdown · 10 months

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Have you ever wanted to submit your blorbo to a poll only for it to say “No MCYT” or “No DSMP”? Or have you ever been too scared to submit your favorite MCRP person because of the toxicity a poll with them would inevitably cause? Well this is the poll for you! Our goal is to find the MCYT character most fitting to the poll they would have been submitted to!

This poll was heavily inspired by Jimmy having to be taken out of the doomed by the narrative tournament because of how mean people got, the harassment going on in the @transgenderswagcompetition , and every time I got excited to submit a character only to then realize the op said no DSMP or MCYT

this poll is run by @ghost-town-dwellers!

btw if no one submits anything i am running this anyways for me and me alone <3

#dsmp #mcyt #mcytblr #dsmpblr #polls

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griancraft · 1 year

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I love men with a burning passion and I also really like boobs so. Sorry they aren't really that big I'm working on it LOL

taglist:

@i-cry-as-if-on-cue @huntingpalismen @hallowwolf @doomsday-radio @tubmax @yellowjeans @lego-jamms @pancake-syrup @garlic-sauc3 @astrahear04 @captiandirtnap @galaxy-starheart @buenostiemposconscar @scarrland @treeofwhimsy @love-di-angleo @abyssopelagiccs @floor-archivist @thedialup @t4tpoisondamage @ghost-town-dwellers @sonoffortune @donatellosleftgoggle @minecraftbed @mcytfromnextdoor @knightingale0 @galacticmackerel @thepandafangirl @tired-masochist @lotings @eromarealm @intothehandsoffate @2-point-5 @goodtimeswithsyd @thedragonofmajima @mumbeasjumbeas @two-bats @lemonsharkss @caeliumn @glimborgus @mcyt

#should. should i maintag this. yeah.#gtws #goodtimeswithscar #scar #scitties #original content

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klbwriting · 4 months

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Surface Tension

Chapter 3: Jackie and Wilson

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: none, this is just fluff and relationship building

Summary: Orm and Y/N have been keeping each other at arm's length, but through talking and her meeting his family, maybe its time they get closer

Notes: I love the slow burn (and yes, 3 chapters is slow burn for me >.<) and them just learning and feeling each other out. Comments/critiques appreciated. Also, song is 'Jackie and Wilson' by Hozier

Taglist: @gabrieleskywalker @philiasoul

The whole idea of Halloween confused Orm to no end, but it was giving him the opportunity to see his mother and his nephew so he would go along with it anyway. They were going to come into town with Tom and Mera for a children's costume party at the local library so he figured he would join them, spend some time with people he cared about. However, he wanted to not be completely in the dark and being that he lived next to a surface dweller that seemed very willing to teach him about this world and didn't treat him like an idiot, he would ask Y/N about it. He stood in his bedroom, looking in his closet, debating what to wear to go knock on her door. Why was he doing this? He had no idea, but here he was debating between a black shirt and a blue one before finally settling for black. He headed down the stairs and knocked on the wall a couple times, their new way of announcing that they were going to come visit. He got a knock back and headed to her door. She was already there, wrapping herself in a sweatshirt.

"What's got you visiting me this early?" she asked. He frowned, looking at the sky and seeing that the sun was just starting to rise. "You're lucky I'm up early to check on the morning work at the cafe." He rubbed the back of his neck, blushing a little. She smiled at him. "Ok, out with it, what's going on?"

"Um, my family is bringing my nephew into town for the costume party at the library and well, being honest, my side of the family didn't do Halloween so I'm not sure what its all about," he said. Y/N nodded, once again being understanding about Orm's seeming lack of normal surface dweller knowledge.

"Come on in, I'll make some tea and give you a crash course," she said. Orm was nervous for a moment, having not been in her home yet. They mostly just sat on the back porch, or he would visit her cafe, never in each other's houses. He stepped in and looked around. It was a mirror of his place, entering the living room, open to the dining room and kitchen in the back, then stairs to the bedrooms. Where he had nothing really in his house, preferring to pretend that he was only there temporarily, she had decorated. It was sparse, but homey, with a few photos on the wall, a television (at least he assumed that's what it was called), furniture that looked lived in and comfy. She led him towards the kitchen where she had a mug out and water heating. She grabbed another with Justice League symbol on it and got some loose leaf tea ready. "Ok, so hit me with the questions."

"What is the point of this holiday?" he asked, taking the seat she offered him at the round table.

"Well back before there was candy involved it was believed that October 31st was the day the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest, so ghosts and spirits could freely walk among the living," she said. His eyes widened a little and she smiled, setting the mugs on the table and setting a timer for the tea to steep. "And some cultures still believe that. For some people the spirits of their family returning is a reason to celebrate, they make food, have parties and make offerings to their ancestors and its beautiful. Other people are frightened and wear masks to hide from the spirits. That's where the whole idea of trick or treating came from. People dress in costumes, go to houses and get candy." The timer went off and she poured them each a mug. "Anything else?"

"Why would the dead want to come back?" he asked. She laughed, but not in a mean way.

"Good question, the living world is a mess, why come back?" she said. "I guess if they felt something was unfinished, or maybe they miss their living family. I know I miss my father and wish his spirit could visit me sometimes." Orm looked at her, never hearing her talk about her father before.

"What happened to him?" he asked. She sipped her drink for a second, took a deep breath and he was worried he had stepped too far into her world with this. They kept each other at arm's length and he hated it, but he had been following her lead, maybe he had finally pushed her too hard.

"He died, when I was a child, sickness," she said finally. He felt a pang in his heart for her. Despite the fact that his father was a step down from a monster he still missed him sometimes, and he knew how it felt to watch someone you thought was immortal die slowly.

"I'm sorry," he said. She nodded, not looking at him. "I'm sure if his spirit could visit you he would." It felt lame, but it was all he had to offer in comfort.

"Thank you Orm," she said, smiling. He noticed that she again looked surprised by him. He wasn't sure of her experience with men before but it couldn't have been good with how shocked she was by him being the bare minimum of kind.

Y/N was constantly surprised by Orm's kindness. What she remembered of him was a narcissistic, nearly genocidal prick, not this kind, funny, almost humble person. Sure he still carried himself like a royal, but it was like he had been knocked around some too, the crown had a few scratches in it and it made it more interesting, more beautiful. She cleared up the mugs and looked at the clock.

"I have to get going, bring your family by the cafe later, I'll give your nephew a treat," she offered. It wasn't until she was at the cafe and starting to make something nice for the boy that she realized how dumb she was. Orm may not recognize her, but his mother might. She did mildly resemble her mother and she had met the queen a few times as a teenager. She could only pray that he chose not to bring them around.

Tom, Atlanna, and Junior arrived at Orm's home after lunch. The baby was nearly 2 now and he remembered Orm from the last visit, reaching out to his uncle excited when he saw him. He hated to admit it, but Orm adored the boy, despite him being the son of his idiot brother. He took the boy, noticing the costume.

"What is he?" Orm asked, the little regal costume confusing him. "And where is Mera?"

"He's prince charming," Atlanna said, "and Mera was called back to Atlantis, the council is trying to wrestle more power away from Arthur. They want to put forward demands of the surface and threaten war if they don't comply." That was concerning, the council still seemed to be annoyed that their king had revealed Atlantis to the world and wanted to get some vengeance against him.

"I hope they can squash that, although I don't hate the idea of forcing the surface to make some changes," Orm said, letting AJ down to walk around his place. "I know the party is soon, but could we stop by the cafe beforehand? My friend said she would have a treat for AJ." Atlanna perked up at the mention of a friend. Orm hadn't ever talked about anyone before, and never with that tone of voice.

"Friend?" she asked. Orm realized the can of worms he had opened with that statement and sighed.

"Yes, Y/N, she lives in the other side of the duplex," he said, trying to sound nonchalant, but the look in his mother's eyes told him he failed.

"Then let's go and meet this Y/N," she said, gathering up her grandson and husband.

The cafe was empty when they arrived, close to closing time and just passed a lunch rush. Y/N was behind the counter, looking like she had been busy that day. Orm smiled at her, liking when her hair was slightly messy and she smiled back. Atlanna frowned for a moment, trying to place the girl's face. Y/N looked worried for a split second before masking the face and going to the counter, pulling out a small box.

"Hey, you must be Orm's family, I'm Y/N, his neighbor," she said, coming around to the front. She saw AJ in Tom's arms and smiled big at him. "Aww, he's precious." She opened the box for him, showing a vanilla cupcake with a jack o'lanturn design on it. Tom thanked her and took the treat for AJ, getting him set up to eat at a table. Atlanna came up and greeted her, shaking her hand.

"You look familiar," she said. Y/N felt panic rising in her chest.

"Honestly, people tell me that a lot, I have one of those faces," she said, trying to sound relaxed. She hoped it worked. The queen seemed to buy it, just smiling and going to see AJ, making a mess of the table with the icing, Tom trying to clean up. "Don't worry about that, let him play, I have wipes for that."

"You look nervous," Orm said, standing next to her now. He could smell coffee and vanilla on her and it was intoxicating if he was honest.

"Well, they're your family, I want them to like me," she said. He looked at her, eyebrows raised a little. "What? I like to be liked." He chuckled, noticing her blush. He was watching Y/N and she was watching Atlanna, noticing her probing looks, still trying to figure out why she knew her. "I'm going to get those wipes, get ready for closing, just leave the mess when he's finished." She headed to the back, through a door to the back area. Orm frowned and looked at his mother, who shrugged and went back to AJ.

The party was fine, AJ got lots of candy and had fun with the other children. On the way home Orm sat in the back with the baby and heard a song play on the radio that he recognized from Y/N's concerts on the back porch.

"She's gonna save me, call me "baby" Run her hands through my hair She'll know me crazy, soothe me daily Better yet, she wouldn't care"

he sang to his nephew, who giggled at his uncle dancing and singing the backseat. Atlanna was watching through the rear view mirror the whole time and when she walked him to the door she smiled.

"You like her don't you?" she asked, nodding towards Y/N's door. Orm felt the red rush to his cheeks, but shrugged. "O, you really like her."

"Fine, yes, I do, I like her more than any other person I've ever met," he admitted. He had missed so much time with his mother it felt nice for her to needle him into admitting something like this. "But she seems to want to keep us as friends, which is fine, I'm happy if she's happy."

"Orm, she made a special cupcake for your nephew and the smile on her face when she saw you today? That is not the kind of smile a friend gives someone," she said. "Give her time and I think she'll see that she feels the same for you that you feel for her." She kissed his cheek and hugged him tight and he relished in the feeling. They parted and she left with Tom and AJ and he went inside, rolling her words over in his mind.

#orm marius #king orm #ormmarius #orm marius x reader #king orm x reader #kingorm #ormmariusxreader #kingormxreader #ormseries3

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chloe-caulfield94 · 2 months

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The demonic bargain of the Storm

I think that the most accurate interpretation of Max's nightmare in general and the character of Other Max in particular is that it symbolizes an internal struggle of Max against her fear, self-doubt and self-loathing. I think that interpretation most likely corresponds to what the writers intended and is most firmly rooted in the game.

Having said that, I think there's also a different interpretation that fits the events of the game quite well. Not a psychological, but a metaphysical interpretation of Max's nightmare and the final choice. In which Other Max is not just a figment of Max's mind and the Storm is not just a meteorological phenomenon. Rather, they are both facets of an independent, conscious and malicious entity. An entity of the kind that we usually call demons.

Now, one might say that a demon would be out of place in Life is Strange. Would it really be, though? In Season 1 and BtS there's plenty of metaphysical events already.

Max's reality bending power that despite the best efforts of Max, Chloe and Warren cannot be explained away using "chaos theory". Chaos theory could only be used to explain the reverberating effects of rewinding time. But it most certainly doesn't explain how Max is manipulating time with a flick of her wrist.

Rachel's fire and/or wind based power, which was only teased and never thoroughly explored, but definitely seemed to escape any rational explanation.

Numerous sightings of various "spirit animals".

Rachel's ghost, in the form a doe, guiding Max to Rachel's grave.

Chloe's visions of William, which may have been just nightmares, but may also have been her communing with the dead.

The blue butterfly, which may have been a guardian angel, or another spirit animal, or something else entirely, but most certainly wasn't just an insect.

Life is Strange has always had a strong undercurrent of spiritualism and mysticism. Just listen to one of Samuel's talks.

So with all that already present in the game, is a demon really that far out?

Let's imagine that just like Samuel said, there's a powerful spirit lingering in Arcadia Bay. However, that being is anything but benevolent. You could call it a demon, you could call it a vengeful local deity. Maybe it has always been always hostile. Or maybe it is just a reflection of the hearts and souls of Arcadia Bay's dwellers. And as the dwellers became more and more hateful, cruel and greedy, they tainted the town's spirit too, making it malevolent.

Whatever it was and however it came to be the way it was in October of 2013, the spirit had acquired a taste for evil.

And the dwellers of Arcadia Bay provided a steady supply of it. Sadists kidnapping and tormenting others for their sick "art". Bullies driving others to the brink with their hatred. Drug dealers preying on minors.

But evil acts done by evil people quickly become predictable. Boring.

And that's when Max came back to town. Someone unique. Someone with a beautiful heart. Full of love, strength and courage, even if Max herself didn't realize it yet.

Just like Jefferson wanted to turn the "innocence" of his victims into "corruption", to taint, despoil, contaminate, brand them, the spirit wanted to do the same to Max. It wanted to empty her heart of love. To break her strength. To replace her courage with doubt. And that would be achieved by tempting Max, the genuinely good, kind and well-meaning person, into commiting the worst sin of all.

In the interpretation I'm proposing, the final choice represents Max being tempted to sin. The sin she is being tempted to commit is the rejection of love. Just like love (both romantic and platonic) is the root of everything good in the world, the rejection of love is the ultimate sin, in which all other sins are contained - hatred, greed, cruelty, disdain. Max is tempted to reject Chloe's love, to take back her own love, to erase it, to make it so that it never even happened.

One could say it's unfair to maintain that sacrificing Chloe would be a sin on Max's part, because she would do it to save the town. But that's the whole point! Temptation is not about presenting someone with a choice that is obviously evil, both at its core and at the surface. Temptation is about presenting someone with a choice that is evil in its essence, but is dressed up as something else. Usually it's dressed up as something alluring, something pleasurable.

But the best kind of temptation (and by "best" I mean the most insidious and most effective) way of tempting is to present something evil as something that would lead to "a greater good". To present something evil as a "necessary evil". To make someone consciously commit an act of evil by inducing in them a mistaken belief that there's no other way forward but to commit this act of evil.

That's precisely what Max is being tempted with. She is told to become an "everyday hero". To save her hometown. But to do that, she must commit the ultimate sin - reject love. This is truly a demonic bargain.

In my mind, by tearing up the photograph, Max defeats her tempation. She sees through the rotten, sadistic deal she has been offered. She chooses not to commit an act of evil. Rejecting love and friendship, taking back the hope you've given someone, leaving them to die alone, abandoned and afraid - it's always an act of evil. Always a sin. No matter what it would accomplish on the physical plane.

There is no such thing as a necessary evil. EVIL IS NEVER NECESSARY. And a lesser evil is evil still. You are only responsible for the things you choose. So if you choose evil, you are responsible for it. Even if it's a lesser evil, even if you've deluded yourself into thinking that it's a necessary one.

If you're presented with a choice to stop a greater evil at the cost of commiting a lesser evil and you refuse to do so, that doesn't make you responsible for the greater evil. On the contrary, it shows you chose no evil at all.

#max caulfield #chloe price #pricefield #life is strange #lis #bae vs bay

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