#he is a sad man

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Hello Orion! I've seen your opinions about JC, YZY and JYL (I agree with all of them) so I was wondering, what about Jiang Fengmian? Just curious about what you think of him and how much JC stans seem to twist him in order to make him and WWX look bad. But then again I'm not quite sure what my opinions on JFM are either so I was just curious about it!

Love ur metas and writing btw! Your posts always cheer me up and I've been through some hard ass anxiety attacks of which your blog helped me through, so thanks a lot! ❤️💕

Hello there, Agnes! And thank you very much for the compliment, I'm glad if what I scatter about on this messy website is able to help others as well, even as I wrestle with my old anxieties before I toss it into the closet and tell myself to be open without worries about my opinions on a book we all have love for (or hate, I get hate reading too, if that's your thing... just please reread before trying to bash with your whole chest)

On to Jiang Fengmian, I think he was a kind man, that was not meant to be a leader, that was dealt a sad hand in life. I think his own passivity and wanting to be someone that just lived, ultimately is what sort of hurt him. His love and sentimentality, in a way feels similar to the quiet love of Lan Wangji, not understood well, especially since he did not get to have a Wei Wuxian at his side and had others he did significantly care for (Jiang Cheng) believe he was indifferent. There is a big reason why his message of being careful of how you express or what you say is such a major theme within the story, since it is his words, that are at the core of what Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have to overcome to be happy with each other and see that their love and care is reciprocated.

Jiang Fengmian was wise in what he had to say, but his lack of faith in his own place or being able to have convictions in it, is what held him back, and made Yu Ziyuan able to be cruel to him, and their children. He was not able to rise above hardships because of this weakness. And him choosing to kowtow to that all, made him another accessory of saying and doing things that were damaging, regardless of intent. He had failed to follow his own words, and I believe he knew this as he was a worn down man by the time we get one real interaction with him. And he is just a sad man with only little happiness in his life.

He was a parent who wasn't able to speak to his child the way he or Jiang Cheng needed, and he wasn't a parent to Wei Wuxian, out of respect for his old friends, and because of the hate Madam Yu would continue to have in him. He made choices that weren't good for him, or anyone, when he ultimately agreed to a betrothal that ruined generations. I think he did see that, but didn't know how to fix it in anyway, and, went through life without really living it with little passion.

[vamprisms]

lesbians enjoy pathetic male characters because we have an instinctive prey drive

[tarvalian]

XII - The Hanged Man, Upright: surrender, sacrifice, faith, perspective

[myrkulitescourge]

the way that one line from the new epilogue in an astarion romance is going to HAUNT me

just. what a profoundly intense thing to confess to someone.

like, just these six months of newfound happiness with you exerts a force on his heart equal and in direct opposition to two centuries of endless torment, the gnawing hunger and exploitation. this flashbulb-bright fraction of his long life holds the same gravity to him as years upon years of darkness and suffering.

in all likelihood, he hasn’t even known his lover for as long as his worst memory lasted, that year sealed away to go mad from starvation and sensory deprivation, yet he still tells them this brief time has been so fundamentally and powerfully important that the weight of even that unimaginable hell is vanishingly small compared to this present he has now and the future ahead of them both.

how am i supposed to act normal about this.

[yellowistheraddest]

are they wrong?????

no.

[pinksartdump]

FINISHED. meme redraw. No applause necessary, thank you.

[merukins]

I dream about flying a lot, but when I wake up I’m still tethered to the earth

[mythology-void]

okay so I was doing a Research™️ about ancient Greek etymology as one does and I found some Things that made me want to Violently Claw My Arms Off please allow me to force feed you my discoveries

So there are 2 words for "not" in ancient Greek, depending on the context: ou and mē. Having introduced himself in the Cyclops episode as " ou tis", or No-man, he then stabs Polyphemus in the eye. When Polyphemus' brothers come to check on him, they say this:

"... surely no man [mē tis] is carrying off your sheep? Surely no man [mē tis] is trying to kill you either by fraud or by force?"

Right after this, after the other cyclopes ditch Polyphemus, Odysseus's inner monologue goes something like this:

"Then they went away, and I laughed inwardly at the success of my clever strategem [metis]." (pronounced mEH-Tis)

Now, there's a difference between mē tis and metis. [mē tis] (pronounced mEH-Tis with a space between the syllables) is the literal translation for "no man". Metis is a word for extreme intelligence/cunning, which is something Odysseus is famous for.

Now, there are several examples of abuse of metis/intelligence in the Odyssey, but I think the juxtaposition between [mē tis], or the concept of anonymity, and metis, or extreme intelligence, is REALLY interesting. Odysseus's adoption of the title "No-man" was characteristic of metis--it was a really smart move that simultaneously hid him from the cyclops and avoided any future consequences. It was a highly effective strategy all wrapped up in a nest little package with a bow on it.

But when he revealed himself as Odysseus of Ithaca, effectively throwing off No-man (anonymity and [mē tis]), that was characterized as idiocy--he's essentially doxxed himself, and now he's doing to (spoiler alert) get tossed around the Mediterranean by Poseidon for the next 10 years.

This is really interesting because it lets you see the parallels/codependency between metis(intelligence) and humility. When Odysseus refused to allow himself to go unnoticed (hubris) he suffered for it. BUT when he declined instant glory/satisfaction (kleos) in order to achieve the long term goal of survival, he was rewarded with Athena's favor (pay attention. This part is important).

And this situation repeats itself MULTIPLE TIMES in the Odyssey--the EXACT SAME THING happens near the end of the book, with the suitors. When. Odysseus is dressed as a beggar and the suitors/Antinious are abusing him, he ACTIVELY CHOOSES not to react--he doesn't stand up and rip off his disguise and start hollering "TIS I, ODYSSEUS OF ITHACA! FEAR MY WRATH"

No. He sits there patiently and waits. He plans and schemes and quietly orchestrates their downfall without alerting them of it. Why? Because he learned his lesson the first time this happened. He buried his rage and adopted what was, according to Grace LA Franz, a more feminine form of metis, weaving a web of destruction for his enemies that ultimately resulted in their total annihilation (see Weaving a Way to Nostos: Odysseus and Feminine Metis in the Odyssey by Grace LaFranz). His patience allowed him to win the whole prize--no questions asked, no 10-year-long-business-trip strings attached--just the sweetness of a full victory. And he is, once again, rewarded with Athena's favor--both in the battle with the suitors and in the aftermath (cleanup/reuniting with Penelope).

This really reinforces the idea in the Odyssey that Odysseus's defining characteristic is not just his intelligence--it's his ability to learn from his mistakes. He used what he learned at the Lotus Eaters Island against Polyphemus--the Lotus Eaters drugged his men, so he drugged Polyphemus. He used what he learned from Circe and Polyphemus against the suitors--Circe used false sweetness and honeyed words to lure his men into a trap, so that's exactly what he did to the suitors. His hubris on Polyphemus' island cost his whole crew their lives, so he intentionally left well enough alone until the right time. He didn't just learn from his failures--he turned them into BATTLE STRATEGY.

i don't care what anyone says that is completely totally and objectively awesome

[toastydumpster]

slight slip of the mind

[tubbytarchia]

I don't know what this is all I know is that LimL Joel makes me really emotional

[wrillr]

sending stone

[cuntlos]

girlhood is a struggle fr

[yuyonyu]

Gogol’s unrequited love

[inkpotsprite]

He really pulled his cowl off as if that would take it away.

[nibeul]

uncle aaron in spiderverse fucks me up so badly because here is a man who has done terrible, unforgivable things, and he loves his nephew very much

[thymetravellor]

“Are you happy, Fionna? All this, for you”

is it just me or does this make a ton of sense for Simons character, it really shows how much he’ll bend over backwards to help someone or just make someone happy, Idk I just really like this scene and though it was really good :)