#i just STARTED tearing for no reason?

[fwoopersongs]

Do give the MV by CPC Music Channel a LIKE here!  I own nothing except the translation.

The State has a city, hey! The city is boxed. The city has a Lord, hey! Benevolent he was. The ministers are capable, hey! Pillars of the state. The Lord has an Empress, hey! She was just.

Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

My wish is only one, to one day be myself; to follow my heart, be rightly filial, with no more ceaseless restraint for propriety, as a husband, free to shower affection on my wife, as a father, free to love and dote on my every child, to know my dearest as I did before, with no distance between us.

Our wish is only one, to limit Our desires as best We can, and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’. Prudence for a Lord is the most important virtue; the People are the very foundation of all under heaven. For the peace and stability of all the land, how dare We be willful?

Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

My wish is only one, to one day be myself; to follow my heart, be rightly filial, with no more ceaseless restraint for propriety, as a husband, free to shower affection on my wife, as a father, free to love and dote on my every child, to know my dearest as I did before, with no distance between us.

Our wish is only one, to limit Our desires as best We can, and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’. Prudence for a Lord is the most important virtue; the People are the very foundation of all under heaven. For the peace and stability of all the land, how dare We be willful?

..................................................................................................

Comments

Serenade of Peaceful Joy came up in conversation with friends, and I thought to check it out on a whim.

Because the opening song starts with the little child singing in words easily parsed, it’s easy to be lulled into a state where you just sit back and enjoy the beautiful art in the drama’s opening. Even when the light male voice takes over at the second verse. But at the end of that verse,  百姓康↑ (i.e. the people are doing very well) sort of reeled me in again because the volume went up, but also - I did not detect any joy in that.  

And then I suddenly heard 惟愿我能一日为己 // My wish is only one, to one day be myself, and right onscreen was the puppet Emperor. So I came to the correct conclusion, that this line was in his voice and from his POV.

Then the camera zoomed out and seeing this scene of the people watching the stage reminded me of the child singing. I think when children sing songs that praise the goodness of their times, there is a shade more reliability. They aren’t stupid, and they can be startlingly observant. 

Anyway, depictions of the imperial family amongst the cheerful commoners, contrasted with the most powerful man in the state tired of the constraints on his life imposed by his duty. That was just - uhg. 

The next line I heard clearly was 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 // and both Lord and father need no longer worry for the morrow’ - which touched me more than it hurt? But it was an achy sort of moving. 

Very innocently, I thought it was about the hard work and pressures that went into doing well as an Emperor for his people. 

(But you translate poetry, yj. You should know better!)

I wasn’t entirely off the mark ok.

So imagine my absolute shock when I actually pulled up the lyrics and saw the entire 2nd verse????

子皆寿短储落旁 Sons, they died young; the succession fell from this line. 女亦娇拗终惶惶 Daughter, beloved and headstrong, fearful to the last. 然民亦皆君子女 But the People too, were the Lord’s daughters and sons; 市井平宁百姓康 in the streets, peace, stability - all were hale and well.

The first line is already shocking. It also feels like something that would happen near the end of an Emperor’s rule. The choosing of a crown prince from a branch of the family, that is. You normally wouldn’t be doing that unless there is no other viable choice.  But more importantly, his sons all died young?! Truly tragic.

But his daughter (daughters? It feels like one though.), very treasured and headstrong, but passed fearful and uneasy? What happened here?

The second two lines feels like a consolation but also a ringing slap to the face. Like hey! Your personal life is a wreck, but at least you’ve done your job swimmingly. Perhaps it was at the cost of his family?

Next verse is the true wish! He uses ‘I’. This is a wish he makes as his personal self, just a normal man, wanting to be filial, wanting to be a good husband to his wife, a good father to his children, wanting to be himself and not have to suppress his nature and refrain from these things for propriety. 

The next verse shatters that wish into a million pieces. Here he uses 吾 as a self reference which I approximated with the royal We. For the rest of this life, he can never be just a normal man. He has to be a good emperor, prudent and dedicated, a father to his people. For peace and stability to be maintained, he cannot just do as he wishes. And the good news? In the narrative of this song, he succeeded!

So we have  Verse 1 - Commoner’s pride and praise of their State, city, benevolent emperor, capable ministers and fair empress. (The result, the surface) Verse 2 - May be the state of the country at the end of his rule. (The cost and the good done.) Verse 3 - A pipe dream. Maybe at the beginning before he fully mentally accepted the responsibility. (Start) Verse 4 - He’s accepted that he can’t have a normal life like that, and is now fully committed to the kingdom. (Turning point, go to Verse 2)

国有城兮城四方 城有君兮仁以长 臣忠能兮为栋梁 君有后兮持正方

子皆寿短储落旁 女亦娇拗终惶惶 然民亦皆君子女 市井平宁百姓康

惟愿我能一日为己 从心从孝勿思复礼 为夫恣情于内 为父舐犊于膝 识卿于初无疏离

但愿吾能尽节其欲 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 慎乃君德之首 民为天下根基 为四海平宁何敢恣意

子皆寿短储落旁 女亦娇拗终惶惶 然民亦皆君子女 市井平宁百姓康

惟愿我能一日为己 从心从孝勿思复礼 为夫恣情于内 为父舐犊于膝 识卿于初无疏离

但愿吾能尽节其欲 亦君亦父勿忧旦夕 慎乃���德之首 民为天下根基 为四海平宁何敢恣意

[captainkirkk]

I want to see characters being taken care of in an explicit and worshipful way. Home-cooked meals. Hair brushed and braided by gentle hands. Little gifts just because.

I want to read about characters who are not used to kindness being bombarded by acts of service. This trope works romantically and platonically. Give me found family and acts of service - all the ways a character is wrapped up in wordless, explicit care after years of cruelty and having no idea how to handle. I need it.

[raina-clipse423]

Doki doodle bunch 2!!

There's the Sayori one I really liked!! She's just the type to stim a lot to me when she gets really excited (which is lowkey all the time imo) zhaibwisw

Monika's colors giving seratonin, i dunno it just gives that vibe, and who wouldn't want to use her hair as a scarf at one point in your life even if just for shi's and giggles?

That baffled Yuri was actually the very first thing I drew in the sketch book too lol I like it as well

[leciraofthewilderness]

So, despite some faults, I really enjoyed totk, and on its anniversary I want to say something about it. Other people have said similar things before but it’s really important to me and actually a big part of why the story of totk was meaningful to me, so I want to also say it:

Zelda needed to come back from draconification. The story needed that. It wasn’t lazy and just ignoring “consequences” because (imo) that was the *point*

The point is to feel like there are going to be terrible consequences and then say actually, no. You can come back from this, with the help of other people.

To me at least, that was the theme of the whole story.

If botw was about how the world goes on past loss and grief and starts to heal (how flowers grow in the ruins and the world can be beautiful again, be worth saving, even if it has changed)…then totk was about a more personal kind of healing.

The weight of the world should not be on your shoulders alone…you, alone, should not have to fix everything…you should not have to sacrifice yourself, but when you do, someone will be there to save you from it.

This turned into a really long ramble so:

You (Link) gained so much and now it’s gone. It feels like you’re back to where you started and yet you know you have to do it all again…you were weak and you failed and you’re weaker now…but

You go down to the surface. Monsters swarm across it once again. Other people are fighting them too though. You help, but it’s not just you…

You go to the Rito, the Gorons, the Zora, the Gerudo…just like with the divine beasts, there are friends who help you save each region. But this time, part of them comes along with you when you leave. It’s nice, you realize, the first time one of them protects you from a monster you weren’t prepared for. You’re still weaker than you were before, but someone has your back…

When you go up to the sky you see a strange new dragon there. There’s something about them that feels familiar. You try not to think about it.

You go down to the depths too. It’s terrifying at first. You hate it. You only want to get what you came for and get out of the dark….but slowly, the light grows. You get stronger. The dark feels like a challenge you can face (and someone has your back).

There are spirits down there. You don’t know when they’re from, but some part of you wonders…are these all the people you let die in the Calamity? (You help them find rest from their wandering. The weight on your shoulders feels a little less heavy).

There’s so much gloom. The first few times the sky turns red and hands chase you (a reminder of what you’ve lost, how you failed) you just run. Eventually though, you have to fight. It feels like the (second) worst day of your life again. But you manage to get free of the grasping gloom and stand and fight, as wild and desperate as it is. Beneath the manifestation of your worst fears, there’s another thing to fight, but this time it has a face (a voice in the back of your head says…you know this isn’t all on you and your failure…it’s really Ganon’s fault right?). You get through it.

At every turn in your travels, it seems like something reminds you of Zelda. Her passion, her curiosity, her kindness. You miss her.

At first, the tears you find reassure you. She may be in the past, but she’s safe. She’ll come back somehow…but then you hear the word draconification for the first time. You want to believe she wouldn’t do it but you know her and the fear sits cold inside you. (Zelda is a lot of things. She’s been allowed to be more of them, since she was freed from her hundred year battle, without her father holding her back. But deep down inside her, there’s a vein of self-sacrifice that still runs strong. It’s what saved the world before, after all).

She did it. She really did it. She’s gone from you (from Hyrule) forever, and it’s all your fault. If only you hadn’t failed so utterly in the battle (you can hardly even call it that) under the castle. If only you’d caught her. If only you hadn’t let the sword break. You should have protected her you should have been better it’s all your fault and now she has to live with the consequences, forever. Everything really is on you, you should have been better.

(Zelda POV: you couldn’t call upon Hylia’s power in time, you were too content to let it wither and fade away from you, ready to be free of it. You shouldn’t have. He got hurt, the sword got hurt, it’s your fault…Sonia and Rauru help you channel it again, Sonia helps you learn how to turn back time…but you don’t save her. She dies because you couldn’t save her. Rauru dies not long after. There is no one left to guide you, once again. You could spend years trying to figure it out on your own. But you did that last time. It didn’t work. Self-sacrifice, stepping in front of someone you love, that worked. (You do what you can, to call upon the sages, to help Link in the future, first). And then you swallow the stone. You’ve come a long way, in the past five years, allowing yourself to exist. But in the end, self-sacrifice worked last time. It’ll work this time too.)

You (Link) go down beneath the castle. You were supposed to bring the sages but you didn’t. It’s nice, for someone to have your back. But no one else should get hurt to fix your mistakes.

They follow you anyway. They fight with you, against the hordes, against the greatest enemies you defeated together, along the way. They’ll have your back, even if you don’t think you deserve it.

You fight Ganondorf, and then the demon king, in the hardest battle of your life. You think it’s over and then the demon king decides it’s better to lose himself completely than let you win. You’re exhausted and afraid of yet another battle, but up there in the sky, when you’re falling, the Light Dragon catches you (you wonder why she changed her path to catch you, you wonder if there’s still something of Zelda left in there to save). With her help, you win.

And then you’re in some other realm. The spirits of Sonia and Rauru are there. You remember how the two of them and Zelda channeled such incredible power together. You think about Recall. Turning something back to the memory of what it was before, like Sonia said. You stand with them and you allow yourself to hope. Maybe the Light Dragon can remember the form she took so long ago, the person that she was.

And then you’re falling, and Zelda is falling, but this time you catch her. You catch her. She’s back home with you, finally, finally.

And maybe, one mistake doesn’t have to be the end of the world. You don’t have to be perfect. Sometimes, someone else can stand with you, and it’ll all turn out alright. (You can put the weight of the world on your shoulders, you can sacrifice yourself, but someone will be there to catch you, someone will be there to pull you back to yourself, when all is said and done).

[legendarypicklesoulsludge]

Song of the Sea Full Movie

So I just recently learned that my favorite movie of all time was uploaded to YouTube for free.

It's an Irish film with beautiful music, visuals, and characters. A truly awe-inspiring work of art.

If your thing is thematically beautiful stories about grief, folklore, and family I Strongly recommend you watch this movie.

It is visually stunning and heart wrenching to watch and near brings me to tears every time. I just cannot express how much I love this film this film. If you've never seen it please put it on your watch list it is so worth it.

[brainfilehasstoppedworking]

They kinda just...cry

[dylanconrique]

once tim meets lucy’s parents it's all gonna click for him why she got so defensive about his belief in her taking the detectives exam.

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

I feel bad for Starlo.

Star has a point, idk what the four were ticked off about, there is like 99% chance everyone willingly participated in the trolley problem, based on what we've seen of his behavior thus far it's not like Starlo to be that big of a jerk/drag them by force/yell at them to do it. Ed's words:

he does it because Star asks NICELY

clearly jealous

It genuinely seemed like a fun time/fun roleplay, especially since every day is the same. Like, the five are supposed to be a rowdy and adventures bunch, what exactly did Starlo do wrong, I'm genuinely confused and curious. Except taking a big liking in Clover (his posse should know that this is a big moment for him, according to Blackjack they've known each other since high school and had the same liking for westerns. So they were basically a nerd gang.) Starlo was kind, patient and considerate towards Clover the whole time, even warned Mooch about them not being bandits, taught Clover gun safety, wanted to bring his posse along for a fun time, thanked Ace for telling him about getting Clover a new hat...

Sure, at first he only liked Clover for being a human, but as Ceroba says, that changed and he grew to genuinely care about them, plus I can't help but think Star saw himself in Clover and that's part of the reason he was so proud of them all the time even when they messed up (I'll talk more about this at some point)

What exactly made Ace want to leave the gang? He even said how he doesn't mind "getting run over by the fake train"

he's so nice. says sorry for forgetting the safety goggles even when he was scatterbrained due to his excitement. I love him so much

The only real "faults" (I'll call them temporary faults) I saw in Star during the Wild East section was that he was even more enthusiastic and more proud than usual. But how couldn't he be when he met a member of the species that he has admired for so long because they have real cowboys and sheriffs on the surface (who are seen as brave heroes who deliver justice, while Star canonically feels like a nobody farmer). His posse should have realized Clover wouldn't be there forever and just let their boss enjoy himself with his "deputy who'd have to leave sooner or later anyway"(or be more patient with him/ask him why he feels this strongly towards Clover/if there's a deeper reason for that). His friends including Ceroba just turn their back on him so quickly instead. The moment he's gotten the chance to feel valued for once and put himself first and not have to take care of this whole town and everyone in it and live his dream of meeting a real human, suddenly "his personality is damaged?"

Star's literally built this whole town, organised everything, he worries about everyone, Ceroba (plus was the one to give her emotional strength before and after Clover's sacrifice), Kanako, the monsters, his family, struggles with feelings of worthlessness yet never wipes that smile off his face, always does his best to be hopeful and optimistic and make others laugh, gave his posse a nap time so they don't become exhausted, gave Ceroba a free home, didn't act upon his feelings towards her and was a 110% supportive, caring friend instead. THAT'S who he is. He's the papa bear of this friend group, the glue holding everyone together.

He was just *really* excited. Y'all know he's insecure and just wishes to escape who he is and yet y'all blame him for liking Clover so much. Yeah, the four are very clearly jealous. But why won't the four of you control your feelings for a while? As mentioned, Clover WILL HAVE TO LEAVE EVENTUALLY. They won't be Star's "deputy" forever (the kid who's just as into westerns as he is, who values justice just as much, who also values doing the right thing. Someone he clearly felt understood in the presence of, whom he loved; just look at the way he talks about Clove during Showdown). Star seems genuinely confused of what he did wrong poor guy just wanted to live his fantasy for once and feel important:

Even at the beginning Moray's like "oh no Martlet is upset" Mooch replies "don't be a buzzkill nothing exciting ever happens around here" and Ray's like "Yeah you've got a point"

If you all agreed to have a little fun with a human who will very soon leave forever why is Starlo's enthusiasm such a big problem? If the posse weren't into this after all (unless they were simply too jealous which could have been solved with a honest talk and a little patience) why are you doing this "rowdy" job with Star in the first place? Do you want your boring routine day to day life so much back? Or just for Clover to leave (which they will soon enough)? You, western enthusiasts, literally met a real human, A HUMAN FROM WESTERNS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE PASSIONATELY INTO (clearly not as passionate as Star but passionate ENOUGH to understand where he's coming from).

... okay.

[zishuge]

The heavens will bless the kind. Since he is blessed, then he should go through hardships to gain knowledge and wisdom. Sooner or later, the truth will be revealed to the world. Story of Kunning Palace (2023) | Ep. 11

[arkiwii]

very sad still see the saria/silence divorce headcanon still going around

have you ever tried to consider that they never dated before lone trail because it would be unrealistic with the timeline and the events and also because it would be overshadowing the actual truth of why they couldn't get along

[blue-lollipops-and-ice-clouds]

(Source - the amazing Vore_11 once more)

[averlym]

ghostwriter (their grandma would tell them she'd lose half her soul)

[zeb-z]

most islanders think Foolish is entirely pro Federation, either because he wants the power they give him or because he doesn’t truly understand what he’s doing or what’s at stake, and is just having fun. even to Cucurucho, he’s a bit of a fool - an overambitious one sure, but a fool nonetheless - who’s irritating and asks too many questions, not quite in a concerning way, but in the way a kid might bother you asking for more ice cream. a newbie on the job who wants the world and is trying to find his place in all of this - any digging for information surely isn’t malicious, because he’s obvious and ignorant about it!

it’s always so exciting when they talk about him, when they say such things to his face - it means it’s working. he tells Cellbit that he’s genuinely infiltrating and he’s not believed. Bad straight up says Foolish’s plans to a Federation worker, and if anything it does more to legitimize him further in the eyes of the Federation.

because he’s silly, and overeager, he can play dumb and his true intentions fly right over everyone’s heads. they only see him for whatever singular facet of his personality that he chooses to present, and it works so well because he can be all those things, he just overplays it to his benefit. Bad is one of the very few who can see his tricks for what they are, who doesn’t underestimate him - because hes right, Foolish does have this way of slipping past peoples defenses to get the info he wants without them even knowing they needed defenses in the first place.

idk this latest stream was just full of these little moments. acting silly when Etoiles asked him why he’s working for the Feds, and grinning when Etoiles says he’s basically a clapping monkey who doesn’t know what he’s doing, calling him naïve. asking Cucurucho a million questions and overwhelming him, acting suspicious and curious around the black concrete nonsense - allowing him to easily get away with presenting exaggerated, biased, and some even fabricated, evidence for his investigation, controlling the narrative entirely, because that part of the convo was made insignificant. (and through those questions, possibly even getting more bonuses for his office and fellow workers - he’s gotten the break room so far, and coffee machines, and another level for investigations, which has swayed workplace opinion towards him heavily.)

then with the AI, Cucuruchito, engaging in banter, then sharing a secret, which seems like a big deal - but everything he told the AI is just what he himself was told by Cucurucho, it was no secret to the Feds at all. then flirting with it for a long time before leaving - which is a tactic he outright explained to chat. to get what you want, information, loyalty, etc, you have to build a good repoire. if it takes flirting, and charm, if it takes a date or two, he’s more than willing to play the part to get what he wants. he’ll pretend to eat up their bullshit about him being special, and let them think he’s charmed instead of the opposite.

Foolish is good at what he does because he catches more flies with honey than with vinegar, and the flies never realize their caught - he’s patient enough to play the long con. and really, could someone as naïve, as foolish as him, be able to do such a thing?

he isn’t taken seriously. and it won’t be their final mistake, but it will certainly be the one that damns them.

[carrotsnake]

the wildly different reactions you get from the yiga outfit show how likely you're familiar with them depending on where you live in hyrule. from merchants who say 'oh, a yiga are you? well i don't discrimate, anyone is welcome to buy from me :)' to the sheikah's 'link! for a second I thought my time was up...that outfit reflects a truly dark period of sheikah history. many of us have lost our lives to them. now change before i skewer you' and then gerudo travellers are like 'we don't talk to STINKY yiga boys. go eat a banana ugly!!'

[markantonys]

day 71 of asking why reddit has suddenly become convinced that the 'finn and mat's rhuidean trip are a waste of time and easily cut, and that season 3 will obviously feature him splitting off from the friends he just reunited with in order to spend the entire season dicking around with thom and getting into shenanigans, as that is much more important to his overall character arc than his 2-book waste arc

like there have been SO MANY posts like this lately and all of them are filled with comments of universal agreement! am i having a stroke? what the hell is going on???? i'll admit mat doesn't have a huge amount of specific stuff to do in the waste aside from rhuidean, but rhuidean is crucial to his character and s2 had Mat-Finn Connection Foreshadowing out the wazoo, plus the waste plotline is MUCH more fertile ground for creating additional Specific Mat Stuff and enhancing his character development & relationships with other main characters than his TDR plotline of dicking around with thom is.

[sysig]

Handplates and haircut and more Handplates after that (Patreon)