#if not by faith then by the sword / i'm going to be restored

[genericpuff]

vent post

[solomon-revisited]

some mountain goats lyrics are like prayers to me

[lunar-system]

Edward Teach: The Star.

Adapted from the traditional Ride-Waite-Smith tarot, this version of the Star shows Ed kneeling down serenely by the spring of life, bare to the world, ready to heal after tumultuous events.

Stede as the Sun to follow, Izzy as the Moon can be found here.

Longer exploration of the card's symbolism under the cut.

***

The Star: Hope, openness, especially after a crisis. Renewal, healing, restoration.

Rachel Pollack writes: "This is the calm after a great change, whether it comes after a drastic planetary shift or a personal upheaval. There are still difficult times ahead, but the Star tells us to trust."

In the card Ed is depicted with a short, growing beard. Multiple personal upheavals and great changes have already happened, and he is settling into a new reality. Who is he when he is stripped from titles, uniforms and roles? In the space of the Star, he has enough trust to try and find out.

Pollack continues: "In Star, we find our inner strength and belief. The Star teaches us to accept whatever it is, to drop all our shields, to believe. The water poured out signifies healing, emotional and physical."

Ed as the Star is learning to shine his own light after witnessing Stede shine as the Sun. Trust and belief don't come easy, but as the Star he can be vulnerable enough to try again. The water flows from an infinite source, letting the emotions come and go.

Even though the Star opens up towards a bright future, Ed carries his history with him. His tattoos, pictures from other tarot cards, tell about his past:

Chest: Three of Swords, the infamous card of heartbreak. "Trust no one."

Left side thigh: the face of the Devil from the Devil card. One of the largest tattoos he has, projecting his self-image. "I'm the devil."

Right side thigh: Lobster from the Moon card, a beast that lurks under the surface, in the unconscious. "I'm the Kraken."

Right side: wolf from the Moon card. In my depiction of the Moon, Izzy stands for the wolf. Here the loyal wolf is cast to the side, left howling after the broken heart.

Belly: Ram from the throne of the Emperor, a symbol of masculine power. The placement on the lower belly suggest a trans reading of the character.

Chest, around the heart: birds from Ace of Cups, suggesting new beginnings even for a broken heart.

With his past carved to his skin, Ed is kneeling at the edge of land. One of his feet is planted firmly on the ground while the other graces the water. In Tarot, earth is often connected to the material, such as the body, and the conscious mind. Water is the element of emotions and the subconscious. At the edge of the water, Ed is in balance, grounded both in his body and in his emotions, the conscious and the subconscious. The water he pours rejuvenates them both.

TL;DR: After great personal upheavals, Ed as the Star is ready to heal and trust. He carries his past with him, but is ready to shine his own light and have faith in himself and for the future. He is vulnerable and at peace, and he is connected both to the ground and the water, nourishing them both with the water he pours.

***

Sources

Image source: Pamela Colman Smith, 1909, republished as Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

Text source: Rachel Pollack, A Journey of 78 Steps, 2011, as cited in the booklet for instruction and guidance of Tarot of A. E. Waite, 2016, AGM-Urania, Germany

[yourbelgianthings]

if not by faith, then by the sword, i'm going to be restored

redbubble

id: 2 bottles of hrt the left is estradiol cypionate and the right is testosterone propionate, below them is text in a spiky handwriting font that says "I'm going to get my perfect body back someday", the whole image is b&w except for a pink label with a blue outline on the E bottle and a blue label with a pink outline on the T bottle end id.

[pinkmoondoll9shihtzu]

i'll try to keep it short but earlier today as the new moon was .5 degree from being exact i suddenly felt called to go stare at the pond down the street and meditate. So as i was standing there feeling deeply serene gazing intently at turtles sticking their heads above the water's surface a lady approached me. She was very beautiful and asked me if there were any good ponds for fishing around here but a little more remote than this. She's visiting from a different state so I was trying to direct her to some good ones when the conversation started turning uhh Mystical

Like it just really effortlessly flowed and i am absolutely NOT one to bring up subjects of that nature to strangers or even really my friends unless im 100% sure they're down. But this woman was like so gentle yet curious , so clearheaded and cohesive in what she was saying, it's like we were pulling from the exact same sources and i didn't really have to explain anything to her she just understood, we went talked for so long we went really deep into topics i never talk to ANYone about irl, but there was no vibe of oversharing like it was an equal back and forth with a lot of respect and boundaries,

i;m not even kidding it started to feel like i was in a dream. Like i was talking to an angel or something. She was really psychic she even said at one point "You're like the Queen of Swords!" which is the first tarot card i pulled in my new moon spread today .. She said a lot of really validating things that i needed to hear and i think i did the same for her ..

When it was time to leave we even hugged like. it was just pure serendipity i had to cry for a while afterwards because it felt like such a release in a way i'm not used to. I go to that park like 3x a week but no one has ever talked to me there. Although i'm happy with my life right now sometimes i do really long for real world conversations like that to happen where i'm not feeling like the teacher but talking to someone i'm at the same level with, effortless reciprocity and understanding. It was the first time in so SO long i felt i could just be fully authentic & unmasked with someone irl.

Her name was Misty and she is beautifull....Thank you Misty for finding me today <3 I didnt get her number or anything because i felt it was meant to be left at a chance encounter. Standing next to the water while the new moon peaked, it was an honor & a faith-restoring moment i'll take w me forevs ..

[haphazardlyannotated]

Sometimes I think about an AU where Harrow's birth didn't require 200 child murders.

Gideon and Harrow probably wouldn't have grown up in each other's pockets the way they did in canon, with 200 other kids around. Still, having only about a hundred kids in their approximate age range (I'm assuming continued births with a similar frequency here) would mean that they'd know each other at least in passing.

Harrow without the crushing guilt of 200 lives on her shoulders would not attempt to open the Locked Tomb, and even if she wanted to, she would be much less likely to happen to have Gideon's blood conveniently on her hands in her attempt, plus Gideon would probably not be following her around to catch her in the act. Though somebody else might, to be fair.

Bottom line is, Harrow's parents are probably still alive. While I'm not sure about the psychological consequences of this, one change that does seem likely is that they might arrange a betrothal for Harrow. We already know from GtN that the only reason Harrow didn't end up engaged to Ortus is that they didn't want to mix up the Reverend Family's and their cavalier's bloodline. So this AU's Harrow is probably engaged to a man (or trans woman), since the Ninth doesn't seem to have the resources for whichever technological advancement on artificial insemnation gave Camilla two dads.

So considering that, in this AU Harrow might be the one with eighty-seven escape attempts.

As for Gideon, even with more potential friends around, chances are good she still wants to join the Cohort. She would probably not experience the same level of alienation and downright hatred as in canon, since Harrow's parents have no reason to freak out about her, but the general culture of the Ninth just isn't a good fit for her. Since Harrow wouldn't be as desperate to keep Gideon specifically on the Ninth, I expect she could just make her intentions to pay off her indentured servitude in the Cohort known, and that would be considered a perfectly fine choice for her career. I expect she'd still train under Aiglamene, but as part of a regular program for Ninth House children with stabby ambitions this time.

Which would be how she and Harrow end up stuck together this time.

When the summon for he house heirs arrives, everyone takes a look at Ortus and goes "...yeah, that won't do." So Aiglamene suggests replacing him with her star pupil, Gideon Nav, who was about to go join the Cohort, but could probably be persuaded to step in as Harrow's cavalier if you offered her a little improvement on the terms of her indentured servitude.

As expected, Gideon receives the offer and goes "Sure, I can swing around a toothpick while Harrow takes her employment test, sounds like a good gig to me. And besides, 'Cavalier Primary' would look good on my resumée for the Cohort."

When they reach Canaan House, Harrow still hopes to restore the Ninth House to its former glory, but more importantly, she is desperate to escape her arranged marriage, especially since her eighteenth birthday is alarmingly close and Ortus just stopped being her cavalier.

Gideon meanwhile enjoys sword fighting, actual flavour in her food, and looking at hot women.

Harrow: Are you taking this seriously?

Gideon: Of course I am! I get five years off my contract for this! I'm just saying, what's the harm in having some fun while we're here?

Harrow: If I fail to become a Lyctor, I will have to marry Ortus.

Gideon: *shudders* Fair enough.

Overall, the setting is more of a romantic comedy with the projected ending of the Reverend Daughter scandalously eloping with her cavalier- until the first murders, that is.

Due to Griddlehark not having seventeen years worth of reasons to go for the worst faith interpretation of each other's actions, and Harrow being at least a little less paranoid, they're able to work together with less conflict. However, Harrow doesn't have convenient puppet parents at home to help her realise that the Seventh cavalier is a beguiling corpse, so the net result could easily be the same. The biggest potential difference I can think of is that Harrow wouldn't try to send Gideon away with Jeannemary and Isaac. Since I like the Fourth House babies, I'm going to declare two murders less here.

Overall though, I don't see any clear options here that don't end with Gideon dead on a fence again.

The big difference would be her perception of HtN.

In this AU, Gideon's relationship with Harrow isn't tainted with obsessive hate-love masked as indifference on Harrow's side. This AU's Gideon sees her relationship with Harrow as a spicy forbidden romance, and therefore ironically interprets Harrow's lobotomy much more accurately than canon Gideon, who has been joined at the hip to her Harrow for as long as she can remember, and I'd love to see how that would change her character in HtN and NtN.

Canon Gideon gives us the beautiful, heartbreaking "I gave you my whole life and you didn't even want it" combined with "She can be in hell for all I care, I just need to know where" for the two hit kill.

This Gideon on the other hand knows that Harrow would have married her given the chance and 'only' has to think about how Harrow might have died to save her.

Which raises the question of where Harrow's soul ends up in a world where she never entered the Locked Tomb. My personal theory is that, with no link to Alecto's body, Harrow is pulled back into her own body after Gideon's soul leaves it. Then we get Harrow stuck on New Rho with Pyrrha, Camilla and Palamedes, and Gideon with Jod and Ianthe, both of them desperately trying to find each other.

When Harrow sees the broadcast, she immediately marches to the Compound, blasts open the door and demands to see her girlfriend.

A few days later, the Ninth House receives another letter from the First, informing them that their Reverend Daughter is not a Lyctor anymore, but will wed the Emperor's daughter as soon as he can stay sober through the ceremony.

The End.

[fierrochase-falafel]

5 underrated TGCF moments in my humble opinion (and bonus)- expect spoilers!

When Xie Lian saved Mu Qing in book 5 at the volcano: We do NOT talk about book 5 enough, as I will mention further in this list, but when we do, we rightfully talk about Mu Qing's f-f-friends confession (which I would love to talk about more, but that's for another time), but we never seem to talk about the bit before where it's revealed Mu Qing took a cursed shackle for Xie Lian but nobody believes him or really plans on saving him except Xie Lian, despite the huge risk to himself. When Xie Lian makes it clear he would save Mu Qing anyways and Hua Cheng also has a great line to Feng Xin about how dianxia gets to make his own decisions no matter what, even if Hua Cheng himself is uncomfortable with them- something that contrasts him perfectly with White No-Face that gets overshadowed a lot. This scene and the scene leading up to it (the tunnel chase and Xie Lian being too nice to that empty-shelled mutant is just brilliant) all in all feels so underrated. Like I love the f-f-friends confession, don't get me wrong, I could talk about that anyday, but please gods can someone talk about the saving Mu Qing scene.

The virgin-detecting sword in book 3: The fact that Jun Wu even HAD a virgin-detecting sword is one of the funniest things about book 3, but the whole scene where Shi Qingxuan digs Xie Lian into a hole like "I bet he's never kissed anyone!" is just beautiful. The fact everyone assumes he's a virgin before Jun Wu even mentions that his cultivation path requires abstinence never fails to amuse me- me too, Xie Lian, me too. The virgin-detecting sword being his saviour in that moment surely must've been something. It's so funny but I've seen 1 piece of fanart of it on twitter and I think this is incredibly memorable. Since book 3 is so long, a lot of brilliant moments go less spoken about by the fan community, I feel, such as...

Xie Lian tricking Hua Cheng into revealing himself in book 3: One of my favourite scenes in the entirety of TGCF is where Xie Lian tricks Hua Cheng (disguised as Lang Ying) to reveal himself. We've already got the deadpan back-and-forth of "Who's the strongest?", "The one in red", "Who's the richest?", "The one in red", "Who's the dumbest?", "The one in green", with no beats skipped. Then he says "it's a must" to inviting Hua Cheng over, Quan Yizhen takes a bite of a yam through the window (as one does) and then he gets him to try and write an establishment plaque for Puqi Shrine and it's so funny- Xie Lian can be so funny, he's just playing around waiting to see how Hua Cheng will respond and is having the time of his LIFE. B*tch in the best way possible, this man. It's perfect. And then we get, "Only having met you did I rediscover that it's such a simple thing to be happy" which is so simple and lovely and just-- this scene is perfect, okay? We do not talk about this scene enough at ALL.

The scene where Yin Yu 'dies' in book 5: Back to me going off about how much love book 5 deserves, what with that moment between beefleaf and that massive gege statue. However, I'm choosing moments I think are the most underrated, and I just HAVE to mention Yin Yu. This man is underrated in life, in godhood and in banishment alike. The way he chose not to harm Quan Yizhen anyways- "Just because I hate him doesn't mean I have to hurt him!" This moment really links him to Xie Lian, especially just after book 4, as once again White No-Face tries to manipulate someone into weaponising their resentment the way he did, and once again he is denied the satisfaction of thinking what he did was justifiable because Yin Yu chose not to spend his life motivated solely by pain and hatred. One can argue that in book 4, after the bamboo hat incident, Xie Lian may not necessarily have had his faith in humanity at large restored but rather his faith in the power of choice. The choice to care, the choice to help, the choice not to hurt others just because you can- as opposed to the choice that was stolen from him in the 100 swords scene, and the 'choice' people claimed not to have when they stabbed him. The choice Xie Lian made when he chose not to massacre Yong'an despite his pain is like the choice Yin Yu makes when he chooses not to steal Quan Yizhen's power despite his pain. It's so satisfying to see Yin Yu stand up for his own actions when he's been cast aside by everyone, and no matter how much resentment you harbour you can still choose what to do about it.

The pagoda collapsing in book 2: This scene was the tipping point in book 2 where Xie Lian himself realised he didn't believe in his own potential anymore, and it is soul-crushing. The way he spends 3 days trying to hold up the celestial pagoda in pure desperation and anguish, and then being surrounded on all sides constantly until the pagoda collapses with people begging him to save them and him realising he can do nothing...if book 4 is the full-on descent to rock-bottom, book 2 is the anxiety-packed precursor without which book 4 would not hit as hard as it did, and sometimes it feels like it's overshadowed by book 4 completely. Book 4 may hit harder, but the end of book 2 is gut-punching as it is. You can FEEL Xie Lian being overwhelmed and trying so hard to pretend everything is fine when his life and nation are collapsing in front of him, piece by piece. Hands shoving him, some even strangling him until he keels over in the most helpless moment of his god-pleasing life as everyone calls him a fraud and begs for his help, when he has none to give or recieve. And after all that, chasing White No-Face only to break his leg, being the nail in the coffin of Xie Lian's unshakeable will that facilitated his rise and fall. It's haunting, it's poetic, it's the epitome of tragedy. Bonus!!! : Is it just me, or does nobody seem to talk about the book 5 fight scene? There's so much fanart of Hua Cheng fading into butterflies, which is honestly more compelling for me because of the Wuming reveal and their dynamic; however, Xie Lian finally out-manoevering and stabbing Jun Wu after being flooded with spiritual power by his bf, and then Guoshi calmly addressing Jun Wu asking him if he's exhausted...I think needs more attention too. It's the ultimate fight scene! Xie Lian gets a fighting win over Jun Wu that somehow feels numbing because at the end of the day, Xie Lian's triumph over him was never in revenge or in physical combat. Almost the opposite actually, it was in his choosing not to let his anger and resentment of White No-Face control him. Xie Lian winning is well-earned but ultimately the focus is what a sad, angry, tired man Jun Wu is. I think MXTX writes this wonderfully and really gets that message across...much as I'd like to see more discourse on the fight scene, I can see why there isn't because of how bleak it is and just generally-- unfulfilling compared to Xie Lian's character development. It's the climax wherein the main character had his personal climax 800 years ago, and I love it for how antithetic it feels compared to Xie Lian's other power moves and his overall development. This is just my view, of course, I would really love to see more opinions on this!

[downtohide]

guys does anyone else find it crazy that

- no ground is ever gonna hold me

- if not by faith then by the sword, I'm going to be restored

- make your own friends when the world's gone cold

- I'm gonna get my perfect body back some day

are all lines from the same song??? The Life of the World to Come is mad.

[themaskstayson]

"Arise now, ye Tarnished. Ye dead, who yet live. The call of long-lost grace speaks to us all." - Narrator (Elden Ring)

"The oath you awoke with is some faded instinct. What does it even stand for?" - Narrator (Baldur's Gate 3)

Decided to combine my two favorite things (Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3) and bring my current tarnished, Faith, to Faerûn.

Maybe I'll write some more silly stuff than just what is below.

It'll be pretty funny to have a tarnished so ready to unalive everything on sight to have party members telling them you gotta chill.

Faith: See, I told you everyone around us will want to kill us! She pulled a branch with poison on me!

Shadowheart: Okay... You got me there, but maybe telling everyone we have Mind Flayer tadpoles in our skulls is a bad idea.

Gale would have a blast learning about the Land Between.

Gale: You're telling me your people were banished from your world and this Golden Order you were fighting for?

Faith: Yup.

Gale: And then you were brought back to the Land Between, but the very order they exiled you, just to restore order by fighting countless of enemies without rest?

Faith: I mean... My plan was to burn it all down because I became maidenless again...

Lae'zel would enjoy the tales of all the battles the tarnished been through. Maybe not so much the dragons, but knowing you can learn dragon spells might appeal to her dragon girl heart.

Lae'zel: You would hunt these dragons and kill them?!

Faith: Yeah but then I can consume their hearts and use their power! Rot was very useful against Bloody Finger Invaders.

Oh man, for the tarnished to use their own spells instead of D&D would also be so much fun. Wyll talked about how he could do all these amazing things before he got nerfed and Faith would reminisce with him.

Faith: Ah, I remember when I was able to use the flame of frenzy... I wonder if I can get that back at some point and how effective it would be against your kind.

Wyll: What did that do?

Faith: Fire of madness would spur out of my eyes and kill the tarnish with ease. A heresy spell from the three fingers but... Those invaders were so annoying.

Wyll: That's terrifying...

Faith: You just told me about opening a gateway to the darkness between stars and anyone in it would suffer unknowable horrors...

Karlach and Astarion I'm not too sure what those interactions would be like.

Astarion would do this normal thing with Faith's I honestly don't see Faith to be okay with being fed upon but I don't think Astarion would be stupid enough to trust her to not kill him. He would hit on her and it would go over her head completely.

Faith would probably want to kill Karlach and someone else would need to step in and tell Faith and Wyll that they're idiots and Karlach is clearly a tiefling. Probably Shadowheart tbh.

Faith is from my coop game with friends. They're is a Confessor (thus the name lol) and basically I just wanted to do faith based spells with some sword and shield game play since my first tarnished was a pure intelligence mage. But I might lean more into the Confessor lore build for funsies since there are 4 of us playing at a given time. I guess Faith's pronouns are they/she depending on my mood.

It only seemed right to make them a paladin in BG3. Vengeance makes sense for a tarnished trying to bring back Golden Order and Oathbreaker if I decide to to the Lorrd of the Frenzied Flame ending.

They're also a dark urge cause blood thirst and amnesia.

I poured many hours into Elden Ring and barely knew the lore, but I think it'll be a fun crossover to think and maybe write about. And I'm getting too many ideas, gonna have to go full self-indulgent with this one... And take more photos lol

[malsfefanfics]

OC Profile: Medee

Art by la-horrorosa, edited to icon size by me.

"I've only known Lady Medee for a short time. But she is incredibly intelligent, and a devoted member of the Vestra family. Though as I get to know her, some of her children's more interesting quirks have suddenly made much more sense. She seems to know things just before they happen, and can tell who is right behind her without even looking. Also, Sylvain seems to avoid her like the plague." --Edelgard, about Medee.

Full name: Medee von Vestra (Formerly Medee von Anavros) Nicknames: Witch (by her enemies) Birthday: 14th Day of the Great Tree Moon, 11XX Age: Unknown Crest: None Family: Iason von Vestra (Husband, deceased), Hubert (Eldest Son), Rosamund (Daughter), Tancred (Youngest Son), Absyrtus (Younger Brother, deceased), Chalciope (Younger Sister, deceased) Nationality: Adrestia Titles: Soaring Faith Scholar, Healing Matriarch, Mother of Faithology Voice Claim: Coleen Clinkenbeard (Yuko Ichihara in xxxholic)

Interests: Faith study, Magic Experimentation, Science, Alchemy, Autopsy Likes: Science/Magic, Flying, her children, Pretty Rocks Dislikes: Her husband, Nobility, The Church, Tomatoes

Favorite Meals: Garreg Mach Meat Pie, Bourgeois Pike, Beast Meat Teppanyaki, Vegetable Pasta Salad Liked Meals: Sautéed Jerky, Cheesy Verona Stew, Peach Sorbet, Country-Style Red Turnip Plate, Grilled Herring, Small Fish Skewers, Fried Crayfish Disliked Meals: Gautier Cheese Gratin, Daphnel Stew, Notes: In meals with Tomatoes, she picks them out. Do not ask her why she dislikes them.

Tea Preferences: Crescent-Moon Tea, Bergamot, Four-Spice Blend, Chamomile, Almyran Pine Needles

Liked Gifts: Any flower, Arithmetic Textbook, Blue Cheese, Coffee Beans, Tea Leaves, Riding Boots, Ceremonial Sword Disliked Gifts: Goddess Statuette, Landscape Painting, Legends of Chivalry Notes: Gifting her "Legends of Chivalry" will cause her motivation to go down and for her to vanish for the rest of the day.

Lost Items:

Silver Scalpel: A tool meant for carving into things. Looks well cared for and belongs to a set. There's a mark of an old Adrestian family on the handle.

Silver Masquerade Mask: A full-faced mask meant for festivals and feasts. Looks refined and elegant, yet it is very unsettling.

Quilted Children's Blanket: A blanket specially sewn for newborns, meant to last for decades. It has the names of many relatives on every square.

Starting Class: Noble Preferred Class Path: Noble –> Monk/Soldier/Myrmidon –> Mage/Preist/Pegasus Knight –> Warlock/Bishop –> Gremory/Dark Flyer Strength: White Magic, Black Magic, Dark Magic Weakness: Axe Budding Talent: Sword Personal Skill: Spoon Full of Sugar - Restores 5HP to any Magic Unit within one square of her if their HP is at less than half at the start of your turn.

Weapons Starting Levels:

Sword: C Lance: D Axe: E Bow: E Brawling: E+ Reason: B Faith: B Authority: E+ Heavy Armor: E Riding: CFlying: B

Base Stats: (At Recruitment)

HP: 35 Str: 13 Mag: 29 Dex: 17 Spd: 16 Lck: 11 Def: 10 Res: 19 Cha: 14

Learned Faith Spells: Heal, Nosferatu, Rescue, Silence, Abraxas Learned Reason Spells: Miasma Δ, Bolganone, Luna Λ, Meteor, Agnea’s Arrow

Recruit Requirements: Crimson Flower Exclusive - Must have all three Vestra Siblings

Potential Supports:

Byleth

Edelgard

Hubert

Rosamund

Tancred

Constance

Lysithea

Sylvain

Felix

Seteth

Flayn

Manuela

Alois

Hanneman

Shamir

Crit Quotes:

Silence!

You need a time out!

Let's test that hypothesis!

You'll need a doctor.

Bedtime for you.

DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME! (Against any Kingdom Commander)

Mother's here, darling!

I will not pray for you!

Defeat Quotes:

That experiment failed. Best return to the drawing board.

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I must withdraw.

That was....very unfortunate...…

My dear children....I'm afraid.... your mother won't be coming home.....

Chalciope....I'll see you soon, sister.....

And so.....House Anavros truly ends with me.... (if her children all died in battle)

Skill Level Increase Quotes:

This should help my experiments.

This will impress Tancred.

Rosamund will enjoy this.

I shall make use of this for Her Majesty.

Oh, I know Hubert will find this delightful.

Hmh. Interesting.

Even an old crone can learn something.

Level Up Quotes:

Every day, a little life.

The Anavros Standard.

I suppose I'm still rusty.

You'd be impressed what age can do.

Eventually we learn all we can.

Gift Quotes:

Liked Gifts: Oh, sweetheart. You're far too kind to an old lady like myself.

Neutral Gifts: How thoughtful. Thank you, darling.

Disliked Gifts: Well, I was in need of something to test this new potion on.

[pizzawendell]

Invent my own family, if it comes to that

Hold them close, hold them near

Tell them no one's ever going to hurt them here

Steal the treasure and try to leave town

Fight my way back down

Don't want to hurt anyone

Probably gonna have to before it's all done

Take to the hills, run away

I'm gonna get my perfect body back someday

If not by faith then by the sword

I'm going to be restored

[txttletale]

2 for the song asks!

2. a song you like with a number in the title

hebrews 11:40 by the mountain goats. this is one of their all-time best. john darnielle's songwriting makes this so fucking powerful--'if not by faith, then by the sword, i'm going to be restored'--incredible line.

[music ask game]

[k-s-morgan]

I had a question about Merlin! What do you think about the portrayal of Arthur? Don't get me wrong I love him and Merlin and their obsession but Arthur never striked me as a memorable leader. He's just a good warrior and that's it? He's not legendary like in legends. Is it a writing flaw or on purpose? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hey! Oh, that's a really great question.

I think you are right in that, yes, Arthur is not a memorable leader. He's not someone who can be remembered through the ages. He didn't bring about the Golden Time, he didn't really unite the kingdom. He's an impressive fighter; he is courageous and loyal, and his people genuinely love him. But that's it. He's malleable as a leader; he's not particularly intelligent; he doesn't have the sharpness or strong ambitions. He just wants his kingdom to prosper and to live in peace; he never really initiates anything, just going with the flow and defending his people against the enemies when they come instead of spending time building alliances. He's insecure and in need of support and guidance.

Arthur is great as an army commander, but even there, his nobility sometimes pushes him into stupid, suicidal actions and blinds him to people's true motivations. By all accounts, Arthur is just a strong knight who also happened to be a king, and whose name would be forgotten in several generations... except that Merlin loves him.

Merlin's obsession with Arthur is so bright, so fanatical, so deeply personal that I think it has all layers at once, from friendship to infatuation and love. Merlin is a King Maker: he's the shadow fuelling Arthur's brilliance. It's Merlin who has all power in the world, and, in his own words, he uses it for Arthur and Arthur only.

Merlin secures the most memorable victories for him, letting Arthur get the glory and enjoying his disbelieving happiness. Merlin makes up the story about the sword in a stone, and it's his magic that helps Arthur pull it out. Merlin restores his faith, protects him time and time again, and carries the idea of Arthur being the king of all kings.

I find this approach of writers fascinating because they made Arthur an ordinary person whose memory lived on for over a thousand of years just because Merlin loved him. Jumping forward, to the moment where Merlin is in modern times and where Arthur's name lives on: I'm sure it's Merlin who's behind it. I can see him whispering stories to writers, organizing the creation of monuments, commissioning portraits and spreading the legend until the entire world heard it.

I love that the show was never about greatness; it's all about love.

[tiffanyachings]

If not by faith, then by the sword I'm going to be restored

[fideidefenswhore]

The way the Pilgrimage of Grace is often talked about is as a harmless, totally peaceful protest by honorable Christian labourers who were genuinely traumatised by the Reformation and just wanted to preserve the Catholic traditions they'd always had, and that such good guys wanted Mary restored is treated as "proof" she was a real princess. It's always honest Robert Aske betrayed by Henry and how the King went overboard putting the rebels down with mass hangings and slaughter everywhere. The nobles involved are ignored or spoken about like minor additions to the group, but just as honorable with pure motivations. But from your recent posts it seems it was a real attempt on all out revolution, really trying to remove Henry for Mary and probably kill him? So Henry was more justified in his reaction than he's usually given credit for?

I'll just be honest, I've read as much about this subject as I've been able, but I'm still not really confident enough to offer so much as a summary. There's so many contradictory texts on the matter that my best guess is some subsections were more peaceful than others (like, were the reports that Cromwell's comissioners were being literally murdered and wrapped in cowhide true or not? Different historians have argued differently).

I don't think it was homogenous in motivations or goals necessarily, I assume the quote you're referencing in the latter part regarding Mary was this one, Bigod's rebellion was a later development, it wasn't endorsed by Aske, but all the former leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace and many of its participants suffered for it, the usual argument is that this gave Henry the 'pretense' he needed for reprisals, that there was still an uprising in the same region after his (conditional) pardon.

There's no 'justification' for state-sanctioned violence, but did Henry feel personally justified in these reprisals? I'd say, 100%, and the rebellion had in some ways been fomenting for like, the past five years...the irony of it is that it was predicted for so long as one that would be brought about to oust Anne Boleyn, and it seems if there was this (not very unified or cohesive) dissent against her, the target shifted to Cromwell; because he became the new councilor (I'd argue Anne was seen this way) seen as the most influential with the King (like...do we think it's a coincidence that it took place after his significant rise to power, which mainly took place after the Boleyn fall? Or that the Dissolution's pace increased considerably thereafter...?)

But tl; dr, those seeking rebellion and usurpation had not been seeking one of 'non-violence', even if they swore in their rhetoric that Henry was so hated that an usupration could be achieved 'peaceably', no such animal. I don't know if I'd apply this to Pilgrimage of Grace, necessarily, but it's definitely untrue that Henry 'solely' arrested or implacably hated those that 'never intended' violence against him (I did a web weave on this concept, about where his suspicion and paranoia-- arguably, much of it wasn't necessarily paranoia, even-- if you're interested...came from) :

"Those who feared for the faith in England had prophesied that, in the end, only the sword might save it. Bishop Fisher, Queen Katherine's unswerving champion, had called on the Pope and Emperor to lead a crusade which would be 'a work as agreeable to God as going against the Turk'. In 1531, Reginald Pole, the King's cousin, had pondered how [Henry VIII] might be stopped, and asked: 'And what if [Charles V] will thereto draw his sword, wherein is so much power...?' In 1529 some at Charles' court counselled that 'he could very easily, with the assistance of the English themselves, have their King dethroned', 'the very English would help...in dethroning their King.' 'Your Majestey might make a new King of England.' In June 1535 Pole wrote to Charles [V] of England's spiritual danger and called for his aid. [...] 'Prince and prophet', Pole composed, in anguish, a private letter to Henry VIII which turned into a political tract for other princes of Church and state. The De unitate, written between September 1535 and March 1536, denounced Henry for breaking the unity of the church, and foretold his destruction. Calling prophetically upon the Catholic monarchs, especially the Emperor, to invade England, Pole promised 'whole legions, lurking in England', a fifth column. The Pilgrimage was the great rising in England for which Pole and the papacy had prayed [...] In 1535 Paul III had prepared a sentence of excommunication against the English King; prepared it, but not proclaimed it. As news reached the French court that Henry had been unable to disarm the rebels, Montmorency, the Grand Master, believed that the censures could be published, and that the English people 'will in the end kill the King if he persists in his errors.' The Pope now created Pole a cardinal [...] The Pilgrimage of Grace had failed, but the hope remained-- in the Curia at least-- that the English people would rise again, and that when they did their King-- now in thrall to the 'Enemy of mankind'-- would be overthrown. Soon a crusading indulgence was offered to justify the English rising to return their king to 'the way of truth', promising full remission of sin. Pole prepared to bring it to England. In Kent in December 1538, men still talked sadly of the failure of the Pilgrimage, but hoped for Cromwell to 'flee the land' and for 'England to shine as bright as St George'." Brigden, Susan. 2012. Thomas Wyatt : The Heart’s Forest. London: Faber and faber.

Tl; dr, spiritual motivations do not necessarily preclude violent ethos; and all of the above provides needed context to the reprisals...imo.

[screamingay]

Wild Sage, Hebrews 11:40, and Riches and Wonders?

wild sage (so hard to pick just one part i adore all the imagery and lyricism in this song... the angels in my ears line is a close second for me)

some days i don't miss my family and some days i do / and some days i think i'd feel better if i tried harder, most days i know it's not true

hebrews 11:40 (possibly my favorite goats song of all time, i have a custom handmade mug with these lyrics carved into it)

it gets dark and then i feel certain i am going to rise again / if not by faith then by the sword, i'm going to be restored

riches and wonders (another of the greatest alpha couple songs to me... it's romantic, it's tragic, it's resigned. the love is a thing separate from the couple, that they've vowed to keep like a sick dog. incredible songwriting)

we live high, our love gorges on the alcohol we feed it / and it grows all fat and friendly, we have surplus if we need it / we hold on as hard as we can, our knuckles are white