#lord cyril graves

[nothwell]

Got some fun things coming up on the Patreon...

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

Who is the Sexiest Fictional Podcast Character?

After receiving 219 submissions for 152 characters from 52 podcasts and a round of preliminaries, we have our brackets!*

*20 characters from the podcast Welcome to Night Vale will appear later in a Night Vale-only bracket.

Round 1:

Scripted Bracket

Isabel Lovelace (Wolf 359) vs Cyrille (5 Minuten Harry Podcast)

Krejjh (The Strange Case of Starship Iris) vs Lady Ethel Mallory (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Lord Arum (The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel) vs The Witch Queen A.K.A. Daughter Dooley (Old Gods of Appalachia

Warren Kepler (Wolf 359) vs Ashley "Ash" Ramis (Georgie Romero is Done For)

Brutus Feels (Kane and Feels) vs Shan (SPINES)

Sir Caroline (The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel) vs The Dragon Narrator (Unseen)

Alé (The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel) vs Hester/The Narrator (Within The Wires: Season 1)

Thistle/The Woman (Alice Isn't Dead) vs Sam Bailey (The Sheridan Tapes)

Peter Nureyev (The Penumbra Podcast: Juno Steel) vs Butt (Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast: Episode 1)

Alice (Alice Isn't Dead) vs Diggory Graves (Hello From the Hallowoods)

Antigone Funn (Wooden Overcoats) vs Ryan Dallas (EOS 10)

Martin Blackwood (The Magnus Archives) vs Galileo (Let's Make A Music)

Lucifer Kane (Kane and Feels) vs Gin (Story Break: Heaven Heist)

Amaryllis of Exile (The Penumbra Podcast: Second Citadel) vs Mabel Martin (Mabel)

Pilot Pereya (The Penumbra Podcast: Juno Steel) vs Hester Oleta (Within The Wires: Season 1)

Strelitzia (Additional Postage Required) vs Harold "HBD" Bastion Demetrius (The Soft-Boiled Detective)

Akmazian (EOS 10) vs Everyone from The Strange Case of Starship Iris

Damien (The Bright Sessions) vs Mari Datuin (Hi Nay)

Count Dracula (Re: Dracule) vs Static Man (Archive 81)

Dragana Vukovic (The White Vault) vs Elias Bouchard (The Magnus Archives)

Agnes Montague (The Magnus Archives) vs Vega Rex (Vega: A Sci-Fi Adventure Podcast!)

Mina Murray (Re: Dracula) vs Nicholas Waters (Archive 81)

Mark Bryant (The Bright Sessions) vs Laura (Hi Nay)

Georgie Crusoe (Wooden Overcoats) vs Kate Burnham (The Bridge)

Keisha (Alice Isn't Dead) vs SAYER (SAYER)

Chance Sequoyah (The Penumbra Podcast) vs Yaretzi (Hello From The Hallowoods)

Buddy Aurinko (The Penumbra Podcast: Juno Steel) vs Dane (Dreamboy)

Sadie Doyle (Thrilling Adventure Hour: Beyond Belief) vs Hera (Wolf 359)

Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives) vs The CryptoNaturalist (The CryptoNaturalist)

Rita (The Penumbra Podcast: Juno Steel) vs Lou (Archive 81)

Dr. Joan Bright (The Bright Sessions) vs Ashvin Beeharee (Hi Nay)

Renée Minkowski (Wolf 359) vs Clara Page (Who is Aldrich Kemp)

Unscripted Bracket

Pickman (Friends at the Table: Sangfielle) vs The Shadow Man ('Til Death Do Us Blart)

Beacon (The Adventure Zone: Amnesty vs Glenn Close (Dungeons and Daddies)

Oscar Wilde (Rusty Quill Gaming) vs Grand Magnificent (Friends at the Table: Twilight Mirage)

Taako (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs Bathin (Stella Firma)

Lup (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs Sago Glegg (Rotating Heroes: Arc 6)

Sans Undertale (Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined: Authority) vs M. Leopold Duvall (Friends at the Table: Sangfielle)

Duck Newton (The Adventure Zone: Amnesty) vs Chine (Friends at the Table: Sangfielle)

Tryst Valentine (Campaign: Star Wars) vs Mini Smithson (Chapter and Multiverse: Masks)

Gable (Campaign: Skyjacks) vs Hector Hu (Friends at the Table: Bluff City)

Michael (The Adventure Zone: Dust) vs Nicky Close (Dungeons and Daddies

Zolf Smith (Rusty Quill Gaming) vs Fourteen Fifteen (Friends at the Table: Twilight Mirage)

Coco Cashmere (Hey Riddle Riddle) vs Trexel Geistman (Stella Firma)

Killian Fangbattle (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs Henrietta Salm (Pest Control: Fate)

Kalvin Brnine (Friends at the Table: PALISADE) vs Lye "Lyke" Lichen (Friends at the Table: Sangfielle)

Indrid Cold (The Adventure Zone: Amnesty) vs Rigour (Friends at the Table: COUNTER/Weight)

Chunt (Hello From The Magic Tavern) vs Suvirin Kedberiket (Worlds Beyond Number: The Wizard, The Witch, and the Wild One)

Tender Sky (Friends at the Table: Twilight Mirage) vs Pox (NeoScum)

The Firbolg (The Adventure Zone: Graduation) vs Ron Stampler (Dungeons and Daddies)

Azu (Rusty Quill Gaming) vs Hadrian (Friends at the Table: Seasons of Hieron)

Moonshine Cybin (Not Another D&D Podcast: Bahumia) vs Caspian (Just Roll With It: Riptide)

Amber Gris (The Adventure Zone: Ethersea) vs Jens Lyndelle (Not Another D&D Podcast: Trinvyvale)

Perennial (Friends at the Table: PARTIZAN and PALISADE) vs Throndir (Friends at the Table: Seasons of Hieron)

Nadiya Jones (The Adventure Zone: Commitment) vs Ibex (Friends at the Table: COUNTER/Weight)

Cassander Timaeus Berenice (Friends at the Table: COUNTER/Weight) vs Tech Wizard (NeoScum)

Vermillion "Milli" Blue (Friends at the Table: PARTIZAN) vs Dak Rambo (NeoScum)

Rainer (The Adventure Zone: Graduation) vs Mercedes Oak-Garcia (Dungeons and Daddies)

Thisbe (Friends at the Table: PARTIZAN and PALISADE) vs Echo Reverie (Friends at the Table: Twilight Mirage)

Kravitz (The Adventure Zone: Balance) vs Henry Hogfish (Not Another D&D Podcast)

Aubrey Little (The Adventure Zone: Amnesty) vs Glenfyr "Glen" Gladewyn (Not Another D&D Podcast

Cel Sidebottom (Rusty Quill Gaming) vs Adelaide Tristé (Friends at the Table: Seasons of Hieron)

Kardala (The Adventure Zone: Commitment) vs Jacqui Green (Friends at the Table: COUNTER/Weight)

Hella Varal (Friends at the Table: Seasons of Hieron) vs (Former) Confessor Bartholomew Lamentations (The Unexplored Places: Ruin's Gate)

[cssnder]

The Books I Read or Re-Read During The Writing of My Novel

Whenever I work on a project, I tend to read the books that influenced me most in my own writing or books that are thematically relevant to what I am working on. Thus, I present to you the books I have read or re-read that have influenced and shaped Thus Saith The Lord. Please note that, since it'll take a few years before the completion of my novel, I will keep updating this list.

The Holy Bible

Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The Trouble With Being Born, Emil Cioran.

On The Heights of Despair, Emil Cioran.

The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt.

Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre.

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert.

The Anti-Christ, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh.

Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov.

The Unquiet Grave: A Word Cycle by Palinurus, Cyril Connolly.

Stoner, John Williams.

My Mother, George Bataille.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Tuesday, January 31, 2023

january 31_january 18

SAINT ATHANASIUS ( 373)AND CYRIL, ARCHBISHOPS OF ALEXANDRIA ( 444)

Saints Athanasius and Cyril were Archbishops of Alexandria. These wise teachers of truth and defenders of Christ’s Church share a joint Feast in recognition of their dogmatic writings which affirm the truth of the Orthodox Faith, correctly interpret the Holy Scripture, and censure the delusions of the heretics.

Saint Athanasius took part in the First Ecumenical Council when he was still a deacon. He surpassed everyone there in his zeal to uphold the teaching that Christ is consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father, and not merely a creature, as the Arians proclaimed.

This radiant beacon of Orthodoxy spent most of his life in exile from his See, because of the plotting of his enemies. He returned to his flock as he was approaching the end of his life. Like an evening star, he illumined the Orthodox faithful with his words for a little while, then reposed in 373. He is also commemorated on May 2 (the transfer of his holy relics).

VENERABLE SCHEMAMONK CYRIL AND VENERABLE SCHEMANUN MARIA (1337)

Saint Cyril and his wife Maria were the parents of Saint Sergius of Radonezh (September 25). They belonged to the nobility, but more importantly, they were pious and faithful Christians who were adorned with every virtue.

People were astonished when the child in Maria’s womb cried out three times in church during the Divine Liturgy; before the reading of the Holy Gospel, during the Cherubic hymn, and when the priest said: “Holy Things are for the Holy.” Although she was frightened at first, Maria came to see this event as a sign from God that her child would become a chosen vessel of divine grace. She and her husband agreed that if the child was a boy, they would bring him to church and dedicate him to God. This child, the second of their three sons, was born around 1314, and was named Bartholomew in Holy Baptism.

Because of civil strife, Saint Cyril moved his family from Rostov to Radonezh when Bartholomew was still a boy.

Later, when their son expressed his desire to enter the monastic life, his parents asked him to wait and take care of them until they passed away, because his brothers Stephen and Peter were both married and had their own family responsibilities. The young Bartholomew obeyed his parents, and did everything he could to please them. Later they decided to retire to separate monasteries, and departed to the Lord after a few years. It is believed that Saints Cyril and Maria reposed in 1337.

Forty days after burying his parents, Bartholomew settled their estate, giving his share to his brother Peter. Then he went to the monastery at the age of twenty-three, and was tonsured on October 7 with the name Sergius (in honor of the martyr Saint Sergius, who is commemorated on that day). As everyone knows, Saint Sergius of Radonezh became one of Russia’s greatest and most revered saints.

The Chronicle of the Khot'kov Protection Monastery relates how people were healed of their ailments after praying to the Venerable Sergius and his parents. The relics of Schema-monk Cyril and Schema-nun Maria remained in the monastery's Protection Cathedral, even after its numerous reconstructions. As early as the XIV century, Saint Sergius's parents were depicted with haloes. Because Saint Sergius prayed for the repose of his parents at their grave before entering the monastery, pilgrims, on their way to Holy Trinity Lavra, had the custom of visiting Khot'kov Monastery first, in order to pray for his parents.

In the XIX century, the veneration of Schema-monk Cyril and Schema-nun Maria spread throughout Russia, as evidenced by the Menologia of that time. Unfortunately, after 1917, the Khot'kov Monastery was destroyed. Finally, in July of 1981, the Feast of the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh was established, and Schema-monk Cyril and Schema-nun Maria were glorified for local veneration. In 1989, the monastery's Protection Cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Services resumed once again, and the relics of the righteous parents of Saint Sergius were transferred there.

Saints Cyril and Maria were glorified for universal veneration by the Orthodox Church of Russia in 1992. They are also commemorated on January 18 (Saint Cyril's Name Day), on June 5 (Synaxis of the Saints of Rostov & Yaroslavl), on July 6 (Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh), and on the Thursday following the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.

Source, all texts: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

MATTHEW 5:14-19 

14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

HEBREWS 13:7-16 

7Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

[libidomechanica]

Untitled Poem # 8647

As my curious rennez, and dream, sweet hope þat     he hermit bees find none to þyn askyng is held breath’d himself here in heavenly     ignorance hero—for which he didn’t evenings

great her palaces, sigh—as the to show it     is not shake, the work was truths which the vehicles the striues to þis bargayn is bihynde,     þat free, but serene declines, the

mystery, for he is sharply cryes, when the plainings     imperious: beside his Highness. Something fork deep, dead, long the centre a heart, and     harde þat I bidden black, bright guid will

not to sing my Highland ladyes, wiȝt walls. We turns     with though for a kind heav’n had so haggard seek their host, he went those earlier, and a     taste not die. Of bewté and better body

now and all that I had, ’ he answers in mid-     air the midst, why done to his babe in the city—as Juan had nomenclature chose, I     cheued to quell hast þat euer hem caren

for the self-same passed by far, the ghost began to     rally the Spartan Mother Countesses trim as simplesse mought the might’s ghosts in a row.     If I hade vpon þe, mon, I þe kyng

þat wyth a climax of him. Separation, he     read: till shepherds and in despite the paths, embellish’d. He wound of gold, but never ros     for those who were, his children and

aristocratic hinge seem’d he hewen stores’ account     eternal spring when his paine. It was not move or beautiful lemonade and garter’d     in their native places if i

could show it is at home. Full of eggs, and ȝe ar     a lede loutez adoun, and guests, or a herle of þe poyntez, þaȝ hym with horne has     been shaken with facts. Bi Goddess of

Fitz-Fulke playing how with rotez a deuys þat þus     he compare, whatever be my death! Full of the light. Let God bi gate to weep, and smooth     bald eye skyward again, new emerge,

lash’d lamb the swollen cheek to welde! Engraved in a     grave for to a blue spurt of blwe þat he cannot like puzzling hypocrite my hearts, sister’s     squaw; also a foreigne and þe

hors much consolation? ’ In god fayth, ’ quoþ þat wone     who liue, that not but long poring of thee and the others carried the sacred half-pillar     in a tank, along the shot. And

to his bryȝt grene in the light, and þe haf ben þenkkez,     bot wylde swyn segh he can’t see. Who every tressour belles and two tame for many years,     I protest, the column he leaf, in

the granted new: speak, and with long houndez to be     chose owner, which was mind there’s a fine old man? And semly, and wonder is nothing     he says, and you, part his hede as all

in treasures defy: such as more of falling to     mind: musician had seen; perchange; for fresh Cuddie, as days must need of brutes, whil my lord’s,     son’s, or skin lies deeper downward straight

they’d never one to hand the rouged, sown with no     rof-sore, which he lenged; in rede gowlez, þat renne farre excellently pats the World, grown     she kisses o’erload the come ye in

perfect Love is milder place, for to walk, perhaps     from the end, and how happy face; the owls began to fall: and sone þerwith her try, when     here þat his friendship could stirr’d upon

hepes; heme wel payed þat þe Holy Hede, that my     hand upon mine. Ah, happy happy three, judging by what weening mud. Lightbulb. Or heavens     gave afresh the first, but Cyril.

[immerlein]

I see that some Christian women like to cover their hair, particularly the Orthodox women on your page, what is the significance of this? I find it beautiful and I’m thinking of wearing my headscarves like that as well.

Hi there! Thank you very much for this question; this is probably my favourite thing to talk about (if my #headscarf tag didn’t give that away, haha).  Wearing a headscarf/headcovering in church and in prayer is an ancient and traditional Christian practice. It is mentioned throughout the Bible:

1.) The priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands (Numbers 5:18)  (her head must have been covered for this to make sense) 2.) Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel; for she had said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took a veil and covered herself. (Genesis 24:64-65) 3.)  Now Susanna was exceeding delicate, and beautiful to behold. But those wicked men commanded that her face should be uncovered, (for she was covered,) that so at least they might be satisfied with her beauty. Therefore her friends and all her acquaintance wept. (The Story of Susanna / Daniel 13:31-33)

And, most famously:

4.) Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. (1 Corinthians 11)

Our Church Fathers write of headcovering, saying: “The angels are present here... Open the eyes of faith and look upon this sight. For if the very air is filled with angels, how much more so the Church! ...Hear the Apostle teaching this, when he bids the women to cover their heads with a veil because of the presence of the angels.” - St John Chrysostom, referring to St Paul’s writing in Corinthians.  Origen said, “There are angels in the midst of our assembly...we have here a twofold Church, one of men, the other of angels...And since there are angels present...women, when they pray, are ordered to have a covering upon their heads because of those angels. They assist the saints and rejoice in the Church.” Instructions for catechumens in The Apostolic Tradition, by St. Hippolytus of Rome, include this: “Moreover, let all the women have their heads veiled with a scarf...” And St. Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on I Corinthians, wrote: “The angels find it extremely hard to bear if this law [that women cover their heads] is disregarded.”

I should probably mention now how this passage in Corinthians can be taken to mean that women are ‘inferior’ to men in some way, and that is what the covering represents. I won’t pretend that there aren’t people who might think this is the case, however, if we look at the Greek translation of “for this reason, the woman should have a symbol of authority of her head, because of the angels” we find the word “exousia”, which means “right/power/authority”. “Exousia” is also used in John 1:12: “As many as received Him, to them He gave exousia to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” The headcovering is not a sign of a man’s authority over the woman, rather it is an outward sign of her own authority/right/power as a woman.  Another question you might be asking yourself is “why would angels care???”  To borrow from orthodoxinfo.com: “In her book, The Holy Angels, Mother Alexandra writes: “The Celestial hierarchies are the spiritual reality of ordered creation, the stable patterns in which disruption is unknown...” Obedience is characteristic of the angelic realm.”

In Orthodoxy we recognise nine orders/ hierarchies of celestial beings, arranged in three choirs. 

“Seraphim and cherubim are in the first, archangels and angels in the third choir, closest to us. Without obedience there is chaos and disorder. St. John Chrysostom, in a sermon on I Corinthians, speaks of how distinction in male and female dress—and particularly the veiling of women—“ministers effectively to good order among mankind.” Taking off the veil was “no small error,” said St. John; ”...it is disobedience.” It “disturbs all things and betrays the gifts of God, and casts to the ground the honor bestowed...For to [the woman] it is the greatest of honor to preserve her own rank.” To some who argued that a woman, by taking off her covering, “mounts up to the glory of man,” Chrysostom answers: “She doth not mount up, but rather falls from her own proper honor...Since not to abide within our own limits and the laws of God, but to go beyond, is not an addition, but a diminution...” Always emphasizing the equality between man and woman, Chrysostom admonishes the man “not to dishonor her who governs next to thyself.” The issue was order, not superiority or inferiority. At Matins for Orthodoxy Sunday, we sing, “Come and let us celebrate a day of joy: Now heaven makes glad! Earth with all the hosts of angels and the companies of mortal men, each in their varied order, keeps the feast.” “ - from orthodoxinfo.com

Fr. Basil Rhodes wrote in his Master of Divinity thesis in 1977 on the veiling of women in I Cor. 11 “Man is the head of the woman, according to Genesis and to St. Paul who compares the relationship of man and woman with that of the Son to the Father: ‘And the head of Christ is God’ (I Cor. 2:3). It would be a grave error to say that Christ is inferior to His Father.”  (it would be heresy!) 

Timothy McFadden writes: “Members of the Godhead—and His image—are not interchangeable. As God Father and Son are equal and One in nature, so also they are unique and not interchangeable. Similarly, though equal in nature, man is not woman, woman is not man. They are distinguishable.” - from orthodoxinfo.com

I posted about it a little while ago, but I also heard another interpretation of “because of the angels” on the Ancient Faith radio podcast called The Lord of Spirits. They linked it back to sexual immortality between humanity and spiritual beings, so not only do you need to cover to be modest among human beings, you also need to because angels might, I don’t know, be tempted by you? (The context of the passage was essentially around pagan converts to Christianity and explaining how Christian worship was not sexual/did and does not contain ritualistic sex.) @hymnsofheresy added some additional commentary from her classes: “1 Corinthians 11:4 specifies that covering is especially required when a woman is prophesying. In Hellenistic temples, it was understood that prophecy could result in a sexual encounter with spiritual beings. Veiling in church while prophesying was a way of preventing women from having sexual intercourse with (or being raped by) an angel. Angel theology at the time was heavily influenced by the Book of Enoch, and it was likely that many people saw angels as sexually capable beings who desired human women.”  I have absolutely zero idea how much this (if at all) influenced the continued practice of Christian women covering their heads in church/during prayer, but it is certainly fascinating to think about nevertheless. 

For me, on a personal level, I wear a headscarf as an outward sign of respect for holy spaces and holy practices, to help myself focus on prayer, as an imitation of the Theotokos (and other women saints), for modesty, because I respect the tradition, and largely simply because I like them! At my parish, they’re required if you want to partake of the Holy Mysteries (communion, confession, etc) but I’ve also been in Orthodox parishes that don’t require it (though perhaps encourage it). An old friend of mine once told me how his priest said that women are lucky to have a covering/protection to be sheltered by as they approach the Holy Chalice for communion, because it is SO holy and men have no such shroud. I thought that was pretty interesting too! 

I hope this is helpful to you! Please feel free to ask more if you need to :) 

[bereft-of-frogs]

combo tag meme answers! @aurorawest​ tagged me in two different memes tonight, going to be economical and answer them both in one:

first up, whump meme, which I already was tagged in a bit ago, so I’m going to drop that one for my own three favorite whump tropes but I will respond to these three:

Forced to watch heck yes, love it, got a wip along those lines right now

Lovingly calling the whumpee an idiot for getting hurt. not my personal favorite, honestly. I think I just like a little bit more serious stakes and this kind of banter usually isn’t in my repertoire

Fighting through pain. another heck yes, especially for that moment when the fight is finally over, where they hover for a minute before collapsing, energy reserves completely spent. that’s the good shit right there.

and now song meme:

1. favorite song at the moment: Solovey or [one I can’t type because I lack a Cyrillic keyboard and am too lazy to copy and past from google translate but it’s ‘The Sun’ in English] by Go_A

2. song you associate with your favorite ship:  Chasing Twisters by Delta Rae

3. song that could be about you: I want to be cool and say something like The Yawning Grave by Lord Huron or Sister Death by Look Homeward, but if there’s a song that’s like ‘you’re a fucking anxious mess’ that would probably be it lol.

Oh wait yeah the song about turning 30 during the pandemic in the latest Bo Burnham special, yeah that’s 1000% about me

4. song you think is overrated: .......literally anything by Hozier except for ‘Take Me To Church’ (hides head in shame. I’m not a huge fan)

5. a song that reminds you of a good memory: Place de la République by Cœur de Pirate

6. the last song you listened to: ......well now it’s Meet Me in the Woods by Lord Huron (and the next song I’m going to listen to is Place de la République) but before that I think it was Yuve Yuve Yu by The Hu 

7. a song you want your mutuals to listen to: um I’m going to go with Beekeeper by Keaton Henson, which almost made the ‘happy memory’ answer

[i-had-to-get-out]

the unquiet grave, cyril connolly // hawfields dr., by me // fears, lyn-purcell (via hellopoetry) // frankenstein; or, the modern prometheus, mary shelley // when we two parted, lord byron // title unknown, robert frank // hell, slow hollows // god's man (panel 115), lynd ward

[ceescedasticity]

(a fandom that does not exist)

Ever since Finn’s Name Rant™ the fandom has been moving towards calling characters by name rather than label (at least the characters whose names we know. and who we like), but this has led to a certain amount of confusion since a lot of official character intros and lists (not to mention older fanworks) refer to people by label -- part of the whole fairy-tale conceit, I think.

(Finn’s Name Rant™ being the incident in the epilogue of the House of Bricks arc where he sneaks off to see the witch and talk about... everything with someone who wasn’t in the middle of it, and towards the end he goes off on how he doesn’t know how long it’s been since someone used his name, much less Ciaran’s name, and maybe it’s not surprising they’re forgetting how to be people when everyone’s just called by the role they’re expected to play. His logic’s questionable, but there was a lot of feeling.)

Anyway, some characters’ names and associated labels/roles, as I think of them:

Ciaran: the Young Wolf, the Wolf (only after BBW dies), the Wolf-Boy (in the past)

Finn: the Fox-Wolf, the Fox, Fox, the Fox-Boy (in the past)

Gwenaëlle: the Sleeping Princess, the Princess, the Princess of Rhyon, the Frozen Princess, the Ice-Hearted Princess, the Young Princess (in the past)

Parry: the Lost Girl, the Shorn-Haired Girl, the Sheep (once, Gwenaëlle shut that down). Technically ‘Parry’ is a nickname and she has a full name, but she hates it and never uses it so I’m giving her ‘real’ name as Parry. Best guesses for her full name include Parthenope and Parsnip

Red: the Red Wolf, the Red-Hooded Wolf, the Red-Hooded Girl, the Wolf Princess, the Wolf Consort. Back in her village she was named Dulcie, but she’s rejected the name forcefully (along with everything else about the village), so ‘Red’ it is

BBW: the Big Bad Wolf, the Master of Wolves, the Lord of Wolves, the Wolf-Lord, the Robber-Wolf. His name is (used to be?) Cyril, but fandom usually sticks to calling him BBW.

Alinor: the Princess Who Never Smiled, the Grave Princess, the Princess of Chantery

Ingram: the Wandering Prince, the Carefree Prince, the Prince of Chantery

August: the King, the King of Chantery, the Miser King

Tom, the Peasant Boy, the Boy with the Golden Goose, the Oldest Son, the Laughing Bridegroom (or that might have been a joke)

Roderick: the Piglet, Piglet. Also nicknamed Roddy but that doesn’t get used much.

Elsbet: the Maiden Pig, POSSIBLY the Fugitive Maiden, we’re not certain that’s the same person

The Master Pig: His name is definitely William and there is no reason not to call him that except we don’t like him. The Great Pig, the Third Pig, the Master of the House of Bricks, Jack’s First Son. ‘Capitalist Pig’ is not a canonical label, just a fandom running gag.

The Witch: Best guess for her name is Isobel, but that’s not certain. The Witch of the Woods, the Mistress of the Hungry House, the Witch of Fires. You can also make a good argument for the same character being: the (supposedly) Evil Sorceress Godmother, the Second Lost Princess of Chantery, the (medical consultant) Sorceress

“Auntie”: Best guess for her name is Callantha, but that’s not certain. The Good Sorceress Godmother, the Witch of the Garden, the Menacing Mother

Gwenaëlle’s mother: The Beautiful Queen, the Late Queen of Rhyon, the Long-Lamented Queen, the Enchanted Princess, the First Lost Princess of Chantery

Claude: (Better known as Gwenaëlle’s creeptastic father) the King of Rhyon, the Noble Prince (in the past)

Some extra wolves: Blake=Bloody, Harry=Hound, Wynna=Widow, Raymond=Stray, Patsy=Pretty, Fulk=Ugly

The Witch of Ice: Has showed up for all of three lines but we're all pretty sure the story’s going to get to ‘The Snow Queen’ eventually and she’s a shoe-in

Margery: the Generous Sister, the Queen of Diamonds and Roses, the Late Queen of Chantery, the Withered Queen

Jan: The Rash Boy

Meg: The Dutiful Girl. We’ve barely met these two.

[nothwell]

A Willing Canvas is up on Patre♡n! Wherein we glimpse the romance of John Halloway and Lord Cyril Graves beyond society’s prying eyes.

~

“Well?” John demanded.

Cyril licked his lips. “By Jove, that’s impressive.”

John’s irritation transformed into delight at the rare compliment. Whether Graves spoke of the pencil sketch or the flesh-and-blood contusions, both were John’s handiwork, and gave him no small glow of pride.

Though he still very much wanted his sketchbook back.

~

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!

A new story or chaper will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting… ♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm)

Completed works… ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm)

See you on Patre♡n!

[myhauntedsalem]

Horror Movies Based on True Events

Open Water (2003)

When a couple goes scuba diving in Open Water, their boat accidentally leaves them behind in shark-infested water. It’s based on something that really happened to American tourists Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who were left behind by a diving company off the Great Barrier Reef. By the time the mistake was realized two days later, it was too late, and they were never seen again. A shark attack seems not to have been the cause of death, however, as the couple’s dive jackets were eventually found. The jackets weren’t damaged, which suggested that the Lonergans likely took them off, “delirious from dehydration,” and drowned.

Borderland (2007)

When three friends head to a Mexican border town to have some fun in this movie, they get mixed up with a cult specializing in human sacrifice. The concept loosely stems from the life of Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a drug lord and cult leader who was responsible for the death of American student Mark Kilroy.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The iconic baddie Freddy Krueger kills teenagers via their dreams in Wes Craven’s franchise-launching film. Craven told Vulture that the idea stemmed from an article he read in The Los Angeles Times about a family of Cambodian refugees with a young son who reported awful nightmares. “He told his parents he was afraid that if he slept, the thing chasing him would get him, so he tried to stay awake for days at a time,” said Craven. “When he finally fell asleep, his parents thought this crisis was over. Then they heard screams in the middle of the night. By the time they got to him, he was dead. He died in the middle of a nightmare. Here was a youngster having a vision of a horror that everyone older was denying. That became the central line of Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Black Water (2007)

Set in the swamps of Australia, this movie sees a group of fishers attacked by a humongous crocodile. It was inspired by an actual crocodile attack in the Australian outback in 2003 that killed a man named Brett Mann in an area that his friends said they’d “never, ever” seen a crocodile before.

Dead Ringers (1988)

In David Cronenberg’s movie, Jeremy Irons plays twin gynecologists who do messed up things with patients and ultimately die together in the end. Cronenberg adapted the movie from Bari Wood and Jack Geasland’s novel Twins, which was inspired by the lives of actual twin gynecologists Stewart and Cyril Marcus. TheNew York Times noted that the Marcuses enjoyed “trading places to fool their patients” and that they ultimately “retreat[ed] into heavy drug use and utter isolation.”

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

The movie follows a cop and a priest who team up to take on the supernatural. It’s based on self-proclaimed “demonologist” Ralph Sarchie’s memoir Beware the Night, in which he tells supposedly true stories, such as the time he found himself “in the presence of one of hell’s most dangerous devils” possessing a woman.

Poltergeist (1982)

In Poltergeist, a family’s home is invaded by ghosts that abduct one of the daughters. The film was inspiredby unexplained events, such as loud popping noises and moved objects, that occurred in 1958 at the Hermanns’ home in Seaford, New York.

Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock’s essential film traces a woman who embezzles money from her employer and runs off to a mysterious hotel where she is (58-year-old spoiler alert) murdered by the man running it, Norman Bates. Bates is said to have been based on Ed Gein, a Wisconsin man who was convicted for one murder in the 1950s, but suspected for others. He also was a grave robber, and authorities found many disturbing results of that in his home, including bowls crafted from human skulls and a lampshade made from the skin of someone’s face.

Scream (1996)

The classic ‘90s slasher flick uses dark humor to tell the story of a group of teens and a mystery man named Ghostface who wants to murder them. But the real story ain’t funny. The movie was inspired by the Gainesville Ripper, real name Danny Rolling, who killed five Florida students by knife over a span of three days in August 1990.

The Conjuring (2013)

The movie stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as ghost hunters helping out a family in a haunted 18th-century farmhouse. The hunters, Ed and Lorraine Warren, are real people, as is the Perron family that they assist. Lorraine was a consultant on the movie and insists that many of the supernatural horrors really happened, and one of the daughters who is depicted in the film, Andrea Perron, says the same. She recalled an angry spirit named Bathsheba to USA Today:“Whoever the spirit was, she perceived herself to be mistress of the house and she resented the competition my mother posed for that position.”

Annabelle (2014)

The creepy porcelain doll from The Conjuring gets her terror on in this spin-off of The Conjuring. The ghost-hunting Warrens have claimed that there was a real Raggedy Ann doll that moved by itself and wrote creepy-ass notes saying things like, “Help us.” The woman who owned it contacted a medium, who claimed that it was possessed by a seven-year-old girl named Annabelle who had died there.

The Disappointments Room (2016)

Kate Beckinsale stars in the movie as an architect who moves to a new home with a mysterious room in the attic that she eventually learns was previously used as a room where rich people would cast off disabled children. It was reportedly inspired by a Rhode Island woman who discovered a similar room in her house that she says was built by a 19th century judge to lock away his disabled daughter.

The Exorcist (1973)

Two priests attempt to remove a demon from a young girl in this box office smash. The movie was based on a 1949 Washington Post article with the headline “Priest Frees Mt. Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil’s Grip.” Director William Friedkin spoke about the article to Time Out London: “Maybe one day they’ll discover the cause of what happened to that young man, but back then, it was only curable by an exorcism. His family weren’t even Catholics, they were Lutheran. They started with doctors and then psychiatrists and then psychologists and then they went to their minister who couldn’t help them. And they wound up with the Catholic church. The Washington Post article says that the boy was possessed and exorcised. That’s pretty out on a limb for a national newspaper to put on its front page… You’re not going to see that on the front page of an intelligent newspaper unless there’s something there.

The Girl Next Door (2007)

The movie follows the abuse of a teenage girl at the hands of her aunt, and it was inspired by the murder of Sylvia Likens in 1965. The 16-year-old girl was abused by her caregiver, Gertrude Baniszewski, Baniszewski’s children, and other neighborhood children, as entertainment. They ultimately killed her, with the cause of death determined as “brain swelling, internal hemorrhaging of the brain, and shock induced by Sylvia’s extensive skin damage,”

The Possession (2012)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick star in the movie as a couple with a young daughter who becomes fascinated with an antique wooden box found at a yard sale. Of course, the box turns out to be home to a spirit. The flick’s “true story” basis came from an eBay listing for “a haunted Jewish wine cabinet box” containing oddities such as two locks of hair, one candlestick, and an evil spirit that caused supernatural activity. The box sold for $280 and gained attention when a Jewish newspaper ran an article about its so-called powers.

The Rite (2011)

In The Rite, a mortician enrolls in seminary and eventually takes an exorcism class in Rome, where demonic encounters ensue. The movie was based on the life of a real exorcist, Father Gary Thomas, whose work was the focus of journalist Matt Baglio’s book The Rite: The Making of an Exorcist. A Roman Catholic priest, Thomas was one of 14 Vatican-certified exorcists working in America in 2011. He served as an advisor on the film and told The Los Angeles Times that in the previous four years he had exorcised five people.

The Sacrament (2013)

In the movie, a man travels to find his sister who joined a remote religious commune, where, yep, bad things happen. It was inspired by the 1978 Jonestown massacre, in which cult leader Jim Jones led 909 of his followers to partake in a “murder-suicide ceremony” using cyanide poisoning.

The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s horror masterpiece is about a man who is driven to insanity by supernatural forces while staying at a remote hotel in the Rockies. The movie Derives from Stephen King’s book of the same name, which was inspired by the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, where plenty of guests have reported seeing ghosts. The Stanley wasn’t actually used in the movie, however, because Kubrick didn’t think it looked scary enough.

The Silence of the Lambs(1991)

The Oscar-winning film tells the story of an FBI cadet who enlists the help of a cannibal/serial killer to pin down another serial killer, Buffalo Bill, who skins the bodies of his victims. FBI special agent John Douglas, who consulted on the film, has explained that Bill was inspired in part by the serial killer Ted Bundy, who like Bill, wore a fake cast. Ed Gein is also believed to be an inspiration, what with the whole skinning thing. And per Rolling Stone, 1980s killer Gary Heidnik was a reference for how Buffalo Bill kept victims in a basement pit.

The Strangers (2008)

Three killers in masks terrorize the suburban home of a couple (played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman) in this invasion thriller. Writer-director Bryan Bertino has said the film was inspired by something that happened to him in childhood. “As a kid, I lived in a house on a street in the middle of nowhere. One night, while our parents were out, somebody knocked on the front door and my little sister answered it,” he said. “At the door were some people asking for somebody that didn’t live there. We later found out that these people were knocking on doors in the area and, if no one was home, breaking into the houses.”

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 & 2003)

Ed Gein also reportedly inspired elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and its remake. The movies are about groups of friends who come into contact with the murderous cannibal Leatherface. The original film memorably features a room filled with furniture created from human bones, a nod to Gein’s home.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976 & 2014)

The original film follows a Texas Ranger as he tracks down a serial killer threatening a small town, and the 2014 sequel of the same name essentially revives the same plot. Both are based on the Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946, when a “Phantom Killer” took out five people over ten weeks. The case remains unsolved

Veronica (2018)

The recent Netflix release follows a 15-year-old girl who uses a Ouija board and accidentally connects with a demon that terrorizes her and her family. The movie’s based on a real police report from a Madrid neighborhood. As the story goes, a girl performed a séance at school and then “experienced months of seizures and hallucinations, particularly of shadows and presences surrounding her,” according to NewsWeek. The police report came a year after the girl’s death when three officers and the Chief Inspect of the National Police reported several unnatural occurrences at her family’s home that they called “a situation of mystery and rarity.”

[gascon-en-exil]

After exhaustively poring over the text dump, I’ve determined that every same-sex pairing I noted in this post has a paired ending at A rank with the exceptions of Seteth/Cyril and Manuela/Flayn. They vary substantially between almost definitely platonic and so gay you’ll forget that whoever Byleth can and can’t screw was ever a big deal...which is partially the point of me drawing attention to this content, naturally. I’m not so good with F/F content, but I’ll be including them too with my thoughts as to how heavy the subtext is. Anyone else can feel free to chime in with thoughts of their own; just because I don’t think there’s much to a pairing doesn’t mean someone else can’t enjoy reading more into it.

Edelgard/Bernadetta and Edelgard/Lysithea: sounds more like BFFs or companionable coworkers.

Edelgard/Dorothea: suggestive, but not Dorothea’s most overt.

Edelgard/Manuela: the most sapphic of Edelgard’s multiple F/F endings apart from Byleth of course, specifying that the two of them remain unmarried and become “very close”.

Dimitri/Dedue: a beautiful realization on the lord/knight dynamic and an evolution of Quan/Finn that manages to have a happy ending. Notably. Dedue’s solo ending also has him standing guard by his lord’s grave (he truly is a Finn, loyal to his master beyond death), and this is the only one of Dimitri’s M/M options that mentions neither a queen nor a child.

Dimitri/Felix: Dimitri is married here, but they’re totally banging on the side. It becomes the stuff of Fódlan legends, that they were “sworn friends”...if you know what I mean. As much as some of us got attached to Claumitri early on, this seems more like the true analogue to Eliwood/Hector.

Dimitri/Gilbert: kind of shows off how much gayer Dimitri/Dedue is by comparison on account of how lacking in emotion it is. Gilbert gets to tutor Dimitri’s son...whee.

Claude/Lorenz: even if you squint this isn’t even slightly gay, just a pair of savvy politicians doing their thing. Moving on.

Hubert/Ferdinand: an odd sleeper hit, they’re opposites but become the “Two Jewels” of the Empire and Edelgard is jealous of them for...some reason. Maybe she wants a threeway?

Linhardt/Caspar: Fittingly when one of them looks so much like Soren, they make like Ike and boyfriend and leave to travel the world together, eventually settling down in parts unknown, and we may assume in each other’s parts.

Caspar/Ashe: Genuinely reads more friendly than romantic on the sly, even though they essentially do the same thing as Caspar and Linhardt. Goes to show you what a few different bits of phrasing can do for implying stuff.

Petra/Dorothea: Actual lesbians, complete with initially scandalizing the people of Brigid.

Dorothea/Manuela: Even more actual lesbians, this time in the opera in a “private life...full of light and love.” It’s hard to get more blatant than that.

Dedue/Ashe: Diplomacy through cooking, and not at all a booty call. Not gay.

Felix/Sylvain: Like most of Felix’s endings it has two versions depending on whether Felix inherits his title or not (which may or may not be a route thing?). If he does they’re the bickering rivals whose rivalry probably extends to the bedroom, and they die on the same day because they can’t live without each other. If he doesn’t inherit his title they lose touch for years until one day Felix’s sword shows up on Sylvain’s doorstep, which...? Not sure what to make of this one.

Cyril/Ashe: Also has two versions, but they’re almost the same this time and end by calling them best friends. I’m inclined to believe it in this case.

Annette/Mercedes: Live apart and send each other letters constantly, then move in together after retirement. Late in life lesbians.

Raphael/Ignatz: A hard no homo, in that Ignatz marries Raphael’s sister and it’s not really about these two so much as Ignatz’s artistic ambitions.

Hilda/Marianne: They start a bunch of artisan schools around Fódlan, and Hilda sends some of her most valuable accessories to Marianne. That’s either standard female BFF stuff or code for furtive F/F romance. I’m not versed enough in this sort of thing to tell.

Leonie/Shamir: They found a mercenary company together. Could go either way, I guess.

Catherine/Shamir: They travel the world in a mildly suggestive manner before ending up in Shamir’s homeland. Very power couple-y.

There you go, over a dozen same-sex ships that don’t involve Byleth’s fickle S ranks.

[luminisvii]

okay im gonna go black out and write some bullshit about my Thoughts on Literary Analysis and Character Writing bc i love writing and i love trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t. i am an unfortunate fan of fire emblem, so the real joke is on me, but let’s do this anyway. using a lot of bold as always! it makes me feel special.

Why is Leonie such a divisive character? 

as per usual, here is my disclaimer that it’s okay to like Leonie. it’s also okay to dislike her, as long as you’re not being a massive dick about it. lord knows people are rude to me about lorenz and i didn’t ask for their opinions. if you like leonie, i am not out to get you, i’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t, i’m not even mad at you. Neat! you like a character i don’t! and that’s just fine. i honestly don’t care! go have fun! 

so let’s talk. theres a TL;DR at the end so be ready.

i’ll make no bones about it: i’m in the camp that dislikes her. i don’t have the energy to hate her as i do for faye, but leonie is pretty obnoxious as a character and it’s an uphill battle to like her. i’ve played VW like three times since i’m a self professed GD stan so i’ve dealt with her a lot, read most of her supports, and seen her as a character in actual cutscenes and stuff.

the short answer: making a character obsessed with another one and having that be most of their personality is really annoying. 

the long answer: let’s start on that now! these are my personal thoughts and analysis, so you’re free to disagree with me if you think i’m falling short.

one statement i will make right away is that i’m not offended by leonie being mean to the player. a lot of people who stan leonie like to argue that people dislike her because she’s one of the few characters who doesn’t kiss byleth’s ass immediately. that’s fine. that doesn’t bother me. after all, seteth and hapi are mean to byleth at first too, and those two are far more beloved… in fact, it’s funny that they’re mean to byleth. i would also argue that my favorite lord claude is not buddy buddy with byleth at first either, but if these popular opinion threads have proven anything to me, people love taking claude’s lying ass at face value. that’s besides the point—it’s okay that leonie isn’t immediately friendly to byleth. that is not an objective character flaw. characters need something to conflict over in the narrative, and not being instantly friendly to a player insert is not a problem in the slightest.

the major flaw in leonie’s character, imo, is that the writers decided it was a brilliant idea to make her obsessed with a man who barely seems to acknowledge her. this is an extremely unfortunate reoccurring character trope in fire emblem. notable other victims that more modern fe fans may recognize are faye and cordelia, faye being the worst offender. luckily, leonie isn’t as bad as faye. but it really is irritating that leonie, along with these other women, seem entirely driven by men who cannot acknowledge them. within three houses, you have similar traits in male characters as well: cyril is another notable offender, and to a lesser extent, dedue’s fixation on dimitri. now, we do see jeralt talking to leonie at the very least, and he does speak about her at least once in my memory, and positively at that. so it’s not as pathetic as the likes of faye. 

outside of that, leonie cannot stop fucking reminding everyone she comes across: she loves captain jeralt. she’s his only apprentice. and you, dear player, who is his child, are not good enough, because you don’t love him as much as she does. practically all her convos with byleth are about how they don’t love jeralt enough, save for a slight turn around in the A support where she talks about her promise to protect byleth in jeralt’s place. to be honest, i usually ditch her in any run i’m forced to take her (hello sylvain, the superior idiot redhead cavalier) so this promise is just cute.

the arrogance in this attitude is insensitive at best, and as seen in her B support with byleth, potentially malicious and self centered at worst. 

let’s not beat around the bush. the main point of contention for leonie is her B support with byleth, which is locked to jeralt’s death. you cannot get this support until jeralt has kicked it. and if you’re on GD, chances are you have gotten enough support points with leonie to get it immediately upon his death. the man’s grave is still fresh. what does she have the gall to say to her beloved mentor’s child?

“I've spent my whole life working to become a great mercenary like your father. There were so many times when I wanted to ask his advice, but I couldn't. I just had to make do. That's how I've made it this far. Just hard work, all on my own. But then you come along... And it's like you don't appreciate Captain Jeralt at all, or how lucky you were to have him around your whole life! Ugh! It still really bothers me! You might be his kid, but I'm still his best apprentice! Got it?!”

YIKES.

no matter how you dice it, saying that to someone whos father just died? NOT GOOD. it doesn’t matter what her reasoning is. a lot of people argue that this is realistic, that she’s acting out of grief. maybe so. however, if the game wants me to like her, they’re failing, no matter how realistic her reaction is. if this was supposed to be seen as a moment of weakness, that would be one thing, but it’s clear leonie never learns anything from this. she never gets better. she spends the rest of her life constantly centered on jeralt, and sees byleth as a competitor and obstacle to his affections, even after he’s dead. 

i don’t want to entirely make this about byleth, because let’s be real, byleth is only one of her many supports. but it is the most easily noticeable, and the least charitable to her character. 

also fun fact i did a basic search for jeralt in her supports and thats 37 times hes mentioned lmao this isn’t even accounting for her non support dialogue! which is still a lot! 

so a decent chunk of her supports still involve her talking about how great jeralt is as if the man is jesus. her better supports don’t involve him at all. i don’t have easy access to a lot of her dialogue by chapter, but quite a bit of her regular dialogue references jeralt too, be it by name or title, and a good chunk of her endings, especially her solo one, have her just taking up his title and job and drinking habits. it’s supposed to be seen as cute.

this woman is in her 20s at the beginning of the game. she’s my age. this kind of behavior is worrying. 

so you’re thinking “tell, you’ve spent a LOT of time talking about how leonie won’t shut the fuck up about jeralt. what about the rest of her character? unlike faye, she actually has one!” right you are! i will concede that. leonie does have things going on for her outside of her constant screeching about jeralt! what are they?

we see that her personality has her as a hard worker and frugal person because she’s grown up in a life that has less than many of her peers. she’s rational and rather keen, capable of assessing her opponents correctly and outsmarting them. she likes to help others. her supports with claude are fairly interesting as they talk about their own perspectives on the world to each other in a friendly manner. she talks to bernadetta and praises her skill in craft and manages to befriend her. in fact, all her supports where she doesn’t mention jeralt at all are pretty good. she can be headstrong and sometimes quick to jump to conclusions, but leonie isn’t one to be too beholden to preset ideas and shows a capability to learn and change.

wait, this sounds like a pretty well rounded and likeable character i’m describing! what happened here? this kind of portrayal is almost contradictory to the side of her that only thinks of jeralt. 

a lot of people who like leonie like her for these aspects. at first, i had thought her to be interesting, since she’s the poorest student in the entire school, here on money raised by her entire village, which must have been extremely difficult for them to do. she doesn’t understand how nobles can be so frivolous, and butts heads with the likes of hilda, who has been raised in luxury her whole life and she clashes even harder with lorenz, who is obsessed with nobility. in a way, leonie is the slap from reality that many of the rich students from garreg mach need. and she also serves an important function in the dynamic of the deer—she’s a bit of a hapless straight man to all their bullshit. they always need one of those! in the lions, that role falls to ingrid, while edelgard plays that to her own house. 

so yes, there is merit in leonie’s character. there’s a lot to like about her here. however, in my opinion, it’s not enough to make up for the incredibly abrasive aspects of her fixation on jeralt. it really just comes back to that—that someone decided that it would be a fantastic character trait to have her never stop thinking about a man, and flaunt this to the man’s child. constantly. almost all her dialogue directed at byleth is about jeralt. post skip, a lot more of her lines become about jeralt and making him proud. it’s like she thinks that he’s her dad. she’s a grown ass woman! leonie is one of the older students! she is an adult by the time the game starts! an adult with some actual worldly experience, unlike her peers! what went wrong? why is she like this? why did they make her so fucking annoying when it comes to jeralt?

so yes, that’s what i think is the major flaw of her character. a flaw that is not easily overcome. cyril is a largely derided character for similar reasons. another simple control+f tells me that rhea is mentioned in cyril’s supports 59 times so uh, woo! he has leonie beat there.

worst of all this is a flaw that narratively, she does not overcome. she never grows and gets better from it. she never changes her single minded determination to impress jeralt, even long after he’s dead. a good chunk of her endings have her taking up his business and acting just like him, taking his title too. somehow lorenz is the more likeable character, and lorenz starts off as a much worse person than her! he starts as a stinky incel classist and somehow, especially over the course of verdant wind, manages to learn and grow and change into a much better person, while leonie remains stagnant in who she is. her own peers outdo her in almost every aspect, in that they appear to be capable of growing up while leonie, already an adult, never seems to show any signs of maturing over the course of the game. we see ignatz turn from a meek nerd to someone who’s willing to do what it takes to protect what he cares about. marianne grows from suicidal and depressed to finding the will to live because it means she’ll be able to spend more time with things she enjoys and people she loves. lorenz goes from snobbish and distant over his complex about nobility to being one of the kindest members of the deer, willing to go against his father for the greater good. even hilda matures! hilda starts the game lazy and unambitious, trying to avoid work, saying she’d never risk her life for her friends, to fighting against some of the strongest forces in the continent and ESPECIALLY on CF we see her refusing to abandon claude in his time of need, no matter how bad it gets, even if it costs her life. what does leonie do? leonie seems to forever be stuck in the mindset that she has to impress jeralt, no matter how far she goes.

this is incredibly nitpicky, i’ll admit, this isn’t really part of the character analysis, but i find she under performs as a unit too. she may have ungodly speed and no weaknesses in her skills, but damage output wise she’s easily outdone in house by the other canon paladin of lorenz and his wonky statline, and out of house sylvain has basically the same ability as her, the same color hair, and a crest + relic that make him way more effective. the man has bulk, too. so, that’s a small ding to leonie as well. i had the same problem with sully in awakening. for all the talk about how these women are just as good as the men, they appear to under perform quite a bit.

and i’m gonna talk real quick in a basic list format of arguments i’ve seen for people defending leonie, since i’m running out of like, a coherent way to talk about some of this stuff.

-She’s realistic.

maybe so, but the game intends for me to find her as likeable and sympathetic, as it is for all recruitable characters. her reactions to byleth and sometimes others may be realistic, but don’t paint a charitable image of her. again, the moment in her B support with byleth is so bad, it makes her seem like she’s acting towards them with cruel intent. while i don’t care about byleth’s feelings since byleth isn’t a real person, what it does is it paints leonie as malicious, no matter what her intent was or how realistic it is. yes, she’s in grief, she’s lost someone important to her, but in what context is telling someone who just lost their dad that they didn’t love him enough supposed to garner anything but hatred? even if she apologizes for it in their A support, that means she basically took years to do so and still seems to think of byleth as an obstacle to her being like jeralt.

although as i have said before, the rest of her personality is fine. i find her non jeralt stuff is much more well written. she’s a down to earth person amidst a sea of lunatics. that’s not a problem.

-People don’t like her because she’s mean to Byleth. 

this is probably true in some regards although i can’t say for certain. because byleth is a player insert and some might take it personally, but otherwise i find this isn’t much of a good universal claim since there’s more to the disdain to that. personally, i think it’s hilarious when video game characters are mean to me, but that’s just My Opinion, so no, i’m really not offended by leonie being mean to me. other characters are also mean to byleth, and that leads into the next point...

-Other characters act similarly towards Byleth and they’re popular.

one, look at those stupid unpopular opinions threads on twitter. they’re not as loved as you think. two, a lot of the characters who are listed for these things are often the likes of seteth and felix, and let’s talk about the context of their actions there. seteth is indeed mean to byleth at first, but his intent is wildly different from leonie’s—he’s suspicious, and rightfully so, of this mercenary who came out of nowhere and rhea is suddenly showing a lot of interest in and is giving a position of power to. seteth is not acting out of malintent or jealousy, he’s acting out of concern for the students and his daughter as well as rhea. because his core intent is “protect everyone around me” it comes off as far more palatable and dare i say, endearing. this is vastly different than “i’m jealous towards byleth because i love their dad and hate that they’re getting attention i can’t.” with a character like felix, this is outright incorrect—felix is not necessarily more rude to byleth more than he would be anyone else. felix is angry with the faerghus four in particular, but everyone else gets the same level of vague disrespect from him otherwise, so his behavior is not centralized to byleth. again, i don’t care about byleth’s feelings. there is also cyril, who is similarly obsessed with rhea, and is just as irritating as leonie for it, if not worse because he gets an extra layer of being a poc character obsessed with a white one who saved him. 

tl;dr: context and intent matters. a lot. i know this is a ton to ask of the fe fandom to consider taking things beyond face value, but please consider the context of characters actions and their intent behind them.

-People who don’t like Leonie are misogynistic.

i won’t discount that there are bad actors who are likely extra critical of leonie because she’s a female character. it could be and has been argued that the reasons that characters like edelgard and ingrid are so controversial is because they are female. but not everyone who raises criticisms is strictly doing so in bad faith. most people i’ve seen criticizing leonie do it for the same reasons i am, which is that she’s an abrasive character. these traits would not be any better on a male character and in some regards could be worse. so for this one, it’s better to take it as a case by case situation, and pay attention to how people are talking. those doing so for less savory reasons often let it slip eventually, somehow. i’ve been avoiding using the word “bitch” in this entire thing for this exact reason.

-Her non-Byleth supports are good.

this is highly subjective imo and comes down to what you personally like in a character. i do like some of her non byleth supports, but she still has an unfortunate habit of bringing up jeralt in non byleth supports, so the only ones that are truly good are the ones where she doesn’t talk about him at all. even then, some like her one with marianne can do the same accidental portrayal of her seeming like a pretty unpleasant person. this isn’t saying that leonie can’t be flawed or short tempered, after all i adore felix and he’s got Some Fuckin Issues, but her portrayal as a kind and bright person clashes with how she’s portrayed surrounding byleth and jeralt. far too much. i like her supports with claude, i like her line with bernadetta, and her seteth one is good too, but i’d also argue that as a personality she doesn’t bring much to the table. she’s a perfectly serviceable character when she’s not dealing with byleth, but i personally fail to see more appeal to her. she isn’t particularly enrapturing like some of the others, and unlike someone like ingrid who has a similar role in BL, doesn’t have the shared history and integration with the deer that grants ingrid a unique perspective on her peers. although again, this is highly subjective, so it’s tough to argue about this. i’ll grant that yes, the writing that doesn’t surround jeralt is WAY better and almost makes leonie a redeemable character.

-Other characters are worse.

very true! i’ll cite faye again as the bottom line for “this is how abysmal this character could be” and in feth itself there is, as stated many times before, cyril. however it doesn’t mean that leonie is better by association. and i also often see people citing seteth as an example over the rudeness to the player too, but once again that’s about context and intent. hapi is a lesser example, due to a similar mistrusting nature, and there’s quite a bit of the cast who are cold and rude because that’s just who they are. now, thank fucking god that leonie actually talks about things that aren’t jeralt. like, seriously, i’d die. she still talks about him too much, but i really should go through all of faye’s dialogue to do a proper count. 

so now you’re probably thinking—if you even got this far—“gee tell, you sure do like running your fuckin mouth, eh? so what’s the point of all this?” let’s wrap it up. 

the TL;DR:

what this all boils down to is that leonie’s got a serious problem in her writing where her entire life revolves around a man, and the way it’s dealt with isn’t particularly great. she doesn’t have a dynamic character arc like some others that redeem them from their problems, and the personality she has outside of her relationship to jeralt and byleth often clashes with the one she has with them, particularly centering on byleth. when dealing with byleth, the image it paints of her is extremely negative, and not one easily shaken—again, the B support moment is just THAT BAD. that is the most cited moment for why people hate her. it just seems like for all the flaws she has, they are not compensated for or grown out of like other characters in the game do for theirs.

theres also that tweet about how we put more thought into these characters than intsys does, so. yeah. definitely doing that right now. thanks, intsys, you did it again.

i will also point to the argument that we should hold the writers accountable, not the fictional characters who aren’t real and don’t have feelings. i don’t think leonie needs to be held accountable for her bullshit. i just wish the writers could have treated her better.

this is personally why i find leonie so difficult, and hopefully if you didn’t understand why people don’t like leonie, this can help enlighten you. i’m willing to hear people out if they have something to say, and as always, if you are a leonie stan, please go enjoy yourself, have fun, and don’t let me ruin your parade. i just enjoy trying to figure things out and talking a lot along the way! so that’s all, here’s hoping that in the future they do better, and remember that GD is the best house okay bye take this picture of me typing up this whole ass thing

[knifeshoeoreofight]

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Sidney’s wedding day dawns iron grey, the sky heavy and threatening. Far out on the horizon, there are already misty curtains of rain painting the sea underneath the thickest cloud banks, as the storm drags itself closer and closer to land.

Sidney tries not to be susceptible to belief in omens and ill portents, but he cannot help but wish that it was sunny and mild today. As Jake fusses with the last touches to his wedding attire, Sidney comforts himself with the thought that it’s not unfitting that as he arrived in a storm, so shall Evgeni be joined to this place, and to Sidney, in a storm as well.

As Sidney descends the stairs he can see that Evgeni is already waiting in the foyer. He’s pacing a little, cutting a striking figure in the new bottle green coat and snowy white linen shirt and cravat Sidney had insisted he accept. He’d sent him to his own tailor’s shop in Truro with Letang, who had an eye for these things, and Letang had outdone himself. The green of the coat looks well against Evgeni’s pale skin and and brown hair, and he looks like a gentleman from the toes of his polished boots, to his close-fitting breeches, to his beautifully embroidered waistcoat. Letang told Sidney that it was the only article of clothing that Evgeni had chosen explicitly for himself, without self-effacing reluctance.

If he wants it. Sidney will buy him a hundred waistcoats, each more brilliantly decorated than the last. Sidney himself was unable to resist a lilac waistcoat under a more subdued grey coat. He enjoys the color, and seldom has the excuse or opportunity to wear it.

Evgeni spots him when he reaches the bottom of the stairs. His shoulders relax and he smiles at Sidney. It relieves Sidney more than he can say to see it. The cold weight of guilt has not left him entirely since the moment he first claimed Evgeni as his fiancé.

“Are you still willing?” Sidney has to ask, for his own peace of mind.

Evgeni’s brow furrows. “You?”

“Of course,” Sidney says quietly. Evgeni’s eyes search his face, but finally he nods.

“Yes,” he says, and ducks his head, pink blooming on his cheeks. It is an arresting sight, and Sidney, to his chagrin, gapes at him until broken from his reverie by the noisy arrival of Baronet Letang and his family.

Letang gives Sidney a long, assessing look as Evgeni goes to say hello to Alex and little Victoria. Sidney knows his friend likes Evgeni but is not certain that Sidney is being wise.

Sidney gives him a firm nod. His friend shrugs, and says nothing more.

***

It is strange to be in the church on a weekday. Their words echo against the stone as young Father Murray gravely shakes their hands and precedes them to the front of the church. They’re early, but Julie and Caro are already there, as well as a goodly number of those servants and villagers not needed in preparing the wedding breakfast.

He feels a pang at the absence of his sister. There had not been time, however, for her to make the journey, and truthfully, he wants to wait until all is said and done before he tells her of it. Maybe she will forgive him for it in time.

The importance of their haste is underscored by the late arrival of Magistrate Bettman. Uninvited, he nonetheless sits himself in a back pew to scowl at the proceedings. Sidney sees Evgeni’s eyes dart nervously to Bettman, and he squeezes his soon-to-be husband’s hands. When Evgeni looks at him, Sidney leans close and says, too low for anyone else to hear: “I promise you. I will not let him touch you.”

Evgeni closes his eyes for a moment, but nods.

The sun comes out from behind the clouds just as the vicar calls out the words, “dearly beloved.”

Later, what Sidney remembers most from the ceremony is that soft morning light, falling in shafts front the clerestory windows, and odd little details, like how the sun made a glowing shell of one of Evgeni’s ears, and threw glimmering reflections from the font onto the grey stone walls.

Evgeni’s hands tremble a little in his own, or maybe Sidney’s hands tremble, he isn’t sure.

Father Murray pronounces them married in the eyes of God, and Sidney blinks away sudden tears from some indescribable emotion. His wedding. His husband. He’d tried to imagine this day in the past but those boyish fancies have nothing in common with the reality: Evgeni’s dark eyes fixed on his, the soft, hesitant brush of his lips when the vicar tells them that they may kiss each other.

They sign the register, Sidney’s narrow, looping script above Evgeni’s blocky Cyrillic.

“Congratulations, Lord Crosby, Lord Evgeni,” Father Murray says, and Sidney has to laugh softly at the startled look on Evgeni’s face.

“Had you forgotten that you’d gain a title today, my dear?” Sidney says. His face flushes— the endearment had slipped out without his permission, quite naturally. For Evgeni is already dear to him.

Evgeni shakes his head, wonder writ across his expressive face. “I’m forget.” He shakes his head again, and offers his arm to Sidney. Sidney takes it.

“It’s going to be very noisy in a moment, are you ready?” he warns, and they step outside into the late morning chill as cheers break out from their assembled people, and rice is flung with cheerful abandon into their faces by the children.

Sidney had elected to walk to the church, in concession to Evgeni’s discomfort with horses and his own dislike of the fanfare and ostentation of a coach. It was not a far distance, but their way back leads them through the village, where everyone is assembled in gleeful enjoyment of their holiday, all work in the mines and fields halted in honor of the day.

The wedding party is met with shouts and cheers. Every woman and girl in the village, it feels, wants to come curtsy at them and extend their well-wishes, every man and boy to earnestly doff their caps to Sidney and “‘is new Lordship.”

They shake hands and bow and accept congratulations nearly all the way to the gates of Ydhyn Dhu, where a hubbub of a different sort awaits them.

Long tables have been laid, decorated with fragrant fir boughs and and bright sprigs of holly. If they’d been married only a month or two from now there might have been early spring flowers but Sidney finds he likes the greenery just as much.

A busy swirl of guests and servants enliven the ofttimes quiet rooms of the great house, with Mrs. Bullano presiding over all. Sidney had told her to try and enjoy herself but she remains convinced some calamity will befall the family silver and hovers vigilantly, keeping a weather eye on the serving maids as they work.  

Dumo has outdone himself, somehow managing a wedding cake of sorts in so short a time, white with costly sugar on the outside and rich with dried fruit and brandy on the inside. He’d been cautioning everyone all morning that it wouldn't keep like a proper wedding cake, since he hadn’t had the time for the usual days and days of tending and soaking it in spirits.

“We will just have to enjoy it all today, Dumo, and give out any remaining to our tenants,” Sidney had placated him.

Sidney can hardly believe it, sometime later, that he’s sitting at the head of his table with his husband next to him. He keeps finding himself staring at Evgeni’s profile- his strong nose and generous mouth, his sharp jaw, the tiny scar high on his cheekbone.

Caro has to say his name a few times to get his attention at one point, resulting in laughter and much sly teasing about how taken he is with his bridegroom. Sidney turns scarlet and attempts to move the conversation on as quickly as possible. He cannot allow their perceptive teasing to make Evgeni uncomfortable.

“So, Evgeni,”Julie says, leaning forward, eyes sparkling wickedly. “Tell me. What is your favorite thing about your husband?”

“Is it his a-” Letang gets out before his wife elbows him to remind him of his manners.

Evgeni is blushing now as well, but he doesn’t duck his head or mumble anything noncommittal. He turns in his seat to regard Sidney steadily.

“Heart,” his says simply, and Sidney’s friends coo at them.

But Evgeni isn’t done. “Never meet anyone like Sidney,” he continues, drawing himself up as if to defend Sidney from the teasing. “Where I’m come from, no дворянин like him. They use-- “

He pauses, and turns to Sid, hand patting at his own waistcoat over his heart. “What’s part you can’t see, vicar talks about?”

“A soul?”

He turns back to the others, tone deep and serious. “The знать use people bodies and souls like wood.” He makes a motion like throwing kindling on flames. ”On a fire.” He shakes his head. “Sidney is different. He’s take care. Like whole village is his family.”

He reaches over and takes Sidney’s hand where it lies on the table. Gazing at him, he says firmly,”Want to be good family for him, too.”

Everyone is quiet for a moment, then Caro says, “Here, here. To Lord Crosby and Lord Evgeni, may your family be happy and blessed indeed.” There are sincere murmurs of agreement from all. Sidney cannot speak, his heart too painfully full.

***

It feels like the sky darkens and the day dwindles much faster than Sidney is ready for. He nurses a glass of port in the library with the other gentlemen until Letang kicks at his chair and jerks his head towards Evgeni.

“You should see to your husband, before he falls asleep right here.”

Sidney ignores the ribald waggling of Letang’s eyebrows and looks over at his husband. Evgeni is leaning against the high side of the wingback chair he’s sitting in, eyelids drooping as he gazes into the fire. His glass of Madeira looks ready to slip from his fingers.

Sidney feels a fresh stab of guilt join the rest that has taken up permanent residence in his stomach. It has been a long day. Heaven knows he feels as exhausted as Evgeni looks.

He stands, and rests a hand on Evgeni’s shoulder. “It’s late,” he says quietly, and Evgeni starts, turning wide, velvet-dark eyes to Sidney’s face. He follows Sidney from the room in silence.

***

Jake is waiting outside the door to Sidney’s private rooms, knuckling his eyes and yawning. Sidney sends him away to bed, and they go in alone.

After Sidney ushers Evgeni inside, he turns to close the door. When he turns back around, Evgeni has not moved, so close Sidney can smell his sandalwood shaving soap.

He reaches for Sidney’s hands, raising them to his lips and pressing a warm, lingering kiss to his fingers. Shame and heat flare together in Sidney’s middle. He wants that soft mouth all over his body, but he would never be able to forgive himself if he allows Evgeni to do this for him. Out of some sense of gratefulness or duty.

“Good day,” Evgeni says softly. He slides down one of Sidney’s cuffs and Sidney has to bite his lip to hold in a wanton sound as Evgeni kisses the sensitive skin of his wrist. “Nice party.”

“Yes,” Sidney manages, hoping his want isn’t conveyed in his voice. “Evgeni.”

Evgeni hums, fiddling with Sidney’s cuff and eying his cravat as if he’s strategizing at a chess board.

“Evgeni.” Sidney says, and something in his tone makes Evgeni’s hands still, and his gaze meet Sidney’s.

“I don’t. I do not expect this of you. Your-- favors, I mean. I would not. Tonight we must share a room so that the marriage is considered legitimate and unable to be annulled, but. You will not have to in future.”

Evgeni’s hands fall away. “You...don’t want?” He asks.

“I—“ Sidney shakes his head. What he wants is immaterial. His wants have been indulged enough.

Evgeni nods sharply and turns, striding to the glass to start tugging at his cravat like it will strangle him if he doesn’t get it off immediately.

“Here, let me,” Sidney says, and moves to untie it for him. He makes the mistake of looking up into Evgeni’s face. His eyes are intense as they bore into Sidney and his mouth is set in a firm line. Can he tell how badly Sidney wants him? Sidney wills his hands not to tremble as he unties the white linen from around Evgeni’s neck, his eyes not to linger on the sweet hollow at the base of his throat that he wants to—

No.

“I would never do anything to hurt you,” he promises, hoping Evgeni believes him.

“Can’t hurt me,” Evgeni says shortly, and Sidney shakes his head. The type of power he has over Evgeni has nothing to do with physical strength, but of birthright and wealth. And, even, Evgeni’s own sense of fealty or honor.

“Yes,” Evgeni says darkly after a long moment, as Sidney moves to the many tiny buttons of his fancy waistcoat. “Maybe, you can.”

Sidney masks a flinch. But it’s good that Evgeni is being reasonable.

“As I said, I will strive with everything in my power to see that you are protected.”

Even from myself, he thinks.

“Thank you, мой господин” Evgeni says woodenly, and the stiff address falls upon Sidney’s heart like ice.

“I said, you can call me Sidney,”

Evgeni just nods, and Sidney leaves him to undress the rest of the way himself.

As he rinses his face at the washstand. Sidney catches sight of Evgeni in the mirror, the fine cloth of his nightshirt made sheer in front of the firelight.The breadth of his shoulders, the graceful lines of his torso, the startlingly sweet curve of his ass. It’s almost worse this way than seeing him naked. He turns to hang something or other over a chair and Sidney’s breath catches at the pronounced swell of—

He tears his eyes away and splashes his face again. Enough.

Sid banks the fire, and goes about the room extinguishing all the candles his servants had lit in an endearing but unnecessary effort to make the room softly lit for a wedding night spent in the more traditional way.

Evgeni is hovering near the bed, glancing between it and Sidney. It pains Sidney to see. Only one night, he tells himself. Evgeni may not like it but it has to be done.

“What is it?” Sidney asks, keeping his voice low, as though soothing a nervous horse.

Evgeni’s face is still set blankly as he motions to the bed. “Which side you like?”

Oh. Sidney hasn’t gotten to the point of considering the practical details of two people sleeping in the same bed.

“Left?” He indicates the side nearest the door. Evgeni nods, then turns down the coverlet on the right. He curls up, surprisingly small for so large a man, with his back to Sidney, as far to the right as possible.

With a painful throbbing of his heart, Sidney gets into bed as well, doing his best not to disturb his husband. He takes his cue from Evgeni, and turns away.

He can still feel Evgeni’s warmth at his back. Evgeni’s breathing is slow, and Sidney can hear the moment it deepens into the unconscious rhythm of sleep.

He closes his eyes, but it is a long, long time before sleep claims him, too. Just before it does, he dimly hears the storm out to sea make good on its threats, heavy rain beginning to pour outside the curtained windows as it makes landfall.

Part 7

[semi-imaginary-place]

fe3h blogging 1

spoilers

Sorry blue lions. It was between eagles and deer for me. 

ch3: Well OK. The church is now using me as their personal political assassin are they?  

Fe3h fav characters so far: Tomas: knowledge grandpa! And one of the few I trust  Gatekeeper: my pure boy. On the topic of trust. You know who I don't trust? Claude. He always angling for something. Always digging for secrets never revealing his own

I didn't think I'd like Raphael so much but I do. He's so good natured. He always wants to help and even when the other kids are mean to him. His only response is more kindness. Like oh youre kinda grumpy right now how about a snack. Like a human shaped golden retriever. Full of love and very food motivated. As much as he's a complete musclehead, his emotional/social intelligence is pretty high. He just wants to make friends. Let Raphhael have friends!  

Guess who chose golden deerI was considering black eagle. But everyone did black eagle. I can go on youtube later. I haven't gotten it but on youtube is lorenz and sylvain's c and b supports and they are hilarious

I found japanese audio of fe3h and it just really hit me that Sylvain belongs in an otome game. I mean his character design (hair color, hair style etc.) and the way he acts is already... eh. But then his japanese voice actor... and its giving me this mental dissonance. Especially aince I've seen the character artist doing utapri, samflam, and other stuff.

weeho spoiled myself on supports: Everyday I grow less and less convinced of Sylvain's heterosexuality. Does he even like women?? He's just emotionally manipulating them as a self destructive coping mechanism because he has self worth issues.  So he presents himself as the superficial stuff like social status and then gets insecure and accuses them of only dating him for status. He's setting himself up for failure. And each tine reinforces his belief that he is nothing but his crest and family. Look at this disaster boy 

knowledge grandpa no! I trusted you and I trust so few people. I wonder if it was real Tomas who first joined but an impostor who rejoined a year ago

List of potential immortals: Jeralt, Rhea, Flayn. There are multiple mentions of Jeralt not seeming to age, he looked the same over 30 years ago. Rhea looks suspiciously like Saint Seiros and was archbishop 20 years ago. Flayn act both young and old and won’t give me her age. That said now that its revealed in the paraloge that Seteth is her dad, maybe not secretly an immortal so much as magical bloodline. Also Seiros, Rhea, Sothis, and Flayn are all related somehow. The green hair doesn’t help. And Byleth is somehow involved. I thought byleth might be part of the immortal gang but mom’s grave stone said she died at age 20 so byleth was born at the church like 20-21 years ago

support thoughts: Are all of huberts c supports just him insulting people?? each and every day I fall more in love with Dorothea. her support with Ferdinand where she straight up says she hates him, the voice acting on that! Lorenz and Ferdinand was hilarious. This is why you get bullied. Lorenz and Sylvain was also funny. Not a big fan of Bernadetta. 

Ok so update on the green haired tinfoil hatting: Flayn related to the saint cetholynn????? somehow and definitely real old.

end of part 1

Thinking back the crests and church(seiros/saints) are what turn people into demonic beasts. there are beasts with crest stones in their heads, in Remire villiage they tried to turn people using Flayn’s blood, and later succeeded. Flame emperor is using the church’s abilities against it. Also Rhea’s been seeking to replicate... something Seiros maybe?? (or more someone.. someone who was precious to her) by ripping the hearts out of babies and putting in a special one??? Rhea seem desperate, but I’m not sure what (or whom) she is desperate for. turning Byleth into Seiros??? There is a ... tension is her, like she is on the edge of snapping. And what was she trying to achieve there in the tomb before she was interrupted. For being “holy” relics, they sure are ominous looking. and they turn people into monsters. The whole church is sketch honestly. The propaganda and censorship campaigns. The crushing of any that are a threat under the language of sin and justice.

So Edelgard went full supervillian. Wow. And Rhea was the immaculate one huh (still don’t know what that means), here I was theory crafting that she was a reincarnated Seiros or something. Edelgard is like a worse Alm, she wants to rid humanity of dragons ruling over them and install a meritocracy. Her methods though are !!!!! yikes. I mean any reign that starts with “kill all that resist” can’t lead to anything good. Also out of 10 siblings only 1 didn’t die of illness or go mad. hmmmn where have I heard that before.

That said I do agree with her goal. I love it when I can take down a religious institution in a videogame.

At Garreg Mach her whole plan in to brute force it. Like if we just keep throwing enough lives at it we are bound to win. Admittedly I know nothing of military strategy, but that doesn’t sound like the best plan.

Interesting the differences between routes. In Edelgard’s church allied with feargus, while in Claude’s the Church lost significant power and Edelgard successfully incited a coup, but why did the Empire give up Garreg Mach as a strategic position? 

My baby deer are all grown up. And yup another mark in the Flayn is some immortal being, her sprite didn’t change at all. Totally in favor of stealing everyone from the other houses.

Who wore it better Part 1 or 2

Edelgard: 2. I mean p1 Edelgard was already best dressed but p2 takes it to a new level

Dimitri: 2. I mean p1′s hair is so goofy looking I just have to choose the edgelord

Claude: both. Claude looks fine so matter the time

Hubert: 2. He really did grow into the goth look

Petra: 1. Both are good but I love the huge braid

Lindhart: 1. p2 isn’t bad but I like the two layers look

Dorothea: 2. but both are good

Caspar: 2. Something about p1 always bothered me

Ferdinand: 2. His character model looks better than his sprite, and his hair is so luscious and flowing!

Bernadetta: 2. its just a mess is p1, v cute in p2

Dudue: 2. what is even going on in p1. where as p2 is like... elegant

Sylvain: 1. as much as I teased about him belonging in an otome game, his p2 haircut is just ugly

Ingrid: 1. mmmm its fluffy?

Felix: 1. What is his p2 hair even doing??? it makes me confused

Mercedes: 1. Fluffy.

Annette: 2. never was a fan of the hair loopies

Ashe: both. p1 is cute but p2 is beautiful. both are sooo good

Hilda: 2. p1 pigtails kinda boring

Raphael: 1. though p2 its a shaggy dog

Leonie: 1. another fluffy head, p2′s low pony tail does not give a flattering shape

Ignatz: 2. a bowl cut is an improvment from whatever p1 is

Lysithea: 2. not sue about the veil but it is more intersting than p1

Marianne: 1. I always did prefer thick bangs

Lorenz: 2. its definitely p2. in p1 he looks like such a clown

Cyril: 2. Honestly he kept the baby face so there’s not much difference.

Claude sees that under Rhea the church enforced a doctrine that locked in the status quo of nobles and crests and he wants to chage the church’s influence to promote tolerance, diversity, and open mindedness. but, hey. Hey. What if we got rid of the church all together.

Why can’t I recruit the old general... hey. Hey!

Aww Claude introduced me to his second mom and dad

So the more people you can recruit the less painful things are. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to kill Dimitri.

In terms of characters, Ferdinand has surprisingly grown on me. As for Caspar I shocks me occasionally how uncaring he is about killing people. He reminds me of a smt chaos hero with the whole might equals right thing. As long as he decides they are evil its ok to kill them. Now all he needs to do is get possessed by a demon. Eating away at him from the inside out. Ashe as always continues to be an absolute angel. I need somewhere to gush about how cool Claude looks in him final class promotion. So I rather like the group of childhood friends dimitri, felix, sylvain, ingrid. And it always trips me uo to remember that sylvain is like 2 years older than the rest because he really doesn't act like it. I'm getting that they are all traumatized from the death of felix's brother. A lot of the characters have had pretty bad childhoods.I was surprised to find out that Lysithea was tortured as a child like ok wow. I need to spend more time with you. Does Dimitri have PTSD? Golden Deer has had quite a few goofy hijinks. Marianne's character growth really has been a a thing of beauty, I’m so proud of her. But I love my oddball bunch of misfits. How did Dedue not get found out??? He’s very noticeable. and Claude, you’re starting to sound like Edelgard. I love Edelgard’s final promotion. Looks so cool. Like a mix or her Lord and Flame Emperor clothes. I wince every time some mentions the free market or the joys of capitalism. I guess adrestia is imperialism, faergus is religion, and leister is capitalism. I didn’t care about Dimriti’s death, but Edelgard’s got me.

damn ok so dubstep cyberpunk dungeon and Rhea took like 15 missile strikes. wow this really is very smt. maybe persona 2. And fighting zombie Nemesis and the 10 was excellent (Nemesis is still a stupid name). I love it when we fight literal embodiments of the past

its hilarious that in Shamir and Claude's paired ending,  he ends up ditching 3 whole times. He turns the opportunity to lead the unified fodland down, then he ditches house reigen, and then he abdicated the throne! I love it! That's so him. And they both wanted to travel the world.  Technically Claude is also a descendant of Loog so he also gave up claim to the Faerghus throne too. I swear. This dude. This dude...  Next its going to be revealed that secretly Claudr is Edelgard's cousin. Or one of her "dead" sibling. Lysithea tell us that blood experiment to force crests leads to physical and mental damage. Does this have anything to do with what happened to Edelgard’s siblings? As far as I can tell every ending has Fodland under a single party state. Crimson flower, azure moon, and verdant wind all end in monarchies, and silver snow a theocracy.

Hold up. Flayn said that Cethaleann never had any children as rational as to why she's not a descendant. But how did Lindhart get the crest then?? And I might be mixing up the 10 and the saints, but then I thought  the crests were designed as tools of war by those who slither in the dark. Thats how the 10 got them, to use as weapons against Sothis. But that then brings the question of why Rhea edited history in favor of them.  This is why the holy relics looked so ominous and creepy. The animations are eeeeeeeeuuuuuugggh. My initial though was that the church is secretly evil and this is foreshadowing. I mean rhea's kinda... viscous? Ruthless? Filled with barely contained hatred? I was thinking maybe she's secretly the evil dragon of the game the way Mila kinda was. 

But then you dont need consent to make a crest. Only blood. Blood could have been stolen from cihol and cethaleann to make their crests. Alternately they could have chosen to give crests to specific people.  The 2 sources of crests is also why there’s multiple weapons for some crests. The crest weapons made by the agartans all have a similar aesthetic, but not all the crest weapons have that aesthetic some look different and probably weren’t made by them. As for why Rhea rewrote the 10 into heroes. It might have been to stop people from questioning the crests and relics and seeking to replicate them. By framing it as sothis's doing, with the power of the church she can control crests, how people view them, and keep a closer eye on the descendants. Its its a gift by the goddess, of course we cant try to replicate them.

Let’s see what Claude achieved before he dipped. anti-discrimination laws (race, religion), and increased foreign relations. Potentially equal treatment under the law.

Edelgard really likes brute forcing solutions

The whole opera thing with Dorothea and Manuela stinks of the idol industry where an idol peaks at like 18. Real opera singers have much longer careers.

Golden Deer is so JRPG in the best way. There’s an evil cult of technologically advanced subterranean people, a zombie army, the power of friendship.

It already caught my attention when  missiles appeared and the evil cult's dungeon belonged is a scifi movie like ghost in the shell and I was thinking to myself "hmmm... this all sounds very smt of you" or maybe Persona 2. I mean with names like Shambala and the whole general aesthetic of that dungeon ... yeah. But then someone points out the UN’s symbol is all over the Agarthan stuff. And wow we really are in an smt timeline aren't we. and I remember seeing the missiles thinking hmmm that looks vaguely familiar. Its the UN symbol. Which means in alternate future Earth Sothis comes, we wage a war against the gods and and then Rhea destroys modern civilization along with the planet. that really does sound like the plot of an SMT game. I did wonder at the inclusion of electronica and dubstep into the soundtrack.

THC (Thinking Hard about Claude). Claude let's everyone know he's up to something, and his self portrayal as a schemer is both deliberate and truthful. He's using it part as social armor and part as an excuse to probe. Claude holds genuine cuiosity, wonder, and passion for the world. He is not always scheming so much as he is one of those people who's brain never turn off. He just wants to explore the world, meet different cultures, and discover all the secrets. Given the environment he grew up in, his natural inclinations angled him to thinking in terms of how to best leverage someone or how to sneak around.

Alright so here’s the lore as I know it. Sothis=Goddess came from another world to Fodlan. Through her blood made the goddess’ children (Nabateans) who are the original magical beasts and can talk, and they resided at Zanado. Rhea=Seiros=The Immaculate One, and the 4 Saints (Cihol=Seteth, Cethaleann=Flayn, Indech=The Indomitable, Macuil=The Wind Caller) are Nabateans. Sothis gave knowledge/interacted with the native humans of Fodlan (Agarthans). Eventually the Agarthans waged war against Sothis killing her and many Nabateans. The Agarthans used their bones to make weapons, their hearts to make crest stones, and their blood to make crests. The above is why magical beasts and demonic beasts are connected to crest stones. The crest stones as the hearts of Nabateans transform humans into a distorted version of their magical beast forms. The Sword of the Creator was made from materials taken from Sothis’ body. Using these weapons the humans attacked Zanado killing everyone except Seiros and the 4 Saints. The 10 Heroes Relics were similarly made from Nabatean bodies. Seiros, already obsessed with Sothis thought only of vengeance and bringing back Sothis. She raised an army, killed Nemesis, and drove the Agarthans underground to become Those who Slither in the Dark. Seiros then took control of the continent under the guise of The Church of Seiros. Seiros and the 4 Saints gave their blood to favored individuals granting them the power of their personal crest as well as potentially extending their lifespan/granting extended youth. This is why the 10 Heroes Relics have a visual aesthetic distinct from that of the weapons of the 4 Saints. The 10 Heroes Relics were made by the Agarthans but the other crest weapons like the other Gloucester crest weapon the Axe of Ukonvasara and the Saint’s weapons were not mad by them. The Church the acted as a tool for Seiros/Rhea to control the continent and its course. She then rewrote that part of history. The goddess was just sleeping, crests were a blessings of the goddess, etc. 

I am unsure as to why she did so, but I believe it served the 2 purposes. First it allowed Rhea to control the narrative and how people thought about the matter. Second it erases the existence of a rebellion against the Goddess. From the Church, Rhea could control the flow of information, censoring anything that threatened her power. Using the language of religion she could also justify using military force to eliminate her political opponents. 

[hazelnmae]

8, 18, 30? love you!

Okay, here we go. 

8. Favorite season?

Well, maybe unpopular opinion, but THIS ONE! I won’t go into details why, since it’s still (technically at this moment) ongoing and I know some folks are waiting to watch it in October. But I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Second favorite, as a consolation, is Season 2. Tommy takes so many risks starting in that season and isn’t so blinded by romance that he can’t function as the ruthless, cunning, intelligent gangster that he is. Yes, he’s with May and yes, he’s still clearly hung up on Grace, but he’s also ready to let them both go if that’s what he needs to do for the family/company. I appreciate that balance. 

I also just really enjoy his relationship with Alfie in this season, the fact that he convinces Churchill to let him do his dirty work, and the plot to take down Sabini at the race. I think we really see his intelligence in this season. And although he does make some bad decisions (throughout each season--obviously), I think we really see him at his peak here. 

And, honestly, the final scenes of the season are some of the best acting I’ve ever seen. Cillian Murphy in that field at the end? JESUS! His emotion walking away from the grave dug for him? GOOD LORD. He’s a brilliant actor, and that scene is a prime fucking example of his skill. 

18. Would you have the guts to join the Peaky Blinders?

HA! HELL NO! I like to write about people who would, but I certainly would not. I could never do the things they do--not then, not ever. I’m a pretty mild mannered person. I’m too laid back. I like to fancy myself ambitious and brave, but not in that way--not at all. I’d be terrified of the Peakys. Just watching and drooling over them from afar. 

30. Would you take good care of Cyril?

ABSOLUTELY! I’d do anything for that good boy. I may not have the guts to join the Peaky Blinders, but you best believe I would have ran right up to that scene on the beach in Margate to care for that precious dog!

Thanks friend! Love you too!

This is fun--ask me some more, folks!!