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off-in-the-moors · 4 years

Text

TRC rewrite: Main characters

Why? Because The Raven Cycle is a mess. From the setting, through characters and to the plot, everything is a mess on a foundations of good ideas. It feels like Margaret took three to four different drafts, stitched them together and switched around events, e.g. things that should be in book 1 are in book 3, etc.

So, here is my attempted to rewrite the Gangsey.

Blue

curly, damaged, black hair kept short; brown eyes and light brown skin

short and stocky, with a big eyes; untamed, arched eyebrows; and round nose

1/4 black, 3/4 white (Maura is 1/2 black, and Artemus is welsh)

her father, Artemus, was a history professor, focusing on British Isle (especially Wales)

when she was 14, her father's ghost appeared on Saint Mark's Eve, he suddenly died few months, leaving Blue devastated

was very close with her dad, didn't forgive her mother for not trying to save Artemus

straightens and clips down her hair to make it resemble hers dad's

owns a pink switch blade, which was once red, she stole from her father's stuff, uses it mostly to cut plants

knows a lot about plants, helps cultivated and collect them for the family business

interested in and actively looks for paranormal (magic, cryptids, you name it), interest seeded by her parents

went to public school, but after middle school was pulled out for homeschooling

works two part-time jobs, as a waitress at Nino's and a dog-walker, to have her own money

a psychic but her power makes it impossible to work as one

makes and remakes her own clothes, isn't good at it but she loves it

loves knitting sweaters for her friends and family

wears colorful, often clashing outfits with a lots of accessories

loves color blue, always has something blue in her outfit, even if only as an accent color

vegetarian

knows Adam from middle school, keeps warm relations with him (introduced her to his friends)

spends her Sundays with her family (e.g. hitch-hiking with her mother, helping with Calla, making sweater and clothes with Persephone, painting nails with Orla)

know few phrases in Estonian, thanks to Persephone

opinioned, independent and bold

environmentalist

Gansey

tousled, always preciously styled, brown hair; dark brown eyes, light skin

average but quite square built (looks stiff), straight nose, shadows and bags under eyes, often has pieces of mint leaves stuck it teeth

the shortest guy of the Gangsey

born with a silver spoon in his mouth

at ten, almost died from wasp stinks but survived thanks to "Glendower", obsessed with finding him ever since

insomniac, his grands and health suffers from it

was in the rowing team, until he slept through training and hit team-mate with a oar

has the power to commend people, but it's weak

loves mint-flavor things, borders on obsession

owns five different types of mint plants (Ronan named them)

makes mistakes in his research and normal day to day actions from lack of sleep, needs help of others

his mom buys him clothes

doesn't understand the value of money, mostly throws it around and leads people with no need to return it

needs glasses but often losses them (even worse with contacts), in the beginning of the story he's on his seventh pair

doesn't have friends outside the "Gangsey"

awkward about feelings and crushes, can't deal with them

has slit ADHD, needs to do something with his hands

perfectionist, fixes mistakes of others, brushes problems off

good at social interactions but horrible at maintaining relationships

after his grands suffered too much and his search for Glendower effected his school life, his parents cut him off from finances as a punishment

with Adam's help, found a job as a cashier at a grocery store, actually loves it

needs time to remember people's names

Ronan

curly, dark brown (almost black) hair, always shaven; blue eyes, pale skin (burns easily)

tall (tallest of the Gangsey) and quite muscular, angular face, narrow eyes, multiple scars on arms and few on face (oddly proud of them)

he's a copy of his own father, Niall Lynch (looks like a younger version of him)

shaved his head and got tattoos, after he discovered he's a copy, to resemble Niall as little as possible

dresses in what his father would never wear

has only one real tattoo, a Celtic cross on the back of his neck base, the rest of his back is dreamt up

the dream tattoo always changes, reflecting Ronan's mental/emotional state, but always has motifs of wings/feathers and branches twisting into Celtic knots

tried to stop dreaming up stuff multiple times, but it caused him headache and nausea, eventually ending in physical harm, went the dream "gets out"

confused about who or what he is

self-destructive, has no regards for his own safety

has a very strain relationship with Declan, envies his "realness"

vegan, loves animals and hates people who harm them

loves speed and racing, oddly proud of his speeding-tickets

believes for a long time, only Kavinsky understands him, but their "friendship" is complicated

doesn't allow anyone to touch Chainsaw (dream creatures are very personal to a dreamer)

tries to figure out what HE likes, and find his OWN path (even if it means craving it out)

touched starved

loves nature, can spend hours outside just sitting and thinking

acts and speaks before thinking, got himself in trouble for that many times (gets physical quiet often)

helps in the family "dream trade" business, doesn't want any of his creations near him, Chainsaw is the only exception

feels drawn to Cabeswaters, but he preferably would just burn it

knows Irish, speaks it when frustrated

before Niall's death, trained tennis and played on bagpipes (uilleann pipes), but stopped after his father's murder hates boxing

Adam

short, self-cut, light red-ish brown hair; grey eyes, tan skin with a lot of moles and freckles

skinny, deep-set eyes and a downturned lips

has only a backpack of his own stuff and a bike

deals with Gansey's antics only for a chance to escape his father and his living situation

lives with Gansey, Ronan and Noah in Monmouth

prioritises his education over his friendship with "Gangsey"

very frugal, keeps a "change jar"

mostly wears his wash-out Coca-Cola t-shirt, he bought with his first pay

the most sceptical about magic, still very cautious of it

hates loud sounds and physical contact

hates taking money from people and having money spend on him, but he knows he needs it

has three part-time jobs, including his favourite at the garage

loves cars, dreams about buying his own one day

afraid of heights and flying, childhood trauma

opportunist

highly values his independence

never refuses food

sacrificed his "hands and eyes" to Cabeswater, not only to wake the Ley Lines but also to escape his former life for good, seeing it as the only way (partly tricked by the forest)

deaf on the left ear but hears Cabeswater whispering to him through it

actively "fights" with Cabeswater for control (his way or the high way)

owns a old Nokia phone, only bought it to stay in contact with Gansey knows how to sew and dress a wound

Noah

messy, pale blond hair; light blue eyes, pale skin with a dark spot on the left side of his face

faded and lean; small, lively eye; bright, wide smile

kept him pretty much the same, but also add

sarcastic with a dry (and sometimes dark) sense of humor

"I'm the oldest one, so you should listen to me sometimes."

his Aglionby uniform always looks crinkled and dirty

doesn't remember most of his "living life"

gets his memories back from seeing/visiting people/places he knew

his emotional state effects his corporal form, e.g. strong negative emoticons make him less visible

music helps him stay visible

still loves Blink-182 (Ronan pirated him all their albums, including those he missed)

misses skateboarding, swimming, spending time with his old friends and family, and filling the weather

doesn't remember his death, only the pain

likes to wander around Henrietta

likes anything glitter, reminds him of his sisters

gave Adam permission to take his old Mustang, "If you can bring it to live, Parrish."

his disappearance is still a talked subject in Aglionby

sometimes mumbles or swears something no one understand, took Gangsey time to figured out it was polish

+ Bonus

Chainsaw

Ronan's first dream creature (or at the time Ronan believes so)

quite small for a raven

senses Ronan's emotions, always tries to comfort him by burying into his neck or "grooming" him

can speak single works but they sound very corrupted, e.g. "kerah" is a corrupted version of "cara" (irish for "friend")

at the beginning called Ronan Greywaren, but with time it change to "creātor" (creator), "somniator" (dreamer) and finally "cara" (friend), reflecting Ronan's own view of himself

likes to collect and bring Ronan small things, e.g. pen caps, leaves or pieces of newspapers

gets close only to people Ronan likes and/or trusts

If you have any questions or opinions to share, please send me an ask.

Thank you, for your attention :)

#the raven cycle #TRC #anti raven cycle #anti trc #anti maggie stiefvater #trc rewrite #Richard Campbell Gansey III #blue sargent #adam parrish #ronan lynch #noah czerny

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myrmidryad · 4 years

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We're Waking Up Slow (⛰️🔬), Common Tongue (🎭🎢), Animal Matters (⭐☀️)

For We’re Waking Up Slow:

⛰️- What was the hardest part?

I think keeping Alex’s internal thoughts and mental progress consistent with what he canonically knew at that point, and making his thought process make sense. Because I was definitely really inspired various meta posts and tags (shoutout to @ober-affen-geil, @chasingshhadows, and @irolltwenties) but I wanted to make it all make sense in a fic setting.

🔬- Was there one scene you were building up to/knew you had to get just right?

Exactly halfway through, when Michael stands in front of Alex, who’s seated, and Alex lets his forehead rest on Michael’s stomach and they touch each other really, really gently, and Alex kind of wants to cry a little bit.

For Common Tongue:

🎭- What was the feeling or mood you were going for?

Hot and a little bit frantic and desperate. The way Alex has sex with Michael in his trailer, freaks out and runs away, and then jerks off twice more back at the cabin while imagining Michael because that’s just the effect Michael has on him, but then there’s always that chaser of fear because he can’t stop remembering what happened the last time he and Michael were caught together.

🎢- Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

I don’t think so.

For Animal Matters:

⭐- What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

Reworking the scene where Alex and Michael talk at the junkyard to include their daemons, and Alex and Mihiliz both freaking aout when Laithe shows off her and Michael’s alien range and her disappearing trick. It’s hard to know how effective that sort of thing is to any readers who haven’t read HDM, because the daemon stuff is so specific, but I liked it.

☀️- Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

All the daemon choices, ofc, especially Alex and Michael’s, but OOOH BOY you asked and I am going to talk about all of them!!!! Talk about opening a can of worms, prepare yourself, I am about to go in deep.

I wanted Michael to have a monkey right away, because a daemon with hands shows off Michael’s drive to physically build and create with his hands, and how adaptable and clever he is. Barbary macaques are very social, with lifelong family bonds. They’re medium sized, not too big to ride on a human being or small enough to be unthreatening. I also knew about Barbary macaques already as the only monkey that lives in Europe, specifically in Gibralter - they’ve adapted really well to an urban (alien) environment. It’s not native to the states or New Mexico, like Michael isn’t, but it’s sandy coloured and I imagine it would blend in well enough. I also picked up a headcanon from my favourite daemon fic ever, He Says He Is An Experimental Theologian, which is a HDM/WTNV fusion, and one of the best things I’ve ever read, ever, period, that monkey daemons have a reputation for being cunning and not very nice, and that matches up with Michael’s reputation as a bad boy.

I decided on Alex having a snake pretty easily too, but it took a while to settle on the exact type. It had to be native to the states (I have feelings about people’s daemons settling as animals native to their home regions), and I think I decided I wanted it to be dark pretty early on too. Something outwardly unobtrusive, easy to underestimate and overlook, something very good at being patient and lying in wait for a long time before striking with deadly accuracy. Snakes are solitary animals, and Alex is someone who guards his privacy and independence incredibly fiercely. I also have feelings about Alex’s feelings about settling as a snake, particularly wrt his family and obviously his father. I believe Jesse Manes is the sort of person who would be displeased for any of his sons to settle as anything but a predator animal, and I think Alex would have mixed feelings about fulfilling that expectation - relief at not inviting ridicule or retribution, but not exactly uncomplicated pleasure because he doesn’t like doing anything that pleases his dad. But he does love Mihiliz, and her form. Then there’s the other issue of his mother’s side of the family - snakes are one of several animals that are considered bad by the Apache, so I imagine that snake daemons would be uncommon to nonexistent among the Mescalero. By settling as a snake, Alex thinks he’s cut himself off from that side of his heritage, possibly for good, and at the very least marked himself as a very obvious outsider to it. Settling as a snake would also, for this reason, be something that would please his father, as a very visible proof of Alex’s rejection of his mother’s influence. Whether that’s true or not, Alex would have Issues about it for sure.

The other daemons had a bit less thought put into them, but I LOVE thinking about what people’s daemons would be, so I still considered each one. I wanted Kyle to have a daemon that could be absolutely hellish when he was a bully teenager, but then present as very friendly and sweet when he’s turned over a new leaf as an adult. Weasels and other mustolids can be unbelievably violent and vicious and can take down prey many times their own size, even when they themselves look tiny and cute.

I wanted Max to have a dog daemon right away, because he’s a loyal man, and he’s appointed himself a guard dog of sorts by joining the police force. He just gives me seriously dog vibes. I wanted him to have a distinctive dog though, definitely handsome, and again, not native to New Mexico but with colouration that sort of blends in. Max really wants to be a normal guy, but he can’t pretend his way out of what he really is. I also chose a pharaoh hound as a nod to his royal nature in the OG series, even if that isn’t the route RNM is taking.

Isobel is the one who gave me the most trouble, and I’m still not entirely sure about my choice of daemon for her. She has a Costa’s hummingbird daemon, which is native to New Mexico as a representation of how much better she blends in than her brothers, and how much more comfortable she is doing so - at least in most of season one. I knew I wanted her to have a bird with very pretty feathers, and the Costa’s hummingbird has these really gorgeous iridescent purple neck feathers. I’m now thinking though that I should have given her something with a more violent edge, because I think Isobel is definitely capable of violently protecting what she considers hers (her family). I think I maybe went on the aesthetic too much for her.

I picked an Abert’s squirrel for Liz because again, I wanted her to have a daemon species native to her home, and I thought a squirrel suited her in terms of how quick and clever they are, and like Michael’s monkey, a squirrel has a degree of paw dexterity a lot of other animals don’t have. They’re cute, but they’re territorial, and they can be violent on occasion.

Maria has a gray fox to reflect her resourcefulness and ability to survive through seriously tough times. It’s another New Mexico native, and it has a very cool ability to climb trees with cat-like agility.

Jesse has a wolf for a couple of reasons, one of them being pure intimidation. Check out how big a grey wolf is in real life - they are fucking huge, and having a wolf-shaped soul shows what a relentless hunter Jesse is. Wolves are great animals and they get a bad rep in folklore as being big and bad, but I believe daemons can reflect those attitudes as well. Wolves are incredible pack hunters, and Jesse is all about the pack and the family and the legacy of that. I also believe he sees himself as a necessary guard dog of humanity, and a wolf reflects that. I don’t know what his other two sons have settled as, but I decided on Flint having a coyote easily - a lesser wolf, in a sense, smaller and more solitary, but just as good at hunting and tracking and working as part of a team.

It never came up in Animal Matters, but I also decided on a black panther for Rosa (tough, mysterious, solitary, once native to Mexico, would very much stand out in a place like Roswell) and an alien bird that resembled a motmot bird for Noah.

#asks #daemons #queersirius

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wackpainterkid · 5 years

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love thy neighbor (1/1)

a/n: I just needed a scene of Noah gushing over Liv to someone so I wrote it myself lol. And then I thought: what could make this fic even better? The return of the OG noliv shipper, ma’am neighbor, of course. @smileykeijser once named our lovely neighbor Elisabeth and I've been calling her that ever since, so credits for the name go to her. This might be meh, sorry if it is

rating: G

2000words

also on ao3

It is because Noah looked outside of his window and saw the dark clouds rolling in, that he thought to stay ahead of the rain by leaving slightly earlier for Liv’s, that he thought that that would be the smart choice.

However, now he is caught in what might be the worst rain deluge in a long while and no matter how much he rings Liv’s doorbell, the door stays shut.

His phone is also completely out of battery, he discovers when he wants to try and call her.

So not only is he drenched, but he is also at Liv’s place way too early without a way of contacting her and she’s not home.

All things considered, everything fucking sucks.

He’s covered from the rain, but the raindrops continue to run across his face, tracing a path from his forehead, along his temple to his cheek. At first, he tries to wipe them away, but he soon gives up. It isn’t as if his hands are dry. He combs his wet hair out of his face.

He normally has a great view of the city, here from the sixth floor right outside of Liv’s apartment. But now the city is covered with an opaque curtain of rain, reaching as far as his eye can see. A sigh leaves his body. He’s not going back into that downpour.

“Hello, young man,” says a voice in the distance; it’s just loud enough to be heard against the clatter of the rain.

Noah turns around, his eyes leaving the grey city skyline and going in search of the person who addressed him.

It doesn’t take long before he sees her, umbrella above her head, green raincoat as a protection against the rain. He recognizes her, even though it has been a while since he’s last seen her.

“Hello, ma’am,” he replies.

Liv’s neighbor had been a pivotal part of his early visits to Liv’s apartment, early both in the day and in their relationship– not that he could really call it a relationship back then. Every time Liv rejected him, rejected his offer to accompany her to school, the presence of her neighbor acted as a balm, because at least someone was nice to him, at least someone was happy to see him.

A lot has changed since the last time he encountered her.

“No one’s home?” the woman asks, casting a look at him, soaked and the door in front of him, closed. As she approaches him, her tiny dog toddles behind her on its leash.

He shakes his head and the movement makes a few drops fall out of his hair.

“I think I’m just early, they should be home soon.” A small smile follows his words to reassure her.

In reality, he doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know the time, doesn’t know when Liv is getting home, doesn’t know how long he is supposed to wait outside before he can enter her apartment. But he doesn’t tell the woman that.

“You’re not going to wait out here in the rain, are you?” She frowns as she watches the horizon he was watching earlier and pulls her coat a little tighter around her.

Noah doesn’t want to but there is no other option. He wants to look for a place of refuge but there isn’t really anywhere for him to go to.

He opens his mouth to answer but closes it again, what is there to say? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to have to do?

It seems like Liv’s neighbor still understands, even if he doesn’t answer.

“You’re very welcome to wait inside of my apartment and maybe drink a cup of tea,” she proposes with a kind expression in her brown eyes.

And just the idea of being inside and having a warm beverage makes Noah forget about how soaked all of his clothes are and how cold he is. It makes him smile.

“That sounds wonderful.”

“I’m Elisabeth,” she introduces herself, “and this is Mara.” She gestures towards her dog.

“Noah.”

“Alright, Noah. Let’s go hide from this dreadful weather. Come on, Mara,” she says, her hand gently tugging the dog’s leash.

Noah follows Elisabeth to her apartment, which is located on a different floor from Liv’s front door. Their steps slow down as they near her home. She asks him to hold Mara’s leash while she searches her giant bag for the set of keys that will open her door and he complies, watching Mara. She seems to also suffer in the cold, as her tiny body keeps on shivering.

The door finally opens, and Elisabeth takes Mara again. They walk inside and he lets out a subdued sigh once the warmth of the inside hits his skin. Noah looks around. The apartment has a similar layout as Liv’s house does but it’s smaller, more meant for a couple than for a gang of teenagers who live together.

Noah doesn’t see any traces of anyone else living here, however; he can only spot things meant for Mara.

As he’s busy with taking off his coat and shoes, Elisabeth disappears for a moment. She reappears with two small towels. One, she hands to him and the other she uses to dry off Mara.

“Thank you,” he says and dries off his hair. He remembers his empty phone. “Elisabeth, I was wondering whether you have a phone charger. My battery died.”

“I’ll go check,” she promises as she stands up after petting Mara. “You want some tea in the meantime? I’ve got Earl Grey and red fruits.”

“Earl Grey would be great.”

Elisabeth goes into the kitchen and leaves him alone with Mara in the living room. Noah takes time to study the room, walks around with slow steps and lets his eyes fall on everything he comes across. He looks at the books in the bookcase, at the motif of the carpet on the floor; he scrutinizes the paintings on the wall.

“Admiring the decor?” Elisabeth asks, and he’s almost certain that there’s a quip in her voice. Her presence catches Noah off-guard and makes him startle. More time must’ve passed than he realized.

Once he recovers, Noah chuckles. He toys with the ring on his finger. “I’m a painter so I have to consider all art with a critical eye.”

“Oh, are you?” With care, she sets a steaming teapot on her table and a set of cups next to it.

She continues to empty her hands by handing him a charger. “I hope this one will work.”

He considers the cable for a second before concluding that it is exactly the one he needs.

“Perfect!”

“So, what do you paint?” She pours tea in one of the cups before pointing him to a power outlet where he can plug his phone in.

It immediately lights up when he does. Crouching near, he taps in his code and as soon as he does, it starts to vibrate.

Texts from Liv she sent fifteen minutes ago trickle in.

Liv: IM NOT HOME YET

Liv: I’m still at Esra’s. Ralph and I are waiting for the rain to stop so don’t leave yet. I’ll let you know when we’ll leave. See you soon!

He locks his phone and stands back up. “All sorts of things but mostly abstract art,” he answers her question as soon as he takes place at the table.

“Interesting. I wish I could paint too. Sugar?”

He shakes his head and grabs his cup. “Anyone can paint,” he tells her and it’s truly what he believes.

There’s no right or wrong way to paint. It is just taking a brush and spreading color on a canvas. There are far too many people who think they know better, who think they are better than others because they’ve appropriated something that should belong to all, should be accessible to all.

She lets out a tiny scoff.

“No, I’m being honest,” he says with sincerity in his voice. “If you want, I can drop off some painting equipment next time I’m around. And if you want, I can even give you some painting classes.” His lips curl in a wide smile and Elisabeth squeezes his arm with a similar smile.

“You’re too kind, boy.” Her eyebrow goes up as she sips from her tea.

You have been around more recently. I’ve noticed.”

“Have you?” the words come out in a coy way and he doesn’t want them to.

“I have,” she confirms. “I’ve seen you with my lovely neighbor a couple of times. I take it she is done with running away from you?”

Noah can’t help but laugh as he rakes through his still-damp hair. “She is. Luckily,” he adds.

He takes a sip of his tea, feels it slowly but surely warm up his inside and chase away the cold the rain had left there.

“Though, she did have every right to run away back then.”

He does have to admit that. Noah is fully aware of how his behavior was far from admirable and pleasant back then.

“Did she?”

“Oh yes. The way Liv treated me back then was fully deserved. I’ve learned since. Liv doesn’t mince her words and I wouldn’t want her.”

“Honesty is important.”

“It is is. I had to learn that when we got together.”

And maybe it’s the question in Elisabeth’s gaze but Noah tells her their story. Because he wants her to know. There aren’t that much adult people aware of it, nor does he personally see the use of telling it to others but it’s somehow different with Elisabeth. There’s something calming and soothing in her eyes, in the way she treats him. In the way that, after so little time together, he trusts her. And he wants her to know to hear what she has to say about it, hear what kind of advice she can give him.

So, he tells her. From start to finish.

And she listens.

And frowns, and places her hand on her heart, and laughs

“There’s this duality when were together,” Noah admits, and he hasn’t truly said this thought out loud before. “I both feel like we belong with each other and I’m also very aware of how much better a person she is. She’s kind, she’s caring. I mean, her laugh can light up the world. She’s feisty and funny.”

He takes another sip from his cup. His tea has passed the point of lukewarm and it makes Noah realize how much of the conversation has been from his side. And how much of that part has been about Liv.

“Sorry,” he suddenly says.

“Don’t apologize, boy,” Elisabeth replies, seemingly knowing what he’s talking about. “Young love is one of the best feelings in the world. I still miss that feeling.”

Noah hears the sorrow in her voice and wants to ask her about it, wants to express his sympathy but before he can, his phone suddenly lights up and starts ringing.

“That’ll be Liv,” Noah announces before leaving the table. And indeed, a picture of Liv graces his screen.

“Hey,” he greets her over the phone. “No, it’s fine. I’m right around the corner. Yeah, I’ll be right over. See you soon.”

“Liv’s home, so I’m going to…” he points over his shoulder

“Yes.” Elisabeth nods understandingly.

“Thanks for the tea and the shelter.” He tries to express the magnitude of his gratitude in his words.

Imagine if he had to spend all the time he spent inside with lovely company outside in the cold instead.

“You’re very welcome.”

He goes to hug her and she hugs him back.

“Oh, and Noah?” she says as he’s walking towards the door. He looks over his shoulder. “Bring Liv next time.” She winks.

He laughs. “Will do,” he promises. “Bye, Mara.” He rubs her head. “Bye, Elizabeth.”

Before the door truly closes, Noah can hear Elizabeth say one last thing, he presumes to Mara.

“Seems like Liv chose a good one.”

And Noah’s smile only continues to grow with her approval.

a/n: Is now a good time to introduce the term "neighbor-in-law"? Next week, you should get some angst (emphasis on should because that was actually supposed to be this week and look at how that turned out)

#skam nl #skamnl #written words #manon's mondays

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darkling-er · 5 years

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Can I get the Deep Lore™ for Noah?

The Deep Lore™

47. What was this character’s biggest turning point in their life, something that changed them almost completely?

When he got kicked out of military school and then meeting with Jacob Seed. He completely changed after that, starting to think like Jacob, and following his every command.

48. What was their lowest point? What was their highest point?

Their lowest point was when he watched his parents burn in their house as a kid. And his highest point was when Jacob took him in, becoming kind of a father figure for Noah.

49. What are some themes tied to your character’s story?

daddy issues, loneliness, drama... And a couple more similar to these?

50. What are some motifs associated with your character?

trust issues

51. What were some inspirations for your character (people, movies, games)?

Loki, from the Marvel movies. Noah is kind of like him, the outcast of the family, who hates his sibling but at the same time would die for their sibling. He wants to achieve big goals and make people to be proud of him. So he’s kind of an attention seeker. And he’s a real performer in front of the prisoners and sinners, like Loki in the movies with the people.

52. How are you and your character the same? How are you different?

Noah is moody and I think I’m like that, but not as much as Noah is. Maybe I have the same abandonment issues like him, but other than that I think we’re different.

53. Expectations vs Reality: what did you expect and what did you get with this character?

I didn’t expect anything from him, I think. He turned out just like I planned him to turn out. And I still didn’t write Bad Dog, the story he’s in, so I can’t really tell what the future holds for Noah.

54. What does your character want, and what do they need?

He wants to be accepted by Jacob, the Project, the Family. But what he truly needs is people who care about him and love him no matter what.

55. What’s your character’s core trait? What’s their best trait? What’s their worst trait? When happens when these all interact with each other?

He’s core trait would be dutiful. His best trait is being considerate and his worst trait is being impulsive. When these all interact he usually just shuts down or doesn’t know how to decide on what to do in the situation.

56. What’s your overall goal with this character? Will they get a happy ending or will they succumb to their faults?

I want him to realize his faults and change for the better or be doomed if he doesn’t. I’m not yet sure about his ending, but I’m trying to make him have a happy ending.

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brokemymeme · 6 years

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Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival Sentence Meme

adjust pronouns as needed

Shovel And Bone ❝ Always Alleluia. ❞ ❝ Want a bloody cast-off? ❞ ❝ Break the lion, catch his tail. ❞ ❝ Four! Then twenty blackbirds fall. ❞ ❝ All your dreams are Heaven sent. ❞ ❝ Cast out your skin, fat to the feast. ❞ ❝ Surrender your wool and your kin to the beast. ❞ ❝ Down the throat of alleluia, spoil an empty God. ❞ ❝ With each crumb that's offered another mouth springs. ❞ ❝ Black breath hissed across the faces of dear departing souls. ❞ ❝ Black crows feeding on the face of a dear abandoned boy, fighting for a taste with the flies. ❞

All Aboard! (Everybody’s Doing the Ark) ❝ All aboard! ❞ ❝ Let's make believe! ❞ ❝ Everybody's doing the ark! ❞ ❝ We filled our hearts with praise. ❞ ❝ All aboard! Noah said all aboard! ❞ ❝ Shall we show them how it's done, ladies? ❞

Only By Design ❝ How will you dress for the party? ❞ ❝ Every turn is lief to the grand motif. ❞ ❝ Days of rose and twine are only by design. ❞ ❝ Days of ours and thine are only by design. ❞ ❝ Every hallway paned, every window stained, every frame aligned. ❞ ❝ There's a serving cap, and a pail and a post to call if you earn your place at the ball. ❞

Good Little Dictation Machines ❝ See how we dictate of you! ❞ ❝ Fidelity's the gristle of invention. ❞ ❝ Innovating ways to make you talk! ❞ ❝ Listen back to your domestication. ❞ ❝ Rid yourself of every hiss and hoarse. ❞ ❝ Bolt your words and measure your intentions. ❞ ❝ The days of breaking hands with words are gone. ❞ ❝ Cutting conversation, every tongue in harmonation! ❞ ❝ Once there was a time you needed transcripts, in triplicates and duplicates to log. ❞

Cloud Serenade ❝ I'm just a fool in love. ❞ ❝ I'm just a fool in love but I'd be a fool not to be. ❞ ❝ All the stars dance and sing as I pluck at the strings. ❞

Down at the Midnight Rectories ❝ Am I low enough daddy? ❞ ❝ Gimme two alleluias and an amen. ❞ ❝ Loosen the collar right up to the scruff. ❞ ❝ Surrender yourself doll, get down on your knees. ❞ ❝ Remember the garden, the twig, and the snake now. ❞ ❝ Strike the wrong chords, the ones we can't dance on. ❞ ❝ The peacocks are strutting behind velvet ropes, sipping away on their heavenly dope. ❞

The Watchword’s Hour ❝ It all began with a dame. ❞ ❝ Restless ears should hit the sack. ❞ ❝ He winds, he aims and takes his shot. ❞

Hitting On All Sevens ❝ Seven pillars by thy sword. ❞ ❝ Always hitting on all sevens. ❞ ❝ Make of me a subject bound. ❞ ❝ By the book, Seven pillars under latch. ❞ ❝ By the book, always seven written down. ❞ ❝ One by one has ordered, flank to flank, and facing forward. ❞ ❝ Make of me thy subject, Lord placed according to thy word. ❞ ❝ Hanging by the word, in chapter, verse, and sentence heard. ❞ ❝ Make of me a subject cast, pressed and kept beneath thy glass. ❞

Fair Game ❝ Give us a prayer! ❞ ❝ My! Aren't we a hiss? ❞ ❝ Where is your heaven now? ❞ ❝ Where is our heaven hiding? ❞ ❝ Where is your heaven hiding? ❞ ❝ Truce, truce! Let's make a vow. ❞ ❝ Aren't we a darling, aren't we a tell? ❞ ❝ Who is the drifter that sits in your chair? ❞ ❝ Spill all our dirties and kiss on the ground. ❞ ❝ Under our bruises don't we look the same? ❞ ❝ Look at us friend when we share in the bliss. ❞ ❝ Who are you keeping? And who are we now? ❞ ❝ One hoof in the clouds, and one down the well. ❞ ❝ Why not take your chances and play for the miss? ❞

After the Fall ❝ Sinners one, Sinners all. ❞ ❝ Let us walk on stained glass. ❞ ❝ It's always prettiest after the Fall. ❞ ❝ Let us swing with both fists, as we writhe in the blood. ❞ ❝ We gnaw on the bone, uptown they sprinkle sweetener. ❞ ❝ A gentleman prefers to dig in with his fingers, suck in through his teeth, and bare a hungry grin. ❞ ❝ A gentleman prefers to break from airs and fetters, to roll off his sleeves, and liberate the Beast. ❞

Bells of Black Sunday ❝ Black is the Sunday. ❞ ❝ Country dogs lack common sense. ❞ ❝ After a fall, I lifted my wings out of mercy. ❞ ❝ They beg for a good ol' song like a dog for crust. ❞ ❝ How is my heart so forgiving? My kindness could swallow you whole. ❞ ❝ How is my song so beguiling? These pipes, they could swallow you whole. ❞ ❝ Pluck the seeds of evil by rake and by fist lest bells of The Black Sunday toll. ❞ ❝ The wicked harvester tempted the Heavens, now broken and barren is his land. ❞

Hoof and Lap ❝ Some girls fall for fables, some fall just for kicks. ❞ ❝ To the hound, a round of hell on the devil's carousel! ❞ ❝ A lady sits heart and legs crossed, as tight-lipped as a mouse. ❞ ❝ Bar the doors and thrash the hooves, let's teach a dog new tricks. ❞ ❝ Though I’ve found when I lift my legs my hooves bring down the house. ❞

Songs of Old ❝ To the beat, I owe my soul. ❞ ❝ Like a salted pill, so easy to swallow. ❞ ❝ Tune here always, to the songs of old. ❞ ❝ I'm dancing to the tune of songs of old. ❞ ❝ I tremble like a treble, as the music starts. ❞ ❝ I'm faithful to the format as the music starts. ❞ ❝ It's so easy, and breezy when the music starts. ❞

Alleluia ❝ Find in silver stars my role. ❞ ❝ All good children never fall. ❞ ❝ Born of blood and cast of wing. ❞ ❝ Lace my vest and mend my soul. ❞ ❝ All children of Heaven sing Alleluia. ❞

#devil's carnival sentence meme #the devil's carnival sentence meme #rp meme #rp sentence meme #sentence meme #my meme #my sentence meme

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batdadrph · 7 years

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ALLELUIA! THE DEVIL’S CARNIVAL SOUNDTRACK-BASED SENTENCE STARTERS;

❝ Pry the belly, hook and nail. ❞

❝ Break the lion, catch his tail. ❞

❝ Heave on, heave on. ❞

❝ With each crumb that's offered, another mouth springs. ❞

❝ All aboard, all aboard, Noah said all aboard! ❞

❝ It's coming back a craze for every doe and stag. ❞

❝ Come on, what a fad, oh, what a major zoo! ❞

❝ They turned the old town crankers to a gospel swing! ❞

❝ Shall we show them how it's done, ladies? ❞

❝ Oh, what a timeless bash! ❞

❝ Days of ours and thine are only by design. ❞

❝ Every turn is lief to the grand motif. ❞

❝ How will you dress for the party? ❞

❝ There's a serving cap and a pail and a post to call if you earn your place at the ball. ❞

❝ Once there was a time you needed transcripts, in triplicates and duplicates to log. ❞

❝ But now we have machines to write the talking; the days of breaking hands with words are gone. ❞

❝ A needle traces every errant tone. ❞

❝ Bolt your words and measure your intention. ❞

❝ See how we dictate of you, translate for you. ❞

❝ I'm just a fool in love, but I'd be a fool not to be. ❞

❝ I've danced and I've swayed up a cloud serenade. ❞

❝ All the stars dance and sing as I pluck at the strings. ❞

❝ Strike the wrong chords, the ones we can't dance on. ❞

❝ Surrender yourself, doll, get down on your knees. ❞

❝ Let's open the flappers and rumble the keys! ❞

❝ Am I low enough yet, daddy? ❞

❝ Well, alright, gimme two alleluias and an amen! ❞

❝ Loosen the collar right up to the scruff. ❞

❝ The hour belongs to the Watchword. ❞

❝ He peers through peepholes, counting sheep. ❞

❝ Restless ears should hit the sack for he holds service on nude backs, and pictures you in white or black. ❞

❝ It all began with a dame. ❞

❝ Make of me thy subject Lord, placed according to thy word. ❞

❝ In hell they're watching late, sniffing out thy truth and straight. ❞

❝ For words of song and hymn that chirp devotion by thy whim. ❞

❝ Aren't we a darling, aren't we a tell? ❞

❝ Fair, fair, have us a game! ❞

❝ Under our bruises, don't we look the same? ❞

❝ Truce, truce, let's make a vow. ❞

❝ Who are you keeping, and who are we now? ❞

❝ Bang, bang, give us a prayer! ❞

❝ Who is the drifter that sits in your chair? ❞

❝ Under which shell will your charm come to pair? ❞

❝ My, my, aren't we a hiss! ❞

❝ Why not take your chances and play for the miss? ❞

❝ Look at us, friend, when we share in the bliss. ❞

❝ Where is our Heaven hiding? ❞

❝ Where is your Heaven now? ❞

❝ A gentleman prefers to break from airs and fetters; to roll off his sleeves and liberate the beast. ❞

❝ Suck in through the teeth and bare a hungry grin. ❞

❝ Show a little class! ❞

❝ Let us swing with both fists as we writhe in the blood. ❞

❝ Sinners one, sinners all, it's always prettiest after the fall. ❞

❝ They beg for a good old song like a dog for crust. ❞

❝ Oh, please, won’tcha, master, turn back the page? ❞

❝ Now what do you think, children -- do you think they deserved shine and wage? ❞

❝ After the fall, I lifted my winds out of mercy. ❞

❝ The country dogs lacked common sense. ❞

❝ How is my heart so forgiving? ❞

❝ My kindness could swallow you whole! ❞

❝ Weep, weep, weep, we'll survive. ❞

❝ But a lady sits heart and legs crossed, as tight-lipped as a mouse. ❞

❝ Though I found when I lift my legs, my hooves bring down the house. ❞

❝ Some girls fall for fables, some fall just for kicks. ❞

❝ Let's teach a dog new tricks. ❞

❝ To the hound, a round of hell on the Devil's carousel! ❞

❝ It's so easy and breezy when the music starts. ❞

❝ To the beat, I owe my soul to face the music, how great a toll. ❞

❝ I'm dancing to the tune of songs of old. ❞

❝ I'm faithful to the format. ❞

❝ What a juke; easy to follow like a salted pill, so easy to swallow. ❞

❝ I tremble like a treble as the music starts. ❞

❝ Strike the band, and I'll start shaking. ❞

❝ Crank the dial ‘til my souls a-breaking! ❞

❝ All children of Heaven sing alleluia! ❞

❝ Lace my vest and mend my soul. ❞

❝ Spread and draw me to thy seams. ❞

❝ All good children never fall. ❞

❝ Alleluia, alleluia, always, always alleluia. ❞

#the devil's carnival #alleluia! the devil's carnival #ask meme #rp meme #sentence starters #long post #( ask meme. )#( bloo's homemade: meme. )

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sightdoll · 7 years

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My Current Doll Collection June 2017! Danu (Doll Chateau Christina) Goddess of the Deer Fae Cernunnos (Granado Titan) God of the Deer Fae Elandria (Twigling Ingenue) Descendant of Danu and Cernunnos Amergin (5th Motif Venitu) Husband of Elandria Herla (Twigling Ingenue) Daughter of Elandria and Amergin Gehirn (Twigling Eloy/DollShe 28M Classic body) Husband of Herla. Lir (Doll Chateau Dolores) Danu's Servant/Unseelie King. Woden (Immortality of the Soul (Tauros/ResinSoul 72cm body)-Lir after his fall. Herne (Twigling Eloy/LoongSoul 75cm)-son of Elandria and Amergin, brother to Herla. Stefan (RumpelDoll Morfeo/DollShe Pure body) Cian (Angels Studio Cat Avatar Cian/incoming LoongSoul 75cm body) Scarlet (Twigling Ingenieuse) Elandria's Wife (second marriage) Delphina (Luts CP Delf Juri '07) Elphaba (Luts CP Delf Elf Lishe) Melony (Luts CP Delf Miyu) Stuart (Luts CP Delf Elf Chiwoo) Alex (Luts CP Delf Elf Vampire Nanuri 07) Victoria (Luts CP Delf Lishe) Amelia (Luts CP Delf Juri '05/Fairyland Feeple60 Moe) Benjamin (Feeple60 Karsh) Ed Chigliak (DollZone Deer Doll 1/3) Meredith/Caribou Woman (MerryDoll Round Olathe) Eve (FreakStyle Eve) Natalie Chigliak (DollPamm Pure Arubi head/DollZone event doll Deer body) Noah Chigliak (DollZone Cindy head on an ImplDoll YoSD body) Twigling Ingenue head in pale tan/incoming DollShe F Classic body Gehirn (aGatti Alfarr) Herla (MinIngenue) Elandria (Lillycat Cerisedolls Ombre) Neela (Mishi's Doll Dreamy) Elowen (Mishi's Doll Hope) Scarlet (Lillycat Cerisedolls Constantine) Lark (Minifee Mir on muscular boy body) Laidy(Lillycat Cerisedolls Ombre sleeping ) Alisha (SoulDoll Aeheal Centaur) Edith (Lillycat Cerisedolls Kitty Jolie) Seamus (WithDoll Taren/Minifee Muscular boy body) Elijah (Soom Shale Centaur) Edmund (SeedDolls Peabody/Doll Chateau kid body) Lilly (Lillycat Cerisedolls Lilas) Ninon (Lillycat Cerisedolls Ninon) Qian (DollPamm Pure Arubi) Siobhan (Fairyland Minifee Elf Siean/A-line body) Anja (SleetWealth Vanessa) Doll in Mind Larina (closed eyes)/DollZone girl body) Doll in Mind Annabelle on a DollZone boy body Doll in Mind Miru on a DollZone boy body) Doll in Mind Larina (closed eyes) on a Doll Leaves girl body Luts Kid Delf Lio on a girl body Maria DiM Annabelle on a Doll Chateau Kid body Minifee Elf Soony/Moe line body Elowen (Minifee Elf Flam/Moe line body) Wren (DollZone Wendy) Hansel (Unoa boy) Gretel (Unoa Sist girl) The Wildling (Lillycat Cerisedolls Colline) Rosebud (DollZone Big Dipper) Toby (CloverDolls Little Dragon) Bun Bun (Paper Sakura rabbit) Dog (Eve Dolls Russian terrier) Cat (Porcelain cat) Sailor (ResinSoul Dog)

#bjd #ball jointed doll #legit bjd #bjd family tag 2017

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may-shepard · 7 years

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tfp, the ring, and the art of the false climax

(ETA: This post is causing trouble on mobile...sorry!? Many of the images are cut from mobile for some reason, and apparently it’s crashing the app. I’m wondering if it’s just too long. In any case, view on a computer for a more complete experience; reblog to avoid the inevitable Mofftiss curse. If I have time in the next little while, I’ll publish it in shorter segments.)

TFP had a number of different intertexts--mainly, specific movies--which it drew upon for its motifs, themes, moment-to-moment imagery, and plot points. As approximately a million people noticed in the TFP aftermath, many of the movies referenced in this episode are horror films. Predominant among them was The Ring.

(For the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus on Gore Verbinski’s 2002 film, rather than the Japanese source film Ringu / Ring, because the former is much better known in the West, and I think it’s more likely that it’s The Ring, and not Ringu, that Moffat is talking about in this interview, where he mentions watching it. However, since the broad strokes plot outline of both The Ring and Ringu are very similar / the same wrt the idea of the false climax, the argument I’m making holds either way.)

The Ring is well known for being a really beautifully done horror film. It looks incredible, for one thing--it’s visually gorgeous and thematically dense. But mostly, it does something with the concept of hauntings, ghostly origin stories, and the standard horror plot that, at the time of its release, was incredibly stunning and exciting.

In short, The Ring fakes out its audience by presenting a false climax that appears to resolve the story, in a way that is emotionally nice, if a little unsatisfying, before pulling the rug out from under its own plot.

Because The Ring is such a standout intertext for TFP, i.e., TFP not only draws on it, but resonates with it in multiple ways, via names, repeated motifs, the framing of certain shots, as well as relying on it for nearly its entire climax, I really think the story of s4 and the series as a whole is not over. Even if you think there aren’t any further episodes coming down the pipe, I’m hoping this discussion might help people understand why the story feels incomplete. (Because it is).

If you’ve been trying to sit with the idea that the Redbeard reveal / presentation of Eurus’ backstory / resolution of Sherlock’s story is real / supposed to be taken at face value, but that reading isn’t working for you, maybe this will help.

Basic premises: the reading I’m doing here is a mind bungalow reading. The rationale for The Ring as a major intertext of TFP is that John has been shot, and TFP is the content of his hallucination as he’s bleeding out, which offers an understanding of why it’s so bizarre and tonally shifted from everything else we’ve seen in Sherlock. This reading pulls on the newly revealed information, in TST, that John is a horror movie buff--enough so that he feels the need to correct Mary on the difference between The Omen and The Exorcist. John’s proclivity for horror films offers one justification for why they not only seem to inform TFP, but practically take it over.

I’m hoping to show, for people who aren’t familiar with The Ring, exactly how wildly it dominates TFP, and to talk about how we can use this fact to make some sense of the episode, and possibly the future of the show.

Ridiculous levels of detail under the cut:

An Intro to The Ring

This is Rachel.

Oops.

This is Rachel (Naomi Watts). She’s the main character of The Ring, and an investigative journalist.

Sidebar: I might have developed a bit of a crush on Naomi Watts when this movie came out. Crush, as it turns out, still active.

Rachel’s a career-driven single mom of a son who spends his time apparently engaging in extrasensory perception normal kid things and drawing seriously disturbing totally normal pictures at all times:

(Not yet, Eurus!)

The story of The Ring starts when Rachel’s teenaged niece dies under mysterious circumstances, and Rachel’s sister, the dead girl’s mother, asks Rachel to investigate. The trail leads Rachel to what sounds like an urban legend about a cursed videotape.

She finds the tape at a creepy mountain resort, and watches it. It is, in essence, a mishmash of images set to an unsettling minimalist soundtrack:

Sorry, wrong creepy recording. This is the one from The Ring:

Yeah me too. (Note the nearly-fourth-wall-breaking gaze...remind you of anything?)

Hi, John. (Via @inevitably-johnlocked, specifically this answer.)

I’ll just say here that, in addition to seemingly casting himself as Plane Girl and Eurus throughout parts of TFP, John’s role as John in TFP overlaps with much of Rachel’s in The Ring. Rachel’s standout characteristics are her dogged attachment to the investigation and her somewhat deadbeat qualities as a mom. I’ll leave you to your deductions about why John probably identifies with her.

Immediately after Rachel watches the tape, the phone rings. When Rachel answers, a voice says, “Seven days.” We already know, from her previous investigations, that people die seven days after they watch the tape. Now she knows there’s something to the story, and we have a ticking clock motif--a handy thing that builds extra tension into any plot.

Tick tick tick, Jim!

I’m going to skip most of the investigative twists and turns in The Ring, because this movie is a treat, and half the fun is watching the evidence pile up that something supernatural is responsible for the mysterious deaths.

Long story short, Rachel’s investigations lead her to discover that the videotape is linked to a horse-loving couple whose possibly weird-scientifically conceived daughter caused a lot of trouble during her brief lifetime.

Oh, and they live on a remote island that you can only reach via boat.

Sorry, wrong island.

This weird island is the one from The Ring. Totally different island. This is the one where, while the weird girl with psychic powers was still alive, she seems to have subjected the residents to her whim. (*cough cough cough*)

ANYWAY--

Rachel interviews the girl’s father and gets nowhere, but the island’s doctor is a little more talkative.

Important Backstory Alert:

Doctor: She wanted a child more than anything, poor Anna. They tried hard for years, but sometimes it’s just not meant to be. Then one winter they went away, and when they came back, it was with Samara. [I have to interject here to say you could argue that watching the tape means you have an APPOINTMENT WITH SAMARA, lol] ... Everything was fine, ’til Anna started coming to see me. Said she was suffering visions, seeing things, horrible things, like they’d been burned inside her. It only happened around Samara, that the girl put them there.

Okay. I just want to put a pin in that and go to TFP, because this is where we get some major intertextual action:

MYCROFT (firmly): I am aware of the dangers Eurus poses, and equipped to deal with them. JOHN: What dangers? MYCROFT (straightening up): Eurus doesn’t just talk to people. She ... reprograms them. (John turns back to look at the screen.) MYCROFT: Anyone who spends time with her is automatically compromised.

(all transcripts via Ariane de Vere)

Eurus is like the little girl from The Ring, putting ideas in people’s heads. As many, many people have noted, her hair and clothing in TFP are very close to Samara’s.

See what I mean?

Like Eurus, we see Samara through a television screen. Here, Samara is depicted in old footage of a psychiatric interview:

One of many iterations of televisual Eurus:

(The Ring plays very substantially with the uncanny nature of television, its habit of invading our domestic spaces, and the way that we can be manipulated and even threatened through the set. I suspect there’s something similar going on with TFP, especially in light of increasing evidence that it’s the setup to an ARG--TFP is the bait, the inciting incident, that leads us into the game.)

In any case, Eurus, as we have her in TFP, is an interesting mix of Samara from The Ring and a figure from John and Sherlock’s past. In The Ring, Samara manipulates people by “showing them things”--she puts pictures in their heads. But Eurus “talks to people,” and, somehow, makes them do things.

In TAB, on his way to his death, Sherlock read John’s blog, the story of how they met. Here, in TFP, on the verge of death, John is hallucinating a blend of motifs from horror movies and that same story--the story of how he and Sherlock met, with their first bad guy (Jeff Hope) blended together with their most recent (Eurus), and a substantial dose of Samara in the mix.

All of this evidence is plentiful enough to say there’s definitely a connection between The Ring and TFP. None of this begins to cover the sheer lunacy of the climax of TFP, and its very, very strong resemblance to the penultimate plot points of The Ring. Buckle in for a trip to bonkersland.

The Ring’s False Climax and The Non-Finality of TFP

The action of The Ring comes to its first, and fake, climax, as Rachel is running out of time. It’s the seventh day of her seven-day adventure, and she’s on Murder Moesko Island trying to figure it all out. Even as her previous ex-commander ex-boyfriend, Noah, struggles to dig up some information on the Morgans’ daughter at a nearby mental hospital, Rachel sneaks into the Morgan family farmhouse and watches a tape from the hospital’s archive:

Interviewer: So what is it that’s keeping you awake? You must sleep sometime. Do you dream about something? Samara?

Interviewer: Let’s talk about the pictures. How did you make them? Samara? How did you make these pictures?

[Sidebar: the pictures are amazing]

Samara: I don’t make them. I see them, and then, they just are.

Interviewer: Samara, I need you to start telling me the truth, okay?

Samara: Can I see my Mommy?

Interviewer: No, Samara, not until we understand what’s wrong with you.

Samara: I love my Mommy.

Interviewer: Yes you do. But you don’t want to hurt her any more, now, do you? You don’t want to hurt anyone.

Samara: But I do, and I’m sorry. It won’t stop.

Interviewer: Well that’s why you’re here. So I can help you to make it stop.

Samara: He’s going to leave me here.

Interviewer: Who?

Samara: Daddy.

Interviewer: They just want to help you.

Samara: Not Daddy.

Interviewer: Your Daddy loves you.

Samara: Daddy loves the horses. He wants me to go away.

Interviewer: No he doesn’t.

Samara: But he doesn’t know.

Interviewer: He doesn’t know what? Samara?

[The tape cuts off.]

This is lovely horror movie stuff, well done. (If anyone wants to explore the above text in terms of potential connections with John, Mary, and Rosie, or in light of Eurus’s nonsense monologues / psychiatric interviews in the background of TFP, go ahead. I’m not planning to, but I think it’s a potentially rich vein.)

We have the evidence that there was something very wrong with Samara, and the witness (Rachel) who interprets what she sees as evidence of child abuse. As The Ring builds to a series of reveals, we’re pulled in two different directions: we have the evidence that this child has powers, that she’s used them malevolently, and, on the other hand, the idea that she should have been protected, she was just a child, and therefore can’t be responsible for what’s happened to her.

Rachel, persisting in her idea that Samara just needed / needs to be understood, and that she’s uncovered some terrible story of abuse, continues to investigate.

Similarly, the narrative of TFP pulls us in two different directions. Eurus is both a little girl who somehow just needs a hug, and the demon seed who had, and has, no trouble killing wantonly.

Since Eurus can be read as a proxy for John (and this is part of where TFP takes on serious dramatic weight), we have both sides of him, as well. John needs to be rescued.

John is also full of self-blame.

He casts himself in both roles, with one resolution: his own rescue.

In The Ring, Rachel, now joined by her previous ex-commander ex-boyfriend Noah, first SEEK MY ROOM find Samara’s room, which is located in a symbolic Rapunzel’s tower hello damsel in distress at the top of the world’s tallest barn:

After approximately fifteen minutes of climbing, they find this oddly-normal-looking-for-where-it-is little girl’s room:

Compare:

Samara’s room, like Eurus’s apparently normal childhood bedroom, hides darker intentions and secrets. In this case, hidden under the wallpaper:

The burning tree image they uncover is a clue that leads them back to the inn where Rachel first watched the tape.

There, in the cabin, Noah and Rachel search desperately for the reason why they’ve been led back to this place. Rachel makes an impassioned plea for Noah to help their son (who has also watched the tape, and is under the same curse). Noah temper tantrums spectacularly--

--Noah temper tantrums spectacularly, knocking a conveniently placed vase of glass beads onto the floor. They roll and form an arrow that points to the solution:

(Did I mention that the room in The Ring is “painted red” by the setting sun shining through the red leaves of a tree? Just saying.)

Rachel and Noah figure out that there’s a hidden well underneath the floorboards on the cabin. Noah fetches an ax and smashes up the floor, an act that takes approximately a million years of screentime but is very manly:

Go, Sherlock!

Go, Noah!

What is it called when you break through the floor instead of the fourth wall? Lol.

Here’s where things get really ridiculous.

A tv, possessed by the spirit of the dead girl, knocks Rachel into the well.

No, really:

I know, totally different from being put in a well by a person who broadcasts herself through a tv and who everyone thought was dead, but you know.

The fall knocks Rachel out. She wakes up in the well:

Rachel: I’m here.

John: Yeah I’m here.

Rachel finds gruesome evidence that Samara was trapped in the well, alive, for a while.

The lid slides over the well--Rachel is trapped. She pulls up a handful of hair from the water, a hand emerges to grip her wrist, and we’re off into flashback territory:

Rachel receives a vision, presented as a flashback, about Samara’s murder. At first we see what seems to be a childhood idyll, accompanied by Samara’s singing:

Round we go The world is spinning When it stops It's just beginning Sun comes up We live and we cry Sun goes down And then we all die

[x]

But, we find out that this is actually the scene of her murder, as her mother approaches from behind her, puts a plastic bag over her head, and pushes her into the well:

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the well, Rachel pulls Samara’s body up out of the water. She comforts her:

Rachel: It’s okay now. It’s okay.

This parallels Sherlock’s puzzle solving on the surface, so he can find Eurus and save John.

SHERLOCK: I ... am ... lost ... Help ... me ... brother ... Save ... My ... Life ... Before ... my ... Doom. (He continues swiping the words away.) SHERLOCK: I ... am ... Lost ... Without ... your ... love ... Save ... My ... soul ... seek ... my ... room. [x]

The gravestone puzzle allows him to find Eurus, and comfort her.

SHERLOCK (in a whisper): You’re not lost any more.

Here we have it: a clear emotional climax for TFP--the climax that happened instead of the emotional resolution we were looking for, between John and Sherlock, but a climax nonetheless, if only in strictly structural terms.

In The Ring, this is the moment Samara’s body dissolves into bones:

Meanwhile, in John’s Well of Feels:

This moment in The Ring offers an escape from death for John Rachel. The curse doesn’t kick in: she doesn’t die, even though her seven days are up. She believes that, in discovering the true story of Redbeard Samara, she’s solved the puzzle and broken the curse. She contemplates the importance of understanding Samara, in the aftermath, as a surprising number of emergency workers and police crowd around this remote location, no doubt in response to Noah’s and Rachel’s call.

The Ring:

TFP:

Noah talks with Rachel about what happened, comforting her as she’s wrapped in a shock blanket, looking tired and worn out and damp:

Rachel: [About Samara] She just wanted to be heard. Sometimes children, they yell or cry or draw pictures.

In case you’re having trouble telling at this point, this is from TFP, not The Ring:

John: Well, you gave her what she was looking for: context.

Sherlock: Is that good?

John: It’s not good, it’s not bad. It is what it is.

[And what it is, is shit, friends, or, more hopefully, about to go to shit in the most amazing way possible. Hang on: this meta has one more loop around the track to go.]

In both The Ring and TFP, this looks like closure, doesn’t it? It looks like the show’s over. TFP certainly did its darndest to pantomime an ending after this. And yet--

WHY IT ISN’T OVER YET

Now we come to the point, the entire point and the thing that inspired this post. If John is drawing inspiration from The Ring in his hallucination--and I am certainly convinced that he is--then we ARE NOT DONE.

The above is not the climax of The Ring. It’s a nice version of a ghost story: if someone could only just learn the truth, then we could put the haunting to rest.

What a tender world that would be.

Rachel goes home, and tells her son, who has also been cursed, that she solved the puzzle.

Aidan: What happened to the girl?

Rachel: Samara?

Aidan: Is that her name?

Rachel: Mm hm.

Aidan: Is she still in the dark place?

Rachel: No. We set her free.

Aidan: You helped her?

Rachel: Yeah.

Aidan: Why did you do that?

Rachel: What’s wrong, honey?

Aidan: You weren’t supposed to help her.

[^ my approximate feelings immediately after watching TFP for the first time.]

Okay so, let me fill you in on how freaking amazing The Ring was, as a first time viewing experience, when it came out. Horror had, as horror does, gone through a particularly shitty slump at this point. The decision to import motifs from J-horror was among one of the best things that could have happened to Hollywood, however you feel about cultural appropriation / this style of collaboration. The above moment, in which the not-at-all-creepy child informs Rachel that she is wrong, that she has in fact made a terrible mistake, was, simply put, a really standout moment in the history of horror cinema. It was the thing that people talked about when they talked about The Ring.

The false climax of The Ring is the thing that distinguishes it. Borrowing that false climax to the point where, beat for beat, it informs the climax of your horror pastiche episode, as Moftiss have done in TFP, is akin to jumping up and down and screaming, THERE! IS! A! TWIST! COMING! THIS! IS! NOT! OVER!

So, what’s still to come?

In The Ring, the twist is that Rachel actually avoided the curse when she made a copy of the videotape, during her research. Like a smart virus, Samara’s curse forgives the person who propagates it.

If you don’t pass it on, you die. The curse is very much still active in the world of The Ring, which we find out when it gets Noah (poor Noah!). Here we learn the true nature of death-by-Samara. Basically, she breaks the fourth wall, climbing through your television set to come get you:

A fourth wall break so extreme, it’s lethal!

I know, Noah, this is how I feel about the ARG too.

Noah dies, leaving Rachel to figure out that the key to saving her son from the curse is to have him copy the tape:

This is Moftiss, showing you how to hit reblog on those ARG posts that you find scary, but which somehow seem increasingly important to your survival, post s4.

Bottom line, the ending of TFP, in copying the false climax of The Ring--in addition to its numerous other signs that it is not seriously offering any kind of resolution or closure for its audience--indicates that it is fake as hell. The story is not over, there is more coming for our heroes, and much more coming for us.

tagging:

@devoursjohnlock @marcespot @waitedforgarridebs @221bloodnun @jenna221b

I should probably tag others but I’m exhausted, please feel free to pass this on.

#sherlock meta #s4 speculation #the final problem #mind bungalow #john is hallucinating

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