#of course this is just my interpretation

[battlinghurricanes]

Hektor is irreplaceable to Troy, he is their greatest warrior and last defense, he’s the hinge on which Troy’s survival hangs, and he hates this. He is invaluable when, in truth, he wants nothing more than to be replaceable. Hektor holds bitterness and resentment for how heavily his city relies on him. Yes, he will stop at nothing to defend them, yes, he is unyielding and relentless at the cost of his own health, but he doesn’t want it to be that way. Even as he overextends himself time and time again, Hektor is aware that it takes a heavy toll on him, after all, he feels the cost more sharply than anyone. He knows it’s unsustainable, but every time, he finds it more important to sustain Troy than to sustain himself. Even so, his earnest desires are elsewhere. Hektor would rather stay in bed with Andromache when he wakes up exhausted, he’d rather take some time to let his wounds heal and not fight through blistering pain, he’d rather stay in the stay inside the city and look after Scamandrius, guiding him as he grows, than anything else.

When Hektor returns to Troy to ask Hecuba to make an offering to Athena, he refuses to remain- three times. Clearly, Hektor will not let himself rest because he leaves Troy, but clearly, he still longs to rest because he pauses. He takes a moment with Andromache and Scamandrius because he wants to, so desperately, and when he sees his baby, Hektor beams. He stops to comfort his beloved Andromache in her grief, and he takes his helmet off to bounce Scamandrius in his arms. For a moment he sets aside those things he needs to fight so he can be with them. What he believes he must do is not the same as what he wants to do. Hektor leaves, but Hektor lingers.

But he leaves because he is needed and deep in his heart he begrudges that. His own insistent drive to push himself to his limits would be difficult enough to temper on its own, but Troy’s desperate dependence on him on top of that is damning. How could they rely on him so heavily and yet have no one that might take his place if he can’t go on? And he’s never allowed to forget. Repeatedly they call him the lone defense of Troy, so much that he feels the weight of it, so much that they call his infant son ‘Astyanax’- Lord of the City- because of it and how dare they, how dare they, how dare they?

How dare they do that to him when he’s still so young? How dare they do that to Hektor, who already can’t help but relentlessly expend himself at every turn for them, and then they reward him by hitching their anxious hopes and expectations on his precious little son...?

And it makes such an elegant contrast with Achilles. Achilles, the Achaeans’ greatest warrior, irreplaceable on the battlefield, who adores and thrives on that fact. Achilles who, by his nature, is so proud and entitled that he’ll stop fighting and let them die to remind the Achaeans just how desperately they need him. As opposed to Hektor, who loathes being irreplaceable, but by his nature, is so stubborn and dogged that he will never stop fighting, at the cost of everything.

[perilouspage]

in my heart, chilchuck/senshi does not happen. I think chilchuck looks at senshi and thinks "would" in a kinda passive way and then buries it somewhere deep where it won't bother him again. as for senshi? I think he's so secure in his own masculine appeal that no proposition would surprise him

[milesedgy]

i’m really enjoying the story in Tears of the Kingdom so far (i haven’t finished it yet so no spoilers)

but i wonder if i’d still be experiencing such visceral emotions if Spirited Away hadn’t altered my brain chemistry back when i first watched in theaters. like, its hard to explain but i think TOTK touched on something primal for me. it’s not just a sad story, it’s the idea that there are things that we must sacrifice because the world is so much bigger than us, and we have no control of it.

[cemeterything]

[kate-bot]

a few more little pizza animations!!! they're a little rough around the edges but they were a lot of fun to make!!

[circuitcircus]

in defense of kabumisu……..

addressing things I see people say about why kabru being shipped w mithrun is ‘bad’ or why their canon relationship ‘doesn’t mean anything’ while also clearing up misconceptions of the characters some fans have

listen it keeps popping up and I just gotta do this or my brain will melt (if you don’t see it around then god I wish that were me) there’s an age gap!- erm there’s also an age gap in farcille (ily), the most popular ship in the series...also chilchuck looks like a kid but a lot of fans recognize him as a dilf because of his relative age, so there should be no age gap discourse among adult characters because it feels so conditional tbh

kabru taking care of mithrun is racist!- marcille likes to take care of others as well. is that sexist, or just an aspect of her character?

kabru isn’t treated like a servant, waiting on mithrun hand and foot…I mean he gives mithrun a foot massage but no one told him to do all that lmfao

he's also not the only one to care for mithrun. pattadol is shown to worry for him and milsril was the one to start taking care mithrun in the first place after he…...y’know. speaking of which-

they probably met when kabru was a kid!- neither of them showed signs of recognizing each other the entire time mithrun was introduced nor when they were together. and im pretty sure KABRU of all people would show some kind of recognition if they'd met before. it's kabru!!! the people person!!! mr. "i-noted-down-50+-characters-in-this-dude's-backstory-for-fun-and-actually-enjoy-social-gatherings"

you would think some kind of memory would come back to him especially after hearing mithrun’s backstory if milsril had even told kabru about him as a kid. but nope. it’s just fan speculation unless there's a side comic suggesting otherwise that i haven't seen

mithrun doesn't care about kabru, his shapeshift double looked like shit!- it's obviously because of mithrun's (then) lack of desires that it looked like that, but they really grow on each other

i think it's safe to assume it'd look more like kabru after they spent so much time together (also laios can barely even remember kabru's name..also saw his face multiple times and didn’t recognize him when they talked for the first time)

mithrun is racist!- he’s actually the least likely character to be racist since he lost his desires and that includes a desire for superiority over others. he even calls his past self out on that part of himself. the other elves in that side comic were being just as racist to shorter lived races but just didn’t use ‘outdated slurs’

(unfortunately literally every main character in dunmeshi is at least a lil prejudiced, but I believe it’s worldbuilding and a sign of the times rather than a reason ryoko kui is giving to hate each character)

taking care of others is a pain in the ass!- saying this as a reason kabru and mithrun shouldn't be together is basically saying disabled people shouldn't be allowed to have romantic relationships because they're a "burden"...if someone is actually willing to put in the work, then let them be.

that's not even all of their relationship, mithrun is the fighter of their duo and kabru would've been killed by the shapeshifter or something if he'd fallen down the hole on his own since he sucks at fighting monsters. mithrun helps collect ingredients for cooking every time, too (barometz fruits and griffin egg). he pulls his weight and then some!! i feel like people forget that part of mithrun a lot somehow.

+senshi literally cooks for everyone all time. it's kind of an important aspect of the narrative.

+also, while it is a popular fan thing I see around that kabru handfeeds mithrun, he literally never does lol this is mithrun using his own hands to eat:

also here we have him washing his own body

just saying because people like to treat mithrun like a baby even though the narrative respects him as a capable adult who also has special needs because of an accident. he’s captain for a reason

kabru hates taking care of mithrun!- not exactly, he was initially surprised and put off but got used to it quickly. i’m sure he’s grateful for all the times mithrun saved him from a monster and teleported them out of danger as well

he even starts doing “unnecessary” things for mithrun’s comfort and safety like when mithrun pushes himself too hard fighting, even after his mission to take care of him was complete when the canaries came back

here is even kabru resting while mithrun keeps watch (mithrun let him sleep for 5 hours before waking him up from the nightmare earlier, too):

there's nothing more to their relationship!- they actually have had a very tight and consistent dynamic since they met and they incite the most change within each other by the end. kabru is the one who inspires mithrun to create new desires so he doesn't waste away, and mithrun is the first person we see kabru being genuine with and it leads him to be more honest with others by the end instead of tiptoeing around everyone all the time (that mask was also the reason some ppl initially disliked kabru…)

kabru’s relationship with mithrun is honestly so important for his character and vice versa, but it’s often disregarded because of one over exaggerated aspect of it (an aspect that isn’t even the first way they interact with each other) or because people want to just straight up ignore it for some reason 🥲🥲

kui dedicates many panels to them that don't particularly serve the narrative as a whole in order to demonstrate this and i think that's pretty significant

you're taking this too seriously!- as if i'm the first person in the world to be crazy about a ship or the characters 😭 i love analyzing text and it's upsetting to see them mischaracterized when kui lays out the characters so clearly and deliberately

also they end up touching each other like all the time and have the kind of canon validation most ppl can only dream of lol i feel so insane look at this:

and this is just when they're first getting to know each other cuz there's a fuckload more

kinda hard to explain how i don't actually need them to get married or whatever but i'd die on this hill for them and i enjoy their dynamic immensely

haha you thought you were reading ship discourse but it was actually a character analysis 🤪🤪🤪

also don’t somehow take this to mean I think anyone has to ship them, I just need everyone to understand these accusations kind of don’t make sense especially when they can also apply to other pairs or characters

bonus kabru just looking at mithrun:

[clfixationstation]

idk if this is a hot take but I don't think Armin is friendly. I think people find him generally off-putting. Like, people think he looks sweet, but also find him strange; for the topics that interest him, the way he didn't stray far from Eren (& Mikasa) socially, and his general demeanor.

I think that as Armin established himself more as he grew up, he developed better interpersonal skills that compliment his rhetorical prowess. I think he's the type of person who sees value in life and in minimizing harm. He offers kindness to his friends and understanding to all. But I don't see him as particularly "friendly"

[onioneyez]

Thinking about the GO kiss (of course) and how that strange versatility of the pairing in general extends also to this. The fandom’s grief is so universal because each person sees in it exactly what will hurt them the most.

To this aromantic, Crowley’s desperate gesture looks like: “is this what you want? Will this make us real to you? If I show you I love you in the right way, the human way, will I finally matter enough for you to stay with me?”

[mamawasatesttube]

not to be a bitch but like. i can never take "ohhhh kon is soOOoOoo sad about tim/ber uwaahhhh he's in love with tim but it's unrequited waaahhhh" angst seriously because like... i get it, the only thing you know about kon is that he's the other half of a popular m/m tim ship, but uh. rebirth kon is living an existential fucking nightmare. i think he's got way bigger fish to fry than whether the tim who only kind of remembers him at all is dating some other guy lmao

[unexpectedstormy]

Controversial headcanon: BotW/TotK Link doesn't have any of his own pre-Calamity memories and he never regains any.

So I've been watching my brother play through BotW blind for the first time and something that struck me is that the 13 memories you get over the course of the game aren't Link's memories... they're Zelda's. You can tell because almost all of the memories are POV Zelda and the only one that isn't, is POV the four Champions but both Link and Zelda are right there (but distracted by Zelda knighting Link). Even in TotK, the memories Link gains aren't his, they're Zelda's.

The Shrine of Resurrection is said to have given him amnesia/made him lose his memories (which was the cost of getting healed/put in stasis). You could interpret this the shrine erased them. Deleted them. Made them permanently inaccessible and irrecoverable. There's no evidence to suggest in either of the games that he can or ever does regain any of his own memories.

[tev-the-random]

So the thing that gets me about Starlo — the thing that really gets me — is how much this guy hates himself.

It's not something you notice the first time you're playing, because he's so confident and enthusiastic. He'd almost be cool if he wasn't such a dork. But after replaying the game with the context of where he came from, — and I'll admit, after reading some very interesting, in-depth fanfics and analysis about him, I'll try to link them if I find them again — his character becomes a bit... blurred. How much of this is Starlo, and how much of it is North Star?

Because- because the whole point of his sheriff persona is that he gets to be someone else, isn't it? When he's out there rootin' and tootin', acting out his hero fantasies and trying to imitate the characters from the westerns he admires, he becomes someone much cooler than himself. North Star is everything Starlo wishes he was: the fearless leader, the cunning cowboy, the confident sheriff who saves lives and wrangles bandits and hangs out with humans. Not just some nobody farmer who could disappear in the corn field without anyone noticing, not the son who wastes his time on daydreams.

He craves praise so deeply. That's the big difference between Star and Papyrus, I think, because Papyrus is just so unapologetically himself, while Star... he starts spending more and more time with this mask of greatness he made himself. Because people like North Star. Not Starlo.

North Star is a real sheriff. Not Starlo.

North Star is the one who brings help and hope and fun to monsters. Not Starlo.

North Star is the one worthy of being appreciated. Not Starlo.

And like... he wants to be liked so badly. So much effort is put into making sure North Star is good enough that Starlo tends to assume people hate him. He assumes his parents hate his life choices (they don't; they're proud of him and know he cares), he assumes Clover will laugh at him when he shows his face to them (they don't; despite everything, it's still him), he assumes the reason he fell out with his friends is because he wasn't a good enough sheriff (he knows damn well it wasn't actually Clover's fault, he's not THAT stupid. But he's still desperately grasping at the last pieces of his shattered persona, so if he just works harder, if he does what a real sheriff does and captures this human, then everything will be alright, won't it?)

I really wish we could have gotten more insight on Starlo's relationships and personality before the whole Wild East thing consumed him. Ceroba and the Feisty Five say they miss the old Starlo, but we never really get to know who the old Starlo was. And I don't think he knows either.

Wake the hell up, Star. People started liking you before you were North Star. Go eat some corn and calm down.

Point is, the impostor syndrome goes hard and that's such a mood. He was supposed to be the cool and silly cowboy guy, what the fuck–

[calitsnow]

Let’s talk about Hong Lu’s poster

Summary:

Introduction

The paifang

Where is Hong Lu?

The reality of Hong Lu

{Skip the introduction if you’re only interested in the analysis of the character of Hong Lu and his poster}

I/ Introduction

Today I would like to offer you an analysis of Hong Lu's character poster. Although it is difficult to know what these character posters seek to show, apart from presenting characters, it is clear that each of them possesses clues about the sinners’ past and especially where the character represented comes from.

For example, we could see the pallid whale destroying the Pequod on Ishmael's poster, although it was easy to make the connection with Moby Dick, the poster also showed us that Ishmael had a history with a white whale and was a survivor of a shipwreck.

I am not sure if all the information is equally valuable according to the posters because, for example, Sinclair's poster is quite enigmatic and does not really show a specific event or place, or at least I do not recognize it.

But that does not stop me from believing that what is depicted behind the sinners is supposed to be related to the sinner, yes, but also, I think, related to a wing or place in the city that was important in the sinner's past.

I even wonder if the moment/place represented is not supposed to represent the place where the sinner decided to join the company.

Why do I say this? Well, you can see behind Rodion's character a casino setting, whereas her ego and space generated by the golden bough were affiliated with a world of ice. So why does Rodion's poster show her in front of an environment reminiscent of a casino? Perhaps it is to evoke her love for gambling as well as her ability to bluff and her desire for money, but if we look at Rodion's photo in the identity archive menu:

We can see Rodion in an outfit we have never seen her in before, an outfit that closely resembles what someone might wear at a casino. We have never seen how Rodion was recruited by Limbus Company, but if we follow the logic I just proposed, Rodion would have been recruited in a casino.

This logic seems credible and yet doubtful when we look at the case of Yi-sang.

For the moment, Yi-Sang is the only sinner whose recruitment by Limbus Company we know:

We know he was coming out of the laboratory where he was held by Gubo, the same laboratory we can see behind him on his poster.

But here's the catch: this is how Yi-sang was dressed when he met Faust VS versus what Yi-sang looks like on his photo in the identity archive:

But hold on! I may have an explanation for this difference:

Yes, in the first image, Yi-Sang is not wearing his scientist coat, but he is indeed wearing the gray shirt, and I think Yi-Sang was indeed dressed with his coat initially, I think he just took it off in the left image.

So yes, it sounds like a lame excuse, but look at how Yi-Sang was dressed before this scene (when he was held captive).

Boom, there it is, that scientist coat. Yi-Sang was indeed dressed as he was in that laboratory when his photo for the company was taken.

But here's the second little hiccup: we don't know how much time separates Yi-Sang's escape and his encounter with Faust...

But if what is depicted behind the sinners is not toward the place/moment where he was recruited by Limbus Company, then I think the place depicted behind the sinner is still a place/moment that shaped the sinner and convinced them to join Limbus Company.

II/ The Paifang

After this brief analysis that raised many questions, I would especially like us to keep the idea that what is depicted behind Hong Lu is related to him and the wing (or other place in the city) where he comes from.

Let's continue:

To make the understanding and analysis of the poster simpler, I decided to divide it into 6 zones:

Red: character

Dark blue: background area with tall buildings —> the city / what is behind the paifang

Purple: Paifang

Light blue: distorted and highly colorful area / portails

Orange: what surrounds the sides of the paifang

Green: the ground and what is in front of the paifang

Even if sometimes I won't do it, I will now also use this color code to target specific areas of the poster when needed.

Well, first of all, I'm going to talk about the purple area, which is everything related to the Paifang, which is a very important element of this poster:

This Paifang, which looks like it's made of (red?) wood, seems to be surrounded by tall walls as we can see in the orange area.

So it seems that this Paifang is the only entrance and exit between two spaces. Indeed, if this Paifang is surrounded by walls and (assuming) they extend over a long distance, we can quickly conclude that this passage is the only one that could allow someone to enter or leave a closed space (we will come back to these ideas a little later).

Returning to the Paifang, it seems to perfectly fit the definition I found of a Paifang: "A Paifang is a traditional Chinese architectural structure in the form of a portico or arch, usually placed at the entrance of important places such as cities, temples, or properties. These symbolic gateways are often richly decorated and serve as monumental entry points."

I think the main idea to remember is that this Paifang is a gate/a means of passage, and I think it is the only gate allowing travel between the two spaces it separates.

But what does this gateway separate? Well, I think we have an answer with the inscription in the middle of this Paifang:

Indeed, what is written in the middle behind Hong Lu is this: 境幻虚太 (Jing Huan Xu Tai), we can recognize 4 distinct characters:

境: Realm

幻: Illusory

虚: Void

太: Great

But what is most surprising is that this phrase is actually written backward; indeed, in Chinese, it should be written 太虚幻境 (especially when we know what this combination means, especially in Dream of the Red Chamber), and here it is written as if it had been reflected in a mirror. We know that mirrors play a very important role in Limbus Company, but we will come back to this idea of a mirror a little later.

{Update : I was informed that the ordering of character written on the paifang is actually correct for traditional Chinese writing and for when the characters have to be placed horizontally (especially when you have to write on a space which does not really allow you to write in the vertical like on this paifan). The fact remains that the name of Hong Lu's weapon is therefore written in backward, so why? I don't really have an explanation now... and I have to admit that I still like my first analysis and I still think it is (a little) relevant in a way, so I invit you to keep reading (while keeping this in mind)}

For now, I would like to return to the meaning of what is written on this Paifang; indeed, once the combination of these 4 characters is reversed, it refers to a very important place in Dream of the Red Chamber: "Illusory Land of Great Void" or "Land of Illusion".

We can therefore conclude that this Paifang overlooks the "Land of Illusion" and separates/is the gateway between these two worlds, which are the "Land of Illusion" and, I think, the city.

Which is reminiscent of its “equivalent” in the novel since in the novel there is also a mention of a gate which separates the world of illusions from the rest or at least which indicates its entry point

{Side note: Strangely, this is not the only time that "太虚幻境" appears on the poster since it also appears just at the bottom right, and yes, "Land of Illusion" is also the name of Hong Lu's weapon, but that's not all! It is of course also the name of his EGO.

We can therefore see that the "Land of Illusion" is used to define many things related to or belonging to Hong Lu.}

In the novel Dream of the Red Chamber, The Land of Illusion is a domain where illusions and fantasies come to life. However, despite its enticing and enchanting appearance, this fictional world is also fraught with dangers and traps as it can lead individuals into deceptive illusions and prevent them from perceiving the truth.

However, a very interesting analysis of the Land of Illusion parallels this place with the Prospect Garden, which is the garden where Baoyu lives with his cousins and servants. It is the setting for many events in the novel and is also a haven of peace cut off from the rest of the world where its inhabitants can indulge in their idle and luxurious lives.

When Baoyu first visits this garden, he feels like he has been here before, and indeed, this garden actually reminds Baoyu of the place he visited in his dreams: the Land of Illusion.

A fantastical literary garden devoted to pleasure and love, which recalls the hero's dream of love and evokes in him a sense of the uncanny, will lead the reader to realize that Prospect Garden is the Land of Illusion. Eden, emptied of humanity, may remain a pristine ideal.

The Prospect Garden becomes a Buddhist allegory of experience. It blooms and withers with the ebb and flow of human desires and longings, but it is also a fictional world, imagined, the stuff of dreams.

The Prospect Garden is the earthly manifestation of the Land of Illusion, just as Baoyu is the physical earthly reincarnation of the stone.

III/ Where is Hong Lu?

After discussing what The Land of Illusion is and what this Paifang separated or rather where it leads to, it's time to ask a question: on which side is Hong Lu on his poster?

The Paifang already gives us an indication of this: since we can read "Land of Illusion" backward.

So I think we can deduce that Hong Lu is currently on the side of the "Land of Illusion" because if we follow the theory that the writing on the Paifang is reversed because Hong Lu is in a mirror world, then it's easy to guess that on the other side (the non-visible face) of the Paifang, we could read "The Land of Illusion" written correctly because this Paifang does lead to the "Land of Illusion."

To support this assertion (that Hong Lu is on the side of "The Land of Illusions"), I invite you to look at the dark blue area.

We can see tall buildings bathed in a red/black color; I think this modern aesthetic and these colors are supposed to remind us of the city, whose red color is often associated with —> just look at the map to notice this.

But that's not all: the color red is associated with the red dust by which Buddhism refers to the earthly realm, which contrasts sharply with the luxury brought to mind by the vernacular use of red.

Red dust is a symbol of the impermanence and transience of human life in Chinese philosophy.

It represents the reality of life as transient and ephemeral, reminding individuals that everything in this world is subject to change and disappearance. This notion is often used in Chinese literature and poetry to express the human condition and the importance of fully living each moment, knowing that nothing is permanent.

Red dust is used to talk about our world and our existence on it, which is but a short-lived illusion filled with suffering, to talk about the mundane world.

In Limbus Company, this world of Red Dust, this illusory world, is the city, and this bubbled paradise is "The Land of Illusion."

But how do we know that Hong Lu is indeed walking on the water of what I have been calling "The Land of Illusion" all this time?

Well, a clue might give us the answer; I invite you to look at the green area.

We can see that Hong Lu is walking on water, which already evokes the notion of "reflection" and this idea that The Land of Illusion is a mirrored world of the world of red dust, as is "The Land of Illusion" in the novel, but that's not all.

I will have to step away from Hong Lu's poster for a moment to look at an image present during the Limbus Company launch trailer.

Although nothing I'm about to say has been confirmed, I don't think it's too farfetched to say that we can see in this image a past version of Hong Lu, before he joined the company when he was at home, probably the Jia family manor (or at least its version of LCB).

What's interesting about this image is the color of the sky: this blue fading towards turquoise. We've seen it elsewhere before:

And yes! I am convinced that this blue space we can see in the cutscene of Hong Lu's EGO is supposed to be the sky from his home. And what is Hong Lu's EGO called? Land of Illusion.

Furthermore, I think that this blue sky is meant to contrast with the red sky of the city. Thus, the separation between the two is even more accentuated, as it was with the Paifang that clearly separated the two realities.

So, I believe that we can conclude that Hong Lu lives in the Land of Illusion.

This idea that the world in which Hong Lu lived is "The Land of Illusion" is emphasized by another detail: the reflection of the moon in the water.

In Buddhism, the image of the moon in the water is often used as a metaphor to illustrate the illusory nature of reality or the nature of conditioned existence. This metaphor is often associated with the practice of meditation and understanding the nature of the mind.

The moon in the water appears clearly and distinctly, but it is unstable and transitory, as it is subject to the movements of the water. Similarly, in daily life, what we perceive as reality is often changing, impermanent, and conditioned by multiple factors.

This metaphor thus emphasizes the importance of recognizing the illusory and impermanent nature of reality and not attaching to appearances or transient phenomena. In summary, in Buddhism, the image of the moon in the water is used to illustrate the illusory nature of reality and to encourage the practice of meditation and the search for the true nature of the mind.

I think that this image of the moon in the water is meant to make us understand the true nature of the place where Hong Lu walks: it is The Land Of Illusion, which is nevertheless Hong Lu's reality.

IV/ The Reality of Hong Lu

Indeed, I will now delve into an explanation, and I will try not to get confused. For this, we must now look at a very important excerpt when analyzing the novel Dream of the Red Chamber:

"Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-real when the unreal's real."

This idiom is not just written anywhere in the world of the novel; it is located on the Paifang serving as the border and gateway to the Land of Illusion, and there is a good chance that it is also on the Paifang that we see behind Hong Lu.

This idiom makes us understand that reality is actually fiction and that fiction is actually the real world. It invites us to reverse our perception of realities and to consider what is called "real" as false and what is called “false” as real.

Here, I think, it is about understanding that Hong Lu's reality, which is (in) the Land of Illusions, is actually a fictitious and false world. Where the city, which is an unknown and completely foreign world to Hong Lu, which could be seen by him as a fictional world that is not real, is actually the real world, whereas the world he considers real is (his home) actually a false world.

To be honest, I cheated a bit because even though the reflection of the moon in the water is used to evoke a world of illusion for Buddhism, and even though I think it can indeed refer to the fact that Hong Lu is on the side of the "Land of Illusion", I think above all that this reflection is meant to make us understand that this world where Hong Lu is located has an illusory nature of reality + a nature of conditioned existence.

This brings me to talk again about Prospect Garden, which I think is the place where Hong Lu grew up but is especially the place from which Hong Lu must escape.

Prospect Garden is, as mentioned earlier, the Land of Illusion materialized in the real world and is therefore a domain where illusions and fantasies come to life, that is, a place where Baoyu bathed in luxury and idleness.

In "Dream of the Red Chamber," Jia Baoyu is often faced with symbolic choices between staying in Prospect Garden, which often represents the materialistic world and earthly pleasures, or setting out in search of spiritual enlightenment. His journey to enlightenment often involves leaving the illusions and distractions of the material world represented by Prospect Garden. Thus, it is often suggested that to achieve enlightenment, Jia Baoyu must move away from Prospect Garden and seek a true understanding of himself and the world around him.

At the end of the novel, Jia Baoyu (the figure who is supposed to have inspired Hong Lu) realizes the illusory nature of his life and realizes that Prospect Garden was only a world where he was trapped by the illusory pleasures of life, and that is why at the end Jia Baoyu decides to break with his previous life and leave the garden (as well as the rest of his family).

I think we are going to go to Hong Lu’s home to realise that he was literally living in a bubbled space and we will go to the Land of Illusion which, I think, will also be the Prospect Garden.

And the fact that the words are reverse like if they were reflected in a mirror helps, I think, to support on the idea that Hong Lu's world/reality is a reflection of the real world but where everything is distorted/inverted (a symbol I also think of Hong Lu's ignorance and his strange vision of the world) and that this illusion glass will break little by little

We also have to remember the sentence

"Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-real when the unreal's real.

And remember that what is true is actually false / wrong according to this. So maybe, if this idea from the novel is kept, the world where Hong Lu is living is just a big lie where everything is just a smoke screen and that Hong Lu is living in denial, prefering to accept this illusion so that his world / vision of reality or truth is not shattered.

So, I think that Hong Lu, during his chapter, will have to understand that his reality is not true and learn to leave the land of illusion to find the truth because it seems to me that one of the theme of Hong Lu will turn around the theme of truth and reality.

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 12 - Style

To help promote her dear friend's new clothing business, Arsay agreed to an interview with Eorzea's most popular fashion column.

[apatheticlexicographer]

i think i finally understand the exact reasoning behind how both will and mike's sexualities are presented, and how those presentations flatter each other.

will is barely queercoded from a subtextual perspective because there's no need to queercode him. the writers verbally establish in season one episode one that people percieve this kid as gay, so you're immediately guided to see him through the same lens, at least subconsciously. people continue to refer to him as gay and he continues to "act" gay, and most of the audience is able to see this for what it is very easily without the need for heavy symbolism. will being gay is simply treated as a fact from the start by both the characters around him and the writers themselves, for better or for worse.

MIKE, on the other hand, is so heavily queercoded it's barely even funny. he's the one with the queer imagery, the blocking, the set design, the lighting. he's never explicitly referred to as queer, it isn't so much as suggested verbally, but the sheer amount of incredibly blatant subtextual material that surrounds him is insane. none of the characters within the show have the slightest clue that mike is gay. there's a good chance that mike himself doesn't know, or has only begun to realize very recently. even the writers do their damn best to make it appear like they themselves don't know. still, the fact remains that he is, it just isn't expressed in a way that the homophobic masses both within and outside the show are capable of picking up on. when he comes out it will be a shock to the characters and the majority heterosexual audience, but not to the queer people who pick up instinctually on the signalling. basically, you only know mike is gay if you have a genuinely functioning gaydar.

in this way they're so strongly representative of two very different gay experiences, both of which are important and both of which are treated respectfully by the writers, despite the setting.

will is the kid who never really gets the luxury of choosing whether to come out to people, because everybody has had him pegged from the start. even his own family: jonathan tells will he accepts him before will can even hint toward the topic himself. however as much as we're told that he "seems" gay to other people, all we are shown subtextually is a totally normal child who happens to have feelings for another boy. this is important because it subverts the trope of making "being gay" the "obviously gay" character's sole or core trait.

mike is the kid who people would never in a million years guess was queer. it's not just that he gets the luxury of choosing when to come out of the closet; he's so deep in it that he's drowning in winter coats. he's the "twist queer character," except he's not. his subtextual queercoding has been there beneath the surface for just as long as will has been textually referred to as queer on a surface level. this makes it clear that him being gay isn't some kind of last minute decision and the subtlety of his presentation wasn't an accident. if you don't knkw mike is gay now before it's revealed then you aren't supposed to.

they're foils like that. they're the archetypal queers, and i think it's kind of beautiful.

(and if anybody tries to argue that one expression of Queer Experience is more important than another then i'm coming for their kneecaps. having both experiences not only represented but thoroughly explored is so rare, although there are people all over the world who resonate with each.)

[quinn-pop]

kirby stuffs but it’s just bluey quotes

bonus: crying

okay ill be back when im older

[aprilblossomgirl]

# mood 1 + mood 2 (basically)