#technical discussion of proper reference

[bravegrumpy]

Is this anxiety? Is this a Trauma response? Am I being too careful? Or Am I just trying to get re-aquainted to blogging after a decade-long break?

I'm in the middle of writing a much longer introductory article for a different blog I run. (Not on Tumblr). It has no audience.

Throughout the blog post I have the following:

My original writing

images of my original artwork

photographs and diagrams I created

YouTube videos I did not create, but know how to attribute

text I did not create, but know how to attribute.

text I created with information I know how to attribute.

Text I created with information I do not know how to attribute.

Most of my external references are completely rephrased to further the points I'm trying to make in the text. When referencing outside information, I usually include a standard in-text reference, and an embedded link (and maybe a PDF of what I accessed) whenever possible. This is regardless of whether I'm using an exact quote.

When I do pull exact quotes, I do so within the limits of fair use.

When I say I do not know how to attribute information, I don't mean challenging attributions with difficult to find author information. I am talking about information I synthesized from a conglomeration of many different sources, most of which are unknowable to my audhd and dyslexic brain.

How do other writers overcome this?

Is it just my creative-writer brain stressing? Is there truth to this monologue?

Am I old to instinctively want to call it my bibliography?

I also will have some sort of bibliography or footnotes section at the end, with a complete IEEE or MLA style reference.

Does IEEE with footnotes, vs a verbose MLA reference truly matter?

Outside of including links and attribution, I don't include a "call to action" for the reader to subscribe to the outside source. I simply use references that are directly related to the point I'm trying to make.

While this might be an obsessive thought, I also don't really know what to do.

Has anybody else gone through the questions of "How do I appropriately reference synthesized information?"

[pearlcatcher-problems]

spire ᛜ false amphithere ᛜ beast wyrm ᛜ king of the roost

finally had the time to tackle this lad's reference; next up is a custom skin for him to match his headcanon! Lore rambles and general discussion of him / his spot in the lair beneath the cut to keep length down q wq

Spire is a false amphithere, technically a beast wyrm, that has settled and taken over one of the lair outposts. Most of his body is furred with thick boar bristle, but his chestplate is heavier armoured scale. Like most outpost heads, he bears the emblem of the joined clans on his wings and garb, although the over-ornamentation is mostly his magpie-like mate's preference.

The 'koi' on his wings is only ever visible under direct sunlight, where the fish-like scaling on his wings is most iridescent. Otherwise, it's just yet another glossy protective layer over his already armoured hide.

Beast wyrms are usually territorial and brutish, usually lone-wanderers due to conflict with others of their species. They rarely breed, which means their numbers are low, and quite a few of them will integrate themselves in mixed-species lairs that better suits the beast side of their bloodlines. Boars, bears, ox, and bison tend to be the most plentiful beast lines, with other species spotted scarcely. There's very little understanding on how they can continue their bloodlines or how new species are still popping up, and there are theories that they're instead created through corrupted interference. It very well could be both.

Spire's nature is a benefit to him where he is now, having quickly charmed most of the chattering amphitheres over within days of his first landing within their borders and ended up being the prize gem of their matriarch within a season. The amphitheres are chaotic and fickle creatures, and as such, they had strained relations with neighbouring clans until Spire was able to better translate between the groups. While the neighbouring dragon clans simply wanted access to the amphithere grounds for study and ( hopefully ) trade, the amphithere's distrusting nature made it near impossible to conduct anything of the sort safely. With the amphitheres now well-fed due to an influx of ley magics and their society a little more organised, they've been able to progress their roost to the point of joining a proper network. Most who venture into the roost know that they only have one chance, if they overstep they will be tossed either by an amphithere denizen, or Spire himself.

He's unable to fly for long distances, both due to his shorter wingspan compared to most flying-beasts, and the added weight of the boar bristling. He is able to glide, climb, crawl, and charge at quite a good speed though, which means most of his fighting is done on-ground after intentionally disabling his opponents' wings somehow or hindering their ability to fly at all. Like most dragon-folk, he has the ability to breathe 'fire' but it requires quite a lot of fuel to do so and is used sparingly. It takes his body at least twenty seconds to get a devastating flame charged and it's visibly obvious when he's preparing for it as the scaling on his chestplate will flare up, which means it's not something used without thought or desperation. He is powerful, but there are always limits and calls to that power. It's why he agreed to engage in the political alliances for the good of the roost, at least then if they do encounter a threat where he's limited in his abilities, the allied clans have promised to step in.

He has five functioning digits on his forelimbs, but they're limited in dexterity and mostly used as anchoring grapples or simple motion. Given the shape of his wings, it's difficult for him to turn his wrists without moving his entire wing, which means a lot of fine-tune work is often left to a different dragon. His hindlimbs only have two functioning digits, with a pair of curved claws and a pair of dewclaws for gripping behind them.

Although he can technically eat anything, his favourite foods are tubers and fresh melons, but he also enjoys just gnawing on bones. The amphitheres are unable to eat anything outside of raw ley energy and flesh, so any growing produce within their territory tends to be just for him, a few of the locals specifically hiding away small melon farms in corners of the cliffs away from where younglings may try to play with them.

Most of the allied clans call all citizens of the roost 'amphitheres,' which has lead to some confusion as not all dragons in the roost are technically amphitheres. Despite the differences in species though, socially and culturally, all species are amphitheres and equal as long as the same goals are kept. It's an odd place, but it somehow works.

l m a o none of this is organised but mmmm I just love this lad qwq

[cynicalmusings]

thinking of some flirty/ teasing ways anaxa and socrates!reader address each other + fool the whole of the grove into thinking they’re officially a couple just for funsies. something like:

“anaxa dear?”

“yes, philosopher mine?”

“would you care for a discussion?”

“why, certainly; there is little else i would care for in this sorry world.”

or:

“anaxa—”

“do not call me anaxa.”

“very well. all-knowing and beloved anaxagoras, light of my life and jewel of my heart, i am not convinced that your position has been sufficiently explained.”

“then, most wise and most dear philosopher, for whom my soul strives and around whom my very existence revolves, i shall illustrate with another example to satisfy you.” and then he does some weird stupid thing like pulling them towards him and whispering in their ear before saying, “is my position clear now?” and everyone who was listening to the conversation is literally rooted to the floor. because what the fu—

usually it’s the reader initiating the tease, and anaxa plays along if he’s in the right mood. they just do it every now and again, completely spontaneously. and then other days anaxa refers to reader as “fool” and reader to him as “blasphemer” or something and everyone ends up super confused. like, are they dating? hating? the secret third thing? what the hell is going on??

(to be clear: there is no hating, and technically no proper ‘dating’, either. they’re just deeply in love and semi-aware of it and just rolling with whatever, really.)

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

One thing that sticks out to me that not alotta people mention is that Ramshackle wasn't the dorm's original name? Like, I recall in the light novel that Grim complains about the disrepair of the dorm, specifically calling it "Ramshackle", which the 3 ghosts then jokingly say "Hey! That's we can call it! Ramshackle Dorm!" It's interesting

I think people tend to not mention it because they genuinely overlook that detail (I'm included in that group www). The naming of our place of residence actually occurs in the game's prologue as well, but it's VERY easy to miss because of how it is presented. We first arrive at the dilapidated dorm building in part 5 of the prologue:

The problem here is that, as you can tell from the screenshots above, the location placards the game presents us with already names this location as "Ramshackle Dorm" (even though Crowley does not refer to it by any name prior to this). This would lead many players to assume the building has always been called Ramshackle.

In part 8 of the prologue, Grim complains that the dorm is "ramshackle"--which, as you should note, is not capitalized. The adjective ramshackle means "(especially of a house or vehicle) in a state of severe disrepair"--an apt description of the place. However, because it is not capitalized here, Grim isn't yet naming the building Ramshackle, and we quickly move onto an entirely new topic of discussion after this comment.

It is not until part 20 (the final part of the prologue) that Grim officially names the building "Ramshackle". His wording implies that he and Yuu agreed to calling their dorm "Ramshackle" when this conversation really did not happen earlier. There was never a formal scene dedicated to Grim and Yuu chatting about what they should call their new home.

This is expanded on in the first volume of the light novel, but it is also easily missed because while most Twst fans do play the game, not many have the attention span or the interest to read the novelization. There are many things added or changed in the light novels that are missed because of this.

The expanded conversation occurs on page 112 in the English light novel:

You'll notice that in the light novel, the adjective "ramshackle" is capitalized to "Ramshackle", which denotes a proper noun/refers to a particular place. This is followed up by the ghosts commenting that they love the name Ramshackle for their historical home. It's much more obvious in this version of the Twst main story that "Ramshackle" is a name Grim came up with and not a name that the dorm always had.

I guess I always felt that "Ramshackle" was an official name for the dorm and not one we came up with because of the ease with which everyone in the cast adopts the term??? Like no one ever questions what it refers to, even the students we've never met before or even Crowley, who reasonably should know that building's original name. Everyone else just kind of accepts that's what it is called now, even though we technically are only ever shown telling Ace and Deuce on-screen what we've dubbed the old dorm. I think we're supposed to suspend our disbelief for this detail or are expected to assume that the name spread around the student body through the rumor mill (cuz surely everyone would be gossiping about the strange new magicless student from another world) 💦

[david-talks-sw]

Woah there. Coming in a little hot. Take a step back, take stock, and chill. Even when we're discussing (read: "arguing") about stuff, it's Star Wars. It's a fictional universe. We're talking about movies and TV shows and comics aka... having fun.

(Which is advice that applies to me too, for the record)

That said, you trimmed out what I said, so I'll copy-paste it below (blue text) before expanding.

For context, someone said that (paraphrasing) the clones are referred to as “property of the Republic” by Shaak Ti in an argument with Nala Se regarding Fives and there is no rejoinder, so this acknowledgment of the clones being property of the Republic makes the Jedi complicit in their enslavement, as they partake in a flagrantly immoral command structure that sent slave soldiers to their deaths.

My response:

Tone and context are everything. There's an intonation on the word "property" when Shaak Ti says it. She isn't saying:

"Fives is property of the Republic."

She's saying:

"Correction! Technically, Fives is 'property' of the Republic."

She's taking Nala Se's cold, callous term and turning it around on Se with a technicality to score a point and pull rank, in order to save Fives' life. The subtext isn't "Fives is my slave," it's "you don't get to take this living being's life without my say-so."

Ti is regurgitating Nala Se's lingo to tell her to shut the fuck up.

In-universe, "there is no rejoinder" because Fives is aware of this subtext and knows Shaak Ti's in his corner. His life was on the line and Shaak Ti saved him.

Out-of-universe, "there is no rejoinder" because it's the ending of a 22-minute episode from a children's TV show 😃 and the point of the scene isn't to argue semantics about the ownership of the clones it's to save Fives' life. The beats of the scene can be boiled down to:

Nala Se argues fervently for Fives to die.

Shaak Ti is like "stfu no, I'm taking him to Coruscant"

Fives is grateful that Shaak Ti saved his life.

If the argument Nala Se used was, I dunno... "he must be terminated because the virus is contagious" then the beats of the scene would play out the same. Because again: the narrative, the story being told in this episode, ends with Shaak Ti coming in with the clutch and saving Fives.

The lore/sci-fi-ness of it all are mere details to move this children's story along.

You can read the rest of my response here, but since then, the user expanded on their point, explaining that while they acknowledge that Fives knows Shaak Ti's in his corner, what they meant is that there is no rejoinder from Nala Se. If it wasn't true that Fives was "property of the Republic", Nala Se would have said so in her cold and clinical terms.

Thus, for them, the point still stands.

And, uh, I'm not sure it does. Because the episode right before, Nala Se does counter Shaak Ti's argument by saying "nu-uh, the clones are property of the Kaminoans and we're leasing them to you."

So at some point, we either:

Point and go "IT'S A PLOT HOLE, BAD WRITING!" and acknowledge the point is thus moot.

Headcanon our way through this, theorizing that this point of semantics was argued by Shaak Ti and Nala Se and subsequently solved off-screen, in-between the two episodes. In which case, Shaak Ti's word on the subject is indeed final.

Acknowledge that this is a 22-minute story for kids, it was the end of the episode, and they needed Shaak Ti to come up with a technicality so as to save Fives without seeming unreasonable, and this is the best the writers could come up with.

I'm gonna go ahead and take option #3.

But, anon, this reaction of yours does open the door on a bigger point I've argued before.

All I did was bring proper context back to Shaak Ti's words, when they had been taken out of it.

And in discussion about the Jedi, this gets done very often. A sentence - or even words within one - will get plucked out of context and lore or fanon will form around it.

Here's some examples.

"Obi-Wan said that Anakin is pathetic!"

Context:

A pathetic life form.

He's comparing Anakin to Jar Jar, y'all.

AKA someone who had been exiled and was later about to be executed when they found him. AKA someone who has pathos, who inspires pity. Aka someone PATHETIC.

George himself describes Vader as pathetic.

That's because "pathetic" isn't just a judgmental term.

Resulting interpretation: Obi-Wan isn't saying Anakin is "ew, pathetic!" he's disagreeing with Qui-Gon's tendency to pick up strays and fails to see the point of them tagging along on the mission. He is proved wrong later and this ties in to his character arc about learning to see the value in listening to Guide archetype characters like Jar Jar or Ep. 1 Anakin.

"Yoda said the Jedi are arrogant."

Context:

Obi-Wan is bitching about Anakin being arrogant due to being so skillful, and Yoda tells Obi-Wan:

Resulting interpretation: Yoda is speaking in riddles, as per usual. He's being cheeky and implicitly telling Obi-Wan that he can be arrogant too sometimes, in his own Yoda-esque way.

Yoda is not "lamenting how far the Jedi have fallen". It's just another way of saying "we're all human, nobody's perfect."

"Mace said he doesn't trust Anakin."

Context:

Obi-Wan: “Anakin did not take to his assignment with much enthusiasm.” Mace: “It’s very dangerous putting them [Anakin & Palpatine] together. I don’t think the boy can handle it.”

Resulting interpretation: Anakin - not, by his own admission, the most subtle Jedi - is being asked to secretly spy on someone he considers a close friend, a mentor, a father even... aka someone who'll read Anakin like an open book (which is exactly what ends up happening).

Would you trust Anakin with that mission?

Because I sure as hell wouldn't. And that's what Mace is saying.

If it's "fucking disgusting" to point out the context in each of the above situations, during a Star Wars analysis or discussion, I fail to see why.

[iamconstantine]

arcane characters as college staff

Mel

History professor 

Refers to all students by (honorific) (surname)

Nothing but praise on ratemyproffesor

“I didn’t like history until I took Professor Medarda’s class” 

Doesn’t write scholarly articles, just giant ass books that she pumps out almost every year somehow

Quickly responds to emails. No response = its in the syllabus 

“Is there any make up work I can do to get my grade up—“ Absolutely not

But if you go the writing center you can get extra credit

Every year her students ask for an extension on the final project and every year she gives a long and furious rant about how the project was visible online from Day 1 and they had all semester to work on it

She has a beautiful office that looks like a miniature library and she only sees students by appointment

Jayce

Physics professor

Is a prolific author but somehow can’t figure out how to set up the course online

Prints cheesy physics memes 

Every zoom meeting begins with 1000 messages saying “professor Talis we can’t hear you your mic isn’t on” every. time.

you can come see him in his office any time, door’s always open

but his office is so messy you probably won’t be able to sit because he has a stack of papers on every chair

“Everyone got this question on the exam wrong so I’m going to give everyone credit because that means i didn’t teach it properly”

Always throws an end-of-year party at his place 

Caitlyn

English Literature professor 

would win best dressed of the staff, always shows up in the slacks-and-blazer fit

“To understand why the narrator wears red shoes, we need to take a look at the sociopolitical state of Edinburgh in 1864.”

if you reply to a discussion board post with just “I agree” you’re not getting credit and it isn’t up for discussion 

Never reads contemporary fiction. The “newest” book she’s read is The Great Gatsby

“We’re not having a party but if you want to bring snacks and soda to the last day of class that’s fine”

Covers a lot of authors but it somehow always comes back to Emily Dickenson

Is that teacher that assigns 400-page books every week

Constantly publishing in lit journals (rumor has it she writes steamy open-door romance books under a pen-name but no one has confirmed this)

Ekko

Art professor 

You have to actively screw up to get a bad grade with him

He wrote thousands of letters to the board until they caved and gave the class a proper kiln

“Write a three-page essay explaining why AI art is not art and insisting otherwise is spitting in the face of humankind. Double spaced. Due Friday 11:59”

Throws back coffee. Has a coffeemaker in the studio. Two of them. 

“Hey guys some of you are submitting assignments at 2 in the morning. It can wait until the next day. Please get some sleep.”

He’s created awe-inspiring pieces but if you just wanna paint a frog wearing a hat he’ll say “that’s cool”

Says he knows who banksy is but will never tell

He gets way too deep in the zone. Once reached for his coffee cup while painting, drank paint water instead. Didn’t notice.

Jinx

Chemistry professor 

If you email her the response will be “k” or “no” and nothing else

Waits until twenty minutes after the class begins to email everyone that class is canceled 

Never wears a coat, goggles, or gloves. But will call out students if they don’t

takes 5 years to post grades

“Look I’m not remembering any names. Too many. If I’m talking to you I’ll just point”

Puts a meme on the projector every day. Mostly incomprehensible. Picture of a horse on an beach and it just says “Zimbabwe”

lowest score on ratemyprofessor

someone creates a website called ratemystudent and administration has no proof that it was her because technically the students with bad scores being the same students that get bad grades in her class can be coincidental 

Viktor

Biomedical engineering professor 

Only professor who still uses chalkboards

First day of class is first day of class. No reviewing the syllabus, turn to page 34 in your textbook.

Puts things in the syllabus to catch people who use ChatGPT. If you’re caught, you’re removed from his class. Immediately. You will not get to plead your case.

Most of his cited sources are himself

Literally begs students to thrift their textbooks online instead of buying them from the school. Provides free PDFs as often as he can.

He reads journals every day and will write personal letters to authors he disagrees with

If a student asks a particularly dumb question he’ll step out of the room for ten minutes to compose himself and then resume teaching like nothing happened

Vi

Not a professor, works at the on-campus gym and leads clubs

Constantly curses without batting an eye. Students will leave class with their very uptight professor then come to the soccer club where vi walks in like “sorry I’m late guys i had a motherfucker of a headache this morning”

Please don’t ask her about anything that isn’t club or sport related. If you ask for directions or how to get in contact with student services she’s got nothing

If she refs for a game and you’re on the opposing team you’d better watch yourself. She will rip you a new one if you break any rules. One time a player grabbed one of her member’s mask during a game and he left crying after Vi was done with him

Students run into her at the local hangouts a lot but it’s never awkward. just reminds you not to party too hard before the game tomorrow 

Leads pretty much every club but dance. Wouldn’t admit it but she has no sense of rhythm and refuses to even do it as a student

You can call her coach or captain or just Vi, whatever you want. But if you call her Violet she’ll stare you down until you correct yourself

Heimerdinger

Anthropology professor 

Spends the first day of class getting to know everyone. “We’re going to go around and give our names and a fun fact about ourselves!”

Gives the “Nacirema” assignment and can’t wait to tell everyone the catch

His classroom is filled with artifacts. Don’t ask about any of them because it will take up class time

If you can’t make it to class he sends really nice responses saying he understands, then checks in when you come back

The only thing that puts him in a bad mood is the “why do anthropologists study dinosaurs if anthropology is about people” question. He’s old and tired 

Keeps thinking about retiring, keeps changing his mind

Silco

Political science professor

His classroom is bare and blank. No life. Just fluorescent lights and chairs.

Brags about how few people pass his class

Very strict on attendance. Too many absences and you’re out. 

If the assignment is due at 11:59 and you turn it in at 12:00, it’s late

“I am quite interested to hear why you believe you are deserving of a higher grade when you’ve spent less than thirty minutes attending all of my classes combined. Please, continue.”

Will straight up roast other professors no problem. Encourages students to pass it along

He encourages debate but the only thing students debate about outside of class is whether he’s hot or creepy af

Final project is a choice between A) A ten-page essay on why there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, or B) a presentation on why the country is doomed

Vander

Education professor 

Makes his own series of Crash Course-esque videos

Comes to class in jeans at best. Sweats, sometimes. 

He has one coffee mug that says #1 Dad and he refuses to use anything else

He puts fun questions on his exams, like riddles. If no one gets it, he actually gets sad

Whenever he erases the whiteboard he always misses a spot. He’s that professor.

If he catches you plagiarizing, you get one pass before he reports it. But you have to come to his office so he can tell you how disappointed he is and how much potential you have

He gives a seminar about how worried he is for the future of education and the wellbeing of the next generation and everyone leaves feeling guilty. Everyone.

Make a pop culture reference in class and everything will grind to a halt so you can explain it to him. Visuals help.

Sevika

Librarian

If you play music in the library she’ll walk up to you and just go “are you joking”

Have a phone call on speaker and she’s hanging it up for you

There’s signs telling you to be quiet every three feet

If you see her outside of school no you didn’t

She’s in charge of leading classes on accessing academic databases and she fucking hates it

Somehow knows where every book is down to the shelf. She’ll tell you what you’re looking for before you can finish your sentence

technically she’s supposed to do a walkthrough before closing for the night but if you can’t read the library hours on the signs it’s your fault if you get locked in

[nobylerdoubt]

I'm having doubt because of the overall rejection towards byler, ppl that I know irl ship them or at least consider the possibility (without me saying anything) but ppl on the internet don't seem to? I'm surprised that queer people ship mileven, and they are totally allowed to ofc, but it surprises me a bit, is byler really that bad and forced or are ppl just haters?

My dear anon, the reason so many people don't think byler is gonna happen has nothing to do with the likelihood of byler, and everything to do with homophobia and heteronormativity.

This is actually a really great question for Pride Month, so here's some queer media history for you.

Queercoding and Heteronormativity

Let me introduce you to the Hays Code:

The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) from 1922 to 1945.

Wikipedia

The code was made to regulate the moral content of films. It regulated films to showing only "correct standards of life" and not showing audiences that could tempt them to sympathize with "crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin". The "crime, wrongdoing, evil, or sin" in question including abortion, ridiculing religion (read: christianity), nudity, premarital sex, a love triangle including married characters, interracial marriage, prostitution, and of course homosexuality.

While the code was technically voluntary, it was mandatory for any filmmaker who wanted their film to show in American theaters. For 30 years, almost every film produced in the US adhered to the Hays Code.

During this period of time we see the invention of queer coding. It was a way to acknowledge a characters LGBT identity, while still adhering to the code.

Some coding meant borrowing from some of the coding for straight sex (which was obviously also censored) like lighting each other cigarettes. Other hints a character could be queer could be that character wearing lavender colored clothing, handkerchiefs, or scented handkerchiefs. Calling a man a "confirmed bachelor" for example, was queer coding.

Anything more explicit then that had to give the character's "moral conflict" "the proper frame of reference". Meaning, If a character is more obviously gay they are punished for it. They're villains, and/or they die. They most certainly don't get to have a happy ending. This is where you get the bury your gays trope.

The code dissolved in 1968, instead becoming a rating system to warn audiences about a film's contents rather than outright blocking them. However, queer coding stayed.

There's a theory that I couldn't find a source for, but one that I remember from my Pop Culture class where I first learned about this stuff. It's called Inoculation Theory. The idea is that if you slowly introduce a top into pop culture and film, such as queer narratives, the general public will build a tolerance to it - like a vaccine. So queer coding slowly started to turn into queer storylines and queer storylines.

(A really great documentary to watch on this subject is called The Celluloid Closet, which discusses LGBT people in cinema and how that have evolved up until 1995 when the documentary was created.)

However, as a side effect of inoculating the public to queer narratives, they have grown tolerant of queer narratives in a different way... They have seen queer coding so much, they have grown less sensitive to it. They fail to see the signs of a queer narrative because it doesn't matter - that character will probably be killed off. They won't get a happy ending, and they certainly won't get to be in a relationship with another member of the cast.

Now... it's not that overt. I doubt a lot of people are thinking those exact things, but it's so ingrained in our collective society - people don't see queer storylines as ones that tend to get fully realized, or get happy endings, based on the media they've consumed.

Now this is all assuming the best of people, but there's a nefarious flip side to all of this:

Queerbaiting and Homophobia

Where queer coding is a way to get a queer narrative into the world without pissing off the censors, queer baiting is the opposite. Queer baiting involves the marketing of the show or movie alluding to LGBT representation without actually giving that representation - at least not in a meaningful way. They're trying to bring in a broader audience to watch their show or their movie without alienating their straight, homophobic, conservative audience members.

Famous examples of this include Sherlock, Supernatural, and Voltron.

Queer baiting is homophobic and cruel and common.

So with queer coding and queer baiting combined, the general audience doesn't see queer storylines as viable. Queer characters are expendable, and their stories aren't as important as they stories of straight characters.

Now, there is queer representation out their in the world, but it's less likely to happen, in the eyes of the conservative, heteronormative public, in a normal show or movie. A visual media that isn't explicitly "for the gays", like Heartstopper, Love, Simon, or Red, White, & Royal Blue. (Those shows and movies are great - but they're explicitly queer stories.)

The idea that a ship like Byler could show up in a wildly popular non-queer (to them) show, is frankly unheard of.

But more than just general skepticism and denial - we are in a period of conservatism and homophobia. People are just homophobic, and the idea that a gay character could "tear apart" a straight relationship... they're afraid of it.

And even more so because it's plausible.

You wanna know why people don't worry about Robin/Vickie - because it's not breaking up an established straight couple. Ronance? Steddie? Because it's not gonna happen. Let the gays have their "silly little romances" because they don't stand a chance of becoming canon. It's just fanfiction and headcanons.

But Byler is real, and it's threatening. That's why they hate it.

Hays Code sources: 1/2/3

[mono-dot-jpeg]

your strongest potions, shopkeeper! - blue lock

summary; in which you (the reader, not y/n) learn of the tales of rafta

genre/extra tags; scenarios?, heavily inspired by potionomics (great game), characters as potionomics characters, fluff, comedy, modern fantasy au (technically), lots of potionomics references and fantasy talk, y/n a little stupid but it's fine.

a/n; hi, i've been playing potionomics nonstop lately and it's been on my mind and I already miss my silly baptiste. he's so babygirl. and naturally, why not smush my current interests together now since I got the idea in my mind already. i wont be discussing all the characters in the game and matching them with bllk boys unfortunately as im having a hard time wondering who would be who. tbh, a lot of them could probably apply to one character KHDJDKDJ

the ingredient merchant is a teasing one. he's dry, calculating, and more than willing to add fuel to a fire during a heated conversation. but he would never do that with you. but he does live to tease you with his dry remarks and his smug grin. but he's the one who helps supply your potion ingredients, though. you don’t really know how... but you decide not to question it.

karasu tabito is a clairvoyant. he has his large all-seeing orb, which he's told you that it's how he finds all his connections to get all these ingredients. and then he's got his little chest mimic. maybe not that little.. it's bigger than a chair. and he can sit on it like a large ottoman.

he's kind of mysterious despite being one of your first friends you've made in rafta. he doesn't talk a lot of his past, and he appreciates that you don't press hard about it.

he's probably been by your side since the start, watching your growth to defeat the competition in the potion-making industry.

you fell for him first, but he totally fell harder.

"you know i've been getting a lot of visions of a person lately. from my orb." he started. "i see your...stupid face in them." he looks away from you, the large brim of his warlock hat covering the subtle blush on his cheeks. he curls in on himself slightly, resting against his floating all-seeing orb. "you.. see me? wait, does that mean i'm gonna die soon?!" you panic, flinching back at the possible implications of him seeing you in his visions. "god, you're such an idiot. i mean, yeah, we all die someday, but this.. is different. it means.. that i like you." he grumbled. "so, what are you gonna do about it?" "hm.. can i kiss you then?"

the guild master is a man of the people... despite being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. he means well. he strives to make the blue lock guild thrive! he wants to support the amazing adventurers who supply and give their recent monster loot to the potion makers who keep them alive with their adventure commissions. but it's been hard for him, really. he's been so disconnected from the normal life that he doesn't understand low class or middle-class struggles as well as most would.

mikage reo is a man who wishes to experience what most people already have. he's sick of the cushy rich life of having everything (though his mother still sends him a care package of out-of-your-budget hair care). he's a sight for sore eyes, catching plenty of attention from anyone and everyone. he's a gentleman whilst being a little.. passionate (is passionate the right word?) about his experiences and his goal to improve the guild to its rightful peak. he's also the announcer for the potion contests in rafta! he's never biased in those. i promise. (/gen)

like how he's watched you grow to be a masterwork potion maker, you've watched slowly shed free of his insecurities of the past and worrying over not being a great guild master.

he's sweet, a little eccentric, and more than an open book than he realizes. he's loyal to his goal even if the seasoned adventurers give him side eye about his past and lack of proper qualifications to handle a guild.

you fell for each other just as hard as the other.

"lately, i've been going through quite a lot as i learn how to navigate this new life. it's been stormy skies and rough seas..." he said with a sad smile, but it turns into something more softer and happier, "but you've been there for me and had so much faith in my plans." "some days i want nothing more than to go back to luxury. to relax and be free from work." he said with an annoyed frown. "luxury and riches are nice." you nodded. "but you helped me and showed me things i have never experienced." he smiled brightly. "and for that, i found myself falling for you." he pulls out a bright red rose, handing it to you. "do you want to hear the love my heart has to offer to you?" you gently take the rose with your fingertips, "i already hear it loud and clear."

the excitable new hero that was part of the guild was a fun one! he was a hero enthusiast, wanting to become a hero himself because of it. and he made it all the way to rafta! and now he helps gather new ingredients for you, ready for any dangerous adventure. he's absolutely an excited puppy. he loves doing anything as long as it was adventurous! sometimes if he was feeling really crazy, he would try the flavor of the day in the local ice cream parlor. (he cried the day he got his least favorite flavor, mozuku)

he's been kind of hung up on wanting a trophy or large weapon. so many heroes had them, so he should get one! he has to be a great hero after all! but in your eyes, he was already rather great at what he did. he's swifter than a bee and stung like one too. he seemed to have this innate talent for fighting and being adventurous. he just didn't seem to believe it when he was surrounded by hero legends or higher ranked heroes.

he's been your most supportive customer, often visited for plenty of potions or maybe a quick large order. sometimes he gives you a discount for his commissioned work out on the field.

you didn't fall for him at least, but boy, did he fall for you hard.

"it's silly, wanting to have a trophy or weapon to show off for your success." he said softly. "but i really did want one. i wanted to show that i was a great hero, you know?" he laughed sheepishly. "you might not have found one, but you really did prove yourself along the way. you're pretty high ranked, aren't you?" "yeah, it just feels weird to not have anything to show for it.." he smiled wistfully before it melts into a softer grin. "but hearing you say that i proved myself, it makes me feel so much better!" he groaned childishly, "but still! believing in yourself is hard." "well, it's easy for me to believe in you. it's probably the easiest thing i could do." he goes quiet, looking at you with adoration before blurting out, "can i kiss you?"

the succubus currently living in your literal hell of a basement is certainly a character. you had beat him in the potion-making competition and he outed himself as a demon. which wasn't much of a shocker to you, considering his less than savory scams he did with his potions. but even so, he was considerably skilled in charms and illusions more than potions. he just needed some cash.

but now that he's lost, he had found solace in your unfinished cave basement.. that had a whole river of lava running through?! you curse your uncle ego for having such an odd home that's left for you to handle. so, you unwillingly take in the damn demon before he runs amok ruining other poor souls. he's charming. you'll give him that much. he often sells you illusions and charms that would help your potions sell better. and he even gives you some pointers on how to charm the customers into letting their guard down for a great profit. he's been looking for a place to belong in a while, and your home seems to fit that bill as much as he hates to admit. he's rowdy, flirty, invasive, most things that you don't really want to have around (especially since he unsealed the magic barrier that was keeping you safe from the heat of the lava).

but overtime, you seem to find yourself liking the odd presence of him. or maybe he had unintentionally put a charm on you. you may never know.

you fell first, he fell right after.

"you know i really saw you as a threat to my business and all." he said. "it really wasn't love at first sight." he laughed. "but you're still you, even after all your big decisions to change. still the same wrecking ball that crashed into my shop and right into my basement." "i was petty about a lot of things for a long time. many many years probably. when my own home got destroyed. i was just surviving to the next day." he said, frowning slightly. "but i changed. i changed to find my way to you." "now, you're thriving." "i really am thriving. and now, whatever i decide to do with my life. i want you by my side." "i want that too." "then show me, dear."

[nocandnc]

I saw some discussion floating around on what Momo and Okarun might name their child if they had one, which got me thinking about it as well. This inevitably led me down a deep rabbit hole of Japanese wordplay and research that really needed its own post, so here goes...

Naming hypothetical Dandadan kids!!

Fandadan kids...?

I'll be covering Momo x Okarun, Aira x Jiji and Kinta x Vamola below the cut for those who're interested - it's very long and very silly.

Momo x Okarun

If it were up to me, I'd name their child Tou. Why?

Well. You. See! Okarun's real name is Ken, written as 健 - meaning 'health' or 'strength'. However, 'ken' is also how you pronounce the word for 'sword' - written as 剣. This refers broadly to swords of many varieties. A more specific word would be 'katana', written as 刀, which refers to Japanese-style blades in particular. Another way of pronouncing 刀 is 'tou'.

Momo's name means 'peach' and is written as 桃. An alternate way of pronouncing 桃 is also 'tou'. Furthermore, the word 'momo' is also one way to read 百, the kanji for the number 100... as in the number of kilometers an hour a certain old lady can run.

So Tou feels like a wonderful name to me, as it loops all in and around Momo and Ken's names and even Turbo Granny to boot. It's a masculine name, but I feel like they'd still go with Tou even for a girl. A very tough girl!!

Aira x Jiji

Whether these two end up becoming a proper pairing in-series remains to be seen, but I've become totally hooked on them recently ^^;; and they're both so good with kids, I can imagine them having two or three... but I think the first one should be Buyuu.

Aira's name is written as 愛羅, which is a nod to the phrase 愛羅武勇 - read as 'I love you', or アイラブユー (ai ra bu yuu) - said as if one were speaking in English, rather than the Japanese line 'aishiteru' for example. A very fun line that showcases Aira's passionate side!

'Buyuu' would make for a very nice boy name to match his mother, written of course as 武勇 to follow Aira's 愛羅. Jiji is a fun and sentimental guy, so I think he'd be fully on board with this kind of wordplay!

武勇 can also be read on its own to mean 'bravery', 'military prowess' or 'valour'. Jiji's real name is Jin, written as 仁 and means 'benevolence', 'compassion', 'charity' etc. - while not directly related, 'jin' and 'buyuu' both point towards virtuous qualities that often go hand-in-hand. Buyuu refers to warrior-like traits especially, which also serves as a nod to Jiji's power both with and without the Evil Eye.

I can certainly think up good names for more kids too... but let's move on for now >///<

Kinta x Vamola

This ship might be a bit polarizing, but I honestly think they'd be so sweet together once they have time to grow! Another reading for Vamola is Bamora, written either way as バモラ - neither reading is right or wrong from a technical standpoint, but I prefer Vamola as it sounds more alien to my ears.

It also matches with Vega, which is the name I'd choose for her and Kinta's daughter!

Vega is the brightest star in the Lyra constellation, and is known in Japan as 織姫 or 'Orihime' - as in Orihime from the popular folktale of Tanabata. The story is about two lovers (Orihime and Hikoboshi) who are separated by the Milky Way and can only meet on the 7th day or the 7th month. A lonely maiden from the stars... almost like a certain alien girl!

But the connections don't stop there. Sakata Kinta (坂田金太) also happens to be a folktale reference! 'Kintarou' (金太郎) is the name of a very famous figure in Japanese myth, particularly known for slaying the fearsome oni overlord Shuten-douji. He also may or may not have served Minamoto no Yoshitsune under the name of Sakata Kintoki (坂田 金時). Folktale father, folktale daughter.

Kinta is such a bombastic guy, Vega just might be on the normal side of his naming preferences... but I think Vamola would find it all very sweet and moving. That said, Vega herself might choose to go by Orihime amongst her peers to avoid the questions and weird looks >.>

(And of course, if they had a son it'd be Altair instead!)

So... yeah! Those are my thoughts and ideas on the matter ^^;;;

I love researching Japanese terminology etc. so this was really just an excuse to ramble about all that... Hope some folks enjoy!

[amerricanartwork]

I want to say I love reading your headcanons, especially your Iterator ones. Do you have a unique headcanons for Pebbles, since you haven't talked about him much?

Ohhh, I'm so glad to hear that!! I love creating and typing down these headcanons, but sometimes I worry whether anyone actually wants to read these long posts about it, so it's always so nice to hear people appreciate them!

I would love to talk more about Five Pebbles! I actually have quite a few headcanons for him specifically since I tend to ponder him a lot. In fact, of all the canon characters, when it comes to headcanons that aren't purely working out their general personality and backstory I think I currently have more outside headcanons for him than anyone else.

But nonetheless, assuming you mean "unique" as "interesting and relatively uncommon/unheard of in the fandom", here's one of mine that might seem odd or specific, but I really like it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I’ve headcanoned for at least a few months now that Five Pebbles is very much an auditory learner. He’s more receptive to spoken and auditory information than just written text, and as such he tends to talk a lot, which is how he best formulates his ideas. 

Now, when I call him an auditory learner (or maybe just an audio-oriented person in general would be a better way to describe it), I also mean he generally cares a lot about how things “sound” to him. Five Pebbles pays close attention to how certain sounds “feel” in a sense, not just with regular abstract sounds, but spoken words, phrases, and ideas too. He likes it when sentences flow smoothly, convey the proper emotion or idea, and sound intellectual and well-thought-out, and dislikes when phrases sound clunky, confusing, or otherwise unprofessional and improper. In situations where he wants to appear smart and sophisticated, especially in a competitive sense, he loves flexing his extremely large vocabulary by throwing in long and obscure words and technical jargon too. To reference my last headcanon ask, this trait is another quality making him dislike NSH, who doesn’t care as much about grammar or syntax and thus tends to speak in casual ways Pebbles finds “improper”.

Usually, when he has a decent amount of uninterrupted personal time, Pebbles will spend several hours on end just talking to himself in his chamber to work out his ideas and plan any essays or speeches he’s preparing to give. He loves making sure that every sentence sounds pleasing, proper, and is grammatically correct, yet still explains his ideas thoroughly and accurately. However, despite being an introvert who values his alone time, he sometimes talks about his ideas to other iterators, especially when he wants feedback and criticism. In fact, having long discussions and debates, particularly about scientific, artistic, and philosophical matters, is perhaps one of the only things he actively enjoys doing with other people.

In this latter regard, this habit was actually one of the only reasons he occasionally, yet still actively sought out the presence of Unparalleled Innocence, someone whom I headcanon he never had much of a relationship at all with, positive or negative (at least pre-AU, that is). But nonetheless, Innocence is a very good listener and never declined an invitation to talk with him, though more often than not it turned more into him just rambling about something and her quietly listening and encouraging him to continue on (which she did for… other reasons besides her fascination with the subjects of his speeches, but I will get to those some other day…)

Another facet to this headcanon is that Pebbles has a strong appreciation for music. He finds it helps him calm down and work through his emotions very well, alongside one other habit I’ll address in a more official headcanon post. Thus, he’s got various music pearls with his favorite tunes that he’ll listen to while working or when he needs to relax. The purple one in Rivulet’s campaign is only one of many, though that was also the only one he could obtain at the time his chamber was broken into by the rot. 

His love of music has always been another little “worldly pleasure” that he took for granted, not realizing just how much he enjoyed it until after mass-ascension. And even then, he stuffed it deep inside him and kept trying to downplay its value to him all the way until his rot condition was almost at its climax. This emotional turmoil I imagine him having is a particular element of his character arc I find very interesting even in regular Downpour canon, but once again I will elaborate on it more later…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Anyway, there's the headcanon! Seeing as I'm planning to explain major character info in official headcanon posts, I tried to choose one that wasn't too essential for narrative comprehension, but is still unique and hopefully decently entertaining in-and-of itself. I also tried to use this to test a new format of doing more sketches for these headcanon posts, so it's not as much pure text.

Anyway, I hope you like it! And if you (or anyone else reading this, for that matter) ever want more headcanons, or can add to this one, don't be afraid to send another ask!

[nickturse]

Begin on October 7, 2023.

Nothing important happened before this date.

History began on October 7.

Never say the word “occupation,” and avoid using terms like “apartheid,” “segregation,” and “illegal settlements.”

Avoid writing about the wall. If you do, preface its existence by talking about terrorism and security.

Terrorism and security are very important words. Use them a lot in reference to Palestinians.

Remind your audience that Palestine is a “complicated” situation.

Avoid the word “genocide” — for legal and technical reasons, of course.

If you must use the word, put it in quotes.

Do not describe the escalation of Israeli hostility as an assault on the people of Gaza.

Instead, use words like “war,” and “conflict,” because that makes it easier to avoid the g-word...

[derekscorner]

Fated Rantings: Of Gods and Men

Hey, how ya doin? It's been a while

I haven't made a proper Fate post in a while. I've had smaller things here and there but nothing grand because I simply haven't seen anything new in a while.

I'm waiting on the Fate Extra remake that seems forgotten and I've yet to see Strange Fake because I don't want to spoil it with manga nor do I wish to pay Crunchyroll money.

I'm in a fated dry spell with only random videos and FGO tide me over. u_u....BUT NOT TODAY! Because I'm gonna ramble about my favorite topic in Fate, the gods. (ok second favorite)

Casual Reminder

Before I do that I must once again (like every post) remind you of Fate's multiversal nature. It began as a light novel with multiple routes and endings. Each of those routes and endings have been animated in some way over the years.

You've even seen original anime stories like Apocrypha and things that are referenced in the novels but depict a different chain of events like Fate Zero. The 4th Grail War Saber mentions in Fate Stay Night and the 4th Grail war you see in Zero are not the same thing.

Just like the Waver Velvet you see in Lord El Melloi isn't the same one you saw in Strange Fake even though both lived through a 4th grail war.

So when you're diving into the Fate Series do keeps these things in mind since what I'm about to tell you may not apply to every single Fate timeline.

However, what I'm about to tell you does apply to most of them if not all until something comes along to contradict me.

The Swirl of the Root

When discussing the fascinating (and silly) nature of the gods in Fate you can not skip over earths origins since many of them shaped the planet just as the planet gave birth to them for that function.

This beginning was called the "Age of Gods" which lasted an untold amount of time and ended when Gilgamesh turned on the gods when their age and influence was weakest.

Yes, love him or hate him, Gilgamesh's Uruk was the foundation for modern human civilization and history. His arrogance isn't without validity.

Of course, there are other factors to mention as well such as dragons, THE God, the planets will itself, and even aliens. All of these things do actually exist.

The Abrahamic God does exist in Fate although the series never states which of the religions based on him is the "real one". Which is a smart call and one they should always maintain.

I'm also bringing him up here a bit randomly since that's all I know of him in Fate's context. Even the voice Jeanne 'D Arc heard was potentially the counter-force though I don't think anyone likes that statement and I've never seen it brought up again.

BTW: It is also true that the Demiurge also exists within Fate since, like the pagan gods, human faith made it so. It's mentioned rarely so I don't know much beyond seeing it referenced in FGO and in videos.

Earth's Progeny

So with that said I can only make assumptions for you. We know the "center" of the Type-Moon multiverse is "The Root" the source of all that is but whether the root "is" God or its simply the point from which God made creation is just presumptions and theories on my part.

What's relevant to our fun dive into the gods is what comes after the old man upstairs and the root, earth. In a very metaphysical sense earth is the center of creation.

It's not in the literal center of the universe or anything like that but it is at the center of everything in a way. The beings that shape reality live there and even beings of alien origin eventually wind up there.

And that planet has a will of its own. The mages of the modern era refer to it as "Gaia". And what is unique about Gaia isn't that it has a will, technically every planet in the solar system does (that's a headache for later), it's that it's will is divided.

Of course, that is later. In the early days Gaia was in charge and many of the beings that would be labeled gods by humanity were born from it.

Usually with some sort of role or purpose in mind.

One of the earliest beings we know of was actually Ea himself. One of the names (or versions rather) of the creator god in Mesopotamian mythology. The very "sword" Gilgamesh wields (seen in the gif above) was forged and used by Ea to shape the planet.

He was an elemental, perhaps the earliest, and that was his job. Give the earth shape. The nature of earth back then is unknown to anyone but it must've been a fascinating contrast because the materials Ea's sword is forged from no longer exist.

The whole reason Shirou can't trace and copy the sword Ea with his Unlimited Blade Works is because it's made from things his mind can't comprehend. Which is a big statement because both Shirou and Archer can replicate Excalibur, the mightiest weapon on earth...I mean it'll kill them if they do it but they CAN replicate it.

(hell, the whole reason the sword Ea is cylindrical is because the concept of a "sword" didn't exist yet)

But they can't replicate (sword) Ea. That's the type of world earth was when (god) Ea roamed it.

She's so pretty T-T

We know not how long Ea did his work but we do know that science and mythology actually align in Fate which is wild to fit together. Ea may have worked millions of years but either way he disappeared when his job was done.

It was at that point that you had newer beings show up such as Tiamat and her husband Abzu. We don't really know what form both took initially but we know their names mean salt water and fresh/rain water respectively so they both likely came to be when the earth began to cool and the gases shift into liquid.

I should also clarify that I do not know how many "primordial gods" appeared nor who came before the other. Thanks to FGO we know there was Ea then Tiamat but it is entirely possible that Ea had other "siblings" of a sort also shaping the planet.

Just like Tiamat may have been just one of several mother goddesses. I'm only listing them in this fashion because we know that Ea preceded Tiamat and that the Mesopotamian myths are the oldest on any record. Both IRL and in-story.

To get back on topic, Tiamat's role was actually to seed life. She considers herself mother to all things roaming the earth and she's not entirely wrong to think it. Her appearance in FGO actually shows us what her authority was, the primordial mud.

Ya know, that dark gunky stuff that comes out of the grail? Tiamat is that personified. She's also so early in the timeline that she predates a concept of "death".

The whole reason I said Ea "disappeared" is because death wasn't a thing back then like it would be fore modern man. I actually have no idea what became of Ea but I presume that, like Tiamat, he was thrown into the Zero Space once he job was done.

And no, just like my FGO post, I’m not explaining Imaginary Number Space. It's a complex as hell thing to even word because it's a plane of existence that doesn't exist. I'd be trying to quantify "nothing" to you.

And you're likely wondering why I'm putting Tiamat and Ea on a pedestal after just recapping earth's history. It's quite simple reader, I'm doing this because I want you to grasp something.

What I just explained to you, these are the things that the "gods" done before they were "gods".

I'm not rambling for the sake of talking, I'm setting up a key factor in what makes a god a "god" in Fate. Because everything in Type-Moon is based on something that was once real.

You see this most in the heroic spirits/servants but this actually applies to even gods. The gods were creatures of another sort before they became gods. They did things only a "god" could do from a humans understanding.

They also roamed the earth for millions of years doing these tasks. The whole reason Quetzalcoatl can summon Pterosaur's is because they were still alive when she first arrived on earth.

While not "gods" these entities were exceedingly old forces of nature born of the planet. They were extensions of Gaia's will.

What makes a god?

So what makes these entities gods? Simple, humanity does. Although it's hard to say when, eventually humans do appear on the planet.

And I say "hard to say" because the metaphysical and physical were the same in the Age of Gods. Meaning both mythology and science were based on a long forgotten truth.

That's also why I cut the Tiamat recap short. We know she was put into Zero Space after her role but the whole mythology of her, her husband Abzu, and Marduk killing her was made by humans. Whether they wished to understand the world around them or simply to enjoy a good story.

I can't remember if Tiamat actually killed her husband in Fate but her death was at least false. For one, she can't die and second she was too powerful for anything other than the earth itself to put her away.

Of course, you do see Marduk's axe in FGO so it's possible he "killed" her in the sense that she was sent to the Zero Space but you get the idea. The truth of that past and the mythology humans made around it can differ.

Everything in Fate is based on a real thing but not every story surrounding said thing is true.

The Role of Man

Back to mankind, the belief in something can elevate it. What makes something a god in Type-Moon is the faith placed into it. It really is that simple.

Humanity believed Ea was a creator god so he took on a divine nature. Humanity believed Tiamat was a mother goddess who gave birth to other gods and so she was and so too did her children become divine.

Humans also believed Tiamat was or could turn into a dragon and so she did when revived as a beast of humanity in FGO. It doesn't end there either. Men who gained godly status, elementals, spirits, every fairies, all of these things were made into gods because of humanity.

It's not a quick change nor is it an easy one. It takes thousands of years of religious growth and cultural evolution but eventually the object of their worship will become divine.

And more often than not the gods born of that religion are bound to the mythology humans painted for them.

A facet of human collective consciousness I touched on when talking about how myths alter Heroic Spirits/Servants. (linked here)

The biggest underlying and overt theme of anything Type-Moon is humanity. That's why you usually see an average man or a human with a unique power overcoming some monstrous enemy. It's all about the strength of humanity.

But that too is a topic for another day. What's important here is that you fully grasp just how much this opens up on the Fate universe. So many things exist just because humans believe in it and the impact it has on the object they've focusing on can vary wildly.

Such as Medusa and her siblings. She was originally just a minor earth goddess of beauty but was shaped into her older self because humans crafted an idol of ultimate beauty and then the myth of the gorgons warped her into a serpent.

Medusa had to experience this in real time as she slowly changed into a monster that ate her own sisters. And yes, Fate changes the cause of her curse which is fair since the myth of Medusa's rape by Poseidon is actually a "newer" myth. The further back you go the more that changes.

And Medusa is probably one of the more tragic examples. Some of the most wild examples are alien in origin.

You see this shit? ^^ That's Zeus.

Granted, I pulled this image from a Lostbelt from FGO. Lostbelts are alternate timelines that "went nowhere" and were pruned. Despite that, it's true for every timeline that Zeus and the 12 Olympians were originally alien space ships.

No, you didn't read that wrong, they were the AI of space shuttles. They were originally one shuttle named Chaos that came into the Fate universe from a universe of unknown origin.

The passengers they were meant to transport all died and eventually Chaos broke up into 12 others creating the precursors to the Olympians.

They eventually found their way to Earth, and somehow, formed a contract with Gaia. In this era they were the 12 machine gods of Atlantis.

They even made a type of construct to communicate with people. For instance this is lostbelt Zeus but likely what any version of Zeus originally looked like:

(You can even see the resemblance to Heracles)

What's even wilder is that these 12 eventually became the 12 central gods of Greece, the Olympians. Not only showing the resilience of their divine spirits but the resilience of humanities faith in them.

Not only was Atlantis eventually destroyed but all 12 machine gods were destroyed, as in their original ship bodies, by the white titan. A being that too was of alien origin dropped on earth to wipe it clean of life.

This being left such a mark on the earth that it's remnants were also deified and shaped by humanity. Such as the giants who later attacked Olympus, they were remnants of this thing.

Another remnant of the titan also reincarnated as Attila the Hun and Attila, as a servant, to this very day wields the sword it stole from Ares when it killed him.

The original Atlantis Ares that is. That's why Attila's sword is more like a lightsaber than a blade.

This being was so powerful that the Earth resorted to forging Excalibur to destroy it. The first, and as far as I know, only time that Excalibur was used completely unsealed.

Funner fact, it was an unnamed human who wielded it. So Saber isn't the first wielder of the blade even if she's the most famous.

Pandora's creation by the Olympians

Again, I probably seem like I'm rambling aimlessly but I'm not. These 12 machines became gods, were destroyed by a literal planet killing, god slaying, alien giant and still reappeared later.

That is the resilience of humanities faith in their gods. It literally reconstructed Atlantian gods into the Olympians with those specific 12 being incorporated into whatever other minor gods existed in the region such as the aforementioned Medusa.

This also around the time you had other gods all over the earth. Such as Odin and the norse gods. As I learned in FGO last week, they not only existed but their authority and territory of Scandinavia encompassed 9 or more realms.

How much of these realms were actually made by Odin is a guess due to the nature of what gods are vs what humans believe but they still existed. Literal planes of existence wrapped around a specific region on earth.

Odin's kinda scary ngl

You're likely wondering why Earth, as a sentient thing, would allow this. Yes, many of the oldest gods were spirits it birthed for a purpose but many more grew beyond that or fell from space.

Some are even as small as parasites. The aforementioned Quetzalcoatl was originally a parasite from space. The entire Mesoamerican pantheon was as such. They landed on earth in the age of the dinosaurs and began hopping from one host to another.

It was humanity that defied them and it's also the reason Quetzalcoatl is female as a servant but remembered as a winged serpent. That female form is quite bluntly her current host.

As for "why" earth let them be for so long, well, it's simple. It's humanities faith in them that makes them gods but the earth itself, the will Gaia, grants these gods their authority based on how many humans believe in it.

They're not only gods because humans believe it so but because the earth allows them to be. That's what "authority" is when you're watching Fate. That's the thing the earth gave them power over.

Such as Zeus and Odin commanding the skies and lightning or Tiamat the seas. All of these gods bow to the planet in a way.

But that is also why their age came to an end.

Let us circle back to Uruk and the age of man's beginning, back to this f*cker here. ^

Ya see, the gods are so reliant on the planet that they can't maintain a physical form without it's mana. Especially if the bodies they originally had are destroyed like how the Olympians lost their ship bodies.

The White Titan is actually to blame for this in part. Before the Fae forged Excalibur and gave it to it's human wielder to slay the titan it razed earth to the ground.

80% of life was lost and many of the gods who guarded the planet were slain by it. This is crucial because mana stems from life and vice versa. If you wipe away 80% of the life (including fauna) on the planet then a huge chunk of it's mana is going to disappear.

This began the downward spiral for the age of gods ending. As life slowly rebuilt the mana never reached the levels it had before. In fact, it's continually dwindling even up to the modern day in Fate.

Even the dense mana of Uruk, which was deadly for Fujimaru to even breath, was a far cry from the mana that sustained the gods.

This loss of relevance and physical presence forced humanity to begin to rely on themselves. They began to understand the world around them rather than seeing gods and mystery at every corner.

Sure, humans still believed in them but they couldn't as easily interact with humanity. By the time Gilgamesh was born the gods of that region were using human hosts.

Gilgamesh himself was specifically made to try and extend or even save the 'Age of Gods'. It was the butting heads of both parties, the spite and arrogance, that made Gilgamesh turn on them. Killing Enkidu was the last foolish thing they did.

On top of that, the very divine powers Gilgamesh was born with due to them worked against them. Gilgamesh had mystic eyes that could see the future and one of the futures he saw was humanity abandoning it's "mother" earth for the stars.

Believing in his own kind and spiting the gods he purposely did something to prevent the age of gods from reviving. He sealed their casket.

It is here that human actually begins to turn on the gods. If human faith makes them then human independence undoes them. A fact that causes many of the gods you see in FGO or other source to have a love/hate dynamic with mankind.

They love them but they hate them for abandoning them to the ether.

And so the world split in two

Earlier I mentioned how the earth had planes or textures to be specific. A la the underworld such as Hades or the 9 realms of Norse myth. I also mentioned that the metaphysical and the physical occupied the same space.

Well all that changed. With faith in them dying and the earths mana drying up the gods and every other mythical being retreated to what's called "The Reverse Side of the World".

Essentially, the metaphysical became it's own plane of existence separated from the modern age of humanity. Even gods that died at one point now exist there as "divine spirits".

Think of Zeus, Odin, Ishtar, etc. They still exist but only as a spirit, something humans remember as a "myth" or "legend" not a "real" person.

Some of them even exist in the Throne as heroic spirits such as Heracles and Medusa.

All of this because the earth is shaping to what humans understand and believe. In fact, humans have grown to such an extent by this point that Gaia no longer rules the earth alone.

The collective mind of mankind has created Alya or as you commonly see named the "Counter-force".

The absence of the old gods has spurred along human progression and now humans are at a mid way point. They are both of the planet but also separate from it.

Does that mean the gods can never return? Actually no. The Lostbelts of FGO are 7 different histories attempting to revive it in some form and it's said that the Reverse Side is held up by "pillars".

If you take out those pillars it's entirely possible to cause the metaphysical and physical to once again collide and return the Age of Gods.

But know this, doing so in any facet means the end of the Age of man if not the potential extinction of mankind.

After all, despite all the love I've put here and all the love the gods have for man it's still a fundamental fact that humans are defined by progress while the gods eventually settled and tried to keep stagnation.

The biggest hatred Gilgamesh has for the gods is the unwillingness to change. The world would completely shift into a new status quo that the gods wouldn't let change.

Especially when the modern humans likely wouldn't survive it. If the denser mana of Uruks day was just deadly to breath then you can imagine what the return of the gods age would do to the population at large.

Wrapping up finally

Though I enjoy how humans overcome monsters and events in Type-Moons stories I do have to admit I find it incredibly depressing how the fantastical world it occupies is slowly dying.

In every timeline the mana continues to dwindle, the Reverse Side grows further from the age of man, and many futures of this Earth are bleak ones.

That is a personal thing however. I hate when any story just turns a wonderful world into our own modern one. Even if I love Fate enough to tolerate that nitpick in the grand scheme.

I do hope we one day get a true look into the Age of Gods when this world was at its most interesting. Whether it's some AU event like a Lostbelt or even just a series set in a world where the age returns or never ended.

I may love our Seiba, or unlimited blades, or even some Apocrypha but I'd love even more to see them do something with the age of gods when this universe was it's most interesting and magical.

I hope you enjoyed this random lore dump of Type-Moon gods, bye~

===========================

For my other experiences with Fate go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings

Be warned, for some reason my links work on PC and IoS but not Android. =[

[smiting-finger]

[Director’s Commentary] a harmony between qin and se

As promised (to like two interested people lol), here’s my commentary to accompany a harmony between qin and se, some of which has been retrieved from discussions in the AO3 comments section.

CHAPTER 1

This being Wei Ying’s story, the first chapter is entirely an introduction to her. I’ll let the text mostly speak for itself, but some additional thoughts:

She is, first and foremost, a very unreliable narrator when it comes to  herself.

Despite what she says, as a direct equivalent to “number 4 most eligible bachelor in the Jianghu”, she is actually considered to be a solid choice for a daughter-in-law (mostly because of how well she’s managed to hide all her quirks from the public eye). She also has more than one young male admirer because she is, in fact, an attractive lady The main thing working against her is the circumstances of her birth and the related lack of connections/assets.

Auntie Yu and Uncle Jiang have received a few overtures from interested parties already, but they’re still using the excuse of “Eldest daughter must be married out first” while they figure out the quality of offer they can settle for (which admittedly does include consideration of the potential benefits to the Jiang family).

Her embroidery is fine, if you ignore the fact that she’s constantly embroidering unconventional patterns: Jiang Cheng has most certainly received more than one troll hebao, and there have also been many an embroidered flower or cloud pattern that bears a suspicious resemblance to something outrageous (no penises because Wei Ying is a Proper and Good Girl and has never seen one until the bedroom books, but almost certainly an unflattering caricature of Jin Zixuan’s face, and the occasional rude Chinese character - always with plausible deniability, of course).

Broadmindedness is for women who have become disillusioned with the mortal coil. Which is to say: Nuns. She takes another bite of meat: I’m not sure if I was right in assuming that it was common knowledge that Buddhist nuns are vegetarian, but if I wasn’t - Wei Ying is definitely Making a Statement here. (And also making a secondary reference to the Chinese use of "vegetarian" to mean someone who is easily bullied/taken advantage of, which Wei Ying is most certainly not.)

Girls of the era were sometimes educated at home by private tutors, and were also often educated by their older brothers.

We know that Wei Ying had a private tutor (whom she shared with Nie Huaisang), but I also think Jiang Cheng would have had an influence on her too, despite technically being younger.

Being afforded a much more formal and comprehensive education (despite being perhaps less suited for it), he would have shared all of his books and learnings with Wei Ying, and that is why she so often references martial arts/military writings and ideas (much more so than the Jiang Yanli of this universe would, being older) - a reflection of Jiang Cheng’s interests and their relationship as more-or-less-same-age-peers within a gendered family hierarchy.

On Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue, it bears saying that their upbringing and situation in life here is just as unconventional as Wei Ying’s, if not more so.

Whereas in the earlier Tang Dynasty, women often openly ran their own businesses, Song Dynasty society had become more restrictive in relation to women’s freedoms, so that had become a much rarer occurrence.

My rationale for Nie Mingjue bucking the trend is that her mother was a capable woman with no tolerance for harem politics, and so ruled the Nie household with an iron fist. When her health begins to decline, instead of risking the wellbeing of her household and single di daughter on the goodwill of the next-ranked concubine, she simply starts passing responsibilities directly to Nie Mingjue, who proves capable enough that her father starts giving her business-related tasks as well.

By the time Madam Nie dies, Nie Mingjue is acting mistress of the house and there is no room to argue that any of the responsibilities should be taken from her.

Nie Mingjue being the only child in the entire household, her father also thinks it makes sense to involve her in the family business, and he starts preparing to find a man to ru zhui (入贅) marry into their family, thanks to the (universal?) principle that wealthy people can largely afford to do whatever they want.

Then Nie Huaisang is born and her concubine mother dies in childbirth. Nie Mingjue, having inherited her mother’s distaste for harem politics and distrust for her father’s concubines, simply takes Nie Huaisang into her own courtyard and sees to her upbringing herself.

And then their father dies, Lan Xichen takes the opportunity to propose marriage to Nie Mingjue (ostensibly as an elegant way to lend her a man’s countenance and legal authority to run her business, but the successive pregnancies speak for themselves), Nie Mingjue accepts and then decides that the new Nie family heir will be Nie Huaisang and there is no one around to stop her.

There’s definitely social disapproval (e.g. Madam Jin’s “I know she’s always done things differently” in Ch 3), but not enough to matter. Because wealthy people can afford to do whatever they want..

Enter Lan Zhan (in spirit):

Some of the original professions I considered for him were physician and herbalist, but the thought of doing period-accurate traditional Chinese medicine research ended that dream within 2.5 seconds.

In today’s terms I see him as demisexual, but in Song Dynasty mindset, there is no “sexuality”; there is “stuff that I like” and “stuff that I gotta do”. So he’s fully committed to making it work for the sake of his duty to the family, but also his responsibility to provide his wife with a decent quality of life. (And he is particularly sensitive to the latter, having witnessed his mother’s experience.)

While he'd initially hoped to follow in his Uncle's footsteps and stay single for life, now that marriage is unavoidable, his attitude towards it is very similar to Wei Ying’s, in being “That's life, we gotta make the best of it.”

He doesn’t fully appreciate the extent of the problem, but:

To-date, he has had very minimal interaction with any sort of same-age friend or peer.

His brother does most if not all of his emotional processing for him, mostly by talking him through his thoughts and feelings. This started as the very-Chinese “explain to your child after every situation how courtesy and social mores preserve everyone’s feelings and Face”, and just … never stopped. Probably because Lan Zhan didn’t have peer-interaction to do the rest of the emotional educating.

CHAPTER 2

Again, while Wei Ying speaks for herself, some general notes:

The grip of his hand in hers is strong, if a little damp. Which means that her husband is either nervous or also sweating a river in three layers of robes: He is not nervous, only dutiful. It is 100% due to the layers of robes and the hot, hot sun.

Red wedding banners … which are disappointingly standard, with nary a tea pun in sight: When their sons get married in the distant future, there are SO MANY tea puns.

Her groom, she notes, has wiped his hand at some point. Which means that he’s either a thoughtful man, or a fastidious one. Or a man who has thoughtful and fastidious servants: Lan Zhan is absolutely the thoughtful and fastidious one.

“Why does the groom look so grim?” someone asks from somewhere to her right. “Maybe he’s been forced into the marriage,” comes the answer: That is just Lan Zhan’s face, he bears no particular resentment towards the arrangement of the marriage. He trusts that his uncle has made the best decision possible under the circumstances and certainly he thinks that it’s better than either of the other options.

Lan Zhan has never had wine before, so despite knowing that the Lan family doesn’t drink, he doesn’t actually know why. This is part of the reason why he drinks the toast (the other part being the social pressure that Wei Ying successfully employs).

When they have children, there are some that inherit the Lan constitution, and others who can drink two whole cups before also succumbing to the Lan constitution. Wei Ying is very sad about this, but concedes that they do come by it honestly.

Lan Zhan’s wedding night thoughts:

Not sure if it A) was a real thing, B) is a modern-sensibilities thing (like many Cdrama leads being committed to one wife), or C) is a "Complying with TV Codes Thing", but I've seen/read quite a few stories now where the husband chooses not to push for wedding night consummation because his new wife will be scared, stressed, tired, etc. This means that the couple spends a bit of time co-sleeping and getting used to each other before doing anything. I see Lan Zhan starting out along those lines, and his consideration would have been much appreciated if his wife had been someone like Jiang Yanli. Unfortunately it is 100% wasted on Wei Ying.

So he walks into the room with the noblest of intentions, is confronted with the shock of Wei Ying, and PANICS:

First there are the Lan vs Jiang family cultural differences, i.e.

The "We Are Always Decorous" Lan family vs the "Decorum when in public, at-home manners very different" Jiang family

Lan "I will only very gently try to negotiate your boundaries" Xichen vs ...Jiang Cheng/Yanli/Auntie Yu/Uncle Jiang, who are personal-boundary-chaotics in very different ways

Second, in terms of Lan Zhan’s general social experience:

He has one (1) friend, who is his brother and who is very emotionally considerate.

He has not interacted with a woman in an intimate/domestic setting since the death of his mother (excluding servants, but that’s different). His experience with women is probably limited to the branch family aunties, and maybe daughters of their social circle who he sees for two seconds from across the room, when everyone is on their best behaviour, and they never speak.

He has never interacted with any person alive like Wei Ying in any setting. She called him PRETTY and TO HIS FACE, she chases people, she has contraband goods, she has POCKETS-

Third, there is the additional layer of shock provided by the expectations Lan Zhan had of what “a new wife” would be like, which Wei Ying is … not.

She was going to be a shy, retiring maiden (I think the “unkidnappable” fact just did not compute and he just mentally shelved it).

And unlike Wei Ying, who had the whole breadth of her human experience as “possible range for how much of a fucking weirdo my husband might be”, it never occurs to Lan Zhan to be curious about her because his image of his future wife is pretty much a dress wearing a face and it hasn’t really occurred to him that she might have any personality - or UNREPRESSED personality -  beyond her role and his obligations towards her.

He had this idea of how he was going to be a Dutiful Husband (making sure his wife doesn't go hungry on the wedding night, making sure that her maidenly sensibilities are respected in negotiating bedroom activities, making sure that she maintains a comfortable position in the household, making sure that she gets the dishes she likes to eat even if he doesn't eat them).

Then they were gonna treat each other "with the respect accorded to honoured guests" (another Ye Olde Chinese Thing), and eventually become a peaceful, comfortable couple.

Almost none of it is going in the way that he'd planned and he doesn't have a Plan B because he DIDN'T KNOW PEOPLE COULD BE LIKE THIS.

And now HIS MAIDENLY SENSIBILITIES ARE BEING OFFENDED-

In regards to Lan Zhan’s Filial Procreative Duty:

It's not that he's unaware of it, but there's not as much urgency for him. He doesn't need a son to solidify his position in the household, his own brother has two sons already so the line isn't in danger and he can always adopt the second nephew as his heir, he knows that WY is only 17 whereas the average age of marriage at the time (according to the english-language internet) was 18-20 for women.

He does intend to try for a child with her eventually (for her sake), but HE JUST REALLY WANTS TO START BY BEING FRIENDS FIRST (*/ω＼*)

CHAPTER 3

On Lan Zhan’s side:

It goes without saying that after Lan Zhan flees his bedroom on the morning after the wedding, he heads straight to his brother for his regular dose of emotional processing.

Lan Xichen spends the entire conversation highly amused and trying to keep it hidden under a suitably sympathetic expression.

And then he gently-but-firmly forces Lan Zhan to go home, which Lan Zhan does mutinously

Upon their arrival home, Lan Zhan only stops briefly in his study before heading straight back out on business (or, as Wei Ying half-suspects: “business”): It is most certainly “business”. Lan Zhan is finding any excuse to avoid her because he does not know how to deal with her and he’s a little bit afraid of her (and the danger she poses to his chastity).

Lan Zhan says nothing to Lan Qiren because it is all too mortifying.

Lan Qiren, who still seems to vaguely disapprove of her, despite being the one to agree to this marriage in the first place: While he hears no specifics, Lan Qiren’s propriety-related spidey-senses are tingling nevertheless, and so he starts to observe Wei Ying with extreme suspicion.

Lan Xichen also finds this highly amusing.

Hence Wei Ying noticing that “There’s something about the curve of his eyes that means he always looks mildly amused…Wei Ying is not sure whether this is how Lan Xichen presents generally, or if it is something specific to her.“

(It’s definitely specific to her. He thinks she’s great for his brother and therefore great in general)

Otherwise, Lan Zhan actually does like Wei Ying, despite all of the shocking things about her (He just doesn’t know that this is what he’s feeling, since he’s never felt this way before :’D).

Also maybe he’s used to the people he likes expressing their affection for him via some level of teasing (his mother, to a lesser level his brother).

Lan Zhan is watching Wei Ying as closely as she’s watching him (or even more so) - enough to know that she’s smart, and that there’s more to her than the incompetent wife image she’s projecting (which is why he’s not interfering … beyond a certain extent).

Other notes:

Wei Ying herself is so fully focused on the branch family aunties and how far she needs to escalate to get them to make a move that she probably hasn't given two thoughts to thing else. So there's almost certainly a parallel Mianmian POV to this story that's filled with constant nail-biting about what everyone else thinks of her mistress and the possibility of Wei Ying escalating so hard that they won't be able to fully reverse the damage afterwards.

Secret tunnel + secret storage room: Wei Ying absolutely finds 193847548495 future uses for these after this story is done.

Babymaking is 100% a genuinely high-key concern for Wei Ying, since producing Lan Zhan’s heir is how she secures lifetime economic/social/etc security for herself (that said it is not the MOST urgent issue at this stage, since she first needs to ensure that there is a safe environment to bring the baby into).

(I am high-key channelling "The Promotion Record of a Crown Princess" and "Greetings Ninth Uncle", here. Dowager is very much the life goal for All Women - when it's not Revenge - as far as my own shameful background in consuming Chinese historical romances is concerned.)

In terms of inheritance (keeping in mind that I am far from an expert, and my main source is a lot of historical Cdramas and Cnovels):

There was some amount of flexibility in when to formally split a family and therefore its shared resources:

If there are enough resources to support a split, then a patriarch dying is a good opportunity for brothers to go their own ways without any negative social implications.

If there's a big enough falling out between brothers or between fathers and sons, then it might happen even while Dad's still around.

If you're collectively funding a scholar to get into government and bring a valuable political connection to the family, then maybe you stay together even after Dad is gone.

And the division of property (including property in common) wasn't automatically an "eldest son takes all" situation either.

For the Lan brothers in this story:

The formal economic rational for them not splitting the business yet is that they need the business to fund a government career (Lan Qiren and Lan-papa were intending to maintain a similar arrangement before Lan-papa prematurely died)

But the actual reason is probably Lan brotherly love :'>

The branch families inherited other things, or maybe a different branch of the business when Great-grandpapa Lan died, but then they fucked it! and had to come crawling back to Lan-papa for a lifeline.

Wei Ying knows enough going in (from Nie Huaisang and general gossip) that whenever the brothers finally split (maybe after proxy-dad Lan Qiren dies), Lan Zhan is walking away with a handsome part of the business. Now that she's seen them in close quarters, she knows that Lan Xichen might even cede all of it, at the end of a soppy and embarrassing "no, you!"-"no, you!" fight between the brothers

Rivalled only by the parallel fight between the Nie sisters about whose kids inherit the restaurant empire, and then Nie Huaisang declares her intention to stay a spinster and adopt Nie Mingjue's second son as the Nie heir and then it's chaos.

Or maybe they can grow a tea empire and someone’s children can stay in Lin An and someone else’s children can go establish dominance over a different city.

CHAPTER 4

Lan Zhan’s side of things is coming through more clearly in the text now (I hope), but some notes nevertheless:

Then, she sends some to her husband’s study to serve him as a mid-afternoon snack, and to remind him of her continued existence: By this point, Lan Zhan has realised that he like-likes Wei Ying, so he’s very much aware of her continued existence already.

This gesture on her part seeds a hope that she might at least be receptive to his overtures, if she doesn’t yet feel the same way about him, and the pork-and-ginger-with-extra-ginger dumplings are him trying to take what he thinks is their courtship forward (“In thanks for the pastries … They were delicious.”).

Growing up with Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen and no other friends, it never occurs to him that Wei Ying might not be fluent in the Lan communication method of “indirect statements from which the audience correctly infers implied meanings”.

That the pastries turn out to be for a plot is a small bump in the road that is overcome by all of the “just for you” foods Wei Ying overcompensates with when he finds out.

“Do you…Never mind”: Lan Zhan would never say ‘DO U LIKE ME’, but this is him starting an overture that is (slightly) more direct and then not knowing how to continue and fleeing the scene.

Wei Ying modestly yields to her husband’s leadership, and that is why they spend the evening stopping in front of every opera singer, acrobat or other street performer who crosses their path: Young Master Lan Zhan conducting a thorough study on “what my wife likes”.

The direct consequence of this outing (as mentioned in Ch 5) that Wei Ying is Seen to have Lan Zhan’s esteem is also very much intentional on his part, because Lan Zhan is also thoughtful and efficient like that.

Other notes:

Since making lotus seed paste is a tedious, thankless task that normal families pay other people to do: My love-hate letter to lotus seed paste. I mostly know about the process for making it because I briefly considered making it myself during the first COVID lockdown. This desire lasted approximately 20 seconds into the first instructional youtube video I watched. But it is still delicious.

They pass yet another group of burly, scruffy men - all of whom are carrying an array of mismatched, chipped and obviously-scavenged weapons: foreshadowing for Wei Ying’s realisation in Ch 8, lol.

CHAPTER 5

Notes on Lan Xichen’s Moon-Viewing Party:

She can at least cow them into submission with Auntie Yu's beady-eyed stare: This is far from the only thing that Wei Ying has picked up from Auntie Yu. If anyone were ever to mention how like a real mother-and-daughter pair they can be sometimes, they would both be extremely appalled.

Lan Zhan has been watching Wei Ying since their arrival at his brother’s house to make sure that no one wrongs his wife (though with a credible amount of discretion, so no one else has picked up on anything beyond the boundaries of what is socially acceptable for a besotted husband). So while she has been busy noticing things going wrong, he has noticed her noticing things going wrong, and as soon as she starts taking action, he moves in to support her.

“Xiao Ping can go.” is the result of Lan Zhan finally finding an opportunity to step in after an extended period of patient waiting.

“Guanren,” she gasps in surprise: The possessive part of Lan Zhan (which is most of him) very much likes it when Wei Ying calls him that.

Lan Zhan discovers this night that he has a massive “bae helping other people” kink, and an equally massive competence kink.

At some point, Lan Zhan goes to his brother for advice on how to court his wife beyond his current “giving her things she likes” strategy, and receives the suggestion that maybe he should show her the things he’s good at too.

This births the “chrysanthemum wine + qin-playing” plan.

Continuing so late into the night that they fall asleep together is not an original part of this plan, but Wei Ying doesn’t seem upset by it and Lan Zhan is not one to retreat when he can advance, so it’s big wins all around.

Worth noting that while Lan Zhan does like his early bedtime in general, his particular insistence on xu shi (as noted by Wei Ying in re: “Her husband has revealed himself to be surprisingly fastidious about the strangest things as of late”) is not actually for health/moral habit reasons.

It also births the “Wei Ying [stumbling] across him in mid-song at an unusually high frequency” plan (which slightly predates the “chrysanthemum wine + qin-playing” plan).

And it is also why ultimate wingman Lan Xichen makes sure to mention poetry and Lan Zhan’s proficiency at it when he visits. It is very much not the only time he does something like this.

Other notes:

Which makes it even funnier that Lan Qiren so very obviously dislikes her: He does not, in fact, dislike her.

But he is experiencing trauma flashbacks from his interactions with Wei Ying’s mother back in ye day (/touches his beard protectively).

He is also burning with the passionate drive created by finally meeting a worthy challenge.

Every time one of his texts comes back annotated, he probably does the Tom-Hanks-Laptop meme of rubbing his hands and wiggling his fingers in preparation for writing his rebuttal. Except instead of "happy", his expression is "happily seething".

It bodes well for her ability to educate his nephew's children before they begin their formal education - if only he can get her to learn restraint and reform her character first!

So he is determined to succeed in fixing this one, this time! (He won’t).

Lan Xichen notices his uncle putting almost more energy into educating Wei Ying than his actual students and is highly amused.

Over time, Lan Qiren notices that verbally sparring with Wei Ying on various topics has improved the quality of his corresponding Academy lessons, and that he sometimes even discusses her takes on texts. This mildly infuriates him, especially when he receives expressions of admiration from students and parents for the depth of his scholarship and teaching.

Sometimes the result is that Lan Zhan gets a sudden and unexpected lecture on controlling/educating his wife and neither he nor Wei Ying can identify what she’s done to deserve it.

(Sometimes this is further complicated by the fact that she has committed too many potential affronts to pick just one.)

Uncoded notes have already been conclusively proven to be a terrible idea, and Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang do not already have an established code (Wei Ying cannot believe that they do not already have an established code; in reflection, it truly is an unforgivable oversight): They establish a code after everything in this story is finished, but they use it so infrequently that they keep forgetting it.

She would have loved to have used the opportunity to discuss Meng Yao instead, but when Wei Ying had mentioned her name, Nie Huaisang had simply hummed noncommittally and made no move to add anything further: Nie Huaisang’s initial reason for not involving Wei Ying in her own counterscheming against Meng Yao/Jin Guangshan is that Wei Ying has enough to deal with in re: the branch aunties and much fewer resources to draw on. This turns into “Wei Ying had better save her energy to focus on growing some emotional understanding of herself and her husband”, because that situation is dire. And then Meng Yao and Jin Guangshan escalate so far that it turns into “this is my personal grievance and requires my personal vengeance, and I will not risk having my bloodthirst restrained”.

Uncle Jiang had stopped him in the street and expressed his wife and daughter’s desire to see Wei Ying: A brief apology to Jiang Yanli who features very minimally in this story because while Wei Ying visits her a lot, she is also taking pains to stop her beloved sister from unnecessarily worrying about her by not mentioning anything serious at all and painting a very rosy picture of her married life where she “only has your run-of-the-mill teething problems, hardly worth talking about, except could you do me this one favour and send this wad of joss paper over to my residence in your name?”.

Jiang Yanli politely keeps up her end of the social fiction but is, in fact, still worrying. She deals with this by making and sending over a lot of nourishing food.

Wei Ying pulls the bundle out from a drawer and is struck by a sudden and completely uncharacteristic wave of self-doubt. This is odd and completely inexplicable - she’d been so confident in the quality of her gift only a shichen prior; she has no idea why she feels so nervous about it now: This is the point at which any other person might notice that their feelings for their husband run deeper than they’d previously thought (if they hadn’t already realised at many points before this), but Wei Ying is special. Lan Zhan, unfortunately, manages to pick up on the “any other person” part, but not the “Wei Ying is special” part.

There’s a sudden clatter, followed by Xiao Ping swearing and they startle apart: This is deliberate on Xiao Ping’s part. There are branch spies watching!

On Scheming Abilities:

Nie Mingjue, as the eldest di-daughter of a wealthy household who has only ever been second to her parents in terms of authority, has never needed to scheme in her life, and is used to dealing with everything straightforwardly. After she marries, Lan Xichen doesn’t have concubines and Nie Mingjue is too wealthy/powerful for the Lan relatives to otherwise interfere with her, so she never has to change (and is therefore completely unprepared for Meng Yao).

Similarly, Lan Xichen has zero scheming skills (although he will need to acquire some to survive in government, probably)

Lan Zhan has acquired more skills than his brother, by way of greater involvement in the family business and having to deal with the branch families. His involvement with Wei Ying, however, is fast teaching him that he is also very much a novice.

Nie Huaisang, a shu-daughter (although I never managed to explicitly say that anywhere in the text) and Wei Ying, a servant-born foster daughter, have acquired scheming skills due to the precariousness of those positions in life. These include:

Being targeted by and winning power games against people within the household

For Nie Huaisang, perhaps her father’s concubines or the servants loyal to them - either as a way to get to Nie Mingjue, or just directly.

For Wei Ying, maybe some of Madam Yu’s close maids feel aggrieved on their mistress’s behalf, maybe some of the servants resent Wei Ying for having a better position despite being equal to them in terms of birth.

Winning power games against people in their social circles who look down on them (Nie Huaisang for being a shu daughter, Wei Ying for being servant-born).

Needing to scheme their way out of feminine hooligan-related scrapes from their youth, of which there were many.

CHAPTER 6

Can’t find much to say about this chapter. Just that:

Treating Wei Ying to almost half a shichen of her own lecture on the importance of rewarding loyalty to old servants: Wei Ying remembers this with great clarity during the confrontation and associated fall-out (“Loyal people are difficult to come by; I would hate to deprive them of such a precious resource.”).

Miss Cang had been diligently using those accomplishments to slowly and subtly appeal to the similarly-accomplished Lan Zhan not one year ago: On the other hand, Lan Zhan could not pick her out of a lineup if his life depended on it. Wei Ying asks him after the first time she and Miss Cang have a run-in and receives a very genuine response of “???” “????????????” She chooses not to mention that to Miss Cang either.

CHAPTER 7

Lan Zhan received a bit of abuse in the comments of this chapter (:’D), which came as a bit of a surprise to me. I suppose I have the benefit of clearly plotting out my son’s perspective for my own understanding of the story, and Wei Ying’s perspective limits the ways in which his side of the story can be conveyed, so that’s what I’ll address.

Lan Zhan is not angry, his feelings are hurt.

He's invested 110% in this relationship and he'd thought Wei Ying felt the same until she hit him with the joke about divorce, and now it's like "she's built herself an exit strategy, is standing with one foot out the door and none of my feelings or actions-to-date have mattered enough to outweigh that".

For any Legend of Minglan viewers, the parallel with Gu Tingye’s “You’re leaving yourself an escape route!!” is very much intentional.

You can see a bit of this hinted at in Lan Zhan’s “You don’t even know”, which indicates that all of Wei Ying’s theories on what she has done are wrong.

While Lan Zhan is particularly sensitive about divorce for some understandable mother-related reasons (which means that there's an additional "how could she think that of me? does she know me at all?" in there), he has an additional contextual defence: most women would not joke about divorce, at least before the marital relationship is solid enough that everyone knows it’s obviously a joke.

Meanwhile, Wei Ying has thrown the joke out there on the back of some solid evidence that she has some real viable alternatives for supporting herself, so for all Lan Zhan knows, she might actually go.

Given his limited emotional-management tools, Lan Zhan is working it out in the best way he knows how:

Firstly going to see his brother

Secondly by hiding away and nursing his wounds while he awkwardly tries to process his feelings, calms down, takes stock of the situation and decides what he wants to do about it.

He can't actually come out and say "I'M UPSET BECAUSE YOU DON'T LOVE ME!", hence: making his brother promise not to tell her, and his brother agreeing because lol yes that's quite embarrassing.

So we can see in: “But her efforts are only met with her brother-in-law - while smiling in a way that seems as if he’s laughing at her even more than usual - simply telling her not to worry, and that his brother’s anger will doubtlessly burn itself out any day now“ that:

Firstly, the problem is something that Lan Xichen can be amused about. We’ve already mentioned the embarrassment factor, but beyond that, the nature of the problem is not that serious. Lan Zhan in the throes of heartbreak is melodramatically thinking “SHE DOESN’T LOVE ME”, but Lan Xichen is astute enough to suspect that Wei Ying is maybe a bit emotionally dense, and is probably not as unmoved as all that.

Secondly, Lan Xichen recognises that the problem is something that Lan Zhan needs space to work through himself, and that there’s nothing to be done on Wei Ying’s side.

Mianmian’s “refusal to tell Wei Ying” is explained in Ch 8, but it’s worth noting here that loyal maidservant Mianmian would never refuse to tell Wei Ying something important. What actually happens of course is that Mianmian keeps insisting that Lan Zhan is in love with Wei Ying, and Wei Ying keeps refusing to believe it and then she finally says “Fine! Don’t tell me then!” and Mianmian is like /o\

Susu genuinely doesn’t know though, lol. She’s a bit younger, not as emotionally mature.

Nie Mingjue also genuinely doesn’t know (Lan Xichen hasn’t told her because he knows she’d just call Lan Zhan an idiot to his face).

Nie Huaisang does know, but after hearing about Mianmian’s valiant attempts, she decides it would be better to take a more slowly-slowly angle and show Wei Ying how much Lan Zhan likes her instead. With mixed results.

Even given all the above, Lan Zhan is very much invested in protecting Wei Ying’s public standing and reputation:

We can see this in his insistence that she stays at home, so she doesn’t become a convenient target or sacrificial fall-guy  during the family proceedings.

Nie Mingjue further explains his fears in her conversation with Wei Ying about the Lan elders and their treatment of Lan Zhan’s mother vs herself.

We can also see it in “While he does not ignore her, precisely, Lan Zhan also never lingers in her company a moment longer than strict decorum would require”: Lan Zhan is still demonstrating to the servants and the public that, at the very least, her position as his wife should be respected and all related benefits afforded to her.

And of course he’s still sleeping in their bedroom.

Both the Lan brothers underestimate the emotional impact that this will have on Wei Ying, because neither of them has correctly understood how emotionally invested she is or how emotionally invested she realises she is. (In their defence: neither has she.)

This assumption is shored up by the way that she stays pretty upbeat and flippant, especially in the way she goes about trying to make amends. Not yet understanding her, they take this to mean that she’s feeling sorry and a little awkward, but otherwise is unaffected.

Lan Zhan’s points of realisation that he's hurt her are "Forgive me anyway - I can't bear it" and finding her curled up in bed. “I have an engagement” is true, but it is also him needing some space to process this new knowledge. At this point he:

half-caves to the decision that he'll just love her anyway and not give her any excuse to leave, and

half-comes to the realisation that actually, maybe Wei Ying really doesn't know about his feelings or her own, so he's going to need to recalibrate.

There were a few comments along the lines of “this could have been resolved through direct communication”, and while that’s true to some extent, I feel like direct communication in the context of relationships and feelings is a very modern-Western value that doesn’t necessarily have the same application here.

I do fully accept that despite its setting, this is a modern story, for a modern audience. But even so I think the non-modern setting and context (in addition to Lan Zhan’s particular personal situation) make it a little unfair to blame Lan Zhan for not starting a heart-to-heart outpouring of feelings. (Though of course this is my personal opinion.)

Even in my modern-but-still-Asian family, there’s a much stronger culture of being expected to read unspoken meaning from social situations, and in turn being able to expect that other people do the same. The cultural conflict is, as Jay Chou once sang in the song “Cliff of Love” (lololololol): You say that I am like a child, delighting in always leaving you guessing. I say that you’re the one who is like a child, always needing me to spell things out for you.

Semi-relatedly, I think there’s a “child of asian parents” meme about your parents apologising by bringing sliced fruit to you instead of saying anything with words. I have imputed this to Wei Ying and Lan Zhan.

In very general terms, I would also say that we as a Chinese family have a much weaker culture of “you did this thing that violates my boundaries, I will tell you and expect you to change your behaviour” and a much stronger culture of “you did this thing to violate my boundaries, I must manage myself so that unacceptable boundary violations do not happen in future”. I have on some level imputed this to Lan Zhan.

There is also a much stronger culture of avoiding things that are embarrassing (as the person who might be embarrassed, as the person who might cause someone else to be embarrassed, and as a bystander who might worsen the embarrassment by bearing witness). There’s a lot of “not mentioning and just moving past these things by unspoken agreement”. I have on some level imputed this to … everyone in this story. 

The entire story, but this sex scene in particular, have been my manifesto on My Beef with Historical CNovels (which I recognise is sometimes about censorship and not the authors’ artistic vision). In terms of the sex scene this includes, but is not limited to:

Only the dudes or top dudes being horny or up for it (or being the 80 in an 80/20 split in who is horny/up for it)!

The relative passivity of ladies/bottom dudes in bed!

JADE STICKS (didn’t manage to get a reference to CHERRY NIPPLES in, but THOSE TOO)!

Lack of preparation and the resultant pain!

The lady/bottom “not being able to get out of bed for 3 days afterwards”!

The fun relationship tension/dynamics disappearing after a pivotal point where the couple variously gets together/gets married/has sex!

CHAPTER 8

Without guidance from questions in the comments, some general notes:

“It matters not,” he murmurs when they break apart: This is Lan Zhan both recognising that Wei Ying is not mentally/emotionally ready to believe the actual answer, and also genuinely meaning that it doesn’t matter anymore.

It’s also probably quite obvious right now that this Lan Zhan knows he’s not very verbally demonstrative and so he compensates with physical affection instead.

This also means that he’s very cuddly with their children when they’re born, and 100% takes A-Yuan everywhere with him, including on business.

While Lan Zhan directs her from his place behind her, seated with his chest pressed flush against her back: Lan Zhan would have been one of those children who is independent and standoffish in public, but a total cuddlebug with his mum in private. And so in addition to the above, the result of being touch-starved for over a decade following his mother’s death means that he fuses himself to Wei Ying at every (private) opportunity. It’s not that he doesn’t touch her in public, but it’s all very hand-on-elbow proper and decorous - until the moment they cross into a place with any amount of privacy and then FWOOM.

Wei Ying has wondered more than once whether she might one day bully Lan Zhan into sitting in the circle of her arm, while she appreciates fine wine as the ancestors intended: It definitely happens, and takes minimal-to-none bullying.

If her friend is suspicious enough of Meng Yao to interfere in her sister’s household, limit Meng Yao’s access to Nie Mingjue and attack Meng Yao’s father, then why has she done nothing to Meng Yao herself?: Nie Huaisang started out leaving Meng Yao every opportunity to come clean about what Jin Guangshan wanted her to do. If Meng Yao had had a change of heart and done this at any point while her disruptions to the household were still minor, Nie Huaisang would have happily worked with her to get her due from the Jin family (and then relocated her to somewhere suitably removed from Lan Xichen). But then Meng Yao proves that she is willing to completely sell Nie Mingjue out for her own gain, and now Nie Huaisang is giving her enough rope to hang herself.

And so Wei Ying spends the latter part of the evening half-lying on Lan Zhan’s bare chest: This behaviour begins as the result of Wei Ying misunderstanding something she hears (probably from Uncle Jiang’s men) about post-nut clarity. But it is in Lan Zhan’s interests to encourage it, and it doesn’t actually impede the thought process, so it continues.

“I didn’t mean to,” Nie Huaisang says in a small voice, to no one in particular: Going to leave this open as to whether Nie Huaisang is telling the truth or not.

The coroner’s report will attribute the cause to a combination of the incense burning in the room and the herbal tonic that he has been taking to replenish his yang qi for the past year: Meng Yao’s last gift to a father she has known all along was using her too.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hewaaa!! Is your OC related to Director Crowley, The Maleficent crow or something? I saw your design and I found it really interesting 🩵🖤

While Miss Raven and Crowley share many visual similarities + she considers him her legal guardian and family, they’re not actually blood-related! She just showed up at NRC’s doorstep own day and Crowley took her under his wing as his “niece”. In truth, Crowley became acquaintances with Raven’s previous caretaker during his travels. That person—the “Storyteller”—knew that he would soon pass away, so he asked Crowley to please look after his ward for him.

One thing I love about Twst is how even if the inspiration for a character seems obvious at a glance (like Ace is obviously twisted from the Ace of Hearts card soldier), they can embody the traits of other characters (for example, Ace acts like Alice in that he constantly defies the Queen of Hearts). Miss Raven is technically twisted from an Alice in Wonderland riddle that was intended to have no answer... but I wanted my OC to also draw from multiple sources so that they also feel “real” and like they “fit in” the world of Twst.

(By the way!! There’s an excellent post on the Twst subreddit that discussed how Crowley is inspired by various iconic Disney birds. I’d recommend giving it a read; it’s fascinating!)

I integrated aspects of Diablo and the Evil Queen’s ravens in Miss Raven’s relationships with the equivalent Twst characters, Malleus and Vil. Diablo is Maleficent’s only competent minion, performing a number of important tasks on her behalf. Raven and Malleus aren’t familiar with one another, but she does play a key role in that she delivers the notes from the dorm leader meetings he misses. Malleus believes that she is brave to approach him (does this make them friends???), so he had assumed a strange self-proclaimed “mentor” role. He sometimes flags her down and attempts to socialize (key word: attempts) but more often than not he ends up hovering like a sleep paralysis demon… Rave has to wonder if Malleus-senpai is in need of something.

The Evil Queen’s ravens is only on screen for like… what, a minute?? And mostly just acts shocked and scared of her transformation potion brewing. This is paralleled in how Raven is intimidated by Vil’s aura, but does manage to get over it eventually to ask him for advice on how to become a “proper lady” herself. He’s the one that taught her a lot about social etiquette and manners in general.

There’s also other Disney and non-Disney references I’ve included in her lore. The backstory of Miss Raven’s guardian (pre-Crowley) is very similar to that of Beast from Beauty and the Beast… She is pessimistic at times, claiming some prospects are impossible or “nevermore” (Edgar Allen Poe)… She lacks confidence, believing she is an “ugly duckling” and wishes to become an elegant and beautiful swan… Tons more; I can’t list them all here!

In a nutshell, yes. There’s a lot more to it than just borrowing the phrase because I happen to like AiW though!

The riddle “why is a raven like a writing desk” comes from the tea party scene in the original Lewis Carroll novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Disney translated it over to their animated film, but the riddle makes appearances or is referenced in many other AiW adaptations.

According to Carroll, the riddle was meant to be nonsensical and have no answer. (In the book, the Mad Hatter himself admits, “I haven't the slightest idea,” and then Alice asks about why they are wasting their time with riddles that have no answer.) However, many people have come up with their own absurd answers to the supposedly unanswerable riddle, including: “Poe wrote on both”, “they both stand on sticks”, “they both come with inky quill”, and “because there is a B in both and an N in neither”. Ironically, Carroll was pressured into including an answer in a later edition of his book. His response was, “because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!” In the original version of this preface, “never” was spelled “nevar” (“raven” backwards).

I liked the open-endedness of the question. It keeps the door open to allow for many possibilities and encourages us to explore, to indulge in our curiosity, to experiment and let our unique perspectives shape unique replies to the same riddle. I wanted to run a blog with that kind of a creative spirit. The fact that both writing and ravens are mentioned are serendipity, but it ends up working out really well for what I do here.

My Twst OC, Raven Crowley, is also closely associated with “why is a raven like a writing desk?”. In fact, she’s twisted from the raven in the riddle, and this ties in with her backstory. Because the riddle is just… that, a riddle (and not an actual flesh-and-blood character that does things in the story) with no answer (aimless, open, without direction), Miss Raven’s character reflects that. She is a curious girl always seeking out new experiences. but she lacks self-confidence, believing that she isn’t a “main” character, just a supporting role or even a background character. Her story is that of finding her own strength, learning to become confident in her own identity, and taking charge of her own destiny—even if she’s unsure of where the winding oath may take her.

It’s all connected! ^^

[theflyindutchwoman]

I got asked this question and loved it so much, I wanted to open it up to the group.

If you could choose 5 Chenford scenes to rewrite, which would you choose, and how would you rewrite them?

Oooh thank you for 'tagging' me, Becca ♡ It is a great question! Let's see…

4.17 - The ending So technically, this isn't a Chenford scene… But this is partly why I would want it to be rewritten. Let's start with the most egregious part : having Lucy apparently forgive Chris and act like he hadn't just callously triggered her… or like she hadn't just watched the video recording her own death… That ending bothered me so much. Ideally, I wish she would have kicked him to the curb - or, at least, ask for some space after what he did… and I would have loved a final scene between her and Tim. One where she would have confided in him about watching the cam footages, where they would have talked about that day and her trauma… I love that she was able to work through it all by herself, that she found her voice so to speak and refused to play Rosalind's mind games… But somehow, I can't help but think that not having a single Chenford scene was a missed opportunity.

5.04 - The ending Since we're on that topic… Now, this was an even bigger missed opportunity. I still can't believe that we didn't get a scene between Lucy and Tim following Rosalind's death. And by that, I mean, a proper scene with some emotions and some feelings… I get that during the episode, they were too busy trying to find a way to save Bailey. I also get that things were still awkward between them. But come on, I don't believe for a second that this would have stopped Tim. This is the same man who didn't even think before grabbing her hand in the middle of their undercover op when they found out about Rosalind's escape… the same man who was panicking when Lucy was radio silent… I needed that same energy here. What we got instead was a bit too cold for me.

5.13 - Missing scene : the morning after You have no idea how much I was hoping for this scene… Something soft and domestic… with a reference to the DOD tattoo!

5.16 - Their fight about the five-player trade That scene still puzzles me. It felt forced and clunky. We didn't really get to see Tim's perspective and why he was mad at Lucy. In the shop, it sounded like he was upset with how her move would reflect on him… But in his office, they only talked about her going behind his back. So, in the end, it felt superficial. I'm not saying he was wrong by the way… I just wish his point of view could have been explored more. Both of their perspectives actually. Especially since Lucy paid a hefty price in the end. I guess the point was to show the cracks in their foundation, but it could have been done in a better way.

6.01/6.02 - Their fight Lucy's anxiety and potential doubts about UC were just swept entirely under the rug and the narrative simply focused on Tim's own issue with UC. But one issue doesn't negate the other. There were two problems here and only one got addressed - and barely at that. After all the crumbs from s5, all the times Tim walked away from having a real conversation on the topic, I needed more than 'I will deal with this' / 'we'll figure it out'. It's great that he was finally honest with himself but it still didn't go any further than that. And then, there's Lucy. I was hoping her anxiety would be the precursor for a bigger discussion about Lucy's future and her mental health, about her feelings about UC outside of Tim… but nope. Her spiraling was already forgotten in 6.02. And it is a bit frustrating.

[artsandculture]

The Garden of Earthly Delights (1500-1505) 🎨 Hieronymus van Aken aka Bosch 🏛️ Museo del Prado 📍 Madrid, Spain

The Garden of Earthly Delights is Bosch’s most complex and enigmatic creation. For Falkenburg the overall theme of The Garden of Earthly Delights is the fate of humanity, as in The Haywain (P02052), although Bosch visualizes this concept very differently and in a much more explicit manner in the centre panel of that triptych than in The Garden of Earthly Delights. In order to analyse the work’s meaning the content of each panel must be identified. On the outer faces of the triptych Bosch depicted in grisaille the Third Day of the Creation of the World, when the waters were separated from the earth and the earthly Paradise (Eden) created. At the top left we see God the Father as the Creator, according to two Latin inscriptions, one on each panel: For he spake, and it was done and For he commanded, and they were created (Psalms 33:9 and 148:5). On the inner face of the triptych, painted in brilliant colours which contrast with the grisaille, Bosch painted three scenes that share the single common denominator of the concept of sin, which starts in Paradise or Eden on the left panel, with Adam and Eve, and is punished in Hell in the right panel. The centre panel depicts a Paradise that deceives the senses, a false Paradise given over to the sin of lust. This deception is encouraged by the fact that the centre panel is shown as a continuation of Eden through the use of a single, continuous landscape with a high horizon line that allows for a broad, panoramic composition arranged as three superimposed planes, in the panels of the earthly Paradise, the Garden of Earthly Delights and Hell.

While sin is the connecting link between the three scenes, the iconography in the Paradise panel requires further analysis in order fully to appreciate its meaning. As will be noted below in the analysis of the technical documentation, when he initially embarked on the work Bosch included the Creation of Eve on the left panel, but in a second phase he replaced it with God presenting Eve to Adam. This very uncommon subject was associated with the institution of marriage, as Falkenburg and Vandenbroeck discuss (Bosch, 2016). For the latter, the centre panel represents the false paradise of love, known as Grail in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which implied a carnal interpretation of God’s mandate to Be fruitful and multiply, as instituted in marriage. The men and women that Bosch depicts in the Garden of Earthly Delights believe they are inhabiting a paradise for lovers, but this is false and their only fate is punishment in Hell. The extremely pessimistic message that the centre panel conveys is that of the fragility and ephemeral nature of happiness and delight in these sinful pleasures.

In the centre panel, from which the triptych derives its name, Bosch included a large number of naked human figures, with the exception of the pair at the lower right, who are usually identified as Adam and Eve after the Expulsion from Paradise. Men and women, both black and white, are generally seen in groups or pairs, maintaining amorous relations with a powerful erotic charge that refers to the panel’s pre-eminent theme, the sin of lust. The animals, both real and imaginary, are much larger than their proper scale. Among them, Bosch particularly emphasizes two different types of owl that evoke evil. Staring straight out, they direct their disturbing gazes at the viewer at the two lateral edges of the panel, slightly set back from the immediate foreground. Also present are plants and fruit, which are again much larger than their scale dimensions. The entire composition is dotted with pieces of red fruit that contrast with other large and small blue ones, these being the two principal colours in the scene. In contrast to the apparent confusion that prevails in the foreground, geometry imposes itself in the middle ground and background. In the former, Bosch depicted a pool full of naked women. Around it, in an anti-clockwise direction, rides a group of men on different mounts (some of them exotic or imaginary), who have been associated with different Cardinal Sins. In the background of the scene Bosch included five fantastical architectural constructions in the water, the central one similar to the fountain of the Four Rivers in the Paradise panel, although here broken to symbolize its fragility and the ephemeral nature of the delights being enjoyed by the men and women who fill this garden. And now the owl depicted inside the fountain in the Paradise panel is replaced here by human figures in sexually explicit poses.

The right panel depicts Hell and is Bosch’s most striking representation of this subject, on occasions referred to as the musical Hell owing to the significant presence of instruments used to torture sinners who have devoted their time to secular music. In his text in the present catalogue Larry Silver describes the punishments meted out to each sin. While lust prevails in the centre panel, in the scene of Hell all the Cardinal Sins are punished. A good example is the punishment of the avaricious, who are devoured and immediately expelled from the anus of a theriomorphic creature with a bird’s head (a variety of owl) seated on a type of child’s lavatory stool. Gluttons and the sin of gluttony are undoubtedly referred to in the tavern scene located inside the tree-man, in which semi-naked people seated at a table wait to be served toads and other unpleasant creatures by devils, while the envious are tortured by immersion in frozen water. Further punishments correspond to vices censured by society at the time, including board games, while particular social classes are also singled out, including the clergy, who were notably criticized at this period, as reflected in the pig wearing a nun’s veil embracing a naked man in the lower right corner.

Although the triptych in the Museo del Prado is not signed, its attribution to Bosch has never been doubted. Its dating, however, is the subject of considerable debate. The results of the dendrochronological analyses could allow it to be located within the early years of the artist’s activity, around 1480-85, as Vermet stated without any supporting evidence. However, the work’s stylistic proximity to the Adoration of the Magi Triptych in the Prado (P02048), which can be securely dated to 1494 following Duquenne’s identification in 2004 of the donors, Peeter Scheyfve and Agneese de Gramme from Antwerp, confirms that the present work must have been painted in the 1490s and not after 1505, as most authors preferred to believe prior to Duquenne’s discovery. It has recently been argued that it must have been painted in or after 1494 as the image of God the Father creating the world on the reverse of the triptych is inspired by a print by Michel Wolgemut of the same subject -including the same text from the Psalms as appears on the wings- which appeared in Hartman Schedelsche Weltchronik published in Nuremberg in 1493.

Research undertaken in 1967 by Gombrich and Steppe allowed The Garden of Earthly Delights to be associated with the Nassau family. An account by Antonio de Beatis, who accompanied Cardinal Luis de Aragon as his secretary on his trip to the Low Countries, states that on 30 July 1517 the triptych was in the Nassau palace of Coudenberg in Brussels, where De Beatis presumably saw it. Since in the late 1960s the painting was considered to be a late work by Bosch, executed after the death of Engelbert’s II of Nassau in 1504, it was therefore thought that the patron was Henry III of Nassau (1483-1538), Engelbert nephew and heir. In the present day and in the light of the information that locates the triptych in the 1490s, it can be confirmed that it was commissioned from Bosch by Engelbert, who must have intended it for the Coudenberg Palace.