#to the children of nobility

[gertruderobinsonscat]

While obviously no one is physically harming him I’m not over the fact that this literal child was thrust into the spotlight to have his worthiness questioned by the press/kingdom at large.

[poppiesforthirteen]

i don't get people who don't like looms because "when two time lords love each other very much they send a formal application to the council to use a machine that is in their house" is so much funnier than a nuclear family

[bethanydelleman]

Every so often I go down these rabbit holes on Wikipedia of royals and nobles on the British Isles and something that always stands out to me is that so many of the marriages are political, so many are between minors (as young as 14 on both sides, engagements even younger), and neither side really has a choice.

Like for example, Arthur Tudor was engaged to Catherine of Aragon when he was like 2 years old and married when he was 15 (Catherine was 16). He did exchange letters with his betrothed (in Latin!) but only met her a few weeks before the wedding. He said he was very happy to marry his wife, but did he really have a choice? He might just have been making the most of it or obeying like the child that he still was.

Girl Being Forced to Marry For Political Reasons Against Her Will is such a common trope, and maybe it's more of the focus because women had less power in marriage and less ability to take lovers, but it seems like a lot of these marriages were people who were both basically told whom they would marry. Just because men can keep having sex with whomever they want doesn't mean that they haven't lost anything in these interactions and that it wouldn't do emotional damage. And the putting on a nice public face would be similar for both of them.

Anyway, maybe a writing idea? I'm not sure where I'm going with this, except that I feel for these young and powerful men who were often as much pawns in their parents' schemes for influence as the girls.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Carl Herpfer (German, 1836-1897) The new mother, n.d.

[imissjensi]

tw: brief mentions of the holocaust and slavery

obsessed with the idea of keefe stumbling into an american university and just walking into a us history lecture and finding it interesting so he keeps going. and he learns about how the us government has term limits and a system of checks and balances to prevent one group from becoming too powerful, and thinks about how that could be applied to the council. he learns about how women had to fight for their right to vote and are still fighting for equal rights and thinks about how those with lesser abilities need to work harder to be in the nobility. he learns about slavery, and thinks about how the elves did nothing to stop the enslavement and abuse of thousands upon thousands of humans. he finds a computer and does his own research.

he learns about the ADA, and how it is illegal in the united states to discriminate against someone on the basis of disability, and he connects it to the talentless not getting the chance to be nobility solely because of their lack of ability. in the same vein, he reads about therapists and mental health professionals. about how working with a mental health professional can help someone through their mental and emotion issues. he thinks about how if marella's mom had someone like that in addition to elixirs, maybe she wouldn't go through all that scorn. he comes across cps, and thinks about how if he or tam or linh had a support like that to help stop the verbal abuse they all went through, maybe they would be better off. he reads about the civil rights movement, and how if millions of black americans had not put their foot down and forced action from the people in power, they would not have gotten their rights. and he thinks about how the gnomes had to practically demand the council to say something about the plague. he reads about world war 2 and is horrified at how the elves did nothing to prevent the millions that were killed, and how they instead pulled the human assistance program entirely. he reads about eugenics, and is disgusted with the realization that this is what matchmaking is.

he reads about the horrific loss of life all over the world that could have been prevented. that should have been prevented. by elves. his people. and he thinks about how so many of these events can compare to elvin history. and he can barely stomach being able to call himself an elf anymore.

he thinks about something he's thought about many times. that the lost cities needs to change. but for the first time he seriously considers that they should change like the forbidden cities. that elves have plenty to learn from the people they shut out. he is determined to take what he's learned and to spark that change.

because it's one thing to go from one deeply damaged world to a perceived perfect one. but it's another thing entirely to come from the perfect one and go to the damaged one and be hit with the realization that their awful past is your world's present.

[hauntingblue]

Garp: my children are going to be good marines

The children: making pit fights in the forest

[isabelle-primrose]

The Children of the Duc de Bouillon by Pierre Mignard, 1647

[raytm]

i was getting reallly into talking about the politics of the landau family with charlie last night and its just.

[crossdressingdeath]

People keep misunderstanding the Blackwall post and it drives me nuts, because my issue is not that characters in-universe demonize him for it. The hypocrisy of Cullen fucking Rutherford, Meredith's favourite mage murder machine who's for sure killed or been part of the killing of more children than Blackwall ever did or was, being the quest's mouthpiece is an issue, but that's a slightly different thing. I do not need five million people jumping down my throat to go "But he did a bad thing and people are mad about it in-universe!!!!!" I understand that, thank you. I get it, I get it, he did A Bad. It makes sense that a lot of people don't like him for it.

The issue is that the narrative of the game demonizes him for it. We don't get a single other perspective. We don't get any opportunity to suggest that maybe people need to lay off or even to point out that the people demonizing him for it have done things that are just as bad if not worse; I say again, Cullen is the mouthpiece for this quest, and we know the murder of children is pretty standard procedure for the Circles even outside of the hellhole that is the Gallows (hello, Harrowing!), but the game refuses to let us say a word about that. Think back to all the other characters who've done shitty things; you can usually agree that they did something necessary if not right, and even if you can't/don't want to do that there are usually options that allow you to lessen the burden of guilt or absolve them in some ways! It is only with Blackwall that the narrative bends over backwards to say he's the bad guy, and that's especially egregious in Inquisition because... well, let's be honest, when you're working with the Chantry most of the cast has done or been involved in worse. The game pushes us to agree that Blackwall is the worstest ever for something that is no worse than what other people in the game have done. Cassandra and Leliana both served the Divine directly, obeying all her horrific orders! Cassandra's whole order covered for the atrocities Templars committed! In the books Leliana acts as go-between for Justinia subtly giving Celene the go-ahead to deal with the elves of Halamshiral however she saw fit (nothing can convince me that Justinia and Leliana did not both know that would end in bloodshed) and in DA2 she's openly checking to see if there should be an Exalted March on Kirkwall because the mages are revolting against their inhumane conditions! Cullen was Knight-Captain in Kirkwall! So I'm sure as shit not going to passively accept the game trying to tell me that this guy has committed the worst crime ever because he murdered a few children when the Chantry most of my advisors help run kills more than that every day. That's my issue with Blackwall's quest, not the fact that the characters don't approve of him killing children. Can't believe I have to say that.

[cheesebearger]

shakespeare was not a pedophile. we have no evidence even suggesting he was a pedophile. he married a woman nearly a decade older than him. why are people claiming he's a pedophile

[justsomeectoplasm]

A cape and headpiece design since I was inspired by another cape I saw on pinterest.

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Charles Haigh Wood (British, 1854-1927) Taken by storm, exhibited 1899

[thepremierladies]

Emma is living that life! Marchioness Emma Weymouth stuns in Dolce & Gabanna as she celebrates 36th birthday in Venice with her husband Marquess of Bath, Ceawlin Thynn, and two children John & Henry.

[potatoesandsunshine]

i’m just in outlining mode and all i wanna do is talk about this fic i’m sorry everyone there will be Several Posts about very vague things i can feel this

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

Alright so, I need to know your thoughts on the possibility of Johnny's name coming from the song Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. It's something that I personally think, but I wanted to share it with you to get your thoughts on it.

OH HEY YOU KNOW I ACTUALLY LOVE THIS??

i never made the connection before smh but you're absolutely right!!

i always assumed it came from marlon brando's character in the wild one, but i noticed in general that it was kind of a very popular.... "rock'n'roll name" you might say in the 50s and 60s? oh and maybe not only that but popular in those years in general - see also johnny in the outsiders (set in 1965), johnny get angry by joanie sommers (1962), and to put the examples we said before, johnny b goode from berry on top (1959) or the wild one (produced in 1953)

[llycaons]

when you cut through the near-aristocratic pomp and pretension and th eeuphemism of the zoldycks, you just get an system of control and abuse and trauma that’s upheld and maintained by everyone on the estate, not just the immediate family. I remember thinking this old man wasn’t so bad - he helped gon and co. on their quest to save killua, he’s worried for both gon and killua here., etc...but now...why is he working for these people? he’s complicit in so many awful things that have happened to the kids over the years. I get why people would choose to work for them rather than be killed, or people who came to the job very young like canary or amane, but iirc this old guy just likes working there. fuck that man, fuck gotoh for his loyalty to kikyo, and also fuck amane’s grandmother too for her role in perpetuating this