#tw: discussions of cannibalism.

[mad-hunts]

so, i'm gonna give y'all a warning for this post immediately because i have yet to talk about this on here besides with one or two people, and the last thing i want to do is make anyone uncomfortable... but if you believe that cannibalism is a trigger for you then please do not continue beyond this point. for those of you who are okay with it, though, let me start by saying this:

barton does engage in cannibalistic acts sometimes, and this is actually one of the few, if not the only sources of shame that he feels in response to the heinous acts that he commits pretty much on the daily. and this is because he believes himself that it is disgusting and not something to be proud of; so, in a way, it does kind of demonstrate that he has some humanity left in him albeit in a very unsavory way and that's mainly why i wanted to bring it up. because his relationship with this part of him... well, it really isn't good, for lack of better words. which is understandable considering cannibalism is a rather big taboo in society, but it has become somewhat of a compulsion for him. not to excuse it in ANY capacity, of course. that is honestly just the best word i could use to describe it as i've done some research about it and, like other serial killers, barton is SO perpetually lonely that by consuming his victims -- it makes him feel like he is no longer so alone anymore as he will always be able to 'carry' a part of them with him that way, so-to-speak, and they'll never be able to leave him.

now this is obviously not the way to go about dealing with his loneliness at all, as it is extremely messed up both morally and honestly, just wrong as a human being to do. but i also believe that there are other factors at work regarding his tendency to sometimes cannibalize his victims, and that is that because of the trauma he endured at the hands of his biological father (wesley mathis) whom forced him to eat people with him. it could sort of function as a very unhealthy coping mechanism for him to navigate that complex trauma; and this is because it may serve as an attempt for him to restore a sense of control over himself that he felt was stolen from him as a child, since he had no choice but to engage in it. plus, interestingly enough, antisocial personality traits are often an underlying element in those who divulge in cannibalistic acts. and cannibals in one study have been found to have more cases of abuse / have more family members who are criminals, so this could also be indicative that his environmental upbringing very well could have a hand in his subsequent (occasional) cannibalism after he commits his killings.

i also thought i would mention that, despite his apparent depravity, barton has taken extra care not to expose his own children to the same trauma that he had to suffer from as a result of wesley (what with the 'hunting trips' that they went on) and he would NEVER want his kids to see him eating people. so, although it still is unquestionably wrong for him to be cannibalizing people, things are a little complicated in that regard. while i'm talking about it, for my closing thought, i'd like to say that the police does highly suspect that the dollmaker is a cannibal but they haven't been able to confirm it as of yet. though i'd imagine that most of the underground knows that he cannibalizes people because rumors can be spread quite quickly, and i can totally imagine the way in which people found out being that they were unfortunate enough to have to stumble upon barton just... eating someone. and a lot more casually than one should probably be about it, because half of the time, he doesn't even remember that he's done it afterward because his mind literally just blocks it out. but that's something i shall expand on more later

[ramzb]

local cannibal seeks victim soulmate ‼️

Bonus Tran being cute & color versions :

[yummycrummy]

That post about SR meeting his younger self (I AM STILL GOING INSANE OVER IT) makes me wonder how UCR would think of HIS younger self, he’d probably see how much he really loved SR as a kid, and we might even see how obsessed he was, considering SR was the only person he’s really known :((

I love how u analyze him sm friend- both him and SR have such a screwed up relationship but you really delve more into it, I love it >:] This is a bit silly but I drew out how I think they'd kinda interact-

Continues off from this

[unfortunate--moth]

hey guys what are everyone's opinions on cannibalism yaoi/yuri

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Shad and Deaths relationship is just Death going "I WAS BROUGHT OUT OF RETIREMENT FOR THIS!" And then Death deciding to fuck up the man's day.

Shad overseeing a fight: Soon I'll have more soldiers for my war.

Death "Double Tap" Death: *Crushing the skulls and limbs of the knights* I grant a man power, I pass the torch onto him but noooooo! He chooses to disrespect the sanctity of Death and now- *skull crush* I have to make ugly corpses. That bas-

Shad: *Bewildered*

Death, Shad and Avra: the ‘wow that’s a way to die’ trio.

Your three options are: Total Annihilation, not as permanent as you would like, consumed.

Shad just has his day mildly ruined by Death and Avra bc his SKs keep perma-dying and he can’t stop those two from doing it, so he just has to sit back and watch his armies get ever smaller as they’re either crushed or eaten. Unfortunately, some of them are crushed and then eaten, but Death has given up on trying to stop Avra from scavenging

[djsherriff-responses]

Do you think people normally consent to being eaten? Do you think that cannibalism is illegal in most countries around the world simply because of health issues and not because it might involve something else? Like, idk, murdering someone and violating their bodily autonomy?

btw the mass murder in question is me talking about how weak Hazbin Hotel’s purge plot thread is because we’re meant to be sad Angels are killing people in hell, you know, such as cannibal serial killers and pimps who abuse and rape people?

I don’t agree with killing as a solution and Hazbin Hotel’s writing is weak but like, these characters are already dead. They did awful shit in life and went to hell for their awful behaviour. Sorry that I struggle to take Hell’s plight seriously when these characters in hell are too busy being assholes to even give two shits about it

[misc-obeyme]

While I don't particulary enjoy traumatizing Barb, I do enjoy taking care of him in times of need

I traumatize him you take care of hi- /silly

tbh I dont imagine Barbatos shed, I think his tail is more..meat like than scales (mostly because scales are hard to draw but they have a great damn texture but I just cant see his tail being like that) so he doesn't shed like Levi,,, but also scaley Barbatos. mhmmm texture. cold body pillow

okay I got sick ideas do you think his tail would be tasty. do you think he would use the meat of his tail for fancy dishes. do you think his flesh is poisonous. I kinda think his tail has a whole other blood system thingy than his body also I don't care about biology we're talking about some time realitywarping god. So anyway I also hc the teal parts of his tail are blood vessels. his skin fades to transparent at the ends of his tail so thats why its also teal too. thanks @/inhuman-obey-me i got the idea after a fic of theirs. anyway Do you think the blood tastes goo-

i want to eat his tail now.

We make a great team lol! Poor Barb probably disagrees~

Honestly, his tail looks more like meat and skin than scales to me, too. It just looks more meaty than scaley. Though maybe if it was a lot of little tiny scales that are super malleable... it does have the potential to feel amazing... like let me run my fingers across that, you know?

I don't know enough about biology to know whether or not what you're proposing would make sense scientifically, so let's just assume that it does!

I never once thought of the tail streaks as being blood vessels, but that makes sense! I mean they do kinda look like veins, don't they? And I see, so the black part is the skin but by the end it reveals all the teal insides! That's a pretty cool headcanon!

While I don't know if I could actually consume some of Barb's tail, I think if anyone could make it tasty, he could. If it's able to fall off and grow back, then I could see him using it for food. And my first thought was he'd only do that if he was desperate, but then I was like well maybe it's considered a delicacy? Tail a la Barbatos, you know what I'm saying? Roasted in a creamy sauce that only Barbatos himself can make. I think it might interesting if his flesh was only poisonous to humans.

I don't think blood in general tastes good (at least I haven't had any that tasted good lol), but again we're dealing with a demon here. And I kinda think Barbatos could make anything tasted good. Maybe he serves the tail with blood sauce.

That sounds gross, but maybe it's not? I'm the kind of person where I'm willing to try anything once. So if Barbatos served me such a dish and I knew what it was, I'd still try some.

Maybe he gets creative and serves multiple things like tail jerky or tail-loaf or perhaps cheeseburgers with tail patties.

[anchorandrope]

Louis would be useless and do nothing, we’d die quickly after he tried to catch a fish with his hands or a homemade spear or something. Liam would try hard but not know what to do, he’d be good at like breaking rocks or collecting firewood that we wouldn’t know how to light without matches. (Btw I am not expecting that I’m bringing much to the table here because I’m not outdoorsy, this ain’t all on them). Niall again would do nothing helpful. I feel like he’d want to write “help” in big letters with seashells on the beach and hope to be saved that way (does this show take place near a beach? I assume it does I’ve never seen it). Harry, again, he’s picking poisoned plants. He thinks he can identify mushrooms but he cannot. He will catch a frog and it will be poisonous. Useless for survival however charming company before we die. It really would have to be Zayn. He’s my only hope. He was strong enough to walk away from 1D to live on a farm and raise animals as well as a child and grow a vegetable garden. He once saved Harry from fire onstage and also stopped him from eating a muffin thrown onstage by a fan, he has some sense of survival in him. But again, I assume we die with any of them. And I am scared of insects, the wild (I am a city girl), wild animals and having to fend for myself in the dark overnight so chances are I die from sleep deprivation after 140 hours awake in a row under extreme misery and duress. They can eat my body to survive if they want as long as they promise to record one more song as 1D and dedicate it to my memory. This is how I think Naked and Afraid would go, the one direction edition.

[related to this post]

"He once saved Harry from fire onstage and also stopped him from eating a muffin thrown onstage by a fan, he has some sense of survival in him. But again, I assume we die with any of them."

— wise words from an anonymous tumblr user

you are so real for this one, and the "HELP" sign from niall is so niall 😭 i still feel zayn has survival instinct but he has no idea how to use it. and regarding a song in memory of them eating you: well we do have no control that is a song of eating someone... but in a different way... maybe they can dedicate that one to you for a night! what do you think? 👀😅

taste on my tongue 🎶 (he's eating you) i don't wanna wash away the night before 🎶 (you were his dinner) in the heat where you lay 🎶 (he grilled you) i could stay right here and burn in it all day 🎶 (he saved a bit of you for later)

[beeinyourbreadbox]

Okay everyone wants to talk about 'oh yeah cannibalism as a metaphor for all-consuming love' but I personally think that's tired. How about cannibalism as a metaphor for unhealthily co-dependent relationships (not even talking romantic, necessarily) born out of harsh environments?? Huh??

They cut chunks off of each other. Just small ones. They consume each other, but never completely, never enough to fill their stomachs. Just enough to keep going, hopefully small enough cuts that they'll heal without too much trouble. They laugh harshly but with a certain haunting light to each of their eyes about how gross it is to eat yourself and someone else. They hold each other gently and tears roll down their faces with each slice and sink of the knife, each small chunk of flesh that they offer up to each other. They pass the blade between each other with far too much casual trust for two people who are slowly cannibalizing each other.

"Fuck, that hurt," the elder of the two by two years says, but with a sort of deranged laughter hiding behind his tone. He throws the flesh that's been rended from his thigh on the cast-iron skillet propped over the fire while he holds a cloth to the wound. His companion grimaces as they swipe the blood off of the blade with their shirt and hold it out handle-first.

"You'll survive," they say, though not unkindly. "Now. You do me. Try to go for somewhere on the legs this time, my arms need a break." They say it without horror, with far too much casual energy for the situation. Because they know he won't kill them, won't take more than is needed, won't betray them or trick them.

Because if even one of them died, then who would the other have to nourish themselves from?

The two reluctantly cannibalistic companions carefully peel off a small layer of skin from each of them one night to contribute to the small meal of foraged berries and watery soup. On a particularly desperate evening the slightly older of the two offers up their two least favorite fingers. The younger one eventually donates their ear despite the less-than-ideal texture and taste of cooked cartilage. It was damaged to begin with from an accident in their childhood and probably needed to be removed eventually anyway, and hey. It's calories!

The two laugh and joke while bandaging each other's wounds to the eerie yet somehow tempting background music of their own flesh sizzling over their shared fire. At night, the younger one runs their finger over a particularly large bandaged divot in their beloved's arm. Tears well in their eyes and grief warps their features as they look at it. But they don't cry, because that would wake him up and he needs his rest. "I'm sorry," they whisper, voice trembling. "Fuck. Fuck I'm so sorry. This is so fucked up. I'll make it up to you, somehow. Someday. I promise."

Absentmindedly, they reach up to tuck their hair behind their ear out of habit, but there is no ear to tuck the hair behind so it simply falls back into their face. They would laugh if it wasn't all so fucked up.

The intimacy of saying 'i know. I know you don't want to hurt me. I don't want to be hurt and I certainly don't want to be doing the hurting either. But we have to survive, so we have to hurt each other, whether we want to or not. I know I know, It's okay. Don't cry. We'll carry the burden together. We'll keep each other going even as more parts of us disappear. We'll love each other through it anyway.'

The devotion and love and determination of 'me. Consume me. Use me. Hurt me so we can both stay alive long enough to see a day where we no longer have only each other to consume. If we can ever find our way out of here I promise I'll buy us a turkey and we'll prepare it together. I promise. This isn't forever,'

'I don't want to keep eating you. I don't want to keep hurting you, I can see all the damage we're doing to each other but there's nothing else. There's no one else. It's only us, and we have to survive. Here. It's my turn to be the main course, you're still healing. we'll do a few toes this time, just wash them before you cook them."

"gross! I'm not eating your toes!"

"oh, what, but you were fine with an ear? Shut up and eat my toes before we both starve to death,"

And when the two are finally rescued, they try to love each other still but they can't stand the sight of each other. He can't look them in the eye anymore, and they can't be near him without remembering how he tasted, and a deeply twisted part of them misses it and they hate themselves for it.

They're not in the wild anymore, they don't need to hurt or consume each other anymore but neither of them remembers how to do anything else, so two people with suspiciously large and deep scars never see each other again. It's better for the both of them, but sometimes he runs his fingers over the divot in his arm, and they never bothered to get a prosthetic ear.

Just. Yeah. Lots of potential there. See also: Cannibalism as a metaphor for people pleasing, cannibalism as an allegory for abusive/toxic relationships, cannibalism as a symbol of rebirth and rebuilding (especially in stories about transness!)- eating your old self, serving it up on a platter to nourish your new and better body. Just. Yeah I feel like we're missing out by limiting ourselves so specifically to metaphorically eating people we also want to fuck, is all I'm saying.

[kozzax]

talking about cannibalism as a form of non-sexual intimacy with my friends. its a good night.

[trans-leek-cookie]

I'm not gonna add to prev post bc idk if I should as a non Black person but it drives me CRAZY when ppl act like anthropophagy is always about LOVE like. NO. Sure, in some cases there's the "eating someone because you need to make them a part of you". But do you know what it usually fucking is???

It's the idea that what separates is from animals is that we do not eat each other, and white ppl use that to say that ppl of color esp. Black ppl are less than human!!! (And just to say that this happens with or without actual anthropophagy occuring. Some cultures do consume human flesh for various reasons but white ppl have suggested ppl of color again esp. Black ppl are "cannibals" as a way of dehumanizing them)

And it's also the idea that BECAUSE people of color are lesser than white people that white people aren't actually "cannibals" like them, because they separate themselves, therefore it cannot be "cannibalism" when they do it and is instead comparable to eating livestock

[mad-hunts]

[[ I have questions about Barton's thoughts on cannibalism and some of the aspects it holds and means to him. Now suppose, SUPPOSE!!! We go the whole Death of the Family route. And adjust it to fit our respective takes of Barton and Joker. Are there any feelings regarding the whole process of taking Joker's face off? ]]

AHH, forgive me for how late i am to replying to this, but thank you so much for the ask! i really do love y'all for wanting to know more about him tehe <33 BUT onto the rather taboo matter that is cannibalism, i would honestly be more than happy to talk to you about it in relation to barton's character more ( because i know we already talked about it a bit together, buttt of course, making posts about these things is always fun and i want you guys to always feel free to ask me questions about things on here :D ) . because being a cannibal is one of his most unfavorable traits since it is... well, VERY morally depraved, to put it simply. and perhaps surprisingly enough, this is the one aspect of what barton does that he usually doesn't try to excuse and/or just completely NOT care about it's inherent evilness. i'd honestly say that his thoughts about it are heavily negative and he tends to regret it afterwards in the occasion that he remembers he has done it (and just a quick refresher here, i say 'in the occasion that he remembers' because barton has suffered from blackouts before where his brain was just like ' oh, so we're doing this now, huh? yeahhh... i don't think we're going to be able to cope wth remembering this, so we're just going to metaphorically pack it somewhere where it can't be accessed.')

and it's, unfortunately, not so simple as him being able to stop doing it just because he knows it's gross + wrong. because i have to admit that this is hard for me to articulate properly into words but cannibalizing is like something that fills a void for him. which is SUPER twisted, of course, but most cannibals throughout history that also happened to be serial killers were extreme loners and don't have a lot of friends. so although it's criminal and definitely not something i condone, killing and eating someone for barton is like ensuring he is never alone in a way, because it's as if he is 'carrying the victim' along with him as part of a trophy. and this feeling is wickedly intoxicating for him because he is just SO alone all of the time. also, being able to have power like that over someone is appealing to barton, as i've read in several studies that some cannibals do what they do because it gives them this sick sense of satisfaction. and it makes him feel powerful because he's capable of doing something so few people have ( i mean, for good reason because it's TERRIBLE in ways i can't even describe, but barton is a very deranged individual y'all (,,: ) + it gives him that dopamine rush even though it really shouldn't.

but yeah. that's why, when it comes to people coming across barton while he may be in the act of doing so, that he almost appears as if he's high probably a good chunk of the time 💀 like the man is TRULY a menace to society jsjsj but this momentary 'bliss' doesn't last long, as i was saying that he normally regrets doing it afterwards and it tends to sometimes even give him stomach aches by psychogenic means. and when he's like this, i hope this makes sense whenever i say this, but barton feels the most unhuman-like that he probably ever does so it also... scares him in a way??? yeah, i'd say that's pretty accurate. and so barton will normally deflect whenever the issue is brought up by other people in conversation. though, strangely enough, he also uses it to his advantage a bit to scare people he really doesn't like. as a threat is a lot more powerful when you know that someone is capable of doing it so if barton were to tell another muse that, if they betray him again like that, that he'll EAT them?? idk about that muse but i would be like ' oH. NO, I WAS TOTALLY NOT GOING TO DO THAT PSHHH ' and just completely brush away any plans i might've had of betraying him SKSKK

BUT yes, i hope that answered your question regarding his thoughts about cannibalism and what it means to him, as well as what some of the aspects hold to him. it is basically a brutal reminder that wesley still holds influence on him even after his death, honestly, as harrowing as that might sound because without him — he likely wouldn't have started doing it at all. so, in the case of barton's story, his bio father does 'haunt the narrative' as some people may call it. but OOH, honestly, like i was telling you before... i think it would be intriguing to maybe figure out a way it could be implemented between them so if you want to end up doing that, then do let me know!! but there is absolutely no pressure so don't feel like you have to. and as for feelings surrounding the removal of the joker's face, it isn't touched upon in the comics, BUT i'm going to be honest. barton is basically my OC now so i shall be telling you my perspective on how doing it made him feel. because barton deals in 'dead things' like he would call it, especially at the time that death of the family took place, i believe that he would be morbidly excited about the occasion of being able to quote unquote 'do his work on someone who's actually alive' and thus he would be a willing participant to it... just like barton was in the comics. though, i know that's messed up.

barton is just SO into the mindset that he is a 'creator' like we were talking about and since he didn't know at the time just how bad joker was, barton would have little to no reason to be wary about working with her. and he finds beauty in grotesque / unusual things so he likely would've seen it as some form of macabre form of art especially if it was... well, hooked on the wall, like it was in that panel of the comic 🫠 BUT ANYWAY enough of talking about gross things! the point i was trying to make is, barton would be excited to help her as sickkk as that sounds and if joker viewed it as some sort of rebirth / transformation just like the character did in the comics as well? then perhapsss barton would be proud that he's helping someone in a very questionable and gross way to become their more 'authentic self,' so yeahhh. i hope you enjoyed my response to this even though i know it was a bit long-winded!! i just wanted to cover everything is all, haha

[ssreeder]

Kidney beans

I assume Zhao is making chili?

[saintshigaraki]

sometimes cannibalism is the pinnacle of romance 

[raspberryjellybrains]

Okay I'm finally cracking and posting this here: for the past month or so, I've been entertaining a rather disturbing thought experiment regarding whether or not Dream eating dream food constitutes a sort of metaphysical autocannibalism and why on earth THIS is the move. Warning, this contains a ridiculous amount of conjecture.

So, we know he generally eats food from others' dreams, but does occasionally have food prepared by palace staff; this means that either way, the food consists of dream-stuff, which is what constitutes his being. Dream-stuff is what I refer to everything in the Dreaming being made out of since it seems to be a psychic plane rather than a more "physical" or carbon based one. The Dreaming is, in its own way, connected to all of the other Endless' realms as a plane accessible by all, but not necessarily through entirely physical means. This is important because each Endless' realm is tied to the being as a part similar to their bodily manifestations in that they are both a tangible expression of a concept, though the realm is not so neatly tied to a consciousness as any bodily manifestation, but it does contain a separate expression of consciousness.

This aspect of my understanding is a combination of stated fact and intense conjecture; Multiple times, it's stated that their realms are apart of their being in a more abstract sense, but we can understand from Dream's imprisonment that it's tied to the bodily manifestations as two portions of a larger, omnipresent whole. Now, how the numerous bodily manifestations and multiple-species expressions they can take as part and separate from the rest of the whole factors into this... dude, I don't know. That's an entirely different post I am not qualified to write because that shit gets confusing real quick. Despite this, what it tells us is that when a portion of the being is isolated from one, the other decays due to a severance in connection between the greater whole conducted through the manifestations.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY

that the Dreaming and everything it contains is apart of who we know as Dream, and vice versa. He and the realm are one, which happen to exist separately* in space* meaning that anything done to the realm impacts Dream, and vice versa as well. This explains his weakness when the Dreaming gets taken over and partially destroyed, and the Dreaming being destroyed when he gets imprisoned, and the literal omnipotence he demonstrates within the realm. This means they're made of the same stuff. Can you see where I'm going with this?

If the dream-stuff from which everything in the Dreaming is derived is the fabric of the Dreaming, and the Dreaming is Dream, does that mean anything inanimate (understanding that when sentience is given it ceases to be of the same will, therefore making it separate from the conscious of the Dreaming) still counts as Dream (as a concept they're both apart of)? Or more succinctly, is dream stuff an extension of Dream?

If so, this would mean that eating anything made of dreamstuff is metaphysical cannibalism.

Now, eating from dreamers. That's a different chapter of the same story. We have now moved past mechanics and know that individual dreams aren't made of Dreams (if that makes sense), since they can exist separately, uncultivated by a conscious will to better serve a purpose. However, being dreams, they form the wider Dream as an omnipresent concept from which each manifestation is derived. Without dreams there is no Dream, but without Dream there are still dreams. This means that while the food there is derived from dreams, it's apart of what constitutes Dreams, i.e. what Dream and the Dreaming is made of. It's still all Dream.

This means that no matter what, food eaten in the dreamscape by Dream is food apart of his being, meaning that he is eating himself in a metaphysical sense. It could be argued that just because they're both constituted of the same stuff doesn't mean they're the same thing, like animals eating other animals, which is not cannibalism, just the food chain. Thing is, I don't know which one is which because it's not ever stated how closely tied these two portions of Dream are, and interpretation ranges wildly from reader to reader. This could all be a very carefully made moot point, but it could also not be and I have no clue, and judging by the wiki, no one else does either.

Finally, to entertain this point to its fruition and go back around the beginning, why the fuck is this the conscious choice. He is the only one who does this, which means it's not necessary, but a personal preference. When I presented this to someone, they compared it to the process of your body metabolizing fat, which could be considered autocannibalism but isn't because that's what fat is there for because it's self consumption on a very micro level; they have a point, if looked at on a very, very large scale as if Dream's bodily manifestations are just cells apart of the not quite living, not quite tissue of some massive immaterial being then yes, this is like metabolism. But I categorically don't like thinking about a giant incorporeal space body and everything we know as this character to which we are so attached as nothing but an animate mechanism, so I'm not going to! If you want to, be my guest, but that is not where I'm at right now. One can support or rebuke this point by stating that he gets hungry (but doesn't actually need to eat?), which implies a metabolic process within the "body" since cells get hungry but so do the things they're apart of (oh god what would the giant space body eat? filing that away to never touch again).

Understanding this, it's a personal, conscious choice, which leaves only one last unanswered or raised question: WHY. WHY. WHAT IS THE REASON. WHY IS HE LIKE THIS AND WHY DO I CARE.

okay rant over open and tell me your thoughts about this deeply disturbing thought experiment which won't leave me alone :)

[marz-likes-palaces]

such a celltw core sentence, fr, trust me

(a quote from this article from the Japanese cannibal Issei Sagawa)