#unified tree theory

[dichromaniac]

Ok I've had a minute and some dives into the lore. And here is the MOST coherent version of what I'm calling the "Unified Tree Theory" that I've been pondering since Calamity:

So according to Encyclopedia Exandria, the Luxon created the Primordials/Titans and also devoted itself into the cycle of rebirth/reincarnation in a very Buddhist sense of repeating life to reach a state of "perfection."

How absolutely tragic that a hubristic wizard lit some candles and said some words and not only "deleted" a god of death, but took over the MOMENT when the strings of mortality are cut and deciding to be the arbiter of what happens next. What a slap in the face to the Luxon's intentions for mortal life.

Atrophy and Blight are close enough words connotatively to definitely link Laerryn's spell to the name Atrophy, especially considering we're already on board playing cultural meme narrative telephone with language.

I don't think Evandrin ever chose to come "back" to the tree. I think a piece of him was caught in the runic net and never left, even if most of him was able to travel amongst the stars. We know Zerxus was not a paladin of a Prime Deity, but *of the people.* So assuming that Zerxus and Evandrin were both tapping into the same power source, i.e. the Luxon, it would be even more reasonable that the Luxon allowed for different aspects, versions, or pieces of Evandrin to exist in multiple places simultaneously.

(Probably useful info is that I firmly believe Evontra'vir is a language shift of Evandrin Alterra of Avalir in the vein of Gau Drashari -> Ashari -> Hishari; Avalir -> Savalir; Mt. Ygora -> Cathmoira)

(Ex. Otohan's Dunamancy backpack is the explanation for her Echo Knight abilities. Multiple versions, different place, Same time. But that's diluted, distilled, *stolen* instead of granted straight from the source. I don't currently see a reason why the Luxon itself would not grant more bespoke power directly.)

Also, I have a mighty need to rant about the fucking Trees

The Sun Tree: "Planted" by Pelor/Dawnfather, at the site of the battle between Ioun and Tharizdun, at Whitestone. Lvl 20 Oaths of Ancients Paladins can manipulate their physical form to be more "plant like." Additionally, we KNOW God's can change their champions into other forms/shapes but maintain the personality of the humanoid transformed. (Mace of the Black Crown, specifically, but it does seem all the Arms of the Betrayers used to be sentient creatures - and we have no reason to assume, other than alignment - that a Prime would not have this same power.)

Arbor Exemplar: planted by Melora/Wildmother at the "most desolate location in Exandria at the time" (according to Encyclopedia Exandria) and is *the sister tree* of...

The Seed of Rebirth: planted at the heart of the Abundant Terrace in Vasselheim. Described as the "sister" to the Arbor Exemplar...

Who can say these three trees are not champions? Whose to say the gods are not "reverse engineering" the deep, wordless magic of the Luxon and these three (if not more!!!) Trees are recreating a weaker version of the protection the Tree of Names offered.

And, to the point I set out to make originally, who is to say the Matron of Ravens did not, had not, or would not, manipulate the Tree of Names/Tree of Atrophy to bolster her own defenses, domains and sources of power? Ludinus did it with distilled dunamancy and otohan, why would the Matron, know Wizard, with all the power and perspective of a god, not do the same to this Tree?

[hyrule-in-a-pokeball]

A BIG OL' GANONDORF THEORY (TOTK)

This gonna be a long one, kids

I've just got a bunch of thoughts on Ganondorf. I'll categorize them or something

GANONDORF CAUSED HYRULE'S UNIFICATION A great war of some kind has been mentioned a few times in Zelda canon. most notably in OoT. 9 years before the events of OoT kick off, a great war comes to an end, but not before orphaning a baby who gets adopted by a tree. 9 years after this war, the leaders of the Gorons and Zoras consider the King of Hyrule to be a close friend, with the leader of the Gorons even considering him an honorary brother. With OoT being erased, why is this important? Because the legend that is OoT is based on the historical fact shown in TotK. Real events that were embellished and re contextualized over time. Well, here's what the legend tells us about history... At one point in time, Hyrule was divided. Each race seemed to be a different kingdom, but there didn't seem to be any tension among them. But then something happened that forced them to unite. Or rather...

Someone Ganondorf has always been bent on ruling Hyrule, but I think his invasions weren't targeted solely on the land of the Zonai/Hylians, but also the lands of the Gorons, Zora, and Rito. Basically all the lands that aren't a barren wasteland. He probably planned to take over each region and unite it all under one glorious Gerudo banner. Alone, they may have all had trouble fending off the Gerudo army. I believe that with a common and very powerful enemy in the form of the Ganondorf-lead Gerudo, King Rauru was able to convince the Gorons, Rito, and Zora to unite with him under a single Hyrulean banner, thus creating the unified kingdom of Hyrule and forming a solid, united opposition to the Gerudo invasion.

GANONDORF'S STONE ENHANCED FORM

We skip forward in time a little. The war has ended and Ganondorf is swearing fealty to King Rauru, but thats just so he can get in and move about freely without suspicion even though he's the world's most suspicious looking man. It works though. He kills Queen Sonia and steals her sacred stone, the power awakened from which causes him to transform

The sacred stones, as explained, do not give powers to their holders, but instead greatly amplify powers that were already present. But what they ALSO don't do, is cause a physical transformation in their users. None of the other stone holders were shown to change form when using the power of their stones. And its not like his stone was extra special. It was literally the same stone Sonia was using. So why did Ganondorf change form when he came into possession of one?

Because his power is not his own.

While Zelda inherited her powers from her ancestors through blood, Ganondorf inherited his as a result of being the product of Demise's cheeky curse. While Demise is dead and gone, his power lives on in Ganondorf, and so it was Demise's demonic powers that were amplified by the stone. As a result, Ganondorf's form changed to reflect those demonic powers.

But that might not be all that changed. You see, after his demonic powers awakened, his goal changed a bit. While he was still hell bent on ruling Hyrule, he now also wanted to wipe out every living person within the kingdom, supposedly to replace them with the monsters he summoned, and "Cast the world into eternal night" He even turned on his own people, the Gerudo, as in the scene in which Rauru grants the soon-to-be-sages their sacred stones, Ruto states "We just received word that the last free village in the Gerudo desert has fallen..." So the demon king's armies were attacking everyone indiscriminately on his command. I think he truly became a demon, and possibly something in his psyche changed as a result.

THE 8TH SAGE

Those who hold Sacred stones were deemed sages. Zelda and Sonia were the sages of time. Rauru, reflecting his roll in OoT, was the sage of light. Nabooru was changed from the sage of spirit to the sage of lightning. Darunia was the sage of fire, Ruto; the sage of water, and Mineru was the sage of spirit. Saria and "forest" being completely replaced by a nameless Rito and the element of Wind. Sonia dies, so the sage count is 7.

When the stone bonded to its holder, stylized Japanese kanji would appear on it. This is most visible with Nabooru/Riju's stone

Its up-side down and partially wrapped around the stone itself, but that is the Kanji "Kaminari" meaning "Lightning"

When Ganondorf steals Sonia's stone, the kanji for time "Toki" disappears and is replaced with this

Its side ways and partially obstructed by his hand, but when he uses his power, we see the symbol flash in its proper orientation

Yami. Darkness. (funnily enough it also means "Gloom")

If holding a secret stone makes one a sage, then Ganondorf is the sage of Darkness, a being in direct opposition to Rauru; the sage of light

[cissa-calls]

Foreword to Agatha All Along

After years of waiting, tomorrow witches, marks the anticipated start to Agatha All Along! But, before the first two episodes stream, it's time to take one last crack at discussing some possible theories (and hopes) for the series:

Akin to how Wandavision was an exploration of American Television sitcoms, this series is partially an exploration of depictions of witchcraft and referential to horror in pop culture (the Witched Witch and Glinda from the Wizard of Oz).

Is Rio dead? How does she seem to emerge from the ground on the side of the witches road? Did she and Agatha try to walk it long ago, and Rio perished, thus she is now trapped there forever?

At some point, Agatha will end up alone. She will be walking alone because either everyone has died, or those remaining leave. This however will not be indefinite.

Conversely, it could also recall the beginning when it was just her and the teen, but just the two of them make it out.

I keep thinking of that scene with her and the teen in the metal room, where they both appear to be in patient gowns. Are they in facilities at S.W.O.R.D.? Is the teen crying because Agatha is making him walk through memories and realize his identity?

Agatha's knowledge of the road is either from the Darkhold or what Evanora taught (or rather tried to keep from her daughter).

As a green witch, Rio is connected to plants. Her costume quite literally looks like vines and roots growing are forming the bodice. Are plants relevant in the sense of bloom and regeneration? Or rather decay and withering?

Using, dismantling, subverting, or cannonizing of symbols or tools of witchcraft. From kitschy to terrifying.

The hooded figures who appear in front of the teen, is there one for each member of the coven? Is it a haunted form of themselves, or a twisted appartion assigned to capture each?

Part of this story is found family, and Agatha's fear of comraderie. Built off a lifetime of distrust, backstabbing, and taking, Agatha has to learn to trust. In a similar vein, Agatha has no sense of comfort or home.

The scene where Agatha's face is covered in small cuts or splatters of blood. Either that is the cataylst to a glorifying rise near the end of the show, or a horrifying turn of seemingly irredemtion.

Rio was once Agatha's companion, her only companion. A betrayal between the two sent Agatha into permanent solitude.

I sincerely hope this show explores horror and gives into the darkness that Multiverse of Madness teased. Comic relief is a needed presence, but the tone is overall geared towards darker themes and storylines

Speaking of darkness - night! The majority of this series will take place at night! At least the juicy and important scenes.

DOES AGATHA POSSESS THE DARKHOLD AGAIN OR WAS ITS APPEARANCE IN A FLASHBACK

When Agatha was young and on the run, she was targeted for possessing the Darkhold.

Rio and Agatha...history may call them the best of friends.

The Ballad of the Witche's Road might be sung in several versions/genre's (we've already heard two)

More lyrics of the ballad will be revealed and sung as the story progresses.

The Witches Road may be terrible, but it is a unifying force as it welcomes everyone. Remember the lyrics: "Seekest thou the road, all that's foul and fair," the road is a living thing, inviting everyone but casting judgement on those who can achieve

I will cry at some point. I am certain this will break me just as Wandavision broke me.

The glowing tree in the middle of the Witch's Road has something hidden beneath and growing within the roots. (Is it the heart of the Road, because it is a living legend?)

Each of the witches will have to confront their greatest fears manifested as scenes, memories, or landscapes of their personal hells. Only when they begin to trust each other or confront/admit their weakness can their proceed. Agatha would obviously have the final and hardest challenge.

Without her magic, such a core tenant of her identity and confidence, Agatha will be even more combatative and threatening (borne entirely out of insecurity).

Agatha's cameo, and the lock of hair in it, is a reminder of her humanity and connection.

At some point, Agatha will break, spilling out centuries worth of every held back, messy emotion (and Kathryn Hahn will SERVE).

Perhaps it is based on the obvious Eve allegory, but there will be more biblical allegories or subversions. Is Agatha being born anew?

Teen and Señor Scratchy bond. It is likely a trauma bond. (The rabbit may also gain a more horrifying form or eat an entire monster/adversary)

Elaborate outfit reveal. ELABORATE FINALE COSTUME OUTFIT REVEAL! AGATHA ACHIEVES ENLIGHTMENT AND HER MOST POWERFUL FORM WHEN SHE FINALLY RECLAIMS HER MAGIC...possibly foiling Wanda when she became the Scarlet Witch.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it will be interesting to compare these ideas to how the show actually plays out. In all of this excitement, there is still a touch of trepidation. After pouring so much love into counting down the days to release and yielding art, writing, research, and costumes for this character, Agatha has remained a fun force of exploration and expression for me. However, the excitement over seeing where Kathryn Hahn takes the character next assuages any and all fears, as we finally will confront who exactly Agatha was all along.

Get ready witches, it's time to walk the road.

[nightmare-grass]

One of my biggest hyperfixations nowadays is the lore of ancient kingdoms in Genshin Impact. I wanna know what they were all about, how life was like for them, what led to their downfalls, and how or if they interacted with one another. It’s said that there used to be a unified civilization of humans in Teyvat, and that’s why so many ruins have similar architectural details despite being spread across all the nations of modern Teyvat. We still have very little lore about the Nameless Ruins in the Chasm, we still don’t even have a name for them despite Dainsleif’s quest taking place there. But there’s also strange similarities between the stories of the ancient kings and how the kingdoms fell. I already buy into the theory that King Deshret of Sumeru/Gurabad may be related to or the same as King Irmin of Khaenri’ah, since the Traveler’s twin is the Abyss Prince/Princess, and the Traveler seems to remind Liloupar of Deshret in terms of looks and powers. And wouldn’t it be fitting for Deshret, who turned down the Gnosis and challenged the heavens by obtaining Forbidden Knowledge (abyssal power) to be in some way related to the king of Khaenri’ah, a nation without a god that hid from Celestia and was later punished for it? And there’s sources about Remus, the king of Remuria, citing Remus as a god king just like Deshret. And Remuria as well as Remus were swallowed by the Abyss, reminding me of the sinking of Enkanomiya, where the names of the people are lifted directly from Greek/Roman mythology. And Remus is directly inspired by the Rome founding myth, while Remuria as a whole is inspired by ancient Rome. And the most tantalizing thing for me has to be the lost kingdom of Sal Vindagnyr, where it seems so cut off from these other lost kingdoms but their princess dreamt of events that wouldn’t come to pass for thousands of years, long after her civilization was destroyed. She was born under an offshoot of Irminsul, and had the power of prophecy through her connection to the tree. She foresaw the Cataclysm in Khaenri’ah, the coming of the abyssal dragon Durin, but she had no frame of reference for when these visions would come to pass. Think about what that would do to you as your kingdom was being swallowed in ice and snow, the gods having forsaken you, and your father asks to see a vision of the snow cleared and blue skies, but you’ve already forgotten what that looks like since it’s been so long in the blizzard. Dragonspine and the ruins of Sal Vindagnyr haunt me.

EDIT: I think I figured something out about Dragonspine. In every source I could find on the topic, people usually sort the Princess’s vision of Durin before the Celestial Nail that destroyed their Irminsul tree. I think, since the people of Sal Vindagnyr proclaimed to be in such close contact with Celestia, that Celestia dropped the nail on Dragonspine as a response to the princess’s vision. They laid down a preemptive strike against the abyss and then realized, “oh shoot, we messed up,” because Durin wouldn’t appear in Mondstadt until thousands of years later! So Celestia gets the heck out of dodge before the humans can seek retribution for the destruction of their home, that’s why they abandoned the people of Sal Vindagnyr. The humans were left wondering what they did wrong, but Celestia is the one at fault! Celestia panicked and messed up!

[narhinafan]

Why I think Himawari inherited Kurama

So saw someone complaining about Kurama ending up inside Himawari and saying it retcons what we know about tailed beast. And wanted to share my theory for why I think this is wrong and explain why it happened.

First we are going to go all the way back to Kushina who before Naruto and Gaara is the youngest jinchuriki and one of the few truly confirmed case of one starting a family.

Its been established that Naruto ended up with his whiskermarks cause of being exposed to Kurama's chakra while in the womb altering his DNA. This altered DNA then got passed on to Boruto and Himawari hence why they also have whiskermarks. Going further Naruto's chakra had been mixing and syncing with Kurama's since before he was born. This means that his children not only inherited altered Kurama DNA, but also their chakra would be the closest it could possibly be to Kurama's as well. This get confirmed by Kurama stating Himawari's affinity towards his chakra is even higher then Naruto's.

This perfectly sets up why Kurama could revive inside Himawari cause there is still a strong presence/connection of his chakra in the world that would act as a foundation to gather his scattered chakra. Since her chakra is the largest presence of Kurama's left his chakra would naturally be drawn to it as he reforms.

The reason why this has never happened before is quite simple jinchuriki are usually chosen when they are adults and of them very few are women and other the Yagura and Mito no other jinchuriki is confirmed to have started a family and in both their cases they were adults before they became hosts to a tailed beast as well. So Kushina is the first female host of a tailed beast to become one during her childhood and to have made a family after becoming an adult. Leading to her child and grandchildren inheriting a great degree of Kurama's chakra and traits. No other tailed has had this before their is no one else with their chakra nor remaining link for them to use as a base to reform and even those that had children they would only have inherited a small portion of tailed beast chakra. Then you have the fact tailed beast rarely die and usually get resealed or transferred to another host so its usually only generations after when the tailed beasts chakra has watered down that they end up reforming.

Next the combination of Hyuga and Uzumaki bloodlines unifies both Hagoromo and Hamura's branches. This basically means NaruHina's children are as close to Otsutsuki and Kaguya as you can be naturally which adds to their already great affinity and capability with Kurama. Kaguya was the ten tails and original tailed beast hence genetically Boruto and Himawari are perfectly compatible with all tailed beasts due to that connection with the origin of the tailed beasts.

This could also explain why Kurama was able to revive inside Himawari directly and do so without a seal. We all know that Kaguya merged with the God tree to become the ten tails she didn't seal it inside her like what was done with the jinchuriki she and the ten tails were one in the same. So Himawari and Boruto likely inherited a similar constitution not needing a seal to host a tailed beast cause they can merge with it a similar way to how Kaguya did to make the ten tails in the first place.

Finally why Himawari and not Boruto and the answer is quite simple, Boruto is a complete Otsutsuki due to the fact Karma changed his DNA to that of Momoshiki's this means his chakra has likely been affected as well. So while the connection to Kaguya is still very much their Boruto is more Momoshiki then either Kurama and Kaguya it now pales in comparison to Himawari who remains unaltered and purest descendant/inheritor of both Kurama and Kaguya remaining in the world.

[queensectonia]

last night i was reminded of one of my extremely few Hater Moments (lighthearted) about this series and i never got around to fully articulating my thoughts on it, so it is once again time for our regularly-scheduled kirby rant:

the spider sectonia reveal was poorly-executed on every level.

to start with, this plot element was introduced when the series was in its worst throes of Not Putting The Fucking Lore In The Fucking Games, but I will happily concede that this reveal was at least in a game; just not the game it should have been in.

I almost wonder if the Sectonia Clone as a whole was a leftover from the fact that Robobot started out development as Triple Deluxe 2, but considering that a) TD2 was dropped pretty early on and b) Robobot is just full to the brim with fanservice and callbacks anyway, I don't feel there's much evidence for such a theory.

at any rate, reducing the otherwise very intriguing reveal of Sectonia's prior form to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it easter egg in an entirely different game is pretty... underwhelming. we've had plenty of "reveals" or cool nods and expansions to other lorebits in similar easter eggs, but none of them were nearly as important as "oh, by the way, here's what the character whose whole arc revolves around personal and physical image used to look like! in a totally unrelated game!"

but that's the tamest complaint. that's just the accessibility of this information, which could have been better but certainly could have been worse.

the biggest problem is Sectonia's design. it's bad. it is just not good, fellas. she is literally just genderbent Taranza. it fails visually, it fails conceptually, and it fails really hard story-wise.

this design was so uninspired that when people in the EN sphere first saw it, tons of people thought it just was Taranza. then when we got screenshots, model rips, etc., it was still so painfully similar to Taranza that it made people assume HAL was saying Taranza and Sectonia were related - which turned into just as much of a shitfight as you might think.

even if this weren't attached to such a crucial character reveal, it's just downright a bad design! instead of taking even the slightest efforts to differentiate Sectonia from Taranza, they did the laziest, most barebones "uhhhhhh what if taranza But Girl" design shift possible. she's wearing the exact same outfit as Taranza, just palette-swapped. so little effort went into both the concepting stage and the modelling stage. she's just Taranza's model with the merest tweaks to make sure you know this is a Girl Spider.

genuinely, I would be a hundred times more amenable to this entire plot point if HAL had just bothered to give her an actual design.

but the problem is, making Sectonia a spider kind of just fucks everything about her story and contradicts itself at multiple points.

the aesthetic and theme language in TD is very clear. this is one of the biggest strengths that both it and Robobot share - the identity and literary through-lines of both games pervade every single visual element of them. Robobot tells its tale of capitalistic tech-fuelled colonialism through every part of the game from level backgrounds, to enemy designs, right down to surgical decisions like mechanising the pinwheel tree that was such a fond image from KRtD. every tiny thing bore the mark of the HWC, whether metaphorically or literally, such that you spent the entire game never forgetting that there was one unified force behind all of this, and Haltmann at the end of the game was the culmination of this aesthetic.

TD did the exact same. every part of TD sells that it's a fantastical fairytale romp through a series of themed locations with a connecting thread of the invading Antr* force.

*(this is a way better romanisation than "antler" this is my hill)

if anything, I'd argue that TD's design language in this respect is tighter than Robobot's, because Robobot had a fairly broad theme of "industrialisation and hi-tech space future sci-fi" to draw its foes from, whereas TD had to condense its antagonists under the stricter banner of "evil insect army".

and they did incredibly. every point of design about the Antrs points straight to Sectonia and draws from her in some way or another. it's absolutely seamless. she's the perfect logical endpoint of Antr design from every angle: she's the literal queen bee of this insect hive and the perfect expression of their anatomy. she's bigger than the biggest Antr. she's more developed. she's more powerful. they were so careful and thorough about this design conceit that Antrs have multiple stages that all march straight up to Sectonia. we go from the tiny bronto burt and waddle dee clones with their little wings and eyes that seem so familiar, to the Antr soldiers, all the way up to the Lord Antrs who are one step away from Sectonia. they have stripes and facial markings to echo hers. it's all wrapped up with the genius bow of combining ants, bees, and wasps: they're all hymenoptera! the metaphor goes even deeper than that because there's a species of wasp that parasitizes spiders! controls them, even!

... except no actually, we've decided she's a spider too and all of that buildup and artful design means nothing.

it's awful. it's taking what is far and away one of the best-executed designs in the series and saying that all of that buildup and blatant connection of ideas meant nothing.

but that's just the visual end of it. Sectonia actually being a spider makes no sense in the lore, either.

first of all, TD's incredible design sense and artistic direction applies to Taranza as well. while he's obviously derivative of Magolor, within the context of TD he's clearly meant to evoke the sky fairies. he's designed to look much more like them than any of the insect characters. he's got the same body type, he moves the same way as them, he's a sky fairy with a spider theme. the game draws visual parallels between him and the sky fairies more than once; this is not unintentional.

this is part of what makes Taranza's role as Sectonia's right hand more impactful: he's only insect adjacent, and the design language would have you believe he's more closely related to the fairies than the insects, so him being with the bad guys is notable and interesting.

so why would a spider character be the ruling monarch of the insect hive? why would the line go ant, bigger ant, fancy ant, armoured ant, spider, wasp?

I mean, shit dude, the miiverse posts directly tell us that Sectonia used to "look like her insect underlings". it really feels like the decision to make her be a spider was a total spur-of-the-moment one, between how badly it interacts with the rest of the story and how lazy the design was. Sectonia's backstory had a couple of holes in it regarding the actual timeline of things, but those were just mysteries regarding what order everything happened in. she was both a bodyjacker and a good queen at one point, which don't exactly jive, so it becomes interesting to think about how those two facts coexist. on the other hand, her being a spider just gets shoehorned in there for no apparent reason other than to... heighten her connection to Taranza?

and that just dovetails into the complete mockery HAL made of Taranza's character development after TD, and THAT is a rant for another time.

there was just no point to it all. Sectonia being a spider adds nothing, removes a bunch of nuance and intrigue, and muddies both her story and the background world of TD.

[adarkrainbow]

Queering kinship in "The Maiden who Seeks her Brothers" (B)

Continuation of the previous post! I will point out that I am not copying everything there (for example I won't include all the footnotes). If you are interested in more then you'll have to buy the book (or its PDF) :p

The manner in which the king discovers the heroine is also questionable in ATU 451. In “The Twelve Brothers,” a king comes upon the heroine while out hunting and fetches her down from the tree in which she sits; in “The Six Swans,” the king’s huntsmen carry her down from a tree after she throws down all of her clothing except for a shift, after which she is taken to the king. The implication that the heroine is actually the king’s quarry subtly exposes the workings of courtship as a hunt or chase with clearly prescribed gender roles. In both cases, the king weds her for her beauty, and the heroine silently acquiesces. The heroine is slandered in her own home, and, tellingly, her marriage is not stable until her brothers are returned to human form. As Holbek notes, “There is an intriguing connection between the brothers and the king: the heroine only wins him for good when she has disenchanted her brothers” (1987, 551). This suggests that issues with the natal family must be worked out before a new family can be successfully formed.

Anthropological methods also help to illuminate the kinship dynamics of this tale. In particular, the culture reflector theory is useful, but only to a degree, as ethnographic information about nineteenth-century German family structure is limited. More generally, European families in the nineteenth century were undergoing changes reflecting larger societal changes, which in turn influenced narrative themes at the time. Marilyn Pemberton writes, “Family structure and its internal functioning were the keys to en[1]couraging the values and behavior needed to support a modern world which was emerging at this time” (2010, 10). The family in nineteenth-century Germany faced upheavals due to industrialization, wars, and politics, as the German states were not yet unified. Jack Zipes situates the Grimms in this historical context: “The Napoleonic Wars and French rule had been upsetting to both Jacob and Wilhelm, who were dedicated to the notion of German unification” (2002b, xxvi). And yet the contributors to a book titled The German Family suggest that the socialization of children remained a central function of the family structure (Evans and Lee 1981). The German family was the main site of the education of children, with the exception of noble or bourgeois males who could be sent to school, until the late nineteenth century (Hausen 1981, 66–72). Thus we may expect to see in the tales some reflection of the family as an educational institution, even if the particular kinship dynamics of the Grimms’ historical era are still being illuminated.

Two Grimm-specific studies support this. August Nitschke (1988) uses historical documents such as autobiographies and novels to demonstrate that nineteenth-century German mothers utilized folk narratives from oral tradition to interact with their children, both as play and instruction. Ruth Bottigheimer’s (1986) historical research on the social contexts of the Grimms’ tales shows how by the nineteenth century, women’s silence had come to be a prized trait, praised in various media from children’s manuals to marriage advice. This message was in turn echoed in the Grimms’ tales, with their predominantly speechless heroines, a stark example of a social value reflected in the tales. Additionally, Bottigheimer notes that it “was generally held in Wilhelm’s time that social stability rested on a stable family structure, which the various censorship offices of the German states wished to be presented respectfully, as examples put before impressionable minds might be perceived as exerting a formative influence” (1987, 20). Thus, rigid gender roles and stable families came to be foregrounded in the Grimms’ tales.

Moving from the general reflection of social values to kinship structures in folktales, I would like to draw a parallel between German culture and Arab cultures based on how many of the tales in the Grimms’ collection feature a close brother-sister bond. The folktales Ibrahim Muhawi and Sharif Kanaana collected from Palestinian Arab women almost all feature close and loving brother-sister relationships. Muhawi and Kanaana read these relationships in light of their hypothesis that the tales present a portrait of the Arab culture, sometimes artistically distorted, but still related. Based on anthropological research, they note that the relationship between the brother and the sister is warm and harmonious in life, and it is one of the most idealized relationships in the folktale. Clearly I am not trying to imply in a reductionist fashion that German and Palestinian Arab cultures are the same, though a number of their folktale plots overlap; rather, I am stating that if we have evidence that the tales reflect kinship arrangements in one culture, then perhaps something similar is true in a culture with similar tales. Perhaps the Grimms’ tales, collected and revised in a society where families still provided an educational and nurturing setting permeated by storytelling traditions and values, contain information about how families can and should work. Sisters and brothers may have needed to cooperate to survive childhood and the natal home, and behavior that the narrative initially constructs as self-destructive might guarantee survival later on.

Hasan El-Shamy’s work on the brother-sister syndrome in Arab culture provides a second perspective on siblings in Arab folktales. In his monograph on a related tale type, ATU 872* (“Brother and Sister”), El-Shamy summarizes a number of texts and analyzes them in the context of an Arab worldview.8 What these texts have in common with “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” is that the sister-brother dyadic relationship is idealized and provides the motivation for the plot.9 However, since the brother-sister relationship is so strong emotionally as to border on the potentially incestuous, the desire of the brother and sister to be together must be worked out narratively through a plot that makes sense to its tellers and the audience so that “the tale reaches a conclusion which is emotionally comfortable for both the narrator and the listener” (1979, 76). Thus in Arab cultures, this tale type makes meaningful statements about the proper relationships between brothers and sisters, both reflecting and enforcing the cultural mandate that brothers and sisters care for one another

The brother-sister relationship in the same tale or related tales in different cultures can take on various meanings according to context; as discussed previously, Holbek interprets ATU 451 as a tale motivated by sibling rivalry, while El-Shamy interprets related tales as expressing a deep sibling love. Both scholars interpret the tales drawing on information from their respective cultures and yet reach different conclusions about the psychology underlying the tales. The importance of cultural context is thus paramount, and in the case of the Grimms’ inclusion of three versions of “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” in their collection, the life contexts of the collectors also feature prominently

The life histories of the Grimm brothers themselves influenced the shaping of this tale in very specific ways. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm came from a family that was once affluent but become impoverished when their father died, and for much of their lives, Jacob and Wilhelm struggled to provide an adequate income on which to support their aging mother, their sister, and their four surviving brothers. Jacob never married but rather lived with Wilhelm and his wife and children (Zipes 2002b, xxiii–xxviii; see also Tatar 1987).10 The correspondence between Jacob and Wilhelm “reflects their great concern for the welfare of their family,” as did their choices in obtaining work that would allow them to care for family members who were unable to work (Zipes 2002b, xxv). Hence one reason “The Brothers Who Were Turned into Birds” appears in their collection three times could be that its message, the importance of sibling fidelity, appealed to the Grimms. Zipes comments on the brothers’ revisions of the text of “The Twelve Brothers” in particular, noting that they emphasize two factors: “the dedication of the sister and brothers to one another, and the establishment of a common, orderly household . . . where they lived together” (1988b, 216). Overall, the numerous sibling tales that the Grimms collected and revised stressed ideals “based on a sense of loss and what they felt should be retained if their own family and Germany were to be united” (218).

Though the love between (opposite-gendered) siblings is emphasized in the Grimms’ collection as a whole, as well as in their three versions of “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers,” there is also ambivalence. As fundamentally human emotions, love and hate are sometimes transformations of each other, as misplaced projection or intensified identification.11 Thus Holbek’s and El-Shamy’s seemingly opposing interpretations of brother-sister tales can be reconciled, since each set of tales, in their cultural context, grapples with the question of how brother-sister relations should be. The Grimms’ tales veer more toward sibling fidelity, but there is a marked ambivalence in “The Twelve Brothers” in particular. When the sister sets out to find her twelve brothers, she encounters the youngest one first, who is overjoyed to see her. However, he tells her that the brothers vowed “that any maiden who came our way would have to die, for we had to leave our kingdom on account of a girl” (Zipes 2002b, 33). The youngest brother tricks the older brothers into agreeing not to kill the next girl they meet, after which the older brothers warmly welcome their sister into their midst. The initial hostility of the brothers toward their sister, though narratively constructed and transformed, could also represent the Grimms’ ambivalent feelings about their family: as a family that frequently suffered hardship and poverty, there must have been some strain in supporting all of their siblings. As eldest, Jacob in particular bore many of the responsibilities. Zipes notes, “It was never easy for Jacob to be both brother and father to his siblings—especially after the death of their mother, when they barely had enough money to clothe and feed themselves” (9). Including and revising brother-sister tales may thus have been a way for the Grimms to navigate their own complicated feelings toward their many siblings by achieving a narrative resolution for an initial situation fraught with resentment.

The message of sibling fidelity also upholds social norms in a patriarchal, patrilocal society, for brothers and sisters would not be competing for the same resources. In contrast, many of the Grimms’ tales (and fairy tales in general) feature competition between women for resources, a struggle that ultimately disempowers women. Maria Tatar comments on the heroines in the Grimms’ collection who, lowly by day, beautify themselves at night in dresses “that arouse the admiration of a prince and that drive rival princesses into jealous rages” (1987, 118). Classical texts of ATU 510A (“Cinderella”) in particular tend to present women competing for eligible men, portrayals that have drawn attention from feminist critics (Haase 2004a, 16, 20). Kay Stone’s reception-based research on gender roles in fairy tales reveals that readers are aware of the competition between women featured in the tales, “a competition our society seems to accept as natural” (1986, 137).

Inasmuch as “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” depicts a woman leaving her birthplace and getting married, it upholds the patriarchal mandate that anthropologist Gayle Rubin (1975) identified as “the traffic in women.” According to Rubin’s theory, men cement their homosocial bonds by exchanging women as wives, essentially as commodities. Yet in each of the versions of this tale type in the Grimms, the sister continues to live with her brothers at the tale’s conclusion. The brothers do not necessarily take wives of their own, which in two versions leads to an odd arrangement where the brothers live with their sister and her husband. The nuclear family is replicated, but with the addition of the bachelor brothers, thus altering the original family that was present at the opening of the tale. This familial constellation, which may have been recognizable to the extended family structures of nineteenth-century Germany, nonetheless does not conform to heteronormative ideas of the ideal nuclear family.12 Instead, it parallels the extraordinary image of the littlest brother in the third tale left with a wing instead of an arm because his disenchantment was incomplete—a compelling icon of fantasy penetrating reality, demanding to be made livable. The brothers form a queer appendage when added to the family unit of the heterosexual couple plus their children, and the visibly liminal status of the winged littlest brother highlights the oddness of the brothers’ inclusion

This third tale, “The Six Swans,” is more specifically woman centered and queer than the other two, as it begins with female desire (the witch ensnaring the father/king to be her daughter’s husband) and female inventiveness (the father/king’s new wife sewing and then enchanting shirts to turn the king’s sons into swans).13 The sister then defies the father/king’s authority by refusing to come with him, where the new wife is ostensibly waiting to dispose of the remainder of the unwelcome offspring. The sister wanders until she finds her brothers and undertakes to free them by remaining silent for six years while sewing them six shirts from asters. Her efforts are nearly thwarted by her new husband’s mother, who steals her children and attempts to frame her for murder. It is notable that the women in this tale who are the most active—the witch, the witch’s daughter who becomes stepmother to the siblings, and the old woman who is mother to the sister’s husband—are the most villainous. The sister, in contrast, turns her agency inward, acting on herself in order to remain silent and productive. Her agency, the most positively portrayed female agency in this tale, is thus queer in the sense that it resists and unsettles; it acts while negating action, it endures while refusing to respond to life-threatening conditions. That agency should be complex and contradictory makes sense, for, according to Butler, “If I have any agency, it is opened up by the fact that I am constituted by a social world I never chose. That my agency is riven with paradox does not mean it is impossible. It means only that paradox is the condition of its possibility” (2004, 3). The sister’s agency, so quiet as to be almost unnoticeable, is nevertheless not congruent with being silenced.

The queerness of this tale also manifests in transbiology. Judith Halberstam discusses the transbiological as manifesting in “hybrid entities or in-between states of being that represent subtle or even glaring shifts in our understandings of the body and of bodily transformation” (2008, 266). More specifically, transbiological connections “question and shift the location, the terms and the meaning of the artificial boundaries between humans, animals, machines, states of life and death, animation and reanimation, living, evolving, becoming and transforming” (266). The transitions and affinities between humans and animals in “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” interrogate the very notion of humanity as a discrete state. If the heroine’s brothers are birds, how can they still be her brothers? The tale seems to affirm a kinship between humans and animals, allowing for the possibility that family bonds transcend species divisions. The heroine herself is close to an animal state, especially during her silent time sewing in the forest. Viewing the heroine’s state from a transbiological perspective helps illuminate Bottigheimer’s statement linking muteness and sexual vulnerability, when she describes how, in “The Six Swans,” “against all contemporary logic the treed girl tries to drive off the king’s hunters by throwing her clothes down at them, piece by piece, until only her shift is left” (1987, 77). This scene does in fact make sense if the heroine is read to be in a semi-animalistic state, having renounced some of her humanity. Shedding human garments is akin to shedding social skins, layers of human identity, though her morphological stability betrays her when the king perceives her as a beautiful human female and decides to wed her

However, the fact that this remains a human-centered tale renders its subversiveness incomplete. We never learn what the brothers think and feel while they are enchanted; do they keep their sister company as she silently sews shirts for them? Do they retain any fragments of their human identities or memories while in swan or raven form? The fact that the brothers fly to where their sister is bound to a pyre, about to be immolated, suggests that they acknowledge some kind of tie to her. The brothers’ inability to use their bird beaks to form human speech parallels the sister’s silence, rendering both brothers and sister unintelligible in human terms. For the brothers to become human again, they must be framed as legibly human. Bear notes the importance of “publicly dressing the swans as human beings” in order to disenchant them in certain versions of “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” (2009, 55). In “The Six Swans,” the heroine tosses the shirts she had sewn onto the swans as they fly near the pyre to which she is bound. In “The Twelve Brothers,” the brothers as ravens swoop into the yard where the sister is about to be burned at the stake, at which point the seven years of the sister’s silence elapse. Exactly at that moment, “just as they touched the ground, they turned into her twelve brothers whom she had saved” (Zipes 2002b, 35–36). In “The Seven Ravens,” the brothers assume human form after flying into their home as ravens, and when they go to their table to eat and drink, they notice signs of the sister’s presence and exclaim, “Who’s been eating from my plate? Who’s been drinking from my cup? It was a human mouth” (92). The sister’s presence is enough to disenchant the brothers, but it is significant that her humanness causes them to comment and initiates the transformation. Thus, in each of these three tales, the brothers must reengage with human activities—wearing clothing, acknowledging their relationship with gravity and the ground, and eating in human fashion—in order to become human once again.

To explore the issues presented by these tales further, I return to the comparative method, asking why three versions of this tale type really needed to be published in one collection, and what the differences between the versions can tell us. Queer and anthropological perspectives on the brother[1]sister relationship each illuminate the meanings of tales where brothers and sisters love each other excessively—both as taboo and survival strategy. Parental love is almost always destructive, whether it is excessive fatherly love or a stepmother’s desire to be the sole loved object. We learn from the anomalous ending of the text “The Seven Ravens” that neither silence nor heterosexual marriage is required for this tale type to work as a story, to make sense narratively. In that tale, the sister disenchants her brothers when she arrives at their domicile and drops a ring into one of their cups as a recognition token, at which point the seventh brother says, “God grant us that our little sister may be here. Then we’d be saved!” (Zipes 2002b, 92). After the brothers are transformed back into humans, they “hugged and kissed each other and went happily home” (93). Here, enfolding back into the nuclear family is the happily ever after—the only price was the sister’s little finger and her sacrifice to seek her brothers. In the texts where marriage does occur, it is queered by danger and ambivalence. According to my allomotific analysis, silence is but one method of disenchantment. A sacrifice of another sort will do: the sacrifice of a “normal” marriage, the sacrifice of a reproductive future. Yet these things seem a small price to pay for the reward of a family structure, however unconventional, bonded by love and loyalty

As I’ve shown, the Grimms’ versions of “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” affirm some family values on the surface, but the texts are also radical in their suggestions for alternate ways of being. The nuclear family is critiqued as dangerous, and the formation of a new marital family does not guarantee the heroine any more safety. Greenhill describes a parallel phenomenon in the tales she analyzes in her essay: “‘Bluebeard’ and ‘The Robber Bridegroom’ queer kinship by exposing the sine qua non of heterosexual relationships—between bride and groom, husband and wife—as explicitly adversarial, dangerous, even murderous” (2008, 150). The husband in “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” (when he appears) is not dangerous through action so much as inaction, by allowing his mother to slander and threaten his wife. Both men and women are alternately active and passive in this tale type, making it difficult to state to what degree this tale type exhibits female agency, a task made even more difficult when the heroine voluntarily gives up her voice. The sister’s agency lies partially in negation and endurance, which is one way that the tale queers the notion of agency, despite the fact that in each of the three tales the sister takes the initiative and sets out on a quest to find her brothers. By simultaneously questioning the family and making it the sought-after object, the Grimms’ three versions of “The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers” complicate the notion of kinship, presenting myriad possibilities for how humans and non-humans can relate to and live with one another. As a story that explores and opposes lethal and idealized families, this tale investigates themes of attachment, ambivalence, and ambiguity that were central to the Grimms’ cultural context and life histories and remain relevant today.

[mlb-a-rewrite]

The miraculous magic system is fucked and so I've been reworking it. In the previous installment of "Ele Rages About Children's Show Logic" I talked about how miraculous work and how they affect wearers. Today, we are zooming out and looking at Miracle Boxes as a whole.

May I present:

A Guide to Kwamis and Where To Find Them

(Disclaimer I am a very white American. I don't know a lot about world history or cultures. I will be speaking in very vague terms as a result. The times I do get specific are either because a) I know a little bit about the topic and b) it relates to the original source material. If I'm wrong about something regarding the culture(s) discussed please let me know, I want to make this as accurate as possible).

Alright with that out of the way.

Miracle boxes are the housing unit for a group of miraculous. Miracle boxes encompass the foremost morals, ideas, and beliefs of a group of people. They form with the formation of culture and while culture fluctuates and changes over time, the miracle boxes do not. Once they are made, that is it, and each group only gets one miracle box. As a result, there aren’t many miracle boxes in the world and most of them have existed since the dawn of human civilization, leading to very little information actually existing about miracle box formations.

It is important to note that miracle boxes encompass the ideas and beliefs of a wide region of people. There isn’t a Chinese miracle box or a British miracle box, but rather an East Asian miracle box and a Western European miracle box. Because these regions are so large, miracle boxes encompass fairly vague ideas that are shared across their region. This also means there could be miraculous from different boxes that embody similar ideas since certain ideas/beliefs/morals are not unique to one group of people.

Each miracle box has a theme that each miraculous vaguely relates to. Each miraculous in a box represents a different idea but all of these ideas are unified under the overall theme.

Connecting to the previous post about miraculous and animal associations, usually, cultures will associate animals with different traits (like how many cultures view foxes as sly and crafty or owls as wise). If there is a certain animal that is widely associated with a trait is represented in a forming miracle box, then it is likely that the animal will be connected to the miraculous, but not guaranteed. If an animal is generally important to a culture it also has a higher chance of being featured in a box, but again, is not guaranteed.

Also, an important note is that although it is extremely rare, certain regions of the world have seen multiple miracle boxes created. For instance, there are two North American miracle boxes, one that formed when Native American tribes first began to establish themselves and one that formed during the Second American Industrial Revolution as a result of intense immigration forming an entirely new society and culture. Moral and culture beliefs changed completely, resulting in a secondary box to form.

Miracle boxes are the physical manifestations of a culture and thus, physically reflect this. For instance, a miracle box that forms from a region with lots of trees and woodwork would result in the miracle box being made of wood while a miracle box from an area that uses a lot of pottery and sculpting might have a miracle box made of clay. The design, shape, and function of the miracle box is all dependant on the culture and does not change over time.

While miracle boxes may have different forms from one another and encompass different ideas, each miracle box has the same basic structure of a First ring and a Second ring. If there are a lot of miraculous for one box there could, in theory, be a Third ring, although I see that becoming very complicated so third rings are not common, if they exist at all.

The first ring of a miracle box always has 2 miraculous that represent opposing ideas (Luck vs Unlucky, Creation vs Destruction, Tradition vs Innovation, etc.). The second ring is more broad and no miraculous has a direct opposite. The second ring will usually have somewhere between 5 and 7 miraculous, but there could be more or less.

[ratscapism]

Ohhh 19 and 20? 👀

19 A theory you’ve adopted as canon

apart from the 'obvious' ones like r+l=j or lyanna=knight of the laughing tree or sarella=alleras i like the theory that rowan is one of umber's daughters that was once kidnapped by the free folk!

it's exciting to me because it explains some of rowan's otherwise weird dialogue (who is stark for her as freefolk) and attitudes, i love the parallels/contrasts of fate this creates with rowan-theon and the layers it adds to her hate and distaste of him, and it's asoiaf theorising at its best for me, because it relies on very close and attentive reading, love for details, what you earn at the end is a little easter egg that is not necessarily relevant for the overall story, but improves one's daydreaming!

20 A theory you pray never comes true

looking at only the most popular theories one that i particularly dislike and that depresses me are the varied theories on dany's inevitable downfall/becoming a villain/inevitable self-made tragedy. truly there is no way for me to imagine this story, no matter how 'well-written' and 'carefully paced', as something that could be meaningful or interesting to me. i also have never once ever read a version of this theory (or rather: interpretation & commentary on the already written text that lead people to this theory) that did not rely on assumptions about victimhood/survival/women/motherhood/violence/slavery/racism/colonialism/etc that i found breathtakingly terrible.

another very popular one i'm not that into is the great northern conspiracy, i mean i don't mislike the idea that robb named jon his heir, and it is obvious that some of stannis' and roose's "allies" are kind of... playing a complicated game and there's lots of machinations going on, but the concept of there being this super tight network of clearly coordinated movement between all northern parties (except the "alien"/bad boltons) for the sake of stark power is not that interesting to me. maybe i feel that the underlying concept of this relies on the romantics of the starks as feudal exception (the good house that has a true heroic magical personal hold onto their always loyal lands and peoples) which i understand the appeal of but personally i'm just not super into. also some of my reading of theon includes that theon is a bit of a sacrificial piece for the north to unload their divisions onto: they all can agree he's the turncloak who deserves to be tortured, at least, something that derives its power because the north is not unified. also it's important to me that the boltons, too, are the north.

a minor-ish theory i have particular distaste towards is missandei being a faceless man

[dailycharacteroption]

Family Hunter (Slayer Archetype)

(art by shenfeic on DeviantArt)

 A common theme in gothic horror, as well as horror in general, is the idea of a killer that doesn’t just have it out for you, but your entire family. In gothic horror such familiaricide is usually a vaguely-defined curse or hidden monster, or else perhaps a killer that uses supernatural means to track and put down a family, hunting every last member.

The reasons for doing so vary. Perhaps a powerful figure essentially put out a hit on an entire family line (perhaps one of royal lineage), or perhaps the assassin in question has a personal grudge against an entire family. Or perhaps there is a curse, and these murderers are only answering a supernatural call without any real connection to them. Or perhaps in a slightly more heroic turn, the family in question is thoroughly evil and needs to be hunted down.

No matter the case, the so-called “family hunter” slayers specialize in targeting a single family, but are also able to exploit other such bonds on an almost supernatural level, making them deadly not just to the family, but also anyone they are connected with, as well as any sort of beings that are unified by some special bond.

 As one might expect, these slayers focus in on a single family to target with their predations, and thanks to a few occult tricks, they always know if there is anyone left, able to magically discern the next of kin of one of their targets. If in theory they succeed in wiping out a family, they can choose a new one with a month of research.

Eager as they are to slay this family, their weapons and attacks are that much more lethal against blood relatives of that family.

While normally these killers can focus on only one target for study at a time, if multiple nearby targets share a connection, such as being related, creator and creation, summoner and summoned, undead spawn and master, magical domination, or even the bond between master and familiar and the like, they can exploit how the bond makes them similar to study such beings all at once. Such targets don’t have to be part of their target family either.

Further still, they know tactics to isolate their studied target, cutting them off from support of nearby allies.

Interested in a slayer that specializes in very specific targets? Perhaps one that specializes in studying large groups at once in certain conditions? This archetype might be quite useful for a morally dubious character or NPC that evokes fear in those they hunt. You primarily lose slayer talents, so there is a cost for this specialization, of course, but for the flavor and the potential bonuses, it can be quite good in the right circumstances.

 Now obviously this archetype is mostly meant for villain npcs, but players can take it to with the right backstory. However, I’d like to point out the implications of the mechanic where a family hunter that succeeds completely can select a new family to hunt later. Obviously if they are some sort of professional I can see this, or perhaps are devoted to destroying evil lineages. However, if they are motivated by revenge, they might move to new families for a variety of reasons, such as conflating the crimes of another clan with those of their original, or having developed a bloodlust only sated by destroying families. Others, however… might just not do it anymore, perhaps retiring, turning themselves into the authorities, or even retraining out of the archetype.

  Generations ago, the Akullus clan summoned forth multiple Acrididaemons, the embodiments of death by insect plagues and the starvation such events bring. The fiends brought ruin upon the countryside, such that the deaths continued long after being banished. The survivors of that time swore that the Akullus clan would suffer for their evil forever, training hunters to pursue every last withered stem and branch of that family tree.

 With a hand glowing with the sacred sign of the Four-winged Eagle, a mysterious figure healed the son of the mayor of a remote little town. However, that mark is a sign of the deposed royal family, and with disturbing swiftness the new regime’s assassins descend upon the village chasing the rumor and leaving a trail of bodies unless someone intervenes.

 They say that the Elbors are cursed by the sea, doomed to die if they come to close to the ocean. In truth there is no curse, but they do risk peril by approaching the Valtus Sea, where the locathah that they wronged centuries ago still lurks, an ancient undead being that watches them from afar, snatching them up when they come within reach of the sea.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A Pennsylvania man who killed 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history meets the requirements for the death penalty, a federal jury found Thursday.

The panel in Pittsburgh reached that conclusion after two hours of deliberations, weighing the fate of Robert Gregory Bowers, 50, who was convicted last month on all 63 federal charges in the Oct. 27, 2018, massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue.

The panel is scheduled to return to court Monday to continue the penalty phase with testimony about potential aggravating and mitigating factors that could end in jurors' recommending the ultimate penalty for Bowers.

The government is seeking the death penalty, and U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville would have to impose it if the panel ultimately recommends death.

The jury filled out an 11-page verdict form and found that Bowers met baseline criteria for capital punishment.

It found beyond a reasonable doubt that Bowers met aggravating factors, such as creating "a grave risk of death" to multiple people, carrying out the crime with "substantial planning and premeditation," targeting old, "vulnerable" victims and killing and attempting to kill "more than one person in a single criminal episode."

“We are grateful for the jury’s effort to reach a just decision today,” Jeffrey Finkelstein, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, told reporters outside the courthouse.

“The Federation does not have a position on the death penalty. But this was an act of antisemitism, and the defendant deserves to answer for his crime,” he said.

The shooting 4½ years ago in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh shocked the nation.

The massacre killed Joyce Fienberg, 75; Richard Gottfried, 65; Rose Mallinger, 97; Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Cecil Rosenthal, 59; David Rosenthal, 54; Bernice Simon, 84; Sylvan Simon, 86; Daniel Stein, 71; Irving Younger, 69; and Melvin Wax, 87.

“I also hope that the next phase of the trial, which will allow the families of the victims an opportunity to speak, will give them a sense of relief and fulfillment," Finkelstein said.

The community and even loved ones of victims are not unified in opinion about whether Bowers should be put to death, Finkelstein said.

“There is some divide, not only between congregations but also among the victims' families," he said. "There's always different opinions."

The defense argued that Bowers is psychotic and that he has brain abnormalities, leading to his deadly actions.

But the government maintained that Bowers, a truck driver from nearby Baldwin, was a bigot who understood what he was doing.

He was active on social media, ranting about immigrants, pushing conspiracy theories and threatening Jews.

“This was an act of antisemitism, not an issue of mental illness," Finkelstein said. "This was hatred toward Jews. I want to thank the jury for all of their incredible work."

A representative for the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh declined to comment Thursday afternoon. Bowers' defense lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

[beastscribbles]

Religion ( or just me babbling, it gets off track:)

Religion

In the early days of humans, they had gods. From the very beginning of time. It meant to people what they wanted it to. It was unique to each culture but there just the same.

But in my opinion, why follow one unified religion? I want something to believe in, to give me hope. Something sacred to me. But what does that for me is different from the world. So, here I go, here is my religion. My religion is the forest, the rough tree bark, and my fingers tracing the labyrinthine engravings as I sit on the branch, the sun brushing its fingers across my cheeks. My religion is the soft pink flush of our palms intertwined as we walk, pure, innocent, untainted. my religion is the soft yellow lighting kissing every surface of my room, from the piles of clothes on my floor to the covers on my bed to the shelves carrying my numerous notebooks journals, and sketchbooks

my religion is the rain, crystal beads falling from the heavens, compiling into puddles, miniature oceans pleading for you to come splash and splatter your skirt

my religion is creating, and being consumed with a purpose, passionate brushstroke, furious typing, careful sketching, lyrics, compositions, and concepts crowding my mind. My religion is peace, solitude, and introspection, those stolen ephemeral moments spent alone,  and just being, or coming up with my own philosophies, and theories concerning my behaviors, tendencies, and character. My religion is girlhood. Or at least the way I view it. It is a visceral, cunning thing, and yet so beautiful. The juxtaposition of the diaphanous haze that clouds it, and the sharp, cutting experiences. From yearning for the moon, and to howl wildly under it, to collecting shimmering trinkets, and making everything pleasant. But there's also the other aspect. How the anguish and pain writhe inside me, wanting it to crawl up my throat and tumble out of my mouth, a scream bursting from my lips. Longing to be cherished and loved as a whole complete person, not an object of pleasure. But trying to cover it up with concealer, ribbons, and kindness. In the end, how you can cover up your skin and your hair, and all of your self-proclaimed hideousness, but you can’t cover who you are. You can’t stamp down your soul, at least not without losing it. 

And my religion is my childhood. How it was so exceptionally lovely and enlightened. Yet at the same time dark, misunderstood, and shattered. How one day my mother would be making me a beautiful birthday cake, and the next dragging me down the stairs, as I stumble tears blurring my vision, spilling over my face. How one day my father would be watching a movie with me, and the next yelling in my face, and shaking my shoulders. They didn’t know how to handle me. And my child self thought that I was a monster. That there was one inside me and it would one day claw open the soft skin of my stomach and burst out of me, leaving the “sweet version” as my parents called it, an empty shell. And I would claw at my face, screaming that I hated myself. But I also played with my sisters, making up stories of fairy dust and rose petals, aliens, and goblins. And we would walk downtown to buy ice cream and go on hikes in the forest. my religion is everything that makes up me. it is the very essence of my being.

[honourablejester]

Numenera Setting Notes: Points of Interest Part V

Continuing on through the Ninth World Guidebook, we head north past the Cloudcrystal Skyfields to the land of Lostrei, where various animist tribes who believe in the spirits in all things have semi-unified to create … not a nation, exactly, but a land with a central council where its disparate peoples can talk together. And, not going to lie, I think my favourite part of the world so far is up here. I’m not sure why it snagged me so hard, but the first time I was browsing through this book, the Glass Sea area grabbed me. Hard. It’s amazing.

Part V: Lostrei, the Spiritlands (Ninth World Guidebook)

Aerathis, the Capital City. For if you want some solarpunk vibes. Aerathis is built around the Gaians’ animist beliefs, so it incorporates large elements of the environment around it, inviting trees into the buildings and building around rather than through things like natural crevasses. It’s a city of metal and glass, and you’d think that makes it a prior-world city, because those techniques are mostly lost, but it’s less than a century old, built by a secretive guild within the city called the Builders. Who may or may not have the guidance of a prior-world AI to explain things. Heh.

Iripendra, in the Indigo Forest. Because it’s a clearing where, for some hyper-specific prior-world reason, food doesn’t spoil and sex can’t get you pregnant. Because building a contraceptive clearing in the woods was a thing some past civilisation felt a need for? I have some questions.

The Kileti-fior, or Temple of the Wellspring, in the holy city of Cheloh. It’s a massive ‘vaguely egglike’ tower with a great pit in the middle where priests pull up ‘energies’, which can actually power things. Anyone can join the priesthood in here, even if passing through, and help perform some of the rituals, and you get a little glass badge to say you joined the lowest order of the priesthood in this fashion. I think I just like the little glass badges? This could be the Catholic and/or enjoyer of history via objects in me, I like the echo of medieval pilgrim badges.

Chayn, in Southern Lostrei. Because it’s a town built around a giant hovering prior-world building that ‘stands’ atop a pillar of light. It’s called the Glittering Castle, because naturally, and the mayor lives up there. But it’s not standing on a beam of light, the beam of light is just emanating from the generator keeping it afloat. The beam lands on a giant yellow crystal in the centre of town on the ground, and you can hook up to the crystal for power, so the whole town essentially has electricity and all the conveniences. So far, so good. But, um. Chayn has, for probably completely unrelated reasons, ‘a far greater incidence of mutation than anywhere else in Lostrei’. So yeah. This is not a place of honour?

Kasistromis, in Southern Lostrei. It’s a giant tower of metal and synth that’s fully organic and alive inside. Anyone going in gets basically eaten. Not hurt, just swallowed, and then unwillingly transported along the organic passages and chambers of the interior. You can’t control your movement or get out until Kasistromis basically poops you back out. Nobody’s ever been able to talk or communicate with the tower, it’s just there. Vibing. Presumably hoping for something actually digestible to wander in.

The Shifting Lands, in Southern Lostrei. It’s a savannah. That, about 50ft down, sits atop giant square metal plates that move parts of it over each other. It’s all one giant puzzle floor, moved by a single giant mechanism, for no known purpose. That’s roughly 40,000 square miles (200 miles across) of giant earthen puzzle that’s just there. For reasons.

Ashuri Isle, off the coast of Lostrei. The name means ‘Exile’, and in theory it’s an island of criminals and exiles and self-exiles who wanted no part of Lostrei society. Owing to the lethal shoals around it, though, and the lack of charts outside of certain particular captains in the area, it’s as much an island of castaways and shipwreck survivors. It’s not overly violent, though, just full of people who wanted to do their own thing. I’m vibing with it.

Arsorra, on the northern coast of Lostrei. It’s a beach town backing onto a jungle, and a little way inland is something called the Stone Hatchery. Which is a piece of land that is, slowly, and for whatever its own strange reasons, tearing off piece by piece and floating upwards in little floating ‘islands’. They ascend at a fixed rate, about 40/50ft the first year, then 400/500ft or so a year for the next few. When they hit 1500ft, they, along with anything unfortunate enough to still be on them, vanish into thin air. The town occasionally uses this to get rid of criminals, stranding them on bits of land that are clearly about to be airborne. Which is … an interesting choice? Do you jump to your death from a great height, or see what happens after a few years of exile when you hit the edge of the sky? (Or get a friend with a flying creature or numenera to get you off, obviously. But. There’s an interesting little background).

The Fluid Tower, in the Glass Sea. The Glass Sea is an inland sea that during spring and summer goes so dead calm it becomes like, well, glass. The Fluid Tower is a 400ft extrusion from the sea that is hardened water. Not ice. Just water, that is currently harder than steel. Some people have scraped some material from the tower, and it immediately turns into liquid again, but can clean anything. The ‘walls’ are translucent, and there seems to be liquid water inside, full of fish that can suddenly enjoy a lot more of a view than usual. It looks like there’s a way for those fish (or people) to swim up into the tower from the sea itself, but that might be an illusion. I just love this thing. What a fantastic inexplicable thing to just plop in your world. The tower also has three hovering androgynous faces that float in its vicinity that sometimes ward people away, sometimes not, and even occasionally speak various opaque bits and bobs to people. This area is just weird and I love it. It might be my favourite thing in Lostrei, as random as that might be.

Orcourt, where the Glass Sea meets the Tiomon River. It’s an ancient prior-world city that’s half inhabited, but in a much more fun way that usual. From the modern wooden docks attached to the lower edges of the ancient towers, you take ‘float shafts’ up to habitation level: the upper stories 300ft up that are connected by ‘an invisible field of force’ that acts sort of like water. Stuff weighing less than a ton floats on it, and you can swim through or sail along it, like invisible canals between the buildings 300ft in the air. You can also ‘wade’ through it, but balance is tricky, and if you successfully reach the ‘bottom’ of the 12ft deep canal, you will fall through it. There’s a school for nanos in this city, and it’s just … it’s really quite fantastic.

The Glass Sea as a whole area is just … probably one of my favourite parts of this world so far? I would live there. I’m gonna go to Nano school in Orcourt. Can you imagine growing up in a city like that? Playing in the ‘canals’? Everyone having that story of the one kid they knew who swam too deep and fell out the bottom to their death 300ft below? Teenagers whose whole point of pride is that they’ve successfully figured out how to ‘wade’? Sailing into the city on a fishing boat from below, looking up to see a whole city’s worth of people just swimming around in the air 300ft up? Vendor boats sailing around an invisible canal 300ft up selling tea? Out into the sea a bit, there’s a great tower of glass-like solid water where fish can take in much the same views you can. Fisherfolk here regularly fish up glass fish, live ones, that they then throw back, because if you keep them until they die you start to know stuff you shouldn’t know and don’t want to. It’s just … I love it. I love this area. What a fantastic part of the world. Genuinely, I love it so much.

I’m gonna make a fisher nano from Orcourt. What a place. Heh.

[singular-yike]

Gimme your theories about the Earthly Gods and Mugenri.

Alrighty then, it's not exactly a single, unified neat theory though, I must say. More of a disparaged collection of random ideas. In any case, here are some of my random thoughts(?)/theories(?) about Mugenri and the Earthly Gods.

Canonical Information #1

Hoojiro's Mysterious Line

This all started here, with this mysterious line said by Hoojiro which was not elaborated on at all:

AWTIF [Baclside] - Alice Leaping Atop Lily Pad Ice Hoojiro "Have you ever heard of it? The story of the imperial family and the Earthly Gods buried by history's darkness."

Analysis

In Japanese mythology, the Shinto gods are divided into two factions: The Heavenly Gods (天津神) who live on Takamagahara (高天原), the Shinto celestial realm, and the Earthly Gods (国津神) which reside on the earth.

The earth (Japan) used to be ruled by the earthly gods, but the leader of the heavenly gods, the sun goddess Amaterasu-Ōkami (天照大神), declared one day earth should be ruled by one of her descendants instead.

She sent three waves of messengers to negotiate the handover of the earth to the heavenly gods. While the first two waves defected, the last wave of messengers, through both diplomacy and violence, successfully negotiated the"Transfer of the land" (国譲り).

With the sovereignty of the earth successfully obtained, Amaterasu sent her own grandson, Ninigi-no-Mikoto (瓊瓊杵尊), down to rule over the earth. There, he wed Konohanasakuyahime (木花之佐久夜毘売) and sired the ancestor of the Japanese imperial family.

These events are likely what "story of the imperial family and the Earthly Gods" refers to, although what spins Len'en will make to yet, if any, is yet unknown.

Canonical Information #2

Mugenri's Origin

We don't know much about Mugenri's origins, only that it was once continuous with the outside world but had been completely separated from it by the Mugenri Barrier. Additionally, we also know that this was done by the first Senri priest along with several others.

Another potential source for Mugenri's origin comes from Hoojiro:

AWTIF [Backside] - To Mugenri Hoojiro "Another world..... A country of a race that split off from mankind long, long ago." Haru "...The 'Country of Non-Humans'. The one that Tsubakura Enraku looked into in the past."

Analysis

Although she never calls it Mugenri by name, Tsubakura was looking into it prior to their disappearance in EE, and the theme of "non-humans" certainly seems in line with Mugenri.

EE Prologue This country is a place where both humans and non-humans live together. [...] This is a story of humans and non-humans. [...] This is a land where limitless relations and illusionary laws are linked together. People call the land "Mugenri".

Canonical Information #3

Alternate Titles for Mugenri

In addition to the potential "Country of Non-humans", Tom also gives a number of other titles that Mugenri is known by in BotC:

BotC: EE Yabusame 1-1 - The Gods' Tabooed Land - The Garden of Eden - The Lost Horizon - The Oppressed Land of Exile

However, NiLU does add that it's likely not all of these names originally referred to Mugenri, but merely got conflated with it. Nevertheless, they may give us the clue as to Mugenri's nature.

Analysis

"Tabooed Land" (禁足地) is a concept in Shinto. Typically found within Shinto shrine grounds, they are sacred spaces that humans are prohibited from entering and are restricted to the gods only, said to be where they dwelled or descended from the heavens.

The Garden of Eden is a biblical paradise mentioned in Abrahamic religions, where the first humans Adam and Eve once lived before being exiled by God for eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton, famous for being the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery.

Theories & Possibilities

Now that we have all the basics, we can go into some of the possibilities and theories that I have, keep in mind that most of these are pretty shaky, so definitely take them with a healthy pinch of salt.

Theory — On the origins of Mugenri

Considering Mugenri's titles as "The Gods' Tabooed Land" and "The Garden of Eden", it's possible that that's where a human-like original race (that Yago and Souko originally belonged to) first "emerged" or "descended".

It might have once used to be a fairly paradisiacal place, considering how it's the "Garden of Eden" and the "Lost Horizon".

As they continued to develop and spread across the world, this race split into humans and non-humans. Eventually, the non-humans returned to Mugenri, and eventually decided to isolate themself in this land using the Mugenri Barrier.

This would be how the Country of Non-Humans (which we're assuming is Mugenri) belongs to a race that split apart from humans long ago.

The reason they returned and secluded themselves in Mugenri could be potentially related to the heavenly gods wrestling control of the earth from the earthly gods.

Those who didn't wish to be subject to the heavenly gods' rule, and later the Japanese imperial family's, may have returned to Mugenri and finally separated the two locations entirely by putting Mugenri in a separate dimension.

Bonus Theory

In Shinto myth, rule over the world was divided among three children of the creator (although not primordial) god Izanagi (伊邪那岐).

The goddess Amaterasu got Takamagahara

The god Susanoo-no-Mikoto (須佐之男命) got the sea (although he would abandon his domain)

The genderless/male god Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (月読命) got the "Dominion of the Night"

Tsukuyomi, along with his domain, is poorly understood, in fact, they practically disappear from the myths after this. (Although one anecdote attributed to Susanoo is sometimes attributed to Tsukuyomi instead.)

In "Dominion of the Night", the word translated as "Dominion" is “osukuni” (食国), which is typically used to indicate the area which the Emperor has power over. It is suggested that it means that Tsukuyomi has dominion over the entire country of Japan during the night, and some believe it may even refer to the entire world.

I have absolutely no proof for this, but a mysterious genderless god whose realm is unknown seems almost perfect to be adopted into Len'en as Mugenri and the main god of the Senri Shrine.

Again, very likely nothing at all, but still fun to think about.

And that's all I have here, I give a 30% chance the main theory is true at all, and optimistically a 70% chance that some part of it is. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it :)

[rogdona]

Look man- just wanna say your art is literally gorgeous bro- It's very catchy and cool- but uh- that aside- I hope ya don't mind the question- but would ya mind giving some few tips on how to draw anatomy and how you color? because your art is so pleasing to look at- like bruh it's so pretty-

first of all THANK UUUUU!!!! im sososos happy u like my art!!!!!!!!!💕🌺🌷💕🌺🌷💕🌺🌷❤️♥️💕🌺🌷💕♥️❤️🌹🌹❤️♥️🌺💕!!!!!

i dont mind the question at all!! ill give u some tips on how i draw!!

BTW! these are just some tips ab what i do to draw the way i do, this is not an universal rule let alone mandatory!!

NOW ONTO THE STUFF U CAME FOR! under a read more so i dont clog ur dash bc i got kinda tecnical w some of it..! IT GOT WAY TOO LONG IM SORRY!!!

lets start with color then!! 🎨

i always see ppl saying that color theory is rlly hard and they never understand it, and tbh u dont need to learn it in depth at all!!

to make colors look good you need to think them as a group instead of choosing them individually...

though what i do is different, theres a post going around that says tinting all the colors w one brings the drawing together, and it does!! its a p good tip if u dont want to eyeball it like i do!!

but heres my process; lets say u have a sketch and an idea of what colors you want; your character is in a forest walking through the trees! what i do is choose background color and start from there

if you chose a cool color, when you start painting the rest of the picture drag the hue a little closer to blue or purple! if you chose a warm one, closer to yellow or red! if you want your drawing to have a greenish tint drag it closer to green or yellow! you get the gist of it, bring the colors closer! if theyre on opposite sides of the wheel it might be difficult, but usually bringing them closer to gray does a good job!!

also unless youre trying to get contrast on purpose, choosing colors w similar saturation(intensity!) helps unify the drawing!

say you want a drawing that is mostly grayish tones, make sure all your colors are desaturated (less intense, pigmented)

-

now say you have an existing character w a set color palette (we'll take my character elias as an example) and want to draw him in green and yellow or bright magenta and blue

i saw this explanation on a tiktok long ago but i literally cannot word it better and found it real useful

to translate the colors properly u need to think them on a scale, which ones are the darkest, lightest, and where does the rest sit?? Once you have that you can make ur own scale w the colors you want to use, and as long as the difference between the colors stay mostly the same u will be able to translate them p much to whatever!!

my drawing was done quickly so its not the best example but u get me

i think thats it for color now, but if i think of something else ill add it and tell u!!

now onto anatomy 🧍🧍‍♀️🧍‍♂️

and ill be honest w u here, i have no clue how i learned anatomy, let alone how to teach u but ill try my best here!!

and tbh, learning every bone, muscle, etc is smth rlly tedious to me so i cannot assist u there bc i dont know

ALSOO references are ur best buddy, use them!! even if its not the exact pose or angle ur wanting to draw it can help u visualize what u want and tell u what goes where!!

even if its not for the pose or angle, a skeleton can help u see how the body part works!! i look at animal skeleton legs all the time to help me draw my ocs!!!

but yeah!! i think anatomy is smth that u shouldnt take very seriously bc most of what gives personality to characters is exageration!! or made up parts!!

but like, if u want to know my way of drawing smth specific u can tell me!! i have no problem showing u how i do things!!

but since i wasnt very helpful when it comes to anatomy, im taking the liberty of adding an extra bullet point to the post

composition!! 🌇🌃🌆🏙️

composition is the way you show the image, how you place things in your drawing!!

in school they make us take audio-visual production classes, which truly isnt as interesting as it sounds but they taught us some p cool photography tips that also apply to drawings!!

one of them is the rule of thirds! basically, you divide the canvas in 9 equal parts, and the places where the lines join are the places where the eyes are most drawn to!! heres an example i found on the internet

so if you place something on those spots it will get the attention, bc the brain is used to the focus being on the center so taking it out of there makes u want to look why (or at least thats the explanation they gave me!)

also, to draw even more attention to those spots u can make a visual path that leads there!! here some crude examples by yours truly

the first one traces a path up to his head, the second one all start from there outwards

they also gave us tips for cropping images though these dont rlly matter that much, but like for example it looks better if u dont crop it at the joints, and if a character is looking somewhere you should leave some space in the direction they are looking to! heres some doodles to show u what i mean

i used to have a document full of things like that for photography but i cant find it rn, if i do ill tell u!!

moving onto the final thing, this is not quite a composition thing but rather something to give characters more personality: make them interact w their enviroment!

rather than standing looking at the camera make them use, touch, see whats around them, even if u draw them in a blank space the way they take it up shows u a lot ab them

for ex, if theres a wall they can lean on it, if theres a window they can be looking through it(maybe u can see them from the outside! framing inside framing was also smth that they taught us in that class!) if theyre standing they can be fixing their sleeves, holding their hands behind their back, tucking a strand of hair behind their ear, scratching their neck, etc!

AND YEAH!! thats what i keep in thought when i draw!! i hope u find it at least a little useful or interesting ahdhjska ill admit i got a little carried away but i love drawing and these are topics that interest me

ty for the ask!!! 💕 👋

[yunnathearcher]

Right front thigh, muscle tight and tender underneath my skin

Dreams of you, feeling possessive

Hormones intense, feeling pressure behind my lips. Both.

Nothing out, nothing in. 6

Fond.

Thinking of reflecting light as Sun hour begins

Not wanting to share

“Transcending Selfhood”

Foundations, cornerstones & pillars

Noticing stickiness between my toes as Venus hour begins

Anxious while in supine twist pose

Prioritizing pausing and adjusting

Clear eyes. Up earlier.

Thought it was Thursday for a moment

Burning dragonsblood incense at the top of it, the smell aromatic, masculine, comforting, calming

Waves

Consciousness & truth.

Different perspectives, unified purpose.

Intentionally slowing down time.

Cool air running over my left shoulder, a ripple of chills over my chest and shoulder

Seeing the friendly neighborhood black (dark brown?) cat at the top of moon hour.

Okay. This pot has been simmering for quite awhile. So much so the water almost evaporated. Almost.

We got clean and purified water though. Aye.

Sometimes the fruit of the tree is flowers.

Twisted Metal?

Thinking I just wanna slide at the top of Jupiter hour

Mars hour. Topside.

I have my theories, but don’t we all?

Cliche quotes about fish and streams during Sun hour

Looking at the lady that was in my dreams the other night at the top of Venus hour

Leaving people to their projections and living a real life.

Knowing, feeling, intuiting. And not caring.

The seed is in the fruit.

You are not that my dear one. You are something else. Blessings.

Not a performance. Art. Not an imitation. Alive.

And well. Well.

Wanting to come, more than wanting to go. That’s a surprise.

Anchored with warmth and chills running up my back as the eclipse peaks.

With love, with love, with love.

That pivot, in hindsight.. it was everything.

We love a turning Tuesday.

My babies.

Not feeling a desire to outsource feels nice.