#update: research

[daywalkers-fic]

12. why the 1880s?

something about this decade really sings to me. I find in particular, nearing the end of the nineteenth century, so much was happening on around the world in terms of arts, politics, technology, colonization. world events and global news don’t personally reach the day-to-day lives of the everyday folk, but they are an important part in gauging what life, thought, and society was about—what things were important then and now?

basically for myself, reminding me of notable things that occured during the 1880s—some thematic, some of relevance to context and characters, and the rest just ?? interesting and/or wild?

cocaine is a hot new cure for everything and anything. perscribed, sold in foods and more. heroine introduced as a lesser-addictive substitute for morphine…

lots of developments in fields of psychology; many experiments and happenings; Freud starts his work 1886.

1880-1914 had +twenty million immigrants to the United States: Germany, Ireland, England, China had the most arrivals.

William Dorsey Swann, the first self-proclaimed drag queen, organizes a series of drag balls in Washington, D.C. 1880-1890s.

Jack the Ripper claims his “first” victim in 1888 White Chapel, London. big scare.

Sherlock Holmes first appears in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study In Scarlet as part of the British magazine’s Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is published in 1886. Gothic fiction, drawing from emerging fields of science and psychology. & Treasure Island was published earlier in 1883 by him too!

Mark Twain drops The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).

Bel-Ami, Guy de Maupassant’s second novel is published in 1885. about a man who seduces and manipulates high society French women in the French colonies for power and wealth. MOVIE WAS ADAPTED IN 2012 STARTING ROBERT PATTINSON LOL

western European art movements very romantic and swirly and pretty: Monet, Debussy xoxo.

meanwhile, African American ragtime music becomes the “pop” music across the pond here.

North Dakota (1889), South Dakota (1889), Montana (1889), Washington (1889) become states.

train segregation laws flag beginning of Jim Crow; Civil Rights Movement of 1875 voided, making discrimination in private is not illegal, and prohibiting state intervention to personal or commercial segregation. l*nching continues throughout the south. slavery may be over on paper, but indentured labour is legal.

1882 infamous O.K Corral gunfight.

Gold Rush continues, all over the world—South Africa, to British Columbia, to California, to Argentina, to Russia-China borders.

centuries of American “Indian” wars continue.

American Dawes Act of 1887 granted American government authorization to regulate indigenous lands, including creating and assigning and enforcing reservations.

Sitting Bull’s 1883 speech of the atrocities experienced at the hands of white American settler colonists.

Canadian Pacific Railway 1881-1885. foreign labourers were hired to do a lot of heavy, dangerous, unwanted work. in America, more than 100,000km of tracks were laid by majority Chinese, Irish, Scandinavian workers.

America’s Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 was officiated, enforcing law of a Head Tax to be paid for every Chinese person entering North America. over the course of the next couple of decades, the fee of $1,500 was doubled to $5,000 was increased 500% to $25,000 in today’s currency—per person. this had devastating and lasting impacts on generations and societies of Chinese living both overseas and already in North America. propaganda at this time created many racist myths that persist today: there are too many Asians, they are taking our jobs, (the men) are gross and effeminate and a threat to (white) women, they shady and scheming people. these were the first and only major federal legislation to explicitly suspend immigration for a specific nationality in American and Canadian history. (I study Asian Canadian history, I can go on about this all day)

Tong Wars (1883-1913) had Chinatown gangs and factions in violent street wars across America, San Fransisco to New York.

large, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting (pogorm) and antisemitism rampant throughout Imperial Russia, 1881-1882 had more than two hundred anti-Jewish events alone. Jews continue to be racialized and othered.

fuck ton of colonization happening in Africa and the Middle East, Southeast Asia. Berlin conference 1884-1885 literally chopped up Africa to distribute to European powers.

Irish nationalist efforts to push forth Home Rule bill of sovereignty is defeated in British Parliament. Irish are not “white”, they are “othered” in Europe and in Americas.

use of photographic film pioneered by George Eastman, who started manufacturing film. his first camera (Kodak) was ready for sale in 1888.

Thomas Edison gets lit in New York 1883 with first electrical power station. next several year sees major cities being lit up with street lamps and public lighting with the science and works of a Nikolas Tesla (1886-1893).

hell of a lot more inventions in the works and patents being claimed. Hertz and radiowaves, Bell for telephone services.

“Between the years of 1850–1900, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways the male society did not agree with”

way too much history to cram, obviously. here are some keywords for further research oki

prison industry / spiritualism / opium epidemic / irregular and uneven “modernizations” in rural vs. urban areas / class and poverty gaps / morality scares, checks, comparisons, gaps / new businesses and gadgets, products, tech to help with anything / fascination of the (colonial) Other; side shows, “freak shows” and other human zoos

[jstor]

In other news, JSTOR's new PDF viewer is here, designed to optimize your reading experience!

Learn more about the new changes.

[yeoldenews]

A selection of strange and cryptic personal ads from The New York Herald, 1860s to 1890s. 14/?

[uniquethingtastemaker]

Idk if anyone’s caught this. I’m sure somebody has, but I just found out. I was doing research for Silver’s “Dreaming of You” fanfic when I stumbled across this picture of Aurora and went “wait that’s Lilia’s science uniform. The long, oversized sleeves”

Then I was thinking about it more and realized Lilia’s dorm uniform has a similar outline to Princess Aurora’s dress

The off the shoulder collar. Lilia’s jacket and her dress collar. It’s similar outline/shape. It’s not Maleficent’s because she has the high flared collar. It’s Aurora’s. I just wanted to share my revelation

[reality-detective]

BREAKING: Navy Intercepts Deep State Submarines Carrying Kids, Gold & Bioweapons — Military Locks Down Oceans Under Trump’s Orders

As of April 14, 2025, the U.S. Navy has locked down the Atlantic and Pacific in a massive military sting targeting elite-run trafficking, bioweapon transport, and deep-sea blackmail ops. This isn’t routine patrol — this is war.

Trafficking victims. Mobile CIA servers. Gold bars. Bioweapons.

All being extracted from vessels linked to billionaires, ex-agency operatives, and foreign “diplomats.”

These aren’t pirates. These are floating Deep State hideouts — and they’re being wiped off the map.

Trump is back. This operation is under direct military command — not civilian leadership.

GITMO is active. EBS is locked and loaded. Tribunals are not coming — they’ve begun.

On the East Coast, naval strike teams seized ships disguised as luxury liners. Below deck: surgical rooms, soundproof chambers, biometric systems, and unregistered children with no records. DNA matches tie them to CPS abductions across U.S. states.

One server retrieved mapped over 600 trafficking routes since 2012 — running through Italy, the Netherlands, Israel, and U.K. ports. Funded by “charities” tied to Clinton donors. The Epstein network didn’t die — it went mobile. Now it’s caught.

On the West Coast, it's even darker.

A submersible tied to a “research foundation” was captured leaving San Diego — carrying precursor agents for aerosolized behavioral control, encrypted tablets, and night-vision tech meant for offshore “medical” camps.

Crew included former CIA, UN peacekeepers, and a WEF consultant — all under fake identities.

Some vessels carried gold stamped with central bank seals, believed stolen during the 2008 collapse and laundered through IMF fronts. Others had sealed crates of bio-compounds traced back to DARPA and WHO partners.

Nine vessels silenced in 48 hours.

No GPS. No distress calls. Just vanished.

Naval divers are pulling up deep-sea data vaults dumped overboard — containing:

Blackmail dossiers on European leaders

Human trafficking-finance links with Big Pharma

Files on Antarctic underground cities marked for “climate relocation” by elite surnames

This is military justice, not courtroom theater.

No arrests. No media coverage. Just elimination.

No escape. No more oceans to hide behind.

If you're tied to child trafficking, gold laundering, stolen intel, or elite escape ops — you will be hunted. You will be erased.

There are no more safe harbors. The storm is here.

- Julian Assange

[tawnyevergreen]

Inspired by this:

[froggkidd]

So how are we feeling about that Q&A guys.

[coolseabird]

Random Musings on Gale and His Relationship With Mystra

I find Gale's relationship with Mystra to be one of the most fascinating parts of his story. It’s a dynamic that can be viewed in many different ways, depending on how you approach it and I think that’s part of what makes it so compelling. While some might see it literally, I’d like to explore it through a more allegorical perspective, though I want to be clear: this is just one way to interpret their relationship, and other viewpoints are just as valuable. This isn't even the only way that I personally interpret them haha. (I just have to be nuanced, it's a compulsion truly.)

In literature and mythology, take Greek mythology, for instance, relationships between gods and mortals can often carry deeper, symbolic meanings. The gods aren’t always just powerful beings they can represent larger forces like nature, fate, or human desires. This approach, called allegorical interpretation, is something I find really enjoyable! It adds layers to a story.

Consider the famous story of Paris’s judgment of the goddesses. The goddess Eris, seeking to sow discord, throws a golden apple inscribed “for the fairest” into a wedding attended by Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. They decide to have the mortal Paris judge who deserves the apple most out of the three of them and is thus the fairest.

Each goddess offers Paris a gift in exchange for the title. Athena offers great tactical ability, Hera promises leadership over vast kingdoms, and Aphrodite tempts him with the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world (who happens to already be married). Paris chooses Aphrodite, gains Helen as a lover and this leads to the Trojan War. Beyond the literal reading, this story can be seen as desire (Aphrodite) overcoming both wisdom (Athena) and marriage (Hera). Paris's fatal flaw is his lust for Helen. The story can also be interpreted as Paris losing due to declining to accept both of the other offers. He fails strategically in the ensuing war and also causes the collapse of his own kingdom.

Mystra, as the living incarnation of the Weave, can be interpreted similarly. She isn’t merely Gale's ex-lover. She is magic itself, the force that gives Gale his entire identity. Their relationship transcends romance; it’s more like that of a man consumed by his craft to an unhealthy degree. Like a mathematician to mathematics, or a physicist to physics, he's in love with something that can't love him back.

His attempt to give Mystra a gift she's never received before, something truly incredible, is due to his belief that transcending all limits to somehow earn Mystra’s (and thus, magic’s and his life's work's) recognition is both possible and necessary. It was 100% done with the best intentions but tragically any all-consuming passion carries the risk of blowing up in your face. (Just look at Alfred Nobel, pun intended) And, due to the aforementioned "blow up", his emotional low and his measurable low in his abilities correspond quite directly

There is a cut dialogue from early access about how much of his power he lost after this:

You see, this fire – there was a time that I could make it come alive. That it would take the shape of a dragon and roar in delight. There was a time I could silence a Beholder with a word, and lift a tower from its foundations with a flourish. There was a time I was all but one with the Weave. But no more – a mere shadow of the wizard I used to be. Why? Because I’ve lost.

A key theme in their relationship (in my opinion) is not just Mystra’s rejection but what her rejection represents: The collapse of Gale’s identity as a powerful magic user. (An identity he's built his life around and sacrificed for ever since he was a child)

Without this, he starts self destructing. He has to make do with consuming scraps of magic rather than the all encompassing sort he used to receive from Mystra's presence.

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While Mystra’s treatment of Gale is undeniably harmful, I think it’s important to recognize that she is not cruel in a personal, calculated way. She is so out of touch with normal people that she’s more akin to a force of nature. As an arbiter of natural laws, she wants to control him/kill him because he represented a destabilizing influence, not out of any targeted animosity. (Which is arguably worse than outright hate depending on your point of view)

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Now for a bit of a change in topic I wanted to go over his different endings:

His "good" ending comes from the realization that magic, or any external force, cannot be the source of true self-worth. The deeper theme here, beyond just getting over an ex-relationship, is that Gale must learn to build relationships with people and and find a healthy balance between his work and personal life, rather than devoting himself wholly to impersonal things at the cost of his well-being. He has to learn that he is "Galenough," as @ekansbot once put it. Ultimately, his growth in this regard is best shown with his choice to embrace his ordinary, human last name "Dekarios", rather than defining himself solely as the archmage "of Waterdeep."

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More evidence about the meaning of names to him, earlier during the conversation with Mystra in the tabernacle, she will either call him "Gale Dekarios" if she's displeased to remind him of his humanity, or"Gale of Waterdeep" when pleased to inflate his ego with a title. This shows how revolutionary it is for him to willingly forego having a title at all in this ending as it had been something he sought in the past.

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Alternatively, and more fun for my tragedy-loving psyche, he can totally succumb to his flaws and lose himself. In this case the orb's desires fully supplant him as a person. He becomes a power hungry god, doomed to perpetuate the same callousness Mystra showed to him. His grand dreams of bettering the world fades, and his only goals shift to slowly gathering more power and followers and eventually challenging the rest of the gods. He entirely gives up on being a "person" he's the god of ambition now, and you can see it in the way he speaks how much he has mentally separated himself from the mortal world. He has fully given up on having a life outside of his obsessions. It’s quite dark. (Though not quite as dark as my absolute favorite, the Absolute ending, where you use thousands of mind controlled innocents to become Kratos.)

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Something that's extra sad for you. If the player character chooses to break up with him after becoming a god he says "so I'm still not enough for you" Aghh it's horrible. His insecurities only get worse as a god.

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Or... he could kill himself. Literally destroying his darker hungers (the orb) for an altruistic purpose, but he also, obviously, destroys himself in the process. Very sad indeed.

Now, here’s something I find fascinating:

If Gale chooses not to use the crown, nor to surrender it to Mystra, but instead lets it remain in the water, the orb stays within him but rather than being a catastrophe it actually becomes harmless and inert.

Why does this happen? Gale speculates that it's because he has found contentment due to the player character's romance with him.

Clip sourced from this video: https://youtu.be/gikRKEIpvQs

This reveals something crucial: the orb, from the very beginning, was tied to his own emotions. It was basically an extension of him all along. He was inadvertently the one driving the orb’s power. It was his own despair and obsession that were indirectly killing him the entire time! It's very tragic but also supremely interesting!

It is this somewhat gut wrenching realization, though, that makes this the best "good" ending. He doesn't have to apologize to Mystra to get a happy ending out of pity. Instead, it is his own emotional catharsis that resolves the problem of the orb internally, rather than it being fixed through external means. It also has a sort of Jungian quality to it that I really like. With the idea of integrating and accepting all parts of oneself (allowing the orb to remain, but becoming settled and integrated), rather than trying to shed them being a theme I think fits his character well. Additionally, he keeps the orb scar, which looks pretty neat. :)

[hyakunana]

Sponsor Switch!

[malamilkbeats]

Full robo design detail for Edgar

What a cutie pie

The way his face looks was inspired by very talented @bigintorobotsrightnow !! I just love how cute his eyes were drawn!

Lineart:

[daywalkers-fic]

14. Even more happenings of the 1880s

continuation from update #12 about why the 1880s are an interesting decade. It’s been a difficult last little while. feeling distant from myself and tried to get back in touch to some things that help steady me. like info dumps. this was gathering dust in my drafts and I decided to tidy her up tonight why not.

Child labour in the U.S. climbing in numbers (all the way until the 1920s!!) a lot in farming, mining, textile industry. In most families, children breadwinners because lots of opportunities for them to be exploited work

By this time already, we got some familiar names and reputations established. Active and/or died 1870s~1880s: Jesse James, Sam Bass, Billy the Kid, Calamity Jane, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill

By late-post Reconstruction era, state penitentiaries unhinged, physically and administratively deteriorating. Summarized as: cruel torture practices, immigration, eugenics, and ‘prisons as laboratories’; incarcerated would rather hurt themselves than be subject to brutal prison punishment

Continuation on the racial violence: the Jim Crow laws that began in the previous decade grew more violent, severe, and widespread. Legalized racial segregation and dodgy enforcement of laws. nadir of American race relations: anti-black violence and racism would he the most prominent than in any period in American history

Continuation on the rise of ragtime via African American musicians: emergence of white minstrel performances that put racist, dehumanizing, derogatory lyrics over the music ☠️

Gilded Age: “Historians saw late 19th-century economic expansion as a time of materialistic excesses marked by widespread political corruption”; Industry boom invents the capitalist barons, wealth disparity, exploitation, labour unions, workers strikes… ✨ socialism

gaelic culture revival in Ireland, continued unrest against the British and revolutionary activities

Texas Rangers already a thing but locales started to organize more of their own “law enforcement” police. Crush political unrest, legalize violence against Indigenous and black populations

1850s through to the start of the turn of the century, “Anglo-Japanese style” in fashion, architecture, art, design. Result of the “opening up” of Japan to Europe, which led to more flow of capital between Japan and Europe. Trade, culture, art moved back and forth. Trendy among elites who could afford the fancy imports. fetishization and commodification and essentializatiom of Japanese culture. Fascination of the “far east”

In the face of scientific discovery and change, spiritualism movement was one of the ways for people to cope and explore their fears, aspirations, fantasies, beliefs. started in the mid 1800s. Grief and mourning culture. Speaking with the dead, ghosts, mediums, publications, séances. Entwined with gender politics and roles. See, The American phantasmagoria: The rise of spiritualism in nineteenth-century America by Daniel Bowlin

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire is published in 1883 by America’s Howard Pyle, sparking an interest in literature featuring the heroic rogue

Oscar Wilding out

it’s been some time since the first 1880s world history dump. I forgot I left myself a little (to be continued) list. crossing off what I got here let’s see hmmm

prison industry / spiritualism / opium epidemic / irregular and uneven “modernizations” in rural vs. urban areas / class and poverty gaps / morality scares, checks, comparisons, gaps / new businesses and gadgets, products, tech to help with anything / fascination of the (colonial) Other; side shows, “freak shows” and other human zoos

[skimmeh]

Literally spent way too much time on this- BUT STAREATER SCAR DESIGN UPDATE yyyaayyyy

The old one is still a little useful as his Vindicator design hasn't changed, but he doesn't wear that for much of the series

Close ups and stuff ↓↓↓

[xceanlynx]

I'm gonna rant because I am TIRED of gringos talking about brazilian politics without having the decency to research about it

No, "brazil banning x/twitter" is NOT THE SAME as the US trying to ban Tiktok. The US want to ban tiktok simply because it's chinese. Y'all can cry about personal data all you want, but in the end of the day it is because Tiktok is not from the US.

Brazil IS NOT BANNING TWITTER. Brazil wants Twitter to get rid of accounts that organized/fomented the attempted coup last year - which is, in fact, a crime. Elon refused to obey the SOVEREIGN DECISION OF BRAZIL, and is threatening to leave brazilian market (good riddance). As y'all can see: No, here in Brazil it is not "freedom of speech" when your speech is a CRIME. Same goes for racism, xenophobia, homophobia and so on. I am truly sorry that the US as a country has brainwashed most of their citizens to believe that freedom of speech is the human right to rule above all else, including human decency.

What I see online is obviously far right people talking shit about it, but my God if I see another goddamn liberal talk about my country the same patronizing way I am seeing right now, I might as well talk shit about yours too. The difference being that I do not see my country as the paragon of perfection and center of the world, contrary to some if not most US citizens

Fuck you to anyone who gets bothered by any english mistake I made. Got mad? LEARN PORTUGUESE THEN

[burningcheese-merchant]

just watched ES’s trailers, and I wanted a second opinion. Is there anything that immediately resembled Greek mythology to you in either of the videos, because to me I mostly saw biblical stuff like the multiwinged ES.

i guess it makes sense considering her design, but I feel like we got biblical allusions with SM and I’ve gotten so used to Greek-inspired ES that id be disappointed if she wasn’t, yknow?

Yes, actually! Let's pull out the title screen they revealed to show you what I mean

First thing is that little dude on the right haha. Pavlova Cookie greatly resembles Eros (most people know him by his Roman name, Cupid), son of Greek goddess Aphrodite and god of love and sexual desire. A talented archer, he would take aim at gods and men alike and shoot them down with his arrows, causing them to fall in love with who or whatever they're looking at (Aphrodite often had him do this to specific people she told him to, to suit her own goals/purposes. She's a horrifying combination of vindictive mean girl and wannabe matchmaker. Methinks Eternal Sugar employs Pavlova in a similar way)

I know the place gives "Garden of Eden" vibes, which is fair and true (but a little lame tbh). But I personally think it looks just as much like the Garden of the Hesperides, a fabled lush garden from Greek myth where trees bearing fruit that granted immortality grew (and were guarded by the Hesperides, daughters of the titan Atlas). The fruit in question are golden apples. What's that in that little snake's clutches over there, next to Eternal Sugar? A golden apple :)

It's more apparent in another picture (see attached, in the lower right corner), but: the architectural style of the place is very much Greek. The columns are ionic, which is a column design/style created by Ionian Greeks around the 6th century BC. Ionic columns are primarily characterized by the spiral scroll pattern at the top

Eternal Sugar's dress is actually quite Greek-looking. Obviously it's not 1:1, this is a cartoony video game not a historical documentary, but that style is very Greco-Roman. Look up traditional ancient Greek tunics/chitons and other attire, especially for women, and you'll see what I mean

She's actually not holding a harp. That is a lyre, a stringed instrument that's similar to a harp. The lyre is a common and beloved instrument in Ancient Greek culture and myth, most notably played by Apollo, god of the sun and music, and Hermes, god of travelers and thieves (and a lot of other things, he's a bit of a jack of all trades). The former also gifted a golden lyre to the famous Greek hero/protagonist Orpheus, who was a master musician and used that lyre to charm Hades and Persephone into agreeing to let him lead his deceased love Eurydice out of the Underworld (if you know that story, you know how it ends...)

Again, I understand that the place bears resemblance to Eden. Which it does. But aside from that, and aside from the nod to the Garden of the Hesperides, the whole thing reminds me of the island of the Lotus Eaters, a location stumbled upon by Odysseus and co. on their journey back home from the Trojan War during Homer's Odyssey. In that place are flowers that are exceptionally beautiful and even more delicious - but they're cursed. Eating them turns you into an addict almost immediately, and they rob you of your memories and will to do anything or leave the island at all. Odysseus lost a few of his men to them. I get the impression that the foods in the Sugar Paradise are like those lotuses, and Holly and co. run the risk of becoming Lotus Eaters too

To bring up the Odyssey again, Eternal Sugar herself gave me a lot of Circe + Calypso vibes in the trailer. Both are women who fell for Odysseus upon meeting him and trapped him on their islands for a time, using magic to control and manipulate him (Circe is a goddess of sorcery, Calypso is a magic-using nymph). Other people had to intervene on Odysseus's behalf to free him from their spells; otherwise, he would've stayed stuck forever. Sugar seems a bit like them; developing an attachment to Holly (both because she wants the Soul Jam back, and out of genuine sentiment. Remember that the Ancients and Beasts are canonically soulmates) and luring her into her strange, "happy" world and trying to trap her there forever

I'm a little disappointed with the nods to Christianity ngl. I love Christian/Abrahamic lore and symbolism very much, but I didn't want that for Sugar. We already had it for Shadow Milk. I wanted Sugar to be 100% Greek, but... no, I guess lol. Gotta have Eden and those little cherub looking guys and the snake with the apple. It gets boring after a while. Christianity is the most famous religion to ever exist in the history of the world, EVERYONE knows Christian iconography to some degree, why can't we have something different for once. Mystic Flour and Burning Spice were awesome in that they leaned into cultures that don't get a lot of recognition in the West (China and India), you know? Yes, Greece is "the West" as well, but idk. I'm just tired of the same Christian imagery always being used. And I say that as a Christian myself haha

⭐ I forgot to add this lol. I suppose the Christian imagery isn't entirely out of place necessarily, because Greece actually is deeply Christian and has been for an extremely long time (Greek Orthodox. Ancient Greek is actually the first language the Bible was translated into, fun fact!). But even so. I wanted Greek mythology, not Abrahamic religion lol

[reality-detective]

Kristi Noem: ICE raid leakers have been found, now facing 10 years in prison. 🤔

[ilikerosesalot]

Flower language analysis for Jambound ch 27 (PART 1: blue primerose, spoilers under the cut)

Ill be honest everything here is a direct copy-paste of the commetn I left on ch 27, Im not typing all that again iuhuihuih.

Ok so primeroses. Contains the latin word "primus: which means "first", the first flower to bloom in spring, thus the flower is associated with renewal, eternity and youth/young love. Shadow Milk described it as a "prelude", sth that signifies sth important later on. He is currently courting Pure Vanilla and rekindling their previous love (renewal). A prelude for sth thats going to happen- these two are bounded by fate and if all goes well...heheh *cue wedding bells* (eternity). Youth/young love- this ones kinda a strech cause theyre both OLD old, but like if we choose not to take the younf part too literallt then well, this is porbably new to both of them. Not that they dont have relationship experience its been implied they both had sth going on but, it the first time building sth lasting if that makes sense. Theyre taking the first steaps towards it-actting similar to how many experiencing "young love" would act.

Hope and optimism is also associated with primeroses, since theyre the first flowers to bloom in spring and thus signifyung that winter is over (thinking about a scene in the prev chapters where pv walked throught the freezing cold of the other realm to reach smilk). Primroses are also used to symbolize deep love, many of the places i looked said they mean "I can't live without you". Ok bro. Ok.

Now coming to the fact its a blue primerose. This. This variant of the flower means trust and belief. "The perfect gift to strenghten trust and belief in a relationship"- do i even NEED to say anything. I would also like to mention what blue colors generally mean in flower language. Similar to how yellow in flowers generally means happinness and loyalty, blue flowers often are used to symbolize deep admiration and trying to achieve sth impossible. To persure something out of reach, sth unknown. This is because blue is one of the rarest colors, not just in flowers but in nature as a whole. It attracts attaention and provides little camaflouge. So basically a blue primerose in the context of this fic can mean something like, despite the fact that a positive bond forming between them seemed so out of reach- to the point where smilk even unknowingly binded them together, their mutual affection growing deeper and deeper until it destroyed them, despite the fact it shouldve been impossible, theyre both going to trust each other. Shadow milk in particular had to literally risk all his fears just to end the soulbond. And him actually persuing pv this time is his way of giving an olive branc. Re-do things and make it right. Ough

Also primroses make apearance in various shakespearean plays- fitting for a showman like shadowmilk. And!! Theyre known for healing properties!! Which is fittign for pure vanilla cookie. And this is just a personal observation but blue primeroses have a yellow centre- literally shadownilla colors. Thats about all the relevant info i got from my research journey.

Oh god I ended up writing a whole mini essay about how primersoes fit the narrative of this fic I did not mean to yap this much. But man I love my flower languages. This was insanely fun, might return to analyze the other flowers smilk got for pvs garden but i used up all my brainjuice. Im going to rest now bye