thethirdromana - Tumblr blog

[thethirdromana]

Rereading the Lord of the Rings series recently, and it's so fascinating to me how much the series is a denial of the typical juvenile power-fantasy that is associated with the fantasy genre.

Like, the power-fantasy is the temptation the Ring uses against people It tempts Boromir with becoming the "one true king" that could save his people with fantastic power. It tempts Sam with being the savior of Middle Earth and turning the ruin that is Mordor into a great garden. It tempts Gandalf and Galadriel with being the messianic figure of legend who brings salvation to Middle Earth and great glory to herself.

The things the Ring tempts people with are becoming the typical protagonists of fantasy stories that we expect to see. and over and over we see that accepting that role, that fantasy of being the benevolent all-powerful hero, is a bad thing. LotR is about how power, even power wielded with benevolent intent, is corrupting.

And its so fascinating how so much of modern fantasy buys into the very fantasy LotR denies. Most modern fantasy is about being that Heroic power-fantasy. About good amassing power to rival evil. But LotR dares not to. It dares to be honest that there is no world where anyone amasses that power and remains good.

I guess that's one of the reasons its so compelling.

[thethirdromana]

Okay caught up.

I don't think Fosco is gonna live to the end of the block tbh. I think there's gonna be an article in the paper tomorrow about a tragic carriage-wreck and the escape of a load of white mice.

...maybe they'll eat his face

Now you say it, it does feel like his story is done now that Walter has the manuscript. I guess there could be a Fosco leaves -> timeskip -> Fosco returns for a duel storyline but it doesn't feel like that's the direction the story is going in.

Madame Fosco still seems to me like the dog that didn't bark. I would like her to snap and be the instrument of Fosco's destruction, but I don't see that happening either.

Presumably we get the Narrative According to Fosco next. But what is there left to learn from that? We know what happened to Laura, more-or-less. There must be some further twist but I can't figure out what it would be.

[thethirdromana]

I especially love it when they've committed to intentional anachronism, but where the vibes are spot on. A Knight's Tale is the perfect example. Medieval peasants were not boogieing to We Will Rock You [citation needed] but the energy feels spot on.

When doing historical fashion in movies and so on, I feel like you either need to go whole hog on accuracy, or embrace anachronism. Half-assing accuracy to try to fit modern beauty standards is just annoying. Anachronism can be fun when it’s intentional! But you’ve got to pick one of the other to commit to!

[thethirdromana]

I assume the “would you wear this” refers to modern recreations of the outfits, right? My favourite colour is green, but I just remembered this is prime time for arsenic-based fabrics 😬😅

hi dear anon! 💕

I will say that I do leave the question on the polls quite vague so that people can interpret it as they wish! 🥰 if you'd prefer for it to refer to modern recreations, absolutely go for it!! ☺️☺️

in response to the question about clothing dyed with arsenic, I actually have people mentioning it in the notes quite a lot whenever I post an image with a green garment, so I will address that below the cut here here for anyone who is interested! 💖💖

💚 first and foremost, this blog is really all for fun, so you can definitely imagine the garments in question being made with a completely non-toxic dye. it may not be historically accurate, but again, this is all for fun, so don't let that dissuade you from selecting a green garment if that one is your favorite ☺️☺️

💚 second, arsenic based dyes like paris green and sheele's green made very specific (albeit very vibrant) shades of green, so not all green historical garments are necessarily made with those dyes

💚 third, your risk of arsenic poisoning from simply wearing a garment colored with arsenic-based dye is actually relatively low. if we're assuming historical accuracy here, the amount of undergarments between the wearer's skin and the exterior garment would prevent significant skin contact, and thus limit actual arsenic exposure. the biggest danger actually comes from the arsenic dust flaking off of the fabric and entering the air where it can then be breathed in (thus also why arsenic-dyed green wallpaper was so dangerous)

💚 fourth, despite all the attention and infamy bestowed upon green historical garments, there were dangerous chemicals (including arsenic) involved in the historical production of many different kinds and colors of dyes. while perhaps not to the same extent as dyes like paris and sheele's, if we're assuming historical production methods, then almost any artificially produced dye could pose a risk

💚 lastly, I will freely admit that while I love dress history, I am no expert in this, and most of my knowledge has been picked up here and there tangentially as I studied other topics. if anyone has any more expertise to share, I would love to hear it!! 🥰🥰

but I hope this sets your mind at ease!! no need to fear poisonous chemicals, since you are more than welcome to assume a completely non-toxic dye was used to create the same color! again, this blog is really all about having fun and indulging in some imaginary dress-up, so please interpret the questions/garments in whatever way brings you the most joy!! ☺️🥰

I hope you have a lovely day!! ☺️💕

[thethirdromana]

No matter where Jamie goes, everyone immediately goes 'yeah he knows nothing about space/science/technology' and instead of getting offended or touchy or anything he just goes, 'Yeah, yeah that's true. I'm going with them though.' And then saves the day by hitting a robot over the head with a crowbar or something

[thethirdromana]

"Why did you run away from them in the first place?"

"Uh-uh, uh, I was bOred!"

Run silly little man

[thethirdromana]

At long last she's done! Delenn my beloved <3 Irises for faith, courage, hope and wisdom Dahlias for inner strength, transformation, grace, and kindness

Process [X]

[thethirdromana]

All of Pesca's talk about things being Politically Terrible and England not knowing how good they have it made me think "hang on - are we before or after the Italian Unification?" So I looked it up.

Friends we are during.

The Woman in White was written in 1859. It is set fall 1849 through spring 1851 (so far).

The First Italian War of Independence ends brutally July 1849 with revolutionaries being executed or fleeing into exile. The Resurggimiento is completed in 1861, with the movement being seriously rekindled starting in 1860.

(This is what I got from Wikipedia. People better at Italian history feel free to correct me).

So this isn't necessarily Wilkie Collins being real weird about Italians. This is Italy actively going through it. The backdrop of social and political upheaval in Italy must have been incredibly obvious to contemporary readers.

The most comparable thing I can think of is Sa'id on Lost as an Iraqi character in the mid 2000s. There's Implications.

[thethirdromana]

Our good friend Jonathan Harker is getting ready to leave for his business trip, Mina Murray is picking out a new journal, Lucy Westenra is charming a gaggle of smitten suitors, Abraham van Helsing is wrapping up his lectures, and Castle Dracula is prepping the guest room for a very long stay.

Which must mean that Dracula Season is here again!

 ‘Dracula Season’ being a catchall term for the voracious reading, memeing, writing, illustrating, analyzing, and general fun-having that’s ensued since Matt Kirkland’s project, Dracula Daily, caught on with us back in 2022. The Substack had already been running before then, but it sparked a conflagration as time went on and readers old and new to Bram Stoker’s Dracula—the actual novel, not Coppola’s fanfiction—devoured it in a way that scratched an itch none of us knew we had. Stoker wrote the book in epistolary fashion, clumping sections together as needed for the pacing without perfect adherence to chronological order. Matt went ahead and put all the events in order and proceeded to set up a lovely chain of emails that delivered entries on those correlating dates.

This style of organization and pacing turned out to not only make the virtual book club that much easier to engage with, but left space in-between to stew on the story and relate with the characters themselves. Every day of waiting in the book feels weightier when you have to pace and sweat and worry in tandem with poor Jonathan trapped in the castle or Lucy wasting away or Mina running out the clock before she loses the fight for her own humanity. And while we sat with the story or the lulls between Dracula Seasons, some of us found ourselves craving more of that ghastly gothic horror goodness to the point that we figured:

“Well. Why don’t I make something?”

And then we did! Tons of creative works have been churned out in the wake of Dracula Daily’s high. I figured that while we’ve still got a bit of time to wait for May 3rd, we should check out all this new stuff in the meantime. (Plus a handful of neat stuff that just clicks with the Dracula itch overall.)

So, in the interest of Dracula Season pregaming, let’s take a look at…

FICTION

Blood of My Blood – A recent addition to the Dracula Bad Ending AU pile, and definitely one of the most harrowing and addictive group-produced narratives I’ve ever come across, Blood of My Blood is the dramatically gothic currently-WIP work of @ibrithir-was-here and @animate-mush’s devious design. Give or take a heap of other fascinated folks (hello!) adding ideas to put more Horror into the Horrors that our cast has to face. The premise:

The Transylvanian climax went fatally sour and the Harkers were forced to shelter with Dracula himself, including their half-vampire son, Quincey. Cut to two decades later, and Quincey finds himself out in modern London, smitten with Lu, adopted daughter of Arthur and Jack, and diving into certain bloodstained old documents that detail the real history of how his parents came to live in the castle. Said revelations coming not a moment too soon, as a storm is coming for him straight from the Carpathians…

Dracula Daily Sketch Collection – An array of illustrations that captures every entry beat by beat, the Dracula Daily Sketch Collection by Georgia Cook, alias @georgiacooked was dished out over the course of the last Dracula Season. Some of the most fun character designs out there.

Fanfiction Spotlight: BlueCatWriter – With a whopping 99 works devoted to the novel Dracula (so far, the number may have gone up since I blinked), @bluecatwriter is one of the most prolific and talented fanfiction scribblers out there. Romances, nightmares, and overlaps between the two seem to crop up the most, give or take a crossover. Seems fitting that those blue paw prints have contributed to BoMB too.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk – An ongoing comic in which all your favorite characters from the Classics section get together and tackle some perils ranging from the mundane to the monstrous. Started by the amazing @mayhemchicken and posted on @lxgentlefolkcomic, this series is a love letter to beloved Victorian era lit, with a spotlight on the two couples leading the League. Namely, the Harkers, ala Dracula, and the Nortons, ala Sherlock Holmes,’ “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Mina and Irene are the driving investigative and steering forces here, and still deeply in love with their likewise-infatuated husbands, just like in their canons! What a concept! Alan.

Without spoiling the full character list, just know there are going to be a ton of familiar faces roaming around before you finish reading the first arc. Said arc having conveniently wrapped up just a few days ago! Give the comic and its bonus silliness a look if you’re in the mood for a new comfort-adventure epic.

Re: Dracula – Probably the most well-known and incredible thing to come out of the initial Dracula Daily wave. This podcast is a full audio drama that follows the same format as the Substack, with episodes coming out in time with the entries themselves. And it has an unfairly cool soundtrack. They have a Tumblr with @re-dracula, a site and a Patreon to check out before the series kicks up again on May 3rd. (Also, keep an eye out for their next work, an audio drama in the same style with Carmilla.)

The Soldier and the Solicitor – Another treat from @ibrithir-was-here, this one involves a bit of time travel trouble. Quincey Harker has stumbled out of World War I and into the same dark forest where his father once fled for his life…then runs into the man himself, on that same night. Jonathan Harker, young and starved and lost, who has no choice but to trust this stranger while the Weird Sisters are at his heels…despite said stranger having no shadow. It’s a tasty emotional trek, already complete on Tumblr, but now it’s turning into a Webtoon. While Ibrithir is juggling a number of other stories, she’ll be redrawing spruced up versions of the comic and adding a few new scenes as things unfold.

Substack Stack – You know what’s better than one emailed-out public domain book club? A mountain of them. Just. So, so many of them. You’ll see that a lot of these are finished, but some are still ticking along. Either way, they’re all great picks if you’re craving some more old school lit to fill the void between undead emails.

Frankenstein Weekly – Frankenstein

Jekyll and Hyde Weekly – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Voyage of the Nautilus – Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Letters from Watson – Sherlock Holmes

The Invisible Mail – The Invisible Man

Letters from Bunny – E.W. Hornung’s short stories of the eponymous Bunny and Raffles

Letters Regarding Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster short stories, including the novel, Right Ho, Jeeves

…

……

………

…The Beetle Weekly – The Beetle (NOTE: Do Not Read This.)

The Vampyres – A novella I finally wrenched through the gears of self-publication as of March this year. Starring a petite but powerful paranormal cast, The Vampyres, centers on an unscrupulous undead fellow who finds that the revenants of the world are being mowed down by an entity known only as ‘Quinn Morse.’ Between trying to save his neck and figure out where the shadowy bastard came from, the Vampyre in question crosses paths with a new paramour and handy human shield in the form of a grieving Good Samaritan. He’s even polite enough to invite the Vampyre into his home while he’s in dire straits! Surely this will end well. All the info is available here and a little author site is over here.

What Manner of Man – This is the one made for everyone who started out hoping there’d be a real love story with our good friend Jonathan Harker and the Count when he was at his most charismatic. Where that sea of wonders dried up into a mire of horror, What Manner of Man by @stjohnstarling keeps things firmly on the romantic tracks. This Substack stars the letter-writing priest Father Victor E. Ardelian as he finds himself meeting with one enigmatic Lord Alistair Vane. It isn’t long before interest turns into intrigue and intrigue into undead intimacies.

The entire novel has been completed—along with multiple epilogues in the author’s Patreon, allowing readers to choose for themselves just how the uncanny romance plays out in the end—and the Substack now has a number of other gothic goodies piling up in the meantime.  

NONFICTION

Dracula Daily: A Unique Reading Experience: This one comes courtesy of @realwomenofgaming. It’s a short and sweet piece that amounts to a fun snapshot of the entire Dracula Daily ride. A cozy couple-minute read.

‘Dracula Daily’ is the One Substack You Need a Subscription To: Features my favorite Matt Kirkland interview. @mattkirkland, if you’re still floating around on here, thank you for dispatching our vampire newsletter again this year.

Dracula Daily is Tumblr’s hottest new book club: Alright, the ‘new’ part is worn out by now, but this one is still a delightful article to swing back around to. Two years on, this Polygon piece is a time capsule of those early months when people outside our bookworm bubble realized we were all happily receiving letters from our favorite classic gothic horror blorbos.  

“How Mina Murray Became Dracula’s Girlfriend” – Princess Weekes, if you ever read this, thank you, thank you, thank you. I am sending oceans of love and millions of rewatches to your video essay. If you haven’t seen it yet, “How Mina Murray Became Dracula’s Girlfriend” is one of the most refreshing and well-made breakdowns of both the title subject and numerous other issues that have proliferated in the public view of Dracula’s cast and plot as adaptations endlessly warp or outright bastardize the actual novel. An incredibly cathartic watch.  

Literary play gone viral: delight, intertextuality, and challenges to normative interpretations through the digital serialization of Dracula: A mouthful of a title for an even more elaborate article about the Dracula Daily phenomenon. This one is a full-on study that analyzes just what happened within the big bloodsucker book club surge and how its ‘wandering reading practices’ enriched the experience for participants.

 “The Undying Undead: An analysis of the Dracula Daily community for a theory of online community formation and interaction” – We have a thesis on here! Look at that! @sirangelothebestest’s MA thesis used our vampiric book club as the bones for a massive brick of an academic piece that definitely deserves a look.

…And I think I’ll go ahead and cap things here.

This isn’t everything I got recommended, but if I had squashed all of it in here, I think folks’ eyes would start to fall out of their head. I hope you can find something cool to comb through here. Or, if there’s something great I overlooked, tack it onto the list! We’ve got just two weeks to go until we’re off with Mr. Harker. Let’s enjoy our respite before those castle doors close behind us.

[thethirdromana]

Carnelian stamp seal featuring a kitty, Minoan, 1900-1600 BC

from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[thethirdromana]

You know you've been reading too much Jeeves and Wooster when you get "corking" before "rocking" in the NYT Spelling Bee.

[thethirdromana]

One of my absolute favorite tropes is “We have taken the one you love most!” “Oh, have you? Good fukken luck lmao” *distant screams of kidnappers as loved one escapes* or the flipside: “We’ve kidnapped you!” “You are in so much trouble. You are in so much fucking trouble. You are in the most trouble ever, oh my god.” *DOOR EXPLODES INWARDS AS LOVED ONE ARRIVES* and the alternate: *vehicle pulls up, door opens, person is shoved out, door slams, vehicle screeches away* “Did you get kidnapped??” “For a minute yeah”

[thethirdromana]

Let us suppose that the "average" horse would have equal proportions of all these parts. The degree to which each part in this poll deviates from the "average" size (20% of total) will determine how large or small that part of our horse will be (i.e a horse with only 10% in Legs will have legs half the size of the average horse).

I will draw a picture of the horse we make!

[thethirdromana]

For fans of the first joke especially, I'd like to suggest:

"What's a pirate's favourite letter?"

(someone will invariably say "arrr!")

"Ah, you may be thinking that, but me first love be the C"

My favorite pirate joke is “why does it take pirates so long to learn the alphabet? Because they spend years at c” not because it’s THAT funny but because it’s a relatively simple joke that nobody ive told it to has ever correctly guessed the punchline for because they all think it’s gonna be a joke about arrrr

[thethirdromana]

[thethirdromana]

I know you have a real life to lead and stuff but GO CATCH UP!! I don't want to spoil you on this!

Though Italian secret societies in England trying to strike England in particular is more of the author being weird about Italians

Collins definitely is weird about Italians (/foreigners more generally), but I don't think they're supposed to be striking England in particular? It's still a bit murky in relation to Fosco, but Pesca is there to "wait" because Italy got too hot for him. Apparently he might have been based on Gabriele Rossetti, real-life founder of the Carbonari, who was exiled to England.

[thethirdromana]

Though Italian secret societies in England trying to strike England in particular is more of the author being weird about Italians

Collins definitely is weird about Italians (/foreigners more generally), but I don't think they're supposed to be striking England in particular? It's still a bit murky in relation to Fosco, but Pesca is there to "wait" because Italy got too hot for him. Apparently he might have been based on Gabriele Rossetti, real-life founder of the Carbonari, who was exiled to England.