We've heard DG make many references to the significance of the forget-me-nots that were in the first episode when Claire goes through the stones for the first time. I was wondering what you think that significance is and how you think it will play out. (not really a question, more a line of thought hahahaha)

Let me share what Diana Gabaldon has said:

The choice of flower was deliberate

She won’t share yet what the significance is

Claire did not plant them

I also found this on the forum for the Scot and the Sassenach podcast:

During some of the pre-show publicity, I remember Diana saying that Ron asked her if it was important that the flower at the base of “the” stone was a particular type.  She told him, “Only if you plan to do the entire series.“

Also found this:

Victorian Interpretation:  Based mostly on its name, the forget-me-not signifies true love in the Victorian age.  It also relates to good memories, memories that you wouldn’t want to forget.Superstitions:  The flowers of forget-me-nots almost always have a story that relates to love.  Mainly, if couples wore the forget-me-not as a garland, they would never be forgotten by their lovers. What the Forget-Me-Not Means:  Just as the name implies, forget-me-nots mean remembrance.  It can mean the remembrance of good memories like when two people are together as a couple.  It also signifies true love.

Forget-me-nots are also poisonous, though they do have medicinal properties.

Given that Diana is a trained scientist, with a particular interest in botany, I can’t think that the placement of this plant is flippant or accidental. She doesn’t put in *any* kind of plant or animal in her stories without some underlying intent.

To me, there’s a deliberate meaning behind this plant. Whether or not it was deliberately placed there, the choice of the forget-me-not reflects (in part) the journey that Claire is about to go on. And like with so many other things in the Outlander universe, we’ll just have to wait and see…

(I also found this lovely Outlander Plants blog which shares more information about the forget-me-not plant, as well as many other plants featured in The Books)

The Dress Waltz for @magicalflurry

American Horror Story went to shit (…well, not that it was ever /great/ to begin with…), Bates Motel ended,  Hannibal is in permanent limbo (tbh the whole Purgatory theme with it is fitting, but also not my point), Sleepy Hollow was brutally murdered, and Penny Dreadful was given the axe, WHERE IS MY SPOOKY, ELEGANT AND/OR PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER/HORROR SERIES.

There SHOULD be one airing at any given time. There’s COUNTLESS cop dramas and crime scene stuff, but where’s the supernatural (and don’t say ‘on Supernatural’ becuase that’s the deadest horse I’ve ever seen), where’s the gruesome, the morbid humor, the visuals so gory yet so intriguing that you can’t look away. Characters that, good or bad, all have this fissure running through them like the House of Usher, balancing between well and broken; deep and passionate people. Plotlines that either slap you in the face with homages to the genre, or crawl silently on spindle legs down the hall behind you, unseen until they’re on top of you, opening up like a full orchestra all at once. 

damnit, I just want something to fill the spoopy void.

Aspettando il 25 aprile.

Ormai è una mia tradizione. Ho creato questa immagine anni fa e la pubblico ogni anno. Ora e sempre Resistenza.

“vampirism is too romanticized these days” damn that’s crazy. I’m romanticizing it even more now though because you’re whining like this

Buon 25 aprile e viva l'Italia antifascista 🇮🇹

You guys rlly don't realise how much knowledge is still not committed to the internet. I find books all the time with stuff that is impossible to find through a search engine- most people do not put their magnum opus research online for free and the more niche a skill is the less likely you are to have people who will leak those books online. (Nevermind all the books written prior to the internet that have knowledge that is not considered "relevant" enough to digitise).

Whenever people say that we r growing up with all the world's knowledge at our fingertips...it's not necessarily true. Is the amount of knowledge online potentially infinite? Yes. Is it all knowledge? No. You will be surprised at the niche things you can discover at a local archive or library.

We need to talk, Pham. Stop shaming Christine Daaé.

I have seen this behavior consistently for the 30+ years I have been a Phan. What's worse is that I see A LOT of it from grown women. I see posts calling her foolish for leaving Erik. Slut shaming her or calling her a gold digger. Calling her stupid, weak, or unworthy because a "real woman" (presumably the women posting these absurd things🙄) would have loved him better and been worthy of his awesome talent and capacity for love. 😳🤮

It's disturbing, disheartening, and disgusting. And it needs to stop.

First off, none of these characters are real, so perhaps let's take things a little less seriously in general. It's a fictional story. I get it: we all love it, and maybe we all identify with Erik/The Phantom to some degree. Regardless of the version of the story, if the actors or authors do their job well, we *should* feel pity and compassion for him. But feeling compassion and completely ignoring the character's dangerous and abusive behavior are two very different things. It has the potential for some severe consequences in the real world.

By shaming Christine for leaving Erik at the end, you are potentially telling young people that staying in abusive relationships is the right thing. You make them think that if their significant other is talented, misunderstood, been abused themselves etc, then they should stay and love them into a healthy relationship. That if they just love their abusive SO harder, sacrifice themselves a little more or for a little longer, or keep putting that person's needs above their own, that the relationship will suddenly become this wonderful, euphoric experience. It won't. As a survivor of longtime abusive myself, I can tell you from experience: it doesn't happen that way.

Celebrate healthy relationships and enforcing healthy boundaries. Stop shaming Christine for fighting for and winning her life and saving the man she loves.

I am sick of members of this Phandom idolizing the Phantom and ignoring his behavior to justify their blind adoration. Erik is an abusive and dangerous character, and extremely toxic. He lies to and manipulates Christine using her trauma from her deceased father. He kidnaps her, multiple times. Threatens her and her colleagues. He xtorts hundreds of thousands from the business managers. He endangers dozen of people with the chandelier crash, and effectively holds hundreds hostage for months or years at a time.

Oh..and he murders. Probably been at that for awhile so we can assume it's far more than the two we see in the show.

And yet, I see some mature phans out here completely ignoring all those things and still shaming Christine for leaving him. WHT? Because he's "sexy" (author's note: PLEASE re-read Leroux. Please). And he's talented. And has so much love to give. And is misunderstood. And society was terrible to him...so it's all fine. 😳🤮 She should have just stayed and loved him like he deserves to be loved. 🙄

Recently I saw a post shaming Christine and the justification was that Raoul was so much worse. He isn't. Is he a perfect character? No, not at all. Does he make mistakes and try to use Christine? In some versions, yes. Does he run around extorting, manipulating, threatening, and killing others? Also no.

And don't ever use LND!Raoul's character assassination as some kind of justification, because he's still the most sane, normal human being in that show, and Erik is still 1,000 times worse than Raoul in LND. Also, using LND as justification for anything just show's how weak and uninformed that opinion is.

"Hurt people hurt people." Ever heard that phrase? Abused people sometimes abuse others, especially if they haven't done the work to heal themselves. Their previous abuse does NOT entitle them to abuse others. That is always a deliberate choice, and those choices have consequences. The dangerous, disgusting rhetoric I see in the Phantom community basically excuses toxic behavior because Erik was previously abused, and nothing is his fault. That is simply not true, my guy. Those who abused me were previously abused. Didn't make my abuse hurt any less. I made the choice to do the work so that the abuse stopped with me. Previous trauma is a reason for the behavior, but it is NEVER an excuse.

...And don't let the fact the dude can sing or that he's a snappy dresser blind you to his toxicity.

We talk a lot more these days about trauma, toxicity, and self care. And yet, as a community, we still shame the character of Christine Daaé for doing the healthy, correct thing. The ONLY thing. And in doing so, we set a disturbing precedent for our young or vulnerable Phans who now might think that staying in toxic relationships in the real world is okay.

Do better, Phandom.

MINIMALISTSOURCE’S 1K CELEBRATION film genre per member • animation • by cat ( @violets ) the prince of egypt (1998) • dir. brenda chapman, steve hickner, simon wells — hush now, my baby. be still, love, don’t cry. sleep as you’re rocked by the stream. sleep and remember my last lullaby, so i’ll be with you when you dream.

But never let me die without a struggle and without acclaim

reblog and put in the tags your queer awakening (could be a person, movie, book, event, whatever).

Reblog in the tags a fav character of yours that the fandom dislikes/hates and how that affects you

Finally, a trans woman can be the idealized girlfriend meant to fix the broken white boy

TV has come so far

i didn’t realize this show would give such a realistic depiction of sexual trauma. (episode four has officially broken me) the shock, the inability to get pleasure, blaming yourself, feeling haunted by your abuser, trying to reclaim autonomy, the desperate attempts to feel something, it addresses trauma response behaviors like reckless sex in the character’s pov, in a nuanced way i haven’t seen portrayed in media a lot. I knew it would be a tough episode (yay trigger warnings) but I didn’t expect to relate to Donny as a character so much. Honestly parts of his monologue in this episode made me feel seen as someone dealing with complex trauma. It’s such an alienating rollercoaster experience of emotions and having someone voice the inner fears/thoughts you have after being assaulted kinda healed an unseen part of me idk. I love movies and tv and music because you’re allowed to let it heal you. This is genuinely well written, and I didn’t go in expecting much. Also the fact that it’s based on a true story…then a play…now a show…dude. its good. highly recommend. okay i’m too emotional about this and i made it all about me like a loser pls watch Baby Reindeer ok bye.

I really don’t care who the stalker was/is what I do want to know is who the hell the scum of the earth man who took advantage of and sexually abused him is

Person who really wants to be dominated by a strong-armed authoritarian in a snappy uniform, but also they want to keep their kinks ideologically pure, so they split the difference and fantasise about getting their ass beat by the inspector-general of the US Postal Service.