Rowling had nothing to do with Legacy and I think most people forget that. She wasn't even consulted. WB bought the license and the devs did whatever they wanted. "Sirona" is a beautiful, feminine Celtic name associated with healing, and "Ryan" is an extremely common Irish surname. I feel like people are looking for reasons to be offended, especially when it comes to trans characters and antisemitism. The goblins are not and have never been Jewish stereotypes. They're a fictional race. They're based on Tolkien's goblins and old English folklore dating back to the 1400's, where they have always been depicted and small, ugly, and greedy. Rowling herself was shocked by the antisemitism rumors and staunchly stated they weren't true. Just like the rumors saying lycanthopy is a metaphor for AIDS. Just... who thinks of this stuff?

What's really sad is people have argued that Sirona was never meant to be trans, but a male character that the devs rendered to look "more feminine" at the last minute. People have made fun of her voice and said it's "too masculine", so obviously WB just hired a man to voice her and changed her gender later. But that's not true! Her VA is actually a trans woman and the backlash against the character must be devastating to the VA.

Okay, so, I don't think you're here in good faith. You're here to be dismissive. But I'll reply anyway, just in case I'm wrong.

One thing at a time.

I'll start with the one point you made that I agree with: the VA. She doesn't deserve to have her voice scrutinized and criticized. That's horrible, no one deserves that. I did see - and share - the misinformation that Sirona Ryan was voiced by a man, and I regret that. I edited it out of my post as soon as I knew, but this is tumblr and unedited versions do go around. I hope more people will see that corrected, and leave the VA's voice alone.

Now for the mess you threw at me.

Hogwarts Legacy is related to Rowling by virtue of existing within the world she created. It's still her goblins, since she gave her permission to create this, and she let it be added to the canon.

Rowling's world is the context.

I don't care that she wasn't consulted about the details, that just means the other creators are bigots too. When you build within a world that has such large issues, where so much time and effort was devoted to highlighting and criticizing those issues, and you create a story that continues all the problems from the original canon and adds to them - that's a choice that I have a right to criticize. They had the benefit of being a google search away from knowing how to be respectful about all of this, and they did the opposite.

Sirona Ryan IS a beautiful real name, that's not the issue. I already wrote this post where I tried to explain the reaction, but I accept that maybe my feelings about this name come from cultural ignorance. If that's the case, I apologize, and I'd love to be corrected.

My real issue with the game is the antisemitism.

You say "folklore dating back to the 1400's" as if that's far too old to be influenced by antisemitism. Fun fact: antisemitism is older than goblins. Antisemitism is literally millennia old. At least as old as Christianity, which is the root of many antisemitic ideas. It's older than many European mythological creatures, and it infuses a lot of European folklore and mythology, down to the depictions of witches with their pointy hats. Stories about goblins being used as a way to dehumanize Jewish people is not new. And using a fictional race of non-humans as stand-ins for real groups of marginalized people - either intentionally or not - is a very common practice in storytelling. Most fantasy races have those roots to them. But even then, where, in the original lore of the goblins, did they control the banks?

It doesn't matter if Rowling was shocked by the claims of antisemitism and it doesn't matter if she denied them. The reality of her story is that she created an antisemitic depiction. I can believe that it wasn't her intention, but that doesn't mean it's not what she did.

You don't get to look at an antagonistic group that embodies EVERY SINGLE TRAIT THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO MY PEOPLE TO DEMONIZE US and tell me that's not antisemitic.

I already made this list, but let's do it again. All antisemitic traits that can be found in Rowling's goblins. I'll break it down to the original book canon, the movies, and the game.

Books - Rowling's actual canon:

Short, with clever swarthy faces, sallow skin and pointed beards

A guttural language

Ruthless and known for their greed

Pursue someone who owes them money with violent threats

Have cultural differences that make them impossible to trust

Harmed by dark wizard but still suspected to support them

Only worth associating with for their metalworking and control of the economy

She placed a goblin's rebellion in 1612 - the same year as the events that led to the Fettmilch uprising, which resulted in pogroms and Jewish deaths. Rowling stated that wars and political unrest parallel between the muggle world and the wizarding world as the two societies influence each other

The most prominent named goblin character, Griphook, betrays Harry. Harry is a Christ allegory - literally sacrifices himself to save everyone, and then comes back to life

Movies:

Hooked noses - the best known antisemitic feature

A six pointed star in the building they chose for the bank - I don't believe this was intentional, but it's an unfortunate choice and they could have covered it

Here end the parts I blame on Rowling directly. And the game was built on these foundations.

Game:

A historical time frame of pogroms, where our people were murdered in large massacres that often had support from authorities

Explicit ties between the goblins and the dark wizards

Aiming to undermine wizard society - the goal assigned to us in every antisemitic conspiracy theory

Kidnapping of children for their magic - literally just look up blood libel

A character says the goblins can't appreciate art. It’s absurd to say considering the quality and coveted status of goblin-made artifacts. In the real world, this is a claim that was made against Jews by the Nazis (and it targets other groups hated by white supremacists as well)

A ram’s horn artifact that strongly resembles a silver plated Shofar - a Jewish ritual item. Said horn is from 1612, from the same rebellion mentioned above. According to the item’s description, it was blown to rally the goblins and to annoy witches and wizards. It was stuffed with gorgonzola to mute it, a specifically non-kosher cheese (most kinds of cheese are kosher). It's so disrespectful I still don't have the words to fully convey it

Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, those traits became associated with Jewish people as a group through hateful propaganda. Putting all of them on a non-human race isn't better. It just adds to the dehumanization of it. It's not just Rowling's fault. That's shared by every single person who had a hand in the creation of this story. For the issues in the game, I blame the people named here more. I see no reason to extend grace to far-right bigots.

But to focus on Rowling. You brought up lycanthropy. You seem to think we made up the idea that it's a metaphor for HIV. We didn't. She said that. In the ebook Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Hobbies - she said that. She said it before that, on Pottermore.

Lupin's condition of lycanthropy (being a werewolf) was a metaphor for those illnesses that carry a stigma, like HIV and AIDS. [...] The wizarding community is as prone to hysteria and prejudice as the Muggle one, and the character of Lupin gave me a chance to examine those attitudes.

This is a quote of her thoughts. It still exists on Lupin's page on her Wizarding World website.

And it's actually a pretty good example of how it's absolutely possible to be awful about depicting a stigmatized minority through a fantasy stand-in.

HIV+ people are stigmatized through no fault of their own. But in her books, it seems reasonable for the wizards to fear werewolves. And she did that, she made prejudice reasonable. We have: Remus Lupin, a named werewolf who is good and kind, and tries to avoid hurting people. Even then, he nearly does cause harm more than once. He turns in front of our heroes and spends a night loose in the forest. He tells the heroes that as a student, he almost bit people while out with his friends. So even while well-intentioned, he's a danger. That means we don't have a single safe HIV+ allegory in her work. The other named werewolf is Fenrir Greyback, who intentionally targets children to turn them young and raise them to hate the society they came from - which is fucking homophobic, whatever she intended, because of the way HIV gets associated with homosexuality. And the rest? A whole community of werewolves who side with the Death Eaters.

Did she mean to make a whole community of marginalized people into wizard Nazis? I DON'T CARE. SHE DID THAT.

I don't care to argue about her intentions while writing the text. I can't read minds. I can read the text she wrote. I can see what was put into the game that was added into her world. I can read about the history of my people and their persecution. I can see how disturbingly similar this game's story is to the propaganda that led to my grandparents suffering through the holocaust and losing their families to it.

If she cared about the antisemitism in her works, she wouldn't just act horrified and say "No, of course I wasn't being hateful to Jews!" - she'd look at whatever she lets people put into her IP, to prevent further harm. I do blame the other writers of the game more than I blame her for that plot, but it's not better that she gave her approval without being consulted. It's her IP, it carries her name, she gets royalties, it's her responsibility.

And at the very least, she doesn't care about antisemitism enough to worry about minimizing harm. I know that, because I know her friends. I know TERFs and Gender Criticals. Rowling saw an anti-trans event with white supremacist speakers, and she chose to criticize the counter-protesters. She went out to eat with Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce, who participated and spoke in events organized by Posie Parker - who explicitly includes far right groups in her events, and shares platforms with white supremacists. Rowling bought merch from Posie Parker. She wrote about Magdalen Berns as a "brave young feminist" - as if she didn't push the antisemitic George Soros conspiracy theory and share Breitbart articles. She praised MATT WALSH. The people she associates with now, read from Mein Kampf in their rallies.

She didn't put the antisemitism in the game, but she's very comfortable with antisemitism. Don't tell me she was horrified by the idea that her goblins could be called antisemitic. She just didn't want the label applied to her. If you willingly associate with Nazis, you're a Nazi. And enough of her friends don't seem to mind that.

I stand by what I said: playing this game, even pirated, is like printing out an antisemitic caricature and hanging it on your wall, saying “well, I didn’t pay the artist, I just like this art.”

This cerulean dome place is horrifying. But we have a prophecy to fulfill, so we'd best get to it.

Enthusiastically, yes. Sovereign Headmistress and Supreme Lunar Abbess Valere of Zenith Academy at your service. Also, this is Zale; He is a blade dancer.

Are you the last of a forgotten race? Because we're supposed to be meeting someone here that meets that description....

Perfect. You are exactly what we're here to find.

So, uh, how are we doing this, TIA? You got a jar we can put this little guy in or what? Yoyo said that their unbreakable will is the key to figuring out your big alchemy secret so, like... maybe you're supposed to use them as an ingredient or something. I don't know alchemy.

Your name is Best? Fuck me, that's way better than mine. You win this round, little wispy cloud.

Are you an Ovate? Or, like, whatever this timeline had instead of Ovates? Which might just be Ovates because these are timelines, not wholly distinct multiversal realities, so there's no reason they can't share mythologies at least up to a certain point but also no reason that they have to either.

What was its original purpose? Actually, don't tell me. We left a friend in Repine that you can tell instead, and then she'll tell me. It's better for everyone that way.

Oh, okay, never mind. That's super simple.

Wait, why was that necessary? Did you screw up your climate somehow? Too many fossil fuels?

That's sort of like having a facility whose sole purpose is to purify the atmosphere and prevent the apocalyptic build-up of deadly toxins. It's good to have clean air to breathe but it also raises some questions.

I like the sound of an evil machine. Evil machines can break if you hit them hard enough. If it was a Dweller, then we were going to have a problem.

Oh! That is convenient as hell. We need to disrupt the cloud cover, and also I promised Serai that we could do a hit on the cyborg guy, so that's a nice 2-for-1 deal.

Incidentally, does anyone know what exactly we're planning to do in the Sky Base? Because if we can bring the climate controls back online, I'm for it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love the thought of crashing it into the ocean.

Or into Fort Fleshy.

Actually, definitely into Fort Fleshy. If there's a way we could angle it as we're bringing it down for a controlled descent....

Hold up, what? Sorry, I was thinking about ballistic vengeance. What are we talking about?

You have to be an Ovate. You share their love of apostrophes. Speaking as a renowned Ovate scholar--

Zale: She listens intently to old myths and occasionally they mention Ovates.

--I have discerned that all Ovate names have an apostrophe somewhere in them, likely for the purpose of being fanciful. Others, such as myself, do not have apostrophes in their names, likely because the Ovates used too many and did not leave enough for the rest of us.

Right, you mentioned that this place is a container of some kind.

It's like a pickle jar, extending the shelf life of the souls contained within. And the pink smog could be the brine, keeping the souls preserved until they're ready to be prepared into....

I miss Garl.

In any case, pickling can preserve the souls but only so long as they're kept in the brine. Jar breaks, brine goes everywhere and the pickles are once more exposed to the natural processes of decomposition. Or vulnerable to the various forms of hungering dust.

But if we could put B'st in a little jar then maybe....

You even need to ask that after the stunt he just pulled? He is extremely talented.

Oh, but not so extremely talented, you know. Very Mortal, this guy. The Very Mortal Alchemist is what we call him; That's his nickname right there. There's nothing special about it.

You shouldn't, uh.... You shouldn't fixate on it too much. Be impressed, be very impressed, be so impressed in fact that you offer us whatever help you can but don't. Like. Don't pay too much attention to it, it's not that big of a deal.

...pay attention to me instead. I'm the superstar. He carries my luggage. That is the dynamic and there is nothing suspicious about it at all.

Wait, hold up, is that what you've been muttering about? Is Living Glass, like, a soul jar but it's a golem?

Not a problem for us. I'm totally down for a smash and grab. In fact, this one will be a breeze 'cause the owner isn't even home. We can make all the noise we want.

Oh sweet, Cedric's a lockpicker. That will save us a lot of trouble with our B&Es moving forward. I'm going to remember this, Serai.

You know. I've been thinking about this ever since we lost him.

Teaks once told me that Aephorul is such a cruel piece of shit because he's jealous of humanity's ephemerality. He covets our ability to burn out and die. It's what he and Resh'an been denied for all these long eons.

To a man like Aephorul, so envious and insecure, there is no greater affront than to burn brightly for the short time you have to live. Then, to blissfully extinguish, bathed in glory and in the love of the people who matter most to you. To live better than he ever could and then to die well, like he's barred from doing.

With that in mind, who really got the last laugh? Who really won, that day?

We're pouring this one out for you, buddy. And by "this one", I mean B'st. And by "pouring out", I mean "of the pickle jar".

I think you'd be proud of the work we're going to do.

Perfect. I've had a moment to be in my feelings and it was nice. It's always important to take time and process your emotions in a healthy way.

Now that I've done that, I'm ready to resume processing them in an unhealthy way. Let's go do some crime.

Friend, I made a discovery! +0+

Remember in Samurai Jack episode 9 "Jack under the sea" the fisherman talks about the hidden underwater city called "Oceanus"?

Well when I search it up, I realize that Oceanus was named after the Titan god of river himself in Greek mythology.

So the question is: Did Triseraquins worship Oceanus (the greek titan god of river) long before the arrival of Aku and his destruction OR Did they just name their city 'Oceanus' for any reason?

SJ has a lot of greek and roman mythology inspo. Aku relays the account of Cronus and the titans to Jack, clearly they existed. Oceanus was considered by Plato to actually be the father of Cronus.

Oceanus was said to be the "great river that covered the Earth." This is graphically represented in "Jack and the Gangsters" while Boss explains the origin of the Jewel of Neptune. In other legends he is the father of Amphitrite (Salacia in Rome) wife of Poseidon (Neptune in Rome)

So Cronus fathered Neptune, who is the consort of the "ancient spirit" that created "the jewel of Neptune". All of this pre-dates Aku and Jack's birth. Of course this is back in season one probably before Genndy knew the exact route he was going to take with Aku's origin story, so idk. Also have to remember that Boss AND Aku are not exactly reliable narrators.

The Triseraquins themselves are based on the legend of Atlantis (itself an allegorical creation of Plato), so it's likely that they are an extremely ancient race. By the time Jack meets them, they have probably been sunken for a thousand years (assuming Aku banished them immediately, and they refer to this event as "ancient history").

I'm sure they were either worshipping or in direct contact with these ocean deities or are creations of those deities. Since Aku was CLEARLY beefing with Salacia, it's possible his attack on the ancient Triseraquins was retaliation for being banned from even looking at the Neptune Jewel. How's that for headcanon lore LOL.

Race-Bending: It demeans us all

Ok, for real this time, this is my very last argument against “bending” especially when it comes to race. When white actors played the parts of BIPOC people long ago, we still held Hollywood accountable for this bad casting because it is racist. It’s so serious, that a lot of these films mention and apologize in advance for doing this admitting that looking back, it was not ok. And I agree. It’s not right. A person’s culture or race is not a role even when the “tribe” or “clan” is fictional. These people are a reference to actual people, an actual culture and actual mythology. It merits respect.

And the same goes for recolouring BIPOC characters to be white. This is Baxter Stockman who is established as being black yet he was recoloured here. This is not a cool thing to do. The Lord himself meant for the human race to be colourful and equal. There is no rhyme or reason to not cast BIPOC actors to play BIPOC parts or to not paint established characters in their correct colours. Being BIPOC is natural and beautiful.

With that said, the reverse is not ok either. Even if the character and their nation is fictional, like I said before, they mirror and represent real life. And a lot of these characters are iconic. Not to mention, it’s very uncomfortable, disturbing and wrong to see a BIPOC actor/character pretending to be white. It’s like you’re saying that original BIPOC characters and roles aren’t as good as white ones and that only white characters have value. To me, that is bigoted.

Moreover, it is also bigoted towards white people and please hear me out. White people deserve to have their culture and intelligence respected too. As a Greek woman, I am not ashamed to say that I would be very offended is someone casted a BIPOC person to play Apollo the Greek God of the Sun or a BIPOC person to play Aphrodite the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty. I can understand them having tanned or olive skin, but they would still be white. They’re Greek. And I doubt England would be pleased to see King Arthur or any of his knights be played by a BIPOC actor. Though if memory serves me correctly, this did happen and people were outraged. And rightly so. I also doubt people would be comfortable with seeing a BIPOC Thor who is the Norse God of Thunder. It looks ridiculous and it is offensive to the culture.

I’m all for representation, but it has to be done the right way otherwise the attempt not only fails, it actually makes you look bigoted because you did not put any thought into it. And if we want BIPOC leads so badly, why not make films and TV shows based on BIPOC mythology? There is so much to you can do with it and I would be elated to see it. We got a taste of it with Mulan and Moana, but we all know there’s more. Let’s see it. Let’s see it all. And there are tons, upon tons, upon tons of books with BIPOC main characters. I would love to see a film or series reboot of “n the Head of the Night which is one of my favourite cop books.

And I would love to see a Green Lantern film or series starring Jon Stewart who is the best Green Lantern in my opinion.

And I would love it if Parasite Eve got its own series from the novel that sparked it all, to the video game. Yeah, Parasite Eve the video game is actually a sequel to a Japanese horror-science fiction novel.

If I am STILL a bigot after making this argument, then all I have to say is... I’m not sorry.

Two cents of ramblings on: “Saint Seiya Kogane Tamashī - soul of gold -” (Anime)...

...and why I recommend it to who enjoyed “Saint Seiya”.

GENERAL DATA

Title: Saint Seiya Kogane Tamashī - Soul of Gold - (聖闘士星矢 黄金魂 -soul of gold- “Saint Seiya Golden Soul -Soul of Gold-”)

Media: Anime television series

Spinoff of: “Saint Seiya” anime based on the “Saint Seiya” manga written by Kurumada Masami.

Genre: Fantasy, Martial arts, Mythological

Directed by: Furuta Takeshi

Written by: Takeuchi Toshimitsu

Studio: Toei Animation, Animation Services: Bridge

Original run: April 11, 2015 – September 26, 2015

Episodes: 13

WARNINGS: There’s possession, manipulation, murder.

The plot in short: The Gold Saints who died in order to destroy the Wall of Grief are revived in Asgard. In an attempt to discover why it happened they end up involved in a battle against a foe threatening Asgard.

HOW DID I STUMBLE INTO IT

It’s “Saint Seiya”! It’s the Gold Saints! I love them! I could I not stumble into it?

THINGS YOU MIGHT WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE TACKLING THIS

I’ll reference “Saint Seiya” manga and anime version and the second “Saint Seiya” movie, “Saint Seiya - Kami-gami no Atsuki Tatakai” (聖闘士星矢 神々の熱き戦い “Saint Seiya: The Heated Battle of the Gods”).

MY TWO CENTS ON IT

THE SHORT VERSION… or what I can tell you about this while trying to keep spoilers at the very bare minimum.

Opening & ending: The anime uses as opening “Soldier Dream” by ROOT FIVE and, as ending, “Yakusoku no Ashita e” (約束の明日へ ‘To the promised tomorrow’) by ROOT FIVE. Now… “Soldier dream”, sung by Kageyama Hironobu, was the old “Saint Seiya” opening used for the Asgard saga… which okay, is iconic and awesome but… I wish the anime has just gotten his own opening. The visual is not bad… but it’s nothing special either and it spoilers the series a lot. It immediately implies Aiolia is the main character/hero of the series, that he gets a ‘love interest’ and that his main opponent will be Gullinbursti Fródi, that Hylda is not well, that Miro and Camus fight, and that the Gold Saints, despite having died in order to destroy the Wall of Grief, are somehow revived in Asgard, that Saga, Dohko and Mu will do the Athena exclamation, that Athena will give her blood to turn the gold cloths into god cloths complete with visual of them, that there’s Yggdrasil and let’s not forget Andreas’ scar. Really, all we miss is a shot of who’s behind all this. There’s plenty of shoots of the Gold Saint. Well, at least the Gold Saint aren’t depicted as thin as the Bronze Saint while being in Asgard… The ending song is pretty nice. Visually it doesn’t show much, just the Fire Clock of the sanctuary, the gold cloths and then the Gold Saints standing in front a giant Athena but I like the touch of having one of the flames on the Fire Clock to extinguish in each episode until all are extinguished and the series has ended. It’s worth to say in the last episode they replace the panning on the gold cloths with scenes from the series… which okay, makes sense but it’s not great.

The plot: Credits when it’s due “Saint Seiya” never had this complicate of a plot, it’s just battle after battle racing against time because Athena got herself in troubles but here they tried to toss in also mystery and other stuff and… and they made a mess, there’s plenty of plot holes. However, what’s really good is instead that they tried to close the Gold Saints’ character arcs in a satisfactory manner and they nailed this one correctly.

The characters: Well, let’s see. The Gold Saints are definitely mostly well developed in this one, they all get a role, something to do and a good characterization. I loved them.

Lyfia… is not that impressive as a character, but she works. The God Warriors… they tried to give them some character and dept but they are a lot less impressive than the old God Warriors of the anime. Still, they aren’t bad. Andreas has no character and the real bad guy behind all this is… just evil and that’s all he is. Freya and Hylda? Oh yes, I caught a glimpse of them. They don’t do much beyond being in the background occasionally.

The visual: I love the shining colors used for the cloths and the attacks, the dynamism, the fact the Saints here don’t seem about to drop dead of starvation (yes, decades have passed and here I am, still hung up on how “Saint Seiya” made the Saints progressively thinner). The animation quality isn’t always great but it’s still nice and, although the background aren’t extremely detailed, they’re still well cared for.

The musical background: “Saint Seiya” BGM has a history of being good (Yokoyama Seiji made really epic music!). This might be not as epic as the previous BGM for the Asgard saga but it’s still a pretty good one so kudos to Mizutani Hiromi.

Overall: It’s a “Saint Seiya” spinoff about the Gold Saints. To enjoy it, it’s required to know “Saint Seiya” and it has all the sins and all the virtues of a “Saint Seiya” story, meaning you’ll love it if you like “Saint Seiya” and the Gold Saints and you might end up disappointed if you hate them or have no idea who they are.

THE LONG VERSION… or what I loved and hated about this with, of course, TONS OF SPOILERS.

For once I’ll start with the weak points of the series so…

Okay, as the series started my first thought was: “Asgard AGAIN?!?” because it’s not like they hadn’t already milked Asgard in an original movie and in an original arc of the anime, right? Do we need even a spinoff placed in Asgard? Isn’t there some other places with Gods in which they could place the story? I don’t know, Egypt had cool Gods, why not to use it just for a change of pace and of climate?

But yeah, it’s Asgard again, and they even fished up 7 new God Warriors that never showed up to fight Saiya and Co during the Asgard saga because… they weren’t created yet… same as Lyfia, this new character who, had she appeared in a fanfic, would have surely be accused to be a Mary Sue.

Officially she’s just a maiden of Valhalla Palace, but it’s clear she’s put in the story to become the love interest of Leo Aiolia (poor Marin, previously SHE seemed to be the one for Aiolia), the main character of the series. At first she kind of seem to have the role that belonged to Freya in the anime, asking for the Gold Saints help, falling for one of them despite having a special connection from childhood with the God Warrior Gullinbursti Fróði (Freya didn’t quite fall for the main character but for Cygnus Hyoga and has a special connection from childhood with God Warrior Merak Beta Hägen) while Freya basically exists but has a nonexistent role in the story since she gets imprisoned again but that’s not all Lyfia does. She also gets Polaris Hylda’s role as she gets controlled by the main enemy so as to resurrect the Golden Saints and it turns out she’s actually Odin’s representative on Earth… all while Hylda lies sick in bed, confined in her room and does nothing beyond putting all her faith in Lyfia, so as not to steal Lyfia’s chance to shine.

Note that if Lyfia wasn’t such a blatant rip off of two previous main characters she wouldn’t be bad… and the fact she’s a rip off of two main characters is… well excusable because it’s part of how the “Saint Seiya” animation works.

I mean the anime only “Asgard saga” was inspired by the 2nd“Saint Seiya” movie which was inspired by the special one-shot from the manga “Kōri no Kuni no Natasha Hen” (氷の国のナターシャ ‘The Chapter of Natasha, of the Lands of Ice’) so well, why should I be surprised if now the “Asgard saga” became the inspiration for “Soul of Gold”?

Well, at least the Gold Saints don’t have to save Athena, but just to stop Yggdrasil from bearing fruits and, in order to do so, they’ve to go into the 7 chambers of Yggdrasil and shatter the 7 Mammoth Pillars… pardon, the 7 statues in there. Yeah, no originality here either.

Of course the God Warriors are provided with Odin new Sapphires, though this time their purpose is just to let them get even more power from Yggrasil… and, surprise, surprise, Andreas Lise is actually also possessed by the new enemy… a God who was closed into a amphora… yeah, like Poseidon.

Should I also mention that, although the series tried to explain why Grani Sigmund, brother of Dubhe Alpha Siegfried and someone who knew Polaris Hylda was being possessed, never showed up in the Asgard saga (and the same can be said for the other 6 God Warriors) the explanation don’t really hold up very well… and they didn’t even try to explain why Fróði, who’s from a family who long served Odin, never showed up either… and yeah, it’s probably worth to mention the 7 God Warriors aren’t that well developed or original either… and it gets kind of ridicule how Odin always has to count on Athena’s Saints to solve Asgard troubles and give them his cloth when he actually should have his own God Warriors.

And let’s face it, Loki is definitely underdeveloped, he’s just there to be the bad guy and that’s it. Okay, it’s in the myth that Loki wasn’t actually an Asgardian but a Frost Giant but the series doesn’t even explain this, just calls him a false God.

So, after all this you might wonder… then why should I watch “Soul of Gold”?

Because, let’s face it, originality was never “Saint Seiya” stronger trait but this series has some very good things. Although Andreas and the new God Warriors aren’t that developed and the new enemy is just evil and that’s it, this series take care to develop the Gold Saints, which is the main reason for which it was done. It gives all of them a chance to shine but also digs into either their past or their inner conflicts.

Deathmask finds back his good side and rejoin with his cloth, Aphrodite gets to show his connection with plants, Aldebaran and Mu’s psychology gets developed, Saga and Aiolos confront (remember? Saga tried to kill Athena and Aiolos had to protect her), Aiolia gets to confront with his feelings for Shura, the man who killed his brother, but also gets to work with his brother, and Camus shows us he used to have a friend in Asgard.

What’s more, Libra Dōko gets some development and… well, this younger version of the old master is interesting as a character… even if he feels pretty different for how I was used to him.

And hey, didn’t we all want to see Aiolos in action?

The episodes, more than plot driven, feel like a character study digging into them and giving them space to shine and this is SO GOOD!

It’s literally gold if you’re a Gold Saint fan, and should I mention the battles are well done, and you get to see all their special moves, and how they get those cool God cloths?

And, although I criticized the lack of originality in the plot, to be fully honest they tried to develop it a bit, even making it ‘mysterious’ as they kept the secret about who and why resurrected the God Saint and around Lyfia and Garmr Útgarðar, so they made an effort to make it more than just, let’s crash the 7 statues and beat the new bad guy who possessed someone…

It’s also worth to mention that, even if the God Warriors aren’t that well developed, especially compared to the God Warriors of the “Asgard saga”, let’s remember the “Asgard saga” counted 26 episodes, versus the 12 of this series and could take advantage by how Athena’s 5 Bronze Saints were already well developed so they didn’t need any character study. This gave the “Asgard saga” the time to take care of the development of the God Warriors and their backstories (they were awesome by the way), a time this series doesn’t have as it has to develop the Gold Saints.

So yeah, this is a good and enjoyable spinoff for the fans of the series, one I definitely recommend.

It might not work for people who don’t know “Saint Seiya”, they might feel lost and confused or just not being that impressed due to its flaws, but if you’re a fan is definitely a MUST SEE.

Also, even if it’s not something that touches me that deeply, I should probably mention it gives a lot of space to Aiolia, making him the new main character (in place of Pegasus Seiya) so, all the more, if you’re a fan of his, you should see it.

And now let's end this with an AMV about this series I recommend watching Black and Blue

Can you go in to more detail about where you think Nohr is based on? I'm not good with geography/history but I want to know more about Fates lore

Oml of course I can. I love lore too and I LOVE Feif. Now I'm not the best at that shit either because I'm American so I mostly learned about American shit and nothing about anywhere else in HS and I was homeschooled for Jr. High but really my grandma just put on ancient aliens which undermines all historical findings because "aliens" so real world history is not my strong suit. But I do read a lot of non fiction books about history between work and classes and homework.

So, to be real, Nohr is just an amalgamation of all of medieval Europe. Which, I mean, that happens a lot in the reverse too. We have American stories that are like "here's our Asian society :)" "but what race are they?" "Asian" "okay yeah but like, Japanese, Chinese, Korean...?" "Yes! :D"

But we are free to analyze the ways in which it parallels to the real world. And given the information we have, it would be most comparable to the HRE. Which makes a lot of sense because though it now is just Germany, in the middle ages the Holy Roman Empire was most of Europe....and Nohr is just Europe in the middles ages....so..... And then because it's fictional and not a 1 to 1 match, it makes sense that even though Greece was never a part of the HRE it very well could be a part of Nohr.

This isn't the most organized but anyways

Here are Emperor Ferdinand I and Emporer Charles V's armors respectively

And here's King Garon's:

While not an exact copy, you can clearly see the similarities to both. We got the circle shoulder things, got the v cuirass instead of the curved ones that most Norse and Romans used, we got the skirt panels on the side, we got the metal dong holder. We got it all! Well... They actually just gave him a dong cupper because they didn't wanna commit and give him a real codpiece. But close enough.

I've mentioned before in a post I'll link later that Nohr's castle is named after a real castle in Germany and that the Villa the royal family lives in was named ClarkenSTEIN. I think I forgot to mention there that the Manga is called "Niberungu no Hokan" or "Crown of Nibelung" which is important because is a race in GERMANIC MYTHOLOGY. And in the German Epic "Nibelungenlied" King GUNTHER is asked by SIEGFRIEND for his daughters hand in marriage. And let's not forget that Garon is a German name, so is Marx (Xander's original name) and Siegfried. So that's three Kings/Crown Princes with German names. Odin named Camillas armor: "Großartig Mond" (at least, kinda. The localization messed up the first word as Grossartig and the og messed up the last as montu instead of mond but those are translation errors on their part.) Even though they kinda messed up with the spelling, they both said it means great or beautiful moon which it does.... In German. The point here being, Nohr is very heavily influenced by Germany. And Germany is the modern HRE.

There is also a town in the south of the country called Chevalier (Cheve) that implies at least part of what we call France is in the south of Nohr, like how France was in the south of the HRE. The HRE had parts of Italy in it but not all, and what we know of Nestra makes it seem very similar to Italy and it is just outside Nohr's limits: see my beautiful highlighting of the Kingdom. So very similar to the HRE in that way, also Camilla's name is an Italian name so one can assume her mother was from the Italian inspired area. And Latin spawned in Italy and just went all over Europe and Elise is a Latin name.

Spain was never a part of the HRE BUT the Hapsburg dynasty are known for being rulers of the HRE and Spain became a Hapsburg holding. Plus, Charles I of Spain became a Holy Roman Emperor. My point being, there's a link between Spain and the HRE and the Nohrian Lancers wear Spanish Inquisition armor.

Now on to the less historically accurate side, we can say with absolute certainty that Nohr has parts of Greek culture in it. The names: Katerina, Xander, Leon, and Leo are all Greek names.

I'm getting tired so imma just trail off here but I'll probably edit this later and explain more lmao. I just don't wanna put off this ask for too long because then I'd feel rude 😭.

Another sketchbook/art dump where I talk about things yay.

1. Character design concept for Ord, an old character of mine (if you followed me from deviantart days you may vaguely recognise them aha). I thought they’d be great as a treant! I like to have at least one character of all the races in my fantasy world ‘cuz I then use them as a base to develop that race, what they look like, their culture, ect. Ord’s based on pine trees. They’re part of a short comic that I was planning to be working on now, but then I redesigned the tengu race and the second main character is a tengu and I’m still figuring out their new design lol. So this project’s getting pushed back.

2. These are the trio of an underground desert city in one of my main comic projects. (most of my projects exist in the same world, just in different regions of it). From left-right, Naga, Thorne and Kalvah. Thorne is an arachne who basically despises everything, and his friends Naga and Kalvah are gorgons who are like the only characters I have that are in love wowee (excluding the parents of characters ofc). This was me loosely figuring out their heights and liked the sketch enough to slap some quick colours on it.

3. The main cast of a comic project called Impz that I’m doin’ loose work on in the background while I work on other projects and things. I recently made the decision of giving the imp race horns and removing them from the scavengers (a race closely related to imps), so I fiddled around with what kind of horns the characters would have. Left-right we have Maria, Kevin, Mal, Zig, and Flick. All of them are imps while Flick is an imp x scavenger hybrid. I tried using the water brush that came with my watercolour travel set with this in which I went to the local park to draw and paint this. It was difficult to control the amount of water I wanted out of the brush (too much water!!), but it’s definitely great for when you’re out n about with a travel pan set! Also idk what the red thing is lol I just put it there so that Flick’s pose made sense ‘cuz I didn’t wanna change it. :’)

4. This is a group photo type thing of Kalvah’s band, who probably will only show up as background characters for the project Kalvah’s in, but it was fun to design them all. Apart from Kalvah, and 13 (the dude on the left), none of them have names. I spent way too much time on this but I really love the result!

5. Expression sheet of Murray, a muldjewangk character that’s in a planned short animated film I wanna do, but that’s a project for when I get myself a computer upgrade. I am currently animating him though in a short 20s animation to a song I like with a koala I designed for it. Animation takes 50 years but I’m really liking how it’s turning out!

6. Just a digital portrait of Kalvah, used it as a test for how I wanna do the art for the comic. (drawn so much of her lately! I love her).

7. The same thing I but this time with Phanes and Quetz. Dew this after the multi-animator project I was a part of that featured them went live. Phanes is a druid, which are a race of tree goat nature people, and Quetz is their pet amphithere. They’re one of the main characters in the same project Kalvah’s in. I’ll probably upload both of these to my main art blog at some point.

8. And finally, one of the final concept sketches finalising the design of Void, a character who is the shadow & imaginary friend of a kid. ‘Cuz they’re a shadow they are strictly 2D, and so I was inspired by paper shadow puppets for their design, as well as skeletons (because ofc I have to be on-brand) and axolotls lol (axolotls are very much on the brain lately). I wanted them to be flexible but also strict in movement. Took about 7 pages of concept work in my sketchbook to get to this design, it was a struggle but I really like the outcome! Void is part of a short 20/30page comic I’m currently working on! So expect that in a few months maybe?

I was wondering if you had another source that otherlinkers were explicitly excluded from the original definition of otherkind in 1990? The source on AnOtherWiki leads to a 2001 FAQ that doesn't mention anything like that. Also, otherlinkers aren't the same thing as KFF.

(just as a warning, this is going to be a LONG post, but i'd rather not put it under the cut for archival reasons, in the case that for some reason this blog disappears)

firstly, i'd like to apologize for phrasing things as if KFFs and otherlinkers were the same thing; a better phrased way to say things would be for me to say that i think many KFFs would be otherlinkers, were they to acknowledge that their experiences don't fit the definition of otherkin.

something else i'd also like to note that i've been thinking about (while it isn't exactly related to this question) is that perhaps people are misinterpreting the terms "voluntary" and "involuntary".

i feel that many people think "voluntary" simply means the initial decision to willingly take on an identity, which is, in part, true! however, voluntary identities are very likely to become involuntary, simply because it becomes too emotionally/mentally difficult to separate oneself from the identity that they've chosen.

being drawn to something, or someone, enough to take it on as an identity can often be a sign of something deeper! i would see this as a form of awakening in and of itself—like cracking open a geode, or perhaps like putting on training wheels before you experience the real thing.

but back to your first question: the way i initially phrased that post was also rushed, as we were trying very hard to write it during a single lunch break at work.

the term otherlinker is a very recent invention (coined in 2018 on the alt-h discord server, while copinglink was coined in 2015 by who-is-page), as being otherkin has always largely been considered a serious, personal experience. only recently have people NEEDED to specify that it's involuntary, so the only sources i can give you are ones that cite otherkinity as being intended as a serious identity, as well as those that state that otherkinity is not as shallow as a game or roleplay.

also important to note is that many of these pages were made and existed before fictionkin were a largely documented (let alone accepted) presence, thus they are scarcely mentioned, (and typically with skepticism or even scorn,) save for on their own, smaller pages. for our own personal comfort, we will not be listing sources that discredit fictionkinity completely.

firstly, here's a full timeline of otherkin history by orion scribner, to show the scope we're looking at

Otherkin Lexicon by Orion Scribner: "Otherkin are real, non-fictional people who identify as other than human. Otherkin identify as creatures from myth and legend, usually elves, faeries, and dragons. This is a sincere identity, not role-play. Many otherkin identify as other than human for spiritual reasons; that is, they classify their identity as otherkin as a personal spiritual belief. Being otherkin is a very individualistic thing: each otherkin reaches his own explanation for how and why he is an otherkin. Some of their common spiritual explanations include that they are other than human in spirit, or they were other than human in past incarnations.187 Although spiritual belief is often involved, “otherkin” isn’t a religion. As such, each person who identifies as otherkin practices whatever religion he individually wants. It has always been the case that most of the otherkin community practices Neo-Pagan religions, and so that religious perspective shapes the common views and ideas in the otherkin community. Some otherkin don’t use spiritual explanations. Some otherkin believe that they are physically other than human, or that their ancestors were."

A Field Guide to Otherkin by Lupa: "The definition for Otherkin I will be using for this book is: a person who believes that, through either a nonphysical or (much more rarely) physical means, s/he is not entirely human. This means that anyone who relates internally to a nonhuman species either through soul, mind, body, or energetic resonance, or who believes s/he hosts such a being in hir body/mind, is in my own definition of Otherkin. Some people do have more stringent standards. However, for the purposes of this book, I am including a wider range of people.

"This is not a roleplaying game. When a person says s/he is a dragon, or a wolf, or an elf, s/he is not referring to a character that s/he only becomes during a gaming session. That which is Other is a constant part of the person; s/he is the Other at all times. Grey, a wolf therian,says it marvelously: “Perhaps I should say that if a being is a color, or a sound, I am two items merged to form a different color/sound. The two are within each other. Sometimes plain to see, sometimes deeply mixed.”"

A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes by Orion Scribner: "Some real people think of themselves as kinds of creatures from mythology. These people call themselves “otherkin.” An otherkin has the belief that he is a creature from mythology, such as an elf. He says that elf is his true self. It is his identity. This is real to him. It isn’t a pretend person that he plays in a game."

The Otherkin Resource Center: "1 : one who identifies with various mythological archetype as vehicles of spiritual evolution and self-expression, similar to Native totemism only with a stronger level of self-identification.

"2 : someone who believes in reincarnation, and that not all of their reincarnations were as a human."

What are Otherkin? by Tirl Windtree: "By far the most common explanation from those who fit the definition (even if they don't claim this specific label) is that whilst their physical forms may be human, their essence, soul or equivalent term is not.

"Of those, the majority make their claim based on reincarnation - what they have been in a previous incarnation so strongly affects their current incarnation that they still identify with it. Obviously this requires a belief in reincarnation, and in the transmigration of souls. Both are reasonably common in a number of religions and spiritual beliefs across the world."

"The most frequent accusation is that all otherkin are lost in fantasy, they've played one too many D&D games and gone over the edge. Personal study seems to indicate this is actually one of the least frequent explanations. Most roleplayers know they are roleplaying, even if they are also otherkin, and roleplaying can be a very useful tool in self exploration."

The Lostkin Project by Gazer: "Otherkin are the supernatural among us. They are the elves, dragons, nymphs, and trolls that used to live more openly amoung humankind. Some are from other dimensions and other places. You may occasionally see them refered to as Otherkind. Otherkin is the more generally accepted term."

Otherkin Coalition by Kreyas: "What is Otherkin?

In a nutshell, Otherkin are a coalition of people who share in common the belief that some internal part of them is somehow incongruent with the rest of the human race. Beyond that, beliefs vary too widely to classify them into any one group.

Some of the most common beliefs are that the soul is somehow different from human. This may go in hand with a belief in reincarnation and “imprinting” (in which a past life as another species leaves an imprint on the soul which is then carried over into the next life), or the individual may believe that this is his/her first life and they are simply different.

Above all, Otherkin is a spiritual belief.

"Are Otherkin really a bunch of delusional, socially maladaptive kids like I read on that website?

NO. As with any group, not everyone fits the stereotype. Any community is going to have its bad apples which stand out in people’s minds better than the typical members. In my experience, Otherkin are usually levelheaded and able to question their beliefs and function in human society.

"Is it a Roleplaying thing?

NO. While some Otherkin may participate in roleplaying, strictly speaking the beliefs are separate from the roleplay - even if they are roleplaying as their identified “kintype”."

Otherkin FAQ v 4.0.1 by Arhuaine, Miaren Crowsdaughrer, Thistile Kachunk, Golden Syrpent, Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, Jarin Dreamsinger and The Crisses: "The Otherkin are those people who believe themselves to be spiritually and/or physically other than human. While mythological species (elves, satyrs, fairies, dragons, and so on) are widely accepted as being included under the term "Otherkin", many people in the community prefer to include aliens, vampires, furries, extraterrestrial humans, and other nonhuman races. A mythological or literary equivalent is not necessary to be included under "Otherkin"; there are types of otherkin that have not shown up in known legends or fiction (star-dragons, Elenari, etc.)."

What are Otherkin, Anyway? by Adnarel: "Otherkin is a term that is generally used to describe people who, In some way or another, physical bodies aside, do not feel that they are “human” in the conventional sense of the word. We (they) feel as though their spirits are not human, nor have they ever been, despite our physical bodies and outward appearance. Some otherkin have testified that they feel that this is their first time on this plane of existence, a.k.a. Earth. Others feel that they have been here numerous times to teach and to heal people. Maybe once they were here in their “true forms”. Otherkin use the term “true form” to describe what they feel to be the shape and nature of their true selves."

What Are Otherkin? by Arhuaine:

"Put simply, someone who is Otherkin feels that they have a soul (or souls) other than human. Usually this encompasses what are commonly regarded as mythical beings such as elves, dragons, fae, satyrs and so on. A broader view of otherkin might also include therianthropes (were-creatures) and those with animal souls (such people are sometimes known affectionately as "furries"), and also perhaps people who consider their souls are alien (often called star-born). The lines between Otherkin and Furries or Star-born are often blurred.

"Most Otherkin feel for most of their lives as though they don't belong. Human society seems alien and unfamiliar in many ways. They may feel isolated and unhappy, yet unable to explain these feelings at first. Then, perhaps they may begin to remember a life other than their own. Sometimes it is not easy to understand such memories, and sometimes the awakening to Otherkin-ness is a difficult and frightening process, especially if they are going through it alone. It is something not easy to share with others, for fear that they may consider you crazy.

"Being Otherkin is not something to crave, nor is it glamorous. It is a difficult and lonely path to tread, and sometimes it seems to bring only sorrow. Memories of loved ones long lost, a home that can no longer be reached, cause great pain. And yet, the life of the Otherkin is not all sadness. It is a life filled with wonder and magic, and a way of looking at the world that humans can never understand. Because magic is so much a part of an Otherkin's outlook, they may be drawn to Paganism or other New-age philosophies."

Are You 'Kin? by Gazer: "To really find out if you are otherkin takes searching. No, not on the internet, inside. You have to reach inside yourself and really look at yourself. This ,for the most part, is an inner journey. You have the answers, not me or anyone else. If you are otherkin then it is a PART of you, but you may be the only person able to find it.

The best others can do to help you is to provide pointers. Show you ways to search inside yourself, tell you how they found something inside themselves. We can hold a mirror up to you, but you won't see anything unless YOU do the looking, and what we see from our side of the mirror may not be the truth."

Otherkin Phenomena: "Otherkin are people who believe themselves to be something other than a human being on a spiritual, psychological, energetic and some even on a biological level, and choose to identify with that non-human fragment of themselves to the point where they count it as a permanent and ingrained part of their personal mythology and/or identity."

and there's plenty more! i'm just tired

i hope this helped answer your question, and perhaps gives others some insight as well!

INTERVIEW: The Creators of The Ancient Magus' Bride and The Girl From the Other Side

  In coordination with the recent anime announcements of The Girl from the Other Side and The Ancient Magus' Bride, Comic Natalie recently held an interview with the manga authors of both series: Nagabe and Kore Yamazaki. Crunchyroll News was given the opportunity to officially translate the interview in English between the two, posted below. You can read the original Japanese interview here. 

  Tetsuko Kumase held and composed the interview.

    The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe and The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki are the two stories that develop around the theme of "Beast x Girl," and probably have many fans in common. To celebrate the release of The Girl from the Other Side as a full-length anime OAD (news article embedded) and the development of a new OAD series for The Ancient Magus’ Bride (news article embedded), Comic Natalie has set up an interview with Nagabe and Yamazaki. In addition to discussing their commitment to their work and the concept of "Beast x Girl", they also shared their thoughts about the new anime productions. At the end of the interview, they asked questions to each other to learn more about one’s perspectives towards creating stories.

    Respect for each other and the appeal of "Beast x Girl"

── There have been several projects you collaborated on, such as a joint event for the two works (see: The Ancient Magus’ Bride and The Girl from the Other Side fair where visitors could get the “Beast x Girl” playing cards) and the book of The Ancient Magus’ Bride including a trivia manga booklet, The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Quiet Talk, written by Nagabe-san (see: The Ancient Magus’ Bride volume 10 includes an acrylic stand and a booklet written by Nagabe). I know that many readers are fans of both of your works, but could you tell us about your impressions of each other's creations and what you like about them?

     Nagabe: The Ancient Magus’ Bride initially grabbed my attention because of the obi (belt) on the book that said "Beast x Girl." But when I started reading it, I found it to be a fantasy manga that’s really well thought out. Dragons, mythical creatures, folklore, and mythology are well integrated into the modern world, and each magical being is given its own meaning. The non-human characters also have their own meanings, backgrounds, and cultures, and interact with the protagonists. It's not just a fantasy, but the way the characters are connected to the world and make it feel so real is exquisite! Of course, the non-humans in the story are also wonderful. I love Elias.

Kore Yamazaki: Thank you very much. I'm often amazed at the range of stories and pictures you create. I sometimes even question if there are any non-human characters you can’t draw. I don't know if it's appropriate to say, but there's a hint of darkness or something in your work. I think it's a little sexy or maybe there’s secret eros? I love that I can feel a little bit of naughtiness in your work.

Nagabe: Thank you!

Yamazaki: The other thing is that I feel like I can almost smell the lines and shadows you draw if I trace them. Also, your story can be either very sweet or disturbing. I know you've been working very hard to achieve this, but honestly, I envy you. I wish I could create pictures and stories like you.

── I can really tell that you respect each other deeply. Now, please tell us what you like about particular scenes, episodes, or expressions in each of your works.

Nagabe: Personally, I think that The Ancient Magus’ Bride is a human drama in which you see Chise’s growth and changes as she confronts the environment around her. So, of course, there are impressive episodes that correspond to that. However, if I get to choose one based on my own preferences, I like the story of magic in Episode 2 and the Christmas story of Elias and Chise. The former shows magical instruments in a fantasy world, and the latter shows the integration of the real world customs in manga. I love portraits that showcase slice-of-life stories, so I thought those were great!

Yamazaki: I really like the gradual development of the relationship between Shiva and Sensei in The Girl from the Other Side. I love the scenes where they are about to touch but hesitate and also the scene that portraits the cute fight that heats up through the door. There’s also a scene where they touch each other by accident, but that triggers them to touch each other intentionally after, and that made me go "Wow!” The distance between them is so... delicate and exquisite. The softness of the flesh and the temperature of Shiva and the lack of physical temperature of Sensei next to her, all give me the feeling of winter, which is amazing. I think it just fits my sense of winter perfectly. The coldness that mercilessly takes away life, the feel of the felt, floor, and walls chilled by snow and water, and the warmth of having someone by your side in front of the stove… they all exist together in the story.

Nagabe: I'm very happy to hear that.

Yamazaki: My favorite episode is episode 29 in volume 6. I really want them both to be happy! It made me feel the warm temperature of Shiva’s tears. The scene where they go see Mother gave me chills. The design of the children of darkness is also epic!

  ── Now, can you talk about what you both find to be attractive about the “Beast x Girl," which is a common concept in both of your works?

Nagabe: It’s not just about girls but more so about humans, but I think I’m into cross-culturalism. Different races have different cultures, languages, and maybe even different body structures. The two characters have great differences and that brings out interesting gaps and interactions which creates a good drama. It’s also nice when they see each other’s similarities and go “oh, that’s the part we have in common”.  I especially like it when there are differences that are incompatible. For example, whether cannibalism is acceptable or not. The fact that taboos in the human world are practiced without hesitation in the non-human world creates clear divisions. Seeing how they deal with these negative differences is the best part and what makes this theme attractive to me.

  Yamazaki: The concept of non-human exists because there are humans. I am personally attracted to things that are distant from humans in appearance and sensibility. I love non-humans who don’t speak human languages, but I also have to balance my work for consumer products. In The Ancient Magus’ Bride, I used fairytales from Britain and Ireland as references, so they all speak human languages fluently. Their sensibilities and appearance are quite human-like except for their rules. It’s probably because humans wouldn’t be able to understand them otherwise, and they can be very different from your ideas of non-humans. However, they are very rigid about certain rules they have, so I have to be careful drawing those concepts clearly. It’s quite difficult to decide how much of the original folktales and fairytales I include in my creation. If I put too much just because it’s interesting, the originality in my work will disappear. This is something I have to be careful not to overlook.

  ── You've taken special care to balance these concepts.

Yamazaki: The other topic to consider is the reason why a girl is matched with a beast. Personally, I think it’s because girls have the most flexibility and softness. For better or worse, children are soft, malleable, and flexible to their environment. But they also have their own answers to questions, toughness, weakness, rigidness, and acceptance to their worlds, questions, hesitation, tolerance, anger, joy… all sorts of ideas and emotions, which makes them very attractive and easy to draw. I understand that adult characters are interesting as well. Also, it’s just exciting to see humans and non-humans together like with animals, monsters, and so on. In reality, people often don’t understand each other, but in creation, we can hope differently. I guess I like seeing everyone getting along as a bystander. But from a business point of view, I can’t just leave it like that, so I give them lots of challenges!

Nagabe: In The Ancient Magus’ Bride, I think that emotions are portrayed as something specific to humans. The contrast between Chise, who is always changing based on her experiences, and Elias, who is certainly changing but lacking in some crucial way, is brilliant. It seems that this kind of dissonance is there because we see Elias’ emotions in the same way we see that of Chise’s or humans. In the story, Chise said to Elias “I can’t understand you”, and I think it’s great that you are taking this difference between the characters seriously and depicting it in your work.

Yamazaki: Thank you. I think The Girl from the Other Side provides the perfect sense in terms of closeness among characters. Other works of yours also showcase this as well. Sometimes characters are all over each other, and other times they are trying to figure out the right distance. There’s rejection, and there’s also adorable connection. I love it. I think the struggle between a being and another being is wonderful. Also, it’s simply cool to have two different concepts exist together like big and small.  

── What kind of works have influenced the two of you in terms of drawing fantasy and the theme of "Beast x Girl"?

Yamazaki: It’s not that I’m only looking for the “Beast x Girl” theme, but it just triggers my sensors! Some of the books that caught my attention are the Darren Shan series, Rachel series, Koteki no Kanata, Dendera Ryu ga Detekitayo, Sukkuto Kitsune, and Hellsing. In terms of animation, I’d say the Monster Farm, PoPoLoCrois series, Brigadoon: Marin & Melan, and Blood: The Last Vampire series. Rather than finding the exact theme of “Beast x Girl," I find the subtle essence of that in these works. Also, I often use myths and folktales as references. I’d say the ones that influenced me the most are Ashiarai Yashiki no Juunintachi, J&J series, and Blood+.

Nagabe: I think Beauty and the Beast was influential for me! These are not about a beast and a girl, but Alice in Wonderland and Moomin also had a strong influence on my current manga creation. They are certainly fantasy, but not shiny and glamorous, and gives you a sense of antiquity, 

── Are there any works that you would like to recommend to each other?

Nagabe: In my case, I am more interested in art books and picture books than novels, so my tastes are a little different. But I would like to recommend Arthur Rackham and Saint-Exupery! Arthur Rackham is famous for Alice in Wonderland, and Saint-Exupery for The Little Prince. I also recommend Jon Klassen's picture book series. I like the airy atmosphere and you can see his energetic watercolor touch. I hope you will read them if you have a chance.

Yamazaki: I'd like to check them out. It's hard to make recommendations to Nagabe-san, but I'd like you to read Ashiarai Yashiki no Juunintachi. The characters are more human-like in appearance, but there is also great diversity. There are lots of characters so I'm sure you'll be able to find one, three, or even ten that you like.

Nagabe: I see. I’ll check it out.

  What they want to portray through their work

── Could you tell us about your own work? In a previous interview with Comic Natalie, Yamazaki-san, you said you wanted to create a story in The Ancient Magus’ Bride where "everyone is bad and everyone is good."

  Yamazaki: Now that I think about it, “everyone is bad and everyone is good” is not exactly correct. If I could answer it again, I would say it’s about differences. It's like a sample of where various emotions and thoughts are. I hope that reading my manga will give the audience a chance to think about the differences in their lives. But they are free to dismiss it if they think it’s boring. I have my ideas of what I want to convey as a message in my work, but I try not to give clear answers so that people can think and feel what they want.

── Now, Nagabe-san, in a previous interview, you said that the most important theme for you was "gentleness."

  Nagabe: After finishing The Girl from the Other Side, I felt once again that ‘gentleness’ is a difficult thing to express. I wondered to whom that ‘gentleness’ was meant for, what it meant, and what would happen if that feeling resulted in a bad situation. Is ‘gentleness’ shown in words, actions, or something else in the first place? Any of these can express ‘gentleness’ depending on the perspectives of each protagonist, so I was reminded of the ambiguity of emotions, the frustration that comes with interaction, and how difficult it is to depict those things. I’m glad I got to learn the difficulty of this theme, and I felt that I need to look at it from different aspects.

── I see. It's been a few years since any of the interviews I mentioned before, but has there been anything new you would like to emphasize in your works?

Nagabe: Since I’ve been thinking about the theme of emotions through "gentleness," I want to focus more on personality. In other words, I want to focus more on human dramas. In addition to that, I would like to depict a strange everyday life in a mysterious world. Of course, I want to include non-humans.

Yamazaki: I haven't really changed my main ideas. But if I had to say, I’d like to go back to the basics and draw non-humans again as I’ve been drawing only humans in stories lately. 

  The world of The Girl from the Other Side and

The Ancient Magus’ Bride in animation

── Both The Girl from the Other Side and The Ancient Magus’ Bride have been developed into anime projects in the past. How do you feel about your works being made into animation again?

Nagabe: My honest impression (after watching the animation) was "It's moving!” The artwork, visuals, and atmosphere of the manga are very important to me, so I was very impressed that the production team was able to recreate those of my manga with such care. In the previous short animation, the audience was able to enjoy the blank space created by the lack of words. It left room for interpretation. I was simply thrilled that they created such mature animation.

Yamazaki: In my case, I was looking at a hypothetical future where the project was in progress, but in the middle of the project, people would say, "It's not going to sell," and it would discontinue. I was thinking that I should at least be able to do enough work to feed myself, but it actually came true. Can you believe it? Now I can't quit so easily. Oops...

── Oh, no (laughs).

Yamazaki: I was just kidding and was actually very happy, and even though it was a lot of hard work, I had great fun working with many creators!

── What kind of messages and reactions did you receive from the readers of your manga who watched the anime?

Nagabe: The readers were also excited that The Girl from the Other Side was moving! That's how much they have enjoyed the world of The Girl from the Other Side in manga, and we’ve succeeded to meet their expectation in the anime.

Yamazaki: I've received a lot of feedback as well, but it's generally been positive and I’m relieved. I want to thank everyone for that!

  ── I believe that there are qualities that people are drawn to and ways of expression that are each unique to manga and anime, but when you saw your own work turned into animation, was there anything that you felt was unique to animation?

Nagabe: I think that the subtle movements of people and objects are best expressed through animation. For example, in the scene at the dinner table with Sensei and Shiva, you can see both a movement of Shiva where she tries to climb up on a chair and a smooth movement of Sensei at the same time. This contrast allowed the audience to feel a sense of life in our daily routines, and I thought that was great. One more thing is that the scenes like Shiva’s dreams and the star scene, in the end, achieved a better sense of realism because of the colors, and I think the black-and-white representation of manga won’t be able to quite do the same.

Yamazaki: I may have the same opinion. The manga is quite plain as I prefer low saturation, but I also knew that could be a hindrance for a consumer product. So I was impressed with the bright colors in the anime. Also, the animation complimented the lack of explanation in the manga and it made it more theatrical. I hope people will see both works!

Nagabe: That's right! I want people to see both, too.

── Both manga and anime have their own strong points, and I hope people will enjoy them both. And now, the development of a full-length anime of The Girl from the Other Side and a new OAD series for The Ancient Magus’ Bride has been announced. Please tell us your honest opinions about these developments.

Nagabe: YEEEESSS! I'm so happy. I personally gave the last short-length anime a perfect score, so I have…really...high expectations!

── I can feel your joy. (laugh)

Nagabe: This is all happening thanks to the hard work put in by WIT STUDIO, Yutaro Kubo (director), and Satomi Yoneya (director), and my expectations are very high and I have no worries at all! How about you, Yamazaki-san?

Yamazaki: I'm glad to be working with various creators again! I'm also going to be doing more work that I don't normally do, so in a way I'll be able to change up my routine. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

── What are you looking forward to and what are your expectations for the new animation?

Nagabe: I’m wondering how they will tell the story now that it’s longer. Of course, I’m interested in the visual expressions and the production of animation as I was for the previous short-length anime, but more than that, I’m looking forward to seeing how they will incorporate the world of The Girl from the Other Side into animation and how they will depict it. Also, Sensei and Shiva are going to talk… with voices. I’m pretty pumped about it and can't contain my excitement!

  ── As a fan, I'm really looking forward to it. What about you, Yamazaki-san?

Yamazaki: It's fun to have more opportunities to see the work of the animation staff. To tell the truth, I don't really have much expectation for my work. “New anime! Work is coming! I'll do my best!”, I don’t normally feel that way.  It almost feels like a collaboration between the supervising team and the animation team, so I have to do my best for our audience to enjoy it.

── How do you feel about the fact that both of your works are loved overseas as well?

Nagabe: Is that so? I'm glad to hear that! Since The Girl from the Other Side is more like a poem or a picture book than a manga, I’ve been wondering how it would be perceived even in Japan. But I'm frankly happy that it's been accepted so favorably. I'm also happy that TThe Girl from the Other Side has “flown” to a foreign country (the Other Side). That gave me a smile. Thank you very much.

Yamazaki: I'm really grateful that there are people overseas who are interested in my work since I basically published it for Japanese people. As the story is set in England, I tried to avoid using gestures and phrases that are unique to Japanese culture, but I guess you could say that worked in my favor. I've been getting a lot of positive feedback and art from fans!

  The influence of the pandemic

── I'd like to change the subject. In the past year, as I’ve had interactions with various manga artists, I've witnessed the impact of the pandemic in the writing process and the mental health of manga artists in general. Have there been any changes for you?

Nagabe: Due to the pandemic, of course, I thought about things like my daily life, how to go out, and how to enforce hygiene. But if I speak of The Girl from the Other Side, I feel that its world has gotten closer to our reality. In the story, there’s a curse, and one character would say “it’s safe to stay close to non-humans from the Outside as long as you take proper precautions” while another would say “we should eliminate the cause if nobody can take responsibility”, and they keep arguing. They are both right, and that is why there is friction. I think our feelings and societal reactions toward COVID-19 is very similar to that of The Girl from the Other Side.

Yamazaki: My assistant has been working from far away since before the pandemic, so our work itself hasn’t really been affected at all. But the fact that I can’t go out to gather information and materials for my work has put a damper on my mood. I can feel the significant influence on my work speed, physical condition, and mental health. I’ve always thought I was an indoor person, but in the situation where I am restricted to go out, it’s making me want to do so even more.

── I really understand. There are many people around me saying that they had thought they were indoor people but they got depressed when they couldn’t go outside for a long period of time. Along this topic, I have an impression that manga artists are more used to being at home than people with regular jobs, so you must have some useful tips on how to make it more enjoyable. Do you?

Nagabe: Leave it to me. After all, I am a professional at that.

── I’m counting on you (laughs).

Nagabe: In my case, I have three rooms: one is my workroom, one is my bedroom, and one is my living space, so I feel like I can make my home more comfortable just by not mixing up my personal and professional life. Also, it's exhausting to keep up 100% of my attention, so I think it's okay to cut corners where I can. I also wear pajamas except in my workspace. For me, it's important to keep my workspace clean and crisp and separate from my personal life. Otherwise, I think people should invest in hobbies. Yeah, I think so. Let's paint, everyone. Drawing is good. [To the reader] Why don't you draw pictures, too?

Yamazaki: Haha. I am an indoor person only when I have a lot of materials to read and work, so not being able to go out gives me a fair amount of stress. If I had to pick, I’d say looking at photo books, cooking, trying out musical instruments, or woodworking or something. Woodworking in particular is great because you can develop your concentration and you end up with a finished product in your hands. Just shaving the bark of a tree branch with a knife is fun, so I think it’s good to have a knife. It’s convenient.

  Questions to each other from their commitments to creation to the favorite features of non-humans

─ Since we are here to talk altogether, I would like to ask you to interview each other. First, Nagabe-san, could you please ask questions to Yamazaki-san?

Nagabe: I’d like to know your process of thinking out and what you are particular about in creating your stories. When I read The Ancient Magus’ Bride, the first thing that struck me was that Yamazaki-sensei uses motifs from Western mythology, fairies, and folklore, and then creates a human drama about how those characters confront each other and express their feelings. So I am wondering how you incorporate the elements that exist in fantasy into your own stories and characters.

Yamazaki: A human drama…… Can I call it a human drama? I'd be happy if I can!

Nagabe: I'm sure you can!

Yamazaki: To be honest, there are many parts where I’m not really sure how I’ve applied the concept of fantasy to the characters. When I'm thinking about a story, my brain starts going "This is it," "This person is that," or "That can be incorporated into this development,” and it often puts different pieces together like a puzzle.  On the other hand, when those things don't come out naturally, it's hard as hell to write a story (laughs). I usually read books on mythology and folklore, and I often have a stock of ideas that I can use in development. Perhaps it's because I don't think of fantasy as something that can't happen in reality, so I create a story where humans meet fantasy in an ordinary way. That's probably why I create the way I do. I feel that these things can happen right next to us, like the change of seasons.

Nagabe: Are there any techniques or theories that you consider in manga? For example, I'd like to know if there are any techniques that you use when drawing manga, such as creating a development every four pages or adjusting the number of frames.

Yamazaki: People have different opinions on this, but I try to include some funny parts here and there. I’ve had some people say they prefer for me to write seriously throughout weighty stories so that they won’t be distracted. But some say they enjoy those funny parts. Either way, I am enjoying drawing those scenes, so that’s the direction I’m going. Other than that, I only pay attention to the basics. Not too many frames, not too few, no more than three lines of dialogues because it’s hard to read, and wide horizontal lines for speech bubbles. When the bubbles are long in length, it's a problem when it’s translated into other languages.  

Nagabe: Oh, I see. I'm just curious, but you create manga, illustrations, and novels, and is there any new field you would like to work on?

Yamazaki: I'm mostly satisfied because I was able to get my hands on all three of those (laughs). I originally wanted to be a writer, but I found it overwhelmingly unsuitable, so I got serious about manga. If I don't have to think about what I’m suited for, writing picture books or game and anime scripts sound interesting.

Nagabe: Now, I'm going to assume that you like non-humans, but what are your favorite things about them? I want you to talk about it as much as you can.

Yamazaki: I don’t know if I’m qualified to talk about non-humans just because I like non-human characters, but personally, I think it’s their differences that attract me. Compared to humans, they look different, think differently, speak different languages, live in different ways, and have different cultures. But when you think about it, this all applies to humans, doesn’t it? If you are from different countries or even areas, all of the things I mentioned can be the differences among humans. I think I enjoy non-human characters because those differences are easier to see. The further away they are from humans and the more difficult it is to communicate with them, the more excited I get. But that also doesn’t mean that I like all non-humans just because. They need to have attractive inner qualities as well. I do love non-human characters, but the basic premise is that characters have to be attractive and stories have to be interesting!

  Nagabe: Yeah, I agree.

Yamazaki: Going back to the question, if I had to pick the best feature of non-humans, I would say that it's the fact that they seem to be able to understand humans, but can’t. Even when they are next to us and looking at the same things, what we see are different and we never understand each other’s point of view. I love the fact that we continue to be individuals who don’t intersect, don’t mix, and can’t be fixed into something. But even then, the human character and the non-human character stick around together! I love that concept!I love the fact that they seem to be attracted to each other but are not, and that they will forever remain different creatures. After all, the existence of humans is essential for non-humans because the premise of non-humans is that there are humans. Therefore, I don't get too excited when I don't know much about the non-human characters. If possible, I want to know their thoughts, tastes, words, and deeds of the being before liking them. Although, in some cases, I get really excited about characters based on their appearance only…. So, I guess it’s like an accident to find non-human characters I like.

Nagabe: Is that right? By the way, what do you think of cat ears? Do you like them or not? Is it a beast, a demi-human, or a non-human? Please tell me your opinion.

Yamazaki: There are many factors that I would personally consider, such as how the cat ears are attached, the facial structure, whether it has human ears in addition to cat ears, its lifestyle, and whether it seems to think like a beast rather than a human. Whether there are any features other than the cat ears that differ from humans is probably the main question. Personally, I don't think that a human with only cat ears can be considered a non-human, but in some cases, it can be, so it really depends on the character.

Nagabe: I see.

Yamazaki: For example, if the lifestyle is that of a feral cat or feline, it is a beast, if the lifestyle is culturally different from that of humans, it is a demi-human, and if the lifestyle is clearly different from that of humans, it is non-human. I think it’s important to keep in mind that people will judge cat ears, or rather animal ears, differently depending on who they are. I believe in freedom of what people think, each individual is wonderful, and you can step away from things you disagree with.

Nagabe: Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Lastly, I like non-humans so much that I draw them all the time, but I can’t find the appeal of human features. I don’t find it interesting to draw humans, so please help me.

Yamazaki: What? I'm not very good at drawing humans either! (laughs)

Nagabe: (laughs).

Yamazaki: To be honest, I feel that I’m not very good at drawing in general, but appeal… appeal…. I personally get motivated when I feel I’ve drawn something well, so I draw the features I like with my own fetishism in full swing. Eyes, hair, waistline, and facial expressions. That’s about it, I guess. So when I get into a slump, I am stuck there for a long time.  

── Now it’s time for Yamazaki-san to ask Nagabe-san questions.

Yamazaki: I've heard that you draw very quickly, but do you have any weaknesses or strengths in terms of creating a storyboard, plotting, drafting, or line drawing?

Nagabe: I don’t like creating a storyboard and plotting. I get bored easily so I don’t like to spend too much time creating one thing. If I think too much, I don’t make any progress, and as a result, my focus shifts to other things. Creating a storyboard requires an awareness of the direction and progression of the story as well as its intentions. I’m not accustomed to these very well and I can’t supplement these with just my drawing ability. 

Yamazaki: I also have a hard time with storyboards, so I understand. Are there any particular things that you can’t compromise in your work?

Nagabe: It's the composition of the picture. I like to deliberately draw blank spaces, and I think adding meaning to the empty spaces and adding emotion to the positions of the characters is an expression that is possible only in the framed world of manga, so I'm very particular about that.  

Yamazaki: Thank you very much. Now, do you have any activities or something that you do when you just can't bring yourself to work?

Nagabe: At first, I would draw the easy parts. For example, I start with tasks that I think will be easy, such as drawing only one frame, drawing only persons, or drawing only speech bubbles. I don't know if it makes sense, but I think motivation comes after I begin the work, so I try to start with easy tasks to get the engine going.

Yamazaki: I see. This is the same question you asked me earlier, but I would also like to know what Nagabe-san’s favorite features about non-humans are.

Nagabe:  Okay, you sure you have enough time to talk about it?

Yamazaki: (laughs).

Nagabe: First of all, I like the way they look. Sometimes they are human skeletons, sometimes they are four-legged, and they are just distorted and diverse. The visuals are beyond imagination, like a living creature or a sculpture, and I like the eeriness of it. Next is regarding common sense. For example, they may eat pet animals as food, and the pets just accept that they will be eaten. Is this similar to the Cambyses Lottery (Fujiko F. Fujio)? What is considered common sense in one country is considered heretical in another. I love the interaction created by these cultural differences.

Yamazaki: Yeah.

Nagabe: The other thing is their life expectancy. It doesn't matter if it's a long life or a short life. At the moment you are born, it’s decided that you will not live the same amount of time as others and I like the impermanence of it. I want to create a new feeling of discomfort that has never existed before through this concept. There's no end to what I want to say, but I think I put a lot of emphasis on appearance and external characteristics. It's like the characteristics of animal features, and I hope those shapes have meanings.

Yamazaki: I've always thought that you are so good at depicting the interaction between humans and non-humans who don't have control over human language.

Nagabe: Thank you!

Yamazaki: Regardless of whether you draw them or not, which do you prefer, the ones who can control human language or the ones who can't?

Nagabe: I think both are good. If they use words, they can at least communicate instantly, and if they don't, I can create drama through their trial and error process of interacting. But for a story, I think I like the ones that don't use words because it gives them a stronger sense of foreignness and makes it easier to depict the difference between humans and non-humans.

Yamazaki: So, do you have a favorite genre for a non-human with animal features?

Nagabe: All... of them?

Yamazaki: (laughs). Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles and amphibians, marine mammals, insects, etc. These are not animals, but robots and androids would be fine as well.

Nagabe: Anything is fine as long as it's not a human.

Yamazaki: (laughs).

── I can feel Nagabe-san’s love for non-humans (laughs). Lastly, please share a message to the readers who are supporting your work.

Nagabe: Thank you for reading. In my works, I try to eliminate or omit explanations and dialogues as much as possible, so there may be many places where you may wonder what's going on. I've tried to leave room for your imagination, so I hope you'll enjoy the intentional blanks!

Yamazaki: Thank you so much for your support. It's a story that has lots of twists, but there's always something beyond that. I hope you will enjoy it. Thank you for your continued support!

      By: Guest Author

Mythological references in 'Chariots of War', part 1

In this episode Xena and Gabrielle face the warlord Cycnus and, you guessed it, some war chariots.

There are a few different men in Greek Mythology each with their own myth. The one that this episode is based on is Cycnus, the son of Ares and Pelopia or Pyrene. He was a warrior/bandit who challenge anyone he met on the road to a chariot race. Each time he defeated his challenger, he killed them and removed their heads so he could use the skulls to build a temple dedicated to his father, the god of war, Ares.

One of the earliest versions of this myth is found in ‘The Shield of Heracles’ which is credited to the poet Hesiod. Hesiod is one of the earliest Greek poets, though the exact date of his life is debated, it is generally believed to be somewhere around 750 and 650 BC.

The poem features the origins of Heracles before moving onto the confrontation between the hero and Cycnus. Hesiod begins the encounter with both sides preparing for battle alongside their drivers, filled with the desire to claim the prize of their foes armour. Claiming the armour of your fallen foes bestowed much prestige to the victor. Descriptions of the arms and armour heroes carried into battle features at the centre of many ancient works such as this. The description of Heracles’ highly decorative shield is the focal point of Hesiod’s work, hence its title.

Heroes are often depicted in myth riding into battle on chariots assisted by a companion who would act as a driver. Once the hero found an opponent he would disembark and engage the enemy on foot in one-on-one combat. Examples of this are found throughout ancient epics like Homer’s ‘The Illiad’. Hesiod includes the same with both warriors riding into battle with help. Heracles is aided by Iolau,s who acts as his driver, while Cycnus is accompanied by his father Ares.

After an initial clash with their chariots during which Heracles attempts to persuade Cycnus to stand down and let him pass, they both jump down from their chariots and engage in combat.

‘Then it was that from their well-woven cars they both leaped straight to the ground, the son of Zeus and the son of the Lord of War.’ - Hesiod

Cycnus is no match for Heracles and he is slain by the hero. Upon seeing the death of his son, Ares becomes enraged and seeks to avenge him. He rushes to attack Heracles who stands firm and unafraid of the god of War. Athene tries to intervene and get Ares to back off but he continues his attack. Unafraid, Heracles wounds the god, striking Ares in his thigh, forcing him to return to Olympus.

Athene, Heracles, Zeus, Cycnus and Ares. Attic black-figured amphora, ca. 550/30 BC. From Kameiros in Rhodes. Photographer/Source Jastrow (2006)

In some versions of the myth, Heracles encountered Cycnus during his famous labours. Cycnus challenges the hero and prevents him from continuing his quest. Again, Cycnus is defeated and Ares in his grief stands off against Heracles except it is Zeus that intervenes and breaks up their duel with his thunderbolt.

‘So Heracles proceeded on his way, until he arrived at the River Echedoros, where Cycnos, the son of Ares and Pyrene, challenged him to single combat […] to avenge him, Ares too engaged him in single combat, but a thunderbolt was hurled between the two combatants, bringing the fight to an end’- Apollodorus

Zeus tries to part Cycnus and Heracles Attic black-figured amphora, ca. 545/30 BC. Photographer/Source Jastrow (2006)

After reading the myth of Cycnus you may be wondering why they based a Xena: Warrior Princess episode on a myth regarding one of Heracles’ adventures. The Xena Warrior Podcast gives us the answer in episode 01 of their podcast. In it they review the episode and discuss in depth various elements including the origins of the story. They mention that it was originally penned as and episode for Xena’s parent show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys which is based on the adventures of the Greek hero Heracles (though they use his Roman name Hercules). Reading Hesiod’s version of the myth it you can see how easily the story can be adapted into an episode of Hercules as not only is the character of Iolaus featured helping the hero, but there is also the rivalry between Hercules and Ares.

I really recommend listening to the podcast as they raise some interesting points about how this effects the story. This being originally a Hercules idea confirms that the myth this episode is referencing is that of Cycnus, son of Ares.

One of the major differences, aside from Xena, is that Cycnus is not a demi-god in the episode. Unlike his mythic counterpart he is portrayed as a warlord praying on a simple village. This decision could be based on the writers trying to differentiate this show from its ‘big brother’, focusing more on the human element rather than the divine. Yet they still include a strong link to the God of War without including him as a physical character.

Cycnus in the episode is a warlord totally dedicated to Ares. In the character’s introductory scene with his son Sphareus references to Ares dominate the dialogue.

Sphaerus: “Hello, Father.”

Cycnus: “You’re growing more powerful, my son. Ares will be pleased.”

Sphaerus: “My warrior education is complete. I am ready to take your place.”

Cycnus: [Laughs] “Nah-- there’s still something missing-- the desire to kill.”

Sphaerus: “You’re wrong. Today, I killed a great warrior in the belly.”

Cycnus: “Who?”

Sphaerus: “She fell before I could ask her name.”

Cycnus: “A woman, ha-ha! You think that would impress the god of war?”

Cycnus straight away comes across as an overbearing father who has a deep devotion for his chosen God. Though Ares is not shown to be the father of Cycnus, there is still a fatherly connection in the way Cycnus uses the god to parent his own child. Here he doesn’t talk to his son directly in regard to his fatherly opinion of what Sphaerus has achieved, instead Cycnus passes Ares’ judgement. The line ‘You think that would impress the god of war?’ can easily translate as ‘do you think that would impress me, your father?’. The allusion of Ares as a fatherly figure is continued later when Cycnus orders his son to kill the villagers.

Cycnus: “And kill them all-- Make me proud of you, my son. Make Ares proud, huh? Make sure he kills them all.”

By referencing the god as a paternal influence, he becomes a second fatherly figure to Spheraus and alludes to the original myth of Ares helping his son Cycnus.

The relationship between the warlord and his son is one of main storylines of this episode. This maybe due to the original myth and this episode initially being planned as a Hercules episode. The character of Cycnus could easily have been Ares himself. Like Ares, he is trying to aid his son in combat by instructing him on the ways of war and inspiring Sphaerus’ blood lust. He also shares elements of the god’s temperament in response to the death of his elder son, Stentor. In hearing that it was Xena that interrupted the meeting, he storms off seeking vengeance against the Warrior Princess and to avenge the murder of his son much like the mythic Ares reacts at the death of his son Cycnus.

Perhaps the earlier Hercules idea had Cycnus instead of Sphaerus as the reluctant son, and Ares as the overbearing father. If you change the characters the plot still works and would tie in closer with the original myth with Cycnus seeking to impress his father and Ares defeated being defeated by Hercules. This plot would also have Hercules reform Cycnus instead of kill him which nicely modifies the myth to fit with the series’ overall themes.

Returning to Xena’s Cycnus he continues to bring up Ares in this opening dialogue with his son. He also gives us an alternative connection between the god of war and the warlord when he challenges Sphaerus.

Sphaerus: “But she was a--”

Cycnus: “The honor of keeping Ares’ horses falls to the mightiest warrior. He will not choose you merely because you’re my son. You must _prove_ yourself worthy.”

This line suggests that Cycnus has been given the task of looking after Ares’ horses which connects with the work of Hesiod. The writer uses the epithet ‘horse-taming’ (Shield of Heracles, 344) to describe Cycnus just as he drives his chariot towards Heracles. The writer also mentions the horses of Ares being depicted on the decorated shield of Heracles.

‘And on the shield stood the fleet-footed horses of grim Ares made of Gold, and deadly Ares the spoil-winner himself.’ Hesiod 191-193

The line in the episode could be a literal interpretation of these mythic elements in order build up Cycnus’ warlord character without making him a demi-god. It is possible that Cycnus is being literal here, that he has been entrusted with Ares’ horses, although more it is more likely that he has been intrusted with an army by Ares as one of his chosen warlords. This comes up throughout the series with Ares offering command to other warlords and most importantly tries to win back Xena to lead his army. As a side point, It is interesting to note that a few episodes later in ‘The Reckoning’ Ares will make his first appearance physically in either series, played by the wonderful Kevin Smith, and attempts to lure Xena back to her warlord ways. (Maybe Ares was trying to fill the vacancy caused by Cycnus’ death though this is just a wandering thought.)

Though Cycnus in Xena does not build a temple to his father from his defeated enemies, he does share his bloodthirsty nature in honouring the god of war. Later in the episode he is frustrated by his son’s inability to wipe out the villagers.

Sphaerus: “I am.”

Cycnus: “Yeah, why haven’t you conquered this valley yet? These farmers dishonor the god of war with their peaceful ways. Strike them down. If your brother Stentor were alive--”

These villagers are refugees from Troy (yup the one famous for the Wooden horse, I’ll cover the myths surrounding the Trojan War in another post). We learn later when the village leader Tynus confronts Darius about his decision to care for the injured Xena that they have taken a vow of peace.

Tynus: “We have to talk. Why is that woman still here? She’s not one of us, Darius. She fights. You’ve seen that with your own eyes. Her kind make enemies. She’ll have to leave your home.”

Darius: “No, she saved my son. She’s a guest in my home until she’s well.”

Tynus: “There’s talk, Darius. Your house has been without a woman for a long time. But, but this is not the answer. By keeping her here, you break your oath.”

Darius: “What oath have I broken, Tynus?”

Tynus: “To live only for peace.”

Darius: “To care for a wounded woman is not an act of war.”

Tynus: “She lied to you. Other people have heard of this woman. She’s no warrior. She’s a murderer, a killer.”

Darius: “As soon as she’s able to ride, she’ll leave.”

Tynus: “Good. You know, I hope, for your sake, she recovers quickly.”

Tynus is fearful of Xena not just because of her reputation but because she physically represents the violence that they have fled. Refusing to help her is symbolic of their rejection of anything related to violence and the elements related to Ares in his role as the God of war. It is this rejection which Cycnus sees as being dishonourable to the God of War and believes that shedding their blood will restore it, much like the mythic Cycnus uses the skulls of his enemies to build a temple to honour his father.

They also dishonour Ares by challenging the aspects of war in other, peaceful ways which is reflected in Darius’ treatment of Xena. Her armour is one way that she symbolizes violence and warfare. Feeling that her outfit would be inappropriate to wear to the peace meeting, he asks her instead to wear one of his wife’s dresses. The dress gives her the appearance of a peaceful village woman, quite possibly what she would have become if she had not picked up a sword (We see this possibility in Season Two’s ‘Remember Nothing’). She is therefore symbolically leaving behind the elements of the warrior to don the peaceful role as village wife, taking her another step away from Ares’ realm of war. Also, by asking her to change her appearance Darius is trying to maintain physical peace not only between the villagers and Cycnus’ men by removing her threating appearance, but also is trying to keep the figurative peace between Xena and the other villagers who are intimidated by what she represents.

There is a few other points you can make about the symbolism of the dress though as they don’t directly connect to the mythology of the episode I’ll put them aside for another post dedicated to that topic. The mythological references of this episode will continue in part two. Thanks again for reading!

Sources:

Hesiod, The Shield of Heracles

Apollodorus, The Library

Vase photos: Taken from Hellenicaworld.com

Episode transcript: Woosh.org

Screencaptures: Made by myself

Season 1, Episode 2: Second Chance at First Line (Part Two)

Hey there beautiful reader! If you’re new here, this is a series I’m writing where each chapter is an episode from the first season of Teen Wolf. If you’ve been here before, hey! I missed you! Previous and future chapters are linked at the end of each part if you want to catch up.

Pairing: Stiles x Psychic! Reader (eventually)

P.S. Stiles and Scott are really bad at keeping secrets and Jackson is a suspicious asshole.

                                                     -----------------

I stared down at my algebra homework, the numbers blurring together until I couldn’t read them anymore. I blinked a few times in an effort to clear my vision. My head was killing me. I groaned and slammed my pencil down onto the desk in front of me. I’d been working on this for almost an hour now, but I couldn’t quiet my mind. It was already dark outside and I wasn’t even close to being done.

Every time I closed my eyes, gruesome images flashed behind them. Scott and Stiles walking through the forest with shovels, half a body buried in the earth, mangled animals.

I rubbed at my temples and let my head fall down onto the textbook in front of me. As I rested for a moment, I felt myself becoming faint. My eyes fluttered open and black dots floated around my bedroom. I cursed myself for fighting it this long. I knew that always made it worse.

All I could do was whimper as my limbs grew weaker. My eyes rolled back involuntarily and my phone clattered onto the hardwood floor. After that, everything went dark.

I woke to the sound of voices. I was laying on my side, one arm outstretched above my head while the other lay against my stomach. I pried my heavy eyelids open and the whole world tilted. My stomach churned painfully as a wave of nausea crashed over me. It felt like I’d just been hit by a semi-truck. My muscles protested as I forced myself up off the cold ground.

Wait. Cold...ground...

Shit. I was back in the forest. Why did it always have to be the forest? I couldn’t sleepwalk to one of my friends houses or something? My head was no longer pounding, so I knew I was in the place it wanted me to be. Why, though, I had no idea.

“What if he comes back?” It was Scott’s voice that drifted toward me with the wind.

Judging by the volume, he couldn’t be far.

“I have a plan for that.” Stiles responded, sounding slightly out of breath.

I wiggled my fingers as I waited for my body to regain it’s strength. It always took a minute or so after an episode.

“Which is?” Scott was gasping gently too.

Once I felt confident that I wouldn’t face plant, I used a nearby tree to help me get to my feet. I took a few slow steps forward to test myself. Satisfied that I was mostly back to normal, I headed in their direction. Goosebumps erupted on my skin as a soft breeze brushed against me. Once again, I was only wearing a t-shirt and it was freezing out here.

“You run one way, I run the other. Whoever he catches first...too bad.”

I climbed up a small hill and saw Scott and Stiles kneeling before a large hole in the ground. Two shovels lay discarded on the dirt beside them. I swallowed thickly. So, that part of my vision had already happened.

“I hate that plan!”

I didn’t want to waste anymore time. They might think I’m a psycho for sneaking up on them, but I had to find out why they were so hellbent on solving a murder case. I knew my mind wouldn’t let me rest until I figured it out. And I wanted to get home, so I needed to act fast. Within seconds I was standing on the other side of the hole they’d obviously just dug.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” I crossed my arms to maintain some of my body heat as I started shivering.

“Gah!” Stiles jumped aggressively at my voice and fell face first into the hole.

I winced and peered inside to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.

“Y/N? How-how did you find us?” Scott bolted to his feet and looked at me with wide, nervous eyes.

I was honestly surprised he knew my name. I’d been around him plenty of times with Allison, but never really talked to him directly until now.

“That’s...” I hesitated. It wasn’t like I could tell them what actually happened. “Not important. What are you doing?”

“Why are you everywhere?” Stiles popped back up like a whack-o-mole and braced his hands on the dirt edge of the hole.

“What?” I asked dumbly, my own eyes widening.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you spying on us all week.” He wagged a finger at me like a disgruntled father.

My cheeks grew hot under the accusation. I really didn’t want them to think I was some weirdo stalker. I tried to keep the rising defensiveness out of my voice. “It’s not my fault you two talk about halved bodies and animal bites in public.”

“You heard that?” Stiles dropped his hand, his eyes twitching slightly.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “It was kind of hard not to. You really think Derek killed that girl?”

Scott took a step toward me with a hand outstretched. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to intimidate me or reassure me with that gesture. Either way, he looked close to a panic attack.

“Y/N, you can’t be here. You need to go home.” His brown eyes were boring into mine, practically begging me to listen.

I frowned. I did not take orders from anyone but my mother, occasionally. I closed the distance between us with a few long strides.

“Not until I get some answers. I’d like to know if I accepted a ride from a murderer. Why are you two so interested, anyway? And talking about scents and bite marks?”

“Oh, God.” Scott instantly started spiraling. He backed away from me and shoved his hands through his hair. He was muttering something to himself that I couldn’t make out.

“Uh...guys.” Stiles’ shaky voice fluttered up from the hole he was still standing in. I moved my attention from Scott’s freak out to see what he wanted.

I looked inside and let out a loud shriek at the sight before me. One lifeless eye stared up toward the sky, attached to the upper body of a wolf. A very much dead wolf. That was cut in half. Bile rose up my throat and I gagged, staggering away from it.

Stiles pulled himself out of the hole and Scott ran to my other side.

“What the hell is that?” He yelled, still freaking out but probably because of the corpse in front of us now.

“It’s a wolf.” I deadpanned, still staring at it. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the gruesome sight.

“Yeah, we can see that.” Stiles sent a glare my way and leaned over me to look at Scott. “I thought you said you smelled blood. Like human blood.”

Did he just say...?

Scott took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I told you something was different.”

I looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Stiles threw a hand up in frustration.

“We gotta get out of here.” Scott just shook his head and picked up one of the shovels from the ground.

“Yeah. Okay. Help me cover it up.” Stiles grabbed the other shovel and was about to stick it into the loose dirt when something caught his eye.

My heart started pounding with uncertainty. What if it was Derek coming back? If he saw us on his property and he actually was a murderer, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to add three more bodies to this grave.

“What’s wrong?” I breathed, unable to wait any longer for him to tell us what he was seeing.

“You see that flower?” He pointed somewhere in front of us.

True to his word, there was a single flower sticking up from the ground a few feet away. There were a few small green leaves at its base, and light purple pedals that formed an almost perfect cylinder at the top.

“What about it?” Scott sounded annoyed that he was stalling the clean up process.

“I think it’s wolfsbane.” Stiles was still staring at the flower with wide eyes.

Wolfsbane? Like the plant from werewolf mythology? There was no way that could be a real thing.

“What’s that?” I let out a sigh of relief when Scott asked the question, glad I wasn’t the only one confused right now.

Stiles’ brows rose and his lips parted in scrutiny as he gave Scott a long look. “Haven’t you ever seen The Wolfman? Lon Chaney Jr? Claude Rains?”

He shook his head. Stiles’ eyes snapped to mine. “The original classic werewolf movie?”

“Of course I’ve seen it.” I admitted. I’d always loved old films, and I actually had to watch that one for a class at one of my old schools.

Stiles sighed and closed his eyes for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Scott. “You’re so unprepared for this.”

My mind was racing with questions. The way they were talking...it was as if something else was going on with all of this. Something other than human. I’d already heard Scott talking about smelling and hearing things he shouldn’t be able to...

Was he...?

Stiles plucked the flower from the ground, a big clump of dirt coming with it. That’s not all that emerged from the ground, though. A piece of rope was seemingly attached to the roots. He looked back at us in question and both Scott and I shrugged.

He pulled on the rope and followed along the path it was creating in the dirt. It became clear almost instantly that it had been buried all the way around the grave, in a huge spiral. Stiles continued walking until the entire length of rope was wrapped around his hands. I heard a soft gasp from beside me and watched as Scott stood to his feet slowly.

“Stiles.” He muttered, staring right into the grave with a horrified glint in his eyes.

I looked down and yelped, nearly shitting myself at the transformation that had happened. The severed upper body of a woman was now lying where the wolf had just been. Stiles joined us quickly.

“Oh, whoa.” He stumbled back at the sight.

The three of us stared down into the hole in stunned silence for a few long moments. I took a step backward to put some distance between myself and the body. This was all too much. What I just witnessed is not possible. It shouldn’t be possible. But it had happened right before my eyes. Wolves don’t just turn into people.

I wrapped my arms around myself tighter, feeling my entire body start to tremble. I didn’t know whether it was from the cold or the events of the last few minutes.

“Y/N?” Stiles suddenly called out as he noticed that I was retreating.

At this point, I wasn’t sure if either of the boys in front of me were entirely human. There had to be some kind of supernatural shit going on here, and I wanted no part of it. I just moved. I couldn’t let us be forced out of another town already.

“I—I’m gonna...I have to...” My teeth were chattering now and my words kept getting all jumbled up. 

“We can explain.” Scott went back to having a major freak out. “All of it.” 

I didn’t really want him to, to be honest. I’d seen enough to know that I didn’t want to be involved anymore. I just hoped my mind would be satisfied at this point and not force my hand again. I couldn’t help it if I just kept showing up places, but at least while conscious, I would be keeping my distance from now on. 

My shoulders tensed as I felt something heavy wrap around me. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t even noticed Stiles walking toward me and offering his jacket. My muscles instantly relaxed under the comforting warmth and I sighed tiredly. Even if I wanted to get away from them, I wasn’t about to turn away a coat right now. 

And, God, it smelled good. 

I sent him a small, grateful smile and his eyes flickered around my face quickly as if checking for signs of insanity. 

“I’ll drive you home.” I sighed in relief that he’d somehow read my mind and nodded. My shaky hands pulled his jacket tighter around my torso as I followed the two of them toward a trailhead. 

I chewed on my lip nervously as I sat in the back of Stiles’ blue Jeep. He and Scott had been throwing ideas around about wolfsbane and it’s uses since we pulled out of Beacon Hills Preserve, but I hadn’t said a word. I was still trying to process everything I just saw while coming up with a plan to avoid these two for the rest of my life. 

“Maybe it’s a special skill, like something you have to learn.” My attention snapped back to the front of the car with Stiles’ words and I realized I had no idea what they were talking about. 

“I’ll put it on my to-do list. I already need to figure out how the hell I’m playing this game tonight.” Scott barked back, seeming a little breathless. I leaned forward a bit and watched as he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. 

“Maybe it’s different for girl werewol...” Stiles let his last word trail off. His head jutted forward and he rolled his lips inward as he visibly cringed. 

A heavy silence filled the car. His eyes fluttered and snapped to mine in the rear view mirror. My jaw was slack as I stared right back. Did he just...was he going to...

“Stiles, finish that thought.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I tried to ignore the fluttering in my stomach as I said his name aloud for the first time. 

He hesitated, chewing on his lips in thought. He looked between Scott and I. Back and forth. I saw Scott shake his head minutely and clenched my jaw shut. If they didn’t tell me what the hell was going on soon, I couldn’t be held accountable for my irresponsible actions. Like jumping out of a moving vehicle. 

“I...I was going to say...” I started taking off his jacket as he tried to think of a believable lie. 

Yeah, I was done. The second we slowed down enough I would be removing myself from this situation and never speaking to them again. 

“Stop that!” Scott suddenly yelled and gripped his hair, so I froze with one arm free. 

“Stop what?” Stiles’ fingers tensed on the steering wheel as his head snapped to the right. 

“Talking!” He was breathing heavily now and clutching his hands into fists. I pressed my back into the seat behind me, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. 

“Are you okay?” Dumb question, Stiles. He was clearly very much not okay. 

He began hyperventilating and pulling at his seatbelt. “No! No, I’m not okay! I am so far from being okay!”

Good God. I’m going to die. 

“You know, you’re going to have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or later.” Stiles’ spoke with that parental tone again and all I could think was that this was so not the time for a lecture. 

“I can’t!” Scott’s voice was thicker now, more guttural. I pushed myself against the door to my left and gripped the handle. 

“Well you’re gonna have to!” Stiles was yelling now too, only making the situation worse. 

“No, I can’t breathe.” Scott slammed one of his hands into the roof of the Jeep with a loud groan and I yelped in surprise. I covered my mouth and froze in fear. My heart was racing in my chest. He was really freaking out, to the point of potential violence. A small car was not the place to be with someone like that.

Suddenly, jumping out seemed like a really good idea. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Stiles swerved to the left and I lost my hold on the door handle. My shoulder slammed into the plush cushion beside me and the seatbelt dug painfully into my hips. 

“Pull over.” Scott demanded, breathing heavily. He hunched over and groaned again. 

“Why? What’s happening?” Stiles was watching him carefully instead of focusing on the road. 

“Oh my God, Stiles! Just do it!” I shrieked, wanting nothing more than to get away from them both. 

Just then, Scott peered into the duffle bag resting on the center console between them and...growled? 

“You kept it?!” His voice was deeper than I had ever heard it and raw with emotion. Anger, mostly. But there were traces of anxiety and fear too. 

“What was I supposed to do with it?” Stiles’ voice cracked with panic as he continued to race on down the road. 

Scott moaned loudly. It sounded like he was in agony. He lowered his head to his chest before snapping it back up quickly. I gasped in shock and scrambled as far backward as I could at the sight of his face. Here eyes were no longer their normal brown, but now looked more like fireflies as they glowed a bright yellow. His canines elongated into pointy spikes. 

“Stop the car!” The metal cage around us shook with his intense scream. 

All I could do was stare at him with wide eyes as Stiles’ skidded to a violent stop in the middle of the road. Thankfully, no one was coming at the moment. He immediately jumped out of the driver’s seat, taking the duffle bag with him. He chucked it over a nearby hill as hard as he could, and it disappeared instantly between the trees. 

“Okay, we’re good.” He called before walking back to the car. 

I hesitantly let my eyes trail back to the passenger seat. I had no idea what I would see sitting there. Would it be Scott? Or some kind of monster?

“Oh, no...” Stiles muttered, noticing at the same time as me that he was gone. 

I tried to catch my breath as I unbuckled myself and fell out of the Jeep. At once, I was both relieved that he was gone and worried about him. The chilly night air helped shock me back into reality. That really just happened. 

“Werewolf.” I whispered, breathless. My eyes met Stiles’, which were practically bulging out of his head at my declaration. “You were going to say werewolf.” 

                                                 ------------------

I watched a cloud of condensed air gather in front of my lips as I exhaled and shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat. It was way colder than I’d expected. Part of me wished I’d taken Allison’s advice and worn a scarf. 

“What do you think she’s saying to him?” She asked from beside me, watching Lydia invade Scott’s personal space on the field. 

I had no idea, and I didn't really care. I had so many other things to worry about. Like the fact that he’s a fucking werewolf and we just discovered half of a dead body on Derek Hale’s property a couple hours ago. 

I just shook my head. “I don’t know, probably bribing him to pass to Jackson.”

After losing Scott, Stiles drove me the rest of the way home. He’d practically threatened me when informing me that I couldn’t tell a single soul what happened tonight. I caught him looking up at me from the bench and swallowed nervously. I really wanted to tell Allison. She was practically dating him, for God’s sake. She deserved to know.

I still had no idea where Scott had gone. Either way, he was here at the lacrosse team’s first game. Something in my gut told me that he shouldn’t be here. That it was a terrible idea and bad things were going to happen. 

Lydia joined us in the stands, looking smug. Allison asked her what she’d been talking to Scott about, and she played coy. I kept my eyes trained forward. I just had such a bad feeling. 

The game started out slow for Beacon Hills. We were currently behind a few points, and time was almost up. I noticed that Scott and Jackson kept ramming into each other and intentionally keeping the ball out of the other’s hands. It probably had something to do with the way Jackson had threatened Scott about his alleged drug use in the hallway.

Suddenly, Scott got good. Really good. He was catching the ball left and right, and making every goal. The stands were erupting in cheers at each successful goal he made, but I was watching him closely. He seemed agitated. He was breathing heavily and hunching over every few seconds. I glanced down at Stiles and saw that he was chewing on one of his gloves nervously. 

“That’s it, Jackson! Get fired up!” The coach yelled excitedly from the sidelines. 

“Here, help me with this.” Lydia pulled a sign out of seemingly nowhere and grabbed mine and Allison’s hands.

I stood up and peered around to see what it said. In big bubble letters it read, “We Luv U Jackson!”

As if sensing it, Scott’s head snapped in our direction. Stiles whipped around and cringed before turning back to the field. I watched Scott’s shoulders heave as he took long, labored breaths. He was about to shift, I could feel it. Any minute now, the entire school would know that he’s a werewolf.

He caught a pass and practically jumped over another players shoulders. My lips parted in surprise. That was actually kind of badass. He weaved past every player that tried getting in his way and somehow scared them enough to start passing directly to him. 

Then, he threw a ball so hard that it broke through our opponents goalie net. 

The crowd exploded with pride, but I was frozen. That is not good. There was no way a normal person would be able to do something like that. He was going to get himself caught. 

Time was running out. There were only six seconds left on the clock. Scott managed to score the winning goal and everyone, including Stiles, cheered happily. I watched as Scott threw one of his gloves off and gasped at the sight of brown claws at the tips of his fingers. The people around me started ambushing to field to celebrate. I quickly lost sight of Allison and Lydia. 

I managed to see Scott bolting toward the locker rooms through the dense crowd. Stiles seemed to notice too and went chasing after him. I wanted to help, but I knew I couldn’t just run into the boy’s locker room. I would have to trust that they could handle it. 

I turned to walk down to the field, but stopped when I caught sight of Jackson holding Scott’s discarded glove. My eyes widened as I watched him inspect it. He was paying close attention to the ends of each finger, where claws had poked through. He looked around, probably trying to find Scott. 

This is so, so not good.

Episode 2, Part One      Episode 3

Wait, are people still arguing about whether Tseng and Tifa are Wutai?

Guys, it's an anime, the characters look like whatever the game developers want them to look like, regardless if they fit their environment or not. Other than Yuffie and her village, the game is not asking you to think too hard about the ethnicities of the characters.

But it is fun to speculate.

Some things are pretty straight forward, like how Nibelheim (and Gaia by extension) has a lot of Norse mythology surrounding it, so Cloud being Nordic/Germanic makes a lot of sense. Midgar also has a lot of references to Norse Mythology, but the city itself feels very American, and the Shinra family consists of pale blue-eyed blondes, so either headcanon works.

Aerith has a longer face than Tifa and dominant western facial features. The Cetra are a race of nomadic people, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the game developers took a lot of inspiration from the Romani people when designing Ifalna and the Ancient's clothing. Or at the very least were inspired by real nomadic ethnic groups in the Northern European area (which might also include Sephiroth since the game developers kept both his and Aerith's original designs from when they were meant to be siblings. So there's another headcanon for you.)

Tseng has a tilak on his forehead so there must be a form of Hinduism in Wutai if we're gonna shove all the Asian countries into the most western part of Gaia. We know the Da-chao Statue in the game is based on Buddhism, and while Hinduism is not all Buddhism, Buddhism does form parts of the ethos which is essentially Hindu. So that checks out even if Tseng is never outright stated as being from Wutai or of Wutai descent.

All of that was pretty straight forward, but some areas get more complicated the more you try and fit everyone into this 1 to 1 parallel. Tifa being the most notable example. She has the most obvious Eastern design out of the entire cast, second only to Yuffie, with her round face and black hair greatly contrasting with Aerith's more Western character design. However, Tifa also comes from Nibelheim, just like Cloud, which we just established has heavy Nordic influences. So is she biracial or did her family move to the Central continent at some point? Both are valid headcanons. But then it gets even weirder when you also consider the fashion in Nibelheim, or at least what we see Tifa and her father wear, which is clearly meant to be from the old west...despite them living in the cold mountains and not a desert. Heck, we even see her open an Old Western-styled bar, so I have no idea what the game is trying to imply anymore. Is Tifa Eastern/European/American? A mixture of all these ethnic groups with her Asian(Wutai) genes being the most dominant? I don't know and it does not matter!

And then you get small things like Zack who comes from a village in the middle of the jungle despite being one of the palest characters in the game. Explain that one to me.

Barret is from Corel which is near the desert and has an old west theme so we can confirm he's most likely African-American, even though Corel is in the Central continent which has the most European influences while the East has a very American influence.

Genesis is based on a Japanese rock star, but comes from Banora which is literally on the other side of the map from Wutai, but he was sent there with his Foster parents, so he could still be from Wutai, but if he is then it's kinda weird to think about him being inspired to work for Shinra in the first place considering he fought in the Wutai War (try not to think too hard about GACKT being in a Final Fantasy game).

I'm not even gonna try and guess what Cid is meant to be since his entire aesthetic is SPACE (American/Russian?), and we don't talk about Reeve potentially being Scottish because Cait Sith's accent only exists in the English dub as a reference to the Gallic origins of the Cait Sith folklore, but it's still a fun headcanon to have if you like it).

Personally, when it comes to anime and JRPGS I work under the assumption EVERYONE is Japanese until the text says otherwise. I don't see Rufus as American and I don't see Cloud as Nordic. To me they are Japanese even if they don't look Japanese. That's just how my brain is hardwired to think when it comes to anime.

If you want to make the argument Tseng being of Wutai is problematic because it implies his people were on the losing side of a war and Tseng happily continued to work for the opposing side with the plot never once drawing attention to it, then that's a valid complaint. It's just hard to justify because the game literally shoved the whole of ASIA into this one tiny continent. Then again, Hinduism is a religion and not an ethnicity, so it is possible he took on the faith while still being from Midgar. I don't think that was the original intent, but you do you. Just don't be a racist asshole about it.

Hi Good Omens fans, ever since making this blog, and trawling through the archives for old art, I have been thinking again about trends from before the TV-show, and the way people draw Aziraphale and Crowley.  I wanted to make this post addressing it but this is not “discourse” or to start a fight, in fact I would be perfectly content if all I did was make people think critically about what I am about to say and not even interact with this post at all, but I feel like I need to say it.

Talking about any racist undertones to the way people draw our two favorite boys usually makes people dig their heels in pretty fast.  This is not a callout post for any artist in particular, this is not me trying to be overly critical of artists especially since they have more talent and skill than I do, and I’m going to address some common counterpoints that I frankly find unsatisfactory.  Let’s just take a moment to set aside our defensiveness and think objectively about these trends.  It took me a while to unlearn my dismissive attitude about these concerns so maybe I can help others get over that hurdle a little faster.  Now let’s begin.

I’ve been kicking around the Good Omens fandom since maybe 2015 and for art based in book canon, whether it was made before the TV show came out, or because the artist is consciously drawing different, original designs, I’m going to estimate that a decent 75% of all fanart looks like this

Aziraphale is white and blonde and blue-eyed while Crowley is the typical “racially ambiguous” brown skin tone it’s become so popular to draw podcast characters as nowadays.

And the question is why?  With the obvious answer being “it’s racist,” but let’s delve a little deeper than that.

A common thing I hear is that people get appearance headcanons fixed in their mind because the coverart of the book pictures the characters a certain way.  My first point is this only shifts the question to why the illustrators drew them that way, when there aren’t many physical descriptions in the book.  My second point is that while there definitely are cover arts that picture Aziraphale as cherubic, blonde, and white and Crowley as swarthy, dark-skinned, and racially ambiguous...

(side note: why is Crowley’s hand so tiny?  what the hell is going on in this cover?)

It’s much more common for the covers to simplified, stylized, and without any particular unambiguous skin tones

I don’t know about the UK but the most popular version in the United States is the dual black and white matching covers

And while you could make an argument that the shading on Crowley’s face could suggest a darker skintone, it seems obvious to me that lacking any color these are not supposed to suggest any particular race for either of these two, and the contrasting colors are a stylistic choice to emphasize how they are on opposite sides.  If anything, to me it suggests they are both white.

In short I simply do not buy the argument that people are drawing Aziraphale and Crowley this way because that’s how they were represented on the cover art of the book.  If you draw them the way they are on the cover then whatever, I don’t care, but I don’t believe that’s what’s driving this trend.

The second thing people will say is that Good Omens is a work of satire, and it’s based in Christian mythology which has this trend of depicting angels as white, and it is embodying the trope of a “white, cherubic angel” paired with a dark-skinned demon for the explicit purpose of subverting the trope of “white angel is good, dark demon is bad” since Aziraphale is not an unambiguous hero and Crowley is not a villain.  “It’s not actually like that because Crowley isn’t a bad demon, and Aziraphale isn’t actually a perfect angel” is the argument.  This has a certain logic to it and allows some nuance to the topic, but to this I say:

Uncritically reproducing a trope, even in the context of a satire novel, is not enough to subvert it.  Good Omens is not criticising the racist history of the church, and while the book does have some pointed jabs at white British culture (such as Madam Tracy conning gullible Brits with an unbelievably ignorant stereotype of a Native American) it is not being critical of the conception of angels as white and blonde or the literal demonization of non-white people.  That’s just not what the book is about.  So making the angel white and the demon dark-skinned, playing directly into harmful tropes and stereotypes, is not somehow subversive or counter-cultural when doing so doesn’t say anything about anything.

Please consider fully the ramifications of the conception of white and blonde people as innocent and cherubic and dark-skinned people as infernal and mischievous, especially in modern contexts...

Black people are more likely to be viewed as violent, angry, and dangerous.  Priming with a dark-skinned face makes people more likely to mistake a tool for a gun.  Black people are viewed as experiencing pain less intensely by medical professionals.  Black men are viewed as physically larger and more imposing than they actually are.  The subconscious racial bias favoring light skin is so ingrained it’s measurable by objective scientific studies, on top of the anecdotal evidence of things like news stories choosing flattering, “cherubic” pictures of white and blond criminals while using unflattering mugshots for non-white offenders.

This is why I say that if you’re going to invoke the “whites are angelic” trope, you better have a damn good subversion of it to justify it, because this idea causes real harm to real people in the real world.  And Aziraphale being a bit of a bastard despite being an angel, I just don’t see that as sufficient.  I am especially cautious of when it’s my fellow white fans that make this argument, not because I believe they do this out of any sort of malice or hatred of people with dark skin, but because I know first-hand it stems from a dismissiveness rooted in not wanting to think about it for too long because it makes us uncomfortable.  Non-white people do not have the luxury of not thinking about it, because it’s part of their life.

Now the strongest textual evidence people use, in the absence of much real descriptor, is this:

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong; Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort" 

This piece of art has circulated in the fandom for so long I don’t know the original artist and it’s been used for everything from fancovers to perfume.  This is where I found it and it’s one of the first things that come up when you google this quote about Aziraphale.  

Doesn’t it just feel like this is the man that’s describing, some blonde effeminate gay man?  Well guess what, there’s the “blonde as innocence” trope rearing its ugly head again, because the stereotype of gay men and effeminacy as being a white and blonde thing is--ding ding ding you guessed it--racism.  And why would intelligent suggest a white and blonde person, except if the stereotype of a dark-skinned person is less intelligent?

Now the point of “people assume Aziraphale is British” is another sticking point people will often use, claiming that the stereotype of a British person is white and blonde.  I guess this has some merit, since the British empire was one of the biggest forces behind white colonial expansion, and it seems disingenuous to assign “British” as “nonwhite” as soon as we’re being satirical, in the same way I found it distasteful that the TV show made God female when so many of the criticisms of the church are about its misogyny and lose their teeth as soon as God is no longer male.

However consider that 1.4 million Indian people live in the UK.  I heard a man say aloud once that the concept of a black person having a British accent was a little funny, as though Doctor Who doesn’t exist and have black people on it.  And I’m not overly familiar with the social landscape of the UK, but I understand they’re experiencing a xenophobia boom and non-white Brits aren’t considered “really British.”  The stereotype of non-white people not being British only exists because of reinforcement in media.  If you really want to be subversive, drawing Aziraphale as Indian goes way further than drawing him as white IMO.

Now let’s talk about Crowley.  He is almost always drawn with a darker skin tone than Aziraphale, even when they are both white, and while I’ve outlined above how this is problematic on terms of linking light skin with innocence, I think it does have an extra layer.  I think it also has to do with the exotification and fetishization of brown skin and non-white people.

This artist’s tumblr is gone now but their art is still on dA and while it’s definitely beautiful and well-done, I think this is a very good example of what I’m talking about.

Crowley and Aziraphale necessarily contrast each other, so describing Aziraphale as “British” might suggest that Crowley is “foreign-looking.”  I also know *ahem* that the fandom generally thirsts over Crowley to hell and back, so making him a swarthy, tall dark and handsome is not necessarily surprising.

An interesting thing happened when the TV show came out, and everyone started drawing Michael Sheen!Aziraphale and David Tennant!Crowley more and more often:  It’s not ubiquitous, but it does happen that sometimes artists will draw David Tennant’s skin darker than it actually is.  The subconscious urge to see Crowley with dark skin is for some reason that strong for many people.  And I really encourage people doing this to think about why.  Not naming any names but I’ve working with fanartists before for collabs who I had to ask to lighten “bad guy” demon’s skin tones because it looked like they were making the skin darker on purpose to make them look scarier.  This person is a perfectly pleasant person who tries not to be racist!  And we both still fell into it accidentally, and it took me a while to notice and point it out, because the ingrained stigmatization of darker skin is pervasive yet often goes unnoticed.

What is the solution?  I don’t know, and as a white person I’m not really qualified to make that call.  Do we draw them both with the exact same skin tone?  Is it better to make them both white?  Should we make both of them non-white?  Should we only make Aziraphale non-white?  I am consciously aware of the fact that the Good Omens fandom is mostly white people, so most of the art we make is being both made by and consumed by white people, so I don’t feel comfortable saying “draw these characters of color specifically” because that can also veer into fetishization territory very quickly.  This is not specific to good omens but I think we should pay attention to what fans of color say in all fandom spaces and weigh our choices even if they seem insignificant.  And it’s important to realize that fans of color will not be a monolith in their opinion either, and it’s our responsibility to recognize that everyone can be affected by racism and social issues differently, the same way all women are affected by misogyny differently so just because one woman says such as such is misogynistic and another says it’s not.  I’m sure there are non-white fans who think it’s perfectly fine to draw Aziraphale as white and Crowley as ambiguously non-white.  I’m not saying they’re wrong.  And I’m not saying you can’t reblog this kind of art, or that people who make or made it should feel bad about themselves.  But so often this sort of thing goes unaddressed just because people don’t like thinking about it, and well, avoiding hard questions never really goes well I think.

New Amazons

I had this idea of Amazonian warriors but with a little African twist on it. This idea/theory will be based on Oshira/Yoruba mythology. It’s also based on if gods/desses existed in the same universe (kinda) and will be mixed with dc version of this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so, to first create more Amazons you have to understand the original in Greek mythology.

Creation:

Basically the female goddesses wanted a race of champions who would live up to their ideals. Zeus was like no, Hera didn’t want to displease her husband (and other reasons to be discussed later), Ares doesn’t want anything to bring peace, and the other male gods were just like “nah”. So Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Demeter, and Aphrodite got to work. They went to the underworld, took the souls of women killed by men’s hatred and brought them to life with bodies of clay. Each goddess gave them a skill:

Artemis-Hunting Skills

Athena-Wisdom

Hestia-Warm Homes

Demeter-Plentiful Harvest

Aphrodite-Beauty Inside or Out

I’m other versions I’ve read they were daughters of Aries (???). I don’t know how true that is but I like the one I found.

Reproduction:

In some versions they have a mating ritual with a neighboring tribe of all men called the Gargarians. The Amazons kept the girls and the Gargarians kept the boys. Other versions they fought and killed the Gargarians after mating. They either killed, sold the boys into slavery, sent them back to the Gargarians, or kept them for future rituals but crippled them. In DC, when they lived on their island they offered or forced themselves to/on men at sea then killed the men, dropped their bodies in the ocean (Posiden does nothing) , and went home to wait. They still killed the boys in this versiosn but they eventually sold them to Hephaestus as slaves in exchange for weapons. Another way they increase their numbers is rescuing women who’ve been mistreated by men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is messed up and probably the reason why Hera didn’t bless them later on. She the goddess of marriage and the family. Killing your children and the fact that they don’t ever get married would anger her. Plus the rest of the goddess excluding Demeter and Aphrodite are virgin goddesses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now with the history lesson out of the way let’s pick the goddesses who would would create and bless the Amazons.

Yoruba:

Unlike the Greek gods, I don’t believe the gods of Yoruba would have a problem with creating a race of champions.

Oya: Goddess of storms, protector of the underworld, wisdom (in some versions), secrets, and magic

Gift-Wisdom, Manipulation of spirits, magic (to some)

Odudua: Earth goddess, battle maiden, and protector of earth. Her powers are also over womanhood, fertility, and life.

Gift- Warrior/Hunting Skills

Aja: patron of the forest, all animals within, the secrets of botany, master of potions and healing herbs.

Gift- Harvest,Herbs, Potions

Oba: Domestic goddess, resides over the home

Gift-Warm Homes

Oshun: Goddess of love, intimacy, and marriage.

Gift-Beauty inside and out/cooking skills?

The reason why there are more than one gift is because the Yoruba goddesses and gods are known to be very generous and protective to their followers. Which is why we have three extra goddesses to add to the list.

Nana Buluku- Creator Goddess, patron of spell casting and herbs

Gift-Magic/Spell casting (to some)

Mawu: Creativity Goddess

Gift: Creative, Crafting

Yemaya: An ocean goddess(?) said to protect abused and neglected women and children as travelers of the sea.

Gift-Protection, (Helping them stay hidden/sending women and children to them)

Reproduction:

The Orshira Amazons would mate with men, keep the daughters, and leave the boys with their father. The reason behind this is because many of the gods are fair and just. Many of the female goddesses (despite it not being their main power) have some control over fertility and wouldn’t approve of killing children. I also believe that Yemaya would be their primary goddess because she’s known for protecting women and children. That also means raping and killing sailors would be a huge no no. She’s known for her temper so it wouldn’t be wise to piss her off.

Life Together:

I personally think the Amazons of the Greek gods and the Amazons of the Yoruba gods wouldn’t get along at first. The main reason being how they reproduce and handle the sons of the Amazons. The Greeks would have to follow the Yoruba way of reproduction and handling the boys in order to get along. (I don’t think Yoruba Amazons would be sexist towards men but there would be a definite stigma towards them.)

They both have very different cultures but since the Greek Amazonians have women from all races that wouldn’t be a problem. They would have to get used to the others gods, however, I don’t see that being a major problem either. They both have similar beliefs (when it comes to girls) and I don’t see the Yoruba gods not helping the Greek Amazons especially Yemaya, who’s protective of all women.

(Now do I see the Greek and the Yoruba gods getting along? Absolutely not. Only a handful would get along, if that. Let me know if you want me to make a post about the gods’ relationships.)

Both Amazonian clans being omnilingual helps as well. With Mawu’s gift they may or may not need weapons from Hephaestus and would only give them boys as worker or apprentices (this would NOT be often) not slaves. 9/10 they’d just give them to the boys.

Magic granted by Nana and Oya would only be a gift for the wisest and most trust worthy Amazons. Magic can and have been used for evil. Despite the Amazons being created to be champions they are not perfect and can use it for destruction. So this power would be rare. Potion making granted by Aja would be more common, however, it’s not something everyone would have. A handful of Amazons have the knowledge of potion making.

End?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was fun to make, I really enjoyed research and envisioning scenarios that these women would have together. I didn’t know how Amazons were reproduced and I have to tell you that I am mortified. I looked up to these women and I couldn’t believe what I researched. I’m thinking about continuing this but adding Egyptian and Asgardian gods. (Anyone for a Marvel crossover?) This is manly so I can see every other god hate Zeus and get away with saying it to his face. I can just picture all the gods around a huge meeting table and just arguing about the fate of the world. Or just like trying to get it over with as quickly as possible so they can all go their separate ways.

[Insert God/dess]: Same time next year Zeus haha... *under breath* I hate that *#@$

Or a crossover with Percy Jackson. Technically doing a Percy Jackson crossover IS a Marvel Crossover because Disney bought it from Fox. (For SOME reason it’s still not on Disney +)

Anyway, this is just thoughts for the future. What do you think about this idea? Was I accurate or too hopeful? Please tell me what you think and if I should add other gods/desses.

~Novella Quill

(Casey Here!)

As much D&D as I play, you'd imagine I would eventually get around to illustrating some of their most iconic monsters! Which is to say, the ones that I personally find the most iconic. Which is to say, the ones I memorized when I was reading my dad's monster manual at age nine. Purple worm - Sandworms never go out of style. I've seen a lot of rad designs for this bugger over the editions, but I favor the slightly less reptilian older takes for this particular critter. It's kinda basic, but sometimes that's what you want. It's like a shark or a crocodile: Just flat out unchanged across the ages. Hook horror - I've heard it rumored that Gygax used a small Gigan figure to represent this monster. I can't verify that, but it definitely sounds right. Hook horrors are one of the very first things you meet when you play around in the caves, and they kind of remind me of the Father Deep monsters of the Hork Bajir homeworld that way. Mind flayer - Mind flayers! Basically, take all of your Dracula conventions and dip them in a fresh coat of Lovecraft. There's that old "decadent aristocratic upper caste system who literally eats the poor, but still somehow comes across as less evil than the actual real life 1%" setup that will never stop being relevant. Though personally, I see mind flayers as the first alternative for folks who want to play that monster-who-feels-the-urge-to-eat-their-friends-but-refuses-to-do-it shtick but don't want to deal with vampire baggage. You know, the furry option! ... Slimy? Rubbery? Do we have a word for anthro-cephalopods? I'm only a casual furry. Gelatinous cube - I'm not apologizing for giving this one a slot. Froghemoth - So, back when I participated in my very first long-term campaign, I played a druid. You've met Talia before. Naturally, I was chomping at the bit for the day I finally got to turn her into a froghemoth, and celebrated the day my wish was finally granted and she was allowed to chug human-supremacist-cultists like popcorn. Yeah, okay, the froghemoth is one of the classic vore-monsters. But it's a charming design in its own right. Kind of a freaky Hanna Barbara critter, like you'd see Space Ghost fighting. No matter how many artists draw it, they can never shake that inherent goofiness that third edition tried so hard to purge. I would probably cram them somewhere onto Fronterra if I was sure they were public domain. As is, I'm 99% certain that this is what Visser Three turned into when he ate Elfangor. Tarrasque - D&D's original kaiju! Kind of just takes the name and nothing else when it comes to its mythological origins, but I don't mind. The Tarrasque is that endgame "let's test the players" final boss monster... Or at least it's supposed to be. My DM reskinned it for our final Pathfinder session, and one of the PCs still nearly killed it in a single turn. Also, he let Talia turn into one, so maybe Pathfinder is just bullshit? Regardless, the Tarrasque has one of those simple, iconic designs. I've heard rumors it was based on the concept art for Fallout's deathclaws, and like the Gigan-figure, I can't verify this in any way. With its reptilian features, twin horns, spiny carapace and grabby fingies, it has an undeniable lizardlike quality that I can't help but find charming. Kinda feels like a more refined version of Zilla? Though for an insatiable eating machine, I notice a lot of artists give it very little belly to work with. Come on, this guy eats entire cities! Give him somewhere to put it! Rust monster - An icon of icons, the rust monster! Drawing its origin from a bizarre Chinese "dinosaur" toy, later designs have made it more insectoid in appearance, but never feeling QUITE like anything Earthly. It's the four limbs. Between the four limbs and the tail, it's hard to tell if it's an arthropod mimicking a vertebrate or the other way around. I'm pretty sure this is part of what inspired my ossaderm creatures for Fronterra. Also, Ryla can turn into one in our campaign. I have no shortage of havoc to wreak when the opportunity comes. Behir - Dragons in D&D are kind of... extra. Godlike beings, paragons of whatever personality trait they represent. Whenever there's something uber powerful in D&D, it gets compared to dragons. It makes them kind of unapproachable. Behirs provide all the essentials of a dragon - Serpentine body, scaly skin, horns, sapience, breath weapon, taste for human flesh - wrapped up in a smaller, weirder, IMO cooler package. You know, your Lambton Worms. A lot easier to port in and out of adventures, a lot less of an event when they show up, but still a formidable force in their own right. I like the behir. The behir knows how to taunt me just the right amount. Bulette - Another Chinese "dinosaur" figure monster, the bulette is actually another one I associate with Talia. Whenever we faced a problem that didn't have a glaringly and immediately obvious solution, she would turn into a bulette, whether it was for beating up robots, digging through obstacles, trampling smurfs, navigating labyrinths, distracting slashers with cute dog tricks... it was kind of her signature form. But shenanigans aside, the bulette is just an excellent monster. While the "land shark" shtick may be common, there's a lot more going on with the bulette's design. It's rumored to be a mad wizard's creation, as he combined a snapping turtle with an armadillo and mixed in a helping of demon blood to taste. Personally, I always considered that to be a neat little rumor to flesh out the world, but never assumed it to be true. The bulette just feels too naturalistic for that. Like some kind of protomammal or crocodylomorph, or weird triassic monstrosity. Magic and demons and dragons and so on DO affect the ecosystem. I always figured the bulette was just something that evolved to compete in this new biosphere. Owlbear - This one, on the other hand, I fully believe the "mad wizard was bored" explanation. Another chinasaur critter, the owlbear is frequently made fun of. What makes it scarier than a regular bear? It can't fly, so why have owl parts at all? Why trade fangs for a beak in what is at best a latural move? Well, first of all, fuck you, owls are creepy motherfuckers, and that alone is enough to justify it. But secondly, that's part of its charm. Besides some improved vision, the owl DOESN'T make it more dangerous. What makes the owlbear dangerous is that it's an insane, Frankensteinian monstrosity roaming uncontrolled through the wilderness! It doesn't need weaponry, its sheer temperament is enough to make it a worthy opponent. Sure, the practical threat might not be hugely above that of a bear, but storytelling isn't about numbers. Any asshole can go outside and get eaten by a bear. The owlbear is part of this world. The owlbear is a reminder of what magic can do. Someone somewhere actually made this thing, for whatever reason, and now the world is irrevocably changed because of it. Owlbears go beyond practicality. They bring the lore! Also, bears don't have very good eyesight, so the big owl eyes probably make them better hunters. Flumph - Is that a Japanese-style martian? Do we just have aliens in D&D? Dear lord, I love them! Okay, the flumph has got a sizable hatedom. And that hatedom can eat my ass, because the flumph is precious and perfect just the way it is! Flumphs are designed as a sort of sidekick-type creature. They're not very good fighters, but they bring knowledge and lore to the table. Whether they're aliens from some far off star, seeking your aid to prevent catastrophe, or psionic natives of the Underdark eager to bask in your positivity and hopefully stick it to the tyrants they're forced to share real estate with. My group generally treats them as straight up aliens, benevolent but strange. Course, we're all pretty strange, so we get along just fine. Otyugh - Okay so, the aberration creature type implies that this is something from another world that doesn't belong. And yet otyughs, which are aberrations, are an essential part of this world's ecosystem? Okay, I can buy the idea that an alien organism adapted to our world and is now a key part of it. Fronterra's got a TON of that. It just feels like after a point, the otyugh would be considered a beast? Otyughs are great. Every ecosystem needs a decomposer, and every fantasy story needs at least one dive into the sewers. Otyughs provide both, and are intelligent enough to keep the plot moving if it hits a snag. There's always going to be garbage, refuse, carrion, decay, things that need to be broken down and processed. Carrion crawler - The carrion crawler is pretty similar to the otyugh in that it's technically not considered a beast, and therefor must have its origins elsewhere, but feels so integrated into the ecosystem that it just feels like it belongs. They usually can't talk, so they're not just reskinned otyughs, but I still consider them pretty essential. Otyughs find a singular spot where waste is dumped and shovel it down at their leisure, while carrion crawlers skulk through the tunnels, actively seeking their food. The crawler got one of the most radical redesigns on the transition from second to third edition, but I can't really choose a single favorite. The oldschool tentacle-faced cutworm looks like it could be a real animal, while the googly-eyed Halloween decoration feels like it could be from another world, merely having set up shop here. Could there name apply to two wholly different creatures? If so, then I'm not sure which one mine would be considered. I kinda mashed them together into something that doesn't quite feel like either. But I like it for what it is. Maybe I'll sneak it onto Fronterra. Aboleth - Tentacled, telepathic sea creatures who turn humans into slimy minions, who remember everything their race has ever seen, and who are always plotting something behind the scenes. Yeah, the aboleths really crank up the Lovecraft elements. Actually, between the mind flayers, the flumphs and the aboleths, even the most oldschool D&D covered quite a few essential Lovecraftian bases. The flayers are your corrupt yet still recognizable humanoids who can be considered truly evil, the flumphs are benevolent-yet-bizarre guardians who know more than you, and the aboleths are the truly unknowable, sinister intellects. The fact that they can barely function on land honestly only adds to that, IMO. They're inherently difficult for a party to reach, and they offer some nice underwater adventure seeds. Not enough adventures go underwater. There's this perception that the ocean is bad for storytelling because so many writers lack the creativity to make it work. I wanna run an underwater adventure now. Beholder - Icon of icons! THE D&D monster! The beholder! Paranoid, jumpy, always five steps ahead and twenty steps perpendicular! Beholds are fun in just about every way. Between their wacky, diverse designs, their elaborate lairs, their eccentric personalities, their bizarre powers, you're never gonna run out of fun with beholders. Remorhaz - It's always been a thing that bothered me with environment-based monsters. Why does the ice monster who lives in the cold use ice as a weapon? Aren't most of the things it encounters going to be resistant to the cold? Sure, a cone of cold will still kill a polar bear, but a lot of the monsters in the tundra are outright immune to cold. A while dragon's not going to get much use out of its breath weapon fighting frost worms and frost giants. That's one reason the remorhaz sticks out to be. We have an icy tundra beast whose insides are a scorching furnace, which it can intensify and weaponize as it sees fit. Which also conveniently explains why its design - a sort of cobra-esque centipede - invokes warm-weather creatures, despite its icy environment. It's a nice subversion of the usual tropes, plus it's just a memorable, cool looking critter to begin with. On a smaller note, the remorhaz feels like a good loophole for Ryla's "no cold weather morphs" rule. Turning into something elementally affiliated with ice is no good, but a non-magical monster that survives the cold by superheating its insides? That seems perfectly viable to me!

June 2021 Roundup

It's been a month of highs and lows. Every year my city holds a cabaret festival, and I've seen some truly amazing acts over the years - including Lea Salonga, Kristin Chenoweth, and Indina Menzel. This year's Artistic Director was the great Alan Cumming, and although due to covid he didn't quite get to curate the program he wanted to, the opening night Gala was still a highlight, as was Alan's DJ set at the pop-up Club Cumming afterwards, where there was much singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to pop anthems and theatre tunes. At one point Alan, dressed in a onesie and perched on the shoulders of a man wearing only sparkly short shorts, was carried around the dance floor while Circle of Life blared. Reader, I was delighted.

I was also able to see his solo show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, which was hilarious and damn, he can sing!

As for the low, I was meant to fly to Sydney for the weekend to see Hamilton, a trip I have been looking forward to for almost a year, but had to be cancelled because of a covid outbreak and border closures. The tickets have been rescheduled, but I'm still kind of bummed about it (while completely appreciating the need for covid safety, especially when our vaccine rollout has been completely botched by our incompetent, corrupt federal government)

Anyway.

Reading

The Hundred and One Dalmations (Dodie Smith) - With all the bewilderment over Disney's Cruella, I decided to revisit the original novel which I first read as a kid. It's funny, I had very vivid memories of this book, or rather thought I did, particularly the scene where Roger and Anita have dinner at Cruella's house that fixed in my young mind as utterly disturbing with all this devil imagery and the implication Cruella was literally some kind of demon, which must have been either a) my overactive imagination or b) an illustration, because it's not as clear as I thought it was. The strangeness is there (food with too much pepper, Cruella's inability to keep warm, the walls painted blood red) but not the explicit demon imagery I had remembered. There is a part later in the book recounting the history of Hell Hall and the rumors of Cruella's ancestor streaking out of the place conjuring blue lightening, but clearly child me was reading far more into the book than was on the page.

But I still wish they'd gone with this version of Cruella's backstory, because to me an aristocratic, ink-drinking, heat-obsessed, possibly-demon spawn, high camp villain is more interesting and rings far more true than plucky punk against the establishment.

Smith clearly had Facts About Dalmations to share, and she does really craft a wonderful animal-based story that the Disney animated film is largely faithful to. Key differences include: Roger's occupation (he doesn't have to pay tax because he wiped out government debt somehow?!?), Pongo's mate and the puppy's mother is called Missis, Perdita is another dalmation who acts as a kind of doggie wet nurse, Roger and Anita both have Nannies who come to live with them (Nanny Butler and Nanny Cook), Cruella is married to a furrier (who changed his last name to de Vil). Also odd, on her first description Cruella is described as having "dark skin" but later in the novel her "white face" is mentioned, so I'm chalking it up to 50's descriptors not having the same meanings they do today.

The Duke and I (Julia Quinn) - After being just whelmed by the tv series, I wasn't really planning on reading the books, but I saw this on the top picks shelf at the library and damn, the top picks shelf is irresistible. This is very much Daphne's book (and I had known each in the series dealt with the different sibling) so many of the characters and much of the plot of the show is absent, as are some of the more baffling elements of the show like the Diamond of the First Water nonsense, which I always thought was a strange character choice in that it stacks the deck for Daphne when her character arc is better served as somewhat of an underdog (in her third season, the kind of girl who is liked but not adored), and the Prince subplot which was always far too OTT even for soapy regency romance.

It's a breezy, fun read (that scene excepted), even if the misunderstandings are contrived and I'm never going to take "I'll never have kids because I hate my dad" as a credible romantic obstacle deserving of so much angst.

Faeries (Brian Froud and Alan Lee) - A lovingly detailed and illustrated compendium of Faerie and its inhabitants, drawing from a range of European (but primarily Celtic) folklore and mythology. Froud was a conceptual designer on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and the link is clear in the art as well as the focus on faeries as mysterious but oftimes sinister beings, where human encounters with them rarely end well. Lee has illustrated several publications of Tolkien's novels, and was a lead concept artists for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and there is a touch of Middle Earth here as well, or rather the common inspiration of the old world. A useful resource for my novel!

Watching

The Handmaid's Tale (season 4, episodes 4-8) SPOILERS - So when I last wrote about this show in the Roundup, I was complaining it wasn't going anywhere. Well, I'm happy to be wrong because they finally changed things up with June finally escaping to Canada. That part of the plot following the survivors and their trauma has always been far more compelling than Gilead, and so it was a welcome development even if I side-eye some of the choices (none of these characters is seeing an actual licensed therapist why?).

This show has always been difficult to watch given the subject matter, and that has not changed after the shift in power dynamics. I will give the show credit for showing a broad range of trauma responses, from Moira wanting to move on and not let it consume her, to June, a ball of rage and revenge on a downward spiral, to Emily, trying to follow Moira's path but being drawn to June's, to Luke, trying his best but utterly unequipped to deal with what is happening.

But it is very hard to watch June go down this path - raping her husband (I concede the show perhaps didn't intend for it to be rape, but that's what is on screen and framing it as just "taking away Luke's agency" doesn't change that), wishing death on Serena's unborn child, and orchestrating Fred's brutal murder by particulation, then holding her own daughter still covered in his blood and it getting smeared on Nicole's face (an unsubtle metaphor in a series full of unsubtle metaphors).

There are interesting questions being asked of the viewer, and the show (perhaps rightly) not giving any answers. I can certainly appreciate the catharsis of Fred getting what he deserves even if I personally find the manner of it horrifying, but where is the line between justice and revenge, is revenge the only option when justice is denied, when does a trauma release become cyclical violence/abuse - the show is, for now, letting the viewer decide.

Soul (dir. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers) - In a world full of remakes/reboots/sequels, Pixar is perhaps the lone segment under the Disney umbrella committed to original content. However, there does seem to be a Pixar formula at work directed to precision tugging the heart strings, and some of the film feels like well-trod ground. On the other hand, it's hard to criticise the risk of centering a kids film around the existential crisis of a middle aged man, even with the requisite cutesy elements (and of course, the uncomfortable pattern of yet another film where the black lead character spends a great deal of the runtime in non-human form - herein, an amorphous blob or a cat). But the animation is stunning, it successfully did tug my heart strings, and the design of the Great Before and the Jerrys is original and fun.

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under - Drag Race is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, since I generally don't watch reality shows, and this is something I really enjoy even if I'm not invested in the fandom (which like many fandoms can be very yikes). This year it was time for the Australian/New Zealand (Aotearoa) queens to show their stuff, although it's been met with mixed reactions. Covid restrictions didn't allow for guest judges, relegating them to mere cameos via video calls, and its clear that Ru and Michelle really don't quite get all the cultural nuances - Aussie judge Rhys Nicholson was however always delightful. But it wouldn't be Australia without a racism scandal, with the great disappointment of the two queens of colour eliminated first, and one queen having done blackface in the recent past yet making it all the way to the top four.

In the end, the only viable and deserving winner was last Kiwi standing Kita Mean, and it was pure joy to see her get crowned. I do hope they fix the bugs and indeed do another season to better showcase AU/NZ talent.

Writing

A far more productive month - to try and get out of my writing funk I had a goal to try and write every day, even if it was only 100 words. While I didn't quite achieve a consecutive month, I did get a pretty good average, at least got something posted and two others nearly there.

The Lady of the Lake - 2441 words, Chapter 4 posted.

Against the Dying of the Light - 2745 words

Turn Your Face to the Sun - 1752 words.

Here I Go Again - 1144 words

Total words this month: 8082

Total words this year: 35,551