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anthurak · 7 months

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As someone who was very curious as to how Mammon was going to be presented in Helluva Boss, you can probably imagine I was looking through the new episode very closely.

And while I may have been off the mark with my theory that Mammon would follow the trend of Asmodeus and Beelzebub and NOT actually be antagonistic, I nonetheless think it is VERY interesting how Vivzie and the team handled and presented him.

Specifically, in just how PETTY Mammon is shown to be in this episode.

Like really think about what you might generally expect from a character like Mammon just from a basic background description: He is one of the seven rulers of Hell, lord of the seven rings and embodiment of GREED. Likely a fallen angel who helped to create hell as it exists today, is matched in power only by his five fellow Sins, and is functionally only truly outranked by Lucifer himself.

And yet, Mammon’s characterization in this episode presents him as this petty, selfish, manipulative asshole interested in little more than money and attention. He acts more like a shitty, full-of-himself asshole celebrity than a demon lord. Just look at how he manipulates Fizzerolli, not through lording power and authority over him but through emotional coercion like an abusive parent, ex-, or boss, which is precisely WHAT he is presented as. fi

What makes this even more interesting is that despite Mammon being characterized as Fizz’s petty, manipulative boss, we nonetheless see him display all the POWER and experience we’d expect from one of the seven rulers of Hell. Asmodeus mentions earlier in the episode that he’s known Mammon ‘since the START of Hell’, confirming they were both involved in its creation, and when the two square off at the end, it’s clear that Mammon is very much Ozzie’s EQUAL in power, and that everyone else present is pretty much an insect in comparison.

This is what I think makes the inclusion of that one creepy, obsessive fan of Fizzerolli’s in this episode so significant; he serves as a point of comparison to Mammon.

For all the power and authority that he might wield, Mammon is characterized as being no different/better than a creepy, manipulative, entitled and obsessive stalker.

I think this might be the true common ‘thru-line’ connecting all of the seven sins through Helluva Boss and possibly even Hazbin Hotel: That despite essentially being ‘God-Emperors’ of Hell and outclassed in power likely only by the most powerful angels of Heaven itself, the seven sins are characterized in a very grounded, down-to-earth and for lack of a better term, ‘human’ way.

All the times we’ve seen them, Ozzie, Bee and Mam haven’t presented themselves as these all-powerful beings lording themselves over their subjects like we might expect or even what we’ve seen of the Goetic nobility. They don’t present themselves as ‘royalty’ but rather more like celebrity performers, which is certainly in keeping with Vivzie’s comments about how Hell is meant to represent a circus.

It really gives this fascinating dichotomy to the Sins as characters, where they’re presented as these big wacky celebrities with big, over-the-top personas which in turn hide very grounded, down-to-earth people underneath. While at the same time still being these monstrously powerful and ancient beings whose dominion over Hell is entirely uncontested.

It also gives them a nice contrast with the Goetic Nobility and the Sinner Overlords. Like those two groups actually do act and present themselves like demonic ‘royalty’ who lord themselves over those considered ‘beneath’ them, while in reality they’re at best the ‘middle-managers’, and instead it’s these wacky characters who are the TRUE masters of Hell.

It may even continue into what we might see in Hazbin Hotel, what with Charlie being this bubbly, happy-go-lucky Disney-esque princess who also may very well have power outclassing literally EVERYONE else in the show apart from her parents.

Overall, I loved this episode and I think we may now have a good idea what we might expect from the other Sins, and possibly even Lucifer himself in Hazbin Hotel.

#helluva boss #helluva boss analysis #mammon #helluva mammon #asmodeus #helluva asmodeus #beelzebub #helluva beelzebub #fizzarolli #helluva fizzarolli #expectation subversion

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cryinhell · 5 months

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Okay, theory time:

I'm not the first to theorize that Vaggie is not a sinner but a fallen angel. Not only because of her wings, but it would also answer why she wants to help Charlie with the hotel. Besides just being a good girlfriend

Vaggie wields a spear that she's quite skilled and comfortable using.

Sort of similar to the swords and spears that the exterminator angels use. Vaggie also has an X over her eye like a lot of the exterminator angels do. This could be a reach, but what if Vaggie used to be an exterminator? What if she hated killing sinners and tried to protest against the idea? Perhaps that caused her to lose her seat in Heaven and was sent down to Hell. This could be why she wants to save sinners because she knows how vile the exterminators can be.

Vaggie also told Alastor that she wouldn't let him hurt anyone in the hotel. She's clearly aware of his power, so why make such a claim? Perhaps Vaggie is much stronger than she appears to be. And it's not like Charlie being with a fallen angel is unheard of since her father is a fallen angel. If Vaggie is a fallen angel, does Charlie know this?

Maybe I'm far off here, but this definitely would be interesting and impactful to Vaggie's character.

What do you think of this theory?

#i just want vaggie to be more than just charlies gf #chaggie #hazbin hotel #vaggie #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin theories #charlie morningstar #habzin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel theories #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin theory #vivziepop

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the-real-fandom-person · 5 months

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SAGAU-related brainrot knocking around my skull lately: Lady Maria!Creator.

Noble, graceful, remorseful, powerful, melancholy, otherworldly Lady Maria. The Creator isn’t a pure and untouched soul, she’s a scarred and battle-hardened warrior, ridden with guilt. Trauma has made her cold, yet paradoxically gentle.

Teyvat makes lumenflowers blossom everywhere to herald Maria!Creator’s arrival. Big ones, small ones, towering ones, blooming after sundown alongside the glaze lilies. Even in extreme temperatures, the cold, pale flowers make themselves at home. Slotting peacefully into the local ecosystems without becoming invasive.

The Pari and the Aranara wake up to find lumenwood groves just outside their respective homes. The Melusines become enamored with these new ‘moon blossoms’ sprouting throughout their village, even the parts that are completely underwater. Amurta students and Fontaine researchers scramble over each other to study this new species. Nilou makes M!C a lumenflower crown, and it replaces her hunter’s cap for the day. Nilou gets the first ever hug from the Creator. Suck it, Azar.

Albedo and Sucrose experiment on these new plants immediately. Xiangling is already using it in some strange new recipe, something Chongyun will actually eat for once. Tighnari, Ganyu, and Shenhe take curious bites out of a lumenflower cutting. The taste isn’t unpleasant, just incomparable to anything else in Teyvat.

Inazuma characters, especially Kazuha, are absolutely fascinated by the Rakuyo (and maybe a little jealous). So graceful is M!C with her strange weapon, so easily she wields it on the battlefield. Every blacksmith in Teyvat hears the words ‘trick weapon’ and takes it as a challenge. Many come close, but none can truly replicate the genuine articles. May they never have a true need for beast-slaying weapons.

Imposter AU? With one of Bloodborne’s toughest bosses? Laughable. RIP anyone stupid enough to try. And if there’s a fake Creator pulling the strings? Not after a quick visceral attack, there isn’t. M!C pulls a blood blade to cut down the imposter’s guards (she notices the stars in her blood that weren’t there before) and the imposter receives the most satisfying visceral ever.

Up to this point M!C put no stock in the ‘god’ thing. All she sees is mad cult, led by a petty and jealous brat on a power trip. But then she sees the stars in her blood, hears the voice of Teyvat itself, puts two and two together and just… laughs hysterically, because this whole situation is patently ridiculous. Byrgenwerth and the Healing Church failed in their quests for ascension, their heinous crimes being all for naught. Now here she is, thrown headfirst into unwanted ‘godhood’ and getting hunted by her supposed worshipers. Oh, how the tables have turned.

Once people see the cosmos reflected in M!C’s blood, they fall over each other trying to apologize. Since she’s reached negative patience for everyone’s bullshit, she ignores them and fucks off to the Nightmare. After coming into Teyvat, M!C gained the power to enter and exit the Nightmare at will. The Nightmare doesn’t bend to her will, but it doesn’t treat her as an intruder. The Silverbeasts and Winter Lanterns don’t bat an eye at her presence. She’s a true denizen of both the waking world and the world of dreams, now.

That night, every soul in Teyvat has the same nightmare - the Celestial gods attempting to forcibly summon the Creator, only to have themselves snatched from Celestia and dragged into a hostile, eldritch world of unfamiliar mish-mashed environments. At every turn, it is full of nightmarish creatures out for their blood. One by one, all but a select portion of Celestials become beast food, with M!C protecting the final ones herself.

Celestia, responsible for planting the fake Creator, falls from the sky the next day, its grand architecture reduced to mere rubble that rains from the heavens. Found amongst these ruins are the mangled, blood-drained and half-eaten bodies of Celestial gods. Spears made of blood impale many of the bodies, spears that seem to have sprouted from inside the flesh. Those that still have intact faces bear identical looks of horror. They find The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles in literal pieces - crushed and torn apart by hands that must have been the size of a grown man.

New stars and constellations appear in the night sky, as the illusion created by Celestia slowly fades. The curse placed on the people of Khaenriah gradually dissipates as well - the hillichurl tribes withdraw from the world, content to leave it alone. Every day, the curse lifts a little more from the people of Khaenriah; one day, Dainslief, Pierro and all the rest will finally be able to die.

In Celestia’s place rises a second moon - a snow-white harvest moon, always full, large and visible even when clouds blanket the sky.

The Archons try to follow M!C into the Nightmare, but like Celestia, they get their shit wrecked by the denizens of the Frontier. The Archons don’t die for real, they’re just permanently cut off from the Nightmare. It takes Nahida, with dream powers of her own + Traveler and Wanderer in tow, to reach M!C and convince her to give the people of Teyvat a second chance. Nahida succeeds because she has the sense to treat M!C as a person, not some untouchable idol.

Sumeru is warm and welcoming, nothing like Yharnam or Cainhurst. M!C has fond memories from her time as a Byrgenwerth scholar, and the Akademiya feels like home. Sumeru becomes M!C’s preferred nation by default, to the pride of the locals and the despair of everyone else.

M!C has trouble wrapping her head around how mundane Teyvat’s supposed ‘gods’ are. Elemental powers or not, these Archons are too human to be divine; the only divinity M!C knows is eldritch, alien, far beyond mortal comprehension. The Traveler is fractionally closer to true godhood than any Archon. But then, just as the Great Ones were beyond human comprehension, so too are humans beyond the understanding of the Great Ones - perhaps it’s better for humans to have human gods.

Speaking of gods, M!C and Nahida bond over their dream-related powers. If this is before the climax of the Sumeru quest line, the Akademiya gets real quiet, especially when M!C publicly points out how asinine their logic is (she was closely associated with Byrgenwerth and Laurence, she knows their kind all too well). For all of his failures, all the disastrous consequences, Vicar Laurence at least had genuinely good intentions; these fools only care about themselves and preserving their own power. Scaramouche, Azar, the traitorous Sages - selfish, ignorant children all, meddling with forces they only pretend to understand. Crushing them herself is merciful compared to the other outcomes.

Through tactical manipulation of dream worlds, M!C busts Nahida out of baby jail long before Traveler and co. have to, and the Akademiya goes into panic mode because the Creator herself is coming for them. Traveler and co.’s plans turn instead to finding the hidden laboratory under Sumeru City - the combined power of dreams horrifically distorts the battlefield around the Shouki no Kami, even after his defeat. M!C doesn’t kill Azar after the fact, but she doesn’t let him go into exile empty-handed... because she cuts off his hands. Cyno is too unsettled to laugh.

Scaramouche resents her for her part in ruining his apotheosis (and because the Creator didn’t do shit for him in his tragically long life) but as the Wanderer, he and M!C bond over a shared disgust for the Second Fatui Harbinger.

And speaking of the Fatui... Well, they try to recruit her to the cause, and she has this to say:

“I’ll not serve your organization while any part of Dottore yet lives. For too many years, I stood by and did nothing while so-called ‘doctors’ brutalized the innocent and vulnerable for their supposed research, their dreams of godhood and divine revelation. Never again. If your leaders possess a shred of self-preservation between themselves, then perish the thought this instant.”

Fatui agent(s): ...

They don’t give up, of course. The less friendly ‘recruiters’ get sent back to Snezhnaya in pieces. The only Fatuus M!C tolerates is Tartaglia, because aside from being the Traveler’s friend, he’s a decent punching bag/sparring partner. She finds his Foul Legacy transformation cute, like a kitten baring its teeth at a lion.

Related idea: M!C meets Dottore’s remaining segment, and after everything she’s heard (let’s say from Collei and Wanderer, maybe Nahida too) she barely lets him get two words in before cutting his head clean off. Will this affect Dottore in the long run? Probably not. Does it make her feel better? Yes, actually. Collei certainly isn’t upset by the news. Wanderer is, only because he feels M!C was too merciful. She lets him dismember the segment so they can stuff it in a box and send it back to the Doctor as a warning.

If a scourge of beasts were to descend on Teyvat, probably because of Dottore M!C would lead the defense. This is not a war that mortals alone can fight, she insists. By her orders, every available god (herself included), adeptus, dragon, and most of the older allogenes are on the front lines, staving off the worst of the horde. Pyro users are in high demand, for the beasts fear them the most. In lieu of blood ministration, the various healers of Teyvat are working ‘round-the-clock. An entirely new crop of Vision-wielding healers spring up, because Teyvat’s top god herself unconsciously wills them into existence. Because M!C would never make use of the Old Blood, not after seeing and experiencing its effects firsthand. The burden of being a capital-H Hunter, the sweet, intoxicating call of blood - M!C remembers Byrgenwerth’s sacred adage, and she has learned from the mistakes of Vicar Laurence. Yharnam was merely the latest in a cycle of destruction, all because of the Old Blood. She will not doom Teyvat to suffer the same fate.

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vagabond-umlaut · 7 months

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parterre

Lord Nanami is a knight, yes. A very esteemed one at that. But does anyone know he is an impressive gardener too? Well, he is— for he is the one, who caused these many flowers of these many hues to bloom in the landscape of your heart— so much so that you've not the slightest idea on how to manage them all well.

▸ knight!Nanami x lady-in-waiting!Reader; Historical AU; Tons of Tooth-Rotting Fluff; Crushes; Pining [is it mutual, however?]; Jealousy; Misunderstandings; Teasing; Did I already say this is so sweetly fluffy, you might end up with cavities? Oh. Okay. Cool :); Reader is so terribly down bad for Nanami, it's become a matter of mild concern; She is called a harmless little nickname by the princess here; THIS FIC WAS WRITTEN AS A LITTLE CELEBRATORY GIFT TO NANAMI NATION, AFTER THE FEAST THAT JJK 2.12 WAS FOR Y'ALL ;))

▸ Behold, the thesis I mentioned to you last night, Julie my sweetest pie. 🤭🤭🤭 Hope you'll enjoy reading this! 🫶🫶 @nanamikentoseyebags

▸ I don't own the characters or image used. Divider is by @cafekitsune. Please don't plagiarize, translate or repost this. Enjoy reading! ❤️

Nanami Kento is no simple man. He is one crafted wondrously by the heavens. A veritable evidence, if there ever were any, of the existence of some greater being— powerful enough to make a man such as the knight. Merciful enough to make him live in the same time frame and place as you do.

A wistful sigh falls past your lips as you begrudgingly tear your focus away from the training grounds and direct it to the scalding coffee at hand, though it takes but two mere two seconds before you find your eyes darting to the open window yet again– skimming over the many heads out there– wanting to find only one blond head– heart beating far too many beats when you hear the name of its owner being yelled out once again—

The utterance of your title in court drags you away from your frantic search, to the mildly smiling face of the princess: Sleepy, yes– But a lot more awake than she was five minutes ago. You rush to offer her your greetings, only to stop when she lifts a finger and tilts her head to the side, brows furrowed a pinch.

"That was Kento's name being hollered, wasn't it, Petals?"

You aren't certain which infuriates you more— that the princess used your childhood nickname well into your adulthood– or that she called Knight Nanami by his first name, a privilege he is known to grant to a very select few—

Compelling your face to shift into a smile, you nod. "I'm afraid it was, Your Highness."

"And was it yet another lady cheering for his victory in a match, huh?" she queries, kicking the covers off her feet and landing onto the floor with a loud thud. Wincing lightly, you quickly shake your head 'no'.

"It wasn't, Your Highness. The voice sounded much like Lord Haibara."

A quiet hum comes in response to your observation– soon shadowed over by the off-key singing of rather... indelicate songs, you're certain no one of an upbringing as royal and guarded as your princess should know— before the lyrics pause– all of a sudden– the moment she sits down at the table and looks out the window.

At the ongoing duel between Nanami and Geto, swords clanging and their bare chests shining in the early morn sun.

The very sight making every drop of blood in your vessels to rush to your cheeks, flooding them with colour– whilst your gaze roves with no trace of shame over the well-built physique of the solemn blond– lingering in particular on the toned muscle of his arms and forearms, flexing and extending as his fingers grasp the hilt of the weapon and the muscles in his legs strain against the tight fabric of his slacks, as the knight moves in a spell-binding dance of danger and tact against his opponent.

A huff of a chuckle escapes you when the former lands a solid hit on the latter; no one can match him in his prowess at wielding a sword; making a tendril of pride unfurl in the centre of your chest, only for it to shrivel in the heat of envy the princess' chortle ignites in that very same place.

You make no efforts to stop the words tumbling out your mouth next. Nor the tense frown which nestles into your tinted lips, throwing your face into lines and ridges.

"Is Lord Nanami courting you, Your Highness?"

"What!?!?" Not even an instant elapses before the exclamation leaves your listener. You continue, pretending to be unperturbed by the way innumerable shades of shock and incredulity colour her countenance.

"I mean, you call him by his first name, and he too does the same for you. Besides, the both of you have often been spotted to be strolling in the gardens together, easily chatting and smiling... not to mention the ball held last winter solstice when you two entered the ball, side-by-side— it is not only me who me who wonders so, milady," you add when you notice her back straigthening and she returning the cup to the saucer, "The court is rife with suppositions, on the nature of your relationship with Lord Nanami."

A beat passes in tense silence in response to your expressed musings— before the hush is disrupted by a very grave-sounding query, from the lady across. "What do you look for in a future life partner, Petals?"

"Me?" you ask, index finger pointed at yourself.

The princess gives a nod. "Yes, you, Your Grace."

Your nose wrinkles at such ill-considered usage of such high-ranking titles— nevertheless, you find yourself brushing those concerns away to mull over much more important matters...

A good while passes before you form a reply. Focus zeroing on a tiny coffee stain on your dress, you begin.

"Someone who is calm and collected, stoic and serious. He should be strong too, not just in brawn but in brain and matters of heart as well. He must be strict and disciplined, but must have a gentle, caring side to him too. Won't hurt if he's a traditional romantic, giving me flowers and sweet compliments instead of the terrible comments men say to the ladies these days. And..."

You trail off, losing yourself in your mind, before resuming, in a muted murmur this time, "It might be really nice if he lets me be of those few who can call him by his name– and he becomes comfortable enough, to call me by my name. And accompany me on walks in the garden in the afternoons. And perhaps, even, ask me to the balls where we may wear matching outfits, and present ourselves as a couple before all."

A hand comes to rest over your folded ones. You look up to find a bit too wide smile resting on the princess' lips. She offers your hands an easing squeeze.

Little does she know it does little to ease your turbulent emotions— a feeling which worsens with the observations she voices to you next.

"I was terrified your beautiful mind was tainted by the disease of idle inquisitiveness, as happens to most in this world with age, you know," she hums, standing up and making you sit in her chair, "I'm very glad to conclude, that's not quite the case. However– I cannot say your so lovely mind is disease-free either, my sweet Petals."

Your brows gather together in confusion as you peer at her, eyes in a narrow stare. She continues– smile growing a touch of tenderness.

"Your mind has been afflicted with the awful ailment of lovesickness. And–" she says, putting greater emphasis on her syllables, when you attempt to protest her statement, "it is usually incurable, unless very great feats of bravery are performed by the patient themselves, or in the off-chance, the fates decide to be helpful and the person behind the mess makes the first move— but I must say, Your Grace, you are very lucky to have me as your consulting physician— for I know what will provide you interim relief until either of them happens— want to know what it is?"

You take a moment to consider before returning a slow, unsure nod.

The princess beams. "It's the knowledge of the fact, there's someone who matches every criteria you mentioned, to a T— and that– he has his eyes reserved for none, except one beautiful lady-in-waiting, who stares at the training ground from the windows of the princess' room every single morning— looking as fresh and vibrant as the nickname, the princess insists on calling her."

Your friend pauses for a beat— not that you really notice it over the thrum of your blood in your ears and your heart in your chest— she inquires, "You understood the prescription, didn't you, Petals?"

A high-pitched squeal– so unseemly, so embarrassed, so jubilant– is the only response you manage, retreating into the cushion, hiding the warmth of your face and the stretch of your smile behind your palms.

▸ masterlist

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glorious-sunset · 1 month

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Character Names in LBFAD – Meaning and Significance

What’s in a name? For the characters of LBFAD (Love Between Fairy and Devil), a whole lot of hidden meanings! These are not apparent to English viewers. Here are my translations and interpretations of these meanings.

DongFang Qing Cang - 东方青苍: “East, Cyan, Dark blue”

The surname “DongFang” means East, the direction of the rising sun. Both Dongfang Qingcang’s (DFQC) personal terrace at Silent Moon Palace and the replica Arbiter Hall he built for Xiao Lanhua (XLH) face East, and capture the most beautiful sunrises. DFQC (and previous generations of DongFangs) are well-respected by their people and enjoy the best locations and residences in Cangyan Sea.

The “Cang” in DFQC was named for his realm, “Cang” Yan Sea, as he was expected to be its leader and follow the path set for him by his father, and Lady Yan before him. Lady Yan chose to rid herself of emotions in order to wield Hellfire, and DFQC’s father forced the same decision onto him. The hanzi (mandarin character) for “Cang” in DFQC and Cangyan Sea means dark blue, and the darkness of this colour represents the darkness of the path he was expected to follow.

But “Cang” is not the only colour in DFQC’s name! The “Qing” in his name means lighter shades of blue/green, or cyan. And despite his prescribed mission to emotionlessly conquer the three realms, DFQC has many lighter, more peaceful shades to his character that reveal themselves as the series progresses. He forms a friendship and brotherhood with his enemy Changheng, who shares with him a love of playing music, art and cuju! And he rises above the cruel dictator of Shuiyuntian who almost annihilated his people, by sending his people to aid Shuiyuntian.

(The aurora borealis in Cangyan Sea is also cyan and dark blue :D DFQC might have been named for this as well as for Cangyan Sea!)

Xiao Lan Hua - 小兰花: “Little Orchid Flower”

We are first introduced to our female lead as “Xiao Lanhua”, which is not a name, but a description of what she believes her true form to be, a little orchid flower. But this was a disguise given to her by her parents and upheld by Siming. Her real name is Xiyun.

Xi Yun - 息芸: “Every breath”

The character for “Xi” in XLH’s true name is the same as the “Xi” in her realm, “Xishan”, and means breath (of life). Just like DFQC, she is named for her realm, as she was the intended leader of Xishan as its Goddess. The Xilan tribe of Xishan had powerful healing magics, and hers is the most powerful of all, with the ability to resurrect the dead with her blood, thus providing the breath of life. She uses this to great effect, resurrecting DFQC in ep. 26, everyone who died on the battlefield in ep. 31, and freeing the 100,000 sealed soldiers of the Moon Tribe.

The “Yun” in her name meaning every, combined with “Xi” can be interpreted as “every breath”. Sadly, XLH’s every breath is for one purpose and brings her closer to her one destiny. She is fated to sacrifice herself to save the three realms from Taisui. If this had happened, then like Lady Chidi before her, her sacrifice would soon have been forgotten.

Chi Di - 赤地: “Red/Barren Earth”

The “Chi” in Lady Chidi’s name means red, and paired with “Di” meaning earth, can also mean barren earth. She is the only official in Shuiyuntian seen wearing Red, as even the current God of War, Changheng, conforms to the same white and pale blue robes that other officials wear. Chidi is therefore a standout who asserts her individuality and does not conform to expectations. Her way of thinking outside the box, led to DFQC and his 100,000 Moon Tribe soldiers being completely blindsided by her sacrifice 30,000 years ago. It also led to her breaking heaven’s laws to resurrect Ronghao, to her later detriment.

Chidi wields powerful earth magics, as represented by her name. These are so powerful that she is able to seal the 100,000 soldiers of the Moon Tribe within the barren earth of Xuanxu realm. Her mighty Shuofeng sword is also swallowed by the barren earth and her magic cannot be reversed without her primordial spirit.

Xun Feng - 巽风: “Obedient wind”

The “Xun” in Xunfeng means to obey, and the “Feng” means wind. His name can be interpreted as either “obedient to the wind” or an “obedient wind”. Like the wind, Xunfeng lacks substance, confidence and ability, and is disrespected by his people during DFQC’s imprisonment. Many contenders try to steal his position as Moon Supreme, and he almost dies on the Wind Plain until DFQC arrives to save him.

But Xunfeng cares fiercely for his people. In his attempt to protect them, he collaborates with Ronghao without knowing his identity or motivations. He is thus “obedient to the wind” where Ronghao is an unknown and unseen entity, like the wind. Xunfeng is unable to discern that Ronghao is keeping Cangyan Sea in a constant state of civil unrest and tormenting the souls of deceased Moon Tribe members until much later, with DFQC’s help!

Shang Que - 觞阙: “Watchtower”

“Que” meaning watchtower is an apt description for DFQC’s lieutenant and right-hand man. Shangque has many talents suiting him to this role! These include his ability to be stealthy, gather information discreetly, undertake covert missions successfully, act as a powerful defensive force, and a healing one due to his skill with Chinese medicine. Like a watchtower, he kept watch for 30,000 years during DFQC’s absence on all events occurring within the three realms. His loyalty and love for DFQC, whom he views as a brother and whose return he awaited for 30,000 years, are astounding!

“Shang” paired with “Que” can mean lacking sustenance. This is the state Shangque was in when orphaned as a young boy, and many tried to take advantage of him and his dragon body. If not for DFQC saving him, he would likely have perished from hunger or been murdered :(

Jie Li - 结黎: “Dark knot”

Jieli suffers from much internal torment which is like a dark knot inside her. From the moment she was born, she never knew or received love, and was raised by people who continually exploited her, physically harming her and threatening her life. That she is even capable of loving and caring for others is a miracle! Unlike Shangque, nobody like DFQC ever stepped in to save her and care for her.

Jieli cares deeply for both XLH and Shangque. Her life under threat, she makes some bad choices such as spilling a drop of Chidi’s blood onto the Bone Orchid. This is one of many dark and knotty situations she encounters. Although she soon decides she would rather die than hurt XLH, Dieyi poisons Shangque to force her obedience.

Yun Zhong - 云中: “Among the clouds”

Yunzhong literally lives among the clouds, but his head is also in the clouds. He is very narrow-minded and cannot think outside the box. When XLH does not fit within the eight-class system of Shuiyuntian, he immediately decides she is Moon Tribe (even before the Bone Orchid protects her) without considering other possibilities. He is so strict with Changheng that he would rather execute the most powerful asset to Shuiyuntian (and his brother!!) than tolerate the slightest disobedience! Throughout the series, he is intent on exterminating the Moon Tribe and almost does in ep. 31 on completely false pretences.

Chang Heng - 长珩: “Steadfast bird”

Like the golden bird brooches that the celestials wear to represent their tribe, Changheng is a model citizen of Shuiyuntian. He is steadfast and loyal to his duties and puts these above his personal desires. When trying to rescue XLH from Cangyan Sea in ep. 13, he is honest with her that he cannot break the rules of Shuiyuntian, and only hopes that Yunzhong will be reasonable and lenient towards her! Changheng is far more steadfast and loyal than the average celestial. He is the only one apart from Ronghao to visit Chidi’s grave on her death anniversary, honours his brotherhood with DFQC after returning to the immortal world, and after learning Ronghao’s secret identity, listens to his side of the story.

Dan Yin - 丹音: “Crimson tidings”

Twice, Danyin is the bearer of important news, relaying her visions from the Tianji mirror to the sacrifice of her own desires. First, she tells a wounded and imprisoned Changheng about his wedding to XLH in the mortal realm, causing him to start a mortal tribulation. Then, she tells Yunzhong and the High Council about XLH’s true identity as the Goddess, saving Changheng from execution and leading to his wedding with XLH.

Rong Hao - 容昊: “Vastly compromising”

Ronghao has “one tiny earthly desire”, that his beloved master can live. What he is prepared to do to achieve this includes burning the souls of dead celestials and Moon tribe, massacring the entire Xilan population including their women and children, forcing his master to endure 30,000 years of cruel mortal tribulations and using evil qi to keep her alive. His willingness to vastly compromise both himself and her leaves Lady Chidi aghast.

Die Yi - 蝶衣: “Butterfly costume”

Dieyi is a shape-shifter and the different forms she takes, butterfly or woman, are her costumes, which help her to be sneaky and nefarious.

Xie Wanqing - 谢惋卿: “Withering sigh”

Having forgotten her life as Lady Chidi, Xie Wanqing feels incomplete without knowing why, expressed by her sad sighs. Chidi is forced to endure countless mortal tribulations just like this one and die (wither) repeatedly. In each of these lives she is condemned to be murdered by the one she loves!

Xiao Run - 萧润: “Mournful wealth”

Both Xiao Run and his true self as Changheng come from positions of wealth and noble status. But both of them mourn the loss of freedom that comes from this – although Xiao Run is more of a carefree rebel! :D

Si Ming - 司命: “Arbiter of fate”

Using the power of her position as Arbiter of Fate, Siming has repeatedly defied heaven’s laws and changed fate! She resurrects Ronghao as an immortal, creating a new destiny leaf for him. She released the convicted dragon Chang Yuan and married him. And she instructs DFQC on how to also defy nature’s laws and change destiny! :D

Chang Yuan - 长渊 “Steadfast abyss”

He is the deep abyss that Siming falls into, as in choosing him, she accepts the fate of being imprisoned with him in the Ruins of Myriad Heavens for the rest of eternity. But at least he is steadfastly loyal to her.

Tai Sui - 太岁: “Very Ancient”

This most ancient of tricksters could not be defeated by numerous generations of Goddesses, who merely sealed him beneath Xishan. Over his very long life spanning hundreds of millenia, he has learned to tell whatever lies are needed to manipulate others and ensure his survival.

Here is a link to my article: Location Names in LBFAD – Meaning and Significance

All of my LBFAD articles can be viewed with the tag #lbfad reflections (hyperlinked) and the table of contents to these is here.

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makapatag · 1 year

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new game idea, building off of gubat banwa's THUNDERING TACTICS SYSTEM. ULTRAVIOLENCE AT THE END OF TIME [UV@TEOT] is very angry and very grungy and its hard distorted electric guitar riffs playing alongside light nujabes flutes and everyone is trying to kill the gods (capitalists)

extreme buddhacore aesthetics mixed with slipstream dirty grungy cyberpunk a la Digital Devil Saga where you play as Black Flame Wielding God Devouring Devil Fucking Martial Artists

DECAPITATE THE GODHEAD

Character Generation is based off an axis of your Zodiac-Tarot (known as KARMIC BURDEN) and MARTIAL COMMUNES (the ones that safeguard your consciousness so you can die multiple times, and also teach you and give you equipment)

Communes are inherently anarchist who steal from HEAVEN to get you equipped. They need Pros like you, so you fight in the grueling gladiatorial matches to get CLOUT, the universal currency. You will never survive without them

character advancement is based on your CLOUT, a la Runes or Souls in Souls-like. its both currency and XP, because you need CLOUT to learn new moves and get new augs. getting new shit is integral to gaining a new following

MARTIAL COMMUNES are slick philosopher-martial art communities that piece together esoteric martial arts. Each commune has a signature martial art that you learn. So far there's THE HEAD OF MARX, TWIN TRUNG ELEPHANTS, SAKAY'S SHADOW FLITTING STYLE, LIVING BODY CANVAS, FLOATING HUAYAN VIDEOMANCY, and THE DIAMOND BODY OF CHRIST-KRISHNA

k6bd is a huge huge inspo of course but unlike k6bd which is a bit more gnostic-buddhist UV@TEOT is more full on Esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism, Shingon Buddhism and an intense Techno-Animism, here's some aesthetic pegs

also no playable cops. they're souls chained to physical demons

#ttrpg #development #gamedev #cyberpunk #martial arts

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badass-queer-couples-battle · 5 months

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Sword gays showdown, round 1, bracket two

*Camilla fanart by @friendamedes, used with permission

Propaganda:

For Hua Cheng:

King of ghosts and ruler of Ghost City. So good at sword he beat 33 gods in duels. Canonically gay and in love with the former prince, current exiled god of trash Xie Lian. His sword is sentient and also his own eye. Its name is E-Ming and if it ever cut you, it can reopen the wound any time. It's really cute despite its reputation, wants to be pet by Xie Lian like a little kitty.

He's got a sword that is literally a part of him. He made it from his own eye. It's sentient and behaves like a puppy and I just really love E-Ming

Spoiler but he has a very cool saber thats (kinda) alive and made out of his own eye? Does that count?

For Camilla:

she prefers dual-wielding two short blades but can fight with pretty much anything. she's ambidextrous she's autistic she's even sex-repulsed ace. she sighs longingly when reunited with her weapons. she's from planet academia and dresses like an off-duty librarian. literally one of the most iconic moments of the entire series is when she gets challenged to a duel and absolutely wipes the floor with her opponent even though she doesn't even like rapiers that much. 'swords don't lie.'

OK I’m sure you’re getting just about every character from The Locked Tomb but Cam is my favorite. She's a nerd AND a jock. She is in this deeply intense and loving and unhealthily codependent soulbond partnership with her best friend second cousin and prince. She is smart and deadpan snarky and fights like a grease fire and I have never been able to get that line out of my head.

#sword gays showdown #hua cheng #camilla hect #tgcf #tlt #the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing

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fryerdan · 9 months

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A Proposal for Anthony

To: Mr. Anthony Burch, D.M.

Hello Mr. Burch,

You do not know me, I do not know you. However, it has come to my attention, (and I'm sure some others, possibly including yourself), that often you do not either have prepared, or want to have, a "interesting" dad-fact (your words not mine.)

And as such I have a proposal for you to consider.

During the course of these two seasons we have heard many facts about both 'The Dads' and 'The Teens', but I would like to propose that instead of having to rack your memory and dive back to the dreaded days of high school, you give the listeners a dad-fact, (or rad-fact), about the 'Kidads'. (Lark, Sparrow, Nicky, Grant, and Terry Jr.)

Providing dad-facts in this way would provide the listeners with either:

a. A small insight into the lives of these characters,

Or,

b. Some terrible emotionally devastating piece of information that will launch the listeners into a frenzy, or an immeasurably deep pit of sorrow. (*Insert any fact about Terry Jr. here*)

Of course I make no move to intrude on the structure that is the podcast. I simply felt as though when one has a kinda-lame, very-slim-chance-of-reaching-someone-who-can-do-something-about-it idea, it is one's duty to shout it into the void that is the discord.

Now you may be thinking,

"Oh, heavens to Betsy! This sounds like more work that would have to be done every week!" And start comparing these to the facts of one (1) William Campos, written down with much forethought, but fear not! For, I need not remind you, you are the DM, you could literally say whatever random shit pops up in your head the second before you say it, and no one can dispute it. Imagine the power you could wield.

And so I leave this here, possibly never to be read, in the hope that it makes something easier, or that you at least get a chuckle out of it before you move on.

Sincerely, (and with much love of the podcast),

Danthony Janthony Weston, Fellow DM and lover of putting way too much effort into jokes.

-Dan

(In actuality, I just thought this was an interesting idea and my sister agreed, so do what you want, it's not up to me. I do really like the podcast though, you guys do a great job. 👍 (Cast, please reiterate this praise to Anthony if he tries to deflect it.))

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mxtxfanatic · 8 months

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One thing that I really appreciate about mxtx’s stories is that even though the common people are shown to have an understanding of hierarchy and a healthy skepticism—dare I say, disdain at times—for the elite class at the top of each world’s hierarchy, that doesn’t mean that their every judgment on the subject is right.

Tgcf is a perfect example of this in multiple arcs. The peoples of Xianle and Wuyong know that a person with money can bend the ear of a god, and the nobility of Xianle, specifically, even bar the poor from entering Xie Lian’s temples without first paying an entry fee. Lang Ying leads the Yong’an refugees to rebel because he sees the corruption girding Xianle society. However, these same peoples also believe in the hierarchy they despise for oppressing them. When the beloved princes of the respective kingdoms are unable to save their kingdoms from certain doom because they are unwilling to sacrifice the lives of others, those same citizens turn on them. Worse yet, Xie Lian and Jun Wu were the only gods who were about treating their worshippers equally regardless of status, while the gods who their former followers turned to for help were the very same ones that had watched them suffer, gleefully waiting for them to turn on their gods so that they could poach new worshippers. In the end, the people end up casting aside the gods who defied the heavens in an attempt to save them, in favor of worshipping the gods who wanted them to perish. We see this same level of misapplied understanding on smaller levels too: Mu Qing understanding classism but only taking issue with it when it negatively impacts him, personally; Lang Ying’s descendants devolving into the same kind of wasteful nobles that Lang Ying had deposed; the people in the temple who choose to stab Xie Lian to preserve their own life because “you’re meant to save us.”

Similar things happen in svsss and mdzs. In svsss, humans are reasonably wary of demons (who hunt and eat humans in this story) and look up to cultivators as their protectors, but broadly applying this allowed the corrupt Old Palace Master to weaponize that rightful wariness to harm his innocent targets: Su Xiyan, Tianlang-jun, Luo Binghe, and Shen Qingqiu. Had the common people witnessed a group of adult cultivators chasing a fearful toddler around be so convinced of the “righteousness” of the cultivators they admire? If so, would we, the audience, still look to the crowd as moral? At the same time in mdzs, the common people actually don’t look up to the righteous cultivation clans as inherently good, only a necessary expense—have you the funds—but even that is a weapon. Thirteen years after the first siege, a farming couple discusses how terrifying the power Wei Wuxian wielded was, grateful to the great cultivation clans for having killed him without any understanding that Wei Wuxian was the most upstanding cultivator of his generation.

In all of these examples, though the common people have an accurate understanding of systemic violence and the dangers present in their worlds, they are not always able to accurately apply that understanding on an individual or personal level, especially if their morals do not align with the idea that said violence is an inherent wrong. The common people in tgcf are not rioting against the concept of monarchies and nobility or the elitism of the gods, even as they know they suffer from it. The common people in svsss still shy away from demons, even though they’ve likely been harmed more times by a passing cultivator or rich person than they could even claim to have seen a demon. The common people in mdzs still turn to major cultivation clans for help and consider them to be overall moral people even with their publicly immoral behavior. None of these groups move to challenge the systemic violence despite knowing it exists on a personal level, which is what makes it very poignant when a character in these books does. Why did that person choose to speak up and stand out while most others didn’t? And what message is mxtx teaching us by showing us this character?

Knowledge, an understanding of systems of violence, and hierarchical placement does not make morality. Moral alignment paired with matching actions do. And without the latter, the former can be easily manipulated by bad-faith actors to reinforce the very systems that create the ills of society, regardless of what position one is born into on the social hierarchy.

#mdzs #svsss #tgcf #human metas mxtx

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indigovigilance · 7 months

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Tarot Symbolism in 1941

inspo: Three of Swords ask and answer by @embracing-the-ineffable

Okay guys this is outside my usual wheelhouse; I know just enough about tarot to be a nuisance. That said, once I saw the ask/answer above, I got to thinking about what other tarot symbolism might be in the S2E4 episode. "Nazi Zombie Flesheaters" was written by Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, so it stands to reason this episode may contain unique elements not found elsewhere in the show.

I didn't analyze every suspect artifact, just the strong contenders. I'll demonstrate that whatever symbolism there may be directly pertains primarily to Aziraphale and to his relationship with Crowley. Below the cut we'll look at:

The Magician

The Chariot

Two of Coins

Ace of Coins

Three of Swords

Four of Swords

The Lovers

Two of Cups

Major Arcana

The Magician

First off may I just say that I am shocked and appalled that I have not come across a Fell the Marvelous magician tarot card. C'mon, artists of tumblr. Get it together.

This one is pretty obvious: Aziraphale is The Magician.

He has the ability to bridge the gap between heaven and earth and as such, he is capable of converting energy into matter.

The Magician is a card of manifestation: you want it so you make it happen. Aziraphale just grabbed this entire West End Stage situation by the horns and is steering it in the most ridiculous direction possible to show off for his knight in shining armor that just rescued him and his books.

Aziraphale manifests reality even when the miracle blocker is active: the bullet misses, and his notoriously unreliable sleight of hand works when he five-finger discounts Furfur's damning evidence.

Aziraphale is feeling his oats in this episode, and approaches every new challenge with the absolute and unwavering conviction that he can overcome it, and seemingly through sheer willpower, he does.

The magician is typically represented with all four symbols of power: a wand, a sword, a cup, and a coin (pentacle). This represents a high level of resourcefulness and adaptability, underlaid by the knowledge and skills necessary to deploy those tools.

The magician is a dangerous character, a boon to his allies and a threat to his enemies, but sometimes wields more power than wisdom. The magician has more ability to get what he wants than to necessarily know what is good for him.

The Chariot

This isn't symbolically referenced in 1941 per se but like I said, I have just enough knowledge of Tarot to be a nuisance and the symbolism was already there throughout the show so why not talk about it here.

This card depicts a black entity and a white entity (sometimes horses, sometimes sphynxes, depending on your deck) pulling a chariot. But the white thing and the black thing tend to be pulling in different directions, working against each other instead of with each other because they have different ideas about where the chariot they are both yoked to should be going:

It's rather inefficient.

And if that isn't a metaphor for Aziraphale and Crowley's influences on humanity and Earth, or the progress of their own relationship, I don't know what is.

But more generally, the Chariot represents the warring [internal] influences on the singular charioteer; their masculine and feminine aspects, their conscious and unconscious desires, etc. The message of the card is that the charioteer must define their goals so they can steer their powerful steeds in a single direction.

Much in this same way, Aziraphale [in the role of charioteer] is being pulled in opposite directions by his loyalty to Heaven and his conviction that Crowley is morally righteous. The challenge he faces is in unifying these beliefs.

The Magician & the Chariot

Where once there was one, now there are two; with the magician representing power and the chariot representing the unification of direction and purpose, the holistic effect is an incredibly powerful combination that can accomplish anything. Now that Crowley and Aziraphale have hitched themselves to the same cart, they will be unstoppable so long as they stick together and keep moving toward the same goal.

In the context of Aziraphale as the charioteer, however, the interpretation feels a bit more dire; there is great strength behind the forces that pull him in opposite directions, which now threaten to tear him in two. His ability to manifest has no clear direction.

Coins

Two of Coins (Pentacles)

Back at the bookshop, Aziraphale presents a sixpence and a farthing in the palm of his hand as part of a magic trick.

The Two of Coins is generally depicted as a juggler; like the chariot, this represents unsteadiness and conflict that needs to be resolved. The juggler is juggling multiple influences, trying to find balance and struggling to prioritize. It can indicate he is not giving enough of his energy to his romantic partner.

Ace of Coins (Pentacles)

After Aziraphale recites the magic words (and again, shocked and appalled that no one has done a meta on "banana fish gorilla shoelace with a dash of nutmeg," I mean are we meta-analysts or aren't we?) and the farthing has vanished, symbolically resolving the tension of duality:

The Ace of Coins (Pentacles), in the context of romance, represents a fresh start with a person who will provide stability: a knight in shining armor who arrives and provides a sense of security. It can represent a new beginning or a strengthening bond within an existing relationship.

If you have been considering taking your relationship to the next level, [the ace of coins] can also serve as a good omen.

I'm not even kidding, that's a straight quote from the source text.

Two of Coins -> Ace of Coins

Within this magic trick we have a symbolic transition from relational instability to stability, from unresolved romantic tension to a fresh start and strong bonding. If the magic trick is representative of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship, this transition is a sign that they are coming closer together and starting a new chapter of their romance.

Three of Swords

Taken directly from the inspo; in the magic shop, as they are discussing the bullet catch, Aziraphale is standing in front of the Excalibur chest. Three swords emerge from the right side, and appear to be piercing his spine. The most direct imagery correlation is with this version of the Three of Swords:

The Upright Three of Swords signifies a sudden and unexpected blow to your emotions. When you see this card in a reading, it often foretells the sudden loss of a loved one, the realization of betrayal, or the end of an important relationship with someone you loved very much.

This accurately represents how Aziraphale felt the last time they saw each other, following the holy water request in St. James' Park.

At the end of this scene, Aziraphale disavows their "fraternity" and stalks off in a huff. Crowley makes no attempt to stop him. Clearly, neither of them expected the conversation to go this way, and each feels betrayed by the other.

Three of Swords & The Magician

When this duo appears in a reading, a breakdown in communication is causing serious issues.

During the entirety of S2E4, Aziraphale rushes boldly forward without duly considering Crowley's objections; by the same token, Crowley is also not being honest about his limitations. The "serious issue" that this causes is Crowley almost shooting Aziraphale in the face, a situation they would not be in if Aziraphale had not been so bull-headed about performing a dangerous and unfamiliar show-stopping trick.

Their relationship has barely been rekindled and has not had time to heal from the damage done in St. James' Park; it is too fragile for them to speak honestly with each other, and Aziraphale, fired up by egoistic fervor, charges boldly ahead with minimal regard for the consequences.

Suffice to say, this is some on-the-nose symbolism.

Four of Swords

When Aziraphale shakes Crowley's hand, he brings his hand up uncomfortably high to chest height, which seems like an odd choice until you realize that he has to do that in order to get his hand lined up perfectly between the aperture of the camera and the sword that sticks up from the Excalibur Chest. The three swords still emerge from his back, so Aziraphale is now the focal point of four swords. Additionally, the arrangement of the swords is in keeping with the general depiction of the tarot card; one sword is in his control/possession, three are not.

The Four of Swords is a symbol of chaos. It warns the subject that they are overwhelmed, overstimulated, out of touch:

- Haven't you fired a gun before? - Not as such.

...and needs to retreat and rest.

In romance, it can indicate that a rocky relationship is stabilizing and returning to normal. But it can also portent new issues that will make or break the relationship. One way or another, it is indicative of relational stress that needs to be resolved.

Four of Swords & The Magician

The combination with the Magician foreshadows a long-term relationship in your future. The key interpretation of the Four of Swords in this combo is that building yourself as a person first will attract the right partner.

Aziraphale (the Magician in question) has a lot of self-work to do resolving his attitudes about Good and Evil in order to be a good partner for Crowley, but if he can do it, the Four of Swords symbolism in this scene is a positive portent for their relationship.

Three of Swords -> Four of Swords

The transition from the Three of Swords to Four of Swords seems to indicate that a relationship broken by bad communication is starting to heal; it is not completely repaired, and there is still work to be done, but they have taken the first step. But it may also indicate that Aziraphale has bitten off more than he can chew and has introduced chaos into the relationship in his attempt to repair it.

The Lovers

We can't talk about Tarot without talking about the Lovers. Well, we could, but I'd get a lot of comments about it. The romantic candlelit scene invokes an image of lovers, so I'm running with it.

This card is rich with relevant symbolism and deserves its own meta from anyone who wants to do it. I will only briefly discuss it here insofar as it is directly relevant to the S2E4 depiction of events that occurred in 1941.

The upright Lovers tarot card can imply that you have major life-changing choices or are faced with a dilemma. Temptation is often part of that choice or dilemma.

Aziraphale constantly oscillates between the side of Heaven and the Third Side, but the events at the church have swung the needle and imbued our angel with a renewed sense of allegiance to his demonic companion. But this only serves to make things more complicated; no sooner is the flame of romance reignited than Furfur shows up to threaten Crowley, using their association as evidence against him. Miraculous escape notwithstanding, the danger of the situation is apparent. Aziraphale is aware that he may soon have to make some tough choices about who's side he's really on.

Two of Cups

The Two of Cups tarot card is one of the most positive relationship cards in the deck. When you pull this card in a reading, it stands for harmony, togetherness, and working as a team to build a strong partnership.

The Two of Cups is arguably more about love than The Lovers. This card indicates that the subject is in a deeply intimate, supportive romantic relationship. It serves to confirm that they've found The One.

The Magician & Two of Cups

...your new lover won’t be someone new at all, but a friend you already know well.

With the combined symbolism of Fell the Marvelous and the two glasses of wine at the end of the night, we have some holistic tarot symbolism that these two friends that go back a long time are, well... soulmates.

IN SUMMARY

I have no idea how much Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman, or by extension Neil Gaiman and John Finnemore, are into tarot, but it's a show about angels and demons and the episode features homoerotic magic tricks and Nazi zombies, so, you know... it wouldn't be the weirdest thing they've done to include some tarot symbolism.

This was a fun meta to write and if you enjoyed it please say so; if anyone would like me to do a deep dive into the Lovers card, let me know, and I'll put some energy into it the next time I feel like neglecting meatspace responsibilities.

If you enjoyed this meta, you may enjoy Why Aziraphale Wears Spectacles or, if you want to see my full catalog of metas, you can check out indigovigilance original content (metas)

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #tarot

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spuffybot · 3 months

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I just did a watch of Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest. There’s so many amazing little things happening in those first two episodes.

1. The Music: there is so much 90s sitcom music happening. Especially at the end of The Harvest when they avert the apocalypse and it’s just Giles, Buffy, Xander, and Willow reflecting on what happened. The music sounds like it’s from an episode of 7th Heaven.

2. Everything David Boreanaz is doing is hysterical. You can tell it’s one of baby’s first real acting gigs. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, his arms are swinging inexplicably, and he makes standing still look so painfully awkward.

3. The Wardrobe: We get some of the best and worst looks in these two episodes and it’s quite frankly, iconic. Buffy’s first day of school look literally defined a generation. However her first night at The Bronze look??? What is happening here? And let’s not even get started on Angels shiny plush velvet jacket. He’s giving hot topic vampire.

4. The Lighting: I love how dark season 1 is, it’s a total vibe and I have so much nostalgia for watching this show when it was first on TV. But there are scenes that are actually impossible to see (the opening sequence for example) and there’s a moment in The Harvest where Buffy shatters a window and you can just see where the prosthetics are glued to Luke’s face.

5. The Prosthetics: If you didn’t know, they changed the prosthetics because they were so hard to talk in! Darla is impossible to understand half the time and they had to change some of Jesse’s lines because he couldn’t say “s” words.

6. Darla x The Mythology: ok so obviously we know Darla goes on a journey. It’s funny to look back at these initial episodes and see her behaving in ways that feel out of character. She doesn’t seem to know much about Slayers. She’s easily defeated by some holy water and a cross (wielded by Willow and Giles of all people.) She’s deferential to Luke in a way that makes her seem higher in rank than a fledgling but certainly not the 500 year old vampire we come to know. There’s also so many small mythology things that don’t make the cut or are evolved over time. Giles has seemingly never encountered many supernatural creatures and is unaware of what a Hellmouth is. Vampires eyes glow in the dark and they have talon like nails. Buffy’s stakes look like coffee table legs. I love seeing how the show grows beyond these beginnings.

I’m excited to continue watching season 1. I almost always skip straight to School Hard in any rewatch of the series and it’s so much fun to revisit these early episodes.

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #buffy summers #buffy #vampire #buffy season 1 #welcome to the hellmouth

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gojosatoruwifey · 4 months

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ㅡdreaming torrents

✑ the what ifs random snippets postwar rotmhs that no one asked for (◕∇◕✿)

✿ warning/s: fluff , g/n! reader , swearing, tell me if i missed something!

✿ character/s: pbss! chung myung , junior! reader (feat. small baek cheon)

part of the senior reader agenda (tba)

thumb ring

sleepiness seems to overlap either day or night. the issue used to not bother him but now that being groggy is catching up to his body, chung myung finds it hard to stifle a yawn. bed hair of ink black falls to his shoulders, white robes thrown in haphazardly as if he’s not bothered by the incoming scolding from his tidied junior later in the dining hall he will be meeting for breakfast, drowse clung to his eyes, hand busy itself to close the door of the room.

“sahyung,” a voice called out from the side.

chung myung glanced to see a cultivator disciple in black, a carefully embroidered tassel hanging on their sword as it sways from side to side with each step they made, a thin sheet of sweat cling to their forehead making people who see them want to applaud at the sight of an outstanding figure doing work once the sun is up, there is a tender smile on their face as their hand waved at him from afar. “your hair isn’t tied up. want me to do it for you?”

like sent into a trance, chung myung wordlessly gives to your awaiting hands his green ribbon, it was brief but he catches a band around your thumb. “were you wielding a bow? you have a thumb ring.”

“i went out hunting,” you stood up behind his sitting figure as your fingers card through his fluffy hair. on the side of the doorway of chung myung’s room, there’s a wooden side table with two chairs you can pull under. it’s a highly convenient furniture that chung myung bought on a whim. who said impulse buying is always a bad thing? they clearly haven’t seen the side table. the craftsman was so happy that his ‘unusual’ invention was bought and seeing that it was the highly regarded plum blossom sword saint, his spirit reached the heavens.

chung myung perks up, “does my dear junior willing to give me their catch?”

he may have his back facing you but you well know that he was wearing a teasing expression, a grin on his lips as he closes his eyes while you tighten up the ribbon. “sure. i wonder if senior can eat all of them up, though. as they say 'time is of the essence'. tang bo is waiting. hurry up, or face the consequences of being beaten."

“damn, that guy is already here?”

you patted his shoulders, laughing. you step to the side as chung myung stands up to his full height. you leave first but not when a callous warm hand lifts your hand with the thumb ring closer for chung myung to look at. his eyes glimmer with an unknown light you can’t name. so you just let him hold it like that — his own thumb stroke it a few times before he let it go — matching your pace as the both of you walk to the stoned pavements,

later that day, before you turn around to go back to your room, chung myung tosses a shiny material to you which you catch with a heart in your throat. who wouldn’t be surprised, anyway? you were about to mind your business and sleep after a whole day of labour then your sahyung passed something to you without any words. opening your fist, a beautiful jade thumb ring sits on your palm as your wide eyes flicker to chung myung’s self-satisfied figure.

a huge batch of char siu is due.

fuzhou fish ball

you can’t believe the day will come that a certain senior who hasn't taken a single disciple in that long life of his finally arrives. it’s strange to see a small figure beside his imposing height, much more strange that it was a kid once they got nearer and a clear view of a refine-looking boy, with straight hair and a pair of big, strong eyes that remind you of a stone with a similar colour on them, they bring you a sense of refreshing waft of salt in the air accompanied by a low crashing of waves.

there was one question you badly want to voice out.

annoyed by your staring, chung myung huffed. “What?”

“...you didn’t kidnap this child for a ransom, did you?”

chung myung looks scandalized, “what the fuck are you sayi–”

“sahyung! the kid can hear you!”

“so what? he will soon learn that.”

you cleared your throat and knelt to level your gaze at the kid. the last thing you want is to frighten him. with the bickering that just happened right now, you give him a timid smile and the boy’s shoulder drops a little as he hides behind chung myung’s legs. it’s a small change, nevertheless, still change and you’re happy to see that his guard is down and not up. “hello.”

he shyly returned a small ‘hello’. if you’re not a cultivator trained to have good hearing, you’ll not catch it, his greeting might get lost in the wind.

“don’t hesitate to tell me if this bad guy is threatening you, okay?” a giggle slips out from the kid.

“yah!”

“you should eat something.” you ignored the glare in your way as you offered a cheery smile to the kid whose name you haven’t known yet. “this one is called y/n, third grade disciple of mount hua. can i have the pleasure to know the young one before me?”

the kid blinked at the figure in front of him. an air of dignified pillar surrounding you making you appear trusty. having a good intuition, he opened his mouth to say his name but he was beaten to it by the older man.

“the kid wants to change his name.” chung myung said.

“oh,” a click of understanding registered on your face as you nodded and stood up. “after eating, do you want to meet the sect leader? he will bless you with a given name if that’s what you want. feel free to say to this elder here, hm?”

as expected, once the three of you stepped foot inside the courtyard, everyone bombarded questions as they gathered you to the center. the sect has always maintained a family ambience yet it feels the bond is deeper now that the war is over and a child especially the one that is picked up by the plum blossom sword saint is seen as a blessing. the excitement never dies down even when the sun is starting to set as the women with their daughters prepare an impromptu banquet. long line of tables decorated with vibrant red and gold, a group of baek disciples tying the plum blossom flags in the ceilings, another group carrying boxes of drinks and the others keeping the places tidy.

an auspicious occasion is what the old people say.

“just where did they get the money to get those expensive things?”

“sahyung, you didn’t know? the government may keep away from the events of the martial sects but the emperor owes the mount hua sect big time.” you explained. “i handled that matter a few weeks after the war ended as per the sect leader’s permission. the bank notes and everything else is in my care, the treasure chests are with the financial hall. you see those wines?” chung myung glanced at the spot you are focused on where the two older baek disciples are carrying a box with care, then followed by another set of disciples. “gift from the emperor. the ones that reached early were only one-third. the second deal of the agreement…do you remember those men fixed the damages to our sect? that’s the second deal and the last, ownership rights documents of land properties. it wasn’t long ago that these hidden precious gifts were placed underground.”

“hundred years ago is not long ago!”

chung myung side-eyed your relaxed figure, completely baffled at the way you casually bring you’re a walking dungeon. “you hoarder…are you sure you’re not a descendant of dragons? you seem to stick your nose in places with mountains of rewards.”

it’s your turn to glare at him. “i don’t want to hear that from you, of all people. now, where is that cute fuzhou fish ball?”

“what???”

“your first disciple.” you clarified. “he is like a fuzhou fish ball.”

“he is with the sect leader and why are you calling him fuzhou fish ball? are you hungry? you can go eat first, you poor thing.”

awaiting for the last dance

whimsical as the shower rain, you spent a sleepless night opting for a productive path — train. the music of sword cutting the air with the intent of precise point, feet steady to the ground yet agile as a feline, it’s a footwork to allow yourself an escape in a bind, unsettled water that was agitated and quelled. the blade flared cold light, striking a purpose, a sword dance following an illusionary image of an empty plane as the void of life suddenly comes alive with the arrival of plum blossoms.

nights at mount hua are cold and unforgiving. they take advantage of the light clothes worn, crackled frost nipping on the skin turning to a hungry bite, the scenery of plum blossom trees deep red under the chilly moonlight and mocking the pitiful soul to catch a glimpse of it as the first fall of snow buried them. your graceful form in the wintry night comes to mind. chung myung leaned his back on one of the trees as he watched quietly and listened to the light tappings of your boots, sounds heavy landing a blow, wind urging the leaves to dance and chung myung tip of his head to the sight as the vicious swift blade tore the trunk.

it’s hard to discern the difference between the petals drifting slowly in the air from the plum blossom tree sprouting in the ground and the petals unfolded by two elders of the sect. the musings of the night giggled, the series of fists either blocked single-handedly or avoided in a way his body is angled to the side. second slower, you will come to scathe the vital points of this hailed saint. chung myung leapt back, putting distance as you come emerge in the shadows, swinging your leg to kick the side of his face and like your other attempts, it also failed. chung myung seized the opening — suddenly dropping as he pivoted a leg to lose your footing. unprepared, you immediately tumbled, closing your eyes to embrace the impact that never happened, a deep chuckle reverberated above.

chung myung had his arm wrapped around your torso, carrying you like you weighed nothing as he had you hoisted, the feeling of floating strange as he walked back to the newly established dormitories. he passed by the same tree that your sword had pierced in its spot, he applied a spell as it hovered in the back. “that’s enough training for the night, dear junior. i’ll never hear the end of sect leader sahyung’s nagging to find out you sneak out.”

“looks who is calling the kettle black. put me down.”

“no.” still childish at his age, he stuck out his tongue to make fun of your worm-wriggling figure.

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anthurak · 6 months

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One aspect of Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel that I’ve always found particularly interesting is the power-dynamics between the Human Sinners and the native Demons of Hell. And how the differences between them are far more complex than they might first appear.

See, on paper it might seem like the Sinners get the far better deal while the Hellborn Demons are effectively second-class citizens in their own home. The Sinners are effectively immortal, can seemingly only be permanently killed by angelic weapons/powers and can wield much more power than the average Imp, Succubus or other demon, with some of the Sinner Overlords even wielding power apparently comparable to that of the Goetia nobility. Even the official word of the creators listing the ‘classes’ of Hellish society put the Sinners above all of the Hellborn Demons save for the Goetia.

However, while this may seem clear-cut on paper, I have a feeling that the reality is FAR more complex than it may first appear. And that there is actually a very interesting aspect that the native demons hold over the Sinners.

Because for all their apparent superior power and immortality, at the end of the day the Sinners are still prisoners. And not just of Hell in general, but a single part of it. Vivzie has also confirmed that Sinners are confined specifically to the Pride Ring, and cannot travel to other areas of Hell.*

Meanwhile, we’ve seen on multiple occasions that there isn’t anything keeping the Hellborn Demons confined to any specific Ring. Despite supposedly being the lowest in Hell’s societal hierarchy, it seems that even Imps and Hellhounds can travel between the Rings freely.

And that’s not even touching on the fact that Hellborn Demons can outright travel to EARTH ITSELF if they want to. Sure, it may not be as easy for them as traveling to other areas of Hell, but it’s clear that there ARE ways for native Demons to go to Earth, and that it happens fairly often.

Despite their apparent lower class and power, it seems like the native Demons of Hell conversely enjoy far more freedom than the Sinners do. Really think about how Sinners like Alastor and Valentino wield power and authority approaching that of Hell’s nobility, yet a ‘lowly’ Imp like Blitzo, Moxxie or Millie does things every day that they simply… CAN’T.

And that’s not even diving into one VERY significant aspect of life in Hell that I imagine effects these two groups VERY differently:

The yearly Extermination.

It’s not clear yet just how Heaven’s yearly purge of Sinners effects the Hellborn Demons, but I imagine in basically any instance, they have a MAJOR advantage over the Sinners. It’s very likely that the extermination is confined to the Pride Ring itself, since that’s where all the Sinners are. Meaning that even if the Exorcists are totally indiscriminate and go around blasting everything that moves, the native Demons can simply LEAVE Pride to go elsewhere in Hell where it’s safe for the day, whereas the Sinners are stuck in their prison at the nonexistent mercy of the Angels. It’s even possible that the Exorcists simply don’t target Hellborn Demons at all during the yearly purge, focusing specifically on Sinners.

Which means that for all their possible power and status, most Sinners have basically a 50-50 or worse shot of straight up dying every year. While the natives of Hell simply… DON’T have to deal with that.

The funny thing is, the more I’ve thought about it, the more it feels like this same dynamic applies not just to the Sinners and the Demons, but to other levels of Hellish society. Where those with less power end up having more freedom than those with more power.

For one, this idea of ‘power and status coming at the cost of freedom’ has been a key theme of Stolas’ character since the start of Season 2 of Helluva Boss. That Stolas was born into all this power and status, yet has had his entire life effectively dictated to him from day one. Which is why he threw himself so completely into his tryst with Blitzo, as it felt liberating for him.

For another example, let’s look at the Goetia nobility like Stolas as a whole and the Kings of Sin like Asmodeus. It’s been made pretty clear that the Sins are about as far above the Goetia as the Goetia are above the likes of Imps and Hellhounds. That for all their flaunting of power and status, the Goetia are effectively ‘middle-management’ while the Sins are pretty much the ‘God-Emperors’ of Hell.

Yet when we consider the possibility that all of the Sins are Fallen Angels just like Lucifer, an interesting wrinkle in this dynamic emerges: If all seven of the Sins were originally expelled from Heaven for whatever transgressions/rebellions/basic mistakes, that could mean they are actually PRISONERS of Hell just like the Human Sinners! Certainly they may be able to travel between the areas of Hell freely, but still nonetheless trapped in Hell overall.

Which would mean that despite the massive difference in power and authority, the Goetia like Stolas can do ONE key thing that even the might, all-powerful Sins cannot:

They can leave Hell if they want to.

And on top of all this, this dynamic even extends beyond Hell. Just look at what we’ve seen of Heaven. On paper, Heaven seems to be, well Heaven. With the Angels holding enormous power, status and wealth. Yet it’s also clear that Heaven is this EXTREMELY rigid, controlling society where even the lowest-ranked members are tightly monitored.

And where even the slightest slip-up can potentially cost you EVERYTHING.

The episode C.H.E.R.U.B. really did give us a VERY interesting look at the dynamics between Heaven and Hell. On the one hand, I.M.P. is this cheap, ramshackle startup company while C.H.E.R.U.B. is flashy, well-maintained and even the Heaven equivalent of government-funded. But on the other hand, Blitzo, Moxxie and Millie clearly operate with ZERO oversight from any kind of higherup, can operate pretty much however the fuck they want, and also have access to a crazy powerful demonic artifact, even if Loona seems to be the only one who actually knows how to use it. Meanwhile, Cletus, Collin and Keenie got straight-up expelled from Heaven PERMANENTLY for being accidentally involved in the death of ONE human.

*The nature how the Sinners are confined and what is actually ‘keeping’ them in the Pride ring is still pretty unclear, but I have to imagine this is some ‘Divine Mandate’ thing, tied to whatever sends human sinners to Hell in the first place. Meaning that Sinners literally CANNOT leave Pride through any means, probably with some impassible barrier around any way out of Pride. Like if one of I.M.P.s clients tried to pull a fast one and jump through a portal Loona made to Earth, they would probably just bounce right off of it. And that’s the charitable option. Another possibility is that a Sinner leaving the Pride Ring in any way just straight up dies. As in, incinerated in divine or infernal flames if they pass outside the boundaries of Pride. Or perhaps Sinners simply can’t survive outside of Pride.

#helluva boss #hazbin hotel #helluva boss analysis

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inconveniently-discorporated · 9 months

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Crack theory inspired by book of life theory.

So I'm sitting here thinking about all of these little things--

"All of us vs all of them"

Heaven & Hell seem to be hell (and heaven) bent on fighting each other and reducing the Earth down to a puddle of goo.

The Them, Newt & Anathema, Agnes Nutter.

Further Nice & Accurate Prophecies -- namely, The Big Story

The Book of Life, and past-meddling being teased -- at least maybe some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff might be afoot.

What if it's not the Metatron messing with things? What if it's Aziraphale? In an attempt to save the Earth from Heaven and Hell. But maybe not to the extent of the actual book of life theory.

So this whole time post-S1, I've assumed that the two sides teamed up maybe because they were mad at the humans for averting the war. But I think "all of us vs all of them" might actually be humanity trying to avert another apocalypse (on a much bigger scale), whilst both demons and angels are taking an ACTIVE part in making the second coming happen (instead of everyone assuming these two idiots on Earth have it handled).

And I'm thinking about Aziraphale. I'm feeling like he's not going to want to immediately go against everything, and out himself as (still) a traitor. I think he's going to put a lot of work into undermining it, while not being obvious about it.

LIKE, MAYBE, SAY, BEING THE ONE TO SEND AGNES NUTTER VISIONS OF THE FUTURE SO EVERYTHING CAN BE WRITTEN DOWN AND HUMANITY HAS A BLUEPRINT FOR AVERTING THE APOCALYPSE? TWICE??

I feel like maybe we're going to see that Aziraphale really DOES need to be in Heaven and wield that power so he can actually work against it, but I also think that he's going to need Crowley's help earthside to coordinate all of that.

I'm NOT sure what to think about Muriel being in charge of the bookshop so far. They were installed by the Metatron, there are Heavenly ulterior motives. But I DO think it's going to end up being a critical miscalculation on the Metatron's part -- underestimating the power of "the dim one". I really think Muriel is going to help humanity in the end.

Although it would be funny if the Metatron was actually not a bad dude after all. Pretty classic for characters to be set up to be obvious villains, only for them to have secret plans that make them heroes after all. Maybe he really DID need to separate the two so they could work together but on separate pieces, but couldn't be obvious about it so he doesn't get Angel Revolution'd by the archangels who want war. Maybe he HAD to say what he did to Aziraphale about not avoiding the war because it was a test from God to see what he would do.

Like, why Aziraphale? If it's to get him out of the way, why NOT let Michael write him out of the book of life? Why bet on a wild card who's in love with a joker? I am now suspicious of the Metatron not as a villain, but as a secret hero. HMMM!

And just as an added bonus, I found it particularly powerful when Muriel said that books were like portable little people. That honestly feels like it's going to mean something at some point.

#good omens #gos3 theories #crack theories

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