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aroaessidhe · 11 months

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okay I was asked about fey books I’ve read that Do stick to folklore a bit more than certain popular books - and actually looking at what fey books I’ve read it’s a bit like.... books that stick to folklore closely I sometimes Don’t Love, and there are others that don’t stick to it as much but I like the overall narrative more? or some mix of that.

so here’s a list of a few - a range of how much they stick to folklore (which of course is an amorphous thing) and how much I like them, but it’s something!

That Self-Same Metal - literally just read this, it’s about a Black girl who’s the stage blade expert for shakespeare’s company and can see fey, and they’re appearing more and more in the city. explores a bit of the midsummer night’s dream fey but also like “shakespeare was wrong” and general folklore. definitely the start of a series and has a lot going on but I thought it has some cool ideas!

all Holly Black’s books deal with them well! the Modern Faerie Tales companion/trilogy has maybe aged a bit by now, and I hate way the romance ended up together in The Folk of the Air (and the way the fandom is about it) but otherwise I do really like how it deals with fey and politics! also enjoyed The Darkest Part of the Forest. these are all intertwined/same world

The Buried And The Bound - a hedgewitch girl keeps fey away from her town, and gets caught up with two boys who are cursed. mostly deals with minor fey and a powerful hag

An Enchantment of Ravens - it’s been quite a few years since I read this, but I do remember enjoying it. It is a bit more of a romance focused story also, an artist stolen into the fey realm for painting a fey prince as if he was human(iirc?)

The Bone Houses - not directly dealing with fey, but like the aftermath of the ancient fey’s curses? welsh myth inspired. which I think is cool.

At The Edge of The Woods - about a girl in a religious/patriarchial village who starts to have strange dreams about a fey boy luring her into the woods. it’s not super focused on them, but they’re very much the classic ‘dangerous fey stealing people away for entertainment’ kind of thing

Adult

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries - I sort of have mixed feelings about this - I really enjoy how it dealt with fey and the creepier folklore creatures side of it! the handling of the changeling was a bit iffy and not sure about the romance

The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt - dark fantasy novella about a wolf-shifter made to join the wild hunt to save his qpr. focused on the unseelie/wild hunt area

Silver in the Wood - gaslamp fantasy novella about the keeper of a magical forest, dryads and dangerous fey

The Wind City - a bit of a mashup of fey folklore and Māori atua in a modern NZ setting

Sinners/Veiled - very classic but also with the element of a modern setting where human pollution is like a drug to fey (and the MC is a drug lord.) (so kind of dark but also not dark in the sexy way bc the MC is aroace)

Under The Pendulum Sun - this is a gothic fantasy that has a bit of a new take on a fey world, but also definitely has some of those creepy folklore vibes.

Siren Queen - this only partly involves fey but I thought the way that it mashed up old hollywood and fey (aka shady deals for fame themes) was interesting!

Sorcerer to the Crown/The True Queen - my memory on this is hazy, but I believe it’s regency fantasy, with its own take on a fey world/magic (moreso the 2nd book)

Malice/Misrule - adult high fantasy lesbian sleeping beauty reimagining, this is kind of doing it’s own thing I guess (I don’t remember if they’re even called fey?) but definitely has a bit of the creepy creature/court vibes in book 2 especially

In The Jaded Grove - I was just looking up books to see if there was anything I missed and found this, which seems interesting to me!

I also haven’t read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (but I watched the show ages ago) and I believe that has the vibe too

#book list #im sure there are some im missing HAHA #some I left out like the witch king (kinda doing its own thing and then calling them fey) or ash/huntress (only lightly touches on fey tbh)#laya talks #the iron fey i loved some of the ideas but the story is kinda bad #wicked lovely.........i can't tell what is nostalgia and what is objective but I did love that series a Lot #(it's quite 2000s YA romance focused but like also. good fey)

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demispark · 18 days

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I have thoughts (read: ramblings) about this episode of Dungeon Meshi too, so I'm gonna post about it!

Spoilers for Dungeon Meshi Episode 15 - Dryad/Cockatrice

Love that thing where friends hold hands and form a circle while falling. idk why it just makes me very happy :3

What the fuck was Chilchuck doing hiding against that wall. Sir how did you do that (I'd include images in this post, but Netflix is stinky so they black out screenshots >:T)

Finally the funny panel of Senshi lamenting being unable to feed the kids has been animated. Good for him

On this exciting episode of Dungeon Meshi, the boys endure my worst fucking nightmare. I almost had a visceral reaction to seeing that much of that godforsaken yellow dust-

The image of those fucked-up dryad fruits and Marcille's expression were so funny. Marcille immediately looking for a spell to turn back time was an A+ punchline as well

Senshi doing fucked up and weird things for food presentation is a classic

Everything seems more doable on a full stomach ^_^

Marcille is as passionate about magic as Laios is about monsters and we love to see it :3

Chilchuck receives The Talk at 40 years old, wishes he was dead. More at 11.

Marcille is a good teacher yay (ignore her shoving Laios onto the floor dw about it)

Okay Chilchuck we know you're the GOATed union worker guy, but in Laios and Senshi's defense, I'd be a little uncomfortable if someone had to grope my man titties to heal me too.

Not sure if Chilchuck is being racist or some Elves are just like that about non-Elves learning magic...

I didn't know mana sickness entailed an extremely bad hallucinogenic trip. Thanks Laios!

Bruh why was there a Cockatrice there-

Nearly forgot, Marcille's hood is really cute! She doesn't wear it often :3

"The Magic School's First-Ever Genius, Marcille!" would've been a lot funnier to see animated if she wasn't immediately put into extremely dire peril

Laios: "First: remove your pants" excuse me what-

I'm glad Laios was actually cooking but my god man-

I'm glad Senshi was not cooking but I really thought he was gonna-

Never mind he absolutely was cooking. Of course he was.

Don't ever use people as a human pickling weight!!! She said the thing!!!

I realized I was commenting on almost everything that happened but this episode was good okay

#dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #delicious in dungeon

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mishacakes · 1 month

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Looks like we have about five more episodes until the best character of Dungeon Meshi joins the team. Are you looking forward to seeing the girl?

UH DUH I’VE BEEN COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS. AND OH YAY AN OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT MY DUNMESHI PACING THEORY!!!!!!!

OK SO episode 12 ended where volume 4 did, so im gonna go ahead and pace out what I think is gonna be the next two volumes (5 and 6)

gonna put it under the cut for the anime onlies cause SPOILERS!!!!!!!!

Episode 13: Chapters 29 and 30, these two pair pretty well together, high action first half and a more quiet gathering of what we know second half

Episode 14: Chapters 31 and 32, this is Sea Serpent 1 and 2, so it makes sense for them to be paired up. also FIRST IZU APPEARANCE!

Episode 15: Chapters 33 and 34, back to classic monster vignettes for a spell, while the party gets back in order after losing falin (very excited to see senshi’s “I MUST FEED THE CHILDREN” be animated. now normally I would think to pair dryad, cockatrice, and cleaners together HOWEVER—

Episode 16: Chapters 35 and 36, this is the episode where all the parties comes together and they hash it out. I think this theory is very likely seeing how 36 ends with a falin cliffhanger. This is also where Izutsumi gets her first line!!!

Episode 17: Chapters 37 and 38, THE BIG CHIMERA REVEAL!!!! these are also two action heavy chapters like how the red dragon action episode was, so it would make for a solid episode.

Episode 18: Chapters 39 and 40, the shapeshifter chapters!! Again a part 1 and 2, and ends with Izutsumi!!!! I do wonder if they’ll kinda condense the shapeshifter shenanigans and add chapter 41 in there too since that one’s relatively short, but we’ll see!!!!!!!!

After that my theories kinda fizzle out cause “ice golem” and “barometz” are two Izu focused chapters back to back so I’m curious how they’ll do those! But yea I’ve been adoring the pacing so far it’s SO GOOD. SO TO REVIEW!!! Izutsumi!! Appearing in 14, first line in 16, and the BIG REVEAL in either 18 or 19!! I’M SO CURIOUS TO HEAR WHAT SHE SOUNDS LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!! my money’s on either sullen teen girl voice, or peridot SU.

#dunmeshi

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thedawningofthehour · 9 months

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In tandem with my ramblings about doth being an actual separated au instead of a 'Donnie thinks it's a separated au' au and some conversation with @dryad-druid about that and Big Mama being an actual mama-yeah, I think I've thought up a pretty cool au idea.

(this is long. you will regret this)

So the classic Donnie gets separated from his brothers, Lou takes the other kids in the divorce and Draxum gets left with Donnie, but unlike other separated aus, Lou very clearly sees Draxum save him from the flames. But Lou's hurt, choking on smoke, holding three babies and Draxum is holding his baby and OH YEAH HE'S LITERALLY IN THE PROCESS OF MUTATING. Lou has to flee for the safety of his other kids.

But he fought Draxum and took the turtles for a reason, and every moment he spends with his three babies just renews his conviction. He can't let Draxum keep even one of the turtles, and he will not leave his child to the mercy of that monster.

He needs to return to reclaim his last baby...but he barely got out alive the first time. Not only that, but he has three little lives that depend on him now. Even if he was successful, they couldn't be left alone for long. And he cannot fail. He can't leave his purple baby with Draxum, and he can't leave his other children alone.

So he returns to the Battle Nexus. He tells Big Mama he'll stay, he'll do whatever she wants him to do, provided two things: she provides for his children, feed them and educate them and keep them safe from anyone who might try to harm them or use them for their own ends, including herself. And second, help him reclaim his child from Draxum.

Big Mama is ecstatic. She has Lou back right where she wants him, his boys are just the most adorable turtles she's ever seen, and she really doesn't like Draxum anyway. They get married, she gets the boys birth certificates or whatever and sets them up in luxury accommodations, and hires mercenaries to capture Baron Draxum and his remaining creation and bring them to her-unharmed, she stresses. The baby must be kept safe, at all costs.

Meanwhile, Draxum just watched his entire life's work go up in flames as he was violently divorced by the guy he sort of-totally had a crush on, who was also the father of his kids and kidnapped 3/4's of them, and is now left with whatever meager possessions survived the blaze, his gargoyles, and a single turtle.

And yes, this turtle fusses constantly and keeps pulling his hair and doesn't let him sleep for more than two hours at a time, but...he, weirdly, really enjoys it. Yes, he's exhausted and hungry and hasn't been able to take a leisurely poop in a week because the second he sits down someone starts to cry, but when he stares up at Draxum with those big eyes while he takes a bottle, when he refuses to settle down and fall asleep until he's in Draxum's arms, he just...can't help it. He's completely taken with this kid. He'd do anything for him. He's all that Draxum has left.

So when the bounty hunters come looking for him, intending to take his son away, Draxum runs.

Homeless, penniless, not daring to use even his name, Draxum goes into hiding with only what he can carry on his back and the baby in his arms. He unfortunately has to get rid of the gargoyles-he won't be able to pay them and they're too stupid to keep anything a secret, plus they sucked as nannies. So they go back to the gargoyle agency, and Draxum goes off into the night.

Hiding in the Hidden City proves difficult, considering there's only so many goat Yokai, and Big Mama's goons are nothing if not thorough. I thought maybe he could live in some fantasy-esque cottage out in the middle of the mushroom forest or something, and maybe he does for the first few years, but as Galois grows so do his needs, and he becomes increasingly harder to keep hidden. So Draxum retreats to the only place left he has a prayer of disappearing into-NYC.

Life on the surface is hard and forces Draxum to deal with-shudders-humans, but he soon finds himself benefitting from their kindness. A coat draped over his shoulders when the temperatures start to dip, leftovers from a restaurant worker who is supposed to throw them away but puts it all in a to-go box instead. He likes to think of it as fate, choosing the alleyway right outside their apartment the night before he was stumbled upon, but after the shock had worn off the couple was eager to help him, and neither they nor their daughter April treated his son any differently.

The O'Neils help Draxum get a settled in a recently vacated apartment in their building and things begin looking up. Galois and April become attached at the hip almost immediately, and though neither of them completely understand why Gale has to stay hidden, they listen to the adults. Draxum can pass for human even without his cloaking brooch, so he gets a part-time job in the evenings to at least cover some of what the O'Neils are doing for him. April goes to his apartment when she gets done with school and he watches her until her own parents get home, and the O'Neils watch Galois while his father is at work.

It's not perfect, but they have so many more opportunities on the surface. April struggles in school so Draxum offers to homeschool her alongside Galois, and her parents agree to do that for at least her elementary years. When April is twelve and Galois is ten, Draxum gives him his own cloaking brooch so he can attend middle school with her. It comes with a long lecture on how he can't let anyone know his secret, that Draxum was asking a lot from the both of them, but he felt like they were mature enough to understand how important it was.

So they go to school, then come home and learns alchemy and Yokai history from Draxum, Galois sets his curtains on fire multiple times performing experiments in his bedroom, and always seems to be learning a new subject from Youtube tutorials. Draxum gets a day job as a lunch lady and starts thinking about getting a human degree, so he can go back to doing science things or practicing medicine. Two decades ago he would have recoiled in horror if someone showed him his future, but he finds himself...weirdly content.

MEANWHILE. The rest of the boys grow up in a life of luxury, tailored clothing and endless servants and world-class tutors. Lou settles himself into being Big Mama's part-time champion and full-time trophy husband. True to his word, he does whatever Big Mama asks of him, so long as it doesn't compromise his sons. He fights, he smiles and poses for the press, he sleeps in her bed when she wants him and makes himself scarce when she doesn't. And he does what he can to ensure his boys don't get too spoiled. Taking care of them is the only thing in his life that makes him happy now.

But the deal he made with Big Mama chafes him at every turn. She said she'd never force his children to fight, but when Raphael begs her to put him in some of the smaller, no-kill fights...well, that certainly wasn't against the terms of their contract, and how could she ever say no to one of her turtley-boos?! Leonardo is clever, far cleverer than any of his nannies or tutors, with a skill in manipulation that would put most car salesmen to shame. Not to mention he's definitely the most handsome of his sons, with his bold markings and charismatic personality. Big Mama delights in parading him around, using him as arm-candy when Lou isn't available. And worst of all, she's taken to teaching him business at her side. She fixates on Michelangelo as well, but Lou can't really find anything to object to when she hangs up his artwork and brags to her dinner guests about their meal being planned and cooked by one of her sons. Still, he keeps his last baby close, so she'll have all the more trouble finding something to exploit in him.

All the while, he can't bring himself to truly be angry with Big Mama. She took him back, kept him and his boys safe when they needed it. She's his children's mother, they love her, look at all she provides them. He was the one that left those loopholes in, he was the one who failed his sons. He was the one who left one of them behind. He can't be angry with her, no.

But he knows who he can be angry with.

So that's how he passes the years. Watching his wife exploit the children she claims to love, reading report after report of every failed mission to locate Draxum and his missing child, taking his fury out on every mercenary that returns without them. He thinks about his last baby, what hell their life must be. How they must feel, knowing their father left them with a monster. He thinks about Draxum, the source of all his misery, who has eluded him and kept his child captive for thirteen long years. Lou waits. He plans. While inside him, a simmering hatred plants its roots deeper and deeper, and slowly begins to boil.

#if you made it to the end congratumalations #you win no prize i don't know why you did that #this is barely proofread so all the mistakes you see no you didn't #i spent so long typing this when i could have been working on the next chapter #anyway going to bed now

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theriu · 1 year

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Presenting the Mythic Expert (M.E.) from my Mythical How To Guides!

I found an old pose in my sketchbook from an earlier attempt to draw her, so I decided to fill it out with her adventuring garb. Then I did something I’ve literally NEVER done before: designing alternate outfits! Now let’s have some fun and break these down :D

On The Job

This is her super geared-up adventuring garb; she dresses like this for official gigs or when she knows she’ll be dealing with dangerous mythics. It tends to get a bit warm, but better warm than dead! (And an extra jacket tied around her waist for the even colder regions! Or in case she needs to throw it over somebody’s head.)

I wanted to give her a mix of modern clothes and classic adventuring gear to represent the mix of classic myths/folklore and the modern-day setting. She has a few magic tools, like some health potions, a few fae artifacts, etc. but mostly normal human gear. She carries misc. useful items in her backpack and pockets or just tied onto things.

Despite dealing with dangerous mythics, she dislikes fighting, preferring diplomacy and trickery. She’s not particularly violent regardless, but it’s also illegal (except in defense of self or others from imminent peril) to slay mythics. (You can do citizen’s arrests, though.) She is handy with a short sword and her staff, however! The wizard gem probably has a stun effect on contact. And she can run pretty dang fast.

Casual Warm

Here’s an everyday summer outfit! She typically wears normal-looking sneakers and clothes comfortable for moving quickly. However, an M.E. is always prepared, so she keeps misc. handy items on her in the fanny pack, and bracelets (paracord, magic detection, slingshot elastic, iron), a hidden necklace (emergency health potion), mirrored sunglasses, etc. When you gain a reputation as a Mythic Expert (even a good one), it can lead to awkward encounters. Or inserting yourself into awkward encounters because they’re less awkward for you than for other people.

Casual Cool

Here we see the adventurer actually wearing her jacket! I decided she tries to have eye protection on her at all times, particularly mirrored lenses because gorgons and basilisks and hypnotizing mythics. Her purse is based on a real satchel I have where the strap is a belt a convention artist decorated with real glass vials holding tiny flowers! :D So basically, she always has eye protection, close-toed shoes, and a carrying bag of some kind, plus a few handy doodads hidden about her person. :D

I’d probably also need to make a more civil uniform for her to wear in situations like the Dryad Guide. But yeah, there we go! Hope you enjoyed that foray into my Mythic Expert, who is definitely based on me in style if not in actual skillset XD (I WISH I were that athletic and quick-thinking IRL.)

#How to guides for mythical creatures #Drawpril #Adventurer #mythical creatures #mythology #character design #my art #river draws

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paintingwithlions · 19 days

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Review: The Holy Wild by Danielle Dulsky

TLDR: I definitely recommend it, it's great for women who need the courage to be more autonomous and daring in their spirituality and in life in general, and I imagine (based on what others have said) that it can be helpful in a broader process of healing from certain traumas. However, if you don't need these things, I don't think the book will be of much interest except perhaps as an object of cultural study.

First off, I must admit that I did not read the entire book. Normally I wouldn't post my thoughts on a book without having read it entirely. But this is something Dulsky explicitly encourages: in the introduction she encourages the reader to not read the book linearly, but to hop around, wander around in it, read what speaks to them. Moreover, a large part of the book is taken up by rituals and spells, and for sections of the book whose themes didn't really "speak" to me I saw little use in getting into the minutiae of these elements.

I think this is a book where it's important to know what you're getting, because I've seen some people be disappointed with the contents online. What this is not: a guide to nature spirituality or magic. It won't tell you which gods rule over which aspects of nature or how to talk to a dryad or specifics on herbs you find in the forest for spells or animal spirits or stuff like that.

The Wild the title refers to is instead a vision of the divine feminine as spiritual authenticity and autonomy in women. It doesn't so much encourage you to engage with any sort of external wilderness as its goal, but rather encourages the reader to become wild. To undo whatever limiting constraints were placed upon her by (patriarchal) norms and attitudes and violence and reclaim her own authentic spiritual self.

Okay look, if you cringed at that paragraph... I get it. I cringed hearing the concept, and I cringed sometimes reading the book. It's very much full of that classic Mystical Feminist language that has become seen as rather too new age and even regressive at times.

But honestly... that language is used because it works. Despite my occasional cringe moments, I found this book hugely valuable, especially some of the rituals in the Earth chapter, which is focused on encouraging you to reclaim that autonomy and start out on a new path more true to yourself. It was exactly the motivation I needed at this point in my life, and I did find it very healing. I'll be keeping the book around because even if some of the later chapters didn't speak to me very much (although I loved the book's take on Jezebel), I expect I will find a lot of meaning in them at other points in my life.

This is a very girlboss spirituality feminist book. And I know it's unpopular to say nowadays... but sometimes you need that. This sort of goddess spirituality exists for a reason: for a lot of women it is the sort of thing they need to heal spiritually. And I think this book does a pretty good job of it.

The book is very much belief system agnostic, and explicitly so. Whether the divine feminine, the Wild it talks about, is an actual spiritual force to tap into, some aspects of a deity or deities, or just a metaphor for what happens when women take back their autonomy is left up to the reader. This book won't give you a spiritual system. But what it does want you to do, and I think it does it really well, is motivate you to take control of your own spirituality, whatever it may be. I could see this book working for polytheists, monotheists, atheists, etc... albeit you might have to accept being a little bit heretic depending on your tradition. But hey, being a heretic is fun!

Some final points:

the book does somewhat suffer from historical issues (I'm a history major, I can't help but notice them.) We don't have prepatriarchal myths of persephone deciding to go to the underworld herself, Lilith was not a handmaiden of Inanna, the idea of herbal healers persecuted for being witches isn't really borne out by history. This doesn't detract from the spiritual value of the book, but just don't take any of the few historical claims it makes as fact. (It's not a history book anyway, so.)

This book is couched in very binary, feminine language. This is not because Dulsky has some sort of idea of women as being special. She makes it very, very clear in the introduction and other points in the book that the book is not intended in that way, that the divine is pangender, that she is using a broad definition of femininity, etc etc. And I really appreciate that! However the focus on women and the divine feminine does mean it won't be of as much use, or at all, for people who aren't women. And tbh... that's fine. Not everything is meant for everyone.

The book has five chapters, and in each she uses a particular woman from myth and legend whose story she interprets in a new empowering way. These figures are: Lilith, Salome, The Whore of Babylon, Mary Magdalen and Queen Jezebel. And look... I'm not a fan of the use of Lilith here. As you can see, three out of the five figures are explicitly from christian mythos, and the fifth is used in both the christian old testament and the tanakh. So overall this book is approaching from a christian tradition. And here Lilith is, stripped of all her folklore and all her connotations in judaism except the "adams first wife" idea of her from the Alphabet of Ben Sira, and put among them. To me, that just reads like another example of people taking and decontextualising jewish stuff to put them in a culturally christian framework. And it's a shame, because she shows clear sensitivity to such issues in her explicit statement that she isn't using Hindu and West African goddesses in this framework and in her recommending books written by people from the relevant cultures for those who are interested in them from a goddess spirituality perspective. I don't know Dulsky's own background, so I won't say whether she was "allowed" to do anything like that. But I do think it plays into an iffy trend, and I wanted to acknowledge it.

So in conclusion: this book isn't for everyone. It does a very specific thing: encouraging spiritual autonomy via a pagan/witchy Divine Feminine ritual approach. Not everyone needs that. Not everyone wants that. But for those who do need/want it? I think it does a wonderful job, and I'm keeping it on my bookshelf to be sure.

#danielle dulsky #the holy wild #pagan #paganism #witchcraft

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thecreaturecodex · 2 years

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If I Ran the Zoo: Monster Manual Minis, pt. 1

As you may be aware, WizKids is releasing a set of miniatures called Dungeons & Dragons Classic Collection: Monsters A-C, that contains eight minis based on creature designs from the original AD&D Monster Manual. A-C is an odd place to divide, and that suggests that they’re planning a lot more of these, assuming that the first set sells well enough (and at $100 a box, it’s clearly a bit of a gamble). So, because I have Thoughts about what monsters they should make (and love talking about old monster art in general), I have compiled some ideas for what WizKids should include in future sets.

Monsters D-F

Sort of cheating with the title, because F is a very empty letter in the original AD&D Monster Manual. They could do a Frog, Giant. Or a Fungus, Violet. But that’s about it.

Demogorgon, Prince of Demons

Type III Demon (Glabrezu)

Bone Devil

Devil, Geryon I am limiting myself with demons and devils here; you could theoretically do a set with just these. Demogorgon is an obvious shoo-in; with Stranger Things, Demogorgon is more high profile than ever. Geryon I picked because he actually has stats in D&D 5e, unlike the other MMI arch-devils, and his design has changed a little, but remains basically the same. The Type III Demon and Bone Devil are the most striking of the non-unique demon and devil images, respectively.

Displacer Beast Another shoo-in. The presence of the beholder and carrion crawler in the A-C set suggest to me that they’re going to make a mini for each “product identity” monster from the MMI.

Doppelganger A bit of a weird pull, but look at his stride! Look at his panache! Look at his oddly shaped skull!

Dragon, Red The name of the game is Dungeons & Dragons, so they gotta include one. The Red Dragon is the most iconic of the colored dragon designs, and has often been used as a sort of “mascot” for D&D in general. The problem is, the MMI illustration is kind of doofy. I suspect that they’re going to use the design from the MMI cover instead:

Efreet Another case where there’s a more memorable image in the same edition to pull from. The cover of the Dungeon Master’s Guide has a great efreet on it, and that’s what I think will be the basis for the miniature:

Monsters G-L

Stone Giant There has to be a giant, especially since WoTC is planning a giant-themed book to come out soon. Of the MMI giants, the stone giant has the best look.

Stone Golem Same as the stone giant; a classic category of monsters with this as the coolest looking one. Alternatively, if having so many “stone” themed monsters seems redundant, an iron golem would be my runner up choice.

Gorgon A surprisingly iconic D&D monster; gorgons show up everywhere in AD&D 1st and 2nd edition. Like the basilisk and cockatrice, they’re based on a bestiary monster (in this case, Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts).

Griffon This one is really for the compare and contrast. The 5e griffon looks like a more naturalistic hybrid of lion and eagle; the AD&D griffon is straight out of heraldry. Plus it’s another classical bestiary monster.

Intellect Devourer The spookiest piece of art in the Monster Manual. Plus, WizKids would save some plastic by making a Small mini.

Ki-Rin The art is striking, and the ki-rin is the cover model of Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse. This is another one where the compare/contrast aspect might be fun; WizKids already has a miniature of the 5e ki-rin design.

Lamia Of the “sexy lady who is also a monster” monsters in the MMI (and there’s a lot of them), this is the one I think has the best shot of being turned into a miniature. Unlike the dryad, nymph or sylph, she actually looks monstrous. Unlike the succubus and the gynosphinx, her hair in the original pose can easily cover nipples. The hind legs, with their scales and hooves, are different enough from the 5e design to make a miniature interesting

Lich Of all of the undead, this is the one that’s the most specifically D&D, the one least likely to be encountered in groups, and has some of the coolest art. Skeletons, zombies and ghouls can be found en masse from a dozen different companies. David A Trampier’s lich is distinct.

#if i ran the zoo #monster manual #AD&D #D&D #dungeons and dragons #miniatures #creature design #david a trampier #david sutherland #two guys named david #deciding what fantasy would look like for the next 45 years #long post

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birdmenmanga · 5 months

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spent some time reading manga today, using the random button on mangadex as per the usual.

[Will These Words Reach You] first off was this cute yuri story about a woman who had quit her job and taken a vacation where she met another woman studying abroad and they get close despite the fact both of them can only use broken english to communicate (their first languages are japanese and spanish). very cute and sweet but is labeled as "doujin" for some reason even though it works very well as a stand-alone story and I can't find what it's a doujin of. It's a good light-hearted read (below left)

[Suuji de Sukuu! Jyakushou Kokka] then we had an isekai story about an aspiring mathematician becoming the princess's war consultant, which you would THINK is a strong premise; however the main girl's boobs are so fucking annoying and distracting that it was actively making my reading experience worse despite a reasonably strong plot. It's so clear that the author doesn't believe in the power of his subject matter or his writing or whatever that the panel compositions keep focusing on boobs. boobs. boobs. annoying as hell man why can't you just stay in your lane and talk about game theory. fuck off. I haven't watched no game no life in ages but I think the plot of this is more solid and the mathematics more coherent but the boobs just piss me off so bad. and I LIKE boobs too. that's how you know you've really flubbed it. still on the fence as to whether I'd recommend it. (above right)

[Zettai Unmei Houteishiki] we also had some old-looking yaoi (off the top of my head the artstyle looked maybe... late 90s or early 2000s? [note: checked it and it came out 2004. nailed the artstyle dating]) that was about 1 volume long; unmemorable, melodramatic, and overall not great. god what eve was the plot... okay son of a yakuza family who is high-school aged fell in love with this photographer guy years ago but the rest of his family (2 older siblings, also both guys) chased the photographer guy off behind his back and he's feeling wet and pathetic about this. not great. don't recommend.

[Café Kichijoji de] there was also a slice-of-life comedy about 5 guys working at a cafe. to me it just felt like a deeply underbaked version of hana-kimi's humor, and some of it was pretty mean-spirited too, like one of the guys being sad that only the "ugly" (masc and butch) girls wanted to text him. also do not recommend. (above right)

[Yaoguai Mingdan] and lastly there's a fantasy story about some college student who is suddenly surrounded by a lot of dangerous demons fighting over him. Seems like classic harem fare but it doesn't really bother me that much. Obviously also using sex as a bait to get people to read it, like suuji de sukuu up there but this at least is very forthcoming about "I need your semen and I am going to fuck you right now" instead of continually taking boob shots that are not remotely relevant to the plot at all. god, I'm just so mad at what they did to suuji de sukuu. as a person I'm just straight up more interested in statistics than I am about daoist demon mythology but maybe it's because of that I can appreciate yaoguai mingdan in a way I can't with suuji de sukuu like I'm not gonna be upset at the depictions in yaoguai mingdan because I don't know shit you know. also I grabbed the cover picture on mangadex but holy shit the artist's art gets way better lmao

I dunno. suuji de sukuu just felt more misogynistic as a story (which could have been fixed entirely if the main character had been a girl by the way), and while the author claims they love math it just comes off as insincere. like if you REALLY believe math is genuinely cool and is worth studying you wouldn't resort to low concepts like boob fanservice. read suugaku golden instead. yaoguai mingdan committed to the bit about sex hard and that's what I like about it. yeah!! the dryad is harvesting energy to get revenge on humans!! sure sure I can buy that. the bit about the love hotel the main character keeps getting dragged into against his will getting blown up time after time with the bill for repairs getting shoved on him because all the other supernatural parties are too busy duking it out in a secondary location? that's funny! that's really funny!! like it knows it's "low art" and accepts it and embraces it and there's something true and beautiful about that in the same way chainsaw man is. also the scanlation groups who have been working on yaoguai mingdan have been going THROUGH it I think I'm not even 70 chapters in and the scans have changed hands multiple times LMAO

#just thinking thoughts...#will these words reach you #suuji de sukuu! jyakushou kokka #zettai unmei houteishiki #cafe kichijoji de #yaoguai mingdan #suugaku golden

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estevnys · 7 months

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1,2, 9, 31, & 35 for ophielora plsss

BG3 Act 1 Asks

HEHE THANK YOUUU ilysm

(1) Tell us about your Tav! Name, class and subclass, race, pronouns. Do you have a headcanon for where they're from? Their family? Are they a Dark Urge? Or did you choose an Origin Character? Was it an easy decision?

okay if im being honest i am a BIT SCARED of the dark urge so i haven't made one yet. i went straight for an original tav for my first playthrough her name is ophielora. she is a circle of the land druid, though i do think if we expand out to like. "official dnd" classes, she might be circle of stars instead she is not from baldur's gate, my headcanon is that she was just in the city for a few days trying to "find herself" and "learn things" when she gets picked up by the mindflayer ship (just her luck). she is actually from from a large stretch of woods nearby-- the wood of sharp teeth. while she is definitely not a werewolf, her circle's perferred forms are unusually wolves and other carnivores. she also refers to her family as her "pack."

she has two "happy" parents-- one of them being a human archdruid and her mother being a creature called a hamadryad who is. . . an interesting character. her father is your classic druid elder, who, after being blessed with a child from the great oak they worship, was kind of put entirely in charge of raising her. she has a lot of her dad's mannerisms, but a bit of weirdness of being from a non-human bloodline. her family also has some type of connection to mielikki, daughter of sylvanus and goddess of the hunt. she is a life cleric for the build in game but i dont think she's actually that religious.

she sometimes says or does weird things that a "civilized" person would not. nakedness doesn't bother her, neither does being in animal form for long periods of time. she also is. . . incredibly unlucky and awkward. she often says the wrong thing at the wrong time. but! she is VERY friendly. she is the type of person that can & will talk to anyone and everyone. she is kind, to an aggressive degree. it's a bit of naivity, which she grows out of, and a bit of "i want to be good. i want to be so good it hurts"

she looks like this!!!

(2) Was there something about the character creator that just couldn't capture your Character? Please tell us about their hair, facial hair, tattoos, piercings, disabilities, their trans or intersex body, or anything else you're comfortable sharing

HEHE.... HRMMM okay i think it captures her Pretty well? i do think she should have little pointy teefs. i think also she has a few more piercings than just her nosering, all of them main from animal bones. her hair is a strange mix of red and blonde, likely due to her dryad blood, but she likes it! she wears it in a high ponytail braid combo. i imagine she spends a lot of time braiding/weaving flowers and branches in her hair. for a while i had her wearing a little circlet which i think is cute <3

she is a bisexual cis female! i don't think she's particularly curvy or anything, probably more on the skinny/flat-chested side of things. she is very short hehe. probably around 5'2", which makes for a lot of dropped jaws when her dire wolf form is like twice to size of her human form.

(9) Do you have a favorite member of the Tiefling Refugees? Is it the same as your Character's?

i loooove rolan i spin him around in my head. i think ophie and alfira get along very well! ophie lovessss to dance <3

(31) Does your Character have new or old phobias or superstitions that affect their story?

okay i LOVE this question even though i don't know the answer. i think she is VERY careful to speak to every animal she sees. she also believes that like. undead things are very necessary for the circle of life? i think its part of why she's so fine with astarion being a vampire.

i think she has a bit of a guilt complex like... she has such terrible luck she gets trapped a lot in these like. . . depressive episodes? she (and her mother) call them her "winters". she feels like she must being doing SOMETHING wrong to feel like this, and so she tries to counteract that with being Forcibly Good at every opportunity she can.

(35) Has your Character done anything that they regret in Act 1?

I MAY HAVE PRESSED THE WRONG BUTTON AND LAUNCHED THE GNOME THAT WAS STUCK TO THE WINDMILL HALFWAY TO BALDURS GATE AND IT IS TOTALLY CANON TO OPHIE'S STORY. SHE THINKS ABOUT IT ONCE A DAY :(

she also feels a Bit Bad about killing all the goblins in the camp

#ophielora #asks #THANK YOUUUUU FOR ASKING ILYSM KISSES UR FACE #long post /#bg3 spoilers

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trashy-bowtie · 2 years

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My Hero Academia Characters as Mythological Creatures

👊Deku - Angel. Not only does he embody a lot of goodness, but he’s there to help people. He also has that classic cherub look to him.

💥Bakugo - Werewolf, because this boy is VOLATILE af. He’s outta control and very aggressive, but strong.

👟Iida - Boread. In mythology they were fated to chase after something, perishing if they didn’t catch it. I feel like it’s symbolic of not only him chasing after his brothers legacy, but also his quirk as well.

🥰Uraraka - Faery. I feel like she needs a cute pair of wings on her. I know Fae can be mischievous but I feel like she’s a dryad of sorts. The Fae is a sort of broad term, so I’m thinking more stereotypical for this (since I work with them in my craft) so that means she’d be all cute, pastel, helpful especially in the garden. Perfect for my sugarplum BB.

🪨Kirishima - Genie, I feel like he’d be reminiscent of genie from Aladdin (Disney speaking). I also can imagine the shenanigans that would ensue and I’m here for it.

⚡️Kaminari - Raiju, since not only does it have power over storms and by association electricity, it also is just very odd in its behaviour which totally screams Kaminari to me.

🎧Jiro - Tengu. I feel like she’s more solitary, for sure, and just wants to chill in a mountain forest and vibe. Also she has a certain darkness about her style and since Tengu are originally more crow like in appearance which I feel like can be like Jiro. Also she probs has a trickster side to her, especially when it comes to Denki.

🐸Froppy - Mermaid, in keeping with the aquatic theme. She prefers to be in water and I could see her as a swamp or freshwater type.

🔥❄️Todoroki - Dragon. I feel like not only obviously fire, but there can be ice dragons too (or at least water dragons) and he could be reclusive because of that. Also very pretty dragon.

📖Momo - Tsukumogami. A Japanese myth where objects come alive due to energy from the surroundings over a long time frame. Usually they’re harmless and I feel like since she makes objects out of her own energy in a way it’s similar (obviously reversed) and I could see her as harmless to the general public since she’s very soft and composed.

🥊Mina - TBFH imma go with Alien. I mean, she looks like she could be one and honestly I feel like she’s too hard to type as anything else because it goes way too nicely with extra terrestrial stories we get.

🧠Shinso - Kitsune, I feel like not only is he very intelligent and can almost shapeshift his personality in situations (usually to get a response from people). I also can see that he has a duality of not only good (his desire to prove he’s not a villain) but also mischievous and I feel like he likes to cause a bit of a ruckus sometimes.

🪶Hawks - Gryphon because not only is it a flying creature, but it’s also a very important symbol. It also symbolises strength and leadership, which I feel like fits him really well.

🩸Toga - Vampire. Not only is her quirk blood based, but she also has fangs and I feel like she’d definitely have a Twilight phase.

🔥Dabi - Phoenix, because not only are they usually paired with dragons (iykyk) but they turn themselves to ash to be reborn. Not only does his quirk slowly mess up his body, but given his tragic backstory it fits his character arc very well.

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itsbenedict · 1 year

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Two-Faced Jewel: Thunderbrush 0

Know Your Ghost Botany

"I'm not missing anything, right? You two are from that magic university down south, and you've got some sort of... mission from them that involves a dangerous unknown divine artifact... and you don't know exactly what you're going to do with it in a huge jungle city haunted by the ghost dryad mafia?" "...Look here. You're going to need all the help you can get."

Story so far | Session log index | Previous session

Last time: the party agreed to smuggle a vampire out of town in exchange for fabulous riches. This time: said vampire briefs them on what awaits them at their next destination.

Miriko Watchwood, former general manager at the late Cabana Jim's Luxury Resort and Spa, has a secret: while she was compelled to work in Jim's service as a resort manager, there was nothing stopping her from carrying out her original line of work- as a mafia informant. Ana, ghost dryad of the "Watchwood" crime family, tasked her with spying on the rich and powerful guests at Corolos' most decadent luxury resort, and passing back information to Thunderbrush. Which means... she's pretty familiar with where they're going, and its criminal underworld.

She starts by trying to get a sense of what kind of information the party needs.

Looseleaf explains very vaguely that they're on a research trip to the local university, in order to study... oh, something or other. It's not all that important.

Saelhen is... not a secret assassin from the elven capital city, right? Right. She's normal, probably.

Miriko, sighing, opts not to press any harder on the party's obviously shady motives. It's not like she's one to talk. She unfurls a map on the counter of the onboard bar.

She provides the party with a detailed briefing on the many, many factions present in the city of Thunderbrush.

First and most important: the white circle, Tonnera Mighty. The only living dryad left in Thunderbrush, de facto ruler of the city. Her root system and canopy cover half the city, and she can demolish anything she likes with a flick of her massive roots. She orders around the local Ecumene of Harmony, and concerns herself with the beautification of the city (and herself.)

She also controls the municipal faction of the city guard- and ostensibly controls the wall-guard faction, though her control over that half is weak. The captain of the wall-guard, Constance Virtue, nominally answers to Tonnera, but word has it that she runs a tyrannical protection racket on the outskirts of town, where the Stumps run their gangs.

Who are the Stumps? Hundreds of years ago, the dryad city was attacked by masked elves, who chopped down and murdered nearly the entire dryad population. A select few of the elder dryads, though, managed to preserve their souls with some sort of unknown necromancy, and thereafter set up criminal enterprises to fund their continued existences. Those are the Stumps.

Number 20, under the canopy, is Evelyn, one of the few ghost dryads who don't run overt criminal gangs. She's the one of greatest interest to the party, because she's the power behind the power at Thunderbrush Metropolitan University- their destination. Her lackeys are the Student Council, who are reputedly extremely nosy and weirdly intense for an academic organization.

The rest, Miriko has the details on:

Fallen, dryad of the Sounds. Source of much of Thunderbrush's instability, she's the one who most openly agitates against Tonnera's rule. She believes Tonnera engineered the attack to gain personal power, and her enormous cadre of anarcho-treemmunist revolutionaries have been doing their damnedest to knock her down a peg.

Comare, dryad of the Green Hats. Your classic Godfather-ass mafia mafia, commanding large sums of money and extorting people at crossbow-point while dressing all fancy. You come to her on the day of her daughter's wedding and ask her to not steal your stuff? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Acacia, dryad of the Owls. They style themselves a neighborhood watch that wants to protect Thunderbrush from dangerous outsiders- and what more profitable way to do that then stealing dangerous outsiders' weapons and magic items? Miriko suspects they work closely with Constance Virtue, corrupt guard captain.

Ana, dryad of the Watchwood. An information brokerage that specializes is spying, blackmail, and miscellaneous subterfuge. Ana is Miriko's employer, as the name would indicate, and Miriko is fairly light on further detail.

Philia, dryad of the House. She's basically just a shitty landlord, and makes most of her money off exploiting tenants rather than actively doing crime elsewhere. Means she's one of the safer ones to hang around near, if you're not targeting her people- she wasn't lying, that protection money do protection.

Manga Love (Nii-sama to his gang), mangrove dryad of the Jumoku Jaguars. The only force in the city who doesn't lowkey hate elves for what happened with Timber Towers, because he is a huge weeaboo and runs his gang like a ninja clan. The village hidden in the swamp! Believe it! Miriko notes that they seem to be protecting some secret hidden in the nearby woods...

Will-O, dryad of the Ashtray (singular: Butts), and the victim of the first attempt to just straight-up burn down a dryad lich. Totally blackened but survived the process- came out of it with fire powers, even. He and Manga Love are transmasc, which generally you have to be if you're a guy dryad. The Ashtray are a disorganized gaggle of anti-authoritarian teens.

Danger Danger Danger. Danger is her first, last, and middle name. Lives outside the walls and tames/enthralls various jungle monsters for personal defense, and makes some money on the side acting as a safehouse for criminals who can't be seen in the city. Doesn't have a gang proper.

Dogwood, dryad of the Underdogs. Oddly private, and her gang- particularly her elite agents, the Six Feet- haven't been seen in the city in some time. Miriko suspects they're preoccupied with some sort of internal strife.

Dionysia, dryad of the Oaken Casket (members: Dead Bloaks). Generally harmless as these gangs go- she makes a business out of getting Substances of various sorts into the hands of citizens whose ecumenes forbid them, and throws wild parties for the local university kids.

Sycamori, dryad of the Mementos. They play whatever their business is extremely close to the chest, and Miriko has very little idea how exactly they make their money. They've been seen in contact with various ecumenical higher-ups, and the Deathseekers' Guild for some reason. What's their deal?

Kudzu, dryad of the Gentle Chains. Perhaps the most despicable gang- they're slavers, and they were Cabana Jim's primary supplier, a fact which isn't known to anyone but them and the Watchwood, who occasionally extort them. Miriko's done business with them in the past on Jim's behalf.

Redmaple, dryad of the Saplings. The Saplings primarily just defend themselves from other gangs, but are occasionally pressured or threatened into doing odd jobs for other Stumps. They fancy themselves heroic, but they easily cave to threats and have been forced to do some nasty stuff.

Dead Jane, apparently catatonic ghost dryad whose husk drains the life from everything in a wide radius around her. Her territory is sort of a dead-zone, guarded by zombies and wraiths animated by swarms of revenant bugs. Other gangs occasionally make use of her as a body disposal service.

Naberia, dryad of the Lichen. The Lichen are pretty much a joke, kicked around and bullied by the rest because their dryad is a lazyass tyrant who doesn't actually support them.

Ivy, dryad of nobody because she's been built into one of the walls and imprisoned by the guard, who're rumored to conduct tests on her to try and find ways to threaten the other dryads.

Roselei, dryad of the Thorns. Roselei is small, but employs the most dangerous assassins in the city (and perhaps the world) and has a fearsome reputation. You do not fuck with Roselei or else you die. Conversely, if you want someone to die, you can pay Roselei a lot of money to make it happen.

Sawdust- it's not her name, it's just what everyone calls her because that's what she'll be if anyone ever gets their hands on her. Apparently, Sawdust sold out Ivy to the city guard- told them some sort of secret or gave them a magic thing or something that allowed her to be subdued. The only reason she's not dead is a) ghost dryads are hard to kill, and b) she lives out in the jungle beyond the walls, where no one's super interested in going out there to try it.

Coco, dryad of the Beech Boys. She's not a beech, or a boy, she's a palm tree, but she can fling undead coconuts full of minions halfway across the city for unexpected bombing raids. She mostly just hangs around the docks buying up piers and colluding to inflate prices, though.

That's a lot of factions! That's kind of an absurd amount of factions! Maybe I didn't need to come up with that many factions!

One thing that all the Stumps have in common is... their corpses are cheap housing, if you don't mind a ghost sipping on your essence while you sleep. Since no one lives in them unless they're desperate, they tend to attract the desperate as tenants and minions, hence the state of crime and poverty in most of their territories.

Miriko also goes into more detail on the situation with the elf attack hundreds of years ago, which is common knowledge in Thunderbrush:

Hmmmm. Kinda suspicious! And on top of all that, there's a movement gathering steam to blame Tonnera for it- and everyone's trying to use the brouhaha to put pressure on everyone else for their own agendas. It's a complicated web of allegiances and conflicts, but... if they're lucky, and they're telling the truth about being there for a normal research project, none of it should be their problem!

After receiving all that exposition, Looseleaf opts to look around for Vayen, the party's resident mysterious asshole with a sinister agenda he won't tell anyone about.

He's got to cough up some of those secrets of his! There's a lot on the line! But... he kind of insists he doesn't have a secret agenda, and is exactly as in the dark about what the mission will bring as the rest of them.

Benedict (GM): [I know where we're going, but I don't have any idea what we're doing when we get there- besides following the arrow.] [Like you, my task is to go where it points and see what happens when you get there.] [I'm a researcher. I'm researching.] Looseleaf: [Ooookay, I guess. I'll take that for now. Might come back to this later though. Followup question: you need money, right?] Benedict (GM): [...Yes?] [Don't you?] [Blacksky is expensive proportional to its prestige. Who's paying your way?] Looseleaf: [...Honestly, not really.] [I think I have a scholarship or something. They kind of fought to get me in their doors and made me all kinds of ridiculous promises, actually.] Benedict (GM): [Hmph. Lucky you, no student debt.] Looseleaf: [I consistently get the impression that everyone in Arcane Arts thinks I'm wasting my time taking any classes outside of the spellcasting curriculum, but, anyways.] [So... you need money to pay student debt? How much?] Five thousand gold is the baseline for an art school- it can't be much more than that, right? An order of magnitude up at most. Benedict (GM): He raises an eyebrow. [4000 a year. Why?] Looseleaf: [Trying to figure out how much it'd cost to pay you off.] Benedict (GM): [...Ha. I wouldn't bother.] [It'd cost more than you have to make me risk betraying the confidence of Restricted Arts.] Looseleaf: [You're implying there is a finite cost, there?] [It's conceivably payable?] [And I just don't happen to have it, at the moment?] [What people have and don't have can change very quickly, you know.]

Vayen's secrets apparently can't be bought for what Looseleaf can afford- but for a thousand gold, he's willing to tell her what it would take. And... almost without thinking, she agrees, much to his shock.

Vayen, apparently, is after Saelhen's bracer. He wants it. On him. He's pretty sure it won't come off unless she dies- and if Looseleaf can get it off her arm and onto his, he'll do whatever she asks.

Apparently... Restricted Arts didn't even know about the bracer until Saelhen had already stolen it. Somehow, they were kept completely in the dark about its acquisition- which is strange, because they're usually the ones keeping secrets. He doesn't know who could've contained that information or why, but it's extremely suspicious.

Meanwhile, Saelhen is trying some stuff. She's noticed Vayen sometimes seems to react imperceptibly when she activates the bracer, so she tries turning invisible in the middle of that conversation so Looseleaf can observe how Vayen reacts.

In the other world, something needle-like pricks her in the arm and doesn't come out.

Looseleaf asks for confirmation that the test is what Saelhen's up to, and...

Ha ha ha! This is probably fine!

Next time: the party arrives in Thunderbrush, at long last! Probably they won't get in any fights with gangsters or divulge way too much secret information to the press.

#twofaced jewel #tfj log

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abookishdreamer · 2 years

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Character Intro: Hyacinth (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Daisy by his older brothers

Age- 18

Location- Sparta, Olympius

Personality- He's a generally sensitive & carefree guy who doesn't like to take things too seriously. He's passionate about music & can be a bit standoffish, snobby, and conceited at times. He's gay and is currently single.

His parents are Lord Amyclus & Lady Diomede of Sparta. Hyacinth is the fourth oldest. He has two older brothers named Argalus and Cynortas, an older sister named Leanira, and two younger sisters named Polyboea & Hegesandra (Sandra for short).

His favorite color is purple!

In the family, Hyacinth is definitely more closer to his mom than his dad- feeling as though his father puts up a wall, blocking anything having to do with being vulnerable or emotional. Amyclus was (and still is) a strict disciplinarian & Hyacinth always made sure he was on his best behavior whenever he was around or when his father's guests were invited over. A moment he doesn't like to remember is the time he went on his first hunting trip with his father & brothers. Hyacinth broke down in tears when the three of them hunted down a deer (and her young). His brothers made fun of Hyacinth for the remainder of the trip while Amyclus told him that the fairytales were over & to "Man up!" Hyacinth was 7.

As a kid, he looked forward to the weekends when he'd sew with his mom, bake treats with her in the kitchen, & curl up on the sofa to watch soap operas!

Hyacinth's first crush was in the soap opera actor Manos Kazakos. He couldn't stop staring at the screen whenever he appeared in the soap opera, "Faithless Souls of Argos."

He hated eating black broth (a popular Spartan delicacy) during special events/holidays. His father would be the one to make it.

His go-to drink is a purple passion cocktail (a drink made with vodka, sugar syrup, grapefruit juice, & apple juice). He also likes mixed berry smoothies!

His favorite dessert is his mom's angel food cake (with raspberry whipped cream frosting), topped with a variety of berries!

Hyacinth hates the teasing nickname his brothers gave him. Argalus is a police officer while Cynortas aspires to be a rapper. They often rag on him for not being "hard enough" and "too soft."

Out of his siblings, he's closer to Polyboea, who's only a year younger than him. Hyacinth calls her PB for short. She's a part of their church's choir & she sometimes does background vocals for his songs!

The only positive thing he remembers Amyclus doing for him were the classical piano lessons he signed Hyacinth up for. He can also play the electronic keyboard, acoustic guitar, and drums.

He performed an original song to his mom as a mother's day gift.

Hyacinth aspires to be a singer. He's been singing since middle school. With the help of his mom and sisters, they were able to turn their mansion's basement into a semi-decent recording studio. He goes there to record & work on his music. Hyacinth also goes there for time to himself or to avoid Cynortas, especially when he's "entertaining" his many girlfriends. His music is a mixture of several genres like R&B, soul, jazz, funk. and synth pop.

Hyacinth's been uploading some of his songs online for less than a year. His most popular songs "Body Talk" & "Blurred Love" have gained a combined total of 13 million views on PanopTube. Even the famous dryad rapper GA-zelle shouted him out on Fatestagram! He has received some offers from a few indie labels, but Hyacinth hasn't accepted one.

He's recently broken up with his boyfriend Thamyris (who's also an aspiring singer). Things got to be too much for Hyacinth because of Thamyris' insecurities (with the trajectory of his own career). They had an explosive argument after Thamyris' disastrous audition for the popular singing competition show To Astéri! Hyacinth is now swearing off dating bi guys, stating that they bring "too much drama!"

Some of his favorite meals include fried catfish, baked mac n' cheese, barbeque ribs, dakos (dried bread topped with tomatoes, feta, oregano, herbs, and olives), & moussaka.

In his free time, Hyacinth enjoys working on his own music, listening to music (his favorite artists being Pale Blu & Eurydice), spending time with his mom (cooking, sewing, baking, and watching soap operas), hanging out with PB (singing, shopping, going to the amusement park, clubbing, going to the movies), & stargazing.

"My heart is shaped like an eighth note."

#my oc #my oc character #my character #oc character #hyacinthus #oc intro #character intro #oc introduction #character introduction #modern greek mythology #greek myth retellings #greek mythology

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ballet-symphonie · 2 years

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I barely follow the Bolshoi simply because I'm mostly invested in the careers of the Vaganova graduates and most end up at the Mariinsky anyways. Other than Sevenard, whom I admire a lot, I don't follow young careers there. Only the good old timers.

Hence my surprise to see Eva Sergeenkova debuting as O/O yesterday. A corps girl, looks like a first season dancer and she already has solid soloist parts like Diamonds lead, Queen of the Dryads, one of Raymonda's friend (couldn't tell from the costume which one) and then bam! Swan Lake.

So here's my questions:

-did you see any clips? Found very little but I thought she had some lovely arms but had the same facial expression in every clip/picture. However I'm not remotely qualified to give an informed opinion. Any thoughts?

-I know they gave big roles to Kokoreva last season. Are they also trying to fast track young dancers to replace close to retirement principals?

-I remember Alina Somova debuted as O/O fresh out of school but I thought this particular role was very hard and not usually debuted this soon. They didn't even give it to Sevenard yet and I think she be amazing in it. So, is it really a kind of role that is kept for later in the career? Being offered this role is some sort of honor?

Sergeenkova’s O/O was better than I expected, considering I kept my expectations reasonable. O/O is a crazy hard role, and a huge honor to dance. Artistic directors don’t go around giving this role to anyone. She got it because they’re heavily invested in her. As I’m writing this, the news about her getting promoted to first soloist is just coming out. While it’s astronomically fast, it’s not at all unexpected considering how much she’s been hyped. I mean come on…this girl was debuting soloist roles (Henriette, Dryad Queen) before she even graduated BBA.

And it’s not particularly hard to see why, she’s got basically everything Vaziev likes: tall leggy dancers with big arches and lots of hyperextension, strong adagio and easy, light battements. Sergeenkova fits that mold perfectly and from the waist down, she’s pretty solid. The adagio, especially the White one looks very strong and stable. Look at how she does grand ronde de jambe without dropping the leg height and then closes into a super high passé, every développé is clearly turned our, and she’s hitting countless effortless penchés in literally every arabesque position, without dropping her back. Her adagio really has something special. I got some goosebumps watching her do those arch backs, her control is really remarkable. Even in the Black Swan pdd she had some beautiful écarté balances where she let go and then closed her leg with control, right into 5th. And she absolutely nails that classic swan attitude back pose, textbook.

However, there are some issues when you look at her dancing from the waist up (as most general watchers tend to do). She’s got a serious case of broken wrists, but so do most of the other recent BBA grads so that’s not unexpected at this point. It’s a stylistic choice rather than a technical one but I find it really unflattering when wrists are constantly dropping like hers are. What’s worse is sometimes her elbows are overly bent. Her upper body sometimes looks strange because she’ll get caught with her arms behind her torso, shoulders up, elbows overly bent and then that can disrupt your core placement because your spine will arch. Watch her pirouettes in her black swan variation, there’s times when she preps and takes force while being all out of alignment. Her turns in general are a bit wonky, in addition to her arm problems, she has a tendency to drop her leading shoulder which tilts her rotation axis, generally not a strategy for good turns, really visible when she does manege. Her pique turns are honestly a little scary. It’s a problem turning in the other direction too, you can see this really clearly watching her white swan final diagonal too. My teacher would be on her case about her ‘mitten hands’ when she turns as well, her fingers loose all shape when she turns or does manège.

As a side note: it’s much harder for lanky types like her or Kovaleva, for example to turn quickly/super well because they have such long limbs. Longer limbs require faster and even more precise coordination, which is especially difficult because their arms and legs physically take longer to move. Really flexible arches only make things harder, archy feet are pretty but rarely come with stability. There’s a reason all the bravada dancers are shorter.

Artistically, you can see her trying to emote and she does a decent job showing the character of the ballet at such a young age. No it’s not particularly fleshed out but how could it be? Of course, she’s got some moments where she looks quite tense but that’s what happens when you’re 19 and debuting the biggest principal role on the biggest stage. It’s to be expected, artistic growth in big roles takes time.

Some posters have been commenting about how BT doesn’t really have a dominating, big star killing it as O/O right now. Zakharova isn’t performing as much, it’s out of Krysanova’s and Obraztsova’s emploi and it has never really been an ‘iconic’ role for Smirnova. BT and MT are both in this strange place where they don’t really have any ‘young’ principals. Smirnova is thought of as the youngest one but she’s now 30, there is almost a generation of missing principals that they have to replace. Sergeenkova, Kokoreva, Kovaleva, Sevenard…these are people the company will likely be very dependent on in the future.

#Eva Sergeenkova #bolshoi #bolshoi ballet #ballet #ballerina #ballet ask #Russian ballet

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heyovivi · 3 years

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Gwyn and Azriel and Prejudice

Hello, back again with some possible theories and this time it's about one of my favorite Valkyries, Miss Gwyneth Berdara and some more controversial subjects such as the prejudice that surrounds her and other characters.

Now I'm sorry I haven't been posting a lot--though I'm sure not people even notice seeing how we have a large community of readers who also come up with some amazing theories! But I needed to slow down on posting my wild theories and imaginations because I felt that some of my readers who read my fan fiction were starting to catch onto the plot of "A Court of Shadows and Scars"--but I've been waiting to post about this one because I think it's important and because I've already addressed it in my story.

Moving on.

Gwyneth Berdara.

Although she was very much a newly-introduced secondary character to Nesta's story she is oh-so important and beloved by our reading community. Gwyn has stolen the hearts of many with her wit, charm, and inquisitive personality--and not just readers but her fellow characters as well.

All except a very few including Merrill and the main antagonist of ACOSF, Queen Briallyn--though there are many others I could mention, such as the Illyrians, but my main focus will revolve around Merrill and Briallyn and their prejudices against Gwyn along with other characters with their own prejudices such as Beron and even our own brooding shadowsinger, Azriel.

Yes, Azriel.

Now we know the story of Gwyn and we also a know a bit of her past as well.

Gwyn's grandmother was once a river nymph who seduced a High Fae male hailing from the Autumn Court and fell pregnant with Gwyn's mother who was sent to be raised at the temple of Sangravah because she couldn't dwell in the rivers of Spring Court and was too wild to be confined in the Forest House of Autumn Court.

"My mother was unwanted by either of their (Gwyn's grandmother and grandfather) people. She could not dwell in the rivers of the Spring Court, but was too untamed to endure the confinement of the forest house of Autumn. So she was give in her childhood to the temple at Sangravah, where she was raised..." (Gwyn Berdara, A Court of Silver Flames, pg. 316)

Now what we know about nymphs is extremely limited in the ACOTAR world. But in Greek mythology--from which they hail from--nymphs were idolized as guardians of nature. They were revered as the spirits of specific natural features and were often identified with parts of nature such as the Oreads (mountain nymphs) and the Hamadryads (tree nymphs).

The name "nymph" comes from the Greek word that means "young woman", and so naturally these beings were considered to be female. Indeed, they were represented as young, beautiful, musical, amorous, and gentle youthful creatures. And while there is some question about whether they were immortal or not - Hamadryads in particular were linked with the lives of their chosen trees - it is believed that they were extremely long lived.

A beautiful, ever-young creature that inhabits the lovliest of all wilderness places including clear lakes, streams, and crystalline caverns. They do not like any form of intrusion but there is a 100% that a nymph will be friendly if approached by another good creature. Nymphs are exceptionally intelligent and are very rarely found.

Gwyn's lineage of nymph, according to Greek mythology, would be categorized as a Naiad, the nymphs of streams, rivers, and lakes. The Naiads, or water nymphs, dwelt beside running water. Like their cousins, the Nereids and Oceanids of the oceans, the Oreads of the hills and the Dryads of the forests and trees, they were usually sweet, benign spirits. Naiads, especially, were helpful and healing, nurturing fruits, flowers and mortals. Yet the youth Hylas who went to draw water from a pool was lured by the nymphs into the water and was never seen again--meaning that despite being creatures of nature they also possessed darker roles in certain legends.

I interpret this as Nymphs being hostile around creatures who were unwelcome in their lands for being ill-intentioned.

Many times in Greek mythology, nymphs were often seen as the symbolism of beauty and love; such as Aphrodite--and because they were always describe to be beautiful and graceful women with soft, sweet appearances they often drew the attention of the Gods creating legends of romantic affairs and infidelity.

Their very beauty caused the Gods to lust after them to a ravenous extent, making the Nymphs sometimes turn to the Goddesses for help. However, not all Goddesses were kind towards the nymphs--such as Aphrodite or Hera who grew jealous of their beauty when their very beauty and natural loveliness challenged the fidelity of their lovers.

In this case, let's assume that role of Gods, of higher beings, were the High Fae in the ACOTAR realm.

In the ACOTAR realm, it's easy to assume the nymphs are somewhat--if not--wholly the same as they are described in classic literature. When Gwyn tells the story of her grandmother she states that her grandmother seduced a High Fae, resulting in the birth of her mother. If this is the case then I think I can understand why characters such as Merrill and Briallyn look down on her lineage so much because again, Nymphs, in the eyes of major Goddesses such as Aphrodite and Hera, were essentially home wreckers (even though many confrontations with Gods and Nymphs were not always consensual).

With the reputation of being male-thirsty seductresses, nymphs are looked down upon as lower-beings, that and their lack of immortality (more often then not Nymphs linked their lifelines to an object in nature: a tree nymphs links their life to a tree, water nymph links their life to a stream (but I suppose that makes them immortal?)).

With this devious reputation placed on her lineage, Gwyn is often the butt of insults with being call half-breed and all by the likes of Briallyn and Merrill.

"But you made it easy for me: you went right to her house in Windhaven. Spared me the trouble of luring you. I let those witless Illyrians take her and the half-breed as an amusing bonus." (Queen Briallyn, A Court of Silver Flames, pg. 721)

"I am descended from Rabath, Lord of the Western Wind...Unlike Gwyneth Berdara, I am not lackey to be dismissed." (Merrill, A Court of Silver Flames, pg. 315)

Merrill glanced between her and Gwyn before saying, "get back to your work, nymph." (Merrill, A Court of Silver Flames, pg. 315)

Okay--so Merrill doesn't specifically call her a half-breed, but dismissing her as a lower race and simply calling her "nymph" is basically comparable to an insult.

Now, that we've got Gwyn out of the way, let's move onto Autumn Court, more specifically Beron.

Beron is an ass--plain and simple. He is the personification of a conservative abuser and is honestly one of the most disgusting characters I have ever had the displeasure of reading. However--I suppose the problems he brings do push certain character formulas forward such as Eris and Lucien. Such as executing Jesminda for simply being involved with Lucien and for being anything but High Fae.

"Lucien fell in love with a faerie whom his father considers to be grossly inappropriate for someone of his bloodline. Lucien said he didn't care that wasn't one of the High Fae, that he was certain the mating bond would snap into place soon and that he was going to marry her and leave his father's court to his scheming brothers...His father had her put down. Executed, in front of Lucien, as his two eldest brothers held him and made him watch." (Tamlin, A Court of Thorns and Roses, pg. 160)

I don't think I need to go ahead and explain Beron and his prejudices against those who are not High Fae--his actions speak enough as is. But what I do want to do is go back to the specific wording Gwyn uses when explaining how her mother ended up in Sangravah, she says: "She could not dwell in the rivers of the Spring Court, but was too untamed to endure the confinement of the forest house of Autumn."

Confinement.

Not dwell. Not live. Not prosper. Confinement.

Now, we haven't navigated Autumn for all it's beauty and culture. We've only seen the Autumn Court through the eyes of Feyre when she is traversing through the courts in ACOWAR.

But I wonder how he approached with dealing with those who are not High Fae? What if the Autumn Court is much like the Summer Court where the court works around a system of class where High Fae are put at the top and anything but is put at the bottom? Therefore assuming that the treatment of such beings is cruel and unjust, creating a defining line between the races in which they can never reach equilibrium.

If that is so that brings me to the idea that many courts outside the jurisdiction of Night Court have assumed systems such as this, making there a limited amount of options for people like Gwyn's mother to prosper peacefully. Because we already know that the main reason why the first war with Hybern happened was because Hybern demanded to keep human and low fae as slaves, placing High Fae at the top. Spring sided with Hybern, because remember Amarantha and the former High Lord of Spring were close friends, Summer Court most likely fought to keep slaves as they still continuously oppress lesser fae, so I imagine it was worse for humans. And let's be honest, Autumn remained "indifferent" but one look at their current High Lord tells me that they weren't that indifferent--not unless Beron wasn't the ruling High Lord at the time.

So with that in mind, Gwyn and her family couldn't flee to Summer, nor Spring or Autumn. Night was probably never an option--as their reputation of being dark and gloomy more than likely frightened the idea away. Winter Court was obvious seeing how it's a winter wonderland of frozen lakes, streams, and rivers. Then there is Day Court which based on their current High Lord and aesthetic, is a desert land of sand and heat--with little to no water supply for any Nymph.

However there is one court that still remains. Dawn Court. From what we know they are a more than neutral court among the courts of Prythian and mostly value innovation. Geographically, Dawn is a lush, eternal countryside rich with the weight of summer upon it. The towns were red-roofed villages with sparkling rivers--a perfect destination for any relocating half-nymph- half-High Fae born child. However we also have to take into account the time period of when Gwyn's mother was born. Remember, prior to ACOTAR, Prythian was under the rule of Amarantha for fifty years--and even if that wasn't the case Summer was under the rule of a High Lord who didn't harbor the same compassion to change the unequal class system like Tarquin did when he assumed his place on the throne. Autumn was being ruled by Beron by that time already who'd probably have her confined. And Spring was under the traditional rule of Tamlin--and despite that Gwyn's mother would've still be considered as unwelcomed by the other nymphs.

If you take the time and current dilemma of Prythian--then there was really no where to go but Sangravah--putting into question the prejudices certain courts have against beings that are of the Low Fae variety.

I predict that despite being beautiful, charming, and compassionate, Gwyn still faces so much prejudice for simply being 1/4th nymph--which to the High Fae is a stain in her lineage to be a descendant from such a deviant being.

Now, let's move onto Azriel.

Azriel, as we all know, has his own conflicts with the Illyrians. Of course, that is to be expected, especially after learning of his backstory with being abused by his family and then later forced into training with the Illyrian army. The only comfort he had ever received was from the likes of his chosen family and so I believe he is projecting his own, personal experience of being an Illyrian into his hatred of Illyria--seeing the Illyrians as no more than a means to end due to their constant reluctance to move on with the times.

Don't get me wrong, I love Azriel. But I think a big part of his character is accepting who he is. He is an Illyrian--and I believe that with the combine power of him, Cassian, and Rhys they can bring the kind of change that Cassian had only ever dreamed of to Illyria. Yet, his own prejudices against his people hold him back and that's probably because he hasn't fully faced his trauma and instead skitters back at the mention or thought of it. I think if Az was healed he wouldn't be so reluctant to visit Illyria or wish for it's demise.

"A rare visit from the shadowsinger. Both myth and terror. Az looked just as displeased to be here, but he'd come when I asked...It was healthy, perhaps. For Az to sometimes remember where he'd come from. He still wore the Illyrian leathers. Had not tried to get the tattoos removed. Some part of him was Illyrian still. Always would be. Even if he wished to forget." (Rhysand, A Court of Frost and Starlight, pg. 222)

"Cassian rolled his eyes. But they both knew Azriel would sooner disband and destroy Illyria than help it. Convincing their brother than the Illyrians were a people worth saving was still a battle amongst the three of them." (Cassian, A Court of Silver Flames, pg. 42)

Now, moving onto the conclusion, finally. If Gwynriel's story was to happen, I think there is a sufficient amount of evidence to claim that Azriel's plot would revolve around the Illyrian conflict.

I'm just going to drop down this link: https://yazthebookish.tumblr.com/post/648449405425516544/the-illyrian-conflict-being-set-up-in-acosf-along

@yazthebookish highlights textual evidence that hints at a possible story arc for an Illyrian plot line because yes, there is still so much to uncover in Illyria and although I believe a large part of that was suppose to be Cassian and Nesta's story I also understand why it could go to Azriel.

Azriel needs to learn to accept his race, and the Illyrians need to learn how to accept change. I think they can learn something from one another and I believe Gwyn will play a role in Azriel's adventure. Do I think she's going to be the face some enlightenment in Azriel's journey--no. That's stupid. And if you twist my words, read it again. I believe because of Gwyn's past with prejudice against her and what she is, she can level with Az and understand him in a way that can potentially help him develop better as a character. Yes, she might be there for guidance or to give Azriel counsel, but in the end I think it's Az's job to tackle down the Illyrian conflict while Gwyn, with the help of Azriel, tackles down her own, whether that be discovering her lineage or where she came from or even healing from her trauma as a SA victim.

Please be respectful and leave your thoughts in the comments.

#gwyneth #gwyn berdara #pro gwyneth berdara #gwyneth berdara #azriel berdara #azriel #azriel shadowsinger #shadowsinger #a court of thorns and roses #a court of frost and starlight #a court of silver flames #lucien vanserra #eris vanserra #beron vanserra #gwynriel #azriel and gwyn #gwyn x azriel #prythian

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theotherhufflepuff · 3 years

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Simon Snow Trilogy Tarot Cards...

Ok so, a little while ago I saw this frankly stunning artwork by @vkelleyart and I started thinking about the Major Arcana archetypes and how characters from my favourite book series could fit into them.

So I made this list. It took a lot of thought and I’m still not 100% sure on some of them but I have explained my thought process for each card.

I don’t know how much crossover there is in the Venn diagram of “Simon Snow fans” and “tarot readers” but I’d love to hear your opinions and/or alternative suggestions (be respectful though, obviously). I’ve left “visual prompts” for most of the cards explaining what they looked like in my imagination and if anyone wants to draw any of these (or their own alternative version!) please tag me; it would make my day! I can’t draw for toffee so I am 1000% never gonna try to illustrate any of them myself.

List under the cut because it is loooong.

Spoilers ahead for the whole series!

0 The Fool - Shepard - Shepard just follows magickal creatures around and says “yes” to everything... he is the pure embodiment of the Fool archetype to me; care-free, innocent... prepared for everything and yet totally clueless. Visual prompt: Shepard about to (attempt to) step into the fog as he follows a fairy into the forest.

1 The Magician - Penelope - “Penelope Bunce is a fierce magician, I don’t mind saying” Baz, at least once in each book. Penny never worries about not having the power or words available to do whatever she wants; she is comfortable in her power and it is always there, ready to be wielded however she sees fit. Visual prompt: Penny wearing her Stevie Nicks cape, standing by a chalkboard in the classic “Magician” pose, ring clearly held aloft.

2 The High Priestess - Dr Mitali Bunce - Dr Bunce is possibly a more formidable magician than her daughter. Highly intelligent, straightforward and, let’s be honest, judgemental. But she does have all the answers. Visual prompt: Dr Bunce carrying around her laptop, phone sandwiched between her ear and her shoulder.

3 The Empress - Lucy Salisbury - Lucy exudes the nurturing, Earth Mother vibes that are central to the Empress archetype. She saw the best in everyone and all she wanted was to love Davy and live with him in their cottage with her chickens and their child. Visual prompt: Lucy, barefoot and pregnant, feeding the chickens outside of their cottage.

4 The Emperor - Lamb - This is one of the ones I’m not totally sure about. I went through a few different ideas but ultimately settled on Lamb as the “Vampire King of Las Vegas”. He is an imposing figure, ruling his city with an iron fist; if you are in his favour, Vegas is your playground, but cross him and you will suffer the consequences. Visual prompt: Lamb sits on an antique chair in his opulent suite at the Katherine, the lights of night time Vegas visible through the window behind him.

5 The Hierophant - The Mage - Again, this one took some thought and I’m sure some people will disagree with this interpretation... I’m not completely sold on it myself. The Mage was all about reforming the old traditions of the World of Mages and he amassed a following by doing so. But he turned out to be somewhat of a false prophet; abusing his power to oppress those he deemed “the enemy”. Visual prompt: The Mage in his Robin Hood costume, sitting at his desk at the top of the Weeping Tower, surrounded by his piles of banned books.

6 The Lovers - Simon and Baz - Obviously. As stated at the top of this post, I love @vkelleyart’s version of this card, but there are a lot of scenes across the series that could be used to illustrate this archetype. I personally always love to see the original “and then he kisses me” scene.

7 The Chariot - Fiona Pitch - I struggled with this one a bit and I don’t really think that this is the ideal version. But the image of Fiona, rolling up to Blackfriars bridge in her vintage sports car to rescue Baz from the Numpties really stuck with me so that’s what I went with, for lack of a better idea.

8 Strength - Ebb - Ebb is often dismissed and underestimated by other magicians but she is wicked powerful. But more than that, the Strength card is about inner strength, self control and the wisdom to know when to fight, and when to rest. Ebb is highly intuitive about the people - and goats - around her and is always careful not to talk about her twin brother, only conceding that she knows of his presence once a year and never giving in to the temptation to talk directly to him. Ebb saw the war coming and knew that she could probably end it all by herself with the power she had; but she also knew that she didn’t want that and she had the strength to say no, to eschew the expectations the rest of the World of Mages placed upon her and live quietly, instead. Visual prompt: Ebb in the hills behind the school with the goats, she wears a flower crown that the Dryad made her.

9 The Hermit - Agatha - the Hermit eschews the outside world in order to take an inner journey of self discovery, knowing that this is the only way to find real answers and achieve real growth. Agatha, jaded by the World of Mages, took herself off to California, leaving her wand at home. She didn’t know what she wanted but she knew it wasn’t magic. Visual prompt: Agatha sits on the beach at twilight by a small campfire, Lucy the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel by her side.

10 The Wheel of Fortune - The Crucible - The Crucible’s decisions, like the Wheel’s, are unpredictable and inevitable. Once it’s happened, you’re stuck with the consequences - sometimes bad (being stuck with a toff vampire who hates you) and sometimes good (getting the best room in Mummers house).

11 Justice - Natasha Grimm-Pitch - Natasha needed justice to find peace; her whole story is about justice. She was swift to act when the vampires attacked Watford, dispatching them without hesitation. When she came through the veil to find Baz and ask him to bring her murderer to justice, she knew that would also provide some closure for him, too, both for her death, and for his. Visual prompt: Natasha Grimm-Pitch appearing from beyond the veil, looking for Baz and finding Simon.

12 The Hanged One - Nicodemus - The Hanged One is about feeling stuck, but also about finding peace where you are when there’s nothing you can do about it. Nicodemus chose to cross over for eternal life, but he was stricken from the book; his (considerable) magic effectively taken from him and his fangs removed. He was stuck in between - not a full vampire, not a magician; he exists on the fringes of both communities. He got himself there and then he had to figure out how to get by, carve out a place for himself in order to survive. Visual prompt: Nicodemus sits in the tree in the garden of his mother’s house in South London, waiting for Ebb to come and sit on the empty bench beneath him.

13 Death - [scene on the Great Lawn] - Ok, so.. this might need some explaining. My immediate thought for this card was that it should be the Humdrum but Death is all about clearing out the old junk in your life that doesn’t serve you in order to make space for the new. And the Humdrum isn’t making space for anything. So I was thinking about times that has happened in the story and I thought about how the death of the Mage made room for real progress and an end to the war with the old families. Visual prompt: Penny and Baz (literally) run into a fleeing Agatha on the Great Lawn; the Weeping Tower looms in the background, the Mage and Simon visible through the blown-out stained glass windows.

14 Temperance - Simon and the Humdrum - Temperance is, as you might expect, about balance and harmony. Simon used so much magic at once that he couldn’t control it and it tore holes in the magickal atmosphere. Simon had to fill the Simon-shaped hole to restore equalibrium and stop the magickal firmament from collapsing altogether. Visual prompt: Simon kneeling in the Weeping Tower, pouring his magic into the Humdrum as he fades away.

15 The Devil - Smith Smith-Richards - The Devil is about feeling trapped by temptations in your life, often because we’re afraid of what we would do with the freedom we’d have if we let them go. Which got me thinking about Smith-Richards (that name never gets any less ridiculous) and all the magicians who were taken in by the temptation of “fixing” their magic. But it was a false promise and those magicians who narrowly escaped taking Smith-Richards’ spell were all freed from the idea of their magic being “broken” in the first place. Visual prompt: Smith-Richards (looking like the guy who would be cast to play Simon in the Netflix series) standing on a stage in the packed-out White Chapel, rapt audience hanging on his every word.

16 The Tower - The Humdrum - Originally I wanted to use the Weeping Tower for this card because the imagery is on point but the meaning doesn’t match. The Tower is about absolute destruction, the crumbling of something you thought core to your being. The Humdrum steals magic and renders magicians homeless because of it. The Tower is about having to start again from the ground up - just as the Grimms did when all the magic was drained from Hampshire. Visual prompt: The Humdrum, wearing Simon’s face, stands in the grounds of Pitch Manor, laughing. (I have always thought of the holes looking like a burn in a piece of paper - sort of glowing and smouldering at the edges as it eats away the atmosphere. I know the holes can’t actually be seen - the Normals would freak out - but that is imagery I would use here)

17 The Star - Lady Ruth’s candles - The Star is about hope and healing after the devastation of the Tower. Lady Ruth’s candles were a symbol of hope that kept her going when she thought she had lost her children. They provided comfort and, at the end when it became clear the Lucy was gone, the healing of knowing that her child had finally found his way home to his family. Visual prompt: Lady Ruth’s candles in front of a window, a bright star can be seen through the window.

18 The Moon - Agatha and Simon - So, the Moon is all about examining blurred lines between illusion and reality - nothing looks totally clear in the moonlight. It reminded me of how Simon never really seemed to have a clear view of his feelings for Agatha and what their relationship was. When he properly examined his feelings, he found that he didn’t love Agatha and was going through the motions because he thought it was what other people expected of him. Agatha was doing the same. It also brought to mind Simon, going out of his mind worrying about Baz when he was missing - as well as basically every other thought Simon ever has about Baz before Christmas Eve 2015 - and somehow mistaking it for hating him?? Simon is not stupid but sometimes he’s real dumb. Visual prompt: Agatha and Simon meet on the ramparts, both looking for Baz, and break up.

19 The Sun - Simon - This card is all about innocence, optimism and joy. Nothing about this series personifies this more than Simon flying above Shepard’s truck in America, feeling free and hopeful about the future for the first time in over a year. Visual prompt: Shepard’s truck drives through the vast empty desert, the sun beating down. Simon flies above the truck, joy on his face.

20 Judgement - Niamh and Agatha - Ok, this one was hard to figure out and this is maybe not the right solution, but I was very stuck. Judgement is about self improvement through self reflection. As a small twist on that theme; Niamh and Agatha challenge each other’s view of themselves and their interactions with the world around them. Visual prompt: Agatha and Niamh, sweating to death in Niamh’s “shitty Ford Fiesta” (I’m very salty about that line; my Ford Fiesta is lovely and it has aircon). Niamh is frowning, obviously.

21 The World - Simon, Baz, Penny and Shepard - The World is about completeness, the ending of a story, fulfilment and belonging. At the end of AWTWB, Simon has finally found his biological family, he is starting to accept that his boyfriend and his found family love him for who he is, magic or no, and he can finally start to imagine a future for himself. Baz has learned new information about his vampirism, Penny has found new confidence and Shepard is finally fully accepted into the group. Visual prompt: Baz, Penny and Shepard sit on Simon’s sofa (possibly still pink from Baz’s spell, possibly he spelled it navy blue again) Simon sits on the floor. They’re all eating leftover sandwiches and cake from Lady Ruth’s.

#carry on #carry on rainbow rowell #rainbow rowell #simon snow #simon snow trilogy #wayward son #any way the wind blows #awtwb #tarot #tarot cards #major arcana #baz pitch #Penelope Bunce #shepard love #snowbaz

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