#i also read your reblog and i find your analysis fun to read :D | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nevermindirah · 3 years

Text

Yitzhak!

is a character! who Gregadiah What-Is-Math Rucka gave us almost no information about!

I've gone through Tales Through Time #6: The Bear and #1: My Mother's Axe with several magnifying glasses and done a lot of googling and taken my copy of the Tanakh off my shelf for the first time since (well, since the last time I needed to read Torah for TOG reasons, which I think was Booker Passover headcanons) and here's the best I can come up with.

In The Bear we meet someone who goes by the name Isaac Blue:

Read on for a lot of comic panel analysis and historical research and Jewish flailing!

So what do we know about this Isaac Blue person?

He's Lorge, he's got curly hair, he's basically a taller version of Joe as drawn by Leandro Fernández (ie an antisemitic stereotype why the fuck did they approve this character design?? and then why did they double down and copy-paste it to Yitzhak??):

He's got a mezuzah on the doorpost of his house in Alaska!

I screamed about the mezuzah way back in January in this post where I (very reasonably) assumed this character was Joe and spun myself a tale about how Booker is still Joe's brother so the mezuzah stays up even though Booker isn't welcome in that house for a century. Bottom line: the mezuzah is a tradition with origins in the commandment from Deuteronomy 6:9 to "write the words of G-d on the gates and doorposts of your house" and evolved over the course of the Rabbinic period into the modern mezuzah we see here.

I did unnecessary levels of google image search to glean absolutely no useful information about Yitzhak’s origins from this panel:

I've decided the variant cover of TTT 6 is Yitzhak because of a panel in My Mother’s Axe, shown here, and what's likely an unnecessarily deep reading of Exodus, discussed further down:

The person at the right of the bottom panel is wearing the same clothes as in the TTT 6 variant cover and has the same shoulder-length curly hair and hairy forearms.

Left to right, the people in this panel are Lykon (I'll never get used to him being white in the comics), Andy, Noriko (I think? why doesn't Andy mention her by name here?), and Yitzhak. Andy's robe has a stereotypically Greek design on the sleeve cuff, and I had to stop myself 10 minutes into a Wikipedia rabbit hole because Gregorforth doesn't think that deep about this shit. The solid clues as to timeline that we get in this panel are:

Andy's iron axe

the presence of Lykon, who Andy first met in 331 BCE

So all we know is that Yitzhak is an immortal, he was a contemporary of Lykon, and he's Jewish.

Isaac is the most common Anglicization of Yitzhak (which in turn is the most common Anglophone transliteration of יִצְחָק‎), and Greg always uses the (transliterated) Hebrew when he refers to this character. Yitzhak is the long-awaited child of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis, the child who G-d commanded Abraham to sacrifice but spared at the last minute. I see what you did there, Gregory.

Why Isaac Blue? This is where I pulled out my Tanakh. According to the New JPS translation, blue is the first of three colors of yarn listed in Exodus 35:6 among the gifts requested of the Israelites to construct the priestly garments for the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Then in Numbers 15:38 the Israelites are commanded to "make themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner."

And now for sandbox timelines party! Gregadiah gave us ALMOST NOTHING to go on, so I'm gonna make my own fun.

I, like many modern Jews, think the stories in the Tanakh are foundational mythology that are valuable because of how they've shaped our people but that contain some fucked-up shit and either way aren't meant to be a record of historical facts. Modern scholarship generally agrees that the community we now call Jews emerged as a distinct group of Canaanites sometime in the late Bronze Age (cw this video's host says the Name of G-d aloud despite being a religious studies scholar who knows that is not a name anyone but the Temple priests are allowed to say). The first non-Biblical written record of the people Israel is from an Egyptian source c. 1200 BCE, and the Biblical kingdom of David and Solomon was probably an exaggeration of whatever really happened during the Bronze Age Collapse. We start getting into historical-fact territory a few centuries into the Iron Age:

588 BCE Solomon's Temple destroyed, Babylonian exile begins

538 BCE Cyrus of Persia allows Jews to return to Jerusalem

515 BCE Second Temple construction complete

332 BCE Alexander the Great At Something I Guess conquered Judea, beginning the Hellenistic period of Jewish history — 331 BCE Andy & Lykon find each other

167 BCE another jerkface Greek king desecrated the Temple and basically outlawed Judaism

164 BCE recapture of Jerusalem and Temple rededication during the Maccabean Revolt

70 CE destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, beginning of the Rabbinic period of Jewish history that we're still in now

What if... and hear me out... what if immortals come in pairs, and the pairs are:

Andy & Quynh

Joe & Nicky

Booker & Nile

LYKON & YITZHAK

What if Yitzhak was a priest of the Second Temple? What if he and Lykon killed each other just like Joe and Nicky would in the same city around 1300 years later, but instead of enemies-to-lovers speedrun with an absurdly long happily-ever-after, when Lykon died permanently Yitzhak decided to separate from Andy and Noriko and become the hermit we later see in Alaska?

We don't know how old Yitzhak is compared to the others, only that he was a contemporary of Lykon at a time when Andy was using an Iron Age version of her mother's axe. Other plausible origins for him:

a Jew of the early Rabbinic period, maybe a child or grandchild of people who were still alive before the Second Temple was destroyed

a Judean of the Second Temple era under the Romans or Greeks or Persians, maybe a priest, maybe not

an exilee in Babylon, maybe of the generation who got to return, maybe of the generation who was exiled (he doesn't look like he was 50 at his first death but who knows, he could've been mortal for both)

an Israelite of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, maybe a priest of Solomon's Temple or again maybe not

an Israelite wandering in the desert with Moses

THEE Yitzhak, ben Avraham v'Sarah, our patriarch who was brought up for sacrifice and then spared, and then spared again, and then spared again, and again, and again...

or! he could also be a Canaanite or other Levantine who predates the people Israel, who at some point in his very long life chose to join our mixed multitude, who like Andromache before him (and like Avram and Sarai would in this case do after him) took a new name to reflect the magnitude of influence this people has had on him

Why do I keep saying Yitzhak might have been a priest? It's thanks to the one detail in the artwork I could plausibly connect to solid research without getting a PhD real quick. Take a look at the gorgeous detail on the opening of his robe in the TTT 6 cover. He's dressed in rags, holes and dirt everywhere, rough stitches probably from hasty repair work — except for the neck opening. Compare that to this description from Exodus 39:23 of the construction of the priestly garments for the Tabernacle: "The opening of the robe, in the middle of it, was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around the opening, so that it would not tear."

The next verses describe the intricate designs for the hem of the priestly garment. Yitzhak's ragged garment looks like the hem was torn off entirely.

Am I overthinking this? Yes I am! You're welcome!

My friend and historical research hero @lady-writes is in a Discord server with Gregadiah and asked the man himself some questions about all this. He clearly thinks he's being sneaky?? No shit Yitzhak is Jewish, dude, I want DETAILS!

I will not be giving up my Jewish Booker headcanon, I've put too much thought into it by now, the internalized shame of antisemitism explains Booker's depression too well for me, and it just adds so much richness to Booker/Nile both being children of forced diasporas. Fortunately (for him, not me, bc I'd do it anyway!) Gregothy supports fan headcanons even when they're not in line with his own:

One last thing before I close like 100 research tabs and go back to writing historical fantasy and/or porn! I love that, despite that atrocious caricature of a face design, our canon Jew and our fanon Jew are both Lorge and Soft and Kind, flying the face of the antisemitic stereotype of Ashkenazi Jewish men as small and weak, but also not falling into the New Jew / Muscle Jew stereotype that Zionism created. (I am trying SO HARD not to talk about Israel/Palestine for once ughhhhhhhhhh) Anyway here's a (US-centric but very good) primer on both these stereotypes of Jewish masculinity. Is this why I'm forever projecting my transmasc diasporist feels onto Jewish Booker the service sub? 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’ll reblog a second version of this with full image descriptions so that there’s a version accessible for folks who need IDs as well as a version accessible for folks who get overwhelmed by walls of text.

#TOG POC Love Fest #yitzhak #jewish booker #tales through time spoilers #tales through time #tog meta #tog #jewish things #mine #antisemitism #hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it

159 notes · View notes

vagueandominousvibes · 2 years

Text

Welcome!

I’m Kalh (she/her, fae/faer). I’m 25. I talk a lot about my sister and my partner, both of whom I love very much.

I’m asexual and biromantic. I’m a D&D Dungeon Master on holiday, a fanfic writer, and a fanart illustrator. I’ve been obsessed with elves and elvish creatures since I learned to read (Elfquest, The Silmarillion, Legend of Zelda, D&D — you name it). I love winter, brown bears, trees, and moss, and will romanticise any of these if given the chance.

I’m also the artist and writer behind the Links Winter AU, the writer of the Four Swords fanfics Just close your eyes (don’t leave me here alone) and Every Day is Christmas if the Vibes are Right on Ao3, and the writer for the various stories over at @interactivestorytellingwithkalh .

If you want to talk to me, feel free to send a message or an ask (anon’s on)! I love interacting with people!

Please be aware that English is not my native language. Like any other non-native speaker, I can make lingual and cultural mistakes. If I do, please send me a polite ask/message so I can acknowledge and correct it!

(List of fanfics, major posts, and tag overview below the cut)

Tag Overview

#random things ive said to make my sister laugh — the stupid things my sister and I get up to, in text format (you may not believe it, but I’m actually the older one)

#at my partner's — exchanges between myself and my partner that, to me, sound delightful taken out of context (and I want to keep them and be able to look fondly back at them)

#kalh has friends — amusing exchanges with my friends that I want to remember

#fae victim count — the fae victim count

#kalh is on the loose — vaguely analytical posts, often related to casual literary/cultural analysis (these tend to get long)

#kalh’s fragments — short stories and drabbles, some of which are more ominous than others

#kalh’s notepad — story ideas, worldbuilding, theorising, things I’d like to keep track of for myself, etc.

#personal — I have bared my heart to you so please treat it with care /hj

#don’t reblog — posts I’m kindly asking you to please not reblog

#my art — my art!

#writing — things related to the process of writing

#fanfics — good fanfics I’ve read and highly recommend, or fanfics I've written

#links winter au — things I’ve reblogged from @winterlinksandotherlinks or posted about the process of its creation

#monsters&marvels — an LU AU based on an academic area of study within medieval literature and culture

#just close your eyes — asks and posts related to the Four Swords fanfic ‘Just close your eyes (don’t leave me here alone)’

#knights lodge au — asks and posts related to the Four Swords Knights' Lodge AU and the fanfic 'Every Day is Christmas if the Vibes are Right'

Fandom Tags

#loz, #lu, #lotr, #elfquest, #dnd, #four swords, #riordan, #ofmd, #moomin

Major Posts (casual literary/cultural analysis)

On Franz Kafka’s The Trial

Skyward Sword: A Fun Theory About Deity-Like Link

In response to Skyward Sword: A Fun Theory About Deity-Like Link

List of Fanfics (posted on this account)

Among the Crags (Vio Link/Shadow Link, Modern AU, 439 words)

Don’t Know if We’ll Live to See the Sun (Vio Link/Shadow Link, options for other ships, speculative one shot, 433 words)

Four (character study for #monsters&marvels, 631 words)

You can find more of my works on Ao3, including the main story for the Links Winter AU.

Last updated: 16th December 2022

12 notes · View notes

iamanartichoke · 3 years

Text

(This post was inspired by a recent post by @kayura-sanada that I was going to reblog, but my own addition became so long and, frankly, off-topic to the original post’s content that I figured it was fairer to create my own post. But theOP I’m referring to can be found here and is a good read.)

Okay, so: this is a wonderful analysis of Tony Stark, @kayura-sanada, and I agree that it’s concerning seeing this written by a psychologist (although I think there has to be a little wiggle room in the fact that said psychologist is basing their diagnosis on their own interpretation, and - I would hope - it would probably change if Tony Stark were a real person who was their patient. I gotta hope that).

I agree with all of your overall points regarding Tony, but I wanted to reblog this specifically because this post is such a perfect example of a larger problem within fandom and fandom wank. The problem is that fictional characters can be interpreted any way you want, sure, but there’s a line between supporting your interpretation with evidence from the source, and supporting your interpretation with stuff you just kinda made up. There is a right and a wrong interpretation.

Here’s what I saw happen with this post: your response to the OP is lengthy because it dissects the OP bit-by-bit; it responds to the claims made in those bits with evidence from the films that supports a completely opposite interpretation of the character. And the response you got largely ignores all of that evidence and analysis in favor of a surface-deep response about open interpretations and how it’s “all just fiction anyway.”

And I see the same pattern repeat itself over and over in fandom:

“Character A is Trait B and that’s why they do Actions C, D, and E.”

“Actually, character A is more Trait F, and examples of Trait F are shown in Action G, H, and I.”

“Okay, but when they do Action H, they’re responding to Event J, but with Actions C and E, they clearly demonstrate Trait B, along with Trait K and L.”

“Well, but, saying they are/have Trait K is kind of a reach, and when they did Action H it was out of character, because in the same situation in previous films, they responded to Event J in a different way. For example, .....” (long post)

“I’m not reading all of that, it’s open to interpretation, and it’s just fiction anyway.”

Later, rinse, repeat.

And it’s like, look, yes, you can interpret the characters however you want. Fandom is supposed to be a fun, engaging space where fans are inspired to create new works and discuss all aspects of the source. Headcanons exists because of open character interpretation. Shipping exists because of open character interpretation. Rarepairs and alternate universes and ‘there was only one bed!’ and lots of tropes exist because of open character interpretation.

Without that open freedom to engage with the source/characters in whatever way makes you happy, fandom wouldn’t be what it is, and I would never want to discourage that.

That all said, it is possible that someone’s interpretation is wrong. That the way they imagine the character or the way they’re interpreting the character’s words and actions is a contrast to what’s really supposed to be going on in the scene or with the overall arc. The wrongness can come from any number of things - interpreation being colored by personal experience, preferences, projection, whatever.

In the case above, the psychiatrist is viewing Tony Stark through a lens of what they already decided the character is: a case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. They took that lens and picked out (vague) examples of how the character portrays those traits.

This is fine. If that person wants to think Tony is a narcissist and that’s how they want to engage with the character and subsequent works (pretending that this was a meta post instead of a published article), then that’s their prerogative.

But upon closer analysis, the original interpretation kinda falls apart. The contrasting analysis takes a deeper look at the material and says, I don’t think what you’re saying is going on here is actually what’s going on here, and this is why.

But people don’t want to be told they’re wrong, especially in a fandom space, especially with something they hold dear to them (as interpretations can be intensely personal, and I know this). When the two interpretations clash, and one interpretation doesn’t really hold up to closer analysis, then suddenly, being critical of the source equates to disliking the source, and analysis is reduced to people just being negative and wanting to find things wrong with the source. Disagreeing with someone’s interpretation is taken as a personal attack. People get offended personally. The discussion devolves into ugly rhetoric, insults, or simply dismissiveness (”that’s nice but whatever,” “it’s just fiction,” etc).

And you might say, well, if you think someone’s interpretation is wrong, why are you trying to rain on their parade? Why are you trying to prove them wrong? Let people enjoy things! Let people fandom how they want! Let people write and create and be inspired in their own way!

To which I say, absolutely! Please, continue to enjoy the Thing and your interpretation of it. Continue to create through the lens of that interpretation. Create what makes you happy, fandom however you want to. I am a big proponent of “fandom and let fandom.” What other people like and dislike makes very little difference to me, and I’m certainly not under any illusion that everyone must see things the way that I see them or else they are Doing it Wrong. Nor do I take it personally if someone doesn’t agree with my take.

None of that is my point. My point is that it becomes an issue that splinters and fractures fandom spaces when criticism and discussion are discouraged, when long analysis posts are mocked, when threads are hijacked, when it gets to a point where disagreeing with someone’s take on a Thing cancels them - to you - as a person. Because you miss out. You miss out on discussion, and on engaging with creative fanworks, and widening your fandom circle.

Instead, the circle just narrows, and there’s an underlying sense of hostility that colors every interaction you have. And it makes it not fun for anyone.

People need to be more open to the idea that there is, in fact, a right and a wrong side to most arguments. They need to be willing to defend their argument in a way that holds up and, if they don’t want to defend their interpretation, that’s fine - more power to you - but they need to then stop making fun of and being generally shitty to those who disagree.

People need to stop pretending that analysis and critical thinking don’t matter. They need to stop pretending that “fiction” is this vague concept that has no bearing on the real world and shouldn’t be taken seriously. Fiction shapes our world, and art imitates life. Being unable to think critically about fiction indicates a larger issue of being unable to think critically about the things that do matter in the real world, like science and poltiics.

Just look at what this country has become. Each side believes it is the correct side, the “winning” side, but one of them is supported with verifiable facts and evidence and one isn’t, and when the one that isn’t is confronted with the fact that they are wrong, they either dismiss the argument entirely or go and find “alternative facts” from unreliable sources they can point to and say, see? A, B, C, D, and E may say I’m wrong, but F says I’m right, so fuck you.

I’m certainly not saying that fandom should be taken as seriously as politics, but I am saying that if people were more amenable to changing their minds or even just recognizing that criticism isn’t an attack and it’s not personal if someone dislikes a Thing that you feel passionate about - or vice versa - then maybe we’d have a better fandom space for all to enjoy.

And I do try not to be a hypocrite. I am open to changing my mind on positions I’ve taken in fandom - if the analysis and the evidence convince me that there’s another way to look at it. If someone is telling me I’m wrong, and they tell me why it’s wrong (yes, in detail), then I’m more than happy to take a second look. Maybe it will change my mind; maybe it will simply be something I’m cognizant of while I continue to enjoy the material in the way that’s most fun for me. Either way, I’m not trying to hold fandom as a whole to any kind of standard I wouldn’t also expect myself to meet.

That being said, this post is 90% me venting. Ironically, I don’t expect this to change anyone’s mind. I’m not saying there’s any one solution that will work for everybody or even that everyone sees a problem that needs solving. I’m just saying that I don’t enjoy fandom as much as I used to, and this particular pattern of "wank” (for lack of a better word) is the reason why.

#i may get hate #i may not have made my point #i may not have expressed myself well #but i DID need to get this off my chest #and the OP i referred to triggered a response bc it has been building for me for awhile #btw i am not referring to any particular discourse within the fandom #it is not directed at a Certain Divisive Film #it's rather just an overall problem that i see bc you could replace one discourse train #with another with a different film different characters whatever #and have these exact same issues #anyway there we are #delete later?#long post #tag rambles #fandom wank #the $0.02 no one asked for (but i will donate it anyway)#i'm legitimately afraid to post this lmfao

81 notes · View notes

bookwyrminspiration · 3 years

Note

WAIT. I'm late to the party but I just remembered all those anons were sending in "why I send you asks" and their reasons and I actually really want to participate, so I hope you will accept late applications?

The reason I send you so many asks is because you've just...built such a nice feeling that anything can be discussed, and it's never too niche or cringy or boring, and that's really relieving and amazing.

I'm sure you (along with many others) have realized by now, but I suffer from....really bad anxiety, both social anxiety and just in general, and it very often gets in the way of my life. Because of this and past experiences, I'm always very scared and hesitant to talk about my interests and my thoughts on anything.

But every time I've sent you an ask, even if it was, in retrospect, probably really annoying to read through the one hundred "sorry"s and "my bad"s, you've always been nothing but kind and interested in my ideas, and that was just...so surprising. Because I never really knew anyone who was willing to talk about anything, and it was just...really amazing to meet someone who was! Especially because I love and am interested in so many different things and kind of need someone to bounce ideas at. And it was really cool to see someone that was unashamed of their own interests and thoughts, but didn't make others feel bad for having different ideas.

Every time I send you an ask, you always have something interesting to say back. Something I hadn't thought of or considered, or a query that would make me rethink my own theories, or just a very well-thought-out answer to a question. I remember sending in tons of asks about the wings AU before it was released, and writing those was probably the highlight of my day, because I knew you'd take them and run with the ideas, and do your best to match my energy, and I was really grateful for that. And you were always willing to dig deeper, to think "but what if there was more?" and that's just...incredible! I don't have any other word for it!

I love sending you asks because you don't dismiss an idea or deem it as stupid, and you're just...such a kind and wonderful person that can make even the most obscure subject infinitely more interesting than before, and you never fail to make me consider things again, to expand my thoughts and views, and I'm really grateful for that.

So, because it should definitely be said by now, thank you!

And, well, that's why I love sending you asks :]

- pyro

there is no timeline so there's no way to be late! and I'm answering this a few days after you sent this, so if you believe yourself to be late then we can both be late together :D. you are fully welcome to participate if you want to (which you said you did)! it was mostly just a random question I had because i'm just as analytical with myself as I am with keeper, and knowing how other perceive and think of me is helpful for that--and I was curious about how i'd aquired so many asks so quickly, and then you all just turned it into complimenting quil hours for some reason !! (but on to your ask before I get even more distracted)

(note from a quil who has answered all of this: got very long so that's why there's a readmore! i love you /p)

this means so much to me--specifically your use of "built" because I do try pretty hard to maintain a positive atmosphere and welcome everyone in and treat everyone with the same attention. it didn't just fall into place, i try to be encouraging to everyone and support all the amazing work--art, writing, ideas, etc--I see from people. (note: i've been wanting to do a thing where I ask for fic/art/other recommendations from others (can be friends or their own) so i can go through and reblog a bunch of them with comments and the like, I just want to get through more of my asks before I start something like that). But you're right--nothing is too niche! there's so many details in the story it's impossible for one person to notice anything, so people bringing up the obscure and their own thoughts makes the story richer and more fleshed out for everyone else! and i think it's really cool to just see what other people focus on (like I said, my analysis isn't limited to characters, but I'm not like dissecting you all to understand each of you in a creepy way or anything. I just like to get a better sense of someone so I can respond in a way more tailored to them when we interact)

anxiety can really suck, so as someone who also has anxiety i am giving you a comforting hug if you'd like one. it genuinely impacts everything you do and think about, rewriting how you experience life. a single, inconsequential experience to someone else can literally change major aspects of how we think, which makes interactions so scary sometimes. i remember things people said years ago and still base my actions around them, but those people have absolutely no recollection of ever saying it, but just the fear of having done something wrong once permanently altered my thinking. (this is not to make this about me, I'm just trying to show I understand by sharing an experience of my own).

reading through all your "i'm sorry"s and "my bad"s wasn't annoying and never will be. you have never had anything to apologize for, and I know that sometimes you feel you need to enter a conversation and first apologize for being there, but I'm thrilled to have you here and always love seeing you in my inbox. I don't know how to articulate this properly, but I'm going to try. i saw your apologies and your apprehension as...a puzzle? that's absolutely not the right word but I can't think of the right one so please let me explain (I don't mean to imply you're like something to be solved or a problem in any way. words can be difficult and I'm trying to describe something very intangible rn, so I hope this doesn't sound bad). I didn't see it as annoying (you're never annoying), I saw it like it was something to work through, and while it's not my job or anything to help other's with their personal problems, it was like if I could just provide one space where I could encourage you (not just you, but anyone) as a friend to try shifting your language and start thinking of yourself more positively, then I wanted to give that.

because I am interested in your ideas! and I want to be kind and welcoming to you! but I also want you to be kind to yourself, so any impact I've had to give anyone a safer, less scary space is really cool. I don't know if that made sense, but I'm not trying to talk down to you or anything or be like I'm this high and mighty figure harboring lost souls or something, just that connection is important and I like being there for people. kinda worried that sounded bad because it feels worded strange but I'm trying to reciprocate and say i appreciate you and am happy to talk about anything!

i love bouncing ideas back and forth and you are more than welcome to say anything and everything you're thinking about. talking to you is always an absolutely joy and I get so excited when you send me an ask and when you're reading my response, because it often feels like this like...buzz? like we're just vibing on this frequency and it makes it so much fun to throw ideas back and forth and just listen to each other talk. i am very glad to have surprised you and met you! I don't know a lot of people like myself either, so having someone like you interact with me and just go all out on these little things and what we personally like about different parts of the so much fun. a lot of the other people I know irl feel like they just scratch the surface, they say things just to get credit for it and to appear like they know what they're talking about while ignoring all these other things that have such an impact, so it's amazing to have found someone else who looks at everything and anything like I do. my brain really is "a little bit of everything all of the time" so knowing you have so many different interests too is really cool. i am giving you an internet high five and pretending you aren't so far away.

I spent so much of my life being quiet when I had so many thoughts, so now that I have this kind of outlet I just! want to say everything I can! i want to look at everything from every perspective possible! the world is a huge collection of things tied together and I love following the strings to find the connected pieces! but I think that's a way of approaching the world not a lot of people share (I could be wrong), so it's really cool to hear you think my thought process is interesting!! my brain is practically composed entirely of questions. any subject at any time of the day and nearly all of my thoughts are just wanting to know more and trying to understand things, so having that opportunity to ask further questions and just learn things (about what other's thing, how things work, etc) is so much fun. you might've seen me ask some questions of other's in a few of the asks I answer, but those barely scratch the surface of just how many I have. my handle is in_quil_sitive (inquisitve) on nearly every social media platform (except for this one) for a reason.

I remember some of your asks from before the wings au was published, too. those were absolutely incredible, and I got a rush of excitement every time I saw you sent another. those were the the highlight of my week, too!! your enthusiasm and excitement for something I hadn't even posted yet gave me so much motivation to continue and you helped me think through so many future ideas and consider things from new perspectives. i know i specifically wrote that you inspired one chapter in the notes, but you've had an impact on every single chapter of this story/ it wouldn't be what it is without you, and I mean that with complete sincerity. you were the one who made me think "what if there was more" so I could make this au even better and work towards something bigger. I just have so many thoughts about everything all of the time, I can't go more than a few minutes without being distracted by a different train of thought, but knowing there was someone who would want to hear all the weird, disjointed ideas i'd strung together and composed into a more cohesive format was so cool. there's just so much to think about!!

I probably sound repetitive at this point but I love answering your asks because you're so receptive to the way i say things and it's like you're actually listening and want to hear what I specifically have to say, not just the general ideas. you want to know my unique, personalized opinions and perspectives and don't just dismiss them when they're not what you expect to hear or aren't generic. you're incredibly kind, too, I hope you know. I love the description of how I can "make even the most obscure subject infinitely more interesting than before." that is such a meaningful compliment to me. I just keep thinking about this line over and over again and it just...it really means a lot. because you're saying it's me that interests you and not just what I talk about. I could talk about anything and you'd still want to interact with me and that's so fucking nice. I hope you know the same goes for you. we can challenge each other's thinking together and make things even deeper and more complex before together <33.

thank you for being here and being my friend, pyro. talking to you is always one of the highlights of my day and gives me a very positive feeling that I carry around for a while. I do this thing sometimes where I film myself to later observe my behaviors in the middle of intense emotions to understand myself better (back to that whole analysis thing again), but it's not just negative things, it's also when I'm really excited or pleased with something and jumping around and stimming and all that, and some of those are from when I interact with you. that might sound a little weird but I mean it positively, as in talking with you makes me ecstatic.

I have said. so many things. so I will stop (for now). but I really appreciate having you in my life <33

#this response is 1757 words long i--#i have written shorter essays for my college classes #pyro this better convince you that i care about you #you're one of my favorite people #just in general #i really value our friendship #and hope none of this sounded weird #i tried to articulate it but some of the concepts didn't want to become words #so please know this is meant to be loving and supportive of you #in all aspects #i wrote so much and still didn't say everything I wanted to #you should be asleep when I answer this so hopefully this is something nice to wake up to #still don't feel i've articulated myself fully #but I have tried #worried about that puzzle part but I'm trying to say I want this to be like a safe space of kinds #where I can support you and encourage you to stop apologizing when you don't need to #and do that without judging you #ah anxious about that #if you cannot tell I don't want to mess this up and am worried I will #hnnnng #if I said something weird please let me know so i can fix it #quil's queries #pyrokinetic-loser #nonsie love #long post

7 notes · View notes

4dorks-1windmage-1shadow · 4 years

Text

Vaati as a D&D Character, Part 6: Vaati

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why. Also! @atinybitweird has been drawing the boys D&D designs, and she’s doing really great! I’ll link to her posts on the individual analysis as well as reblog them here so look out for those : D

Green / Red / Blue / Vio / Shadow / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept. HA I TRICKED YOU We’re talking about Vaati now. I’m gonna blow your mind. Here’s a revolutionary concept I bet nobody’s thought of before (I’m being sarcastic do NOT message me): Vaati’s not a sorcerer, he’s a wizard. Or rather he was a wizard before he abandoned his studies to cheat his way to becoming a powerful Sorcerer. But Athena, he’s the Sorcerer of Winds, not the Wizard of Winds? Why is he a wizard then? BECAUSE CHILDHOOD THAT’S WHY. Vaati’s origin story is that he was the apprentice of a renowned and legendary Minish sage, Ezlo. Wizards are the only magic users who become magic users through study- both personal study and through apprenticeships and formal schooling. Until Vaati used Ezlo’s Wishing Cap to turn himself into a Sorcerer (thereby dual-classing from an intelligence based spellcaster to a charisma based spellcaster), he was probably learning to harness the arcane arts through good old fashioned book learning (and of course, Ezlo’s tutelage). He may have even chosen an Arcane Tradition to study under Ezlo before realizing that the Wishing Cap was a quicker shortcut to the power and change that he wanted to enact. You only need 2 levels in Wizard to choose an Arcane Tradition, and at that point the only abilities Vaati really has is some low-level Wizard spellcasting, Arcane Recovery, and the 2nd level Arcane Tradition ability which is pretty fitting and just shows how lazy Vaati ended up being. Every Arcane Tradition has a little section telling you what the school of magic is about, and the one that made me think “oh yeah, that’s what Vaati would be into” was the School of Transmutation description. It reads thus:

“You are a student of spells that modify energy and matter. To you, the world is not a fixed thing, but eminently mutable, and you delight in being an agent of change. You wield the raw stuff of creation and learn to alter both physical forms and mental qualities. Your magic gives you the tools to become a smith on reality’s forge.

Some transmuters are tinkerers and pranksters, turning people into toads and transforming copper into silver for fun and occasional profit. Others pursue their magical studies with deadly seriousness, seeking the power of the gods to make and destroy worlds.” - Player’s Handbook, Page 119

You’ll notice I bolded some stuff in those paragraphs- that’s because they can directly relate to events in Vaati’s timeline as a character. He has five forms which, as far as I know, makes him the villain with the most forms out of all the Zelda villains. His most plot relevant moments involve him transmuting someone into a different form including himself, the Gleerok in the Cave of Flames, the Great Mayfly Fairy (in the manga), Ezlo, and Princess Zelda. His element is Wind, which is most commonly associated with change, adaptation and flexibility, and Transmutation is about mastering magic that does these exact things. Vaati’s ultimate goal was to become a “perfect” version of himself by finding the Light Force and using it to turn himself into a god, which worked for the entire Vaati Reborn battle. If he had just applied himself to his studies under Ezlo, he wouldn’t have needed to cheat and use the Wishing Cap to make himself a powerful sorcerer. Just for fun, lets talk about what he would have gained by only being a wizard. First, he would have access to certain spells that he could cast without using spell slots, including Polymorph. School of Transmutation lets him create a Transmuter’s Stone, which he can use to grant himself darkvision, increase his speed, grant himself proficiency in Constitution saving throws, or resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder damage. This Transmuter’s Stone could later be used to emit a burst of power that would allow him to transform objects no bigger than a 5 ft cube into other objects of similar sizes, masses and value, as well as remove all curses, diseases and poisons from an afflicted person while healing them to their maximum HP; he would be able to cast Raise the Dead without using a spell slot and even if he didn’t have it written in his spell book, and even use it to reverse the effects of aging on a person to a minimum of 13 years. He could have had a fucking Philosopher’s Stone but he CHEATED!!! Wizards by far have the most diverse amount of spells that they can learn, and by only taking 2 levels in wizard he locks himself into only having access to level 1 wizard spells and cantrips. By taking Sorcerer, he still gets access to 9th level sorcerer spells, but the amount of 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level sorcerer spells is half the amount of wizard spells of those same levels. His spells have a wider range of versatility with the Metamagic options supplied by the Sorcerer class, and although he wouldn’t get the cool perks of Transmutation Wizard, Storm Sorcery is nothing to joke about. This is where the Sorcerer of the Winds part comes in- Vaati altered reality using the Wishing Cap and imbued himself with the power of elemental air. He finally gets to use those sweet sweet Evocation, Conjuration and Necromancy spells that I theorize Ezlo wouldn’t have let him dabble into much because the Minish are a peaceful race- why would their sages need to know Meteor Swarm (Evocation) or Flaming Sphere (Conjuration) or Soul Cage (Necromancy)? And Storm Sorcery perks are pretty awesome. Vaati learns to speak, read and write the language of elementals, and whenever he casts a spell of 1st level or higher he can fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. He gains resistance to lightning and thunder damage, and when casting spells of 1st level or higher that deal lightning or thunder damage he can cause anyone within 10 feet of him to take lightning/thunder damage equal to half his sorcerer level automatically. Eventually, when he’s hit with melee attacks he can deal lightning damage to the attacker equal to his sorcerer level and push them away with a burst of wind, up to 20 feet. And his two levels in wizard mean that he still gets the highest Storm Sorcery ability at 18th level: immunity to lightning and thunder damage, and a magical flying speed of 60 feet. Vaati’s transformation really just gives him all of his wishes on a platter, no pun intended- the freedom to fly and power to wield the elements and change himself on the fly- and his high Intelligence stat means he knows how to use those abilities to gain the advantage, making him a formidable opponent and party member. In conclusion, Vaati is a level 2 Transmutation Wizard, who dual-classed to Storm Sorcery Sorcerer through the power of a wish.

16 notes · View notes

destinationtoast · 5 years

Text

Fandom quantitative research from the past few years

This is an incomplete list, but here are a bunch of the new fandom surveys and data analyses that I’ve run across in the past ~two-three years. Most of them are cross-fandom. You can find more (including deeper dives into specific fans) in my #other people’s analysis tag. But also, if you know of other analyses that are missing here, please reblog and add them! :D

Fan surveys

@fansplaining podcasters/writers Elizabeth Minkel and Flourish Klink ran several interesting surveys of fans and did a bunch of quantitative analysis on the results:

a massive shipping survey (17K participants) to understand how fans conceptualize and participate in shipping.

A survey about fanfic preferences, addressing favorite tropes, categories, fanfic platforms, and more (7500 participants)

A survey about how fans define “fanfiction” (3500 participants)

A number of smaller polls and surveys (see bottom of page)

@longlivefeedback did a survey about feedback rates on AO3 and FFN (hits/views vs. comments/reviews received by authors), received data about 522 cross-posted fanworks, and did a bunch of analyses of the results.

Fanwork analyses

@data-monkey has a whole series of detailed analyses of fanworks on AO3 (tagging behaviors & correlations, popularity metrics, length, crossovers, and more -- check out all the links at the top of the post)

@olderthannetfic did several analyses, including:

Are fics getting shorter?

What kinds of ships are on Fanfiction.net?

She also helped with my Wattpad research (see below)

@centrumlumina (who did the 2013 AO3 Census, the largest scale/most in-depth survey of fan demographics so far) also has done:

Yearly stats on the top ships on AO3 as well as top femslash ships. She did these through 2017, after which it became impossible to use the same data gathering methods -- however, @melissatoldherfirst gathered top femslash ships for 2018.

A really fun assessment of jobs and education according to to fanfic popularity vs. US Bureau of Labor Statistics data

@fffinnagain has continued to do more research, including:

AO3 posting rate has outpaced FFN (and, relatedly, Missing posts and lost works on AO3 and FFN)

Various Sherlock fandom analyses, and more

The main new stuff I have done:

A massive set of analyses on Gender representation in movies vs. movie fanworks

I’m starting to post a bunch of stats comparing Wattpad fanworks to AO3 and FFN (starting with a comparison of shipping categories); more forthcoming

Some (more) Omegaverse stats on how characters most commonly get mapped to A/B/O gender roles

I’ve also moved (well, cross-posted) all my analyses to a fandom stats series on AO3 since the Tumblrpocalypse.

Acafandom

Casey Fiesler & her lab have done some really cool work/written great articles:

Fan platform use over time (especially interesting to read about fan migrations, given recent Tumblr events)

A recent survey for fanfiction readers and writers (here’s one of the results on how new canon influences fanwork production)

Scientists like me are studying your tweets -- are you okay with that?

AO3 case study of feminist HCI values in design

@ludi-ling wrote a doctoral thesis on “SERIOUS LEISURE IN THE DIGITAL WORLD: EXPLORING THE INFORMATION BEHAVIOUR OF FAN COMMUNITIES.“ She analyzed data from Tumblr, Etsy, and AO3 (as well as doing some qualitative work, IIRC). I believe she was mostly focused on a particular X-Men fandom subcommunity as a case study, and exploring how tagging behaviors differ across different platforms.

@tracethisfeeling (AP Psychology high school student) ran a fandom survey of young, female fanfic writers and shared her resulting paper on “Exploring The Connection Between Parasocial Relationship Development Through Online Fanfiction And Fanfiction Writers' Self-Discrepancies.”

Official industry data

Tumblr’s official @fandom blog regularly posts stats about ranked lists of popular tags on Tumblr, broken down by various categories.

#fandom stats #other people's analysis #long post #my stuff #in the sense that i'm the op #i'm sure i've forgotten some awesome stuff #please add it via reblog #and i'll update the post!#50

199 notes · View notes

couldnt-think-of-a-better-name · 5 years

Text

Mujika is demon!Jesus & other possible Bible references in TPN

It’s time people to get ready to have your minds blown again, my newest crazy theory post is here!

Disclaimer: This post contains manga spoilers up to and including chapter 127. Also, I don’t mean to offend anyone’s religion, I’m just making comparisons out of interest, and I am getting most of my info from wikipedia. Chapter 127 full fan translation dropped, and not just for me, but for others as well it has instantly stuck out like a sore thumb how much Mujika’s story parallelled Jesus from the New Testament

The facts: 1) Musica’s very existence is an unexplained miracle, as she is able to do things no other demons can (keep her form without eating humans), and none knows where she came from (she is most likely of common birth).

2) She can and have been performing straight up miracles of “curing” demons of their hunger, and saving them from devolving into unintelligence.

3) What’s more, she has been passing her power to her followers and supporters, who can spread her “cure”, and teachings of the need to not eat humans in order to save even more demons from starvation and devolving.

4) Her blood taking away the demons’ hunger is basically a literal take on these Bible verses with illustration added as well:

5) She was persecuted and ordered to be killed by the rulers out of no fault of her own.

6) If you are still not convinced, she was LITERALLY called the demon MESSIAH by Norman, and I honestly don’t know if I could make it clearer...

It may seem a bit random at first, but I have already mentioned Bible references in TPN in my Mujika is Medusa theory post, so this isn’t really out of the blue. As a bit of a reminder, or if you haven’t seen that post here are the possible references:

1) Minerva’s mythology book has a snake and apple just like the story in Genesis.

2) Mujika herself is later associated with an apple on a cover.

3) The Promised Neverland may be a reference to the Promised Land from Exodus, as well as to Neverland from Peter Pan. This isn’t just a similarity in name, since their demon god is responsible for the PROMISE that we know ensures the NEVERLAND where no human child gets to grow up (since they get eaten). Right, that’s it, TPN is a mashup of Peter Pan and the Bible.

There we go, I have made my crazy and outlandish claim just like before, but can I give any even remotely believeable evidence for it?

Well, for the Peter Pan part, I have already made a huge post on the list of possible references, so please head to my Theory Directory where you can find a link. If that doesn’t work for you, I will also reblog this post with a link.

As for the Bible part, well, is there any evidence beyond Mujika? Ok, how about we play a small game. Try pronouncing Son-ju and then St. John. Hear any similarity? Am I messing with you? Well, yes and no. How about you take a look at the wiki info on St John, Jesus’ apostole (not to be confused with John the baptist).

Sooo, wasn’t Son-ju the only follower of Mujika left alive? What a strange coincidence... Then didn’t Son-ju also wear a fish shaped cloak pin? I thought it signified that they were underwater, but St. John was a fisherman...

Oh yeah, and isn’t it funny how we have James, Peter and Andrew all feature in St. John’s description? Weren’t there some characters in TPN also called these names...?

What’s even more interesting is John and James having been brothers, but John surviving James for a long time. I find that interesting because I recently discussed a theory by @fyria-hans that Sonju may have been the one wearing the Minerva cape and sending that morse coded message to the kids to stay put where they were.

Since it was morse code, they didn’t hear a voice, and in those panels the wide shouldered frame and those shoes really looked like Sonju’s. We know he had justification for wanting the cattle children to survive “in the wild”, and he also most likely had the skill to create fake tracks to throw off Andrew. So it is a possibility that he had been James’ supporter... The other interesting fact was that both St. James and James Ratri died first out of the cast. Btw, fun fact about St. Peter: he holds the keys to heaven. Isn’t that a bit like how Peter Ratri has control over the access to the human world, which would be pretty much heaven to the cattlechildren?

Oh btw, did you know that there were two apostoles called James? So the other one was known as the Lesser James? Hm, isn’t Norman kind of a smaller, younger version of James Ratri right now? Oh yeah, and did you know that St. Andrew was the brother of St. Peter? And he is also a patron of fishermen, farmers, miners and butchers?

Hmmm, sooo we he a small number of coincidences, surely there won’t be more! Right...? RIGHT?!

Well, you might know that St. Matthew is associated with an angel

Hmm, but where did we see angels in TPN?

Ah riiight, in Minerva’s famous mythology book! And isn’t it funny how there is a CUP next to that angel... Didn’t we just have MUJIKA associated with a CUP (of blood she offered) this chapter?!

Hmm, and wasn’t there a character who had a strange connection to Mujika we didn’t understand? That she showed up in his “DYING” MEMORIES? Here is another fun fact.

LEUVIS?! But didn’t I say in my Peter Pan theory that Leuvis was associated with the Lost Boy Curly? Am I contradicting myself? Well, lucky for me, we also have this:

So the authors have confirmed that their characters can hold multiple references, and my guess is that I may have just managed to find 2 out of 3 for Leuvis ;D (It’s funny how Shirai-san wanted to be so secretive about the references, right?) Similarly, I don’t think there is any problem going through the other characters and finding references to them. So let’s dive in further!

So there is another Apostole who is called JUDE (Thaddeus). That name bears perhaps a passing resemblance to LUCE, or not? How about the things associated with this apostole?

Wasn’t Luce a bit of a LOST CAUSE? And didn’t his servants weild CLUBS? Also, what about the time Emma threw an AXE at him? Hah, these coincidences sure are getting trippy, right?

While we are on the topic of Luce, I would like to point out that before he died he made this little comment:

Huuh, so his dad is some important mofo? But we sure haven’t seen or heard anything of him ever since... right? Well, how about you compare these panels for me?

This dude who murdered Mujika’s followers suuuure bears a passing resemblance to Luce, except he looks much more buff and badass... and older...

But lets not get sidetracked! We were looking at apostles, so how about I bring up the wiki info on another one?

Funny, didn’t I associate NOUMA (isn’t that slightly close to THOMA?) and NOUS with the Twins in my Peter Pan analysis? Btw, do you know that St. Thomas died by the spear, so he is associated with it? I Thought Nouma and Nous had spears... But there is a Thoma among the kids as well! Huh, but isn’t he always with Lani? Acting as if they were something like twins... huh... Weird, but let’s look at another apostole!

So Bartholomew doesn’t sound much like Bayon, except they both start with “Ba”, but did you know that St. Bartholomew, among other things is a patron of butchers and TRAPPERS. Huh, didn’t Bayon kinda enable the trapping and hunting of cattlechildren like wild animals at Goldy Pond...?

Also, yeah, we have a Nat among the kids again, and we also have a Phil... Did you know that we have a Mark as well? While Mark wasn’t an apostole, he has some written passages in the Bible...

But lets not get hung up on a couple of names that are similar sounding! Although I can’t help but wonder what could be the name of the demon king who ordered the death of Mujika... and if it sounds anything like PONTIUS PILATE who ordered the death of Jesus? It’s a shame we don’t have his name :(

But do you know a funny fact about Pilate? He was a ROMAN prefect. Huh, didn’t we have a handful of roman references in TPN? Like mirrored LATIN, or MINERVA, a ROMAN GODDESS?!

Hmm, you know what is a funny thought though? If Mujika is demon!Jesus, and we know that we have a demon!God (the one with the demon gylph written name, called just HIM in the anime), then I wonder if the analogy extends further. You know, God has sent Jesus to the human world to be the saviour of humankind, but then the humans in charge chose to persecute and kill him... although Jesus didn’t die permanently. So I can’t help but wonder if it wasn’t demon!God who sent Mujika as demon!Jesus to be the saviour of demonkind, only to find that the demons in charge had the bright idea of persecuting and trying to kill her... but luckily she isn’t dead even though everyone thought she died! Well, if that’s the case, I bet demon!God is facepalming right now. And if that analogy holds, it may also stand that the demons are an analogy for the jews (who had their PROMISED LAND from God, while demons have their PROMISED NEVERLAND from demon!God (which also fits with my idea that demon!God used their powers to literally create the demon world below the deep sea... you can read more on this in another post of mine)) whereas the cattlechildren are an analogy for the gentiles (non-jew). If you think I’m done and ready to finish this post on that crazy thought, then you are WRONG. Some of you may have read my post on my thoughts that Mujika may be a Medusa reference. If you haven’t, just look it up either in my Theory Directory, or in the links I will put in a reblog to this post. I was anxiously awaiting this chapters to see if it would disprove that theory or confirm it. And I will be honest, I was at first disappointed with this chapter, ‘cause like a damned fool, I was expecting to see snakes, or something about petrifying gaze, BUT then I looked further into the Medusa lore, and felt like an idiot and slapping myself. Why?

Medusa had 2 sisters in the myths, together they were known as the Gorgon sisters. But Medusa was different to the other two, and her name meant ruler/queen. Hmmm, doesn’t this panel look kiiinda like 3 sisters?

Also, just in case you missed it, I have circled a jar there that looks eerily similar to the golden water jar that the kids have. Tsk, all these coincidences that I keep spotting!

So the other thing about Medusa is that in all of the myths the goddess MINERVA wants to kill her out of no fault of Medusa. Didn’t we kinda have someone in TPN right now with a MINERVA alias say something similar?

Oh hello there Norman. Funny that you would say that... In the myth Minerva doesn’t kill Medusa herself, but aids the hero Perseus who cuts off Medusa’s head, which ends up on Minerva’s famous shield the Aegis. In many sources it is said that the shield is used to petrify Minerva’s enemies. But Medusa had one more funny quality about her that had the interest of Minerva in the mythology:

“ The character of Medusa can also be seen to come along with some qualities that emerge after her tale of origin. For example, one half of Medusa’s BLOOD is HEALING – and so, along with her petrifying ability, she could also heal. Blood taken from the veins on her LEFT was POISONOUS, while blood taken from her RIGHT could RESTORE THE DEAD TO LIFE.”

Huh, didn’t we just learn that Mujika’s blood is SPECIAL? That it can “CURE” the demons from their hunger of humans, but it is also DANGEROUS for the demons in charge and for the humans in case the “cured” demons decided to still eat humans? Btw, isn’t it funny how Mujika draws blood from her right in this panel when healing those villagers?

Maybe I didn’t need to be so worried about my Mujika Medusa theory after all...

258 notes · View notes

solitaire-dreams · 5 years

Text

Embers of the Sun and Rays of the Moon: A TPN Analysis

So, I was browsing theories one day and encountered a really interesting analysis that pointed out that Emma and Ray both symbolically and in the narrative represent the sun and moon. The first part of this theory was heavily based upon the events of Chapter 137, and the follow up discusses an official piece of art. However, I wanted to contribute by examining this symbolism through Ray and Emma's personalities by comparing them to the Moon and Sun tarot card traits.

DISCLAIMERS:

a) This probably should have been made closer to chapter 137 in order for this to be relevant. Sorry.

b) I am NOT the original creator of this comparison. Many others have brought this up before. A good example is tpn.theories on instagram who supports their analysis with official artwork and story events.

c) This post both can and cannot be taken towards shipping Rayemma. I will attempt to leave this post as unbiased and ship-free as possible. Come to your own conclusions.

d) I do not believe in tarot cards nor is attempting to convince you to believe in them. These characteristics of the Sun and Moon cards simply provide a basis for what traits we associate with these objects in real life.

e) SPOILERS...duh

That's a long enough intro, so let's jump in.

(Future me: This post was really long, so expect reblogs on this)

When reading all of these comparisons, I couldn't help but wonder if the connection of Emma and Ray to the sun and moon respectively went deeper than events or artwork. And then I was reminded of a little known franchise I was enjoying recently called Persona.

If I were to try and explain the franchise to you in this post, this would become a freaking novel, so the important point you should take away if you are not familiar with this franchise is arcanas.

A game mechanic Persona 3-5 is well-known for is forming social links with other characters, each of which represent one of the major arcana class of tarot cards. In this class, there is the Sun arcana and the Moon arcana. Thus, looking at the descriptions and character arcs of social links for these cards can help us understand the personalities of someone who represents the sun and someone who represents the moon.

Let's start with Emma because...it's kind of obvious.

Emma = Sun

UPRIGHT: Positivity, fun, warmth, success, vitality

REVERSED: Inner child, feeling down, overly optimistic

A common depiction of the sun arcana can be displayed as two kids holding hands under a dazzling sun.

Aside from the fact that it is children depicted in the image, just like how our protagonists are clearly called kids as they battle adults and demons...

The fact that two kids are holding hands reminds me of a certain image:

Additionally, the other common depiction of the sun arcana looks like this:

Biddy Tarot explains the image: “In the foreground, a young, naked child is sitting on top of a calm white horse. The child represents the joy of being connected with your inner spirit, and his nakedness is a sign he has nothing to hide and has all the innocence and purity of childhood. The white horse is also a sign of purity and strength.”

These attributes line up really well with Emma. She is someone who is really positive and is reluctant to keep secrets from others, like when she tells Anna, Nat, Thoma, and Lani the truth about the house. The innocence and purity of childhood also matches the overall themes of the Promised Neverland as that innocent childhood is taken away from Emma upon the realization her family has been dying all these years. Purity and strength are two other characteristics that fit Emma that require no specific examples if you've been reading the manga at all.

The official description on the Shin Megami Tensei wiki (the larger franchise Persona came from) for the Sun arcana also states: “Occasionally, it is also associated with one's initial happiness...Characters of the Sun Arcana almost always (ironically) find themselves in terrible situations, the situation belying the underlying optimism present in nearly all of them.”

This sounds exactly like Emma's conflict with the world around her. First her optimism was tested in the Grace Field arc as she struggled to find a way for all of her family to survive and Isabella constantly telling her to give up her hope. Then, in Goldy Pond she needed to be optimistic as she fought a seemingly hopeless battle to kill Leuvis while he also tried to goad her into become violent. Now, she needs to stay positive as she has to save not only her family, but also the demons who are trying to survive and stop Norman from inciting mass genocide.

Most of her biggest conflicts involving her losing hope or become depressed that her goals are for naught—originally discovering her family died, Norman being shipped off, and Lucas + Yugo's deaths—matching the feeling down attribute of the reversed sun card.

Lastly, the card also has sunflowers in the picture, one of Emma's known symbols.

--See reblog for part 2, the Ray = Moon is long--

#yakusoku no neverland #ynn #the promised neverland #tpn #original #tpn emma #analysis #ynn spoilers #tpn spoilers

9 notes · View notes

wings-of-a-storm · 5 years

Note

i really really LOVE reading your analysis of the clips from Skam France ! I find them really insightful and they make me so much more fond of those moments between Lucas and Eliott. Thank you SO much for doing that ! =D

I see you too, anon, and likewise thank you for stopping by with such exuberance and sweetness!

It is honestly so much fun reading and sharing different ideas and interpretations of the Skam France clips with everyone in the tags. I always feel like I am the one who should be thanking you guys though for reading through my – let’s be honest – overly long thought dumps.

I also love reading your tags if you reblog stuff - you guys have great ideas and meta too. Just FYI. :’)

#Ask #Share the love mood

5 notes · View notes

ninawritesastory · 6 years

Note

nwas, check out solimavi's essay on Tweek and the divide on his character! I think it's right up your alley.

(you can just call me nina, if you’d like!)

I just read through it—someone I follow on my main reblogged it (which saved me trying to find it. |D) and you’re right: it’s right up my alley.

The funnest thing about Tweek is how complex he is as a character. He has a significant amount of feminine energy to him, and I think most of the fandom picked up on that. Unfortunately…I think a lot of them took that to its most sexist extreme and basically turned him into the sort of character you’d find as a uke in the most stereotypical yaoi manga. It was frustrating as hell, and it’s still frustrating as hell.

But I wouldn’t exactly call Tweek feminine. He has feminine attributes, certainly, but he’s not really feminine. He is still very much a boy, still has plenty of masculine attributes, and is more balanced than either half of the fandom portrays, or than what’s discussed in solimavi’s analysis. Tweek doesn’t adhere to the hyper-masculine/traditionally masculine stereotype—but none of the boys do. Just because he prefers not to fight if he doesn’t have to and has highly empathetic and caring nature does not make him feminine. He’s just more in touch in with his feminine side.

I mean, it’s probably more a matter of semantics for me. I’m really picky about my word choice, and simply going with a word like feminine to describe a character doesn’t always carry the meaning you’re probably going after. Most people (in my experience) associate the word feminine with things that not always feminine attributes: stuff like dresses, lace, nail polish—basically anything and everything Elle Woods. It’s more of an aesthetic to most people, not so much a category of personality traits. Which is why we get so many people essentially ignoring the fact that Tweek has plenty of masculine attributes to his identity, not just feminine ones.

You can be balanced, or have more masculine attributes, and still admire, respect, and look up to women. And I’m so glad that Tweek has been canonically shown to admire female heroes. I think that’s probably because he can relate more to their stories, their messages, than he can to the ones imparted by the oftentimes hyper-masculine likes of most male heroes. Tweek’s a good fighter, he probably still keeps up with boxing because it’s a good way to relieve pent up frustration and aggression, but he’d probably be bored to death by the punch-everything-first-ask-questions-later attitude of most comics and shows and characters aimed at the male population. The way I see it? Tweek is about as feminine as Captain America, who also exhibits a high number of feminine attributes (even down to his fighting style). But like I said, it’s probably just more of a semantics thing with me. Either that or I’m just projecting my own perceptions of gender and identity. Possibly both, in all honesty. C’est la vie. *shrug*

I loved the analysis of whether or not Tweek is weak. Because I literally cannot comprehend how anyone could see this boy in action and think he’s weak. He put Craig in the fucking hospital the first time they fought—granted, Craig put him in there as well, but I’m gonna focus on Tweek here. He went for Barbarian in the Black Friday trilogy and The Stick of Truth, a class that is typically defined by its brute strength and berserker ability. He chose to have controlling the weather as one of his powers—which he canonically states is a hard thing to do. (And taking into account all of the factors that impact the weather at any given moment, yeah, I’d say it is.) And the fact that he functions as well as he does with his mental illness(es) speaks to the fact that Tweek is not a weak character, has never been a weak character, and will never be a weak character.

Tweek is a complex character with so many facets to him and I love him to bits. He’s so fun to write and an absolute joy to read when written well. And for the most part, I agree with solimavi’s analysis. Too many people go to one extreme or the other, and too few people realize that Tweek’s much more in the middle, masculine with a good balance of feminine attributes that honestly makes him feel more like an actual person than a two-dimensional character. The only issue I had with their post is probably just a matter of semantics. *shrug* Oh well. As long as we’re all in agreement that Tweek’s a strong, spunky kid who’s not defined by his mental illness(es) or his relationship with Craig, that’s good enough for me!

#nina answers asks #anon #sp tweek #i love reading about how people interpret tweek #or any of the kids #it gives me the opportunity to develop my own interpretations of them #especially when i come across ones i never would've thought of on my own

15 notes · View notes

jawnkeets · 6 years

Note

hello sorry to disturb you lovely person but i was wondering if you had some advices to have a better literary analysis, or a better culture well, i mean how can i improve my literary intelligence basically ? ( it may not be really clear but i hope you'll understand because i feel like i'm lost... )

hello anon! no need to be sorry, ur not disturbing me at all :+) feel free 2 send an ask at any time ✨✨✨

i’ll attempt to answer this by splitting ur ask into 2 parts. first i’ll try to give some tips on literary analysis, and then i’ll try to talk about the sort of wider awareness of lit (or the culture as you call it).

a little disclaimer: pls bear in mind that i am by no means qualified to speak about this in any way (i still very much consider myself a learner). i’ve generally been left alone throughout my education to do my own thing, which is a good thing in some respects and a bad thing in others; i don’t have the solid foundations that most ppl do, never following things like paragraph structures throughout lower school, and i didn’t know a thing about metre until the start of this month. however, because of my education i think i’ve managed to avoid a few conventional pitfalls. so, in short, you can take as much or as little of this advice as you like!

PART 1: literary analysis

• an excellent way to boost your analysis straight away, dull as it is, is to learn some literary devices beyond, say, alliteration and personification. being able to spot things like chiasmus and epiphora not only wows an examiner, but also enables you to talk about more things within a poem/ book/ play and thus broadens your literary scope in close reading.• remember that for each literary device you mention you should say what it REVEALS (DO NOT just list!!!). the best essays move from a literary device to an explanation of why this device is used - what does it reveal about a character, the speaker, or even the society that the poet or author was writing in?• rhythm and meter in a poem tick boxes in an exam, but can also lead to insightful analysis. how do the rhythm and meter add to the overall message of the poem? does, for example, the metre give a regularity to the poem? why might this be? is it broken at any point? how is this significant?• the above can be applied to rhyme scheme, too. look out for rhyming couplets at the end of a poem, which may give a sense of finality to the poem (or may seem to give a sense of finality when in actuality the speaker of the poem is far from decisive…).• it is important to remember that a particular rhyme scheme (or metre) doesn’t ALWAYS mean anything; it can mean different things in different poems, so instead of applying a ready-made formula, try to go into the exam knowing how to identify these aspects of a poem and then try to work out why you think the poet has used them in that particular poem. flexibility is key, which can be daunting but also somewhat liberating.• i personally find a ‘scribble method’ quite useful. this is where, when first approaching a piece of writing, you write down everything that comes into your head, regardless of how messy, or how basic. you then sort through your ideas, expanding upon what you think is worthwhile and discarding what you think is not. this method is generally more handy when not under time pressure, though, as it can get you into a muddle in the exam.• start simple and build up. it can be tempting to jump straight in but sometimes when you start simply new things can reveal themselves as you work your way up into more complex ideas! • perspective is extremely useful to consider. who is speaking and why? are they biased or objective? who are they speaking to and why?

unseen exam tips

• in an exam, i would approach a poetry or prose extract first by simply reading it, and trying to find out what it is about. then i would go through and highlight words/ phrases of interest, and label literary devices. finally, i would go through it again and build the main analysis. a brief paragraph plan can be useful before writing the essay.• acronyms can help sometimes as a go-to in an exam when you don’t have much time. for example, i use CFTTSOL - content (basic story, characters, who is speaking and why etc) form (poetry, prose, drama etc), tense (past/ present etc), tone (happy, sad, why? is the tone at odds with the subject matter? in emily dickinson’s ‘because i could not stop for death’, for example, the poem is about something dark but it is very jolly), structure/ syntax (rhyme, caesura, enjambment, any disrupted syntax, etc) other (anything not mentioned in the rest of the categories) and language (similes, metaphors, assonance, etc). i would recommend finding one that works for YOU and makes sense for YOU, because creating your own can really help to ease you into analysis.

PART 2: literary awareness

• read, read, read! i cannot stress the importance of wider reading enough, and also the importance of thinking whilst you read (making notes/ annotating books whilst you read is advisable). i am speaking from experience here - i didn’t read outside of the curriculum at all until the end of last year, and since i have started my literary analysis has increased tenfold. this is partly because practice is vital, but also because wider reading gave me an awareness that i could never have expected to gain. it enabled me to start making links between texts, genres, periods, etc – i began to see patterns and conventions in literature. for instance, a poem that breaks convention is easier to spot and talk about – to use a very basic example, a sonnet (usually a form of love poetry) about brutality/ violence toys with genre. if you had read some of shakespeare’s sonnets, you could then compare the violent poem with sonnet 18, to elucidate your point. this isn’t to say that you didn’t already know that sonnets were love poems, or that you wouldn’t have picked up on this without wider reading. but having read sonnets outside of class means that you can talk about this with greater clarity, authority and confidence.• i would also advise you to push yourself with the literary material you explore. it is difficult, but try to find nothing intimidating - read thick victorian novels, read modernist authors, read kant if you want, and even if the prospect of reading ‘harder’ texts doesn’t thrill you then try them anyway - you may be pleasantly surprised! part of the difficulty of studying this subject is that preconceived ideas can erect barriers and put you off. it is important to totally bulldoze these barriers and remind yourself that nothing is above you, and that you are capable. that’s not at all to say that you can’t read ‘simpler’ texts, and of course it is probably wise to admit to yourself when you perhaps need a greater literary background before you tackle a text (for example, i tried joyce’s ulysses, a modernist text full of allusion, when i have a barely working knowledge of greek mythology, and i admitted to myself that though it would not be impossible for me to read it, i would like to read more widely and then return to it in the future).• w i k i p e d i a. it’s often sniffed at but honestly don’t be afraid of using it! it’s an excellent way to absorb info fast. also don’t be ashamed of using websites like sparknotes if you don’t understand a poem to begin with! u shouldn’t rely on them for the crux of your analysis but they can be helpful to get started!• it’s perhaps obvious, but it helps to remind yourself that literature isn’t just fiction - try to read some critical essays if you can, and look at philosophy, history, psychology etc and how they relate to literature as studied in school. this is actually wayyyy more fun than it sounds (!) and will improve your general literary knowledge.• tumblr, whilst being a killer procrastination station, can also really help to broaden your knowledge. reblogged quotes from famous writers often stick around in your memory, and period moodboards can help you get a sense of different ages and help you to visualise what you’re studying. it’s also great to be in a community of passionate people - the passion of others on this site has definitely rubbed off on me!• make it relevant!! all of these texts and literary movements have shaped our society profoundly. as overdramatic as it sounds, look for the romanticism in a house party, or existentialism in internet memes, or hamlet in yourself. legacies are all around us, and seeing the world in this way can really bring literature to life.

literature is a subject where you get out what you put in. it’s relatively straightforward, if you work hard, to get very good grades in lit; if this is what you want, then having a solid knowledge of metre and literary terms, being able to spot them in texts, and then being able to describe what this reveals can get you top marks. but, in my opinion, to develop true literary intelligence you really have to let the subject permeate every aspect of your life. this is a subject where you really can take risks, be original and unique, and explore a huge amount of periods and ideas. if you see it reflected in the world around you, and think deeply and thoughtfully about everything you are reading, then the classwork honestly sorts itself out.

i hope this has been useful in some way and that it answers ur ask adequately!! if u have any further questions or require clarification please do not hesitate to let me know. i hope u have a wonderful day 💘

#sorry abt the length!!#this is longer than the essay i've been trying to write all day lol #asks #studyblr #litblr #english literature #literature

112 notes · View notes

elizabethrobertajones · 7 years

Note

Hi Lizzy, I'm new to the SPN fandom and saw a bunch of bibros making fun of meta writers. As a lowkey Destiel shipper it still pissed me off. I'm wondering- who are your fav meta writers to read?

Pfft, it’s practically a badge of honour that THEY are pissed off by the meta. Interpretation worries them because as soon as you get into the what they’d see as hippie dippy “all readings are valid uwu” part of literary theory, you’ve made an attempt to level the playing field with them and they don’t wanna be on it with us, they want to have the one sacred and true reading of the show to which all roads lead etc etc. Actually buying into the idea you can interpret the show and come up with multiple readings or that the text would DARE support another version (even the interpretation that Sam and Dean aren’t soulmates or something ship-free that gets in the way indirectly - or an argument they are soulmates but that’s basically just the show’s way of conveying Heaven is somehow worse than Hell for them :P) immediately is a threat to the idea of a cast iron version of the show that’s the one they latched onto.

Strange world where “reading into things” is an insult instead of a sign of healthy curiosity and a desire to learn and understand. And I see people who literally mind their own corner or would agree in spirit with their interpretation as long as you CALL it that and leave others be to have a different one, get dogpiled by them for daring to treat the show as a flexible and multi-layered, analyse-able thing…

Ah well.

Kinda missing out on the yearly punch up in the parking lot round the back of the fandom right now, tbh, since I’ve been AWOL with hanging around with family and friends stuff. Kinda not missing it. :P Welcome to the fandom, it can get pretty messy, and some of us here just wanna watch the show and ask silly questions to everyone about how many burgers Dean’s eaten on screen recently or whatever important character analysis nonsense is bothering us today.

To which end! :D

No matter how long you have followed me, even if it’s like a day or 2, you must have noticed my queue endlessly spitting out @mittensmorgul‘s full-show rewatch along with the TNT loop, all out of order and a week late because that’s how I roll. Mittens is a great meta writer to read because everything she writes is fun and the kind of hectic idea hopping my brain glues with..

Everything @awed-frog writes is similarly enjoyable to read in that style but longer and more poetic and dark, and very insightful. (You might be able to tell I’m mentioning the meta writers I reblogged stuff from today while waiting for my long term memory to contribute anything)… Linking their ask tag for starters because idk how to find other long meta at short notice :P

Actually while I’m thinking about rewatches, I’ve always enjoyed @dustydreamsanddirtyscars‘s dramatic, purple prose essay approach to meta and flawless blog presentation… Sadly Jenny’s not enjoying season 12 very much with the change in style from the weird dark symbolism of Carver era, to the sort of fractals upon fractals of weird little emotional references and do-overs this year when Dabb gets to do his thing on a whole season, but if you want Carver era weird dark symbolism, I’ve been really enjoying where she has been lurking in Carver era, meta-ing her way through it.

(I just generally dig reading re-watches, especially because all that hindsight is paying off so much now because for Dabb era if we’re going to meta it we NEED hindsight and reminders and the TNT loop playing in the background showing us just how layered and self-referential the show has become (and what it’s doing differently, and how much the characters have grown and changed, which, I think, is the point now) - anyway if you’re doing a rewatch, I LOVE to read posts about old episodes, especially the weird old MotW and really early seasons stuff no one seems to talk about much any more)

There’s a LOT of great meta writers out there and after every episode I try to find and reblog the long reaction notes, if they’re done it, from @dorkilysoulless @grey2510 @kayanem @bluestar86 (and awed frog again). @charlie-minion has been busy this season with other stuff as far as I know with a few more infrequent visits, but I know she has a page with every meta she wrote on it and generally wrote a great post per episode for a good chunk of the time I was in fandom, and still drops by fairly regularly despite a smaller presence. @thevioletcaptain also is great and has an episode reaction for most episodes (though again has been busy with IRL stuff for a few weeks/months/I have no concept of time but she hasn’t posted anything for the recent episodes as far as I’ve seen >.>) and also a page with her meta on it that when I was brand new to the fandom I had permanently open in another tab to cross-reference while I re-watched the show :P

(A lot of my favourite meta writers I imprinted on like a duckling when I was new and remember them really well but of course I love all the new people around here but my actual useful visual memories are all the fandom circa season 9 and not all around any more much, because my brain has been stewing in migraines and fatigue since, like, the middle of season 10, and my new approach is to wearily trudge through my dash barely checking who wrote what unless I have to deal with minuscule fonts on a read more, so I’m afraid my memory of active bloggers is totally rubbish and it’s best just to look at my awesome meta tag and see who I’ve been reblogging a lot lately and some really grevious oversights in people I will smack my head for not mentioning if you bring it up, but your question was phrased in such a way I went straight for who do I ENJOY reading not quick gimme a useful list with no explanation thing :P So uh, sorry if this is 100x longer than you expected :D)

#Asks #I'm really sorry newbies to the fandom have to see all the ugly stuff >.>#I really hope the impression from everyone else regardless of what we ship or do has been better than that

55 notes · View notes