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recreancyrpg · 2 years

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Welcome to Recreancy, Ashlie!

You have been accepted for the role of FRANK LONGBOTTOM!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME & PRONOUNS: Ashlie she/her

AGE: 25

TIMEZONE: est

ACTIVITY LEVEL: Once summer roles around my weekends get a bit busier however, as a whole I make a point to get online on my computer at least 4 nights a week. If I am not able to get through replies one day however, I am nearly always lingering around on mobile for plotting and the similar.

ANYTHING ELSE: I do need a warning for any flashing images on the dash or in any discord chats.

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Francis Caerleon Jacobus Longbottom Jr.

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Frank has never really put much thought into the idea of gender or sexuality. Alice was the first person he ever loved. Marrying her felt right and easy, but also never gave him time to explore past loving one person. He knows he has felt attraction to more than one gender, but he isn’t sure what that means and he isn’t really looking to find out. ( yet ? ) Besides, his mother would have a fit if he didn’t start giving her grandchildren soon.

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

ANY CHANGES: NA

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

ALIGNMENT: neutral good MYERS - BRIGGS: ISFP TEMPERAMENT: sanguine POSITIVE TRAITS: hardworking, dependable, intelligent NEGATIVE TRAITS: anxious, self-critical, forgetful

Frank is remarkably responsible for someone who was so careless as a child. When his father died, Frank had been forced to accept a switch between a little boy who had been pampered and coddled to the heir of a very prominent house of the Sacred 28. His mother was much more liberal than many of the families they spent most of their time around, but that never stopped the heavy weight of her expectations from laying on his shoulders and causing his determination to make her proud and has managed to surpass every expectation anyone had set for him. Growing up, everything seemed to come easily to the young boy and he surmounted every milestone earlier than anyone hoped. There was zero doubt he was a bright boy, things just came easily to him and from a young age he left everyone around him with high expectations for where he was going to go in life. His parents had quickly jumped into action, researching the best tutors when he was still too young to even have them, reading to him every night, and doing whatever it took to keep him on the right path to success. Frank was still held to that slightly higher standard that came to every child born to a family in the twenty-eight. She expected only the best from him, made her disappointment clear when he hadn’t lived up to what she considered his true potential and her desires for his achievements slowly morphed into a crippling fear of failure for himself.

It was extremely difficult to make it seem as if everything came easily to him, but it didn’t feel like as much of an accomplishment if he had to work twice as hard as everyone else in order to keep up with the brightest. As a student he had always wanted to maintain his good grades, prove to himself he could do anything he set his mind to, but he also didn’t want to spend all of his time buried in some book like a Ravenclaw. Magic was supposed to just come easily to him and he had never been dull, but Frank was never naturally extraordinary; his achievements took work whether he liked it or not. So he hid in the very back corners of the library and stayed up until the early hours of morning trying to keep his perfect grades while maintaining a social life. He never wanted anyone to know how hard he worked, trying wasn’t cool no matter how proud of himself he was the moment he saw his mother charm his OWL results to the wall in their kitchen. It was something about him that hadn’t changed as he grew older. Frank has always been stubborn, and he doesn’t think he will every be comfortable admitting when he is struggling, except maybe to Alice.

Frank’s bravery is subtle and quiet. Growing up around Gryffindors made him question himself for a long time, he wasn’t loud and impulsive, never the one to jump into something without thinking through the consequences. But he always stood up for what he believed in, did the right thing without question, even if it meant the consequences for himself would be painful to deal with. Recently he’s felt like he lost that side of himself, that this war is stealing that from him as he watches his family fall apart and have begun to give up hope on fixing it. He’s trying to find that again.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

Francis Longbottom had met Augusta Fawley four years into his marriage, in his late twenties at another random ‘charity’ event where he and his mates had snuck off to an abandoned room, trying to remember the rules to the version of exploding snap they had turned into a drinking game back in their Hogwarts days. Augusta had found her way in, demanding they teach her the rules and the two hit it off immediately as she fixed Francis’s seared eyebrows and burnt fingertips. In Augusta’s version of the story he did it on purpose for an excuse to talk to her just a bit longer, he claimed otherwise, but that grin that always flittered across his face made that hard to believe.

The two had kept a friendship over the years and Augusta had been the first one to console him as his marriage fell apart. The two had married very quickly after and being a Longbottom meant people had a tendency of knowing what Frank was before he even knew it himself. Frank had been born a month early, a small and fragile little thing who would quickly become the center of of his parents’ world. Between Francis’s messy divorce and their speedy engagdement, there had been plenty of room for speculation, but the two stuck to their story; why wait when you knew you had finally found the one? Augusta and Francis’s age gap had been noticeable, and her being his second wife had caused just as much talk as her tendencies to push a more liberal 20th century agenda. These kids were going to change the world, her little boy was going to change the world, and it wasn’t her fault so many members of the society she grown up in weren’t ready to accept that.

Growing up Frank’s father had been his hero. Every aspect of his persona had been so carefully curated into being just like his father who in his boyish innocence, could do absolutely no wrong. He had been sorted into Gryffindor just like him, read stories about adventure, bravery, and chivalry, even supported the Catapults with unwavering loyalty because even if they were living in England now, his father felt such a strong connection to his Welsh roots and the second estate Frank had grown up spending every summer in as long as he could remember and when he passed Frank was so young he never grew to realize his flaws in the way he would with his mother. Frank had only been eleven when his father died of something so ordinary as a splinching trying to apparate home after a long day of work at the Ministry. He was only a first year and suddenly the head of the Longbottom household. Of course his mother took care of everything while he was young, but after that day he felt a responsibility to grow up too quickly and care for her because his father couldn’t. His parents had wanted to let him be a boy first and heir second, as long as they could at least. They hadn’t expected that to all blow up in their faces as Frank scrambled to learn everything he thought he had a decade to become.

His mother was never the same after. She still loved Frank with everything she had, but watching his struggle to catch up on everything she never pushed him to do before made her more strict. She expected so much more of him and after years of coddling the pressure she forced on him in her own grief had thrown him off balance. But the privilege of being born a Longbottom came with responsibility as well, and while it wasn’t fair it didn’t matter that he had only been a little boy. Generations of prestige weren’t going to be thrown out the window because Frank wasn’t ready to let go of his carefree childhood.

His second little family of him and Alice had seemed so easy for a while, and in a world without war it probably would be the easiest thing he had ever done for the rest of his life. They simply worked, sometimes he thought she understood him better than he did himself. Not in the way of estranged relatives divulging secrets of his family’s past, or the hours he spent with his mother while they struggled to memorize the family tree together- Alice knew the things that mattered. Big things like his dreams and aspirations, things as small as how he took his tea, his Alice knew him inside and out and he loved her more than even the worlds greatest poets could put into words. But his greatest fear is that sometimes simply loving someone wasn’t enough.

Frank didn’t know how to defend her to his mother, he knew it was wrong and he needed to stand up for her more, but for all the Gryffindor bravery he claimed to have he couldn’t face himself to takes sides. He did know how to put down her own family however. It was a sensitive subject, one he tried his best to avoid because Alice was his family and even if they weren’t on speaking terms anymore that meant the Bulstrodes were his family as well, even if they never deserved someone as brilliant as his wife.

Then there was the fact that Frank wanted more than there little family of two; he wanted a whole gaggle of children with his eyes and her smile. Alice says she isn’t ready, that she wants this too but not at the height of the war and he wants to believe her but what if this war doesn’t end? They’re inching closer to thirty every day and sure, his father had been closer to fourty by the time he had been born but he didn’t want to just have children, he wanted to raise them with Alice. There was no guarantee any of them would make it out of this alive and he wanted every moment to hear little patters of feet running into their room after a nightmare turn into quiet footsteps sneaking back into the house after curfew. He feels like he’s loosing grip on the future they had promised each other in newly wedded bliss and he’s started to wonder if this war is worth losing everything for. It’s so much more than their lives on the line.

OCCUPATION:

Frank hadn’t known what he wanted to do after graduation. He knew there were things he didn’t want to do, for example he could never be a Healer, he didn’t have the patience to deal with the sick and injured but he was out of school with glowing recommendations and no idea what to do with them. But it just seemed counterproductive to think about anything other than fight back against the darkness that was so prominent in their world. He hadn’t begun Auror training because it was something he wanted for himself, rather because it felt like something he had to do. He was determined- and he wondered if all aurors felt that way. Like they never had a choice in their career, or if it was more like wandlore for everyone. If their path had chosen them rather than anyone ever choosing to go into any part of magic law.

It was hard watching Alice flourish so much within the department. He was proud of her of course, but they had fallen in love while climbing through the ranks together and now she only continued to rise while Frank seemed to have plateaued. Moody claimed it was because he was soft- no matter how good he was at his job he had seen too many wizards crack under the pressure and he’d be damned letting Frank break simply to prove he was just as useful as his wife. He doesn’t know how much longer he can do it, and he worries that he’s only still here because he can’t bring himself to admit Moody’s right.

LIVING SITUATION:

His little flat with Alice is Frank’s salvation. Of course, the place isn’t really small by most people’s standards, but after growing up in a home that had an east and a west wing, it seemed minuscule by comparison. It had been their place to get away from it all, not a part of the Order or another hideout while they were working. It was the perfect combination of the two of them that they had built their lives in over the years. The location was brilliant as well, so close to Diagon Alley, he never needed to floo to relive the boyhood excitement of walking the streets, the nostalgia that came every August when he would simply wander, watching as school children flooded the streets with their equally anxious parents getting ready for another year at Hogwarts. One day they would have to move on, if they ever had the large family he wanted so badly their home wouldn’t last them forever, but for now it really was a home.

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX:

Joining The Order felt very similar to training to become an Auror in the way it hadn’t ever felt like his own choice, but rather something he had simply been destined to do. Only, this felt so much more important. The Aurors were part of a Ministry fueled by prejudice and corruption and there was only so far they were willing to let their employees go. Because that was what Aurors were, employees of the Ministry. In The Order they weren’t held back by laws and Ministry guidelines, and Frank wasn’t kept stagnant when it had all become too much to handle. This was what they signed up for, their lives and wellbeing were at stake and he had agreed to be nothing more than a pawn in the war when he made that oath to Dumbledore in secret.

But Frank wasn’t sure he was willing to go as far as he had signed up for anymore. He had hidden his participation from Alice for years before she had caught on and joined herself, and while he was willing to put his life on the line for all the same reasons he had been when he first joined, he wasn’t willing to put his life on the line. It took saying it outloud for him to understand just how privileged he sounded, how much of the elitism they were fighting clouded his words, but that didn’t change the fact that Frank wasn’t willing to throw the Longbottom name to the wayside to continue putting his everything into this war. He didn’t want his marraige to be second place to the cause, didn’t want to put off having a family for another ten years because they were too busy fighting for everyone else to fight for themselves.

He saw himself in the younger members of The Order everyday. Were they all simply destined to lose every piece of themselves until they all forgot who they ever were outside of the war? He feels himself forgetting a little more of himself each day, that seventeen year old boy leaving Hogwarts for the last time running to tell his mother he was going to be an auror and change the world seemed so distant. He knew he could come off as preachy to some of the younger ones, but he was afraid for them. Not that they would die, although the way Benjy went still kept him up at night, he had been so young and why hadn’t Frank stopped them all from going? But he had taken it upon himself to try and be there for everyone and make sure they remembered there was a life outside of The Order. Yes, his experience as an auror made him a great leader, and he spent so much of his time helping with strategy and even more so morale. He was out fighting and taking more and more charge as Dumbledore was alround less and less. Frank was good at spotting other’s strengths and weaknesses and spends a lot of time delegating tasks and looking for anyone they could recruit into the Order. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want this anymore. He refused to leave the rest of the Order, so many of them practically children, to figure this all out for himself.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Alice Longbottom: Frank had always believed ever person got one true love in their lives, one person who was meant to be by your side and he was simply lucky enough that he found his in Alice the first time he had ever fallen in love. His first love was his one great love and for so long loving Alice seemed like the easiest thing he would ever do. Frank had been smitten not from the first second, he had flirted with her in school a bit, but he hadn’t realized just how head over heels he was until later watching her pour her all into auror training. It had hit him all at once, that this was the woman he would love for the rest of his life with. She had been the first person to truly understand him, because Frank wanted her to know him entirely the same as he wanted to know her. He told her his greatest hopes and dreams and he read her his favorite stories. In a world without war his love for her would be enough to get them through it all.

Sometimes simply loving someone wasn’t enough. He knows what his mother thinks of her, even if he pretends not to know what she’s talking about any time Alice brings up the fact that Augusta simply doesn’t like the fact that they are together. He loves her, and he doesn’t understand why that isn’t enough for his mother, or Alice for that matter. Whatever his mum thinks, what should matter is his opinion of her.

Then The Order went and got in the way of their happy ever after. Frank had felt guilty for lying about his involvement those first two years. And he did feel guilty for not being sure, he did. Alice had never given him any reason to doubt she would be anything other than all in when it came to The Order’s mission, and when it came down to it she really had been all in. He fears she may care more for The Order than him or their marriage. That their vows meant little to nothing in terms of fighting back and putting her all into the organization. He had always been the one to cave in their relationship, simply say yes dear, and nod along. But he was getting tired of pushing his dreams aside for her wants.

Alice says she isn’t ready for children. He understood the first time they had the conversation and the second, but years have gone by and they are no closer to winning this war than they had been after their wedding. They were waiting on something they never knew for certain they were going to obtain to start their family and it broke Frank’s heart every time she turned him down. He wanted more than a child, he wanted a family for them to raise together. Then there was the fact that he was the only male Longbottom left, he had an obligation to have not only a child, but a son to continue the Longbottom bloodline. Was it a petty problem to have, sure. But it was something Alice had known well before she ever agreed to marry him. It wasn’t her last name that risked dying out if they never had children and it was a point he used whenever he wanted to take emotion out of the conversation because he couldn’t bring himself to tell her again he wanted it so badly.

It feels like the future they had promised each other is slipping through their fingers, being stolen by the Order and he’s started to wonder if this war is worth losing everything for. Frank can feel themselves growing apart and he doesn’t know how to fix it. Leaving the aurors and The Order feels like a last resort, but he’s too afraid to test his theory that these things are the condition on Alice’s love for him.

He doesn’t want to know if starting a family is the condition on his love for her either.

Fabian Prewett: It wasn’t fair that Gideon had been taken, and Frank had tried his best to understand that Fabian had been going through a type of greif that he would never fully understand. He wanted to be there for him, even if the most helpful thing he could do for him was take all the anger and sadness he didn’t know how to express otherwise. But it had taken a toll on their friendship, and it’s something they still haven’t managed to repair. Frank accepted he would always be second to Fabian’s twin, that their friendship would always come after the two boy’s brotherhood, but that didn’t stop him from clinging to the boy like a koala, inserting himself into their lives and never looking back.

Now he wasn’t sure if their friendship ever could return to what it used to be. It wasn’t Frank’s fault Gideon was captured along with the others, there was nothing more he could have done but as soon as the words were out of Fabian’s mouth there was no taking them back. It became a thought that festered in his mind at all times, even still now that he was home. Was there more he could have done to have prevented their capture? Not only Gideon, but all four of the people who had been captured. Or all the members they have lost for good along the way. It kept him up at night, what he could have done differently, if that was what he really thought or it had really only been his grief talking.

Frank knew his friend was still struggling. Things never were the same after and he wanted to reach out, to mend their friendship, go back to the way things used to be. But he didn’t know how. That seemed to be a running theme in all of his relationships these days.

Peter Pettigrew: Frank knew what people said about Peter before. He had been in the boy’s shoes, had felt the confusion of showing your bravery in a way that hadn’t made sense in a house that valued it above all else, and he felt for him. Those four boys had been so young, so eager to prove themselves and when it had been Peter who flourished the most these past months Frank felt a sense of pride and fear for him. He knew his point could come across the wrong way, that he probably wasn’t very likable all the time but he believed in Peter. He wanted him to continue to thrive, watch his confidence continue to grow because he deserved it, especially as he watched him mature almost too much after James Potter’s disappearance. But he also didn’t want him to ever understand the level of loneliness that Frank only truly understood once he had begun to take a larger role in the Order. He feels a responsibility to the younger ones to make sure they understand it’s so much more than their lives at stake.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS:

Frank and Alice will always hold a very special place in my heart. That being said I ship first and foremost off chemistry and seeing where this roleplay takes them will be very exciting to develop over time. Perhaps they will mend their relationship as the plot continues, or they may ultimately fall apart, either way I am excited to see where this all goes.

INTERPERSONAL STRUGGLES:

Frank knows a lot of people think he’s too soft for this. That he’s fragile and awkward and doesn’t have it in him to push his own morals aside and do what’s best for the cause. He had always been someone who wanted to do the right thing, and sometimes in a war that wasn’t always plausibe. Dumbledore, Moody, ( sometimes he fears even Alice ) they were all waiting for him to fall apart but he absolutely refuses to prove them right. But he does blame The Order for most of the struggles he has been facing over the past year. It isn’t his life he is afraid of losing, but the things that make life worth living. He is afraid of losing all the things they are fighting for.

He doesn’t want to keep fighting, but he does anyway. This whole thing is wrong, the people they were recruiting into the Order were practically children, yet here he was scouting out more in hopes they would come help them finally get closer to ending this awful war. He pulled members in, some who have faced the worst tragedies life has to offer and it’s his duty now whether he wants it or not to watch over the rest of the people that are here fighting by his side.

He said the words aloud for the first time, that he wasn’t willing to throw the Longbottom name to the wayside to continue putting his everything into this war, and finally understood just how privileged he was. More than the multiple houses and not having to deal with being called awful names. Here he was fighting this elitist world, risking his marriage, his career, everything he had ever worked for could be gone in a matter of seconds and Frank wasn’t entirely sure he understood what they were fighting for. He didn’t know if many of them really understood more than what was happening in their world was wrong.

His fight with Fabian stuck with him more than Frank thought it would. He was an auror, he had training and experience that most of the people coming into The Order didn’t and coupled with all of the resources he had access to, he should be doing so much more. He blames himself in part, for all of friends they lost. For all the people who got hurt. Frank felt like a little boy again, hurt and confused and desperate to hold the people he had close because the grief and guilt that came along with it was too much to handle.

His days continue to get longer and longer, he knows he’s pushing himself too hard and the burnout will ultimately only end up hurting those he cares about in the end. But he needs to do more. Needs to watch everyone all the time because they can’t lose anyone else to this bloody war. Some days it feels like his only purpose.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?

What really drew me in hasn’t changed. You have somehow managed to create the exact roleplay I have been craving so desperately and put it into action. Every tiny aspect of this has been what I have wanted in a group and have yet to find. Because how rare is it to find exactly what you are looking for in a rp these days down to every last little detail? I have lessened my time in the Marauders rp world recently after only returning during the pandemic, because it is so difficult to find a place where people simply want to write and flesh out these characters. I want to learn something new about about a character every time I write them, and I still find that I do in an environment that allows it. I want to cry writing a para, and laugh, and grow this entire group instead of pushing out as many replies as I can in a short span of time or get caught in the loop of only talking about the characters in an ooc chat and never moving them past what they were when the group opens. This plot feels very nostalgic in a way that reminds me of the roleplays of the past that developed my love for the Marauders Era and fostered its growth over time.

PLOT DROP IDEAS (OPTIONAL): NA

ANYTHING ELSE? NA

#recreancyaccepted #frank longbottom app

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bailey-reaper · 3 years

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Hhhhh could you write a sequel to the hades fic???? it was SOO good!!!!!!

For Dear Life (Hades & Persephone AU)

Notes: (continued from here) Hello anon, I'm very happy to hear you enjoyed the Hades/Persephone fic! As I've said before, I love mythologies!

S/O is gender neutral (they/them pronouns). Barok refers to them using petnames.

Content Warnings: abducted / hostage situation; power imbalance; intense emotions; Tia seriously screws around with Greek mythology. Like really REALLY screws around...; I'm sorry historians (again!) and mythologists

It was impossible to say whether or not the underworld met their expectations, because such things were normally so abstract and not a subject they really thought of; so, to be suddenly confronted by the literal domain of the dead, was utterly mind-boggling.

All they really remembered, as the chariot dove deep into the bowels of the earth was the feeling of the God of the Underworld holding them close and partly shielding them with his long cloak of darkness. It had surprised them to hear a heart beating in the deity's chest – surely that was something of an oxymoron?

With a firm shake of their head, they quietly wondered why they were dwelling upon that precise detail; it seemed like such a trivial thing...

They had been escorted to a garden within the deity's palace: the plants were unusual colours and shapes, no doubt thanks to the lack of sunlight they enjoyed, but it was a soothing space nonetheless and one that helped their racing thoughts to calm. As they looked around and overhead, it struck them how easy it was to forget this was a subterranean domain given how high the vaulted cavernous ceilings were.

"It is a pleasant garden, is it not?" a familiar, but terrifying, voice remarked as the tall and imposing Lord of the Dead entered the space.

Instantly the feeling of calm abandoned them and they stood with a small yelp of shock, "........" even if they'd wanted to speak, it was as if their voice was stuck in their throat.

"...." the God's expression was momentarily odd, they might have taken it as him being wounded or even disappointed, before he cleared his throat and sat on a bench fashioned from black marble, ".... I have no intentions to harm you. It may be difficult to believe that, but it is the truth... won't you come here?" he held out a hand, "I have shown you a great deal of discourtesy thus far in failing to properly introduce myself... My rashness can only be attributed to the passion you make me feel. It is... very out of my usual character."

And it was, for the Lord of the Underworld was known among his brethren as a level-headed judge who maintained utmost composure at all times. In fact, they often described him as being 'cold as a corpse' and brutal when it came to matters of logic or strategy. Impulsiveness was an unknown concept in his mind, until now...

"...I... am fine here," they replied, settling back down in grass that appeared to be more peacock blue than green.

"... Very well," once more he wore that wounded expression, but the God seemed willing to respect their reluctance, "I am the God of the Underworld, I believe your kind call me 'Hades'."

"... Hades," yes -- that was what humans called the stern God beneath the earth, but it sounded to them as if that might not be his real name, "Is... that not your name, then?"

A smile graced and lifted his features for a moment, brightening them in an unexpected way, "You are as astute as I thought... that is correct: my 'true' name is not Hades, though, mortals may call me whatever they wish."

"Then... what is your real name?" this topic of conversation made them curious: where had the names of the Gods actually come from? Were they brought to the minds of men in a dream? Or did the Gods themselves provide false identities, if so then why?

"Mmm," he looked momentarily pensive, "That is a secret, for now... a God's true name holds great power. To entrust it to another is akin to making a vow."

Their eyes widened, "Oh... I... I see."

"You will forgive me if I do not offer up something so personal at this delicate juncture, I am aware that your presence here is entirely of my doing and that you are... unhappy about it. I will not keep it a secret any longer than I must."

"...." it made sense that a God would not trust a relative stranger with something that seemed to hold a great deal of power. They wanted to ask more about it: what did it mean to know a God's true name? What kind of 'vow' did it create? But, it seemed more prudent to leave the topic for now, "... Please won't you let me go home?" they asked, eyes pleading, "I am... flattered to have caught the eye of a God, but I am a mere mortal. I cannot see what lasting intrigue I would have to a divine being such as yourself."

The Lord of the Underworld tilted his head, "Do you think me a shallow man who saw your beautiful face and thought only of that?" he shook his head, "I appreciate that we Gods have a less than glowing image among mortals, and that we have a reputation for treating humans in a superficial manner, but, that is not why I have brought you here. I do not see you as some pretty trophy to keep until I tire of you. Though you are beautiful, yes, it is not simply your appearance that has captivated me so."

"What...?" for some reason his impassioned words made their heart thud in their chest; did he really meant to say that he, a God, had fallen in love with them?

"You possess a quality of character and strength of spirit that has quite simply dazzled me... I have watched you from afar, seen how you have helped your fellows and maintained your grace and resolve even in the face of adversity. I was blinded by more than just your looks."

They blinked a few times, going over his words again and again in muted silence. How could they respond to such a heartfelt answer? It was clear that the God of the Underworld was sincere, if nothing else-- but, this was too much to take in.

"... I'm sure it must come as a surprise to hear a God's confession, but I cannot yearn from afar any longer... that is why I have brought you here. So that I might marry you and take you for my spouse."

"This... it's... this is far more than a surprise... it's shocking. I'm a simple human, surely there are other Gods and Goddesses that are better suited to wed one such as you?"

The God chuckled, "Gods and Humans aren't so different you know... We're possessed of the same diversity of thought and feelings, the same irrational sensibilities and yearnings... it is not as if for every God there is a comparable divine partner. In fact, I find a number of my divine brethren to be a noisy, irksome lot and ill-suited to my temperament. I gladly opted to rule the Underworld for it lessens the time I have to spend with them."

".... huh?" suddenly, they couldn't help but giggle, "... Are you... saying that you view the Gods as annoying relatives?"

"...." he pursed his lips, "Well... they are."

"Oh... I had no idea... So, you came here willingly?" he nodded, "That's not what our books say: apparently you drew lots with your brothers and received the underworld having drawn the shortest straw."

"...?" he looked genuinely bemused by that account, "... I've... never heard something so ridiculous in all my life... drew lots? By the Gods, no. The last thing I would want is to rule the Gods and endure the constant politics of Mount Olympus. Truth be told, I have no idea how my brother manages it..."

Once more they were laughing, for the God of the Underworld --Hades himself-- looked utterly aghast, "Oh! But what about the sea then? Wouldn't you have preferred your brother Poseidon's domain?"

"First, Poseidon is not my brother, he was a 'brother-in-arms' who assisted me and my brother... second, the sea is not much better than Olympus given its relative proximity. I find that my brethren are far slower to make the trek down into the bowels of the earth than any other place."

"I... had no idea the Lord of the Underworld was so anti-social," they mused, smiling to themself having almost entirely lost their nervousness, "But... I suppose it makes some sense, given that your domain is that of the dead. Have you... always been like this?"

"Like what?" he cocked his head.

"... Disagreeable to spending time with other Gods."

"I suppose so," he folded his arms, as if trying to recall some divine equivalent of childhood, "There are so many irksome and tedious Gods in the world, I discovered that during the wars with the Titans."

"Oh... so those wars actually happened then? Our human books are right about that much at least?" he nodded, "So... are the myths about your brother, Zeus, true?"

"What myths about Zeus?"

"That he's the most terrible womaniser who forces himself upon anything that catches his eye?"

"What?!" he stood up, clearly flustered, "Who dares to tarnish my brother's name so?! He's not some philandering hedonist! He's a man of the utmost integrity and happily married! Not to mention his wife would punish him severely were he to hold such callous disregard for the mortals..." suddenly, he stopped his ranting and looked apologetic as he sat down, "... Forgive me, that outburst was uncalled for..."

"I'm... surprised," they said, "Because our myths suggest that you and Zeus do not get along... but you seem incredibly fond of him... oh... and what did you mean that Poseidon is not your brother? Aren't all the Gods related?"

"Of course I'm fond of him," the God said, "He's my brother... and as for your other questions.... what kind of inbred bedlam do you think the Gods live in? We are not begat as generations of mortals, we all issued forth from the black waters of Chaos..."

"But how are you and Zeus related if all Gods are not born?"

"I... was a weak little God when I emerged from the primordial darkness, in fact it was questionable whether or not I would survive. Zeus took pity on me, and shared with me his ichor.... that sustained me and breathed life into me. We are brothers who share the same blood, literally."

"Oh... wow... I had no idea..."

"Why would you? It is not as if we Gods are at pains to correct the fantasies that mortals dream up to explain the world around them," he folded his arms, "I'm... glad you seem a little less nervous in my presence."

"Ah..." they blinked, "Now that you mention it, I do feel a lot calmer."

"That's good... I hope, with time, that perhaps you will... take a liking to me."

"...." funnily enough, seeing more of the God's character had endeared him to them, "I... can't make any promises," they said, while looking down and smiling.

He seemed to pick up on that coyness, "Hmmm... that's better than an outright no. Now, I should like to show you my domain. Do you feel up to a chariot ride? I won't burst up from the earth this time and grab you..."

"In that case, yes."

#barok van zieks #Barok x Ors #alt universe #request

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dodscans · 2 years

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What did the Venetians say about them?

Did you know that most of the things we know about the cast of DoD come from what the Venetian bailo of Constantinople wrote in their letters and reports? And I happened to find a book which has the bailo reports from DoD's time frame.

This was painted much later, but doesn't matter, it still shows how the fancy Venetians came to İstanbul. The fashion must have been different though.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find English versions of the letters (rather, I didn't bother looking), so I will just write some of my impressions and parts that striked me here. The baili and the other ad hoc ambassadors did not only write about the state of the Ottoman politics, army and economics, but they also left invaluable information on the key personalities of the Sublime Porte. The ambassadors mostly interacted with the Grand Vizier and the other viziers, so they wrote a lot of stuff about the characters and temperaments of them. I found out that the statement "he loved himself more than he did his lord" I previously quoted actually comes from Daniello de Ludovisi's report presented to the Venetian Senate in 1534 (quote found on p. 97 of my book). I would also like to quote him on Suleiman and İbrahim's relationship (p. 111). (Excuse me for sounding like an insufferable fujoshi, but they talk about İbrahim a lot because they were directly dealing with him. What else could they do? I should remind you that an ambassador saw the Sultan only twice: Once when they take up their duty, and once when they were leaving Constantinople at the end of their duty. During these visits, they couldn't even exchange words with the Sultan, but only kissed his hand while they were escorted by soldiers. But they could even become buddy-buddy with the viziers while fulfilling their official duties because they were the ones running the state affairs and communicating directly with the foreign ambassadors. İbrahim and later Rüstem were seen as the key to Suleiman's good graces.)

When the Sultan summons all his pashas and the officials of the court, he absolutely takes no decisions while İbrahim is not present. However, İbrahim can take whatever decision he likes alone, even when the Sultan is not present. For reasons I have previously mentioned, there are less and less retainers around the Sultan who give him good counsel and his army grows weaker. Things would be much better if the Turkish Beg was more cautious and careful about his circumstances, and took notice of these irregularities and tried to remedy them. Then his retainers too would rise to the challenge and do whatever they can for the Sultan. But when you take into account that the Sultan is indeed aware of all this, yet does nothing to change it because he loves İbrahim too much, you can say that his affection is not the respectable sort. On the contrary, it's a very dangerous emotion.

When you want to make a nice, foamy Turkish coffee but are denied... I respect bookgrammers now.

About Hürrem, they mostly talk about her children because they are very much interested in Suleiman's succssor. Pietro Bragadino informs us in 1526 that (p. 51) Suleiman prefers Hürrem over Gülbahar, and that Hürrem is young but not beautiful, yet cute and petite. Since Harem was out of bounds for them, their impressions are based on hearsay, yet still interesting.

I really liked these guys. They took their jobs seriously and did everything for the best interest of their state, La Serenissima, while being fully mindful of the Ottoman way of things and dynamics. 500 years later, our politicians are nowhere near as respectful as them. Read the baili reports if you happen to find them, because they give a very interesting insight on the time period.

There is also another book with the reports about Prince Mustafa, which is next on my reading list. Time for book shopping!

#shinohara chie #篠原千絵 #yume no shizuku kin no torikago #夢の雫、黄金の鳥籠 #drops of dreams #drops of dreams the golden birdcage #real history #book recommendation #venice #diplomacy

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songofclarity · 3 years

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The way I see some discussions and mentions of Nie Dad’s death, they give the impression that Wen RuoHan killed him in the same manner Meng Yao killed those Nie cultivators in the Sun Palace: by savagely cutting him open and letting him bleed out across the floor while Nie MingJue could only stand there and helplessly watch.

And like, symbolically, I can see the similarities of teenage Nie MingJue having to just stand there and watch his dad rage himself to death in his sickbed, but what happened between Wen RuoHan and Nie Dad, and the Wen Sect and Nie Sect, is much more complicated and far less direct.

There are reasons Nie MingJue’s resentment is quoted as being about his father’s death and not, directly, at Wen RuoHan.

Three key points:

First, neither the Nie nor the Wen could ever possibly agree about who started the conflict or how it ended. Was Nie Dad truly the arrogant type who would be so prideful as to mock Wen RuoHan for enjoying something or did Wen RuoHan try to teach a lesson to someone who was the innocent victim of some guest cultivator’s malice? The guest cultivator played them both by setting up a lose-lose situation.

Second, Wen RuoHan did not and does not know about the saber spirit. Nie Dad was stuck in a sickbed for six months which shows there was plenty of time to heal him. Do the Qinghe Nie just not take care of their people? The Wen Sect love getting into other people’s business and they have fantastic doctors. Did the Nie Sect reject help when it was offered due to the secrecy of Nie Dad’s underlying condition? This Sounds Like a You Problem if the Nie Sect just let Nie Dad languish and die. It’s no wonder Nie MingJue would resent his father’s death if there was nothing in-house they could do to help him and the Nie Sect refused to seek outside help--especially for reasons of Sect pride.

Third, Nie Dad’s death, namely how Nie Dad handled being injured and the six months leading up to his death, was a horrific reality check for the Nie Sect and the consequences of their saber cultivation. Wen RuoHan did not lay hands on Nie Dad or attack him in any manner, and yet one indirect hit shattered what tenuous hold Nie Dad had on his temperament. How fragile and vulnerable the Qinghe Nie must have felt! Wen RuoHan found their fatal flaw by a complete accident! It’s easier for the Nie Sect to blame the Wen Sect when there is nothing they can do about changing their cultivation methods without completely changing the Nie Sect as they know it. Change is hard. Blame is easy. Anger is easy. Resentment is easy.

Keep in mind this conflict was not started by Wen RuoHan. I cannot emphasize that point enough. This conflict began when a guest cultivator heard the innocuous question, “What do you think of this saber of mine?” (ch. 49, ERS) and started naming names.

Wen RuoHan smacked Nie Dad's saber because he was told Nie Dad was arrogant, boastful, and condescending. He was told Nie Dad was a dirty liar who would compliment Wen RuoHan’s saber to his face and talk shit about it behind his back (or in his heart, which is kind of worse, actually).

[The guest cultivator,] "[Sect Leader Nie is] awfully arrogant, always boasting about how his prized saber is absolutely unrivaled, and how even in a hundred years no sword has been able [to be] compared to his. No matter how good one's saber was, he definitely won't admit it, and even if he did admit it out loud, he won't admit it in his heart." [Ch. 49, ERS]

Is this a true account of Nie Dad’s character or is it a complete fabrication in order to throw him under the bus? We’re never told. But Wen RuoHan is told that Nie Dad will not be telling him the truth about how he feels, so Wen RuoHan can’t even talk to Nie Dad about it in order to clear the air if he so wanted. The guest cultivator has put Wen RuoHan and Nie Dad in a lose-lose situation. The conflict has immediately degraded to petty passive aggressive revenge.

Wen RuoHan decides to test the waters. Or, perhaps, he will teach Nie Dad a lesson in humility.

[Wen RuoHan,] "Are you sure about that? Well, I want to see." (Ch. 49, ERS)

Wen RuoHan requests Nie Dad’s presence. He holds the saber and compliments that it’s a very good saber. Then he does one of three things: he tests the saber’s strength for himself, teaches Nie Dad a lesson about having too much pride, or both.

Wen RuoHan smacking the saber, trying to break it, is a good way to humble a man whose pride comes from having the so-called greatest saber. Maybe when that saber breaks Nie Dad won't be such an arrogant asshole anymore. The guest cultivator noted that the saber was a point of pride for Nie Dad. Take it away, and maybe he’ll be more humble from now on.

The saber should probably have broken when slapped several times, but it didn't, because it was indeed a good saber.

Wen RuoHan hands the saber back and that is the end of Wen RuoHan’s involvement with Nie Dad and the Nie Sect.

(Keep in mind that we hear about Wen RuoHan leaving his house ONE time in canon, and that was to fight Nie MingJue at Yangquan during the Sunshot Campaign. Wen RuoHan and the Wen never go after the Qinghe Nie again until after the Sunshot Campaign begins.)

Nie Dad leaves the Sun Palace without noticing anything wrong with his saber. He finds the encounter with Wen RuoHan strange, but he leaves it at that.

The Sect Leader of the greatest saber cultivation sect didn't know his own saber had somehow been damaged! How embarrassing for him when he went on a night hunt days later and it broke and he got severely injured!

And that's it. Now Nie Dad's saber isn't the greatest saber anymore. Wen RuoHan taught Nie Dad a lesson, purposefully or not, and Nie Dad is still very much alive. Cultivators aren't down with their injuries for very long. It took Qingheng-jun a month to die from his critical injuries. By comparison, the core-less Jiang Cheng recovered from his broken ribs in just 3 days and the core-less Wei WuXian healed from an abdomen wound in a week. Six months for Nie Dad, a capable cultivator with likely a powerful golden core, is a long time! Unlike Qingheng-jun, he arguably was at least in a stable if disabled condition if he lasted six months.

Lesson learned and he'll be fine.

But Nie Dad isn't fine. He stews in his anger, his embarrassment, his resentment. He lets his fury engulf him. He can't heal from his injuries because all he wants to do, let’s say, is rage and yell and fume about that fucking Wen RuoHan who played a dirty trick!

(And if he did rage as such, perhaps there is some hearty arrogance in him that he thought himself and his saber untouchable, that he didn’t even give it a second look after Wen RuoHan was involved.)

It's not clearly stated if Nie Dad died from his injuries or by qi deviation, but considering the extent Nie MingJue and his sworn brothers go to in order to avoid a qi deviation AND Nie MingJue’s own feelings with how his father died, it's highly probable that Nie Dad died from qi deviation. And, like I said, if a cultivator doesn't die immediately from their wound, and if the wound doesn’t even put them in a critical condition, they heal just nicely.

But Nie Dad dies. It’s interesting to note the description of Nie MingJue’s trauma:

The thing in Nie MingJue's life that he loathed and regretted the most was the death of his father...

After Sect Leader Nie was brought back [from the night hunt where his saber broke], he couldn't make peace with such an event no matter what, and his injuries didn't heal either. Having fallen ill for half a year, he finally left the world, from either the anger or the illness. The reason why Nie MingJue, along with the entire Qinghe Nie Sect, detested the Qishan Wen Sect with such intensity was due to this. (ch. 49, ERS)

Although the Wens become the target of Nie hatred in the wake of Nie Dad’s death, Nie MingJue isn’t loathing them specifically. It’s not Wen RuoHan he hates, but rather the death of his father. The nuance here is important. He loathes those six months where Nie Dad could not get better and refused to get better when he picked his anger over healing. Those six months where he would have lashed out and shouted at his innocent children--just like Nie MingJue would, years later, shout and lash out at his brothers.

The death of Nie Dad showed the very worst side of the Qinghe Nie Sect and the effects of their saber cultivation. And all Nie MingJue, just a teenager at the time, could do was stand there and watch it all unfold. What a nightmare. It’s no wonder he accepted help from the Song of Clarity when he did, especially when Lan XiChen and Jin GuangYao were amping up the risk. it really just highlights the outrageous betrayal by Jin GuangYao, who knew all of this about Nie MingJue and the Nie Sect and still did what he did, using intimate knowledge to slowly murder Nie MingJue for his own gain.

Not even Wen RuoHan was that cruel.

Because all the while Wen RuoHan is not aware of the saber spirit or Nie Dad’s high risk of qi deviations. Nobody outside the Nie Sect knows about the saber spirits. Outside the Nie Sect, saber spirits aren't a real thing that someone could reasonably plan for. Hell, even Nie HuaiSang went over twenty years not knowing about the saber spirits and he lived with them!

So there is no possible way Wen RuoHan could have suspected pulling a punk ass, petty stunt to humble Nie Dad would exacerbate this supernatural disease that would anger Nie Dad to death.

This isn’t to say that Wen RuoHan is innocent. He very much chose to call Nie Dad over and made the decision on his own to smack the saber. But fate took over after that. The saber didn’t have to break and it didn’t have to break at such a dangerous moment.

Wen RuoHan’s actions did not seek Nie Dad’s death--because if he wanted Nie Dad dead, he would have killed him. (Who could have stopped him? No one.) Having policies that cause injury but not necessarily death are kind of Wen RuoHan’s thing though. (That’s an analysis for another time.) Suffice to say, no one can learn their lesson if they’re dead. Indoctrination camps and supervisory offices require living, breathing people to teach and be supervised. Wen RuoHan never sought to take over the world, only to correct the obvious flaws in the world around him. Correcting Nie Dad’s arrogance and pride was such an attempt.

And the Nie Sect secrecy shot the Nie in the foot in the end. They were angry with Wen RuoHan and the Wen Sect for causing Nie Dad's death by causing his injuries by damaging the saber, but of course Wen RuoHan and the Wens would never agree with this under the known circumstances. And with them being Wens, of course they aren’t going to take the blame and no one else is powerful enough to force them. This whole situation is especially Not Their Fault from their point of view.

Nie Dad was in bed for six months without critical injuries.

Maybe the Nie Sect should have had gotten better doctors.

(And I can perfectly imagine the Wen Sect, always throwing their weight around, actually offering to send their doctors, arguably the best doctors in the cultivation world, and the Nie Sect refusing because what ailed Nie Dad was not something the Nie Sect wanted to share. Nie MingJue allowing his sworn brothers to help him shows he learned from the experience of his father’s death, but I digress.)

We know all of this to be true because Wen RuoHan, years later at the start of the Sunshot Campaign, speaks of the Nie Sect as a place where people die in part because of their personality type and in part because the Nie Sect itself fails to care for them:

...the Qinghe Nie Sect's sect leader [Nie MingJue] was so stiff that he'd easily snap in half--soon afterward, no need for others to move and he'd die in his own people's hands sooner or later... (ch. 61, ERS)

And considering what we know about the saber spirits, this is a pretty good deduction when Wen RuoHan is missing the saber spirit cornerstone. The Nie Sect has a cultivation tradition that kills them. Obviously it’s in the hands of their own people that they die, having picked up this cultivation style. Wen RuoHan also accurately determines that personality, such as Nie MingJue being inflexible, contributes to that death. It is the build-up of anger and resentment that eventually pushes the Nie cultivator to snap and fall into a qi deviation.

But of course Wen RuoHan also lacks the knowledge that saber spirits cause those personalities to begin with. That Nie Dad acting rigid or arrogant or harsh might not be because he’s an actual asshole, but rather because the saber spirit is effecting his temperament. With a teenage son, Nie Dad was likely pushing 40 if not already much older. We see what a juggernaut Nie MingJue already is in his early 20s. Nie Dad had more than twice the time to wreck his temperament than Nie MingJue ever did, and it still took him six months to die while in a constant state of turmoil while bed bound.

(Which really shows how deadly the Collection of Turmoil was if it could kill Nie MingJue in less than half that time. I know this post is about Wen RuoHan and the Nie, but it truly cannot be understated how horrifically cruel Jin GuangYao’s actions were when he carefully crafted Nie MingJue’s murder, especially how he would have heard from both sides how this all went down.)

In the end, Wen RuoHan obviously gained a vague idea about what happened and what the Qinghe Nie are like as a Sect, but he is, of course, missing the vital point--just as he misses the vital point when he doesn't actually try to kill Nie Dad.

#wen ruohan #sect leader nie #nie mingjue #mdzs thoughts #mdzs quotes #i am both a pro nmj and pro wrh blog so please play nicely

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dweemeister · 3 years

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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

In these days of social isolation, domestic distractions, and pandemic, rare is the feature film that I watch at home in one sitting. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might have confused me in its opening half-hour but, in the end, commanded my attention for all of its one hundred and sixty-three minutes*. It is a film made during a time of crisis now fading from living memory, from British filmmakers reveling in their work’s Britishness. During Colonel Blimp’s wartime production and release, Britain was under existential threat from the Nazis, despite the opening of the North African front and apparent British victory in defending its airspace. A gentleman's war this was not, if ever such a thing existed. British cinema reflected those beliefs of the nation staring down its own annihilation, as the industry set to work on patriotic, if not propagandistic, movies.

There is no denying that Powell and Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp has elements of propaganda. The film, so resistant to any categorizations by genre (including comedy, drama, epic, romance, war), has no qualms that Britain is fighting a just war against Nazi Germany. But there are moments that must have given British Prime Minister Winston Churchill – who attempted to halt Colonel Blimp’s production and distribution – pause. Powell and Pressburger raise questions towards the justifications and necessity of past British wars, the idea of warfare as a noble exercise, and introduces a “good German” character. Colonel Blimp’s genre-bending and provocative queries into Britain’s militant soul represents the most breathtaking balancing act in any of Powell and Pressburger’s movies.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp takes place over three time periods, each in a different setting:

Boer War (the common name for what is technically the Second Boer War): 1902 in Berlin, far from the violence in southern Africa

World War I and between the World Wars: from November 1918-1935 between the Western Front and postbellum Britain

World War II: from 1939 through the Battle of Britain (1940), mostly in the London area

The film begins near its chronological conclusion, when the rotund, mustachioed, Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey; whose role is modeled off of the “Colonel Blimp” comic strip character’s appearance and mannerisms) is surprised to be “captured” by Lieutenant Spud Wilson (James McKechnie) during a premature training exercise. Candy, who is trying to enjoy his afternoon at his favorite Turkish bath, is outraged at Wilson’s disregard to the exercise’s rules, and fisticuffs break out. From here, Colonel Blimp flashes back to Candy’s service in the Boer War and sticks to a strict chronology. Then-Lt. Candy is in Berlin, on leave from his service in the Boer War. There, he has a series of misadventures (and a love triangle) involving Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr in one of three separate roles she plays) and an officer from the Imperial German Army named Theo Krestchmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). All three become friends while in Berlin; Theo and Edith become engaged shortly before Candy must leave Berlin.

We never see Edith (who stays in Germany with Theo) again in Colonel Blimp, but Theo – even though his time with Candy was relatively brief – remains friends with Candy. That friendship, however, conflicts against and interweaves into his German patriotism. Theo’s patriotism is not unconditional: he believes fervently in the aims of Imperial Germany in World War I’s immediate aftermath, but flees Hitler’s Nazi regime for soil his wife once called home. Taking account of all English-language cinema, he becomes a rare “good German”. In a person that a xenophobic British person might consider the enemy, we see a man heartbroken for the fate that befalls his native country and the violence waged against his adopted one.

Take the cruelly ironic scene of Theo visiting Candy after being released from a prisoner of war (POW) camp, as he ingratiates himself with Candy’s British dinner guests. Candy’s friends remark that British hospitality and organization must have eased the lives of the POWs, and the insinuate that British-German tensions shall soon wane. Germany will soon recover from the war, the dinner guests maintain. Notice Anton Walbrook’s physical acting here, acting as a man too polite to belabor his fellow guests with his sadness for his country and the anger of their presumptuous predictions. The Austrian actor, perhaps best known as Boris Lermontov from The Red Shoes (1948), provides a stupendous performance, most likely the widest-ranging one of his career. He inhabits his character’s contradictions of all three eras: the martial rigidity and playfulness of his Boer War-era youth, the defiance and disappointment following the Great War, and the sadness and pent-up fury of his elderly years. This is quite demanding for any actor, let alone someone who is nominally in a supporting role. Yet, a particular interview scene might represent the best piece of acting in any Powell and Pressburger picture. Walbrook performs spectacularly, with never a wasted motion or a dull moment from him.

Personal change comes much more slowly to Lieutenant-later-General Candy. This is as much for the purposes of the film’s chronological drama as it is a product of World War II-era remembrance. At this time in British filmmaking, one could not make narrative art deemed too critical of Britain’s bloody past – whether colonial or against its European rivals. For a film that engages so vigorously in a discourse concerning jus in bello, it portrays zero wartime violence. Meditations of war arrive solely in conversation, never action. In Candy’s indefatigable Britishness, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp affirms his views that the Boer War and World War I were and are just conflicts, fought justly. He does not thirst for violence, nor does he dismiss the traumas war brings to combatants and civilians alike (he may downplay those traumas, though). Candy’s flawed introspection and stubbornness are endearing, at first. As time progresses, those qualities come ever into conflict with the changing nature of warfare and the contexts of the war currently waged. Britain is and will always be above committing war atrocities, Candy believes (you can roll your eyes; it is the least you should do after reading those last few words), and Nazi Germany’s tactics will never succeed in the face of Britain’s upstanding military. Such thinking was outdated even then, and only through his friendship with Theo does he consider how wrong he is.

Roger Livesey might not have been Powell and Pressburger’s first choice as Candy (that would be Laurence Olivier, who probably would have made Candy a more sophisticated character), but he embodies a contradictory gruffness and gentleness that weaves between military and civilian life. Those qualities are on full display when Livesey captures the attention of Deborah Kerr’s characters. In addition to Walbrook’s turn as Theo, Livesey and Kerr offer wonderful performances that cement the film’s Britishness. Through the three eras covered in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Candy’s relationship with these women evolves as he ages, as the nature of the Britain’s conflicts make romance unwise. Kerr’s three characters might have different life interests, romantic inclinations, and temperaments, but their similar appearances – no coincidence, as the viewer later learns – anchor Candy to a perpetual past.

The striking Technicolor photography from Georges Périnal (1930’s Under the Roofs of Paris, 1948’s The Fallen Idol) with assistance from Jack Cardiff (1947’s Black Narcissus, 1951’s The African Queen) and production design from Alfred Junge (Black Narcissus, 1953’s Knights of the Round Table) makes The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp one of the most arresting Technicolor productions ever. The vibrancy of the colors leap from the screen – even the gray interiors of modern buildings and the browns of the World War I trenches and wooden panels of Candy’s estate. One crane shot of Candy and Theo during their first encounter – a swordsmen’s duel inside a cavernous hall, away from the freezing storm outdoors – and the fade into the shot of a building model gives the film the feel of an oral history where the most dynamic moments can never be truly captured. Those moments of action blur into Candy’s memory, as tangible now as the buildings inside a snow globe. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might not have the dedication to visual leitmotif as The Red Shoes does, but its visual interest outstrips all but the most masterful Technicolor pictures of the 1940s.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was cognizant of the buffoonish Colonel Blimp and, in addition to Lieutenant-later-General Candy, believed the characters were modeled after his appearance and behavior. Furthermore, considering how Powell and Pressburger imbued Theo with such humanity, Churchill – who had only read of the filmmakers’ preliminary plans for their film and never saw any footage – believed that The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp would only undermine morale for the war effort. In response, Churchill directed his Minister of War, Sam James Grigg, to suppress the picture to the extent that he could. Grigg denied Powell and Pressburger access to matériel, but the filmmakers had friends in the correct places to procure military uniforms, vehicles, and weapons necessary for their production. Despite Powell and Pressburger’s resourcefulness, Churchill succeeded in preventing the international distribution The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for at least one year after its 1943 release. The film’s American debut would not occur until March 1945. For the American release, the film lost thirteen minutes of its 163-minute runtime; television screenings further reduced the work to ninety minutes up until the mid-1980s.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might not seem like accessible viewing. This is a tale of an aging British military officer clinging to the ideals of his militaristic youth, long after when such ideals had purpose, let alone meaning to the young people of his present. It is rooted deeply into early twentieth century British culture, with an opening that might only serve to confuse a new viewer as it transitions to flashbacks. However, like any Powell and Pressburger film (and this might not even be the duo’s best work), there is much to offer. This is a love story, with love shown in various forms: for the first true love of Candy’s life, for the man who should be his enemy, for country. The genre gymnastics on display – a war film with nary any war violence; a romance without torrents of romance; a comedy without boisterous belly laughs – allow any caring viewer to witness General Candy grow into his times, all while retaining traces of a self that no longer is. That growth is subtle, but enveloping. His story feels like the origins of present-day Britain, its empire slipping away, wresting with a world no longer bowing in deference. As we must guard against the unexamined life, so too, Candy realizes, must he.

My rating: 10/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is the one hundred and sixty-fifth feature-length or short film I have rated a ten on imdb. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

*The longest film I have seen in one interrupted sitting at home was Lawrence of Arabia (1962), in all its 227-minute glory.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp #Powell and Pressburger #Michael Powell #Emeric Pressburger #Roger Livesey #Deborah Kerr #Anton Walbrook #Ursula Jeans #James McKechnie #Georges Perinal #John Seabourne Sr.#Jack Cardiff #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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changyang-cloud · 3 years

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Chapters: 1/4 Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Niè Huáisāng Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin Additional Tags: I don't even know what to tag this, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, i guess, Accidental Baby Acquisition, later on, they're just gonna be there for each other now Series: Part 2 of Write Our Names On Dragon Wings and Lift Our Hearts Summary:

Surrounded by the bright smiling faces of his family-- his brother, and husband, husband's brother and sister and their husbands, their children, nieces, and nephews...-- Nie Huaisang finally felt relieved. More than that, he felt happy.

Nie Huaisang had overheard what those other sect leaders were saying. That the sect of Yunmeng Jiang was almost negligible at this point, much less “great.” Why would they waste their resources supporting a lost cause?

Nie Huaisang remembered when he first heard the news of the massacre at Lotus Pier, worrying after Wei-xiong and Jiang-xiong, and even Yanli-jie. They had all been kind to him, had been friends to him. They didn’t deserve this kind of fate, leaving everyone unsure as to whether their sect had any survivors left.

He also remembered how relieving it felt to know that Jiang Yanli had been away at the time, safe in Meishan, and that Jiang Cheng had made it out alive.

That he was here in Qinghe, no less. He remembered running out of his private room faster than he’d ever run in his life, barely taking time to compose himself before walking into the receiving hall where his brother was talking with Jiang Cheng.

He was well. Largely uninjured, and not very eager to tell about how he escaped and where he had been these past few weeks. But he was well, and that was enough.

“Whe--where is Wei-xiong?” Nie Huaisang asked, noticing his striking absence easily in the tense quiet of the room.

“He--” Jiang Cheng tried, but his face was dark, and the words didn’t come.

It was months, and still, Jiang Cheng heard no news of his shixiong. And even those months were not spent comfortably. Nie Huaisang watched as sect disciples left on missions, coming back with only a thread of life left. He wasn’t particularly good with handling blood, but he helped the best he could delivering clean rags and keeping everyone organized.

Maybe if he had trained like Da-ge told him to, he wouldn’t be so useless, but that was a past mistake, and couldn’t be helped. Besides, he wasn’t just an extra pair of hands. When Qinghe was a chaotic mess of servants and disciples running about, he kept everyone on the same page, got everything where it needed to go. When he accompanied his brother to the war camps--despite his insistance on sending him to stay home, safe--he helped organize rations, double and triple checked that everyone was fed and well before going to bed hours after everyone else.

He wasn’t an idiot, and he wasn’t useless, he could prove it!

And if he could prove he wasn’t just the useless second son of Qinghe Nie, then Jiang Cheng should have no problem proving himself a capable soldier and sect leader--because he was both those things, far more than Nie Huaisang could ever hope to be.

Those old sect leaders didn’t know what they were talking about, anyway. They didn’t bother to look at was right in front of them, so why listen? The truth was, Jiang Cheng had inspired hope in many, and dozens from rogue cultivators to children were eager to join his ranks--and follow him to the death, if need be. The numbers didn’t lie. After this war was over, if they were able to make it through, the Jiang Sect would rebuild itself to its former glory, there was no doubt.

Though, in Nie Huaisang’s opinion, they would likely even exceed that reputation.

Nie Huaisang racked his brain, pulling up old memories of Jiang Cheng, trying to think of something to comfort him. He also particularly avoided hoping to “cheer him up,” because there was really no hope in that. It was completely understandable for the situation. But if he could ease the pain, that would be enough.

In passing, Nie Huaisang thought it would have been easier to comfort Wei Wuxian. Then again, he questioned whether Wei-xiong genuinely enjoyed so many things, or if that was just his bright personality.

Either way, he finally landed on the one thing that he thought Jiang Cheng really loved more than anything. His sister. More doably, his sister’s soup, since his sister was sent safely off to Lanling and Nie Huaisang did not have the means to bring her here just to cheerp Jiang Cheng up for a moment.

So, soup. Nie Huaisang couldn’t cook by anyone’s standards, of course. Not that he’d tried very hard, as he rarely felt the need or desire to try hard at anything, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t , right? Resolved, Nie Huaisang made his way to the Bujing Shi ‘s kitchens.

“Huaisang.”

Nie Huaisang, a few steps away from slipping into the kitched where no one could catch him skipping class, whipped around to face the voice. “A-Fen-jiejie?”

Nie Yanfen walked lightly, a familiar teasing smile decorating her face. “Why aren’t you in practice?”

Nie Huaisang grimaced. “I have more important things to do, actually.” Nie Yanfen raised an eyebrow skeptically, and Nie Huaisang threw up his hand in defeat. “Okay, maybe more important is an exaggeration. A-Fen-jie, I really have a good reason this time!”

“Huaisang, since when have I told on you for skipping classes,” Nie Yanfen countered with a laugh. It was true. Nie Yanfen was nearly Nie Huaisang’s brother’s age, and her cultivation was nothing to scoff at, but their temperaments couldn’t have been more different. Nie Yanfen wasn’t just occasionally indulgent in Nie Huaisang’s mischief, but sometimes even an active participant. “What’s your ‘good reason’?”

Nie Huaisang pouted at her tone, but answered, “I want to make something nice for Jiang-xiong, before they leave for Hejian.”

With a fond smile, Nie Yanfen put a hand on Nie Huaisang’s shoulder, “What kind of ‘something nice?’”

“...soup.”

Nie Yanfen gave him a knowing look, and walked with him back into the kithcens. “I’m afraid we don’t have any lotus root on hand…”

“That’s alright,” Nie Huaisang replied. “It’s not like I could compete with Yanli-jie, anyway. Might as well try something different.”

And Nie Huaisang may not have known how to cook, but Nie Yanfen did. It took nearly the entire afternoon and one failed pot before Nie Huaisang managed something good--under Nie Yanfen’s careful instruction, of course.

The satisfaction alone from the fragrant secnt wafting up from the bowl in his hands was almost enough. All that was left was to give it to Jiang Cheng.

“Jiang-xiong?”

Jiang Cheng’s grouchy face greeted him as the door opened, a crease between his brows that seemed rather permanent as of late. The smell rising from Nie Huaisang’s hands didn’t go unnoticed by him either, though, and he gave Nie Huaisang a questioning look. “What is this?”

Nie Huaisang put on his most carefree smile, gently pushing past his friend to set the tray on the table. He stood and turned around with a little flourish, saying lightly, “Soup?”

For all he was grouchy, Jiang Cheng was a total sap. Not that he was going to let anyone know it, but Nie Huaisang had been close enough to the two brothers from Lotus Pier that he knew to look for it. The smile when he tasted the soup wasn’t disguised, but the tears were.

It felt as if their troops had no sooner left for Hejian that they had returned, with Jiang Cheng’s arm slung over Nie Mingjue’s shoulders and his other hand pressed against his chest. The soldiers behind them looked exhausted. At least, the ones that were still fully-conscious.

Da-ge wasn’t injured, fortunately. And the cultivators that had come back only accounted for a fraction of the ones they had left with, who were still at the Hejian front with Nie Zonghui as commander.

Nie Mingjue was hurrying to get to Gusu, and insisted Nie Huaisang come with him. If Nie Huaisang wa in Gusu, he reasoned, he wouldn’t be in danger.

But Nie Huaisang didn’t think of any of that. He only thought of how Wei-xiong was still missing, but Jiang-xiong was here and alone. And if Jiang-xiong was here, then he could help him.

Nie Mingjue stormed off to Cloud Recesses without him. Jiang Cheng woke up that night.

“Jiang-xiong?”

“Huaisang,” he said, voice coming out weaker than he seemed to have intended.

Nie Huaisang hurried to his side, forcing a smile. “No, no. Don’t sit up. You need to rest. I’m afraid Da-ge will drag you back out to the field on account of lacking manpower too soon anyway, so you should rest while you can…”

He hurried around, not stepping more than a few feet away from Jiang Cheng’s side, but going down a seemingly endless checklist of questions and tasks. Getting him to eat some soup from the kitchens that he reheated, asking if any of his injured were bothering him…

“Huaisang,” his voice came roughly, while Nie Huaisang’s mind was still racing.

“Y-Yes?” He was confused. They didn’t usually call each other by name like that. Sure, they were friends. But it wasn’t like Jiang Cheng to just change his address so flippantly. That was more of a Wei Wuxian thing, and Jiang Cheng was most definitely not his brother. Nie Huaisang had thought before was just a one-time thing. A slip-up.

But he had done it again. And it felt so intimate…

“Thank you.”

But this was war. There was no time to think about these things, now was there.

Wei-xiong was back. And for once since the war started, Jiang Cheng’s smile fully reached his eyes. He looked like an idiot like that, and it made Nie Huaisang grin. He bombarded Wei Wuxian with questions the second he caught sight of him, and he merely laughed as he answered each one vaguely. But Nie Huaisang couldn’t really be bothered to analyze his words. He just knew that this finally felt almost like old times, as he brought them something to drink and they caught up.

And that Jiang Cheng looked happy, and Nie Huaisang wished it hadn’t taken so long for him to see that expression again.

Of course, in war, these types of moments never lasted long. Wei Wuxian was back, and apparently more powerful than ever, so Da-ge didn’t hesitate to sweep the Yunmeng siblings out to the field again. And they got good knews almost every time upon their return.

Almost every time, being the key word.

“A-Cheng…” Nie Huaisang whimpered. He silently berated himself for breaking down so easily. This is a war, Huaisang. You can’t be the same delicate kid you’re used to being.

Jiang Cheng looked at him with hurt-filled eyes. No doubt, the pain in his heart was a thousand-times greater than Nie Huaisang’s. But that was what hurt. Nie Huaisang couldn’t help but laugh and commend Jiang Cheng’s will. Even under all that pain and all that pressure, he still had the courage to keep fighting. Seeing him like this, though, tattered and broken, both inside and out, with Wei Wuxian off tooting away on his Chenqing elsewhere, and Jiang Yanli safe in Lanling. He looked alone, and cold--hurt and scared. But he still put on a brave face. Nie Huaisang really couldn’t believe him, how he could do it.

And the sight broke his heart.

The wounds on his chest were superficial, easily treatable. The wounds in his heart, less-so. On some level, Nie Huaisang imagined that seeing your loved-ones die might be easier than this, seeing the person you care about beaten down by the world and fighting to hold on. Wasn’t this kind of life a fate worse than death?

But this was war, and the threat of death loomed closer each day. Even that thought couldn’t bring relief, only fear.

There were tears in Nie Huaisang’s eyes, but he blinked them away. Crying wouldn’t do him any good, all he could do was figure out the next steps. Figure out how to keep the people he loved safe, and the people they loved. More than Nie Huaisang couldn’t bear to see Jiang Cheng die--his body reduced to a cold and lifeless corpse, forever alone and unsmiling--he really couldn’t stand to see him lose anything more.

Gone was the friend who hid his amusement with harsh words; who smiled behind everyone’s backs, a smile that could burn the whole world down and leave you with nothing but brilliant light and contentment. He was replaced by this man, quick to anger and hard to please; who cried behind closed doors into the night, sniffling with a sorrow enough to sink a thousand ships and flood a thousand lands. And Nie Huaisang loved him, still.

That was why, in the end. Why he had to do his best to get them through this war. He wasn’t useless, he couldn’t be. Useless means letting go and throwing your fate to chance. Only by finding control in life could Nie Huaisang help the people who he cared for. He wouldn’t hesitate to do so, for Jiang Cheng; for Nie Mingjue.

Nie Huaisang squeezed his hand one last time before daring to peel his eyes away. Though, he had barely stood when a breaking voice called, “Huaisang…”

Nie Huaisang bit back a laugh amidst his stifled cries. “What is it, Jiang-xiong? Can I get you something?”

Jiang Cheng shook his head weakly, his eyes still fluttering between open and closed in the dark room. “Huaisang, don’t leave.”

Nie Huaisang hesitated for a moment, but sat back down anyway, tracing the back of Jiang Cheng’s hand with his thumb as if that might bring him some comfort.

Maybe it did, Nie Huaisang couldn’t know.

After a few minutes, Nie Huaisang whispered, “Jiang-xiong, I need to sleep too, you know. I’m going to go for now.”

Jiang Cheng didn’t say anything, his eyes already lightly closed and his face relaxed and dreaming. Nie Huaisang didn’t leave without one last whispered goodnight, and the silent promise to keep trying. Not until they made it out this pitch-black, blood-drenched tunnel would he give up and surrender, he swore it on his life.

A-Cheng, be careful.

The war was over. This statement alone should have been a cause for celebration, but as always, there was more to life than that.

Nie Huaisang didn’t celebrate that night, nor the next.

He flew from Qinghe to Qishan he second he heard the news, but his cultivation was poor, and it took longer than it should have. The news. That the siege on Nightless City was a success, and Meng Yao had delivered the final blow to Wen Ruohan.

That his brother, who had been captured, was seriously injured, and two of the five generals that had been captured alongside him, dead.

The war was over, but it wasn’t yet time for celebrations.

“Xichen-ge,” Nie Huaisang gasped, still unable to catch his breath after running all the way here. “Da-ge.” His eyes floated over a third figure. Someone he hadn’t expected to see, but nonetheless recognized. “Meng-xiong?”

Lan Xichen was standing between the two others, his eyes not leaving Nie Mingjue and his expression insistent. Nie Mingjue grumbled, giving up whatever argument they were having and turning his attention to Nie Huaisang.

But Nie Huaisang was still quite bewildered, and upon realizing that his brother was at least well enough to be standing, and even arguing, he was only staring at Meng Yao, an expression on his face that he himself wouldn’t have been able to decipher.

“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue called sharply, but Nie Huaisang didn’t move, words still trying to form on his lips.

They never did, before a hand gently grabbed his wrist and brought him back to the real world. The touch was gone as quickly as it had come, but now Jiang Cheng stood in front of him, arms folding in salute to Nie Mingjue. “Nie-zongzhu.”

Finally capable of normal thought, Nie Huaisang hurried over to his brother, “Da-ge!”

Nie Mingjue responded with some mumbled harshly, in a way Nie Huaisang knew to signify fondness.

After making sure his brother was really okay and giving Lan Xichen a pointed look which said, don’t let my idiot da-ge walk on his injuries for too long, Nie Huaisang let out a sigh of relief as the three heads disappeared from sight.

“Huaisang.”

Nie Huaisang turned his head, remembering the tug on his wrist and the fifth figure in the room. He smiled. “Jiang-xiong.”

The war was over. And maybe it was just about time for a goddamn celebration.

#WoN 'verse #write our names #sangcheng #nie huaisang #jiang cheng #mine #my fics

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ladymelisande · 3 years

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I was wondering what you think about Eugene & Dong Mae having an incredible similar backstory? Lots of people think that it's to show how Dong Mae could've been in Eugene's place had he been "lucky" enough to make it to America. Idk to me that sounds like excuses. It's not like Eugene's life was less hard & this doesn't take into account at all that they are completely different in character, values and temperament. I always thought it showed that at the end it's our choices that truly define us

🤦‍♀️ The thing about Dong Mae and Eugene having different backgrounds have shit to do with who was more "lucky".

Dong Mae had already "bit" Ae Sin before he went to Japan. Dong Mae's whole attitude had nothing to do with when or where he escaped. He was already like that.

Also, in which universe was Eugene lucky? Yes, he had a good dad on Joseph. But he was also an Asian kid in a very racist country. They show him being beaten by other kids and god knows how he survived in the army, no wonder he is so composed. His only friend in USA seems to be Kyle and they met already as adults.

I don't think that KES did their similarities for the fandom to make a stupid ship war about who would have the "chance" because Mr Sunshine doesn't have a love triangle. She did it to show how both him and Eugene were men rejected by their country due to their birth and how even when they were adopted in others, they were never fully from either place (Eugene gets sent to prison for protecting his wife, Dong Mae gets killed by his own ex-comrades), and that draws later with their friendship. Like... KES doesn't do stupid kdrama formula since Heirs that's why the industry has a vendetta against her now. She is breaking their formula and making other writers having to do a harder job.

I mean, I think it's so reductive to think that if Dong Mae would have been to America, Ae Sin would have just fallen for him. Ae Sin never showed interest in Dong Mae besides how he affected her perception of herself as a noble woman. She showed compassion for him but the thing is also that Dong Mae... Just kept making the situation difficult? He kept being hostile, disrespectful (the skirt thing) and not a single time he showed a little sign of his affection in softer terms (as Eugene did since the beginning by covering for her and protecting her and showing those actions without pushing her away, which Dong Mae did, even when he helped her).

The thing with Dong Mae's 'chances' was not that he needed a more "lucky" background, it was his damn attitude! Even if he had gone to American and come back as, I don't know, John Gu, he would have still been the abrasive man that came back from Japan.

His behaviour was the thing that never gave him chances with Ae Sin, if he had showed the same amount of sweetness that he showed Jang Hwa and Hotaru, she would have looked at his way and maybe think: 'Oh well, he is not that bad.' But nah, he kept making her angry, publicly humiliated her. That she felt that soft compassion for him was pure luck for him at the end.

#may answers #gu dong mae #eugene choi #go ae shin #I love them both and Hui Seong #they are three dummies with big hearts and deserved long lives

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smalltragedy · 3 years

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* brigette lundy-paine, nonbinary + they/them | you know kirby wormwood, right? they’re twenty five, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, two weeks? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to ring ring by mika like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole balancing acts at perilous heights destined to entertain, jack of all trades master of none, refusal to accept the mortal world as it is thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is december 1st, so they’re a sagittarius, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( james, 21, est, they/them )

hllo welcome 2 my third character i love them a lot theyre a. remake of an older oc of mine so this is fun <3 sdfhk anyways once again i am asking u. pleathe like if u wld like to plot.

ARSON TW

mini playlist.

wizard ;; lucas lex / ring ring ;; mika / crows ;; clues / sunrise sunset ;; bright eyes / la llorona ;; beirut / no children ;; the mountain goats / might be love ;; the pesky snakes / sax in the city ;; let’s eat grandma.

statistics.

full name: kirby wormwood (currently).

nickname(s): magpie.

birthday: december 1st, 1995.

zodiac: sagittarius sun, aries moon, libra ascending.

mbti & temperament: estp & improvisor / sanguine.

label: the hellion.

hometown: abilene, texas.

sexuality: bisexual.

pinterest.

biography.

alright lets get right into it. kirby ws switched at birth. they cld’ve hd a very like. picket fence trampoline in the backyard. 4 columns cos its texas n it feels right. bt instead they were chosen <3 somewhat unintentionally <3 by dorothea n fawley wormwood, two traveling circus workers who emergency stopped in abilene.

n u know what. growing up in st. pierre’s traveling circus ws kinda fkn awesome? like ok. besides the fact tht they were homeschooled fr like evr n there were a sparing amt of children 2 socialize with? it ws p cool idk.

it ws kinda like everybody ws their parent n also not at all bc they were all very casual. bt they grew up learning hw 2 maintain the circus (n also like. normal school thingz bt i dnt think kirby hs ever cared abt school like ever) n whenever they hd a show kirby wld facepaint or handle tickets until they were old enough 2 start learning like. the Real fun things.

fawley hd a lot of his own weird odd little like superstitions n beliefs n practically raised kirby on them like n they dnt rly <3 make a lot of sense. lots of made up philosophy. very much like. nothing defines u. u cn b anything or anyone. n kirby ws like ok cool. n then developed a god complex.

names didnt rly stick 2 kirby when they were a kid like. nothing satisfied them or felt worthy fr them or simply they just. got tired of a name. this isnt related 2 them being nonbinary BUT it did help ease some of the. pressure of exploring gender identity. theyve only hd one name tht stuck genuinely n tht ws magpie n. thts bc everybody hd their own bird name n it felt very. like community. like a role. usually the names they used during performances bt. anyways KFHDSGLKKHL

theyre Kirby bt answers 2 most. neutral nouns.

honestly. they were also a rascal as a youth. ws like. oh. i learned sleight of hand? cool. time 2 pick pockets. wld throw popcorn into the hair of other kids n b like. omggg what was that ... became a mime fr a year. it ws a rigorous training.

now a master of charades. bt anyways. they traveled pretty much weekly, maybe bimonthly n sometimes just pure monthly. there wsn’t an off season fr them, when the colder months came they’d travel south and when summer rolled in they’d go right back up again. it ws easy to switch personas almost daily n just. never reveal ur true self. totally not saying tht’s what kirby did bt thts what they did. it nvr made them lose sight of themselves it ws more like. acting. tricking ppl fr fun.

anyways all good things come 2 an end and when kirby ws like. 18. they were like hey ur old enough that we cn trust u with fire. we think. n they started 2 learn fire-throwing n like. they were ok at it bt lessons were painfully slow n kirby ws like. i wld b so good at this if i cld do it all the time. n it ws like. hey kirby, chill. u already know a lot of things.

arson tw // u see where this is going. tents are kind of flammable. kirby ws unsupervised. bad decisions all around. circus is aflame. all the animals n all the circus workers got out fine bt like. st. pierre’s ws efficiently out of business. arson end of tw //

n kirby fkn booked it they just. ran. pure fear. nvr looked back which is like super traitorous of them 2 do bt. sometimes they meet up in secret like. sunglasses n all at a coffee shop. not all of them just like. fawley or someone else. theyre like. ur family u cld burn down a thousand circuses n we’d still love u. n kirby is like yeah i know bt i’ve rly committed to the bit now. n they dnt reunite.

anyways. since then kirby hs just been. a traveler. nvr rly staying anywhere fr super long n driving around in their shitty little van tht’d been used as housing back at st. pierre’s.

they’re in irving n theyve been there fr almost. suspiciously long. compared 2 their average stays. when asked abt what they do or why theyre there theyll just. give a vague answer or spin a long tale tht usually involves a burning circus.

theyre staying at uh. abernathy creek rn bc of course they r they fit in so naturally. welcomed with wide arms. might b soul searching rn might b on the hunt fr their birth parents might b just vibing ... whose to say ..

personality & facts.

has a Big personality tht attracts others fr better or fr worse. either super likeable or the most despicable person on the earth. no in betweens. n honestly tht is a talent in itself

has no off button is constantly. spinning tales or performing a dance or getting kicked out of bars fr whatever nonsense reason.

honestly they prob think tht nothing bad cn ever happen to them even tho like. bad has literally happened 2 them before? love the optimism here. KLFGDLKFSDHGF

acts a bit like u’ve known them fr ur entire life they r oddly warm in tht way bt they themself r so distant tht its like. oh nice ok ...

both honest n yet dishonest like. yes they will hustle u out of ur money bt they will also tell u their opinion straight up.

probably smart bt they r just like. prime thembo? flowy pirate shirts n cropped tshirts n pants tht r never tight. dresses like they do still work n live at a circus.

likes 2 instigate things between others n then stand back n just watch it happen while taking like zero accountability. loves a good small town drama. avid milf hunter.

does not hv any faith in the american healthcare system at all n will straight up refuse 2 go 2 a hospital if they get hurt theyre like. i cn do it myself im like practically a professional. they r not a professional.

bt does hv like. a thing abt apples. fkn loves them.

uuuhhh cn play instruments bt all very badly. only knows one (1) song tht isnt made up n its wonderwall by oasis. they play it at parties. they expect fr tomatoes to b thrown at them at any given time.

very nimble. agile. granted its frm. learning circus tricks frm a baby age bt they hv impeccable balance n cn sneak up behind anyone without a single noise. uses this 2 their advantage in order 2 scare ppl. chaotic neutral.

loves having the attention on them i wont fk around here. will go to drastic measures to accomplish receiving it. my other muses r capable of taking things srsly bt kirby just. is not. they do not take a single thing srsly they barely even took. st. pierre’s destruction srsly n they caused it. maybe.

likes being able to just. be unknown so the amt tht ppl know abt them is actually very. little. i dnt think they even tell others their last name. sometimes not even their first. just hs so many aliases n nicknames. i know i didnt list any bt thts simply bc Any cld.

probably acts out to compensate fr the. underlying guilt they hv bt thts okay. i mean it isnt bt.

will probably show up if u call them fr help bt they lose interest in people p quickly n r always moving onto the next shiniest person. bt when they do they give them like. all their attention. if u wrong them in this period they will just. ignore it. bt when theyre bored then its like. u werent even friends at all? very odd.

perhaps it is commitment issues bt <3 ya. thts them. they do not claim favorite colors or movies or. most interests. probably bc theyre very very disconnected frm pop culture i think they learn everything thru twitter n google.

i wld not call them a good person bt i also dnt think theyre like evil horrible nasty awful they just. think abt themself a lot more than they think abt others n also refuses to face consequences ever and also .. anyways.

wanted plots.

part of the bird’s nest ;; honorary bird honorary circus member. u hv to be very well regarded by kirby to earn a bird name bt i feel like tht doesnt feel like a lot considering theyve only been here fr like. two weeks KDGDSHKGK. the catch is tht u cn only refer 2 them as magpie frm then forward.

hand in unlovable hand ;; theres comfort in being terrible ppl together n it may not last bt it doesnt hv to anyways. its just them n the like. vibes. n knowing tht its smth thts nvr gna b long term. cld b anything ur character just hs to be also a little evil. KHDSGFDS

one jester ... wht abt ... TWO jesters .. ;; hoo boy. ooh man. unstoppable force and immovable object combine forces n just become. the worst of the worst. ultimate jokesters. epic pranksters. absolute clowns. chaotic energy unmatched. always nonsense.

n also ;; ppl they’ve stolen frm, ppl who hv caught them in that act, ppl who’ve maybe seen them in the circus a very long time ago, Found Family Trope, real family shenanigans, kirby just asking everybody if theyre their dad., mortal enemies if they see each other its an instant duel 2 the death, etc.

#( kirby wormwood. ) about. / sunrise sunset.#irvingintro #arson tw

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spockandawe · 4 years

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Oh, would you look at that, is it fish book pitch o’clock again? IT SURE IS!!

So, here’s my angle du jour. I’m a sucker for a feral and/or unsocialized fictional character, especially if the story puts them in a position where they either need or want to catch up to their peers on the social front. I didn’t really click with Jin Zixuan until I saw a post breaking down how his awkwardness made a lot of sense in terms of growing up isolated and undersocialized, and I really love takes on young Lan Wangji that really lean into him not knowing how to play with the other children. It’s more fanon than canon, given screentime, but I love takes on Mobei-jun that do the same thing. And! Outside of the cnovel world altogether, it’s part of why i would Die for both Gideon Nav and Harrowhark Nonagesimus. It’s so tasty!

And Jing-wang is a version of this that I don’t think I’ve seen before. I’ve had this bouncing around in my head for a while, but I can’t quite come up with any parallels. Jing-wang grew up isolated in one way because he was an imperial prince, with a dead mother and no surviving siblings. The boy doesn’t have many peers, and things are... messy with his half-brothers. But since he’s mute, he’s (theoretically) not in the running for the throne, and he’s not involved in as much political wheeling and dealing as the other princes. And also since he’s mute, communication with other people is a bit of an ordeal, and only a few people who are very close to him are good at interpreting him, outside of him writing things down. I get the idea that he does very well for himself at understanding and steering the political playing field, even if he’s not mixed up deeply in things himself, but he’s.... very not good when it comes to connecting with anyone on any kind of personal level.

But what delights me the most is that this mainly gets expressed through him being 1) a very devoted and well-meaning pet owner, 2) who is very BAD at being a pet owner.

It gets expressed in little funny ways that go by quickly, like in a stressful meeting, where Jing-wang is squeezing Li Yu’s back in a self-soothing way, and Li Yu is like ‘ow, OW, TOO HARD’ and swims away, and Jing-wang is like >:( for two seconds before Li Yu comes back and starts swimming through his fingers again, and Jing-wang realizes he was squeezing too hard. Or later on, after Li Yu’s been living in a huge tank, Jing-wang is like ‘okay, you live in this bottle now, so i can bring you Everywhere with me’ and Li Yu has to fake being unwell so that Jing-wang realizes that the bottle is way too small to be a permanent fish residence. Very quick little empathy things, where Jing-wang gets the intended message pretty darn quickly, but he still had to be taught the lesson in the first place.

But there’s also like... also early on, Li Yu gets a side quest to steal a pearl from the headdress of the Emperor’s favorite concubine. In the process of doing so, he soaks Jing-wang in front of the Emperor, accidentally slaps the concubine in the face, freaks her out, freaks her son out, accidentally frames the two of them for trying to hurt Jing-wang’s pet fish, and knocks the pearl loose... but sends it to the floor. Fortunately, Jing-wang notices that the fish seems REAL interested in this pearl, and retrieves it, but he’s also pissed at the fish for causing so much trouble.

So what does he do? He’s like ‘OKAY. FINE. You want this pearl? Well what I’m going to do is seal this pearl TIGHT inside a glass vial, and then I’m going to put that vial RIGHT in your tank, so you can see the pearl, but you can NEVER HAVE IT’, you know, like a normal human way to treat your pet fish. Only then, Li Yu had already felt bad about causing such a big scene, and sets up a whole apology where he offers Jing-wang his food (because it’s the only thing he has) and tries bowing in apology, and Jing-wang thinks something like ‘...as long as someone was willing to deal with him sincerely, even if they were a fish, he would treat them sincerely in return’ and he gives Li Yu the pearl.

First of all, I never knew I so desperately needed a book where a man tries to play psychological games with his pet fish, second of all, Li Yu is the sketchiest “““fish””” of all time, and third, oh my god Jing-wang how sheltered are you, how do you not realize that this is nowhere in the vicinity of being normal fish behavior??

(to be fair to him, it doesn’t take him that long to realize things are suspicious, and by the thirty-somethingth chapter he has a decent hypothesis for what the fock is going on with his pet fish)

And later in the book, after he knows that this fish is at least sometimes human-shaped, I’d already been pleasantly taken by surprise (in the mtl chapters) to realize that the relationship development involved Li Yu laying down boundaries and holding Jing-wang accountable when he tried getting around them. And like with the squeezing plot point, Jing-wang is very quick to get the message that something he did made this fish/person unhappy, to realize that he doesn’t want them to be unhappy, and to make a very serious effort to change his behavior so he doesn’t make that mistake again. I just hadn’t quite connected the dots to realizing that Li Yu was coaching him through a number of basic emotional development steps even before things reached the point of sex and consent, haha

(in fairness to me, I think Li Yu is extremely oblivious to all of this. which is one of my favorite flavors of character development in fiction, honestly? i love seeing this growth that’s driven by another person, but unintentionally so, so that two people end up drifting closer and closer, and becoming more and more important to each other, without that ever being something they deliberately work towards)

And I think that the idea that Li Yu is coaching Jing-wang through the steps of emotional growth is honestly supported by the other characters in the novel. In the “original” book, Jing-wang falls in love with and marries Chu Yanyu, who very definitely is not in love with him, and is happy to let Jing-wang get hurt and suffer on his behalf, through what sounds like a very unhappy, toxic relationship. In the book we get, all it takes is a little affection and attention from a pet fish, for Jing-wang to totally ignore what should have been Chu Yanyu’s entry into his life, and for him to continue ignoring Chu Yanyu no matter how many times he’s thrown/throws himself into Jing-wang’s path.

Jing-wang does have some people who care about him, but those relationships are... either unequal, or not-mutual, or made difficult in other ways. The Emperor cares about him, but has complicated feelings, since the Empress died shortly after Jing-wang’s birth, where she was already in poor health after losing two other sons, and it seemed like her health got worse after Jing-wang was born mute. The Emperor also tries not to pay him too much attention, because he’s ineligible to inherit the throne anyways, and paying him attention would make him more of a political target. Jing-wang’s main servant, Wang Xi, cares about him deeply, and is the most reliable interpreter for his nonverbal communication, but is also a servant, not a peer. And Jing-wang’s cousin (on his mother’s side) likes him a lot, but their temperaments are highly incompatible, and Jing-wang tends to get annoyed and throw him out when he comes to visit. (the rest of his mother’s family cares about him too, but Jing-wang isn’t a social beast, and doesn’t make himself terribly accessible either)

And like, early, early in the book, at that stressful meeting where Jing-wang squeezes the fish too hard, before things get stressful, the Emperor is completely derailed from the initial purpose of the meeting, because he’s so pleased that Jing-wang has something he cares about, even if it’s just a little pet fish. He continues to be increasingly pleased with this fish as the book goes on, and it’s both hella charming, but also very :( for what it says about how detached Jing-wang was from the world for the last twenty years of his life. And as of chapter 27, Li Yu is trying to meddle with the book plot to save Jing-wang’s cousin from a scheme that will ultimately see him dead, and Jing-wang just agreed to go with his cousin to the imperial palace, to keep an eye on him. And Wang Xi is so moved by this outreach from Jing-wang that he legit tears up.

Jing-wang is so isolated! Jing-wang is able to play politics, but he does not know how to deal with other people on a friendly social level, and Li Yu is accidentally helping him catch up! I was invested purely on the basis of ‘oh my godddd, jing-wang loves his fish so much,’ which he absolutely does, taking care of his fish is basically his number one priority, but that’s not nearly all there is to this situation! I’m so excited to read the chapters covering the initial relationship development as translated by a human, rather than a machine, because I just know there’s tasty, tasty emotional content in there.

I could have been totally happy with a book where Jing-wang remained cold and detached with one (1) exception, and that’s a relationship paradigm I totally enjoy reading, but seeing Li Yu accidentally teach him to open up and form attachments to other people too is so rewarding and I love it! I know later on, his cousin is falling in love at the same time he is, he has more dealings with his father, and his mother’s family enters the scene here and there, and I badly need to read it. This is just the best comfort food I could have asked for right now. It’s a lovely balance of cute, moving, and absolutely ridiculous, and has character development more gripping than I could have ever expected. I love it so much, you guys ;u;

#the disabled tyrant's pet palm fish #long post/#cnovel rec

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adventure-hearts · 4 years

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I was asked about this topic recently, and, being bored out of my mind, I felt inspired to use it as a starting point for a new series! I hope to share my current headcanons about the personality types of the Digimon Adventure universe’s main characters, according to different personality systems: astrology, Enneagram, MBTI... feel free to suggest any other typologies you’d like me to explore in the future.

In this first post, I’ll try to explain which of the Sun Sign personality archetypes I find more likely and interesting for each character. Consider this this an update of my previous headcanons, post-tri. (and post LAST EVOLUTION Kizuna).

1: DIGIMON ADVENTURE + ZODIAC SIGNS

Taichi - Aries

Yamato - Aries

Sora - Pisces [semi-canon]

Koushirou - Aquarius

Mimi - Leo

Jou - Virgo

Takeru - Libra

Hikari - Pisces

Daisuke - Sagittarius

Miyako - Gemini [canon]

Iori - Capricorn

Ken - Cancer

Meiko Mochizuki - Virgo/Libra

Maki Himekawa - Scorpio

Daigo Nishijima - Leo

Note: Every single headcanon is highly subjective and even I will probably change my mind about it. This is only a PROPOSAL.

If you’re interested in my interpretation and methodology, read on!

Canon Clues

Although there are no official birthdays for the characters, several Adventure materials have provided “goalposts” where we can fit some characters’ birthdays. I strive to make my HCs as canon-compliant as possible, so it’s important for me to take this info into account.

Miyako is stated to be a Gemini in 02.

The official synopsis of tri. Indicates that Taichi is 17 years old during the series, suggesting the has an April-June birthday.

Sure, you’re free to ignore this little nugget if you prefer, but I personally like to think there’s a reason they mentioned Taichi’s age explicitly — something they never did before. They also never mentioned the explicit age of any of the other characters.

Funnily enough, the DALEK official website and novel lists the character’s ages during the events of the film. Since the film takes place in the summer of 2010, taking those numbers at face-value would require us to believe all 8 characters have birthdays in the first half of the year.

This contradicts the explicit on-screen information about Jou’s age in the original series (see below).

I’m proposing this should be interpreted as their “average” ages, rather than precise ages at this specific moment in time — after all, in Kizuna it’s more difficult to identify the characters by their school year, like they always did before.

Sora’s birthday is canonically before the events of Our War Game. The film takes place during the spring holidays, which typically begin around the third week of March.

Sora having a March birthday is so universally accepted by Japanese fans that it’s even on her Wikipedia page. I wouldn’t be surprised if more recent writers took that information into account, post-OWG, and portrayed her accordingly.

Notice that Pisces is only the more likely option considering the canon timeline and Sora’s personality — Aries (late March) and Aquarius (mid-February) could fit as well. Hence why I consider this choice [semi-canon].

Jou, who is a 6th-grader, mentions he’s 11 years old during Adventure. This suggest his birthday would be after August 1.

Ken is supposed to be 9 years old in August 2000, when he’s in Year 3, suggesting he has an April-August birthday.

This is different from other guidebooks which only list the characters “average” ages, because this lists Ken’s precise age during a specific event.

I believe Ken being exactly 9 years old went to the Digital world is deliberate, since Osamu is stated to be 3 years older than Ken, hadn’t yet turned 12 when he died.

Again, except for Miyako, Sora, and Jou birthdays, I can understand why fans chose to ignore any of this.

Personal Notes

My method isn’t about finding a putative “Official / True Birthday” — that never existed, at least for the Adventure eight. It’s about finding birthdays that work within the limitations of canon (see previous section).

My HCs are based on the personality / character archetypes represented by the the zodiac signs. In theory, any Chosen Child could be understood as representing a specific symbolical archetypes.

The problem is that the Adventure characters are quite complex and often deconstruct traditional archetypes. This explains why it’s so hard for fans to agree on which sign they are supposed to represent. I should also note that anime series seem to understand astrological archetypes slightly differently from the Western mainstream tradition, which explains why typical anime zodiac signs sometimes feel a bit “off”.

Nevertheless, some archetypes are so strong that most of the fandom seems to have reached a consensus: Jou/Virgo and Koushirou/Aquarius, for example. Then you have textbook examples of archetypes like Gemini/Miyako (unsurprisingly canon), Taichi/Aries, and Hikari/Pisces. But even there is a lot of room for disagreement and subjective interpretation!

The 02 writers clearly intended Daisuke to symbolise Fire, Miyako Air, Iori Earth and, due to the Dark Ocean connection, Ken Water. In fact, it’s super easy to place those four characters into any traditional 4-group personality types, such as the four temperaments, Jung’s types, blood types, ABCD personality, etc.

My HCs respect this, and ended up creating two polar opposites within the team: Daisuke/Miyako (mutable) and Ken/Iori (cardinal).

It’s tempting to ascribe 12 main characters = 12 signs, but post-tri. I’m inclined to do something different and not put myself into such a limiting framework.

For this reason I repeat some signs, and I don’t have any Taurus character (sorry!).

My MAIN innovative choice is that I suspect Taichi and Yamato might represent the same sun sign.

Now, I understand this is an extremely controversial opinion. It isn’t a possibility I thought about until quite recently.

But Taichi and Yamato being “different but the same / two sides of the same coin” is incredibly well represented if both of them correspond to the Aries personality archetype.

After all, they’re the leaders, the heroes, the Knights in shining armor. This explains their incredible similarities, despite superficial differences. as well as their love-hate dynamic: the rivalry, the union, the way they complement and balance each other out in an almost instinctive way.

Here are some examples of the Aries/Aries dynamic from the literature...

Both of you are independent individuals and you don’t like feeling “owned” by anyone. Neither of you can tolerate being dominated or bossed by anyone else, so you probably make your own decisions, and direct your own lives. You respect one another’s autonomy, and a relationship that is based on constant togetherness and dependency wouldn’t suit either of you. Sometimes, however, there is too much emphasis on individualism rather than on being close and nurturing the relationship. You both have proud egos, and are sensitive to criticism. Almost inevitably you will compete with each other, and in small doses this can be invigorating. But it easily becomes nasty, and one of you is likely to get hurt. If you’ve ever seen two rams locking horns, you know what I mean! You either respect one another immensely or detest one another – rarely anything in between. (X)

If your relationship has been built on the basis that you are equals, the fire element produces tremendous vision and industriousness. Your combined power and effort could well be a force to be reckoned with — but again, only if you both learn to subdue your own ego in the service of each other. Remember, you can’t always be right. You need to try hard to see things from each other’s perspective; this will help the two of you become a great partnership over time. (x)

When Mars clashes with Mars, the result can be full-scale war, with all flags flapping, bravely and colorfully. Occasional flare-ups are bound to occur when these two are thrown into close, daily proximity, without the relief of some separateness in their association. But there will also be some glorious Highs to offset these Lows. (...) It's been said that Aries people have a way about them. They do. Their own way. Yet, despite that sometimes antagonistic Martian exterior, they'll sense each other's desperate need to be appreciated and liked. When they get together, they may struggle for leadership, but the experience will supply some well-needed lessons. The shock of living with someone - or being around some- one - as innocently thoughtless, selfish and aggressive as one's self, is sure to soften any battering Ram, although there may be a few scars to show for the les- sons in living thus mastered. Aries hearts always carry more scars than the Rams ever show, or openly discuss. (x)

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The more you read, the more this pattern begins to make sense. Try to watch the Dark Masters arc, the Agumon-is-kidnapped mini arc, tri., and even Kizuna with this possibility in mind, and you’ll understand what I mean.

Sure, order to accept this theory, you have to understand Yamato as a more atypical reserved / sensitive Aries (influenced by a Cancer Moon, perhaps?) and Taichi as a more “pure” Arien type. Yamato is more like a baby lamb, right? (don’t tell it to his face).

You can make a very strong argument for Leo!Taichi (that was my initial HC as well) or Yamato as almost anything else. I wouldn’t disagree. But why not come up with a fresh perspective to explain these two?

Oh, and in case you’re curious, their (canon) Japanese Zodiac is also the same: Dragon, the direct equivalent to Aries.

A note about tri.: typing Maki and Daigo seemed straightforward enough. Maki is the stereotypical Scorpio antagonist, and Goggle Boy Daigo’s partner evolved into a literal lion.

I couldn’t resist the idea of making Meiko a Libra, considering her digimon partner is literally the Libra and Meiko is the 9th member of the group. But personality probably fits other signs better — it’s very tempting to type her a Virgo, the polar opposite of Hikari. She could also be the missing Taurus element (Mei as the literal May Queen).

The truth is... I can’t decide!

Disclaimer: There is zero scientific evidence for astrology and, as far as I’m concerned, it’s only interesting as a tool to analyze fictional characters in symbolic /archetypal terms. My headcanons are based on extensive reading about astrology, its symbolism and psychological profiles; I’m happy to share my sources (they’re not from pop astrology). But I’m also aware of the Barnum effect. We are all biased; there are no right or wrong options. Everyone’s conflicting headcanons are equally valid.

Feel free to ask questions or request more in-depth explanations for my suggestions, but FFS don’t start arguing with me and insisting I’m “wrong” based on other people’s equally subjective and disputable headcanons.

BONUS: Sun sign Archetypes / Personality Keywords

Aries

Aries at its best : Brave, assertive, pioneering, quick, determined

Aries on a bad day: Aggressive, hard-headed, selfish, impulsive, impatient, brutal

The Aries archetype : Prince Lancelot, the brave and romantic rock star of King Arthur’s court

The Aries stereotype : The rage-a-holic in the pickup truck who just gave you the finger after cutting you off on the freeway

Gemini

Gemini at its best : Curious, inquisitive, quick witted, communicative, inventive, clever, adaptable

Gemini on a bad day : Verbally cruel, deceptive, disloyal, restless, doesn’t follow through”

“The Gemini archetype : The jester; clever and mischievous, your wit and agility are your best defense

The Gemini stereotype : The meddlesome neighbor, snooping and eavesdropping

Cancer

Cancer at its best : Family-oriented, nurturing, intuitive, domestic, maternal, sensitive, sympathetic, emotional, patriotic, retentive, traditional

Cancer on a bad day : Moody, touchy, oversensitive, negative, manipulative, overly cautious

The Cancer archetype : The universal mother

The Cancer stereotype : The smothering mother

Leo

Leo at its best : Regal, creative, magnetic, performer, generous, inspiring

Leo on a bad day : Vain, domineering, attention seeking, insecure”

The Leo archetype : The benevolent monarch

The Leo stereotype : The shallow playboy or party girl

Virgo

Virgo at its best : Discriminating, thorough, scientific, clean, humane, scientific, analytical

Virgo on a bad day : Picky, critical, petty, self-centered, hypochondriac, gloomy, pedantic

The Virgo archetype : Sherlock Holmes, with his staggering powers of perception and analysis and his earthy tweed jacket

The Virgo stereotype : The quiet, slightly geeky scientist or secretary with horn-rimmed glasses and a repressed manner

Libra

Libra at its best : Refined, artistic, diplomatic, sociable, peace loving, persuasive, just

Libra on a bad day : Fickle, over accommodating, argumentative, indecisive, insincere

The Libra archetype : The diplomat

The Libra stereotype : The gigolo or “kept” man or woman”

Scorpio

Scorpio at its best : Determined, probing, brave, passionate, insightful, empathetic, penetrating, investigative, powerful

Scorpio on a bad day : Jealous, suspicious, sarcastic, secretive, vengeful, manipulative

The Scorpio archetype : The magician, able to transcend the laws of nature to achieve transformation

The Scorpio stereotype : A secret agent, skilled at investigative work and most comfortable working behind the scenes”

Sagittarius

Sagittarius at its best : Philosophical, adventurous, freedom loving, scholarly, funny, honest, athletic, traveler

Sagittarius on a bad day : Crude, blunt, know-it-all, arrogant, superior, intolerant

The Sagittarius archetype : The wayfaring stranger who transforms a community with his knowledge and wisdom before moving on

The Sagittarius stereotype : The clown who trips over his gigantic shoes and throws pies in your face

Capricorn

Capricorn at its best : Responsible, authoritative, traditional, pragmatic, hardworking, economical, serious, mature, ethical

Capricorn on a bad day : Domineering, stubborn, inhibited, unfeeling, fatalistic, judgmental, unforgiving”

“The Capricorn archetype : The wise elder

The Capricorn stereotype : A cranky old man or woman who keeps yelling at kids to “stay off my lawn!”

Aquarius

Aquarius at its best : Independent, genius, iconoclastic, rebellious, logical, scientific, progressive, intellectual, humane

Aquarius on a bad day : Eccentric, temperamental, unpredictable, cold, opinionated, radical”

“The Aquarius archetype : The charismatic rebel who wins over his fellow men by thumbing his nose at authority

The Aquarius stereotype : The mad scientist

Pisces

Pisces at its best : Sympathetic, compassionate, emotional, intuitive, musical, artistic

Pisces on a bad day : Impractical, timid, procrastinator”

The Pisces archetype : The mystic

The Pisces stereotype : The flake

from Kent, April Elliott. “The Essential Guide to Practical Astrology: Everything from zodiac signs to prediction, made easy and entertaining”.

#series: typing the chosen #digimon #headcanons #personality types #astrology #this is a series but I cannot promise timelines!

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lady-plantagenet · 4 years

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Unsolicited Book Reviews (n3): The Sunne in Splendour

Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️(+1/2?)

Even before I had an account, I tended to go to tumblr to see people’s opinions before buying a histfic. Certain books are either severely underrepresented, where I feel like there needs to be something on them, whereas others, though talked about enough, something more can still be said about them. So for my quarantine fun, I have decided to start a series where I review every medieval historical fiction novel I read. Hopefully, it will either start interesting discussions or at least be some help for those browsing its tag when considering purchasing it.

TL;DR: Keep in mind that I’m harsh with my ratings. I don’t expect my historical fiction to offer some sort of insight about the human condition or be some perfectly manicured prose, but this book’s biggest detriment was its lack of depth. Some scenes packed a serious emotional punch, but then again I am attached to this era and given the length, it would be insane not to. I learned a lot - no lie, but while my background knowledge on the wars of the roses has become enriched, I feel no closer to Richard.

Plot: We follow Richard III from a young boy at eight right before the catastrophe that was Ludlow to his death and a few years after. This story seems to be told through omniscient third person point of view, which creates issues when it comes to voice - a lot of the characters sound the same (John ‘Jack’ Howard, Francis Lovell, Richard Catesby to name a few). This is only a natural consequence of the sheer amount of people Penman chose to portray. I’m honestly still grateful for this as I was not a fan of Richard III’s POV, but really enjoyed Richard Neville Earl of Warwick’s, Margaret of Anjou and Cecily Neville’s. Everytime these three were the center of the chapter, it was truly enjoyable and multi-faceted which comes to show that Penman is capable of writing complexity when she wants to. I would also like to add that the author’s knowledge of medieval life (e.g. the food, the dogs, the nature of battles) was a high point of this novel and did something to counter-balance the rampant late 20th century flavour in this novel. She tries way too hard to adapt a medieval man such as Richard to our modern values to propagate her Richardian Agenda, which ultimately underscored this.

It must be said though that the author clearly did her research as most of what she said regarding minutae such as: what day of the week it was, where the characters were at one time, details of documents, who did what in which battle, what laws were passed etc... I had just come back to this time period after some years and I thought I knew all there was to know, yet, here comes this book which springboarded me into a wealth of new research - I suppose I am grateful for that. However, do not let that delude you into thinking it is comprehensive. There were historical innacuracies which I can only guess were intentionally made for the sake of the author’s Richardian goal e.g. Anne Neville being forced into her marital duties when historicalMargaret of Anjou made it clear that there would be no consummation until Warwick would prevail at Barnet, Isabel Neville being ‘abandoned’ by her husband in France when really it was only about 4 months they were apart and it would have made no sense for Isabel to sail with an invasionary force, Richard III abolishing benevolence tax because he thought it unfair as opposed to the reality which was that he had failed in his initial attempt to raise them because the population opposed, Richard III allowing the marriage between Jane Shore and Thomas Lynsom when in reality he had initially opposed it... Historical fiction is entitled to innacuracies but given that the author made it clear in her afterword that the only time she strayed was setting a scene in Windsor as opposed to Westminster, it is dishonest to conceal the aforementioned blips, especially when they are so unobvious that it would take a seasoned enthusiast to spot them. As you can tell they either do have a negative bearing on Richard’s image as a saint or show detractors in a positive light, clearly neither that which she was in a mood to explain away.

Characterisation: I can not stress enough how well Cecily Neville was portrayed, every scene she was in, I felt. She tends to be a very difficult character to get because of the whole illegitimacy rumour which casts shades of doubt. She was proud but also pious, subservient but also commanding... just an incredible woman of gravity. I enjoyed Warwick in all his flamboyancy as well and Edward IV was masterfully portrayed as the intelligent but forgiving man that he was. You could clearly see how despite his indulgent character, he knew when it was time to be serious, it was a joy to read the scenes where he strikes people into subserviancy. Anne Beauchamp was also quite a treat for the little time we had with her.

There were also some portrayals of mixed quality: George Duke of Clarence for one, his warped sense of humour and charm were well presented, his unpredictability adequately captured. The issue I have though is that no man is unpredictable to themselves and while it may make sense for other characters to see his temperaments as those like a weather vane it would make no sense for it to be this way in the chapters where he is the POV. Penman’s basically wrote him off as crazy (I mean literally mad) for the majority of the story which is utter tripe given that the whole madness angle is a modern invention. I won’t write more on this now as it deserves its own post (btw if anyone wants me to elaborate on anything I said so far send me an ask). Last thing I will say though: the last scene we have with him is utterly tragic and still sticks with me today, honestly the best writing in this novel was during the ‘Anne’ Book and ‘Protector of the North’ in the years surrounding George’s death. Speaking of, where do I begin with Isabel Neville and Elizabeth Woodville? Their marriages with Richard’s brothers are portrayed negatively for no other reason than to set up Richard and Anne Neville as a perfect love story. This story-telling technique is cheap as hell and I did not expect to find it in a novel so highly acclaimed for its ‘quality’. Let me make this clear: The marriage which was hailed as a love match at that time was that of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV. Anne and Richard could have been just as much a marriage of politics as George and Isabel’s, or the latter’s just as much a love match. George fought for Isabel just as much, if not more than Richard did for Anne, George stayed loyal for a surety whereas Richard’s bastard John’s conception may have coincided with his marriage according to Hicks, Marrying Anne was highly advantageous for Richard as marrying Isabel for George... I could go on. Therefore, why is Isabel constantly described as wretched, miserable and at one point abused(!) by her husband whereas Richard was nothing but gentle to the happy Anne. The Mary of Burgundy proposal story is often cited as proof that George only cared about power... but what about Richard’s proposal to Joanna of Portugal one month after Anne died? This may sound minor but it’s a perfect example of the author trying hard to make Richard a modern romantic figure which he wasn’t. I think he may have loved Anne Neville, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was a medieval king and made marriage provisions after her death to secure the succession. For a 800+ page novel about Richard III some seminal pieces of information were left out such as his seizure of the aged Dowager Countess of Oxford’s Howard fortune, the mysterious circumstances in which George Neville Duke of Bedford died young and unmarried after becoming his ward. All in all, do not let the wonderful historical detail fool you into thinking this is a complete account of Richard III’s day to day life.

Don’t even get me started on the Woodvilles... They were all treacherous villains and social climbers who belonged in hell. EVEN ANTHONY WOODVILLE - what has he ever done to Penman or anyone? All scenes with Elizabeth Woodville at the beggining were bedding scenes pretty much, which shows that the author saw her as nothing more than a heartless seductress. There was even a point where Edward in his rage said: ‘you would lie with a leper if it meant you becoming Queen’ and I was just shocked at that. I was further shocked when her daughter Elizabeth of York was musing that if her mother had been a good wife her father wouldn’t have needed to stray and I was just like... ‘I thought we were trying to be sensible in this book 0_0’ - How is it appropriate to have a woman blamed for her husband’s infidelity? How can we have such blatant classism and sexism on the one hand and late 20th century wokeness on the other? It’s what I said earlier, the author can’t prop up Richard and Anne without putting down all other couples in this book. By the end of the book I was honestly finding myself cheering for Elizabeth Woodville as she was becoming the woman with sense and cunning as we all know her, the saving grace of this entire characterisation was that Elizabeth became the only person with a brain by the end (I doubt this was the author’s intention). Down here in this category of bad characterisation I will add Richard and Anne themselves. Anne Neville though often absolutely adorable to me lacked any personality trait apart from being in love with Richard and past sexual abuse by Edward (which didn’t historically happen). Anne’s father and only sister die and she barely thinks about them, which severely undermines her portrayal as a loving and empathetic person. Her death scene and wane was tragic and affected me as a reader but holy Christ before that the author was very heavy handed throughout the book with her martyrisation of Anne, even when she was a young girl and everything was going well she cried in nearly every goddamn scene. Yes, this is Warwick’s daughter we are talking about. Richard (unlike the real great man that once lived on this earth) was similarly flawless and any small flaw he had was something like: ‘too trusting’, ‘acts then thinks’ - essentially ‘too good for this world’ flaws. No one is like this, least of all the real Richard who would not recognise this weird contrived romanticisation of a man. The saving grace of all this is that he admitted around the end to himself and Anne that he did want to be king a little bit, which YES, at least we get that because no one goes through all the procedures he did and endangers the survival of their house, unless they wanted to become king, at least a little bit. All in all, if Penman’s Richard III is the real man, all I have to say is: thank god his reign was cut short because this character would have made a terrible and weak monarch.

Prose: And here is where another of the stars was deducted. The prose is largely very pedestrian. It was full of modern phrases such as ‘hear me out’, ‘He thinks I am in the wrong’ ‘he can’t get away with this’ and other such likes. Also, I know it’s difficult to write a book where everyone’s names are Elizabeth, Edward, Richard and Anne, but apart from ‘Nan’ which was a nickname of that time, the modernity of ‘Bess’, ‘Bella’ or ‘Lisbet’ and the use of them in-text and not just dialogue, did much to draw me out of the medieval era. This is not just a criticism towards Penman but a grand majority of historical fiction novelists of this period. Having said that, her choice to cut conjunctions and use the word ‘be’ intead of ‘is’ or ‘are’ did not bother me at all and I found it effective in dating the language a bit. I appreciate that writing in poetic prose for 800+ pages is extremely difficult, but other’s have done it. And even in other novel where that’s not the case, the writing is still profound and impactful and conveys a deeper meaning, whereas here it’s more of a fictionalised history book. The author appears to have some imagination as the few scenes she made up e.g. Catherine Woodville’s visit to Richard or Edward summoning Edmund’s previous carer John to talk about Edmund as he was trying to deal with the grief of losing George, any scene with Cecily Neville in it, Anne Neville and Veronique (OC lady-in-waiting to her) when they were in hiding, Rosamund and Richard at the end, Margaret of Anjou when she was lodged at that abbey, When Stillington visited George before his death to give him a rosary and last rites and he refused to get them from him, Anne and Richard going to Middleham and Isabel’s lying in state were just some of them. However, even if you took all those well-written scenes and stuck them together they would not be more than maybe 150 pages which is not good in such a massive novel. I really don’t know how I would rank the prose, I feel weird saying it’s at the low bestseller level because at least it’s not overwritten and annoying, however, it lacked a lot of soul most of the time, which is dissapointing given what Penman had to work with. I can see that the author has some strengths, for example she’s good at writing about the weather and the natural landscape, she’s also good at describing facial expressions. But her massive flaw is dialogue and flow - especially the latter. The flow is hindered by her abject inability to weave historical events and their happenings into the prose, so she often settles for an exposition dump, especially when it comes to some male chatacter’s POV such as John Howard, Francis Lovell or Buckingham. A lot of the characters exposited at each other too, which wasted the opportunity for some serious character profiles. Basically too much telling and not enough showing. In conclusion, It didn’t always feel clunky, expository or laboured, but it way too often did for the good to be redeemed by the bad prose-wise.

In Conclusion, I cheated on this book a couple of times when it dragged, but got right back into it whenever the good sections came along. It is one of these books which people cannot stop raving about and I can’t stress how much I wanted to love it when I got it. It’s nice being a fan of something a lot of people are too for once, but it was just not to be. But at least now I can say I have read the cult classic of this histfic niche which apparently everyone has read and cried over. Even though it took me 7 months where others got through it in a week through sleepless nights. Despite all the negativity in this review, I would still reccomend it as it is a solid book and written by someone who clearly gets the conflict and time period. You will learn lots with this book (I intend to keep it as a sort of timeline) regarding things that you might otherwise find too dry to research in depth e.g. battle strategies and sieges. But what you will not learn about is the characters’ psychologies and personalities though Penman tries very hard and heavy-handedly to exposit their feelings to us.

#lady-plantagenet’s book reviews #the sunne in splendour #sharon kay penman #Richard III #if anyone disagrees or agrees i’d love to know your opinion #just send me an ask #historical fiction #Anne Neville #George of Clarence #Edward IV #Elizabeth Woodville #House of York

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