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saturnity · 3 years

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Telling Tenya Iida to take care of himself. Tenya Iida x Gender Neutral, Best Friend Reader.

(authors note: this is my first full length fic in...a while. motivation hit me like a brick and I decided I'd churn something out! this fic is dedicated to a few special friends: @classreptenyaiida, for the interactions I've had with him, @yarozu for being such a great fan and supporter!! @lostcoves for being my first friend on this platform and for being so so kind to me, @uwu-iwanttodie because god I know you're a sucker for tenya just like i am, and @tryingmyves for sticking around and being a wonderful person!! there's also one more special person this fic is dedicated to but I don't know their tumblr url and if they wish to be named LOL // but yes anyway, enjoy! i hope you like this, feel free to send me any feedback, rts and follows appreciated!!!)

warnings: none! all fluff. good for everyone.

Tenya Iida and (f/n l/n). The both of you were inseparable, friends since childhood, in the same class throughout elementary and middle school. You were overjoyed to hear that you’d be in the same class with him again in UA, brimming with excitement to be able to stick by his side for longer. Of course, you had a crush on him ever since you could remember...but you were really too scared, terrified, really, to confess to him- in fear of ruining your 15 years of friendship.

Out of all people, you were the person who knew how determined Tenya was to not only reach, but exceed his goals and aspirations. You knew how much he wanted to satisfy the people around him and meet their expectations. You didn’t exactly understand why he did it, but you knew how driven he was, and how he’d do anything within the law and the rules to get there. And he rarely failed. Tenya was a great inspiration in your life, encouraging you to do better, while growing together. In a way, he influenced you to work hard, train harder and to do your hardest. The both of you became a force to be reckoned with; your parents and Tenya’s parents realised this, and hoped you’d do great things as heroes in the future, allowing you to spend weekends and holidays together.

Throughout your first term, Tenya enthusiastically took up the role as representative of Class 1-A with pride. He’d come to you for feedback for his ideas, always asking your opinion before proceeding, and you’d be his biggest cheerleader. You improved ideas he delivered, making sure small details were tweaked, and ensured logistics ran smoothly. Whenever Tenya needed help, you were the first he’d go to. Tenya presumed the role of a figure of strength within Class 1-A, readily assisting people in need, hosting study groups after school, and going the extra mile to make sure everyone was...more or less, in line. His work towards being a ‘good hero’ started here, and it wouldn’t stop until his last breath. As an Iida, he worked daily to strengthen his reputation as a helpful, strong figure...no, a reputation as a hero.

But inside, you knew Tenya was tired. He was slowly burning himself out. He didn’t need a savior, but he needed someone to shake him awake. There were days where you’d find Tenya a little less awake than usual, even though he seemed to have the same amount of energy as every other day. You’d catch him zoning out after school days ended, maybe he’d drop from his chopsticks once more than normal at lunch, and sometimes he’d even forget to bring certain things to school. Your best friend definitely wasn’t sleeping or resting enough.

You did your best to make sure Tenya was taking care of himself. Sometimes, you would gently remind him to drink more water, or to get more sleep. Other times, you’d deliberately book ‘study sessions’ with him, only to do the exact opposite- taking him to a cafe for a ‘change of environment’, introducing him to several new drinks and cakes, much to his dismay. Or maybe you’d eat lunch on one of the school rooftops, and allow him to take a nap afterwards on your shoulder while you ran your fingers through his coarse, navy hair. Perhaps you’d relax at your house, a movie would be playing on the TV, and while he’d feverishly insist on studying or doing something more ‘productive’, you’d gently but stubbornly insist that he rest. As the days passed, Tenya placed his focus on his ambitions, and your opportunities to ensure his leisure decreased.

One night, you wondered why Tenya pushed himself so hard. Was it because he was a people pleaser? There were definitely times where he would be almost too eager to help others. Or was it because he decided to shoulder his world of responsibility alone? Maybe it was because he was constantly surrounded by good examples of what a hero should be, that he held the burden of his family name, that he was expected to be the next best thing for the hero community...or maybe it was all of the above. Tenya had been working tirelessly for this; yet he didn’t know when or how to take care of himself and to forget to be selfless. He was always running to help others, always thinking in the position of others, or whatever would be better for the future. You didn’t remember the last time he did something for himself. Regardless, you decided that you’d definitely work a little harder to make sure your best friend would care for himself. After all, everyone needed someone else to lean on, right?

You shook your head. “No. I’m serious. You need to rest. Or at least take it easy this weekend.”

Finally, one Friday afternoon, you saw Tenya yawn in class for the first time. He looked close to falling asleep, in fact, you could say he was positively exhausted. His eyelids fluttered downward, their weight becoming heavier and heavier with each blink. Inside, he was praying he wouldn’t get picked on to answer a question- he just wasn’t really following the class material anymore. Or worse, he hoped Mr. Aizawa wouldn’t assign group work- it’d mean he would have to actively interact with other people, which he didn’t have the energy for. Thankfully, the bell rang, and the gray, bleary-eyed teacher dismissed his class, unfurling his sleeping bag and escaping the room to get a nap himself. You walked up to Tenya’s desk and playfully smacked his arm, shocking him a little more awake. He adjusted his glasses and looked up to you.

“Heeey. Someone’s looking tired.”

“I suppose I didn’t sleep quite enough last night, (y/n).” Tenya grinned. To the normal eye, it would seem like one of the class rep’s normal, signature smiles, but to you, there was a fatigued weakness shielded behind its sunny exterior.

You arched an eyebrow. “You’ve said that every day for the last month and a half.”

“I know, I know. There’s so much work I need to get to, in fact, I should return to my dorm soon to st-” Tenya had finished gathering his things and prepared to leave the classroom, until your hand reached out onto one of his broad shoulders and pressed him back down onto his seat.

“No you fucking don’t.” You folded your arms, a frown plastered to your face.

Tenya scowled. “Please, (y/n), can we joke around later? I have to get th-”

“Look, if you’re aiming to be a successful hero in the future, you might as well take your own advice that you give so often to others and rest. You always tell us to make sure we get enough sleep, and you’re not even doing it yourself. If you’re tired or sick, you won’t be able to perform as well as you want to, right? And you always want to be at your best, don’t you, Ten?”

“But-” Tenya protested. He had so much work to do, so much to get to.

“Tenya Iida. In our 15 years of friendship, I’ve never seen you this fucking tired. We’re only in our first year. Are you going to keep doing this throughout school? Or what, the rest of your life? For the love of god, cut yourself some slack.” You almost yelled out in protest, in disgust of seeing your best friend suffer in silence.

Tenya stared at you in shock. You’ve never spoken to him like this before, or at least, it was rare. Usually you played more of a supportive role by his side, and when you were more assertive, you were never this pushy. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he heard you shout. The remaining members of Class 1-A who hadn’t yet left the room stared at the both of you in a similar amount of surprise as your bespectacled classmate did. After sighing, you decided to use reason that Tenya would buy into, desperately hoping he would do as you said.

“Then it’s settled. We’re gonna take it easy this weekend, okay? And don’t apologise for making me worry. It’s my job to look out for you, you know. And we haven’t napped together in a while too. I kinda miss that.” You brought Tenya into a hug.

Tenya sighed. You were right. He couldn’t hide that he was tired. And honestly, it was exhausting having to troop through each class with the meager 4-5 hours of shut-eye he was getting. It was a battle that he knew he was losing. He surrendered to your suggestion.

“I...uh...suppose you’re right. Sorry for making you worry.” Right after Tenya had finished that sentence, he yawned. There was really no hiding his tiredness now.

“Hey...(y/n)? Thank you. I appreciate you doing this.” Tenya smiled, as he reciprocated your warmth.

#🪐 — [ saturn writes ]#🪐 — [ my hero academia ]#my hero academia #mha fanfiction #tenya iida #iida tenya #iida tenya x reader #tenya iida x reader #bnha fanfiction #mha fluff #bnha fluff #tenya x reader #iida x reader #gender neutral reader

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midorree · 3 years

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How (I Think) Quirk-based Discrimination Works In BNHA

I've seen a lot of claims about how people interpret the quirk-based discrimination from an ableism allegory (not quite) to actually comparing it to Jim Crow laws, which is completely out of pocket. Quirk based discrimination in BNHA is very unique, especially with quirks not existing for very long in the grand scheme of things. Trying to compare it to existing forms of discrimination (that, mind you, exist in the fucking show) is simply put, not accurate in the slightest. Racism has existed for long enough for it to be embedded into our everyday lives and systems. Ableism has existed long enough that it affects how we view disabled people as people and how doctors view their disabled patients. Quirk-based discrimination has not.

PART 1: Comparing and Contrasting: Ableism

I've had this conversation a couple times with my friends, and typically we find that ableism doesn't match up with qbd. First and foremost, let's define a disability.

[Image ID: disability: a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities. A disadvantage or a handicap, especially one imposed or recognized by the law. End Image ID]

Quirkless people do not meet this standard definition unless they are already disabled. Being quirkless does not limit movements, senses, or activities in any way shape or form. Being quirkless is not a hindrance in every day life when it comes to these specific criteria.

But why would people thing that being quirkless is the same as being disabled? Let's take a look at accommodations and accessibility.

In the BNHA universe, quirks have existed for long enough that people with mutation quirks that alter their body significantly can comfortably buy clothes as seen with Shoji in some occasions.

[Image ID: Shoji is wearing baggy, patterned pants tucked into laced boots and is wearing a tank top. End ID]

He is able to buy shirts with bigger sleeve holes rather than having to fix his clothing so that he may be able to wear it himself. This is also seen with UA making a uniform so that he can fit without him having to work excessively for it.

[Image ID: Shoji wearing UA uniform. The uniform has no sleeves. End ID]

Why does this matter? Because Shoji is a perfect example of how small accommodations for people mutation quirks exists idly in the BNHA universe. Everyone has a different quirk and require different accommodations, and with Quirkless people, when it comes to buying clothes, or walking up steps, or going comfortably to a restaurant it's never a problem! Assuming they are able-bodied/neurotypical, they truly won't have a problem with getting by in day to day life.

However, there is one thing I will say is similar to ableism in this aspect: how doctors would treat quirkless people. With the opening episodes/chapters of BNHA we see firsthand how a doctor treats a child who is quirkless. Uncaring, cold, and straight to the point as to let them down as hard as they can saying "you might as well get used to it." The doctor had little to no belief that Izuku would become a hero, saying that he should pursue other careers instead. It's not a perfect match up, but I'd say in my personal experience it's pretty similar.

PART 2: Racism in BNHA

I'm not going to dwell long on this one because it's frankly very tone deaf and not very thought out to be comparing qbd to actual racism.

[Image ID: White text on a black background that states: What was worse, he would now be forces to keep his family from visiting or even living in America. It was never talked about openly, but the way quirkless were treated in the States came very close to how they handled different races with the Jim Crow laws of the past. He would never subject his Izuku to that kind of hatred. End Image ID]

There's a lot to unpack here, but let me preface this by saying this: qbd and centuries upon centuries of racial discrimination are not the same thing, especially considering racism exists in the show/manga itself. Big Yikes.

Let's start by defining what Jim Crow laws were.

[Image ID: Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. Named after a Black minstrel show character, the laws—which existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War era until 1968—were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws often faces arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death. End Image ID]

So lets make a hypothetical and say quirkless people were treated like this. Okay, what would be an identifying factor in discrimination? Would quirkless people have to tell employers their quirk status? Possibly. Would the right to vote be revoked? Due to what? Would they be held back in educational places? Why would they be?

There are too many unanswered questions as to why these things would happen. The Jim Crow laws happened due to white entitlement after the enslavement of an entire race. Qbd happens because of inherent power dynamics (which I will get into later), and while racial discrimination has that factor, it has existed way longer and is more prevalent in society. What if a quirkless person was a quirkless person of color? Think on that.

There are also heroes of color that exist in the show, and racist caricatures of people of color.

[Image ID: Pro Hero: Native with a shocked expression and some sweat dripping down his face. End Image ID]

This fucker right here.

The BNHA universe has existing racism in and out of canon, seeing as the black/brown characters are underrated outside of the show, and microaggressed within the show.

PART 3: Kacchan vs Deku 3: How Did Deku Being Quirkless Affect Their Relationship And Why?

The line "not all men are created equal" really stuck with me while writing and thinking about this meta. Deku has understood and worked through social dynamics and understandings since he was four years old. He's understood that since he's quirkless, people with quirks hold power over him that he can't defend himself against. He understands this, and chooses to roll with the punches.

Bakugou also very much understands how social dynamics work, and chooses to use it to his advantage. He bullies Deku as a boast of power rather than a boast of privileged. It's been drilled into young Katsuki's head that quirkless people are weak, and that he is strong, His teachers are seen encouraging this behavior and the adults around him tend to not view him as a person, but as an existing beam of potential. Propaganda probably exists even in his Sunday cartoons. The strongest people he looks up to all have quirks, and he makes that correlation of quirk = strong at a very young age. He learns that quirkless ≠ strong. A part of me feels like this is intentional.

Izuku being quirkless would put him at the bottom of the food chain, in a sense, and anyone who had a quirk would be listened to more than he ever would. Izuku learned that not all men are equal because of the inherent power dynamics that come with having the ability to fly, or create explosions, or use fucking fire and ice on command, because he realizes he will never be stronger than Kacchan (at least for now). Even Izuku's idols who he considered to be strong and amazing and admirable were people with quirks. People with power over him.

When Izuku got OFA, the playing field shifted, and Katsuki was afraid and confused. Just because Izuku got a quirk, that doesn't mean Katsuki's view on quirkless people changed. We don't know if it did because its never addressed. He has made significant character development and is working to atone with Deku, but would that still happen if Deku had stayed quirkless? We don't know.

PART 4: Conclusion

The BNHA fandom has a lot of views on how qbd might work, but these are just my thoughts. These are all my opinions and if you'd like to add something feel free to! I just hate the fact that qbd is being compared to actual racism when that just doesn't apply and wanted to weigh in my two cents. Qbd, in my opinion, is all about power dynamics and how easily that can be abused.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero acadamia #bnha meta #izuku midoriya #bakugou katsuki #this is my first time making a meta lmao #mha #pinned it bc im proud of this

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snowboiwinwin · 3 years

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The Boyz as my University Professors

Disclaimer: Some of my professors are evil bitches; none of the boys are truly evil and I am in no way implying they are or trying to make them look bad! I love the boys and I just thought it would be a fun thing to post :D

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Sangyeon:

the one professor that absolutely loves the topic of his class

super wholesome and smiley throughout the 90 minutes class time

getting super close to the camera (actually to the mic) because he is worried students won’t hear him well enough

always asking questions and encouraging students to interact

not offended when something isn’t clear and therefore students don’t know the answer

reading EVERY. SINGLE. MESSAGE written in the chat (sometimes students have mic problems or don’t wanna speak)

making everyone feel valid and appreciated

being super calm and relaxed

barely doing breakout-rooms cause he knows no one likes them

ending class always a little earlier cause “I know how stressful your life can get.”

just the cutest prof out there

Jacob:

another sweet guy

never holds class at its normal timeframe

just uploads all the files students will need (although attendance is supposed to be mandatory)

“you guys are all grown-ups, I trust you to decide yourself when it is the best time for YOU to study.”

constantly uses smileys and is therefore super popular with students

doesn’t teach many classes, cause which good prof does that? ugh

gets right back at students when they email him their concerns

and no, you don’t get half-assed answers

you get a very detailed answer, which is rare in university life

THANKS STUDENTS FOR SENDING HIM THEIR HOMEWORK!!!!

“Dear [name of stundet], thank you very much! 😊”

offers students to call him by his first name

“I’ll call you by your first name too if that’s okay... creates a more comfortable atmosphere!”

the best <3

Younghoon:

he is a savage professor

his look is hella scary and students fear taking his classes

but he is actually the coolest and most laid back dude ever

the first time class is held, he comes in, stone cold expression and literally throws his bag on the desk - everyone is hella scared

then he says, in the scariest voice ever, “We can have fun here in class, no problem, but i AM YOUR PROFESSOR. NOT YOUR FRIEND. Remember that.”

*everyone scared to death*

“Welcome to class everybody! My name is Mr. Kim and I am very looking forward to teach this class in our summer term! Feel free to ask any question that might come up and don’t hesitate to reach out to me whenever!”

no need to be scared, he is a sweetheart

strict and has high expectations, but won’t overdo it with homework or assignments

constantly jokes around but then switches back to being serious

he creates a nice atmosphere where students want to learn something and do it voluntarily

cares for his students and appreciates their hard work - especially during the pandemic

“I know this is not easy for any of us but I am so amazed by your guys’ work this semester. It was an absolute pleasure teaching you. I hope to see you guys again, but not in this class. Please don’t fail.”

I love him

Hyunjae:

omg, he is an absolute legend

class starts and he is doing his introduction part

the class i about british literature

“Welcome to this literature class, you are in for a long ride!”

so far so good right?

“Let me just say, British Literature is an ABSOLUTE shit show!”

when I tell you, I almost died hearing that (no offense to anyone, pls don’t take my profs words to heart... he lives for british literature 🥺)

he definitely has his students hooked with this one sentence

“the teacher that taught this class before me... what was he even talking about! I mean, british literature is so much more than what he made it out to be!”

basically starts ranting

teaches with so much passion

can’t forget the jokes here and there

also uses smileys which students seriously love (at least I do)

wants students to be informal with him as well

“moving on to this next topic... a little disclaimer before we start: I will go batshit crazy with this topic because I LOVE IT. So please tell me to shut up when I exceed the 10 minutes mark. Thank you!”

A savage legend that everyone loves

sadly only teaches a handful of classes as well

Juyeon:

super laid back and chill

does never check attendance and just trusts his students

usually talks most of the time and doesn’t ask too many questions

is super happy when students contribute though

but he isn’t one to force them

“I know your day has probably been really long, so it’s okay. I’m not taking this personal.”

his class is not based on theory but more on experiences he made

shares funny stories, mistakes he made and what he learnt from them

always gives the smallest and easiest homework ever

“please just share your experiences with these types of situations in our forum”

and he does not want to grade students based on an exam

“I have a better idea. In order to understand a certain topic, I want you to write a portfolio about it. It should be detailed but I won’t give you a number of words. Do what feels right and surprise me! Be creative, nothing will be worth a failing grade as long as you put in some effort.”

does split classrooms

one half is in the main room with him, the others are in breakout rooms, working on a certain topic

super chill and just not as hard as some other classes

but students definitely learn from him!

Kevin:

oh boy, students either gonna hate or love him

he is very kind and nice but he is STRICT

take his class serious and work or you will fail

although he has very high expectations, he will make sure students will be prepared for all the essays, assignments and presentations he throws at at them

no half-assed instructions, you will get the full program (as every student should!)

you have to write an argumentative essay but have no idea how to do that?

Professor Moon (students are allowed to call him Kevin) will explain an argumentativ essay in detail, will show examples and will tell you exactly what to put in it

having trouble finding sources?

Kevin will help you, just let him know!

Also a very empathetic teacher

something happened and you can’t attend class? Absolutely no problem

whenever something serious happens (for us it was a shooting), Kevin will cancel class and spare his students cause their well-being is more important

he doesn’t throw out A’s and B’s easily but when you do get such a grade in one of his classes... dude, you did a really good job

so as I said, he is either your fav or least fav professor... choose your side!

Chanhee:

he is a bitch (not really, but he gives the impression)

at first, he is that nice, bubbly professor

super friendly and kind

and his classes are absolutely okay! no biggie

or so they THOUGHT

his exams and progress tests or whatever ARE HELL

he makes it seem as everything is so easy and not overwhelming at all

BUT nothing is easy and everything is overwhelming

50 pages for a damn progress test two weeks into the semester!

the grading is so strict, you need at least 65% to pass! (maybe I am a baby but 65% is a lot for a passing grade hahaha)

but he confuses students

he is so kind and soft spoken

constantly smiling and in a good mood

but the exams????

are you sure you were the one creating them Mr Choi?

and yes, he is one of those professors that wants to be addressed by his last name (nothing wrong with that)

as I said, he confuses students

they don’t know what to think of him

at the end of the day he isn’t a bad guy

just not the type of professor the students would want in every single class for the rest of their lives

Changmin:

changmin is not your ordinary professor

because he is a big fan of team-teaching

so all his classes are taught by him and his dear colleague Haknyeon!

YAAAAY

I love this duo already

he is the part of the duo that is EXTREMELY motivated

he is is so hyper and so ready for teaching

his classes are always fun but also slightly overwhelming?

juts imagine having too much caffeine in your body

that is changmin being able to teach something he loves

that’s just the passion jumping out of him

he is constantly talking and laughing and throwing jokes left and right

he is having a good time!

super understanding and empathetic

and although everything seems fun and games

you will definitely learn from him!

he has this natural and authentic way of teaching in his body

it comes... naturally and it all makes sense somehow

although the class is packed with inside jokes and changmin teasing haknyeon

haknyeon doesn’t even have time nor the chance to speak

this is changmin’s time to shine!

they love and hate each other

but the students definitely love this iconic duo

Haknyeon:

as I mentioned; haknyeon and changmin are a team

it wasn’t really something haknyeon wanted but... how could you possibly say no to baby changmin? 🥺

so yes, changmin’s cute face got him into this situation

he doesn’t even have to prepare anything for class - his lovely colleague does the talking anyways

he usually lays back and relax

he frowns into the cam cause he tries to intimidate students

but they know he is a soft guy anyways

while changmin is talking, he is chatting to students in the chat

as I mentioned earlier, not everyone wants to unmute themselves and therefore posts in the chat

so he is having chats with students, often not even related to the topic

“Please excuse me, I will be absent for a few minutes - mommy duties” -student

“Don’t worry Miss! I know exactly what you mean... children.” -haknyeon

whenever he tries to get a word in, he has to talk VERY LOUDLY

he literally has to talk over changmin

but changmin doesn’t mind, he just smiles, nods and listens

changmin is super proud whenever haknyeon speaks

and haknyeon thinks that’s very sweet

but that thought passes as soon as changmin makes a joke about him

at the end of the day, they love each other at least to a certain extent and students adore them

Sunwoo:

he is not an ordinary professor either

class time? virtual meetings?

nope, not with sunwoo

again, in the classes the boyz teach, attendance is mandatory

mandatory? sunwoo has never heard of her

he doesn’t require students to attend meetings and homework is also something he does not expect from them

he uploads powerpoint-presentations with videos and audio of him explaining everything in the presentation

but the boy is clumsy

and he is not good with anything technical

so him dropping his glass and spilling his water all over his lap?

well, students will see this in the video

“... and it’s important to- YAAAAH OH NO....”

*awkward silence*

“I spilled my water... if you haven’t seen.”

*more awkward silence*

“Give me a minute”

*the video continues and sunwoo is nowhere in sight*

after ten minutes of an empty chair, sunwoo returns and continues as if nothing has happened

sometimes his kids walk in and dab in the camera without him noticing

“and then - Hey! I am at WORK.”

he loves it though

and he posts these “fail” videos on purpose

“I want to show you, that it is okay to not be perfect and to not be in control of everything! Stuff like that happens, especially with us being in home-office! And don’t worry, if your mom walks in or whatever, in my classroom no one gets judged! This is life and now that we have to do everything from home, the unexpected is unavoidable!”

Another students’ favorite

Eric:

I would love to imagine him as this savage prof I have in mind... but no <3

he is a sweet guy

also super obsessed with the class he is teaching

he is LIVING for it

usually experiences technical problems right before class starts

“oopsie daisy, sorry guys... might take a few minutes *giggles*”

and no, it’s not a creepy giggle but a really cute one, I swear!

constantly has a pen in his hand and clicks it absentmindedly while teaching

students constantly hear the clicking sound... or when the pen falls to the ground.... which happens every five minutes

he constantly forgets to mute himself whenever he wants students to work by themselves and all they hear is him chugging down his water or whatever drink he has prepared

also sends out super sweet emails

but due to him being a young dude, he wants students to call him by his last name

he also calls students by their last name but he does use smileys to lighten the professional mood that comes with honorifics

overall a very motivated but extremely kind-hearted dude

#the boyz #scenarios #kpop #imagines #reactions #headcanon #the boyz as #eric sohn #jacob bae #kevin moon #ju haknyeon #younghoon #hyunjae #juyeon #sunwoo #sangyeo #chanhee #changmin

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shezzaspeare · 3 years

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Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

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readersperspective · 4 years

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Writing Advice Bilingual Characters

As some of you (who read my reviews) already might have noticed, I am bilingual myself. Sadly, multilingual people do not get represented well a lot in media, so yeah... some advice for writing them. It will certainly not capture every aspect of being bilingual, but it might give you a first idea.

There are different ways to be multilingual.

People who grew up with more than one native language will almost certainly speak all of them fluently. Most of them have two (their parents’ language and their country’s language, or the language of one parent and of the other) but I also know a family where the children grew up with four native languages (the mother speaks Portuguese, the father Italian, they talk to each other in English, and live in Germany, where the children grew up)

Some people speak two or more languages, but cannot write all of them - especially when the alphabets are not the same, for example English and Russian or Arabic. This affects mostly children of immigrants.

Some people can read and write a language quite well, but are not good at speaking or listening comprehension. Those people often learned the language at school with a bad teacher or by themselves with books and apps.

Some people, again mostly children and grandchildren of immigrants, can read and understand a language, but don’t speak it. Mostly, the parents decided to not teach the child the language, and they learned it themselves by listening to their parents talk to relatives.

Confidence can play a big role in this. I understand the dialect of my grandparents without a problem, but I would never try to speak it. I can’t even imagine forming those words with my mouth, and it would sound terrible.

People who learnt a language at school can reach completely different levels of that language. I started learning English at age 6 and am completely fluent by now. Other people in my class barely understand more than easy conversations in English.

Most people will do their very best to hide their accents.

If the person is not a native speaker, but fluent in a language, their accent will be a mix of whatever they can find at the moment. Media is a big influence in that.

Since I watch more British than American TV, my accent sounds a bit british, too. When I watched “Call the Midwife”, I often even unconciously copy the accent of Laura Main. I don’t know why her, but my brain just liked it, I guess.

Also, we will use words, phrases and sentence structures from so many different sources.

People who learnt English through the internet (aka most of the younger generation) will have problems to not use swear words when actually being in Great Britain or America. They just do not have the weight for us, since on the internet they get used all the time.

I have never in my whole live heard a multilingual person switch languages mid-sentence on accident.

We will do it on purpose, though, if the other part of the conversation understands both languages.

Also, we will maybe say the word in another language if we forget the meaning.

Multilingual people that are not natives in the language they usually use in their day-to-day life (immigrants, for example) will often count and calculate in their native language. For example at a restaurant where they calculate the price in their head, they will probably do it in their native language.

Conversations with multiple multilingual people can be very different.

If one person only understands one language, they will probably try to include that person by speaking the language they share. I can say from experience, though, that if eight native Germans that have varying levels of English language skills will sit together with one introverted Turkish person with medium English language skills, they will go back to German quite often. It’s not nice, but sadly natural.

In general, people will try to speak in their native language if possible. You can take two people that share a native language and also both speak English and let them walk around in London - they will probably speak their native language, no matter how well they speak English.

Multilingual people that share multiple languages will switch on purpose when they feel like they can express their thoughts better in the other language.

Many languages have taken words from English.

Especially young people take a lot of English filler words and phrases (or insults) and put them into their native language. “Help, mein Deutschlehrer überfordert uns mit Hausaufgaben, like, what the fuck, glaubt der wir haben nichts besseres zu tun?” Is a sentence you would absolutely hear from a German student.

Many young people that don’t live in Great Britain or America will not use these words and phrases around their parents. First of all, our parents often do not speak English as well as we do, but more importantly, our parents do not like us using English instead of ur native language.

Many professions nowadays have an English name, I don’t know why. What used to be a Hausmeister is now a Facility Manager. The longer the English phrase for your profession, the more likely you will not be taken serious by older people.

Once you have more than one native language, you learn new languages more easily, for some reason. I know a girl that speaks 7 languages, at age 20, 5 of them fluently.

"You speak English quite well” or phrases like that said by a native speaker can be the best compliment ever, or more uncomfortable than nice.

When you are translating for your family and hear that sentence, it is super nice.

When you are only speaking English, that sentence indicates that your accent is still heavy. You do not pass as a native speaker.

When you are a native speaker, that sentence is just weird.

You can indentify the people that learnt a language through reading by giving them words that are pronounced untypically.

For years I thought “precious” (a word that is heavily used on the internet, especially in fan communities, but not that much in school) was pronounces pree-ci-ous. I was shocked when I heard it for the first time.

There are situations where even quite fluent non-native speakers will not be able to understand or talk in their second language.

The first few minutes after standing up (although that can change when the person is really fluent)

When they are in great pain

When they are in great fear

When they are under great stress

Sometimes even when they did not use that language in the last few days

Translating in realtime is terribly hard and will fuck your head. When I was on holiday with my parents, I often had to read the information signs in museums or at sights for them and translate. It’s easier when you first read the text and then summarise it in another language, but trying to translate it sentence by sentence is painful and you will question your abilities in both languages.

This gets just more horrible when under pressure. While we were in England, a visibly stressed young woman came to us and asked us if we had 5 pounds, she had lost some money she needed to take the train back home. I repeated her sentence to my father. In English.

Also sorry to the poor worker at McDonalds who I talked English to while speaking German to my English exchange student.

People abroad will absolutely become friends with every person that they hear speaking their language. While being in London, we overheard a man talking to his son in German about taking a photo, and I immediately asked (in German) if I should take a photo of both of them together. We talked for fifteen minutes after that, even though we had never met before.

On that note, in tourist citys the people that try to sell things to tourists usually speak a lot of languages enough to say things like “Oh, I speak a bit of [language], too, but not well. Didn’t pay enough attention in school. You look like nice people.” Makes it so easy to sell things.

Idioms are literally hell. Best example has been in the news currently, with Greta Thunberg literally translating a Swedish idiom in a tweet not realising that “putting someone against a wall” means something totally different in English.

Idioms will be hell for you as a writer, too, though, as long as you do not fluently speak both of the languages or at least one of them is fictional, because it’s quite easy to mess up if you use idioms that jus aren’t normally used by people speaking that language.

Bilingual puns are amazing, but sadly rare.

Those are the things I thought of first... Maybe you can find some ideas or inspiration there for your characters, too. The best thing of course is to let someone proof-read your character if you are uncertain, but this hopefully already helped you a bit!

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 3 years

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Devotional Hours Within the Bible

by J.R. Miller

Pilate Sentencing Jesus (John 19:1-16)

Pilate's portrait is hung up in the gallery of the world's great criminals. His is one of the names which never will be forgotten. The incident of the scourging is one of the darkest blots in the story of that terrible Friday. Pilate claimed that he could find no fault in Jesus, and that He should be released - yet, hoping that it would satisfy the Jews, he ordered Him to be scourged. The scourging must be considered as a part of Christ's sufferings as the world's Redeemer. The shame and indignity of being tied like a slave to a whipping post and then beaten until He seemed dead, we never can realize, for, thanks to the softening influence of the religion of Christ, such treatment even of the worst criminals is now unknown in civilized lands. There is, however, a word in Isaiah which gives a fresh meaning to this part of Christ's suffering. "With His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), says the prophet. The peace we enjoy is ours, because the rod of chastisement fell upon Him - because He was smitten. Our soul's diseases are healed, their wounds made whole, because the body of Jesus was gashed and lacerated by the horrible scourge!

After the cruel scourging came the crowning with thorns and the mockery of Jesus as a King. "The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head." We ought to look with great love and reverence at the picture - Jesus the Son of God, our Savior, standing there in the midst of heathen soldiers, mocked and insulted by them. We know how truly He is a King, and what a glorious King He is.

When the crusaders had captured the Holy City, Palestine became an independent kingdom. Godfrey, of Bouillon, was made king of Jerusalem, and it was proposed that he be crowned with a golden crown. But Godfrey's noble answer was, "I will not wear a crown of gold in the city where my Savior wore a crown of thorns."

It is a sweet thought, too, that because Jesus wore a crown of thorns in the day of His shame - His redeemed ones shall wear crowns of glory in the life to come.

In one sense this mock coronation of Jesus was very significant. Was He really ever more a King than when He was enduring His cross? All through John's gospel we have seen that Jesus spoke of His going to His cross - as His being glorified. His cross really was His throne. It was on the cross that He fought the great battle and won the great victory of redemption. The cross was the ladder that led up to His throne. His crown of thorns, too, was fitter for Him than a crown of gold would have been, for He was the King of sorrow ; He reached His glory - by His sufferings; He saved His people - by dying for them. He is adored and worshiped now as the King who has lifted men up by His own sorrows and blood to eternal life and blessedness.

Pilate showed pitiful weakness at every step in his dealing with Jesus. He knew there was no sin in Him, and yet he brought Him out to the people and surrendered Him to them. "Behold the Man!" Our eyes should be fixed upon Jesus as He stands there in the presence of the multitude. On His head - is the crown of thorns, and around His torn and bleeding body - is a purple robe, mock emblems of royalty. Behold the Man! Behold the Man enduring shame and contempt, set forth as a spectacle of mockery, that He might be presented at last in glory, and honored before angels and the Father. Behold the Man, reviled - yet reviling not again; hated - but still loving on; cruelly wronged - but speaking no resentful word. Behold the Man, the God-Man, wearing humanity, the Son of God humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto shame and death - that He might save our souls! Behold the Man, holy, sinless, undefiled, separate from sinners - yet bearing upon His own head as the Lamb of God, the sin of the world.

The only righteous thing for a just judge to do when he finds his prisoner innocent - is to set him free. Pilate brought Jesus out to the people - but said plainly, "I find no fault in Him." Nobody could. Nobody ever did. The rulers tried zealously enough to find something that they use as a pretext - but they found nothing. They tried false witnesses - but even these could not agree in their witnessing. Now the keen Roman judge inquires into His character, into His life, into His motives - but finds nothing against Him. No other man has lived in whom no fault could be found. The holiest men have sinned. But Jesus was absolutely sinless. Why then did He suffer as a sinner? We know well the answer. They were our sins that they laid upon Him. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Christ also has suffered once for sins, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree."

We never should forget this. In these days perhaps there is a tendency to forget the sacrifice of Christ, in thinking of His salvation. Between us in our curse and our blessing - stands the cross of our Savior. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Let us praise the grace that took our sins, that we may stand whiter than snow before the throne of judgment!

The silences of Jesus are always as significant as His words. He was silent to Pilate. He understood Pilate's weak insincerity. Pilate had had opportunity enough to do the right thing for Jesus - but he had thrown away His opportunity. Now Jesus would answer no more of His questions. One lesson we must get from this silence - is that if we reject Christ's offer of mercy and grace over and over, the time may come, will come, when Christ will be silent to us. And of all calamities that can possibly ever come to any soul - none could be so great as that Christ should be silent to its prayers. "Then shall they call upon me - but I will not answer; they shall seek me early - but they shall not find me" (Proverbs 1:28).

Another lesson we may learn from Christ's example, is that there come times in all our lives, when silence is better than speech. Often to words of reviling or to insult - silence is the only true Christian answer. To many of the assaults of skeptics on our religion and on our Lord - it is better that we remain silent than that we speak. There is a time to speak boldly and without fear in the presence of Christ's enemies - Christ did speak several times in reply to Pilate - but there are also times when we should keep silence, attempting no answer.

Pilate tried to compel Jesus to answer him. "Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?" The answer of Jesus is very clear. "You would have no power over me - if it were not given to you from above." No man's power belongs to himself, to do with as he pleases; it is given him from God, the Source of all power. This is true of the authority of parents and teachers, and of the power possessed by civil magistrates. Men are eager to obtain positions of power, and they do not always realize the responsibility which is attached to such positions. Power belongs to God, and must be used for God, or its misuse will bring its sore penalty. It is a talent which is given to us to be accounted for, and no treason is worse than malfeasance in the employing of power. This is true all the way from the power of the child on the playground or in the home, up to the power of the president of the nation or of the king on His throne. "You would have no power over me - if it were not given to you from above."

There is another sweet thought suggested by the words "against me" in this sentence. Christ in this world was under the protection of His Father, and no one on earth could lift a finger against Him but by the Father's divine permission. What was true of Him, the Son of God, is true of each one of the sons of God in all their earthly life. Each believer, the humblest, the weakest, is kept in this world as the apple of God's eye. No one can lift a finger to touch one of God's little ones, except by divine permission. This shows how secure we are, amid all the world's dangers and enmities, while we trust ourselves, like little children, in our Father's keeping.

When Pilate ceased His weak efforts to have Jesus released, saying to the rulers, "Behold Your King!" they cried out, "Away with him, crucify him!" Thus they finally rejected their Messiah. We read at the beginning of John's gospel that "He came unto His own - and His own received him not" (1:11 ). The whole story of His life was an illustration of this rejection of Him. Wherever He went they received Him not. Here and there a home opened its doors to Him, and now and then there was a devout heart that made hospitality for Him - but these receptions were so few that they could easily be counted. Crowds of the common people thronged after Him, and many heard Him gladly - but very few became His true disciples. Even on Palm Sunday, five days before He died, there was a vast multitude to cry, "Hosanna!" and wave palm branches; but soon the palms lay withered in the streets, and on Friday only cries of "Crucify him!" were heard in the air. "He came unto His own - and His own received Him not."

It is the saddest event in all history, this coming of the Son of God to this earth, bearing in His hands all divine and heavenly blessings - but finding only shut doors and shut hearts, being compelled to take away His gifts because men would not receive them. We read this old story and wonder how His own people could have treated Him so; yet how is it with us? Do we treat Him any better? We do not cry, "Crucify him!" but we shut the doors of our hearts in His face and keep Him out. We reject and refuse His gifts which He comes all the way from heaven to bring to us. We may not with angry voice exclaim, "Away with him!" but in our hearts many of us do keep Him away.

The struggle had ceased, and "Pilate delivered him therefore unto them to be crucified." He first tried every way to avoid the issue; then he temporized, hoping in some way to evade the responsibility. At least he yielded, and his name goes down through history pilloried forever, as the man who delivered Jesus to be crucified, knowing and confessing that He was free from any crime. He was known in the world by no other act. Surely it is an unenviable notoriety. It had been a thousand times better for him if he had never been horn, or if he had remained forever in quiet obscurity, instead of going to that high place of power in the land, in which he had to meet and deal with this most monentous question of history.

We read in one of the Gospels that Pilate took water in the presence of the people and washed his hands, thus by symbol declaring that he was not responsible for the sentencing of Jesus to die. But the water did not wash away one particle of the stain of the guilt of that terrible sin! Pilate had the misfortune to be the only man in all the province who could send Jesus to the cross. Upon him, therefore, the final responsibility rested, no matter the pressure that was brought to bear upon him by the enemies of Jesus.

Just so, the fact that others urge us to sin - does not take away our guilt for that sin. No being in the universe can compel us to do wrong; if, then, we do wrong - the sin is our own. True, Jesus said there was one other whose guilt was even greater than Pilate's - that was the high priest. His sin was not only that he himself was determined to do wrong - but that he dragged others with him. We remember that the rulers replied to Pilate's act of washing his hands, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). No one who has read the story of the next forty years can doubt that this self-imprecation was fulfilled. Forty years later, thousands of the people were scourged and crucified. The crime of the rulers was successful - but what came of the success in the end? Let us learn that sin brings always terrible woe, and that the worst of all sin - is sin against the Lord Jesus Christ.

#J.R. Miller #Devotional Hours Within the Bible #John 19:1-16 #Pilate Sentencing Jesus #September 20 #2021

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translations-by-aiimee · 3 years

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Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 13

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 13 - Doubt

In the archaeological internship Lin Yan participated in, the Ming Tomb was undoubtedly a very peculiar place. The excavation work lasted three months. Before the excavation started, Lin Yan didn't even get any relevant background information. He asked his professor several times but never got a response. When he was told that would be staying at the tomb for only a week, he thought he was coming to be the team's water boy. Instead, he was unexpectedly sent to the site as soon as the plane touched down and was given one of the most important jobs of cleaning the body found in the main room of the tomb.

It was a medium-sized underground mysterious tomb. Bluestone blocks were built into arches. The apse in the room was about forty meters long. A large black lacquered coffin left slightly ajar rested peacefully on the stone platform. Lin Yan and the rest of the crew held their breath together. When the golden nanmu wood coffin lid was slowly lifted, and the gold, silver, jade and rosy brocade around the corpse were exposed, a soft cheer erupted from the tomb. Everyone couldn't help but celebrate that they found such an magnificent mausoleum that had been left completely untouched by tomb robbers. After a long while, all nonessential personnel evacuated one by one. Lin Yan remembered that the professor was the last one to leave the scene. When he left, he rested his hand heavily on his shoulders, as if he wanted to say something but never ended up getting anything out. In the empty and dark main room of the tomb, only Lin Yan and a few lights, both bright and dim, were left. Sometimes, the miner's lamp was often extinguished inexplicably. He later recalled that the owner of the tomb might have been watching him ever since then.

The corpse in the coffin had rotted into a skeleton, but the hair that remained was soft and shiny. However, when Lin Yan sat alone by the coffin and skimmed through some history books, doubts arose. The identity of the owner of the tomb was like the bronze of this mysterious palace, unrecognizable under the green rust. There was no record, no genealogy, nothing even mentioned in town and county chronologies. The tomb's eternal light placed in front of the coffin had long been dried up, and a two-foot-long black name card behind it was coated with thick old blood. The place where the name should be written was empty, and it turned out to be a non-character memorial tablet.

When the last artifact in the coffin was successfully taken out, Lin Yan was told he could return. It only took them seven days and no one had ever told him about the origin of the tomb that whole time.

The sun was shining on Friday morning, and the roses in the flower bed were rushing to bloom. There was a soft fragrance of something oily like burning opium in the air. Lin Yan parked his car at the school gate and hurried through the small square in front of the building to get to the professor's office. He was in such a rush that he went through the ground fountain in the square. After he took a few steps, bells and drums started playing and spurts of water shot from the jets, the surrounding area immediately turning into a forest of water columns shooting up.

"Shit. . ." He couldn't dodge them and got completely soaked. Lin Yan internally cursed as he rushed forward, wringing out the hem of his shirt. A few school girls had just come out of the main entrance of the building and giggled at the embarrassing scene.

Lin Yan blushed a little.

Shiny drops of water splashed off his hair and a droplet fell into his eye. When he raised his hand to wipe it away, his wrist was caught by someone. The cold fingertips wiped the drop off one of his eyelashes. Lin Yan blinked and stood there silently.

When he walked up the steps, he saw a new large poster on the left side of the automatic door. A gentle-looking middle-aged man with glasses was holding a pen, and his demeanour resembled an unopened folder in a stationery store. There was a large line next to him: Chen XX, a well-known Chinese history professor, is coming to our school to give a lecture. All students are welcome to participate. This will be a great chance to interact with the professor.

The tune played was one typically used by the Propaganda Department, the following rows of small letters are written with the specific time and content of the event. Lin Yan struggled to twist the hem of the wet T-shirt and walked towards the hall, muttering that this was probably the reason that the fountain suddenly turned on. Turning back, he frowned and stood in front of the poster for a minute. He always felt that the man on the poster was a bit familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was. After thinking about it for a while, Lin Yan shook his head and stepped through the hall.

The professor's office was on the fourth floor.

"Professor, are you kidding me? From the preliminary preparations to the end of the tomb excavation, so many people participated in it. How could it be possible that nothing about the tomb owner's origins could be found until now?"

"That tomb was already considered to be average to wealthy for the time period. Even if the owner of the tomb was not of official origin, there is always a record in historical records for wealthy businessmen."

University institutions were never busy on Fridays. Everyone was waiting for the weekend. Lin Yan’s professor was no exception. He was sitting in the office with his legs crossed when the drenched student burst into his office. Behind the table, he held a heavy purple sand teacup in his hand. Because he often went to the West in his early years, his skin was wrinkled by the wind and frost. His midsection was blessed by some middle-aged fat, and the bags under the eyes were hanging loosely behind the glasses.

The professor grew impatient with Lin Yan's aggressive tone, and patted a stack of books on the table: "Isn't that so? You see, I'm more worried about writing a report on the excavation. I've been busy for more than a month and I haven't made any progress."

Lin Yan leaned forward impatiently with his hands on the glass plate of the tabletop: "The mausoleum was left untouched. The body and burial items were intact. Isn't it possible to determine the identity of the tomb owner?"

This student had always been known for his politeness and patience. It was rare for him to be this anxious.

"That's the problem. Comparing the data compiled based on the unearthed cultural relics with the records at the time, I can only say that he's completely unknown." The professor put down the cup and tapped his finger on the cover of the book a few times: "Ming Dynasty history is not my specialty. Tell me, why don't you do some research yourself? The students in our school must be able to research independently. You should make good use of the school library resources."

Lin Yan shook his head disappointedly. Just like the professor said, there was a lot of historical data to go through. He wouldn't make any progress in the next three months. Even three years might not be enough time to go through all the information. By then, he would have run out of ten lives. What's more, he has searched through the relevant history books of the library for the past week and even asked Yin Zhou to search through the database in less legal ways, but the strange thing is that no matter what keywords they use - the age, name, location - he couldn't find any information. It was common sense that, in ancient times, even a talented person would be written about somewhere in the county annals, but this Xiao Yu was like a person from another world. The records passed over him like he had never existed.

The faint scent of book pages and wood was floating in the air, and the light blue shutters broke up the rays of sun leaking in. Lin Yan subconsciously glanced back, as if there should be a companion waiting to respond to his doubts. But Xiao Yu does exist, he thought.

Trying his best to stay calm, Lin Yan lowered his head and lowered his voice: "Teacher, this is really important to me, can you help. . ." While speaking, his gaze was fixed on the table. Under the glass plate were many old photos of the professor when he was young. There was a row of people wearing work clothes and hard hats in the black-and-white pictures. Compared to the middle-aged man with swollen eyes in front of him, there was a strange sense of contradiction in the gray-headed but happy-looking man in the pictures.

Time really did wonders.

The instructor tapped two fingers on the table. He didn't look at Lin Yan when he spoke. His eyes were a little dodged: "Why do you need to know the owner of the tomb? Do you need to write a paper?"

Lin Yan took a deep breath. He had always had a keen insight into people's emotions. When he had been sorting through clues last night, the situation that occurred in the tomb flashed in his mind. He had already had his doubts at the time, but he was so nervous and excited that he didn't think too much of it. For example, ever since he joined the team, everyone had been keeping secrets, and the professor also looked at him with that dodgy look when the excavators all left the tomb. The whole thing seemed to have been arranged long ago, so Lin Yan hadn't cared about interrupting the teacher's off-time and grabbed the phone to set up a meeting time.

"Professor, you should know why; this is a matter of life and death." After hesitating for a moment, Lin Yan frowned and said this sentence with emphasis. He pressed his hands on the table hard and turned away.

When I walked to the door of the office. He paused, one, two. . . Lin Yan counted silently in his heart.

Three.

"Wait." The professor's voice sounded from behind.

"Lin Yan, this project isn't under my control. I just heard that a lot of strange things happened when the tomb was opened. Someone came to me and asked you to go. I didn't agree with it. . . If you really want to know more, you can go ask the coordinator of the excavation yourself." The finger tapped twice on the desk. "His name is Chen, he'll be at our school next Monday for a lecture. There are posters downstairs." After speaking, he took a few volumes from the neatly arranged books and put them back on the table, gesturing that he could leave. "You can get more out of him than me"

"Last question." Lin Yan held the door frame and poked his face in: "Teacher, do you know Xiao Yu?"

"No, I don't." The answer was quick this time: "Who's that?"

Lin Yan sighed and held the railing as he quickly walked downstairs.

#dig a grave to dig out a ghost #dig a grave to dig out a ghost translation #chinese novel #chinese bl #english translation #yaoi novel #yaoi

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crystallllines · 3 years

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Sorry no lack of a cut

i’ll try to throw it behind a cut later

i need to read it later with a less emotional lense.

(A little background about my husband, Donald Gregory for those who are interested in the BIBLE STUDIES I am sharing from his page):

I love to study the Holy Scriptures. I could study them from sun up to sun down and not get tired of it. It is what gives me comfort and strength in life.

I know too many people I’m more than a little weird and have been called many names in a way to insult me, but all I do is laugh knowing that all who live godly will suffer persecution in life. To me, it’s no big thing. As like Peter and Paul, I count it a joy to suffer for Christ's sake...

I know that there are many things that I understand, that is very different than what is taught and preached in most churches today, and yes I have occasionally have been called a heretic and worse by those who ought to know better, but yet it doesn’t slow me down one bit. I have no time for foolish name-calling and fighting. I know what is at stake and will keep the focus on what is true and right.

I often wonder how some people can believe what they do, knowing what the scriptures say. I don’t call them names or try to insult them. All I do is try to explain the truth of scripture to them and allow God to work in their hearts and lives. It’s not my super personality nor is it my flamboyant speech that will convince them what is the truth, but God using His word to convict and guild a believer.

If we believe something that is not true concerning God’s word, no matter how sincere we are in believing in whatever it is that isn’t true, it will lack the mighty power of God.

Allow me to give you a good example of such a case.

In the book of Ephesians, we see the Apostle Paul writing about some very important doctrines. The book was written to mature believers so we can see Paul writing the meat of God’s word, as appose to the books of first and second Corinthians which Paul could only feed the Corinthians with the milk of God’s word. That is right, even with first Corinthians chapter 13 is milk of God’s word and meant for the babies in Christ.

In the first chapter of Ephesians, starting with verse 15 we see one of the longest sentences written by Paul. It starts in verse 15 and ends at the end of the chapter in verse 23. It’s one of my favorite sentences to study and what I would call one of the most ‘powerful’ sentences in the word of God.

Look with me at verse 18.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

I want you to think in your mind what the end of the verse is saying concerning the word ‘inheritance’. Think of the times you have heard preachers and teachers teach this verse and what they said. Do you remember how they taught you how we will inherit everything the Lord Jesus Christ will inherit? Although this is very true, we will in fact inherit everything the Lord will inherit since we are joint-heirs together with Christ. That is clear from Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. But Ephesians 1:18 isn’t talking about our inheritance. Please, read it again. , and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Do you see it? This is talking about God’s inheritance, not ours. What does God inherit after all is said and done? He inherits ‘the saints’. Yes, the believer is God’s to have and to love forever. Someone with whom he may pour out all his love and riches just like he has desired since the world began. That is how special you are to God that he would call you ‘his inheritance’. Do you see it now? We who believe are ‘the riches of the glory’.

Now let us talk about how the rubber hits the road.

Knowing now that we are God’s inheritance in our minds, and believing that we are his ‘riches of glory’ in our hearts, ought to produce an action in our outward man that will reflect this truth which in the end will result in a special feeling of great love and joy.

I think it is far better to understand God’s word as he had written it than to believe it in a way that men have twisted it to say.

Let us be good stewards of God’s word and not twist it to mean something it doesn’t say.

My prayer, Lord Heavenly, and Gracious Father Thank you for being for me all I could ever need. Help me Father to see myself through your eyes and the great value I am to thee, Lord. Strengthen me and help me to see the value of others through your eyes. Thank you, Father, for the power that you supply to me, the overabundant power that you supply to us daily to live and love as you do to us! Thank you for loving us and I want you to know that we love you, too. In Christ's name, I pray, Amen.

#ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce my family #krystaline read this later

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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years

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Anonymous asked: I love your blog it’s definitely one of the most smartest and cultured ones around. Since you are a super chilled out military vet (flying combat helicopters, how cool is that?!) and also a very thoughtful and devout Christian (I think you talked about being an Anglican) I know this is a cheeky question but I’ll ask it anyway. Would you rather live in a military dictatorship or a theocratic dictatorship?

Now this is an interesting question you play at 2am and the wine is dangerously low.

I have to correct you on a couple of things. Yes, it was ‘cool’ to fly combat helicopters especially in a battlefield setting but it was just a job, like any other. And it’s never about the pilot it’s about the rest of the team behind you, especially your ground crew who make sure you go up and come back in one piece. As for being super chilled you clearly have never seen how sweaty one gets flying in high stress situations. Oh and the stink! A skunk wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my cockpit.

As for my Christian beliefs, I’ll settle for being a believing one. My faith, such as it is, is about living - and failing - by grace day by day than being fervently devout. Faith is a struggle to not rely upon one’s own strength but on divine mercy and grace.

Anyway....

Would I rather live in a military dictatorship or a theocratic dictatorship?

History has shown there's not a lot of difference between the two...

No, wait. On second thoughts maybe I would rather live in a military dictatorship as the lesser evil.

As an ex-officer in her HM armed forces, I know things will be run pretty efficiently with no dilly-dallying. So there’s that.

I suppose even if one does say it’s preferable to live under military rule rather than a theocratic one there is still the question of what kind of military rule? Every nation that has been under military rule came to power and sustained their hold under different dynamics. And of course it also depends on how mature civil society and the rule of law as well as the democratic culture really was in the first place. A lot is tied up with the brutal nature of the personality of the regime leader too. There are simply too many variables.

So one is forced to generalise. So l can’t get too serious in answering this question.

Rather than focus on the negative side let’s look on the bright side.

Just off the top of my head I can think of these reasons why I would choose to ‘live’ under military rule than a theocratic one. There are in no real order:

Beds will be made properly subject to inspection.

Families will be run like military units with the man at the head of the table.

Family meals will be taken at set times.

Public civility will make a return (e.g. no public spitting, drunken, or loutish behaviour).

Freedom of speech will more likely be censored than abolished (better than nothing I suppose)

Elections would be rigged rather than banned (but who really votes anyway these days?) 

They will most likely make the trains run on time (unless you’re British or Italian).

Military leaders often enjoy genuine popularity - albeit after eliminating plausible rivals - that is based on “performance legitimacy,” a perceived competence at securing prosperity and defending the nation against external or internal threats. The new autocrats of today are more surgical: they aim only to convince citizens of their competence to govern.

Maintaining power, for military dictators and their court, is less a matter of terrorising and persecuting victims than of manipulating beliefs about the world. But of course they can do both if backed into a corner to survive.

State propaganda aims not to re-engineer human souls but to boost the military regime leader’s ratings.

The military tend to stay out of personal lives. They have a political police but not necessarily a moral police.

Economic growth is more likely to be stable than under a theocratic state.

Military dictatorships are more likely to build vast bureaucracies to run the state - more jobs for everyone

The military put on great events. Their parades are more colourful and spectacular.

Having a sense of humour is more likely to get you imprisoned than executed for telling an anti-regime joke. It’s no joke to say that people develop a more refinery subversive sense of humour when oppressed. Take for example a famous comedian in Myanmar, Zarganar, for whom comedy is a shield and a weapon. During the time of the military dictatorship (1962-2010) he would make jokes like, “The American says, 'We have a one-legged guy who climbed Mount Everest.' The Brit says, 'We recently had a guy with no arms who swam the Atlantic Ocean. But the Burmese guy says, 'That's nothing! We had a leader who ruled for 18 years without a brain!" It was for jokes like this that Zarganar received a prison sentence in 2008 - for up to 59 years.

Military dictatorships don’t last long. They are more unstable. They tend to fall from the weight of their own contradictions.

One of the problems of living in a theocracy is how absolutist it would be in looking at life in terms of clear cut black and white according to those who rule over you. I strongly suspect in a theocratic state the morality secret police will be all over you looking for any social or moral infraction. In a Christian Theocracy, you'll never be Christian enough - the same would be for states that were Islamic, Judaic or Hindu etc. There's always going to be some pious asshole there with another version of Christianity that is more Christian than you and you're going to lose the freedom to make your own choices.

Under theocracies, unlike other authoritarian regimes, the rulers are the moral authorities that legitimises and fuels their political legitimacy to govern. It assumes its own moral correctness married to its political destiny to rule over others. As C.S Lewis memorably puts it, “Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.”

Finally, I’ll go with the military dictatorship with the hope that there might be some way of bringing the system down with a bit of logic and rationality. Hell knows that wouldn't be possible in a theocratic system!

I agree with Margaret Atwood when she said, “If you disagree with your government, that's political. If you disagree with your government that is approaching theocracy, then you're evil.” There’s more wriggle room with fighting against a military dictatorship because it’s usually against an asshole tyrant - or a ruling oligarchy of a military junta - and not a pernicious idea soaked in theological bullshit or an entire ideology divinely santificated by God himself.

A more interesting question is not to ask is why many people are so readily drawn to be ruled under a military rule or a theocratic one and especially a benevolent dictatorship (like Lee Kwan Yew in Singapore or Paul Kagame in Rwanda) but why increasingly more people in the Western world look to authoritarian figures to rule and shape their lives?

Why do Silicon Valley titans like Peter Thiel and others like him think fondly of ditching democracy in the name of some utopian hyper-capitalist vision of ‘freedom’?

I hear murmurs of the same talk when I interact with corporate colleagues and high net worth individuals I hear it around dinner tables about how democracy is bad for business and profit. Often it’s accompanied by praise for China's ability to "get things done." I just roll my eyes and smile politely.

I think - outside of the legitimate concern of the decay of civil discourse, the corruption of politicians, and corrosiveness of crony capitalism - it’s because democratic politics is hard. Damn hard.

Moreover democratic politics does not have a "right" answer. There never is.

In our Western societies it is the playing field (or market place?) where our values compete. Surely, you say, there is a right way to get the job done: to fill in the potholes, build the roads, keep our streets safe, get our kids to learn reading and math. Ah, but look how quickly those issues get contentious.

Whose potholes should get filled first? Do we try to keep our streets safe through community policing or long prison sentences? Should teachers be given merit pay, are small classrooms better, or should we lengthen the school day? These issues engender deep political fights, all - even in the few debates where research provides clear, technocratic answers. That is because the area of politics is an area for values disputes, not technical solutions.

One person's "right" is not another's because people prioritise different values: equity versus excellence, efficiency versus voice and participation, security versus social justice, short-term versus long-term gains.

Democratic politics allows many ideas of "right" to flourish. It is less efficient than dictatorship. It also makes fewer tremendous mistakes.

The longing for a leader who knows what is in her people's best interests, who rules with care and guides the nation on a wise path, was Plato's idea of a philosopher-king. It's a tempting picture, but it's asking the wrong question.

In political history, philosophers moved from a preference for such benevolent dictators to the ugly realities of democracy when they switched the question from "who could best rule?" to "what system prevents the worst rule?"

But clearly democracy is buckling under pressure in our torrid times. Populism - the logical end consequence of a purer democracy - is chipping away at the edifice of democratic norms and conventions. Increasingly inward looking nativism and nationalism fuel passions beyond the control of reason.

Perhaps it is time we went back to the tried and tested example of a monarchy, a constitutional one that is.

A revitalised monarchy in Britain needs a Head of State that can provide a personal identity to an impersonal State, and a collective sense of itself. A Head of State who does not owe his or her position to either patronage or a vote can more properly represent all the people. Consider that a President who has been elected, often by a minority of a minority of the electorate, cannot adequately speak for the people who did not vote for him or her. It is even worse if the President has been appointed, because then he owes his position to a small clique.So, the accident of birth is the best means of appointing a Head of State. Someone who has no party political axe to grind, or special favours to repay to a vested interest. Someone whose allegiance is to the people. Not just allegiance to the people who voted for him or his political party, but allegiance to all the people of the country equally. Far from being "incompatible" with democracy, a Monarchy can thereby enhance the government of the land.

The Monarch is a national icon. An icon which cannot be replaced adequately by any other politician or personality. This is because the British Monarchy embodies British history and identity in all its aspects, both good and bad.

When you see the Queen you not only see history since 1952, when she took the throne, but you see a person who provides a living sense of historical continuity with the past. Someone who embodies in her person a history which extends back through time, back through the Victorian era, back into the Stuart era and beyond. You see the national history of all parts of our islands, together, going right back in time.

As Edmund Burke, Roger Scruton and Michael Oakeshott would say, the monarchy is a living continuity between the past, the present and the future.

With its traditions, its history, its ceremonial, and with its standing and respect throughout the world, the British Monarchy represents a unique national treasure, without which the United Kingdom would be sorely impoverished.

If you value national distinctiveness, you should be a Monarchist.

If you are anti-globalist you should be a Monarchist because Monarchies represent the different national traditions and distinctions among the nations.

The desire to secure, strengthen and promote your own distinct national icons, whether your Monarch, or your own unique national identity, should be your concern, whether you live here in St Andrews, or whether you live in St Petersburg, or whether you live in St Paulo.

As the global financial system rushes us all towards a world intended to eradicate all local and national distinctions, the Monarchy stands out as different, distinct and valuable. Constitutionally, practically, spiritually and symbolically the Monarchy is a national treasure, the continued erosion of which would change the character of Britain, and not in a good way!

I’m speaking as a High Tory now, sorry. And so of course I only see it working for the United Kingdom....and the Commonwealth (slip that discreetly in there for you India, Australia, Canada, and Africa).

Still, if you want egalitarianism then look at Norway and the Netherlands - both highly "egalitarian" societies, and both monarchies.

Everyone else will just have to jolly well do without or ask us politely to come back (I’m looking at you my dear American colonial cousins, all will be forgiven).

The best of all worlds? Time will tell.

At your service, Ma’am....

Thanks for your question.

#question #ask #military dictatorship #government #rule #democracy #culture #society #theocracy #army #christianity #religion #nd high net worth individuals

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promiseofthepremise · 3 years

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hey! i just wanted to say that i love your supercut series so much! i love the way you write dialogue, its funny and it flows really well, do you have any tips? mine always ends up really stuffy :/ thank you!! :)

oh my gosh 🥺 this is such a wonderful compliment, thank you so much!

i in no way claim to be an expert, but i also just so happen to really enjoy writing dialogue so although i feel very imposter-ish telling you how to live your life here we go!

A few things, some of which I know are obvious (but bear repeating) and some of which are blatant opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt lmao:

(I am.... so sorry this got so long oof)

1. For me personally, the number one way to learn how to write how people talk is simply to pay attention to the way people talk.

Yes, in the stuff you read/ watch/ etc, but mostly just in real life, you know? Just turning up your awareness for speech patterns and word choice and rhythm and emphasis will 1) make some of the stuff below this point super clear and 2) make natural dialogue start coming far more naturally!

2. Show Don’t Tell: perhaps the most widely recognized and cliche piece of writing advice you’ll ever get, but also a valid concern for pretty much any writing medium.

In regards to dialogue, though, I think it mostly comes into play with showing us how a character feels rather than having them tell us. Moments of pure, unadulterated vulnerability tend to be rare in conversation (not unheard of, of course! there will be moments when your characters have an open and honest dialogue about their feelings! i personally adore this!)

My point is more so that if a character is angry, they’re probably not going to say “I’m angry!” but instead they’ll show it in other ways. They’re more terse than usual, they’re speaking in shorter sentences or clamming up entirely, they’re quiet when they’re usually loud or loud when they’re usually quiet, they have an outburst, but it’s about something completely unrelated to what they’re currently mad about-- see where I’m going with this?

3. Keep long speeches few and far between:

this is one of those things that could be considered a blatant opinion lmao but I personally find that big bricks of monologues often times don’t add much to your story/ character and instead just gum up the pacing of a scene.

There are exceptions of course (is your character literally giving a speech? fair enough, friend!) but still, it’s an easy trap to fall into especially when you’re trying to get across exposition, which brings me to...

4. Avoid info dumping!

Do I love it when my friends info dump at me about the things they care about and are very knowledgeable about? yes! I adore it! But can this also, in writing, just serve to slow everything down and make it difficult to actually absorb the information you’re trying to tell your readers? Indeed!

Sometimes you can’t avoid a bit of exposition via conversation, but try not to give all the important information via conversation, because there are so many other fun ways for us to discover stuff about your story and world!

5. Context and Code-switching: Giving characters specific ways of talking that are all their own is really awesome and helps us differentiate between them in a conversation. But being aware of the context of who they’re talking to is also important.

For instance, a teenage boy calling his best friend “dude”? Absolutely-- tells us a lot about the Brand of teenage boy he is. But in most cases we probably aren’t going to see that same teenage boy calling his English teacher “dude,” and if we do that’s gonna tell us a lot about who this kid is and what his relationship is like with his English teacher (as will the English teacher’s response-- “Hey, kid! How about that game?” versus an exasperated “Get to class.”)

Along with this, letting your character fall a little bit out of character can be just as telling. A quick-witted, very smart character may be quick-witted and very smart, but she’s probably not going to be quite as on top of her game if, for instance, she’s hanging upside down above a tank of acid. This is an extreme example but the point is that how we’re feeling, where we are, who we’re with-- all of these things affect the words we use and how we talk! And if a character suddenly starts acting differently than we know them to, even if the situation is a bit more subtle of a stressor than a tank of acid, it’ll tell us a lot about where the stakes have been placed!

6. “Said” is not your enemy! You know how when there’s a fan on in the room and you stop actively hearing it after a few minutes? Said is the same way.

We as readers are gonna notice “she implored” “he exclaimed” “they argued” more than just “they said” because our brain tends to filter it out once we’ve read it a couple of times in a scene, so say “she implored” when it’s important to know she’s imploring, but maybe not all the time. (Of course, everything can be over used and repetitiveness can always set in, but the more you write and the more you listen, the more this stuff and the rhythm of it becomes second nature)

7. Don’t be afraid to start with the action:

starting a scene with “Hey, how’s it going?” is very polite but doesn’t actually move the story forward at all. Starting a scene with “You want me to do what?!” or “Get out of my way!” gives us some sense of 1) the tone of the scene 2) the level of urgency and 3) a reason to be interested in what happens next

8. How often do you address your friends by name?

Probably not terribly often! It’s such an easy thing to fall into, wanting to address characters by name in dialogue for the Drama of it all, but if you do it too much the drama sort of withers away and instead just makes the start of every new sentence stick out like a sore thumb, cutting into the fluency you’ve worked so hard to create

Okay, I could go on about this for hours and I know I’m gonna want to add to this later, but these are the things that came to the top of my head, so I’ll stop being terribly pretentious and know-it-all-ish now.

ps. if you read my writing and notice-- hey, prem, you break all of these rules constantly all the time? Yep! rules are arbitrary and also I’m not a professional 😌

thank you for your time have a wonderful day 💖

#prem stuff #it cannot be overstated how much i do not know what i'm talking about #also i apologize for being Like This #gonna shut up now #ask

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kkatot · 4 years

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How to read (at MA level, for exams/quizzes)

We are using reading quizzes to enhance our Zoom classes this semester, and when I asked, my MA students thought some guidance on how to read efficiently for comprehension might be useful. So, this is a quick collection of advice that I find useful from a variety of excellent sources (some of which are linked in the end).

1. Prepare your mind to read this text. If it’s an article, it has an abstract, read the abstract, then read what the subtitles of different parts are. If it is a book chapter, read the introduction and take a look at what the subtitles of subchapters are.

What is this text about?

Why has it been assigned? What topic does it link to? How does it link to what you already know or what has already been covered in class?

2. Take notes while you are reading. What is important to remember is that note-taking is an exercise that starts from a frame or a question. What are you reading FOR? A. Are you reading to comprehend the text and get everything that your teacher / supervisor probably considered relevant (and thus may have put on a quiz or an exam) out of it? B. Are you reading because you are looking for ideas, inspiration, research findings, conceptual frameworks for a particular topic (this will happen when you are working on your own thesis, research or your own writing)? C. Are you reading to get an overview of the state of the art in a field as you are embarking on a new research project?

These will lead to different types of reading / different types of note taking. For B it might be a good idea to take notes freehand, for example, my colleague Jenny Hagedorn recommends restricting yourself to one A4 page for notes - instead of copying quotes, write down key words/ideas/things you’re not sure about and link them together as you read...it becomes a visual map of the text - excellent reference point for discussion or quickly sourcing. For C it might be a good idea to start from skimming a number of texts to then decide on a smaller number to read critically. Critical reading is guided by questions like these (by Wray and Wallace)

1. Why am I reading this? 2. What are the authors trying to achieve in writing this? 3. What are the authors claiming that is relevant to my work? 4. How convincing are these claims, and why? 5. In conclusion, what use can I make of this?

However, whatever you read for; you should read FOR THE ARGUMENT. Most of the key content in the text is given in the form of arguments. So, it is useful to be able to recognize arguments. If you haven’t read a lot of academic writing Graff, Birkenstein & Durst (2018, 11 - 12) have a MASTER TEMPLATE for writing arguments, or their “they say, I say” model:

In recent discussions of …. , a controversial issue has been whether …. . On the one hand, some argue that …… . From this perspective, …… . On the other hand, others argue that ……. In the words of ….. , one of this view’s main proponents, “……” According to this view, …… In sum, then, the issue is whether …… or ………. My own view is that ……… Though I concede that …….. I still maintain that ……… For example, ………. Although some might object that …….. I would reply that …….. . The issue is important because ………. Taking it line by line, this master template first identifies an issue in some ongoing conversation or debate (“In recent discussions of a controversial issue has been”), and then maps some of the voices in this controversy (by using the “on the one hand / on the other hand” structure). The template then introduces a quotation (“In the words of”), explains the quotation (“According to this view”), and states the argument (“My own view is that”). It qualifies the argument (“Though I concede that”), and supports it with evidence (“For example”).

If you are reading for comprehending / to study for an exam or quiz, I recommend:

1. Whether you highlight, underline or take notes, pay attention to the elements of the argument as outlined in the They say, I say model above. Important stuff is bound to congregate in the neighborhood of

where the author is making conclusions or summarizing (often they will spend a paragraph or two explaining something and then summarize the main finding in a conclusive sentence),

when the author is categorizing (making lists, or saying there are two reasons, or three problems, or four approaches),

when the author is making statements about something causing or related to something else (writing that something is because of, caused by, leads to, explains, or comes after questions that start with "why" and "how"),

when the author is engaging with existing scholarship in ways that elevate it as most important (this is where they will condense and paraphrase what they think is important knowledge in the field, look for when the author is named not just cited;

and whenever "some scholars have argued," "there is research that," "Researchers claim," etc is used.

2. If you highlight:

research suggests that just highlighting is not very efficient. Rather, if you highlight, add your own comments in the margins, as notes or in a separate file. If you read digitally, I recommend copying out the highlighted snippets and adding your own comments to them. Make sure you add your comments in a visibly different way, I put in my initials KT in bold to indicate that this is where the quoted text ends and my own thoughts begin.

Some people color code their highlights (by level of importance or by category, i.e. yellow is theory or concept, blue is methods, pink is findings).

3. If you underline: I like this advice by Amelia Hoover Green (see here for more)

Green explains her system: “First, signposts. I circled “theory” in the first line because I imagine he’s going to tell me what it is. I also circled “prediction,” because I want to know what his theory predicts will happen in the real world. I circled “in other words” because that suggests he’s going to restate something important (in this case, the prediction). After circling, I read carefully in the neighborhood of my key words and underlined a few key sentences. Your goal: underline no more than a few sentences on any page.”

After you are done reading and taking notes, review your notes and try to return to the questions you asked yourself when preparing your mind to read

What was this text about? What was its main argument?

How did it link to what you already know or what has already been covered in class?

What new things, terms, concepts you learned

Links to more advice:

Amelia Hoover Green advice on how to read https://www.ameliahoovergreen.com/uploads/9/3/0/9/93091546/howtoread.pdf

Terri Senft’s awesome guide to reading visually https://www.dropbox.com/s/ock2oep04thgla9/READING%20VISUALLY_SENFT.pdf?dl=0

Elsa Devienne’s “How to read an academic history article or chapter” infographic https://twitter.com/E_Devienne/status/1305899621064028161/photo/1

Mike Wallace’s and Alison Wray’s book Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/critical-reading-and-writing-for-postgraduates/book245471

Raul Pacheco-Vega’s extensive collection of resources on reading strategies and note taking strategies (in the form of very accessible blog posts)> http://www.raulpacheco.org/resources/reading-strategies/

This thread started with A LOT Of recommendations https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/1143345817463472128

Ashley Rubin’s’ guide to reading non-textbook texts: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f32p4xsaqzddo8a/Reading%20Guide.pdf?dl=0

Miriam Sweeney’s blog post on how to read for gradschool https://miriamsweeney.net/2012/06/20/readforgradschool/

Jessica Calarco’s blog spot on reading for meaning in the academia http://www.jessicacalarco.com/tips-tricks/2018/9/2/beyond-the-abstract-reading-for-meaning-in-academia

#how to read #advice #grad school

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andysmetahell · 4 years

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One for All and All for One: The study in complimentary and infinite (wasted) potentials

One for All and All for One: two Quirks whose history we can, in the universe of Boku no Hero Academia, treat almost as the history of society. Their users had left enormous impact on everyone in the series, and through hints we can see their influence stretching long, long back to the first appearance of the Quirks.

Neither Quirk can be considered ‘normal’, though: the ability to take away Quirks at whim and an ability to share Quirks with others (which would inevitably leave you Quirkless) are both complete anathemas to the society that by and large is half-in love with the idea of simply having a Quirk (which deserves a whole breakdown in on itself, but that’s not what I’ll be writing about here!). And yet, One For All users are all heroes, and All for One users are all villains as far as we know (written after the release of manga chapter 280).

How is that even possible? With how objectively similar they are, why aren’t they both heroes, or both villains?

Well, before we take a crack at how Horikoshi coded the Hero society that made this happen, let’s first take a look at just why I’m so surprised the two Quirks aren’t on the same ‘side’. Also, obligatory ‘spoilers ahead’ warning for everyone who’re anime-only watchers, or haven’t gotten past Meta Liberation Army arc in manga.

Purely from the activation/mechanics point of view, All for One and One for All are warped mirror images of each other. All for One functions on the assumption that a) the user knows the other person has a Quirk and b) the Quirk doesn’t have an inherent clause that disallows itself to be taken by force when it comes to taking it. One for All is the only Quirk so far that has shown the resistance to the b), as it is encoded in the very nature of the ‘share-along’ Quirk that forms the true base of One for All that it can only be given away willingly.

Why is this so important? Because All for One doesn’t only take Quirks, it’s also capable of releasing them and giving them to others, whether the recipient is willing or unwilling. In this regard, One for All is startlingly identical: it can be forced upon someone else, as long as the DNA is exchanged and the previous user is willing to give it away. This little fact is often overlooked (likely deliberately) by the existing canon in favor of emphasizing the ‘cannot be taken forcefully away’ which makes sense plot-wise, but not ethics and logic-wise.

But who knows, maybe Horikoshi is holding back on us, and One for All ends up being the ultimate villain of the story.

… yeah, not likely. But the idea is interesting, isn’t it?

Moving onto the way they interact with their users and other Quirks, One for All and All for One are again very, very different, but with a shared approximate visualization of usage behind it. The closest approximation of how they interact with other Quirks would be, in my opinion, be gravity – but two very different applications of gravity.

There are two relevant things you need to know about gravity: it is defined by the masses of an object interacting with another object, and every single object in the universe has its own gravity field. (thank you, Physics nationals I went to once, for forcing me to learn more about gravity!)

All for One is more akin to a star within a stable planetary system: it holds planets, satellites and comets (other Quirks) locked in its orbit, but any change can make all those objects lose their orbits and go wander in the deep space. Its hold is strong, but the fact still remains it can be nullified in order to give away Quirks. It’s also stable – its attraction/hold power doesn’t change with the number of Quirks taken, it simply gives it a bigger array of powers to work with.

One for All on the other hand would be closer to black hole: its gravity is so enormous even light, the fastest object in the universe, cannot escape it, and its mass (and therefore its gravity) grows stronger with every object it swallows. Once it grabs a hold of anything (its user’s other Quirk) it merges it with itself and keeps it for forever, with very little chance of it ever surfacing again as individual Quirk (unless your name is Midoriya Izuku). However, it heavily relies on the energy (other Quirks it merges with) to provide power-ups; hence the ridiculous difference between Izuku’s and Toshinori’s One for All. (also protagonst shenanigans, but we’re not going that far into metatextuality here – that needs its own essay)

So, concept-wise, One for All and All for One are again identical in the idea behind it, but drastically different in application – both still fucking scary, but what can we do here, our main protagonist and antagonist need to have OP armor around themselves.

This leads us to the probably the biggest spoiler I’ll discuss in this essay:

this panel.

In chapter 270 of manga, Shigaraki Tomura is revealed to have been passed All for One, which is a whole mindfuck in on itself that Horikoshi needs to explain stat because I’m going crazy over here with theories (!!!), but moving on. The short and extremely brief summary of what happens afterwards is: Heroes discover where Tomura is while he’s still being transferred All for One, they wreck the Nomus and facility, Shigaraki gets partial All for One and his original Quirk Decay goes absolutely nuts again, Izuku runs off to face him, and at one point point, while using Ragdoll’s Search, Shigakari utters a very strange sentence while seemingly under the influence of All for One (the Quirk):

“You will be mine… little brother.”

Moments later, Shigaraki snaps out of it and comments about Sensei (All for One) no longer being his puppeteer, that he’s making his own choices and not Sensei’s.

Here we get a stunning punch in the plexus about what we already have been hinted at during Izuku’s fight with Shinsou Hitoshi, during Kamino Ward and Joint Training Arcs:

One for All and All for One both retain the echoes of their past owners.

Now, here comes a million dollar question: is this something both the baseline ‘share’ part of One for All and All for One possess (which would further link the two Quirks, and also explain a lot of characterizations in the series so far), or is it an imprint of All for One on ‘stockpile’ part of One for All that ‘share’ part absorbed and made its own? Both possibilities are extremely intriguing and make any future possibility of unification (which was apparently Sensei’s original goal before, judging by that one panel) extremely volatile, and very intriguing if Horikoshi pursues that idea to its end.

Speaking of the man himself, now we arrive at the question that really started the whole essay here: how come it was All for One chosen to be the ultimate evil, and One for All to be ultimate good? As we’ve seen so far, both Quirks are startlingly similar; theoretically, could All for One be a ‘heroic’ Quirk and One for One for All ‘villainous’?

The answer is yes and no.

Yes, because theoretically, switching the two would still make the story work; it’d change the motivations of characters drastically, sure, and turn the story of generations of good trying defeat one evil into one good fending off generations of evil, but it’d work – and no, because that’d fundamentally change the society in which Boku no Hero Academia’s current time frame is, and society is the key underlying factor in this entire story.

Let me explain through the examples of three characters and a faction.

Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless person in a society who is, like I said at the beginning, half-in love with the idea of having Quirks – the fact that you have them makes you seem useful, someone with potential, no matter how objectively useless some Quirks inevitably can be in certain lines of work. By their standards, he’s without potential, and therefore is largely useless out of gate. Had All for One been in public eye and celebrated as Hero, he’d be the pinnacle of useful: there’d be no danger of bad reactions to donated Quirks in his DNA, and he, someone who wishes desperately for a Quirk, could easily be given a Quirk of someone who finds their life unbearable due to it.

Bakugou Katsuki, someone with extremely property-damaging Quirk, would constantly be told that if he doesn’t behave himself, he’d be sent off to All for One to have his Quirk taken away – in essence, he’d be no one special, just another kid with a Quirk. Since All for One is so visible, it’d be all too easy for parents and teachers to threaten their kids into compliance whenever they throw an over-powered tantrum with the removal of a Quirk; it’d also be a good deterrent for any Pro Heroes that existed there to not get too comfy with their jobs, because they could easily be taken out of it if they manage to anger All for One enough, which would deter some people from being Pro Heroes.

Shigaraki Tomura (Shimura Tenko), someone whose Quirk came in during an extremely traumatic event and left him so scarred mentally he was never quite the same again, could easily simply give away his Quirk and have something far less volatile and triggering if he wished so, and also have a chance of potentially one day seeing his Quirk in the hands of someone like Izuku or Melissa, who could use it to its full potential without being constantly triggered by it or being re-traumatized again and again by the society who would rail on him for having such a potentially devastating Quirk.

Meta Liberation Army (which is a poorly disguised Brotherhood of Mutants on Genosha in X-men cartoons, let’s be realistic – the whole thing about the superiority of fight-compatible Quirks was not subtle at all) would be a much smaller and a lot less influential group. The publicity of a Quirk being able to take away other Quirks would make the existence of Deika City clones very, very difficult; it’d take but one hint, one whisper of a fringe group amassing in remote location that wants to eliminate so-called ‘useless Quirks’ for All for One to act – as much of an asshole as he is, he was shown [cite] to like all kinds of Quirks, despite only keeping the ones he felt were the most useful to him.

OK, but what about them being on the same side? You might ask yourself. If they’re so similar, why not make them both on the same side?

One, drama is always more delicious if there are high personal stakes involved, and nothing gets more personal than family drama – that’s just a fact. (Kardashians, anyone?)

Two, this is shonen – openly bad guys being the protagonists isn’t often done (in mainstream at least).

Three: we need some material to make all those ‘Izuku’s related to All for One or One for All first user’ for our satisfaction before Horikoshi josses the whole thing, okay??

(no, this is certainly not a call for you to make more ‘Izuku is related to original two brothers’… but it’s heavily suggested lol)

Thank you for sticking around until the end of this essay! Have a cookie, and enjoy the hell my mind led me to during the binge-read of the last 5 released chapters of manga:

#bnha meta #mha meta #quirk analysis #quirk meta #ofa and afo #shigaraki tomura #all for one #midoriya izuku #one for all #one for all users #I need more bnha meta #crossposted on ao3

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trangs-studyblr · 3 years

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Quoting in Korean (~ㄴ/는다고)

~ㄴ/는다고: Quoting with Verbs

Quoting in Korean is counter-intuitive for an English speaker. With some Korean knowledge most people would assume that quoting would be done using the ~는 것 principle.

I could use the ~는 것 principle to create this sentence in Korean:

나는 그가 너를 좋아하는 것을 알아 = I know that he likes you

If I changed 알다 (to know) to 말하다 (to say), you would think that I could write this:

나는 그가 너를 좋아하는 것을 말했어

However, this is not how quoting is done in Korean. The ordering of quoted sentences is still the same as ~는 것 sentences, but ~는 것 is not used.

나는 그가 너를 좋아하?????? 말했어

In quoted sentences, the actual “quoted” part gets conjugated into the plain (or “diary”) form.

You conjugate the “quoted” part of a sentence as if it were its own sentence into this form. After the sentence is conjugated to the plain form, you must place ~고 at the end of it.

나는 그가 너를 좋아한다고 말했어= I said that he likes you

Notice 좋아하다 in the quoted portion of the sentence is conjugated to the present tense because the sentence is “I said that he likes you.” In other situations, the quoted part of the sentence could be conjugated to the past and future tenses.

나는 그가 너를 좋아했다고 말했어 = I said that he liked you 나는 그가 너를 좋아하겠다고 말했어 = I said that he will like you

You can also change the conjugation of the final verb (in this case 말하다) to indicate when the quote is said.

나는 그가 너를 좋아한다고 말하고 있어 = I am saying (telling you) that he likes you 나는 그가 너를 좋아한다고 말할 거야 = I will say that he likes you

To indicate to whom this quote is said to, you can attach ~에게/한테/께 to the person being spoken to.

나는 엄마에게 그가 너를 좋아한다고 말할 거야 = I will tell mom that he likes you

More examples:

선생님은 학생들이 늦게 도착했다고 말했다 = The teacher said that the students arrived late 선생님은 학생들이 늦게 도착한다고 말했다 = The teacher said that the students arrive late 선생님은 학생들이 늦게 도착하겠다고 말했다 = The teacher said that the students will arrive late

밥을 안 먹었다고 말했어요 = I said that I didn’t eat (rice) 나는 너에게 같이 가야 한다고 했어 = I said (to you) that we have to go together 출력이 아직 안 된다고 말했어요 = I said that the output still doesn’t work

You can also replace 말하다 with other verbs related to speaking, such as 이야기하다 (to talk), and 대답하다 (to answer), to indicate speaking or reporting of some type.

However, in very casual conversation, the use of 말하다 is not necessary because ~ㄴ/는다고 already indicates that the sentence is quoted. Instead, you can just say 하다, which in this case means “to say”, “to tell”, “to talk”, etc. The meaning is exactly the same. It makes things a little easier, but ONLY use this in casual conversation.

그는 공부하지 않았다고 했어요 = He said that he didn’t study 저는 밥을 안 먹었다고 했어요 = I said that I didn’t eat (rice)

~다고: Quoting with Adjectives

Quoting a clause that ends in an adjective is done just like with verbs: the predicating adjective is conjugated using the plain form. However, plain form conjugation for adjectives in the present tense is different from verbs. The dictionary form of an adjective (the word by itself without any changes) is the same as its plain form conjugation.

행복하다 → Plain form: 행복하다 (행복한다) 월등하다 → Plain form: 월등하다 (월등한다)

However, plain form conjugation for adjectives in the past and future tense is the same as verbs.

밧잘의 길이가 너무 부적하다고 했어요 = I said that the length of this rope is not enough (insufficient) 아빠가 오늘 잡은 물고기가 너무 조그맣다고 했어요 = Dad said that the fish he caught today is/was very tiny 우리 아빠는 자기가 어렸을 때 너무 행복했다고 했어요 = My dad said that he was very happy when he was young

Remember that 있다 and 없다 are adjectives when used to indicate that one has, or does not have an object, thus they should be quoted like other adjectives (~ㄹ/을 수 있다/없다 falls in this category as well).

학생이 이해할 수 없다고 했어요 = The student said he can’t understand 저는 학교에 갈 수 없다고 했어요 = I said I can’t go to school 그는 다음 주 목요일에 여행할 수 있다고 했어요 = He said that he will be able to travel next Thursday

Also remember that 싶다 is an adjective as well, and when quoted, it should be conjugated as an adjective.

새로운 차를 사고 싶다고 했어요 = I said that I want to buy a new car 이 장소에사 나무를 심고 싶다고 말했어요 = I said that I want to plant a tree in this location

~(이)라고: Quoting with 이다

Quoting a clause that ends in 이다 is slightly different than quoting verbs and adjectives.

When quoting 이다 in the past tense, it is done simply by adding ~고 to the past conjugation of 이다 in the plain form.

그가 선생님이었다 = He was a teacher 그가 선생님이었다고 했어요 = He said he was a teacher

거리에 있었던 사람들이 시위자들이었다 = The people who were on the street were protesters 경찰관은 거리에 있었던 사람들이 시워자들이었다고 했어요 = The police officer said that the people who were on the street were protesters

When quoting 이다 in the present tense, ~라 replaces ~다 in 이다. When the noun before 이다 (that 이다 is attached to) ends in a vowel, 이 can be omitted.

그가 의사이다고 의사(이)라고 했어요 = He said he is a doctor

When the noun before 이다 (the noun 이다 is attached to) ends in a consonant, 이다 cannot be omitted.

우리 선생님은 제가 나쁜 학생이다고 했어요 우리 선생님은 제가 나쁜 학생라고 했어요 우리 선생님은 제가 나쁜 학생이라고 했어요 = Our teacher said I am a bad student

To say “to say that (something/someone) is NOT + NOUN,” you can use NOUN + (~이/가) 아니라고 말하다/이야기하다/대답하다.

학생이라고 말하다 = to say that (they) are a student → 학생(이) 아니라고 말하다 = to say that (they) are not a student

공짜라고 하다 = to say that (something) is free of charge → 공짜(가) 아니라고 말하다 = to say that (something) is not free of charge

현우 씨가 여기 녹음실 아니라고 했어요 = Hyunwoo said that this is not a recording room 경은 씨가 이거 선물 아니라고 했어요 = Kyeong-eun said that this is not a present

Future Conjugation

An immediate practical application for this is when quoting a verb or adjective to the future tense using ~ㄹ 것이다. When using this form, 것 (often shortened to 거) is simply a noun and the conjugating word is 이다. Therefore, you can quote a future tense clause by using this future tense conjugation, and applying the quoting rules of 이다.

나는 밥을 먹을 것이다

That clause/sentence can be quoted by adding the appropriate ending to 이다.

나는 밥을 먹을 것이라고 했어 = I said that I will eat 오늘 비가 올 거라고 했어요 = They said that it would rain today 그 사람은 내일 다시 올 거라고 했어요 = He said he would come again tomorrow 친구들이 도와줄 거라고 했어요 = My friends told me that they would help me

Direct Quotes

To say something as a direct quote, the directly quoted clause acts as a noun, and therefore requires ~(이)라고 to be attached (usually ~라고 because most completed sentences end in a vowel). The quoted sentence is conjugated the way it was originally said.

제가 하고 싶지 않습니다 = I don’t want to do it Indirect quote: 그는 하고 싶지 않다고 했다 = He said he doesn’t want to do it Direct quote: 그는 "제가 하고 싶지 않습니다"라고 했다 = He said “I don’t want to do it”

When writing the sentence, you need to include quotations, but in speech (obviously), that is not necessary.

Indirect quote: 그는 너를 사랑한다고 했어 = He said I love you Direct quote: 그는 "너를 사랑해"라고 했어 = He said “I love you”

그녀는 "제가 선생님이다"라고 말했어요 = She said, "I am a teacher." “감사합니다”라고 (말)했어요 = I said “thank you.”

Other Uses of ~ㄴ/는다고

In addition to 말하다, there are many verbs in Korean that prefer to be used with a quoted clause.

1) To think: 생각하다

If one “thinks” something, quoted sentences are used.

저는 그 여자가 별로 안 예쁘다고 생각해요 = I think that girl isn’t that pretty 캐나다와 미국이 비슷하지 않다고 생각해요 = I think Canada and the US aren’t similar 저는 이 소설가가 다른 소설가들보다 월등히 낫다고 생각합니다 = I think this novelist is much better than other novelists

2) To believe: 믿다

If one “believes” something, quoted can be used.

저는 우리 팀이 이길 거라고 믿어요 = I believe that our team will win 저는 착하게 산다고 믿어요 = I believe I live my life being kind

3) To call something: 부르다

When talking about what an object is “called,” ~을/를 can be attached to the object, and ~(이)라고 can be attached to the word that it is referred to.

사람들은 그 건물을 한국타워라고 불러요 = People call that building “Korea tower” 밥을 많이 먹을 수 있는 사람들을 식신이라고 불러요 = People who can eat a lot are called “식신” 캐나다에서 사람들은 이런 종류의 음식을 푸틴이라고 불러요 = In Canada, people call this type of food “Poutine”

Using this type of sentence is a more natural way to tell somebody what your name is. The common way foreigners introduce themselves in Korean would be:

제 이름은 김의지입니다 = My name is 김의지

Although correct, it is a direct translation of “my name is…” in English. In Korean, it is more common/natural to introduce yourself using ~(이)라고. In most cases, you add something before your name to describe yourself even more.

안녕하세요, 저는 캐나다에서 온 김의지라고 합니다 = Hi, my name is 김의지, and I come from Canada (I am 김의지, from Canada) 안녕하세요, 저는 강남고등학교 2학년 3반 김의지라고 합니다 = Hi, my name is 김의지, and I am in class 3, in the second grade of 강남 high school.

4) To promise: 약속하다

When “promising” to do an action, it is common to add a future tense quoted construction to the action you promise to do.

내일 현금을 주겠다고 약속했어요 = I promised to give you (the) cash tomorrow 지금부터 열심히 하겠다고 약속했어요 = I promised to work hard from now on 저는 아빠한테 숙제를 다 할 거라고 약속했어요 = I promised dad that I would do all my homework 이 정부를 내일까지 다 입력해 줄 거라고 약속했어요 = I promised that I would input all of this information by tomorrow

5) Finishing a sentence with 그렇다

그렇다 is often used as the final word of a sentence with a quote (instead of 말하다, 하다,...).

오빠가 이거를 안 한다고 (말)했어 = My older brother said he wasn’t going to do this 오빠가 이거를 안 한다고 그랬어 = My older brother said he wasn’t going to do this

The sentences above don’t really need to be distinguished. The use of 그렇다 as the final word is something that is often heard in speech, but there's no difference in meaning.

Asking Questions with Quoted Sentences

It is also possible to use these quoted conjugations to ask what a person says by attaching ~(이)라고 to 뭐. You can add ~요 at the end to speak more formally.

뭐라고(요)? = What did you say?

You can add 하다 or 말하다 to these as well.

뭐라고 (말)했어요? = What did you say?

These can also be used to ask a person what somebody else said.

아빠가 뭐라고 했어요? = What did dad say? 의사가 뭐라고 말했어요? = What did the doctor say?

If you are talking to somebody, and you are not sure if you heard them perfectly, you can ask for clarification about what they said. Assuming you heard most of what they said, you can take their sentence and turn it into a quote. The final (말)하다 is usually not used, and the quoted conjugation ends in the form of a question.

1: 밥을 먹기 싫어 = I don’t want to eat (rice) 2: 밥을 먹기 싫다고? = (You said that) you don’t want to eat (rice)?

1: 저는 내일 캐나다에 갈 거예요 = I’m going to Canada tomorrow 2: 내일 캐나다에 갈 거라고요? = (You said that) you’re going to Canada tomorrow?

You don’t necessarily need to repeat the whole sentence. Depending on the situation (or what you already knew, or what you hear), it might be appropriate to just repeat one or some of the words.

1: 저의 몸이 너무 지치해요 = My body is really tired 2: 피곤하다고요? = (You said) tired?

1: 이 상황이 점차 나빠지고 있어요 = This situation is gradually getting worse 2: 나빠지고 있다고요? = (You said) getting worse?

If you were the first person in either of those situations, you could respond to the miss-communication by the second person by just stressing the quoted verb or adjective as a response.

1: 그는 돈이 앖다고 했어요 = He said that he doesn’t have money 2: 돈이 있다고? = (Did you say) he has money? 1: 아니요, 없다고요 = No, (I said that) he doesn’t have money

Using Quoted Sentences with ~는 것

~(ㄴ/는)다고 is used when the verb immediately following ~(ㄴ/는)다고ends the sentence. To add another noun after ~(ㄴ/는)다고, the verb following ~(ㄴ/는)다고 must be changed into adjective form: ~(ㄴ/는)다는.

Notice how it is written. The verb that ~는 것 is being added to has been conjugated into the plain form.

가다 = 간다 먹다 = 먹는다

Adding ~는 것 after any of these plain form conjugations is an abbreviation of a quoted clause. ~(ㄴ/는)다는 is a shortened form of ~(ㄴ/는)다고 하는, which is a combination of ~(ㄴ/는)다고 하다 plus ~는.

간다(고 하)는 것 갔다(고 하)는 것 가겠다(고 하)는 것

By describing an upcoming noun with a verb that is conjugated (and abbreviated) this way, the clause describing the noun is a quotation, which means that it was once said.

그가 나를 싫어하는 것을 알아 = I know that he doesn’t like me 그가 나를 삻어한다는 거를 알아 = I know that (___ said that) he doesn’t like me

While the two examples above have a very similar meaning, in the second example, the speaker is pointing out that somebody said “he doesn’t like me”. Specifically who said it is ambiguous, and would have to be understood by context. In this case, it could be the person himself who said that quote (the person who doesn’t like him) or some other third party.

Nonetheless, the translation and result of these sentences is the same (the speaker knows that the person does not like him), and a separate translation doesn’t necessarily need to be made in English because it is often very hard to accurately describe the situation.

In place of 것, it is common to find nouns whose meaning inherently implies that something was said, such as 사실 (fact) and 소문 (rumor).

그 여자가 다른 남자랑 애기가 있다는 소문이 있습니다 = There is a rumor that that woman has a baby with another man 그 여자의 남편이 비서랑 바람을 피운다는 소문이 있어요 = There is a rumor that that woman’s husband is having an affair with his secretary

Instead of:

그 여자의 남편이 비서랑 바람을 피우는 것이 있어요 = There is a rumor that that woman’s husband is having an affair with his secretary

To conjugate adjectives using this plain form (in the present tense), you just leave them as they are.

너의 여자 친구가 예쁘다는 거를 잊어버렸어 = I forgot (the fact that) that your girlfriend was pretty TTMIK이 재미있다는 이야기를 들었어요 = I heard (a story in which) someone (was) saying that TTMIK is fun

This same principle can be used in the past tense (remember to use the plain form):

그녀가 시험에 떨어졌다는 소문을 들었어요 = I heard a rumor that she failed the test 그녀는 아이가 죽었다는 사실을 숨겼어요 = She hid (the fact that) her child died 부장님이 작년에 미국에 갔다는 거를 잊어버렸어요 = I forgot (the fact) that the boss went to America last year

When used in the future tense, the more common way to conjugate (instead of ~겠다) is ~ㄹ 것이다. In these cases, the final verb is 이다, which means the quoted conjugation onto 이다 needs to be added.

먹을 것 + 이다 + ~라고 하는 것 = 먹을 것이라는 것 먹을 거 + 이다 + ~라고 하는 것 = 먹을 거라는 것

그녀가 곧 결혼할 거라는 사실을 잊어버렸어요 = I forgot (the fact that) that she will be getting married soon 대통령이 한국에서 떠날 거라는 소문이 있어요 = There is a rumor that the president will leave Korea soon

You can use the NOUN + ~(이)라는 + NOUN form when:

(1) introducing what something is called or how it is described.

The person who they say is a doctor... = 의사라는 사람은... This person called Hyunwoo is... = 현우라는 사람은...

*In English, you add “(who is) called...”, or “whose name is...” after the noun, but in Korean, the order is reversed.

여기에 ‘스쿨푸드’라는 식당이 있어요 = Here, there is a restaurant called “School Food” ‘TalkToMeInKorean’이라는 웹사이트 알아요? = Do you know the website called “TalkToMeInKorean”? 내일, 알렉스라는 친구가 올 거예요 = Tomorrow, a friend named Alex will come here. 진석진이라는 선생님이 있어요 = There is a teacher called Jin Seokjin

(2) talking about an abstract concept and its innate characteristics

LOVE is... / This thing called LOVE is... = 사랑은 = 사랑이라는 것은.

공부라는 것은*, 재미없으면 오래 할 수 없어요 = Studying is (something that) you cannot do for a long time if it is not interesting. *You can also just use "공부는," but if you say “공부라는 것은...”, you are talking about 공부 as the grand subject of the sentence.

You can also express use (2) - what you think is the definition or the nature of something - with verbs, except you need to use the structure, ~(ㄴ/는)다는 것, which means “the thing that is called + Verb.” It is used to express what you think is the definition or the nature/characteristics of a certain action/state/verb.

배운다는 것은 언제나 즐거운 일이에요 = (The act of) Learning is always a pleasant thing to do 외국에 산다는 것은 가끔 힘들 때도 있어요. = The nature of living overseas is that there are sometimes hard times. 혼자 공부한다는 것은 생각만큼 쉽지 않아요 = Studying alone is not as easy as you think. *You could say, “혼자 공부하는 것은” but by saying “혼자 공부한다는 것은...”, you are talking about the general nature of studying alone rather than just talking about yourself when you study alone.

Often in spoken language, for easier pronunciation, ~(ㄴ/는)다는 것 is combined with a particle and shortened to ~(느/는)다는 건 (combined with ~은) or ~(느/는)다는 게 (~이).

하다 → 한다는 것이 = 한다는 게 하다 → 한다는 것은 = 한다는 건

주말에도 회사에 가야 한다는 건 정말 슬픈 일이에요 = Having to go to work on the weekend is so sad 아이를 키운다는 건 참 힘든 일이에요 = Raising a child is very tough 한국에서 유명한 가수가 된다는 건 정말 어려운 일이에요 = Becoming a famous singer in Korea is a very difficult thing 장학금을 받는다는 것은 정말 대단한 일이에요 = Receiving a scholarship is (an) amazing (achievement)

Stating the SUBJECT

So far, you have practiced the expression “to say that (something/someone) is + NOUN”, but there was no mention of the “(something/someone)” part. This works either when the subject of the indirect quotation is the same as the subject of the main verb, “to say”, or when the subject is so obvious in the context that it does not need to be mentioned.

To clarify the subject of the indirect quotation, you can place the subject before “NOUN + ~(이)라고 말하다/이야기하다/대답하다”. The subject marking particles, ~이/가, can be omitted.

1. 학생이라고 말하다 = to say that they are a student *It is not known who is a student without any context.

이 사람이 학생이라고 말하다 = to say that this person is a student *“This person” is the subject and is a student, but who said this is still unknown. **If written/said as 이 사람이 ‘학생’이라고 말했어요, it becomes a direct quotation, meaning “this person said ‘student’”.

경은 선생님이 이 사람 학생이라고 했어요 = 경은 teacher said that this person is a student. * The subject marking particle ~이 after 사람 is omitted in order not to repeat ~이 and to sound more natural. 했어요 is used rather than 말했어요 because 했어요 is more often used in spoken Korean.

2. 공짜라고 하다 = to say that (something) is free of charge *It is not known what is free of charge without any context.

이 책이 공짜라고 하다 = to say that this book is free of charge *It is now known that “this book” is free of charge, but who said this is still unknown.

현우 씨가 이 책 공짜라고 했어요 = Hyunwoo said that this book is free of charge

References

HTSK Unit 3 Lesson 52: Quoting in Korean (~ㄴ/는다고)

HTSK Unit 3 Lesson 54: Quoted Imperative Sentences: ~(으)라고

TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 10. (To say) that S + be / -(이)라고 + nouns

TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 12. Noun + -(이)라는 + Noun / Someone that is called ABC / Someone who says s/he is XYZ

TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 17. Quoting someone in Korean / -(ㄴ/는)다는, -(ㄴ/는)다고

TTMIK Level 5 Lesson 29. they said that they had done …, they said that they would … / -았/었/였다고, -(으)ㄹ 거라고

TTMIK Level 7 Lesson 28. The thing that is called + Verb / -(ㄴ/는)다는 것

More example sentences:

저는 아빠한테 집에 안 가겠다고 말할 거예요 = I’m going to tell my dad that 저는 선생님한테 열심히 공부했다고 말했어요 = I told the teacher that I studied hard 저는 1시 정각에 도착하겠다고 말했어요 = I said that I would arrive at 1:00 on the hour 이 길에 큰 자동차가 운전하면 안 된다고 말했어요 = I said that big vehicles are not allowed to drive on this road 저는 그 밧줄의 길이를 늘여야 된다고 이미 말했어요 = I already said that we need to make the length of that rope longer 현금인출기에서 현금을 뽑으러 은행에 가야 된다고 말할 거예요 = I’m going to say that I need to go to the bank to take out cash from the ATM 그 사람이 내일 온다고 해요 = He says that he will come tomorrow 그 사람이 언제 온다고 했어요? = When did he say he would come? 그 사람이 이거 뭐라고 했어요? = What did he say this was? 한국은 겨울에 정말 춥다고 들었어요 = I heard that it is very cold during winter in Korea 여기에 뭐라고 써야 돼요? = What should I write here? TTMIK이 좋다고 쓰세요 = Write “TTMIK is good” 저도 간다고 말해 주세요 = Please tell them that I am going to go, too 이거 재미있다고 들었어요 = I heard that this is fun 전화 온다고 했어요 = I said that your phone is ringing / She said that there is a phone call coming in (*This can be translated differently depending on the context. You never know without the subject.)

이사했다고 들었어요 = I heard that you moved 어제 그 영화 봤다고 했어요? = Did you say that you saw that movie yesterday? 지갑을 잃어버렸다고 들었는데, 찾았어요? = I heard that you lost your wallet. Did you find it?

우리가 같이 먹었을 때 저는 배고프지 않다고 했어요 = When we ate together, I said I wasn’t hungry (I said I’m not hungry) 대부분 사람들이 이 영화의 주인공이 아주 잘생겼다고 맣해요 = Most people say that the main character of this movie is very handsome 서월 사람들은 서월시 고등학교 고육과정의 부만족스럽다고 말해요 = The people of Seoul say that they are not satisfied with the Seoul high school curriculum

저는 현금이 없다고 해서 현금인출기에 갔어요 = I said that I don’t have cash, so we went to the ATM 저는 여자 친구한테 같이 가고 싶은 데가 있다고 말했어요 = I told my girlfriend that there is a place that I want to go with her (together) 제가 계속 아무 것도 필요가 없다고 했지만 엄마가 선물을 사 줬어요 = I kept saying that I don’t need anything, but my mom bought me a present 저는 모든 나라가 민주주의 국가로 변하는 거를 상상할 수 없다고 말했어요 = I said that I can’t imagine all countries changing to democratic nations

생일 파티를 할 거라고 들었어요 = I heard that they were going to have a birthday party 어제 친구들한테 영화 볼 거라고 했어요? = Did you tell your friends yesterday that you would watch a movie? 내일 다시 올 거라고 말해 주세요 = Please tell them that I will come again tomorrow 다음 주에 끝날 거라고 했잖아요 = You said that it would end next week, didn’t you? 저는 밖에 갈 수 없을 거라고 했어요 = I said I can’t go outside/won’t be able to go outside 저는 우리 가족한테 이 사람이 제 여자 친구라고 했어요 = I told my family that this person is my girlfriend 나는 너에게 그것이 해야 하는 일이라고 벌써 말했어 = I already told you that that is something you have to do 저는 제일 하고 싶은 것이 밥을 먹는 거라고 했어요 = I said that the thing I want to do most is eat (rice) 제가 가장 좋아하는 여자를 가리킬 거라고 했어요 = I said that I will point to the girl that I like the most 이거라고 했어요 = They said that it was this 한국 사람이라고 했어요 = They said that they were a Korean person 선생님이 뭐라고 했어요? = What did the teacher say? 제가 일 등이라고 들었어요 = I heard that I was the first place winner 여기가 TTMIK 사무실이라고 해요 = They say that this is the Talk To Me In Korean office 저는 ‘(person’s name)’(이)라고 해요 = My name is (person’s name) = They call me (person’s name)

저도 간다는 메시지를 남겼어요 = I left a message saying that I would go, too 주연 씨 결혼한다는 소식 들었어요? = Have you heard the news that Jooyeon is getting married? 경은 씨가 제주도에 간다는 이야기를 들었어요 = I heard (a story that) someone (was) saying that Kyeong-eun was going to Jeju Island 지금 간다는 사람이 없어요 = There is no one who says they will go now.

#korean #grammar #notes #quoting

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izvorposts · 4 years

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SnK ch 125 Spoilers Ahead.

About Levi

I haven’t been in the fandom for too long, but SnK has become an addiction (laughs in suicidal) and I want to share my thoughts on the latest chapter, mainly Levi. I know I won’t say anything new, but I have the urge to write about it.

First off, they’re back, yay! Maybe we can say that 2020 started in a promising way. Maybe.

Second of all, Levi is a burrito and I see way too many people being overly excited about him going back to fighting when/ if he gets better. No. Please, no. Levi is not a killing machine. There is so much more to him than just being a soldier/ captain. But, let’s start from the beginning.

LOSS

Levi’s life has been heavily permeated with loss and abandonment since he was born. Kuchel died when he was very young, but old enough to remember her. Knowing what having love means and then losing it is devastating. To top that off, when she died, he had nowhere to go, so he just lived for, we don’t know how long, but even if it was just a few days it’s still heavy, his mother’s dead body in a small room in a brothel. After that, Levi gets saved (let’s put it like that) by Kenny, who teaches him how to survive, but eventually (yes, for a sensible reason) he abandons him, too. Levi learns the reason only after it is disclosed by Kenny many years later, but up until that point Levi only knows he was abandoned and that’s it. His life in the Underground can’t have been easy, not matter how skillful a gangster he was. I feel suicidal if there are more than three days in a row with no sunshine, he lived with no light for years. There he has two friends, Farlan and Isabel, whom he also loses after they’d joined Erwin. He’s left with two people he’s close to – Erwin and Hange, and he’s also left with that damn syringe Kenny gave him, which eventually led him to decide who lives and who dies. The syringe was an insane cycle. Levi gets it from Kenny, gives it to Erwin and Erwin now only entrusts Levi with the fucking thing, he also entrusts him with the decision to use it as he see fit. And, yet again, Levi loses the person he deeply cares about – Erwin, just this time it was Levi’s decision. Like, fuck. Now, these are just some major losses in his life, but we can’t forget about his comrades and the life he leads as a soldier.

IDENTITY

For the longest time he lived he was Levi, just Levi, not even knowing his last name. Then he becomes Heichou and Levi Heichou and only later in the story he is someone with full identity – Levi Ackerman. There are many other things that constitute our identity more deeply than our name, but our names are the first things we learn about ourselves. I guess we have them for a reason. Another important part of his identity is Humanity’s Strongest, and while he does deserve it, it’s vital we see beyond it – he’s a human person. It’s also vital to take a look at how much pressure this puts on someone, no matter how mentally strong they are. Having only one person rely on you for something puts you under pressure – let’s try to imagine having entire humanity rely on you for, no less than, giving them freedom. We see Levi fight and we see him live, but the question is – what does he live for? Does he live for himself among other things, or is his every move carefully calculated so he could survive to go to yet another battle? Does he see himself as Humanity’s Strongest and nothing more? His current burrito-like state and the final sentence of the manga sound ominous to me, because no matter how precious someone is for the world, their inability to keep doing something they did for the longest time hopefully won’t make them lose their sense of purpose. We don’t know what is going on in Levi’s head, but for the fans, really, there is so much more depth to him. I hope that, if he can’t fight anymore, he won’t think that this is the end for him, that his purpose is lost, and I sure as hell hope the fandom won’t be disappointed, because:

SELFLESSNESS

What Levi did with Erwin when he let him go was a prime example of selflessness. There was literally nothing in it for Levi except guilt, pain and more loss. Had it been me with that syringe and one of my friends, I’d be like: Bitch, you’re getting the serum and you’re staying because I can’t face yet another loss (this is probably why no one will ever do a manga about me lol jk). Levi lets him go, he lets Erwin find peace, he puts what is most important for Erwin above everything else, himself included. Giving someone up to let them die in peace/ be happy/ find their sense of purpose/ really whatever requires superhuman effort and loads of selflessness and that’s Levi for you.

CARING

No matter if you only watched the anime or also read the manga, Levi is extremely caring towards his comrades and friends. On countless occasions he stops Mikasa from getting hurt or killed, because she’s incapable of not following her impulse. His priority is to minimize the loss of human life and he does everything he’s capable of to keep his people alive. When Eren was to seal the hole in wall Maria, we see Levi mention Hange’s group and wondering if Hange is alright more than once. He takes care of them like they’re his responsibility, he protects them and he genuinely cares.

PATIENCE

Even though he comes off as impatient and blunt, he actually rocks the role of a teacher. He takes pastor Nick to see for himself what people have gone through and he does the same with Dimo Reeves – he just talks to them, no aggression, no threats. He lets people choose, and this is really something I admire about him; he lets Eren make a choice when they face the Female Titan for the first time. He keeps saying that no one can know what the right choice is, he doesn’t force people to do as he says (okay, a small exception being Historia becoming queen).

EMOTIONAL and COMPASSIONATE

Yeah, not the first adjective you’d associate to Levi, but let’s remember his reaction when they all learn that the titans are actually humans, when he realizes he’d been killing humans all along. His reaction to Petra’s dad when they come back after fighting the Female Titan. The fact that he collected Ivan’s patch and what he told Dieter and Jurgen.

BRAVE

Okay, no need to overanalyze this, obviously, the man is the epitome of bravery, but he’s the one who assumes responsibility for Eren, when we just learn Eren can become a titan, before anyone, Eren included, knew what he, as a titan, could do. And it’s also Levi who guards Zeke, and we all know how well that ended for Levi.

MODEST

Levi doesn’t claim that he knows what the best or the right thing to do is in many situations. We don’t hear him speak a lot, but he does say more than once: “Who’s to say what the right choice is.” “Make a choice you’ll regret least”, etc. He doesn’t try to enforce (again, the situation with Historia is an exception) his views on anyone.

And so on and so forth.

So, wouldn’t you agree that it’s been enough, that he deserves to keep living in peace? I’m afraid that he’s one of the most underappreciated characters in SnK, and I claim that he’s the most tragic one, and making him a one-dimensional killing machine simply isn’t fair. Levi is a deep, multi-leveled character and he deserves all the appreciation we can give him. And I can’t emphasize this enough - he’s human.

If Levi can’t fight anymore, his role won’t be any less vital - he’s already done a fuckton of things for humanity, maybe more than anyone, both as a soldier and as a person.

He deserves happiness and peace, he’s got Hange by his side (if I’m inspired and not lazy I might write a few things about Hange these days, I feel they’re also quite underappreciated), which is a good start. Levi is comprised of unbelievably many qualities we don’t see in people too often, please pay more attention to him.

I will wholeheartedly support fanart and fanfics that give Levi and Hange happiness and if I do write more fanfic, I solemnly swear the two will always be happy. And if it’s okay to ask, Isayama, please, do the same.

#shingeki no kyojin #levi ackerman #levihan #snk spoilers 125 #hange zoë #attack on titan #levi heichou #snk 125

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