PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Stranger Things
trying on a metaphor
No title available
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Xuebing Du
pixel skylines
Product Placement
@theartofmadeline
taylor price
🪼
will byers stan first human second
Andulka
Cosmic Funnies
Love Begins
AnasAbdin
we're not kids anymore.
titsay
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Today's Document
seen from TĂĽrkiye
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from Sweden
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
@bananacakepie
Dru, hearing about Ash Morgenstern: Omg that’s so sad. I’m literally an orphan, but I gotta point out how shitty his parents are. I feel so sorry for him, the poor boy.
Dru, meeting Ash for the 3rd 1st time: Ew. He’s creepy. I wanna go somewhere else.
One thing that really stood out to me on my first read-through of the new tlkof sampler was the way Janus adresses Dru. He sees her and calls her “Little Dru Blackthorn” and I think it’s so fascinating he knows her full name.
I would expect him to be able to identify her as a Blackthorn (Annabel, Julian, and Livvy were all semi-important figures in Thule and they all share the classic Blackthorn hair-and-eyes) but he knows her by name. And as far as we know, Dru don’t play much of a role in Thule by the end, so we can’t assume he remembers one girl who disappeared years ago. So how does he know her name?
And not just any name, her nickname? Sure, it’s self explanatory, but “Little Drusilla Blackthorn” essentially sounds the same. Dru implies familiarity, he’s heard it from someone recently, or frequently enough.
So why would he be hearing about her?
Isabelle Lightwood has always been a loud person. She had a lot of pride in herself and never hesitates to show it off. When you look closer, it seems like her extroversion was a form of protection in her eyes, drawing the attention to her, before someone could get hurt.
Because no one’s going to even think about the guy that made your brother blush, when you’re talking about the one that’s sticking his tounge down your throat. Her protection of Alec is one place we can see this.
But this is a common theme for Izzy: drawing attention to herself as a form of protection for others. In the very first scene of tmi when we meet her, she is serving as bait for the demon, while Alec and Jace follow. The trio quickly sees who the demon is, and they could just wait for him to find another girl, or walk into a more secluded area before they attack him. Mundanes can’t see them - there wouldn’t be any harm. In fact, most other Shadowhunters we see don’t really employ this specific tactic. (i think)
Izzy chooses to put herself closer to danger in order to make sure that no mundanes accidentally get hurt. And if the demon turned out to be ultra vicious, who would be the closest to him?
Izzy acts as a distraction, because that is always how she has protected people.
It matches the rune on her arm!
Sorry, blackthorns as a concept are so gothic. What do you mean there are a bunch of orphaned kids with dark hair, pale skin, and creepy/mesmerizing blue eyes? What do you mean the oldest is constantly drugging his uncle to keep him sane? What do you mean the uncle is a raving lunatic hidden in the attic who befriends vampires and is weirdly obsessed with the ancient history/myths his family is named after? What do you mean the only Blackthorns who don’t have startlingly dark hair are half faerie, smelling of the wild woods, with horrible knowledge, and ears like knives? What do you mean they’ve looked the same for the last 200 years? What do you mean a villain is trying to hunt them for their blood? What do you mean they listen to the raging sea on stormy nights? What do you mean they wake up every day to see their brother wearing the face of the father he killed?
„What do you mean they wake up every day to see their brother wearing the face of the father he killed?“
Julian canonically looks so much like his father that Julian’s older brother and his father’s younger brother have mixed up the two. Most people will at minimum comment on the strong family resemblance.
And Julian killed his dad.
I think Eleanor and Andrew would have to have a weird age gap of some sort in their relationship, either having been the same age pre-faerie, (so they could have been childhood sweethearts, but Eleanor would have been very young when Andrew returned) or having been the same age post-faerie (Eleanor would have been seven years older, definitely unreachable when you look at how young shadowhunters marry, and Andrew’s chance with her definitely came from his jump in age.)
In A Same-Age-Pre-Faerie Scenario:
They are both same age from 1-14, then (in 1986) Andrew is suddenly 22, while she’s 15. When Eleanor turned 18 he would have been 25 (in 1990), and when Julian (their first child) was born (in 1995) Andrew was 30 while Eleanor was 23.
In A Same-Age-Post-Faerie Scenario:
We need to work backwards.
Andrew and Eleanor would have been 30 when Julian was born (in 1995). In 1986 Andrew is suddenly 22 instead of 15, while Eleanor was 22 the whole time. This puts her birthday in 1964, while Andrew’s remains in 1972. So when she turned 18 (in 1982) he was 9 or 10. (There’s definitely some math wrong because we have neither their ages or birthdates, but it’s close to correct.)
Don’t think about the possible partials between Dru & Ash with Andrew & Nerissa. Don’t think about the possible partials between Dru & Ash with Andrew & Nerissa. Don’t think about the possible partials between Dru & Ash with Andrew & Nerissa. Don’t
Blackthorn parallels for the win!
When Cristina thinks about separating the sleeping Emma and Julian in Faerie, she immediately backtracks, and thinks:
“There was no way to gently separate Jules and Emma. The mere action of separating them at all was like an act of violence, a tear in the fabric of the world.”
And then this happens, where Malcolm’s howl of betrayal is also described that same way. This is literally evil versions of Emma and Julian. Annabel woke up from the dead, and the first thing she did was make ANOTHER BLACKTHORN PARALLEL
I think it’s interesting, the way these forbidden love couples are set up to be torn apart and punished by the law: Nephilims couldn’t marry warlocks and your parabatai is off limits. And this love is so strong that it took a powerful force to tear them apart. Annabel had to cut out her lover, because she wanted to be away from him and that was the only way to do so.
Can you imagine how determined she must have been? How sure in her conviction that she would rather tear apart the world than be with Malcolm. And Julian saw this, he sees the tear and her conviction and knows he can’t do that. Can’t rip him and Emma apart like that, no matter how ruthless he may seem.
The two blackthorns who have decayed over time, whose minds were broken by the torment of their bodies, one killed to save the other.
Arthur and Annabel are similar, and Arthur can look back on his life to predict what Annabel will do. And their lives are so similar that they might as well be one. And now they are one, her body and his life combine.
In the end, it’s Blackthorn blood.
Annabel focuses on Arthur as soon as she is resurrected, even as Malcolm begs for her attention, she looks at him to kill him.
Their first moments back together are sweet, as they stare at each other. Annabel must be shocked, and at least a little happy, but seconds later she realizes that along with her new body, she now has bodily autonomy and senses. She can smell Arthur’s corpse, maybe even feel his blood on her skin, and she can move, she isn’t forced to keep looking at Malcolm, she turns away.
Her first look is to Malcolm sure, but she moves towards Arthur first.
She looks at him. With pity?
She avenges him. For herself.
She isn’t just reaching for the knife, she stops and looks at Arthur. Why?
Does she see herself in him? Does she sense what remains of him in her? Can she tell them appart? Do lines start to blur? Would it be easier to simply avenge him, a life for a life, rather than kill Malcolm for everything he has done to her?
She is a Blackthorn, but so was he. Is she only a Blackthorn because of him? Her life is not her own, it was once someone else’s.
I have so much to say about this. First off:
BAD-FUCKING-ASS LAST WORDS
Arthur Blackthorn was a man who lived a very tourtured life, with a lot of pain. It’s easy to feel bad for him, and see this as a single moment of clarity where he saves the day, but I see it as a reflection of the cause of Arthur’s pain: Nerissa and Andrew’s relationship.
Andrew loved Nerissa, he had kids with her, and stayed with her for seven years. But when he found that Arthur was being tourtured, he turned against Nerissa, and everything she represented. He left her for dead - and he actually thought she was dead - without a second thought. Blood is thicker than water, and Blackthorns will place their family above their lovers. Arthur knows this, he had lived it before.
“I would rather be mad my way than yours”
Arthur was trapped by a Downworlder with supernatural powers. He was stuck, lacking freedom and bodily autonomy, and it drove him mad. Annabel’s torture by Malcolm may have been unintentional, but it was essentially the same as Arthur’s, leaving her stuck with her own - increasingly insane - thoughts. Arthur and Annabel are mad in the same way, they are victims, forced to watch and unable to act.
Annabel is not, “willing to do anything for love” crazy like Malcome is, (like Nerissa was) she is crazy like Arthur is, and Arthur knows that. He knows her mental state better than anyone else, and can guess what she will do. (She will follow his footsteps, ancestor mimicking descendant, kill the person responsible, the foolish lover.)
“I wonder if she will still love you, the way you are now.”
Arthur knows that Annabel will kill Malcolm, even if she still loves him. Because she will hate him even more, for treating her like nothing more than a puppet.
Malcolm thinks that he has the upper hand, which allows Arthur to get in several insults, seeing the oversights, and actually putting Malcolm off guard.
Arthur Blackthorn had a hard life, but in the end he was able to see the truth in it, and know what would happen next. He had the last word and he died triumphant.
Hail and farewell, Arthur Blackthorn
Ave Atque Vale
This is so important to me. I absolutely love Arthur, all of his “the prophet that no one understands until it’s too late” and “sudden burst of clarity when absolutely nothing is clear” antics. But I will admit, that he is basically dead weight to the Blackthorn family, and is Julian’s greatest weakness in a sense.
But in this scene, we see how much alike he and Julian actually are. And we see that like Julian, there is a kind man, whose kindness and softness has been covered by years of hardship, creating an entirely new person, who no one would describe as kind.
We see that Arthur is also prioritizing his family’s safety above all else, we see him fighting to remain present so that he can save them.
Meanwhile, Julian is rooting for Arthur, feeling sympathy for him and hoping that Arthur will survive this. He’s never really though kindly of Arthur before, but once Arthur showed his allegiance to his family, Julian is completely on his side.
I love when Julian remembers that he’s actually still a teenage boy, despite being a single father of four 90% of the time.
I love how both Emma and Julian are thinking extremely inappropriate questions, but on the opposite ends of the scale.
Julian is like crazy guarded, glaring at Nene, all brooding and how do i know i can trust you? Boy, the Unseelie King is trying to run you over, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Emma. At least you kept your increasingly odd questions on the inside. But why are you prioritizing thinking of the most random offhand remarks, and saving the sensical ones for the end? Peak Jace energy right there. Be anoying then make sense at the end to catch them off guard.
One of the craziest things about julian is that he is extremely compassionate and self-sacrificing at the end of the day, but his priorities lead him to present himself as someone a lot more selfish and ruthless. He’s willing to sacrifice himself, and his morals/better nature, but not his family. And we see that with Kieran, where Julian is willing to go to crazy lengths to rescue and protect him, because his family’s safety doesn’t hang in the balance. Because Julian can put aside those priorities when it isn’t his family in danger, and show that he will help others when he can.
The person Julian is the most “ruthless” with is himself.
He’s threatening Erec, dragging the complaining Kieran along with him, and he’s having the worst time of any of them. Julian is struggling to keep up the act for so long, because he’s doing something that he wants to viscerally reject. But Julian keeps it up. When it comes to actually causing someone physical pain, he struggles.
Julian was seen as kind and gentle in his younger years, and I see this distaste for torture as a holdover that he was able to hang onto for three reasons.
Emma. She’s a fighter and she’s very eager to put her talents to use.
Taking on a parental role for his siblings would have required him to be a lot more sensitive, so he carries that mindset.
Manipulating everyone around him was generally verbal, so as long as he’s a believable liar, he wouldn’t need to follow through.
Julian’s distaste for violence is one of the first times we see something soft within him, no something that’s related to his friends or family.
It’s kind of tragic, because it’s a reminder that in a better world, Julian wouldn’t have to become this cruel of a person - Julian’s nature would not have lead him here. But in this world he forces himself to do what must be done, so that the people he loves can stay safe.
I love Emma Cairstairs with all of my heart. But girl only has three modes:
Fighting/winning
Being traumatized/horrified
Being the most hilarious Shadowhunter in the room
