a mirror and a door

here you will find tolkien, classics, and assorted imaginary worlds. elsewhere you will find hockey.

[aseaofquotes]

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

[shegiles]

SINNERS (2025) — dir. Ryan Coogler

[daenerys-stormborn]

"There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true, it can pierce the veil between life and death. Conjuring spirits from the past and the future." SINNERS (2025) dir. Ryan Coogler

[lifeinpoetry]

I can sometimes hear the whining of pain. // The broken fingernails of history, its muddy hands / soiling the loom of allusion.

— Saddiq Dzukogi, from Book One, Bakandamiya

[othellho]

julian de narvaez piranesi illustration i will think about you every day for the rest of my life

[the-lady-and-the-unicorn]

Medieval dragons across Europe and the Middle East

[urgetocreate]

Richard Thorn (British b.1952), Summer Begins, Watercolor

[en-theos]

the thing about the catalogue of ships is that it is not Epic in the sense that it is elevated action sequences or lofty emotional drama but people are trying to read it in the same way that they read those scenes (and often they try to read it like they would a novel. which also imo doesn't work for the combat or drama parts of the iliad.) it is a Catalogue and should be read as a Catalogue. it is a depository of knowledge and condensed into stacked references. it's the IMDB of the trojan and even the entire greek mythos. its Epicness is in its referentiality/intertextuality

so reading it with full impact means either 1) having your wikipedia/mythology handbook/etc open on the side or relying on your mythological foreknowledge and suddenly instead of just reading a list of boats you are going 'that guy is a son of THESEUS???? wait that guy SACKED THEBES mere years before this??? wait that guy is descended from poseidon and a witch??? wait that guy is known for his magic horses???' and suddenly all these guys, when they pop up in the rest of the epic, gain a whole new level of characterization because you know the Lore. but since the iliad is a SUPERMASSIVE epic the Lore has been packaged into a neat list form for maximum efficiency. an ancient greek audience, with the mythological knowledge they would have had, could do this effortlessly and would have enjoyed it immensely.

the impact and imo the enjoyment comes out when you follow up on the cues the catalogue gives you.

[en-theos]

#AND THIS IS WHY I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!#it is absolutely FASCINATING how the catalogue positions the trojan war within the context of wider mythos#which i think people knocking on it dont really understand this but. so much of greek myth & legend is tied together thru the catalogue!!#you NEED that list so that you can grasp both the magnitude of the war and how it fits into the cosmic order (if that makes sense)#it also is fascinating in the context of EIA greek polities (thebes is instead called ‘hypothebai’ which could have so many implications)#also the trojan allies section how do you guys not enjoy this portion thats essentially a window into how greeks perceived anatolians??#although you shouldnt read like toooo far into it (epic tradition was constantly evolving atp) its still an immensely valuable source#for how many scholars approach the population distribution+political dynamics+percieved powers during that transitional period#which we have no written records during and otherwise have to rely on archaeological evidence like pottery#[which is. its own can of worms]#iliad#catalogue of ships#catalogue of ships my beloved. my fuckin beloved. i’d die for you catalogue of ships @doloneia

YOU GET ITTT

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

I am against Leo XIV because I think a USAmerican Pope makes the chances of an antipope in my lifetime less likely

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

I am big enough to admit that I was completely wrong about this. Just utterly off base

[jewelleria]

the only person i'd run through an airport for is you.

antigone, sophocles / summer wars (2009) dir. mamoru hosoda / i’ll give you the sun, jandy nelson / elektra, sophocles / ruth madievsky / right now, gracie abrams / the archive of alternative endings, lindsey drager / the fall of the house of usher, steven berkoff / the replacement, brenna yovanoff / ? / fleabag (2016-2019) / practical magic, alice hoffman

[vetyr]

Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.

Meant to upload this much earlier! I’ve been working on commissions recently, and it’s always lovely to take time for a personal piece.

If you want to stay up to date on my art, definitely keep an eye on my instagram (@vetyyr) and twitter (@vetyyr)—I’m less scatterbrained about posting there!

[wulfhalls]

war feeds on itself

DUNE: PART THREE (2026) DIR. DENIS VILLENEUVE

[byjove]

hey, hey, don’t cry. seals are recolonizing the tidal zone of the Thames River in London, okay?

[byjove]

[en-theos]

stage production of the antigone which consists of just the agon between kreon and antigone performed thrice, with woke and alt right language switched between the characters from one to the other, and the third rendered as alienatingly greekish as possible

[en-theos]

CR: and even so you broke the law? ANT: yes, since that law was not inspired by God, and since any law that doesn't uphold faith or guarantees peace in the afterlife is illegal. and i don't recognize the authority of a godless degenerate who denies God and the traditional values given by God.

vs.

CR: and even so you committed this crime? ANT: yes, because that law was not valid, and does not uphold justice for all which is an unalienable right. and i don't think one human being has the right to override the basic human rights of others, since we are all equal under the law.

vs.

CR: and still you were so bold as to overstep the norm? ANT: for not from Zeus was this decree to me. and not of that kind from Justice and the gods below are the laws established for men. and not did i think your decree had such strength, that someone death-doomed can override the unwritten and unfailing norms of gods.

[artbyblastweave]

The old world is dying. The new world had that thing happen where the umbilical cord gets caught around the neck as it's coming out, yuuuurk, no new world either. So it's basically just gonna be monsters forever

[artbyblastweave]

And for the last time, you can't fuck the monsters. They aren't the kind of monsters you can fuck

[miamaimania]

White Cliffs of Dover (2023) by Toby Coulson ⌘ Two figures where the island ends

[smsomah]

Chukotka, Siberia, 1900-1909. Unknown photographer