Your Mind Is Your Crown

-ENTP-Slytherin-ChaoticNeutral-7w8-Choleric-EaglePatronus

[hannahelatham]

headcanon that Lord Golden and his bodyguard have kissed in all the dark corners of Buckkeep

prints here!

[hickeygenderarchive]

the concept of eborans as an antithesis to the quintessential fantasy elf is making me go insane. 

when i hear the word elves, i immediately think of tolkien’s elves. his elves are the blueprint for all elf and elven-like races in modern fantasy, so i feel comfortable using them as the “baseline” to compare and contrast eborans to. 

so - what makes an elf an elf? in order to understand eborans, we must first understand what they were a subversion of. in tolkien’s works, elves are first and foremost a noble people, in both the haughty sense and the moral sense (there are obviously exceptions, especially in the silmarillion, but i digress). elves are overwhelmingly portrayed in a positive light, even if they may be somewhat removed from human life and therefore seen as an “other”. what else makes an elf unique? i’d argue that the next essential component is their physical attributes and abilities. they are typically described as beautiful, and they posses enhanced senses as well as extreme gracefulness and a greater resistance to exposure and hunger than humans. all of these traits (and more i’m undoubtably missing) make up how we view tolkien’s elves, and therefore how we view the modern fantasy elf: a superhuman being with a (usually) spot on moral compass - a true paragon of everything good in the world.

how do eborans measure up? the easier parallel to discuss is the physical one. both eborans and elves have superhuman senses, abilities, and strengths, and are described as physically attractive, save for one feature - their eyes are blood red. eyes are often called the windows to the soul, and i can’t help but imagine that jen williams was keeping that in mind when designing eborans. the more juicy and interesting compairison between elves and eborans is their moral goodness. for years, eborans and their warbeasts were viewed as saviors of sarn, the best weapon against the jure’lia. after the eighth rain, though, everything changed. ygseril, their tree god and source of long life, dies, leaving them godless and mortal. they then turn to drinking human blood, which has a similar effect to ygseril’s sap, but with a price - an eventual agonizing death to the crimson flux. they soon learned of this price, but continued to partake anyways, even going as far as waging war to satiate their needs for human blood. 

obviously, the humans didn’t take too kindly to this, and they labelled the eborans as monstrous bloodsuckers, demoting them in the public consciousness from exalted saviors to dangerous parasites. they essentially fell from grace, transforming their role in the story from the archetypal elf to the archetypal vampire. vampires and elves have the same superhuman abilities and long lifespan, but chiefly differ in how we view them morally. elves are noble and good, whereas vampires are self-serving and evil. they may not want to, but they require human blood to survive, and they take what they need. the eborans adopt the same philosophy, solidifying their new position in sarn society not as benevolent others, but as ill-willed outsiders, never to be trusted. 

in conclusion: their superficial physical similarities to both elves and vampires and their moral shift from good (elf-like) to evil (vampire-like) in the story makes me absolutely go bananas, and jen william’s brain is huge

[hauntedbythenarrative]

"I'd rather serve as a knight and ride to battle and glory"

Medea, Euripides// GOT's House of the dragon 1.01 The Heirs Of The Dragon

[maybe-in-another-nicer-life]

House of Dragon Blood

Two things I noticed in Aemma’s birth scene.

(House of the Dragon Spoilers…)

1 - People aren’t mad about Viserys decision, but how it was done.

King Viserys had the choice of saving the baby or doing nothing (handing it to the gods) for the nonexistent chance that both will make it, even when everyone knows that they both will die.

Anyone would have chosen to save at least one.

But he holds her hand and say “I love you” as Aemma, confused and terrified, screamed as she was held by her ankles, dragged from her pillows to be gutted like a pig on her battlefield she had no control over, passing out from the pain in a blooded bed because the husband she loved so much decided to cut her open to save her son since she was going to die anyway.

And then afterward, when the baby dies, Viserys realizes that it was all for nothing. He let his wife die afraid and in pain for absolutely nothing.

We know it was not a choice, both would have died anyway, but really, handing to the gods and dying of exhaustion would have been better than this carnage.

  But this, at least for me, it’s why it was so horrifying and brutal, and why I’m so mad at him. His desire for an heir and his empty choice caused so much suffering for the person that loved him the most and I loathe him for it. At least I know he hates himself more than I ever could in my lifetime.

But also… 2 - Fire and Blood is not a narrative story, is a history book.

I see a lot of people angry that Aemma wasn’t given the choice to sacrifice herself like in the book that the series was based on.

I don’t doubt she would have sacrificed her life, but that’s not the point.

Have you guys seen the faces of the midwives? The silence of the attendants? I doubt anyone in the castle heard a whisper of what actually happened inside that room.

The senseless slaughter of the Queen for the “The Heir for a Day” was changed in the history books of how a selfless mother sacrificed her body and soul for her child.

They changed this in history.

What more they could have changed?

[monsiearts]

I’m rereading the Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb so time to draw some Fool! 

[xillionart]

“The Great Change is upon us.”

The Wisdom of the Crowds Release Today

[lesbianshepard]

99% of all murders committed by women in ancient greek plays are completely justified

[lesbianshepard]

[ikariyuiofficial]

[ottermatopoeia]

Clytemnestra: crack? Is it crack you smoke?

[metis-metis]

Honestly??? Might just use ‘Clytemnestra did nothing wrong’ as my thesis title.

[bekku]

Genuinely hope Madeline Miller writes about Medusa in her next book the way she wrote about Circe. Or write about Hades and Persephone the way she wrote about Achilles and Patroclus

[julius-caesar-can-suck-my-toes]

Every time a homophobe bitches about a child having two dads, remind them that Alexander III of Macedonia had 3 dads and managed to take over a good portion of the globe

[pianiximo]

I feel like I could eat the whole world raw

—

Patroclus found here ! Can’t believe these two live in my head rent free, smh

[queerinigo]

hades will be like “i know a spot” and take you to pet cerberus

[ihopeithurtsyou]

My dream date

[en-theos]

Ariadne be like "i know a spot" and then takes you to the heart of the labyrinth to fight the minotaur

[ihopeithurtsyou]

Theseus be like “I know a spot” and leaves you on Naxos all alone in the middle of nowhere

[more-lasting-than-bronze]

I remember just before I was taking a university Greek drama exam, this girl in my class gathered us round in front of the exam hall door and poured a libation to Athena from a fucking smart water bottle. We all got great marks tho...🙏

[ihopeithurtsyou]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a proper Greek drama class.

[archeaologies]

how many copies of the odyssey is it socially acceptable to own?

[ihopeithurtsyou]

Sky is the limit

[nova-stims]

[ihopeithurtsyou]

Porn

[zypdx]

There’s a method to my madness: ENTP, ENFP, INTP, ESTP, ENFJ

There’s a madness to my method: ENTJ, INTJ, ISFJ, ISTP, ISFP

All method: ISTJ, ESTJ, ESFJ, INFP

All madness: ESFP, INFJ

[mephist0pheles]

This is the cutest and also saddest thing I’ve seen today :(