(or how my brain gave me a vision right before sleeping and my need to share it with the world)
D'ores et déjà /dɔʁ.z‿e de.ʒa/ is an old school french expression. It's made of ores /ɔʁ/ which meant "now" (-> old form of or /ɔʁ/ from the latin hac hora meaning "at this time") and déjà /de.ʒa/ itself formed of dès /de/ (since, as soon as, immediatly depending on the context) and jà /ʒa/ (old french for formerly/previously or used once the "until now" criteria is met)
The expression means now, with a persistance and insistance added with déjà. It could be translated as "from now on" or "as of now".
The thought that crawled in my mind before sleep was that d'ores et déjà was phonetically very close to d'or et de jade /dɔʁ‿e də ʒad/ (which is not a real saying, it could mean "made of gold and jade") which could fit Amon's dynamic quite well.
Amon are both stuck in the past, in different ways. One hasn't been able to move on from it, the other is digging it up incessantly. They are linked to the other; especially since the end of season 1, by loss and grief.
Ores instills a notion of now, of the start of an action and the closing of the last one. Associating it to Anton, who is pretty known for his single focus, inability to go forwards and open a new chapter of his life by hanging on the last one, can make sense. Adding to it, or (gold), his eye color. Also known to be noble, a symbol of power and wealth while also being one of the most malleable metal on its own. Like Anton's moral compass without Olezha pointing it in the right direction.
Dmitri would make sense first as déjà in its original meanings (before/formerly and already) as his relationship with the Douchnov siblings makes him focus on an unfixable past. Secondly, like the words role in the expression, Dmitri is persistant as it's showed thoroughly in the show, being borderline obtuse at time. Also jade is a stone known to be tenacious as well as similar in colors to Dmitri's eyes.
In conclusion, my brain told me an expression kinda sounded like two precious materials and that I could make it about Amon so I did. In my opinion, if I think about Amon and how they would be together; they would need to have d'ores et déjà moved on from whatever hold them back to fully appreciate each other but it's not as if I'm looking at them for healthy relationship.
everybody ships ophelia x thorn and i love it too, but how about archibald/ophelia/thorn as a polycule? anyone?
i've been obsessing over that thought since i re-read the second book. yes i know it could not be canon for story reasons but nothing stops me from making an au. just saying.
The Odyssey but retold as a low-stakes modern adventure of one guy out with his girlfriend leaving the bar with his buddies to do just one (1) simple thing real quick, it'll take like 15 minutes tops, he'll be right back, but then some bullshit happens and the trip keeps getting more complicated as more bullshit keeps happening while he just tries to get back to the bar because he promised his girlfriend that he'd get back and he knows that she's still there because she told him she'd wait there.
And by the time he finally gets back it's almost 3 am and the bar is about to close while she's sitting there stone cold sober, surrounded by 5 drunk guys unsuccessfully trying to convince her to give up on waiting for him and go home with one of them instead. And the guy shows up to proceed to beat the shit out of them before explaining himself to her like hey sorry bullshit kept happening, my phone fell into a storm drain and my wallet got stolen when I was trying to find someone who'd borrow me a phone so I could call and
His girlfriend had been fending off the 5 drunk guys for most of the evening by explaining that even if she was going to ditch her boyfriend, she can't possibly leave without finishing her beer, which she is keeping perpetually full via careful sleight of hand where she's just pouring it back and forth into and out of the pitcher.
However the drunk guys are also drinking, and eventually she can't afford to buy another pitcher for the table so she can't keep up the ever-full beer glass trick. At this point she has to resort to setting up the pool trick shot that she's never seen anyone but her boyfriend pull off, and says she'll leave with whoever manages the shot first.
That buys her another hour or so and then, finally, her boyfriend makes it back. He looks like shit, hair down and just a mess, he's wearing an entirely different jacket that he got from an alley, and barely recognizable—especially to 5 guys who've been drunk for hours now. He lurks for a minute, finds out what's going on, and proceeds to pull off the trick shot first try. Throws the jacket off, fixes his hair with a hair tie his girlfriend lends him, finally looks like himself again, and THEN beats the shit out of them with the pool cue.
I'm just saying, Dima would NOT kill children. In fact, he would befriend the ghosts of all the kids Anakin has killed, and help them move on into the afterlife and be reincarnated.
Do you want to adopt a child murderer or a guy who's kind and good with kids? I think the choice is obvious.
As the polls are posted, links will be added to this post for ease of finding everything. Polls will be posted 16 at a time (hopefully one set each day) and each poll will be open for 3 days. To be determined when poll posting will begin. Results will be added as polls close.
Matchups are based on those who won round 2 and those who got more than one submission being combined and then randomly placed within the bracket.
Round 1 Matchups/Masterpost
Round 2 Matchups/Masterpost
Match 1
Ant Tenna - Deltarune VS Frankenstein's Monster - Frankenstein (novel)
Match 2
Faramir - The Lord of the Rings VS Eugene Fitzherbert - Tangled/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure
Match 3
Luigi Mario - Mario series VS Stanford Pines - Gravity Falls
Match 4
Batman (Robert Pattinson) - The Batman (2022) VS Kim Dokja - Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint
Match 5
Grian - Hermitcraft VS Gomez Addams - The Addams Family
Match 6
Asgore Dreemurr - Undertale VS Sam Reich - Comedian (Dropout.TV)
Match 7
Anakin Skywalker - Star Wars VS Kurtis Conner - YouTuber
Match 8
Dmitry Pobratsky/Dmitry Bratsky - My Student Spirit VS Paul Matthews - The Hatchetfield Series
Match 9
Eddie Dear - Welcome Home VS Tallstar - Warrior Cats
Match 10
Harvey Harvington - Bloodmoney VS Spamton G. Spamton - Deltarune
Match 11
The Ice King - Adventure Time VS Kinger - The Amazing Digital Circus
Match 12
Bora Karaca - Musician (Tally Hall) VS Abel - Hazbin Hotel
Match 13
Dean Winchester - Supernatural VS Till - Alien Stage
Match 14
Martin Blackwood - The Magnus Archives VS James Wilson - House M.D.
Match 15
Kaladin Stormblessed - The Stormlight Archive VS Bandit Heeler - Bluey
Match 16
Owen Carvour - Spies Are Forever VS Orpheus (Jack Wolfe) - Hadestown
Match 17
Fox Mulder - The X-Files VS c!Mumbo Jumbo - Hermitcraft
Match 18
Jaser Strach - Ordem Paranormal, Enigma do Medo VS Brendan Fraser - Actor
Match 19
Uncle Iroh - Avatar: The Last Airbender VS Lee Felix - Stray Kids
Match 20
Pure Vanilla Cookie - Cookie Run Kingdom VS Conan Gray - Musician
Ok guys I think I pin pointed the exact moment Thorn realized he was in love with Ophelia. (Or at least he realized that he feels something for her other than indifference lol)
A Winter’s Promise, The Treasury, pg. 328 “Gripping his bills, Thorn looks at her without saying a word. When Ophelia’s eyes met his, right at the top of that tall, thin body, she was surprised not to detect a trace of anger in them. Thorn mainly seemed disconcerted. He ended up looking away, as if he were more at fault than Ophelia.”
(yes i know he was also awkward because he was lying to her at this point but his body language and the way he was looking at her cmon)
Yea so unfortunately I will never understand the hate for the ending of The Storm of Echoes. Like just because it’s not explicitly said “and Ophelia found him and they live happily ever after!” I think the author’s intention for the ending was pretty clear. Like throughout the whole series Ophelia and Thorn are constantly being separated but they always find their way back to each other, always against all odds. I do not doubt for even a SECOND that they find each other again. I think the way that last page was written was so telling if you read between the lines. "It wasn't a promise. It was a certainty. She would never give up. And if she had to pass through all the mirrors in the world, she would do so." I think that there’s definitely a lot of ways/possibilities for Thorn to come back, yes, they’re probably hard, but I mean cmon these two just never give up they’re so stubborn, I think there’s definitely a way.
And on the topic of “the end plot didn’t make sense, it was rushed, etc…” I guess that’s more subjective? Idk personally I do think it made sense, it was a hard topic and it was a complicated plot, but I think it was executed well. I think if you really think things over and look at all the details and set up throughout the story, it makes sense. As the last two books progress, our foundation of reality and tradition in this world is broken apart, to make room for the truth, which was always the end goal from day one. Thorn and Ophelia end up wanting to save each other more, but they really did want to set things right. They could not have won, and they could not have succeeded so fully, if it weren’t for Thorn on the other side of the mirror, who was able to pull The Other away. It breaks my heart to think of that and the scene where he lets Ophelia go, but that’s the almost beautiful terror of it. And another recurring theme. He lets her go, every time. She is always free to go, she always chooses to stay. With him.
One of the things I love about Dabos’ writing is that-I think-she lets the readers figure out things for themselves, we have to read between the lines for a lot of things, she doesn’t spoon feed us. To me, that’s part of what makes reading her work so exciting and engaging, and I think it’s a sort of concept that shows up throughout all three of the other books, so of course the fourth one would include this. Idk thoughts and prayers appreciated 😭ok sorry for ranting I’m done(for now)
