#kungfunurse

[mxtxfanatic]

Ok, this might be being silly, but I don’t get Beefleef as a pairing. Shi Qingxuan clearly loves his older brother. He Xuan tears off Shi Wudu’s arm and murders him in front of SQX. That would be a pretty impossible barrier to any kind of relationship imo. (Yes SH was trying to end SQX’s life to spare him further suffering, but from my limited understanding this is an honorable thing to do under certain extreme circumstances. Also that further suffering would be at He Xuan’s hands!!)

Furthermore, a few inklings of wavering determination to destroy SQX by forcing his original fate back upon him or forcing his brother to kill SQX doesn’t make him good boyfriend material!

idk I mean I understand ship and let ship but I don’t GET it. He Xuan is a villain. He never shows anything but selfish hatred and self-righteous victimhood towards SQX. Regardless of whether Shi Wudu deserves his end, regardless of whether SQX (who had no knowledge or choice in any of it) deserves to suffer likewise - these are not the actions of a caring person! Am I missing something cultural that my western sensibilities are overlooking? Or maybe is this a kink that I’m just not recognizing? I just don’t understand why this pairing is so popular ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's a compelling ship when it's about angst and betrayal and struggling against realizing everything you knew was a lie (Shi Qingxuan's perspective) or realizing that the person who benefited the most from your entire life being destroyed and all your loved ones killed is also someone who in any other situation could have inspired your genuine loyalty and affections (He Xuan's perspective). But because fandom loves boring and unoriginal archetypes, it becomes "what angst? what internal conflicts? love conquers all!"

On another note, no, He Xuan isn't a villain at all??? His hatred isn't selfish, and seeing as he was, in fact, victimized by the Shi brothers, his revenge is absolutely righteous. There's nothing in the story that claims He Xuan as a villain from the moment his true identity and backstory is revealed. Just because Shi Qingxuan is this fandom's darling doesn't mean that He Xuan was ever narratively portrayed as being in the wrong for his feelings and actions. Also, He Xuan didn't force Shi Wudu to attempt to kill Shi Qingxuan; that was not an option he was given. Shi Wudu did so because he didn't want to face the consequences of his own wrongful actions. There was no "inklings of wavering determination" in He Xuan's revenge, any more than Shi Wudu's attempt to kill his brother was posited as an "honor killing."

[mad-madam-m]

sometimes Tumblr does very funny things.

[door]

Hi there! Saw you reblogged a Lord Peter Wimsey post and since I don’t have any LPW mutuals, thought I might drop this ask in your inbox. Is it just me, or is Impy Biggs supposed to be gay-coded? Marvelously handsome, fiercely intelligent, loves musical reviews, raises canaries, and no woman will have him? That’s 1920’s for gay as the day is long, right?

i must confess it's been so long since i read a wimsey in which sir impey was present that i had fully forgotten his existence. so naturally i researched the matter, and i am happy to report that medievalist lucy allen, at least, agrees with you:

‘”Sir Impey Biggs is the handsomest man in England, and no woman will ever care twopence for him.” He was, in fact, thirty-eight, and a bachelor, and was celebrated for his rhetoric and his suave but pitiless dissection of hostile witnesses. The breeding of canaries was his unexpected hobby, and besides their song he could appreciate no music but revue airs.’

The Dowager Duchess is, as readers of Sayers will know, not always the most reliable or systematic observer, but she does have a much-cited talent for understanding people, and for hitting on the crucial detail. And here, she’s speaking in fluent code. Biggs is a ‘confirmed bachelor’. The music he appreciates is ‘revue airs’ – that is, the currency of the Music Halls, which often featured cross-dressing acts and innuendo-laden songs.

Allen also mentions that "canary" was evidently cockney rhyming slang for gay ("fairy"), but is suspicious of the claim, and i second her suspicion. it's floating attribution-less around the internet--always a bad sign--and i checked the copy of the OED i have access to and there's no mention of it (but it's fairly dated). would love to hear if @morethanslightly can turn up anything more concrete with her much better sources.

ANYWAY! all this to say, even if we can't say for certain what sayers' intent with sir impey's character was, we know for certain that she was familiar with the concept of the homosexual, as some of her closest friends were queer.

[anghraine]

Hi there! I'm re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and a question occurs to me that probably everyone else has figured out. Where do Hobbits come from? I know Elves were from Iluvatar's first theme, and Men from the second, and Aule made the Dwarves, and Morgoth made Orcs by corrupting Elves.

But Hobbits? Did they spontaneously generate from cabbage patches? Also, while we're at it, what about Goblins? Are they some sort of offshoot of Orcs?

Hi!

Hobbits are an offshoot of Men/the Atani, though I don't think we're ever told when they first appeared as a distinct people (certainly in the distant past by the time of LOTR).

The orc backstory is also complex, btw—the "corrupted Elves" idea is only one among many origin stories that Tolkien considered to try and make sense of the orcs as people vs the orcs as invariably evil and hostile foes. It's the one that was used in the published Silmarillion so it's very popular, but that was an editorial decision rather than a clear, final decision of Tolkien's own (somewhat like the idea of Gil-galad as son of Fingon—a brief and ephemeral idea on JRRT's end, but mistakenly semi-canonized by Christopher Tolkien in the published Silmarillion only for him to acknowledge the mistake later).

Anyway! The hobbits' origins are mysterious even to as ancient a being as Treebeard, and he doesn't decide to classify them with Men in his personal list. But in a broad sense they belong to the Secondborn.

Goblin is just another word for orc. IIRC it's mainly used in The Hobbit, suiting the more childish atmosphere of the story, but those goblins are orcs.

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam! I seem to recall you may be a true-crime aficionado. Maybe more than just museum heists? I'm watching Murder on the Orient, and was doing a little digging into the Lindbergh kidnapping. Do you have any opinions about whether Bruno Hauptmann was actually guilty? Seems a bit fishy to me, three years after the fact, that they hang the conviction on a blue-collar immigrant. Also here's my baby kitties!

AW ORANGE BABIES.

[ID: Three images of fluffy orange tabby cats; in the first one is lying on some silky fabric with a ball of yarn, and in the second two cat butts with tails are visible behind some blinds in a window. In the third a cat is lying on its back with front paws stretched over its head, displaying a very fluffy belly.]

I do enjoy a spot of true crime now and again although lately I've moved away from direct true crime media and more into analysis of it, which feels a little less exploitative. Some true crime reporting can genuinely be useful and informative and keep a dialogue open about victimhood, policing, the carceral state, and such, but it's a fine line to walk.

I had thought that we'd pretty much laid to rest the idea that Hauptmann had anything to do with the Lindbergh kidnapping, since the evidence used against him was I think mainly shit made up by reporters after the fact, but when I googled to see I found it's still very much under debate. I don't think there's any denying that Haputmann was brutally railroaded, but that doesn't necessarily mean he didn't do it.

I don't think Hauptmann did it simply because he was such an easy target, but I haven't done a deep enough dive on this case to have formed a strong opinion. The newer a theory of the crime is, the wilder it tends to be, so I'm skeptical of some of these "Lindbergh did it himself" theories, but they do at least point up what a weird fashy eugenicist Lindbergh was, and I think more people should know about that. (One of the more popular but rather unfounded theories is that the child was disabled in some way and Lindbergh killed him rather than admit he or his wife had "faulty" genes.)

I think ultimately who did it doesn't really matter, given everyone involved is assuredly dead by now; I think it's more useful as a jumping-off point to discuss the flaws in the justice system and the unfairness of privilege when it comes to who gets attention and who doesn't. I think it's much like how Hallie Rubenhold treats Jack the Ripper; when asked by "ripperologists" who she thinks Jack was, she says that she doesn't care -- she's interested in the victims and their place in society (both historical and contemporary) and the phenomenon of the deep misogyny that is at the heart of our discourse on Jack the Ripper.

[prokopetz]

As an English speaker I’m confused - why is Yennefer spelled with a “Y” and Jaskier with a “J” but they both have the “Y” sound?

They’re not quite the same sound in Polish. They just get smooshed together in the English version because the English language doesn’t cleanly distinguish between those two phonemes.

[ayzenigma]

When Matt was describing the blue shawl and the body of a dead woman, was I the only one who was worried it was Allura Vysoren?

Oh man I can’t even begin to imagine how worrying that must have been. I definitely did not even begin to start on that train of thought, partially because it’s less “blue” that leads me to think Allura and more “braids,” but probably mostly because of just Worry and Awe at all the rest of the fun creepy world building going on. (Plus sleppy from the tension of the fight :b)

But now I’m imagining an alternate reality where that was Allura and Ouch that’s not fun not at all...

[your-turn-to-role]

So what are your thoughts re: Veth for next week? I’m thinking it’s a 35-40% chance that she gets to spend some time with her family and decides that she’s ready to stay with them - cue Sam and a new character. I mean, he’s done it before and he obviously feels she’s come to a natural end to her character arc. Thoughts?

hmm, difference between "a new step in her character arc" and "end of her character arc", i think

like, he's done it before, yeah, but the important thing to note there - episode 85 was FAR from the end of scanlan's character arc. if anything it was the beginning, he'd been holding stuff back and letting them fester for so long it all came to a head at once, and he left, saying some horrible things to his friends on the way out

but he needed to leave, because he needed time away from them. he needed to spend time with kaylie, to treat her as a person and not as an ideal. he needed to figure out who he was and what he wanted, when he wasn't throwing himself at death and danger over and over again just because he could

and then scanlan came back. because he figured out those things, and he came back to apologise to vox machina for the horrible things he said, and he realised he missed them, and his off-screen arc about responsibility turned into an on-screen arc about responsibility when we got into the endgame, and scanlan and ioun

tary is far closer to a "do the character arc and be done" character, because he was only in like 15 episodes, 4-5 of which were based on him. they found out who he was and what he wanted, there was a plot twist that made him confront it, they did, and he stayed behind. but it's a lot easier to do that on characters that haven't been around that long

sam's spent nearly three years as veth. she may go home to her family next episode, and stay for a bit, i'm honestly not sure. but like scanlan, her arc is far from over. she got what she was seeking, but she changed along the way, she can't go back to just being a normal housewife anymore, and we've seen that. it's what's causing her such internal conflict, she knows she has a responsibility to her family, but what about what she wants? what if what she wants are two conflicting things? who even is she anymore? and who was she, before?

she hasn't answered those questions. this isn't where her arc ends, it's where it gets interesting. i think going home for a while would do her good, because that's what she's afraid of and holding herself back from right now. that's something she needs to experience again, and get a sense for what she wants in her life, from a better perspective than she has currently. but if sam has a backup character, we're not changing over for good. veth is not being folded away neat and tidy, she's just changing boxes to see what happens, and there's gonna be a lot of mess and unfinished business either way. this is a natural turning point, but not a natural end

(also, caleb can cast teleport now! and i doubt veth's going to give them a scanlan "don't come find me" speech. he can check in on her at home whenever he likes. or, like they suggested this episode, maybe she keeps both in her life, because teleport means she can more or less commute to adventures and back. what will work and what won't is anyone's guess, but we're not done with veth)