#rusty ramblings

[rustingroots]

pathologic is so greek tragedy

Everything is set from the start. They tell you what's going to happen. They tell you the rules and what happens if you are trying to break them.

And Yet... and YET you keep hoping

[rustwizerd]

The season four concept for critical role sounds WILD?!

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Doing some research into Puritan fashions and dress code because I'm making a powerpoint to terrorize my friend with the fact that Belos is Cisn't and I can't believe Philip "I am so deeply religious that I can't let go of it after several centuries and I have also remodeled a whole alternate dimension's religious belief to mimic my religion" Wittebane has never had short hair ever.

Puritans loathed men with long hair. It was the trend at the time but the Puritans saw men with long hair as uncivilized, sinful, etc etc and encouraged closely cropped hair (and I invite you to imagine Belos with a shaved head). Baby Philip's hair, the shortest hair we've seen him with, was just above his shoulders. Which likely went against the rule that men's hair should not reach their collars (and the doublet collars at the time are pretty high). And Philip just kept growing it longer and longer. Even before he stepped into the Boiling Isles, and when he did come to the Boiling Isles he had a significantly long ponytail.

Also worth noting that Caleb had a small ponytail up until we see him in the Boiling Isles. Definitely long enough to brush past the collar.

If Philip had short hair before the Boiling Isles, or if long hair was exclusive to Belos Mode only, it would be understandable. Sorta. Because Belos's whole aesthetic is very Roman Catholic, which the Puritans hated so much that they seperated from the Church of England because it was too much like it. So if Philip needed an evil, heretical society to base his evil, heretical witch society, the Catholic Church was right there. And I'm pretty sure Catholic men went with the long hair trend too.

But most of the sources I find have their hair restrictions get tighter sometime around the mid-to-late 17th century, with the earliest (???) restriction I found being created in 1634 at the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Which means that the "long hair = evil" would be there and present throughout the Wittebanes childhood, and I cannot believe they both had long hair as Puritan children. They would have been shamed in front of their town during mass. They would have been seen as evil children. No wonder Philip latched on so hard to being a witch hunter if it was a way for him to prove he was "good" or "holy" or whatever.

But also, he (or his parents) could have gotten his hair cut at any point to prevent said ostracization because of fashion standards.

Anyways, the Wittebanes are not cis, I just haven't figured out what flavor of cisn't they are.

Source:

Our Puritan Ancestors’ Fashion War against Long Hair

Melissa Davenport Berry describes how our Puritan ancestors didn’t approve of long hair – at least, the clergy and government officials didn

[rustingroots]

what if i.. booted it up....

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*Stares at Luz, Belos and Hunter* Damn, I love that delicious, delicious Chosen One (except its all a lie/delusion) Trope.

Philip believing that HE'S God's chosen one to wipe out the sinful creatures of the Boiling Isles. He stumbled into the Boiling Isles, a realm filled with witches and demons and magic, by pure chance and is now enacting his personal witch hunter fantasy upon the isles. He fully believes that he'll go home to the Human Realm and be met with glory too! Because of course he will, he's the Chosen One, he's the one that saved humanity from the evil, evil witches!!! And anyone that tries to tell him otherwise gets removed from the story (Caleb getting stabbed, the Collector being dropped into the failure pit, Luz almost getting petrified), because there's no way that he's wrong. There's no way that he spent 400 years fulfilling his "destiny", even going as far as to mutiliate himself and turn him into something not human, only for it all to be for nothing. But it is for nothing. Not only did his plan fail, but the Human Realm has moved on from his ideals, and either wouldn't care at all about his efforts to "save humanity", or would actively despise him for it.

Luz trying to search for her "fate", trying to find the start of her epic fantasy story when she first arrives at the Boiling Isles, only to get tricked and almost killed by Adegast. She is told, straight to her face, that she is not a Chosen One. That she is just a regular person, and that believing that she has a grand destiny awaiting her is just going to lead her into trouble. But even as her dreams of being the chosen one is crushed, she still clings to her fantasy of becoming a witch, a fantasy that does become a reality. And in her journey to making that dream come true, she finds friends and happiness and a family. She didn't have to be some 'chosen one' to get all the perks that typically come packaged with your usual "Chosen One's Epic Journey To Save The World". But then, just as she had let go of "chosen one" fantasy, when she's starting to let other people help her instead of doing it all on her own (Reaching Out, which is right before Hollow Mind), it gets thrown in her face. Philip Wittebane tells her that "Perhaps you and I were destined to meet," and she has to deal with the possibility that maybe she did have a "destiny", that she was meant to arrive at the Boiling Isles. Except that "destiny" was to aid her greatest enemy, to aid the man that's trying to destroy her home.

Hunter being told that "The Titan has big plans for you", over and over again throughout his childhood. The Titan having big plans for him is the whole reason why he's here, why he's given the privilege of artificial magic, why he's the Golden Guard at such a young age. Hunter living with the pressure of being the chosen one, and wishing that he wasn't ("At least you've got your future figured out now." "At least you can figure out your own."). Hunter grew up believing that he's special, believing that he is important, that he is doing "something or someone good", only for it all to be a lie. There is no Titan's plan. He isn't special, he isn't important, and he is literally the latest in a long line of near-clones. He has no grand fate awaiting him on the Day of Unity, only a death sentence.

Special mention to King Clawthorne, who is simultaneously this trope and actually kinda a Chosen One if you squint. King spent most of his life believing that he is the King of All Demons, a feared and respected tyrant ruler that just got shrunken down into the size of a child. He believed he was special, unique, powerful, only for that to be a lie made up by Eda and perpetuated by the rest of his family (even if they're well-meaning).

Then, once he starts to come to terms with the fact that he is just a regular person, just a little guy, he finds out that he is special, that he is unique, that he is powerful. He is all of that and more, because he is literally the last of the Titans, the son of the Boiling Isles itself. And he immediately gets shackled by the pressure and responsibilities of a chosen one, even if it was well-meaning (Lilith's worship of him and focus on the fact that he is a god) or accidental (Darius's "Titan, help us" nd King's ensuing "I'll... do my best").

Something that defines a chosen one is their ability to save the world when no one else can, and on the Day of Unity itself, even after his family's attempts at keeping him out of the fight, it really turns out that King is the only one that could save the day at that moment. The CATTs's plan to stop the draining spell went wrong, the Hexsquad was under the impression that Belos could stop the spell and focused on defeating him, and King found himself in the right place, at the right time to meet the Collector and convice him to stop the draining spell. Hell, King even has the "heroic sacrifice" trope going on with him sending Luz and the rest of Hexsquad to the Human Realm!!

And it's tragic. He's a kid, he's not even supposed to be there. King literally just wanted to play catch with his dad by the time Edge of the World happened. He doesn't want this power, nor did he want this responsibility. But he's the only one that can free the Collector now.

This was mainly just a stream of thought so I have no idea how to end this properly or offer up a conclusion, so TLDR: Philip, Luz, Hunter and King all share a theme (if thats the word) of "believing that they are fated for greatness" that needs to be torn down. But out of all of them, King is the only one that got what he wanted, and by the time he got it, he didn't even want it anymore.

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Something that is super fascinating to me about the concept of Good Uncle Belos AUs is how Hunter is affected by how differently his uncle treats him vs how Belos treats everyone else.

For further clarification, this refers to AUs where Belos is basically "bad person, good parent" and nothing about him changes except for his relationship to Hunter (and possibly his relationship to Caleb and the rest of the grimwalkers), not AUs where Belos is a good person/has good intentions.

Because Belos would still be his canon, shitty self mistreating and manipulating his subordinates, and then the doors would close and he'd turn to Hunter and be all nice and caring and parental. Like, how does Hunter deal with that? How does Hunter deal with constantly facing the fact that his uncle is Not A Good Person?

This isn't canon Hunter, who has no reference for what a Healthy and Good Relationship looks like, and thus thinks its normal. This is a Hunter who actually has a pretty good picture of what love and care looks like, and has had it since his childhood. So how Belos treats others would register to him as something Different, as something Weird, or maybe something Bad.

Would Hunter accept it as Just How It Is for people who are of vastly different ranks? Or would Hunter turn to apologism and victim-blaming to deny the fact that his loving uncle could ever be capable of doing something like that? (Especially if Belos tells him that it's because they "deserved it" when Hunter asks why.) Maybe Hunter just turns a blind eye to the mistreatment. Maybe he just pretends that side of his beloved uncle doesn't exist, and avoids any situation where he might have to see his uncle lash out.

Maybe there's a part of Hunter that knows that his uncle is a shitty person, even if he is doing his best to cling onto his impression that Belos is someone good. And that part would urge him into taking the blame whenever missions would go wrong, even if he really had nothing to do with the mission's failure. Maybe Hunter would learn how to distract Belos, how to redirect his anger, how to manage his moods and cheer him up, all so that others don't have to face the Emperor's wrath.

Alternatively, Hunter can be an asshole about it. Like, a smug, spoiled, entitled asshole. He demands what he wants and he will get what he wants unless you want to get reported to the Emperor. The type of guy where you'd love to deck him, but you can't because he'll go running to his politically powerful, rich dad uncle and make you regret it.

It kinda irks me when people say that Hunter is fundamentally a good person, because personally it would be a lot more interesting if he had to learn how to be a good person, or has to put effort into being good. Maybe Hunter was an entitled brat when he was younger, maybe Hunter actively tries not to be like the Emperor, or if he has nasty voice in his head that tells him that "hey, Kikimora's being a real bitch lately. Why don't you mess something up and blame it on her?" Even if Belos genuinely loves him, he is still a horrible role model for a developing child.

Hunter's struggle with reconciling his Uncle Belos with the merciless Emperor Belos is something that I wish more creators would explore (hell, it doesn't even have to occur solely in a Good Uncle Belos AU, it's still applicable to canon) more. Because (fully) realizing that your uncle, your only remaining family, someone that you love is a Bad Person is hard. Hunter goes through this in canon, in Labyrinth Runner's "I spent my life believing I was doing something good for someone good, but it was a lie." But now, there's the added layer of realizing that Belos had the capacity to be someone good. Hunter knows that his uncle could have been someone good, his positive relationship with Belos is proof, isn't it? But instead, Belos chose not to change. Belos had over 300 years to change, and is self-aware enough to filter out most, if not all, the emotional manipulation from his interactions with Hunter, and yet he still remains a complete and utter ass.

Or maybe... Belos also lied about how much he loved Hunter. Maybe Hunter wasn't exempt from the Emperor's manipulation, and all his kindness was just a facade. Maybe Belos was just a bad person, incapable of being anything resembling good. Hunter wouldn't know if it's true or not, wouldn't trust Belos's answer if they even get a chance to talk about it, but at least believing it alleviates the guilt he would feel for resenting him.

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AU where Hunter and the Collector met long before they did in canon and became best friends behind Belos's back. So when Hunter tries to leave the Demon Realm... Well, the Collector yoinked him back before he could step through the portal. They're not gonna let one of their friends leave him after all!! Which basically leads to King, Hunter, and the Collector all playing at being a family as part of the game Owl House. Featuring Hunter as the responsible eldest brother, the Collector as the chaotic middle child, and King as the bratty youngest brother!

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Thinking About Belos always, ALWAYS leads me into a rabbit hole of body horror in one way or another. That scene from the cold open of Clouds on the Horizon lives in my brain rent free. Was that fucking bone. Was That Fucking Bone.

And this isn't even touching on his full transformation in King's Tide. Where he fucking smoothly collapses into a fucking pile of goo then reforms into something that Vaguely looks like a fucking body.

His cursed form looks like a fucking decomposed corpse with its flesh barely fucking clinging to its exaggerated skeletal structure (also, those hips are fucking TINY in some shots).

I have Thoughts. A Lot Of Thoughts. And a very vivid image of how the curse Works.

His muscles turning into fucking Mud and Rotted Flesh and then the pressure of That snapping his bones. It takes conscious thought and will for Belos to maintain a humanoid form, to realign his shattered bones into something like a human skeleton (and he Knows how a human skeleton looks, how the bones connect to each other, after hundreds of years pulling one apart) so that he could walk and crawl and Attack.

Whether or not he understands how movement actually works on a muscular level is debateable though. I think he bent his arm BACKWARDS at one point.

If he doesn't think about it, if he isn't exerting effort to look human, he's just gonna be a pile of goo. Like a gore smoothie of rotted flesh and mud and blood and broken bones.