I’m so normal about the oresteia and the house of Atreus you have no idea… Clytemnestra so caught up in her grief for her daughter that she can’t bring herself to love her other children in the way she so desperately wants to… Electra sending Orestes away and still being stuck at home, left to stew in her ever-growing hatred of her mother, waiting for the day that her brother comes back to save her from it all… Orestes coming back to Mycenae, knowing nothing but that he has to kill the mother he never knew and never got the chance to know and love. Having to decide between a dead father he never knew and a living mother that could never have loved him…
One of the saddest parts in Eumenides is how much Orestes has erased Clytemnestra from his identity to survive.
In Libation Bearers, he was repeatedly told from Elektra, Pylades, and the Chorus to emotionally disown his mother to kill her, which makes his later "victory" more tragic; but by Eumenides, he argues that she was never really his parent at all:
"But do i share my mother's blood myself?"
- Line 606
And he's backed by Apollo, his lawyer, who argues that children get everything from their fathers, with their mothers being well...:
"The person called the mother’s not the parent.
She only nourishes the embryo
planted by mounting her, and for a stranger
she keeps the shoot alive—if no god blights it.
And I can prove my claim: without a mother
there can be fatherhood. For this we have
proof here…the offspring of Olympian Zeus,
not nurtured in the darkness of the womb:
No goddess could give birth to such a child."
- Line 658-665
He used Athena as an example—to which she agrees on later—that she sprang from Zeus motherless, but this ultimately erases Metis from her life.
Even more so that Apollo is diminishing his mother Leto after everything she's gone through for him and Artemis. Heck, Apollo is called the son of Leto several times in the Homeric works.
While the trilogy resolves the cycle of vengeance, something is lost in the transition from the old order to the new one:
fic authors self rec! when you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. let's spread the self-love 💗
Self-love has never been a simple matter for me. But I greatly appreciate being tagged/asked by Tumblr mutuals, and I do admit to having "favourites" among my posted works.
Open tag to all who wish to participate. Here, meanwhile, are my five:
Inviolate Rose (anime Shoujo Kakumei Utena, 15k, T-rated): This fic, a prequel to the Black Rose Saga, uses the label of "genius" and the faerytale of the Sleeping Beauty to explore the forces that shaped and ultimately destroyed Professor Nemuro. I originally wrote the first chapter as a stand-alone story for Yuletide 2015; from there, it grew into a month of frenzied, fully absorbed writing, in which Nemuro seemed both like a brother and like a mirror reflection. I am particularly fond of the intermission shadow play, which came together quickly while feeling true to the anime. An ephemeral but very bright fire burned in this fic's creation, and I haven't crafted anything quite like it before or since. Not-actually-fun fact: its word count is a palindrome.
Tokiko and Mamiya: these two are his goals, his goads – his gods, in a sense, for they inspire faith in his work and then reward his performance with their presence. He cannot quantify or explain his contentment, but for the first time in his rote existence, he quiets his questioning thoughts and simply seeks out what he craves. And when the project keeps him from the Chida home, he focuses the full force of his formidable mind upon his efforts. For Nemuro has never wanted “eternity” for himself; the intricacies of time engaged his academic curiosity, certainly, but having never experienced one moment worth preserving, he couldn't imagine any reason to lead a “revolution”. But now – if the rumours are true?
Everybody Movement (music video Planet of the Bass, 3k, G-rated): For Yuletide 2023 I made a weird story to accompany a very funny song. Because of my obsession with canon compliance, a lot of details from the music video appear, making it look like the music video is "telling a story" instead of "being random." The first chapter's a little choppy, but I still enjoy this one.
Together they watch as the man-projection does frenetic pelvic thrusts to...well...some sort of rhythm. He then throws his head about so quickly that it seems in danger of detaching from his neck.
BILJANA and the Ones cannot move at quite that speed. Still, eager to learn, they touch their own necks to their shoulders — first one way, then the other.
"Is this 'hip'?" asks One-Plus.
"If we wish to bring peace," reminds One-Cedilla earnestly, "then we must learn the ways of Earth. Earth BILJANA is our guide."
In unison, following the gyrating image on the screen, they extend their arms. Pushing their knees outward at awkward angles, they then bring their palms together. The resulting loud 'smack' startles them all, but they dutifully perform the gesture several times more. On further study of Crazy Times, they observe his unusual facial expressions and try to emulate them (though only BILJANA possesses the correct anatomy to imitate his mouth contortions). Again and again, they bend and straighten, dip their heads and clap, absorbing faithfully the wisdom of Earth for the benefit of all human beings.
"We are dancing queens!" proclaims One-Dot.
Fluid (manhwa 민용 | Mignon, 5k, T-rated): This story consists of twelve chapters, one for each episode of the show, which alternate between the perspectives of Mignon and Young-one (as well as a bonus appearance from Master Woo). It's special to me because I took on Mignon as a Yuletide 2024 pinch hit after seeing just the first episode; that's how certain I was that I'd love it. This story had a pretty short turn-around time, if memory serves, and it was a relief to have made something at all; I've since heard from a few commenters that this work enhanced their enjoyment of the original - which is the goal of everything that I post on AO3.
His head broke somewhere deep, he can feel it, and it hurts more than any hit before but he's taken a lot of hits so maybe it's not so bad. A neon sign glows out of the dark and for a second he thinks they'll stop and he wants to cry with relief and beg the docs to unbreak him but they keep going. 'Cause every boxer at Ring knows there's no such thing as 119 there, you don't call medics when you're illegal and expect to still show up next fight like nothing happened and so a hurt guy and his doc walk past the emergency room and they don't look back.
He doesn't wanna die 'cuz Doc talked to him, held him, actually confessed and fuck he hopes that was real and not like the spots he's seeing now, his cheek resting on Doc's shoulder while Doc walks. He feels bad for Doc, wants to walk on his own but knows he can't, wonders why Doc doesn't go in the arena himself if he can lift a whole heavyweight on his back. The bridge rails spin when he tries to look at them, he wants to tell Doc how he trained here and thought about him but he can't find the words, fuck something's so very wrong, and his head is bleeding faster and Doc is telling him to stay awake but his eyes aren't listening...
Her Answer (play cycle The Oresteia, 1k, T-rated): In this 2022 free verse AU, Clytemnestra testifies on her own behalf during the trial of The Eumenides, describing her own upbringing and marriage, the death of her daughter, and the righteous rage of her revenge. My AO3 account offers several poems - including a liturgical drama based on the Prometheia, a stream-of-consciousness work for Firefly, and two post-canon Xiyao verses from Lan Xichen's perspective - but this one is unusual in its complexity and anger, and it strikes me in more ways than one.
I tied her nymphides with strong knots; the bridal peplos rippled in threads of gold,
her slim waist girded with silk, a shining fillet fastened upon her golden hair. Beauty
streamed hot from her, like steam arising from the new-quenched spear, awaiting shape.
Her veil was finer than the dawn-dropped mists on Taleton. The fancied tale she wore,
in moon-soft silver woven: the keeper of Achilles' home, hearth to warm his heart.
And I sent her.
A strong runner beat the way back from Aulis, bearing folded garments in abashéd arms.
All Eurotas' streams could not have cleansed the purpling blood staining swiftly-sailing ships,
as the warriors of Achaea heaved their hefted bronze to Trojan gates.
What cared they if some slaughtered fawn slicked their water-road to war?
You know all that happened there, know how the sea-facing altar ran.
Xiyao tie:
**a holy thing, to love what death has touched (TV series 陈情令 | The Untamed, 4.5k, T-rated): Based on the Hindu tale of a devoted wife who saves her husband from his destined death, this fix-it fic for the 2025 Hurt/Comfort Challenge was my first-ever Xiyao story. I adore character studies, and this journey - in which Lan Xichen must admit his own anger and wounded pride, acknowledge that he placed unspoken conditions upon his friendship, and reveal his true feelings to Jin Guangyao after decades of silence - had some surprises in store for me. Also, I spent more time working and reworking this story than any other one-shot.
"A-Yao?" he calls softly.
"He cannot speak to you."
"Is he well?" Lan Xichen asks the Teacher. "Can he feel this cold?"
"He is well. He does not suffer."
"Where do You lead him?"
"It is not for you to know. You must prepare to leave."
"Let me walk with him further still."
The Teacher sighs. "Zewu-jun, you know that attachments impede progress. These bonds must be severed, for his sake. And yours."
"I know You speak truly. Yet the affection I bear him is not persuaded by Your wisdom."
The Teacher halts; wisps of his hair blow around him, in a wind that Lan Xichen can neither feel nor see. "It was your sword that ran him through. Yet you claim regard for him?"
"I do, Great Teacher. It was deceit that moved my hand—"
"The Lan are known for truth, or so I have heard. Do you condemn a lie, while lying to yourself?!"
**in the garden of souls, there is no separation (novel 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī, 7k, T-rated): My series co-author can attest to what a challenge this one was; not since Inviolate Rose had I struggled so much to stay fully canon-compliant. (And much like Inviolate Rose, this one broke my brain for a while.) The confounding question at the heart of this tale: how does one undo a punishment that was meant to endure indelibly? In a similar vein to a holy thing…, this work is not only a character study of, but a reckoning for Lan Xichen.
What touches me most about his journey is the power that Lan Xichen finds in truth. In facing his sworn brothers' pain, he is ultimately able to recognise his own, and to reclaim his true self from the precepts and prohibitions that have long buried him. His courage is founded in love, and is ultimately what gives him the strength to overcome every barrier.
He is practised at this: quelling the force of his feelings with quiet courtesies.
For he had sparked fear almost from the first, a lightning-flash child, impatient and untempered and so very powerful. Even before his tiny fingers could form the proper gestures, his father had drilled him in meditation, the warning unspoken but hanging always over his uneven breaths: your wild emotion is its own violence. He had learned to move through the world like a cloud, distant and soft and benign. To look away from anything that might disturb his equilibrium.
Do not lie, the Lan command, especially not to yourself; seeing his younger self now, Lan Xichen winces at the lies told in silence.
what do you mean there's a grecoroman theater cycle this week and I can't attend because I have mandatory teacher hours where we all just fall asleep at?
Alexander Zick (1845-1907), 'Die Eumeniden', ''Die Kunst unserer Zeit'', 1893
Source
"The Eumenides is a play written by Aeschylus (c 525 – 455 BCE), the “Father of Greek Tragedy,” the most popular and influential of all tragedians of his era. The Eumenides was the third play of a trilogy, The Oresteia, with the remaining two tragedies being Agamemnon and Libation Bearers.
In first play Agamemnon, the victorious king of Argos has returned home after the Trojan War, bringing with him a concubine, Cassandra. Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, hoping to rule Argos together, have conspired against him to kill him upon his return. In the queen's mind, the murder of her husband was simply an act of revenge for the earlier death of her daughter. In Libation Bearers, the exiled Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, returns home with his companion Plyades to seek revenge for this father's death by killing his mother and lover. However, his mother's last breath brings a curse upon Orestes: he is hounded by the Furies. In Greek, they are later referred to as the Eumenides, daughters of the night and spirits of vengeance. In The Eumenides, Orestes, on the verge of madness, prays to Apollo for relief from his agony. Eventually, he and Apollo arrive in Athens where the goddess Athena holds a trial."
