Red, White & Royal Blue
Sam Sax, Hydrophobia
i would never make a decision. what if i change my mind
love when fanfic writers are like “I love this character” & proceed to put them through shit even God has blacklisted, baby the middle ages called they want to hear your ideas
somewhere in the world
a mother is singing her baby a lullaby for the first time, a shelter cat is going home with an excited family, a kid is starting the first pages of what will be their favorite book series, a couple in a long engagement is finally having their wedding, a gardener is stepping outside to see their produce flourishing and almost ready to be picked, a father is becoming a grandfather eager to hold his new little love, a teenager is putting the keys into their first car, someone is moving on from a break up and walking past a place they used to go with their ex without feeling an ache, a patient is taking their first steps forward after a long surgery, a child is getting all giddy with anticipation for their birthday party
because life all around us is beautiful even though there is chaos and sorrow that can often overshadow it.
god damn, I really hope whoever reads this has a good day
like
I don't know you
but I can tell you really do deserve a good day
whatever it takes to make today a good day, if possible, please do it
Y'all. "Hell is empty and the devil's are here" is not one of those epic Tumblr quotes. It's from The Tempest. The Shakespeare one.
remember when that furry post went around with "you have nothing to lose but your chains" and people were saying "this is such a raw ass line and it's from a furry post" but it's literally karl marx
reading waiting for godot for class and finding out that’s where that “that’s how it is on this bitch of an earth” meme is from ruined me i think
new game: "classic or shitpost?" in which we give you a raw-ass quote and you have to determine whether it came from an internet shitpost or classic literature
What is classic literature but a shitpost persevering?
part of my season 4 art series that I affectionately call "worlds most fucked up cannibal road trip" in my head. If you haven't seen the other posts, the context is that they lived in Cuba for a while, but had to leave after Will killed a guy after he recognized them in a museum earlier that day. Jack found their apartment a couple days after they left the country. This happens months later.
In my ideal season 4 they meet Jack again and Jack survives and no one goes to prison. Tbh Jack saying he had hoped Will died is actually a really nice thing to say because it means he chose to try to believe Will was a good man and remember him that way.
lol Will touching Hannibal's tie like that...you know he's DEAD serious when he pulls the eyebrow raise+"you're not even allowed to touch my arm until I know you'll behave" move. What do you think Will whispered in his ear?
(ps I dont know if they ever said anything about whether or not Bedelia survived, but I always imagined they killed her after the dinner)
you can find other posts from this au in this tag! including a three part art series that has 8-11 fully colored drawings in each hehe
Absolutely reeling.
So I knew that the origin of "Hector was a great man, moral, noble, better than all of the Greeks" began as Roman propaganda that somehow has made it to now, the year 2023, and is still taught to high school students.
What I did not know was why scholars shit on Achilles as vehemently as they did (and still do).
My copy of Fagles' translation of the Iliad has a preface by a different scholar who I'm not going to bother to name because he's an idiot (and idk probably dead at this point). I read the entire thing, absolutely baffled, because he would cite a part of the text (that I admittedly had not read yet! at all!), quote it, and then come to the most batshit interpretation based on that quote I had ever seen in my life. His general take was that Achilles was a sociopath who had no feelings for anyone other than himself and his own pride, and every action he took (until welcoming Priam into his hut) was done in service of that pride. To support this, he decided that Achilles did not see Patroclus as a person, but rather as an extension of himself, and thus someone injuring Patroclus was them injuring Achilles, and so he did not care about Patroclus, he only cared about his wounded pride.
Yeah.
That sounded wrong before reading the book, and while reading the book all i could think was, "Did we read the same fucking thing???" Put in context, those quotations still did not support his conclusions whatsoever.
But i cracked open Caroline Alexander's "The War That Killed Achilles" last night, and she solves this mystery of "Hector good, Achilles bad" for me right out the gate (which is good because so far I've only read the preface).
Hector wanted to desecrate Patroclus’ body and let dogs feed on it. Achilles then dragging Hector’s corpse and letting dogs eat his flesh is direct payback for what he tried to do to Patroclus’ body.
“Up, son of Peleus, most daunting of men. Save the body of Patroclus, they are fighting over it beside the ships. Men are dying while your Greeks try to protect his corpse, and the Trojans attack, longing to drag him off to windy Troy. Glorious Hector is their leader, who sets his heart on slicing his head from the tender neck, and fixing it on a stake above the wall. Up then, and no more idling here! Fear shame in your heart if Patroclus becomes a plaything for the dogs of Troy.”
Achilles is not an evil character—I really don’t understand where this interpretation comes from or why so many people are hellbent on pushing it. Achilles is prideful, yes, but not without reason. He is a demigod, he quite literally is better than the rest, and is essentially treated like shit by everyone within the Greek army. Achilles is used by them as a weapon, and an object to win war and riches, not as a person. They don’t care whether he lives or dies, only what he does for them. Achilles refusing to fight for them is not really unreasonable. They did disrespect him, and they didn’t deserve his aid any longer.
And Achilles not caring about Patroclus? That is just the most wild take I’ve heard. Achilles says that he wishes he could cannibalize Hector as punishment for what he has put him through and for the pain he has caused him.
Struggling for breath, Hector, his helmet flashing,
said, "I beg you, beg you by your life, your parents—
don't let the dogs devour me by the Argive ships!
Wait, take the princely ransom of bronze and gold,
the gifts my father and noble mother will give you—
but give my body to friends to carry home again,
so Trojan men and Trojan women can do me honor
with fitting rites of fire once I am dead."
Staring grimly, the proud runner Achilles answered,
"Beg no more, you fawning dog—begging me by my parents!
Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now
to hack your flesh away and eat you raw—
such agonies you have caused me! Ransom?
No man alive could keep the dog-packs off you,
not if they haul in ten, twenty times that ransom
and pile it here before me and promise fortunes more—
no, not even if Dardan Priam should offer to weigh out
your bulk in gold! Not even then will your noble mother
lay you on your deathbed, mourn the son she bore . . .
The dogs and birds will rend you—blood and bone!"
and I’m sure everyone remembers his famous line about lions and men,
Achilles glared at him and answered, "Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can be no covenants between men and lions, wolves and lambs can never be of one mind, but hate each other out and out an through. Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall.
Achilles is not a one dimensional character. He has many aspects of personality, and clearly is very emotional and does feel things very fiercely, especially for Patroclus.
When he learns Patroclus died, he pours ash on himself, throws himself to the ground and starts ripping out his hair.
“Antilochus, weeping and groaning, grasped Achilles’ hand, fearing he might take his knife and cut his own throat, so heart-felt was his noble grief.
Such a dreadful a groan did Achilles give voice to that his divine mother Thetis heard him, deep beneath the sea where she sat beside her ancient Father. She cried out, and all the divinities, the Nereids of the depths, gathered to her.”
He refuses to eat, and refuses to bathe. He sobs over his body, and seems unaware of most people around him, including that Briseis has been returned. He puts his hands on Patroclus’ chest, he begs Patroclus’ spirit to embrace him. He swears he will not forget Patroclus even in death, despite the dead forgetting everything in Hades.
“And though the dead forget the dead in the house of Hades, even there I shall still remember my beloved companion.”
He cuts his hair and burns it with Patroclus’ body on the pyre. Patroclus comes to him as a spirit as he dreams and instructs him to make sure they are buried together, and this is a request Achilles promises to make good on.
“A last request—grant it, please. Never bury my bones apart from yours, Achilles, let them lie together, just as we grew up together in your house.”
and Achilles response
“Why have you come to me here, dear heart, With all these instructions? I promise you I will do everything just as you ask. But come closer. Let us give in to grief, However briefly, in each other’s arms.”
Even after the funeral games have ended and the typical period of mourning is over, Achilles still grieves. And the Iliad ends with Achilles giving Hector’s body back to his father Priam, which is really an act of mercy, pity, forgiveness to some degree. That certainly doesn’t fall in line with villainous behavior.
In conclusion: the whole “Hector good Achilles bad” thing ppl push is so dumb and shows how little they grasp this story and the richness of its text lmao
nothing is scarier than seeing what the front page of YouTube looks like when you're not logged in
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I was there when ao3 went down… I clicked next chapter on a fic I was reading and then… and then… no it’s too much. I can’t.
If someone told me that a submersible named the Titan, owned by a company called OceanGATE, carrying three billionaires, had gone missing on an expedition to the Titanic, I would think it was some pitch for a new thriller mystery novel and not something that had actually happened due to the hubris and stupidity of rich people.
Lyonel Strong and Harwin Strong we’re such good fucking dudes y’all
petalstofish-deactivated2023062
genuinely thought to myself as I was rereading POA “ugh it sucks having to read Harry’s dementor induced trauma of James and Lily’s deaths!” And the gremlin part of my brain was like “well, at least James isn’t fucking his best friends half priced brother in canon.”
Every time I remember jegulus exists a part of me dies inside.
thinking back to the time i was on the tube in London and the girl sitting next to me saw my ace ring and asked me if it meant something and i was ready to do my normal “nah” but then i thought i have nothing to loose, im literally in another country rn so i said yes and she asked what does it mean and i almost backed down but then i gathered courage and said “it means asexual” and that was the first time i ever told anyone im asexual irl and she said she thinks she’s too and she wants to buy a ring for herself but since she’s just 14 she might just be a late bloomer and i said well im just 16 i could change my sexual orientation but then i can just take the ring off or switch it to another finger and she said yeah :) and it felt so good talking to someone about it you know. we’re insta friends now
marvel cinematic universe (derogatory) vs avengers assemble (affectionate)