Its Fine To Be In Fandom And Not Particularly Want To Read Or Think About The Characters You Like Having

it’s fine to be in fandom and not particularly want to read or think about the characters you like having sex but you have to acknowledge you’re the minority and it’s not weird for other people to do that. fandom was invented by people who wanted to see kirk and spock fuck. we owe everything to the insanely horny concept of pon farr. that’s the intellectual tradition

Catelyn heard someone snigger behind her. She loves him, poor thing, she thought sadly. She'd play his squire just to touch him, and never care how great a fool they think her... (and some other things)

Yes yes yes yes the tdp lore is deep and consistent and I love the show for it

obsessed with the long-game payoff of "Hearts of Cinder" rn tbh

like not just in a narrative mirroring/parallels way, showing in s3 how far Viren had fallen and closing that arc in s6, or with how Soren and Viren's positions reversed, but like... either they planned this for Viren literally from the beginning or it came about through a startling commitment to lore depth and consistency

because like

a) Back in s3, the "Hearts of Cinder" spell is... weird. Like not so weird that it clashes with the setting as we know it, but at the time we're only just being introduced to things like the Draconic corrupted Sun rune spells, or the role the Staff of Ziard plays in dark magic. It's got an incantation that, at the time, is kind of unusual in the context of other dark magic spells but slots in with the series' overall recurring heart motif such that it can't really be called wrong. It's not a Spiders Georg-level outlier, but it definitely feels like there's something we're missing.

b) That's because someone planned it out in deep detail: "Hearts of Cinder" is, in hindsight, the only dark magic spell we see that is clearly intended for war with Xadia. It's a spell that comes from a much more brutal era both politically and magically, when armed conflict with dragons was high and "make your army immune to dragon fire for the low, low cost of one human sacrifice" was a deal people were willing to take. We know that's intentional, because it's right in the incantation: dark magic incantations frequently reference the spell reagent, as with "Slithering Steel" or "Ash of Fallen, Rise Again." So someone knew as far back as s3 that this spell normally used a human heart for its magical power.

c) This confirms so much stuff that it's like they put it in there for me, tumblr user kradogsrats, special interest: dark magic. The on-screen exposition drop that the Sunforge Staff contains a Sun primal stone. Confirmation that you can use a primal stone as a source for dark magic. Confirmation that you can use human essence as a source for dark magic. Another consistency example of the Staff of Ziard being used to empower dark magic spells. Confirmation that there are dark magic spells built on human sacrifice.

like... that's all stuff I knew, or at least suspected and wanted to be true, but having it all right out there like "hey who wants some resolution in the lore arc of dark magic? kradogsrats again?" just has me like

Day 6: 5 year skip proceeds au

They elope in the night, fleeing into the darkness, into the forest, guided by the incessant howling of the wolves. 

It was an impulsive decision made out of fear of marching north, home, only to be separated again by stupid lords and their stupid games.

They take their oaths in the freezing air of a misty morning, under a big oak. The trees around them and the embers of the fire are their witnesses

They are not dressed in embroidered cloaks, but in tattered war banners and golden leaves. There are no wreaths of winter roses, wildflowers will do.

There is no silk gown to slip off, just old boots, rusty chain mail stolen from a corpse. There is no featherbed, deep and soft, just the grass crisp with frost.

Mental Crop Rotation

When farmers grow the same crop too many years in a row, it can leave their soil depleted of minerals and other nutrients that are vital to the health of their fields.

To avoid this, farmers will often alternate the crops that they grow because some plants will use up different minerals (such as nitrogen) while other plants replenish those minerals. This process is known as “crop rotation.”

So the next time you find that you need to step away from a project to work on something else for a while, don’t beat yourself up for “quitting” that project. Give yourself permission to practice “mental crop rotation” to maintain a healthy brain field.

Because I’ve found that when that unnecessary guilt and pressure are removed from the process, a good mental crop rotation can help you feel more energized and invigorated than ever once you’re ready to rotate back to that project.