New Music Friday is the weekly thread dedicated to cataloging all the Album/EP releases that came out this week, including non-subreddit relevant releases. This is also a great place to discuss these albums, or bring to attention other albums released this week.

❓ "this seems intriguing after a cursory look"
⭐ "im interested in this for one reason or another"
❤️ "ive been waiting for weeks, months/i'm absolutely in love with this"

⭐ St. Vincent - All Born Screaming
Label: Total Pleasure
Genre: Art Rock, Neo-Psychedelia
⭐ Justice - Hyperdrama
Label: Because
Genre: French Electro, Synthwave, Nu-Disco
❓ Corridor - Mimi
Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Indie Rock, Neo-Psychedelia, Dream Pop
Babehoven - Water's Here In You
Label: Double Double Whammy
Genre: Indie Folk, Dream Pop
Iron & Wine - Light Verse
Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Chamber Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Hovvdy - Hovvdy
Label: Arts & Crafts
Genre: Indie Pop, Indie Folk
Owen - The Falls of Sioux (Mike Kinsella of American Football)
Label: Polyvinyl
Genre: Singer-songwriter, Indie Folk
Fat White Family - Forgiveness Is Yours
Label: Domino
Genre: Post-Punk, Neo-Psychedelia, Art Rock
❓ Microwave - Let's Start Degeneracy
Label: Pure Noise
Genre: Alternative Rock, Emo-Pop
❓ Adult Jazz - So Sorry So Slow
Label: Spare Thought
Genre: Art Pop, Chamber Music, Experimental, Post-Rock, Electronic
⭐ Full of Hell - Coagulated Bliss
Label: Closed Casket Activities
Genre: Grindcore, Deathgrind, Sludge Metal, Mathcore
❓ Maruja - Connla's Well (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Post-Punk, Post-Rock, Post-Hardcore, Jazz-Rock
❤️ Glassing - From the Other Side of the Mirror
Label: Pelagic
Genre: Post-Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Blackgaze, Screamo
Pet Shop Boys - Nonetheless
Label: Parlophone
Genre: Synthpop, Dance-Pop
The Zutons - The Big Decider
Label: n/a
Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock
Parsnip - Behold
Label: Upset the Rhythm
Genre: Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop
Thom Yorke - Confidenza (Soundtrack)
Label: XL
Genre: Film Score, Ambient
❤️ Inter Arma - New Heaven
Label: Relapse
Genre: Death Doom Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Dissonant Death Metal
Joyer - Night Songs
Label: n/a
Genre: Slowcore, Indie Rock
Six Organs of Admittance - Time Is Glass
Label: Drag City
Genre: Psychedelic Folk, American Primitivism
Mandy - Lawn Girl (Miranda Winters of Melkbelly)
Label: Exploding in Sound
Genre: Indie Rock
⭐ Darkthrone - It Beckons Us All
Label: Peaceville
Genre: Doom Metal, Black Metal, Heavy Metal
⭐ Black Tusk - The Way Forward
Label: Season of Mist
Genre: Hardcore Punk, Sludge Metal
❓ Oberst - Toil
Label: Indie
Genre: Post-Hardcore
❓ Geo - Out of Body (April 25th)
Label: Erste Theke
Genre: Art Punk, Post-Punk, No Wave
Sen Morimoto - BONK! (EP)
Label: City Slang
Genre: Jazz Rap, Art Pop, Bedroom Pop
Cold War Kids - CWK EP
Label: AWAL
Genre: Indie Rock, Pop Rock
Margaret Glaspy - The Sun Doesn’t Think (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Acoustic Rock, Singer-songwriter
Rachel Love - Lyra
Label: n/a
Genre: Twee Pop, Chamber Pop, Psychedelic Pop
Snub - All Day Glow
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Rock
❓ Porij - Teething
Label: PIAS
Genre: Indietronica, Alt-Pop, Synthpop
Ellis - no place that feels like
Label: n/a
Genre: Bedroom Pop
❓ Maria Chiara Argirò - Closer
Label: Innovative Leisure
Genre: Ambient Pop, Art Pop, Synthpop
Liz Brasher - Baby Damn
Label: Blue Élan
Genre: Pop Soul
The Entrepreneurs - Sky Forever
Label: n/a
Genre: Noise Rock, Indie Rock
❓ Baula - heavy heart, no tears
Label: Bergmal
Genre: Indie Rock
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin - Ghosted II
Label: Drag City
Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz, Post-Minimalism, Electroacoustic
Nisa - Shapeshifting
Label: Tender Loving Empire
Genre: Singer-songwriter
⭐ EYE (Jessica Ball of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard) - Dark Light
Label: n/a
Genre: Dream Pop, Electronic
Bullion - Affection
Label: Ghostly
Genre: Synthpop, Chillwave
❓ Lust$ickPuppy - CAROSEL FROM HELL
Label: n/a
Genre: Digital Hardcore, Industrial Hip Hop
Greg Saunier - We Sang, Therefore We Were
Label: Joyful Noise
Genre: Math Pop, Noise Pop
The Lostines - Meet the Lostines
Label: Gar Hole
Genre: Doo-Wop, Alt-Country
❓ Eric Slick (Dr. Dog) - New Age Rage
Label: Thirty Tigers
Genre: Indie Pop
Taraneh - New Age Prayer
Label: n/a
Genre: Slacker Rock, Bedroom Pop, Grunge
HONESTY - BOX
Label: Partisan
Genre: Alternative Rock
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Challengers (Original Score)
Label: Milan
Genre: Techno, Film Score, Tech House
Nolan Potter - The Perils of Being Trapped Inside a Head
Label: n/a
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock
The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick - The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Label: n/a
Genre: Slowcore, Indie Rock
❓ Sega Bodega - Dennis
Label: n/a
Genre: Electronic, Alternative R&B, Art Pop
Valley Gals - The Antagonist
Label: Graveface
Genre: Indie Rock
Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy
Label: Son of Davy
Genre: Progressive Country, Rhythm & Blues
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong - Day In Time
Label: n/a
Genre: Funk Rock, Jam Band
Mister Goblin - Frog Poems
Label: Spartan
Genre: Indie
Winters Lane - Trails
Label: n/a
Genre: Instrumental Post-Rock
Fuera Fondo - Mesto Spí
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop
❓ asuka ando - DOUBLE HAPPINESS
Label: n/a
Genre: Japanese Reggae
Babylove & The Van Dangos - Leave me here to my quixotic moods
Label: n/a
Genre: Ska
❓ MOON RELAY - Iddy Umpty
Label: Sheep Chase
Genre: Krautrock, Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock
❓ Diode - LP2
Label: n/a
Genre: Synth Punk, Egg Punk
RIIZE - RIIZING (EP) (April 28th)
Label: SM
Genre: K-Pop, Contemporary R&B
YUQI - YUQ1 (EP)
Label: Cube
Genre: K-Pop, Contemporary R&B
Louis Tomlinson - LIVE
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Rock, Post-Britpop
Jess Glynne - JESS
Label: EMI
Genre: Contemporary R&B, Pop Soul
Pound Shop Boys - Dismay EP
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop
Luke Hemmings - boy (EP)
Label: Arista
Genre: Dream Pop, Indie Pop
Anitta - Funk Generation
Label: Republic
Genre: Funk carioca, Funk 150 bmp, Mega funk
Lagoona Bloo - Underwater Bubble Pop
Label: n/a
Genre: Contemporary R&B, Electropop
Isaac Dunbar - Beep Beep Repeat (EP)
Label: RCA
Genre: Dance-Pop, Pop Rock
PARTYNEXTDOOR - PARTYNEXTDOOR 4 (P4) (nsfw: artwork)
Label: OVO
Genre: Alternative R&B, Trap Soul
Sinéad Harnett - Boundaries
Label: n/a
Genre: Contemporary R&B, Alternative R&B
Picture This - Parked Car Conversations
Label: Sony
Genre: Indie Folk
Bladee - Cold Visions (April 24th)
Label: Trash Island
Genre: Rage, Trap, Cloud Rap
CoffeeBlack & WTM Scoob - Love at First Sight?
Label: n/a
Genre: Cloud Rap
lyrical school - DAY 2
Label: Connectone
Genre: Japanese Hip Hop, Pop Rap
Gabe 'Nandez and Wino Willy - Object Permanence (EP)
Label: POW
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop
A Boogie Wit da Hoodie - ALONE (EP) (April 22nd)
Label: n/a
Genre: Pop Rap, Trap, East Coast Hip Hop
Rx Papi - Raheem Dead, Somebody Shot Em
Label: n/a
Genre: East Coast Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap, Trap
❓ Diamond Construct - Angel Killer Zero
Label: Greyscale
Genre: Nu Metal, Metalcore, Electro-Industrial
Deicide - Banished by Sin
Label: Reigning Phoenix
Genre: Death Metal
Alien Ant Farm - mAntras
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock
With Sails Ahead - Infinite Void
Label: n/a
Genre: Swancore, Emo-Pop, Progressive Metal
❓ Cold Years - A Different Life
Label: n/a
Genre: Alternative Rock
Pestilence - Levels of Perception
Label: Agonia
Genre: Death Metal, Technical Death Metal
Accept - Humanoid
Label: Napalm
Genre: Heavy Metal
❓ The Idoru - Undertow
Label: Black Star
Genre: Pop Punk, Melodic Hardcore
❓ Arð - Untouched by Fire
Label: Prophecy
Genre: Doom Metal, Medieval Classical Music
BLACK BAND SHIRT - PROUD FILTH (EP)
Label: n/a
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Metal
CLEARxCUT - Age Of Grief
Label: Lifeforce
Genre: Metalcore, Melodic Hardcore
Flaming Wreckage - Terra Inferna
Label: Grindhead
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Freeways - Dark Sky Sanctuary
Label: Dying Victims
Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Glossa - Death Is Not The End
Label: n/a
Genre: Sludge Metal, Doom Metal
❓ Lust Hag - Lust Hag
Label: n/a
Genre: Black Metal, Death Doom Metal
Thumos - Atlantis
Label: n/a
Genre: Post-Metal
Tombstoner - Rot Stink Rip
Label: Redefining Darkness
Genre: Death Metal, Groove Metal
Wretched Blessing - Wretched Blessing
Label: n/a
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal, Hardcore Punk

I don't know why I write silly things like this. But I think it's a pretty good basic guide to critical thinking. So I know you guys. You won't be afraid to tell me where I went wrong. Cool. Don't be. Things like this, sometimes they just come out of me like a bad Mexican meal. So I won't take it personally. Why did I write it like this? Like, why did I use language like this? Well, I guess I was thinking of it like the kind of thing that survives after some huge disaster that leaves humanity starting over. That and I was thinking of all the different translations of the Bible and how it's difficult to know what the precise meaning of things from back then are. So, the historians in 4,000 from now, what would they make of our street slang? "He one bad motherf****r." You don't like him? "Nah man, I sayin he bad." So... you don't like him then??? That's the sort of thing they use to illustrate the difficulties of translating ancient texts. The example I originally heard was probably better but that's what came to mind. So I thought it should be unambiguous and translate easily I guess. I don't know. I wrote an 11 minute poem about politics too so... I borrowed the concept from Buddhism I think but I know virtually nothing about it. So, that's just the title and 7 seemed about right. Enjoy and let me know what you think. And hell, maybe share it with your flat earther friends or whatever nonsense mongers you know. I'd love to see the reaction of one of them.
7 fold path to personal enlightenment and by extension, a better world

1. People should make every effort to believe things that are true and avoid believing untrue things.
2. The basic principle that best achieves that is this. One should not believe a claim until which time adequate and sufficient evidence for that claim being true is available.
3. One needs to have this principle in mind and be willing to apply it in daily life and to be careful not to form opinions based on incomplete or absent evidence. Further, before acceptance of any claim, study and research about all pertinent areas of the claim should be done when applicable. One should not make claims about things without an adequate understanding of the subject matter.
4. Some claims are more academic in nature and they require a background of many years of study in a particular, specialized field of study. When this background of knowledge has been fully absorbed and this individual has been tested by all the manners customary to the institution of learning responsible, assuming that institution has a reputation for excellence among its alumni and time tested methods, then the individual should be considered more qualified to inform others of the particular, specialized field of study than people who have not done this. At this time this individual can be considered an expert on that particular, specialized field of study but not on other fields of study. Any challenge to the claims they make in their field, made by any non experts is generally considered inappropriate and should be met with heightened skepticism. When a claim is made by an overwhelming consensus of experts, a challenge to that claim by non-experts should be treated with extreme skepticism and if numerous errors are made by the challengers, they should forever be ignored about any claims they make on that particular, specialized field of study. That doesn’t necessarily apply to separate issues but one may feel it appropriate to apply an elevated level of skepticism to their conclusions on them.
5. No claim shall ever be considered unfit or in any other manner, not available to be challenged. Any and all claims can be challenged as new evidence might reveal facts or errors that were previously unknown.
6. Any claim that is contradicted by known facts or rigorous controlled and confirmed testing is not true. This is not negotiable in any way.
7. If you accept a claim but it’s been challenged by experts or many people point to good evidence based reasons why it’s not true, you should apply intense skepticism to your accepted belief. It doesn’t matter how long you have accepted this belief or who else believes it. It doesn’t matter if you really want it to be true or just enjoy believing it. Being misinformed leads to negative outcomes both personally and on the grander scale. Every single untrue belief provides a foundation to support other untrue beliefs. When there are enough, people begin to doubt true things that benefit them and they no longer have a solid basis upon which to compare data points and infer conclusions. If unchecked for long enough, there’s no limit to the amount of suffering and chaos it could cause. It would not be an exaggeration to say that war, famine and the torture and the death of many millions of people has been directly caused by or supported by misinformation.

From today’s “The Morning” newsletter:
Clued in My 20-year-old niece, Emma, texted the other day to tell me she’s addicted to The Times’s game Connections; she and her friends play every day, along with the Mini and Strands. “The people who make the games need to make more fun games,” she declared.
I don’t mind her treating me as her personal on-demand suggestion box for The New York Times; she’s my personal on-demand focus group for Gen Z. She’s used to my asking her about Snapchat etiquette, or which athleisure brands are cool, or if it’s true that her generation is grossed out by feet.
I’d read about how younger people are getting into puzzles, but this was the first time my Gen Z rep had volunteered a report from the field. I was charmed; I’m a games nerd, but I’d never thought this was an activity that Emma and I would geek out over together.
I, too, love Connections, but my deepest and most abiding puzzle romance is with The Times’s crossword. I average a couple of puzzles per day, a simultaneously mindful and mindless diversion, a way to keep half my brain busy while the other half unpacks experiences and emotions for which there is no language, or no language yet.
I started doing crossword puzzles in my early 20s. From the puzzle, I learned the difference between ETNA and ELBA, ARAL and URAL, the names of golfers and pitchers and generals. I could give you dozens of clever ways to describe ASTA before I ever saw a Thin Man movie. The crossword filled gaps in my cultural and historical education, gave me an edge in bar trivia. Solving crosswords was like working out, something I got better at the more I did it, but while I acquired some niche familiarity with puzzle arcana, I never felt that I was getting smarter about the world that I lived in.
In the past several years, as puzzles have evolved from slightly esoteric entertainment to work that’s more quirkily personal, the experience has changed, so that doing a crossword today is less a quiet test of mid-20-century minutiae and more a spirited conversation with modern culture. The reasons are manifold: The technology used to make crosswords has improved, the online spaces where people commune over puzzle making and solving have proliferated, and there has been an industrywide effort to increase constructor diversity. The result? “Constructors today are more inclined to express themselves in their work,” as a piece in today’s Times about crosswords in the age of Gen Z explains.
Now, Times puzzles regularly include modern slang, internet speak, references to memes and films that weren’t shot on celluloid. Recent grid appearances include BITCOIN ATM and SELF-DRIVING CARS. “Arrive with great hype” was a recent clue for the answer COME IN HOT. Another clue called for a “Question of legitimacy”: IS THAT A THING.
This has, for me, resulted in a puzzle that’s more exciting, but I’ve spent enough time on online crossword forums to know that every longtime puzzler’s reaction might not be so enthusiastic. I asked the editorial director of New York Times Games, Everdeen Mason, if she has heard from people who are unhappy with the way the crossword has evolved.
The Times’s puzzle-solving community definitely feels ownership over the crossword, Everdeen told me. And she understands there’s “a sense of loss, maybe, when something that you thought was for you, you know, turns out to be for other people.” I’ve been thinking about that statement, how human it is to want to see yourself reflected in the things that you love. When I began doing puzzles, I didn’t question whether they were meant for me. It wasn’t until I started seeing clues and answers more relevant to my everyday that I understood how much of a tourist I was then.
Of course, you don’t need to see yourself in a puzzle in order to enjoy it or complete it. “A well-constructed puzzle is solvable, even if there are niche entries,” Everdeen said. Those niche entries are what make the newer puzzles so much fun for me. I’m not just calling up esoteric vocabulary from my weird-puzzler’s lexicon. I’m participating in an activity that feels relevant to my everyday life.
That doesn’t mean I’m not a little wistful for the days when I felt I’d established a sort of mastery of the crosswordese that comprised every puzzle, when solving a crossword was a bit dutiful, like reciting a memorized poem. I’m less sure-footed in solving these days, but I’m also more often delighted, which seems like a respectable trade-off.

[Note: cross-posted from my original "Let's Build" post on d100]
Some players (especially new players) are nervous about roleplaying because they don’t know what their type of character (background, race, class, etc.) would say. Here's a little “cheat sheet” of 100 things that an elf might say in some common roleplaying situations, such as:

• When you first set off on an adventure, or start a new day
• When you think your group’s plan of action sounds good, and you want to agree
• When you think your group’s plan of action stinks, and you wan to disagree
• When you want to Taunt / Insult / Intimidate a foe
• When you want to Encourage / Praise / Rally / Comfort an ally
• When you conclude an adventure, or end a day

Some of the phrases below are for fighters/rogues, others for magic users, others for cleric/druids, and some for all. You can pull from this list for inspiration, or for a quick phrase in a moment when you don't know what else to say. Just sprinkle a phrase here and there during a play session to add a bit of flavor to your character.
​

1. The stars do not wait upon the lethargic. Let us start/resume our noble quest. [To start a new day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
2. A moment, my friends. I believe what is needed here is a bit of cool-headed elven logic and reason, [then say your idea]. [When you have an idea to share] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
3. You, sir, are the foul remnants of an orc’s bad digestion! [To insult a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
4. Fear not, young one, the golden sun (or silvery moon) shall shine again. [To encourage/comfort a comrade] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
5. And now the melodious harmony of an elven incantation shall end the dissonance of your corrupted soul. [elf magician destroying a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
6. Now that’s a tale the minstrels shall recount for the next 300 years. [At conclusion of adventure] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
7. In the name of the Sylvan Court, I offer up my prayers for your swift recovery. May the essence of the forest infuse you with strength and grant you respite from affliction. [elven cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
8. Merciless were the hands of Man with Spring's bounty... [when the food's not great][u/howlinghenbane]
9. And now we ride, like the leaves upon the wind. [let's get going] [u/howlinghenbane]
10. The wisdom of your words begets honor, my friend. [you agree with the plan] [u/howlinghenbane]
11. I'm yet to be convinced that this plan merits a stanza in our song. [you think the plan is perhaps unwise] [u/howlinghenbane]
12. Alas, far away is the rest of [the elven homeland's name]. [the inn's bed was uncomfortable] [u/howlinghenbane]
13. Bid thy woes farewell, Children of [place]! [announce your arrival] [u/howlinghenbane]
14. Perhaps we should entertain the thought that [insert your idea]. [to suggest an idea] [u/howlinghenbane]
15. Dear friend, what tinges your visage with such sorrow? [to encourage an ally] [u/howlinghenbane]
16. I shall not neglect to notify your family of the undying shame of your imminent defeat . [to intimidate a foe] [u/howlinghenbane]
17. Fate's design saw it unfit. ["something did not work out"] [u/howlinghenbane]
18. Stand back! Or the ancient magic of this elven staff shall strike you down with the One Tree's might! [magic user intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
19. [sigh] How narrow is the vision of those with so few years. [the plan is bad because you don't have much experience because your lifespan is so short] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
20. "I've got my sneaky boots on and a very twitchy bow finger." [refrain from an elvish drinking song, also used to intimidate foes]
21. Let sleeping dragons lie. [traditional elvish wisdom]
22. Fear not, young one--This is not the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning! [to encourage an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers, with a nod to Churchill]
23. Sally forth, brave comrades! We shall all rest in Avalon on the appointed day, but today is not that day! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
24. As the winds whisper through the ancient forest, so too do I whisper words of healing. Feel the power of the calming song, banishing pain and bringing renewal. [elvish cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
25. I unleash the power of a thousand years of elven arcane art to rid the world of your offensive visage! [elf magic user prepares to destroy a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
26. Attack me, if you must, but these pointy ears shall never count among your battle trophies! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
27. By the light of the first moon and the wisdom of ages past, I channel the enduring energies of renewal. Let the healing touch of the elves flow through you, restoring what once was lost. [elven cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
28. Advice is a dangerous gift, best taken with caution. [traditional elvish wisdom]
29. Retreat is your best option, sir! This bow is strong, and my aim is true. [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
30. The hand of fate favors you this day; an elf is here to mend the unfortunate results of your reckless mistakes. [elf cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
31. Do not advance another step, sir, or you will do so with an arrow through the eye. [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
32. A wish is as dangerous as a dwarf with an axe. [age-old elvish wisdom]
33. Hear the song of the Fates! They sing of your imminent demise, head parted neatly from torso by my keen elvish blade! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
34. Fate smiles upon you, my friend. Ancient elven wisdom shall restore your flagging [spirit/strength/courage/etc.] this day. [elven cleric, druid, etc., heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
35. Come, my comrades, the day lies before us. With courage we shall live to sing its glory. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
36. Arise, my friends, from your sweet slumber. I've watched over you this night, and now it's time to continue our story. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
37. Rest, my friends. Great deeds deserve a calm moment of reflection and repose.[while making camp, long rest] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
38. Begone, I say! Else the unbridled power of the elvish arcane shall end your pathetic days among the living! [elvish magic user intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
39. A dagger on the hip is less dangerous than a quill in hand. [elvish diplomats' wisdom]
40. With this ancient incantation, I weave the threads of life anew. May the wisdom of our ancestors knit your wounds, bringing solace and restoration. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
41. Far have I traveled to slay you this day! Now shall you feel the bite of my keen-edged blade, forged by untiring elven smiths in a blinding fire of purity and grace! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
42. I've prepared a spot of elvish tea for you late sleepers. Drink, and be invigorated. Great deeds lie ahead. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
43. The situation is dire, but our will is unflagging! Arise! Take heart! By the grace of the One Tree we shall yet win the day! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
44. As the rivers flow and the seasons turn, so too does the cycle of life continue. I invoke the blessings of my elven ancestors, bringing healing to body and spirit. [an elvish cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
45. Though the darkness surrounds us, fear not. The light still shines from within. [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
46. I think it wise to pause here, I suspect the full ramifications of this course of action have not been specified in sufficient detail. [to disagree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
47. Good, yes--even an elven counsel might sanction this plan . . . with a bit of hesitation, perhaps, but yes, let us proceed with caution. [to agree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
48. Distance is the finest armor. [common elvish battle strategy]
49. I do not sleep, and I do not fear, and I do not care for your miserable form. May this elvish rite end your days among the creatures of this fair land! [elf magician attacking a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
50. As long as the light still shines from this pure elven heart, you shall fear the whistle of my arrow and the sting of my longsword's strike! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
51. Take heart, comrades! The brave shall yet see the sun rise and hear the birds sing! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
52. The greatest swordsman wields a sheathed sword. [elvish wisdom]
53. Fight bravely, my friends! Be worthy of the poet's quill! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
54. Do not tarry, sleepy ones, the golden dawn breaks upon the misty horizon. [to start a new day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
55. With this spell I bid farewell to your sad soul, as it leaves the stage of your life's short performance. [elf magician ending a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
56. Do not approach, or the sweet song of my sword shall sever that vile head from your sweaty neck! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
57. Let us pause a moment, young ones--I fear this endeavor may not fully achieve the desired outcome. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
58. Ambitious, this plan. Admirable, yes, but a bit too ambitious, I suspect. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
59. "Out-think! Out-shoot! Out-maneuver!" [elvish regimental battle chant]
60. From the darkest depths of the sea below to the sun-filled heights of clouds above, I call upon the divine grace of the elven gods to fill you with vitality and mend your injuries. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
61. Flee, you fools! Or the ancient elven magic bound within me shall be unleashed to strike you down and end your wretched days! [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
62. I concur. Let us continue our song of adventure, that others may hear, take heart, and resist the fell darkness! [to agree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
63. The life-song of my enemies will be cut short this day! [to rally friends, intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
64. In the dance of light and shadow, I find the balance needed to mend. Let the radiance of the sacred groves envelop you, bringing comfort and renewal in your time of need. [an elven cleric heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
65. Turn and run, you foul creature, or I shall be forced to end the song of your soul! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
66. Even the mighty oak bends in a strong wind. [know when it's best to compromise/retreat] [elvish battle wisdom]
67. Rise! Rise, my comrade! The light of your soul shines still, and your song is unfinished! [to encourage a downed ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
68. All is not lost, my bow yet sings the song of my ancestors! [to rally your friends] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
69. "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes." [Frodo, commenting on the mysteries of elvish advice]
70. Your days are few in number, young one. Rise, take courage, and live them to the end. [elven cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
71. Speak/sing well, my friend, earn the envy of the songbirds. [to encourage a bard] [u/nagonjin]
72. I would counsel against this endeavor; I fear the outcome may not be as sanguine as one might hope. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
73. “Don’t praise the light of day before the dark of night” [don’t count your chickens before they hatch] [u/PfenixArtwork]
74. A word from me and ancient elven magic shall slay you upon the spot. Now leave. [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
75. "Good as a wet bowstring" [elvish description of something that is useless] [u/FoxInSox2]
76. In the embrace of nature's grace, let wounds fade and strength renew! May the whispers of the forest mend your flesh and soothe your spirit. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
77. Turn away, I say! Or my ancient elven incantation shall lay low your wretched form and leave it quivering upon the embarrassed ground! [spell caster intimidates a foe][u/ProfBumblefingers]
78. “A quiet forest means trouble” [u/PfenixArtwork]
79. Rally, my friends! Your short days are not yet at an end! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
80. "Wisdom cannot be bought but always comes at a price" [u/Vynaxos]
81. This ancient elven staff knows the number of your days, and your days are now at an end. [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
82. The art of the elvish archer this day shall paint the portrait of your demise! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
83. "Mayflies." [elf slang for humans, due to mayflies' short lifespan] [u/k-mazov]
84. Run, yes run, you villainous spawn! . . . or my blade shall cut your fleeting life shorter still! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
85. "A Man's Age" [elven unit of time, equal to 60-80yrs] [u/nix131]
86. Stand back! Or I shall use this blade to write an elvish poem upon your loathsome corpse! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
87. May the stars watch over your path. [u/Martinus_XIV]
88. FEAR this terrible bow! Its wood from a ancient yew. Crafted by high-born elves. VENGEANCE comes for you! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
89. Fool, you have annoyed me. Submit now, or know the terrible might of an offended elvish mage !!!! [elf magician intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
90. You need to sharpen your ears. [you need be wiser / more cautious] [u/zoundtek808]
91. May the light of the One Tree heal your body and restore your soul. [elven cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
92. Find a space within the noise and listen to the silence. [elven cleric/druid wisdom] [u/soldyne]
93. Stand fast! It is always darkest just before the dawn. [to encourage an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
94. "The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the [east, west, etc.]." [Legolas, warning that foes are on the march]
95. "Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end." [Legolas, musing on the vagaries of fate]
96. “Farewell, and may the blessing of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you. May the stars shine upon your faces!” [Elrond, offering a fond farewell]
97. "The hearts of men are easily corrupted." [Galadriel, musing on her human allies]
98. "You have no power here! You are nameless! Faceless! Formless! Go back to the void from whence you came!" [Galadriel, intimidating a big bad]
99. "May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out." [Galadriel, offering a magical light to Frodo, maybe you say this when offering a torch/lantern to a comrade]
100. "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." [Galadriel, offering encouragement to us all]

​
Finally, here's an older Reddit thread with some fun advice on playing an Elf:
https://www.reddit.com/rpg/comments/4rcdpz/how_to_play_an_elven_character_when_you_are_not/
​

I think many have known by now that the company Howler is a reference to the King Crimson song "The Howler". But, there's an interesting further connection that is worth speculating.
King Crimson was on hiatus for seven years before they released three studio albums in the 1980s known for introducing a completely different style of music that diverged from previous albums: Discipline, Beat, and Three of a Perfect Pair.
Discipline introduced this new sound, which introduced two new American members and was known for creating a style of music that ultimately became post-progressive rock and also the inspiration for math rock. The overall album is known using vocal improvisation. Notably, the lead song of this album is "Matte Kudasai", a song known to have two versions of itself due to some issues with production; the album itself had to be re-released with a different album cover art due to copyright issues with the first initial art. There's also the song "Thela Hun Ginjeet", which is inspired by Adrian Belew's encounter being harassed by both a gang and the police (note that it is an anagram of "Heat in the Jungle" and "heat" is often used as slang for guns or police). "The Sheltering Sky" is based on a story of the same name about a couple who thought a vacation in Africa would solve their relationship and known for its rather bleak and raw depictions; it serves as a warning for those who think a life of glorified danger and risks entail a great reward for those who succeed overcoming it. The story also served as one of the inspirations for the album that followed Discipline: Beat.
Beat is based on the Beatnik culture, which has shown some influence in Discipline through "The Sheltering Sky" but became full-on the source of the second album's inspiration while also incorporating sounds of New Wave. Almost every song is based off some work by a Beatnik writer. Most famously is "The Howler", based on Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl", which was published right before the beginning of American counterculture and during the San Francisco Renaissance. "Howl" discusses the oppressiveness of society and is known to not only be a critique on capitalism and conformity but a poem dedicated to the outcasts of society (the LGBTQIA+, the neurodivergent, etc.). "The Howler" is known to be played with another song in the album "Neurotica", which follows "Thela Hun Ginjeet"'s approach to using animal and jungle imagery to describe the city and its residents. Someone also mentioned how "Neurotica" is about ways people are deceived and distracted from seeing other problems. Beat is also known for its various love-themed songs (Neal and Jack and Me, Heartbeat, Two Hands, etc.). Interestingly, there is only ONE song that was not inspired by Beatnik called "Requiem". The song is most known for causing King Crimson to break up and later reconcile. Long story short, creative differences between wanting to retain King Crimson's initial style and taking on the new style shown in Beat caused one member to completely ghost the band for three days.
The last album of this trilogy that has yet to be introduced as a reference is Three of a Perfect Pair. The album wasn't as well received compared to the previous two but is known for showing two sides of King Crimson in terms of style. The album explores the concept of duality and the idea of one side vs another side vs the truth. The left side is known for the New Wave style connected to Beat while the right side is known for the Industrial style connected to Discipline. It's known for having a total of nine tracks, with half labeled as "accessible" and the other half as "excessive". The album art is meant to be minimal but also allude to sex and the relationship between sun and moon.
The title song, which is on the left side, is about a couple working out everyday struggles and one of them possibly having some sort of mental issue that represents a "third" personality within the relationship. There's a sort of resignation of the relationship, describing it as a "perfect mess". Another song, "Model Man", is about accepting the flaws of oneself after spending a lot of time trying to achieve unrealistic standards/changing oneself to be perfect. "Sleepless" was inspired by insomnia experienced by a member of the band and the lyrics include "don't fight it, it's over your head, can you pull me out, it's alright to feel a little fear", which sort of ties into the concept of accepting absurdity and things happening for no reason. Some speculate it is a song about experiencing sleep paralysis.
On the right side, we get something completely different. All four songs are sequenced as one single suite and are mostly instrumental. "Dig Me" is the only song with lyrics and tells the story of a once-prized car now sitting in rust, begging to go out with one final bang instead of being abandoned; it was later sampled by duo Gang Starr for "Words I Manifest (Remix)". "Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part III)" is part of a suite of songs. Part I and II were done in 1973, with Part III being featured in Three of a Perfect Pair. One thing to note is the actual dish is known to be eaten by the wealthy or monarchs of the past; when it came back into the 70s as nouvelle cuisine, it was mocked. Interestingly, some fans considered Part III to be the worst of all five parts and don't really like how it's used to end the album due to it intentionally fading out suddenly.
The bonus side, meant to represent the "truth" side, consists of remixes of "Sleepless" and a sequel to "Industry" as Industrial A&B. There is a silly track called "The King Crimson Barber Shop" which was made as a joke.
Knowing all of this, let the theorizing commence! Feel free to add more to this as well. :)

Some players (especially new players) are nervous about roleplaying because they don’t know what their type of character (race, class, background, etc.) would say. Let’s build little “cheat sheets” of 100 things that a common character type could say in some common roleplaying situations. Of course, the player can have their character say anything that fits the situation, but this would be a little list that the player could pull from for inspiration or for a quick phrase in a moment when the player doesn’t know what to say. A player shouldn't say one of these phrases every turn, just sprinkle them here and there during a play session when it seems like the character should say something.
Let’s start with an Elf (any class, any background).What would an Elf (maybe Legolas, or Elrond, or Galadriel, or an elf from a module, or your elf character) say in one of these common roleplaying situations:

• When you first set off on an adventure, or start a new day
• When you think your group’s plan of action sounds good, and you agree
• When you think your group’s plan of action stinks, and you disagree
• When you want to Taunt / Insult / Intimidate a foe
• When you want to Encourage / Praise / Comfort a comrade
• When you conclude an adventure, or end a day

d100 Elf Phrases:

1. “The stars do not wait upon the lethargic. Let us start/resume our noble quest.” [To start a new day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
2. “A moment, my friends. I believe what is needed here is a bit of cool-headed elven logic and reason, [then say your idea]” [When you have an idea to share] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
3. “You, sir, are the foul remnants of an orc’s bad digestion!” [To insult a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
4. “Fear not, young one, the golden sun (or silvery moon) shall shine again.” [To encourage/comfort a comrade] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
5. And now the melodious harmony of an elven incantation shall end the dissonance of your corrupted soul. [elf magician destroying a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
6. Now that’s a tale the minstrels shall recount for the next 300 years. [At conclusion of adventure] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
7. In the name of the Sylvan Court, I offer up my prayers for your swift recovery. May the essence of the forest infuse you with strength and grant you respite from affliction. [elven cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
8. Merciless were the hands of Man with Spring's bounty... [when the food's not great][u/howlinghenbane]
9. And now we ride, like the leaves upon the wind. [let's get going] [u/howlinghenbane]
10. The wisdom of your words begets honor, my friend. [you agree with the plan] [u/howlinghenbane]
11. I'm yet to be convinced that this plan merits a stanza in our song. [you think the plan is perhaps unwise] [u/howlinghenbane]
12. Alas, far away is the rest of [the elven homeland's name]. [the inn's bed was uncomfortable] [u/howlinghenbane]
13. Bid thy woes farewell, Children of [place]! [announce your arrival] [u/howlinghenbane]
14. Perhaps we should entertain the thought that [insert your idea]. [to suggest an idea] [u/howlinghenbane]
15. Dear friend, what tinges your visage with such sorrow? [to encourage an ally] [u/howlinghenbane]
16. I shall pass the undying shame of your defeat on to your family. [on intimidate a foe] [u/howlinghenbane]
17. Fate's design saw it unfit. ["something did not work out"] [u/howlinghenbane]
18. Stand back! Or the ancient magic of this elven staff shall strike you down with the One Tree's might! [magic user intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
19. [sigh] How narrow is the vision of those with so few years. [the plan is bad because you don't have much experience because your lifespan is so short] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
20. "I've got my sneaky boots on and a very twitchy bow finger." [refrain from an elvish drinking song, also used to intimidate foes]
21. Let sleeping dragons lie. [traditional elvish wisdom]
22. Fear not, young one--This is not the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning! [to encourage an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers, with a nod to Churchill]
23. Sally forth, brave comrades! We shall all rest in Avalon on the appointed day, but today is not that day! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
24. As the winds whisper through the ancient forest, so too do I whisper words of healing. Feel the power of the calming song, banishing pain and bringing renewal. [elvish cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
25. I unleash the power of a thousand years of elven arcane art to rid the world of your offensive visage! [elf magic user prepares to destroy a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
26. Attack me, if you must, but these pointy ears shall never count among your battle trophies! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
27. By the light of the first moon and the wisdom of ages past, I channel the enduring energies of renewal. Let the healing touch of the elves flow through you, restoring what once was lost. [elven cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
28. Advice is a dangerous gift, best taken with caution. [traditional elvish wisdom]
29. Retreat is your best option, sir! This bow is strong, and my aim is true. [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
30. The hand of fate favors you this day; an elf is here to mend the unfortunate results of your reckless mistakes. [elf cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
31. Do not advance another step, sir, or you will do so with an arrow through the eye. [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
32. A wish is as dangerous as a dwarf with an axe. [age-old elvish wisdom]
33. Hear the song of the Fates! They sing of your imminent demise, head parted neatly from torso by my keen elvish blade! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
34. Fate smiles upon you, my friend. Ancient elven wisdom shall restore your flagging [spirit/strength/courage/etc.] this day. [elven cleric, druid, etc., heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
35. Come, my comrades, the day lies before us. With courage we shall live to sing its glory. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
36. Arise, my friends, from your sweet slumber. I've watched over you this night, and now it's time to continue our story. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
37. Rest, my friends. Great deeds deserve a calm moment of reflection and repose.[while making camp, long rest] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
38. Begone, I say! Else the unbridled power of the elvish arcane shall end your pathetic days among the living! [elvish magic user intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
39. A dagger on the hip is less dangerous than a quill in hand. [elvish diplomats' wisdom]
40. With this ancient incantation, I weave the threads of life anew. May the wisdom of our ancestors knit your wounds, bringing solace and restoration. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
41. Far have I traveled to slay you this day! Now shall you feel the bite of my keen-edged blade, forged by untiring elven smiths in a blinding fire of purity and grace! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
42. I've prepared a spot of elvish tea for you late sleepers. Drink, and be invigorated. Great deeds lie ahead. [to start the day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
43. The situation is dire, but our will is unflagging! Arise! Take heart! By the grace of the One Tree we shall yet win the day! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
44. As the rivers flow and the seasons turn, so too does the cycle of life continue. I invoke the blessings of my elven ancestors, bringing healing to body and spirit. [an elvish cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
45. Though the darkness surrounds us, fear not. The light still shines from within. [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
46. I think it wise to pause here, I suspect the full ramifications of this course of action have not been specified in sufficient detail. [to disagree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
47. Good, yes--even an elven counsel might sanction this plan . . . with a bit of hesitation, perhaps, but yes, let us proceed with caution. [to agree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
48. Distance is the finest armor. [common elvish battle strategy]
49. I do not sleep, and I do not fear, and I do not care for your miserable form. May this elvish rite end your days among the creatures of this fair land! [elf magician attacking a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
50. As long as the light still shines from this pure elven heart, you shall fear the whistle of my arrow and the sting of my longsword's strike! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
51. Take heart, comrades! The brave shall yet see the sun rise and hear the birds sing! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
52. The greatest swordsman wields a sheathed sword. [elvish wisdom]
53. Fight bravely, my friends! Be worthy of the poet's quill! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
54. Do not tarry, sleepy ones, the golden dawn breaks upon the misty horizon. [to start a new day] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
55. With this spell I bid farewell to your sad soul, as it leaves the stage of your life's short performance. [elf magician ending a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
56. Do not approach, or the sweet song of my sword shall sever that vile head from your sweaty neck! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
57. Let us pause a moment, young ones--I fear this endeavor may not fully achieve the desired outcome. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
58. Ambitious, this plan. Admirable, yes, but a bit too ambitious, I suspect. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
59. "Out-think! Out-shoot! Out-maneuver!" [elvish regimental battle chant]
60. From the darkest depths of the sea below to the sun-filled heights of clouds above, I call upon the divine grace of the elven gods to fill you with vitality and mend your injuries. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
61. Flee, you fools! Or the ancient elven magic bound within me shall be unleashed to strike you down and end your wretched days! [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
62. I concur. Let us continue our song of adventure, that others may hear, take heart, and resist the fell darkness! [to agree to a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
63. The life-song of my enemies will be cut short this day! [to rally friends, intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
64. In the dance of light and shadow, I find the balance needed to mend. Let the radiance of the sacred groves envelop you, bringing comfort and renewal in your time of need. [an elven cleric heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
65. Turn and run, you foul creature, or I shall be forced to end the song of your soul! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
66. Even the mighty oak bends in a strong wind. [know when it's best to compromise/retreat] [elvish battle wisdom]
67. Rise! Rise, my comrade! The light of your soul shines still, and your song is unfinished! [to encourage a downed ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
68. All is not lost, my bow yet sings the song of my ancestors! [to rally your friends] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
69. "Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes." [Frodo, commenting on the mysteries of elvish advice]
70. Your days are few in number, young one. Rise, take courage, and live them to the end. [elven cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
71. Speak/sing well, my friend, earn the envy of the songbirds. [to encourage a bard] [u/nagonjin]
72. I would counsel against this endeavor; I fear the outcome may not be as sanguine as one might hope. [to disagree with a plan] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
73. “Don’t praise the light of day before the dark of night” [don’t count your chickens before they hatch] [u/PfenixArtwork]
74. A word from me and ancient elven magic shall slay you upon the spot. Now leave. [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
75. "Good as a wet bowstring" [elvish description of something that is useless] [u/FoxInSox2]
76. In the embrace of nature's grace, let wounds fade and strength renew! May the whispers of the forest mend your flesh and soothe your spirit. [elf cleric healing an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
77. Turn away, I say! Or my ancient elven incantation shall lay low your wretched form and leave it quivering upon the embarrassed ground! [spell caster intimidates a foe][u/ProfBumblefingers]
78. “A quiet forest means trouble” [u/PfenixArtwork]
79. Rally, my friends! Your short days are not yet at an end! [to encourage allies] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
80. "Wisdom cannot be bought but always comes at a price" [u/Vynaxos]
81. This ancient elven staff knows the number of your days, and your days are now at an end. [elven magic user intimidates a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
82. The art of the elvish archer this day shall paint the portrait of your demise! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
83. "Mayflies." [elf slang for humans, due to mayflies' short lifespan] [u/k-mazov]
84. Run, yes run, you villainous spawn! . . . or my blade shall cut your fleeting life shorter still! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
85. "A Man's Age" [elven unit of time, equal to 60-80yrs] [u/nix131]
86. Stand back! Or I shall write an elvish poem upon your loathsome corpse! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
87. May the stars watch over your path. [u/Martinus_XIV]
88. FEAR this terrible bow! Its wood from a ancient yew. Crafted by high-born elves. VENGEANCE comes for you! [to intimidate a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
89. Fool, you have annoyed me. Submit now, or know the terrible might of an offended elvish mage !!!! [elf magician intimidating a foe] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
90. You need to sharpen your ears. [you need be wiser / more cautious] [u/zoundtek808]
91. May the light of the One Tree heal your body and restore your soul. [elven cleric/druid heals an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
92. Find a space within the noise and listen to the silence. [elven cleric/druid wisdom] [u/soldyne]
93. Stand fast! It is always darkest just before the dawn. [to encourage an ally] [u/ProfBumblefingers]
94. "The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the [east, west, etc.]." [Legolas, warning that foes are on the march]
95. "Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end." [Legolas, musing on the vagaries of fate]
96. “Farewell, and may the blessing of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you. May the stars shine upon your faces!” [Elrond, offering a fond farewell]
97. "The hearts of men are easily corrupted." [Galadriel, musing on her human allies]
98. "You have no power here! You are nameless! Faceless! Formless! Go back to the void from whence you came!" [Galadriel, intimidating a big bad]
99. "May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out." [Galadriel, offering a magical light to Frodo, maybe you say this when offering a torch/lantern to a comrade]
100. "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." [Galadriel, offering encouragement to us all]

​
Also, here's an older Reddit thread with some fun advice on playing an Elf:
https://www.reddit.com/rpg/comments/4rcdpz/how_to_play_an_elven_character_when_you_are_not/

Should I tell her these unsaid thoughts and feelings?
Hello guys I'm new to this community. I don't know if it's appropriate to ask this here, but here goes nothing.
I'll keep the story as short as possible. I met this girl on Omegle last March. She caught my attention for being humorous, with a twist of fun personality. I can't even explain it, but all I know is she is quite unique. To be honest, I'm just on Omegle to hear people's thoughts and their different perspectives because I'm fond of it. I'm just there lang to listen to their problems and comfort them and just end the convo with no strings attached. Usually I don't give my social media to strangers, but in her case, I don't know, I didn't even hesitate to give her my socmed. She was an exception. We talked day by day, months passed. I love talking with her even tho I have nothing much to say. I even adapt her ka-kulitan and her way of typing and slang, matching her energy, we have a lot in common and it's been a year now since we've been having a convo for a while. Last year, it was the month of September. There's this weird feeling na napagtanto ko na maybe nagugustuhan ko siya? Is it attachment? Or am I just infatuated? My heart is beating so fast when I think of it, it gives me butterflies. I was so unsure of what I'm feeling kasi I've never felt this in my whole life. I'm an 18 years old. If you guys are curious why I've never felt like this, kasi I tend to push people away and I don't want to be attached to others since it will be just a waste of time, my thinking back then. Back then, I know naman na interested na 'ko sakanya to the point na I wanted to get to know her every little thing about her. I open up about certain topics, even dumb conversations because I wanted to know her every depths of it thinking it'll deepen our connection. I adore her so much. I remember she says dati that she's afraid of commitment, I felt relief because ako rin naman and I wanted to build a genuine connection and take my time and get to know her but our convo some of it feels like lack of words exchanged. It feels like maybe she's not into these topics, so I tried many ways to get to know her.
Months passed, I noticed that the vibe/energy shift like she will respond to me an houhours. I'm quite an observant person so yea I noticed it. I'm thinking na maybe she's just busy? Or maybe she's talking w another guy? (I knew but i act clueless).
Fast forward until it was a month of January, and yes, it was 5 months of making sure what I'm feeling with her, kasi ayoko naman sabihin sakanya when I am unsure of what I'm feeling towards her. I already have my answer, so I sat down and got a pen and let my feelings out and did the work. I wrote 5 letters full of paragraphs attempting to make 14 letters because I'm planning to make a mini book about what i felt about her and ship it to her w flowers on February 14, but it's kind of cheesy, right? So I only did 5 since it was March 5 last year since we started having a convo. I also wrote 5 poems and make her a spotify playlist hihi kasi why not. when I was doing the last poem, the fifth one, I decided na magpahinga since my eyes are tired but my body doesn't. I scrolled on TikTok and I stumbled upon her repost and just found out that nagpaparinig siya sa ibang guy sa repost niya. I just stared at it and it felt like sinikmura ako pero sa dibdib. So I stalked her TikTok repost and found out there's another guy she's interested with. I hear those birds chirping loudly in my ear, my heart felt so heavy and I can also hear my heartbeat, my vision gets blurry, these feelings that I've never felt before. I was full of thoughts that time and I just fall asleep and woke up my pillow got drenched with my own tears.
I didn't expect that I would be like this with someone, because I was even scared to let someone into my life. But when I met her, my perspectives changed. knowing that I'm willing to risk everything for her.
I opened my TikTok and saw the guy na pinaparinggan niya sa repost. He viewed my profile, and my profile views are turned on. I knew it was him since they followed each other. Fast forward, it's Feb 5. I decided to distract myself with things that I find interesting. while scrolling on TikTok i saw those reposts tell na she was genuinely happy with that guy and reposting something like "gatekeeping this guy" with those kinds of reposts. I decided to distance myself and I ignored her, which the ignored part is kind of immature, but honestly, I never felt jealous because what's most important for me is for her to be happy with nothing else and at least she found someone who made her happier than I ever 'did' during the months of us having conversations (did i?), and I'm genuinely happy for her. It's just that when I think of it, those weird feelings will keep rushing back again. I can't stop it unless I drown myself to sleep so I sat back until i lost my feelings for her. And I decided to burn those letters, I was hesitant but did it anyways. It was February 13, and I noticed her sad repost, so I decided to message her back. I asked her kung anong meron.
Apparently, the guy she was talking to was actually having another girl while also making her fall too. Those weird feelings come rushing back to me. But I tried to pull it together, but when she mentioned that they just talked around January, I lost it. My mind goes completely blanked; it feels like something in me is shattered inside. In that short period of weeks, she's falling w him. While I'm stucked here thinking of ways to get to know her deeper. Those reposts she shared shows grown deeply attached to that guy, and it feels like they've known each other for decades. Tbh I can't understand why she sheds her tears over a guy like that; she should've felt relief right kasi nakawala siya w a guy like that. I have so many questions to ask pero I always hesitate, I couldn't blame her, her feelings are valid. I snapped out of it and comforted her. But why does it feel like I need someone to lean on for a mean time man lang? My heart felt physically heavy, that's what it feels like.
When she tells me about that guy, that was the only time that I noticed her most expressive with her emotions, and the way she responded to that guy, she was showing her expressive self (that's what I've been longing for). That's when I realized na kaibigan lang pala talaga kami. In the first place, she created the boundaries. I should've known that a long time ago. Why would something like that I forget? Was I blinded by the fact na nahuhulog na'ko sakanya? Why is it tempting to cross those boundaries? I wanted to know her deeper and to know her inner self, pero I couldn't. What did I even do to those months of us talking? Maybe from the beginning pa lang, I should've shown my true intentions to her clearly, followed by actions that matched my words. And maybe if I was an expressive person she wouldn't meet that guy that hurt her instead of me who would always be there for her. At that time, I was full of what ifs. And I realized I was too late and it was all one-sided. It's kind of pathetic that I created my own first heartbreak. I was a fool of myself.
Since then I can't sleep well, I can stay up hanggang hapon kasi I can't sleep even if I wanted. thinking that should I say this and open it up w her these unsaid thoughts and feelings? Maybe it could help? for my peace of mind na rin
Nung March 11, I decided to tell her sana about this, but Ramadan isn't declared as a holiday. So I've been thinking that I will open up this with her soon. But since this week is her exams, I don't want to bother her into something like this.
There are so many unsaid thoughts and feelings that I want to express to her, these are just a tip of it.
Does my feelings even valid?
I'm so lost rn
I'm sorry if you encounter any grammatical errors in my story. I typed it with a heavy feeling in my head :D
Anw
What are your thoughts about this?

https://truthisnotafiction.wordpress.com/2024/03/08/how-can-you-sleep-when-beds-are-burning/
Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
Living Nature
dead, troublesome adventure
crucified, motionless furniture
pozing in
living halls
flooded with
wandering strangers
you know…mostly
people without balls
Red sadness, imprinted on the
constantly, frantic moving walls
Souls!
Souls are turning
into dark pleasure
Satans, preferred treasure
Savage Ghouls
strange odor
silently is
knocking on Heaven’s door
Worldless Sign willingly speaks:
Here, a new destiny begins
The true Soul will never fall
Pathway to Gral
see them all
see them now
when life is confiscated
upside down
Angel with broken wings
a bottleneck of broken sins
prelude to the dark dance
paradise trapped in a wicked romance
Stance or stand
strange Cult
in you hand
frozen picture
of your
favorite band?
Morbid Slang or Bad Sign
misfortune incoming
right on, proposed time?
A poet, without good rhyme
Salut to Child in Time
is this dream, really mine?
I feel fine
how about you?
find, any clue
still writing songs
that, are Painted in Blue?
Sloppy Red Deer ahead
The white breath in your head
Carry on
be strong
so, you were wrong…
We all sometimes fall
like ragdolls
we are
put on hold
we break
we take
for our sake
we want to know
who sleeps in the darkness?
down below
Time is standing still
awaiting reanimated
human will
invoice without bill
Devils to kill
for the sake of the thrill?
Run for cover
veining power
is life here a sweet clover?
Judas Priest
looking for his
“Turbo Lover”
Not like other
don’t bother
just,
run for cover
​
For the rest of the poem click on the link above
​

Part 1: Sappho
This is Part 2a: Shakespeare Part 2b: Shakespeare Part 2c: Shakespeare
This is another part of a larger chapter I'm currently writing for AO3, looking at times that Taylor has referenced/quoted queer writers or literature, or times that she has drawn parallels with them. I've reached Shakespeare, and oh boy did I find myself with a lot to say. I last studied Shakespeare in school when Taylor was still writing Fearless, but I brushed off my old memories to go through some of the big ones for this piece.
The chapter is ongoing, but with reddit having post length limits it also felt like breaking it up into smaller chunks might be better. As a comparison for the amount of material being discussed, I did some quick maths and Taylor has likely produced over 8,000 lines of songs already.
This post discusses suicide, murder, rape/sexual assault (both male-on-female and female-on-male), abuse/intimate partner violence, and racism, sexism and homophobia. Shakespeare had a lot going on, y'all.
(The table formatting on reddit simply will NOT allow paragraphs, so I've had to convert from table to extended essay format here. My apologies.)
Also, a couple of notes which I will not be putting on AO3: firstly, the first dozen or so of the sonnets are super horny. They boil down to "breed me you sexy twink", and I was not prepared for that before I had my tea this morning. Secondly, Shakespeare's writing is absolutely chock full of filthy jokes and puns, with memorable ones including Hamlet's "Think you I speak of count...ry matters?". In fact, in Shakespearean England "nothing" was slang for "vagina", which gives the whole song "Sweet Nothing" a whole other way to be heard.
Also, I wrote so much about Shakespeare alone that it broke the reddit post length limit; as a result this post is split in half.
​
​
William Shakespeare, published between 1590 and 1613
William Shakespeare is regarded as perhaps one of the most influential playwrights and English language writers that the world has ever known. His works are studied and reinterpreted to this day, from post-doctoral analysis creating new theories, to teenagers in schools learning the basics of literary criticism. He is the earliest known use of any number of words or phrases, many of which he may have invented (although this number is decreasing with time due to the study of older texts identifying earlier uses in some cases) and which are still in use today - for example, he gives the earliest known description of jealousy as a "green-eyed monster" (Othello), to describe lovers as "star-crossed" (Romeo and Juliet) or to use the phrase "all's well that ends well" (play of the same name).
Shakespeare is known for combining using romantic plotlines as part of tragedies (previously they had been treated generally as only suited to more comedic stories), for his use of imagery and extended metaphors, and for his puns and wordplay. Throughout his writing career, he generally used iambic pentameter (verse with five stressed syllables per line); as he grew more skilled in it in later years, he began to deliberately break the rules to show disjointedness in the thoughts or intentions of certain characters - for example, in Othello, Othello himself begins using clear iambic pentameter which deteriorates over the course of the play as his sanity fractures, while the villain Iago uses slightly off-kilter and clumsy iambic pentameter from the beginning. Even his most tragic plays are known for using comedic scenes - traditionally taught as being used to appeal to the lower class, but now more acknowledged as being used to deliberately break tension - and the vast majority have at least some level of sexual joke or pun in them. While his writing style and the plots that he created or rewrote often shared similarities with other playwrights of his era, Shakespeare's greatest strengths and impacts on drama across various languages was the development of complex characters (instead of archetypes as were still in common use) and his deliberate use of character development within the narrative structure of his plays.
Although best known for his plays, of which there are 39, he also wrote over 150 sonnets (a specific structure of poem, 14 lines long, meaning over 2,000 lines in total), three narrative poems, and various other verses.
One of the reasons that Shakespeare continues to be the object of study is because of uncertainties that remain around him. Some individuals question whether he is also responsible (wholly or as co-author) for other works of the time, while others suggest that Shakespeare is not the sole author of all of the works and may be considered the published or public face of other authors (this is generally considered a fringe theory, but not outright denounced, and remains under discussion into the 21st century). Some of the arguments regarding authorship are due to a lack of evidence about Shakespeare himself, while a smaller fraction focus on the content and themes of the plays and question how one writer could have had so many distinct areas of knowledge at such a time and with the limited educational background that William Shakespeare is known to have. Both forms of this argument may well be familiar to those who are fans of Taylor Swift, who also attracts both theories that she has written certain songs under unclaimed pseudonyms and accusations - even in the 2020s - that she does not write her own songs at all.
Also familiar may be the fact that Shakespeare's sexuality has been under discussion since during his lifetime. A large number of his sonnets were published in 1609, perhaps without his consent; around one-sixth of them are considered to be addressed to or be about a woman (the "Dark Lady" of sonnets) and the remaining five-sixths to a man (the "Fair Youth" of sonnets). However, the same year a second book of poetry by Shakespeare was also published (not sonnets, but a different form of poetry), around the concept of a young woman who has been seduced and then spurned by a man. It has been suggested that these are two parts of a fictional narrative - the sonnets to the man exploring the nature of male sexuality and desire, and the poetry about the woman empathising with the women who were taken advantage of or hurt by this sexuality and desire.
This ambiguity of whether the sonnets are real, fictional, or some combination of the two further causes difficulty in knowing how to interpret the quite undeniable queer subtext and sexual references of the Fair Youth sonnets. However, if the content of the Dark Lady sonnets is believed to be indicative that Shakespeare had an affair with a married woman (and it is generally treated as evidence of such), then the assumption that the Fair Youth texts must be fictional is a double-standard, and a homophobic one. The famous phrase "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate" is, in fact, from one of the Fair Youth sonnets. John Benson republished the sonnets in 1640 with pronouns changed, to direct them all to a female love interest.
See also

• Review of Queer Shakespeare ed. Goran Stanivukovic by Sky Gilbert
• Shakespeare and Queer Theory by Melissa E. Sanchez
• Review of Shakespeare and Queer Theory by Melissa E. Sanchez by Daniel Juan Gil
• Shakespeare After Queer Theory Project Abstracts, which gives a list of areas where queer theory has been used to assess and explore various Shakespearean texts
• Queering the Bard, an interview with Madhavi Menon, editor of Shakesqueer
• Shakespeare and Queer Representation by Steven Guy-Bray

​
Shakespeare Play
All's Well That Ends Well
Taylor Swift Songs
Lover: "All's well that ends well to end up with you"
All Too Well 10MV: "All's well that ends well, but I'm in a new hell"
Thematic LinksAll's Well That Ends Well is considered one of Shakespeare's more morally complex plays, and usually classed as one of his "problem plays" as a result. Helena, who is a lower class woman skilled in healing, is in love with countess's son Bertram. She heals the King, and he rewards her with her choice of husband; she chooses Bertram, but he marries her and then leaves without consummation or even a kiss. She follows him to Italy, and befriends Diana with whom Bertram is infatuated; Diana helps her to obtain his family ring and Helena swaps places with Diana in bed so as to consummate the marriage. Helena then fakes her own death, prompting Bertram to return to France, where she confronts him with the ring; apparently impressed, Bertram agrees to accept her as his wife.
Helena is a complex character who struggles with and breaks gender expectations of women at the time. She actively pursues the object of her desires, which is a reversal of gender roles, even if what she desires is the socially-accepted (cisheteronormative and allonormative, see Sensual Politics chapter) goal of marriage. Her sex with Bertram was rape by deception (although, due to gendered double standards, it is not clear how many would acknowledge it as such even in the present day). Although she seems to express enjoyment for some parts of not having to take on the masculine, active role of pursuing, calling herself Bertram's "most obedient servant" to which he responds "come, no more of that", and in a scene with his mother the Countess (considered an excellent and desirable role for older female actors) seems to redefine herself as regretting her "ambitious love" and going on a sort of pilgrimage, leading the Countess to compare Helena to the Virgin Mary. However, her continued actions with the help of Diana indicate that this 'reinvention' of herself is more deliberate than heartfelt, and given that from the first act she has described herself to Bertram's friend Parolles as

There shall your master have a thousand loves,A mother, and a mistress, and a friend,A phoenix, captain, and an enemy,A guide, a goddess, and a sovereign,A counselor, a traitress, and a dear.

It is clear that she is self-aware of her own complexity. (Intriguingly, between her lyrics and her music videos especially Karma, Taylor has also compared herself to many of these things, most recently the phoenix in You're Losing Me.) But if Helena is an exploration of a woman constructing femininity and attempting to balance it with the realities of her human experience, Parolles can be seen as a construction of toxic masculinity long before the concept existed, speaking boastfully of his masculinity but in then revealed to be a coward and a liar. His name quite literally means "words", implying that he is nothing but talk, while Shakespeare uses an extended metaphor between the construction of social identity and the tailoring of clothing to explore how Parolles has 'tailored' his image and how other's view him. (In Taylor's works, consider the songs The Man for Parolles and Mastermind for Helena.)
Bertram, between Helena and Parolles, is often considered the weakest of the characters both in terms of his nature and in terms of how he was written (that is, on both a Watsonian and a Doylist level). His admiration for Parolles, which gives way to disdain when he discovers Parolles's false self, seems to run counter to the way in which he professes love for Helena at the end having seen the depths of her character. However, the play has historically given difficulty in its staging: how Bertram should deliver his ending lines, and how his reaction should be played, has varied from staging to staging. While some productions rely heavily on the if in "If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly, I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly" to suggest that Bertram's avowed love remains conditional, while others play into him being awed and in wonder to an almost magical or fairy tale extent, and still other performers treat him as being impressed by Helena's true self and determination in contrast to his disappointment in Parolles. Some portrayals have leaned into a homoerotic interpretation of the relationship between Bertram and Parolles, meaning that the ending of Bertram's interactions with Parolles make him 'single' and emotionally available for Helena.
The ending is often considered ambiguous - and this may be intentional, given the statement by the King in the epilogue of "The King’s a beggar, now the play is done. / All is well ended if this suit be won, / That you express content". In other words, it is a happy ending if it is declared to be so - but Shakespeare does not state overtly that it must be considered such.
The complexity of gendered expectations on Helena are ones which are likely familiar to women throughout history, and which Taylor has expressed and discussed both in interviews/media (it is a strong theme in Miss Americana) and in her songs (Mastermind, The Man). She has also explored her own nature as reflecting the expectations of those around her (mirrorball, Lavender Haze, Dear Reader) as well as calling herself a "pathological people pleaser" and being public about her struggle to balance her own ambition and agency with the fact that doing so is considered unfeminine and may even be construed as threatening by others, especially men, around her. Meanwhile, throughout Taylor's discography she has used dresses as a metaphor for relationships (Holy Ground "spinning like a girl in a brand new dress") but also uses them as metaphors for roles and presentation (Better Than Revenge "no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity", Dear John "the girl in the dress", Blank Space "darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream", Vigilante Shit dressing metaphors). Similarly, she often contrasts heels as being performative and involving work, compared to bare feet references as honesty and openness.
Given the complexity of the play, then, it perhaps brings a new angle to Taylor's use of the phrase "all's well that ends well" in Lover (2019) and All Too Well 10 Minute Version (2021 - we have no known confirmation of the new lyrics prior to this time). The phrase is often used in everyday language to reflect the concept that if something has a good or happy ending, it is worth the effort or strife that it took to get there, but even in this context it can also be seen that there is a darker interpretation wherein a poor outcome or an unforeseen negative effect could rewrite the history of such actions and render them negative by association. It can stray too close to "the end justifies the means" but also to the concept that no good actions are worthwhile unless there is ultimately a good outcome. Effort is worth nothing. With the concept of the play and its ambiguous ending, moreover, the phrase becomes a rhetorical question to the listener - did events "end well"? Were the trials therefore 'worth' the outcome? In the lyrics of the song Lover, there are still references to jealousy and insecurity ("I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you") in the present day, alongside the references to past struggles ("my heart's been borrowed, and yours has been blue"); the proximity of the phrase "all's well that ends well" to the latter would initially imply that Taylor is saying the struggles were worth the outcome of the song, but within the fearfulness and tension that runs through the Lover album as a whole the matter becomes more ambiguous. When is an 'end' drawn against which to judge all previous action? Can it be done within a person's lifetime, at their death, or do the consequences of a person's actions continue onwards? (By Midnights, the song Anti-Hero references hypothetical actions beyond Taylor's death.) And if circumstances change to a more negative one, does it negate any previous interpretation of actions as being 'worth it' or good? This externalising of the questions of justification and morality could also be considered to match with Taylor's role as a hyper-public figure and the way in which the media and public will judge her actions whether she actively invites them to or not.
In All Too Well (10 Minute Version), the phrase is more clearly being used in a negative sense. Firstly, it is put into the mouths of others, not Taylor herself - "they say all's well that ends well" (emphasis mine). By contrasting this phrase with her current and ongoing state of pain ("but I'm in a new hell every time") Taylor appears to underline that the mere fact that something "ends well" does not erase or undo hurt or harm which has arisen from the path there, and that when such an ending is hypothetical and not even confirmed it does not offer much comfort. With reference to the play, does the apparent happy ending between Bertram and Helena justify or excuse his abandonment of her, his seduction of other young women, or her marrying him against his will and performing rape by deception of him? Whether such a relationship ends well or ends happily, does it ever justify the actions that are taken along the way, if it "ends well"? In this sense, the reference becomes a critique of 'the ends justify the means' moral constructs, specifically in the context of a deeply unhealthy romantic relationship.
​
Shakespeare Plays:
Hamlet, Julius Caesar
Taylor Swift Songs:
Look What You Made Me Do
The Archer: "all of my enemies started out friends"
mirrorball
peace: "I never had the courage of my convictions"
hoax: "stood on the cliffside"
Thematic Links
Both Hamlet and Julius Caesar are counted among Shakespeare's tragedies and deal with matters of betrayal - Hamlet in the wake of it and grappling with the moral questions of justice and revenge, Julius Caesar in the approach to it. Both plays compare and draw parallels between political/social conflict and domestic/interpersonal conflict, between family (Hamlet) or between friends and allies (Julius Caesar); Taylor has explored political themes using a similar analogy in Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, but also extensively discussed issues of betrayal and suspicion in both romantic and non-romantic (e.g. Look What You Made Me Do, This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Vigilante Shit) as well as ambiguous (e.g. my tears ricochet, hoax; Bad Blood was initially marketed as being non-romantic in nature until Taylor admitted that it was about an ex) situations. Even in songs which are not primarily about betrayal or conflict, but focus on herself, Taylor also often makes references to her own expectations of and relationship to betrayals, denials, justice and revenge, from The Archer ("all of my enemies started out friends") to the Anti-Hero music video in which her performative self tries to impress upon her songwriting self "Everyone Will Betray You".
Both Hamlet and Julius Caesar also deal in fractured selves, facades and secrets. In Hamlet, the focus is more on active pretence and feigned behaviour, from Hamlet's faked madness to the ambiguity of whether the ghost of Hamlet's father is real or the metaphorical experience of stressed and fracturing minds. In the end, most noticeably, Hamlet goes from faking madness in order to be able to investigate his father's death to actually spiralling into real mental health issues and questioning the reality and meaning of everything around him. In Julius Caesar, meanwhile, the conflict is greater between the nature of the person and that of the public figure - as Caesar himself says, "I rather tell thee what is to be feared/ than what I fear; for always I am Caesar". There is a distinction between Julius the man and Caesar the politician and public figure. In parallel, Brutus's actions can be seen as a struggle between his personal opinions and fond feelings for Caesar, and his decision that for the good of all it is necessary for Caesar to die.
Many analyses of this conflicts between the public and the private liken the struggles to both current politicians and to current celebrities, and it is clear in Taylor's own work that she is quite aware of her similar position. Unlike many celebrities who perform under stage names (Lady Gaga, Elton John, Lorde) or actors whose stage names must be unique to register with the Screen Actors Guild (Emma Stone is actually Emily Stone; David Tennant was born David McDonald; Michael Keaton was born Michael Douglas), Taylor Swift does not have such a clear separation between her public and private 'self'. This has been compounded by her extensive and highly successful appeal to fans' parasocial tendencies. From songs as early as Tied Together With a Smile, Taylor has clearly been aware of the difference between public appearance and personal struggles, although these themes intensify sharply from reputation onwards (Dress: "everyone thinks that they know us"; mirrorball; use of multiple selves in music videos; vocal layering and distortion, eg in Midnight Rain). Taylor has for some years now made it clear that there is a distinction between her real self and her public self, even as we live in a social media landscape which is markedly different than even the one in which she rose to fame.
Hamlet is noted for its subversion of the standard revenge plot, as Hamlet struggles to follow through on his intentions to act to avenge his father. The self-doubt and existential complexities which delay Hamlet's action ultimately contribute to his death, as they leave his uncle enough time to prepare to kill him. In Miss Americana, Taylor states, "There's this thing people say about celebrities, that they're frozen at the age they got famous,"; a similar theme can be seen throughout the songs in her discography. from King of My Heart ("bridges burn, I never learn") to The Archer ("I never grow up, it's getting so old"), from this is me trying ("I was so far ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere") to Anti-Hero ("I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser"), Taylor has explored the complexity of trying to learn and change ones self, especially from the point of view of being in the public eye and in a state of regular superficial reinvention to stay relevant and accepted. For those who follow Gaylor theories and believe or suspect that in 2019, Taylor was planning to come out during her Lover era but was prevented from doing so by the sale of her masters or other events and pressures, the parallels that can be seen in her post-Lover albums are particularly notable, especially in peace where she sings, "I never had the courage of my convictions, as long as danger is near", in seven and "I was too scared to jump in", and hoax and "my best laid plan" (a reference to "the best laid plans o' mice an' men gang aft aglay" meaning 'often go wrong', from To a Mouse by Robert Burns). Even in Midnights, we see songs such as Lavender Haze with "I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say" (a clear reference to 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' or the inability to act or not act without negative consequences), Maroon with the imagery of "rust that grew between telephones" implying inaction as a major part of the downfall of the relationship, and Question...? asking "did you wish you'd put up more of a fight?" Like Hamlet, it is clear that Taylor is exploring the complexity of choosing to act and the negative consequences of not doing so, and she heavily implies that there is inaction in her past which she deeply regrets.
As well as parallels being drawn between Taylor's cliff/jumping into water imagery and the supposed death of Sappho (see above), in the play of Hamlet the title character is asked by his friend Horatio "What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord/ Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff". This is of course separate from Hamlet's famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy, in which he explores suicidal ideation and the desire for ending his struggles, as well as considering the larger interpersonal and even political impacts that his death could have. Similar themes can be seen in this is me trying and in hoax (whose "stood on the cliffside screaming 'give me a reason'" is particularly ambiguous about whether it means a reason to live, or a reason to jump) which explore themes of depression and of the double sense of suicide both as an active choice and as a way of ceding autonomy.
Finally, it is worth noting that in Hamlet, Ophelia's body is found after her suicide beneath a willow tree (as described by Gertrude, Act IV Scene 7)
​
Shakespeare Play Macbeth
Taylor Swift Song my tears richochet
Thematic Links Although it is one of Shakespeare's shorter plays, Macbeth nonetheless explores and expresses complex ideas about betrayal, ambition, guilt and gender. At the centre of the plot is Macbeth's betrayal in killing Duncan to become king, and its subsequent emotional effects upon him - guilt, paranoia, isolation and, ultimately, madness. Lady Macbeth transgresses gendered expectations in driving Macbeth to commit the first murder, showing her own ambition, but ultimately she takes no active part in the violence and completes suicide 'offscreen' in Act V. Unlike the complexity of Helena in All's Well That Ends Well, however, Lady Macbeth's gender transgressions are undeniably part of her villainous nature, and contribute to a much more misogynistic portrayal - even when Macbeth talks in a more complimentary manner about her drive and ambition, he does so by comparing her to a man and stating that he would expect her to have sons, not daughters.
In my tears ricochet, Taylor also explores themes of betrayal and guilt, but more from the point of view of the one betrayed. The song uses the imagery of death and ghosts throughout for Taylor even as she is the narrator - making her into the ghost that haunts those who betrayed her. This is more comparable to the role of Duncan - victim, more than antagonist - in Macbeth. "You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me" could be seen as paralleling the way in which Duncan makes Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor after the previous Thane had betrayed Duncan. Moreover, Shakespeare's use of soliloquys - long monologues addressed to oneself and understood as representing internal thoughts not heard by anyone else on stage at the time - is as always present in Macbeth; in Act I Scene IV Macbeth thinks of killing Duncan and even declares " Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires". This may be reflected in "I still talk to you, when I'm screaming at the sky". As for "and when you can't sleep at night, you'll hear my stolen lullabies", the theme of sleeplessness as a sign of guilt and unravelling mental faculties appears throughout Macbeth, from Act I Scene III in which one of the witches talks about cursing a sailor to insomnia, to Act II Scene I in which Macbeth says as part of his "Is this a dagger which I see before me" soliloquy that he has been plagued by nightmares and restlessness since Duncan's murder, and reports of Lady Macbeth sleepwalking in later acts.
While my tears ricochet explores the feelings of being betrayed, the title and message of the song extend further, into exploring the consequences of other people, including the betrayer themselves. This pattern of exploring consequences is present within many of Shakespeare's tragedies, but in Macbeth, with the murder of Duncan coming at the end of the first act and the four following acts watching the consequences unravel, is a particularly fine example.
​
This is Part 2a: Shakespeare Part 2b: Shakespeare Part 2c: Shakespeare

LEGACY OF DESTRUCTION

Etymology/Translation Corner
Tagline: "The long silence is now broken. This battle between souls will carve open a way to the future and turn into light!!"
CM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxnOMm7miEY
Yugi: "My other self... I promise to beat you in this fight!"
Dark Yugi: "Partner... I'll take you on!"
Yugi: "Here I go! I'm betting it all on this card! Appear! The vicious dragon clad in black and gold who will unleash a shimmer of glorious devastation! Gandora Geas, the Dragon of Destruction!"
...
Yugi and Dark Yugi: "DUEL!!"
This is a list of translated Japanese names for all of the cards in Legacy of Destruction. See below for further notes.
Each card name is linked to an image!! (Use an image-zooming extension like Imagus to view them instantly.)
Any questions or issues you may have about the translations are welcome.

• Magicians of Bonds and Unity

1. Gandora Geas, the Dragon of Destruction
2. Silent Swordman Zero
3. Silent Magician Zero
4. Tricolore Gadget
5. Mashimarshmallon
6. Antique Gear Dark Golem / Mechanical Dark Giant of Antiquity
7. Antique Gear Tanker / Mechanical Tank Soldier of Antiquity
8. Antique Gear Commander / Mechanical Commander of Antiquity
9. Refrain, Melodious Songstress of the Phantasmic Performance
10. Couplet, Melodious Songstress of the Phantasmic Performance
11. Snake-Eyes Diabellstar / Great Flame Demon with Serpentine Eyes
12. Diabellze the Original Sin
13. Raika-no-Marikobe / Scourgebud Skullcone
14. Raika-no-Yahazukamikiri / Scourgebud Arrowhorn Beetle
15. Raika-no-Yoroitokage / Scourgebud Armor Lizard
16. Tenpai Dragon Paidora / Heavenly Cup Dragon - Paidora
17. Tenpai Dragon Fadora / Heavenly Cup Dragon - Fadora
18. Tenpai Dragon Chundora / Heavenly Cup Dragon - Chundora
19. Hellgrave Squirmer
20. Gold Pride - Assassinator
21. Centurion Gargoyle II / Dragoon Cavalry - Gargoyle II
22. Selettrice Varmonica / Voice-Picking Princess of Angels and Demons
23. Dragoon of Light-Road / Dragon of the Way of Light
24. Light-Road Demon Veiss
25. Wight Lord
26. Golgoil, the Great Demon of Steel
27. Moonfang Dragon - Crescent Dragon
28. Talons of Schlieren
29. Nightmare Apprentice / Apprentice Magician of Entrancement
30. Dinovader Docus
31. Cyclus the Summon Ring Fairy
32. Fishborg - Harpooner
33. Chilling Fire
34. Saffira, the Dragon Deity of Silent Voices
35. Spectacular Bach, Melodious Princess of the Phantasmic Performance
36. Flowering Étoile, Musical Flower Goddess of the Phantasmic Performance
37. Memento Twin Dragon
38. Enlightenment Dragoon / Dragon of Divine Light
39. Burgeoning Dragon of Lustrous Phantoms - Bident Dragion
40. Supreme Dragon of Lustrous Phantoms - Transcend Dragion
41. Gold Pride - Annihilator
42. Centurion Arxila / Empress of Knights - Arxila
43. Light-Road Athena Minerva
44. Goblin Rider - The Griare Trio / The Flesh-Eater Pandemonic Parade - The Griare Trio
45. Decanelogue - Varudras / Supreme Beast of the Endtime Commandments - Varudras
46. Okosama / Mister Angry Pants
47. Raika-no-Mushadokuro / Scourgebud Warrior Skull
48. Raika-no-Ogaminushi / Scourgebud Mantis Priest
49. Raika-no-Kusarigami / Scourgebud Chain Serpent
50. Raika-no-Daiohga / Scourgebud Great King Ogrefang
51. Gold Coffer of Light
52. The Silence of Time - Turn Silence
53. Ties of Friendship
54. Silence Towards the Future
55. Antique Gear Advance / March of Antiquity
56. Phantasmic Performance Concerto
57. The Battle of Tainted Treasures
58. Raika Off-Season Profusion / Off-Season Profusion of Scourgebuds
59. The Lustrous Phantom Parlor of Brimming Cups
60. Lustrous Phantoms: Opening the Gate
61. Nightmare Throne
62. A Blessing for the Silent Voices
63. Nether-Skeleton Fusion - Memento Fusion
64. Wake Up, Centurion!
65. Varmonica Invitare
66. Varmonica Disarmonia
67. Map Your Way Out
68. Blinkout
69. Metatronius / The Embodiment of God's Abyss in the Coexistent Worlds
70. Boot Tracks in the Snow, We Follow Them with Our Steps, One by One They Go
71. Strong-Hold the Hidden Fortress
72. Antique Gear Duel / Mechanical Competitive Bout of Antiquity
73. The Goblin Rider Grand Pile-Up / Grand Pile-Up of the Flesh-Eater Pandemonic Parade
74. Tainted Treasure Turnaround
75. Tainted Treasure of Slumbering - Morrigan
76. Raika Large-Flowered Headhunting Dance / Large-Flowered Headhunting Dance of the Scourgebuds
77. Light-Road Aegis
78. Barrier of Entrancement -Mirage Force-
79. Zoma the Earthbound Ghost
80. Terrifying Simultaneous Fixed-Point Cannon Equations

+1 Bonus Pack

• Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction

Etymology and other trivia:

Yugi's Deck

• Gandora Geas is a reference to Final Geas, a Trap Card used by Yugi Muto in THE DARK SIDE OF DIMENSIONS that was used to summon Gandora Cross, the Dragon of Annihilation, another counterpart to Yugi's original Gandora, the Dragon of Destruction. (A geas is an Irish-folklore term for an obligation or prohibition magically imposed on a person.) Its effect of Special Summoning a monster after using its effect is a reference to how Silent Swordman LV7 was brought back after Gandora used its effect in Yugi's Duel against Dark Bakura.
• Silent Swordman Zero and Silent Magician Zero are references to Yugi's Silent Swordman LV0 and Silent Magician LV0, respectively. Silent Magician Zero's Level-increasing effect is also a more faithful recreation of how the original one's worked.
• Tricolore is French for tricolor.
• Mashimarshmallon is a portmanteau of mashimashi (Japanese for "to increase" or "to enlarge") and Marshmallon, another of Yugi's monsters. It has the effect of Marshmallon Glasses built into it as well.
• Gold Coffer of Light is based on Yugi's Gold Coffer of Sealing (Gold Sarcophagus in the TCG), whicn in its original iteration was able to prevent the usage of any card sealed away inside it. This card's effect of being able to send back to the Graveyard a monster Special Summoned from there by a Magic Card effect is a reference to when Yugi sealed away his own Resurrection of the Dead to prevent Dark Yugi from using it in their final Duel against each other. Its effect of being unable to be destroyed by monster effects is a reference to how the card sealed inside the original Gold Coffer was unaffected by any magical effect, including Gandora's ability in the manga.
• Turn Silence is a reference to Yugi's A Leap in Time -Turn Jump-, which was used in his Duel against Dark Bakura to skip time ahead to three of his turns into the future (thus this card's effect being able to raise a monster's Level by 3, similar to how Yugi's Silent monsters gained LVs with each passing turn). Its artwork is a reference to a scene from that Duel in which Yugi's Silent Swordman destroys Bakura's Zoma the Ghost. This card being able to negate a monster effect if activated in response to one is a reference to how the time skipped by Turn Jump effectively prevented Bakura's Zoma from applying its damage-inflicting effect at the end of that Battle Phase.
• Ties of Friendship is a reference to Yugi's Ties of the Brethren, and has a similar effect to it. This card's artwork mimics an illustration drawn by Kazuki Takahashi and published on the STUDIO DICE official website with a message of support for the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The illustration depicted Yugi Muto with the original versions of the monsters in this card's artwork, and was later printed in DUEL ART—a collection containing some of Takahashi's illustrations.
• Silence Towards the Future's artwork and effect are a reference to a scene from Yugi Muto's Duel against his other self in which he uses Treasured Cards from the Heavens (Card of Sanctity in the TCG) to draw multiple cards and power up his Silent Magician.
• Strong-Hold the Hidden Fortress's title is a reference to when Dark Yugi referred to Yugi's Strong-Hold the Moving Fortress as "the trap of the hidden fortress."

Antique Gear

• Antique Gear Dark Golem is a reference to the fact Chronos de Medici's Deck was called a Dark Medieval Deck in the GX anime.
• Antique Gear Tanker's artwork and ATK-increasing effect are a reference to when Chronos equipped his Antique Gear Soldier with Antique Gear Tank in his Duel against Napoleon in the anime.
• Antique Gear Commander's pose mimics one Chronos himself struck often during Duels, while his bladed weapon is a visual reference to Chronos's Duel Disk, which was built into the Duel Coat he wore.
• Antique Gear Duel depicts a scene from Chronos's second Duel against Judai Yuki, in which Antique Gear Ultimate Golem attacks Judai's Flare Neos. The phrase Competitive Bout (Kyōtō) is a pun on the Japanese word for "vice-headmaster" (also pronounced kyōtō), referring to the title Chronos held at Duel Academia at the time of that Duel. This same pun is used for the card Competitive Bout - Cross-Dimension (Cross-Dimensional Duel in the TCG).

Phantasmic Performance

• Refrain (pronounced "REH-FRAWN") is the French word for the English refrain or chorus—the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry.
• Couplet (pronounced "COO-PLAY") is the French word for the English couplet—a pair of successive lines of verse, typically rhyming and of the same length.
• Both Refrain and Couplet are reference to a rondo—a musical form that contains a principal theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or "couplets". This alternation can also be seen in their effects that return them to the Pendulum Zones after a Fusion Monster is Special Summoned.
• Spectacular Bach is based on Johann Sebastian Bach—a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period, generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
• Flowering Étoile is named after Danseuse étoile (French for "star dancer")—the highest rank a dancer can reach at the Paris Opera Ballet. The star-shaped flowers on her dress are the flowers of the yuzu plant, referencing Yuzu Hiiragi, who played a Phantasmic Performance Deck in the ARC-V anime.
• A concerto is a musical composition for a solo instrument or instruments accompanied by an orchestra, especially one conceived on a relatively large scale.

Diabellstar storyline

• Snake-Eyes Diabellstar's stat line could mean it's a reference to Magician of Black Chaos, seeing as how the original Diabellstar is to Black Magician.
• Diabellze is a portmanteau of Diabell- and Beelzebub.
• Griare is pronounced "GREE-AW-RAY." The word Trio (Sanketsu) here is a Japanese phrase used to refer to "three great people" of a certain historic era, but sanketsu is also a pun on the phrase niketsu ("riding double on a motorcycle").
• Grand Pile-Up refers to piling up Xyz Materials under a single monster with its effect.
• Morrigan is named after the Morrígan—a figure from Irish mythology associated with war and fate, especially with foretelling doom, death, or victory in battle, and is often depicted as a crow.

Raika

• Raika is written with the kanji for bud and calamity, roughly translated as Scourgebud for the alternate translations above.
• Marikobe is a pun on the Japanese words igakusa (written with similar kanji as Marikobe)—the Japanese name for the Rhynchospora rubra, a member of the sedge family that features a distinctive spherical spikelet at the end of its stem—and sharikōbe (an alternate reading of dokuro—the Japanese word for "skull").
• Yahazukamikiri is the Japanese name for Uraecha bimaculata, a species of beetle. It is a slender longhorn beetle with a reddish-brown body and a pair of diagonal dark spots on its forewings that resemble arrow notches (with yahazu being the Japanese term for the nock of an arrow). Its name could also be a reference to yahazu-midare—a type of hamon that resembles of sequence of nocks. Since the Raika theme has a yōkai motif, it is also possibly a reference to the Kamikiri (lit. "hair-cutter")—a Japanese yōkai said to secretly cut people's hair on the head.
• Yoroitokage literally means armored lizard, referring to the armadillo girdled lizard—a diurnal animal with rows of tough spiny scales all over its body.
• Mushadokuro is a portmanteau of musha (a Japanese word meaning "warrior") and Gashadokuro (lit. "rattling skull")—a yōkai spirit that takes the form of a giant skeleton made of the skulls of people who died in the battlefield.
• Ogaminushi is a portmanteau of ogamimushi (a dialectal Japanese term for the praying mantis) and ōkannushi (the chief Shinto priest serving the Grand Shrine).
• Kusarigami is a portmanteau of kusarigama (lit. "chain-sickle")—a traditional Japanese weapon consisting of a sickle attached to a metal chain with a heavy iron weight at the end—and kusarihebi (lit. "chain snake")—the Japanese name for the viper.
• Daiohga is based on Dorcus bucephalus, a type of stag beetle also known as the great king (daiou) stag beetle in Japanese. Its name also sounds like a portmanteau of daiou and ogre.
• Raika Off-Season Profusion (Raikaryouran Kuruizaki) is a play on the Japanese idiom hyakkaryōran ("many flowers blooming in profusion").

Tenpai Dragon/Lustrous Phantom

• This theme is based heavily on Japanese mahjong, also known as riichi mahjong.
• Tenpai (lit. "heavenly cup" or "sky cup") is a pun on the Japanese-mahjong term tenpai (lit. "listening tile")—meaning to be one tile short of a winning hand (sometimes called "fishing" in English).
• The Main Deck monsters are based on the dragon tiles (sangenpai, lit. "three fundamental tiles") in mahjong. Their names ending in dora (from doragon or "dragon") is additionaly a pun on mahjong's dora tiles—bonus tiles that add han value to a winning hand.
• Paidora comes from paipan—the white dragon tile without any markings (also known as haku).
• Fadora comes from ryuufa (roughly meaning "green wealth")—the official name for the green dragon tile hatsu, which has the Chinese character for "wealth" written on it.
• Chundora comes from honchun or hóngzhōng (lit. "red center")—the official name for the red dragon tile chun (lit. "medium" or "center"), which has the same character written on it.
• Bident Dragion is a reference to the card Trident Dragion, with a bident being a two-pronged spear as opposed to the three-pronged trident. Burgeoning Dragon of Lustrous Phantoms (Sangenshōryū) is a pun on the Japanese mahjong term shōsangen (lit. "little three fundamentals")—a yaku (a certain pattern in a mahjong hand) reliant on all three sangenpai (dragon tiles). The hand consists of triplets of two dragons and a pair of the third.
• Transcend Dragion's title (Sangenchōryū) is in turn based on a chōsangen (lit. "superior three fundamentals")—a non-standard yaku containing all three quads of sangenpai.
• The Lustrous Phantom Parlor of Brimming Cups (Sakazuki Michiru Sangensō) is a pun on the Japanese term jansō ("mahjong parlor")—a Japanese venue which offers tables for playing mahjong. The two kanji for Brimming Cups (Sakazuki Michiru) can also be read haiman, similar to the Japanese-mahjong term baiman (lit. "double-full")—a win worth 16,000 points (or 24,000 if the dealer wins). This likely refers to this theme's ability to field massive amounts of battle damage in a single Battle Phase.
• Opening the gate (Kaimen) is a Japanese-mahjong term for determining which tile the dealing of hands starts at the start of the game.

Yubel

• Hellgrave Squirmer is based on Grave Squirmer, a monster used by Yubel in the GX anime. Its wings and left arm now resemble those of Yubel.
• Nightmare Throne is based on the throne on the top floor of Yubel's tower in the Spirit World. The artwork is a reference to a scene in which Johann Andersen (possessed by Yubel) leans on the left side of the throne after his Duel against Amon Garam.

Centurion

• The II in Gargoyle II is read as zwei (the German word for the number two).
• Arxila (pronounced "ARK-SEE-LAH") is a twist on auxilia (lit. "auxiliaries")–auxiliary troops in the Roman army.

Varmonica

• Selettrice (pronounced "SELETREE-CHE") is an Italian feminine noun meaning "selector." The title Voice-Picking Princess (Seisenki) is a reference to the card Voice Picker of Angels and Demons - "Varmonica", whose Voice Picker is also pronounced the same (Seisenki), but is written with a different ki kanji meaning "device."
• Invitare is Italian for "to invite."
• Disarmonia is Italian for "dissonance."

Light-Road

• This theme's inclusion in this set could possibly be a reference to its similar name to LIGHT OF DESTRUCTION, the core booster set in which the Light-Road theme first appeared. LIGHT OF DESTRUCTION was also released next after the core booster set PHANTOM DARKNESS, which was the basis for the previous set PHANTOM NIGHTMARE.
• Veiss is a pun on vice (as in "immoral or wicked behavior") and Weiß (German for "white"). This monster seems to be a Light-Road version of Snoww, Sorceress of the Dark World, who is also connected to the color white and is present in several card artworks together with Light-Road Hunter Ryko.
• Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom, especially strategic warfare, the arts, and especially crafts. Her Roman counterpart is Minerva.
• Aegis is named after an attribute of Zeus and Athena (or their Roman counterparts Jupiter and Minerva) usually represented as a goatskin shield.

Memento

• Memento Twin Dragon is based on the early-era OCG Fusion Monster Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon.

Miscellaneous

• Wight Lord (Waitorōdo) is a pun on the Light-Road (Raitorōdo) theme's name, and even has a similar Deck-milling effect. In its artwork, Wight Lord and Skull Dog Marron appear to be wearing armors similar to those of Light-Road Paladin Jain and Light-Road Hunter Ryko, respectively.
• Golgoil, the Great Demon of Steel is an Illusion Magic remake of the early-era OCG monster Golgoil. Its title comes from the fact the original Golgoil has the words MAJIN OF KOTETSU (roughly meaning "demon of steel" in mixed Japanese and English) engraved on its upper armor. Great Demon of Steel (Kōtetsu no Daimajin) is also a reference to both Great Mazinger (Gurēto Majingā) and Steel Jeeg (Kōtetsu Jīgu), which are two Japanese mecha anime series created by Go Nagai.
• Moonfang Dragon - Crescent Dragon is a remake of the early-era OCG monster Crescent Dragon (known as Mikazukinoyaiba in the TCG). This monster is meant to symbolize 2024 being a Year of the Dragon.
• Schlieren (pronounced "SHLEER-EN" and meaning "streaks" in German) are discernible layers in a transparent material that differ from the surrounding material in density or composition. An example of this phenomenon would be the shimerring sunlight on a hot summer day. Its effect is a reference to its flavor text in some of the Game Boy Yu-Gi-Oh! games, where this monster originates from.
• Nightmare Apprentice has a similar name, stats, and effect as Apprentice Mage of Illusions (known as Apprentice Illusion Magician in the TCG).
• Dinovader Docus is a pun on dinosaur, invader, and Diplodocus—a huge herbivorous dinosaur of the late Jurassic period, with a long slender neck and tail.
• Cyclus (Kikurosu) is the Latin form of the Ancient Greek kyklos ("circle" or "ring"). Its title is a play on a fairy ring or fairy circle—a circular area of grass that is darker in color than the surrounding grass due to the growth of certain fungi. They were popularly believed to have been caused by fairies dancing.
• Chilling Fire (Hieru Hi) is a counterpart to and has a similarly alliterative name (in Japanese) as the card Burning Algae (Moeru Mo).
• Decanelogue is a twist on Decalogue, another name for the Ten Commandments—a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship that play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity.
• Okosama is a pun on okosama (a Japanese polite expression used to refer to children, albeit written in different kanji than this card's name) and oko (Japanese internet slang for being angry). The kanji used in its card name are those for "angry," "young child," and the polite honorific sama.
• Map Your Way Out (Kyūsureba Tsūzu) is a pun on the Japanese proverb also pronounced the same way, which is basically the equivalent of the English idiom, "Necessity is the mother of invention," meaning that when the need for something becomes essential, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it. The last kanji in the card name is the kanji for "map" or "diagram"—this and its artwork are a reference to the anime/manga series Eyeshield 21, where the protagonist would sometimes imagine a mapped-out route through the opposing players that would lead him to a touchdown. Kyū is also the Japanese pronunication for the number nine, referring to its effect of wiping out the opponent's field and Graveyard if a player uses its effect while their opponent controls 9 or more monsters.
• Blinkout is a pun on "to blink out of existence," link (referring to Link Monsters), and possibly blackout.
• Metatronius is based on the Ancient Greek metathronios, which can be translated as "one who sits behind the throne." It has been suggested this phrase is the origin of the name Metatron—an archangel in Christian and Jewish folklore.
• Boot Tracks in the Snow, We Follow Them with Our Steps, One by One They Go (Yukigutsu no / Ato Ou Hitotsu / Mata Hitotsu) is written as a haiku—a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Its effect also mentions the numbers five, seven, and five in that order.
• Zoma the Earthbound Ghost is a combination of Dark Bakura's Zoma the Ghost and Call of the Earthbound Spirits. Its effect to inflict damage equal to double the ATK of the attacking monster is a reference to the original depiction of Zoma the Ghost in the anime and manga, which had a similar effect to inflict damage equal to double the ATK of the monster that destroyed it at the end of the Battle Phase.
• Terrifying Simultaneous Fixed-Point Cannon Equations (Renritsu Hōkoteishiki) is a pun on the Japanese term for simultaneous equations or equation system (renritsu hōteishiki)—in its simplest form, a set of two equations with two variables. The ritsu in renritsu has been replaced with the second kanji from senritsu ("terrifying"), and the hōteishiki meaning "equation" has had the kanji ko ("cannon") spliced in-between, and the teishi part has been replaced for the teishi meaning "fixed-point." Its effect can be expressed as the equation system {2x + y = a; x + y = b}, where 'x' and 'y' stand for the number of Xyz Monsters and Fusion (Yūgō in Japanese) Monsters, respectively.

Tournament Pack 2024 Vol.1

1. Archethys, the Ravenous Crocodile Dragon
2. Wight King
3. Wight Prince
4. Decoy Dragon
5. Light-Road Maiden Minerva
6. Soprano, Melodious Songstress of the Phantasmic Performance
7. Naga
8. Antique Gear Golem - Ultimate Pound / Mechanical Giant of Antiquity - Ultimate Pound
9. Exodius, the Ultimate Sealed God
10. Trident Dragion
11. Hagakuremino the Insect Chunin
12. Piri Reis Map
13. Sword of Silence
14. Silent Burning
15. Spirit Conversion Device
16. Grave of the Super-Ancient Organisms
17. Horror of the Lifeless Dragon - Destrudo

V Jump March 2024 Edition bonus card

• Magic Card: "Resurrection of the Dead"

Etymology:

• This card's name is taken from a line usually said when Resurrection of the Dead was activated in the Duel Monsters anime and manga: "I activate the Magic Card Resurrection of the Dead!" Its artwork is taken from a scene during Yugi's Duel against Pandora in Battle City, in which both he and Pandora use their own Resurrection of the Dead at the same time to revive their Black Magicians from the Graveyard. It being a Quick-Play Magic Card is a reference to the fact all Magic Cards functioned like Quick-Play ones in the manga (and sometimes in the anime).

I got a lot of requests to cover this topic, and I very rarely cover topics outside of replies in here, so here goes - something a little bit different from my usual snark and is a bit wordier.
We generally see several posts per day asking things such as Karma, Threefold "Law" of Return, and other such things, and frequently, requests from established/experienced spellcasters on their views about these things. It's enough to where moderators have expressed that they frequently delete these threads. Hopefully, I can offer up this thread as a repository for the views of experienced practitioners and how we feel about laws such as this, but here's my two cents:
Most of us simply don't care about it.
First things first: the idea of "Threefold Law of Return" is derived from specific views of Wicca and is commonly used in Wicca, but isn't actually a mandatory tenet of it. As many of you may know, it comes from this passage of "The Wiccan Rede":

Mind the Threefold Law you should, three times bad and three times good.

and

Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An ye harm none, do what ye will.

Let's study the term 'Rede'.

Counsel or advice given by one person to another. Also: †a piece of advice (obsolete). (Source: OED)

Let's also analyze the word 'Law'.

a binding custom or practice of a community : a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority. (Source: Merriam-Webster)

See how this lends itself to problems?
"But oldbetch, what about Karma?"
So, Karma is different, though similar discussion. Merriam Webster defines Karma as:

the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.

Karma requires that you believe in reincarnation for it to truly mean anything. Dharma is considered a duty and a moral code of how a person should live. This is a Hindu/Buddhist principle.
What Karma is NOT is 'The Golden Rule' or the 'Just World' fallacy/hypothesis. The idea of it in this way is an bastardization of the actual meaning, devoid of its full background (which is more complex than people give it credit for, which is why I just touch on it). I advise studying the works of Melvin Lerner and Stanley Milgram to get deeper into the concept of 'Just World Hypothesis', it's fascinating stuff.
So how does this apply to you:
Understand, a few things.

1. The fact is this: the Wiccan Rede was truly just written by Lady Gwen Thompson in the long form as a poem (which was derived from yet ANOTHER poem). The "Eight Words" was first used by one Doreen Valiente. Both it and the Thelemic statement "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" have the same basis, though these are two different phrases. The Wiccan Rede is intended as a continuation of 'The Golden Rule'.While the Wiccan Rede uses the term "Law", it's not actually a law. It really is just a poem. With that said, however, can it be theoretically sound? Yes. It is generally good practice not to screw with anyone that doesn't screw with you. But where it ends up showing it's loopholes is when spellcasters get advanced enough to question the premise behind it. It becomes an existential crisis, and it especially was prior to platforms like reddit which provide much larger views of witchcraft. (I started practicing witchcraft during the Bush 43 administration, so all the books for me were all from Llewellyn Publishing and very heavy on "Don't Hex Ever") To view it in a very literal way, the passage "Mind the Threefold Law you should, three times bad and three times good," is where you start having problems. If you hex someone, WILL it come back, and if it does, will it be three times worse for you? Then what if you reflect it back - now will it be 9 times worse on the other person? This is where logistics start getting involved. And one thing that good witchcraft is often a stickler for is logistics. Then the witch begins questioning what is being done and should they do it. And this, folks, is where we start having new people come in questioning whether they should smack the shit out of the person giving them problems.
2. The idea of Karma is a lot larger and a more unwieldy than the average non-Hindu/non-Buddhist person is equipped to discuss. What it is not is a means of making sure that you don't hex someone else or deliver justified consequences/punishment to someone else. It is not intended as a 'spiritual smackdown'.
3. Carrying on from the previous sentence of 'The Universe' as something that delivers punishment, that is also highly derived from Christian belief, particularly Romans 12:19; "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." The Universe does not carry the same ideas as the very retributive and very angry God of Abraham, so the good thing is that you don't have to worry about the universe smacking you down for smacking down someone that may have done something to you - or sacrificing a lamb in penance.

"Okay, oldbetch, all this makes sense, but what about energy?"
I've said this many times in this community, and I will say it again - you wouldn't wear a bloody shirt in the street after slaughtering an animal. If you did, you'd probably get some questions and probably a visit from your local 12 (police if you aren't aware of that sort of slang). It's going to invite a lot of negative attention for you. If you're smart, you go home and clean yourself, wash your shirt, and wear something else. This is where energy cleansing is important after you've layethed the smacketh down on someone else. Sage, Camphor, Florida Water, Ammonia, salt, cleansing baths, all that is good to get that shitty energy off of you and out of your space. But if you continue to wear the proverbial bloody shirt, you energetically can attract some pretty unsavory things. This isn't recompense, this is what happens when you're dirty.
So this is just my take. I welcome all others. Hopefully this is a very quick guide for some of you that are newer to this. I'm not going to say to go wild with hexing, but I will say this - it's not likely to be a huge deal if you're justified (some people can have spiritual teams, so don't be ridiculous) or careful.

So I played the first 3-4 hours of Pokémon Sword yesterday and wanted to share some pros and cons. Keep in mind I recently played Legends Arceus and Violet so I’ll compare some aspects as well. So, let’s start from the hot topic: - Graphics: After playing 250 hours of Violet I have to say the graphics are really good. The routes, the first towns and the Wild Area all look and feel alive and colorful and the black outlines do a great job, it’s like looking at a comic book page, which is a welcome change of pace. - Slang: Being based on England, the choice of dialogue and dialect is really spot on, my mom being called Mum made me laugh and all the expressions makes me want to ask GameFreak for voice acting. - the Gym challenge: After Scarlet/Violet treated gyms like one of three separate storylines and Legends didn’t have them, I really like that they are the game’s main focus (also with England and soccefootball and whatnot); walking out of the locker in my uniform into a stadium full of people cheering was amazing. - the new Pokémon: I loved Paldea’s additions but these were also great, I had difficulties choosing the starter, all three felt cute and powerful (I chose Scorbunny because football lol); some of my favorites are Chewtle, Dottler (absolute unit), the new Zigzagoon line and Applin.
Unfortunately there are also some cons: - the hand holding: I feel like every time I exit a building or finish a battle there’s Hop telling me what to do and where to go next, also I battled him like 4 times and I’m only one gym in, let me breathe! - “Open world syndrome” lol: Being accustomed to an open world game, the routes are kinda short and narrow and there’s really not much to do and I miss being able to look around with the left stick. I recognize it’s like this in every Pokémon game prior to Legends, but the Wild Area makes up for it and it’s clear that they used it to perfect the open world aspects in later games. - the difficulty: I get it, it’s a children’s game, but I barely used my starter, caught some Pokémon and beat some trainers and Raboot was already level 22 before the first Gym. I wish there was a way to turn Exp. share off because I’ll one-shot everything that stands in my way if this keeps up. Maybe down the road the levels increase but I’ll find out.
A minor complaint: the Poké Ball catching animation is slow as hell lol.
Thanks for reading my poem (sorry about some grammar mistakes, bound to happen since I’m not native English) and I’m curious to hear your takes as well as what I missed so please share.

I decided to start re-writing the "night before christmas" poem using modern slang. On Thursday (before we leave for break) I plan on reading it aloud to the kids. I'm purposefully trying to make it a bit cringe, cause I'm kinda known for that with kids.
Anyways, here is what I have so far. I'm kinda fizzing out here though so any suggestions or additions would be most welcome. So far this has been making me giggle to myself.
Twas the night before x-mas, and all through the house no creature did too much, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney low key, In hopes that the GOAT would lay presents ‘neath the tree. The kids were all snuggled AF in their beds, while visions of fortnite emotes danced in their heads. And Momma dripping with rizz, no cap, had settled herself down for a long winter’s nap. When out on the lawn came such a sus clatter, I yeeted from the bed to see what was the matter. The moon hit different on the new fallen snow, it’s giving day-time to the objects below. Then, on god, the GOAT did appear, with his sleigh and his squad of eight tiny reindeer.

Only Worth Living If You Are Loving Somebody
In this essay, I will compare Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 and Lana Del Rey’s song Videogames. I consider this a pertinent approach where I will focus on what these two works have in common, this is the way in which the theme of love is described. I will argue that, in both works, the nature of love is an all-proof sentiment that knows no rivals, and no ending; and this nature of love might blind a lover to the point of accepting mistreatments and indifference, Shakespeare writes theory while Del Rey makes practice. In order to achieve my purpose of comparing both works, I will consider the analysis made by Mariwan et al on Sonnet 116, they stated that “this sonnet represents the image of romantic love that never changes or fades away” (68); and Douglas’ idea of anti-Platonic love that makes the lover lose self-control (227-29). The first consideration will help me to contextualise how love is presented in the poem, and the second consideration will help me to argue my thesis presented in the first lines of this paragraph. Also, these considerations, within my own analysis, will help me to connect Shakespeare and Del Rey's representations of love.
To begin with the comparison, I will recall Mariwan et al considerations of love in Sonnet 116, they state that “the central possession of love is sincerity and loyalty (…) is more of a thesis about the nature of love than a declaration of love for another person.” (69). I totally agree with this statement, the lyrical speaker does not address anyone specifically, instead, they declare their perception of love, which is honest and faithful. An interesting connection about this idea I could establish if I recall Douglas: “Shakespeare did not appear to privilege, or even consistently separate, the soul from the body. He did not demean earthly love, the love of objects, as deficient in comparison to a higher, spiritual love.” (227). Douglas contrasts this with conventional Platonic love, which is the admiration for the psychological features instead of the physical. Therefore, my connection with these scholars is that the nature of love presented in Shakespeare, let us say, sincerity and loyalty, as a consequence of the anti-Platonic love, is the sentence presented in Del Rey as mistreatment and indifference. In other words, the nature of love presented in Sonnet 116 and Videogames are the very same; the difference is that Shakespeare makes the theory, and Del Rey makes the practice. In Videogames, this nature of love is practiced but not reciprocated: although this, Del Rey’s lyrical speaker makes no complaint about it, furthermore, they continue being loyal and loving their loved one. The idea that I provide above makes sense if I consider Douglas: “The loss of self-control, ceded to another being who might or might not reciprocate one’s affection, places the lover in a terribly dangerous predicament.” (229), and “Love (…) disrupts the speaker’s capacity to see, that is, both to understand the world around him and to view it accurately and in a healthy manner.” (229-30). With the naked eye, Shakespeare’s nature of love is innocent and has no bad implications; but such sincere and loyal love sometimes might not be reciprocated. Due to Shakespeare’s sonnet is not a declaration of love, but a manifesto of how love should be; we cannot find any consequence or context of this love. Therefore, I bring the question, what if this nature of love is practiced in a context of indifference? Then, I find the sense of comparing Videogames.
About the nature of love, Sonnet 116 “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” (1) is similar to Videogame “They say that the world was built for two” (1:23-26). I understand Shakespeare’s line as he would not dare to confront the decision of two lovers who decide to marry, while in Del Rey’s line, I find the reason for that attitude, she declares that the world is meant to be for her and her lover. They both refer to a true love that deserves no impediments. Furthermore, about love, Shakespeare establishes that “That looks in tempests and is never shaken” (6), love can go through adversities and survive; “Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken” (8), love value is immeasurable although it is taken for granted; “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, / But bears it out even to the edge of doom” (11-12), love last the pass of time, and survive the end of the world. These features of love; resilient, invaluable, and interminable, are present in Videogame but this is not a reciprocal love. To argue on this, I must state that the fact of their lover playing videogames is another way to say that their lover pays no attention to them: “I'm in his favourite sundress, watching me get undressed / Take that body downtown” (0:34-42), although the slang of ‘to go downtown’ is an euphemism to a sexual practice, I suggest to consider these verses as, even though they dress their lover favourite dress, this lover do not care that much and suggest them to go somewhere else, so their lover can be alone; “I say, ‘You the bestest,’ lean in for a big kiss, put his favourite perfume on / Go play your videogame” (0:42-52), they admire their lover even though for that lover playing a videogame is more important than being together, they enjoy seeing their lover playing anyways; “Watching all our friends fall in and out of Old Paul's, this is my idea of fun / Playing video games” (2:09-19), they refer to their friends who have been married at Paul (a church), they would like marry their lover but their lover keeps ignoring them, they make no complaint, this is their idea of fun anyways. The song finishes with these verses “Only worth living if somebody is loving you / And baby, now you do” (3:51-4:04); recalling the previous ideas of nature of love and anti-Platonic love, I could assume that they are not aware that their lover rejects them constantly, furthermore, they are so in love that they cannot understand this rejection. They are so blind to their love that being alive is important only if someone is loving them, and they think that their lover loves them back, which is not true. Having finished all my analysis, I would re-formulate this line in this way “only worth living if you are loving somebody”, because for them, their only purpose in their life is loving their lover, even though they do not love them back.
In this essay, I compared Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 and Del Rey’s song Videogames, and concluded that both works delve into the exploration of love’s nature, and both works present love as resilient, timeless, and invaluable. I tried to link both works in the way of connecting them through the allegorical notion that the first articulates a theoretical perspective; and the second embodies this perspective practically, considering a love that keeps loyal despite indifference and mistreatment. However, the divergence between both works has to deal with the reciprocity of this love, Shakespeare talks about an idealised love, and I suggest that such idealisation might be misunderstood, and Del Rey’s song is an evidence of this possible misunderstanding.
Works Cited
Del Rey, Lana. “Video Games.” Born To Die, Polydor Records, 2012. Apple Music, https://music.apple.com/cl/album/video-games-remastered/1440809572?i=1440810108&l=en-GB
Douglas, Trevor. “Shakespeare’s Love Objects.” A Companion to Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Ed. Michael Schoenfeldt. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. 225-41. Print
Hassan, Mariwan, et. al. “Glorification of True Love in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116: A Textual Approach.” Studies in Literature and Language 26.1 (2023): 65-74. Print.
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116.” The Oxford Shakespeare Complete Sonnets and Poems. Ed. Colin Burrow. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. 613. Print.

Whether for the sake of comedy or empowerment or disparaging comparisons or simply adding some variety to one's own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, this is the first list (that I've seen, and certainly the first that I've made), in no particular order, of characters in the public domain that can reasonably be called fat, accompanied by the media of origin and date of first publication in parentheses so as to allow readers of non-US countries to decide for themselves if they are, in fact, public domain.
This is, of course, not inclusive of any real-life historical figures such as Adam Lambert, Queen Victoria, Al Capone, or any circus fat ladies you might find plastered onto vintage posters -- I'd be spending the rest of eternity finding those if that wasn't the case, and let's not get into liabilities for using a non-public figure as a character in a piece of fiction without consent! Also not counting characters made fat as a one-off for comedic effect or in sparse adaptations, like what some political cartoonists have done with Uncle Sam to represent the American obesity epidemic.
Let it also be known that any character, public domain or not, can be fat or muscular or tall or skinny if only you decide to portray them so; this list, then, is for the purists, and those looking for fat characterizations with some precedence -- some weight behind them, you might say.
​
Van Crawford, Jr., aka Fatman (Fatman, 1967, orphaned work)

• When pudgy billionaire/hobbyist Van Crawford, Jr. saves a crash-landing UFO by knocking over a tree to cushion the fall, he's rewarded with a chocolate milkshake giving him the power to turn into a giant metal UFO. In this form, he can fly, fire lazer beams, use a miniature satellite dish to pick up radio waves -- the works! Van's weight was a major feature of his character, constantly referencing foods in bizarre turns of phrase, but was otherwise surprisingly progressive in its portrayal, only making him try to lose weight once in the series when he accidentally gets too fat to fly in his UFO form. This guy was sporty, too -- and obviously fat people are more than just sacks of lard with no muscle mass, but this guy could pull feats of acrobatics most skinny people couldn't, even in his civilian form. And, I mean, he IS a hobbyist -- who's to say trapeze isn't one of such hobbies?

Herbie Popnecker, aka the Fat Fury (Forbidden Worlds #73, 1958, copyright unrenewed)

• A fat, apathetic, nerdy-looking youth who is in fact the most powerful being in the universe thanks to his wealth of superpowered popsicles, on good terms with all manner of politicians from all time and attracting so many ladies it's unreal. And did I mention Alan Moore said this was his favorite superhero? Just don't put a plunger on his head, and he's good to go.

Pierre Bon-Bon (Bon-Bon, or The Bargain Lost by Edgar Allan Poe, 1832)

• A restaurateur & proud philosopher whose overly-complex prose parodies the works of Aristotle & Plato. He is upset to find that while the Devil eats the souls of great philosophers, he is too polite to do so while Pierre is drunk. Say what you will about the Lord of Darkness, he cares about consent!

Little John & Friar Tuck (Robin Hood, 13th or 14th century AD)

• Respectively: Robin Hood's heavyweight sidekick, and the friendly neighborhood mendicant who'd collect for the poor and sometimes need help from Robin Hood in keeping it that way. Granted, their inclusion on this list has more to do with popular portrayals (Disney comes to mind), but the extant irony of "Little" John's name and the archetypal image of the fat, bald friar give it a good deal of reason, especially when the image of a lean Robin Hood contrasts spectacularly with both.

Nebutori (Japanese folklore)

• The Nebutori is a yokai (a supernatural spirit of Japanese folklore) that makes women fat while they sleep; in all likelihood, this was used to explain men's experience as they'd get drunk, have a one-night stand with a woman and wake up hung over and surprised to find their lay had "transformed" into a less conventionally attractive body. While more of a "spirit disease" than a character, it has occasionally been portrayed as the latter, and in my opinion, it's the more interesting option, story-wise.

Santa Claus & Mrs. Claus

• Given fatness has long been associated with being jolly, the embodiment of a holly-jolly holiday is ripe for this, especially in the 1823 poem that immortalized his "bowlful of jelly", and so too is his loving wife ripe for it as well (though to a lesser degree than her more popular, Coke-addicted husband). While Santa arose clearly from the mythification of the real-life Saint Nicholas, his wife is a weirder case, apparently forming from the consensus that a good Christian man as old as Santa should have a wife. Her first real appearance was in 1849 with a short story titled "A Christmas Legend" by James Rees, so you could say HE came up with her if you wanted to be boring about it.

Hansel (Hansel & Gretel, fairy tale)

• When a witch kidnaps Hansel & Gretel, Hansel is fattened so much that he needs to hold out a bone as if it's his finger just to convince the blind witch that he's not worth eating. Does this count for this list? Sure, why not -- the fairy tale says nothing about them putting Hansel on a diet after he escapes. Then again, the family is already so poostarving that the stepmother wants to abandon their children in the first place, so for all we know, it's compulsory.

Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee (Nursery rhyme/Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, 1805/1871)

• Based on the then-common nursery rhyme of the same name (in which 'Dum accuses 'Dee of "spoiling his rattle", only for both to be scared by a large crow and forget all about it), Lewis Carroll & John Tenniel present them as a rotund set of twins which Alice finds on the giant chessboard of Wonderland, leading them to tell her of the Walrus and the Carpenter before reenacting their own tale. The Walrus might count if he was really more than a figment of the boys' imaginations... then again, isn't everyone in that series a figment of someone's imagination? If not the Tweedles', then Alice's? Or Carroll's? Or yours? Or mine? Or are we ALL just characters in somebody's dream? Who can tell? I can't! It scares me, quite frankly.

Tik-Tok & Musicker (the Land of Oz series, 1907/1909)

• Tik-Tok is perhaps a lesser example as he has a round body but is hardly his own person so much as a mechanical slave and godawful video-sharing website for attractive people who are otherwise mediocre; the Musicker, on the other hand, is more mysterious -- his real name is Allegro da Capo, he lives on the outskirts of Oz and the reeds that fill up his lungs make a noise like a harmonica as he breathes. A man that speaks in music -- poetic... or it could be more like that kid with a gap in his front teeth that spits or whistles with every consonant. Take your pick!

Thor (Norse mythology)

• Though nowadays he's often associated with Marvel's beach-blonde bodybuilder from outer space, the original myths, while not comprehensive in their descriptions of the hammer-wielding god of thunder, portray him as having red hair, being superhumanly strong, and a big eater -- put those traits together and it doesn't take a God of War game designer to come up with something closer to Eddie Hall than Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dionysus (Greek mythology)/Bacchus (Roman mythology)

• It's only natural the god of alcohol and generally having a good time would be represented with a beer belly, most prominently in Aristophanes's obscene comedy The Frogs (405 BC) which comes from a time when a tummy was seen as effeminate due to its resemblance to pregnancy, and Dionysus always was a bit femme. Also of note is Silenus, Dionysus's chubby mentor(s?) who, unlike the satyrs/fauns, takes on the features of a horse rather than a goat, and is even the deity that gives King Midas his famous golden touch.

John Bull (Law is a Bottomless Pit, 1712)

• A personification of Britain in the vein of Uncle Sam, first appearing as an anthropomorphic bull in the world of satirist John Atbuthnot before being shaped into a peaceful, older-looking Anglo-Saxon farmer to represent "the common man" in the 1760s.

Everett True (The Outbursts of Everett True, 1905)

• An early 20th-century husband who would often beat his fellow man for social ills such as ogling women, refusing to wear face masks during a plague, and generally being ignorant of their surroundings. Cathartic and timeless, Everett's fury is matched only by his wife's when she catches him in his own moments of ignorance.

Butterball/Buttercup/Butterbuck (fairy tale)

• A plump boy who is repeatedly captured by a troll (carrying her own head under her arm for extra spookiness) with the lure of cutlery, but would each time escape through his own cunning, turning the very tools used on him against his would-be captors. Butterball was one of the fairy tales listed by the Brothers Grimm-inspired 19th-century Norwegian folktale collectors, Asbjørnsen and Moe, in the aptly titled series Norwegian Folktales, first published 1841, but even if copyright somehow extended all the way back to to the 1840s, A. and Moe can hardly claim to have created it themselves as they simply compiled the extant oral traditions of Norway.

Edward BeaWinnie-the-Pooh (1924/1926, respectively)

• Everybody knows Winnie-the-Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood, I'm sure that at least everyone here does, but fewer have read the poem "Teddy Bear" by A. A. Milne, first featured in Punch magazine before moving to "When We Were Very Young," a collection of Milne's poems which was published that same year, illustrated by the iconic E. H. Shepard. In "Teddy Bear," the fat Edgar Bear (wait a sec... Edgar, Eddy, Eddy Bear, Teddy Bear... huh...) distresses over his weight and that nothing he does seems to change it, but upon reading about a king of France who was fat yet nicknamed "the Handsome", he sets out to find this king, and as soon as he falls out the window, he is helped up by none other than than the fat king of France himself! They chat (and apparently the king sees nothing unusual about a talking teddy bear) before Edward returns with a renewed satisfaction, knowing that whatever shape he's in, he will always have the chance to be well-liked and to do great things. As "Pooh", he seemingly retains this satisfaction, making his way through life in the Wood without much care for anything except food and good company.

Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, 1893-1908)

• While Sherlock Holmes is energetic, nosy, and slender, his brother is reclusive, self-satisfied, and "absolutely corpulent"; and yet, not only is Mycroft the eldest of the two, but the smartest. Not many characters can claim to be smarter than Sherlock Holmes. In the original series, Mycroft is always on his own adventures somewhere in the background of the books' events. He's also co-founder of the Diogenes Club, a gentleman's club in which no talking is allowed -- just comfortable sitting and the occasional puff of a cigar. Later adaptations used the idea that Diogenes Club is a front for the British secret service, inspired by Mycroft's assertion in original Sherlock Holmes canon that he is the ultimate brain-trust behind the English government. Now THAT'S pretty dang smart! Er, depending on which country you ask.

Brad Runyan, P.I. (The Fat Man, 1951, copyright unrenewed)

• The titular private-eye of a radio-inspired film that not even Universal Studios gives a shit about the rights to, and no wonder -- it's a surprisingly bog-standard detective story for one whose central plot involves a circus clown killing a dentist. Can YOU make something out of this fat dick? (NOTE: "dick" is Prohibition-era slang for detective) Try your hand at it! (I swear I'm not doing this on purpose)

Queen/Princess Fatima (of Sultania?) (Smash Comics #14/#39, 1940/1943, orphaned work)

• Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for this one: the ingeniously named Fatima is the fair-skinned ruler of a fictional country (presumably in the Middle East) whose obsession with food and the main character, Archie O'Toole, not only borders the stereotypical but welcomes it. The comic, with its uncomfortable depictions of racial minorities (and everyone else) is almost certainly a product of its time, though more specifically a product of Will Eisner's art. O'Toole sure lives up to his name, evading with her by getting her stuck in a doorway just so he can run off and tell her to lose a few. Confusingly, in a later issue, there appears to be a princess (daughter of a rajah, which is a king of India, a country that is not in the Middle East but is in South Asia right next to it, separated by Pakistan which is sometimes lumped in with the Middle East but really isn't a part of-- y'know what? I'm getting off-topic) with the same name and the same gimmick of trying to win Archie's affections only to fail miserably, and yet she has a completely different design -- the second time 'round also sees her failing because her romantic gesture backfires rather than because of her weight -- but it's made clear Archie already knows this second Fatima and has pretty much the same relationship with her that he did with the first one... is she the same character? Is the name punny name for English-speakers just a funny coincidence that happened twice in different regions? Did somebody marry into the family and become her daddy the rajah, making Sultania some joint region between South Asia and the Middle East? It's especially frustrating because this is one of the very few principle females I could find for this list -- we really don't have that much representation for fat girls in the public domain or from around that time in general. The way her body was drawn was at least semi-realistic for what you might have seen at the time, but her second, briefer appearance in which she's drawn more cartoony (and thus more cohesive with the rest of the art style) is actually as good as it gets as far as her (their?) story goes.

King Eglon (Book of Judges)

• Biblical ruler of the Kingdom of Moab, known for his 18-year oppression over the Israelites. It is said he was so fat ("HOW FAT WAS HE?") that the sword of his assassin, the God-appointed judge Ehud ben-Gara, disappeared into his stomach entirely where it punctured his bowels and emptied them -- it's a death with no respect, no respect at all.

"Bootleg" Pete (1925)

• Yes, from Disney. His first appearance was actually before Mickey's, in a live-action/animation mash-up titled Alice Solves the Puzzle, making him Disney's longest-running character, although his current feline iteration (as well as his visible disparity in weight from the other characters) debuted in 1928's Steamboat Willie -- just a couple more months to go! And hey, did you know Disney made a modern riff on this version (or the name of this version, at least) by making Peter Pan into a fat crime boss called Sweet Pete, who bootlegs Disney characters by turning them into weird versions of themselves? That's weird, right?

Nell, aka Luce (Comedy of Errors, 1623)

• Full name... Lucille? Lucinella, maybe? The impatient wife of a servant belonging to one of the main characters. It is said that her name ("an ell", or a yard) and three-quarters isn't enough to measure her hip-to-hip, followed by a graphic comparison of her physical features to various countries (take a wild guess where the Netherlands are). When she actually appears, she's ugly enough that the main characters (one of which is mistaken for Nell's fiancee) leave immediately! Poor gal...

Sir John Falstaff (Henry IV Part 1 & 2, 1598)

• An often comedic or buffoonish character with magnitudes of depth, siding with the future King Henry V but leading him all too often into trouble, and living off of stolen or borrowed money, much of which goes into drinking. Like all Shakespeare's creations, adaptations and derivations exist in spades, and many are themselves in the public domain -- notably, Falstaff's Wedding (1766) sees him forced to marry amidst the Southampton plot before redeeming himself in the king's eyes by exposing said plot. Orson Welles once said Falstaff was "Shakespeare's greatest creation", though he may have been a bit biased -- and not just because he made Chimes at Midnight (1965, and almost definitely still copyrighted under US law).

Ambrose Bell, aka the Fat Connoisseur (Phantom Lady #18, 1948, orphaned work)

• An art collector scheming to increase the value of a street artists' works by faking his death, while forcing him to create more works in secret. I may be biased as an artist myself, but this is probably the most realistic villain on this entire list.

Batibat/Bangungot (Filipino folklore)

• An obese, female tree spirit that gives nightmares and sleep paralysis to those who use its home to build their own, doing so by sitting on their chest like the night-mares of Europe, and in similar fashion, its name is used in the Ilocano/Tagalog languages (respectively) to refer to such a condition. To fend off such nightmares, one need only bite one's thumb or wiggle one's toes... beforehand, maybe? I don't see how you could do either of those amid sleep paralysis. Maybe if you're having a nightmare while lucid dreaming...

Mrs. Sprat(t) (Nursery rhyme)

• A woman of the stereotypical fat-and-skinny couple. Like other nursery rhymes, this may have its origins in satire, referring either to Queen Henrietta Maria, or Isabella of Robin Hood fame. John Clarke's 1639 version calls her by the first name of Jull, probably an accented version of Jill since "Jull" as traces of it as a first name are nonexistant, plus the whole poem is very heavily accented -- is she the same Jill that went up a hill to fetch a pail of water? YOU decide! Also, in Fables, Bill Willingham writes her as Dr. Swineheart's scornful nurse whose gripes, while reasonable, are often lost in a flood of other Fables. Her husband is shown to have died to an attack by an invisible killer, but I still like to imagine that "Jack Sprat" was really just another scheme of Jack Horner's -- we know he's womanized multiple women named Jill, so why not one we already know about? There's technically more to her character, especially in #100 beyond, but it's... really... REALLY not worth getting into. As a kid, I also gave her the name Nadine -- "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife Nadine could eat no lean" -- fits, don't it? That's a freebie, just for you!

Mr. & Mrs. Fezziwig (A Christmas Carol, 1843)

• Mr. Fezziwig, employee of a young Ebenezer Scrooge, defies the stereotype of the greedy, fat businessman by sitting in contrast to Scrooge -- while the latter becomes greedy as he is bought out by Fezziwig's competitor and is beholden to the whims and wants of shareholders, Fezziwig is emblematic of early-stage capitalism: idealistic, individualistic, and believing firmly in a balance between profit & humanity which Scrooge in the present seems to have abandoned entirely. The Fezziwigs, Mr. and Mrs., are only really seen at a Christmas party with the Mr.'s then-employee, Scrooge, but the thematic relevance of these characters resonates throughout the book -- the man Scrooge COULD be, the life of love & happiness he COULD lead.

King Ubu (Ubu Roi, 1896)

• Ubu Roi is something of a legend in theater, created by Alfred Jarry and inspired by a play created with express purpose of making fun of his friends' physics teacher. The resulting work was so audacious that its first performance caused an actual riot. The first word is "shit" (in French, naturally, though with an added "r" for some reason -- "merdre"). Ubu himself has just about every nasty quality a king can have: he's cruel, dumb, cowardly, vulgar, evil, greedy, et cetera, et cetera, and his story takes much the same route as Macbeth: his wife gets him to stage a revolt on Poland, his reign of terror leads his wife to impersonate the angel Gabriel so he won't be mad at her for stealing from him while they're at war with Russia, he attacks his son with the body of a dead bear to end the play... you know. THOSE old cliches. Unfortunately, while Ubu Roi was originally published and performed in 1896, it was first translated into English in 1951, making it a very tenuous addition to this English-language list.

Porthos du Vallon (the d'Artagnan Romances, 1844-1850)

• Based loosely on IRL musketeer Isaac de Porthau, this portly French soldier loves drinking wine and chasing women, and while he eventually settles down, his stomach doesn't, causing him to get bigger and bigger throughout the series -- his appetite even manages to impress Louis XIV during a banquet at Fontainebleau. I'll admit, I never read the Three Musketeers or any subsequent books -- heck, I barely remember anything from the Disney version with Mickey Mouse -- but a cursory Google search doesn't help either, and his Wikipedia page is surprisingly scant. Is eating really his only notable characteristic? Somebody oughtta get on that.

Countess Vera Rossakoff (The Big Four, 1927)

• A Russian aristocrat who is as fat and vivacious as Hercule Poirot is small and methodical (which is to say, VERY). She's also the only woman Hercule has ever really fallen head-over-heels for. Ironically, while she's PD in the US, she won't be in Agatha Christie's home country of England or in the Countess's own Mother Russia til 2047 due to copyright extending to 70 years after the original author's death in both countries, once again confirming what we already knew, which is that Europe is overrated.

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov (Oblomov, 1859/1862/1887, explained below)

• The book's titular St. Petersburg nobleman whose reluctance to do anything but eat is exemplary of a real-life character type found especially in Tsarist Russia called "the superfluous man" -- men born into wealth leading luxurious but otherwise dull, unimportant lives -- with a bit of Ivan Goncharov's own vices sprinkled in for that flavor of realism. The story's a grim one, ending with Oblomov beyond help and living out fantasies of returning to his childhood days before dying and leaving his best friend to adopt his son. Technically, there exists three versions of the original text, the latter two of which Goncharov corrected/added to as later editions, although no one can really seem to agree which version is canonical -- technically, there's four if you count the 1849 short story that later became a dream sequence in the finished book, and then there's the earlier version of Oblomov himself named Nikon Ustinovich Tiazhelemko, who appeared in Goncharov's handwritten magazine in 1838, which makes five versions of the same character across a single debated canon. Do I smell a multiverse? Hopefully... nyet. The earliest English translation is an abridged version published in 1915; the next earliest is based off the 1862 version, published 1929. You can find the rest on Oblomov's Wikipedia page, if you're just that interested.

The Duchess/Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865)

• A tad obscured by stylistically disproportionate features in John Tenniel's art, the shape of their main bodies leave enough evidence that the two fit the stereotype of the fat aristocrat, especially when the Duchess's baby inexplicably turns into a literal pig, or in the animated Disney movie where the Queen's size is contrasted with her King's dwarfism (unlike in the original where he might even be taller than his wife).

Fatso (Debut unknown, appears in Captain Tootsie #1, 1950, copyright unrenewed)

• One of the Tootsie Roll-powered Captain Tootsie's sidekicks in the Secret Legion, which would travel the universe in a rocket from Earth. Hardly stands out from the rest of the gang, aside from the physical limitations of his body; then again, he probably knows how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, which is something we'll never have.

Buddha/Budai (6th or 5th century BC/8th century AD)

• While Buddha technically counts as a historical figure, how he gets mythologized is kind of interesting: the statue of a fat man people call "Buddha" is not the original Buddha, but another guy, Budai, often considered the Maitreya Buddha, or the new Buddha whose teachings will focus on re-establishing dharma (ie, the proper order of things). Many have claimed to be the Maitreya, but each time, the "future" Buddha is still thought to be somewhere in the future, much like the Jewish belief in the Messiah with Jesus. And yet, as individuals, the two are conflated, in some ways creating a mascot for Buddhism all of its own, especially as he became adopted in Shinto as a god of happiness and contentment... also, some people will probably be mad at me if I include the Biblical King Eglon and not some other religious "historical" figure, and this seemed like a good enough technicality.

Whiffy (Black Fury comic strip, date unknown, copyright unrenewed)

• A gay, crossdressing gangster and Miss Fury villain notable for his overuse of perfume, and fairly progressive for a gay villain at the time, having used his talents to escape imprisonment by none other than the Nazis. Strange thing is, I can find info ABOUT Whiffy, but I just can't find him in the actual Miss Fury or Black Fury comics -- maybe he was in some of the strips that didn't make it into the collected version? He DOES seem pretty unconnected to the whole "Nazi spy" plot, so I could see why that'd be. If anyone can point me to where he first appears, I'd much appreciate it.

Lieutenant Fat Marvel (Whiz Comics #21, 1940, copyright unrenewed)

• Young, chubby, ginger-haired Billy Batson was once a poor orphan boy before he was given the magical, lightning-based body of an adult superhero... just like Billy Batson, Billy Batson, and -- of course -- Billy Batson. It just so happened all three had the same name, so they stuck together -- even more so after the Billy Batson known as Captain Marvel shared his power with the rest in a situation where saying his magic word by himself was insufficient, so he took a page from Peter Pan's book and outsourced his power to a participating audience. As many users here have clarified time and time again, "Captain Marvel" and "Shazam" are both trademarked by DC, even if Billy himself is in public domain (as are Billy, Billy, and Billy), so be careful what you use in marketing, promotional material, front covers, etc.

Doctor John Dolittle (The Story of Doctor Dolittle, 1920)

• An English physician who, through his pet parrot Polynesia, learned to speak the same language as animals and used this newfound skill to become a veterinarian, even going on grand adventures where exotic animals wait to be discovered! I wasn't sure about this entry at first -- I had seen him depicted as such in illustrations, but only through Public Domain Superheroes Wiki did I learn the source material referred to him as being 'round' explicitly. Never would have known it from any of the three film iterations, but that's Hollywood for you. (RIP, best Doctor Dolittle: Sammy Davis Jr.) And apparently he's still a rather athletically capable fellow, despite what his name suggests.

Meatball (Daredevil Comics #13, 1942, copyright unrenewed)

• This pudgy, sweater-vested orphan was one Daredevil's crew of sidekicks, the Lil Wise Guys... for just two issues. What happened in #15, you may ask? He died of pneumonia. No, seriously! The grief of it even caused one of its other members, bald kid Curly, to defect from the group only to join back up the next issue, willing to prove himself to his now-reluctant teammates. Given just how many issues of Daredevil Comics there, this may be a situation similar to Jason Todd (pre-2005) where the character's death serves the story & characters more than his actions.

​
Well, that's all I have right now. It's a lot compared to most listicles, but considering just how impossibly many pieces of fiction exist out there, it's almost weird to have to dig this deep for this many. If you can name anymore, or you've spotted a mistake I made, be sure to bring it up in the comments down below!

For I can hardly eat lately*, I'm now 3kg less and weigh 50kg, and in the country where I grew up, there's a rather nonsensical slang saying, "a good lady is no more than a hundred (meaning weighing no more than 50kg)", so maybe I hardly qualify as a good lady now? I'm about 164cm and 50kg now, but I was already this tall 10 years ago when I was 13, in 9th grade, and I was about 36kg then, dammit, why could one gain so much weight with the same height.
*It's not because I'm on a diet, it's because I have anxiety about some things, first it was an important test. Then it was that one of my apps didn't work for four days before because I deleted one of my two initial verification photos, and despite the fact that I provided more new photos before deleting it, the app didn't ask me to re-verify my identity (the ID card or whatever), and I've been almost unable to use it as a result of that, and I wrote several e-mails to it for that reason for several days, and I didn't think of that possibility until the third day. Also, for my concern about the translation of the poems, I wanted to do everything I could to make it perfect, and for that reason I also gave explanatory comments to about seven (now eight) posts of a person who asked about ancient Chinese words and philosophy (though I have no idea of philosophy of all the countries, I tried to find a paper, in which talks about that Chinese word), in the hope that I would get his attention and in return he would look at my German-English translations, which he promised to do, and disappeared for three days (now more than a month, he even shamelessly came to my poem post Todesfuge (Death fuge) asked did I know the members of Group 47 laughing at Paul Celan when he read this poem, but never read the messages and remember what he ought to do).

Traverse award-winning caves near the side of true heroes in this sci-fi masterpiece dealing with caves.
Caves are slang for pocket dimensions lurking just below the furthest corners of Time. Violence is the first and final answer to given questions. First you attend the fairgrounds and they teach you how to engage in serious violence in case of last resort. It requires 25+ years to learn their basics on how to protect yourself; then you’re ready to go hunting.
There sadly isn’t much time for advancing more convenient sciences. To keep up with neighbors, everyone needs a few degrees in expert fencing if they really want to thrive. They replaced the game.
Now that you’ve described such a thing, said __. It must surely be required to exist. Now you’ve read the book and thrown it out; a pocket dimension is slowly forming in the corner, if you could believe it.
The caves might keep piling up everywhere and a prophecy says true heroes shall appear. There’s a socially concerned movement; tents; revivals. You ask the genius librarian for help escaping from the apparent puzzle you’re in. Quick; read the old series where some true heroes escaped from another cave to discover this universe and so much more. Now its logic is i. play; the game e panda to extend contest.
Description of courses.
Blocking and cutting.
Introducing the horse.
New levels of speed.
When you arrive at the fairgrounds someone will fight you and it’s considered your opening lesson.
You recently leveled up a skill. Congratulations! In situations affected by your skill, fewer things can possibly go wrong and you may surprise yourself.
Introductory challenge.
In this model, we’re expected to study violence at this horse-and-spear; stone-age institution. This requires others, more placid, to keep up farming that we may better perfect art on this empty field.
(Removed)
When true heroes are destined to appear, it’s okay to stop and think about which heroes you can really afford and which were genuinely useful. One of the most golden scams in the book involves a company of cave-surfing heroic robbers who typically know how to fight real good with swords and nothing else.
The aluminum king reappears; somebody on a failed committee resurrects him for guidance. He doesn’t get the modern world; typically opens with an impossibly dumb scheme to steal everything and it’s all just misconceptions from serious confidence.
Obsessed with concepts like rightfulness and taking back the rightful kingdom. It’s so easy; first I’ll write a threatening poem, challenging General Mills, then post it online. The foolish technocratic sons will be impressed into submission, recognizing me at once and stopping at everything to restore the old crown.
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