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Dimension 20 Meta
So here are all the Ravening War meta bits I've posted on tumblr. I'm not cross-posting most of the liveblogging, though. Assume they all have spoilers.
On Karna after episode 2
God, how much I love meaningful violence in media. Consequences to violence in media. I love a 16 year old girl calmly walking into a room, killing the two people in there with no second thoughts (because she’s done it before), and then feeling a part of herself literally rot away as a result. And then, still calmly (because she’s done it before), cutting that piece of herself out of her own flesh with the same knife, and burning it as an offering to her patron.
You can say that a world made of food where everyone is food is inherently silly, but there’s nothing you can do to make that silly. It doesn’t matter that the girl is a chili pepper. That’s still just horrible. As it should be.
This is what fantasy is for*: realizing metaphors. You can go on deep journeys into characters’ psyches as much as you want in realistic fiction, but you will never get that pure and impossible-to-misinterpret horror of violence having an immediate and physical corrosive effect on the perpetrator.
*(one of the things fantasy is for)
On Amangeaux after episode 3
So fandom is very reasonably focused on the stunning meta element of Delissandro/Lou and Raphaniel/Brennan in episode 3, but zooming back in to the fictional context, let’s look at Amangeaux.
Amangeaux, who is a Fructeran queen of a foreign country at war, in danger of her life at every moment. And who has just witnessed and aided in the assassination of a Fructeran queen of a foreign country, in order to draw them into war.
A queen who she at least must have heard of, even if they hadn’t met in person before the first episode. Who, in fact, she’d probably had presented to her as a role model before her own marriage. A queen who had five healthy, politically active children when Amangeaux had none (with immense political implications).
No wonder she’s freaking out afterwards.
On Fructera and Vegetania
Tags on a reblog of a post by![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
acertainrandomguy:
#my personal calorum fascination is the fructera-vegetania relationship #i think fructera used to be a province of vegetania which #(several centuries before present) #rebelled and won independence #but the borderlands are complicated and there's lots of cultural interchange and shifting loyalties there #the tomatés and the eggplants and chili peppers #but also rhubarb and maybe other sweet vegetables #like alsace and lorraine
Next reblog (and reply):
So I said:
I think in one of the Adventuring Parties for ACoC Brennan says that in Calorum, where you are born and grow up has as much influence into what kind of food you are as who your parents are. So maybe the solution is that if a Fructeran couple immigrate to Vegetania, their children are usually peppers. Maybe there were political or economic difficulties in Fructera a while ago and a bunch of immigration happened. Or maybe Bulbians tend to migrate south where the Church is stronger.
I was wondering about the eggplant war hero Sir Drunon too, but now I’m thinking about a noble house exiled from Fructera for treason who then gained power in Vegetania. I guess you can think of these things either as worldbuilding holes or as story hooks, and the second one is more fun.
On Karna post-season
So I was thinking about how we hardly see any of Karna’s struggles or uncertainty or any difficulty she might be having in her position until after she’s dead, we just see this hypercompetant girl who can do anything she needs to
even though there are two people around her who keep offering her help, repeatedly, for years,
and I realized that of course she doesn’t take that help or even acknowledge that she needs it because she cannot allow herself to believe that, even with strings attached, accepting help would make things easier than doing everything by herself
because she cannot allow herself to be vulnerable or her entire house of cards will fall apart
and she cannot let herself rely on anyone else because every time she’s done that they’ve betrayed her or left her
and then something in my brain went, “Oh, interesting, Vi, do you want to examine that further?”
Of course, the answer is NO, no, I do not want to examine that at all, there is nothing to look at here, nothing needs to be examined internally whatsoever.
Short meta in liveblogging posts
I love that Matt looked at Brennan's character concept for a plotting old religious mastermind who seems like a sweet old man, and immediately one-upped him.
*
I bet the Brassicas are a huge ancient family in Vegetania, related to pretty much every noble house, and with loads of influence everywhere (like the Howards or the Nevilles). Belizabeth is probably distantly related to both the Archbishop and Archdeacon Brocclepatch who first gave her her vows. Which is very very in line with the nepotism of medieval institutions in our world, of course.
And of course they would also be related to Belvedere Cabbage. No wonder the church decided not to comment on Tomaté’s claim to the throne.
*
I find it fascinating how Karna is always finding leaders and gathering secrets and working in politics but she really doesn’t seem to have any political goals of her own. Vegetania, Tomaté, Ceresia, Basha, none of them mean anything to her.
Delissandro means something to her, though. (So did Amangeaux.)
*
Oh shit, it is about the Bulb! Because they’ve said mold and rot aren’t naturally occurring in Calorum, but here they are. There’s something about Bulblight that discourages or kills them.
And my tag on tumblr has a bunch of other people's meta and fic recs and art.
On Karna after episode 2
God, how much I love meaningful violence in media. Consequences to violence in media. I love a 16 year old girl calmly walking into a room, killing the two people in there with no second thoughts (because she’s done it before), and then feeling a part of herself literally rot away as a result. And then, still calmly (because she’s done it before), cutting that piece of herself out of her own flesh with the same knife, and burning it as an offering to her patron.
You can say that a world made of food where everyone is food is inherently silly, but there’s nothing you can do to make that silly. It doesn’t matter that the girl is a chili pepper. That’s still just horrible. As it should be.
This is what fantasy is for*: realizing metaphors. You can go on deep journeys into characters’ psyches as much as you want in realistic fiction, but you will never get that pure and impossible-to-misinterpret horror of violence having an immediate and physical corrosive effect on the perpetrator.
*(one of the things fantasy is for)
On Amangeaux after episode 3
So fandom is very reasonably focused on the stunning meta element of Delissandro/Lou and Raphaniel/Brennan in episode 3, but zooming back in to the fictional context, let’s look at Amangeaux.
Amangeaux, who is a Fructeran queen of a foreign country at war, in danger of her life at every moment. And who has just witnessed and aided in the assassination of a Fructeran queen of a foreign country, in order to draw them into war.
A queen who she at least must have heard of, even if they hadn’t met in person before the first episode. Who, in fact, she’d probably had presented to her as a role model before her own marriage. A queen who had five healthy, politically active children when Amangeaux had none (with immense political implications).
No wonder she’s freaking out afterwards.
On Fructera and Vegetania
Tags on a reblog of a post by
#my personal calorum fascination is the fructera-vegetania relationship #i think fructera used to be a province of vegetania which #(several centuries before present) #rebelled and won independence #but the borderlands are complicated and there's lots of cultural interchange and shifting loyalties there #the tomatés and the eggplants and chili peppers #but also rhubarb and maybe other sweet vegetables #like alsace and lorraine
Next reblog (and reply):
So I said:
oh god, I have to believe [the peppers in southern Vegetania are] just imagery to decorate the map or else I’ll never get any sleep. But I think other spices, like Liam’s mom (mint), also live in the Verduran Forest, so maybe that’s why they’re there.but something else occurred to me: immigration is not just a modern phenomenon.
I think in one of the Adventuring Parties for ACoC Brennan says that in Calorum, where you are born and grow up has as much influence into what kind of food you are as who your parents are. So maybe the solution is that if a Fructeran couple immigrate to Vegetania, their children are usually peppers. Maybe there were political or economic difficulties in Fructera a while ago and a bunch of immigration happened. Or maybe Bulbians tend to migrate south where the Church is stronger.
I was wondering about the eggplant war hero Sir Drunon too, but now I’m thinking about a noble house exiled from Fructera for treason who then gained power in Vegetania. I guess you can think of these things either as worldbuilding holes or as story hooks, and the second one is more fun.
On Karna post-season
So I was thinking about how we hardly see any of Karna’s struggles or uncertainty or any difficulty she might be having in her position until after she’s dead, we just see this hypercompetant girl who can do anything she needs to
even though there are two people around her who keep offering her help, repeatedly, for years,
and I realized that of course she doesn’t take that help or even acknowledge that she needs it because she cannot allow herself to believe that, even with strings attached, accepting help would make things easier than doing everything by herself
because she cannot allow herself to be vulnerable or her entire house of cards will fall apart
and she cannot let herself rely on anyone else because every time she’s done that they’ve betrayed her or left her
and then something in my brain went, “Oh, interesting, Vi, do you want to examine that further?”
Of course, the answer is NO, no, I do not want to examine that at all, there is nothing to look at here, nothing needs to be examined internally whatsoever.
Short meta in liveblogging posts
I love that Matt looked at Brennan's character concept for a plotting old religious mastermind who seems like a sweet old man, and immediately one-upped him.
*
I bet the Brassicas are a huge ancient family in Vegetania, related to pretty much every noble house, and with loads of influence everywhere (like the Howards or the Nevilles). Belizabeth is probably distantly related to both the Archbishop and Archdeacon Brocclepatch who first gave her her vows. Which is very very in line with the nepotism of medieval institutions in our world, of course.
And of course they would also be related to Belvedere Cabbage. No wonder the church decided not to comment on Tomaté’s claim to the throne.
*
I find it fascinating how Karna is always finding leaders and gathering secrets and working in politics but she really doesn’t seem to have any political goals of her own. Vegetania, Tomaté, Ceresia, Basha, none of them mean anything to her.
Delissandro means something to her, though. (So did Amangeaux.)
*
Oh shit, it is about the Bulb! Because they’ve said mold and rot aren’t naturally occurring in Calorum, but here they are. There’s something about Bulblight that discourages or kills them.
And my tag on tumblr has a bunch of other people's meta and fic recs and art.