"writing About Fucked Up Things Doesnt Indicate Your Values As A Person" And "the Way You Write About

Whenever an artist who makes dark content gets outed as a sexual predator people will be like 'aha it was obvious something was up because their work was so dark and nasty' and whenever an artist who makes wholesome content gets outed as a sexual predator people will be like 'aha it was obvious something was up because their work was so aggressively wholesome' and it's like you know I think maybe you can't tell whether or not someone is a predator based on their artistic output.

in your opinion, is a bull a cow?

What I'm hearing is that people should send asks about theories and ideas that they DON'T want to happen.

I think people should be very careful of the asks they send you. Like, this is more-so rambling into your ask box than anything, considering how many asks you have, but y’know.

People can be really excited about a theory or idea they have, they hype it up, get themselves all in on it, and then do the most foolish thing ever: send you an ask about it.

Because isn’t there some sort of thing where, if an author/show runner/etc ends up consciously or subconsciously using a fan’s theory or idea, there’s a chance they could get into trouble with lawsuits or something?

So by sending you an ask about a theory or idea, it makes it less and less probable for it to end up becoming real.

I've pointed this out many times. Yes.

What’s the deal with tiny shields?

(Yes, I know my ‘big’ shield is stil pretty small)

Patreon - everything else

Yeah, you definitely want to keep in mind the cultural differences and origins of European vs Asian martial arts when talking abut weapons from either area. Like, yeah this weapon will probably be shit on a battlefield, but it wasn't meant for that. It's similar to (how I think) cavalry sabers work. They're great for what they were designed for, people riding horses at speed, but they lose effectiveness when the wielder isn't mounted.

Demonstrating the rope dart (繩標; sheng2biao1)

[eng by me]

I hate the “Ragnarök is a Post-Christian Myth” theory.

First off, it feels like most people see that Snorri Sturluson was Christian and immediately assume he did what the Irish monks did to Irish mythology. This completely ignores why he wrote the myths down, which was to establish a cultural connection between Iceland and Norway, in order to try and get Iceland to join the Kingdom of Norway (which failed). It also ignores that fact that he WASN’T A MONK. Outside of a part about the Aesir being Trojans and living in Asia (which makes no sense when looking at the rest of the Edda and the myths within), and some stuff about some great god who is more powerful than all of the Aesir and is never actually named, there isn’t much evidence to there being large post-Christian changes.

The second problem is that the theory focuses too much on Loki. He doesn’t do much during Ragnarök. He captains a ship (whatever that meant to the Norse) and he kills/dies to Heimdallr. Each of his kids from Angrboda does more. Fenrir eats Odin, and in some versions also the sun, moon, and stars. Jormungandr floods Midgard and poisons the sky, along with killing the strongest of the Aesir, Thor. Hel(a) brings an army of Draugr from her realm to fight Odin and Freya’s einherjar (Freya got half of those who died in battle). I agree that Ragnarök is a story of revenge, but its not Loki’s. ITS THE JOTNAR’S REVENGE. Revenge for a long list of insults and grievances that started with the killing of Ymir during the Voluspa by Odin and his brothers. Also, both Fenrir and Jormungandr are getting revenge against the gods they hate most, whom they are stated to kill. In the end Surtr, king of Muspelheim, kills Freyr, destroys Asgard, and burns all of the worlds (which since they are made of Ymir’s corpse, make this technically Ymir’s funeral pyre). Also the Jotnar on Loki’s ship aren’t his troops, they are led by a different Jotun, and it isn’t even his ship.

I could do an entire other post on the problems with how Loki gets viewed through modern lenses, and I’m tempted to.

SLAYERS!

They have to be my favourite part of the dwarven army and the most original and interesting thing that differentiates them from their more classically Tolkien-esque counterparts.

They are dwarfs who swore off their lives to erase a stain from their honour, to atone in death for the sins of the past, no matter how small or grand they were because for warhammer dwarfs honour is all.

What is interesting is that there are three distinct reactions to taking the slayer oath. Some dwarfs fall into depression, shunning away from everyone but fellow slayers and priests of Grimnir, others become happy and extroverted because in death you do not need to worry about society's restraints, and of course there are those slayers like Malakai Makaisson or Snorri Nosebiter who simply go crazy. The only common thing that binds them is their oath, something more than sacred for them, that orders them forward in search of great doom that will send them to the halls of their ancestors.

In one of the Gotrek and Felix books they meet a lich priest of the Tomb Kings, when he was inquired by Jaeger as to why the dwarf helps the undead the priest answers that matters of the dead do not concern the living. He then explains that when Felix is brimming with life to the point of bursting, Gotrek's line of life was already severed which shows that slayer's oath is more than mere words etched in stone.

There are some musings as to why something like the cult of Grimnir exists in dwarfen society. Some claim that is nothing but a natural consequence of how the dwarfen psyche works a sense of honour taken to its most dangerous extreme, others say that it's a release valve for society that lives under constant pressure of expectations, restrictions and traditions, and there is also a third theory posed by Bitter the slayer who said that Grimnir took his axe and marched north because he could not stand constant nagging of his family.

When you look at the whole picture you start to realise how selfish the oath is. You, for your own sense of honour, abandon all you hold dear and seek death in battle, essentially wasting your skills, knowledge and wisdom throwing it all away at the pyre of glory. At the same time there is something tragically romantic about the whole thing, mighty doom seekers traveling the length and breadth of the world, oftentimes accompanied by human or dwarfish remembrancer poets, to find glorious death slaying enemies of order. I can't help but feel sympathetic to those crazy orange crested maniacs.

Honestly I'd say that Elf wine (because they'd primarily brew fruits) is pretty much Ancient Greek wine, but the elves don't need to water it down. All elvish alcohols are made to get elves drunk.

However all dwarvish drinks are (low level) alcoholic beverages. This is because while dwarves are poison resistant, the water in their caves is far beyond poison with all the crap in it. So dwarvish brews include alcoholic versions of: sports drinks, coffee, soda, juice, water, magic potions, and even (occasionally) soups. Though a few dwarven drinks are made to get people drunk.

Any setting where the elves have weaker booze than the dwarves isn't committing to the bit

real time with pause is really the worst of all worlds

(Sound on.) We’re all doomed.