My Hot Take

Will, upon Matthew’s arrival at the institute: Okay kid, if you’re going to be a part of this family, you have to be put on rotation for the Weekly Sacrifice

Matthew: The what?

James: Each week, one of us has to pretend to be sick so that he can call Brother Zachariah over.

Will: You’re the newcomer, so it’s your turn, and-

Matthew, having crawled into bed, shivering under blankets, wailing: CALL THE BROTHERS, I AM MOST VILELY ILL!!!

James: A common cold would suffice…

Matthew: I HAVE DROPSY! DEATH IS IMMINENT! AH, DEAR LOST YOUTH

Will: …Excessive. I like it.

The final version

Credit: @juliehangart

They should make a "are you mad at me" that is taken neutrally and informationally every time and doesn't make everything worse when you ask it

Wrath's name and implications: a theory

As tradition has it, true names are a big deal for demons, as knowing their can grant you full control and power over them. I don't know if this is something that holds true in Kingdom of the Wicked, but if it does indeed (I'm sure it does), for Wrath to tell his true name to Emilia would mean the ultimate twig of trust.

I know the name reveal has been teased a lot by Kerri, and that a lot of readers have their own theories as well (I haven't read them yet, because I just finished the book). But... what if it's been implied, what if we already know? What if it's been hidden in plain sight?

Text under the cut contains spoilers from Kingdom of the Wicked.

When Wrath saved Emilia's life after the Viperidae attack, during that mysterious ritual (something really important we still have to discover), it was implied that their minds were connected.

"I’d felt something last night, more intimate than if we’d shared a bed. For one strangely long second, I swore we’d been inside each other’s minds. What I saw there, deep where he couldn’t hide it, wasn’t simple hatred he felt toward me. It was much more complex".

"When I’d found myself inside his head last night, his expression wasn’t one of love, but fear".

Now, if they shared a "mindspace" during the ritual, there are some things that can be explained: Wrath knowing things about her she didn't share, like where she lived, what her favorite flowers are, what food she enjoys... Another pretty interesting detail that didn't escape my mind was the fact that Emilia never told Wrath her own name, and he didn't ask either, content to call her witch. The few times he had called her by her name, it was only after the healing ritual, never before, and it was never addressed how he came to know. Of course, he could have learned of it off-page or he could known because of the summoning magic, but in a world where names have some importance, it is a noticeable detail.

So, if they did see into each other minds, could Emilia have gathered some insight about Wrath without her not being aware of it? We know she saw things that so far are unrelated to her, but in her confused state she couldn't discern what was dream, memory or reality (similar to what happened to Sofia and Claudia). Here are some of the things she saw:

A giant serpent. A deadly fight. Fangs. Blood. My grandmother’s neck, slashed. Drinking something thicker than honey and so saccharine, I had to gag it down. Strange words spoken fervently. A kiss followed by a blinding spark.

Then the nightmares began. Demons screeching, claws scraping, an unfamiliar woman with midnight eyes and fire in her soul, cursing me. A city of fire and ice. An obsidian throne room. A crown forged of flames and smoke. Enormous gates crafted from bone and leathery wings, bursting open. Betrayal.

(Could this also be visions of Wrath's betrayal and her future in Hell?)

After stating these points, what I'm trying to say is that maybe Emilia has an unconscious reckoning of Wrath after that ritual. So, coming back to Wrath's true name: what if Emilia, without realizing, already know it somehow?

I couldn’t very well call him “Wrath.” The demon prince shifted into view. He gave me a slight shake of his head. It was hard to tell if it was a warning to not give his name [...] My friend Samael is visiting and we wanted to light a candle for Vittoria.

Emilia didn't so much as pause or stutter giving that name, it just came easily to her. And the name is actually very interesting (more on that later).

Wrath leaned against the altar and stared at me, one brow arched. It was one of the most human expressions I’d ever seen him wear. “Samael, really? That was the best name you could come up with?”

“He was a prince of Rome and an angel of death. I’d say that sounds pretty fitting [...]"

He strode over to me, stopping at an almost decent space. “Do not ever call me that again. I am no angel, witch. Never make that mistake.”

“You don’t say. And here I was under the impression most humans considered Samael the devil.”

It's interesting to see how "that" and "ever" are highlighted in cursive, like the words are important. And not only that, but Wrath, who is often said to be expresionless save a few times, does actually look human in that moment (it may be unrelated, but I wonder if it is a sign of surprise or vulnerability). Then, he warns Emilia to never call him that, stating his desire to not be compared to an angel. Wouldn't it be fitting that a ruling demon prince, who is probably a fallen angel and now goes by his sin name, is furious about someone calling him by his angelic name after who knows how long? Again, all of this could be just a coincidence and be unrelated, but it struck me as odd.

To further my reasoning, we also have the mark Wrath put on Emilia's neck. Since the moment it happened and for an unknown reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that the S was the first initial of Wrath's true name.

At some point, I thought his tongue flicked over my jugular, tracing an invisible S along my skin.

The S could be just the shape of a snake, but it just adds on.

So, could Samael be Wrath's true name? Let's take a look at the name and the figure behind it.

Samael was an archangel and, later, a fallen angel. He was part of God's army, the group of angels "trained" in military skills to fight his wars, his heavenly duties sometimes consisting in destruction.

In some lore, his role is/was that of the Angel of Death.

Samael was one of the rebellious angels, and was sometimes considered to be neither good nor evil.

He is often identified as "Melkira", King of the Wicked.

He is heavily linked to the myth of the Garden of Eden and the fall of Adam and Eve. He was the one who planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which is the embodiment of wisdom, free choice and wielding power), which granted him God's fury and his banishment from Heaven. As revenge, he took the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve into sin.

Samael is also associated with the title/name of Satan (Samael being the "true name" of Satan himself), and in some versions he fulfills that role as chief of the fallen angels and leader of satans. In some kabbalistic works, he is the Prince of all demons.

Satan is the most used name for the prince of hell related to the sin of Wrath.

Regarding romantic aspects, he is also linked to Lilith (who's also related to snakes), who became his spouse, and the two of them were said to parallel Adam and Eve as counterparts in Hell. With her, he is said to have fathered multiple demons. In other versions, him and Eve had an affair, which resulted in the birth of Cain (though he is mostly referenced as Adam and Eve's firstborn).

All of this fits Wrath in one way or another. We have the warrior fallen angel vibe, the snake symbolism, his conviction of him and the princes not being good or evil, the Angel of Death reference (that unnerves me a little because of what Fratello Antonio said, but same could be said of other beings), his importance in Hell, the power of free will motivating all his actions and a possible foreshadowing of him being the King of the Wicked (along Emilia).

Now, it's possible that Samael could be his true name, or maybe it's actuallly the other side of the coin, Satan. Either way, Samael and Satan were one and the same in a lot of versions, so my bets are on Wrath's name being one or the other.

Whatever it may be, my point is mainly centered on Emilia having figured it out without realizing it, and how the implications of the name play a part into the story (some of which we have already seen, but others we haven't yet).

It is conflicting though, because both Wrath and Pride (as well as Satan/Lucifer and the Devil concept) share similar imagery, to the point of asking myself if their storylines are going to be somewhat mixed, or who of the two have the right to rule Hell.

Obviously, I'm all for Wrath prooving all these points and defeating Pride if it comes to that. Especially if he fulfills the part of King of the Wicked along Emilia as his ruling Queen 💕

“Disgraceful,” said Mrs Bridgestock. “I know your face. You are that Persian boy. Are you not ashamed to be running around corrupting nice young people? I suppose you are only following your father’s example, but considering what happened to him, you should really know better.”

Cordelia wished to rush to her brother’s defense, but she did not dare move.

Alastair bared his teeth at Mrs Bridgestock. “I should, shouldn’t I?” Cassandra Clare, The Last Hours snippet. 

So lemme get this straight…

You all hate Chaol because he had a terrible past that included really bad experiences with magic causing him to be prejudice against the faes resulting in him to be a dick toward Aelin by saying mean things that hurt her feelings. (Not excusing his behavior, but I understand why he felt that way.)

But when Aelin literally chains up Manon under a boat JUST because she’s a witch and had no real reason to hate her…y'all try to find excuses.

Basically Chaol just said mean things that kind of cut deep, but Aelin LITERALLY GOT PHYSICAL WITH MANON and y'all think it’s okay. This fandom has a bunch of hypocrites with double standards I tell you.

Light it up Danikaaa!!! I’m so in love with this friendship. Excuse me whilst I cry.

Bryce Quinlan and Danika Fendyr

Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

Please don’t repost!

Find me on instagram sncinderart

Reasons to watch The Dragon Prince

Made by one of the writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this show is a cross of Game of Thrones (not the S8 decay) - Lord of the Rings - Dungeons & Dragons - AT:LA. It is a wonderful and unique show with an ensemble setting and combines political, world-building, historical, mystical, and warfare aspects.

It tells a story of a magical world that is divided between the mystical creatures (led by elves and dragons) and humans due to the invention of dark magic. The animosity between the two factions rose and eventually the Dragon king was slayed and all war breaks loose. a rag-tag team of children finds out a conspiracy and tries to return the kidnapped dragon heir, the Dragon Prince, back to the mystical lands called Xadia, bit they need to face both humans and mystical creatures that are bent on destroying each other.

It is a good show and has large potential, but its only at its 2nd to 3rd season, with the potential of being cancelled because of Netflix’s strategy on cancelling shows early to initiate new shows to hook more views, before cancelling them again and starting the cycle of creative butchery (edit: as of right now, its not in a danger zone, but its not as secure as bigger shows like Stranger Things)

So here are the reasons to watch TDP. I’ve posted this in a reblog before but I’m putting this in a post for more exposure.

POC representation. The main human characters of this show are POC, Callum being of half-Asian heritage while Ezran being of Asian-African heritage. The universe is so diverse and it doesn’t hold back in integrating culture such as Asian, Arabic, etc to its lore. As a POC I really felt like this representation is necessary and TDP served it well. It’s good for a change to see someone like yourself on screen, and children around the world deserve that too.

Characters with accurately portrayed disabilities, yet they are still toe in toe with non-disabled characters. Amaya, a badass deaf Asian warrior aunt that uses ASL openly in the show is one of my most favorite characters. Disability in media has always been underrepresented and TDP presents it in a respectful manner.

Representation of female characters. This show has a lot of significant female characters and they are all diverse in roles. And all of them slay as well. From Rayla, assassin elf with a good heart, Sarai, wise warrior queen mom, Amaya, absolute badass, Claudia, a happy-go-lucky and kind dark mage, and Aanya, a child queen that is the Lyanna Mormont of this series that speaks her mind. Women are treated as equals in this show like it should be. I think that TDP’s representation of female characters could teach young children on gender equality from an early age, which is positive and much needed.

LGBTQ Representation. TDP has directly shown a wlw queen couple and hinted that a major character is bi. It might not be as blatant as Steven Universe or other shows in its later seasons, but I think that it has potential. Its creators are very open about their support of LGBTQ and willingness to include the community, and never backed away from thoroughly discussing it.

The ambiguity of morals and other complex topics. TDP shows that the protagonists are not top-notch perfect, they have flaws. Meanwhile the villains are dimensioned as well, heck sometimes I wonder if they are villains are not. Dark magic is treated bad in the start but soon layers appear because apparently it can be used for healing or saving people for the greater good. There’s more. The blunt concept of death and how children are faced with it, complicated parent-child relationships between stepson and stepfather or parental emotional abuse, political propaganda and racism, anxiety and panic attacks. it has it all. Plus the lore and story reference many historical events and as the story unfolds, everything becomes complicated. Who’s side is wrong after all? Are they both wrong? Were they both misunderstanding each other?

INTERESTING LORE AND WORLD BUILDING. DRAGONS, DRAGONS AND ELVES AND THEIR WONDERFUL BADASS DESIGNS. JUST LOOK AT THEM. Like AT:LA there are elements, and there are creatures or beings based on those elements. They have wonderful stylistic influences based on those elements, for instance: moon elves can turn invisible, sky dragons can breathe lightning, sun elves can go super saiyan magma mode. The world building and lore is impressive too, the creators have plotted out the history of the world and the events preceding the present, it is so well-thought out and intriguing.

INTENSE BATTLE SCENES. Love them all, they have great soundtrack accompanying it too. Epic fights like the volcano battle, full moon sword fight, or a mage vs a horde of soldiers.

MEMES. NARUTO RUNNING, THE MORDOR MEME, AARPODS

Lastly dedicated creators and creative team. @dragonprinceofficial is very active in Tumblr, engaging with fun Q&A and posting fun memes or posts. It's one of the best and communicative creative teams ever, and they listen and respond.

Give The Dragon Prince a thumbs up in Netflix, tell people who might be interested on world-building fantasy to watch this wonderful show. Save The Dragon Prince

Edit: The potential cancellation might be a misunderstanding, so for people worried so very much about it (like i was), right now we're not in a danger zone. But I still think it deserves more attention than it has, for a beautiful show with by dedicated content creators.

Something about attending social events, where you are all there for the same enjoyment, fills you with such joy that lingers for days