Post S2 Cryptids ~

i have like 3 points in capitalism and this was the first one. i just could not resist

I've been a third all my life. Not saying that to fight, just saying that it's true. I feel like I get to pick one thing for myself, and it's her. A weird white lady I met by happenstance.

The use of both Hosea and Dutch call Arthur their "boy" or "son" is something I've been thinking about a lot recently...

Hosea uses it as a reminder. Arthur is his boy through and through, and there never needs to be any questioning on that fact.

Dutch also uses it as a reminder, but for a different reason. He wants Arthur to remember that *he* was the one who plucked him off the streets and gave him a full belly and a place to call home. It's a reminder to Arthur of where his loyalties should lie.

Not saying that Dutch is entirely evil; in the earlier chapters I can see it being meaningful. But towards the end its clear, Arthur isn't his boy anymore. He is a tool that's starting to rust.

Hosea doodles

HE'S MY SONNNNN

I know we've all been hurt by queer media and there's a lot of people out there right now who are prepared to be disappointed by the show's version of Devil's Minion, but consider this... What if they do an amazing job? What if they exceed our expectations? WHAT THEN HUH?

Horrifying secret attack on satellite-officer. By Harry

i didn't get a minor in art history for no reason, so let's talk about

The Adoration of the Shepherds with a Donor by Palma Vecchio, c. 1520-1525 (held at the Louvre under the French name L'Adoration des bergers avec une donatrice, here's its collection details)

What's fascinating about this painting (done in the very very late High Renaissance to early Mannerism) is that the identity of the commissioner of the painting is the one kneeling to the far right, who Armand in the episode says is modeled by him, is actually unknown. (So that makes it very handy for the show to claim it's Armand without actually being inaccurate or anachronistic)

What this depicts is the Christmas story (though yes, I know, it doesn't look like Christmastime in the painting) where the shepherds pay Jesus a visit after he's born. There's a lark sitting in the window on the left, which often symbolizes rebirth, and there's a dog all the way to the very right, which usually symbolizes loyalty.

Of course, within the IWTV verse, the choice of using this painting (which doesn't have much, if any literature on it by itself--maybe because for a long time it was attributed to the painter Titian by mistake instead of Vecchio) is extremely fascinating to me. There's a lot of dimensions here: most notably, as another user I saw pointed out, Armand was the model for this, and the painter (Marius de Romanus in the show, Armand's maker) whitewashes Armand. Now, Armand is immortalized in room 711 in the Louvre forever as a 20 year old, looking nothing like himself, his identity effectively completely erased, while thousands of people pass and see this painting every year.

It raises a lot of poignant questions, also: since the commissioner of real life (who is the real life model) doesn't exist in IWTV, what is the motivation for Marius to paint Armand in a Christ scene? Because obviously, Armand would not have commissioned this painting. What spurs him to do that? Since the real life artist, Vecchio, was very influenced by Titian at the point when this painting was made, was Marius also? I really do want to know the team's thought process behind choosing this painting, because it's endlessly interesting to me. It's definitely one of the lesser known works in the Louvre, even just a cursory glance over JSTOR barely has any information. I might literally email my art history professors and ask if they have any material on this or Vecchio because I'm so intrigued... anyone else wanna discuss <3?

Physically I am a present and functioning human being, mentally I am consumed body and soul by old man vampire yaoi

Rest.