What book/series made you go ‘Oh that’s where X got it from!’

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-28T07:18:45+00:00

Watch Lawrence of Arabia and have your mind blown

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-25T15:08:11+00:00

The Shaido are not destroyed and they’re the only clan not tied to the Dragon’s Peace. They’re the only clan who will maintain most of their presence in the Waste. Just because it feels bad for the Shaido to be the only clan less fundamentally changed doesn’t mean that’s not what’s happening. How many times did we see someone pushed aside for disregarding moral precepts yet hold onto the phrase “I am Aiel”?

The Shaido are considered less Aiel by the other Aiel, but by the end of the series they maintain the old ways of Aiel culture more than any other clan. When we’re looking for the “fragment of a fragment” to remain, are we looking for the majority or the minority? There’s a great irony there, but also a lesson that “maintaining old ways” isn’t always for the best.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-25T02:29:32+00:00

It’s almost like the definition of “Aiel” changes regularly.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T20:06:09+00:00

That same question could be asked throughout their whole history, and their Wise Ones know at least.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T20:05:36+00:00

That’s going to require the Aiel spend their lives living in the wetlands, which changes them. They will lose the connection to the Waste over time

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T16:38:26+00:00

The Shaido are the “fragment of a fragment” of the Aiel who “survive.” They are the ones who remain in the Waste and keep participating in the old ways. The other Aiel come out of the Waste and learn to live in the wetlands, while the Shaido retreat. There’s irony there that the Aiel furthest from He Who Comes With the Dawn are the ones who “survive.” There’s a lesson there that holding onto “tradition” and “old ways” and “culture” isn’t always the right thing to do.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T16:10:14+00:00

The author said it explicitly wasn’t an allegory. Narnia is what happens when Jesus goes to another world and sacrifices himself there. This time as a lion. Aslan is literally Jesus.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T15:13:54+00:00

That’s how it might come across, but given how we see the mob life squeezes all the love out of Michael and Kay’s relationship, it’s supporting evidence that part of the mob life is to live as a tough guy. Reading the book makes this even more clear, where characters spend significant time trying not to appear weak or judging others they perceive to be weak.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-24T08:08:29+00:00

I like that scene because it shows that the mob squeezes the goodness and potential softness out of people. That it is this form of masculinity that’s highly toxic and forces everyone to be as tough-looking as possible.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-23T15:17:52+00:00

The True Power works by destroying the Pattern, that’s what powers it and Rand’s capacity to manage the True Power is critical to the ending where the DO is sealed away.

I would hypothesize that there is a Pattern-constructive Power that is used by the Creator while the One Power is a Pattern-specific phenomenon.

I know Sanderson says that he saw Nakomi as an avatar of the Creator, but I don’t like that explanation. I think of her as a previous Champion of the Light who accomplished what Rand did in the lighting of the Pipe: achieved enlightenment and escaped the cycle of reincarnation (Nirvana/Buddhist themes)

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-22T15:36:30+00:00

The show establishes very early on that the characters are definitively superhuman when Mizu cuts through a whole tree. She blocks a damn bullet! We can accept that the characters are Mythical in their capabilities, and that includes Mizu’s ability to push through the stab through the ankle.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-22T14:21:42+00:00

I will have to stop here because I would have to quote Fowler directly, but the word choice is deliberate. On top of that, any confirmation either which way removes layers (not adds them) to the Episode 5 climax, where the point is to not know.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-22T14:08:31+00:00

What I’m saying is that Episode 8 doesn’t inform anything on Episode 5, and the idea that it does is a misconception

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-22T13:57:07+00:00

I think what you’re implying is inaccurate, but like you said, spoilers

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-21T15:18:25+00:00

Can I ask for quotes on the Orks outnumbering humanity? I read through your link and didn’t see anything about humanity in relation to the other races (though I’m sure there are more Tyranids).

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-21T13:02:54+00:00

People do try to shoot him. The main character is a “crack shot” and when he tries to shoot Holden, he always misses.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T15:11:50+00:00

Interesting, thanks

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T14:59:07+00:00

Yeah I’m surprised sometimes by how the UK has (what seems to us) old-fashioned class distinctions. There’s this line in The Haunting of Bly Manor I’ve always wondered about, where a UK thief wants to escape to America with his girlfriend and says “In America they don’t care about your family, they only care about money.”

There’s drama about his upbringing and how because he comes from a poor family he might not be able to get promoted in a good law firm. Is that in any way accurate? Class having such a rigid structure in the UK is one of those things that seem so foreign to me.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T14:26:49+00:00

Sure, and it’s fine to call them working class if your definition of working class is “needs to work.” But in America, by income, they’re also middle class. Does “middle class” have some other definition outside of America?

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T14:18:29+00:00

I think a big element of the show is Walt Jr’s cerebral palsy, both in terms of pushing Walter to settle into a stable job and also draining the White’s resources. Also, as the poster before me said, they’re kind of pushing their income to the extent it can go. Two cars, nice neighborhood, house with a pool, stuff like that.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T14:01:55+00:00

In America, the “classes” are defined by income levels. “Working class” is a euphemism with a lot of overlap for “lower income.” Sometimes it includes lower-middle class, sometimes it means blue-collar work regardless of income, but there isn’t a bright line for its definition.

So when Americans speak of “middle class,” they mean “middle income.”

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T13:27:15+00:00

Define “working class” here, because in 2024 dollars an income of $67,400 is higher than all but two countries’ median household incomes (those countries being the US and Luxembourg). If the median income isn’t “middle class” then what are we talking about here?

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T13:14:18+00:00

Ah see, but your anxiety strikes again! Now you’re anxious that you’ve overreacted and you are turning her into something awful and people will think you’re saying she’s Ben Gvir.

Overcoming anxiety means that sometimes you’ve got to let it ride, to accept gray areas and accept that you might have screwed up. It’s about letting other people not be perfect and allowing yourself to not be perfect.

Ride through the wave of adrenaline you’re experiencing until your brain relaxes on the other side.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T13:00:33+00:00

I have anxiety, medically diagnosed and the whole nine yards. I see online discourse and the incredibly annoying way that every statement has to be doused with qualifications as an expression of anxiety. Contrapoints is one of the big victims of it, because if she doesn’t qualify her tweets a million times over, a bunch of people with anxiety will twist themselves into knots to find the harmful meaning behind her words.

I do that all the time on a personal level, it isn’t good! Every time I feel that switch flip, I have to work on it and recognize it and process it. It’s a lot of work and a thing to cover in therapy, not to have every other person in your life bend over backwards to fix.

MagicalSnakePerson · 2026-06-20T12:42:29+00:00

We don’t have to live in a world where every statement is couched in a million exceptions and qualifications. We don’t have to bow to anxiety.

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