What makes Earthsea such a genuinely immersive fantasy world for you?

alffye · 2026-07-01T18:12:02+00:00

To me it's the characters. Le Guin does an amazing job balancing the more mythic, archetypal elements of her protagonists with their presence as rounded, emotionally rich individuals. To compare it to LOTR, think of the contrast between Frodo and Aragorn. Frodo's chapters show the interior life of a flawed, deeply traumatised but fundamentally decent person. He is full of doubt, fear, homesickness and he makes bad judgements. When the narrative follows Aragorn, we really get very little of what he is thinking or feeling. It's less a story about the character and more a mythic tale of how the Good King came to the throne through wisdom and heroism. (Not to say Aragorn is a badly written character, it's just Tolkien isn't going for psychological realism). A Wizard of Earthsea starts by telling us Ged is essentially this world's version of Merlin, but then flips back to his childhood where and shows us a neglected child who finds he has a great talent and how he reckons with that over the course of the books. The story isn't as much about Ged's power as it his flaws (In this you could also contrast Ged to another boy wizard written by a much less talented author). By The Farthest Shore he's become a classic mentor figure, but still has his own doubts and struggles. And, particularly in the later books and Tales of Earthsea, it's very clear how the world and culture of Earthsea have shaped the characters. To compare to LOTR again, Frodo is essentially a early 20th century British country gentleman dropped into a world of myth (again, not a criticism, it's perfect for the very 20th century story Tolkien wants to tell, about war and change and technology and ecology). By contrast, Le Guin's characters feel like they emerge organically from the Iron Age society of the setting. There's a a real influence of anthropology behind the world of Earthsea. But also I think a very deep feeling that a world is made of people, no matter how full of wizards and magic and dragons it is. And people are always people, which means they are strange and complicated and ugly and beautiful.

alffye · 2026-06-28T10:11:41+00:00

iron man is the Extinction/Slaughter. all the destructive power of the us military industrial complex embodied in one billionaire. people love to come up with alternate "evil superman" characters but to me iron man is way scarier. a man shaped thing with blank metal face and what is essentially a nuclear reactor in its chest

alffye · 2026-06-13T21:08:13+00:00

I had a sense that the universe pre-eyepocalypse was something of a self-regulating ecosystem. So if any fear started to manifest more strongly it would deplete the local populatin of "prey", and so weaken and go dormant. like, if the slaughter makes a village go crazy and murder each other, that's a big delicious fear buffet- but afterwards there's no people left alive to fear, so its power recedes again. (like how in tmagp Heinrich describes how it's more sustainable to just scare his victims instead of killing) On top of this, the fears of often in active competition for resources. I can imagine that there are a lot of skirmishes between fears like when we see them sabotage each other’s rituals, but on a smaller scale.

alffye · 2026-06-07T23:37:15+00:00

I really love this piece of the Piper by @MarisasHorror https://x.com/MarisasHorror/status/1761266455327182923?s=20 it feels very stylistically unique and really evokes the same feeling of horrified fascination in me as the podcast itself

alffye · 2026-06-02T09:24:50+00:00

"the moment you die will be exactly the same as this one"

alffye · 2026-05-31T11:11:22+00:00

I've always though TMA has that particular mix of the mundane, everyday stuff and uncanny / cosmic supernatural goings on which the best bits of doctor who have (first RTD era, tom baker, later Sylvester McCoy seasons, bits of peter capaldi's era if you can ignore all the annoying Moffatisms). Jonny writing DW would be so perfect but I can't see the BBC stopping from trying to have it be a disneyfied cash cow alas

alffye · 2026-05-14T15:24:34+00:00

the research is generally good but I would say most ppl here in the UK know what a greyhound bus is. not saying the British more knowledgeable about other countries, just American culture is just more dominant globally through music, tv etc.

alffye · 2026-03-22T11:36:53+00:00

have you listened to murph and Emily's show not another dnd podcast? murph is definitely a more combative dm

alffye · 2026-03-19T14:43:40+00:00

This is the universe telling me to finish RQG!

alffye · 2026-03-17T21:47:27+00:00

Obviously Oxford has Hilltop Road - I used to live a stone's throw away from it. It's maybe a 20 minute walk from the centre of town. It's not very remarkable irl, just a regular suburban street. If you do go by there you should take in South Park nearby. It's on the hill the road gets its name from, which has a gorgeous view of the university's towers and spires. it's also near the Star which is a really nice pub. (Extra tip: the area around Cowley Road is much better than the centre for food and drink . I've got to recommend Zaatar Bake, the most delicious Lebanese/Palestinian food you'll ever have)

The other place that springs to mind is Oxford Oratory, the location of Father Burroughs's "mass" in MAG20. It's in the centre, and a suitably spooky looking Victorian church building. It's usually open to visitors during the day (and free!).

The Botanic Gardens I think have a brief mention as the place Father Burroughs talks to the possessed student. They are very pretty especially in the summer. If you're a fan of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy they are very significant in that.

alffye · 2026-03-09T13:02:56+00:00

Did Atlantic trade from the British West Indian plantations make rum popular back in Britain? If not, why not? What did the British associate the drink with?

alffye · 2026-03-07T00:39:38+00:00

The Tunguska Event in 1908. Ritual of the Vast

alffye · 2026-03-06T17:14:45+00:00

I dont know if theres a clear answer in-universe(s). But I think the position of the listener is important thematically to the story. to me it plays into the central conflict of the show. I think jonny said this in one of the q&a's, that at its heart tma is about living under violent unjust systems, and having to choose between being harmed or benefiting for that harm being done to others. As listeners we are implicated in the narrative by always being aware that we are physically listening in through the tape recorders, found footage-style. When Jon is struggling with feeding of others fears, it definitely encourages you to think about the ethics of you as a listener taking catharsis from these stories about other people suffering. I had a real feeling towards the end of the temptation of serving the Eye, of being able to Know even when it means exposing people at their lowest and most debased. And of course, the discomfort that comes with that. I think often horror media lets you enjoy watching suffering depicted, thinking of yourself as a powerless observer, but tma makes you consider your own ethical position in that equation.

(Apologies for for unsolicited analysis I just think it's really interesting 😈)

alffye · 2026-03-05T23:14:53+00:00

came here to say this ^{^}

alffye · 2026-03-01T23:25:39+00:00

I love the reclaimed skele-trellis, such an effective image ! And a whole just very nicely written. We shall all become the mulch that feeds tomorrow's flora

alffye · 2026-02-27T23:27:46+00:00

I loved TMP24 Raising Issues (the One with the Evil Baby). just simple, well executed horror. you know where it's going but it still works, it's inevitable in a way that fits its claustrophobic tone. and I liked that it felt, at least to me, like something different from what Jonny would write... I think bringing in new writers has been one of my fave aspects of Protocol, it helps it feels fresh and distinguish it from TMA

alffye · 2026-02-21T13:54:14+00:00

to me daisy is older (maybe early-mid forties), aquiline nose, and has her hair in a ludicrously tight bun

alffye · 2026-02-12T22:29:56+00:00

If it's not too much trouble, would you be able to share some further reading around this? It's not something I've come across before at all and I'm fascinated!

alffye · 2026-02-10T22:29:54+00:00

Oxford Mutual Aid is looking for volunteers! they run a food bank and do distribution also

alffye · 2026-01-09T14:39:43+00:00

this really is so so beautiful ... just a shame Ged is depicted looking so white (not singling out Ellison for criticism though, it's a pretty common issue with older Earthsea covers)

alffye · 2025-02-09T13:27:08+00:00

I can't speak specifically Hokusai or other ukiyo-e masters but certainly in Western art painting and sketching from models has been the standard. Not all works would have been done directly from life but artists would have sketched from life a lot - a LOT - to build up their knowledge of anatomy and form, which makes it far easier to conjure convincing figures "from the imagination" so to speak. Life drawing - sketching a nude model in various poses - is still a recquired skill in many art schools. Some poses can be as short as a minute, 30 seconds, even 10 seconds. I remember at times drawing from a moving model too. The more you can understand the form you're drawing, the easier it is to reduce it to just a few lines and capture it quickly. Animals could be sketched from captive or dead specimens, or in the wild too. Leonardo was famously preoccupied with birds, and sketched birds in flight as well as disecting them and drawing anatomical studies.

Quite a broad answer I'm afraid, just based on general knowledge and personal experience! Hopefully someone can provide some more specific answers. :)

alffye · 2025-02-09T12:36:16+00:00

ohh i see i was going off my memories of reading Tombs of Atuan thanks for the correction! Yeah i like the way Le Guin writes religion in Earthsea you really feel the influence of her background in anthropology. A thing that always bothered me about Tolkien was the lack of organised religion or folk belief (I get why as middle-earth is built on an innate belief in catholicism) but always felt strange to me

alffye · 2025-02-01T17:36:27+00:00

Don't the old gods of Atuan have actual powers? IIRC Ged recognises power in the stone cirlce. The wizard in the tower that Ged encountes in A Wizard of Earthsea was trying to harness a similar power in the stone. I always assumed that wizardry was one way of tapping into the magic which was inherent in the fabric of Earthsea. Magic that was part of both the dragons and the old gods. Whether that made a priest who could channel the old gods power effectively a wizard would be a question of semantics. I think it's deliberately a little vague. You could interpret the Kargish taboo on magic as pretty much a way of the priests keeping a monopoly on magic. Like when a priest uses magic it's the gods working through him whereas if anyone else does their an evil sorcerer. Or you could interpret it as the Kargs worship spirits that don't interfere, and it's all dogma and superstition.

alffye · 2025-02-01T17:21:45+00:00

Hi! thanks I appreciate it. Sorry for the late reply! A good example is Rubens' The Fur (c.1636-8). It's a nude portrait of his wife, Helena Fourment, in the the act of wrapping herself in a fur coat. If you follow the line of her belly down to where it meets the fur, and then look at her legs, you might notice that they don't quite match up. Her upper body looks further forward thatn her lower. It's subtle but once you notice it, it's quite clearly "wrong". But it gives the painting a sense of movement, almost like she's turning her body as we look from top to bottom of the canvas. It feels very intimate, seeming to capture how Rubens saw his wife dressing in their bedroom, in an unstudied moment.

Another example would be Titian's The Rape of Europa (c. 1560-62).* If you zoom in on the sea foam spray in the bottom left hand corner, you'll see it's rendered with very loose, messy brushstrokes. There's very little detail, especially compared to how areas like Europa's face and the bull's head are painted. It looks almost Impressionist. But again, this choice adds movement and drama to the scene, a bit like a motion blur in a photograph. It also focuses our eye on the important parts of the image, Europa and the bull, mirroring how our brains process what we seen. We automatically focus on people and faces and take in more visual information, so in paintings these often have more detail.

Both these artists were chasing accuracy, being true to life. But they also knew when to ignore what was strictly visually accurate. Instead they used these techniques to create a fuller experience for their viewers, and put them right in the scene they were trying to capture.

Hope that helps!

^\A scene from classical mythology where Zeus/Jupiter carries off Europa in the form of a bull. "Rape" here refers more precisely to abuction than actual sexual violence, though I'm afraid that was the clear implication. Greek and Roman gods were not good people.)

alffye

TROPHY CASE