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i’m pleased to inform everyone that the slug is not homophobic because he has a boyfriend
his reaction… was of pride
(via shitelock)
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random bitter aspiring authors on “writing advice” blogs: Don’t make your main characters super special mary sues. don’t make them better than other people or more interesting. your main characters should be boring average guys with the personalities of wood pulp
the Epic of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh was objectively the best man ever. He was the hottest, sexiest, most gorgeous hunk of pure manly awesomeness that ever lived and he used a sword that weighed 120 pounds.
The lesson here is that your main characters can be as special, overpowered, and unrealistically skilled at everything as you want, as long as this has the purpose of driving the plot via all the problems they cause (because they’re an egotistical nightmare and a gigantic raging asshole).
The second lesson here is that no matter what randos on writing blogs say, people like stories where the characters are unique and iconic. Or at least they remember them.
(I have a theory that the stories that form long-lasting fandoms, and/or are recognized and referenced frequently in pop culture, are stories that have the same sort of “iconic” elements that are long-lasting in folklore and mythology. I think superheroes are particularly well suited to lasting centuries/millennia into the future because they’re just so simple and memorable conceptually.)
Hi my name is Gilgamesh Hammurabi Ziusudra Euphrates Ishtar and I have the same heroic build as my lordly ancestors (that’s how I got my name) with bulging muscles and chiselled features moulded by the goddess Aruru, and icy blue eyes like the limpid waters of the Great Flood, and a lot of people tell me I look King Enmebaragesi of Kish (AN: if u don’t know who he is get da Kur out of here!). I’m not related to Ishtar but I wish I was because she’s a major fucking hottie. I’m a demi-god but I’m not immortal. I possess extraordinary strength. I’m also a king and I rule a city called Urduk, where I force my subjects to erect lots of ziggurats (I’m known for my cruelty). I’m a Sumerian (in case you couldn’t tell) and I wear mostly animal skins. I love the forbidden Cedar Forest and I slay and skin all my beasts from there. For example today I was wearing a skin made from the Bull of Heaven with a matching sheep hide skirt, gold armlets, a carnelian headband, and black combat sandals. I was wearing black kohl eyeliner to ward off conjunctivitis. I was walking outside the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. I came across a tunnel which no man before me had ever entered, which I was very happy about. Two guards that were giant scorpion monsters stared at me. I put up my middle finger at them.
This is objectively genius writing but the size of the audience that can properly recognize its brilliance is so small
I’m just glad to be part of it
Man, I fucking hate this people. It’s very apparent that you don’t understand the fundamental difference between a text such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and my immortal, or anything they consume, really.
The Epic of Gilgamesh exists and was written down not because it’s a good story, but because it’s an important story. How else would the people know how the underworld is, or how the world was before the universal flood, or the path of the sun, or how this knowledge reached them in the first place?
Contrast that with, say, Die Hard; you aren’t being educated watching it, it’s not a history lesson, it’s not a religiously important story, it’s just a fun time.
Okay, so, I’d be more than happy to go into analyzing Gilgamesh on a deeper level than a fun shitpost that is for fun, but I can tell you right now that no, the Epic of Gilgamesh was not written down to inform people about the underworld or what things were like before the flood
We’re talking about a hero that is part of a larger mythology and was surrounded by a robust, thriving oral tradition. People absolutely didn’t need written records to “remember” basic things about their worldview.
Especially not about the underworld or the pre-flood world, because the epic barely describes those things. I don’t think all versions even have the part with the path of the sun (this may be because our tablets are fragmented). The flood narrative is often commented upon even by scholars as awkwardly shoehorned into a storyline that isn’t very relevant to it (i would argue that it is thematically relevant, because of the idea of the gods as supreme in their powers over human life, but that’s neither here nor there). This is just not what the story is ABOUT.
Gilgamesh was, to some extent, a real historical figure, and the focus of the epic is on human mortality. Gilgamesh is immortal in human memory because his story was written down; it’s a form of memorialization, just like steles commemorating great victories or the majestic walls of Uruk.
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facebook trends: BREAKING!! vaccines make your children GAY and AUTISTIC
twitter trends: gorgun mcfuck cancelled for saying orphans should be put to work in factories again
tiktok trends: here’s why breathing is actually a sign of post traumatic adhd
tumblr trends:
(via that-twink-over-there)
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Sometimes self care also means going to the library. 🏫
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Saw a post and I didn’t like that person’s opinions.
And you’re being so brave about it
And I’m being SO brave about it!!
(via that-twink-over-there)
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