Off Topic Discussion Megathread

[Midareyukki]

I mean, most all of the stuff around Arthur himself is that way too. There's just more people willing to go out on a limb about stuff surrounding Arthur since he's the pivotal figure in the legend.

Also OG Arthur sounds hella like the WoL. Cutting witches in half with daggers and slaying giants with Rhongomiant. Killing 960 men singlehandedly...

It's what happens when you let the Celts have fun with mythological weapons. You can't just have a strong spear, no, it needs to explode into barbs and turn people into a pincushion (Gáe Bolg). A sword isn't a sword if it doesn't cut three hills in half (Caladbolg). And to them, King Arthur's removal of Excalibur from the stone would be laughable, as Nuada had to pose on top of a rock with his sword, have the rock scream (presumably from his weight), and have the sword whisper to it (Fragarach).

Also, on Rhongomiant... Still wondering what the hell Geoffrey smoked to rename it into "Ron".
"Ah yes, this is my sword Excalibur, my shield Priwen, my knife Carnwennan and my spear Ron."

[Vyrerus]

It's what happens when you let the Celts have fun with mythological weapons. You can't just have a strong spear, no, it needs to explode into barbs and turn people into a pincushion (Gáe Bolg). A sword isn't a sword if it doesn't cut three hills in half (Caladbolg). And to them, King Arthur's removal of Excalibur from the stone would be laughable, as Nuada had to pose on top of a rock with his sword, have the rock scream (presumably from his weight), and have the sword whisper to it (Fragarach).

Also, on Rhongomiant... Still wondering what the hell Geoffrey smoked to rename it into "Ron".
"Ah yes, this is my sword Excalibur, my shield Priwen, my knife Carnwennan and my spear Ron."

Lmao, that guy was literally like, "I'm gonna write a historical book... teehee." Knowing he was making it up. He was probably deep in his cups like, "What was his spear called again? RhonGo? Ron-go? Mi? Something? Screw it, it's Ron now."

[Kalania]

Kind of.

Merlin as a character was always the son of an Incubus. This is because his first ever appearance on the Matter of Britain was in the 12th Century by Geoffrey of Monmouth, a Welsh cleric. What people theorize Merlin is, what Geoffrey did to make Merlin, was take up several different other figures in local folklore and previous versions of the Matter of Britain, and fuse them together to create Merlin. Then, he used the demon father justification to make it more "acceptable" for there to be a good-moralled magic wielder serving King Arthur.

The figures Geoffrey is theorized to have combined are:
- Emrys Wledig, a Welsh character anglicized as Ambrose Aurelian. He's a war leader who won a battle against the Anglo-Saxons. Emrys was originally the uncle of King Arthur, brother to Uther by Nennius in the 9th century. But then Geoffrey rewrote this name as being Merlin under a disguise to trick Vortigern.
- Myrddin the Wild, a Bard living in the Caledonian Forest of Scotland, who gave Merlin his name. In fact, Geoffrey wrote another book called "The Prophecies of Merlin", where he describes Myrddin's ramblings while under dementia to be Merlin making prophecies under a magical state.

Now, Bards were a version of Druids in Celtic communities, specifically someone whose job was to pass on traditions and stories orally, often through song. They shared this with Druids and Ovates. So you can consider that Merlin is indeed meant to be depicted as a druid, because he's based on Myrddin and his bardic ramblings. However, the term has since been really muddied by pop culture, and even by the 12th century, druidry had been pretty much dead for about 3 centuries. Nennius had already written additions to the Matter of Britain with a load of Christian ideas and motifs, so what we ended up with was a stereotype.

While Merlin is certainly meant to come across as an old-timey druid, the representation is a bit wonky and fantastical. And to justify the use of magic and having a pagan be portrayed as a good guy, they had to give him a reason for his heretical powers while also making it plausible as to why he'd help on such a christian-centric quest. So, Merlin was technically a druid? But he still isn't reeeally one, since to explain away his abilities, rather than admitting "he's a Celtic druid, which is why he can wield magic" (even if in their already fantastic idea of what a druid was), they still just said "nah, he's the son of a demon, the druid bit is just a byproduct".

.

Right, I was thinking of Myrddin.

[Kalania]

It's what happens when you let the Celts have fun with mythological weapons. You can't just have a strong spear, no, it needs to explode into barbs and turn people into a pincushion (Gáe Bolg). A sword isn't a sword if it doesn't cut three hills in half (Caladbolg). And to them, King Arthur's removal of Excalibur from the stone would be laughable, as Nuada had to pose on top of a rock with his sword, have the rock scream (presumably from his weight), and have the sword whisper to it (Fragarach).

Also, on Rhongomiant... Still wondering what the hell Geoffrey smoked to rename it into "Ron".
"Ah yes, this is my sword Excalibur, my shield Priwen, my knife Carnwennan and my spear Ron."

We have four treasures. There's the sword, the spear (all weapons...), to feed our people, we'll have the cauldron.

....damn, I need a fourth treasure and I can't think of one. (kicks a pebble...).... I know; a stone!

[Vyrerus]

Moose shared this band with me the other day. They're quite a treat.

Divided by RA

This wait's too long
I don't wanna have to see you crawling
You falling down
While I just stand around
You vaulted out
So you didn't have to hold my sorrow
My sorrow now
So can you show me how?


I find a stone that I can carry
Carry all the way
And all alone I make the journey
Cuz I just can't stay
If I decide that I am broken
Will I lose my past?
If I decide it's time to end it
Will it break too fast?

And you might be Divided
By the things that you know
All the subtle surprises
By the devil below
And you might be Divided
By the war in your mind
But you can't keep on hidin'
From the world you designed
There's no words you can say
To wish it away (Ay)
Wish it away


Is it on top of me?
All of this latency
I don't wanna talk about it
I don't wanna set it free


Cuz the excuses that are in my head
Make it safe to avoid it all
Is it better just to play it dead
Then take the psychosocial Adderall
How am I supposed to choose
Between the truths that I never knew
Every time that I turn away
I deny what I put you through
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Nobody Loves You

Enough

Do You Call My Name


And you might be Divided
By the things that you know
All the subtle surprises
By the devil below
And you might be Divided
By the war in your mind
But you can't keep on hidin'
From the world you designed
There's no words you can say


Walk past the outside line
And hold until you find
A code that you can break
A breath that you can take
Disrupt the simple mind
Throw out the thoughts that bind
Just wait until they're gone
So they don't tell you you're wrong again
Running so long for them
It's not a race you'll win
Running so long again
All of your life
And it's there to be found

And you might be Divided
By the things that you know
All the subtle surprises
By the devil below
And you might be Divided
By the war in your mind
But you can't keep on hidin'
From the world you designed
There's no words you can say
To wish it away

[RyuDragnier]

Beat Live A Live. It was the first game directed by Takashi Tokita, best known for being the director and scenario writer of Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve, and the ambitious nature of this game shows just how creative and diverse his work would get. The game has multiple different characters, each with their own unique scenarios, gimmicks, and era. They even have a mecha anime scenario (seriously). It is basically the spiritual predecessor to Octopath Traveler.

[Larirawiel]

Played Swtor in the last couple of weeks. I am surprised how good the story of the game is. Only the vanilla part of the game is slightly meeeh. And the game is technically a catastrophe. But i have fun so far.



Cheers

[Rannie]

History of the World Part 2 now available on Hulu and its a SERIES!!!!

[Antharaes]

I wish a quest would just be simply that, not a prologue to 24 chapters.....

[TheMightyMollusk]

Urgh. Haven't even gone to bed yet and I'm already tired tomorrow. I'd kill for a good vacation, but I had to use up almost all of my PTO to schedule oral surgery.