Oh I hate that for you

ELROND!!!! Elrond quite possibly my favourite character of all time.

7 - to be alone with you, sufjan stevens

this song is really interesting because it has such a simple accompaniment and a seemingly simple chord progression. it starts out with one guitar just strumming, but another guitar joins to arpeggiate those chords at the refrain. there’s some smatterings of dissonance in the guitar parts--non-chord tones that provide a distinctive colour change and bittersweet flavour. the melody and lyrics are both bare, but convey the meaning very clearly--the longing, the loss, and the aching desire to be loved. 

12 - sick of losing soulmates, dodie

dodie has a good voice and i’m a sad, lonely gay, so this song is obviously Perfect for me. 10/10 song for watching the countryside sliding past you in a haze of colour while you lean your head against the window and think about someone you miss. the structure is interesting: most pop pieces have a pretty straightforward lyric-refrain-lyric-refrain-bridge-refrain (or, in music theory language, A B :ll C B ll) form, but this song expands the formula a bit. The first part of the song is very similar to the development section of sonata-allegro form; it has a clear A section (‘what a strange being you are’; ‘we will grow old as friends’), and a B section (‘sick of losing soulmates’ - which, interestingly enough, uses borrowed chords). Instead of moving straight from A to B, as is typical in pop vocal forms, there is a little sort of transition (‘what the hell would i be’). So the main section of the song is essentially A - transition - B :ll. It is, of course, missing a closing section that would properly link into the development section--which doesn’t quite exist in this song, as it is a small form. Overall, it does follow the A B :ll C B ll form, but i do enjoy the little bit of variation. also, as previously stated. i am Sad and Gay. 

send me a number between 1 and 100, and i’ll tell you the song it corresponds with on my top 100 playlist.  

Ahahahahaha!! 

While I adore both these dopes and their ridiculous, blood-soaked romance, I truly appreciate Will’s character for all of his inner conflict. Rough around the edges but can not only appreciate fine art and literature, but banter around it with Hannibal. Cares deeply for his dogs but can also turn on a dime and reveal an absolute animalistic side when it comes to other humans. His whole dark journey to truly become himself, without shame. And you know...okay, I mean, I’m not advocating turning into a serial killer and eating your victims, but there is something to be said about finding your true self buried underneath layers of expectation and letting go of the shame of being yourself. There is a lot of metaphor for self-acceptance and unconditional love in this show hiding behind artistic tableaus of death and violence. 

I have...

opinions

on what happened to Rael post-Master and Apprentice. Obviously, we have heard nothing (so far) about him in current canon/legends as he didn’t exist as a character until recently. That being said...

Let’s play with the concept introduced in Master and Apprentice that Rael *did* actually return to Coruscant after the events on Pijal. What would have happened to him? Not Jedi jail, certainly. Maybe he just chilled at the Temple and did rehabilitative work. Hell, maybe he and Obi-wan and talk about Qui-gon and like Rael spoke with Qui-gon about Dooku which enabled Obi-wan to get a better grip on Qui-gon’s motivations. (Until the events of TPM, obviously.) The fact that Obi-wan and Qui-gon had a better relationship prior to the whole Anakin Skywalker debacle is alluded to in the last chapter of M & A, and it’s not wholly unreasonable that Rael may have helped facilitate that.

But post-TPM? And then during the events of TCW? There’s no way Rael wouldn’t have been involved, in my opinion. He was a vaunted duelist, even if he would have been around 70 when the events of Geonosis went down. (But remember, Dooku was 80 and that sure as hell didn’t stop him (good gods I love Dooku). Knowing Rael as we do...it just seems inconceivable that he would just take a backseat during all of this - I’m not altogether certain which side (if any side) he would have ended up on, but he wouldn’t have been idle. Not after having his illusions shattered in M & A.

But then what, legobiwan?

I addressed this somewhat in Forward Motion, but my personal belief is that Rael is dead by the time the war breaks out. Probably before. He and Dooku had a very close relationship (probably due to the fact that they are so similar. Not on the surface, but in the important ways. I’ve been relistening to M & A and I have a post brewing about this and some other points soon). The fact that Rael never showed up by Dooku’s side is telling. I don’t think Dooku would have stopped at that one holotransmission unless Rael seriously took himself off the map (and yeah, that opens up some interesting AUs of Rael wandering off to the Outer Regions and consulting with various races. Chiss??? Gryssk??? Could you imagine Rael and Thrawn? What a bizarre combo.)

Rael, though...he’s a tragic figure. He lost Nim Pianna, he lost Fanry, he had a predilection towards spice and alcohol and wholly disregarding the Code despite coming around (kind of) by the end of M & A. I just don’t know if he ever made it back to Coruscant, or at least, if he ever made it back to the Temple. I just...think it ended badly. And I say this as someone who adores Rael as a character.

But tragedy aside, yeah, Obi-wan knows how to dig the fucking knife in when he wants to and he would and will totally go after Dooku’s ego when it comes to teaching. (I mean, Obes has his own problems, but that’s not point here, now is it :D