Latest Posts by selenesparis - Page 7
Okay we don’t talk about Ty Lee and Mai betraying Azula enough. Specifically how it contrasts so directly with their introduction in season 2.
Azula never expected them to betray her. She thought Mai and Ty Lee feared her too much to betray her. She got them to join her out of fear: Ty Lee by using her political position to get the circus master to put Ty Lee in danger for her entertainment. She sent the message to Ty Lee that “you can and will be in as much danger as I choose you to be” and expected that message to stick. And Ty Lee was scared. She feared for her own life, which was why she did everything Azula wanted. Azula made it clear that with any hesitation or hint of betrayal, she wouldn’t hesitate to do away with her. Ty Lee knew the second she wasn’t useful, there was no telling what Azula would do. Her happiness and safety wasn’t a priority for anyone.
With Mai, she interrupted the hostage trade off in Return to Omashu by asking why they were trading a two-year-old (Mai’s brother) for King Bumi. And she did it at the right moment to put Mai on the spot, making it very clear what decision Mai should choose if she didn’t want to face consequences. Azula knew that Mai wasn’t the type to step out of line, not even for someone she loved. She sent Mai the message that “who you care about is not as important as what I want”. And she expected that to stick.
But then in Boiling Rock, there’s a hostage situation again and while Azula was about to let Zuko get dropped into a boiling lake, Mai decided that, no, this time she wasn’t going to let Azula choose for her. She knew Azula was wrong when she told her to not trade for her brother, but she was scared then. Mai has so much love not just for Zuko, but for her family and Ty Lee. She always cared but was afraid to show it. She was afraid to step out of line, of the consequences. That goes back to how her parents treated her and how she was taught to be complacent and quiet or else. After a life of acting in a way that would make others happy, Mai get this moment where she steps out of line and chooses for herself.
They both get this moment where they choose love and it’s so good not just because of the unconditional aspect of their friendship, but because they both get to push past their insecurities and fears to save the people they love. They get this moment of strength after being put down for so long.
Mai decides that who she loves is more important than what Azula wants. Ty Lee decides that what she wants, for Mai to be safe, is more important than what Azula wants. These two spent most of the series under Azula’s thumb, having their insecurities and fatal flaws exploited and pushed to do things they didn’t want to do to make Azula happy. But they overcame their internal struggles and get to chose love in the end.
listen atla fandom we don’t talk enough about Iroh’s redemption arc.
i feel like we all just sort of take it for granted that he was always like that? because he was kind to Zuko, and he’s largely presented, in the context of the show, as being a kindly, wise old man who makes a lot of dumb jokes. but Iroh was a general in the Fire Nation army! he was going to become the Firelord! he laid siege to Ba Sing Se! he was a hugely powerful bender, and i’m sure that the Earth Kingdom was (rightfully) terrified of him for a while.
but then Lu Ten died, and Iroh came home. not long afterwards, his father died, and Ozai took the throne. at this point, Iroh had begun to see the horrors of the Fire Nation, the damage his family had done. and he made the conscious, active choice to be kind. he saw the cruelty that his people had inflicted, that he had inflicted, and he went and did better. He was kind to Zuko when no one else around him was, he was kind to the soldiers that had essentially been banished alongside them, he was kind to Song and her family and to Toph and to the whole Gaang and to just about every person he came across, with the (understandable) exception of those who were actively trying to kill him and/or Zuko. he saw everything that his people had done, and he decided that he wouldn’t be party to that any longer.
honestly, it reminds me of Aang, in a way. the major difference between Aang and Iroh, as far as their characterisation and their kindness, is that Aang was born and raised in gentility and kindness and peace, and Iroh very much wasn’t. He chose those things, even after everything that had happened to him, when it would have made just as much sense for him to become another Jeong Jeong, or even an Ozai. but he didn’t. he refused to. he, like Aang, chose kindness in the end, and that made all the difference.
Eboshi: THIS IS NOT A GAME!
Ashitaka: No, it most certainly is not.
San: Why are you doing this?
Eboshi: Yes, I’d quite like to know that as well. Why risk putting your life in further jeopardy?
Ashitaka: (*pissed off at this point*) BECAUSE IT’S NOT A GAME, EBOSHI! This is a scale model of war. Every war, ever fought, right here in front of you. Because it’s always the same. The moment you lay a hand on your sword, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who’s going to die! You don’t know whose children are going to scream and suffer! How many hearts will be broken? How many lives shattered? How much blood will spill until everybody does, what they’re always going to have to do from the very beginning? SIT! DOWN! AND! TALK!
Black holes
A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—not even particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole. The boundary of the region from which no escape is possible is called the event horizon. Although the event horizon has an enormous effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, no locally detectable features appear to be observed. In many ways a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light.
The idea of a body so massive that even light could not escape was briefly proposed by astronomical pioneer and English clergyman John Michell in a letter published in November 1784. Michell’s simplistic calculations assumed that such a body might have the same density as the Sun, and concluded that such a body would form when a star’s diameter exceeds the Sun’s by a factor of 500, and the surface escape velocity exceeds the usual speed of light.
At the center of a black hole, as described by general relativity, lies a gravitational singularity, a region where the spacetime curvature becomes infinite. For a non-rotating black hole, this region takes the shape of a single point and for a rotating black hole, it is smeared out to form a ring singularity that lies in the plane of rotation. In both cases, the singular region has zero volume. It can also be shown that the singular region contains all the mass of the black hole solution. The singular region can thus be thought of as having infinite density.
How Do Black Holes Form?
Scientists think the smallest black holes formed when the universe began.
Stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself, or collapses. When this happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space.
Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.
Supermassive black holes, which can have a mass equivalent to billions of suns, likely exist in the centers of most galaxies, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way. We don’t know exactly how supermassive black holes form, but it’s likely that they’re a byproduct of galaxy formation. Because of their location in the centers of galaxies, close to many tightly packed stars and gas clouds, supermassive black holes continue to grow on a steady diet of matter.
If Black Holes Are “Black,” How Do Scientists Know They Are There?
A black hole can not be seen because strong gravity pulls all of the light into the middle of the black hole. But scientists can see how the strong gravity affects the stars and gas around the black hole.
Scientists can study stars to find out if they are flying around, or orbiting, a black hole.
When a black hole and a star are close together, high-energy light is made. This kind of light can not be seen with human eyes. Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see the high-energy light.
On 11 February 2016, the LIGO collaboration announced the first observation of gravitational waves; because these waves were generated from a black hole merger it was the first ever direct detection of a binary black hole merger. On 15 June 2016, a second detection of a gravitational wave event from colliding black holes was announced.
Simulation of gravitational lensing by a black hole, which distorts the image of a galaxy in the background
Animated simulation of gravitational lensing caused by a black hole going past a background galaxy. A secondary image of the galaxy can be seen within the black hole Einstein ring on the opposite direction of that of the galaxy. The secondary image grows (remaining within the Einstein ring) as the primary image approaches the black hole. The surface brightness of the two images remains constant, but their angular size varies, hence producing an amplification of the galaxy luminosity as seen from a distant observer. The maximum amplification occurs when the background galaxy (or in the present case a bright part of it) is exactly behind the black hole.
Could a Black Hole Destroy Earth?
Black holes do not go around in space eating stars, moons and planets. Earth will not fall into a black hole because no black hole is close enough to the solar system for Earth to do that.
Even if a black hole the same mass as the sun were to take the place of the sun, Earth still would not fall in. The black hole would have the same gravity as the sun. Earth and the other planets would orbit the black hole as they orbit the sun now.
The sun will never turn into a black hole. The sun is not a big enough star to make a black hole.
More posts about black holes
Source 1, 2 & 3
↳ Welcome To Night Vale: Episode 37 - The Action by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor & Glen David Gold
Spock, writing in his journal: When I was a child, I thought it was mere coincidence that my forefather, Solkar, was... intimately friendly with humans, just like my own father
Spock: I have reason to be concerned there is more to it than that
Spock: Maybe some bizarre genetic sequencing?
Spock: The point is, if the Captain rips his shirt open one more time the control I have over my few human emotions may falter
Spock: At the very least, my body will assuredly betray me
Spock: I might even take his hand in mine, unprompted
Shall we talk about Ahsoka’s Major Regret for a minute?
Her first mistake was thinking that the two of them had the luxury of another time.
She rather abruptly brushes off her excited friend, but it’s okay, because they can always talk later, when all of this is over. There’ll be another time for conversation. They part ways on good terms, but they still have a lot to talk about.
But then- Dooku is dead, Anakin is spying on the Chancellor. Okay, things are getting pretty serious. Better get Obi-Wan to relay a message.
(he won’t.)
A day or two passes. Yoda offers to deliver a message to Anakin, and Ahsoka really wants to talk to him- but maybe not through Yoda. He isn’t Obi-Wan, he doesn’t understand Anakin like they do. She can tell Anakin later.
And then less than an hour later, the galaxy changes forever. “Another time” becomes “Never”. Ahsoka will never see Anakin Skywalker again and she lives with the guilt of not being there for him for sixteen entire years.
That vision in the temple on lothal? That’s not actually Anakin. That’s a manifestation of what Ahsoka has been subconsciously telling herself for a decade and a half.
And then- Malachor. She strikes Vader’s mask to reveal Anakin’s eye, Anakin’s voice, and she does not judge him, she does not ask him any questions, because she finally, finally has a chance to tell him-
not this time.
“another time” is now.
Thank you, it's beautiful! I love it.
✨ Astronomy student✨
Moodboard for @selenesparis
“The little dot we live on.” The Book of knowledge. v. 7. 1912.
Internet Archive
Nature can give and nature can take.
Since the dawn of time, she has given life to this planet, made it sprout and nourished it, but if provoked, nature can cause death.
Yesterday I was walking near a lake when I saw beautiful steps of water and sunlight into the river. Looking at them, I felt so lonely and helpless, as if the flow of water was taking away my ardour, my strength and my courage.
Nature has always calmed me in times of need, but now she is too angry to hear my laments; now I have to listen to hers.
Anakin was a creative and innocent child. Even though he lived his whole life as a slave he was hopeful and brave, he had a strong will and he wasn't willing to be broken. He wanted to explore the stars and he was sure that he would have freed his people; he had dreams and he had them because he knew that he wouldn't be a slave forever because it was NOT RIGHT.
He dreamt about becoming a Jedi and going back to Tatooine for his people, he wanted to free every single slave of the galaxy because it was right and he thought that the Jedi were MEANT TO DO THIS. He had this belief about the Jedi as holders of peace and knights of justice, and when Qui Gon and Obi-Wan appeared he thought that they'd came to rescue everyone and LOOK AT HIS FACE WHEN HE REALIZES HIS MOTHER IS NOT COMING WITH HIM!! She knew they wanted him because of his powers, but she also wanted him to have a better life and with her he couldn't. Wrong choice.
With Wattoo he was forced to work, that's true, but he was aware of being a slave, plus, he was with his mother. In the Jedi Order he was all alone against lies, doubts, diffidence, they made him think he was bad, a mistake. When he says « I want more and I know that I shouldn't. » he wanted freedom. He just wanted to be free once and for all.
In ROTS we see Master Windu talking to Yoda saying that is dangerous to put Anakin and Palpatine together, and what are they doing? putting them together. Anakin's self destruction was started by the Jedi. When Yoda found out what he did to the younglings he said « the boy you trained gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader. » and that's NOT TRUE!! Yes, killing the younglings was a terrible thing, but on Mustafar Anakin was STRUGGLING and I believe he wanted to be saved. He just didn't have the courage to come back after what he did to the younglings. And, of course, Obi-Wan didn't help.
My favorite Carl Sagan quote
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”
mods are asleep post satan fish
What if Heaven truly exists but not in the shape we expect? What if it is another world, another dimension, another universe. What if death wasn't death? What if this life is just the first step of a bigger plan? What if this is just a dream? Too many questions, too little answers.
Maybe we just have to live day by day, focusing on this life, on this moment. We don't know what we'll find on the other side, after death; we could become stars, dust, shadows. Appreciate every sorrow, every happy moment, because they'll never come back. Don't be who you were meant to be, be who you wanna be and live. Like, actually live; don't survive, but live.
The sand would have rose with Anakin if the Jedi hadn't been rotten and selfish; acting like this they helped Ani's downfall and the birth of Darth Vader. Palpatine convinced him to join the dark side because there was no one else on the other side willing to help him.
Anakin + M for the minific thing, please
M. when it rains/snows/storms;
The palace doors were shuddering and clattering and hissing, shaken by the sand raging outside. It was furious, building onto itself, feeding the storm grain by grain like single drops feed seas on other planets he had only heard of in bits of stolen tales, conversations eavesdropped from people free to roam the galaxy as it pleased them. The noise was astonishing. The Desert was screaming, roaring, just like the slaves who died at the execution he had been obliged to attend to only a few days ago. They shared the same fierce dignity, the same fearlessness. It was said the Desert’s strength came to hover on their dying children if only someone dared ask for help. Sandstorm were the moment when every dead slave came back to life to throw their wrath onto the world. He knew that. He knew that without single grains a sandstorm would be nothing, and the raw, angry song those single grains were able to form together had always struck him. Sometimes, no matter how dangerous it was, no matter that he had too much respect for the Desert to defy them like that, he wished he could be outside, facing the sandstorm in the eye.
He kept brushing the mop against the floor, knelt on hot sandstone. There was dust all over the place, and Gardulla hated dusty aisles, especially during sandstorms, when sand used to sneak in from every crack and crevice of the structure and settle on every layer, on every spot, like a rough, gritty blanket. She wanted no Desert trace in her palace, because a Hutt can control the Desert, a Hutt can shut the Desert out. Anakin liked the dust he was cleaning away, though. He knew the truth. He knew sand could rise, and rise, and rise, and cover every Master’s throne, cover the palace, cover whole cities, cover entire worlds. He knew it could slip into the shackles’ gears and erode the steel, it could blows into Masters’ eyes and blinds them. Sand was powerful and unstoppable. He knew one day it would have set his people free.
☠ - angry/violent headcanon, ahsoka!
I hope you don’t mind but somehow it turned a bit longer than I have planned but while writing I get inspired by Polish song “Dorosłe Dzieci” (more or less Adult Children) that always gives me too much feelings, especially about all young padawans/Jedi & clones thrown into war. So, here, my headcanon about Ahsoka and stages oof her anger:
Ahsoka wasn’t prone to anger by nature. She was very bright child, who loved - and was loved - unconditionally. There was nothing to be angry about when she lived with family on her native planet. At least until bad people showed up one day and took her away from safe home.
She didn’t feel anger then, not really, because cold fear filled her up; she was so small and helpless. But the Jedi came and saved her from bad people, and her parents decided she would be much safer at Jedi Temple, so little Ahsoka agreed. She connected to Jedi in a way she never did with anyone. There was no anger at her family. Something inside her mind, some voice she never heard before but knew it means no harm to her, said it’s right thing to do.
When she grew up in Jedi Temple, she was told that anger is bad. It corrupts a good person and leads to the Dark Side. Jedi never should act on such emotion, never should feel it. The lack of passion, lack of emotions is what makes person a good Jedi. Ahsoka wanted to be a good Jedi, so she never questioned her teachers. They were after all masters, older and wiser than her.
Then came war.
At first, Ahsoka was excited. She trained her whole life to serve Republic and in her young mind she already saw all the great adventures awaiting her, all the chances to prove how good Jedi she was. She wasn’t chosen as padawan by anyone for years, and the older she grew the more she feared that Council will finally sent her away, far, far away from Temple, from people she knew, from things she understand. She wasn’t angry at the thought though, just scared to be the drop out, the failure. The members of Jedi Council were wise. Wiser than anyone else. There was no point to be angry at their decision. Being angry would only prove she wasn’t worth to be Jedi. Simple.
After all, she was chosen by no one else than Anakin Skywalker. The one rumored to be special among Jedi. Destined to do great things. Ahsoka was willing to do everything to prove she was worth the honor. Only to learn, he did never ask for padawan.
She was frustrated, yes. Not angry. Anger was bad and after all, she was where master Yoda ordered her to be. He said, she was meant to be his student, and she would not have it any other way. But the first mission wasn’t that great fun like she imagined. People were dying. She almost died too. But she survived and was accepted as padawan by Skywalker. Everything seemed to be alright.
Except it wasn’t.
The more days passed, the more tightly something clutched her inside. Ahsoka wasn’t prone to anger by nature, but which every battle, she fought more furious. It wasn’t anger, she kept thinking, while cutting droids in half, while piercing through the living body of enemies. Killing people once seemed so cruel, so devastating, so overwhelming, she couldn’t think straight for days. Now, it was nothing to dwell on. She was protecting her troopers, her comrades. Dead enemy couldn’t kill them, couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.
Continua a leggere