Okay so imagine your Standard Medieval European Fantasy Setting™. Now imagine there’s no magic. Like there’s still a concept of it sure, with superstitions and all that. But you will never encounter an actual wizard or anything.
But you know what is in this otherwise-fantasy setting? Superpower mutations.
Sir Lawrence, the otherwise unremarkable knight who once outran his own horse and traveled four hours without rest to alert his lord of another lord’s treason and impending invasion.
The Sage of the North is shrouded in rumor and mystery; some say he is a holy man, blessed by God and able to work miracles. Others think he is closer to a witch than a priest, and still others believe he is simply a sage and healer whose skill has grown unrivaled in his old age. In comparison to these stories, the known fact that he lives beneath a freezing waterfall unbothered by the cold or lack of air barely raises any interest.
Scandinavian folklore is often Like That, there’s a whole subgenre of “hero collects men with really specific skills to win the hand of the princess” (like a guy who can run so fast you can’t see him move, a guy who can hear stuff on the other side of the world, and a guy who can shoot an arrow through an acorn from 10 miles away) and it’s not counted as sorcery but as just those guys can Do That.
Round Table of Guys Who Can Do That
“My liege, I knoweth a guy.”
Category: mythology
door-into-summer: I am a simple woman. I fall in love with Hector every time I read the Iliad. I cry…
I am a simple woman. I fall in love with Hector every time I read the Iliad. I cry when he dies.
“Name one hero who was happy.”
“Name one hero who was happy.”
- Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles.
- Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles.
terpsikeraunos: terpsikeraunos: terpsikeraunos: hwaet! memory-mother, in meadhall sing the hatred,…
hwaet! memory-mother, in meadhall sing
the hatred, from heartlocks broken,
of achilles peleusson, cursed by his people,
wreaker of woes unending.
often his spear made the mighty
drink to dogs, food for the feathered,
strong souls banished to breathe in the dark.deep it was driven, the doom of zeus,
since they stood sundered, bitter in boasting,
atreusson the people-king, and sun-bright achilles.
but who in heaven struck up their strife?
the son of leto, livid at the king,
spelled sickness, and the people perished,
for atreusson harmed his holy priest, chryses.spear-greeks he sought by the swift sea-steeds,
daring, undaunted, his daughter to ransom,
bearing garlands of the arrow-guiding god
on a golden staff. he sank before spear-greeks,
saying to them and the sons of atreus, people-guides:
“sons of atreus, and strong-scaled spear-greeks,
may the mighty gods in their mountain-helming halls
give you priam’s gore-gold, and glorious homecoming.
only unchain my child, in exchange for this ringhoard,
with honor for him, the arrow-hailing son of zeus.”
oilandrealism: Miquel Carbonell Selva – Sappho Leaping into the…
Miquel Carbonell Selva - Sappho Leaping into the Sea (Safo llençant-se al mar) - (1881)
Depression Can Be Fatal
For me suicidal ideation has never come close to winning, because of people I love. So far. I never got to the point where it was stronger than love.
That’s the thing… it could. You never know.
That’s why treating depression is essential. Of course, it helps to have a social safety net that allows anyone to see a doctor, and enough doctors to see enough patients. I think if there weren’t such barriers and such stigma, more people would get help. For many a suicide attempt is the only way to get help.