Florence, Italy 1850/90

thinking about elena ferrante and the neapolitan quartet and the line — 'if nothing could save us, not money, not a male body, and not even studying, we might as well destroy everything immediately.'

The Tower of Babel (François de Nomé, 1630)

“Here lies a toppled god—

His fall was not a small one.

We did but build his pedestal,

A narrow and a tall one.”

goodhood, dune messiah

The Court of the Lions at the Alhambra, Granada, 1916. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.

House Hightower of Oldtown

"The Hightowers are an ancient family, very rich and very proud." (A Clash of Kings)

Their words are We Light the Way.

The Lords of Oldtown wield the ancestral valyrian steel sword Vigilance and assume several honorific titles like Defender of the Citadel, Voice of Oldtown & Beacon of the South.

"The arms of House Hightower show a stepped white tower crowned with fire on a smoke-grey field."

When they go to war, the great beacon atop the High Tower glows a baleful green.

Art (detail): The Dedication (1908) by Edmund B. Leighton; Caterina Cornaro Deposed (1842) by Francesco Hayez

Excerpts are taken from A Feast for Crows.

The Past (Thomas Cole, 1838)

The Present (Thomas Cole, 1838)

Miniature English Bedchamber of the Jacobean or Stuart Era, 1603-1688

Narcissa Niblack Thorne & Unknown Artisans

c.1937

Art Institute of Chicago (Reference Number: 1941.1187)

immediate red flag 🚩🚩🚩🚩

people who think Lila is a villain

― Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name

[text ID: There are people who leave and people who know how to be left.]