Oh my goodness. I love the spritely innocence of Sylphrena. Being an honor spren, cousin to wind spren, i cant help but find myself absolutely delighted by her mischievousness.
I'm reading Stormlight 5 now and this scene had me absolutely cracking up. I can't believe Brandon wrote this. It is so very Syl. 🤣😂😜💜💜💜
Syl’s eyes went wide, and she let out a soft “Ooooo …”
“New style,” the woman behind the counter said. “Based on an old ko-takama.” To their confused looks, she continued, “Female warrior clothing, very old, from our more savage times. That didn’t use the uniform coat, of course—and those had a higher waist, and sometimes a bow. I might have a picture somewhere …”
She trailed off as Syl’s clothing fuzzed and she was immediately wearing something similar. Syl rose up a little, her skirt—which was longer than the one she had worn in the past—rippling faintly. Thin, pleated, with the fitted jacket above. She continued to wear her hair loose, though she was one of the only ones in the room to do so.
“Nice,” Kaladin said. “It suits you.”
Syl grinned.
“I’d suggest,” the woman said, “a nice pair of leggings or trousers under the ko-takama for a Windrunner—or whatever you are—so that …”
“What?” Syl said innocently.
“When you’re flying,” the woman said. “So that, you know …”
Syl cocked her head, then gasped. “Oh! Or everyone will see my chull.”
“Your … chull?” the woman asked.
Syl leaned forward conspiratorially across the counter. “I could never figure out why these humans were so shy about the spot between their legs! Strange to my uncultured spren mind. Then I figured it out! Must be something pretty ugly down there, for everyone to be so afraid to show it! The ugliest thing I know of is a chull head. So when I made this body, I put one there.”
The woman stared at Syl, and seemed to be trying very hard not to look.
“… Chull head,” the woman finally said.
“Chull head,” Syl replied.
“Down … there.”
“Down there.”
Syl held the woman’s eyes with an unblinking stare, before adding, “I feed it grass sometimes.”
The woman released a shockspren and made a sound not unlike one Kaladin had heard from men being strangled.
Thanks for this. It was insightful.
Your post helped remind me how diverse horror really is. I look it up and the Wikipedia article helped a lot by breaking horror down into subgenres. It's "slashers" that I don't understand, but particularly "splatter" films. When I look at lists, it turns out that I enjoy a lot of "horror" without realizing it's classified as horror. But gorey, body mutilation... that is the form of horror that I struggle to understand the appeal.
Weapons employs mutilation at the end and I was wondering why I needed to see this. The filmmakers added because they wanted me to experience it. They thought it added to their film, but my experience was the opposite. I thought the story was doing great on its own and then... ugh... wtf... who wants to see this?
So for those that enjoy and seek out gorey mutilation, what is it that attracts you to that?
And yes, I also wanted to know more about the story and lore of Weapons. That little tree. The magic. It was all interesting, but I realize now that none of that was really what the film was about. It was just a mechanism enabling what they were trying to accomplish elsewhere.
And also yes, I completely get your sentiment when it comes to jump scares.
Ooh... And on ratings... I realize now how I don't really pay attention to them like I once did with the advent of streaming. I need to be more intentional about that. It was easier when it was written clearly on a physical box at the movie store.