Tea at Trianon: Parallels

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, August 16, 2021

Parallels

From Inside the Magic:

Much like Aragorn and Arwen’s love affair in The Lord of the Rings trilogy books and films adapted by Peter Jackson, Beren and Lúthien defy the pre-establish rules of Middle Earth to follow their hearts. In the process, Beren loses his hand, a jewel heist takes place, and Lúthien gambles her immortality to break her love back to life. In the end, they are finally able to pursue their love, but both were forced to live as mortals and die the death of men.

In Legends, when Anakin and Padmé secretly married on Naboo, the ceremony was officiated by Maxiron Agolerga, a bishop of the Brothers of Cognizance. Padmé requested that the pontifex keep the marriage a secret and limited the information about the event. When giving their names to Maxiron, Padmé called herself Veré while Anakin used the pseudonym Set. (Read more.)