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As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
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As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom
As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy. There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 
Zoom

As a society, we are fascinated by fictional psychopaths. Humankind has an ‘ongoing… fascination with tales of gruesome murders and evil villain. Popular culture abounds with depictions of the mad and the bad; and aberrant psychology has proved a fertile source of such material to the novelist and the reader alike. Perhaps no single disorder holds as much morbid cultural appeal as psychopathy.

There is no question…that readers feel empathy with and sympathy for fictional characters and other aspects of fictional worlds’, yet it is difficult to see how one can empathise and identify with a character who is himself incapable of empathy. If empathy and identification are both the goal and the reward of reading literature, then we are left with a striking ambivalence which needs to be explored. 

(Source: bericdondarrion)

the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here. However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night. Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that. During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy. Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9— Click the photos for captions
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the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here. However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night. Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that. During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy. Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9— Click the photos for captions
Zoom Info
the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here. However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night. Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that. During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy. Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9— Click the photos for captions
Zoom
the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here. However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night. Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that. During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy. Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9— Click the photos for captions
Zoom
the-science-llama: If Earth Had Rings First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here. However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night. Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that. During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy. Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9— Click the photos for captions
Zoom

the-science-llama:

If Earth Had Rings

First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.

However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.

Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.

During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.

Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9
— Click the photos for captions

littlefindsforgot: Map of Braavos Unlike the other Free Cities, Braavos was never part of the Valyrian Freehold, but was instead founded 500 years before Aegon’s Landing by refugees fleeing Valyrian expansion. They were led by the Moonsingers, who found the lagoon in an effort to find a place that the Valyrian dragons could not find them. For centuries it was called the Secret City and remained relatively unknown to the rest of the world. It became publicly revealed after the Doom of Valyria, roughly 400 years after its founding. The city is sometimes called the Bastard Son of Valyria. The city sprawls across a hundred islands in a vast lagoon. The nearby mainland is mostly marshland, whilst the seaward sides of the city are protected by tall, mountainous islands which form a semi-circle around the city. There is only one channel large and deep enough to accommodate ocean-going ships. This channel is defended by a massive statue called the Titan of Braavos, which serves as landmark, lighthouse and defensive fortification. Just beyond the Titan lies the citadel and the vast shipyard called the Arsenal. The city is served by two main harbors. The Purple Harbor, in the north, is used by locals only, while the Ragman’s Harbor in the west is were foreign ships are moored. All ships have to submit to inspection from Sealord’s customs officers at the Chequy Port. Scattered throughout the city are small wharves and landings for the fishermen and ferries. The city proper is comprised of hundreds of islands linked by stone bridges. Braavos is a great sprawl of domes and towers and bridges in hues of grey, gold, and red. There are no trees to be found within the city, making Braavos a city of stone architecture and granite monuments (x).
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littlefindsforgot:

Map of Braavos

Unlike the other Free Cities, Braavos was never part of the Valyrian Freehold, but was instead founded 500 years before Aegon’s Landing by refugees fleeing Valyrian expansion. They were led by the Moonsingers, who found the lagoon in an effort to find a place that the Valyrian dragons could not find them. For centuries it was called the Secret City and remained relatively unknown to the rest of the world. It became publicly revealed after the Doom of Valyria, roughly 400 years after its founding. The city is sometimes called the Bastard Son of Valyria.

The city sprawls across a hundred islands in a vast lagoon. The nearby mainland is mostly marshland, whilst the seaward sides of the city are protected by tall, mountainous islands which form a semi-circle around the city. There is only one channel large and deep enough to accommodate ocean-going ships. This channel is defended by a massive statue called the Titan of Braavos, which serves as landmark, lighthouse and defensive fortification. Just beyond the Titan lies the citadel and the vast shipyard called the Arsenal.

The city is served by two main harbors. The Purple Harbor, in the north, is used by locals only, while the Ragman’s Harbor in the west is were foreign ships are moored. All ships have to submit to inspection from Sealord’s customs officers at the Chequy Port. Scattered throughout the city are small wharves and landings for the fishermen and ferries.

The city proper is comprised of hundreds of islands linked by stone bridges. Braavos is a great sprawl of domes and towers and bridges in hues of grey, gold, and red. There are no trees to be found within the city, making Braavos a city of stone architecture and granite monuments (x).

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