What Inspired Modern Ragnarok Origin Retellings?

Every time 'gekyume' comes up in a thread or a playlist shuffle, I find myself smiling—it's one of those words that carries both a direct meaning and a whole ecosystem of feeling around it. The short version: it was coined by Jahseh Onfroy, the artist known to many as XXXTentacion. He described 'gekyume' as a kind of new plane of thought or a different state of thinking—the idea of an original, next-level perspective rather than a standard synonym. He used it publicly on social media and it quickly moved beyond a private coinage into something fans used to mark transformation, legacy, and new beginnings. That includes it becoming the name associated with his child, which made the word even more poignant for the community. Beyond the literal definition, I love how 'gekyume' functions as cultural shorthand. For some people it’s a spiritual-informal term—like a mental evolution—while for others it's more personal: a memorial, a brand, a username, a tattoo. Linguistically it's a neat example of modern word-making: a single invented token that gets layered with music, memory, and meaning. For me, hearing it still feels like stepping into a quieter, more thoughtful corner of fandom, where language and emotion meet—it's oddly comforting.

When the temple bells finally fell silent, the story that followed was never simple. I get a little thrill tracing Rin’s path from ash-swept orphan to the person the chronicles call the First Disciple. Her origin reads like a patchwork of small, brutal moments stitched into something almost holy: born on the night the northern caravans were waylaid by bandits, left with a crescent-shaped burn on her palm, and found curled under a broken cart outside the village of Marrowgate. An old woman with no name took her in for a season, whispering about a prophecy in a tattered scrap of a book that later scholars would catalogue as 'The Chronicle of First Light'. From that ruined life, Rin carried a silence that was almost a skill—she listened before she spoke and learned to read air the way other kids read faces. I’ve dug through retellings and oral fragments of her training, and what fascinates me is the contradiction: rigorous discipline taught by people who refused to call themselves teachers. She was apprenticed to a trio at the cliff-temple—one who taught movement, another who taught memory, and a mute archivist who knew the old names of things. Rin’s lessons weren’t just sword drills and chi control; they were about naming what’s underneath fear. She discovered a technique no manual liked to put a label on: echo-binding, which lets someone anchor a single memory into the world so others might consult it later. That skill saved whole communities when the Shadowflood came, but it cost her something private. There’s one parable in 'The Chronicle of First Light' where Rin binds her first true loss into the stones of the temple so no one else has to forget—beautiful and unbearably selfish at once. Later, when the Order fractured and war came knifing across the plains, Rin stepped forward not because she wanted power, but because the people she’d grown with needed someone to carry their history. The moment she became the First Disciple wasn’t a coronation; it was a confession. She intentionally let the echo-binding take her name from her, so the lessons would outlive the person. That’s why her legacy is weirdly both present and absent: some places treat her like a saint you can petition, others whisper that she walks the riverbanks at dusk without recollection of who she was. I find that haunting—someone who chose erasure so others could remember. It makes her origin feel less like a beginning and more like a deliberate erasure and rebirth, which is why, whenever I read the older fragments, I close the book feeling satisfied and strangely melancholic.

I've always been fascinated by how a single name can mean very different things depending on who’s retelling it. In Lewis Carroll’s own world — specifically in 'Through the Looking-Glass' — the Red Queen is basically a chess piece brought to life: a strict, officious figure who represents order, rules, and the harsh logic of the chessboard. Carroll never gives her a Hollywood-style backstory; she exists as a function in a game, doling out moves and advice, scolding Alice with an air of inevitability. That pared-down origin is part of the charm — she’s allegory and obstacle more than person, and her temperament comes from the game she embodies rather than from childhood trauma or palace intrigue. Over the last century, storytellers have had fun filling in what Carroll left blank. The character most people visualize when someone says 'Red Queen' often mixes her up with the Queen of Hearts from 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland', who is the more hot-headed court tyrant famous for shouting 'Off with their heads!'. Then there’s the modern reinvention: in Tim Burton’s 'Alice in Wonderland' the Red Queen — Iracebeth — is reimagined with a dramatic personal history, sibling rivalry with the White Queen, and physical exaggeration that externalizes her insecurity. Games like 'American McGee’s Alice' go further and turn the figure into a psychological mirror of Alice herself, a manifestation of trauma and madness. Personally, I love that ambiguity. A character that began as a chess piece has become a canvas for authors and creators to explore power, rage, and the mirror-image of order. Whether she’s symbolic, schizophrenic, or surgically reimagined with a massive head, the Red Queen keeps being rewritten to fit the anxieties of each era — and that makes tracking her origin oddly thrilling to me.

I've dug around this because that image—wolf pretending to be lamb—has been everywhere for ages, and the truth is satisfyingly old-school. The phrase and idea go way back: there's a New Testament line in Matthew 7:15 that warns about people who come 'in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.' Around the same time, or a bit earlier in folk tradition, there's the fable you probably know as 'The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' collected in 'Aesop's Fables.' That story spells it out literally: a wolf disguises itself to blend in and prey on sheep. Over centuries the moral stuck, and by the Middle Ages and later it appeared in sermons, emblem books, and satirical cartoons. From there the image evolved into visual shorthand for hypocrisy and hidden danger. Today the meme keeps the same core: something dangerous wearing a harmless mask. I still catch myself using the phrase the instant I spot someone being sugar-coated and slippery, and it never stops feeling satisfyingly apt.

I get a kick out of how fanfiction stitches together different mythologies, and the Kanan Stark origin stories are one of my favorite mashups to stumble across. In a lot of fic, authors blend the brooding, legacy-heavy vibe of a 'Stark' lineage with the reluctant warrior energy of a Kanan-type character, and the result is this deliciously conflicted protagonist who’s half heir, half exile. Common opening beats include an awakening moment — maybe a hidden heirloom, a weird technological artifact, or a sudden surge of power — that forces the character to reckon with a family legacy they never wanted. Authors play with whether that legacy is political, magical, or tech-based, which creates wildly different flavors: a noble burden in a snowy north, or a corporate dynasty with secret labs and suppressed abilities. What makes these origin fics shine is the emotional scaffolding writers build around the reveal. You'll see themes of abandonment (a parent who disappeared), mentorship (an older figure who trains them), and identity-splintering (torn between duty and self). Some stories go full tragic-romance, where the protagonist’s rise is fueled by revenge and ends in a hollow victory; others take a kinder route, focusing on found family and slow healing. Crossovers are common: threads from 'Star Wars' — hidden Force sensitivity and lightsaber training — show up next to 'Iron Man' style tech, or the rigid honor codes of 'Game of Thrones' Northern houses. The versatility is the draw: Kanan Stark can be a sword-and-ice archetype, a tech-mage, or a modern-day reluctant CEO with a secret power. On the writing side, fans love to experiment with POV and timeline, too. Some authors open with the origin incident and chase a linear coming-of-age arc; others start in medias res with the character already hardened, and peel back the origin in flashbacks that add poignancy. There’s also a big variety in tone — melodramatic epic, cozy domestic healing, or gritty noir — so you can find a take that fits the mood you want. Personally, I keep bookmarking the ones that nail that push-pull between heritage and self-discovery; there’s just something satisfying about seeing a character named Kanan Stark learn to choose who they want to be, not just who their name demands, and that bittersweet glow sticks with me for days.

I get fascinated by the grim little objects that survive from old inventories and court records, and the scold's bridle is one that always makes my skin crawl and my curiosity flare. The device, often called a 'brank' in older documents, seems to have taken shape in medieval and early modern Europe as a physical metaphor for a bridle on a mouth — basically a way to stop someone from 'going on' by literally muzzling them. Records and surviving examples are most common in Britain, especially Scotland and England, from the 16th through the 18th centuries, though similar contraptions show up on the Continent too. It’s likely the idea evolved from earlier punitive practices aimed at controlling speech and reputation, not sprung from a single inventor. Physically, the scold's bridle was an iron framework that fit over the head with a plate or bit forced into the mouth to press down the tongue or keep the jaws parted painfully. Some versions had spikes or a rough bit, others had bells attached so the wearer was publicly humiliated wherever they walked. Municipal courts, parish authorities, or just vindictive neighbors could decree its use for those labeled as 'scolds,' gossips, nagging women, or troublemakers. The device was as much about spectacle and community shaming as it was about preventing speech, which tells you a lot about gender and power in those societies. What really hooks me is how the bridle sits at the crossroads of law, morality, and theater. Museums sometimes display them, and historians now read these objects as evidence of social control mechanisms — a harsh reminder that vocal dissent, especially from women, was often policed by public humiliation. It’s ugly history, but I can’t help being intrigued by how such a small iron contraption carried so much social meaning; it leaves me oddly grateful for modern rights to speak freely.

The phrase 'all roads lead to Rome' has a neat, slightly nerdy backstory that I love to bring up when maps or history come up in conversation. At its core it's not just a catchy proverb: it reflects the actual engineering and political reality of the Roman Empire. The Romans built an immense, well-maintained network of roads radiating out from the capital, and for a long time many important routes were measured from the Forum in Rome, often thought to be marked by the 'Milliarium Aureum' — the so-called Golden Milestone set up by Augustus. That milestone was intended as a symbolic center from which distances to major cities were reckoned, so the idea that roads converged on Rome isn't purely metaphorical. Beyond the literal roads, the phrase evolved into a medieval and early-modern proverb meaning many methods or paths can lead to the same goal. In Europe, Rome was the religious and administrative heart for centuries, so telling someone that 'all roads lead to Rome' also had political and cultural resonance: no matter which province you came from, Rome was a central hub. Over time it slipped into common speech as a way to remind people that different approaches may reach the same destination — handy in debates, in creative problem-solving, or when consoling friends who worry about taking a less-traveled path. I often find myself using it when choosing between odd travel routes or weird career detours; there's comfort in the idea that multiple paths can get you somewhere worthwhile, and that bit of Roman practicality still feels surprisingly modern to me.

The transition from 'Swallowed Star' to its sequel is like watching a caterpillar morph into a butterfly—everything familiar gets a dazzling upgrade. In 'Origin Continent,' Luo Feng’s journey skyrockets beyond Earth’s confines, diving into the cosmic battlegrounds of the wider universe. The stakes? Higher than ever. New factions like the Voidverse Knights and primordial beings add layers to the power hierarchy, making Earth’s conflicts feel quaint. What grips me is how the narrative balances raw cultivation breakthroughs with existential questions—like Luo Feng’s internal struggle to protect humanity while wrestling with his own evolving identity. The arc where he unlocks the Golden Horned Beast’s legacy had me glued to my screen; it’s a masterclass in tension and payoff. The lore expansion here is chef’s kiss. We get deep dives into the origin of the universe itself, with relics and ancient civilizations hinting at mysteries even Luo Feng can’t fully grasp yet. The pacing never lets up, either—every chapter feels like a sprint toward some mind-bending revelation. And let’s talk about those visceral combat scenes! The animation of Luo Feng’s telekinetic blades slicing through alien warships? Pure adrenaline. If you loved the first season’s blend of sci-fi and xianxia, this sequel cranks both to eleven while adding philosophical depth that lingers long after the credits roll.