EXILED: Crooked Rose Woods

New post on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9SVzVKuMmG ... VwcnJxcA==

Shows Campbell in 2 different states one seemingly from the last time we saw her in her deletion video. The other one showing her possibly bloody or with something else on her face. The caption says "Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed.". This is from the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley which reads:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

The title, invictus, is Latin for unconquered. They warned us it’d be getting dark

I believe this is irrelevant but there’s a movie by the same name about Nelson Mandela and apartheid (completely and totally not related)

Invictus- unconquerable, undefeated...unvanquished (per Invicta. Ex: "Satis vixi; invictus enim morior"= I have lived enough; I die unvanquished)

Funny enough, I know about this poem from an entirely unconnected world of vampire LARP, where The Invictus are a group of vampires who (so their legends say) this poem was written ABOUT. Hence the first line about darkness, etc.

It does mean I am very familiar with this poem. It's use here suggests, if nothing else., that trials in fire and in darkness are on the way.

This poem is in the section titled "Life and Death (Echoes)." To me, this poem is about being strong when faced with adversity. I hope it resonates with Cammie right now, encouraging her to remain resilient and determined. The poem's last line, "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul," particularly stood out to me as it represents Cammie's journey. She has taken her fate into her own hands and… I hope she continues to be the master of her soul. The caption was “my head is bloody, but unbowed”. Maybe she is going through some sort of anguish but is still fighting.

The section title “Life and Death (echoes) still sticks out to me. What are the conditions that they made her agree to. The blood or paint on her face seems ritualistic. Is she gone? Is she where she wants to be?? Will she be able to go to Cracker Barrel still??? So many questions.