Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked

Hey, it's been a while since I posted.. January 12, and now it's October 17... do the math if you wish, I don't know if I can.  But I decided to make an epic comeback with a ranking of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.  Now, if you know me, you know I really really love Marvel superhero flicks.  They're fun, for the most part, and offer heroic tales and epicness and awesomeness.

For the most part.

I'll rank all 12 Marvel movies from worst to best, in my humble opinion ;)  Now, let's begin with:

12: The Incredible Hulk

While this is far, far superior to Ang Lee's borefest film Hulk (I hope I didn't offend anyone there, it's just my opinion! ;) ), this is still the most forgettable and easily the worst of the Cinematic Universe movies. This is the one Marvel movie that I'll actually say I don't like.  But it's okay, because it was the second film in the universe, so Marvel was still working and experimenting on how to portray their heroes ;)

11: Iron Man 2

This isn't necessarily a bad addition to the Cinematic Universe, there were some aspects of it that I really liked, but it just felt like a 2-hour long trailer for the Avengers.  The argument could be made that the same statement is true of all the movies following the first Iron Man, but they pulled it off better than Iron Man 2 did.  Iron Man 2 wasn't really bad though, it was just forgettable.  I'd watch it again.

10: Thor: The Dark World

I really enjoyed Thor: The Dark World believe it or not.  Why is it so low on my list?  Well, because there were other movies that I just enjoyed more.  And were more memorable.  Thor 2 was benefitted from strong performances like Chris Hemsworth's.  He really mastered the role of Thor ;)

9: Iron Man 3

Yes, there's the plot with the Mandarin that a lot of people didn't like, but I personally did.  Not that I loved it, it was just alright.  Plus Robert Downey Jr. was really good in the film, and the action was fun.

8: Guardians of the Galaxy

Now, I really liked Guardians for the most part.  With likable characters such as Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, Guardians is what Star Wars tried, but ultimately failed, to be.

7: Thor

Chris Hemsworth nailed his performance as the mythological Norse deity who fell down to earth in this Marvel film.  With a strong subplot of having to grow up and mature, and brotherly rivalries and friendship, Thor is a much deeper film than what you see at first glance.

6: Iron Man

The film that started it all off, Iron Man was a fun ride for the most part, with a snarky performance from Robert Downey Jr. that really propelled his career.

5: Captain America: The First Avenger

I loved this movie!  A lot of people don't for some reason, but I really love it.  It introduced the cinematic world to my favorite hero, Captain America.  A great, fun ride.

4: Ant-Man

This movie was really fun.  Sure, it had faults and flaws, but it was for the most part just a fun heist film.  Plus, it's the first movie I saw with my girlfriend.  So, that makes it special!

3: The Avengers

Seeing all the cool heroes come together truly was a remarkable trip!  Watching the heroes squabble, argue, fight, fight together, and finally unite in one epic battle against aliens was 2 1/2 hours well spent.

2: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Seeing Cap getting accustomed to the real world after the events of The Avengers was really cool.  Watching his relationship with the Winter Soldier deepen and progress, ultimately ending in the epic final showdown between the two that will decide the fate of the world.

1: Avengers: Age of Ultron

A really epic follow-up to the epic superhero extravaganza The Avengers!! With an epic villain like Ultron, and a great addition like Quicksilver, and more reasons to like Hawkeye (now my second favorite hero).  Epic movie!

Noah and the Flood

Hey guys!  It's been a while haha xD  School is killer.  I'll try to post more consistently now, but we'll see.

This will be a post about the non-biblical biblical film Noah.  If you haven't seen it, then there ARE SPOILERS ahead.  But if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you never see it.  Yeah.  It's that bad.

Anyway, here we go.

Since one of my favorite stories in the Bible is about Noah and the Flood, imagine my excitement when I see that there is a movie called Noah that is being made.

Imagine then my excitement when I discover that Noah is about Noah and the ark.  

Imagine my excitement when I find that Russell Crowe (who proved he can act really well in 2012's Les Miserables) was starring in it.

After all that hype and all that excitement building up, try to imagine my immense disappointment when I realize that the 140-minute movie has nothing in common with the Biblical account other than there was a man named Noah, there was a Flood, and there were animals on said ark.

First we'll begin with why Noah built the ark.  In actuality, the Bible makes it clear that God made known His intentions to Noah through direct conversation. Noah knew what he was doing and why.  In the movie, God "spoke" to Noah through unclear visions that left Noah guessing as to what he was being instructed to do.  There was no real communication between Noah and God, and Noah is made out to look like a crazy man who has no idea what he's doing.  Even his family believes that he's crazy.  While I'd understand if the other people in the world thought he was crazy (and they must have -- they had never heard of 'rain' before) his family, I believe, would've stood by him the whole time.

There's this one scene in the trailer where Tubel-Cain and his army are confronting Noah and his family about the ark, and Tubel-Cain says to Noah, "I have an army at my back, and you alone defy me?"  At that point, I thought Noah was talking about God to which I was thinking "Yes!" But in the movie, Noah is actually talking about these massive stone giant things.  Not God. 

Bummer.

And the stone giants raise questions as well.  But for that we'll need to go back to the Creation story.  Remember how one-third of heaven's angels fell with Lucifer in the beginning?  Well, apparently in the film, they fell because they wished to help Adam and Eve and had no real connection to Lucifer at all.  And when they fell, they became encased with the rock and mud of this world so that they would stay down here.

Bam.  Now we have stone giants.

They elect to help Noah, believing that if they do so they'll redeem themselves and be found worthy once more to enter heaven.  And, when they die by Tubel-Cain's men, little golden spirit things do indeed go up into the sky back to heaven.  Curious.

Tubel-Cain also had rocket-launchers.  I mean, the Bible says that he made iron swords and everything... but rocket-launchers?  No way.

A couple paragraphs ago I mentioned the Creation story, which is another thing about the film.  Early on, Noah tells his kids the account of Creation.  His words and the visuals accompanying the dialogue implied that God created some animals and that those animals evolved into other animals, which seemed to eventually evolve into man.  

And after that, we come a certain man you've probably heard of named Methuselah.  Great name.  He's made out in the film to be some sort of wizard-guy-person who can do  nearly everything.  He makes Noah's son Japheth (more on him later) fall asleep with a touch on the forehead and he can make Noah's son Shem's wife (more on her later as well) not barren with a single touch.  And the film does nothing to suggest that this power comes from God.  It seems to be the work of a magician.

In the biblical account, Noah's sons are all old enough to help Noah build the ark during the century that Noah spends building.  In the film, however, Japheth seems to be barely older than ten or twelve, even after the century of building (which probably didn't take a century since they had the helpful stone giants pitching a hand).  And the biblical story clearly states that Noah's three sons all had wives... but in the film, two of them (Ham and Japheth) didn't, and Shem's wife (Ila or something like that) was unable to have children.

But that doesn't matter.  She wishes to have a child, so she sees Methuselah just before the flood waters hit, and he makes her able to give birth and stuff.  

Now the Flood waters hit.  There are about five people on the ark right now.  Noah's wife (the film calls her Naamah), Ham, Shem, Japheth, and Ila.  Where's the film's titular character you ask?  Well, he's literally hanging onto a rope that's tied to the ark.

And he keeps hanging on even after the tsunami-like waves hit... makes you wonder why the other people couldn't have done the same thing.

Eventually Noah gets inside the ark, so there are six people on the ark now.  But then we find out that Tubel-Cain had managed to stow away on the ark, so now we have seven!  Or, rather, eight, because Shem and Ila find out that she's pregnant with a child.  

Noah's immensely displeased by this.  Why?

Well, in this film, since Noah was never clearly told why he's building an ark to escape the floodwaters, he thinks that God's trying to wipe out all of mankind, and just intends to save the animals.  Noah feels that people should no longer exist.  He says that if the child is a boy, then he can be the last surviving person.  If the child is female, however, Noah will have to kill her.

What?!  My impression of Noah when I read of him in the Bible was always a kind grandfatherly character... not this raving madman who threatens to kill kids.  But wait.  It gets better.

Sooner or later, Noah discovers that Tubel-Cain is on the ark, so he confronts him in an epic swordfight.  Ham joins in, fighting against Noah because he's bummed that Noah wouldn't let him have a wife.  Eventually Tubel-Cain gives Ham the chance to kill Noah, but Ham takes this opportunity to instead kill Tubel-Cain.

Now we're down to six people on the ark again.

Oh wait, there's more.  Apparently Ila gives birth to twins!  So now we're at eight, the number of people that should have been on the ark to begin with.  Unfortunately, the twins are both girls, so there's a couple of minutes of Noah raving and ranting like a lunatic as he scours the ark looking for Ila and the girls.  Eventually he finds them and is about to kill the girls but decides not to.

Eventually the flood is over, the people and animals get off, and all seems to be well with the world.  Except Noah's living now thinking that he failed God because the human race is not extinct.  So he gets drunk and lies naked in a cave.  Ham finds him, and then Shem and Japheth (who still looks pretty young) cover him up.  When Noah wakes, he curses Ham and Ham leaves to try and find a wife in a world that was just covered in flood waters.

I don't think he'll succeed.

----

In summary, I rarely find a movie that I will call a complete waste of my time, but there are some (Transformers... Divergent...)  And now Noah.  

And now there's even a movie called Exodus: Gods and Kings out!  Starring Christian Bale as Moses.  Now, I'm not a big fan of the Dark Knight trilogy (yeah I know, heresy or whatever) but Christian Bale was good in that, so he could probably be good as Moses.  But when I heard that God was cast as an 11-year-old kid and there was no talking burning bush, I decided that I will probably never watch it, because then I will probably have a fourth movie that was a complete waste of time.

Honestly, Hollywood, if you're going to make a Bible movie, make it accurate. Make it good.  Please.

So who cares about Exodus: Gods and Kings.  If I want a good movie based on Moses, I'll go watch The Prince of Egypt.

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"

Best Blogging Buddies Award

Hey guys.  This is my first post in a while haha xD  Have you missed your favorite panda?  -.-  Well, anywho, I was nominated by my pal Riv from Fantasies of a Pocket Human (like months ago...) to do this award, so... here goes.  (Riv, sorry for taking so long!  We're still friends, right?)

Now I'll have to answer 15 questions posted by my good friend, then nominate some of my own personal buddies and ask them 15 questions!  What fun.

1. Summer or winter?

Hmm... Summer has no school but there are bees... winter has snow and possible snow days... I'll have to say summer.  

2. Favorite candy?

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups... I think...

3. Travel to Australia or France?

Australia.  It's near New Zealand, which is where The Lord of the Rings was filmed :D :D :D

4. Favorite subject?

English


5. Favorite Disney movie? (Yes, of course I asked that question! XD)

Tangled... or The Lion King... or Bolt... I don't know D:


6. Harry Potter or Hunger Games?

Hands down Hunger Games.  No contest :D


7. What is your favorite book in the series you chose above?

Probably book #2, Catching Fire.


8. Ice cream or cookies?

Depends on the cookies and ice cream... Warm peanut butter cookies or warm chocolate chip cookies, then definitely cookies.  Mint chocolate chip ice cream, then definitely ice cream...


9. Favorite type of food?

Blueberries!  :D


10. Biology or chemistry?

-.-  Neither!  But if I had to pick... chemistry.  


11. Chocolate or vanilla?


Vanilla.


12. Dog or cat?

Uh... probably dog... but we have good cats and a good dog so... I don't know haha.


13. Skydiving or paragliding?

Again, neither!  But... paragliding if I had to pick.


14. Rock climbing or ziplining?

Rock climbing.


15. Morning person or night owl?

More likely night owl... 


Now, I nominate... uhh... Andrew from The Blog of Andrew!  Now for my 15 questions...

1. What's your favorite book/movie genre?
2. PS4 or Xbox One?
3. What's your favorite movie/movie series?
4. What's your favorite color?
5. Who's your favorite actor?
6. How many pets do you have?
7. What exotic animal that is usually not considered to be a pet animal (ex. gorilla, giraffe, elephant...) would you like as a pet?
8. What do you do for fun?
9. What's your favorite number?
10. What's your favorite vegetable?
11. Do you have a favorite character from a book/movie/video game?
12. Why do you like the character you said for the above question?
13. How did you hear about NaNoWriMo?  
14. What's the longest thing you've written?
15. Which author would you say inspired you most to write?

And voila! I'm done with my first post in like... eons.  >.>  Hopefully I'll be able to get more consistent from now on ... xD  School gets in the way sometimes though... :P

For now, that's all from me!

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"

Short Story Part 6 *drumroll*

It's been a while, hasn't it? Eh.  Better late than never, I like to think.  Well, I've been in school for like one and a half weeks, though it feels like much longer (thanks to chemistry no doubt).  xD  Anywho, without much further ado, we'll end this six-part-long journey.  (And maybe the main character will actually finally get hit in the head with a boulder...)

The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder Part Six

With boulders flying everywhere, Marius had to, understandably, dodge and weave as he flew.  The stone giants were ripping portions off of the stone wall surrounding the emperor's castle (which, the emperor had claimed, was now unassailable.  But that comment was made before he realized that stone giants existed, so...).  

A giant boulder whistled by Marius's head, so close he could feel the breeze as the rock passed him by. Turning to his left, Marius saw a smaller stone giant hurling more boulders right at him.  Veering, Marius changed his direction so that he was heading toward the stone giant.

As he dodged the giant flying boulders, Marius wondered how he could break the stone giant's stone covering.  His claws would likely have no effect (he'd tried scratching through stone in his alone time when he was bored before) and his fire couldn't melt rock (yes, he had been so alone one time that he even tried that).

But as a boulder came right for him, he had a sudden idea.  He grabbed hold of the boulder as it flew past, then swung it around and hurled it back at the stone giant.  Something like that would likely have pulled a human's arms out of their sockets, but for dragons, who have arm socket things that are incredibly strong, such a feat was easy.

The stone giant looked shocked as the boulder came flying back, but it was far too massive to nimbly dodge the projectile.  As the boulder smashed into the giant, the stone exoskeleton crumbled and fell to the ground in pieces.  

And on top of the wreckage lay three armored, very dizzy looking dwarves.  They stood, gained their balance, shook their hands at Marius, and cried out in their own dwarvish language which Marius understood none of.

He had no idea how three dwarves were able to control such a massive suit of stone armor, but he figured the humans capable of dispatching the dwarves.  He called out to the dragons and told them about his tactic of throwing the boulders back at the giants.  Hesitant at first, the dragons complied when they saw the crumbled stone giant.

The stone giants saw this too, and as the first few began crumbling and falling to the ground, the rest began to try to run.  But none made it far.

Since the boulders were no longer getting thrown at the dragons, they had to pick up their own and throw them, but even that hindrance didn't slow them down much as they vengefully dispatching the giants one by one.

After all had fallen, the dragons made their way back to the castle's courtyard where the human army was just finishing off the last of the dwarves.  The dragons landed and looked at the humans as Emperor Vaidd stubbornly stared back, refusing to sheath his sword.  

"Both humans and dragons have felt the sting of death today," Marius growled.  "Let that be enough.  If you will not challenge us, Emperor, we will take our leave."

Vaidd scowled, but lowered his weapon.  Just as Marius was about to take off, however, he had second thoughts.  He raised his weapon and charged.

Roaring, Marius surged forward, caught Vaidd in his grasp, and lifted off into the air quickly.  Right as they were above the castle, Vaidd cut his sword through Marius's foot, and the dragon, howling in pain, dropped the emperor.

Vaidd fell and tumbled through the air, landing heavily on the top of the castle.  He looked up and saw Marius circling back, so he quickly took refuge behind one of his castle's towers just as hot flames spewed forth and engulfed the tower and shot from either side of him.

As the flames stopped, he pulled a dagger from its sheath, jumped out from his hiding place, and hurled it at Marius.  The dragon reared in pain as he smashed into the castle, shooting shingles everywhere.  Vaidd cautiously moved forward, wary that Marius could spring up at anytime.  But as he neared the dragon, he threw all caution to the wind as he cried out and raised his sword the sky, intending to deliver the final blow. 

But he never did.

With a quick sweep of his tail, Marius knocked the emperor from the roof of the castle.  The emperor would have fallen to his death, but Marius swooped down and caught him.  Flying toward the ground, the dragon dropped the emperor from a more reasonable height, swooping down to pin him to the ground.  "This is for my imprisonment," Marius growled, willing fire to spew forth from his mouth.

"No, please!" a trembling voice behind him cried.

Marius turned back, swallowing the fire (which tasted horrible, in case you were wondering).  He saw Junior standing there.

"Don't kill him," the boy pleaded.  "Just please go.  Leave him alive."

Marius looked back at the emperor on the ground, and instead of seeing defiance on his eyes, Marius saw fear.  Fear of death perhaps?

Or was it fear that Marius would fly into a death rage and kill Vaidd's son? 

Looking back at Junior, Marius said, "Fine.  He won't die at my claws today."  He released the emperor and flew back to the rest of the dragons.  "Let's fly."

It was at that moment that a random boulder came flying through the air and hit Marius in the head.  (Ah, there it is!)  Looking around, Marius saw nothing that could have thrown it.  Growling in frustration, he and the rest of the dragons lifted off into the air and flew away.

---

And as they were flying away, a red dragon flew close to Marius.  "So, did you ever tell him what we were really scared of?"

Marius chuckled.  "No, of course not."

"He might suspect it, you know, when there are a surplus of rabbits in the forest instead of deer."

Marius paled.  "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." 

"It's funny how we dragons, who are so large, could be afraid of something so small..." the red dragon mused quietly.

"Do not underestimate the power of rabbits," Marius warned.  "They're tiny little monsters waiting to be unleashed.  Cute, I'll give you.  But I've heard stories of dragons that have gotten too close..."

----------------------------

And so we reached the end of Marius's story.  Long, perhaps confusing, and completely unnecessary!  I wonder what happened to the humans after that... did father and son have a tender moment of reconciliation?  Mayhaps.  But that's for you to figure out.  Fanfiction moment, people!  xD  

Anyway, that was a pretty fun journey.  I thought at least. Well, I have no idea what else I should say.  This is a first draft.  Maybe I'll revise it, make it better, and stuff.  Maybe I won't.  Who knows?

Anyway, comment below and stuff.  It's been a while since my last post, but since this monumental thing is over, hopefully I can get back to more consistent stuff... xD  

See you soon!

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"

When Summer Ends

It's always on the last day of summer when you think "Goodness, where did all that time go?"   and when you realize that, yet again, the school year is approaching.  It is then that you realize that all your free time will get zapped up during schooling hours and even beyond while one is working on homework.

It is in the face of such depressing odds that a humble panda such as myself recognizes the true worth of two things:  study halls and an hour-and-a-half long bus ride.

Study halls.  These help tremendously if you don't want to spend hours upon end late at night doing homework (because who does it right when they get home?) that is really boring and makes you want to sleep.  Unless, of course, you're an imaginative panda like me and prefer to spend study halls writing little stories and drawing comic strips.  Then, you're stuck doing homework late at night.  But then of course it takes way too long, and you have to wake up early, so you have to go to sleep, so you rush the homework...  

Or you just sleep a little less than usual!  This brings up my second point.  A bus ride that is one and a half hours long roughly.  A good time for catching a wink or two on the way to school.  Unless you snore... which is then kind of embarrassing.  But nevertheless!  An exhausted panda will do what an exhausted panda must do.  Another problem to take into account is when the bus jolts and a certain little panda face is jostled into the hard window...  

It's always really funny when the end of summer comes.  Because I vaguely recall, sometime during the middle of summer, thinking "Wow, a lot of time has gone by.  It seems like months since we were in school!" and now I'm all like "Did I just get out of school yesterday!?"  -.-

It's very depressing.

I have developed a certain theory.  I think that the heat from summer fries your brain.  Then when it starts getting cooler in the final days of summer (though the past few days where I am have been anything but cool) your brain starts thinking clearly again.  

It's a simple theory that's still in the works, but I firmly believe that it's true.  

Anyway, I just had to apologize for the long long long wait for an update from your favorite panda.  Especially since I left you in a huge cliffhanger at the end of the second-to-last part of the short story ;)  

But I have been mulling over and working on the final part, and I wished to share my thoughts about when summer ends with you as I told you that the final installment in the short story is coming up.  (Where, finally, our favorite dragon Marius will in fact get hit in the head with a boulder.)  

Also, I got my permit today, and I just want to memorialize this momentous occasion.

...

...

Well, someone needs to bake a cake!  :D

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"

Short Story Part 5

Ah, we come now to part five of this epic tale.  It will, most definitely, be one of the most intense parts.  It will, without a doubt, be the most exciting part.  It will, without a shadow of unclearnness (yes that's a word I made up just now) one of the best things you've ever read.  In your whole life.

Well, if you believe such things.  It might be your least favorite bit of writing ever.  Who knows?  I personally hope that you opinion falls into one of the first few options, rather than the last, but that's totally up to you.  Kind of at least...

Hmm.

Anyway, here we go.

The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder Part Five

The dragons arrived at the castle on time, as expected.  They issued their final demands to Vaidd so that the whole castle could hear and went on to say that they had intercepted and killed Thezin and the rest of the men sent out to retrieve certain valuable information.

Vaidd assembled his army within the walls of the castle and ordered that no one should leave the castle grounds.  He entered the armory and equipped himself with a sword, shield, and full suit of armor.  As he was putting his gleaming helmet on, his son walked in.

"Father," Junior said.  "What are you doing?  Just release Marius!  Why keep the dragon?"

"We have several days before the dragons attack us, son," Vaidd responded coldly.  "My armies and I will attack before they're ready.  We'll take them by surprise and destroy them."

"At what cost?" Junior asked.  "How many men will you lose?  How can you be sure that you'll destroy all the dragons?"

"I can't be sure," Vaidd whispered.  "But it's the only chance I have."

"Just let Marius go!" Junior pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks.  "Don't throw your life away!"

Vaidd glanced quickly at his son as he put his helmet on.  "No.  If I release the dragon then I will have given up.  The dragons will have already beaten me.  I would rather that, in my defeat, I take a number of them with me."

"So you will force me to go through what you went through?" Junior asked.  "You will have me live life without a father?"

Vaidd brushed past his son.  "If you do not believe that I am strong enough to win, then yes, that is what I'm asking you to do."

---

Vaidd led his massive army out of his massive castle (which was really really massive, in case you're still confused).  The dragons were right outside of the gate and glared at him.  "What are you doing? Emperor Vaidd Marius Verinicus VII?" the golden dragon asked, a growl forming on his tongue.

Vaidd unsheathed his sword.  "I'm going to destroy you."

Multiple things happened in that single moment.  Vaidd called his armies to charge.  The golden dragon unleashed an ear-splitting roar that brought all the dragons into the air and flying towards the assembled human army.

And then several massive rocks came flying right into the courtyard.  

The first rock smashed into Vaidd's army and rolled until it hit the broad stone wall marking the castle's borders.  The second rock hit the golden dragon and smashed him into the ground.  The third rock flew over both armies and shattered a portion of the exterior wall.

The two armies looked to where the rocks had come from, and they saw at least twenty stone giants (giants made of stone) lumbering towards them.  

"Of all the misfortunes we could have encountered," Vaidd breathed.  Looking to the rest of his army, he cried, "Back to the fortress!  Back to the castle!"

But just as the army was heading back to the safety of the castle, a boulder thrown by one of the giants smashed into the doorway of the castle and chunks of the wall fell, blocking their only entrance.  

The army now turned to face the dragons again. The dragons were facing the giants, who were lifting up sections of the wall to throw.  Stepping into the courtyard, the giants hurled what boulders they had, smashing into the armies of men and dragons and into the walls of the castle.  

The dragons charged at the giants.  Determined not to die bowing in cowardice, Vaidd lifted his sword and charged at the giants as well.

And above, from his eagle's eye vantage point, Marius snarled as he watched the frenzied fight.  Agitated, he flew around in his tiny cage, bouncing off the bars.  He needed to go down their and help the dragons.  

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Junior standing there, looking remorseful.  "I'm sorry I couldn't have prevented this," the boy said, reaching up and pulling a lever.  The bars surrounding Marius lifted and retracted into the stone above him.

Nodding gratefully toward the boy, Marius leaped into action and flew down into the frenzied battle.

First, he would help dispatch the stone giants.

Then, Emperor Vaidd Marius Verinicus VII would be his.

---------

We're almost at the end now!  Probably just one more part.  Six parts is a nice round number to finish at.  The ending will be strong, emotionally satisfying, and will leave you begging for more.

Probably, at least.  ;)  

Anyway, you'll have to wait and see if the ending is as I promised until next time.

Myth: the "Panda With a Pencil"

Short Story Part 4

"Remember -- true courage is knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one."

-- Gandalf; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Pretty awesome advice, I'd say.  Relevant to the fourth part of my famously awesome short story? Not really.  But awesome nonetheless.

The Short Story Consisting of Words in Which a Dragon Who Cannot Tell a Single Lie Gets Hit in the Head With a Boulder Part Four

It had been days since Marius had had a dream where he was flying instead of falling.  When the dream came again, he found that he was once again surrounded by the same dragons as before.  The one flying right beside him, a red one, looked at Marius and said, "War is coming."

"What do you mean?" Marius asked.

"The dragons are moving against Emperor Vaidd Marius Verinicus VII.  If he does not release you in one week, that is when we will strike.  All shall perish who remain in the castle, and we shall free you."

"He came to me a few days ago," Marius replied.  "He said that he sent out a man named Thezin to find some way to keep me from remaining silent, and that when he was sent out, Thezin swore to return within a fortnight.  If you give Vaidd a week, Thezin may return before then and force me to give them a massive advantage."

The red dragon growled.  "We will do our best to arrive before Vaidd can use anything against you."

Thinking quickly, Marius said, "The boy.  The emperor's son.  He's not a bad sort.  Will you still kill him?"

A golden dragon swooped down beside Marius and grunted.  "We had mercy on Vaidd when he was a child and this is how he turned out.  We leave none alive this time. No mistakes."

"But Vaidd didn't know that his father and captured a dragon," Marius pleaded.  "Give me a chance to talk to him."

The golden dragon looked confused.  "And what do you hope to accomplish?"

"My freedom," Marius replied.

"You have a week," the golden dragon said.  "We will arrive at the castle then.  If you have not been freed, we will assume that the emperor won't free you by means of peaceful negotiations and we will attack."

"But will you leave his son alive?" Marius pressed.

"So that he can grow old and follow in his father's footsteps?" the red dragon asked.  "If we spare him, he will likely view that as ridicule rather than mercy. He will view us as monsters who killed his father and he will react like his father did."

"But if we slaughter everyone needlessly," Marius said, "maybe we really are monsters.  I would guess that many who reside in the castle have no idea that I am captured.  Many are oblivious to what's going on in the emperor's mind.  Will you kill the innocent?"

"We do not kill wantonly," the golden dragon conceded.  "In a week, if the emperor does not release you, we will appear in the castle grounds so that none can not know of our presence, and we will issue an ultimatum."

"What ultimatum?" Marius asked.

"If you are not released in three days, we will destroy the castle and those inside," the golden dragon replied.  "In those three days, we will allow those who had no idea of your incarceration to leave.  But those who are left in the castle after three days, if you have not been released, we will destroy."

"Do that," Marius agreed.  "But be wary of when Thezin returns."

"I will send scouts to waylay him," the red dragon said, "and I will personally lead them."

"Very well," the golden dragon said.  "Marius, you will be released soon.  By one way or another, your imprisonment will not last long.  I swear it."

Marius nodded, then awoke.