Issue 109 - Levana Blackburn

Intro Shoutout to Ms. Yarbrough's class - listened to episode on Xavier/Magneto Email us voice recordings of your thoughts on Batman & what he means to you for upcoming episode - [email protected] Background (4:54) Levana Blackburn created by Marissa Meyer, introduced in Cinder, published July 2012 Antagonist of the Lunar Chronicles, particularly the first book Cinder Based on the Evil Queen from fairy tales Levana is queen of Luna, a colony of Earth set in a future where cyborgs and magic are real Had an older sister who was mercilessly cruel to her as a child, and pushed her into a fire, scarring half her face and most of her body She spends all of her time using a "glamour" - magic that allows Lunars to alter their appearance At 15, her parents are killed, and her sister ascends to the throne, but is more interested in promiscuity and cruelty Levana has a crush on a palace guard at least 10 years older than her, Evret Hayle After Evret's wife dies in childbirth, Levana changes her glamour to look like his dead wife in an effort to convince Evret to fall in love with her - when it doesn't work naturally, she uses Lunar magic to persuade him to marry her Levana's sister has a child out of wedlock, but then dies shortly thereafter - Levana becomes queen regent until the girl, Selene, is of age - Levana plots to have her die in a fire so she can remain queen Later decides that she must take over Earth to get its resources, and the only way to do that is to have a marriage of convenience with an Earthen ruler, so she has Evret murdered - later marries Prince Kai after sending Lunar soldiers to massacre Earthens Discovers Selene survived the fire and was smuggled to Earth, now known as Cinder - now tries to have her murdered because she is the rightful heir to the Lunar throne Is also responsible for sending a plague to Earth to decimate the population so she can show up with an antidote and be seen as a savior Dies in a battle with Selene Issues (10:18) Ashamed of appearance, and always uses glamour to hide Parents were distant and sister is cruel - Evret's kindness is the first affection she's been shown (16:05) Lust for power then overrides that (22:04) Break (29:58) Plugs for Freudian Sips, Bedknobs & Broomflicks, and Cullen Bunn Treatment (31:31) In-universe - Use glamour as a treatment Out of universe - (33:16) Use the King's Speech as a basis - acknowledge the fault Skit (feat. Brittney from Popcorn Psychology as Levana) (39:39) Ending (45:09) Recommended reading: Cinder & Fairest Next episodes: Superman: Red Son (Brian), Mojo (Matt), Batman Month 1 Review read: Mike Buhtanic - 5 stars - Combining psychiatry and Super Heroes! What a great concept! I listened to the Maxwell Lord episode and loved it. Definitely going to go through the backlog. Would recommend completely! Check it out! Plugs for social References: Chris Rock - Doc (19:40) Of Mice and Men - Doc (21:25) The King's Speech - Doc (33:58) Hamilton - "Burn" - Doc (47:28) Apple Podcasts: here Google Play: here Stitcher: here TuneIn: here iHeartRadio: here Spotify: here Twitter Facebook Patreon TeePublic Discord