#simon the butcher

THIS IS MY PUBLIC REQUEST THAT ARTISTS DRAW Mr. Simon Iron Lung in THIS SHIRT!! I can’t draw, I just write fanfiction I would if I could. The thought came across me and I had to share. 

Second Chances CH 2 Preview “The fact that Simon was coming up blank with his name … didn’t sit well with him. He wasn’t going to admit he panicked a bit. … a bit was an understatement, though. That the pit that was forming in his stomach suddenly started feeling like an endless void as his anxiety ran through him, and had him curling forward, making him give a sharp cough with how tight the bandages felt around his torso. The next thing he realized is that the man - Hound - was closer than before, hands on his shoulder, and at the center of his chest, and talking to him. “Hey, hey!” Hound said, hesitating for a second when Simon’s body jolted the moment he touched him. He backed his hands off an inch from touching Simon but keeping close as the man continued to hyperventilate. “Hey, don’t stress about it,” Hound attempted to offer, to try and add some comfort in the man’s situation. “Whatever happened - whatever your name is - it will come with time.” “How the fuck would you know-?!” Simon grunted, the sound almost like a sharp scoff, but the stranger continued to have a neutral expression. “This is just my guess but humans often go through this when something has traumatized them,” Hound explained, eventually pulling his hands away when Simon continued to keep up right. “Whatever you experienced before you got here left a wound that your mind is still trying to heal. Whether you remember or not … I cannot say, but I would remain optimistic on the outcome.””

Why is Simon called “the Butcher?” Idk but consider this. Shortly after the Quiet Rapture, people start to realize just how dire the situation is. Young Simon gets caught up in a fight over supplies. It’s bad, people are getting killed. Simon doesn’t have a choice, he has to defend himself. He kills them not because he wants to, but because he has to. When the rioting is done and order is restored they find young Simon surrounded by bodies. He doesn’t explain what happened. The other kids start whispering about him and call him “the butcher”. He just wanted to live.

Simon: You’ve triggered my fight or flight reflex… *rams The Eel at full speed* And I’m a flightless bird!

iron lung and names (or lack thereof) the iron lung worms have been in my brain and the nomenclature around ‘convict’ and 'butcher’ have been playing around in my head so, have this. contains spoilers for iron lung (obviously) *this has been crossposted to substack but i couldn’t not let tumblr have it too* The naming culture of Iron Lung is an interesting concept. There are two names used interchangeably for the protagonist, long before his actual name (Simon) is revealed to the audience. Both names come with alternative connotations and uses, and link in with the film as a whole in with a unique concept. Convict is the first name used for Simon throughout the film. It’s pretty self explanatory why it was used, Simon is a prisoner of the COI in the film. What is interesting about this, is that the more common word of prisoner isn’t used to describe Simon, but Convict is used instead. Convict has more plosive sounds than prisoner, with three points of stress rather than the one point of stress that prisoner has. This is played upon in the film, with stress being placed upon these parts to demonstrate the feelings the crew have towards Simon. By sounding harsher, it communicates to the audience that the crew are using it to demoralise Simon, and continually making him aware that that is the reason that he is there, rather than any of the crew. This brings in othering, as Simon is continually shown to be the odd one out, part of a completely separate group to the crew. Whilst this is true within the film, as Simon is part of Eden and the crew are part of the COI, it can also be interpreted as the crew displaying their higher level of hierarchy to Simon, and how they aren’t the ones down on AT-5. The connotation of Convict is that he has been convicted of a crime by a judge or a jury. This brings into question whether there was a jury, as it is shown throughout the film that the COI have an incredible bias towards Simon’s past actions, therefore implying there was not one. This is only further demonstrated with Simon’s multiple pleas and reasoning that he wasn’t part of it, with the crew dismissing him immediately, going back to calling him convict throughout. Leaning back into the crime that Simon seemingly committed, the second name is created. Butcher is used throughout the film in a derogatory sense, as a continual reminder to the crime that Simon has been accused of. Butcher in this sense does not correlate to the definition of butcher, but more towards the crime, which was the destruction of Filament Station and the 62 COI members on board, as well as the Eden crew. It can be seen as a continual reminder by the crew to Simon of his actions, despite Simon’s continual rebuttal. The consistent repetition by the crew can be seen as riling up Simon, forcing him to get angrier and angrier and then snap, so they have an excuse to further punish him, as seen when he blasts the crew with radiation in the COI ‘dock’. The connotations of Butcher is that Simon was a ruthless killer, and had no regard for his victims. Linguistically, Butcher has one plosive sound at the start, so it is easier to change the tone of it. The COI crew use it in an derogatory tone, but Simon himself uses it in a positive anger tone. Simon reclaims the name of Butcher at the end when fighting against the monster, explicitly calling himself a Butcher when he tries to free the ship from the jaws of the beast. In a way, the reclaiming of this shows that he wanted to be remembered in some way as who he was before. The audience sees Simon’s vulnerability throughout the film, for example when he discovers the pendant. The crew do not see any of this, so the claiming of this solidifies his existence with the COI and establishes that he claimed the name before committing violent actions. In a way this could be seen as him accepting the name and his fate at the same time. The replacement of his name with anonymous adjectives displays the lack of Simon’s autonomy throughout. Simon doesn’t have a choice whether or not he was sent down in the SM-13, clearly shown within his conversation with Ava in the COI ‘dock’ where he mentions the handcuffs, with the bruises of the cuffs shown later on. Simon doesn’t even have the autonomy to do his own actions, as he was sent back down to AT-5 without an oxygen top up. This lack of basic respect, in addition to the COI not using Simon’s name, shows the treatment of prisoners within the COI system to be poor. It could be said that the stripping of Simon’s name shows how much the COI wanted to take from Simon after the Filament Station incident. As stated at the start of the film, they burned off the Eden tattoo on his neck. Eden was a part of his identity that was brutally removed from him. Simon’s name not being used by the COI shows the control they have over his identity, not only as a member of Eden, but also as a prisoner in a system where manpower is at its lowest. The audience doesn’t learn what Simon’s name is until 59 minutes and 26 seconds into the film. The audience spends all of the film with Simon, so it isolates the audience from Simon even more, until the point of no real return. This makes the scene where he asks Ava what his name is that much more poignant. The COI didn’t know his name, hence why Convict and Butcher were used. This links back to the lack of autonomy and treatment of prisoners, as reducing Simon down to a nameless nickname puts him away from everyone else in the film. This is not only seen in Iron Lung , but dystopic media as a whole, often as a form of control or possession. It is most well known as part of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, where the main character is only known as Offred. Broken down, Offred belongs to Fred, the head of the household. With Convict being used the most, it shows that Simon belongs to the incarceration system of the COI. Offred is considered Fred’s property, just how Simon is considered property of the COI. Both characters are forced into doing something they don’t want to do by a theocratic system, with Offred forced to become a surrogate for whichever Commander she is placed with at the time, and Simon forced to be part of the Filament Station incident (whilst Offred’s takes place within the present day, and Simon’s taking place in the past, the theocratic elements remain significant throughout). The only main difference is that Offred is never explicitly addressed by her name as the person in charge of them, whereas Simon only gains this privilege once he tells Ava he found the wreck of the SM-8. Offred keeps her name to herself as a form of protection and to maintain anonymity, whereas Simon only shares his name when he realises that there is no way out of this situation. Overall, the usage of adjectives to describe Simon rather than use his name show a reduction of autonomy and a disregard for his life. As seen in previous dystopic media, it is used as a form of control and depersonalising the character. It can also be considered as reducing Simon down to what he is known as and only known by his actions, which does not change until the end. Therefore, the naming culture of Iron Lung can be seen to be demoralising and typical of dystopic media, with Simon sacrificing himself for a system that barely saw him as a human.

Weird Fishes I might make a better version later idk. Based off the Radiohead song Weird Fishes (one of my favorites)

Me: I really like my jock!simon au, but I also want to see an au where he’s a skater boy. Sister: I don’t think he would skate. Me: I think he would own a skateboard. Sister: I think he would get a skateboard, try to ride it once, get all huffy about it, and never ride it again. Me: Yeah, I think he would own a skateboard, that’s what I just said.

So, I’ve seen Grace in skirts & gowns… but Simon???

chapter 4 we sat in cold, contemplating silence when we finally finished gawking at the image of the freight ship. I don’t know what the other crew was thinking but I knew I was itching with questions. why did it crash, what did it crash into, what happened to the crew inside, why had it not been retrieved yet. the tension in the room was growing and fast. Moxie, ever the aggravator, clapped her hands on her knees to stand. “Well, I-” “If you say I told you so, I will throw you out my ship!!!” Bowie cut her off, standing himself. “Your ship?! I clearly remember stealing hella lot of parts for ‘your’ ship,” she started shouting back, walking away to the door. “You should be paying me for that” Bowie started taking steps after her. “I am not paying you shit, there is no money, moron” Moxie slammed open the door and started walking away. “Idiot!” Bowie kept following her down the halls, continuing the argument “And if I recall correctly, which I do, you got to tell me 'I told you so’ when I told-” Moxie’s voice cut off as they entered another room. I looked over to Grant, both of us unfazed by the bickering “what’s your verdict?” “We go. see what we can. take what we can” he ran his fingers through his hair a couple times over, a nervous habit I’ve long since observed. he clearly had some doubts. “Okay. I’ll set up the auto pilot.” I moved myself over to Moxies chair in front of a panel of buttons “You know we won’t be able to leave for another day cycle, right?” Grant remarked. I responded without looking up. “Yep. cause the cooling system is shot” I finished clicking away at the desktop and spun the chair to look at him. “Can you put in the release form with the docking station? 24 hours’ notice.” he nodded silently and got up to leave. 'I’ll make sure Moxie and Bowie aren’t killing each other" “Nah, I got it. just get that release form in. Besides I’m done setting up the auto pilot” I stood and walk to the door with him. down the halls of the ship, we quickly split off to our respective tasks, Grant to the docks manager, I to Moxie and Bowie. the walk gave me time to think. watching how Bowie and Moxie behaved with each other was one of my favorite past times. they were lucky to have each other and be sent to Eden together, narrowly avoiding the rapture. their relationship as sibling was fascinating to me. somehow always bickering, somehow always on the same page. if it wasn’t for their similar faces, you wouldn’t know they were related. even before the rapture, when I first met them on Eden, they were always there for the other. a large handful of Moxies fights with people who instigated and insulted Bowie. Bowie grounding her when her paranoia gets the better of her. Bowie using confusing tch terms to Piss off Moxie. Moxie stealing the lats bits of rations from his plate. I stopped at the door to their room, the voices inside giving them away. I shouldn’t be this obsessed with their relationship. am I jealous? no, I’m not i snapped back and knocked a few times, Bowie’s voice responding with an invite. I enter slowly. the room was small just like every room. beds pushed to one side; a closet built in the other. the little walkway between barely big enough for two people. Moxie was laying across her bed, the top matrass of their bunkbed, a foot hanging off lazily. bowie sat on the floor, back pressed against the frame and tinkering with a filter I observed them for a moment till Moxie peaked over the edge. “Did you need something?” I looked up at her, an annoyed sigh leaving her lips. “We leave in 24 hours” I’ve probably overstayed my welcome. I quickly turned and closed the door behind me. my thoughts have been so heavy, I need to lay down to sleep

hmmm is there something to be said about how simon means “one who listens” but is constantly told to witness by looking?

Help, my friend called me an aborted fetus for being a minor and the first thing that came to my mind was Simon covered in blood.😭🙏

Ykw, I think I’m getting the hang of muscular bodies. The arms are gonna be a challenge though- uhhh, arm, haha.

trying to use instagram stories this time and his sad little face is all i can think about lmao

*Snippet of a BloodyMary fic I’m working on as I try to puzzle through Simon’s character.* ‐————– Stars, stars and more stars– More than Simon can ever recall seeing, even through the atmospheric gloom of the Mars dome colonies. More than he could see from the station before Eden, where they’d first fled when things had gone sideways with his mom’s work, before the Rapture came and cracked through humanity like so many shards of pottery. They all went scattering and there was no hope of pressing them together again. It’s beautiful. Vast and heart-wrenching and terrifying and so fucking unfair. Just this, losing these tiny specks of light, had driven them all to the brink. There was kindness still, sympathy and comraderie and pressing together in the dark over shared crumbs of protein brick, but there hadn’t been any hope. They’d looked to one another and seen only dry soil and ghosts. Even the worst of them hadn’t been cruel enough to birth children. The animals were eaten, the ailing had been culled, the despondant had fallen by their own hands and Simon the Butcher had helped any who asked. He’d used his mother’s knife, rusted and bent and confiscated at his surrender and subsequent arrest. She’d been proud of him, as much as she could be in that terrible place at the end of the world. He was easing suffering and he was surviving and it was easy to judge from a distance, but not so much when you had to live elbow deep in it every single second of every single day. Then, Filament Station. What a fucking mess. The Last Tree had died, the seeds had been distributed, new factions had formed and his brothers had decided to pull the trigger for everyone. And they hadn’t fucking told him. They’d infiltrated the station with promises of rebellion and conquest and an even split of stockpiled resources. When they went, they would all go together. As compatriots and as equals. That was when the screaming started. The shaking, the explosions, the fires. The life support was sabotaged, though it was never clear which side rigged the detonator. Sixty-two people died and the rest scattered. Simon dropped to his knees and watched the flames spread. Convict. Butcher. Dead man walking. But, Gods help him, he still wanted to live. He’s on his knees again, forehead pressed to glass and tears streaming down his face and he still wants to live. He’d accepted death, he had, but this… This softer, cleaner world with its stars and its quirks and its damning, sinful hope. He wants to rest in its arms and stay here, living, for a long, long time. Greedy, gluttonous, self-serving and he wants it more than anything. Is that so wrong?

This post is about Iron Lung, stay with me!! Ive been doing research into the ratio of men and women in the current US military, and the rise of women in academic fields and military positions, specifically how 20% of people in the Space Force are Women and that’s the highest percentage of women in any military field, partly because women make up the majority of the academic fields and are now more educated than men. Despite this, in a lot of ways we are ran by a patriarchal government, with no aspects of our government being matriarchal (ideally the fate of one gender should not be decided by the other alone, no taxation without representation type vibe.) my point is; I think considering the collectivism of the C.O.I and the limited amount of people in the Iron Lung Film, gender does not at all affect military status or roles within the C.O.I. ALSO, I like to believe one reason that the United States colonized space earlier than they did in our reality, is because women were accepted into military roles and education sooner than they were in our timeline. That the collective support of all genders within society allowed for greater technological progress I do, however, think that Eden was holding onto gendered roles, the “father” and “brotherhood”. Simon was apart of a patriarchy, he lived in society separated strongly by gender, each role seemed to be apart of their gender category, like the gendered units of a family. Simon, being apart of a brotherhood, not having his mother. These constructs of gender are interlaced with his role as the Butcher Sooo, I propose a nonbinary Simon who can only discover that he is nonbinary after they removes themself from their past as the Butcher, who’s very idea of masculinity is attached to the horrific actions he has had to take for survival

do you think Simon has mommy issues?

DEFINITELY. I don’t think a guy who learnt how to kill from his mom DOESN’T have mommy issues.

Uhhhhh, I got a new drawing program like, just now and am testing it out. I’m not sure how good I am at it though lolol He’s so unproportianate because it doesn’t allow split screen </3 My references </3

I dyed my teo’s hair and now I get cosplay things in return 😈