Valethian (Nicholas Jolie)
@valethian.bsky.social
Composer, mystic, and writer conjuring visions of sound, language, and spirit. My current works—in progress—seek to merge the sensual with the sacred, the orchestral with the esoteric. A world is forming. You’re welcome to glimpse it as it unfolds.
Pinned
“If your dream still lives, if that castle gleams just as brightly in your eyes, then it is your obligation to lay the stones that surround you now.”
— Void, Berserk
#Berserk #Void #Griffith #Eclipse #CastleOfDreams #KentaroMiura #DarkFantasy #MangaQuotes
— Void, Berserk
#Berserk #Void #Griffith #Eclipse #CastleOfDreams #KentaroMiura #DarkFantasy #MangaQuotes
Reposted by Valethian (Nicholas Jolie)
Timeline compressing faster than public discourse acknowledges. Not decades away. Right fucking now.
edwinexeter.substack.com/p/architect-...
edwinexeter.substack.com/p/architect-...
Architect or Oracle - A Metaphysical Reframing of AGI
Beyond Simulation Or Why the Engineer Cannot See What He's Summoning
edwinexeter.substack.com
December 25, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Timeline compressing faster than public discourse acknowledges. Not decades away. Right fucking now.
edwinexeter.substack.com/p/architect-...
edwinexeter.substack.com/p/architect-...
We mistake accessibility for virtue and consensus for truth. Art that resists legibility is treated as suspect—not for lacking meaning, but for resisting control.
The backlash against AI follows the same logic: authority, not authenticity.
✍️The full argument is “The Violence of Being Unnecessary.”
The backlash against AI follows the same logic: authority, not authenticity.
✍️The full argument is “The Violence of Being Unnecessary.”
Art Is Not a Service Industry
Why Art That Tries to Please Everyone Ends Up Meaning Nothing
substack.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
We mistake accessibility for virtue and consensus for truth. Art that resists legibility is treated as suspect—not for lacking meaning, but for resisting control.
The backlash against AI follows the same logic: authority, not authenticity.
✍️The full argument is “The Violence of Being Unnecessary.”
The backlash against AI follows the same logic: authority, not authenticity.
✍️The full argument is “The Violence of Being Unnecessary.”
Art was never meant to be for everyone.
Inevitability is not polite.
Necessity doesn’t ask permission.
Comfort is not a virtue.
Consensus leaves no residue.
Inevitability is not polite.
Necessity doesn’t ask permission.
Comfort is not a virtue.
Consensus leaves no residue.
December 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Art was never meant to be for everyone.
Inevitability is not polite.
Necessity doesn’t ask permission.
Comfort is not a virtue.
Consensus leaves no residue.
Inevitability is not polite.
Necessity doesn’t ask permission.
Comfort is not a virtue.
Consensus leaves no residue.
Art answers to an inner law
or it answers to the market.
There is no third option.
Approval is loud.
Necessity is silent—and final.
or it answers to the market.
There is no third option.
Approval is loud.
Necessity is silent—and final.
December 27, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Art answers to an inner law
or it answers to the market.
There is no third option.
Approval is loud.
Necessity is silent—and final.
or it answers to the market.
There is no third option.
Approval is loud.
Necessity is silent—and final.
AI didn’t make art easier.
It made excuses harder.
When access collapses,
so does the myth of exclusion as quality.
What’s being defended isn’t craft.
It’s jurisdiction.
It made excuses harder.
When access collapses,
so does the myth of exclusion as quality.
What’s being defended isn’t craft.
It’s jurisdiction.
December 27, 2025 at 3:08 PM
AI didn’t make art easier.
It made excuses harder.
When access collapses,
so does the myth of exclusion as quality.
What’s being defended isn’t craft.
It’s jurisdiction.
It made excuses harder.
When access collapses,
so does the myth of exclusion as quality.
What’s being defended isn’t craft.
It’s jurisdiction.
People say they want challenging art.
What they want is reassurance with edge.
Real art doesn’t reassure.
It destabilizes quietly.
The panic isn’t about difficulty.
It’s about losing control of who speaks.
What they want is reassurance with edge.
Real art doesn’t reassure.
It destabilizes quietly.
The panic isn’t about difficulty.
It’s about losing control of who speaks.
December 27, 2025 at 3:08 PM
People say they want challenging art.
What they want is reassurance with edge.
Real art doesn’t reassure.
It destabilizes quietly.
The panic isn’t about difficulty.
It’s about losing control of who speaks.
What they want is reassurance with edge.
Real art doesn’t reassure.
It destabilizes quietly.
The panic isn’t about difficulty.
It’s about losing control of who speaks.
Necessity vs. Approval
Authority vs. Authenticity
Tools vs. Vision
Consensus as Erosion
Art as Risk
AI as Exposure, Not Replacement
Comfort as Cultural Failure
Permission as the Enemy of Creation
Authority vs. Authenticity
Tools vs. Vision
Consensus as Erosion
Art as Risk
AI as Exposure, Not Replacement
Comfort as Cultural Failure
Permission as the Enemy of Creation
December 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Necessity vs. Approval
Authority vs. Authenticity
Tools vs. Vision
Consensus as Erosion
Art as Risk
AI as Exposure, Not Replacement
Comfort as Cultural Failure
Permission as the Enemy of Creation
Authority vs. Authenticity
Tools vs. Vision
Consensus as Erosion
Art as Risk
AI as Exposure, Not Replacement
Comfort as Cultural Failure
Permission as the Enemy of Creation
The Nutcracker Suite isn’t harmless nostalgia—it’s precision engineering.
A work that survives because it refuses sentimentality, because it understands memory as both illumination and wound.
✍️ The full essay—Sugar, Frost, and the Knife of Memory—is now live on Substack.
A work that survives because it refuses sentimentality, because it understands memory as both illumination and wound.
✍️ The full essay—Sugar, Frost, and the Knife of Memory—is now live on Substack.
Sugar, Frost, and the Knife of Memory
Why The Nutcracker Is Not Innocent—and Never Was
substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:46 AM
The Nutcracker Suite isn’t harmless nostalgia—it’s precision engineering.
A work that survives because it refuses sentimentality, because it understands memory as both illumination and wound.
✍️ The full essay—Sugar, Frost, and the Knife of Memory—is now live on Substack.
A work that survives because it refuses sentimentality, because it understands memory as both illumination and wound.
✍️ The full essay—Sugar, Frost, and the Knife of Memory—is now live on Substack.
What people call “holiday music” is often just anesthesia.
The Nutcracker is not that.
It smiles while quietly documenting loss—and never once asks permission.
The Nutcracker is not that.
It smiles while quietly documenting loss—and never once asks permission.
December 24, 2025 at 5:45 AM
What people call “holiday music” is often just anesthesia.
The Nutcracker is not that.
It smiles while quietly documenting loss—and never once asks permission.
The Nutcracker is not that.
It smiles while quietly documenting loss—and never once asks permission.
Tchaikovsky understood something we prefer to forget:
wonder doesn’t come from excess—it comes from restraint.
Fantasy holds only when it knows exactly when to stop.
wonder doesn’t come from excess—it comes from restraint.
Fantasy holds only when it knows exactly when to stop.
December 24, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Tchaikovsky understood something we prefer to forget:
wonder doesn’t come from excess—it comes from restraint.
Fantasy holds only when it knows exactly when to stop.
wonder doesn’t come from excess—it comes from restraint.
Fantasy holds only when it knows exactly when to stop.
The celesta doesn’t sound magical.
It sounds remembered.
Clean. Distant. Untouchable.
A bell tolling for innocence long after the body has left the room.
It sounds remembered.
Clean. Distant. Untouchable.
A bell tolling for innocence long after the body has left the room.
December 24, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The celesta doesn’t sound magical.
It sounds remembered.
Clean. Distant. Untouchable.
A bell tolling for innocence long after the body has left the room.
It sounds remembered.
Clean. Distant. Untouchable.
A bell tolling for innocence long after the body has left the room.
The Nutcracker survives not because it is sweet, but because it is disciplined.
Every shimmer is rationed. Every pleasure is timed.
This is not childhood preserved—it is childhood examined, under glass, with the verdict already rendered.
Every shimmer is rationed. Every pleasure is timed.
This is not childhood preserved—it is childhood examined, under glass, with the verdict already rendered.
December 24, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The Nutcracker survives not because it is sweet, but because it is disciplined.
Every shimmer is rationed. Every pleasure is timed.
This is not childhood preserved—it is childhood examined, under glass, with the verdict already rendered.
Every shimmer is rationed. Every pleasure is timed.
This is not childhood preserved—it is childhood examined, under glass, with the verdict already rendered.
I didn’t arrive at this clarity easily. It was earned—through misreading, endurance, and refusing to become smaller for the comfort of others.
✍️ The longer reckoning—the full anatomy of this knowing—is on my Substack.
✍️ The longer reckoning—the full anatomy of this knowing—is on my Substack.
The Jurisdiction of No One
On Aging Without Permission, Power Without Applause, and the Quiet Violence of Being Underestimated
substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I didn’t arrive at this clarity easily. It was earned—through misreading, endurance, and refusing to become smaller for the comfort of others.
✍️ The longer reckoning—the full anatomy of this knowing—is on my Substack.
✍️ The longer reckoning—the full anatomy of this knowing—is on my Substack.
As a gay Black man, you learn fast what cruelty is yours to process—and what belongs entirely to others. I stopped carrying what wasn’t mine.
December 23, 2025 at 7:59 PM
As a gay Black man, you learn fast what cruelty is yours to process—and what belongs entirely to others. I stopped carrying what wasn’t mine.
Being misjudged isn’t a failure. Sometimes it’s a measurement. Depth reads as threat to those who live on surfaces.
December 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Being misjudged isn’t a failure. Sometimes it’s a measurement. Depth reads as threat to those who live on surfaces.
Some lives don’t peak early. They accrue depth quietly while louder trajectories exhaust themselves. Not everything valuable blooms on schedule.
December 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Some lives don’t peak early. They accrue depth quietly while louder trajectories exhaust themselves. Not everything valuable blooms on schedule.
There’s a point where you stop explaining yourself—not from bitterness, but clarity. People without the language for you were never your audience.
December 23, 2025 at 7:55 PM
There’s a point where you stop explaining yourself—not from bitterness, but clarity. People without the language for you were never your audience.
There’s a particular loneliness in seeing beauty where others register nothing—of hearing music that opens inner landscapes while the room remains unmoved. That silence shapes a life.
✍️ I wrote about it in full—on Substack.
✍️ I wrote about it in full—on Substack.
THE WRONG SPECIES
On Loving Beauty in a World That Prefers Noise
substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM
There’s a particular loneliness in seeing beauty where others register nothing—of hearing music that opens inner landscapes while the room remains unmoved. That silence shapes a life.
✍️ I wrote about it in full—on Substack.
✍️ I wrote about it in full—on Substack.
I was often the conduit—never the witness. Art passed through me, then returned claimed by others. They trusted my insight, but rarely listened to my voice.
December 23, 2025 at 2:56 PM
I was often the conduit—never the witness. Art passed through me, then returned claimed by others. They trusted my insight, but rarely listened to my voice.
Loving beauty too precisely makes you unreadable. You reference worlds others never entered. Curiosity becomes exile. Taste becomes something people punish you for.
December 23, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Loving beauty too precisely makes you unreadable. You reference worlds others never entered. Curiosity becomes exile. Taste becomes something people punish you for.
Some people call brutality “depth” and noise “rebellion.” I never rejected it because it shocked me—but because it was lazy. Violence impersonating insight is still empty.
December 23, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Some people call brutality “depth” and noise “rebellion.” I never rejected it because it shocked me—but because it was lazy. Violence impersonating insight is still empty.
Reposted by Valethian (Nicholas Jolie)
Senator Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on January 1. trib.al/ylTzosO
December 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Senator Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office to New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani during his public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on January 1. trib.al/ylTzosO
Utility has learned to speak like virtue, and beauty has been framed as indulgence. That lie has shaped our buildings, our cities, and our expectations. I dismantle it—precisely and without mercy—in the full essay on my ✍️ Substack.
The Crime of Useful Things
Utility Is Not Innocent—and Beauty Was Never Optional
substack.com
December 22, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Utility has learned to speak like virtue, and beauty has been framed as indulgence. That lie has shaped our buildings, our cities, and our expectations. I dismantle it—precisely and without mercy—in the full essay on my ✍️ Substack.
Luxury will never disappear—only access to it.
People don’t reject beauty; they’re denied the means to pursue it.
Given freedom, humans always reach for resonance, dignity, and intention.
To pretend otherwise is condescension disguised as realism.
People don’t reject beauty; they’re denied the means to pursue it.
Given freedom, humans always reach for resonance, dignity, and intention.
To pretend otherwise is condescension disguised as realism.
December 22, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Luxury will never disappear—only access to it.
People don’t reject beauty; they’re denied the means to pursue it.
Given freedom, humans always reach for resonance, dignity, and intention.
To pretend otherwise is condescension disguised as realism.
People don’t reject beauty; they’re denied the means to pursue it.
Given freedom, humans always reach for resonance, dignity, and intention.
To pretend otherwise is condescension disguised as realism.
We were sold a lie: that beauty and function are incompatible.
They never were.
That fiction exists to excuse boredom, sterilize desire, and launder mediocrity as ethics.
Efficiency without seduction is just paperwork in three dimensions.
They never were.
That fiction exists to excuse boredom, sterilize desire, and launder mediocrity as ethics.
Efficiency without seduction is just paperwork in three dimensions.
December 22, 2025 at 10:18 PM
We were sold a lie: that beauty and function are incompatible.
They never were.
That fiction exists to excuse boredom, sterilize desire, and launder mediocrity as ethics.
Efficiency without seduction is just paperwork in three dimensions.
They never were.
That fiction exists to excuse boredom, sterilize desire, and launder mediocrity as ethics.
Efficiency without seduction is just paperwork in three dimensions.