#Arianwen abernant

[smolandweirdwriter]

something about adaine's father giving her a giant, perfectly round orb and then adaine continuing to summon a perfectly round familiar, a perfectly round dog that means something but i can't articulate it right now

[teenagerebellion]

adaine has never been anything other than angry at her parents. every interaction she has with them, she is snarky and talks back and fights with them. she isn’t cowed, she refuses to back down, and she would never in any world consider being obedient.

which is why it’s interesting that aelwyn is so afraid of them. what stopped her from standing up for adaine during their childhood? fear! a cycle of fear, shame, and guilt that she was never brave enough to break through.

but of course it makes perfect sense. adaine was never anything more to her parents than a massive disappointment. she was never going to be what they wanted - by the time they realized she was maybe someone worth cultivating (the elven oracle - to them a useful political tool they could possess) adaine was years beyond wanting to please her parents.

aelwyn was raised to be the perfect elven poster child. she was molded into being a pawn in a much larger game between arianwen, kalina, and kalvaxus. she was nothing less than a perfectly obedient daughter - until sylvaire. until “adaine’s just- she’s just a baby”. and the second she showed the slightest hesitance, angwyn didn’t hesitate to try to kill her.

adaine didn’t know her parents enough to fear them, but she knew them too well to love them. aelwyn knew them enough to be afraid and too well not to love them. head in hands.

[deconstructthesoup]

Personal Ranking of the Fantasy High Moms, From Worst to Best:

Arianwen Abernant: -19999/10. She's not as bad as Angwyn, since she's convinced herself she's a good mother, but her "I just want the best for you" shtick isn't any better, and the fact that she's ignorant about how horrible she is doesn't make up for years of neglect. And she also attempted to rope her daughters into raising a being of pure nightmares because she lost her status, so.

Donna Applebees: 0/10. Conservative, racist, judgmental, only loves her kids conditionally... you get the gist. Also, she's absolutely a Karen.

Hallariel Seacaster: 3/10. Yes, I know, she's a MILF, she's got such an iconic vibe, she's a badass with a sword, but none of that excuses years of being emotionally absent from your son's life. She's not a bad person, but she unfortunately doesn't know how to be a mom. Sorry, Hallariel. I wish I could rank you higher.

The Last Phoenix: 5/10. Bird. She's a bird. We don't know enough about her except for the fact that she is the last phoenix, she started out as a "haha Arthur Aguefort is a crazy motherfucker" gag, and she gave us the incredible gift that is Ayda. I cannot rank her fairly, but given that she is Ayda's mom, she goes on the list.

Roz Last-Name-Unknown: 6/10. Same deal with Gorbag---we don't know enough about her for me to properly rank her, but we do know that she was a teen mom, and she's made the choice to reconnect with her son and be in his life. Props for that.

Sandralynn Faeth: 7.5/10. I am ranking her realistically, but let it be known that I love her so much. She is such a beautiful example of a flawed person who consistently tries to be better, and even though she does relapse into old behaviors, she's still growing---and outside of the serial cheating (that is a response to trauma, by the way) and occasional lapses in social skills, she's a pretty damn good mom, all things considered.

Cathilda Ceili: 8/10. She's the parent that Fabian needed, even if he didn't always realize it. She's sweet, she's caring, and if anybody hurts her boy, she will fucking rock your shit. (Also, the reveal of Cathilda being an incredibly fearsome and ruthless pirate outside of Solace was one of my favorites.)

Wilma Thistlespring: 9/10. She's a caring and supportive mom who writes songs, is sex-positive, and loves her son! Again, she does need to recognize when she's embarrassing Gorgug, and she needs to recognize that he's gotta learn how to be angry, but still! We all love her!

Lydia Barkrock: 9.6/10. While she doesn't quite get the full score due to the fact that her son was briefly an ass, it clearly was not her fault, and from what we've seen of her, she is a fantastic mom. She's a badass disabled powerhouse who cooks incredible spreads and cares about her son and his friends a lot. I love her a lot. She's amazing.

Sklonda Gukgak: 10/10. She took that spot in her very first scene, where she poured water in her cereal so Riz could have milk in his, and she's been holding it up ever since. Despite the fact that she's constantly swamped with work, Sklonda is literally one of the best moms you could ever ask for. She deserves the world and it's a constant injustice that she's not getting it.

Bonus: Garthy O'Brien, while having transcended gender and therefore not being able to fit into either of the "mom/dad" rankings, is an 11/10 parent---not just to Ayda, but to everyone younger than them who they've essentially adopted. Words cannot express my adoration for this person.

[peopleareaproblem]

"It's the only name I can say."

So last ep, Kalina dropped this line after saying "Ragh Barkrock" again. She's really trying to get the Bad Kids to deduce who she could be referring to via Ragh. We've found out about the Spy's Tongue Curse since she last dropped Ragh's name, so it's clear that she's implying that she cannot say the names she wants to say and is dropping Ragh's name as a clue. I've been seeing a lot of theories about this line that are convinced it's implying Lydia Barkrock. I disagree: I think she is referring to Arianwen, Jace and Porter. Here's why.

First of all, and most obviously: Kalina says Lydia's full name in Sophomore Year episode 6.

Kalina: But you do have some time to talk it over because I'm gonna head out and kill Lydia Barkrock. So take care.

I don't think Brennan or the D20 Lorekeeper would have missed this. Kalina doesn't have a Spy's Tongue Curse with Lydia.

Secondly, the gang already investigated Lydia and got relevant clues from her, and Brennan did not encourage suspicion towards Lydia in any way. This repeat of the clue really feels like a "you guys didn't get it yet" type thing. Last time they assumed Lydia and that wasn't it. Try again.

Thirdly, Ragh's only real interaction with Kalina is about a single time he saw something he shouldn't have: Jace, Porter and Arianwen talking to someone invisible (Kalina) on Prom Night. I believe that if the Bad Kids just asked Ragh what Kalina could possibly have meant by "Ragh Barkrock" and "It's the only name I can say," he would absolutely bring up this fact. But they haven't!

That's why I am convinced that Arianwen, and to a lesser extent Jace and Porter, are who Kalina was referring to.

Below the cut are some bits of the trancript from Episode 4 of Sophomore Year, where Ragh reveals this to the Bad Kids.

Ragh is describing the aftermath of the fight with Kalvaxus:

Ragh: I ran into the school. And I went and I saw there was this conversation, and I was going, 'cause a lot of the teachers had been trapped in the crystals and had come out again. And I saw Jace, the sorcery teacher-- Adaine: Mm-hmm. Ragh: Talking to this woman that I didn't recognize. She was an elven woman, she was wearing sort of like black, dark robes, it looked like, they were very light. She was blonde, she had glasses. Adaine: She look like this? [points at her face] Ragh: She look like you? Adaine: Mm-hmm. Ragh: I mean, yeah. Yeah, she looked like, yeah, she looked like you. But older. She didn't look like-- Adaine: Right. Ragh: Um, you know, I mean, elves never look that old, but she looked like, you know, not a high schooler. Um. Jace and them were talking, and they were talking to somebody else who I couldn't see. I just assumed somebody was like, invisible. Um. Later, um, Jace and Porter came and talked to me--

Ragh goes on to describe Porter healing him, despite Ragh not feeling "that injured, honestly", and after that he can see Kalina despite not being able to see her moments before:

Ragh: And after that, I was like walking home, and I saw this cat woman, this tabaxi. And she came up, and told me all this stuff about my mom, and she said if I ever talked to anyone about it, she would kill my mom.

This indicates that Porter infected Ragh with the curse, on purpose. Probably to allow Kalina to threaten and manipulate him so he wouldn't tell anyone what he saw. She really doesn't want him telling anyone that he saw Arianwen there.

Ragh: She told me if I ever mentioned to anyone what I had seen about that elven woman-- Adaine: Mm-hmm. Ragh: That she would kill my mom.

They have a short conversation about wether Jace is suspect, but dismiss it. Adaine shows Ragh a photo of her mother and he confirms that it is the woman he saw.

[bernummm]

"what value does a thing have if it is given freely?” (1/2)

[rellsingsovern]

In my notes during this whole season I’ve kept track of loose ends and just other plot points I think could make for a great senior year (which now seems likely that we will get down the line in the future) and this finale gave me almost everything I wanted and more so here’s what I think we’re gonna see (plus things that I just rly want to see lol)

-first and foremost, BARON IS STILL IN RIZ’S BRIEFCASE!!! the spectral mordred manor probably is not there as that was a haven sent out by cassandra during all the divine interventions in falinell and the bad kids dove in as a last second decision, but baron is still definitely there. ‘I am somewhere always close to Riz Gukgak’ and while everyone’s journey with their sexuality happens on their own time and Riz shouldn’t have to come out if he doesn’t want to yet, now that he’s coming to terms that his friends might not always be together in the way he wants to I think it would be healing for him to fully confront and accept his aro aceness and have support with that and realize that even if they can’t be physically together his friends won’t leave him for other relationships

-Fabian is getting a new baby sibling, but that is not the only sibling he’s ever had. James Whitlaw made references to his half siblings from Bill that he killed and ate, I am POSITIVE that at least one is still out there and probably has it out for Fabian (as Bill married Hallariel, raised Fabian, and dragged his ship into solace to give him a new life) and an arc where Fabian has to defend himself against an older sibling while growing to love his younger would be amazing to see

-kalina, bakarath, bobby, and buddy ofc, I’ve been wondering where kalina has been this whole time, and I want to see more of bobby getting what he deserves. Cassandra’s been through a fucking lot this season but her familiar apparently might be a big bad along with arianwen again so sorry cass but the cat’s gotta go. she still directly got pok killed riz deserves to hunt her down and avenge him a second time

-speaking of, Arianwens been making moves in sylvaire! Adaine and aelwyn will surely kill her but from the looks of it even though she got her magic taken away she may have some sort of power. Cant wait for these sisters to be able to live immortal lives without their parents looming over them

-BUCKY APPLEBEES!! bucky, a paladin of cassandra, gathering the courage to ask Kristin for help getting bricker and cork out of the Applebees residence, maybe moving into mordred and everyone immediately being enamored with these cute little boys who honestly might turn out to be mumple instead of wanting to attend the adventuring academy and Kristin being so happy they aren’t being raised in a pressure cooker anymore and affected like she and bucky were affected, happy that they can be normal kids (and in being around Kristin’s other sisters, adaine and fig, Kristin ends up getting that sister she always wanted in bucky too)

-I’m so happy Fig is getting what she wants and realizing she doesn’t want to finish Aguefort, and it would be awesome if she got a new character and the bad kids took on a new party member for the year played by Emily so all the intrepid heroes are still together, but Fig could be hanging out between mordred and Seacaster and leviathan and Hell, writing music and helping Kristin spread word of the cassandra/Ankarna pantheon through it, and since in sophomore year we saw Penelope dayne daybreak and Johnny spells all kicking it in hell maybe Jace (who ik was a minion mostly but hey he could be evil on his own) is down there with some other bad kid nemeses

-more Galicea and Sol. Sol canonically was all for bringing Ankarna into the pantheon of himself, his sister galicea, his other sister cassandra, and his son helio. It was Sol’s followers who saw Ankarna brought in as another god of the sun and brought about the ruin and corruption of Ankarna alongside the house of sunstone in order to get more power for themselves with just the one solar deity existing. Both Sol and Galicea (and maybe helio) have been hardcore shaped by their followers, Galiceas wolfish side being repressed by the high elf state of falinell and being brought back through wolfsong, and Sol with the human clerics of highcourt scheming to make him the only god with a sun domain despite him officiating and welcoming Ankarna as his sister in law through the marriage. Plus if we get galicea arcs we defo get Kristin and tracker messy lesbians arcs

-Gorgug perfecting his new subclass he invented and Kristin enjoying being student body president! She deserves it, I hc that the only academic sort of thing Kristin cared about before this year was the lgbtq+ club and now she’s extending that energy into everything with the help of Riz, who cannot get off of coffee someone help this poor boy. And since Ragh and shellford have graduated I want more Torek Railgrinder, she’s so cool let’s flesh her out more. Gorgug thinking about how to teach other multiclass barbarian/artificers and perfecting all his awesome inventions (and dating both Unit and Mary Ann bc it’s what his poly ass deserves)

Basically the potential plot I see for senior year is almost a mirror of sophomore year: baron getting out and fighting Riz and the bad kids defeating him for good, the bad kids heading to leviathan after hearing rumors of a pirate calling themselves a child of Bill Seacaster looking for Fabian, heading to falinell to see what’s new with wolfsong and tracker and maybe seeing some changes in Galicea or Sol, heading to hell and meeting up with Fig for a portion (she doesn’t go to their school anymore! she ain’t gotta go on this senior year spring break quest!) who’s been hanging out in hell, tracking Jace and other enemies, establishing her power as an archdevil of the first layer of hell, writing awesome music, and finally back to sylvaire to figure out what the fuck is up with kalina and arianwen and this weird new god buddy has and they all graduate and head their separate ways but they still love each other and see each other all the time they’re family and they’re badass and they’re perfect

[birdb1tch]

thinking about how in freshman year coach daybreak quite literally tried to kill kristen to bring the apocalypse (AMONG MANY OTHER THINGS) and upon being told this her own parents turned their back on kristen and said (paraphrasing), “thats not true and you cant prove that.”

thinking about junior year where kristen’s parents SAY shes always welcome to come back anytime and in an effort to keep the peace she says “thank you, thats very kind” HER OWN PARENTS!! ITS NOT KIND, ITS THE BARE MINIMUM! but mac and donna will never see it that way, because to them they didnt fail kristen, she failed them.

ALSO thinking about adaine’s parents who so obviously had no real love for adaine until she had use as elven oracle. and even then it wasnt love, it was a power grab. parents who start a war and leave without you. parents who only cared about power to the extent that they would be angered by adaine revoking aelwyns diplomatic immunity.

arianwen who truly could not understand that adaine was talking about when she called her mother cruel, and angwyn who thought he could “fix” adaine BY CASTING LIGHTNING AT HER

anyway, big long post about the parallels between these specific Bad Parents (and literal bad parents)

[feelingtheaster99]

When your parents pick up up after the first day of your freshman year of high school during which you got attacked by corn monsters, witnessed five people die, two of whom were kids your age (which despite them eventually being resurrected is still incredibly traumatic), one of whom you accidentally killed in self defense (and as they died they have a speech about how it was YOUR FAULT, sending you into a panic attack), and two of whom died in a murder-suicide to resurrect your newfound friends… but your parents are mad at you because:

You are SLEEVELESS

You defended yourself using your martial prowess (instead of magic)

You got detention

[nenekkasa]

my brain has been trying to brew a medieval high fantasy abernant au so why not have royalty portraits (got lazy, only drew the women #feminism)

[starful-emporium]

I understand that arianwen being alive is not great for adaine, but I do think that being chased by a van with hands instead of wheels is worse than just being killed.

[smolandweirdwriter]

I just realized something about this scene.

Prestidigitation is a cantrip. this man was acting like it was such an inconvenience and waste of a spell slot, and it was a cantrip. "not a powerful practical caster" was in there from the first scene oh my god

[androgynouscatwasteland]

Adaine’s mom is so involved in this plot too I just realized rewatching the last episode who else would’ve known what she said about the last oracle dying! no wonder Jace and porter met up with her before! oh dude she was gonna bring back the nightmare king too! this is crazy how did I just remember this!!

[eyes-of-avalir]

every time the van with hands came up in junior year in reference to adaine's mom I couldn't quite remember what had happened at the end of sophomore year and was so curious about the context and i just got to the end in my rewatch and. I'm cackling. there is no context she's just fully being chased through the forest by a van with hands. adaine's financial struggles are purely because gorgug asked for a pentacorn and described it as a bus with hands and a newly created divinity thought it would be funny to terrorize arianwen with it

[sugaldean]

Fucking love how Brennan is like:

here are the parents figures, some of them are straight evil, some of them are bad, some of them are good but none of them is fucking perfect

[janchovies]

(10/11)

[bloodyshadow1]

there are a lot of scenarios where Oisin could have heard about Adaine's line about her predecessor, most of them fantastical and crack theories. One of my headcanons, Kalina told Porter and Jace about it while they were in cahoots.

Think about it. Kalina was working with Arianwen Abernant for a while, it's part of the reason Aelwyn went to 'work' for Kalvaxus. She was probably infected with Kalina for a while, maybe since before Freshman Year since we know Kalina was active for years before Pok died. randomly, because she has to be in someone to be on Spire, she choose the Abernant breakfast table. She hears Adaine drop the ice cold line about the oracle dying and it sticks with her.

Kalina mentions this to Jace and Porter some time when they're having a bad guy meeting, maybe when the two of them are meeting with Arianwen at the end of Freshman year. Maybe the 3 mortals are surprised the bad kids managed to kill Kalvaxus. Kaline remembers little scared level 1 Adaine dropping the bomb about her predesseor not being a good oracle. Arianwen doesn't think much of it since she heard it and Adaine is the unfavorite despite her power. But Jace and Porter remember it and bring it up when talking to the Rat grinders and there it gets planted in Oisin's head that he's going to use it as an ironic callback when they finally go after the Bad Kids for real

Convoluted, yes I'm not denying. but this is dumb fun and it makes it possible given how Kalina has to be somewhere, in someone, why not in Arianwen and at the Abernant home?