#Bronte is literally always grumpy

[nlhs-foreva]

In KOTLC, they say bronte is extremely old but we never do find out how old he is exactly. I picture The Wise Old Elf from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom when I think of him

[camelspit]

Councillor Bronte by @literally-everblaze

Sophie Foster by @creetchure

Propaganda:

Councillor Bronte:

"he's so babygirl" (anonymous)

"idk man i don’t have anything deep to say hes just funny as shit. what if your local government representative was also just Some Emo Guy that was sooooo tired all th time" @necromycologist

"listen this guy. he is so awesome. grumpy? check. character development? check. tortured the main character in book two? check. probably (optional used to be) in love with fintan? check." (anonymous)

Sophie Foster:

"THE character to me. Her story is about so many things all at once. It's about perspective, and how a different perspective can be so unbelievably important. It's about childhood and being a teenager and how adults react differently to teenage activism--with Forkle telling Sophie it's her job to save the world and teaching her how to lead, while others try to shield her from the world's harms and tell her it's not her job to face them--and it's about how neither is entirely wrong. It's about power, with Sophie always striving to have more and better abilities because she believes that's how she will save the world, when that's not how she'll save the world. It's about the terrible harms and injuries she faces in her pursuit of justice, and how they pose real consequences to her, even putting in her in bed for weeks on end (multiple times!). Sophie's story is about friendship and loss and love and justice and activism and determination and bias and loneliness and bullying and magic and, ultimately, it's about being young and facing a world that claims to be good and perfect while it so obviously ISN'T. Sophie is a character that faces that world and never gives up in trying to change it. Vote Sophie." @everliving-everblaze

[thefudge]

If I may dare ask what are your favourite romance novels?????

this will sound obnoxious, but i tend to love romance best when i encounter it in other genres (and i could definitely make a list of novels from different genres where the romance isn't the point but it goes so hard for me, and i think i have made some lists like that in the past? i really have to organize my books/book recs/book rec tags. and maybe make more lists)

but if we're going by novels that are considered and (could be) classified as romance, here's an imperfect list:

all of austen of course, but especially pride and prejudice and persuasion

jane eyre by charlotte bronte

the age of innocence by edith wharton

anna karenina by tolstoy (where i think i'm fonder of the kitty/levin pairing)

doctor zhivago by boris pasternak

gone with the wind by margaret mitchell (hate/love relationship but i am not immune to it, i'm afraid! i will say i prefer the book to the movie)

excellent women by barbara pym (god, i love the grumpy hero/heroine pairing here)

bridget jones's diary (the first book especially)

girl with a pearl earring by tracy chevalier (the movie too! colin firth and scarlett johansson had such good chemistry, it was surreal)

the blue castle by l.m. montgomery (love that we have a genuine "plain jane" heroine that doesn't turn out to be beautiful if she lets down her hair or any of that nonsense)

the french lieutenant's woman by john fowles (a postmodern romance, in many ways, but the yearning is so good)

spring snow by yukio mishima (i do think this is a romance, first and foremost, and my goddd, the angst and the yearning)

eligible by curtis sittenfeld (a modern p&p retelling; i know a lot of ppl hate this one but i really like it, though it could have been shorter. some of the lizzy/darcy moments in this book made my brain go brrr. the humor is great too)

sofia khan is not obliged (but just the first book in this series - another fun p&p retelling with a muslim heroine)

conversations with friends by sally rooney (i promised i wouldn't stretch the genre but this to me read as more of a romance than anything. and though i struggled with some parts of this book, i will admit that the affair between frances and nick did get to me. there were some particular sex scenes where rooney was doing what i like with the smut in terms of revelation and vulnerability)

the princess diarist by carrie fisher (okay, i'm doing it again, this is technically classified as memoir but again, the sections about harrison ford?? INSANE in terms of romantic anguish and angst. theee RPF of all time)

who's that girl by mhairi mcfarlane (some scenes in this book literally made my heart skip a beat?? this is a celeb/journalist romance that really worked for me. mcfarlane doesn't always strike the right chord with me but here, omgg. i hated her a bit for that ending, but some of the moments between the hero and heroine made me kick my feet like a lil kid)

birthday girl by penelope douglas (i don't know if i'd call this favorite, but it did the age gap thing right, while also being hot and well-written. it didn't toootally win me over, but i appreciate it when an author takes the "fell for my boyfriend's dad" trope seriously)

[biana-amberly]

Keefe is literally such a sweetheart and such a dork

"Whoah, back the T-Rex up”

“Ode to Keefe Sencen, that brave, loveable nut. He may not have teal eyes, but he has a really cute-”

"From that point on, he only had one goal: to be whatever Sophie needed. Not the hero. Not the one taking charge of everything. Just a guy ready to listen and help and be there for her. A friend. Until she was ready for more."

"Keefe is the awesome lord of everything."

"ARE YOU MISSING YOUR SNUGGLE BUDDY?!"

“Don’t worry, Foster. I’ll still love you when you’re oozy.”

“Aw, did you hear that? Ro thinks I’m pretty! I mean- I usually go for more of a roguish handsome, but...”

“Embrace the sparkles, Foster. They look good on you.”

“Team Foster-Keefe will always be cooler.” 

“Let's not add projectile vomiting to the list of Awesome Things We Get To Do Today.”

“LORD HUNKYHAIR LIVES! Say it now, Ro. Say it!”

“Man, one second you're sharing your air with a dude, and the next second he's trying to get you punched in the face.”

“I’m always with you, Foster. What ever you want, I’m in.”

“No, Foster. You look... perfect.”

“Because our family doesn’t decide who we are. We decide who we are.”

“Any openings in the Nobility for a professional troublemaker?”

"Okay, I figured out our reply. Write this down Gigantor: You may not want to meet, but we definitely do. Name a time and a place or we'll pelt you with sparkly poo."

"You're the girl that dropped Councilor Bronte on his grumpy butt! Why do you not have that emblazoned on all of your foxfire uniforms?"

“Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better.”

Like... How could anyone hate him?

[gay-otlc]

Jewish Councillors. Just, like, the Councillors all being Jewish and having their own little quirks on Judaism. I live for your Jewish KotLC headcanons. Like, literally I started crying when I found the Jewish Vackers post because on top of being a sentimental dumbass, I've also barely seen any Jewish fans so this is like... an awakening. Thank you so much for this. <3.

Okay so I'm like 90% sure @jam-is-my-food said this first but Bronte is just a grumpy old Jewish guy and this is fact.

Also he makes the best matzo ball soup and will bitch about it if he has to eat someone else's because they didn't do it right

Please Jewish Bronte is the best concept

Clarette likes to speak Yiddish and/or Hebrew around the rest of the elves to fuck with them

Since most never learned human languages

But then the other eleven decided to learn Yiddish behind Clarette's back and just start responding to her Yiddish ramblings once they all considered themselves fluent

(They heard a lot of stuff she did not intend to be understood, but oh well)

Oralie's got a fantastic singing voice

So usually when the councillors do services together she'll lead

Alina has a lot of very sparkly Magen David necklaces

Kenric was never a big fan of all the candles in Judaism, tbh

(I am horrible lmao)

Darek can play shofar and he plays it really well

Everyone in that group is stupid (affectionate) and loses their yarmulkes all the time so Liora is just the designated Yarmulke Conjurer ™

I'm not sure what Judaism-related chaos would ensue from Noland being a voiceiferator but it would not be good (by which I mean it would be fantastic)

Emery sometimes takes the "Jews love arguing" thing a little too far

Actually all of them take it a bit too far

Everyone is terrified that Zarina will eventually resort to elf cannibalism on Yom Kippur

Zarina is very whiny about Yom Kippur

I have no idea who the youngest is so let's say it's Veila, she has to do the four questions and it's always very funny to them that the youngest is still hundreds of years old

Elves are against violence. That being said, Ramira would murder someone for rugelach.

That someone would probably be Terik, he also really like rugelach and tends to hoard it

All of them do services together because hey, they're a Minyan

Yes actually Jewish councillors is fantastic and also I want more Jewish Bronte content but I don't want to write it

[bookwyrminspiration]

That song Me, You, and Steve but the singer is Oralie, the boyfriend is Kenric, and Steve is Bronte

you come into my house (blog) with the implication that there is something gay going on between Kenric and Bronte? I love it.

chaotic thought: Bronte somehow orchestrated the death of Kenric so that he wouldn't have to continue repressing his gay forbidden love from a disapproving world. Because Kenric would be dead. Bronte true villain arc...

but! back to the song! that "I can't disguise the way I feel" really does fit Oralie and the way her and Kenric's affection for each other just couldn't be contained. Everyone knew immediately that they felt something more for each other. Sophie literally was exposed to/figured it out the very first time she met them. Like...there is absolutely no disguise--actually a little surprised there was no interference from the other councilors like "hey you're unfit to do you're job because you're obviously in love so we're firing you. go get married and start a family together because you clearly want to."

oh oh! the "i thought there was a chance we'd be alone" is perfect for their dynamic with Bronte! Specifically the scene where we meet the three of them. Bronte's just third wheeling for them...constantly. And oralie is like bestie can we yearn in silence alone, please. Side note: I know that their love story is supposed to be tragic and moving, but whenever I think about it I'm just...you did that to yourself. the system is set up in such a way that you could've left and been together. I'm probably approaching it too logically but something about it always irked me

I can't get over the implication that Bronte and Kenric are gay and in love. It's fixated in my mind now. Is this why Bronte is always grumpy? Because he wanted Kenric but Kenric wanted Oralie? Is it jealousy? Is Bronte always third wheeling because secretly he's dating Kenric and it's actually Oralie who is third wheeling?

This brings up so many questions nonsie and I don't have any of the answers

[i-love-side-characters]

Do you have any Bronte and Candence as a mentor headcannons?

*typing stops*

*quietly closes sophiana fic*

abso-fucking-lutely I do

okay they 100% have coffee breaks together (or in cadence’s case, tea)

which is one of their favourite arguments, bronte absolutely refuses to even try her assorted teas

they also have lunch together because no one else will listen to their rambles about politics

speaking of which, they argue. a lot.

every week there’s another random argument about the goblin constitution or something along those lines

sometimes cadence will deliberately come into bronte’s class while he’s teaching sophie to give her back a test or remind her about homework just to piss him off

he does the exact same thing, one time bringing each of the council members in separately so she would have to bow to each of them as they walked in and out

sophie’s lessons get interrupted or completely skipped because of their bickering

there’s also a lot of “this is my tower and i’m the beacon which means that this is my domain”

that’s usually followed by: “i’m literally a councillor i appointed you” and so on

there’s also a lot of bronte critiquing the interior design of the silver tower but that’s for another time―

but both of them are also very invested in annoying sophie

this consists of small things like locking her out of the tower, making sure that all the cloaks are too long for her, and using the vortinator as much as possible

they also plan their lessons together so they don’t stress sophie out too much

oh there’s a lot of eye rolling

so much to the point where sophie has an eye rolling board where she tallies up how many times each they do it

winner gets a little participation ribbon

they’re weirdly competitive about it to the point where each other them have their ribbons pinned to the wall

anyways bronte is always giving cadence advice because he’s the cool grandpa everybody needs

I have so many more! They’re honestly the BROTP I need, grumpy gays unite 🤝

bored? send me serotonin please <3

[bronte-deserves-better]

Do you have headcanons/theories for Kenric? : )

Not as many as I do for Oralie, but I sure do!

- He’s the oldest of six children, which is a whole lot for the elves. Their parents are nobility and rather busy, so Kenric grew up looking after a whole lot of siblings. As a result of this, he grew up rather fast and never really got to be a kid.

- He graduated Foxfire with only decent grades despite being very intelligent because he was spending more time looking after his siblings than studying. He was still a talented telepath, though, so he ended up in a decent position in the Nobility as a Regent. He worked hard and ended up an Emissary after not too long, serving a similar role to Alden.

- When times get tough, he always faced them with a smile and a good joke. He was used to cheering people up and putting on a brave face.

- He never got his match lists because he figured he had other things to worry about and never really considered love until he met Oralie. He was appointed to the Council sometime after she was, and fell in love with her very quickly. 

- He loved to tease Bronte about being grumpy and Bronte was just confused like ‘why?? are you still hanging around me?? I’ve been nothing but rude to you???? shouldn’t you be going to hang out with Oralie who you’re literally in love with????’ and Kenric always said ‘well, you’re Oralie’s friend, and I love Oralie, therefore you will be my friend too’. Eventually Bronte gave up on dissuading him and just put up with Kenric’s friendly teasing. (Which he secretly didn’t mind that much, but Kenric never got to know that.)

LEGACY SPOILERS AHEAD

- When Oralie told Kenric she had been approached by a group called the Black Swan about an illegal project named ‘Project Moonlark’, he worried about her but supported her ultimate decision to donate her DNA.

- When Sophie came to the Lost Cities, he made sure to look out for her, both for Oralie’s sake and because she seemed very young and alone and he has that older sibling instinct of ‘must protect child’.

LEGACY SPOILERS OVER

- He knew how much it hurt Bronte to have Fintan’s mind broken and made sure to be there for his friend. He voted for the mind healing despite Bronte voting against it, hoping that it might fix some of what was wrong. 

- It wasn’t even a tough decision to push the rest away from the flames and tackle Fintan because no matter what happened to him, he knew he had to protect Oralie and Sophie.

I hope you liked my rambling! Kenric is a wonderful character and I’m always happy to share headcanons about him. (And sorry I didn’t get to this last night, I was exhausted and wanted to make this a good and coherent post.)