#Goldshard the gnawer

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Goldshard with wavy fur tho-

[destinydraw127]

Day 5: RUN LIKE THE RIVER…..

I wanted to do ALL the main gnawers for this so YEP! Here’s Ripred, Twitchtip, Lapblood, Goldshard, Mange, Snare, Twirltongue, and the Bane/Pearlpelt.

Here ya go @oneunexpected! :3

[oneunexpected]

Underland Naming Conventions

For all your OC needs!

FLIERS

All fliers, with the exception of two, are named after figures in Greek Mythology. One exception to this is Aurora, who is named after the Roman counterpart to the Greek goddess Eos, and the other is Euripedes, who is almost definitely named after the playwright Euripides.

Fliers tend to have fitting names, as with the case of Hermes, Icarus, Ajax, and Thalia. Others seem to have names based on their appearances, such as Aurora.

GNAWERS

Gnawers tend to have names that are compounds of two words, and most allude to violence. Some (such as Twirltongue, Lapblood, Makemince, Flyfur, Twitchtip, and Gushgore) have names comprised of a verb followed by a noun. Most (Goldshard, Ripred, Pearlpelt, Sixclaw, Clawsin, Bloodlet, Silksharp, Ratriff, and Reekwell) do not.

A few gnawers, such as Mange, Gorger, Shed, Snare, Razor, and Cleaver, have one-word names. Fangor is the only rat that appears to have a name that is completely made up.

It is also my opinion that gnawers are not named until they begin speaking (not full sentences, but baby-talk, like we see with the Bane). I believe this because Twirltongue is a bizarrely specific name, and because Lapblood mentions Sixclaw and Flyfur by name while referring to their younger siblings only as “the little ones.”

CRAWLERS

Crawler names are temporal (get it— temporal?) and one syllable long. Obviously, our sample size is small, since there are only four named crawlers, but I think it’s enough to go off of. We have Temp, which is a prefix meaning “time,” Tick, the sound a clock makes, Min, the abbreviation of minute, and Pend, as in a clock pendulum or being suspended in place.

UNDERLANDERS

Humans can be basically named whatever they want. Some people have weird names. Some have names that are in common use today. Many are named after Shakespeare’s characters.

The only trend I notice is in the women of the Underland; there is a strong tendency for names to end in -et (particularly -vet) and -a[h]. We see the former in Solovet, Miravet, Stellovet, Dulcet, and maybe in Chim, who I headcanon to be named “Chiminet,” and the latter in Luxa, Peridita, Miranda, Susannah, and Keeda. Exceptions to this are Neveeve, Hero, Judith, and Daphne.

NIBBLERS

Nibblers are named after math concepts and schools of thought with an emphasis in Geometry. Some have short names, like Cube and Root, while others have longer names. Many are named after mathematicians, like Cartesian, Newton, Heronian, and Euclidian.

SPINNERS

The male spinners named are Treflex and Reflex, and the females named are Wevox, Purvox, and Gox, so I assume males have names always ending in -ex while the females names’ always end in -ox.

HISSERS

The only hisser we encounter is Frill. It’s probably not a stretch to assume the other hissers are named similarly, but we really don’t have anything to go off as to what those similarities might be.

DIGGERS

Unknown, other than they’re hard for the other species to pronounce. Perhaps they incorporate hisses or clicks.

STINGERS

Unknown.

CUTTERS

Unknown.

FLUTTERERS

Unknown.

SHINERS

We got two. Photos Glow-Glow and Zap. I’m thinking light. I’m thinking electricity. I’m thinking pizzazz. If you’re making a shiner, just go wild.

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OH YEAH-

Fic writers: But what if Ripred and Goldshard were secretly in love and that's why he wanted to get her away from snare and told her not to??~

Okay but what if that's his sister. What if that's his sister that he tried to protect and was the sole support of but in the midst of his raging spirals/grief their relationship crumbled and she got mixed up with a hugely shitty guy and he couldn't protect her anymore and the more he pushed the more she ran to Snare what if he thinks what happened was his fault and what if his caretaking coping mechanisms started inn his childhood what if that.

I was going to post something and forgot what as soon as I clicked the 'create' button. Damn.

[aprophecyofcloud]

Agreed; he might not have become a tyrant in the same way, but I think it’s unfortunately likely it would’ve happened regardless, if certain other things like Snare killing his siblings had still happened.

I think no matter what he probably would’ve been pretty maladjusted and influenced - but maybe if Goldshard and his siblings had lived he would’ve been able to be reasoned with. That’d be an interesting AU - where the primary conflict is gnawer power struggles rather than out and out war.

I can’t stop thinking about the prophecies in The Underland Chronicles and how it applies to Pearlpelt. I keep wondering if he still would have turned evil if the prophecies didn’t exist / if the rats simply hadn’t heard of the prophecies.

In the book they state that they think the prophecies aren’t actually telling the future–instead, people are following the prophecies like instructions. Self-fulfilling, like how if Macbeth hadn’t heard the three witches’ prophecy, maybe he wouldn’t have suddenly become power-hungry, leading to his demise.

Twirltongue tried to manipulate Pearlpelt into villainy because she’d heard the prophecy, and she wanted to make it real. But if she hadn’t read the prophecy, or if the prophecy simply didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have known Pearlpelt was The One. Without the influence, would Pearlpelt still have grown up evil? Could he have grown up normal? (or at least, as normal as a starved giant rat can be). Or would the human’s horrible treatment of rats still have driven him down the path of bitterness, anger and hatred? Would Twirltongue, having seen his unique appearance, still have taken this chance to mould him into the perfect charismatic leader? Would the prophecy had come true regardless?

[oneunexpected]

I think the weight the gnawers put on Pearlpelt as The One come more from his status as a white rat of legend. Vikus says that the Bane wasn’t the first, that they predate Sandwich’s involvement in the Underland, and that every time one is born, it always gains a huge following and in general wreaks havoc. In my opinion, Twirltongue targeted him more because of his status as a white rat than the fact he was the Bane of legend. After all, if she was going by the Prophecy of Time as a guide, she likely believed that the Bane was doomed, and that the Code would be what secured victory for the gnawers—not Pearlpelt. (Unless, of course, she took the “when the monster’s blood is spilled” bit to mean that the Bane would be injured but not killed, but that didn’t seem to be a popular interpretation. It seemed everyone thought Gregor and the Bane were gonna go out together.)

That being said... if the prophecies just didn’t exist, I still think that the Bane might’ve become what he was, or at least something similar. I think Snare would have still killed his siblings, because that just seems like a Snare move in general, and Ripred believes that’s a big part of Why Pearlpelt Is The Way He Is. But Gregor wouldn’t have been sent on a quest to kill him, which in turn might’ve meant Goldshard could’ve lived. And perhaps they could have fled together. But I think if Pearlpelt had stayed in gnawer society, he would have been groomed to become the tyrant he was, yes, through the actions of gnawers like Twirltongue, the hatred of humans prevalent in gnawer society, and the belief that with his size and the historical precedent set by the other white rats that he would be capable of doing something about the humans.

I can’t stop thinking about the prophecies in The Underland Chronicles and how it applies to Pearlpelt. I keep wondering if he still would have turned evil if the prophecies didn’t exist / if the rats simply hadn’t heard of the prophecies.

In the book they state that they think the prophecies aren’t actually telling the future–instead, people are following the prophecies like instructions. Self-fulfilling, like how if Macbeth hadn’t heard the three witches’ prophecy, maybe he wouldn’t have suddenly become power-hungry, leading to his demise.

Twirltongue tried to manipulate Pearlpelt into villainy because she’d heard the prophecy, and she wanted to make it real. But if she hadn’t read the prophecy, or if the prophecy simply didn’t exist, she wouldn’t have known Pearlpelt was The One. Without the influence, would Pearlpelt still have grown up evil? Could he have grown up normal? (or at least, as normal as a starved giant rat can be). Or would the human’s horrible treatment of rats still have driven him down the path of bitterness, anger and hatred? Would Twirltongue, having seen his unique appearance, still have taken this chance to mould him into the perfect charismatic leader? Would the prophecy had come true regardless?