#Magic of the Lost trilogy

[paeinovis]

Developing a theory that Phoenix's personal Place of Living is a disaster, while the Wright and Co. office is kept impeccably clean (him looking after Charley, compulsively cleaning the toilets in Multiple Games and even getting Apollo to in AJ) because Mia did the same (and/or had him doing those chores while he was interning for her lol)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Midnight Kingdom

book 2 in a high fantasy trilogy based around a city at the nexus of multiple realms, following the heirs to four noble houses

the heirs are scattered across the realms, trying to survive, keep their city together, and find a way to defeat the gods

necromancy, fire magic, magic controlled by music & dance, shadow familiars and god possession

bi, lesbian, demi, ace MCs

[desdasiwrites]

– James Islington, The Shadow of What Was Lost

[musewrangler]

The wooden door to his room crashed against the wall and he was only half awake when he was hauled from the large chair, tangled in the blanket he’d covered himself with.

For a brief moment, his magic sang at a familiar presence before the Queen was before him, eyes huge in her pale face.

“I’m sorry, Firmus,” she said urgently, snapping her fingers at another guard. “But there’s no time and Leia must put all her efforts against this attack.”

“Attack…?” he began.

The two burly guards on either side of him gripped his arms tightly as a third man approached with the hated silver cuffs.

And Piett understood.

“Please,” he said to the Queen, struggling futilely in the iron hold of the soldiers. “Not again…I…!”

The regret was very real in her face even as the first cuff snapped around his wrist and he jerked with the poisonous heat of it.

The other cuff was locked in place and once again he was suffocating and ill. She placed a hand to his face so that he could see her eyes.

“I truly am sorry,” she said. “I will make certain they come off as soon as possible. But I cannot risk you joining the fray.”

He was half dragged from the room, doing his best not to vomit as the Queen strode ahead of them.

[crazy-fruit]

When you're re-reading one of your favourite childhood bookseries and your favourite character from back then is still your fave, but for different reasons.

[necessiteez]

HONGJOONG SMUT FIC RECS LIBRARY

disclaimer: I do not own any of these works and they do not represent the real kim hongjoong. all rights belong to the respective writers who made them.

all pairings are hongjoong x reader only.

further info is already stated in the main Library.

✶ - favorites

╔═ second♕floor ═╗

「 ✦ Pirate!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Let Me Take You Away - @ithinkilikeit-reactions (wc 3.7k)

✶ Pirate King: Kim Hongjoong - @cookycherry (wc 4.5k)

Sea Superstitions - ithikilikeit-reactions (wc 8 .8k)

My Lady - @seongsangssbitch

Lost at Sea - @acupoftaewithsomesuga (wc 6.9k)

Pirate Joong - @hyetiny

Pirate King - @cybrsan (wc 7.6k)

A Selfish Desire - @hwashotcheeto (wc 4k)

🆕✨ Shiny New Toy - kitten4sannie (wc 2.1k)

「 ✦ Best Friend!Hongjoong ✦ 」

friends to lovers trope

✶ Tell Me to Stop - @tenelkadjowrites (wc 4.4k)

Acorns - sa_honey on ao3 (wc 4.3k)

Marigold - @yoongiseesawmp3 (wc 12k)

✶ The Best Friends Code trilogy feat. Seonghwa - tenelkadjowrites

Heavy on Your Tongue - @swallowedbymadness (wc 4k)

We Ransacked the City series, multi-chapter feat. Seonghwa - tenelkadjowrites

🆕✨ Between Friends - anyamaris (wc 3.4k)

「 ✦ Academic!Hongjoong ✦ 」

includes College Student! Hongjoong, Professor! Hongjoong, school setting

Fire & Flames - bustdownyunho on ao3 (wc 5.8k)

✶ Motivate Me - @hwaightme (wc 10.2k)

Hideaway - @minisugakoobies (wc 7k)

Teacher Seonghwa + Student Hongjoong male reader - @star-suh

Study Buddies - halflinghoney on a03 (wc 2.4k)

✶ Can't Stand You - @domjaehyun (wc 3.7k)

✶ Training Wheels - @luvt0kki (wc 10.7k)

Rule #4 - @k-hotchoisan (wc 6k)

King's Play - @atzfilm (wc 4k)

A Special Kind of Heat Delivery - artof-seonghwa (wc 2.4k)

「 ✦ Idol!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Good Girls Don't ONGOING - halanote on ao3 (wc 22k)

Work Life Balance - evphoria87 (wc 1.6k)

Drunk in Love - barnesbabee

✶ All Yours - forhongjoong (wc 4k) HAS GOT TO BE THE OLDEST WELL-WRITTEN SMUT I KNOW SO THIS ONE IS SPECIAL

In the Wings feat. Seonghwa - sanjoongie (wc 2k)

A Night In implied poly - @written-in-flowers (wc 3k)

✶ 2 Soon part 1 - @03jyh23 (wc 12.8k)

✶ 2 Soon part 2 - 03jyh23 (wc 11.5k)

✶ Man-Spreading - barnesbabee

🆕✨ Bouncy - flurrys-creativity (wc 1.8k)

🆕✨ [11:07] Secrecy - hanatiny (wc 1k)

「 ✦ Roommate!Hongjoong ✦ 」

✶ Movie Night - @severetimetravelnerd (wc 2k)

✶ Deal - @hongism (wc 10.3k)

Declaration - tenelkadjowrites (wc 9k)

✶ Don't You Want Me? - @yeonjuns-beanie (wc 7.4k)

Ass So Fat, Hit that From the Back gen reader, only Hongjoong is turned on - orphan account/abandoned (wc 2.9k)

Exhibition and Voyeurism feat. Seonghwa - hobi-is-golden on ao3 (wc 3.6k)

🆕✨✶ Got a Thing for You - ilwonuu

「 ✦ Mafia/Gangster!Hongjoong ✦ 」

All I Need - @cocobeanncteez

Princess feat. San- @teeztheflag (wc 4.6k)

For Your Entertainment - @atiny-piratequeen (wc 4.3k)

5:31pm - @mingishoe

✶ A Rose is A Rose feat. Seonghwa - @daddyfordaeddy (wc 3.5k)

Guns and Roses - @baekhvuns (wc 5.4k)

✶ Cheating w Gangster!Seongjoong feat. Seonghwa - @thelargefrye (wc 2.6k)

✶ On the Rocks feat. Seonghwa- @kitten4sannie (wc 2.7k)

Backfired part 2 - ateezreactionsandscenarios (wc 5k)

🆕✨ Unbroken - hanatiny (wc 7k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong Working Different Jobs ✦ 」

includes photographer!Hongjoong, barista!Hongjoong, writer!Hongjoong, doctor!Hongjoong

* photographer!Hongjoong

Picture Perfect - @ikigaitsuki (wc 6k)

Something to Say - themoonlightfae on ao3 (wc 5.9k)

His Muse - firepoppyqueen on ao3 (wc 1.4k)

* writer!Hongjoong

✶ Mr. Write series, multi-chapter, writer!Hongjoong - @1117feverlessdreams

* cafe owner/barista Hongjoong

Iced Coffee barista!Hongjoong- xoexoxhoe

FFF Day 14 feat. San - sanjoongie (wc 2.6k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong in fantasy/historical/mythical setting ✦ 」

Rendezvous with Destiny royal advisor!Hongjoong - alxdelusional (wc 6k)

Do You Believe in Fate? Hongjoong with magic, multi-chapter - @lettersfromaphrodite (wc 42k)

Starseed: Perfect Love male reader, King!Hongjoong - thelargefrye (wc 3.7k)

His Majesty's Responsibilities King!Hongjoong - @xirenex (wc 8k)

✶ Forbidden Fruit Hades!Hongjoong - nateezfics (wc 2k)

Day 19 Bard!Hongjoong feat. Knight!Seonghwa- @multiwreckedmess (wc 6.3k)

The Spoils of War, Chapter 2: Hongjoong the Queenmaker multi-member, King!Hongjoong - fullspectrumfangirl, stitchdragon on ao3

Die for You royal guard!Hongjoong - @beginningofwonderland (wc 7.4k)

I'd Rather Burn nobleman!Hongjoong - latte-fairytaekwoon (wc 6.2k)

✨🆕 ✶ New World mad prince!Hongjoong, HEAVY ANGST - @sorryimananti-romantic (wc 27k)

「 ✦ Hongjoong in the Fashion Industry ✦ 」

includes Fashion Designer! Hongjoong, Model! Hongjoong, Fashion Company CEO! Hongjoong

✶ The Met and the Aftermath - @angiesmagicspace (wc 5.7k)

✶ Perfect Little Pet Cruella! Hongjoong @armysantiny (wc 5.9k)

✶ Business Attire - @nebulousbrainsoup (wc 4.5k)

Perfect Design - @sector-i-closed

Be My Muse - sanjoongie (wc 1.2k)

Untitled - @cherrysoojins

The Model - @doritochoi (wc 1.7k)

✶ High End - @songmingisthighs (wc 2k)

Mistletoe feat. Seonghwa - justthere4kpop (wc 2.4k)

「 ✦ Something's Wrong with Hongjoong ✦ 」

includes Villain!Hongjoong, Evil!Hongjoong, Perv!Hongjoong, Yandere! Hongjoong and dubcon themes. ⚠️ I don't support non-con fanfics

An Eye For All Things Sweet - @sugarcherriess

Textbook perv!Hongjoong - @ateezinmymind

Crimes of Passion: Gotham au Intro - @thetypingpup (wc 5.4k)

* Yandere

Desire - @lovesanmotion

Indulgence - @mint-yooxgi (wc 2k)

The Villain part 1 - @yourfatherlucifer (wc 1k)

The Villain part 2 - yourfatherlucifer (wc 1k)

˖ ࣪⭑last updated 06/05/24 ˖ ࣪⭑

[what-even-is-thiss]

I don’t think that a story needs to literally make sense in a nitpicky cinema sins type way. Like I write magical realism for gods sake, but I do think a story needs to consistently follow its own type of logic for the most part or else an audience will pick up on that.

I think the reason that something like “Somehow, Palpatine has returned” went over so badly was not because it’s impossible in the Star Wars universe for someone to come back from the dead or something. It’s because so far the new trilogy had a theme of the new generation being allowed to take over. Yoda burned the ancient texts, Kylo Ren continued the sith cycle of the apprentice replacing the master, the old heroes were dying off one by one. Solidly establishing itself as a new thing.

And then, oh no the old bad guy from the last two trilogies was secretly the bad guy in this one too! Oh no!

Like in some stories that would make sense. Not really in this one though.

In some stories there’s a giant elephant in the bathroom just because there’s a giant elephant in the bathroom and we don’t need to question that. In other types of stories you’re gonna need a damn good explanation for how and why the elephant got there.

If your movie has been established as a cheesy stupid martial arts comedy and your goofy protagonist kills a bunch of ninjas with breakdancing moves, that’s fine. I get that. But if you’ve been making a serious cop drama with intrigue, realism, and minimal amounts of gun combat and your hardened old detective kills people with breakdancing, your audience will be lost and confused.

You don’t have to get a degree in physics and fully understand the properties of magnets to put a big magnet in your story, but make sure it’s the type of story that would have a big magnet in it.

[macrolit]

The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

NYT Article.

*************

Q: How many of the 100 have you read? Q: Which ones did you love/hate? Q: What's missing?

Here's the full list.

100. Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson 99. How to Be Both, Ali Smith 98. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett 97. Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward 96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Saidiya Hartman 95. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel 94. On Beauty, Zadie Smith 93. Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel 92. The Days of Abandonment, Elena Ferrante 91. The Human Stain, Philip Roth 90. The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen 89. The Return, Hisham Matar 88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 87. Detransition, Baby, Torrey Peters 86. Frederick Douglass, David W. Blight 85. Pastoralia, George Saunders 84. The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee 83. When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamin Labutat 82. Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor 81. Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan 80. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante 79. A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin 78. Septology, Jon Fosse 77. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones 76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin 75. Exit West, Mohsin Hamid 74. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout 73. The Passage of Power, Robert Caro 72. Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich 71. The Copenhagen Trilogy, Tove Ditlevsen 70. All Aunt Hagar's Children, Edward P. Jones 69. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander 68. The Friend, Sigrid Nunez 67. Far From the Tree, Andrew Solomon 66. We the Animals, Justin Torres 65. The Plot Against America, Philip Roth 64. The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai 63. Veronica, Mary Gaitskill 62. 10:04, Ben Lerner 61. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver 60. Heavy, Kiese Laymon 59. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides 58. Stay True, Hua Hsu 57. Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich 56. The Flamethrowers, Rachel Kushner 55. The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright 54. Tenth of December, George Saunders 53. Runaway, Alice Munro 52. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson 51. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson 50. Trust, Hernan Diaz 49. The Vegetarian, Han Kang 48. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi 47. A Mercy, Toni Morrison 46. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt 45. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson 44. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin 43. Postwar, Tony Judt 42. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James 41. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan 40. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald 39. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan 38. The Savage Detectives, Roberto Balano 37. The Years, Annie Ernaux 36. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 35. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel 34. Citizen, Claudia Rankine 33. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward 32. The Lines of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst 31. White Teeth, Zadie Smith 30. Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward 29. The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt 28. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell 27. Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 26. Atonement, Ian McEwan 25. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 24. The Overstory, Richard Powers 23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro 22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo 21. Evicted, Matthew Desmond 20. Erasure, Percival Everett 19. Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe 18. Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders 17. The Sellout, Paul Beatty 16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon 15. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee 14. Outline, Rachel Cusk 13. The Road, Cormac McCarthy 12. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion 11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz 10. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson 9. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro 8. Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald 7. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead 6. 2666, Roberto Bolano 5. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen 4. The Known World, Edward P. Jones 3. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel 2. The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson 1. My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante

[letraspal]

“—but Daphne softens him. She’s the reason I got a mobile phone when I turned 15. And the reason I got to go on school trips. And probably the reason my father didn’t murder Simon after our ancestral home lost its magic. She’s a good person. A good stepmother.”

Daphne Grimm | Women of the Simon Snow Trilogy

[tossawary]

The last time that I rewatched "The Fellowship of the Ring" (extended edition, of course), my favorite new detail that I noticed is that the characters, once they set out on their journey, are pretty much always traveling from screen-left to screen-right.

It had been a few years since I'd seen the films and I'd learned more about filmmaking in that time. I'm completely biased regarding the LOTR films; they're not perfect, but I grew up on them, I love them. I was trying to take notes on all of the little details that made the world of the films seem so rich and so enchanting to me. The camerawork, character staging, and editing is one of the many things that just happened to jump out at me at this time.

When Frodo and Sam are leaving the Shire, the camera is set up in such a way that they start on the left side of the screen (<- that side) and travel across it to the right side of the screen (-> that side).

This way to go the farthest you've ever been from home. ->

As the hobbits travel from Bree to Rivendell, as the Fellowship travels from Rivendell to the Misty Mountains, all of those gorgeous scenic shots of the Nine Walkers show them moving from screen-left to screen-right. I haven't rewatched the entire trilogy lately, but in "The Fellowship of the Ring", it is so beautifully consistent.

There are a handful of reasons why this is done. In staging and editing, consistency regarding where the characters are placed on the screen is a storytelling tool. For example: the "180 degrees rule" says to generally keep the camera on one side of the characters within a scene, so that the audience can mentally keep track of the characters within the environment and focus on the action/dialogue. If we're watching two characters talking in a diner, even in the close-ups, one character will usually be kept on screen-left and be shown facing screen-right, and the other will be kept on screen-right and be shown facing screen-left. It feels stable. (People will sometimes choose to break the "180 degrees rule". It can be a tool to create a sense of disorientation and/or instability in the audience.)

In "The Fellowship of the Ring", the maps that the audience is shown of Middle Earth tell us that the Shire is located in the West (left side of the map) and everything else of relevance (Rivendell, Moria, Rohan, Gondor, Mordor) is East (right side of the map). As the characters consistently travel screen-right, the audience builds up a firmer mental map of Middle Earth and can better keep track of the characters' progress on their long journey. With every step that Frodo takes towards screen-right (->), we know that he is traveling East, taking another step towards Mordor.

Left to right may also instinctively feel like the way forward in a culture that writes and reads from left to right. Regardless of which way you write: if your film establishes extremely consistently that one direction is forward, then this visual language can be used to tell the audience that something is wrong if the characters start traveling from right to left. They might be lost! It builds suspense in the visual depiction of the characters going backwards and undoing progress! This all suits the lengthy hero's journey of LOTR very well, in my opinion.

There's an old joke that knowing how anything is made ruins the magic, and another old joke that knowing anything about filmmaking makes you insufferable to watch movies with, but I've never felt that way, especially not here. How does that quote go? It's still magic even if you know how it's done. (GNU Terry Pratchett.)

I find it enchanting, honestly, that so many people can work so hard for an effect that can seem so simple. Actors, directors, camera operators, editors, storyboarders, and so many others on the crew of the films consistently placed characters, sets, and props just so! So that the audience could more easily keep track of where everyone was and lose themselves a little more deeply in the story.

It's such a simple rule! And it works so well! Left -> Right. West -> East. Shire -> Mordor. Home -> Adventure. Known -> Unknown.

I personally recommend trying to keep track of character movement across the screen in films, especially if you have any interest in visual storytelling (films or illustration or something else). It's fun! It's impossible for me to unsee, watching "The Fellowship of the Ring" now, and I think it's a wonderful piece of movie magic.

[aphroditesmoon]

to the people who follow me for my book content, these are some authors that i no longer support:

pierce brown: one of the earliest authors to share the "i stand with israel" posts. (I guess rebellions are only cool for plot points. I loved red rising but ive always found it to be a whitewashed version of the hunger games, and b4 u go "but hunger games characters r white too!!" No theyre not. Katniss was supposed to have darker skin. The movie franchise whitewashed her.)

sarah j maas: has made it clear that her grandmother was in the IDF and is proud of her israeli heritage. I liked her when i was like 14. I grew to realise just how much queerbaiting and subtle racism there is in her books.

victoria aveyard: i loved her for a very long time, red queen was the series that pulled me back into reading and she have been one of my biggest inspiration in being a writer, but she had made a statement of standing in neutrality, and she have made a tiktok of her Starbucks order while everyone is trying to boycott starbucks for their donation to israel. I hope her words and actions are only of ignorance and that she'll learn to do better soon. but until then, I've completely lost my respect for her.

•••••••••••••••

IN RETURN: HERE ARE SOME AUTHORS WHO HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING AND DONATING TO PALESTINE AND WRITE AMAZING BOOKS:

- Rebecca F. Kuang: The poppy war trilogy, yellowface, Babel.

- Olivie Blake: The atlas six trilogy, One for my enemy, Alone with you in the ether, Masters of death.

- VE Schwab: A darker shade of magic series, The invisible life of Addie Larue, This savage song (monsters of verity) duology.

- Chloe Gong: These violent delights duology.

- Faridah abike iyimide: Ace of Spades.

- Leigh Bardugo: The grishaverse, Ninth house.

- Tracy Deonn: Legendborn series.

- Xiran Jay Zhao: Iron widow series.

[kalak]

Luke skywalker has so much rage inside him and I want people to recognize that. No he's not a shy baby boy, you know how much grit it takes to keep on doing and remain optimistic at the face of insurmountable evil? That boy is full of emotions. And yet he is kind. That's the key to his character - that he is full of rage but he doesn't let that stop him from hoping.

He definitely has a hair trigger temper - hell, his main character flaw in empire strikes back was his impulsiveness and recklessness - and he's so much like vader, he wants and loves so strongly and he despairs as strongly too. And what does he do with that temper? He fails, he loses, and he blows up and wrecks shit, but also that temper is the flip side of loving, and he embraces that too, he loves with all his heart. Point is, he's a very action and emotion oriented person, and that's what pushes him so close to the dark side; he's fatalistic, he's sometimes ridden with guilt, he's emotional.

But then he learns patience, he learns gentleness - learns to be a jedi. It's all learned; do or do not, yoda says, and he learns to do, to keep hoping. He isn't born as a sunshine boy, it's not his nature that makes him that way - he's naturally emotional, kinda whiny, full of rage; all the hallmarks of a darksider, but he learns to grow beyond that. That's how he can extend such an understanding hand towards sith and dark siders, his father - he knows the dark side. He understands it, he flirts with it, and yet he chooses to do better.

The meaning of luke skywalker in the star wars narrative is hope - hope isn't a magical deus ex machina that solves all your problems. It's not there all the time from the very start. It's something you cultivate, just like luke did throughout the trilogy.

Hope is continued existence. It's optimism that perseveres. You know that line of bravery being doing it in spite of the fear? Well, hope isn't the absence of giving up. Sometimes it's just screaming crying trying to kill your own father, but it's also making the right choice and trusting vader to make the right choice, too. If there's one good thing about the sequel trilogy, it's that - luke may have run away, he might have done some... uncharacteristic things, but that doesn't mean he's lost hope. He returned to fight again after all, didn't he?

Even if you fuck up, you return and fight - with a relentless optimism that being good will be enough, that the world is a better place for this choice. And Luke does that, again and again - still carrying all those emotions within him. He's a fire that burns strong and bright; he's sunshine and tempered death.

[mister-mickey]

Okay okay so this is exposing me as probably the cringiest person ever maybe but‼️ descendants au!

Okay so for anyone who doesn’t know the basic premise of descendants, all the characters are the kids (aka, descendants) of (Disney) fairytale characters, both villains and heroes. The descendants movies mostly focus on the villain kids and their redemption, and that’s what the trilogy is basically about (ignore the new movie, it sucks, don’t even bother watching it)

Okay so, Darry, soda, and ponyboy are the sons of Gaston because I think it’s silly. Darry is strong like Gaston, soda is good with the ladies, and Ponyboy is the biggest disappointment ever.

He likes to READ like a FREAK so Gaston hates his stupid little child. Gaston isn’t too fond of Darry either because although Darry is big and strong, he sucks with the ladies, and is also intelligent and dislikes his dad.

Soda might be Gaston’s fave, but even he isn’t perfect because he’s skinny and not tough. So they all have severe daddy issues lol

After that we have Dallas who is technically the main character because he steals Mal’s spot as maleficents child. (He’s a fairy haha so funny)

He’s like a little demon and we love/hate him. He does magic and all that. He hates his mom because… she sucks but he also lowkey wants her approval because she is the most powerful person on the isle. He has almost the same relationship with her as Mal does in the movies, so there isn’t a whole lot to change

I gave him horns because I felt like mal should have had horns

Next is Johnny! His mom is mother Gothel because none of the main parents seemed to fit him. They have a complicated relationship because that lady is crazy but she’s also really good at pretending that she loves him

Poor guy is so conflicted 24/7. He’s got long hair because mother Gothel has somehow gotten it into her head that he will eventually become magical.

And then there is twobit!!!! His dad is Jafar which I’m pretty sure was @crazability idea

This was mostly because he seemed very similar to jay in the movies, but also because like… it just works. We like it

He’s goofier than jay is because he’s twobit but I think he plays a similar role

Then Steve!!! Steve is Cruella DeVil’s son. He is very smart obviously because he’s Steve but since Cruella owns the only car then he is ofc the car guy

Steve is the same except he is deathly scared of dogs because of his mom lol. He HATES her she is absolutely off her rocker

Now after them is the auradon kids!! These are obviously the socs because like, come on

They get tiny doodles because I got lazy.

Paul is the son of belle and the beats! He is the future king of auradon and that power goes to his blond curly head. He is also hopelessly in love with the person he keeps seeing in his dreams (if you’ve read the descendants books you know, but if you haven’t, I’ll explain later in the plot section)

Cherry is Ariel’s daughter! She’s a mermaid obviously and I’m assuming she’s melodys younger sister. We made her Ariel’s kid because she’s a redhead lol. Cherry is super chill until she meets annoying Dallas. She’s currently dating Bob

Marcia is fairy godmothers child and she takes Jane’s role in the original movies. She’s kind of insecure (though not AS insecure) and it does affect the way she behaves

Bob is literally just chad charming if his name was Bob. Also if chad was violent. Bob is Cinderella and Prince Charming’s son. He’s very eugh I guess

Randy is the son of aurora and whatever her husbands name is. He dislikes Dallas because of that but I’ll expand on that further down

OKAY! PLOT!

20-25 years previous, the villains were resurrected and sent to the isle of the lost. This was as a punishment becuase apparently death was not punishment enough. Obviously the villains have kids and the heroes have kids, but the villains kids grow up in an incredibly violent and poverty stricken environment. Cruelty is not just encouraged, but necessary for survival. Nobody cares about these kids so they often raise themselves

Well, the good guys elect a king to rule over all the lands (auradon) and they pick the beast from beauty and the beast. Whatever. Well now Paul is about to be king (despite his father being alive and fine. Stupid descendants lore)

Paul has been having dreams about blue eyes for months. He doesn’t remember anything else. It’s haunting him and he’s been searching for the person with blue eye for so long. He eventually figured that the person may be on the isle, so his first decree as a soon to be king is for some of the kids to be taken off of the isle.

So Darry, pony, soda, Dallas, Johnny, Steve, and twobit get picked. They are carted in a limousine and taken to auradon. Now, these guys have an EVIL plan thanks to Dally’s mom

The plot is basically the same after this except dally is the one doing the magic, but Darry is the one with the romance plot.

Basically, dally thinks Paul’s is gross and he refuses to seduce him. They all draw straws and darry loses. Dally makes the love potion, darry gets Paul to eat it, and then darry has to deal with Paul being head over heels for him. Eventually Darry falls in love back (which is super scary for him) which makes him not want to take over auradon.

Dally is conflicted because he wants to take over auradon to show his mom that he’s powerful but he’s quickly realizing that she will never care. He feels stupid for ever wanting her approval and sticks with the people that he KNOWS will always love him (the gang)

Now, they all get their arcs where they realize that they like living in auradon and they like being happy and not on the defensive 24/7.

Steve gets the dog arc where he realizes that his mom lied to him to keep him under her thumb

Twobit flirts with girls and tells jokes like he does on the isle, but in auradon people act likes he’s special for being witty. They want to be his friend. They actually try to get to know him and it makes him realize that his humor was a sort of defense tactic. He realizes that he doesn’t want to be funny just as a defense. He likes to make people smile. (Also room for marbit where he jokes with her and makes her feel good and she is a little less insecure but still insecure because insecurity doesn’t just go away after one conversation)

Johnny cuts his hair! It was an accident and he felt so nervous he almost passed out, thinking about how mad his mom would be. But then the teachers helped him even it out and make it look okay, and made sure he was okay. He felt free and happy that he was given a choice. He realizes that he wants the space to make choices

Soda is used to feeling dumb. He doesn’t like to read or do much of that stuff. He leaves it to darry and pony. It’s never been an issue for him, until the teachers started caring. It was awkward for him having all his teachers offer extra lessons because he struggled so much. It was weird having adults CARE about his issues. He starts to hate his dad a lot more

Pony is clear cut tbh. He likes to read, he hates fighting, and gangs, and wars, and everything else that the villains DO want. He meets belle and they become besties. He was on the auradon side since the beginning tbh. He felt very validated swapping his stories about his dad with her.

But! Trouble still happens when Marcia tries to make herself “better” and accidentally opens the barrier. Maleficent comes, causes trouble, and dally defeats her with the power of friendship

Darry realizes that the spell on Paul wore off ages ago and that Paul really does like him, boom! Happily ever after!

For now. Descendants two will include the Shepards 😈 and other characters if anyone has ideas on how to make that work

Also forgive me if this is confusing my phone is super laggy and I’m having trouble actually typing

Also! @batidochokolat wrote a few cute little snippets a while back of this au and I’m still crazy about it

[sapphicbookclub]

Sapphic Books List: Witches

Gather your coven and familiars and dive into magical worlds 🧙‍♀️

The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska

Now She is Witch by Kirsty Logan

The Scapegracers (trilogy) by Hannah Abigail Clarke

Payback's a Witch (series) by Lana Harper

These Witches Don’t Burn (duology) by Isabel Sterling

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft

Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost

The Circle (Engelsfors trilogy) by M. Strandberg & S.B. Elfgren

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta

All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Reluctant Witch (trilogy) by Kristen S. Walker

The Sting of Victory (series) by S.D. Simper

Not Your Average Love Spell by Barbara Ann Wright

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

Walking Through Shadows by Sheri Lewis Wohl

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

[thedruidsforest]

Hello friends! I currently have 4 paperbacks and 1 hardcover of Queensdaughter left, ready to be signed and shipped out to you! Shipping is $3, paperbacks are $15 and hardcovers are $27💚 Please DM me if you'd like to claim your copy! I'll sign a lil message for you, just let me know what name/message you'd like, and I'll throw in an extra little gift from my Etsy shop as well. Support your local indie authors and creators!

Queensdaughter is a high fantasy, new adult/LGBT book, and is the first in the Queensdaughter Trilogy! Book 2, Stone & Leaf, is coming late summer 2025. Goodreads link & reviews is HERE

Navette lives a peaceful life in her home of Osala, managing a bakery that was passed down to her and her elder sister. The night of the spring festival of Emystre arrives, and the village is laid to ruin when ancient creatures—the skáiga—come in search of the Queensdaughter. Navette flees to the capital, where she discovers her fate as the heir to the throne and a world far more vast than she had ever imagined. This story follows Navette as she learns how to become a queen, control her innate magic, and battle the darkness that threatens her entire world. Meanwhile, her sister Ivy remains in Osala as the people try to rebuild a village from ruin, even as the darkness returns. In the lands of Varyn, not all is as it seems. The trees begin to whisper of danger, the dragons of old are little more than legends, and even queens have their secrets. Love and companionship are more valued than ever as Varyn begins to sink into darkness, but even after the darkest of nights, not all is lost.

[sagaduwyrm]

I've been thinking about Pharaoh Tucker/Duulaman and I really wish it was longer than a single episode. Like, that is such a brilliant story line? Finding out you were a powerful sorcerer in your last life should be the start of a trilogy, not a one-off gimmick.

Imagine this:

You are a king. You are a god. You are a sorcerer.

You will kill yourself to protect your home.

You know it's going to happen. You have always been willing to tear yourself to pieces to protect your people, and you long ago lost the arrogance that made you think being Pharaoh was a reward rather than responsibility. You look forward to it, almost.

But you don't die fighting, no, you perish with a traitor's blade in your back and the chains of a curse wrapped round your soul. And you hate.

And then, thousands of years later, when the people and the land you fought to preserve, earning your title as the greatest sorcerer in the world, are gone, you are born again.

And the two are nothing alike, except in all the ways you're exactly the same. But you are a new person, with no memories of your past, and you live and thrive without the weight of the throne on your back.

Just like you were once an innovator of magic, now you create new tech that touches the afterlife in ways never seen before. Just like you were once a protector, now you fight to protect your new home, this time with friends by your side.

And you are happy. Happier even. It's not an easy, perfect life but you are free from the responsibilities that dictated your last with people you trust. You love it.

And then, well...

You should have known you couldn't touch the infinite afterlife without consequences.

It starts in your dreams. You remember the sands under your feet, the magic in your hands, the sun in your face. In mirrors you see a face that is yours but older, more worn in ways you don't recognize. In battle you find yourself reaching for a bow rather than a gun, and your code is written in a language none but you now speak.

And you can maybe deal with it, maybe. It's not easy, reconciling two lives that were lived so differently, but if your friend can reconcile death and life then surely you can do the same.

But then. The traitor. Comes. Back.

You are easy to manipulate now, is the thing. The lack of a crown may have been good for your social development, but it didn't lead to the same paranoia and sense of responsibility that protected you in your last life. He turns you against your friends, but they help you fight him back anyway, yet how can you trust yourself now? Your last life was terrible, he was cruel and selfish, the traitor said so, and the one moment the person that is not you but is almost you came to the surface he hurt your family.

You don't touch magic, even when you find yourself reaching for it. You drop the bow and pick up a gun that never feels quite right in your hands. You don't let yourself reach for the eyeliner that reminds you of kohl, even though you miss how sharp it made your eyes look.

Because you won't hurt them again. You won't.

But maybe someday things can be better. Maybe someday you'll back up your friends with summoned sandstorms and clever illusions and no one will ever be able to hack your tech because of the magic woven into the wires.

Maybe someday you will step into the sands of your home, preserved in the infinite green of the afterlife, and you will learn yourself again. Maybe you'll meet old friends and loved ones, and maybe things will be different now that you are a child in need of guidance rather than a leader they depend on.

Maybe.

But a character arc like that would certainly take more than a single episode.