#Nigar Kalfa

[awkward-sultana]

Magnificent Century + Parallels: Ibrahim Pasha & Hürrem Sultan

[heathcliffofwutheringheights]

***

Both Nigar and Ibrahim decide to help Hürrem in Episode 1 after finding a commonality with her (Nigar had a Ruthenian grandmother, Ibrahim was Orthodox).

[velnat004]

WIP wednesday

Trying a different painting style with Nigar Kalfa and I rlly love how it's coming out ♡♡♡

Tagging @nicolajpg @oh-no-who-took-my-sushi @southernreaches @miseryscrowned @fuzzyhairedfreak @brother-genitivi uWu

[dyingroses]

Magnificent Century + AO3 tags

[lightfed]

made some magnificent century characters moodboards so here they are

hurrem sultan

nurbanu sultan

mahidevran sultan

hatice sultan

mihrimah sultan

nigar kalfa

[elizabeth-halime]

[palaceoftears]

Magnificent Century Rewatch: One Picspam per Episode

Episode 36: Till Death Do Us Part

-Don't go, take me to paradise too, take me

-Go to our house, my heart will go with you. Wherever you go, my prayers will be with you, you have made me so happy!

[tianmicons]

[malachitezmeyka]

Two years ago I said that the identical glances were proof these two were mother and daughter and I stand by that statement

Also, Daye!!!!

[sic-k]

(I don't think this scene needs translation, the body language speaks for itself)

I LOVE MC's secondary characters, kalfas and harem hatuns are much more important than we realize. The friendship and bond between Nigar and Daye makes my eyes shine... at Nigar's wedding, when Valide fired Daye....

Daye refused to defend herself in such a humiliating task for his age but didn't think twice to defend Nigar (who she treats her like a daughter).

I watched again and again, not just because they gave us DAYE SLAPPING GÜLSHA IN SLOWMOTION, it was the greatest proof of the bond between nigar and daye (for now, EP48) and daye's genuine demonstration of justice, a quality applied in a purer form than the sultans, not as a rule, but you understand what I meant. ABSOLUTE CINEMA.

I love daye, and daye's hair after the return of mahidrevan to the main palace (she problaly gonna die tho, so i'm trying not to get attached, i'm not in the mood for crying and sobbing)

[mc-critical]

Gosh, this Daye/Nigar scene is just so great. Daye knows about Nigar having kissed Ibrahim for quite some time now, but she doesn't berate her for it. She waits until after the wedding to talk to her and comfort her, attempting to convince her in this strict yet nurturing manner that she'll be better off with Matrakci; that she'll be better off married and with the new family she'd create (even if that means being with someone she doesn't love). She'd be better off taking care of someone, being surrounded by people she's fond of (like the future children in her arms) or might grow fond of sooner or later (like Matrakci) in her own home instead of withering alone in the ruthless cold harem that she and Daye might be too used to but it still isn't fully theirs, it can't be. Daye may have Valide but she's still alone. Nigar may be sought by many but she's still alone. Nigar and Daye's entire fates hinge on these people and it's uncertain what other cruel order, what other unbearable appointment in which palace will they issue next. Marriage seems like the one way for Nigar to get out of this unending circle to Daye as she at least can still do that. And the love and sadness and pain possibly residing in her heart? They may hurt but even they can be forgotten "with time" (oh look at that, yet another character having the "moving on with time" coping mechanism!), they have to be for her own good. This is what has apparently helped Daye to cope with any pain, so it should help Nigar as well. This is how Daye has forgotten, moved forward and latched onto what's left to her with knowing resignation, so Nigar should do so as well. And here is Nigar who still tries her all to keep it together in these last few days, weeks, months, but barely manages it. She can't let anyone else find out about the full extent of what concerns her, as she may really be done for then; she's burdened with that secret forever, with her feelings that won't have a response, as this is what Ibrahim had repeatedly demonstrated to her up until then (little did she know, though...). She can't even end it all, having to keep on in an uncertain, forced upon her marriage which seems like the only thing that can make her forget, but it isn't, she never thought it was. It just adds more salt to her wound, it only brings her more pain. Yet the one person she breaks in front of is Daye. In this moment, she's the one who she trusts the most and the one who provides at least a little understanding, at least a little guidance despite of it all. So she leans on Daye while she reveals her own turmoil, unaware that Daye also knows more about Nigar's turmoil than Nigar realizes and that might be also why she's saying all of those things. They both empathize with each other's turmoils. They both are moved, letting themselves go to an embrace. It lasts only for a short while but that's precisely where its power lies: there can be one short moment before they have to assume their roles again, before everything is to proceed as planned.

[awkward-sultana]

Magnificent Century + Evolution of Hürrem's Family (requested by @skynerd157)

[heathcliffofwutheringheights]

Season 1 Finale:

Season 2 Finale:

Karma

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

not sure if the weird solidarity that forms between nigar and hatice after ibrahim's death fascinates me or pisses me off

[dyingroses]

Magnificent Century + AO3 tags

[lightfed]

an au where nigar lived, moved in with ibrahim's brother as per his wishes, esmanur is happy with her mom and it isn't perfect but they're slowly getting there(a gift for @thevampiricnihal)

He is not Ibrahim. There are certain times when she forgets—they share the same face after all, it's easy to be trapped into false hopes and dreams she knows will never come true, dreams she knows cannot come true no matter how much she wants it because Ibrahim will never be hers.

At certain times, she absolutely despises the very idea of another man wearing the face of the man she loved. She cannot stomach when her daughter calls him dad and they both let her because it's better than her knowing the truth and the very moment they met, when she sees the pity in his eyes because he knows the reality of her situation better than anyone except for Ibrahim and herself.

And at other times, she wishes he was. At other times, like when he takes her angel-faced girl to the sea and they play and his eyes reflect the shine of the sun in the water, when he laughs and it reaches his eyes in the way Ibrahim's never truly could and they radiate life and joy, when he greets her and his face is filled with warmth Ibrahim's did back when she was in his arms and they were trapped in what was, essentially both their paradise and hell, when she watches him roast fishes, listens to the fire crackling and they talk for hours as the moon glows above them.

She refuses to acknowledge these feelings because she had let herself be consumed by her feelings once upon a time. She was willing to burn for those feelings, to lose everything all for false haven, a false sense of peace and passion a woman like her apparently did not deserve to feel because Gods decided her fate for her and she was in the land that is not her own and forced to raise her daughter with no one but herself to rely upon.

This was not news to her because she had been forced to rely on no one but herself even since she was taken away from her home, away from her grandmother and forced into learning to live in a place where she was never allowed to let her guard down.

The lessons she learned at the Topkapi Palace never left her, not even when she was at peace and apparently safe from danger, from being used like a puppet on a string however the royal family saw fit from ploys and from betrayals her mind was always racing, always prepared for the worst.

That's how she's lived for as long as she's known herself and she's fine with it. She will focus on raising her daughter and being present in her life, on being absolutely perfect at the role of a mother to the point where Esmanur doesn't notice one of her parents is missing.

When she came to this decision, she was completely fine with it so why is it that, when another woman(a woman younger than her, a woman with golden hair and eyes as blue as the sea, a woman who was delicate and soft and perfect, a woman not yet forced to face the cruelties of life) shows interest in Nico an ugly feeling swallows her whole, a feeling she is entirely too knowledgeable of because she had experienced it before, when she had to serve Hatice Sultana and watch the man she loved entirely devote himself to her.

Nico refuses her advances quite clearly but this doesn't stop her from showing up with whatever excuse she can come up with to visit either way until Nigar's body acted before she could comprehend her own actions and she wraps her arm around his tightly, informing him that Esmanur must be lonely and that they should go back home.

Nico offers her a knowing look she pointedly ignores, not letting go all the way back home even though the woman is nowhere in their sight and she doesn't have to hold onto him any longer.

He is not Ibrahim.

Perhaps, she thinks to herself, as she watches him carry her daughter on his back and rush into a grass field and their laughter echoes in her ears while the wind is playing with her hair on a perfect spring day, it's not the worst thing.