#O'Briencest

[hauntedheroines]

James & Sarah ♫

(ಥ◡ಥ)

Anon, you are my favorite type of person. I've a playlist for Flawed, but I'm taking only my four most fitting examples:

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

Jealousy Turning saints into the sea Swimming through sick lullabies Choking on your alibis But it's just the price I pay Destiny is calling me Open up my eager eyes 'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside

"Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine" - I do have a sense that James was good at pretending he was normal around his friends and wished for that kind of normality. He was out there hanging out, working, even finding a girlfriend before Sarah was, so you'd think that he was emancipating too. I think he was trying to and believe he could add things like friends and a girlfriend to his life so that his entire world wouldn't revolve around Sarah and their house and his mind wouldn't be so fucked up.

But the interesting thing is that, even while James was putting himself out there, he did not allow Sarah the same privilege and, as soon as she forces her own emancipation, his mental state starts to gradually decline. It becomes too real: yeah, one day you and your sister will split up.

Now to other lines of the song: literally, everything started going downhill after James kissed Sarah.

It was just a kiss, Sarah. It's no big deal.

The once soothing childhood lullaby now a sick reminder of their codependency. James hearing Sarah's lies while she was seeing Sam.

The fact that James, more than Sarah, had to bear the consequences of growing up in an abusive environment - that the siblings tried to escape the cycle, but replicated their parent's toxic behavior to an extent. That James' ending was nothing more than what was destined to happen since the day his parents unknowingly designated him as his sister's protector. Sarah was outgrowing the past and becoming her own person - James could not.

How James endured with the thought that one day it would be just his sister and him, that his idea of happiness as a young adult was the same as when he was a boy. He was still that eager boy, waiting for the moment when the pain would go away, always hoping.

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

Sometimes you picture me I'm walking too far ahead You're calling to me I can't hear what you've said Then you said: Go slow, I fall behind

"Promise to never leave me."

I'm always taken aback by the fact that although James romantic interest was unrequited, their love was mutual. Accordingly, their imminent separation causes hurt and confusion for Sarah as much as it does for James. Both believed, all their lives, that it would be them against the world until Sam stepped in.

"That's your whole problem - you and James don't know where he ends and you begin."

I think this song skips between James and Sarah's POV about the present, past and the unknown future. I imagine Sarah looking through the window of Sam's bedroom, worried about her brother, as James is laying awake in his bed streets away, imagining his sister as she slips away to somewhere he can't follow, both flaskbacking through memories.

Yes, time after time. But times have changed.

Hoax - Taylor Swift

My only one My smoking gun My eclipsed Sun This has broken me down My twisted knife My sleepless night My winless fight This has frozen my ground

My enclipsed sun -- please don't take my sunshine away. They have hold on to a plan to escape the hell they lived in. Sarah changed that and, just with a sleight of hand, nothing made sense anymore.

"I don't know who I am without you. I don't want to. I need you more than Sam does, but you don't need me. God, it hurts." "Tell me you're not with him. Tell me and I'll believe it."

My winless fight, my barren land - fighting to keep Sarah by his side was pointless, even if she did chose to stay by the end. Neither should act out on anything other than fraternal love. Keeping her was farming a barren land: the fruits he wished for would not grow. Which is the reason why she is "the only shade of blue" Jaime's wishes for. He would rather have half-a-Sarah than no Sarah at all.

I'm Your Puppet- Gregory and the Hawk

I'm your puppet I'll learn to love it And I'll undress If you need it But please don't need it If you need it I'll scream out

The last stanza is James. The first two stanzas are Sarah. I cant' find the words to describe this song right now. It hurts so bad.

"Why can't I be enough? I wanna be enough so fucking bad."

I had to make a full hands on analysis because I can never talk enough about this book. It breaks my heart everytime.

Send me a ♫ with the name of a ship and I’ll tell you a song that fits them perfectly

[hauntedheroines]

♫ Steerpike and Fuchsia

♫ Sarah and James

One that has been breaking my heart lately T_T

Evanescence - Anywhere

Steerpike x Fuchsia

This is not just a What if Fuchsia had asked Steerpike to run away with her, but also the ending I always dreamt for this ship: meeting in the after life like Catherine and Healthcliff from Wuthering Heights. Running on the hills, leaving Gormenghast behind.

Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me? And dear my love, haven't you longed to be free? I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you When at sweet night, you are my own

Steerpike and Fuchsia secret meetings, and their shared desired to be free from Gormenghast.

I have dreamt of a place for you and I No one knows who we are there All I want is to give my life only to you I've dreamt so long, I cannot dream anymore Let's run away, I'll take you there

Estelle Daniel, Gormenghast’s producer, described the grave scene as follows:

“I think you understand in this scene that they actually do love each other. You know there is a real chemistry there. In a way, if Fuchsia were to have said, ‘Look, let’s just get on a white horse and ride away from the castle together and just be lovers,’ I think there are moments where Steerpike might almost have agreed.”

The grave scene is also the moment when Fuchsia asks 'What should I do? I can't dream forever', which makes this lyrics even more perfect.

Forget this life, come with me Don't look back, you're safe now Unlock your heart, drop your guard No one's left to stop you

Both Steerpike and Fuchsia have an hidden wound in their soul and close down to the world in different ways. When they are together there is always this dance of coming out and foldling back into their shells. Trying hard to open up and desiring intimacy, though completely uncertain on how to proceed, and learning through each other because they were both so emotionally neglected that they are basically children in the matter.

Sarah and James

This absolutely RECKS ME because Sarah and James both have thought, most of their young lives, that this would be their happily ever after. Even if Sarah never meant it as lovers, she only changed her mind about moving out with James a few months before the story ends. The parts where the singer asks his beloved 'haven't you wanted to be with me?' and 'I cannot dream anymore' is heartbreaking from James perspective.

He build this life around this bright future where they would be safe from their father in a home of their own. He sacrificed his youth and sanity to watch Sarah grown into a capable healthy young woman.

“You sure you don’t need me to stay with you?” he asks from behind me. “Say the word and I’ll stay.”

I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you When at sweet night, you are my own

Oh my, the sleeping kisses

All I want is to give my life only to you I've dreamt so long, I cannot dream anymore

“No, I love you. You’ve never loved me, even though it’s supposed to be me and you, forever.” He reaches for my waist and buries his sticky face in my stomach. “Why can’t I be enough? I want to be enough so fucking bad.”

Forget this life, come with me Don't look back, you're safe now Unlock your heart, drop your guard No one's left to stop you

“We’ll have to move somewhere Dad’ll never find you. We can change our names, and then you can get a job working with flowers or go to college or do whatever you want. I’ll do anything if it’ll make you happy. Just tell me what to do.”

[hauntedheroines]

What is your ideal villain x heroine relationship?

Well first, there are Basic Rules(TM):

Must see her as a human being, not as a pretty object, disposable or replaceable. Examples of villains that don’t do this: Jabba The Hutt and Ming the Merciless

He must be clean. He doesn’t have to be pretty, just hygienic. Grima, from LotR, is ugly, but I still ship him with Eowyn, while Jabba The Hutt is just a disgusting worm.

He is powerful and talented; has to have some sort of confidence. I can pity him, sometimes it's even better when I do (like with The Phantom of the Opera) but some stalker movies make the character so realistically obsessed because he is an insecure and repressed person. This also has to do with not seeing her as an object. Most of the time they don’t even know why they want the girl, they are just searching for any replacement for the maternal love they didn’t get. They don’t think they are special, they would just take anything to fill the gap.

He can’t be willing to watch her die. This usually ruins the ship. I mean hurt her, okay, but to kill her would mean he thinks he can live without her. And if he thinks that, he better get into a deep depression and regret afterward, or be well-aware that he has dammed himself for the rest of his life. Leôncio from Isaura The Slave Girl, Bill from Kill Bill, Jack Devlin from The Net, and Frollo from NDdP do that.

Either the heroine wins or neither of them do. The villain must not triumph at the ending, keep the girl hostage and miserable at his side. Either he is redeemed or he is ass kicked. There is no evil triumph - nor in the sense that he gets everything he wants without reforming himself into a better person, neither in the sense that the heroine is corrupted and rules as mistress of darkness by his side. The most I can accept of a good character losing is that she loved him despite it all and after rejecting him, they both perish.

The ideal villain x heroine is when they are bond by their loneliness. Most authors believe the villain is always the hero's antithesis - the classic "Two sides of the same coin".

Maybe they share trauma, neglect - people think they are strange or too erratic. Maybe the heroine's willpower is walking the line of ruthlessness. Her power inspires fear in people, even in her, but the villain admires it.

Either way, they feel there are parts of them no one else would understand. That only they could know and love. That the villain, in an curious way, challenges her to become the greatest version of herself.

They would be the perfect match in different circumstances, or if the villain wasn’t so far gone. But he has hurt too many people and to forgive that would be impossible. Maybe forgiveness is not what he seeks. Maybe he just wants to be sure she will never leave him, the only way he knows how.

She hates him, but once again he is the only one who matches her. Examples of ships that do this: Steerpike x Fuchsia, Annie x the Teacher, Alina x Darkling, Reylo, Casey x Kevin...

Other interesting premises:

They have a telepathic connection. A spell was cast on them and their hearts are connected. One can only die when the other does. They could even be born from the same womb at the same time. Like, they came to this world together; their destinies are intertwined oh no Nuada/Nuala.

They were childhood friends or met when they were younger oh my gosh I love this trope.

The heroine is socially acceptable in her sexuality, meaning she is not sexually active or she is a full-on virgin. The villain is comfortable with his own and teases her.

He never loved anyone before. EVER.

He is more invested than she is, or at least he gives in and expresses his feelings more than she does, showing her the possibilities and getting frustrated when she discards them once again. He will be willing to sacrifice everything for her while she will hesitate (Lizzie from The Blacklist) or will rather kill herself later (Lady Fuchsia Groan) than to be with the man she loves because of the moral boundaries, people who depend on her, the complete absurd of saving such a despicable person and etc.

Or else, let him be tormented. Let his feelings for her confuse and scare him. Let it be against everything he is and believes. Let her be a whore or heretic and he, a devotee. Let her be his family and he, in a position of power and prestige like a king or a millionaire, wanting the only thing he can’t have and would make him a joke to those who fear and respect him now. Let him stare at her intensely, without her knowing why, trying to kill or imprison her or send her away, only to succumb and confess his feelings. Let him be disgusted with himself for wanting her, blaming her, and then coming back on his knees for crumbs of affection from the one he has disgraced. Let his power be drained from him and delivered to the hands of whom he judged unworthy, to such an extent that he is the one to make the delivery. Let his feelings consume him to the point he doesn’t even know what he is doing anymore, things he never thought he was capable of; burning a city, destroying a kingdom, enslaving a galaxy.

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT IS:

They defy each other. I like it better when the heroine is not naive and passive. They can fight mano-a-mano or play his mind games and schemes. Or she just has a mind of her own and won’t bend to his.