#Outlander Book Talk

[themusicsweetly]

One of my absolute favorite scenes from Echo! I’m so happy they’re keeping it in the show. Protective!Claire FTW!

I recognized this scene from the Season 7 trailer right away.

It's the aftermath of the Battle of Ticonderoga. Claire is walking the battlefield, searching for Jamie. She comes upon a woman and her child scavenging for valuables from the bodies of the fallen.

Then she sees Jamie, on the ground, bloody and motionless. With the woman and her child standing over him.

She takes action. Not knowing if Jamie is dead or alive.

I had picked up Jamie‘s sword before. It was a cavalry sword, larger and heavier than the usual, but I didn‘t notice now.

I snatched it up and swung it in a two-handed arc that ripped the air and left the metal ringing in my hands.

Mother and son jumped back, identical looks of ludicrous surprise on their round, grimy faces.

"Get away!" I said.

Her mouth opened, but she didn‘t say anything.

"I'm sorry for your man," I said. "But my man lies here. Get away, I said!" I raised the sword, and the woman stepped back hastily, dragging the boy by the arm.

-- An Echo In The Bone, chapter 62 "One Just Man"

(thanks @themusicsweetly for the gif!)

[expectiations]

something about River seeing Amy's vibrant red turn to blonde then grey and then when we next see her her blonde has turned to red

[heatherfield]

I stumbled upon the book "The Unmaking of June Farrow" by Adrienne Young through my library and I'm about a quarter of the way through the audiobook and it's just hit me that the vibes are very "Practical Magic" meets "Outlander". Now I'm kind of mad that I haven't thought of that combination before.

[winterwrites23]

I finished the last chapter of String of Time a while ago, and really enjoyed it! It's always tragic that sometimes a family member has to go through a crisis to get the family together and communicating with each other. I find it funny that North was brushing off the threat of the boar and has to come face to face with it before he realizes how scary they can be. And I was really relieved that he was able to walk away relatively unscathed! I imagine that Keith will have a story to tell of North yanking a tree branch off the tree and smacking the boar with it! I do wonder what the goal of the person(s) that 'borrowed'(?) the magic book on dreams.

ksdhfkashfd thank you, I'm so happy you liked it :D

It's an unwritten rule for the bros to always put their differences aside when it comes to North's well-being. He's the baby of the family and his brothers made great efforts to give him a normal childhood, as 'normal' as semi-immortal beings can give anyway lol.

As for the boar attack, North has been so sheltered in living in modern society, he has no idea how dangerous wildlife can be 😂😂 Going camping with his brothers is absolute hell for him and it shows lol.

And you are correct about Keith. He absolutely told everyone in the village, but each version of the story gets more exaggerated and ridiculous. Which is good news for North, cuz a normal boy shouldn't be able to break a branch that thick with his bare hands and proceed to send a boar soaring in the air with it. So Keith's childish retelling definitely helped North from raising suspicion.

[llycaons]

this is going to sound so condescending and I don't know if there's a way around it but if you want adult characters you may have to branch out into media that's for adults and I know it can be difficult to get out of your comfort zone and not denying there's still an age bias especially for women but it's really worth it if you're looking for older characters and (presumably) more mature narratives to seek out media that's not designed to be best digested by 13-15 year olds because it's probably going to mostly involve 13-15 yr olds

[atopvisenyashill]

I have a display up at work that's just staff picks - we spotlight a new staff member every month, this month is my turn - and I put A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms up since that's the shortest ASOIAF book and someone checked it out!!! DUNK AND EGG LOVERS WHERE YOU AT!

[brotherhoodoftheblade]

Is there anything funnier than me discussing the enduring appeal of Star Wars just now only to think how DG could never write such a thematically profound story because she simply doesn't possess the VISION for it??? Not at the moment. 🤣

Sorry, but hers is not a philosophically profound mind.

Sometimes I have to seriously stop and remind myself that OL is romantic historical fiction and that I'm expecting too much of it for that very reason. [Insert me telling myself to relax for millionth time in my life because it's not actually that serious.]

As a romance it's objectively better than most even if the tone of it isn't always my cup of tea. (I just struggle with romance as a genre to begin with, not because I'm unromantic but because I'm so deeply so that most popular romance is liable to feel trite to me. Not to mention that OL's brand of it tends to boil down to "I lust, therefore I love" which will never not have me rolling my eyes. *points back to the word 'trite'* So therefore the vast majority of romance novels should never exceed the length of a single book (or one or two more if it's pretty good), because that's generally as long as I can stand the reading of it. So no wonder the super long OL series has me rattling the bars begging to be set free by now. LOL)

I think it's OL simultaneously trying to be a serious work of historical fiction that often falls flat to me bc it so often feels like depiction without a greater sense of purpose. Too much sound and fury signifying not nearly enough.

So again I have to remind myself that, as much as DG herself denies it, OL is primarily a romance. That is its purpose. So of course I keep looking for the fire amidst all this surrounding smoke without ever finding much of anything. It's an exercise in futility. *sigh*

[mycological-mariner]

Siiiiiiigh fine

I’m taking this as my cue to finally start Kidnapped

[samsheughan]

That REALLY seems to be the mood for me this season because Echo and MOBY are my favorite books in the series 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

OUTLANDER 7x15 "Written in My Own Heart's Blood"

[ayeforscotland]

Hi!

What do you think of the Outlander series?

Have a great day!

It is definitely book and tv series. That is for sure. I'm not a huge fan, protagonist is a cringe self-insert and the whole thing comes across as pretty fetishising. Tune into @theayesphere on Sundays and you can ask @thebibliosphere how she feels about it. She absolutely *adores* Outlander and could excitedly talk about it for hours.

[sgiandubh]

Black Jack is in da house

I had promised you this short, but interesting answer from Tobias' Saturday morning panel, at the Landcon and it was impossible to post it from my phone (& took forever to transfer to my laptop, go figure):

The fan's question was about the relationship between the OL cast ('the whole cast', it was underlined - an Anti, for sure, they always dilute the real focus and then spin off the story at their convenience) while shooting Season 1 in Scotland. I think Rostercon's AI-generated lazy summing up that was taken for the Bible by some people (who were not in that room, but always have the nerve to lecture others) does not reflect at all what Tobias Menzies really said.

Here is the AI-generated summing-up of the above answer, in its original French version:

[Source: Outlander : revivez la première journée de la Land Con 7 - Roster Con]

My translation: 'Tobias has excellent memories of shooting Outlander; it was a real collaborative effort. He adds that they all learned from each other.'

Here is my transcript of the clip:

'Well, I mean, I'd like to think that I taught them all that they know. No, I mean it was an interesting job in that we all started it together, um, we didn't really know what the show was, we were off in the wilds of Scotland, no one really cared, we were making it... [sorry, I could not get that bit at all, perhaps a native speaker could and thank you] I mean, nobody knew that book and it was a sort of element to it, that it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't a big show. And so, there was a kind of freedom in that. Yeah, and I think we... we needed each other to work out how to tell the story in an exciting and interesting way, how to adapt the books, what.. yeah... how to...what the performance style almost was, to discover the show. And that was also with the show runners and the directors and all of the actors, we were kind of holding it together, working out what this show is and how we bring these books to life. And yeah, so we'd be all learning a lot from each other in that way. It was very collaborative, it was a great, very happy couple of years. [clapping, yelling, etc.]'

You'll agree with me that the sanitized version could never compare with the above verbatim, which is chock a block full with carefully calibrated, but very telling, nuances.

And now, for my own, eyewitness thoughts, you are totally free to agree or disagree with:

Tobias Menzies was never my OL favorite, which is perhaps testimony to his spectacular portrayal of the Black Jack/Frank Randall dynamic duo of sorts. Instead, I absolutely loved (loved, loved, loved....) his Prince Philip, in The Crown: spot on, subtle and boy, bringing to life a beloved (if somewhat controversial) Royal was everything but a piece of cake. He is also a very intelligent, well-read man, one could never accuse of speaking in tongues or in his sleep, while engaging with the press or the fandom. As such, once you peel off the layers of compulsory Narrative bullshit and the first line of pure British, self-deprecating banter, things become interesting.

Of course, he just had to pay lip service to the long negotiated talking points. Namely, that shooting Season 1 in the Scottish Highlands was doubled by a double sense of remoteness and uncertainty about the show's success. That said, he adds to it two interesting elements: that nobody knew anything about Gabaldon's body of work and that 'no one really cared', without further specifying. And I think this is true.

Speaking of which, 'Erself's American worshippers might perhaps want to take off their rose-tinted glasses and realize two things. First of all, their goddess was (and perhaps still is) a literary C-lister on the European fantasy book market, where people like Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin or Guy Gavriel Kay - ironically, all of them from North America - are real powerhouses, who have been enjoying a cult following for ages, even before or without a TV adaptation. But Gabaldon was nowhere important to be found, before the series started to be included on our own cable networks' offer. It is still considered as niche, even as the series has never left our Netflix offer. Second thing, in this particular context, I am pretty confident that 'nobody cared' relates both to the cast and crew's relaxed attitude on set, but also to the people's general live and let live attitude, which, I am told, still endures to this day. The stalking, the barking, the shouting and the swooning have started in the USA and crossed the pond in earnest only when the American Stans began to hit the road and make the pilgrimage to GLA.

Confirmation that it is so is another reference by the same Tobias Menzies, in the same answer: 'there was a kind of freedom in that'. Freedom: what a peculiar term, isn't it? Freedom of adaptation? That was not the impression Season 1 gave me, after reading the book. Freedom of being themselves and acting accordingly? That's more down my alley. It might even suggest that, after Season 1 wrapped (September 24, 2014), this blessed, innocent age gradually came to an end, as the show gained more and more traction, momentum and press attention.

I also deeply appreciated his honesty, when talking emphatically about starting 'it together' or needing each other and learning a lot from each other. There was no Tobias & C vs. The Peasant and the Rest of the World on that set, as some retconning theories would like you to believe. These people were actors embarking on a project which, for some, was about to become life-changing. I doubt scheming and power games and competition were on their already overflowing plates. Alas. Those tone-deaf allegations are not going anywhere, any time soon, I am afraid.

But here's more: 'it was a great, very happy couple of years'. The question specifically covered Season 1 only, not Tobias' entire Outlander shooting experience, which he chose to address, anyways. But mentioning a 'very happy couple of years' is strange, because his presence on set and involvement with the OL project was longer than that. Let's do the math:

Season 1 started filming on October 7, 2013 and wrapped on September 24, 2014.

Season 2 started filming on May 7, 2015 and wrapped on February 27, 2016.

Season 3 started filming on August 21, 2016 and wrapped on June 17, 2017. We know that the South African part was shot from March to June 2017 and the rest from August 2016 to somewhere before March 2017. Frank Randall dies at the end of the third episode (All Debts Paid), which was probably filmed before March 2017 - that was way before my time here, so please correct me if I am wrong.

That is covering almost four, not two years, on any given timeline. However, the Interview From Hell happened in January 2016, roughly two years and four months after the shooting started. And it was the first big blow to what probably used to be a happy-go-lucky SC Love Fest. Should we understand that the atmosphere on set ceased to be 'very happy' after the first couple of years? By the time IFH happened, they were still shooting Season 2, after all. I believe it had consequences and I also believe we are witnessing these consequences even today. What we do know is that increasingly paranoid non disclosure measures were taken, in order to make sure no unfiltered information would ever reach the outside world.

I am, of course, merely speculating, in this particular case. But the timeline incongruity, by one of the leads, who is also a very precise man when it comes to words, gave me pause.

I rest my case.

PS: sorry for the 'fuck off' interjection right in the middle of the clip. I was really, really annoyed by the unnecessary shuffling between rows and tried to focus on Menzies.

[outlanderskin]

In 2017, I came across this text about fandom and since then it has been an illustration of this crazy and magical universe of fan life, which I call fan experience. Even though I've been going to Outlander Cons since 2015, it was when I met my Spanish friends that I started to not feel alone even when surrounded by people at these events. And at this LandCon, in addition to my dear Spanish friends, I was able to meet other friends from Tumblr. For years we've been following, reblogging, commenting, laughing, protesting and, above all, supporting each other. And suddenly, there's that "Tumblr username" in front of you and you can finally look the person in the eyes and tell them how much you admire them and thank them for walking alongside you in this fandom, which is so toxic in many ways, but where true friendships can create an oasis. Thank you for everything, girls.❤️

"Fandom is focus. Fandom is obsession. Fandom is insatiable consumption. Fandom is sitting for hours in front of a TV screen a movie screen a computer screen with a comic book a novel on your lap. Fandom is eyestrain and carpal tunnel syndrome and not enough exercise and staying up way, way past your bedtime.

Fandom is people you don't tell your mother you're meeting. Fandom is people in the closet, people out and proud, people in costumes, people in T-shirts with slogans only fifty others would understand. Fandom is a loud dinner conversation scaring the waiter and every table nearby.

Fandom is you in Germany and me in the US and him in Australia and her in Japan. Fandom is a sofabed in New York, a roadtrip to Oxnard, a friend behind a face in London. Fandom talks past timezones and accents and backgrounds. Fandom is conversation. Communication. Contact.

Fandom is drama. Fandom is melodrama. Fandom is high school. Fandom is Snacky's law and Godwin's law and Murphy's law. Fandom is smarter than you. Fandom is stupider than you. Fandom is five arguments over and over and over again. Fandom is the first time you've ever had them.

Fandom is female. Fandom is male. Fandom lets female play at being male. Fandom bends gender, straight, gay, prude, promiscuous. Fandom is fantasy. Fandom doesn't care about norms or taboos or boundaries. Fandom cares too much about norms and taboos and boundaries. Fandom is not real life. Fandom is closer than real life. Fandom knows what you're really like in the bedroom. Fandom is how you would never, could never be in the bedroom.

Fandom is shipping, never shipping, het, slash, gen, none of the above, more than the above. Fandom is love for characters you didn't create. Fandom is recreating the characters you didn't create. Fandom is appropriation, subversion, dissention. Fandom is adoration, extrapolation, imitation. Fandom is dissection, criticism, interpretation. Fandom is changing, experimenting, attempting.

Fandom is creating. Fandom is drawing, painting, vidding: nine seasons in four minutes of love. Fandom is words, language, authoring. Fandom is essays, stories, betas, parodies, filks, zines, usenet posts, blog posts, message board posts, emails, chats, petitions, wank, concrit, feedback, recs. Fandom is writing for the first time since you were twelve. Fandom is finally calling yourself a writer.

Fandom is signal and response. Fandom is a stranger moving you to tears, anger, laughter. Fandom is you moving a stranger to speak.

Fandom is distraction. Fandom is endangering your job, your grades, your relationships, your bank account. Fandom gets no work done. Fandom is too much work. Fandom was/is just a phase. Fandom could never be just a phase. Fandom is where you found a friend, a sister, a kindred spirit. Fandom is where you found a talent, a love, a reason.

Fandom is where you found yourself"

[bcacstuff]

Diana Gabaldon (news Book 10 incl. title)

GOOD OMENS

Well, first things first—

A Very (slightly ex post facto…) Happy Birthday to Sam Heughan! When he was first cast to play Jamie Fraser, I noted that he was born on April 30th, while Jamie’s birthday is May 1st—one on either side of the Beltane fire.

Beltane is the Celtic fire festival that marks the beginning of summer, so plainly a time of good omens. As it turned out, it was indeed a time of good omens for All Things Outlander, so it seems an appropriate time to offer up two bits of (what I assume will be) further Good News. One on either side of the fire, as it were…

The newly recorded audiobook of OUTLANDER, recorded by Kristin Atherton (the lovely actress who played the “mature” version of Jenny Murray in Season Seven), was released just yesterday, and I’m pleased to see that so many people already are excited about it and delighted with the quality.

(This in no way denigrates the wonderful Davina Porter, who has read all the Outlander novels, through GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE. Davina has retired, but all of her recordings will remain available, alongside the new ones.)

[Should you want to check out Kristin’s new audio version, here’s a link:

https://rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/9798895949726/... ]

And on the _other_ side of the fire (aka May 1st)…I thought I’d let you know what the title of Book Ten is (so we can stop calling it Book Ten, which is slightly boring…).

First, A Word of Warning: THE BOOK IS NOT FINISHED. IT HAS NO PUB DATE (because the publishers wisely won’t set one until they have the full manuscript in their eager hands).

I AM STILL WRITING IT.

YES, I DO KNOW HOW IT ENDS.

NO, I’M NOT TELLING YOU.

NO, YOU CAN’T ORDER IT YET, BECAUSE THE PUBLISHERS DON’T HAVE PAGES SET UP FOR ORDERS BECAUSE THERE IS NO PUB DATE AND BECAUSE I HAVEN’T TOLD THEM WHAT THE BOOK IS CALLED.

Until now. <ahem>

The title of Book Ten of the OUTLANDER series (and yes, this is the final book of the main series, though there may be other companion books and side stories, depending on how long I live…) is

[🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 Spoilers ahead 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨]

A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT

(NO, that doesn’t mean Jamie’s going to die. It’s not a death blessing, it’s the Blessing of St. Michael, said for a warrior about to go and do something important and possibly dangerous. There are quite a few people in this book who qualify for that blessing, believe me…)

It seems only reasonable to append a small sample from near the beginning of the book, but I know that not everyone wants to read bits and pieces, preferring to wait for The Whole Thing. Ergo, here’s another chunk of spoiler space:

[Excerpt from A BLESSING FOR A WARRIOR GOING OUT, Copyright 2025 Diana Gabaldon]

Only a few people had noticed William’s arrival. The post-wedding revelry was well underway, and most of the guests were gathered in clumps near the food tables, talk and laughter rising and falling in volume as the wind shifted in the trees.

One of those who _had_ noticed was Fanny, standing at my elbow.

“_A Dhia_,” she said faintly. Oh, God.

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Jamie rose slowly from his chair on the porch—not using his stick, I saw—and drew himself up, eyes fixed on William.

William himself was still on his horse, the two of them mud-spattered, windblown and breathing hard. I saw his throat move as he swallowed, evidently preparing to repeat what he’d said a moment before.

_Sir—I need your help_.

But Jamie was moving, going down the steps. I could hear his left knee crack with each step, but he didn’t flinch or limp. He reached William and put a hand on his arm.

“You have it,” he said simply. “Come in.”

[end section]

William came up the steps after Jamie, his hat tucked under his arm. His face was still set in lines of anxious determination, but this relaxed for a moment when he saw me. He paused, and a tinge of warmth touched his eyes.

“Mother Claire,” he said. “I hadn’t—though clearly I should have-- expected you.” His glance flicked past me, taking in the open doorway behind me, the fine, heavy door and the long, broad hallway beyond, lined with Brianna’s sketches and paintings.

“I know,” I said, smiling. “It gives you a bit of a turn, when you see someone out of place, so to speak.”

The corner of his mouth twitched briefly.

“So to speak,” he said, at once acknowledging and dismissing the circumstances in which he had been accustomed to seeing me: As Lord John’s wife. And as quickly as it had come, the warmth disappeared and his jaw set again. Jamie was waiting at the door of his study.

William had just set foot on the threshold when Fanny spoke behind him.

“Will-yum?” she said, her voice clear but uncertain.

He turned to look back, surprised, but then smiled and stepped back on the porch, reaching to take her hands.

“Frances,” he said softly, looking down at her. “There you are.”

“Here I am,” she said, smiling up. She’d blushed when he turned to her, but her brown eyes sparkled. “Shall I take care of your horse for you?”

“Oh.” He glanced down the steps; the horse, a big, muscular bay, was munching grass beside the path, his reins carelessly looped over the hitching rail. William glanced at me, and I made a tiny nod in Fanny’s direction.

“That’s most kind of you, Frances,” he said, and squeezed her hands briefly before letting go. “His name is Trajan and I’m sure he will be as grateful for your welcome as I am.”

She turned at once and skipped down the steps, glowing. William looked after her, the smile still on his face.

“I nearly said, ‘How you’ve grown, Frances!’,” he remarked, _sotto voce_, to me. “But that wouldn’t have done, would it? I always hated it when Papa’s friends would say that to me.”

“It would have gone over like a lead balloon,” I assured him. “She has, though. And her speech is nearly perfect now. “ I glanced over my shoulder; Jamie had gone into the study. “And—er—how _is_ Lord John these days?”

“I wish I knew,” he said, face and voice both suddenly bleak. He took a deep breath and walked past me down the hall.

I didn’t know whether I ought to be present at whatever conversation he was about to have with Jamie, but neither of them had shut the door, so I walked quietly in and went at once to the cupboard where the visitor’s tray was kept, a plain pewter object, but equipped with several shot glasses, a bottle of fairly good whisky and a jug of water.

Jamie met my eyes but didn’t say anything as I set the tray down. He put a glass in front of William, poured a dram and said casually, “Aye, so?”

“It’s concerning my f-- It’s Lord John, sir.”

“_A Dhia_,” Jamie said, with somewhat more force than Fanny had used. He drew a deep breath through his nose. “Where is he? And sit down, my lord,” he added, nodding to a chair.

“I don’t know.” William sat down, adding, “Don’t call me that,” then adding a hasty “if you please, sir,” as an afterthought.

Jamie raised one brow.

“Do ye ken where his lordship may be, Mr. Ransom?” he asked politely.

“No! Goddamn it, if I knew where he was, I would have got him back by now!”

The outburst startled us all, including William, who pressed his lips together.

“I beg your pardon, sir,” he said stiffly. “I—have been searching for…his lordship…for some time—for months. I am somewhat…” he made a brief gesture indicating emotional disturbance, lack of sleep and/or deep fear, and Jamie nodded.

“_Dèrangè_,” he said, in good French. “I expect so. I suppose it wouldna be helpful to ask where ye saw him last?”

“No,” William said dryly. He’d nearly got himself back under control, though, and helped the process along with a slug of whisky. “Though for what it’s worth, I last saw him in the drawing-room of his house in Savannah, on [date]. Later in the day, after I’d left, he received a written message, and whatever it said, it apparently caused him to go immediately to the docks. The cook told me. She was present when he got the message,” he added, “but she didn’t see what it said or whom it was from.”

“Did he tell the cook he was going to the docks?” I asked, and he shook his head.

“No. But he did go there. A whelk-seller on one of the quays said she’d seen a fair-haired man in a good coat, with a soldier’s queue, who’d asked her if there was a ship called “Palace” in the harbor.”

“But if you didn’t know he was going to the docks, why did you look for him there?” I took the bottle and poured a bit more whisky all round; this was clearly going to take some time.

Willie gave me a slightly odd look, as though he might ask me to leave the room, but instead took another mouthful and swallowed it.

“Are either of you familiar with a man named Percival Wainwright? Or, for that matter, the Chevalier St. Honorè?”

Jamie looked blank, but I felt a light, cold touch on the back of my neck, like the caress of a ghost.

“Yes,” I said. “Lord John mentioned him once or twice. He was John’s…step-brother, I think he said. His name isn’t Percival, though; it’s Perseverance. And—”

“Perseverance?” Jamie leaned forward, interested. “A Quaker, is he?”

William cleared his throat and looked down.

“Definitely not,” he said.

“He’s dead, though,” I told Jamie, and William looked up at me.

“He is _now_,” he said.

[end section]

[Photograph is licensed for use through Wikimedia Commons, and was taken at a Beltane celebration by Stub Mandrel, May 4th, 2015.]

[acourtofthought]

No means No. 100% Full Stop.

Unless it's a fantasy book with a hot fae love interest who is clearly set up to be one of the good guys.

Then No means "I want you so badly I'm scared."

Then No means "I hate myself for wanting you as much as I do."

Then No means "I'm worried of getting too close to you then losing you".

If someone has a problem with that, take it up with the many authors of multiple fantasy books, not the readers who ship a pairing because they're well versed in how romance in fantasy books go down. I'm not here reading this series to pick apart what would or would not be morally acceptable in the real world because I KNOW fantasy books shouldn't be used as some sort of moral compass. I'm reading these books for entertainment and often what we consider entertainment should not be used as a guide for how we behave in real life. I mean for goodness sakes, look at the reality shows a vast amount of people consume, look at shows like GOT or Dexter or Breaking Bad or Outlander (and on and on). In real life, would we be rooting for a serial killer? Clearly not but damn if I didn't think Dexter Morgan was appealing.

If someone is continually writing posts on how wrong Elucien's are for shipping her with a guy she "has no interest in" then it's time for said someone to get over themselves. The author made it so that they will ALWAYS be bonded to one another, they will ALWAYS feel a tug to one another. They love to go on and on about how special Elain is, how Sarah said she'd be her best friend, how the Cauldron loved her, yet they then act like that same author who said and wrote all those things decided to saddle her with some rando instead of acknowledging that Sarah MATED her to Lucien (the most powerful bond around), someone she said has always been one of her favorite characters and who she set up to be a future HL who is hot and muscular and longs for Elain and only Elain. This is a make believe story and because of that, when an author lays out a plotline such as theirs, it's common sense for the reader to say "their journey together is not over yet" and that means, based on every fantasy book that exists, it's possible Sarah is going to throw a trope into Elain's POV that does set them up for a HEA regardless of where things "appear" to currently stand.

You're damn right we envision Elain and Lucien married and with a ton of babies because we're allowed. Even if the author hadn't made them mates, even if she hadn't talked about them on vacation together and how they're both happiest in nature, even if she hadn't told us Elain took both she and Lucien by surprise, we're allowed to imagine whatever we want because there are no limits on imagination. That anyone tries to shame someone for that or for merely interpreting what they feel are very obvious clues Sarah has added into the series (that Elain was made for Spring, her scent a promise of Spring, that she wants Sunshine, that she's always sitting by the sunniest of windows, that Lucien is Heir to Day, that Elain looks like a corpse in NC Black, that Az does not believe in her, and so on), proves just how nervous the Elucien ship actually makes some. That they constantly gaslight and degrade readers, trying to convince others that Eluciens are bad people for their ship and headcanons makes it clear they are threatened at the very real possibility that Sarah will go the exact same route that she has before, that she will go the route many other fiction writers have gone before, where "lack of interest" turns into "I've wanted you all this time but I was too afraid to admit it".

Pretending something is not a possibility won't prevent that thing from happening and there's a real chance there is an Elucien book sitting in SJMs drafts at this very moment. For all those who claim we're misogynists for shipping Elucien, I certainly hope they plan on finding a new author if Elucien is confirmed in the near future because what does it make them for choosing to continue reading an author who wrote into existence the very thing they harassed us for all these years?

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

I'm excited with how much this one will hurt me (Ruggie's Dream):

We are now in Afterglow Savannah, and the group (Grim, Sebek, Idia and Ortho) is teaching Jack how to use "Dream Form Change" and bro's too hesitant to say it 😭, he evens mention that it's just like the shows his sister watches. But the group continues to egg him on until he actually said it and everyone's just excited for it (except for Silver and Azul).

So in the background, we see a statue of the birth of Simba scene from the Lion King, it's said that this scene is often referenced in children's books.

The group then brought up one detail: why aren't there any statues of hyenas bowing? That's when Jack mentions an old theory, that the statue was made during the time the hyenas weren't serving the King of The Beasts and Afterglow Savannah yet. Because people believed that the hyenas lived in the "Land of Shadows" (or the "Outlands") and had their own rules.

It's also believed that lions have been kings for a long time. But despite beastfolk being scattered all across Twisted Wonderland now, their origins can be traced back to Afterglow Savannah. Jack also tell us that his family are immigrants who moved to the Land of Pyroxene.

We actually go into a bit of real-world issues here as the group talks about how Afterglow Savannah values of the co-existence of their people with nature despite urban development plans. That's when Idia brought up Leona's choice of joining a mining and energy research institue for his internship and how it highlights a current issue of his country. Ortho then tells us that mining can help a country prosper but it clashes with the traditional life of the residents, which is why the issue is seen as controversial.

The issue of excessive mining is also brought up, because if that happens people can be forced out of their homes. But with Leona joining the institute to learn about its programs and possible plans to understand the issue from the other side, shows that he really does care about his people 🥹

THEN THE OWNER OF THE DREAM APPEARS AND HE'S RUNNING LATE TO CLASS (very school girl behavior if you ask me)

This actually makes me sad because as we're passing through the market, we can see that Ruggie's dream is just life treating him better. Because his father comes home with a great fortune (they really pulling the father comes home with the milk route on him huh 😭), everyone and everything in the community is thriving with vendors handing food to Ruggie because he slept late and not because he missed a meal, and Ruggie's worries being about an exam he might miss and not how to survive to see the next day. Once again, we get hit with the reality that all of this is just Ruggie's imagination.

We end up in a school called "Ivorycliff Academy" where most students are hyena beastfolk. It also has a statue of the hyenas we see in the Lion King as well. The academy actually holds hyenas with high regard, seeing them as important figures for fighting alongside the King of The Beasts for their rights.

The academy also has an abundance of fruit trees to the point you can just pluck a fruit off the tree and eat it (had those in my old school but we were never allowed to eat the fruit smh 😒). Because of this Grim couldn't hold himself back and proceeds to eat the fruit from the trees, which causes some chaos because he's seen by students and Ruggie nearly called security on them but luckily Azul comes in with a save, telling Ruggie that Grim belongs to them and that they're exchange students.

Sebek berates Grim for causing trouble because he got hungry, but he's no better because his stomach starts growling too 😭 but Ruggie told them to feel free to eat with them since hyenas share the spirit of solidarity. He relates this to his own experience that he can't ignore other people when they're hungry.

Ruggie brings the group to a donut stall and shows us his favorite combo - a plain donut with chocolate sauce, topped with sliced fruits, custard, fresh cream, and lastly some berry jam - The Ruggie Special if you would. He gives the donut to Sebek, who eats it all in one bite. He also prepared a mountain of donuts for the group and Azul's just concerned with the amount of calories 😭

We also learn from the vendor of the donut stall that Leona was the one who established the academy. In this dream, Ruggie doesn't know Leona personally but he really looks up to him here; because Leona used his knowledge from studying abroad to build schools just like Ruggie's. He's even more popular than Farena amongst the country's youth. But then the bell rings and Ruggie leaves the group to go to class.

But then the vendor of the donut stall suddenly turns into the darkness and attacks the group, Ortho warns the group that Malleus' presence is strong so they must wake Ruggie FAST

Jack says that he doesn't want to wake Ruggie up because he's so happy in his dream. But Azul tells him that in reality, Ruggie isn't always happy and that they should wake him up for the sake of his body, because he's receiving zero calories and his real grandma is alone and probably worried sick about him.

We then remembered what happened during Book 4 where Ruggie brought food for the people in his community during winter break and they come to the realization that he wouldn't want to be stuck in the dream world when the people he cares for are still suffering in the real world. This is where Azul proposes his plan.

So Ruggie's with a group of people going to the cinema to see a movie when Azul suddenly drops a coin in the ground, 1 thaumark/madol to be exact. Ruggie stops when he hears the noise and suddenly doesn't understand what's happening to him, like something calling him.

Azul increases the amount slowly from 1 thaumark/madol to 5 thaumarks/madols, this caused Ruggie to slowly lose his mind and separate from his group to look for the source. That's when Azul pulls out 100 thaumarks/madols.

Everyone's wondering why he's dropping money all over the place, that's when Azul mentions that when Ruggie sometimes takes shifts in Mostro Lounge, he can immediately the amount of money someone dropped based on the noise (like a coin buff if you think about it). Because there was one time someone dropped money by accident and he managed to guess the exact amount of 753 thaumarks/madols. He also manages to find the location just by the noise (wish my coin buff was like that fr 😔)

Anyways look at Ruggie in the Octavinelle uniform, so cute

Everyone's surprised about this discovery, even Idia said that it's like a buff you get in an RPG.

But anyways, Ruggie manages to find the money and wonders why he suddenly feels happy about it; this causes the dream to start distorting. Azul strikes in a moment of weakness and shows Ruggie 500 thaumarks/madols.

That's when Azul throws the money into the fountain and Ruggie jumps in immediately to look for it (I think that part explains Ruggie's groovy? Correct me if I'm wrong tho). Then Azul just laughs at him (what an asshole 😭 but Yuu gets mad at him for it)

This actually wakes Ruggie up and the group of people he was with approaches him and the first thing he does when he's back on his senses is to complain about the color of their uniform 💀 and that he doesn't give a damn if it gets dirty, preferring the NRC black colored uniform better.

The group tells him not to be behave that way because they're meant to be affiliated with the king. But Ruggie's like "King? I'll choose which King I'll serve." which turns them into shadows.

Once the shadows are defeated, Ortho explains to Ruggie that everything was just a dream; which causes him to breakdown completely.

He cries about how all the food was fake, and when he goes home his dad isn't there and his grandma won't get a new car. Idia isn't helping with the situation either because when Ruggie asks if Malleus was a heartless person, he proceeded to responded "erm actually he's a fae 🤓" (would've killed him just saying 🤷‍♀️)

Ruggie calms down and suggests we go find Leona because if there's anyone who wants to fight Malleus, it's most definitely him. Jack agrees, saying that Ruggie is the best person to wake him up knowing that he does that every morning.

The update ends with Ruggie joining the gang as we go to Leona's dream.

And that's it for the first part of the Savanaclaw update! Keep in mind the second part covering Leona's dream will be released on November 29, so stay tuned then!

Previous: Jack's Dream Next: Leona's Dream

(Note: This post is a summarized version of the update, info and pics comes from @/LBucchie and @/WitchDrug on x/twt, give them some support if you can)

[homunculus-argument]

Your post a couple days ago about reading things you acknowledge as silly nonsense and not the Height Of Intellectual Literature, and letting yourself enjoy it anyway, unearthed a memory for me that I just. I'm sorry, I just need to share this.

So, there was a phase I had, years ago now, where I for some reason ended up somewhat regularly reading James Bond books whenever I was in the mood for something light and kinda dumb but entertaining to read (I was reading Outlander and A Song of Ice and Fire at the time as well, never finished either of those series tho, so I kinda ended up reading lighter stuff in between those long books to relax and let my brain take a breather if that makes sense). I honestly couldn't tell you which books I read, and it wasn't in any particular order, it was sort of like, starting with whatever my dad had in the shelf and then continuing with whatever the library happened to have. Some of what I read were the original ones written by Ian Fleming, some were by later authors. Idk, point is, it was light spy-adventure nonsense I read when I didn't have the energy to think too deep about what I was reading.

Sorry about how long I took to get to the point, but, anyway. There was this one James Bond book I picked up mostly because hehe suomi mainittu. Not by Fleming, one of the later authors, I remember neither the author name nor the book name and can't be assed to google it rn. Anyway, a fair amount of the plot of that book took place in Finland. I could not say for the life of me what the actual plot of it was, just that part of it was set here. I remember like exactly two details about it, and both of those I only remember because I thought they were funny back when I was reading it.

One of those details was that there was a bit of Bond's internal monologue at some point that was just him basically being a whiny bitch about the fact that he thought the sort of thick winter clothes you need for Finnish winters didn't make him look sexy

The other is that there was a scene where the baddies tried to kill him by ??? crushing his car (while he was driving on some little road somewhere in the middle of nowhere) between two lumiauras??? like i just. that seems like a highly impractical way to attempt to kill anyone, but sure (ja sori siitä et mä en ny suoraan muista et mikä helvetti lumiaura on englanniks, mut sä ny puhut suomee kuiteski)

Idk you talking about silly stuff in books just unearthed this memory for me, no idea why, and i just needed to share it with someone

It's a snow plough. The english word for lumiaura is snow plough. Also that mental image is hilarious.