#Queliot deserve better

[coldwater-pictures]

Queliet/ Quinton and Elliot edit Achilles come down

[kingandqueenofgoodtime]

The more I watch and the more I know (because I know a lot of things I haven't watched yet because I love spoilers), the more I wonder how on Earth is it possible to hate your own character as much as the writers of SyFy's The Magicians hate Eliot Waugh.

Like, don't get me wrong, they acted shitty towards lots of their characters and don't even get me started on what they did to Quentin, but Eliot? My precious baby boy Eliot who has grown so much over the course of the show (and I'm starting to suspect he somehow did it without much help from the writers, because how can someone write his growth and then whatever the hell 4x13 and S5 are, in terms of what they did to Eliot, is beside me), who has such a big heart in spite of what he tried to pretend to be like initially, who cares so much about all of his friends and not only his friends but people he meets and Fillory's people and Fillory itself and who bonds ridiculously fast... like, really fast, who is so brave and kind and smart and creative and responsible and mature (once again, in spite of what he looks like), who realy was meant to be a king because he's a natural at it and who was a good damn king and bumping him to eventually make Margo High King is... just another can of worms I don't want to open right now (to classify: I love Margo to bits, I just don't think that her becoming High King was really necessary, she was a badass High Queen and she could show patriarchy what's what just fine while being the High Queen and, maybe unpopular opinion here but, making her the High King actually was detrimental to her fight against patriarchy... but, as I said, another can, so we are moving on for now), who had a lot of shitty things happen to him and who somehow still found joy and beauty in life and felt everything very deeply and loved with his whole heart even when he was afraid of that love and... and... I can go on and on about Eliot and all the ways he deserved much better than what the writers did to him, but the point is:

Eliot Waugh deserves so much better than what The Magicians' writers did to him.

So. Much. Better.

Like, I don't have the words to describe just how much better he deserves.

And instead of everything good he deserves, instead of fucking happiness and love and peace but maybe not so much quiet, the writers took away all that which he held most dear – literally, all, Quentin, Margo, his friends, Fillory, you name it, they took it all away – rendered his characters growth useless and basically just crushed him.

So, I'm circling back to my initial question that cannot be answered:

how on Earth is it possible to hate your own character as much as the writers of SyFy's The Magicians hate Eliot Waugh?

[ethereal-occultist]

God, rewatching The Magicians makes me feel for Eliot SO MUCH. I LOVE HIM! HE'S BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH! Having to snap the neck of the only man you have been comfortable enough to open up to about your past that you try so hard to hide? And then losing the man you never got the chance to tell you loved because he died while saving you and the world? YOU'RE KIDDING!

[shipsandmyths]

Hey OP I’ve just got one question: How. Dare. You.

[morningstarbee]

back to queliot brainrotting

I thought I was out of my The Magicians phase, but here I am, back on my bullshit.

Forgot how tragic Quentin and Eliot's love story was ,, literally crying in the club rn. I remember I refused to watch the ending of Season 4 and never watched Season 5. They whole thing ruined my fucking life actually !!!! Quentin deserved better, Queliot deserved better, why the fuck would they set up that love story and then never follow throughhhhhhh whyyyyy

It's genuine so fuckign upsetting how Season 4 ended.

Like I understand that the actor for Quentin wanted to leave the show, but like, they should have just cancelled the entire show then, he's the main character. Wrap up on a good ending for season 4 and then cancel season 5.

I would have accepted a re-cast for Quentin,, maybe,, BUT KILLING HIM OFF WHYYYY?? LETTING THE SUICIDAL CHARACTER BASICALLY KILL THEMSELVES WHYY???

4x13 No Better to Be Safe Than Sorry ruined my fucking life

[clarajohnson]

the magicians s2e6

quentin coldwater you are so goddamn embarrassing i love you

once again alice is such a fun fucking character. she liked when q did pretend cirque du soleil ????? i could cry !!!!

margo's outfits are improving but i'm looking forward to when we get past the amazon corsets

the only thing better than "no offense q but you're a little crazy right now" is him blithely acknowledging it, "maybe, yeah"

my children loved me i was a good mother!

NIFFIN ALICE I LOVE YOU FOREVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!

i couldn't possibly make fun of q for trying to summon niffin alice like sorry you would do it too for alice quinn

best bitches !!!! they could've parented a demon baby together it would've been okay

okay i think he actually would've liked a unicorn milk latte. or have requested one in earnest at least.

like i need more people calling me daddy!

something hale and summer do is they occasionally adopt the same affect, the same intonation, it's such a subtle thing and it doesn't come up all the time but it so clearly telegraphs that these people are completely tethered to each other

"i know my daughter she's trying to protect us" oh PLEASE

ughhhhhhhhhhh i forgot about loria. oh my god fuck your parents dude. BUT ELIOT DON'T !!!!!

cin-ci-nahhh-tee.

SCREAM at the virgin queen margo

god fillory is so much fun like it's total bullshit all the time but it's also SO fun i enjoy that half of the plot so much

what's fen's title? do we know? queen consort? she has to have a title right

"if ess was a girl and you found pussy you know interesting in a sometimes you like thai food kind of way"

not to do this because i do this constantly all the time but margo hanson is my best friend i'm in love with her

don't worry the thing will not be born AUGH once again i feel like this is such a randomly traumatic plot to force on julia

niffin alice has terrible posture. somebody get her a better niffin bra!

q thinks people's love for him is so conditional every time it comes up it makes me so sad. also i would like for him to get a better hair routine i know grief and everything but dude it's stringy.

i remember when i first watched this episode i wanted daniel to have died from falling off the ladder he doesn't even deserve all that i was just mad at him for being a shit dad

ess is hot but not hot enough to act like this. you're a virgin to me sweetheart? i think margo should be allowed to kill him.

actually margo should be allowed to kill me if she wants to

queliot obviously first most tragic romance in the magicians but fen/baylor is possibly ranked second when you think about it. wait kady/penny. okay fen/baylor is top three.

JESUS CHRIST I FORGOT ABOUT DANA'S WHOLE THING

even i studied and i'm dead!

it's so sweet that she has dreams about forgetting to study. sorry i feel like somebody applauding disney for having a gay character but i genuinely like the female characters in this show so much. they get to do all kinds of shit! and feel shit!

yeah honestly the reynard plot occasionally veers into an almost anti-choice rhetoric, i could have done without like 90% of this plot

i love asking questions that have a 50/50 shot of being resolved in this episode but do we ever find out who dana's son is

once again! best bitches!

you guys have been so royally fucked with! sometimes the florida jumps out of him

"she never figured out how to be a woman" is such an insane thing to say. the magicians should've dug into motherhood more. haha. wrote a thesis on motherhood voice.

I FORGOT ALICE WAS IN THE TATTOO OH MY GODDDDDDD

cripes reynard is so fucking scary

benedict you are an angel

"we're gonna put our jimmy choos so far up your ass you're gonna taste next season" as a declaration of war is unbelievably good

[eliotqueliot]

Secret Lives by EliotQueliot

Tags: The Magicians (TV), Queliot. Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh. Implied/Referenced Child Abuse. Past child abuse. Referenced bullying. Depression. Brakebills (The Magicians). Alternate Universe-Canon Divergence.

For May 22, Superheroes and Supervillains, May Trope Mayhem, Duck Prints Press, @duckprintspressss

Note: The work pasted below is under 1k. But there's going to be one more chapter. Also on AO3:

One: Quentin

Eliot Waugh clearly had a secret life.

Quentin Coldwater tried not to pry.

He knew people usually kept secrets for a reason, and Eliot, having grown up bullied for being gay in a backwater farming town, no doubt had more reasons than most. Honestly, Eliot did open up with him in some surprising ways that made Quentin feel included, and sometimes even wonder if the heavy crush that engulfed him, from the moment he saw the man draped on the Brakebills sign, might be returned.

But Quentin had secrets of his own. Ones he seriously needed to keep hidden.

He couldn’t let Brakebills continue to bully talented young magicians like his friend Julia, dangling their offers of magical pedagogy only to rescind them so unfairly that it scarred their minds and hearts, sending them down self-destructive paths.

He knew what that was like. In addition to the hopelessness he’d felt before learning magic was real, he’d seen what the loss of magic did to those who relied on it—like the entire magical land of Fillory, about which Eliot cared so much he’d laid down his life like an ancient sacrificial king. Though in High King Eliot’s case, this meant marriage to a woman, it was no less a sacrifice, no less painful.

So Quentin’s first act of magical sabotage had been to free Eliot from that imprisonment. Secretly, Quentin cut Eliot’s ties to Fillory, sending him home to Earth so abruptly that Eliot would believe the very gods of Fillory had relinquished their claims on him forever.

Eliot was hurt at first, believing he’d been rejected, which made Quentin’s heart ache. After his shitty, abusive family who’d never loved him, that was the last thing Eliot needed. So Quentin quickly manufactured evidence that a grateful Fillory sent Eliot home as his reward for helping them so well and caring so much.

Which was true in any case.

Gradually Quentin saw the light return to Eliot’s worried hazel eyes, the color fill his too-gaunt, chiseled cheeks. The fact that his severed state marriage meant he was free to return Quentin’s affections if he chose was certainly a nice bonus.

Quentin’s second act of magical sabotage had been to partner up with Julia to help hedge witches get a better education, sneaking all that he learned to Julia. Together, they took Julia’s students to prowl the night city, giving them the chance to hone their spells by helping to undercut tyranny and stop bullies wherever they found them.

Due to his penchant for defying authority—be it gods or Brakebills—Quentin knew some might call him a supervillain.

But heroes were those who used their powers for good, to stand up for those who could not help themselves.

He hoped that one day, if he ever found out, Eliot would be proud of him.

Two: Eliot

Quentin Coldwater clearly had a secret life.

Eliot Waugh didn’t want to ruin that for him.

From the first, he’d seen how much magic meant to Quentin—more than most magicians. For Eliot, it had been both a curse and a blessing, changing his life in terrible and wonderful ways. For Quentin, magic was just that: pure magic. He believed with the heart of a child desperate for something good.

And Eliot wanted that for him—just as much as he feared Quentin would crash and burn when he found out magic was not all it seemed.

For Quentin—whose heart was so big, whose brain betrayed him sometimes—Eliot wanted a life filled with hope and beauty. Not just because Eliot loved him. Because Quentin was good and true and deserved happiness, plain and simple.

Not that he was going to get any, chained to Brakebills and their self-serving mission of pouring every magician into the same old cupcake tins. Ignoring the way some people, such as Quentin, or even Eliot himself, were never going to fit, and never should.

Telling people they were defined by one talent and forcing them to betray their true selves was the fastest way to sabotage happiness. And Eliot was not about to watch it happen to Quentin. Or any of the other young magicians assigned to the Physical Kids Cottage and thus placed under Eliot’s—and Margo’s—particular protection.

No, he would do what he could to see that this cohort had their chance to be regal miscreants. As the Party King and Queen of Brakebills, BFFs Eliot and Margo wielded every opportunity to encourage them to magically misbehave in the very best “getting to know myself” fashion.

Eliot truly hoped Quentin would break free from his shell. That he hadn’t been permanently harmed by the continuing threat of having his memory wiped if he flunked out of school; by the dean’s taking away his meds with the statement that Q’s depression had only been the frustration of a life without magic (cruelly implying that any further depression would amount to ingratitude); or with their rude and grossly inaccurate categorization of Quentin’s amazing talent for healing broken things as a “minor” skill.

The latter had sent Q into a depressive spiral—which was when Eliot first learned they’d taken Q’s meds, a problem that he and Margo solved at once. Eliot dropped everything and devoted himself to Quentin for as long as Q needed to pull himself out of it. Because Q was strong and brave. And Eliot couldn’t live without him.

A visit to the haunted home of Quentin’s favorite writer suggested a second mission. Like Eliot in his original family, ghost children got a strikingly raw deal. Should they suffer for eternity for the wrongs adults had done to them?

Especially when all they needed to resolve their shit and move on—was a living magician enacting their revenge?

Eliot was made for this. Operating by night when ghosts were strongest, he called himself a supervillain.

But he suspected that if anyone knew—Quentin, for one, might try to convince him otherwise.

[the-korova]

[bucksboobs]

THEY DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SAY GOODBYE BEFORE Q DIED

They made two of the GREATEST scenes of that season revolve around Q and Eliot's love for one another and then Q dies via noble sacrifice while Eliot is still unconscious I hate Sara Gamble I hate John McNamara I hate them I hate them I hate them

[riotrose8]

after having a mental breakdown about what magicians did and realizing the fuck up it caused in my mental health (I related to Quentin in too many ways for me to be safe in that ending). I needed this.

He winds his way around the unnecessarily expensive end table to open the door. He stubs his toe anyway – fuck Kady and her pointy aesthetic – so the door is halfway open before he sees who has managed to ping so weirdly off the wards that he himself set up.

“Eliot,” breathes Quentin in the doorway, eyes wide with urgency, and then both the bottle and glass Eliot has expertly balanced in his hand shatter immediately on the hardwood floor.

the way i need to wake by @aspiringtoeloquence

[demiromanticmickey]

The point of a twist is to enrich a story, not feel superior for outsmarting your audience.

@ The Magicians writers

[thisburie]

As I approached the end of s4 on my 1st rewatch I sort of panicked and started over? I don't know if I can take it again so soon. The s4 finale is like Mizumono in Hannibal only Will dies. Truly the most painful episodes of TV ever.

[riotrose8]

Just considering that this could happen to me again is terrifying, these men made me so happy. I just couldn't

Yeah the "I really really hope David Jenkins isn't just pulling the same crap than the showrunners of The Magicians did back then"-post I wrote yesterday made me go through my the magicians tag just now.

It doesn't hurt that bad anymore. But it still makes me sad. And, surprisingly, still angry!

David Jenkins, I hope you are different. I choose to believe in you, like I chose to believe in them five years ago. Please don't make me the same idiot who has just been fooled twice. Please don't let us down!

[vooruitmariek]

“season 5 quentin lives au but loses his memories of the mosaic” a.k.a. amnesia for my queliot bingo

[cjjade]

You keep mentioning Quentin Coldwater, do you ever think you'll just let it go? There are other characters and ships, don't you feel like you are missing out?

NOPE

And in case you forgot here's your daily reminder Quentin Coldwater deserved bettered. Queliot deserved better!

[itstendereye]

No TV show has EVER pissed me off the way the magicians did