#The Princess the Crone and the Dung-Cart Knight

[patheticbatman]

Part One

I’m very proud of these dolls, and I’m also leaving them at my parents’ house, so I did a little photoshoot with some books as background so I can have nice pictures of them.

Each book is one that is based on their fairy tale, they exist in some form in that universe, or I genuinely think that character would read it. It cannot be their origin book.

Also, they ALL have to be books I have read. If the other books are more like companion books though, then I disregard that rule. They cannot share series either.

First up is Snow White with Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine. Funnily enough, I read this book before Ella Enchanted. I love it though! I always remember the singing and weird-reading-to-make-the-audience-laugh game :).

Second is Cinderella with Cinderella is Dead, by Kaylynn Bayron, and a little toy dog, because the Disney version has a dog. It’s a wonderfully revolutionary and queer take on a world that supposedly worships Cinderella, but actually uses her memory as an oppressive tool. Like an unwilling martyr.

Third is Alice with After Alice by Gregory Maguire (the dude who wrote Wicked). I have other Alice in Wonderland adaptions, but I haven’t enjoyed the others like this one. If you like ratfics, you may enjoy After Alice.

Fourth is Wendy with Peter and the Sword of Mercy, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I debated on whether to do the first book of this series or not, but Wendy only appears in this book, so I leaned toward this one instead. Out of all my Peter Pan adaption books, I like my one about Hook as a boy in Eton best. But only Wendy’s dad appears in that, and I don’t think she would read it, so I went with this series instead. I wrote a book report about the story set in the desert Kingdom when I was like 9, I loved it a lot.

Fifth is Aurora with While Beauty Sleeps, by Elizabeth Blackwell. It’s an inventive take that I enjoyed quite a bit. Explores how expectations can be used in your favor, etc.

Sixth is Eilonwy, with The Princess, The Crone and the Dung-Cart Knight, by Gerald Morris. I know The Black Cauldron is based on a book series, but I’ve only read a snippet, and I don’t have a copy of any of the stories anyway. So she gets to have a late - Arthurian novel.

Seventh is Ariel (she has six sisters so this pleases me) with The Hothouse Princesses by S. A. Hemstock. The author wrote some of the best Steven Universe fanfic, so I bought her first published story when it came out. Idk how it isn’t a bigger hit - it’s about a princess who was raised by peasants, gets discovered, wants to go back, and instead gets shunted off to a misogynistic, colonialistic, colorist princess finishing school, where she finds out some serious conspiracy shit about fairy godmothers. Anyway, Ariel often felt oppressed by her dad and curious about the Human world, so I imagine it would catch her eye.

Eighth is Belle with Lindworm, by Jenny Prater. Coincidentally, this is another case of me reading a superb fanfic writer’s work (Batfam this time) and instantly snapping up their OG work. I have a book of short stories that had a more direct BATB parallel story, but I was trying to stick with Novels. In any case, this is the story of the maiden who married the Lindworm, and what the Royal family does once they have to reckon with the nations of the dead princesses.

Ninth is Jasmine with the School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainini. Her character really only appears in the prequel, but I wanted to acknowledge this really great series properly. I read the entire thing this summer, and I love its thematic approaches. In any case, I feel like this series’ approach to beauty, freedom and other dichotomies would pique her interest.

Tenth, we have Gabriella (Ariel’s mermaid BFF) and her Sign Language interpreter Olly. I have her human form. Anyway, I decided she might enjoy Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick. It has Deaf characters and lots to show about the Human World, which I supposed she might enjoy. I found it quite interesting as a kid, and like with all the other Selznick books I own, I used to color all the hair, clothes and eyes in, lol. Listen. I had a lot of time on my hand and consistent access to Sharpies XD.

I’ll link the other parts to here when I post them!

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

[queer-ragnelle]

Hi-Lo Arthuriana

Have a high interest in Arthurian Legend but low readability?

Here's a collection of adapted or abridged books to help ease you into the literary tradition. This list is ordered from simplest to most complex, beginning with picture books and ending with "translations" of Middle English texts into modern English or abridged versions of longer texts such as the Vulgate. Books in a series are numbered.

As always, if the book is still in print, I link to where you can legally purchase the book. Supporting living authors is very important! Otherwise, enjoy a PDF, on me, to keep the legacy of these authors alive.

Picture Books

Young Merlin (Young Series #1) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1989)

Tales From the Mabinogion Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1992)

Sir Gawain and The Loathly Lady by Selina Hastings & Juan Wijngaard (1985)

The Quest for Olwen by Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1988)

The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges & Trina Schart Hyman (1990)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight by Selina Hastings & Juan Wijngaard (1991)

The Tale of Taliesin by Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1992)

Young Guinevere (Young Series #2) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1992)

The Knight with The Lion by John Howe (1996)

Young Lancelot (Young Series #3) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1996)

Young Arthur (Young Series #4) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1997)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight by Michael Morpurgo & Michael Foreman (2004)

Perceval: King Arthur's Knight of The Holy Grail by John Perkins & Gennady Spirin (2007)

Comics

Prince Valiant by Hal Foster & many others (1937-present)

Camelot 3000 by Brian Bolland and Mike W. Barr (1982-1985)

Arthur, King of Time and Space by Paul Gadzikowski (2004-2014)

Tristan & Isolde: The Warrior and The Princess by Jeff Limke (2008)

Muppets King Arthur by Paul Benjamin & Patrick Storick (2010)

Gradalis WEBTOON [carrd] by @kochei0 (2021-present)

Chivalry by Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran (2022)

Children's Chapter Books

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great (The Knights' Tales #1) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Adventures of Sir Givret the Short (The Knights' Tales #2) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True (The Knights' Tales #3) by Gerald Morris (2013)

The Adventures of Sir Balin the Ill-Fated (The Knights' Tales #4) by Gerald Morris (2013)

The Legends of King Arthur: Merlin, Magic, and Dragons (#1-#10) by Tracey Mayhew (2020)

Intermediate Retellings

The Idylls of The King by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1859)

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (#1) by Howard Pyle (1903)

The Story of the Champions of The Round Table (#2) by Howard Pyle (1905)

The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions (#3) by Howard Pyle (1907)

The Story of The Grail and The Passing of Arthur (#4) by Howard Pyle (1910)

Hero Myths & Legends of the British Race by M. I. Ebbutts (1910)

The Squire’s Tale (The Squire’s Tales #1) by Gerald Morris (1998)

The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady (The Squire’s Tales #2) by Gerald Morris (1999)

The Savage Damsel and The Dwarf (The Squire’s Tales #3) by Gerald Morris (2000)

Parsifal’s Page (The Squire’s Tales #4) by Gerald Morris (2001)

The Ballad of Sir Dinadan (The Squire’s Tales #5) by Gerald Morris (2003)

The Princess, The Crone, and The Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire’s Tales #6) by Gerald Morris (2004)

The Lioness and Her Knight (The Squire’s Tales #7) by Gerald Morris (2005)

The Quest of The Fair Unknown (The Squire’s Tales #8) by Gerald Morris (2006)

The Squire’s Quest (The Squire’s Tales #9) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Legend of The King (The Squire’s Tales #10) by Gerald Morris (2010)

Abridged Medieval Literature Translations

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Unrepresented #1) by Jessie Weston (1889)

Tristan & Iseult (Unrepresented #2) by Jessie Weston (1899)

Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, Bisclaveret (Unrepresented #3) by Jessie Weston (1900)

Moriaen (Unrepresented #4) by Jessie Weston (1901)

Sir Cleges, Sir Libeaus Desconus (Unrepresented #5) by Jessie Weston (1902)

Sir Gawain At The Grail Castle (Unrepresented #6) by Jessie Weston (1903)

Sir Gawain & The Lady of Lys (Unrepresented #7) by Jessie Weston (1907)

The Story of Sir Galahad by Mary Blackwell Sterling & William Ernest Chapman (1908)

The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of The Round Table by Alfred W Pollard & Arthur Rackham (1917)

Le Morte d'Arthur by Keith Baines (1962)

The Lancelot-Grail Reader by Norris J. Lacy (2000)

Lancelot and The Lord of The Distant Isles by Patricia Terry, Samuel N. Rosenberg, & Judith Jaidinger (2007)

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell by David Breeden (????)

Informational Resources

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook (1987)

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy (1991)

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr (1997)

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce (1999)

[kingarthurflourofficial]

January + Feb Book Roundup

since i'm not using goodreads any more and also my memory is shit these days gonna try keeping track here this year!

A Memory Called Empire 4/5 (sci fi, great worldbuilding, very interesting MC)

Hearts of Oak 4/5 (sci fi, lovely creepy worldbuilding and vibes)

A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking 4/5 (such a fun and thoughtful take on many tropes; lays the seeds for her later more detailed books)

A Rulebook for Desperate Rogues ? DNF; too many anachronisms in the first two chapters

Three Cases for Mr. Campion ? DNF; weirdly gross way of speaking about women

The Dangers of Smoking In Bed 3/5 (very good bordering on horror)

Some Desperate Glory 5/5 (everyone who told me to read this was right etc run don't walk etc!)

Murder in Williamston 2/5 (not half as fun as I remember them being - a little too formulaic and suffers from not allowing the characters to grow/develop)

Grave Expectations 4/5 (VERY fun romp of a book! unexpectedly made me tear up at the end)

The September House 4/5 (horror but the kind of horror i can take where the narrator really holds and carries you through it)

The Ballad of Sir Dinadin 4/5 (i missed these books! i love arthuriana and these are such good classics. sidenote this was the first ace rep i ever read as a kid and i'll always bless it for that)

The Princess the Crone and the Dung-Cart Knight 4.5/5 (LOVE the difficult subjects being navigated here and the interweaving of different source materials. especially enjoyed the heavily implied throuple at the end.)

Parsifal's Page 3.5/5 (honestly didn't really remember this one that well but went back to read it bc my love said it was their fave of the OG tales and i liked it better than i remembered! even if the whole Fisher King scenario still infuriates me just out of principle)

The Scholomance 4/5 (love a naomi novik)

The Last Graduate 4/5 (we love a naomi novik where the characters slowly start to learn to love!)

The Golden Enclaves 5/5 (okay completely forgot i hadn't read this which means this was a complete surprise and so was the CANON GAYS hell yeah naomi u got there in the end!!!!!!!!!!)

Perilous Times 2/5 (listen it was a great premise! let itself down by being far too heavy-handed and using a deus ex machina at the end)

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance 5/5 (very glad i forgot to check the warnings before i read this or else i wouldn't have but DAMN if this didn't cradle me very gently in its arms and carry me safely through the deep waters. absolutely would recommend)

10 Things That Never Happened 2/5 (thank you to Morgan @crimsonclad for listening to my rantings re: alexis hall's books in general but this, to me, was not one of his finest efforts

Gaudy Night 10/5!!!!!!!! (book of my HEART dorothy l sayers you will always be famous even if you insist on putting enormous swaths of foreign language text with no translation in your books)

Busman's Honeymoon 10/5!!!!!!!!!!! (Aupres de ma blonde!!!! ivy trailing in hair! crying over Bunter! damn said distinctly! the port wine!)

Clouds of Witness 4/5 (you do love the Duchess but Peter has not yet been Wilfred-ized and is more of a caricature than his true self)

Whose Body? 4/5 (same as above)

Detection Unlimited 3/5 (a fun Heyer detection romp!)

The Dark Lord of Derkholm 4/5 (I'd forgotten most of this one and really enjoyed re-discovering it!)

The Year of the Griffin 5/5 (stayed up until 3 ack emma reading this rip my sleep schedule but i simply love a group of misfit friends!)

System Collapse 5/5 (MURDERBOT my BELOVED)

Everything on a Waffle 5/5 (i love polly horvath SO much. she treats all her characters and their loves and griefs with so much gentle dignity.)

Lady of Quality 5/5 (this is a superb heyer. absolutely iconic)

And fic over 40k!

metagaming by esama (svsss)

after the storm by perennial (much ado about nothing)

sword in hand by Aesoleucian, leahsfiction (the untamed)

the exploration of a courageous heart (all this unexpected glory) by Stratisphyre (the untamed)

[ladyminaofcamelot]

Squire's Tales as Babylon Bee headlines

The plot of book one:

Jean Le Forestier:

Sir Kai, preparing for feasts:

Gaheris and Gareth:

The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight:

Grifflet:

[butterflyslinky]

tagged by @falconwhitaker

last song: The Sound of Music

favorite color: Mint green

last book: The Princess, The Crone and the Dung-Cart Knight by Gerald Morris

last movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas

last tv show: Digimon Adventure

sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet

relationship status: Available

last thing i googled: The Lonely Goatherd lyrics cause my roomie couldn't remember them

current obsession: 9-1-1 (if you couldn't tell already)

looking forward to: Sleep

I honestly don't know who to tag (see last answer) so whoever sees it go ahead.

ten people i'd like to get to know better

tagged by: @megkuna thanks <333

last song: the phantom of the opera

favorite color: muted green

last book: uhhhhhh oh man i really need to start reading books

last movie: phantom of the opera which i watched with a friend

last tv show: the original star trek which i also watched with a friend

sweet/spicy/savory: sweet, i love sugar too much

relationship status: single and not looking, i'd rather just have more friends

last thing i googled: "how to know if skincare routine is too harsh" my pimples hurt in a Different way now :(

current obsession: probably still mob psycho 100 but it's not what it used to be. yay depression

looking forward to: when my family finally moves into the new house

tagging: @scarecloud69 @disorganised-thoughtss @daneonrainbow @lawful-goof @officialkarinuzumaki @leo-probably @vychodocech @umkayonninay @mocha-blossom @spageddy29 no pressure though <3

[shadowlineswriting]

Morris, again

Anyone else feel like we’ve been on the Ms forever?! 

Here’s the second half of the ten-book series, The Squire’s Tales.

The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight: This book is about the time Guinevere gets captured and Lancelot has to come out of hiding to rescue her.

The Lioness and Her Knight: Yvain, sometimes known as The Knight of the Lion

The Quest of the Fair Unknown: Technically I guess this is about Galahad, or another version of the Holy Grail quest. Really, though, the main characters are made up, so that makes it a little tough to let you know where this book fits into the rest of the Arthurian legends.

The Squire’s Quest: Of all ten books, this is the only one I don’t enjoy reading. And that isn’t due to the writing style, because there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s because this isn’t actually an Arthurian legend at all. It’s a Greek one. I’m always a little confused about why this book even made it into the series. 

The Legend of the King: About Mordred and the fall of Arthur. Morris does a great job wrapping everything up (which is a tall order, since the ending in most of the legends is quite devastating).

I still love this series, but I’ll always enjoy books 1-4 more than 5-10. Gerald Morris is a fantastic writer and the series as a whole is wonderful. It’s just that the first four books have, in my opinion, a lot more plot than the remaining six (especially considering that the first four books are roughly the same length, then the final six are longer...).

Anyway, these all stay! 

[peregrin-tookish]

Lancelot: I think we’re missing something.

Sarah: Cohesion? Teamwork? A general sense of we know what we’re doing?

[dawnfire360]

Twenty minutes later they met a knight, on foot. He was soaking wet, and three brightly dyed feathers that once must have waved jauntily above his head were stuck to the side of his helm like drying plaster. One of the feathers, crimson in color, had bled dye in a pinkish line down onto the knight's shoulders. As their little cavalcade approached, the walking knight removed his helm and stared at them. "Gawain?" "Good morning, Griflet. You've...um...been bathing?"

The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight, by Gerald Morris

[androgynouscardinal]

Sometimes a family is you, your four dads, your neighbor, a faery, and the Queen of Camelot

[forthegothicheroine]

I don't know if you've had this ask before, but I can't find it, so: I don't suppose you have any recs for really good Arthurian adaptations? I try to read the older texts but can't get into them, and the adaptations I've come across are in the 'I am Mordred' vein. (Apart from T. H. White, but I've read that.)

I can't blame you for having a hard time! The old texts are an acquired taste, to say the least (and I'm definitely no fan of Malory!) The most accessible of those is probably Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; I read the translation by Tolkein, which was a lot of fun. (You don't need to have read it to see the Green Knight movie, but as a Gawain fangirl I'm of course into it!) Same goes for The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell, one of my favorite Beauty and the Beast stories. Those two poems together are what made me Team Gawain, out of all the knights!

What really got me into this whole thing was the musical Camelot and the movie with Richard Harris. This is my Arthur. This is the king I fell in love with. It's loosely based on TH White, but I like it better- the plot is a lot more concise, and while it's still not the most flattering depiction of Guenevere, it's a lot less openly contemptuous of her than White was; she actually gets a really sweet meet-cute with Arthur! For a trippier movie that covers more of the story, there's always John Boorman's Excalibur, which attempts to compress all of Morte D'Arthur into a couple hours. I think this is the adaptation that started the trend of merging Morgan and Morgause, which upsets some people but I find very understandable, and Helen Mirren as Morgana absolutely steals the show!

For books, I'm a big fan of the Squire's Tales series by Gerald Morris, another Gawain superfan. This YA series shows the glory and then the fall of Camelot, often (though not always) through the eyes of Gawain's mysterious squire Terrance. My favorites in the series are The Ballad of Sir Dinadan and The Princess The Crone and the Dung Cart Knight, but start at the beginning and read all the way through for the full narrative- they're all fast reads! If you want to get into I Am Mordred-style stories about one particular character, there's a heartbreakingly tragic Mordred in The Winter Prince by Elizabeth Wein, and a gritty detective Kay in Idylls of the Queen by Phyllis Ann Karr. If you want to read more direct adaptations of Mort D'Arthur, I would recommend the series Arthur Dies at the End by Jeffrey Wikstrom, an extremely irreverent retelling that's much more readable. (One volume is called Sir Tristan is Just Awful.) I'm sometimes into Malory adaptations and sometimes not- I wish more adaptations in general didn't feel bound to the Mayday massacre just because it was in Malory, it wasn't in most of the texts- but these are very good.

I strongly recommend the podcast Myths and Legends in general, but in particular I love their King Arthur episodes. They follow the Mort D'Arthur story, which once again is not my favorite, but they do it in entertaining detail with lots of depth of character. It's pretty harsh on Merlin, but hey, he got all of TH White to build him up, he can take it!

Finally, I would be remiss in not mentioning The Great Pendragon Campaign, an old rpg supplement that runs through the plot of everything from the pre-Arthur era to the fall of Camelot. I don't always agree with the choices they make of what to include, but it's an attempt to combine all the 'canon' sources into one continuous narrative. It's available on drivethrurpg.com as a pdf.

Followers, add anything you'd suggest!

[notbecauseofvictories]

I love all ur arthurian posts so! A question. If you were given the chance to make your DREAM arthurian piece of media, tv show, movie, book, etc. What would you really really love to see done?

I have two answers to this question---an embarrassing answer, and a non-embarrassing answer.

The non-embarrassing answer is that I would love to see the Grail Quest adapted for the 21st century. I go back and forth on what that would look like---a standard adventure plot? like Green Knight, a journey from the real into the rarified and imaginal/spiritual? a drama about sons, sins of the father, and glory? I don't know! I think there's a lot of cool decisions that could be made which I would support wholeheartedly. 

Mostly I just think that the grail quest is essentially a sacred bastard, a welsh virgin, and the knight of the round table who drank the most “respect women” juice making their way towards something that transcends human knowing. And I think that deserves to be a story.

.................the embarrassing answer is that I read Gerald Morris' YA novelizations of Arthurian legend at a very formative point in my life, and so really what I want is an adaption of "The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight" (a YA version of Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart) or better yet, "The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf" (a YA version of Malory's Sir Gareth). I think they’d make great films, and I would be very charmed by them---that’s what counts here, right?

[bebemoon]

What are your favorite books? 🖤

the bloody chamber and other stories by angela carter, the hdm series by philip pullman, the birth of venus by sarah dunant, weaveworld by clive barker, circe by madeline miller, the complete stories of leonora carrington by leonora carrington, night at the circus by angela carter, the great gatsby by f. scott fitzgerald, the adventures of tom bombadil by j.r.r. tolkien, stardust by neil gaiman, the last unicorn by peter s. beagle, the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson, mimus by lilli thal, the princess the crone and the dung-cart knight by gerald morris

[fairytaleandfanart]

More art for Gerald Morris's Squire's Tales series, what a surprise!  This is my third attempt at the three girls from "The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight." Which tells the tale of Sarah, a vengeful girl looking for a knight who was responsible for her mother's death.

[yetanotherbuffyblog]

The wedding episode

The wedding!

The wedding is finally here, and everyone’s tense: the bridesmaids because of the bright green dresses they’ve been assigned, the engaged couple because of finally going through with this and all the planning required, the Harris family because they don’t get along well with Anya’s guests, and so forth. But on the wedding day, right before the ceremony starts, an old man appears claiming to be Xander’s future self and shows him a vision of the future, depicting a troubled marriage that ends with a violent disagreement.

This causes Xander no end of grief, and he disappears for a while. Buffy is left to try to stall while Willow goes out to look for Xander and bring him back before anyone discovers what’s wrong. It only lasts so long, and Anya finds out, only to run into old man Xander and discover he’s not old man Xander at all--he’s just some demon that used to be a guy that Anya wrecked in her vengeance demon days, and to get back at Anya he came and ruined her wedding. 

They fight him and kill him, but when Xander comes back it turns out that he doesn’t want to get married. He’s decided that even if the future he was shown wasn’t real, he’s scared it might come true anyway, and he doesn’t want anything like that to happen to Anya. So he just leaves, the wedding’s off, and Anya’s old boss offers her a job as a vengeance demon again.

Huh.

Spike also arrives at the wedding with a date, obviously trying to make Buffy jealous, which she does call him out on. She does admit that it works, but while she does still have feelings it doesn’t change the breakup, and he and his date leave before the drama really gets started.

Notes!

-I’m not sure how I feel about the wedding being called off. On the one hand, it’s not like it’s out of nowhere. We’ve had quite a bit of foreshadowing that there’s something off about Xander and Anya’s relationship, something they’re not really facing, even as far back as the beginning of the season. And so getting married with addressing or fixing those issues is a recipe for disaster, which I’m glad Xander realizes. But just calling it off also feels as if the writers of the show wanted to have the drama of a wedding storyline without actually writing a married couple. The drama of a certain kind of relationship without actually dealing with that sort of relationship.

It reminds me of how so many comic book characters have weddings teased, but never get married (COUGHBatmanRebirthCOUGH), or have those marriages retconned away (COUGHOneMoreDayCOUGH) because the writers think it’s too boring for heroes to be in a stable marriage, or like having a bunch of buildup going nowhere because Drama. And it’s a bit frustrating.

-I do feel bad for Spike’s date in this episode, given she’s just being used as emotional guilt tripping. And being used was exactly the reason Buffy dumped Spike--it’s not fair to use someone in a relationship. Spike apparently didn’t learn that lesson? Maybe he did this time.

-The cover story they went with for the demons at the party was that they’re circus performers? That’s… pretty weak, especially since a lot of them have clearly not-human attributes. Given that this is Sunnydale, and Xander’s going to be marrying Anya, I would have thought someone would have told at least his immediate family that Anya’s side were mainly supernatural beings? Then again, Xander’s parents are kind of terrible so maybe it’s not worth telling them because it would have made things worth.

-Like gosh, Xander’s dad is terrible. Which isn’t NEW, per se, but him constantly taking excuses to go and bother the demons and try to rile them up was incredibly infuriating.

-Also, before Buffy stalls by juggling, everyone is sitting there bored? And I though, “Huh, yeah, this was more of a thing before smartphones, yeah?” Because yes, people would still be bored in those situations, but at least nowadays there would be more entertainment in your phones, reading, or socializing or whatnot. YMMV on whether or not that’s a good thing, because you’re not socializing with the people around you.

-This wedding is obviously not in a church, I don’t think? With all the demons around, I guess that makes sense, but it was going to be performed by a pastor, which I would figure might be a bit triggering for the demons? Although again, demons in Buffy seem more extra-dimensional than necessarily Satanic, so maybe they don’t care, or they find the whole thing amusing.

-In the bad future that’s shown to Xander, one of their kids isn’t his? And I’m wondering what the fudge that’s about?

-One of Xander’s uncles has drafted a caterer as a date, a woman who is closer to Buffy’s age than his own, and she’s clearly uncomfortable with this? And this is kind of played as a joke, but it’s honestly quite terrible and horrible and I want to beat this man with a pipe. No! Do not make light of a woman being creeped on by a sleazeball!

I’m just saying this bit did not age well.

-Anya’s boss gives a present, which has some kind of living thing in it with tentacles? Is that a pet? Or some kind of delicacy? More importantly, does Anya get to keep it? Who knows. 

-Oh hey, Sarah Michelle Gellar can juggle!

-Xander’s dad suggests to Buffy that they have a quickie? And that’s gross? Thankfully, Buffy threatens to rip his dick off and he backs off.

-Probably should have known that the wedding might not be fantastic since it was thundering outside.

-I watched this episode on the anniversary of my brother’s wedding? Not sure where I’m going with that, but it was kind of weird.

-How does a human become a demon, exactly? Anya did it, and the fake future Xander did it too. Apparently it’s something that can happen, I’m just wondering HOW. And out of curiosity, what if it happened to a Slayer? Food for thought.

-Everyone is remarkably cool with Buffy and Xander killing a demon dude in the same room as the wedding, and perfectly willing to let the ceremony continue with his body getting cold back there (Willow was hoping it would disappear, but it didn’t, so she suggested covering it with flowers).

-Even if we accept Xander’s reasoning for calling off the wedding, he just leaves without bothering to explain to everyone what happened, so that Anya has to tell the crowd that the wedding’s off and presumably explain why they all have to go home. Which is a dickish thing to do.

-I’m currently reading a Gerald Morris book (The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight), and there’s a line where a character says something like, “Maybe I didn’t truly love her, but I loved her as much as I was able to understand love,” and I’m not sure that applies here, but I just want to throw that in and ask if you think this applies to either Anya x Xander or Spike x Buffy? Or neither?

-Buffy admitting that she saw that couple as a sort of hope spot for what she could achieve with her life is… disheartening, because even before it was clear that they weren’t a model relationship. But they were there, and I suppose that counts for something.

[ladyminaofcamelot]

Ariel: *hugs Sarah*

Sarah: What was that?

Ariel: Affection

Sarah: disgusting.

Sarah:... Do it again.

[wot-in-the]

the squire's tales is turning out to be such a fun series. they're quick reads, full of adorable characters, and are basically one long arthurian fanfic. i've read 5 of them in the last 4 days before bed.

at some point over the last couple years i read savage damsel and the the princess, crone, and dung cart knight. didn't remember anything from either, so rereading with context is super fun.

my understanding is that the last one is really heartbreaking (these are arthurian stories we're talking about here, so of course they end in tragedy) and i'm not ready. :(

highly recommended for a light, memorable read.