#Tricksters Choice

[randomthingsthatilike1]

honestly I think the wrong parent was sent to pick up Aly in the ending of Trickster's Choice

the entire book we see through Kyprioths visions to Aly that Alanna, above all, cares for Aly, that she really does see Aly for who she is and worries terribly for her lost, hidden daughter, angry and upset and scared. She's constantly scrying for her with the mirror Thom gave her--her daughter is missing and her husband lied to her about it.

After months and months of worrying and praying, Alanna finally knows where her daughter is. She loves George, she does, but he lied to her about her only daughter's well being. And after the 8 years of her training constantly lying to everyone Alanna is sick of it, sick of doing it and avoids it at almost all cost--but for this? For the love she has for her daughter?

She’s been worried sick, scrying every free hour, distracted and blaming herself for her daughter’s disappearance. She's not needed in Frasrland, not really, not with this stalemate at the border. The killing devices are all gone and nothing is happening there. They don't need her--but Aly does.

She’s been married to George for 20 years and she’s known him for 30--she’s picked up a few tricks on how to go around unseen, how to slip away seamlessly but first there are a few things she has to do.

Her husband with his nondescript features can roam freely.  She cannot. She’s far too distinctive nowadays, but to quote her daughter that is what razors and dyes are for. Her long hair is her pride and joy. After years of cutting it boyishly short, as well as being a good enough fighter she can have long hair--it’s her one vanity.

She loves her hair. She’d topple kingdoms for her daughter.

A short and stocky man with copper red hair isn't the ideal spy, but shes here to find her daughter--its the story she goes with. She’s looking for her daughter, a Tortallan, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Copper Isles.She speaks enough Carthaki to get by and well it’s not like she can’t defend herself, even with just a knife and hand to hand.

The only dead giveaway about her are her purple eyes, but she's a mage, with a powerful Gift specializing in manipulating the human body--if there's a magical way to create an illusion or temporarily change your eye color she would know it. If not, I'm sure George has found a way and she's already used it before.

This barely scratches the surface of what she’d do for Aly. She's a mage, with a powerful Gift specializing in manipulating the human body--if there's a magical way to create an illusion or temporarily change your eye color she would know it. If not, I'm sure George has found a way. She glamors her eyes to look the same as her daughter and her husband. She lightly dyes her hair, making it a more blondish red like Aly's.

She finds a young squire stationed at the border and surreptitiously steals some of his clothes and other supplies around camp, her personal weaponry far too flashy and distinctive.

Aly isn’t the only one who was trained by the King of Thieves.

You can’t tell me she’s never done anything like this with George, not wanting to be stared at by people who recognize the famous Lioness, either getting him out of some scrapes or just relaxing and having fun.

Kyprioth is sweating bullets. There's only so much he can hide, although he has far more power in the Copper Isles than Tortall so he can't stop her but he’ll do his best to hide her from the Goddess but uhhhhhhhh there’s only So Much he can do. 

Alanna is Determined--she will find her daughter and is she maybe less subtle than George was? Sure. But all the same, she’s brought to the Balitang’s home in Rajmuat and makes her way to Lombyn.

It’s the same scene, of Alanna approaching Winnamine , introducing herself as Alan Cooper and asking to buy Aly-- Winnamine realizing “Alan” isn’t really here to buy Aly.

It takes Aly just a little longer to recognize Alanna--and she comes to a halt and is filled with shock because this is the Lioness, her mother who is persona non grata to the Copper Isles due to killing one of their princesses decades ago (and wow that might actually get Ochabu to tolerate her mother) and would probably be either killed or ransomed as a hostage p much on sight, the King’s Champion, one of the most distinctive and famous women in the continent--is here.

She’s here, her hair short and lighter and her purple eyes--they’re very similar to Aly’s now. Alanna letting out a sob at the sight of her daughter--her hair also shorter, eyebrow scar, broken nose, but alive and safe and still with that spark in her eye.

Just. The PARALLELS of both having the explicit approval of their god to deceive and lie and how they both deceived so many people to achieve their goals. Aly seeing her mother engage in spycraft and trickery to try to find her is probably a better apology than Alanna could ever find the words for

Later after Alanna had her Own standoff with Kyprioth she tells Aly she didn’t want this life for her, not because she was a noble or a Trebond but because she’s Alanna’s daughter and she knows how hard it is to keep a secret and deceive the people she cared about, and how much it hurt when it all came out. That’s something George never had to deal with--George has never really had to deceive his loved ones. They’ve always known he’s Crooked and an inkling of what he’s been up to--but Alanna has. She did it for 8 long years and she was good at it too, but the amount of pain it brought her after meant she never wanted that for her daughter.

Alanna earned her shield through treachery, the constant fear of being found out dogging her footsteps and once she got it she made sure no other girl would have to.

For Aly just to be reminded how similar she really is to her mother and begrudgingly putting that together--for Kyprioth to tell Aly that yes George gave her the skills he needed that made Aly his ideal Spymaster and what she’s done so far in keeping the Balitangs safe is why he wants her to stay, but it was Alanna’s actions that really sold him on recruiting Aly in the first place.

(I have other feelings about Kyprioth and Alanna here because d a m n “they say he loves a good trick”--as a girl for 8 years Alanna fooled the Tortallan monarchy and nobility. That’s what his Promised Queen will have to do. And he is George’s patron--it would make sense that both of them loved aspects of Alanna.)

(also while she’s there it’d be hilarious for Sarai to spar against Alanna and have her ass handed to her--it’d be a great nod back to when Aly was observing Sarai and thinking about her own training bc it sure would make Ulasim wonder wait can Aly use a sword????)

(also if anyone wants to write this go for it)

[whimsicallywiddershins]

Something I really like about the Trickster series is that Aly could have been the "white person sweeping in and saving poor brown characters from imperialism" but she wasn't. It was a very thin line that Tamora Pierce somehow didn't cross. Aly is definitely the white person coming into a poc rebellion, but she isn't leading it, and she didn't cause it or encourage it to happen. The rebel's plans had been in place for a long time. Aly just nudged some things, and helped it succeed. She obeys the will of the rebels' leaders, and isn't the "driving force" behind the rebellion.

There are even moments where Aly does toe that line, starts to criticize the rebels, and go off on her own. But each time, she is brought back down and remembers that this is not her country, and in the end, it's their choice, their rebellion. She lends a helping hand, but they could have done it without her.

[anony-mouse-writer]

What's trickster choice?

oooh! thank you for asking!

Trickster’s Choice is the first book of the Trickster duo (which is part of Tamora Pierce’s larger Tortall series.) its a book about the daughter of a spymaster who is kidnapped and sold into slavery and finds herself embroiled in the politics of an island country on the verge of revolution.

specifically, the reason I mentioned it in relation to the rats philza bit is there are several crows in the book under the rule of the local trickster god and i wont spoil it further than that because seriously, the books are great 10/10 recommend

[whimsicallywiddershins]

I didn't see her as the white savior either. The Woman Who Rides Like a Man was totally white savior, and people called Tamora Pierce out on it, and she learned from her mistake.

These people really didn't read the book well, especially Trickster's Queen. The raka's rebellion was decades in the making. They and plans and spies and soldiers and everything waaaaay before Aly joined the picture. Aly was only one piece of the prophesy. A white savior is someone who comes in, inspires the native peoples, leads them, is the driving force behind the rebellion and often takes control after. Look at Dune for the prime example of this.

The rebels didn't need Aly. They would've won without her, it just would've been a lot bloodier, longer and might have caused the Raka to massacre the Luarin, which would've been really bad in the aftermath. Kyprioth saw this, realized the rebels needed someone trained to be a spy master, trained in logical thinking, familiar with international politics and needed to be white to soften up the raka's feelings about the luarin. So he provided them with Aly. Its very clear that she is not the leader, she is not the driving force, she is not necessary and she is not a savior. Ulasim is the leader. He gave her orders, he scolded her for risks, ect. She had to prove herself over and over again to the rebels. They listened to her advice but didn't always take it.

So, I recently reread the Trickster’s Choice series, and I remember trolling a Tamora Pierce blog and seeing a lot against the fact that Aly was a ‘white saviour’ and I think that they missed a point. Or missed the other characters.

Dove is half Raka, and then all of her main leaders of the rebellion are Raka. Aly and Winnamine are the only two Luarin (white) people. And Aly is not omniscient, she makes some mistakes, and the other RAKA people in the prophecy occasionally tell HER what to do.

I didn’t see it as her taking over the rebellion, truly. I saw her in more of an advisory capacity to the leaders already in place. Yes, Kyprioth chose her, and yes, she is not Raka. And yes, she stays to take over as spymaster for Dove.

But, I think for me, personally, to say Aly was the white saviour is to undervalue people like Ulasim and Chenoal (sorry if I’m spelling names wrong, i don’t have the books with me) and their part in the rebellion. I mean, we are told the story from Aly’s point of view, and what she knows and discovers. And so we don’t see the start of the rebellion, we don’t see the plans she’s not privy to, but things go on without her help. Without her setting them into place.

These Raka leaders kept Sarai and Dove safe, and they kept the secrets of the family, and they had everything ready for Aly so all she had to do was spy.

I never saw her as the saviour at all. Honestly. Maybe i read them differently, and maybe I AM completely wrong. But I honestly saw Kyprioth dropping her in there because she can move about the classes. She had more freedom to talk to people. It wasn’t likely that the Luarin nobility would tolerate a Raka slave telling them what to do. “Mithros” or no. And she would have less freedoms and less ability to work her way around.

Also, they needed a Luarin to help bring them together, in a lot of ways. Because Dove was half. So she needed Raka and Luarin so that there would be some sort of peaceful accord, instead of genocide. I dunno. I saw it as a balance, rather than a white saviour trope.

[obi-wann-cannoli]

ALSO shout out to Tamora Pierce for humanizing the bandits Kel fights. She does this in Trickster’s Choice too, where bandits are explicitly shown to be poor people with few options and starving families.

[wondereads]

This is about the Bazhir, Daine and Numair, and the entirety of the Trickster’s Duology

[woundlingus]

Where does Gabriel get these clothes?? He turns up without them, just the case with the swords and his coat. Those are the ONLY things in his hands, and yet, here he is, brand new outfit…

Did Sam and Dean go BUY THAT for him??? Did they go stick Narfi in a trash compactor and then swing by target?? Did Sam have to beg Dean to pull over so he could buy him a lil leather jacket??? I mean he looks delightful good pick but WHY

[saradiation]

Trickster Karkat! 🍭💖✨

[scalpho]

the fact that pib's story and character doesn't lean into the horror/tragedy side of things as the other neverafter PCs do is part of why i find him so interesting

the motives and stakes that pib faces as an individual are never really as pressing/high as those that the others in the group face. marienne is already destroyed and tomas is already dead, which pib cannot and does not seek to undo (he wants revenge on the giants later on, but he only seeks it when going to snowhold & the land of giants becomes something they have to do anyways. and his starting priority isn't revenge - he's more or less just trying to get by after the fall of marienne), unlike the others, who are either in the throes of their tragedies, or actively attempting to undo what has already come to pass, or, mostly, a mix of both.

there's also the fact that pib isn't a "character" in the way the others are, but rather the archetype of the trickster cat. as both a trickster spirit and an archetype, he already holds a little more agency than the others because he's not bound to being "pib". he does grow an attachment to the identity of pib in a way that doesn't seem typical of the tricksters (the fox says that he's "gotten too caught up in it" when he returns to the trickster forest with no memories of who they are), but, ultimately, if something happens to the story of puss in boots, he's still the cat. he knows there's more for him than just pib, that, although he's still subject to the whims of the authors, he's not bound to one destiny in the same way his friends are.

in any case, whether we're talking about pib or the cat, he doesn't need to fight in the way his friends do. he doesn't need to care the way he does, or maybe even shouldn't care in the way that he does (the fox overall seems to suggest that pib is softer compared to the other tricksters; "it was a mistake to send him", "you're more the hero than you think", etc, and almost seems to look down on him for it) but he does anyways. he fights and tricks for the sake of his friends, for the sake of tomas, for the sake of the neverafter. and he does it because he chooses to. he's a trickster, who we might expect to act in a self-serving way, but he chooses to be, for the most part, selfless. he has a little more agency than the others and, instead of taking it and running, he uses it to help, to choose to be good, because he cares about the people around him. he's a little asshole with a heart goddamnit

[nightmarearian]

tfw you just give up and make monster Ody a shapeshifter cause he has like 5 different animal motifs and/or similar monsters you could pull from

[randomthingsthatilike1]

ideas that I hurt myself with:

in tricksters queen, kyprioth's plan that he might have had in his back pocket, like everything is going to hell in a handbasket, there is v little hope left for the rebellion, they can't figure a way out?

would probably let Aly die.

because if Aly dies, George and Alanna "One Woman Army" the Lioness would absolutely get involved and a cascade of people would then also get involved and anyone else Jon could order to heel, but Alanna and George and Daine and Numair and Alan and Raol (that's his squire and his friend--of course he's going) and Neal (thats his knight mistress, of course he would follow) and Kel? Wouldn't really work.

Kyprioth's hail Mary plan has always been Aly.

Just. He's a god--using a mortal doesn't always mean they have to be alive for their plans to work.

[knavestrolls]

👻 + LIEGIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was torn between a few girls but eventually settled on Troll Nico Robin because she thinks her matesprit had the best reaction to this one. Feels weird with the long hair for her though!

Send me a 👻+Character name and I'll draw their halloween costume!

[venndaai]

I keep on forgetting that Solas is canonically straight because like. No he’s not are you kidding me

[bite-the-bloody-hand]

Chaleb raises his weapon before his associates even know what's happening. One fatal blow spatters the ground with blood. Chaleb grimly looks at the body of the man he called a friend scant minutes before. His face shows no remorse. "That was the most elegant reprisal against the fools I've ever seen in my life,” Daeran says in a low voice so only you can hear him. "I am in awe. I sincerely hope to see you in action again, and more than once."

Folks, we love a seven inch height difference for unsettling boys that match each other's freak.

Not pictured: Woljif hamming it up in the background

[thealvinmurphy]

i’ve never been more mad at a tv show ending in my LIFE! I know they had such little time but they could’ve given me anything else besides the “oh yeah it was all in his head” bullshit