#and then lost him brutally

[minne-cerbinna]

I'm playing TW1 again and I have thoughts about this tiny little sequence in the Chapter 2 quest "Memories of a Blade", which amounts to the only mention of Coën in the game.

When undertaking this quest, Geralt is investigating the origin of the silver sword he was given to slay a cockatrice; he mistakenly believes that it might be Berengar's sword since he knows the other witcher to have been in the area. A conversation with Thaler, from whom the sword was confiscated by the guard, will lead him eventually to speak to the Gardener outside St. Lebioda's hospital in Vizima. This man used to be a mercenary under Pretty Kitty, but has since retired and works as a gardener, and had lost the silver sword at dice poker. When interacted with, he will begin any conversation with "Look how they grow!", referring to the plants in his garden. The player can then initiate the quest dialogue with option one, "I'm more interested in silver swords".

GERALT: I'm more interested in silver swords.

GARDENER: I knew one of you would come by eventually.

GERALT: You lost it playing dice?

GARDENER: I was sure I'd win. Beware, the sharp one plays well.

GERALT: Where did you get this sword?

GARDENER: Five years ago, there was a battle near Brenna. When the dust had settled, our men had beaten the Nilfgaardians. We ceased to call ourselves an imperial province that day.

GERALT: You captured the sword during the battle?

GARDENER: Yes, it was witcher Cöen's [sic]. A strapping fellow and a rare breed. Not very talkative, mind you.

GERALT: Like most of us.

GARDENER: I gave my word the sword would find another witcher. As he lay dying, he mumbled about teeth and destiny. Then he laughed -- at his own death.

GERALT: Yet you lost it gambling?

GARDENER: I kept it hidden for five years. I lost hope I'd ever run into another witcher. Miss Shani knew Cöen [sic]. She works at the hospital.

GERALT: Thanks.

GARDENER: Good luck on the path!

The quest will lead you to speak with Shani, then Zoltan, but neither will provide further information on Coën, aside from Shani mentioning that he died on her operating table -- Shani's dialogue is to provide her backstory as a medic at Brenna and to mention Rusty, and Zoltan simply assesses the quality of the blade to ensure that it is a witcher blade of good workmanship. It has no further significance to Geralt, who, without his memory, has no idea who Coën is and has more pressing matters to deal with than to look into the past of a man who died five years ago (according to the somewhat off-kilter game timeline, anyway). But it's the only mention of Coën in the games, and I find that it's a very interesting way to manifest his presence.

I think it is reasonable to tie Coën quite closely to his sword on a symbolic level, if one considers his appearance in the novels where he not only trains with Ciri, but his prowess with a sword is unrivaled even by the other witchers to the point where she believes that he may be the best swordsman in the world. Additionally, the fact that he fought at Brenna at all means that he offered his sword in the service of the Northern Kingdoms, and when he dies, he is identified by his peers as a "master swordsman" rather than as a witcher, despite the fact that they know of his nature. As such, Coën's sword is a very important possession for him to leave behind.

And from there, there is a connection to Lambert, left unsaid. To go beyond the simple fact that Coën was Lambert's friend, someone dearly loved who was close enough with Lambert and his family to get on with the other wolves and stay a winter at Kaer Morhen, the importance lies with the sword. As with any witcher, Coën wouldn't have much in the way of worldly possessions to bequeath onto someone else in the event of his prophecied death. But he does have his swords, which are established as symbolically important to him. A steel sword could be taken up by any warrior capable enough to use it, but a silver sword belongs in the hands of a witcher, and that is what Coën asked for on his deathbed, for his silver sword to be given to another witcher. While it's very possible that this is meant in a general way, that he just wanted any other witcher to take it up, to avoid the sword being wasted, broken, or dismantled for its composite parts, it also strikes me as possible that he could have intended it for a specific witcher.

Lambert is one of the instructors for Ciri when she's first learning the swordplay and acrobatics associated with being a witcher. Lambert is the one in the first game to provide the instructional descriptions of the Fighting Styles for Geralt to regain his swordplay competencies after losing his memories. And there is another bit of dialogue in TW3 that really emphasises both Lambert's connection to Vesemir, the swordmaster of Kaer Morhen, and the idea of swords as inheritance, as a manifestation of closeness:

LAMBERT: Knew the old man couldn't live forever. Huh, even told Eskel that when it came time, I'd get his sword. Fits my hand perfectly, you know.

Which is a heartbreaking notion in and of itself upon which I could expostulate, the symbolism there in the fraught relationship between Lambert and his father figure reduced to something as simple as a hilt that fits two hands perfectly. But if this is the inheritance that Lambert wants, it makes it all the more pertinent that Coën desperately wanted his silver sword to make it into the hands of another witcher. Lambert, the son of a swordmaster, wants to take on a sword as a memento of someone he has lost, and Coën, the master swordsman, left his sword behind. Even if Lambert were not the specific intended target of the sword, he would have possibly or even likely known Coën well enough to fulfill his wishes, whatever they might be.

And yet Coën's sword never makes it home or into the hands of someone who would value it, like Lambert would, this last memory of his dear friend. Geralt makes use of the sword during his time in Vizima, and then it is lost, replaced by the gifted Aerondight. And so Coën is lost with it, never mentioned again.

[doydoune]

the worst day of their lives so far, but the night is quiet

[synonymroll648]

headcanon that the reason sophie still has eyelashes to pull on the regular is that grady and edaline worked something out with the dizznees to get a tasteless formula to help eyelash growth specifically to put drops of in her bottles of youth. because there’s no way her ptsd-induced trichotillomania (oversimplified definition for those who aren’t familiar: hair pulling disorder) is gonna die down during the war, so they’re trying to make sure she doesn’t move from eyelashes to eyebrows or her Hair hair by giving her More Eyelashes

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

Lucanis' demon being Spite is as much a telling characterization as Anders'.

"We tortured you for a year to force a demon on you and what came from it? Something epic like Vengeance or Rage? No. Spite. Small, petty, vindictive pleasures in our discomfort and downfall."

It makes sense that Spite isn't as effectively a threat.

[martyrbat]

batman: shadow of the bat #0

[ID: a flashback of the outside of Wayne Manor at night. A narration box (unrelated to the scene) reads, “Ya think he's got a guardian angel, or somethin'?” Inside the manor, Leslie Thompkins and Alfred Pennyworth are talking in regards of young Bruce Wayne. They sit in a magnificent library at a small table as Bruce sits at his own desk that's across the room and has his face buried in a book. Alfred reassures her, “— Worried about him, Doctor Thompkins? I can assure you there's no need! Master Bruce has the manor to live in — myself to look after him — the best education money can buy—”. Leslie cuts Alfred off before he can continue rambling out more examples. She tells him, “It's what he doesn't have that bothers me, Alfred. Friends — hobbies — the kind of life a normal teenager looks forward to. He spends all his time in the gym, or here reading. I don't think he ever recovered from his parents' death.” We're shown Bruce, now in a close-up and able to see the book he's reading is titled ‘Lip Reading For Beginners’. Bruce peers over the book intensely as Leslie continues to express her rightful concern, “He almost seems obsessed!” END ID]

[freejanee]

lazy drawings but I just wanted spotify playlist covers quickly…

[buckys-estrella]

need one of lew's characters to be a hockey player frfr

[imitor]

hey - so since gege never thought to tell us why the inumaki clan had been outlawed and why jujutsu society was happy to let their entire bloodline die out along with, in my opinion, one of the strongest techniques in the entire lore, i've taken it upon myself with my own original character (inumaki no sukeyasu) to say that at one point in time they were considered in line with the big three until their inherited techinque holder of the period was killed by another sorcerer and nothing was done about it, so they closed their doors to jujutsu society and developed a strictly "them or us" attitude in which they only cared for and extended their hands for the people living within their lands. this changed roughly two generations before sukeyasu, in which their forbearers once again thought to open themselves to the whims and orders of jujutsu society, but after sukeyasu's death in the war against sukuna (being that sukeyasu's twin brother was head of the family at this time, and in his grief he dealt the extreme) they once again turned their backs on society. closed their doors, made it very clear they were not to be involved with any future disturbances, and in anger against their defiance to fall into order, they have been outlawed ever since.

[valinoar]

idk how people can genuinely say b&c is justified as if aemond chasing luke and killing him with his dragon warrants daemon sending two assassins straight to helaena’s chambers who threaten to rape her daughter unless she chooses which of her son’s should die. and then when she does choose they laugh and behead the other. right in front of her.

[lemonberry-soda]

little thang

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

I desperately need the Thrawn stans (specifically novel Thrawn Stans) to remember that Thrawns whole deal is rebuilding the Empire and fighting the New Republic.

[talentforlying]

"there's no better way to go out. a mage. like john constantine."

[timothyslucy]

HOW HAVE WE NOT GOTTEN THE INTIMACY OF A CHENFORD SCENE OF TIM AND LUCY SNUGGLING IN BED WHILE HAVING AN MORE IN DEPTH DISCUSSION ABOUT HER “DAY OF DEATH” AND HOW EACH OF THEM FELT FROM THEIR POV’S ABOUT THE EVENTS OF THAT PETRIFYING DAY AND HOW IT IMPACTED THEM AND HOW IT IMPACTS THEM NOW THAT THEY’RE A COUPLE??????

[lover-of-mine]

Hi Anna!!! I have a question for you. I came across a gifset of 6x09, the phone call where Buck tells Hen, Chim, and Eddie about the baby. Eddie sure didn't stick around for that conversation! He's visibly a bit bothered by it, but he doesn't say anything. And I think that's because he's trying not to steer Buck in any direction now like previous events, but I just think he has SOMETHING to say about it! Anyway, do you think he would bring it up at any point and would it create problems for Buddie?

Muah!

Hi, baby <3

Okay, long story short: unless the baby becomes a thing that's actively harming Buck, I don't think Eddie is gonna say anything. It's done, the baby exists, he is not a possibility, he is an actual human out in the world so whatever feelings he may have about whether or not that was a good idea don't matter, because he's not an idea anymore. And even if we end up with buddie and somehow that kid becomes a conversation topic, it's not Eddie's place to say Buck shouldn't have done it, and he knows it, I think that's why he acts the way he acts towards it, he knows it's not his place. I can see Eddie snapping if it becomes something that's creating problems for Buck that he refuses to acknowledge but using it to create problems between them would be just stirring up drama with the least interesting thing they could pull from the deck of buddie drama, because Eddie would never actively try to hurt Buck more by bringing this kid into the conversation.

And regarding the whole thing while the baby is still just a concept, Eddie likes to push against the line of thought Buck is trapped in, sometimes because he's actually about to give some solid advice, sometimes maybe just because he's testing how set on this way Buck is. He only found out about the donation once it was a done deal, Buck had a lot of time to sit and think about it by the time he finds out, considering Eddie finds out right as Buck is about to make the donation, and Buck never goes to him to talk about that, so even though is pretty clear he thinks Buck is making a mistake, Buck never asked for his opinion while it would change anything, so he just ignores whatever concerns he may have.

I think Eddie has a better perspective on what being a parent means to Buck than Hen does because while we like to say the whole team knows, we don't really have that many scenes with Buck and Chris with the whole crew, so Eddie is really the only one watching Buck be a parent on a regular basis, and the question Hen asks, the "can you be a father and walk away" is the real thing that could create problems because one, Eddie is a father who walked away, he went to war and he did come back, but even he admits he ran when he was in the army, and two because he's been watching Buck not walk away for years, so he knows if Buck gets too involved, he's not gonna be able to walk away, and that's the concern I think. Sure, there's the fear that Buck is just believing the whole "they had me for parts" and is giving away even more of himself, and problems that the donation could bring for Buck on a bigger scale, but I think specifically with 6x09, Eddie is listening to Buck refer to himself as a father to a child he will have no involvement raising and he's worried Buck is gonna crash from that too hard if he keeps thinking about it the way he is, but he also thinks Buck doesn't want his opinion, because he never asked, and now the baby is real, so he backs away.

[sageofthestrange]

✿

bold for things i could definitely see or want, italics for things i could see or am unsure of and striked out for things i don’t want or cannot see.

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  /[your muse] is the good influence  /[your muse] is the bad influence  /[my muse] is the good influence  /[my muse] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other

ROMANCE.     childhood sweethearts  /[your muse is mines] childhood crush  /[my muse is yours] childhood crush  /  exes  /  exes to lovers  /  forbidden lovers  /  highschool sweethearts  /  secret relationship  /  opposites attract  /  long distance  /  unrequited [from your muses side]/  unrequited [from my muses side]/  unrequited [from both sides]/  skinny love  /  friends to lovers  /  enemies to lovers  /  spurious relationship  /  power couple  /  newly entered  /  soulmates [ metaphorical ]/  soulmates  [ literal ]/  awkward  /  turning toxic (only in Godhood Path)  /  toxic love (only in Godhood Path)  /  cheating [on your muse]/  cheating [with your muse]/  other

FAMILIAL.     siblings [half]/  siblings [step]/[my muse] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  /[my muse] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  /[my muse] is a parental figure to yours  /[my muse] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  /[your muse] is taken under mines wing  /[my muse] is taken under yours wing  /  other

ANTAGONISTIC.     dangerous to each other  /  dangerous to others  /  unpredictable  /  rivals  /  petty  /  developing into sexual or romantic tension  /  based off family matters  /  based of off circumstance  /  based of professional matters  /  based off misunderstanding or lies  /  conflict of ideology  /  betrayal  /  hero - villain dynamic  /  enemies  /  fight club  /  friends turned enemies  /  lovers turned enemies  /  exes turned enemies  /  other 

[youmustfixyourheartt]

fucked up what happened to mike crew.