#andrei nikolaevich bolkonsky

[araiz-zaria]

This was a quick painting, and it looks like it too. (Then again, "quick" is relative, in this case I finished this within around 2,5 hours, so your mileage may vary 🙃).

Instead of the usual brushpen (filled with chinese ink), I used my fountain pen to line it this time (which is now filled with the 54th Massachusetts ink! 😏💙✨), since it behaves so well on this paper I painted on 😅😆🙈. Not too shabby I say, though I prefer my usual choice. I can definitely use this for invoking a different mood than usual...👀

[medicine-and-molly]

guy who’s only ever read gay fanfic: this 19th century russian novel reminds me of gay fanfic. pierre and andrei are fucking btw

[incorrectlit]

Andrei: You call it a near death experience, I call it a vibe check from god.

Natasha: What did the doctor call it?

Andrei: Irreparable gastrointestinal damage.

[princeandreis]

prince andrei (book ii part 2 chapter xi): to live for myself... that is all my wisdom now

prince andrei, right after meeting natasha (book ii part 3 chapter iii): my life is not only for myself

[ivlietcapvlet]

Friendly reminder that Andrei was not, in fact, fighting in the war during the year that he and Natasha were engaged

He was vacationing in Rome

[personnages]

(In a super fun twist of fate, tumblr won’t let me update my muse page - it claims I’m using either invalid html or javascript, which... I’m pretty sure I’m not. But while I figure that out, Lise’s bio is going to be under the cut.)

Elisabeth Sophia Meinen was born on March 15th, 1785, in Kaunas in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to a Karl Meinen, a Baltic German nobleman, and his wife Alexandra, a Lithuanian mother who was a member of the minor Astikaitė noble family. The Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Poland existed in union as a commonwealth and Polish influences had already taken over much of Lithuania, but their three children were raised in a household that, for the most part, positioned itself as a Lithuanian one.

Even so, the children were given German names and learned Polish and Russian in addition to Lithuanian, French, and German. Lise’s parents recognized that Lithuania was in an uneasy position, encroached upon by all sides. They were right; in 1795, Russia partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Kaunas - Kovno now - becoming part of the Russian Empire.

So Elzė (short for the Lithuanian version of her name, Elžbieta, though her father affectionately called her Liesl) grew up with Russian influence growing stronger and stronger, and with her older brother Alfred off to train at the Imperial artillery academy, she begged to join Petersburg society. Her name now Russianized as Elizaveta Karlovna, Lise delighted in the whirl of Russian high society and flourished. 

It wasn’t long before offers were being made for her hand. Lise finally accepted the suit of Prince Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky, the son of Empress Catherine’s General in Chief. Lise gladly converted from Catholicism to Russian Orthodoxy to marry him, having fallen in love quickly. The happy couple settled in St. Petersburg, and Lise was certain that this was only the start of her long and happy years.

[dcarhcarts]

PRINCE ANDREI NIKOLAEVICH BOLKONSKY and PRINCESS SOFIYA ALEXANDROVNA BOLKONSKAYA

and I could be enough.       and we could be enough.     that would be enough.

[mimismarquez]

i love prince andrei nikolaevich bolkonsky.

[anastcsie-archived]

@princeandrci  --  continued from here

      “ andrei nikolaevich bolkonsky,  don’t you dare turn me away ! ”  she had spent a moment, if a very brief moment, deciding how to respond to such a claim before the words came out of her mouth.  her tone was stern,  as was her face,  both of which softened within an instant.  she hadn’t meant to be so harsh,  and knew that the last thing that he needed was for her to be harsh in this moment.  surely he knows that she cares about him enough to never intentionally be stern with him.  so she clears her throat,  reassembles her composure and takes a step closer to him,  slowly reaching out her hand for him to take,  if he would allow himself that much. 

      in her time getting to know andrei,  she has come to realize certain things about him,  one of which is that he almost seemed to refuse to let anybody near him,  or at the very least past the many,  many walls that he shrouded himself in.  it’s incredibly frustrating,  for all she wants to do is help.  dmitry had been the same way,  once upon a time,  but he had not had so many barriers for her to barge through without a second thought.  

      it has been a trial of patience, letting andrei accept her bit by bit.  she knew that she could not,  would not,  dare to take the same approach with him,  for they were similar in that war had touched them both.  of course, that was where that similarity ended,  but she could still have sympathy for him,  she could still be there for him, when he would let her.  it had taken her time to realize that in moments like these,  she should not be alone,  and had slowly become better at accepting such a thing.  it had been andrei who taught her that.  now,  ironically,  it was he that wasn’t able to follow through on his own teaching. 

      “ andrei... please.  let me stay.  i want to stay.  i wouldn’t even have to sleep in your bed,  i...  i could have someone bring a spare twin mattress in here for me,  or i could make myself a little nest in an armchair or by the fireplace !  i know better than anybody else in this palace that when someone is like this that they shouldn’t be alone. ”  another step or two forward  ( she’s hoping for the fact that he will stay as still as he so often does, otherwise this slow approach would all be for nothing ).  her arm had dropped in those steps, but now her fingers brush his own,  lightly enough to maybe not even be there,  a mere figment of his imagination.  still,  she does not break eye contact.  she’s determined  --  it’s one of her more admirable qualities. 

      “ normally,  i would pull rank here.  say i’m a grand duchess and that i order you to let me stay,  but i won’t.  not tonight.  it’s your choice, ultimately.  but i’ll just keep coming up with ways to make you let me stay anyway.  i want to stay,  truly.  please, andryusha.  let me stay. ”

[kingrenly]

andrierretasha soulmate reincarnation au

Every time he sees them, Pierre’s heart stops.

It’s hard not to look. Until he finds them, he’s terrified he’s one of the ones who doesn’t remember--until he realizes that in order to be looking, he must be the one who remembers. And so he keeps his eyes open, looks around corners and in every place imaginable, waiting for the shock, the burn that comes from seeing them, no matter who they are.

This time they are in Russia, in the age of war and imperial might, and when Pierre starts looking, he is friendless and alone. When his half-sisters tease and he hears the mockery from those he does not know, he bites his tongue and keeps his head down, remembering the two from his past, begging the forces of nature, of God, to send them his way.

All he can do is wait, and rely on the memories.

He meets Andrei first, at a gathering for some count or prince--perhaps even the tsar himself, it doesn’t matter, and Pierre doesn’t remember. He only remembers sitting alone, drinking a glass of wine, wishing he was anywhere else.

And then someone calls out: Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonsky, his son Prince Andrei Nikolaevich, and his daughter Princess Marya Nikolaevna.

Pierre sees an older man, prideful and haughty, and his daughter, slight, with a kind face, but he does not pay any attention to them. He is on fire the second he sees the dark-haired prince, standing tall in the entrance of the ballroom. He does not smile; his gaze is observant and almost cold as he looks around. He looks over Pierre and does not recognize him. It hurts, a twinge, but it fills Pierre with the same hope he gets in most lifetimes--the knowledge that the man he loves is here, is alive, is with him in this lifetime.

Later that night someone introduces them, someone Pierre knows he owes his life to, and he looks up into the handsome face, and sees everything. He sees the French princeling who held his hand as they walked through Burgundy; he sees the English merchant, waving and smiling from the docks of his ship, who always smelled like linens and lavender; he sees the vandal king they would now call barbarian, who always looked over a battlefield with such calculation, who always sat next to Pierre by the fire. And in this life, Pierre bows his head and says, “Prince Andrei Nikolaevich. I--I am honored.”

The man, his love, Andrei, he is Andrei now, smiles for the first time all night and mirrors Pierre’s gesture. “Pyotr Kirilovich. I have met your father several times, and I am glad to meet you as well.”

“Pierre,” Pierre blurts out, and feels himself blush. “Please, call me Pierre.”

Andrei smiles, and Pierre could cry, knowing that he has at least one chance in this life for happiness.

Meeting Natasha is different, but then again, she always is.

She is still half a child, but Pierre knows her at once, as always. Her dark eyes are the eyes of the queen, the one who always laughed and gifted him pounds of jewels every week; the artists, who sat on the balcony for hours just painting, who was always just content with having him sit there; the performer who twirled and leapt across the stage, who always took his breath away with her voice.

But she is thirteen, and more concerned with her brother and cousin than him, and he knows that she does not recognize him. He knows that she does not care about his dead father, his new wealth, all the reasons that have brought him to her home. Logic, facts, reason make no difference when the old count Ilya Andreich smiles, looking at her, and says, “My daughter, Natalya.”

Natalya. The name is beautiful in Pierre’s mind, and he remembers everyone she has been, and he pictures who she will be in a few years. I have found both of them, both of them in just a few years. I am the luckiest man on earth.

She dances like she did a generation before, but she still has the bravery of a child as Pierre sees her spinning and laughing in her own home, her cousin behind her, trying to keep up. Her eyes are bright when she runs up to him for the first time, half out of breath, and says excitedly, “Mama told me to ask you to dance.”

Pierre could not help but smile, though he said, “I’m afraid I’ll confuse the figures, but if you’d like to be my teacher…”

Her smile is radiant, and from the moment the music starts it is evident that she loves the dance. Pierre is hardly dancing; he watches her as she laughs and spins, and his heart is completely full.

Andrei. Natalya. Two more names to remember. The names are like magic, like music, and Pierre sings them to himself for the rest of the night. Andrei. Natalya. Andrei. Natalya.

Pierre allows himself to be happy, truly happy, for perhaps the first time in this lifetime.

[andryuska]

HEADCANON MEME

when you’re done, remember to tag five people and to repost and not reblog.

_________________________

muse’s full name: andrei nikolaevich bolkonsky

muse’s nickname(s): andre, andryusha

one picture you like with your muse’s fc:

one gif (if applicable) you like with your muse’s fc: ( quietly borrows from the dual promo happinessgifted made )

three headcanons for your muse:

i. the phrase “ like father, like son ” especially applies to the men of the bolkonsky family, and just as andrei is like his father, andrei’s son nikolai is very much like him. especially as his son gets older, andrei begins to see these traits in him, and he finds it very worrying ---- he knows his mistakes and could never be at peace knowing his son might repeat the foolish things he has done.

ii. andrei has a particularly tired way of moving; every step he takes can seem unenthusiastic, and he is very deliberate with his actions. this gives him the appearance of always seeming exhausted or disinterested in a situation. this really only goes away a few times ( with natasha in particular ).

iii. though he lived long before this writer’s time, andrei would have agreed very much with the political theory on conservatism by michael oakeshott; he doesn’t like the idea of government or people working toward overall ideals, but sees instead that it is more important to focus on practical and functional changes, meant to fix existing problems in the system. socially with politics, however, he’s quite apathetic, and prefers to think about matters of state security and foreign policy ( social policies tend to bore him, though he can be very opinionated about them ).

three things your muse likes doing in their free time:

i. reading political and military theory, and criticizing it as he goes along, of course.

ii. engaging in debates with pierre about almost much anything ---- even if they disagree, he likes the intellectual challenge his friend can give him.

iii. organizing papers in various ways ---- putting things in order is calming and appeals to his sense of orderliness.

five people whom your muse loves/likes/respects:

i. princess marya. his sister, and someone with whom he has a very complicated relationship, masha is someone who andrei trusts unequivocally, even if he at times can be critical of her, and often fails to listen to her advice. due to their shared experience in growing up, he feels that she understands him to some degree, and likes that she is a familiar person who he knows, and does not have to be careful around.

ii. pierre. his best friend and most trusted confidant. whether it’s for a debate or to speak about something that’s happened in his life, pierre is often the first or second person andrei will go to. though their relationship grows more tense as time goes on, especially after his break with natasha, andrei cares a lot about pierre. they’re also intellectually well matched, which makes for enjoyable conversations on theoretical topics.

iii. natasha ( for a little bit ). for the short while that they are together, natasha changes andrei for the better. he admires and adores her youth and happiness, and sees her as a representation of all that is good in the world. her refusal of him completely breaks his heart, yet he continues to love her, until his death.

iv. sonya. though they are not close, andrei sees how protective sonya is of natasha, and for that he appreciates her. even if it’s hardly shown, he does in some way care for her happiness, and as with natasha, says she ought to go to pierre if ever she needs help.

v. prince nikolai bolkonsky. his father, and despite some disagreement between them politically, someone he goes to with his emotions, especially after the death of liza and the birth of his son.

two fond memories:

i. the first time andrei heard natasha sing, he was brought to tears, and the memory of it still makes him smile, albeit sadly. of all his good memories of her, this is one of his fondest.

ii. the first time his father told him he was proud of him, regarding his studies. getting the old prince’s approval has since stop mattering to him, but as a child, he cared a lot about it at the time.

one thing that makes you sad about your muse:

i. the fact that as his life goes on, he slowly becomes more and more emotionally isolated, and more disillusioned with everything in life. he eventually cannot find happiness in living with his family in society, and in response ends up back in the war, which he doesn’t enjoy or agree with either.

one thing that makes you happy about your muse:

i. he never goes so far that he cannot forgive anatole and cannot still love natasha. he at least can forgive everything at the end of his life, and die in peace. ( there are not a lot of happy things about andrei let’s be real )

tagged by: @bolkonskxya

tagging: @dearbewildered @extasiie & i think the rest of the gc squad had been tagged, but y’all as well & really anyone else who wants to!!

[incorrectlit]

Andrei: If I were a gardener, I’d put our tulips together.

Natasha: I love you!

Later...

Anatole: If I were a gardener, you’d be my hoe

Natasha: 😳😍😳😳😍😳😳

[princeandreis]

one of my best friends is reading war & peace for a book club and she thinks andrei’s conceited and doesn’t like him very much i just...... 🤢🤢🤢

[andrei-nikolayevich-bolkonsky]

New URL

i was @laurens-is-dead, but i just changed my URL to @andrei-nikolaevich-bolkonsky. sorry about that!

[wifeofwrath]

What is War?

"If there was none of this magnanimity in war, we should go to war only when it was worth while going to certain death, as now. Then there would not be war because Paul Ivanovich had offended Michael Ivanovich. And when there was a war, like this one, it would be war! And then the determination of the troops would be quite different. Then all these Wesphalians and Hessians whom Napoleon is leading would not follow him into Russia, and we should not go to fight in Austria and Prussia without knowing why. War is not courtesy but the most horrible thing in life; and we ought to understand that and not play at war. We ought to accept this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. It all lies in that: get rid of falsehood and let war be war and not a game. As it is now, war is the favorite pastime of the idle and frivolous. The military calling is the most highly honored.

But what is war? What is needed for success in warfare? What are the habits of the military. The aim of war is murder; the methods of war are spying, treachery, and their encouragement, the ruin of a country's inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to provision the army, and fraud and falsehood termed military craft. The habits of the military class are the absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, debauchery, and drunkenness. And in spire of all this it is the highest class, respected by everyone. All the kings, except the Chinese, wear military uniforms, and he who kills most people receives the highest rewards."

- Prince Andrew, War & Peace: Book Ten

[personnages]

andrei nikolaevich bolkonsky

·  roses / cherry blossoms / orchids / tulips ·  winter / summer / autumn / spring ·  thunderstorms / sunshine / snow ·  indoors / outdoors ·  meat / fruit / sweets · extravagance / traditionalism  / minimalism · god-fearing / non-god-fearing · cats / dogs / horses / birds ·  sunrise / sunset ·  day time / night time ·  fire / earth / water / wind ·  reading / writing ·  rising early / sleeping late ·  wine / ale / neither ·  fur / silk / satin / lace   ·  rubies / pearls / sapphires ·  horse back / walking / carriages · love / power ·  having company / being alone ·  lakes / rivers / oceans · knife / sword / bow / poison ·  gold / silver

tagged by: @dcarhcarts (kinda sorta? xD)

tagging: @gcneralvaganov, @heartlosttravelers (peeta?), @moretreasurewithin (maria?), @fitzhrbrt, @madeinhistory (pierre?) and anyone else who would like to! no obligation to, of course!