#but also Pellinore is a lady TO ME!!!!! HERE!!!

[rocksanddeadflowers]

I know I literally just shit posted about the beast from Pellinore and The Beast but in all seriousness i LOVE picturing the beast like if the Neverbeast from those Tinkerbell movies got Drumbot'd. Do you understand what I mean?? Please??? Beast of iron but!! But like!!! Gentle giant beast!!! It's bark is worst than it's bite so everyone thinks it's violent but it's just building and preparing for slumber or whatever and and ....... Idk it's been a while since I've actually seen Neverbeast but you literally can never forgot those soft sorrowful eyes man.

At the end of the song when Pellinore catches up, aiming her gun, the Beast simply complies. It's hulking form stares down with eyes that speak of eons, of deep wisdom, and an almost deeper sorrow and loneliness. It has no one, so Creation is it's comfort as it walks our waking world. Still, there is a soft kindness there, something that speaks beyond the claws and spikes and plates and teeth, that speaks you are safe with me. Pellinore looks into those eyes, and begins to shake as all at once, she understands.

The Beast bows it's head then, to allow Pellinore to do what she spent forty years of her mortal life in search of. Everything freezes for a moment, and her eyes catch scars - bullet dents, deep scratches - then the things it had built, beauty indescribable, a human heart and soul spills through the crevasses. She lowers her gun, and tears bubble over as it finally slips from her hands to the floor. The Beast looks up slowly, face unchanged as it inches closer, and gently bumps it's head into her, trying to comfort her. A wet laugh escapes her, and they embrace.

[gellavonhamster]

assigning each straw hat pirate a knight of the round table

because I am currently obsessed both with One Piece and Arthuriana; not any kind of serious AU material, just silliness; I Wrote This for Me but You Can Read If You Like

Luffy: Arthur, not due to any similarities in characterization but purely on the functional level - the boy king, the inspirational leader and, as Sun God Nika, a mythical figure believed to return when people need him the most

Zoro: Lancelot, the perfect warrior who embodies that post that's like "it's not my fault that my love language is acts of service and all I know how to do is kill". There is no Queen Guinevere here, so all the undying devotion is aimed at the king instead. Canonically has massive tits. Mihawk is thus implied to be the Lady of the Lake, and I think that's hilarious

Nami: hear me out: Kay. Sharp-tongued, rather cynical, but loyal to a fault to his king/adopted little brother. Nami as part of the Coward Trio vs. Kay being unlucky on quests and generally the butt of the joke. Isn't known to be a great warrior but occupies an important position (navigator vs. seneschal) that keeps the ship/court going. Besides, looking from the opposite direction, I just think Kay deserves to be the hot girl

Usopp: Usopp, sweetie, I'm so sorry, but I gotta say Tristan. Because Tristan is constantly lying about his identity in the most ridiculous manner possible and it somehow works. That part in Le Morte d'Arthur when he's asked what his name is and goes "Tramtrist" and no one suspects a thing even though "Tramtrist" is just "Tristram" with syllables switched around has big Sniper King energy. Also, can't forget the beautiful blonde healer girlfriend

Sanji: oh, that's the easiest one. Gawain. The Maidens' Knight, the ladies' man, a great warrior and one of the king's closest and most trusted men. If you put together Gawain's characterizations from different texts, from SGATGK to Le Morte to the Vulgate & Post-Vulgate to Chrétien de Troyes to everything, you end up with a contradictory character who is simultaneously the best and the worst guy you'll ever meet, which is how I often feel about Sanji, tbh. Would totally fight at a tournament on behalf of a little girl. Has some kind of an epic gay thing with Lancelot

Chopper: Yvain. Son of a sorceress - ah, pardon, a woman of science; associated with animals; known to be nice and kind (the Vulgate Cycle describes him as the one "whose heart will be filled with every kindness"). Occasionally goes insane in the woods (Monster Point), but, like, who doesn't

Robin: try as I might, I can't pull any direct parallels out of my ass, but I do think that narratively she can be seen as kind of a quasi-Mordred. Since her very childhood she was proclaimed to be bad news and expected to eventually cause a catastrophe, but where Mordred, whom no one tries to persuade the prophecy doesn't define him, ends up becoming exactly what he's expected to become, Robin has people who support her and trust her even after witnessing her be the bad guy in the past, so she never becomes the evil others expect her to turn into

Franky: Sagramore the Desirous (or the Unruly, depending on the text/translation) is a big, strong, good-natured knight who probably has low blood sugar needs to have a snack after fighting because otherwise he'll pass out, much like a certain cyborg needs his cola. In the Post-Vulgate, he and Mordred were raised together, which can be linked to Frobin's fates being intertwined since childhood, because I've Connected the Dots (you didn't connect shit)

Brook: I wanted to pick a character of the older generation who nevertheless isn't a mentor figure to Arthur, and I struggle to think of a better option than Pellinore - not the predatory piece of shit in the medieval texts, but the eccentric but loveable old man in Camelot (1967). Brook is also on a quest focused on an extraordinary beast! Only he's not hunting it, he's trying to get back to it because that beast is his friend 🥺

Jinbei: I honestly don't remember if he counts as the Knight of the Round Table, but I am hereby appointing him Ector - Arthur's adoptive father and one of the nicest parental figures in Arthuriana (and probably one of the nicest people in Arthuriana, period). I've also considered Galehaut for the "(partially) non-human ruler who allies himself with Arthur" angle, but that would imply Jinbei/Zoro and I'm not ready to deal with that.

[firstofficerrose]

I just keep thinking about Camlann, and there are two scenarios that I come back to over and over.

Scenario the first: Lancelot. It's not a common name, but it's not totally unheard of either. Lancelot originates in the French romances, I believe, so he would have less power here than characters originating from the Welsh traditions. But Lancelot is genuinely one of my favorite characters in Arthuriana, he's such an absolute disaster mess of a man. He is constantly getting kidnapped and imprisoned, he is a dude in so much distress. He's an incredible fighter. He has (sometimes lengthy) periods of madness. He cannot achieve the grail. He has a thing with Guinevere, and I know that our Gwen is definitely falling for Morgan (which is excellent), but Lancelots are very well suited to pining as well... and there's versions of the story that could even be read as ace or demi, probably. He keeps getting tricked into sleeping with ladies he has no interest in, so you might even have space for Aro Lancelot. There would be power in a link to Guinevere, but I suspect that he could get away with leaning into fealty without romance, you know? Such a juicy space of stories to play with. Such a sopping wet guy. I want Perry and Gwaine having to team up to rescue this dude and having some excellent teeth-clenched teamwork. Do you see my vision here?

Corollary to Scenario the first: Galahad, for many of the same reasons. An even less common name, trickier to pull off, but Galahad being this even-more-incredible fighter might be neat. A lot of what Galahad does falls into the space of miracles, which might not work with Ella's stated intention to avoid living religious traditions, but Galahad is another really interesting character. Achieving the grail through the power of no fap. He's a late addition to the Arthurian stories, and therefore less powerful overall, but I think he would be interesting.

Corollary the second to Scenario the first: Elaine. There are *so* many Elaine's in the Arthurian stories, an Elaine could take almost any role she wanted and that versatility could be extremely useful.

Scenario the second: Robin Hood. This one is relatively easy, because a number of the names from the story (Robin, Marian/Marion, Alan, John, Will) are quite common. This story would be stronger in Nottingham, of course, but can you imagine having this little crew of archery anarchists on your side? It would be excellent. Robin is, in later versions, all about rebellion against a corrupt king or prince, which might give him and his Merry Men a fighting chance against Arthur and the Knights. I want to see it, it sounds great. Also, our group of main characters are casters, a Face, and close-quarters fighters, and in the interest of party composition, I would be happier if we had some longbowmen here. (I know about Perry's crossbow and the spear, but come on, Peredur is a knight in the Mabinogion. He - and therefore Perry - does swords and spears and lances really well, not crossbows.)

Bonus scenario: Pellinor and the Questing Beast. It's been a hot second since I've read Le Morte d' Arthur, but basically the first thing Arthur does after becoming king in that version of the story is run off and go on a quest chasing the Beast for a full year, relieving Pellinor of the quest. I have never heard of anyone named Pellinor outside of these stories, which tells me that he might work better as a monster. You have the Beast and the knight chasing him (Shūjūn mentioned things that looked like Knights and really, really weren't, it could work) as this monster that Arthur and maybe his Knights are all compelled to go chasing, and it gives our little group a break.

[rocksanddeadflowers]

Ooooooo I love this question!!!!!! Okay so I still forget to read the fiction until a specific piece is directly suggested to me BUT song-extras wise, I have many thoughts:

- The Beast from Pellinore And The Beast. Literally so cool. Just out there building shit and being spooky. I want a character design, to see what it builds, and to kiss it on the nose immediately.

- Bashful's(?) unnamed lover. I just. So normal about that.

- The Knave of Hearts. Idk man he's alluring, like deep in my bones I know that, given the altered reality and ambiguous setting of The Mechanisms' Alice, I could probably make him a meow-meow character. (Also I'm just obsessed with the entire cast of characters in Alice. So.)

- Belle and Adam!!! I didn't read their fiction so this is purely bc I loved all the Beauty and the Beast retellings as a kid as I think they sounded really cool in OUAT(IS).

- MARTIN!!!!! Martin from Hereward The Wake!!! Just him!!!!

- The Lady Of The Lake. Like idk she's always been very interesting to me but now she has a gun. Love that.

- BLOGBOT

- the guy in How the Aurora was Won who drunk what Jonny brought and went "Yummy!" (I don't think he actually said that but it's how it read to me I won't take criticism either)

- Persephone. I don't think we actually get a Persphone in UDAD fiction (tell me if I'm wrong tho) but I am adamantly for Tim Persphone bc it's fun. But even if not Tim I'm rather curious about a UDAD Persphone period.

- Ulysses's wife <3 and the possibility of Argos, whether a physical thing or just a literary device

I also literally just want fiction for TBI so bad. I would've jump to read those if they got around to them (though I fully understand that they probably couldn't at the time) bc I'm so curious about their version of Norse Myths, especially for some of my favorite figures:

- Fenrir and Tyr!! How did their story play out, if Tyr lost his hand by blade, not teeth? What are they like? Their designs?? I have a lot of unidentifiable feelings about them from the myths.

- Heimdall!!!! Just Heimdall!!! More of him please!!!! He's so!!!!!

- KVASIR THE MAN THE MYTH MY FAVORITE GUY what was his poetry like?? Was he as well know and beloved as before or as easily forgotten from large society as tends to be fate for Skalds? Also I like to believe Sigyn and Loki were somewhat close to him in TBI it just sounds nice.

- if Loki and Sigyn are together here, did Odin have Frigg? Did Thor have Sif? What were they like?

I'm certain there's more for me to write but this is already a bit much and I can't think of the rest rn but !!! There's just so much lore and characters !!! I love it here there's so much

Alright but who’s your favourite obscure mechs character? I’m talking Mr Greyditch obscure. General Tuco obscure. Not even named in the actual song obscure.

[28onlythebrave]

'The Wicked Powers' theory regarding the plot based on Arthurian legend

I was looking for some infos about twp and i found this:

I had completely forgotten about this info CC gave us and because I have recently studied the Arthurian legend, I decided to look more into it. I think one of the most interesting things about the Arthurian legend is the Sword In The Stone/Excalibur.

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone (the proof of Arthur's lineage) are in some versions said to be different, though in most incarnations they are the same. In Welsh, it is called Caledfwlch. It was forged at the Isle of Avalon.

In Arthurian romance, a number of explanations are given for Arthur's possession of Excalibur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, the first tale to mention the "sword in the stone", Arthur obtained the British throne by pulling a sword from an anvil sitting atop a stone that appeared in a churchyard on Christmas Eve. In this account, as foretold by Merlin, the act could not be performed except by "the true king," meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. As Malory related in his most famous English-language version of the Arthurian tales, the 15th-century Le Morte d'Arthur: "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born." After many of the gathered nobles try and fail to complete Merlin's challenge, the teenage Arthur (who up to this point had believed himself to be son of Sir Ector, not Uther's son, and went there as Sir Kay's squire) does this feat effortlessly by accident and then repeats it publicly.

The identity of this sword as Excalibur is made explicit in the Prose Merlin, part of the Lancelot-Grail cycle of French romances (the Vulgate Cycle). In the Vulgate Mort Artu, when Arthur is at the brink of death he orders Griflet to throw the sword into the enchanted lake; after two failed attempts (as he felt such a great sword should not be thrown away), Griflet finally complies with the wounded king's request and a hand emerges from the lake to catch it. This tale becomes attached to Bedivere instead of Griflet in Malory and the English tradition. However, in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently Malory, early in his reign Arthur breaks the Sword from the Stone while in combat against King Pellinore, and then is given Excalibur by a Lady of the Lake in exchange for a later boon for her (some time later, she arrives at Arthur's court to demand the head of Balin). Malory records both versions of the legend in his Le Morte d'Arthur, naming both swords as Excalibur. In some tellings, Excalibur's scabbard was also said to have powers of its own, as any wounds received while wearing the scabbard would not bleed at all, thus preventing the death of the wearer. For this reason, Merlin chides Arthur for preferring the sword over the scabbard, saying that the latter was the greater treasure. In the later romance tradition, including Le Morte d'Arthur, the scabbard is stolen from Arthur by his half-sister Morgan le Fay in revenge for the death of her beloved Accolon during the Fake Excalibur plot and thrown into a lake, never to be found again. This act later enables the death of Arthur, deprived of magical protection, many years later in his final battle.

Now, do you see the connections there?

The sword

There are many important swords in tsc such as, Cortana, Heosphoros, Pheosphoros and The Mortal Sword.

Cortana is based on the legendary sword Curtana, attributed to Ogier the Dane and the legendary knight Tristan. The real sword, Curtana, also known as the "Sword of Mercy", is a ceremonial sword used at the coronation of British kings and queens and is one of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Cortana is owned by Emma Carstairs.

Heosphoros is a family sword of the Morgensterns, Clary was in possession of it until she used it to kill Sebastian and the Heavenly Fire destroyed it. However, both Heosphoros and Pheosphoros (which was owned by Valentine and then Sebastian) still exist in Thule and Janus is in possession of both of them, in fact, Heosphoros was likely never even owned by the Clary Fairchild of that world, nor was it used on Sebastian. Janus took possession of the sword at one point and began to wield it, and then he took the sword and Sebastian's Phaesphoros with him to Ash’s world (aka the “real” world).

The Mortal Sword also known as the Soul-Sword, Maellartach, and Angel Blade, is the second of the Mortal Instruments given by Angel Raziel to Jonathan Shadowhunter. The Soul-Sword is primarily used to compel Nephilim to tell the truth, mostly during trials. Shadowhunters who wish to have their claims tested and proved may submit themselves to "trial by the Sword," during which a suitable judge, often a Silent Brother, sometimes the Consul or Inquisitor, wields the sword and places it in the hands of the deponent, where it adheres and cannot be removed until the judge wills it. Downworlders and mundanes cannot be compelled by the Soul-Sword, thus preventing the Sword from becoming used by the Shadowhunters as a general tool for interrogation.

The Sword can also have a dark purpose, if intended. Originally, the alliance of the Soul-Sword is seraphic, its power drawn from Angel Raziel himself. However, Valentine Morgenstern discovered an ancient spell to reverse the alliance from angelic to demonic, through a process called the Ritual of Infernal Conversion, where the Sword is seethed until red-hot and cooled four times in the blood of Downworld children: a child of Lilith, a child of the moon, a child of the night, and a child of the fey. With its demonic alliance, the Sword can be used to summon demons and allows its bearer to have control over them.

In September 2012, the Sword was used to question Annabel Blackthorn, who subsequently used it to kill Robert Lightwood and Livvy Blackthorn. It was shattered when Emma struck it with Cortana. Emma and Julian later acquired a version of the sword from Thule, claiming that the Iron Sisters had repaired it and used it to force Horace Dearborn to tell the truth about his involvement with the Unseelie Court and his schemes to gain the position of Consul.

I believe that in twp we will see more of Heosphoros and Pheosphoros in use, but I also think we’ll have a new enchanted weapon, one that will rapresent Excalibur. But if the sword is a parallel with Excalibur, then who is Arthur? In my opinion, the owner of this enchanted weapon will be Kit Herondale and let me tell you why. Arthur was a normal teenage boy who wasn’t aware of his lineage until he pulled the sword out of an anvil. We have three main characters in twp, Kit, Ty and Dru. Guess who is the only one who didn’t know he was a shadowhunter and wasn’t aware of his lineage? Kit. Also, the Arthurian legend is Welsh folklore. Which shadowhunter family is of Welsh orings? Yeah, the Herondales.

I assume The Mortal Sword will once again come in hand, except that this time it's a thule version of it. Also, the only other person who has an analogue arc to Kit's is Clary, and that's why I think the both of them will play a big role in the killing of Janus. Especially if you think about when Jace was once killed with the mortal sword by Valentine.

The lake

In a version of the legend where the sword of the stone and Excalibur are two different blades, Arthur breaks the sword of the stone and is given Excalibur by the Lady of the Lake at the enchanted lake.

The correlation here is obvious, the enchanted lake in tsc is Lake Lyn, also known as the mortal mirror of mortal glass. Ingesting the lake's waters can be poisonous to Nephilim, but it has no effect on Downworlders. Faeries have been known to drink from the lake, saying that it gives them true vision; for the Nephilim, the water causes hallucinations and may even drive them to madness. Among the Fair Folk, the lake is known as the Lake of Dreams or Mirror of Dreams.

The Lady of the Lake is a name used by several fairy-like enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. They play pivotal roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.

The Lady resides in an enchanted realm, an otherworld the entry to which is disguised as an illusion of a lake. I think she may be in fact the Seelie Queen. It would make total sense for it to be her because of her correlation with Kit (the only known living descendant of the First Heir of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts), Ash Morgenstern (the son she had with Sebastian, who is half shadowhunter and half faerie) and Janus (whom she has an alliance with).

According to her backstory in the Vulgate Merlin, the Lady of the Lake was a daughter of the knight Dionas (Dyonas) and a niece of the Duke of Burgundy. She was born in Dionas' domain of Briosque in the forest Brocéliande. Which takes us to the next point.

The forest

Brocéliande, earlier known as Brécheliant and Brécilien, is a legendary enchanted forest that had a reputation in the medieval European imagination as a place of magic and mystery. Brocéliande is featured in several medieval texts, mostly related to the Arthurian legend and the characters of Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and some of the Knights of the Round Table.

Here too the correlation is obvious, the forest in Idris is called Brocelind. In September 2012, a portion, specifically the center, of the Brocelind Forest was blighted with dark magic by the forces of the Unseelie King, making the area a space where Nephilim runes and adamas-weapons would be ineffective. Making it, in fact, an echanted forest, like in the legend.

Soooo these were some of my thoughts, if you found something more please let me know cause I really like all of this lol.

[banashee]

I wasn't tagged but @sinister--potato said who feels like it should join in so here I am. 😁

Rules: you can usually tell a lot about a person by the type of music they listen to. put your favourite playlist on shuffle and list the first ten songs then tag ten people!

And once again I'm having too much fun to stop at 10.

Also I'm tagging whoever wants to do this, as well as you Folks (no pressure tho)

@stufenlosregelbar @asamandra @hopelessly-me @lilolilyr @spectralarchers @cruciatusforeplay

1) The Longest Johns - "Ashes"

2) Wardruna - "Helvegen"

4) Lebanon Hanover - "Hard Drugs (Qual Remix)

5) The Last Dance - "Frozen"

6) The Devil and the Universe - "Black Harvest"

7) The Weekend - "Blinding Lights"

8) Boy Harsher - "Pain"

9) Clan of Xymox - "It's all a lie"

10) Bauhaus - "Telegram Sam"

11) The Mechanisms - "Laid in Blood"

12) Lacuna Coil - "End of Time"

13) New Today - "Savior dot com"

14) Frayle - "If you Stay"

15) Lebanon Hanover - "Gallowdance"

16) The Beauty of Gemina - "Trapped"

17) The Mechanisms - "Sigyn"

18) Project Pitchfork - "Drums of Death"

19) The Real McKenzies - "Old Becomes New"

20) The Mechanisms - "Sunrise"

21) Lebanon Hanover - "Dark Hill"

22) Clan of Xymox - "Stranger"

23) Sunrise and the Banshees - "The Killing Jar"

24) The Cure - "Hey You"

25) Faith and the Muse - "Plaguedance"

26) The Sisters of Mercy - "Body and Soul"

27) Lebanon Hanover - "Petals"

28) Lebanon Hanover - "Du Scrollst"

29) Rammstein - "Sonne"

30) Fields of the Nephilim - "Last Exit for the Lost"

31) The Beauty of Gemina - "Kingdom of Cancer"

32) Brandi Carlile - "What can I say"

33) The Wailin' Jennys - "Keep me in your heart"

34) This Cold Night - "Self-deception"

35) Project Pitchfork - "Contract"

36) Bootblacks - "Gone"

37) Murder by Death - "The Big Sleep"

38) Wind Rose - "To Erebor"

39) Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Cities in Dust"

40) Amon Amarth - "Live for the Kill"

41) The Invincible Spirit - "Push!"

42) Clan of Xymox - "Weak in my knees"

43) The Mechanisms - "Pellinore and the beast"

44) Ashbury Heights - "Hollow"

45) Lady Gaga - "Dance in the Dark"

46) Paralysed Age - "Days that are gone"

47) Paradise Lost - "Symbol of Life"

48) The Longest Johns - "Wellerman"

49) Creux Lies - "Virginity"

50) Whispering Sons - "Waste"

51) New Today - "Girl High"

52) Editors - "No Sound but the wind"

53) She Past Away - "Sanri (Clan of Xymox Mix)

54) Xmal Deutschland - "Incubus Succubus II"

55) Project Pitchfork - "Timekiller"

56) Lebanon Hanover - "Hollow Sky"

57) The Last Dance - "Winter"

58) Selofan - "Black Box"

59) Specimen - "Wake the dead"

60) Then Comes Silence - "Animals"

61) The Sisters of Mercy - "Burn"

62) The Beauty of Gemina - "This Time"

63) Depeche Mode - "No More"

64) The Beauty of Gemina - "Haddon Hall"

65) The Devil and the Universe - "Belief Manipulation"

66) Melodicka Bros - "Enjoy the Silence (way too loud)

67) This Cold Night - "Time Bomb"

68) Switchblade Symphony - "Bad Trash"

69) (nice) The Mechanisms - "Rose Red"

70) Faith and the Muse - "Patience Worth (Piano Version)

71) Diva Destruction - "The Broken Ones"

72) Diva Destruction - "Dance Remix of Trees"

73) Lebanon Hanover - "Hall of ice"

74) Generation X - "Dancing with myself"

75) Creux Lies - "Tsavo"

76) Wind Rose - "We were warriors"

77) The Sisters of Mercy - "Dominion/Mother Russia"

78) Faithful Dawn - "She Falls down"

79) The Longest Johns - "Geberal Taylor"

80) The Real McKenzies - "The Ballad of Greyfriars Bobby"

81) Drab Majesty - "Forget Tomorrow"

82) Deine Lakaien - "The Executioner"

83) Clan of Xymox - "Louise"

84) The Last Dance - "Desperately Still"

85) The Cure - "Plainsong"

86) Clan of Xymox - "She is falling in love"

87) Soft Kill - "On the inside"

88) Amon Amarth - "The Hero"

89) Drab Majesty - "Kissing the Ground"

90) Cold Cave - "Life Magazine"

91) The Sisters of Mercy - "Marian"

92) Assemble 23 - "Outsider"

93) Nightwish - "Dead Boys Poem"

94) Dynazty - "The Man and the Elements"

95) The Real McKenzies - "Too Many Fingers"

96) Lebanon Hanover - "Gravity Sucks"

97) Specimen - "Lovers"

98) Jeremy Renner - "Stereo Love"

99) Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"

100) Social Station - "All I ask"

101) die ärzte - "Geisterhaus"

102) Social Station - "Endlessly"

103) Kirlian Camera - "Celephias"

104) ES23 - "Only Melodies Remain"

105) Wardruna - "Kvitravn"

106) Volbeat - "The Devils Bleeding Crown"

107) Faith and the Muse - "Rise and Forget"

108) Sopor Aeternus - "Beautiful"

109) Faith and the Muse - "The Woman of the Snow"

110) Wardruna - "Thurs"

111) Sopor Aeternus - "Goodbye"

112) The Sisters of Mercy - "Train"

113) This Cold Night - "Dog"

114) Paradise Lost - "Primal"

115) Danheim - "Hringras"

116) Amon Amarth - "On a sea of blood"

117) Vandal Moon - "Computer Love"

118) Paradox Obscur - "Broken Lies"

119) Paralysed Age - "Your coldest smile"

120) Whispers in the Shadow - "The Rites of Passage"

121) Delphine Coma - "Is this forever"

122) Brandi Carlile - "I'll still be there"

123) She pleasures herself - "The Weeping"

124) The Devil and the Universe - "Elousa"

125) Ashbury Heights - "Cry Havoc"

126) The Beauty of Gemina - "June 2nd"

127) Hapax - "A Tank for Alex"

128) Clan of Xymox - "Heroes (Cover)"

129) Faith and the Muse - "A Winter Wassail"

130) Lacuna Coil - "Kill the Light"

131) The Beauty of Gemina - "Suicide Landscape"

132) Bootblacks - "New Lines"

133) Deine Lakaien - "Because Because"

134) Clan of Xymox - "All I ever know"

135) The Beauty of Gemina - "Wonders"

136) Lebanon Hanover - "No one holds hands"

137) The Mechanisms - "Underworld Blues"

138) Faith and the Muse - "Scars Flown Proud"

139) die ärzte - "Der Graf"

140) Faith and the Muse - "Denn die Toten reiten schnell"

141) Whispering Sons - "Fragments"

142) Inkubus Sukkubus - "Memento Mori"

143) Wardruna - "IngwaR"

144) Boy Harsher - "Come Closer"

145) Danheim - "imar"

146) Drab Majesty - "Hath no Form"

147) Echoberyl - "Into the beyond"

148) Inkubus Sukkubus - "Beltaine"

149) Volbeat - "Mr. & Mrs. Ness"

150) Clan of Xymox - "Home sweet home"

151) This Cold Night - "Circuits"

152) Alien Sex Fiend - "Now I'm feeling zombified"

153) Spear of Destiny - "Liberator"

154) The Last Dance - "World Down"

155) Diva Destruction - "Subterfuge"

156) Esoterik - "Set Fire to me"

157) Tribulation - "Cauda Pavonis"

158) Esoterik - "Cup of Life"

159) Leo - "Monstermash (Metal Version)

160) Epica - "Our Destiny"

161) Nightwish - "Wishmaster Live"

162) Lebanon Hanover - "Your Fork Moves"

163) Brotherhood - "Rain"

164) Twin Tribes - "Upir"

165) Kamelot - "Under Grey Skies"

166) Paralysed Age - "Nocturne"

167) She Past Away - "Ritüel"

168) Twin Tribes - "Avalon (Bootblacks Mix)"

169) Bella Morte - "Dead of Night"

170) Drab Majesty - "Entrance and Exits"

171) Pink Turns Blue - "Your Master is calling"

172) Soviet Soviet - "Ecstasy"

173) Suspiria - "Graveyard of the undead"

174) The Cure - Just like heaven

175) Kamelot - "Abandoned (live)"

176) Amon Amarth - "Blood Eagle"

177) The Sisters of Mercy - "1969"

178) Pink Turns Blue - "Walking on both sides"

179) Shad Shadows - "The Grace"

180) Plastique Noir - "Rose of Flesh and Blood"

181) Epica - "Unchain Utopia"

182) Pink Turns Blue - Missing You

183) The Last Dance - "Regret"

184) Rosetta Stone - "Come Hell or high water"

185) Beast in Black - "No Easy Way Out"

186) Bauhaus - "Hollow Hills"

187) Breaking Benjamin - "Breath"

188) Vandal Moon - "We are electric"

189) Lyca - "Drifting"

190) Lebanon Hanover - "Bring your own wine"

191) Saigon Blue Rain - "Pearly Haze"

192) The Other - "Skeletons in the Closet"

193) Eluveitie - "Belenos"

194) Box and the Twins - "Lovesong for a Ghost"

195) Wind Rose - "Diggy Diggy Hole"

196) The Cure - "A Forest"

197) The Other - "Back to the Cemetery"

198) Storm Weather Shanty Choir - "A Hundred Years"

199) Box and the Twins - "Gravity"

200) Ash Code - "Empty Room"

[c0rpsedemon]

hnoc's crimes, a non-comprehensive list:

- not enough palomydes (i like him, he's very polite and i think he should get to hold hands with tristan and isolde (the irish one), he wasn't mentioned once)

- killing off both tristan and bedivere in one sentence (the two original variants of tristan's death were sooo sexy. and this? this wasn't. also bedevere usually lives and there's a narrative significance to bedevere being the last survivor of camelot. plus the like,,, one story i know of where he does die, there's a patroclus parallel there, they could have at least given me that)

- the two isoldes aren't even mentioned (they hate to see girlbosses winning)

- spelled ywain "uwain", kei "kay", and gawaine "gawain" (self explanatory)

- only had one ywain (there are over ten)

- old galahad (he's supposed to be a 15 year old who thinks he's better than everyone morally and kins jesus christ and has an eyestrain carrd filled with religious imagery and may or may not bite people)

- lancelot x arthur bad (alright this is a more serious one but lancelot couldn't be paid to care about arthur, like at all, his feelings range from disinterest to dislike, but more importantly arthur was like,,, 30,,, when lancelot was born and it was even said in the vulgate that arthur viewed him as a son)

- lancelot x guinnevere bad (alright this is bc medieval authors hated women and shouldn't be carried over to modern works but she was SO bad to him)

- arthur x guinnevere bad (HE TRIED TO KILL HER!!! REPEATEDLY!!!)

- the mechs don't know what a broadside ballad is (pellinore and the beast is described as one. it isn't)

- gawain (self explanatory)

- how DARE you separate mordred's betrayal from the deaths of his brothers, how DARE you make him betray anyone before gawain dies, how dare you make him oppose gawain, how DARE you portray mordred as the sympathetic and rational brother (demonstrates clear misunderstanding of mordred's character)

- where the fuck are the other orkneys, you don't understand gawaine or mordred's motivations, fuck you (namedropping gaheriet doesn't count, he's two separate characters by the end of the tradition)

- no galehaut (the most canon queer character in the tradition who?)

- story beats Bad (the grail quest had nothing to do with the fall of camelot it was elayne of astolat's death that caused it!!!! this is elayne of astolat erasure!!!)

- clearly based on pop culture a.rthuriana (pop culture a.rthuriana sucks)

- has clear th wh*te influence (seen in the existence of pendragon polycule and use of the phrase "once and future king", th wh*te was,,, very shitty to put it mildly and i don't want to trigger tag this post)

- has clear m*deline z*mmer br*dley influence (morgan as mordred's mother, once again i don't want to trigger tag this post but she's genuinely a monster and i hope she's rotting in hell)

- fridged morgan (what the fuck dude, she doesn't even die in ANY of the original texts)

- morgan as mordred's mother (i'm pretty sure they only speak to each other in like,,, one text, and even then they're part of a bigger group)

- ygraine as mordred's mother/arthur's lover (what the fuck dude THAT'S ARTHUR'S MOM)

- i hate pellinore's ass don't give him his own song (i don't want to trigger tag this, you could've given the song to palomydes and it'd have the same effect AND make the slightest bit more sense)

- guinnevere doesn't even vaguely resemble medieval guinnevere (she's a political genius ready to step in as regent at a moment's notice!! her role is strategist not gunslinger and she dhouldn't have to be able to fight to be seen as strong!! if you wanted a woman strong in the fighting sense there was morgan!! or sebile!! or even lynnette!!)

- arthur was a dick in the original (arthur was a dick in the original)

- villainized ladies of the lake (nimue/ninniane's only crime was what? sealing away merlin when he tried to [redacted bc i don't want to trigger tag this], she was obviously in the right!! vivviane/ninniane's only crime was kidnapping baby lancelot but she didn't know any better and he was fine with it!! (ninniane was proto-vivviane/nimue from the vulgate))

- merlin was a [redacted bc trigger tagging] in the original (you didn't have to have brian be him... you could have had brian be nimue and it still would've worked...)

- i've said it before and i'll say it again, if you wanted love-triangle-turned-polyamory, tristan, isolde and palomydes were right there!!! (this is pop culture arthuriana though so i'm willing to bet money the mechs saw that isolde was married to tristan's uncle and that was it when mark didn't even like her and he married her to piss of tristan and it was palomydes who was in love with her the whole time and i'm cutting myself off here bc i was writing this whole thing about why i thought tristan, palomydes and isolde were definitely in love and it was getting long)

- the conspicuous lack of palomydes, old galahad, and the whole perceval getting mentioned once thing means we don't get to think about palomydes having to babysit catholic children in the woods while they bully him into taking them with him to hunt the fucked up giraffe he's dedicated years of his life to (i like that scene)

.

alright this is all i can think of off the top of my head but like. yeah. i'm definitely going to rb this.

no this isn't in the place of that hnoc Bad essay i was writing. no i didn't forget about it for a month, what makes you think that? i'll post it Eventually. until then, follow my sideblog where i post about actually good a.rthuriana and also gothic lit, shakespeare, and classics sometimes (but mostly a.rthuriana), @acegalahads,

also if you want a) further explanation for any of these, b) to know what i refused to type, c) actually good arthurian recs, d) an explanation why i think palomydes, isolde and tristan are in love, or e) just know about anything arthurian, feels free to ask me, this may become not just a hyperfixation but a special interest and i love infodumping

[the-forest-library]

My Decade in Books

I was tagged by @aliteraryprincess. Thank you!

The rules: respond to the prompt “my decade in books” however you want, & then tag some ppl! I chose a book or series to define each year of the decade, some w/a little description. You can do that, or make up your own response.

2010: This was the year of The Hunger Games. I read all of the books in a rush. And, I was reading Catching Fire or Mockingjay when we were on vacation to Washington DC when we got engaged. :) I read my first Maggie Stiefvater book (Linger) and Little Women & Werewolves (all I really remember about it was Mr. March holding a prostheses/fashion show with werewolf Civil War veterans???). It was a big year in non-fiction, too, with Friday Night Lights and a couple of Michael Pollan’s books. 

2011: I read the delightful His Dark Materials prequels, Once Upon a Time in the North and Lyra’s Oxford, but this was a year of horrible reads. The worst of which was One Day. I detest this manipulative book, and I was in a complete funk for days after finishing it. I read it in the summer and went to a picnic the day after finishing it and just remember sitting on a picnic table absolutely fuming over it. 

2012: This was a much better reading year featuring two all-time favorites: A Discovery of Witches and Among Others. If you at all like science fiction or fantasy, please read Among Others. It is a love letter to those genres and will introduce you to other books you’ll want to read. I also read The Night Circus, Beautiful Creatures, and The Maze Runner this year. 

2013: I read the first three Earthsea books and the first two books in The Raven Cycle this year. If those had been the only books I read that year, I would be completely happy. I also read a whole bunch of popular YA (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Anna and the French Kiss, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares). I also read my first Rainbow Rowell book, Attachments. I don’t actually remember that being the first RR book I read, but apparently it was. This year was when I read A Light that Never Goes Out (a history of The Smiths that I absolutely adore).

2014: More Earthsea and more Rainbow Rowell. I read Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, where I was introduced to Simon Snow and Baz Pitch for the first time. This was a pretty great reading year, as well. I also read these other favorites: The Scorpio Races, I Capture the Castle, Rilla of Ingleside, Code Name Verity, and The Wind in the Willows. 

2015: Personally, this was a big year of upheaval, but a standout in reading. I started the year with A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, which introduced me to my girl, Eleanor of Aquitaine. I came across it browsing in the used books section of Barnes & Noble, for which I am forever grateful. I read my first Tamora Pierce (Alanna) and Robin McKinley (The Hero & The Crown and The Blue Sword). Charlotte Sometimes, Station Eleven, and Lolita were important reads, and I also started The Dark is Rising series. And most important of all - Carry On was published in October. I had been eagerly awaiting this book since the Simon and Baz parts of Fangirl were my favorites. Carry On is also the fandom that brought me to tumblr. 

2016: Dove headfirst into more Robin McKinley (Rose Daughter, Spindle’s End, Sunshine) and also finished The Dark is Rising. So many of my reads this year were clearly influenced by tumblr: The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Everything Everything, The Book Thief, Illuminae, Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Six of Crows, Salt to the Sea, The Song of Achilles, The Secret History, and Solitaire. The reading experience I remember the most was reading The Raven King (Steifvater) at the hospital while my fiancé was having surgery. I also got to see Maggie Steifvater speak for the first time. 

2017: This year was defined by The Books of Pellinor (eternally indebted to @all-these-paperback-dreams for introducing me to this series), more Robin McKinley (Beauty and Chalice, which ignited my love for bees), and My Lady Jane. My Lady Jane made me want to read more about horses, which led me to another all-time favorite, Black Beauty, which led me to going to a horse farm. Other favorites: The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, If We Were Villains, An Unnecessary Woman, All the Light We Cannot See, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, and Fire & Hemlock (my first Diana Wynne Jones). Happened upon an Elizabeth Wein (Code Name Verity) event while on vacation. 

2018: I started listening to a lot of audiobooks this year (mostly non-fiction) - When Breath Becomes Air, The Bright Hour, The Happiness Project, and Better Than Before are standouts. More McKinley (Deerskin and Outlaws of Sherwood). The Blue Castle (thank you @lilymaidofgallifrey). I read Hattie Big Sky, which stoked a fire in me for pioneer stories. In Other Lands (thank you @bookcub). I read 29 Gifts, which inspired me to do my own 29 Gifts projects for the last two years, and Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, which was probably the most-impactful book I read of the year. I finished the year with the first three Poison Study books. 

2019: I listened to Just Kids and M Train by Patti Smith at the beginning of the year, which set the bar really, really high. My reading year was a little weird because the two main themes were Little House on the Prairie and Royalty Romance. I never read the Little House books when I was younger (I tried once but it didn’t click); however, reading Hattie Big Sky in 2018 really inspired me to try the series again. I read the whole series, finished two non-fiction books about it, and started a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder at the end of the year. My deep dive into Royalty Romances started with Red, White & Royal Blue (sandwiched between two Little House books, LOL, and during a crazy time when I was packing to move), which really was the best of them. I also read Prince Charming, American Royals, The Royal We, Her Royal Highness, and Bringing Down the Duke. I read 97 books in 2019 (my most ever).

Tagging (no pressure, just fun!): @all-these-paperback-dreams, @lilymaidofgallifrey, @bookcub, @bvkspine, @thefandomtreatment, @therealprincesszeanah, @damecatoe, @brightbeautifulthings, @the-haunted-pencil, and anyone else that would like to do it (please tag me if you do this). 

[exercise-of-trust]

i’m way behind on this so expect a whole bunch of these posts this coming week as i catch up, anyway here’s some thoughts on le morte d’arthur: book 2

look just in my personal opinion: this is not a particularly demanding catalogue of virtues. "he must be a passing good man of his hands and of his deeds," which, thomas malory i know you have described multiple knights as being this so far, "and without villainy or treachery, and without treason." which. again. seems like a low bar to clear! further qualifications include: "a clean knight without villainy, and of a gentle strain of father side and mother side," again, presumably things that many if not most of you have???

the number of prophecies in this goddamn thing is matched only by the number of times these knights bullheadedly insist that they can overmaster their own fates, which in theory is very hot but in practice is just stupid given how many of these things do actually come true

like don’t get me wrong struggling with your destiny makes you 100x more attractive but sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor

"then the most part of the knights of the round table said that balin did not this adventure all only by might, but by witchcraft" i'm not sure how to explain to you that when the criteria for sword-drawing involve moral fiber instead of muscle, might alone just will not fucking avail you.

i knew revenge was a big deal with this story but i was unaware of HOW big a deal it was

balin is imprisoned for killing arthur's cousin; the lady of the lake wants balin's head for killing her brother and the lady's head for killing her father, balin gets the lady of the lake's head for killing his mother, it's just turtles all the fucking way down isn't it

"the which was an orgulous knight"

obviously murder is bad under any circumstance, i get that, but. like. if your brother murders your lover in cold blood, it's not like you're just full of murderous intent toward your brother for no good reason.

"whereby asked thou it?" "for i would wit it"

i do not see why the dwarf seems to hold balin liable for lanceor or colombe's death when the former came after him for the express purpose of kicking his ass and the latter slew herself for dole and sorrow?

i feel like i need to make a whole disclaimer that as a general rule i am of the opinion that there are few to no good reasons for killing anyone but in this specific context i'm also not sure what a lot of these people were expecting to happen to them when they killed other people's relatives or challenged people who are demonstrably better knights than they are. malory assigns blame in weird ways.

merlin what the fuck is with you and disguising yourself all the time

THOMAS MALORY STOP SPOILING YOUR OWN FUCKING STORY CHALLENGE

more seriously - i certainly didn't come in expecting to be on the edge of my seat, because i'm already familiar with the general arc of the canon. but malory keeps doing this thing where he catapults you out of the flow of the story with something like "and as it telleth after in the sangreal, that sir percivale's sister helped that lady with her blood, whereof she was dead," or "wherefore sir gawaine revenged the death of his father the tenth year after he was knight, and slew king pellinore with his own hands" or a two-sentence summary of the entire story of accolon and arthur and morgan switching the scabbard of excalibur. like, just doing a search of the table of contents, we are going to get a longer and more detailed account of at least two of those events in future books! and this isn't even in the same class as merlin's extremely specific prophecies; these are malory speaking as the narrator, and it's already difficult enough to get immersed in the story when the language is archaic and the rest of the descriptions are dry, but constantly getting dragged in and out of the future like this just makes it worse.

holy christ there is so much murder going on

"and when balin was weaponless he ran into a chamber for to seek some weapon, and so from chamber to chamber, and no weapon he could find, and always king pellam after him"

holy CHRIST

okay plot-relevant deaths so far: arthur's cousin killed by balin, the lady of the lake's brother killed by balin, the lady of the lake's father killed by the sword-lady, balin's mother killed by the lady of the lake, the lady of the lake killed by balin, lanceor, colombe, king nero, king lot, a bunch of unnamed knights in battle, herlews le berbeus killed by garlon, perin de mountbeliard killed by garlon, garlon killed by balin, garnish of the mount's girlfriend, garnish of the mount's girlfriend's boyfriend, garnish of the mount, balin, and balan, and it is entirely possible that i've missed some because so many fucking people die in this book

"and launcelot with this sword shall slay the man that in the world he loved best, and that shall be sir gawaine" GAY

[sparrowwritings]

Writing Challenge Day 1: Antagonistic

Masterpost -- Day Two

(TW: Description of burn scars! Not a lot of detail but be warned!)

Lord Pellinore, Commander of the Knight Defenders of the Wall, hefted his heaviest stare at the woman in front of him. It was the one that his knights referred to as his “blue steel gaze” when they thought they weren’t being listened to. Many a recruit had pissed themself under it during his time in command.

His target, however, didn’t. In fact, her already proper posture straightened even further as she met it with a dark brown stare of her own. She hadn’t even flinched.

Would that he could showcase how impressed he was. Alas, there was other business to attend to.

“Sagramore,” He addressed his Second-in-Command without even a twitch away from locking eyes with the woman. “It’s been a few hours since the incident, refresh our memories of what happened.” 

One of Pellinore’s ears twitched at the soft click of Sagramore’s tongue. “Very well, Sir.” In spite of the disappointment in his voice, the man shuffled some papers in his hands and gave a throat clearing cough before he started to read from the report. “A week ago, Knights Gawain and Bors noticed they were being followed back to headquarters. A day after they had returned, said woman marched straight inside despite warnings of the consequences of doing so.” At this he pointedly glared at her before continuing to read. “Giving no name nor purpose to her visit, Recruit Tyr took her arm and she, and I quote, “started godsdamn stabbing me with a knife like a maniac” end quote.”

“He’ll live.” A raspy voice cut Sagramore off. Despite his innate observation skills and wealth of experience with humans, Pellinore was still somewhat taken aback that the source of the voice was the woman herself. “I nicked him a couple of times under the plates, but your blacksmiths have made very good quality armor. I commend them for their work.” For all she had flown into a rage at the slightest provocation hours earlier, she sounded almost detached from her own actions. And yet that ember of something remained in her eyes.

“So you have no regrets for stabbing one of my men?” He lifted a thin silver eyebrow, the only change in expression that he had made thus far. Sagramore was already puffing his chest at being denied reading the rest of the report, but he deferred to his superior.

“I prefer to see it as teaching him a lesson, Lord Pellinore.” Her expression also shifted slightly. The straight line of her lips curved upward by the barest amount before going back to her neutral gaze. “Although he should have known better than to touch a woman without her express permission.”

“Noted.” His eyebrow lowered back to its previous position. “Sagramore?”

Having finally been given the chance to continue, the man read the rest of the report as quickly as he could without losing coherence. “Several more injuries were caused to recruits by this woman resisting capture, until Knight Fenrir finally trapped her. Attempts at finding out her business at The Wall have failed until she was brought here to you, Sir.” Sagramore tapped his set of papers until they were square in his hands. Pellinore couldn’t see the self satisfied smirk, but he knew it was there.

“And there you have it.” He ignored his Second’s silent boasting as he picked up the item sitting on his desk. With the finger of one hand, he traced just below the edge of the dagger while the other loosely held its handle. “I’m curious, madam. What made you think that attacking someone who regularly goes to battle against mages was a good idea?”

There was a long pause. Then, she broke eye contact first, her gaze sinking to the dagger instead of focusing on Pellinore’s face. “I am no fighter, as anyone can tell.” She picked at soft, pale hands that rested in her lap. “But I’ve heard much about your order--and about those you fight.” Suddenly she clasped her hands together. “While yes I had been angry that your recruit had grabbed my arm, I had also planned to try to impress you and your Knights by showing that not every opponent would be a warrior.” Again, dark brown eyes met blue. Again, something burned within her. “I wish to join your order, so that no one else will suffer against mages as I have.” 

At this, Sagramore couldn’t keep quiet. “Oh please,” He drawled. “You got in a couple of lucky hits on people who weren’t expecting you. You even admitted that you didn’t do more than superficial damage.” While he didn’t walk around the desk to get in the middle of the staring contest between his Commander and the woman, he did lean in closer to hiss, “You and at least half of The Wall have made such a declaration. If you hadn’t caught us by surprise you would’ve either died or been thrown out the minute you pulled out that dagger. You’re nothing special. You’re not even worthy to become a soldier.”

“I don’t need to be one.” For the first time in this interrogation, emotion started to creep into her voice. “I will do whatever is necessary to keep The Wall running smoothly. Just because you have an army doesn’t mean you don’t need someone to keep accounts or organize records or coordinate the distribution of supplies. I can do this and more. I used to run the estate of my family on the Turkon Islands.” 

“Of bloody *course* you’re from the Islands, no wonder you stabbed a man.” Sagramore muttered under his breath as the woman stood from her seat. Pellinore raised an eyebrow for the second time in this interrogation as he lowered the dagger to rest on his desk.

“If you need proof that I am dedicated to your cause, look no further than what a mage who I thought I loved did to me.” With that, she threw back her hood.

“Ye Gods.” Sagramore breathed. Pellinore’s expression went back to his hard neutral stare, though his hands involuntarily clenched.

The woman’s scalp had been burned. The finest tufts of dark hair poked out between reddened, mottled flesh. Pellinore’s eyes couldn’t help but track the scars down the sides of her neck and into the collar of her shirt. He didn’t want to imagine how long the woman’s hair must have been when it was set aflame. He was spared this by his need for decorum grappling with his instinctual desire to try to ease the pain she must be in. 

He couldn’t, even though he desperately wanted to. Fire’s destruction is complete enough that even Elven magic could only be a balm on such wounds. 

She flipped her hood back over her head, her point made. Pellinore slowly let out the breath he had been holding. With the ease in tension, an idea came to mind.

“Very well then, madam,” He used his desk to help him stand up. The fact that he was using the heavy wood to hide that he was still shaking from the reveal was irrelevant. “I do believe there is a position open right now.” He turned to his Second. “Sagramore, show this young lady to the Archive. If she can whip it into shape in a week, she can stay.” 

Having been caught still staring at the woman, Sagramore coughed a couple of times to regain his composure. “Y-Yes Sir. Right away, Sir.” He sped to the door to open it for her.

“Thank you very much, Lord Pellinore.” She bowed and turned to go.

“What shall I call you when you meet my expectations, madam?” He allowed a slight smirk on his face. Anyone who was hurt that badly, travelled that far, and was that desperate to prove themself worthy...well, he had to bring them into the fold regardless of martial prowess.

Her head turned slightly, showing a faint smile of her own. Pellinore had a feeling that such a thing would be rare to see from The Wall’s new Archivist. “Saga. Call me Saga.”

[iwannawritepls]

Le Morte d’Arthur Thoughts P5

Book 2 Chapter 11

Where's her fifth son

Who

How is this supposed to be all Owain because I know they change his name every now and then don't they

Arthur has masonry skills

I didn't know that it was a lot that died I thought Pellinore had died and I was just like now I don't really care – I didn’t like Lot

Is Balin trying to kill Arthur because if he is then why did he run from Arthur’s Castle surely he would just stab him and then leave ?

Oh no, I liked the other one I get their names mixed up

oh that's so cool. you know what else will do that cling film

Wait so Arthur doesn't ever have excalibur's scabbard Morgan le Fay gives it to her lover that’s low key really smart and wow I applaud her

Book 2 Chapter 12

7 chapters more I don't know I haven't counted actually that's a lie

Oh no Arthur’s sick no

look I know this is the beginning of Hamlet so if he gets poison in the ear he's gonna die

I'm sorry you know just big rip

Okay if people can just walk in and on their horses – this is a really shitty Castle

I'm so confused I thought he wanted to kill Arthur but now he doesn't want to kill Arthur where's his brother gone I'm so confused

‘By my head’ he would say by my beard but he doesn't have one ha ha ha

Wait what will you do

um wait so he doesn't hate Arthur but he ran away from Arthur because reasons Arthur imprisoned him and then he got a cursed sword from ‘the falsest damsel that liveth’ so now they’re just chilling and they’re friends in this? I think I prefer it when people sleep with other people’s wives because then I know they hate each other, you know

I'm not gonna lie I don't know what I just read but is that new for me?

Confused counter: 10

Book 2 Chapter 13

don't you hate it when you get to a new castle and its customary for you to bleed before you can enter

Oh no I think I understand wait maybe

I don't think Gawain hasn’t killed Pellinore apparently he's still going to which is confusing

also isn't this a blood feud at this point is it's there's just a lot of ‘this person will kill this person because they killed this person’ and you're like ‘ohh no…who is this person’ you get me?

Alas indeed yeah like why are these like prophecies coming to people who are going to die. You just can't give this message to anyone because they don't know half of the people it's like it's like giving your McDonald's order to the wrong table and being like well can you just go give that to the right table then without telling them who the right table is how is that gonna help anyone in anyway why can't you just take it back and give it to the right table you're the one who's better suited to this than me (but I would probably be like yeah and then if they told me that I would probably but like – that's besides the point I'm just really polite but you know) it's just kinda like why why why

I love that word so much portcullis

oh shit he got trapped under it

The requirements for these curses are so specific yet so general at the same time And I love it but also like how is how like why isn't anyone going out to solve these themselves why does everyone have to stay where they are can no one like leave their houses to go solve their problems have some agency people

I like how they just bring up people that we're not gonna meet for probably half a book like ohh yeah by the way possible is going to help play okay also it spelt Percivale and I love that

Book 2 Chapter 14

That's such a great name

oh he – he kills him

what

please chapter titles getting weirder and weirder

I feel like balling deserves more recognition true he's going out like just murdering a bunch of people which is kind of weird because like what's your reason behind this but at the same time like he's got a pretty cool Storey

you just know him casual

this King is so forthcoming with knowledge like ah I know exactly what you mean yeah let me tell you the Storey of how I smoothed my brother twice haha

They say smoked him with the back of his hand what they really mean is they just slapped him add it hurt but they want to sound hardcore say it makes him sound like he slapped him with fire but you just slapped him and it hurt and there's no shame in that we don't judge here

All these confrontations happen so fast

Book 2 Chapter 15

Yeah he deserves that

This spear is overpowered I would like this fear please um it's just so cool thank you very much

I feel like it's a bit traumatising to be saved by Merlin after being trapped with a dead body for three days or is really gotta start smelling by then especially as it's under the earth so it's very hot and so decompose quicker I just yeah that doesn't sound fun you know

Book 2 Chapter 16

I really can't tell whether or not Merlin loves or hates Balin because you know I love him um but you know I understand why people might not he is a bit of a crazy man I think someone I can tell

Oh no Oh my God my God God

fun have I got a picture on next page? No.

Yes King you tell that creepy swamp monster what's what

that's a bit of an oof moment

oh this is the Fisher King everything makes sense now ohmygod can we take numbers away from the confused counter it's all just wow Oh my God this is genius

I'm so easily impressed I just need things to make sense at this point in this book and I'll just be like wow

nothing good ever happens to this man nothing

Balin curse counter: 4

He must just really hate himself if you really think about all because he just took a sword from the ‘falsest damsel that liveth’

just live in the forest then no one can hurt you and you can hurt no one

is this Robin Hood

Eve

everyone is just like you're so cool he's also really cursed

I keep thinking about 90 day fiancé

my brother just walked in on me talking about 90 day fiancé looks at me as if I'm crazy

anyway I keep thinking about 90 day fiancé and really I just don't like big head he's funny as a concept but as a person he's a bit of a dick and I'm so happy that rose managed to you know get out there that relationship because he was just a bit of an asshole really wasn't he?

anyway back to the book um Balin bout to kill a woman just because she wasn't on time and if that was the case then all of my friends would be dead because I am always early

his name is Garnish his name is Garnish,,,

go on darling I believe in you

Oh no ohh no no no

Oh no that's so mean ‘the foulest knight that he ever saw’ like dude calm yourself

All of these superlatives before we even get to the good parts (when I say good parts I mean the parts people know the most so like Gawain and Galahad and Lancelot and the other ones) we've already had ‘the falsest damsel’ and ‘the foulest knight’ and the’ strongest King’ like we're just gonna have the kind of strong but not the strongest because the strongest is already dead you know

so, does that mean Lancelot isn't the best knight because Balin is

also this has a lot of like internal monologues in this I'm so sorry to everyone I really hope you've enjoyed this I've really cut down me talking because you know I don't want to bore you with my rants about superlatives

Book 2 Chapter 17

what the hell

he got so sad that his blood pressure shot so high that he started bleeding out of his mouth and nose I…find yourself a man who does that you know (jk don’t do that he’s probably not the healthiest in relationships)

everywhere he goes corpses follow

you killed her yourself it was your own choice to kill her

Now lady he swore fighting because last time he did that the that one Irish knight died and then his wife killed herself the knight his name was like Launcelot but it wasn't I Lancelone or something (some searching later) Lancelor

I don't know why but the very concept of putting a Knight and a horse in a boat together is just hilarious because I picture the boat being like a little row boat with the horse and then the knight sitting on the horses back full gear full saddle full Armour this boat is like barely floating and yeah it's just pretty funny

Book 2 Chapter 18

I'm not looking forward to this chapter because brothers against brothers is not fun to read

Oh no who

no

oh no please don't do this to me

why doesn't anyone ever take that helmet off

oh gosh hello goodnight that's so sad

Oh no they realised its each other

‘thou hast slain me and I thee for all the wide world shall speak of us both’ – Balin or Balan a long time ago

Alexa play despacito

I hate to say it but you know it was prophesised so it was going to happen but at the same time didn't really wanna put myself through that

on the plus side nobody slept with someone's wife

this is what happens when you just run the head first into battle you know

what is a Yeoman (a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder.)

aw so sweet

‘we came both out of one tomb that is to say one mothers belly and so shall we lie both in one pit’

you know for people who are dying they go on for a while

just you know shove some essential oils on that shit you'll be fine

oh that's so sad just sitting with your brothers corpse for a couple of hours like ‘hey remember that time we chased that squirrel?’ no reply ‘yeah me too’

Book 2 Chapter 19

Oh God Merlin’s back

they really like gold

which ones Balin which ones Balan

why would you do that

no just no melon needs to be punched in the face as hard as humanly possible because you can't just keep giving this cursed sword to people

‘Sir Lancelot or else Galahad his son and Lancelot with this sort shortly the man that in the world he loved best, that shall be Sir Gawain.’ We stan

If you just threw this damned sword away then nobody would die omllllll

petition to punch man in the face needs one vote change dog

what the fuck

F in the chat lady and gent ladies and gentlemen for Balin and Balan ‘two brethren born in Northumberland, good knights’

sequitur iii liber

book 2 finished three begins next time on –

[queenofnohr]

Gawain Profile (FGO Material Book IV)

Hey hi! It’s been a month (well, a month and a couple days...), so here’s a patreon post from last month! The original can be seen here, at my patreon (this particular post also now public).

💜 If you like these translations, please consider supporting me on my patreon - for just $1 you’ll get early access to translations I do that aren’t commissions, and for $5 you can have a say in what I decide to translate! If patreon isn’t your cup of tea, I also have a ko-fi you can donate to! As always, thank you for supporting me!

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: B

Negates Magecraft with an incantation that is three verses or fewer. It is difficult to hurt him even with things such as High-Thaumaturgy, Greater Rituals, etc.

Riding: B

The ability to ride (vehicles, animals, etc.) He can handle most mounts better than ordinary people, though he cannot ride Phantasmal Species.

Personal Skills

Numeral of the Saint: EX

A unique characteristic Sir Gawain possesses. It allows his power to triple from 9 am to noon, and from 3 pm to sunset. It is indicative of the number 3 as sacred among the Celts.

Charisma: E

One’s ability to attract others. As a perfect knight, it works particularly strongly on junior knights and soldiers.

Noble Phantasm

Excalibur Galatine

Rank: A+ Type: Anti-Army Range: 20~40 Maximum Number of Targets: 300 people

Excalibur Galatine. The Sword of the Sun - its hilt holds a pseudo-sun within. Just as King Arthur’s “Sword of Promised Victory,” Excalibur Galatine is its sister sword given by the fae “Lady of the Lake.” It is a Holy Sword not oft spoken of in the legends. Whereas the king and his sword received the divine protection of the moon, Gawain and his sword were blessed by the sun. If the “Sword of Promised Victory” slices in two with the light of the stars, the “Sword of the Ideal Ruler’s Victory” burns all in its path to nothing with the scorching heat of the sun. Additionally, while the “Sword of Promised Victory” is an attack concentrated on a single point, the “Sword of the Ideal Ruler’s Victory” is a lateral emission type of attack meant to obliterate enemy soldiers.

Personality

Hailed as the “Knight of the Sun,” he has a serious personality that nonetheless never becomes stiff enough to be oppressive. It’s this attitude that makes him come off as an upstanding and purehearted young man. Though he’s tall and cuts a trim figure, he has quite a sturdy build. Furthermore, he’s a handsome man with a gentle face and fine features. His tone is refreshing, and he never makes light of an opponent nor holds them in contempt. Even if his opponent is unskilled, he will assess their fighting spirit and preparedness, and courteously have a bout with them. However, because he deliberately keeps his personal feelings in check - for reasons to be discussed later - his intrinsic high-mindedness and earnestness-to-the-point-of-seriousness become all the more emphasized. To put it gently, he’s inflexible; to put it bluntly, he’s the type of guy who can’t read the room. Known as a loyal knight, with his left-over regrets at not being able to save his king the last time he was summoned as a Servant, as well as his iron loyalty and unwavering trust toward his king, he wants nothing more than to be the sole sword that swings for the sake of his king alone. Witnessing that blind devotion during the Moon Cell Grail War, Nero (Saber) put it well - “So, should you be ordered to cut down a faithful friend, would you do it?” she asked. To which he responded, “Of course. If it is my Lord’s desire, I will dirty my hands with any act, no matter how shameful. That is what it means to be a sword. My Lord is never wrong. If anything must be cast as ‘wrong,’ then the fault lies not with my King, but with my now-executed friend,” he responded, smiling.

Motivation and Attitude Toward Master

From a Master’s perspective, he’s an ideal Servant as he’s placed selfless devotion above all else due to allowing Britain to split because of his personal grudge during his lifetime, and the regret that stems from that. He is a Servant who embodies the role of a knight serving his king - though whether or not his Master is worthy of being king is up for debate. For the sake of his raison d’etre - to serve as his king’s assistant - he devotes himself fully to being the sword of a Master who he has recognized as carrying the king’s authority. While his Master is speaking, he’ll never say a word himself, and will only speak during times such as acting as a proxy to his Master after they leave, always taking into consideration his attitude as a knight and a vassal.

Dialogue Examples

“I am his loyal servant, Gawain. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope you will make for a worthy opponent to my lord.” “As you wish. My holy sword is the embodiment of the sun itself. By my king’s decree, I shall reduce everything on this earth to ashes.” “This sword is a reflection of the sun. Another holy sword of the planet…… Excalibur Galatine!” “Make way for the brilliance before the evening’s tide, the sweeping blade that is the holy sword of the planet! Excalibur Galatine!!” “Doesn’t quantity matter more than quality in a meal? A huge amount of potatoes, vinegar, and bread should be fine. And if there’s ale, that’s all I need to be satisfied. I suppose vegetables are good, too. Even eating just carrots should be alright. My king used to eat everything without a single complaint, after all.”

This Figure in History

He appears in the Legend of King Arthur as an outstanding knight of the Round Table, able to rival even “Lancelot of the Lake.” He is the firstborn of King Lot of Orkney. As Arthur’s relative, he was entrusted with the holy sword, Excalibur. He was known as a virtuous man, and many legends extol his various martial achievements. His sole weakness is his strong affection for his family. This resulted in conflict with knights that dared to harm his relatives, starting with King Pellinore who defeated his father in battle. Sometimes these conflicts would end in the death of the other knight. Even when Lancelot and Queen Guinevere fled to Gaul, he strongly opposed King Arthur’s forgiveness of them, and drew  him into a war against Lancelot. This is due to Lancelot killing Gawain’s brothers while he absconded with Guinevere. He fought against Mordred’s rebellion while severely wounded after dueling Lancelot, and with his dying breath begged King Arthur to call on Lancelot for reinforcements. He bears a profound regret due to his personal grudge resulting in the schism between the Knights of the Round Table…...

Role in Previous Works

Appears in Fate/EXTRA. Because Gawain regretted that King Arthur died because he could not let go of his hatred of Lancelot during his lifetime, he devotes himself completely to the role of his king’s assistant, considering it his duty above all else. Thus he is selflessly devoted to his Master, a young King who from birth was deemed to possess the ability to be the ideal ruler, who he recognizes as such. However, he understood that what his Master lacked in order to become a True King was “defeat.” Even so, he chose to serve as his Master’s sword with all his might until that time came.

Ties to Characters

Arturia: The chance to fight together once again…… When will another miracle like this happen?

Mordred: I understand her situation. Among other things.

Lancelot: No comment.

Galahad: Putting aside the issue of Lancelot for the moment, Galahad is a wonderful knight. If an angel took human form, it would be someone like him.

Tristan: He’s Sir “Sometimes-I’m-Actually-Sleeping”……

Illustrator Comment

I drew Gawain’s third ascension wanting him to have the feeling of being on his day off. I’d be happy if he could become someone who gives the impression of a muscular yet princely type, but… Tapping into that kind of feeling - because his default standing pose was already a little relaxed, I thought it’d be nice if he had the feeling of pulling the viewer to their feet slightly firmly. - Wada Arco

[gellavonhamster]

reading the post-vulgate, part 1 (the merlin continuation)

"The eldest was called Gawain, the second Gaheriet, the third Agravain, and the fourth Guerrehet" no fucking way they're in a different order again. When will it end

if Merlin knows everything that will happen, why does he go on about how he won't tell Arthur who the knight destined to destroy the kingdom is because he doesn't want to kill a child? A lot more children are going to die because this bitch is refusing to be specific

finally Yvain is Morgan's son again, this was Bothering me

Mordred hit his head as an infant so hard that the scar remained for all his life. This is potential for his brothers making jokes in the vein of "and that's why he is like that" later

in this version, the father of Sagremor the Unruly is also called the Unruly, making it their surname, I guess, which is funny, even though at a later point in Chapter 59 the narrator changes his mind and says that it was Kay who gave Sagremor this nickname

big fan of the fact that Mordred and Sagremor are raised together - there's something cute about a doomed-by-the-narrative goth and a reckless fun guy being childhood friends. And then one of them kills the other :)))

oh, the May babies are rescued in this one! Nice

brief glimpses of some fairy drama as the lady who was girded with the sword that Balin could remove "owed allegiance to the lady called the Lady of the Isle of Avalon" and the one that wanted her killed for killing her father was the one that helped Arthur take Excalibur from the hand in the lake

"In this place will meet in battle the two most faithful lovers of their time" sounds like Lancelot and Tristan will be each other's lovers and the battle in question will be their meet-cute

"For [King Lot] is the one in my land in whom I would have trusted most in great need, and for whom I would have done most" buddy, you slept with his wife.

Gawain is eleven years old when he swears to kill Pellinor for killing his father! And the adults at the funeral praise him for such noble intentions! God!!!

yesss this version supports my headcanon that Yvain's animal-befriending powers are a result of Morgan experimenting with various magic while she was pregnant with him

seriously, would everything that eventually happens had ever happened if Merlin wasn't walking around telling people "you will kill him, and you will kill him, and one of these two boys you're raising will kill the other", thus making everyone think it's inevitable?

you know what would've made reading this easier and more enjoyable? If I cared about Balin

according to this one, there should be 150 Knights of the Round Table

I like that Guinevere is being referred to as "valiant"

"for no adventure that may happen, unless mortal peril is to come of it, may a knight who is sitting at table stir before he has eaten" is a good custom, more contemporary jobs should follow it

Tor's mom is great (loved it when she rebuked Merlin and everyone laughed) and I can't wait for Gawain to kill Pellinor

Kay being described as "a good enough knight, but not as good as the others" lmao

my brain refuses to perceive young Bademagu. This is a middle-aged man with (at least?) two adult children

“Now come forward and see a king’s daughter wield a sword” is one hell of a line

yelling @ the maiden/mother/crone ladies making fun of Gawain being short

I imagine Gaheris here speaking in a very patient voice that simultaneously verges on hysterics because he's so fucking exasperated

I thought this text might change my opinion on Gaheris for the better, but then the matricide part came, with "But it was his opinion that the lady should be blamed and humiliated" and "Then he put his hand on his sword and wished to kill his mother, but he would leave the knight, because he seemed too handsome and valiant, and he was disarmed", and nope, still hate that guy

like what the fuck is WRONG with you!!!

oh I am seething right now

"for they were tired, although they had not yet done anything" meeee

[verecunda]

Books - February 2020

Books read: The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, The Chief’s Daughter by Rosemary Sutcliff, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, and The Prisoner of St Kilda (non-fiction) by Margaret Macaulay.

Relevant waffle below the cut!

The Sword in the Stone - T.H. White

I have extremely mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, it’s a work of soaring imagination and eloquence, full of whimsy and humour and character, and White's profound love for the natural world is there in abundance. On the other, there's something about the narrative voice I never quite engaged with, and there are so many dry asides into the minutiae of knightly life (all those lists of the different sorts of hawks and hounds!! x__x), that picking it up again sometimes felt like a bit of a chore. Which explains why it took me about two weeks to get through it! The plan was to read the rest of The Once and Future King if I got on with this first part, but I'm putting it on the back-burner for now. The whole subplot with King Pellinore and the Questing Beast was a delight, though. I could happily have read a whole book of that by itself!

The Chief’s Daughter - Rosemary Sutcliff (short story)

Another short piece, intended for younger readers (though as always, readily enjoyable for adults). Set in Bronze Age Wales, it centres on the titular chief’s daughter, who takes a great risk to help her friend, a captured Irish boy, and save him from being sacrificed to bring back the water of the spring that nourishes her tribe. 

The female protagonist is unusual for Sutcliff. I liked Nessan: she was loyal, brave, and resourceful, in the best Sutcliffian style, and I rather wish this had been a full-length novel, or at least a novella, because I'd love to see more about how her friendship with Dara grew up.

Apart from that, all of Sutcliff's classic hallmarks are here: beautiful evocations of time and place, friendship across cultures, and an act of compassion proving to be the wellspring (har har) that saves the day in the end. (Maybe one to keep in mind for Yuletide or next Sutcliff Swap?)

Dark Matter - Michelle Paver

This is one for you Terrorites, if you haven’t read it already! It’s a wonderfully atmospheric ghost story - chilling in more ways than one. Honestly, it's worth reading for the setting alone. Paver's Arctic is so evocatively described, with all its beauty and savagery, making me long to visit while at the same time knowing I could never handle it. :P I love her reconstruction of a 1930s scientific expedition, too, and I'm keen to chase down some of the sources she mentions in the author Q&A at the end of my copy.

The characters are all well-drawn, particularly protagonist Jack, and I especially love the bond that grows up between him and Isaak the husky. <3 

As for the ghost story, it's a good 'un. Paver mentions M.R. James as one of her favourite horror writers, and the Jamesian influence is definitely there. The suspense is breathtaking, with all the building layers of menace and mystery and isolation and suggestion, with things half-seen and half-heard. One of the reviews on the back cover says, "The ultimate test of a good ghost story is, surely, whether you feel panicked reading it in bed at midnight." Well, I read it mostly during the day, by the window with the wintry sunlight coming through, and I still got the heebie-jeebies, so I'd consider that a win!

The Prisoner of St Kilda - Margaret Macaulay

Before reading this, I only knew the basic facts about Rachel Erskine, Lady Grange. Married to a senior Scottish lawyer in the early eighteenth century, she tried to blackmail her husband into getting rid of his London mistress by threatening to expose his Jacobite connections. In response, he and his friends (including no less a personage than Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat - you knew he had to be involved somehow!) arranged to have her abducted and packaged off to the Highlands, where she spent the rest of her life being passed around the Hebrides, spending the better part of that time on the incredibly remote island of St Kilda. It's an incredible story, a case of truth being stranger, and more outrageous, than fiction, and Macaulay tells it well, making this a compelling read as well as an informative one. She also does an admirable job of sifting through the various and extremely partisan sources, pointing out what makes them valuable as well as suspect, to come at a balanced account of the story of the Granges. In her hands, the lady herself becomes a figure deserving of our sympathy for her ruthless treatment, though with serious anger management issues that gave her a singular talent for making enemies. My main criticism is that although the social and political context is well laid out, the book felt a bit short on the more personal details you might expect from a biography. Assuming the information still exists, I'd have liked to know a bit more about the Granges' earlier relationship, or Lady Grange's friendship with the minister of St Kilda and his wife, which is mentioned but never really delved into. I could also have wished for more information about their children, and about Fanny Lindsay, Lord Grange's mistress and second wife. Or more about Lord Grange scuppering his later political career by ranting about witches in Parliament! However, I can well understand why Macaulay might have chosen not to go there, to keep to the thread of the main story and not get bogged down in too much unnecessary fluff. Macaulay also states that "Grange destroyed his wife's character so successfully that she has never shaken off the image of an unbalanced termagant," and to be honest, the book does little to redress the balance. Even the more sympathetic sources, like the letters from her children while they were still trying to keep the peace, suggest Lady Grange was - um - something of a harridan. There are flashes of more sympathetic traits: as well as her friendship with the minister, there's a mention of how she tried to alleviate the poverty of the St Kildans as best she could in her situation - but there's no mention of how. And nice little touches, like her picking up enough Gaelic to enjoy listening to the islanders' songs and stories, or asking the St Kildan girls to come and dance for her, are only mentioned in passing, or even relegated to a mention in the appendices. I fully understand that this might be inevitable, if the relevant sources are only fleeting themselves, but if it was possible to spend a bit more time on these things, it might have allowed us a glimpse of a more rounded personality. As it is, the book didn't do much to shake off my previous, relatively uninformed opinion that the Granges might not have been well-matched, but they rather deserved each other! Despite these criticisms, I did rate the book a lot. It's good history, and a good read too. (Also made me want to read Kidnapped again - it’s been a couple of years. I’m pretty sure Lady Grange is referenced too, either in it or Catriona.)

[longsightmyth]

Myth Reads the Naming, Chapter 21

PELLINOR

The chapter is called Council of Friends and I for one could use some more friendship is magic stuff in my life, bring it on.

Maerad has a nightmare and a voice speaks in something that is almost the Speech but fucked up. It says, “I am again, but none shall find my dwelling, for I live in every human heart.”

I just wanted friendship, book. You promised me friendship.

She wakes up and reassures herself, and then Hem knocks on her door having also had nightmares. They huddle together and fall back to sleep.

Maerad wakes up to a beautiful morning and Hem, eating bread in a corner. He’s been waiting for her to wake up. She asks how Cadvan is and Hem doesn’t seem to care much (which, fair) but says he’s probably still sleeping and Maerad should hurry up because there is food (I appreciate a lot about this interaction. If I forget to mention it in the comparison please bug me so I can talk about it in a reblog or something). Maerad kicks him out to get dressed and then they walk down to get lunch together.

When they get to the sitting room, Cadvan is awake and chatting with Saliman. Cadvan is the worse for wear still but he’s talking and awake and teasing Maerad a little bit, and Maerad almost cries with how happy she is that he’s alive, black eye and stitched up face cuts and all. He assures her when she asks that he feels great and sends her off to the food.

Appetite sated (Hem comes with her for seconds) the siblings return to Cadvan and Saliman, who are discussing Saliman’s journey. Turns out Saliman was attacked by three hulls and killed them, but not before they killed his horse. He’s pretty sad about it and so am I:  horse death is sad. The horses are just doing their best okay.

Anyway, Nelac comes in while Maerad is looking out at the gardens and says that most of his flowers survived the storm. Maerad immediately likes him, not least because he fixed up Cadvan and reminds her of Cadvan.

Hem continues to eat as the adult bards convene and catch each other up on everything, and when they get to the part about the Kulag Cadvan admits he was in a hurry and not as careful as he should have been with magic or travel. He credits Maerad with getting them all out alive.

“I wondered…,” said Maerad, and then stopped.

“What, O my Deliverer?” said Cadvan.

Maerad blushed again at his teasing. “I wondered if the Landrost had hurt you, and that was why…” she faltered and stopped again.

“The Landrost did indeed hurt me,” said Cadvan. “And I was less in my power than I could be. But that is no excuse for rushed decisions and the mistakes that come with them. I judge myself at fault, and so I am; and it is a severe judgment, Maerad, because things very nearly were otherwise, and the result would have been terrible for many more than us.”

Maerad saw for an instant an implacable harshness in Cadvan’s face, and she shivered; she thought she would not like to be judged by Cadvan, had she done any real wrong.

They continue to catch up, and Nelac remembers hearing about the Treesong somewhere but he’ll have to look for it again, but Saliman Knows What’s Up and sings a verse from the poem at the beginning of chapter 17, which I will transcribe here so nobody has to search the hellscape that is my tumblr tags:

Grows a Lily on the Briar

Grows a Briar on the Wave

Triple-tongued its voice of Fire

Edil-Amarandh with save

True and false the cunning Flame

Burning in the darkest Night

False and true the secret Name

Quickened in the womb of Light

Where the Briar on the Foam?

Doth the Lily stemless stand?

Who will bring the Singing home?

Where the Harp? And whose the Hand?

Nelac is like ‘lol it almost sounds like you’re saying Maerad, who can speak common, Elidhu, and the Speech, is the Foretold’

Cadvan’s ACTUAL (specified as distracted and absent) RESPONSE: “Yes, yes, of course I am.”

Maybe warn a guy before you drop prophetic bombs in his lap, Cadvan.

Nelac thinks about it a minute and sorta soul searches Maerad with eye contact is like ‘okay fine you may have a point’. Also the Treesong is a super ancient song, he remembers.

Nelac ALSO wants to scry Hem. Hem is not having it rn and runs into the garde. Maerad chastises Nelac with all the vehemence of a sibling vs outsiders and heads after her brother. After assuring Hem that SHE believes him, obviously, and that Cadvan does, he agrees to come back inside, where Nelac straight up bribes him with food to be scried later. Hem is like ‘well if there’s FOOD’ and agrees, which, fair.

Further, Nelac says they have to figure out where Hem can go to bard school because Norloch is being Particularly Racist at the moment and Hem, unlike Maerad, looks very Pilanel. Cadvan says irritably that Hem would like other schools better anyway, fuck Norloch (okay not in quite those words but it’s close).

Saliman: hey no worries I’ll take the kid home with me where racist dickheads aren’t in charge. Sound good, Hem?

Hem: Boy does it!

Section paraphrased for clarity.

Also, Nelac adds, y’all haven’t been here in a while so let me tell you what else Enkir has fucked up: no more lady bards can train at Norloch.

The fuck, everyone in the room basically mouths in unison.

Nelac: so the flaw in our system is, if all of our elected officials are old white rich white dudes with The Right Families then it turns out they elect an old rich white dude with The Right Family as leader, which means even the relatively benevolent old rich white dudes get outvoted when it comes to civil rights and not destroying the world because these guys have no concept of doing anything for other people even in the name of self interest.

Not that we know anything about that in the States or anything.

Everybody agrees that a council must be called regarding world saving because they still labor under the delusion that old rich white dudes with The Right Families in power give a shit what happens to the world if it doesn’t affect them in the next five minutes. The poor saps.

Cadvan shows Maerad around Norloch and assures her once again that even if she isn’t the foretold it’s no biggie, he’ll take her to a good bard school.

“Would you stay there?” she asked, knowing the answer already.

He glanced at her quickly, his face unreadable. “For a time, until you were settled in,” he said.

When they get back, Hem wants Maerad there while he’s scried. Nelac says it’s unusual, but so is scrying a child so why not. There isn’t much to see since we aren’t in Hem’s PoV, but Nelac confirms that Hem is Maerad’s brother and everybody rejoices. Maerad offers to get them something to drink, does so, and leaves, feeling like she intruded.

At dinner, which Hem actually skips, they make a game plan for presenting Maerad-as-The-Foretold to the council. Nelac is going to do it alone for political reasons. That’s the end of the chapter.

THRONE OF GLASS

Three chapters of ToG is a fitting punishment for taking so long I guess. 46,47,48.

Dorian is hunting through the woods to ‘let the freezing air rush through him’  and burn off steam regarding Celaena, who apparently watches him like a cat watching a mouse, which is different from every single other woman ever, who otherwise look at him adoringly.

Dorian, I would think Kaltain fits that description. I’m just saying.

Apparently Celaena makes him want to be a better king or whatever by watching him and he’ll never be happy with any other woman now that he’s kissed her and he’s worried about her in the duel. Sure.

CELAENA’S POV.

She’s thinking about the duel, worries that Cain might be better because he has stamina (I mean this is a valid concern: Celaena can’t seem to do any sort of strenuous physical activity without throwing up, her stamina IS crap) and then that she might have to obey the King of Adarlan if she’s his Champion.

I’m not sure what you thought you were signing up for, Celaena?

Then she decides she wants to stay in the castle because Hot Dudes, I guess.

NEXT CHAPTER.

Kaltain drugs Celaena’s goblet(?) in the outside duel.

Swap to Celaena’s PoV, where she complains about the cold and thinks that she doesn’t know why they have to have the duels outside. Me neither, Celaena. Me neither.

She recognizes a couple of council members who hired her in the past, and then Nehemia shows up. For reasons?

Anyway, the king makes a speech, the duels start, Cain wins his. Celaena thinks that the other guys hadn’t even lasted three minutes, which, I mean. People generally greatly overestimate how long fights take, especially fights that aren’t specifically hemmed in for competition. Three minutes is a long time to fight one on one for your life?

Oh wait they aren’t fighting to the death. That would be too men for the demon infested king? I don’t know.

Chaol offers Celaena his sword to fight with, and Nehemia offers her Nehemia’s staff instead.

“If I may,” Nehemia said in Eyllwe, “I’d like to offer this to you instead.” The princess held out her beautifully carved iron-tipped staff. Celaena glanced between Chaol’s sword and her friend’s weapon. The sword, obviously, was the wiser choice—and for Chaol to offer his own weapon made her feel strangely lightheaded—but the staff…

Nehemia leaned in to whisper in Celaena’s ear. “Let it be with an Eyllwe weapon that you take them down.” Her voice hitched. “Let wood from the forests of Eyllwe defeat steel from Adarlan. Let the King’s Champion be someone who understands how the innocents suffer.”

So Celaena chooses the staff, which is actually a GREAT weapon vs a sword assuming you know how to use it for a myriad of reasons? Why would a sword be a wiser choice? Why is that obvious? Especially if it’s ‘iron-tipped’ by which I think she means capped, but whatever. We already knew very little research went into this, I’m lucky Celaena isn’t using that soap and hairpin thing.

She’s going to fight Grave. Don’t worry about it, we’ll get an explanation about him in the second book when he suddenly becomes relevant again.

Chaol squeezed her hand, his skin warm in the frigid air. “Give him hell,” he said. Grave entered the ring and drew his sword.

Pulling her hand from Chaol’s, Celaena straightened her spine as she stepped into the ring. She quickly bowed to the king, then to her opponent.

She met Grave’s stare and smiled as she bent her knees, holding the staff in two hands.

You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, little man.

NEXT CHAPTER.

Grave’s first move is to try to break her staff. I. I’m just. Whatever at this point.

His sword gets stuck in her staff when he hits, and she punches him in the nose. He gets angry and charges, “aiming a direct blow to her heart.” She knocks his legs out from underneath him and puts the staff to his throat, which ends the fight I guess, though he doesn’t yield and isn’t injured aside from a broken nose.

She brought her mouth close to his ear. “My name is Celaena Sardothien,” she whispered. “But it makes no difference if my name’s Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I’d still beat you, no matter what you call me.” She smiled at him as she stood. He just stared up at her, his bloody nose leaking down the side of his cheek. She took the handkerchief from her pocket and dropped it on his chest. “You can keep that,” she said before she walked off the veranda.

She intercepted Chaol as soon as she crossed the line of chalk. “How long did that take?” she asked. She found Nehemia beaming at her, and Celaena lifted her staff a little in salute.

“Two minutes.”

She grinned at the captain. She was hardly winded. “Better than Cain’s time.”

How slowly are these people moving? Why are we counting time? What is HAPPENING.

Anyway they have a toast.

“Out of good faith, and honor to the Great Goddess,” Kaltain said in a dramatic voice. Celaena wanted to punch her. “May it be your offering to the Mother who bore us all. Drink, and let Her bless you, and replenish your strength.”

I want that all noted for the record on the religion front.

Celaena is thrown directly into fighting Cain without any more of a rest and does not realize she’s been drugged.

The conqueror of Erilea raised his hands.

“Begin!” he roared, and Celaena shook her head, trying to clear her blurry vision. She steadied herself, wielding the staff like a sword as Cain began circling. Nausea flashed through her as his muscles flexed. For some reason, the world was still hazy. She clenched her teeth, blinking. She’d use his strength against him.

Cain charged faster than she anticipated. She caught his sword on the broad side with the staff, avoiding the sharp edges, and leapt back as she heard the wood groan.

He struck so quickly that she had to concede to the edge of his blade. It sank deep into the staff. Her arms ached from the impact. Before she could recover, Cain yanked his sword from her weapon and surged toward her. She could only bound back, deflecting the blow with the iron tip of the staff.

Given that Celaena is a, an assassin, b, just had a refresher course on poisons, and c, has been poisoned like this at least once before in the prequel novellas, I don’t know what to tell anybody here. Finally she gets it when she hears Kaltain laugh.

She had difficulty holding the staff. Cain came at her, and she had no choice but to meet his blows, barely having the strength to raise the weapon each time. How much bloodbane had they given her? The staff cracked, splintered, and groaned.

Did Nehemia give her a wimpy-ass staff or does Celaena just not know how to use it to deflect rather than just take the full force of a blade? His sword sinks into it, it splinters and cracks? Y’all. No.

She had to end this now, before the hallucinations started. She knew they’d be powerful: seers had once used bloodbane as a drug to view spirits from other worlds. Celaena shot forward with a sweep of the staff. Wood slammed into steel.

The staff snapped in two.

The iron-tipped head soared to the other side of the veranda, leaving Celaena with a piece of useless wood.

Y’all. Y’ALL. You don’t even know how much I’m despairing right now.

Anyway, we go through Dorian and Chaol’s PoVs in quick succession to show that they’re worried about her and are probably in love, because sure, that’s what’s important right now, why not.

Celaena starts seeing creatures from another world as Cain keeps beating her up and Chaol keeps telling her to get up. Apparently the eye of Elena actually was protecting her, because…

Cain reached for her throat, and she flung herself backward. All that he managed to grab was her amulet. With a resounding snap, the Eye of Elena ripped from her neck.

The sunlight disappeared, the bloodbane seizing control of her mind again, and Celaena found herself before an army of the dead. The shadowy figure that was Cain raised his arm, dropping the amulet upon the ground.

They came for her.

That’s the end of the chapter. Thank goodness.

COMPARISON

Say it with me: I despair.

These chapters are pretty different from each other, but I said I wanted to talk about Hem and food and I do.

Both Hem and Maerad have been deprived all their lives, and while Maerad is slightly less preoccupied with filling her stomach than Hem, she also does not in my memory refuse food when it is offered, and only ever delights in the fact that she has it. Hem, obviously, is a little more fixated, but Maerad usually got ENOUGH to eat by virtue of her musical talent and value and the whole superstition thing. Hem rarely did.

Celaena turns her nose up at salmon and complains when chicken is a little bit dry. It’s just not behavior I would expect from someone starved in a salt mine for a year.

Pellinor’s mythology and religion and society remains consistent. ToG’s still rolling with the one goddess lots of little gods thing for now.

I’m just glad that Celaena used an actual weapon (poorly) and didn’t try to get creative. God knows what she would have done with a blade of grass or something. Why are we timing our fights. How was Chaol watching the clock closely enough to know that AND watching the fight. This could all have been solved with some research.

STATS

Pages: 23

Fragments: 36

Em-Dashes: 50

Ellipses: 14

Pages: 22

Fragments: 6

Em-Dashes: 2

Ellipses: 13

[chysgoda]

Smoked Out

Smoked out

In which dragons are not the scariest thing.

——

Bianca Pellinor fidgeted with the end of her braided chocolate hair. Her maman was in a meeting with the Congregation’s exchequer so she couldn’t go to her for help. Papa and his unit were on string somewhere in the central highlands so obviously she couldn’t ask him. She would have gone to Bel’s maman’s but they had left on a mission to kill a Primal, whatever that actually was, which was part of the problem. So when she had seen Ser Matthaios walk into the locker room she had decided that he was her best option right now. Well second best, Ser Illeanne would probably be better, she and Bel both being of the opinion that Ser Illeanne was a darn near perfect knight dragoon, but she knew Bel would die of embarrassment if she went to the lady dragoon. It was probably more proper to go to Set Matthaios anyways, he was in charge of the Fortemps dragoons. So she stood against the the hallway wall outside the locker room and waited.

She wasn’t sure how long she waited, probably not as long as she thought, for the door to open and the group of dragoons in street clothes to come out. Ser Matthaios looked tired and Ser Illeanne was part of the group, Bianca chewed on her bottom lip for a moment almost ready to let them go, but Papa had told her she needed to watch out for the other girl because House Fortemps had promised to keep her and her mamans safe; and Bel needed help. She licked her lips and stepped away from the wall. “Ser Matthaios-” When every single knight in the group turned to look at her Bianca blushed to the very tips of her ears. “Do you have a minute?”

Ser Matthaios cocked his head to look at her and then motioned for the rest of the group to go on without him. Ser Illeanne considered her as well for a long moment before leaving with the rest of the group. After they left Ser Matthaios knelt down to talk to her, “What’s the matter Bibi?”

Bianca relaxed just a little bit, if he took the time to come down to her height and called her Bibi then he wasn’t starting off upset with her. “How do you,” she swallowed hard “How do you help someone who’s having problems with bad memories?”

Ser Matthaios made a humming sound in his throat. “That depends on the person, who’s having problems?”

“Bel’s hiding the the armoury. She said that its not becasue her mamans went to fight If- Ifr-”

“Ifrit,” Ser Matthaios helped with the foreign name.

Bianca nodded and did bother trying to say it again. “But she said that it had tempered,” her brows pinched together not sure if she used the term correctly. “Her first parents. And there’s a person she’s afraid is going to hurt her mamans but she stopped talking and won’t tell me anything else and I don’t know how to help her.” the young elezan girl hastily brushed tears away embarrassed that they spilled out.

Ser Matthaios frowned as he thought, “Can you show me where she is?”

Bianca’s smile was broad and relieved as she nodded vigorously. When the knight dragoon stood and offered his hand she took it and led him through the halls to the armory.

————

Matthaios nodded to the head smith as Bianca led him through the armory. The smith took in the sight of a determined ten year old leading a senior dragoon through his domain and must have already known what it was about. He nodded to a storage room that seemed to be Bianca’s intended destination. At the doorway he could hear a hiccup that was followed up by a sniffle. Bel herself was easy enough to find, her lavender hair and ears stood out brightly against the drab colors of blacksmithing supplies. The miquote child was tucked between two benches with her knees drawn up to her chest. Both arms and her tail were wrapped around her shins and her fingers picked at the end of her tail.

He didn’t let go of Bianca’s hand when The girl tried to dart into the room and to her friend. “Softly, it’s not good to startle someone.”

Bel’s ears twitched in their direction. She looked up to see them both and shot Bianca a glare that was at best half-hearted. Bianca shuffled anxiously next to him. Matthaios frowned thinking about how he’s seen Melisande and Art’imis interact with their daughter and Bianca. Mostly they seemed to expect the same behavior knights asked of their squires with allowances made for situations where their years simply prevented understanding. Which had included significantly fewer things than he had thought it would. He let go of Bianca’s hand and gripped her shoulder gently. “I’ll take care of it from here Bibi. Why don’t you go see if the smiths need any help”

Bianca hesitated, looking at her friend before she nodded and hurried towards the work area. Matthaios stepped in aware that Bel had turned her pine green and wine red eyes on him with the same half-hearted glare. He sat near her making sure she had both space and a clear path to the open door. Bel rested her chin on her knees. “I know they had to go, just like Bibi’s dad or you or Ser Illeanne. That’s fine, they’ll beat the big, stupid, fire monkey lizard anyways.”

Matthaios snorted a laugh, which made Bel’s lips quiver in a smile . “Alphinaud doesn’t get it, he thinks I’m being a baby. Its…” She stopped and looked at him hard. “My mamas’ say you’re good people like Ser Estinien and Ser Haurchefant and Bibi’s parents, not just nice.”

There was a weight behind the words good and nice, the distinction between the two words was not something he expected from a child. Matthaios waited for her to go on but it seemed she was waiting on a response from him. “How do you mean?”

“Mama Art says Ser Estinien is good but he doesn’t know how to people so he isn’t always nice,” the girl paused for a moment distracted by a stray thought, “which is kind of mean for her to say because her and Mama Meli are both really pokey when they’re upset.”

The description of the Azure Dragoon and the Warriors of Light drew a laugh out of Matthaios. Bel started relaxing the grip she had on her own shins. She managed a smile for a moment before it fell again. Her voice was softer when she started again. “Illberd was nice. He had funny stories and if he had time when he was at the Rising Stones he’d tell me about Ala Migho. He told me he’d keep an eye on my mamas because sometimes everyone else forgot that they can get hurt too.”

The child put her face down on her knees. “Illberd told my mamas that they should take me to the banquet. Mama Art and Mama Mel didn’t want me to come because they said I wasn’t old enough to go to a state banquet. I was so mad at them, and Auntie ‘Stola, and Papalymo, and Thancred, and Menphila, because they all agreed. I told Auntie ‘Stola I didn’t like her and then…”

Matthaios took a long breath in through his nose and pushed it out through his mouth. If it had just been the primal or dragons that had driven her into her shell it would have been easier. He knew where this was going, he’d been in the First Lance’s office when a Sultansworn Paladin brought news that Ifrit had been summoned once again. This time with crystals that had been smuggled by the Crystal Braves. Illberd and his allies could not reach the Warriors of Light while they stayed in Ishgard. So they were being smoked out with the only thing that was guaranteed to make them come back to Thanalan. “You’re afraid that Illberd will take them.”

Bel nodded and let go of her knees long enough to wipe tears off her cheeks. “They’re always so tired and hurt when they come back. Some of the scions were usually there to help them get home, but they’re all gone.”

Matthaios for his chest constrict and flare with angry heat at the same time. Treachery was difficult enough for adults to deal with, and the lady warriors would not have been able to shield their child from this. Bel took the same blow that staggered her mothers and threw them all against Ishgard’s gates. “I won’t tell you it will be alright, you wouldn’t believe me, but I was there when they made their plans. The Sultansworn are sending people to support them and were going to seek out Lady Yugri for help as well. They’re not completely alone.”

The mention of the Doman Au’ra made the small Miquote shoulders slump in relief. Quietly she came out of her hiding spot to sit next to him and shelter in his shadow. “Thank you. I still wish some of you could have gone with them. You’re better fighters than the Sultansworn.”

Matthaios chuckled remembering the same admission voiced much more reluctantly by the Sultansworn Paladin Marco. “Are you ready to leave here?” Bel shook her head, so Matthaios settled into a slightly more comfortable position. “Then we’ll wait a bit.”

——-

So first off a big thanks to @scrollsfromarebornrealm for letting me kidnap Matthaios.

Headcannon time with Chysgoda

So there’s a lot about the political situation surrounding the WoL and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn that just isn’t addressed and it makes the old debater geek in me sad. So the bloody banquet requires so much internal handwaving I feel like I’m conducting the 1812 Overture. Among other things the absolute lack of response once team scions gets to DragonHead. I mean they go through a LOT of work to set up the frame for the WoLs killing the Sultana. So Plan A for capturing the Warriors fails, what’s the back up?

I also think that there was more to Lolorito cutting Illberd loose beyond what he says to Ruban and the WoL. And we all know Illberd is a crazy mofo who doesn’t have a problem with primals getting summoned.

At any rate, enjoy!