#but the knighthood includes a majority of noble heirs

[dr-dendritic-trees]

This is a very good point I had forgotten about

tortall was really like “yeah we have a box that makes people live out their worst fears. no we have no idea why. we put teenagers in it”

[dolliedarlin]

i m p l i c i t  ⏤katsuki b.

p a i r i n g : bakugou x f.reader 

s u m m a r y : ever since you were young, you were forced to meet with the person dubbed as your finance, Katsuki Bakugou, a Baron’s son who had quite the temper but peaks your interest in every way possible 

l e n g t h : 1.9k

g e n r e : olden days au ; fantasy au ; arranged marriage au ; Bakugou is a tsundere ; and we love him for it ; reader is an amazing bean that can keep up with him ; kirishima is your brother ; best brother ever ; rumours are toxic ; never base your opinions on someone solely on rumours ; you attract a stalker ; it’s not your fault ; he just as a twisted yandere mind ; Katsuki is your hero ; he makes your heart flutter ; and he makes your knees weak ; i really want someone to protect me and say what he said at the end of this 

w a r n i n g s : swearing from our lovable explosion murder king ; acts of stalker/yandere ; sword fighting

a / n : i didn’t plan on posting this but mother nature decided to pay me a visit today so i basically lazed around in my bed groaning in pain and half starving bc it was too painful to get out at times for food. instead i started writing this imagine again that i had began months ago. this is inspired by Ranma 1/2, which is an anime that i loved watching when i was much younger, it’s not well edited because i’m kinda dizzy rn but i hope you enjoy it! 

— first of all, before either you or Katsuki were born, the arrangement for your marriage to each other was already settled by your parents, hence why you were immediately introduced when you were children 

— neither of you knew what marriage or engagement meant but you both associated it with seeing each other

— it wasn’t something Katsuki liked but you didn’t quite mind it, he always gave you really interesting reactions that you quickly came to like

— as the two of you grew up together, you always tried your best to get close to him but Katsuki was adamant at pushing you away and keeping you at arms length at all times

— despite all that, you wanted to catch his attention, which meant that you took interest in all the things that he found interesting too. that included: sword fighting, horse riding, duelling ; spicy foods ; battle tactics ; magic etc 

— Katsuki always tried to ignore you but secretly appreciated how skilled you had become over the years. you were still nothing compared to him but you were able to battle against a majority of qualified knights and still be the last one standing

— he only scoffed at you because your talents were wasted; you’re too kindhearted to ever use your honed skills properly - it irritates him that other women push you to conform to etiquette, tea parties and high society when you were better than that

— you’re better than shallow conversations about the latest fashion, or the art of sipping tea, calligraphy and painting because he knows how much you train and how much effort you put into your education outside of such insignificant things

— Katsuki knows that you can handle yourself better than any other nobleman he knows of, he’s seen you help your father with his business and vigorously train with your dukedom’s knights

— what’s the point of all that effort if you weren’t going to show anything for it?

— because of that Katsuki always acted like he hated having you as his fiancée despite your optimism about him, as well as your patience and understanding of his unique way of expressing himself

— because the two of you are forced to spend a lot of time together by your parents, you’ve has been able to understand Katsuki and his mannerisms better than anyone else as your mother has always taught you to be openminded - she’s never been like the other noble ladies of society, hence why your father married her

— now, you were following in her footsteps. there’s been much gossip about your unladylike behaviour but you didn’t care, all you needed were your parents’ love and the love of Katsuki. he still needed some more time to come around but you’re positive you’ll get to him soon enough

— you’re positive there’s a different gleam in his eyes whenever he looks towards you now. it had always been one of hatred when you were much younger but his expressions frequently soften around you nowadays. 

— no matter how subtle it may be, you always notice

— many rumours circulated about you the first time you had shown your skills openly amongst the knighthood. it had first started with your knights who praised you highly but, as soon as those whisperings reached outside the dukedom, many noble ladies started to gossip about your misdemeanour. 

— surprisingly, those rumours were shut down in under a week and you didn’t know why; usually such good gossip material stayed for months and only faded with the years so it was peculiar to have it die down so quickly 

— what was suspicious was that, as soon as your rumours died down, stories about Katsuki surged forward.

— when you conversed with other people, they would say how horrible they feel for you having to marry such an aggressive and dislikable fiancee. they would then over-exaggerate all the belligerent and misunderstood characteristics of Bakugou, even making up disgusting rumours that painted him to be more villainous than he actually was.

— “how shameful,” you spat with disgust, glowering down at the noble ladies frozen in their seats, “how dare you openly gossip about my fiancee right in front of me, the nerve! you should know better than to act like such children. if you have nothing better to do then i suggest you leave the kirishima estate immediately and never expect to be invited back,” 

— they tried to beg you for forgiveness, seeing as your father held such power in high society, being one of the four noble dukes of the kingdom serving directly under the king as they all had noble blood. 

— nobody expected your father to marry you to a Baron’s son. Katsuki didn’t have a higher title than you but your fathers had gone to war together and remained loyal friends ever since, Baron Bakugou went on to acquire his title of Braon after his service in the war but many people still looked down on him from his commoner origins. to think that such educated ladies of high society would use that as leverage to gossip however they wished. 

— word of your actions on behalf of Bakugou spread quickly and the two of you became a couple that shouldn’t be trifled with.   

— after that day, you always defend Katsuki and never miss the opportunity to express how much you admire him and care for him even if he doesn’t tend to reciprocate it

— you do this when Katsuki’s friends make an appearance, they consisted of your brother, Eijiro, Denki of house Kaminari (son of Marquis Kaminari) and Hanta of house Sero (son of Marquis Sero). 

— they usually don’t visit the estate but this time they decided to utilise the knights training grounds for extra duelling practice and happened to catch you just as you were walking out, having finished your own training

— as soon as introductions and polite greetings were exchanged, came the jokes and jives.

— “I wouldn’t blame you if you eloped with someone else on your wedding day, Lady (Y/N), knowing this guy’s attitude,” Denki snickers as he points his thumb at your fiancé, who growled lowly in return.

— “i wouldn’t dare do something like that because, even if this is an arranged marriage, Katsuki will be the only man for me” Katsuki didn’t expect you to be so forward and couldn’t help the blush that coated his cheeks from your response 

— Denki whistled in a mix of astonishment and amusement, “Katsuki’s a lucky guy!” 

— “he looks really happy to hear you say that too, sis,” Eijiro teased as Hanta grinned from beside him. 

— “shut up! we came here to train so let's train already, you dumbasses!”

— the days go by and life is good; the quicker your wedding day approaches the kinder and gentler Katsuki treats you. it wasn’t until the kindness you practiced with everyone you met, no matter their status, became something more in the twisted mind of an unknown individual that you encountered within city streets, while out shopping

— one act of kindness made the stranger crave for your touch and sought you out in the most deviant method. he sent constant letters multiple times a day and even mailed one with his most intimate item of clothing, not only that but he always stood at the gates of your estate, waiting for it to be opened just to slip in and try to meet you again

— of course, he didn’t get far because of the security brought on by your dukedom’s talented knights stopped him at every devious attempt. each incident was reported directly to your brother, who was training to inherit the duchy as soon as your father retired

— Eijiro was having none of it and devised the best plan of action he could, knowing that his image as the heir of the dukedom needed to be thought of so that his people wouldn’t be against him when he took over his capable father’s place. he resisted the urge for an immediate confrontation to plan with you, about how you wanted to defuse the situation 

— however, as soon as word got to Bakugou, he ran over on foot to confront the man at your estate, just as Eijiro came down with a squadron of knights and you at his side

— lost in his own world, your stalker immediately reached out for you the instant he caught sight of your figure. on his face, he had a twisted smile and manic eyes, his breathing became heavy as if to savour the same air you breathed not too far away from him. it was frighting and chilling to see such an unhinged man. he was so deranged, he didn’t mind the swords and pointed glares directed at him by all that were present and Katsuki, who was fast approaching from behind

— “Get. Away. From. Her!” Katsuki shouted in anger as he drew his sword and slashed at the young man, making you jump back with a gasp.

— “Bakugou!” Kirishima warned as he pulled you into his chest for protection from the clashing of swords

— “Katsuki, be careful!” you cried. confronting someone with such an unstable mind could go horribly wrong and no matter how skilled your fiancee was, you couldn’t help but worry

— Even though this was the first time Katsuki ever showed his feelings for you in such a dramatic gesture, the worry you had for him consumed your joy as his opponent drew out his own sword and started lashing out with worse coordination than your junior knights. 

— what he lacked with technique, however, he made up for in agility as well as his own unpredictability. it made it hard for Katsuki to predict the path of his opponent’s sword so for a time, he was constantly dodging his blade. it didn’t take long, however, for the game of endurance and stamina to come into play and slow down his opponent enough for him to fight back with more accuracy.

— “you revolting rat!” Katsuki growled swinging his sword with might only to grind his teeth when his sword is narrowly dodged. not one to give up, however, he goes in once again and finally lands a hit that forces your stalker to crumble to his knees, “you try and pull that shit with (Y/N) again and I’ll be doing more than just beating you to the ground,” it was an obvious win for the blonde. 

— “And what would that be?” your stalker still had fight in him that came off as more irritating than anything else Bakugou had ever encountered in his life of servitude as a royal knight and baron’s son.

— just to prove his point, whatever it may be, Katsuki goes to stand beside you and pull you into his chest with his large hand at your waist   

— “landing your ugly, disgusting ass in a fucking coffin!” the venom in his voice was evident and it made you shudder, curling up into his chest for comfort, not knowing that the next words he’d shout would have your knees weaker than any training could ever do, “(Y/N) is MY Fiancee! you touch her and I’ll kill you!”

n a v i . | bnha mlist 

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Been wanting to do this one for a long while. Thinking a lot about Fire and Blood because House of the Dragon is coming up, and there are quite a lot of parallels between the Dance of the Dragons and the main ASOIAF series. More below...

The Dance of the Dragons happened, in part, because the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's children was in question. Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey (how fitting, two bastard children named Joffrey) had brown hair instead of the typical silver-blonde hair of Targaryen and Velaryon children, and their father was not Laenor Velaryon, but rather Harwin Strong. Because of this, Rhaenyra's claim to the Iron Throne was contested, since her heirs would be bastards.

Not too dissimilar to the beginning of the War of the Five Kings, where Cersei, the beautiful queen of King Robert, fathered three bastard children in secret with her brother Jaime, all of them with the golden blond hair of the Lannisters. Then when Robert died, Joffrey ascended the throne, and Ned backed Stannis, who was in truth the rightful heir to the throne... we all know how that went of course. Also, while Rhaenyra's Joffrey was the youngest of the three, Cersei's Joffrey was the oldest of the three.

Rhaenyra and Cersei are very strong parallels. Rhaenyra was secretly involved in an affair with a family member (her uncle Daemon) whilst Cersei was involved in a secret affair with her own family member (brother Jaime). The difference, of course, being that Rhaenyra ended up marrying Daemon because Targs do Targ things, and Cersei just kept her affair with Jaime secret because they weren't Targs. In addition, Rhaenyra ended up losing all three of her children, becoming more and more bitter and distraught, becoming prone to paranoia.

Meanwhile, Cersei has thus far only lost Joffrey, but the valonqar prophecy states she will lose all three of her children. Like Rhaenyra, though, after the death of Joffrey, she does become more prone to paranoia and is increasingly bitter. Rhaenyra was eventually fed to Sunfyre by her half-brother Aegon. If Jaime is truly the valonqar, then Cersei might end up being killed by her brother as well. Eventually, Rhaenyra did end up becoming estranged from Daemon, and currently Cersei is estranged from Jaime.

However, a better Dance parallel with Cersei and Jaime is Rhaenyra and Criston Cole. They were lovers, a future queen with a member of the Kingsguard. They later suffered some sort of estrangement (the nature of which is a source of conflict in terms of what is real) that led to Criston eventually siding with the greens over the blacks during the Dance. Criston also was made Hand of the King, while Cersei presses for Jaime to be made Hand, but he refuses the position.

However, Rhaenyra isn't the only Cersei parallel. Alicent Hightower is another. Like Cersei, she supports her eldest son in claiming the throne against its lawful heir, and is the dowager queen of the former king... And she is the daughter of the Hand of the King, who is a member of one of the richest, most powerful families in the kingdoms. However, Rh

But the parallels run even deeper than that. It shocked me to see how far these go. The story of Aegon III and Viserys II as children is not too dissimilar to both the story of Daenerys and Viserys after Robert's Rebellion and some of the Stark children. Like Dany and Viserys, Viserys II ended up spending a lot of time in the Free Cities, specifically Lys, although he was captured in battle and returned as a hostage, whereas Dany and Viserys spent time in Illyrio's mansion as guests. Arya also went to Braavos, a Free City, but that's about where the similarities end so that isn't very intentional, I think.

Nonetheless, both Aegon and Viserys spent the majority of the war separated from each other and only reunited after it ended. Likewise, the Stark children were separated from each other for the majority of the war as well, and seem poised to reunite after the initial War of the Five Kings is over. And speaking of Starks, Aegon III does have a slight parallel with Bran.

As confirmed by George, Bran will be the King of Westeros by the end of the books, and there is a moniker given to him in the show that actually does appear in the books, of Bran the Broken. Meanwhile, at the end of the Dance, Aegon is now the King, and he is known as the Broken King, because of his extreme PTSD and depression from his traumatic experiences during the war.

Doesn't even end there. Now we get into some of, in my opinion, the biggest parallels with the Dance and ASOIAF proper. We all know about R+L=J, and the Dance has not one, but two big nods to this. First is the story told by Mushroom of when Jacaerys visited Winterfell. Supposedly, he fell in love with Cregan's bastard half-sister Sara Snow, and the two secretly wed before the Winterfell heart tree. Regardless of the validity of the story, Cregan and Jace did end up agreeing to what was called the Pact of Ice and Fire, wherein Jace's firstborn daughter would marry Cregan's son Rickon... son of a Targaryen king marrying the daughter of Lord Stark? Hmmm....

However, the other one is a lot more significant, to me anyways, and that would be the relationship between Crown Prince Aemond One-Eye and Alys Rivers. During the Dance, when Aemond took over Harrenhal, he took Alys Rivers as his paramour. The mysterious Alys was said to be a witch who was a bastard of House Strong, a House that has strong ties to the First Men. So, Valyrian crown prince and a First Man woman in love... but don't worry, it gets extremely apparent afterwards.

Aemond impregnates Alys and leaves her in a tower to go fight Daemon, during which Aemond is killed, leaving Alys all alone. Rhaegar impregnates Lyanna and leaves her in a tower to go fight Robert, during which Rhaegar is killed and leaves Alys all alone... then, years later, during winter, the Hand of the King Tyland Lannister tries to get together a force to retake Harrenhal, as it is held by brigands and thieves and broken men, only to find Alys there... with a young child she calls her and Aemond's trueborn son, and the rightful King of Westeros.

If that isn't enough for you, there is a very distinct similarity in the armour of Rhaegar and Aemond. Rhaegar's armour is mentioned to have been;

Seventeen and new to knighthood, Rhaegar Targaryen had worn black plate over golden ringmail when he cantered onto the lists.

And:

The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate.

Compare this to Aemond's own armour.

Vhagar had come at last, and on her back rode the one-eyed Prince Aemond Targaryen, clad in nightblack armor chased with gold.

It seems clear to me that George is trying to tell us something. I think Aemond and Alys are a sort of dark mirror to Rhaegar and Lyanna. Rhaegar was considered a very noble, chivalrous prince who was well loved by the smallfolk, and Lyanna had a strong sense of Stark justice (as seen in the Knight of the Laughing Tree story). Meanwhile, Aemond was a narcissistic, psychopathic mass murderer who seems almost Ramsay-esque in his demeanour. And Alys seems more power hungry and eventually took over Harrenhal as its witch queen. But the fact they have what Alys claims to be their trueborn child and true king of Westeros does strongly suggest Rhaegar and Lyanna did eventually marry and Jon is their trueborn son, not a bastard.

I hoped I would be done by now, but there is still even more parallels. Cregan Stark and Eddard Stark are parallels and foils. Ned becomes Hand of the King and travels south to uncover who poisoned the previous Hand of the King, before the War of the Five Kings starts. Meanwhile, Cregan travels south and arrives at King's Landing after the Dance was over, then becomes Hand of the King to uncover who poisoned the previous king (Aegon II). However, while Ned was cautious and not really a big player of the game of thrones, Cregan was ambitious and knew what he was doing, even if his actions weren't always the best (attacking Storm's End, Oldtown, and Casterly Rock after the war was essentially over? Not a good idea, Stark).

The Regency of Aegon III in and of itself is a metacommentary to the writing process of ASOIAF. Originally, after GRRM finished ASOS, he decided to do a 5-year gap between that and what was to be ADWD. However, that ended up not working out, so he scrapped it all together. During that time, Tommen would've remained king, and his reign would be under a regency. So thus, Aegon III having a 5-year regency (from 131 to 136 AC) during that time alludes to that.

And then you get to Unwin Peake, my least favourite character in Fire and Blood. He appears to be a combination of Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly. Personality wise, he is very much like Randyll. He is a very outspoken misogynist, a very proud man, and a noted warrior wielding a Valyrian steel blade (that he likely stole from Tumbleton since Orphan-Maker was from House Roxton originally). He also changed out Aegon III's master-at-arms to be Gareth Long, who was a very harsh taskmaster, who routinely engaged in abusive tactics with the boys he trained when they didn't meet his expectations, including days without sleep, doused in tubs of ice water, being beat, and having their heads shaved, which is very reminiscent of Randyll's abuse of Sam as a child.

Unwin and Randyll also dealt with lawful punishment in very harsh ways, as seen by Randyll's treatment of those who break the law at Maidenpool, and Unwin's clearing the Red Keep cells during the Feast of Our Father Above. However, Unwin has a lot of similarities with Mace Tyrell as well. Mace is on the small council, and has routinely tried to engage in nepotism by implanting allies and family members of his into positions at the council and at King's Landing, including marrying Margaery to the king, becoming Hand of the King, having Paxter Redwyne be the lord admiral and Randyll Tarly the lord justiciar, try to bring his uncle Garth to become the new master of coin, and Garth's bastard sons to join the gold cloaks, not to mention the Conclave nearly sending his uncle Gormon to become the new Grand Maester (something Mace will surely approve of), Mace having his son Loras join the Kingsguard, and even try to betroth his heir Willas to Myrcella.

Meanwhile, Unwin engaged in much more rampant and unchecked nepotism. He was Hand of the King and Lord Regent, had Ser Gareth as master-at-arms at the Red Keep, since he was master-at-arms at Starpike, while his widowed aunt Clarice Osgrey was put in charge of Queen Jaehaera's household, Lord George Graceford (a member of the Caltrops that Peake himself was involved in) was appointed as the Lord Confessor, and Ser Victor Risley, the other surviving member of the Caltrops, was appointed to the position of the King's Justice.

He even dismissed Septon Eustace and replaced him with Septon Bernard, another relative of his. He also had his nephew Amaury and his bastard half-brother Ser Mervyn Flowers put onto the Kingsguard, while his uncle Gedmund was made the master of ships. Not to mention his attempted marriage between his daughter Myrielle and Aegon III. So basically the Peakes are the Tyrells of their day, trying to take control of the Seven Kingdoms and the Iron Throne.

And that is all that I can remember! I'm sure there is a lot more, but it's striking to see just how many parallels there are between the Dance and ASOIAF itself.

[yewfallen]

( tw: drowning, heights )

“The duke's not coming,”  a hushed voice gossips at that year's Grannvalian debutante ball. It is a year after liberation has come to nearly all corners of Jugdral, with the civil conflicts in Agustria and Verdane reined in a few months ago.

Jugdral has faced a significant change in its power. It is not a major Naga blood on the Imperial throne but rather House Chalphy's most apparent heir, taking the helm of power over Grannvale through his mother's claim. The previous Empress's heiress, Julia, has taken a step away from it, distancing herself due to an array of problems. Her father, the prior Emperor, has a reputation tarnished in revelation of his crimes over a decade and a half ago now, and her twin brother has been painted as nothing more than darkness incarnate.

The throne is but a reminder of tragedy for her, and she needs her time, her half-brother tells the people. It does little to stop the heresay amongst the old nobles.

Installed in many corners are young, fresh faces who have little instruction in the arts of court and governance. One such face is the aforementioned missing Duke of Yngvi.

Febail, new Duke of Yngvi after the end of the Final Holy War, is currently braving his way outside of the Grannvale Empire's borders entirely. He has left a note behind for his aunt, Lady Edain, who will surely find it when she comes in to check up on him and find out whether or not he has changed properly into his formal attire for the evening.

Tonight was meant to be the night where much of the new nobility, him included, would announce themselves as joining high society formally, but he has his eyes set on the far off Thracia instead.

'I'm going to bring Mother back,' is all his note says. He hopes his aunt will understand.

----

It's been a few days now since Febail's set out. Whatever repercussions House Yngvi might be suffering, he assumes, will blow over by now. While he doesn't trust Lester or Patty to have necessarily smoothed things out for him, he imagines Aunt Edain or Lana could have done something on the matter.

He'd have to make sure he brought back his mother to make up for all this.

He brings Yewfelle with him as he crosses the Aed desert. The desert comes with plenty of stories of people who never make it out, but if Sir Seliph's army could do it, then Febail's certain he can too.

The trek itself isn't a problem, even if he is doing it primarily alone and on foot. He doesn't know the first thing about how to tend to a horse, and he doubts Lester would look on him kindly if he had borrowed his steed.

He finds the cold that night brings troublesome however. It tests his will, but any time he looks at the moon, he reminds himself what all this trouble is worth.

At the end of all this struggle, House Yngvi will have one of its precious family members back. Patty might cry again for the joy of getting to know her mother, the one who gave her a reason to be stand tall and proud. Edain would have her sister returned, the one she had given up her path to knighthood for so that they may know one another again.

And... Febail dreams he will be able to better picture the hazy memories of the woman who looked over him in his earliest days — the one with the beautiful, golden hair and the white headband he adorns now.

If he is lucky, such a reunion will allow him to ask her of who his father is too. It will be then and only then that their home shall be complete.

----

Febail makes it out to the eastern shores of Thracia a few days later, worse for wear. The heavens do not smile upon his journey if the harsh storms are anything to judge. The rains come down heavily, and the tide is high today.

He wonders if this is nature's way to yell at him for skipping out on the debutante ball back then. He would have hoped the gods would be a bit more sympathetic to his plight.

His impatience has him braving the storm, unable to stay still in an inn nor does he wish to pay for more nights than he has to. He's so close, he knows it. It was somewhere here, somewhere called Fiana that Sir Finn had told him about in a letter sent just a couple weeks ago.

It was in Fiana that a woman he was so certain must be the missing Lady Brigid of Yngvi resides. She is missing her memory, but it couldn't be anyone but her as much as she might deny it.

Febail swears that when he finds her, he'll figure it out himself whether or not she matches his memories of her from long gone days. He'll see if the sight of him will remind her that he is her son and that she has two children she has left behind for all these years. He'll ask her where she has been, why she left in the first place, and whether or not she will go back home with him.

Even if she does not recall him at first, he has a trick for that. Yewfelle glows brightly on his back as he carries it, as brilliant a weapon as they come, even in the darkness of the foul day. The wind slaps his face as he drags his feet towards this turbulent seaside village, and an old story comes back to him as his ace.

When the Lady Brigid had lost her memory decades ago, it was shooting from Yewfelle that had restored her memories and brought her back home after many years of having lived away from her family. If this woman Sir Finn talks about truly is the Lady Brigid, then it will surely be Yewfelle that brings her back home once again.

That was the plan, anyhow, but along the way, he comes across some bandits on their way to the same place as he. Fiana has had some trouble with them for years lately, so he's heard.

Just his luck, really.

They spot him and clearly aim to mug him. He'd like to yell at them to bug off and just run past them all, but they are persistent and outnumber him easily. They chase him to a treacherous cliffside where he aims to descend, hoping to lose them there.

However, just as he's doing so and thinks he's in the clear, a ferocious gust of wind picks up and causes him to lose his footing. It takes only a second, but in that second where he loses control, he is lost to the tumultuous storm, and his cries are deafened by the rain.

When he takes a plunge into the ocean, the waves push him 'til he has no sense of direction, and he fights to overcome it and breach the surface — for air, for a sense of where he is, for hope itself.

But the black waters fight as much as he does too, keeping him down and away, and he can feel his limbs going numb from the cold. This storm itself feels too unnatural, and while he still has his mind, he almost curses the gods themselves for getting in his way.

Not now!! Not when he's so close to Fiana...!

Just like the two times it's taken his mother before him, the sea sweeps Febail away, but before everything turns to black for him, he feels the brand on his lower back glow and react. It calls upon the dragon who forged it onto his bloodline, reaching out for its judgment upon its heir.

It is Ulir who wipes his mind and carries him to a distant shore, and it is Ulir who sets him onto the path where he shall go. To Adrestia, it decides, to a noble who will keep Yewfelle away at bay.

The year is Grann Year 779, and it is too early for son and mother to meet again, memories intact, it decides.

[castrumtocastle]

EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE OF WALES

Also known as ‘Edward of Woodstock’, Edward the Black Prince was the eldest son of King III of England and Philippa of Hainault. Although he never became the king, he was the heir apparent to the English throne. His limited years did not limit his power and he made a name for himself through his military brilliance and achievements. Of all the battles he fought, his victories against the French in the Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Poitiers are notorious.

There is no clear evidence as to why he became to be known as Edward The Black Prince Of Wales but some historians suggest that it was referred to his black shield and body armour while others argued that it referred to his cruelty to the French people. Moreover, he was given this name after about one hundred and fifty years after his death. In his life, he was only known as ‘Edward of Woodstock’.

Early Life

Born on the 15th of June 1330 at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire, Edward of Woodstock was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and was the heir to the English throne. Since he died a year before his father at the age of 45, his son Richard II succeeded the throne. Edward was given the following titles:

Earl of Chester

Duke of Cornwell

Prince of Wales

Prince of Aquitaine

Knight of the Garter

Marriage

The negotiations for Edward began when he was only 7 years old. He was married to his father’s cousin who was the divorced and widowed countess of Kent in October 1361 at Windsor castle. They had two sons, Edward and Richard. The eldest son Edward died of plague at the mere age of six, whereas the younger son Richard grew up to inherit the throne after his Grandfather and become to be known as King Richard II.

He also became the step-father to his wife Joan’s children from her previous marriage which included Thomas and John Holland. Apart from his two legitimate sons, he also had several illegitimate children which were not considered unusual at that time. His illegitimate children included Sir Roger Clarendon whom he had with Edith de Willesford and three other sons called Edward, Sir Charles FitzEdward, and Sir John Sounder.

Titles and achievements

He received his first suit of armour at the age of seven. Soon afterward he was granted revenue from the newly created Duchy of Cornwell by his father King Edward. However, if the future monarch did not have a son then the revenue from the Duchy would be reverted to the crown. Hence, eventually, Prince Edward was made theDuke of Cornwell.

At the age of 13, Edward was made the Prince of Wales and he proved his position 3 years later at the Battle of Crécy in North-Eastern France in August 1346. The English had a total victory over the French. During the Hundred Years’ War, Edward often fought with the French. Another major achievement for him came from the Battle of Poitiers when he defeated the French and even captured the French King as a prisoner.

After his achievements in the Hundred Years’ War against the French, Edward’s reputation got stained in September 1370 due to the French town of Limoges. A friend of Edward and the godfather to his son, Johan De dross who was also the Bishop of Limoges betrayed Edward and defected to the french by welcoming a garrison into a part of the town.

A massacre followed upon Edward hearing the news where he put 3,000 men, women, and children to death. Despite them pleading for mercy, Edward listened to none and almost destroyed the entire population of Limoges. This cruelty shown by him is also suggested to be one of the reasons he is termed as the Black Prince of Wales.

After his military success in France, he turned towards Spain where he helped the deposed King Pedro the Cruel of Castile defeat his illegitimate brother known as the henry of Trastamara. He was defeated at Najera in Castile and hence Edward was awarded the Black Prince’s Ruby by the Spanish King. Moreover, Edward was also among the 25 founding knights of the Order of the Garter.

Hundred Years’ War

In 1337 CE, King Edward decided to expand his lands in France. Moreover, the King’s mother Isabella being from France (the daughter of Philip IV of France) gave him an excuse to have a right to claim the French throne. However, the king of France at the time, Philip VI refused to step down from his throne. Hence, the Hundred Years’ War between France and England began in which Prince Edward played a major role starting from the Battle of Crécy in 1346.

Battle Of Crécy

Edward was known to use the strategy chevauchée which was a common part of medieval warfare and is known to be used as far as back in 1066 CE by William the Conqueror. The strategy aimed to perform multiple functions such as instilling fear and terror in the locals, provide free food for an invading army, get booty and ransom for noble prisoners, and to ensure that the opposite army had a weak economic base.

Moreover, ordinary troops also caused mayhem and executed raids on the opponent’s army whenever they could get a chance. The potential outcome of this strategy was brutal economic warfare and provoking the enemy to attack. This is exactly what happened with the King of France and hence on the 26th of August, the two armies met when King Phillip of France decided to invade England’s army.

Prince Edward who was only 16 at the time led the English army with his right-wing and Sir Godfrey Harcourt. Although the prince fought with great bravery there came a point when the French seemed to be winning. Sir Godfrey called for reinforcements however the King upon hearing the news stated that if his son could extricate himself from the battle then he would win his spurs which was a sign of knighthood and were awarded in a full knighting ceremony.

Eventually, Edward the Black Prince’s army overcame their numerical disadvantage by taking a defensive position on the River Maie. The French army retracted after getting into a muddle. King Edward won the battle with only 300 casualties whereas the French had a great number of casualties of around 14,000. Not only that but the battle also resulted in their fallen reputation. The King John of Bohemia, the Count of Blois, and the Count of Flanders were also eliminated in the Battle of Crécy. Afterward, Prince Edward adopted the emblem and motto of the fallen king of Bohemia.

After the success at the battle of Crécy, England’s success continued when Edward the Black Prince backed an army of around 26,000 men and captured Calais after a year-long siege in July 1347 CE. The Black Prince’s reputation further grew when after three years, in January 1350 CE, along with his selected unit of knights, he protected the city against a French plot that Involved Italian mercenaries.

Chivalry and Garters

To celebrate the Prince’s medieval tournaments, he and his father participated in the great 15-day tournament in 1344 CE at Windsor Castle. The prince’s father, Edward III found the exclusive Knights club and epitome of medieval Chivalry of which the prince was also the founding member and was given the Order of the Garter in 1348 CE.

This order is known to be one of England’s most oldest and prestigious and included only 24 chosen knights, the King, and the Black Prince. The chosen knights had all fought in the battle of Crécy. The symbol of the order was a garter and its motto read, “evil on him who thinks it” referring to anyone who had doubted the king’s right to rule France. Moreover, The garter on the order had the royal colours of France; blue and gold.

Battle of Poitiers

The new King of France, John II was not any different from the previous one. He continued to war with England. Hence, in 1355 CE Gascony was raided and Bordeaux was captured by Edward the Black Prince which he used as his base. The Prince used the same strategy he used in the Battle of Crécy and torched cities and farmlands.

Again just as the previous king, this strategy also provoked the new French King to take the same steps, and hence, the French surprised the English army on the 18th of September 1356 CE. A mighty battle started the next day 4 miles from Poitiers. Once again the French army outnumbered the English army (35,000 vs 7,000). However, they could not handle the power and accuracy of the English longbow. Eventually, England won and the King John of France himself was captured along with 2,000 other French knights.

Edward gained further reputation because of the chivalrous behavior he showed to the King of France after capturing him as a prisoner and while escorting him back to England. Moreover, he also distributed gold and titles to his commanders and donated huge sums to churches such as the Canterbury Cathedral.

Although King Edward marched to Rheims and made himself the King of France, the harsh winters there reduced his army. Hence, he signed a peace treaty in 1360 CE between England and France which is called the Treaty of Bretigny. In 1362 CE, King Edward III, who was the Lord of Aquitaine, made his son, the Black Prince, the Prince of Aquitaine.

Castile and Najera

After the treaty of peace, the Black Prince turned to Castile in Spain. The fallen king of Spain Pedro wanted to reclaim the throne from his half-brother HenryII of Castile who had the support of the French. On 3rd April 1367 CE, Prince Edward won the Battle of Najera against the French at the Najerilla river. He even managed to sell one of the prisoners for a massive ransom.

Hence, he was titled the greatest knight ever, Bertrand du Guesclin, the ‘Eagle of Brittany’. He also received a memento from Pedro that became to be known as Black Prince’s Ruby. Although the Battle of Najera was a great military feat, it also proved to be a financial disaster for the Black Prince.

Death

Due to his ill health, the Prince returned to England in 1371. He resigned from his principality next year and started taking a more active part in England’s internal politics where he was known for the constitutional policy of the commons against the corrupt court and the party of Lancastrians.

Edward the Balck Prince of Wales died at the age of 46 on 8th June 1376 CE. The exact cause of his death is unknown but it is said that he suffered from many illnesses from dysentery to old war wounds and even cancer. Although the cause of his death might never be known, it is known that he died before ascending the throne.

A year after his death, his father, King Edward III also passed away and Edward the black prince’s son Richard inherited the throne. Moreover, due to his death, his work in the parliament remained undone and the year following his death, the parliament itself was resolved.

He is buried in Canterbury Cathedral where his black helmet, shield, and gauntlets are hung above. The space beside him was kept for his wife. However, she was buried next to her first husband. According to some theories, the prince chose Canterbury Cathedral as his burial place as his confession of his sins. This was because the Canterbury Cathedral was considered a place of penance and repentance. Moreover, The black prince also ordered the following French poem to be Inscribed around his tomb at Canterbury:

Such as you are, Sometimes was I.

Such as I am, So you shall be.

I thought little of Death

So long as I enjoyed life.

On earth, I had great riches…

Land, houses, great treasure, horses, money, gold…

But now I am a poor captive,

Deep in the ground, I lie…

My great beauty is all gone,

My flesh is wasted to the bone…

[markoftheasphodel]

Unfulfilled Dream: An Introduction to Finn and House Leonster

This is intended to assist fans of Three Houses, and specifically Blue Lions fans, in understanding what the hell FE old-timers are talking about when the names “Quan,” “Finn,” and “Leif” come up with regard to Dimitri and his retainers (and Dimitri/Dedue in particular). You may have encountered these characters in FE Heroes, but there’s a lot more stuff out there and it’s not all in one place, or even readily available in translation. So here goes.

So, as a starting point, Azure Moon route of Three Houses is heavily influenced by Thracia 776 (aka FE5) and the more familiar you are with FE5, the more evident the parallels/echoes are. But going backward from Azure Moon to its inspiration, or to Genealogy of the Holy War (FE4) which served as an inspiration for Three Houses itself, can be really confusing.

We have the two games, FE4 and FE5, both of them for the SNES, neither of them ever given a worldwide release. Both have modern, very good patches so if you want to play them, it’s a much better user experience than it used to be. We have two artbooks, Treasure for FE4 and Illustrated Works for FE5, both of them only partially translated via websites and translation blogs. We have developer notes and interviews. We have the appearances of these characters as Einherjar in Awakening. We have their modern appearances in Fire Emblem Heroes.  We have the modern run of Cipher cards as well as much older TCG cards. And finally, we have various manga and light novels, many of which have been fan-translated of late but also rather... dubious as “game canon.”

So, to grasp Quan, or Finn, or Leif, it’s a bit like being told “read 100 support conversations plus some DLC that never got translated,” right?

Here are the basics that might be of interest to Three Houses fans!

Quan is the prince of Leonster, a small but wealthy kingdom on the Thracian Peninsula, which juts eastward from the continent of Jugdral. He carries the Major Holy Blood (so, kind of like a Major Crest) of Njörun, one of the Twelve Crusaders who liberated Jugdral from an evil cult several generations before. His holy weapon is Gae Bolg, aka The Lance of Love and Sorrow, reputed to be cursed. Quan generally at war with his neighbor to the south, King Travant of Thracia (a poor nation), who also has Major Holy Blood and is a descendant of Dáinn, Njörun’s brother. Each of them wants to unite the Thracian peninsula and rule over the whole thing; despite an Irish naming scheme, Leonster was inspired by Italy and is supposed to be an elegant, fashionable place with a thriving middle class. Quan attended a fancy military academy in the center of the continent (the direct inspiration for Garreg Mach!) and has two close friends from other nations, Eldigan and Sigurd, also heirs to holy bloodlines. The three of them swear an oath to always have each others’ backs and Quan marries Sigurd’s sister Ethlyn, who has minor holy blood (like a minor crest but with no holy weapon access). They have two children, Altena and Leif.

Finn starts off as Quan’s page. I say “starts off” because FE4 and FE5 follow him over the course of twenty years. He’s the child of a noble house in Leonster, and when he was orphaned he was sent to the castle to be raised/educated. He’s not skilled at making friends but he does become Quan’s page and grows to think of Ethlyn as a big sister of sorts. When Quan and Ethlyn go to war across the continent to assist Sigurd, Finn wants to come along and they take him, even though he’s maybe fifteen and barely old enough to fight. Quan mentors Finn (which is something we see in FE4 itself), building his confidence up, telling Finn he’s the most promising knight of his generation, bequeathing Finn a special lance of his own, and ultimately entrusting Finn with guardianship of Quan’s son and heir, Leif. Finn in turn becomes utterly devoted to Quan and to Quan’s ambition of ruling all of Thracia.

A word about devotion. This is not “devotion” in the sense we’ve seen from Frederick or Jakob in recent FE games, where it’s performative and kind of amusing, with complicated tea rituals and recruiting slogans and whatnot. This is straight-up utter acceptance of someone else’s dreams and ambition as one’s own purpose in life. Hold that thought.

Anyway, Quan and Ethlyn are ambushed and killed by Travant shortly after Leif is born; every knight in their party is massacred in the Yied Desert. The rest of the continent is falling under the sway of the Grannvale Empire (Eldigan’s already dead, Sigurd dies shortly after Quan&Ethlyn), and Leonster is able to hold out for a couple of years before it falls to a one/two attack by Travant’s Thracian army and the Grannvale Empire. Finn, who’s been caring for Leif as his guard, escapes from the burning castle with Leif in his arms (Leif’s grandmother Queen Alfiona dies in the blaze; his grandfather King Kalf died shortly before on the battlefield, betrayed by allies).

The Yied Massacre and the Fall of Leonster are the Jugdrali psychological horror-show that parallel the Tragedy of Duscur’s impact on House Blaiddyd. Finn is devastated by the fact that his duty to Leif kept him from Quan&Ethlyn’s side during the massacre because dying with them would’ve been preferable to surviving them. He hasn’t recovered from that when Leonster falls in an inferno that traumatizes him for, as far as we can tell, the rest of his life. As Leif tells it, Finn then shut down emotionally to the point where he neither cries nor laughs. Of course, Leif himself is scarred by the memory of the burning castle, and that and the loss of his parents fuels his own rage and desire for revenge. Leif is also bothered by the fact that he only has minor holy blood from his parents, which is much less impressive than having two minor Crests because he can’t use any holy weapons. On the other hand, two types of minor holy blood don’t kill you.

(I think at this point many of y’all can see how these events are echoed in Azure Moon. The atrocity, the survivor’s guilt, the fallout on both a child prince with a heavy burden and his retainer who’s struggling with his own issues.)

After this, Finn has nothing aside from his duty to Leif, and as he sees it his duty to Leif is ultimately to see Leif placed on the throne of a unified Thracian peninsula as its sole king. He raises Leif and Leif’s companion Nanna/Jeanne (Jugdral is complicated) under a variety of harsh & tragic circumstances for the next thirteen years. Sometimes he has to forego meals to feed the kids. The people who assist him usually end up dead. At least once he gets betrayed by the citizens of the town they’re hiding in. And so on. These are not circumstances that really allow one to recover from trauma, and by the time Leif himself is fifteen years old and the game plot of Thracia 776 begins, Finn still doesn’t give a damn as to whether he lives or dies as long as he can see Leif made King of Thracia. This is where the portrayal of Finn in Fire Emblem Heroes comes from-- by this point he’s about thirty-four and he really hasn’t had a good day in his life since he was about nineteen.

One of the Cipher cards probably says it the best: His fallen master protected him, saw him through to adulthood, and entrusted him with an unfulfilled dream, and now Finn leads the way to a new era in his motherland! That complete, utter, unswerving dedication to Quan and his unfulfilled dream is what brings Finn to mind when discussing Dedue (cutscene after Gronder in Verdant Wind, anyone?) It’s not funny. It’s tragic. It’s kind of disturbing. Thracia 776 offers a lot of commentary on knights and knighthood-- not as savage as the discussions Felix has with his Blue Lions comrades, but pointed nonetheless-- and with Finn as the Jugdrali exemplar of A Knight, that criticism rebounds, directly or indirectly, on him. Knighthood is kind of effed up and so is Finn. 

Finn does get the opportunity to get his revenge on Travant in FE4, as both he and Leif have boss-battle conversations with Travant making it 100% clear they’re after revenge (Leif even speaks of killing Travant with his bare hands!). Travant’s death helps clear the way for Leif to take the throne of Thracia after the war... and with the dream at last fulfilled, Finn disappears, apparently into the Yied Desert where Quan and Ethlyn died. (He does come back three years later.) He’s got nothing else in his life. He’s seemingly not equipped to take over the usual veteran-knight role as some kind of advisor or general... or, after all that, he just WANTS to disappear for a while.

(You say, this is pretty TL;DR for “the basics”; I say, “I left a lot of stuff out, especially wrt shipping” because Jugdrali shipping is complicated.)

Anyway, so that’s the outline of the plot stuff. Note again, this takes more than twenty years to play out-- more than double the time elapsed between the Tragedy of Duscur and Dimitri’s final victory in Azure Moon. Jugdral is a long, long, hard slog for the characters that survive it.

Now, here’s where we get to the interpretive part. Finn’s devotion to Quan (and thence to Leif) and his trauma and self-abnegation are not up for debate. Hell, FE Heroes provides a pretty fair encapsulation of it. What Heroes also conveys is the sheer depth of his grief for Quan after fifteen, seventeen, twenty years... a grief that leads a number of fans, including me, to see a romantic subtext there. Maybe Quan, as a happily married man with two kids, wasn’t ever thinking of his page-turned-protege like that, but in between some interesting bits of dialogue in FE5 about Finn being “cold to women” and his current portrayal in Heroes, it does create the impression that at the very least Finn’s feelings for Quan went outside the ordinary bounds of the lord/retainer relationship. As Jugdral by its nature doesn’t lead to the sorts of paired endings we see in Three Houses, that’s really something fans have to experience for themselves. 

If that interests you, hopefully this essay has provided some pointers on where to find material. Have fun!

[memento-mori-twilight]

Kuroshitsuji/Pokemon AU - Full List - The World

I’m working on a comprehensive canon-compliant Pokemon/Kuroshitsuji AU, and I have almost everyone teamed and ready to go with backstories and first meetings. I’ve been working on this project for about a year now with my friend @alopias1513​, but I think it’s far enough along to share with you all.

This list will also be updated as the manga progresses.

In order to keep this post short, the full breakdown will be under the cut.

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Ok, first things first, let me explain how the Pokemon fit into Victorian Era Kuro. 

Well, since this is set before a time where Pokeballs would make sense to exist, most people gain their respective Pokemon by forming a bond of mutual kindness and respect, letting Pokemon effectively take a role similar to pets. Most civilians only have a team of one or two Pokemon, while those of nobility can have teams upwards to three to five. (England’s standard is 3, Germany 4)

The team breakdown for most characters is this:

1. Crest Pokemon Usually, this Pokemon is given to the head or heir of a noble household and is representative of the family crest or named title. Most houses only have one, with exception to the royal family and certain other noble lines.

For example, the Crest Pokemon of the British royal family are Pyroar (preferably Male) and Rapidash, due to the Royal Arms being similar to its real-life counterpart:

2. Family Pokemon/Household Pokemon (1 or 2 of each) Every noble within the Kuro/Poke-Universe has at least one Family Pokemon. Family Pokemon or Household Pokemon are a species of Pokemon or Evolutionary Line that get passed down from parent to child. Most nobles (bastards excluded) have two Family Pokemon: one from their father’s side of the family and one from their mother’s side. Every offspring gains one egg of each of their parents’ Household Pokemon. In addition, when a Lady is betrothed/marries, she is given an egg of her spouse’s Family Pokemon as a welcoming/wedding gift into the bloodline.

3. Personal or Gift Pokemon/Cavalier Pokemon This one is basically what it says on the tin. Sometimes a noble may strike a bond with a Pokemon via random encounter or be given one as a gift from a family member and/or dignified noble. In terms of gifts, the Pokemon given are usually an egg or baby of that noble’s Household Pokemon.

Cavalier Pokemon are a special kind of Gift Pokemon given to those who are granted Knighthood or Baronetcy by the British Royal Family. These Pokemon are a fully evolved form of a Pokemon of the current monarch. The Cavalier Pokemon of Queen Victoria is a Bisharp.

That’s all I have in terms of major world-building threads for this Black Butler/Pokemon AU.There are more details to be added, but all of them are minor enough to be included later.

Coming Soon!! - Character Teams and Backstories