#faye matthews

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

BECAUSE SHE WAS DRAWN TO EXCALIBUR, I’M GONNA KMS😭😭😭

[sappholovell]

If no one else is gonna say it I’m gonna say it, Natasia’s borderline sapphic yearning for Faye was NOT on my bingo card but it was certainly appreciated. By me. Likely not a lot of other in-book characters.

[iloveicecoffee]

me because faye and natasia would have been bonded in another universe

[scarlethoodi]

I want to give a quick shout out to Bree’s mom.

The Shadow King may not have ever met anyone like Bree before but he’s also never met anyone raised by Faye Matthews. That woman had plan after plan even in the worst of times. To be so prepared for your own death and the possibility of your daughter having root abilities even without knowing the form that you were working several steps-actual years ahead is impressive. Her taking Bree to Volition just to be certain and still taking those precautions. Making sure there was a way for her husband to learn and understand the reality of her world. That woman is and was incredible. Watch in the 4th book we find out something else she did for Bree in her childhood to help her in the future.

[enjoyerofstories]

thinking about the trio's mothers

[mynotetrash]

cig talk (i dont smoke just having deep thoughts)

It’s heartbreaking to think about how many lives I’ve been shattered by the orders, cruel traditions, most likely far from then it has ever been written about imagine a mother being torn from our child’s lives life simply because she wanted to shield him from the horrors of swords, blood and death, and provide him a normal childhood and a normal life

anna was punished for seeing her son as something beyond more than arthur’s scion, a meer tool for their legacy.

anna is probably living her best life right now blissfully unaware that out there somewhere exists something or someone that could make her leave it all behind without a second thought the kind of love she once risked her life for. nick saw her once after they took her, immediately ran to hug her and she had no clue who he was. his own mother saw him as a stranger.

bonnie (evan’s mom) was completely overwhelmed by grief, unable to hold back her tears as the weight of her son’s still missing body crushed her during the burial. her sobs tearing her lungs, leaving them raw and burning. yet all they did was not answer truthfully and dismiss her state not even having the morality or empathy to see her as what she was. a grieving mother who’s son had died and his body lost. bonnie deserved to know the truth no matter how horrifying it is, only that way her heart can rest

natasia thrown into a horrible prison cell, and stripped away from her titles all because of a reckless mistake of a horrible act by an ignorant man-child who uses his power and privilege as in his identity as a shield. she gave birth to a baby boy selwyn who was probably the best thing had ever happened to her yet not even that could last. unknown to her— she’s about to see her baby boy for the first time in so long, having the horrible same fate as her.

and faye, truly tragic for her to be gone knowing her last interaction with her daughter was an argument. i hope bree gets justice for her and wipes out the entire order i cannot stand such morally disgusting people holding that much power.

lastly the women scions who were killed so the inheritance moves on to the son simply because being a woman was wrong for them.

the order has done more damage than good for those who do not wield the same power such as m*rtin davis.

[momentov1vere]

Any hope for oathbound

i have so many things that i want to happen but also i can’t even imagine what’s going to happen next

if i had to pick a few things, i want to see:

NATASIA KANE!! i want to see her and sel talking/ bonding

more of natasia and bree’s mom (faye)’s friendship would also be amazing (I also want to know more about them both)

bree/sel/nick bonding moments!! i want to see them get closer as a trio :))

also just more nick scenes, i love him and we didn’t get to see him enough in bloodmarked tbh

nick and sel bonding/ fixing their relationship would be great— probably won’t happen right away, but seeing them get closer would be nice

more lore about the round table— i want to see all of the scions, i feel like there’s a chance for a big happy found family (but i’d love to even just see a few more of the scions, learn what their powers are, etc)

more of bree being a badass!!! she deserves to take down some monsters by herself and let some anger out, yk?

more alice and bree moments; it’s a small thing but i love their friendship and want them to have more chill bonding moments

alice being a badass would also be wonderful, i know she’d be worried sick about bree and would fight to get her back— maybe she could become a page/squire, that would be cool! (but if she didn’t join the order officially, i feel like she’d take down a monster for bree powers or not lol)

i can’t think of anything else at the moment but i am just so excited for the rest of the series!! i have a feeling oathbound will destroy me and i am so ready for it 😁

[albinodino]

whatever you do, do NOT listen to runaway by aurora while thinking about bree and faye matthews

[proudchildlesscatlady]

Do you think at one point that Natasia had romantic feelings for Faye but kept it to herself as she believes Faye won't feel the same way?

She kept her feelings to herself to avoid awkwardness or not ruin the friendship she had with Faye.

It's sad to say this but I think Faye was Natasia's only friend (besides the real Erebus).

I wonder how Natasia would feel if she learns her son is madly in love with her best friend's daughter. I think she would be happy or at least supportive.

[ashalightwood]

One thing about the Kanes is that once someone become important to them and they trust you, they are loyal and would go to such lenghts to protect them, even doing unprecedented feats in the way. I love how we can see that with both Natasia and Faye and Sel and Bree. There are so many paralles between them and I can't wait to see mother and son reunited.

[worth-this-and-more]

[spoilers for legendborn and bloodmarked, read at your own caution ;)]

something about the memory of little bree quietly listening to her mother "practice" is just so heartbreaking.

this woman knows she has less time with her daughter. everybody else gets to see their children grow with them, their achievements, their failures, she won't have that chance. she will be gone. she probably won't see her daughter's first job. her first house. maybe even her first car. so many firsts lost because she doesn't have time. that's how her family has had it all those years. she gave everything in her to try and divert her fate from her daughter. believed even for a moment that the curse is broken. but also kept the message, a piece of her to guide her daughter. the tenderness of her words, carefully thought out just so they don't reveal too much but also not too little. and to keep little bree from a complete breakdown. how much did it pain her knowing that he second time bree hears her words she won't be there for her??

and bree. a child. so utterly confused but still listening to her mumma. where is mom going?? why is she talking about leaving?? who is this friend?? why does this sound like this speech is for me?? are we talking about magic?? but magic was supposed to be good, why are you crying mumma?? i thought magic was happiness, why aren't you smiling mumma??

idk who is cutting onions over here but just for the record, everytime I read this scene it's just chills down my spine. why did it have to be this heart touching and why do I have to be so strongly affected by it??

[coffeeinthebackpack]

Faye: I'm going the fight the next person who insults Dion.

Dion: I hate myself.

Faye: Alright, square up, love.

[iloveicecoffee]

when I show up to the competition for Most Sapphic Earning but my opponent is Natasia Kane

[enjoyerofstories]

[0theillusion0]

also i'm starting a petition to get tracy to write a prequel of faye and natasia at uni together having a little forbidden love affair cause im 100% convinced they were in love after finishing oathbound

[worth-this-and-more]

asdfghjkl; yes this chain of theories is amazing and I'm swinging on it

[spoilers for legendborn and bloodmarked, read at your own caution ;)]

so @ismyteadoneyet imma continue where you left off;

yessss that moment has been the soft "oh" of realisation but i wanted to include this legendborn scene because it's just so nonchalant and on rereads you notice it and go "oh my god dude is fucked" ykwim??

asdfghjl; yes this was brought to my attention by an anon ask, thank you very much anon, and also here's the scene:

no really that moment was so tender and she definitely definitely knows her and the wording implies that natasia has probably contacted faye some way or the other soooooooo yall see what i mean natasia definitely has learned some things from faye and vice versa because like in this scene;

faye chose the option for "fight", what did she do exactly?? did she kill some shadowborns?? did she make a mage flame thing to protect herself and others?? or did she resist the mesmer as her way of "fighting"?? whatever she did I'm sure natasia knew it and they both planned the natasia running away and all that. i want to know the exact thing that happened that day because the extract through davis's eyes is just utter bullshit so I'm really really hoping some clear up on that.

yes yes yes sel's reaction just makes all the more sense if you look to this childhood friends theory yk

bree accepted that she resists mesmer very readily because that was her cue to look into her mother's death. however she did have the oh realisations afterwards when successively her medium abilities, rootcrafting abilities, aether abilities and bloodcrafting abilities appeared. and i feel like those were heavy af because as bree said "how many times in a week can one have their world spun and fractured and put back together again?"

my girlie needs a break frr

Theories and predictions about 'Oathbound', and The Kingsmage Oath in particular

okayokayokay yes, I know, I can think of nothing else but Legendborn these days, but ngl I feel such a desperate need to write this out to get more thoughts on it. We already know quite a lot about the Kingsmage oath, right? But as the title of the third book suggests, I believe we will learn a whole lot more about it in Oathbound and I cannot fkn wait lol

[Major Legendborn and Bloodmarked spoilers ahead, read at your own... volition, tihi]

Alright. So. First off, disclaimer - I don't currently have my physical copy of Legendborn closeby to reference stuff, so if any of this is debunked in the first book please correct me! Most of this is sprouted from Bloodmarked! I don't think we got that much info about the Kingsmage oath in Legendborn but it was also quite a while since I read it lol

Theory no. 1

First off, the thing that made me start off my 10-message long rant about this to my Legendborn-partner-in-crime to begin with, is the fact that the two "participants" of the oath are connected to the degree that, not only does the Kingsmage feel if the Scion is in danger, but the Scion in question also feels the things the Kingsmage feels. Selwyn even explains that this is partly why he attacked Bree during the trials in book one during the infamous "graveyard scene":

" 'You remember that I planned our partnership during the trial. Planned to trick you, corner you, and kill you. I knew Nicholas would feel a desire to kill someone that night, because it would come over from me to him through the bond. I planned for him to eventually discover that the person he'd wanted to... was someone he-' [Sel] shakes his head, eyes hard. 'That it was you.' " - Bloodmarked, page 366

...and

" 'The morning after the first Oath, [Nick] came to me. Said he'd felt my desire to kill you and begged me to leave you alone, because of what it did to him' -[Sel] taps his chest- 'here. He said it felt wrong, wanting to hurt you. ' So I knew that what I sent through the bond would poison the part of him that was beginning to love you. Knew that if I failed, he'd have to live with the memory of wishing his girlfriend dead. Not just the memory, but the feeling of wanting to kill you himself, with his bare hands. Murderous intent like that is one of the worst feelings in the world. Haunting. Destructive. And for someone like Nick... it would tear him apart in a way he'd never forget and never heal from. And I did not care. I believed I was right, all in the name of duty.' " - Bloodmarked, pages 366-367

Both of these show the bad effects of the bond. Sel can actively affect Nick's views of the people around him, and influence his actions, and I believe that this is shown by how Nick beheaded that one guard without hesitation, that one time.

"I didn't kill Zhao for my father." Nick's eyes burn. "I killed him for me." Sel's eyes widen incrementally. "We should...come back to that." - Bloodmarked, page 467

The interesting thing about this is the way Sel has been so sure that Nick would "never hurt another soul", and yet, here he is, rejecting Sel's reasoning that Nick killed Zhao because of his father, and instead hammering home that "no, I did it for me." Because, and hear me out on this, Nick is, in the moment of the kill...oathbound to a Merlin actively fighting his own demonia from taking over.

Bree also brings up multiple times that "Nick has become a killer, the dangerous thing" after witnessing the murder (which, when I read it sounded a bit silly since Sel has tried to murder her multiple times and even explained in detail how he planned to do that specific thing but oh well lol), but in relation to how we've seen Sel act throughout Bloodmarked, and keeping the Kingsmage Oath in mind, it makes sense. Because is it ever explained how Sel's descent might also be transferring to Nick through the bond? If it is, I don't remember seeing it.

Also, Nick being so incredibly calm and no-hesitation about killing Zhao (in one of the more brutal ways he could have, even), makes me fully believe that it was either 1. not his first kill, or 2. he is more affected by Sel's demonia than Tracy wants us to realize. During the scene where Sel and Bree watch him kill Zhao, Sel is still void cuffed, which to me means that he is still actively fighting his demonia from taking him. Sel doesn't get his void cuffs off until the fight with Erebus where Bree root-boosts him back to his normal, balanced self, which happens after Nick's kill.

The synopsis of Oathbound hints at Nick having "secrets to share with the Table", and we know absolutely nothing about what he spent all of Bloodmarked doing. We only followed one half of the whole. If Sel was only half-successful in "poisoning" Nick with murderous intent towards Bree in Legendborn, when he hadn't yet lost his humanity... Do you see where I'm going with this?

Tracy herself shared a fanart of Nick doing The Thing, and quoted the artist with something along the lines of "Nick should scare you!" and "Ruthless Nick is the correct opinion to have!", and considering that Nick is now, by the end of Bloodmarked, bonded to a fully succumbed Demon!Sel, what does that make Nick?

Theory no. 2

Now, onto the more fun side of the oath (or, more heartbreaking, depending on how you read it, I guess lol)

I have seen a few people being put off by Nick and Bree's relationship in Legendborn because it, to some degree, reads a lot like "insta-love". And sure, love at first sight and all that stuff but how long has Bree known Nick, really? A couple weeks, maybe? I however, have another theory to this.

Again, the two participants of the Kingsmage Oath share feelings both ways, as explained by Sel:

" 'When did you worry [about losing your humanity]?' [...] 'When I started to see what I believe Nicholas sees when he looks at you. Only a monster could look at you and want to destroy you, Bree.' " - Bloodmarked, page 368

And of course we are led to believe that Nick, the "blond, good-hearted knight in shining armor" is the good influence, right, and Sel being the "tall dark and handsome demon" is the bad influence on the two...

...But what if it was the other way around the entire time?

[Sel:] " 'I was raised not to trust myself!' " - Bloodmarked, page 368

[Sel:] " 'I don't know if that's in the cards for me.' [...] 'If I'm allowed that wish, it would be truly something. But wishes are dangerous mind games we play with ourselves. The only way to win is to not play.' " - Bloodmarked, page 475

Sel was raised as a weapon and a shield for the Scion of Arthur, and has never been treated as anything else. He was never allowed by anyone else nor himself to put himself and his own feelings first. So when he is suddenly struck with feelings for Bree, it makes sense for him to "blame it" on Nick, automatically. He couldn't possibly be the one with romantic, wholesome, fluffy feelings towards someone else, right? To Sel, it would feel wrong. "Illegal".

" 'Why didn't you [leave]?' 'Because my judgement is not what it should be around you, Bree. It never has been.' " - Bloodmarked, page 369

"It never has been," huh? Now, I find that to be a very funny choice of wording, Tracy, since the over-arching conflict in the entirety of Bloodmarked is related to mesmers and witheld information.

And the fact that Bree's mother and Sel's mother knew each other.

" 'The woman that helped you hide the memory. Was that Sel's mother?' My mother smiles, fond and sad at once. ' Yes. Natasia.' I have to ask. 'Do you know where she is?' She glances at Sel, and I know her answer is for his ears and mine both. 'No. Even if I could speak to her now, she would not tell me.' " - Bloodmarked, page 447

We also know that Sel's mother was the one who mesmered Bree in the hospital. But what if both Bree and Sel were mesmered at some point? What if the romantic feelings Nick felt for Bree the moment they met was actually Sel's feelings for Bree, coming over through the bond?

Another thing that speaks to this, I believe, is the use of the phrase "call and response", which Bree uses a lot when talking about herself and Nick,

" And then [Nick's] mouth is on mine, and every call and response we've ever felt pales in comparison to this one. " - Bloodmarked, page 377

...but also how she describes the relationship between Arthur and Lancelot:

" I shiver. Even [Lancelot's] voice affects me like Nick's does. 'Arthur?' he asks. And I reply, 'Lancelot.' Call and response. That's how it is between me and Nick. How it has always been. " - Bloodmarked, page 132

I believe, again, that this "call and response" thing is what I personally believe is what might be bringing Nick and Bree so close so fast. They are both scions of what I see as one of the most bromantic knights in the entire Order. Of course they out of all people would find a connection soul-to-soul right way. And that on top of Sel possibly knowing Bree before Legendborn even happens? It's no wonder that both of the two boys feel so comfortable gushing about her being "beautiful forever" in that one bloodwalk that one time, lol.

In conclusion, I guess the big question at hand is "Where does Nick's feelings end and Sel's feelings begin?" Where is the line? Is there one? I'd like to argue that the fact that Sel's first instinct, when he first starts feeling "what Nick is feeling" towards Bree is to kill her, is denial in the most severe degree. He is the first character from the Order Bree meets, accidental or not, and even though Tracy has said that she wrote Legendborn without a set goal for the endgame-couple, I'm willing to believe that that has shifted towards a BreeSel outcome after the mayhem of a character-development-arc that is Bloodmarked.

The fact that I am a BreeSel believer might also be influenced by the fact that we simply have not seen Nick in A While lol

And if not, I'm willing to root for a Bree x Sel x Nick throuple lol. As long as Sel is part of the endgame setup, I'm good.

Just please let Lark be left alone for William even if Lark and Bree commit to a Kingsmage oath, Tracy, I beg