#he's obsessed with blackadder like you wouldn't believe

[themidnightcircusshow]

Also, if Thomas was against war with France, him being invalided home during Harfleur would've been a good thing, but we're supposed to believe it was a slight against him. By all accounts it doesn't make sense.gif I like to think of Courtenay joining Hal and John as people who would have had a serious caffeine (and possible cocaine) problem Yeah, I have to admit by that point in this book it felt like the point was to make Hal look as bad as possible (including complaining that Hal didn't pay off Henry's debts instead of incurring his own and like... that's why generational debt is a bad thing, well done). I think it might be because Arundel retired reasonably early in Hal's reign-- but he did also die only a year or so later. I honestly find it quite interesting that Joanna seemed more sympathetic to Hal than Henry, seeing as she didn't necessarily need to be. To me it suggests either she liked Hal a fair amount or disapproved somewhat of how Henry treated him. (I think if anything would have damaged Henry and Mary's relationship, it would have been him not going to see Hal at Kenilworth when he was injured. And then of course things went downhill from there) I haven't-- I've only seen the Badby execution talked in depth about in Harold Hutchinson's Henry V, where he argues if Hal was as good as people claim he would have let Badby go regardless. Which, if the order was from Henry IV, Hal wouldn't have had the power to do without Badby recanting. That would be an interesting explanation-- we have a clear instance of Hal's reluctance but I don't know how popular the idea would have been amongst the clergy to guess at if Courtenay was against it or not. Mortimer being anti-Henry V's campaigns but pro-Edward III's boggles my mind because it is quite literally the same war. If you believe Edward's claim, you believe Hal's. You can't even use being a usurper's son against him because he is still Edward's great-grandson, any birthright of Edward's passes down to him. But Edward III is obsessed with chivalry so it's all okay (just ignore all the raping and pillaging his armies did on campaign that Hal actively prevented-- as long as it's not the nobility getting hurt!) It's an unfortunate reality that all medieval kings are warmongers in their own way, because that's quite literally part of the job. It's also so weird to me because probably the biggest part of the Agincourt lore is that it was won by the people, rather than the nobles. Instead of the knights getting all the credit, it was the archers; the two fingered salute being the archers using the French's threats against them; Blackadder having a joke about Henry V being loved specifically because "he let us clobber a bunch of Frenchies" (paraphrasing). The war doesn't matter, the overwhelming victory in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds matters, hence why it became propaganda in WWI and WWII. So trying to tell people to stop idolising Agincourt because you personally don't like Henry V is quite blatently missing the point

To torture you: Courtenay extremely reluctantly giving Hal any last rites he may need in case the Dagger Incident does end fatally

Oh mannnn. I was actually poking at the thing I've been writing about the Dagger Incident and trying to determine just whether Courtenay knew about the Dagger Incident before Hal pulled it or whether he didn't know until afterwards (I think he's somewhere in the middle - he knew the gist of what Hal was planning but not the details). But man. Courtenay being the one who Hal goes to for the last rites? I'm going to go insane.

Though I might raise you a wounded Hal, post-Shrewsbury and delirious with pain, insisting that Courtenay give him last rites...

And both are like an inverse of Hal at Courtenay's death bed, where "after extreme unction, with his own hands wiped his feet and closed his eyes". I'm going to chew glass.

[signeficunt]

POV: your dad has access to your youtube account