#i figure maybe her dad didn't /tell/ him she's a mage

[radiaking]

+ memes / accepting!

@atomiqueen said: ❝ you’re a dangerous person. you’ve certainly proved that. ❞

        Cooper runs his hand down his face in exasperation, letting out a heavy sigh. She's not exactly wrong, but that's not the point. "This is not what I was hired for. This was meant to be a simple job and now all of my men are dead," he gestures back in the direction they'd run from, where they'd been ambushed and he'd gotten her away safely.

        But why the ambush at all? Those were no simple bandits looking for coin; they were after something and he has one guess as to what. Or rather whom. "It's not a matter of whether I'm capable of it, but I need to know what it is I'm really protecting. Those men were after you and I want to know why."

[kradogsrats]

How Does Your Garden Grow: Terry's s4-s7 Slow-Build Arc

So, Terry. A character who could be objectively called the goodest among the main cast. We've been waiting through four seasons to really figure him out... or I have, at least. Maybe everyone else got him from the start.

Anyway, Terry's arc is a very slow burn that only comes becomes clear in s7, because it's revealed primarily through two sequences of scenes that echo each other—the first in s4, and the second when s7 finally comes back to tuck that s4 sequence into bed and kiss it gently on the forehead. This means that in order to really grasp how Terry develops, we need to examine and compare those sequences, both to each other and in the context of what we see of Terry in the intervening time.

God's Most Plant-Based Clown...

Fun fact: Aaron Ehasz apparently named Terry as his favorite character at SDCC 2019, during the s3 hype tour [citation vague]. He probably didn't expect that it would take another two and a half years of real time for us to actually meet Terry, but them's the breaks.

We don't really know a lot about Terry for the first few episodes of s4, where he's suddenly thrown in as a new main character alongside all the ones we had already known and loved for years. We can see he's a little anxious and awkward, but he lights up with confidence in his dynamic with Claudia to the point that he'll discuss the smell of his own farts in front of her dad. He has an incredible amount of compassion for Viren, repeatedly offering up deep emotional vulnerability even though Viren radiates nothing but aloof dislike for him. He seems to have no problem with Claudia's dark magic, such as the pufferbat breathing spell, even when the credits go out of their way to remind the audience that hey, those pufferbats had families, too.

He's obviously good for Claudia, which (as intended) immediately makes us turn around and question whether Claudia is good for him. He is, after all, an elf, and she's a dark mage. She has already done, by her own admission, things she "never imagined [she] would be able to do"—and this from the girl who once killed a baby deer with her bare hands. Does Terry not know about these deeds? Is she using him? Is he secretly a nihilistic sadist beneath his perky, easygoing exterior?

He's just a mystery wrapped in an enigma rolled up around a chewy marshmallow center, then dipped in crushed-up pretzels (since nuts are an allergy risk).

However Dangerous

But Terry does reach what we can clearly see is a crossroads of development fairly early in s4, when he kills Ibis to protect Claudia. This is a Big Deal—he immediately breaks down crying, to the point that despite being injured, Claudia prioritizes comforting him. Later, he's unable to sleep, instead crying over both Ibis and himself... or rather, what he had no choice but to do.

Viren, perhaps seeing a tiny sliver of his teenage self in Terry, offers him some advice regarding how to make peace with doing what you have to for those you love:

VIREN: But there is an aching pain mixed with love that you feel in these moments. In the name of love, you may perform acts so unforgivable... you will never forgive yourself. TERRY: Please, how do I live with this? How do I deal with these feelings? VIREN: I will tell you how. TERRY: Yes! Please, I need to know.

Of course, he's still Viren. Fatherly advice isn't exactly his strong suit. He also technically hasn't had a full night's sleep in two years.

Now, the writers could have left it at that. It's a good scene. It's a good character interaction. It sets up like 90% of Viren's remaining arc—as the first appearances of both "I had no choice" and "however dangerous, however vile"—and a not insignificant part of the entirety of arc 2, itself.

But they don't, and that's where it really becomes about Terry, because the next time he and Viren are hanging out (in s4e7, titled "Beneath the Surface" in an example of having zero chill), he brings it up again. He respectfully tells Viren that he's given it a lot of thought, and what Viren proposed isn't what he wants to do. He doesn't even say Viren is wrong, just that it isn't right for him:

I think what you're trying to say is... Is that I should stop having feelings. Well, I'm not going to do that. No way, I-I'm gonna be strong enough to do whatever I need to do and have feelings.

This is, in a way, Terry affirming his true heart—he's not going to give that up, even if letting go of the compassion that made killing so devastating to him (and probably narrowing his understanding of who and what is worthy of it) would make things easier. He's going to be strong enough to not have to do that.

It's not a coincidence that the very next scene for them includes Terry coming out, because both are about Terry's chosen identity.

This isn't only about Terry being trans—what he's saying here is essentially, "I know who I am, and I am who I choose to be. I won't change for your or anyone else's approval."

Viren's response, which I previously always found kind of baffling, is actually perfect:

Like, as responses to someone coming out... it's not awful, and it definitely sounds like something Viren would say. But just like Terry is affirming more than just his trans identity, what Viren is actually doing here is acknowledging the strength in who Terry has chosen to be—someone who is (I remind you) strong enough to "have all the feelings." Someone who can both act on his love for individuals he's close to, and retain his deep compassion for everyone else. Viren isn't going to try to change him, or convince him that he'll be happier another way—both because he's very, very tired and has no investment in Terry being one way versus another, and because I genuinely think some very small part of him is like, "god, I wish that were me."

Of course, what's being ignored here is whether what Terry wants to be is even possible.

... Fighting His Vegan-est Battles

So about that. As s4 winds down and we progress through s5, we obviously see a lot more of Terry, and we get a much better grip on exactly what his deal is in the dynamic between him and Claudia and dark magic:

This scene shows us several things. First, the compassion of Terry's true heart: he feels for Rayla's grief, despite the fact that she was, by all appearances, 100% prepared to cut his throat a full... ten seconds ago. Second, that Terry is at least superficially okay with Claudia's dark magic because he believes in her reasons: the only times he calls her out on her actions are when he feels they don't have her love for her father driving them—namely her tormenting Rayla and later the water dragon. And third, that Terry actually disconnects himself from Claudia's choices at the most basic level: he doesn't suggest she go back and correct her behavior, though he's presumably glad that she does. He's very much a bystander to all of her actions.

Like, he very obviously loves Claudia. We see this in his quiet, consistent care for her—anticipating her needs, focusing on her wellness when she disregards it, calming her down and/or cheering her up, even just carrying her shit around. (Like, her staffs! Both of them!) For him, it's entirely about her as a person, and a person who is fundamentally good, as all people are. She's a girl so full of love that she'd tear herself apart for it, if Terry wasn't there to pick up the pieces. He spends all of s5 making sure she doesn't have some kind of exhaustion-driven breakdown.

Then we hit s6, which is a series of crucial turning points for Claudia, that Terry... also unconditionally supports her through.

Which would be beautiful, except that Claudia's turning points tend to include thing like straight-up murdering what was, if not a child, then at least the equivalent of the family's weird but beloved dog.

Now, I don't think chewing her out over that would have been the right (or productive) thing to do. Really Terry handles her breakdown in probably the best way possible, all things considered. But after that, he treats her questioning everything she's ever believed with a degree of passivity that like... I guess would be good for a therapist, but not necessarily someone you love and have watched hurt themself with their own choices for two years straight.

CLAUDIA: Please, Terry. Tell me what to do. TERRY: Claudia, I can't. Only you can see your own deep truth. Only you can decide the path you're going to walk. You won't be alone. I'll clear out the thorny brambles if I see them, I'll hold your hand as we trudge through wet, mucky leaves. But... you have to choose the way.

Again, he's not strictly wrong, and it's a beautiful sentiment... but he offers no input whatsoever when she's weighing things like "When my dad left, I thought he lost his mind" versus "He seemed so strangely hopeful. So certain." He has no problem claiming Viren obviously found peace in s7, so it's not that he doesn't have an opinion. He just seems to not want to influence her on principle.

Maybe that's because he knows Claudia is so easily influenced and pins her identity entirely to external things or people, and he doesn't want to be another one of those. Which is valid. However, taking this position (or lack thereof) also conveniently absolves him of any responsibility for the choices she subsequently makes—they're her choices, after all. If she winds up hurting people, it's not like he could have stopped her. He'll hold her hand, as if doing so leaves no blood on his own.

This is something that starts to change at the end of s6 and into s7, mostly because suddenly Terry isn't the only influence on Claudia—if he wants her to be making her own choices in a vacuum, he has to balance out Aaravos, who has zero qualms about manipulating her when she's extremely vulnerable. Terry gets a bit more assertive to combat that manipulation, especially when Aaravos is being extremely obvious about it...

But really, by then it's too late.

However Vile

Finally, in s7, we reach the denouement of everything that has subtly been building around Terry. We find out that he has a true heart, a feature everyone is born with but most eventually lose:

More on that, and Ezran, in my eventual true heart meta.

Aaravos then sets Terry up in a very specific way—he sends Terry to find two feathers from a shimmercrow, one large and one very small. Terry happily complies, relieved that the request wasn't something "weird or creepy." However, as always with Aaravos, the task is half straightforward and half a manipulation. He uses the large shimmercrow feather to give the half-completed primal stone flight for its journey around the world, but the small feather...

Aaravos has Terry bring him to where the feathers were found, where he knows there will be both an adult crow and chicks. He brutally murders the mother crow in front of Terry, while calmly explaining how they will use her dying fear and pain to open the In-Between. It's only a key. A tool.

In the ensuing confrontation, he also drives home to Terry that a) it's too late to easily sway Claudia away from him, and b) it doesn't matter, because Claudia is also like this. Claudia uses him. Claudia tells him half-truths, ostensibly to "protect" him, but really to protect herself from him deciding to leave her.

Aaravos has a definite agenda here—he needs Terry's influence, the influence that makes Claudia question whether it's right to hide things from him, removed from her. Either Terry's true heart has to go, or he does. It's time for him to, shall we say... "get a grip":

The true heart is a gift of childhood. For a few wonder-filled years, we each have innocent eyes to experience the world's beauty in a simple way. I have seen generations of humans and elves accept the darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light. There is no black or white, only shades of gray. We must all carry complexity. But please believe me that there is beauty in this burden. Your heart will be a little heavier. But now, there will be no more half-truths, Terrestrius.

Just like in s4, it has been suggested to Terry that he let go of the identity he has chosen. The identity where he's committed to having all the feelings—crying for Ibis, pitying Rayla, mourning Sir Sparklepuff. Doing "what must be done" is positioned as now being incompatible with who he is.

And again, Terry is not going to give up who he is:

Not for anyone. He knows where the lines he has drawn are, and he won't move them just because it's Claudia who has crossed them.

So Terry leaves—but there's one thing that Aaravos has done that goes unstated, and while it's maybe not a major factor (compared to all the other major factors) in Terry leaving, it is the critical factor in his growth:

He has made Terry complicit. Without Terry, Aaravos would not have found and killed the mother bird... and he has been complicit all along. He couldn't stop Aaravos this time, but how many similar tragedies could he have stopped when it was just him and Claudia?

And so here, for the first time, he goes back to make things right. He didn't go back for Ibis, or for Rayla, or anyone else Claudia hurt in the name of love, or who he, also in the name of love, allowed her to hurt. But he goes back for the baby shimmercrows, to comfort and care for them now that their mother is gone, and he goes back to people who (rightfully) consider him an enemy, to help them stop Aaravos.

Just to make sure we really get it, they even have him say it out loud:

Should Bloom a Week or Two Early

Anyway, I think they did something really beautiful and complex with Terry, in that there's no question he loves Claudia—they took three entire seasons to show us how much he loves her, at her highest and lowest points, selflessly and unconditionally. With Callum and Rayla slowly easing back into their peak perfect romance during the same period, his love for Claudia is also not treated as less real or important. We all knew it was probably more than a little doomed, but he's not foolish or wrong to love her.

He doesn't even stop loving her, or decide she's no longer good enough for him to love. He leaves because in order to keep loving her, he has to also love himself. He won't change who he is to stay with her, because he's fought too hard to become that person. With Callum willing to give up everything he is for Rayla at a moment's notice—something that really works only because Rayla would never ask him to, and in fact is staunchly against it—Terry having a solid identity and refusing to compromise it is a reflecting alternate perspective on love.

He's also the most emotionally mature and objectively good person in the cast, but ultimately his arc shows that neither of those exempt him from doing harm passively or even actively—and growth, from that point, is acknowledging that harm and working to heal it. In a story where most of the beloved characters have done wildly questionable things or are defined by their maladaptive coping mechanisms for deep personal trauma, Terry being so generally stable and (all things considered) normal, but still able to develop and grow is actually pretty special.

And, of course, now that he's grown... he's ready for a road trip even wackier than "my girlfriend and I hauling around her dad's formerly-dead body on our way to break a fallen god out of prison."

[raayllum]

Soren has never liked the high mage office much. It was too cramped and cluttered—a far cry from the wide open spaces of the courtyards he sparred in, or battlements he sought for freedom and a nice leg workout—nor does it have a tendency of bringing back any good memories. Just long buried notions, emotions, of Claudia and his father being shut away in here, discussing things Soren couldn't quite wrap his head around, holding jars full of gross creepy-crawlies or things Soren didn't want to know the name of.

The mirror, now shattered. Not that it matters.

But Soren stays once everyone else—even a worried Rayla, and a terse Opeli—has left as Callum tidies up his space.

The mage sets down another thick tome, white shock of hair falling in front of his eyes, and Soren wonders how long it'll take for all of them to get used to it. If Callum already has, or if he's stubbornly ignoring it the way he has with so much else—even the girl he got it for, once, the first week of her return.

"Spit it out, Soren," Callum grumbles, looking up with fresh bags under his eyes, too.

"What?" Soren feigns, stepping closer. "I can't just hang back."

"You never have before, and you clearly have something to say, so—"

"Callum." Soren steps in front of him. Places a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Callum softens, shoulders sagging with exhaustion. "I'm fine," he says, voice brittle and reedier than normal. "I just... Need to figure out how I'm going to fix this."

"Aaravos."

He hadn't gotten out, but it'd been a near thing, from Callum's bluntness around the topic—but Rayla's guilty eyes would've given it away even if she'd evaded saying it outright best she could. They were lucky in some ways that all that'd happened was Callum passing out. The white streak.

Callum nods. "There'll be an answer, somewhere. I just have to find it." His lips twitched. "But... thanks, for checking on me, I know I—"

Soren takes his hand away. "I'm not checking in on you."

"Oh? Okay, um—"

He meets his gaze levelly. They'd stood in this room once, in front of the mirror, having the same conversation of sorts. The familiarity makes everything in Soren ache, thrice fold. "I'm warning you. You're changing, Callum."

The shrewdness comes back up as Callum peels away, scoffing a little. He sets down his book. His blasted stupid Key of Aaravos. "You're going to have to be a little more specific."

"You know what I mean," Soren advances. "Claudia didn't want to listen to me either. Viren—"

"I'm not like them," Callum chokes out, though Soren can tell he doesn't quite believe it. It's more that he wants to. "If I was, Rayla would—"

"She loves you."

For all the strain they've had over the years, Callum's response is sure, if spitting. "And you don't?"

"I do," Soren affirms. "But don't pretend like you and her don't lose sight of other things when it comes to each other. I just want you to be careful, Callum. I don't want it to swallow you up the way it did them. The... The hair, the face—the justifications. That's always how it starts. That's always how it ends."

Callum turns away, pressing his lips together. He wipes at his burning eyes, clearly furious. At what, Soren can't say. Himself, maybe—or the world for what it was twisting him into, for the way it kept putting Ez and Rayla on the line, only for him to keep crossing it.

"You kill me, then," Callum says. "If Rayla won't, and you think I've gone too far. Possession or not. You stabbed Viren once, didn't you? I'm sure I'll be just as easy."

Which means not easy at all. Soren's heart clenches. "Callum—"

"I would do anything for them. I can't promise less than that. I don't—" Callum runs a hand through his hair, white lock between his fingers, throwing his distressed expression further into the light. "I don't like what I'm becoming either, I..."

He looks so young, and Soren takes a beat to remind himself that Callum is just seventeen, and wants to do the right thing, and maybe being unwilling to sacrifice people—But Dad, Soren could've died! That doesn't matter!—could be the way through. Maybe. Hopefully.

"I just don't want you to change too much," Soren ventures, stepping forward.

Callum lets him, the way he'd let the snake rattle stain his hands on Finnegrin's boat—the quasar diamonds and their dark magic turning his hair—and sighs. "I know," he quiets. "I—I'll try, at least."

Soren just hopes it'll be enough.

[jasontoddsotherhalf]

A Short Simon Snow Character Analysis:

"Simon needed time. He needed care. He still startled at bright lights and sudden noises. And prolonged eye contact. He'd get jumpy when we were alone together." (Any Way The Wind Blows pg 85)

"On the worst days, on the even worse nights, I used to think about all the bad things that have happened to Simon– just the ones I know about. And then I'd wonder about all the terrible things that have happened to him that I DON'T know about. Twenty years of bad things. How long would it take for those painful memories to die back?" (Any Way The Wind Blows pg 86)

Simon is genuinely one of the saddest chosen ones I've ever read about, and I feel like its ignored by the fandom a lot. Like the book series is always portrayed as funny and light hearted and it is sometimes but at the root it's sad and heart wrenching. However, it's also really creative and has a tone of parallels and connections and like the whole concept of the chosen one fulfilling his purpose and no longer being needed anymore isn't used often. A lot of the times the Chosen one's issues aren't even addressed at ALL its just "Oh he went through a lot as a child but the bad guy is dead now and he got the girl (or guy) so it's fine, he's happy"

Simon was used by everyone his whole life. The Mage, the rest if the world of mages, even Penny and Agatha a bit too, (which Penny realizes and admits in AWTWB). Simon was left as a child at an orphanage where we really don't know much about his life, because he doesn't know much either. In Wayward Son, Simon talks to his therapist about not remembering a lot before he was 11 and she says the brain blocks out things that have traumatized or hurt us in the past. When Simon is 11 and comes to Watford, he speaks so little the teachers have to give him private lessons, and when that doesn't work he gets a speech therapist. A few other details a are given as well such as how Simon jumped from orphanages and Foster homes. All these allow us to infer that he didn't have a good childhood, and stuff probably happened to him.

The Mage becomes Simon's only father figure, and even then Simon says he never felt like a father. The Mage treated Simon like a weapon, and even lied to him about being his father. The Mage could have made things much easier for himself by raising Simon, but he chose to just leave him till he was 11 because he didn't feel like raising his own kid. "Maybe it's part of what the Mage did to me. He said he got me wrong, that I was a cracked vessel. I can't hold on to anything good." (AWTWB pg 65) the Mage only payed attention to Simon when it benefited him. Simon was an object to him, and if you remember in Carry On, it was obvious to literally everyone but Simon, who didn't want to believe he was being manipulated. It turned him into a killing machine.

Often times I feel as if the fandom portrays Simon as some talkative goofball, but that's completely ignoring his character. Simon says in Carry On that he doesn't think because in the end he just does what people tell him too. But that's not true. He does think, all the time, he just pushes away the stuff he doesn't want to think about, thinking about other things to muffle out these unwanted thoughts. Baz also says in Carry On that most conversations with Simon are just Simon shrugging. We feel as though Simon talks a lot because when it's his POV he's always rambling, but this is because Simon has a strong inner monolouge.

Simon had no adult figures in his life to lean on. Every character had someone, despite their maybe complex relationships. Baz has Fiona, and the two are close despite the tension and arguing. Penny has her mom and dad, despite their differences, they all love each other a ton. And Agatha has her parents, who do care about her. Simon never has a firm foundation. Not the Mage, Penny's mom barley likes him, Agatha's family only treats him well because he's the chosen one and dating Agatha, and Baz's family straight up despises him. Everyone else also has friends to lean on too, once you get later into the series. Agatha has a Ginger and even Penny, Penny has Baz and Shepard, Baz has Dev and Niall whom he chooses to sort of ghost, but also Penny. And they all have Simon. But I couldn't help but notice that whenever Simon tried to communicate, he was shut down.

Simon is bad at communicating. They all address this multiple times. But it's the fact that his friends don't even have faith that he'll survive. Multiple times from all POVS it talks about how everyone expected Simon to die, and they're all talking about how they would feel and how it affects them knowing that, but no one ever asked Simon. And Simon is aware of this too, but he just once again ignores it. No one wants a hero who's scared to die for his cause. Simon is shit at communication, but he has his own ways of showing that at least something IS wrong, that Penny and Baz have learned how to read, yet ignore when it's not convenient. Baz and Penny take Simon on a trip out to America, but it wasn't about Simon. Penny had ulterior motives, to see Micah and Agatha. Then the whole situation happened there, and though obviously Baz had nothing going on with Lamb, it clearly made Simon insecure and upset. But Baz just gets annoyed at him for it instead of trying to figure out the root of the issue.

A scene that always irked me in WS is the one where Simon comes back with his hair cut, after months of neglecting it because of his depression. And Baz says nothing, because he's too busy feeling sorry for himself. This may have seemed like a small thing but Simon literally couldn't leave the couch, for almost a year. His self hatred and issues were so bad he couldn't get up. So he finally makes this step, cutting his hair, trying to get better...and Baz basically ignores it.

Another thing is the end if WS when they're on the beach. Simon is trying to say how he feels, in his own way. That he isn't good enough for Baz, Baz should find someone else. And Baz just shuts him down, like he always does. Like he always does when Simon tries to communicate his feelings about being the chosen one, and what happened with the Mage. Then they get back to England, and Baz just acts like nothing happened. Simon shouldn't have ignored all his texts, and shouldn't have moved out leaving just a note, but he doesn't know how to communicate. No one taught him how to do this, all he knows is he needs to figure his shit out and no one currently in that situation, was really helping him.

I see a lot of people hating on AWTWB because Simon and Baz break up, because their relationship is admittedly toxic, and then get together the next day. But I think it makes perfect sense. They both love each other so so much, and they have an unhealthy attachment. Often with toxic relationships, especially when we love each other and want them to work out, we keep coming back in hopes of fixing things. Both boys have severe abandonment issues, and they don't want to loose each other.

I also see people hating on WS and AWTWB because Baz and Simon aren't all happy. Like legit, that is why I see those books getting the most hate. But it makes sense. People's pasts have an effect on them and how they behave. Simon killed the only father figure really he'd ever had. And he still doesn't understand the extent of abuse said man put him through. Simon doesn't know how to put himself first. Like when they're fighting the vampire's in WS, and simon is on the brink of death, he STILL stands up because that's what people have expected him to do all his life. Baz wants everything to be okay and happy and ignore their issues, because that's what they've done his whole life in his family, ignoring problems like him being a vampire. And what Simon desperately needs is to approach his, but he doesn't know how deep his issues run, except that he's a broken, fucked up, mess. He has ptsd, depression, and anxiety, and doesn't know how to help himself.

Overall, Simon's character holds a complexity that often times I see ignored. The story is romantic, and cute. I love Snowbaz as much as the next person. But you can't fully appreciate the story until you actually understand the depth of the characters, especially starting with Simon Snow.

Thank you, have a nice day <3

[magic-multicolored-miracle]

The Witcher S3 Ep6: Everyone Has A Plan 'til They Get Punched in the Face

There is no aka this time, because how could I ever dream of coming up with something better?

(There was so much happening, I didn't even get to properly appreciate Jaskier's doorway lean)

You might, but I don't, Djikstra. The fuck?

Also why are you coming after the mages?

Not Artaud! He was chill. I think...who was he again?

Oof that sounded like a threat to Yen. Geralt don't take kindly to those

Do all mage chambers have hidey holes behind the walls?

I don't like that look...Jaskier, why did you tell him the barrier came down at dawn?

🥺 babies...

Don't be so fast to count my wife out, Lydia. Especially if she's in a place with friends

Well, that takes care of that. I thought she was a much more significant character...

I like Radcliffe. He's probably going to die

There can be more than one traitor, Tissaia, especially among men that think themselves all powerful

I don't think those are Redanian...

Well if you didn't want him to be rash, maybe you shouldn't have threatened Ciri

Just 50? I think you might need more than that, your current ones are folding like a hand of cards

Get fucked. Like, I kind of wanted to root for you and your duplicitous ass, but you don't need to be such a dick about it

Do we actually trust Cahir to do that? Or is he going to cart her straight home to Emperor CreepyDad? He serves so many masters at this point, and thus serves none

RIP Filavandrel! Damn!

Oh heeyyyy Fringilla! FrinFran reunited! And fucking shit uuuup!

Oh shit. I knew that ring was going to be trouble...

That. Was. Sexy. And the best way for Fire Fucker to die. Mom and Dad teamwork, no chance of resurrection

Ooh. These twins are neat.

God, Istredd 👀👀 Triss and Marti too honestly

Tissaia, don't give up...please...

Triss is not allowed to die. Especially now that I'm shipping it extra hard

That was an excessive number of arrows guys...

🥺 "my daughter" "come back to us" this family, I can't 😭

OT3 maybe? I'll have to figure out how to add in Cahir's name when FrinFran is so perfect...

Damn Tissaia. That...might also be killing your people but it's super badass

Get. Fucked. Vilgefortz. If you touch a single gorgeous hair on his head...

Where did you just send my boy?!

You should have known better my guy. Philippa and Djikstra are never far apart

Go Ciri! Rage your little heart out! And hold your own against a trained soldier like Cahir, even on the defense

Ooh! It's the moment Bonnie's been waiting for!

You are one man against five on horseback, bitch...what are you doing?

...where is my beloved bard in all of this chaos? Honestly also my beloathed one?

Am I...rooting for Stregobitch in this moment? I feel itchy and uncomfortable.

Shit, now what?

Ooh, Renfri's brooch/gem glowing is new and fun. Is it just for effect, or Significant?

Where is your other sword though? I feel like Vilgefortz is a two-sword situation

Oh yeah, that really helps your case that you're the good guy...

Oh look, he's been impaled

Shiiiiit...Geralt might actually not walk away from this one...

Why? Why only you? Who the fuck are you? You still haven't given a good reason for shit

🎵Get fuuuuucked🎵

Wait, he was on the beach, how'd he end up in the water?

Triss and Geralt having a Little Mermaid moment?

That's probably not a good thing, but it was really cool so...

[miraakulous-cloud-district]

Receiving so much love in my oc post and getting some much needed words of encouragement from @bougainvillea-and-saltwater, it all gave me the confidence to post some more about my oc. I can't draw for the life of me, but I do have screenshots. So I present to you: Ravonna, my main oc. I say main, because I've been doing a lot of writing about and with her and I'm working on an enemies to lovers fic with her and Miraak, so she is the most well-rounded and detailed of my ocs. She doesn’t always wear warpaint btw, it depends how much time she has to get ready.

More info and backstory under ‘keep reading’! Likes, reblogs, comments, rambles about your ocs are very much appreciated!

Here she isss, Rumarin said he wanted some music and he needn't say more!

She grew up in Blacklight, in a tavern, with three father figures. One day, a wounded woman came in the tavern, barging in, holding a very small child. The woman was badly injured and looked like she'd been running from something for a long time. All she got to do was give the kid to the innkeeper and beg him to take care of her. After that, she dropped dead. The innkeeper, Endryn, a dunmer, kept that promise and raised Ravonna as if she were his own daughter, with the help of his mercenary brother (whenever he was at home) Teldryn and the tavern's ex-pirate bard, Hjaldir. Hjaldir is an extraordinary bard and taught her many songs, how to play several instruments and how to tell tales that captivate the people. The two were close and always joking around that Hjaldir might just be her biological father. After all, he was a dark haired nord, just like her.

She wanted to become a bard and go to all of Tamriel's provinces and sing and have a journal full of funny and exciting stories to tell. However, if she were to travel the world, she had to learn to defend herself. So she learnt magic. At first with Teldryn, then at the guild of mages. It's almost like she had an affinity for magic, quickly becoming a better mage than Teldryn.

Unfortunately, her life was turned upside down when she came home one day to find her adoptive dad, Endryn, assassinated. It looked to be the work of the Dark Brotherhood. This sparked a strong hatred for assassins and especially, for people who send assassins after someone. It’s cowardly to send someone else to deal with your problems. So she went on a quest to avenge him. First, she had to master the school of destruction, because her new-found quest was much more dangerous than travelling the world as a bard. She now had to deal with assassins. So, she ventured to Vvardenfell to search for the ex-Telvanni wizard that she heard rumors about. It turned out to be a very nice dunmer lady who didn’t agree with the Telvanni principles and lifestyle at all. After some time, she was ready to go out into the world, having mastered the school of destruction and doing decently in enchanting (because there is no way she'll wear full armor. That's heavy and hinders her movement. Enchanted robes all the way).

First she searched all of Morrowind for anyone who would have wanted Endryn dead, and she knew exactly who to look for. He was a very kind mer, too kind, maybe. He lended money to people in need and gave one guy a pretty big sum that he never got to get back. He fled Blacklight right after the assassination. She ended up finding him at the border with Black Marsh. After she dealt with him, however, she wasn't satisfied. She wanted to stop, or at least try to stop the Dark Brotherhood from killing innocents. She didn't want anyone to go through what she did, so she set off to find and destroy the guild. Black Marsh turned out to be extremely weird and poisonous with loads of unaccessible areas. No Dark Brotherhood could be settled here unless they were all Argonians, which was not the case. So she went to Cyrodiil.

There, she researched everything she could about the Dark Brotherhood. She spent most of her time in libraries, looking for any information she could. She didn't find anything useful in books, but she did hear rumours of a Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary in Skyrim. Meanwhile, one night at an inn, she met a young man who offered to pay her to take him along on her adventures. Lucien Flavius was his name. He was bubbly and cheery and he also loved to sing. Not the best when it came to defending himself, but the company was nice. They quickly became friends. Feeling like they've known each other their entire lives. They were having fun, raiding goblin caves and robbing Ayelid ruins. All that fun was spoiled, however when they got caught in the middle of a Stormcloak-Imperial fight right at the Cryrodiil- Skyrim border.

But it's all good, they escaped execution with the involuntary help of Alduin. They escaped the big bad dragon and headed to Whiterun to warn the Jarl of the return of dragons. They didn't, however get there, because they encountered a giant and a group of warriors fighting it. Ravonna struck the giant with a huge lightning strike and it turns out that the Companions don't like or trust outsider mages very much. One thing led to the other and she challenged the meaner, more talkative twin, Vilkas, to a duel that ended with both of them arrested in jail. Farkas quickly bailed his brother out of jail (it helped that they were members of the well-respected Companions of Jorrvaskr), but no matter how much Lucien bargained with the guards, they wouldn't release Ravonna. So Lucien went on his own to warn the Jarl, while Ravonna got to know her cellmate, Inigo, a little better.

When the dragon attacked, the whole city of Whiterun felt it. Ravonna finally convinced Inigo to work together and escape and fight the dragon. She wasn't going to let another city be ruined by a dragon, even if she died in the process, she could at least have peace of mind that she tried. Helgen affected her very much and she felt extremely guilty that she wasn't able to fight that dragon then and there.

They managed to lure the dragon to the watchtower and did everything they could to fight it. When guards started dying and Lucien got injured pretty bad, Ravonna conjured a huge wall that surrounded her and the dragon, trapping the foul creature with her. She fought like she never had before, using every bit of energy and knowledge that she had. When she struck the final blow the wall crumbled and everyone nearby was able to witness the Dragonborn absorbing that dragon's soul.

With a new purpose in the world, and the threat of Apocalypse, she realized that she had a much bigger prophecy to fulfill than she ever would have thought.

Personality-wise, she is a jolly spirit, despite everything, doesn't like to think about stuff too much and plan ahead. A very 'live in the moment' person, she loves to sing and joke around. Her favourite past time activity is probably sharing tankards of mead, stories and songs with fellow travellers and with her fellowship. She holds grudges, unfortunately. The type to never forgive and never forget.

As for her companions, she's got herself quite the fellowship by the time the fic starts, which is when she first encounters the cultists sent by Miraak. She's got Lucien and Inigo, of course, but Rumarin joins them after they meet while grave-robbing. He is very funny and fits right in. And if you read this short fic I did, you know how Marcurio joins them as well.

If you read this and bared with me through Ravonna's backstory just know that I love and appreciate you very much🥺❤️

[beautifulterriblequeen]

B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!