#i really should just give in and read both Kingdom Come series one of these days

[soleminisanction]

The comic shop I get my subscriptions from always has a nice deal on back issues for Free Comic Book Day, and my birthday's in May so I always get myself a stack of oldies as a treat.

This year my finds included The Kingdom: Son of the Bat (to go with Nightstar from last year) and I gotta say, finally getting to read Ibn al Xu'ffasch brings a lot about Damian al'Ghul into clarity.

In a lot of ways, Damian is Ibn. Morrison clearly used Mark Waid's version of the character as inspiration -- he's got the same overwhelming confidence with the incredible skills to back it up, the same tendency towards plans that are both over-the-top and ruthless but also undeniably effective, and the same dramatic mannerisms and semi-archaic, chivalrous way of speaking. Heck, he even kills somebody in part by throwing them off the dinosaur in the cave. The primary differences between them are that Damian has a stronger, more childish temper (not that Ibn doesn't have one he's just got it under better control), and that Ibn stubbornly rejects every implication that he might someday become Batman because he wants to be his own man.

But the thing is, Damian also isn't Ibn, because we get to see a flashback of Ibn as a child and he just acts like a child. A scared child who, it is implied, was taken from his mother at a young age and subjected to horrible abuse at the hands of his grandfather until he finally grew up and killed the man (and scattered his dismembered body across most of Asia).

Meanwhile Damian acts like adult Ibn even at 10, which just... makes less sense overall, even before you factor in the character assassination of Talia that went with him.

It's all very interesting.

[nightcourtreader]

I am seeing a lot of gwynriels getting hate lately because we’re excited about new character information about Az and a lot of people believing that Azriel’s book is next.

I feel like it’s fair, as readers to point out how the author is deliberately bringing a lot of attention to Azriel at the moment. It’s absolutely fair to believe that Azriel’s book is going to be next. We all know that Elain and Azriel’s stories are going to be told and it’s just a matter of when. A lot of people just think that it’s Azriel next and that’s fine if you disagree, but gwynriels shouldn’t be attacked or called delusional if they think that.

But being called delusional when we think that when SJM has build on Azriel’s character arc purposely since we’ve seen him on page since acomaf, gave him a bonus for acosf, then had him feature in cc3, then have him apart of a bonus again for cc3 is crazy. Especially since we learned more about Azriel in cc3.

Then people are dissing the hell out of Gwyn. Oh she’s just a side character, she isn’t important. Isn’t everyone a side character at the moment besides feysand & Nessian? Since they already had their stories told. And wasn’t Gwyn the one to introduce the valkryie storyline in acosf & became the first valkryie when the valkryie plotline is a huge plotline of acosf to the point where SJM named the different sections of acosf valkryie titles? And SJM could have easily had nesta become the first valkryie.

Gwyn can absolutely have a pov with Azriel in the next book. SJM herself stated she has two more acotar books (I’m not sure if she’s contracted for more). She said for each book, a couple is going to come together. That leaves 2 pov besides Azriel and Elain because we know she’s going to give them one. For Azriel’s counter part, it could easily be Gywn.

Gwyn is still in the library. The valkryies are still training. Gwyn has a autumn court ancestry, no matter how many people claim she doesn’t have a firm claim for it. Gwyn’s powers are a very popular controversial topic in the fandom on the daily. Gywn’s story is left opened and SJM didn’t add all that to Gwyn’s backstory for no reason. She retcon the sangravah story so Azriel was the one to save Gwyn. SJM dropped mate language in her BC with Azriel and Gwyn and yes, SJM references her bonus chapters in text. She did so in acosf when it came to cassian’s & nesta’s bonus chapter for acomaf, titled wings and ember.

Yrene in tog, was really fledged out in tower of Dawn and became a really important factor in the next book in the series, kingdom of ash. Why couldn’t the same thing be said for Gwyn? Just because she was introduced in acosf, doesn’t mean that Gwyn can’t have a pov in the next book.

There are different plotlines for Azriel to go through in his story. It’s not like he has 0 plotlines to filter through. SJM would be the one to decide what plotlines have the sense of urgency for the next acotar book.

CC3 can be used for evidence, because the author herself stated that cc3 will set up future acotar books. You know what acotar 5 is? A future acotar book since it isn’t out yet. From what I’ve seen, since I haven’t read cc3 yet, Azriel is a prominent figure besides nesta in cc3 when it comes to the acotar characters. If SJM herself is stating that cc3 sets up future acotar books, why wouldn’t we use cc3 of evidence for Azriel, especially since nesta’s story has already been told? So yes we can use that as evidence. We shouldn’t be talked down about and called delusional for it.

Yes CC is a separate series. But SJM recently stated that we should read acotar before reading CC now, at one point of time she said we didn’t have to. See how things have changed?

If she’s telling people to read acotar before cc, does it matter if she’s not telling people to read cc before acotar 5, when she’s already stated to read acotar before CC so no matter what readers are understanding what’s going on in both series no matter the order since acotar 5 isn’t out yet? She’s telling us to read both series regardless.

I get it, some people might not want to read the CC and they don’t have to, but I have seen people who said they aren’t going to read CC but are still asking for information about the acotar characters in it, and with people talking about it, they are going to find out about the information of acotar characters in CC anyway, whether they read the full book or not.

And I’m sick of e/riels claiming that since Azriel is being brought up a lot, it’s going to be Azriel and Elain’s next. To the point, when new fans are asking about who’s the next book, they’re “confirming” it’s Elain and Azriel’s. Which is ridiculous. Because when it comes to the two, Elain would be the one to strong hold the book, not Azriel. SJM hasn’t brought Elain to the forefront as she’s doing Azriel lately, if anything, it just shows to me how SJM isn’t going to have a book with BOTH Azriel and Elain together. Just not happening.

But I need people to stop being mad/upset at gwynriels because we’re pointing out things from textual evidence that the author has set up. We could be wrong, I agree, but stop making it like we have no standing, that were dumb & delusional.

[spending-life-pretending]

Hii amazing new mutual!

What is the realm of the elderlings series and should I read it?

Hi!! Omg what a question, new mutual. My gut instinct is to answer yes, yes absolutely, bc I love ROTE and I’m always willing to recommend it! However—it can also be kind of intimidating to get into, so here’s some more info to help u make a decision:

‘Realm of the Elderlings’ is the collective name for five different epic fantasy book series (all set in the titular realm) by Robin Hobb:

The Farseer Trilogy

The Liveship Traders Trilogy

The Tawny Man Trilogy

The Rain Wilds Chronicles (quartet)

The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

There is some debate over the best reading order: Technically, according to most people, each series can stand on its own and be read individually. BUT the first, third, and fifth series focus on the same protagonist throughout different eras of his life. The second and fourth series are a duo. Essentially, only a few characters cross over into all five series, but 1, 3, and 5 focus on the same characters, and 2 and 4 focus on a lot of the same characters, if that makes sense.

Personally, I have been making my way through these in publication/chronological order (I’m on Rain Wilds rn), and that has worked really well for me. I love the main characters of series 1, 3, and 5, and getting to revisit them throughout their lives really makes them feel like real, growing people. I love the style of series 2 and 4, which are a lot more expansive and focus on ensembles of characters, and reading them feels satisfying, like watching a giant puzzle be put together as every plot piece clicks into place.

Some people skip around, reading series 1, 3, and 5 first and then going back to 2 and 4; some people don’t ever read 2 or 4; some people don’t ever read 1, 3, or 5; some people just read one series, feel satisfied, and never pick up another ROTE book again. All of these are totally fair! But I will recommend that The Farseer Trilogy is the logical place to start.

So here’s an actual description: Farseer, beginning with Assassin’s Apprentice, follows the life of FitzChivalry Farseer, the bastard son of the nation’s favorite prince. Upon learning of Fitz’s existence, his father abdicates from the line of succession, which leads to rising political tensions as Fitz’s two uncles now have to jockey for the throne. Meanwhile, Fitz is taken in by his father’s family but never formally recognized as royal, instead being trained to use his skills (and the magic he inherited) to serve the kingdom as an assassin and spy.

Here’s a less formal description: FitzChivalry Farseer is the dumbest boy alive and I love him so much. He’s a dog guy. He’s an unreliable narrator. His best friend is a genderfluid court jester with secrets, and their relationship will break your heart in the best way as it entangles both of them over the decades. There are dragons! There are wolves! There are scenes that will make you cry!! I get a lot out of these books, personally, as an asexual person; the importance of relationships outside of romantic/sexual contexts is shown. They deal a lot with family, and growing up, and the grief that comes as a side effect of living.

Plus, as a woman who has had to deal with a lot of bullshit fantasy misogyny in my reading, it was just refreshing to read such a sprawling, epic fantasy saga written by a woman. Hobb isn’t faultless; there are still some dated elements and tropes, but she tends to write her female characters with compassion and thoughtfulness, even when the narrative might be hard on them.

Ok. So. Hopefully that was helpful to you, and not just an overwhelming block of text and info! Even if you decide ROTE doesn’t sound like it’s for you or you try but can’t get into it, thanks for reaching out giving me the chance to spill my thoughts!! I do love these books so much, and infodumping about them is a great passion of mine 😊 I look forward to seeing u around on my dash

[thelostgirl21]

When you read some of the things you'd written before watching Season 3, and they suddenly take on a new meaning...

His "weapon" isn't a sword, magic, or even his lute. After all, "Whoreson Prison Blues" sounded fantastic accompanied by spoons!

Yes. Spoons always make Jaskier sound fantastic. Jaskier really knows how to work with spoons, and work those spoons!

All Jaskier truly needs, to sound great and inspired, really, is a spoon!

Give Jaskier a spoon, and they'll be making sweet music together... Both literally and figuratively...

He doesn't need a weapon, he's one of the single most influential character of the series, in a sense, just by virtue of existing and doing "what he does best" - being an impulsively chaotic bard either seducing or pissing people off; and just touching things he probably shouldn't touch, and putting random stuff in his mouth.

Radovid, Comma Prince of Redania: *Spends his whole life doing everything he can to stay under the radar, be kept out of Redanian politics, and appear really dumb, incompetent, and drunk (note: although he was only pretending to be drunk with Jaskier in that scene, I think Hugh Skinner mentioned that Radovid does drink quite a lot to cope with everything that's going on, though, sort of as a way to "self-medicate") so people will let him be.*

Jaskier: *Shows up.*

Radovid: *Intensely crushes on him. Forgets he's supposed to play dumb, and instead offers actually good and sensible arguments as to why Jaskier Cirilla should come live with them in Redania.*

Jaskier: *Shows willingness to listen to Radovid, and offers to do what he can to convince Geralt and Ciri to accept the offer, should they find a way to get rid of Rience.*

Philippa: *Is impressed, and compliments Radovid on it.*

Radovid: *Immediately attempts to go back to playing dumb, hiding, and hopefully being of no interest to her or anyone else at court.*

Jaskier: *Shows up again, flirts with Radovid, lets him know that he's not fooled by his dumb drunken playboy prince act, utterly seduces him with a song (and as many "come hither looks" as one can humanly make fit in a single encounter) and humbly asks for his help.*

Radovid: *Falls even deeper in love with him, drops his act with Jaskier and agrees to help him. Suddenly gets deeply involved in Redanian politics. Argues with the spymasters that, maybe, they should start using carrots with people instead of sticks. Puts Philippa on Rience's trail, while letting Dijkstra know about his brother's secret meetings with Nilfgaard (probably counting on him to change Vizimir's mind regarding his plans of handing Ciri over to the Emperor), regularly starts showing disdain for Dijkstra's methods and gets himself on the spymaster's "shitlist"...*

Of course, one thing leads to another, and next thing you know:

Queen Hedwig is dead,

King Vizimir is dead, and now he's

Radovid, Comma King of Redania.

Right at the start of the second war between the Northern Kingdoms and the Nilfgaardian Empire, no less...

With his sister-in-law and brother's murderer(s) still likely running around the castle somewhere, and working for the people that just put that crown on his head...

And the love of his life still out there, risking his own life, hopefully having managed to reunite with Geralt, and now facing who knows how many dangers to attempt to go rescue Ciri...

So much for staying under the radar and avoiding to get politically involved!

Jaskier: *Seduces the Prince of Redania and uses his lips for extraordinary things...

...accidentally triggers a series of events that changes Redania's line of succession, and totally upends the power structure and dynamic of the strongest kingdom of the Continent!*

By this point, I would almost expect Geralt's response to learning that Vizimir has been assassinated, and that Prince Radovid has ascended to the throne, to be:

"Alright Jaskier, what did you do?"

Obviously, I knew that Prince Radovid was rumored to be Jaskier's new love interest in Season 3 back then... But I had absolutely no idea what Radovid's character would be like in terms of personality, motivations, etc.

Turns out that they found Jaskier a love interest that is basically as directionless and lonely in life as Geralt used to be in Season 1. Someone that doesn't want to get involved in politics or any of those games people in position of power like to play, and is basically just going through the motions of his life...

Until Jaskier shows up and, suddenly, he finds himself right at the heart of those politics, forced to make decisions and choices that will shape the future of the whole freaking Continent!

The main difference is that Geralt sort of continuously fought against Destiny, tried to ignore it, deny it, and push it away. And then, he blamed Jaskier for everything that went wrong and attempted to cut himself from him!

Whereas Radovid just immediately found himself irresistibly drawn to it and embraced whatever changes Jaskier brought into his life, while starting to make choices and take risks out of love without ever blaming him for it, or making it sound like he remotely held Jaskier responsible whenever things misfired or went wrong.

And even when things do go horribly wrong, all Radovid can think of, apparently, while looking at his dead brother is "going to see Jaskier."

But then, Geralt is much older than Radovid is and, from what I understand, has had his dreams and hopes crushed quite a few times whenever he's let his guard down and dared get attached to people in the past.

When you keep suffering loss after loss after loss... at some point, you probably figure that the best way to avoid loss is no longer feeling like you have anything valuable to lose. If you need no one, then you won't risk losing anyone.

Whereas Radovid's never had anyone from his own world he was able to genuinely emotionally connect with. And suddenly, he finds someone that sees him and is making an effort to attempt to understand him - something and someone he's discovered that he needs and doesn't want to lose.

But yeah, it's really fascinating, on the show, to see the way that our beloved bard just keeps... basically causing stuff to happen!

For better or for worse, Jaskier is making people that seemingly don't want to get involved be involved, and making them discover whatever their purpose appears to be in the grand scheme of things!

Yennefer:

The "Destiny" that brought them together:

And now that Lauren Hissrich has clearly stated that Ciri wasn't the descendant of Éile and Fjall that the prophecy was referring to in "The Witcher: Blood Origin", one has to wonder if it could be Jaskier.

Okay, first I just want to address people saying that it's sort of a "retcon" on what she'd said in the past and that she'd "all but confirmed it was Ciri already", because I actually found that interview and listened to it, and that's not quite what I took from it.

I mean yes, I can see how it could have been interpreted the way it was, but what she actually said is:

"Éile's pregnant, at the end. And we know that that's part of Ithlinne's Prophecy; that there is a seed in her that will eventually lead to someone who's important in the Witcher's world.

So, as someone who, for instance, on "The Witcher" 's side, follows Ciri and the origin of her genes and her blood... It's like, I kinda wanna know where that character's gonna go.

I wanna know if these two things are going to, you know, crash into each other at some point."

So, the way I personally understand it is that:

"Blood Origin" introduced the idea that there currently is someone, in the Witcher's world, that is connected to the Ithlinne's Prophecy by blood (by virtue of being the descendant of Fjall and the Lark), and that they will sing the last note of a song that ends all time.

The prophecy about them goes:

"The time of the spheres is upon us. Aen Seidhe [the elves of the Continent] lost across the skies. Cast adrift in time. Ever searching for love, lost and left behind. The Lark’s seed shall carry forth the first note of a song that ends all times. And one of her blood shall sing the last."

And that, on the show "The Witcher", Ciri's also a character whose genes and blood is given a lot of attention and importance to. So, as a member of the audience, she'd be curious to know if these two different characters are going to crash into each other at some point, and those two parts of the Prophecy are going to connect.

The rest of the Ithlinne's Prophecy from the books, that's connected to Ciri, is:

"Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame. Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves... May Ye All Wail, for the Destroyer of Nations is upon us. Your lands shall they trample and divide with rope. Your cities razed shall be, their dwellers expelled. The bat, owl and raven your homes shall infest, and the serpent will therein make its nest..."

She also said, in a Tudum Interview: "One of the things that we love about Sapkowski’s books is his attention to genes, to bloodlines, and to how families grow and develop."

And in Season 3, Jaskier keeps referring to Ciri, Geralt, and Yennefer as "his family".

They may not be related by blood, but they are still "family" to him, in the truest sense (like, I think, the Seven established a family-like bond).

And Jaskier is the one that brought them all together. "The Lark’s most precious note shall be the key to all things", and Jaskier does feel like he's the key to all things, at times.

He's just randomly traveling the Continent, unlocking people's destinies left and right, connecting with them, struggling with the thought of settling down.

He's also drawn to people that are "ever searching for love", and that feel "lost and left behind".

Geralt, Yennefer, Ciri... Radovid, even.

And, of course, the elves, that he became "The Sandpiper" to protect.

What I'm also wondering is if the part of the Ithlinne's Prophecy, at the end of "Blood Origin", was added at the same time that they chose to introduce Seanchai and change the role that Jaskier was initially meant to play in the spinoff.

Because it would appear that Seanchai's true form would be that of an ancient elf.

So, "Blood Origin" introduces us to two incredibly powerful ancient elves with the ability to cross time and dimensions.

Avalach, that shares a connection to Ciri in the books (I won't spoil it for those that haven't read it), and

2. Seanchai.

So, what if Seanchai was the child of Éile and Fjall? The Lark’s seed, that shall carry forth (throughout history) the first note of a song that ends all times?

And this is sort of what the show's creator had to say about her character:

It just sort of fitted so well in. When I was thinking about this idea with Seanchaí story collection, it was that moment where all the story about music, and story and words being more powerful than any army, sort of all felt less than [compared] to [having] it sort of personified in this sort of creature that’s raison d'être is to collect stories because they are so powerful. It was great. And the name Seanchaí actually comes from... It was a position in Ireland where you were a storyteller, and you went between the halls of kings, and you went to chieftains and people, and they were the most powerful people in the land and kings were fucking terrified of them – and queens – because one bad story would destroy you as a king. And they were far more worried about that than any army. And then bringing that back to life in this world, it just all clicked. It was one of those lovely synchronous moments of story.

Because the child of Fjall and the Lark is supposed to carry forth (not sing, carry) the first note of the song...

...and one of her blood shall sing the last note of that song.

And when Jaskier asks Seanchai "Why did you save me from the Temerians?", she answers "I need you to sing a story back to life. We're related you an I."

She then explains that he's a bard and she's a storyteller, of a sort...

But that's just the thing. A storyteller might be able to carry the notes of a song - for centuries, perhaps - but she would need a bard to actually sing it when the time was right.

And yeah... The idea that she meant a bit more than just "storytellers and bards have a lot in common" when she said "we're related, you and I", would be intriguing...

The problem, however, is that should it be Jaskier (regardless of him being related to Seanchai or not...), it would sort of make that part of the Ithlinne's Prophecy extremely literal. Almost too literal, one might say.

Not to mention that the way the scene is filmed really seems to be meant to heavily imply that it is Jaskier.

Because, when Seanchai says "...and one of her blood shall sing the last", we are pulled out of the past to the present, where Jaskier is seen writing the last words of a story.

And, when he tries to get her to elaborate on who she's referring to, the answer Jaskier gets is: "Sing the 'Song of the Seven', Sandpiper".

Then, when Jaskier looks back at the last page of the story he's just written, the camera zooms in on "...and one of her blood shall sing the last.", while it starts raining, some dramatic ominous music starts playing, and Jaskier is suddenly back to standing on the battlefield.

So, it feels like she's giving him the answer to his question by telling him to sing.

Then, Seanchai goes on, saying "...so the oppressed may find hope and strenght in the tale of their ancestors; and be ready for the great change to come;" and you see an elf come to squeeze Jaskier's shoulder to let him know the battle is won (at least, this one), and invite him to follow them.

And, even if the only way that Seanchai and Jaskier were "related" would be through their love for either collecting and preserving stories, and/or sharing those stories with the world, she still says that she needs him to sing a story back to life.

So, if you were a powerful ancient elf that actually knew who was meant to sing the very last note of a specific story, wouldn't you want to let them know how the story actually began, too?

Jaskier: I'm just a bard.

Seanchai: In her mind, going:

A bard with a blood marked by beast and magic, that felt an instant connection and deep sense of kinship towards a Witcher that everyone hated, feared, and called a "Butcher"...

A bard that brought said Witcher to Calanthe's banquet - where he prevented Duny's demise, and claimed his future daughter, the Elder Blood Princess, as his own.

A bard that brought the Witcher to Yennefer of Vengenberg, the sorceress that would come to love that child as her own daughter, too, and help protect and raise her, too.

A bard that feels intimately drawn to everyone on the Continent - men, women, elves, dwarves, even polymorphous, apparently... - regardless of race or creed, and would step in and risk his life to protect those being persecuted on the basis of being seen as "the other"...

A bard that embodies the complexity, beauty, and diversity of everyone's stories on the Continent, and feels like - if the muses stopped talking to him and inspiring him to write and sing those songs - he'd have no idea who he was anymore, and would no longer be able to do the one thing he was put on this Continent to do?

A bard that inspires people to grow, get involved, and ultimately become the better versions of themselves...

A bard, whose ancestors' fight against Balor lead to the Conjunction of the Spheres, the arrival of the humans on the Continent, of the monsters, the creation of the Witchers, and the beginning of a story that he'll witness and sing the conclusion of.

But yes, just a bard.

But yeah, it's like the show is pointing us so strongly in Jaskier's direction and wanting us so much to think it's him that it's almost suspicious or "too easy" to assume it's him.

What also makes me hesitate, in some ways, is that people would expect someone that's been described as having "a blood like no other, marked by beast and magic", to be exhibiting superhuman powers of some sort, and have powerful magic of their own, I suppose.

While Jaskier is very much human. But Seanchai (and the show runners, apparently) sees great power in the ability to shape the world through storytelling, and she makes it sound like she truly respects Jaskier's "power", and the way he's been using his voice to help change people's perception of outcasts.

Even "Toss A Coin To Your Witcher" was all about changing the way people irrationally feared and reviled witchers, and treated them as freaks.

Yes, he threw Filivandrel and the elves under the bus with that one!

No one's denying that, and I've always headcanoned that one of the reasons why he became the Sandpiper is because he realized he truly messed up with "Toss A Coin", and was attempting to take responsibility for his mistakes and right some of his wrongs.

But "Toss A Coin To Your Witcher" was still about changing people's perception of witchers, so that Geralt would be seen as a noble, brave, larger-than-life heroic protector that was also a friend you could just enjoy a pint with, rather than some unrelatable mutant freak without any emotion that one should fear and keep their distance from in general, unless they had an even more dangerous monster needing killing.

He tried helping one outcast, but sadly made things worse for others.

And we also have to remember that we're talking about a very young Jaskier that had been brought up in the human world until then, and likely didn't fully grasp nor understand how much damage humanity had done to the elder races. We're talking about someone with a fairly limited worldview that genuinely thought elves were just "hiding in their golden palaces" while humanity suffered until, like, seconds ago.

Filivandrel might have started shaking those perceptions, but I doubt it would have been enough to completely make him unlearn all the lies and prejudices he'd been taught, and fully realize that what had happened to Filivandrel wasn't the exception when it came to elves, but the norm.

Now, Jaskier knows and understands better. Back then? He still had things to learn. I guess my point is that, despite all of his flaws and shortcomings as a young bard, Jaskier was still using his voice in ways meant to help someone connect with, and be accepted by, the world.

He's always been highly empathetic, and likely to spontaneously side with those that needed to have a voice after having been cast aside.

And, should Jaskier be, indeed, the descendant of the very first Witcher, it does add a rather unique element to the way he immediately trusted that he'd be safe traveling with Geralt, and never instinctively feared who and what he was, regardless of the reputation he'd acquired after Blaviken.

Something in Jaskier's DNA would apparently be telling him that Witchers make perfectly suitable life companions!

And Fjall was kicked out of his clan when they found out he was having an affair with Princess Merwyn!

So, getting into trouble because you hid your sausage in the wrong royal pantry would be a family trait that would go back generations!

It can't be helped, really!

Éile was into Dog Clan people and Witchers.

Jaskier is into Wolf Clan people and Witchers.

Fjall was into Royals and Bards.

Jaskier is into Royals and Himself.

These three are obviously related!

"Song of the Seven" would be a part of Jaskier's own heritage, too. He'd be singing about the history of his own ancestors, and their very own "found family", rather than singing about a group of outcasts he has no intimate or personal connection to.

And, should Éile indeed be one of Jaskier's ancestors...

Well, she was called "The Lark"...

And Jaskier chose to call himself "The Sandpiper"...

It's actually what Seanchai replied when Jaskier asked "Are you sure you've got the right man for this?"

Something like "Of course I am. You're the Sandpiper. Smuggler of elves to safety."

Apparently, small sandpipers are also sometimes called "sand larks".

So...

If Jaskier was the one referred to in that part of that Prophecy, then the song would start with the Lark's seed... and end with a Sand Lark!

Then, there's Radovid...

Because, of course, out of Jaskier's entire repertoire, he would be drawn to that song the most!

A part of me can't help but think I'm just looking way too deep into this, and making connections that are probably extremely accidental, but still, I can't help but think it would be really cool if Jaskier did end up being the Continent's MVP, in a sense.

If the whole point of Blood Origin - beyond giving us some insight on how the first Witchers were created and why, the Conjunction of the Spheres, the humans arriving on the Continent, etc. - was to clearly establish bards/storytellers (namely Éile, Jaskier, Seanchai...) as being some of the most powerful beings of their world.

While some would probably find it anticlimactic that Ithlinne's Prophecy, in "Blood Origin", would simply be about a "humble human bard" that would have inherited Éile's gift for storytelling and singing - rather than some sort of primal power or something (due to their connection to the first Witcher) - I think it would be fitting.

Dijkstra & Philippa: We have control over Redania’s resources!

Radovid: I have a Sandpiper.

He's just like the Queen on the chessboard, fiercely protecting the King by messing up the other pieces' moves, hard to predict because he can take off in too many directions and in too many ways...

And everyone's also after him, trying to knock him down, because he just keeps fucking their game over!

Also, as it turns out, there were many more character posters this season! And Jaskier wasn't the only one without a "physical weapon" or object of some sort...

But my favorite's got to be Radovid. I mean Jaskier's standing there, taking everything in, hyper-alert and ready to do "something" about it.

And our poor sweetheart is just... standing there with his fur heavy blanket cloak, discreetly looking over his shoulder, looking half-curious about what's happening and half totally done with this shit, just about ready to pour himself yet another drink...

Story of his life!

[hermitknut]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

@birdylion tagged me :D

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

56.

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

440,219

3. what fandoms do you write for?

There've been quite a few over the years. Currently Goblin Emperor (slightly on the back burner while I unkink my writer's block) and Hands of the Emperor (just started dabbling, nothing posted yet). Before that Merlin, Green Rider, Realm of the Elderlings, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter predominantly, with little dips into Discworld, Sherlock, Sweep, Supernatural, Percy Jackson, Lady Trent, Life on Mars, Old Kingdom, Life on Mars, and MASH. I have some Narnia stuff kicking about in my drafts somewhere, and while I've never posted it I've been writing Animorphs fanfic for years.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Stairs Beneath the Heart: Goblin Emperor, a series of vignettes that runs parallel to the canon that I posted through the start of the pandemic and really enjoyed. It was the first time in ages I'd had a regular posting schedule, and the first time ever I'd had that much fandom attention on something I was writing - everyone was so lovely <3.

Take These Tower Stones: Goblin Emperor, the sequel to the above, a much more coherent and consistent story which everyone was again really supportive of <3

What Friends Are For: Discworld; Angua gives Vetinari the shovel talk. There's a big disparity in the stats between the previous two fics and the rest, so these last three were a surprise to me! I'm glad people liked them though :)

Fire in the Night: Merlin, somewhat angsty nightmare/comfort oneshot. Again, surprised to see this one so near the top, but pleasantly so.

The Michen Emperor: Goblin Emperor again, currently the bane of my existence because I can't seem to finish it (I will eventually, just need to unstick my brain). Really appreciate all the love people have shown it. Basically, what if canon but with smol!Maia.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably either Take These Towers Stones, or Red Sky (which is a tiny little snippet of fluff).

8. do you get hate on fics?

I've had a few shitty comments, and mostly I've just deleted them. I've never had any extended hate campaigns or anything, just people who mistakenly thought their dislike was worth expressing.

9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally; usually though not always queer, normally pretty tame. I read smut usually without worrying about the warnings, but I'm a bit too shy to comment on it, and I think that extends to my writing, haha. Maybe I'll get the hang of it some day :)

10. do you write crossovers?

Nah, for some reason they don't work for me at all - almost a squick, I don't read them either. The closest I got was considering a fic where the characters from Green Rider had diplomatic contact with the characters from the Chronicles of Ixia series, but I never ended up getting there.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so - I should probably put in my Ao3 that people are welcome to if they like, I keep forgetting. I'd be honoured if anyone wanted to.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope; I'm very picky and not good at compromise, though it's something I'd like to work on one day. It'd have to be very low stakes and with someone very patient!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Lines of Silver and Gold (Realm of the Elderlings) is probably my oldest fic that is both posted and unfinished, and I have no current plans to work on it. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to come back to it, but that book series was my thesis topic and unfortunately I rather burnt myself out on it, so it might be a long while.

The Queen Rider series was originally going to have two more fics, but those have been scrapped; fortunately it resolves quite nicely as is. Maybe I will put up a little misc fic with what I do have of the rest some day.

And on a more positive note, my Animorphs fic - it was originaly going to be a full written-through story spanning a considerable post-canon period, but unfortunately I lost the original in a harddrive failure and while I rewrote some of it I rather lost my enthusiasm for it. However, I have been reconsidering lately and might post what exists as a series of loosely connected vignettes; we'll see.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is what I find easy and what I've received the most compliments on; I think this is because a lot of my fic is drafted "out loud" before I get anywhere near setting it to page, so the first iteration is often predominantly speech. I'm also often told I'm good at mimicking the tone of the canon, if I'm writing for a book fandom.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Research (I'll do it if it's something that will otherwise potentially hurt people, but other than that I have neither the effort nor the inclination), and making things messy - that is, I tend to tidy things up a lot and I'm not good at letting my characters get things wrong/communicate badly/etc. Good for fix-its, less good for creating challenges in the story.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I am depressingly monolingual so I don't do it in my fics; as to what everyone else does I think they should have fun and do whatever they like, I suppose. Not enough knowledge to have more of an opinion than that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter was my gateway fandom.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ohhhh tough one. I'm immensely proud of the Keystone series (The Stairs Beneath the Heart and Take These Tower Stones), so they're solid candidates, but I also really like The Shadow of the Mountains (Lady Trent) and Miracles (Realm of the Elderlings), the latter of which contains possibly my favourite line of prose I've written.

I'm tagging @the-tao-of-fandom, @pipuhattar, @alittlefellowinawideworld, @nonasuch, and anyone else who'd like to answer!

[neutronity]

Hua Cheng's Limitless Devotion

Sooooo... yeah. I read all 1.2M words in Heaven Official's Blessing (this included mostly already-published books, but also got my hands on the translation of the last books, since they are not yet published...) and my god I have too many thoughts in my brain.

But I want to start with this one (will put these below the read bar because spoilers abound.) Seriously, if you're watching the show or even if you've not completely finished the novels and don't like to be spoiled, well.. there be dragons below.

TW: Spoilers, Self-harm, Ideation, just... if you've read the books, you know. Suffering.

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

One of the most heart-wrenching parts in the entire series is after Xie Lian has been broken. Not only did having 100 people stab him fail to save them, but his attendants have both left him, and both his mother and father have killed themselves so they are no longer his burden.

He's been twisted by White No Face so badly he has decided to unleash the Human Face disease on Yong'An for all they have done to him and his kingdom. As he's walking the former battlefield, recruiting the unsettled ghosts to take part in his plague, a wrath-rank ghost comes to him to offer his devotion and service. He doesn't have a name, so XL calls him Wu Ming. (Hint: it's Hua Cheng, or rather pre-Kiln HC.) They go together, murdering as they go (including the Yong'An king and crown prince.) It's gruesome and angry. XL is also on a clock. The curse needs to be unleashed, or it will backfire onto him.

And XL is resolved to do this. He tests the populace by revealing his face and laying in a hole, with a sword sticking out of his chest, waiting to see if even a single person will offer him help.

What happens next? Well... no one comes. Until the very last moment, when a surly guy gives XL his hat. That small gesture of kindness allowed XL to remember those pieces of himself, and he decided he was not going to unleash the plague.

Because of the whole no turning back portion of this though, the only way to stop what XL had started was to take in the cursed souls himself, and he was prepared to do that. But at the last moment, Wu Ming steps in and sacrifices himself instead. (Did I cry? Um yes. I cried. Kind of a lot.)

But it also got me thinking: what would have happened if XL had not "come to his senses" and actually unleashed the plague? Would HC still have faithfully followed him?

Yes.

We are meant to understand this too. That even if XL had folded in on himself and become a monster like WNF/Jun Wu, even with Hua Cheng knowing fully that XL had turned to that? Still he would have followed.

HC was not looking for XL to be a different person, he had not foisted expectations on XL. His faith (and ultimately what kept him tenaciously attached to the world) was that he lived for XL. That would mean that he would have lived for XL even if XL turned into a monster.

This is different than Feng Xin too, who had specific idealizations and expectations of XL. Princes should not dirty their hands, princes should not busk, princes should not rob others to survive.

Crown princes should not commit genocide.

Pretty much everyone can agree with that one. Because YEAH. And pretty much everyone would abandon someone who committed it.

But Hua Cheng would not have. He would not cluck his tongue in disapproval and disagreement, because his devotion was so deep. His devotion did not depend on the actions of the prince, they were not his to judge. He would help XL to survive and protect him from everything, even if it was in defense of a twisted prince suffering the same fate as White No Face, fighting heaven to be allowed to kill some more.

If we ever ask why XL lived, it's because HC's devotion was amoral. It was because he had faith and loved his prince more than anything, no matter what decisions that prince ultimately made.

It's really hard to wrap our minds around this. Could we too follow someone who became twisted enough to hurt everyone else around them? Where is the line we have made? Because there are very very very few people who don't have a line somewhere.

Hua Cheng did not have a line.

It's possible (and probable) that this lack of judgment, lack of line, is what will keep XL walking his own path, his third path. Because knowing that there will be someone there no matter what you do, whether it's rob a rich person or busk or... well, unleash a plague... makes it easier to do everything.

If you know that you have someone in your corner that will be there for you no matter what, who cares if you trip in the mud? Or kick someone's teeth in for insulting your friend?

HC's limitless devotion grounds XL. It's the thing that will keep XL from ever transforming into WNF, and ultimately it was also something Jun Wu was missing.

It's hard to say if that would have made a difference in JW's case, but I stand by it making all the difference in the world in XL's case.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 8: Jarra

I ordinarily say "Here there be spoilers for the whole Wheel of Time series" because it's a good catch-all, even if I don't regularly discuss stuff beyond the chapter we're in, but hoo boy do I go crazy this time folks so for real, don't keep reading if you don't wanna know.

This chapter begins with a wolf icon because Perrin is going to be meeting another Wolfbrother.

For an instant Perrin’s nose caught another odor, one he could not identify, a faint trail that raised the hair on the back of his neck with its vileness. Then it was gone. But he was sure something had passed that way, something—wrong. He scrubbed at his nose as if to rub away the memory of it.

Perrin is smelling a Grey Man. This shows that Rand's fleeing the camp was absolutely the right call; the boy was perhaps a week away from being found in the camp by a Gray Man if he'd stayed after the battle.

“I beg your pardon, good mistress. You have come far? Have you word of the Great Hunt? The Hunt for the Horn of Valere? Or the false Dragon? It’s said there’s a false Dragon in Tarabon. Or maybe Arad Doman.”

An unappreciated Aes Sedai oath loophole is found in how Lan answers for Moiraine, since he is able to lie freely and pretend that he doesn't know the Hunt is over and the Dragon is real.

Why, we’ve had a lifetime of weddings. A plague of them. All in the last two days. There isn’t a woman old enough to speak the betrothal remains unmarried, not in the whole village, not for a mile in any direction. Why, even Widow Jorath dragged old Banas through the arches, and they’d both sworn they’d never marry again.

I'm really curious as to what all the Wheel is weaving that needs this village's entire future genealogy (and legal inheritance, since Jorath and a few of the other ladies married probably aren't ever going to have kids but now set things up for heirlooms to pass down in certain ways) fixed by Rand. Will little old Jarra become a new Two Rivers, filled with channelers in just a few years with a lot of latent genes lining up properly? Will they produce a bunch of Wolfbrothers instead (they are in Ghaeldan, part of the Kingdom of the West Perrin never got)? Something new?

“That’s very interesting,” Perrin said when Simion paused to yawn again, “but have you seen a young—”

Perrin: I don't like to talk until I've had a second to think things over because I don't want people to think I'm stupid. I'm not stupid.

Also Perrin: Hello random stranger! Want to hear the exact reason I'm in town?

Loial had to duck low under the lintel, and the ceiling inside only cleared his head by a foot. He kept rumbling to himself about not understanding why so few humans remembered the Ogier.

It's because you all have a worse outreach program than the White Tower, which is saying a lot.

Master Harod got to his feet slowly, eyes fastened on Loial, smoothing his apron all the while.

It's not clear if Harod is fat, but given that he doesn't cause any real grief we should assume he's at least pleasantly plump like all the other good innkeepers except... whoever it was I pointed out that was something of an exception. I really need to be better at remembering stuff.

Master Harod began explaining about Ogier, making it sound as if he were quite familiar with them. Most of what Perrin heard before they left the voices behind was wrong. Loial’s ears twitched without stop.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm giving this place a five star review on Trip Advisor.

The man looked at her sharply before answering. Perrin did not think anyone else saw how sharply, in the dimness.

I bet Moiraine and Lan have a pretty good idea, Perrin, though it is odd to have such a strong reaction to such a simple question. Despite his later statement, this is the point where Simion's convinced than Moiraine's an Aes Sedai pursuing Rand (due to her intense interest in the Children), but he doesn't understand why.

Good master, you carry that axe like you know how to use it, but it isn’t so easy to face up to men with swords and armor and all, when all you know how to use is a broom or a hoe.

Perrin doesn't even reflect on this, unaware of how he's changed in this regard. He's way too focused on the supernatural parts of his journey to appreciate that he probably looks like a really scary dude at this point.

All these weddings and Whitecloaks are all very well, but I’d sooner know if Rand stopped here, and which way he went when he left. That smell couldn’t have been him.

I can't even blame Perrin for not understanding that all of this commotion is proof enough because Moiraine has never properly infodumped on ta'veren, Loial-- No, Loial would have told Perrin everything if he'd cared to listen so I can fully blame Perrin. But I'm still not going to, to be nice. He's being a bit of a jerk lately but it's hard to know what you need to take notes on and what you don't when you're running around with two different magical artifacts, the Messiah, and a bunch of characters who match the archetypes of all the fairy tales you've ever known.

“No reason, good master. He was an odd fellow, that’s all. He talked to himself, sometimes, and sometimes he laughed when nobody had said anything. Slept in this very room, last night, or part of it. Woke us all in the middle of the night, yelling. It was just a nightmare, but he wouldn’t stay any longer. Master Harod didn’t make much effort to talk him into it, after all that noise.”

Remember that Perrin and crew have been pursuing Rand for days at this point. Our boy's been in the woods, by himself, and dealing with Ishamael's latest campaign. All of this is clear sleep deprivation and the awkward position of knowing he's the chosen one and thus being able to find random asides much more meaningful than people think.

“I knew it,” Simion said, bouncing on his toes. “I knew she could help as soon as I saw you. Which way? East, good master. East, like the Dark One himself was on his heels. Do you think she’ll help me? Help my brother, that is? Noam’s bad sick, and Mother Roon says she can’t do anything.”

It's gotta be real awkward discussing taint madness with friends and relatives of the victim. Simion's quite relieved by his interpretation of what Perrin said, that they're pursuing Rand to gentle him.

Stupid question! The right question is, what does he mean to do about it?

There you go, Perrin.

“Of course,” the Ogier boomed. Simion gave a start when Loial’s hand swallowed his shoulder. “He will show me my room, and we will talk. Tell me, Simion, what do you know of trees?”

I'd say "Poor Simion, thinking that Loial is about to unleash Ogier violence on him in the most arboreal way possible", but anyone who could look at Loial for more than two seconds and see anything more than the world's most literate teddy bear deserves what they get.

Perrin squared his feet to face the Warder. That was easier than facing Moiraine’s glare. “How could we find out whether he had been here without asking questions? Tell me that. He left last night, if you are interested, heading east. And he was carrying on about somebody following him, trying to kill him.”

Perrin is zigzagging between somewhat wise (Lan is the lesser threat even though it's kinda like choosing between drinking cyanide or rubbing alcohol in practice), and then utterly stupid, not considering that an Aes Sedai would be perfectly skilled in getting the knowledge she wants without saying anything outright at all.

“Perhaps,” Moiraine said. “Perhaps not. No one knows anything about ta’veren as strong as Rand.” For just a moment she sounded vexed at not knowing.

Sorry Moiraine, but Perrin's right to be worried. Rand is going to be easily tracked, not just because of his ta'veren but through other means, and even Ishamael couldn't use the other means, he and the Forsaken are old hands at dealing with Dragon-tier ta'veren because they fought the first one.

Lan caught Moiraine’s eye, and for a moment they stared at one another. The Warder had the air about him of a wolf about to leap. Finally, Moiraine shook her head. “No,” she said.

Everyone needs a friend who is as willing to kill innocent bystanders for your convenience as Lan is for Moiraine. And also as willing to listen to vetoes. That part is crucial.

“He will not die by my actions,” Moiraine said. “But I cannot, and will not, promise that it will always be so. We must find Rand, and I will not fail in that. Is that spoken plainly enough for you?”

How many times in this series does an Aes Sedai offer to speak plainly and in fact plainer still if their words are not sufficient?

Lan nodded reluctantly, then gave Perrin a hard look. “See that you do, blacksmith. If any harm befalls her. . . .” His cold blue eyes finished the promise.

I really need to stop talking about how much I love Lan but I can't and you're all just going to have to live with that. Or stop reading, I guess that's an option too.

Behind those bars, a man lay sprawled on his stomach on the straw-covered floor. He was barefoot, his shirt and breeches ripped as if he had torn at them without knowing how to take them off. There was an odor of unwashed flesh that Perrin thought even Simion and Moiraine must smell.

Frankly Perrin your phrasing makes me think that his odor is "borderline but not actually overpowering", so that's pretty good for Noam's current conditions.

Perrin jerked back as he would have from a fire, sealed himself off. They were not thoughts at all, really, just a chaotic jumble of desires and images, part memory, part yearning. But there was more wolf there than anything else. He put a hand to the wall to steady himself; his knees felt weak.

Noam is... really not well. Even by Wolfbrother standards, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if in addition to his developing powers and the physical abuse we'll learn about in book 13 if he was also getting one of those late twenties mental health crises like schizophrenia. All of that mixed together plus the brief freedom and now imprisonment combines to make the dude we see here, who isn't coherent by either of the mental standards we could judge him by.

At her first step, Noam’s lips peeled back from his teeth, and he began to growl, a rumble that deepened till his whole body quivered. Moiraine ignored it. Still growling, Noam wriggled backwards in the straw as she came closer to him, until he had backed himself into a corner. Or she had backed him.

Moiraine is likely Compelling Noam a little bit as a part of whatever mental delving she's up to.

“Healing is not a simple matter, Simion, and it comes from within as much as from the Healer. There is nothing here that remembers being Noam, nothing that remembers being a man. There are no maps remaining to show him the path back, and nothing left to take that path. Noam is gone, Simion.”

With all the pressures Noam's under, it's no surprise at all that he happily jettisoned all the shitty memories. It is kind of impressive that they're entirely gone though, and again it makes me think that there's a lot more going on in Noam's head than we really get to see in this book or in the one ten books from now.

“He will die in here or out there, Simion. Out there, at least he’ll be free, and as happy as he can be. He is not your brother anymore, but you’re the one who has to decide. You can leave him in here for people to stare at, leave him to stare at the bars of his cage until he pines away. You cannot cage a wolf, Simion, not and expect it to be happy. Or live long.”

Perrin's one of those people who should heed his own advice, as so much of his misery will come from his desperation to cage himself.

“A Darkfriend wouldn’t care if my brother died in a cage. I suppose she found you soon after it happened. In time to help. I wish she’d come to Jarra a few months ago.”

I suppose this is as much as anything why the Wheel made everyone wait out the winter: it's not just making sure Rand only arrives at Tear at the same time as the Aiel do, but about making sure that Perrin frees Boundless so that he will someday pull his head out of his ass. Not that this was Jordan's intention, sadly, but it's nice that Sanderson was able to tie this together.

Next time: T'A'R!

[writing-in-verse]

So I Finally Read Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare

There will be some level of spoilers so do be aware all who enter here.

I was apprehensive at first when i heard Cassie was writing a book in an entirely new setting, a new adult book no less, after writing YA for as long as I can remember. I've seen authors attempt to pivot to a different age bracket before and it is a challenge if you're not fully prepared for it.

Sword Catcher is entering the space where Game of Thrones and Gentleman Bastards have long ago carved out their right to be there and became titans of their own. It was surprising then to see both authors of the above had read Sword Catcher and had given a review for the back of the book - George R.R. Martin's quote and name was displayed proudly on the front of my edition for added flair.

It was a bold statement of intent, to sit among giants and share the space meant Cassie was putting her best foot forward. I don't want to suggest Lynch or Martin 'allowed' or 'gave permission' for Cassie to be in this space but they did vouch for her, showing a creative respect which carries weight and expectation.

I'm so happy to say Cassie pulled it off.

I'll admit I was cautiously optimistic about Sword Catcher, about Kel and Connor and Lin, a slightly worry that perhaps Cassie's years as a YA author could hold back the potential of this new work. If in being really honest, Shadowhunters is very important to me and I think part of me was unsure about leaving it behind.

Cassie's ability to build a world here is striking in it's ability to never overwhelm the reader with context and exposition without losing any of the depth and complexity you'd expect from a novel concerning kings and kingdoms. You come to learn of Castellane's long and muddled history over time, never giving away more than is needed to make the world feel complete but without throwing nonsense terms around which would simply not be remembered.

The class divides that permeate the work, held up by proto-capitalist greed and the politics of nations happening atop a towering hillside is fed in lockstep with the rest of the plot, holding enough information in front of the reader without giving the whole mystery away. Woven throughout is the Ashkari people, very clearly a Jewish analogue, a nation with no homeland other than the one their communities reside in. Locked inside the Sault after nightfall and looked upon with distrust, othered because of their ability to use even limited magic. I'm certainly not selling the tact and nuance Cassie brings to the world and the people who live in it but it's beautifully presented and should be applauded.

I don't have much to say about the characters, mostly because I can see their journey has just begun and I'm excited to see them all grow and change as the narrative unfolds. What I will say is Lin can do no wrong, Kel is just a fella, and Connor is one of the best written protagonists for how deeply flawed and naive he is and yet I simply cannot wish him ill.

I summary, Sword Catcher is an almost flawless first entry into a series I could see becoming a favourite of mine and I cannot see where it goes next. What a dazzling and captivating read.

[echogekkos-writes]

💚 🤍 💔 🏳️‍🌈 💀

(Sorry im sending so many 😭 i just really want to hear your opinion on a lot of things)

Long answers so putting them under 'keep reading' for the sake of yall's dashboards.

💚: What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

Mmmmm. I'm gonna pick two and cheat cause I have feelings on how both are written.

First, Mipha. Like you and other mutuals, when it comes to Mipha, we all are on the same page of just how bland and weak she is written or seen by others in the fandom.

That her crush on Link gets in the way (it doesn't. Yes she loves him, but her love of him never overtakes her duties). That she only cares about Link (no she cares for all the people in the Domain and Link and is selfless to a fault, one of her intended flaws). That she is not partially adept (her spearmanship is described being a league of her own). It just culminates into all of these weird mix of Mipha becoming a bland side character when she really is not. Yes is some of her canon writing a bit shallow? Absolutely. But that's true for all of the Champions. And yet Urbosa and Revali get more love and deserved writing in the fandom, leaving Mipha and Daruk in the dust.

As for the other character? Garrus Vakarian. I love my boy. I love me one space dino. but PLEASE fandom you all need to course correct how you write him. Garrus is Shepard's best friend, no matter if they are in a relationship or not. Also, Garrus is protective of Shepard, but not overprotective to the point of smothering. Yeah the party shenanigans with him and Zaeed talking about defensive parameters for Shepard is great and funny, but some have him way overprotective of Shepard to the point of getting in her way. Shepard can take care of herself. Garrus knows this. And he steps in only when he knows he should. Also....Garrus isn't as suave as you think he is. All that bravado is to hide his self-depreciation and yall gotta remember that. Temper that badassery with some good old depression and PTSD cause that's Garrus for you.

🤍: Which character is not as morally bad as everyone else seems to think?

That's a hard one. Rhoam? Yeah he's a shit father and yeah could he have treated Zelda better? Absolutely. Pretentious to think all the races will drop everything to give their best people, or in the case of Urbosa and Mipha, ruler/heir? No doubt. There's no if and or buts there.

But keep in mind. Hyrule's fate was residing on him. On Zelda's sealing powers. On him excavating the entire regions, finding the divine beasts, organizing the Sheikah with the Guardians, raising an army, diplomatically asking for help from the other races...all while trying to run a kingdom. The stress got to him, and he did what he did because partly he thought he was right, but mostly he was, I feel, nervous and scared. Everything was riding on his and his daughter's success, and he took his frustration out on his failure. Does that make him morally bad? Yeah. But it doesn't make him an outright villain or asshole as everyone likes to dunk on him for.

Rhoam to me is more of an anti-hero. His ultimate end goal is the salvation of Hyrule, but his methods to get there, while noble, are questionable when dealing with people themselves.

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

Ganondorf. I'm sorry, I love him, but I actually think his repeated presence in Legend of Zelda severely limits the creativity and storytelling behind the LoZ franchise. I could even throw in the argument of Link and Zelda as well. The one thing I will never forgive SS for was the Curse of Demise. That shit right there? Ruined the series to come. We can no longer get a new BBEG without Ganondorf either being directly or indirectly involved in the story. Like look, I love games that took either a different take on Ganon before the whole Demise curse, or after by distancing it in some way. Look at TP, BoTW, and MM. Zant being controlled by Ganondorf, a Calamity born of his hatred, and no Ganon involved.

Now granted, WW is probably one of my favorite takes on Ganondorf, but that's because he was given a little bit more humanity alongside his evilness. That he is a 'person' and despite that, still evil.

And even still, I would argue, by having Gandondorf as the same villain over and over you are just re-hashing the same story with the same characters, the same old Good vs Evil plot of Hylia vs Demise just in a different era. And while the gameplay may be great for future games,. at some point, there will be a breaking point for the story. ToTk a prime example.

🏳️‍🌈: Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

Sidon? And yeah I'm gonna toss in Revali there too. I just don't see them as queer. And that's not cause I'm straight either.

I just..I don't know I don't even see Sidon as being romantically involved with anyone (I am still choosing to completely ignore any and all ToTK Canon). And if he is? I don't know who I'd ship him with or who his partner would be? Am I currently in the middle of writing a Sidbazz wip as part of my miphlink modern AU? Yeah. Still, I don't really headcanon him myself as queer. It's a fluid concept for me...whatever fits the story I'm writing best.

As for Revali, I ship him with his own ego.

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

BoTW Zelda. She should have died at the end of BoTW. Here's my reasoning.

She should have died alongside the other Champions. The last relics of the past, leaving an amnesiac Link with barely any memories to make a new life in a land he has come to slowly recognize as the world he lives in now, and not the past. It's how I initially hoped BoTW was going to do. That we encounter Zelda's spirit at the end of the story, her last act to hold the Calamity back in enough time for Link to finish the job.

Now I know Nintendo would never even fathom something like this. Can't kill off your precious Zelda and piss off all the Zelda/Zelink fans. but narratively I think it would have made for a great bittersweet ending. And would have made for a better sequel as well.

[kanerallels]

Okay, I'm vibing at home procrastinating from writing so now's as good a time as any for this post that I owe @starbirdrising!

Behold: My Top Ten Fantasy Books/Series For When You Need Something With Magic And Kingdoms And Good Vs. Evil With Good Winning And Fun Adventures And Probably Dragons So Basically You Want To Read Narnia But Something New Would Be Fun:

"Valiant", by Sarah McGuire. I will recommend this book for as long as it takes the larger part of my followers to read it. It's a fantasy fairy tale retelling of "The Valiant Little Tailor", which is in the gray area between well known and "wait that's a real fairy tale??" where The Seven Swans and King Thrushbeard resides. The general plot is this girl moving to a new city with her dad, but due to unforseen circumstances she has to pretend to be a tailor to make a living. And then giants show up. And she accidentally gets involved. There is a bit of romance, but it's really, really good. Also the writing style is IMMACULATE and there's adoption. (this is one of the only single books on the list, the rest are series)

"The Dragon With A Chocolate Heart", by Stephanie Burgis. First of all, I should have asked for this for my birthday. Second of all, this is about a dragon who gets turned into a human. By a food mage. Have you heard of a food mage before? No, you haven't, but they're amazing. Especially when it comes to chocolate. So, said dragon sets off to seek her fortune as a chocolatier! Super fun platonic relationships, and there are DRAGONS

"The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making", by Catherynne M. Valente. How can you turn away from an incredibly cool name like that?? This is your classic portal fantasy-- girl travels by leapord to Fairyland, gets up to trouble with a Wyverary, and has to face off with an evil Marquess! Also it's a series, and the prose is freaking STUNNING. I reread the last one recently, and there was crying

"The Green Ember", by S.D. Smith. My sister just called this series "this generation's Narnia" and WOW is she right. The journey of two young rabbits as they discover their heritage and the war to save their world-- it's beautiful!! And also really funny

"Magic Marks The Spot", by Caroline Carlson. This one has PIRATES. It's about a navy admiral's rebellious daughter, who takes off to become a pirate instead of going to finishing school. It's funny and delightful and just such a good read!

"Breadcrumbs," by Anne Ursu. This rec is accompanied with a story, because I said so. So, when I used to actually have time and go to the library every week, I would always see this book. EVERY. TIME. It was weird. I ignored it for the longest time-- until finally one day I decided "may as well give it a shot" and brought it home with me. And HOLY HECK was it good. A retelling of The Snow Queen, this book is about friendship. And growing up. And it made me cry. And I love it.

"Storybound", by Marissa Burt. This one is a duology, and they're both amazing! The first one tells the story of Una, a girl who winds up in the world where stories come from. The sequel continues her adventures, and also introduces a character who I love so so much. He's so funny and carefree. Until he's not in which case holy SPADES IS HE COOL. Also I'm suddenly realizing this book may have inspired more of my WIP than I thought. I digress

"The Search For WondLa", by Tony DiTerlizzi. This is actually not fantasy. It is, in fact, sci-fi! It's about a girl who lives in an underground home with her robot caretaker. When their home is attacked, the girl escapes to discover that the Earth she thinks she was raised on isn't Earth after all-- it's another world entirely. It's got AMAZING found family, super cool world building, and it's just so fun!!

"Tuesdays At The Castle", by Jessica Day George. Okay it's been a while, so I don't remember the exact premise of this one. But as I recall, it's about a royal family who lives in a magical castle that can shift rooms and grow new parts as well! When the royal siblings' are under threat from foreign enemies, they have to work with the castle to protect each other. Super wholesome family vibes, and the series is really fun in general!

"Wizard For Hire", by Obert Skye. I could not tell you if or if not this is fantasy. But I can tell you that it's set in modern day, and it's about a boy who lived on his own from a young age after his parents disappeared. And one day, he finds an ad in the paper for a wizard, and hires him to find his parents. Shenanigans ensue (as well as really funny catchphrases and a lot of breakfast food. No one is surprised that I love this trilogy)

Well, that's all the room I have for now! This post was super fun to make-- I might make another bizarrely specific one like it someday! For now, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy some of these book recs

[sketching-shark]

So since you’re The Person Anons Go To To Complain About Lego Monkey Kid; I figured I’d get this out of my system while also asking for your two cents.

I don’t think the LMK crew have read JTTW. Best case scenario I think they either got some word of mouth stories and read some wiki articles.

And a lot of this comes down to their characterization of SWK and the way the world treats him.

In the book, SWK has a kingdom of monkey, but they’re YAOGUAI monkeys who are capable of speech, making an army, are enslaved several times, and were straight up referred to as his family multiple times. Meanwhile, the show just… doesn’t acknowledge his subjects? They’re at best represented as regular monkeys who wander around the island, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen SWK or MK interact with them on screen. They’re essentially background dressing.

Then you’ve got the season three episode where SWK has stage fright, which… he never really had any fear of public speaking (even to Buddha himself), and straight up gets into a massive public competition and cuts out his own entrails just to prove another guy isn’t immortal. (Even in their own series, they have confirmed SWK starred in his own movie and did voice acting for a game)

Honestly, I get the vibe that the writers care more about the archetype boxes they can fit SWK into rather then who he really is. The rest of the JTTW crew should still be alive? Well no, we need SWK to be our Hermit Mentor. We’ll just imply they’re all dead (or abandoned him for no reason). Sun Wukong has a family of monkeys? Well we can’t have that! Make them regular monkeys so he’s Truly Alone (and also ignore that he can talk to animals).

Sun Wukong is a king, and has been shown to be incredibly comfortable in his public speaking? Well we can’t have that! Because Macaque is our resident theater kid, and we need them to be Literary Parallels! Nevermind the fact Sun Wukong barely interacted with him in the book, but deeply loved Demon Bull King, and DBK has an actual reason to feel betrayed by him.

I’m not bothered by the changes like Macaque having been his old friend at one point or dead characters being alive or even the choice to not acknowledge SWK’s buddha status (in fact, I enjoy some of these), but it’s… really disheartening to see my favorite character be relegated to Lonely Mentor and Macaque’s Sun. He deserves a lot better then the show is giving him, honestly.

SADFAWEGDFGAD anon that was something I said as a jest but haha wow I guess I'm starting to get a reputation (X_X).

But ANYWAY okay folks you know the drill I sometimes find it fun to be a hater so heads up for that and remember that "don't like, don't read" goes both ways <3.

---

But to get to your main gripe anon, now that you've said it I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case...like as it is there's already been a number of cases I'm aware of from twitter where members of the LMK crew have put their collective foot in their collective mouth & came across as pretty insulting to Chinese deities for it, & then doubled down with that whole "it's our interpretation uwu" mentality which is, to put it mildly, a kind of shitty thing to do. And in regards to the main monkey himself--and in full acknowledgement of the very blatant hints they've given that there's a lot more going on with lego show Sun Wukong then has been revealed so far, it does at times seem like they're making their version of the Monkey King more in line with the "dumbass monkey who breaks everything" western stereotype than the complex trickster figure you find in the og classic...like of course there are indications that this Sun Wukong may be the one of the more tragic Sun Wukongs out there in that he's been left after the journey with no friends, no companions, no kingdom in any real way, and everyone in the entire world who's met him in person, with a few exceptions, seems to hate his guts. And you could actually refer to Xiyouji itself for explanations on why a lot of that might be: the monkey yaoguai of Mt. Huaguoshan go through centuries of lethal trauma even before the Six Eared Macaque treated them as his personal tools while he was "Sun Wukong," which could have convinced the survivors that the real monkey king had become a wicked tyrant and thus they all ran away in fear; Sun Wukong may have ended up with a case of stage fright from the journey itself because of all the times that Tang Sanzang tortured him for speaking his mind; and Sun Wukong did enrage the entirely of heaven pre-journey before largely becoming an enemy of yaoguai during the journey itself...hell, in the og classic he even starts weeping because after he was banished from the pilgrim group he feels like he has no place he could go :(.

THAT SAID, during the events of Monkie Kid itself Sun Wukong often does come across as a doofus who's doofery gets everyone into serious trouble. Just to give a few examples: him joking around & not focusing during a high-stakes situation is the reason a 4th ring of samadhi was created which got embedded into Bai Longma & eventually into Long Xiaojiao; him lying to Qi Xiaotian & telling him he was going on "vacation" even though he was running around looking desperately for a way to stop the Lady Bone Demon is a major reason she became as powerful as she did; and his entire plan to stop the Lady Bone Demon, massive threat that she is, is presented even by him as flimsy and paper-thin, something made all the worse by the danger the monkie crew was put into in the effort to get the rings & by his refusal to share all the details of it with them until it's too late. And then of course there's the Six Eared Macaque's whole thing where he's violently obsessed with Sun Wukong because they apparently used to be the best of friends before the Monkey King got power hungry, betrayed everyone, and then killed him. So far we haven't gotten so much as a brief flashback that gives Sun Wukong's thoughts about of any of this, so you can see why even if it's not the overarching intent many people would take the message to be "Sun Wukong = sucks." And it's something you see reflected in a lot of the fanart and fanfic around Monkie Kid; practically the only person the Monkey King's ever depicted anymore as being in a good relationship with is Macaque (fandoms tend to hyperfocus on 2 dudes who despise each other but have a more friendly history), many AUs make him an irredeemable selfish asshole, and/or he's being depicted as someone who fully deserves to be yelled at & hated by everyone because of the bullshit he pulled that got everyone hurt. In many ways, LMK Sun Wukong does have numerous similarities to TLJ Luke Skywalker in the way these sequels to their stories made them fail-hermits.

Now of course it must be acknowledged that across the centuries that Sun Wukong has been a popular figure in Chinese culture's he's gone through a TON of different retellings and interpretations. The monkey king has been depicted as everything from a pious and devoted monk to a crude and lecherous yaoguai to a being that is simultaneously monkey, human, yaoguai, and buddha and who is defined above all else by the capacity for great violence, great restraint, and a powerful and active love for those he considers his family. Even so, it is kind of disappointing that even with allowing for the possibility of Monkie Kid still being able to give satisfying answers for why their Sun Wukong acts the way he does, a good part of his lego show portrayal so far has just been him acting like a careless jester with disastrous consequences and, even if he doesn't mean to, hurting one person after another to the point where his actions, even if inadvertently, even if largely against his will, played a big part in helping the Lady Bone Demon almost succeed in her attempt to destroy all of reality.

Like...how do you even try to atone for that?

[invisibleraven]

The more the merrier

A series of ficlets for @polyshipweek 2023

Day Five: Epistolary-Regal Jewelry <-AO3 link

Dearest Reginald,

We are well, considering the circumstances. I would ask if you are well, but I’m sure the conditions there are just ghastly. I hope you get the care package we’ve enclosed and it improves matters at least. Everything seems so quiet without you here dearest, and no matter how much pianoforte Carrie plays, nothing really fills the silence of your absence. Though I suppose you would live for a bit of silence given all the guns and cannons on your end.

I’ve been wandering the halls a lot, not knowing what to do with myself. There is only so much needlepoint I can do to distract me from the thoughts of you. It’s agony knowing you’re out there, fighting for God and your kingdom with no idea when it will all end. When you’ll be here with us once more. Everyone preaches patience, but they don’t seem to understand the pain of being separated from you.

I won’t ask how things are there, as I know you won’t answer, due to what you seem to think are my tender sensibilities. I just hope you are staying safe and you will return home soon. Just know you are missed here dearest and we are praying for an end to this idiotic conflict soon.

All my love,

Julie

PS: I made Jane smuggle a bottle of that blackberry jam you’re so fond of into the basket-treasure it for I fear the season for them is quite over.

~

Reggie,

I keep forgetting you’re away at war sometimes you know? I keep thinking that maybe you’re out riding Old Red-who is fine before you ask, we’ve been feeding and grooming him daily, and I think he misses you almost as much as we do. Or perhaps on a morning stroll through the gardens, maybe even asleep with a book in the library. Anywhere but where you are. Which is not with us, where you should be.

Flynn came to visit last week, if you couldn’t guess. Trying to raise our spirits I suspect. Or perhaps in search of a good gossip, she was always the type to have possession of the juiciest stories. Asked after you, and Luke. I think mainly because Robert has been pestering her, and he’d rather ask his employer than his own cousin. Why the both of you volunteered is beyond me, but I suppose the draft will come for us all eventually. I told her what I knew, hopefully that will set his mind at ease. Though I know I will not be eased until you’re home safe in our arms my sweet one.

Come home soon, I need a worthy croquet partner, as Julie is terrible at it and Flynn gloats too much to keep playing piquet with her.

Missing you fiercely,

Carrie

PS: I sent a book for you to read. I know you must not get much downtime, but I figured that if you did, it might keep your mind off the hell around you.

~

My darling girls,

I am only allowed so much post so you’ll have to forgive me for not sending you individual letters. I miss you both most ardently, so much that it aches. I would give anything to leave this muddy ravine and be home in your warm embrace once more.

Things here are hard, as it is cold and dirty. I have seen horrors I would not wish on the worst of men. But I know that I am fighting to keep us safe, to keep you both free. And that thought warms me enough to get through the frosty nights. Though a book or two of matches wouldn’t go amiss.

I hope that I should be home on leave soon, but I can make no promises. And yet even that brief respite will be bliss in order to see you both again. Even if I will have to return not long after. Keep strong my loves, I’ll be with you soon.

All my kisses,

Your Reg

PS: Please send more socks, and perhaps some chocolate, I can trade it for other goods.

~

Darling Reggie,

I wonder if this letter will reach the front before you do, as I am writing it right as you hop onto the train. It was so nice to have you home, even if our time together was short. I keep praying that this war will end soon, so you can be home for good. But then I question how any loving deity could allow such an awful conflict to occur in the first place.

Especially as I see the young men come back to flood the hospital. A gruesome sight, it turns the stomach. But I still go every day, to help. I can do that much so I stop feeling so useless in this whole thing. Carrie has voiced helping as well, but perhaps at the school instead. I’ve never known her to be interested in education or children, but I think this whole thing has given her a new perspective. Once this war is done, we all can be wed… well I know I wouldn’t mind a brood pattering around the halls not long after.

Come back soon my love, safe and whole. Just please-come back.

Te amo,

Julie

~

Sweetheart,

The last of the staff got called up today. We all wept when Bobby departed, but perhaps he and Luke will find each other on the battlefield. Perhaps he will be shipped home before either of them has a chance. I hope you return with them, your crooked grin as blinding as the sun.

The children at the school house don’t quite understand it, why their fathers and brothers are gone. Why some of them will never return. It breaks my heart trying to explain it to them. But I keep my tears at bay, keep strong for them. For Julie. For you.

I’ve knitted you a hat to wear. I know my knitting is atrocious, but I couldn’t bear to think of your head being cold as the winter months draw nearer. Be brave my love, but not foolish. Foolish men make poor bedfellows.

Besides, we have a wedding to look forward to after all.

XOXO,

Carrie

~

My dearest loves,

I hate this bloody war. The horrors I have been subject to-there are no words. Even as it ends, I know I return to you a broken man. For I can never unsee all the dying comrades in my arms. Too many to count as I tried valiantly and needlessly to save them. Never know what it is to have never taken a life. To know another’s blood is on your hands simply due to their geography.

I fear I will be haunted by this. My dreams are all nightmares of the battlefield, the smell of gunpowder and blood, the sounds of the cannons, the lieutenant shouting orders. The smoke and mud and death everywhere. I do not sleep much these days, but perhaps some fresh country air and your gorgeous smiles will help soothe me back to slumber.

I am writing to you from a hospital some ten leagues away. I hope to arrive home shortly after this letter does, so don’t rush to my side on any account. A bullet to the thigh, I’m afraid. I may need a cane to walk down the aisle come June. But rest assured, I am coming home to do so.

I don’t care if I have to crawl down that blasted aisle, I can’t wait until the three of us are wed.

I’ll see you soon my darlings,

Reggie

[yourladystar]

Star's Engage Catalogue Day 34 (part 6)

Time for the second half of my final team.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep Pandreo around, but he just refused to stop being useful. His staff utility and magic prowess make him a force, even against high res units. Celica really helped to make him even stronger, and Warp Ragnarock is so much fun to use on him.

He's also just such a hoot. He's such a departure from other priests and holy men we've seen throughout the series, yet he still retains the thing that made them great characters: humility and compassion. His methods might be unorthodox, but he always does it to help others and give them hope when they think there isn't any. And considering what he and Pannete went through as children- seriously, I did not see that coming- it makes it all the more impressive that Pandreo became such a bright beacon of prosperity.

I've seen people say that Timerra struggles to keep up with the enemy and not be as useful as she seems. Either you guys are exaggerating or I just got lucky, because Timerra kicks so much a** it's ridiculous! Her build lets her tackle anything and Ike letting me just throw her into a pack of foes and nuke them out of existence is some of the most power-trippy fun I've had.

The same could be said for her character. Out of all the royals, she's got her sh*t together the most, but she's still not a flat character. She cares for her people and her country and strives to be a good queen. Also, it's nice to have a black female princess who can kick a** and give you a fun time. And I'm saying this as the whitest Puerto Rican ever!

Ivy is another heavy hotter that never stopped being useful. Her promotion giving her staffs only gave her more utility. She had some Emblems I played around with before I went with Camilla. She just seemed like the perfect fit for a character that's basically the antithesis of her.

And that's especially so in her character. The fact that all the advertising made us think that Ivy was going to be this alluring and deadly confident queen only for her to be a shambling stumbling mess of a girlflop was genuinely the best thing they did. It only made me love Ivy more.

Despite coming in so late, Veyle proved to be immediately useful. The dagger and tome she comes with are more than enough to carry her to endgame and Corrin is surprisingly useful on her, especially since it gives her access to all the Dragon Vein effects.

If you've been keeping up with this series, you know how my affection for Veyle and her run as an unwilling villain grew with every chapter she was a part of. She truly is one of Engage's best-written characters.

Out of all the units I expected to bring to the last chapter, Boucheron was the biggest surprise. He definitely got speed blessed, because this man can double a lot more than you think a warrior should and hit like a truck on both attacks. Lucina is not the best option for him, I would have given him Leif if not Rosado, but he is fine enough as is.

Out of everyone, his character is probably the least notable, but he's not bad. He's just a simple down to earth guy with simple ambitions, and the supports of his I read were very nice and comforting.

Fogado may not have been as stupidly strong as Alcryst, but his mounted utility gave him his own niche to fill. And he can still pack a punch when he needs to. Again, Tiki wasn't the most optimal choice for him, but giving him some one-range options comes in handy. And you can't go wrong with seeing someone turn into a dragon.

Fogado was also an interesting character to learn about. His fun-loving and laidback attitude was cool, but learning about his fears and anxieties about his position and kingdom and how he tries to keep them buried to keep his people calm- Mmm! I love it when simple characters have hidden depths!

And last but certainly far from least, Diamant. Like Alfred, he also had a rough patch during the midgame. But once I stopped being stupid and learned to work with his strength he became a very durable and hard-hitting front liner. Roy really is best suited to him and Hold Out has saved him on many occasions.

And surprise surprise, Diamant is a really likable and interesting character. Having him be the opposite of Alcryst, where he appears unshakable and unbreakable on the surface but is an anxiety-ridden mess internally, but learns to be more open about his weaknesses just cements why I love my Brodia boys so much.

[cgetbrmj]

What to expect from Cgetbrmj

(besides posting at random times)

Not that I think anyone will really read this or care but I need a lil place to store the scheduled fic ideas and separate them from the scrapped fic ideas

Get ready for a lot of writing that nobody will probably read lol!

THERE'S A LOT OF TALKING IN HERE

the Evolution series - tlou

fic #9 is only just under 1000 words right now and very much still in the planning stage, and every fic AFTER that is currently still sitting in the 13k word doc of planning

There are around 30ish chapters that I had planned out a while ago, give or take, so if any of you like that series, I wouldn't stress about it being ditched lol

Also in tlou were two separate one shots that I had written at the start of the year, when the show's first episode came out and I liked both of them but I feel like they're both too ooc to post so I never bothered editing them but 🤷

I'd also planned another mini series for tlou that had four chapters, all sort of centered around silver lake/aftermath/healing but with a littles are known/classification au to it - which I do still like and plan on fixing up at some stage

The Walking Dead

firstly, covering the fics in the Daryl's acting weird series

Always A Losing Game has 2 chapters left - both with a loose plan but not a lot of actual writing finished for them

There was a one shot that was in the works for a bit - something short and sweet from Michonne's perspective during the night that This takes place that I never finished

After the events of Always A Losing Game I don't have any full fics written for the beginning of the Alexandria era (aka season 5b and season 6) just snippets and ideas and concepts that I'd written down that I need to go and sort through and somehow make sense of

after that weird brief section where I have nothing written for some reason lol, there's 8 fics that are all planned/at least partially written in a coherent fic form and ready to be edited all set between the latter half of season 6-season 9

There's also a bunch of ideas and concepts for fics Post Rick set in this series that I need to also sort through

The Dandelions series... If there is literally anyone out there who liked it, I'm so sorry for posting two fics and then never talking about it again. Still love the concept here!! Even if I hate the writing in the fics!! Trying to get the motivation to actually edit the other fics in the series. There's another 5 fics in the series yet to be posted, all kind of written but not edited. One of those fics includes the fix it version of my OWN FIC lol, with a good ending where Alden lives at the end of it, if anyone's interested. I love Alden so much and I think that that love should override how much I hate my own writing here and convince me to finish what I started lmao

The Stubbornness Series, my beloved. My true underdog I feel. I love this series very passionately for someone that typically doesn't like their own writing after like a month of having it posted.

There's another 4 one shots that need to be edited and a fic that needs to be split into 3 parts, I'm still unsure if they'll be chapters or all standalone - tell me what you like reading more lol

The first 4 are

Daryl staying up late to wait for Rick to come back from watch

season 11 finale/rosita's death

rough/restless night with lots of comfort and cg!Rick and Michonne

Michonne finding Daryl directly after the bridge in season 9

The other is about Daryl finally returning to Alexandria in season 9, with Lydia, Henry, and Connie - where him and Michonne have lots of angst and trauma talk- try and fix their problems and help each other/try and get Daryl to go into headspace-go to the kingdom-heads on pikes- getting back to Alexandria- snowball fight

It has around 6000 words right now, and I'll be honest I was so close to dropping it and trying to rewrite it (it being the first part of the three) It came out SUPER angsty, even for me, and I felt like I couldn't make any of it work, hence why it didn't get posted on my bday, but maybe I was stressed because I was so busy at the time idk. I need to reread it and see what I can do

James Bond

the further down the rabbit hole, the nicher it gets lol

There's around 12 fics I have written that need to be edited before they're posted here, most of them were made last year and are just snippets, but I still like the concepts and want to finish them at some point

Too many concepts to do dot points for plots here, so if anyone really wants more info, which I kinda doubt lol, feel free to ask for more <3

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

WOah, that one came out of nowhere, right? Well what if I told you that I binge watched the 3 captain america movies and this show purely to take notes, and my GOD did I do some serious note taking, last year? The year before, I think? Definitely the year before. So that I could create this story about previous cg!steve L!bucky that was angsty and fun and then turn it gradually into cg!sam?? Would you believe me? Because I honestly don't think I've ever brought it up before lol. Anyway that was something that I did do. And wrote for. And now I have a planned storyline and snippets of writing and absolutely no idea whether or not I should do anything with it

Now the fun miscellaneous fics

There's one rpf (real person fic) that I wrote purely for my own enjoyment and comfort and author projecting needs - written for a show that I can't believe I would ever write agere for but anyway. I loved it, will probably never post it?

There's a couple other misc fics that I'm always on the fence about posting or not so

one of them is also an agere littles are known/classification au of Mission Impossible of all things, since I rewatched the new movie so much and brought back the hyperfixation once again.

There's also another MI fic I wrote that I genuinely really loved and want to post that ISN'T agere??????? What?? From me??

So that's that. Those are the main fics waiting to be edited and fixed up and posted as of right now. These are the ones I plan on not giving up on. If anyone is interested in any of them and want to talk about any of them, I'm always excited to talk about my fics! And always excited to hear if someone likes my fics! Don't be shy!

I know no one will probably read this but this will probably be good for my brain to sort out my shit with these fics and stop confusing myself with the fics that I'm scrapping lol

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2022 - Favourite Books of the Year

I tried so hard to come up with a top 5, but I only have 3 books I truly LOVED this year. It was, in short, a mediocre reading year (more on this to come when I process my reading breakdown in the next day or so.) Anyway, here are the books:

3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I usually exclude rereads from this list but I didn't have enough choice this time. However, I haven't read A Game of Thrones since 2014! It's been a long time and I'd forgotten a lot of the details. I've rekindled my love for A Song of Ica and Fire/Westeros this year and this book was a large part of this love coming back. Honestly, it's just so good and I'm so happy I've gotten over the post-series 8 blues around Westeros.

2. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Okay, yes this book SHOULD be at number 1, it is my favourite book after all! But I did really want to give something else the highlight because it's a given that I loved this book. Tolkien's history of the First Age is everything I look for in my fantasy, and nothing has ever come close to beating it (not even Lord of the Rings itself!) It's full of drama, wonder, beautiful prose, and a world full of legends. I still haven't found the words to summarise how this makes me feel 10 years after first reading it. It truly is one of a kind.

1. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

To be honest, you should just read my review of Tigana if you want to know how I felt about this book. It has haunted me all year, I haven't read anything as good since then - there is a noticeable change in how I'm thinking about and reviewing books after Tigana. I rarely read fantasy standalones but this book has proven that fantasy can, and sometimes should be, written this way. I was particularly captivated by Dianora and Brandin's plotline, the tragedy of it just will not let me go... I keep thinking about how well Kay wrote both them as individuals and their relationship. Honestly, if you read one thing off this list (and it's full of big names) then read Tigana.

Honourable Mentions:

I enjoyed all of these a lot but they didn't quite reach the same heights for me as the top 3 which were all in another tier (except maybe Emma but we all know how I feel about Emma by now...!)

The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts - this book was so good and I thought Wars of Light and Shadow was going to be my new favourite epic fantasy. However, Wurts has lost me a bit with later entries into the series and that has coloured my view of Mistwraith since then. I'm still upset about it...

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin - the book that started my rediscovery of how good Martin is! If I did a top 5 this would have been in it but I didn't want to repeat authors and I like A Game of Thrones more.

Emma by Jane Austen - this has featured on my top 5 every year since I first read it... It's still my favourite classic, I just wanted to switch things up

Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay - this book was AMAZING, just not quite as good as Tigana. Technically I think it was better written, but I didn't have the same emotional connection to it

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott - I simply haven't sat on this one long enough to know if it's a favourite of the year or merely an excellent book. This is the problem with December reading, still an excellent regency historical fiction set in medieval England. I had a blast with it!

[kestrellady]

September Reading Wrap-Up

Books I Actually Rated The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle - 5/5 It took me way too long to actually read this book, having grown up on the movie. And it's even better! There were lots of points where I could hear lines from the movie as I read, but also plenty that didn't make it into the movie. It's a beautiful book.

Stand Out Books from September The Monsters We Defy - Leslye Penelope I probably need to go back and give this a proper rating because I LOVED this book. It was different in both setting and tone than just about any fantasy I've read. The introductions to the characters written as folktales were just amazing and it was so refreshing to watch two people with mutually exclusive goals be able to work together for a greater good with very little friction. Overall, I highly recommend it! It's made me excited to find some of L. Penelope's other books.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon I finally finished it! This was a really solid doorstopper fantasy novel. Everyone has been singing it's praises and I definitely recommend it if you like doorstopper fantasy, but I'm going to nitpick a little. Somehow, despite being 850 pages, it actually felt... rushed? The secondary plot felt like an afterthought and several threads felt like they should have been important and then just weren't. I see there's a prequel coming out next year that's just as long and I'm honestly not sure I'll pick it up. Maybe someday when I'm in the mood for a really long book.

The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri (Burning Kingdoms #2) This is the sequel to The Jasmine Throne and I got into this one much faster than the first one. It jumps around a bit timewise, but other than that, I loved watching the characters and the world develop. I'm excited for the next book!

What I'm Reading Now Forget the Alamo by Jason Stanford, Bryan Burrough, and Chris Tomlinson You know the joke about the collective noun for a group of white guys is a podcast? This is that in book form. It's not... bad, necessarily, but it's not great either. They've got a definite agenda, so I'm cutting them slack in places, but I've already had several moments of, well that's not quite right. I'm also not sure who the intended audience is? It's a super colloquial style, but they keep making references that I'm too young to get and assuming knowledge in weird places that would make this a difficult read for anyone not familiar with Texas history and culture.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month I'm hopeful that my hold on Nona the Ninth will come in and I can read about the main character that I've been assured is having the best time of anyone in the series. I've been wanting some spooky books, but so far The Haunting of Highdown Hall is a bit disappointing. I've also got Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt on my list, so maybe that will scratch the itch.

Reading Challenges I'm actually on track for the Read Harder 2022 challenge! I've got The Song of Achilles on hold that might come in this month? That would count for (3) Women's Prize. I think I'll try One for All for (23) a book by a disabled author. I've also got Alice Munro's Runaway for my read through of the Nobel Prize in Literature winners. I'm on my last prompt for r/Fantasy's Book Bingo 2022 (24) No Ifs, Ands, or Buts and I think I'll do Six Crimson Cranes. The sequel just came out!

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