#idk why i'm on such an amethar brain rot right now

[chungledown-bimothy]

Amethar is illiterate.

That says so much about his childhood and the expectations that were, and mostly were not, placed on him.

I don't think anything could make it clearer that he was in NO way prepared to ever have power, and not solely because of his own lack of desire for it.

This is going to make some assumptions about the world, but I think that enough of what we do know is consistent with historical facts that I think they're safe assumptions.

Historically, royal children were highly educated from a very young age. For example, Elizabeth I of England was reportedly fluent in French, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Welsh and English by the time she was eleven. Completely fluent is quite possibly an exaggeration, but she certainly was proficient enough to be translating poetry.

In-world, Jet, Ruby, and Liam are all multi-lingual.

So it wasn't just a matter of Amethar not wanting to study, although I'm sure that contributed a lot in his adolescence.

As the 5th in line behind his four healthy sisters, it stands to reason that his education was simply not a priority. He wasn't taught that he would need to bear responsibilities.

Not to draw another Tudor comparison, but look at Henry VIII. He, too, was raised believing he'd never have the throne; he was allowed and often encouraged to do whatever the fuck he wanted.

And my god was he ill-equipped for the crown when his brother died. In a very different way than Amethar, of course. My point is simply that youngest royal children being left largely to follow their own wants and passions was far from unheard of. Especially the further down the line of succession they were.

Idk how to end this I'm just. Thinking a lot about Amethar and how, in the wake of the unbearable loss of ALL of his sisters, the weight of the world was dropped onto his shoulders, and he could not have been less prepared for it.