#it is a thing for anyone who has ever felt loss human and jinni alike | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nadiajustbe · 11 days ago

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Commenting on the fact that Nathaniel had added a significant role for Mrs. Underwood in his fake version of the story, Bartimaeus said something like, I hope this has lessened your inner guilt and grief, and then added that he, of course, knew nothing about it.

The most ironic thing? He DOES know, and he literally does the same thing - he selects for us, the readers, only the best moments and facts from Ptolemy's life to give us the same hope for the world of his dreams, to make him the same sacred figure he sees.

Nathaniel knew very well that the most Mrs. Underwood did was to make tea and biscuits and then die. Bartimaeus knows that Ptolemy was a human being, with his own strengths and weaknesses. But when they have to tell their stories to the public, they deliberately put the people they love in the best possible light, so that others can see, hear, and feel what they loved and cherish about them.

And then Bartimaeus says he knows nothing about it. Liar.

#that's why I LOVE unreliable narrators and I LOVE the way Bart presents as himself as someone who's hardly understands human grief #he doesn't want to align himself with their nature and yet he still DOES sometimes because grief IS a thing #it is a thing for anyone who has ever felt loss human and jinni alike #but that would set him apart from other spirits in the biggest part because of the “no friends with human AND other spirits” rule he lists #AND breaks on multiple occasions #which is not something usual to do for spirits (at least he firmly believes so) and yet that's what he did and that's what he feels #and he has no choice but project some human coping mechanisms onto himself #even shrugging and looking at his nails OR painting the beloved one in more positive significant light #he griefs very differently AND he griefs just the same #bet he understands what Nat went through better that any other spirit would — simply because pain is the same #time is different species are different reasons are different stories are different but intial pain is the same #grief is something they both have never been to ran away from #Bart might feel it sharper it might just not go away for him because again the perception of time is different but for God he understands i #more that anyone would #so like. liar #bartimaeus #nad rereads bartimaeus #bartimaeus sequence #bartimaeustrilogy #bartseq

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