#it's sooooo good if you're a tragedy enjoyer

[erdasmcnonsense]

getting wires crossed in your head with fandom stuff in ways that lead you to thinking about weird crossovers is already embarrassing as fuck but JESUS CHRIST is it bad when it's an mcyt fandom and some other niche shit

in other news, my brain just went "martyn and ren as túrin turambar and beleg cúthalion" and i hate that thought so much that the only possible thing i could do about it was to post it here

[dontgofarfromme]

hey! you post a lot of realm of the elderlings, would you recommend it? i’m a fantasy die hard but have heard that the back half of the series is a bit iffy so i’m hesitant to dive into this one haha, would love your opinion on the books!!

Hey! Sooooo my answer to this is the same as my answer to this question for a lot of extremely long fantasy series which is: are you prepared to read 16 entire books that are significantly flawed in order to experience the absolute brilliance they simultaneously house.

There's absolutely no wrong answer, this series is so goddamn long and for some people getting through the sometimes incomprehensible plots and weird changes in story direction and Robin Hobb's thesis on gender and sexuality (the bad one, involving "why women need to keep their legs closed or die in childbirth," "men always fight over women to have sex with them this is the way of nature" and honest to god the stupidest love triangles i have read about in years) aren't worth the effort. However if you do manage it you get to experience some of the best, most life-like characters I've ever read, lovely and awful arcs about how trauma and parenting and social standing and shame and love shape and change who a person is, and Robin Hobb's (accidental?) thesis on gender and sexuality (the good one, involving forbidden magic as an extremely apt allegory for sexuality, a character whose gender was self described as something along the lines of "why do you care," and honest to god one of the most batshit and beautiful queer love stories I have read in my life).

I would put out a baseline warning that these books get pretty dark. If you're not doing well mentally right now and feel that reading more depressing shit might drop your mood rather than being cathartic, I'd consider foregoing them until you're in a better place. (Otoh, if youre looking for something cathartic, this might be the series for you). The first time I tried to read these books I finished the first series feeling hollow and angry that I had been left where I was, and looking for spoilers about the rest of the series only worsened that. When I read them the second time, having a baseline understanding of how sad they could get (and also being in a completely different situation, looking for a different type of experience) allowed me to appreciate the range these books actually do have--it isn't all down, there's a lot of happy and funny moments as well. And the sad/bad moments are done incredibly well and are frequently some of my favorite parts of the series. But if you wouldn't consider yourself at least somewhat of a tragedy-enjoyer I would tread cautiously, as while they are not wholly tragic these are also not books where everything is always guaranteed to work out happily.

Personally my favorite series is the second Fitz trilogy, which is both beautiful and gut-wrenching and is imo the strongest subseries all the way thru. When i reread i did it with the intent of getting to and reading this subseries bc of things i had heard about it, and god was it worth it. The last trilogy does have a somewhat divisive ending that I will not go into in detail on. There are elements of it that I don't like, but at the same time, for me i found reading the entire series to be worth the parts i was unsatisfied with. I don't think that it would be worth it for everyone, though. Ultimately I'd say to consider what you're getting yourself into (it's SIXTEEN books), and if you do decide to read it remember that you're not obligated to finish it (or to read every single book--skip shit if u feel like it!). Good luck in ur decision and potential reading endeavors!!

[fakeosirian]

it's my duty as your house of anubis mutual to ask you about patricia and eddie (for the ship bingo)

BLESS YOU BELOVED MUTUAL if i can rely on anything in this world. it's this <3

FIRST ACTUAL BINGO BABEY (and arguably there are more squares that depending on what i'm doing with them i could say are true that would make at least one more bingo but i reigned myself in a bit LOL)

peddie is so flexible in vibes?? i love that you can take their relationship in multiple different directions and it's still totally legit/within their range because there really is That Much to do with them (depending on the level of tragedy you want to milk out of them/what point in the show you're talking about/how much you want a happy ending for them) while it still feeling like their very specific brand/within their characterization

in my view (and this may be unpopular? idk) the only thing keeping them together by the end of the show is sheer force of will to not let go of their relationship because its just. A Thing They Need To Keep Doing. even if it hurts. literally everything around them (not just the plot tho that is too lol) is a huge neon sign saying BREAK UP PLEASE GOD. now dont get me wrong they absolutely are compatible, but there's so much about them that isn't re: small things that get in the way that become big things, sometimes incidental/situational and sometimes genuine incompatibilities, that they have to put a LOT of effort in to keep from flying apart by default. that's not a diss/not me saying i don't like them together -- tbh two people that are that devoted despite The Agonies is fascinating esp in the context of season 3b -- but more that they're SOOOO flexible narratively/thematically as a dramatic pairing and i love them for it + they are one of the few ships i genuinely enjoy breaking up/getting back together/breaking up/getting back together ad infinitum in my imagination LOL

definitely unpopular opinion is i don't see them working as a long term couple post-show? (or at the very least they break up For Realz/get different partners/maybe get back together later in life but as far as they know at that point they're done) like ok i enjoy the fics ive read + headcanons that keep them together A LOT but in my heart of hearts...my peddie breaks up dramatically, makes up after a lengthy period of Not Talking and causing hijinks and shenanigans for those around them, and then become the type of incredibly close friends you can only be if you have a very overdramatic romantic past LOL like new partners need to be "approved by [patricia/eddie]" "who is that? your sibling? "ew no of course not. it's my ex" "?????"

expanding on that: i don't really have a "preferred ship" to replace them with (i know i have specific non-peddie ships for them lined up in my fic but those are for the circumstances of That Fic specifically and not necessarily my ideal pairings for them) all i know is i like them when they're messy because they're sooooo good when they finally get catharsis (esp when it's not in the way they're expecting as two people who expect the worst from life and preemptively react accordingly, thus reinforcing the bad things they expect more often than not)

the irony of that is i kind of find it tedious sometimes in the actual show when they're being messy and enjoy their functional romance scenes the most but tbh it's mostly because they get stuck in cycles of being the same type of messy ('explainable misunderstanding #9387982734' i'm looking at you. Sorry) the toxicity is at its best when it's Fresh

inherent eroticism of attempted murder being ? is for 3b but the more i think about it the more i wish i had just full-on colored it in because it really is them even when there isn't possession involved actually LMAO

cursed thing i realized: this may be one of the very few totally legit enemies to lovers ships ive actively gotten into and written content for. i'm usually a friends to lovers pining and yearning enjoyer (if that wasn't obvious already) or, if there's antagonism there, prefers rivals to lovers but peddie....peddie hits

anyway closing thoughts they are highly entertaining and of all of the hoa ships i've spent a significant amount of time thinking about/writing for, probably the most versatile/fun to do things with and have the widest range/mileage? not a ship to be comforted with but a ship to challenge me creatively LOL especially since outside of hoa, if i have strong feelings on ships in a given fandom, i tend to get very. rigid and picky with what ships i like/what i don't (ie. i like despite the horrors of Having Conflict in the Narrative for my ships to have happy endings and tend to avoid ones that have fundamental incompatibilities that would most likely result in a breakup) and peddie is what i have to thank for Opening My Mind to that tbh