#kotlc grady

[lesson-in-ruthlessness]

ive said this once and i will say it again, grady is the most nuanced character in KOTLC. Purely from just how he is written in canon- there is so much we can draw from his character with little inference.

On the one hand, you have a walking tragedy: he manifested one of the rarest and most dangerous abilities in the lost cities at a young age, he lost his daughter to her fiance, (if we're talking theory, he may have been in the neverseen), you can't help but feel sympathy for him.

But then- you realize something terrifying.

Gisela and Vespera are right.

Grady is the most ruthless elf in the lost cities.

But he's also one of the kindest.

Despite the danger it poses, he and Edaline adopt the Moonlark, they put themselves at risk. Despite everything been through, they willingly give their love to a girl who needs it. That is one of the kindest acts someone can pull off.

However, as alluded to earlier, there's another side to him. Despite how concerned, kind, and thoughtful he is; he is also vengeful, impulsive, and distrusting.

Let's look at Everblaze again. Partially because it's the best example of his darker nature, partially because I have it on hand right now, partially because it is my favorite book in the series.

In Everblaze, Grady's vengeance and impulse is seen in full. Take King DImitar, for an example. Sophie was going to be taken away; and Grady jumped in. He believed it to be the right thing to do; and believe me it was, but there is a dark tone to it. A feeling of impulse; that he wasn't truly thinking at the moment. And he almost violated the treaty, if it wasn't for the Councillors coming to his defense.

This scene serves as subtle foreshadowing for later and sets up something very important about Grady:

He could kill someone if he wanted to. And he knows that.

But what could push him that far? Well, there is an answer to that, an answer we later find out:

Jolie's death.

When he finds out the true circumstances to Jolie's untimely demise, his sheer ruthlessness is demonstrated. There's a deeper level to this however, it is his underlying fear of being taken advantage of showing to its surface.

Brant took advantage of Grady and Edaline, and that is the biggest injustice to Grady. Because it's what he has been fearing, it's why he had closed himself off to the world.

That fear causes the sheer level of terror that is caused in Grady. Terror that builds into his impulses, which causes him to go out to find Brant, with intent to kill.

That's why he doesn't want Sophie to come with, he doesn't want his daughter to see the monster he was about to become.

The monster he believes himself to be.

It's not just Everblaze, but a feeling that permeates his character and his choices.

His distrust of Keefe stems from two things:

The similarities he sees between himself and Keefe (the sense of humor, the blond hair, and later in the books; the ability of control).

How that, in a way, is all Grady has ever known.

Elves manifest young. Meaning that he has spent a majority of his life being distrusted by his peers, as well as distrusting the world and fearing someone would take advantage of him.

So when there's a talented but terrified young kid that needs his helps; whether through adoption or through training, he obligies.

Why?

Because he sees himself so much in that situation. Because of that deep feeling of kinship, he feels a need to take care of people in that situation.

Grady's empathy trumps his distrust.

And that's why he starts helping Keefe. That's why he adopts Sophie.

tl;dr: grady's character absolutely FUCKS why does no one talk about this???

also he is hotter than hell and i will fight people on this

[doodle-do-wop]

im gonna rewuest something normal ish

grady in the seat of emminece scene in this fit

id marey you

Had to add his goofy daughter cause Sophie's fit was actually kinda a huge slay and no one talks about it

[waining-crescent-moon]

forever bitter about the timing of vesperas death like what do you mean we didn’t get a biana vespera rematch? what do you mean we didn’t get vespera talking about numbness to keefe?? what do you mean we didn’t get a vespera and grady talk about ruthless???

[ramiethewizard]

headcanon that Grady only dislikes Keefe bc Keefe reminds him of his younger self

[verydizzyelf]

hands down my favorite interaction between the council and anyone else besides sophie is when grady made them all slap themselves in the face at the same time (truly iconic, luv u king)

but

every time i think about that part during alvar’s tribunal when fallon walked in, halted the entire proceedings literally just by his mere presence, and like the first thing he did was look at alina and make that little comment about hearing wedding bells? jaw. dropped.

and then alina immediately comes back with that bit about “well it worked out for the best” or whatever and gestured to her councillor throne? the pettiness. hilarious.

no cuz i know if i was sophie i would not have been able to keep it together. i would have been laughing so hard. it makes me cackle every time i think about it. the pettiness is truly unmatched. i love it.

[eternal-everblaze]

let grady kill someone in book 10 send tweet

[kotlcmemesforsomelaughs]

Sophie: Am I in trouble then? Grady: Have a guess sophie: No? Grady: Have another guess

[floofeeeeee]

So I was looking on Pinterest for a Grady reference (no particular reason nope none at all) and I saw a comment on a post saying that they changed the picture of him in unlocked???

I had to stop everything I was doing to see AND THEY WERE RIGHT

WHOO IS THAT????

I can’t tell if I like it or not….

There something so off it’s kinda uncanny. The original Grady looks so much softer and rounder

This one looks like he talks to minors on discord :/// /jj 

[the-way-astray]

grady when his daughter doesn't like his nephew romantically:

[the-bad-encounter]

I don’t go here and don’t really know who this guy is, but this was a gift for @fucked-up-mover-shaker so, hello kotlc fans everywhere?

[lesson-in-ruthlessness]

so i was reading legacy and holy shit this would have been too easy if they let grady go to loanmore or whatever its called

literally he offered to go and sophie was like "nah"

i get why because they could have tried converting him to neverseen which wouldnt have boded well

except for two things:

he was either in the neverseen already and left after he adopted sophie

THEY KILLED HIS FUCKING DAUGHTER AND GRADY IS NOT A DUMBASS. hes angry and vulnerable and impulsive but not stupid.

Sophie brings Grady along (or Grady is an overprotective father and insists on going with).

Tam reveals that Glimmer put creepy ahh bonds on him and only she can break them.

Oh geez, i wish there was a character who could get Glimmer to unbind Tam so Keefe doesnt get experimented on!!

you wouldnt even have to convince Grady because HE HAS A FUCKING VENDETTA AGAINST NEVERSEEN BITCHES

Grady is so massively underutilized and it makes me cry.

[milo-igidk]

shannon has not given us much actual grady and keefe content even though they both have mind control powers because she is a coward

[to-just-float-in-your-orbit]

people say that Keefe and Grady are very similar, but I only think that that applies to a certain degree

Both Keefe and Grady have a particular sense of humor, and it's safe to say that they may have been similar when Grady was younger. And they both have very powerful abilities. The difference: Keefe has friends who support him. Grady probably did not.

In exile, he talked about how kids at Foxfire didn't really trust him. He was alone. His parents didn't fully understand what he was going through, and it's clear that it had a huge impact on his mental well-being. And it's an ability that the council clearly exploits. I think somewhere in the series he mentions something about the council never fully letting him resign.

He is more similar to Sophie in this matter. Sophie is very powerful, and from a very young age as well. The council is (in my opinion) trying to exploit her powers now that they've appointed her as a regent. Grady was telling her that she has had a huge burden dumped on her--and that he knows what that's like. He is scared of his own power, just like Sophie.

And when it comes to dealing with problems, it's like fight or flight for them. Keefe takes flight, Grady fights.

I think that Grady is more similar like Fitz this way. Fitz has trouble with emotional regulation, and he lashes out. Canonically we know that Grady struggled with anger management issues when he was younger as well, and as he has grown, he learned how to control his emotions much better. But he still slips sometimes and when he does it's absolutely terrifying. When he broke Fintan's face in nightfall, (love you Fintan xoxo) and when Vespera and Gisela said that he was the most ruthless elf they've ever met (this is coming from fucking war criminals!!) and they are completely and utterly RIGHT. He has learned how to use his anger as a weapon. He is capable of murder. Like Fitz, (Who dropped arguably one of the hardest lines in the series: Wiityispb) and was ready to kill his brother. You CAN'T tell me that they aren't similar in that aspect.

I WILL continue to ramble about this later dw 😍

[crymeariveronceagain]

Grady: Present your best argument for eating bacon. Sophie: If animals don’t want to be eaten, then why are they made of food?

[anonymous-kotlc-thoughts]

i ❤ grady ruewen, hes literally one of the best kotlc characters. we should all appreciate him more

.