#lets go sja families

[companion-showdown]

Who is your favourite Doctor Who family?

warning, the images are not in the same order they appear in the poll

TOURNAMENT MASTERPOST

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Waiting for Doctor Who is such pain I swear.

[leikeliscomet]

Let's Talk About Thasmin

Chapter 3 & Conclusion - I Wish This Would Go On Forever

So after analysing Thirteen and Yaz individually, what do I have to say about the ship itself, Thasmin?

A f/f doctor relationship was long overdue, so I understand the hype from lesbian, bi and pan thassies. Whilst Bill, Clara, River, Vastra and Jenny helped lay the groundwork, a sapphic main couple involving the Doctor was deserved. I also understand why aspec specifically asexual thassies are drawn to it. The two’s commitment to each other isn’t dependent on sex or conventional romance. It exists outside the pressure of what a ‘normal’ relationship is ‘supposed’ to be. For acespec fans, especially sapphic acespec fans, it’s nice to have a reminder that romance without sex is possible and just as meaningful and fulfilling as relationships that have it. It’s also a nice reassurance for arospec fans that conventional romance isn’t the be-all and end-all of relationships and connections between people. I also like Thasmin’s slow burn between the characters. I’m aware of the jarring double standards Thasmin gets held to. Many straight ships I enjoy like Maddy and Rhydian from Wolfblood or Clyde and Rani from SJA don’t get their big love declaration til the end of the season or the show itself. None of these ships gets accused of baiting the audience because they didn’t kiss until late or never kissed at all. Because heterosexuality is seen as the default sexuality, straight people and characters can explore romance and sex fully, or not at all, and still be securely heterosexual. Queer people on the other hand face the constant battle of fighting to prove that we’re real, we exist, we’re ‘valid’. At what point does existence stop needing permission? Not all queer people get the perfect coming out and perfect relationship on the first go. There’s a space for that discomfort and pain to be addressed and it’s nice to know you’re not alone in it. Thasmin can work as that space, for queer people that never got that happy ending.

I do take an issue however, with fans calling Thasmin asexual specifically because there’s no kiss or any sexual activity whatsoever. It really rubs me the wrong way I’ll be honest. Kissing isn’t inherently sexual or proof of sexual attraction. People can kiss their friends and family. This has weird implications for the VastraJenny and BillHeather kisses, the former was to save Jenny’s life and the latter was romantic but not sexual. Plus there’s nothing about kissing in the definition of asexuality. Kissing or any other physical activity doesn’t ruin an ace person or couple’s asexuality. This rhetoric is just purity culture. What makes an ace couple ace is having ace people in it. That’s it. Plus when you look at the actual reason for the lack of Thasmin kiss, it wasn’t because Chibnall intentionally wrote Thasmin as ace but that he thought the ship ending with no kiss would’ve been more devastating. It wasn’t that he didn’t them want them to at all or the BBC not allowing it. Even then, there wasn’t enough explicit information for us to distinguish between lack of kiss because of purity culture, asexuality or just not wanting to. And the compulsory sexuality throughout the Thasmin discourse is the consequence of that. Though not mainstream, representations of ace pairings do exist. Repeating previous examples, Abbi and Hannah in The Imperfects don’t kiss. Darren and Ca$h in Heartbreak High do. Sakuko and Takahashi from Koisenu Futari don’t do anything romantic or sexual at all, not even holding hands (they’re not a romantic couple though but a QPR). There are also many forms of non-sexual intimacy. Maybe have the kiss on the cheek or forehead. Maybe they could’ve hugged and embraced instead. Maybe have the characters say ‘I love you’. Chibnall could’ve written Thasmin as asexual intentionally, having the lack of kiss and other physical activity to be an explicit form of representation for repulsed and averse aspecs. There are many forms of asexual couples Chibnall could’ve taken inspiration from with Thasmin and he didn’t take a single one. I love a good thinkpiece but when queer fans are having to headcanon and interpret the queer themes for you, that’s a massive problem. ‘We’re here, we’re queer!’ isn’t just for decoration. It’s a public statement and declaration of existence. Thasmin could’ve been the perfect ship for the forms of queerness that can’t make this declaration because of lesser visibility and internal struggles. And it didn’t. And that’s a real shame.

I don’t think whether or not Thasmin being planned matters. If it was, then it wasn’t implemented well. It if wasn’t, there were still opportunities for it to be fully fleshed out that never happened. In a similar way to the Fugitive Doctor, Chibnall’s last minute additions aren’t inherently bad in my opinion because there was still potential to for those ideas to develop. Plus, they were pretty good ideas! But when you have essentially a white cishet writer creating marginalised representation as a last minute thing, only to exist as a plot twist or intentionally written but only as a short-term storyline, that’s not meaningful representation. Queer representation deserves to be fully explored and fleshed out, not just left for the end of the era when there were so many more moments to give it screen time. With lesbian, bi and pan creators creating the real groundbreaking sapphic representation I’m not patting Chibnall on the back, the same way I’m not patting any showrunner on the back for Black representation when the Black writers in the room is still at 0. I appreciate queer writers being involved with Thasmin, but I also don’t rate the idea of having queer writers creating queer characters as a cool perk and not the bare minimum. If the queer writers in the Chibnall era could’ve written full Thasmin storylines as early as series 11, going past confessions and maybe showed us Thirteen and Yaz’s attempt at a relationship, maybe Thasmin could’ve gone further than it did. Just like the Fugitive Doctor, I’m looking at a bit of representation that I’m supposed to feel supported by, the very first of its kind, and going ‘I’m happy it existed but it deserved so much more’ because it only got a few episodes of screentime in a whole 5 years and now having to go Big Finish digging if I ever want to see it again. And like… that’s bad. Really bad.

Originally, I planned to leave this essay more open-ended for the main takeaway. If Thirteen having little to no sexual and romantic attraction makes her a bad queer character then what do you think about asexual people, aromantic people, aroace people, queer people with little to no sexual/romantic experience, queer people with trauma induced sex repulsion or aversion, queer people with little to no sexual activity due to sexual medical conditions and queer people that just don’t want to? If Yasmin Khan’s a bad queer character because of her past relationship with a man and having unconfirmed male love interests, what are your opinions of lesbians with comphet, ‘late bloomer’ queer people and bisexual and pansexual people with men as their past and/or current partners? If Thasmin is a bad ship specifically because of the prior reasons, then what do you honestly think of the prior people? But I already know the answer. If you’re part of any of the previous groups listed you probably already know the answer too. Calling Thasmin fake gay because of the mere potential of one of its sapphics dating a man is lesbophobic. Calling it the ship for ‘sapphics scared to do more than hold hands’ as if being a sapphic like this is something to be ashamed of, that it’s fake romance because there’s no sex or fake queer because there’s no sex is compulsory sexuality, even if the people saying it are sapphic themselves. I’m honestly disappointed at how much lesbophobia and compulsory sexuality have not only been unchecked but actively supported in the Thasmin discourse. I’m also honestly disappointed that a queer fandom could be so ignorant towards other types of queerness when the whole point of being queer is to exist in ways that are unconventional from what society wants from us, even from each other and push back on the limited views of sexuality, romance and gender society enforces. But then again, no fandom’s perfect and I literally write about the long antiblackness in this fandom so… should I really be that surprised? Nah. 

When you go beyond things like timing and characterisation and claim characters are unqueer because their understandings of romance and sex are different to yours personally, you stop critiquing how the queerness was written and start critiquing the queerness itself. Which is why I wrote this essay. Lemme just say it now: No, you’re not some evil acephobic lesbophobe or whatever for not liking Thasmin. That’s not the point of the essay. What I’m saying is, there’s no harm in evaluating how your ideas of sapphic characters are shaped by lesbophobia and how compulsory sexuality shapes your ideas of queerness (especially if you genuinely believe you’re an ally to asexual people) And if your ideas of radical queerness consistently alienate lesbians and other sapphics, asexuals and aromantics, that’s worth unpacking. I think Thasmin does need to be critiqued and it is flawed but criticisms rooted in lesbophobia and compulsory sexuality just aren’t it. Thasmin can be critiqued without throwing sapphics, especially asexual sapphics under the bus. Trust me. I wanted a Thasmin critique that was a bit deeper than ‘they didn’t kiss so they’re not gay11!’. So I made one myself. Hope you enjoyed it!

-

After Rogue came out there was the inevitable Thasmin v FifteenRogue discourse. If Rogue comes back next season, which he likely will, it’ll probably keep happening. I’m not looking forward to the Thasmin v FifteenRogue wars I can’t lie. In terms of FifteenRogue, I don’t relate to it and I don’t care about Rogue’s return because he wasn’t giving much. But that’s okay. In a previous essay I kinda predicted a ship like this to happen:

‘...we could see a canon longer term mlm pairing involving the Doctor for the first time. And not only that, but with a Black doctor for the first time. A queer Black man showing love and being loved is a reminder for queer Black people that universe-defying romance includes us too and that our DoctorRiver or TenRose moments can exist.’

Black queerness isn’t a monolith. Queerness isn’t a monolith. I’m not gonna get the same from FifteenRogue as a Black gay, bi or pan man would. My attraction doesn’t look the same as Fifteen’s attraction. My idea of a queer relationship doesn’t look like Fifteen’s queer relationship. But again, that’s okay. Just because it’s not for me, doesn’t make it less queer. And in that sense, that’s probably my main opinion on Thasmin. I like the idea of it and I’m glad other fans got something special from it, but I’m just not a shipper. To me, its unused potential is why I’m not a fan but it’s not that deep enough for me to be an anti. And from the main point of the essay, I’m not gonna start entertaining lesbophobia and compulsory sexuality just because of bad writing. Queerness is a massive umbrella of various identities so whatever type of queer representation we get next, I welcome it and I can’t wait. What comes next might look completely different to my own experiences and understandings. If Thasmin isn’t for me, something else will be. And that’s okay!

<- Chapter 2

[sandymybeloved]

non SJA fans:

I had to cut from this, the episode that was just the main characters' anxiety dreams, the second episode ending with an alien child begging for his life than dying horribly, whatever was going on in the woman in the attic, and probably a bunch of others that slipped my mind

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Stormlight Archive Character Thoughts - Odium

I’ve been thinking about how Odium relates to different people, specifically to Venli, Dalinar, and Moash.

Venli is flattered by Ulim for as long as they need her to bring about the Everstorm, but then treated largely with disdain or worse by Odium, Ulim, and most of the Fused after that. They state openly that she was supposed to die, to have her body taken over by a Fused. Her only interactions with Odium involve him torturing her:

That yellow-white star expanded toward her at an awesome speed, swelling, growing, until it overwhelmed her with an incredible flame. She felt her skin melting, her flesh burning away.

You are not telling the story well enough, Odium’s voice declared, speaking the ancient tongue. You grow restless. The Fused inform me of it. This will change or you will be destroyed.

“Y-yes…Lord.” Speaking burned away her tongue. She could no longer see; the fire had claimed her eyes. Pain. Agony. But she couldn’t bend to it, for the god before her demanded all of her attention. The pain of her body being consumed was nothing compared to him.

You are mine. Remember this.

She was vaporized completely.

And woke on the floor of her hermitage, fingers bleeding from having clawed the stone again

And after Oathbringer, Odium decides he has no use for Venli, and she becomes in effect Leshwi’s attaché - a fairly minor position

This is all extremely different from the way Odium interacts with Dalinar and with Moash. With Dalinar it’s less relevant: Odium’s trying to recruit him throughout that book, there’s no telling if he would turn around and treat Dalinar horribly once he was secure of him, as happened with Venli. (Think of how the White Witch treats Edmund before and after he betrays his family in The Chronicles of Narnia.) The fear that Sja-Anat and others exhibit of him indicates that he’s dangerous to his servants, and his interaction with Sja-anat in her chapter is very much oriented around demonstrating his control of her.

But the way he interacts with Moash is strikingly different. He’s almost - well, indulgent. He encourages Moash to exhibit some self-preservation and not go wandering around in highstorms, and doesn’t get angry when Moash basically shrugs that off. He’s curious:

Interesting, Odium said. You respond to my gift in such an odd way. You are becoming something I have never before created, Vyre.

He recognizes that Moash is, to say the least, emotionally compromised when it comes to Kaladin, and yet he lets him go on the Urithiru mission anyway.

And he does this despite any obvious way in which Moash is a subatantially superior asset to the Fused or to anyone else on Odium’s side. Moash killed Leshwi using only a spear, and yes, that’s impressive, but for the most part what he’s done on Odium’s side - kill Elhokar when he’s unarmed, kill a drunk who also happens to be a Herald, kill Roshone, kill some prisoners in the Hearthstone jail - doesn’t require any extraordinary combat capabilities. (And with the exception of Jezrien, those were personal projects for Moash - they were more things that Odium was letting/helping him do than things he was ordered to do by Odium.) Certainly he hasn’t done as much to benefit Odium as Venli, who’s the reason Odium is capable of manifesting on Roshar as all.

Moash’s knowledge of Kaladin is an asset (at least, it seems to be until it drives Kaladin to reach the Fourth Ideal instead), but Odium in that scene isn’t treating him like an asset. Moash, or Vyre, seems to be something of a pet of his. Someone’s made him the dark-Windrunner unform that he wants. He’s incredibly informal around the Nine, who everyone else treats with deference; he shows up to their meeting and lounges. He practically mouths off to Raboniel - whom pratically everyone else is terrified of! - and gets away with it. Raboniel openly recognizes that Moash can get away with a lot because Odium likes him:

“What of Stormblessed?” a voice called out…

Vyre. …He draped one leg off the ledge. “He’ll stop you. You should have a plan for dealing with him.”

“Ah, the human,” Raboniel said, looking at Vyre on his ledge. “I’ve heard of you. Such an interesting specimen. Odium favors you.”

[Moash asks about Kaladin again. Raboniel says she isn’t worried.]

“Well,” Vyre said, pulling the tip of his sword back into the shadows, “I’m sure you know ypur business, Fused.”

The Nine, as always, suffered this strange human. His position had been chosen by Odium.

We know that passion does count for quite a lot in Odium’s armies. That may be part of the difference between Moash and Venli’s treatments. Venli is not passionate; her motivations for joining Odium - envy, ambition, cowardice - are colder ones. Moash certainly has passions. Obsessions, even. Strong enough to occasionally break through Odium’s emotion-numbing. We know from Odium’s statement that he’s responding atypically to “having his pain taken away”. While we don’t know for sure what a typical response would be, I think it would likely be similar to what Dalinar saw in Cultivation’s vision - berserker rage, bloodlust, taking what you want without limits. Moash’s pursuit of vengeance against Elhokar and Roshone isn’t likely atypical.

But not wandering around carelessly in the Everstorm. Not taking every opportunity to do heavy manual labour even when it’s not needed.

(Most likely, what Odium is missing - ironically, if so, being particularly attuned to and defined by hatred - is the heaping mountain of self-hatred that Moash is carrying around.)

The point is - Rayse has particular attitudes and preferences that make Moash appealing to him over and above Moash’s strict tactical usefulness. He likes having him around. He likes watching and seeing what he’ll do next.

But, unbeknownst to anyone except Renarin, Rayse isn’t Odium anymore. Taravangian is. (This happens after our last scene with Moash, where he’s rescued by the Fused and discovers that he’s blind. So we don’t yet know how any fallout from that might affect Moash.) Taravangian doesn’t have the same hangups as Rayse, and it takes time for a person’s identity to be subsumed by the Shard. Taravangian is a ruthless pragmatist with a saviour complex; Moash’s drives (mainly, desperate need for self-justification and self-deception) are very internal, and thus not ones Taravangian would care much about. T is a big-picture guy, Moash isn’t. And, between being blind and having had his plan for dealing with Kaladin backfire horribly, Moash’s utility to Odium has just gone down.

This is the main reason why I think there’s a solid chance we could see Moash leaving Odium’s camp in Book 5 - whether of his own volition or because Taravangian simply has little use for him - and having to figure out how to deal with all those inconvenient emotions.

[incomingalbatross]

If I can still offer suggestions for the "things I'd like to see you write" ask meme: Starfleet chaplain Father Brown. What Holmes was really up to during retirement. And I'm still curious about the "RTD doesn't understand hobbits" meta you mentioned ages ago.

Thank you!

I will say that I do not feel remotely qualified to write Starfleet chaplain Father Brown, but I love that concept so much... I do definitely want to read it.

---

I do want to develop a theory I can stand by on Holmes’ retirement!! Currently I am trying to restrict myself to things that could fit into canon without too obviously catering to my tastes specifically. :P (I have an answer that fits my Modern Holmes AU, but that incorporates fantasy/supernatural elements, and I don’t want to make those essential to any of the original Canon as it lives in my head. It’s hard to articulate the distinction, but it’s there.)

---

...So. I started to write some bullet points for that essay, and...here it is. Or at least here’s a decent first draft. I have’t watched any 10 in a while, so it’s not as well-sourced as I’d like, but it’s here!

(WARNING: Anti-RTD content ahead. If you’re a fan of his era, maybe just scroll past this post.)

So, the essence of hobbit-ness is that 

they love the mundane, prosaic and ordinary with a deep love, 

this love is not incompatible with a love for the extraordinary, the wondrous, or adventures, 

the best and strongest heroes are motivated by their love for the ordinary, 

you don’t have to be cool or special or Set Apart to be a hero, you just have to do the job in front of you and keep doing it.

RTD’s era occasionally pays lip service to these ideas, but on a deeper level consistently goes against them.

His companions often dislike their normal lives (Rose in particular), and certainly think them inferior to TARDIS life.

Ordinary people who are content with ordinary lives are often portrayed as comical, small-minded, less worth taking seriously: see Jackie, and post-memory-wipe Donna, who we’re supposed to feel is jarringly diminished by having lost memories of the TARDIS even though she is still herself. 

Our heroes are often separated from what they’re fighting for, sometimes in a tragic Frodo-ish way but also, often, because they seem to care more for the fight than the cause: see Rose and 10 treating Queen Victoria like a fun tourist attraction instead of a real actual person (I can absolutely see why she got fed up with them). The narrative is more likely to dismiss the great mass of people the Doctor just saved than to show us that, “Wow, they were so absolutely worth it.”

The human characters become Cool and Real Heroes in direct proportion to how much they are distanced from their roots and made like the Doctor. This is particularly evident in S4, with Rose appearing in a leather jacket spouting technobabble (I’ve seen multiple Rose fans highlight those echoes of the Doctor, and I think they’re right to consider it a conscious decision on RTD’s part), and with Donna. DONNA. She gets her Summit of Coolness, when “for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe”... and how does she get there? What’s the best Donna’s ever been, according to the show? The DoctorDonna. The absolute best version of Donna RTD could come up with is the one where her self is half-overwritten by the Doctor’s.

A couple moments that I think illustrate these themes especially well:

ROSE: Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it? MICKEY: It's what the rest of us do. ROSE: But I can't! MICKEY: Why, because you're better than us? ROSE: No, I didn't mean that. But it was. It was a better life. And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't (Rose runs out of the cafe.)

The idea that “going to work, coming back home” is somehow a downgrade instead of the fundamental beauty and worth of human life is...characteristic, I think. And while Rose does follow that by saying that she “can’t” be normal not because it was “a better life” on account of the adventures, but because it involved making a stand and doing what’s right... that just pushes the fallacy a little deeper, because now she’s saying that you can only make a stand and do what’s right in any meaningful way away from home, as an adventure. That there are no battles to be fought, nothing to fight for, in the course of “going to work, coming back home.”

Then there’s “End of Time”:

WILF: No really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time. DOCTOR: Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair! Oh. Oh. I've lived too long.

I know the Doctor follows this by making the sacrifice. But...what kind of hero says things like that out loud? What kind of hero thinks “I ought to live instead of you”? And the thing is...I feel like we’re supposed to feel it’s tragically unjust. We’re supposed to feel the Doctor is worth more, because...what? The man he’s saving won’t live as long as the Doctor would have? The man he’s saving is human?

Those lines should never have been said, because they never should have been presented as a perspective with any validity. The Doctor should have enough love and reverence for life that he jumps to save this life for its own sake, sacrificing himself because he feels Wilf is worth it, and not because he feels the unjust universe is somehow making him do it. That’s not necessary to being a good person, but it is necessary to being the type of hero that the Doctor usually is.

And “School Reunion”:

SARAH: I waited for you. I missed you. DOCTOR: Oh, you didn't need me. You were getting on with your life. SARAH: You were my life. You know what the most difficult thing was? Coping with what happens next, or with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles, and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that? DOCTOR: All those things you saw, do you want me to apologise for that? SARAH: No, but we get a taste of that splendour and then we have to go back.

...I have SUCH conflicted feelings about this episode. On the one hand, I adore Sarah, and K-9, and seeing those reunions, and I really love how much this episode meant to David Tennant, and this basically got us the Sarah Jane Adventures which are way up there on my favorite DW content ever. On the other hand...this is such an injustice to Sarah. They took one of the strongest, most independently adventurous characters in all of Classic Who and reduced her to this...droopy, pining figure, who it’s implied spent the last thirty years moping around because Nothing On Earth Can Compare To The Doctor’s Life! :( :( :(

(And then of course SJA itself proved that wasn’t the case, by presenting her as having a life full of adventures and contacts and importance entirely without the Doctor. Which is part of why I love it--although the other part is that everyday life is presented as precious and important, because she has a kid and the problems of Kids and Family and Parenthood are given full weight. <3 )

In short: I think that, on the whole, RTD’s era expresses his own biases towards believing that Cool Adventures and Special Powers and Being Important are inherently worth more than Normal Life and Normal People and Home--which is the antithesis of everything Tolkien embodied in hobbits and the Shire. It’s also not Chestertonian, incidentally, or Narnian (see Rose’s speech above--there’s a reason the Pevensies had to go home eventually, and learn to see Aslan and His work in their own world).

(It’s not entirely like that, of course, but I feel like even the episodes that revolve around the Doctor being Tragically Unable to have a Normal Life do so by...exoticizing the idea? I dunno. We always know it’s not going to happen, and it’s not supposed to happen, so I feel like it’s always a little hollow. And it’s definitely outweighed, in terms of quantity, by the sheer number of instances where being a normie is completely dismissed.)

So there’s my essay! :P

[this-geek]

Do you have headcannons on the chandra family in sja thanks

Thank you for asking. Headcanons are so fun. I do in fact have some Chandra Family headcanons. Let’s go.

On their 1 year anniversary, Haresh wanted to send a message to Gita through flowers because he knew how much she loved them, so he looked into the language of flowers except he’s colourblind and got the colours mixed up and instead of the bouquet representing Love and commitment it was more Sorrow and mourning. She thought it was very sweet he had tried so hard but never lets him live it down.

Gita went to college for a business degree and worked as a secretary for several years before bloomin’ lovely. Haresh went to University to study Education and history. They met when he was an NQT while Gita was covering one of the school secretary’s maternity leave.

Gita’s family did not like Haresh. This is an irony that she will not stop pointing out to her husband when he complains about Clyde Langer.

They really struggled to have a baby and had started to give up when Gita got pregnant with Rani.

When she told Haresh, she gave him a packet of seeds, which they planted and when Rani was born Haresh took a bunch of those flowers to the hospital, they used to give Rani one of these flowers for her birthday every year.

They feared for a long time that Rani would grow up lonely, but their daughter had a huge imagination and made friends fairly easily.

When her dad would come home from work and tell her about her day Rani would write ‘news articles’ about his student's shenanigans, he would pin these behind his desk and soon his older students started to compete to get into an article.

Moving to Bannerman Road was the first time that Rani and her dad actually went to the same school and found the transition a little difficult.

It was the garden of their Bannerman road house that really sold Gita.

Rani was 10 when Bloomin’ Lovely began and the early days were filled with her being an unofficial walking advert. When she got a little older she also had to deliver a few things on her bike.

Both sets of Rani’s grandparents adore Clyde. Her maternal set has him draw their dog every time both of them visit. Clyde very much enjoys hearing them talk about Haresh, who they still don’t like.

Years later, Rani’s flat is filled with flowers and plants because there is no garden and Gita insists it makes the place bigger and homier.

Once all of their children have left home, Gita and Sarah Jane start to regularly go for tea. Gita never does learn to say, Sarah Jane.

[preservationandruin]

Rhythm of War Liveblog, Part One Part 2 (Chapters 3-8)

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[to the tune of Things I Bought At Sheetz] Now It’s time for Notes I Took At Work. This is going to be a weird experiment, because I read these chapters while at my job and took extensive notes on my reactions, which I’m now going to try to condense into something coherent. 

Navani revels in a successful invention, Shallan encounters a very bad cult, I quote--of all things--Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, A Certain Fucker reappears, Leshwi becomes a character I like, Shallan finds a journal, I digress on Renarin’s abilities, and everyone is rightfully worried about Kaladin. Content warning; discussion of suicide and suicidal tendencies

Alright, we open Chapter Three with Navani’s AIRSHIP, which is a kickass sentence. She’s leaning over the side of the ship, to the distress of one of her fellow scholars who attempts to appeal to Dalinar to get her to stop. 

“It’s Navani’s ship, Velat,” Dalinar said from behind, his voice as steady as steel, as immutable as mathematics. She loved his voice. “I think she’d have me thrown off if I tried to prevent her from enjoying this moment.” 

This is great both because Dalinar and Navani are great, but also as a contrast to Gavilar saying that Navani doesn’t accomplish anything herself, she just pretends to be an inventor and stays behind other, smarter people. Dalinar says no, this is Navani’s ship, this is her victory. The ship’s base design is one of the chasm bridges; it’s operated on the same principles as spanreeds, a kind of sympathetic link where you link two fabrials and whatever happens to one, happens to the other. Just augmented with aluminum and a LOT of pulleys and hard work. 

My notes also say “Eat Shit Gavilar” which i think is just, a general note. 

Anyway she also wishes that Elhokar was there because he loved being up high and also watching her draw...so now I’m feeling emotions, and if that wasn’t enough, I get hit in the feelings again because the name of the ship is the Fourth Bridge, after Bridge Four because of the time they saved Dalinar and Adolin at the tower, and it not only has the Bridge Four glyph inlaid but the original bridge inlaid. 

We see Dalinar and Lirin interact (my notes call this a “Dad convention”) --Lirin, of course because he’s Kaladin’s father, doesn’t really defer to Dalinar at all but does see the potential of this platform as a movable hospital; he’s discomfited by the reminder that Edgedancers are usually used for that now. Lirin really is a practical man who doesn’t believe in heroes or hero stories, which is unfortunate because they’re coming to life all around him. Also Dalinar calls him Lirin Stormblessed which is pretty funny because Lirin is Not Having It. 

Also, we get this great line from Navani about Lirin and Kaladin: 

However, as she stepped up beside Dalinar, she caught Lirin’s eyes--and the familial connection became more obvious. That same quiet intensity, that same faintly judgmental gaze that seemed to know too much about you. In that moment she saw two men with the same soul, for all their physical differences. 

This is really interesting in light of how Kaladin and Lirin are at the moment arguing; they both are at their core very driven, caring people who want the best for their community, but they are at odds for the best way to achieve that in part because they’ve had such different experiences; Kaladin’s life hasn’t let him be the surgeon Lirin is. 

For more changes in the year since we last met these characters, Dalinar has learned how to recharge stormlight and open perpendicularities at will, which essentially makes him a portable battery for the Radiants. That’s super useful. Navani likes observing the process, hoping that somewhere in it is a key to how Urithiru functions; she knows that it used to be powered by the Sibling, the third god-spren of Roshar, but after the Recreance the Sibling either died or fell so asleep the spren treat it as having died. 

That’s interesting; the Sibling has been something I’ve been wondering about a lot, and confirmation that it was tied to Urithiru seems to preclude it being a godspren of Odium like I’d thought for a bit (and in any case, Odium has the Unmade and doesn’t seem the time to fragment himself into a godspren). Another spren of Honor or Cultivation? Or perhaps a spren of both? More importantly, if it really is dead, is there still a way to revive Urithiru? Last book talked about possibly recruiting Sja-anat; if we do, could she serve as an alternate power source for the tower? 

We also get the Mink, the Herdazian general, slipping up on Dalinar and Navani without them noticing and also calling Dalinar the fuck out for the many atrocities that his armies and nation had unleashed on the Herdazians, which Dalinar can’t really refute. I like this guy, honestly; I’m not sure what’s up with him, if he’s just really good at sneaking around or if he has something Up With Him, but I like him. 

Back with the Three (Shallan/Radiant/Veil), they wake up to find themselves in the chasms with an EXTREMELY melodramatic cult. They’re looking for proof Ialai is now running the Hypocrites Association--sorry, the Sons of Honor; Radiant refuses to move against Ialai without proof, even though Shallan and Veil both kinda wish Adolin had killed her at the same time as Sadeas and saved everyone some trouble. Anyway, the Hypocrites association wear deep, fancy hoods that leads to a great Shallan thought: 

Shallan had a fleeting thought, wondering at the seamstress they’d hired to do all this work. What had they told her? “Yes, we want twenty identical, mysterious robes, sewn with ancient arcane symbols. They’re for...parties.” 

They claim both to have guided the return of the Radiants and to be overthrowing Dalinar, which is hilarious because Dalinar is a Radiant so the only real extrapolation here is that, in the fantasy where they’re right about any of this, they brought the radiants back and lost control of the situation immediately and now are recruiting random strangers to try to help rein it back in. Which is still not a good look. 

Oh and also they claim to be “something greater” than the Radiants, and I really doubt they’re the Heralds, so everything they say is horseshit, as is proven a second later when they test if Shallan is wearing an illusion with a device she herself sold them at an exorbitant price. And then claiming that Radiants can’t tell untrue oaths, right in front of Shallan, who is bonded to a liespren. 

They’re just a very bad cult. 

Also they say Ialai is the true queen, which raises many questions to me about the line of succession that gives them THAT math, especially with Gavinor alive and there. Like, somehow Sadeas’s widow gets priority over the last king’s living child? I know they’re just a stupid cult but guys, that’s not how lines of succession work in monarchies. 

Anyway, Shallan hears them say that they have a mole in Dalinar’s inner circle--bad--and goes off-script, taking control to say she’s not who they think she is, and we cut back to Kaladin for the next chapter, which is called Broken Spears which prompted my note of “I don’t trust like that.” And then instantly I started laughing because of this quote: 

[The windrunners] hung in the air like no skyeel ever could: motionless, equidistant.

This is not a particularly funny line unless you, like me, have never been able to forget a line from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: 

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”

So there’s that. 

Kaladin has apparently fought with Leshwi before at this point (she is, iirc, the Fused who was one of the main points of contact for Moash during his arc in Oathbringer); last time, Rock’s daughter Cord managed to shoot her down. The Windrunners, like the Edgedancers, have grown in number; there are about 50 knights, now, and five times that in squires; the problem is that there aren’t enough willing honorspren to bond. Kaladin mentions that “almost all” of Bridge Four had bonded honorspren and that he knew one honorspren who was willing but unbonded, all of which leads me to believe that Rock hasn’t sworn the Oaths yet. 

Meanwhile, these Fused--the Heavenly Ones--prefer one on one battles, as Kaladin noted in earlier chapters, so the Windrunners do the same; as long as they do this, the Heavenly Ones will keep to the ideals of honorable combat and will not gang up on the Windrunners. Again, it shows that they are both the orders that deal with Honorspren, even if the Heavenly Ones deal with...void-honorspren, I guess. 

Also, it’s another nod to the idea of if there can be such a thing as honorable combat in a war. Both the Heavenly Ones and the Windrunners are trying for it, clearly, but is that sustainable? 

Leshwi is in fact there, with a very cool aluminum-edged sword that can absorb stormlight into a gem at the hilt. She, along with the rest of the Fused and apparently the Heralds (Shalash and Taln are both in Urithiru), are stunned by the Fourth Bridge; fuck yeah, Navani and her team. She’s so cool, guys, I love Navani. Also, everyone is worried about Kaladin. 

Shallan, meanwhile, is ad-libbing having even more information, which leads to a hilarious moment of her being accused of treason by a member of the cult who are trying to overthrow the current queen, so...there’s a reason I’m calling them the Hypocrites Association, alright? Anyway, Adolin decides it’s time to attack, and Radiant and Shallan manage to bluff their way into being taken along to the hideout as the Hypocrites Association retreats. 

With Kaladin again, we get that the Fused see him as a particular challenge they enjoy fighting, although Leshwi always has first dibs; he fights another Fused and manages to disarm him, but decides not to kill him because killing him is pointless. Also, the teleporting fucker comes back, and yes, that is what I’m calling him until further notice. 

Something happened in Aimia that led to Cord getting a set of shardplate. Is this the Dawnshard novel? Is that what happened in Aimia? I’m going to read it next regardless but now I’m curious about what happened on the Radiant expedition to Aimia. 

So it turns out that the Hypocrites Association has a secret passage into and out of the chasms with a hidden door, which was probably a bolthole for escape that Sadeas put in early during the war at the Shattered Plains. His keep is also noted by Veil to be fortresslike; she notes that he was a cunning man, not just the blowhard that Shallan had taken him for. Ialai is now the sole remaining leader of the dissident Alethi army; while Radiant wants evidence against her that can have her be taken in, Veil is here just to assassinate her and have done with it. 

And honestly there is a nice symmetry in Adolin killing Sadeas and Shallan/the Three killing Ialai. 

Anyway, we go back to Kaladin as Leshwi fights Sigzil now; she manages to spear him through the chest, and I swear to god if any of the original Bridgemen actually die, I’m going to kick Brandon Sanderson’s ass. Those are my BOYS. In any case, Leshwi doesn’t kill Sigzil, because Kaladin spared one of the Fused earlier--honor in combat, again. There’s definitely a whole essay I could discuss about this opening few chapters and the idea of if continuing a fight is the right thing to do and if that fight can be continued in a way that is moral, but I don’t have the time for that, I’m trying to do NaNoWriMo and read this book. 

I’ll shelve it along with the Oathbringer and the idea of personal responsibility essay. 

We go back to Navani and get another real sense of how well she knows her team; she knows the personal tics and oddities of all the ardents and scholars who are helping her on the Fourth Bridge, which is nice to see. We also get that Renarin is here, distracting crying children by having Glys form a ball of light, and Navani has this observation: 

Renarin claimed the spren [Glys] was trustworthy, but something was odd about his powers. They had managed to recruit several standard Truthwatchers--and they could create illusions like Shallan. Renarin couldn’t do that. He could only summon lights, and they did strange, unnatural things sometimes...

Really excited to see how Renarin’s powers develop similarly to or different from standard Truthwatchers; I agree that Glys is probably trustworthy because Renarin is the best judge of that at the moment and also because “the corrupted spren turns out to be evil” isn’t a very interesting plot development compared to “there can be good corrupted spren” 

And then I got yanked forcibly off-topic because guess who fucking showed up. Moash decided to show his backstabbing, treacherous little face again, wearing--of all things--a uniform cut exactly like Bridge Four’s but in black rather than blue, which is just a stupendous dick move. Navani is the one who sees him, too, and we get a sharp reminder that he murdered her son.

Kaladin doesn’t hear the alarm that Navani raises, though, because he’s busy fighting Leshwi, something he seems to genuinely enjoy as a test of his skills. He pushes his home-field advantage here, managing to distract Leshwi to the point that they both seriously injure the other; Kaladin is grinning throughout, which is actually somewhat disturbing. To me it reads like Kaladin’s stopped caring about his own life in favor of trying to help others at any cost, but I’m not sure if that’ll play through as an accurate read. 

In any case, someone set Roshone’s house on fire, and the teleporting fucker is there and actively attacking civilians. Leshwi is pissed off to see this and gestures for Kaladin to go and deal with that rather than continuing their fight; at this point, I really started loving Leshwi as a character. I’m a sucker for a good principled antagonist lady, they’re just a good trope. 

Anyway, we get to Chapter Seven. Navani’s epigraph notes that zinc makes the spren in fabrials more active, while brass quiets them. So...you could say...that brass soothes them...while zinc...makes them riot....

Anyway, back to Ialai, Shallan notes that she seems extremely worn and tired, and she claims to support Gavinor to the throne--with herself as regent, of course. She and Shallan proceed to have an entire conversation in wine metaphors, talking about who they are working with or for, and Ialai assumes that the Ghostbloods sent the Three to kill her, claiming they want the Sons of Honor out of the way and will send her after Restares next. Veil instantly switches her vote to not killing Ialai bc she doesn’t like to be manipulated, and Adolin kicks down the door. 

Ialai tells Shallan to search her rooms for “the rarest vintage” before the Ghostbloods can, and then--before she can even leave the building--she dies of poisoning, implying there’s a mole somewhere in Adolin and Shallan’s people. That’s not great, and the Ghostbloods aren’t fucking around in the slightest with her. 

Meanwhile, with Kaladin, the teleporting fucker took Godeke--the one named Edgedancer here other than Lift--hostage to lure Kaladin inside, where he uses a strange, void-fabrial to drain Surgebinder powers in the room. And then makes a critical error in thinking that that will be enough: 

The Fused laughed and spoke in Alethi. “Radiants! You rely too much on your powers. Without them, what are you? A peasant child with no real training in the art of warfare or--”  Kaladin slammed himself against the soldier to the right. 

Oh you poor idiots, Kaladin was a prodigy with the spear LONG before he was a Windrunner, went most of his army career without bonding Syl, and--crucially--one of you is carrying a physical spear. Checkmate, assholes. Kaladin quickly beats most of the ones there, including killing the teleporting fucker before he can teleport again, and lets the last one go--of course--before helping Lift get Godeke out and telling her to get the void fabrial to Navani. 

Meanwhile, he’s going to go make sure Roshone is alright, where I have the very prescient note of “I bet actual money Moash is killing him as we speak.” 

Ialai’s probable method of death was blackbane poison in her bloodstream; one of Shallans’ people examines the body for it, while Shallan goes to search ialai’s rooms. 

Another epigraph note, this time about bronze and heliodor being used to make warning fabrials. Scadrial really was just a primer on the uses of various metals with investiture, huh? 

Meanwhile, Kaladin finds the prisoners below the manor killed with a shardblade, and spins around to find Moash slitting Roshone’s throat before making what I called, in a late-night worktime daze, “just a series of rat bastard moves. Hate that guy. Just honestly hate that guy.” 

Specifically, he surrenders so that Kal cannot keep attacking him--because Kal’s a good person--just after taunting him for wanting to rescue someone. 

Back with Shallan, Veil is pushing her again to continue remembering their past, but she still resists; she finds a rare Shin wine in Ialai’s store, before using that to find a pattern on the floor of old, shadowyears-era glyphs with maps of the ten Epoch Kingdoms, under one of which is a notebook of Ialai’s; she tucks it in her safepouch, and we go back to Kaladin. 

I really think the arc for Kaladin in this book is going to be accepting that he can’t save everyone,  particularly from themselves, because he pauses and remembers how Moash had been a friend, but even more than that, he had been Bridge Four--someone that Kaladin had sworn to protect, and he’d failed: 

Kaladin had failed Moash. As soundly as he’d failed Dunny, Mart, and Jaks. And of them all, losing Moash hurt the most. Because in those callous eyes, Kaladin saw himself. 

Kaladin can’t keep blaming himself for Moash’s choices, because Moash chose to do this, and was given ways out, and didn’t take them. It’s not Kaladin’s fault, and believing that it is is going to get Kaladin killed. 

And then, Moash winds up and delivers a grade-A Odium-powered Breaking Speech: 

"They're going to die, you know," Moash said softly. "Everyone you love, everyone you think you can protect. They're all going to die anyway. There's nothing you can do about it." [...] "Do you remember the chasm, Kal?" Moash whispered. "In the rain that night? Standing there, looking down into the darkness, knowing it was your sole release? You knew it hen. You try to pretend you've forgotten. But you know. As sure as the storms will come. As sure as every lighteyes will lie. There is only one answer. One path. One result. [...] I've found the better way," Moash said. "I feel no guilt. I've given it away, and in so doing became the person I always could have become--if I hadn't been restrained. I can take away the pain, Kal. Isn't that what you want? An end to your suffering?”

Odium’s deal all over again--he will take away your pain and your responsibility for your actions, but the price for that is your integrity and your honor. It’s so insidious, especially because Moash is exploiting the fact that Kaladin was suicidal to play into the idea of life being hopeless--he’s implying that Kaladin’s suicidal impulses were right and then offering another way out. It’s so, so so so awful, and Kaladin can’t even bring himself to fight it, because it’s coming from an unarmed man and it’s targeted so directly at him. 

 “The answer is to stop existing, Kal. You’ve always known it, haven’t you?”  Kaladin blinked away tears, and the deepest part of him--the little boy who hated the rain and the darkness--withdrew into his soul and curled up. Because...he did want to stop hurting. 

He wanted it so badly. 

Ugh, Moash’s whole thing here is just seeding that suicidality back into Kaladin--because frankly, most of the time? When someone is suicidal, in my (admittedly limited and personal) experience? What they genuinely want isn’t to die--they just want not to hurt anymore, and they see that as the only way. 

Light exploded into the room.  Clean and white, like the light of the brightest diamond. The light of the sun. A brilliant, concentrated purity.  Moash growled, spinning around, shading his eyes against the source of the light--which came from the doorway. The figure behind it wasn’t visible as anything more than a shadow.  Moash shied away from the light--but a version of him, transparent and filmy, broke off and stepped toward the light instead. Like an afterimage. In it, Kaladin saw the same Moash--but somehow standing taller, wearing a brilliant blue uniform. This one raised a hand, confident, and although Kaladin couldn’t see them, he knew people gathered behind this Moash. Protected. Safe.  The image of Moash burst alight as a Shardspear formed in his hands.

FUCK YEAH, RENARIN. 

I’m gonna end this section by just discussing what happened here, because there’s a lot to unpack there. We’ve seen Shallan use her illusions to create versions of people who they could be, but this isn’t doing that--if you look at the cause and effect, it’s not that Renarin created this illusory Moash, but more that the light Renarin created called forth that Moash from this one. 

More than anything, it reminds me of the effects of Gold Allomancy--creating a past version of the self, splitting the self into who you are and who you were, or who you are and who you could have been. This is not a version of Moash that could exist. He’s burned too many bridges and killed too many people in front of their infant children for that to happen. 

But it could have been Moash. It’s not calling forth the truth, really, it’s showing an alternate path. It’s strange and I can’t wait to see it explored more, and it shakes Moash to his core--because of course it does. Moash’s entire speech was saying “there are only two ways out, dying and giving in to Odium,” and Renarin’s light showed that that was a stark fucking lie. There’s the third choice of deciding to stand up and protect people anyway, and it was a choice Moash could have taken, and that kills him. It eats him up inside; it’s the pain that Odium can’t fully take away. 

As Kaladin said to Amaram: if what Odium says is  true, if what you claim is true, than why do you still hurt? 

[peachdoxie]

Okay so I’m like way late in sharing my liveblog of chapter 13, but I read it earlier and took notes and here they are! Man, what a doozy of a chapter! I have a lot of things to say.

Conjoined fabrials require a careful division of the gemstone—and the spren inside. 

Like we knew this already but hearing about it directly is like. Yikes.

Other types of spren do not split as evenly, as easily, or at all. 

Gimme the lore, Branderson

Shallan had to deal with Veil’s alcohol abuse. Again. 

Yikes

He was using that time to go ride horses. 

The paranoid part of me thinks something else is going on, but also Adolin is still allowed to have interests, especially if he’s grown closer with Dalinar’s Ryshadium after losing Sureblood in Words of Radiance, as the chapter later describes.

Shallan found herself alone—and for the first time in weeks, she didn’t have a role to play.

Inchresting.

The deal is set and arranged. The spren will come.

wat

Seven years ago now—and if that timeline was correct, she must have begun seeing Pattern as a young child. Long before Jasnah had first encountered her spren.

I feel like this is important but idk why. It sort of implies that the Cryptics were the first spren to start forming Nahel bonds in the current era, but, again, why? What are the implications?

She couldn’t see those memories; didn’t want to see them. As she shied away from them, something dark shifted inside her, growing stronger. Formless. Shallan didn’t want to be the person who had done those things. That… that person could not… not be loved…

Oof but also not true

Memory loss was apparently common to these cases, but the rest of what Shallan experienced seemed distinctly different. Importantly, she wasn’t experiencing continued memory loss. So maybe she was fine. She’d stabilized.

I have the feeling Shallan does, in fact, have some significant memory losses that she’s either unaware of or so in denial about she doesn’t realize she’s in denial of them.

Besides, these fabrials did the work of a dozen people.

lmao Roshar is undergoing industrialization which is probably a bad thing

When she became Veil, the colors in the room… muted. The colors didn’t change, but her perception shifted.

Neat detail. I wonder how that would interact with the various Heightenings of Nalthis.

His pet chicken, the green one.

IT’S BIRB TIME!!!!!

“Of course, with your powers nothing is permanent, is it? You deal exclusively in the ephemeral.”

That’s kind of a recurring issue in Shallan’s life, isn’t it, the lack of permanence?

His chicken held its prey with one foot, eating almost like a person did with their hands. The thing was so strange, so alien. It stood upright, like no other beast Shallan had studied. When it chirped at Mraize, it sounded almost like it was talking, and she swore she could occasionally make out words. It was like a tiny parody of a person.

Lmao “alien.” Shallan, you have no idea how right you are. Also, I’m going to guess the bird may actually be talking to Mraize since it’s a fucking aviar

Ask a better question. “Nalathis,” Radiant said. “Scadarial. What are they?”

“Nalthis. Scadrial.” He spoke the words with a different accent. “Where are they. That’s an excellent question, Radiant. Suffice it to say they are places in Shadesmar where our Stormlight—so easily captured and transported—would be a valuable commodity.”

Okay sure just fucking namedrop the other planets in the cosmere again why don’t you

A more perfect gemstone could contain the Light long enough to go offworld, but there is still the Connection problem. This little flaw has caused untold trouble. And the one who unlocks the secret would have untold power.

dear fucking hell, Mraize.

tbh I don’t even know how to react to this revelation. It’s so simple and yet so ambitious, and it would have significant impacts not just on Roshar, but on the whole of the cosmere. Not to mention: Investiture on Roshar is renewable because when it’s used, it returns to the Spiritual Realm until it’s brought back into the Physical by highstorms or a perpendicularity. What would happen if Mraize found a way to take Honor’s Investiture and have it be used somewhere else in the cosmere outside of the Rosharan system? Would that unbalance the Shards even more?

just an absolute what the fuck. there are so many unknown Realmatic ramifications for this. what the fuck.

“I already have,” Mraize said, making a fist. “Though putting the plan into motion will be difficult. I have a job for you.”

Great, Mraize already knows how to do this incredibly ridiculous Realmatic bullshit. This is going to be bad if he gets it up and running, even if Mraize himself isn’t “evil.” It would radically change everything, and there are many bad people who would abuse that change.

“I have news for you,” Shallan said. “Sja-anat contacted me while I was away. She agreed to your terms, and is sending one of her spren to the tower, where it will investigate your members for a possible bond.”

Ah, so this is who Shallan was communicating with earlier. But how did Sja-anat use a spanreed? And what kind of spren will she send, and how has it been corrupted?

Also, Shallan and Mraize at least know that Glys was corrupted by Sja-anat. I wonder who else holds this knowledge.

“I cannot betray this secret,” Mraize said. “Let’s just say that Lightweavers fascinate me, and leave it at that. And you should not fear if I did keep someone close to you. Such a person could be an… aid in times of need. Iyatil did the same for me.”

*tosses another piece of evidence onto the theory I saw someone make that Shallan, in a very repressed persona, is actually Mraize’s spy*

“Immortality, in part. He thought he could become like the Heralds. In his quest, he discovered a secret. He had Voidlight before the Everstorm—he carried it from Braize, the place you call Damnation. He was testing the movement of Light between worlds. And one close to him might have answers. At any rate, we couldn’t risk Ialai or the Sons of Honor recovering these secrets.”

I honestly don’t know what to make of this but it seems important so

“Oh, we know where he is,” Mraize said. “He has asked for—and been granted—asylum in a city no other Ghostblood has been able to enter.”

“A place you can’t enter?” Shallan asked. “Where is security that tight?”

“The fortress named Lasting Integrity,” Mraize said. “Home and capital city of the honorspren in Shadesmar.”

OH SURE BRANDON, JUST DROP ANOTHER FUCKING BOMBSHELL IN THIS CHAPTER, I CAN DEFINITELY HANDLE IT

at least my question of “why the fuck is SHALLAN going to Lasting Integrity” is answered

“Oh, you will. And once you successfully return from this mission, your reward will be—as always—something for which you hunger. Answers. All of them.”

So like, first of all I’m skeptical that Shallan will actually succeed, so that’s one thing. And second, what’s to say that Brando will just have Shallan learn things off the page and we don’t know the answers? Either way, I eagerly await how this plot line will play out. Whatever’s gonna happen, it’s gonna involve some hella cosmere Lore.

Mraize had never been willing to speak of that, but she had to think they’d been grooming her—and her family—for over a decade.

He knew the truth about Shallan’s past. There were holes in her childhood memories. If they did what he asked, Mraize would fill them.

And maybe then, at long last, Veil could force Shallan to become complete.

The word “grooming” stands out to me here. What, exactly, were they grooming her for?

***

Anyway. Wow. What a fucking chapter. So little action, and yet so much just changed. Rhythm of War is taking on a very different look now that there’s Lore at stake.

[alicedoessurveys]

Doctor Who Tag

yes im a nerd...

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

I was 10 when it came back on telly with Eccleston and the first episode with the autons scared me so much my mom wouldn't let me watch it again until a couple years later, but yeah my teens I was obsessed with DW... still am at age 25

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

10

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

‘Rose’

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I still have the eleventh doctor’s screwdriver... I used to have some of the figures but there in storage now somewhere

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

didn't play it on the playground

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

all of them! the ones that still scare me now are the Cybermen and the Autons... genuinely cant walk past a shop mannequin without being suspicious 

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

as a kid, any of the innuendo type jokes

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

idk I think I still have the same opinions

9. Who introduced you to DW?

parents

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

I LOVED SJA!! I miss that show, and Elizabeth Slade :(

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

Ten was the doctor that made me fall in love with Doctor Who 

12. Your favourite Doctor?

omg why not just ask me who my favourite child is... (I don't have kids but you know what I mean) if I had to chose my top three are ten, eleven and thirteen

13. Least favourite Doctor?

purely just because he doesn't have enough episodes... nine...

14. Best regeneration?

none of them I hate regenerations :( they make me sad, im too emotionally invested in every single one

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

they're not my faves

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

I think nine maybe? or twelve?

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

the 50th anniversary special 

18. Best Doctor monologue?

“Hello Stonehenge! who takes the pandorica, takes the universe. but bad news everyone, cause guess who? HA! You lot you're all whizzing about- its really very distracting. Could you all just stay still a minute because I AM TALKING. Question of the hour is, who's got the pandorica? Answer, I do. Next question, who's coming to take it from me? Come on, look at me! No plan. No backup. No weapons worth a damn. oh and something else, I don't have anything to lose. So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceship with all your silly little guns and you've got any plans on taking the pandorica tonight... just remember who's standing in your way. remember ever black day I ever stopped you and then- AND THEN- do the smart thing... let somebody else try first.”

not copied and pasted, remember that from the top of my head... its always there waiting in my mind incase I ever need an epic monologue :’)

19, What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

hopefully living his best life with Rose

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

ten and donna 

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Donna, Clara, Amy

22. Favourite secondary companion?

is Mickey classed as secondary? idk

23. Least favourite companion?

Ryan

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Doctor, Amy and Rory

25. Most underrated companion?

Graham, but that may just be cause I love Bradders

26. Most overrated companion?

Rose... I like her but idk, I think she gets more hype than she deserves.. don't @ me

27. Favourite companion’s family?

Rose’s mom

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

idk I cant think of anyone

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy and Rory

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

wasn't keen on Bill at first but by the end I really liked her, same with Rory

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

girl in the fireplace

32. Least favourite episode?

most of Chibnall’s episodes tbh sorry not sorry 

33. Which episodes do you skip?

the regeneration episodes

34. Best two-parter?

Human Nature - Family of Blood

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

I like them all in there own way but I think present is fave, then historical, then future

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

all of them

37. Episode that will always make you cry?

Rory and Amy’s last episode :’(

38. Best run of episodes?

ugh I cant answer this theres too many 

39. Best cliffhanger?

the end of Spyfall part one when the Master reveals who he is... I was SHOOK

40. Favourite Christmas special?

Voyage of the Damned

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

new who

42. Favourite series?

four or five

43. Least favourite series?

eleven, I just cant with the writing

44. Which series do you skip?

none

45. Favourite series opening?

eleventh hour

46. Favourite series finale?

Doomsday

47. Best series arc?

Bad Wolf

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I adore Jodie Whittaker and her doctor, and although I think 3 companions is too many I do love Yaz and Graham (Ryan is hit & miss). I just think theyve been massively let down by the stories/writing... they’ve tried to hard to tick certain boxes and completely missed what Doctor Who is about for a lot of people.. an escape from the real world into these outrageous unbelievable but lovable fun alien adventures 

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

not a lot

50. Who should have had another series?

NINE NINE NINE NINE NINE 

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

the master 

52. Most creative monster?

Weeping Angels, whoever came up with monsters that look like statues and only move when you're not looking at them is genius 

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

Autons, Cybermen, the creepy dolls from Night Terrors, the ones from Waters of Mars, Weeping Angels

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

idk

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

absorbaloff

56. Monster you want to return?

The Master, I really hope that isn't the last we see of Dhawan

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

being genuinely scary, 

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

Weeping Angels

59. Best Dalek story?

Daleks in Manhatten

60. Best one time villain/monster?

my brain has gone blank I cant think of an answer right now 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

I haven't watched it all so I couldn't say 

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

again, not watched it all 

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

huh

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Sarah Jane

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

K-9

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Nope

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

n/a

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

yes

DESIGN/PRODUCTION

71. Favourite piece of alien tech?

the sonic, I love how it is so multipurpose except for when it comes to wood 

72. Favourite piece of Murray Gold music?

I am the Doctor - gets me pumped every time 

73. Favourite TARDIS design?

Ten’s Tardis 

74. Has the 2005 era CGI aged well?

actually yeah, I was rewatching the ‘are you my mummy’ episodes the other day and my God when the gas masks emerged from the faces... ooooooof I was like omg how 

75. Favourite Doctor outfit?

eleven or thirteen

76. Monster with the best design?

not really a design more of a costume.. I live Dhawan master’s costume. that shade of purple, oof he so stylish 

77. Best show runner?

idk

78. Best writer?

Gatiss

79. Best opening titles?

eleven’s titles where the Tardis is flying and being zapped is cool but thirteens music hits different 

80. Will DW age well/stay popular in the future?

I hope so, I feel like its lasted this long surely it can last forever.. if the writers don't fuck it up... 

IF YOU WERE IN THE SHOW

81. Time period you’d want to go with the Doctor?

whatever time means Id get to wear the most beautiful costumes

82. Planet/place you’d want to go with the Doctor?

Galifrey, pre-desctruction

83. Doctor you’d most like to travel with?

any of them, please and thank you

84. Companion you’d most like to travel with?

donna, sceso a good laugh but also I feel like she’d look after me 

85. Monster you’d like to defeat/fight?

The Master 

86. If you could go back on your own history (like Father’s Day), where would you go?

back to when I was a toddler, I wanna see what I was like 

87. If you could ask the Doctor anything, what would you ask?

theres too many to ask 

88. Historical figure you’d like to meet?

Shakespeare

89. How do you think you’d meet the Doctor?

id probably be rescued from doing something stupid and then the doc would be like you know what the bitch clearly needs supervision she's coming with me 

90. Would you travel forwards or backwards in time first?

backwards

IF YOU MADE THE SHOW

91. Historical event would you like to see in DW?

Hamilton

92. Issue you’d like to see addressed in DW?

idk 

93. Who would you completely erase from the DW universe?

Ruth

94. One unanswered DW question you’d love to know the answer to?

where is Clara now?

95. Actor/actress you’d like to see play the Doctor?

Phoebe Waller Bridge (or Lin Manuel Miranda)

96. Actor/actress you’d like to see play a companion?

Andrew Scott (yes I did just basically recast fleabag and hot priest)

97. Is DW “too political”?

series 11 got a bit like that 

98. Which characters fate would you changed?

Danny Pink

99. What about DW could be improved?

I think ive made my options about Chibnall pretty clear... 

100. If you could write an episode of DW, any ideas for what you’d do

bring back Jenny, the Doctor / Daughter adventures they would have. I’m actually writing a fic about it if you wanna read.... here

[catelyngrant]

17, 28, 38

In no particular order...

Top 5 “deserved better” characters:

Donna Noble (DW): She deserved everything and while by and large I loved the RTD era, her ending will never not infuriate me. Having her growth, relationships, and memories taken from her is bad enough, but for it to happen against her will was just horrific.

Astra In-Ze (Supergirl): So there are about six Supergirl characters that belong on this list, Kara Danvers herself included, but Astra just made me so sad. The writers never took full advantage of her character and she was written off far too soon.

Ellen Parsons (Damages): I’m rewatching Damages now so this one is fresh for me. I’m curious to see if the ending makes me as ragey as it did the first time around.

Alex Romero (Bates Motel): So, Norma goes without saying, but at least we knew it was coming, she died peacefully, and she was mourned. In s5 I was super bummed about how small of a role Alex played and how little time his grief was given. Even his death felt like an afterthought. He deserved more.

Catelyn Stark (ASOIAF): Not only did she die a horrific death thinking everyone she loved was gone, but then they BROUGHT HER BACK algjlskgs someone let my girl REST

Top 5 Trios

Harry, Ron, Hermione (HP): The original, the golden, the be-all end-all...

Nine, Rose, Jack (DW): Just rewatched season one recently and I’d forgotten what a delightful combination these three are. I also adored Donna/Ten/Martha for the short time we had them together.  

Luke, Maria, Clyde (SJA): Also Luke/Clyde/Rani, but I identified more strongly with Maria and season one is still my favorite, so this trio gets the slight edge. I miss this show so much and still hold out the faint desperate hope that one of them might show up as a companion at some point.

Daisy, Simmons, Fitz (AOS): The OG Bus Kids. Life has been so cruel to these guys, and I still really need them to deal with what happened with Daisy and Fitz in s5, but I’ll settle with them all being in the same place at the same time for more than five minutes. I love their dynamic and am so hoping we get some nostalgic, touching, and light-hearted moments with these three in the final season.

Alex, Kara, J’onn (Supergirl): Sometimes a family is a girl, her alien sister, and their Martian dad. And sometimes that family makes me cry. (Sometimes = a lot. 

Top 5 Saddest Moments

Sarah says goodbye to Ten in TWOSJS (DW/SJA): Scenes from DW could have made up this entire list, but Ten telling Sarah “Don’t forget me” breaks me like an egg every time. With Lis’ passing and that episode being the last thing DT ever filmed as Ten, it’s even more poignant.

Alex finds Norma (Bates Motel): Sweet JESUS nope nope nope. They had TWO WEEKS Y’ALL.

The Red Wedding (ASOIAF): It just had to be in Catelyn’s POV, right? Not bad enough for your favorite character to suffer horribly and die a brutal death seconds after watching her son be murdered, nope, let’s go ahead and witness it all from her POV. “She’d lived too long, and Ned was waiting.” 

Tigh kills Ellen (BSG): Another show filled with scenes that could comprise this entire list but this scene is one of the finest moments in television history. The acting, the music, the quiet tragedy of it...when BSG got it right, it got it right.

Sirius’ death (HP): Over the last year I’ve been on an MWPP kick for the first time ever, really, and the Marauders are so much more tragic to read about as an adult with the understanding of how young they all really were. His life was as tragic as his death, and that hit home much more this time around. 

[morska-vjestica]

Croatian song lessons

Hello dearies! Today's song of the day is Ovo je naša krv (This is our blood). To me, it's one of the most emotional songs that demonstrates the love and pride we have for our country and I hope it will make you connect with us even more😊

This one is for my dear @croatianstan whom I made obsessed with it😂 (sorry not sorry💜)

Enjoy!

Pogledaj taj kamen sivi - Look at that grey stone

Zrno grožđa što na suncu sja - That grape which shines in the sun

Tu se rađa, tu se živi - You are born here and you die here

I u znoju starost dočeka - You welcome your old age here

Sjedi s nama i dušu okrijepi - Sit with us and rest your soul

Nek ti nebo puteve osvijetli - Let the sky guide your paths

Nek ti snage da - And give you strength

Ovo je naša krv, u pepelu i vinu - This is our blood, in ashes and wine

U mojim venama, ocu, bratu, sinu - In my veins, in my father, brother and son

Ovo je naša krv, u srcu koje vri - This is our blood in a heart that burns

To reci svakom putniče, gdje god da pođeš ti - Tell that to everyone traveller, wherever you may go

Ovo je naša krv i neka svako zna - This is our blood, so let everyone know

Ovdje se umire sa Zdravo Marija - We die here with a prayer on our lips

Ovo je naša krv, u srcu koje vri - This is our blood in a heart that burns

To reci svakom putniče, gdje god da pođeš ti - Tell that to everyone traveller, wherever you may go

I ne zaboravi - And don't forget about it

Pogledaj pod smokvom starom - Look under the old fig

Gdje se zlati svaki njezin plod - Where her fruits shine like the gold

Tu za stolom, pred oltarom - Here around the table, in front of the altar

Prijatelj je isto što i rod - Friend is a part of family

Sjedi s nama i dušu okrijepi - Sit with us and rest your soul

Nek ti nebo puteve osvijetli - Let the sky guide your paths

Nek ti snage da - And give you strength

Ovo je naša krv, u pepelu i vinu - This is our blood, in ashes and wine

U mojim venama, ocu, bratu, sinu - In my veins, in my father, brother and son

Ovo je naša krv, u srcu koje vri - This is our blood in a heart that burns

To reci svakom putniče, gdje god da pođeš ti - Tell that to everyone traveller, wherever you may go

Ovo je naša krv i neka svako zna - This is our blood, so let everyone know

Ovdje se umire sa Zdravo Marija - We die here with a prayer on our lips

Ovo je naša krv, u srcu koje vri - This is our blood in a heart that burns

To reci svakom putniče gdje god da pođeš ti - Tell that to everyone traveller, wherever you may go

I ne zaboravi - And don't forget about it

[sixseasonsofodestawithatardis]

Literally saw someone on Twitter call Maria unbearable this morning, and this, on top of my anger at Chrissie Jackson, has reignited the annoyance I felt towards Sja/dwtwt as I was writing those tags. Lmao! Anyway, sorry, OP, you're about to get 3 huge paragraphs about Maria Jackson + Rani Chandra being awesome and why Chrissie sucks! AKA stuff I couldn't elaborate on in the tags!

Maria is a brilliant character, and her arc for s1/2 is well-written. Maria is 13/14, going through her parent's divorce, settling into somewhere new, and struggling with a strained relationship with her mum!

She's the first member of the gang we meet and is our entryway into Sja; in a way, our care towards the rest of the show for the pilot relies on her and her narrative for the most part (Luke and SJ are still important). On top of that, she is the first person Luke meets and the first person she helps rescue alongside Sarah Jane. If it weren't for Maria, we wouldn't care for any of this as much, nor would Sarah Jane become a friendlier and warmer person ready to adopt Luke.

Ultimately, Maria becomes Sarah Jane's daughter figure, as does Sarah Jane become Maria's mother figure, and the attic becomes a safe space away from her Mum, like when she slams the attic door in Eye of the Gorgon. Hence why Sarah Jane and Luke take Maria moving to America so hard.

This is also why Rani feels very excluded in parts of season 3 and why we get the mad woman in the attic timeline: She can't get as close as Maria could to Sarah Jane or be included as well as she could at times.

In contrast, Rani has a typical family dynamic with a mum and dad, unlike the rest of the characters and is driven, with a lot of pressure to be ahead. She knows what she wants and will get there- but unlike the others, she's more trusting and less cynical. (Not sure if thats the right word- we're rolling with it!) , i.e. trusting Peter Dalton and the Blathereen. She's also the newest one of the group and so gels with Clyde more easily in that respect as you don't expect them two to be able to handle it ( technically, Maria can't either, but she's away from the narrative by this point)

Rani and Maria have huge shoes to fill in their introductions and narratives for different reasons. Maria + her actress is the first entryway into the narrative, and we have to enjoy her story and her dynamic on top of this being a pilot and eventually a first series... Its a lot and if this went wrong in any way we wouldn't of got to series 2 let alone five!

Rani's (well, Anjili) is now replacing a fan favourite character on top of establishing a whole new dynamic, and if this fails, again, no series 3 or Big Finish continuation.

Rani and Maria are well-written women who are important in different ways to the show, and comparing them and bringing either down feels wrong to me. Also, these are 13/14 y/o kids, and they aren't going to act rationally in some situations; sorry, this whole Twitter trend reeks of grown-ups trying to pull children down a peg and misogyny (maybe I'm being a bit harsh!). Anyway, put me in the writer's room! Rani and Maria need to maximise their joint slay!

Also, if any character deserves the hate Maria is getting, it is Chrissie because she may have taken out a Sontaran once, but my god, is she horrible! Not only does she come over unannounced, but she literally attempts to move in during an argument with Ivan taking over Alan and Maria's space, and then when Maria talks about Sarah Jane in that same episode, she goes off on one! It is NOT Sarah Jane's fault YOU have no relationship with your daughter anymore, Chrissie! Plus, whenever she does visit, it's only when she needs money or furniture or to rub the fact Alan's single in his face! Also, the time she spoke to Statue! Alan nicely for once- could you not have said that before the divorce?! Or thought about that before you went for the Salsa teacher?!

Okay I really don't get the evil Maria Jackson memes on twitter rn, because how anyone watching Maria in S1-2 of SJA and saying she's evil, even jokingly???

[esseastri]

Megan Reads Oathbringer (part 10)

Hi, fronds.

I meant to keep going, I really did, but then That Thing happened and I was really upset and also a LOT of real life things happened, most good, but all busy, so. Bear with me. We’ll get through this monster eventually.

Part 10 encompasses pages 753-828 (previous parts)

I’m still super upset about the Rift, y’all. Like. Ultimate #yikes.

ANYWAY, MOVING ON

“That would give privacy to talk” Okay, but you are still in a public space with a bunch of other people, you maaayybe shouldn’t be, like...just using the king’s name casually like you’re besties?

Since this is supposed to be a stealth mission, isn’t it?

OKAY BUT ADOLIN JUST, UNPROMPTED OUT OF NO WHERE ASKING TO SEE KALADIN’S SWORD

SHALLAN PLS “It’s a little small” GURL PLS

“Kaladin liked them both...just not together.” I’m just waiting for someone to yell at them to get a room. Kaladin is the most likely candidate and I’m going to die laughing when it happens.

honestly, polyamory is the real solution here

Two Unmade.

which means we need two radiants to go fight them so Adolin WHEN ARE YOU MANIFESTING, MY BOY?

literally every time anyone mentions seeing a cremling--especially a weird-shaped cremling--I JUST GET REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE. WHAT IF IT’S 200-CREMLINGS-IN-A-TRENCH-COAT???

“But Adolin had been raised by a mother with a fondness for hugs” I’M SCREAMING THIS IS FINE I’M FINE. HE MUST MISS HER SO MUCH. HELP

wait, but don’t we know for sure that shardblades can be stuff that’s not swords? Like, didn’t Syl turn into a spear at the end of WoR? So maybe the Radiants DID make other tools for their followers--maybe they did have shardhammers for building and shardbows for hunting and shardshovels for digging latrines, but after the Recreance, the spren died, so they lost the ability to change shape?

Worth thinking about, anyway.

“Thank you for being you, Adolin.” “Everyone else was taken already.” BUDDYYYY. I LOVE HIM. HE’S SO GOOD AND WONDERFUL AND AAHH

OOHH, Shallan gets SQUIRES??? Somehow I didn’t really think that the Lightweavers would be one of the orders that had squires.. they seem a solitary bunch.

Kaladin just...scooting down to sit next to the highmarshal without an invitation is. listen, he’s always been brave, but this is a different sort of bravery--doing something that might get you in trouble with social codes is different from running headlong across a not-set bridge into battle--and I know he’s done shit like this before, often, but not...not really in context of military superiors? I don’T KNOW THIS FEELS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AND I’M EXCITED FOR HIM.

I find it ironic that the COVERED walkway from the Oathgate platform to the palace is called the SUNwalk, but that’s fine.

Kishi is a really good name, dangit brandon stop taking all the really good names

Azure’s sword is a her?

YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT, KALADIN!! “How did you get here?” “I flew.” YOU CAn’T JUST. KAL, PLS

I’m

loev

hem

“I’ve given answers. If they aren’t the ones you want, perhaps the questions aren’t very good.” HELLO, I LOVE THIS BOY VERY MJUCH I DON’T KNWO IF YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT ME

wait come here chasing her

OH JESUS FUCK SHE’S VIVENNA ISN’T SHE

She’s from Somewhere Else and she’s got a weird sword and her name’s a color and Vivenna was SUPPOSED to show up in this book GODDAMNIT THERE SHE IS

heheheheheh gosh that’s fun

...............pleasant.

I suppose it is the HEART of the revel, after all...

I really, really didn’t sign up for a horror novel, idk why this keeps happening SIGH

You know you’ve watched too many shitty action movies when the first thing you can think of when a guy gets thrown off the city wall isn’t “oh god he got THROWN off a WALL” and is, instead, “I bet tehy’d have used a Wilhelm Scream there heh”

Listen, Kaladin, I know you CAN fight without flying, but you are currently fighting flying enemies, and you should absolutely go have an aerial battle with them, please, I just want you to be in more cinematic, badass fights pls.

OKAY, BUT MAYBE LAUNCHING YOURSELF OUT A WINDOW AT THIS FUSED GUY ISN’T THE BEST? WAY TO HAVE THE AERIAL BATTLE?

okay, I asked for this, but I rescind my request, BE CAREFUL BABE, PLS.

YES THE HEART

GO FOR THE HEART

YES

Y E S

“my red life” yah, ok, that’s definitely Vivenna NICE

hnnnngggg, every time Kaladin summons the sylbade and, like, does the thing where he rests her on his shoulder all casual and intimidating I just melt, I’m so

he’s so

and so

hnnnnnnnngggggg

mrrrghhh, OF COURSE There’s a gang that steals the food from Shallan’s informants and KILLS THEM EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE KIDS, uggghhh. Should have known.

Continues the trend of Shallan not really knowing anything about how life on the streets work, huh?

OK this lady with vine patterns in her skin who’s Soulcasting for Azure? Actual Soulcaster suffering the effects to way too many years Soulcasting? OR........Radiant?

Honestly, I suspect literally everyone of being a radiant at this point.

pffffffffffffffffffffffttt HOID

of course.

but why did he help? Why is he helping? What’s his game?

“She hadn’t lived on the streets and she didn’t know how to help people.” NICE YOU TO FINALLY REALIZE.

“The only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone. Trust me, I’ve practiced.” COOL, NOW I’M SAD ABOUT HOID. Listen, I know his books are sooo far off, but the more things he says, the more I want to KNOW about him. Argh.

“Many people have suffered more, and they got along fine.” Oooohhh, Shallan, honey. No one ever taught you that the fact that other people have it worse does not negate your suffering.

Also, like. most people have not, in fact, had it worse than you, really. In the grand scheme of things, having to kill both your parents when they tried to kill you sucks a LOT, despite your privilege making the rest of everything better for you...

GOD BLESS ADOLIN KHOLIN, WHO, WHEN CONFRONTED WITH HIS FIANCEE IN PANTS, REACTS ONLY BY COMPLIMENTING HER COLOR COORDINATION AND RECOMMENDING HER COAT BE TAILORED A HAIR BETTER.

BLESS THIS GOLDEN SUNLIGHT BOY.

“You’ve been wanting an army to attack your palace, Your Majesty... well, we’re ready.”

YOU MIGHT BE READY, BUT I’M NOT

DO NOT JUST GO INVADE THE PALACE WITH AN ARMY

GOD, HOW MANY OF YOU ARE GOING TO DIE

hi, Adolin talking to his sword still makes my heart swell, every time, he’s JUST SO GOOD AND PURE AND WONDERFUL

SUNSHINE BOY

HE PUT ON HIS UNIFORM

I’M

I lov hiiiiimm

it’s not Shallan that needs to drive this one back.

I’m still so enamored of this theory, I’m sticking with it even if it’s wrong, I don’t care. One Unmade per Radiant Order. It’s gotta be one of the boys this time. The Heart... Kaladin is nothing but heart, it’s gotta be the windrunner Unmade.

No one tell me I’m wrong, I will be SO DISAPPOINTED if it doesn’t go down this way.

OH SHIT

OOOHH SHIIIT

OOOHHHH SHIIIIIIIT

IT’S THE THING FROM THE COVER THE WHATSITCALLED THE ROCK MONSTER

OH SHIIIIIITTT WE ALL GON DIE

THUNDERCLAST, THAT’s the word phew glad I remembered

listen, Kaladin letting himself get smashed by a giant boulder just so he could Lash it away HURTS MY HEART

DON’T HURT KALADIN, 2K18

yuuuppppp it’s not a shardblade. Blergh, I didn’t finish Warbreaker, is there some wacky shenanigans with Vivenna’s sword? Does it pull the Breath from people or smthn? ...Do people on Roshar have Breath?

Adolin is SUCH ! A GOOD! COMMANDER!

.........I’m very glad that some of the palace guard aren’t evil, but. why did time move weird for them, apparently?

Is this the second Unmade? Is this one something to do with warping time??

I’m confuuuused.

oh

fuck

that’s

hot

GLOWING KALADIN WITH A TWELVE FOOT LONG SYLSPEAR, FLYING THROUGH THE THROWN-OPEN DOUBLE DOORS??? YEAH I’M F I N E, T H I S I S F I N E

nooo don’t split up

never split up

I don’t want this

Adolin giving Kaladin the Bridge Four salute. I’m cry.

oooooooooohh, Shallan summoned Pattern!! And she’s not panicking! I’m so proud of her ahh!!

Skar and Drehey just. continuing to save Adolin. Best bodyguards. Best friends. I love them so much.

mmmmmmmmmmm

I don’t

want this, this is intense this is A LOT

aaaaahhh fuck Kaladin’s wall squad came with. They are SO Going to Die, and I WI LL C RY

she’s singing? So... she’s... hm. What happened to the queen?

I STILL DON’T THINK SHALLAN CAN DEFEAT THIS UNMADE

ohnohecallshissonGav

I’m

ohnohecallshiswifeDearOne

I’m

Elhokar, please

you are so small, just. Be brave.

KALADIN, YOU MADE SYL KILL A SPREN??? I don’t care that it was an evil spren, that’s. You can’t.. Syl. Don’t make Syl kill her family, pls, I’m suffering.

oh no

what ancient spren, WHICH ONE, AESUDAN.

AND HOW

HOW DID YOU BIND VOIDSPREN TO PEOPLE

I’m assuming that’s what it is

I’M CONCERNED

Yelig-nar and Ashertmarn. 1. both of those are terrible star wars names, Brandon, you usually do better. 2. Are those BOTH Unmade? Or is Yelig-nar Aesudan’s...voidspren?

stormspren?

Ancient Parshendi Ancestor of Evil spren?

“I have taken the gemstone into me.” WELL, THAT’S A STEAMING PILE OF # Y I K E S

mmm yeah, no, she didn’t do it. Shallan didn’t defeat it, it retreated. Or was called away or something. We’re deeeefinitely going to have to deal with that again.

oh shit is this the other one?

this is the other one

Yelid-nar is Aseudan’s Parshendi Ancestor’s name. Sja-anat is the other Unmade.

I’m scared.

ON THE STAIRWELL? GoDDAMNIT THAT’S A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE PLACE FOR A FIGHT

 no

n

o

don’t

make kaladin

kill his parshendi friends

please

oh fuck, Moash is with Kaladin’s parshendi friends, isn’t he?

damn, I AM NOT READY FOR THIS

yeah, no SHIT The heart fled. I TOLD you Shallan couldn’t defeat that one.

but why is THIS one helping her? OR IS SHE

WHAT IS HAPPENING

GOOD DON’T KILL EACH OTHER PLEASE.

oh Kaladin

“He’s always been able to trick himself into seeing a battle as us against them. Protect those you love. Kill everyone else. But...but they didn’t deserve death. None of them did.” HI THIS IS MY GHOST TYPING, I AM DEAD NOW. Kaladin has come so far, from scraping along, doing everything he could to breathe, let alone survive, and now--look at him. Look at him realizing that everyone, everyone is doing the same thing he is. They are all of them fighting to survive, they are all of them fighting to protect what they love.

Everyone is the hero of their own story, even if they are a villain to you.

God, this book is so literary, it’s so strong. Be better. Do better than those who have wronged you. See yourself in those around you, even your enemy, and do better. Take responsibility for who you are and what you do and who you fight.  God, THIS BOOK.

Also, Kaladin trying to stop the fighting, I’m crying.

THEY ARE ALL DYING. I TOLD YOU THEY WOULD AND I TOLD YOU I WOULD CRY AND HERE I AM. SOBBING.

noooo

no no nono

I’ don’t

want this

put it

back

I’m

Elhokar waS SO CLOSE OH M Y GOD HE

ONE MORE WORD OF THE IDEAL GOD DAMNIT

Moash

of course

he always wanted to kill the king

fuck

I knew this was coming because I got fucking spoiled but it still hurt like a punch to the gut

FUCK, HE KNEW KALADIN WAS THERE AND HE DID IT ANYWAY

god

f u ck

I’m

he knew. he saluted. he didn’t even pause.

DAMMNIT, MOASH, YOU’RE BETTER THAN THIS.

god, Kaladin screamed, I’m

not okay

So much for Kholinar, god

“If we engage the device, we’ll be caught in a disaster.” AREN’T YOU ALREADY

...sapphire is windrunners, right? so why is the epitaph.........it’s a sapphire recording. A windrunner. “Am I not supposed to want to help people?” Does that mean...what is the Fourth Ideal of the Windrunners? The order of people who help people. Why...would their Fourth Ideal...not? be about helping people?

UGH, the radiant recordings make me SO NERVOUS ALL THE TIME.

1. I hate Taravangian. A Lot.

2. Here’s a thing: Navani spent a whole book and a half thinking her eldest child was dead, but holding out hope she was alive, and getting to have that vindication when Jasnah showed up. How...how long is she going to hold out hope that Elhokar somehow made it out alive only to have that shattered when the rest of them show up and he doesn’t?

ALSO FUN FACTS, DALINAR PROBABLY NOW THINKS ADOLIN, ELHOKAR, AND KALADIN--THREE OF HIS FOUR SONS--ARE DEAD, PROBABLY, SO THAT’S FINE, I’M FINE.

EVERYTHING’S FINE.

OH FUCK IT TOOK THEM TO SHADESMAR

WHY

OH MY GOD

WHERE’S JASNAH WHEN YOU NEED HER, SHE CAN NAVIGATE THIS SHIT

also !!!! PATTERN AND SYL AND ?????? ???? ?? ADOLIN’S?? SPREN????? PLEASE SAY IT’S ADOLIN’S SPREN. HIS BLADE. WHATEVER. PLEASE.

LET ADOLIN HAVE A SPREN 2K18

god, Vivenna: HARD SAME, GIRL

also, I forgot that she would have had to have come through the Cognitive Realm to get from Nalthis to Roshar, but heeeeheheheh yeah. She knows what she’s doing here, or at the very least has an idea. Excellent.

but FUCK

SHADESMAR

AND EVERYONE THINKS THEY’RE DEAD

and dear fucking god, Moash, you’re better than this, why must you continue to make REALLY BAD DECISIONS.

these are my priorities

leave me alone.

[sandymybeloved]

School Reunion is probably one of the lightest episodes Sarah Jane appears in post 2005, pretty impressive for a character with their own children's TV show

[swithe-ist]

my hot take on RTD returning: .... eh. Good! it feels like he wants to come back to fulfill his original vision of New Who, which is basically the MCU. Like, he had SJA and Torchwood and a bunch of other little, failed spin-offs alongside the main show. I don’t mind this, but the quality has to be there and, well, *gestures at Big Finish*.

All I want from the show rn is someone capable of delivering it on time, regularly, like 99% of other tv-shows manage to do. 10, 11 or 12 episodes out the door every year can’t be rocket science. It’s trashy, cheap sci-fi. Not the Wire or Mad Men.

Stop trying so hard to be prestige. I liked his more family-based take, it wasn’t as soapy as all that, but I can do without the doctor-assistant love stories. The power-gap is creepy and I think the new show’s pretty much covered every version of that by now. I like it when the family is involved - incorporating Yaz’s family was a bit of a let-down, but a good idea. Loved Demons of the Punjab. Likewise I loved Rose’s mum, Martha’s sister and parents, Donna’s grandfather.... that’s all iconic.

Let’s go back to that, and deliver on schedule, eh? I’m down.