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sflow-er · 1 year ago

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Some notes on the aristocracy in Sweden

I’ve decided to collect some of my research into the Swedish aristocracy into a post in case some of it could be of interest to other fanfic writers - or any other YR fans who want to learn or remind themselves how nobility works in Sweden.

I’ll start with some background info, move on to the current situation (with examples from YR), and finish with a couple of observations on names and emblems.

As always, any corrections and additions are much appreciated! I am sadly not Swedish myself, but my country was until 1809.

Some sources: Riddarhuset (logo pictured above), Ointroducerad Adels Förening and Ritarihuone, column by nobleman/author Niklas Natt och Dag, various history websites (e.g. this one and this one), Wikipedia (e.g. list of noble families and uradel), Svenska Dagbladet (e.g. book review and recent article), Adelsvapen Wiki, article on Scanian nobility getting EU subsidies and article on billionaires, history lessons in school, visits to historical sites, etc.

Relevant concepts & history

Adeln / the nobility: People belonging to the aristocracy i.e. the highest social class in a country.

In Sweden, there are two kinds of nobility: titled and untitled. I’d say the closest English equivalent is the difference between (titled) nobility and landed gentry. The latter aren’t considered noble as such under the English system but are basically the same as untitled nobility under the Swedish system.

The titles are greve & grevinna (count & countess) and friherre & friherrinna (baron & baroness); count is higher than baron. A handful of naturalised families of also bear foreign titles.

Hertig & hertiginna (duke & duchess) are reserved for the Royal House and are the only titles the monarch is allowed to grant today. (In the show, only Wille and Erik are close enough to the Crown to be dukes.)

Untitled nobility used to have different ranks, but they don’t anymore. Initially, they came from humbler/more recently elevated origins than titled families (e.g. knights, high-ranking public servants, successful bourgeoisie) or were otherwise less powerful, but this distinction disappeared in the early 1700s.

Most noble families go back to the 1700s or further. From 1865, ennoblement was reserved for special conditions, and no new families have been ennobled since 1902. The monarch lost this power entirely in 1974 (with the exception of the ducal titles).

Frälse: A term used in the Middle Ages to refer to the privileged classes. The non-clerical frälse became adel in the 1500s/1600s.

Frälse referred to exemption from tax and was granted in exchange for supplying fully equipped horsemen for the king’s army. It also included other privileges, e.g. eligibility for the highest public offices.

From 1420 on, frälse became hereditary. Families whose forebears were frälse before this change are known as uradel. One of them is Horn.

In the 1500s to 1600s, the requirements changed. The new adel were just ennobled by the grace of the king.

In the late 1600s, the Crown took back some of the land given to the nobility. This sped up their transition into an elite class of public servants, as some old families lost power and new ones rose up.

(Riks)stånd / estate (of the realm): One of the classes under the social hierarchy and political system that existed in Europe from the Middle Ages on.

There were four estates in Sweden: clergy, nobility, burghers/bourgeoisie (urban merchants), and peasants (only a small portion of the entire peasantry). The clergy and nobility held the most power at the ståndsriksdag (diet of the estates).

The nobility gained more power again in the early 1700s when the monarchy was weak, but the tables turned towards the end of the century. The monarchy grew stronger again and the noble houses’ privileges started to be stripped away.

By the time the estate system was abolished in 1866, the bourgeoisie had gained a lot more power (largely thanks to the industrial revolution).

Riddarhuset / House of Nobility: An organisation of noble families, established in 1626.

Under the estate system, a family had to be introduced into the House of Nobility to participate in politics. Some unintroduced noble families still exist, most of them of foreign origin.

Today, Riddarhuset is just an association that upholds traditions, grants scholarships, catalogues the families in Adelskalendern (the Swedish Peerage Book), etc.

Every three years, the heads of the families (oldest living men) gather to make decisions at adelsmötet, the Assembly of Nobles.

That feels like a fitting segue to the current situation.

Some current statistics

The aristocracy only make up 0.2% of Sweden’s population today.

There are about 28,000 introduced nobles belonging to 657 houses, plus about 450 unintroduced nobles belonging to 100 houses, alive today.

Out of the 657 introduced houses, 480 are untitled, 131 are baronial, and 46 are comital houses.

Approximately 50% of introduced nobles live in Stockholm and the surrounding region, 25% elsewhere in Sweden, and 25% abroad.

The overwhelming majority of nobles aren’t rich or powerful. The ones who are may be disproportionately rich and powerful, and even the ones who aren’t may still benefit from their ancestry.

Out of the 542 billionaires in Sweden, 32 are noble (6%). Their fortune is usually inherited, and many of them belong to the most influential families in Sweden.

The aristocracy are also major landowners. The days of them owning up to 40% of all land are long gone, but they still own roughly 400,000 hectares / 4,000 sqkm / 1,544 sqm south of the Dal River. Especially in Skåne/Scania, where their holdings amount to 46% of all farmland. Scanian nobles are the biggest recipients of agricultural subsidies in the EU. (This is what Simon was referencing in S1E1; Henry definitely isn’t from Skåne, but his father’s estate gets subsidies all the same.)

Nobles are also overrepresented in high-paying jobs and related fields of study, as well as elite schools (e.g. the ones Hillerska is based on).

Rules on who counts as noble

[Apologies for the binary language that cannot be avoided.]

Only noble-born men can pass their rank on, and only to their wedded spouse and biological children by said spouse. This rule is based on centuries-old royal orders, but the Assembly of Nobles has the power to change it. They simply don’t want to, so...

A nobleman’s spouse becomes noble, regardless of sex. They retain their rank after divorce/in widowhood but lose it upon remarriage.

If one of the Society boys - say, Henry - married a man, his husband would become noble. If they got divorced, the ex-husband could not pass the rank on to his children.

August’s mother Louise was very likely a countess or baroness while married to Carl Johan, as most of the Horn family branches have been titled. Marrying Rickard will have cost her the title.

Noble-born children remain noble for life (nobility can’t be renounced). Women cannot pass it on, and men can only pass it on according to the rules.

Felice can only be noble if Poppe is.

Felice is noble for life, but her children won’t be, unless she marries into another noble house. If House Ehrencrona has no male descendants, it will become ‘extinct’ in the male line, whether or not Felice’s children have her last name.

Biological children can be ‘legitimised’ after birth. If August discovered that he had a son and the mother agreed to marry him, the son would become his noble heir.

Adoptive children cannot be ‘legitimised’ at all. If Vincent and his future wife decided to adopt a son and had a biological daughter later on, only the daughter would be considered noble.

The exclusion of children by anyone other than a wedded spouse means that Henry and his husband could not have a ‘legitimate’ heir even by going abroad for surrogacy.

So, by swearing to prevent the extinction of their noble families, the Society boys are actually swearing to marry a woman and have babies with her. Preferably male babies.

Firstborn sons

The emphasis on firstborn sons is more of a tradition than a rule today. The firstborn will become the head of the family and has historically been the one whose responsibility it is to continue the bloodline, but in most families, all children are considered noble. In fact, a count’s sons are all counts and his daughters are all countesses, even while their father is still alive! And when the time comes, all the children inherit their share of the family estate (with wills etc. taken into account).

However, there are two notable exceptions.

Families ennobled after 1809 are subject to male-only primogeniture. Inheritance works the same as in any other family, but only the head of the family is considered noble.

Around 15 landed estates in Sweden are still subject to fideicommissum - an ancient legal instrument that allows the firstborn to inherit the entire estate. In the old days, these were very common. They were set to expire from 1964 on, but families could petition for an extension, with each generation arguing that their estate had particular cultural-historical value and should be kept intact. New petitions are being denied now; the number was still 25 in 2019.

So if most noble families don’t fall into either of the above categories and don’t even have any special privileges anymore, what does any of this matter?

Well, it matters to them.

Value of nobility today

Many aristocrats are very proud of their noble roots and want to pass those on. They have their own networks and clubs; e.g. Ridderskapet och Adelns Ungdomsklubb (RAUK) for 18-35-yo members of introduced noble families. The photo above is from their summer ball in 2016.

The quote by a young (presumably queer) countess interviewed in one of the SvD articles above is quite illustrative. Nobility doesn’t matter when she dates women since they can’t pass it on anyway, and lack of nobility is not a dealbreaker even when she dates men. But it is definitely a selling point if her kids could grow up noble and inherit their dad’s title.

The two noblemen interviewed in the same article are indifferent to the matter of passing it on, and one of them even says he can’t be proud of an ancestry that exploited those under them. However, it’s worth noting that these guys are outliers for talking to the reporter at all. The many land-owning nobles who refused, e.g. the guy who jokingly said ��we’re doing well here at the top”, might see it differently. In general, it’s hard to get the elite to talk about their privileges - this was also described in Agnes Hellström’s book Att vara utan att synas about the real boarding schools, which I’ve posted about before.

Anyway, nobility also matters to the rest of the upper classes. The pecking order among those who all have ridiculous amounts of wealth isn’t just based on who has the most money. What matters is how long they’ve been able to retain their wealth, what else they have besides just money, and crucially, how much social capital they’ve amassed as part of the elite.

So-called upstarts who only just made their money lack connections, are ‘out of the loop,’ and don’t know the social codes necessary to fit in. A typical example is that the nouveau riche may be eager to show off their newly improved lot in life, while the established elite strive to act humble about it.

This disdain for new money is demonstrated in YR by August’s look when he introduces Alexander as “son of Ulf Bragé, owner of Bragé Investments” - and of course the way Rickard sticks out like a sore thumb at Parents’ Day. He shows up in a flashy car and expects valet service, unlike the alumni who parked their own expensive but nondescript cars, and he’s also very ungraceful at the table when Wille snubs August.

As seen in the show, information in the form of gossip and rumours, as well as connections in the form of who knows whom, are essential.

Old families haven’t just sat on their money, they’ve invested it in their estates and things like works of art over the centuries. Those are so valuable precisely because they aren’t strictly ‘necessary’ - it’s not real wealth if you have to keep it all at hand. It is considered an enormous shame to have to sell up, as seen with Årnäs in the show.

So maybe it does make sense after all. The nobility have been ‘in the loop’ since way before the bourgeoisie became a thing, and they are such an exclusive lot that the only way to join their ranks is by birth or marriage. That’s the kind of social capital that money can’t buy - directly, that is. Historically, nobles who fell on hard times often found a spouse among the rich bourgeoisie, trading some of their prestige for an economic lifeline.

Speaking of joining their ranks, I want to conclude this with a quick look at two emblems/markers of nobility, so to speak.

Noble names and coats of arms

There are a few different types of noble family names in Sweden, the most prevalent being compound names made up of two words. To distinguish from regular Swedish surnames, noble names often have rather lofty or unusual meanings. For example:

Gyllen - golden, Silfver - silver, Adel/Edel - noble, Ehren - honour/glory, Lejon/Leijon/Löwen - lion, Gripen - griffin, Adler - eagle, Oxen - ox, Lager - laurel, Ceder - cedar...

...stierna - star, crona/krona - crown, svärd - sword, sköld/skiöld - shield, hielm - helm, crantz - wreath, stråle - ray of light, etc.

These can also be combined with more commonly used parts: felt, gren, etc. Some of them may be in a longer, older form: Linden- instead of Lind-, Rosen- instead of Ros-, and so on.

Not all names made up of these parts are noble names! They can also be names that only survive in the female line, or names made up by people who maybe liked the sound of noble names. Furthermore, these are not the only type of noble names out there. A few examples from the long list on Wikipedia, which includes extinct names:

Very simple names: Horn, Grip, Sparre, Creutz, Uggla, etc. These are usually old names with meanings that were easy to paint on a shield.

Non-Swedish names: Walkendorff, Breitholz, Nauckhoff, De la Grange, Duwall, etc. Many of these belong to families who immigrated centuries ago, predominantly from Denmark, present-day Baltics, or present-day Germany.

Names that include a place of origin (town, region or estate): De Geer, von Hofsten, Svinhufvud i Västergötland, Wachtmeister af Johannishus, Hamilton af Hageby, Munck af Fulkila, etc. Or indeed names made to sound like this, such as von Essen.

Names composed of the preposition ‘af’ and the original family name, to signal that they are descended from someone: af Huss, af Sandeberg, etc. Vincent’s last name in YR, af Klintskog, follows this pattern.

Branches of the same family, distinguished by their estate names: Horn af Åminne, Horn af Kanckas, etc. I guess we can add Horn af Årnäs to the list for YR.

And so on. If you need a noble name for a character, you can look at the list for inspiration - or even just use an existing name. This is what the writers have done in YR with both Felice and August.

Ehrencrona used to be a real name: untitled family number 879, ennobled in 1675 and extinct in 1917. Another branch of the same family was ennobled under the name Ehrenkrona in the same year, as baronial family number 210, and that one is still alive today. Here are their coats of arms - untitled Ehrencrona on the left and baronial Ehrenkrona on the right.

Each family has a coat of arms, and a number in the House of Nobility. The first 100 numbers were drawn at random, the rest are chronological.

Noblemen often bear some part of their coat of arms on a signet ring on their little finger, like the one we see August wear in the show. The ring can also just be engraved with their monogram, or a combination of both. In fact, Chrille/Krille wears one too, if you look closely at the Society party scene! Here’s a screenshot of August’s:

The show may not be allowed to use the real heraldic imagery for legal reasons. Most of the branches of the Horn family are extinct, but the main branch, the comital family Horn af Åminne, is still alive. YR can probably get away with inventing a new branch as long as they don’t make the connection to the real family too obvious.

If the coat of arms was accurate, it should include a variation of the typical horn (left) and various things around it, similar to the Horn af Åminne coat of arms (right). I don’t know anything about heraldry, but titled houses often have a whole lot of stuff going on there, symbolising their history and position.

An interesting detail about the signet rings is that in the article mentioned above, one of the men is described as wearing his ring all through their interview, but hiding it when it’s time to take photos. He says “it’s one thing to wear it privately and another thing to show it in a newspaper,” even though he uses it to sign his books sometimes. Which fascinates me - he’s the same guy who said he wasn’t proud of his ancestry and even wrote the satirical column on nobility linked above, but I guess the signet ring still isn’t just any old trinket to him.

So, that’s it! Thank you for reading all this way! As I said at the start, any additions and corrections are most welcome.

#young royals #young royals meta #swedish nobility #swedish aristocracy #fic writing #fic research #fanfic resource

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nordleuchten · 1 year ago

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I was tagged by @clove-pinks, @my-deer-friend and @ouiouixmonami for the book thingy. :-) Thank you very much and apologies that it took me so long.

Last Read: 1793 by Niklas Natt och Dag. Probably never before have I re-read a book so quickly. After finishing the last book of the triology (1795) I had to read 1793 again because ... I had feelings after reading 1795.

Current Read: Die letzte Reise der Meerjungfrau by Imogen Hermes Gowar. This book is absolutly not what I usually read - but boy, this story is outstanding. "Realistic" fantasy set in 18th century London and characters that you have to love.

Next Read: So, I have the terrible habit of reading several books at the same time and therefor Des Kummers Nacht by Ralph Knobelsdorf is not the next book to begin but the next book that I actually intend to finish. :-)

Since I am so late to the party, I have no idea you has already done this and who not. If you have a great book that you want to share, feel yourself tagged by me.

#tagged #tag game #personal #books #1793 #die letzte reise der meerjungfrau #des kummers nacht

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graveyardrabbit · 2 years ago

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I was tagged by @chiropteracupola, thank you!

last song: pretty sure it was “Children On Stun” by The March Violets

currently watching: I have one last episode to go of the most recent season of Yellowjackets and then I’ll be between things to watch (I have a very long To Watch List and so little time)

currently reading: currently bouncing around between Post Captain by Patrick O’Brian (as an audiobook, which I’m counting for the purposes of answering this question, and which means this has become my go-to Thing To Play At Work), The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt och Dag, and a re-read of For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

current obsession: I’m so good at being obsessed with things, let me see...both the Aubrey-Maturin series and For The Term of his Natural Life as far as media goes, also my current embroidery project, going out and looking at birds, and various history, medical, and medical history topics I’m always rotating in my mind (this isn’t all the obsessions just the ones I can remember right now)

I’ll tag @the-antlered-cryptid, @little-flame-prince @blindrapture @helensbridge @mg549 @maltusianscientist @crankyfemme, @herbertwest @nymm-of-night and if anyone else who sees this wants to join in please consider yourself tagged!

#tag game #thank you!#finally I can brain enough to do this

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inkotinko · 1 year ago

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I got niklas natt och dags new book but i dont have time to read it as im in a bookcircle about another book i have to read and im going a little insane over that☝️

#me blabbering

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dxppercxdxver · 1 year ago

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tagged by @chiropteracupola!! we will See how many books i can for real remember

rules: list ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

1. The Rook - Daniel O’Malley: OUGHHH favorite book of all time and i’m not at All exaggerating. it is the pinnacle of literature to me, with a great balance of humor and drama and mystery and the supernatural and also the main character is sooooooooo. i cannot describe how insane in the head she makes me

2. Feel the Fear - Lauren Child: technically the Entire ruby redfort series lives in my brain rent free but the fourth one in particular ticks Every box to me. vintage cinema. circus performers. poetry. actual Lasting Consequences Of Trauma in a main character. skateboarding? idk it’s so fucking good and i think about it constantly

3. There, There - Tommy Orange: we had to read this for ap lit my senior year and i genuinely think about it So often its prose is so evocative and good to the brain and it Evokes such physicality and the turns of phrase are so cool and also it’s a really well structured story that’s clever and complicated (fun) and makes your heart hurt and i genuinely recommend it all the time

4. A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle: i feel like this one iiiiis self explanatory but also!! the platonic ideal of holmes and watson To Me!!! exuberant and young and jittery and two steps from shaking themselves apart and so full of love and adoration for each other!!!!! AUGH!!!!!

(and here is when i start forgetting books)

5. The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: California - Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, & Becky Cloonan: comics of break your brain forever n ever n ever. full of sadness and beautiful art and lesbian robots and a Kitty (big kitty baby kitty evil kitty <3)

6. Animorphs - K. A. Applegate: books that i think about aaaaaall the time in some way because i love Meat in my sci-fi (y’all remember the allergic reaction to crocodile dna? because I DO)

7. The Wolf and the Watchman - Niklas Natt Och Dag: y’know what fuck it cecil winge and mickel cardell got real in my brain earlier this year so they get to join the list. due to there’s MEAT and DETECTIVES and PALPABLE HOMOEROTICISM (my best friends weird detective guys ough augh)

8. It Devours! - Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor: noticing a theme here in that there is also Meat in this one. but also the story of something far bigger than you could ever comprehend Coming For You and the quiet dread of keeping something from your partner and carrying the burden alone and also sometimes relationships Don’t Work and that’s Fine (and also there is a massive worm)

9. Lord of the Flies - William Golding: another school read! me n my friends went Real Weird about this book at the ripe old age of thirteen. don’t remember much of it now other than Jack The Chorus Boy but i do remember having big feelings about it then

10. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson: for a Wildly different reason than em, because i don’t remember. anything? about it? read it for school when i was eleven or twelve and promptly lost all memory of the entire story BUT. i built a model ship for it for my final project and i think that jumpstarted the current Big Boat Feelings that i have some eight or nine years ago

tagging: @nico-demons, @firstmatedville, @wilhelmina-murray-harker, @natdrinkstea, and @haijinks :)

#tag game #radio free junebug #captain cupola #OOF some of these were REACHES

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forislynx · 8 months ago

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Liv söker liv. Människan lever inte väl tillsammans, men hon klarar sig inte ensam.

Ödet och hoppet, Niklas Natt och dag

#ödet och hoppet #niklas natt och dag #skönlitteratur #människan #gemenskap #sammanhållning

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foolish-neko-reads · 1 year ago

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"1795" Ніклас Натт-о-Даґ

Нарешті я маю на руках усю серію. Знаю, що ще є видання у вигляді коміксу, але дуже сумніваюся, що воно колись з'явиться в Україні.

Ця книжкова серія - чи не найкраще читання за цей рік. За довгі роки. Вона напевне увійде у мій перелік найулюбленіших творів. Під час купівлі першої книги мені й на думку не спало, що зрештою ці книги принесуть мені таке задоволення.

Мені подобається похмура атмосфера старого Стокгольму, де поєднується розкіш та занепад, море та дощі, приреченість та надія, моральний розклад та гідність. Історичний Стокгольм змальований без екзальтованого піднесення, Ніклас Натт-о-Даґ фарбує його у сірі кольори. Сонячного світла цій історії додають зворушливі персонажі.

Й Сесіл, й Мікель, й Еміль, й Анна Стіна - всі вони багатогранні, захоплюючі, цікаві. Вони викликають співчуття та співпереживання. В кожному із них є щось, що доторкається до серця та думок. Шкода з ними розлучатися, але у 1795 році їхня історія добігає кінця. Й хоч всі вони заслужили на дрібку талану та щастя, випадуть вони лише на долю Анни Стіни.

Якщо я правильно зрозумів, Мікель вчинив самогубство. Його можна зрозуміти, але разом з ним, здається, померла надія на визволення Еміля.

Еміля шкода більше за всіх. Життя над ним й так познущалося, а скніти у божевільні до скону - це взагалі пекло ще за життя. Хочеться сподіватися, що якимсь чином йому вдасться знов втекти звідти. І хоча Сесіл, який допоміг йому минулого разу, вже мертвий, мені все одно кортить видумати якийсь щасливий випадок. Може написати фікс-іт?

Я досі під враженням від цієї серії. Вона неймовірна і неймовірно мене зворушила. Але дуже засмутила. Найбільше, звісно, засмутило нещастя Еміля. Він не заслуговує на це. Не розумію, чому Мікелю потрібно було запроторити Еміля у божевільню, чому не виторгував йому забуття? Якщо вже він вирішив покінчити зі своїм життям, чому б просто не залишити Еміля на самого себе? Гадаю, Мікель добрими намірами вимостив дорогу до пекла. Можливо Булін його обдурив, не знаю. Навряд він розумів, що для Еміля майже неможливим буде втекти. І все одно... Трохи злюся на Мікеля. Врешті він ви��вився дійсно не дуже розумним, чи краще сказати обачним. Підставив єдину людину, яка його цінувала.

Одним словом, сумно. Мені дуже сподобалося читати цю серію, вона жодного разу не схибила у тому, щоб викликати почуття. Але на разі ці почуття сумні та неоднозначні. Не знаю, чи захочу коли-небудь перечитати ці книжки. Можливо. Але точно знаю, що якщо побачу у майбутньому новий твір Нікласа Натт-о-Даґа - точно придбаю та прочитаю.

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redonschimera · 19 days ago

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it was meant to be an art blog at first, but, being honest, it is not going to happen any time soon, so I'll just list the things I'm interested in and potentially can discuss, feel free to dm

Bellman Noir series by Niklas Natt och Dag

ACD and any other Sherlock Holmes

Dostoevsky

French and English literature (but very poorly)

Mozart

Soviet cinema

linguistics

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chiropteracupola · 1 year ago

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i'm afraid i do not know what &c is but i am intrigued by tavern futures / lesbian handicrafts time

'this is my first the wolf and the watchman' fic', says the guy who swore so vehemently that they would write no fics for this book ever at all. as you can see, I have failed to follow through on that promise and am in fact writing Two now.

so I got absolutely knocked head-over-heels by the way that johanna makes her exit from the narrative of this book, and also by the end of it all was just very very tired of anna stina having nearly every awful thing that could possibly happen to her Happen. and thus I wanted to write something where 1) johanna is fine and 2) very few further tragical happenings occur and 3) as a treat for me they might even kiss about it. also because a few months ago I learned to spin yarn and now I am (as is usual) obsessed with applying Craft Skills I Learned into my fics.

so this is a story called Johanna Gets Out Of The Workhouse and this is a story called Where Else To Go Than The Safe Place You Made For Your Friend and this is a story called Taking The Skills You Used To Use For Keeping Yourself Alive And Using Them To Make The Future Better.

[also I'm going to go right ahead and pretend the sequels don't exist both for the sense of this fic and also just in general. I have a Foreboding that niklas natt och dag might be setting up for cardell/anna stina in the rest of the series and I have no interest in it*]

“Will you stop your fussing?” Johanna’s eyes glinted sharply, and Anna Stina was glad to see her friend’s familiar fire. So determined, as always, to have things her own way. “I think I’ve earned the right to a bit of fussing,” she replied, pulling her shawl a little more closely around Johanna’s shoulders. “Living with Tulip has made you as silly as he is,” said Johanna, but there was more of a laugh to her voice than Anna Stina had ever heard in all those dark nights when Johanna had sat at the foot of her bed and measured out tales in exchange for new-spun string. Now it was Anna Stina who sat at the foot of the bed, thick new-bought stockings keeping her feet from the cold of the floorboards. Things were not as they had been before at all, at all, and she drew her feet up under her skirts, resting her heels against the bed-frame. “Come and sit with me,” said Johanna, her knees tucked close to her chest under the quilt. It was a faded old thing, worn at the corners where it had not yet been mended, but still thick and warm despite its age. Perhaps it had been the childhood blanket of the real Lovisa Ulrika Tulip — Anna Stina had not asked, for fear of shattering the fine layer of falsehood that still lay between her and her foster-father. But no matter the girl whose quilt it had been, for she was years gone from Stockholm, and had only entered into Anna Stina’s life by the empty space she had left behind. There was another such empty place at Johanna’s side, in that bed in the upper story of the Scapegrace that ought to have been hers and her erstwhile husband’s, and Anna Stina fitted herself into it neatly.

#em writes stuff #actually. would it hurt to maintag this. there are four maybe five people on this whole website who Care and one of them is me.#we are being confident today I think and I Will maintag that #the wolf and the watchman #so yeah. Family Of anna stina and her kid and her not-really-her-dad and her girlfriend who is both Okay and Present.#*if you have read 1794/1795 and thus Have Information then please Keep Me In The Dark About It. thankee.#OH YEAH AND the '&c' is just for things that it didn't feel worthwhile to sort into their own full sections. it's 'etc' basically.

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