#or everything is crowley's fault because he is a terrible terrible administrator
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With the best of your writing or drawing ability, how do you sum up Twisted Wonderland Book 1 till Book 6?
I'm so sorry to make you wait so long for such a stupid joke
#art#twisted wonderland#shockingly not really spoilers for once?#i apologize that this isn't cleverer but. it's true.#either everything is crowley's fault because he has some secret vaguely-implied diabolical plot#or everything is crowley's fault because he is a terrible terrible administrator#frankly i'm becoming increasingly convinced that this man couldn't mastermind his way out of a paper bag#this is 100% a pro-crowley post btw. i love this birdbrain.#look he's been running this school for (mumblemumble) years and everything was FINE#but you let a handful of students turn into horrible monsters and suddenly it's 'negligence' this and 'unfit for your position' that#and that's not even including when he let a teacher take the students into the woods and then hunt them for sport#...twice#like ambrose has never had to cover up a little grievous bodily harm. as if.
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crowley’s apprentice
**some creds to the RA discord for helping snowball this idea along
it makes no sense that crowley, as one of the bright young rangers taught by pritchard (one of the most respected figures in the corps) to not have an apprentice. like, yes, he was busy with being commandant and rebuilding, but it’s also only logical for the commandant to have an apprentice skilled at administrating and ready to take over for them if anything were to happen.
so, using the fandom’s Override Canon at Any Oppurtunity function, we have collectively decided to give Crowley an apprentice:
Gideon joins the Corps after the Battle of Hackham Heath. He participated in the battle as a squire, and he saw what difference a Ranger made in turning the tide of the battle. He decides to apply to the newly-reforming Corps after Araluen was secured once again.
At sixteen, already a renowned swordsman, he has spent four years under MacNeil, two in the Battleschool of Caraway, and he has been riding and shooting since he could walk.
As a plus, he is the oldest son of Sir David, the King’s cavalry commander. He is charismatic, brilliant, inquisitive, thorough, and talented, the person his brother yearns to be, the pride of his father’s life and the joy of Crowley’s.
Two years later, Gilan is thrown into a creek by the Ranger Halt and begins his apprenticeship in earnest as well. And for a while, everything is happy. Halt and crowley are closer than brothers, and now their apprentices are siblings as well. Gideon was one of the only warriors who could defeat Gilan at the sword. At Gil’s first Gathering, Gideon sees him and slings him over his shoulders despite the protests, carrying him the rest of the way to the Gathering Ground.
He is overconfident to the point of recklessness as his only fault. but Crowley smiles fondly and lets it pass. He remembers when he was the same during his apprenticeship: bright with the optimism of youth, swaggering and sure of himself. He will temper with age, he tells Halt. Let the boy be a child.
Gideon would never grow out of boyhood.
<>~<>~<>
There is a lot of administrative work these days for Crowley to handle. There are rumors to investigate, treaties to rewrite, rangers to commission. But, as always, there are also enemies of Araluen to track and kill, bandits to clear from the roads, and smugglers to flush from their dens. One man, even if that man is a Ranger Commandant, can’t keep track of it all.
So Gid volunteers to. He takes up residence in the cabin near Castle Araluen, spending time there in two-week chunks. He represents Crowley in his dealings with criminals, and through him, the King.
It isn’t like the power gets to his head or anything. but when you are a teenager (a kid, really), there is always a certain amount of arrogance involved. It is always you against the world, and there is no chance you will not emerge the victor. The world is painted gold with the promise of a bright future, and it is your oyster.
but there is no time to be a child in the aftermath of war.
Morgarath learns of this development through his network of spies. He has spent four years now nursing his wounds, letting his bitter hatred for the ranger corps fester. and before Halt is famous and immortalized in the songs of bards, it is Crowley, the young Commandant, that is the face of the Corps.
But Crowley is difficult to get to. He’s one of the best and brightest Rangers, and he’s based within Castle Araluen itself, the impenetrable fortress that Morgarath didn’t dare take even when he was strong. Halt is just as difficult to attack, because he’s located in Redmont, a large and populous fief. So who does he target?
Reports leak into Castle Araluen about bears, large, shambling, killing livestock and farmers in the countryside. It seems like a routine enough job: Crowley dispatches his apprentice to take care of them.
They were not bears.
These were the days where Morgarath had at his disposal the darkest creatures of myth and legend, and among them were the three Kalkara. and one apprentice, no matter how talented or bright, has no chance against the hunting Kalkara. Especially if he is caught unawares.
Gideon tracks the creatures into the forest. The paws seem too large, half again as wide as a man’s hand, and he thinks that there might be an extra toe, but the path is muddy and it’s difficult to tell. Suddenly, his horse shies underneath him and skips backward, but then she freezes altogether and collapses. Her heart has stopped of sheer terror. As she falls, Gideon just manages to kick himself free of the saddle. He goes for his sword, then realizes it will not be enough.
Facing him is one of the ape-like beasts, standing nine feet tall with scaly skin and luminous yellow eyes. They draw him like a moth to flame, and it takes all his willpower to drop his gaze. His brain is working well enough to recognize that if a creature wants you to look it in the eyes, it is probably not a good idea to look it in the eyes.
Faster than thought, he draws his throwing knife and hurls it at the creature’s face. It sinks nearly hilt-deep into its cheek: Gideon is just mere inches off-target, but mere inches could cost him his life. The Kalkara bellows in pain and he feels a moment of satisfaction, but his heart freezes as he hears an answering bellow.
Two answering bellows.
Gideon darts for the river, just a hundred meters away, wades across it, and dives behind a boulder. He can practically feel the Kalkara’s hypnotizing eyes on him, daring him to look up. He still doesn’t know what these things are, but his instincts are sound. His horse looked at those eyes, and his horse is now dead. Bottom line: do not look at the eyes.
He hears a splash and realizes the first Kalkara has followed him all the way to the river. Gideon closes his eyes. He cannot outrun. He can cower and hide, or he can stand and fight.
As the monster bears down on him, he fires arrow after arrow at its face, hoping to blind those terrible eyes. It is halfway across the river. Three-quarters.
His third arrow takes it in the right eye, and his fifth the left. It screams, an unearthly, undulating sound, and leaps for the bank, intent only on punishing the one that caused it such agony.
The first blow shatters Gid’s longbow and numbs his right arm all the way up to the shoulder. He claws his sword out of its sheath with his left hand, and metal meets flesh as the Kalkara strikes at him again. He scores a long cut along his forearm, but the force of the blow nearly knocks the weapon from his fingers.
Before he has time to rally, the third hit drives him to his knees, cracking ribs and setting his lungs on fire. He can barely roll out of the way as the Kalkara stumbles and collapses next to him, having finally vanquished its archenemy.
Briefly, he wonders if the sun is setting early, but then realizes his eyesight is dimming; there is no coming back from this. Crowley, he thinks as his vision goes black. Crowley, I failed.
<>~<>~<>
Three days later, when a panic-stricken Crowley finally receives the report from the search parties, he thinks the same thing. It should have been him out there. It should have been him facing the Kalkara.
He can practically see Morgarath sneering at him. A child has died because of you. You couldn’t protect one apprentice—how will you ever protect forty-nine Rangers?
A hot rage rises in his chest. Morgarath had taken Pritchard from him, nearly taken Halt, and now he had taken Gideon as collateral damage with one goal in mind: to hurt Crowley as much as possible.
In a way, it does work. Crowley never takes another apprentice. He no longer trusts himself to bring up another promising young Ranger and see so much potential squandered because of him. He does not want to bury another child.
But Crowley does not let Morgarath win. He does not rest until Morgarath is well and truly dead. For three decades, he serves as the Corps Commandant, longer than any before him and any after him.
“Married to his job”, the people joke, but they are actually not far from the truth.
Crowley is guarding Gideon’s legacy.
#ranger's apprentice#crowley meratyn#ra headcanon#ra fanfic#rangers apprentice#morgarath#gilan davidson
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Yeah! You should of hired one, CROWLEY!!!! That way those boys can get some actually help and not a helpless person who can’t really defend themselves and is almost always on the edge of a mental breakdown due to stress + homesickness.
With the best of your writing or drawing ability, how do you sum up Twisted Wonderland Book 1 till Book 6?
I'm so sorry to make you wait so long for such a stupid joke
#art#twisted wonderland#shockingly not really spoilers for once?#either everything is crowley's fault because he has some secret vaguely-implied diabolical plot#or everything is crowley's fault because he is a terrible terrible administrator#frankly i'm becoming increasingly convinced that this man couldn't mastermind his way out of a paper bag#this is 100% a pro-crowley post btw. i love this birdbrain.#look he's been running this school for (mumblemumble) years and everything was fine#but you let a handful of students turn into horrible monsters and suddenly it's 'negligence' this and 'unfit for your position' that#i apologize that this isn't cleverer but. it's true.#egophiliac’s art
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#either everything is crowley's fault because he has some secret vaguely-implied diabolical plot#or everything is crowley's fault because he is a terrible terrible administrator#frankly i'm becoming increasingly convinced that this man couldn't mastermind his way out of a paper bag#this is 100% a pro-crowley post btw. i love this birdbrain.#look he's been running this school for (mumblemumble) years and everything was FINE#but you let a handful of students turn into horrible monsters and suddenly it's 'negligence' this and 'unfit for your position' that#and that's not even including when he let a teacher take the students into the woods and then hunt them for sport#...twice#like ambrose has never had to cover up a little grievous bodily harm. as if. (op’s tags are magnificent as ever)
With the best of your writing or drawing ability, how do you sum up Twisted Wonderland Book 1 till Book 6?
I'm so sorry to make you wait so long for such a stupid joke
3K notes
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View notes