#part two of cardan and mephisto are the same guy

[keepofkandrakar]

continuing from this post, i think i’ve figured out why i ship talisto and i blame it all on holly black: jude duarte and cardan greenbriar are talia and mephisto coded.

lemme try to explain the dynamics.

Jude & Talia

What’s there to say? They’re both badass strategists and natural-born leaders. They will make themselves heard and will not take nor tolerate bullshit. They are both clever with their plans and also don’t trust easily. Their guards are up constantly and they don’t tell their allies/friends everything (ie Jude’s coup and the whole Princess Brenda thing). They have also adapted to the rapid and traumatic changes in their lives — Jude with the murder of her parents and Talia with the fall of Xeris — and of course the adapting to a new world.

Sure, Jude takes things to an extreme by pursuing murder on occasion, but you can’t tell me that Talia wouldn’t do the same in her shoes (albeit with some hesitancy, but none the less will do so as a last resort). These two girls are a force to be reckoned with, and do all the research necessary to make sure they know all the facts and know all the plays to win.

Cardan & Mephisto

I don’t need to explain this. It’s so obvious that Holly went so far as to basically make Mephisto Cardan’s faceclaim.

Cardan and Mephisto are both younger siblings, so they are familiar with the shadow of their older — and better, in the eyes of their father figures or something — siblings. They also both have no shame in being the villain of their stories while also being sorta carefree and charismatic I MEAN LOOK AT THEM!! But they also, deep in the core of their soul, have goodness and love inside, and a strong urge to protect and sacrifice everything for those closest to them (Jude and Praxina respectively). They grow over the duration of their screentime/booktime into lovable and openly more caring characters.

Seriously guys the parallels between them are right fucking there.

Jurdan & Talisto

What else can I say? Enemies-to-lovers is the superior trope and if the Jurdan dynamic — while slightly questionable bc ✨bully romance✨ and just general canonical confusion — doesn’t give you tingles, imagine the applied to Talisto’s already current dynamic. I can already see Talia’s fuming face ready to absolutely destroy Mephisto and his obnoxious, degrading laughter as he walks away in Faerieland during their lessons. I can also see how the turns have tabled with Talia holding a knife to Mephisto’s neck and Talia’s grinning face as she pulls of the greatest coup in history…

I guess what I’m saying is that I would not be opposed to a Talisto Cruel Prince AU because it just makes sense.