#princess marya?

[lobotomy-jpeg]

Fuck it, Tumblr can have this one

HI MARYNAT NATION DID U MISS ME

[id: Digital sketch of Natasha and Marya from Great Comet. They are dancing. Natasha's hand is around Marya's waist and she's looking up at her. /end id]

[phantomrin]

Inktober 2023

Day 21 - Marya Morevna

Ivan-tsarevich asks, "If there's a man alive, answer me! Who defeated this great army?" A man alive answers, "This great army was defeated by Marya Morevna, the fair princess."

("Marya Morevna". A.N. Afanasiev's collection of Russian folk tales.)

New stuff available to my Boosty subscribers ;) https://boosty.to/phantomrin

[masochismustango]

Messy older and newer sketches ‘cause why the hell not actually?~

I’m in hospital - to answer your possible questions in advance I am pretty fine, just wanted to relax a bit staying outta society - and I’ve been sleeping days on end, sooooo have some unfinished pieces and simple/kind of study doodles I like the most c:

[clockworkbee]

on enduring

A Reaper at the Gates, Sabaa Tahir // Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare // The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern // Deathless, Catherynne M. Valente

[cinematicjourney]

Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo (2022) | dir. André Kadi, Marya Zarif

[flingmetothemoon]

An affectionate response to @hoybero's Tedward Lobo/Sunset Shimmer comparison, because why not make a post for Princess Luna and Marya Zaleska because I see absolutely no difference there either. Mysterious tragic night girls XD

Idk why she's so underutilized compared to Dracula and even Alucard, but I adore Marya! She's my favorite female monster! I think what I love the most about her is she's fiercely strong. And by strong, I don't just mean by her physical supernatural force or being an immortal vampire, but mainly her ability to live for a hundred years experiencing the worst, darkest moments of her life as a vampire + a gross sustenance addiction and mental illness allegory and still seek a normal life of calm, peace and joy full of happy memories along with everyone else, maybe even normal friends. To me, not only is that a sign of maturity, but also a sign of serious mental strength~💜

[storkmuffin]

Tolstoy leaves you little realizations buried underneath the apparent narrative like landmines. For example, when the narration stays with Princess Marya's thoughts, you forget that she's actually very wealthy, because she never ever, not once, not ever, even thinks about how vastly wealthy she is. Part of it is that she was raised badly by her evil idiot father, but most of it is because of her sheltered, clueless religiosity. So it comes as a shock that when Rostov meets her, he first notes her serene eyes, then puts an attractiveness filter over her IRL face composed of his awareness of her money. Her money is also the first thing anyone ever mentions about her in his social circle.

For another - the peasants seem to have good reasons for behaving as they do, and they even rebel a bit when Marya Bolkonsky tries to disrupt their lives. But the second military masculine power shows up to deal a single act of violence in the form of Nikolai Rostov, all of them fall directly in line. Total obedience from the serfs is achieved in literally minutes in the face of a very minor act of violence (knocking the hat off of someone as he's talking).

[atheologica]

война и мир tr. louise and aylmer maude

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

Harriet: check off even one goddamn reason why I shouldn't hit you right in the face!

Ginny: I'll open my mouth and swallow your whole arm

Marya: I am the last of my species

CJ: when you move in to punch me. I'm going to hold a bucket up in front of my face, and then your fist will just punch the inside of an empty bucket and you'll look ridiculous

Anthony: my mom specifically instructed me to have a good day!

Hadie: your first is so pristine

Gil: the scheduled walloping time isn't for another half hour

Lonnie: I took the oath never to get punched

Yzla: My teeth are not yet ready to be harvested

Claudine: I'd rather just do it myself

Chloe: My face is filled with boiling hot water that will shoot out everywhere if you hit me

Hailey: It would be way too rewarding

[lurking-latinist]

.

[lobotomy-jpeg]

Loving you is the one thing I'm certain I did right.

[id: Digital sketch of Marya Bolokonskaya and Natasha Rostova from Great Comet. They are both in winter coats (Natasha is wearing her white coat with the fur), embracing. A single knitted scarf is wrapped around both of them. They're smiling softly. /end id]

[various-stormsnsaints]

[rowenabean]

it has come to my attention that should you want to join me with my new blorbos there's a substack for that at @warandpeaceandemails

come talk to me about my russian faves

but also DON'T read their post on russian naming conventions there is a Very Large untagged spoiler (look it was still a spoiler to me - if a slightly unsurprising one - at page 1000 when I looked at the article out of curiosity. don't go there if you care. I care.)

[elrielffs]

This is just a loose theorizing by me about Gwyn's role in the future books and how this ties to Azriel and an Elriel story.

It's not meant to be anti-Gwyn. I actually really like Gwyn as a character but it does incorporate Lightsinger Gwyn and for some, this is anti-rhetoric.

This is just me kicking things around in my noggin' and nothing concrete but just loose attachments.

Under the cut cause it's kinda long.

I was thinking about some of the details we've been given in story and some meta things from SJM's pinterest. I don't really subscribe to the pinterest as end all be all but I do think some things are very interesting on it.

I do think SJM is pulling from various fairytales and myths, particularly Blodeuwedd, Koschei the Deathless and other Russian folktales, and The Little Mermaid. We know SJM takes inspiration from fairy tales.

First we have Blodeuwedd which SJM saved titling Elain. The story of Blodeuwedd is that she was made to be the perfect wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes but rejects him and falls in love with another, Gronw Pebr.

In the Koschei and the Deathless, we have Ivan Tsarevich who has 3 sisters that marry 3 winged wizards. Ivan saves Marya Morevna, a warrior princess, from Koschei and marries her.

I think the first two speaks for themselves on how they relate to ACOTAR so I won't delve to much into it but you can see how it relates to the story that is playing out.

Last is The Little Mermaid. We all know this story because of Disney and also it's probably one of the more well known fairy tales' but the broad strokes of the ORIGINAL telling is: The Little Mermaid falls in love with the human prince, makes a deal with the Sea Witch for her fins to be turned into legs to be with him on land, the prince falls in love with someone else, and the Mermaid is tasked by the Sea Witch with killing the prince to get her fins back but she can't do it because she loves the prince too much and instead turns into bubbles/foam/becomes an air spirit.

How does this relate to Gwyn?

Gwyn has been described many a time with ocean/water like imagery and has been stated to have nymph heritage. Her eyes are constantly described as the sunlit sea and she even says the quote," I am the rock on which the surf crashes."

We are also told about Lightsingers in the same book that Gwyn is introduced: They are ethereal beings who will lure their prey to them, appearing as friendly faces. Only when their prey were in their arms would their true faces emerge.

This shares many similarities to Sirens: creatures that live in or by the ocean, that lure victims to them with an alluring voice. Sirens have also become synonymous with mermaids, merging into one creature with siren and mermaid being used interchangeably to describe the one being.

Gwyn has show these same characteristics in story. Gwyn is shown to be a singer and have a beautiful voice and to also glow when she sings.

When Nesta hears Gwyn sing she describes it thus:

Drawing any listener in.

Nesta also says this about Gwyn upon first meeting her:

Gwyn also tells Nesta at one point that Nesta wouldn't like the "real" her.

I won't go too in depth to the Lightsinger theory because there are plenty of other posts floating around breaking it down better than me but suffice to say that there is a correlation between Gwyn's voice/singing=some type of power. This easily translates into Lightsinger/mermaid/siren imagery and theory.

Now this next part is just me spit balling and is more fast and loose and how this could tie into an Elriel story:

We don't know too much about Koschei in story except that he's a Death God and older brother to Stryga and the Bone Carver, beings who traveled from another world to Prythian (Daglan/Asteri?) and a powerful wizard that cursed Vassa.

At one point he tells Azriel he has "been preparing for you". What could this mean? Why has he been preparing for Azriel?

Why would Koschei, who is a powerful wizard, bargain with the Acheron's father, a human nobody? Is it because he is Elain's father?

Rhysand speculates that there's a possibility that the priestess have been infiltrated. We saw with Ianthe that not all priestess's harbor good intentions and in ACOWAR that the library can be broken into.

It has been highly speculated that Merrill, a priestess in the Library, is up to something. Is she in line with Koschei?

Who works under Merrill? Gwyn.

We know from HOFAS that the cauldron is corrupted by the Asteri/Daglan, a fact speculated by Azriel himself in the bonus chapter.

Is possible that Koschei as a Daglan/Asteri had a hand in corrupting the cauldron to mix up Elain's mates? Is that how Koschei "prepared" for Azriel?

And what about Gwyn working under Merrill? Gwyn could be manipulated and unknowingly assisting Koschei/Merrill or she could be working for them for some kind of favor--returning her sister Catrin to life?

Also, the fact that Gwyn and Catrin are twins can be used for shenanigan's. What if Gwyn is actually Catrin? (This is purely speculative on my part by the fact that they were made twins rather than just sisters.)

It's also mentioned that Catrin had webbed fingers. I love this little detail and wish Gwyn had them too but is there a reason she doesn't? Could this be to distinguish Catrin and Gwyn at a later date besides hair color?

Could Merrill/Koschei know about Gwyn's Lightsinger heritage and be using her as way to lure Azriel away from Elain?

What is one of the gifts Elain gets Azriel? Ear plugs.

We know it as a gag gift but we also know that Elain has visions--we don't know how fragmented or how fully she receives them but is is possible that she saw something that inspired her to give Azriel the ear plugs?

Is this to upset the balance of the 6 pointed star mentioned in HOFAS?

Could Gwyn, unknowingly or knowingly be working for Koschei to infiltrate the IC via Nesta and the training, lure Azriel away from Elain? Could Gwyn fall in love (this part is not needed, it can be just business on Gwyn's end) with Azriel but realize thru her connections with the Valkyries and training and Azriel that she can't go thru with it?

Let me reiterate, I don't think Gwyn is evil. I think she could be manipulated, coerced, or promised something she can't refuse to help or go along with Koschei/Merrill. She might not even know it's Koschei she is helping or that she is even in fact assisting. She could be manipulated into using her unknown Lightersinger powers.

Gwyn (the Mermaid) is promised/manipulated into using her Lightsinger powers by Koschei/Merrill (Sea Witch) to lure Azriel (the prince) away from Elain (the woman the prince loves) but the end she can't go thru with it either because she realizes it's wrong, realizes she's being manipulated or because she can't do that to Azriel.

I know there is more that can be conjected but this is already quite long and I didn't even delve into the Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty parallels.

I realize this could have been posted before and nothing new but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there and hear some more of my fellow Elriels!

[storkmuffin]

I wish Princess Marya had let herself indulge in fantasies about how free and fabulous her life could be if her father died. He was a vampiric evil parent who used up her life and youth as an exploitable reaource instead of parenting her. She deserved to be allowed to wish him dead and had she done so, she would have coped better. I love Tolstoy for demonstrating all this with such clarity.

[valkyriegwynb]

Why the tale of Koschie (Koschie the Deathless) doea not support the three brothers and three sisters trope of what a lot of people are hoping for.

Koschie the Deathless comes from Slavic mythology, often known as Koschie the the Immortal. There are many tales of how Koschie is immortal and where his power comes from but what SJM pulls from his story that was inspired by Andrew Lang's ‘ The Red Fairy Book’ and Alexander Afanasyev's ‘ Russian Fairy Tales’ that both tell the story of Koschei the Deathless that circles around the life and love of Prince Ivan Tsarevitch. Following the death of his parents, Ivan saw his three sisters wed to three powerful kings or wizards that take on the form of birds of prey. Raven (darkness), Eagle (fire), and a Hawk (wind). Within a year, Ivan became lonely and even envious of his sisters for finding love while he remained alone. Soon, Ivan ventured off to find his sisters coming across Marya Morvena, a woman warrior, as they wed along their journey.

Soon after, Marya says that she is going off to war and warns Ivan not to open the door to the castle dungeon (or closet) in the castle they reside in while she is away. Overcome by the desire to know, he opens the door soon after her departure to find Koschie emaciated and chained. Koschie soon asks Ivan for some water, which Ivan does. After drinking twelve buckets of water, his magic returned to him, breaking free of his chains and disappearing. After Koschie disappeared, he soon found out that he had captured Marya and pursued him. When Ivan finally reached Koschie, he warns the man to let him go, but Ivan refuses, thus causing Koschie to kill him. Tossing parts of his body into barrels into the sea where his sister's husbands revived him. They tell Ivan that Ksochie has a magical horse and that he should go to Baba Yaga for one as well.

After surpassing and surviving her tests, Ivan gets a magical horse as well and kills Koschie. Burning his body and saving Marya.

But how does SJM tie this into Acotar? We know that throughout her books, the number 3 has been incredibly symbolic and representative in her series. Though for acotar, we have three sisters and three kings or in some stories, wizards: Highlord of Night, Heir of Day, and Prince of Bastards. Though in other variations of the myth, they turn into night, day, and wind. We have Rhysand, who is basically the personification of Night, Lucien, who is heir of the Day court, and Cassian as Illyrians are said to be created by the wind. And each of these males is mated to the three sisters. But who represents Ivan? Azriel. In the tale of Ivan, it tells of him not only being lonesome but also envious of something his sisters have: love.

Azriel is already on his journey of envy and loneliness that we've seen in his bonus chapter, but instead of going forth, he runs away finding Gwyn. In many variations of the tale, they tell of Marya as a warrior or a warrior princess at times, which leads to Gwyn. Not only is Gwyn a warrior - a valkyrie on top of that, but she could also be related to Beron as well. It was said that her grandmother was a water nymph who would seduce high fae males in the Autumn Court. It could've very well have been the start of his deep hatred for lesser fae as he was seduced by one and why her mother could not be contained in the Forest House. This theory supports Gwynriel and what is to come, but it also supports Elucien too. On different days, Ivan and his sisters were approached by birds of prey.

To support Elucien: Days follow days, hours chase hours; a whole year goes by. One day, Prince Ivan and his two sisters went out to stroll in the garden green. Again, there arose a storm cloud, with whirlwind and lightning. 'Let us go home, sisters!' cries the Prince. Scarcely had they entered the palace when the thunder crashed, the roof burst into a blaze, the ceiling split in twain, and in flew an eagle. The Eagle smote upon the ground and became a brave youth. 'Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer!' ​And he asked for the hand of the Princess Olga. Prince Ivan replied: 'If you find favor in the eyes of the Princess Olga, then let her marry you. I will not interfere with her liberty of choice.' Princess Olga gave her consent and married the Eagle. The Eagle took her and carried her off to his own kingdom.

As stated before in other variations of the story, the wizards represent the following: darkness, fire, and wind. In the section that was provided before, an eagle came to the three siblings in the garden as the roof burst into a blaze, and as the bird smote onto the ground, it became a brave youth We've known that Lucien is clever and witty, but he is also brave. He broke through the spell that Hybern had casted upon everyone to reach Elain, he was the first to acknowledge what she did when it came to defeating Hybern, did not doubt her vision when it came to Vassa and went searching for her where he also returned with the one person she adored the most: her father and an army of ships. If Lucien does take the title as Highlord of Day, his beast form would be part eagle.

To support Nessian: Hardly had they got into the palace, when the thunder pealed, the ceiling split open, and into the room where they were came flying a falcon bright. The Falcon smote upon the ground became a brave youth and said: 'Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer! I wish to propose for your sister, Princess Marya.' 'If you find favor in the eyes of my sister, I will not interfere with her wishes. Let her marry you in God's name!' The Princess Marya gave her consent; the Falcon married her and bore her away into his own realm.

To support Feysand: They returned home, but they hadn't had time to sit down when the thunder crashed, the ceiling split open, and in flew a raven. The Raven smote upon the floor and became a brave youth. The former youths had been handsome, but this one was handsomer still. 'Well, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer! Give me the Princess Anna to wife.'

'I won't interfere with my sister's freedom. If you gain her affections, let her marry you.' So the Princess Anna married the Raven, and he bore her away into his own realm.

Princess Marya represents Nesta as she is the oldest of the three sisters, Princess Olga representing Elain as the middle sister, and Princess Anna representing Feyre as the youngest of the sisters to be wed.