#queen channary

[cyborgcourt]

Selene x Kaito lives on

[impossiblesuitcase]

your post about levana's glamour made me realize that she probably never looked like herself. i think it's safe to assume that she didn't feel safe to "look like herself" after she was disfigured as a child but that really is so sad. it's also interesting in comparison to channary, whose glamour was basically a "perfected" version of her natural appearance. levana would rather wear a modified version of a dead woman's face than think about how she looks without glamour.

Exactly! Channary traumatised Levana so much that she physically struggles to remove her glamour. We saw that in Fairest, Channary slaps Levana and calls her "my ugly duckling". If Levana 'fixed' only her deformities with a glamour it would require her to look in a mirror and look at her natural features. But she is so mentally scarred that she cannot bring herself to do it. When she finally does in Fairest, she has a mental breakdown. Levana has been avoiding the reality of her appearance for decades, perpetuated by Channary's constant reminders that she is damaged. Even when Levana removes her glamour to show Evret, she struggles to do so because she is completely unaccustomed to baring her true appearance.

Channary further insults Levana by herself using mirrors. It tells Levana that she is so confident in her beauty that she has no fear that someone would see her true face in contrast to the "ugly princess." That destroyed Levana's psyche.

[abeehiltz1159]

so y’all are trying to prove that Cinder’s Asian but you are aware that her mom was just a tan Lunar and had no connection to the Commonwealth right

[chemicallyyourss]

i wanna say that i finally realized the wordplay with the Lunar Royal Family’s surname, like, 3 days ago.

It’s not even that well hidden, and I could figure out all the other little subtle wordplays in the series, but it stumped me at Blackburn??

[atropinenightshade]

If Rafal Mistral met Queen Levana

I think that if they met, they would be best friends. Especially the original series versions of themselves. Heck, if they weren't from different stories and universes Levana could have been Rafal's queen.  (spoilers ahead for both series)

Both had problems with their siblings. Levana hated her sister Channary and Channary was the one who manipulated 6 year old Levana to burn the left side of her body. Channary also was known to go after the wrong men or always be in love with people in a not so serious way.

With Rafal, hopefully Rhian isn't such a psycho as Channary. But Rafal is annoyed constantly with Rhian's crushes and, well, he kills him. he thinks he's the better twin, like how Levana thinks she would be a better queen than Channary, but the difference is that Rafal loved Rhian, while Levana hated her sister.

Levana has fantasies of her niece dying and Rafal did imagine Rhian and James dead. (I actually like Rafal but I hate Levana, just because she is much worse.)

Both have horrific/ugly versions of themselves. For Levana it's when she looks at a mirror and her glamour disappears and Rafal when Sophie destroys the ring.

Both are tyrannical people who use torture and manipulation to get what they want. They are sad to kill, but all they want is power (though I think Rafal is more toned down than Levana in this regard, because Levana, you know, torched a toddler. I don't think even Rafal would do this if he did have a nephew.) Levana uses Emperor Kai for power and to get control of Earth and has no problem disposing of him. She kills Evret, her husband, to be free to marry for ambitions, even though she "loved" him.  She manipulates Evret to love her and forces him to marry her. She even wears his dead wife's face. Rafal loves Rhian but kills him for his own gain. He may have genuinely loved Sophie, but he did manipulate her a lot to accept the ring and stay with him, mentioning how he was the one, etc. Luckily, Sophie had more of a choice than Evret did. Rafal tries to copy Tedros for Sophie, so he'd totally agree with Levana about using Evret's dead wife's face. He disposes of Evelyn Sader when she fulfills her purpose.

Levana was obsessed with getting Earth, all for Luna. Rafal wanted Evil to win and wanted Gavaldon. Both do horrible things to get power and control. Levana uses letumosis and her wolf man army and Rafal has his zombie army and Sophie. Both also do everything for "love." Levana says (originally it was her sister):" Love is a conquest, Love is a war. Here is what I think of love." Rafal is literally a living example of how to live out this saying. (look at what happened with Rhian, Sophie, etc) Both were hurt in some way and are desperate to be loved, and you can see they are people who are lonely and have no friends in their backstories, which is why they are so.. insane. Both are people I wouldn't want to piss off, to be honest.

Both cover their faces, at least during certain parts of the story.

Also, Rafal would probably use a glamour. As who, or what I don't know. (He did shapeshift as other people.) And probably a slight glamour because he's already attractive and ethereal and all that but who knows-- (in the Lunar Chronicles his appearance would probably thought of as glamour made so..)

I originally posted this on my Wattpad account.

Okay so this is embarrassing and maybe just me overthinking and getting distracted when I should be doing something else.

I will crawl into a hole now. I know this is really dumb.

[therealkaidertrash21]

channary isnt asian and neither is levana. they’re caucadian

That would be kinda impossible because Cinder, Channary's daughter, IS asian. but, ok.

Also, even if they weren't canonically asian, it wouldn't even change the plot at all if they were. it wouldn't be wrong to headcannon them that way. Like Annabeth Chase in the Percy Jackson series, in the books she was white and blonde, but in the new Disney plus series she's black. And it's ok, it doesn't change the plot, the actress is great for the job.

I guess it's fine if you don't see them as asian, but it's not necessary to send me and ask about it, because is not that big of a deal, Is not like I'm erasing representation.

[moonsstan]

okay but imagine vampire by olivia rodrigo but its cinder saying those things to levana.

[linh-cindy]

Levana: i like my toast the way i like my niece Selene

Levana:

Levana: BURNT

taglist: @impossiblesuitcase @winterrhayle @opakitty @kaider-is-my-otp @salt-warrior @a-salting-the-world @ikosburneraccount

[hazellevessque]

WINTER HAS BEEN COMPLETED HOORAY

This book was so long lmao. I was thinking about it and it’s technically the longest book I’ve ever read. However it was 10000% worth it

This book also took me a lot longer to read because school started again and then the new PJO book came out and obviously I had to drop everything for that

Anyways I said that I thought I was going to love Winter and I was RIGHT. THAT IS MY GIRL. MY DAUGHTER!!

Also everyone telling me that I would love Winter because I said that Scarlet had sapphic energy…yeah

Kai and Cinder being a canon couple <33 I love them

Also Kai/Throne friendship?? I would like 20 of them immediately

I GASPED when Winter said that Jacin killed Ryu. Literally choked on air omg

Also CRESSWELL!! I remember on my Cress thoughts post everyone was like “yeah there’s this theory that Throne is 18” and I took it and RAN with it. They give me life I love how awkward they were in this book

The chapter where Winter used her glamour on Scarlet…I don’t think I’ve ever talked about how good the writing it in this series but the WRITINGGG

And those last few chapters with Levana and Cinder in the throne room?? My flabber was gasted my dumb was struck

I had this whole theory when Levana’s glamour went down and Cinder was like “those are burns omg” that Levana was actually Channary but alas. However still a banger backstory I’m really excited to read Fairest

And RIP Maha Kesley. I was so excited to meet Wolf’s family and then she died and I was like “WHAT THE FUCKKK”

Im also really happy that Cinder chose to abolish the monarchy because the entire series I was like “But is becoming Queen really the BEST thing for her??” and then she chose to abdicate and I was like “yeah that sounds right”

Still love Iko

I’m sure I have more thoughts but my mind is still in shock and I can’t really think straight so I’m gonna end it here

Also my sister started reading the series!! She literally JUST finished Cress which is a reason I was like “ok I have to finish this book in the next two days” because it would be hard reading the same book at the same time lol. (Yes she was able to read all three books in the time it took me to read this book. I’ve been busy and she had to read the books for school so she was reading it quicker)

Tags: @writergracethepanda @liaazhang @qylinscafvne @typingwithmyhandstied @winterrhayle

@permanently-stressed @caliburn-the-sword @livie1507 @silverstarssart @desi-hijabi-bookworm

[yellowraincoat]

Plot holes in the lunar chronicles that I’ve noticed on my millionth read through that WILL NOT detract from my enjoyment:

1) Marissa Meyer does not know how freckles work

see Cress having freckles despite zero sun exposure (but ig probably the exact amount of vitamin D she’s supposed to get) aboard the satellite

2) Cinder is wasian/more generally mixed raced and Channary looks so similar to Cinder that Kai sees a portrait of her and thinks for a moment that it is Cinder… but Levana is… white?

I guess the logical conclusion is that levana is also wasian, but I feel as tho that is not the authorial intent bc that is white woman behavior if I’ve ever seen it

the other logical conclusion and the one I personally subscribe to is that Cinder’s father had Asian heritage, but Channary and Levana were white and Cinder just… westernizes/whitewashes herself a little when she uses her glamour…??? Like… to match westernized beauty standards?

idk neither answer is particularly satisfying but I feel as tho the series is thematically stronger if the former lunar queens who want to do colonization, genocide, and imperialism are white women.

3) Dr. Erland should’ve absolutely infected Cinder and Thorne in that tunnel based on the absolutely unhinged and unrealistic but pre-established rules of letamosis

They were in very close quarters for at least an hour as he was entering stage 2 or 3 of the disease. They should’ve all been fucked. (Not to mention how closely Erland interacted with Thorne when they went to the labs)

4)… shouldn’t Dr Erland have had a perfectly good letumosis antidote on him (or at least on the Rampion) yk, from when he stole it from the palace and fled the country???

What happened to that huh? Did we just forget about her?

[cyborgcourt]

I just KNOW once adri and pearl kick the bucket, Channary will be tearing them apart for what they did to her baby

[impossiblesuitcase]

Levana has two core tenets that drive her entire personal philosophy, both actively damaging and sustaining her: her need to be beautiful and her need to be loved. They are irrevocably intertwined and are ultimately her undoing.

Two people in her life dictate these notions--Channary and Evret. Channary implanted the desire to be loved and the necessity to be beautiful once Levana is disfigured. Without any willing participation from Evret, Levana carries over these insecurities, needing to be loved by him when Channary fails her and needing to keep up her glamour to feel beautiful. If Solstice is the only woman he can see as beautiful, that's what Levana must become. She sabotages her relationship with him after she shows him her true appearance; she refuses to be loved for her true self, and once he sees it, he must be disposed of. Evret lives on in Winter, who reinforces that Levana cannot ever control them as she wears her three uniform scars with pride.

With the death of these two motivators, she feels free of the burden of needing them. But the demand to be beautiful and loved is indefatigable, so she replaces them with an unearthly, ethereal glamour in her quest for vanity, and the contrived love from her citizens to feel wanted. These are both fundamentally artificial and never satisfy her, so she must always strive for more. Her body, face, voice 'improve' countless times over decades, as she is never sure that they are perfect enough. Her armies become fiercer, her inventory larger, and she sets her sights on the largest territory to conquer--Earth--all in the name of supplying her people to buy their love. Levana could have at any point abandoned her course of tyranny and used her circumstances to reform herself and her country's systemic disparity. She chooses every day to reject these opportunities and each action deepens her need to maintain the façade of love and looks. She is to be pitied, but not to be pardoned.

In order for Levana to be defeated as a villain, she must not only die, but must have her philosophy completely overturned. Kai takes the place of Evret and she replays her manipulation in the same way on their wedding day. But when she marries Kai, glamouring as his lover as she did to Evret, he dismantles her beauty, stating that she will never be as beautiful as the glamourless Linh Cinder. This directly mirrors Evret's loyalty to Solstice and it hurts Levana--not because she loves Kai in any way like she loved Evret--but because the message lives on in him. She is always inadequate.

Her glamour and her loyalties fall in one fell swoop. Her people come to her door to kill her, and her true face is blown up in the sky, permanently tainting her image. With her vanity blighted, all that's left is the fundamental nucleus of her problems: her relationship with Channary. It is the chief relationship in her life, even posthumously, and is the very cause of her perverted worldview. Levana never killed Channary and that is her greatest regret.

When Cinder arrives--Channary's near reincarnation in appearance--Levana has her second chance. It is particularly imperative to her to eliminate Selene because Levana was never loved by Channary, while Selene was. Her existence is a mockery of Levana's pain because it clarifies that Channary was capable of love and actively withheld it from Levana. However when Levana burnt Cinder alive, she levelled the playing field. She assigned Cinder a life of enduring the same prejudice and inadequacy that she faced. Therefore in their final battle, Levana likens Cinder to herself and her need to be desired. By killing Selene, she will finally prove that she has killed her need to be loved by Channary.

To do this, she sets up the perfect replica for this prophetic revenge. Cinder's friend will betray her as Channary did Levana, and Cinder will retaliate as Levana herself wished to do. It is particularly powerful that it is not Kai in the room at this final battle. Romantic love is irrelevant now. Instead it is Thorne, whom Cinder loves as family. Their almost sibling-like dynamic is now reflective of Channary and Levana. Levana asserts that this kind of love is false. But Cinder and Thorne demonstrate their loyalty to one another--even when Thorne is manipulated to hurt her, Cinder attacks Levana, not him. He proves his love in his sobs and apologies as his body rebels. Levana's final desire, to prove that love is merely a conquest and a war, is dashed.

In the end, Levana stabs Cinder, but it doesn't matter. Her worldview is shattered, her tenuous beliefs severed. That is where Levana is defeated. The final shot that kills her is simply to finalise the matter. Her tenets die with her and can be replaced with the true forms of beauty and love. Cinder and Winter, disfigured and scarred and unashamed. Kai, who loves Cinder and loves her appearance because she gave him good reason to, and never through manipulation. Cinder, who attains loyalty from the citizens of Luna and Earth alike through her action and compassion.

Love is not conquered, love is not a war; it is earned.

[chemicallyyourss]

Levana: “I can’t let my planet have another horrible Queen like my sister, I need to get rid of Selene! She won’t be fit to rule and she’ll be just like my sister! This is what will be best for Luna!”

Also Levana: Indirectly attempts to kill her niece, orders her husband and step daughter to be killed, takes babies from their parents mere hours after birth because of something they can’t control and leads parents to think it’s an infanticide but really she’s enslaving the children to harvest their blood to make a lab made virus, takes kids at young ages from their homes to tamper with their genetic makeup and make them into human-wolf hybrids and strip them of their humanity and rights, lets the majority of her planet live in poverty and work in extremely unsafe conditions and only give them weekly rations that barely sustain them at all, executes people randomly and publicly for little to no reason at times, does corporal punishment and executions of ENTIRE FAMILIES and groups of people for the little actions of a single person that could range from saying the princess is pretty to trying to flee the country to escape infanticide and slavery and poverty

[atropinenightshade]

I do not like Queen Levana at all, but to be honest, Queen Channary is no better. I don't really understand why some people like her.

[therealkaidertrash21]

Chapter 2

white-noise output? I need that desperately.

Chapter 3:

You are right, Cinder. Kai would never...

this is so 💔💔 and so ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 at the same time. I love them sm

( I'm trying to ignore what I know is going to happen next 😭)

Chapter 4:

😭💕 I can't she's adorable

no, sweetie, she murdered you so she could take the throne.

the fact that he did both...

💔💔 Peony will always hurt.

Cinder re-read ✨

obviously, spoiler warning for the entire series

Chapter 1:

Iconic ✨

"every girl in the country had admired" its me, I'm every girl

honestly, nothing important has to happen, I'll fangirl over anything tlc related.

she's so Iconic (I can't)

i love reading Cinder after knowing Kai's perspective, it's hilarious

Iko is so Iconic and so relatable

hardly noticed? yeah right. His Imperial Highness noticed everything. He was probably simping over that grease splotch.

[brainrotlesbian]

Ok back to the Lunar Chronicles cause I had a random thought. Princess Selene was born with her lunar gift while Cress was not and was considered a shell. Imagine a story where their roles were reversed, where Selene was the shell and Cress was born with her lunar gift. How would Channary react to her child being born a shell? Would Selene be sent to be with the other shells? Would Channary try to protect her daughter, because we know that she truly did love her daughter for the brief time she was alive with her? If Selene was allowed to remain the Princess of Luna, how would the people react? Imagine the rumors in Artemisia about the embarrassment of a Princess, or even that perhaps the queen was cursed.