#raederle of an

[geoderocks]

For me, these High Fantasties are unbeatable. They might be considered slow-paced by most standards now, but the atmosphere, characters, philosophical riddles and metaphors fill me with a sense of warmth and wonder.

There may not be a lot of the battlefield clashes (often a staple of the fantasy genre), but there’s peril aplenty, and often of a far more intimate kind.

These three titles/trilogies are very different from each other, but my fondness for them is very similar. Not just escapism or comfort reading (although they can certainly be that, too), these books have things to say. And I love the way in which they say them.

Earthsea trilogy, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968-73)

Riddle-Master trilogy, by Patricia A. McKillip (1976-79)

Fortress in the Eye of Time, by C.J. Cherryh (1994)

[woodencannon]

some riddle-masters

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

should you ever see me holding a skull, seeking secrets in the dim eyes where once lived a mind, know that it is not of poor Yorick that I think, nor of the deadseeing deadwalking not yet dead Danish Prince who found himself caught in that same empty gaze, asking questions to which it's uncertain if there was ever an answer. no, I look into empty once-full eye sockets carved out of bone into something almost opaline and think of ghosts. skulls, you see, are inherently haunted. they're unattached, adrift, receptacles of what made a person a person but is there no longer. skulls are a home, and when they're empty it's just like the vast empty bittersweet halls of a home that's been moved out of, an abandoned castle, a seaside tower. ivory and opal and pearl, bone and bonelike alike, formed by a creator's hand and pressure and time. if you ever see me holding a skull, like the soondead Prince of Denmark, it is not of Hamlet that I dream or Ophelia that I ache for. it's the desolation and hope of someone in an empty hall, an ivory tower, where once there was life and a mind and questions. even in death, someone is there.

[morioloroferenstar]

炽热已极

[dreadfutures]

9 People You Want to Know Better

Tagged by @broodwolf221 !

Tagging forward with no pressure:

@binabees | @pinacoladamatata | @salesmain | @beebundt | @sotc

@ghostwise | @sucrosesorcery | @wolfsskull | @thedreadblog

Three Ships: Max/Fang (Maximum Ride), Solas/Felassan (Dragon Age), Raederle/Morgon (Riddle of the Stars). Went with my true OTPs Undying.

First Ship: I believe I usually say it was Chihiro/Haku from Spirited Away ❤️

Last Song: Silk (Favored Nations Remix)

Last Movie: Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). I was showing my best friend from grad school during our weekly call time today :)

Currently Reading: Everyone On This Train is a Suspect. My friend from grad school who I call every week recommended it! I have struggled to read the past few years but this is my second book this year. On deck is the Wizard Knight by Gene Wolf.

Also, the local book store I've been trying to support as I build my collection and get back into reading just suffered a catastrophic fire like. this morning. :( If anyone is in a position to give a little, it would mean a lot. Oakland / the East Bay doesn't have a lot of local book stores, and it's going to be awful if this one goes under.

Currently Watching: This YouTube channel of a girl and her boyfriend being incredibly wholesome together playing video games. It started with him "making" her play games like Dark Souls, but she turned into a pro gamer along the way 😂❤️ I love her squeals of delight and jokes and they're so kind and funny. This one is soooo funny with how much she started loving DOOM:

Currently Eating: Weee! (the grocery service) has this frozen salted rainbow trout that is so tasty, I fried it up in a pan with some spinach and rice and mmmm.

Currently Craving: Boba... So badly. Going to get my #1 favorite boba from my #1 fav boba place this weekend.

Blank template below the cut:

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[spiced-wine-fic]

9 People you’d like to know better

Thank you for tagging me dear @grundyscribbling 🤗

three non romantic duos:

Raederle and Lyra (Riddle Master of Hed series)

Anomander Rake and Caladan Brood (Malazan Book of the Fallen series) Brother Cadfael and Hugh Beringar (Brother Cadfael series)

a ship that might surprise others: Ah, really have no idea. Can’t imagine any ship surprising anyone on Tumblr 😂

last song: Brother Louis Modern Talking (I keep seeing short reels of people dancing to this and I think Duck me I remember when this was first out!)

last film: Nostalgic mood and rewatched Jaws last weekend. (Still holds up) (Waiting to watch Alien: Romulus )

currently reading: Just finished the Faithful and the Fallen series, just starting Women of Troy by Pat Barker.

currently watching: Nothing really.

currently consuming: Water.

currently craving: A world where vulnerable and marginalised people feel safe 🫂 tagging (if you want to do this, if not no probs) More than nine, oh well. @awesome-bluehair-universe @sallysavestheday @lucifers-cuvette @jane-ways @thescrapwitch @ettelene @joyfullynervouscreator @minquelie @naryaflame @cuarthol @nocompromise-noregrets @pinksiamese

[very-grownup]

Book 19, 2024

"Harpist in the Wind" is the final book in the Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle Master trilogy and it sees the protagonists from the previous books, Morgon and Raederle, confirmed not dead and reunited and on the same page.

More or less.

With Morgon back, Raederle does relinquish her main character role from "Heir of Sea and Fire", but while this is clearly Morgon's story and Raederle is following, she remains her own person and part of the conflict of the final book is these two characters figuring out if they can fit together or if their histories and goals are ultimately incompatible.

A lot of the Riddle Master books, and from the other works of McKillip's that I've read, seem to concern themselves with assumptions of identity and the mutability of morality, what and who is good or evil and whether those are helpful labels. Those questions seem to be at the core of the plot, as a war is waging around the plot that Morgon and Raederle brush past on their journey.

The story doesn't end where I expected it to; it's not sad by any means but it's also not triumphant. It doesn't feel happy. It's contemplative in a way that feels appropriate once McKillip reveals the hand of the story she's actually telling and not the story you might think she's telling based on fantasy paperback trilogy with Darrell K. Sweet covers.

I've yet to find a McKillip novel that is a page turner, but they've all been thoughtful and slightly outside the expected genre boundaries. It remains a nice change of pace from contemporary genre fiction.

[earl-grey-crow]

oh my gosh hello hi I've seen you in my notes a few times but only just now visited your blog and. HELLO. FELLOW RIDDLE-MASTER ENJOYER ON THIS WEBBED SITE???? HI????? I feel insane I've met maybe like one other person online who even knows who Raederle is and I genuinely thought I was the only person around here willing to get silly with it. LOVE your blog title so incredibly much aaaah

hiiii yes fellow riddle-master enjoyer :D I actually had no idea it existed until I saw your posts about it back when I was just lurking around, and I decided to check it out on a whim. between uni and life I still haven’t finished it, but I did once stay up until 2 am skimming through it (I had no patience. I had to know who deth was.) which was sufficient enough to make me unhinged about it, I could’ve started howling at that ending. story of all time (to me).

[lyraluthuin19]

This is Raederle, one of the main characters of the Riddlemaster Trilogy. I just love how her character is written. She develops some awesome powers but has to work a little for it. She is a strong companion to the main character Morgon and saves his life several times.

[rj-anderson]

Raederle, Lyra and Tristan of Hed (all women, if you haven't read the trilogy) in Patricia A. McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire

Friendships that are given full narrative weight:

—Clark and Lex and Clark and Chloe, Smallville

—the handmaidens in Star Wars Queens Shadow

[merryloon]

He lifted his other hand, touched Raederle’s face and she smiled. He said hesitantly, “I have nothing to offer you. Not even Peven’s crown. Not even peace. But can you bear waiting for me a little longer? I wish I knew how long. I need to go to Hed awhile, and then to Lungold. I’ll try to—I’ll try—” Her smile faded. “Morgon of Hed,” she said evenly, “if you take one step across that threshold without me, I will lay a curse on your next step and your next until no matter where you go your path will lead you back to me.” “Raederle—” “I can do it. Do you want to watch me?” He was silent, struggling between his longing and his fear for her. He said abruptly, “No. All right. Will you wait for me in Hed? I think I can get us both safely that far.” “No.” “Then will you—” “No.” “All right; then—” “No.” “Then will you come with me?” he whispered. “Because I could not bear to leave you.” She put her arms around him, wondering, as she did so, what strange, perilous future she had bargained for. She said only, as his arms circled her, not in gentleness this time, but in a fierce and terrified determination, “That’s good. Because I swear by Ylon’s name you never will.

HEIR OF SEA AND FIRE by Patricia A. McKillip

[earlgraytay]

Heir of Sea and Fire is the queerest book I've ever read that doesn't have a single gay character in it.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

inkpot gods was literally on some spotify playlist I’d saved and I didn’t even realize it until I went to save the song (because it’s SUCH a good song) and I saw it was already in that playlist which is wild to me ANYWAY please I would love to hear about your riddle-master playlist !!

OKAY here ^^ is the playlist in all its glory it's a LOT of Florence + the Machine due to the fact that I heard Never Let You Go and went wait... that's THE most Raederlecore song I've ever heard in my life.... idk if I can adequately explain most of the songs on here but a lot of them are very much about Raederle and Morgon both having this fear or rejection of who/what they are and what they're destined for. some of them are kinda just there for vibes but I WILL say Hey Kid is on there very specifically for Lyra and Tristan's respective arcs, I talk most about Raederle (idk if you ever saw that one thing I wrote about her lol I think about her a LOT) but Tristan has always stuck out to me as just being..., she's such a younger sister. she almost reminds me of my younger sister. the opening scene of the first book being this domestic scene between siblings means so much to me. and the way Morgon is at heart a brother... no matter what else he may be, he's still a brother, and that isn't about any binding magic or riddles. it's just who he is.

anyway yeah this playlist is something I have thought a lot about and put together over like a couple years so I'm pretty proud of it 😅 I hope you like it!!!!

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

Raederle of An (the Riddle-Master trilogy)

Trickster queens:

Portia

Contessa (from Marriage of Figaro)

Mistress Ford and Mistress Page (Merry Wives)

[morioloroferenstar]

给瑞德丽画的三套衣服

[dreadfutures]

the “who’s your female blorbo” post is going around and it’s just. it’s zelda. it’s alanna of trebond. it’s raederle.

but rn i’m specifically thinking of paladin!zelda by @ hyph