#seizing her own narrative from the get-go

[crimson-nail]

HIIIIIIIIIIII MISS CRIMSON NAIL HAAAAIIIII FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELLO

[kykyonthemoon]

How to romance the lovely Miss Hunter

By finding out the tropes you like to read in romance novels, he might know just how you would like this love to be.

ಇ. Character x Reader/MC

Included parts in order: Rafayel, Xavier, Zayne, Caleb

ಇ. Tags: soft, sweet, fluff, cheesy (it's a warning), teasing, established relationship (except for Caleb's part), roleplaying (with Rafayel), jealousy (Xavier being jealous with his other identity - Lumiere), mentioned of all the romance tropes I like to write about, childhood friends to lovers, adopted brother and sister, princess and her merman slave, damsel in distress.

ಇ. Word count: 4k3

ಇ. Requested by Krys.

ಇ. Masterlist

ಇ. Request

𝑹��𝒇𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒍 

"What have you done just now?! "That was my first kiss."

The princess exclaimed. She then covered her lips with her fingers and concealed her face behind the veil that had just been removed.

The attractive mermaid, with his bare chest revealed beneath the water, smiled, half cold, half alluring. He migrated close to to the Princess and declared:

“Now you are mine.”

The book in Rafayel’s hand rolled from the sofa to the floor, and he began laughing uncontrollably, crawling even. You seized the book in anger, folded it flat, and requested:

“Please stop.”

Rafayel covered his lips with a palm and smiled. His eyes shone with tears, his cheeks went scarlet, and his stomach ached from laughing so hard. He leaned absolutely back on the sofa and gazed at you.

"Your Highness, you do have a hobby of reading such cheesy love stories."

Rafayel replicated the dialogue from the book, making you even more enraged. You shot him a stare.

"Hmm." You gripped the book hard in your hands. Ever since he caught you reading this romantic novel inspired by the legend of Lemuria, Rafayel had been teasing you by reenacting passages from the written scenes, but in a sardonic style that left you flush with embarrassment.

"Your Highness, where are you heading to?" Rafayel grabbed your wrist as you turned to go. "Do not forget that now, you are mine."

Rafayel restrained another chuckle. You violently yanked free from his grip. 

“I'm… sorry…” Rafayel cleared his throat. He eventually came to the decision to stop this childish game. 

"With the exception of a few references to Lemurian mythology, the rest are too… much. The author has let her imagination wander too far.” 

"You are insulting other people's interests!" You frowned and responded. "I enjoy reading passionate love stories like this. Is there a problem with it?”

Rafayel stared at you with an expression of pain. You were the one who got furious, so why did he appear to be more upset?

“If you wish to learn about Lemuria, wouldn't it be better to just ask me directly? You don't need to read stories like that.”

The book in your hand was titled The Lemurian Kiss. The plot focused on a handsome mermaid and the princess he was forced to obey. Tara first exposed you to it, which piqued your interest. Then you were absorbed in the love and resentment, as if it was your own narrative from another life.

Rafayel hated it. Yet you did not understand, if he disliked it so much, why did he even bother to read it more attentively than yourself? Even when he tormented you with passages from the narrative that made you blush, you had to concede that he had read and comprehended it better than you could.

Perhaps it was due to his Lemurian ancestry. Perhaps he had heard a similar story elsewhere in his long life. You had no idea how long he had lived, and you understood very little about Lemurians. Indeed, when you bought this book, you anticipated it to disclose more about his kind than he was eager to share.

Suddenly, you came up with an idea. You gave up attempting to get out of Rafayel's grip. To his astonishment, you crouched down closer to him, giving him no opportunity to sit up. A hand rested on Rafayel's chest, gently forcing him down into the sofa.

"So? Will you tell your beloved princess all the secrets of Lemuria then?"

You altered your voice to seem icy and pompous, like the princess in the tale. Your gaze fixed on Rafayel's, making it impossible for him to ignore you. He was completely taken aback by your abrupt shift in attitude.

“You… What are you doing?”

“Is that how you speak to a princess?”

You appeared unsatisfied, and before Rafayel attempted to get up, you opted to sit on top of him.

“Ouch! That's painful!" He shouted. “You're so heavy! Get off!”

"How insolent of you!" You grabbed Rafayel's chin so he could obediently stay down in place. "I'll have your scales peeled off for daring to insult my weight like this."

He snorted coldly while he was still pinned down on the sofa. "That's it! You're bullying me!"

"Isn't this your favorite scene from the story? When the merman attempted to flee, the princess sat on him. I'm merely offering help since I see you immersing yourself so much in the role from the story there.”

Rafayel's sullen attitude brought you a delicious triumph. He turned his face away, as if he was upset at being bullied. He stated:

“It's best that you don't read these kinds of stories anymore!”

Pleased, you softly patted his cheeks as he puffed them up like a toddler. You stood up, satisfied, and said:

“I'm going to let it slide. Next time, don't tease me like that anymore."

But Rafayel showed obvious disappointment. He grasped your wrist.

“Is that all?”

"Huh?" 

“Are you really going to leave?” He grumbled. “You are not dedicated to the role you play after all.”

Rafayel sat up immediately, then he pulled you down on the sofa and in a blink of an eye, you were in his arms. “Once you start a role, you have to be committed to it.”

Rafayel's long fingers slid down the bridge of your nose, then paused at your lips. You held your breath, looking at him, waiting.

“Her Highness loses interest too quickly.” 

You grinned, recalling the personal passages between the two main protagonists in the novel. Sometimes you put yourself and Rafayel in it. How astonishing that this was truly happening.

“Entertain me then. Would you?”

Your clear voice rang out. Your fingertips had rendered Rafayel's face red, and you could hear his heart pounding furiously in your ear. 

“I can grant all your wishes.” Rafayel held your hand and placed it on his chest, then began to kiss you. First your hair, then your forehead, a lingering kiss on the tip of your nose, and finally he stopped for a moment at your lips. “I can even make you forget all the cheesy things a human wrote about Lemurians in that book.”

Rafayel's fingers gently parted your lips a little. Yet still left you hanging. 

“After all, Her Highness needs not a work of fiction, when she already has a true Lemurian, in the flesh, right here.”

At that moment, the merman offered the princess a long-awaited kiss, as if reconnecting an incomplete romance from the past life.

𝑿𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒓 

Those days, Xavier noticed how you often had your nose buried in a book. It was nothing like daily life science research, nor was it like the ones you would usually read. It was brand new, with a silver mask on the cover.

He also realized another thing, that you always laughed to yourself while reading it. Occasionally, you would give him a covert glance, then go back to bury yourself in the pages of the book and smile. Other times, you would hold the entire open book in your hands and roll around on the bed with immense excitement, which he could not comprehend.

Then, one day, he picked it up, that thick large book. What caught his eye was the title of the story: Moonlight Lover. He rolled his eyes. 

Xavier's slightly trembling fingers opened the book in a slow motion. The page you were reading was marked with a lovely tiny star-shaped bookmark. He failed to take his eyes off the words presented under the light.

“My beautiful lady, fear not! I have come for you. I will protect you with my life.”

“Oh, my Lumiere…”

A very complicated expression appeared on Xavier's face. He read on, and the next paragraphs perplexed him. 

In the midst of fierce battle, Lumiere gave his lover a passionate kiss. Time stopped, the moonlight shone on two hearts in perfect harmony. Right at the climax, you walked in. With a haste you snatched the book from his hands.

“This… is mine!” 

You hid it behind your back. Your face turned red as if you had just done something so embarrassing.

"You… Why have you read my book?"

"You…" Xavier was ready to say something, but hesitated. His look remained stunned, as if he had just witnessed something so horrific that he could not speak. Yet that may be true.

"Tara let me borrow this book!" You spoke fast, not daring to look him in the eyes. "She said this… this is the best-selling romance novel in Linkon…"

"I see." Xavier responded. "Do you like reading romantic stories?"

"S-Sometimes…" You murmured. With the book in your hand, you swiftly turned to the bookshelf and placed it there. As you turned around, you nearly ran into Xavier. When did he come to stand right behind you? "Oops!"

"S-Sometimes…" You murmured. With the book in your hand, you swiftly turned to the bookshelf and placed it there. As you turned around, you nearly ran into Xavier. When did he arrive to stand directly behind you? "Oops!"

You exclaimed with surprise. You promptly drew away. Your back was ready to collide with the bookshelf, but Xavier's extensive hand saved you.

His face was so close. Somehow, you imagined that behind a silver mask, he would look just like Lumiere, which was bizarre.

"Xavier…" You quietly uttered his name, indicating that you were safe and that he could let you free. Yet Xavier held you even tighter.

“Do you like Lumiere that much?” He questioned abruptly, his expression not even trying to cover his evident sulking. 

“Lumiere… It's merely fiction…” You defended. 

“What do you like about him? His flashy appearance? Or his way of flirting with the female lead?”

Xavier's face stiffened. You caught his eyes gradually darken.

“In stories like this,” you clarified. “The male lead often appears just as the main protagonist is in peril to defend her. I simply appreciate their love..."

You could feel Xavier's heavy breathing on your cheek. His hand, which was previously on your back, then moved down to your hip, pushing you towards him so that your bodies were pressed against each other.

“I do the same too, don't I?” Xavier's voice was calm and soft, yet contained so much bitterness. “I will always defend you. I'm always there when you need me."

“Yes… That is true…” You replied, casting a quick glance at him. He rested his chin on your head and wrapped his arms around you in secure, as if afraid Lumiere would appear and take you away at any moment.

“So, me and Lumiere, who do you like more?”

Xavier's question left you hanging in confusion. Before you could respond, he added:

“Lumiere cannot hold you like this. He cannot be there whenever you call. He cannot hang out with you. Cannot be close to you… like this…”

A kiss from Xavier landed on your bare shoulder. You felt dizzy after being embraced with such force. You gasped:

“Erm… Lumiere is a… a legend… Even if he's real… he's probably a lot older than me…”

Xavier sighed deeply once more. He leaned in toward you and pushed you closer to the bookshelf. 

“Then tell me. Do you like me more, or him?"

Just when you thought everything was settled, Xavier continued to ask that question. You knew all too well that you could not get out of this situation if you refused to give him the answer he needed. Yet the look on his face made you want to taunt him even more.

“Well, let's see. Lumiere has a luxury attire, exceptional abilities, and—”

Without waiting for you to finish the sentence, Xavier's lips locked your mouth. His kisses were always as gentle as his demeanor, but this was more intense than ever. You were held in his arms, lips devoured by him to the point that every breath slowly left you, your body and heart trembling as you were forced to surrender to him in such a manner. 

When Xavier let you go, your mind already went blank. Who was Lumiere again? You no longer remembered. You could not recall.

Xavier gazed down at you, his lips parted slightly into a smile. He removed the book off the shelf and placed it back in your hands. 

“Return it to Tara once you're done reading.”

He turned away. At that moment, you concluded that you could read every love story ever written in this world, but the one true male protagonist in your life could only be Xavier.

𝒁𝒂𝒚𝒏𝒆

There was a book café established on the same street as Akso Hospital recently. And so you have found another place to go while waiting for a certain doctor to finish his shift.

Originally, you intended to pass the time by sipping a drink and munching some sweets. Yet you had no idea that you would also be drawn into the pages of books there, especially a very thrilling love story about a man. The doctor who led two divergent lifestyles.

He was a doctor at an esteemed hospital, also a cold-blooded killer who must conceal his identity from the person he loved. Right from the very first lines, you were drawn into the story that was both tragic and sensational. Especially when the main character resembled a doctor whom you admired. You were so absorbed in reading that you failed to notice the time. You went around the café, holding the book in your hands, and read without paying attention to the world. As a consequence, you ran into someone.

“Zayne?” You cried out in surprise. He stared at you first, then at the book on the floor. He leaned down to pick it up.

“The secrets of Doctor Li?” Zayne read the title aloud. In a haste you used your hands to protect the book from his inquisitive gaze. When he returned it, you clutched it securely against your chest and purposefully turned the cover toward you.

“Well… This is…” You searched for an explanation. “My reference book…”

"Is that so?" Zayne's eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Another one of your reference books?”

You were perplexed while recalling that you had lately left another book in Zayne's office. Of course, you claimed that it helped you understand more about the medical field, and he had pointed out some of its factual misunderstandings. This time, just by looking at the cover, Zayne understood precisely what type of books you were reading, and they had nothing to do with medicine.

“I thought medical books were supposed to be displayed on the other side of the coffee shop, right?” Zayne replied nonchalantly.

“Ah… It was a bit crowded over there, so I moved to this area…”

Zayne turned around to look at the other side of the café. There was not a single person seen. On the contrary, the place you had chosen had more readers.

Realizing what a mistake you had made, you quickly pulled Zayne's hand out of there. “Let's go, Doctor Zayne! I've been waiting for you and now I'm hungry!”

A few days later, you caught Zayne intently reading something at his desk. Moving closer, you recognized the very familiar cover of the book almost immediately.

“The secrets of Doctor Li?! So you're reading it?"

Being caught in the act by you, since you had decided to come to the hospital on your lunch break that day without a notice, Zayne could only chuckle. He covered half of his face with the book, leaving only his eyes visible behind the pair of glasses. You knew he was adjusting the muscles around his face.

“Yes. Hello."

"You. Are. Reading. This. Too!" You uttered every single word as if this was a big deal. 

Zayne calmly lowered the book, closed then placed it neatly on the table. He replied:

“I also want to refer to some things from there.”

You appeared perplexed. “Didn't you say that this book is wrong in even basic healthcare knowledge?”

Zayne's serene demeanor belied a sense of perplexity in his gaze. His eyes never lied. He immediately turned away. 

"Medical expertise is not what I am looking for in it."

“What is it then?” You placed a hand on your chin thoughtfully. “Is there anything that even Doctor Know-It-All Zayne has to learn from love stories? Unless it's…”

You abruptly discontinued talking. It appeared you already knew the answer.

Zayne glanced at you for a brief moment. He pursed his lips, but it was evident he was smiling.

“People easily find what they want in fiction.” He explained. “For instance, if a girl likes to read romance, then she is waiting for such a sweet love story.”

“That doesn't sound like something Doctor Zayne would say.” You inquired once again: "Are those actually Yvonne's words?"

You guessed, given that you just witnessed the nurse passing the identical book to Doctor Greyson in the corridor.

Zayne confessed that Yvonne had suggested that he read the romantic novels you enjoyed to better understand you.

Zayne admitted that Yvonne had hinted that he should read the type of romance novels you liked to understand you better.

“I've never dated anyone before.” Zayne did not look you in the eye, but his fingers were squeezing your hand as he stood up. “At the start of our relationship, I had certain concerns. I'd want to know which type of partner you prefer, or how you wish to be loved."

You could not hold back the happy smile on your lips anymore. The fact that Zayne was so open about what he was thinking like this was enough to bring you closer to him.

“You can just ask me. Just like how you would always answer my questions about anything.” 

You took initiative to stand on tiptoe and wrapped your arms around Zayne's neck. He gently rubbed his nose against the tip of yours.

“I like to be loved by you in your own way,” you whispered very softly, just enough for the two of you to hear even though there was no one else in the office. “There is no need for any stereotypes. Just be yourself, because that's who I like.”

As soon as you finished speaking, you placed a gentle kiss on Zayne's cheek and added: "Do you find me easy to please?"

Zayne lifted you up and let your feet rest on his. “You are as easy to please as a three-year-old child. Just give you sweets and a few romance books, you would obediently sit still all day."

“As expected, the person who understands me best is certainly Doctor Zayne!”

𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒃 

During the summer, after graduating from high school and waiting for the official announcement from the Hunter Association, you spent the whole day lying at home resting. And, with so much spare time, you began re-reading literature that you had previously missed.

While you were giggling with a romance book in your hands, Caleb stepped in. He snatched it and said:

“Does Gran know you're still reading these things?”

“First,” you said. “Grandma is not at home. Second, I am old enough to read whatever I like now.”

You extended a hand towards Caleb, but he refused to give the book back. He quickly glanced at the cover, then looked at you with a serious expression.

“Pip-squeak, did you forget that I and Grandma had to confiscate your books?”

You crossed your arms over the chest and huffed at him. “Speaking of which, you were a snitch who told her about my books.”

“You stayed up all night reading until your eyes got dark circles.” Caleb laughed. “While you must focus on studying. Books like this will give you a false perspective on love. I'm just worried that any boy would say a few sweet words like in those stories, and you would give him your heart."

“Do you even know what I read?” You sighed. “But you got exactly what you wanted. I've graduated from high school without having had a single romance. Now give me back the book so I can continue daydreaming, okay?"

You sat up straight and were about to reach out to take the book back when he held it up higher. He shook his head.

"Not yet. I must read it first to ensure that this book is safe.”

He sat in another armchair and proceeded to open the book to the page you were already reading. Quick as lightning, you darted forward and placed your hands over to stop him.

"No way! This… You can't read it!”

Caleb glanced at you with perplexed eyes. With just one hand, he easily pushed you away. 

“I said, you can't read it!”

The more you attempted to reclaim the book, more firmly Caleb held both of your hands. He rapidly read the stuff you never wished him to know. You bit your lip and dropped your head to the floor in ashamed defeat.

He knew. 

He knew what you read. He knew what kind of love you were desperately hoping for.

A moment later, after about ten pages, Caleb turned to look at his sister, who was sitting on the ground in her pajamas and her hair undone still. You simply wanted to hide yourself away so he would never find you, since you knew he would only lecture you.

In fact, you were waiting for that lecture to happen, but Caleb said absolutely nothing for a while. He closed the book and placed it on the sofa.

“So…” He eventually spoke. “The story you are reading… Is it the romance between a brother and his sister?”

“Foster brother and sister.” You added it right away. “They are orphans… Like us.”

You deliberately said the last words in the most quiet tone. But Caleb heard it. He cleared his throat. 

“So you like romantic stories… like this?”

You covertly gazed at him before turning away immediately. This room suddenly became so airless.

When you were alone, you could let your imagination run wild. You could prolong the daydream in which you were free to express your feelings. Just like the heroine in the story. Yes, you adored that story, because it told you about the romance that bloomed between two orphans who were adopted and fell in love with each other as they grew up. You enjoyed portraying yourself as the female lead and dreaming that he was the male lead.

That was probably why you dated nobody during your school years. That was probably why you always waited for his vacation to greet him when he returned from Skyhaven.

You wanted to be connected to him in a different way than being his adopted sister.

Then he already knew everything. How could you simply bury this guilt? You dared not look at him anymore. Nonetheless, Caleb sat down in front of you, on the floor. His hand was placed very close to yours.

“Well… You could have told me that you…” Caleb stopped mid-sentence. You also did not know what to say in this case. Then he decided to leave.

During that weekend, you never spoke to each other save for brief phrases when compelled to say something. 

Caleb returned home the following weekend, but he arrived by the doorstep late at night. The unexpected summer downpour soaked him. You soon let him inside and after taking a shower, Caleb sat in the living room alone with his hair still dripping.

“You should dry your hair.” You spoke, in your hand a clean cotton towel.

Caleb grinned, but averted your gaze. "You usually help me with it."

You refused to say anything else and proceeded gently towards him. There was a chaotic sense between the two of you, as if a fire that had been smoldering for a long time suddenly flared up in violence.

You did not sit next to Caleb, but rather stood behind the sofa, drying his hair. Caleb's eyes were closed, he leaned back slightly, and his gorgeous face was directed towards you. If it had not been for the cotton towel, his hair and head would have likely touched your abdomen.

"It's done." You spoke quietly. You slowly took one step backwards. But Caleb reached out and held you back.

“Pip-squeak, don't go.”

You lost your breath and lowered the head to look down at him. His eyes opened a little, just enough to capture the image of you half confused, half expectant like this.

“Do you still read that story?”

Your head shook slightly as an answer.

"How come? Why did you stop?"

“It makes me… think about nonsense. Didn't you want me to stop reading those kinds of novels and hoping too much for a romance?"

Caleb laughed. His cold fingers touched your cheek, then slid down to the corner of your ruby lips.

“What a pity. The two characters in that story seemed to… truly be together eventually.”

He knew, since he had read ten more pages than you. You never picked up that book again after that day.

“Of course, because they are the male and female protagonists...” You replied in a soft tone.

“You can also be the main character,” said Caleb. “You are the main character in your own story. So… How would you write it?”

He looked at you for a long moment, waiting for your reaction. Waiting for a sign from you. Waiting for you to let him in. 

At last, you allowed yourself to be immersed in his touch, his breath and the delicate aroma of soap on his skin. You rubbed against his palm, your head lowered slightly to get a little closer to him. 

If you were the heroine in that story, you would hope this dream to never fade.

“I want… I want Caleb to be mine…”

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

Zoya Nazyalensky: how to ruin a character

Zoya Nazyalensky was a mean-spirited, vain and ambitious character in Shadow and Bone trilogy. And while I didn't necessarily commend her bullying attitude, she seemed to hold some care for her people, so I was excited for her to get her own duology. To see her grow from a popular girl in school to an actual position of power and overcome hardships that come with it. Except we didn't get to see any of that. Why couldn't Zoya just be her own character instead of making her "the right version" of the Darkling?

Tell, not show

We never get to see actual growth or an actual struggle. We're constantly told she is a good leader, but we don't see it. What we see is Nina developing anxiety because instead of mentoring, Zoya constantly criticized her even at the things she was good at. We see Zoya lose her temper in delicate political situations. We see Adrik and Nina discussing how everyone in the second army was scared of her but also had a crush on her. That's your good leadership? Imagine if the Darkling did that, the fandom would bury him even further. What we see is Zoya abandoning the plan in RoW and going off on her own to fight. That's the general of the army right there. But of course, everything magically works out for her, which brings me to my next point.

Men and the narrative handing her everything on a platter

The crown? Handed to her by her simpering boytoy boyfriend.

The title of a saint? The Darkling shouts "Sankta", which makes people follow up.

Handling the Apparat? The Darkling is the one who shuts him up by making shadows come out of his mouth. It is only after that when Zoya does an unnecessary thunderclap (which used to be the Darkling's thing - "a sound like thunderclap" before the place would plunge into darkness) and orders to seize the Apparat.

Her powers? Given to her by a man after two days of training because he wanted to escape the limbo he was trapped in and she was the only Grisha there. Some chosen one she is. And for some reason, the famously ill-tempered Zoya has no problem with adjusting to immortality, her DNA being rewritten, and two ancient beings constantly living in her head.

Zoya saying "Will you have a Suli Queen?" only to be met with dead silence. There's the moment for her to speak up and put people in their places! And what happens? Some count jumps in to protect her because he has a crush on her. Why? Why is Count Karigan speaking for her?

Yes, it's YA, but the author is not acting or writing like it's not supposed to be taken seriously. And once you've established a universe with certain laws, you can't throw it all to the wind, give the readers a half-baked explanation and say it makes perfect sense. The SoB trilogy showed us how Grisha were not accepted even when they fought the Kings' wars for centuries and a Grisha saint destroyed the Fold. The SoC duology told us that the civil war destroyed the second army and Ravka was bankrupt and collapsing. Since the draft wasn't mandatory, no one wanted to go fight and die for a country that has given them nothing. But suddenly, the nation of Fjerda, who has hated and hunted the Grisha for centuries, is swayed by cheap tricks to worship them as saints and Ravka will be fine because because Zoya becoming a dragon magically solves every problem centuries of diplomacy, servitude and assimilation couldn't solve? Or what, Zoya can flap her wings and burn whoever opposes her? Yeah, 'cause that went so well for the Targaryen dynasty. Speaking of which, LB ripped off Daenerys Targaryen's story: both were child brides, Stormborn - Stormwitch, "If I look back I'm lost" - "Don't look back", the dragon Queen with flocking suitors, etc.

Weird sexualization

Why is being hot an excuse for everything when it comes to her? She constantly tears down everyone, is not a good commander, doesn't inspire or properly guide her subordinates, and yet everyone literally worships her because they had a crush on her. What the actual Sarah J. Maas hell is this? Not one character is constantly described as "perfect" and "elegant", except Zoya. Even when she's just standing, we are told about her "perfect profile in the moonlight". The otkazatsya nobles, who are supposed to see the Grisha as the lesser, who Zoya assures us would never accept "a raven-haired witch", constantly praise her. It's like all the problems, that would actually be problems, only exist in her head, because when it comes down to it, it's solved in half a minute. Not sure what happened, did LB realize she dug herself into too deep of a hole in KoS and quickly solved everything in RoW?

Her being "manipulated" by the Darkling

It's the typical "I thought my crush liked me back but since he doesn't, I now hate him". The Darkling didn't owe her anything. He was a general who travelled all year all across Ravka to protect the borders. Zoya was the one who thought she was the best and wanted to prove herself to him. Nothing wrong with ambition, but how was he supposed to know some young squaller considered him her father figure because of her daddy issues? All he did was not punish her when she screwed up: she took away an opportunity to claim an amplifier from a Grisha who actually deserved it, and marked the cubs she "freed" for death because she got her scent on them and they'd be killed by another tiger. And years later, she still refuses to accept the basic zoology fact and Nikolai supports her delusion. Childish naivety to just point fingers to blame we often see from her.

"When the children misbehaved, he slaughtered them". Majority of the second army was on Darkling's side. He killed like ten Grisha that were on Alina's side. And what otkazat’sya did he kill? Do you mean the soldiers Nikolai used to fight the darkling because for some reason he decided he was the best fit for the throne even though legally he had no right to it? Well neither did the darkling, why couldn't he be the King? Y'know, someone who actually had done things to make Ravka better? Or do you mean the brainwashed actual twelve year olds in Alina's cult she decided to use to fight the Darkling? They declared war on him and he still told her to stop and avoid bloodshed.

"When my aunt was killed by the Darkling" - her aunt wasn't killed by the Darkling, as she often claims. Zoya's aunt was a moron who saw the Fold, a giant wall of shadow moving in her direction, ran towards it and started pushing random people out of the way instead of grabbing her daughter and running in the opposite direction like everyone else was doing. When there's a catastrophe, people evacuate in an as orderly manner as possible. Since when is running into a tsunami considered bravery when you're not even a trained individual? This isn't a matter of bravery or cowardice, it's suicide. And the Darkling moving the Fold to destroy only the area near the docks wasn't a mad power-obsessed move, it was a military action to warn off the enemy countries from attacking Ravka, which they were planning to do and basically already doing with creeping occupation and clashes at the border.

Do the fans even realize that Zoya literally said "He could've told me what he had planned, if I could've warned them..." - I don't know Zoya, your aunt might've still ran towards the Fold. And why would he warn you? Even if you had been his favorite, which you weren't, you literally cracked the most precious Grisha's ribs out of petty jealousy, proving you weren't dependable. If the Darkling had told Zoya about his plan to destroy the docks near Novokribirsk, Zoya would've gladly stayed on his side and would've bragged about how she was his favorite (she wasn't. The Darkling was only close to his otkazatsya guards Oprichniki, and a few heartrenders. He had more important things to do than go around manipulating random young women).

“Where is the shrine to my aunt? To Saint Harshaw? To Sergei or Marie or Fedyor? Who will worship them and light candles in their names?” - All she cares about the Grisha she knew personally. Where are shrines for countless soldiers who died in King's wars? Where are shrines for Grisha who were executed in sham trials after Alina ran from Ravka? Where are shrines for Grisha who had to run from Ravka after the second army collapsed and got snatched up by enemies, like Retvenko, Anya and the Grisha working in the White Rose? Where are shrines for Grisha who were forcefully taken from Ravka because she couldn't do her job as the general? Zoya insulted Sergei, a double traitor, even after his death, but she brings him up when she needs to add names to her hate-list against the Darkling. She treats everyone like dirt when they're alive, but she will plant flowers in her garden after their deaths! Absolutely useless for them, but it makes Zoya look like this deeply compassionate, benevolent commander who grieves every soldier they lose on a personal level. That kind of pointless grand posturing is exactly what a self-absorbed narcissist like Zoya would do. They don't feel empathy, they perform it. (quote from @taragreenfield).

Giving Zoya's flaws to the Darkling and his virtues to her + never acknowledging Zoya's very much remaining flaws

I was flabbergasted when the Darkling being vain suddenly became a thing in KoS duology. Where did that even come from? But no, in SoB trilogy, Zoya was called vain by Alina (because she was), so obviously somehow it had to become his flaw.

The Darkling's good looks were mentioned by Alina and Genya, yes, but we are shown it had no part in making people respect him, and it was established that when he was a boy, he often had to change his appearance in a rough manner to look different in order to survive the witch hunters and amplifier hunters. Poorly dyed hair, shaved head, etc. But in KoS duology, Sankta Elizaveta tells Zoya that he always picked a handsome face when tailored because he was vain. Utter shite. Tailors were extremely rare and he couldn't have been tailored often. He couldn't even been tailored well because Grisha back then couldn't carry around a kit with materials like cells inside. The goal would've been to just become unrecognizable, like Nikolai/Sturmhond. And when he was, how is picking a handsome face when his real face was also handsome a bad thing? What, he had to be ugly and make himself an even more of an outcast during the time when he had nothing?

On the other hand, it was established that Zoya looked down on everyone and used her good looks in her advantage, turned her nose up and called people commoners, peasants and insulted their lack of fine taste, no matter if they were actually peasants or not. Examples: Mal, Adrik, Genya, Alina, Kaz, Jesper, etc. Typical bully rich girl behavior in order to contradict "I'm not like other girls" mindset Alina had because that was trendy when Shadow and Bone came out. However, when LB needed a sad backstory for Zoya, she made her a peasant who couldn't even afford food. So, she was just faking and shaming her own social class for years.

And Zoya never stops being vain. She didn't just destroy the Darkling's rooms, she swung the first hammer, then stopped because she didn't want to break a nail or get callouses. Does that seem like actual self-righteous rage to you? But she did pull away a bunch of Fabrikators from their work in a disbanded army to destroy the rooms entirely and remake it in her taste. In a bankrupt country when they couldn't even afford to buy metal to build weapons to defend themselves against two very well-armed enemy countries! In a bankrupt country where Grisha were being kidnapped off the streets and the people starved, the first thing to do is renovate perfectly intact rooms! What an empowering move! I cannot fucking believe this is canon.

LB hastily making her Suli for diversity points, not for Zoya herself

Zoya was considered white before KoS. Her features: blue eyes, black hair and I quote - "a perfect nose" (did you mean a small straight nose, Leigh? I sure hope not) were mentioned a lot while her skin tone was not. But, every time a character was Suli in the Grisha trilogy, no matter how minor, the text would explicitly state that. Before KoS came out, people were complaining that all three main characters in KoS would be white and upper-class, then LB commissioned Zoya's official fanart to look Suli, and everyone was happy that Zoya was a brown girl. THEN, we find out in Rule of Wolves that Zoya actually looks white and never bothered to say she's Suli, or to learn Suli language or one of its dialects taught in the Little Palace. It's framed as though the Little Palace, where Zoya grew up, was discriminatory towards Suli, when in reality, we only see Alina who was racist and was making fun of Suli accent. It was actually encouraged to learn Suli for missions and we see Marie and Nadia do it. The Little Palace had Grisha from all over the world, including the Suli, so if it was anywhere to feel safe and accepted, it was there. I guess Zoya's mother and some Ravkans being racist really stuck with Zoya and she chose to hide her Suli heritage in order to seem "perfect". But then that's on Zoya too, she had internal prejudices and it should be acknowledged.

Zoya admitting to be Suli could've been done in so many ways. I was so invested when it was revealed she was passing as not Suli. What would her feelings and relationship be to her heritage? Zoya was a proud woman, why didn't she reveal she was half-Suli when she came into the position of power as the general of the second army? Remember when Inej felt uncomfortable with the triumvirate in CK and didn't want to meet them because Ravka hadn't been good to Suli in recent years? Why wasn't that explored? It might be possible that during Nikolai's father's rule, while the Suli were on the Ravkan soil, they were tested for powers and taken to the second army since the draft was mandatory and that's why Inej didn't like them. Because there weren't a lot of Suli left anyway, especially ones who still led the nomad lifestyle. When the mandatory law for Grisha testing and drafting was abolished, what happened to Suli Grisha children? Suli also travel to Shu-Han, where they kidnap Grisha and experiment on them, so they wouldn't have been safe there. Why isn't that acknowledged? Instead, all we get is a promise that Zoya will include the Suli in her version of new Ravka (they were already included), the typical promise every politician makes? It feels like shallow performative progressiveness because it is.

And don't say "it's just YA, we can't expect more complexity", yes we can. If the author brings up an issue and uses it as a plot device, especially an issue that exists in the real world and has affected people, the readers are owed more than that. Naomi Novik's YA fantasy book The Spinning Silver executes the prejudices and marginalization a Jewish main character faces in a country based on Slavic countries masterfully. Even LB did better than herself in SoC duology with Inej. So we know she can do it, she just didn't bother.

And the grand reveal of Zoya admitting she's Suli was so awful. That scene where Zoya apologizes in Suli to the Suli in Kerch? Everyone acts so surprised when she struggles through a few words. Nikolai's jaw drops "How do you know these words?" as if he himself isn't currently learning Zemeni and doesn't know that every language was taught very well in the Little Palace to the point where you can speak like a native. But Zoya saying a sentence is sensational how, exactly? And why would the Suli believe Zoya? A man literally tells her she speaks Suli like a tax collector. These are the people who had to travel and stay extra careful because Kerch exploits Suli. They should know that even if someone speaks perfect Suli, they could be a Ravkan spy or someone indentured by Kerch. It could be a trap, a scam, a human trafficking attempt, etc. But no, they accept her with open arms because Kaz somehow knew they would because Kaz is all-knowing. It's an incredibly cheap execution. Yes, Suli don't forget one of their own but they also forsake one of their own if they plan to have a part in harming them. We learnt that from Inej. There are a thousand ways the reveal could've been done better.

But guess what was erased? The Darkling's Suli and Shu heritage. He is canonically Shu-passing and can speak the language fluently. His half-sister Ulla looks Suli in her human form (her skin is greenish grey in mermaid form). The mermaids/the sildroher in Grishaverse all have white skin and the ones Ulla is surrounded by, including her sildroher father, have white skin in human form too. Ulla's mother, Baghra, is described to have dark hair and dark eyes. Since the Darkling has pale skin and grey eyes, it must've come from his father while the dark hair came from his mother - Baghra. And since Ulla looks Suli with dark hair, dark eyes and "burnished bronze" skin, it must've come from her mother. So, the Darkling's mother Baghra clearly has Suli heritage, and we know that she often travelled with them in the past.

In conclusion, Zoya's character is one big wasted potential, and a lesson to discard responsibility and taking accountability in life, which sends the wrong message.

[blue-aconite]

For Blurb Night: “You do have a stupid face.” with Jake ♥️

It's here! I swear I thought I could pull of a blurb night but turns out I couldn't.. Thanks to @a-reader-and-a-writer for looking this over ❤️

Blurb Night Masterlist

She smiled politely at another one of his anecdotes, hoping that he wouldn’t notice her disinterest. A quick glance at her watch told her it had been over two hours. 

Two hours of the man in front of her droning on about himself and all his supposed adventures. He had yet to tell a story where he wasn’t the hero. At this point, she was sure that more than 90% of what he said was fabricated to fit his own narrative. 

Hamish didn’t seem to take notice of the fact that she wasn’t listening, continuing to animatedly talk about a recent business trip where he made good on an important deal with another company. 

“.. and then, he asked if I wanted to join him for a night out on his yacht. He really should have been more specific because what he showed me was not a yacht, but a small boat. I never would have agreed to go along if I knew -“ 

She interrupted, seizing the chance before she could wither away from boredom. “You know what? It’s getting quite late. How about we call it a night? I do have an early morning tomorrow.” 

The lie fell easily but she couldn’t be bothered to care. She’d do anything at this point to make him stop talking. 

“Right, of course. You need your beauty sleep.” Hamish winked, standing up and offering his hand. She debated just standing up on her own but took it anyway, not wanting to seem rude. 

She really didn’t want to get back into the car with him, so she quickly caught Penny’s eye from behind the bar, begging her to interfere. 

Penny quickly caught on and hurried over to where they were standing. “Oh, are you leaving? Could I borrow you quickly before you go? It won’t take long, just … -“ 

“Sure, no problem.” She turned towards Hamish again. “Why don’t you head out? I don’t want to keep you waiting.” 

“Alright then. I’ll call you later.” Hamish kissed her cheek before heading towards the doors. 

Both she and Penny watched through the window as he got into his ridiculous car and drove out of the parking lot. 

“I thought he’d never leave.” Hangman appeared out of nowhere, pool cue in hand. 

Penny patted her on the shoulder before going back towards the bar, Jimmy waving cheerily at her. She waved back before turning around to face Hangman, raising one eyebrow. 

“And have you been keeping track of him all evening? I must say, I’m surprised. Didn't you know you were so interested in what I’m up to?” 

Hangman rolled his eyes, grabbing her elbow and steering her towards the pool table. “I haven’t seen you look that bored since the last briefing you guys were forced to join.” 

He made no attempt to deny that he had been watching her and her date, which brought a warm feeling in her stomach. 

There was a time where the two of them could have been something, but neither had been ready for it. Now, she wondered if they should have taken the leap anyway. 

“Well, to be fair, it was almost three hours and even Cyclone looked bored, and he was the one holding it.” She countered, accepting the pool cue he handed her.  “You sure you’re ready to lose?” 

Hangman snorted, leaning over to make the break. “I never lose, sweetheart.” 

“Guess there’s a first for everything then. It’s going to be entertaining watching the smirk fall off your face.” 

He shook his head. “I’ll enjoy watching you try. And if I can entertain you, what’s the harm? Better that than what that stupid-what’s-his name could ever come up with.” 

He was joking but she could read him easily enough at this point. “Are you jealous?” 

“I don’t get jealous. Especially not over someone named Hamish. Stupid name, stupid face.” 

She took her shot, sinking a solid before answering. “You know, I don’t mind if you are. It’s cute. And even though he’s the most boring person ever, his face was nice to look at.” 

She tried to get around the table for her next shot but Hangman crowded her against it, trapping her between his body and the table. “Mine’s much prettier to look at.” 

His breath was warm on her face, his lips inches from her ear as he bent his neck slightly to look down at her. 

She tried her best to come up with a witty comeback but him being so close distracted her. 

“Nothing to say?” Jake smirked, leaning even closer. 

She took a breath, willing herself to get it together. “You also have a stupid face so I’d argue that you’re pretty much the same.” 

Jake straightened up but his eyes never left hers. “I take offence to that. And I’m nothing like Hamish. I’ll prove you wrong.” 

“And how are you going to do that?” They were headed into dangerous territory but the butterflies told her it would be worth it, as did Jake’s smile. 

“Guess you’re just going to have to stick around and see.”

[whinlatter]

author’s note | chapter 15: beasts (i) 🗡️

now the dust has settled somewhat… it’s about time we talked about chapter 15, a chapter that sure did take its sweet time coming. at long (long) last, we are back and kicking off our flashback chapters, where we find out what went down in crookshanks’ ginny weasley’s war. a picnic it was not! let’s get into it - it being these indulgent author’s notes i love to subject you to and that you love to humour.

✨ spoilers for this chapter below the cut  ✨

writing notes and headcanons

chapter titles: these flashback chapters are called beasts because baby it’s all been building up to this! this chapter and the ones to follow are really the heart of this story - the title track, if you will. at last, ginny is talking, plunged back into last year as she testifies at the inquiry. the beasts of the chapter title, and the fic at large, are people - or, at least, the parts of a self that lies within all people; the beasts within  - but the beasts are also the memories of the war themselves, unwieldy and untameable, memories which expose all the savagery, brutality and hypocrisy on which the wizarding world is built. (these chapters have been my personal beasts to wrangle with for far, far too long.) pls be reassured, askbox anons, that calling these chapters beasts does not mean they are the final chapters! the final chapter has had a name for a very long time and is in fact something different. i suspect we have a good 6+ chapters to go yet. (and if experience has taught me anything, it’s that i will probably split some of those in two. chapter plans! who needs em! not this clown!)

writing ginny’s war: there have been many many brilliant attempts to write ginny’s war in fic over the years, and i feel very aware of the danger of reinventing the wheel. i’m also aware that there are tropes that abound (for good reason) in such fics and that are hard to avoid. nevertheless, any hinny writer worth their salt tends to want to take a run-up at writing DH from ginny’s POV, a book she spends largely off stage, glimpsed only in passing mentions of her that harry witnesses or in memories that haunt harry as he embarks on the horcrux hunt, and gosh darn it i want my turn! the trouble with writing nny’s war, though, is that you have to write chapters that are strongly anchored in plot rather than vibe, except you’re not working with your own plot, but much more tightly confined by canonical timelines and major narrative landmarks, which demands a lot more scrambling around on potter search if - like me - half the fun of writing fic is playing around with trying to write a story that is more strictly canon coherent. still, we love a challenge, and it’s just as much fun to subvert harry’s narration/assumptions of what is happening elsewhere in the wizarding world during DH (and especially what is going on at hogwarts) as it is to get stuck into the text. i set myself a series of rules, one of which is that whenever harry thinks ginny is somewhere or doing something, she has to be doing the opposite of that. he’s terrified she’s in danger at the wedding? she’s sat on the sofa with gabrielle snotting veela snot down her arm. he’s sure she, neville and luna are sat together on hogwart’s express plotting snape’s demise? she’s obviously too smart for that. yung hazza has fucked around long enough and now that young man is about to find out. more of this in future author’s notes once we’re back at school proper - let these serve as little light hints about how things might go down…  but for now:

the order and resistance: in deathly hallows, harry and co crash out of the wedding the night the wizarding state is seized in a coup by voldemort, ejecting ginny from the centre-stage narrative but also detaching the trio from the trajectory of most of the wizarding world for august 1997 - at least, until they go to the ministry to get the horcrux from umbridge - and from the workings and wartime activities of the order of the phoenix. this happens, ofc, just as the order becomes the official underground resistance. of course we know, as readers, that the plot and the outcome of the war will hinge on the trio succeeding on their quest: this is harry’s series after all. but to imagine the perspective of the order off-stage, the trio - three teenagers who have needed order fighters to rescue them from battles with death eaters two years running - are just off doing a weird dumbledore sidequest while the real business of fighting this war and actively resisting voldemort’s regime must surely fall to the order. nevertheless, the order lack an obvious general post mad-eye’s death and clear direction beyond low level sabotage and surveillance. we are told the burrow is now official headquarters and that the weasleys remain in their home and resume going about their daily business as a fig leaf for their resistance activities. 

the order and the traitor: crucial context that harry largely dismisses but that is clearly on the older order members’ minds in the summer of 1997 is mundungus’ betrayal and the idea that there might be a rat. harry is so convinced he would not be betrayed: remus calls him naive for it, which harry bristles at but ultimately decides to disregard. would the others, though? the order are still smarting from the wounds inflicting by the apparent treachery the night of the seven potters (a betrayal that cost their most seasoned fighter his life); fleur, for her part, spends the run-up to the happiest day of her life convincing hagrid is going to get binned, hop on mic and reveal harry’s whereabouts half-way through the cutting of the cake. kingsley and remus were livid at the idea of a traitor the night of the rescue; remus, of course, for obvious and deeply personal reasons, though he also makes himself suspicious by vanishing (to run out on his preggo wife), no doubt raising some eyebrows among his fellow fighters. all this adds an extra layer of tension to the summer of ’97 at order hq, especially when there are yung women wandering about who are about to go back to the den of vipers that is hogwarts under death eater control. and speaking of…

what about ginny? one can only assume, then, that under these circumstances ginny must have gone back to much the same unglamorous infantilising existence she endured in the holidays during ootp: living at order hq, barred by virtue of her age and mother’s protectiveness from order activities, only without harry, ron and hermione to keep her company as kindred spirits, underrage and overlooked. for this reason, i have ginny spend this chapter confined to the claustrophobic house, becoming much closer to a grimmauld-like space than the burrow has ever been so far in canon, and almost entirely alone: protected as is possible, but shut out, left to her own devices. it is at once a very safe position to be in but also a vulnerable one - too much time to think and stew, a lonely character whose loneliness has previously driven her to ruin, back to being lonely again. i wanted there to be shades of sirius and ootp harry in it - restless, cooped up, prowling around, growing bitter and isolated - and also (as the echoes to chapter 2 suggest) echoes of an earlier time in ginny’s life when she was lonely, and vulnerable, and ripe for the picking. too much time to think, especially to think about…

those pesky horcruxes: in revisiting late HBP/DH and preparing to write these chapters one of the things that i found most baffling was how astonishingly cavalier and clumsy the trio seem to be discussing crucial information about horcruxes around ginny or within her plausible earshot. ginny of course knows harry has gone with dumbledore the night the tower is struck. after dumbledore dies, the four of them spend ‘all of their time together’, harry carries the locket everywhere with him in his pocket (‘not as a talisman, but as a reminder of what it had cost and what remained still to do’). hermione may wait until the door up the dormitories closes behind ginny to talk about RAB, butt it’s not exactly a watertight way of remaining out of earshot (especially given ginny’s canonical curiosity and expertise at listening at doors). while at the burrow, hermione still stays in ginny’s room, presumably packing up all manner of clue-like items around her: molly may try her best to use ginny as a barrier to the trio getting together to plot next steps, hermione still manages to slip away and leave ginny in order to seek out harry and ron to plot next steps elsewhere in the house (‘Oh, Ron’s mum forgot that she asked me and Ginny to change the sheets yesterday’). what’s more, the trio openly invite order members’ views on the items in dumbledore’s will, and we know that this encounter had such a lasting impression on ginny that she commits to stealing back harry’s rightful property (the sword of gryffindor) at great personal risk having presumably stewed on it for quite some time. the most fun i had in this chapter was adding in the little hints that, had the trio invited ginny into their confidence, they might have found someone quicker on the uptake on some of their trickiest mysteries than the three of them ever were. wouldn’t ginny the quidditch enthusiast and former seeker know that snitches have flesh memories? doesn’t it seem possible - even probable - that ginny explored grimmauld place thoroughly and found the little sign on regulus’ room long before harry even set foot in grimmauld place? wouldn’t ginny, of all people, remember exactly what gryffindor’s sword was used for last time and start to wonder why it need be used again? she is so close - and yet! so far. but isn’t that always ginny weasley’s way?

the weasleys’ dilemma: i have had a fair few very compelling messages in the askbox criticising harry for leaving ginny to it, assuming she would be safe (how could she be!) and taking insufficient interest in her wellbeing beyond pining for as a comfort for himself on lonely tent-watch nights. i have also had a few criticising the weasleys for much the same thing. i think these are very very reasonable and understandable takes with a lot of truth to them. what i will say though is that this is a period of the narrative where nobody had good choices to make, including harry, but also including ginny’s whole family. the weasleys deciding to send ginny weasley back into hogwarts when she is very obviously and publicly close to both harry potter and to the order is, on the one hand, a completely mental proposition. but the other thing to remember, and that is consistently and widely overlooked about the weasleys, is that they are a family of soldiers. they are generations of committed resistors and agents of conscience, ideologically-committed and devoted to an extremely morally worthy cause that actually really, really matters. the new state is carrying out an attempted genocide: if ever there were a time to bang on about the greater good, to not put your own family’s safety over the safety of hundreds of others of innocent victims, wouldn’t it be this one? i care a lot in this fic about making clear that although there are malicious bad actors in this narrative whose actions cause harm and pain, there’s also lots of proper goodies trying to do their best and make the best moral choice under exceptionally difficult circumstances - whose actions also cause harm and pain. often they have to make very tough utilitarian choices about what the right course of action should be: they have to live with some amount of pain being the direct result, often pain for the people they love most in the world. and so the weasleys send ginny back to hogwarts, telling themselves she will be safe as a pureblood, as their family (and the trio’s) cover: business as usual, nothing to see here. 

voices of dissent: it was important to me to have two voices in this chapter who raise doubts about sending ginny back. one i’ll come back to in a later author’s note, but is charlie, although he does not fight for ginny to stay at home, and stays silent as her family sees her off. the other one is molly weasley, the consistent voice in canon for children being allowed to have a childhood, overly protective and patronising but fundamentally trying to do something powerful and good: letting kids be kids. of course, as soon as ginny has set herself the sword quest, she is a one-track mind: she is going back to school, she is getting the trio the sword, she is helping fight voldemort, and she is not listening to her mother. would ginny weasley want to be protected, really?

reading list

not fics but real books can you believe!

the feast by margaret kennedy (fabulous devastating postwar ensemble novel, sank it in one sitting, claustrophobic and wry and searing and o the doom is building, vibes are very very very good)

silence of the girls by pat barker (silence becomes a woman)

testament of youth by vera brittain 

"I am writing this in front of an open casement window overlooking the sea. The sky is cloudless, and the russet sails of the fishing smacks flame in the sun. It is summer but it is not war; and I dare not look at it. It only makes me angry with myself for being here — and with the others for being content to be here. When men whom I have once despised as effeminate are being sent back wounded from the front, when nearly everyone I know is either going or has gone, can I think of this with anything but rage and shame?"

songs from the playlist for this chapter 

one properly stand-out song that i considered just having standalone is king creosote’s please come back, i will listen, i will behave, i will toe the line. the opening is so chilling, and the song proper is so rousing, the lyrics childlike, the protagonist pleading their way through grief (please come back, and take me with you next time). that whole album absolutely fucking slaps. but these other songs are good too! 

which side are you on by pete seeger | please come back… by king creosote | come back to us by thomas newman | tomorrow is a long time by bob dylan | oceans apart by ben crosland | precipice by jack simpson | mìorbhail nam beann by duncan chisholm 

…and a sneak peek from chapter 16, including the return of fan favourite/everyone’s favourite grouchy stoner king: 

‘What the fuck are you doing here?’  A rough hand grabs by the wrist. Two years without a word uttered to Michael Corner and now he’s dragging her by the arm down an empty corridor, iron grip as she tries to pull away. Once out of sight, around the corner, he rounds on her. ‘You shouldn’t be here,’ he hisses. ‘It’s insane that you’re here.’

[lullabyes22-blog]

Snippet - Damn Me - Forward but Never Forget/XOXO

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Unless it's a punch.

Forward but Never Forget/XOXO

Snippet:

He unfolds from his stool. With the sunrays angled over him, his silhouette holds a magisterial menace that blights Vi to the marrow.

Blut is gone.

Only the Monster remains.

"I've had time," he says, "to reassess the gameboard. You're not at fault for last night. I am. But for my weakness, none of this would've happened. I'd have dealt with you the way a real monster deals with threats. Fast, fatal, final. Instead I got sidetracked. I let you stay. Instead of shutting your mouth with a fist, I let it run wild, and now it's talking me in circles. Instead of crushing you under my heel, I let you get under my skin, and now you've left scars." A hard breath. "Instead of hating you, I let myself care. And now, like with Vander... I'm paying the price."

Vi’s eyes go wide as plates. Her jaw, a little wider.

"Silco…"

"I wanted you to be part of Zaun, Vi. Part of it, as Vander never could be. I wanted us on the same side. All because I was foolish. Because I craved the farce of family." He shakes his head. "Old habits die hard. The past's a harder bitch to bury." 

Vi is trembling. She cannot stop.

"Silco," she tries again. "Don't do this."

"I'm sorry, Pet. Truly."  A single blink, and a ruthless seal closes over the softness. "You're a good girl. Strong as Vander. Clever as Lika. But too good, for the path I'm walking. And that path's forward. You? You make me look back. Make me remember things better left buried. And only dead men belong in graves."

Vi rises; her hands seize his shirtfront.

It's not a threat. Only a precarious bid for balance. The room's pitching like the sea.

"Don't," she says. "Don't send me away. If you do, you're a coward. You're running from me. Running from everything. The Eye of Zaun—scared of his own reflection."

Silco smiles. Slow, sad, utterly vacant.

"I've faced many demons, Vi. You have yet to face yours."

"So you're just gonna toss me back? Toss me at 'em?"

"You'll survive. That's your art. Same as mine."

"Art, my ass! I'm not letting you off the hook!" Her fingers knot in his shirtfront. "I'll tell the Council everything. Everything you're planning. Everything I've heard. I'll sing like a fucking canary!"

"I'll count on it." His hands come up, a tender cage for her face. Her heart pounds against its cold bars. "All the tales of debauchery. All the backroom deals. All the trade secrets. Use that brain of yours, Pet. Spin it into a narrative and save your skin. Consider it my gift." 

"But—the Four Horsemen! The Shimmer! The harbor!"

"All true. All too late."

"What?"

"The gears are already in motion, Vi. Topside's interests are twined with ours.  If the Council dares to turn your intel into a preemptive strike, they'll shoot themselves in the foot. And even then, they'll never believe that one man can orchestrate such a wide-scale overthrow." He tilts his head. "Sunk Cost Fallacy, remember?"

"Try Gambler's Ruin!" Vi erupts. "You're so hell-bent on taking down the Council, you'll destroy Zaun and everything else with it."

"It's the Council who've set us on this road. I'm not destroying. Only course-correcting."

Vi’s trembling worsens. She is a child again, small and frightened. Her family, gone, and her world a burning ruin.

"I won't go!" she cries, hating the wobble in her voice. "I won't leave Jinx!"

"She's beyond your reach."

"You're not beyond hers!" She shakes him hard. "She'll never forgive you! Not a second time!"

"I'd rather have Jinx's hatred than her death."

"Silco." Her voice breaks, a raw ruin. "Please."

"Don't beg, Vi. Vander would never. For you, he was stubborn to the last." The smile dies, and Vi's hope with it. "I'm no better. For Jinx, I've slit throats and sold souls. What's one more, when a man's already damned?" 

He leans in, and kisses her forehead. His lips are searingly cold. His body, an armature of bone. Yet the touch is tender. Blut’s touch. He still remembers her, as he does his own vestigial self. But he has only one way of expressing the memory.

Violence.

"Go on, Vi," he breathes. "Damn me."

And Vi is crying.

Crying as hard as the night she'd lost Mom and Dad. As the night she'd lost Vander and her brothers.  As the night she'd found Powder—only to lose her to the warped inverse of Jinx.

"You bastard," she chokes, tears streaming hot over his palms. "You fucking bastard."

"I know."

His hands fall. He steps back. They're still toe-to-toe, but a lifetime's distance splits them.

"Love, Vi," he says. "It's the ugliest monster of all. It's bitten me before. But I was a boy then: soft and toothless. This time, I'll cut the wretch out by the throat."

Spots burst behind Vi's eyes. She can't feel her body. Can't process anything beyond the loss. His confession's no better than an epitaph. The end of a bitter, bloody road that's crumbled into a precipice.

And Vi's on the edge of freefall.

"Look out for yourself, Pet," he says, and the smile returns: unearthly cold. "Kiss the Kiramman for me."

And Vi is falling.

Right into the old rage, with nothing left to catch her.

Fists popping, she lunges.

[scrappywritz]

characters haunting the narrative vs will's becoming

might come off as a stretch but i find that the characters that haunt will throughout the show represent his stages of transformation as nothing else does. it's almost jarring how it differs seasonally.

season 1: garrett jacob hobbs

this is the easiest one to think about. there isn't that much to say that hasn't already been said. gjh haunts will because of the violence he'd discovered within himself upon his murder. will fears becoming him, feels the lines between them blurring as he'd fully immersed himself in his psyche in order to catch him. it's so much so that he adopts gjh's love for his daughter as his own, in a parasocial way through which he barely interacts with abigail, but still claims to hold familial/fatherly love for her. this is stage 1; will experiences denial and revulsion for his urges, while also maintaining a steady, unflinching and almost contradictory curiosity. he doesn't connect with the killers as well as before because it's overshadowed by how he himself feels.

season 2: abigail hobbs

here's where things get tricky. it's hard to place where exactly will lies here, as the narrative takes on a more unreliable direction. for instance, it's hard to draw a fair line when it comes to how much of will's latter interactions with hannibal were genuine, and how much wasn't. we always assume the most of it was, so that's the assumption i'm going with. now, at the beginning of the season, something is made abundantly clear: will is not grieving. you'd think after getting arrested for allegedly murdering his surrogate daughter would warrant a more emotional reaction. on the contrary, he is more consumed by the desire to expose hannibal and to "avenge" abigail. there is not a single moment of contemplation from him in which he reprimands himself for the possibility of murdering her. instead, abigail acts as a placeholder for his anger and rage. he cowers behind the cover her "death" gives him. through it, he justifies, to himself and to other people, the sharply violent and in someway, proactive, turn that his motives and thoughts take. here, he is aware of what he is, who he is becoming, but refuses to face it outright. he misses her, he misses the idea of her, but above all, the mourns his loss. not the loss of abigail, but to him, the loss of his final shot at being a normal person. she is a tether to him that way, an escape route, a semblance of morality and the closest he can get to normalcy in his position. after she is "gone", that wariness and longing to a life different from the one he leads is abandoned and in light of these events, he seizes the opportunity to play victim to circumstance while also acting in a way that could be rationalized by an onlooking viewer. "prison changed me" and "abigail's death changed me" are statements he probably threw around to placate himself, but deep down he knows it was none of those things. he remains terrified of it, despite being all the more accepting. it's like slipping into a pool of water; you thrash uselessly against the fall, but somewhere between your breaths your brain shifts into action and begins considering your next move and what you should do after you hit the water. there is a moment of resignation there, and i believe that is why he let himself get carried away. she continues to haunt him, although you can see it taper towards the end of the season. he recalls her sadly, mourningly, but less in the memory of her and more in defeat. she was his moral crutch, a not at all convincing reminder that he's not so far gone after all. matter of fact, he wants to help her. he wants to save her. he doesn't want to kill her like her father did. all of this is, quite frankly, bullshit. when hannibal reawakens his innermost desire for wanting the normalcy a family would bring, whether through margot's pregnancy or through their half-hearted attempt at escaping before will's betrayal, compounded by the revelation that abigail is in fact, alive, hannibal allows him to entertain the notion that will could reverse his actions. that all could be forgotten, that they could run away together. hannibal recognizes that will's love for abigail is not built upon anything substantial, that in order for will to accept him fully, he has to rid him of that crutch once and for all. and so he does.

season 3: hannibal lecter

it’s the man himself. what can i say? while one might argue that abigail’s death haunts will through his presumed manifestation of her, i saw it as something else entirely. abigail only served as a conduit between will and the feelings/thoughts he has for hannibal. he puts them in abigail’s mouth so he wouldn’t have to admit to himself what he truly feels. it shouldn’t make any sense for him to want to track him down after what he’d done to him–to yearningly devote himself to uncovering his past before laying his eyes on him again. if anything, he should be hunting him down to kill him, and while that might have been part of will’s intentions, he’s always been an indecisive man. will claims that he'd been staring at afterimages of hannibal in places he hadn't been in years, but that is an understatement. the entire season lives and breathes in hannibal's name. there is seldom a single moment that hannibal is not connected to, be that direct or indirect. will soaks up hannibal's presence like a sponge, he is all encompassing. no wonder it sounds as if will's likening him to god at certain points. even during 3b, during the red dragon arc, the narrative molds and shifts in relation to hannibal and his influence, not entirely unlike how will undertook the peter bernadone case head-on due to how much it reminded him of his own predicament. when will goes to lithuania, to the very beginning, he does it to learn about the man he's afraid to become. while he's there, he tries his hand acting like hannibal with chiyoh. he completes the ritual through the firefly tableau. whether that is for his own sake or as a final act of vengeance against the man who presumably killed mischa, i can't entirely say. will performed well in solitary. his actions seemed calculated and precise, but confronted by the reality that is hannibal, the reality that cannot be brushed off or minimized, his resolve weakens. his mind skitters. in light of new knowledge, the man he wants to believe he hates is not so awful after all. he just can't decide. and then hannibal turns himself in and will is forced to live in the shadow of hannibal's influence once more, rather than his living image. he also thinks that stepping away from fbi work once and for all would help distance himself from hannibal, erase him for his thoughts. while the time jump completely obscures the nature of will's life after hannibal's incarceration, that's because that's how will sees it: inconsequential. the family he builds for himself is a retaliation, a fuck-you to everyone who thought he couldn't do it, especially hannibal. but that's all it is. it's out of spite. it’s desperate, just as he would try to see the best in himself through his interactions with abigail, the frantic grabs of a man during his descent, fisting in the air. he could catch ahold of a tree branch or a jagged cliff face, but the reality remains that he’s on his way down. and when that family was formed, will expected something profound, just as he had been promised by hannibal, except that it wasn't. the idea of family wasn't what was so alluring, but the concept of sharing it with hannibal. when jack returns, it's one reminder too many. he spirals again, and the letter serves as an indirect way of saying, "i haven't forgotten. have you?" hannibal represents will's final stage; acceptance. will wrestles with the idea of hannibal and what he means to him, jumping back and forth before settling. the fall represents his rebirth, finally letting go of his inhibitions and allowing himself to accept the man in front of him and what he represents. the entirety of him, and all that entails.

[lurkingshan]

Thank you for leaving these tags @pharawee! Without getting into any speculation about how Dead Friend Forever will actually end, I do want to address your question and talk about why most of us want to see severe consequences for these boys. The short answer: it's about genre expectations and the psychological catharsis of a good revenge narrative.

To get down to the really basic point: people who love revenge thrillers love them because they are a fantasy construct in which good people survive and bad people get what they deserve. In a world where bad things happen and we rarely have any control, a good revenge story can be exhilarating, giving you the feeling that justice prevailed, villains received appropriate comeuppance for their wrongs, and the protagonist seized control back and experienced much needed catharsis for their suffering. Real life is very much not like this, which is why it's such an appealing genre of fiction.

So how do we calibrate what "appropriate comeuppance" means? This is where genre expectations become really important, because the genre the revenge narrative plays out in sets the terms for where that bar sits. In The Glory, a recent world class revenge drama, we were in the psychological thriller genre, so revenge came in the form of Dong Eun playing mind games with her bullies until they destroyed their own lives. No murder necessary. Dead Friend Forever, however, is in the horror genre, and specifically began its story by planting itself in the slasher subgenre, giving us a masked killer and setting up expectations that these boys are being hunted. When you watch a slasher, you come in with the mindset that most of the characters are going to die and begin rooting for it and looking for reasons why they "deserve" it. And typically, in a slasher, it takes very little for a character to "deserve" a death--you often see people die for the tiniest infractions, like making a rude comment, telling a bad joke, or having sex. But DFF went much farther than that and gave us a multi episode flashback in which we got a detailed accounting of every wrong this group of boys committed against Non, increasing the audience's bloodlust and conviction that these boys needed to pay.

So why do so many of us want the bullies to die? Because the genre demands it, and the story set the audience up to expect it from the outset. I have seen some discussion of the way the show is blending different horror subgenres and not sticking strictly to typical slasher conventions, and that's true, and expected. Slashers are usually two hours max, and this show needed to fill 10+ hours of content, so it's doing a really interesting blend of slasher, mystery, psychological thriller, and other horror subgenres. But the bones of the story still hold, and despite the storytelling choice to give the villains some nuance and fleshed out motivations for their behavior, they are still villains who destroyed Non's life. If you're feeling overly sympathetic to any of these boys at present, I encourage you to go back and remind yourself how they behaved in the early episodes of this story, which took place after the events of the flashbacks. These are not genuinely remorseful kids who made minor mistakes and then got their acts together and became upstanding citizens; they just want to move on and avoid blame and accountability for what they did, while Non's entire family was irrevocably destroyed by their actions.

If this story ends without Por, Tee, Top, Fluke, Jin, and Phee suffering genre appropriate consequences for their choices that harmed and betrayed Non, it will be a letdown and many will feel unsatisfied. In real life, we may believe that forgiveness is the right path, and we know that Buddhism teaches unconditional forgiveness. But this is not real life. This is a fantasy genre that is specifically meant to provide an escape from the constraints of real life morality and obligations. No one wants to show up to a fantasy party only to receive a moral scolding. The most disappointing thing a revenge narrative can do is wimp out on delivering the actual revenge.

[fortheloveofarchons]

The Harbinger and His Arranged Bride

(Part 4)

A chapter where his perspective shows before and after the wedding! Full chapter on the ao3 link up!

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One month before the wedding of Il Capitano and his bride, when he found out the news of this arrangement…

It didn’t take long for Il Capitano to arrive at the Zapolyarny Palace, where the northern lights shine the brightest. It didn’t take long for him to find where Her Royal Highness was. It certainly didn’t take long for him to barge in the library of the palace, and not even the guards and the maids could stop a Sentinel Knight of immense force and power, and they could only watch from afar until the heavy, wooden doors closed shut. 

“Your Royal Highness, is this true?” 

Silence follows, just like how snowflakes gently drop on the ground outside of the library. In the library where a Harbinger and an Archon reside, the flickering candlelight danced over the book spines, casting a warm glow against the chill that permeated the walls. 

She sat beside a small wooden table cluttered with scrolls and quills, her slender fingers brushing absentmindedly over the gilded edge of an open book. 

“Yes…” She finally responds, snowflakes clung stubbornly to the glass, shimmering like trapped stars under the pale light of the full moon. “Before you are set out to finish your main goal in Natlan, let this be one last request from me. To live a marriage of love.” 

Capitano’s stomach seized. It was one matter to suspect, but hearing His Royal Highness’s answer so casually confirm his suspicions was another beast entirely. 

This was just like the conflict from Nod Krai all over again, when some of his soldiers tried to shoulder the burden, trying to stop the attack that was instigated by a certain Darknight Hero. Except this time it was the Tsaritsa that made Capitano shoulder an unnecessary burden that isn’t needed for his own agenda. He supposed it was only a matter of time before he got the taste of his own medicine. He just wished that it wasn’t so hot and bitter. 

Right before he was about to set his motion in plan. Save the nation of Natlan, confront with one of the Four Shades of the Primordial One, who is the Ruler of Death: Ronova, and proceed with his final step. 

Her Royal Highness then proceeds to pull out this arranged, political marriage at the last minute. 

“Why didn’t you tell me this? Why let me find this out from my men? And from a mere conversation of idle gossip, no less?” 

“Because I knew you’d react like this.” 

Hardening his resolve, Capitano straightened his uniform. Aside from the cold, the Fatui coat draped over his shoulders served no practical purpose besides the sign of his title as one of the Fatui Harbingers. Drops of melted snow, slow and heavy, dripped onto the carpet from his coat. 

As if anyone in this world could forget his rank. His legacy. 

…His past. 

“You were just going to have me wed someone I don’t even know?” 

Silence. There was no answer. 

Capitano rubbed the top of his helmet and sighed. 

It’s not like it can get any worse. He steeled himself internally. 

“When it is, then?” He then asked another question. “This arranged marriage… What’s the new timeline?” 

Her Royal Highness barely moved her body as her lips spoke. “Thirty days.” 

Nevermind. It just got worse. 

“Thirty days!” Even with the helmet that obscures his face, Capitano’s voice raised an octave. “Your Royal Highness, you cannot be serious about this.” 

“But I am.” She pretended she didn’t look at him, committing to her narrative and sticking to it no matter the cost. “An Archon’s lips is the law, do not ever think about trying to twist it against me. I asked for you to retrieve the gnosis from Natlan after the issue with Fontaine is settled with The Knave, and you dare… to ask for this risky mission. One that could ultimately cost your life, one that could topple the ranks of the Fatui Harbingers, and bring instability to your soldiers and men.” 

The strain in her voice stopped him short, and Capitano could only press his lips in silence, his mind reciting sentences as if they’re some magical prayer to keep himself guarded from the words of an Archon. 

[sepublic]

Having some huge biracial insecurity vibes from Acca Howler here… The way he needs to assert to himself that he’s not an outsider, that he has Hawaiian heritage like everyone else and even framing himself as part of the community with what his water “did” for everyone. Yes he’s part-Italian but his ancestor Latrato properly incorporated himself into the culture with a native instead of imposing!!!

Everyone else is bringing up United Healthcare, so I'll do it as well by mentioning the CEO's wife; She seems genuinely baffled by people's response to her husband's death, and as someone else pointed out, it seems these rich folk genuinely think they're providing a service to society with their companies, and are completely out of touch with the reality. And I think this general mindset from rich people is what Araki is giving to Howler.

The fact that Howler's white-passing doesn’t help his situation either, and by the end of the day it has less to do with whether Acca is native Hawaiian and more the fact that he acts like any other colonizer, heading a huge rich company that exploits the land and assists other colonizers as well. But of course Howler’s only takeaway is that if he were dark-skinned or something, the people would be more accepting of him. What ties it all together is his family name sounding like Haole.

Interesting character writing by Araki here. Howler being a straightforward white man from a white family that imposed itself would’ve worked. But you have this backdrop for Howler to give himself plausible deniability while being in complete denial of his own white privilege, or how he’s still a rich man by the end of the day. The people aren’t going to be sated thinking that’s “one of their own” up there because being up there inherently makes him no longer one of their own.

And at the same time, the way Yokohama and his goons talk of Howler as a country bumpkin? I’m not saying they’re necessarily racist but uh. It kinda feels that way doesn’t it? When you’re biracial you tend to get the worst of both worlds. Too white for the natives and too native for the haoles. And given Howler interacts with the latter the most, of course he’s more inclined to think of himself as a victim of racism and in the same boat with the locals, even getting his land stolen by these guys!

He truly is the Outsider who doesn’t belong anywhere as he looks for a place, and the one place he has is now taken away so maybe he’ll be reduced to a true wanderer. With themes of land and indigenous heritage, maybe Howler will learn from this. Or he’ll probably just double down on his victim complex and go off the deep end.

Plus there’s the setup for foils with Jodio and Dragona, how one brother is white-passing and the other isn’t, and both are biracial from a white parent who married in and is beloved by the community. Note that the Joestars are lower-class folk of course; But they’ve set themselves up to seize land and wealth as Latrato did, even down to the exact same plot of land.

So with the emphasis on Howler’s lineage, it’s a cycle that’s being passed down to these Joestars instead; But in the end, they have all the setup to become just like Howler, and just as reviled and accused of being Haole. Especially Jodio, the aforementioned white-passing sibling. Whilst Dragona could be his foil as the one who resembles his native heritage… Jodio may be less of an outright traitor and a more subtle one in the narrative, alienating his community by pulling up the ladder behind him, as the Howlers did.

This could be the betrayal, the cost to his ambition that we’ve speculated about. Maybe Dragona and/or someone else will try to call out Jodio, and when he brushes them off in his ambition, they’re forced to attempt taking the Lava Rock. That’s what Jodio sees as the betrayal; Only for the hard truth to come that he betrayed everyone first. Howler might die/be defeated first, only for this to happen to Jodio afterwards as he realizes he’s the villain and his brother is the Jonathan of this story.

Bonus points if Howler is a homeless bum who gets to call out Jodio over it, though I dunno if it’s out of any self-awareness or just hypocrisy at this point. Maybe Jodio realizes his problem with this comparison, or doesn’t. Maybe Howler telegraphs their mutual fate and Jodio brushes it off, only to remember. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[moonshynecybin]

In the teenage mom Marc au, how hard does Vale need to stay still and breathe through his nose when the first time known baby magnet dovi enters the picture. The babysitter list as you said suddenly includes dovi. Vale post breakup so used to seeing the baby with Julia/roser/alex or santi only, nearly has an aneurysm when it's Dovi chucking a squealing toddler into the air. She still lights up for Vale but she also lights up for Dovi. Does not consider that Marc sitting off to the side laughing along clicking pictures might be the other half of the reason for the heartburn.

It's a different kind of hurt to when Vale saw Jorge play around with the kid (she was firmly being held by Dani because Jorge is not on the list) and gets a reality check of the baby is going to grow up know more people love more people, people that are not Vale, one day she might not even recognise vale in the crowd

Oooh is Uccio specifically told not to stop the child from heading over to Vale or is there an incident where she is turned away which NOW marc is truly done with Vale

LOVE this question. because a few days ago i was answering asks about their handshake heard round the world at argentina 2019 and i was like ummm why would vale do that and then immediately reverse course. for why. for what. and THEN i saw dovi also on the podium and i was like lmaooooo okay. jealous.

not just in an rpf way (although. please.) it’s like. vale is a person who is very aware of how a rivalry can get mythologized into a rider’s mythos. he himself is very CAREFUL and DELIBERATE about who he names as his rivals and how he manages perceptions surrounding them (he’s on good terms with them! keeps their helmets in his museum etc) and he’s kept marc pretty deliberately out of this narrative as an evil little punishment for marc’s whole deal.

BUT ! lmao. if we look at marc’s major rivals on track, there’s two major entries: vale and dovi. later fabio but post injury is a dif ballgame. and dovi is frankly better at fighting marc than vale is! so i think he sees the narrative of marc’s star getting tied to dovi and chafes a little (he is MYYYY FATED RIVAL. i am the only one who can actually challenge him as he is the best and i am the best. type shit) and then he decides wellllll what if i make this weekend about MEEE and himmmm and shakes marc’s goddamn hand lmao.

so. to actually answer your ask. if he sees marc like. having a NONtoxic homoerotic rivalry with someone he’s gonna chafe. if he sees that IN ADDITION to dovi being on the baby marquez’s (she’s. 6 in 2017 and he STILL somewhat psychotically considers her basically his own. #deadbeatstepdad) babysitter list he’s gonna lose it lmao. MAJOR kick in the pants. like marc literally hands her off to dovi in parc ferme like it’s nothing and vale’s smile FREEZES. double take. chest seizes. thank god he has sunglasses on. because usually she’s pulling over to himmmm (but she LIKES DOVI. and marc had been racing DOVI those last few turns. not vale…) and she’s NOTTTTT. dovi cracks a sleepy little deadpan joke and marc full body laughs and her little kid hands are tugging at dovi’s cap and for the SECOND TIME IN HIS LIFE vale sees this kid and is like haha. i’m in dangerrrrr. motogp instagram posts a cute pic of baby marquez with dovi on instagram (usually it is VALE or MARC in those!!! fuck !!) captioned like “looks like someone has a new babysitter!” and vale genuinely has to have a white knuckle moment staring into the mirror. goes to bother honda hospitality in incognito mode the next day because truly. that is his DAUGHTERRRRR. cold anxiety swimming around in his stomach nonchalant smile plastered on realizing that like. if he wants an actual place in her life he’s gonna have to ask 4 it. she sees him and. LIGHTS up. marc gives him a tense affectionate smile… still wary…. he still ALWAYS lets him see her though…

and that’s ALSO how vale cottons on to the marc of it all. because he’s turning it over in his mind like he’s trying to crack the zodiac killer case and eventually there’s no running from it and he’s like. um. i think the driving force of this is that i want to have a family with marc. and i love that little girl. and i miss him. and then. well he has to convince marc that he’s gonna stick around.

[raayllum]

Key to His Heart Theory: Shot Through the Heart, and You're (S5) to Blame

Intro

So a little over a year ago (since usually I think about things meta wise for at least a good month before writing them down), I wrote a meta about why I thought the Key of Aaravos might hold a quasar diamond, specifically Aaravos' missing chest piece. His heart, if you will.

At the time, I thought it was a very strong contender for what the cube might be, even if it didn't necessarily give us a clear depiction on what it might be used for, and was again operating under the assumption the cube itself is something Aaravos even wants back or needs (which is assumption still, at this point).

It made sense loosely with some of the new information we'd gleaned about the cube from S4 (mostly the Callum pawn intro with its bright flashing light, the emphasis on hearts in the narrative with Ezran's speech, the 4x04 flashbacks) and was likewise built upon a previous meta regarding the series' use of Egyptian mythology (Thoth and Ibis being present somewhat in Callum's arc, the main trio's parallels to another Egyptian myth trio, Aaravos' mirror and mirrors as objects of divination, and potential matching symbolism with the ankh).

The Key to His Heart theory was also built on previous seasons — largely the Magma Titan plot line, and Avizandum being stabbed in the heart — in addition to Aaravos' chest piece, seemingly, being notably absent, which seemed indicative of certain lines from the short stories, particularly Rayla (S4's Dear Callum), but we'll talk more about these later:

Please don’t let this hurt too much. But, if it does—if you feel that soft aching—know that that piece of your heart isn’t missing. It’s not missing at all, Callum: I’m carrying it with me! Always.

If you're interested in this theory and want to know about it, I recommend reading the two metas I've linked above, as the rest of this won't really be delving too much into what I've already written about, and talking about how season five has given more potential evidence.

With that out of the way, let's get into it in rough order of "most to least" likely:

Season Five

TDP Reflections

Whereas hearts weren't mentioned too much in the short stories leading up to S4, they became a reoccurring motif every TDP reflection story going into S5.

Fools. They might as well have held their own hearts, beating and bloody, in the palms of their hands. Kim’dael knew that if she showed them her heart—or something convincingly like it—the Sunfire elves would do exactly what she wanted them to do.

“Rayla,” she said, meeting Redfeather’s gaze. “My name is Rayla. And I’m going home.” Redfeather sighed. “Oh, you bleeding heart.”

“They balk at shadows, then.” Aditi pulled a slip of white-hot metal from the forge and turned to place it upon a gilded anvil. “I see your heart—and I am not afraid.”

It stared up at him. Ezran felt a coldness twist its way around his heart. It took his lungs, too, and for a long moment he could not breathe, could not feel anything but an unfamiliar anger so potent it seized the whole of him, inside and out.

Viren staggers backwards, his last breath shuddering through the blade. His white robes turn red at his heart. Something in Soren’s own chest shatters along old cracks, but he cannot look away. 

“You are stronger than this. All storms end!” Rex rumbled a snort through flared nostrils. “What lies at its heart?” 

 He wept for his city, his people, and the darkness struck deep into their hearts.

While one may say it ends with a sunrise, another will insist it ends at nightfall. Yet at the heart of the story is a single, simple truth…A star fell from the sky.

From where Kim’dael stood, she could only see the brilliant aura of its magic. For a moment, it was as though the queen’s heart overflowed with light.

Now, some of this is undeniably because a heart is a short hand for emotion and one of our most useful metaphors for communicating a variety of emotion. However, I did think it was particularly interesting / eye catching that these lines tended to overlap with the series' growing light and darkness motif and emphasis on wounds/scars (to the point we have a 5x02 episode titled "Old Wounds" that refers to both Viren's past and Callum and Rayla's healing relationship).

But by far the one that struck me the most, and seemed the most reminiscent of how Aaravos's (literal?) wound manifests is this paragraph from Claudia's short story:

Lissa had left her years ago, but the space she had owned in Claudia’s heart remained. It was a dark place now, hard and hateful, its edges raw as a wound that had forgotten to heal.

Mountains had crumbled and left in their wake a vast new sea. It was as though the land had been dealt a great wound and bled a hundred years. Terror washed across the remnants of humanity like a wave: What power could fell mountains? Turn all the world dark, and bleed a sea from stones?

—Ripples (pre-S5)

As well as Aaravos' clear desire to have revenge over the Startouch elves for something that seems to go beyond the resentment over just being banished:

I have not seen the stars in centuries. But when I see them again—when the stars are forced to look upon me, their dark brother—they will know how I have waited. And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky. For I have been patient.

—Patience (pre-S4)

We don't know yet if we are going to get more TDP reflections going into S6 or S7, but given the way the previous stories emphasize the heart as both a symbolic idea (a darkened, hollowed out heart) and a literal entity you can hold in your hands... It's clear there's something going on symbolism else, otherwise why be so consistent? But enough of the reflections, for now.

Time to talk about S5 itself.

Laurelion

Previously, I thought the cube in the intro (a literal glow toy, as Rayla identified back in 1x05) already had similar properties to the star-glow effect in the title intro back at S4.

At the time, this was more of a guess. Most of the Star magic we'd seen at that point we weren't able to fully identify as such, it seemed a bit more magenta in colour, and while there was a parallel in the bright flash of light upon releasing Sir Sparklepuff, there's also a bright flash when the prison is actually made. It's just a good short hand for a crescendo of magical power, you know? We didn't know if quasar diamonds were even going to be white, besides the one presumably in Aaravos' chest concept art wise.

And yet — it still felt like something to me. Then S5 with Laurelion came along.

The Death of the Immortal

K: "And though undying, took last breath, immortal Laurelion was no more." C: That's good, right? I mean when someone "was no more," that's — that's dead, yeah? K: It's a bit confusing, but that is the clearest implication. Though it is somewhat odd they call them undying and immortal. C: Well, that doesn't sound so immortal? Laurelion "was no more". K: Right. C: But how? How did they...? K: Right here. "White as the star's heart it pierced, ivory draconic brought death's bite known ever forth as Novablade." C: It's a sword.

There's a few noteworthy things about this whole exchange:

The poem has to be relevant eventually, otherwise why include it at all when you easily could've just had Kazi and Callum stumble across the sword period?

It confirms that the heart of a star is something that can be pierced, presumably removed, and white, which I think is the biggest "hell yeah" to the 4x04 intro

There is no reason to point out the contradictions in the poem itself unless A) the sword doesn't work the way we think it does and/or B) we are going to find out why the "undying and immortal" thing matters — and they make sure to emphasize the contradictions quite a bit as well, so they definitely want us to notice

If Laurelion died, and Aaravos took his place, that would explain how Laurelion — identity wise — could die while the same person under a new name could also remain alive / immortal

We learn in Rayla's pre-S5 short story that Ghosts don't often keep their real names, and take a new one as the final severance of their bond with their old community. For all extents and purposes, Aaravos was Ghosted (banished) from his community as well. Taking a new name would make sense

"That must've been when [Harrow] fell." "Fell? Fell! He didn't fall, Rayla, he didn't trip and fall on the ground — he got killed!" (2x08)

There's more speculation here regarding the actual sword and draconic ivory, but that is another post for another day that other smart people have made if you are interested. For now let's just focus on the heart.

We know Laurelion had a heart; we know it got stabbed with the Novablade, leaving Laurelion both no more (i.e. dead) and yet immortal / undying. We know that Arc 2 in particular has had an emphasis on losing your sense of self and identity ("I was his puppet" / "We can't save everyone, Soren" / "But I'm not evil. It's me" / all of Viren's dream visions). We know that a Star's heart is white. We know that Aaravos seemingly used to have one, and now it's either missing or impermanent, only visible sometimes.

(Putting a pin in the second image cause we'll roll back around to it in the counter evidence section.)

We know his chest centrepiece glowed when he was imprisoned, and we know it was seemingly gone when he got banished. We know something about the Key of Aaravos was able to reveal his treachery.

I'm not saying any of this is for sure connected, but it does make you think, at least a little?

That, and it'd play into another bit of potential interesting foreshadowing / symbolism we got in s5 with

Viren Heart Theory

This is another theory I've discussed in more detail elsewhere, so I'm going to link to it here, but it wouldn't feel right to not talk about it at least a little here. Basically the theory is that Viren used his own blood / a piece of his heart, or possibly the whole thing, and the relic staff in order to save Soren when he was a young child.

This is largely due to Viren's spotlight turning red after he begs to be able to save Soren, and cinched by Kpp'Ar pointing specifically at Viren's heart only for Viren to deflect and start talking about Soren's case specifically. Whatever he did seemed to make him more 'powerful,' but at a great personal cost ("In the name of love you may perform acts that are so unforgivable, you will never forgive yourself") and something he finds the need to justify ("I had to do something! I had to save him! I had no choice!").

If Viren did this, it also adds another layer to Viren's sentiment of "Harrow's death breaks my heart" being well, half-hearted, in addition to Soren literally stabbing illusion Viren in the heart in 3x09. Viren mutilated his heart for his son's life, stopped being able to properly express love to said son, and then Soren stabbed his father right in the place that presumably saved him as a child. Ouch.

It seems likely that one of the reasons Aaravos was able to prey so aptly on Viren's desire for importance and attention — to Matter — was because Aaravos might've tried and failed earlier on to get the Startouch elves to listen to him pre-banishment. Being ignored, exiled, and disempowered is something he can relate to, and something he doesn't mind taking advantage of when it suits him.

However, if this combination could save someone Viren loved, it makes me wonder if Aaravos did something similar to likewise try (and fail?) to save someone he loved, too. It's either that or the Startouch elves just completely ripped it out, so... I guess we'll have to see?

But yeah — if Viren did it, then I'm expecting it's more likely that Aaravos did it, too. That is all.

The Pawn Intros

But Dragons, you say, didn't we already talk about the Callum pawn intro?

And to that I say yes, but — thanks to a promo S6 picture of Aaravos crying, we know something else very important about said intros that we didn't know before: they take place at the Sea of the Cast Out.

The sky, the mountains... the fact we know, thanks to the statues in 5x09, that this is likely where Aaravos' grief — his wound, if you will — began to bleed and take root, leading to his thousands of years of seeking vengeance and using just about anything or anyone he could. This is, presumably, where his chess game started... and where it is, symbolically at least, going to end.

Okay, so it's the Sea of the Cast Out — why does that matter?

Well, we know the Sea of the Cast Out is a site of literal trauma for Aaravos. We know, thanks to the statues of Aaravos and the Merciful One, that it plays into the same reaching motif we see Viren participate in quite a few times, both in his intro and in other places/relationships (most notably Sarai, Harrow, and Terry).

The Sea of the Cast Out is also, perhaps more importantly for this theory's purposes, near Elarion. What little we do know about the city beyond it being an important place for humans and dark magic ties it repeatedly to nature through The Midnight Star poem:

Elarion, trembling seed, lay down to earth in icy night, and in the cold her roots took hold defying winter’s deathly bite. Elarion, fading bloom, afraid to wilt and dim and die, [...] Elarion, dying husk, did wilt and whimper in the dark [...] Elarion, black-eyed child, her twisted roots spread deep and far,

as well as a tale about the Flowers of Elarion, precious blooms that could soothe the senses and turned to dust come morning—flowers that were left as "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" (Tales of Xadia). Put a pin that Exchange idea because I swear we're gonna come back to it but not in the usual way you might be expecting, or at least not entirely.

And we have good reason to believe this nature motif is tied to Aaravos' current imprisonment as well, given how present flower imagery is for his mirror.

So the Sea of the Cast Out and Elarion seem to be the two places we know of thus far that are not only the most important to Aaravos, but the most instrumental to his banishment. It would not surprise me if either Aaravos got involved in what would become Elarion either because he was banished, or it was what he was banished over, or if discovering the truth of what happened there is likewise why the Archdragons were partially like "Yeah, we gotta lock this guy up" (now that they knew he posed a serious threat). The fact that Elarion is referred to as a child (everything with "blood of a child,"), black-eyed (which denotes dark magic), and winter's "deathly bite" ("White as the star's heart it pierced, / ivory draconic brought death's bite") just all ties together nicely in being related even if we're not totally sure how.

But Aaravos having his chest piece removed by force / as punishment in addition to being cast out by the Startouch elves, or him taking it out himself and giving it to someone who was lost... There's a lot of roads to get here as to why this stuff all seems connected if the Key is indeed his chest piece, which offers up both a power up, a sad tragic backstory, some baller symbolism, and some nice double meanings as to what it is key wise.

As the Key works in the moment, it doesn't seem like it's something that would be very useful to a primal mage, as other than pretty easily identifiable gemstones they wouldn't be using much the key identifies. However, the function of the Key being able to categorize and sort magical creatures and plants from each other is something that is very useful if you're a dark mage and need to shore up your ingredients list.

If the Key has Aaravos' chest piece in it, there are two main prongs this offers:

It may have been instrumental in helping humans discover dark magic, hence the "Elarion, searing white" and could also be the Gift the poem speaks of. Aaravos removed it himself (love makes you weak?), gave it to his chosen human, chosen human died, and he was locked out of Startouch realm as a combined result. This offers the clearest connection between why Aaravos' mirror has the nature motif and why Aaravos is crying in the beginning of 6x01.

It was removed by the Startouch elves and lost/hidden, forcing Aaravos to be away from his old home until he could find it again. This is the clearest explanation as to why the Key might be relevant on a plot level. It could give him the power up he needs to get out of his prison and barring that, it's what he needs to wreck havoc and gain access to the Startouch elves to get revenge on them

It also allows what we learn of the cube in 2x06 to have multiple meanings:

The Key is revealed in an episode called The Heart of a Titan. We're led to assume that this is just the Magma Titan, and you could perhaps make an argument the dual meaning (just like how Breaking the Seal refers to the letter and the titan's chest) refers to Harrow or Callum's capacity to love. But, given that one of Aaravos' most prominent mythic comparisons is to Prometheus, a literal Titan, well...

"It unlocks something of great power in Xadia" would work equally well if it's a Key literally made from Aaravos, not just to Aaravos. And the past 2 seasons in particular have emphasized over and over again just how powerful and dangerous he is

The salvation and destruction motif that is inherent in the key, ("I just have a feeling this key thing can help me" / "It's the key of Aaravos, no good will come of it") as keys are linked to chains and freedom with the ability to lock and unlock, is rampant in 2x06, as Viren states that Xadia and the Magma Titan "held both the promise of our salvation and threat of our destruction." This goes double for Sarai sacrificing her life to save Viren

And to round back to Viren and his intro, I don't think it's a coincidence that

is one of the first things Aaravos ever says to Viren, particularly when trying to earn Viren's trust. (Nor that Aaravos considers that Zubeia and co. "betrayed" him when "he would lower his guard," just before the imprisonment.) And while Aaravos gains Viren's trust as a political ally here first, it's also clear that he's actually primarily preying upon Viren's deepest emotional desires here as well: to be listened to. To matter.

Viren wasn't listened to by the monarchs around him (Harrow). He wanted to be important (to them). He wanted to matter.

"It is everything to me, to know that I matter. It's all I ever wanted."

Aaravos: Search your heart. There is something you want very badly. (2x09) Zubeia: He was able to give them something they wanted very badly. (4x04)

And that's what Aaravos offered him, with power and knowledge just being the bait. (If you're interested in more detailed thoughts on this aspect of Viren / their dynamic, check out this meta here.)

More to the point, I do lean towards the Key's plot purposes being 1) a power-up that may be needed for him to get out of his mirror and 2) something that likewise allows him to see the other Startouch elves again. After all, the Silvergrove gave each elf a similar kind of key:

But y'know what, let's talk about Rayla now, because

The Missing Piece of Your Heart

As stated earlier, Rayla's letter has a consistent metaphor when it comes to family and loss:

I remember how I felt when my parents left me to join the Dragonguard, like PART OF MY HEART WAS MISSING and I would never feel right again. I thought I hated them when they did that to me. In the beginning, it felt so big and terrible—like raging despair—but, overtime, it became a soft, sweet ache—a reminder of that missing part of my heart. [...] Please don’t let this hurt too much. But, if it does—if you feel that soft aching—know that that piece of your heart isn’t missing. It’s not missing at all, Callum: I’m carrying it with me! Always.

This struck me as interesting when the letter first came out, as it was a departure from most of Rayla's previous heart motif ("My heart for Xadia") and even the one attributed to her one half of her parents ("My heart goes out with this one"). Why have the motif suddenly switch up when it would've worked just as well, or been doubly romantic + a Ruthari parallel, to just have it be the whole heart?

Then season four came out, and I understood, because, well...

Upon her return, Rayla brings back that "missing piece" of "Callum's heart". It's a painful restoration and doesn't run entirely smooth, but in season five in particular we see him be much more like his older, happier self once he's let himself love her again, and how steadfast he is in said love ("To love is simply know this...").

But, in a moment that could've been exclusively about Rayla, nor did it need for Stella's connection to the Star arcanum to be this prominent in the same moment, they choose to likewise highlight Rayla 'bringing home' the missing piece of Aaravos' heart, too.

This symbolism is also consistent with how the key is introduced in the first place, i.e. first thought of because Rayla's drawing in Callum's sketchbook (another gift from Harrow) reminds Callum of it, and her ultimately being the one to retrieve it even once things at the Banther Lodge take a turn towards the south.

Furthermore, we do have reason to believe that Rayla is indeed the 'Key to Callum' in a sense, particularly after 5x08. Just like how a key can both lock and unlock — give freedom or entrapment — Rayla symbolizes a great deal of duality in Callum's life, including but not limited to:

Leading him to primal magic (1x03, 5x08) and dark magic (2x07, 5x08)

Light ("No one can control you or make your choices for you" / Ray of light) and dark ("But the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself" / "Stay safe, and stay in the light. Don't look for me")

Being routinely emphasized in Callum's arc with Aaravos, especially in S4

"Now you're back. That's kind of good, and it's kind of bad" / "You have to hold pain and love in your heart at the same time" / "And when she came back, I was so happy, and so mad at the same time"

Salvation ("Rayla saves people [...] that's what makes her a hero") and destruction (being willing to die / do dark magic for her)

The Ocean arcanum realization being both positive and negative, just as the poem itself takes on a different shape across the season in regards to how Callum views her and how he views himself while being motivated by his love for her / Ezran

“Wow. So [the berries] look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said. “Exactly. Just like me…” Rayla smiled.

—Book One: Sky novelization

If you're interested in a more specific meta on this dichotomy, I recommend this meta written pre-s4 and this more recent one about 5x08 specifically.

I've written before about Rayla have a weird consistency with the cube as well, particularly in her being the primary carrier of its foreshadowing for most of arc 1, with Callum only really doing so in 1x04 and having Rayla pick up the slack the rest of the time:

"It's a toy, a piece from a children's game" (1x04) as well as "It's a glow toy" (1x05) are now literally true as the cube is 1) involved in Aaravos' game and 2) literally glows a bright flashing light circa the 4x04 intro.

"Are you practicing magic or are you losing to Bait at a game of rolly-cubes?" (2x07 right after Callum calls it a key) came to pass, somewhat if not outright, it seems, in 5x08. Callum practices two different magics, Rayla is literal bait in exchange for the glow-toad, and the episode ends with Callum being worried he's potentially losing Aaravos' 'game' so to speak — that he's made himself more vulnerable to the Startouch elf's control.

Two lines of hers regarding the cube that have not yet come to pass are "This doesn't end well for you" (1x05) and "I hope it was worth it to you, putting everyone's lives in danger" (1x04) but I expect that we'll get them soon enough.

Rayla's 'tether' to a the cube does, of course, loop back into the Flowers of Elarion tale, in which there was a fair exchange of beloved for beloved. If the Key does indeed hold Aaravos' heart (and that is still a very big If), whether it would include an actual exchange is still debatable, but it seems inevitable that she would at least play a part. (If you're interested in more thoughts on Rayla + the cube, check out this meta pre-s4.)

Where the game motif gets the most interesting, I think, is where it intersects with the idea Aaravos mentions in 2x09 regarding, "Those who fail tests of love are simple animals," and one of the TDP short stories in particular having one very interesting tidbit:

“My behavior is—?” “—unusual,” Corvus repeated, nodding. “Very unusual. Ever since you started challenging me to all these little games.” Soren squirmed. His pauldrons clanked as his shoulders slumped. “They aren’t games. They’re tests. Ugh…I’m really messing this up.”

Since Rayla is going to have her "My heart for Xadia" undeniably tested, it would make sense if Callum and Aaravos' hearts came into play too, don't you think?

Other Misc Symbolism / Oddities

Last but not least, we have our odds and ends that didn't fit in the other sections, but I thought may be worthwhile to mention anyway.

For starters, we have screencaps (most notably in 3x06) where you can see a visible dip in Aaravos' tiddies chest that indicates something was removed, and it's not just an artificial darkness.

We have Aaravos touching a fist to his heart twice before he bows and indicates that Callum is going to "play" into his hands (remember that game motif?).

We have this shot, which is the exact kind of thing that "crew makes sure the Ocean and Moon runes are most prominently on display in Callum's dark magic dreams to foreshadow him doing dark magic in S5 Ocean for his Moonshadow gf 3 seasons later" would absolutely do and think they're So Funny about. "No gem for star magic" except the one you're unknowingly holding in your hand, am I right?

Finally, we have precedent that dark magic can 'darken' your heart both in show when Amaya passes the light trial ("A human that is pure of heart") and in the graphic novels with Claudia ("Your heart is not yet darkened") which allows her to see the map to a unicorn (The Puzzle House).

@self-spaghettification also noted that the bright white flash of the star in the 'o' of Aaravos' name in the Arc 2 intro momentarily looks like and makes the shape of the Nova Blade, which is also very cool.

Honourable mention to Rayla going "it's a piece from a children's game" and Ezran going "you said each of the archdragons had a piece of the puzzle" and the Orphan Queen and Jailer presumably working together to trap Aaravos. I think about that shit every day.

Evidence to the Contrary / Alternatives

But like I said at the start, there are plenty of alternatives or feasible pitfalls to consider. This theory resides on a few assumptions after all, that may not be true, such as Aaravos not actually needing the key for anything other than as a lure for Callum, it could purely have something to do with the Nova Blade and nothing to do with the prison, or even have something to do with the nature of magic itself, capable of great good as well as great evil.

His chest piece could've always been more immaterial and dark magic has just darkened it rather than it being removed. Aaravos may have stabbed Laurelion in order to use that heart diamond to partially make the Relic Staff he passed onto Ziard, or Aaravos' chest piece could be in the staff itself, and the cube is something else entirely.

Conclusion

In the end, as we go forward into S6 all the above is more less my personal bet as to where I think we really could go in terms of answering a lot of these questions we've had for a few seasons now. I hope you enjoyed reading the theory and considering (and possibly subscribing to) it, as well as getting your own thoughts stimulated. If any of the above happens I will cry for days and no matter what, I am deeply intrigued to see where S6 takes Aaravos' backstory and, of course, his cube. Luckily:

[silviakundera]

"But I have my reasons."

"So does every other sinner in the world."

It's been quite obvious from the drama for a while now that the Princess Royal screenwriter feels pity for Su Rongqing and considers him a tragic figure. I recall being asked early on if I thought the writers are trying to redeem him. And I said no, not exactly. And I still stand by that!

They didn't give him any out or excuse for his hand in the bloody end of their original timeline: the dirty secrets reveal scene does not soften his actions in any way or reduce Li Rong's disgust. Ronghua still rejects his grand-standing words and his refusal to see that the noble class can't continue like this. He gets his chance to tell his perception of past events but Pei Wenxuan also gets a chance to share competing observations. Li Rong and Su Rongqing still get their philosophical face-off in the throne room. No one is completely wrong or right. There were no heroes in the original timeline.

"Let's not deceive ourselves or others anymore. I understand your stubbornness. Your heart is with the light, yet you dwell in darkness. You refuse to acknowledge your identity, so you can only disort the truth."

We see Li Rong and his brother reach out a hand to him many times, telling him he can still turn back. Li Rong was never in love with him romantically but he accompanied her for years during a dark period for both of them; she's not a heartless person (that's the whole point!), so ofc she would take his hand and pull him back from the edge if he was just willing to grab it. She wants to reach him: that's what the whole throne room scene is about. But she cannot. His last moments in the drama have both Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong calling out to him.

He may be a poisonous snake, but he doesn't have to bite the frog when crossing the river.

He is given chances but he doesn't take them. That's why he's tragic: Because he is right about this ONE THING (Li Chuan isn't suited to be emperor), feeling desperately certain about it while it seems no one else understands the stakes and his heroic mission. But he's wrong about everything else.

This is a story about time travel and what if you could re-do your youth: better support a troubled sibling, stand up to toxic family, fix your marriage, widen your perspective... And Su Rongqing misses all his opportunities because he's not taking his chance to better connect with others, not using the wisdom of all those extra years to better understand the populace and the people around him, and handle his life & relationships with more grace. He just narrow-mindly focuses on the mission - he can't reset, can't let go of the past life and the current system.

So many other people in this tale have been shifted: Shangguan Ya, Su Ronghua, Li Chuan, Qin Zhen Zhen, even the fail emperor has a revelation about how crap he is.

His inflexibility and inability to seize the opportunity of a do-over in life and be a new Su Rongqing acts as a contrast to measure how much Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan have been growing & changing. And it shows us why they triumph and why they deserve their happy ending.

Tragic doesn't mean innocent. It doesn't mean he didn't have a hand in his own downfall.

I know not all readers found him compelling in the text, but I did think he was a neat character and tbh I think the novel would be diminished without him. I can see what the screenwriter was trying to do with him - all that dramatic music is his POV. We get glimpses of the good times & his good intentions that contrast with his failure to live up to any of it. He's given narrative importance as their foil and the writers wanted him to be a full fledged 3rd time-traveler character that the audience is interested in (hoping, like Li Rong & his brother do, that he can be saved). The promise is there in the essential character, I can see it in the text. But in the drama they failed to create investment from the audience in the right way.

imo a big misstep is that the framing early on made viewers feel he was intended to be a valid love interest. In the drama, his romantic interest in her is overt while in the novel it was ambiguous for the first 60% of the story. Writers even added a couple moments that felt OOC where we are in his head and it seems like he is actually intending to win her back romantically (which is contradicted by his novel-compliant speeches in ep 34 & 40 about how he knows they can't be together because as her betrayer he doesn't deserve it.)(now I'm curious to rewatch them, I am really wondering if it was intended to be a slight of hand where he is meaning her return/freedom/rise to power/the life he owes her and the audience is intended to misread as him saying he will become her bf again 🤔🤔) Regardless, in a romance narrative, this will make many viewers reflexively dislike him, protectively wanting him away from their otp. He is perceived as a real suitor who has a chance -- which hits different to a shipper.

The execution was flawed. I do think that casting a magnetic actor who can portray bottled up emotion & inner turmoil, such as Zhang Wanyi, would have made a big difference in mitigating the earlier mis-cues. But on the other hand, I'm fairly satisfied with his character handling from ep 30-40. And it wasn't really badly done, ep 22 and onward. The real problem in his handling was the first 50%.

[erisenyo]

Jumping off this post from @narrativelysignificantturtleduck cause this got long and I wasn't sure if you wanted this in your reblogs...

In the interest of weird water tribe family dynamics, evil!Water Tribe AUs, and how you could get the 'marginalized underdog protagonist' dynamic with the good!Fire Sibs without the 'what if actually the marginalized people were the evil oppressors' Vibe.

I landed on adjusting the Fire Nation royal family dynamics directly, without altering the larger position of the Fire Nation aggressors and colonizers. So the broader history of imperialism and genocide remains and needs to be addressed, with everything basically going exactly the same up until Lu Ten dying and Iroh disappearing and Ozai trying to make his play for the throne. But...

In response to Azulon's threat, Ursa decides to kill both Ozai AND Azulon

Iroh doesn't come home like she expects (he can be that 'haunts the narrative' missing parental figure, maybe? Perhaps he just White Lotus' off?)

Zuko and Azula are the last remaining direct descendants of Sozin's line, too young to take power themselves but a clear threat to be eliminated/opportunity for anyone who would want to take the throne or set themself up as regent

So Ursa goes on the run BUT she takes Zuko and Azula with her

Zuko and Azula live the next years being actively hunted by claimants to throne who either want to kill them or use them as puppets to consolidate their power (+ by EK and WT military who still see capturing/killing them as a way to end the war?)

They need to conceal their identities, so you can layer in the 'keep your bending secret' storyline for both Zuko and Azula, but particularly Azula who is secretly trying to self-teach

Zuko won't ever be a nonbender, but him being worse/less interested than Azula (perhaps embracing swords?) could still carry the dynamic of feeling inadequate relative to his sister

The three of them could travel within the Fire Nation (and maybe outside of it as well?), needing to live cut off from resources, hunted, exposed to the consequences of the imperial military machine

Ursa could leave them behind somewhere where she thinks they will be safe (perhaps trying to to draw attention to herself to divert a threat, or to avoid being so recognizable as a unit of three?) and tell them to look out for each other

So now when they find Aang, Zuko our emotionally driven idealist seizes on the opportunity to right the wrongs he's seen. (And Zuko is so all-in on duty and responsibility, the idea of running away from the role of Avatar and rejecting those duties would not compute. Or alternately, he's projecting a lot onto Aang because he feels he's run away from his own duties)

And Azula takes Ursa's parting words very seriously, and is also tempted by the potential to get training again. She obviously she can't let idealistic dumb-dumb Zuzu wander off and get himself killed, or blow their cover at the first opportunity, so she joins them (obviously *not* to avoid being left behind. She wouldn't care about that. Definitely not.)

And so you get Zuko, Azula, and Aang as the Gaang, working to end the war and stop the Fire Nation so that everyone can live safe from Fire Nation aggression. And you retain:

The Fire Nation as a looming, active threat from all sides

The effects of imperialism on the world and people outside the Fire Nation

That sense of underdog marginalization, with Azula and Zuko as threats to the imperialist system and therefore objects of its violence (and also as targets to be captured by the Water Tribe even before Aang joins them)

The dynamic of a single parent trying to do whatever they can to protect their children, and protecting them by leaving them behind

And you can tee up an interesting exploration of individual actors vs institutional structures by having good!Fire sibs and evil!Hakoda/water sibs, while maintaining the broader Fire Nation imperial machine and Water Tribe position as target of its aggression.

...the outstanding question in an evil!Water Tribe AU, though: Who is the Gaang working to stop?

Hakoda individually? (I don't think that works) The Fire Nation? (Then why make Hakoda evil if we aren't stopping him) Probably some combination of the Fire Nation + Hakoda as someone whose actions are obstructing the larger peace, because he's functionally recreating the same systems with himself at the head.

I think it would be important though for it to be more of an 'Aang/the Gaang recognize the path Hakoda is on' type of setup rather than Hakoda actually like...invading and killing all the Kyoshi Islanders or something. Or more economic power/threat toward the NWT or surrounding regions? Basically keeping it in the realm of 'a colonized entity absorbing and re-enacting colonial and imperialist ideals unless they actively work to reject them' and not 'look who the *real* colonizers are.'

[butterflydm]

wot rewatch (book spoilers edition) 2x8

So this post is gonna have some casting and location spoilers about s3, as well as book spoilers through book 14: a memory of light.

Thoughts about Egwene as the modern-age counterpart to Lanfear really get into spoiler territory because I think a large part of it is going to come out in Egwene's reaction to Rand moving on from their relationship vs Lanfear's reaction. Lanfear could never get over Lews Therin, but Egwene is going to move on and seek new paths and new relationships of her own. We will probably even (my guess) have Egwene be the one to initiate the 'final breakup' at the start of s3, just like she initiated the breakup in 1x1. I am definitely intrigued by the angle that they'll use for the breakup in s3. Maybe being able to protect Rand here in this episode is going to heal the part of Egwene that has been feeling so guilty over not being able/allowed to protect Rand in 1x8 and she might also then have some anger/frustration that Rand made choices that made it impossible for her to help him. And she wants a partner who isn't going to make choices like that on her behalf.

That they tied in Egwene's striving so hard at the White Tower in with her wanting to protect the people that she cares about also makes it easier for her not to go back to the White Tower next season (as I suspect that she will not; though we'll see - but I suspect that we'll get the arrival in the Waste in ep2 or maybe even the end of ep1). Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have all seen that there is a bigger fight that needs them right now and going back to train at the White Tower might well be at the bottom of their priority list, even before they hear from Moiraine about what happened in Cairhien.

2. I also feel like the Ishamael-Mat comparison is kinda foreshadowing the Mat-All the Forsaken Who Are Jealous of LTT comparison that we get in a lot of the middle/late books, which we may still get when Sammael and potentially Demandred come into play. Unlike the Forsaken with LTT, Mat is not envious of Rand's high status and title. He doesn't mind being 'in Rand's shadow' and is baffled when Melindhra keeps trying to push him out of said shadow and into seizing the spotlight. He doesn't want it!

Hmm, Forsaken round-up/confirmations. Obviously, we have Lanfear and we had Ishamael. Lanfear will continue to be a presence in s2, I'm currently assuming.

Confirmed:

Moghedien - likely going to be involved in Nynaeve's plotlines, for the most part, I'm guessing. I think she may also take over at least part of Mesaana's plotline. Since all five of the ta'veren are acknowledged as important by the Shadow, she'll even be acting within orders to get obsessed with Nynaeve!

Sammael - Illian is in the picture; I'm guessing we'll get some strong Mat-Sammael compare/contrasts once he's 'on stage'. I'm wondering if Mat will actually be allowed to finish out the Illian plan in the show instead of being yanked away prematurely, and only going to Ebou Dar afterwards? I'm not sure how much we need Mat-in-Salidar in the show. Too soon to really speculate. If we have Sammael... I'm not sure if we get Demandred. They kinda fill the same 'niche' in the Forsaken ecosystem.

Graendal - she just needs to handle chaos somewhere; it doesn't have to be Arad Doman. I think @markantonys suggested the idea of her being the Forsaken who takes over Caemlyn, which is interesting! Both Rahvin and Graendal are big into Compulsion. Not having Rahvin does potentially mean that we don't get Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Aviendha & Mat (and briefly Asmodean, lol), which would be tough to lose. Though they could put that in somewhere else, against a different Forsaken. If they are keeping Rahvin, then Graendal might end up being the Forsaken that gets attached to bothering Perrin, narratively.

Almost certain:

Asmodean - training Rand. I'm hoping he lasts longer in the show than in the books, lol.

Semirhage - taking over Ishamael's place with influencing the Seanchan. But we won't get introduced to her until Tuon also arrives, I'm guessing.

Ishamael died here, so that does imply to me that we're going to get Moridin. I would guess in s5 or s6, to give the rest of the Forsaken time to play on the board for a long while.

Maybe:

The last spot is, for me, a competition between Demandred and Rahvin.

If Demandred - I'm hoping that the show does Taimandred. We haven't seen Taim on-screen, so there's plenty of time for Demandred to kill him and take his place. Taim essentially behaves obsessively jealous over Rand's status in the exact same way as Demandred, just with even worse vibes, lol. They can be combined.

otoh, they already have one of the 'incredibly jealous of LTT' Forsaken lined up for the show, so they might want to bring in another who doesn't really care much about LTT, and do Rahvin instead.

If Rahvin - then he'll go to Caemlyn, but I suspect he wouldn't go there until after Elaida & co have all left the city. Keeping Rahvin in would mean that we would probably be getting Rand balefiring him in order to bring back Mat, Aviendha, & Asmodean.

We do have a pretty healthy variety of motivations among the Forsaken that are lined up for the show, I think. In the books, Semirhage had an alliance with... Demandred and Mesaana, I think, but Mesaana is definitely out and Demandred might be as well, so she might be flying solo.

3. I really love the implication in this scene that Rand is going to potentially design the Asha'man uniforms based on what he was having the male Aes Sedai (including himself) wear during the War of Power.

4. Now that I'm rewatching, I wonder if we're gonna get Rand being treated as a political leader in Falme at the start of s3! Since it may be echoing how Tear was used in the books, as a fulfillment of prophecy.

I love my idea about Caemlyn subbing in for Tear, but Falme really does work for most of that. Maybe something more like... ep1: Falme; ep2: the first split, where Elayne and Nynaeve head off to try to hunt down... idk something, and the rest of the group heads east, ending up in Caemlyn where they meet Gawyn, Galad, & Elaida, ep3: the waste/rhuidean, ep4: tower coup, ep5: alcair dal & capturing asmodean; ep6: battle of two rivers; ep7: nynaeve vs moghedien; ep8: battle of cairhien & the door incident

5. The people of Falme getting saved by Rand in this way also leaves them open to the influence of Masema, who definitely looked like he was Finding Religion at the end of the episode. So Falme may end up being the headquarters of the Prophet of the Dragon. That storyline kinda dragged on in the books in a very annoying way but the bones of it are genuinely fascinating and I think there's a lot that the show could do with it. Because there are two main threads of people who are dangerous due to the Dragon arriving specifically -- there are the people who will hate and fear him but there are also the Dragonsworn who believe that his arrival has broken all previous ties and take it too far due to religious zealotry.

6. Lanfear's full plan, from what I can piece out and with some speculation:

a. Write out a prophecy in blood on the moondial and sell the shattered pieces to Doman, knowing that Moiraine is a likely buyer. She may have done other things to arrange said purchase as well. What I love about this is that it means that she was poking at Ishamael when she asked why he hadn't killed Moiraine, even as she was figuring out how to use Moiraine for her own purposes.

b. Set up an inn in Cairhien and arrange for Rand to stay there. Figure out a way into a relationship with him by taking advantage of his vulnerability. I'm even wondering if all of Rand's bad dreams this season have actually been Lanfear and not Ishamael. I'm pretty sure that the one in 2x6 featured a fake Ishy.

c. I think that Verin & Tomas have potentially been under Lanfear's orders for most/all of the season, given that Lanfear has been invested in Moiraine. And Lanfear being invested in Moiraine makes it... more likely that Selene being a Moiraine cosplay was 100% intentional on her part which is... fascinating. A fascinating look into Lanfear's psychology. I mean, she really did cultivate a very sugar mommy dynamic with Rand.

d. Get most of the pieces in motion... and then her plans get screwed when Barthanes's mom tells Moiraine where Rand went, and Lanfear gets stabbed and temporarily loses her boy. But it's okay! She can adjust her plans! (Theory: I think this is why she had Liandrin talk to Barthanes; she figured out what happened and wanted to punish the Damodred family for ruining her plans -- there really wasn't any actual way for Barthanes to even get to Moiraine to kill her, so that wasn't the real plan; I think it was petty revenge on Lanfear's part)

e. So, Rand goes to sleep and she's able to start working on him. She gets him to agree to go to Falme! Yes! She's so close to her Happy Ending with Lews Therin Telamon Rand al'Thor!

...and then Rand gets captured by the Amyrlin Seat of these new Aes Sedai and Lanfear needs to break her future devoted husband Rand out of jail, ugh, he asks so much of her. (secretly, she wishes he would ask more)

f. So, jailbreak time! With a brief pause to ship Mat Cauthon to Falme. With Lanfear maybe suspecting that Ishamael is wrong about Mat and that things aren't going to go how he expects. She uses Verin to make sure that Moiraine & co are going to go to the Waygate, because she's figured out exactly where she plans to dump Moiraine so that she can play her part of the plan.

There is also some speculation that Maksim may be a darkfriend as well. If he is, then he was also used as a pawn by Lanfear to get another Aes Sedai to help with the plan.

Lanfear also takes this opportunity to further poison the White Tower against Rand, by having his escape tied to a Forsaken rampage on the Foregate.

g. Lanfear has complete faith that Lews Therin Rand is going to successfully take care of Ishamael! That's her man! He can do anything! She just needs to clear the way for him and get him in the right place at the right time, and he'll do the rest. She even makes sure to deliver the Horn of Valere to some of his friends! He's got this in the bag!

h. ...then she makes the mistake of stopping in to say 'hi' to Ishamael and gloat about Rand being in Falme, tipping her hand and causing Ishamael's decision to release the rest of the Forsaken. Oops.

i. Well, Rand has been proclaimed the Dragon (yay!) but now the rest of the Forsaken are free and she's been told she needs to stay away from him (boo!).

j. ...time to come up with a new plan.

6. "I know who kills him. And what he uses to do it."

The wild thing here is that, iirc, it's his unhealable wound that kills Rand's body at the Last Battle, right? Which would mean Min's interpretation of her viewing was absolutely correct -- Mat DOES 'kill' Rand in this episode. It just takes a while before the death actually takes effect. So one of my theories -- that Mat was taking the place of Alivia in being the one who 'helps' Rand die -- that I dismissed because we're way too soon for that... is kinda true?

7. I have to admit, it confuses me when I still see people arguing that Mat is going to need to go to the White Tower to get healed from the dagger. The show made it very clear that he was Not Touching the dagger. His entire plan centered around using the dagger without touching it. And Mat has already spent a lot of time in the White Tower and worked his hardest to try to escape -- why would he go back? Plus, the people making these arguments already know that we're doing book 4 next season. Mat doesn't go anywhere near the White Tower in book 4. And his WT stuff hits some 'rule of cool' buttons but it's not... narratively important (especially if Rahvin didn't make the cut).

Going to Rhuidean and getting his medallion is key to Mat's future developments. And the show has put so much work into his relationship with Rand, so it just seems likely that they would want to build on that in s3 rather than abandoning it so that Mat can doink around the countryside with a variety of companions (it's so bizarre for me to see people prioritizing Mat's book 3 plotline over "Mat enters an alternate dimension to get a special medallion and special weapon that are key to his narrative" - but it's probably the same people who spend, like, ten books hating on the Wondergirls for not being grateful enough to Mat at the Stone of Tear).

8. I do think that we're going to skip Lan's bond having a stop-over at anyone else and have him go straight from Moiraine to Nynaeve. I feel like this stressful period here between the two of them in s2 was standing in for a lot of the tensions that they faced in the books (and that broke them apart in the books) but in the show they are now both on the same page -- they're both committed to "protecting Rand, guiding him" and we know that Moiraine approves of Nynaeve (and that LAN knows that she does) from the end of s1.

They may have some friction next season over the best way to help Rand, potentially, as Rand may be frustrated with Moiraine proclaiming him as the Dragon without his permission, but I don't think it'll get as bad as it does in the books (especially since I kinda feel like we might be 'losing' Moiraine at the end of the season).

9. The fact that we did not see Turak's room of curiosities makes me even MORE curious about whether or not a certain redstone doorway is there. That we ended the episode at the climax of the battle rather than getting any downtime after makes me feel like we are going to have at least one episode at the start of s3 where everyone is together so that we can establish the new group dynamics. That could take place in Caemlyn, like I've speculated, or it could take place here in Falme. They also might have left it open because they weren't sure if they could get this location back for s3 filming, so didn't want to commit to where the doorway might be located.

Given what Rafe & co have said about s3 being a 'closer adaptation' of bk4, I am leaning towards us getting a lot of those early 'book Tear' elements in whatever city we open with next season.

10. I suspect that we may get an Ingtar-ish storyline with a different character in the future. In the books, it is a cool moment, but it's cool because we had time to build up Ingtar's relationship with Rand and Rand was able to offer him a kind of absolution. If we hadn't needed to recast Mat and then restructure the entire s2 plotline, then maybe we would have had that kind of time, but that's the realities of working in television, especially in this, our time of Covid.

We've had a lot of complex Darkfriends on the show so far (while in the books, we only really get Ingtar and... Asmodean, I guess? Literally can't think of any others, lol) and so we might see this plotline pop up again once we have the time to spend with one of our mains bonding with a character who ends up being a Darkfriend.

Potential candidates: Lanfear ("Light help you, Rand al'Thor" - calls upon the Light to give him aid?), Asmodean, Liandrin (via her relationship with Nynaeve)

11. "Lanfear, Lews Therin, and Ishamael were inseparable before the War of Power" kinda implies to me that... Lews didn't meet Ilyena until after the War of Power had begun? I really am curious about what they're planning to do re: Ilyena. She was LTT's main focus in the books, but hasn't even been mentioned by name yet in the show. I mean, in the books, she was one of the classic Fridged Wives ever tbh, so I certainly don't mind some adjustments, but I am VERY curious. And with what the precise timeline of it was, in this version of the story.

12. I'm thrilled that Seta and Renna were killed off, tbh. I'm hoping it means that the second circus plotline is just as dead as they are. It was... genuinely one of the Worst Times that I ever had reading any PoVs in the entire series. But Egwene wanted to kill Renna in the books too! She only didn't because Nynaeve stopped her! And Nynaeve's not here. So all that felt pretty in-line with the book characterization.

And it gives Egwene a big moment here, which is good because... honestly, she doesn't do that much in TSR that I can think of? She... trains, mostly, lol. She doesn't get any huge moments like this, as far as I can recall. That is maybe the one reason that I can think of for sending the Wondergirls back to the White Tower, to give Egwene the Big Moment of her Accepted test. But Egwene's next big thing is really becoming Amyrlin, from what I remember. Am I forgetting some stuff from TSR or TFoH?

Rand has Rhuidean and becoming Car'a'carn

Nynaeve has Moghedien (and maybe Egeanin, if they do that plotline - they might have the Seanchan take next season or two off to 'regroup')

Mat has Rhuidean and visiting the foxes

Perrin has the battle of the Two Rivers

But Elayne is mostly Nynaeve's sidekick in Tanchico, from what I remember, and Egwene is mostly just tagging along with the Wise Ones and training. They can get some cool stuff out of her learning to be a Dreamer but there isn't really a 'climatic moment' in that in TSR or TFoH that I can think of.

(I wonder if the Birgitte bonding might happen next season? because they'll want to show Moghedien's threat level and what she does to Birgitte is a pretty good show of force)

13. Talking about how the Mat & Rand relationship is more complex than Mat & Perrin's -- this is very true to the books, of course, (until Perrin became Everyone's Closest Friend in ToM/AMoL) but it also feeds into Mat being a part of Rand's storylines next season (and probably all/most of s4) while Perrin goes back to the Two Rivers for most of s3. Mat and Rand's relationship is going to be more relevant, so it makes sense to load it up with more tension and more complexity. And given how close they've made Mat and Rand, I suspect that their storylines may dovetail even more in the show than they did in the books (and they already did a LOT in the books). And they might even continue to TALK about all the trauma that they have in common instead of being right next to each other and never having a conversation about it.

14. Mat being Rand's only hope being connected to the Horn and connected to the unhealing wound that will eventually kill him in Shayol Ghul... they really have twined Mat and Rand's narratives more tightly than the books did, which is delightful (especially with Mat being a Hero of the Horn in this version of the story, which means that Mat and Rand hang out together in TAR between incarnations).

It does make me very curious if Olver is going to exist in this version, since Mat is now not just tied to the Horn by ta'veren coincidence but by his own nature. Olver is kinda an easy character to cut, since he only ever does two things: a. gets Mat trapped in Ebou Dar so that he can get locked into his fate & b. blows the Horn in the Last Battle. If they're doing something different with Mat & Tuon, then Olver might not be needed for the first thing. And there's no reason for Mat not to blow the Horn himself in the Last Battle.

Narratively, because they HAVE been winding Mat and Rand's stories more tightly together, it would be pretty unsatisfying for Mat and Rand to separate in s4 (or s5?) and then literally never see each other again until they get a five-minute conversation in, like, ep 4 of season 8, so I suspect/hope that the show will find ways to let them reunite sooner than that. I mean, it was pretty damn unsatisfying in the books, let me tell you.

15. The show did such a good job setting up the Two Rivers storyline for next season, imo. I love that they put together Perrin's two "whitecloaks crimes" into the same issue and that Dain witnessed it first-hand instead of going after Perrin based on hearsay. I think we'll potentially see a real exploration of Perrin's guilt over Laila vs his inability to feel guilty about killing Bornhald next season. Plus adding Faile into the mix is likely going to make Perrin feel even guiltier (and I believe that Slayer is confirmed as well? It's gonna be busy in the Two Rivers for Perrin). I think we might get the 'trap' for Faile next season and it'll be what make Perrin realize that he has feelings for her but I don't think we're getting the quickie wedding. That feels WAY too fast.

16. It's hard to talk about Hopper's death without spoilers! Because this is very much not the end of Hopper's storyline. I'm expecting that Hopper is still going to be Perrin's teacher in the wolfdream, so we're probably going to see him just as much next season as we did this season, if not more. What a good actor in that dog, though, wow. Such a good start towards Perrin at the end. Hopper has been so delightful and I've loved what he's added to Perrin's storyline.

17. @markantonys did a really good post on the differences between why book!Mat thinks of himself 'not a hero' vs why show!Mat does, and I just want to link it here and co-sign. But that's really why this moment in the show, for Mat, works for me so well.

All of the characters, while they do have a core that comes from the books, are affected by the changes that the show has made. And Mat has been particular affected, because the realities of television impacted his character more than most due to the recasting, etc.

But even apart from that, Mat is different because he has gone through different experiences: he's known for over a year that one of them would be the Dragon so when he reunites with Rand, knowing that Rand's the Dragon, he's not going to have the same reaction that he did in the books because he has had time to adjust to the idea and it's not a nasty surprise.

Mat has a different relationship with heroism in the show because we lost our original Mat due to the shooting delays of Covid, and we had to leave Mat behind at the Waygate, meaning that he abandoned his friends out of fear. That profoundly changes his trajectory and means that a lot of work needed to be put into building his character back up again. Show!Mat NEEDS to be a Hero of the Horn in a way that book!Mat never did, because it provides external validation for him coming through the pain and loneliness and guilt and shame that he has been living in for the past few months.

18. After checking discussion on the subreddit, it is GENUINELY fascinating to me how many fans misremember book!Mat as getting his own past lives' memories rather than getting a mishmash of (mostly) war memories from the random people who visited the 'finn. I do think it's possible that this moment HAS been meant to replace that and Mat gets to use his own memories for all his general'ing needs, but it's also possible that these memories are going to fade after a while (and maybe that's the drive that makes Mat go to the 'finn, instead of asking for his memory-holes to be filled, he wants his past lives' memories back?). Mat does have some ancient memories that get triggered a couple of times in the early books (before Jordan was planning to send him to the 'finn, imo, and when Mat was going to be the one to go back to the Two Rivers) but those are not the same as the memories that the 'finn gave him.

19. We're also seeing a bit of LTT foreshadowing here, I think, in seeing how Mat remembering some of his past lives gives him access to fighting skills that he didn't have before. So when Rand starts pulling from LTT's memories, viewers can go back to this scene and connect the similarities.

20. Uno is Gaidal Cain! (from what Rafe has said in interviews) Good for him! I wonder if they're going to split up the 'dream conversations' next season and have Uno be the one who talks to Perrin and warns him about things, since they already have an emotional connection, while Brigitte is the one who runs across Egwene & the other Wondergirls (I absolutely do not remember the timeline of any of that, to be frank). I believe also, from what has been said, that this is not the final Birgitte actress, which is why they didn't focus on her much. Maybe we'll get Uno and Perrin hanging out in s3, and then Birgitte's storyline in s4?

21. I really am wondering how they plan to play out Rand's romantic situation in s3. There are still quite a few show-only viewers who are invested in Rand & Egwene as endgame, but also quite a few show-only viewers who clocked what a romantically-framed introduction that Rand and Elayne just had to each other. I don't want the show to rush Rand and Elayne's romance, so I'm still leaning towards them not starting anything next season, with the focus in the initial episode before they separate being on Rand and Egwene's breakup, and then Rand and Aviendha coming together over the course of s3 but... that really was a very disney-princess Romantic (TM) introduction shot, very "Eric meets Ariel" in The Little Mermaid (someone made the comparison using screenshots).

22. Did Suroth die? We don't actually see a body. This may be a situation where it was left ambiguous because they don't plan to have her in s3 and the actress might not be available when they do need their Seanchan antagonist again, so safest to leave her in a quantum state.

23. I am absolutely imagining the rest of the Forsaken watching Rand and Ishamael's encounter and then immediately fleeing once they see Rand take down Ishy, with Moghedien being voluntold to stay behind to talk to Lanfear.

24. Hmm, thinking about Masema. So Masema watches Ingtar get cut down by the Seanchan soldiers, he watches Perrin's friend Mat open the box to the Horn and then rush off to deliver it. And then he sees the dragon on the tower at the end. So he's seeing this huge difference between what a normal lord can do, and what was accomplished by the Dragon and his people. I'm not sure how in-depth we're going to be going with the Prophet of the Dragon storyline, but we definitely had seeds planted for it here.

25. We also seemed to have an interesting progression of who stands next to Rand, where, and when. Because first Rand is up alone on the ledge (while everyone has a group hug behind him), then we see Mat revealed to one side while Egwene steps up on the other. Then Nynaeve and Perrin join together, between Rand and Egwene. And in the final shot of them, we see that Elayne is standing between Mat and Rand.

I'm not going to put any particular meaning on any of that (at least at this time), just noting it.

It's a great shot.

26. I wonder if Ishy gave the others like, a short presentation on What This New Age Is Like.

That was such a good season of television! I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do with TSR, it's one of my very favorite of the books.

[horizon-verizon]

HOTD IS ALREADY A VIOLENTLY ANTI BLACK SHOW BUT RACIST PIGS WANT TO HAVE ANOTHER BLACK GIRL SIDELINED IN FAVOR OF AN IRRELEVANT & UNINTERESTING WHITE NON-CHARACTER.

When Aegon III look at Jaehaera, her face, her eyes, I know he saw Aegon II’s face. With Jaehaera, he can’t escape him, he can’t escape his mother’s violent death, he isn’t allowed to think of anything else, he’s forced to revive his olympic trauma over and over again. But with Daenaera, it’s UTTERLY different.

Jaehera dying is the story coming full circle. A greedy and ambitious hand wanting to make his daughter queen started the war but now his line ended by another greedy and ambitious hand who wanted to make his daughter queen. The point is that the Greens didn’t get what they want in the end because someone, one of their supporters, had the exact same mindset as Otto. Karma got to them. The Greens started this entire war to get their blood on the throne and their last chance to get their victory is dashed by one of their own people doing the same thing to them, GRRM is a genius, it’s ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.

Y’all REFUSE to let Rhaenyra have some crubs, it’s so disgusting. The Greens already have their own victory, Aegon II is the one remembered as king and Rhaenyra as an usurper, but he must also have descendants (the Blackfyres I guess) who tries to usurp Rhaenyra’s descendants and grandsons who became kings ??? OUT OF QUESTION, LET IT GO. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

The Greens started this entire war to get their blood on the throne and their last chance to get their victory is dashed by one of their own people doing the same thing to them

Heavy on this, anon. In fact, let me go back an insert the part about Jaehaera being the green's last botched "chance".

Anon refers to this post I wrote from a person expressing why they thought Jaehaera's death was "narratively irrelevant". And why Daenaera can still be written in without marrying Aegon.

It's true Aegon the Elder is held as one of the kings in the line of monarchs while she is not. That is not bc she usurped Aegon, but because they wanted to discourage the idea and practice of naming women or girls as heirs altogether. It was about female rulership being made into the cause of disaster or conflict, not Rhaenyra necessarily!

I still don't think Rhaenyra is universally remembered as the/a usurper, because by their own vocabulary Rhaenyra can never be a usurper...she was declared heir by the monarch and held as the true heir for years. Gyldayn calls her "Queen" several times and unironically and out of the then-living people's perspective. To be a usurper, you need to violently or unlawfully seize power, which Rhaenyra never ever did. The greens did that.

Once again, Stannis is not a reliable source to judge history, because the man is a walking self-denier and nihilistic user of fear to get his way. In the actual novels, Rhaenyra is thought of a civil conflict more than the direct cause of one through usurpation and "usurpation" itself is never mentioned unless it's Stannis saying so. And yes, Arianne Martell had the right of it, even though she is also using history for her own claims...the difference is that her reading of history and Rhaenyra's position is correct.

The people who want things to be more "equal" or "balanced" bt the greens and the blacks or have the greens have a sort of victory like the blacks just sound really desperate. And for what? For patriarchy to reaffirm itself deeper than ever and more than if Rhaenyra had just been queen?🙄