#shaking everyone in a 500 mi radius of me to preach the gospel of them

[cinderflower]

the concept of miq/malenia drives me insane bc it directly appeals to everything that drew me to princes but amps it up to 1000

a character (2 in their case) born into a title that dictates they take over the existing rule dominating the land after lifetimes of that rule devastating the people of the land

said character(s) suffering from an affliction as a direct result of that inheritance that inadvertently places them in a position to see the faults of it rather than the good in it

egregiously toxic codependent siblings who forsake everything in service of the other and in opposition to their inheritance

political drama and schemes!!

but for miq/malenia, especially miquella, the lengths to which they go?? the implications of the lore???

malenia, who was born cursed with decay, cursed by an outer god that rotted her body in a way that the golden order was helpless to stop, who by all means should have been considered a lost cause and an affront to the Greater Will and Golden Order, and yet still perseveres and learns to fight and becomes (one of) the most fearsome warrior(s) in the lands between for miquella

malenia, who is doomed to spread the scarlet rot to those around her except, (speculatively) miquella who helps her find not a cure but at least a way to halt the rot

malenia, who goes to war during the shattering in miquella's name, who is placed in an impossible battle far from the haligtree who chooses to unleash the horrors she's known her entire life and doom an entire region to suffer the same fate because she has never and will never know defeat so long as she still has options, so long as she fights as miquella's blade even if it brings her one step closer to blooming as the true goddess of rot and dooming herself in the process

miquella, who was born cursed to stagnate but by all means was given so many other gifts that would have allowed him to thrive within the system the Golden Order had established, who instead casts it aside when it's too limited, too lacking to be able to help malenia

miquella, who from a very young age (implied in the lore) not only masters what the Golden Order has to offer but then is forced to seek beyond it, and when there are no other answers to be found elsewhere, invents/discovers a solution which also places him at odds with the Golden Order

miquella, who in time rebels against the meddling of all the Outer Gods - and (presumably) also the Greater Will which acts in a similar capacity - because he has seen first hand the devastation they are capable of, the horrors they inflicted upon the person closest to him, who would never be able to take such action alone in his condition but can because he has malenia as his blade at his command

with princes the Romance in their actions is in the conscious decision to be passive, to simply allow the world to take its natural course, finding comfort with each other

with the twins the Romance is in the opposite, it is in the conscious decision of rebellion, in the wrathful rejection and deconstruction of the fate they were born into no matter the cost, in seizing control over their own lives to build something new together in the mentality of no cost too great where the other is concerned