#spoilers for the books and s4

[endiness]

(the following contains book and show spoilers.)

i have to say, i think the main reason why radovid was aged up beyond the romance with jaskier was to provide redania with the stability it lacked in the books after vizimir was assassinated in order for the show to have a central pov for the north. because the show almost has that with philippa and dijkstra, but the one area that's really lacking — if the show stuck exactly to the books — is the war itself as redania was not in a place where it could fight until the end of the series. but aging radovid up old enough to be king should fix that issue by virtue of redania actually having a leader and therefore not falling into chaos. and even with that change, the show could still feature later issues redania runs into with the war just by having them run out of money by the end of the series and needing more and/or facing so many losses in their army that they need to hire more soldiers.

and within that whole idea, i can see the show using radovid as a substitute for other northern nobility and royalty. like, given the little that is known about radovid in the books and what philippa's plans in them are, the show could easily use radovid in tankred's role as both characters were almost betrothed to ciri in the books. (and i say this fully as a radskier shipper in radskier shipping mode, but i am still ✨ manifesting ✨ radovid being used as a daniel etcheverry replacement.) (also, like, insert speculation about radovid being jaskier's anna henrietta here.)

all of which is to say that i think it makes sense that the show would do something like that — having a central pov for the north and condensing things a bit — because it is a tv show, and one with only 8 episodes per season at that, and as such there's a limited amount of time to work with. the show's focus just with next season alone will already be split enough as it is between geralt, jaskier, and the hansa; ciri and the rats (and bonhart); yennefer and the lodge; francesca and the elves and the scoia'tael; and nilfgaard with emhyr (plus wherever vilgefortz may fall into.) philippa, dijkstra, and king!radovid round out a northern pov — the one pov that's missing — without having to split the focus even more if the rest of the northern nations were really featured. (just to say: i don't think that means the show will erase the rest of the nations, i just think that when it comes to having a central one to focus on, it'll likely be redania.)

(also just to add: i think radovid being aged up old enough to be king likely has to do with philippa, too, and her storyline — or lack thereof. because yennefer has largely taken her role in the lodge, so she kind of needs another storyline to focus on. at least initially, anyway, as i suspect yennefer will eventually leave the lodge to go to skellige and try to find ciri. but in the meantime, philippa still needs a plot and puppeting king radovid makes sense given everything that happened last season.)

but just to bring it back around to the radskier of it all... i think these reasons are why it does make sense that the show would make them love interests. jaskier is already connected to redania by virtue of being the sandpiper, so they have completely feasible reasons to know of each other, meet each other, and fall for each other — and all without taking up time introducing someone that would never have the same political impact and ramifications to the plot that radovid does by being older. (which i do still largely think was the point of aging him up.)

and then there's how their relationship will affect everything in the future — and we know per lauren that their relationship is going to have ripple effects in the future. i know there's been some speculation that losing jaskier on top of everything else will turn radovid ~evil, but i think that's speculation largely based off of the games — which the show has nothing to do with. i think what will happen is actually the opposite and that radovid will try and do his best to remain a good person and a good king — which imo also makes the most narrative sense, too, given that the place we last left off with them was radovid basically vowing to jaskier that he would prove himself to him. he can't exactly do that in person anymore, but he can still try to prove himself to jaskier even if he’s not with him.

plus i still think that the show hasn't based radovid solely off the stern, either, and that he'll end up being more of an amalgamation of all of the king radovids throughout redania's history. and as far as i know, no one on the show has ever confirmed which radovid he's supposed to be based off of and the only thing we do know is that lauren said he's a character that "continues to show up in the books." but that's a description that fits the stern, the bold, and the great. so i think it's entirely possible that through having met jaskier and falling for him, radovid will end up as the great rather than the stern. (also something something radovid, like the bold, going to kovir.)

and just as far as jaskier's side of things go... obviously there's speculation about radovid being jaskier's anna henrietta. which imo does have merit given radovid's status in society and how what we saw of their relationship in s3 fits the picture (and even the timeline, if only vaguely) of jaskier and anna henrietta's romance prior to the books. i don't know how the logistics of it would work exactly, but i think it's completely possible that when jaskier and geralt (+hansa) separate that jaskier somehow stays with radovid. because jaskier really does need to be put on a busTM to escape the fate of the rest of the hansa, and radovid fulfils the same role of jaskier's love interest that anna henrietta did.

and just for one last thing. but it includes season 4 spoilers. like, for real writer's room spoilers. so, y'know, beware of the following if you're trying to avoid those.

imo the leak that happened already kind of proves at least some of my speculation and theories, specifically about radovid and redania being used as a central pov for the north. because they say radovid will lead the troops out into battle when geralt and jaskier escape the northern army camp. but in the books, the forces at the northern army camp were from cintra and temeria. but in the show, the only forces we know for sure are there are from redania as radovid is the one leading them. so either redania has replaced both forces (i don’t see this as likely as the show could’ve just said ‘redanian army camp’ if it were only them, but it’s referred to as ‘the northern army camp’ which implies multiple northern forces), they're there in addition to both forces, or they've replaced one of the forces — likely temeria. either way, it probably means that radovid will either be there as a daniel etcheverry replacement or a vissegerd replacement.

[feralnumberfive]

They never explained why Jennifer was inside a giant squid or why she had such a visceral reaction to seeing it again

[gardensinnerdoodleblog]

Part two of this !

Next!

Teeny monkey mk au begins >:]<

[darklinaforever]

Listen... I'm ready (with bitterness) to accept that Michael becomes Michaela. But don't touch Sophie. Please let a woman stay there. Benedict is bi, not gay, for god's sake so he can still be with a woman ! Sophie is my favorite female character from the books and I've been waiting for her for a while now ! I refuse to have her gender changed for a kind of inclusive agenda of queer representation ! And I say that even though I'm bi ! But essentially, these characters come from somewhere, the books, which certainly are not perfect but which sometimes are damn good things. The character of Sophie is one of them. They've already taken Michael from me, even though he and his story with Francesca are literally the best in the books ! So please, let the Sophie of the books come and meet the Benedict of the show (because the one in the books is a bit rubbish for me). Please !

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

so five and lila being a thing is going right next to allison literally sexually assaulting luther in the box of things we are absolutely under no circumstances accepting as part of canon right

[winnie-the-monster]

And found himself facing what had to be the most breathtaking woman he’d ever seen.

He couldn’t even tell if she was beautiful. Her hair was a rather ordinary dark blond, and with her mask tied securely around her head he could even see half of her face.

But there was something about her that held him mesmerized. It was her smile, the shape of her eyes, the way she held herself and looked about the ballroom as if she’d never seen a more glorious sight than the silly members of the ton all dressed up in ridiculous costumes.

Her beauty came from within.

She shimmered. She glowed.

She was utterly radiant, and Benedict suddenly realized that it was because she looked so damned happy. Happy to be where she was, happy to be who she was.

Happy in a way Benedict could barely remember. His was a good life, it was true, maybe even a great life. He had seven wonderful siblings, a loving mother, and scores of friends. But this woman—

This woman knew joy.

And Benedict had to know her.

[madou-dilou]

Viren staying awake to hold his boy's hand, hoping to give him some of his strength as he was sleeping

Soren silently watching over his father's sleep.

[renfriscreyden]

Let the record show this is the worst week to be a wheel of time and 911 fan

[sugarcube-stillabookworm]

btw after this if show Rand does have a list of the people who died because of him i think i might know whose the first name will be

[markantonys]

i love how the official character descriptions are like "gawyn is sooooo skilled and handsome and an amazing brother. galad exists." wotshow continues to understand and cater to me on so many levels

[mariathechosen1]

I love the idea of River crushing on Louisa next season actually.

First things first: Louisa is pulling away from the kiss. Like- I feel like that, combined with the fact that she rejected River earlier this season, is a sign that she’s probably not interested in anything beyond platonic with River ? I don’t know why people are freaking out so much over this scene ??

Despite this, I do think that River liking her has some genuine potential:

Maybe he’s just such a hot mess after going through, let’s be honest, the world’s longest fucking trauma conga line that he confuses his own feelings of trust and appreciation as romantic attraction, leading to the most awkward kiss of all time. This could be a really nice way to explore the value of their relationship as well as solidify their friendship

Ooooor alternatively: River is actually down bad. Like- c’mon! Louisa is literally the person he trusts the most (judging by the fact that he called her when he was with Harkness). They’ve been through tons of shit together, she saved his life and she’s Louisa fucking Guy!! (And frankly out of his league imo). I wouldn’t blame the guy if he actually fell for her.

I get it! I’m also tired of romance being ‘forced’ on male-female friendships, but romantic attraction can be interesting! It can bring out new sides of characters, it can make friendships more complex, it can lead to new and interesting plot lines, etc

I think no matter what happens (and I honestly think it’s just a spoof and not a real kiss), I trust that the writers know what they’re doing and that it’ll be done in a way that does both the characters justice.

(…but also it’s weird how many people are ‘grossed out’ at the idea that River might kiss Louisa idk)

[wheeloftimeconfessions]

I have a confession: I kinda want the show to make clear that technically, Rand and Elayne share a brother, and Moiraine is Elayne's aunt

It would be so awkward 😂

I agree! Can't wait for all of this to be unpacked by our heroes in like s10 or s11. The awkwardness will be off the charts!

Plus, the family tree is just complicated enough that showonlies aren't going to be the only viewers who need a character summary cheat sheet.

[mino491]

I have a hc that when Klaus is sober, he's got really shitty hearing because of the constant noise the ghosts make around him. Like he always can hear little whispers or sometimes screams when he's sober so he has trouble hearing things in the real world.

I feel that would make so much sense because the whole reason he falls to substance abuse is because it gives him peace and quiet in a way he just can't have with all the dead folk following him.

I also think that the writers just forgot that Klaus has to live with dead people trying to get his attention ALL THE TIME because after the scene where he gets his Marigold back, shouldn't he be bombarded with all the townspeople that his siblings just murdered?

I would've loved to see more of his character growth because he went from being the loser lookout to being able to make his dead brother corporeal to being able to let his body be possessed by said brother to being able to come back from the dead and travel through dimensions to losing everything he worked so hard to achieve and having to live in fear to whatever the fuck happened in s4 😭

I mean don't even get me started on how unless they made him after he got his powers back, he literally did nothing in the final fight scene and his whole plot with the void was completely forgotten?

[darklinaforever]

also want to point out that it is 100% okay that Benedict is a queer character, but changing Sophie into a man just because of this is biphobic as fuck. Benedict’s bisexuality should not be erased just because he gets with a woman. i truly hope the writers and the viewers understand that, bc it seems like they’re going to call it queerbaiting just bc he won’t get with a man in the end. we can really have the best of both worlds lol.

[turtleneckshiv]

harriet walter on shiv pregnancy (x)

[winnie-the-monster]

New Benophie auditions script released. Spoilers ahead…