#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

[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.

[verdantmeadows]

I love how all the fan human forms of Bai Long Ma/Ao Lie are like grandpas and old men and now that we know what Ao Lie looks like in canon

He's just :3, green, and gender as fuck

[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)

[lilacerull0]

worked and waited; hoped and loved

Little Women & My Brilliant Friend (JoFritz + LilaEnzo)

largely inspired by this post

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

Hi Hi! So we know how jealous Jesse can get and how he deals with it, but what about Cole? Would he also get jealous if someone flirted with Jesse? How would he deal with that?

(Did you mean: the first half of S4 lmao)

I think I said this before (or I wrote it but haven’t posted it yet) but while Jesse feels jealous way more often, he doesn’t act on it nearly as much, or at least tries not to. …Cole, meanwhile, doesn’t get jealous nearly as often, but when he does…DIRECT ACTION

. . .

Griffin: Holy cow, is that the Jesse Marvell????

Jesse: Uhm, Y-Yes?

Griffin: Dude, I’m a huge fan of your performances! You are incredible up on stage!!! A true inspiration!

Jesse: *blushes from embarrassment* Ah, thank you!

Griffin: Can I get an autograph????

Jesse: Um, I—

Cole: *appears ominously behind Jesse with a deadly aura*

Griffin: Errrr, uh, Nevermind, I guess I don’t need it THAT badly— *sprints away*

Jesse: ??????

Cole: :3

. . .

Kabuki Girls: *giggle in Jesse’s direction*

Jesse: *smiles shyly and waves*

Cole: Hmph. *picks up Jesse and carries him out of the room without a word*

Jesse: ?!?!?!?!?!?!

. . .

Skylor: I keep hearing about how talented of a magician you are. Mind show me a few tricks sometime, cutie? ;)

Jesse: *blushing for real* …eheheh, well, I—

*Jesse’s chair suddenly slides violently away*

Jesse: WHAT THE—?!

Cole: Oh whoa did anyone else feel that really small and totally randomly specific earthquake just now??? Cuz I sure didn’t. Anyway hi Jess didn’t see you there, you look good today-

Jesse: COLE?!?!

Kai: Assist! *ninja rolls his way over to Skylor, plunks elbow on table* Soooo…do you like jazz? Also, red is such a better color than pink, just saying ;)

Skylor: *trying her absolute hardest not to blow her cover and burst out laughing*

Jay: For Creation’s SAKE, right in front of my sandwich?????

Lloyd: I don’t know any of these people I swear

. . .

(Anyways then they have a very important conversation sometime afterwards and Cole eases up and doesn’t get THAT bad again—but, it’s still hard sometimes having a future famous performer with many fans who is also very naturally ~alluring~ as a boyfriend, but good thing Jesse’s already obsessed with him lmao)

[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?

[turtleneckshiv]

harriet walter on shiv pregnancy (x)

[markantonys]

thinking more about the garden scene, rereading it has just made me want even more for the show to do a "rand and egwene trespassing in the caemlyn palace and meeting gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida" version of it in early s3! because gawyn is adorable in the book version, but mostly exists as an extension of elayne and a helpful infodumper to explain to rand and the reader what's going on while the other 4 caemlyn characters are carrying the scene.

so in a version of the scene where elayne is not there (as i'd imagine she'd go straight from falme to tanchico, which is pretty nearby, while the rest of the gang could pass through caemlyn in their longer travels), that automatically brings gawyn more into the spotlight and makes him an independent and more noticeable character during that whole sequence. now gawyn alone is defending rand (and egwene) from galad, morgase, and elaida, which would be a strong and memorable first introduction to him as a character. (it would also be a great meetcute for gawene <3 and i'd love to keep the book vibe of gawyn being so kind and friendly to rand and having a huge crush on him when they first meet bc it makes the forthcoming events all the more angsty.)

and in general, the book version of course has elayne as the focal point of the caemlyn sequence, so in the show where the audience already knows and loves elayne from other scenes, an elayne-less caemlyn sequence would be a great opportunity to let the other 4 caemlyn characters shine more. seeing gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida argue over what to do with these trespassers, without elayne present, would do a lot to shed light on all 4 of them as characters and on the various relationship dynamics between them, which would be really good because the gawyn-elaida dynamic will be key to understanding his role in the coup later in the season (maybe we see him being willing to stand up to galad for the trespassers, but then being kinda cowed and backing down once elaida gets involved), and both gawyn's and galad's relationships with morgase are very central to their individual storylines and motivate a lot of their behavior down the road (more so than elayne, who ofc loves morgase and mourns her death, but doesn't really have those feelings as a main motivator for her behavior).

also, i've gone back to reread the wotseries articles about the shohreh aghdashloo (elaida) and olivia williams (morgase) casting leaks, and uncovered a couple interesting tidbits about the caemlyn filming!

both actresses were spotted on a set that is almost certainly the caemlyn palace (filmed inside a real-life castle with andor's banner hanging up)

wotseries believes that since this set is a location shoot 200 km away from jordan studios, not too much time will be spent there in s3 as frequent shoots there would be inconvenient

this filming occurred in late may 2023 and was for sometime in the first 2 episodes of the season

this all supports my theory of a one-time caemlyn trespassing sequence in approx 3x02! however, wotseries didn't report anything about josha or madeleine being spotted on this set, or about galad's actor or any potential gawyn actors being spotted. but that definitely doesn't mean none of them were there, maybe some or all were but just weren't leaked. on the other hand, i could also imagine maybe there's just one brief caemlyn-set scene of morgase telling elaida to go to the white tower and ask about elayne, and then G&G are introduced later when tagging along on elaida's trip and none of them meet our main characters during this season (or even just gawyn tags along with elaida while galad is instead introduced as a whitecloak in perrin's storyline, though personally i think it's important to galad's story for him to NOT be a whitecloak at first and then become radicalized out of worry for elayne). or it could be that there are multiple scenes in the caemlyn palace but some were filmed on a studio set and this location shoot was only used for a particularly grand room like the throne room or something. many possibilities and such little concrete info to go off of yet!

anyway, overall, i think that first introducing the rest of the caemlyn crew to the audience via their interactions with main characters we already know could potentially be more interesting than introducing them in a vacuum as a totally separate storyline (and indeed, most of the new characters in s2 were introduced via preexisting characters meeting them, iirc). and i think that it would be really great for rand and egwene to get a chance to meet the caemlyn crew before they get tied up in other storylines for the foreseeable future, since elaida and gawyn, in particular, are quite important to both rand and egwene later on (or rather, rand is important to gawyn but not vice versa djkfjg poor gawyn). but only time will tell if i'm onto something here or if i'm way off base!

[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.

[lovetgr76]

[eldritchqueerture]

okay okay okay but HOW exactly. how exactly did john kill Emily and Parker. he was trapped in the book. Emily was described to have been mutilated!!! in a fucking field!!! and when parker died there was no blood! did john take over arthur's body for a brief second? why has arthur never questioned it? how the hell was that possible

when kayne said "anyone who wouldve opened that book and taken what you took wouldve died. they all die." did he mean that?? cause per intermezzo other arthurs manage fine despite not being SpecialTM like our arthur. and WHY were they killed in such different ways??