#tgc: sonya

[coyote-daniels]

A look through the Great Comet zine I made!! ☄️✨🍷

[twixted-spoon]

How was it I noticed nothing?

[stars-and-the-sky]

the great comet but everyone is a trans lesbian

[rabbitmotifs]

so hard being a dolokhov fan that doesnt ship danatole

[melancholiaenthroned]

youve only known him three days, natasha youre joking

yes, yes, i love him. how else could i have his letter in my hand?

[beautyinsteadofashes]

I just saw TGC for the very first time knowing very little about it. Every upbeat ensemble number was an absolute blast!!! Like you could feel excitement building for the Troika Driver and i didn't really even know why or what was going on. The crowd was pumped!

Our production had Pierre in a sunken stage pit with the pianist/conductor (who cried during Sonya's song bless his heart) that was black and white and low so he literally is climbing out of the slimy depression pit during Dust and Ashes and into the light (I might cry).

Anatole is wearing all black and so when Natasha goes to the ball she wears this half black half white sexy number having been seduced by him then a fully black and slumped kinda rolling dress in her sad scene with Pierre and then when I saw her back in her original white for the ending I was so happy.

The stage has a massive white marble door that was used really well (it was very Mama Mia vibes. Anatole and Natasha has a weird Angel of Music mirror moment Infront of it) but especially to show Andre's absence. I felt Natasha's arc and longing and regret so deeply that when Andre finally speaks so much anticipation has been built for this character that you've barely seen or never truly seen except in her imagination and then he can't forgive her! I was crushed.

[scalpho]

!!! you've seen the great comet too? :D what're your favorite songs from it... it's such a good musical that i have difficulty choosing favs myself, it really just depends on what i feel like listening to. pierre's usually the one i immediately pick, but even letters or sonya alone has its place for me...

one of my favourite musicals ever (if not my definitive favourite)!! as you say it's SO hard to pick a fav song but i've always loved sonya & natasha, even though i wouldn't call it tgc's best song. pierre is also a very solid choice. and the abduction (especially the last minute of it) is real fun

[simcardiac-arrested]

<33 ya i get u weren't coming for me!! teehee thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk about it!! look at her...

pierre could NEVER shoot this girl ‼️

and!! tgc has not one, but TWO versions, the original cast (which ive been listening to a lot lately) and the broadway cast (which ive been also listening to a lot lately but less than the og cast)! both are cool and good i think!! a lot of the characters have the same people cast for them (anatole, dolokhov, sonya, marya, andrey/bolkonsky (theyre played by the same person in both), mary, helene.. maybe more?) but the instrumentals are the biggest difference i think!! theyre not That different but they do have different vibes. to me.

yeasss musical intricacies …. and littel kitty …. She just like me fr all curled up in bed

[i-kvr]

The Godhead Complex read-through - Part Two: Believing the Belief

Other posts on The Godhead Complex read-through:

Prologue Part One: Natural Selection Part Two: Believing the Belief Part Three: Direct Observation Part Four: Epilogue

Part Two: Believing the Belief

[Spoilers for The Godhead Complex, The Maze Cutter, and The Fever Code]

This was a nice Part, I think. This was when the plot really began to get going and you could begin to see where things would go, see the perspectives o fthe different nuclei of characters meeting, which for me is always exciting (I really enjoy this dynamic of the story starting with multiple POVs and they meeting each other as the story goes).

Something that I enjoy in this universe is how sometimes it feels like the author is playing with the idea of something having strong meaning (often related to mysticism) versus them being banal. For example, at a certain point, Mikhail is meditating and he does the Mudra gesture which, as the narration tells us, was taught him by Nicholas. You can sense how Mikhail sees that as something that holds some sort of special power, especially because of who taught him it. But in the real world, doing the Mudra gesture while meditating might feel like just a cliché.

Dialogue with TFC's Prologue

An excerpt that caught my attention was from a dialogue between Sadina and Frypan:

"Newt was always special. The kind of special you didn't need to look at anybody's blood to see." "They chose everyone they studied back then for a reason, right?" "They had their reasons." —TGC, Chapter Eleven: Rash Decisions

In TFC's prologue we find out that WICKED was actually after Newt's sister Sonya and that he was taken too just because of how things happened, which caused the guards to kill both of their parents. Now, with Newt being a child that would be left alone, they had to take him, too. And one of the guards even say something about how he could be used to be one of the control group.

This shows us how sometimes WICKED had no idea what they were doing, or were improvising much more and had much less control than what they lead everyone (the readers included) to believe.

Mikhail's relation to the Remnant Nation

That really got my by surprise. Mikhail turning against the Godhead wouldn't be a surprise. But finding out he was actually the one behind the forming of the Remnant Nation had me shocked.

And it connects in an interesting way with Minho, cause the Orphan has an unexplained goodwill towards the Godhead, for no apparent reason. So finding out that it was a Godhead that created what Minho came to be was crazy.

Once he arrived at the Remnant Nation, he planned to do what he'd done every month for years meet with the Grief Bearers and in- struct them on the coming war. But this go-around, there'd be an escalation. —TGC, Chapter Nine: The Infinite Glade

The Orphans he collected. The Orphans he trained. —TGC, Chapter Thirteen: Wild Animal

Mikhail knew, because he was the one to teach the Grief Bearers, who taught the Orphan soldiers. —TGC, Chapter Thirteen: Wild Animals

Minho and Dominic's dynamic

These two were another surprise. Or rather Minho's apparent obession with Dominic. Full disclosure: I had a Dominic x Isaac fic going on as I was reading this book but Minho's inner monologue always mentioning Dominic and how Dominic had this irritating habit, or said this stupid thing, or whatever else Dominic was doing, made me change it to a Dominic x Minho fic. They were simply giving me too many material to ignore.

They'd seen few Cranks in the wild, and the most dangerous thing about the islanders were Dominic's various unsavory habits. —TGC, Chapter Eight: A New Journey

"You're going to leave me with Happy?" Dominic pulled on Isaac's shoulder as if to twist his arm into staying. Good thing Minho wasn't paying attention to them. "You'll all be fine," Isaac replied. "And Happy isn't so bad. Try not to annoy him too much." —TGC, Chapter Fourteen: Destiny Awaits

Minho thought about blowing the horn to get everyone's attention, but he thought that was something Dominic might do. —TGC, Chapter Fourteen: Destiny Awaits

Dominic's character going further

But then I began wondering about Dominic's overall participation in the plot and there's something else I noticed about this character:

Dominic gained considerable more focus in this book in comparison to TMC. In TMC he is just a group member, there to populate the plot and build the background of Isaac having many islanders with him. But in this book, he is mentioned all the time and even has more active participation in some scenes. Different than, for example, Jackie, who remains just a group member (at least in my perspective).

So that led me to suspect something regarding Dominic's character. There's another suspicion that showed up during the read, but it related to a scene from Part 4, so I'll save it for the appropriate post.

Suspicion 1:

Dashner received backlash after claiming on Twitter that he felt Newt was gay and in this new trilogy we have a lesbian couple in the main characters group. Maybe I'm misinterpreting his intentions, but this have some relation to wanting to appease to the public and somewhat "clear his name" as not being a queerbaiter. In that logic, I wouldn't be surprised if Minho and Dominic ended up becoming a couple and that being the reason why Minho seemed so fixated on Dominic all along TGC.

Quote highlight

What a vicious cycle. A truly tired cycle. Men feasted on the dead flesh of animals only to become the dead flesh on which the animals later feasted. —TGC, Chapter Thirteen: Wild Animals

Question for everyone

If you were an islander, would you want to leave the island, if you knew there were other communities out there and that there was a chance of a Cure? Or would you prefer to stay in the safety of the island where you won't ever even need the Cure to begin with? And why?

[hypacias]

female awesome meme: [1/10] ladies who deserve better

What am I to do? Who do I ask for help? Is it all on me?

[comradebezukhov]

War and Peace/ Great Comet characters as banned tags

Pierre Bezukhov: #anxiety #addiction #belly #beta male #big #cry #crying #pain #sad #self-hate

Natasha Rostova: #baby girl #eighteen #needy #young

Sonya Rostova: #girl #girlfriend

Nikolai Rostov: #baby boy #bottom #homo

Fedya Dolokhov: #gun #gunshot #handgun #kill #killing #knife #knives #murder #purge #rifle #serial killer #shootgun #violence

Anatole Kuragin: basically all the tags related to sex and #feet #fetish #incest #toes #unbuttoned #69

Helene Kuragina: #boobs #booty #breasts #incest #milf #misogyny #sensual #sexy #sexywoman #sexism #slut shaming #titty

Andrei Bolkonsky: #death #depressed #depression #injury #insomnia #mental illness #numb #repressed #single dad

Marya Bolkonskya: #domestic abuse

OPB: #abuse #bitch

Balaga: #cocaine #crack #coke #drugs #heroin #high #meth #weed #420

Vassily Kuragin: #bald

[jajasu]

Sonya and Mary with small artistic changes

[c0rpsedemon]

one thing about great comet that i love is that there isn't really a mediocre white boy ship where both characters (who've never met) are bastardized by fanon, mainly bc there's only one mediocre white boy and even then he narrowly meets the requirements bc pretty much every weird anatole fact is just canon. fanon WISHES it could get as weird as dave malloy on genius lyrics

[keep-ur-head-low]

You ever listen to Brittain Ashford’s voice and then proceed to get thrown into a whole different plane of reality in the process? Like I listen to Hero or Sonya Alone whenever I want to hear something good but I always end up falling the fuck out of my bed or holding my breath on an empty sidewalk after being caught off guard by the voice of perfection herself

[abacus-and-paper-money]

Unpacking The Parallels/Connections Between Sonya Rostova & Mary Bolkonskaya In Great Comet

I thought it was time I talked about these two. I'm seeing a lot of parallels/almost parallels and interesting connections between them for two characters who never interact.

First, they both have a more popular, powerful, and well known 'counterpart' who is either their sibling or sibling-like. (Natasha and Andrey respectively.) They both have a parent or parental figure who clearly favors said counterpart. (Marya and Old Asshole.) And they both are expected to be the mature one in their household. (Sonya taking care of Natasha, and Mary taking care of Asshole.) There's a difference between these things, though, which I think is an interesting contrast.

Sonya is loved by her family, just often ignored a little bit, whereas Mary is actively emotionally (and possibly physically) abused. Where Sonya fades into the background, Mary is brought towards the foreground.

They both do their duties without complaint, but Sonya does it without being ordered to and of her own free will. Mary does it because Crazy Bitch gaslights her into thinking she's awful if she doesn't do what he says.

Also, they're both lonely. Sonya's solo is LITERALLY called 'Sonya Alone', after she is pushed away by Natasha. In letters, Mary also says "I'm so alone here," as well as the mentions of her having no friends in The Private And Intimate Life of The House.

And then, there's the candle in the mirror. Sonya introduces the idea of it, holding two mirrors up facing each other and seeing your future in the row of candles, "stretching back and back and back." I always thought it was interesting how in Letters they added Mary to the 'candle in the mirror' bit. She's explicitly a minor character, and she's thrown in with the two main characters. Mary earlier, in The Private and Intimate Life of The House, says "is this all I'll make of my life? Will I never be happy? Will I never be anyone's wife?" Seeing herself with no future. She sees nothing but the candle in the mirror, no visions of the future, so lost and alone.

The idea of being pushed away by their counterpart, too. Natasha does so figuratively, shutting herself off from Sonya and pushing her away. Andrey does so physically when he returns, shoving past Mary to sit in his father's chair.

Dunno, just thought they were interesting.

[sonyushka-bonjour]

happy pride month to sonya rostova and mary bolkonskaya, and them only