#trigg ti nakamura

[howler-aubellona]

I'm rereading Morning Star while also reading Light Bringer and I stumbled upon this:

[helldiver-of-florida]

I immediately like Holiday and Trigg

[sunrisewithmist]

Trigg deserved so much more, I got so sad reading his death :(

[hyena-frog]

— Trigg ti Nakamura

— Darrow of Lykos

— Virginia au Augustus

— Sevro au Barca

The Jackal's nukes never stood a chance against the precision F bombs in Morning Star.

[virginiaoflykos]

Basically Ephraim and Trigg

Ballister Boldheart and Ambrosius Goldenloin in NIMONA (2023)

[thisdayinredrising]

September 18th

717 PCE

Trigg ti Nakamura is born

753 PCE

Darrow meets with the Senate to request more troops for an assault on Venus.

Lyria and her nephew leave Mars with House Telemanus.

Ephraim and Holiday meet to mourn Trigg on his birthday. Afterwards, Ephraim is captured and tested by the Duke of Hands.

For an explanation of how this date was calculated, see this blog's pinned post for a link to my timeline notes on AO3.

[virginiaoflykos]

HEAR ME OUT!!

Ephraim ti Horn

Trigg ti Nakamura

Look at them. LOOK AT THEM!!

[385bookreviews]

1.3.3 Morning Star by Pierce Brown

SPOILERS

Pages: 518

Read Time: 11 hour and 4 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Storyline: ★★★★★ Dialogue: ★★★★★ Characters: ★★★★★

Genre: Adult Science Fiction

TWs for the book: Violence, war, torture, gore, death, murder, blood, su*c*de, confinement, paranoia, cursing, classism, gun violence, slavery, kidnapping, body horror, emotional abuse, genocide, physical abuse, racial slurs (in accordance with the races of this universe), sexism, su*c*dal thoughts, xenophobia, grief, cannibalism, medical trauma, colonization, drug use, self harm, PTSD

POV: First person; Darrow

Time Period/Location: A future of genetically enhanced and segregated humans across the Solar System, including Mars, Io, Earth, Luna (Earth’s Moon), and the outskirts of Jupiter.

First Line: I rise into darkness, away from the garden they watered with the blood of my friends.

After the tragedy of the Triumph at the end of Golden Son, Morning Star opens a year later, with Darrow imprisoned by the Jackal in a stone box. He is slowly going insane from the darkness, but, just as he is about to end it all, he is slowly lifted from it. The entire time he was inside a stone table, and it has been 9 months that he has been in the box, after being tortured for 3. He is being given by the Jackal to Cassius au Bellona and Aja au Grimmus so the Sovereign can have him dissected. He is taken by Legion XVIII Grays, and during this, rescued by two of them, brother and sister, Holiday and Trigg ti Nakamura. On their way out they encounter Vixus, who reveals that Victra is alive. Darrow demands they free her, which reveals their escape. Darrow kills Vixus, and they escape into a tunnel dug by clawDrills with the help of Ragnar, Sevro, and the Sons of Ares, who Sevro now leads as Ares. This, however, costs Trigg’s life. Darrow awakes in the underground Sons of Ares run city of Tinos. His entire Red family is there, as is Dancer, Sevro, and Ragnar. Sevro reveals to Darrow a lot of things, such as Darrow’s Carving being made public after the Society fake executed him as a Gold and not a Red spy, that the Moon Lords of Jupiter and the rest of the outer Rim planets had rebelled with the aid of Mustang and the Telemanus family, and that Sevro had taken Darrow’s original Red eyes in place of his Gold ones. Darrow undergoes another carving by Mickey to restore him back to how he was, but has his sigils removed so his hands are bare. They go on bigger and bigger missions till Darrow, Victra, and Holiday are inducted as Howlers. Sevro then decides to move on with their mission to economically collapse the society by kidnapping Quicksilver, the richest Silver in the Solar System and the Jackal’s silent partner, and bombing Phobos. They smuggle into Phobos and find Matteo, the pink that trained Darrow in Aureate society before he went to the Institute, but Sevro breaks his jaw when he doesn’t know where Quicksilver is. They head to his office, and are shocked to find Mustang, Kavax au Telemanus, Moira au Grimmus (sister to Aja), and Cassius brokering a peace treaty between the Moon Lords and the Sovereign. Sevro goes off the walls, drunk on power, and begins a battle. Moira dies, Cassius and Mustang escape, and Kavax, Matteo, and Quicksilver are taken prisoner. Darrow assumes control from Sevro and they escape in the void of space out the window and into the back of Holiday’s ship. Once back in the Sons of Ares safe house, they stress on how to escape, and then go to question Quicksilver. He reveals he was the original Son of Ares all along after having found it with Fitchner. Darrow and Sevro fight, and Sevro defers leadership to Darrow. In order to save the Sons of Ares on Phobos and cause a ruse for another plan, he starts a rebellion of all the lowColors on the moon. As the rebellion rages and he is assumed to be on Phobos, him, Holiday, and Ragnar escape in a ship headed for the south pole of Mars, where they plan to raise an Obsidian army and lead them out of slavery. Mustang also accompanies them on this journey, saying she needs proof that Darrow is fighting for the right cause. After the Obsidians challenged Gold years back, the Golds had marooned them on the poles of the planets, brainwashing them into thinking Golds are Asgardian gods and that their technology is magic to keep them in check. Ragnar intends to show his tribe the way to freedom and have them join the Rising, but they are shot down by Cassius and Aja. They fight off cannibals and snow storms and Carved monsters, but eventually track down Cassius and Aja. Mustang shoots Cassius through the throat and he survives but is subdued, and Aja brings down Ragnar before stumbling off of a cliff. As he lay dying, his sister and her Valkyrie arrive on griffins. He tells her to live for more, and then dies. This leaves Darrow, Holiday, and Mustang to entreat Ragnar and Sefi’s mother, Alia Snowsparrow, to join their cause and tell her people the Golds are false gods. She knew already, however, and tells Sefi to turn them into the Golds on the floating mountain of Asgard. Sefi takes them, but not before making a deal with Darrow to let him prove to her the gods are false, and he does, killing Procter Mercury, who was disguised as Loki, and another Gold disguised as Freya. They capture the rest of the Golds in the mountain, return to the tribe, and present them to the war council and Alia. She demands the Golds freed so Sefi beheads Alia, and then slowly kills all of the Golds. Several weeks later, she has united the Obsidian tribes of south Mars, and leads them all back to Tinos. Their next move is to sail to Io to convince Romulus au Raa to ally with them against the Society’s Sword Armada, led by none other than Roque au Fabii. Darrow convinces/tricks them into an alliance, and they defeat the Sword Armada. Roque kills himself before being taken prisoner or disgraced, and Antonia flees, but is soon caught. Darrow destroys Romulus’s ship port, framing Roque for it, so the Moon Lords will not be a threat to him for the rest of the war. They broadcast that they are sailing to Mars when they actually sail for Luna.  During this time, the Obsidians revolt after Darrow’s uncle Narol was publicly executed by the Jackal. They hang Gold prisoners and attempt to hang Cassius, but Sevro proves a point that they need to be better by hanging himself. Cassius and Sevro fortunately survive the display, and shortly after Victra and Sevro are married. They sail on Luna, and, after rebonding with Cassius, Darrow decides to let him go before one of the Obsidians or Reds sneak into the prison during the battle and kills him. He betrays them however, and kills Sevro, captures Darrow and Mustang, frees Antonia, and escapes. They bring Darrow, Mustang, and Sevro’s body before the Jackal, and the Jackal demands Cassius to cut off Darrow’s sword hand, which he does. He then takes them before the Sovereign. Octavia executes Antonia for her cowardice during the battle in the Rim, and then starts live-streaming the execution of Darrow. The Jackal demands to put him down, but instead, Cassius reveals the entire thing was a trick and starts killing the Praetorians in the room. Together, Darrow, Mustang, Cassius, and the now revived, not dead at all Sevro take down the Truth Knight and the Joy Knight, pin the Jackal to the floor, cut Octavia’s belly open, and kill Aja. They let the Sovereign die, leaving her grandson Lysander alive, and then hear the Jackal laugh. He begins to instruct his Bonerider, Lilath, to detonate 30 megaton nuclear warheads all over Luna. He gets around 15 of them off before Darrow rips out his tongue and the Ash Lord destroys Lilath’s ship. Mustang becomes the new Sovereign of the Society, and the Jackal is hanged. The Ash Lord flees to Mercury, and Cassius takes Lysander with him to start a new life. At the end of the book, Mustang and Darrow are on Earth where she reveals that she has been keeping a secret from him. Another ship with Darrow’s family and the Telemanus family arrive, and he is introduced to his and Mustang’s son, Pax. 

Darrow O’Lykos (The Reaper of Mars; The Morning Star): Darrow’s humbling at the hands of the Jackal is some serious character growth that was much needed. He realizes that he and the people around him are not invincible, and is more willing to make sacrifices and smarter decisions. The reveal of him having a son with Mustang is a lovely closing arc (despite there being more books). Eo and their child was lost, but he gained a new life, in a better world with Mustang and their son, the ultimate reward for his sacrifices. The grace he shows for Roque, Cassius, and Thistle despite what they have done to him show him to be a true judge of character.  The only thing I wish had been shown more was his PTSD from the Jackal. Granted he does have it, and it is shown, but I felt as though there could have been better representation of that. 

Cassius au Bellona (The Morning Knight): Cassius has one of the best redemption arcs I have ever seen, starting with when he covers the naked and tortured Darrow after he is brought out of the Jackal’s box with his own Morning Knight cloak. Darrow never gives up on him, even when they are enemies, and it eventually gets through to him. He shows grace, mercy, true honor, and a lack of the “revenge/blood for blood” motto he has in the first and second book. It was a really scary plot twist to go from Cassius being good, to him “killing” Sevro and “capturing Mustang and Darrow”, to him then being revealed as good again. 

Sevro au Barca (Goblin; Ares): I’m sorry but you will be hard pressed to find a more badass scene than when Sevro hangs himself to save Cassius. 

Storyline: The storyline of this book is exquisite. It keeps you on your toes the whole time, and everything flows together really well. Everything makes sense (no “Game of Thrones finale” endings here). Nothing magically resolves itself, there are no plot holes, and the author isn’t shy about killing major characters (RIP Ragnar, Roque, Lorn, Tactus, Quinn, Lea, Pax, Fitchner, and Uncle Narol).

Representation: Orion xe Aquarii, Thistle, and Aja au Grimmus are the only people of color explicitly mentioned. Quicksilver proclaims very proudly that Matteo is his husband. Holiday explains that her brother Trigg was engaged to a man named Ephraim. There are more comments alluding to the fact that Roque and Tactus were involved, and Tactus’ brother makes a joke asking if him and Darrow were involved, as Darrow “wouldn’t have been the first.”

Summary: The plot twists of this book, the secret plans, the bold moves, the character development, the gut wrenching emotions, the entertaining and powerful dialogue, all combines into a serious masterpiece of a book and a great ending to the first part of the series. It has a heavy happy ending; there are still problems, nothing is perfect, they only arrived there through blood, sweat, tears, and death, but everything is good, because they have won, and Darrow has gotten back what he lost in a new way. 

Quotes:  “All deeds that last are painted in blood.” (pg. 5) “’I will give Eo your love. I will make a house for you in the Vale of your fathers. It will be beside my own. Join me there when you die.’ He grins. ‘But I am no builder. So take your time. We will wait.’”-Ragnar Volarus (pg. 237) “’This is always how the story would end, Adrius,’ I say down to him. ‘Not with your screams. Not with your rage. But with your silence.’”-Darrow O’Lykos (to Adrius au Augustus) (pg. 501) “’A man thinks he can fly, but he is afraid to jump. A poor friend pushes him from behind.’ He looks up at me. ‘A good friend jumps with.’” “Justice isn’t about fixing the past, it’s about fixing the future. We’re not fighting for the dead. We’re fighting for the living. And for those who aren’t yet born.”-Darrow O’Lykos “And I wonder, in my last moments, if the planet does not mind that we wound her surface or pillage her bounty, because she knows we silly warm things are not even a breath in her cosmic life. We have grown and spread, and will rage and die. And when all that remains of us is our steel monuments and plastic idols, her winds will whisper, her sands will shift, and she will spin on and on, forgetting about the bold, hairless apes who thought they deserved immortality.”-Darrow O’Lykos “If your heart beats like a drum, and your legs a little wet, it’s because the Reaper’s come to collect a little debt.”-Sevro au Barca “Man is no island. We need those who love us. We need those who hate us. We need others to tether us to life, to give us a reason to live, to feel.” “What is pride without honor? What is honor without truth? Honor is not what you say. It is not what you read.” Romulus thumps his chest. “Honor is what you do.”-Romulus au Raa

[darrowsrising]

Unspoken Howler Rule No. 1:

Don't get attached too quickly.

RIP Trigg ti Nakamura

Probably NOBODY cares about this but I'm up reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown, third book in the series, mind you I know what kind of books these are, and we are barely 6 chapters in and this new character became my new favorite, completely un-seating dear Sevro, in fucking MINUTES

And guess what has already happened to my new favorite character??? Fucking guess??

Like I shouldn't be SURPRISED it's exactly what I expected but he was my NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER

I only knew you for an hour, but I loved you

RIP 🥺

[justanotherviolet]

Holiday and Trigg 🤭🌠

[evapunk333]

Incorrect Red Rising Quotes

[Ephraim texting Trigg]

Ephraim: Trigg, I’m sorry.

Ephraim: Please talk to me baby.

Ephraim: Muffin?

Ephraim: Sweet pea?

Ephraim: The love of my life.

Ephraim: Beautiful cinnamon roll who’s too pure and precious for this world.

Trigg: Sorry doesn’t bring back my fucking Skittles, Eph.

[darrowsrising]

Trigg!!

Thank you for the ask!🤗

First impression: Is this the guy who just shaved Reaper? Better have a good fucking reason to be here right now, because if you try to bully Darrow I wil...ok, you can live.

Impression now: I will be eternally grateful that Pierce explained Trigg's past. At the same time it gave Ephraim's gried 50 shades of fucked up, but it added so much to Trigg's character. I feel it was needed, it's always needed when dead characters get idolized by their living significant others in this series. A reminder that no human being belongs on a pedestal for being perfect, because no one is perfect.

Trigg is one of those characters with brief moments, yet long shadows. I like those, although I always seem to take them as they are and not add to them - what might have been or alternate universes. Correction: I do like how Pierce makes them. He gives them substance so that they aren't a nameless shadow inspired by this and that. They are fully fleshed characters, so it actually rips something in you when they die. And you get emotional with every crumb you get after that.

Favourite moment: Honestly, every moment. Him witnessing a skeletal Reaper killing a Peerless Scarred and then stubbornly trying to get Victra out as well, not to mention he carried her all the way out, was really entertaining. Damn, that Mama Nakamura snake juice surely was something.

Idea for a story: I think it could be such a great piece to write from Trigg's pov as he destroyed Atalantia's Rose Gardens...and everyone in them under the influence of zoladone. The clinical aspect of it and then the dispair at the end. With Holiday's words as a ray of hope in the abyss.

Unpopular opinion: Honestly? Eph was way out of his league. I take no criticism.

Favourite relationship: I really loved to see healthy twin bonds for once. I did love Eph and Trigg's relationship, but it hurt a lot too, because it was so based on memories - at least Trigg and Holi had some on page in the present moments. I mean, I know it wouldn't have worked in any other way, but I can only take so much angst.

Favourite headcanon: Trigg hated Rhonne so much, he a pact with Holi to kick him in the face if and when any of them gets the chance.

Howl on! 🤗

[auros-raa]

“I know weakness in your kind does not mean broken. So tell me, why kill passions with Zoladone?”

I glance at Aja’s razor.

“Makes life flow a bit smoother.”

“Poor little man,” she mocks. “Life is meant to be felt. Else why live? Valleys make the mountains.” (158)

-Sefi the Quiet and Ephraim ti Horn

Dark Age by Pierce Brown

[m-austinbooks]

I got the idea to do this pretty late into Pride Month, but I just about made it! I had to be a little creative with the Colours to make this work, so you might have to squint a little. I was desperately trying to think of another Red to replace Harmony, but I suppose that’s the beauty of RR. LGBT characters are allowed to be just as terrible or complex as their straight counterparts. They can’t all be complete darlings like Matteo. 

[hyena-frog]

Random headcanons that have no bearing on the plot:

When Pax grows up, he is his mother’s height at most. Very tall for a Red but short for a non-Bronzie Gold. Sevro is in denial that Pax is taller than him until the difference is too much to ignore.

Electra on the other hand is Victra’s height and bullies Pax mercilessly about it. She’ll lean her elbow on his head, look around in mock bewilderment like she can’t see him, that sort of thing.

Calypso is the opposite. She is her father’s height but has her mother’s looks. She enjoys teaming up with Electra against Pax even though he is taller than her.

Diana-Selene is an enigma. She looks related to her sisters but isn’t obviously Barca or Julii either way. She’s bubbly and excitable. No one understands where she came from. Still, in some ways, she scares Pax more than Electra does.

Pax has a celebrity crush on Cassius. Cassius is the only major Rising figure he has never met, so there is a certain mystique about him. On rare occasions, Darrow would talk about him with a weird mix of fondness and wistfulness. So Pax associates Cassius with good things. Pax knows the bad things Cassius did but he can’t help the positive association through his father. (Virginia talks about Cassius even less and is strictly neutral and guarded.) Talking about Cassius agitates Electra, though, so Pax keeps this all to himself.

Cassius and Julian met Apollonius several times growing up since he and Karnus were drinking partners. Apple’s personality stressed Julian out but Cassius, like Darrow, was fascinated by his flamboyancy.

Before the Institute, for a year or two, Julian was obsessed with Rim culture. He even studied Japanese since it’s still commonly spoken there. This baffled Cassius but it made Julian happy so he endured the obsession. Cassius still understands some Japanese to this day but can’t speak or read it. Karnus made sure to crush Julian’s spirit about liking Moonie stuff at every chance because he hated anything Julian liked on principle.

Pytha has known Cassius since he was born. They obviously weren’t close at the time, but she crossed paths with the Bellona kids often enough for Cassius to know her name. He is grateful for their serendipitous reunion after the Rising. It is comforting to have even a small piece of House Bellona with him. Still, he was a bit startled by how fast she adjusted to calling him by his first name rather than dominus, even though he insisted on it.

Pytha loved to blast loud techno in the Archi. Lysander always hated it. Cassius did at first too but he grew fond of it over time. He’ll never admit it though.

After living on the Archi for so long, Cassius is used to living in cramped spaces, and fighting space pirates in tight corridors. Wide open areas make him nervous. Sort of the opposite of Darrow’s claustrophobia, but it’s not a full blown PTSD symptom in this case.

Cassius enjoys playing Karachi. Lysander hates it because it relies on reading people rather than strict game logic. (I’m pretty sure that was stated somewhere in Iron Gold, actually, but I can’t find it.) Diomedes is weirdly good at the game, like to a scary degree. Ajax hates card and board games in general. He only ever played them with his mother because she never judged him harshly for making bad moves.

Holiday used to third wheel at Trigg and Ephraim’s outings early on in their relationship because Trigg was too nervous to go alone. After they became more established, they did go on dates with just the two of them, but Holiday would still often join them because they had a lot of fun together. It turned out Holiday and Ephraim got along really well. In the end, Trigg often had to do damage control on their appalling behavior when they got too drunk and unruly.

[scarabskin]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Red Rising Series - Pierce Brown Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Ephraim ti Horn/Trigg ti Nakamura Characters: Trigg ti Nakamura, Ephraim ti Horn Additional Tags: Gunplay, Breathplay, Kinktober 2019, Hand Jobs Series: Part 7 of Red Rising Kinktober 2019 Summary:

When Trigg had first suggested it, Ephraim had simply laughed and kissed him.

Kinktober prompt: gunplay - Trigg/Ephraim