#usedtobeaduchess

[queer-ragnelle]

Hi there, you don't have to post this on the blog, but I wanted to thank you for your earlier post with regard to different interpretations and iterations of Arthuriana. I really admire your work in/thoughts on all things Arthurian, and seeing you say "Each iteration is it's own self-contained world and anything is possible within that framework" was such a freeing thing. I'm currently writing an Arthurian thing where Lancelot falls for/ends up with someone who isn't Guinevere, and I often wrestle with the doubt of "if he isn't in love with Guinevere, am I really being true to the stories and the canon?" But each iteration is its own self-contained world, and I can honor the stories in other ways while still doing my own thing in this particular story/world. Anyway, all this to say, I'm sure it wasn't your intention, but I appreciate your insight and the encouragement it brings. Take care!

Hi there! Sorry for the delay in responding, but I wanted to think about this a bit beforehand. In writing my own Arthurian series, as well as reading and watching absolutely everything I can get ahold of, historical, medieval, and modern, I’ve developed a whole philosophy about it. So my reply got long hehe. Here’s what I think…

In the ask you referenced, I talked about how Arthurian legend lacks a true "canon," and how the stories all build off each other. The inconsistency from text to text and even chapter to chapter within the same story affords us endless opportunities for creative reinterpretation. I can basically be sold on any concept. I’ve read a lot of retellings at this point and I’m not married to any specific “canon.” If the writer can convince me that, in this version of the story, things played out differently, then I’m happy to get invested. For example, in Exiled From Camelot by Cherith Baldry, she develops Lyonors, Gareth’s wife, and makes her into a likable character the reader can easily ship with Gareth. On the other hand, I definitely see why people prefer Lynette with Gareth, as Tennyson did, and the majority of other retellings follow suit. Even so, I think Lynette and Gaheris made an adorable pair in Squire’s Tales #3, and it was a satisfying reveal in Squire’s Tales #7 that the pov character was their daughter, Lunette. It’s indicated through context clues who her parents are when they arrive at the end referring to each other by pet names. In the same vein, while I favor Ragnelle, Gawain can have any number of partners so long as the author writes the chemistry well. And while I still firmly believe Agravaine is gay in essentially every retelling, I do love Sarah Zettel’s romance Camelot’s Blood that she wrote between him and Laurel. I’m an Orkney Wives fan first and an Orkney Bros fan second haha!

That being said, Orkney Bros have always been inconsistent, so changing their love interests isn’t actually that drastic. In the case of Lancelot and Guinevere, severing their romantic connection is a huge departure from the norm. Undoubtedly, some people won’t “get it” or say it’s out of character. But the thing to remember is, there is no singular source for Arthuriana, so how can they ever be out of character? Let’s get into it.

Firstly, you don’t need to rationalize your narrative choices. To anybody. So long as you’re writing something for the sake of authenticity and good storytelling (rather than simply to be contrarian or edgy or quirky etc) it will resonate with your audience. That said, there’s medieval precedence for your concept. In Alliterative Morte Arthure, Lancelot is listed many times as one of Arthur’s knights. He’s there. Yet it is Mordred who adulterously marries Guinevere. In the romance retelling Lancelot by Gwen Rowley, Guinevere is not the love interest, but Elaine. Another similar angle is explored in Port Eternity by CJ Cherryh, which takes place entirely from Elaine’s point of view. Guinevere isn’t even truly in it and her stand in doesn’t fulfill the same role. In The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956), Lancelot definitely has A Thing with both the King and Queen, but a potential affair is not explored or even hinted at. He’s their bestie, their confidant, their most trusted person apart from each other. The key here is Lancelot still loves Guinevere (or her stand in), however that manifests. There’s no active dislike or hatred between them. In that circumstance, I don’t think the character would feel like Lancelot anymore. But changing the nature of his love for Guinevere from romantic to something else does not diminish its narrative value, as the above examples prove. Their friendship is the core of their relationship, as the Vulgate proves, and maintaining that is important.

It’s not so much about asking yourself, “Is [narrative choice] true to the ‘canon?’” as asking, “How do I tell a good story containing [narrative choice]?” There are examples of this done poorly, in my opinion. I’ve elaborated many many many times about David Lowery’s fumbling of The Green Knight (2021) and how that particular iteration falls short of a true adaptation (which I don’t think he set out to do anyway, to be fair) but also proved an unsuccessful reimagining of the poem due to mismanaged references and motifs. I didn’t like Once & Future by Cori McCarthy and Amy Rose Capetta or The Winter Knight by Jes Battis for the same reasons—both books felt like shallow, meandering stories lacking narrative integrity with a veneer of Arthuriana over it. Reincarnation AUs are not an excuse to flanderaize characters. Battis writes Wayne (Gawain) acknowledging how drastically he differs from his medieval counterpart, but awareness of it doesn’t negate the facts: the story suffers for it. On the contrary, Camelot 3000 gives an entire character arc surrounding this premise to Tristan, who has reincarnated AFAB and struggles with his gender identity and with accepting Isolde’s love for him, changed though he is. First Knight (1995) really screws up by making Lancelot a misogynistic creeper who relentlessly pursues Guinevere and even forces a kiss on her. King Arthur: Legend of The Sword (2017) is insultingly bad by showcasing just how stupid it thinks its audience is, brutalizing and killing women left and right, giving unnecessary screen time to obnoxious OCs, and bastardizing every aspect of the legend it drew from. Meanwhile the Fate Grand Order anime cuts out Guinevere entirely. Her role exists as a void. It makes no sense, then, that Lancelot and Agravaine clash as “fellow traitors,” because the woman at the center of the conflict is literally never present. Seven Deadly Sins anime has finally gotten around to Lancelot and Guinevere meeting, and she’s a clingy girl Lancelot is disinterested in, trying to flip the script on their roles, and only exacerbating the misogyny problem in shounen in the process.

Fear not! Loving Arthurian legend automatically enshrines anything you create in a glittering anti-garbage shield! So many versions exist that draw on the elements just because they can with no respect for the material nor their audience. You literally can’t do worse than what’s already out there and there are no original ideas! Published retellings love crackships, they love mixing it up, changing the expected, surprising us! So long as Guinevere isn’t made worse to make Lancelot’s alternative love interest better, and Lancelot himself isn’t turned inside out until he’s unrecognizable, you’re golden. Follow your gut and write something you would enjoy, develop it well within your own universe, and there will be an audience for it. I’m certainly among them!

Thanks for the ask. Have a lovely day! :^)

[graysongraysoff]

@usedtobeaduchess GOD jeni's almond bark

[queer-ragnelle]

Yep that’s my favorite jester<3

This HAD to be on my blog.

Credit: theemidknight on TikTok

[badsalmonella]

Hi just out of curiosity where are you getting the bootlegs of Camelot? I really really want to see it but have no way of doing that before it closes.

Hey, there are two bootlegs for Camelot that I've seen floating around

One is from this seller

https://www.tumblr.com/elphabaoftheopera/720522334479532032?source=share

And here is the other

https://www.tumblr.com/medium-observation/716087297849835520/may-release?source=share

They're both being sold for money atm, so I'll admit I haven't actually SEEN them, also I'm trying to stay away from bootlegs til I see the show. So I can't vouch for the quality or anything. (I've just seen the screenshots from these bootlegs floating around and I've been using them as art ref......cuz it itches my brain in the meantime)

[queer-ragnelle]

wrt to that post about your dream cast for Guinevere and Lancelot, I am shaking your hand so rigorously, Louis Garrell has been who I picture when I picture Lancelot for ages

[femfables]

@usedtobeaduchess

the lady and her knight

[izzyspussy]

Holistic Hedonism: Izzy/Everyone + Body Worship

After a close call on a raid - and after Izzy tried to hide his gunshot back when they battled their way off the beach of Nassau - Captain Frenchie and the crew of the Revenge don't trust Izzy's word that he isn't injured. They start stripping him down and feeling for wounds to reassure themselves of his safety. Chronically touch-starved, Izzy is overwhelmed with the pleasure of their care.

Inspired by this text post by @bougiebutchbinch.

Anyway, basically like... What if you did aftercare, but as foreplay? Also @napneeders: behold, my third nickel.

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@saphoblin @bazjack @izzyspinkytoe @thorasreblogpile @izzyhandsdefender @someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit @kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess @ndanddnd Sign up here to be tagged when I post OFMD fic.

[izzyspussy]

The Burden Easy: Crew & Izzy + Omegaverse (5/15)

Summary:

Bitching is one of the worst things a person can do to a fellow human being, tantamount to rape even if they don't force a mating bond while they're at it. The transition is painful, the dominance of the act humiliating, but beyond that an alpha who is forced to become an omega will almost always succumb to dysphoria and despair and, unless prevented, will take their own life.

But Izzy's always been a fucking contrarian. He's gonna be just fine.

CONTENT WARNINGS TYPICAL TO THE GENRE APPLY

Excerpt:

The Captain of the Revenge is a specter, a poltergeist, the leftover impression of the monster he still professes himself to be and to have always been. Most of the time the only evidence of his presence on board is the fear of the men thick in the air as they wait for him to make his next physical appearance. There's no guarantee he will or won't show himself, except for the daily raid. Izzy himself grudgingly obeys Frenchie's order to hang back until his transition finishes and he can stand for more than twenty minutes without bursting into tears or vomiting over the rail. As such, he's cursed to watch Edward stand completely still in the middle of every battle, weapons down at his sides if not completely holstered, finishing off any man who falls already defeated into his range with dull, dead-eyed indifference. Porcelain and pearls crunch under Izzy's weight as he finds the best of the vantage points he can still reach, gun out, hoping the way his hands shake now won't have him shoot through the wrong skull if someone goes for Ed like it almost seems he wants them to. When Edward haunts the deck off-raid, Izzy is a ghost to him too. A shadow. A dead thing lingering, invisible, desperate, and pathetic, past the ending of its life. Izzy continues to live and change, whether Edward deigns to see him or not. His own altered scent frequently chokes him - a strange lightened up and sweetened doppelganger of his old scent with hints of the same twisted mirror of Ed's, the alpha who injected part of his body into Izzy's to change it on his fucking whim. Who made Izzy his bitch and then didn't even claim him even though Izzy immediately went into fucking heat for him. Now Izzy stinks of that, will be identifiable forever by how Edward doesn't respect him and doesn't want him either.

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@saphoblin @bazjack @izzyspinkytoe @thorasreblogpile @izzyhandsdefender

@someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit

@kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess @ndanddnd

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[thepathofsuns]

@usedtobeaduchess

me when i recommend something to someone and they end up not liking it

[izzyspussy]

we weep at the thought of life: Izzy & Archie + First Meeting

Izzy interviews Archie for a very specific role on the Revenge.

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@someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit

@kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess @ndanddnd @izzyhandsbingo

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[izzyspussy]

The Burden Easy: Ed/Izzy + Omegaverse (4/15)

Summary:

Bitching is one of the worst things a person can do to a fellow human being, tantamount to rape even if they don't force a mating bond while they're at it. The transition is painful, the dominance of the act humiliating, but beyond that an alpha who is forced to become an omega will almost always succumb to dysphoria and despair and, unless prevented, will take their own life.

But Izzy's always been a fucking contrarian. He's gonna be just fine.

CONTENT WARNINGS TYPICAL TO THE GENRE APPLY

Excerpt:

It leads to Ed following Izzy around, an awestruck puppy, like he had back when they met and Izzy was this same captivating contradiction in other ways first. It leads to Ed getting distracted on deck and starting something with Iz, so Iz gets distracted too and they have to stow themselves away in Ed's cabin to fuck like adolescent rabbits in the middle of the fucking day. It leads to Jack getting a bit uppity and thinking he'll soon be able to wrest the captaincy from Ed and Ed will have to put him back down in his fucking place sooner than that, but not right now. No, right now, Ed has Izzy's face and chest pressed too-hard into his cabin door, naked and open-mouthed and panting. Every now and then Izzy closes his teeth to growl quietly, but the corners of his mouth are always curved up when he does. He watches Ed over his shoulder, his visible eye as sparkling bright and full of life as the sea outside. Ed doesn't know how he could possibly have Izzy more than he already does, but he wants him wants him fucking wants him and damn if he won't find a fucking way. Someday. Ed takes Izzy's ass this time. It's a bit easier on them both that way, there's more room, and Izzy likes it well enough. He melts like fucking butter when Ed slides inside him, the way smoothed by oil. He goes half-limp like he's been scruffed. His eyelid and his jaw both drop. Couldn't bar those teeth now if he tried. Ed doesn't have a coherent thought in his head when he says out loud, "Fuck, bet you'd purr if you could." That's his excuse. Izzy's eye snaps back fully open, though notably his jaw seems to fall even more. He makes a really weird noise that Ed can't decipher any meaning from and his shoulders go tense. Ed freezes where he's buried halfway into the sucking warmth of Izzy's body, his thighs trembling slightly with the effort not to be selfish. He watches Izzy decide to go with it in real time.

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@saphoblin @bazjack @izzyspinkytoe @thorasreblogpile @izzyhandsdefender @someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit @kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess

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[izzyspussy]

The Burden Easy: Crew & Izzy + Omegaverse (3/15)

Summary:

Bitching is one of the worst things a person can do to a fellow human being, tantamount to rape even if they don't force a mating bond while they're at it. The transition is painful, the dominance of the act humiliating, but beyond that an alpha who is forced to become an omega will almost always succumb to dysphoria and despair and, unless prevented, will take their own life.

But Izzy's always been a fucking contrarian. He's gonna be just fine.

CONTENT WARNINGS TYPICAL TO THE GENRE APPLY

Excerpt:

Izzy's bedroom door closes hard behind them, only to bounce back open. Frenchie swears viciously when he realizes that the latch is broken. Izzy only laughs, hoarse and insincere. "No keeping him out," he says, like it's something he's long since accepted. Normally, Frenchie speeds through to accept those sorts of things too. He hopes he doesn't have to this time. Surely if Blackbeard meant to force a mating bond, he would have kept Izzy in his grasp until the heat fully set in, right? But of course he could always change his mind. He seems to do that a lot. "We'll set up a watch schedule," Jim says, stubborn set to their jaw. They let go of Izzy now that they're here, close enough to the destination of his neatly made bed that Frenchie can get him there by himself. The door stays shut when they close it more gently. "No keeping him out," Izzy repeats. He starts to lilt out of Frenchie's hold, so Frenchie hurries to get him in range of the mattress so he'll spill onto it and not the floor. "Meant for everyone else," Jim lies. Izzy makes a doubtful noise but he doesn't argue again. Instead, he tells Frenchie gravely, "You have to start stealing food. On raids." It takes a second, but only a second. Frenchie's always caught on quick.  They haven't been to port in more than two months, raiding every single day. Frenchie'd thought, or maybe he'd hoped, that Blackbeard was counting up his double share of their take for something specific. Maybe a new ship so he could send this one to the depths like he'd done with most of the rest of Stede's stuff. But of course, Captain Blackbeard would just steal a new ship if he wanted one. He isn't counting. Or if he is counting something, it's not the money. He has no intention to spend any of it, or to let them spend theirs, not even on the supplies to keep going on like this. And Izzy- Blackbeard did this to Izzy because Izzy challenged him on it.

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@saphoblin @bazjack @izzyspinkytoe @thorasreblogpile @izzyhandsdefender @someoneiwasnt @thecryofthegulls @orangesandunicorns @astralwashboard @thewhovianspirit @kookykey @sky-fire-forever @usedtobeaduchess

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[femfables]

@usedtobeaduchess

There are three kinds of LGBT headcanons:

Actual queer coding / metaphors ("Nimona is trans because her creator made her as a way to express his feelings as a trans person")

Vibes ("Link is genderless because I said so")

It's funny ("Phoenix Wright is asexual because he's the Ace Attorney")

[graysongraysoff]

secondhand obsession?

Ballet!!! I follow the Romeo & Juliet tag on here and every time there's a post about the R&J ballet I think of you 😊

[thebatmansource]

requested by @usedtobeaduchess

Rain in Soho by The Mountain Goats

[femfables]

@usedtobeaduchess rad writing!

im going to have a stroke