#which before he killed them all - was a very noble house and i mean i guess it still is

[cosmic-walkers]

I kinda wanna say something in contrast the Larys Strong and Hilary Mantel Thomas Cromwell comparisons but that post/topic is so niche that I find no point. However, I'll do it anyway - I also did really like and agree with that post btw, I just had some differing opinions I wanted to add.

That post went on to compare Larys Strong and Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, and how both their queens see them in a way, as less than human or less than deserving of decency or modesty.

The difference between the two is that Larys groomed Alicent into being that way, so he treats him a certain way based on him grooming her, whereas, Anne unmanning Thomas is mostly because of classism, and because she believes she is socially higher than him.

That post made a really good point about Larys being offended that Alicent took off her shoes in his presence. This is supposed to showcase how Alicent, usually an extremely reserved person as the queen, is usually modest. For her to undress around Larys pretty much shows how little value she sees in him; how she doesn't see him as an actual person that she has to even attempt to cover up around. This upsets larys because in reality, it questions his value in her eyes; he has been seen as less than nothing his whole life because of his disabilities, etc.

But Alicent, in my opinion, isn't doing that because she thinks poorly of him (well, she does.) She's doing it because she has been groomed by him to do that since she was a child. Keep in mind, in order for him to protect her and for her to get information, Larys would make Alicent show him her feet, and he would jack off in front of her to her feet....that is why she is so conditioned to take off her shoes in front of him.

Alicent has many groomers, Larys is one. And like all the men who have groomed her in her life, she has routines for them. she sees larys and well, she is used to taking off her shoes for him. she is used to him violating her in such a way that it is second nature.

in contrast, to Bring up the Bodies - by Hilary Mantel, Anne inviting Thomas to her room when she has no head covering on and she is in confinement (i think?), highlighting the fact that she thinks she is above him.

Socially, she is the queen, and even if she wasn't, she is still the daughter of an Earl. Anne very much knew she was above him, and in her mind, he wasn't worth her modesty because she didn't register him as a person, and Thomas knew that. And in the books, Thomas does resent the Boleyn's for this secretly (he resents them for a lot), despite being their ally, which is why he works to bring them down.

But a huge theme we see play out in Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, is Thomas' class, and how other nobles, Anne included, see him as less than because of it. And when he is in their circles, it is an insult to them unless they can use him for their own needs.

The relationship between Larys and Alicent does mirror Anne and Thomas in a way, if you look at it as queen and advisors. Thomas does things for Anne, he does things for her family. He is very much seen as their attack dog in some instances, their errand boy, etc., he doesn't protest the role either because he does climb higher and higher into society due to his proximity to Anne until well, Henry tires of her.

But the main difference between Anne Boleyn and Alicent Hightower is that, Alicent's relationship with Larys is born from fear and grooming. Alicent was forced to marry a man twice her age, and she had no allies in court after. She thought Larys was an ally, but he exploited her just like her father and husband did. Which is why, she is literally conditioned to expose herself around him, even an as adult. Larys also has a huge amount of privilege over Alicent.

In contrast, Anne's nonchanlant attitude toward Thomas comes from classism, and the fact that she is in a class higher than him. More so, she knows she can use him and he will, for the most part, do what she wants him to do if there is some benefit there. There is an equal part, even though there is resentment - secret resentmen- on Thomas' side.

All in all, I liked the comparisons, I just wanted to delve deeper into it without polluting OPs post lmao.

[klaus-littlestwolf]

Unconsummated -Aemond T.

Aemond finds himself quickly falling in love during the week long celebration of Aegon and Helaena’s wedding. Sadly his perfect lady is already married to a Baratheon. Happily, the idiot has yet to consummate their marriage as he never wanted to marry Y/n Arryn in the first place.

Aemond sets out to take the sweet girl for himself and he will not take ‘No’ for an answer…

It was much too loud for her tastes.

Y/n’s husband lived for parties like this, being honored that he was invited to the wedding of Aegon and Helaena and enjoying himself in every way he could. He was drunk 10 minutes after the ceremony and would be for the entirety of the next 6 days that the week long party went on for.

Y/n left the room as soon as it was acceptable for her to do so, her husband being locked on another noble woman, one who would happily spread her legs for him in a dark hallway later that night and she could do without the embarrassment of that. She ended up locating the library on her walk through the castle and she couldn’t help but stop. The room was huge, 10x the size of her husbands library as his father, his fathers father and on and on before had never been able to read (and neither could her husband).

He forced her to read all of his ravens to him in private as if he believed that no one was aware that he couldn’t read them himself. Y/n ended up knowing quite a lot about the houses and their leaders, her husband threatening to kill her if she ever breathed a private word of it. She was privy to quite a bit of sensitive information because of his illiteracy, knowing that many houses had secretly sworn to follow Aegon as the true born King or people like her husband who were sworn to Rhaenyra as the King commanded. She honestly didn’t care who ran the realm, all Y/n cared about was her small life, her duties, and her children (of which her husband didn’t seem to care to give her). He was too busy with his whores to give her a child.

She found herself a book that interested her, it was a book on High Valyrian which she had always wanted to learn. She had been teaching herself for only about 20 minutes before she heard a throat clear and she jumped up in fear, the book landing on the floor as her eyes met with one purple one staring back at her.

‘My Prince! I am so sorry! I did not know anyone would be here while the celebration went on…’

He stared at her for a moment before responding. ‘No reason to apologize, I understand more than anyone not wanting to celebrate with drunken strangers.’

‘Thank you for your hospitality…I will leave you be then-‘

‘No!’ He insisted, startling her a bit. ‘I’m sorry, I mean no, you don’t need to leave. Please, sit.’ He moved to take the seat beside her, picking up her book and looking at it before smiling. ‘Teaching yourself High Valyrian? Impressive…I am Aemond by the way, might I know my beautiful company’s name?’

‘Y/n Baratheon, my Prince. It is an honor.’

The two of them spent the next 3 hours by the fire in the Library just talking. They got to know each other very well and Aemond even gave her her first lesson in High Valyrian which he admitted she was a quick study at. It wasn’t until Aemond asked about her family that any of their conversation became uncomfortable.

‘You’re married to the eldest Baratheon son, are you not? I knew he had a wife but I did not know he had brought her with him while he-’ Aemond stopped himself as if he was unsure if she knew what her husband was up to.

‘I am aware of his indiscretions. It is how he has always been, nothing to concern yourself with my Prince.’ Aemond’s face was stoic as always but she sensed sympathy like she got from most other people. ‘He never wanted to marry me, his father wanted my name and the alliance of certain supporters. He had hoped marrying me to his son would stop his…activities and make him happy to have a family…he has no interest in such things however and I am left 6 months after our marriage unloved and childless…I’m sorry…you don’t care about that.’ She laughed though Aemond could tell it was hollow.

‘Your husband is an idiot if he does not want you my lady. I have known you for mere hours and I know that you are a smart, kind hearted girl without a judgmental bone in your body. You would be a good mother, of that I am sure.’ Aemond had no clue where that came from. Seeing this girl all alone and feeling unloved was breaking his heart…what is she doing to him?

‘Thank you my Prince, you are too kind.’

Y/n retired not long after, in bed hours before her husband joined her, collapsing into the bed in his clothes and for once she did not move to take care of him, Y/n left him in his clothes and on his chest in the bed.

Her days went on like that for most of the week. She would have breakfast and enjoy a walk in the gardens before finding her way to the library again and spending the rest of the entire day with Aemond. They both made an appearance at the party every night as was expected before abandoning the noisy, drunken mess and enjoying each others company again.

Aemond continued teaching her Valyrian and they could hold conversations now (albeit simple ones) as she was a fast learner. He also told her all about Vhagar, loving her interest in his dragon where most ladies were terrified.

She had raged when he told her of how he really lost his eye, furious that his nephew would do such a thing, all of them. She also condemned the ladies in the court who had made Aemond feel ugly just because of his injured eye. She swore to the heavens that he was one of if not the most beautiful man she had ever seen and she would not take his negative words into account.

Aemond had quickly come to love Y/n and she loved him as well, they both knew but neither of them crossed the line to say it. Though as her husband had never consummated their marriage Aemond had decided that he was going to ask his father to annul the marriage so that he could marry her instead. It would be a good match for his family, Y/n originally being an Arryn, and he knew that her father would take insult from the Baratheons for not taking care of his daughter or making their marriage legal. He was determined to convince her that night, the second to last day of the celebration, however his soon to be Princess never arrived.

Aemond waited for over an hour before searching the party. He found her husband, nearly as drunk as Aegon and with his tongue down a ladies throat but Y/n was not there.

He then left the castle and walked the gardens in search of her as he knew she enjoyed the Red Keeps gardens. After about 5 minutes he found her sitting on a wall overlooking the beach.

‘You are difficult to find, my dear.’ She jumped, turning slightly but not looking at him, turning back to the view.

‘I am sorry my Prince. I have enjoyed our time together but it must come to an end, please forgive me but I wish to be left alone now.’ He was stunned, unsure of how to respond but knowing that he wasn’t about to leave her like this.

‘Whatever I have done, please forgive me Byka Zokla? I do not-‘ (Little Wolf)

‘You have done nothing my Prince! It is I who is in the wrong. I have led you to believe that we could be friends and that was wrong of me. My job is to be there for my husband and I have not been doing my duty-‘

‘Your duty? What about him? He has not taken care of you as is his job as your husband and protector! You’re not waiting on him hand and foot anymore so he is upset, yes? Please? Do not push me away Y/n, I can help you to-‘ he cut himself off as he turned her head to make her look at him and he finally saw what she was hiding from him. Her right eye was black and blue, her bottom lip was split in 2 places and her throat was bruised, clearly in the shape of hands. ‘Oh my Love! No! This will not stand! Come with me.’ He insisted, holding out his hand. She hesitated but he looked down at her softly, giving her time to decide. ‘Trust me?’ After another few seconds Y/n took his hand and allowed him to whisk her off and they arrived in the Small Councils meeting room where the Queen walked in not a moment later having been fetched by a guard for her son.

‘Aemond…what is the meaning of this?!’ Alicent snapped, storming over to the girl and seemingly thinking that her son had done it but she changed her tune when the girl flinched away and hid behind him instead.

‘Mother. This is the girl I spoke to you about, her husband has proved…ungallant. I wish to take her as my bride.’ Alicent was looking over his ladies face when she fully understood what he had said and jerked her head up.

‘My son, she is married already. You cannot just take another man’s wife, even as a Prince of the Seven Kingdoms. You-‘

‘Their marriage has not been consummated.’ She stopped speaking and looked between them in shock.

‘Well…that changes things…she will need to testify it to the King and he will need to annul the marriage before anything else can happen. It will take time. I will speak to the Hand and start the process for it, we will find a room for her here to keep her safe from now on.’ Alicent turned to Y/n and held out her hand. ‘Come, let’s get you out of those dirty, bloody clothes and put you to bed.’

‘I will come and say “Goodnight” in a bit. You have a bath and relax…I will take care of you, I promise.’ Aemond swore, kissing her hand and watching her blush before she walked off with his mother.

Aemond straightened himself as she left the room and turned to head back to the party where he almost immediately found the man he was looking for.

Y/n’s husband was holding a full goblet of wine with his arm around a ladies waist looking quite content. Aemond moved beside him to grab himself a cup of wine, purposefully causing the idiot to bump into him.

‘Fuck! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ He laughed obnoxiously and Aemond found himself wondering how Y/n ever stood being around him at all.

‘Evidently.’ He rolled his eyes and could instantly see that this man didn’t appreciate the action.

‘You may be a Prince but you’re still only a second son, and no where close to Daddies favorite. Watch yourself. I am the head of Storm’s End and soon enough the Vale, you are nothing and even less than that without your Dragon behind you.’ The man was clearly drunk as fuck but Aemond was happy with that. It would make this easier…

Aemond smirked as he leaned in close, the young Tully girl that he had had on his arm long gone, not willing to upset a Prince, let alone the one eyed prince himself. ‘I fucked your wife.’ He mumbled, close enough that only he could hear and he absolutely did.

‘What the fuck did you say?’ He snarled, eyes nearly catching fire in his instant rage but Aemond stayed calm. He needed to control himself for this to work.

‘I fucked…your wife…Gods knows you weren’t doing it. Such a lonely girl, desperate for a man’s affection and all she was given was an insolent child. It’s pathetic. Don’t worry though, soon enough she will be raising my son and she won’t be worried about you anymore.’ The boy was practically shaking in his rage, fists clenched and men were beginning to take notice, several of the women moving to alert the guards so Aemond would need to do this quickly. ‘Give it 9 months and everyone will know exactly who your wife strayed from you with, the silver haired boy suckling on her tits will be evidence enough. I’m sure with enough words to the King I can ensure my son will inherit all of your lands when you die. Too bad you weren’t man enough to impregnate her yourself or y-‘ He was finally cut off by a truly pathetic punch to his face but he played into it, falling dramatically to the ground and biting his tongue, spitting blood out to make it seem worse than it had been.

He was grabbed instantly and held back from coming at Aemond again who smirked up at him, the boy only seeming to now realize what had happened. ‘Chain this drunken fool and take him to the Black Cells for-‘

‘No!’ Aemond snapped, cutting off his Grandsire. ‘It was me that he assaulted and as a Prince of the realm it is my decision what happens to him.’ He declared and though Otto looked at him strangely he nodded nonetheless. He reached out, grabbing the collar of the drunk and yanked him forward, dragging him from the party and outside through the front gate.

‘Aemond-‘

‘He dies tonight, would you like to argue?’ The one eyed Prince hissed at his Grandsire who knew not to argue with him in this state.

Vhagar peeked her eyes open at the sound of men approaching her beach, seeing her rider dragging along a man that was trying very hard to get away or hurt him making her bare her teeth and hiss instantly.

‘Dokimarvos Vhagar! Umbās!’ He spoke to her and she sat her head up and waited for her rider to speak. *Pay Attention Vhagar! Wait!*

‘This is a message to anyone that thinks to defy me or Gods forbid, harm the people I care about. I am not merciful, you can find mercy with my family but not here. Anyone who wants to disagree with this will not end up in the Black cells, but with my Dragon as their punishment!’ Aemond ignored Otto who was trying to stop his rushed decision. ‘Dohaerās Vhagar! Kisās!’ *Obey Vhagar! Eat!*

Everyone watched on as the giant she-dragon lifted her head over the abusive asshole and opened her mouth wide before chomping down on the man and seeming to swallow him whole which had several people screaming and one man actually fainting.

Aemond was proud of himself, he had saved his girl and it barely took an hour.

He quickly made his way back into the Red Keep and up to the room that he knew his mother had put his soon-to-be wife in. As he entered, knocking softly as to not frighten her, he saw her in a sleep shift and he couldn’t help but stare. His girl was beautiful and she was going to be all his now.

‘Did you have a nice bath?’ He asked, moving to pull the blankets back for her and enjoying her soft blush as she crawled into the bed.

‘It was very relaxing. I’ve never had servants to wash me like that before.’ She teased, though Aemond was surprised by that.

‘You are a lady, are you not? How-‘

‘My mother took care of us as children and when we grew she insisted that we were able to bathe ourselves. My husband however, did not want anyone seeing me in a state of undress…it was strange but nice I suppose. A lady could get used to such treatment.’ Her soft laugh was everything Aemond loved as he reached out and cupped the side of her face.

‘You will get used to it. You are to be my wife, and my wife will have the best of everything. I will bathe you myself if it brings you happiness.’ He teased her, kissing the side of her head before standing again. ‘Get some sleep my lady, no one will bother you, you have my word-‘

‘Will you stay?’ She asked and though he was startled he did not let it show, knowing she was still probably feeling afraid after all that had happened, especially now that she’s in a strange place that she’s sure to never leave again. She would need to get used to being his and knowing that she is completely safe here, she would learn to trust what he said when he told her that he would never let anyone harm her again-let alone another husband. Aemond removed his shoes and coat, as well as his weapons before crawling onto the other side and feeling her head rest on his shoulder. He was careful not to touch any of her injuries as he let her drift off to sleep. He knew his mother would be upset at his sleeping here but he didn’t care. Y/n would be his wife by the weeks end and he would give her everything that bitch of a “husband” could not.

Aemond Targaryen Masterlist

[imfromthemiddlekingdom]

I don’t understand the fandoms love for Daemon, by all rights he should be as hated as Joffrey was. Not only did he do almost everything Joffrey did, he also did worse. Even Tywin wouldn’t hold a candle to his cruelty. I understand liking a villainous character, I do too with Cersei and Tywin, but I’ve never went out of my way to whitewash their characters. I love them because they are villainous and practically irredeemable, if team black stans liked Daemon for his villainous actions before and during the Dance of Dragons I wouldn’t have any problems with it. But the fact that they go out of their way to defend him killing Rhea Royce because “he was forced into a marriage he didn’t like!!!!” As if she wasn’t too. And the fact that they defend him sending Blood and Cheese to psychologically torture Haelena and kill Jaehaerys due to “a son for a son it’s only right” when they despise Alicents moment of madness when her son was denied justice, makes me want to hurl.

It’s alright to like villainous characters, it doesn’t make you a bad person if you like them. But you know what makes you a moronic person? Whitewashing everything that makes a character compelling because you want to like them without seeming like a ‘bad person’. Your opinion on a character does not determine your own morality, it doesn’t make you better or worse than someone who hates them. But what it does, when you erase their entire identity as a rouge to make them more palatable to you, is make you seem moronic, stupid, and lacking any critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.

Rhaenyra is a compelling character because she is entitled and spoiled and lacks any political experience, she shows how badly Viserys fucked up when he tried to compensate for his guilt of murdering Aemma. Alicent is a compelling character because she is a mother who is trying her best to protect her children from the reality that if Daemon took the throne for Rhaenyra, he would kill all of them because they are a threat. She is even more of a compelling character in the books because of her ambition and cunning and want for her family to rise far above the ‘station’ of being a noble house in the Reach (as if house Hightower aren’t the oldest house in Westeros who could trace their lineage back to both the Garth Greenhand the high king of the first men and the Andal Kings that came afterwards). Daemon, for all that I dislike him as a character, is compelling for his ruthlessness and shortsightedness in his pursuit of the throne. He didn’t raise an army for Viserys because he thought he was a competent leader, he did it because it raised his own standing within Westeros, he groomed Rhaenyra not because he loved her, but because having him in her good graces means that he stood a better chance of being king after she was named heir. His ruthlessness is compelling. Taking it away to make him into a ‘malewife’ or a ‘loving father’ or a man who is lacking any ambition beyond wanting a valyrian wife is taking away his agency. It makes him seem like a Gary Sue who only wants the throne because his brother said Rhaenyra was heir. It makes it so that he is so completely white bread like that not even I, someone who loved the more morally bankrupt characters in ASOIAF can find him agreeable in any way shape or form.

Daemon is a fundamentally morally bankrupt character and he should stay that way. If you like him you should acknowledge and accept that he is one of the ‘bad guys’. Just as Cersei fans acknowledge and accept that she is fundamentally a morally bankrupt person who is selfish to the extreme. We like morally black characters because they are morally black. To make excuses for their actions is to take away their agency which makes them unlikable and very hate-able.

Daemons actions aren’t justifiable, blood and cheese would never be justified. A son for a son is akin to the visceral disgust the fandom had to Alicent when she asked for Lucerys’ eye, yet I bet when season two comes out and Blood and Cheese happens we’d see Daemon fans applauding and trying to justify it as ‘not that bad’ and ‘team green deserved it because of Aemond’s actions’ when little Jaehaerys, a boy of 6, was as far removed from the incident as can be. It would be akin to Team Green saying that due to Jaehaerys’ death, Aegon III or Viserys II deserved to have their head cut off in front of Rhaenyra.

Let morally bankrupt characters be morally bankrupt. You aren’t morally bankrupt because you like said character, it’s a fictional story loosely based on Empress Matilda. It’s not that deep. Like the characters you like without trying to justify their actions. They might be monstrous but you aren’t because you like them. It’s not a measure of your own character because you like said character. But it is a measure of your intelligence when you try to change said character’s entire personality to make it so that they are more digestible to you and everyone else.

[lackadaisicallizard]

Sundays

Growing up, Regulus hated Sundays. 

Sundays were mornings spent in church, pretending to the world that they were a perfect family. Sundays were stuffy clothes and tight ties wrapped around throats spouting nothing but lies about the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black. 

Sundays were carefully coordinated games disguised as family lunches, the entire extended family coming together to outdo each other in just how well they were doing. Sundays were masterclasses in manipulation, lies and deceit. 

But now, fifteen years later on the most ordinary of all days, Regulus can hear voices coming from the kitchen. 

“I think that’s enough eggs, Haz, why don’t you add more flour now?” 

“How much do I need to add?” 

“I have no idea, just pour until it looks right.” 

Sliding on his slippers, Regulus makes his way out of the bedroom and down the hall, stopping in the doorway of the kitchen. He leans against the doorframe for a moment, watching the scene in front of him. 

“How’s it going there?” His husband peers into the mixing bowl that seems to have more eggs in it than any hen could feasibly lay in a year. 

“The flour won’t come out of the bag,” Harry says with a frown. 

“Try banging on the end of it,” James suggests and before Regulus can even consider stepping in to stop him, their son does just that. He is far too much like his father for his own good sometimes. 

Flour ends up everywhere. 

“Papa’s going to kill me,” Harry groans through a layer of white dust. 

“Papa doesn’t have to know,” James says, “you finish the batter and I’ll clean it up.” 

Harry stirs it, a puff of flour rising into the air. “I think it may be beyond saving now, Dad.” 

“J’en ai marre,” their heads whip around at the sound of Regulus’ voice, both faces a similar mask of concern. “You two are useless.” 

He steps into the kitchen now, holding out his hand for the bowl, which Harry passes him with a guilty expression. “I love you?” 

Regulus’ own expression softens completely at that and he places the bowl on the counter before holding out his arms for his son. Harry moves into them without hesitation, being pulled into a warm embrace and leaning into his father. “Tu es la lumière de ma vie,” Regulus says, pressing a kiss to the top of Harry’s soft curls before pulling back and looking at him in the eyes. “That doesn’t mean you can get flour all over my kitchen though, compris?” 

“Oui papa, désolé. We were just trying to make you breakfast in bed.” 

“It’s true,” James cuts in, a smile pulling up the corner of his lips, “we know you’ve had a long week so we thought we’d make some pancakes.” 

Regulus smiles back, he can’t help himself. “I’m not sure which one of you thought you could pull that off considering the great scrambled egg fiasco last month.” 

“Those eggs were delicious and you know it!” 

“I had to go to the store for more and make them myself.” 

“… my comment still stands,” James says with a grin and Regulus rolls his eyes at his husband. 

“Harry, go and fetch the chocolate chips from the cupboard and I’ll attempt to salvage this.” 

Harry disappears into the pantry and as Regulus starts to decanter as much flour as he can from the very floury bowl, he feels arms wrap around him from behind. 

“I’m sorry about the flour,” James’ voice is low in his ear. 

Regulus hums. “I would say I’m surprised, but I’m not.” 

A soft chuckle followed by lips against his hair. “I’m also sorry for ruining your Sunday, love. I know it’s the first day you’ve had off in a while.” 

But the thing is, he hasn’t. 

Because Regulus knows what a bad Sunday feels like. They’re ingrained into his brain. 

But this right here? Making far too much batter to even out the mountain of flour that he can’t salvage from the bowl. Allowing his son to add almost an entire bag of chocolate chips to the mixture. Watching his husband smother a tower of pancakes with syrup and whipped cream. Cleaning up an incredibly messy kitchen together as a family after they’ve done. 

Well, this is what Sundays are now. They’re not perfect, or proper, or in the least bit civilised. 

And he loves every one. 

[certifiedkazuhaskitten]

The uncrowned king of no man's land

duke of the north!wriothesley x fem reader

arranged marriage, romance, kingdom setting

Part 1

People who came to the Fortress of Meropide dukedom were either officials, guards, or criminals. After all, it is the "wasteland" of the kingdom of Fontaine—though you're not sure you're fitted to any of the category mentioned above. A mere diplomatic pawn you are; that's right, you're going to that northern dukedom. The Iudex worked hard to solve everlasting (one-sided) feud between the noble faction and the current duke residing in the Fortress of Meropide, and have came to the solution that the relationship between the noble faction and the duke may be mended through marital means. He chose Count Hugues, a noble who publicly opposed the duke to present one of his many daughters as the soon-to-be bride of the duke. And out of six beautiful daughters, five of which he spoiled, he picked you, the adopted daughter who happens to be a great convenient scapegoat. Your talents in swordmanship and mastering the pyro elements fell short on the count's eyes now as he easily sacrifices you to keep his five beautiful, frail biological daughters at home, waiting to be married to a good, rich noble.

So here you are, the soon-to-be bride of the duke, accompanied by your escorts to the Fortress of Meropide dukedom. You secretly sneak a grin as you cover your face with your hands, pretending to quietly cry and be distressed. No one should know you're secretly happy about this whole arranged marriage, because then the escorts will find you suspicious.

I'm finally out of that hell house. Fuck them, that shitty count and his bitchy daughters. And his idiot wife too. And everyone in that house.

Should've burned the house down before I left, you thought to yourself. To kill time as you wait the boat to reach the end of the underground water tunnel, you continue letting your mind idly wander.

Piercing eyes stab you in the back as the escorts seated next to you look down at you in disgust—apparently bloodline is very important for the nobles of Fontaine. Used to their treatment, you roll your eyes silently, unbothered with their unsubtle attitude. The whole reason you're in this situation right now is also because of those fontainian nobles; backstabbing, judging hypocrites who find it outrageous that someone of criminal background could rise to equal standing as them. And the duke couldn't care less because he had all the money in the world to mind his own business.

Who suggested the count that you must be accompanied with a bunch of escorts to the dukedom anyway? This bunch of losers are killing you with their repeated poor attitude towards you. You're convinced that they're sent here to be with you so they make sure you suffer somewhat in the dukedom and then they could gather something to accuse the duke of. You wish you could just burn them all off, but doing so may will struck the already severed diplomatic relationship even worse, so you keep your lips shut and sit silently in the corner of the boat heading towards the dukedom.

The air feels stuffy and damp, as expected of an underground water tunnel. It smells like sea and iron. Someone could piss down here and no one would notice given the sharp tanginess of such scent—or, you bet, someone already has. The scenery of underground tunnels and murky water reminds you of your old home residing just below the capital; Fleuve Cendre. Not that you miss it, but the nostalgia hits hard. Fleuve Cendre was known as the ugly place in Fontaine, and based on rumors you've heard, The Fortress of Meropide dukedom is no different. The only difference is at the dukedom, there are more killers, while pickpockets and alcoholics roam the streets more often in Fleuve Cendre.

"We're here." Said one of the guards. The long tunnel finally reached its end, revealing a cold and unwelcoming entrance used to greet criminals. Clank, the tip of the boat lightly bump the entrance. Everyone's heartbeat start to race.

Anxiety engulfed the escorts as they get off the boat, while you try your best staying calm and composed.

I've experience a lot of shit in my life already. I can do this.

You change your stature and body language subtly, making sure you act and look like a noble you were raised as. The escorts cowardly stand behind you, afraid of what the guards could do to them.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

The sound of dangling handcuffs and a very nuanced footsteps can be heard. As the guards change formation to make way for the duke, you notice the deadly piercing eyes gazing upon you in alert. Pretty eyes, you admit, icy white irises that rekindles nostalgia.

"Welcome, the sixth daughter of Count Hugues and her escorts. We have long awaited your arrival." He spoke, and you can feel the vibration of his voice intimidating the whole room.

You hold your breath.

I can do this Can I really do this?

[wanderingmind867]

My Batman '66 Episode Idea, inspired by the Cupid scenes in the House of Hades.

Episode Titles: Cupid sounds the Call/Batman against the Wall

Special Guest Villian: Dean Martin as Cupid

Plot of Part Two: We pick up where Part One left off, with Batman and Robin about to be killed via an elaborate deathtrap put together by Cupid. In ten minutes, an arrow will slice through the rope holding them and a giant glass heart in the air. When the heart crashes to the floor, the dynamic duo is sure to die. How are they going to get out of this trap!?

Well…their freedom all depends on Batman successfully managing to disarm the giant Cupid statue. His hands are just close enough to the utility belt for him to reach his bat laser beam. And then it becomes a simple matter of firing the thin laser at the head of the arrow. Once the arrowhead is broken off, Batman manages to slip one of his hands free of his restraints. Then he pulls out the batrope and throws it at the Cupid Statue. From there, he helps free Robin and they successfully climb to safety. And now it's back to the hunt for Cupid!

In the time it took them to slip out of their trap, Cupid's masterful scheme has begun at the monarch theatre. All the guests who drank his spiked punch or merely watched and listened to his performance onstage fell under his hypnotic spell. He got to all the major officials in the city, and Cupid is now master of all! By the time Batman and Robin manage to catch up with him, he's already making plans to redecorate Gotham Town Hall so it can become his own private office.

Now that Batman and Robin are really down and out, they need to think of a way out of this mess. Because Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara, even Alfred and Aunt Harriet have all fallen under Cupid's spell. With everyone they trust out of commission, who can Batman and Robin turn to? Well, the answer there is simple. So simple that only a purely objective and analytical device like the Bat Computer can figure it out.

You see, Cupid's spell only works on those who either (A): Feel Romantic Attraction; or (B): Can see and hear him. This means the only people capable of defeating him are aromantic people or people with no sense of sight or sound. So this shows Batman and Robin how to save the day. They're gonna have to find an aromantic citizen or criminal or something to guide them, while they fight crime with ear plugs and blindfolds.

Now, I don't really know which villian or citizen the dynamic duo recruits to help them, but I could definitely see them ending up recruiting all the aromantic people in Gotham (which has to be at least a hundred or more people, considering gotham's size). And then a blindfolded and ear plugged Batman and Robin crash into City Hall. And with a legion of gothamites helping them in the fight, Cupid is swiftly defeated. Down for the Count, Batman and Robin haul him off to jail. But not before first thanking their fellow gothamites. "Aromantic you may be, but today you've shown you truly know the meaning of helping your fellow man. Thank you, citizens".

The last scene of the episode is back at Wayne Manor. Aunt Harriet and Alfred are recovering, and the news is reporting on how Cupid's crime wave failed due to Cupid underestimating the people of gotham (as well as Batman and Robin). But Cupid wrote a note to the Batman (he's not allowed to read it aloud, since his voice is so hypnotic), and the news is reading it live for the very first time. In the letter, Cupid swears he'll break free and have his revenge. One day, even Batman won't be immune to his charms! One day, he will conquer this pitiful city! One day…

Aunt Harriet then remarks on how ghastly it is, that a man like Cupid could use love as an instrument of evil. And then Bruce delivers a speech about how love can be used for both good and for bad, and how honest, noble citizens must always remember to use it in the proper way. And then Aunt Harriet proposes a belated Valentine's Day party, just the four of them. And we end on a sweet domestic shot of Bruce, Dick, Alfred and Aunt Harriet.

[jayktoralldaylong]

Thinking again about Lang Qianqiu's and Xie Lian's relationship because it is under-discussed (especially with the new Donghua episodes).

Watching the Donghua after reading the book is like re-reading the book and then you see all these fresh new things that you overlooked before. Things that were misinterpreted because of circumstance but now hit with a whole new meaning!

First of all, how proud Xie Lian is of Lang Qianqiu when he's first introduced.

TGCF BOOK SPOILERS.

It's clear that Jun Wu introduced them just for the stake of stirring the pot with their past, but Xie Lian held no animosity or hate towards Lang Qianqiu, prince of the enemy kingdom. If anything, he was so very fond of the boy that reminded him of his younger self. They have a student/teacher relationship but I see them sometimes as child and parent because of how proud Xie Lian is and how far he goes sometimes to protect Lang Qianqiu. In the book he said a line that summarised could basically mean that he'd take all the blame, punishment and pain, he would endure any suffering if it meant that Lang Qianqiu could keep living innocently and pure, believing in good people and kindness. More than anything, Xie Lian wanted to protect that boy's heart.

Poor Lang Qianqiu who he'd raised to believe in kindness and peaceful coexistence, who had come in late for his birthday party which was the only reason he hadn't ended up dead. He'd just been a little late. He was excited, looking forward to seeing his father and mother. A young lad of seventeen. I bet Xie Lian was also looking forward to Qianqiu's birthday, might have even prepared a gift for him. Yet what happened? He discovered a terrible plot much too late, everyone had already been killed. Foolish people who lived in the present and believed that Xianle would rather die than dine with their enemy. The poor people didn't want that, the people dependent on Yong An's kindness and generosity would surely perish. Yong'An's mercy was the closest Xie Lian had come of saving the people of Xianle since his fall. For the people he'd failed to protect, he just wanted them to have a safe house with the kindest prince of all ruling over them.

Those selfish rebels wanted to start what would have been a terrible civil was that would have ended tragically for all the people of Xianle, they would have been stamped out like ants until they were no more. To make things worse, just as Xianle had chased away the last of the rebels, he discovered that the King was still alive. The dying King of Yong'An had just one request. He wanted the people of Xianle to pay. In that moment, what decision could the prince of a failed nation possibly do? The King wanted revenge, one couldn't fault him of that, but innocent people would suffer. The rebels were a small group, they'd taken decisions on their own. The King wouldn't care about that, people would die, children would die. To crown it all, just after Xie Lian had made a decision. Just after he'd sunk his sword into the King to silence his vengeance....who would walk in but the student he was proud of the most, seventeen year old Lang Qianqiu who'd finally made it to his birthday party.

The whole thing....was a mess.

That poor child. Imagine seeing the person you admire the most yanking their weapon from the lifeless body of your parent, and surrounding him are all of your relatives and nobles of the kingdom covered in blood. Of course such a thing is traumatising. Of course he buried Xie Lian in a hole. When a person feels that much pain, their only desire is to make the one who hurt them understand how much it hurt.

Of course Xie Lian took the blame. A a nameless and faceless Guoshi, they wouldn't be able to connect him with the people of Xianle. The people would be free of blame, and he would suffer alone. Lang Qianqiu would just have to do with his pain and his pain alone.

The way Xie Lian looks upset when Lang Qianqiu gets hurt. The way he'd rather lie over and over again, than let Lang Qianqiu believe that he was wrong for being kind.

Xie Lian remembers what it was like to be like Lang Qianqiu. He also knows how trauma twisted him into a monster that he's regretted for all of his years. He couldn't bear to imagine Lang Qianqiu going through the same. For as long as he can help it, he will mindlessly shield the boy from the ugliness of politics.....because Xie Lian loves him so much. (⁠T⁠T⁠)(⁠T⁠T⁠)(⁠T⁠T⁠)(⁠T⁠T⁠)(⁠T⁠T⁠)

That's basically his son. He's so proud of him.

I love what Xie Lian said to Lang Qianqiu, I'll love it round the world and back. I can't quote it but basically "You're not the one who did wrong, the people of Xianle are not wrong too, the wrong people are the evil doers. It is not your fault that wicked people took advantage of your kindness. You're not to blame....for being kind."

Felt like he was talking to himself for real. (⁠T⁠T⁠)

[to-fly-with-clipped-wings]

1. The Very Beginning

The Very Beginning - Killing Butterflies

Pairing: (H. Potter x Black! reader)

"I think he's brilliant," the boy said coldly. "Do you?" Draco said, jeering. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?" "They're dead." Your mouth opened once again in shock before shutting. You were torn between apologising to the boy for bringing it up, or telling him to join the club. OR: in which you and the boy who lived have a less than fairy tale beginning

Series Summary: (Y/n) Black - the one and only heiress to the noble house of Black - who also happens to be the daughter of the infamous Regulus Arcturus Black (and the niece of the notorious criminal Sirius Black). But despite the titles, rules and expectations that befall you, there are only two things that you long for, at which you will not cease to achieve: Firstly, to fill in the big shoes left behind by your late father. And secondly, burn the butterflies that flutter within your stomach in the presence of Harry Potter (who happens to be the sworn enemy of, perhaps, your entire family).

-> Series Masterlist and Summary -> Harry Potter Masterlist

The sharp noise of a hand rapping upon your bedroom door at an ungodly hour is how your day had begun. You jolted awake, harshly rubbing your eyes and scowling at the sound that had forced you up.

As your eyes began to unblur and focus, a voice called out from beyond your room. You didn't catch that they said, though.

Grumbling, you tossed your blanket aside and grudgingly walked to open the door to your bedroom.

Cracking open the door, you expected to see Dobby, the Malfoy's house elf, bidding you a good morning and handing you a cup of water.

To your surprise, however, outside was Draco Malfoy, your distant second cousin (something along those lines, you'd never really been fussed enough to check). He was still in his nightwear. His hair was slicked, as always, and he had been tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for you to emerge from your room.

"Finally, there you are," he rolled his eyes, but he didn't bother to mask the excitement that was stretching across his face rapidly. "Guess what the owl just dropped off?"

He didn't wait for you to guess, as he just brandished two thick, yellowish letters toward you.

Your eyes widened as you registered the words scrawled on top of the envelope.

Ms (First Initial). Black

(Y/n)'s Bedroom

Malfoy Manor

Skipping over the last few words of the address, you felt far more awake. "The Hogwarts letters have arrived?"

You felt a grin quickly cross your face and without a second thought you raced off to the dining hall with Draco hot on your trail.

"Narcissa! Lucius! Can you believe it?!" You beamed at them, skidding to a halt at the entrance of the room. Beside you, Draco nodded his head profusely.

Narcissa gave you both a gentle smile, and Lucius gave a grunt in acknowledgement, not glancing up from his newspaper. 

Draco handed you your letter and you pulled out the parchment inside.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand. Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed.    of Wizards)

Dear Ms Black, 

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva Mcgonagall

Deputy Headmistress

You clutched the letter tightly in your hands and grinned once again. 

Lucius eyed both you and Draco before saying "I don't see why you both are so excited. I mean, it's obvious you two were going to get in to Hogwarts from the moment you were born."

Draco's joyful stance deflated slightly, taking on a more poised composure. He nodded again, but far more solemnly as he mirrored his father's expression of casual disinterest.

 Narcissa patted Lucius's hand lightly. "I'm just glad that you decided against having either of them sent to Durmstrang," she said, referencing the cause of their heated argument just days ago.

He lifted his chin up before sniffing. "I still think it would be a better choice than Hogwarts and all the mudbloods they'll be exposed to. Not only to mention the more respectable curriculum!"

"Let's not get back into this again, Lucius."

Lucius sighed and returned to his paper, drawing a long sip from his cup of tea.

Interjecting into the conversation, you asked "when will we be able to get our stuff for Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, I want to get my wand," added Draco, turning his nose upwards. "I also want to check out the new model for the Nimbus line."

"Well," began Narcissa. "Your father and I have quite a bit of work for the Minstry that we have to get completed before the months ends, but I do suppose we can pop down to Diagon Alley on the 31st to grab your new school equipment."

You and Draco both nodded at her words and with a satisfied look on her face, she said "alright, wonderful. Now the two of you get dressed whilst I send the owl to Hogwarts with your answers. I will send Dobby up when he finishes preparing breakfast."

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31th, July, 1991 - Approximately thirty days later.

"Mistress Malfoy requests that you show up downstairs to leave for Diagon Alley, Miss Black," chirped the house elf in front of you, Dobby. He was a dopey little thing, but you found him to be earnest and sweet. His large green eyes ogled at you and you swore that they got larger every time you saw them.

You crinkled your nose, trying your best to ignore the feeling of apprehension that settled in your stomach. You'd be travelling by floo powder, and while you did agree it was one of the best ways to get from one place to another, the journey itself was rather... tumultuous.

Dobby squeaked at your expression. "Dobby is sorry, Miss Black. B-but Mistress Malfoy said that she did want extra time to pick up supplies...!"

If you had been any other person in the Manor, you'd have slapped Dobby off of you and given him a severe punishment for making such a comment. But, thankfully, you weren't and instead you just gave him a slightly awkward thumbs up.

"Ah, that's fine, Dobby, I was just thinking of something else. But don't get troubled by it."

Nodding at Dobby in goodbye you grabbed your bag and hurried down the stairs to the fireplace. You were greeted by three disgruntled faces.

"Now that (Y/n) has finally arrived," said Lucius, throwing you a pointed look. "Let's get going."

One by one, you each grabbed a handful of the powder, threw it into the fire, stepped into it, crying out "Diagon Alley!" and were then suddenly sent through a series of fireplaces before tumbling out of the fireplace inside of the Leaky Cauldron. After being tossed out of the floo network, you leaned on the wall, gasping for air, dusting off your robes that were now caked in soot.

Tom, the barman, widened his eyes at the presence of you and the Malfoy family, but there was little time to gauge his reaction. You all strode through the pub to the small out room.

Tapping his wand on a brick on the wand, Lucius revealed a whole new addition to the drab setting of the Leaky Cauldron. Not that it was anything astounding to you, though.

Narcissa placed her hands on the shoulders of Draco and you, getting your attention. "Now," she said. "Lucius will go and handle your book list and stationery supplies and I will go to Eeylops Owl Emporium to pick out owls for the two of you. In the meanwhile, you two go to Madam Malkin's and get your robes sorted out. We will meet up by Ollivander's once all of this is completed."

"Wait, no," said Draco frowning. "I want to see the brooms first."

"Okay, then," Narcissa compromised. "We'll meet up by Quality Quidditch Supplies and then go to Ollivander's."

She then proceeded to clap her hands together and shoo you both away.

As soon as the both of you were at of earshot, Draco turned to you and mumbled "Don't you think that mother does that a lot? She gets all bossy and and commanding out of nowhere?"

You looked at him and then nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I suppose she does." He seemed pleased with your answer, and that was that apparently.

When two of you had entered Madam Malkin's shop (Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions), a rather squat woman greeted you at the door and then ushered you to the back of the shop and onto the footstools.

Two more witches bustled toward the two of you. "Hogwarts, am I right dearies?" asked one of them.

"Yes," you said, answering her question.

The shop fell into a silence as the witch attending to you slipped a long, black robe over you and began diligently pinning the fabric to your frame. 

You tried your best not to wince whenever she accidently stuck a pin into you, instead resorting to scowling at a corner of the room. It sapped a lot of your willpower, though, and your scowl was steadily growing into glaring at the poor mannequin at the window.

A few minutes later, a rather scrawny boy with tousled black hair and glasses entered into the shop.

He was nothing too impressive, you noted, but on closer inspection you did realise that his eyes were the most brilliant, vivid shade of green. It put your own eyes to shame, really. 

The boy stood on the stool next to Draco and Madam Malkin began fixing up a robe for him too.

"Hullo," said Draco immediately, "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes," said the boy, who did look quite nervous. But it wasn't unusual, most people looked nervous when they spoke to one of the Malfoys.

"Us too," drawled Draco, tilting his head casually towards you. 

You dipped your head in hello, and he too quickly (and with much awkwardness, mind you) reciprocated the gesture.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at owls," continued Draco. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

"First-years can't have brooms because they want to make sure we know how to play properly first," you reminded him in a jabbing tone.

He shrugged. "Have you got your own broom?" he asked the boy.

"No."

"Play Quidditch at all?" Draco pressed on, despite the other boy's clipped answers.

"No."

"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree."

"Do you know what house you'll get into?" you questioned him, causing the boy's head to swivel from Draco to you.

"Er, no." he said sheepishly.

"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they?" said Draco, "but I know I'll be in Slytherin..."

You smirked slightly and nodded at that.

"...All our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?'

The boy mumbled "mmm," and you raised your eyebrow curiously at him. The boy looked very clueless to the words that Draco had been spewing out. It made you wonder if maybe this was the first time he had heard them.

With a furrowed brow, you wondered if that was because - maybe - he was a mudblood.

"I say, look at that man!" Draco cried out suddenly.

A man of considerable height stood outside the window. He grinned at the scrawny boy and gestured towards the two large ice-creams he hand in his hands. With his scruffy, untamed mass of hair you seriously wondered if he was a giant. But even with his great size, he was too small to be one. Maybe he was a giant that suffered from an extreme case of dwarfism. He was tall, sure, but was probably still only the size of a regular giant's ring finger.

"That's Hagrid," the boy answered properly for the first time. "He works at Hogwarts."

Your mouth widened into a 'oh.' You had heard of the Hogwarts gamekeeper through Lucius, who was a school governor. 

"I've heard of him," you supplied. "He's like the maid there, isn't he? A savage drunkard?"

The boy gave you a less than displeased look, but Draco agreed with you. "I hear he lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and again he gets drunk, tries to do magic and ends up setting fire to his bed."

"I think he's brilliant," the boy said coldly.

"Do you?" Draco said, jeering. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"They're dead."

Your mouth opened once again in shock before shutting. You were torn between apologising to the boy for bringing it up, or telling him to join the club.

Luckily, though, Draco handled it for you. 

"Oh, sorry." he said, but you were certain even that Hagrid man could tell he didn't sound too sorry. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"

"They were a witch and a wizard, if that's what you mean."

Guess he wasn't a muggle-born after all. Perhaps he was just a really slow pure-blooded boy? He should've been familiar with all the wizarding terms, even if he hadn't been raised by his parents. How weird, you thought.

"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you?" continued Draco. Merlin, that boy just kept on talking. "They're just not not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname anyway?"

Madam Malkin though, before the boy could answer, announced he was done and free to go. The boy quickly hopped down form his footstool and gathered his new robes.

"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said Draco, bading him goodbye.

When the boy had left, Draco began speaking to you. "You're awfully quiet. Where's your usual blabbermouth?"

You scowled deeply at him. "Nevermind that. We arrived before him, why does he get to leave first?"

"Oh, sorry about that dears," said your witch, straightened up and pulling the robe off you. "Female robes just take a few minutes extra and I figured you'd want to leave with your friend."

"Okay," you said simply, but you frowned at her anyways. For good measures.

You dug into your bag and handed her enough Galleons to cover the price of both sets of robes.

You and Draco left the store and immediately headed (basically sprinted) towards Quality Quidditch Supplies.

You wished you could say something interesting happened there before Narcissa and Lucius had arrived, but really, it was just Draco's nose pressed up against the glass of the shop whilst you stood next to him, admiring the broom in a much more dignified manner.

Your guardians, upon their arrival, wasted no time in dallying and the four of you made your way to Ollivander's for your wands.

The store was rather slim and its sign Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC had begun to peel off. Regardless of its poor appearance, to an old wizarding family like yours, you knew that the wands there were nothing short of the best.

The wide, watery gray eyes of the store's owner were the first thing that you saw when you entered. 

"Hello, Ollivander," said Lucius, almost politely. 

"Why hello to you too, Mr. Malfoy," he said softly. His face was wrinkled and elderly. "What a wonderful family you have there."

His gaze seemed to grow distant before he snapped his eyes suddenly back to Lucius. "Elm with dragon heartstring core, sturdy and thirteen inches long, am I right? And for your lovely wife here, another elm wood too, twelve and a half inches but with a unicorn hair core. Springy, no?"

You shivered a bit at the man's piercing stare and his freakishly sharp memory.

"Well then," he fixed his eyes now on you and Draco. "What arms are your wand arms?"

Draco held out his right arm and you obediently stuck out your [dominant arm]. He then began to measure the lengths between your fingertips and elbow.

"Hm, I see," he said, nodding his head seriously once he had finished. He suddenly dashed to the shelves and scanned through them. Taking out two boxes, he handed the first to Draco ("Dragon heartstring, cedar wood, bendy, ten inches") and the other to you ("pine wood, phoenix feather, nine and three quarters").

He didn't say anything else and just observed you and Draco closely as you both waved the wands around in the air.

Needless to say, when all of the windows and lamps shattered within seconds, it was just a tad bit obvious that these wands were not to be.

Ollivander tutted and turned around again. He didn't look that upset however. He bustled to the back of the shop and pulled out a few more boxes. Waving the next few wands had no better effect than the first ones.

Ollivander suddenly gasped, as though an idea had just sprung up into his head, and using his own wand, summoned a box from the top shelves.

Handing it delicately to you, he murmured, "ten and a half inches. Cypress wood, unicorn hair core and pliant."

Taking the wand into your hand, you raised it above your head and waved it. A tingly, warm feeling suddenly flooded through your body, and with it, a spectacular shower of sparks emerged from the wand.

Ollivander looked delighted and exclaimed a few words of praise. Narcissa was smiling widely and even Lucius looked somewhat pleased. 

"They do say that cypress wands pick only the most noblest of wizards!" cried Ollivander, his grey eyes positively shining. "It's no surprise that one it would pick was the heiress to the house of Black!"

Draco glared at you, his frown reappearing from frustration. He had yet to find a wand that would choose him. He grabbed another box from Ollivander's table.

He ended up trying out quite a few more wands before he came across a wand that picked him. Honestly, you were surprised that there was a wand out there that tolerated the boy enough to be stuck for the rest of his life. You didn't pay attention to it was made of but knew it also contained a unicorn hair core like yours.

You were instead admiring your wand, turning it over in your fingers. An intricate vine-like pattern weaved up from the wand's base and smoothed itself out near its middle. Despite all of the crevices formed from its spiralling trail, it still managed to fit your fingers perfectly. It was quite a beauty.

Lucius handed Ollivander fourteen Galleons and Ollivander bowed at the four of you as you left.

"All that's left is the apothecary's," you said.

All of you headed towards the said shop and you took the time to look at the owls Narcissa had picked up for you and Draco.

For Draco, she had somehow gotten an eagle owl (even though the Owl Emporium did not sell them). He looked particularly smug with his newly acquired wand and owl. 

And for you, Narcissa had gotten a large tawny owl who was blinking at you with its massive eyes. You cooed at it, and smirked when it hooted back. 

✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

You later named him Castor. You quite liked the name, which was as a star in the Gemini constellation. It was also, you believed, the name of a distant relative who had died of dragon pox some time ago.

You handed the owl a letter addressed to 12 Grimmauld Place. It was a note to Kreacher, informing him of your acceptance to Hogwarts and a request to send back one of his sandwiches in his reply.

Waving the owl off, you couldn't quench the growing excitement inside of you. In just a few weeks, you'd be on the Hogwarts Express on your way to becoming a Hogwarts student, and eventually a fully fledged witch.

Who would've guessed what happened to you before then?

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Hi guys 💞😀

Thank you so much for sticking till the 1st (technically 2nd) chapter!! 💓💗💛

The fun fact today is:

You didn't speak to Draco for two days because you got mad at him for "copying your wand's core"  and gave him a lecture on at least trying to be original.

[dragonagecompanions]

Why do you think Varric made the Inquisitor a Comte? Wouldn’t that make them outrank him? Dumar seemed pretty powerless and I always thought that Varric got shoved in the rule to make him in charge of the recovery of Kirkwall but not actually of Kirkwall?

Sweet gentle anon, I know it was not your intention but you have stumbled into one of my favorite conversational topics and I hope you are ready for the fall out.

Welcome, children, to Fereldone talks about Thedas' Geo/Theopolitical bullshit!

(tl:dr at the bottom)

So, very important things to know going in: Kirkwall's political history is weird. Founded by the Tevinter Imperium in -620 Ancient (which is DA equivalent of BC/BCE, or the time before the ages ascribed to history by the chantry), it was a mining city. After a slave tried to kill the Archon the Magisterium decided they needed to start importing- and presumably breaking the will of- slaves farther from the heart of the imperium and thus the City of Chains gained purpose.

I could throw a lot of facts and names at you, but here's the basics-- it housed millions of slaves over hundreds of years, at the end of the ancient age they rebelled and overthrew it. Kirk means black in Alamarri, the stone they mined there was jet black, and so Kirkwall (black walls) becomes a Free city. It suffered during the fourth blight in the Exalted Age (fifth age, for those keeping score at home), was conquered by the Qunari in the Storm Age (seventh age) and was then conquered by the Orlesians. Orlais was on a roll with the whole 'we own everything whoops killed your ancestral leaders', but in the Blessed age (eighth age) the people retaliate and overthrow the empire to regain independence.

For reasons I can only assume are laziness and a desire not to change all the paperwork, the leader of Kirkwall is still referred to by the Orlesian word Viscount/Viscomte. Bear with me, this is important later.

We are now in the early dragon age (9th age, and when Inquisition happens). The first two rulers of free Kirkwall sucked. Basically they blockaded their own port and made people pay a fortune to get in and trade. This didn't sit well with the Chantry, who would much rather do that themselves, and in 9:14 Divine Beatrix II (later saved by Cassandra!) tells the Templars to strong arm him into submission talk some sense into the viscount.

The knight commander is killed in the exchange, and so his second command Meredith Stannard steps up to try her hand at negotiations. It goes poorly, so she arrests and jails the Viscount and essentially takes control of the city with full Chantry approval. Now the Templars are essentially in control of the city, and so they appoint a puppet leader (Dumar) to play act in control. But Meredith is actually in charge, and everyone knows it.

Including Elthina, who named her Knight Commander. This is why the Chantry never actually does anything about templar abuses.

So! If you are still with me, this is where Viscount becomes important. There are some wibbly bits about how you treat Sebastian Vael in DA2, but essentially Kirkwall decides that it's time to be an actual city state and not a poorly run Theocracy. As the only man with a plan (and the money and influence to do it), Varric steps in to help his home town. Ecstatic at not being responsible for that, the nobles (comtes) band together and put him in charge.

So while yes, in Orlais Viscount be beneath comte, Kirkwall has been so broken up and conquered and messed with over the years that names and titles are meaningless. In my personal opinion, Varric ennobles the inquisitor so that they will always have a staunch ally amongst the backbiting Kirkwaller nobles. It's also a nice and generous a decent thing to do, of course, but Varric is very good at making something do a lot of things for him all at once.

(Also, Varric knows exactly what that key does. He just ensured that someone smart enough and invested enough in peace will always be able to either open or close the harbor--making sure that the people who depend on him will be safe no matter what.)

Personally, the Trespasser epilouge is useless. It's the result of not having a head writer to review things, and the sweet but misguided attempt to give us closure if DA4 never happened. Hawke doesn't come back to Kirkwall. They are in Weisshaupt (if not in the Fade), and that plotIine will likely be in the final game. The Inquisition in whatever form it still has will be heading north, possibly with Kirkwall as an operating base, and this way the Inquisitor (who is confirmed to not be playabe in DA4) will have a reason to be there and not in Tevinter.

That's my read, anyway.

tl;dr Kirkwall has weird history that led to odd ways of organizing their nobility, Varric wants friends in places almost as high as him, shit's going down in the north and I think the inquisitor will be in Kirkwall so the writers needed a reason to put them there.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Mod Fereldone

[demonwebs-a]

soooooo !!  been working on building some kind of lore around the concept of ghost spiders because they sounded very interesting to me from the brief pieces of information i could scavenge from the web. I wanted to try and incorporate this in my portrayal in a way that feels more mm, interesting, and delve a little into how their powers might work, how they're seen within drow society, what’s their connection with lolth, etc. if you enjoy rambling 👍 if not run away and save yourself bye

So, Szarkai are rarely born, but what happens when they are? How do people view them in the Underdark? If they happen to be born in a common family, for whatever reason, they will be taken from their families and begin their training to be top spies from as early as possible. They are treated like royalty, even if they’re not, which Vhaal already had the advantage of being, and envied by almost every other drow, which means they respect you…? Mm, well to your face, maybe, but it mostly means they want to kill you. So, Szarkai often receive the “princess in a tower” treatment from their families. Meaning: they are confined to their homes, can’t leave unless their matrons order them to, and if they absolutely must, they do so under disguise, due to how cutthroat drow society can be, especially murder capital Menzoberranzan. 

What does this mean for Vhaal? Well, it means like all other Szarkai before him, he grew up fairly sheltered, and I’m using this term loosely here because “sheltered” within drow society means very different things than on the surface. He was still beaten and abused, whipped, tortured, threatened if he didn’t do as told, and essentially made to believe he only lives to obey the commands of his Lolth, his Matron, and his sisters, but he also didn’t experience the harshness of society as a whole outside of his noble house (ex; he never had to resort to cannibalism, or was used as target practice by the Priestesses of Lolth. Yay?) His life revolved around studying, training, and training some more. He was to do nothing else, not hobbies, nor indulging in pleasures, not until he’d graduated (he was trained privately) and his training was finished, at which point he could be sent to the surface to act as Lolth’s spy and do her bidding.

And why are they viewed as precious, exactly? Note this is not canon to dnd, because I don't care. I’m allowing myself creative freedom, and dnd lore hurts my head, so I'm making the Szarkai a little more than a genetic mutation working with the base they gave me. Now, from what I could find online, there is some precedence for this (but drow who worship Lolth are part of a cult, so it might as well just be blind belief), but we know is that the birth of a Szarkai is incredibly rare, very few are mentioned throughout their whole 6000 years of existence, and many believe it to be a blessing from Lolth on the House where they are born to basically reward them for being such good little pets for mommy (I mean, my words but… essentially Lolth’s words also I’m sure). Vhaal’krin comes from the House Symryvvin, which is frequently referred to as “the eyes of Lolth in the city”, not the highest ranked of the noble houses, but said to be one of the most devout to the Spider Queen still. His Matron is one of the most powerful Priestesses of Lolth in the city, and working under the umbrella that this is in fact a ‘blessing’ bestowed by the Spider Queen, Vhaal’krin being born a Szarkai would make perfect sense. We all know drow live in constant shame, because they can never fully live up to Lolth's demands, and they can't look like her, and in truth, the Spider Queen can never truly be pleased, and if nothing else, because Szarkai are so arachnid like in their genetics while not being full on driders, yeah she probably does like them like a tiny bit more, which essentially just means she gets off on testing you and bullying you more than anyone else because you're her favorite pet, and don't you dare complain about it.

They are described as having “have pale, bone-white, or even alabaster-white skin and red eyes.” which meant they could easily pass for elves on the surface, and not be suspected as drow, it made them invaluable as spies, and it gave Lolth reach in places she otherwise wouldn’t have (and she does want to be worshiped by more than drow and extend her reach, she just also… has a difficult time not loathing everyone lmao). They also note “Many drow thought of Szarkai as a separate race,” and that some of them “had minor deformities, such as a lack of hair, small fangs, or gnarled and claw-like hands, suggesting the popular view had a slight basis in fact.” so the idea there might be in fact something more than just albinism going on isn’t that far fetched. Now, for my personal portrayal, I'm gonna go ahead and say albinism while very rare, can and does happen within the drow community, so when a Szarkai is born, most assume they are just that: a rare albino drow, except the two are separate entities, albeit they appear very similar on the surface. Szarkai have deformities (claws, fangs, etc), plus a few… peculiarities and powers that make them very arachid-like, and an intense connection to Lolth, albino drows do not. They look similar, and are rare enough no two have existed at the same time, not even decades apart, so most people can’t tell the difference, and they’re put in the same basket. They are not. What they are is the result of direct godly meddling by Lolth. You could say she “weaves her web in the wound of their mothers to create an extension of her will into the world.” and from the moment they are born they can hear and feel a connection to the Spider Queen unlike any other because, well, they are part of her, in a sense, born out of divine favor, seen as the direct offspring or chosen vessels of Lolth herself (her flesh, her eyes and ears, her hands), created to do her bidding, and serve her purpose which they don't get to know until she wants them to know, if she wants them to. They are to be trained to carry out special missions on her behalf and cause absolute chaos.

Their birth is always shrouded in myth and mystery, always to be kept secret, with only the most trusted family members and allies aware of their existence until they are ready to fulfill their divine roles. Szarkai are hidden away and guarded until they reach maturity, trained in secret by elite tutors and protected by powerful wards, and ensuring they remain alive is as much a test of a House’s loyalty and strength as anything else. In the rare event a Szarkai child is born, the house is expected to prove its worthiness by raising and protecting the child without faltering until they reach adulthood. This absolutely does not exempt them from suffering mindless abuse, in fact, she demands more of them than any other, and failing to make them "strong" in the eyes of Lolth would be seen as much of a failure as killing them in the process of doing so. And if you fail? Well, as it often does, it will bring Lolth’s wrath and disfavor (and you know what happens when she's unhappy? Probably death). Despite being called “favored” and “blessed”, there’s no actual records or tales of a Szarkai living any longer than any normal normal drow, in fact, they tend to live shorter, more isolated lives, and go insane prior to “vanishing”. Most likely, once they outlive their usefulness or fail to keep her favor, the Queen calls them back to the abyss to consume them.

They are born with innate magical abilities tied directly to the Abyss and to Lolth, their dna isn't pure drow, and that's why there's always a little something about their appearances that give people pause. I’ll go into further detail in a bit, but the tldr is: they share a few arachnid-like traits and abilities, enhanced combat prowess, and an affinity for arachnids (shocker ik). They can also receive (be tormented by, really) visions of Lolth, no matter how far they have strayed from the reaches of the Demonweb Pits, and as you can imagine, Lolth’s whisperings will leave anyone mad in time, so they’re usually not the most stable of people.

They are always Lolth’s spies, whether they would like to be or not; their eyes and ears are hers to see through unless they can find a way to sever the connection (maybe pleading another God for help like Eilistraee could do the trick, but who knows). As they move through the Underdark and beyond to gather intelligence, infiltrate enemy ranks, and manipulate events in favor of drow interests, she is always watching, and if she is unhappy, she’s going to make sure they know that. Their very abilities seem to be crafted to make them able to blend in and remain undetected, the perfect pawns for espionage.

To the fun bit, what powers does he have, exactly? Have I thought about this an unnecessary amount of time? Maybe so. Keep in mind, I’ll be adding collateral effects to a lot of these because Lolth is an asshole lmao ain’t no way she’d just give you things without some cruel or dangerous side effect.

Shadow Manipulation

Ability to Control Shadows: The ability to control and manipulate shadows, allowing him to move unseen, create tangible constructs from darkness, or even use shadows as weapons in combat.

Shadow Meld: He can blend into shadows, becoming invisible in dim light or darkness, making him almost impossible to detect when in the dark.

Shadow Step: A teleportation ability that allows him to step through shadows, moving instantaneously from one darkened area to another within a certain range.

Possible side effects:

Shadow Corruption: Overuse of shadow manipulation will cause the body to gradually merge with the shadows, making it less corporeal. This might lead to a loss of physical sensation, light sensitivity, difficulty interacting with the material world, or/and an uncontrollable urge to remain in darkness.

Haunted by Shadows: If his concentration is broken as he commands the shadows to act on his behalf, they might become sentient or develop a will of their own, acting against his desires or even turning on him.

Lolth’s Touch

Lolth's Blessing: If he is currently under her favor, he is able to summon swarms of spiders. If he has lost her favor, there’s a good chance the spiders will turn on him and his allies if he attempts to summon them during combat.

Prophetic Visions: During his meditative state, he can receive visions or premonitions from Lolth, guiding him or warning him of future events. The visions are usually cryptic, never for his benefit, and require interpretation. There’s also a 50% chance she just thought it’d be funny to fuck with you because she can.

Spiderstep: The ability to climb difficult surfaces and crawl on walls and ceilings. Immune to being enwebbed. His movement speed is not affected by web surfaces.

Even more terrible side effects:

Divine Burnout: Lolth’s blessing can cause extreme fatigue and/or a temporary loss of other abilities. This might be especially severe if he channels too much power at once, requiring long recovery periods afterward.

Insidious Whispers: After receiving visions, he might be plagued by Lolth’s whispers, inducing paranoia, hallucinations, or even compulsions that drive them to commit acts of cruelty or betrayal against their will.

Enhanced Darkvision

Nocturnal Predator: Allows him to sense any creature through vibrations and movement in darkness within 40m of him and know their approximate location. If a creature is within this range, he can’t be surprised, and they don’t have advantage unless he is unconscious. 

Nocturnal: Has advantage in darkness, disadvantage when fighting in broad daylight, as well as any spells involving light. Also he’ll fucking whine about it relentlessly.

Aura of Seduction

Seductive Ensnarement: Allows him to project an irresistible aura of charm, luring the prey towards him. If in close proximity, Vhaal'krin can focus his charm on a single target, overwhelming their senses and causing a temporary paralysis. The target becomes entranced, unable to move or think clearly, giving him opportunity to attack.

Venomous Touch

Claws: He attacks with his claws if not yielding a weapon, and deals piercing + necrotic damage .

Poisonous Bite: The ability to secrete poison through their fangs as he bites, dealing necrotic damage, paralysis, intense pain, or even hallucinations.

Spider Affinity

Spider Communication: Can communicate with spiders and other arachnids.

Web Weaver: The ability to create webs of various sizes and strengths, which can be used to enweb enemies, create barriers and difficult terrain.

Resilience and Immunities

Resistance to Poison: Naturally resistant to poisoning damage, fully immune to some poisons. The man's not only a cryptid, but he's also been building his immunity since he was a kid.

[quinloki]

For the Character+ AU thing, Can I please request either Sabo + Bounty Hunter AU (him being the hunter) or Niji + Soulmate AU? You don't have to do both, I'm just indecisive. 😅

The Niji was tempting, as a way to really stretch, but Sabo is just too much to ignore, so Bounty hunter AU it is <3

You were on the run from some scummy nobles, and you'd gotten enough help from sympathetic people in your home town to put almost two thousand miles between you and them, but even with all that distance, you still knew it wasn't enough.

You'd caught wind almost a thousand miles back that the nobles had put him on your trail. Of all the bounty hunters, it had to be him.

An ex-noble, he'd left his house of his own volition, and while other nobles weren't understanding, they still tended to regard him as more noble than commoner. He was well-funded, well-provisioned, and incredibly skilled.

The only thing working in your favor was that you were wanted alive. The Dragons you'd escaped wanted to deal with you personally, which made sense, you'd nearly killed their son when you'd made your escape.

You could feel him at your heels, no matter how far you ran, from the moment you'd seen the News Coo article that talked about him. You didn't need the picture to tell you what he looked like, but you did take note of what the paper thought you looked like.

Thanks to the aforementioned help your features were at least mostly different. You hadn't had plastic surgery, and you weren't lucky enough to get a full makeover from Beauty Queen Ivan, but your eyes, clothes, and hair were all different.

You weren't moving hastily, and you weren't doing anything to draw attention to yourself, so you were certain you could bounce town to town as you worked yourself ever further from those that wanted you back.

You were on the coast, ready to take a boat across the grand sea and put some real distance between you and your woes. Stepping outside the room you rented you felt his presence just before you heard his voice.

"Well, hello there, lil' spark." He says, voice cheerful and easy going.

The flurry of movement was a rough scuffle between you, but with practiced ease despite your efforts, he'd shuffled you both back into your room, pinning you up against the door and keeping you in place easily.

"No need to rush now," he says, sure grin on his face as his blue eyes find your gaze. He's far better looking than you expected, smells nice too, and it's pissing you off how much you'd rather kiss him than kick him. "We're going to have plenty of time to get to know one another."

It'd be romantic, if he wasn't going to drag you back east.

-:- It's a long trek back. Lots of banter, lots of struggle.

-:- You slip your bonds on several occasions, and the first few times he's ready for it, and you don't get far, but unlike most of his targets, you don't seem to reach a point where you stop trying to escape.

-:- Whether you mean to or not the two of you learn more about one another, and at some point Sabo overhears things that take him from captor to protector.

-:- Not that he was going to take you back anyway. He'd had every intention from the beginning of handing you over to the resistance, and return to the Dragons with a roasted corpse and a very heart felt apology.

-:- He'd been trying to tell you as much before, but his reputation was too well-known and you were buying it. At least not until he was using his body to shield you from a fire fight.

It really was a shame you wanted to kiss him more than kick him.

Send me a character and an AU and I'll give you a treat.

[sherlokiness]

been reading your Lyanna and Rhaegar posts and I very much agree with you about them having a wedding. If we assume that those Kingsguard's weren't false Kingsguards like Jaime and weren't lying about them keeping their "vow" then the most logical explanation would be that Jon is legitimate. When Aerys died, they should have gone to protect their new King Viserys yet they refused to do so. The reason for staying in the ToJ must have been because whatever they're guarding there takes higher priority than Viserys.

What do you think will be for the future of Sansa and Jon then? They will be the second Stark and Targaryen union in the current story we'll see. Since Sansa is a bastard just like Jon that means Jon isn't a bastard at all. They're made to pose as bastards by a father figure or else people would have their head. Stone and Snow. She's a Stark, he's a Targaryen.

Hi, anon! Thanks for the ask.

Great point about Sansa saying she's a bastard just like Jon. If we take that as a hint of RLJ then what she says is actually the truth. She was made a bastard exactly like Jon yet in reality they were not at all. We also have a clue to what Jon might feel once he learns of his heritage.

He is not my father. The thought leapt unbidden to Jon's mind. Lord Eddard Stark is my father. I will not forget him, no matter how many swords they give me.

They might offer him the IT(made up of many swords) and the allegiance of noble houses(my sword is yours.) He will never forget Ned and Rhaegar could just fuck off.💀💀

RLJ parallel for Jon and Sansa for me would probably them having a secret wedding. I mean, the books already teased Sansa having one with a cousin. But unlike RL, jonsa will have a public wedding too much like Jahaerys I and Alysanne. Next I would say is Sansa as the Girl in Grey. I very much believe the theory that Lyanna met Rhegar again at the Inn at the Crossroads which is where another iconic kidnapping took place- Cat seizing Tyrion. It resulted in hostilities between two major Houses where the Starks didn't know the inside story. It would have looked like a kidnapping specially if we have hostile forces against Lyanna there which were the King's men. So Sansa/Lyanna would be fleeing kidnappers only to end up with a Targaryen for safety. The elements involved would be a tourney, a crime, a wedding, and a rescue by a knight. Jon disdaining princesses in towers only to end up rescuing an actual one is peak comedy imo. 🤡🤡

As he walked toward the armory, Jon chanced to look up and saw Val standing in her tower window. I'm sorry, he thought. I'm not the man to steal you out of there.

This could be interpreted as it is or could be that Jon is not the man to steal Val because he will steal another princess later. Jon, Sansa's brother, might also give her a bastard's head - Ramsay's. She already has Janos but she doesn't know that.

After my name day feast, I'm going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That's what I'll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother's head."

A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, "Maybe my brother will give me your head."

Jon vs Ramsay has been foreshadowed by Ghost defending a prize from a yellow bitch three times his size. The most recent one would be Chett, a leech man's son with lordly ambitions, being defeated by "Snow and his pet pig." Lady Piggy is Jon Snow's lady love. There's only one notable guy in the story using leeches and it's Roose.

He will know me. How could he not? She considered throwing herself at his feet to beg for his protection. He never fought for Robb, why should he fight for me?

Sansa's already considered doing before what Alys did.

Alys knelt before him, clutching the black cloak. "You are my only hope, Lord Snow. In your father's name, I beg you. Protect me."

UndeadJon will know her and will fight for her. Jon has failed twice to fight for his family - Robb and Arya. He will succeed on the third one.

[blackjackkent]

OK, the Steel Watch is now gone, which means it's time to send Rakha off for her final showdown with her former partner, Enver Gortash.

I think I will spend most of tomorrow on that, but first, I'm going to do a quick circuit through the city/Undercity in search of any moments that seem at all resonant for Rakha (or that I haven't seen before/are otherwise interesting) that I missed.

-----

Highlights:

Rakha is very uninterested/unimpressed in the Umberlee temple and the funeral going on, not least because the woman out front invited her in cheerfully, and then the people inside got snarky at her because she didn't bring a present. I had her pop on invisibility and sneak around the basement cave area Hector wasn't able to visit, more to sate my own curiosity than anything else. There's not much of interest in the basement though. I briefly tried to have her steal from the big treasure pile; turns out Umberlee herself gets pissed off if you do this and casts a giant ice storm that legitimately scared the shit out of me. XD

Whoops. I reloaded cos Rakha didn't really care about anything that was in the treasure pile anyway. Heading deeper, I found a hidden room behind a sandstone wall:

I wasted a fifth-level spell to get past it, and the chest inside was not at ALL interesting (less than 150 gold), but the cave itself was pretty neat:

There's a room with a door labeled "Keep Out" in what appears to be the basement of Jannath's house; the room itself is called "Gardener's Basement" and has two pressure plates in it. Standing on both of them at the same time opens a wall leading to a hatch down to Minsc's hideout in the sewers! I did not know you could get here this way and it is a MUCH faster route than dealing with the annoying cistern hatchway pumps puzzle, so I will definitely be keeping this in mind for non-liveblog runs.

Speaking of Jannath, she's having a much better day, unsurprisingly, since she's not married to Oskar this time. Her butler, when we approach, welcomes us to her "celebration of the arts", a showing of art pieces she's had commissioned from a variety of sources; we have the option to tell her about her missing fiance, but Rakha could not give less of a shit about Oskar and neither could I. I do think that Rakha probably does get a bit of a jumpscare when the guy identifies himself as Jannath's butler, since the only association she has with the word is Sceleritas. But Jannath's butler is decidedly more chill. Rakha also has the option to ask if the celebration has any "icons depicting Bhaal" which feels like it would be a weird thing to ask in the best of circumstances, and indeed the butler seems a bit bemused, but just says he's not familiar with that "particular style." Inside, there is no floating furniture so it continues to be a definite improvement, although all the visiting nobles attending the party are dicks to Rakha except for the one who mistakes her for a visiting art dealer and the two who are in the middle of walking outside to have a duel. Out of curiosity, I followed the two duelists outside and Rakha watched in deep bemusement as one of them killed the other.

The dead dude is carrying a letter from the manager of Lady Jannath's tin mine to the lady in question, informing her that the mine is tapped out and she should find "a patriar family with too much money and not enough sense" and sell it. Finally, we wandered into a side passageway (the one that leads to Oskar's atalier) and discovered the chamberlain bullying one of the lower-level servants. Rakha had the option to intimidate the guy into being nicer and I had her take it because she's had a long day. XD Jannath herself was perfectly polite and willing to sell Rakha paintings if Rakha wanted them. I can't tell if there would be any valid mechanical reason to do this.

Stopped in at the Society of Brilliance. I got really excited briefly cos the head of the place said Blurg and Omeluum were upstairs, and I thought maybe Omeluum had survived somehow, but no, it's just Blurg. He's quite cheerful and remarkably glad to see her given that Rakha didn't actually interact with them for more than about five minutes; he definitely doesn't know Omeluum is dead, which leaves Rakha in the uncomfortable position of informing him. He takes it well, all things considered, but he's clearly upset. Poor guy. :(

Stopped and said hi to Dammon, who is nicely set up with his new forge near the Elfsong. He's very pleased to see Rakha, which is still an unusual enough thing for it to be striking for her. She (I assume awkwardly but sincerely) complimented him on his forge, and is legitimately glad he's doing well.

Ran into Arabella in the sewers! Another person Rakha is oddly glad to see; she felt somewhat connected to Arabella's wild magic back in the shadowlands. Her own magic has settled down now, though, and Arabella seems to be gaining control of hers as well, in a way that is actually utterly baffling and therefore fascinating to Rakha; she's able to see into the history of things like rocks and all the events that have passed by around them. She talks to Rakha a little about how Withers told her to follow the Weave, to let it guide her. Rakha wishes, a little, that she was free to simply do the same - follow the pushes and pulls of the magic around her and not have to care about the fate of the world and the battles to come.

After some considering, I completely bypassed the graveyard, the Baldur's Mouth Gazette, the Fist barracks, and Mystic Carrion, on the grounds that Rakha both does not know about them and has no reason to care.

The Bhaalists in Bloomridge Park are neither competent nor intelligent, as they staged an ambush on Rakha despite the fact that Orin is super dead and also Rakha spotted them hiding in the bushes. Quick fight that Rakha allowed herself to take a little bit of satisfaction in, since they picked it and not her. She is, however, very troubled by the Fist who shows up afterwards, channels the elder brain and helps her defeat the Bhaalists, and then makes some distinctly ominous communication afterwards: "Do not wast-- TIME- This mind cannot bear us- it- turns to liquid- listen-- just LISTEN- We learn- we grow- loosen our clumsy bindings- AID US-- necromancer- dead--- changeling fallen-- only tyrant remains-- KILL HIM-- YOU--- have a place- in my Grand Design--"

Finally, stopped by Flymm's Cobblers, which is going to get its own separate post because a lot happened.

[bookishfeylin]

I never understood the switch in Tamlins opinion of his father after UtM. In the first book he fucking HATED that man, and ruled the Spring Court in the direct opposite way of his father because he didn’t want to be like him and hated the way he ruled (honestly? Respect). Then in ACOMAF he’s enacting the tithe and suddenly it’s “it’s what my father would do?” HUHHHHH????? Ik mf would say it’s because of the trauma he endured but how much of that can we really attribute to trauma? I would argue that his hatred of his father would’ve been AMPLIFIED after UtM, no? I can’t seem to wrap my head around how trauma can inspire Tamlin to want to be more like his abusive father

*whispers* It's a retcon.

A muscle feathered in his jaw, and I regretted the question, if only for the pain that flickered in his eyes. “My father …” His claws gleamed at his knuckles but didn’t go out any farther. I’d definitely asked the wrong question. “My father was as bad as Lucien’s. Worse. My two older brothers were just like him. They kept slaves—all of them. And my brothers … I was young when the Treaty was forged, but I still remember what my brothers used to …” He trailed off. “It left a mark—enough of a mark that when I saw you, your house, I couldn’t—wouldn’t let myself be like them. Wouldn’t bring harm to your family, or you, or subject you to faerie whims.” (ACOTAR Chapter 19)

A shadow flickered in [Tamlin's] eyes. “Some days, I’m very glad I was still a child when my father sent his slaves south of the wall. What I witnessed then was bad enough.” (ACOTAR Chapter 24) ...

Tamlin shrugged. “Yes. Yet they had never known freedom, or known the seasons as you do. They didn’t know what to do in the mortal world. But yes—most of them were very, very happy to leave.” Each word was more ground out than the next. “I was happy to see them go, even if my father wasn’t.” Despite the stillness with which he stood, his claws poked out from above his knuckles. No wonder he’d been so awkward with me, had no idea what to do with me, when I’d first arrived. But I said quietly, “You’re not your father, Tamlin. Or your brothers.” He glanced away, and I added, “You never made me feel like a prisoner—never made me feel like little more than chattel.” The shadows that flickered in his eyes as he nodded his thanks told me there was more—still more that he had yet to tell me about his family, his life before they’d been killed and this title had been thrust upon him. I wouldn’t ask, not with the blight pressing down on him—not until he was ready. (ACOTAR Chapter 24)

“Come now, Tamlin,” Rhysand said. “Shouldn’t you reprimand your lackey for speaking to me like that?” “I don’t enforce rank in my court,” Tamlin said. “Still?” Rhysand crossed his arms. “But it’s so entertaining when they grovel. I suppose your father never bothered to show you.” (ACOTAR Chapter 26)

Rhysand shrugged, then flashed a grin as he pushed off the door and stepped toward me. “I wonder if you were this prickly with Tamlin when you were his captive.” “He never treated me like a captive—or a slave.” “No—and how could he? Not with the shame of his father and brothers’ brutality always weighing on him, the poor, noble beast. But perhaps if he’d bothered to learn a thing or two about cruelty, about what it means to be a true High Lord, it would have kept the Spring Court from falling.” (ACOTAR Chapter 39)

[bardic-perdita]

Aoough I have too many questions I wanna ask. 4, 29, 41, 91 for all your guys?

Thank you for the asks once again lovely! I am incapable of writing short answers for these asks, so hopefully this is still interesting to read.

I'm still answering the other asks in my inbox, but they're taking a tad longer than I'd expected ^v^;

Answers under the cut

4. Is there a reason why your Tav starts out as Level 1?

Shrike is a durge, so they start out at level 1 due to Orin.

Zeke’s powers come from his fiendish patron, but when he is infected by an illithid tadpole, his ‘father’ temporarily limits his power until he can figure out what’s happened. The presence of the Emperor also disrupts the usually strong connection between the two. 

Breoch was a relatively powerful sorcerer (level 14 or so) before he was killed by his ex lover. When he was resurrected 100 years later (by the same ex), he was resurrected with a new body and therefore it takes some time for Breoch to confidently wield his innate magic once again. 

29. What does your Tav do about the Goblin camp? Do they free Halsin or side with Minthara? What's their opinion of them?

Shrike is fully embodying their oath as a paladin at this point, so is determined to avenge the tieflings by destroying every single goblin and Absolute cultist that dare get in their way. The goblins were no real match for them and they reveled in the massacre. As a fellow paladin, they respected Minthara’s skill, though found her taste in company abhorrent. They had a kind of kinship with Halsin and they shared in his drive to fulfil a duty to protect his land and people.

Zeke also wished to help the tieflings as he is caring by nature. He was less willing to fight the goblins, although he felt an indescribable pleasure from satiating his bloodlust. Destroying enemies of his father was a regular pastime when he lived in Maladomini. Fighting enemies of his own choosing is a little more difficult for him to comprehend. The only reason he sides with Halsin over Minthara is because he met the tieflings first. If Minthara and the Absolute had captured him before he met the refugees, then his story would have gone very differently. 

Breoch had a lot of mixed feelings about the goblin camp. On the one hand, he found the goblins disgusting– not even fit to take as slaves in the usual Lolth-Sworn fashion. On the other hand, having swathes of creatures calling him ‘Master’ and treating him like the drow nobility he is did stroke his ego significantly. He instructed Astarion to poison half of the goblins, and threatened those goblins that tried to avoid their fate with a more excruciating death. He immediately identified Minthara as being from House Baenre, and took great pleasure in denying her the information about the tiefling camp that she so desperately sought. Being both a male drow and from one of the lowest ranking noble houses in Menzoberranzan, the flipping of the power dynamic is too enticing an opportunity to pass up. Breoch was less interested in helping Halsin or the tieflings; choosing only to help out as a means to freeing himself from the tadpole. It didn’t take long for him to notice that Halsin was drawn to him, even if he didn't know the reason why until much later, and he exploited that obvious attraction to keep the archdruid around. 

41. Which way did they take? Did they run into Elminster? What was their opinion of his news for Gale?

(in game I did both paths, but for the sake of this I’ll explain which would have been their preference XD)

Shrike would have chosen the Mountain Pass to appease Lae’zel. They felt strangely at home within the Crèche due to their military background that they had forgotten about. Despite not being particularly close to Gale, they empathised with his devotion to his goddess and supported his choice to decide which path was best. They made no secret that they would rather he chose to live, but respected his choice to follow Mystra’s wishes. 

Unsurprisingly Breoch chose to go through the Underdark. He’s a city dweller, so has no idea how to actually survive in the Underdark but he found the constant darkness and familiar fauna comforting. He didn’t realise how much he’d missed the Underdark until he returned. He was never particularly close to Gale; the sorcerer and wizard rivalry was too strong. Breoch did express feeling a little smug that the supposedly 'good' goddess of magic was capable of demanding such a sacrifice from her former chosen, after Gale had lectured Breoch on the evils committed in his goddess Lolth's name. Despite his bluster, Breoch is not entirely heartless and would only consider using the orb as a last resort. Not that he'd tell Gale that he actually sort of cares...not yet, at least.

Zeke also went via the Mountain Pass. There was an immediate attraction between Zeke and Gale (because purple I guess), so Elminster’s news was devastating for them both. Growing up in the Hells raised by two devils, Zeke holds no fealty to the Gods and has no qualms fist-fighting with Mystra. His soul and subsequent afterlife has already been promised to his father, so he doesn’t fear death nor the wrath of deities. He doesn't really know all that much about gods anyway. Despite not having known Gale for very long, he fell fast and hard; there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his beloved wizard.

91. Does your Tav get a happily ever after?

I still love the idea of all my Tavs and Durges living in camp at the same time, so that’s the ending I’ll explain for this particular question because I'm just cringe like that. 

Context: Shrike and Breoch would be in a four-person poly with Astarion and Halsin. It started as Astarion trying to play both ends against the middle, but realised too late that he didn’t want to have to choose between them…so he didn’t. Shrike was the one who brought Halsin into the relationship, and it takes some time for both Breoch and Astarion to be open to physical intimacy as a poly of four. 

After the events of the game, Shrike moves between helping Breoch and Astarion in the Underdark and helping Halsin with his rebuilding efforts. They never fully recover their memories, but they work hard to rekindle their paladin oath and support their elf boyfriends to create safe communities for those that need it most. Eventually they can spend more time as a poly in the Underdark: adventuring, relaxing, and generally enjoying the life they have made for themselves. 

Breoch would go back to the Underdark with Spawn Astarion and 7006 vampire spawn. He would draw upon all of his former connections in Menzoberranzan, as well as reconnecting with his family, to build a 'city of immortals' where the vampire spawn could live in relative peace. All of his energies would go into making the city a success, and it would often fall to Astarion and Shrike to get him to stop and breathe every once in a while. Despite the gargantuan task, Breoch could not be happier: he’d be using all his negotiation skills (minus the sex) for a meaningful cause whilst surrounded by his family and the three people he loves more than anything in all the realms. 

Zeke would move to Waterdeep with Gale. The wedding would be an interesting affair as Gale has to explain to poor Morena Dekarios that her future son-in-law’s parents are a devil and his erinye consort, and they insist on attending the wedding. Caedes (Zeke’s father and Patron) and Solaris (Caedes’s partner and @critical-goat ’s OC) would surprisingly get along rather well with Mrs Dekarios as they share tales of their sons’ childhood mishaps. For the most part, the purple husbands would live in peaceful marital bliss. However, the ‘permission for Caedes to treat Zeke as his own flesh and blood’ clause of his pact is never far from Gale’s mind. One day, Caedes could theoretically choose to control Zeke’s whole body and mind, thoroughly destroying their happiness and every memory of their life together. Caedes said that he wouldn’t, but he could. And that alone terrifies Gale. 

[egittae]

The definition of rose tinted glasses

[ what do you mean I wrote a 9 page long character analysis on a dude who appears twice in one game haha. This is my insane view on this dude

anyway, spoilers for 3H/3Hopes Azure Moon and Azure Gleam below ]

---

Lambert is one of the key narrative ghosts in Fódlan’s modern history, particularly regarding the Kingdom of Faerghus. His death was said to have destabilized the Kingdom severely, and the matter of his assassination was used by kingdom nobles as an excuse to enact a massacre against Duscur.

Time and time again we hear statements about his reign and praising him as a ruler, about how he was essentially the perfect king that Faerghus needed. Kind, charismatic, caring towards the common man, a powerful warrior, a great father- and so on. Considering how we only see and hear Lambert talking as himself literally twice in the entire Azure Moon route, nearly all information we are presented about him comes from the mouths of other characters and then from a handful of optional bits of lore in the many books and records you can read in the game if you feel like it.

Meaning, we don’t actually know what Lambert was truly like- we only know what others wanted to tell us about him. And those who told us about him were all either his family, his closest friends or people who have pledged loyalty to him at some point. The portrait we have of Lambert in both 3Houses and 3Hopes is extremely biased and filtered through the thickest pair of rose tinted glasses they could get their hands on. I myself never really cared about it until I chose to muse him, which was when I stopped and thought, “wait, what am I even dealing with anyway?”. 

And boy oh boy.

First, let’s take a look at what we get in the games regarding Lambert. I’ll be splitting this section into 3Houses and 3Hopes, since we get information on both games.

Three Houses

In 3Houses the first actual solid instance we get of Lambert is through a flashback in White Clouds, when Dimitri is telling Byleth about his past and the Tragedy of Duscur. It’s during that flashback that we get to see and hear Lambert for the first time, though he’s saying his last words* which are…well, interesting. He’s not exactly telling his son a tearful goodbye or anything, but rather giving him an order- to kill whoever planned the attack. To destroy them all and avenge those who died in Duscur, which sticks to Dimitri’s head stronger than gorilla glue.

*: Some people theorize that Lambert didn’t actually say those things and that Dimitri was hallucinating it instead, but I personally do believe Lambert said it before he was decapitated. It’ll make more sense later.

But Dimitri talks about his father in such a fond way, with so much admiration, that despite those off last words we are given the impression that Lambert must have been a good father and a good man, otherwise his death wouldn’t have had such a powerful effect on Dimitri’s psyche, right? He’s one of the people Dimitri mentions the most regarding the ghosts that disturb him alongside Glenn.

Then throughout the game, we get some extra crumbs. We are told that the western nobles saw Lambert as a “tyrannical” and radical king who was making unpopular decisions while caring little for others’ opinions, and that while he was beloved by the general public many nobles were starting to harbor bitterness towards him. We are also told that he indeed was trying to create a bridge with Duscur to establish good relations and a stable merchant route between the two nations, since Duscur was stated to have particularly good soil that Faerghus was very much interested in. 

The last instance we get of Lambert is around the mid-end of Azure Moon, when Rodrigue is dying in Dimitri’s arms. We get an actual cutscene, models and all, of Lambert and Rodrigue’s final exchange before leaving for Duscur. In it one thing is clear- Rodrigue doesn’t trust the plan and is very much worried about what could happen, being particularly against the idea of Dimitri going since he was still young.

Shortening things a little, the House of Fraldarius has had linked arms with House Blaiddyd ever since Loog fought for Faerghus’ independence. Kyphon, the head of Fraldarius at the time, was hailed as the King’s shield- and so it stands. During the campaign between Faerghus and Sreng, Rodrigue himself was given the title of "Te Shield of Faerghus", and as a result House Fraldarius essentially plays a role with the royal family’s defenses, almost like a Ministry of Defense of sorts. Rodrigue therefore knows what he’s saying, and his words should be trusted, correct?

No! Lambert isn’t having it. If anything Lambert stomps like a stubborn mule and tells Rodrigue he’s not budging, that he will go to Duscur no matter what and he will take Dimitri with him and no one can stop him. And then he says these pearls: 

“He’s [Dimitri] a smart boy, Rodrigue. Even if he should lose his father, I have no doubt he will grow to be a good and respectable man.” “[...] If he [Dimitri] ever starts down the wrong path and I am not here to set him straight, I am trusting you to do so in my stead. Promise me…”

‘Yo. If I die you raise my son for me ok? I bet he won’t mind”

Perhaps Lambert didn’t account for the fact that Dimitri was 13 years old and that if he were to lose his father during the trip, he’d literally witness it firsthand. That’ll never bother him, right? Rodrigue will fix it. Guess what happened!

But even then, Rodrigue speaks of him in a very positive light, and that doesn’t seem to have caused any cracks to form on the image Dimitri has of his father either. This is something that happens time and time again in both games, whenever we hear Rodrigue, Matthias or Dimitri talking about Lambert- they’ll comment things that are…odd behaviors to say the least, but their tones are so fond and nostalgic and warm that you end up disregarding what was actually said.

Because those characters too, have a skewed image of Lambert. Actually the only character I believe doesn’t have a twisted or extremely romanticized view of Lambert is probably Gustave.

Gustave enters the picture around White Clouds, and that’s when he starts to say some things that made me start to question the image of Lambert the game has been trying to present. In one moment, Gustave is scolding Dimitri for being careless with his own safety and charging in with apparently no value in his own life. This exchange then takes place:

Here’s the thing. Dimitri is a teenager, forced to grow far too quickly and made to fit into a role that, in his and the general public’s eyes, is bigger than the world- he needs to step into Lambert’s shoes and do good.

But then Gustave mentions that Lambert would say the very same thing, years before. By that time he was already king and already an adult. On top of it all he’s Lambert, who had a Crest of Blaiddyd which grants ridiculous levels of strength to its user on top of being born naturally with superhuman strength. Lambert was a bulldozer in the shape of a man, a king and a supposedly well resolved adult.

So why would he display such careless, insecure behavior to the point that Gustave, who definitely knew what Lambert could do, would worry that much for his safety?

And then the other fact: if Lambert spoke those exact words all those years ago, then it meant he saw himself as a weapon. Why would he have such a dehumanizing view of himself like that? Sure, Faerghus is a nation that values chivalry and the honor of dying in battle with many characters seeing themselves as weapons first and foremost, but apparently the way he went about it was so extreme that Gustave of all people worried for his condition.

I’ll also briefly mention here one thing that I’ve touched on before, which is Lambert’s savior complex. About how when he met Patricia it seemed to be love at first glance…when in reality it was the fact that Lambert perceived her as helpless and lost, and felt so weirdly enamored by it with the want to help and save her that he “fell in love”. Their marriage, which was already a secret and not known by the public, was pretty much in shambles from day 1 as they didn’t even sleep in the same room within the palace. If anything it felt more as if Lambert saw her as a little creature he needed to save and protect and now that he has her under his roof all’s good. I’ll expand on this complex later.

Let’s continue with the information we have.

Three Hopes

3Hopes possesses surprisingly more details on Lambert as a person thanks to Rodrigue being a playable unit with supports, and also because Matthias is there as well. There are also more books on Faerghus’ history, many of which do comment on some of Lambert’s actions such as his lead in the battle against Sreng. And of course, we do get a lot of information through Azure Gleam’s third chapter, “Crisis in Fhirdiad”.

Enter the professional wet cat man, Rufus.

Rufus was the older brother of Lambert, born without a crest and therefore pushed to the side regarding the throne’s succession, which left him feeling a level of bitterness towards his brother. On paper, very similar to what went down between Miklan and Sylvain.

Except…Rufus actually got a lot, despite not being set as the crown prince. Rufus is the Grand Duke of Itha, a territory close to Blaiddyd that’s a popular hunting ground as it possesses a number of rare monsters and animals. Hunting and mercenary work are the pillars of its economy and it does quite well. The Grand Duke title is also one of the highest titles one can get behind King/Queen and Prince/Princess, which means while Rufus wasn’t king, he was still a very important individual in Faerghus on a status level. And finally, in the camp, one NPC mentions how Rufus was naturally gifted with political sharpness and that those skills of his were greatly valued and acknowledged by the Kingdom as a whole.

Rufus wasn't a man abandoned on the streets left with crumbs and rags while his brother rose to a pedestal of luxury. Rufus was pretty damn well off himself, with the highest noble rank he could ask for considering his condition, his own territory that has a rather stable economy, and his skills were appreciated and valued on a national scale. And yet, he was still bitter about Lambert.

Another NPC also mentions how there were rumors of “discord” between the two brothers, meaning that their strained relationship was very neutral at best and publicly rocky at worst. The very fact that Houses Fraldarius, Gautier and Galatea- the three main noble houses that back up the royal family, didn’t want to even associate with Rufus was also very telling of what his behavior towards Lambert, and by extension Dimitri, most likely was even before the Tragedy of Duscur.

But right before the mission in Fhirdiad, there’s a cutscene between Rufus and Cornelia. Rufus basically gives a more explicit view on how he sees Dimitri, as well as his apprehension towards the prince. He talks about how Dimitri’s eyes are monstrous, that he’s a vile and deceptive creature- and that he’s the lion’s cub. A lion nonetheless, but a cub.

Then he mentions how ever since the assassination took place, Rufus has had constant nightmares of a lion ripping his throat out.

The entire dialogue makes it seem Rufus was more afraid of Dimitri than anything, but in my eyes? Rufus was afraid of Lambert. Lambert was the one he viewed as a lion, and when Rufus began having nightmares Dimitri was far too young and also too injured to even pose as a threat, but Rufus has lived with Lambert for decades. He definitely knows what Lambert can do, and most likely how Lambert behaves when he’s angry.

And he says it, how he has nightmares about a lion brutally murdering him in his sleep as an act of revenge. And considering how many characters acknowledge that Dimitri and Lambert have the same eyes- the same look, it’s not too far fetched to point out that Rufus is afraid of Dimitri because the prince has the same “monstrous” and “vile” eyes of his late father. 

Rufus most likely saw what Lambert turned into when taken by anger and revenge, and now that he was involved with his death, Rufus sees the ghost of that wrathful Lambert on Dimitri’s face. The fact that he most likely also got to see how Dimitri behaves under the same circumstances most likely only made it harder for him to separate them in his view. 

One might think that Rufus was perhaps exaggerating his view of Lambert, that it’s just his fear and bitterness talking and making him use adjectives such as “monstrous” to refer to his brother. And while it is partly true, honestly there’s proof in the game that Rufus has full right to be horrified. Because in 3Hopes, in one of the many books that you can find at the base, you find reports on Faerghus’ continued war against Sreng- the book is called “Military History of Partholon”. Most of it talks about the old past of the conflict and about the Gautier warrior Laetitia, but in its last entry there’s information on the campaign Lambert conducted against the srengi leader Oleg.

“Horsebow Moon, Year 1169  The Kingdom Army is progressing northwest through  the peninsula, but while engaging the Sreng chief Oleg  and his forces, a gigantic beast suddenly enters the fray.  It lays waste to both sides. Lambert sustains grave  injuries, and Oleg disappears into a ravine.”

Their battle was cut short by the appearance of a “gigantic beast” that shows up and crushes both sides. Lambert is gravely injured but survives without being too scarred or debilitated in any way. Now, Sreng is known for having some crazy monsters roaming around- it’s one of the reasons why it is so dangerous, and in 3Houses you do fight against Giant Crawlers. But there’s also the fact that Mr. Macuil is an inhabitant of Sreng, who’s stupidly strong as he is one of Sothis’ original children, and he holds a particularly bitter grudge against humans. 

For one single creature to promptly crush both armies by itself, it makes me believe Macuil must have had a hand in it. Regardless, Lambert managed to survive an attack either by a Giant Crawler or Macuil himself, without losing any limbs or being debilitated or visibly scarred. Rodrigue and Matthias, while they were there fighting alongside Lambert, weren’t reported as injured or even affected, which means Lambert most likely stepped in and faced the creature either on his own or mostly by himself.

And that? Is scary as hell. If that guy can face a srengi creature/Macuil and not only survive but manage to get away badly injured but whole then Rufus has full right to be afraid of him.

After the Fhirdiad chapter, the other information we get comes primarily from Rodrigue, his support with Dimitri, and his dialogue with Matthias during the Sreng mission- and they all focus primarily on their past, when all three were in their academy days.

In the Sreng chapter, right around the end, Matthias and Rodrigue reminisce about the time they were at the Academy’s Ethereal Ball with Lambert, and how after they grew bored of partying all three left for the training grounds at night. There, Rodrigue mentions how it had been the first and last time they actually talked about their dreams and views for the future with each other, and how Lambert expressed a deep wish to establish good relations with Sreng and Duscur- which Matthias called him naive for.

Then, on the support chain between Rodrigue and Dimitri, he talks a little more about their time as students. Of how in one mission Rodrigue made a mistake which resulted in his unit falling behind and getting in a very delicate and vulnerable position and that they required immediate aid. Lambert and Matthias however, started to argue with one another about which plan was better for rescuing Rodrigue…and ended up getting into a fistfight just because. Granted in the end they managed to somehow work together, but Rodrigue implies that at some point Lambert just booked it carelessly in front of Matthias, got himself all sorts of injured and screwed up, all so he could reach Rodrigue faster.

And then comes the sad detail that Dimitri seems to realize that he didn’t actually know his father at all. He expresses shock at hearing how Lambert was a feisty and violent man in his youth, and then essentially admits to Rodrigue that he doesn’t actually know Lambert that well. Dimitri was most likely raised seeing a mask of his father, not his father.

In the camp, Rodrigue at some point also casually mentions how in the academy, Lambert didn’t actually enjoy following rules and skipped classes every now and then to just hang out. He was rebellious and feisty, loved to get into physical fights with Matthias only for either Rodrigue or Gunther (Ingrid’s father) to try to separate them, and was quite the party guy- but who quickly grew bored of festivities and ran straight back to training.

And this, around six or seven pages of content, completes the amount of actual information we get on Lambert’s character throughout both games. What about it?

Well, time to grab all this stuff, twist and squeeze it, until we get a glimpse of who Lambert actually was.

Lambert was born as the younger crested sibling of the royal Blaiddyd family, and most definitely he was only conceived because his parents needed a crested heir. While Rufus was still given many boons despite being passed over regarding the throne, I don’t doubt that Lambert received preferential treatment. He was, after all, the crested baby prince they all needed. His relationship with his brother is, as a result, strained. All because of something he had no control over- his own blood.

Faerghus didn't have basic sanitary systems at the time, and Fhirdiad in particular was said to be a true pigsty- riddled with disease. As a result, it wouldn't be too extreme to say that Lambert was most likely raised in a very sheltered environment, trapped within the palace's walls in an attempt to avoid him getting a disease and dying from it- he was the only crested heir, far too valuable. Not that the palace was the perfect hygienic haven, but it definitely seemed to fare better than the city itself. And yet, Lambert still showed curiosity for the lives of the common man and wished to aid them.

His rebellious behavior in the academy feels like a cry for help on his part- that he most likely lived a very strict life in Fhirdiad and had to keep up appearances, unable to do what he wanted to do and make the choices he wanted to make. Lambert was molded into a king as soon as he was born and they needed him to stay within that mold. The moment he managed to get some freedom for himself, he rebelled because he most likely knew that would be his last chance at being able to live freely. And then as soon as he graduated, he went back to his mold. His chance was over.

He was feisty, prone to violent outbursts, at times ungovernable and aloof. Full of pent up energy, liking parties but getting bored once they don’t reach the level of excitement he wanted out of them. Curious about the common man and wanting to hang out around them rather than attending class. Apparently horrifyingly scary when angered or when powered by vengeance, to the point his own brother saw him as a monstrous beast- and then echoed that into Dimitri.

He had a savior complex that was most definitely enabled by everyone around him, as it fit well into the image of a king that cares for and aids his people. Growing up with the idea that he needs to protect the weak and that everyone is weaker than him resulted in him equating a complex to love, with no one around him to confront him about it.

Lambert truly did model himself into the ideal king, and the positive points of his personality amplified it. Kind, charismatic, understanding, strong. He ruled for his country and for its people, and so the people loved him for it.

But he seemed to have been raised and forced into an image he didn’t feel confident in assuming. He was king, he was an adult, but he was insecure of himself and his own capabilities- and yet, he knew he didn’t have an option on the matter. Insecure or not he had to make it work, so he felt the need to bruteforce things when they didn’t go his way immediately. 

He was genuinely careless with his own life, impulsively throwing himself at situations that could get him injured and running to the frontlines without thinking. While often it was made as a valiant effort to protect those he loved, even when they weren’t around he still went and did it. All to the point Gustave began to worry about his own condition.

Lambert viewed himself as a weapon, a war machine. Born with ridiculous strength and a crest, in a nation such as Faerghus that puts so much value on strength, knighthood and he status of a warrior, I have no doubts that he was most likely raised with the idea of being a weapon of Faerghus, its king- and its blade, and to disregard completely how dehumanizing that must have felt for him.

All to the point he flat out ignored Rodrigue, “The Shield of Faerghus”, and continued with his plans for Duscur.

Stubborn and almost irresponsible, to his own detriment as well as others’. Extremely prone to giving himself tunnel vision, and that the moment he decides he'll do something- he does it, regardless if others like it or not, bringing a reason as to why so many nobles saw him as tyrannical and radical. Lambert had already decided what he wanted to do, and he didn’t want their input. He’d simply do it.

World’s Most Alright Father. I have no doubts that Lambert loved Dimitri, after all he raised the boy as a solo parent for a while until Patricia entered the picture. Lambert has also already showcased how he’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect his friends and family and he’d definitely extend that to his only child, but his parenting has many odd quirks. He allowed Gustave to subject Dimitri to excruciating training sessions that would’ve surely killed a normal human- even more a child, without stepping in or showing any form of protest. Most likely because Lambert was raised the same way, so in his eyes it seemed “normal”. 

Him suddenly showing a level of disregard to the possibility of Dimitri losing his father and thinking he’ll “be fine” because he’s a “strong and smart boy” and that Rodrigue will take care of it, also makes me wonder if he was raised to think that way as well. That even as a child, he was made to believe he was strong and independent and should be able to fare on his own without his parents as a child- only to echo that on Dimitri later.

But I do think he meant well as a father. Because in the end, Dimitri didn’t quite grow into the same person Lambert was. Dimitri, while uptight, formal and very much nursing the image of a good prince, didn’t seem to have gone through excessively strict parenting. I feel like that was one of Lambert’s own ways of showing how much he loved his son- as well as how conscious he was of his own upbringing. His parenting was far from perfect, but in the end he tried to raise Dimitri to not end up like him. To not go through what he did.

And for his final words? Honestly, I think he was just desperate. Having lived his entire life being acknowledged as this strong, nearly ideal ruler, getting through countless battles while impulsively pushing through frontlines, only to be proved that his plan that he stubbornly believed in was extremely wrong and be defeated and crushed as a result. Lambert probably saw everything that he was falling apart on that one moment, and so when he spoke to Dimitri he was just reduced to the bare minimum. Enraged and vengeful for having been brought down like that, but without the strength to even protect himself let alone his child. All he had left was his own voice, so he chose to just express to Dimitri what he felt. A decision that ended up causing more pain than good, but in the end one that came from the mouth of a defeated man minutes before he was decapitated.

I think he was really trying to make things work. To make Faerghus a good place, to be a good father, to be a good king. But he could only do it behind layers of varnish, relying on the absurdly perfect image his own people and friends created for himself because the actual Lambert was insecure, most likely unhappy with his condition, prone to seeing himself in dehumanizing ways and throwing himself into dangerous situations because he doesn’t value his life personally. The Lambert that lived and died and was remembered isn’t Lambert, it’s the King of Faerghus. 

Lambert, the man born in House Blaiddyd as its youngest son at the time, just died and vanished. The mask however stayed since it had never been organic to begin with. It can’t rot and disappear like the person behind it.