#why did i think this was ianthe

[lizarddealer]

Nothing like being haunted by the voice of ianthe tridentarius saying “add a few teaspoons of salt, then it will taste like salt” as I repeatedly salt soup, as I attempt to make said soup actually taste like something.

[lesbianamalvada]

i'm reading harrow the ninth, i loved the first book but this one has second person pov which sucks! except sometimes it's funny, funnier than I thought harrow would be tbh. Idk I'm getting used to it, i'll tell y'all how I like it.

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

I think they fucked if you even care 💅

[vaguely-concerned]

that last scene in fatal journey where nie huaisang has to support nie mingjue for him to keep upright, harrowhark's arc in harrow the ninth*, and the 'O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven/Keep me in temper: I would not be mad' line from king lear all break my heart in exactly the same way. that precise thread of the ultimate, hopeless vulnerability and confusion that's at the heart of madness -- of realizing in glimpses that you won't even realize how far you've drifted from yourself and that you don't know how to stop it, you can't stop it. that's such a core part of nie mingjue to me, and I don't feel like I've seen a lot of real discussion around it considering how central I think it is to his character.

*also like harrow, nie mingjue is both 'mad' (im mentally ill. I'm reclaiming it. sometimes that does feel like exactly the right word for it) and also like. severely haunted. by a sword even lmao. they've even got the 'crushing weight of shouldering the responsibility of their entire house given to them at way too early an age under horrifically traumatizing circumstances' same hat/same hat! thing going on here. omg. nie mingjue is like if harrow was a big sensitive jock who cries at the drop of a hat and harrow is like if nie mingjue was a small wet ratwoman who does bones and catholic guilt. but the core is basically the same. I can't believe I'm right about this.

[thatneoncrisis]

could you explain your reasoning for butch harrow? im asking this in a way a student asks a master

ok so. up top: do i think harrow is butch in canon? no. god no. absolutely not. secret third category of person. not butch or femme shes just like A Guy who really fucking likes black

however i do think that between those two ends of a nebulous spectrum, being butch would be way more comfortable for her than femme, if we think of it in the most traditional sense for both sides. there are literally exceptions to every rule femmes can have short hair and wear pants, butches can have long hair and wear makeup yadda yadda. but the way she interacts with certain elements of her presentation in canon just felt to ME, PERSONALLY, that being traditionally feminine would freak her the fuck out

ive seen people compare her compulsion to wear the skull paint to a need to wear makeup and i. very much disagree. id see it more as like, an overtly religious thing, like a nuns habit or a hijab, its modesty and how she shows respect for her god, also routine, its as natural as putting on pants for her. and also frankly if it was an analog for traditional makeup that would be uuuuh awful. like I genuinely feel terrible for women who cannot even leave the house without foundation or contouring or whatever i dont know shit about makeup but holy fuck. if shes femme in that analog id be shaking her by the shoulders GIRL. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE A NAKED ANIMAL

another thing is her hair. so many people read her having short hair and immediately went to a bob or a pixie cut. and between tamsyns inconsistent description of the length of her hair in book one (saying its stuck to her face with sweat despite them being there for like, a month) and the htn cover being The best image we have of her, i understand that conclusion. but in the beginning of gtn its said its close cropped, tamsyn said on her blog post describing all the characters its "cut short (as benefits someone in a monestary)" which is a very interesting choice of words tbh. like im sute she didnt mean harrow is completely bald in the middle with a ring of hair but that Is the monk haircut. and then finally harrow says to gideon outright "i wont cut you bald-even though your hair is ridiculous- because I know you wont shave it every day" which i always took to mean being shaved down to the scalp is just how the ninth is traditionally. in harrow the ninth its said "occasionally ticklish rasps at your ears or forehead would frighten you numb before you realized ut was your own hair" indicating that she is not used to that length at all. also theres the fact that ianthe made her hair grow faster particularly to fuck with her. in short harrows haircut is shitty and utilitarian and any fussing with it has only been described in relation to her direct discomfort

finally theres that goddamn dress scene. why did ianthe put her in that stupid fucking thing. humilation tactic (im exaggerating but it basically was explicitly and exclusively for ianthes own amusement). shes such a simple girl, she just wanted something that could cover her up. its not impossible to have a longsleeved formless dress, but beyond my own opinion that i think harrow would have been uncomfortable in anything, i think the fact this like, explicit symbol of femininity is used to further degrade her in some sense in a room full of people who font reapect her feels like. intentional on the authors end. it quite literally just isnt her, its not even a true black its like a deep midnight blue. you get the pretty woman makeover scene but harrow comes out of it more miserable and resigned than ever. augustines approval means nothing. she looks in the mirror and sees her mother, a woman she appears to not have a single fond memory about. its all very sad

tldr when i talk about butch harrow its less about her "being butch" and more about how unfemme i think she is. also i want more butch4butch dykes i think gideon and camilla should teach her how to tie a tie.

[feverdreamdrifting]

TLT Tumblr Simulator

MUTUAL 1: I love women who look like they’re dying of consumption

MUTUAL 2: why did harrow put that bread in a drawer? does she think drawers are where you store bread? was she worried about the open air getting to it? has she ever had bread before? had gideon ever had bread before?

MUTUAL 3: *homestuck posting on main in the year 2023*

MUTUALS 4 AND 5:

MUTUAL 6: if griddlehark doesn’t happen i am going to kill myself

MUTUAL 7: *talking about some tlt character you didn’t even know existed*

MUTUAL 8: I am so excited to read the next chapter of mutual 5’s fic!

MUTUAL 9: it’s about the bones… the rot…. the ambience….

MUTUAL 10: *this post contains filtered tags: #chussy*

MUTUAL 11: haha guys what else should I read now. surely there must be something else out there that can fill the tlt void… right?

MUTUAL 12: I want wet rat girl ianthe tridentarius to *****************

[themildestofwriters]

I'll never understand Tamlin antis who are so tied up in their hate for him they just straight up refuse to acknowledge one of the big twists of ACOWAR when interpreting his actions *during* ACOWAR.

Like, I'm not saying you have to like the guy, but G-ddamn. It's almost wilful ignorance how they ignore the fact that he was a double agent the whole bloody time.

There's also the fact that, quite clearly, in Feyre's narration no less, his motivations are further explained as an intense drive to protect his people from Hybern. Like, why are so many people caught up on the whole "He whipped his sentry!" thing when you have Feyre right there telling us that the only reason he did it was to prevent Hybern from thinking he was weak and therefore it would be better to conquer Spring rather than simply ally with it.

The book outright tells you why he whipped his sentry and yet this idea perseveres that Tamlin... what? Couldn't handle being questioned? I don't understand. The book tells us why he did it. Why are we still making up reasons for why he did it?

Tamlin is wearing a mask in ACOWAR. He needs to pretend to be a leal hound of Hybern's order. He can't do that, however, if he is constantly taking issue with everything Hybern does or wants him to do. If he wants to maintain his alliance, he needs to show himself to be strong in the way Hybern views strength. If he wants to be a double agent, he needs to earn their trust. He can't do either of those things if he's constantly fighting over tortured mortals and accused sentries.

It doesn't help that half the trouble Tamlin is having maintaining this mask is directly caused by Feyre putting him in situations where he must choose between the alliance and his status as double agent or doing the right thing in that moment. He wouldn't have had to whip the sentry if Feyre hadn't let Ianthe steal the keys (and, yes, Feyre *let* Ianthe do that, because she watched the whole thing happened and could have intervened at any time), and had Feyre not provoked Ianthe by committing Divine Fraud.

For as much as Feyre says she wishes she could have prevented the whole thing, she's lying to the sentries and she's lying to herself, because the sentry was whipped because that's what Feyre wanted. She wanted to destroy Tamlin's relationship with his sentries and this whole situation was all but set up by her for that purpose. Feyre gets to act like the champion for arguing against injustice — an injustice she let happen and provoked for her own ambitions — while Tamlin is condemned because whipping the sentry is the only way to protect his people from a worse fate, and the only way to continue his role as double agent (which played a major role in the downfall of Hybern itself).

I don't know. For people who seem to like the series so much, they seem awfully keen on just ignoring whole swaths of context so they can make up reasons to hate a fictional character. It's really annoying to, because they can't just be quiet about their fanfiction. They gotta bring it up everywhere, even in serious discussion about the series, and they'll insult you for your takes solely because Tamlin is "abusive," as if that changes anything.

[beedreamscape]

Tamsyn is no short of a mad genius

Copied from here.

How did you come up with Ianthe's personality? She's absolutely horrible, terrifying, and uniquely funny at the same time.

I love Ianthe and could write a lot about Ianthe, but one central thing I am doing with Ianthe is playing around with a trope male characters often get to be, and one frequently found in slash but so little for the lesbians: Ianthe is in many ways my gay Draco In Leather Pants. (There's a reason she calls Harrow Harry!) The Draco In Leather Pants trope -- the hyper-privileged, drawling blonde with daddy issues who sulks erotically in a corner -- is perpetually male. Here, it's Ianthe. And Ianthe blows -- she'll never be a true Draco In Leather Pants because although the DILP gets great sassy lines, very few of them are aimed at himself. Ianthe's humanity -- what there is of it -- comes from having a sense of humour; it is why she is sympathetic and also why she is dangerous.

Ianthe is another character who sprung, horrible and fully-formed, the moment I knew her situation. She has always been the way she was, as has Coronabeth, and as has Naberius. All three of the Third inform each other -- and Ianthe, the shadow queen of the trio, was herself from day one. The only thing she missed was nearly being called 'Abella'. I think that was a hangover from the days when I wanted everyone's name to have syllables matching their house.

[cemetegee]

Ianthe is The Underling

One thing that's very interesting about Ianthe Tridentarius - because it seems absolutely contrary to her character - is the fact, that she is very obliged to higher authorities.

That's even a thing Ianthe and Harrow talk about. Harrow asks her if she'd never think to herself "When did the princess of Ida become this groveling slime." (The answer is btw. that she has nearly always been this groveling slime). She answers that it's all cold calculation to survive.

But that's a lie. She shows that trust in authorities and that blind obedience even in situations, where she has absolutely no use (or even gets serious damage of it).

For example- Ianthe, why did you actually kill your cav? I mean, it seems like a terribly wrong thing to do, don't you think? This can't be right.

Oh, I understand. You did it, because... the Emperor said it was right.

You know, what I mean with blind obedience, don't you?

It's very likely a result of her daddy (or, maybe more exactly, parental) issues, but it's still despite of that interesting. Because it shows her insultings of the Emperor (maybe also her mockery about her parents in a different light.

When you serve someone, and that someone does bad/not nice things to you, and you can't tell that immediatly to that person, you start to wear a groveling hate around with you. That's where Ianthe's blasphemia comes from. Not coolness or atheism. But obedience.

[tooturtly]

Thinking about how the origin of Harrow and Gideon’s fucked up relationship (you know, being children in the Ninth House) actually adds a lot of context to exactly why they are like that, but because it’s technically not on the page it’s harder to understand.

In anthropology and associated fields there’s a term called “habitus” that I think is useful for this discussion (I also like spreading anthropology bc this is the brainrot impacting the course of my career). This is an academic way of saying behavior that is so ingrained, so habitual, it doesn’t even require thought or pass any level of notice. How you walk is an example of habitus, how you chop vegetables, how you enter a room, what clothes you pick for certain occasions, literally anything you can do could be an example of habitus.

Humans are hardwired to learn, we are constantly picking up cues from the people and society around us from the moment we are born until the moment we die. We do it so much and so easily that we don’t notice unless it’s very overt, like someone holding your hand and explaining how to do something. Even then you will subconsciously pick up the ways that person does things, making it your own habitus.

For Gideon and Harrow, their habitus is different from our own as the readers, because habitus is deeply cultural, it comes from mirroring the behaviors around you. They have been taught how to act, how to speak, how to think in the ways of the Ninth, no matter how willingly or unwillingly they learned.

They weren’t born with a deeply antagonistic relationship, it was taught to them. Harrow was taught to uphold the Ninth, to give her entire life to it, to die for it so that the cost of her birth can be worth it. Her parents also modeled a strong aversion to Gideon. To avoid, to belittle, to ignore her so that they can ignore the generation they sold to keep the line of the Tombkeepers. Harrow obviously picked up this behavior, modeling it as she picked up the mantle of running the Ninth House at all of ten years old (which is insane by the way. Let’s take a moment for ten year old Harrow, a literal child who just watched her parents kill themselves and their cavalier and who expected her to kill herself, who had to pick up the pieces and try to do what they had modeled for her).

And then we have Gideon: a child (she’s still a teen in Nona, she hasn’t aged past 19) who at first wanted to fit in, who still desperately craves acceptance and intimacy, but who has been ignored, belittled, and abused her whole life. Who then gets that behavior repeated by the only peer she could possibly have.

She became a self fulfilling prophecy. She was treated as a nuisance who can do no right, so that’s what she became. She was punished either way for existing, so she did what was expected. Just as Harrow did what was expected of her in her roles, Gideon acted like what Crux saw in her.

They were both children failed in so many ways by the adults around them. Even Aiglamene couldn’t support Gideon wholly without going against the rulers of her house. So because they were children, they did what was modeled and taught to them. They fulfilled the prophecies laid out by the adults in their lives.

They, so far, have continued the cycles of abuse they were taught. Even in Nona, Kiriona is modeling the pain and anguish she has experienced all her life, now with the addition of Ianthe’s perspective on her life influencing her. (Ianthe comes from a vastly different cultural background, and hasn’t been inside either of their minds, so her interpretation of their relationship and the culturally appropriate response is wildly different from either of their readings of it)

It almost reminds me of Wuthering Heights, how to truly break the cycle you have to let the past go and find someplace new. But that’s just another series with vaguely religious undertones and some weird abuse and incestuous dynamics, likely completely unrelated. (Note, I haven’t read wuthering heights in a hot minute, but when I did I saw it as more a story of inter generational violence rather than as romantic love, so take my thoughts with some salt)

The toxic, antagonistic, and later interdependent (though the antagonism is also interdependent) relationship between Gideon and Harrow doesn’t have to continue. They can break the cycle. The cycle that strongly parallels John and Alecto in many ways. I hope they do. But their relationship as it is makes sense if you consider both characters, how they were raised, and how they were taught to act, without necessarily saying that one character or the other is evil/corrupt/the relationship is unsalvageable.

The cultural layers included in tlt are vital to unpacking the characters, and their relationships. We don’t always get it overtly because we’re inside the characters minds, but there’s important stuff included in there. To unpack all of it would take probably a dissertation of length and then you’d still miss some, but I have tried my best.

[katakaluptastrophy]

Abigail Pent literally brought her husband, and look where that got her!

Oh, I can't be normal about this...

Ianthe is saying all of the quiet parts out loud about cavaliership in the Nine Houses:

She says "the cavalier’s job is to die for the necromancer" (Palamedes tries to gloss this to "protect the necromancer", but concedes that "if this entails their own death, then they're expected to accept that"). She talks about Naberius as a commodity, procured at birth, raised for a purpose, modifiable and disposable at will.

She wants to make it clear that she was terribly clever and has no regrets. Which is obviously why she's been thinking about two people she deems "dull and stupid" to the extent that they're her main touchpoint for explaining her position and that she name checks both of them, separately, during her responses... (poor Magnus).

Because the Fifth represent the opposite of how things turned out for the Third: an incidental cavaliership to a relationship of two equals who chose each other (against social currents, quite possibly on several counts). Ianthe made a choice at Canaan House. And Abigail made choices eleven and five years before that. And Ianthe has been thinking about those choices.

So Abigail Pent brought her husband on a research jolly to the First instead of bringing a slave to the killing fields (to paraphrase Harrow). And where did that get her?

Well, The Unwanted Guest rather confirms Abigail's heretical speculations about the River: it is not the end, but a purgatorial passing point through which one can travel lightly to the further shore, or sink down to the horrors at the bottom. Abigail may not have gained ultimate power and posters of her face, but she did end HTN going off to cross the River to what, in the implied cosmology of TLT, sounds rather like heaven.

And as for Ianthe? Jod's "indelible sin" may not be the most reliable account of Lyctoral River theology, but Lyctors do not seem to travel lightly in the River...and the Stoma did try to grab Ianthe back in HTN. The newly created Paul offers Ianthe - and Naberius - a second chance and she rejects it.

And now the Death of God has been released, Ianthe has bet on God, God is having a mid-dismyriad crisis, and the girl Abigail Pent risked a second and total death to help knows the truth and is off to harrow hell.

Ianthe Naberius used her cavalier for the rotten true purpose of cavaliers, and look where that got her.

[acourtofthought]

Just in case people are confused why Eluciens don't feel Jurian is the reason Elucien shouldn't end up together and why we'd have no issues with her interacting with him -

Jurian looked right to Mor, whose mouth was a tight line. “You were my friend,” he said, voice straining. “We fought back-to-back during some battles. And yet you believed me at first sight—believed that I’d ever let them turn me.”

“And I was glad to do it,” Jurian snarled. “I was glad to do it, if it bought us an edge in that war. I didn’t care what it did to me, what it broke in me. If it meant we could be free. And I have had five hundred years to think about it. While being held prisoner by my enemy. Five hundred years, Mor.” The way he said her name, so familiar and knowing—

“You played the villain convincingly enough, Jurian,” Rhys purred. Jurian snapped his face toward Rhys. “You should have looked. I expected you to look into my mind, to see the truth. Why didn’t you?”

“You mean to imply,” Mor pushed, “that you’ve been working to help us during this?”. “Where better to plot your enemy’s demise, to learn their weaknesses, than at their side?”

I said to Jurian, “You don’t want to kill Miryam and Drakon.” There was stark honesty in Jurian’s eyes as he shook his head once. “No,” he said roughly. “I want to beg their forgiveness.”. I looked to Mor. But tears lined her eyes, and she blinked them furiously away.

Jurian was not my enemy. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Even as Rhys and I both looked. I didn’t linger for long. The pain and guilt and rage, what he had seen and endured … But Jurian spoke true. Laid himself bare to us.

Jurian leaned in as if he’d kiss me, and brought his mouth to my ear. “Were you smart enough to kill her before you took her skin?” My hands tightened on his jacket. “She got what she deserved.” I could feel Jurian’s smile against my ear. “She’s in his tent. Chained with steel and a little spell from his favorite book.” Shit. Shit. Perhaps I should have gotten Helion, who could break almost any— Jurian caught my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Come to my tent with me, Ianthe. Let me see what that pretty mouth can do.” (Jurian helping Feyre find Elain after she was taken by the Cauldron)

“Jurian …” Lucien blew out a breath, scanning the carved wood ceiling above. “Thank the Cauldron for him. I never thought I’d say that, but it’s true.” He ran a hand through his silken red hair. “He’s keeping everything running. I think he’d have been crowned king by now if it wasn’t for Vassa.”

“How’s the Spring Court?” Nesta asked. The fire crackled merrily to her right, and she let the sound ripple through and past her. Acknowledged the crack and what it did to her, and released it. Even as she concentrated on the male she’d addressed. Lucien’s jaw tightened. “How you’d expect.” Tension rippled through the room, confirmation that Tamlin had heard the news of Feyre’s pregnancy. From Lucien’s grim face, she knew he hadn’t reacted well. Nesta said, “And Jurian and Vassa?”

We've got canon confirmation that Jurian is actually a good guy, that he was willing to suffer so long as it saved the rest, that Rhys and Feyre looked into his mind to confirm this, that he's been a friend to Lucien, that he was Mor's friend.

So you'll understand why that all holds a bit more weight for us regarding Jurian’s true character over what anti's like to cling to, crass statements made while he was pretending to be the bad guy while Hybern and / or his lackeys were present.

Sarah has clearly moved the story forward showing Jurian in an extremely positive light. SHE is the one who wrote him making the joke (because it made more sense than Jurian telling Lucien Elain would be fine in the NC since they were his friends and he knew they'd keep her safe) then SHE is the one who revealed him as the good guy playing double agent. All we're doing is understanding what she wrote.

Elain would be lucky to have a war hero as her friend.

[tremsing82]

Lucien was ALSO a Victim in MaF

I was reminiscing about why I hate Mist and Fury the most out of the 5 ACOTAR books and I remembered chapter 47.

Lucien finds Feyre in the night court mountains. After tracking her for months. Lucien is desperately trying to talk to his “kidnapped” friend who he thinks is possibly brainwashed or being mentally controlled by Rhys a known Daemati.

When Feyre left spring court she left Lucien alone to deal with a paranoid Tamlin who is now an angry paranoid Tamlin, and the emotionally manipulative Ianthe who is whispering in Tamlin’s ear while also trying to molest Lucien any chance she can. In ACOTAR Lucien got to know how capable Feyre is, not only in battle but in holding her ground against people she doesn’t agree with. He would watched her stare down Tamlin and get him to bend to her whims. Was she badly affected by her trauma from UTM yes, did Lucien try his best to advocate for her needs to Tamlin he did. But when Feyre left he was left alone to carry the burden of Tamlin and Ianthe. Was Feyre at all mentally stable at the time she left spring, no, but she was there. She would get bursts of anger and stubbornness at times with Tamlin and confront him. And that was reassuring to Lucien. That probably had him know the spitfire is not gone. If she stayed I would not be surprised if Lucien was the one to help her heal mentally and would help Feyre out of the dark abyss that her trauma put her in.

But she didn’t stay and that ok, because she did get better in a way that worked for her, that’s not my problem. My problem is how she treated Lucien that entire chapter. How the narrative was changed to make his actions look like he was an enabler of an abuser. Which is 100% not true and the words of the book prove it. And well when she left no one was helping Lucien either. Because he now had to navigate both Tamlin’s rage and anger and Ianthes manipulations and hands. He worked his ass off on looking for a way to break a bargain. He did everything he could to stop Tamlin from talking to Hybern. Which Tamlin only looked to Hybern because Ianthe was whispering in his ear.

Can you imagine Lucien being in a day court library and hasn’t slept in 24hours and then he suddenly gets an urgent letter from Bron telling him he needs to get back to spring, so he gets back to spring using all his winnowing magic he has to see Tamlin looking over his coastline maps to see the best meeting point with Hybern. His hair all disarrayed from zero sleep and his shirts untucked and he has to lean into Tamlin’s eye sight to get him to listen to his frantic pleas not to work with Hybern. All while Ianthe is on Tamlin’s other side defending Tamlin’s decision. Ugh it’s like being a nail in a hard place.

He needs his friend back. He needs Feyre back. Not to distract Tamlin or to seduce him back to happiness. But because she is the only one who can stand toe to toe with Tamlin and get him to back away. Lucien can’t. Not because he doesn’t try but because there is some submission Lucien naturally has to Tamlin. And Lucien has argued even at risk to his safety with Tamlin and Tamlin unleashed a power that shook the house with Lucien in that powers pathway. It’s 2 against 1 in the house right now and Lucien can only stave off bad decisions for so long.

He was pleading with Feyre on the mountain. His exact words were “you don’t understand the mess we are in. We…I need you home. Now.” So he knows working with Hybern is on the table. He watched his best friend murder spring court soldiers in a rage because of Feyre being “kidnapped”. And he knows Calanmai is coming up in 2-3 days (I think is the timeline) which Tamlin is refusing to perform his duty (understandably). But that means it falls on Lucien and Lucien knows Ianthe is going to manipulate the maiden part of the ceremony to ensure he picks her. He knows he is going home to be sexual assaulted. He wants his friend to come home and help him put things back in order.

Granted is that Feyre’s duty no, but he is desperate to have help in spring. And at this time he thinks she is a victim of a kidnapping and of Rhys’ Daemati powers.

Shortly after he leaves is when he agrees with Tamlin in talking with Hybern and personally I think he was so down trotted and worn down that he just stop fighting Tamlin on it. Plus he performed Calanmai, the Magic chose Ianthe, he had to sleep with a woman who refuses to accept boundaries. He was sexually assaulted and feeling sick and upset and depressed and Ianthe probably had Tamlin go and ask Lucien if they can look towards Hybern now because Lucien is not in any good mental space to put up an objection. Ianthe wore Lucien down till he just had no more energy to stop Tamlin. He was exhausted mentally, and physically, and emotionally and that all worked in Ianthe’s favor and Lucien is still paying the guilty price for it. And sadly when you think about it, all he wanted was his friend back. And if Feyre or Rhys were just a tad bit smarter maybe they would have looked into his mind to see exactly why he needed Feyre home. But of course Rhys made it out like being in Lucien’s mind is a torture no one should ever be subjected to. Because god help us if you actually used your powers in a useful manner.

[litnerdwrites]

Why do the IC of Feyre expect Nesta to play house with them when they can't respect her boundary with Solstice? She told Feyre it wasn't 'their holiday', which already makes it clear that she's uninterested in adapting to fae traditions. It's not a personal insult, it's a boundary that makes complete sense.

Solstice is a religious holiday, where you thank the mother, or whatever. Given that The Mother seems to come in tandem with The Cauldron, not wanting to celebrate it after what they went through makes complete sense. Now that I think about it, Feyre spends ACOMAF being mad that Tamlin and Ianthe did this to her; Forced her into uncomfortable social situations with people she didn't want to be around.

To Nesta, it's Feyre's birthday but nothing more, in which case, Feyre could've invited Nesta to a brunch with her and Elain. Nesta literally invited them to eat with her, but Feyre said no. If they had a conversation, I'm sure that they would've found a place to eat together that suited all of the, even if it was just at Nesta's apartment, or a day when the town house was empty. Or maybe one of Rhysand's other six houses.

There were so many work arounds that would respect Nesta's boundaries, probably go farther to helping her heal, and been fun for all of them. A win win situation.

Besides, if you invited someone to your celebration of a religious holiday, and they said 'no' out of respect for their own culture, religion, traditions, or just because they didn't want to, wouldn't you just accept the answer and move on?

On top of all this, Cassian through a temper tantrum the moment Nesta rejected his gift. Dude, if you used all that intelligence you supposedly have as a General, you'd realise what the issue is.

[theriverbeyond]

some meandering thoughts on Lyctoral reproduction, contraception, and why I DON'T think Pyrrha hit it raw

this was originally a reblog of another post but it became SO LONG i am just posting it by itself. anyway cracks knuckles:

I think from a reproductive health standpoint the Lyctors are, despite having been exposed to extreme pre-ressurection levels of radiation, not sterile per say, but homeostatically fixed at the point of ascension with any changes made to themselves after that being a concious theorem. See: Cytherea is frozen as sick as she was when she ascended, but when she wanted to fight she could walk around fine, and Harrow when cold, can pad her fat reserves. So they CAN change their bodies, but it's still a Thing They Have To Do vs. a truly autonomous bolidy process.

Also, we know Lyctoral Healing is a thing dependant on nerve fibers -- why a severed limb (Nona/Gideon-in-Harrow aside) is not supposed to automatically regrow (but can be intentionally regrown, with thought and effort), and why in order to imbue Ianthe's bone arm with regenerative power Harrow had to make sure it was properly innervated

(The reason I believe they are not inherently sterile despite having been exposed to massive amounts of radiation is simply because that radiation does not discriminate and would have destroyed the rest of their physical bodies as well. basically, I think any radiation induced infertility would have been fixed in the Ressurection Process, same as the radiation induced. death.)

At the same time, the biological changes a human body must undergo to fertilize an egg and then bring a pregnancy to term are many (on a physical and physiologic level) and all must happen in the correct sequence at the correct time. the adult unaltered, non-Lyctoral body (most of the time) naturally knows how to follow this path, but in order for a Lyctoral Body to bring a pregnancy to term all those minute changes would have to be done manually, lest the Lyctoral Body revert to its homeostatically frozen state.

Therefore, my thoughts are: a Lyctor wouldn't really be able to become pregnant on accident to begin with, much less carry a pregnancy to term unwillingly. Every minute step or shift or change in hormone levels, uterine stretch, etc would have to be manually preformed and then monitored 24/7 which just seems incredibly exausting if not annoying. Then, of course, you have the reality that the Lyctor is going to outlive their child by thousands of years if not forever, and after the catastrophic grief they all carry for their cavaliers I cannot imagine any of them willingly putting themselves in that situation.

why, then, did Pyrrha think Gideon was her child?

WELL! the above theoretical process is specific to a Lyctor becoming pregnant, either from Lyctor or non-Lyctor. For Pyrrha/G1deon, the person who may have become pregnant from their encounters was WAKE, a (as far as we know) physiologically normal human, whose body would be able to like. in the presense of viable sperm, get pregnant the usual way without need for necromantic initiation and maintenence. Not only that, but at the time, Wake could NOT have been taking any sort of continuous contraceptive, as the planning/execution/impregnation of Dios Apate Major/Project Bomb was happening at the same time as Wake was fucking Pyrrha and G1deon. Like I know Mercy gave her the dolls but like Wake was able to turkey baster herself pretty quickly after their failure which means there was an open window of time where Wake was fucking PyrrhaG1deon and definitely fertile.

I could see G1deon as being able to tie off his ductus deferens, or whatever, while he is having sex to prevent physical ejaculation but as we know from Gideon-in-Harrow and Pyrrha-in-G1deon and Cam-when-Pal-Was-Inside, the cavalier's soul cannot preform necromancy whilst in the driver's seat. SO, following that, Pyrrha would be unable to necromantically prevent herself from ejaculating whilst doing the deed.

and finally, we have come to the part where I explain why I do NOT believe Pyrrha was having unprotected sex. as funny it is to imagine them all hitting it raw with a huge breeding kink, given Pyrrha and not to mention WAKE'S general competency (and also like if Wake is trying to get pregnant with the key to the Emperor's Tomb, being already pregnant would have been really inconvinient!!! considering again that the impregnation of ProjectBomb happened at the same time as she was fucking PyrrhaG1deon, Wake HAS to have been taking steps to prevent an unwanted, competing pregnancy), I have to take the controversial position that the condom broke.

Imagine you are a soul fragment, 10,000 years old, and you are betraying your God and Emperor AND your other half, by fucking a rebel comander (using your other half's body) while both of them are unaware. and then the condom breaks. wyd

[glossamerfaerie]

One aspect of Gwynriel that really excites me is religion. The other protagonists don’t seem to take religion or rituals very seriously? Everyone respects the Mother and acknowledges her power (and the Cauldron), but we haven’t explored faith among the fae. Feyre has a terrible experience with Ianthe (a sadly accurate depiction of corruption within organized religion). But we know that not all priestesses are like power-hungry Ianthe. Nesta is understandably indifferent even though she later has an experience with the Mother during Nyx’s birth. Rhys and Cassian seem respectful but we’ve never seen them pray or attend services. It’s giving “only attending church during Christmas” level of religious commitment.

Azriel, on the other hand… we haven’t had much canon insight in his head, but I firmly believe that Azriel is more religious than his brothers. Like he’s not the type to attend temple services, but he probably thinks about faith and the Mother regularly. Clearly he has contemplated mating bonds and who creates them — maybe he’s prayed for a mating bond? Maybe his mother raised him to be more religious. In HOFAS, after Nesta takes the mask off in a close call, Az’s very first instinct is to thank the Mother. Possibly that is meaningless (like how an atheist can say “thank god”) but idk. Az seems to have more faith than his brothers.

“The Mask fell from Nesta’s face, clattering on the stone.

Nesta swayed, but Azriel was there, catching her, bringing her to his chest, scarred hands stroking her hair. “Thank the Mother,” he breathed. “Thank the Mother.”

A few chapters later, Az describes the Cauldron and what happens after death.

“Bryce nodded to the carving. “What’s the big deal about a cauldron?”

“The Cauldron,” Azriel amended. Bryce shook her head, not understanding. “You don’t have stories of it in your world? The Fae didn’t bring that tradition with them?”

Bryce surveyed the giant cauldron. “No. We have five gods, but no cauldron. What does it do?”

“All life came and comes from it,” Azriel said with something like reverence. “The Mother poured it into this world, and from it, life blossomed.”

Later in the conversation, Az explains what happens to souls after death.

“When you die, where do your souls go?” Did they even believe in the concept of a soul? Maybe she should have led with that.

But Azriel said softly, “They return to the Mother, where they rest in joy within her heart until she finds another purpose for us. Another life or world to live in.”

The way Az talks about the Mother, with reverence and confidence, makes me certain that he’s more religious than his brothers.

Then, of course, we have Gwyn — a literal priestess who was raised in a temple. She still attends daily services and sings for the choir. I’ve wondered if what happened in Sangravah shook Gwyn’s faith. Maybe she thinks the Mother exists but isn’t a benevolent deity. Maybe she’s bitter that the Mother didn’t save her servants from Hybern attacks. She definitely feels shame and unworthiness — Gwyn no longer feels like she has a right to wear the Invoking Stone. Working through those feelings will be a major aspect of Gwyn’s arc.

“You asked me once why I don’t wear the hood or the Invoking Stone. That stone is a sign of holiness. How can someone like me wear it?”

Within the temple, Gwyn also faces prejudice and discrimination from her fellow sisters. Ianthe isn’t the only asshole within the organization (cough Merrill cough). I’m sure that some people in Sangravah were cruel to Gwyn’s family because of their nymph heritage. I don’t know what SJM has planned, but I feel that religion will play a major role in the Gwynriel book. I wouldn’t be surprised that, like Nesta, Gwyn has a firsthand experience with the Mother. She will definitely use the blue invoking stone for healing (a nice parallel to Az’s blue siphons).

“It’s an Invoking Stone.” Gwyn unfurled her fingers, revealing the gem within her hand. “Similar to the Siphons of the Illyrians, except that the power of the Mother flows through it. We cannot use it for harm, only healing and protection. It was shielding us.���

I’m also curious to see Gwyn and Az discuss their religious beliefs together. Maybe Az gets permission to join the dawn and dusk services. The man barely sleeps, he might as well watch Gwyn during her religious commitments. The shadows are NOT going to pass a chance to hear their girl sing (or watch her glow). Maybe Nesta can talk Az into singing with the choir. 🥹

Nesta could only gape at the lovely melody, the voices from the front of the cavern leading it, lifting higher than the others. Gwyn sang, chin high, a faint glow seeming to radiate from her. The music was pure, ancient, by turns whispering and bold, one moment like a tendril of mist, the next like a gilded ray of light. It finished, and Merrill spoke about the Mother and the Cauldron and the land and sun and water. She spoke of blessings and dreams and hope. Of mercy and love and growth.

Idk, maybe I’m wrong about Az being religious. But it feels like such a wasted opportunity if we don’t learn more about the Mother! At the very least, I do see Az attending the dawn and dusk services if he’s not on a mission. 🎼🩵🎶