#adam and ronan get to just go for it tho

[christ-with-a-why]

Book 4 of the owlcrate special edition Raven Cycle:

The Raven King

#the raven king #the raven cycle #owlcrate #ganseeeeyyyyyy #having a professionally published book with art of ronan and adam making out can actually be so personal lol #like look at blue and gansey #i love them they look so anguished they can't make out #adam and ronan get to just go for it tho #gay rights lol #i do kind of wish they used a different quote for either the bookmark or the back of the jacket but oh well #i assume they were designed by different vendors #they're still lovely #it also just occurred to me that i didn't take pics of the back of the bookmarks but oops #not gonna change that now lol

[faeparrish]

What did you think about Adam apparently trying to talk himself out of being in love with Ronan when he went home to st Agnes every night?? It sounded so prosey but it didn’t feel like it was supported by the text? Like I felt the Opal story and CDTH did nothing to indicate that

omg sorry i only just saw this q !! but yeah idk i’ve been thinking a lot about that recently. i think with certain contexts it does make some sense to me? not that adam would want to stop loving ronan but that he’d feel like he should stop loving him. that ending things sooner rather than later felt like the safer thing to do for both of them, emotionally speaking. having said that, i feel like if we’d been in adam’s head at all through trkopal or dreamer trilogy, it would’ve made this information less surprising (another loss for the adam pov agenda rip). i have a lot of thoughts on this tho and i ended up writing a lot more than i intended to so i’m going to get into it under the cut !

ok so first off, i think in terms of adam’s arc in dreamer trilogy (or what we saw of it lol) it would make a lot more obvious sense for him to be having that dilemma. at that point he’s actually living in this version of himself that can’t coexist with the version of him who chose a life with ronan. it did kind of surprise me that he’d been feeling that way in the opal story, but then again that story was only told through opals eyes so we only really got bits and pieces of the full picture. we weren’t in adam or ronan’s heads. i think it’s kind of interesting that maggie went back to it from a sort of omniscient point of view in greywaren tho — she tends to do that a lot, like retrospectively add new context to previous scenes by changing perspectives. i guess a perk of writing multiple points of view is that you get a novel filled with unreliable narrators, which means you can withhold information from readers by having characters misread or ignore certain aspects of a situation.

going back to what you said tho i feel like some people would read that section you mentioned and take it to mean that he was going back on his conversation with gansey in trk or that he didn’t want to be with ronan. i don’t think that’s it at all - i think he saw that they were heading towards a future that couldn’t hold their relationship without either of them having to compromise some fundamental part of their lives. and these were compromises that neither of them could make or would let the other make. it was also a conversation they weren’t having; we know they weren’t properly communicating at that point, not in the way they perhaps should’ve been given their situation. but it’s also heavily implied that the reason they weren’t voicing their concerns was because they both knew they wouldn’t be able to fix these problems by just voicing them. they were going to go in circles: adam didn’t want to do long distance; ronan couldn’t move to boston; adam could go to a closer school but ronan would never let him do that.

i think it’s also important to note that they were both at a crossroads in their lives that summer. they’d survived past the point where they thought they would, and now the things they thought they wanted in life were starting to feel different to them. everything was going to shift when adam moved away. they both knew something about their situation had to change but neither of them were ready or able to make it happen. and so they spent a blissful summer trying to avoid confronting it, because it hurt too much to admit that it all felt impossible.

i think we should also remember that we didn’t have any povs from adam in dreamer trilogy OR the opal story. every time we saw the pair of them interacting in dreamer trilogy it was through ronan, who was absolutely in denial about how hard it was going to be for them (see: his theory of plausible deniability at the beginning of cdth). we have to base our understanding of adam’s behaviour on outside observations of him. ronan’s pov in cdth does mention how tumultuous adam’s mental state had been during that summer, especially when he found out he was accepted at harvard. he was anxious about starting something he’d been working towards for years, and he was anxious about leaving ronan and having to deal with the reality of their relationship outside of the barns. it makes sense that adam, who is generally less in denial about harsh realities than ronan, was probably having a silent dilemma over it. he’s an incredibly practical character, he over-analyses everything, there’s not a single outcome of a situation that he wouldn’t consider. there was no way that he hadn’t at least touched on the possibility of having to end things with ronan, however painful that outcome is. he was probably debating whether it was worth dragging themselves through something that was inevitably going to hurt them, or if it would just be easier to confront it head on. it’s one of those things that sometimes happens in relationships where, yes, the love between the two people is strong and present, but the love isn’t the problem. it’s their circumstances. sometimes you can’t see a way to fit your life and your relationship together, sometimes you can’t find a compromise that works, and i think that’s what adam was afraid of. he associated ronan with the magic part of his life. in his mind, magic and harvard couldn’t coexist.

the problem adam clearly had was that while this self-preserving and practical side of him was trying to reason it out (i.e. if you convince yourself you don’t love someone then you save yourself the pain of losing them), the more emotional side of him couldn’t fathom not loving ronan. as soon as he was with ronan again, the reality of loving him was too tangible. which also fits into why it feels slightly surprising to learn this information: we pretty much only saw adam when he was with ronan in trkopal, and (as we now know) every time he was with ronan he forgot everything he’d been telling himself when alone. it became impossible for him to imagine ever throwing their relationship away for anything. i also think that’s why that line is so sad. ronan meant so much to him that adam couldn’t convince himself to step away and save his heart from further pain.

and then we have ronan. he’d essentially been having the same dilemma over their situation as adam. distance from someone makes it easy to convince yourself that things won’t work out. isolation and distance makes it even easier. which is why (amongst other factors) it reached a point in book 2 where ronan, more isolated and distanced than ever, ended up being the one to call it. because ronan sees things in black and white and adam tends to focus on the grey areas. because ronan is driven by impulse and adam is driven by considered decisions. because at that time, ronan couldn’t exist in multiples; he was already being pulled in so many directions by his human side and his magic side. he didn’t know how to exist as both: as soon as one thread from his human life came loose, he was unable to contain the rest. adam, however, has always existed in multiples. student and logician, man and boy, etc. his life is a balancing act. he’d balanced friends and school and magic and work and an abusive home life; he could balance this too. he could hold on to this. to quote adam himself, he wanted it too much. even after ronan had essentially ended things between them, adam still found somewhere safe for ronan’s body, still came back to visit him, still risked his life scrying in order to find him. it’s like adam said in greywaren, ronan was where he stored all the reality. with the direction he was going in his life at that point, if he lost ronan, he was losing the one person who knew the truest version of him — he’d essentially end up losing himself fully.

so yes. i think considering everything, it does make sense to me that adam had that dilemma because it fits with the way he behaved in dreamer trilogy. it also feels very realistic. everyone has doubts, or considers cutting loose to avoid the risk of heartbreak. i think it’s quite an accurate depiction of how a lot of people behave and feel in relationships, especially when it’s your first long-term relationship, and especially when you were never taught how to properly and healthily communicate (which neither of them were). it’s hard to imagine a way out of the problems you’re facing, especially when those problems feel out of your control. but i think for me it only solidified how strongly adam felt for ronan, because even with those fears and those doubts he was never going to walk away. no matter how much easier it may have felt to do so, he always came back.

#ask #doughfaceddcpig #greywaren spoilers #adam parrish #pynch #this is quite long sorry 😵‍💫 i went on a slight tangent but i had a lot of thoughts!

[lordwisteria]

Going off that “Jason Todd should be Catholic” post I reblogged....this is so ridiculously niche lol but I need to get it off my chest....Jason Todd is so Ronan Lynch coded

Traumatic reaction to violence that unexpectedly changed them forever, into darker and harder versions of themselves

Molten eyes and a smile made for war!!!

How do you live if you think you were maybe supposed to be dead?

How do you kill yourself again and again, even if it keeps you alive?

Just to get it out of the way yes Gansey died and came back but Jason and Gansey are like the least alike of anyone

Complicated relationship with a parent they once adored

Inexplicable magic that is difficult to explain and makes their lives harder (Like everything about Ronan/Jason coming back to life and the Pit)

General asshole who actually does care a lot

Cared the MOST about one person (Gansey) and slowly came to care about everyone else; fighting and clawing their way back into their own families

It is about RAGE and REGRET. FEAR and FORGIVENESS. It is BEING THE MONSTER AND ASKING FOR LOVE ANYWAY

Ok but. But but. Are there any other parallels? You could go the Lynch brothers route (Dick as Declan, Tim or Damian as Matthew, Bruce as a complicated and dead Niall whose obsessions killed him without considering what it would leave behind for his sons). But I think this really only considers the characters relationships with Jason, not who they are as a person. IF we are looking at who they are instead of their relationships (so yes this does not consider romantic/platonic/blahblah):

It would be easy to say Dick is Gansey. They have the same name, are ~leaders~, and are canonically the prettiest princess in any room. I get it and maybe in the Titans you'd be right, but here, Bruce is Gansey. He is the one with the quest! He is the one driving things forwards and bringing the others along. He's the one with the family name and the family wealth and the family home. He went through something traumatic as a child that irrevocably changed him, fueled his intense guilt and obsession. He brought the group together, and yet feels left behind by them. Someone who cares deeply about the people immediately around him, and yet will not stop pursuing his other goals even if it's hurting them or himself. Obsessed, I think, with proving that he deserves to be here.

Which means that Dick...is Adam Parrish. Like. The constant search for independence. The perfectionism. The bad relationship with his father that forced him to need to be his own man. (Sorry real Bruce but you sucked in batman #416) Loving someone so much and yet always thinking the worst of them. Refusing to be a burden and yet accepting any yoke that comes his way. The intensity of the performance, of pretending to be who you wish you were for the people you care about. Taking on responsibilities because there is literally no other choice, nothing else you could do. Picking the best of your options and knowing that none for them are to rest easy. Valuing freedom so much and giving up your literal body for the quest.

PLUS (less perfect but): Cass as Henry Cheng (and not just bc they are both asian do not look at me like that) Narrative outsider who was watching from afar and put themselves in the narrative. Was molded by shady parent's shady business practices. Was put in a situation as a child they should not have had to endure, which challenged their beliefs and shaped them anew. And maybe like, later Tim as Noah, a bright, fun, young kid on a skateboard who gets himself involved in something too big for him and is undeniably damaged by it. Tim isn't betrayed by someone the way Noah is, but he's kind of...betrayed by the narrative, in a way? Betrayed by the adventure that he thought he was getting. Too clever for his own good, but sometimes naive about people. Lowkey a mirror that lets people see whatever they want to see lol

(I don't see super clear parallels for anyone else lol but I did have a fun time with the thought of Damian as Blue (short/down to fight/has another family/environmentalist/kind of feels fundamentally alienated as someone who is not like everyone else/wears green))

#batfam #the raven cycle #this is so silly and i feel like these parallels are so based on my exact experience and yet also i feel them deep in my bones #meta #i guess if i did do this comparison with the titans #dick would be gansey #which would make jason helen LOL which is kinda of excellent by itself #but idk i just feel there could be something really interesting in an AU like this #it would need to be a same age AU lol but #maybe Dick is in a bad orphanage type thing like in robin annual #but without grown up bruce theres no one to get him out #bruce still saves him by being his friend though #dick and jason both have relationships with bruce and are suspicious of each other #but end up being super close by the end #I also feel Jason would throw Tim out a window which would be funny #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #tim drake #cass cain

[clotpolesonly]

So, I started a cleaning job where I don't have to talk to anyone, which is lovely, but it also meant I started listening to audiobooks, and I've started listening to some book series I've been hearing about here and there, and the latest was The Raven Cycle. Why? Because you posted about it. You are literally the only person on my dashboard to post about it, but the few ones I have seen over the last months? years? have been enough for me to be assured in it having queer rep, being well written, and potentially worth my time. And yeah, it very much was, cause now I'm kinda hooked on it, like not just Adam/Ronan, tho very much them as well, but Maggie even got me caring about a straight couple with Gansey/Blue, cause she just writes such beautiful and unique characters!!! And anyway, besides asking you if you have some favourite AO3 recs (Don't even care much about the ship, as long as it's with these characters) I come having finished The Raven King a week ago, and now humbly but also very desperately asking, do you have any other book recommendations like TRC for me to listen to?? (Oh, and maybe also whether or not the dreamer triology will be just as good? Cause I'm curious about it having Ronan in focus, but more than the story, it's the characters that got me hooked on TRC, and like Maggie Stiefvater's writing style, but yeah I'm unsure how much of Adam there is in the trilogy, and the new characters, are they just as intriguing??)

YESSSSSS I LOVE SNAGGING PEOPLE AND DRAGGING THEM INTO MY FANDOMS XD WELCOME

the Dreamer Trilogy has its pros and its cons. if does significantly shift the focus of the narrative away from the established group, so if the Gangsey found family dynamic is a really big factor in your enjoyment and you don't want to be without it, you'll be disappointed by TDT because the rest of the gang simply isn't present 😭 it's very much Lynch-(and new characters)-focused.

Ronan is the main character and gets the most screen time, but honestly, Declan steals the show in that series. people can go into TDT Declan haters and come out of it with rabid Declan brain rot afdkjgh, i for one am obsessed with him. Matthew gets a real arc too, which i love for him. Adam doesn't have a huge role but he is around and relevant. i am IN LOVE with some of the new characters, and Maggie got us again with the straights!!! she makes us fucking YEARN WITH THE STRAIGHTS, on par with Bluesey imo, the new canon ship destroys me ok??

i will say that TDT doesn't feel as cohesive and satisfying in the overall narrative structure sense, compared to TRC. there are some things about it that confuse/frustrate me or don't make sense if you look at it too closely 😅 but there's so much really interesting compelling character/relationship work that it makes up for it, for me. i enjoyed TDT a lot, have read it multiple times, and will definitely read it again. it expands upon the world and lore, and i'm a sluuuut for complicated dysfunctional family dynamics so the Lynches get me good.

.

as for other recs! in case my unrelenting TRC blogging isn't damning enough evidence, i'll admit openly that i tend to just read the same thing over and over again instead of reading anything new lfkdjgh, so i don't actually HAVE anything else to rec myself, i am useless to you 😅😅😅 so instead i reached out to some other fans on discord and got suggestions from them to share with you!

The Scorpio Races (also Maggie Stiefvater)

The Wicker King (K Ancrum)

Aristotle & Dante (Benjamin Alire Saenz)

A Darker Shade of Magic (VE Schwab)

Iron Widow (Xiran Jay Zhao)

In Other Lands (Sarah Rees Brennan)

Hell Followed With Us (Andrew Joseph White)

The Darkest Part of The Forest (Holly Black)

All Of Us Villains duology (Amanda Foody, CL Herman)

Self Made Boys (Anna Marie Mclemore)

Legendborn (Tracy Deonn)

Folk of the Air series (Holly Black)

Six of Crows duology (Leigh Bardugo)

Winternight trilogy (Katherine Arden)

Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)

The Atlas Six (Olivie Blake)

so, again, i have not personally read any of these books to make the recs more specific or say what part of them invokes TRC vibes, but it sure is a place to start?? 😂

.

for fic recs, oh god, my brain is SWISS CHEESE, let's see if i can remember and dig up anything aldkfjg

(ok first i rec my own fics #shameless self promo)

Magnetic i've read SO MUCH and will again, it's everything to me

don't it beat a slow dance to death is a timeloop thing A+

I'm an Empathetic Drunk, Ok? is the first long TRC fic i read i think

All That I Know is Gone has dreamer!Declan, obsessed with this

King by the Roadside Gansey-didn't-die-the-first-time + polyam

A Sound Of Thunder Declan died instead of Niall 😭😭

aaaaaand these are the ones that are coming to my mind as of right now, the first 3 are all Pynch. i think the 4th has Pynch but it's mostly brother feels - that one introduces some elements from TDT but i don't thiiiiiink anything that would be a significant spoiler as long as you've read the short story Opal, which was included in my physical copy of TRK if it wasn't in yours, i have the epub). could hold off on that one until you (maybe) read TDT (if you wanna), but i've read it too many times not to rec it. 5th one hooks up the whole gang in one big polycule and i love it for that, and the last one hurts my HEART as a Declan stan but it's otherwise a great fic 😂

anybody else with TRC recs, add on/reply/hit @so-very-asleep up with 'em!!!

#and the answer is #so-very-asleep #TRC #TDT

[pigmeypouter]

GOSH, ronan lynch and his dependency KILLS ME

Throughout the book, many of Ronan’s actions and thoughts are often directly influenced by those around him. He is a character who thrives on companionship. This can be especially seen in his dreams, where most of his creations are out of consideration for the people around him (e.g the manibus, epipens, camaro, etcetc). And if not, then they are created to keep him company, like chainsaw, and Matthew, bred and borne out of his loss and loneliness.

Aside from that, his arcs mainly grow around his reactions toward those of others, the most prominent of all being the death of his father, where he struggles to find the remaining pieces of himself after losing him. Even in his search towards what it means to be a dreamer— though it is definitely fueled by his need for self-discovery— it also holds great relation to what truth it will grant him about his father.

But what really spurned this whole rant for me tho is ch 46, where he explicitly asks gansey, “Tell me what to do,” “Tell me where to go,”

this scene BROKE ME and it gives such clear insight as to what Ronan Lynch’s character is. He is a character of devotion who’s reliance on others is as much his downfall as it is his strength. He hardly ever does things out of thought for himself, though it isnt very obvious. (WHICH IS ANOTHER THING I WOULD LOVE TO RAVE ABOUT BUT ILL STOP MYSELF FOR TODAY) In this specific scene, ronan is at a loss with himself. He knows what he wants, but he NEEDS a higher being to guide him, needs someone to tell him whether what hes doing is right or wrong. Basically, ronan is a racing car with no sense of direction.

This is probably one of the reasons why Gansey and Ronan get along so well. Gansey is a character whose crippling self-worth is heavily reliant on helping others (sorry gansey but its true). It makes him feel useful, needed, it makes him feel worthier of being brought back to life. So to have Ronan, a mess of a person (sorry ronan), a person who relies on HIM of all people, it makes gansey feel secure, just as it does with ronan. They tether each other. Like, gansey just fully takes ronan in in all his shambles and is like YES! LET ME TAKE CARE OF U! I NEED THAT JUST AS MUCH AS U NEED THAT! ILY!

ALSO this is probably one of the reasons why, on the other hand, Gansey and Adam clash so often. Unlike Ronan, Adam is a highly independent character, he likes doing things his own way, half bc his past bludgeoned him to be used to doing them on his own. This conflicts with Gansey’s character whose ingrained need to be of help to others is constantly being rejected and abhorred by mr one man army adam

#Ronan Lynch #trc #the raven cycle #richard gansey iii

[robo--homo]

can't stop thinking about the possible configurations of a Ninth House au for the raven chronicles. like, okay (I will try to provide descriptions for those who haven't read Ninth House)

Gansey is a shoe-in for Darlington. They are a 1 to 1 comparison: rich boys whose lives were saved by magic with (variably) neglectful families who go by their last names and are third in their line, who live on their own in shitty broken down houses (or warehouses), who are proper and perfect and would do anything to find magic again. Also, please imagine Gentleman Demon Gansey. Just. God.

My first thought was that this makes Blue into Alex. Neither one of them would feel like they fit in at Yale; their moms have similar vibes albeit from what I remember Alex's mom is entirely useless; but Alex's powers as one of the only people who can see the dead contrast so sharply with Blue having (seemingly) no powers in a family full of psychics. You'd have to give up one story to engage the other, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but will sharply decide how an AU goes.

Ronan is the only one who can match Alex for punkness, and replacing his dream powers with seeing the dead feels alright. A Ronansey AU might be interesting, but I shy away because of the reversed dynamics- Ronan worships Gansey, vs. Darlington worships Alex. Adam makes for a weird Virgil (the hierarchal position Darlington operates). Like, imagine Adam as the know-it-all teaching Ronan about magic and secret societies. Of course, Gansey could still be Virgil and have Adam occupy some other space. I've thought about Niall taking the place of Hellie, Kavinsky taking over Hellie, Kavinsky taking over Alex (listen I love my trash boy); Noah makes for a fun Bertram North insofar as giving him a role where he's a) dead and b) still a present part of the story.

Adam makes for a really fun Dante too, though (Alex's hierarchal position). Like, similarities with Alex: broken home life, class difference that makes him stick out at Yale, magical powers he's not entirely comfortable with... but more importantly, just. the compelling notion of Adam Parrish who can See Ghosts. Adam Parrish, bitter over getting into Yale despite not even getting a chance to apply, forced to take part in old-money secret society bullshit, led around by Gansey, eyes set on the only tolerable member of the societies in Ronan...

Gansey also makes a fun Dawes, tho. Like. The third hierarchal position is the grad student forever working on her PHD who just works to like do paperwork and maintain artifacts and shit if I remember correctly, and Gansey would fit in there too. Gansey fits everywhere. Ninth House is just a Gansey story /j

#ninth house #trc #the raven cycle #pynch #bluesey

[apocketfullofhobbits]

Your tag about the anger you feel at some readers seeing Adam and Ronan as codependent struck me.

I think of both connected series as metaphors for growing up and reckoning with who you are and what you want— The Dreamer Trilogy carries this over but in a more adult context. It's why I can't get into the Murderous Men in Black aspects of the story because they feel disconnected from what the narrative is trying to say. (I freaking love Hennessey and the underground market though... On that, where is Henry's mother?)

Right, Adam and Ronan. Ronan is an intense and passionate 'all or nothing' person. His love is wild and honest, open and unending. Ronan is not an easy choice for Adam to make. Adam who has survived by being careful and calculating, whose love is deep but compartmentalised and set aside for choices that are practical steps towards an idealised (but superficial) vision of success.

My interpretation of Adam is that on some level he knows he makes false idols (goals that are ultimately unfulfilling in the long term) shaped by pride and survival.

By choosing Ronan Adam is choosing to prioritise love and friendship over pride and ambition. It is Adam choosing to remain present and known rather than remote and lonesome. It is Adam choosing his emotional wellbeing over dreams dreamt by a furious and poverty stricken abused teenager. Choosing Ronan is Adam choosing to be happy over and over. It is a difficult choice.

However, it is one Adam keeps making and that is not co-dependency. It is a decision many teens and 20-somethings make. It is being in love and choosing to remain in love because nothing can be gained by destroying it but unnecessary misery. It is seeing a future with and without and burning down the path that doesn't includes who you don't want to be without. It is Adam and Ronan exploring who they are and what they want and choosing to be happy together.

yes! i agree wholeheartedly with everything u said!

something that needs to be said firstly tho is that my annoyance with this whole thing  in no way proportional to the actual size of the problem, for all i know it was just that one post i briefly saw when i foolishly ventured into the tags even tho i knew i shouldn’t. (also don't get me wrong i have nothing against codependent relationships or/and characters in media, i enjoys messy relationships immensely. i am the sickos guy glued to their window!)  but the topic is nonetheless very thought provoking, so im sorry, but gonna take this opportunity to rumble for a bit!

what is interesting to me is that whether or not adam actually uses the word in his head, i think he is always hyper vigilant against falling into codependancy himself bc growing up he always had this horrible example of his parents staying in a very unhappy marriage for years and years. so much of adam's choices are dictated by wanting to be as different from his parents as he can, and this is one of those things. he is determined not to repeat their mistakes. what’s tricky is not to overcompensate. this is where adam’s struggle lies. there needs to be a balance. we saw how unbalanced he was in the beginning, but over the course of trc he learnt that it’s not actually that scary to rely on other people sometimes. the world is not gonna end if he let’s his friends help him. it’s okay to care and let people in. but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still pondering the exact balance of it all the time; hypervigilance is baked into him.

“My interpretation of Adam is that on some level he knows he makes false idols (goals that are ultimately unfulfilling in the long term) shaped by pride and survival.” - yes and i think when his doubts came closer to the surface, when he found himself playing with the idea that maybe he could give up on the ivy league and go to the college closer to ronan and be happier, his hypervigilance was like ‘wait a second! are we getting too comfortable? to spoiled with love? are we losing our edge? this a slippery slop to becoming just like mom. better nip it in the bud! we are breaking up with ronan!”. and even if back then he just wasn’t yet ready to let go of the painful ambitions that kept him alive for so long, at least in the light of day he was able to resist the irrational unfounded fears and the overwhelming urge to fall back into self-isolation (masked as independence) that plagued him in the dead of the night.

and then cdtw happened and everything went to shit and i loved it! i love characters making mistakes and relationships getting unbalanced, swinging to much to one side, to the other, and then finding balance. i like how very yin-yang ronan and adam. ronan is chaos, passion, anarchy, abundance of emotions, rampant adhd; adam is order, precision, logic, politeness, willpower. but they balance each other out! that's why they work! adam needs a bit of chaos. to let go of control once in a while. ronan needs a solid ground to come back to. and when they strayed from each other, adam wilted without inherently chaotic magical energy like a plant without water, he closed himself of from everyone by lying to everyone and himself, desperately holding on to the notion that magic has no place in his definition of success. that there is magic and there is 'the real world'. u can't have both, so u must sacrifice one or the other. and all that only made him miserable and made him risk his life by scrying alone, just to fucking feel something. ronan went so far into chaotic side with bryde and hennessy that he lost his footing in the world entirely. he lost any hope in a world where the mundane and magical, order and chaos, can ever co-exist. so one must be sacrificed for the other.

and then. these two assholes literally speed run months of individual and couple's therapy with magic, and found the innermost hurt that caused all this mess, which is 'i don't know who the fuck i am. i am so afraid there is not a place for me in this world. in your world. i am afraid to let go of what kept me safe. i don't know who i am without it. i don't want to be alone. i am afraid. i need u'.

bit mad at them for using cheat codes to come to the point of absolute true vulnerability with each other instead of going through mortifying ordeal of Actually Communicating, but oh well, whatcha gonna do.

“ I think of both connected series as metaphors for growing up and reckoning with who you are and what you want— The Dreamer Trilogy carries this over but in a more adult context. It's why I can't get into the Murderous Men in Black aspects of the story because they feel disconnected from what the narrative is trying to say”. - yes! i agree! moderators and visionaries as a concept are so clunky - first of all this kind of hard magic just doesn't work with maggie's tendency to be as vague and mysterious as possible. they stood out like a sore thumb, they cheapened the series for me, and ultimately they (and the pointless and racist af nathan plot line too!) could have been removed from the series entirely with zero harm. the night market und the whole underground magic world make much more juicy setting than underdeveloped off brand spy movie extras running around aimlessly. so yeah, i have many many things i didn’t like in tdt, but adam and ronan’s relationship development is not one of them! its abt the only thing that made complete sense to me, no notes. it was maggie at her best. wish the rest of the series was as good as that.

#thank u for this opportunity to share my brain rot ramblings <3 #i hope it makes some sense! #trc #adam parrish #ronan lynch #greywaren spoilers #are we still tagging that?

[lizpaige]

do u agree that greywaren was lowkey bad

overall, i don’t think the dreamer trilogy was bad, BUT you can definitely tell that mstief had some feelings about it and it showed. specifically talking about how she wanted this spinoff to be an adult book series, but the publishers (and whoever else) pushed her for more YA. (i mean she stabbed the last book to the wall when she was done so liiiiike…)

but specifically greywaren being “lowkey bad” idk. i think it has its moments. like most if not all of mstief’s books the ending was rushed. there were a ton of questions left unanswered, but i do feel like she does that with most of her book series so i don’t know what i was expecting? i also hate a cheesy time jump epilogue esp after a rushed ending but thats me. i think she does character writing very well and confuses her readers with intricate plot and lore that doesn’t always line up.

however in tdt we get adam’s obliterated character arc (after so much growth in trc) which isn’t explored and what is (in gw) is not much altho in my opinion his choice to lie and create a new persona is very understandable and relatable. with ronan we finally get the answer he has been looking for all of trc and tdt “what am i” but then she sort of wraps him up with a neat bow and all his anger and frustration is gone (ch53 of gw). then we have declan who HATED his father and while i love the idea that his perceptions of his childhood are mixed and we are learning right alongside him, his feelings for his father are conflicted and not summed up in “everytime he hated niall he actually missed him”.

she does character development very well and so when we had key moments like adam and ronan’s reunion or the brothers discovering matthew was in fact alive or ronan and declan reuniting after his “be dangerous” moment, i wanted more. it felt like the author was done and it left us wanting more.

SHE DOES THIS tho. like look back to trc. every book ends a chapter after the real conflict of the story the real climax of it all. she just doesn’t normally shit on the real character evolving/resolution moments.

TLDR do i think it was the best thing she has written? no. i wish we got to read her adult book series idea instead since that didn’t have the moderators plot at all. BUT i think there’s a lot that folks (artists fic writers etc) can explore with the canon she wrote. i could go on and on about my feelings around tdt and they are conflicted and complicated feelings so sorry for the massive reply to a simple ask

#i have a lot of feelings #greywaren spoilers #greywaren #call down the hawk #mister impossible #trc #tdt #bllb #trk #asks

[hauntedpearl]

Hi doe can you explain the Raven boys to me cause when I tried to read the first book it was about the girl named Blue and she was going to like a magic school or something? People are always talking about this Gansey dude and no one ever talks about Blue isn’t she the MC?

hiii! okay yes blue is an MC but she's not THE MC. the first book is mostly her POV tho!

so the setting is this: Blue is born into a family of witches, and her powers are that she can see ghosts. but she thinks they're kind of useless powers because she can't really ""do"" magic per se. she does not go to a magic school or anything, her aunts and mom just teach her. then there are like. four boys who go to a private boarding school in town — they're the other protagonists! They are Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah. Gansey's kind of the ring leader. He's obsessed with finding the tomb of this one Scottish king called Glendower because there's a myth that whoever finds his tomb and unlocks it will be granted a wish or whatever so he researches about this stuff like crazy and gets involved in the supernatural in the process. he also drags his group of besties with him. they run into Blue one night while they're out doing this tomfoolery and then they all team up shenanigans ensue etc!

also for spice, Blue is cursed with the most Disney opposite curse of all time. If/when she kisses someone she truly loves, they will die. so that's fun.

overall the series is super fun tho!! like i read it a whole ago so i don't remember all the details properly but. OUGH. it's so beautifully written too. maggie stiefvater is kind of insane but man can she spin a story!

#doe's inbox #you should totally pick the book up if you can!!!! it's def worth your while!!! #sascha 🌿 #doe talks books #the raven cycle

[bookwyrminspiration]

please please please give me your thoughts and opinions on trc I need to know every thought you have had about the series ever

I would love to share! Have not read the dreamer trilogy yet, hence the reread because I'm finally getting around to it. I got to Ronan crying after trashing Adam's dorm and being banned, then for some reason got distracted from it.

But! There are a few things that first come to mind: ronan is so so precious to me. I have a type of favorite character and he is it. I would hold him in my hands but he'd never in a million years let me. He is raw and unbridled and fascinating. I don't think we'd get along great, but he's such a good character.

Second, I'm like 97% sure Blue and I have the same haircut. Not pictured: me five minutes ago tying my hair into the spikiest ponytail and trying desperately to find more clips because it's just not quite long enough to work, but I like it. Need more clips tho. Enamored with her eccentricity and commitment to it. When I first read her descriptions however many years ago, I didn't quite get it, but I do now and I aspire to be as unconventional and intentional as she is.

Another thing I can't stop thinking about: Noah. No other loss has hit me and stuck like him. It's wrenching, just how poignant his "death" is. I say death because I know he's dead, but I'm referring to how he quietly faded from time. It guts me every time I think about it because it's so unlike what you find in any other writing. As painful and raw as death can be, in other books, they aren't gone. Not fully. There are memories and memorabilia and fond thoughts and moments. There is a space where they were, and it may be empty but the space is there. Not for Noah. He isn't dead, he doesn't exist anymore. There are no thoughts, no space where he used to be. He's gone from the story in a way no other character death provides--and it hurts. Especially reading that scene where Ronan wrote remembered in the car window. Because I know he isn't. I know that the only place Noah exists is in our, the readers, minds. That he's only truly there in your first read through and you don't even know to treasure it. Because rereading it, you see him on the page and know he's not there. Not in the same way. At least to me. It is devastating and I don't think any death will ever compare to it for me.

This series was designed to be reread and even though it's been long enough I don't remember everything, it still hits. And I am immediately reminded why I adored the series so and why I read through it so fast, even though it hadn't been anything like what I thought it was about. I cannot believe I've let cdth and mister impossible sit on my shelf for so long--i've had cdth since like 2019, 2020 or something. really soon after it was released

i know the series just ended or something like that, and I'd been joking like "haha everyone else has reached the end of the story but since I haven't read it I get to live in a world where it isn't over <3" but now I am oh so aware that's it's over and that time it limited. i am going to reach the end and that will be it but I won't be the same. you know how that is, when a story ends and there's nothing new, and you can reread and talk about it and enjoy it but something has changed?

anyway, my point is wow I missed this series and I'm so glad I picked it up again on a whim

#trc #the raven cycle #quil's queries #nonsie #long post #i need to eat this series alive with my teeth #they are THE found family #also I know I didn't talk about everyone but i didn't wanna go overboard #and also I've forgotten like 95% of everything about henry #toga party. working with blue and staging and argument to keep her raven boy hating reputation intact #that's about it #wait something about a bee and not enough clothes #i didn't have the chance to grow fond of him my first read through but I know some people really are #so I will be entering into those books with a more open mind #oh and I'm part way through dream thieves at the moment #will also try to be open minded about kavinsky. as I wasn't too fond of him first time around either

[powm]

Oh I have a LOT OF posts and thoughts about greywaren ,it was rushed it dragged on ,it was incoherent and made so much sense, it lacked character and was jammed packed with themes like OOF totally agree with you. Bc while you're reading it [esp coming str8 from Mr.impossible] it's so engaging and bombastic and then u get to like 2/3 ways of the book and maggie goes "okay now u finish it" like it falls apart and knowing the whole tdt was suppaoed be more of an adult book and how bc of the demanding toxic fandom she completely lost joy for the series [scrapped the spinoffs] like I get why she just wanted to end it :// but when I think of how this is the DEFINITIVE end to trc I might just kill a man

...atleast we got our maniac pixie dream girl John wick declan moment

But yeah so MANY unanswered questions and plots like and MATTHEW??! BRYDE??! GOT SO SHAFTED?? AND WHERE ARE THE BROTHERS LYNCH? AND MÓR NOW HAS THE BARNS?? I THOT THEY WERE ALEGORY FOR FALSE PARADISE AND ADAM AND RONAN NEVER GOT TALKING ABOUT HOW NO THEY LOVED EACH OTHER IT WAS RONANS CHRONIC ILLNESS THAT WAS THE ISSUE, AND I GUESS ADAM DID GRADUATE HARVARD IS NOW AN FBI AGENT?? AND GANSEY MY BOY LIKE..I digress.

Anways love my boy noah and hennessy was great 💓

Anyways greywaren did not serve cunt and if Maggie was not a COWARD instead of the cop out ending she'd burn the barns bryde would kill ronana declan would kill mór bla bal shit would go wild

I did like the pynch proposal though gansey tho :)

ALL SO TRUE like yeah you can tell maggie has lost all the passion for the series she previously possessed its sooo sad. you're right so many unanswered questions the book was so ughhhh she literally made bs up to move the plot i was like what the fuck do you mean ronan can inhabit sweetmetals ??? also suddenly enthroning nathan like that. i am actually also so sad because ronan was so absent this entire book this is literally not the ending we deserved. AND YOU'RE INSANE FOR WANTING RONAN KILLED

#pynch proposal was actually the sweetest part :(

[gansey--thats-all-there-is]

gansey gets a bee tattoo. it's canon.

#him and blue go for tattoos #shes doing scattered sleeve tattoos‚ so they go quite a bit #one time gansey's like‚‚‚‚ blue should i get a tattoo? #and he gets. BEES. #theyre very cool. like three on his wrist #they scare him sometimes even tho they're just simple lineart‚ not realistic #but he shows it off all the time #and adam and ronan are like WHY #and he's like :) #save the bees! #blue also gets bees on her sleeve for him <3 #theyre matching <3 #i need to draw this now #gansey #trc #the raven cycle

[4giorno]

thinking abt gansey............. its literally crazy who couldve predicted this

#like i liked him just fine but he did make me go like okay we get 😑 sometimes #but AFTER THE RAVEN KING.......... i care he 😭😭😭😭😭 #not even just bc of the obvious aka the ending but just everything in that book #like my new blog title is make way for the raven king bc i now love gansey so much #he is not my fave tho jdjfjfhdjfjfjfjfkf im pretty sure my fave character is ronan #and then adam. before the raven king i wouldve said that blue was 3rd but dang #that book really made me care abt gansey hshfjfjf. so yea hes 3rd and then blue is 4th #even tho i obviously love her so im sorry to say that she is 'so low' 😭😭 #(but i dont like noah though...... is this blasphemy? im sorry ;___; so yeah noahs last) #wow i rambled again lmao anyway i love these characters and i cant believe #something actually made me care so strongly for gansey after all. #everytime i see a pair of wire frame glasses i think of him #(it has happened surprisingly many times in just this one day lol)

[transmasc-wizard]

autism? autism! me too!!! wanna rant about your special interests? go for it!

hello fellow autistic individual

be warned im about to talk a FUCK TON, specifically about the raven cycle. this post will very much need a "readmore" to keep it from clogging dashes

ANYWAY

the raven cycle is a YA urban fantasy quartet by maggie stiefvater published between 2012 and 2016, which also has a spinoff series "the dreamer trilogy" but ive only read the first Dreamer so far; i have a signed copy of the 2nd and am mildly worried ill ruin it. i first read TRC last year in july and am actually currently doing my 3rd read (via audiobook this time). So what is it about, you ask??? WELL

TRC stars 5 teenagers--Adam Parish, Ronan Lynch, Richard Gansey, Blue Sargent, and Noah Czerny. the boys meet blue at a restaurant and somehow drag her into their "quest"--find the body of Owen Glendower in the hills of virginia and wake him up. They want to do this because when gansey was 10 he died via wasp stings and was brought back to life with the voice of glendower talking to him and now he's OBSESSED with finding glendower. Along the way we find out Blue is gonna kill her true love, and that guy probably is gansey (who only has a year to live).

u may be thinking, 'alright, cool plot, but why special interest-worthy?" and i shall gently yell BECAUSE ITS THE BEST WRITING AND CHARACTERIZATION IVE EVER COME ACROSS

Maggie stiefvater knows how to make the best characters, like, ever, because she doesnt do the typical YA thing of "oh uwu here are their flaws: theyre too nice, too sweet, too naive". she's got shit like "purposely failing school" & "stupid about money and insensitive to friends about it" and "refuses to ask for help" and "drinks to cope", y'know, things that are actually flaws to overcome.

they've also all got amazing little traits just-to-them; blue really likes trees, layers her clothing, loves yogurt, is the only non-psychic in a family of them, & shreds her shirts to make them look more interesting. Ronan races cars, knows how to farm, LOVES his little pet bird (named Chainsaw btw), and grapples with being religious (catholic) vs being gay. Noah is quiet and "smudgy" and doesn't eat enough (because he doesnt. actually. have a stomach or like an actual brain really thats another thing tho). Gansey loves his journal and is terrified of wasps and eats avacado on his pizza and is really good at finding things. Adam wears a coca-cola shirt and is super focused around money (bc he Has None) and lives above a church and helps ronan do stupid shit. like, this is the stuff i thought of within 30 seconds for each character, and most of that alone is in the 1st book. like, it gets even more thorough as it goes on.

and the WRITING. i know exactly what the inside of gansey's car looks like and it wasnt boring to learn that. like, i still remember that stiefvater described that there's CDs in the backseat and beef jerky thats long expired and too many receipts. I remember 300 fox way (blue's house) doesnt have a single man living there and that there's a sewing-phone-cat room. I remember monmouth (gansey's house) was a factory but it's unknown what it produced but there's scorch marks on the walls and really high ceilings. I know blue adores the stars and trees and i know persephone (blue's mother's friend) listens to angry PHD music. Like, this was all peppered in casually but written in such a gripping way that its lodged in my brain. i was never once bored reading TRC, and ive gotten bored reading almost every other book, even the ones i love.

and the MAGIC is so cool, there's psychics and trees that speak (but only in latin!) and dragons made of fire that came out of people's heads and demon bugs and weird sticky stuff that tears apart the world. it's not all explained, and i love that, because it's explained enough that i'm satisfied but i don't somehow know more than all the characters combined.

... anyway i realize ive practically written an essay, and also i have to do my nano shit now cause theres not a ton of hours left in the day, but!!! soul is doing the smiley emote!! because raven cycle!!

anyway everyone should read it, it's very very cool

(also i will be posting my Autistic Gansey Theory at some point)

good day to all

#the raven cycle #trc #the raven cycle quartet #trc fandom #asks #special interests #i have 3 spins of rotating intensity lol #atm TRC is tied with writing as the biggest #this made my soul so happy #in which nico remembers he is a fandom blog too #books #bookblr #actuallyautistic #self dx autistic #not writblr

[piningeddiediaz]

Your analysis of MI pynch was so good. I was so surprised to see adam mentioned that often and what huge part hes playing and that it basically also revolves around him in some way. We see how clearly both love each other so so much. When ronan got told or was reminded by declan that he wanted adam, that was the only reason, i almost cried lol. It’s gonna be a tough one but i am 1000% sure ronan will realise what bryde is doing and that he does not agree with the things he wants to do and that he will find his way back to adam and both turn out stronger and even more in love lol. Adams part is clearly not over and they WILL end up together. Otherwise it wouldn’t make sense

thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I think it was done very well as well. often the main character's significant other being too present in their narrative can very easily fall into the trap of their story revolves around their s/o and I was really scared if Adam IS present in the book, he'll just be ronan's love interest and not like. the best character Maggie has ever written (in my not-at-all-unbiased-opinion obviously) so it wasn't even that Adam had such a huge part, but that his huge part in ronan's narrative didn't take away from ronan's story. it is ronan's story, and adam doesn't overshadow that but adds so much to it. Ronan has been struggling with his mental health since book 1 of the raven cycle, and though we all knew he hasn't really overcome it I think we (at least, myself definitely) had kind of forgotten that being in love does not magically solve your mental health issues. so I really liked how Maggie showed that in the book. yes, Ronan loves Adam. yes, Adam loves Ronan. the readers don't doubt that. she as the writer doesnt doubt that. Adam and Ronan both don't doubt that. ronan's insecurities aren't about Adam not loving him, or even Adam thinking Ronan isn't enough for him (to some extent) - his main issue is Ronan not thinking he is enough. I think that's why Declan's reminder that he wanted Adam, while was significant for Ronan, didnt immediately flick a switch. he knows he wants Adam, but he also wants to be more than he is right now. so I completely completely agree with what you said. Maggie may have kind of lied about no relationship drama (tho is it even relationship drama? I have another analysis in the works lol I'll get around to finishing it eventually) but I very very firmly believe that there is absolutely no chance of them nOT ending up together. she is way too good a writer to break up the relationship she spent 4 books developing (and is still developing, despite Adam not even being an official main character). It comes back to what Ronan said in cdth - they've been making the same memories for so long that he forgot it doesn't always have to be like that. this series is about Ronan going out to 'find himself,' to understand himself and his powers and how it affects who he is as a person. and once he has figured that out (and also figured out bryde is a manipulative piece of shit, and bryde isn't Ronan just because Ronan dreamt him) he WILL come back to Adam but this time their relationship will be even stronger because Ronan as a person will be stronger. and in the meantime Adam will do whatever possible (and more) to bring Ronan back because that's love!!! they love each other!

#sorry i turned this into another mini essay #apparently i had more to say #but again thank you for reaching out and telling me what you thought it means a lot! #i am very optimistic about this so *b99 jake gif* do NOT screw this up for us #mi spoilers #tdt meta #pynch #adam parrish #ronan lynch #mister impossible spoilers #mister impossible

[ganseys-hoe]

classes at my private school that I think the Gangsey would take

Language:

ok so there aren't any latin classes, but there is a French cinema and cultures class that I feel like Gansey would kinda fuck with

like he has very French vibes with his Harry Potter glasses and all the silk button downs he wears in my head

blue would 100% take Spanish bc you know she's preparing for that trip to venezuela, Henry tags along (he is financing the trip after all)

Adam takes AP Chinese lang and culture bc homeboy's trying to beef up those college apps

Ronan-i mean who are we kidding if its not latin Ronans not going, he might do Chinese lang tho just to be with Adam

History:

Gansey is for sure doing Honors Philosophy: The History of Ideas

I just know the teacher has a very love/hate relationship towards him bc on the one hand he's the only kid actually listening and on the other he keeps derailing the class with these weirdly specific moral quandaries about whether its ethical to wake someone if you don't know if they wish to be woken

blue is doing AP United States Government bc I like to think that instead of gansey becoming a senator she does

also she is an educated queen who likes to stay updated on current events

the teacher also has an issue with her though just because she keeps getting into arguments with the other kids on whether or not its important to put more money towards the preservation of national parks

Adam takes AP Microeconomics, he just wants to make money and honestly I respect that

the teacher loves him, he always turns in his work and is polite

they can't say the same for the menacing dude he sits next to though, that guy is just scary

science and math:

for these they all just do the natural progression, Adam might take an AP or honors class here or there because he's extra like that

English:

ok have patience because my school has a lot of weirdly specialized English classes, and this is the class I like the most so I have many thoughts

so blue takes Murder and Mayhem: The Villain in Literature which is basically reading and exploring villains and antiheroes in books

I just feel like she'd be interested in the dark side of things idk

Ronan takes Rhetoric: Conflict in the Classroom, which is a discussion based course where, from what I've heard, people debate about situations in the classroom

At the end of the year, they present what they feel could be improved about the school to the head of school, and I just KNOW Ronan would use this as an opportunity to fucking eviscerate all the board members lol

like he'd suffer through the entire year just to be able to curse them out

Adam takes Coming of Age in America because lets face it he's hoe for a good self discovery book

I wholly believe that he lives for the cheesy, YA protagonists who are "not like other girls" because he thinks he's unknowable the pretentious fuck

finally gansey, who takes World Beat: African and African Diaspora Literature because he's a worldly piece of shit who is interested in others cultures

in conclusion can the Gangsey come to my school pls

#I know they're not real #I just think that they'd like my school and also everyone here sucks and I need a gangsey #trc #bluesey #the raven cycle #the raven king #the dream thieves #the raven boys #blue lily lily blue #cdth #call down the hawk #jordan hennessy #declan lynch #pynch