ladystrallan

[ladystrallan]

More random tropes that I fucking love: Becoming the mask you wore.

Like oh shit, this character who was sent to spy somewhere under a false identity suddenly realises they've started to genuinely become the person they claimed to be? Someone who's been telling the same lies about who they are for so long that they're actually forgetting that the story isn't true? Finding themselves genuinely doing the things they pretend to do in front of people, when they're alone and nobody's watching? Answering to a name that wasn't supposed to be theirs without thinking?

Ooohh-hoh-hoh, you lost track of yourself in pretending to be someone else? You were only supposed to impersonate somebody, a plausible background and a name you came up with on the spot, and now that the people you were supposed to infiltrate have become your true companions? You lost yourself in the game you played, and no you no longer know who you truly are, and where your true loyalties lie? And both sides would mark you a traitor if you came out with the truth. On a scale of one to ten, how bad did you fuck up.

Fuck that is a good trope. Never seen it done badly. Pour that shit on a table and I'll chop it into lines and snort it.

#miss georgina dymov is that you?

[ladystrallan]

Friendly reminder!

AO3 has currently had to turn off guest comments due to an inundation of spam comments. If you are not logged in or do not have an account, you will not be able to leave comments on an authors work. There is currently not an ETA on when guest comments will be allowed again.

At a time when engagement is already low, authors are going to lose more comments.

If you have an AO3 account it is now more important than ever to leave a comment if you've taken the time to read someone's work.

Even if all you can do is leave "loved this" "great work" "!#^&## omg!!" It will bring such a smile to the author, I assure you!

If they have their tumblr listed, and you're a guest reader, consider leaving a comment through their ask box.

Comments are truly what keeps authors going and a large part of what makes the work and effort worth it.

[ladystrallan]

#i laughed out loud

[ladystrallan]

#currently rewatching #a series of unfortunate events #asoue #asoue netflix #asoue meme #count olaf

[ladystrallan]

New G&G fic!

Happiness

A G&G modern AU

Grigor packs up his stuff as he prepares to move out of their apartment.

Check it out here

#the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #g&g #grigor x georgina #modern au #the great fanfic #read on ao3 #fan fic #fan fiction #taylor swift #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

sport scholarships were invented when Lord Grantham suddenly accepted Thomas Barrow's homosexuality as soon as he realised he was decent at cricket

#downton rewatch

[ladystrallan]

If you had to pick, what's the ONE trait in a fictional character that makes you immediately go "oh this one's mine"

#woman who everyone thinks is selfish and shallow but is actually way more complex than that #and is also usually the smartest person in the room

[ladystrallan]

The weird way The Great frames infidelity

The Great is a show which portrays many extramarital relationships. However, it is quite inconsistent with the way in which they are framed by the narrative. This portrayal results in a strange theme of ‘cheating is okay if you don’t love your spouse’. Let’s look at all of the affairs in the show and how they are framed:

1. Catherine and Leo: this affair is consensual from all sides until it isn’t. Peter is the one who sets up Catherine and Leo, who she ends up falling in love with. Peter only starts to have a problem with this relationship once he falls in love with Catherine, and we all know how that ends. Catherine is not portrayed as in the wrong for cheating, because her marriage to Peter is loveless and he is a horrible person in season 1. Additionally, Peter is also not framed as bad for being jealous, only for killing Leo.

2. Peter and George: the most fucked up relationship in the show. Both are married; George to Grigor who she does love, and Peter to Catherine who he doesn’t love (at first). It is also pretty evident that their relationship started long before Peter married Catherine. There is an obvious power imbalance here. Peter is the absolute ruler of the country and George is his subject. No matter how ambiguous the question of consent is, he could absolutely have her killed if he wanted to. A lot of people forget how volatile and absolutely cutthroat Peter was in season 1. Catherine is hurt when Peter invites her into a threesome with George, but his infidelity largely doesn’t matter after she decides she doesn’t love him. Peter cheating on his wife is pretty much not a big problem at all and just adds to reasons why he is a ‘bad person’ in season 1. There is also a second element that makes this affair ‘worse’. George’s husband is Peter’s best friend. We see just how distraught Grigor is about this affair, finally snapping and trying to kill Peter. George is framed as an ‘evil whore’ for cheating on her husband with his best friend, while no one mentions how Peter is fucking his best friend’s wife. Peter is the emperor of Russia. He literally could have chosen anyone to be his mistress and he chose his best friend’s wife. Additionally, in the 18th century ‘mistress of the king’ was a legitimate position and one of the only ways for women to improve their position in court. She also makes many references to how she only does this to keep her (and Grigor’s) position in court. (See scenes from s1e5 and s1e9)

3. Peter and Joanna: this one is also a mess. Joanna is obviously framed as bad for trying to seduce her daughter’s husband. Peter is framed as in the wrong— but there is a bit of ‘he couldn’t help himself because Joanna seduced him’— but mostly because of who he cheated with. It’s not that big of a deal that he cheated, it’s bad because he fucked her mother. (And then she fell out the window and died and he covered it up)

4. Grigor and Marial: Similarly to Catherine and Leo, this relationship is also ‘person finds true love outside of their evil spouse’ except George was not an abusive murderous tyrant, but that’s besides the point. This affair is framed as very triumphant for Grigor; he has finally escaped his toxic marriage! Even though his relationship with Marial is very toxic. She is constantly rude to him, lies to him, hates his friends, not to mention how she treats him after Peter’s death. She wants to be the only person in his life. When George returns from France to find that her husband has left her for another woman, she is justifiably upset but is framed by the narrative as in the wrong even though she does nothing to break up Grigor and Marial. Marial is also married to Maxim but he’s 11 so it doesn’t really matter, and the fact that he is upset about her infidelity is played for laughs more than anything.

Honorable mentions:

- Hugo and Agnes: they both make passes at other people but are both always in on it

- Catherine and the American ambassador: it’s fine because she does it to get back at Peter for fucking her mother

- Peter’s countless hookups: don’t matter because they mostly happen when he and Catherine are not in love

- Tatyana and Arkady: Arkady gets really defensive at the idea of Tatyana doing anything with Peter, but she wants to take George’s place as his mistress. This is pretty evident when they think Pugachev is Peter and Tatyana is desperately trying to fuck him. It doesn’t amount to much of anything

When you look at all these relationships and how they are framed, one thing stands out. The only person who is vilified for cheating is George. Even though the dynamic between her, Peter, and Grigor is super complex, the one takeaway the narrative and most people in the fandom get is ‘George is an evil slut’. Even when she gets her ‘punishment’ and loses Peter, Grigor, and some of her standing in court, it’s still not enough and people want her dead. The theme turns out to be ‘cheating is only bad if you’re George’.

#posted on Reddit first #the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #the great season 1 #the great season 2 #the great season 3 #catherine the great #elle fanning #peter iii of russia #nicholas hoult #catherine x leo #peter x catherine #petercatherine #grigor x georgina #anti grigor/marial #grigor x marial #peter x georgina #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

This Love Chapter 10 posted!

Read chapter 10 (Sparks Fly) here

#the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #grigor x georgina #g&g #the great season 3 #historical fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #taylor swift #sparks fly #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

The writers of The Great: Grigor and George are over! He’s with Marial now!

Me, going down with my ship:

#the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #the great season 3 #grigor x georgina #anti grigor/marial #g&g #kind hearts and coronets #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

👀 👀 👀 👀 👀

#omg sibella… #how have I never seen these gifs before??? #gglam

[ladystrallan]

tfw had she not been so sure that u loved her she should have never risked marrying Lionel

[ladystrallan]

New chapter of This Love!

Read chapter 9 (Back to December) here

#the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #the great season 3 #the great fanfic #grigor x georgina #g&g #historical fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #read on ao3 #taylor swift #back to december #this love #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

Holiday fic!

Happy holidays everyone! Check out my new holiday G&G fic ‘tis the damn season (inspired by the Taylor Swift song) here

#happy holidays #merry christmas #the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #the great fanfic #grigor x georgina #g&g #tis the damn season #fan fic #fan fiction #read on ao3 #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

New chapter of Even If She Falls posted!

Chapter 7: Sometimes

George and Peter play Dare while Grigor is away on a hunting trip

Check it out here

#the great #the great hulu #georgina dymov #charity wakefield #peter iii of russia #nicholas hoult #grigor dymov #gwilym lee #the great fanfic #historical fanfiction #fan fic #fan fiction #even if she falls #fucking lemoniest of lemon

[ladystrallan]

feeling many emotions about how sibella hallward was clearly the smartest character in gentleman’s guide but she obfuscated it with inane conversation and an obsession with pink and a fickle personality because she knew the only way to survive as a woman from her background was to play dumb and marry rich and in the end it still bit her in the ass because lionel turned out to be a (strongly hinted at) jerk who made her abandon much of the facade she’d cultivated to even maintain a shred of individuality in her own carefully curated servitude like. sibella always knew she would wind up playing second fiddle to a man but tried to ensure she chose a good one that would allow her to play second fiddle the way She Wanted but then lionel took control of her life and ripped even that small bit of freedom she had left away from her! she was so smart and played all her cards right even at the expense of her own relationship with monty and it failed her! god!!!

#yes to all of this #sibella hallward #a gentleman's guide to love and murder #gglam

[ladystrallan]

ao3 wrapped [writers edition]

How many words have you written this year?

How many works did you publish this year?

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

What work of yours has the most hits?

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

Favorite title you used

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

What work was the quickest to write?

What work took you the longest to write?

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

What’s your longest work of the year?

What’s your shortest work of the year?

What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Your favorite character to write this year?

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?

Which work of yours have you reread the most?

How many kudos in total did you get this year?

Which work has the most comments?

Did you do any collaborative works this year?

Did you write any gifts this year?

Did you receive any gifts this year?

What’s your most common category?

What do you listen to while writing?

Favorite work you wrote this year?

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Biggest surprise while writing this year?