#Cordelia Vorkosigan

[cookie-nom-nom]

Reading Barrayar I felt trapped in Cordelia’s head. It’s incredibly effective for the dread of war as a civilian. Plans and machinations happening beyond you, with no input. Hearing of things happening that seem far off and like yeah that’s awful but then suddenly it dominoes in a way that destroy your life and it’s not your fault and you could've done nothing at all to prevent it. Especially the tension of being hunted in the Dendarii mountains with no idea how the war is going, if they’ve already lost, if it is already too late. Cordelia is doing actively important things in service of the war by sheltering Gregor, yet there's this pervasive feeling of helpless lack of control. She spends most of the book with this dread of not knowing when the next threat to their family will come, and I don’t think it could’ve been done so effectively if we had access to the information Aral had. I found it frustrating at times, since it felt like Cordelia was swept up in events with little agency (at first; obviously our dear captain didn’t remain there). I wanted so badly to be with Aral seeing and knowing and making the decisions.

But that’s the point! Most people have absolutely zero agency in those situations and little information and it’s terrifying. Barrayar captures the feeling of being a civilian in war where so many narratives narrow in upon the heroes and 'men of history' that control conflicts. That's what readers expect. I think that’s why I loved the ending so much. After so long trapped with Cordelia, just trying to survive the larger machinations of Barrayar’s bloody politics, it felt so, so good to finally be on the offensive, to have information the opponents don’t, to finally have power and the means to control what happens. It's a relief to the constant tension of having no agency in a giant conflict that frankly Cordelia had no business being affect by, yet was swept up in because of her love of Aral.

Which is the second thing I deeply enjoyed in Barrayar. I love how the war is made so human. A messy tangle of human relationships control it. I can’t stop thinking about the hostages. There are just so many children being used because the war holds the future hostage. Tiny precious Miles utterly incapable of comprehending how large a pawn he is. Young grieving Gregor vital to the plans of both sides whether dead or alive. Elena, who should be of no importance but she is because that's the kid of an unimportant soldier, just like every other hostage is another piece in the web of the war. I keep thinking about the relatives of Aral’s men caught in the capital. The hostages that Aral refuses to take. Everyone just trying to take care of those they love, and the points where they must put other priorities over their relationships are heart wrenching.

Barrayar looks dead on at how little people try to survive a civil war. From the mountains where the fighting seems so far, and information is slowed to a trickle of the singular mailman. The invasion of forces that disrupts people who may not even know there’s a war yet. The scientists and the genius lost in a single blast that goes unnoticed. The urban populations trying to sneak in food and people and keep their heads down. Random citizens debating who to sell out, weighing risks and bounties, if it will get them the favor with the occupiers that will help them survive. All so small in the grand scheme of things, and yet they are who Barrayar concerns itself with.

Cordelia’s uncertainty and fear would’ve been undermined if we were allowed to see in the heads of people driving the conflict, because Barrayar isn’t about those people. It is the desperation of two mothers, powerless and kept in the dark, that topples the regime.

Addendum: Cordelia’s relationship to Aral firmly places her in an upper class position that is important to note when discussing the role of civilians/‘little people’ within this analysis. But as a woman on Barrayar she is extremely limited in the power she is allocated, especially compared to someone like Aral, which would be the military leadership POV that novels more focused on the grander scope of war would utilize. Again not to say Cordelia has no agency or power, but it is not to the degree of the people in charge. Thus I place her alongside the average people swept up in a war outside their control. Still, her position as a Vor Lady gives her some access knowledge and connections that she turns into power, which while limited are far more than the average citizen. Her significance to Vordarrian is exclusively viewed as yet another hostage, an underestimation that Cordelia readily exploits, but still afforded only due to her status. Cordelia occupies a position of importance but not power beyond the scope of the people she’s formed direct relationships with, which only further ties into the essay's thesis.

#I found it so so frustrating at first to be trapped with Cordelia until I realized. That's the point. She's trapped too. #Also probably a symptom of me being an omniscient 3rd person writer. I want to explore everyone and feel trapped in just 1 head #anyway probably mispelled so many character names plz have mercy I'm an audio book boi #y'all I meant this to be a very brief couple of sentence about a nitpick but then i just had to unpack author intentions. Sigh. #kinda miss writing english essays ngl. #vorkosigan saga #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #aral vorkosigan #vorkosigan analysis #barrayar #literary analysis #cordelia vorkosigan #something to nom on

[thesunlikehoney]

Re-reading Shards of Honor for the seventeenth time and honestly Aral proposing to the first woman he's ever been attracted to five days after meeting her would be really fucking pathetic if Cordelia was not super embarrassingly into it. She's sitting here heart fluttering blood rushing stomach turning in flip-flops like "You don't deal in small change, do you?" NO HE DOESN'T. AND NEITHER DO YOU.

#vorkosigan saga #cordelia vorkosigan #aral vorkosigan #i love them so much #the only love at first sight story i will accept #because it's not love at first sight it's respect at first sight and they build a love that will outlast two wars from that #they are disgustingly into each other and i am HERE FOR IT

[jennelikejennay]

Random thought:

Spock's mother, Amanda, and Cordelia Vorkosigan would really hit it off. Both the only person of their background on the planet. Both constantly baffled by the customs around them. Both using their emotional intelligence to make sense of a society that is lacking in that kind of thing—while at the same time respecting that society and not really wanting to go home.

Both worrying constantly about their damaged sons while having to be hands-off to avoid smothering or holding back those sons. Knowing they've allowed their sons to assimilate fully into a culture that isn't theirs, hoping it wasn't a terrible mistake.

Yeah, those two deserve a long talk over coffee.

#star trek #vorkosigan saga #amanda grayson #cordelia vorkosigan

[halfdeadhalfdrunk]

- A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold

#Lois McMaster Bujold #the vorkosigan saga #cordelia vorkosigan #this isn't cynicism #this is idealism - with style

[unbizzarre]

Cordelia Arrives on Barrayar

Was this comic confusing to read?

Please let me know. critiques welcome :)

Not sure if the comic really flows or is all that funny, but I entertained myself making it so here ya are. Kindof a shitpost? Vordarian, Serg/Vorrutyer (forgot they were two separate people until after I finished drawing) and young Gregor, Team Rocket posing. 

#Vorkosigan #vorkosigan saga #Cordelia Vorkosigan #ges vorrutyer #vordarian #Vordarian's Pretendership #prince serg #gregor vorbarra #vorkosigan fanart #fanart #scifiart #shitpost #comic #fan comic #vorkosigan comic #lois mcmaster bujold #bujold

[curious-kat]

Trust Fall: a new Vorkosigan fanfic

Words: 8,638

Pairing: Simon Illyan/Aral Vorkosigan/Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan

Rating: Teen and up; No archive warnings apply

Summary: Early during the Regency, Simon Illyan wakes up with a telepathic connection to his two closest friends: Aral and Cordelia. Will this force Simon to actually address his latent feelings for Aral? Not if Simon can help it.

#vorkosigan #vorkosigan fanfic #vorkosigan saga #simon illyan #aral vorkosigan #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #cordelia vorkosigan #ot3 #trust fall #my fanfic #my writing #I've been working on this one off and on for nearly a year #so glad to finally publish it! #i'm quite pleased with the result #definitely a case of 'write the fic you want to read'

[zigraves]

Hey, Vorkosigan fandom! If I happen to get a little batch of enamel pins made - just plain brown and silver, no more than an inch in size - would there possibly be some fellow fandom interested in getting a little Vorkosigan house emblem pin? Something like this, which is a “simplified for easy production” iteration based off of several versions of the house emblem spotted on various official and fan sites:

And on a different note, votes please for my inevitable Cordelia Vorkosigan Goes Shopping cosplay now I’m solidly in my 30s and no longer feeling too young to reasonably cosplay Cordelia. Do I carry the severed head in: 1) A nice fabric tote bag 2) a high end gift bag 3) a regular plastic “bag for life” type shopping bag

I will almost certainly hollow the severed head out and use it to store my phone, room key, etc.

#vorkosigan saga #Cordelia Vorkosigan #I made pins for the Night Vale fandom back in the day and fancy doing it again #lois mcmaster bujold

[kareenvorbarra]

Summary: While browsing the Vorhartung Castle Archives, 18-year-old Gregor finds an old propaganda vid from Vordarian's Pretendership.

Characters: Gregor Vorbarra, Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, Kareen Vorbarra (discussed) 

Warnings: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con (in the context of Kareen's forced betrothal to Vordarian)

Notes: Continuing my streak of mostly writing fics for this fandom that are either about Kareen, or other people being sad about Kareen’s death. We’re at 5 out of 6 now! 

I’ve been working on this one since...2015, apparently, so it feels really good to have it finished. 

#vorkosigan saga #gregor vorbarra #cordelia vorkosigan #my fic

[quietflorilegium]

"I want to give her everything. But I don't know how!" An odd smile turned the Countess's lip. "When you give each other everything, it becomes an even trade. Each wins all." Mark shook his head, baffled. "An odd sort of Deal." "The best."

Lois McMaster Bujold, “A Civil Campaign”

#a civil campaign #lois mcmaster bujold #mark vorkosigan #cordelia naismith #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #cordelia vorkosigan #love #relationships #healthy relationships

[thesunlikehoney]

I'm not gonna rb this post for the third time but re-reading the quotes again I was hit by--

“But pain... seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?”

This is where Miles got it from. In the early books especially Miles strives to be worthy of his father, worthy of his father's legacy and his father's home. But this??? This-- Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain? THIS!!! This is basically Miles entire life philosophy!!!!!

He has not known a time when he has not been in pain, when he has not been living in anticipation of pain. Every physical activity he does has to be calculated carefully. Is the risk worth it? Is the damage worth the reward? Is the pain worth the glory?

Cordelia chose Aral and chose all the pain that he carried. "But when he's cut, I bleed." She chose Barrayar, chose to have a Barrayaran husband and a Barrayaran child even though she knew-- "Barrayar eats it's children." She tells Miles to be a moving target because he was almost assassinated twice before he was born. He is a target. He will always be a target. But damn her, he will be a moving target. Her son will learn how to stand on brittle bones, he will learn how to walk, he will learn how to run. He will live, live, live.

Cordelia chose the pain of Barrayar for the glory of love. She loves Aral. She loves Miles. She loves Gregor and the Koudelkas and Alys and Ivan and Simon and Bothari and Elena. She has so much love in her life, so many glorious moments of love, moments that she won in addition to the pain. And that is what she teaches Miles. Find what glory will make the pain worth it. Pain is going to come regardless. Endure it. Find Joy. Make your own meaning.

And for Miles, it's not love exactly. He is loved, he has always been loved, he has never doubted that he is loved. For him that glory is recognition, it is respect, it is trust. That is what makes his pain worth it, those moments when he is seen for who he is and understood for what he is capable of. Those moments when he can save people and serve people and inspire people.

Miles runs full tilt into life. Forward momentum is the law he lives by. He is a target but he has never stopped moving, never stopped fighting to win those moments of glory.

#miles vorkosigan #cordelia vorkosigan #vorkosigan saga #i have so many feelings on this #miles is so very clearly both his parent's child in the best ways

[unhelpfulfemme]

Another thing I liked is how Laurent's trauma is handled, because usually when a character has a Secretly Traumatic Backstory there's some kind of annoyingly maudlin scene about it. Either they get into some kind of big conflict with the love interest and are forced to explain themselves so they don't get judged or dumped, or the love interest intrudes on a vulnerable moment and sees them being abused or somehow handling the consequences of that abuse, or they are explained the circumstances by a benevolent third party, and this changes their view of the abused character because now they're god's poorest meow meow and I just fucking hate it every time.

Like, this is why I stopped reading this type of story: because the amount of crowding and backing into a corner and privacy violation that happens to abused characters in order to coax them into opening up about it and reassure them that they're okay is so annoying. I feel like I've been psychologyposting on main too much lately, so I might explain later why I feel this way or I might not but in any case I hate it.

I love that this book is the literal opposite of that, that Damen not only doesn't crowd Laurent and insist that he open up, but that Damen ensuring space and privacy and time to calm down for Laurent when he's overwhelmed is repeatedly portrayed as an act of friendship and caring and love (that Laurent later reciprocates, because they both lose their heads when something pushes their buttons and understand this about each other).

I also love how Damen doesn't fall in love with Laurent because Laurent is sad and fucked up, or because he's so brave to have put up with the abuse, or because Damen too is sad like Laurent (I'm physically restraining myself from going off on a rant about how shared trauma is hardly ever a good foundation for a relationship): no, he falls in love with Laurent because he's whip-smart, and a good leader, and funny, and tender once he opens up, and a lateral thinker, and a man of integrity who keeps his promises and pays back his debts (and because he's pretty and blonde and good at sporty shit that Damen likes). Some of these things may have been shaped by the awful shit that happened to Laurent, as they were also probably shaped by his station or his education or his body type or any other circumstance of his life, but it's refreshing to have a character who went through awful shit but who also has other things going on for him that make him loveable instead of being completely defined by his trauma. And even when Damen finds out, the way he thinks about Laurent literally doesn't change at all - the things he likes about Laurent are still seen in the same light as always, Laurent's personality as a whole is still the same, even his attitude towards what Laurent did to him when they first met doesn't change much (as we see in the short story epilogue). And even this last bit is really cool because Laurent is never stripped of his agency or made out into some sort of helpless victim currently, both of which would probably mortify him with how much he's trying to establish that he's not at any opportunity.

And I also like how it's not necessary for Laurent to tell Damen about it in order for them to be close, nor does Damen push him into it. And everyone else seems to agree that it's Laurent's story to tell when and how he wants it told, except for the villain of the piece, who reveals it in the most awful way possible. This is particularly important because Damen spends three books grabbing everyone in Laurent's life by the shoulders and shaking them and going, "Why do you care about this guy??? Have you noticed that he's kind of an ashole?? Why are you loyal to him?? Why???" and no one ever says anything, because they're protective of Laurent and don't want to take away his agency or privacy because it's his fucking story to tell. Even after Damen finds out, we don't see him mention it and he probably lets Laurent open up or not on his own terms, as he does with everything else that doesn't directly concern him. Even though we've seen through Laurent's dialogue time and time again that he's probably conceptualizing it in some fucked up ways in his own head and needs yet to realize that he's not some kind of twisted pervert for what happened to him, crowding him about it before he's ready won't accomplish much.

And the story itself backs all this by never being maudlin about it even though it's obvious what happened pretty early on (I figured it out really early, I remember suspecting it almost immediately and being dead sure of it by the Ancel scene in the garden); it kind of elipses around it, gives hints and parallels to other characters in similar circumstances, has Laurent say incoherent shit that makes sense in context, has other characters hint at it, but with Laurent being one of the central characters it's cool that the story gives him that respect and doesn't wallow in the tragedy of it all.

#captive prince #I'm gonna be honest I've only read one other story where this kind of well-meaning breaking of boundaries was explicitly portrayed as bad #and it was a darth maul-centric fic of all things #special mention for my most beloathed cordelia vorkosigan pop psychology philosophy of talking at people until they #understand why they're wrong to feel bad about something #which drove me up the wall even though I liked those books

[regallibellbright]

“It’s… not what Tante Cordelia is most famous for, on Barrayar,” Martya offered after a moment.

Cordelia: I’m a successful survey captain, but do they call me Captain Naismith, Betan explorer?

Cordelia: I was foster-mother to the Emperor and influenced his education, but do they call me Lady Vorkosigan, influencer of Barrayaran politics for a generation?

Cordelia: I was even a war hero, even though I didn’t do most of what I’m credited for.

Cordelia: But you bring home ONE SEVERED HEAD in a shopping bag -!

#i guess this is a vorkosigan saga liveblog now #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #a civil campaign #vorkosigan saga #decapitation mention

[mizeliza]

I think a lot about how in one of the later books someone says something along the lines of really the only person who simon illyan is afraid of is cordelia, due to the lasting power of first impressions, and remember that when they met, cordelia was free aboard a barrayaran ship and covered in the blood of a dead admiral

#vorkosigan saga #the vorkosigan saga #simon illyan #cordelia naismith vorkosigan

[mouseinamushroomhouse]

Cordelia & her boys

#vorkosigan saga #my kingdom for a live action vorkosigan adaptation #cordelia naismith vorkosigan #miles vorkosigan #gregor vorbarra

[everlovingt]

One thing I find really interesting about Cordelia as a character is the separation of her reputation and her character, and that it gets called out only subtly in the Vorkosigan saga. Spoilers below the jump.

So, for a good chunk of the Vorkosigan saga, Cordelia is referred to by the other characters (Miles especially, but also Kareen and her parents, Duv, etc.) as the utterly composed, utterly competent, razor incisive, and emotionally controlled Captain and Vor lady that everyone else can only aspire to.

And there’s no question that Cordelia is an amazing woman who has done amazing things.

But.

Cordelia is also a person who fell in love with a self-destructive aristocrat on the other side of a war, fled her home and family, built a new family, watched Barrayar try its best to eat the new family, and came out fighting on the other side.

So, Cordelia is amazing, but she’s also crazy. And she knows it! We don’t see much of Cordelia’s thoughts once we’re in Miles’ narrative, but the book that clinches it for me is Mirror Dance. Miles is missing, presumed dead, and then Mark appears, and then Aral goes through heart failure, and Mark is the one that sees how hard Cordelia is working to hold it all together. Because Cordelia wanted to build a family with Aral and a horde of little babies, and instead Barrayar tried to eat her first son, and now she has one chance to build a relationship with her second son (maybe), and all of three of them are doing their utmost to get themselves killed, and she can’t help that her heart is riding on all of them making it. She is just trying to help each of them by being the partner or mother they need.

She is, as she calls herself, a fool for love. And it’s not a happy thing.

And so I think it’s very special (and is more headcanon than text) that Mark is the one who gets a glimpse of Cordelia in Mirror Dance and realizes that she has an inner life with its own thwarted wants and twisting pains. Because it helps him realize that she’s not perfect and untouchable, and if she can keep moving, maybe he can, too. I’m not sure Miles has ever had this view of his mother.

All of that is part of why I really like Gentleman Jole and the Req Queen. It gives Cordelia a chance to find some ease. And the coda to all of the above is the way in which Cordelia lets go of her fears about baby injuries as she raises Aurelia. To paraphrase Illyan, being Miles’ mother must have been a privilege and a terror. It must be so different to have a chance to pursue happiness.

#vorkosigan saga #Cordelia #kinda rambly #kept trying to write this and losing it in drafts

[thirdwifeofriversong]

my partner has a vorkosigan saga conspiracy theory about beta colony that i’ve been given permission to share

she basically conjectures that “steady freddy” is an ai, and all the elections are rigged for him to win, but despite people not voting for him, he’s been programmed with the best interests of the betans at heart, so people aren’t super upset at their preferred candidate not winning (*cries in american) because freddy is still doing a pretty good job (because he was programmed with the intent, knowledge, and drive to protect the well-being of his people).

(will reblog with page number references after i have my copy of cordelia’s honor back)

#vorkosigan saga #beta colony #betans #shards of honor #cordelia's honor #cordelia naismith vorkosigan