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khaire-traveler · 6 months

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Random Greek Deity Facts

- Artemis has been associated with horses in the past.

- Ares has associations with owls.

- There are ancient gravestones with reliefs on them that historians still cannot tell if the art is of Dionysus or Jesus.

- It is common for historians to struggle identifying if a statue is of Artemis or Apollo because they often look so much alike.

- Hephaestus is a god of fire.

- Maia, the Mother of Hermes, was thought to assist in raising both Dionysus and Hephaestus.

- Hypnos is said to live in a massive cave, sleeping with thousands of his sons.

- Rather than blood, Greek gods are said to have something called Ichor running through their veins; no one is quite sure what "Ichor" actually is.

- Both Apollo and Artemis are deities of light; it is not just Apollo. Along with this, it is believed Leto may also be a goddess of light.

- It is commonly believed that the hyacinth flower is not actually the flower Hyacinthus was infamously transformed into; most sources seem to agree that it was likely either an iris or a larkspur.

- At one point in the Dionysiaca, Dionysus wages a war against India. The goddess Rhea is said to have gathered troops for him, and Zeus was said to have been the one to task Dionysus with going to war in order to allow him to join the gods on Mount Olympus.

- Demeter's chariot is pulled by two giant winged serpents; she has literal dragons pulling her around, and no one is talking about it.

- The Python was a child of Gaia, and before Apollo took up the Oracle in Delphi, there was actually an Oracle with Gaia in that location.

- The twins Castor and Pollux, who made up the Gemini constellation, were commonly worshipped throughout ancient Greece under the title of the "Dioscuri" or "Dioskouroi".

- Also regarding the Dioskouroi, the name "Castor" ("Kastor") may translate to "Beaver".

- The famous epithet "Paean" of Apollo was also listed on an ancient Mycenaean tablet that listed the names of separate deities. It is, therefore, possible that Paean was once a separate god who later became associated/merged with both Apollo and his son Ascelpius.

- Besides being an epithet, a Paean was also a type of devotional chant/song that was sung in honor of Apollo. Some ancient sources claim that the event of singing a Paean could actually be quite loud, involving clouds of stomping/banging and movement.

- The masculine version of Hekate's name, "Hekatos", was an epithet for the god Apollo; both names can be translated to "worker from afar".

- The first record of the more "traditional" view of a werewolf comes from the Greek myth about King Lycaon, when Zeus transformed into a wolf for ten years as punishment for tricking the gods into consuming human flesh (yes, you read that right).

- In the myths, Zeus and Hermes have a lovely Father-Son bonding trip of destroying an entire village (except for one home) for not showing either of the disguised gods hospitality as poor travellers.

- Both Apollo and Zeus were seen as gods who purified "blood-guilt" - a condition which was caused by the killing of another person and required immense purification.

- Cerberus is described as a fully sentient being who can communicate as other immensely powerful children of Gaia could, meaning he is akin to the gods in terms of intelligence rather than being like an overgrown dog.

- Hermes is said to be the inventor of offerings, specifically animal sacrifices.

- One origin of the Pegasus was Poseidon and Medusa doing the devil's tango.

- There is a tale that claims Hermes to be the one who granted Aesop his knowledge of fables.

- According to some ancient sources, Cerberus has as many as fifty heads, a mane of snakes, the claws of a lion, and a snake tail.

- Iris was not only the goddess of rainbows but was also the personal messenger of Hera and was prominently featured in The Iliad delivering many messages on behalf of the Olympian gods.

- Eros has been depicted as the child of Aphrodite and Ares, the child of Ouranos and Aphrodite, the child of solely Aphrodite, the child of Poros and Penia, the child of Ouranos and Gaia, the child of Zephyrus and Iris, and a primordial being who simply came into being. So, where did Eros actually come from? Your guess is as good as any.

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That's all for now! Let me know if y'all enjoyed these and would like more. 🧡

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|| Sources ||

- Theoi.com (of course)

- The Iliad by Homer

- Theogony by Hesiod

- The Dionysiaca by Nonnus

- Information from various museum trips in Athens and Delphi, Greece (sorry, I don't remember the exact sources 💀)

#helpol #hellenic polytheism #hellenic pagan #hellenic pantheon #greek mythology #please reblog this version with the sources

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aspoonofsugar · 3 months

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Have yo read Captive Prince? What do you think of Laurent's character? Does he foil any other characters (besides being mind to Damen's heart)?

Hi!

Yes, I have and I love Laurent <3 He has the most complex arc and is at the centre of the major conflict, so he foils several characters, who are used to explore his personality and to progress his arc.

In general, I would say three major jungian archetypes are used in Laurent's story:

Inner Child = the childish and most vulnerable part of a person, which is influenced by one's younger years. Laurent's inner child is embodied primarily by Nicaise, but also by every boy abused and raped by the Regent.

Shadow = the repressed part, which the person doesn't want to aknowledge. Laurent has severals: the Regent himself, Aimeric and Jokaste. They all embody Laurent's most negative side.

Anima/Animus = the anima is the female side of a man and the animus is the male side of a woman. It is usually used in romantic subplots to show two characters growing closer. Here, it is embodied by the bond between Laurent and Damen.

Laurent's arc is one where he integrates with Damen, but to succeed he also needs to save his inner child and to face his shadow. Or to fail and try again.

BROTHERS AND LOVERS

Laurent and Damen foil each others' brothers:

Laurent foils Kastor: both are the unfavourite child, but Laurent adores Auguste, while Kastor resents Damen. At the same time, Damen perceives them in opposite ways. Damen initially doesn't aknowledge the good in Laurent, while he doesn't see the evil in Kastor. It is as Nikandros says. At the beginning of the story, Damen sees things in black and white. By getting to know Laurent he learns complexity and that the world is in shades of grey. He integrates his own heart with Laurent's mind. His own idealism with Laurent's wisdom.

Damen foils Auguste: both are strong fighters and beloved leaders, able to inspire others. The moment Auguste dies, Laurent loses his heart and it is only with Damen that he learns to trust and to open up again. It is also through Damen that he overcomes Auguste's death and his sense of inferiority, which is carefully nurtured by the Regent. Laurent is brilliant, but his arc is about showing vulnerability and find new faith in others. He integrates his mind with Damen's heart. His wisdom with Damen's idealism.

So, as you said, Laurent is the mind to Damen's heart and has to rediscover his own interiority. He needs to love himself again. Only by doing so he can truly escape the Regent and grow up. This process of growth is the main focus of the trilogy and it happens twice:

Laurent fails to grow in the second book

Laurent succeeds and completes his growth in the third book

Let's see how.

NICAISE AND AIMERIC = LAURENT'S DARKEST HOUR

Laurent's darkest hour happens at the end of the second book. This is common for a trilogy. It is not rare for the second installement to end in a negative way. Now, The Prince's Gambit doesn't end badly. Laurent and Damen win and grow closer. Laurent even frees Damen and they have sex for the first time. Still, psychologically, Laurent risks a huge brakdown because of Nicaise and Aimeric's deaths.

Nicaise and Aimeric are two parts of Laurent:

-Nicaise is Laurent's child-self. He is petty and capricious, but he cares deeply. And yet, he can't show any vulnerability. The moment he does, he is killed. Moreover, Nicaise plaids for Laurent because he deep down thinks the Regent won't kill him. This is true for Laurent, as well:

"I didn't think he's really try to kill me" Laurent said "After everything... even after everything".

-Aimeric is Laurent's shadow. He is a young man, whose life is defined by the Regent's sexual abuse. Aimeric confuses the Regent's imitation of love with true care and fights to get it back, even if it means hurting people, who truly love him. Unconsciously, this is true for Laurent too:

"You play his games like you want to show him you can. Like you're trying to impress him. Is that it? You need to beat him at his own game? You want him to see you do it? At the expense of your positions and the lives of your men? Are you that desperate for his attention? Well, you have it. Congratulations. You must have loved it that he was obsessed enough with you that he killed his own boy to get at you. You win."

Damen's speech to Laurent is basically the same one Laurent gives Aimeric. Aimeric shines light on this specific aspect of Laurent. Laurent too still loves his uncle. He too wants his attention and on some level thinks of his uncle as his only family:

"When you lost your brother, was there someone to confort you?" "Yes," said Laurent. "In a way".

So, Nicaise and Aimeric embody Laurent's vulnerability. Nicaise is the child who still feels safe with the Regent. Aimeric is the young adult, who wants the Regent back. Both are Laurent. This is why Laurent wants to rescue them both. He grows close to Nicaise and tells him he will buy his contract and free him. He accepts Aimeric into his guard and refuses Damen's advice to send him away. And yet, the Regent uses them both against Laurent. He kills Nicaise and has Aimeric betray Laurent.

Laurent wants to help both Nicaise and Aimeric and the Regent tells him he can't. Just like he can't save himself.

According to the Regent's narrative:

Laurent is fond of Nicaise, but eventually leaves him alone out of selfishness

Laurent welcomes Aimeric in, but this is a blind spot that is used against him

By using vulnerable and abused kids, the Regent conveys to Laurent two messages. On the one hand Laurent isn't selfless enough to truly save anyone. He isn't good enough to be a protector like Auguste. On the other hand he is still foolish enough to trust others. He isn't smart enough to be a mastermind like the Regent. Too cruel and too foolish is how the Regent wants Laurent to see himself. So, that Laurent would feel trapped and cut others out.

And Laurent almost gives in, but is stopped by Damen:

"You tried to hurt me, and you have. I wish you would see that what you have just done to me is what your uncle is doing to you."

Damen goes through to Laurent and stops him from losing himself. He saves him from turning into a copy of the Regent.

THE REGENT

The Regent is Laurent's negative foil. He is who Laurent could become if he gave in to his worst instincts. As a matter of fact Laurent shares many similarities with his uncle:

Both are very intelligent master manipulators

Both are able to seize people's weaknesses and to use them

Both can be cruel and ruthless

Both tend to complicate things

This isn't by chance because the Regent does his best to break Laurent's heart and to warp his mind into a frailer copy of his own. He needs Laurent to think like him and to follow his rules, so that he can beat his nephew. This is why the Regent spends the years after Marlas by abusing Laurent in different ways.

The Regent's abuse has a double nature:

It has a sexual component: the Regent rapes Laurent multiple times as a child and shows possessiveness of him as a young adult. For example, many of his assassin attempts come with a sexual element. The assassins instructed to rape Laurent by using a drogue the Regent clearly used on his nephew as a child. Having Laurent and Damen sleep together, so that Laurent would eventually kill himself. Twisting Laurent and Damen's love story, as if to frame Laurent as dirty and despicable. Spreading voices about Laurent's supposed romantic feelings for Auguste. And so on...

It has an emotional component: the Regent keeps mentioning Auguste, which hurts Laurent in two ways. On the one hand it doesn't let him move on from his brother's death. On the other hand it drills into Laurent he isn't as good as the previous prince

"I hate to see you grown up like this," said the Regent, "when you were such a lovely boy."

The Regent basically blames Laurent for both growing up (physically) and not growing up (psychologically). He manipulates him by treating him as a child, while implying he isn't pure as a child anymore. The result is that Laurent hates himself.

This self-hate manifests itself in recklessness, suicidal tendencies and self-destroying behaviors. Like Laurent lashing out at others, when he is actually furious at himself. This is why specifically Laurent breaks Aimeric by using their shared trauma as a weapon. He hurts both Aimeric and Jord (who hasn't done anything, but being loyal to Laurent) because to truly face Aimeric means to accept himself and he can't.

Symbolically, Laurent kills Aimeric like he is slowly killing himself. This is why Aimeric's death happens after the reveal of Nicaise's murder by the Regent. Laurent kills Aimeric, just like the Regent kills Nicaise. Both victims are abused kids with frail and unstable senses of self, who deep down seek love and vulnerability. The lesson Laurent needs to learn is that he can't save the Nicaise within himself, if he doesn't help the Aimeric too. This is why it is important that Laurent is able to express empathy for Aimeric and to recognize he is a wounded person, just like Nicaise:

"Nicaise knew that when he got too old, he would be replaced." "Like Aimeric," said Damen. Into the long silence that stretched out between them, Laurent said: "Like Aimeric."

It is the first step to aknowledge his own hurt too.

AUGUSTE WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH

The second step is instead to face Auguste's ghost. Laurent's big brother is a double edged sword for the Prince. On the one hand Laurent deeply loves Auguste and is devastated by his dead. On the other hand his idealization of Auguste is unhealthy and leads to Laurent undervaluing himself.

These powerful contradictive feelings come to the surface in his "sparring" match with Damen. There, Laurent for once is able to show all his anger and grief. He lets it all out and is forced to accept he would have never been able to kill Damen in a fight. Still, another realization comes to the surface:

"I know," said Laurent, "that I was never good enough." Damen said, "Neither was your brother." "You're wrong. He was -" "What?" "Better than I am. He would have -" Laurent cut himself off. He pressed his eyes closed, with a breath of something like laughter. "Stopped you." He said it as though he could hear the ludicrousness of it.

Damen's words might seem cruel, but they are actually necessary because they break Laurent's internalised idolisation of Auguste. Laurent has been brought up with the convinction that Auguste is somehow better than him. This idea is present even before Auguste's death because of their father's favouritism. The early loss of his brother and subsequent abuse only makes this feeling stronger. Hence why Damen refusing this helps Laurent grow. Damen is the first one to see Laurent as his own person and to give him a choice:

Damen picked up the discarded knife, and when Laurent's eyes opened, he put it in Laurent's hand. Braced it. Drew it to his own abdomen, so that they stood in a familiar posture. Laurent's back was to the post. "Stop me," said Damen.

Laurent chooses to give up on his revenge. He chooses his present relationship with Damen over Auguste's ghost. He starts wishing for something positive for himself. He starts caring for himself. He starts looking toward a possible future.

JOKASTE = OPENING THE DOOR

To reach this future Laurent has to face Jokaste, who is really another version of Laurent:

"You're lucky we're alike," Jokaste said, stepping down. She and Laurent looked at one another like two reptiles.

Not only that, though, she is Aimeric and Nicaise combined in a single character:

Like Aimeric, she betrays a lover for selfish reasons (apparently)

Like Nicaise, she is caught up in a power struggle and has to choose the side, which ensures her survival, even if it means negate her heart to do so

"You mean, the only difference between us is that I chose the wrong brother?" As the stars began to drift across the sky, Laurent thought of Nicaise, standing in the courtyard with a handful of sapphires. "I don't think you chose," said Laurent.

This time Laurent is able to see this. He empathizes with Jokaste and gives her freedom. He opens her the door:

"We're alike. You said that. Would you have opened the door for me? I don't know. But you opened one for him."

In this way Laurent understands the Aimeric he could not understand and saves the Nicaise he could not save. By the end, Aimeric (Jokaste) is shown mercy and Nicaise (her baby) survives. Laurent gives Jokaste and her family a future. And in this way, he symbolically gives himself a future and a family. He opens his own door.

THE TRIAL

The climax of the trilogy is Laurent's trial in Ios. This choice is interesting on multiple levels:

It is an inversion of the ending of book 1, where Damen is blamed for the assassination attempt on Laurent's life and Laurent protects him. In fatc, it is not by chance that Damen mentions the episode in his initial defense of Laurent.

It shows Damen and Laurent's integration. As a matter of fact Damen is the one who realizes Paschal has the key to dethrone the Regent. He is able to do so because through Laurent he has learnt to observe others, to understand them and to empathize with them. Laurent instead selflessly gives everything up for the person he loves and bravely faces off the Regent with no plan, but simply with his heart. The Regent tries to turn it into a weakness and to force Laurent to give it up, but fails. Finally, he and not Damen is the one who fights Kastor and kills him. He uses the skills he has learnt for his revenge and uses them to protect Damen, instead. He chooses life and love over death and hate.

Most importanlty, though, the trial starts as a farce, but by the end it becomes a fair administration of justice, which punishes the criminal and recognizes the innocent. Let's see how this change happens.

NICAISE = VICTORY

Laurent wins not because of his mind, but because of his heart. Specifically, he wins because of the relationships he builds and of his ability to empathize with the humblest people, those nobody cares about.

First of all, Laurent obviously wins thanks to Damen. It is Damen choosing him over his kingdom that makes it possible to the tides to turn. So, it is because Laurent overcome his internalized hate for Damianos and slowly comes to accept and love him, that he is saved in the end. In a sense, the night where he has to choose if to let Damen die or to save him out of loyalty in volume 1 is when Laurent chooses who he wants to be. He can let a man he hates die without risking anything, like the Regent would. Or he can save that man our of a sense of fairness, like Auguste would. Laurent chooses the latter and makes the first true move towards his victory.

Secondly, Laurent is able to touch the councilors' sense of morality thanks to Loyse, Aimeric's mother. She reveals that her husband basically sold Aimeric to the Regent in exchange of power. She also explains how the Regent conspired with Kastor to kill Theodemes. This testimony isn't decisive because the assassination of Theodemes is a matter of Akielos. Nonetheless, Loyse re-opens the trial and gives importance to Aimeric's story and pain. It is also important that she is a woman because the Regent hates women. She is the character nobody considers, as everyone is focused on Guion's, the powerful councilor. And yet, Laurent does and convinces her to break free from her husband influence for the sake of her son.

Thirdly, Laurent is saved by Paschal's testimony. That said, Paschal is only able to reveal the truth about the Regent's murder of the King only because of Nicaise. In general, Nicaise is a character, who ends up being important in the finales of all three books:

In book one, Nicaise goes to Laurent's apartments after the attempted murder. He is clearly worried and can't decide if to openly switch sides and tell Laurent the truth or not. He also appears to tell Laurent goodbye and to give him his earrings. Symbolically, Laurent is saying goodbye to his younger and most innocent self, as he prepares to enter war with his uncle.

In book two, Nicaise's death is revealed in the climax and it leads to Laurent's decision to march on Charcy. It also kickstarts Laurent's deepest psychological crisis, as he struggles to keep a clean mind and shows how deep he is hurt and desperate.

In book three, Nicaise is the one who indirectly hands Laurent victory, as it is him who stole Govart's papers and gave him to Paschal.

In other words, Nicaise is the one who leads to victory, which fits his name. As a matter of fact Nicaise means "victorious", the person who brings victory and he delivers.

Thematically, this is very important, as Laurent initially regrets to have grown close to Nicaise:

"I killed Nicaise when I left it half done. I should have either stayed away from him, or broken his faith in my uncle. I didn't plan it out, I left it to chance. I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking about him like that. I just... I liked him."

He believes that because of their sibling-like bond Nicaise is now dead. He believes his influence isn't enough to break the Regent's control over Nicaise. And yet, it is precisely because of Laurent's love and care for Nicaise that the boy is able to rebel himself enough to steal key documents and to hand them to Laurent's side. Nicaise dies tragically, but his life and Laurent's kindness to him are not in vain. They change the destiny of two kingdoms. Laurent isn't able to save his child-self, but his child-self is strong enough to save him. Just like Laurent might not cancel what happened to him in the past, but can still move forward:

"Stop it, you're hurting him. You're hurting him. Let him go." A soldier was holding him back, and the boy was fighting him. Laurent looked at the boy, and in his eyes was the knowledge that some things couldn't be fixed. He said, "Get that boy out of here."

The new Regent pet once again mirrors a part of Laurent. The side of him that still sees the Regent at family. And yet, Laurent is finally able to accept this part of himself, but is strong enough to start healing. Just like as King he has now the chance to help as many children as the Regent hurt. Laurent ends is arc by growing up. He isn't a child anymore:

"You think you can defy me?" the Regent said to Laurent. "You think you can rule Vere? You?" Laurent said, "I'm not a boy anymore."

He isn't a boy anymore, he can't be controlled by the Regent anymore. He can now start a new life as his own person, free from the Regent and from Auguste's ghost. A life of love and new relationships.

#the captive prince #captive prince #laurent #damen #damianos #the regent #aimeric #nicaise #jokaste #my meta #the captive prince meta #asksfullofsugar #anonymous

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unhelpfulfemme · 7 months

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Damen's also a victim of gaslighting if you think about it, and it explains so many things about him.

Kastor seems to have taken care of him a lot while he was growing up (based on the amount of childhood memories that Damen has with him) and Kastor also fucking hated him. A child in that situation will sort of self-gaslight, they'll convince themselves that they don't see what they do so they can maintain a fundamental sense of safety despite their objectively unsafe environment. The end result is exactly what Damen is - someone who's pretty bad at telling apart those who love him from those who mean him harm.

If Kastor treats him like shit - Kastor fucking stabbed the barely teen-aged heir to the throne in the guts, mind - that's because Kastor is treating him like a man, he's giving him tough love and not coddling him because a prince doesn't need coddling, he needs tempering and seasoning instead. Damen is lucky to have a brother who'll stab him in the guts so he can become a better man and ruler, unlike those arrogant, spoiled other princes who get *checks notes* affectionate relatives.

And if Kastor is treating him like a man that's because Damen's earned it - Damen has a particular fixation about "earning it", whatever "it" is in a particular situation, because the main issue of contention between him and Kastor is that Damen gets the throne by default, regardless of who deserves it more, and therefore (in Kastor's view) Damen is a Bad Person who's screwing him over by his very existence. Damen's answer to this is to make sure that he works hard and is the best at everything (and working hard for things is actually a genuinely good value to have, mind), because this way he DID earn it, he DOES deserve it more, the better man has the throne, so peace on planet Earth, right? But he doesn't understand how this just further humiliates and angers Kastor, who then vengefully retaliates, the truth of which Damen, who loves Kastor and seeks his approval, can't handle emotionally, necessitating the "this is tough love, because I'm a strong man" mental defense.

I think this is interesting because it really spills over into Damen's incorrect conclusions about Laurent, sometimes in kinda embarrassingly stupid ways - because Veretians are Bad and being a spoiled cunt who's never had to work hard for anything is also Bad (in a very visceral way, because it's what Damen is desperately trying to avoid being), the Veretian prince must be both, concludes Damen after a 0.5 second glance at Laurent's resting bitch face. "A prince doesn't need to be coddled, he needs to be seasoned," says Damen to Paschal about Laurent, even though he's only in the position to have this conversation in the first place because Laurent's entire family died by the time he was 13 and he is currently being hunted down like a dog by his only remaining relative.

I also think that this is the foundation on which Damen's attitudes about slavery are able to change and develop - if his idea of someone deserving something is based in whether he's earned it (as opposed to birthright), becoming a slave is an easy way to disprove his current worldview about how much "earning it" matters in a fundamentally unjust society: first of all, Damen can't earn anything if Laurent doesn't allow him the opportunity to. Once Laurent does allow it, no matter how competent Damen shows himself to be, no matter how much Laurent treats him as an equal, no matter how much Damen earns Laurent's respect, this is all still happening at Laurent's whim and Laurent can turn around and treat Damen like a servant again, praise his military prowess with one breath and threaten him with a whipping with the next, and there's very little Damen can do about it. Damen goes from a privileged man's idea of meritocracy (I worked hard for it so I deserve it) to a more 360 degree one (some people can never have what I have no matter how hard they work, because I am fundamentally privileged).

Finally, it's really obvious that Damen also loves working for it in his romantic relationships, which probably stems from the same roots as all of the above, but it's a particularly interesting framework for drawing parallels between Laurent and the rest of Damen's life. Not only is Laurent the undisputed champion of Being Hard to Get, Laurent also hates Damen because Damen unthinkingly took something precious away from him (just like someone else!), and Laurent is also very punishing towards Damen over it (just like someone else!). But this time, Damen is actually capable of earning Laurent's respect (because facts will always take precedence over pettiness for hyperrational Laurent), and then his love, because Laurent is willing to see Damen as a person with feelings- as a man who loves him and cares about pleasing him - and not just as his role in the tragedy of Laurent's life.

I just think it's interesting to think about, is all, because I feel like the knee-jerk instinct is to analyze Laurent's more overt fuckedupness while not thinking about how Damen needs to also be kinda fucked up to find the thornbush pleasing to the extent that he does.

#captive prince #damianos of akielos #these books had such a visceral grasp on me that for a while I didn't trust myself to engage with other people's opinions on them #but now I am slowly easing into it and sometimes I see the usual reaction that you typically get in competence-porn-driven stories #where a character acting in stupid ways because of emotional hangups is #Bad Characterization #and I just felt like writing this I dunno hope someone finds it useful

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merrivia · 5 months

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Day 1- Family (I know it's late)

Thinking today about how a crucial part of Damen's relationship with Theomedes was knowing that his father was going to abdicate the throne for him one day.

On his deathbed, Theomedes reassures Damen that he will be alive to see him live and reign as king. That can only mean that he was going to give up power, sometime in the near future we assume, and retire. There to watch proudly as his true son ruled, looking forward to all the great things he believes Damen will do.

Perhaps this is why Damen finds it so hard to conceive of his father being dead at all. Halfway through King's Rising, Damen is still struggling with the notion of it. A prince, you might think, would be raised with the uncomfortable knowledge that they will only gain by losing, something Laurent knows all too well. The death of a parent is the traditional way to gain the throne, and is also part and parcel of patriarchal culture- and old men hanging onto their power, unwilling to give it up, is an old story. But not Theomedes.

That Theomedes isn't that type of man or king, that he loves and trusts Damen to that extent, and has the inner humility to prefer to see his son take his place within his life time, gives us an inkling as to where Damen's sense of fairness comes from, where his stability and certainty in himself comes from and why he doesn't hunger for power darkly, like Kastor. And why Damen loves his father to the extent he does.

#damenlovefest2023 #damen of akielos #damianos of akielos #captive prince #king theomedes #mini meta

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kybelles · 9 months

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beautiful boy

read on ao3

He hears it just as he’s retiring after an extended dinner with Kyros Heiron, more than ready to go to sleep: the constant, shrill and bitter cries of a baby. Next to him, his personal slave Jase freezes up as he recognizes the sound as well. “Exalted–”

Theomedes starts marching towards the noise before he has a chance to speak further, fear slowly rising under his skin. How hard can it be, he thinks, to make sure one infant is well cared for?

The guards who stand in front of the door open it without any instruction needed. Theomedes quickly passes the threshold and takes in the view. “Why is the prince crying?” he asks loudly, booming voice suppressing Damen’s cries for a moment.

There are three people in the room. Phoebe, one of the slave girls who look after Damen; Agapetus, the court physician and Liviana, the wet nurse Agapetus recommended for Damen. His son is hanging from Phoebe’s arms and he looks absolutely miserable. His little face is red and bloated from crying, his eyes swollen, his lips quivering. He looks so sweaty and exhausted and when his gaze finds Theoemedes, he begins crying even louder. Theoemedes feels his fury rise second by second.

“Exalted,” Liviana starts after she gives him a deep bow. “The young prince is teething. That is the reason why he’s so distraught.”

“Distraught doesn’t even begin to describe his current state!” Theoemedes snaps. “His cries are probably audible from all over the palace! At this rate he’ll definitely have a sore throat by tomorrow. Is that how you take care of my son? My heir?”

Both Liviana and Agapetus bow their heads in apology but Phoebe’s arms start shaking after she hears his angry voice, her gaze trained on the floor. Theoemedes feels a lick of guilt for frightening the slave girl but at the moment, he is more concerned with her ability to hold Damen. Wordlessly, he reaches out and pulls his son into his arms in one quick motion.

Miraculously, Damen’s loud cries turns into weepy sobs as he leans his head against one of Theoemedes’s biceps. He puts a small kiss to the sweaty curls on the baby’s head.

“I don’t remember Kastor ever being like this when he was teething,” he says quietly. When he runs a gentle finger through Damen’s cheek, he notices his son is running a slight fever. An icy shiver passes through his spine. “Surely this isn’t normal.”

Agapetus sounds like he’s picking his words very carefully when he speaks. “Every child is different, sire. Fever, lack of appetite, restlessness, crankiness… These are all normal signs of a baby who’s teething. It doesn’t mean our prince is unhealthy.”

It doesn’t mean our prince is unhealthy. Theomedes used to hear sentences in similar context over and over again, back when he was still coping with the shock of losing Egeria and grappling with the possibility of losing Damen as well. His son was born too small . The first two months after Damen’s birth, Theoemedes would wake drenched in sweat; convinced Damen’s small heart gave up when he was indulging something so trivial as sleep. He commanded Damen to stay in the room right next to his at first and whenever he went to check up on him at night, he would find one of the palace physicians by his son’s side and they all would say the same things to him. Our prince is a bit smaller than usual. It doesn’t mean he is unhealthy.

Eventually, Damen’s condition improved and he began to fill out considerably. Nowadays, anyone who looks at his rosy cheeks and chubby arms and legs can see he’s a happy and healthy baby.

But whenever he’s in Theomedes’s arms, he feels impossibly small.

Theoemedes was blessed with the chance to be a father twice, but Damen only has him as a parent in this big, cruel world. The realization brings a knot to his throat sometimes.

“What can I do to help?” he eventually asks.

If they are surprised by his question, no one dares to show it. “A warm bath would be good to soothe his fever, Exalted.” Agapetus says.

“Go, prepare it.” he says to Phoebe, who practically runs out of the room after a deep bow. “What else?”

“Holding a cold spoon to his palate.”

This time, he simply stares at Jase; who’s standing at the door sill. He disappears after a bow as well. Now that there’s nothing to do but wait, he gently bounces his fussy son, thankful he’s mostly calm now. He notices Damen’s gaze fixated on one spot and when he looks that way, an amused huff falls out of his mouth. “Hand me that blue fish.”

Liviana dutifully walks over and retrieves the toy. “Our little prince is very fond of this toy.” she comments as she gives it.

“Kastor gave it to him.” Theomedes says in a distracted manner, placing the toy in his arms. His amusement grows when Damen immediately puts it into his mouth. “Do you like the toy, cub? Your brother carefully picked it for you. Because he loves you.” I love you. I love you so much that sometimes it feels like my heart is going to burst open.

Damen’s big brown eyes find him again and without a warning, he pulls the toy out of his mouth, biting Theoemedes’s finger instead. He allows as his son chews on his finger to relieve his aching gums and cover his finger in slobber.

“You’re alright now, Damen.” Theomedes murmurs after another kiss to Damen’s dark curls. “Everything is alright. Baba is here.”

#📝#idil writes #captive prince #i saw an incredibly adorable art and had to write this #theo and damen dynamic can be smth so personal...

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seasonsofcapri · 7 months

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Seasons of Capri 2023: Cycles & Circles - Masterlist!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the fest this year and made it such a success. Scroll down for the full masterlist, but here's a quick summary of what we did this year:

Fics submitted: 14

Fanart submitted: 3

Total number of words written: over 198,000, including four works in the 10,000-20,000 word range, and three that broke 30,000

We're so grateful to everyone who signed up and made all this incredible art. We couldn't do it without your love for these characters and this fandom! ❤️

And now, here are all of the wonderful creations for this year's fest:

Sexual Intercourse by antivillain

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 2.3k

Damen's healthy enough to engage in sexual intercourse. Laurent is (emotionally) healthy enough to tease Damen mercilessly for being so awkward and uncomfortable discussing the matter with Paschal. Paschal is not paid enough.

Tie Me Down, Set Me Free by @kiseopingu

Fic | 14.3k | Damen/Laurent

When Damen gets hired by his family's sworn rival to help track the man's younger brother, he doesn't expect the road to lead him to familiar places, and familiar faces. As for Laurent, his path to freedom is clear. It's only a matter of creating an opportunity to reach it.

As past and present slowly merge, both Damen and Laurent are forced to contend with their truths, whether they want to or not.

Jokeste’s Journey by @vmcgmidlifecrisis

Fic | Jokaste/OFC | 4.3k

Jokaste travels north, meets (original character) Drifa and gets some sexy fulfilment.

Beautiful, Beloved, Strong by bluehair

Fic | Erasmus/Kallias Erasmus/Torveld | 1.5k

My prompt for The Seasons of Capri Fest 2023 was: "Kallias schemes to save Erasmus with no hope of seeing him again--until one day, he does." Hope I did it justice! Because Kallias really would do anything for love.

Returning by flightinflame

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 2.4k

Damen knew the return to Arles would be hard for Laurent. He had not considered that it would be hard for himself.

The Stand-In Wedding Planner and the Obstinate Baker by penstrikesmidnight

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 2.8k

Auguste's wedding planner has decided to go on vacation a week before his wedding, leaving Laurent, the best man, to make sure everything is taken care of. If that's not enough, Laurent has to deal with an obstinate baker who seems intent on making his job as hard as possible.

There is absolutely no chemistry between them. At all.

Heat by @linecrosser

Art | Auguste/Laurent | Digital

While in the middle of a campaign in Delfeur with his older brother, the Crown Prince of Vere, Laurent goes into his first (late) heat at age 17 (totally triggered by the presence of Damen, the stupidly handsome Crown Prince of Akeilos). There are very few things more dangerous than having an Omega in heat while camping in enemy territory, and it's too late now for suppressants. Leaving Laurent to ride out the heat on his own would mean leaving it last for three days or more. Auguste has no option but to help Laurent through it by himself, so it will last no longer than a couple hours.

Red (like our spilled blood) by @pijulle

Fic | Kastor/Laurent Damen/Laurent Auguste/OFC | 39.6k

Akielos and Vere are at war, but maybe marrying the princess of Vere would help the two country finds a common ground - "The prince!" Auguste shouts. "Laurent is a prince!"

Star Crossed by @hephaest1on

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 35.2k

A story of Laurent Capulet and Damen Montague. A tale based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, of lovers who suffer because their families are feuding. A modern AU that leans on the themes and actions in Shakespeare's original play and plays on the issues young lovers face in a world where gossip is news.

if only to dream of you by @nv-md

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 2.4k

During negotiations with the Vaskians and Patrans, Laurent falls ill and Damen must leave him to lead their newly-forged kingdom.

After a week of quiet suffering, Damen returns to their bedchambers and attends his husband.

Ruin Your Salvation, Ruin Your Mind by pretend_i_dont_exist

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 10.2k

"I do not understand. I thought we had a truce, so I came here for peace." His voice had grown hard and dangerous. "Why?"

Silence for a moment. "You killed my brother. ------- Laurent has suffered a lot since his brother's death, but he survived to his wedding day, and he's looking forward to a quiet life with a man he appreciates. New life, new him, he decides to invite his brother' killer to the wedding to talk and make peace with himself (by murdering the guy).

In Another Life by @mosrael

Fic | Halvik/Jokaste | 43.8k

Jokaste is the pearl of Ios–beautiful, intelligent, revered–and the consort of the most powerful man in Akielos… Or so she thinks. When her chosen lover’s power is corrupted and usurped by a foreign faction, Jokaste must make the hardest decision of her life: remain in Akielos and meet a perilous fate–one she had a hand in crafting–or flee to seek her future elsewhere.

Or: when getting kidnapped, then kidnapped again turns out to be the best possible thing that could happen to a girl.

antidote by @banananamilks

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 2.7k

Auguste survives Marlas, but Damen still becomes our captive prince. Actually all three princes are kind of the captive prince. oops

Soldier, Poet, King by @bluebutter-art

Art | Damen/Laurent | Digital

Two years after the bells had rung, both Akielos and Vere celebrate the wedding of their two Kings, which coincidentally falls on Vere's Annual Autumn Festival.

Chasing Meridians; Or 26,00 Miles to Home by @not-a-coral-snake

Fic | Damen/Laurent | 17k

Laurent lives a life of quiet routine, until the day a few ill-chosen words, his uncle's malice, and his own inability to back down from a challenge see him wagering half his fortune on an impossible journey to the ends of the earth and back. Happily, or perhaps unhappily, his newly-hired valet is making the journey with him and has plenty of opinions about where they should go, what they should do, and de Vere himself.

An Around the World in Eighty Days au.

At the Drop of a Veil by @seekthemist

Fic | Damen /Laurent | 19.1k

The Battle of Marlas could have brought the relationship between Vere and Akielos to a breaking point, but it didn't. As the peace treaty is finally signed, King Aleron has a very clear idea of how to ensure the agreement is truly felt.

"Since the formal establishment of Vere and Akielos as independent reigns, there had been twelve peace treaties. The Peace of Marlas, signed by King Aleron and Theomedes-Exalted before the beginning of autumn, would be the thirteenth.

The thirteenth peace would not go down in the history of the Kingdom as an abject failure. Not if Laurent could help it."

By the Waterfall by @captaindamianos

Art | Damen/Laurent | Digital

Laurent is the god of winter, Damen is the god of summer. They only ever overlap in spring and fall. Is their love story doomed forever?

Don’t forget to kudos and comment to show our wonderful creators your love!

❤️ your mods!

#seasonsofcaprifest #seasonsofcapri 2023 #captive prince #capri #captive prince fest #capri fest #damen/laurent #jokaste #auguste/laurent #kastor/laurent #capri femslash #erasmus/kallias #erasmus/torveld #captive prince fanart #captive prince fanfic

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the-limp-linguine · 1 year

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types of trans ally’s captive prince characters are bc I’m a trans guy and I say so

Damen: he might mess up at first give him like a week. constantly ready to drop kick a transphobe, if someone misgenders you more than then he feels is appropriate amount (like twice) he’s giving the the nastiest death glare he can manage, he’s a mf u take everywhere as a deterrent anti no one saying shit with him with u

Laurent: he changes his vocabulary almost instantaneously, calls out transphobia at the first lill sniff of it. He is probably like one of the best ppl to have as an ally

Nicaise: transphobes get stabbed- your lying yo me if he doesn’t give off he/they vibes- kid is the transyist gen z out there

Nikandros: he takes a bit of adjustment- he doesn’t like constantly fuck up but it happens, he just corrects himself then moves on, he’ll probably apologize later..

Auguste: he’s got that typical old man vibes abt it ‘so she’s a he??’. He genuinely doesn’t mean anything malicious by it he’s just a little dumb, it would probably take Laurent explaining to him but he’d get it eventually.

Kastor: he purposely misgenders you

#damen captive prince #nicaise captive prince #captive prince trilogy #captive prince #capri #nikandros #kastor #auguste of vere #Trans #ftm transgender #mtf trans #corey you say why are you so much nicer to capri charters than VC?#well you see my baby’s have done NOTHING WRONG except Kastor

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rosyandraw · 9 months

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Speaking of Damen’s POV. I’ve always wondered what Damen was thinking in Chapter 5 when he just got back from secretly rescuing Auguste and Laurent ask him whether he wanted to fuck him. Idk because the way you wrote it seemed so ominous.

Did Damen ever suspect that Laurent was ever groomed at all? Because I think it’s evident that Laurent portrays obvious signs of unhealthy experience like how he assumes that every favour should be repayed with sex etc.

Would love to know more on Damen’s introspection of Laurent. And ngl for someone as protective as Damen, I’m surprised that Damen didn’t take action on Bastian sooner. Like just beat him up already djdghshs

Okay this might get long so I’m very sorry! And I’ll put it under a cut because it could potentially be upsetting or triggering and I don’t want anyone to accidentally see it.

Damen’s awareness of Laurent’s abuse in canon and how I translated this.

Firstly, thank you so much for this question, and yes, it was meant to be a little ominous or dark because you guys all know what it implies.

I’ll start by saying it is a tough topic to navigate in fiction because the nuances can get lost on page and there is no one size fits all.

And that’s always very present in my mind when I think about Captive Prince and the way it deals with -and the ways it doesn’t deal with- Laurent’s abuse.

For Damen in particular I based NMFY and Damen's behaviours/reactions entirely on my opinion regarding the canon.

Did Damen consciously and actually think the words “Laurent was groomed”? No.

Do I think he was aware on many levels of the things he was witnessing, and cataloguing of Laurent's behaviours, and it's likely source? Yes.

I think Damen, like many of us, would never just assume something so brutal regardless of what’s in front of us. It’s not a standard thing to think or assume regardless of the people and circumstances around the person. Most people do not go around thinking of it because it is abhorrent and outside of -most- people’s experiences. I think as good people we -like Damen- would shy away from the conscious admission of the thought because we don’t want it to be true. Even when something is “off”.

And I believe that is at the heart of Damen's understanding in canon (and in my fic by extension). Canon Damen is very good at compartmentalising and actively not thinking about the things that upset him. His ability to repress his pain (Kastor, Jokaste, being made a slave, not getting to say goodbye to his murdered father, the prep and ring scene, the post, Ancel... the list goes on) is unparalleled and speaks to his own trauma response mechanisms. I think this very much extends to Laurent and the fact that he was, as Damen said "mishandled"

He actively shies away from it. He notices little things here and there and then quickly swerves away. An example that springs to mind right now from very early on is Pg 13 of Prince's Gambit:

There was something uneasily transgressive about the idea of sleeping in the place meant for Laurent’s uncle “the prince stays here often?”. The castellan mistook him to mean the keep, not the rooms. “Not often, He and his uncle came here a great deal together in the year or two after Marlas. As he grew older, the Prince lost his taste for the runs here. He now comes only rarely to Chastillon."

Damen made a leap but he doesn't tell us exactly what that leap is. We just know that the intimacy of Laurent sleeping in his uncle's bed made him uneasy. That something felt off. But the castellan mistakes Damen's meaning implying it is something normal and follows up with what is essentially the reason he thinks nothing of it. And then food arrives and Damen rushes off to it with the air of someone desperate to cut the conversation. A flash in the pan; noticed, documented, and quickly buried. One instance of many.

So, yes. I think Damen was only waiting for confirmation both in Canon and in my fic. He was actively repressing everything he had noticed and rejecting the conclusion he desperately did not want to think about.

Because what if he was wrong? That’s a terrible thing to assume or bring up or bookmark in your head about someone when you don’t know.

I think in Canon, and likewise what I attempted in my fic, it equates somewhat to: Schrödinger’s awareness. He doesn't know, but he also does.

In Chapter 5 of NMFY it gives Damen pause, like most of Laurent’s glaring markers, the same way they do for Damen in canon. It’s something he makes a note of and something he endeavours to not question out right -not his place- and to make sure Laurent feels safe enough to know Damen would never do what Laurent expects.

This part in particular I based on Laurent’s assumption following how drunk he gets at Marlas in Kings Rising, that Damen probably fucked him. Laurent in CP and Laurent in my fic are both aware that being out of it (drugged, practically asleep, incredibly drunk) means it’s easy to fuck him and all he has to really do is lie there and it’ll be over quick, because his submission or compliance is the expected norm. Neither upsetting nor angering to him. Just is what it is. An expectation from experience. He’s less trouble when he’s half conscious: this he knows and equates it to ideal time to fuck him because docile is preferable and his comfort/consent has never been part of the equation.

In my fic Damen clings to the idea that Auguste would have said something if it had been true of Laurent. So whilst he’s aware something about Laurent is off, he consciously shuts the ideas down. But Damen doesn’t take time to be convinced both in my fic and in canon, he just absorbs it. There are no questions, it’s just bringing a hard buried suspicion to the forefront as fact.

As for Bastian I think Damen wants to so very badly. But he’s also aware that he can’t really do that given who they are. And he’s never exactly certain that it’s his place to do so. He (and me by extension or is that the other way around? Haha!) needs Laurent to pull the trigger so to speak. He’s protective yes but Laurent has his own agency and Damen wouldn’t overstep that.

Especially in a modern setting and in this setting in particular where he has to worry about the press and the truth of a certain situation which he can never afford to have out. Anything with the police is a no go for him. Just in case. Damen is aware that the Royal family, the secret service, they’d all flip if someone dug up -or dragged up- the truth so its best not to tempt fate. Which absolutely isn’t to say he can’t be pushed but as of right now he’s conscious of Laurent and his choices and what he might want -or not want- and his place in all of that. He’s not petty enough to lash out with jealousy at least. Like in canon jealous Damen is more derisive and sulky than aggressive or petty.

I am very sorry this got so long but I wanted to give it a proper answer 💕💕

#asks #Captive Prince #damen/laurent #Lamen #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #nmfy #sorry this got long but your question is deep and i wanted to give it the answer it deserved #omg is this meta?

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tschulijulesjulie · 1 year

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since my post about theomedes relationship to his sons is getting some attention, i also want to share my thoughts about Kastors and Damens mothers.

lets start with Hypermenestra. Theomedes seems to have genuinely loved her and it wasn’t a secret. the only obstacle was that her birth was too low for becoming queen, whereas Egeria could even trace her bloodline back to the old kings.

interestingly we don't know much else about her, except that she gave birth to Kastor 9 years before Damen was born - apparently to that time Egeria and Theomedes had already been married long enough and suffered enough miscarriages to make everyone think Egeria couldn't bring a child to term.

Curiously they still kept trying for another decade, which either is due to Egerias prominent position within Akielon royalty as a descendant of the old kings or to the fact that Theomedes actually liked her enough to keep trying

Interestingly, we don't know anything else about Hypermenestras fate. she seems to not have been at Theomedes deathbed (he told Kastor about his love for him and his mother), she also is listed as "from the past" in the index, which indicates that she might already be dead.

but when did she die? recently? did Damen know her?

that made me consider she might also have died shortly after Kastors birth. Then Egeria would have been the only "mother" (in a way) Kastor knew.

Egeria couldn't have her own children at that time, but we hear nothing about resentment towards Kastor. Instead the first 9 years of his life he was treated as the heir to the throne, which means Egeria would probably either have been acted indifferent towards him, or even taken him under her wings.

now consider, Hypermenestra dying when he was only a toddler (or younger) and Egeria actually treating him like her own son, because he was her husbands son and she had none of her own. (it also makes me think of Octavia, the sister of Augustus, who raised several of Marc Anthony's children alongside her own after his treason and death and therefore was painted as the roman ideal of motherhood.)

so if thats the case, Kastor would have considered Egeria as his own mother.

Now think about her death in childbirth and everything that was promised to him being given to Damen.

Damen didn’t only "steal" his right to the throne and his fathers favour, he took his mother away completely.

it would also add even another layer of tragedy, because not only did Kastor loose two mothers, he also lost any claim to the one he actually knew.

Theomedes telling him how much he loved Hypermenestra then turns into a cruel taunt for Kastor, because that's not the women he knew as his mother. it ceases to acknowledge his possible love for Egeria

#i know it might be far fetched #but there is so little about their mothers in the books while we also FEEL how the lack of it impacts them all #egeria of akielos #Hypermenestra #kastor of akielos #damen of akielos #theomedes of akielos #captive prince #capri theory #capri hc

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siredcrab · 1 month

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just saw your sketch on that bloody confrontation between Kastor and Damen and i'm screaming it's so good will you perhaps draw more scenes of them? regardless your art is glorious that scene feels far more intense seeing it through your work !!!!!!!!! PAAAAAIIINNNNN

THANK YOUU🗣️💘💘 I go batshit insane thinking about Damianos and his brother tbh and i knew that if I wanted to see more of them I needed to do it mysekf and I always think that Damen seems so resigned to die by Kastor's hand in that moment that if Laurent didn't appear on time it was so close to t being the end of their story kastor didn't regret anything not even one bit he's soso mean and Damianos loved him unconditionally aaghgaaggggwa BUY ANYWAY if u have any scene in particular u want to see just tell me hehe I'll stop my mouth now

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zumurruds · 1 month

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Here's part two of this ask.

(Warning: this list may contain spoilers!)

6. Rachel - I enjoy narratives where the author allows readers to make their own assumptions about characters, leaving enough mystery to keep us guessing the complete truth. From the start, Rachel from My Cousin Rachel intrigues both the protagonist and readers with her enigmatic charm and unclear motives. Rachel's actions keep readers guessing about her true intentions, blurring the line between innocence and manipulation. Her subtle yet significant influence on other characters keeps readers engaged until the end. Rachel's ability to navigate societal expectations while maintaining her independence and confidence adds layers to her character, making her truly compelling and enjoyable to read.

7. Damianos of Akielos - One of Damen's most cherished traits from Captive Prince is his emotional sensitivity and capacity for love. Unlike typical warrior archetypes, he values intimacy and emotional connection over stoicism. His relationships, particularly with Laurent, showcase his ability to open up authentically and forgive those who have hurt him, challenging the idea that strength means emotional detachment and revenge. Additionally, Damen's aversion to killing and its toll on him challenges traditional views of masculinity. Despite his combat skills, he feels the weight of killing and doesn't take pleasure in it. His reluctance to harm, especially those he loves and even those who have hurt him deeply (Jokaste, Laurent, Kastor), highlights his moral integrity and compassion. Furthermore, Damen's courage to confront injustice and challenge oppressive systems that exist in both Vere and Akielos demonstrates his commitment to change and progress, showcasing his moral conviction.

8. Nakia - Female spies are such a special interest of mine, so naturally I gravitate towards Nakia's character from Black Panther. She is a skilled Wakandan spy and is known for her intelligence, combat prowess, and unwavering dedication to protecting Wakanda and its people. One of Nakia's defining traits is her commitment to humanitarian efforts outside of Wakanda's borders. She believes that Wakanda, with its advanced technology and resources, should use its power to help those in need around the world, even if this perspective initially puts her at odds with King T'Challa, her former lover and king. 9. Roy Walker - One of the standout aspects of the film The Fall, aside from its breathtaking visuals, is the emotional evolution of Roy. Initially portrayed as a disillusioned stuntman, Roy's interactions with young Alexandria become a catalyst for his emotional and psychological healing. Through storytelling, Roy's inner turmoil is gradually unveiled, allowing viewers to empathize with his struggles. The bond between Roy and Alexandria is central to the film's narrative, offering both heartwarming and poignant moments. Despite their age and background differences, Roy finds solace in Alexandria's innocence and imagination, as they embark on a shared journey through fantastical landscapes, which symbolizes Roy's quest for emotional reconciliation. Roy's character is also imbued with mystery and ambiguity, and viewers are left questioning the authenticity of his stories and the depth of his connection to Alexandria, adding layers to his complexity and inviting various interpretations. 10. Farha - Farha's story from the Netflix film Farha is incredibly important because it serves as a reminder of the human toll of historical events like the Palestinian Nakba. Through Farha's perspective, we witness the devastating impact of the mass murder and displacement of Palestinians, particularly those of young girls like Farha who dream of education and a better future. Her desire for education and autonomy reflects the universal human longing for dignity and self-determination, rights that have been historically denied to Palestinians. By centering the narrative on Farha's personal journey, the film humanizes the larger historical events of the Nakba, allowing viewers to connect on a deeply emotional level with the experiences of ordinary individuals caught in the midst of conflict. Farha's narrative mirrors the collective experience of Palestinians: one marked by resilience, courage, and unwavering hope in the midst of unimaginable adversity. Her story highlights the ongoing brutal and inhumane Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, particularly in the context of the ongoing genocide they are currently experiencing. Through her story, we are reminded of the importance of bearing witness to the past and honoring the voices of those who are marginalized and silenced.

Thanks for this ask, @dnana-2809-blog!

#my cousin rachel #damianos of akielos #captive prince #the fall #palestine #farha

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jadedbutler · 9 months

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capri arranged marriage au WIP - idk if i'll pursue this but it's like a little rough chapter 1, as a treat

“A political marriage ?!” Damen nearly drops his cup onto the tiled floors of the palace halls as he keeps pace with Nikandros on a rather alarming beeline towards the councilroom. Several attendants trail in their wake. “And no one thought to run this by me?”

“Apparently not,” Nikandros’ voice is clipped, lips pressed in a grim line, his dark eyes narrowed and adamantly refusing to meet Damen’s frantic gaze. Ordinarily, Damen would attribute his friend’s harassed countenance to the casket of mead they had bested the night prior.

“They’ve already brought your… partner in. They’re really pushing to get the whole thing approved as soon as possible.”

“I- what? Who’s ‘they’?” Kastor, obviously, of course. Damen keeps moving. “Can he stop sabotaging my romantic life for thirty seconds,” he hisses to himself, and then to NIk: “And what makes him think I’d consent to whatever hapless maiden they’ve sent my way, anyways?”

They turn a corner in perfect unison, destination nigh. Nikandros stays silent for a moment too long, hesitating before the twin oak doors to the councilroom. “Would that I could hold you to that,” he mutters and, before Damen can ask what the hell that’s supposed to mean, shoves the doors open with outstretched palms.

Damen immediately understands what the hell that was supposed to mean.

The councilroom is empty, save for the young man sitting next to the war table, chin propped against his relaxed wrist, the very portrait of boredom. Fair skin only exposed on his face, while the rest of his body is laced and bound by dark fabric, up to the elegant curve his neck, his wrists; even his hands don black leather gloves.

The tilt of his head sweeps blonde hair over his eyes. Upon Damen’s entrance, his blue gaze drops down and lifts back up in deliberate appraisal, and seems to linger on the circlet set upon Damen’s head.

“My betrothed, I take it,” he drawls, not bothering to rise in greeting. There’s a subtle accent to his voice, speaking with the unnaturally proper cadence of someone who learned a language through texts and tutors instead of casual conversation. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting to be sold off to the Akielon ideal of a soldier, though I suppose there are worse things in life.”

Now behind Damen, Nikandros makes a muffled groaning sound. Damen ignores him.

“Sorry, I was only just informed I’d be be gaining a wife myself. Didn’t have a chance to eat breakfast,” he lifts his cup of wine mock-apologetically. “Mind if I eat while we wait for my dear brother to return for negotiations?”

The man makes a bored, sweeping gesture towards the war table. As though he’s the lord here, and Damen is but a faintly annoying advisor.

Damen takes a seat perpendicular to the man, who doesn't’ so much as stir at Damen’s sudden proximity. His stillness, in a way, is more telling than any nervous tic that could’ve betrayed him. Damen hides an involuntarily smile by putting his cup to his lips and taking an ill-advised sip of wine.

“This is the prince of Vere,” Nikandros announces in a strained voice, in absence of any other introductions. Damen can feel him staring directly through the back of his head and into his soul.

Damen squints. “Wasn’t Auguste supposed to be…” he casts his own appraising glance at slender limbs and delicate features. “...overseas?” He vaguely remembered the adonic champion conquering some distant land.

This earns him a cool blue stare. “My brother is indisposed at the moment, yes.”

Damen contemplates this. This ice blonde creature doesn’t seem willingly here, the Verian court specifically making this play while the crown prince is away. His own brother has done very little to prepare him for the guest, although Damen instinctively wants to attribute that to negligence rather than malice.

He turns to a nearby attendant. “Get our guest some comfortable chambers. I’m sure he’s had a weary travel. We’ll continue this conversation once, umm…” He realizes he hadn’t gotten a name.

“Laurent,” the man says, sarcasm rolling off his tongue. “If it please my lord.”

It might. “And I am Prince Damianos. Though you already knew that.”

#captive prince #damianos of akielos #laurent of vere #WIP #is this anything ????????

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merrivia · 1 year

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There’s something I find quite curious about the Captive Prince trilogy.

The lack, or paucity, of any references to religion. Or mythology or folklore. I find that a really interesting creative choice, because I think most readers feel the shapes of the fairytales and myths and beliefs that lie, like bones or the foundation of a building, under the surface of the story.

So let's discuss.

Firstly, belief systems. We know Akielos, much like the Ancient Greece it’s modelled on, has philosophers, even if we never hear about them in any detail.

We know there are Veretian and Akielon rituals regarding death. Aleron and Auguste are entombed, and so is Damen's faked body with Theomedes.

Akielon rituals are told to us in more detail via Nikandros:

There is an Ancient Greek death ritual called the ekphora, a “ritual procession of the deceased’s body from where it had been laid out to the place of burial”. The prefix ek meant ‘out’ and phora ‘to carry’ so it literally denotes the carrying out of the body to be buried. I couldn't find 'ekthanos' as a real extant word, but with the same logic ekthanos means out + thanos- a word that can mean immortal or death depending on how you might interpret the etymology of it.

It sounds like Nikandros completed a mourning ritual and lit something (a votive lamp?) symbolically (perhaps it symbolises the leaving of the spirit, as that which removes or leads out the immortal soul from the body, hence ekthanos?). I would assume it was a funeral pyre if it weren't for the fact that Damen's body was interred (could it have been ashes that were interred? That would be safer if you're going to fake someone's death, but that's honestly me very much extrapolating from nothing. Also damn, Nikandros loves Damen. My heart honestly feels so warm about him. If that happened, and he stepped up to light the pyre when Kastor didn't, than he really is his real brother).

But for all this, there is no sense of an afterlife nor praying to deities.

More after the jump:

Edit: Unless you count Jokaste’s note to Damen, which seems to point to Greek ideas of metempsychosis/reincarnation.

Regardless of that though there are no powerful institutions, no churches or temples, no religious figures to appease.

At first I thought there were no mentions of gods at all.

But there is.

Firstly in the very first description of Laurent in the baths:

And secondly, in the Akielon epic Erasmus sings:

There’s also an unusual mention of Nereus who has a collection of statues in his garden. At first, because Nereus was a Greek god and because it felt faintly familiar, I took it for a classical allusion then swiftly realised on googling that it wasn’t. Or at least I don’t think so? Someone enlighten me, and I'll edit if I'm wrong.

So I think we can safely assume Akielos once had gods, but the religion died out perhaps (thought not due to the rise of Christianity). And their pantheon may have been pretty much been the Greek one as the influence might linger in names like Nereus, literally a god of the sea (and Damianos from Damia, a minor goddess of fertility, and Nikandros which has a root in Nike, goddess of victory…).

Edit: having now read The Training of Erasmus, Nereus is a slave owner, and his gardens a place for young pre-pubescent slaves to have their initial training. Sigh. Reading that story really is just heartbreaking.

Keeping to the topic I suppose (even with the lingering sense of disgust that ran through me while reading it) did he collect statues that were relics of the times before and keeps them in this garden? You can see statuary fitting into this strange rarified space for the most beautiful youths. It could be some echoing of Roman pleasure gardens which generally had that sort of statuary? Or is it a mirroring of Renaissance Italy where they tried to recreate Roman gardens, taking classical statues from ruins to restore and place in them? Who knows!

Without being explicit, Pacat makes it clear that beautiful Laurent is classical-statue-beautiful. Greek god beautiful. A Ganymede, perhaps or an Adonis. And slave beautiful, too.

And, of course, Damianos has so many parallels to Achilles, from his unparalleled strength and prowess on the battlefield, to his ability to strategise as if Athena is guiding him, to how he can become blinded by rage. The warrior-hero.

Ultimately, I guess what’s interesting is Pacat’s choices. It’s really hard to avoid any religious references in writing, as these allusions are baked in so deep to language. Damen being made a slave is called a “living hell”. Laurent presents an “angelic countenance”. Damen "prays" the training arena is empty so he can escape. Orlant thinks that Akielos sounds like "paradise". Interestingly, all those quotes are from Captive Prince, and it seems as if, as Pacat went along, she steered away more and more from any kind of religious reference.

I mean, I get wanting to steer clear of religion. After polytheistic religions came the monotheistic- and then suddenly we have a whole heap of reasons why homosexuality is a sin. If we cut that off, and there is no spread of Christianity across Europe, it seems we get the bisexual culture of Vere and Akielos and Patras.

[Edit: But also sex as a sin in general does not exist. The policing of heterosexual premarital sex came into being to control reproduction, which in turn helps secure bloodlines in a patriarchal society. And so Pacat very neatly invents another social taboo as a substitute; the fear of bastardry, which means no heterosexual premarital sex EVER, and thus bisexuality becomes the norm (Damen is against this seeing it as potentially leading to situational sexual behaviour which doesn’t feel right to him).]

I also think it may have distracted from Pacat’s pared down yet evocative writing style. And added layers of unnecessary complication as the Veretian version of the Church would be another tricky, powerful and corrupt institution for him to battle and there really is no room for that in the narrative.

And just as a mini musing of a postcript, we know Laurent reads illuminated manuscripts:

We know these surely can't be prayerbooks, so I think we can assume that they are histories and works of poetry and stories.

Stories of courtly love perhaps? Fables, legends and folklore? Old Akielon myths? I would love to know what he read.

There are two French/European stories that do come to mind when I think of Laurent.

Beauty and the Beast, of course, with Laurent-the-beautiful and Damen-the-'giant-animal', and the trope of the kind-hearted lover who thaws the heart of the one who has grown cold and cruel.

And Reynard the fox, the trickster figure, whose "sly amorality" is "sympathetic as it is needed for his survival".

And whose main antagonist is, of course, his uncle.

#captive prince #meta #just my meandering thoughts #damen of akielos #laurent of vere

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