#drake merwin

[inkskxtch]

this is how that scene in book 3 went right

#brittney donegal #edilio escobar #drake merwin #gone series #the gone series #fayz #the fayz #michael grant #gone michael grant #my art

[dianaladrislovebot]

something i think a lot of people forget is that drake and sam’s relationship is very much a two way street. it’s not just sam being terrified of drake because drake terrorised him. drake didn’t torture sam for no reason, to him that was retribution. yes, drake is a violent irredeemable psychopath and even by that point in the series he’d already gone way too far, but sam literally dismembered him. drake was permanently disabled due to sam’s actions and even then, he was aiming for his head. he was attempting to kill him purely bc drake threatened astrid. he never actually managed to get his hands on her. for all intents and purposes, at least to drake, sam struck first. drake never attempted to murder sam before that point, but sam did. he’s not a helpless baby who’s nothing but a victim, he hurt drake just as much as drake hurt him.

#a lot of people baby a lot of the characters when they’ve all made their fair share of mistakes #they’re children in a crisis they’re not gonna make flawless decisions #except for edilio. edilio is perfect. edilio for president 2024 #gone series #the gone series #gone michael grant #michael grant #fayz #the fayz #sam temple #drake merwin

[inkkat]

#gone series #gone #gone tumblr #sam temple #caine soren #drake merwin #plague

[all-hail-the-crows]

I've crumbled to the urge to reread Gone

It's both kind of nice and kind of sad that apparently I've always been obsessed with awful, misogynistic, murderous men<3

#Gone #rereading #gone series #sam temple #caine soren #drake merwin #I blame gone for my terrible taste in people

[jinxiguess]

hey guys sorry i died for like three months but now im alive again anyway take these

#gone series #the gone series #astrid ellison #diana ladris #sam temple #brianna berenson #lana arwen lazar #quinn gaither #caine soren #drake merwin

[lainxyz]

rereading gone series finally yaay here is the iconic trio

#gone series #drake merwin #diana ladris #caine soren #lain draws

[willgrahamsnightmares]

not the ally we deserve but the ally we have anyway, drake merwin

#ally #even murderers have standards #the fayz #the gone series #fayzian #drake merwin

[quinn-gaither]

sam and drake as the trial before pilate; or, an analysis of the powerplant incident

religion is all over gone. it's there in abundance, from the names to the internal dialogue to the very acts and events that happen. the overlap of traditional religious idiosyncracies between different characters are so plentiful it is difficult to sit here and say that this character represents this religious figure; they are an amalgamation of different gospels, showing how theology and the themes of the bible can apply to gone as a wider subject matter to stretch out the dystopia, show how the worst of people brings out the very humanity of them.

as such, i don't know for certain if this parallel or idea was intentional or ever in MG's mind as he wrote the scene, but it is something that has stuck with me a lot in my reread: how the drake/sam whipping in the powerplant strongly mirrors jesus' trial before pilate. the extract sticks out to me particularly in terms of understanding how the whipping of sam impacted his arc and his character for the rest of the novel. full disclaimer, i am not an expert in christian theology nor am i christian, and this comparison only came to my mind recently, so it may not have the depth and nuance of others, but it’s something i have thought and researched a lot about, so i hope it will suffice!

under the cut i go into some brief religious context, followed by how this fits in with the scene in the powerplant alongside quotes pulled from the various books to underscore how pivotal the lashings were for sam. so, if you're looking for some unnecessarily deep analysis of sam and drake as religious paragons: look no further than under the cut!

pilate's court: a contextual debrief

for starters, what was the trial before pilate? in brief, it is as follows. in the christian gospels they refer to the final period before jesus' death as 'the passion'; or, 'the passion of jesus'. the passion includes jesus' entrance to jerusalem, his anointing, the last supper, his agony and arrest, for example. it does also include his trial before pilate, the governor of judaea.

this trial is what essentially preceded the denouncement of jesus before he was sent to be crucified. throughout the trial, much to pilate's confusion, jesus was silent, perhaps accepting his inevitable fate or not seeing reason to protest something when he knew he would never win. pilate, at first, didn't believe there to be enough reason to sentence jesus to death and, consequently, elected to flog him as punishment. the bible does not outright state the amount of lashings jesus received, but it is thought the number could have been 39 (due to jewish commands restricting the amount of flogs from surpassing 40).

and so jesus was lashed, and then he was sentenced to death. it is widely agreed that the punishments jesus endured represent him absorbing everyone's sin, seeing him become the icon of rebirth and allowing humans to start all over again.

so, i hear you ask... how does this relate to the drake and sam incident in the powerplant?

drake as judge, jury & executioner

as i mentioned before, i'm not here to say that sam and drake are direct reflections of jesus and pilate. quite the opposite is true, really, and it is more the themes rather than the behaviours and characteristics that tie them together with this gospel. the theory and symbolism behind the trial before pilate can apply in a somewhat inverted way; sam is whipped though he doesn't necessarily die (more on that later), and drake isn't necessarily trying to find ways to punish sam without killing him as pilate was for jesus. drake wants sam dead and, had brianna not interfered when she did, he probably would have killed him. the events at the powerplant are not a complete mirror image of the trial but are, rather, foils to it.

the lashing of sam sees drake attempting to denounce all the perdido beach kids, trying to assert a specific way of thinking over the whole fayz. whether that be the beliefs of caine and the coates clan or the legislation of the gaiaphage is up for debate, but he is still decidedly torturing sam in response to disagreeing with the word he is spreading and the way he is leading. in the same way the roman crowds saw jesus’ behaviours as undermining the king ceasar, drake is acting out as he sees sam undermining his own personal king.

in terms of the text, this all occurs within hunger. however, before diving into that, i'm flashing forward to plague for an interesting excerpt from a conversation between brittany and astrid. it is, in fact, the very passage that got me thinking about all this to start with:

here we have a direct reference to pilate in the books themselves! how crazy is that? pay attention here to the specifics of "and pilate... to crucify him so that he might redeem us." if, in this instance, we are perceiving sam as a jesus-emblem, what brittany is essentially saying here is that sam needs to be punished for hope he might redeem all people. all the perdido beach kids, all the fayz inhabitants.

sam stands to be the symbol for all those who follow him. he is a leader, first and foremost, but he is at base level the most direct representation of all the lives he, begrudgingly, protects. sam is a microcosmic perdido beach resident while also being one of the most powerful mutants. see, then, how jesus is said to represent all despite being the son of god.

the lashing of sam kickstarts the redemption of the fayz kids, even so early into the book series. this happens in hunger, before any of the real horrors begin, but it is in this scene when the tides perhaps turn and the chance of a tunnel out of here manifests within sam's mind. the lashing is part of the passion of jesus, or the passion of sam, and as a result it sets him on a different path that places him in the mindset to understand that murdering drake is something which must happen in order for the barrier to come down. even if he doesn't quite have the foresight to see it at the time - perhaps more focussed on the murder angle rather than the reason - the seeds for drake's death are set in motion right here at the end of hunger.

just to contextualise the whipping within the timeline of the book. it starts halfway through chapter thirty-seven, with 1 hour and 6 minutes before the climax of the novel. brianna appears at the end of the chapter. thirty-eight sees us with 53 minutes later. so, with that knowledge, we can assume that the lashing lasted, at most, thirteen minutes. brianna administers the morphine packet within this chapter, too.

so, after about fifteen minutes since the lashings began he gets his first pain medicine. in thirty-nine (47 minutes) he wasn't feeling particularly intense pain as he was starting to hallucinate. at 33 minutes, he is still under morphine but is once again in pain. note: 33 minutes is when he first declares his intent to take a life. this is, obviously, a very instrumental part of sam's character arc. when he goes from seeing killing as something to be done only as mercy, to put someone out of their misery, to something that is to be done to avenge.

sam notes that the morphine is wearing off with 7 minutes left. so, with all this textual information in place, we can determine that he underwent torture for approximately thirteen minutes, and saw the pain mostly off with a dose of morphine that lasted 46 minutes. it's important to note also, i think, that this lashing happens concurrently with the human crew hunting and essentially sentencing hunter to death in the church.

it is interesting that two heavily religious events are happening at the same time, especially as the events are both underscored by the overarching sense of sacrifice, lawfulness and establishing dominance. the human crew are wanting to metaphorically crucify hunter while drake is flogging sam: they both want to be the power in charge, and they do so without taking into account any jury or justice. they act singularly, for their own gain.

the first 'death' of sam temple

now, earlier up, i mentioned that sam "doesn't necessarily die". he is, after all, not crucified or murdered in any way, he is just flogged. however, i believe that he was fundamentally changed after his encounter with drake, and while he didn't perhaps die physically he did die mentally.

he was on the brink of real death, all but bleeding out on the powerplant floor, and spent at least 46 minutes in a sort of purgatory state where he was hallucinating his better moments in life and wondering if he was going to make it. under the effects of morphine he sees the school bus incident, perhaps a demonstration of him walking towards the light before he awakes and finds himself back in the powerplant.

the lashing of sam is unequivocally the worst experience he endures in his time in the fayz. the worst experience of his whole life, something that shifts his entire perspective of not only drake but also the type of pain he can endure. the memory of it lasts even through light:

even after everything - four more whole books of action - nothing lives up to or usurps the agony of his lashing in the powerplant. it does not kill him, but it kills his soul. similarly to how the darkness kills lana and sucks the light from her life, sam's experience with drake does the same for him.

taking this back to the gospels, then, jesus is battered and bruised when he gets to the crucifix and, as a result, doesn't last long up there. sam is similarly battered and bruised, literally on his last legs of life after drake is done with him. brianna is able to come and administer the morphine and bring him back to physical life, but he is psychologically different after the whippings. jesus's trial before pilate is a distinctive turning point in christian theology; it is where he essentially admits to his fate, refuses to put up a fight, and leaves the ending of his life in the hands of pilate. he understands that his people have given up on him, that he has lost the crown of king of the jews, that he has been so betrayed by those closest to him. and, yet, in the aftermath of the trial and even after the crucifixtion and rebirth, jesus is different. the world is different. it turns into a place where a better ending rests at the end of all the trials and tribulations.

sam accepts his fate. sam understands that he is losing control of perdido beach. if drake wasn't the one to beat him down, the human crew probably would've tried to at some point. in this analogy where drake is a twisted version of pilate, the human crew are perhaps the crowd outside the temple who are calling for the death of jesus; the death of sam. for fifty-nine minutes sam was reduced to nothing but a boy bruised. he was no longer a four-bar mutant, he had no use of his hands, and he was no longer school bus sam either. he was just sam temple, a fifteen-year-old kid dying on the floor at the hands of someone who took it upon themselves to play judge over his life. jesus, in his trial, became the same thing. just a person enduring the worst sort of torture. god couldn't save him, didn't save him, nor did his people or his reputation or his powers.

the powerplant scene puts the fayz over the precipice. it sends drake down a path from which he never recovers, and it pushes sam to the brink of something he almost doesn't save himself from. it sets in stone that sam will come back - stronger - and those who put him through the agony will repent for what they did. in such a short extract, MG essentially plots out the ending of their relationship: sam will prosper while drake will die.

so, overall

i could expand on this entire thing further because, as i said before, there is such an astonishing amount of overlapping religious theology in these texts that it's impossible to sum them all up in one go. but i like to think of this powerplant moment as an opening, as something thematically intrinsic in the way the rest of the novels work out. it's an instance which can be explored even more if one is to bring caine into the narrative too, and consider sam/caine as twin versions of jesus/judas. which doesn't even take into consideration the very on-the-nose naming of them as sam and david and the way that gospel plays into the whole series, too.

i could even bring in one of my favourite pieces of artwork, the angels hovering over the body of christ in the sepulchre by william blake, and perhaps analyse how the angels are symbolic of drake/brittany in later novels, how their constant back and forth as they oversee the rebirth of sam as he conquers them, and the fayz.

anyway… gone is crazy detailed when you look at it through these sorts of theological lenses. i think, to a certain extent, some of the overlaps must be intentional. the fayz is very much a microcosm of particular religions, of the way gods contend against each other and leaders prevail against crowds of opposition.

either way, to conclude: the meeting between drake and sam in the powerplant greatly mirrors the trial of jesus before pilate, just before his crucifixtion. it perhaps represents how sam is forced to shoulder the sins and the misgivings of the perdido beach kids in order to see through to a way of beating the darkness and freeing them from the barrier. though neither drake or sam are perfect reflections of pilate and jesus respectively, the way their actions correspond to and follow those of the gospels brings to surface really interesting observations about the ways the characters and their fates are almost predetermined, how you can see how the books will end even from only the second one in the series.

#gone michael grant #the fayz #the gone series #gone series #sam temple #drake merwin #caine soren #mini essay #this got very wordy! sorry! #i went off on one slightly #musings #sam #drake

[fusionfanatic]

Gone fandom: You like Penny? Ew, she’s so creepy! She was attracted to Caine and Drake and she tortured Cigar to death! Poor boy…

My honest reaction to that:

#so what she tortured and killed people the world is a cold place grow up #pls gone fandom don’t cancel me I love you #gone series #the gone series #michael grant #fayz #gone series penny #penny gone series #gone series caine #caine soren #gone series drake #drake merwin

[fallout--alley--youth--zone]

I was gonna make this post and then completely forgot. Anyways Drake & Penny should've been a buddy cop duo send tweet

#drake merwin #penny gone series #gone series #gone michael grant

[ghaoil]

The beginning of the FAYZ <3

#gone series #fayz #the beginning #astrid ellison #sam temple #diana ladris #edilio escobar #dekka talent #caine soren #drake merwin #gone

[inkskxtch]

what if GONE had a graphic novel?

I’ve been working on some comic concepts for the first book in the series since like April but i forgot about the project for like two months straight my bad…… anyway its done now!! This was my first time doing comic page stuff so i hope the layout, text etc is alright :3

The amputation scene page was the first one I drew out and I’m still getting adjusted to drawing with a Wacom tablet, which is why the lineart is a little messier on that one compared to the rest jsjskd. I gradually got better with it as I made my way through the other pages :]

Usually I post sketches/lineart/flat colours etc with my art but theres too much to include here in one post - would anyone b interested in it anyway? The sketches are kinda funny

#caine soren #diana ladris #drake merwin #sam temple #astrid ellison #little pete #pete ellison #lana arwen lazar #gone series #the gone series #fayz #the fayz #michael grant #gone michael grant #my art

[dianaladrislovebot]

gone headcanons that have popped into my unhinged little brain, part 6

hey there, so since i’ve been rereading the series/writing this fic i’ve had nothing but hc/theory brainrot so you’ll only be getting hc posts for a while. we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program of incorrect quotes at some point i promise

this first (technically first two) hc isn’t something i induct into my thinking all the time it’s just a thought that i enjoy no matter how sad it is

caine’s parents had always struggled with having children, so they ended up adopting caine instead. they moved to london (where caine’s mother is from) for a few years because they feared connie, who was still young, would come back for him. he slips into a british accent sometimes when he’s angry (i just think this sounds funny can you imagine british caine)

caine’s mother fell pregnant a few years later and they managed to keep the baby. the second the baby, named chloe, was born, caine was sent to coates immediately so they could focus on doting on their “real” child. now that they had a biological child, he was rendered useless in their eyes.

astrid has scary good skin care. girl has never had a pimple in her LIFE.

since they lived together (+ sam) post fayz, diana helped astrid write her book. astrid only knew so much from her point of view, and diana helped her fill in the blanks from the other side of the court.

caine’s a ridiculously picky eater. he will push his food around and make sure none of it touches before he’ll eat it. very particular about what he will and won’t eat. this is because he’s ridiculously autistic.

also hates crust. diana and drake used to take turns eating his crust at coates

alternatively, sam is a human vacuum. he will eat quite literally anything you put in front of him because and i quote, “food is food”.

drake is afraid of butterflies. he thinks they’re gross. i have no basis for this ink and i just think it’s funny

caine’s favourite colour is yellow. him owning that yellow vest was not a coincidence.

alternatively, diana’s is a royal purple and drakes is (suprising no one) red.

caine is super squeamish, despite his constant need for war. hates blood, hates all kinds of bugs. he took one look at that’s bugs face during the bug battle in plague and was ready to book it.

drake really wanted to die in a super fucked up and for his case to go unsolved so he could end up on buzzfeed unsolved. he was disappointed when he realised his immortality probably prevented that.

drake’s a complete feral in snow. he absolutely adores snow. it’s the only time anyone sees him act like an actual well adjusted person (sort of). he turns into an excited child when it snows

#gone series #the gone series #gone michael grant #michael grant #fayz #the fayz #caine soren #sam temple #diana ladris #drake merwin #astrid ellison

[itsjustafayz]

Episode 4 of my GoneTV Scripts!

Been a bit, sorry! Once again super fun to write for Caine, Drake, and Diana. Villains are so much fun lol no wonder the Coates crew are some of my favorite characters. Hope you enjoy!

#fayz #gone series #the fayz #the gone series #gone michael grant #sam temple #astrid ellison #quinn gaither #lana arwen lazar #screenplay #caine soren #drake merwin #diala ladris #gonetv #you can't escape the fayz

[thebreezelover]

Gone characters as Barbie!

#i definitely had more fun editing the boys lol #sam temple #caine soren #drake merwin #astrid ellison #diana ladris #quinn gaither #gone series #michael grant

[aayo-whatt]

Who was your favorite Gone character?? Along with your least?

(Its 2 am and in re-reading plague help me 😭😭)

oof okk

from book one? i lovee drake and edilio unnaturally, drake was such an asshole for no reason and i love it and edilio is literally baby, he can do anything, if he's barbie im his ken y'know? ok, not sure who i hate from book one,, maybe orc? he was kinda a dick, but i feel like he was just doing what was expected of him albert a bit? but then again he did run a maccas, and he found that cat so probably not.. i don't think i really hated anyone from the first book, just a chunk of people i either didn't think were relevant or just didn't hate or love-?

from the whole series? QUINN he is literally my child, i would die for him over and over and i wouldn't care JUST LET HIM HAVE HIS BOAT and i vaguely remember zil doing something to hunter, and we can't have that so probably zil (<- was going to say gaia, but it seemed too dry of a response-)

ohmygod- i wish that could be me brooo 😭😭😭

tysm for the ask! feel incredibly free to send as many as you'd like!! who are your favourite and least favourite characters??

#my question has been questioned #iamjacksragingboner #sobbing i think i just got your users reference- #gone series #the fayz #drake merwin #edilio escobar #orc #charles merriman #albert hillsborough #quinn gaither #zil sperry