#francis crawford of lymond

[cassandrva]

and sure there are other babygirls but are they being hunted by every crown in europe for mass homicide and high treason while also being described as having "eyes like a kitten's"?

#it's insane to me that this was published in 1961 #winning the ante litteram blorbo awards by unimaginable margins #if he came out now all my mutuals on twitter and tumblr would do unspeakable things to this guy's cervix i can tell you that much #lymond chronicles #francis crawford of lymond

[unhelpfulfemme]

I think Lymond's early scenes with the Somervilles gain a lot more nuance and impact and emotional punch when you reread them.

Because, okay, on the first read they seem like kind, intelligent, respectable people who love each other very much - the warmth and connection and the instinctual wordless understanding between Gideon and Kate is immediately palpable - but at that point you don't really know enough about Francis to understand how they appear to him specifically. At this point he just seems like a callous cunt who takes pleasure in offending anyone who isn't Christian.

But think about it - artistic, intellectual boy grows up in a family full of constant acrimonious conflict (Mother bought a crate of books, Father burned it, they fought over it, Father drank...), his interests cnstantly belittled as too soft and his things smashed against walls until he learns to be vicious enough to defend himself. Father seems resentful about his very existence, angelic little sister has suicidal tendencies, Mother loves him but can be a manipulative bitch. He's a POW at sixteen, then groomed by an older woman, then sent to a probable death by that same woman. He's accused of treason over an incident that killed the sister, spends years as a slave suffering through every kind of abuse imaginable, tries coming back home but Father kicks him out because he doesn't believe him.

Ends up running a band of outlaws and considering how he later admits to hating the St. Mary's lifestyle - where his officers are all middle class intellectuals handpicked by himself - because he misses his music and his clever conversation and being friends with women? Can you imagine how he must have felt with the outlaws, where he, who used to read books on ethics for fun, had to constantly keep them entertained so they don't rape and pillage their way across their own countryside?

And then he goes to Flaw Valleys and sees a music room? And one of the first things to come out of Kate's mouth is how must not get many opportunities to play the harpischord with his kind of lifestyle, and how he must miss it a lot? She has no idea how much she's hit it right on the head.

And then he gets to know them, and they're... probably his Platonic ideal of a perfect family? He probably didn't think families like that existed outside of his own imagination (just compare them to every other family we see in the series). And then compare them to Francis's own interests and personality.

The husband is an accomplished musician, and the wife adores him for it and begs him to play every opportunity she gets. When he's in a mood, she knows how to draw him out of it skillfully and subtly and wittily and without being too intrusive. He, in turn, knows her well enough to anticipate her every need and delights in making her happy and giving her everything he can. There's palpable love and respect and understanding between them - they seem to understand each other wordlessly. They're both kind and empathetic and well-educated and keep themselves up-to-date on current events, on which they have nuanced and insightful opinions beyond picking a side. The wife is a master of witty conversation and enjoys and can keep up with Francis's own barbed back-and-forth. The husband and Francis come to an immediate understanding over politics despite technically being on opposite sides of a very complicated war. The husband's managed to keep his hands clean throughout it. Their daugher is already growing up to be a person of intellect, talent, and bold personality, because she's growing up surrounded with love and care and support and books and music and opportunities to be carefree and make messes and run around with the village boys.

He's barely twenty and he's been to hell and back so many times that he feels subhuman, and these picture perfect people take him in even though he's done nothing but treat them like shit, and they offer him their kindness and care and support and try to help him every way they can despite having zero reason to trust him or like him.

Can you imagine the kind of pedestal he'd put them on? It's no wonder he keeps coming back and maintains that friendship through everything. They're like the only stars he can see from his pitch-black gutter.

And I think this makes all his hand wringing over Philippa a lot more understandable, especially considering how he now sees himself as subhuman in ten additional ways after the extra trauma of the intervening years? On the first read you kind of just want to smack him because he's being so unreasonable, but really at that point you've spent so much time in Philippa's head and so little in Francis's that she's just Philippa to you (despite all the admiration she gets), while Francis is the one everyone is constantly panting over.

But to him she's part of a family so perfect and loving and healthy and aligned with all his ideals that he can't quite bring himself to believe that not only do they exist but they also like his miserable self, a family to whom he owes a great personal debt he can never repay (as he tells Kate in RC) and Philippa's the brightest and most impressive and accomplished member of that family. She is on a pedestal so high there's literally nothing he can do to measure up to what she means to him short of becoming a god.

And then consider how he later thinks that she's broken herself beyond repair over him. They're the only pure and flawless thing he knows of, the literal embodiment of how he dreams of people being in an ideal world, and he's destroyed it.

#lymond chronicles #I'm on a roll these days I guess #francis crawford of lymond #philippa somerville

[softieghost]

I'm Lymond pilled now so here's a collection of lines that made me holler. Hello to all 5 members of the Lymond Chronicles Fandom I am here to scream

#lymond chronicles #dorothy dunnett #francis crawford of lymond #the game of kings #the lymond chronicles

[sugarbabywenkexing]

Literally just imagine it though, you're about to blow the guy who a) you're trying to assassinate and b) you're in love with and then his boss who hates him (and shares a bed with him when he's not fucking his way through the French court) shows up and cockblocks you

#katherine reads queen's play #again #lymond chronicles #robin stewart #francis crawford of lymond #katherine reads lymond

[bloody-wonder]

a visualization of what i call the overcompetent scheming bastard literary tradition. big thanks to my esteemed colleagues @starlingshrike​ @magpiefngrl​ and @counterwiddershins​ for helping me to draw up this educational material

#the lymond chronicles #the queen's thief #captive prince #francis crawford of lymond #eugenides #laurent of vere #lymond #the king of attolia #return of the thief #prince's gambit #tlc mine #capri mine #aka the authors not so secretly inspired by dorothy dunnett #please share more examples of this literary tradition with the class

[josiepugblog]

Meet my fosters: Francis, Gabriel and Philippa! If you live in the Western United States and are interested in some Lymond kittens, shoot me a dm and I can give you more specific info. Otherwise just enjoy their adorable faces. Francis is the hissiest and Philippa just watches the boys fight😅.

#the lymond chronicles #francis crawford of lymond #Graham Reid mallet #philippa somerville #kittens #adoption

[anirbols]

a quick franics crawford of lymond sketch.... or should i say voevoda bolshoia? im reading the ringed castle right now so that's the lymond im envisioning.

#francis crawford of lymond #lymond #francis crawford #the lymond chronicles #dorothy dunnett #trc #fanart #game of kings #the ringed castle

[sarcasmisfluffy]

Reading "The Game of Kings" by Dorthory Dunnett on recommendation from a random Tumblr post and Lymond has such main character *tm* energy it's hilarious.

Everyone's speaking normally and then here comes Francis Crawford of Lymond spouting off in iambic pentameter

#game of kings #lymond #francis crawford of lymond #books

[cesaray]

#the culter bros dynamic is #richard crawford #francis crawford of lymond #queen’s play #dorothy dunnett #currently reading #the lymond chronicles

[collectate]

will scott was not present when they implied that he had been unnaturally corrupted by lymond at the trial but if he WAS he would have been so normal and straight and not concerning abt it at all. he would've gone vermilion red (ginger moment) and died a hundred times and come back and been like 'soooooo.........did lymond like.........say anything?? that made you guys think??? that we were 🙏 you know 😭 like that?? 💅' and his dad would have killed him right there and the trial would have been over instantly to deal with the more pressing issue of hanging the duke of buccleuch.

#the lymond chronicles #will scott #francis crawford of lymond #the judge looked at will and then looked at lymond and went i know what you are boy 👁👄👁 #good thing will was off playing homoerotic strip poker for evidence to save his homoerotic gang leader's life and reputation instead #the totally straight thing to do under any circumstance

[cassandrva]

so i started reading the game of kings

#lymond chronicles #francis crawford of lymond #im on chapter three #yes i have downloaded the companions yes i love the way lymond speaks #but BOY you are giving me a headache!!!!!! #i haven't consulted the dictionary this often since i was 15 and learning english for the first time

[unhelpfulfemme]

I just think the choice of subject vs. object here is neat.

Even at his most high handed, when he's making decisions for everyone else because he thinks he knows best, even at the peak of expressing his Madonna vs. whore complex*, he still thinks of himself in terms of being taken by his partner and not vice versa.

I think it's very revealing to hear this from someone who has been consistently sexualized and objectified by everyone and their mother (sometimes quite literally!) throughout the series, often against his will, and who makes a habit of using his body as currency, but who also has a nasty reputation as a seducer/rake/libertine/man-whore (i.e. person who seduces and takes others - he is always seen as the agentic one in all the... rumours swirling around about his life, even when it's not objectively the case).

He's not framing the situation in terms of him taking her, or seducing her, or ruining her, or her giving herself to an unworthy man, or any of the other myriad ways of phrasing this concept that puts the woman in the object position. He's basically... keeping her from making an unwise purchase. He's preventing her from buying faulty goods. Pick another one, I know that one has a nice colour scheme but actually it's broken.

It's mercenary and it's self-objectifying, and so it's incredibly on-brand for Lymond.

*Look, there's a reason Austin Grey appears immediately afterwards and it's to be worse at all of this than Lymond, making Lymond look like the saner option by comparison lol. That's like his only role in the plot.

#lymond chronicles #the lymond chronicles #francis crawford of lymond

[thecrenellations]

I love this image of them facing each other, and there’s just … so much that’s true and untrue in his statement.

Marthe is correct: Francis ran off with her girlfriend and the Dame de Doubtance was more than okay with it.

Now, however, he’s been stopped from returning to Russia/Güzel BY MARTHE, so he sure doesn’t have her anymore! Neither sibling does.

Güzel had him - he was the jewel in her jewel box. He chose to go with her in order to ensure the PiF crew’s safety. He didn’t know if he would survive when he made that promise, and he didn’t want to survive. He only started sleeping with her after being faced with the fact that she was harming someone else in his place. He didn’t love her, he’s in love with someone else, and she sent him Gabriel’s dead body in a sarcophagus.

It’s not like Marthe knows the details of that. It’s been nearly four years. He still stole her girlfriend, right after the turning point in their relationship as siblings, right after she helped him heal with shared poetry.

They’re no jewel and jewel box, but you know whose relationship is also messed up? Marthe and Jerott’s. <3

As Marthe points out soon, she has Jerott! She completed the dysfunctional swap, and they’re still married … so does she arguably have more than Francis has?

Speaking of marriage, Francis is currently married to the person he’s in love with who loves him back and is perfect for him and — yeah okay this whole book is about how much of a mess that is. But still.

AND TRULY. From Marthe’s perspective, her little brother has always had all she does not, for the arbitrary reasons of legitimacy (lol) and gender. She has known this her entire life. And the reader learns that her life will end in place of his, the catalyst to his happiness and meaningful future. This exchange is about Güzel, but even discounting her, as complicated and traumatic as his own life has been, Francis’s statement is laughable.

“the palms of his hands, yielding and empty” … Is there nothing in the cup for me? 😭

He says this mere seconds after kissing her husband and making him bluescreen. Francis….

And as always, I may be wrong and I’m sure there’s even more …

#on the cheeks and Philippa did it it too but … also by the end of the night Jerott’s going to ask if he can return to fight with him again #beating even Marthe’s prediction of the next morning #oh NO the next morning! yikes! #anyway #I love these two #crawford siblings forever #marthe #francis crawford #lymond #checkmate #lymond chronicles spoilers #something i #now I’m just thinking of them continuing to poke at each other about guzel and jerott WHILE MARTHE IS PRETENDING TO BE A GHOST #and also being possessed #but the marriage/mistress sniping coming from that chair is all her #but also she wants the best for him! in a way! her methods and advice are awful sometimes! But she does! #sometimes they’re even more brilliant than awful #and then when camille is cursing him he warns her against harming marthe … I love that too #they really could have had it all #(a less antagonistic relationship)

[aspocko]

love the idea that jerott's loss of faith came from his understanding that a loving and just god would never allow something as annoying as francis crawford of lymond to exist.

#lymond #the lymond chronicles #please don't reblog this with serious criticism or meta this is literally a shitpost #most pitiable creature on earth jerott blyth #no one has suffered as much as jerott blyth #he deserves it though #he does it to himself #i love this character so much #i know francis crawford is the bastion of iconic characters in literature #but jerott blyth? this guy matters #i just love to see him in situations

[semicolonsandsimiles]

I felt compelled to make a more complete and accurate version of this Venn diagram, so. Here it is.

#if you saw this earlier no you didn't #(i made the background white so now it should be easier to read when you embiggen) #with help from thecrenellations and sophosthewisebunny #also honorable mention to “can't keep apologizing” #lion hunters #the winter prince #medraut #queens thief #eugenides #the lymond chronicles #lymond #francis crawford

[josiepugblog]

Absolutely wild to me that there are people who are attracted to the same things in real life as they are in fiction

Like I see a man on the street with blood running down his face and I’m going to be alarmed

But I see a gif of a bloody blorbo on tumblr and it’s like yummmm wanna lick it

#tommy shelby #jaime lannister #kaz brekker #francis crawford of lymond #peaky blinders