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butterflydm · 2 years

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wot reread: crossroads of twilight (prologue - chap 9)

spoilers through... mostly crossroads of twilight (I have to admit that my brain is not certain where CoT ends and KoD begins; they kinda blur together).

wish me luck.

1. The opening quotation literally sounds like Jordan is saying to us all: Slog Time is in full swing! “The right hand falters and the left hand strays”. No, this is the tenth book in the series why are you doing this to me. That being said... I guess I will say that Perrin is the hand that falters and Mat is the hand that strays, even though it should be the other way around because Mat was absolutely Rand’s right-hand man.

2. So, imo, one of the main issues that happened during the Slog was that Jordan started these new subplots back in LoC/ACoS and then... lost sight of what the narrative PURPOSE of the subplots were supposed to be and started just writing them for their own sake, as if they were the main plots. Perrin’s ‘kidnapped wife’ subplot straight-up shouldn’t have happened at all but, if it did, it should have been wrapped up in a single book. What his actual plot should have been about was the tension of killing or not killing Masema, which is a question that actually goes to the heart of Perrin’s characterization and his place as one of Rand’s childhood friends!

Is it okay to kill a dangerous man who isn’t a threat to you personally but has caused enormous destruction in his wake? Very relevant question, because lots of people want to kill or control RAND because he’s a dangerous man who brings destruction in his wake. The only Perrin pages that I will consider relevant are the ones dealing with this issue, thanks! Everything else can (and should, in the TV series) be tossed away.

3. Mat’s subplot losing its way is actually worse, because Winter’s Heart gave us some strong narrative promises about him and left him off on a relatively exciting note... and then we immediately slow everything down in this book when his plot would have been much better served by a quick pace, focusing on the elements that Winter’s Heart told us would matter: Seanchan characters questioning their empire, the issue of the sul’dam, and the future slaver empress being a woman who is capable of channeling but being destined to marry a man who (last book) despises slavery and is wary of women who can channel, literally her two main things. In Mat’s storyline, I’m also going to be keeping an eye on characterization reversals from previous books.

4. We basically skipped Egwene last book, so this should now be the book where she does the siege of Tar Valon; this is also the book where Elayne is going to defend Caemlyn against a mysterious army. Those are the two things that the narrative told us last book would happen. I feel like Elayne probably holds up her end of the narrative deal; she usually does. But we’ll see! CoT & KoD really merge together in my brain and I’m not certain what happens in which of the books. But both Elayne and Egwene have kept their eyes on the prize so far -- Elayne on securing rulership of Andor and Egwene on securing rulership of the Aes Sedai, both tasks that need to be accomplished for the Last Battle, so honestly they both get gold stars simply because they haven’t gotten distracted away from the main plot of this story: defeating the Dark One at the Last Battle.

5. We don’t know what Rand and Nynaeve’s plans are for after the cleansing, only that they were both really tired and Cadsuane was being creepy and possessive of Rand at the end of Winter’s Heart. Their storyline moved ahead of everyone else’s at the end of the last book, so we will also see everyone else catch up to them in this book, probably.

6. And now we dive into the prologue. This is the other place where the Slog comes into play: too many random PoVs. Some of these are worthwhile and some of them just felt kinda pointless. Though, ironically, all of them are probably better (and much more succinct) than Mat and Perrin’s plotlines in this book, lol, which I’m basically tossing in the bin.

7. Rodel Ituralde has received his letter from his King via “Lady Tuva” which is actually from Graendal. What happens: he’s waiting. We do learn some info about how he is trying to hold Arad Doman together by the skin of his teeth. It’s been “less than a month” since the weather changed. We learn that he’s been getting odd orders from the King (who is in hiding) for months. How many of those orders were actually from Graendal, I wonder. Yeah, it sounds like pretty much all the orders were from Graendal, as Ituralde thinks with despair, “the orders the King sent could not have been better written to achieve chaos”. This is the fruits of Graendal’s labor during the LoC-WH era.

8. Ituralde has taken the letter as an opportunity to meet under a flag of peace (the “White Ribbon”) with Lord Shimron, who used to be one of the King’s advisors but turned Dragonsworn and sits high among the Dragonsworn in Arad Doman (and the Dragonsworn rule by council, which is interesting). He wants to set against his differences with the Dragonsworn to unite against the Seanchan invaders. Oh goodness, yes. I absolutely approve. Please unite against the Seanchan. Would love for Arad Doman to be a bulwark against them going any further to the north, just as Rand is holding Illian to stop them going any further east. Ah, the exact words of the letter are to ‘gather as many men as he can and strike against the Seanchan’. I am assuming Graendal did NOT think he would consider offering truce to the Dragonsworn and was just hoping to feed the Arad Domani army into a meatgrinder. The Dragonsworn here are both Arad Domani and Taraboner and the ones from Tarabon are VERY unhappy about the puppet King and Panarch that the Seanchan have placed on the throne in their home country. This is a good section. Worth all 15 pages. I also really appreciated us getting a chance to see Dragonsworn (who aren’t under Rand’s direct control) who also aren’t cultists like Masema’s people or using it as an excuse to be bandits. Lord Shimron and the people with him are shown to be very principled; they’ve just decided that following the Dragon is a higher calling than following their King.

9. Valda PoV and catching up with the Whitecloaks. This is literally just reminding us of things we already know about Valda and the Whitecloaks. Unnecessary. 5 pages we didn’t need. He’s bitter about the Seanchan taking the Fortress of Light - yeah, duh, of course he is. I just kinda assumed that.

10. And we’re with Gabrelle and the Black Tower now. We don’t learn anything particularly new. Taim and Logain are still at opposite sides of the Black Tower conflict. Only two weeks have passed in this storyline since we last checked in with Toveine. We could have covered this in maybe 3 pages, for the new info about Logain going recruiting.

11. Yukiri in the White Tower. The rumors are all worrying Yukiri, one of the Sisters in the White Tower, especially the ones about Rand vanishing (she wonders if Elaida’s proclamation is to blame). Anyway, Yukiri is one of the Sitters who was drawn into the Black Ajah Hunters plotline, so I’m inclined to like her part. She’s working now with one of the Gray sisters who was sent back to the Tower to spread the rumors about the Reds having raising up Logain as a False Dragon. Things have gotten even worse in the Tower, with sisters not leaving their Ajah quarters alone and always wearing their shawls. They have three names of other Black Ajah sisters from Talene: Atuan (Yellow Ajah), Galina (Red Ajah; in charge of Rand’s kidnapping and now a slave to the Shaido), and Temaile (Gray; left the Tower with Liandrin’s bunch, currently in Caemlyn). Of them, only Atuan is in the Tower still. In order to figure out why everything Elaida knows is also known by the Black Ajah, Yukiri asks the sister to renew her old (30 years ago) friendship with Elaida. We also learn that Alviarin abruptly left the Tower yesterday. Most of this section is good and useful; I would take out the scene about the “weird Sitters” mystery.

12. Gawyn with the Sisters in the village outside Tar Valon. Gawyn is aware that standing aside the way he did and letting Rand be hurt is something that Egwene would need to ‘forgive’. Gawyn thinks about how he should have gone home (to Caemlyn) once he returned to Tar Valon and found all his Younglings expelled from the city proper. Yes, that would have been a good idea. Your loyalty is supposed to be to Caemlyn and your sister, and you know that wherever Elayne is and whatever she’s doing, she is NOT in the Tower and neither is Egwene. In fact, your most recent news for BOTH of them is that they’re loyal to Rand (since Gawyn doesn’t about Amyrlin Egwene yet). Yet he tells himself that MAYBE Elayne IS in the White Tower and arrived while he was gone, despite there being absolutely no reason for him to think that. Ah, the rebel army has arrived at the threshold of Tar Valon, we learn. And Gawyn straight-up learns from one of the newly arrived Tower Red sisters that Elayne is on the same side as the rebels and yet... stays to hear Elaida’s orders for him instead . I need @markantonys here to explain to me what goes on inside this man’s head. Because he believes that he must be loyal to the White Tower for Elayne and Egwene’s sake even though he now knows Elayne is ‘with the rebels’ and was last aware that Egwene was with Rand (or I think she left him a letter, so he probably knows she had a ~mysterious task~ but she was definitely on Rand’s side so)... I just don’t understand how this leads to “obey Elaida’s orders”? Is it decision paralysis? He can’t make a choice so he just defaults to the thing that’s in front of his face?

13. Bashere outside Caemlyn with the Legion of the Dragon. He’s studying the newly-erected camps of that army that Elayne was warned about last book -- he can spot soldiers who belong to both of the two main rival claimants to the throne of Andor, Neaen and Elenia but, more intriguingly, the banner being flown near the banner of Andor is one for a lady named Arymilla, who wasn’t considered a serious claimant. Oh! The spy-glass that he’s using was a gift from Rand. That’s sweet. I actually do think Bashere makes for a good general for Rand, but he was also good as a co-general with Mat, from what we saw of the Sammael plan, so I do really mourn that he basically ended up being Mat’s replacement*. But as an individual character and for what he brings to the story, I appreciate him a lot. But, anyway, Caemlyn has been surrounded by this army, with all the main roads out of the city covered. It’s actually an interesting narrative reversal of what we should find in Egwene’s story, once we get there! Elayne is being besieged and Egwene is besieging.

* technically, Mat is replaced by the combination of Bashere + Min, I would say. Bashere for the general expertise and being a “man Rand would trust with his life” and Min for being the person who is there for Rand emotionally (and to carry a lot of knives on their person). Though as my reread has shown to me, Min is TERRIBLE at this job, with all her secrets from Rand and spilling Rand’s secrets to other people and her ominous visions of the future. Hilariously, Mat - who has an undeserved (at this point in the story) fandom reputation for having ‘abandoned’ Rand - was much better at being a friend, a confidant, and a comfort to him than Min has been shown to be. Maybe because he wasn’t just pretending to be Rand’s friend in order to try to angle his way into Rand’s bed. Maybe because Rand understood Mat well enough from their years of friendship that he rarely took Mat’s outer shell as seriously as most of the other characters do. Probably some of both. But Mat actually kept Rand’s secrets for him, provided comfort in the way that Rand told us he preferred at the time (sit quietly next to him as he processes and let him work through it), and, though he grumbled and complained, he always did his best to be there when the chips were down.

14. Bael is annoyed that the Legion of the Dragon and the Aiel forces are just being straight-up ignored by this army, and Bashere reminds him that Elayne doesn’t want them to interfere, which means Rand doesn’t want them to interfere. Which means that the heads of Rand’s armies here both know that he has feelings for Elayne. I kinda assume they must also know that he’s sleeping with Min but they don’t reference her at all, so I wonder if Min being openly Rand’s mistress is just straight-up a Cairhien-only affair and none of his people in Caemlyn know about it. And the Wise Ones, of course, know about Aviendha/Rand/Elayne due to the first-sister ceremony, given that Aviendha and Elayne openly talked about their feelings for Rand in the ceremony. Again, Min is left out of the matter here so... hmm. Let me double-check something in Winter’s Heart. Yeah, they don’t mention Min in their first-sister ceremony when talking about Rand. It really does feel like there are two entirely separate sets of relationships here: Rand/Elayne/Aviendha and Rand/Min.

15. Bashere thinks about how this sort of civil war, even a bloodless version, wouldn’t be possible in Saldaea, due to the Blight always being over their shoulder. Better a tyrant than civil war, is the way that thinking runs in Saldaea, because the country has to stay united in order to fend off Shadowspawn and the Blight to their north. We have seen inklings of this kind of thought appearing earlier in this prologue, with Ituralde reaching out to the Dragonsworn because the danger of the Seanchan is so great. Better unite with Dragonsworn, even if that costs his king his crown, than allow their country to be taken by the Seanchan.

16. Bashere comes back to his tent to learn that his wife, Deira, has just survived an attack. He notes that they’re considered odd among Saldaeans because they rarely shout at each other. Then why does Faile... moving on. Anyway, they tease each other a lot, mostly, and talk lightly of serious matters. But, yes, an assassination attempt on Bashere’s wife. Then he, mysteriously, tells Tumad to go to the “man who came to me yesterday” and tell him that Bashere agrees to whatever it was that he’d asked. Clearly something related to why someone tried to kill Deira. This is also a good section of the prologue.

17. Before I even read this next section, I am going to say that 30 pages given to one of Cadsuane’s companions is just TOO MANY. This is too many pages of a side character’s PoV! Anyway, Cadsuane “left a week ago” so Rand is currently still in Far Madding during this section of the prologue. Samitsu’s purpose in Cairhien is to keep an eye on the politics. Nothing in this is relevant at all until Loial and Karldin show up: we know that Dobraine is keeping an eye on Cairhien for Rand. I don’t care what Cadsuane’s flunky thinks about the situation. Dobraine is literally doing exactly the job that Rand set for him -- running the city and making sure that there’s enough support for Elayne that her claim should settle into place easily once she makes it. I approve of Rand choosing Stewards for the cities under his rule but this one should have been Berelain. She was doing a GOOD JOB and she got kicked out because Rand started to feel too much lust for her now that he had an on-site girlfriend, so he demoted and dismissed a good proxy ruler for being too pretty and replaced her with a man. I will never not be mad about this plot/character development. #BerelainDeservedBetter

18. Okay, Loial comes back into the story, along with Karldin. They went off to let the steddings know that the Dragon Reborn wanted all the Waygates possible to be sealed, because the Shadow is using them to move troops. The PoV character is still Samitsu, but one of Rand’s oathsworn Aes Sedai is also here to talk to them, Sashalle, who is Red Ajah and was one of the three sisters stilled by Rand at Dumai’s Wells and then healed by Damar Flinn. Sashalle sounds like a true believer in Rand now (potentially helped along by Verin’s Compulsion).

19. Loial and Karldin are looking for Rand, of course, and worrying over the tales about what happened to the Sun Palace. They’re able to get some reassurance from Samitsu and Sashalle on that regard -- Rand has left but he is not the one who destroyed the palace. We then find out from the servants that Lord Dobraine was murdered. The group of four investigates. He’s almost dead but there is a faint flicker of life, Normal Aes Sedai healing would kill him from the shock of it. She is able to heal him enough to close the worst of the wounds without the shock of healling killing him, but he will need to heal the rest of it the normal way. It looks like the people who tried to kill Dobraine were planning to steal something that he was keeping (probably for Rand?) and might have successfully stolen it, as Loial and Karldin wonder if there were more than two attackers (there are two bodies). We end on the news that a group of Sisters and Asha’man have entered the city, led by Logain.

It does sound like every single PoV in the prologue has been pre-cleansing. Honestly, most of these PoVs were pretty useful, though a couple seemed pointless and several could have been shorter. Maybe the prologues in The Slog got a bad rap and it’s really all Mat and Perrin dragging everything down.

20. Now we enter the book proper and we are in Mat’s PoV. As a reminder, these characters were established as strongly ANTI-SLAVERY/Anti-Seanchan in Winter’s Heart:

Mat (one of his main pieces of characterization in WH)

Setalle Anan (one of her only pieces of characterization in WH)

Juilin (mostly for the sake of his ladylove)

Noal (believes slavery is worse than death)

Teslyn, Joline & Edesina (for obvious reasons)

Thom (helps Beslan plot rebellion against the Seanchan)

Beslan (despises the Seanchan for invading his city). he’s not present but he’s also not dead, so I’m including him

These characters are strongly Oh Shit, Gotta Save My Own Skin/It’s All About Me:

Renna, Seta, & Bethamin (slaves if the Truth Were Known)

Egeanin (same but for her actions and not inherently who she is)

Domon (wants to be free to marry Egeanin)

These characters are strongly pro-slavery:

Tuon (dormant marath’damane)

And we have Selucia, who is a slave. Because Tuon was allowed to bring her slave along with her, which was our first hint on-page that the narrative planned to pull its punches with Tuon, back in WH. Why would you bring her slave along with her? Literally only to coddle her. Why are we coddling the slaver? The narrative doesn’t get into it enough in Winter’s Heart for it to stand out what a bizarre choice it is for Mat to give Tuon the indulgence of bringing along her slave during her kidnapping when he’s actively helping freed slaves escape at that very moment, but it really stands out once we get into Crossroads of Twilight.

Characters who didn’t express strong feelings about slavery in WH:

Olver (only cared about boobs the entire book; did not appear to have noticed that Ebou Dar was ever invaded at all)

Mat’s remaining Band members (mostly just yes-men at this point, sadly)

21. I am not going to go over the majority of Mat’s chapters, since this is a pointless side-quest, but I am keeping tracking of certain items -- every time Tuon refuses to use Mat’s name, every time she acts like a spoiled brat, every time she reminds us that she’s a slaver, and every time one of the actual good things from Winter’s Heart (or previous books) is undermined or reversed. Apart from that, things of note in the first four chapters:

It’s been six days since the night of the escape.

Mat has been thinking a lot about just taking a horse and riding away from the circus as quickly as he can manage it.

He’s depressed about how many Atha’an Miere were killed or recaptured by the Seanchan.

“Oh no one has cut off slaves’ feet for hundreds of years... well, not many people currently cut off their slaves’ feet and we frown at them for doing it. We don’t punish them but we kinda frown.” (paraphrased)

No alarm was raised for Tuon’s disappearance.

Mat still doesn’t want to be married.

Why didn’t Mat and ALUDRA pretend to be lovers instead of Mat and Egeanin? I guess Aludra was already with the circus but still. Didn’t... didn’t the circus see him coming to visit her before? Hadn’t he ALREADY made an arrangement with Luca?

Olver shows a single vague hint of concern that the Seanchan might catch them, so he is aware that they are not on the same side as the Seanchan, at least.

Utterly UTTERLY bizarre that Mat thinks of Selucia as a ‘lady’s maid’ when he knows damn well that she’s a slave. I guess we’re supposed to assume that he’s in denial that his future wife is a slave-owner who actively has a slave with her right now? But if that’s the case, then the narrative needs to have him confront that denial at some point.

Tylin is dead! 💖 It was a horrible and painful death! 💖💖 Best thing that’s happened in this book so far. I’m glad she was an exception to Jordan’s Can’t Kill A Woman thing.

Why does the book act like Joline hasn’t had a collar on her? She had to be collared in order to escape the city; this fact was repeated earlier in Mat’s recap. Sure, it wasn’t the same, since she knew (well, ‘knew’) that she would be let out again, but she HAS been collared and linked to a sul’dam. iirc, I remember that Nynaeve wanted to sick up the second she put on the bracelet on and wouldn’t let Elayne wear the collar even as part of a plan, even as a fake, back in TGH.

...does Mat not know about the sul’dam secret? It kinda seems like he doesn’t. Rand didn’t seem to know it back in TPoD either. The Wondergirls have known since book TWO, this should be common knowledge among all their allies! Lack of communication kills! I love the Wondergirls but they really only are good at communicating with each other and don’t tell anyone else shit.

Ah, we get fixed in time again: Joline wanted to talk to him because they can feel immense amounts of the Power at work and they’re certain it’s the Forsaken: the cleansing is happening. Mat isn’t worried though because after she mentions it, he gets a vision of Rand (and Nynaeve, but Mat only picks up on the fact that it’s Rand and the other person is just the figure of a woman) and he wonders if maybe it was RAND who made the dice stop this time, not Tuon. He doesn’t say anything to them about it being Rand tho.

I don’t care about Tuon’s sob story. We heard her backstory in Winter’s Heart and that was fine, but now I only care about the person she currently is, not the child that she was once upon a time. Every one of the damane was also just a little girl, once upon a time, but none of them get a chapter expounding on their backstories and trying to get us to see them as ~innocent little girls~. I think Alivia got, like, two sentences.

22. And we’re back with Perrin’s subplot that shouldn’t exist because the Shaido should not still be a problem. Five chapters. Things of note:

We start with Perrin dreaming of being a wolf. I do like when we get wolf-related things. Sadly, the wolves are of no use to Perrin when he’s awake. why is perrin trapped in a subplot where his wolf-friends are useless? (why is mat stuck in a subplot where he has the shittiest luck in the world?)

Perrin thinks about how he is absolutely willing to abandon Rand and the Last Battle if it comes now, because he has a greater duty. Oh, I guess he IS the left hand who strays after all, making Mat the right hand who falters. That kinda makes sense, since Mat has just been chilling in the circus next to the city and not ACTUALLY escaping despite that being his entire goal last book.

Faile has been gone for 22 days.

Perrin has finally figured out that Masema is trying to avoid returning to Rand for as long as possible.

Perrin finds the tracks of a pack of Darkhounds and follows it until he detemines that it went off hunting in another direction.

Berelain discreetly gives Perrin proof that Masema is dealing directly with the Seanchan -- High Lady Suroth (Darkfriend).

Why doesn’t Perrin immediately take this to Rand, showing him that there’s no point in trying to take in Masema under his wing? He doesn’t even have to break off his search, just let one of the Asha’man go. But that would require thinking about something other than Faile, so it’s out, of course.

The Shaido have taken an entire TOWN. Ridiculous. They shouldn’t even still be around. Ten thousand Shaido? Ridiculous.

Berelain mentioned that Neald or Grady could fetch more jewels from Mayene for them to sell to potentially buy back their people from the Shaido. Or. Here’s a thought. Have them try to find out where Rand is? Like, they wouldn’t actually be able to find him right now given where we are in the story but they should at least TRY. And if they tried and failed, at least that would be an excuse for this plotline to continue.

We find out that Darkhounds can eat wolves’ souls. That’s creepy. I’d like more wolf-lore and less... any of the rest of this.

Elyas was there during the Blood Snow, apparently. I assume as a Warder?

While Perrin is studying the town where Faile is being held captive, he has a whirlwind of colors in his head and he doesn’t just see Rand but also Nynaeve. It’s not about Faile so he forces himself not to think about it. He does let the people with him know that the big surge of saidin & saidar was Rand.

note: I think both Mat and Perrin made the right call here when it comes to whether or not they talk about this being Rand’s work -- Mat is among near-strangers; he shouldn’t tell them that Rand is doing something important; Perrin is among Rand’s allies; reassuring them is a good thing. But Mat also knows how to keep his mouth shut, so there’s that, too.

New things I’m keeping track of for this book! Now, Tuon is only in Chapter 3 of Mat’s section here, a total of 14 pages.

Tuon refuses to use Mat’s name, calling him ‘Toy’ instead:

Chapter 3: 13 times

Tuon acts like a spoiled brat:

she refuses to use Mat’s name

throws pottery at Mat because she’s annoyed at him

she’s jealous of another woman wanting to have a conversation with Mat

Tuon reminds us she’s a slaver:

she refuses to use Mat’s name

talks about turning Mat into one of her slaves (da’covale), possibly a cupbearer

she gives Mat a “hard rap” on the head to chastise him over being “superstitious”. I guess we can also add her to the list of women who are violent to their ‘romantic’ partners. Not a surprise from her, of course. We know that she’s ordered her slaves beaten before.

Something from Winter’s Heart (or previous) is undermined (I’m kinda using this section to rant about the things that are pissing me off; so skip if it doesn’t appeal):

last book, Noal was very anti-slavery and said it was a fate worse than death. This book, he tells Egeanin that he’s sure her slave misses her too (and Mat thinks he sounds sincere), and that he’s seen worse in his life than damane and da’covale.

most of the Windfinders that Mat helped free were killed or recaptured

previously anti-slavery & anti-Seanchan Setalle Anan is buddying up with a slaver and helping her throw pottery at Mat and being AMUSED at Mat getting a temper tantrum thrown at him by a slaver who has invaded her home and whose forces she is currently attempting to escape. She’s acting like she needs to protect Tuon from Mat, because she apparently has forgotten everything that happened LAST WEEK. Why is Anan coddling Tuon like she’s another one of Tuon’s slaves?

instead of having sympathy for the Aes Sedai, like he did last book (which was a week ago!), Mat is now forcing them to share a wagon with the sul’dam to “keep them out of his hair”. He is forcing women who were SLAVES to share a wagon with former SLAVE KEEPERS. Teslyn is being forced to share a wagon with the woman who ordered her punishments & trainings redoubled in an attempt to crush her spirit! WTF! (That’s Bethamin btw)

The vast majority of the progress that Egeanin had made seems to have vanished, unfortunately. Tuon’s very existence made her remember that she’s Seanchan to the bones, I suppose. Shame. Does she find her backbone again later on? I hope so. She was already kinda on thin ice for me in Winter’s Heart, tbh, finding out that she gave up something dangerous to Rand to the Seanchan (and someone that the readers know is a Darkfriend) in order to save her own skin. Egeanin may vaguely believe the damane are people now but the only person she really cares about at this point is Egeanin, it feels like.

The Mat-Tylin ‘romance’ gets buffed up in retrospect after we find out that she’s dead. It’s honestly (and unfortunately) easy to see why someone reading Mat’s storyline with a casual eye (especially a privileged man who isn’t as aware of how rape trauma can present) would come out of CoT thinking “oh yeah, Mat genuinely liked Tylin and clearly everything in ACoS & WH was just a sexy game” because that is how the narrative is currently treating that storyline. There’s a single line that alludes to the true horror that we saw in their relationship (Mat thinking about how he’d wanted to get away from her) but the rest is forcing us to watch Mat mourn her and feel guilty about ‘getting’ her killed and Tuon praising Mat for his loyalty to his rapist (while also trying to encourage him to move on and transfer his loyalty to her).

Mat briefly considers allowing the sul’dam to abuse the Aes Sedai because he’s finding them annoying right now.

The three sul’dam themselves also seem profoundly worse as characters this book than in Winter’s Heart -- very certain of their superiority to the Aes Sedai who are marath’damane and not a hint of the concern and worry and doubt that we saw last book about the fact that they are all capable of being held by the a’dam themselves. Maybe that’s because this is all from Mat’s PoV but, again, that’s on Jordan for deciding to craft his narrative in a way that prioritizes the slavers over everyone else. Last book, whenever we went into the Seanchan PoV, it highlighted the dysfunction in the empire, but this book... we get a whole fawning chapter about how Tuon's horrible personality and pro-slavery attitude is forgivable because she was a tragic little girl once upon a time. Again, I ask, what on earth happened to Jordan in between writing Winter’s Heart and Crossroads of Twilight that made him abandon was seemed a very clear and obvious plot-thread set-up about questioning the empire and instead meander onto... this mess of a plotline?

Mat also seems less insightful in this book so far? In Winter’s Heart, he figured out on his own that the Return was a settler invasion that would be much more difficult to dislodge than a normal invasion, but here he has to have Egeanin explain it to him all over again like he’s a child. Why not just have Mat think about it in his internal narration? Honestly, I kinda feel like most of the things people hate about Sanderson’s Mat are already beginning to be on display with Jordan’s CoT Mat. Qualities it feels like Mat somehow lost between WH & CoT: insightfulness, empathy, independence. And he’s also definitely continuing to get more sexist as well. It’s been a week.

People that Mat thinks about:

Rand x3

Perrin x1

Unnecessary scenes:

young Sitters ‘mystery’: 1 (5 pages)

too many random PoVs: 1 (5 pages), 1 (6 pages), 1 (13 pages)

Mat’s side quest (tuon): 4 (91 pages)

Perrin’s side quest (shaido): 5 (123 pages)

#wot #wheel of time #wot reread #crossroads of twilight #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #slaver empress tuon #mat cauthon #seanchan culture warning #i hate them so much #i hate that this is the direction jordan took mat's plotline #i hate everything about this place #some of the prologue can stay but i hope the rest of this goes into the trash for the tv show #i miss mat so much #he's literally there on the page but it's NOT HIM #i hate this storyline #i literally refuse to believe that mat forced former slaves and former slavekeepers to share a wagon #i Do Not believe it #the wheel of time

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thedoctornumber11 · 5 months

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I've had a bit of time to process the Giggle and I've got a lot of thoughts. Going to put most of them under the Read More, but I will just say ahead of time that I think this third special is the worse of the three. I still liked it enough, but it was not nearly as good as the first two specials.

Neil Patrick Harris does a great job as the Toymaker. Easily the second best part of the episode.

Nccui Gatwa was the first best part of the episode. It usually takes me a season or so to really get a feel of a new Doctor and how much I enjoy them, but Nccui Gatwa's Doctor is one that I already really enjoy. I may start referring to him as the therapy Doctor, because that's how he came off as and I loved it.

What was Mel and Kate even doing here? Mel had less relevance here than she did when she was actually the Doctor's companion (and anyone who's seen her seasons know that's a bad thing) and Kate Lethbridge Stewart seems to have lost her personality at some point between Power of the Doctor and now. You could have had the entire episode without them and it would have been exactly the same except for maybe the Spice Girls scene.

The Spice Girls scene was funny, but I'm now starting to get a bit tired of the whole "villain breaks out in song and dance," thing after it's been done a few times now in recent years in Doctor Who.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of references to other companions. I was glad to see Amy, Clara and Bill mentioned, although no mention of Yaz was a bit odd.

The Master in the gold tooth thing was brilliant and I love that they had that cliffhanger there as long as they do actually follow up on it. I'm sure they probably will. Honestly, the way they handled the Master in this episode was better than how they handled many of the characters who actually appeared in the episode and the Master didn't actually even make a real appearance.

On the other hand of cliff hangers, they've still left us on this whole "not the person really running the show" type cliff hanger and I don't like that one as much. That seems like something that should have been resolved at the end of the specials and not drag it out through the first season. If this becomes the new "bad wolf," or "impossible girl," of the season, I'm going to be a bit annoyed. I thought we got past that type of story telling.

Bi-generation is really dumb and stupid. It legitimately makes zero sense. I know it's scifi, so things don't really need to make sense, but this actually does bother me. The point of regeneration is to heal the Time Lord (in this instance, the Doctor) and keep them from dying. If instead, the Time Lord splits between their past regeneration (14) and the next regeneration (15) how does that actually heal the previous regeneration? In this case, right after splitting, 14 probably should have just died. He was hit by that laser after all and there was nothing actually changing or healing him, just splitting him in two. Can both of these versions of the Doctor regenerate? What are the implications here.

I do not want a David Tennant spin-off series and I hope that's not what this was setting up. I feel like it would take away the attention from the main show and Nccui Gatwa and as I said above, I already really enjoy Nccui Gatwa, so I don't want that.

Outside of the brief mention of previous companions and bringing back Mel (only to give her nothing to do) there was nothing about this episode that actually felt like an anniversary.

#doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers

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swan-orpheus · 2 years

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Hello there! Has your opinion on Karn changed at all? You gave some good analysis on him a couple of episodes ago, so I’m just wondering if you feel the same way about him now.

He certainly spoke up this episode and doubled-down on his, for lack of a more intergalactic term, ultra-Nationalist and anti-Rebel stance. (I did not expect Dedra to take him seriously despite a lot of the theories out there simply because the Imperial hierarchy is unforgiving. Without his uncle, Syril Karn would likely not have found a "proper" job again. He was effectively blacklisted after the incident on Ferrix.)

I at first wondered why he held so tightly to his view of the system considering how unfairly he felt that he had been treated and how quickly he crumbled when Cassian pointed a gun to the back of his head. I was viewing Syril as less of a political idealist than as a pretty self-absorbed person who would ultimately choose to save his own skin. Except that being a solider or part of the Imperial machine has clearly been a fantasy/dream of his since he was a child judging by the action figures in his old room and his predilection for high collars mirroring Imperial uniforms. Cassian represents failure to him and he will not release his grip on that fantasy without a fight. The ISB interrogation room clearly did not intimidate him. If anything he looked excited. There was a trace of a smile on his face when Dedra was leaving. (I “love” how Syril gets a slap on the wrist and a gold star for wasting ISB time and meanwhile Cassian is being freaking tortured for walking.)

I reckon Dedra might get desperate and come looking for him again as a) I do not see what else they intend to do with him unless they are going to mirror his arc with Cassian's and b) I doubt that he is going to find anything relevant sifting through Fuel Purity data but who knows.

The reason that I mention Dedra is because Bix knows nothing. She has no idea where Cassian is and does not know Luthen's identity, and without him being on a database, how could she possibly identify "Axis" even with a physical description ? And even if she did and everyone was in the system (which of course we know that they are not since both Cassian and Jyn manage to change their identities without much apparent difficulty and their computers seem pretty archaic) where would you even start to look? Then again, Syril knows even less so...

Here is what I mean by Syril's arc mirroring Cassian's. They are both in prisons, of a sort, though obviously Cassian's is a lot nastier being an actual prison. Cassian, as we know, is going to bust out of there with Melshi (and perhaps others). We see them both together in Rogue One. Syril being Syril is going to find an excuse to raise the alarm again, so to speak, and thus will get out of that job, i.e. out of his own prison one way or another either because someone takes him seriously or he is fired/gets into trouble again. It is clear that he is obsessed with finding Cassian above all else, even perhaps the rules, and is not going to stop. I just do not see him staying at the Bureau. He clearly feels that it is beneath him and his skill set and wants to do something that he feels holds deeper significance.

I hope that that answered your question. I like showing how I arrive at an idea even if it is a little meandering. :)

#star wars #andor #andor spoilers #cassian andor #syril karn #asks #i hope that this made sense #i think that he is going as far as he can #he is clearly obsessed #with what he believes is his due #i love my mum's title for Syril as 'an officious little prick'

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dballzposting · 2 years

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Over time my iteration or perception or whatever you want to call it of Gogeta has morphed from Squidward into more of Skips from regular show . Heres a core difference between Gogeta and Vegito: when Vegito speaks outside of battle the gravity to his words is fake and all for show, and you realize this over time by realizing that he actually does not care about mundane affairs and therefore his words on them do not matter. EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT:

Gotenks: Actually, did you know that Goten and Trunks have discovered ANOTHER way to fuse? Theres this certain fortnite dance that if done simultaneously-

Gogeta off screen: GOTENKS.

(Gotenks freezes and gives him his undivided attention immediately)

Gogeta: (puts his comic book down) Why are you lying.

Gotenks: I'm not lying!!

Gogeta: Stop lying.

Gotenks: S..Sorry sir...

VEGITO IN CONTEXT:

Trunks: Sure sucks that our dads are permanently fused huh Goten. Well anyway. Guess it all evens out because while we can unfuse, we have to do a gay little pose to even fuse in the first place. There are pros and cons of everything huh. Still sucks that we have to do that gay little pose

Vegito: (Standing with his back to everybody, arms crossed, staring off into the horizon) TRUNKS.

Everybody present: (Stops, freezes, gives him their undivided attention immediately. Trunks especially takes start at having been addressed by name.)

Vegito: (doesnt say anything bc hes letting the suspense build. Then he turns around with a self-satisfied smile. He is towering over everyone btw hes very tall.) (In a sanctimonious tone) There is Nothing Wrong with Being Gay, Trunks.

Vegito: (flies off into the horizon and never comes back)

As you can see when Vegito speaks it FEELS like there is gravity bc he just has that effect on people. But after this happens a few times you stop caring. Hes never around so why does his opinion matter. He doesnt help you with any of your real problems so why does it matter. He just says something short and general and fake-profound to make himself look good and then he flies away to find a pond to stare into. He doesnt really care about your silly little problems that much. So who cares

Meanwhile Gogeta has real gravity when he speaks becasue he actually persists. Despite only being around for 30 minutes at a time, he will attack a relevant topic, and then stay with you as you work through it. He's present enough to point out when you're wrong, respects you enough to know that you have the autonomy to know when you're lying, and then cares enough about steering you in the right direction to tell you to Stop being wittingly wrong. This specific example was about child-raising, and in truth he would not speak like that to someone like his wives, but when he does speak you still listen, becasue when he speaks it's PROOF that hes been LISTENING. Vegito doesnt know it but he doesnt fucking listen

Also Gogeta has this atmosphere like Skips from regular show in which he knows everything and will not waste your time beating around the bush. Hes genuinely laconic and succinct, and every word he says is important in some way or another. While with Vegito sometimes it's just hot air that took little to no effort to produce, and you just dont realize it until later.

Gogeta is great as a mentor and a little stiff to be around otherwise since hes pretty gruff and grumpy and stoic, but he has a heart of gold still, so theres something to dislike but nothing to hate. Vegito sucks as a mentor just bc it feels like hes just saying words rather than communicating with you genuinely. Otherwise tho he is great to hang out with, but too shallow to be anything more than a buddy or a pal (unless ofc you're a strong fighter). He has a heart of the most beautiful glistening diamond and he polishes it everyday.

If Gogeta had said what Vegito had said it would have carried some different weight. When Vegito said it he said it like he was passing on some great life wisdom, and the first step in your next journey. He flies away and you're awestruck by how cool he is and deeply embarrassed that you had been wrong in front of everybody and deeply grateful for having been corrected. It sticks in your memory with a certain severity that maybe was unwarranted - becasue while Vegito meant every single syllable of it .. What does he really know about life, anyway?

If Gogeta were to say it then you dont feel awestruck and it deosnt stick with that showman's severity. You cant spin it into a direction-defining story. Hed furrow his brow and be like "Trunks. ....Theres nothing wrong with being gay." And he says it like hes disapprovingly confused that you ever thought otherwise. The pause and the incredibly general word usage implies that there is a lot more to this issue under the surface, and he does not know where to begin discussing it. He pauses, thinks, and just starts simple. Maybe that's all that's needed for now, maybe you can break into it more later, maybe it's succinct enough for you.

But that's what gives the words weight - Gogeta only says what needs to be said, so if you catch him having to pause and think (hes not too prideful to conceal that or to speak outside of his knowledge) (he has genuine self-respect), it is just a testimony to how difficult or nuanced this topic may be and he is sparing you a complex discussion that may not be warranted at this time. But he'll speak more if you speak back. You can turn into a discussion if you want.

What sticks with you is not some profound life-changing memory, but just feeling soooooo fucking embarrassed, and that makes the lesson learnt become so integrated into you so thoroughly. Next time you hear people talking about gay people you're not gonna think about how youd be cool like Vegito if you said that there was nothing wrong with being gay - You're just gonna think genuinely that theres nothing wrong with it, bc that's what Gogeta taught you. He didnt just say it - he taught you, out of virtue of the fact that he is present for the mundanities of life, and that's what gives you your respect for him.

I dont know why I felt compelled to make this post. Those are some differences between Gogeta and Vegito . It's not that Vegito is purely showy and sucks, just that that is a big part of him and you will see it over time. And hes got a great attitude so it's hard to hate him. For the record

#dballz posting #long post

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koalas-koalas-everywhere · 1 year

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Suits 9x10 One Last Con

Well, that was. A Mess.

The end of the Samantha v. Faye thing was way too anticlimatic, mostly bc it was too short (Faye’s the big bad of the season! Why does it feel like this pesky little thing they had to get out of the way!), partly bc happened too early in the ep. They should’ve wrapped it up the Faye v. Samantha thing last ep. Cut out Lily’s funeral (actually, her whole death; it was pointless and, looking at that letter, where nothing of relevance to Lily and Harvey’s rship was said, clearly nothing more than some sort of d**vey set up. Replace those last few minutes of ep 8 with Mike showing up or the suit being somehow introduced or even just foreshadowed) and all the extraneous bs - all references to Harvey grieving, the letter (they were technically already talking about marriage), getting Mike to testify (it was such a ridiculous cross I’m still trying to comprehend it - just let him and Harvey have a nice dinner and have Faye’s phone-call to tell Harvey that she wants him to testify, nevermind what Katrina said, he turns around and tells Mike the truth, take it from there) - to get to One Last Con with Faye gone (it probably wouldn’t be named one last con, would it?), Harvey having had a mysterious meeting with her where mysterious things were said. Start the ep with Louis asking Lipschitz to officiate his wedding and go from there. My mom rightly pointed out that they cut off the procedural stuff and focused on the characters, well, focus on the characters.

Following on that last one, it does not look good that an episode focusing like 70% on weddings is called “one last con”. Christ.

There’s something so sad about the fact that Harvey started out as an asshole with a heart of gold that mostly showed in his complete refusal to act unethically and ended as a guy who says he likes crossing lines. What happened to “to win fairly is more important than to win”? On that topic, Faye’s appearance could’ve been a call back to that, if not to bring him back to how he was before, then to at least acknowledge that this isn’t who he’s always been, but noooo.

I am so happy for Katrina!! Like, all in all, her arc should’ve probably ended in something suggesting she’s found more to life than work, but. That’s my baby and I’m proud of her.

It is so fucking telling that Harvey’s vows are so indicative of who he is as a character and his journey (pity they mangled the “when the chips are down” metaphor, especially with a guy who, as a self-proclaimed gambler, would know that the literal chips being down isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like, I’m not even sure the chips can be up? They’re chips. How.) and Donna’s are so fucking generic. “We don’t know how much time we have” is that a reference to Harvey’s storyline? Or have we completely given up on pretending she’s a tool of the narrative and that she doesn’t have any reason to say something that reflects on Louis’s circumstances in the montage. Maybe she just knew! She’s Donna! “You make me laugh, you make me cry” I wanna marry you because we have interactions.

(It’s a pity I dislike d**vey and can’t stand Donna bc Sarah Rafferty killed it during the proposal.)

STOP 👏 SCAMMING👏 LOUIS👏. First, the camera spends half the minute of Stan’s speech focused on Harvey and Donna, then they steal his thunder during the reception, then his very dramatic moment of waiting to find out whether his wife and child would live or die (which came out of NOWHERE and is something else I’d either cut out or pad up with more references to Sheila’s age and other complications, also, so sorry to Rachael Harris, but she didn’t sell me on the contractions at ALL, much less on the possibility that they might be too bad, which contributed to making the crisis seem out of nowhere) was montaged with the d**vey wedding???? LET HIM HAVE ONE THING!!!

“It’s what we want. Both of us” Why, Donna? Why do you want it, and why did you feel the need to clarify that you do? Did the writers get a lot of hate mail over Rachel getting a job in Seattle pretty much as a bribe to Mike and didn’t want to make that mistake again, but they didn’t feel like actually giving you motivations to go along with Harvey’s and so they figured that just saying that you have them would be enough? Damn, at least Rachel got a huge ass promotion in exchange for her dignity.

Well, Mike was there.

So was Samantha. And Alex. I think. Was he?

Oh, yeah, he talked to Katrina about a matter Harvey should’ve been the one to talk to her about, except for deniability.

Did I have anything else to say? I spent so much time cringing, it feels like there should be more. Oh, the proposal. “I learned two things from my mom. To forgive her and to marry you.” (That may not be exactly what he said, but it’s exactly what he said.) Who wrote that. Babe. Focus for two seconds. The only way to make that more embarrassing would’ve been to write “1, to forgive her. B, to marry you.” Makes me wonder if maybe they’d decided that they wouldn’t have a d**vey wedding at all, but then changed their minds. Maybe they thought it would be easier to justify Donna moving to Seattle?

Oh, yeah, Mike’s questioning! What? Why? How could making him admit that he accused Samantha of fabricating evidence too be not only helpful, but so good that it might win them the case? As he said, he didn’t have proof either and, to top it off, he didn’t even know Samantha’s character well enough to justify that suspicion! He could’ve even turned it around, said he only made that comment because he was bitter, as Harvey had already made him admit he was, just like Faye, and it wouldn’t be a complete lie - if he didn’t care, he wouldn’t have made the accusation at all, no matter how true. Now, if they’d asked him whether that evidence was true, then they would’ve gotten him. He’d either have to 1) perjure himself to incriminate himself or 2) admit that false evidence had been submitted by opposing counsel in that case, which would necessarily lead to the question of who had submitted it. Even pissed as he was, I don’t think Mike would’ve gone as far as to imply that it had been Harvey, which would’ve only left Samantha. You can’t argue that they were trying to skirt the issue of whether she’d done it, since they were the ones who brought it up, even if they did a bad job of proving it (and got an appropriately weak testimony out of it which should not have gotten them a win oh my god), and what they did ask would’ve still been enough to fill in the blanks - the fact that Mike accused anyone of fabricating that evidence, outside of official channels where it might have looked like an attempt to salvage the case, means that the evidence is false. If it’s false, someone has to have fabricated it. Ergo... Anyway, like I said, I would’ve cut that out to wrap that arc in Thunder Away. (Also, maybe call that episode One Last Con and not the one with the weddings coughcough yeahI’mnotlettingthatgo)

#alright I think this one qualifies as #wank for ts #Suits TV #9x10 #One Last Con #season 9 #season 9 spoilers #hurr durr I better not tag everything else

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ground-zero-idiocies · 2 years

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How would companions react to Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran?

So I just heard this song for the first time yesterday so now sounds lik a good time to answer this.

Fallout 4 Companions React to 'Bad Habits' by Ed Sheeran

Is it beach day? It's beach day. Across the picnic blanket from the mutfruit sandwiches lies a small ham radio, playing Diamond City Radio and slowly leaking out it's 'old gold' tunes. However, after a short ad from CHOICE CHOPS!, a new song starts playing. The artist is unknown to all, but the song plays.

Cait: “What the...where is this guy from? His accent makes me wanna puke. Really, who thought people from that place deserve rights or the ability to make music or a microphone? I didn’t think I liked the Ink Spots all too much but I would listen to that forever instead of hearing that ever again.”

Curie: “Zis song is very new! I do not believe that this song ‘as ever been played before on this radio station! I do so wonder how Mr. Travis obtained a new record zis long after the war, but I commend him for doing so.”

Codsworth: “Well mum, this song is certainly a ‘blast from the past’, now isn’t it? The last time I heard this song, GNN was still on the air, haha! I do so wonder if Mr. Sheeran is still alive today. Say, with ghouls and super mutants it may be possible! Ah, what a strange world we live in.”

Danse: “This song belongs to a genre of music that I certainly despise. I’ve said it before but I much prefer country and bluegrass music. It really tickles my balls makes me feel like a man. This sounds like what Proctor Taegan listens to when he breaks up with his monthly boy toy.”

Deacon: “NO WAY! I actually met this guy a couple years ago. When I traveled to England. He’s a robobrain now! Can’t sing, but he’s certainly an interesting guy. I should really talk more about England. Did you guys know that they have three-headed Brahmin over there? Yeah! They call them ‘cows’. Weird stuff.”

Hancock: “What’s this shit on the radio? If you’re gonna play something that doesn’t sound like it was recorded at the end of a tunnel, play something by my girl Magnolia. Now she can sing, without having to load the sound into a terminal and monkey with the audio. I should start my own radio station for her. It would make lots of caps.”

Gage: “I’m gonna get shit for sayin’ this, but that song was better than anything RedEye ever does. And I like RedEye! Man, it’s all stuck in my head now. Bad habits lead to this and that...”

Longfellow: “This reminds me of a song I heard once. ‘There’s no one as Irish as Barrack Obama’. I think Obama was the president before they unfroze Walt Disney’s head and elected him. Those were strange times. Anyway the song is ok, I guess.”

MacCready: “Dang, Lucy would’ve loved that song. It’s just so catchy, y’know? I’m gonna be singing that for the next ten years straight. Ooo, here’s an idea, Gage and I could record our own version! If he promised not to kill me and everything.”

Nick Valentine: “And this is why they play ‘old gold’ instead of this 21st century junk. Why couldn’t Travis have found Mambo Italiano or She Blinded Me With Science? At least that one’s relevant. This song is just so off-putting. I’m hoping he doesn’t make it a regular listen.”

Piper: “Official notice: local DJ Travis Miles plays mediocre, 4/10 song on the radio. No one’s heard this song in 200 years, yet he found it anyway. Polls show that most people don’t want to hear it again. This concludes the official notice.”

Preston: “This song is so upbeat and catchy! What an amazing song! I’m gonna make this the Minutemen’s anthem. Why can’t Travis play more of this guy? It’s so good. This song is perfect. Thank you Travis and thank you God, because only he could make something so incredible.”

Strong: “Strong could not hear the song. DJ Travis needs to make song louder. Strong thinks that Super Mutants sing better than puny humans. Strong will sing a song soon, and everyone will want to be friends with Strong.”

X6-88: “Damn it. Father’s mixtape got leaked. This is a code red, activate the silos. We gotta start humanity all over again.

#fallout #fallout 4 #mixtape #ed sheeran #companions #companions react #fallout 4 companions #paladin danse #hancock #strong #nick valentine #radi

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dreamteamspace · 3 years

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Some positivity about this Tales Of The SMP because I feel like it. MAJOR SPOILERS

Technoblade being in character and hilarious at the same time

Karl says he’s a minecraft streamer fully in character and it’s treated as being the equivalent of a billionaire for the rest of the tales

Everyone having awful rich people accents

Fundy is an old person

Technoblade is just hilarious I don’t make the rules

NIKI NIHACHUUUUU FUCK YEAH!!!!!

Ranboo is the butler and can only communicate in enthusiastic or panicked nods for 90% of it

They try to throw Quackity out of the party the moment he walks in the door. His name is Drew P. Pe- [gets shot]

Karl and Quackity keep falling off the railings and it’s sometimes plot relevant and sometimes not

Techno: “Poor people don’t get healthcare”

Karl trying really hard not to laugh throughout the entire thing, mostly cause of Technoblade and I can’t blame him

Techno, whispering about Quackity: “Butler, feed the poor man poison!” Quackity: “You can say that to my face you son of a bitch.”

Techno: “Sir can you spell ‘economy’?” Quackity: “Of course. A-” Karl: *laughing into his elbow*

Technoblade and Quackity are the funniest people on the planet I don’t make the rules

Technoblade keeps flexing on poor people and I can’t even be mad at him

Quackity: “I’m gonna cough on you!” Everyone: *FERAL PANIC, SCATTER IN ALL DIRECTIONS, HIDE UNDER THE TABLE, SCREAM*

Techno: “Butler, did you feed this man poison yet?” Ranboo: *Tosses Quackity a poison potion.* Techno: “Ah, there it is. Now drink that.” Quackity: “Now why would I do that?” Techno: “It’s high in vitamin B.” Quackity: “What does the ‘B’ in vitamin B stand for?” Techno: “Broke.”

They play duck-duck-goose fully serious and in character sitting in the middle of the ballroom in a circle, complete with screaming and yelling

They stop playing duck-duck-goose for the lights to go down by 3%, everyone to run around as if it’s pitch black, and Niki start to murder people. It’s great. Absolute highlight

I’ve gotten used to Karl being 70% out of character at all times and it’s actually really funny contrasted with everyone else being extremely in character and rolling with whatever he says

“Oh Niki went to the bathroom so we can’t question her.”

Karl: “Oh! ~Canonically~ I see some of his blood! On this wall!!” Everyone: :O!

*Quackity is the one who died* Karl: “I don’t think he died from being dumb and poor... I think he died... from one of YOU!” Everyone: *shocked gasp* Techno: “Who did it? I will pay them for their troubles!”

Ranboo, whispering: “Can I talk?” Techno: “Keep it short, five words.” Karl: “I think we should let him talk to investigate this murder.” Techno: “Alright, six words. That was one of them.”

Fundy: “Everyone knows poor people are very sneaky.” Techno: “Yes, us rich people only commit ~financial crimes~.” Karl: “And it doesn’t count because we don’t MAKE it count!” *Everyone agrees*

They play terrible rich people and simultaniously flex on rich people. We love to see it

Whenever they have to look around Techno just goes and gets a bath and he’s not even sneaky about it

Karl: “I can’t believe they did that to that poor person, whoever this murderer is... I know they’re poor but sometimes they can still live for something else. Like helping rich people get richer!”

Fundy almost drowns in the aquarium?? Was that even scripted??? Nobody even threw him in there he was just there??

NIKI DIES NOOOOOOOOOO WHAT!

*Everyone thinks it’s Karl* Techno: “He did medbay scan!”

Karl: “So it couldn’t have been me. Unless I’m lying. Which killers don’t do!” *Everyone agrees*

Techno: “Everyone empty out your pockets!” Techno: *tossing stacks and stacks of gold bars* Karl: *picks up Sapnap’s gold and mouses over ‘disconnect’* Ranboo and Bad: *buckets and buckets of milk??* Sapnap: *keeps picking up all the gold everyone keeps throwing*

Karl, walking forward and picking up 3847 buckets of milk: “Oh I’ve got so much milk now.” Techno: “Here, wash it down with some poison.” Karl: *actually drinks it and starts screaming “If only we had milk!” while running away*

Karl, to Bad: “Are you still drinking?” Bad: “dn,, btnt... no.”

Karl and Bad chilling in the closet

*Karl and Techno stumble onto Fundy on top of a dead body* Techno: “Caught! In! Four! K!”

Fundy “But if I was the killer... and I was from London... WHY didn’t you hear a GUNSHOT?” Techno: “He’s got a point there.”

Karl: “Why couldn’t it have been the butler?!” Ranboo, whispering: “How many words?” Techno: “Three.” Ranboo: “Nope. Not... me.” Techno: “...he does raise a good point.”

Ranboo: “Is there a murderer-” Techno: “SILENCE! ...He really singed up thinkin he’d get to voice act. Not on my watch.”

Karl, to Techno: “We really need the butler to talk. If we allow him 30 minutes-” Techno, quietly with horror: “30 minutes?”

Techno: “Butler, you have 30 minutes of free speech.” Ranboo: “Oh, oh! 30 minutes! I have a question, then. I read something in a book once. What is a... ‘union’?” Karl: “Nevermind, cut him off.” Techno: “No rights for poor people.”

Fundy: “If it was me, how come I can play such a JOLLY tune?” *starts playing crime theme on a piano* *Ranboo vibing to the music in the background*

Karl: “Okay so Fundy will stay with the butler. He was only like a 100 millionaire, right? Fits that he stays with the poor people.” Techno: “Oh yeah, he’s broke. I heard he streams fortnite.”

Techno laughs himself lightheaded at that

Techno: “I’m gonna file so many complaints to the lights company after this.”

Techno: “Oh no, it’s the butler, we’re out of here! Throw gold, he’s poor so he has to stop for it!”

EGG?!?!?!

THE EGG?!?!?!?!?!

?!?!?!?!

I mean I knew they were all gonna die at the end but STILL

Ranboo is rly scary when he wants to be

LMAO the book dissapeared and Karl had to do a take two

Karl just makes the stream read the book themselves lmfao

on that note HOLY FUCK THE BUILD

HOLY FUCK THE BUILD

they probably downloaded that from somewhere but still

I would fucking die for that castle

TLDR: Ranboo has never done anything wrong in his life, ever

#tftsmp #tales of the smp #liveblogging #mcyt #mcytblr #dream smp #dreamsmp #tales spoilers #I love the way technoblade emotes #like just in minecraft #ranboo too #dreamteamspace speaks #long post #like LONG ass post

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probably-haven · 3 years

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Kaeya Alberich & Why his Failure is Inevitable

A theory on Kaeya’s reaction to- that event in his backstory.

take everything with a grain of salt , because it’s heavily based on assumptions, most of which are centered around his reaction to- backstory stuff, so gonna put that under the cut-. i actually originally said this in a reblog to someone asking the exact question awhile ago

im kinda in a content drought though so i might as well bring it back, hopefully some people find it interesting in this context though. Lol a lot of it is just seeing how angsty i can make it too so- ehe

actual content under the cut: (spoilers for kaeya’s backstory, diluc’s backstory, Khaenri’ah lore, and a bit of Childe’s backstory)

so the exact verbiage used in kaeya’s story for his reaction to Master Crepus’s death is: “Even someone like Master Crepus would submit to such a dangerous and evil power…” Sinister thoughts flashed through Kaeya’s mind, and he simply smirked— “This world is truly… fascinating.”

Now I’m actually pretty sure this quote ties in, not to the destruction of khaenri’ah, but to the cataclysm before it. Specifically, it deals with the Khaenri’ahn alchemist Gold who started it.

Canonically, Gold was an incredibly ambitious alchemist specializing in khemia 500 years ago. Their most well know achievement is corruption of the dragon Durin, but concealed much deeper in Teyvat’s history, a number of Gold’s legacies include incorporating the powers of the abyss into their alchemy(and eventually being corrupted by those very same powers, tho it might be a translation error), followed by the destruction of Khaenri’ah’s Eclipse Dynasty(including the royal family and the royal guards tasked with protecting the people of Khaenri’ah), and this was followed shortly by ‘using their talents to create an army of “shadowy monsters."’

these monsters, blood filled with the corruption of the abyss, would only continue pouring out of Khaenri’ah in waves until the fateful day that it was destroyed. The era of suffering these monsters caused would come to be known as the cataclysm.

taking those facts into account, it could be a remark about how even someone as kind hearted as Master Crepus could fall to the temptation and corrupting aspects of power that caused his people’s fall so long ago, even without the naturally corruptive effects of power from the abyss. that’s sad- but if you get into the theory of it its even sadder the further you go.

Now theory wise its important to make a few connections- I am under the impression that the “fall of the Eclipse Dynasty” that Gold caused through abyssal power was actually the first instance of Khaenri’ah’s curse, and the monsters of the cataclysm- were among the curse’s first victims.

a bit sadder with the fact that his statement can now refer to his feelings of there truly being nothing that could have been done to prevent the very same exact curse that has caused him so much suffering through his life. There was no resisting the corruption of power, only delaying it. It hammers in the fact that the reason he was sent to Mondstadt truly might be the destiny he had many times been told it was. A cruel joke from Celestia perhaps?

but not sad enough. let’s pull out the big one. The Khaenri’ahn Royalty Kaeya theory. (there’s a lot- im not gonna cover the explanation behind that one here)

Gold, the most powerful alchemist in Khaenri’ah would likely have worked under the Eclipse Dynasty, so assuming the theory of Kaeya(and Dainsleif) being the last member of the Eclipse Dynasty, its reasonable to say he would have known Gold. Now whether Gold was a good person or not is irrelivant because it remains the same either way. Kaeya has twice seen the corrupting abilities that come with power strip him of all those close to him, shouldering him with an additional responsibility to carry out in their memory that he never wanted. Yes this hurts more if he was close with Gold and Crepus managed to make him feel safe enough to get close to people even after that- but I’m here to provide the facts and theories, not the emotions, though theres a lot

but…. its a stretch(like a big stretch)… but for the sake of going all out on a limb, we can take this one step further.

In Childe’s story it references the abyss by saying “this dark realm had sensed the burning ambition in this boy’s heart” and it can be assumed that the powers granted by the abyss, as the natural opposition to Celestia(natural as in abyss magic literally opposes the magic of Celestia by nature) might just opporate in a similar way to the gnosises. Kaeya has no knowledge of gnosises though so for now lets use the word visions.

The powers of the abyss that were given to Gold would likely have been favored over visions from the gods in a godless nation like khaenri’ah afterall. and if he knew Gold, a known genius, he likely wouldnt have noticed anything off until it was too late. A sudden fall from his perspective. Visions, delusions, power from the abyss, what difference truly is there to a child raised to shun the gods. All are granted through ambition, and all will only end in suffering

afterthought:

However the main thing behind the Khaenri’ahn Royalty aspect of this angst fest- Kaeya would have been extremely young during Gold’s corruption and Khaenri’ah’s fall… like i cant help think of that one tik tok audio “that must be so confusing for a little girl” but it really does fit because now i can’t shake the imagery of Kaeya, faced with the imagery of the man who raised him dead as a result of a power he chose to use. And he finally understands what he was too young to understand back then. the world is not fascinating in a way that he is interested in it or wants to know more about it, but more interesting in the way that people’s eyes are involuntarily drawn to images of tragedy. It’s an expression of cruel irony, of truths he was forced to face, of knowledge he doesn’t want to know, but that he needs to know- if he plans on carrying through with his destiny- siding against Mondstadt. but siding with Mondstadt would cause him to turn against Khaenri’ah as Gold had all those years ago, and is that not fulfilling a cycle of fate all the same?

It’s an expression of mourning. He is chained by the legacy of Khaenri’ah and there’s nothing he can do to escape it. Either way the cycle will repeat. This fate gives him a unique power and even he will eventually succumb to it, doomed to be viewed as a corrupted betrayer no matter who he sides with, to doom yet another civilization in return. Such is his preordained role as the last hope of Khaenri’ah. The unescapableness, the way it all becomes so sure and clear and nauseatingly relevant in that very moment are what drive him to say that as he finally realizes that he cannot win.

of course a lot of this is a stretch and just theories, but the angst potential was there so i decided to run with it lmao

additional afterthought: this isn’t something kaeya would know, but the corruption of Durin by Gold was actually predicted by a priestess in dragonspine before Celestia destroyed it and made it like it is now.

just angsty because it reinforces the idea of a repeating cycle of foretold destiny that no matter hard hard Kaeya tries, he will never be able to escape. Really puts Mona’s “He believes he has made a clean break with his past, but one day fate will catch up with him” line into perspective.

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bitsandbobsofwriting · 3 years

Text

Oh shit, I never told you that Merlin isn’t my actual name??

Igraine reveals… one hell of a secret, and not the one you’re thinking of:

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4(final part)(coming soon)

TW: Uther being a Jackass I guess?

Arthur knows about his dumbass servant’s magic. He wasn’t best pleased, in fact, he was furious when he first found out; how is supposed to protect his servant-turned-best-friend-except-that’s-super-secret-even-from-himself if he’s off doing stupid shit like Sorcery in Camelot?!

He was a lot more sympathetic when Merlin explained that he’d been born with it, and that his destiny was, literally, tied to Arthur’s. That, mixed with the fact that Arthur tended to get himself into a LOT of trouble, without even realising it most of the time, means Merlin has no choice but to be doing stupid shit like Sorcery in Camelot.

Merlin is currently giving Arthur the silent treatment, not that Arthur seems to notice. The two of them were waiting for Morgause to finish whatever it is she was doing to, apparently, allow Arthur to speak to his mother.

She doesn’t take long, and though Merlin keeps his distrustful gaze on her the whole time, he still can’t quite tell what it is Morgause has done. She looks to them with a blank expression, though her focus is mainly on Arthur as she gestures him forward:

“It’s ready, Prince Arthur. Close your eyes, both of you.”

Arthur frowns briefly but does as told. Merlin raises an eyebrow, crossing his arms, and staring Morgause down; she rolls her eyes and huffs quietly when she realises that he isn’t going to take his eyes off her, but gives in, turning away and performing some sort of simple looking (though Merlin gets the distinct impression that it isn’t simple) ritual.

The Witch lets out a deep breath and steps back, and Merlin’s hard stare is finally drawn away from her when a shower of golden sparks materialises in a cloud in front of The Prince.

Arthur opens his eyes to see Igraine standing there, practically glowing, looking every bit the glorious Queen she once was. She gives him a soft smile, and Arthur can only stare, his mouth moving of it’s own accord:

“Mother?”

Merlin stares on in suspicion as Igraine’s smile grows:

“My son.”

She pulls him forward into a tight hug, and though Arthur had started off forcing himself to be wary, he falls into the hug easily, struggling to hold his tears in. They pull back after far too short of a time, and though Merlin was still distrustful, he wishes she had held Arthur just a little longer.

Merlin’s heart breaks as Arthur goes on to apologise for being born, but his feelings quickly turn to anger as Igraine explains the truth, how his people were being hunted, burned, vilified, all because Uther was too much of a hypocrite to admit his mistakes or listen to reason; but he couldn’t lash out now, this time was for Arthur, not him.

Igraine’s face falls even further, and she grips Arthur’s shoulders tightly:

“But we do not have time to talk of this, I can feel the other side pulling me back, I must be quick. Arthur, my son, you have a brother, and you must find him.”

Merlin’s eyes go wide and he tenses in place; this had better not be some twisted trick on Morgause’s part to destroy Arthur, because he would destroy her in return if it was. And he would do it in a far messier way. Arthur just looks shocked:

“A brother? How?!”

Igraine smiles mournfully:

“A twin. He was so small when he was born, I thought he wouldn’t make it, but though I can’t see his face, I know he lives, I can feel it. He had hair dark as the night sky, a complete contrast to your golden wisps-”

She lifts a soft, gentle hand, and runs it through Arthur’s hair with a smile:

“-but his eyes, oh his eyes were just as golden as your hair, before they faded to the colour of the sky.”

Arthur gasped but Merlin tensed even further, certain that this must be some sort of trick:

“He was magic?”

Igraine smiles again and nods:

“It’s not common, but not completely unheard of for people to be born magic. Your brother was, and it was beautiful.-”

He smile falls into something more angry, though she’s clearly trying to hide it:

“-Your father... did something. I do not know what; by the time my soul was restful enough to be able to look back upon the world, it was too late, he was gone somewhere I could not see. I know he still lives, your father was too much of a coward to admit his mistakes, but too much of a hypocrite to keep to his convictions and destroy the child, which I can be grateful for. I feared he had been sent far away, but you must find him, restore his heritage.”

Arthur nods vigorously, his eyes wide and desperate, and Merlin finds himself desperate to believe that this spirit is true and genuine:

“What else can you tell me about him? Do you know where he is? What he looks like now?”

Igraine’s face falls into a soft smile again, though she shakes her head mournfully:

“He is powerful, extremely so. I worried he was dead until I suddenly felt him; he appeared in Camelot, around three and a half years ago. His power is vast, I can sense it stretching for miles and miles, though I can not pinpoint the epicentre; he is somewhere within the Kingdom, you must find him.”

Merlin frowns in confusion, stepping forward to interrupt, though he desperately doesn’t want to:

“Did you name him? Your son?”

Igraine looks to him suddenly, as if she weren’t aware they had company, but quickly turns almost her full attention to Merlin with a soft smile:

“You. You looked after my boy, thank you. Thank you for all that you have done. And yes-”

She looks back to Arthur:

“-I named him, though I whispered it with my last breaths, Uther would certainly not have used it, and I do not know if Gaius heard me.”

Arthur responds quietly, his cracking voice heavy with too many emotions to name:

“What is it? What’s my... my brother’s name?”

“Myrddin.”

Merlin takes in a quiet gasp, and Arthur, always with at least one half of his brain focused on his manservant, turns to him:

“You know that name?! Merlin, do you know someone in Camelot with that name?”

Merlin just stares at Igraine, his eyes wide and his hands shaking:

“How... how do you think he got out of Camelot? How would Uther have sent him away?”

Igraine’s face is confused, but mostly curious as she takes a step towards him, still with one hand on Arthur’s shoulder:

“Gaius and Balinor possibly, perhaps Nimueh, though I imagine she fled rather quickly. They were Uther’s closest friends before the purge, and they all practised magic, they would have been... sympathetic, tried to help the child. Why? Are Arthur’s questions relevant? Do you know my son??”

Merlin’s eyes flickered between the two of them, but when Arthur says his name again, his voice nothing short of desperate, his gaze fixes on The Prince:

“Arthur, I... I never told you, because I didn’t think it was... relevant, but... Merlin isn’t my real name.”

Arthur recoils, shocked, and utters a dumbfounded “What?!”. Merlin gulps, and looks to Igraine briefly before resuming his fearful, and slightly confused, stare on Arthur:

“When I was young, my magic was still strong, but I had no control over it. I would subconsciously summon animals to my side constantly. Mostly small things, but the occasional stag or bear would wander through the village to find me. But... but what came most often where the birds; the village is essentially in the middle of a forest, and... and there were thousands of merlins. So I got that as a nickname, Merlin, and it just stuck.”

Arthur just shakes his head, caught off guard but mostly just annoyed:

“You heard my mother, Merlin, we don’t have much time, what is this-”

Merlin interrupts him:

“Just listen!! My real name.... it’s Myrddin.-”

Igraine takes in a quiet gasp, mumbling more to herself than anyone else “Gaius heard me.” but Arthur just stares. Merlin holds his gaze, but after a few moments, he looks back to Igraine:

“-My mother... she... she wouldn’t lie to me, nor would Gaius... this... it’s a mistake. It’s... it’s a common name, right?!”

Igraine responds in a hushed tone, though Arthur barely moves, still staring at Merlin as though he had gained a new head:

“Show me some magic, my boy.”

Merlin stutters and shakes his head, laughing incredulously before he notices her pleading face and looks to Arthur, almost for permission. The Prince gulps before nodding, just once, and Merlin lets out a deep breath. He holds his hand out in front of him, palm up, and without even needing to mutter a spell, a single flower grows; a Camelot-red Tulip, it’s petals dipped in gold.

When his eyes fade back to blue, he looks up to see the others’ reactions: Arthur is smiling softly, always eager to see Merlin’s magic, as if he had forgotten the situation at hand, but Igraine... oh, Igraine was staring at him with such wonder, tears slipping down her pale cheeks.

Merlin drops the flower without a second though and shakes his head minutely, but Igraine just nods, allowing the hand on Arthur’s shoulder to slip down to his hand so she could tug him forward, towards Merlin:

“Myrddin, my boy, my son. You came home all on your own.”

Merlin just shakes his head again and steps back:

“No. No this... this isn’t real, this is a trick, or... or something. How do we prove it? How do we know you’re not lying or some trap laid by Morgause?!”

Igraine sighs, but nods, understanding:

“Ask Gaius and your... your mother, and thank her for me, for raising you with so much love. The doorway is closing, I can feel it.-”

Her gaze moves lovingly between then two of them, and when she steps forward once more, she takes Merlin’s hand before he can move away, pulling the two of them into a tight hug:

“-I am so endlessly proud of you both, and I love you, always.”

She fades from the air, and within seconds Arthur’s arms are falling in on themselves, nothing under them to hold their weight and forceful pressure.

The Prince’s head whips towards Morgause, who until that point had been completely forgotten about:

“Bring her back!”

Her stare is fixed on a frozen Merlin, though she slowly looks to Arthur when he takes an intimidating step towards her and goes to open his mouth again:

“I can’t. The doorway closes of it’s own accord, I can’t bring her back again. But that was... unexpected. I apologise, you shouldn’t have had to find out like that.”

Arthur shakes his head angrily at her denial, but quickly refocuses and looks to Merlin, who still hasn’t moved an inch. He puts a soft hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly until the other man looks at him; Arthur isn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but Merlin’s eyes to be filling with tears definitely wasn’t it:

“I... this can’t be real. My mother, Gaius, Kilgharrah, they all would’ve known. Why wouldn’t they tell me?”

Arthur pulls him into a hug, silently vowing to stop Merlin’s suffering as soon as he’s possibly able, that they would discover the truth no matter what. Merlin’s arms just hang limply at his sides, though he does push his face into Arthur’s neck as The prince responds:

“I... I don’t know, Merlin. Maybe they thought it would get in the way of that destiny of yours, maybe they were waiting for my... for The King to pass.-”

He pulls back, but keeps his hands on Merlin’s shoulders:

“-Lets just... get back to Camelot, and we can figure it out. We can go downstairs to talk to Kilgharrah.”

Merlin shakes his head, stepping back and wiping his sleeve over his eyes roughly before walking purposefully towards the horses:

“No, he’s the least likely to be honest, we’ll talk to Gaius. Though if any of this is true... I’m having some bloody harsh words with my... with Hunith.”

Arthur flinches slightly at the anger in Merlin’s voice, but after a quick glance to a slowly retreating Morgause, he follows him to the horses and they start the fast paced journey back to Camelot. The only words exchanged, around an hour in, were Merlin’s quiet, humourless:

“Gwaine’s never going to believe this.”

And Arthur’s responding snort of derisive amusement.

They manage to stay out of sight when they arrive back in the city, which is good really. Arthur’s lowly simmering rage had been reaching taller and taller heights with every pound of the horses’ hooves against the hard ground. But before he confronts his father, they need confirmation, in the form of Gaius.

They stalk quietly through the castle, using servant corridors and hidden passages to avoid being seen, but all bets are off when they reach the Physician’s chambers.

Gaius looks up with a quiet gasp when the two men burst in, locking the door behind them. Arthur’s blank stare and Merlin’s barely concealed anger force his shock and relief to morph into confusion:

“Merlin, Prince Arthur, where on Earth have you been? The King has been panicking, sending out patrol after patrol to search for you.”

Arthur’s face remains blank, and when Gaius looks to him for an answer he just moves his gaze to Merlin, allowing him to determine the pace of this much needed conversation. Merlin’s dark gaze is now fixed on the floor, though his jaw and hands are tightly clenched, and his breathing is shaky in his anger. His voice comes out lethally quiet, and Arthur can tell that it’s only a matter of time before he explodes:

“Gaius, what’s my name?”

Gaius just looks slightly taken aback, like he hasn’t quite grasped Merlin’s meaning despite its plainness:

“My boy, whatever are you-”

He’s interrupted when Merlin looks up at him sharply, his eyes blazing and his face turning slightly red:

“It’s a simple question Gaius: What’s. My. Name?-”

Gaius’ eyes flicker to Arthur in confusion, but Merlin breaks from his near frozen stature, moving with a speed that Arthur had never seen in him before to slam his hand on the table:

“No, don’t look at him, look at me. What’s my name, Gaius?!”

Gaius nods, his eyes sad as he gulps before answering quietly:

“Myrddin, but you already knew that.”

Merlin takes a deep breath and nods, his fingers tapping rhythmically, though a tad aggressively, against the table. Arthur goes to step forward to put a calming hand on his shoulder but Merlin shoots him a withering look and he stays back. Merlin’s hard stare returns to the resigned physician:

“And my parents?”

Gaius gulps again but straightens his posture, putting up a confused façade, though it’s easy to see through:

“Hunith is your-”

Merlin slams his hand on the table again, much harder this time, and a voice in the back of Arthur’s head—the one at the forefront was spitting obscenities and planning rather gruesome ways to murder his father—makes a note to check his hand later, a hit like that had likely broken something, though Merlin was clearly too furious and confused and upset to notice:

“DON’T LIE TO ME!”

Gaius is taken aback at Merlin’s bitter yell, but he softens again at the tears on his ward’s cheeks; he collapses into a chair on the other side of the table, rubbing his eyes tiredly before looking up at the distraught man:

“Uther and Igraine Pendragon. You are a year older than your mo- than Hunith led you to believe, and you are Arthur’s twin brother.-”

Arthur turns away angrily, vocalising the curses that had been playing on a loop in his mind, and Merlin nods, pushing his injured hand into the table without even realising:

“-I am so sorry, my-”

Merlin shakes his head and holds a hand up to stop him but doesn’t say anything, not pulling away this time when Arthur steps into place beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder, waving the other one aggressively at the elderly physician:

“You had no right, no right to keep this from us. I grew up being taught to hate magic, miserable and alone, and Merlin grew up hating himself, just as miserable and alone, if not more so. You had no right to take us away from each other.-”

Gaius goes to respond, but Arthur stops his excuses before they even make it past his throat:

“-No. There is no excusing this, you and my father took my brother from me, and there will be no forgiving that. I’ve known about Merlin’s magic and our entwined destinies for over a year, you’ve had every opportunity to tell us, but you didn’t. That’s not even mentioning the nature of my... our mother’s death. You are a coward, and in your cowardice you have been cruel; I will not stand for it. Where is my- where is The King?”

Gaius nods slowly, standing on almost wobbling legs before gesturing to the door:

“The King is with Sir Leon trying to figure out where to look next, they’re in the council chamber. You are right, and I am sor-”

Arthur cuts him off with a sharp gesture and a dark look, taking Merlin’s uninjured wrist and pulling him towards the door. The servant (Prince?) follows easily, unable to meet Gaius’ gaze and allowing Arthur to drag him briskly through the corridors towards the council chamber.

By the time they reach the chamber, Merlin has broken out of his stupor, wiped his tears, and pulled his wrist from Arthur’s grip, instead walking alongside him and using just as much force when they both push the doors open and stride in.

Uther and Leon both look up rapidly, startled at the sudden intrusion, but whilst Leon looks relieved and sends the two of them a small smile, Uther looks angry:

“Arthur. Where have you been? I have had search parties out looking for you. Arthur?”

Arthur doesn’t answer for a few moments, but a glance at Merlin by his side gives him the confidence boost he needs and he straightens his back, draws his sword, and stares The King right in the eyes:

“I know what you did to my mother, and I know what you... what you took from me.”

Uther stands tall, glancing to Leon briefly as he announces:

“Leave us. No one is to enter.”

Leon looks between the three other men, but doesn’t make it to his second step towards the door before Arthur has his sword pointed at his chest, though The Prince’s gaze stays on his father. Leon knows it’s less of a genuine threat and more of a way of emphasising his words, but that doesn’t stop him from taking a slight, wary step back:

“No, Sir Leon, you will stay.”

Leon glances nervously to the red-faced King, but doesn’t move. Uther looks furious at Arthur’s denial of his orders, but The Prince pays him no mind, finally turning to look at Leon with a slightly softer look in his eyes:

“Sir Leon, do you bear witness?”

Leon frowns slightly, looking between Arthur, Uther, and Merlin once again, frown deepening as he spies the unshed tears in Merlin’s eyes and the purple bruise forming over one of his hands. He finally looks back to Arthur, moving to stand to attention with one hand held over his heart and the other resting on the hilt of his sword:

“My Lord Prince Arthur Pendragon, I, Sir Leon, bear witness.”

Uther just splutters angrily, but Leon pointedly keeps his gaze on Arthur until The Prince nods at him and is the first to look away. Merlin had stayed silent the entire time, but visibly relaxes when Leon swears to stay, and that just makes the knight even more curious; this seems to be just as much about Merlin as it did Arthur’s parents.

The Prince moves his gaze—and his sword—to be pointed at The King once more, and he takes a deep breath before forcing the words from his mouth:

“You used magic, against my mother’s will, so that you could conceive. Is this true?”

Uther huffs angrily, gaze dashing to the other two men before it settles on Arthur again:

“This is preposterous, Morgause has lied to you.”

Leon is practically holding his breath at the side of the room; he can clearly tell that Arthur is moments away from striking his own father down, but does he interfere? Does he let it happen? And he still has no clue what’s bothering Merlin so much, other than the obvious pain in his hand.

Arthur takes slow steps towards Uther, inching the blade closer and closer to his throat:

“You are the one that’s lying. You started a genocide because you insisted on blaming magic for your own mistakes, and that’s not even the worst thing you did.-”

Arthur lets out an incredulous laugh, and Uther takes a step back as Leon tenses and Merlin stays blank:

“-I had a brother, a twin born with magic. You were too much of a coward to admit your mistakes but too much of a hypocrite to stick to your convictions, so you sent him away instead of killing him.-”

Uther goes pale, taking another stumbled step back as Leon’s eyes go wide, his gaze jumping to Merlin with a sudden, dreaded clarity.

(Perhaps Leon had picked up on Merlin’s magic a few months ago, and perhaps he had come to the conclusion that the younger man was the best protector Arthur could have.)

“-Do you even know his name? Mother said you would likely refuse to use it, but do you even know what it is?!”

Uther quickly regains his anger, his fury snapping into place as he gestures threateningly and thunders:

“It was an abomination! A creature of magic that destroyed your mother and almost tainted you! I should have slaughtered it where it lay-”

Merlin takes in a sudden breath at his words and Leon clenches his jaw; itching to comfort the younger man, but knowing that he wouldn’t exactly be welcomed right now. He’s meant to be here as an impartial third party.

Arthur throws his gauntlet down before Uther can finish his aggressive assertion, and Merlin gulps, moving properly for the first time since he’d entered the room. He grabs Arthur’s arm and pulls him back slightly:

“Arthur you can’t, he’s your... he’s The King.”

Arthur glances to him:

“I don’t care, he took you from me, he had no right.-”

He looks back to Uther, who is now staring at Merlin with a shocked venom. No one notices the way Leon quietly draws his sword; impartial his arse, he’d protect Arthur and Merlin to his dying breath:

“-You are the abomination, and you will pay for your crimes. Perhaps you should’ve sent Myrddin, that’s his name by the way, further afield, perhaps I’d have been more inclined to keep you alive until I found him. Pick it up.”

Uther’s gaze doesn’t move from Merlin as his face grows redder and redder. He doesn’t look down to the gauntlet, nor does he look at Arthur, nor does he notice Leon creeping closer:

“You. You foul, hellish, beast!”

Without another second’s of hesitation, he lunges forward and draws his sword all in one move. Arthur reacts too slowly, not expecting The King to attack Merlin instead of him, and Uther pushes him out of the way, swinging the sword down harshly toward Merlin’s chest before Arthur can block him. Merlin is too shocked and angry and scared and upset to even think of using his magic, so just stumbles back helplessly, falling and landing harshly on his already broken hand, yelping slightly.

Before anyone can even blink, Leon is there, stood over Merlin with blazing eyes and his sword raised. He parries the King easily, and by the time Uther has processed one of his own knights turning against him, Merlin has scrambled back, injured arm held to his chest, and Arthur has moved to stand at Leon’s side, sword raised.

Uther can only stare in furious bewilderment, but it doesn’t take him long to concede that he has been outmatched. He calls for the guards, though once they’ve spilled into the room, six in total, they stutter to a confused stop when they see The Prince and The First Knight seemingly defending a servant (a well-loved, well-known servant), from The King.

Arthur, without looking away from Uther, speaks harshly, his voice controlled and forceful and, frankly, Kingly:

“Arrest The King and escort him to his rooms. Remove all weapons and bar the windows and doors, I want him under constant guard.”

Uther screeches angrily, both at Arthur’s words and the fact that the guards make no moves to detain The Prince and the knight, like he clearly wants. Before he can actually say anything, Arthur speaks again, his voice even louder than before, first to the guards:

“NOW!-”

And then back to Uther:

“-You will either be arrested for your crimes, both against our family name and humanity as a whole, or I will kill you where you stand.”

Uther tries his best to stare Arthur down, but there really is no competing with the fire in his eyes, and it only takes one short nod from Leon for the guards to step forward and confiscate The King’s sword before they pull his arms around his back and push him towards the door. He digs his heels in and begins screeching again, though they can only make out the odd word, it’s mostly just “BETRAYAL!” and “SORCERY!” and “HOW DARE YOU!”. Arthur pulls Merlin to his feet gently, frowning at his purple wrist and knuckles before sighing and rolling his eyes, nodding to Uther and muttering, just loud enough for Merlin and Leon to hear:

“I don’t suppose you could do something about that, could you?”

Merlin looks shocked, but huffs out a gentle laugh when Arthur just raises his eyebrow in question. He looks to Uther just as the guards struggle to open the door, muttering a quiet spell under his breath, his eyes flashing golden. Leon takes in a slow breath at the obvious display of sorcery; he’d been constantly on edge since he discovered Merlin’s talent, desperately fearful that someone would find out. Thankfully, the guards are entirely focused on the task at hand.

Uther quickly goes quiet, his head drooping, and Arthur grimaces as the guards struggle to hold his sudden dead weight. He has to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing aloud when they turn to him with questioning looks; he just nods and gestures regally for them to keep going.

Soon, the room is quiet again, only the three men remaining. Leon looks between them apprehensively but Arthur just takes a fortifying breath before focusing his attention on Merlin’s arm, holding it gently in front of him and frowning worriedly:

“I’m guessing you haven’t gotten any better at healing magic since the arrow incident?”

Merlin scoffs and rolls his eyes:

“That wasn’t my fault, you’re the one that yanked it out of my shoulder and left the damn head in. And for your information, yes actually, I’ve been practicing. But I really think we have more important things to deal with at the moment, like the fact that the council is going to freak out when they find out you had The King arrested.”

Arthur shakes his head, giving Merlin a firm look:

“Merls, I just found out that you’re my twin brother, you are the important thing right now. Heal your hand, I don’t care how long it takes. Leon will take care of the council until we get there.”

He looks pointedly to Leon, and the knight nods, clearing his throat with a confused frown as he replies:

“What... uh... what would you like me to tell them, My Lord? Before your arrival? And where would you like them?”

Arthur smiles, grateful that Leon knows to take cues from him, knows what to focus on, knows that he is being trusted:

“Take them to the Throne Room. Tell them that Uther has been forcibly removed from the throne, that I have discovered the existence of my magical twin brother, whom I intend to have announced as Crown Prince within the week, and that I plan to legalise magic.”

Merlin, already pale and shaky, flinches, starting up with a “But I don’t want-” but Arthur cuts him off with a harsh, though fond glare, looking back to Leon to see the knight’s face shocked and pale. He purses his lips, before humming thoughtfully and speaking again:

“Actually... that probably wouldn’t be for the best. Just inform them that it’s an emergency, reassure them we haven’t started a war or anything, and tell them I’ll be arriving shortly.”

Leon visibly relaxes and nods, giving Merlin a soft smile and ruffling his hair quickly before striding from the room. Merlin huffs at the affection, but Arthur can tell he’s secretly pleased and copies Leon’s fond smile. Merlin looks to him confusedly:

“Why will the council have to wait? It’ll only take a few moments to heal myself.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow, nodding at Merlin’s hand pointedly and crossing his arms as if he were expecting failure. Merlin just rolls his eyes before looking down to his injury and muttering a few words, grimacing as his knuckles realign, and the bruise recedes. It doesn’t disappear completely, but the bones and deeper muscle tears have obviously repaired themselves, and Merlin looks very proud of himself as he looks back to Arthur:

“That’s the best I can be bothered to manage-”

Arthur huffs disapprovingly but knows he isn’t going to get any better than that:

“-so why are the council waiting?”

Arthur sighs, putting a hand on Merlin’s shoulder and leading him to the door:

“Well, you look one stiff breeze away from keeling over, and I imagine you’ll want to speak to Gwaine?”

Merlin looks to him suspiciously, but allows Arthur to lead him through the castle towards where Gwaine was almost certainly pacing worriedly in his rooms:

“I thought you didn’t approve of Gwaine?”

Arthur grins wolfishly:

“Oh, I don’t, especially now that I know that you’re a Prince, and my brother, but it’s my duty as the oldest to threaten him more than I already have.”

Merlin stops suddenly in the corridor and pulls Arthur back:

“Hang on a minute you prat, first off, when have you ever threatened Gwaine? And second, who said you’re the oldest?”

Arthur’s smile just grows and he grabs Merlin’s uninjured wrist to start pulling him down the corridor again:

“Literally the day I found out he was attempting to court you, which was about a month before you figured it out by the way,-”

Merlin grumbles, but doesn’t argue:

“-and I’m the oldest because I said so, and mother said naming you was... was one of the last things she did, so you obviously came out second, idiot.”

Merlin rolls his eyes yet again, but doesn’t say anything as they come to a stop outside of Gwaine’s room. He takes a deep breath, and Arthur moves his hand up to his shoulder again, giving him a small smile and a supportive nod.

The Warlock knocks on the door, and Gwaine opens immediately. The knight relaxes significantly when he sees that it’s the two of them back from God knows where, though he tenses again as his eyes run over them; he takes note of Merlin’s red eyes, injured wrist, and generally shaky demeanour. He also quickly catches on to the protective way Arthur is standing behind him, and the way The Prince’s loose hand shakes slightly with left over adrenaline.

Despite himself, Merlin relaxes and smiles when he sees Gwaine; with everything that had been going on he hadn’t really had a chance to think about how much he missed him, about how much he needed his support.

Gwaine pulls them into the room quickly, shutting the door behind him and turning around to see Merlin looking at him sheepishly, and Arthur staring at him with a predatory smile:

“What happened? Where have you been? Is everything ok?!”

End of Part 1!!

Hope y’all enjoyed this!! I probably could’ve fitted more in, but I figured this was a good point to stop. Part 2 and 3 are out (link @ top), part 4 won’t be too long!!

Drop comments and things lads, I love y’all!!

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bluejayblueskies · 3 years

Note

How about an AU where Jon and Gerry have been dating since Uni and have managed to keep it secret from everyone (including Elias and Gerttrude) by complete accident?

send me an au and i'll give you 5+ headcanons about it! requests closed!

by accident you say? 👀

1. jon and gerry meet somewhere completely ridiculous (yet also completely mundane) where the chance of them running into one another was like.... one in a million. like, maybe jon's class got out early and so he decided to walk a little further from campus to try a new coffee shop that he's never tried before and never will again because he realizes he really hates the drinks and that it's not worth the walk, and gerry is in the area looking into something leitner-related and he looks down at his phone a bit too long and runs smack into jon when he's walking away from the coffee shop with a lukewarm travel cup of hot chocolate because they were out of tea (what kind of coffee shop is out of tea? jon thinks with a scowl).

the hot chocolate spills all over gerry and jon's like 'oh god sorry, do you- do you want me to do something?' and gerry's about to brush past him when he sees the person he was looking for and shit, they're looking this way so without thinking he just... grabs jon and pulls him into the nearest shop. which happens to be selling something weird, idk, little ceramic figurines. and gerry does Not know what to say because like, he can't tell this stranger that he's hiding from maybe-a-fear-avatar! so he's like 'uh. you can make it up to me by.... helping me pick out a figurine? for, er. my mother. yes.'

so they're just walking through this shop, gerry's shirt still wet with hot chocolate, jon Very confused and also Very late for class but somehow nervous to just leave, so they look at figurines together. gerry keeps looking back out the window and nope, maybe-an-avatar is still there, and now they're sitting on the bench and it doesn't look like they're planning on moving anytime soon and gerry really doesn't want to take the chance and gamble that the maybe-avatar won't recognize him or realize what he's looking for. so gerry keeps shooting down every recommendation jon gives him with some progressively-more bullshit reasons--'oh, my mum already has that one' 'that one's too expensive, i can't afford it' 'that's too small' 'i don't like the way that one's looking at me' 'my mom's allergic to dogs, actually'--until jon's finally like 'okay what is going on and can i leave now?'.

and the maybe-avatar is still out there and gerry's certain now that they're watching him and he's suddenly very aware that he's spent a long period of time with this guy whose name he actually didn't quite catch and that it definitely looks like they're working together and ah, fuck, if i let him leave and he gets targeted because of me i'd feel horrible. so gerry sighs and thinks fuck it and is like 'listen i'm gonna level with you. i'm here looking for a book and there is somebody watching me right now and i know how that sounds but it's really not as shady as you think and also really not my fault but it is my fault that you're here too so. yeah. sorry i don't know if it's safe for you to leave.'

and all jon can think to say is 'a book?'.

and gerry's like 'don't worry about that bit, you really wouldn't understand' and jon gets all bristly and says primly, 'well, i'm a lit major and i work at the university library maybe i could help' and gerry can't help but laugh and say, 'really hope there's not a leitner in your uni library, mate'. and then jon gets this wide-eyed expression on his face like he's just seen a ghost and says 'what did you just say?' and before gerry can deflect again jon says, more intensely, but also hesitantly, 'is... is it called a guest for mr. spider?'.

and gerry's like 'um. no, it's not' and jon deflates a bit but now gerry's curious and he's like 'why?' and jon tries to deflect like 'oh clearly i misunderstood' but gerry's not budging and he's like 'no, no--have you read a leitner? gold bookplate, super fucked-up consequences?' and jon just goes pale which is really all the confirmation gerry needs. gerry feels the need to clarify that he hates them too--that he burns them whenever he gets the chance.

weakly, jon says, 'there... there's more than one?'. and then, a bit stronger: 'you- you're looking for another one? here? and you're going to burn it?'

gerry: yes, that's the plan. why--?

jon, without hesitation: i want to help

and maybe gerry is hesitant at first but, well. it seems like jon is already fully in this, so he reluctantly agrees, and they hunt down the leitner together and gerry lets jon burn it and then they're friends (and it really doesn't take long at all for that to transition into partners).

2. gertrude and elias missing that they're dating is a comedy of errors, including a lot of rather dramatic near misses including, but not limited to:

- jon always leaves a room just before one of them enters

- gerry always talks ambiguously about the person helping him hunt down leitners; elias always assumes he means gertrude, gertrude always assumes he means his mother. this is exploited to a comedic level

- getrude thinks 'going on a date' is code for gerry having a new lead on jurgen leitner and leaving to go chase it down

- when jon joins the institute as a researcher and runs into gerry in the building for the first time, he greets him neutrally in a mutually-agreed display of professionalism while working. gertrude and elias both remark at the fact that 'it's so nice that jon/gerry has a friend'

- gertrude, opening the door to the break room and bustling around inside, looking over at gerry where he's standing in front of the counter, jon sat atop it with his legs bracketing gerry's hips (they have very clearly just been kissing): oh hello gerard. jonathan. talking about leitners again?

jon, a bit embarrassed, slipping into Ultra Professionalism to compensate: i was just discussing with mr. keay the details of case number 0031211 regarding ms. cortena's experience with the talking vase--

gertrude, not at all interested, already knows that it's fake: right, right, carry on then

*after she's gotten her tea and left*

gerry, holding in laughter: 'mr. keay'?

jon, blushing: shut up gerry

3. gerry, casually, not actually aware that getrude doesn't know that he and jon are dating: yeah so then i had to leave my date early to go chase down this leitner and jon was not pleased

gertrude, after a hum of acknowledgement: how unfortunate. i'm not sure how jonathan's opinion on the matter is relevant, however. was he disappointed that you didn't ask him to track down the leitner with you?

gerry, Confused™️: he was.... at the date?

gertrude: at the date? whatever for?

gerry, now staring openly: because i was on a date with him? because we're dating? wait, did you not know that?

gertrude, not willing to admit that she missed that for nearly three years: of course i knew that, gerard. don't be foolish.

gerry, now even more confused: but--

gertrude, without missing a beat: i trust the leitner hunt went well, then?

gerry, after a long pause: um. yes?

gertrude, nodding: good.

4. there's an institute party and everyone's allowed to bring a plus-one

elias, noticing that jon's alone at the party: ah hello, jonathan. no plus one for you today?

jon: no, gerry couldn't make it, unfortunately. family business.

elias, somehow Oblivious, and also very Old Fashioned and way too familiar with his employees: quite. though typically, plus ones are of the romantic capacity. it's nice that you would consider gerard an acceptable substitute though, i suppose

jon, Bi confusion and suddenly unsure if his boss is homophobic: um. it.... it would have been in a romantic capacity?

elias, still Not Getting It: ah, i see. perhaps for the best, then--office parties don't make for pleasant first dates, in my experience

jon, unsure of how much of his personal life he wants to share with elias but not really wanting to pretend like he's not been dating gerry for going on three years now: um. it- it wouldn't be our first date. or- or really a date at all, just an- an event, i really don't think gerry would call this a date

elias, Getting it a little bit: ah. unfortunate, then. congratulations, i suppose, are in order. was it a recent engagement?

jon, ??????, biting the bullet: we've been together for three years, elias

5. jon, handing gerry a wrapped package on their fourth anniversary after they started dating: this is, um. this is for you

gerry, opening it and holding up the little ceramic figure of a dog: jon. is this--?

jon, in a rush: it's from that shop. where we, uh. where we met.

gerry, overcome with such love he really can't stand it, throwing all of his proposal plans out the window and digging the little square velvet box out of his pocket: jon can i ask you a question--

(jon is so surprised he just starts crying. it's only the fifth time gerry's ever seen him cry and he's so worried he said something wrong at first but then jon manages to say yes around his tears and jon wraps his arms around gerry tightly and buries his face in gerry's shoulder and whispers i love you and gerry hugs him tightly in return and says i love you, too, jon. i love you too.)

#the magnus archives #tma #jongerry #gerry keay #jonathan sims #ask #rugletthewren #((i'm still working on all of these just at a slower pace than before))#also this one came out very long and way more detailed than i planed ahsdglkglsa #'i'll give you 5+ headcanons' more like i'll write an entire fic in bullet form lmao #my fic

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causeiwanttoandican · 3 years

Text

The Times

Prince William’s close friends on what makes him tick — and why he’s not trapped

March 20 2021, 6:00pm

As the world devours the Harry and Meghan interview, what’s going on with the brother who was left behind? He’s embracing his destiny, William’s close friends tell the Sunday Times royal correspondent, Roya Nikkhah

Next month Prince William will celebrate his tenth wedding anniversary — the day he became a duke and embarked on the most formative decade of his life. Back then, the tentative 28-year-old newlywed was not ready to devote himself entirely to royal duties. A decade on, he is in a very different position.

The job of being the heir to the heir to the throne, of finding a balance between life and duty, is difficult at the best of times. These are not the best of times. In their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey this month the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused the royal family and the institution around it of racism and callous disregard for a suicidal newcomer, among many other damning charges. Harry the spare also declared that William was trapped within “the system … My brother can’t leave that system, but I have.”

In the immediate aftermath of the interview William was “reeling”, a source close to the duke says. “His head is all over the place on it.” Four days after the Sussexes had their say, he hit back during an engagement with the Duchess of Cambridge at a school in east London. Asked about accusations of racism, William retorted with restrained fury: “We’re very much not a racist family.” He also confirmed that he hadn’t spoken to Harry yet, “but will do”. By the weekend it emerged they had “been in contact”.

William is thought to have been less than thrilled a few days later when that conversation made global headlines after the American presenter Gayle King, a close friend of the Sussexes, revealed live on air that it had not been an easy chat: “I did actually call them to see how they were feeling,” she told viewers. “Harry has talked to his brother and he had talked to his father too. The word I was given was that those conversations were not productive.” The intervention prompted a senior royal source to say that “none of the households will be giving a running commentary on private conversations”.

A close friend of both brothers says Harry’s “trapped” comment was “way off the mark”, insisting that William does not see it that way. “He has a path set for him and he’s completely accepting of his role. He is very much his grandmother’s grandson in that respect of duty and service.”

When the Queen turned 90 nearly five years ago William admitted “the challenge” that “occupies a lot of thinking space” is how to “modernise and develop” the royal family, and make it “relevant in the next 20 years’ time”. Twenty years now seems like a very long time. In the hours and days after the Oprah broadcast, William was at the heart of all discussions with the Queen and the Prince of Wales about how to respond to the Sussexes. He was keen that the issue of race should be acknowledged in the Queen’s statement as an area of particular concern that “will be addressed”.

William has always railed against being a “ribbon-cutter royal” and the issues he champions — mental health, battling racism in football, homelessness and his ramped-up eco-warrior role — are a window into where the future King William V will take the House of Windsor. A friend says: “He’s a small-c conservative. He values tradition and the need to go around the country, but he realises he can make a difference beyond traditional royal duties.”

Today royal popularity is, to put it mildly, in a state of flux, but William’s strategy has been working. Post-Oprah, he ranks just below the Queen at the top of a YouGov poll of royals. Not so long ago such a position looked like a long shot, when the “workshy Wills” and “reluctant royal” tags plagued him and he was clocking up fewer days of royal work than his nonagenarian grandparents. Pictures of him hitting the ski slopes and clubs of Swiss resort Verbier in March 2017, missing a Commonwealth service that even the Duke of York flew back for, didn’t help.

After the lasting PR gold dust of the Cambridges’ 2011 wedding and the births of Prince George and Princess Charlotte, it was the first public nosedive for William, who was still working as an air ambulance pilot. “That pissed him off,” a friend says. “He was leaving home at 5.30am, getting home after dark and saving lives in between, but people were still being critical of his commitment to his [other] job.” William was based at Cambridge airport with East Anglian Air Ambulance for two years, where he was on call for “some very sad, dark moments”, often working “on very traumatic jobs involving children”. He later acknowledged that “after I had my own children … the relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge, and I started feeling things that I have never felt before”. But it was a job he loved, because of “working in a team … that’s something that my other job doesn’t necessarily do. You are more out there on your own.”

A former royal aide says: “Immediately after their wedding he had a very clear idea of the pace at which he wanted to take things.” William was adamant he wouldn’t curtail his day jobs, first as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot in Anglesey and then with the air ambulance. “If you’re not careful, duty can weigh you down an awful lot at an early age,” he said, insisting he didn’t “lie awake waiting or hoping” to be king. He delayed full-time royal duties until the autumn of 2017, when, acknowledging the Cambridges’ future required more time at “monarchy HQ”, they moved from Norfolk to London and George started school.

He’d had to fight his corner for the air ambulance role. A source close to William reveals “there were lots of raised eyebrows in the Palace when he wanted to do that. While the Queen and his father backed him, some senior courtiers questioned whether it was becoming of a future king to be doing a middle-class role, hanging out with ordinary people. They thought he wouldn’t stick it out, he’d find it boring, or was doing it out of stubbornness to put off royal duties. He was pretty bloody-minded about it, and determined that other people’s expectations in the media or the system shouldn’t get in the way of his own values.” In the wake of Harry and Meghan’s interview much has been speculated about the extent to which royal life is dictated by Palace officials, but it is clear that William has managed to forge his own path. Who knows how high those senior courtiers’ eyebrows rose in 2019, when William spent three weeks shadowing the spooks of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to learn how they combat terrorism. He insisted on being called “Will” and lunching in the canteen every day.

Those closest to the duke say his resistance to the idea of full-time royal duties stemmed not only from a desire to achieve something for himself but also from a fear of the impact on his family life. Miguel Head worked alongside the prince for ten years until 2018, as William, Kate and Harry’s communications secretary and later as William’s private secretary. “In his role everyone’s going to tell you you’re marvellous,” Head says. “The RAF and air ambulance jobs were about knowing what his abilities were, what he was good at in his own right. Without that he’d still be hankering for something that was his own.” After children came along he says William developed a “visceral determination to give them a life of consistency and privacy that were missing for large parts of his own childhood”.

Another close aide says the plan enabling the Cambridges to have a few years of “normal” married life, away from the full-time glare of the royal spotlight, paid dividends: “For years, the battles around privacy and paparazzi intrusion were all-consuming. He wanted to know, could we build them a credible plan allowing them a family life while slowly increasing the profile of official life? It took years to get there, but the success of that plan allowed him to be confident and content in his role. He’s not worried about his kids’ privacy any more and he has been able to be the kind of dad he wants to be.”

“Marriage maketh the man,” a friend says. “Catherine’s groundedness has been the critical anchor. And where his relationship with the media was once all fury and frustration, he now understands using the power of modern media, so the public feel they’re getting enough access.”

The children’s birthdays are marked with photographs — often taken by the Duchess of Cambridge — and there has been a noticeable increase in their public appearances of late. While not “officially” staged, William was happy to let George and Charlotte be photographed at their first Aston Villa match with Mum and Dad in 2019. Pandemic set pieces have shown the family clapping for the NHS on the steps of Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home, and, before Christmas, their first red-carpet appearance together for an evening at the panto with key workers and their children.

As they celebrate their anniversary on April 29, friends who joined the Cambridges on their wedding day tell me the partnership’s equal footing is key to its success. “They’ve got a solid relationship and she gives him confidence,” one says. “There is no jealousy, no friction, they are happy for each other’s successes.” In private William talks as passionately about Kate’s work as his own campaigns, and takes pride in her growing confidence on the public stage.

William has said his grandmother’s approach to being head of state is to take “more of a passive role. She’s above politics and is very much away from it.” He doesn’t plan to meddle in party politics, but he was not happy about the unenviable position the government put the Queen in with the 2019 proroguing of parliament, which was later ruled to be unlawful and forced an apology from Boris Johnson to the monarch. Constitutionally the Queen had no alternative other than to act on the advice of her government, but in William’s reign there will be “more private, robust challenging of advice”. His last three private secretaries — Christian Jones, Simon Case, now the cabinet secretary, and Head — had all worked in government departments, helping William to keep his finger on the political pulse. The new incumbent, the Whitehall heavyweight Jean-Christophe Gray, who served as David Cameron’s spokesman, continues in that vein.

The former Conservative leader Lord Hague of Richmond was last year appointed as chairman of the Royal Foundation to develop William’s work on mental health, the environment and a raft of new support programmes for key workers. “People internationally and nationally respect his credibility and knowledge on these issues,” Hague says. “He’s very persuasive. You only see that behind the scenes. He knows what he wants and he goes out to get it.”

Charlie Mayhew, chief executive of the conservation charity Tusk, has known William since he was 20. In 2005 Tusk and Centrepoint, the homelessness charity championed by Princess Diana, were the first patronages William took on. “In those early years I kept having to pinch myself to remember how young he was,” Mayhew says. “He was much more mature than his age and very aware of his destiny coming down the track. He had a sincerity, but never without wicked humour. His teasing is merciless.”

William knows some people see his passion for conservation as a posh man’s part-time hobby, but Mayhew says the duke’s “genuine and huge knowledge” undermines that view. “He’ll call and WhatsApp to flag up something that I haven’t even seen in the conservation space. He can be impatient to get things done.” Last year William launched the Earthshot prize, a £50 million Nobel-style environmental award to galvanise solutions to global problems over the next decade. He believes “conservation and the environment … shouldn’t be a luxury, it’s a necessity”, Mayhew says. “That’s the drum he wants to beat. He’s got a megaphone and wants to use it in the most constructive way. He speaks for that next generation and I think they can relate to it.”

A turning point for William was his 2015 official visit to China, one of the world’s largest consumers of ivory, where he met President Xi and condemned the illegal wildlife trade as a “vicious form of criminality”. Unlike his father, who has refused to visit the People’s Republic over its human rights record and treatment of Tibet, William’s view was that despite the UK’s fractious relationship with China, “we’ve got to engage”.

“It was very political, raising the illegal wildlife trade in China. I’m sure the diplomats were having all sort of nightmares in advance,” says Mayhew, who joined the duke in China. “But he was gathering greater confidence that he had the ability to be a mouthpiece for the issue.” Mayhew reveals that while William was visiting Japan before China, he still hadn’t secured a meeting with Xi. “But when the Chinese saw all the high-level meetings he was having in Japan, they changed their minds and Xi made time for him.” Later that year, as Xi began a UK state visit, William appeared on Chinese television condemning the ivory trade. Two years later China banned the trade.

In 2018 he spent months prepping for his most high-stakes overseas visit yet, to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories that summer. Navigating the diplomatic tightrope walk between Jerusalem and the West Bank, he visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah. As he travelled back to Jerusalem, he changed his speech for a reception with young Israelis and Palestinians to strengthen his solidarity with the latter: “My message tonight is that you have not been forgotten … The United Kingdom stands with you.” It was a bold move, but both sides hailed his visit a success and the officials breathed a sigh of relief. To the delight of the travelling press pack, William’s engagements on the final day were brought forward, allowing the diplomat duke and president of the Football Association to land back in the UK in time to watch England’s World Cup tie.

Ask him if he’s a peacemaker and William will laugh, saying Kate is the mediator. But according to a source close to William and Harry, his bridge-building skills were deployed in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018, when tensions in the Kensington Palace household, then still shared by the brothers, were running high: “Every time there was a drama, or a member of staff on the verge of quitting, William would personally try and sort it out.”

As the brothers clashed more over the substance and style of their work, and the family hierarchy that William is a stickler for but Harry is less keen on, a split was inevitable. When they finally divided their households in March 2019, it had been a long time coming. But he never thought that a year later his brother would up sticks for America.

The pair went for a long walk to clear the air after the “Sandringham summit” when the Megxit deal was hammered out, but did not part shores as friends. What upset William the most was Harry and Meghan’s surprise launch of their “Sussex Royal” website before the summit, which featured their blueprint wish list of a part-time, commercial royal future. Later, when the Queen decreed they could no longer use “royal” in their future ventures, their website hit back with this bold statement: “While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy … over the use of the word ‘Royal’ overseas, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use ‘Sussex Royal’ … or … ‘Royal’ …” Both “the content and that it’s still online is staggering”, a senior royal source says. “That was it for William, he felt they’d blindsided the Queen in such an insulting and disrespectful way,” says a source close to him, who reveals it was still at the forefront of William’s mind at the Commonwealth Day service one year ago. It was the Sussexes’ final engagement as working royals, and the froideur between them and the rest of the family was unmistakable.

It is a year since the Sussexes left for California and William misses Harry. “Once he got over the anger of how things happened, he was left with the absence of his brother,” an aide says. “They shared everything about their lives, an office, a foundation, meetings together most days and there was a lot of fun along the way. He’ll miss it for ever.” A close friend says William “definitely feels the pressure now it’s all on him — his future looks different because of his brother’s choices, it’s not easy.” Another friend says: “It’s still raw. He’s very upset by what’s happened, though absolutely intent that he and Harry’s relationship will heal in time.”

After lobbing bombs in his Oprah interview, Harry said: “I love William to bits … We’ve been through hell together … we have a shared experience … The relationship is space at the moment, and time heals all things, hopefully.” Harry would be wise not to set his stopwatch.

The first test will come this summer, when the brothers could be reunited for a series of family engagements including the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday and the Queen’s birthday parade in June. In July they are scheduled to unveil a statue of their mother at Kensington Palace, marking what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday, an emotionally charged occasion with the world watching.

While a chasm has opened up between the brothers, William has grown closer to the Queen and Prince Charles. He has helped them to navigate their way through Megxit, Prince Andrew’s removal from public life following the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and, now, the Oprah controversy. “That has changed the way the Queen sees him and values his input,” a courtier says. William also feels his relationship with his grandmother has “massively improved” in recent years and their views are “more aligned than ever”.

Friends say there has also been a “renaissance” in William and Charles’s relationship. “As the years passed there were strains imposed by the system — money, work, competition, Diana,” one says. “Part of William’s evolution is that as he has become closer to his father, he sees their similarities. At William’s wedding there was a gag in one of the speeches that he was more like his father than he’d ever admit, which made a lot of us laugh. As their respective destinies get closer, it weighs more heavily on them and strengthens the bond. The rift with Harry has also brought them closer.”

William is said to hate “flummery”, though the role of future king comes with plenty of bowing and scraping. But in 2017, for the first time publicly, he didn’t get his way. As a new parent worried about rising teenage suicide rates, he had spent a year convening a Cyberbullying Taskforce with big cheeses from tech and social media giants including Facebook, Snapchat, Apple, Google and Twitter. He wanted them to adopt industry-wide guidelines creating safer online spaces for children. According to William the meetings at Kensington Palace got “fruity” and the tech giants didn’t come close to the change he wanted. He was furious.

Tessy Ojo, chief executive of the Diana Award youth charity, sat on the taskforce. “He was deeply disappointed,” she says. “He didn’t come into it as ‘the duke’, he gave emotional pleas as a father.” William has since publicly condemned social media giants for their “false choice of profits over values” and privately offered support to the family of Molly Russell, who took her life at 14 after viewing images of self-harm online. Ojo believes it is William’s “lived experience of the fragility of life that guides the work he does”.

It also shapes the way he and Kate are raising their family. William has said he is determined that the grandchildren Diana never knew should “know who she was and that she existed”. He “constantly” talks to his children “about Granny Diana” at bedtime, so that they know “there are two grandmothers in their lives”. Earlier this month on Mother’s Day, Kensington Palace’s social media feeds published George, Charlotte and Louis’s cards paying tribute to “Granny Diana”, revealing it is an annual ritual for the Cambridge children. After a difficult few weeks for William, a line in Charlotte’s card provided poignant insight into how he is feeling: “Papa is missing you.”

He is on course to be a more modern monarch than any before him, but William is still a creature of habit at heart. He has the same tight circle of friends from his schooldays, one of whom says that, with William, “it’s all about trust and loyalty”. He plays five-a-side football in his Villa socks when he can, goes to the Chelsea Harbour Club gym he went to as a child with his mother and has a “smart casual” public uniform of chinos, jacket, blue shirt and no tie.

“William’s not trying to be down with the kids,” a friend says. “He never wants to be painted as irrelevant or dull, though he’s allergic to being compared to celebrities. The public doesn’t always get to see his funny side, but otherwise he’s the same in private as in public. He once said, ‘I’ll be in the public eye all my life. I can’t hide who I am because I’ll be found out.’ ”

In 2019, during a visit to a youth homelessness charity supporting LGBT people, William was asked how he would feel if one of his children was gay. “Absolutely fine,” he replied. “I fully support whatever decision they make, but it does worry me from a parent’s point of view how many barriers, hateful words, persecution and discrimination might come.” Such a personal exchange was a radical departure from royal engagement small talk. But William, the first in his family to be photographed for the cover of a gay magazine, had personally put the issue on the agenda.

As president of Bafta he gave the academy a diplomatic dressing down in his speech at last year’s ceremony, expressing his “frustration” over the lack of diversity: “In 2020, and not for the first time in the last few years, we find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to ensure diversity in the sector and in the awards process — that simply cannot be right in this day and age.” The 2021 nominees announced this month suggest his words hit home.

William “thinks the public look to him to keep royal work looking modern”, a confidante says. “The Queen and Prince of Wales are providing continuity and stability. He’s carving out his own relationship with diverse communities. He sees it all as a way of doing things now that will help a smooth transition when the time comes.”

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as a former frontline worker himself, William has led the royal charge supporting key workers. “Now, more than ever, he knows what his role in public life is, and he sees the value in it,” a close aide says. Chatting to NHS workers in January, William said: “Something that I noticed from my brief spell flying the air ambulance … is that when you see so much death and so much bereavement, it does impact how you see the world … as a … darker, blacker place.” Soon after the first lockdown was announced, the Cambridges’ Royal Foundation launched Our Frontline, a round-the-clock mental health and bereavement service for key workers.

Miguel Head says the future King William will continue to campaign on his big issues: “I can’t see him backing away from causes he’s passionate about. And while he’s not someone who loves ceremony, he knows the importance of it. When he gets the top job he won’t do away with it all. He’s mindful the monarchy represents something timeless that’s above all of us, and many people like the magic and theatre of it.”

Roya Nikkhah

Roya is royal correspondent at The Sunday Times. Over more than a decade she has covered royal events for the BBC, interviewed the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry and presented the films Prince William, Monarch in the Making and Meghan and Harry: The Baby Years.

#William #TeamQueen #TeamWilliam #TeamCambridge

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rev3rb · 3 years

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Hi!! It’s me again asking about the new chapter. Literally every other page had me like 😳 from either the gayness or just the plot points like wtf. I complained last time about being confused from lack of info and now I’m confused from too much info but very excited to see where this goes lmaoo

I think the illusion part was a fun lil twist. Sometimes it can be annoying when a high stakes situation turns out to be fake all along, but the way it was done sorta short kept things interesting and added to Rigr’s sly behavior. Also just Rigr bantering with Urd by being oddly sweet and saying how he was planning to come back and work together was such an intriguing 180 flip. Urd already considering the offer & being on the same page with the hostages was kinda gold. I feel like he’s already sorta accepting his fate, I’d honestly be surprised if he doesn’t decide to team up with Rigr next chp.

And then on top of all ~that~ the stuff about all versions of Yu being made for Mika?! We get it, they’ve been destined to each other for thousands of years, they’re soulmates, it’s gay 🙄 I haven’t been super onboard with Mika becoming Yu’s demon bc I want him to stay himself & have a role on his own, but now I’m more excited for how that works/messes with the First’s plan.

Oh, and I enjoyed seeing Byakkomaru + Raimeiki despite being worried for Shinya + Kureto. I feel like all the demons/progenitors relationships to the First get more complicated each chapter and I would really like a better breakdown on where loyalties lie at this point lol

Hello once again anon! I was wondering if you'd crop up!

Ho boy. This chapter. A lot happened. I can see why you're confused. While this chapter did give us quite a bit of information, we can still only speculate as to how everything fits together. There's really no right or wrong right now. I have a feeling that starting next chapter, we'll finally be able to start fitting things together. If not then we'll at least be getting back into some action I imagine. It'll be nice after the last handful of chapters.

In that same vein, I agree with what you said about the illusion. It was fun to get some action even if it did end up being fake, but not only did this serve as some fun, it developed Ky Luc and Lest Karr as well as what you said about Rigr. While we've seen Ky Luc fight before, we didn't really see him with his back against the wall. As Guren and Shinya put it:

(They tied as Guren said shortly before this but this is funnier)

It was nice to see how Ky Luc fights in a tough situation. It speaks to his character quite a bit. On top of that, there's Rigr's comment about Ky Luc being strong enough to kill a 3rd Progenitor. I'm sure that will be relevant later, possibly even explained, but likely not for a while. Not only that, but, and correct me if I'm wrong, we haven't seen Lest Karr fight before. This was a cool insight into what his battle presence is like. I imagine that both of these things will come into play sometime later. Plus! It's like Rigr said:

At the very least it tells us Ky and Lest will side with whoever Urd does.

I ish made a post addressing Urd and Rigr, but god, yeah. These bitches gay, Rigr especially. Good for them. It makes me think that Rigr always intended to return to Urd's side (in a gay way or not). After all, as he said, this is all according to plan apparently.

It's interesting to think about, but I think Urd is as much a pawn in this game as the likes of Guren. He has his own view/side to things, but he's going to get swept up in other people's messes/plans whether he wants to or not. Given his history with Rigr and it being unlikely (at the moment) that Rigr will betray him again, I imagine Urd and Rigr will be on the same side going forward? Allegiances change like the weather though so who knows. This is just the feeling I get at this point in time, and you alluded to it too.

I'm left a little unsure about how to feel about the whole Yu and Mika situation. None of what was shown really comes as a surprise. The eye being a doorway to the past was something I didn't expect, neither was The First being able to affect that vision, but pretty much everything else was. We'd already been basically told that Yus were somehow grown/created, so now we just finally get to see what the exact method is. Can't say I understand how that works, but there you go. It wasn't much of an explanation, but it's something I guess.

Mika becoming Yu's demon/weapon also doesn't come as a large surprise. Ever since he "died" back in chapter 90 (91?), this is pretty much what I expected. I'm not even that surprised that it was something that Mika ultimately chose. It's not quite something I would have speculated back when Mika first died, but after we started getting chapters that showed off demon Mika, it was something I suspected might happen. And maybe it's just me, but I don't think Mika will become any less important now that he's Yu's weapon. I wouldn't be surprised if he took a role similar to Mahiru going forward. Mahiru is one of Guren's demons, but she's still her own character and can sorta do her own thing. I don't see why Mika couldn't be the same, even if their situations are a bit different.

SHINYA!!! I, like many others, have been waiting for this moment. Never would have guessed that he ended up getting captured, but what surprises me more is that Kureto was also captured. Last we saw he was directing troops. It seemed like things were going well for him. I wonder what happened that resulted in both of them getting captured. Is the rest of Guren squad okay? Who's running the Imperial Demon army now? I hope it's not Seishiro. Hey, maybe that's what happened to Narumi. He's running the army now :) In all seriousness though, if Guren squad is okay, I could actually see them running the army, but again I digress.

I made a post talking about what I think will happen to Shinya and Kureto (and by extension, Byakkomaru and Reimeiki) here. While I too am worried about them, I think that they'll be okay. If Rigr or Urd wanted to kill them, they probably would have done it by now. That's not to say that they couldn't be harmed though. I'm just hopeful that being hostages means that they'll stay alive.

Maybe it's a weird thing to say, but because of Guren's attachment to Shinya, I'd actually say that it's likely that Shinya has some thick plot armor in this instance. I'm confident that Shinya will remain alive at least until Guren is around him again. As for Kureto... well. I don't think there's as much plot armor for him. Again I think he'll be okay? He's the representative of normal humanity in all this and there's no good replacement for him (there's lit no other character that cares about humanity as a whole), so I think he'll stay alive for at least a little while longer.

And that pretty much sums up my thoughts! Sorry this got long, but as I said at the start, a lot happened. There was a lot to analyze and process. Thanks again for the ask! I hope you enjoyed hearing my thoughts.

#Owari no Seraph #Owari no Seraph spoilers #OnS 106 spoilers #Rigr Stafford #Lest Karr #Ky Luc #Urd Geales #Yuichiro Hyakuya #Mikaela Hyakuya #Shinya Hiragi #Kureto Hiragi #My posts #Asks #anonymous asks #Anonysis asks

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