The Husbands of River Song is not and has never been about the Eleventh Doctor being a deadbeat, distant husband (gross mischaracterization by the way) and the Twelfth Doctor being the "better, more mature, affectionate" husband.
It was about River Song. It was about River and how the events in Manhattan took such a toll on her. It was about letting us see River dealing with grief the way The Snowmen showed us how the Doctor coped after losing believing he had used up all his time with River.
Looking at THORS now with The Ruby's Curse in mind, I get the instinct (for lack of a word that I cannot remember) that the Manhattan incident Blue Roach read from River's diary was not the Manhattan episode that we saw in series 7.
On that note, I'd also like to bring up the fact that the Doctor grounds River and River grounds the Doctor. As Tree talked about in one of her tags, River's empathy is more cognitive than emotional and after musing on it for a bit – considering that the Doctor can no longer go to Manhattan (which may have changed in later series but I wouldn't know at the moment because I have yet to overcome series 7b) and that River does spend time with her parents in Manhattan post-TATM, would the latest Manhattan incident in River's diary be the funeral for Amy? Amy's death? Perhaps even Anthony's? I mean, we already know Rory died five years earlier than Amy. So, knowing how deep River's love for her mother is, it's not too farfetched to say that River spent that time with them. River was by their bedsides as they drew their last breath.
Then Rory's gone, Amy's gone, Anthony's gone. Where does that leave River? Where is the Doctor? (sulking on a cloud on top of Victorian London? trying to figure out the mystery of his newest companion? all while constantly mentioning a certain Professor Song who actually turns out to be his dearly sort of departed absolutely beloved wife?)
Without her parents (and her husband) to ground her, she goes on this maddened, grieving space Robin Hood spree. She seeks fun to fill in the void and takes up marriage as a hobby/side quest. Does she look for the Doctor? Perhaps. Yes, actually. Considering she crashed her latest sort-of-husband's ship onto a planet where she purported the TARDIS to be.
But... she's stealing the TARDIS. She could have just called the Doctor, yeah? So, she doesn't want the Doctor to know then. Well... yeah, considering she has two sort-of-husbands in hand.
So, River would just have gone on from one space Robin Hood spree to the next had the TARDIS not sort-of-stranded herself on Mendorax Dellora to make sure her Water stopped being stubborn and reconcile(?) with her Thief?
Also taking note of how River has read stories about them and knows that Darillium is purported to be their last night together (I could also bring up the fact that this is why I find it easy to digest the "River meeting regenerations of the Doctor younger than the Tenth Doctor makes sense and doesn't break cannon nor ruin SITL/FOTD" but that would take a whole other post). Does this River believe her time with the Eleventh Doctor has ended? The same way series 7b Eleven believed his time with older versions of River has ended? Is this all part of some grand fuckup in communication all thanks to their tangled timelines?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But has River not just been running from her family's death? Has River been running from her supposed last night with the Doctor?
"But River doesn't run." Oh yes. Yes, she does. She knows when to stand her ground. She knows when to charge. And she knows when to run.
"That's out of character for her." No, it's not. She's not invincible. She's this well trained assassin, yes. But invincible? No.
Invincible from the tendency to be blinded by their emotions? Obviously not.
River lies. And River runs.
She is not afraid of her death. She is afraid of the day when her husband, her Doctor, looks into her eyes and looks right through her. And it shouldn't kill her but it does. It did.
So she ran and ran until her bigger-on-the-inside Mum gently reached out and put her back together with the only person left who could ground her. Who she didn't recognize at first but still fell in love with (and would have loved even if he hadn't been revealed to be her actual, long missing husband). Who finally found out their last night wasn't just any night – it was a twenty-four year long last night. Who finally gave her a breather from all the running she'd been doing.
And oh what a night that was (it was the talk of the universe).
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thinking about gale, who likes to walk up to john while john is sitting down just so he can see pretty, earnest blue eyes look up at him and watch a boyish smile quirk corners of lips up over sharp canines, the bounce of curls as his head tilts up akin to dog ears going all perky
and thinking about john, who likes to make himself small on his knees at gale's feet so he can watch fond blue eyes swallow him whole before he's pulled on top of warm thighs like an oversized lap dog, knees bumping hips, firm hands wandering and noses nudging at collarbones and murmurs of affection (and of other things)
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Gortash acting as an enabler for The Dark Urge is so interesting imo. I can easily see redeemed DU feeling extremely betrayed and angry by it given that they now have a chance to contemplate their past self’s situation. They easily could accuse him like “you say you were my ‘nearest and dearest’ but you never saw how much I suffered? Or did you just not care because my misery advanced your (our) goals? You never wanted to help me? You could have stopped me.” At this point in the story, DU’s come to understand friendship in a way his past self never could have and Gortash’s previous inaction is a betrayal of those values. If he never helped them, then Gortash never truly saw the real them nor understood them.
In my personal headcanon (and somewhat supported by canon imo), I think Gortash tried to helped DU in his own “Gort” way. Aka promising that they’d one day rule as “Gods” which is essentially a promise to DU that they’ll rise above Bhaal or be free of his influence (as others have previously pointed out). However, I don’t believe Gortash has the emotional capacity to help DU in the way they needed. He doesn’t understand it or he might even be afraid to hit that particular nerve. He liked the routine they fell into, so why change it? It is also definitely pragmatic. The Dark Urge’s condition advances their plans. Gortash puts progress and the plan above all else even if it hurts loved ones. He rationalizes his inaction with cold logic, weighing the pros and cons of his intervention. Therefore, I don’t believe it’s necessarily malicious enabling. Gortash acts with the idea of pursuing whatever is more “comfortable” for him personally and their joint plan.
From my personal experience, this type of enabling is pretty common (at least in my irl situations). They don’t know how to act and are afraid to confront their loved one, so they do nothing. It’s “easier” to do nothing. Definitely would like to write something for it at some point because I feel like this would be a key tension point in their post-tadpole relationship (or lack of). Maybe even pre-tadpole where the Dark Urge just quietly endured but desperately hoped Enver would say or do something to save them, but he never did.
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its very interesting to me how Tamlin is the character and High Lord that is heavily vilified (I would almost say even more than Beron strangely) when he is the only High Lord to have talked about d how he has gone about removing slavery within his court, protecting lower fae in general, and his court was open to immigration from other courts (i cant remember if its mentioned again in acomaf but in acotar fae from other courts are free to move to the spring court. example, Alis) and how overall he is a great leader. Especially when you compare him and Rhysand as High Lords.
The Court of Nightmares is well, a nightmare. Its existence is extremely strange and makes Rhysand look very odd. as well as its unclear how Rhysand gets his wealth. Velaris was a hidden city until acomaf-ish, which means it was locked (so no immigration or emigration which isn't bad per-say but does bring up how it works economically) and Rhysands inability or unwillingness to protect his citizens (not enforcing the wing clipping ban and allowing people to be abused in the CoN. and before anyone starts about him not being able to control the illyrians, why did he make it a law in the first place? It just makes him look bad) makes him look like a shitty ruler. His supposed "feminism" and friendship with the people of velaris doesnt answer these very important questions or justify the strange shit he does. Versus Tamlin, which you can refer to my opening statement for the comparison. Also to note, his rule only came into question and stability after Feyre broke into people minds (which I do feel is extremely gross and a huge violation of ones autonomy and privacy) and had to sabotage him. I won't comment how I feel about this in this post, but it says a lot that she had to go through such lengths to break him down. Especially after it was revealed he was in fact a double agent and never actually siding with Hybern.
The only time Tamlin is an arguably bad high lord is in acofas and acosf where he is in a severe mental crisis and not in a position to properly rule. But even then, it's not clear if this is actually causing harm to the land and people. It's probably not good because they don't have a proper leader but I can't believe it's a severe issue.
Its definitely a strange choice, isn't it? Cause I think anyone in their right mind would choose the anti-tyranny, anti-slavery leader who does his best for his people... and its somehow not our supposed 'hero'
"I once told you I would fight against tyranny, against that sort of evil. Did you think you were enough to turn me from that?"
Acowar, chapter 44
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