#james st. clair

[purplehairedwonder]

Can we talk about how, when Anharion and the Lady arrest Sarcean in Will's vision, Sarcean says to them:

And then, when James arrives in the palace and stands alongside Visander in Katherine's body, Will says:

Punch me in the throat, why don't you, Pacat.

#Dark Rise #Dark Heir #Dark Heir spoilers #Will Kempen #Sarcean #Anharion #James St. Clair #Visander

[picturebird]

“James lay like a sleeping Ganymede, his enervated beauty belying the cruelty and destruction he rained down on the Stewards” —CS Pacat, Dark Heir

#cs pacat #dark heir #will kempen #violet ballard #james st. clair #dark heir spoilers #dark rise #my art #pbirdart

[rkivees]

He faced Will as if he saw in him a figure from long ago. A figure he served. A figure he knew.

‘You remember,’ said Will.

James looked back at him with the past in his eyes.

‘Sarcean. I remember everything.’

| Will Kempen and James St. Clair. | WIP #1

#im working on it so its not even near done but #dark rise #dark heir #c. s. pacat #will kempen #james st. clair #fanart #dark rise fanart #mine #art wip #there's no sign cuz i forgot to put it and mow im too lazy;; please don't repost it without my permission

[the-darkest-heir]

#dark heir spoilers #dark heir #dark rise #will kempen #sarcean #will x james #james st. clair #anharion #cs pacat #dark heir memes #dark rise memes #i’m suffering

[witsserviceablesubstitute]

The more I think about Anharion and Sarcean the more I'm convinced they are an allegory for queer trauma and Will will have to embrace, accept, and forgive himself in order change his narrative.

In which case I don't think the collar is compulsion but something else. James - once Anharion in a past life and a former novitiate in this one (he knows all the stories) - did say it wasn't. "All the stories are lies" and "the collar was working but he felt no compulsion", as well as his speculation the collar became tawdry wishful thinking by those who objectified him.

In many ways James has already accepted himself and embraced Anharion, and in so doing made himself a villain to the Light, polite society, and a self righteous religious order. Everything he does is repellent to them but they're also obsessed with him. He is unmentionable but always present. He is condemned for killing the Stewards but they're surprised when reminded they've been trying to kill him since he was 11. Of course he needed to die, he's an abomination. The Stewards were doing the Lor– Lady's work by killing such a corrupt creature.

If Sarcean and Anharion are queer allegory then there is definitely more to their relationship and perceived villainy than what we've been told.

I'm especially struck by how the Light always calls the Lady Sarcean's former love – using language that describes a tragic romance. All the while they dismiss Anharion as a perverse sexual fixation when it's clear in Sarcean's POV that it's Anharion who was the love of Sarcean's life. That Sarcean had loved him long before the Lady. That Sarcean chases pieces of Anharion throughout all his chosen lovers. That it's Anharion he bound to him across time and space. It mirrors how often queer relationships are belittled, the acceptable heteronormative relationship romanticized.

Will/James and Sarcean/Anharion's kinky preferences play into that too. There's a pressure for them to conform and never give into what they want to indulge.

#sarcean #anharion #will kempen #james st. clair #dark rise #dark heir #dark heir spoilers #the fact all these guys are shamelessly kinky is direct criticism of the no kink at pride discourse #i kid i kid #or do i?

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

James St. Clair- Dark Rise Series by C.S. Pacat

Shuos Jedao- Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

Jack Alston/Lord Hawthorn- The Last Binding Trilogy by Freya Marske

Alastair Carstairs- The Last Hours by Cassandra Clare

#James St. Clair #Dark Rise Series #Dark Rise #Dark Heir #C.S. Pacat #Shuos Jedao #Ninefox Gambit #machineries of empire #Yoon Ha Lee #Jack Alston #Lord Hawthorn #The Last Binding Trilogy #A Marvelous Light #A Restless Truth #A Power Unbound #Freya Marske #Alastair Carstairs #The Last Hours #shadowhunters #Chain of Gold #Cassandra Clare #polls #lgbt books #queer book character tournament 2.0

[booksimppp]

in honor of my great sorrow and distress, here are some memes i have made for dark rise & dark heir. enjoy.

#dark rise #dark heir #cs pacat #will kempen #james st. clair #cyprian #sarcean #anharion #violet ballard #the collar #katherine kent #elizabeth kent #visander

[tiredsunrisesmeta]

One thing in Dark Heir I absolutely adored was James's POV chapter. I think it's more than just getting inside his head or knowing his thoughts. James is a character that is pretty heavily objectified by a lot of people. Sinclair, Simon, Jannick, Kettering, sometimes even Will's internal monologue has a slightly objectifying tone (though the way he does it is mostly from a place of simple attraction and it's balanced by Will's curiosity of James's as a person), etc. James is seen as the Dark Lord's paramour and sexual possession. Because of that, James is often a character that is gazed upon. A character who has had a narrative and identity pushed on him regardless of whether that fits who he truly is or wants to be. He comes off as passive because he's the gazed upon object, and everyone else is the one who gazes.

Which is why James POV is especially refreshing. We finally get to see him fully, in his own words, as someone with agency, history, motivations, and desires outside of being the Dark Lord's paramour. I also hope Anharion gets POV chapters in the next book because I want to experience him similarly as well. I just like learning about James in his own words and his own thoughts, and I think it's integral to truly knowing who he is outside of all the narratives that abound about him.

#dark heir spoilers #dark heir #dark rise #james st. clair #will kempen

[mklinaaa]

james st clair & violet ballard

#theyre just like me. #i can talk for hours how similar they are btw #cs pacat #dark rise #dark heir #violet ballard #james st. clair

[gaelmeee]

James is here ✨️

#artists on tumblr #fanart #digital art #digital illustration #illustration #drawing #cs pacat #dark rise #dark heir #will kempen #james st. clair

[garlictoast]

just finished dark heir so here’s my main thought:

will is going to struggle so hard with whether he should take the collar off of james or not.

on one hand, it’s the last thing either of them wanted. will *promised* he would find a way to destroy the collar because he would rather it be gone than have to see james under someone else’s control.

on the other hand, with the collar, james is *only* under will’s control, and we all know how much will likes seeing james as *his*, despite everything. additionally, if the collar comes off, how much of james would still want to be with will? i think this will be one of will’s biggest struggles; wanting to uphold his promise to james but knowing that, without the collar, he’ll lose the one person who he wants on his side the most. and i don’t mean that will wants james to be under his control, but sarcean most definitely does, and i think it’ll be a big battle of wills between will and sarcean to keep the collar on james or not.

#dark rise #dark heir #dark heir spoilers #cs pacat #will kempen #james st. clair

[purplehairedwonder]

Some of the parallel Will/James scenes in Dark Rise and Dark Heir are making me absolutely feral.

There's the homoerotic parallel of Will stabbing James with the Horn and James "entering" Will with his magic. (And both scenes end in chaos and James in a torn shirt 😏)

Then there's the Collar scene at Gauthier's and the Collar scene in the throne room, both seeing Will with the Collar in his hands but choosing not to put it on James.

And, of course, there's James coming to Will at the end of both books, the two of them in their own little world yet Will struggling with James's agency.

#I am utterly consumed by them #James St. Clair #Will Kempen #Dark Rise #Dark Heir #Dark Heir spoilers

[picturebird]

I am starting to think Will and James are written to be opposites of each other. Not complete opposites, but there’s an interesting contrast between them.

Will is missing a father. James is missing a mother.

Will’s mother kept him despite knowing he was Reborn. James’s father was willing to kill his son for being Reborn and cast him out.

Will wanted to avenge his mother’s death. James helped cause his father’s death.

Will’s power is locked up. James’s power originally could barely be contained.

Will appears honest but he manipulates people. James appears sinister but actually hates deceiving people. (Looks like a cinnamon role…you know the rest)

Will’s destined role is leader and ruler. James’s destined role is follower and servant.

Will always resisted being the Dark King. James embraced his role as Anharion for a time to feel special.

Will has never betrayed anyone, even if they deserved it. James betrayed both the Stewards and Sinclair.

It’s like their stories oppose each other. Maybe it will have significance in how things end.

#dark rise #dark heir #will kempen #james st. clair #sarcean #anharion #st kempen #dark heir spoilers

[simonwanders]

Something something I absolutely adore to imagine that James’s actually got Sarcean’s personality with all the sarcasm and distrust and bad bitch vibe, and Will’s got Anharion personality with not a single mean bone in his body and a very strong loyalty to his loved ones

And that would be due to their actual lives in the present times of the books (James having a life somehow similar to Sarcean’s with all the mistrust and betrayals he’s gone through, and Will having a complicated/abusive relationship with his mom but still loving her a great deal and remaining loyal to her, similarly to Anharion with the Sun King, and then being taken in as The Chosen One TM by the Stewards)

And they would STILL fall in love with each other not because they are bound to each other, not because they were together in a past life, but because their personalities just work so well together and they are complementary

#james st. clair #james st clair #will kempen #dark heir #dark heir spoilers #dark rise #james dark rise #will dark rise #cs pacat #anharion #sarcean #wames #sarharion #st kempen

[bananadogpilllow]

Madam pacat is really out here giving an intro to BDSM to the youth what a public service.

#dark heir #dark rise #will kempen #james st. clair #Is this YA is it really?? #visander #devon

[mothpaww]

i just finished Dark Rise and I'm like

ASDFGHJKL INSANE

I WAS READY TO HATE JAMES BUT HE'S JUST???????

Also this

I know my ass will be destroyed once James realize WHO Will really is and I'm not ready

#dark rise #dark heir #c.s. pacat #will kempen #James St. Clair #Also Violet my beautiful daughter I love u so much #book rant #Im ficking bookworm #Especially if its fantasy and gay #I should get a life #No