#my baby dealt with his PTSD like a good little boy so that Mare could have the spotlight with hers

[lilyharvord]

i love your takes on everything red queen and i was wondering if you had any in depth thoughts about why Cal hates being called Tiberias...p.s. i love your writing:))))

Hey Nonnie! I’m honestly so glad you guys like my takes and don’t think I’m just the cranky old woman standing on her porch screaming at the kids biking by 😂 I definitely feel like it sometimes when I complain. 

As for why Cal hates being called Tiberias. I think it goes back to why he was given the nickname Cal in the first place. It was meant to distinguish him from his father initially, and it did. Cal is very different from his father in a lot of ways, even though he is also similar in a lot of ways. Now, I don’t think he hates the name. I think it started as sort of like... being called Tiberias brings up feelings similar to your mom or dad using your full name to say you’re in trouble. The only time Tibe calls Cal by his name is when he’s introduced at Queenstrial (which tbh is not actually calling him that, it’s just referring to his title, so his dad never actually calls him Tiberias either). I dont even think Elara or Julian calls him that. No one really refers to him by that name, they all call him Cal. Mare is really the only person who calls him that, and I think Evangeline at one point uses it to cut at him a little bit in War Storm. 

The nickname Cal also has NOTHING to do with the name Tiberias and everything to do with his last name. While his father’s nickname, is literally a shortening of Tiberias (Tibe). 

With all that in mind, if you add in the fact that well... you know... he was forced to separate his father’s head and shoulders, you have a recipe for a PTSD trigger. I honest to God think that he hates it when Mare calls him that because not only does it remind him that he chose the crown over her, but it also reminds him of his father and his father’s death, which is probably the worst day of his life. I mean he lost everything that day and his entire world crumbled around him. I think people forget that Cal didn’t just lose his father that night. He lost Maven and I think he thought he lost Julian too because Maven says down in the cells that they caught Julian trying to escape so... Cal literally thinks he has no one. His mom is dead, his dad is dead, his uncle is most likely dead, his brother wants him dead, the soldiers that functioned as his friends and part of his family have turned their backs on him, and the girl he thought he could trust turned out to be as much of a snake as his brother. 

So going back to my first point and that being called Cal distinguished him from his father... when someone calls him Tiberias (especially someone he loves like Mare) it’s associating him with his father and the worst day of his life and just bringing up deeply rooted trauma. (: 

#(*ask lily*) #(*shut up lily*) #my baby has a lot of trauma okay #which is why I dont appreciate people saying he's a boring character #or that he's not interesting #my baby dealt with his PTSD like a good little boy so that Mare could have the spotlight with hers #I'm tired of people ignoring the fact that Cal actually is a good character #I will die on that hill #red queen #glass sword #kings cage #war storm #broken throne #post broken throne #cal calore #give him the respect he deserves