#niall lynch

[clotpolesonly]

thinking about Declan and the moth again

it HAUNTS ME that the moth is one of the few times that Declan seems to lose his self-awareness completely. like, yeah, he's the ultimate king of repression, but he's usually very conscious of what he's repressing and the fact that he's repressing it. he knows his issues.

he knows that he forces down his emotions in an unhealthy way so that he can be the adult in the room at far too young an age. he knows he can't form healthy relationships because of a lifetime of danger and insecurity. he knows he dehumanized his mother as a means to cope with their batshit family situation. he knows he's competing with his father's ghost for a place in Ronan's life. he knows he resents Matthew for being the primary factor in his parentification and loss of opportunity in life. he knows he loves his father no matter how much he tries to convince himself to hate him. he knows he feels trapped in the life he's leading, doesn't see a way out, and likely wouldn't take it if he did because it would be at the expense of his brothers.

all of these things, Declan acknowledges openly, either to himself in narration or out loud to others. he may delude himself about how well he's coping with his issues, but he has no illusions about what his issues ARE.

except for the fucking moth.

it's such a perfect, on-the-nose symbol that it almost strains credulity for Declan not to acknowledge it as such, and yet not once does he ever look at the moth and feel the way he did about the black string art exhibit that made him recognize how trapped he felt in his life. "how the moth had beaten against the walls for those first few days, until it had learned it could not escape."

the learned helplessness of it - there's no point fighting to get free, just lie down and accept that this is your life. know what you're allowed to do, and have, and be. know what you're not. a creature of his father's making, confined by his father's hand.

and not even something as eye-catching as a butterfly, no, but a quieter subtler moth with eyes like glittering purple-black marbles that will never get to live a life because Niall made it so.

and the symbolic parallel of the display case and the townhouse. the rigid real world structures that Declan himself requested, because they made him feel more secure than being surrounded by dreams, and that his father provided in a well-meaning but ultimately short-sighted attempt to accommodate him. things that Declan only recognizes much later as the cages that they were.

Declan now regrets demanding his dad make the display case by hand, and when he puts himself through Ronan's bad-feeling security system at the end of the series, the memory it hits him with is inheriting the sterile alexandria townhouse that was exactly what he'd claimed to want.

these are symbols of Declan's complicity, in a manner of speaking, in the whole tragic mess that was his upbringing. at some point, quite early on, Declan's oppression became a joint effort, something that he participated in (because a complete lack of control in the situation would have felt worse). it reminds me of Declan struggling to remember which of them first decided to lie to Matthew about what he was, whether that was his dad's idea or if he'd done that of his own volition, just following pattern.

did dad trap him, or did he build the walls himself? or was it both?

but, for once, none of this is acknowledged by Declan in the text. this artistically-minded chronic overthinker carries the moth around with him - one of the two dreams he will never sell, alongside the gift from Ronan - and he stays so uncritically sentimental about it that he releases it on his wedding day with happy/nostalgic tears in his eyes, and it just boggles my mind.

this is the man who looked at a bunch of string and had the immediate revelation that he was utterly miserable and trapped in a spiderweb of a life precariously balanced on a knife's edge where one wrong move could get him and everyone he loved killed, but he looks at a direct, uncomplicated, one-to-one representation of himself and somehow does not recognize that it is not something to think of fondly. that, yes, it may be a symbol of his father's love for him, but it's not good.

#this goes hand in hand with Niall's characterization 180 in this book #uncritical thought is REQUIRED in order to maintain the rose-tinted view of him as a good father #Declan cannot look at that damn moth with his usual level of discernment and empathy or the whole arc falls apart #Declan Lynch #Niall Lynch #TRC #TDT #tags by me

[jordeclans]

the dreamer trilogy (2019-2022)

#the dreamer trilogy #tdt #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #jordan hennessy #carmen farooq-lane #liliana #bryde #adam parrish #pynch #jordeclan #carliana #carmenhennessy #call down the hawk #mister impossible #greywaren #the lynch brothers #niall lynch

[miseria-fortes-viros]

do u ever think about how niall lynch was a devilishly handsome son of a bitch who was impossible not to like, naturally commanded the attention of everyone in the room, told stories as easily as breathing, ruled over his own particular corner of the world, didn’t even seem real until you knew him, died facedown on a gravel driveway, and then do you ever think about gansey.

#ronan as the knight #his king fell and he pledged his allegiance to a new one #not knowing this one too was slated to die #anyway. anyway #gansey as niall lynch #one as the devil and the other as the king #ANYWAY. #helenaposting #niall lynch #gansey #barbi.trc #trc meta #the raven cycle

[itsnotmika]

he'd told himself his father was hateful, his mother invisible, the barns dreadful, the dreaming frightful. it had been the only way to bear losing it all.

#😀😀 wtffff #he’s such a tragic babygirl :( #declan lynch #the dreamer trilogy #tdt #ronan lynch #matthew lynch #niall lynch #jordan hennessy #jordeclan #call down the hawk #mister impossible #greywaren #adam parrish #pynch #carmen farooq lane #the raven cycle #blue sargent #richard gansey #trc

[tedcruzisthezodiackiller]

The Dream Thieves / Greywaren

#greywaren spoilers #Greywaren #LITERALLY losing my mind #Declan was THE FIRST one to love ronan….the first to see him as family #tdt #trc #ronan lynch #Declan lynch #niall lynch

[squash1]

“i’m so normal about the lynch brothers” i say as i SCREAM AND CRY ABOUT THIS FUCKING LINE

WHY DON’T WE TALK ABOUT THIS MORE !!!!????

#i will be writing a full post on this #the raven king reread #ronan lynch #declan lynch #niall lynch #the lynch family #matthew lynch #the lynch brothers #trc #adam parrish #the raven cycle #blue sargent #richard campbell gansey iii #pynch #the raven boys #adam and ronan #blue lily lily blue #mine

[parcai]

the brothers lynch, made from dreams

#artists on tumblr #kit art #ronan lynch #declan lynch #lynch brothers #luv matthew but the moth thing is not abt him at all as niall is entirely abt ronan + declan #trc #tdt #greywaren #the raven cycle #the dreamer trilogy #niall lynch #fanart #k #art #maggie stiefvater #ms #q #draft dump

[iamsosmaug]

shakespeare's 'henry IV' - part I, act III, scene 1

maggie stiefvater's 'the dream thieves'

#parallels #trc #the raven cycle #ronan lynch #niall lynch #glendower #shakespeare #henry iv

[tyrianlynch]

When Niall’s Tragic Backstory was revealed in greywaren

#captain of team I Don’t Forgive Niall #I know some of y’all are gonna hate this #I’m sorry for hating on ur fav dilf #just bc hes a terrible father doesn’t mean he can’t still be a dilf! #trc #the Raven cycle #tdt #the dreamer trilogy #greywaren #Niall lynch

[7carpileup]

aurora and niall lynch at the barns

#tell me this is not lynch family core !! #trc #tdt #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #niall lynch #aurora lynch #the lynch family #the lynch brothers #1k

[a-library-ghost]

business idea for ronan lynch

#falling asleep on a cow is already canon ronan behavior #trc #trc gangsey #ronan lynch #gansey #gangsey #the gangsey #pynch #the dreamer trilogy #declan lynch #niall lynch #matthew lynch #adam parrish #the raven cycle #the dream thieves #blue lily lily blue #the raven king #trc ronan #tiktok

[clotpolesonly]

there's something about Kavinsky's name being Joseph ok

Joseph being the name of Jesus's earthly father, the man who raised him, the one who stepped in to fill the space god left behind

Niall, powerful but distant, absent, and unforthcoming

Kavinsky as the one to step in and teach Ronan about himself and what he (they) can do

not Niall, but Kavinsky

not god, but Joseph

mmmm just something about it idk

#Kavinsky #Niall Lynch #Ronan Lynch #Rovinsky #TRC #cuz there really needed to be ANOTHER layer of daddy issues added to the mix here lmao #tags by me

[jordeclans]

the dreamer trilogy smau part 9/?

part 8

#my favorite cringefail family #declan lynch #ronan lynch #matthew lynch #niall lynch #mór ó corra #jordan hennessy #pynch #jordeclan #adam parrish #carmen farooq-lane #carliana #bryde #tdt smau #the dreamer trilogy smau #tdt twitter au #tdt #the dreamer trilogy #call down the hawk #cdth #mister impossible #greywaren #mine #trc #the raven cycle #trc smau

[stringcage]

how do you give your son that you meticulously handcrafted every characteristic of a tree nut allergy

#was it on purpose i have to know #the damage that greywaren has done to our society. now everything about ronan is even more baffling #the raven cycle #ronan lynch #the dreamer trilogy #niall lynch #mor o corra #lynch family

[mltitude]

go declan lynch

#declan lynch #trc #the raven cycle #lynch brothers #greywaren #niall lynch #ronan lynch #matthew lynch #the dreamer trilogy

[neurosses]

i love the inheritances passed down in the lynch family. love of blondes. love of creation. love of dreams. love of hard-edged assholes who know pain too well. love of crime. love of trouble. love of the self. love of each other. love of cars. love of animals. love of trauma. love love love.

#niall lynch #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #aurora lynch #mór ó corra