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sirenjose · 5 months

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Kurt's Diary - Thoughts and Theories

(Including crack theory Naib didn't kill Murro)

1) Emily's (first aid kit?)

2) Wu Chang's umbrella is still here, and NE is making sure we know this. That means either Jose did leave but didn't bring the umbrella with him, or he didn't leave

If he did win, was he put into another game like Emma and Murro (Emma's letter did mention her being with others her 2nd time around)?

Orpheus did say he "treasured" the opportunity to include Jose in his experiments, which could mean he'd want to use him as long as he could?

* Michiko's mask is still here too.

3) The "guy" Murro would rather "freeze to death" than encounter can't be the Hullabaloo group (Murro the only survivor). Likely Naib, who's chasing Murro based on Naib's 1st letter (only other possible option is the manor owner)

4) HA! I WAS RIGHT! THERE WAS SOMETHING SECRET ABOUT THE FROG AND ITS GOLD BALL! (I'm sorry, I've been focused on that stupid thing since I first joined IDV and saw the diaries.) Question now is what it does... (secret exit?)

We know the gold ball was in Murro's room based on William's diary before he returned it to the statue. Maybe Murro knew its secret. But for what purpose? Did Murro hide something there, like how he used apple juice to write secret pages in his diary? Or something else?

5) Pretty sure the "explorer" isn't literally Kurt here. The one who "refused to trust his allies" and was "brutally slain by a wild beast" should be Murro, based on Murro's diary page Kurt finds, and Kurt may assume Bane killed Murro for now and thus Bane is the "beast"

Though considering the other letters, Naib is another option, but Kurt should have no reason to know that (if Naib did indeed kill Murro), so at least in this context Kurt says "wild best" to refer to Bane.

I've always had 2nd thoughts/doubts about the idea Naib wants to kill Murro. We know Naib works for Arthur Russel, who we know is a detective. Arthur is currently the one investigating both the Hullabaloo tragedy and Lakeside Village.

We know Arthur cares about his investigators as he pulls them out of the investigation when he believes a "crime syndicate" is involved with Lakeside. We haven't seen anything yet that implies Arthur also has his men do assassinations though...

Not saying that can't be the truth but I want more info before jumping to any conclusions, despite whatever the manor owner says, especially as we know even the manor owner isn't all-knowing (like with the people who only leave puddles behind, or Naib managing to disappear).

It's hard for me to say, but it is possible there were multiple sets of footprints belonging to more than 1 person, aka maybe Naib's was 1 of them (if not Bane's, if Bane only stays in his cabin in the forest).

Seem to be maybe 4 sets of footprints

1 set

2nd set

3rd set

4th set

But if Naib can disappear from the manor owner's sight, maybe he can also help other people to disappear too? If Arthur wanted to find the culprit of the Hullabaloo deaths and they discovered someone else from the circus had survived, they may have wanted to find him to help solve the mystery of the circus murders, which could be why Naib went after Murro as we saw in his 1st letter.

As an investigator, a new witness could be the key to solving the whole mystery (maybe that's just me as someone who reads/watches/plays too much detective stuff)

Naib obviously knows how to be stealthy/sneaky considering he has to do the same for himself to hide from the authorities, since Naib is a deserter, and desertion is a serious offense.

Murro's smart too considering the sort of invisible ink he uses.

So I think it's possible...

Maybe a good question to ask is “Why”? Why would Naib want to kill Murro? Mike is friendly with Murro, who Mike helped fake his death for, so he’s not the reason. And Naib isn’t just a brainless killer, since he deserted after refusing to kill his comrades, so he’d need a reason.

I guess you could say he might if he was paid to do so, but who’d ask to kill Murro? I doubt there are too many people that know too much about him enough to either hate him or have a reason to kill the person Bernard labeled as a “wild child” for his circus.

Different note, but the hole is gone in Servais' diary, but the boars are now in that same area that 1 set of footprints led to. It's also where Naib leaves the dead boar, which has a section of it torn open.

Still no idea what might've been inside.

Too many questions...

6) Info about Kurt's 2nd letter

"tree cave" = Murro's room

William and Kurt were awake in the evening due to the "awful weather". Nothing about sounds of "wild beasts"

Kurt thought they should do more than sit in their rooms, which is why he had Will help gather Naib and Murro. This was when Kurt went to look for Murro, found Murro not in his room + door locked, then went outside, where he saw footsteps, a (freshly dug?) hole, and Bane. He didn't see a "corpse", any heads being "bit off", or it being dragged off

Last thing Kurt says is to ask Naib to look at his new "work" based on his "experiences". This may be, at least in part, related to the work "Kurt Frank's Travels" from Kurt's 4th letter that he writes to Blackett Publications to get published. But nothing, at least from this yet, about telling Naib about seeing "a wild beast dragging his corpse into the shrubs. It bit off his head". Doesn't mean he didn't tell Naib this, but based on how much of the previous stuff was true, it's at least doubtful this is the full truth

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exdeputysonso · 7 months

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Brad Dourif as Daddy | Wildling (2018)

#brad dourif #wildling #wildling 2018 #braddourif*#flashing gif #couldn't leave out his indiana jones slay

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ml-typhonverse · 2 months

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If there is one thing I love about EO3, it's that the most effective way to inflict confusion on enemies is by summoning an elephant. Because it makes sense! I know that I would be really confused if an elephant appeared out of nowhere to attack me.

Shout out to my Wildling's Elephant for saving me by confusing the final boss right before he tried to do a power move in my first ever playthrough!

#etrian odyssey #etrian odyssey 3 #eo3 #wildling #wilding and elephant #elephants #the most confusing of animals

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whitetrashwarriorprincess · 1 month

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New Knife 🗡️ New Life 🔪

#Me #Myself #I #Gratuitous Selfie #Freakquinox #Meadow Landry #Whitetrashwarriorprincess #White trash Warrior Princess #Meadow Augustine #Wildling #Wildish #Fairbanks #Alaska #Fairbanks Fashion

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snackstore · 1 year

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Murro

#my art #identity v #wildling #murro morton

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dragons-and-handcuffs · 3 months

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Okay but imagine Stark!reader and a wildling. A completely forbidden, haters to lovers story. Imagine the wildling was either born and raised beyond the wall or was sent to the wall when be was just a boy by a Stark, so there is a lot of hate there.

He is tall, strong, ruthless and a brute which is necessary to survive beyond the wall. You are much younger than him, but still a beautiful woman. The beauty of the north. You have never seen cruelty until tragedy struck your family, but the wildling has to be cruel to survive beyond the wall.

Imagine he made you his captive. You two hate each other. Every word from his mouth is an insult to your house and family. But imagine you two encountering a white walker. He was struggling to fight the thing off but nothing kills it, nothing until your valyrian dagger pierced through the walker. You could have let your captor die but you didn't.

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buildoblivionthenwewilltalk · 1 year

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beyond the wall

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chic-beyond-the-wall · 6 months

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What Val the Wildling Princess would wear

October 25th

(Gareth Pugh)

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theperplexednavigator · 1 year

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Murro could use more love.

(Drawn while getting my foot iced at the doctor's. He's a lovely person to keep me company.)

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skjaldmaerwitch · 3 months

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Manifesting this life. 🌿

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bonusdragons · 5 months

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November 28, 2023:

Moss Secondary, Aether, Stitched.

Wildling of Sharke's clan!

#Moss Secondary #Aether #Stitched Gene #Wildling #Sharke #Exception*

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sirenjose · 5 months

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Season 6 Essence 1 Analysis

(I'll primarily be discussing Murro's Great Hero and Joseph's Apollo. This was going to focus on Apollo, but I expanded it to Great Hero at least, as he is the S-tier and there felt to be a fair bit I could say on him)

Season 6 Essence 1 is Greek Mythology themed, but they are all toys created and brought to life by Tracy via “special springs”. The 2 most central figures in this essence are Murro as “Great Hero” and Joseph as “Apollo”.

Murro’s costume is likely based on Heracles, the Greek hero known for his strength and completion of the 12 Labors set for him. Great Hero is wearing a laurel wreath, which Heracles has been depicted with (and the symbolism of “victory” fits him). Murro’s apple is now a golden apple, which connects to his labor where he had to bring back the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. Murro’s outfit and his boar both have images of lion heads on various parts of their armor, which relates to Heracles strength as well as the labor where he had to kill the Nemean lion, which he skinned and wore as a cloak. The Nemean Lion skin protected Heracles from the elements, as well as most weapons, which connects to Great Hero’s skin description mentioning “impenetrable armor”. Speaking of Murro’s boar, Great Hero having a boar can relate to the labor involving him having to capture the Erymanthian Boar alive.

There are several other details that can connect him to Heracles, like how 1 of the other skins in this essence is Cerynitis' Bane, as the capture of the Cerynitian Hind (a deer) was another of Heracles’ labors.

Cerynitian Hind was essentially a large deer with golden antlers that was sacred to Artemis. 4 others are said to draw her chariot. According to 1 myth. these 5 were gifted to her by the nymph Taygete because Artemis saved her from Zeus' pursuit.

As an essence skin connected to a Greek myth, not everything is going to parallel 1 for 1, but there are still some. Such as Hera trying to kill young Heracles potentially relating to the rough way Murro grew up, especially under Bernard. Though in the myth Heracles killed his family after Hera caused him to go mad, Heracles’ family (wife and children) being dead relate to Murro’s own family being dead, both his actual parents based on Murro’s 4th letter as well as Bernard and the others at Hullabaloo during the tragedy at the circus. In a way, there’s also how Heracles was targeted by Hera his whole life, who did her best to try to kill him or make him miserable, connecting to how Murro himself was miserable most of his life, which is why he wants to keep away from people and just spend time with the wild boars and his partner.

To atone for killing his family, he consults the Oracle of Delphi, who has him serve King Eurystheus, Heracles’ cousin (who Hera ensured became the king instead of Heracles) for a period of time, during which he performs the 12 labors for him. Eurystheus fears Heracles may try to take the throne from him, which combined with Hera talking to him, he comes to hate his cousin, and Hera influences him to give Heracles the hardest, most dangerous tasks that were considered to be impossible. Eurystheus feared Heracles’ strength and fame, yet the labors only served to make him even more famous. Eurystheus for Heracles could parallel Bernard for Murro, as Bernard also treated Murro horribly and “bossed” Murro around (based on Murro’s 4th letter) to make him do dangerous things. On top of that, Murro was said to have had a chance to become the “star acrobat” if not for his parents passing away, similar to how Heracles had a chance to become king (until Hera ruined that chance).

Heracles, with his divine strength, didn’t have to submit to any of the labors or punishments, but he chose to do so willingly. I think it is this inner strength and “courage” that is important for him being Murro’s S-tier, as I think this is his inner desire/dream, which connects to Great Hero’s description again. His 3rd letter describes him as “A ‘hero’ seeking self-worth in tragedy”, adding how he escaped a life of being control, but still his “perception of himself” comes from others. Hercules was also someone controlled by others (notably Hera over much of his fate and Eurystheus for many years), yet he continued to persevere through it all and never gave up, both with physical strength as well as the strength of his character. Heracles is someone who managed to push on despite losing his family, compared to Murro in his 4th letter who wants to die now that “everyone is gone”. He is also someone that everyone perceives well of, not to mention Heracles had great self-confidence. So it makes sense why Murro’s S-tier may be him.

After Heracles we have Apollo.

He is at least involved in Heracles’ myth through the involvement of the Oracle of Delphi, which is dedicated to Apollo, who is the god of prophecy (among other things). So just like how Apollo’s description mentions how only he (Apollo) can “give you sunshine and hope, and only I can take that away”, Apollo in a manner was the 1 to send Heracles to serve Eurystheus as part of his atonement.

Apollo can also be semi involved with several other characters of this essence.

Icarus dies after flying too close to the sun despite his father’s (Daedalus’) warning, and Apollo is the god of light (or “sunshine” as we see in Apollo’s description) and associated with the sun.

Cerynitis' Bane is based on the Cerynitian Hind, an animal sacred to Artemis, his sister, and in at least 1 version of the myth Apollo and Artemis appear to Heracles, as they are mad at him for trying to kill it, until he explains why he needed it and they let him go.

As for the b-tiers, Robbie is Pan, who Apollo does have 1 myth with. In this myth, Pan thinks his musical skills are better than Apollo’s, so the 2 have a contest, and they have Mount Tmolus as judge, who in the end declares Apollo the winner. Midas (who was also there) thinks Pan was better, so Apollo punishes him by giving him donkey ears.

Another b-tier is Leonidas, who was said to be from a dynasty descended from Heracles. When he and the Spartans are requested to help defend against the Persians, they go to consult the Oracle of Delphi, who again is tied to Apollo. The oracle essentially tells them either the city will be destroyed or he’ll fight and die.

As for Apollo himself, he was said to have the most influence over the Greeks than any other god (due to the worship he had, as well as the festivals, his oracles, etc…). He was the god of many things, including prophecy and oracles, music, song and poetry, archery, healing, plague and disease, and the protection of the young. He was also known as the god that punished the wicked, as well as the god who drives away evil. This was connected to him being described as the god with bow and arrows, as all sudden deaths, whether as punishment or reward, were believed to be caused by Apollo’s arrows. He could also deliver plagues, and thus also protect men from them, at least via his oracles. The number 7 was also sacred to him, which was why on the 7th of every month people made sacrifices to him.

In connection to the main story, 1 of Apollo’s symbols was the lyre (which he was said to have received from Hermes), which also symbolized his leadership of the Muses (who he presided over, as he was the god of music, song, and poetry). The Muses are mentioned with him in another music contest, this time with the satyr Marsyas, whose hubris led him to challenge Apollo. The Muses in the end rule Apollo the winner, and Apollo punishes him by flaying him.

Apollo is also the father of Orpheus, who inherited his father’s musical talent (and also played on the lyre).

The lyre is the symbol for 1 of the manor owner’s drugs, specifically the one that knocks you out (fake death).

We already know it’s connected to Orpheus (we all already know who Orpheus is) and his use of it during his trip into the underworld to try to rescue Eurydice.

And we recently learned more about the importance of the Muse statues in the manor due to Galatea’s recent letter.

Most notable in there were Terpsichore (Galatea calls out there being 2 in different poses. The 2nd is in the dining room) and Calliope (which has an "incomplete section", which may be the 1 we see leading to the manor owner's study)

There’s also how Asclepius (one of the names of the books in Alice’s room) is another of Apollo’s sons. He was known for his healing ability, as well as how Zeus killed him for bringing back the dead, which Apollo gets revenge for by killing the Cyclops that made Zeus’ thunderbolts, and so why Zeus’ punishes him by having him serve Admetus for a year.

Regarding parallels to Joseph, Apollo is connected to death, considering what we’ve said about his bow and arrows, plagues, and sudden death. He’s also tied to Orpheus, the main character in canon and has the lyre as his symbol (and is the god of music so even more skilled than Orpheus), which could potentially relate to the idea of Joseph being tied to Oletus Manor (as maybe a previous owner) and/or the main story. This combined with Apollo presiding over the Muses could relate to the idea he could’ve been the original owner of the Muse statues in the manor. Apollo’s connection to healing as well as Asclepius and bringing the dead back to life can connect to Joseph trying to see/bring back Claude, not to mention this combined with Apollo’s eternal youth relates to Joseph’s own appearance as well as his desire to stop aging (which we see in his 3rd letter).

As a side note, it’s also been pointed out that Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, who Joseph is based on, invented heliography. “Helios” in Greek means “sun” while “graphein” means “write”, thus “heliography” means “sun writing”. This was the process that created the first and earliest known permanent photograph, an iconic photo of nature titled “View from the Window at Le Gras”. This was taken with the help of the “camera obscura” (meaning “dark room” in Latin), a box-shaped device used as an aid for drawing or entertainment that lets light in through a small opening on one side and projects a reversed and inverted image on the other. The camera obscura was described in Joseph’s 4th letter as well as in his deductions (notably deduction 6).

The way Niépce made the heliograph was by dissolving light-sensitive bitumen in oil of lavender and applying a thin coating over a polished pewter plate. He then inserted this plate into a camera obscura that he positioned near a window in his 2nd story workroom. After several days of exposure to sunlight, the plate yielded an impression of the courtyard, outbuildings, and trees outside.

#idv #identity v #Murro Morton #wildling #joseph desaulnier #idv murro #identity v murro #idv wildling #identity v wildling #idv joseph #identity v joseph #photographer #idv photographer #identity v photographer #sirenjose analyses and theories

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exdeputysonso · 8 months

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Brad Dourif as Daddy | Wildling (2018)

#brad dourif #wildling #wildling 2018 #braddourif*#everycharacter*#47/?#daddy is right #movie was just okay for me but i loved him in it #also lots of nice closeup shots of his eyes

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readmarkclippastecollage · 1 year

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How did that get in there?

Well we right the policies.

But why?

To accommodate seasonal fashion.

What fashion? We’re coming to work naked!

No, no. The term is Natural. It is the antithesis of Fast Fashion. My girlfriend knows about these things.

Hmm, this does comply with the equality policy, and our green initiative. You just made our company an industry leader. But, “right”?

We write policy to right policy.

Get out now!

#good smile company #acme #company policy #natural #work from home #cubicle life #day dreaming #wildling #policy #write right

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brokerevolutionary · 1 year

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#peter pan #poetry #poem #poet #wendys tale #australia #feminine #masculine #lost boy #lost girl #wildling #love #relationships

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unyieldingwings · 8 months

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LIGHTLARK BY ALEX ASTER REVIEW

Title: Lightlark

Author: Alex Aster

Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Romance, YA, Romantasy

Series: Yes

Rating: 3.5/5

Duration of read: 5 days

Page count: 409

I finally finished Lightlark!

It was such a wild read. I can honestly say that the book did make me feel a lot of emotions, and it was certainly a rollercoaster for me, and I decided to tab the book in this category: World Building/Important Stuff, Happy Stuff, Sad Stuff, Romantic, Suspicious and Frustrating/Making Me Mad, which all the more proves that this was such an emotional read for me.

Though the premise of the plot of Lightlark was certainly interesting, I remember the first time that it came through my TikTok fyp, I immediately favorited the original video from Alex's account and decided to wait for it to be released in my country, and after finishing it, I did give it a rating of 3.5/5. The reason for this is because as I was going through the book, all the information that we needed to get to fully grasp the story were a little bit disjointed, incomplete and disconnected. To be frank, it was a little difficult for me to follow at first because in the beginning of the book, we would get descriptions, a few sentences of important information and then we would skip over to a new scene and then circle back to the original thought/information that was being discussed by the main character. I do understand that it is entirely possible that that is what the author wanted us to feel while reading the book, maybe she wanted us to feel exactly as clueless, as scared, as desperate and as helpless as the main character/main narrator to better connect with her, it just wasn't the easiest thing to follow for me. Even though I gave the book a solid 3.5, there are still things that I liked and did not like with it. Let me tell you more about them.

I loved the idea of Lightlark and the division into six rulers and realms (Sunling, Wildling, Nightshade, Skyling, Moonling and Starling). I loved the premise of participating in a deadly political game called The Centennial to decide which ruler and realm would die to free the entirety of their people from the curses that were spun 500+ years ago. I absolutely loved the drama of the fact that there were rules to be followed for the duration of The Centennial, and I also loved that there was drama among all the rulers. I also loved how the mentality of a person who has been manipulated by those around her was shown in the context of Isla's character--how she seems to struggle with her own identity, her own decisions and how she feels guilty for standing up for what she personally believes in, but I loved it more when she was able to gain a sense of confidence in her abilities, her identity and in who she is. Out of everything else though, the one thing I loved most about Lightlark is Grimshaw Malvere, ruler of Nightshade. I know, I know, Isla is the main character, but I cannot help it. Grimshaw is painted in such a mysterious, and admittedly, delicious way that I can't help but love him--flaws and all.

Moving on to the things that I did not particularly like about Lightlark. There are a few, and I think I would need to use bullet points for this.

I guess the main one would be the predictability of the major twists of the book. I don’t know if it was just me, but it was very easy to follow the clues leading us to the true villain of the story. It felt like we were trying to be misled to another conclusion, but the clues were just there and very easy to connect.

Another thing that I struggled with in the book is how it is always reinforced that Isla has been trained her entire life by her caretakers, however she always seems to get into precarious situations that could have been avoided if she actually used her training. It felt like her training was conveniently mentioned when it would suit the plot for some scheme-y type events, but would be conveniently shelved otherwise. It felt like her training was implied to be second nature to her, but actually isn't. This is what I meant by the information being a little bit disjointed because if she were actually trained to a point where she was one with all of her skills, she would not easily forget her own strength and fall prey to all the misfortunes that happened to her. I get it, The Centennial is supposed to be dangerous and Isla is supposed to be one of the youngest rulers in all the realms, however, it just really doesn't track for me how she's only well trained when it suits the plot, but she conveniently gets into so much trouble when it also suits the plot. I hope I'm still making sense.

It absolutely infuriated me how Poppy and Terra were the ones who mainly manipulated Isla, but it felt like it was only skimmed over when in truth, their betrayal of Isla's trust is so much more disgusting than what happened with Grim. It kinda felt to me like it's going to be some sort of set up for a possible redemption arc for Grim because it felt like I was being forced to vilify him in all ways possible.

I also did not like how the Centennial was presented to be a deadly, political, game that would showcase just how cruel, and cunning all these centuries old characters are, however it did not give me that sort of experience while reading it. I guess it's closely related to how I didn't get a lot of consolidated and solid information about Lightlark and the Centennial as much as I wanted to, then again, it is only the first book so that still remains to be seen for the remaining part of the series. In terms of it being political and exciting and anxiety inducing, and them showing just how cunning they can be, it wasn't really all that for me. I kind of expected a more complex way of all the rulers trying to manipulate, expose and spy on each other all the while trying to understand the prophecy and break the curse on Lightlark. I also kind of expected the entire Centennial to be more than a few paragraphs and chapters of them showing bits and pieces of their power, the weird tests they have for each other, and the demonstrations that feel like are just being used to further the plot of a love triangle instead of actually showing how deadly the competition is. I also had some trouble understanding how this was classified as a game when it sort of wasn't? I just had a lot of trouble with it. As I said earlier, it was a somewhat difficult read for me as it was hard to follow at times (except for the main villain plot thing.)

Main Characters:

Isla Crown, Grimshaw Malvere - ruler of Nightshade, Oro Rey - King of Lightlark.

Main Antagonist:

Celeste/Aurora ruler of Starling.

Supporting Characters: Azul, Cleo, Ella, Poppy, Terra, Juniper

MAIN CHARACTERS

Isla Crown:

Description: Isla has long, dark brown hair, green eyes, and tan skin.

Thoughts on Isla:

I personally did not like Isla as a main character. She infuriated me way too much. I understand that she has been manipulated by every single person in her life from the day she was born, and that does have a lot of consequences and effects on someone's life, however, I just didn't connect with her as well as I expected to. I have read a lot of fantasy series where the main character is a woman, a lot of them even younger than Isla's character, and a lot of them have also gone through very traumatic experiences (yeah, I know, trauma is trauma and people are allowed to react and feel differently because any experience is unique to the person). I feel like, Isla could have been written in a better way that showcases so much more of her strengths and her abilities as a supposedly fully trained warrior leader of the Wildling realm. As I mentioned earlier, it was difficult to swallow the fact that Isla keeps on boasting about her extremely harsh training that she received ever since she was a child, however it's still very easy for her to be taken advantage of, beaten and be basically helpless and be a damsel in distress negating all of the training that has been beaten into her bones and body, and then she suddenly becomes this well-trained girl who is one with her skills and abilities when the plot suits it.

Grimshaw Malvere, ruler of Nightshade:

Description: Grim is tall with pale skin, black eyes, black hair, and a dimple on his cruelly cut face.

Thoughts on Grim:

Where do I even begin? Grim is my favorite character out of all the people currently known to us in the Lightlark universe. Maybe I'm just being extremely biased, because he does feel very Rhys coded to me and I am absolutely in love with Rhysand (from acotar). Other than that though, I do love how Grim is written in a way that is very playful. I also love how he is very unconditional towards Isla. (Yeah I know, shit move on the memory erasing thing, but come on, we have to give him some leeway about that. More on that later) An example I have about him being unconditional towards her, whenever she asks him something that is absolutely within his power to answer, he doesn't act all high and mighty like the information only belongs to him, he answers as honestly as he can. He doesn't make her 'work' for the truth or the answers that she seeks as if she isn't worth honesty. Another thing I like about him is how he seems more than willing to sacrifice something about himself for the good of Isla (I absolutely love to see a whipped man for the main character). An example of this is how he was more than willing to expose his own flair when Isla's secret about her not having power was revealed by Oro just to make sure that Isla would be safe, away from the other rulers who might have nefarious plans for Isla. I also love how he helped her move from the palace to the Wildling fortress no questions asked. Anything for Isla, anything she asks, he does. Anything she needs he gives with no conditions. Especially with the black diamond necklace he gifted Isla for whenever she's in trouble, I loved that so much. Grimshaw Malvere has shown us through his actions multiple times already how he is someone Isla CAN and SHOULD trust even though his own words say otherwise. More on the stuff about him feeling very Rhys coded to me is the tortured soul vibe I get off of him. Yeah sure, you can justify it as him feeling tortured because he did wipe Isla's memories for an entire year , but it kinda feels like it's more than that you know? I just have so many things that I love about Grim, and I hope that we get to know more about him in the next book. I hope we get to know him more, how he actually acts in his realm, what is important to him other than Isla, how he thinks, how he feels and why he acts the way he does. Let's not forget all the times that he refers to himself as a monster, how he always says that he is playing a role that is already expected of him by the other rulers--he must have a reason for that. There must be something that he is trying to protect in his realm, in his lands, or something that he is trying to expose which could be the reason that he acts the way he does. Now, I do understand that Grim is a controversial character for most readers because of the memory stealing thing that he did for Isla, I get it, that was definitely violating on so many levels, however, we should still give him some leeway about the fact that he was also manipulated by Celeste/Aurora. Remember, he suddenly inherited the power of his father when his father died for the prophecy to break the curse, and at this point Celeste/Aurora was already hundreds of years old, so she was already a conniving bitch, and as per the book, the Nightshade realm and Grimshaw are the only ones standing against some greater evil that Oro doesn't even want to explain to Isla (because he's manipulative like that. More on him later), so there must actually be MORE to him and how he is important to the story than we actually know. I know I'm rambling, but I just have so many thoughts about him and as much as I try to organize it, I just want to gush about him.

YES I AM A GRIMSHAW MALVERE APOLOGIST.

Oro Rey - King of Lightlark, ruler of Sunling:

Description: Oro has blond hair, gold eyes and fair skin.

Thoughts on Oro:

I don't particularly like Oro. Yeah I get he saved Isla in the first part of the Centennial, but he really only saved her for his own purpose not because he actually loves her. I also understand that he is an untrusting person because he had been played and plagued by people who want to get close to him because of his status as the King of Lightlark, however, with the many changes of his personality, attitude, I don't even believe any of the faces that he shows us in the book. Oro to me, feels very icky. In a sense that he is not very forthcoming with information. Every time Isla asks him questions, he either dodges it or makes Isla work for the answer, he withholds information as if no one else is deserving of the truth other than he. He is a very conditional person, and I guess I just don't agree with people or characters that always have conditions for everything. I don't like how secretive he is, it doesn't feel mysterious for me, It feels manipulative. Especially with his sudden decision to kill off Grim. It felt very convenient how he and the other rulers just suddenly decided to off Grim just like that. It feels like he and the others were already planning something for Grim because he wasn't even invited by Oro in the past few Centennials and was only invited to this one when Isla would be playing. It just feels like there's more bad to him than good.

MAIN ANTAGONIST:

Celeste/Aurora:

Description: Celeste has a long, straight sheet of hair and a heart-shaped faced.

Thoughts on Celeste/Aurora

From the moment I read about her, she was already feeling kind of sketchy and shady for me. The way she was written didn't feel like she was someone I could trust. She loved to restrict Isla, and loved to remind her how she was weak and insignificant and needed protection. From those things alone, I already felt like she had something to do with the curse. It seemed like she was in the business of minimizing Isla as much as she can, she also seemed to always be in the most convenient of places to make sure she can reinforce her agenda of protecting Isla as well as the idea that she needs help. I understand she was supposed to be written as a major betrayal, however, it was very easy to follow the trail of the villain back to her. Just studying her actions, her words, what she does are kind of some flags pointing towards her.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:

Azul, Cleo, Ella, Poppy, Terra and Juniper.

I loved how friendly Azul was to Isla, and I am very sad for him in regards to what happened with his husband. Cleo felt like she was planted as an obvious choice for Isla to hate, or be suspicious of, though I do like her as a ruler because it was shown just how loyal her subjects are to her, and how far she'll go to protect them. Ella was very easy to like. She made me feel like she's someone I want to protect. With regards to Poppy and Terra, I am able to understand why they did what they did to Isla and her parents, however I cannot accept or ignore it. What they did to Isla--gaslighting her, manipulating her, lying to her, that is something that I cannot understand nor accept. I don't get why it was just skimmed over, I get it it was nearing the end of the book, but come on. I really hoped it would have warranted a little bit more of a reaction from Isla. She had more of a reaction towards Grim than them which was really rude imho. Out of all the supporting characters, I would like to see more of Cleo, and see how she plays into the plot of Lightlark.

Theories

Do I have theories about Lightlark? I'm not sure if these actually counts as theories, they're more like hopeful predictions for me, maybe even wishful thinking. Haha.

Mainly, I hope that the second book would be better written than the first in a way that it would be less difficult to follow, and it would have a more consolidated approach to the information we would need to understand the lore of Lightlark.

Now, for what I think will actually happen in the next book, I just have a few thoughts to share. First, I think that when Isla regains her full memories about her time with Grimshaw, she will understand further why Grim did what he did. Second, I think that Isla is going to find out the truth about the darkness/evil that the Nightshade realm is standing against, and I think Isla will find out that Oro is either behind that evil or he has something to do with it, and in a way has either convinced the other rulers to side with him or he has tricked them to side with him. I think that Isla will go back to Grim (because Oro feels more icky than Grim lol) and I do honestly think that something else is causing Oro's degeneration (the thing that's happening to his arm and body). I think we're also going to see how powerful Isla actually is when she finally trains her abilities as a Wildling ruler, and also her Nightshade powers plus the powers she got from winning the Centennial, and lastly, I think we're going to see just how Rhys coded Grimshaw Malvere actually is lol.

Will I be continuing the series and buying the next book or dropping it entirely?

I will be buying the next book -- Nightbane. At first I thought I would actually be DNF-ing the book, but I wanted to find out more about Grim, and after reading the last few chapters, I am determined to know more about him.

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