thing-with-wings

[thing-with-wings]

paired with their often intimate and violent subject matter, i find the incidental way tamsyn muir frames women and their bodies throughout the locked tomb series to be refreshing bordering on radical

consider harrowhark; in the first book we see her as gideon sees her. she's a hideous ghoul with a flat ass and no tits, she's a delicate sopping wet beauty with a sharp face and angel bow lips, she's a triumphant and awe inspiring master necromancer screaming and fighting drenched in her own blood. the shape and condition of her body is allowed to take on meaning contextually based entirely on the situation and how gideon feels about their relationship in any given moment

she then spends the second book hobbling around with a sword twice her size, ripping apart her body to use as a weapon and passing out in her own vomit, struggling to eat and sleep – she and puts herself through absolute hell and never once thinks anything of it, and we're made to mourn this not as the desecration of a beautiful woman but as a manifestation of a human being's despair and self loathing, and we see this specifically contrasted against the care gideon tries to take when inhabiting her body during the last act

it's jarring, in nona, when we're suddenly made aware that her body could be perceived or valued as a commodity, when pyrrha is assumed to be nona's pimp. it feels strange and horrifying when we learn alecto's form was modeled for a doll, learn that she was given a woman's body as a display of ownership, an alternative to being consumed, and as we're processing this we watch gideon, paul, and ianthe, immediately setting aside their conflict in a desperate scramble to preserve harrow's body for no reason other than because it is harrow's and they love her

feminist fiction often focuses on women's relationship to a body which is valued more than the person within it – and that is a worthy experience to explore – but as a transsexual butch(ish) dyke, i have never really had the privilege of seeing my body as a precious commodity, never felt like it couldn't or shouldn't be a sight of violence and disgust, and as a result the locked tomb books have made me feel seen in a way that few other works of fiction have?

we as an audience are not made aware of how attractive any character would be outside of the context of our lesbian POV characters' perspectives, their relationship to patriarchal beauty standards is an utterly irrelevant detail we're never told and only occasionally glimpse through implication. the women in the locked tomb books are simply free to exist, to have experiences and feelings, to love and hate and grieve and suffer and die like anybody else, and to have those experiences reflected in their physical vessels

it's a perspective that's so fundamental and obvious that to praise muir for it for it feels almost patronizing, but i also think it's a huge part of what's made the series so resonant for so many queer women and i feel that that's worthy of highlighting and celebrating

#tlt #tlt meta

[thing-with-wings]

kissing batteries/killing kings

#trc

[thing-with-wings]

#tlt

[thing-with-wings]

Gansey & Ronan are unable to sleep it seems

#this is gorgeous #trc

[thing-with-wings]

#you can queer code Dean living (for cas) #but Dean dying is just bad writing #spn

[thing-with-wings]

#my first kiss was teen romcom cinematic okay #while it was snowing on my front porch after we saw the school talent show and got stake n shake #wasn't a date tho we went with friends she just ended up driving me home lol

[thing-with-wings]

also remember how before NtN dropped we were all speculating about the end of Harrow — who was giving Gideon CPR? was Alecto really there? what about Frontline Titties? — and then NtN picked up 6 months later and BoE lost Gideon's body and gained Pyrrha and amnesiac Harrow completely off screen

In that vein. What would be the most chaotic possible beginning to AtN, picking up months later with 0 thing explained? Place your bets

#tlt #its as good a guess as any

[thing-with-wings]

Do u ever think about how Gideon's last words were ,,, WEDDING VOWS. And then do u think about how they're the first thing Harrow says when she finally remembers in htn .... AND THEN do u think about how Gideon/Kiriona acknowledges the fact that yeah they were wedding vows in ntn ... BECAUSE I DO. I FUCKING DO.

Gideon the Ninth, chapter 37.

Harrow the Ninth, chapter 43.

Nona the Ninth, chapter 25.

#tlt #as a shadowhunters stan this killed me specifically

[thing-with-wings]

harrianthe + sewing (variations on a theme)

#tlt #harryanthe

[thing-with-wings]

“You wouldn’t have gone someplace without Gansey, though,” Blue snapped. “You two make a grand couple! Kiss him! “

#trc #adansey #I MEAN

[thing-with-wings]

Damen: good, we finally escaped from the people chasing us trying to kill us it would be a shame if anything were to give away where we are

Laurent, with the essence of a cat who has spotted a glass of water: don’t worry I’ll fix it

#capri #princes gambit #i love him okay

[thing-with-wings]

Dust jacket art for Kings Rising by C.S. Pacat

#literally is anyone selling their dust jacket desing bc the american ones are so UGLY #capri

[thing-with-wings]

poldier koet sing

#trc

[thing-with-wings]

here’s a soapbox! Ronan Lynch is one of the realest depictions of a character struggling with depression that I’ve ever seen in YA. Again and again depression impacts his personality — it’s not who he is, it’s something that happens to him, and it hurts him and it hurts others but it’s not forever. In TRC, we see this manifest as anger and bitterness, this silence and coldness and rage that keeps him suffering and keeps everyone else out. Most of the people he meets think this is just who he is, except for Gansey, who knew him before, and understands the external nature of this change - it’s not who he is, it’s what’s happening to him. He is able to slowly overcome this & come out of his shell as he grows to trust his friends and accept himself, and we see him come back into himself - he’s kinder, more trusting, more brave. In TDT, it overcomes him again - as depression often does, it doesn’t just go away. He’s isolated from his coping mechanisms, exiled alone in this house in the middle of nowhere, and this time it’s the sort of depression where you can’t get out of bed, you can’t believe anyone could love you, you feel useless and without purpose. And this time we get to see him learn to trust himself, to depend on himself, and overcome it AGAIN. I just think Ronan Lynch is amazing! And I’m very proud of him. :-)

#trc #realll

[thing-with-wings]

Lost track of the time, How many tries have I failed?

SUPERNATURAL POSSESSION - LAURA JANE GRACE // SPN

#spn

[thing-with-wings]

#dream me the world. something new for every night #dry heaves #trc

[thing-with-wings]

chapter 12 vs. chapter 19

#lamen #capri #one kingdom once