#sorry for the caps lock

[cawareyoudoin]

I hope EVERYONE KNOWS BY NOW that, at least in the latest version, YOU CAN CHOOSE WHICH ITEM YOU TAKE OUT IF YOU SCROLL WHEEL ON MOUSE. It took me a while to figure out, but it does work!

Bedrock players, idfk, good luck

My partner made a terrible comment about Minecraft's bundles that I think tumblr would appreciate.

So, you know how you need to remove all the items in the order they appear in up until you reach the one you actually want, right? Which- Gets super messy and ends up with 300 inventory items dropped on the ground while you're digging in your bag to get that goddamn pot.

Well. Uh. They noted, with their very limited knowledge on it, that uh...

they literally reinvented homestuck's terrible captchalogue's systems, huh

[millenianthemums]

ONE. nothing wrong with me

TWO. nothing wrong with me

THREE. nothing wrong with me

FOUR. nothing wrong with me

ONE. something’s got to give

TWO. something’s got to give

THREE. something’s got to give

NOWWWWWWWW

[bugflies00]

TOMMY: TECHNO'S LIKE MY BROTHER, PHIL'S LIKE MY DAD, AND, HARRY, YOU'RE KINDA LIKE MY OLDER BROTHER

HARRY: I DONT THINK I FIT IN WITH THAT

[searchingforglendowerwithleah]

BUCK WHO IS ALWAYS SO GIVING OFFERING TO COOK THE DIAZ’S DINNER. EDDIE WHO IS SO BAD WITH WORDS BUT GOT HIS AUNTY TO MAKE DINNER FOR THEM. A HOME COOKED MEAL. EDDIE WHO BROUGHT HOME THEIR SON JUST TO CHEER BUCK UP.

BUCK WHO WAS SITTING AT AN EMPTY DINNER TABLE AT THE START OF THE EPISODE. HIS WORK FAMILY BROKEN.

BUT THE FAMILY HE HAS WITH EDDIE IS THERE. EDDIE DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO TELL BUCK THAT BUT GOD IN THAT MOMENT DOES HE SHOW IT.

[bronzetomatoes]

HE DIDN'T START TRYING TO HURT RICHIE UNTIL RICHIE CALLED HIM DONNA. HE WAS FREAKING OUT AND SCREAMING AT PEOPLE AND YELLING SHIT BUT HE DIDN'T GET PERSONAL UNTIL RICHIE CALLED HIM DONNA. HE CAN TAKE THE INSULTS HE CAN TAKE THE ANGER HE CANNOT BEAR THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING HIS MOTHER. HE WOULD RATHER BE SEEN AS CRUEL THAN AS CRAZY BECAUSE ONE OF THEM IS A PERFORMANCE AND ONE OF THEM IS SOMETHING VERY VERY BROKEN INSIDE OF HIM AND HE KNOWS IT CANNOT BE FIXED. HE CAN MAKE HIMSELF MEANER ON PURPOSE BUT HE CANNOT KEEP HIMSELF FROM "GOING CRAZY" AND THAT SCARES HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING.

[dollsahoy]

LEOPARD PRINT and CHINTZ

and it's a 1990s Daisy Kingdom chintz too

As soon as I saw how close the brown in the leopard print was to the brown in the chintz, I had to put them together. Had to.

[screamingfrenchfries]

NEW ROSS FEDERMAN PIC(S) DROPPED

EDIT: THERE'S MORE!!!!

[syn4k]

THE SOUTHERN GUY WHO DID THAT SHAKESPEARE READING HAS MORE VIDEOS OF HIM DOING LITERATURE READINGS OVER ON HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL

[gentleman-detective]

every fanfic ever: “Holmes spoke little of his time following that fateful day at the falls, though, I suspect it was not easy.”

Holmes, probably: “GOD, it was AWFUL, Watson. I’m never going to stop whining about it for the rest of our lives. Let me tell you EVERYTHING.”

[mcytblrconfessions-but-badder]

I can’t stop thinking about this one post who claims that in the last few years the most popular hermits are the ones on the life series, if you’re not in the life series good luck having solo fanart or fics. And they’re right.

False’s popularity has been steady especially due to her domination in mcc and joining empires season 2 but art of her season in hermitcraft? Rare. Especially if it’s solo art cause I’ve seen a lot of False with another hermitcraft such as Ren or Pearl or Gem. She just doesn’t seem to be around as much in the tumblr tags compared to three years ago.

A while back I checked the hermitcraft sub reddit for their top posts, a lot was season 6/7 and there is so much fanart of Keralis, Iskall, Stress and xB! Not just them with other people but solo art! Yes I can still find that here on tumblr but it involves me digging through tags. And boy if you look at the notes compared to a recent solo Grian or solo Scar art it’s nothing. Now you can argue that it’s based on how much they upload but xB uploads regularly and there’s not a lot of hermit fanart compared to him and Grian and the later uploads way less! He has nearly twice the amount of hermitcraft videos as Grian and the motherfucking British man hasn’t uploaded a hermitcraft episode since early September!

But yet I see more hermitcraft fanart of Grian in the last month than xB. I get it because of subscriber count but come on people, xB is more active but nope, bird beats fish.

And like Rendog I would say has constant fanart but when he wasn’t acting as the king on hermitcraft, the time between double and wild life Ren fanart was going down. It was still a lot but because he wasn’t in the life series and slowed down on hermitcraft videos due to real life stuff the art went down.

But if you join the life series then expect twice the amount of love. Gem joins, she then joins a base area that has life series players in and suddenly she skyrockets to be one of the favourite hermits. Ignore that Joe hills or StressMonster has been here for so long, Gem joined the life series therefore she has to be a fan fav.

“Oh but Doc is still popular! Same as Cub!” That’s because they regularly interact with life series players. Cub has Scar and now the permit office workers. He’s not out hanging with Keralis or Hypno a lot like xB. Doc kind of keeps to himself and interacts with nearly everyone but if there’s a storyline it’s gonna be with a life series member. Joe hill is only midly popular due to the mcytblr sexyman comp and his long time friendship with Cleo, another life series member. You don’t see fanart of him with Welsknight or Iskall.

And fucking Iskall man… I saw so much love for him for season 6 and 7 but the moment he had burn out or want making as much content with Mumbo and Grian he just kind of disappeared in fanart and fics. You’re gonna have an angst fic with Grian and only Scar or Mumbo can help him? Dude was so buddy buddy with Iskall where is he?

And lastly when it comes to season 10 of hermitcraft if you’re not part of the Cherry guys or the post office in regard to bases, you’re not getting any attention. Where’s the love for xB’s new and improved ocean monument? You all love guardian!xB yet nothing on his season 10. Where’s the love for the village people? It has so many hermits together but oh there’s only two life series players and one of them hasn’t been in since double life so no love for them.

I’m just tired of the life series being so connected to hermitcraft because it affected the popularity so much…

That post can’t get out of my head because they’re right.

.

[maryymaruu]

Hi, Three Signals! What’s your favorite song? (If you have one)

TS: [ I HAVE HUNDREDS OF SONGS AND COMPOSITIONS IN MY MEMORY BANK, ALL INCREDIBLY PRECIOUS. HOWEVER, IF I HAD TO CHOOSE ONE, IT'D BE THIS ONE. ]

TS: [ COMPOSED BY MY CITIZENS, LONG TIME AGO. BALLADING THEIR LIFE, ACCEPTANCE OF THE ENDLESS, OF THE CARNAL AND OF THE SIMPLE. ]

TS: [ ...IT WAS NOT WELL RECEIVED OUTSIDE OF MY CITY, DUE TO IMPLIED CRITICISM OF THEIR RELIGION, CALLING IT A WASTE OF TIME AND IMPRISONMENT. AS WELL AS SUSPECTED MESSAGE URGING TO ABANDON PRAYER, TO ABANDON STRIVING FOR ACSENSION ALTOGETHER, IMPLYING IT TO BE POINTLESS. ]

TS: [ THEY PICKED THIS SONG APART... TO BE HONEST, I'M NOT EVEN SURE IF I SEE THEIR ARGUMENTS. SONGS ARE SUBJECTIVE, AND THEY WERE EAGER TO SEE THE WORST IN US... ]

TS: [ ... I THINK IT'S SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL. WHEN I PLAY IT LOUD ENOUGH, THE HEARTBEAT ALMOST FEELS LIKE MY OWN... ]

[gremlinoffthestring]

Ummmmm ISAT as things I've said before part three??? These just keep appearing my bad.

Part one and two here

WOAH PART FOUR

[squash1]

THREES THREES THREES:

Oh hello. I want to talk about the stylistic/textual role of Threes in The Raven Cycle.

Threes – as a general concept and as a number – are a major symbol and motif in the series. Maggie tells us that threes are important from the very first book: from Maura’s favorite saying being “good things come in threes” to Persephone telling Adam that “things are always growing to three or shrinking to three,” threes are discussed at length in the text of the narrative. Maggie also shows us that threes are important as a motif/symbol for important aspects of the story: three Raven Boys, three Fox Way women, three Lynch brothers, three main ley lines, three sleepers, etc. Threes are, textually, incredibly significant in The Raven Cycle, and we know this because we are shown AND told it throughout the entirety of the books. 

We all know the significance that is given to threes in the story itself, but what I want to talk about is the usage of a thrice-repeated word or short phrase (going forward I’m referring to this as “Threes” or “a Three”) as one of Maggie’s writing signatures (across the series, there are 65 Threes). This creates a meta level to threes being an important aspect of The Raven Cycle universe. A classic example of a Three (one of my favorites, in fact) is from The Dream Thieves: 

“As they walked, a sudden rush of wind hurled low across the grass, bringing with it the scent of moving water and rocks hidden in the shadows, and Blue thrilled again and again with the knowledge that magic was real, magic was real, magic was real.” (TDT, 12)

In a way, the Threes join the intradiegetic (what is happening within the narrative itself) with the extradiegetic (what the narration is communicating solely to the reader). The reader and characters are told explicitly that the number three is significant, important, notable, and powerful. In using Threes as a writing signature after giving the reader that information, the Threes are designed to signal to the reader that this line, this moment, is important.    

So the question is: What Are The Threes Trying to Tell the Reader??? 

Amazing question. 

In my recent TRC reread, I was already keeping track of Threes, because I was curious to see how many times they appeared. And then my sister, who was also rereading, said something interesting (after reading this Three from The Raven Boys):  

“He was full of so many wants, too many to prioritize, and so they all felt desperate. To not have to work so many hours, to get into a good college, to look right in a tie, to not still be hungry after eating the thin sandwich he’d brought to work, to drive the shiny Audi that Gansey had stopped to look at with him once after school, to go home, to have hit his father himself, to own an apartment with granite countertops and a television bigger than Gansey’s desk, to belong somewhere, to go home, to go home, to go home.” (TRB, 370)

My sister said: “Adam’s like Dorothy.” And then she said: “Wait. Do you think the Threes are like a spell? Or… a wish?”

Which was……. Interesting. 

What I have determined, after completing my reread and spending way too much time analyzing this, is that a Three is either a wish, a hope, a longing, a prayer – or, alternately, a warning, a curse, a negative promise. 

In either sense, Threes are a foreshadowing of what is to come – whether it be good or bad. Threes exist to signal to the reader that they should be paying close attention to whatever is being said or observed.

Threes in….. Everything Else: 

Before we get too far into TRC Threes, let’s talk about the precedent for three being an important number in art, math, storytelling, etc. I found some interesting information about how three is a satisfying number for the brain: 

Grouping things in threes leverages the power of repetition to aid memory; denote emotional intensity or importance; and ease persuasion (research by Shu & Carlson (2014) found that three positive claims is the most effective for persuasion).

Three is the smallest number that the brain can still recognize as a pattern, and the brain loves pattern and repetition. This is true in visual art – having three main compositional figures to create a pleasing image – and also in storytelling and narrative. Using threes for repetition in storytelling is a very common occurrence. 

Some classic examples of repetitive threes are Shakespeare’s “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” or Lincoln's “a government of the people, by the people, for the people.” In each of these examples, a repetition of three is used to create pleasing auditory rhythm. There is something inherently memorable about literary Threes. 

Perhaps the most interesting information I found while digging into the precedent for threes is about the rule of threes in folktales. This information happens to come from Wikipedia (side note: Wikipedia is a modern tool of collective consciousness and we should utilize it more). This page describes how in its most basic form, the rule of threes in storytelling is just beginning, middle, and end. Because this is such a common convention, writers tend to “create triplets or structures in three parts.” It then talks more directly about the use of threes in folktales: 

“Vladimir Propp in his Morphology of the Folk Tale, concluded that any of the elements in a folktale could be negated twice so that it would repeat thrice.”

This is especially interesting to me. The idea that an element of a folktale “could be negated twice so that it would repeat thrice” shows up prominently in the plot of The Raven Cycle – a book that is heavily influenced by folktale motifs – but also in so many of the folktales/fairytales we all know. A classic example of this would be Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Goldilocks must try porridge that is too hot, too cold, and then, finally, just right. The journey of these three actions is satisfying to the brain because it is a complete pattern: the third and final result of “just right” porridge is only satisfying because of the two “not right” porridges that preceded it. 

Getting back to Stiefvater Threes:

For anyone who’s seen The West Wing (and even those who haven’t), here’s a good way to explain what I think the Threes are doing. You know that thing they do during a The West Wing “walk and talk” where two characters will be throwing information and little quips back and forth at each other rapid-fire, and then suddenly, they will both stop walking, and the camera will stop moving, and they’ll say a line that contains really important information that you need to know to understand the storyline of that episode? That’s what Maggie’s Threes are doing for the reader. That’s what 6:21 is doing for the characters. It’s intentional: the writers/directors/actors/camera operators on The West Wing know that they’re throwing a lot of information at you, and know that they need to get you to pay attention to the most important parts somehow, so they do it by forcing the viewer to lean in and listen. It changes the focus and energy of the scene from something with momentum to something that pauses, and therefore makes you pause. 

The Threes compel the reader to pause and consider the information being delivered as more important than they might consider it if it was not written as a Three. “Maura’s expression was dark” does not read the same as “Maura’s expression was dark, dark, dark.” And in a text where characters directly state the magical importance of threes, compounded by three as an overarching motif, there is clear intention and meaning behind these written Threes.

In the context of TRC, Threes act as a fourth-wall break.

They are essentially a way to poke the reader and say: “Are you paying attention? Because you should be.” 

These Threes use a symbolic motif – the rule of three – that is already heavily discussed in the text – to get the reader to pick up on the internal motivations of the character who is “wishing” their Three or the narration which is using a Three to foreshadow some important aspect of the plot. 

The Threes are like the literary equivalent of a record scratch. It stops you in your tracks, breaking the established rhythm and making you take notice of what is being said in a new way. 

Let’s Look at Some More Threes (but just a few don’t worry)!

1. We get a classic Three, and a very Gansey Three, right after the group comes out of Cabeswater: 

“‘What about that thing in the tree?’ Blue asked. ‘Was that a hallucination? A dream?’ 

Glendower. It was Glendower. Glendower. Glendower” (TRB, 231).

Finding Glendower is one of Gansey’s core wishes, one of his core longings. Although this line is a literal answer to Blue’s question – he saw Glendower in the tree – in making it a Three, Maggie has given it added weight and meaning. It is prayer-like in its intention. It is almost an incantation: by saying it in Three, Gansey wishes it into being.

2. In The Raven Boys, after Gansey has bribed Pinter to keep Ronan at Aglionby and has learned that Noah has been dead the whole time they’ve known him, we are given this Three: 

“The Pig exploded off the line. Damn Ronan. Gansey punched his way through the gears, fast, fast, fast” (TRB, 311). 

This moment foreshadows what directly follows: a distinct lack of fast as the Camaro breaks down and Gansey is held at gunpoint by Whelk. This Three is not a prayer, but a warning, and an indicator to the reader that something important is about to happen. Had Gansey not been trying to go so “fast fast fast,” the car might not have broken down; because the Three incanted it, disaster follows. 

3. To return to a Three I have already mentioned, but follows the typical Three structure: 

“...to go home, to go home, to go home” (TRB, 370). 

In this scene, Adam’s wish is less about actually wanting to return to his literal home, because his house was never really a home for him. Adam’s wish/longing is for a home that he could return to, that he would want to return to. He is longing for a place/feeling/experience that does not exist for him. The Three in this sentence comes after a string of active wishes/longings, and by ending with this Three, it casts a spell of sorts, honing in on the truest underlying wish that Adam has. In using the phrase “to go home” three times, the narrative is making sure you, the reader, know that this want, this need, this wish, is the most Important to Adam, and will drive his actions for the rest of his story. 

Most of the Threes feel like this. They are often tacked on at the end of a sentence or embedded in a sentence. They’re an addendum to the action of the story. They’re like casting a spell – once to manifest, twice to charge, three to cast. 

…..And Some Other Types of Threes:

Then there are the Threes that don't follow the typical pattern of the same word repeated three times one right after the other, but are still a Three in a different way.

There are short phrases/sentences that are repeated three times throughout a page or chapter. In the prologue of The Raven King, we get this: 

“He was a king…

He was a king…

He was a king.

This was the year he was going to die.” (TRK, 1-3)

In this case, the Three acts as a promise of Gansey’s kinghood, but in ending the sequence with “this was the year he was going to die,” the promise of the three is given a condition: it is not going to be a joyful kinghood, but instead a kinghood intertwined with the death we’ve known is fated for Gansey.

One of Adam’s Threes from Blue Lily, Lily Blue, uniquely breaks the mold of Threes in a format that does not appear anywhere else in the four books: 

“It was his father. 

He opened the door. 

It was his father. 

He opened the door. 

It was his father” (BLLB, 242).

❋ (We’ll talk about this one more in-depth later.)

There are also a few “unfinished” Threes: 

In The Raven King when Ronan is having a nightmare (infected by the demon) about Matthew and the mask, he has this Three: 

“Ronan’s throat was raw. I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything! I’ll do anythi 

It was unmaking everything Ronan loved. 

Please” (TRK, 96). 

With the uncompleted Three, there is an uncast wish. Ronan’s wish is about Matthew, yes of course, but also about being willing to do anything to keep those he loves (ie. Adam, Gansey, Blue, his brothers) out of the reach of the “unmaking.” This unfinished Three serves to foreshadow the harm that does ultimately befall first Adam and then Gansey as a result of the unmaking of Cabeswater by the demon: without the Three spell completed, his wish is not fulfilled.

*This is Not all the uncommon/mold-breaking Threes, just a few that are interesting!

Do All Threes Come to Fruition???

The short answer is: No. Or at least not in that way. 

Once again looking at the text of The Raven Cycle, we are given an answer of sorts. In discussing Gansey’s predicted death, Maura says:

“First of all, the corpse road is a promise, not a guarantee” (TRB, 155).

This seems to apply to Threes as well. Threes are not a guarantee. They are a promise. Not all Threes come to fruition the way one might expect – or at all, for that matter. The important part of Threes is not that they will definitely come true, it’s that they could come true, because the Three gives them the potential to come true. 

Structure, Structure, Structure:

The main Threes structures are:

Three of the same word separated by commas: 

“magic, magic, magic” (TRK, 59).

A short phrase/sentence separated by periods:

“My father. My father. My father” (TDT, 369).

A short sentence that is repeated three times throughout a page/paragraph:

“Gansey did not breathe…

Gansey did not breathe…

Gansey did not breathe” (TRK, 209).

A word that is repeated three times and is connected by “and”:

“Round and round and round!” (BLLB, 224)

Italics vs. Non Italics:

Italics in The Raven Cycle are often used for character’s inner thoughts/anxieties. This continues to be true in the context of Threes. A Three that is not written in italics indicates a promise, or some foreshadowing of a plot point being foretold through the Three – it is typically more “real” – whereas a Three that is written in Italics seems to indicate a wish/hope/longing that is unattainable in some way. Italics almost always indicate a Three that may never come to fruition, or at least not in the way the character hopes it will. 

An example of this distinction can be found in chapter three (hah) (I don’t believe in coincidences and neither does Gansey) of The Raven King: 

First we are met with Ronan wishing/hoping to return home:

“That morning, Ronan Lynch had woken early, without any alarm, thinking home, home, home” (TRK, 24). 

This home, home, home, is in reference to the idea of home rather than the reality. Ronan is wishing to return to a home that does exist physically, but is not the same as in his memory – he wants to be at the Barns as it was in his childhood. 

Then, in the very same chapter, Ronan actually returns home and we are given this Three: 

“Slowly his memories of before — everything this place had been to him when it had held the entire Lynch family — were being overlapped with memories and hopes of after — every minute that the Barns had been his, all of the time he’d spent here alone or with Adam, dreaming and scheming. 

Home, home, home” (TRK, 27).

This second home, home, home, is about the actual reality of being in his childhood home – the good and bad that has existed in the years since the childhood he longs for. 

The Addition of AND:

The most notable use of “and” is in Noah’s very last chapter:

“Sometimes he got caught in this moment instead. Gansey’s death. Watching Gansey die, again and again and again” (TRK, 416).

When “and” is added into a Three, it becomes circular, cyclical. The “and” gives the Three a sense of infinity, or creates a loop of sorts. 

This Three operates in the same way “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” does in Macbeth – it is meant to convey the endlessness of time, a relentless cycle of tomorrows.

❋ While there are not many of these Threes with “ands” in The Raven Cycle, there are other examples of Threes or Three-like occurrences that fulfill the same purpose as the “and.” For example, remember this Three:

“It was his father. 

He opened the door. 

It was his father. 

He opened the door. 

It was his father.” (BLLB, 242).

In this case, instead of the word “and,” the Three (It was his father) is connected by “he opened the door.” This Three is accomplishing the same feeling as “again and again and again” – the feeling of being caught in an endless loop. 

Another example of an (implied) “and” in The Raven Cycle is: Gansey’s life. Gansey starts out alive and then dies as a child only to be reborn, and then killed again through his sacrifice, and then reborn for a final time. Gansey is Alive, Dead, Alive, Dead, Alive. And so Gansey’s life is a cycle of Three.

As with the Threes that contain “and,” Gansey starts where he ends: alive. 

Other Ways Threes Show up in The Raven Cycle:   

I will state the obvious once again: there are three Raven Boys, three Lynch brothers, three Fox Way women, three sleepers, three main ley lines (the lines that “seem to matter” to Glendower’s story), Gansey the Third (Gansey Three, Dick Three). 

There are also the more obscure: the “three kinds of secrets” in The Dream Thieves prologue and epilogue; each Lynch brother inheriting three million dollars from Niall Lynch; the three figures with Blue’s face on the tapestry and later as a vision in Cabeswater; Adam and Gansey going to DC for three days; the shield pulled from the lake having three ravens embossed onto it; Ronan having dreamt Matthew at the age of three; the door to the Demon’s room needing “three to open” it; Aurora Lynch staying awake for three days after Niall died. 

And of course, we have the ley line symbol/chapter header:

And then there are the 300 (three hundred!) Fox Way “villain” readings. (This was something that was particularly interesting to me.)

The first antagonist we meet is Whelk. When he comes for a reading at 300 Fox Way, he first pulls the Three of Swords. 

When the women all draw cards together, they pull identical cards for Whelk: three of the Knight of Pentacles, then three of the Page of Cups. After drawing, essentially, three threes (the Three of Swords, then two sets of three matching cards) in this reading, the first Three of the entire series appears: 

“Maura’s expression was dark, dark, dark” (TRB, 124). 

The second “antagonist” we meet is the Gray Man, who comes to 300 Fox Way in The Dream Thieves to “observe.” Maura, Calla, and Persephone are predicting which card is on the top and bottom of the stack and the first card, predicted by Calla, is the Three of Cups off the top of the deck that Mr. Gray is holding (a remarkably happy card in stark contrast to Whelk��s Three of Swords). 

When the third antagonist, Greenmantle, comes for his 300 Fox Way Reading he also draws the Three of Swords. The fact that each of the three antagonists come for a reading is in itself a sort of Three, but to further the importance of these moments, each of them draws some sort of three-related card. 

All of the examples I have touched on have been more symbolic references to Three as a motif of the books as a whole. However, Threes also show up in the literal number of times important quotes are said/written. 

I was tracking some of the most well-loved TRC lines to compile them, and noticed that the lines “don’t throw it away” and “safe as life” happen to appear exactly three times throughout the series. This was honestly pretty surprising based on the importance of those quotes – I would have assumed they showed up far more. Actually, they both appear twice in The Raven Boys and once in The Raven King. Threes, and the importance of Threes, is embedded so strongly into the narrative of The Raven Cycle that even the quotes we all think of as the most beloved of the series follow this rule of Threes. 

Now, could you chalk some of these up to coincidence? I guess. But Gansey doesn’t believe in coincidences so I don’t either. So what’s the point of all these Threes?

Conclusion???

In a literal, literary way, Threes are a fourth wall break to make the importance of a moment obvious, but I’m not sure what the larger “point” of Threes is. My best analysis comes from the idea of The Raven Cycle being all about time and Threes playing into the importance of time as a sort of record scratch or loop. The Threes, as a stylistic, written motif, seem to connect the time-based cycle the characters experience to the time-based cycles the reader experiences by reading the books. 

But my conclusion feels incomplete and so I would like to rely on the collective for this one – just about the most Raven Cycle thing you can do. So I’m asking you, the collective you, what conclusion would you draw? What do you think? 

What I do know for sure is that Threes are magic, magic, magic.

For Your Convenience: Here is the textual significance given to threes within the books (chronologically): 

And here are the Threes, Threes, Threes (compiled):

(If you made it to the end of all this, I love you. Have a gold star and a hug <3)

[marypickfords]

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Sergio Martino, 1972)

[ivanttakethis]

Till has to have known Ivan had a crush on him right. He's not that oblivious. He didn't think Ivan was trying just to bro it out with him like bros do right. He didn't think they were just pals palling around. He didn't think that his very much straight friend Ivan was just asking for a kissy right.

I feel like this Alien Stage Friday post is going to come back to haunt us later

THIS ALIEN STAGE FRIDAY IS GONNA HAUNT ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!!1!!

Source

Honestly, I don’t know WHAT is rattling around in Till’s skull.

He may not know that Ivan likes him in the same way that he likes Mizi, but I hope he doesn’t think this is average bro behavior 💀

Kissing your guy friends isn’t just “guys being dudes” Till! That’s guys being gay!! (Or bisexual, at the very least)

And also, what the FUCK Ivan?!?

You think the guy who considered KISSING YOU as a BIRTHDAY PRESENT doesn’t care about you AT ALL????? 🤨

Till wasn’t in Anakt Garden chatting it up with fucking Acorn like “Yeah bro when’s your birthday? I’ll kiss you on the mouth as a gift, no tongue tho.” IT’S JUST YOU.

If any other guy even thought about asking Till to kiss them, he would probably punch their lights out. Actually, I’m surprised he didn’t punch YOUR lights out!!

But the fact that he didn’t means SOMETHING!!!

You think Till wouldn’t be TRAUMATIZED over you SACRIFICING YOURSELF FOR HIM after KISSING HIM LIKE YOU ASKED FOR YEARS AGO?????????? LIKE HE’S NOT GONNA REMEMBER THAT SHIT?????????

[lgcwooju]

hi i'm ree (21+ they/them) and this is wooju. as the only measly widdle first year trainee in lgc right now please go ahead and push him around or make him fetch u coffee and the jumbo sized deluxe dosirak from the convenience store (jk) (unless u want to idk)

summary + plots under the cut! like this post if you want me to dm you to plot (or feel free to dm me first). i also just made a twitter .2 seconds ago bc idk how the cool kids plot these days i shant lie,.., cansomeone help me

wealthy upbringing but pretty (arguably) down to earth despite it all... he's like a tree hugger who unironically wants world peace and probably gets really emotional about bizarre shit like bbc planet earth and the minecraft movie bc he's a sentimental guy...

really friendly though! very easygoing, not shy at all and could probably have a really great chill time w/ a rock if it was necessary

wooju joining legacy was solely bc his younger sister is a huge (INSERT LGC IDOL GROUP I HAVENT DECIDED YET IDK) fan and kids these days scheme so hard it's scaryyy so while he loves music and whatnot, he isn't 100% sold on whether he should be here

loves rock music, fiddling around with all sorts of instruments, and tempeh as a concept. he's a vegetarian and his preferred mode of transportation is walking unreal distances or skateboarding.

as a free-spirited rich kid who grew up kind of sort of doing whatever he wanted with little consequence, being in korea and specifically being in legacy is a whole new authoritarian mountain for him and man... (miley cyrus vc) it is the fucking climb

tl;dr nice guy who's a little out of touch with reality but it's like totally ok, ok? his korean is only half-decent and he has definitely responded to complex questions by inappropriately nodding and smiling and going "no exactly i'm literally always saying that." but he has a kind heart.

potential plots

platonic: friends...? obviously? he's very easy to get along with and as cool as a cucumber so please hang with him 👍 he's also kind of pathetic when you lreally think about it and probably has negative survival instinct so please also he needs people to be like "hey man we literally cannot have you eating uncooked cold tofu out of the container for the fourth night in a row" etc

antagonistic: not that he doesn't take his training seriously bc he does work hard, but it's pretty clear how aimless he reeealllyyy is when it comes down to the future. all of u big dreamers and fighters can think of him as a pos for taking this all ~for granted~

romantic: to make his whole manic pixie dream boy bit (JKKK) really extra over the top, he is unfortunately a LOVER with a HUGE HEART and is probably not used to suddenly not being (technically) allowed to date so anyone (w/i reasonable age) who wants to be casually flirted with, he is ur guy!

specific wanted connections

(debuted idol) lgc idol group member who his sister is obsessed with. he has a very paltry grasp of kpop to be quite honest but seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of you against his will. xtra funny if you think he's like a super fan who's in love with you bc he unwittingly knows what your favorite ambient nature sounds spotify playlist is even though you mentioned it in passing 6 months ago under fansigning duress

(early 20s) similar age plz but he's been in seoul since 15 so if anyone wants to be his one (1) bestie he's had since then... pwease

(non-first yr trainee) so like. literally anyone. HATE HIS ASS FOR BEING A NEPO HIRE (not fr but figuratively and spiritually yk) but also feel obliged to help him figure out wtf he's doing he. you're kind of like his scary life coach and he cannot figure out if you like him or hate him

(early 20s) similar age plz pt 2 but wooju is not shy when it comes to his crushes and i think it would be funny for him to tell someone he likes them but that someone to think he's just joking so it's like this negative feedback loop of "what are we." nebulous onesided situationship.

(any) he's kind of floating by rn because he can afford to but a part of him is still on the fence about whether he wants to pursue a university degree... unfortunately (1) he's stupid and (2) bad at korean and (3) did i mention stupid. he definitely would have been nepo'd into yale on the crew team or something ok. someone tutor him please