cromulentreader

[cromulentreader]

What are your headcanons for cardans inner circle? like what do you think they did when they hung out/their friendships as it kinda seemed like they hated eachother😭 i mean valerian liked seeing their pain, locke played nicasia and cardan so im curious as to what their dynamic was like as we only see them interact when bullying jude and taryn (SRY FOR SENDING TWICE I WANTED TO ELABORATE)

They sound like every group of bullies whose parents won't turn up to school until one of the other kids smacks them.

My headcanons: - Locke did very little other than incite the others. Cardan might have been less incitable, making Locke target him more in his cast of terrible plays. Sounds like he was part of the group because he had a place to himself. - Nicasia mostly just lazed around, making people weep and complaining about the Land. - Valerian just latched on to Cardan at some awfully inappropriate Grackle event. Cardan found his violent nature amusing until he didn't. Locke thought he lacked grace. - They definitely had digs at the others' weaknesses when not messing with common Folk.

[cromulentreader]

Let's talk about how absolutely horrible Jarel and Nore are. They were complete monsters to the child Suren: first abandoning her, kidnapping her from a loving family, enslaving her, and putting her on a leash like she was some animal. Like forget Eldred and Asha, these two are the worst parents ever.

I don't know now, Eldred got one kid poisoning him, and the other FIVE are like:

One doesn't get that amount of love out of nowhere. I think of Jarel and Nore more like Suren's blood donors. But they did suck.

[cromulentreader]

So apparently Eldred put some protections on mortals, why would he do this?

He did? I don't recall. Unless the ask is in terms of laws, which he would have since Faeries depended on Mortals so much.

[cromulentreader]

Any other theories about Eldred or Val Moren?

Not a theory, but it would be super funny if Val Moren was like 50 and Jude thought he was old AF because she's 17 and thinks 35 or 350 is kind of the same vibe.

[cromulentreader]

i would love to see a nicasia analysis from you. do you like/forgive her at the end?

I'm pretty neutral about her, actually. I don't feel like she's the type of character that requires forgiveness or redemption even.

I mean, she's mean, petty and tried to shoot a girl for hooking up with her ex. But I don't dislike her for Jude's time in the Undersea because 1. She never pretended to be on Jude's side (Taryn, looking at you). 2. Nicasia thought Jude had something on Cardan or done something to him( both true, she just didn't know Cardan didn't care too much ) 3. She was raised to be awful so her shred of decency is just right to me. 4. Her mother was in charge, she was as much her daughter as she was her subject.

[cromulentreader]

can you do an analysis on eva duarte and madocs relationship?

This one if from January sorry 😔 I'll do it when re-reading, I promise! Maybe as a series even.

[cromulentreader]

What do you think the relationship between Oriana and Liriope was like exactly?

We actually don't see many female friendships in this world build so it's a tricky one. We're never told Oriana's age but I suspect she was very young when made consort. Liriope sounded kind so if there was no funky love compelled mambo Jambo their relationship was probably healthy-ish by faerie standards 🤞

[cromulentreader]

You think Hazel is someone Jude might've been had Madoc not found Eva and Justin?

This one took me a while.

I'm going with no, because Hazel is also the result of being raised aware and wary of faeries. Not at the same degree, true, but I don't think Eva and Justin would be very open with the twins about faeries even with Vivi being one.

Fundamentally I think the yearning that Jude had of besting and playing others is innate before learnt. And although they both have communalities they would have different drivers. I don't have the book on me but I think there's a passage on Hazel's delight in the serpent's battle while Jude's delight - despite being a good fighter - was in pulling strings.

[cromulentreader]

So Eldred was able to have 6 kids and Dain (without even trying) knocked up Liriope but how come non of the others (particularly Balekin or Elowyn) have even just one child? I know children are rare in Faerie but if I remember correctly in the stolen heir Mab passed down her 'fecundity' to Eldred so shouldn't his kids have it too?

We only know of Mab having one bio daughter. So the question is why did Eldred have so many children?

I read it as connected to becoming the High King. His children were heirs but we don't have much confirmation that this gives them any advantage compared to nobles other than socially.

If Eldred's ability was inherited though it's possible that he spread the line too thinly with too many (unworthy) heirs. That would be an interesting one, actually.

I think the most interesting question is why no Greenbriar ever had a child from a mortal lover, since they very likely did take them over the years ( possibly centuries ).

[cromulentreader]

Do you have any other theories about tfota you would like to share?

Many.

I will pick one for this ask: Nicasia and Valerian were definitely banging around TCP time.

[cromulentreader]

So during the bloody coronation Caelia agrees to crown Balekin but the ghost shoots her before she can do so. What if she actually did? Like let's say the ghost gets incapacitated or something and Caelia crowns Balekin. What do you think would happen?

The Land aging Balekin into dust in a week would take my vote 😂

Balekin got some moths around him after killing his father, so I think he was marked to die from there. Now, how would his rule go?

- He probably would have been engaged to Nicasia pretty quickly to appease the undersea.

- He would turn the whole court into Hollow Hall: debauched, cruel, useless.

- Human measly protections from Eldred's reign would be removed and mortals would go back to acknowledging faerie existence and well, probably there would be a anti-glamour vaccine in 6 months and plenty of captured faeries would be studied to crack immortality or something.

- the living council would be replaced by Madoc and Balekin's 3 brain cells

- as the islands turn into rot (maybe literally) Madoc would keep the plot for the day Oak would be old enough to challenge Balekin for the crown.

Would Jude stay? Probably, but she would consider leaving with the Roach and the Ghost. And she would be fighting back behind the scenes. Good chance she would get exiled for aiding her kind at some point.

Would Cardan stay? Yes. Balekin was less of a risk to his life than Dain was If there were 2 other siblings left. He wouldn't approve of anything Balekin was doing, but he would drink through it initially. Cardan would still obsess over Jude, I don't think an alliance would have been unlikely in this scenario, just not as early.

[cromulentreader]

How do you think Balekin found Eva and Justin? Madoc says it's because Justin apparently bragged about stealing Eva from Madoc, but I don't buy it, if he really was that much of a dumbass, I doubt he would've survived as long as he did in faerie, even Jude notes this. Also, if he really was the boasting kind of personality then he would certainly have bragged about anything he made but as far as I recall there's nothing to suggest this. Which makes me wonder if a faerie (one of Balekin's servants or even Balekin himself) got Justin drunk or glamoured him to that he would "brag" about what he did.

My gut feeling is that Asha was still in touch with Eva and Justin. Maybe she sold the info; maybe she let it slip; maybe she was salty about her bestie dumping her for some mortal + brats; maybe a hag told her that her meal ticket/son's uprise depended on Eva's child coming to Elfhame; etc.

The other option I see is that he bragged about it to Grimsen. We don't know when the trip to Fairfold happened, it might have been after Elfhame. The High Court had exiled Grimsen with the Alderkin. Perhaps Justin found it mostly safe to go there to meet a legend, and show a knife, like Jude going to meet Grima Mog to ask her nicely not to eat people. The trip and Justin's/Eva's location might have made its way to Balekin's ears over spies.

We know very little about Justin, but I can imagine he would brag to an old friend (if he thought of Asha as a friend) or someone he looked up to. I don't think he was going to his local announce it... although he did try to axe Madoc, maybe he just got stupid post-Elfhame.

[cromulentreader]

You think Orlagh might've tried to marry Eldred at one point but he rejected her?

No. For the longest time, she didn't have an heir, and due to her nature, one was never guaranteed. A marriage could have handed down the keys to her Kingdom.

[cromulentreader]

Since they were barely introduced... except Dain in the Hole, I couldn't care less on first read. On reread I just hum this - like a normal person, clearly.

shower thought of the day: it's so interesting to me how holly black just killed off cardan's entire family in tfota and I didn't even bat an eyelid. like okay, they all just got massacred. that's cool. and I know balekin was still alive for a bit but he eventually also kicks the bucket so it's just like "oh. snap. I guess that's that then" and there's nothing much more to say about it.

[cromulentreader]

Honestly even if there wasn't that whole doom prophecy about Cardan it probably wouldn't have changed the way Eldred treated him.

Probably not, it sounds like Eldred checked out on child number three (if not before). Even Asha probably would still have barely cared.

On the other hand, his siblings likely would have treated him differently.

[cromulentreader]

What do you think might've happened if Madoc didn't find Eva and Justin until a bit later? Specifically when the girls were already teenagers? (Let's say Vivi is 16 and the twins are 14) And by that time he's married to Oriana and is raising Oak.

I don't think Oriana would have sought Madoc's protection if the girls weren't there. That's what flagged him as 'probably won't hurt a child'.

Since a big part of Vivi's persona is to be a rebel, she might have rebelled pro-faerie, so she could have been looking for bio dad (no need for a 23andMe for that one). But let's say Madoc marries Oriana and finds out he has a daughter out there. I 99% think he would have done exactly the same. Would he have killed Eva and Justin? If Justin didn't swing an axe at him, probably not. I don't think that whatever outcome would result in him taking the three girls, Vivi could have done a deal similar to Jack (?) in The Darkest Part of the Forest and promise to go to faerie after her sisters' mortal lives ended.

[cromulentreader]

We know Val Moren loved Eldred but did Eldred actually care about him?

Eldred cared, or something like it. I imagine their relationship was pretty much as this quote from Val Moren.

Eldred brought Val Moren and gave him a court position. But since he was still alive, I have to assume it wasn't one of real power. Yes, seneschal is supposed to be one of the most powerful positions, if not the most, after the King, but remember how easily Jude's voice was discarded in the same role.

Val Moren mentions being unable to help Jude because it was one of the things he gave up bargaining with Eldred. I'd say Eldred cared, but that didn't made him any less of a bastard.

Onto crazy theory time It is a theme in TMFT that faeries are always drawn back home to Faerie, and trusting all the certainty the twins were told or thought that they were going to have a short life, it's fair to assume there's a pull for mortals to go back to the Ironside.

My theory is that Val Moren hasn't left faerie because he's under a geas to prevent him from leaving, making the young forever a cruel trick from Eldred, potentially. It would be a nice full circle with Dain offering a geas to the mortal he thought could be useful to him as well.