morwenna-crows

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I just finished the last Skulduggery Pleasant book on the beach in Cuba over Christmas and am still in a very skeleton-y mood, so have some Tanith Low! I liked her, she’s my kind of bad-ass, and I was both surprised and relieved at her treatment in the final book.

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have discussed this extensively with a few people but we need more gordon/skulduggery theories in the chat you guys. i fear we're missing something essential by not discussing this. like wdym they were best friends. wdym gordon threw up on skulduggery's shoes and skul didn't shoot him in the head. wdym stephanie reminded skulduggery of her uncle and he was instantly intrigued by her and then proceeded to have the world's Least Normal Relationship with her. let's think about this

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cloaking sphere

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@lassieposting

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Not too long ago I met again with a friend I went to secondary school with and she threw me head-first back into remembering the most fabulous skeleton-in-a-hat, Skulduggery Pleasant.

It only took me a good decade and a half to the get the hang of drawing skeletons so that, at last, I could pull off having him do all sorts of nonsense and expressions... with his friends and enemies!

These interpretations are based less on the official descriptions and more on my general memory and vibe of them. Consider them alternative interpretations!

(Yes, I know that's not the right Bentley model, but it's still beautiful ok)

And for another sharp-looking detective illustration, find him on my blog!

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https://archive.org/details/cu31924031439544/page/28/mode/2upj

I used this as a source for Old English names! It's an 1898 dictionary of bird names found in texts from Anglo-Saxon English; some of them are really beautiful.

I like the idea that different sorcerer cultures have diverse naming practices, and pre-Christian Germanic and Norse religions often imbued birds with magical abilities or as messengers of gods, so when I write them, Anglo-Saxon sorcerers name themselves after birds, especially those with similar traits - a loud, talkative person might be Mæw, a herring-gull; someone fearsome or powerful might be Iserne, a sea-eagle.

Linett, Seltra, Fīna, Rudduc, Ūla, Frīsca, Cyta, Hana - are all birds, but have a cadence like they could be taken names.

(Which is to say yes, I would love to see a list!)

Would y’all be interested in a list of Old English words I think could make good SP names? Because there’s. Quite a few actually.

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I just realised I’ve never written anything about the etymology of China Sorrows as a name. It’s maybe one of my favourites in the entire series.

I’ve seen theories before that her first name is synonymous with porcelain, for her paleness and fragile, delicate features. My preferred etymology for her taken name, though, comes from a slightly more obscure, archaic definition of the word.

From the early 16th century onward, china was sometimes used to mean a colour, rather than a place.

The word china, in an historic context, referred to several different shades of pale blue; these colours were given that name because they were originally associated with the light-blue glazing found on imported Chinese ceramics.

That ice-blue, china-blue, is the colour of her striking, unusual eyes. I love the idea that this definition is why she chose it as her name.

The other part of her name also carries a second, hidden meaning. Rather than just a synonym for sadness or grief, the use of Sorrows seems to be a deliberate Irish literary reference. Deirdre of the Sorrows is one of the most famous characters in ancient, pre-Christian Irish mythology.

In the Ulster Cycle of stories, Deirdre is fated from birth to become the most beautiful woman Ireland has ever seen. But that same prophecy curses her to a life of tragedy, predicting that she will eventually lead her lover to his death, and drag Ireland into war, bloodshed, and chaos.

This is where her epithet comes from; her name is forever linked with loss and destruction.

(The story was probably first written down around 600AD; the earliest extant written copies date to the 12th century, so it’s entirely possible for China to have been familiar with the story while taking her own name, as a teenager, in the late 16th century. )

The mythology is canon relevant in terms of both foreshadowing China’s magic - she has the same ‘gift’ of strange, almost otherworldly beauty as Deirdre - and her war-era backstory with Skulduggery, the former lover she draws into a trap that ends in his death.

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NECROMANCY..

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Skulduggery and his family also have an Irish motto, or at least they do in the handbook.

(I think all of the Dead Men crests use Irish, actually? Apart from maybe Ghastly?)

Skulduggery implies that his crest is a fox, in the first book, when speaking about his relationship with China; her family use a scorpion, on their banner, so it follows the metaphor that his traditionally used a fox.

Because of that, his crest in the handbook has a fox motif. The family motto accompanying it is:

chomh glic le sionnach, agus i ngaiste, chomh díoltasach leis.

as clever as a fox, and caught in a trap, as vengeful.

Some old art I made ages ago, overpainted from the gorgeous original design that @venividivictorious​ created for Nefarian Serpine’s crest.

It was intended to look like a page of vellum, taken from a larger book of medieval sorcerer heraldry and aristocratic families.

His motto, in Irish, reads is treise gliocas ná neart, or cunning is superior to strength.

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Some old art I made ages ago, overpainted from the gorgeous original design that @venividivictorious​ created for Nefarian Serpine’s crest.

It was intended to look like a page of vellum, taken from a larger book of medieval sorcerer heraldry and aristocratic families.

His motto, in Irish, reads is treise gliocas ná neart, or cunning is superior to strength.

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val probably goes you're missing out this is so gewd while biting into the burger skulduggery paid for.......

song rec for this, maya the psychic - gerard way and no spoilers to phase 2 of the series pleeeeassse i haven't got the time to read it yet

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url change

@thats-so-craven -> @morwenna-crows

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The ideal Ghastly 

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mevolent at the war table waist snatched, wig high, heels immaculate 💅