sflow-er - Tumblr blog

[sflow-er]

Inspired by a couple of earlier asks, could we make a ships other than Wilmon self-rec list? It would be nice for people coming into the fandom to have somewhere to start but I guess there aren't any reader-made rec lists. So maybe authors could reblog this and rec a couple of their own fics? Or a couple per ship if they've written for multiple ships and of course readers could still chip in too if they felt like it!

Yes! Authors or readers, send me recs for fics featuring non-Wilmon ships. Or reblog, comment, etc and I'll compile them into a post.

[sflow-er]

I share your perception of them having seen each other regularly back then! Even if they lived further apart, I'm sure they got together for summer, Christmas and various other holidays. It makes sense based on them clearly being each other's only cousins and Carl Johan being Kristina's favourite cousin before his downward spiral led to their falling out.

I imagine August's family were probably regular guests in Solliden and he and Erik used to row there (August probably relished the early years when Wille was still too little to participate and he got Erik all to himself for a bit, but Wille did join in later on as August tells him in S1 that he "hasn't forgotten everything"). I could also see them having skied together in Storlien and in exclusive Alpine resorts. These are the two hcs that have also made it into my fics (Matters of adjustment & Årnäs, February 2016), but in addition, I assume they probably had all kinds of parties and other gatherings together. Crayfish parties, birthdays, weddings, confirmation parties for all three boys, various royal events, etc.

I'm inclined to believe they weren't there in each other's daily lives, as August seems to have an awfully rosy idea of royal life at the start of canon, which to me has the vibe of someone who got to see the grand events, palaces etc. but not the toll it took. ETA: Crucially, they were also part of his idea of family and his sense of belonging somewhere (as @bluedalahorse also theorised in her recent August meta), and a happy 'outsider POV' of their family life probably contributed to that. I like to imagine August having grown up at Årnäs and not having gone to school with people he would've considered his peers and truly wanted to make friends with until he got to Hillerska (where they promptly hazed him with Erik's approval as we now know...).

But your suggestion of him having gone to school in Stockholm is definitely interesting! It does feel possible for his parents to have owned an apartment in Stockholm, and I certainly see Louise and Rickard living there now. So I guess it also depends on how we envision the breakdown of Louise and Carl Johan's marriage and which of them August lived with if they already separated/divorced before Carl Johan's death.

As for the location of Årnäs, I don't believe we ever discussed it! I remember you put it in Västergötland in Han har inte haft det så lätt, and I ended up putting it in Värmland in Ärnäs, February 2016. But I guess it could also be somewhere in Mälardalen, for example...? That would allow for relatively easy visits, wouldn't it?

If you're still doing the random YR asks, I would love to hear if you have any thoughts on/headcanons about the Erik-August-Wilhelm dynamic when they were kids.

Do you think they saw each other much? Did the younger two compete for Erik's attention, and how did he respond? How do you think Wille and August felt about each other back then? And so on.

Hi! Yes, I still do random asks for YR as well as my other interests. It's so much fun. Feel free to send more asks.

I haven't thought very much about the dynamics between them earlierin life, to be honest. But I do think that they saw each other quite often. If nothing else because both families are rather small (there don't seem to be any other cousins/seconds cousins). Royal families also seem to value family ties (it's part of the deal).

How much they saw each other must be dependent on how far apart they lived, though. But maybe August parents had an apartment in Stockholm and he went to school there. @sflow-er have we by the way ever discussed probable location(s) for Årnäs (I can't recall right now)?

I quite sure there was a competition between August and Wille for Erik's attention. Erik would almost always look out for Wille. But I think personality wise Erik and August were much more alike and also closer in age, as we can see on the picture on Erik's mirror.

I would be lovely if any readers of this add their head canon for their childhood dynamics.

[sflow-er]

Inspired by a couple of earlier asks, could we make a ships other than Wilmon self-rec list? It would be nice for people coming into the fandom to have somewhere to start but I guess there aren't any reader-made rec lists. So maybe authors could reblog this and rec a couple of their own fics? Or a couple per ship if they've written for multiple ships and of course readers could still chip in too if they felt like it!

Yes! Authors or readers, send me recs for fics featuring non-Wilmon ships. Or reblog, comment, etc and I'll compile them into a post.

[sflow-er]

The ones I would rec out of my own catalogue of Walty fics:

Other people's secrets (S1-compliant longfic, includes outsider POV of Wilmon)

Like you better (S2-compliant oneshot)

..

@sadhappylady's list and post include most of the fics I was going to rec but here are a couple more:

Walty: Change It And Say by @skydragon05 how many nights does it take to count the stars (that's the time it would take to fix my heart) by prongts / @pinkfluffyhippogriff

Stedrika: Drikaberry by Blodeuwedd / @andthatisnotfake

lily of the valley by peonyseas

you wanting me tonight feels impossible by (orphan_account)

Rarepairs: Heart and Homeland by @bluedalahorse and @heliza24 (includes Wilmon, but there's also Sargust, Felice/Maddie and Felice/Rosh)

Secrets, Friendship, and Coffee Non-Dates by @starvalisedham (Alexander/Maddie)

Inspired by a couple of earlier asks, could we make a ships other than Wilmon self-rec list? It would be nice for people coming into the fandom to have somewhere to start but I guess there aren't any reader-made rec lists. So maybe authors could reblog this and rec a couple of their own fics? Or a couple per ship if they've written for multiple ships and of course readers could still chip in too if they felt like it!

Yes! Authors or readers, send me recs for fics featuring non-Wilmon ships. Or reblog, comment, etc and I'll compile them into a post.

[sflow-er]

And other ships! Even Sargust or rarepairs!

Inspired by a couple of earlier asks, could we make a ships other than Wilmon self-rec list? It would be nice for people coming into the fandom to have somewhere to start but I guess there aren't any reader-made rec lists. So maybe authors could reblog this and rec a couple of their own fics? Or a couple per ship if they've written for multiple ships and of course readers could still chip in too if they felt like it!

Yes! Authors or readers, send me recs for fics featuring non-Wilmon ships. Or reblog, comment, etc and I'll compile them into a post.

[sflow-er]

What would make August decide to reject the crown prince title?

Well, you know my brand! I actually think it’s possible for August to get to a place where he leaves behind the crown prince role. It’s a bit of a claw machine game, but isn’t that more fun to think about than letting him suffer forever? We love a challenge! We love growth! We like acknowledging the messiness of the character, and not always assuming the worst of every last thing he does! So let’s get into it.

I’m actually not going to talk about Sara much here. A lot of posts that talk about this crown prince situation mention how sad August is to have lost Sara, and while that’s true, I actually think there are other emotional undercurrents at work. Similarly to the way Wille is more than his relationship with Simon and has to leave the monarchy for his own self-actualization, August will leave for reasons that go beyond losing Sara.

I also want to open by agreeing with everything my esteemed colleague @heliza24 says about therapy and time and community in this post over here. What I’m going to say here is going to be long and rambly, but I think it will build on her talking points.

So let’s think about August holistically, in terms of his values. In order to get August out of the monarchy, the first step is understanding (excavating, even, because this shit works in layers) what draws him to it in the first place, and what his emotional needs are. I actually think it’s a common misconception that he’s into the whole thing for the power of it all. I actually think this is more about August’s need for belonging, particularly in terms of his wanting to be part of a family and the way he values traditions that bring people together. Monarchy runs on this idea of a sacred first family that sets the tone for the nation and leads them in following traditions. This ideal family is, in theory, the ultimate exemplar of what August desires in life. And yet the reality of the monarchy is far from the ideal. I think we sometimes assume August has a clear view of what monarchy is like, since he’s related to the royal family and all. But I also think his close proximity clouds his judgment. More details below…

The thing about being in the crown prince position is that at first it would set up opportunities for August to connect with family members, namely Kristina, which initially would meet a family-related need. August seems to hold Kristina in high regard. He’s looking forward to the possibility that she might visit during parents’ weekend in season 1, and he’s pretty afraid of facing her in season 2 when he’s called to the palace. Of course, that is about her position as queen as much as anything, but I can’t help but wondering if it’s also that Kristina was August’s father’s favorite cousin. And isn’t that a fruitful piece of information? There’s so much that can be done with that connection! For instance…

A lot of August’s trauma is rooted in grief. Some of that is complicated grief for Erik, which his reconciliation with Wille (and probably their shared sessions with Boris) has helped him start to feel and unravel. We haven’t really seen August fully grieve his father yet, but I imagine that if there were seasons 4 and 5, this would be the next step in his character arc. Grieving his father is crucial. In season 3, August has (clumsily, in front of Sara when he shouldn’t have said it, but the lines happened and I find them fascinating) just begun to idealize his father less—he says he misses his dad even though his dad was shitty, and that makes me go, okay, what else is behind that line? (A really amazing fanfic by @sflow-er is what.)

Meanwhile Kristina mentions that she and Carl Johan were really close until Carl Johan started to fall into addiction. Lots to peel back there, too! Like, what happened? What was the timeline of all this, and was it a big falling out or a slow breakdown in the relationship? Does Kristina feel any guilt related to August’s father’s suicide, like August himself does? We don’t know how she feels about Louise—is she sympathetic toward her for having to be married to a man who was potentially abusive? Or would Kristina have bought into Carl Johan’s potentially false narrative of Louise, and blamed Louise for her husband’s addiction and mental health crisis?

Whichever direction you take this, I think working with Kristina day to day would bring up opportunities for August to confront his sense of loss. Kristina probably has all kinds of stories about August’s dad, and how they got up to trouble together in their childhood and youth, and which now-deceased family members responded to their antics. August might be able to share a few stories about his dad as well. Sharing memories is an important part of the grieving process, for so many people, and I imagine at first August would feel connected to his father’s side of the family for the first time in a while, and there might be some good things that come of it.

On the other hand… those initial benefits might not last forever. And August would soon discover the fucked up aspects to that side of the family. It’s possible Kristina might try to help August mend his relationship with his mother, but in the scenario I mentioned above (Kristina buys into Carl Johan’s narrative of Louise and blames her for his death) I can see her trying to interfere when August and Louise try to repair their relationship. Wouldn’t that create some fun tension between August and Kristina? I do think August wants to repair his relationship with his mother. As mad as he is with her in season 1, we also see hints in seasons 2 and 3 that he doesn’t actually hate her and wants to feel connected to her. After graduation he goes to find her and Rickard in the graduation line where all the parents are holding photos. I could see a situation where August, a year or two after canon, decides he wants to patch things up with his mom, and keeps running into pushback from Kristina about it. Aren’t there so many ways that tension could escalate? Wouldn’t that be a fun thing to play with in fanfic?

And then there’s Wilhelm. The way I read their reconciliation, it felt like August would try to maintain a good relationship with Wilhelm in the future. What does that become if he ends up in a position where he’s always mediating between Kristina and Wilhelm now that their relationship has fractured? And then we know Kristina tried to turn Wilhelm into Replacement Erik, I can absolutely imagine a situation where she starts thinking of August as Replacement Wilhelm and behaving accordingly, and August grows to resent that. Ultimately I can see August siding with Wilhelm over Kristina in the end and they end up banding together.

All those paragraphs above basically just mean that like… I feel like being in the crown prince role might bring a lot to the surface for August, in terms of how he relates to his family. And once he sees what wounds being crown prince can’t heal, that’s going to shatter his idealism and make him question the monarchy as a representation of the family in general. And that’s an important step out the door.

Now, August also needs to see what alternatives to this “perfect ideal family model” are out there. He also needs to realize that family isn’t just about blood relatives. Which just means he needs honest friendships with people who don’t subscribe to that kind of patriarchal nonsense. I don’t mean August needs patient queer friends who will hold his hand and explain the concept of heterotemporality to him in a soft voice. I just mean that being around more people who break his mental schemas in that regard would be a good thing. Like how does his friendship with Nils develop now that Nils has come out? What if, I dunno, it turns out that Louise and Rickard are both bisexual and poly? And then of course there’s his continued relationship with Wilhelm, which I imagine he’d continue to invest in now that they’ve turned things around at the end of season 3.

Does that wrap up the family stuff for now? Probably. There’s a thousand more things I could talk about but we’ll put it aside for now.

I mentioned August valuing tradition in my opener, so I want to address that too. Surface August—aka the protective suit of armor August has constructed for himself in season 1—seems to value tradition for its own sake, and mostly defines inclusion for some as something that can only exist when there’s exclusion of others. These are all the broken things Surface August has been taught or (we now know) traumatized to believe, and they come out in his behavior, and it sucks.

At the same time, what happens over three seasons is that we see there’s this deeply buried version of August that’s struggling to get out, and in my opinion at least, that deeply buried August actually gives a shit about others feeling a sense of belonging. I feel like this part of August is influenced by his own experiences with isolation and loneliness, and we see glimmers of him from time to time. (Especially when it’s Vincent doing something exclusive and shitty, for whatever reason. See August standing up to Vincent when Vincent is shitty to Simon in 2.3.) I think for August, traditions and rituals and events are something he sees as being deeply important in creating a sense of belonging for people. And he’s not fully wrong. Traditions and events done right are how humans make sacred their bonds with one another… which is why you get a bunch of Wilmon wedding headcanons. Because we love traditions too, you know.

As much as August gets a reputation for being rigid, there are times when we’ve seen him budge from what’s expected of him and change up the rules. I think August is actually more willing to rewrite tradition than fandom gives him credit for. He’s got suggestions for the speech Jan-Olof wants him to recite verbatim. He tells Vincent to rethink the senior superlatives. And he’s one of the third years who makes a pact to remove the really homophobic part of the initiation. 

I say this not to give August undue credit—these are half-steps and there’s clearly more he can do, and some of these traditions should be eliminated, not modified. But I want to point out two things. First, that imperfect half-steps (and some pretty epic backslides) were part of Wilhelm’s journey too before he made his full break with the monarchy. Second, by season 3, we can see that August is actually capable of reflecting about traditions and considering ways they could be rewritten to create more of a sense of belonging for others. 

Again, this is imperfect, and we may want him to do more… and this is another place where he could potentially end up clashing with the royal court in time. One thing that I’ve thought about is that being a prefect at Hillerska is a little different—in theory if not in practice—than being the crown prince of Sweden. As a Hillerska prefect you’re just leading the elite and the few who get into your school, but as crown prince you really are supposed to be there for the nation as a whole (albeit in a “non-divisive” way) and I think August does actually recognize that distinction and would try to approach it differently than being prefect or rowing captain. Except he would continue to be a total overachiever.

Like, look. On some level August would be incredibly earnest about the idea of being the keeper of Sweden’s traditions, and earnestness is not the same as being a rubber stamp or a yes-man. The royal court may think they’ve finally got someone who will carry out whatever monarchical agenda they set without question but like… idk, do they? Do they really??? August is going to want say in the process, and August is going to have so many ideas about how to make traditions better/more awesome, and August is going to annoy the hell out of Jan-Olof and Farima. He is going to be so annoying! He is going to have slides presentations! He is going to crunch the data on how the royal family is getting bad press for their carbon footprint and come up with a plan for renewable fuel on the private jet so now they can totally show people they’re legit! Meanwhile he’s going to be annoyed when his ideas are getting blocked. And I find the slow build in conflict that would arise out of a situation like that pretty entertaining.

Okay, it’s time to wrap up. For real this time. (This would all be better in a fanfic than in an analysis post, really! I should write.) Ultimately I think August would be drawn into the monarchy because he’d see it as a way of living his values of family and tradition and hell, service to the nation and being part of something, but he’d grow frustrated and disillusioned when it didn’t, actually, allow him to do that or give him the space to do it. The answer to Rickard’s question—does the monarchy love you back?—is no. And I don’t know how long post-season-3 August is willing to put up with being unrequited like that. Maybe for a time, but not forever.

You may also wonder why I have faith that he’ll get here. And the simple answer is: after season 3, my faith in August is intertwined with my faith in Wilhelm. Wilhelm breaking with the monarchy at the end of season 3 (especially after some pretty intense backsliding moments.) shows me that it’s possible for August to do it too, someday. That is perhaps a post for another time. For now, let’s just look forward to all the opportunities for a fix-it fic.

[sflow-er]

PSA for any readers following me

In case you are wondering, I am still here and writing Walty! That S3-compliant fic I teased a while ago is still in the works (in fact I just made a title card for it today). I haven't abandoned The real deal either. It does feel a bit hard to motivate myself to stay S1-compliant now, but the story deserves an ending, as do those versions of Henry and Walter.

I'm sorry for taking so long. My creative spirits have not been fully restored yet, and I'm in a bit of a weird place with YR in general right now. There's also some IRL stuff going on that frankly makes fandom feel very insignificant by comparison, but rest assured, I am still inspired to continue these two stories and share them with you!

Thank you for sticking out the wait!

[sflow-er]

Has anyone made a ships-that-are-not-Wilmon fic rec list?

[sflow-er]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

[sflow-er]

Get to know me tag game

Thank you for the tag @putnamcapital! I had a really intense day today and this was a nice distraction.

Do you make your bed?

Yes. The bedroom looks and feels cluttered with the pillows and bedspread piled up on the chair, and I don't like that at all. Also, I feel like the sheets get icky sooner if I leave the bed unmade. I don't know if there's any truth to it, but the feeling is compelling enough.

What's your favourite number?

I prefer even numbers for some reason, and my faves are 8 and 12.

What is your job?

I'm a self-employed translator of factual texts. Articles, websites, brochures, instructions for use, etc.

If you could go back to school, would you?

Maybe. I was always interested in medicine but didn't take all the science courses in high school that I would've needed to study it in uni, so if I had infinite resources... Yeah, I could see myself going back to do those damn courses and then applying to study medicine.

It's an incredibly unrealistic scenario, though. I have neither the means to study full-time nor the energy to do it alongside work and other adult responsibilities. I also don't know if I could muster the motivation for another uni degree even if it was in a field I liked.

Can you parallel park?

In theory, yes. But the town where I learned to drive had a very small population and ample parking space, so I never needed to do it for real, and I haven't even had a car at my disposal since moving to the city (seventeen years ago this autumn).

A job you had that would surprise people?

Hmm, well, I was an extra on a TV show once! The gig was only a few days, but it was interesting to see the process and compare it to the final product.

Do you think aliens are real?

In the sense of there being other life in the universe, yes. Absolutely. In the sense of them abducting people, no. Definitely not.

Can you drive a manual car?

Yes, that's the norm in my country.

What's your guilty pleasure?

Fanfic. I also have a few embarrassing comfort movies (that I'm not going to name) and about 30 seasons of Survivor under my belt, so...no shortage of guilty pleasures here.

Tattoos?

Alas, no. I always wanted one but could never come up with a design/subject I was 100% sure of.

Favourite colour?

Red, green and dark grey. My least favourite colours are orange, yellow and purple (yeah, that makes me a terrible YR fan, I know).

Favourite type of music?

I'm one of those people who got stuck on the music of their formative years, which for me was alt rock from the 2000s (and a little bit from the 2010s). So, that. I do also listen to some later artists but the bar is much higher for them to become my favourites.

Do you like puzzles?

I love puzzles. Not necessarily jigsaw puzzles as I don't have anywhere to put those (or crossword puzzles as I'm surprisingly bad at those), but I do love games with puzzles in general (video games, escape rooms, board games that require some deduction...).

Any phobias?

Serious case of arachnophobia. I'm also afraid of bugs, clowns and (sadly) dogs, but I wouldn't say any of those fears are severe enough to count as phobias.

Favourite childhood sport?

Lol no. I hated sports as a child.

Do you talk to yourself?

Yes, on occasion.

What movies do you adore?

There are too many to list specific titles! I enjoy speculative fiction (scifi, fantasy, horror if it's not too gory), animated films, historical fiction, adventure, good comedy and some drama. I don't watch many realistic adult dramas or biopics unless I'm particularly interested in the filmmaker or subject matter. My least favourite genres are generic action, war, and anything focused on cars or sports.

Coffee or tea?

I love both but mostly drink coffee.

What was the first thing you wanted to be growing up?

Writer, I believe. Someone in my extended family claims I once said 'president' when they asked all of us cousins what we wanted to be, but I have no recollection of that.

No pressure tags: @scatteredpiecesofme @plantbasedfish @silvagrey @bluedalahorse @willedeservesbetter @palehottubchild and anyone else who wants to participate! I feel like I've seen a lot of answers already and I know I've also missed a bunch, so, sorry if that was you. And if any of you don't feel like playing, no worries whatsoever! 💜

[sflow-er]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 5

Episode 5 starts sometime after August dropped the bombshell about Erik at the end of last episode, and Wilhelm decides for some reason to visit the party palace, in order to make himself feel extra shit? I don't know what's going on here.

Blink and you miss it: Hey, that's one of the clown masks they used for Wilhelm's initiation back in season 1.

Blink and you miss it: Henry and Valter are doing a class presentation on rhetorical analysis, and for some reason they chose former US president George W. Bush as their subject, which is pretty hilarious given that he was a notoriously bad public speaker.

Blink and you miss it: Instead of asking Wilhelm, who is sitting right next to Simon, how he's feeling, he writes the question in his notebook and slides it over.

Subtext: Gotta keep up that facade and bottle all the negative feelings inside!

Lost in translation: Vincent uses the word "nyanländ", "newly arrived", which is the current politically correct way of saying immigrant.

Subtext: ...but in typical bully fashion he asks the target of the racist "joke" if it was funny, and Marwan obviously lies about it as to not upset Vincent.

Subtext: Felice tries to play it off as no big deal, but she actually wants this opportunity to spend time with Sara without her other friends, in order to rebuild the friendship.

Subtext: Sara is right to be suspicious of her dad, because he is a lot more energetic than usual, and excuses his behaviour by him simply being in a good mood. It's probably his new medication that kicked in, though.

Subtext: Speaking of having a hard time showing weakness, that's exactly what Wilhelm's been struggling with by not telling Simon how upset he is about having learned that Erik took part in the gay porn initiation.

Subtext: So the whole subplot of the past four episodes was that the school locked up all the phones, and Wilhelm joined the little strike to get them back, pissing Simon off in the meantime, and now that they have their phones back he's not picking up when Simon is calling him? Not cool.

Culture: The choir is practising "En vänlig grönskas rika dräkt", a Swedish hymnal with text from 1889, but this version of the melody is from the 1930's and composed by Waldemar Åhlén. It's a very well-known summer song that pretty much every Swedish schoolkid has sung at some end-of-schoolyear summer assembly.

Cinematography: We're in the cursed music room, and this time the lighting is harsh and sharp, Wilhelm is in stark contrast to the rest of the room, there's no soft golden light smoothing things out, so we're gonna have an argument!

Subtext: Yeah, no, Wilhelm, sweetie, that's projection, that's what you are thinking about your brother. Simon isn't doing anything wrong here, he's just concerned about you being a moody asshole.

Cinematography: To illustrate how the relationship is going south, the music room which used to be full of instruments, is just getting emptier and emptier, and Simon is left standing alone at the piano.

Subtext: No, he's not feeling ok, and no, he's not interested in making up with Sara right now, because he's still angry at her.

Subtext: There are different kinds of homophobia, for example, there are people who talk loudly about how accepting they are of The Gays, but who react negatively when someone close to them comes out, because they were only fine with it at a distance. And then there are people who are ignorantly homophobic in general, but who turn out to be supportive of anyone close to them who comes out, because they know that that person isn't like The Other Gays. Shitty, but less shitty than the first group, and I think that's how Erik would have reacted had he known about Wilhelm.

Culture: In Sweden, you do the practical driving test in a car provided by the testing centre to make it fair and equal for everyone. These cars all have a red sticker saying they're for driving tests.

Subtext: Micke is failing exactly how he described it in an earlier episode. He's on new medication, it made him feel good and like he was in control, so he thought he could take just one beer with his friends.

Subtext: No, it fits horribly, and you can clearly see that it was on sale and that the price tag is still on it. But this is what Linda can afford.

Lost in translation: Simon actually says "jag vet", "I know", when Sara tells him that their dad let her down and that she is sad and upset about it.

Subtext: Unlike Simon who got a cheap suit on sale, Wilhelm just has his perfectly tailored suit delivered to him by his bodyguards.

Subtext: Last episode Wilhelm picked a sport charity or something that he doesn't actually care about, because he thought it would best fit the narrative the royal court is going for. So now his internal homophobia is screaming at him to remove the nail polish, because it doesn't fit that image.

I don't know what this is: This has got to be an editing goof? This sequence of events doesn't work. Everyone else is up and about, preparing the third year's dinner with the teachers and they're even cooking the food with a chef, but it's early morning and Wilhelm is still sleeping in? Anyway, the whole thing is yet another example of how the school teaches hierarchy. As a younger student you service the older students, and when it's your turn to graduate, someone younger will service you.

Throwback: Aww, Simon made Wilhelm a sandwich, just like Wilhelm made one for Simon a bunch of times in previous seasons.

Culture: Man, early summer in Sweden is beautiful, isn't it? This was shot at Åkeshofs Slott in Stockholm, and if you do a 180 turn on that path, you'll see the subway station Åkeshov, and if you go through the tunnel under the road and then up to your right, you'll end up at a sports centre where I went twice a week as a kid for fencing training!

This tumblr is now about French school fencing! Doublé! Riposte!

Subtext: Time and time again the show has shown us how much August loves this shit, and that he wasn't lying when he said he knew everyone, because clearly he does!

Subtext: And to show how much Wilhelm dislikes this shit, he is so stiff when talking to the invited kids who are actually benefitting from his charity foundation, while August just immediately jokes around with them and is much more comfortable.

Culture: I've seen how a lot of fans think that the flower Wilhelm is wearing is a green carnation, which is a symbol for being gay, popularized by Oscar Wilde. I don't think so, that's not a thing in Sweden as far as I know. Instead, I think it's an alternate version of a Majblomma, which is an actual Swedish charity thing, where you can buy these plastic lapel flowers from schoolkids to show your support around this time of year.

Subtext: Even though Simon is there, he's being shoved to the back, because his presence doesn't fit the narrative. If Wilhelm instead had chosen to start some kind of LGBT charity, Simon would have had a much more prominent role. Oh, and poison or not, that Princess Cake looks delicious!

Subtext: Farima is expertly letting August down, who of course pretends that he's not the least bit disappointed at being excluded from having dinner at the royal palace.

Blink and you miss it: IT'S LISA! HI LISA!

Culture: Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll are two characters from a radio show for kids from the 1940's, but they've also been featured in books, comic books, a live action movie, and animated cartoons. It's about the two titular characters, a cricket and a frog, and their adventures. The last movie was made in the 1990's though, so I'm not so sure kids these days knows who these characters are. Personally, I can't hear this song without hearing their silly character voices.

Subtext: The Queen is still keeping up appearances and lying through her teeth about how she's actually feeling.

Culture: In real world Sweden, Victoriadagen is celebrated in mid July when Crown Princess Victoria has her birthday, she hands out a sports award, there's a concert, some charity stuff, and you can sort of meet the royals or sing her happy birthday or something.

Subtext: August is repeating the excuse Farima used on him as to why he didn't attend the birthday dinner.

Blink and you miss it: That's a Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II. It's only about $10,000 and change.

Subtext: Simon, sweetie, I don't think the royals have any clue as to what "the usual" means when you're describing how regular people celebrate birthdays.

Culture: Simon actually says Laserdome, which is a company in Sweden that has been running laser tag arenas since the 1990's. I had no idea they still existed!

Culture: They're singing Lambo, a drinking song for students. It's a challenge song, so while the rest of the table sings, the target has to finish their glass, correctly sing the response lines, and turn the glass upside down over their head. If you fail, like August does in this scene, you have to do a penalty round and chug another glass.

Subtext: ...before her parents heaped all of their family's expectations on her. But maybe if Felice can break free she could pursue her actual dreams?

Throwback: Remember the scene in S1E3 when Simon is practising the Hillerska song in the music room?

Subtext: Queenie, sweetie, you're not looking Wilhelm in the eyes, you're not engaging in the discussion, and the only thing you do is to talk about Erik every chance you get. No wonder Wilhelm has had enough and explodes at his parents.

Blink and you miss it: Vincent won the "Daddy pays" award. Pappa betalar.

Subtext: In this context the award just means that he's the image of a bad boy, a player. But throughout the season, August has been struggling with whether or not he's actually a bad person, which is why he's not exactly happy with the award.

Cinematography: Fuck me that's a pretty shot of a typical summer sunset. In late May in the Stockholm area, sunset happens at around 9:30 in the evenings.

Subtext: One more explanation for August's body dysmorphia is that he got bullied for being weak and scrawny when he first started at Hillerska, so he decided to start working out more.

Blink and you miss it: The reason Fredrika is outside and happens to see Sara and August kiss, is because she's trying to sneak away the bottle of wine she stole earlier from the kitchen.

Subtext: And the reason Felice looks upset when Fredrika tells her what she saw is because she truly thought Sara was over August, and that's a condition of them reconciling.

Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm plays the first few notes of the original Hillerska song.

Subtext: And to cap off this terrible no-good horrible cliffhanger episode, Simon breaks up with Wilhelm by repeating the words his mom said to him earlier in the episode.

[sflow-er]

i hate the “demi sexual/romantic doesn’t exist, all people are like that”. because if that were true i don’t think crushes wouldn’t be as common, hookup culture wouldn’t exist, and dating overall wouldn’t be such a big deal. allo people don’t realize what a major part sex and romance plays in our everyday lives. i mean, parents will talk about how their infant son is a “ladies man” or how their daughter is “going to break all the boys’ hearts”. since literal birth, people are expecting their child to grow up straight and experience attraction towards others. it just makes me upset when people try to say demi identities aren’t real or valid :/

Well said, Anon. I think a lot of the time people are also misunderstanding it, and confusing it with 'i prefer or am more comfortable dating/having sex with people I've already gotten to know.' (Which still isn't everybody, but is a bit more common.)

But yeah, there's a world of difference between that and literally not having the capacity to be attracted to someone you don't have a bond with.

Thanks for sharing, Anon!

[sflow-er]

In addition to my pic for the @aceomenszine, I also did the cover art! I wanted to avoid showing a very specific portrayal of both asexuality, and of Aziraphale and Crowley themselves, so I thought a little nod to time spent together (in the asexual flag colors!) would be nice 🖤🤍💜

I also did the little bumper pieces at the end of fics through the zine, and a postcard, to match the cover motif-

[sflow-er]

Thank you once again for all the work you put into these insightful posts, @skamenglishsubs!

About the porn initiation: I believe Lisa said in an interview that this plot point was inspired by a story she read about a third-year girl in the 90s being asked to write a smutty short story for an initiation, which Lisa figured could have since evolved into showing a movie. As it happens, I have read that too. It's from Agnes Hellström's book Att vara utan att synas, and Hellström herself was the girl. So apparently, it did happen in Sigtuna in the 1990s, although it probably wasn't gay porn since that wasn't specifically mentioned.

I'm going to copy the relevant paragraphs under the cut for reference (in Swedish because I don't have the time to translate right now).

När en av mina killkompisar frågade om jag ville skriva en porrnovell att läsa upp på Kvarnbrantens invigning, tackade jag ja utan ett ögonblicks tvekan. Jag kände mig utvald, hedrad och det pirrade härligt i kroppen. Jag satt på läxis och försökte skapa den laddade, erotiska stämning som behövdes. Jag bjöd med några yngre tjejer från Berga som skulle hjälpa till, minns det som att jag frågade dem och att de uppsluppet tackade ja. Kanske de också kände sig utvalda? Vi smög över Midgårdsängen, höll oss så långt från gatlyktornas sken som vi kunde, knackade slutligen på ett fönster och klättrade in. De satt på varsin stol i Kvarnbrantens källare, i ögonbindlar och kalsonger. Några hade fortfarande strumporna på, så små och utsatta de var. Treorna spridda runt omkring, en dämpad stämning i rummet. Killarna hade fraktats dit, antagligen på egna ben, beordrade. De var inte fastbundna men helt stilla på stolarna. De flesta gick i ettan, men ett par var högstadieelever. Jag höll novellen hopvikt i handen, fick en uppmuntrande klapp på axeln av kompisen som bjudit dit mig. Att ha nått fram till själva stunden tog andan ur mig, vad var min egentliga uppgift? Jag hade aldrig skrivit något liknande förr, ännu mindre läst det högt. Skulle de tycka att texten var töntig? Vi var där, att backa ur var inget alternativ. Jag läste novellen med så stadig röst jag kunde samtidigt som Bergatjejerna jag haft med mig smekte varsin kille i ögonbindel. Målet var att de skulle få stånd och känna sig riktigt överkörda och kränkta. Och inte på alla, men på många av dem reste sig kullar i kalsongerna. Vi fnissade ofrivilligt. Kvarnbrantens treor tittade på, några smålog, andra skruvade på sig. Det var fruktansvärt pinsamt, rymde ingen uppsluppenhet alls. När akten var över tackades vi för hjälpen och smög viskande därifrån, för att inte avslöja för de nyinvigda vilka vi var. [Att vara utan att synas: om riksinternaten Lundsberg, Sigtuna och Grenna, p. 34 to 35]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 4

Last episode ended with Simon coming home to a smashed window, this episode starts the morning after, Simon takes the bus to school, while Wilhelm is anxiously waiting for him.

Culture: At a high school level in Sweden, there's national tests in Swedish, English, and Math. Like everywhere else, the purpose of these tests is not only to grade students, but to align all schools across the country to combat grade inflation.

Blink and you miss it: Vincent is trying to cheat by looking at Nils' answers.

Blink and you miss it: Vincent draws a dick in the gravel while waiting for the others to be done with the test.

Subtext: This entire episode is overflowing with examples of privilege. For Vincent, and many other rich kids like him, studying and learning doesn't matter, they'll graduate regardless, so he doesn't care about the exam, he only cares about the graduation party.

Cinematography: Even with Felice and friends being completely blurred out in the background, you can still see Stella and Fredrika turning to look at Sara, and then turning their backs on her.

Culture: In the US, a lot of people are using "socialism" as a catch-all phrase which means politics they don't agree with, regardless of its actual ideology. Likewise, in Sweden, a lot of people use "communist" in the same way about generally left-wing politics, which is what Vincent is doing here.

Subtext: Wilhelm asks Simon if he can reconcile the conflict of dating a royal while being anti-monarchy, but the real question is of course if Wilhelm can reconcile the conflict in himself.

Subtext: This is where the show's political stance shines through, and this argument, that Wilhelm wasn't allowed to choose his life for himself, is the main argument they're gonna use in the finale.

Subtext: Wilhelm is weakly defending the monarchy, but just ends up repeating what his mother told him; it's a privilege, not a punishment, but does he believe it himself?

Subtext: The letter-to-yourself plot is mainly there in order to help August along his redemption arc, but here the show is using it to reinforce the point of the previous scene. Who does Wilhelm want to become? Does he have a choice?

Culture: In Sweden, Säkerhetspolisen, SÄPO, is the government agency in charge of national security, which includes providing security and assigning bodyguards to the royal family.

Subtext: Note the great use of passive voice here by Farima to avoid taking responsibility for the decision to force August to join the birthday foundation event. She's also expertly bargaining with Wilhelm to get what she wants.

Subtext: We know it was the far-right assholes who posted comments to Simon's videos a couple of episodes ago.

Blink and you miss it: Jan-Olof really perks up when Linda talks about moving to Gothenburg, because that would probably mean the end to the relationship between Wilhelm and Simon, which would solve all of his current problems.

Subtext: Like Farima, he bargains with Linda and Simon to get what he wants, for Simon to stop posting things to social media. It's almost as if their strategy was to do nothing at the start, waiting for things to blow up so they could swoop in, help out, and start making demands in exchange...

Blink and you miss it: The option to inactivate and hide your social media account is right there, but of course Simon has to choose to delete everything, because it will cause more drama and anguish.

Blink and you miss it: Fencing! Woohoo! I did fencing for five years as a kid until 8th grade or something, but I only did foil, and not épée like these students. I have absolutely no idea where these two are coming from or going to though, where would they practice? Is there a hidden fencing hall somewhere on the grounds that we haven't seen yet? How many kids at Hillerska are fencing? Also, he's carrying a practice blade and not an electric competition blade, so that checks out. Of the three types of modern fencing, épée is unique in that the entire body counts as a valid target, while in foil only the torso counts, and in sabre only the upper half counts. Oh wow, it looks like the gear is now wireless and every fencer carries their own indicator lights. Cool! Back in my day you had to be strapped in with a cord for competitions.

This tumblr is now about French School fencing. Allez! Touché!

Subtext: The narrative is that it's perfectly ok for the crown prince to be gay, as long as he's not gay gay.

Culture: The show keeps saying this, but in real world Sweden it's no longer the case. Supporting los jibbities is viewed as a completely mainstream and inoffensive opinion, on par with supporting human rights in general.

Subtext: Another example of privilege is being in a position to do a lot of good, and then just not caring about it. Simon is fighting for the causes he believes in, so seeing Wilhelm just casually throw it away is extremely disappointing for him.

Subtext: Unlike Vincent, August is actually a natural leader, someone people listen to, which is why he manages to quiet down the room when Vincent is unable to. Maybe a good quality in a future king?

Subtext: Simon is continuing the argument from before. Wilhelm could have shown solidarity with mental health causes or LGBT causes, but chose not to. However, he immediately decided to join in solidarity with the other rich kids protesting the school rules, which is rather selfish.

Subtext: Colour theory! Sara in purple, because part of the reason she's back at school is that August asked her to? And Simon in yellow, because he sure isn't loving Wilhelm very much right now.

Subtext: Just a reminder that Sara has actually been completely out of the loop since the end of season 2. She has no idea about the school rules, what's happened at home, how it's going with Simon and Wilhelm, or what's happening at school.

Blink and you miss it: Fredrika is so close to stop striking as soon as she's threatened with repercussions.

Subtext: I keep hammering this point home: The culture is in the walls, it's not something some of the kids made up. The visiting alumni were also hazed as new students and kept it going as third years. Same for the parents of all these kids. They're all part of the system, they all kept the cycles of abuse going, because they want the school to be like that.

Subtext: Privilege is thinking you can get things your way with almost no effort. None of these kids have ever struggled or protested something for real and then not been given what they wanted, so they seriously believed they'd win immediately.

Subtext: Another theme of this season is bringing secrets out in the open. We've all seen August struggling with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder since season 1, but no-one has ever called it out and put words on it, until Simon immediately recognizes it and calls it out.

Subtext: ...while the rich kids are just stuck in denial, because eating disorders is for poor people or something, it's not something that happens to them. And if it did, you certainly wouldn't admit it to anyone else.

Subtext: August tries to jokingly fend off Nils because he doesn't want anyone to know that the letter actually meant something to him, until Nils pushes too hard, and August punches him.

Subtext: Vincent talked a big game about striking in solidarity, but when they're caught as hilariously unprepared as they are, they're not pooling their resources in solidarity with each other, and instead resort to selling them to the highest bidder. Capitalism in a nutshell, illustrated perfectly by the behaviour of spoiled rich kids. Also, pet peeve, the English word for the currency of Sweden is "kronor", not "crowns".

Lost in translation: They're actually repeating a single word in Swedish, "svikare", which is pretty hard to translate. The verb, "svika", is a bit worse than letting someone down, but not as bad as betraying someone. The adjective, "besviken" typically means disappointed. So "svikare" means a person who is letting other people down, disappointing them, or betraying them.

Subtext: The culture is in the walls of the place, but the kids are also pretty damn complicit in continuing all the shitty traditions. This looks like a game of strip poker or truth or dare that went off the rails and just resulted in more bullying, with everyone joining in.

Subtext: The other girls are upset with Felice because she broke the code. You don't snitch to outsiders, you don't tell the truth, you keep up appearances.

Blink and you miss it: Henry won the potato chip auction, happily ate the entire bag, and passed out in a chair, clutching the bag. Mmmm, sourcream and onion.

Subtext: Speaking of closing ranks towards the outside, this also applies to this strike. It would be bad PR for the school if anyone outside found out that it happened, so it's better to solve it quietly and discreetly. Vanessa can trust the kids not to snitch. Vincent is also right, the parents, who are paying the tuition fees, are on their side.

Subtext: Felice can't be seen talking to Sara, so she checks that the coast is clear, and then drags Sara into a private bathroom to have their conversation.

Subtext: Likewise, Sara was probably Felice's first real friend.

Subtext: Nice little foreshadowing. I would have loved seeing Simon's drawing though!

Subtext: Well, he could have just made his social media private, but the show has to maximize the drama, so here we are, piling on more examples of how Simon is losing himself to the monarchy, that maybe he can't reconcile the conflict.

Subtext: Erik spent three years living at Hillerska, of course he wouldn't have told his then twelve year old kid brother about all the shit going on at the school. August spent an entire year living with Erik at the school, seeing what went on first hand, so of course he knows a side of Erik that Wilhelm doesn't.

Subtext: August has been trying to keep his mouth shut and avoid Wilhelm, but since they have yet another fight, he decides to drop the bomb about Erik to hurt Wilhelm.

Subtext: Again, the culture is in the walls. This is not something that only Erik's class did, once. It's probably been happening to all the boys for decades. It happened to the current second-year students, it happened to Erik, and lots of students before him who kept this shitty initiation tradition going.

Culture: Let's talk about the gay porn hazing a bit more. To me, this is an urban legend. I heard about it when I was a teenager back in the 90's, but I don't personally know anyone it happened to, or anyone who did it to anyone else. It was always hearsay, it happened to a friend of a friend's brother, or a classmate's cousin's friend or something similar, as is typical of urban legends.

Let's also make one thing absolutely clear: It doesn't work. The homophobic idea behind this shit is that if you are forced to watch gay porn and get a boner, you are gay, and if you don't, you're straight. But that is actually not true, erections don't work that way, and the fear of being found out is quite the boner killer. Also, what if you like guys, but the guys in the porno aren't your type? There's just so many ignorant misconceptions behind this idea.

I've also seen a lot of fan comments that keep playing into this ignorance; that the only reason Nils decided to stop the tradition was because he obviously failed it. Or that the only reason August is against it is because he failed, and the only reason he failed is because he's secretly not straight. No. Remember that the test doesn't work. Nils probably passed, despite actually being gay. August might have failed, despite being completely straight. Regardless of what happened, they both found it humiliating, and that is why they made a pact to stop it.

[sflow-er]

Get attacked!! ✨🌈SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING🌈

Haha help, I have no idea how to respond to this! Here:

And to anyone who sees this:

Get attacked!! ✨🌈SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING🌈

[sflow-er]

S1 Isak back in 2015:

[sflow-er]

A Condensed Timeline of Early Anti-Ace Blogging infographic by Coyote

[Transcript under the cut]

Keep reading