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[starzin8s]

One of my favorite parts of The Raven Cycle is how Gansey inspires devotion in everyone he encounters.

Blue joined him on his quest despite their less than ideal first interaction. She hated Gansey, hated what he stood for, hated that he was a Aglionby student and hated that he thought she would just act and do what he said for money. But she was enchanted by their journey and before she realized it she would follow Gansey anywhere.

Adam should have hated Gansey. He was rich, had all the freedom in the world, and a destiny set up for him. Adam should have hated how that was everything he didn’t have. He was poor, bound to his disastrous home life and had no idea if he would make it out. Gansey found him interesting though, and a friendship blossomed from just fixing Gansey’s ridiculous car. Whether he believed in magic or not, Gansey’s quest and his passion was just so charming Adam had no choice but to stay with Gansey.

Ronan had no illusions about his devotion to Gansey. Ronan never lied and didn’t lie to himself about that fact that he would do anything for Gansey. Gansey picked up the pieces of Ronan as best he could and tried his hardest to put them together. Gansey was just so passionate, so kind and so sure of his quest. That’s why Ronan was never shocked by K’s dog jokes, why he never disagreed with K. “yes, I follow Gansey” he would have said. He was the king, there was no other option but to follow his rule.

Noah, even in his decaying form, could see Gansey for what he was. He saw Gansey the night he died the first time. Gansey was a king, and he was the only one who could do what needed to be done. He understood Gansey again the second time he died for him. The king was dead, and his subjects were lost. Noah knew that Gansey needed to live, and did what he had to. Noah followed Gansey through death, and he would do it again.

[starzin8s]

An essay on what makes Gansey, Gansey.

Go.

okay. strap in.

in this essay i will examine how, ultimately, what makes gansey, gansey is his experience with death at an early age and how that is fundamentally about a loss of childhood.

to understand what makes gansey, gansey you have to look at gansey’s two lives. gansey was born into a wealthy family — the kind of family that passes down names father to son and has buildings then built in that name. until gansey was 10, we can assume he fit into this affluent world without issue. little gansey was most likely a spoiled little rich kid — not a bad person but inherently out of touch because of the reality he was born into. when gansey dies the first time, it changes his perception of reality — he has an understanding of time and mortality that most adults don’t have never mind ten year olds. this first death is a representation of an early end to gansey’s childhood. he no longer easily fits into the wealthy, laid back world he was born into. we have to assume that until gansey went to stay with mallory, he was in DC with his parents trying to fit into their world but instead feeling intensely isolated and lonely. because even though gansey changed, his parents didn’t.

mallory is an important figure because of the time he represents in gansey’s life. we know from mallory that at 14 gansey struggled intensely with anxiety, that he hadn’t yet learned to present only his shiny gansey mask to the world. but instead of being dismissive, mallory showed gansey kindness and empathy — he was perhaps gansey’s first friend because sometimes delightfully weird old british men are exactly what a teenager needs. mallory helped gansey in his quest, but he also helped him to discover this new version of himself by making him feel not only safe but like there were other people beyond his parent’s world that would understand this pull and fascination he had.

understanding this backstory is key to understanding what makes gansey, gansey, because an intimate knowledge of death is what has produced this gansey that we meet in the raven boys. the gansey we meet is silly and strange and charming. he uses phrases like “hey, tiger” and drinks organic apple juice from the bottle, he has a favorite yellow sweater and is vocal about his love for it. and that’s just gansey, those are ganseyisms as i like to say. gansey has chosen to live his life with childlike wonder and whimsy because he lost that at an early age but doesn’t want to loose it forever. he has decided to embrace the weird, unknown parts of life. he is essentially reclaiming his time. he’s saying yes i know that there is death and darkness in the world, yes i have seen it first hand, yes i still feel it sometimes but i am going to live my life hopefully. gansey has carved out a life for himself in henrietta — a town that in and of itself makes him feel known, but also contains a piece of his old world in aglionby — and has slowly found people who fit, who feel right, who are 1,000 years old just like him. gansey has been lonely for a lot of his life but he found people who were lonely like he was lonely, that were looking for the something more just like he was looking for the something more. he is a compelling leader not because of money or status, but because his hope and quest and belief are real and made real because of gansey’s relationship to mortality. he has made it his mission to build a life he wants, even if it’s short, even if he’s scared. what makes gansey, gansey is his ability to choose hope anyway, to choose to live anyway.

if you made it this far, i love u

[starzin8s]

Did anyone else break down at this parallel or is it just me?

(TRB ch 38 // TRK ch 55)

[starzin8s]

the thing about gansey is thats he's connected to everyone in the most awful ways but also he's obsessed with his friends and cares for them so deeply that it becomes a vulnerability in a sense. he's interwoven in everyone's lives so... permanently and he doesn't even know. he's constantly warring with himself and is sinking in this feeling of loneliness, that his friends are destined for things greater than he can offer and who is he to hold them back? does he even truly know his friends when they are constantly walking away from him but he can't bear to do the same? even when he carefully plans out the words in his head, he still says the wrong thing without meaning to. and he has no idea that the people he's collected willingly will follow him to the ends of the earth because he's simply gansey.

[starzin8s]

when gansey said “they were always walking away from him but he never seemed able to walk away from them” idk why he felt the need to crack my head open and spill the contents onto the pages of his book, kinda rude tbh

[starzin8s]

i’ve been personally victimized by henry cheng’s toga party

[starzin8s]

OK, OK, you know what ELSE else is underrated?

This moment:

because it has been spoken about in terms of Damon’s insecurity and Stefan’s perceived arrogance. DE anons would accuse Stefan of being conceited for thinking that Damon would be enough in this situation and say and I (as well as other SE anons) would counter that Damon’s insecurity and inability to deal with emotions

led to

(and I’m sure there’s some Defan discourse about what the loss of a brother i.e. Stefan would mean to Damon which is why he couldn’t fathom doing anything other than shutting off her humanity yadda yadda)

but we never really talk about why Stefan says “she had you” beyond that and it’s interesting, because with him and Elena, their love for each other acted as sustenance and hope and strength.

The actual act of loving the other

and receiving that love back

to the point that they tell the other that their love is there for them to hold on to

Elena explains that she was buried in pain and loss and grief

until him

she explains that to Matt too

He reveals to Elena that in one of his darkest moments, she’s what got him through

and he expects that Damon and Elena have that kind of connection and I don’t mean this in the sense that I believe Stefan thought that Damon and Elena had a better understanding of each other than he and Elena had, I mean that because the nourishment he and Elena provided each other, that spiritual and emotional strength is such an integral part of their bond, Stefan couldn’t fathom Damon’s position because what do you mean you don’t have this kind of connection that the only option was to turn off her humanity? (Also, ofc Stefan would just never do that).

But alas, it’s like Nina’s quote: “Stefan feeds Elena’s soul.”

[starzin8s]

Enemies to "I accidentally came across you while you were vulnerable and scared and I'm not a total asshole so I tried to help you" to "accidental mutual uncovering of softer sides and vulnerabilities" to "I can't be mean to you anymore, not out of pity but because it would feel weird betraying that brief truce we had" to "Fine I'll make an effort to be nice to you now I guess" to "actually now that we're not actively hating each other you're not so bad I guess" to "i think we're friends but I'm not going to say that because I'm afraid you're not gonna feel the same way" to "oh you also think we're friends? Great" to lovers

[starzin8s]

thinking a lot tonight about marianne forever trying to forcefully recreate the power connell has over her with other men. constantly begging them to hurt her, giving them her body and mind and giving them the power to do anything to her, say anything to her, make her feel and look however they please. but never being able to come close to the power connell always held over her so effortlessly. because there would never be any mimicking that. which is why she never let the ones that hurt her tell her they loved her. always kept them at a distance. because that wasn’t love. she knew what love was and she didn’t need a reminder that that is exactly the feeling she was trying to recreate. connell had a power over her she would never be able to mimic through complete release of autonomy because she loved him. marianne loved connell in a way that was holy and unable to recreate no matter how hard she tried and how much of herself she forced into the hands of violent, controlling men who wanted to be her god. connell would always have that power because he had her love, and he had no desire to be her god or control her in any way. he only wanted to love her in return.

[starzin8s]

"Talk nonsense to me, by all means, but do it with your own brain, and I shall love you for it" - Razumikhin

(Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime & Punishment)

[starzin8s]

ok but can we talk about, like can we talk about...

[starzin8s]

Gifs aren't enough. We need the full scene on here right now. I am going to be watching this on a loop until season 3...

[starzin8s]

no it's cool it's just that richard gansey iii is a king and ronan lynch is his dreamer and adam parrish is his magician and blue sargent is his anchor and noah czerny is his lifeline and henry cheng is his prince among men and it distracted me for a little bit

[starzin8s]

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU 1999 — dir. Gil Junger

[starzin8s]

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES 2017 | dir. Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg

[starzin8s]

lotr + hugs

[starzin8s]