#Emira Maresh

[antaripirate]

here’s one of those posts where i don’t think about it for more than five seconds after the idea spawns in my head

[untolduttering]

I also want to talk about this specific quote

Kell shook himself, not wanting to think about the man who’d raised him, and yet had never seen him as a son. The king who’d fallen, along with so many, at Osaron’s hands, and forced Rhy, too soon, onto the throne.

Because Maxim is suuuch an interesting and complex character, and a great example of how you cannot be a good king, a good father, and a good person all at once. A good father and person would have taken Kell in as a son immediately. But as a king, Kell was a fantastic pawn, weapon and protector for his son, one that he could not possibly pass up if he wanted his kingdom to do well. Kell could not be a prince and a protect Rhy, he could not be a son and protect Rhy. So he had to pick. Which falls out of good person and into, maybe, good father and into good king.

And that’s just one instance of decision making on his part. He’s never been able to make a real decision for just himself. It was always him, his wife and son, his palace, an entire population of a country. How do you balance that? You can’t. He had to fail his son and wife to help his people. He had to fail Kell to help his son and wife. And if he took even a moment to regret it, everything crumbles.

Such, SUCH, an interesting guy. It also attests to Schwab’s ability to write realistic people, because not a single character can be described as purely good. They all have done something that puts them into the “all over bad, irredeemable person” category, but they’re still good people. It’s never that simple. They cannot be fully forgiven, but they’re still them, and we’ve gotta move on. Holland is her best example, and perhaps I should deep dive on him for my own pleasure, we’ll see. Also Emira’s whole thing with being forced into motherhood and queendom?? Oh my god. There’s just so much here.

[badmareshparenting]

Rhy: mother, what do you think of Alucard?

Queen Emira: well, he’s VERY handsome

Rhy: Yes. Very.

Queen Emira: And he certainly sits well when he’s riding

Rhy: I agree

Queen Emira: And such beautiful manners.

Rhy: Flawless manners.

Queen Emira: Whomever he settles down with is going to be very happy. — why are you smiling? Did I say something funny?

Rhy: no. I agree with you on everything.

[shouldprobablybereading]

Maxim and emiras death suck so much, emiras at least is an attack and not from making a stupid decision. If his son who’s the strongest magician in their world can’t face osaron then maxims spell was sure as hell not gonna do anything. I guess you could make some argument that he doesn’t trust kells plan but it’s still just so pointless. Like they died because rhy needed to become king and let kell go in the end, which makes it not feel natural at all. It’s like they never finished any of the conflicts, which might work if it was one parent but both is a bit too much.

One solution that I think could be more interesting would be if they had killed maxim, through a slightly more meaningful sacrifice, but let emira live. That way rhy is still in power but that whole conflict doesn’t go away

[mercurialskiies]

sometimes i wonder if it was intentional (and the more i read back on these books the more i’m certain of it) for emira maresh to have an affinity for ice magic.

she views herself as being capable of breaking everything she touches (ice, being one of the more fragile things in the world besides probably glass), but what’s so ironic about the whole thing is that the basis of ice is water. mutable. resilient and subject to change because it’s a liquid and not a solid.

which almost makes me wonder what could have been of emira maresh if she had gotten to realize that

[midnightantari]

“A queen could leave her throne, but a mother NEVER leaves her son.”

- A Conjuring of Light, by V.E. Schwab

[purplebass]

Adsom hospital AU idea just rolled in my mind like a ball of hay and it's either a hit or a big mess lmao

Rhy is the heir of a prestigious private hospital but he's still trying to get his business degree to manage the structure one day. Kell is his half-brother and he is working on a secret project that Maxim and Emira are doing (Fishy stuff. May or may not be related to antari magic). Rhy doesn't know anything about it. Alucard is a minor stakeholder of the hospital and he's annoyed at the Maresh family because Maxim is not being transparent and seems to only care about being more famous than their rival hospital and using his son Rhy to promote their clinic (while letting Kell do the dirty work). Alucard meets Lila by chance (her landlord had just thrown her out) and offers her a deal. She has to pose as a med researcher and tell him about the project and in exchange he will give her housing and money. Lila accepts solely because she has an agenda of her own about the hospital, but Alucard doesn't know. hehe. Holland works at the rival hospital and is a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon. This hospital is managed by the Dane twins and has a good reputation but if people seem to be different after they are discharged... How will it end?

[ghoulorghost]

Headcanon about Antari bloodtype

The type of blood a person has, is determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens.

Antigens are substances that, if foreign to the body trigger an immune response.

There are over 600 different antigens across more than 36 blood group systems that may be present or absent on our red blood cells.

You have a ‘rare’ blood type if your blood is missing an antigen which is common to most, or if it has an antigen which most don’t have. 

Plasma contains antibodies which fight infections and antigens of the same type.

The 4 main types of blood are determined by the presence or absence of two antigens, A and B, on the surface of the red blood cells. This classification is done by the A,B,O blood group system.

The bloodtype A has the A antigen on the surface of it's red blood cells and the B antibody in it's plasma.

The bloodtype B has the B antigen on the surface of it's red blood cells and the A antibody in it's plasma.

The bloodtype AB has both the A and B antigens on the surface of it's red blood cells and neither A or B antibodies in it's plasma.

The bloodtype O has neither A or B antigens on the surface of it's red blood cells, but both the A and B antibodies in it's plasma.

The second most important classification after the A,B,O blood group system is the Rhesus blood group system, with over 50 antigens.

One of these Rh antigens is the Rh D antigen, the presence of which determines a Rh positive bloodtype and the absence of which determines a Rh negative bloodtype.

The 8 most common bloodtypes are as follows : A+, A-, B+, B-, O+, O-, AB+, AB-.

RhNull blood on the other hand has none of the Rh antigens. It is the result of certain mutations.

It is extremely rare, with fewer than 50 individuals known to have RhNull blood in the 50 years after it's discovery, and only 9 active donors.

I associated it with Antari based on this quote:

"He was, after all, Antari. And Antari could speak to blood. To life. To magic itself. The first and final element, the one that lived in all and was of none."

RhNull blood can be donated to anybody, especially useful to people with rare Rh antigens, following only the A,B,O blood group system donation rules and that's why the term Golden Blood is used for it. On the other hand, people with this blood type cannot receive transfusions from anybody but other people with the RhNull bloodtype, following the same donation rules.

Magic is not hereditary, so I like to assume that after developing Antari magic they lose the Rh antigens through mutation.

And since I couldn't help myself, I assigned every character I kept track of, a bloodtype.

Most of the bloodtypes I assigned were based on my own interpretrations, but I did my best to mind the rules by which they are inherited.

GRAY LONDON

Barron-  AA+

Ned Tuttle - AB-

RED LONDON

Maxim Maresh - BO+

Emira Maresh - OO-

Rhy Maresh - OO+

Alucard Emery - AO+

Nadiya Maresh - AB+

Ren Maresh - AO+

Emery - AA+

Berras Emery - AA+      

Anisa Emery - AO+

Sol Rosec - AB+

Oren Rosec - BO+

Hanara Rosec - AA-

Serival Ranek - BO+

Mirin Ranek - BO+

Rosana Ranek - OO-

Tesali Ranek - OO-

Kisimyr Vasrin - OO-

Tieren Serense - OO+

Nero - AO+

Ezril Nasaro - OO+

Bex Galevans - OO+

Calin Trell - BO+

Falori - AB+

Calla -  BB+

WHITE LONDON

Ros Vortalis - OO+

Talya - AO+

Alox Vosijk - AA+

Athos Dane - AB+

Astrid Dane - AB-

Nasi - AA-

Lark - AO-

Beloc - AO+

ANTARI

Delilah Bard - AO RhNull (was AO-)

Kell Maresh - OO RhNull (was OO-)

Holland Vosijik - OO RhNull (was OO-)

Ojka - BB RhNull (was BB-)

Kosika - AB RhNull (was AB-)

[pagesfromthevoid]

Without further ado —the fancast that literally none of you asked for but I’m obsessed —A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab (which, if you haven’t read it, I recommend you do. If you have, FUCKIN TALK TO ME ABOUT IT).

Mild spoilers?? I guess??

First up, Kell Maresh:

Alex Saxon. Idk man, he’s got the withered, sad boy energy that Kell exudes. I think it’s the eyes.

Next, Rhy Maresh

LISTEN TO ME. JORDAN FISHER? LOOK AT HIM AND TELL ME IM WRONG. I fucking love Jordan Fisher and even before I was obsessed with the book, this is who I saw as Rhy. I love him.

Okay okay. Now Lila Bard:

Willa Holland. Idk man, I loved her in Arrow. She’s snarky, she’s got the vibe. Lila needs someone whose a bit more wiry because of the way she’s lived, and Willa just works imo

BUT WAIT THERES MORE

Holland Vosijk

Cillian Murphy. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that this man does not EXUDE the fucking self loathing, complicated, morally grey man Holland is. Tell me. I fucking love Holland and his story and CILLIAN MURPHY IS PERFECT.

And then there’s Alucard Emery.

Avan Jogia is just. He’s so fine. So fine. Pirate vibes? Royal pirate vibes? Yes absolutely. Him and Jordan Fisher together?? YES.

The Dane Twins

Dane Dehaan and Cara Delevingne. Hear me out. Hear me out. They look way too much alike (remember when they played love interests? Yeah I also repress the shit outta that). Dane does an excellent job being an awful person. And he gives the vibe. And while Cara isn’t the worlds best actress —she looks like Astrid. Which ehh isn’t a compliment necessarily because Astrid is creepy as fuck but STILL.

King Maxim and Queen Emira

Michael Beach and Kerry Washington. While I don’t particularly like Rhy’s parents because they’re kind of dicks to Kell, they’re important. Michael Beach is a fantastic actor; like everything he is in, I’m always so taken by his performance. And Kerry Washington?? She literally. She fits Emira’s description to a fucking tee. And she’s a great fucking actress.

[fangirlingsohardithurts]

Full offense!!!

But the Maresh family is black. Not only are they described as black, but they are drawn, canonly, as black.

So before y’all go drawing art, and writing fanfics, please remember that this family is black, as well as a lot of the citizens. If you lighten the skin, for any reason, that’s whitewashing, and therefore is racist.

*I’m not referring to Kell. We all know canonly he is white.

This series is written by V. E. Schwab

Art by Andrea Olimpieri

[antaripirate]

Emira: So I’ve put together this selection of potential wives and husbands for you. All from reputable families of course. They would obviously have diplomatic roles in the palace, which would mean you would still have plenty of time to protect Rhy…

Kell:

Emira, handing him the stack of papers: …a wedding within the year would be best, so could you let me know your decision by tomorrow morning? That should give you plenty of time to evaluate.

Kell:

*clattering of metal and swearing coming from outside, before Lila wanders in, dressed in men’s clothes, grinning at Kell, covered in blood and holding six knives*

Kell, pointing: I want that one.

Emira, looking traumatised, whispering: What is it?

Kell, with ultimate heart-eyes: It’s a Lila.

*lila grins and waves then flips off Emira*

[larrikin-is-a-himbo]

[badmareshparenting]

Alucard: oh it’s the tousle-haired angry one!

Kell: *holds out box*

Alucard: when my servant said a prince with sweet buns was waiting for me I naturally thought of R—

Kell:

[shouldprobablybereading]

Second time reading acol and I hate the beginning just as much, not in a it's badly written way but because I'm so frustrated with emira

(Putting the rest under read more because it got long and ranty, tw for some discussion on self harm and a suicide adjacent moment)

Like there is something that bothers me so much about the attitude surrounding kell being imprisoned and basically tortured, only focusing on how this is bad for rhy. Like emira is sitting there praying saying that kell would never let rhy die, but she doesn't know that his magic is cut off. From her perspective rhys death means kell is off somewhere dying painfully as well and there is no sympathy for that. What happends to him is just a (albeit horrible) side effect of something happening ti kell, it's like the fire alarm going off and being upset that it's loud instead of being concerned by a fire.

"a mother never abandons her child" - Ma'am you have two!

Which is why their hug when he returns rings so hollow to me. Narratively it's the moment where they make up (to some degree) and they recognize that he truly is the only thing keeping rhy there. But it doesn't recognize that this is their fault, he ran away from them, their actions where the ones that actually put rhy in danger. Kell was hurt and that isn't just bad because it hurts rhy as well, its bad because it matters because kell is a human being and it matters if he's in pain. It just feeds into the idea that his life only had worth if it's for the purpose of protecting rhy

I actually kinda wish for that reason that lila hadn't healed him before them reuniting, when he comes back to them he's fine and they don't get to see the horror of what he experienced, what situation their actions pushed him into. Because I wonder if to some degree kell constantly using his blood for magic and his antari powers making him heal better has made them think of it as less of a concern like he's invincible (which to be fair he kinda is but that doesn't mean it's pleaseant). There is something fucked up in general about desensitizing a child towards hurting himself to the point that he doesn't hesitate to slit his own wrists. Cutting yourself is not some easy casual thing to do, it takes a lot of willpower. The antari have to use their blood and it's for a reason but it's always struck out to me how often they are just expected to hurt themselves because of it. Which is not specifically emira and maxims fault but fascinating none the less, tho I should probably end here since I'm rambling away from the subject.

[sharry-arry-odd]

"He was meant to be your shield," she murmured. "Your shelter. You were never meant to be his." Rhy shook his head, exasperated. "Kell isn't the only one you fail to understand. My bond with him didn't start with this curse. You wanted him to kill for me, die for me, protect me at all costs. Well, Mother, you got your wish. You simply failed to realize that that kind of love, that bond, it goes both ways. I would kill for him, and I would die for him, and I will protect him however I am able, from Faro and Vesk, from White London, and Black London, and from you."

A Conjuring of Light, by V.E. Schwab

[bigbluenotes]

A Letter From The King

This weekend I finished the Shades Of Magic series by @veschwab​

@hittintheroad​ insisted for like two years that I should read it so I finally did. 

I loved it so much, and I never thought I could love a fictional character more than I love Kaz Brekker (SoC) but along came Kell Maresh. 

Anyway, I felt that Kell (and us) needed to know what was on that letter Maxim wrote, so I decided to write a little fic of what I imagine/wish it says. I hope you enjoy it ❤

*Stop reading if you haven’t finish “A Conjuring of Light” * 

--------------

Rhy was nervous as he walked to his brother's room. He bit his lip when he knocked on the door. 

"Come in" said the voice inside the quarters

"Hey" greeted Rhy when he saw his brother. Kell was laying on his favorite chair, one hand on his hair, another in a book.

“Hey” replied Kell as he standed up and put the book on the chair to walk towards Rhy. “What brings you here?” 

“Now I need a reason to see my favorite brother?” he said playfully 

“I’m your only brother, Rhy” a frown forming 

“Yeah, I know. I just really wanted to see you” he paused “and give you this” he bit his lip again while pulling out his hand with the letter. A letter from their father. Rhy had kept this letter from his brother for days, waiting for things to settle and for Kell to regain his strength after the fight with the shallow king. 

“What is this?” asked Kell extending his hand in response without looking at the envelope 

“A letter from the King” realization hit Rhy as Kell looked at him with question in his brow “No, not from me, I mean from father. He left three letters at his desk, one for mother, one for me, and one for you” 

Kell took the envelope, unsure 

“I’m sorry I kept it from you for so long, but... I- I wanted to make sure-”

“I understand” interrupted Kell. 

To my son Kell, that’s how the envelope was addressed. Kell’s mismatched eyes tightened when he noticed. He cleared his throat and managed a “Thank you”

“I’ll leave you to it” Rhy added and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder giving it a brief squeeze before leaving

The letter read: 

Son, 

I'm sorry this word took so long to return to my lips. I'm sorry I made you feel like a prisoner instead of family. I’m so sorry for all the times I didn’t recognize you and I know there were a lot of times when I let my fears guide my actions. My heart is broken from the pain I caused you, my boy. I hope in time you find it in your heart to forgive me. I want you to know that I love you, I always have, and I always will. 

Do you remember the time when we used to take long walks around the palace gardens, you and Rhy would run and play, we could stay there for hours. Emira and I would look at you and each other delighted in our two extraordinary blessings. I cherish those days when you and your brother were little, when you didn’t have the world on your shoulders and your laugh came easy. 

Please know that I have always been proud of you. Today my chest aches with pride when I see the man you've become. I look at you and I see a true Prince of Arnes, yes I know you don’t like to be called that and I can imagine your frown as you read this, but that’s part of who you are, my boy, my son, my prince. When I look at you I see courage, valor, kindness, strength, love. I also see a wonderfully curious mind and a spirit ready to set flight. And it crushes me to know I won’t be here to see where life takes you next and share all your happiness with you. I pray you understand my decision of leaving you like this. And I hope that with my death you find the freedom you need to see the world. Go take a ship with Miss Bard and see everything. Indeed,  she’s a force to be reckoned with, I can see why you are pulled together, why you love her. So hold on to that and just go, live and find your happiness. 

Don't forget to come back home. 

Kell finished the letter between smiles, a light laugh and tears. He puts the letter on the inner pocket of his peculiar coat, keeping it close to his heart.