#Spring of the Ram

[j-august]

Nicholas said, "In any language, loyalty is a difficult word."

Dorothy Dunnett, Spring of the Ram

[leojurand]

absolutely one of the most fascinating things about nicholas as a character is his lack of identity and how he changes himself to fit into whatever mould will get him what he wants or keep the people around him content.

he can be claes, the harmless clown imitating his betters; and he can be that person for years, and then turn into reliable, cunning nicholas, who is intelligent (if not trustworthy) enough to become the face of the business.

in spring of the ram, when their galley is set on fire, nicholas gives a speech worthy of james flint about how no one's going to harm his vessel and his men. because he knows that's the nicholas his crew needs to see so he can get what he wants: the crew working restlessly so the ship can sail as fast as possible.

maybe the sentiment in those words was sincere, but it was also a conscious choice made by nicholas. after that happens, goldscac notices that nicholas has dropped the humility act of the beginning of their trip, and is now a more assertive leader. again, it's because that's the type of person that will get him his goal, which is reaching constantinople/catherine as early as possible. and the slightly more submissive type of leader he was up until that point is the mask his caretakers, specifically tobie and julius, needed to see to not feel threatened by nicholas's intelligence or humiliated by his youth.

there's just an infinite amount of layers to this character. nicholas's true identity, whether or not it exists, what takes him to find out... that's something that keeps being explored in every book until the last one. it's simply masterful characterization. as always, dorothy was insane for that

[whodunnett1526]

finished spring of the ram. the tough part about rereading dunnett is you know the emotional punches are coming so sometimes the feverish suspense isn’t enough to get you through emotionally…because i continue to question why am i doing this to myself…because after all my beloved claes goes through, what can he hope for his family? lymond, peak sufferer of all time…anyway the named dagger part always slaps tho

[tetedurfarm]

slime babies! sheep genetics are stupid!

[cnladies]

BAI LU 白鹿 in Rami Al Ali 2025 Spring/Summer Series | iQiyi Event in Thailand

Bai Lu: more photos here event: more photos here

[good--merits-accumulated]

sitting in my overnutrition lecture grinning like a fool from ear to ear because some fictional guy from the 15th century just diverted all his cargo to Kerasous and the Genoese cargo to Bursa, ruining Pagano Doria's trading endeavours and saving theirs from oncoming war. and he did all that while looking cunty as fuck and dispelling rumours of his violent death. amen.

[frentique]

[paulalucas]

BOING TIMES having fun with my ram rig - made in Blender!

[enmatrr]

Little skit I made🐱

I headcanon that Dokkaebi only does things for Ram when there's ramyeon involved lmao

[camera-worker]

Big Blue, Spring Morning, 2024

#10-117-20

[leojurand]

the way tobie and godscalc are my enemies in this book. everything about this but specifically:

"Was the spoiling of Catherine de Charetty better or worse than the ruin of Katelina van Borselen?" let's see, is it worse to groom a 12 y.o child, manipulate her and marry her, or to have sex with a girl your own age that unfortunately ends up getting pregnant and decides to marry another man without your knowing? man, who knows! what a hard question. can we be serious for a second

[sunshineram]

what the hell are you two doing?

[tetedurfarm]

i have never seen horns erupt with a patch of skin/fur on them before, ewwww

[rabbitcruiser]

Thomas Edison received a patent for his incandescent lamp on January 27, 1880.

[vampiremangle]

Come join her! Commission from twitter

[fireworkss-exe]

mood booster: getting called lovely by the guy you're pretending to kill in cell block tango