#delo skyfish

[aurelianmusings]

Griff about Delo in Flamefall Delo about Griff in Furysong

[let-them-sing-of-others]

askRHHSNAJQJAHS……. going feral…..

Delo, Furysong pg. 60 // Delo, Furysong pg. 464

[justjamespotterr]

@let-them-sing-of-others commented like "something something delogriff lotus rock parallels" on the last chapter, and it turns out i actually have a lot of thoughts that i didn't know i had on the foils & parallels between delogriff and lotus & rock's relationship, so i decided to write up a classic mora-style analysis for my beloved aurelian cycle mutuals. (this got longer than i expected, so continue under the cut.)

they are obviously very similar in certain respects. delo and lotus both ride skyfish dragons, they both come from privileged backgrounds, they both express Yearning through reading poetry, they both care deeply about the people they love, etc. they are both intimately attached to people who ride stormscourges, come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and are generally marginalized and disempowered in their respective societies.

the key difference between delogriff and lotus & rock—which explains in large part why griff and delo understand each other's actions and trust the other's intentions more, and why delo has moral qualms about the system of dragonborn oppression earlier on—is because delo & griff experience class inequality up close and personal, and it explicitly infuses every aspect of their dynamic whether they want to ignore it or not. so delo is forced to confront his own complicity in oppression, and his kindness in spite of it means all the more to griff. whereas lotus & rock are technically social equals in the new regime, they are supposed to be on level standing (even if they are not treated so equally in reality), so it is easier for lotus to not even realize the extent of the prejudice against rock, and easier for rock to joke away the injustices of the old (and present) regime. which is all fine and good in a sociopolitical vacuum, but sadly no one lives in such a vacuum. when lotus & rock's differences catch up to them, they are both genuinely taken aback by it, whereas delo and griff are aware of these differences from the very beginning.

the difference is the nature of the prejudice, how explicit it is and how it impacts the two relationships' dynamics early on. the subtle social inequalities are WORSE for lotus & rock's relationship in the long run bc they don't know the truth of the other's backgrounds, they can never truly understand each other until they acknowledge that the inequality exists!! we see this all the way from fireborne with rock's speaking in an accent around annie but never lotus, which is just an offhand remark that actually makes me so insane. i thought writing 30k words about them would make me less insane but it emphatically Did Not. foils! parallels!

[griffsursparker]

forever thinking about it's the eve of the long-awaited return and i'm about to lose everything like what the fuck rosaria munda why did you have to punch me in the chest with that one. everything. he's everything to him. i love them so much i can't take it

[daisymylove]

Finished furysong today and what a ride.I'm obsessed.Any fireborne girlies here? Come simp with me

I feel hollow inside, I haven't liked something this much since the Poppy War (but fear not, the Fireborne trilogy is no way near as traumatizing)

Honestly can't fathom how people are raving over that painfully bad fourth wing book when these gems exist.And they precede the aforementioned disaster to boot

I have a few problems with fireborne itself, it has some classic flaws of a debut book, but it's still good.And oh my, flamefall and furysong take it to a whole other level.

Great lgbt and poc rep, outstanding character development, intelligent political plot, many discussions about social justice, a truly feminist book of women helping each other, delicious romances, and a truly badass fmc.All that with ✨ dragons✨

screaming internally in asoaif girly

Anyone that haven't read it should give it a go

Begging the hand of god to not be the only person on Tumblr crazed about it

[teashh]

I just posted a gist about Furysong by Rosaria Munda. What a thrilling conclusion to a beautiful series. Simple with political intrigue, angst, dragons, morally grey characters and a narrative that will keep you hooked. Word of advice: don't get attached. My heart hurts. My hurt hurts. My heart is gone. It was amazing.

[wishesofeternity]

rambling thoughts on Furysong (Aurelian Cycle 3) by Rosaria Munda

(spoilers below)

The way the first book opens with a flashback of Lee’s family and the last book opens with a flashback of Annie’s ...

“My little skylark, my skysung queen” / “brown as earth, red as flame. you take her with you”

Oh, Annie :(

IT’S DELO

The way Delo cares, the way he feels, the way he tries to understand. How he does nothing about it.

Annie planning a revolution. Annie orchestrating a rescue. Annie protecting children.

Becca and Garet are sweethearts

I was just covering my face throughout Lee’s entire section lmao

Personally, I think that Atreus’s problem is not that he’s incompetent, it’s that he’s too competent.

I knew Lucian Orthos couldn’t be trusted

"Let us return to our roots. To what is right. To what is natural” fuck Ixion

Oh, Astyanax

God, I love Griff. Fierce, fearless, spectacular Griff.

Your dragons are dying and you’re weakening, but you don’t suspect that a single fucking thing is wrong? These people are far too arrogant and far too stupid.

“Come while this faint heart still has the wrong sort of courage” Oh, Delo

ANTIGONE SUR AELA

Leary Thornrose is the stupidest name I’ve seen, and he fucking deserves it

dragons flying in. dragons unmuzzled and free, bellowing fire. dragons with Norcian stars.

(This entire thing felt way too rushed though)

Ixion: I’ve just taken over your country, allied with a conquering empire, and now hold the fates of all your loved ones in my hands. oh, also, you have a bastard brother.] :)

Ixion, no one gives a flying fuck about Farhall and its lands

Parcival Graylily, bastard son of the triarch Kit Skyfish and a housekeeper who died in a poorhouse, fostered by Hesperides House, who goes by Power and is a bastard both literally and metaphorically

fuck Ixion

yeah, I suspected Lotus, Teiran and Tyndale.

“My freedom for a library?”

good god, these fools are so cut off from reality, it’s horrifying

Mabalena claiming her vengeance, screaming as she does, and turning, face shining and proud, to face her future.

Annie and Duck’s reunion :)

“a statue of a long-dead god, a queen from the Golden Age”

I feel for Delo, but honestly, fuck his father

... oh shit

“Aela catches the aurelian’s tail in her fangs and yanks.” lmao

“You’re so focused on winning this battle, you lost the war” that may be true. but liberating an island of people oppressed for generations is not losing, it’s hope.

oh no

oh no

oh no

(maybe Becca is still alive)

“It’s my fault. But it’s their fault, more.” YES

Griff is not backing down, and I’m so proud of him for it

He is spectacular

Delo, on the other hand, has absolutely no sympathy from me

You know, Duck is right. I don’t think the path of a dragonrider is what he ever really wanted for himself. It’s heartbreaking, but it makes sense that now, he’ll feel free.

Aela makes me laugh

fuck Ixion

I love this, I love this, I love this. Lee and Atreus is probably one of my favourite dynamics of this series.  Atreus, who was Lee’s savior and condemner, leader and enemy, mentor and truthteller. Lee, who is Atreus’s greatest mistake and greatest triumph. The parallels, the contradictions, the knife that began and ended it all. The passing of revolution’s flame.

“The point is trying.”

“You will have a candle in hand. A flame guttering in the wind. You will have to protect it. For a time, you may have to take it underground. And then you will have to decide how to use it. Will you make a conflagration, and build in the ashes? Will you light a lantern and climb, hoping that your light will be enough for those below? Or will you choose to light the way for someone else?”

Annie @ her dragon: keep your sex life to yourself

Antigone and the Island of the Dead

Megara, my beloved, I’ve missed you

... you know, this makes sense. They’re feeding the hungry, allowing the People’s Paper to print freely, and letting the Assembly stand. I’m sure that, slowly, it’ll gradually be taken away, but for now, it’s dangerously tempting. And it was all legal.

“She brings a goliathan and an empire with her smile”

"Freyda only seems more amused” lmao

FUCK Ixion

“My least-favourite person in Callipolis” aww, they’re frenemies

I low-key ship them

“She’s easy on the eyes, at least” I WANT HIM DEAD

Ixion: *rages like a toddler in a tantrum* / Literally everyone else: ... yikes

Delo did genuinely have to clean the lairs, lmao

Oh, Annie

Freyda’s ... interesting

Oh, Griff. He’s been oppressed since he was born, and now that he’s at the pinnacle of power, he doesn’t know what kind of a person he’ll be. He was fighting to survive his entire life, and now that he’s finally won, he’s hurting.

“Ten years erased in a matter of weeks” :(

“Lotus, otherwise known as the world’s biggest ass”

Freyda keeps showing us new layers to herself and they’re absolutely fascinating

She’s also a slave-owner, so :/

LEE AND ANNIE

Crissa has just shown up and she’s already stolen the show

“Yeah, that’s it. What else is there?” Oh, Annie

“I don’t know, revolt?” FUCK YEAH. Crissa’s so clever and strategic, I love it

A looming empire, an isolationist nation, a proxy war and new revolution. Sounds good.

“ Griff’s never let himself be talked into sense. It’s his defining feature.”

“As if a queen’s story were one you had any right to.” :(

“The light was always meant to shine for her”

PALLIR FUCKING ATE HIM

Oh, Griff

That classic trope where two people make a journey through the wild and talk about their feelings

Crissa’s so charismatic, I love her

Oh, Delo

“Legitimacy sounds like a fancy word created by someone with a shorter knife to keep themselves from getting stabbed by someone with a longer one.”

Griff: you’re no longer my hostage and I’m sending you back to your beloved family

Delo: but you need someone to sort your papers :(

aww, Argos

lololol, Annie slept in Leon Stormscourge’s bed and tried to seduce his son in it

“I want one week where that life isn’t mine” :(

aww, Sty and Becca are friends

“little winged dogs” awww

“Crissa, beside me, actually has to mask a small squeal at their cuteness as they flit away.” I LOVE HER

old men with old words

The League!!

old men with old words

democratic Damos’s new isolationist administration which is very willing to expound about principles and very unwilling to actually act, is very on-the-nose and I love it

“Every time that man made me get back on the dragon, every time he refused me water or breaks or medicine as I trained, he made me stronger.” I hate it when characters say that their abuse made them stronger. I hate it.

Griff’s bluffing his ass off lmao

Griff saying “hush, darling” to Gephyra always gets me. He’s bold and fierce and cocky, but he has such softness in him.

“Let the skies be someone else’s to rule” “Please let me be done” Oh, Annie. She wants peace. She wants a home.

They’re such nerds lmao

“Why does Power always show up when he’s least wanted?” lmao

Power, furious at the way their rights are being systematically stripped away from them. Power believing that when a government ceases to protect its people, it becomes necessary to overthrow it. Power, strategizing how to overthrow the Triarchy and regain their freedom, and make it better.

oh no

OH NO

oh, Pallor

“And as with the gods, the world quaked”

“See, little one? There’s so much left to live for”

I guessed this would happen, though. All three protagonists - Lee, Annie, Griff - were dragonriders. One of them had to do. And it was most likely to be Lee.

THAT BASTARD PUT HER IN A FUCKING CAGE

and her people give her wildflowers and all their love

Annie’s reunited with Miranda Hane :)

“They may try to write you into history as a villain, but I will drink hemlock before I let you accept that without a fight.”

“And now he’s gone, and I’m left grounded on this hard earth, alone.” :(

oh my god, FUCK YOU, Ixion

“My city, always frightened, always hungry. And it’s endured enough.”

fucking hell, Darius the dumbass just ruined the entire plan

“They both seem inclined to keep their voices raised loud enough for the whole table to hear.” lmao

FREYDA IS DRAGGING IXION’S ASS LMAO

Power admitting his unrequited crush on Annie to a completely flabbergasted Ixion is the funniest thing ever

to be honest, the fact that Megara played such a huge role in Flamefall and was almost non-existent in Furysong is extremely irritating

“Like your mum? Like mine? I’d rather be like them than that excuse for a human being who was my father. Some of the bravest women in our lives have been peasant women. They’re why we’re here. Even if they go unsung.”

I love this subplot about an unfair trial

Griff, after hearing a politically important piece of information about the  Bassilian King: he doesn’t have a chin :/

I remember when we thought it’d be like this. Heroic. Full of purpose / Maybe we are like this, and we just don’t know it.

that poem is beautiful

RIP Power :(

THEY FOUND HER NOT GUILTY LMAO

Ixion: you and what dragon? / Annie, with Aela making the most dramatic draconic entrance of all time: this dragon

Annie beats Ixion while on her period

“he has a striking lack of chin” lmao Delo

THE FINAL TOURNAMENT

“Aela and I do our favourite thing in the world. We rise.”

KICK HIS ASS LMAO

Annie: *kills Ixion* / Delo: excellent, it’s overdue

that goliathan is horrifying

Froydrich, you fucking creep

TAKE THAT BITCH DOWN

Annie and Freyda!!

they won

aww, Delo and Astyanax are going back to Norcia

that speech was very romantic, Delo

“In this corner of the earth that is mine, I will read poetry and grow old in love. Let them sing of others.” oh, Delo

I tentatively like Phemi

High-King Griff has a beautiful ring to it

GRIFF’S FATHER IS ALIVE

“Atreus once told me I was his greatest mistake, and the more I think about it, the more I’d like to make a career of it.” lmao

Lee and Annie might not have a traditional ending, but they will have a beautiful life

They’ll going to be okay

[redheadedfemme]

The Revolution Will Be Flamed

I've had good luck with the series I've read so far this year, as in the final and/or latest book in the sequence has proven to be the best yet. That holds up with this book, which brings the Aurelian Cycle to an emotional, cathartic ending.

The book's acknowledgments refer to this series as "Plato's Republic with dragons," and while I haven't read Plato to understand that reference, there has been a lot of twisty-turny politics and revolutionary fervor in this story. It was a little bit overwhelming in the last volume, but this one clarifies where our characters' loyalties lie, and what they will do to free their island of Callipolis from the tyranny of the dragonborn.

Classism lies at the heart of this story, as the dragonborn--the families who tamed dragons and trained their children to ride them and rule--view the serfs, which one of our protagonists Antigone sur Aela is one, as subhuman and undeserving of basic rights. The dragonborn were overthrown in a bloody revolution ten years prior to the opening book in the series, Fireborne, but in the second book they returned to oust their own conquerers, with the help of Princess Freyda from the mainland and her enormous dragon, called a "goliathan."

(And just having seen the monstrous Vhagar depicted on HBO's House of the Dragon, I have a pretty good mind-picture of how big Freyda's dragon is.)

In this book our two main protagonists and viewpoint characters, Lee and Annie, return along with two others: Griff Gareson on the island of New Pythos and his lover, Delo Skyfish. These four intertwining storylines are adroitly juggled and all the characters are given satisfying arcs. Indeed, this is the most emotional of the three books, with more than one section where the room got quite dusty as I was reading. The characters have matured and step up to free Callipolis from its conquerers, as well as tearing down the system that allowed the dragonborn to dominate and rule. There is heartache and sacrifice along the way, but in the end their world is remade and they are looking forward to a better future.

The dragons also get more time in this book, although some of the creatures' worldbuilding was a bit hinky--they have retractable fangs? Really?--and the phenomenon of "sparking" and "dousing" individual dragons seems to be more in service of plot demands rather than make any actual biological sense. Still, it was gratifying to finally get to know Annie's dragon Aela and Lee's mount Pallor a little better, even if a tragedy lay in store for Lee and Pallor. Lee's and Annie's romance also intensifies in this book, and it's handled in a refreshingly adult manner, with almost no angst.

This book steps up its game and brings everything to a satisfying conclusion. I would definitely recommend this book, and the entire series, as one of the best things I've read this year.

[simplysparrow14]

skyfish guy's name is delo, which I think is meant to sound like deh-low. and he's definitely very important. but aside from him, the sequel contains so much drama and what I think are some great gut punch moments near the end. i finished it all in one night have been thinking about it since -🔥

Can’t wait 😊

[aurelianmusings]

(Spoilers from Furysong below)

I was rereading Power's speech yesterday and I have sooo many thoughts about healing and being oneself and how important role models are for that, so I thought I'd share some of the ones about our three tragic dragonborn figures:

For most of the series, Lee struggles to reconcile the trauma of his family’s death with the acceptance of the regime that caused it. He has to hide his identity and grief, because in the new Callipolis that’s tantamount to approving of the old regime. Atreus shows this in Fireborne: he tries to kill him because he can’t see the loyal Firstrider and the dragonborn’s son in the same person; as soon as he finds out that Lee is Leo, the latter cancels the former. Lee sur Pallor is Leo Stormscourge is the Revolution’s Son, yet society only sees him as three separate figures. Even when the Passi leverage his legacy for their own propaganda they do so as if Leo Stormscourge were a closed chapter of his life. Only Annie understands how his identities intersect, because she knows him so well. She was able to recognize that the wrongness that had been done to her family didn’t justify the wrongness that had been done to his, long before he allowed himself to (thinking of that scene in Fireborne during Atreus’ lesson when Annie argues against Palace Day and Lee excuses it). She lets him talk about his family, sees the boy who shared his food in the man who argues for rations to be fairly distributed, and even gives him his father’s knife.

Sty is the Lee of the new generation: same origin story but with a slight deviation that’s enough to change everything. While Lee only had Atreus as a role model, Sty will grow up with two: Griff, quite literally Sty’s Atreus, who rebelled in the name of a better future and caused the death of his family, except Griff was able to see beyond what Sty was to who he was and spared him, and later became family (to contrast with the scene in Flamefall where Lee ironically calls Atreus a father figure, when he was anything but); and Delo, a dragonborn who rejected the imperatives of blood to follow his heart, proving that birth doesn’t determine who we are.

Which is significant because Delo himself struggled with the lack of that kind of example in his life, and his arc culminates once he finds it. At the beginning of Furysong, he is still contending with his family’s worldview: when he drops Griff he talks about “the wrong type of courage”, when he’s moved by his pain he’s “crying for the wrong reasons”, when the Norcians treat him badly, despite recognizing his role in their oppression, he “might have thought to regret” saving their children from the fire. What pushes him to switch sides once and for all is witnessing Power’s loyalty to Annie. Another dragonborn, a relative even, who’s not ashamed to act against his lineage or to declare his love for a peasant, and in front of Ixion of all people, something Delo never had the courage to do.

It’s the kind of solidarity of thought that Delo had been needing all of his life, that had to come from another dragonborn to truly matter, that Lee also craved from Atreus and never got and would have made all the difference if he had. But Sty will have it from the start. He won’t have to reject his past or repress his trauma to be accepted into the new world. I imagine him as becoming a well-adjusted version of Lee, someone who embraces his roots even while helping Norcia heal from the damages caused by his family.

[teashh]

I'LL NOT SAY THIS AGAIN. GO READ THE AURELIAN CYCLE AKA FIREBORNE AND FLAMEFALL YOU COWARDS.

IT.

HAS.

DRAGONS.