#goblinatrix

[queer-ragnelle]

asking because this is very important to me to add to my reading list, if it exists: are there any stories where Guen and Arthur actually do love each other, even if her feelings for Lancelot make things difficult? i really like them both as characters, i like her when shes actually characterized and when Arthur actually lives up to the hype of a good, noble king who is sweet to his wife and not a dirtbag who cheats on her constantly. are the books you recommended by Sharan Newman in that vein?

Yes definitely recommend Sharan Newman’s trilogy. Not only does Arthur remain faithful to Guinevere, he’s vehemently against cheating like Merlin suggests he should. Arthur was never going to burn her at the stake either. He knew about her and Lancelot and let it be because he loved them so much. Here’s a quote from The Chessboard Queen so you get Arthur/Guinevere vibes.

Another suggestion would be Howard Pyle’s books again lol the first book The Story of King Arthur and His Knights literally has Arthur wearing a magical disguise so he can pretend to be a gardener and watch his crush Guinevere. Later he jousts as the White Knight and Leodegrance wants his daughter to marry the champion, but Guinevere says she only loves the gardener! Until at last it’s revealed Arthur, the White Knight, was the gardener!! It’s so silly she’s like “You’re stupid. I like that in a man.”

Lancelot doesn’t come in until the following book The Story of the Champions of the Round Table which opens with his origin story. (This also happens in Sharan Newman’s The Chessboard Queen, interesting book two coincidence!) Book three The Story of Launcelot and His Companions is where the events of the Knight of the Cart plays out as well as the joust at Astolat where Lancelot meets Elaine, whom he eventually marries. Elaine has Galahad unbeknownst to Lancelot while he is away, and she dies, so Lancelot doesn’t meet his son until the following book. Speaking of sons, Mordred is not Arthur’s bastard, he’s the wedlock son of Lot and Morgause just like his brothers, so Arthur’s one and only partner in the whole series is Guinevere, whereas she and Lancleot were chaste but he married Elaine after Guinevere dismissed him, but he comes back to her after. At the end in book four The Story of The Grail and The Passing of Arthur, Arthur isn’t going to burn Guinevere at the stake, she’s to have a trial, which Lancelot rescues her from, and the offense then becomes killing Gaheris and Gareth, less so the Queen herself. It’s just all around less cruel to women which is a victory.

Other suggestions don’t focus on Guinevere so they’re minor but in Blessed Bastard by Ruth P. M. Lehmann with Galahad pov he has a candid talk with Guinevere. It’s interesting in his perspective how he attempts to understand her love for two men, and although he’s unable to, he accepts it and is kind to her. Which almost never happens. A similar thing is done in The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts, which is a Tristan/Isolde retelling, but Dinadan explains the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot situation to Tristan to try and dissuade him from his affair with Isolde which definitely doesn’t work. It’s interesting because Dinadan says Arthur knows but he chooses to ignore it for the good of all and Tristan’s perspective is that Dinadan doesn’t understand love, it’s something beyond rationality.

Now if we were to go into movies and shows, I have a ton more suggestions. But that’s what I have for books! I love these so let me know what you think when you get to them. 🥰

[queer-ragnelle]

YAYYYYYY time to have your brain rewired…

@queer-ragnelle she has arrived...

[digitalduckie]

Last night @goblinatrix found a good reference for their Selunite cleric, Tristan, and in all my humina-humina reaction I said I needed to draw Jehoel with him (again). This is a much chiller result than what I'd had in mind originally but still I love getting to see their height difference and all.

[rogue-lavellan-trin]

RULES: post a 24-hour poll containing two truths and one lie about your oc. Have your followers try to guess which is the lie.

tagged by @feeshies

Gonna do Breeze/Brianna:

tagging @digitalduckie @goblinatrix @hamingo @mininuked

[kitschyycoo]

tagged by @prairiedeath to list the nine albums i’ve been listening to the most lately

left to right: nine inch nails- the downward spiral/ the crow soundtrack/ system of a down- toxicity/ pj harvey- rid of me/ chelsea wolfe- she reaches out to she reaches out to she/ the moth & the flame- self titled/ @prairiedeath’s own album- altar/ daniela lalita- trececerotres/ darkher- realms

thank you so much!! <3

tagging @moldavite @polskiebagno @goblinatrix and any one else who want to!

[miramoras-blog]

You can't imagine how painful and difficult life is that we are living now. Sharing my story with you is hope and life for me, so don't hesitate💔🥹.

@itsanikk @maybedeadkid @nerissamaes @teeththelurker @therealcrazytools @drowinginaseaoftears @space-c0ps @zadrian @cole-xcx @delhemming @supersonickingofthescene @cko7 @duvetsandpillows @crab-lady-echo @thearcadianwild @w0mank1ss3r @hollowisthyname @to-sleep-perchance-to-@dream-17 @justapileofrats @starlit-stella @lightbluepika2 @stillworshipthislovess @vanille-et-miel @curlyanni @alexvacice @caesarcinema @painterspit @one-mouldy-lime the-ugly-docling @areallyhappyperson @incohesiveramblings @dragoonqueeb @superuddertrash-blog @kosmickj @lolalolitasthings @trashsquared02 @sarahkatieee @i-cant-find-a-good-username @littlekorok @jeanjaquesrousseou @k-wame @gaybombthekilljoy @goblinatrix @xreveux @googlygazer @i-em-ironman @xestypeachghost @saturniidace @sn1ppysn1ps @lucidgrimm

A rose insists on blooming amidst the rubble... My destroyed home stands as a witness, and my heart, despite the pain, still believes in life. Your support makes a difference🤍.

[queer-ragnelle]

idk how unpopular this is but i think Guenevere is treated like dogshit in most retellings and deserves to have her motivations and feelings explored without demonizing her or woobifying her either.

TRUTH!!!!! I have a couple rants about this on my pinned post because it’s seriously ridiculous how this is still a problem. Lots of new media still contains misogyny toward her. All these creators saying, “Well I wouldn’t cheat on Arthur!” with their whole chests like alright man nobody is condoning infidelity irl and yes you would cheat on Arthur because sometimes that guy sucks!!! Plus anybody who strips Guinevere of all her bite, any of the ladies really including Isolde, don’t have my respect. It’s not less misogynistic to make Guinevere into a perfect flawless idealized queen with no personality. We can have both.

[queer-ragnelle]

can i ask about what exactly happened with the Mists of Avalon writer that makes her and her husband so rancid? ive seen the book around, but havent read it myself--i tended to focus more on older lit for my Arthuriana fix.

Yes here’s a post I made about it which I also keep on my pinned post. I included sources. Warning for pedophilia.

[queer-ragnelle]

tbh also wanna give you the shoutout for your role in the community, i was also tentatively dipping my toes back in when i discovered your blog and got all these wonderful recs and now im full-on hyperfixating and having the time of my life.

Hey thanks! So glad you were able to find what you were looking for here and rejoin us in the knights and ladies obsession. :^)

[queer-ragnelle]

@goblinatrix I agree, I’m a Vera Chapman hater. Her prose is beautiful and she has great ideas (naming Arthur’s daughter Ursulet after the bear constellation!!!) but the way Lynette was treated by Bademagus and her husband Gaheris makes my skin crawl.

Sadly Gaheris is often excluded or even replaced by another character as the fifth Orkney brother (Sarah Zettel replaced him with Geraint lol). Gareth/Lynette is vastly more popular than Gaheris/Lynette but…

Best example I can give you is an installment in Gerald Morris’s Squire’s Tales The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf it’s awesome and it’s Lynette pov! It’s very fun, Lynette gets to learn some magic from Morgan, there’s a fun dynamic of her jealousy of her sister Lyonesse then Gaheris has a similar jealousy of his brothers. It has very similar vibes to Vera Chapman’s premise of how Lynette was set up except Gerald Morris respects women. The characters then return in later books with their daughter! It’s so adorable!

Gaheris/Lynette as a couple get brief mentions in a number of stories, like Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Sword and the Circle where they dance together at Gareth and Lyonesse’s wedding and fall in love it’s very cute. But their married life is never made mention of.

The flip side of this is in the play Mordred A Tragedy by Henry Newbolt which includes all the Orkney Bros and their wives, but it’s Lynette who gets all the speaking parts while Gaheris is a name drop. So that’s pretty funny.

To try and warm up to Gaheris himself, I love him in Gawain by Gwen Rowley. He’s very sweet and funny, Ragnelle even says he’s her favorite of the younger brothers! He’s Gawain and Ragnelle’s little guy. 🥺 But he’s still a teenager so too young to be married, thus no Lynette.

Another solid Gaheris is in the books by Howard Pyle. He is Gawain’s squire in the first book The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. Again, too young to be married, but Lynette is introduced in the third book The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions, but! Only Gareth and Lyonesse marry, Agravaine and Gaheris aren’t forcibly paired with the remaining kinswomen, so there’s no Gaheris/Lynette happening here. Although Gaheris is all around a chill guy, doesn’t kill his mother, doesn’t abuse a wife he doesn’t have. Win/win. Gaheris is in Pyle’s other two books as well, book two The Story of the Champions of the Round Table and the final book The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur. The spelling of his name is occasionally “Geharis” even in books it’s also “Gaheris” if you intend to look him up. But he’s there chillin!

Lastly I’ll warn you against The Book of Gaheris by Kari Sperring, I dropped it at about a quarter-third of the way through. I hated it for a multitude of reasons but Gaheris constantly cheating on Lynette and not even trying to reconcile with her drove me nuts. “Oh he’s introverted.” I’m about to invert him if he keeps disrespecting her like that!!! It’s crazy she literally goes to Guinevere who goes to Arthur who goes to Gaheris and he still dishonors her by fucking the maid. 0/10 do not recommend, hated basically everyone in it, Agravaine treated Laurel even worse. Ick!!

So that’s what I got for you! I didn’t intend for this to get so long lol but it gives you a bunch of options. If you do read Gerald Morris’s book, lmk what you think!!

Unpopular Opinion:

Gareth and Lynette are no more popular than Gaheris and Lynette. This is based on my observations on different platforms.

Interesting!! I know Gareth/Lynette is undoubtedly more common in retellings, but tbh I like Gaheris/Lynette a lot and wish it came up more often. But only when Gaheris gets to be a nice guy, I’ve seen some disturbing Gaheris/Lynette and that’s tragic. Wifeguy Orkneys or nothing!!

[digitalduckie]

Day 3 of OC Kiss Week is @goblinatrix's rogue, Keili, with Royce! We've talked about this a lil before and they'd be fun together. Maybe someday we can make something happen.

[digitalduckie]

Another catboy! This time it's @goblinatrix's Selunite cleric, Tristan. I'm thinking of taking YCHs for these cuz I'm having fun.

[digitalduckie]

Makeout meme Jehoel edition featuring DnD!Jehoel with @goblinatrix's Selunite cleric, Tristan, and of course Darktide!Jehoel with his beloved Borgr.