#gridelin speaks

[gridelincarver]

hey I trust u what are ur top 5 Iorveth songs 👀 im in a creative bind I need inspo (im also @essskel but u know that lmao)

oh my god HI

i know this isn't what u asked but like first off real quick lemme slide this link over... i have a iorveth playlist on spotify (it's meant to be listened on shuffle i know the order i added them is wack)

but uhh ok if i had to pick 5 (also in no particular order)

"Arsonist's Lullabye" - Hozier

"Wretches and Kings" - Linkin Park (i know its linkin park but if you look at the LYRICS)

"Thank You For the Venom" - My Chemical Romance (but i cant not also mention DESTROYA and our lady of sorrows)

"Daniel in the Den" - Bastille

"Satellite" - Rise Against

it PAINS ME to only pick five emblematic ones but i tried lskdghldksjf

(also bonus under the cut some pertinent lyrics. i could do this w the whole playlist and also write paragraphs & more but i am restraining myself)

This is a life that you can't deny us now

(Rise Against) self explanatory, i think, very scoia'tael

When I was a man I thought it ended When I knew love's perfect ache But my peace has always depended On all the ashes in my wake

All you have is your fire And the place you need to reach Don't you ever tame your demons But always keep 'em on a leash

(Hozier) I think Iorveth struggles a lot with feeling like he's incapable of sitting down and being happy (and this lyric plays into how i think his relationship w Cedric went/ended), and the chorus is just very reminiscent of how alone he's always been even among his supposed peers, and also just the strength and power of his character

To save face, how low can you go? Talk a lotta game, but yet you don't know Static on the wind, makes us all say whoa The people up top push the people down low Get down, and obey every word Steady, get in line if you haven't yet heard Wanna take what I got, don't be absurd Don't fight the power, nobody gets hurt

Hear us now, clear and tall Wretches and kings, we come for you

(Linkin Park) I think this is a bit of pointed anger at Francesca Findabair (shakes fist) for acquiescing and betraying her own kind as if that will help any elves besides the few who actually got to dol blathanna, also the "wretches and kings" is reminiscent of "king or beggar, one dh'oine less" (also listen to the speech at the beginning and end of the song. it fucks)

I wouldn't front the scene if you paid me

Black is the kiss, the touch of the serpent sun It ain't the mark or the scar that makes you one

You're running after something That you'll never kill If this is what you want Then fire at will

You want to follow something Give me a better cause to lead Just give me what I need Give me a reason to believe

(My Chemical Romance) this goes w MY interpretation of him as someone who wasn't actually gradually made ready for being the face of a movement and instead having it sprung on him by his circumstance (of being the last surviving vrihedd officer), and his own conflicted feelings of nothing getting better while also refusing to give up or do anything else (also it literally says "serpent sun," nilfgaard anyone?)

And you thought the lions were bad Well they tried to kill my brothers And for every king that died Oh they would crown another But it's harder than you think Telling dreams from one another

Oh to see What it means to be free Of the shadows and the dreams That you claim to see

And felled in the night By the ones you think you love They will come for you

(Bastille) the beginning one is I think more self explanatory, and "telling dreams from one another" i think can be applied to all the people who have "allied with" and "helped" the scoia'tael only to really be working for their own gain (like nilfgaard, or even arguably saskia)

the "felled in the night / by the ones you think you love" to ME is more about Francesca Findabair (muffled yelling) and her decision to forsake the Scoia'tael completely from Dol Blathanna

Because we won't back down, we won't run and hide Yeah, 'cause these are the things that we can't deny I'm passing over you like a satellite, so catch me if I fall That's why we stick to your game plans and party lines But at night we're conspiring by candlelight We are the orphans of the American Dream, so Shine a light on me

This is a life that you can't deny us now

(Rise Against)

as u can see i have many thoughts about him all the time and this isn't even all of it for this set of songs but anyway :3

[gridelinart]

hewwo ive been reading about The Lup Problem on @plaidos‘ blog (bls read her tag) and i kind of just wanted to do a little like... proof-of-concept? for lack of a better word? basically i just did a lil exercise where i drew a body (and also the nose and eyes minus irises) and then flipped it on the canvas, and then drew taako and lup on each one!

i just wanted to show like,, with actual proof that you can give them the same body type EXACTLY and the same nose and face shape EXACTLY and still have them... look like a man and a woman.  i am absolutely not saying anybody should be doing this for like actual fanart, this was to prove a point, in fact i think it’d be kind of silly to do that because even identical twins look more and more different as they age 

even in the extreme case of having the exact same base, you can still make them look like brother and sister, and still make lup look like a woman (even if taako is GNC!)

sidenote this is a REALLY sketchy sketch and i havent rly drawn these two before but.... not making fetishistic caricatures & making sure that everyone knows trans women are women is v important to me so i just wanted to do something real quick

[lazarish]

Albicant: “We shall begin with the testimony of the Lady Consul.”

The trial was a joke. Of course it was- Gridelin lead the conspiracy against me, Albicant, her sister, was no doubt also involved- and there was no one to speak on my behalf. Even if Lovat had wanted to defend me, she would have been outnumbered. It may as well have been a scripted play, for all the justice it brought.

[gridelincarver]

okay so hear me out what if (due to the odyssey of recollection) the “rashid” in his dream is actually our rashid’s father or other relative, and daniel is misremembering because of familial resemblance and seeing rashid all the time now

i think that’s relatively feasible, and would explain why rashid seems to be more comfortable and at ease around vampires, considering he could’ve been raised around them, and has more of the “equal” vibe than someone who’d just found out more recently and chose to enter into service

to be fair i also think it would make sense if rashid is an immortal himself, i’m just presenting an alternate idea just in case

[gridelincarver]

on iorveth/roche.

to preface this: i do not think it is impossible for iorveth and roche to work as a relationship

like, i know i’m about to swing a bat at a hornet’s nest, but keep in mind i’m not actually saying that “oooh we can’t ship it” so nobody try and say that’s what i’m saying.

HOWEVER

can we maybe keep in mind a bit who they are? the units they command?  because the most prevalent idea i see is that they are mirrors, and that their units are analogous to each other, and that’s objectively untrue

the scoia’tael exist because nonhumans have been oppressed, and so nonhumans living in human society get fed up, and they flee, and they join these groups and fight for their lives and their people

the blue stripes exist to hunt nonhumans.

that’s not a mirror, that’s one existing to kill the other, and the other one would have existed no matter what

I also want to point out that because the Scoia’tael are truly just.. anyone who cares to fight for the cause, they aren’t trained.  there is no king or general or entity creating a training camp to make sure they’re ready before they go into the field, or disseminating propaganda about who they’re fighting.  they know from their own lives

the Blue Stripes are picked specially, trained in the Temerian military and brainwashed/manipulated, they have orders from higher ups (kings, generals), they are a military unit.

these two things are not equal.

now, see, what could absolutely be interesting is Roche being unaware of that imbalance because he’s been under the assumption that the scoia’tael are a military unit that function similarly to theirs, which allows them to not feel guilty over hunting them—to him this is just two military groups fighting

the point I’m trying to make here is that I think Roche might view Iorveth as this respected rival even before/during TW2, but Iorveth would never view Roche that way! to him, Roche is killing his people!

and I think that can be really interesting, if you put them in a position where Roche is no longer aimed at the Scoia’tael but rather fighting for a free Temeria and realizes what’s going on, maybe a slow trickle of hearing iorveth mention that no elves don’t get punished if they disobey orders, they should know it’s for their own good (in contrast to army camps with actual punishment details), and Roche realizing oh my god he was basically slaughtering civilians

my point is, I think it’s disingenuous to iorveth’s character to have him pining after a man who’s literally still in the process of carrying out genocide against his people (and if you don’t think it’s a genocide, I have a few paragraphs i can point you towards in Blood of Elves)

once again I think there could be a very interesting thing of having Roche feel some typa way to iorveth in TW2, and be frustrated with it, while Iorveth doesn’t view him that way at all until far, far later, when Roche has changed direction and realized what’s wrong with his unit

(to be clear, if it was somehow addressed that it’s not an equal conflict in this characterization of them somehow being together during TW2 i’d have less of an issue, my problem is with the idea that this is an equal rivals thing so it’s totally fine they’re secretly together.  because what i always see is this idea that the conflict is just that of rivals and not a completely imbalanced one)

.

tl;dr - iorveth and roche (and the scoia’tael & blue stripes) are not equals in the conflict and it’s really reckless to act like they’ve been ~secretly meeting up for years~ when roche is participating in genocide.  their relationship needs to happen after that is no longer the aim of the blue stripes and roche has realized he’s been misled (to thinking the scoia’tael are an equal and opposite force)

(hi also please ask me about iorveth, or even roche, stuff, i have So Many thoughts actually ive done a ridiculous amount of analysis on iorveth’s character, and extrapolation)

[gridelincarver]

quick question guys yall are aware that iorveth isnt just like white blorbo edgy coolguy right

like you know he’s fighting against systemic and violent racial oppression

it’s not just a combat rivalry and he isnt doing crimes for fun and violence

????????

[gridelincarver]

hello are u QUEER and like the witcher!

if u are lgbt+ (that means not cisgender, heteroromantic, and heterosexual, so im 100% including u my ace/aro spec bros!!) and u like the witcher books, games, netflix show, the hexer, anything, consider joining our discord server!!

popular topics for yelling include: iorveth, regis, dettlaff, geralt being queer and deserving to be happy, wolf witcher bro shenanigans

it’s a small lil community that’s a great reprieve from a lot of the homophobia/transphobia that i keep seeing in mainstream witcher spaces.  everyone is super chill and especially if you’re a newer fan who wants to learn more lore and characters who haven’t shown up in the show yet then it’s a great place to learn !!

everybody’s non-judgemental and we’ve got ppl who’ve read the books, who want to read the books, who are partway through the games, who have played the games 20 times, and i even found a free link for the 2002 hexer show with english subtitles!

so if you want a place to bounce headcanons, analysis, fic ideas, AUs, and general thoughts about our fav boys, with fellow queer fans, join us !!!

https://discord.gg/8M79ymR

(we also have fun witcher-themed roles and server organization if that sweetens the pot)

[gridelincarver]

Teal & yellow!!

teal - mutual w/ taste i wanna hear all ur opinions

yellow - GOOD VIBES MUTUAL

oh my god riva lsksldkghlksdfj thank youuuuu as always you’re too kind

and for the record u have MASSIVE good vibes like very safe energy

(send me colors abt how u feel)

[gridelincarver]

@kateis-cakeis tagged me !!! thank you pal :’)

Rules: tag 9 people you want to know get to know better

Top 3 Ships:

rn im having a lotta iorveth feelings so geralt/iorveth

geralt/regis & regis/geralt/dettlaff

davekat is my Forever Ship

Lipstick or Chapstick: chapstick i have so many different flavors... mr. burts bees owns my ass. i just love the colors and collecting things im a goblin

Last Song: "Divide” by Bastille bc i had my iorveth playlist on shuffle while i walked my dog.....

Last Movie: im pretty sure it was Prince of Egypt bc i made my family watch it after our passover seder and that movie’s music SLAPS bro

Reading: im bad at reading books ok ive just been reading a whole lot of fanfic.... (i’ve read thru the entire geralt/iorveth tag on ao3 except three fics bc of their tags n i was like No)

Three random things that make me happy:

growing plants!!  i get these lil microgreen seed quilts and i grow them and theyre really yummy (from here, also this isnt sponsored lmfao)

talking to my friends ! i know its quarantine and ive been feeling isolated so calling and hanging out and watching dumb shit is a good way to feel connected

am i allowed to say iorveth. ive been hyperfixating okay. also regis

uhhhh i dont know if i can think of 9 people but uhhh i have a bunch of great new witcher mutuals so !! @shadowy-dumbo-octopus @usedupshiver @oversharingskeptic @sincthulhu 

(also feel free to do this if u see it and u want to)

[gridelincarver]

Um it seems ur account was hacked u should change ur password n check acct activity

yeppp i got like four or five discord messages from friends this morning, but thank you also for the heads up!  I’ve changed the password and enabled two-factor authentication, and I’m trying to figure out how to look at activity now

(I’ve also deleted all the posts from my queue.  i really dont understand why people do this like. for what purpose?)

[gridelincarver]

part of me feels bad for the ridiculous spam of witcher posts (specifically regis posts) and like... i am sorry.....

but also im not really sorry because he’s fantastic

[gridelincarver]

I have questions, so many questions! Can you please answer: 14,17,24,30, 31, 40 ?

hello !!!!! why are all my new witcher mutuals so wonderful i love yall!

14.  Do you regret any of your choices? ahahahah like i said in the previous one im the person who looks all the effects of ur choices up on the wiki and makes the decisions meticulously... (sometimes i wish i didnt do that bc there are some cool things that i wish would surprise me!!) so no not really i always pick the thing i want

17.  If you could change one thing about the Witcher 3 what would it be? iorveth should FUCKING BE IN IT. either that or i wish it didnt have the weird heterosexual undertones of like “haha queer/gnc amab ppl so weird right??” like how awkward geralt acts around elihal and mislav, like bro pls. also i would really like a romance route that DOESNT make me sick. like please. one healthy romance route.  (if its a gay romance route then that would be fantastic but above all i want a healthy romance route) or let me romance regis. LET ME ROMANCE REGIS or combine these and let me romance iorveth. and regis! olgierd should b an option too. and eskel. u should be able to choose ur badass boyfriend.

24.  Favourite character? brooo this ones so hard but aaaAAAA i mean ??? regi s??? probably?? i love him so much.... dettlaff is also up there tho! (and geralt ofc)

30.  What happened to Syanna? i answered this in the other ask that posi sent me buuut even tho my second time playing through i did a bunch of separate saves and did EVERY ENDING, every OTHER time i do it i let dettlaff go (so syanna dies). to me its not a matter of syanna vs dettlaff, but a matter of not forcing regis to kill the person who brought him back to life because like you OWE regis’ life to dettlaff!!!!!!!!  its awful and i cannot have regis do that!  and he gets banished from his species!!! like regis doesnt deserve that!!

31.  What happened to Olgierd? aw i couldnt let his soul get taken, and gaunter is a fucking piece of work and fucks around w people wayy too much, so i figured i’d take gaunter down a peg! i freed olgierd, i think he deserves a chance at a better life

40.  Where would you want Geralt to live (other than Corvo Bianco)? honestly just... somewhere he’s happy?  with ppl he loves?  maybe in novigrad once it’s freed from all the witch hunter shit, but honestly wherever he’s with friends bc he deserves happiness

thank u so much for the ask this was so fun to do!!!!

(answers from this ask meme)

[gridelincarver]

For the Witcher asks, 1, 5, 7, 9, 30, 32, 33, 38, 39

omg posi thats a lot but ill do it !! thank u!

(questions are from this ask meme)

1.  What’s your favourite monster? ah fuck this is a hard one, leshens probably have the coolest aesthetic i won’t lie but i also really like the cool winged but still scaly and terrifying siren/ekhidna design in the witcher games!!!!  i always had trouble reconciling the bird creature sirens from greek mythology with the fucking awesome marine sirens that drag u to your death and i think the ones in witcher 3 look fucking awesome and i love their movement patterns

5.  Did you free the Tree Spirit? YES i always free the tree spirit, like to me all those books praising the crones (and the whole village of downwarren) are definitely a culty thing & freeing the orphans and seeing them later in novigrad is what i always do, because to me any dent to the power of the crones is a good move.  i do wish that if you free the children and downwarren dies then there would actually be an effect later in the game where the crones are weaker bc they dont have their worshippers, food, and ears.

7.  What did you do “in the Heart of Woods” and “the Nithing”? uhh for these i did a different ending on each playthrough! for the leshen im still a little conflicted bc the ethics of that quest are sooo interesting and i dont quite know what i’ll do in the next one, but for the nithing i feel like its not really a witcher’s job to kill a person for being so petty like when ppl are the monsters they just need to work their shit out jfc

9.  What is your favourite main quest and why? ...a am i allowed to say blood and wine ?  if not, i actually really like all the character moments in Ugly Baby (specifically the forktail and trial of the medallion subquests) where ur like bonding with eskel and lambert, it really endeared me to the characters and i love those wolf bois now.  i also really like through time and space!! i think avallac’h is an interesting character so

30.  What happened to Syanna? ok so technically i did do one playthrough of b&w where i saved at some critical forks and went through every ending.  HOWEVER i mean posi. u know me. she’s dead and i let our boy dettlaff go (literally like.... i think 3-4 times now...)

32.  How do you feel about Gaunter O’Dimm? he’s a lil bitch. a manipulative and intelligent one but still a bitch.  like seriously you have THAT much power and all u do is fuck w people’s lives to take their souls? get a HOBBY bro

33.  How do you feel about the Wild Hunt? i think it’s really interesting in the sense of Eredin being consumed by his knowledge of the apocalypse (like the white frost) and letting it turn him into a desperate person who doesn’t care about the losses as long as there’s a chance he can relocate his people, but the other thing is in the game you don’t really ever get an opportunity to talk or anything so even though the backstory and thought process is cool as a villain its just like “ooo creepy armor guys gotta kill em” you know??? also i think its SOO fucking funny that theyre not actually wraiths they’re literally just dramatic-ass elves in fucking massive skeleton plate mail with voice changers like wow... drama queens

38.  On what difficulty level do you play? I’ve actually played on all difficulties!  my first two playthroughs were on story & sword (normal), and i recently started two deathmarch playthroughs (one from scratch, one NG+).  when i start a game to just do HoS or B&W i generally do blood and broken bones, and when i stream blood & wine with my friends so they know the plot and can fall in love w regis and dettlaff i play on just the story (easy) bc the fight scenes rly arent that engaging when ur just watching ur friend do it (and also it’s laggy and difficult to fight bc streaming)

39.  What did/would you do differently in your second playthrough? well my first playthrough i romanced triss just so geralt wouldnt be alone and then in my second one i was like FUCK that nobody here is good for geralt emotionally. regis is his husband. thanks and goodnight i do not take constructive criticism. (also in my first game i played b&w before finishing the main plot bc i was so excited to unlock the last area of the map and ended up like riding up to the wild hunt battle at level 50 with tesham mutna armor it was wack, so now i do the main plot and HoS before doing b&w) otherwise i mostly dont change much bc i kinda am That Person who looks stuff up on the wiki so even in my first playthrough i generally picked all the major decisions that i knew i would stand by hahaha

this was actually super fun to do thank u posi !!!!!

[gridelincarver]

queer witcher fans discord server!

hi everyone!! i just made a discord server for any other witcher fans who are queer and want other gay friends who like the show, books, or games!  (also it will probably have a lot of geraskier bc i love.... they)

https://discord.gg/8M79ymR

i’ve just started it up but pls feel free to come join i’d love to chat about the show and have fun brainstorming art, fic, AUs, headcanons, etc

(also we have a fun organization system with the witcher schools and the regions of the game its fun)

[gridelincarver]

(spoilers for HS epilogues)

okay i know we’re all mad (trust me ive been Hurting reading this) but i think what this really is is kind of a commentary on fanon and that too much fluff (candy) or too much angst (meat) doesnt really make for a whole, good story?  

like the thing is yes the characters are nasty but its been emphasized so much that something feels wrong, that this isnt the right version of themselves.  homestuck has always been really meta with its “arcs” and things, and i think this is another manifestation of that theme.

neither of those epilogues are canon, none of these characters are canon.  they’re all what might’ve been.  i think that as the two epilogues converge, and more updates come out, we’ll finally get to actually see the culmination of who they are

[gridelincarver]

:)))))