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nebbyy · 5 months

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King Baldwin IV x reader - I’ll be waiting for you

A/N: Well, how could I not make another fic for King Baldwin when the other one I made is my most liked post yet, so I decided to write this little pieceee. Sooo I guess I should warn y'all that this one will be a little less historically accurate (not that the first one was that great of a historical piece but you get the idea). Oh and as usual, this fic came into my mind the moment I saw the painting just below (which is "the Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets Over the Dead Bodies of Romeo andJuliet" by sir Frederic Leighton)Now enough chatting, more King Baldwin brainrot.

Summary: in a desperate attempt to protect his kingdom after having punished Reynald de Chatillon, the king is exhausted and the long ride has increasingly worsened his already wary condition. Once he’s escorted back to the palace, his loving wife wastes no time to reunite with her beloved husband.

Warnings: kinda angsty (no happy ending tbh), vague descriptions of Baldwin’s illness related wounds. Also, reader specifically described as female.

Word count: 3209

You sat on your throne, high and proud like the royalty you were. But under the facade of your noble confidence, you felt small. Smaller than ever, actually, as the yelling of all the men in front of you filled the air and rose up to the open sky. With a simple, reckless act, Reynald de Chatillon and Guy de Lusignan had just screwed years of efforts that King Baldwin had spent trying to maintain that delicate peace that required so many lives and time to build. All washed away from the raging river that were Reynald and Guy.

While the two men tried to defend their senseless attack, backed by a substantial group of men, another opposing group shouted at them, berating them for the offense they had given not only to Saladin but also to Jerusalem itself.

You sigh, fighting the urge to cover your ears, and curl into your own body; you opt to just turn your head and look at your beloved husband. He looked to be in a similar state as you were: although his face was now fully covered -a means of hiding the decaying state of his leprosy-ridden body- his head was bent with weary alertness, like a hawk watching its prey from a distance. You watched his body, languidly seated on his much larger throne, the only sitting position that brought him no discomfort, though it looked almost more like he was about to lie down.

It broke your heart to see how that disease had ravaged Baldwin's body, in recent years more and more. To see him there, on the same throne on which he once sat tall and proud, while now he barely had the strength to stay upright. And you knew he was thinking the very same thing.

You were about to open your mouth, whisper something to him, anything, in order to shake him out of his thoughts and that chaotic situation, but you were interrupted in your actions by an official, who rushed to the king's side, handing him a scroll. His bandaged hands clumsily opened the scroll, and you found salvation from the noise of the room by concentrating on watching Baldwin read carefully. You watched his eyes, blue as the sky and like the waves of the sea that brought you to the Holy Land, now covered with a pale glassy glaze.

You frowned when you heard Baldwin freeze in place, even his sitting became more erect, as if a cube of ice had slid down his back. With his gaze still fixed on the words written in that letter, he merely raised his hand slightly, a clear sign of his will.

"SILENCE!" his guard's shout resounded through the hall, overpowering the furious shouts of the men who had been barking at each other for hours now. They all turned to look at the king; their faces, a few moments ago darkened and wrinkled with anger, were now smooth and relaxed, their eyebrows raised in astonishment at their king's order. Funny, you thought, how these men because of your husband's condition sometimes simply forget how much power he possessed over them. Before it was as if he wasn't even in the room, and they were all playing at being great leaders, now there they were, staring at him, motionless as statues, submissive as ants. You curled your nose discreetly, your face a mixture of disgust and contempt. Pathetic, you thought.

After what seemed like an eternity, Baldwin finally looked up at the crowd in front of him, finally revealing what it was that had shocked him so much. "Saladin has crossed the Jordan with 200000 men," silence fell, and you felt your body going numb. Your ears seemed muffled, you could barely perceive what was happening around you. At that moment you felt so much fear for your kingdom, and concern for Baldwin and what this impending attack would cost him.

And anger, against those two fools who out of sheer vanity had endangered the lives of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They had put Jerusalem itself at risk; they had put Baldwin at risk.

I was brought to attention by Baldwin, who was struggling to pull himself up from his throne, walking toward his most trusted man. "We must meet him before he reaches Kerak. I will lead the army," your husband's voice was hushed and soft, so that only the man in front of him could hear. But it did not escape your ears, the implication those words had: Baldwin wants to stop Saladin, and he wants to do it himself. But this could cost him his life.

You couldn't stop yourself; you jumped up from your seat, eyes wide in an expression somewhere between fear and surprise. Baldwin turned to look at you, the woman who always took his breath away at the mere sight of how beautiful she was. You did not fail to have that effect on him again this time, but not because of your beauty: in your eyes he saw your terror, that this was the last time you would see him alive. They hypnotized him, and begged him in a silent prayer not to leave, to give up this plan, have an ambassador sent, anyone else. Hell, let him send Guy himself to intercept the Saracen, let him be beheaded and his murder settle the account that he himself opened. But the storm of emotion in your eyes contrasted with the gentle stream of emotion flowing from your eyes

But the storm of emotions in your eyes contrasted with the gentle stream of emotions flowing from Baldwin's eyes, barely visible because of the cover concealing his tortured face. He too, through them, was silently pleading with you: but he was asking you to trust, to let go and follow his plan, to try to forget for at least a moment all the warnings the Physicians had given him over the years.

Eventually, you relented, turning your gaze away and opting to stare at a random spot in the corner of the room. Baldwin gave a silent sigh and closed his eyes for a moment, a sign of gratitude, although you could not see it. He turned to the men of his court, and with the little strength his body afforded him, he spoke in a loud, determined voice: "Assemble the army and protect the city."

All this reminded you of the last time Baldwin fought Saladin: he had barely completed his seventeenth year, and young and still full of life, he was ready to ride against the invincible Saracen king. But on that day God had been more merciful. He had granted you, if nothing else, one last night to spend with your husband, had given you the gift of a minimum of time to ensure that you bid Baldwin a proper farewell before he met what could well have been his end. Instead this time, you barely had time to briefly remove the thick veil from his face to give him a fleeting kiss and exchange a handful of words. You fought back the tears as you looked at him, opting instead to bring your hand to his cheek, the flesh of his lip having receded and decayed to such an extent that it had receded down to his cheek, eventually turning into a long scar that protruded down to his cheekbone.

"Let me go with you, I will wait for you at the castle of Reynald de Chatillon-" "No. It is too dangerous. If things go wrong with the negotiations, I don't want you or my sisters anywhere near that man." It was not often that Baldwin interrupted you while you were speaking. He respected you too much to not allow you to finish your sentences, so the fact that he did just now spoke of how important this was to him.

"Then promise me you’ll come back to me. Safe and sound." He snorted softly, giving a hint of smile before copping his face with his hardened hands, "You know I can’t promise it." You know that, but that blatant honesty of his, which you always loved so much, was not what you wanted at the time. No, you wanted reassurance, no matter how truthful, no matter how worthless his promises may be at the end of the day, You need that fleeting distraction that mitigates the fear that’s been eating you from the inside since Baldwin put on his armor. May you risked never seeing him again.

"Please just say it." Your voice came out much softer than you meant, almost less than a whisper, perhaps because of the knot in your throat, which threatened to break free carrying a river of tears. For a moment he remained silent, turning suddenly his face towards the voice of a nobleman who called him from the entrance of his room, but did not even dignify him with an answer. After all, his attention was completely turned to his world. To you. Before I answered you, I drew your head to his with my hands, so that I could place his forehead against yours. Finally, he spoke softly, in that loving tone that he reserved only for you: "Then I promise you that I will return to you in no more than three days, and when I return I will be victorious, and I will be riding."

After that, that moment between the two of you, which so much looked like a heartbreaking farewell, lasted just before Baldwin had to go to his horse to guide his men to the enemy.

And it wasn’t long before the harsh reality became clear to you: he had lied to you. Not maliciously, of course, you were the one who begged him to say those words after all. But the fact is that three days became four, that news of the army of Jerusalem had not come any more, that the last thing you heard of your husband was that only the ride had already tried his weakened body.

Another day passed, then another, and at the dawn of the fourth day since his absence you felt your heart sink. Had something happened to him? Had the negotiations failed? What if his illness had suddenly got the better of him? Or worse, Saladin and his men had shot him, stabbed him, or yet again captured and publicly executed,…

Your mind began to spiral into an ocean of possible reasons behind this delay, and you swore that your breathing had finally stopped once and for all when a messenger on horseback arrived at the palace, frantically dismounting from his steed to rush into the throne room and bring you the message: "The negotiations were successful, but the king is in critical condition! He is returning to Jerusalem on a canopy," you dismissed the man with a slight wave of your hand, so weak that you almost looked numbed; Baldwin's advisors began to chatter, but the background murmur of their murmurs did not seem to reach your ears. No, your attention was elsewhere; it was entirely on your husband.

You took your leave of the court, hurrying to your rooms. There, like a hawk waiting impatiently for prey to feed on, you perched on the balcony overlooking the city below you, on the walls from which not many days ago Baldwin had emerged leading the army.

It was there that you began to think again, this time with a clearer mind as you knew that at least Baldwin was alive and on his way home. On his way to you. Still, this whole situation reminded you of when you were only sixteen years old, and you stood on that balcony as you do now, waiting to see Baldwin return on his horse. And on that day, when he was visible to the naked eye, and your eyes met, you saw all the life and strength of one who had just defeated the greatest enemy of his time. At that moment, he seemed almost immortal to you: he looked like a god riding proudly, leading the thousands of men behind him towards their home.

How unfair fate is, to cut short his life so early. His physicians gave him no more than thirty years, but that time seemed to you to be shortened even more when you finally caught sight of his canopy. There he lay, sprawled and motionless like a dead body, surrounded by the soft cushions and riders on either side of his transport.

Just two years ago such a journey would not have fatigued him in the least; now he was risking his life just by riding a horse. Your eyes threatened to fill with tears thinking about how much he had loved riding a horse, and now he found himself bedridden, unable in his passions. You wasted no time running through the palace corridors, eager to reach your beloved as soon as possible.

One turn to the right, then another, then down the steps, and finally straight to the palace doors, where the finely decorated canopy led the love of your life.

You rushed to his side, gently taking his mutilated hand in yours while the other stroked his masked face. He breathed faintly, his eyes closed as he tried to regain his strength after his disease had dealt him this last bludgeon. Feeling your gentle touch, Baldwin's eyes fluttered open, his glassy eyes the color of heaven meeting yours.

"You've been reckless, my love. Putting your life at risk just to do the job of a messenger!" you scolded him, but Baldwin only smiled fondly at your words. "I promised you I would've come back. And that I did, alive too." Although his voice was so weak that it sounded more like a huff of air rather than a sentence, its tone was still laced with playfulness.

It made you unable to resist the smile that was threatening to form on your lips; you did not grace him with an answer yet, opting instead to move your hand to remove the silver mask from his face. You could see his surprised and relieved expression, as he was now finally able to breathe more freely and to look at you properly. He breathed in the sight of you, almost as if trying to take in as much of you as he could. "I can't tell if it's the travel or the sight of you that takes my breath away."

You just smiled bitterly and shook your head at his silly declarations, "It must be the ride, it has tired you so much that it's making you speak nonsense." he giggled weakly, much more tiredly this time, almost as if he was about to doze off. But he fought the tiredness nonetheless, opting to just shake his head and admire you with a lovestruck look. "Maybe I am hallucinating, I think I'm seeing heaven above me."

It was supposed to be a compliment that would've made you giggle and blush, like the ones that he showered you with daily. But instead, it made your heart clench at the bare idea of it. The idea that this would be his last moments before the energies spent for this expedition would be too much for him to handle, and God will reclaim his most virtuous man. It made your throat tighten, and your lower lip tremble.

You tried to hide your troubled state, moving your hand quickly to the curve of his neck. There, you placed a soft, butterfly-like kiss on the little places of skin that haven't been mutilated and bloodied by the leprosy. You kissed him one more time, then another, and another again..

In the end, you lost count of how many kisses you had given him, in a desperate attempt to mend your premature grief, to ground yourself in the feeling that Baldwin is there. He is alive. Yet the feeling of his skin against yours, of his chest rising up and down and his arms weakly holding your soft body, it wasn't enough to stop the tears to start flowing down your cheeks.

And that didn't go unnoticed to Baldwin, who mustered all his strength left to hold you just a little tighter. "Have my words upset you?" you sniffled, trying to recollect yourself before lifting your head to look into his eyes. "No, my dear, you could never. I just-" you stopped for a second, trying to swallow down the lump that had formed in your throat, "promise me this is the last time. Please, tell me that you will stop this nonsense. Let your trusted men handle these matters, command your man like a king not a general!" your hands had moved to his arms, a gesture to both ground yourself and to accentuate just how desperate you were in that moment, only wanting him to just listen.

"I beg of you, my love, stay here. Where you can rest. We both know that you don't have much more time left to live, so stop doing everything in your power to shorten it anymore." A sob slipped from your mouth at the last part. It truly astonished you how careless he seemed about his own condition, almost as if he forgot that any move could be the death of him.

He frowned and sighed at your words, squeezing your forearms softly before he spoke softly. This time though his tone was clearer, less weakened by the outcomes of the past days. "I already spoke to the physician about this: I have no choice, my angel. I'll be bound to my bed until a miracle will better my condition, or until death will take me."

You shut your eyes in relief, resting your forehead against his and sighing shakily, trying to recompose yourself. "I can't live in a world without you.."

"God will give us more time. I promise I won't leave you as long as I breathe on this earth. And. when my time will be over and there will be no future for us in this life, I'll be waiting for you in heaven, if I'll be granted the blessing of a place next to you there."

Not too long after, the physicians that Saladin had promised him arrived at the palace, and you were assisted as they tended to Baldwin's many wounds caused by his sickness. More than the sight of the gruesome pieces of open flesh, what appalled you was just how numb his body had become, so much so that he did not even feel their hands and tools working into his skin. It made you wonder wether or not he even felt your kisses from before.

And you make yourself that same question months later, when you place one last kiss into his forehead as he slept soundly before going to bed yourself, only to wake up to a cold body beside you. You wonder if he ever got to feel that last gesture of love before God had finally claimed him.

You only found solace in the thought that Baldwin would be resting in the realms of heaven above your head, contrary to what the Saracens believe.

A/N: Wowww this gets more fun by the day!! King Baldwin will probably always be my favorite character to write for. He’s my muse. As always ill be waiting for your feedbacks!!!

Oh and also, be prepared in the future for more fics waiting to be posted, I’ve got about ten that are just waiting for the right time to come to light, and many more will come in the future since I’m really finding it therapeutic to write.

#writers on tumblr #angst #fluff #my fic #king baldwin x reader #kingdom of heaven #king baldwin iv #reynald de chatillon #guy de lusignan #reader insert #f!reader #historical fiction #fanfic #x yn #x reader

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misguidedasgardian · 1 year

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The Dragon's Mistress (10)

10. Mistress

MASTERLIST

Summary: Every actions has its reasons, and its consequences

Pairings: Aemond Targaryen x Targaryen!Reader, Aemond Targaryen x Floris Baratheon

Warnings: cursing, mentions of war, mentions of death, humiliation, use of the word bastard and traitor, incest, technically cheating, groping, nakedness, might miss some warnings

+18, MINORS DNI

Wordcount: 2.5 k

Notes: Yes, I did feel pressured to post this sooner, that is why is shorter… :( and no, I did not like what I’ve been feeling the last hours…

Lord Borros Baratheon had his niece

That is what occupied Aemond’s mind as he saw you abandoning the throne room with tears in your eyes and whimpers in your mouth

That uncultured swine had his niece Jahaera

He “rescued her” when Rhaenyra had taken the capital and Alicent send her and Maelor away to Old Town, the children never got to the city, but they were stopped along the way, and eventually some baratheon soldiers rescue them from a mob, Maelor didn’t make it, but Jahaera did. And Borros he let it clear that he was not going to return her to her family in King’s Landing if he didn’t marry his daughter

He told himself that it didn’t matter if he did, with you, he already had you, tainted you, fucked you, put his seed on you, you were probably with his child in your belly, but he, as king, could legitimize all the children you were going to have, and Floris? he could bed her and gave her moon tea in the morning after without her even releasing it

You were going to be the mother of the future King of the seven Kingdoms, he had no doubt in his mind about it, and once he had his darling niece in his arms again, he was going to kill Borros and his entire line for even daring to threaten them.

He couldn’t chase after you right now, this was his first appearance as clear future King of the Seven Kingdoms, so he couldn’t just run like a fifteen year old behind his love.

So he sucked it up, grabbed the bony hand of Floris Baratheon, and presented her to the entire court in the middle of applause and cheers.

She was not an ugly woman, she had her charm, she was the youngest of Borros’ daughters, the same age as him, she had beautiful dark brown locks, and hazelnut colored eyes shaped like almonds. She was the one he had chosen that night three years ago in Storm’s End, the one he never got to marry, well, not until today.

His body was burning with the need to search for you, but sadly he couldn’t, not yet, and he also wante to smack the smile out of Borros’ face

His mother also seemed sickenly pleased, she had come to him the night before, asking him to leave you and marry Floris, when he didn’t budge she had to confess Borros had Jahaera. That is when he knew he had no choice, but he made his mother budge too, she was not going to betroth you to anybody else, she was not going to send you away.

She was going to him to keep you as his mistress.

Lord Borros was not happy about it, and he made it clear that he was not going to return Jahaera until after the wedding and bedding ceremony, Aemond was fuming, but he had to comply, that little girl is the only family he had left, the last reminding of his gentle sister, and his last full-blooded niece.

This was the most important day in his life, and the only thing he wanted to do was to run to your room and held you in his arms, tell you everything was going to be alright, tell you he didn’t meant to break his promise, that he meant it every time he said that you were going to be his Queen

But he was tied by the hands

He had to get his little niece back

When the ceremony was over, he bowed but only to his betrothed, kissing her hand and making her blush, he nodded to his mother and to Borros, and then he abandoned the hall under his mother’s worried gaze

He finally went to find you.

it broke his heart to find you cuddled in your bed, crying

As soon as you heard him come in you raised from the bed, wiping your tears

“My King”, you greeted and under other circumstances, his heart would have roared with happiness, but know he only felt bitter. You sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at him, you thought you saw sorrow in his eyes, but you were probably just imagining things

“My love”

“Please, I have to ask you do not call me that”, you hated yourself for how weak your voice sounded

“That is what you are”, he said, but you only shook your head

“I’m not”, you said, he sat by your side on the bed, leaning over you, trying to comfort you

“My love will always belong to you”, he whispered in your ear as he caressed your hair, “I have to marry her for political purposes, nothing else”

“You humiliate me”, you whimpered, tears running down your cheeks

“I know this is not what I promised”, he said, “but there is an important reason, you have to believe me”, you only looked down to the floor, “but we will be together”, you then looked at him wide eyed, fresh tears forming in your eyes, “being a King’s Mistress is a post of great importance”, he muttered, “and I will legitimize all the children that we will have”

“You told me you were going to marry me”, you whined, “I gave you my body… I let you do whatever you pleased with me”

“You will be respected, and cared for, you will be treated like a princess again”, he continued his bargain, and you only whimpered, placing your hand over your heart, because it hurt

“Please don’t do this to me”, you pleaded

“Nothing will change, you will be respected, your son will be King one day”

“No he won’t”, you whined, “he will only be a bastard”

“No”, he said, you wiped your tears, angry with yourself for being so bloody weak

“What if I don’t want to?”, to your question his face hardened, and it made you tremble, “you won’t marry me, but you won’t let me marry anyone else, can I please go back to Dragonstone?”, you asked with hope in your teary eyes, but you could tell he was keeping himself in check not to burst in anger

“Everyone knows that I fuck you”, he said in a manner so mean, you whined, “you are going to be my mistress and embrace it, or you are going to be only my whore”, he spitted out, “you have one day to come around”, he said, he stood up from the bed and abandoned the room, and you along the way

What was more pathetic than to cry because a man that abused you and killed your family wouldn’t marry you?

You couldn’t come out with an answer to that question

You had made up your mind that this was what you had to do to make everything worth it, but it was snatched from under your feet like a carpet and now you were landing flat on your face, again.

You whined, as you were hurting in your chest

“You are a Targaryen”, resounded the voice of your mother in your head, “That is all that matters”

“Dragons are fire made flesh, and Targaryens are dragons made men”, said Daemon

“You must be strong”, said Jacaerys

“I CAN’T!”, you screamed wanting all the voices inside your head to disappear, “I’m none of those things”, you whispered sadly

Aemond was not angry, he was frustrated

He understand you would be disappointed that you were not going to marry him, but he never thought you would have want to leave back to Dragonstone

That is what frustrated him the most

He naively thought that you would want to stay here no matter what

“You will never have her heart”, Alys once said, and he growled when he head her voice as clearly as she was whispering in his ear

The new appointed small council had gathered and he was supposed to be there, once he got there, everybody as there already

Tyland Lannister

Borros

Even his mother even though she didn’t have a clear post in it, but being mother to the King and the Regent as well

“My King”, she greeted, pleased as she saw him enter the room

“We were discussing dates for the marriage ceremony”, said Borros, so pleased with himself that Aemon wanted to punch him in the face

“I think is insensitive… to marry while my brother the King is dying”

“Aemond, I’m aware, but…”

“Marriage, celebrations, are for the living boy”, said Borros, and Aemond’s jaw was was ticking

“In a fortnight”, Alicent offered, and Aemond nodded

“Being considerate of the current climate all over the seven Kingdoms, it is going to be a sober affair”, Aemond said, and he didn’t want to budge on that

“Of course my king”, said Borros

“Ravens will be send communicating everyone of the marriage, but only a few of the most important families will be invited”, said Alicent

“What about the girl?”, asked Borros, and Aemond looked at him

“What girl?”, he threatened

“Rhaenyra’s last daughter”, he said, “is she your whore?”, Aemond looked at him, a silent warning in his eye

“She is not a whore”, he growled

“You bedded her, you are bedding her…”, the man continued, an the entire council got quiet, waiting for the answer of their King Regent

“But I’m marrying your daughter”, he said with a sharp voice

“You must understand that it is my daughter who will carry the heirs to the throne”, he said with a warning of his own on his lips, Aemond looked at him like he wanted to kill him, which he did

“And you must understand that I’m marrying her”, he said, “instead of the princess”, Borros looked into his eye, trying to intimidate him, but it didn’t work

“Very well”, he conceded

He was not going to yield to anything else, he couldn’t, he owed it to you. The meeting went long, they started talking about things related to the realms, and that took him the rest of the day.

When it was finally done, the only thing he wanted to do was to see you. .

He found you still in your room, more calmed than when he left you, when you hear him come in you stood up from your place in front of the hearth and bowed

“My king”, you greeted, with the voice of a little bird instead of a human

“My love”, you flinched when he called you that, but you couldn’t see his reaction as you still looked down to the floor, not daring to look at him in the eyes

“How was your day?”, you asked, adapted a demeanor similar to the one you had learned to have in Dragonstone, like the one of a personal servant, a handmaid. You didn't really gave a shit, but you had to be cordial

“I just had a very long meeting”, he thought it best to keep you away from the details of his marriage to Floris Baratheon

“I am sorry”, you wanted him to leave, but you were nobody to kick the King Regent out of the rooms of his own castle.

He walked until he had you at arms reach, and he caressed your upper arms gently

“Don’t you wish we could take a long bath like we did in Dragonstone?”, he offered, you looked at him, and the coldness in your eyes made him shiver, even though he didn’t show it

“We can do anything you like, my king”, you said, again, your voice so low, so insignificant it squeezed his heart, and he, again, was starting to get frustrated

“Very well”, he had the maids prepare the bath, and when you were alone in the bathroom, he helped you out of your dress, you just let him, he then undid the braids in your hair and removed your jewelry.

You then undressed him, and even appreciated when he didn’t make you touch him

He help you into the bath, and he got in with you

The bathtub was bigger than the one in Dragonstone, you both fit perfectly together. He grabbed the sponge and started to rub your shoulders and your upper arms, he had a fixation with that part of your body you noticed.

You let yourself be handled by him, touched by him

“I love your hair”, he whispered to your ear, and if you haven't been crying for most part of the day, you would have laughed. You had the same color as him

“Thank you, my king”

“please”, it sounded like he was begging, “call me Aemond”, he sounded pitiful

“As you wish, Aemond”, you whispered. He kissed your shoulder softly, gently, as he fingers greedily caressed your back and your body, of course he wanted you, and now it was your job as his mistress to please him in that way

So you leaned back and let him touch you and kiss you

He couldn’t see you, but bitter tears fell down your eyes, but you managed to not make a sound

Luckily he noticed how tense you were, so he didn’t push you, instead he just helped you get out of the tub, he help you dry and then put on your night dress

“I should be doing this things to you my prince”, you offered, even though you didn’t have the strength to do it

“It is alright”, he got you into bed and then followed you, holding you in his arms, you appreciated the comfort, you just wished it came from someone else rather than him

“I’m very sorry”, he whispered in your ear

“You don’t don’t have to be, Aemond”, you whispered

“But I am”, he insisted, “believe me, I was forced into this”

“You don’t have to give me any explanations”, you sai, broken

“But I do”

“Please My King”

“Call me Aemond”

“I don’t feel comfortable, please, just.. let me call you my king”, you insisted, he sighed loudly, but didn’t refuse you

“I want you to call me by my name”

“But is not proper”, you said, “I am not going to be your wife”, his breathing hitched

“Call me your King then”, he relented, his fingers never stopped caressing your arm

You were lucky he wasn’t making you look at him in the day, he was comfortable with only spoon you

“I will sleep with you every night”, he promised

“You wife won’t be happy with that”, you observed

“I don’t give care”, he said

“Please, don’t make this more difficult that is has to be”, you begged him, the last thing you needed was to make enemies with the new Queen

“You can tell her that”, you didn’t press it

Did you even believe him? that someone made him do it? you believed no one could make him do anything, but again, he sounded so sincere when he said he was going to marry you.

Anyways, you were feeling so terribly every breath you took hurts.

#misguidedmistress #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x alys rivers #aemond the kinslayer #aemond x oc #aemond targaryen #hbo house of the dragon #house targaryen #house of the dragon #targaryen!oc #targaryen!reader #floris baratheon #alicent hightower

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lunarthecorvus · 3 months

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Post Crooked Kingdom Canon Compliant fanfiction recommendations part of Lunar's soc fanficiton rec series

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Vol. 1: Council of Thieves by lizaudreys

Wordcount: 122,891 Chapters: 45/45 (part of a series and is continued afterwards)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)

Tags: BAMF Inej Ghafa, Fluff and Angst, Jesper Fahey Has ADHD, Kaz Brekker Needs a Hug, Crime Children, Five Years Later, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn

Author's summary/notes: Five years after the Auction, the Crows have gone their separate ways. That is, until the Council of Tides demands that Kaz Brekker help rescue one of their newest initiates. Grisha all over are being targeted by ships disguised as slavers, rumors of a new form of jurda parem are spreading, and the fate of it all is yet again dependent on an unlikely gang of criminals. My summary/notes: Some fascinating council of tides lore, and the side/original characters in this fic are so interesting. Be prepared this fic has some wesper angst and some definite kanej angst, but there are some adorable moments. Goes into the crows friendships, especially Jesper + Inej and Kaz and Wylan (it does go into more dynamics). To finish it I will say there is a sort of ⊹hiest⊹.

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and you asked me to dance, but I said "dancing is a dangerous game" by sarathedreamer

Wordcount: 28,439 Chapters: 5/5

Characters: Inej Ghafa, Kaz Brekker, Wylan Van Eck, Jesper Fahey, Prince Ilya

Tags: Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, Healing, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Post-Book 2: Rule of Wolves, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant ish

Author's summary/notes: “My darling Inej," he started in a very proper intonation, "treasure of my heart, feared Wraith of the Barrel, Scourge of the Seas, Bringer of Justice and Slayer of Men… would you like to dance with me?" Inej, Kaz, Wylan and Jesper get a very important invitation to the betrothal celebration of a certain Nina Zenik... angst, fluff, and yes, dancing, ensues between the King of the Barrel and the Queen of the Seas. This is part two of my kanej x cowboy like me series! I would highly recommend reading part one first before you dive into this :) Spoilers for RoW and obviously the Soc duology. Most of this is canon compliant because I love to play by the rules (except that we forget about the last two pages of Rule of Wolves for the sake of fluff and angst only... hehe) My summary/notes: Part of the kanej x cowboy like me series, which is such a good series, if you want kanej fluff then that is the series for you. This fic is Inej and Kaz being head over heels with each other for 5 chapters straight, featuring some wesper and Nina. May I intrigue you into this reading this fic by saying it has Kanej flirting and Captain Ghafa. Also THEY DANCE.

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Dealing With Our Demons by @ravenyenn19

Wordcount: 807,697 Chapters: 174/? (updates generally every few months)

Characters: Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Nina Zenik, Wylan Van Eck, (as well as many other original characters and six of crows side characters)

Tags: Romance, Friendship, Love, POV Kaz Brekker, BAMF Inej Ghafa, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Eventual Smut

Author's summary/notes: Inej's first letter back to Kaz after she leaves on her journey to hunt slavers, reunion ensues! Will they continue to learn how to battle their demons in order to get close to one another? My summary/notes: A classic Kanej fic, almost every Kanej fanfic reader knows this fic, the writing is impeccable. This fic made me fall in love with both Anika and Pim and then Pimika. To me this fic is canon. Now for a summary, this fic take you on a journey of healing and growing with both Kaz and Inej. You will come out of this fic a changed person.

#six of crows #kaz brekker #grishaverse #inej ghafa #crooked kingdom #soc #kanej #nina zenik #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #matthias helvar #kanej fanfiction #kanej fanfic #six of crows fanfic #six of crows fanfiction #lunars fanfiction recs #lunars fanfic recs #lunars fanfiction rec series ☾₊ ⊹

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hanafubukki · 2 months

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OT3 angst starting to kick again 😭 I mean, on one hand you are happy because the people you love are alive and well. On the other hand...

Silver: "I don't have a mother, but I have a father who raised me. We are not from the same blood, but it doesn't matter. I will always be my father son"

Lilia: "Oya, you look familiar. Do you have an ancestor who went to Briar Valley at some point ? My, my, this reminds me pleasant feelings, but it seems I'm too old, my memories is playing with me again."

Malleus: "Are you using parfume ? You do....not ? Nothing. Nothing Child of man. Your scent just reminds me of Lilia's home. It's just...stronger. Don't mind what I am saying. Perhaps I just miss this place."

Does this also means that in this Au Lilia forgot he always was Silver's dad too ? My heart- But the fact that he still found a way to give him the same name is priceless. "You have a head to be called Silver". And Meleanor and Dawn 🥲 Is Levan with them too ? What if everyone think they are dead ? (Except Maleficia perhaps. Wouldn't be surprise if she is the one who helped us in this situation to save everyone and is keeping the secret until the good time)

- 🦋 Anon

[OT3 Masterlist, specifically talking about this post.]

Ahsjskdkd 🦋 Anonie, the way you zoomed into my inbox so quickly, I was so surprised. I love it 💞🥰

So 👀 the parts that I figured out would go like this.

You turned back time and you also have the Great Seven help as well because of how the whole price and turning time worked. They can’t help outwardly but at a certain time they can when you need help bringing down what basically causes you to change time in the first place.

So to back track a bit, you turn back time. You ended up basically during the Fae versus Human war. You couldn’t stop the war, and Lilia escaped with the egg. You stop the battle with Meleanor and Dawn.

You have magic. You know how to fight because you were trained before the time was turned to defend yourself (because there was a war going on). You block the hit that would have killed Meleanor and put a healing sleep spell on her before teleporting her to safety.

You end up reasoning with KOD and returning to his kingdom. You would help heal his father and stop this war.

Even with everything, the humans turn on Leah and KoD because of Henrik. Leah is actually the one who tricks KOD to sleep in the same room as Baby Silver.

You come too late to rescue them. She dies in your arms. Princess Leah remembers the timeline from before, the one you turned and the canon one. I haven’t talked about her much in the ot3, but in the original au, you and Leah are best friends. (I need to talk about her in the ot3 😅, I can’t believe I haven’t yet lol)

She thanks you for everything and says how much she missed you. 😭

You end up burying her and return to the castle…where you see Baby Silver and KOD. You make a point to come visit them. You know make sure there isn’t dust on them and change baby silver’s clothes.

There’s actually a cute scene with baby silver if you want to know 🥰💞

With Lilia, he still travels and tries to hatch the egg as he did in canon and the ot3, you visit the egg so Malleus won’t be lonely. In fact, you end up giving some magic to baby mal when that time comes 😭

Lilia does find Silver as usual and names him and raises him. He sees Dawn but Dawn doesn’t wake up then and there. (After all, there’s no love there since you’re not there to connect them 😔)

Dawn wakes up later when Silver is a toddler and Silver finds the room they kept him in. With Meleanor, she’s healing and it takes time, she wakes up but Malleus is grown and the treaty is in place.

I haven’t decided on levan 😂😂 and with grandma maleficia, well, there’s two versions in my head. A version where she remembers you and there’s a version where you and her just became close over the hundreds of years that you visit behind the scene. Or maybe both 🤔

Silver is raised by his fathers and Malleus. He knows about his bio mom, but also he feels a connection to you. Could it be from before? When you were the one to give birth to him? Or now? When you took care of him in his cradle? He feels comfortable around you, as if he can hear your voice encouraging him to walk or feel your fingers in his hair.

Now Malleus gets a sense of nostalgia and comfort. He feels like he met you before. Maybe once upon a dream? You’re so familiar a gleam? You spent time with him when he was an egg. You would make him scarves and tell him stories. He oddly recalls a voice from a comforting dream so ago. And funny enough, the familiar smell. In my thoughts, even though the timeline was reversed back, you still retain items from that time.

Your wedding band, Lilia’s hachet, flower crown, etc. some of which, is used as a story plot later. Some used in angst and some comfort.

For KOD and Lilia, they feel as if they know you. As if they met you somewhere before. When you met them, you always covered your face so they couldn’t see you. Your voice sounds familiar but there’s no way you can be that hooded figure because they were clearly human.

On that note, you lived through the past 400 years. You can say you took steps for the future to help in the coming years of the disaster. To be ready.

Lilia and KOD feel something for you but they are confused. Is it infatuation? Is it your mystery? At one point, they are tensed around you because they think you might be a danger to their family. You know how protective they are.

It hurts to be left out and watch them from afar but you do it. You know the price you paid, but who knows? Maybe certain characters remember and will assist you?

…as you can see, I’ve thought about this alternate ot3 au a lot 😂💞🫶

#answered #Anonie ask #🌺🦋anon🌺#twst knight of dawn x reader x lilia vanrouge #malleus draconia #twst silver #silver vanrouge #ot3 ask #ot3 thoughts

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anime-grimmy-art · 9 months

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It’s this time of the year again, folks. Time to wrap up the art Ive made in the last 12 months in another Year in Review! I’ve noticed that this is my fifth Year in Review in a row, so I’ll be making an extra post looking back on the progress in those last 5 years!

I've got a lot to say about this year, but purely art wise, I've gone all when it comes to comics, damn! I've kinda found a format that is messy, and therefore more time efficient, yet still looks good. I even made 2 animatics and lotsa shorts/reels! All that on top of opening coms twice, and, oh yeah, MAKING A WHOLE ASS 4MIN ANIMATION ON MY OWN.

How is my hand still alive.

2023 has been….interesting, to say the least. The first half year I was working on my thesis project, aka making an animated short all on my own (in the art department), which makes it honestly surprising how much I managed to churn out between animating. Trigun rly did have me in a choke hold.

Summer was a bit more spotty, esp. with me not being able to draw anything during August as I was writing my thesis (and doing commissions). And towards the end of the year, Kingdom Hearts tried to save me, but alas, Genshin Impact has finally sunk its teeth into me and dragged me to the bottom of the rabbit hole. It all started with me watching a story summary and lore videos while I was sick after my thesis and I was too intrigued to not dig deeper and well, first I fell in love with Kaeya and then the ships started dropping in left and right.

I’m not gonna lie, the last few months have been weird. I finished my masters in October, and have been on job hunt since, sadly without success so far. I’m existing in this weird limbo of still not grasping I’m not a student anymore after 18 years in education, not really being able to accept I’m an adult, yet desperately trying to find something so I can make a routine, cos rn Im too scared to build a rhythm as I know I’ll have a so much harder time readjusting again. It’s left me in a weird emotional state, where most of the time I feel fine, but when it counts, there’s just, nothing. No joy at getting my diploma, no anticipation to finally go to a convention again, neither any sadness hearing my grandfather died. It frustrates me that it extends to my art as well, there’s excitement over ideas and concepts, but no motivation to pick up the pencil, which makes me either not finish art at all or making so many shortcuts and just ending up with sth not satisfactory to me since it’s not the idea I sought after.

Tho, not everything is doom and gloom. I DID finish a whole ass short animation and got my masters degree, that IS sth to be proud of. Also, while Im struggling at drawing, I’ve also kinda started integrating my shortcuts into my style and some stuff I’ve thrown together actually turns out real good nowadays. Also, and this might be a bit of a weird one, I’m so fucking happy to know I can still enjoy gay ships. I’ve been a bit uncertain over the last few years because when I was around 16-18, I had a real big yaoi phase, which mostly came from the fact so much stuff came out that tickled my brain in the right way (Free, Haikyuu, etc.). But over the years, my enthusiasm died down, and I even started to resent some ships because it’s all some fandoms produced. I often found myself liking a hetero ship more than the popular gay ship, which really made me not wanna stick around because I did not care for most fanart and you can only go through a tag with art you don’t care about so long before you lose interest. I think in retrospect that it rly had nothing to do with the ships being gay ships but rather cos the fans just shoved it in your face when you didn’t care (and shipping culture nowadays also can get real scary). But I’m so happy to see I can still get obsessed with a ship and it’s all thanks to Haikaveh/Kavetham. It really just needed the right flavour for me to dig in again. And oh my god, I FINALLY like a ship with a SHIT TON of art and fanfictions, no more scrounging the crumbs from the bottom of the barrel.

Anyways, enough lamenting. Here’s to hoping I can bite my tongue and get shit started properly in 2024, and that my brainrots may make me obsessed enough to churn out an obscene amount of fanart again.

#art year in review #anime-grimmy #fanart #sketch #comic #animatic #undertale #trigun #legend of zelda #monster hunter #kingdom hearts #undead unluck #genshin impact

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rinadragomir · 1 year

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It's me trying to convince y'all to get invested in the Sword Catcher, read it all cause I tried!

1) I need someone to talk about it + see your theories/memes/edits, I NEED MY FRIENDS IN THIS FANDOM okay?!

2) listen, we have to wait about 2 years before The Wicked Powers, let's try to distract ourselves with something exciting!!

Reviews from George Martin (my beloved, listen, this man knows a good fantasy book when he sees one, trust him), Holly Black and Leigh Bardugo

Synopsis (read the full detailed version here):

In the vibrant city-state of Castellane, a young orphan named Kel is stolen from his old life to enter a new one of luxury and peril. He’s to become Prince Conor Aurelian’s body-double, shielding the Prince from all dangers. As his ‘Sword Catcher,’ he and Conor become close as brothers – yet Kel lives for one purpose: to die for Conor.

Lin Caster is an Ashkar physician, part of a community ostracised for its rare magical abilities. But events pull her and Kel together and into the web of the mysterious Ragpicker King who rules Castellane’s criminal underworld.

Together, they’ll discover an extraordinary conspiracy. But can forbidden love bring down a kingdom? And will their discoveries plunge their nation into war and the world into chaos?

Here, a boy lives to protect his Prince with his life. A girl is destined to return lost magic to the world. A Prince must choose between his heart and his duty. And thrumming beneath it all, the heartbeat of a city unlike any other. Welcome to Castellane.

Known characters: (from top to bottom, from left to right, please appreciate the wonderful arts below)

Kellian Saren - our protagonist~ was kidnapped from his family when he was 5 and brought to the palace in order to be the Sword Catcher, the body double for the Crown Prince(🏳️‍🌈?). Used to have a crush on Antonetta, now too busy spending time with Prince Conor (🏳️‍🌈?). Big spoon energy

YOU'LL SAY: Rina... bestie he looks exactly like the second guy a bit lower, why so many Will Herondale cosplayers🤨 YES YES, THAT'S THE POINT, THEY HAVE TO LOOK ALIKE, IT'S LIKE Keira Knightley and Natalie Portman in Star Wars

Lin Caster - female protagonist, doctor, is skilled in healing magic (Catarina & Clary's daughter🤨?). There is a prophecy surrounding her, that says a very powerful goddess would return one day and it would be one of the girls from her community, ~possibly her~

Antonetta Alleyne - Heir to the wealthy silk charter, her mother dotes on her, dressing her in lace and grooming her to marry Prince Conor (the next guy). Her, Kel and Conor used to have this gang😎 when they were kids, but then her mother decided to turn her into a Kendall Jenner and now she's 💅🏻not like other girls💅🏻 and makes this ew sound everytime our protagonist walks by (secretly feels something else towards him....I guess?...)

Conor Aurelian - our Prince🤴🏻definition of: So you're a tough guy, Like it really rough guy, Just can't get enough guy, Chest always so puffed guy. What else? Oh, everyone tries to kill him and he hides behind his boyfriend's back. Little spoon energy

Joss Falconet - some lazy whore, idk. He has been friends with Conor and Kel since they were all small children. He loves parties, a good time, and ridiculous exploits, but there may be rather more to him…Matthew Fairchild core?👀✨ maybe....

The Ragpicker King - he's so 😋😩🤤he lives his dark emo girl aesthetic life. Doesn’t have a name or real identity. He lives in a big black mansion in the middle of Castellane and runs the crime scene. My future husband btw

Merren Asper - part-time student, full-time poisoner, and hopeless romantic. Merren has a dreamy, cheerful personality, despite being a poisoner. Well good for him, god bless🌿 he seems like a mixture of Kit Herondale and Wylan Van Eck

I'm going to update this post in case Cassie shares some new information!

The first book comes out on October 10 THIS YEAR so~ you can pre-order🌟✨for example, I can't so I'll just wait till someone sends it to me once it's out.

I REALLY hope I managed to get you slightly invested. It seems like a really nice fantasy series and I'd like to support Cassie's new work. She gave us our beloved TSC world and I have a strong faith in her. I know it's hard to dive into a new series but let's give it a chance!

@chibi-tsukiko @hahahax30 @roseofthomas @queenhelenblackthorn @not--a--pipedream @tea-and-a-clandestine-agenda @spacehero-23 @tys-kitty @carelessflower @dustandducks @one-fond-mortal @magnus-the-maqnificent @delightfullyterrible @learningshelfcontrol @thewolfnephilim @literallytypogod @gayforcarstairsgirls @clockworkbee @elettralightwood @captainswanandclintasha @radisv @lord-jethro @luciehercndale @bytheangell

#sword catcher #cassadra clare #the wicked powers #tsc #merren asper #the ragpicker king #joss falconet #Conor Aurelian #Lin Caster #Antonetta Alleyne #Kellian Saren

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gentlelass · 3 months

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Hey there.

I know this isn't mainly a social platform of writing, and if you don't care for reading my long-ass bullshit, you're free to scroll. But I was very eager to post here a summary of my Oc, Marjorie's Ford life since her birth to when she first joined the Marigold Gang, at least for that couple of people who will care enough to bother reading, since I've always left you in the dark about most of her past up until now. I will make a storyboard with actual drawings to make it more interesting to the eye at some point, but it'll take long, so for now, enjoy what I have to offer.

The recurring year is 1894, and yet another baby girl is born under the prosperous (not for too much longer) Kingdom of Italy. But not just any child, falling short of aristocracy in terms of wealth: daughter to the Opera singer Caterina Casiraghi (Ford) and the handsome but opportunist American notary who snatched the Italian beauty as soon as he saw her, Christian C. Ford. Second to nobody in her own home but her older brother, Malcom Ford, Marjorie was still spoiled and pampered from all sides, and for a while, they were happy.

But of course it was too good to be true, and soon enough Christian's misdeeds came biting back to him, after a life time of biting more than he could chew: the notary and most of his official possessions burnt to ashes in a fire, and although the cause was officially concluded to be an accident, his family knew in their hearts it was nothing but arson: between what remained of the man's belongings, in fact, the wife found multiple letters of a minatory nature coming from some unspecified shady client of the man's, that he had evidently proceeded to ignore. The widow, left on her own with a man to bury and two children to raise, had no choice but to roll up her sleeves, and the broken family spent the next six years of their lives incessantly hopping from place to place, partially for the matron's role she played in different courts across all Europe as a requested and appreciated soprano, partially to avoid meeting the same early end as the late father and husband may his killers spot them if they stop in a single place too long.

Such circumstances weren't the most normal for the youths to grow up in, and the siblings came out as... not any normal really: while the weight of responsibility hung on the eldest's shoulders, stuck in the role of the "man of the house" and becoming gloomier with each day, the younger could only long to receive that much attention. Daughter unsuitable of inheriting anything, too young to get married to another rich man, and with a voice too small to follow her mother's footsteps into the world of Opera, she soon veered towards theater, her frame, just as small as her voice, nimble and agile, her movements graceful, her scenic presence lovely as she had learnt to emulate from her mother. Still feeling the psychological pressure that was truly only inside her own head from being both female and the younger child, where she couldn't follow her mother's footsteps she instead followed her late father's, soon adopting less-than-savory methods to get ahead in her career, eliminating the competition before it even got the chance to become such.

All prestigious careers however have as much of a raise as they are doomed to have a fall, and in 1914, when the Great War officially broke out, the entertainment business collapsed, specially fields as frivolous as dancing and singing, and the next thing which dropped at dizzingly fast speeds was... the Ford Family's bank account.

The Ford widow, ever the loyal mother and wife, used the last funds she had to send her children to their fatherland America like many other immigrants of the time to seek luck and a better life, and we all can imagine what happened to her, next.

The sole survivors of the Ford Family, at this point aged respectively 21 and 23, were soon separated yet again, however: not any more than a few weeks after they had successfully disembarked in Mexico, in fact, the Italian government spotted them, demanding that Malcom came immediately back to motherland to fight in the army along all other male, able-bodied Italian citizens of age. The boy, after a lifetime of accepting responsibilities, had it drilled into his very subconscious by this point to always answer the call of duty without question, and so he did one last time, taking leave from his sister and all the money they had left. He wrote his sister letters and send her more money for some time, directing them to Mexico City where he had left her. After a while however he stopped receiving answers from her altogether, an no sibling ever heard from the other ever since.

This is because Marjorie after some months of permanence in Mexico, working some gigs here and there, plus the money she was receiving from her brother, finally saw an opportunity to build a new life all for herself, where she would be the sun, the star of the scene, rather than a mere moon in the backlight of not one, but TWO suns in her case, both mother and brother. Having been a nomad all her life Marjorie never learnt to truly form bonds and emotional attachments to people, always knowing she'd lose them as soon as she had to move yet again; hence the loss of her mother and the betrayal she inflicted on her brother never weighted much on her mind, or so she tells herself. She traveled all the way up to Missouri, where she soon started working as a maid at a certain Maribel Hotel, where a "kind", if sorta odd fella by the name of Asa Sweet welcomed her in his den in exchange of a mere few favors which would cost Marjorie nothing but a constant smell of bleach on her person, due a variety of reasons, and the sanity she had already long lost anyways.

Opportunist sociopath born out of heritage, of circumstances and most importantly of the intrusive thoughts of inferiority inside her own head nobody ever bothered teaching her the strength to fend off, the rest is history.

#lackadaisy #artists on tumblr #oc #lackasona #original character #marjorie ford

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evelili · 1 year

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I just finished your Magnum Opus, and it was super great. I especially loved the Pinkie chapter (which surprised me because she’s my least favorite character!). Anyway, do you have any mlp fic recommendations?

oh boy do i have a list for you, strap in!

if you read my magnum opus writeup, you may have seen i mentioned three authors that dragged me back into mlp. if you're interested in sciset (and what's probably the most popular eqg fic on the entire site), Long Road to Friendship by Albi is a longfic that started after the first eqg movie and is a rlly lighthearted read. i don't normally care for OCs but gosh if i dont accept Albi's version of trixie's parents as canon in my heart haha. if you're interested in pony adventure fic, i also rlly liked Sunset of Time, another rlly well done longfic ive carried in my brain since i first read it xd

the second author, Monochromatic, aka the raritwi authority aka someone who has a GREAT taste in editors, has written three of the most formative longfic ive ever read: The Enchanted Library, its sequel The Enchanted Kingdom, and Crimson Lips which i unfortunately can no longer link since she's taken it down, but i believe you can still buy physically through PFP if you wanted to take a gamble on it (it would be a very good gamble). apart from her longfic though i also adore some of her shorter works, including but not limited to The Choices We Make, a really interesting Pinkie study that's definitely shaped how i view her, Your Own Worst Enemy, which is just. peak rarity content, and Injuring Eternity, which while being one of her older works still has certain passages that wreck me emotionally on sight.

and the third author responsible for my magnum opus is the one and only Aragon, who i can not only recommend for his fics but ALSO for his blog posts and comics (see the comic index on his profile for links to all of them, as well as this amazing blogpost about his neighbour that is just peak comedy). he's also the writer responsible for the banger longfic Crime and Funishment which absolutely defined my writing aspirations for a few years and is the definition of comedy if you looked it up in my heart, as well as In Hindsight, yet another banger rarity fic, and Love Is In Doom which is just bloody, silly, stupid fun (and has sunset shimmer in it)

and then if we want to talk fics i love written by other authors, Sleepless Knights by r5h has my favourite brand of scitwi written right into the margins, Administrative Angel by horizon has one of the most amazing endings to an opening chapter ive ever read AND an amazing celestia, The Best Night Ever by Capn_Chryssalid is a fandom classic with a groundhog day twist on the gala episode from s1, Side by Side by Krickis is a feel-good rarijack oneshot w a focus on lgbt (specifically trans) themes, Wax Earplugs by Reedhoarse has a dysfunctional mess of an adagio dazzle that i adore, Merge Request by FanOfMostEverything has all the scitwi/midnight shenanigans you could ask for wrapped up in the relatable content of github hell, Guppy Love by PaulAsaran is a rarijack longfic with an incredibly realistic setting and an interpretation of mermaids that i love so much, Doused Flame by heartlessons has me handshaking on the "sopping wet pathetic relatable guy" flash sentry interpretation that won me over recently, 80 Days 'Til the World's Farthest Shore by Cynewulf feels like reading a professionally published short story (and i mean that in the best of ways, it's enthralling), and finally if you'll allow me to be self-centred a bit i also am very proud of my two oneshots Heartstrings and Something About Midnights if you wanted to check em out too xd

oops long post!! im not sorry for it, i hope you can find something in here that catches your fancy (or even all of it haha), there's soooo many incredible fics in the fandom it floors me every day that i can read all these incredible works for free!!!

#lili talking #mlp fanfic #i wish i had the energy to do proper reviews / recs but #most of what goes on in my brain after reading a great fic is a lot of screaming and biting at my cage and then becoming changed forever #average reading experience yknow

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sotwk · 1 year

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I just read "A stab to the heart", and first of all, I loved it, just... perfect! The way the Thranduil is so worried for her and he can sense when she wakes up is just way too good for me!

Honestly, the last line of the fic: "We saw ada frightened" just hit me so deep that I had to come here. So, I didn't check to see if you have already written about this in the headcannons masterlist (and I'm sorry if you did and I haven't noticed!) but how do you think that Thranduil and their kids reacted when she died? Like, how their feelings and thoughts after this? I've always assumed Thranduil being an extremely good father, so I can't truly imagine him being mean to any of their kids, but how do you think that they (specially Thranduil) took the news that their queen had died?

Eeek! What lovely feedback and an even lovelier fic-related question! (I am so lucky and grateful to get such nice Anons in my inbox; I am spoiled.)

A Stab to the Heart (Fic Link)

Part 2 of this 2-part fic is over 50% written, but has been stalled in the basement of my brain for over six months now (yikes)! Hopefully I can shove it back into motion soon!

In regards to Thranduil being so in-tune with his wife that their minds are practically in a constant state of ósanwë (Elvish mind-link), I would like to point out a few key details about their relationship:

"A Stab to the Heart" takes place in Third Age 1012. By this time, Thranduil and Maereth have already been married for 1,188 years and have been mutually in love for an additional 1,700. And ever since they married, they were hardly ever parted for any significant amount of time (as opposed to most other Elven couples, like Celeborn and Galadriel, who would live apart for years). Needless to say, you would be hard-pressed to find a couple more tightly, lovingly bonded then the Elvenking and Elvenqueen were to each other.

THEIR ROMANTIC HISTORY: (Link to related HCs HERE) It took Thranduil about 50 years of sporadic meetings to realize he was falling in love with Maereth. However, he knew his father would loathe the idea of his son pairing off with a Noldor (much less one descended from Fëanor) and it would have great repercussions on their kingdom, so Thranduil tried to ignore his growing feelings and sought to maintain just a friendship with her.

Maereth nearly died in the Sacking of Eregion, and Thranduil had been there to witness it; he had held her while she was gravely injured and felt the terror of her slipping away from him. Ultimately, she was saved by the healing of Elrond, but this experience left a permanent mark on Thranduil. From that day on, he found the only thing that ever scared him in his life: losing Maereth to the Halls of Mandos.

What do you do when you realize you love someone so much you cannot live without them? You ask them to marry you, of course! And so Thranduil did, but it took another thousand years of determined courtship to get Maereth to say "yes".

The Aftermath of the Elvenqueen's Death

I have yet to fully write the story of this terrible tragedy (I'm intimidated by it, to be honest), but a version of it was written, including the immediate aftermath, in my Thorin-centric fic, "The Broken Shield", where Maereth died during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. I wrote out more details of her death in this headcanon post.

As for the reactions of the family (those who were left, anyway)?

OH BOY.

(SPOILERS to the SotWK AU, if anyone cares about that sort of thing, under the cut. Also, it gets pretty sad, so I apologize for the emotions this story may cause.)

Thranduil very nearly died from heartbreak. This was the darkest point in Mirkwood's history, the kingdom that had already been fighting off spiders, orcs, dark creatures, and poisons for centuries. All that was nothing compared to the realm's grief over their Elvenqueen's death, and fearing the likelihood their beloved Elvenking would either die from heartbreak, or finally leave them for the Undying Lands.

Note that by the time the Elvenqueen died, Thranduil had already lost three out of five of his sons. Only Gelir and Legolas remained, though he also had his daughter-in-law, Itarildë (Mirion's widow) and two grandchildren, Crown Prince Aranion (heir to the throne) and Princess Anariel.

Upon his return home to Mirkwood to bury the Elvenqueen's body, Thranduil was uncharacteristically cold and seemingly emotionless. He turned into stone (metaphorically) as a way of holding himself together, for the sake of the people who depended on him. He did not have strength left to properly comfort his family, and could only parrot the kingdom's motto, telling them they "will endure".

Gelir, the most impulsive of the Thranduilions (and second to Turhir as the most hot-tempered), lashed out in vengeful rage. Legolas just barely convinced him not to immediately ride out to seek revenge against the Orcs.

However, about three years after the Elvenqueen was laid to rest, Gelir once again tried to convince his father to allow him and Legolas to lead their armies to rejoin the Dwarves (Thrain's people) in their war against the orcs. Thranduil refused, and instead decreed that all travel to other realms was forbidden while the Dwarves fought their war.

Frustrated by this (and still grieving his mother), Gelir finally broke down and rebelled openly against the Elvenking. He attempted to leave Mirkwood on his own, only to be chased down by his father and dragged back to the Halls in chains, where he was thrown in prison.

Does this sound harsh? I take a pause in this dramatic tale to point out that Thranduil was a very, VERY good father to his sons all their lives. The Princes were over 2,000 years old by the time their mother died; not only were they adults, but they were wise enough to know that they were not exempt from their kingdom's laws, and should understand the grief their father carried from all these terrible losses. Not only did Thranduil need to demonstrate the strength of his authority, but he also refused to risk the death of another family member, even if it meant imprisoning his own child.

After the war ended in TA 2799, Gelir was finally released from prison, after being held there for 3 years. But instead of making peace with his father and submitting to the King's decrees, he openly criticized Mirkwood's isolationist policies, which had become even stricter after the Elvenqueen's death.

Legolas, caught between the two dearest people in the world to him, could not get them to reconcile their differences.

After another year of strife between father and son, Thranduil gave Gelir an ultimatum: reaffirm his fealty to the Elvenking and his laws, or be banished from the kingdom. Gelir, believing his home had become a "cage" that he refused to be locked in, chose banishment.

Gelir asked his brother to come with him, forcing Legolas to choose sides by staying with Thranduil. He remembered a prophetic plea his mother once made to him many years before her death: "above all, choose your father". His decision was also influenced by the special closeness he had with Thranduil.

Thus, Gelir left the kingdom in the winter of TA 2800, and cut off all contact with his family. Legolas was the only Thranduilion left.

For a century (TA 2800-2900), Thranduil struggled against his personal demons of anger and grief and longing to be with his beloved wife again. In spite of his depression however, he continued to govern his people effectively, but only with the help and loyalty of Legolas and his devoted daughter-in-law and grandchildren. (Note: SotWK AU does NOT accept the coldness and rift between Legolas and Thranduil as shown in the film adaptation. Legolas ultimately proves to be Thranduil's most steadfast son. The conflict between Tauriel and Thranduil, and her romance with Legolas, do not occur in SotWK either.)

In TA 2850, when Gandalf uncovered Sauron's identity as the Necromancer--something Thranduil had suspected for centuries, but his reports went unheeded--the Elvenking slowly began to return to himself, remembering the hard battle that still needed to be fought to protect his kingdom.

In TA 2911, Thranduil even began to loosen the restrictions against traveling outside of Mirkwood, when he allowed Itarildë and Anariel to join Gandalf in giving aid to the Hobbits of the Shire during the Fell Winter, just as their family had done previously during the Long Winter (TA 2758).

By the time Thorin and his Company arrived at Mirkwood in TA 2941, the remnants of the royal house of Thranduil were back in fighting form, although the Elvenking would always carry a longing for his wife that would not be healed until their reunion in Aman over a century into the Fourth Age.

For more Thranduil/Mirkwood headcanons: SotWK HC Masterlist

Elves HC Tag List: @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @achromaticerebus @aduialel @asianbutnotjapanese @auttumnsayshi @blueberryrock @conversacomsmaug @elan-ho-detto-elan-15 @entishramblings @freshalmondpandadonut @friendofthefellowshipsnerdblog @glassgulls @heranintomyknife23times @ladyweaslette @laneynoir @lathalea @lemonivall @LiliDurin @quickslvxrr @ratsys @scyllas-revenge @stormchaser819 @talkdifferently6 @tamryniel @tamurilofrivendell

Other useful links:

Introduction to SotWK

Fanfiction Masterlist

Fanfiction Request Guidelines

#sotwk answers #thranduil #thranduil headcanon #legolas #legolas headcanon #elvenqueen #sotwk oc #sotwk headcanon #mirkwood #mirkwood elves #greenwood the great #tolkien #the hobbit #lotr

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s10127470 · 3 months

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If the Disney characters actually got to be important in Kingdom Hearts: Part 2

Hey there folks! I'm back again with a continuation of my previous post "If the Disney characters actually got to be important in Kingdom Hearts: Part 1"

If you want to check that out first, here's the link to it below.

For this second part, we'll be focusing on Kingdom Hearts II given that it's a much bigger game than the previous two and I have a little more to talk about for this one.

All the elements I mentioned in the previous post for the versions of KH1 and Chain of Memories apply here as well and while story is mostly the same, there will be some notable changes.

So with that being said, let's get this started!

Note: So I actually just found out that Wendy wasn't one of the Princesses of Heart. So I guess in this AU, Peter would be just tagging along for vibes like Tarzan and Jack.

I also forgot to mention the looks of Abu, Zero and Tinker Bell in the last post, who would all be obviously accompanying the heroes on their journey.

As for what they would look like.

In Wonderland, they would be wearing Victorian attire.

In Olympus Coliseum, Abu would be a weasel, Zero would be a ghostly Molossian hound, and Tinker Bell would be a nymph.

In Deep Jungle; Abu would be a patas monkey, Zero would be a ghostly Basenji dog, and Tinker Bell would be an Aziza (which were a race of fairies from West African folklore).

In Agrabah; Zero would be a ghostly Canaan dog and Tinker Bell would be a mini Parī (a supernatural enitiy from Persian folklore that's pretty similar to a fairy).

In Halloween Town, Abu would be a golden Shiva monkey statue and Tinker Bell would be a ghost like Peter.

In Atlantica; Abu would an octopus, Zero would a ghostly sea lion, and Tinker Bell would like a mini mer-fairy of sorts.

And in Neverland, Abu would pretty much be the same except naked and Zero would also be the same as well.

The Mysterious Tower:

For our second world, we see our first real major story change.

Upon arriving to The Mysterious Tower, our trio are not only greeted by Yen Sid, but also an old friend.

And who's that friend you may ask?

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Yep! Tarzan is back!

Through Yen Sid, we find out that the trio's Disney friends have been frequently checking in with Yen Sid over the past year to see if they've returned yet.

I think this little reveal would really help show just how strong the friendship between these guys are in this version of the series.

And with that reveal, you can already expect Tarzan being over-joyed seeing his friends again after a whole year.

As you probably could tell by now, Tarzan will be joining the trio on their new adventure.

As for how he fights, he'll still be fighting with his trusty spear, slashing and wacking enemies with it.

Though similar to Aladdin, he's depicted as being more faster and agile in his fighting style than in the first game.

Plus he can use jungle herbs to perform Cure like in KH1.

Tarzan's Limit would be Jungle Fury.

The Limit would start with Lasso, where Tarzan pulls out a vine and lassoes it to something above. Then he grabs Sora and the two start swinging together.

The next part would be Swing Sync, which has Sora and Tarzan attacking enemies with kicks while swinging around.

The final part would be Simian Slam, which has Sora and Tarzan jumping from the vine and landing on the ground, delivering a powerful shockwave by slamming it with their Keyblade and spear respectively.

He'll also be sporting a new look too!

Tarzan's new outfit would be pulled right from this piece of fanart done by DNLnamek01.

Back in the 2007, the dude did a series of fanart depicting various Disney characters (some already in Kingdom Hearts and others not yet) as Keyblade Wielders, complete with outfits similar to the original characters of Kingdom Hearts and the iconic Disney trio.

I really loved the looks he gave to the Disney characters and can I honestly imagine this is what they would look like if the series was allowed to go all-out with them.

Anyway, but before our trio meet up with their old friend, they run into an enemy....two in fact.

These enemies being Pete (of course) and, believe or not, Clayton.

Yeah! Clayton is back!

As for how, this is where things get interested.

Essentially, between KH I and II, Pete found that the power of the Heartless can be used to bring people back from the dead.

One of his earliest attempts with this newfound trick was in Deep Jungle, where he ended up reviving Clayton.

But not only that, but this revival essentially changed Clayton as well.

As it turns out, Heartless resurrection can actually turn those that it was used on into half-Heartless beings.

Not only that, but they also get new powers and abilities (often relating something about the individual before they died).

As for Clayton, his hunting skills have been enhanced to incredible levels.

This is largely thanks to him now possessing superhuman physicality (strength, speed and endurance) and his senses begin akin to that of an animal.

He also fights with a pair of machetes and several bolas.

This is what he looks like now.

I can't figure out who did this drawing, but I really like how Clayton looks here.

If Clayton was turned into a more powerful and deadly version of himself, this is exactly how I'd imagine him looking.

You can also tell that his outfit not only greatly emphasize his status as a hunter, but also draws heavy inspiration from Kraven the Hunter.

Essentially, Pete and Clayton's plan is to reform the Council of Disney Villains, by resurrecting the original members (who are all dead.....except for Hades) and by recruiting new members (like Clayton).

And with how Clayton turned out, the duo figured that the Council would be even more powerful than before.

And by working together just like in the last game, no one would be able to beat them this time!

Yeah, this sounds pretty insane.

But let's be real, this Kingdom Hearts! It's basically the Regular Show of video games!

They're both convoluted, overly-ridiculous insanity....and that's why people love them so much.

And besides, you can't tell me this concept doesn't sound remotely cool.

And also, Pete and Clayton would definitely make a really fun duo.

Pete being his usual bumbling self and Clayton being the straight man through all this.

Radiant Garden:

Nothing really to note about this world, except that there would be few more characters than initially featured.

Most notably Archimedes (returning from this AU's KH I) and Arthur (also from The Sword in the Stone).

Speaking of Arthur, this game takes place after the events of the film, so he's already the king of England.

But despite that, Merlin still tutors Arthur and is helping learn how to be a good king.

Arthur has also befriended the rest of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee.

The most notable being Yuffie and Leon.

I'd imagine that Yuffie would see Arthur like a little brother (often teasing him) and Leon's been training Arthur in the way of the sword so he can one day wield Excalibur like a true king.

And although they're already in the original game, in this version; Huey, Dewey and Louie would be presented as new proteges under the tutelage of Merlin, as they want to follow in Donald's footsteps and become mages.

Also, we'd actually get to see Donald interacting with his nephews for once!

The Land of Dragons:

Layout-wise, this world is largely the same as in the original.

And in terms of characters, we would see the addition of Cri-Kee and Chi-Fu, the emperor's bitch-ass advisor.

As for NPCs, we would see more soldiers of Li Shang's army, civilians in the Imperial Square, and even some animals including pandas, golden pheasants, water deers, red pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, crested ibises, takins, bats and giant salamanders.

As for world-specific enemies, it would be the soldiers of The Hun Army.

As for the character looks, excluding Mulan obviously...

Sora, Tarzan, Aladdin and Ariel would be wearing ancient Chinese civilian clothing.

Abu would be a snub-nosed monkey.

Zero would a ghostly Chow Chow dog.

Beast would be a xiezhi, which is a creature of a Chinese mythology.

(if you want to know more about it, Google is your friend)

Jack Sparrow would be dressed as like a ancient Chinese bandit, something along the lines of Heishan Bandits.

Donald and Jack Skellington would be dressed as wus, which were what shamans were known as back in ancient China.

Simba would be a tiger.

Goofy and Max would be dressed like ancient Chinese soldiers, not much different from Shang and his army

And Tron would be a living terracotta statue.

As for the story, it's largely the same as in the original game....until the second visit.

The story for the second visit would also be about Pete, Clayton and the newly-revived Maleficent resurrecting Shan Yu and recruiting into the Council

Speaking of Maleficent, now being a half-Heartless, she can now naturally manipulate magic without the use of her staff, making her even more powerful than before.

She can also morph parts of her body in dragon form, and when in her dragon form, can emit powerful fire and lightning from her body.

As for her new appearance, she would look something like this....

As for their looks in this world....

Maleficent would be dressed as a wu, Pete would be dressed as a bandit like Sparrow, and Clayton would be dressed as an archer.

But going back to Shan Yu, in addition to now possessing superhuman strength and endurance, has the ability to duplicate himself, essentially making him a literal one-man army!

As for his new look....

But other than that, the story does largely play out the same (with addition of Shan Yu aiding Storm Rider) and ends with Mulan and Mushu joining our heroes to stop The Organization and The Council of Villains.

Beast's Castle:

Layout-wise, this world is largely the same.

The same can be said for the characters as well....with one exception, which we'll get to soon.

As for the character looks, minus Beast of course....

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan, Mulan, Max, Sparrow, Ariel, Aladdin and Skellington would be wearing 18th century French attire.

Abu would be a polecat.

Zero would a ghostly poodle.

Simba would be a lynx.

Mushu would still be a dragon, but would obviously have a more Western look.

And Tron would be a living bronze statue.

As for the story, it's mostly the same but with one key exception.

Xaldin wouldn't be the villain of this world, at least for the first visit.

Instead, his role would be given to....

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Yep! Gaston would actually be present in this world like he was suppose to!

Oh yeah. For those who don't know, Gaston was originally intended to be in KH2 but was replaced with Xaldin.

This was because Richard White (Gaston's voice actor) wasn't available at the time.

Basically, he'll be doing the exact same thing Xaldin does during the first visit.

As for why. Essentially, he's doing it for The Organization, who told him that by making Beast look bad, Belle would end up falling for him instead.

But Gaston will meet his temporary demise after Shadow Stalker is defeated, who causes a chandelier to land on him.

For the second visit, Xaldin does step in and the story largely plays out the same.

Though he would be accompanied by Gaston.

Speaking of Gaston, he would be resurrected by The Council of Villains (who would all be wearing 18th century French attire, with Hayabusa being a kite).

As for his new look....

And in terms of what he can do, he's pretty much like Clayton, with his physicality being enhanced to superhuman levels and his hunting prowess being stronger than ever before.

He also fights with his makeshift club from the film and whole lot of throwing knives.

In the boss fight against him and Xaldin, Gaston is fast and powerful, attacking with punches, kicks, charges, club swings, slams and knife throws.

However, he does have one trick up his sleeve that differentiates him from Clayton.

When enraged enough, he's able to transform into a powerful Heartless beast.

This beast would be none other than Enraged Elk from Kingdom Hearts X.

You'll be fighting this form after you defeat Xaldin.

As for what it came do, it fights the same way Gaston does, but its attacks are far stronger and do more damage.

After defeating him, Gaston is whisked away in a cloud of darkness by the other Villains.

And so, our story here ends with Beast joining our heroes to ensure that The Organization, The Villains, or Gaston never dare to come to his castle ever again.

Olympus Coliseum:

Not a whole lot to say for this world.

It's essentially the same both layout, character, and story-wise.

The only difference would be that Pain and Panic would actually talk and interact with the other characters.

Also, there would a sub-plot about The Villains trying to recruit Hades back into their group, which he was no interest in.

As for the characters looks....

We already know what Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan, Aladdin, Abu, Ariel, Skellington, Zero and Beast look like in this world.

Mulan and Max would be in Greek soldier attire like Goofy.

Sparrow would be dressed like the pirates commonly found on the ancient Mediterranean.

Tron would be a living marble statue.

And Simba....would actually be the same as he usually is.

Disney Castle and Timeless River:

Not a whole lot to say for these worlds either.

They're the same in just about every way.

But there is one major difference.

You'll have a party member originating from the former world.

You all probably noticed that I frequently someone by the name of Max in this post.

And that's because Max Goof himself would actually be appearing in this version of the series and he'll be the party member joining you in Disney Castle.

This is what he'll look like....

As for how he fights...

That was always a tricky thing to come up with.

I want him to be somewhat similar to his father's fighting style, but not an exact copy.

So essentially Max will be fighting with a sword and shield.

He'll slash at enemies with his sword, and bashing and hit them from afar with his shield.

He'll also slide on his shield like Goofy, but he'll be doing fighting tricks while doing so.

Max's Limit would be Daredevil.

The Limit would start with Alley Oop, where Sora hops on Max's shield and he pushes it, causing it to start sliding all over the place, with Max immediately jumping on right after.

The next part would Daring Duel, where he and Sora repeatedly deliver slashing whirlwinds with their sword and Keyblade respectively at enemies they slide towards.

The final part would be Bombardment, where the duo launch themselves into the air, and Sora then grabs Max, spin him around, and throw him to the ground below, unleashing a mighty shockwave in the process.

As for Max's status in the KH universe, he's one of the Royal Knights.

Yeah, it's pretty easy to forgot that Goofy is canonically the Captain of the Royal Knights of Disney Castle.

That's probably because we have yet to even see them.

So I figured in this version of series, since they can go all out on the crossover aspect, the Royal Knights would actually appear.

Characterization-wise, Max is what you would expect from him.

But there is one unique trait about him.

While he can get a little embarrassed by him, Max actually looks up to his dad and wants to follow in footsteps.

That's a trait rarely seen in most other iterations of the character.

As for his age, Max would be a teenager, about a year younger than Sora.

But during the story of Disney Castle, we'll also meet a few other members of the Royal Knights include Max's buddies PJ and Bobby, and his girlfriend Roxanne.

They would help our heroes with defending the Cornerstone from Maleficent and Pete, who would be accompanied by Clayton, Shan Yu and Gaston this time.

Also, there would a gag where when Pete and PJ run into each other, they have this sense of deja vu, as if they know each other from somewhere.

You know that scene from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where after finding out that Frank's one-night stand from 30 years ago was with his mom, Charlie slowly realizes that Frank could possibly be his real father.

Yeah it would be like that.

As for the character looks...

In Disney Castle, everyone pretty much looks the same as usually do.

But in Timeless River, as you would already expect, everyone would look like they right out of a classic black-and-white cartoon from the 1930s.

Though in the case of Mulan and Aladdin, without the racist caricatures.

Plus, you can't tell them you wouldn't kill to see Max in the classic Disney shorts style.

I swear he'd look like a Mini-Me of Goofy....more so than he already does.

Atlantica:

Now we've come to undoubtedly the most infamous world in the game.

KH2's Atlantica is generally regarded as one of the worst worlds in the entire series.

This is largely because in contrast to the other worlds, you don't get to really explore the world itself of fight any enemies.

Instead, you stuck playing a dancing game for the entire time.

Which wouldn't be all that bad if it was all the world was.

But for this AU, Atlantica would be receiving a major overhaul.

First off, let's talk about the layout of the world.

The world would be split into two regions.

The first region is Atlantica itself, which consists of all the areas seen in the first game.

The second region is Eric's Kingdom, which would include the areas such as The Castle, The Beach, The Marketplace, The Town Square, The Countryside, The Lagoon and The Wedding Ship.

In terms of characters, we would see the addition of all six of Ariel's sisters, Grimsby, and Max.

As for NPCs and world-specific enemies, it's essentially the same as it was in the first game.

But in Eric's Kingdom, you can expect to see a lot of civilians walking about and a couple of animals such as ducks, flamingos, cranes, pelicans, swallows, crickets, frogs, and fireflies.

For the characters looks, similar to what Halloween Town does in this game, the characters will receive two different looks in this world (one while in Atlantica, one while in Eric's Kingdom).

For Atlantica; we already know how Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan, Aladdin, Abu, Skellington, Zero and Beast would look like.

But for the others:

Mulan would be a mermaid.

Mushu would be a tiny sea serpent.

Max would be a sea turtle like his dad.

Sparrow would be a joining Skellington as a skeletal pirate.

Simba would be joining Beast as a sea lion.

And Tron would be a living figurehead (those wooden mast carvings you commonly see on ships).

As for their looks in Eric's Kingdom:

Just about everyone would be wearing sailor attire commonly found during the 19th century.

Sparrow and Skellington would be still rocking the pirate look.

Abu would be a polecat again.

Mushu would be a snake.

Beast would be a brown bear.

Simba would be a lynx again.

And Tron would still be a figurehead.

As for the story, it's essentially the same as in the original game, but split in half, since just like all the other worlds, this one will have two visits.

The first visit is would see our heroes helping out Ariel. Just like in the original game and in her film, she desires to see the surface world, which has frequently brought her into conflict with King Triton.

But recently, Ariel discovered a magic recipe that can actually turn her into a human.

And so, our heroes find themselves on a scavenger hunt across Atlantica to the find the ingredients for this potion.

Speaking of Ariel, as you probably guess from how often I mentioned her in this post, she'll actually be a party member this time.

Just like in the first game, she's a mage party member, primarily attacking enemies with magic.

Just like with Donald, her magic has been juiced up.

She can use special potions are able to cast Fire (while on land), Blizzard, Thunder and Cure.

But when she runs out of MP, she'll attack enemies with spins, tail swipes (both only underwater) shoulder bag swings (while on land) that go in every kind of direction you can think of. Downward while in mid-air, uppercut, spiral, etc.

Her Limit is Raging Water (which she can only do on land and in the other worlds).

The Limit starts with Tidal Wave, where Ariel throws down a potion on the ground, which causes a massive wave to form beneath her and Sora.

The next part would be Waverider, which the duo ride on the wave, knocking down any enemies in their way.

While that's going on, Sora would perform Soak Shoot, where he shoots water at enemies with his Keyblade.

And finally, the Limit would end with Ocean's Rage, where after performing a backflip of sorts, the wave crashes down and washes away all enemies across the battlefield.

But back to the story, after getting everything they need, our heroes find out that the last ingredient is voice of the person who desires to become a human.

And thus, just like the movie, Ariel gives her voice for it to work.

As you would expect, Ariel is turned into a human, our heroes rush her to the surface, and she meets Eric, who, like in the movie, takes her into his home to help her out.

And the first visit would end on a cliffhanger of sorts, as we would see The Council of Villains arriving at Ursula's Lair.

As for their looks in this world.

Maleficent, Clayton, Shan Yu and Gaston would all be merpeople.

And Pete would be.....wait for it....

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A CATFISH!

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Okay, moving on....

For the second visit, we see our heroes (along with Flounder and Sebastian) trying to help the currently mute Ariel and Eric get together, which isn't gonna be easy with The Heartless running around.

By the way, the dancing segments will still be in the game, but they wouldn't be taking up the whole world this time.

However, we would see the removal of the goodbye song.

Instead, taking its place, would be "Kiss the Girl".

But just as it seems like the two teens are about get together, a new girl (bitch) named Vanessa appears and has Eric completely smitten.

And after hearing that they're gonna get married, Ariel is heartbroken and our heroes are left shocked.

However, they soon find out that something suspicious is going on here.

Thanks to Donald and Mushu, our heroes find out that Eric is under a spell and assume that Vanessa is the one responsible for it.

This eventually leads to our heroes crashing the wedding and exposing Vanessa for what she did.

And after breaking Eric from his spell, Vanessa reveals her true identity as none other than Ursula, who as you expect, was revived by The Council.

As for her new look....

As for what she can do now, Ursula possesses the ability to shapeshift and she can use it in various ways. From changing her appearance to look like someone else (i.e. Vanessa), stretching her limbs (specifically her tentacles) to incredible lengths, and even being able to grow to incredible heights and sizes. And just like Maleficent, she can also naturally manipulate magic as well.

And soon enough, a boss fight erupts.

Yes, you heard me right. A boss fight.

You actually get to fight Ursula normally like the other villains in this game.

The setting for the boss is on the wrecked remains of the Wedding Ship in the middle of the ocean.

Just like in the movie, Ursula turns into a giant and uses her magic to conjure up a mighty storm.

Ursula attacks with swings from her tentacles, dark energy blasts from her hands, water sprouts she conjures up from under you, and bolts of Thunder she summons.

The coolest thing about this boss fight would be the ways you can attack Ursula.

You can attack her gut from the shipwreck.

Climb up her body and attack her ugly face.

And even head into the water below (going into your underwater form in the process), tie up her tentacles with a command, and attack them while their tied.

Anyway, after you defeat Ursula (with Eric stepping in to deliver the final blow), she's whisked away via a dark cloud by the Villains.

And so, our story ends with Ariel and Eric confirming their love for each other and Ariel joining our heroes for some payback.

Port Royal:

Layout-wise, this world is largely the same.

As for characters, we would see the addition of Gibbs, Anamaria, Governor Weatherby Swann, Cotton, and Pintel and Ragetti.

As for NPCs, we would see plenty of civilians walking about Port Royal and a few tropical birds flying about.

As for world-specific enemies, we would have a lot more undead pirates.

As for the character looks, minus Sparrow....

Sora, Donald and Goofy would be receiving the looks they got in The Caribbean about 14 years earlier in this AU.

Just about all other non-animal members of the team would be wearing pirate attire as well.

Zero would pretty much be the same as he usually is.

Abu would be a capuchin monkey.

Mushu would still be a tiny sea serpent.

Beast would a giant howler monkey.

Simba would be a jaguar.

And Tron would still be a figurehead.

As for the story, it's largely the same until we get to the second visit.

After Barbossa died, he was revived by the Villains (who all be wearing pirate attire in this world) and decides to work with Luxord.

As for his new looks....he would be rocking the skeleton look that he had when he was under The Curse of the Aztec Gold.

As for what he can do now, just like when he was cursed, Barbossa is a skeleton that's nearly invulnerable.

But that's not all.

He can also control people by manipulating the blood in their bodies and create constructs out of blood.

Yeah, I made Barbossa into a fucking bloodbender!

Anyway, you would fight this Barbossa along Grim Reaper.

He would definitely be one of the harder bosses of the game, since he would be able to pick you up and throw you around.

He'll also attack with a blood cutlass, blood throwing knives, and blood cannons.

But anyway, after you defeat Barbossa, like the other villains, he'll be whisked away in a dark cloud and Jack decides to join our heroes to settle the score with him once and for all.

Agrabah:

Layout-wise, there a few changes.

The world would be split into four regions.

The first region is Agrabah itself, which would consist of the areas seen in the first game.

The second region is The Palace, which consists of the areas from the first game as well

The third region is The Cave of Wonders, which consists of the areas seen in the OG KH2.

And the fourth region is The Desert, which consists of The Sandswept Ruins and Ruined Chamber, and a few more areas such as The Oasis and The Canyon.

As for characters, it brings back the same roster from the first game.

As for NPCs, we have the same selection from the first game as well, with the addition of a few more animals like elephants and falcons.

As for world-specific enemies, it would include the same batch from the first game, with the new addition of bandits, vultures and jackals.

As for the character looks, except Aladdin and Abu....

We already know what Sora, Donald, Goofy, Tarzan, Ariel, Skellington, Zero and Beast are gonna look like.

But for the others:

Mulan and Max would be dressed as royal guards like Goofy.

Mushu would be a viper.

Sparrow would be dressed like an Arabian desert bandit.

Tron would a living golden Shiva statue.

And Simba....would pretty much look the same as he usually does.

As for the story, it's largely the same but with some notable alternations.

During the first visit, The Council of Villains would all be there to retrieve Jafar's lamp so they can free him.

As for their looks, they would all be wearing villainous Arabic attire.

Maleficent and Ursula would be dressed like viziers similar to Jafar.

And the rest would be dressed like bandits.

Anyway, in contrast to the original game, Jafar actually does get released from his lamp and you get to fight him during your first visit.

The boss fight is largely the same as it was in the original game, but with a few differences.

-You'll be accompanied by Aladdin and a party member of your choice for this fight, riding alongside you on The Magic Carpet.

-The Palace would have two massive pits full of elemental substances on each side. One being full of lava, and the other being full of icy water that'll freeze anything that comes even within an inch of it.

-Jafar will also attack with Blizzaga.

After you defeat Jafar, Iago grabs Jafar's lamp and throws it into the lava pit, killing him in the process.

And the story ends with The Council of Villains secretly reviving Jafar.

For the second visit, Aladdin and his pals have become a bit paranoid as they've been seeing Jafar popping up in random places despite being dead.

Soon enough, they get the word from Iago, The Sultan and Razoul that Jasmine has been kidnapped.

All the kidnapper left was a note saying that she's being held captive at The Sandswept Ruins.

This would led our heroes on a treacherous trek through The Desert and its areas.

Once they reach the Ruins, they find Jasmine, who reveals that she was kidnapped by Jafar.

As for his new look....

As for what he can do now, just like Maleficent and Ursula, Jafar can naturally manipulate magic.

He primarily specializes in casting illusions and tricks, and also special element breaths as well.

Anyway, Jafar eventually reveals himself to our heroes and reveals that he kidnapped Jasmine in order to lure them all here so can have his revenge.

This would led to another boss fight against Jafar.

But in contrast to the first one, this one has you fight him in his giant cobra form!

He attacks with bites, charges, tail swipes, and even coil squeezes.

He also has a free tricks up his sleeves as well.

These include his elemental breaths (which come in Firaga, Blizzaga and Thundaga), slamming the ground and causing waves of pierce out of the ground, and even duplicating himself.

After defeating Jafar, you all know the drill by know.

Jafar is whisked away by the Villains and Aladdin joins our heroes for another adventure to stop him for good.

Halloween Town/Christmas Town:

Layout-wise, this world is largely the same.

As for characters, the selection is also the same as well.

As for NPCs, also the same....for Halloween Town at least.

In Christmas Town, we would some elves, reindeer and snowmen walking about.

As for world-specific enemies, same as the first game.

Now for the looks of our heroes, minus Skellington and Zero obviously.....

We already now what Sora, Donald and Goofy were gonna look like in both regions.

For the characters who have already been to Halloween Town:

Tarzan would be a yeti.

Aladdin would be an elf.

Abu would be one of those cymbal-banging toy monkeys.

Ariel would be a ballerina.

And Beast would be a polar bear.

As for the others:

Mulan would a be ghost in HT, and a toy soldier in CT.

Mushu would still be a dragon in HT, and a stuffed toy dragon in CT.

Max would be a Frankenstein's monster and a reindeer like his dad.

Jack would be a skeletal pirate in HT, and an living iceman ala Jack Frost of sorts in CT.

Simba would be a zombified lion in HT, and a stuffed toy lion in CT.

And Tron would be a robotic monstrosity in HT, and a nutcracker in CT.

As for the story, it's largely the same except during the first visit.

Since the first visit is centered on Oogie Boogie being revived, he'll be getting his new look right away.

Speaking of that new look, this is what he looks like...

(Yeah I know this was a redesign of his design from Disney Mirrorverse, but I think it could work for this universe as well)

As for what he can do now, he primarily moves around on what could be best described as a roulette wheel with spider legs.

In addition to using that to attack his enemies, he also a variety of gambling-themed weapons. This includes explosive dice, sharp poker cards that operate like throwing knives, and a roulette wheel launcher.

As for his boss fight, he attacks you with all those weapons.

On a unrelated note real quick, for the looks of The Council, they would actually look largely the same since their new looks do perfectly fit into the spooky theming of Halloween Town.

Once he's defeated, you know the deal.

But despite that, Oogie does still play a part in the second visit, as he's the one who sends Lock, Shock and Barrel to steal Jack's presents and The Experiment, the latter of which he pilots himself during the boss fight.

After defeating him again, he retreats back to the Council and Skellington decides to join our heroes to ensure he doesn't ruin anymore holidays.

Pride Lands:

Layout-wise, largely the same.

As for character selection, we would see the addition of Zazu.

In terms of NPCs, we would have a few more lions and lionesses walking about at Pride Rock.

As for world-specific enemies, we would have hyenas.

As for the character looks, except Simba....

We already know what Sora, Donald and Goofy are gonna look like.

Tarzan would be a gorilla.

Aladdin would be a mongoose.

Abu would be a vervet monkey.

Ariel would be a crocodile.

Skellington would be a giraffe.

Zero would be a ghostly wild dog.

Beast would be a huge lion.

Mulan would be a monitor lizard.

Mushu would be a gecko.

Max would be a tortoise like his dad.

Sparrow would be a jackal.

And Tron would be a chimpanzee.

As for The Council.....

We already know what Pete's gonna look like.

Maleficent would be a giant monitor lizard.

Clayton would be a leopard.

Shan Yu would be a rhinoceros

Gaston would be a cape buffalo.

Barbossa would be a vulture.

Ursula would be a hippopotamus.

Jafar would be a big cobra.

And Oogie would be an elephant.

As for the story, it's largely the same until we get to the second visit.

Near the end of the story, Scar's ghost (who was awakened by The Council earlier) finally resurrects himself!

As for his new looks.....

As for what he can do now.

In addition to being much stronger and faster than the average lion, Scar also possesses control over the very earth beneath his feet. He's also able to manipulate fire as well, which when mixed with his earth control, enables him to control lava.

You'll be fighting this new Scar alongside Groundshaker.

He attacks with claw slashes, bites, fire-shooting roars, brief earthquakes that can temporarily stun our heroes, and lava spouts that shoot out of the ground.

After you beat him, just like with the other villains and their respective nemesis, rinse and repeat.

Space Paranoids:

I have very little to say for this world.

It's essentially the same in everyway.

The only difference would be in the case of the story, which would see Sark getting whisked away by the villains after you defeat him during the second visit

Speaking of Sark, he doesn't have any of sort of new look and essentially is able to what he did during his boss fight now.

As for the characters looks, except Tron....

We all know how Sora, Donald and Goofy are gonna look in this world, so their friends will be rocking the look as well.

The World That Never Was:

Here we are! The final part of this entire post !

Although the story is largely the same here, there would be a brief sub-plot. Essentially, the Disney allies found out that The Council are here in this world, plotting to take control of the Kingdom Hearts when The Organization least expect it.

So the Disney allies decided to split off from our trio to handle The Council while they handle The Organization.

This would led to the series of boss battles where you actually get to play as each of the Disney allies in 1-on-1 battle against their respective nemesis.

Ass for how that plays out.

They have the same standard mechanics that Sora does.

As for how they fight.

The Attack Command allows you to use their standard attacks.

The Magic Command allows you to use their special, MP-costly attacks.

And The Drive Command allows you to perform each character's Limit.

The final boss of this sub-plot would be against Maleficent, with your primary character being Max while your two party members are of your own choice.

After defeating all the villains, they retreat (except for Barbossa, who just dies), vowing that they will be back soon and that they will have the Kingdom Hearts.

And that's the last we see of the Disney allies until the epilogue, where they reunite with the trio and the others on Destiny Islands.

So that was part 2 of the "If the Disney characters got to be important in Kingdom Hearts series"....series

This took a lot out of me to do, given how much bigger Kingdom Hearts II was in both content and story.

And I really had to make sure that the overall story was largely the same, while still keeping the Disney characters relatively important.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this idea for an alternate KHII, and if you could, send me some ideas to implement for the other games!

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts ideas #kingdom hearts au #tarzan #mulan #beauty and the beast #max goof #steamboat willie #pirates of the caribbean #aladdin #the nightmare before christmas #the lion king #tron #i am so fucking tired

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frozen-snowflakesandsunflowers · 11 months

Text

Elsa losing her powers & Hans' Redemption + backstory | Theory

Cover created by me

Since Frozen 3 has been announced, it's left us questioning; What more could be told of the sisters' story, especially Elsa's story now that after years of searching she finally found herself as the 5th spirit? But has she really found herself? What would she be without her powers? The very thing that defines her to most. How would the world see her? But most of all how would she see herself if she lost them, even if it was temporarily. Who would this time pull her out of this new found identity crisis and who would she then become and stay as?

[Long post alert]

Elsa's losing her powers

I've seen a few posts going around theorising and wanting Elsa to lose her powers by Ahotohallan being destroyed. And reading them and understanding their perspective, I start to love the idea more and more to be honest because I honestly feel Elsa is mostly loved by the audience for her powers or at least some of the people who know her in - universe see her for her powers but what we really need to see is who she really is without it too. I think that could be quite important to see. How would she continue to look out for her family, her people, her kingdom and her forest?

Frozen 3 has been debatable since its announcement because of Frozen 2's ending, also quite controversial. I personally am always generally excited for more movement in the franchise because I'll always love Frozen no matter what. Frozen will always be in my heart, especially the first movie. But yes I am unfortunately on that "disappointing ending for Frozen 2" boat but I also see that Frozen 3 could potentially fix some of things that have been bugging some of us as well as adding and keeping the things we love. Frozen 2 was originally going to be the last film I think given Jen Lee's words in one of the interviews back then but looks like they changed their minds and might possibly be listening to us and this new director of Frozen 3 could do just that. Jennifer has recently said that there's a strategy to 'more Frozen' and that is that if there's more to tell for the story, then more Frozen will happen. So they can't keep the sisters separated for too long and will expand on the characters growth which is a good thing because it gives them the opportunity to fix the things we don't like and add things we do want to see.

Some people don't quite understand Elsa's fifth spirit role, why she had become something so unclear to understand, and made a decision to live in the forest instead. I from a perspective can understand it. Though the podcast is non canon, it's still something Elsa would do and act in on a situation given as so. The spirits are quite mythical and powerful but can easily be in evil or someone who doesn't understand magic's eye's catch and make them rage, as we do see in the podcast with Disa. But at the same time as looking after the forest, she is also concerned about her own kingdom. My explanation includes spoilers from the Frozen Podcast so skip to the 'Reasons for powerless Elsa' part. Queen Disa lives in Arendelle after a flood encounters her kingdom. Anna with open arms accepts Disa and all her people to her kingdom while Elsa had her doubts on Disa over time with her uncertainty yet knowledge for magic but respects Anna's decision of course. But actually it's just Elsa who misses being Queen having her schedule, knowing what decisions to make, but she's not at all saying Anna's a bad Queen, she just missed the role. Weird shaped machines are found in the forest that cause the spirits to act up and Elsa deals with them with Anna's help. Disa eventually admits she put the machines there because she wanted to help Arendelle. When Anna tells Disa of her confession, Elsa still feels no good about Disa despite her good intentions. The point is that Elsa is mainly in the forest to keep it out of harm's way such as we see. Also because of the fifth spirit being the bridge between Arendelle and Northuldra. If you look at the scene where the sisters reunite you could say that Elsa actually means that the bridge, the fifth spirit is both her and Anna. While Anna looks after Arendelle, Elsa looks after the forest. But I do also wish to see Elsa return back to Arendelle permanently at some point. I'll expand more on Elsa's fifth spirit role in another post but what this has to do with powerless Elsa is you first have to understand what she is with those powers now to understand how she'll be once they go.

Reason for powerless Elsa

Elsa has recently got a lot of hate - well actually I really wouldn't say hate but rather less love than she used to get because looking at the franchise as a whole Elsa takes up some of the spotlight and her growth through her powers is evident throughout. Why not really show her development in the character she really is, by making her understand not what they're worth but what she's worth with and without them. She's first seen looking at her powers as a curse and feeling fear of accepting her powers completely and seeing it as a gift that it actually was in reward to Iduna's act of saving Agnarr, her people's enemy. She's always been the most popular between the sisters too within fans and stood out more in merchandise too partly because of these powers. You'd even see kids dress more as Elsa than Anna. And that in her iconic icy blue gown. But while Elsa lost some love, Anna has gotten more love. Throughout the franchise, we see Anna's growth through optimism through all her ups and downs, especially her deepest darkest moment in Frozen 2, given she thought she lost everyone and everything at that point. It's not easy being head steady and strong in such a situation but she really showed us that we can do it.

And no I'm not saying Anna had more character growth than Elsa or vice versa in any way - please don't get me wrong here. I love the sisters both equally - it's true! I'm saying we need to see the natural side of Elsa. We need to get to know her for who she is without them too. Just like how Anna was more than just the spare (as it goes in a deleted song for Frozen) and a few years later she became Queen because she did truly earn the role through everything she endured in that sequel, the same way I want to see Elsa being more than just her powers. And while you're at it let's give her another big solo, with most or all of it being without her powers showing her athletic abilities and strong determination that is already there and is enough to survive whatever situation goes on. That moment in the dark sea when Elsa faces the very sea that killed her parents was one of my if not number one favourite moments in Frozen 2. We got to see Elsa run and jump and dive and literally fight and tame at the same time, a water horse. Elsa had been wondering her whole life about her powers origin and now that she's so close to not only seeking the truth about that but about the past that could somehow destroy the future of Arendelle too. That determination to set things right, to find out who she is is what I want to see but extract the literal magical side of it.

And as far as the theory of Anna getting powers goes, I personally don't approve of it because I think it sends the wrong message if Anna becomes like Elsa. That would make people prefer one or another even more and create the typical 'whose more powerful' argument etc. Anna already has powers. It's love. Yes love. It may not be a literal thing she can shoot out her Hans like Elsa but like hers, it's in a way a true force of nature. It's the strongest power there and Anna shares that power with everyone. So instead of giving a character powers they should strip Elsa of her powers temporarily to get those who see her for just her powers, to see her as so much more than that.

The effect of losing her powers

Elsa losing her powers would make Elsa be in an identity crisis, thinking she's nothing without them. In Frozen, her identity crisis was about how she was with her powers, feeling too dangerous for this world. But she's grown since then and has come to terms with them so now instead of feeling relieved as she would've in the first movie, she feels anxiety of not being enough to protect this world. Everyone has mostly relied on her because of her magic, so she would fear everyone loving her less or thinking herself as useless without them or something along those lines. (In Frozen 2 we literally see her taking requests from a few of the citizens to make ice sculptures). Elsa then finds herself back to square one; Hiding from everyone, wanting to be alone or hating herself. And I'm not saying everyone, in Arendelle and around, love for her for her magic only but Elsa, losing her powers, would think that but now that she's embraced her powers, with Arendelle and Northuldra now looking onto her as their saviour, protector, warrior etc, it's natural for her to think so. I mean think about it - girl has been with these powers since she was born, they're literally a part of her. She hated them for most of her life ever since she first hit Anna with them, then she sees let's go of holding it back to finally seeing the beauty in them and then starts questioning it's purpose and if she was meant for more as she feels them growing so she starts to search for answers in a place where she meets other creatures similar to her feeling like she's not alone with being the only known magical being as a call comes from the North which leads her to finally finding the birthplace of her powers and finally embracing them but then.. they just go. Just like that. That would totally cause major trauma and grief and stress. She's relied on them for so long. She finally embraced them. Finally found out she was with them. They even saved her life multiple times. They were the very first gift. She thinks she's everything she is because of her powers; in Frozen, she thinks she can only harm with them, feeling like a monster and here she thinks she can only save and protect lives with them, feeling like a saviour/ protector. But through a journey she could have with Anna or even solo one similar to the journey to the North mountain (or rather to her building her ice castle) in Frozen or the journey to Ahotohallan in Frozen 2, she starts to see that she's more than just her powers. She learns to love herself for her true self, with or without them. That would mean she would learn to be less reliant on her powers and more of her natural elements. It's what's inside the heart that really matters. With everything she's been through so far she thinks she's finally found herself, finally embraced her magic, in Frozen 2, but no she really hasn't. I know she's the Fifth Spirit/ the Snow Queen and that's what her powers are of and that's what she is and you would think that would be her final destination of her journey of growth but no - fact is she is more than just her powers and she needs to see this.

How would she lose them?

Some of you might be wondering well, how would Elsa lose her powers? It would mean something bad happens to Ahotohallan. But no not necessarily because Ahotohallan could be the one testing her. It did give her the gift in the first place so it's much capable of taking it back too. But you also wonder, she finally finds who she is, what her role in life is, so how can she live up to it and fulfil her duties without her powers? Remember that these were a gift to her as a reward for Iduna saving Agnarr when they were younger. Let's not forget the most important part of it all that, Iduna saved Agnarr without any powers. From what we saw of her flashbacks, she had a close relationship with the spirits so they helped her in saving Agnarr. So Elsa should look back to that moment and believe she can still save the forest and her kingdom from any kinds of threats without her powers too. The spirits will obviously keep their bond with Elsa, if they're around depending on how Elsa loses her powers but she could too, like her mother, use the spirits' help but not for things that would take away the whole point of this test. That's one option to stripping Elsa's powers temporarily, a test from Ahotohallan to see her courage and determination to protect her kingdom and forest as well as those she loves, too see if she will still keep what she has learnt of the lessons she has learnt from last experiences. Another option could be a punishment from Ahotohallan. Perhaps Elsa takes her magic too far and gets carried away with it leading Ahotohallan to see Elsa being ungrateful. I mean she was originally in the concept set to be the villain if it wasn't for "Let it go"'s huge success and other reasons too. It would be interesting to see if Elsa takes a dark turn in believing whatever it is she's doing wrong is for the good. But I think the first option is more likely if Elsa were to lose her powers because it really pushes her limits and her character growth and shows everyone that she can be just as naturally strong like her sister and can depend on her one natural abilities and skills too.

The physical change

Speaking of Iduna, losing her powers would mean all those physical features of hers that show her powers would go making her go brunette like her mother, just like Anna has strawberry blonde hair similar to their father's and grandfather's. Her clothes would perish given they're mostly created with her own magic and so she'd have to rely on earth material clothes. Her skin would turn warmer from being as pale as the skin gets when one's cold. Her attire colour pall would de - transform from a bright and pale cool colour bright palette to a darker, desaturated one, still in cool colours to separate it from Anna's wardrobe but also to show that she still loves her cool colours. Anna has the greens and reds and warm pinks but I think Elsa will be similar to how she was locked up in her room with the dark pale blues and blacks representing the trauma and identity crisis within. It'll be a parallel to her trauma when being locked up. While her role-found gown is white, her no power attire should black. Then as she starts to understand the point of all this, starts to learn the lesson from this, her costumes start having more colour and perhaps when she's finally found herself it'll be blue and white showing the two parts of herself she found while struggling on a journey with her powers inn Frozen and Frozen 2.

Hans' role and redemption

Okay I know the very mentioned of Hans will blow some peoples heads off thinking “He's just a one time villain and joke” or “He tried to kill Elsa! Anna won't ever forgive him” or “Elsa mocked him in Frozen 2! She won't forgive him either” etc etc. But I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain why Hans deserves redemption and that he wasn't really evil or the real villain of the story, when the lovely @a13thprincefora13thprincess has taken hours out of her time to write the most beautifully written 13 part analysis on who Hans really is. It's incredible. It's what got me to really push on the call to Redeem Hans.

So while she breaks down Hans' true intention, I'm going to try and explain his return for redemption and his pivotal role in Elsa's identify crisis.

I think Hans would be quite important here and have a good parallel with Elsa's crisis here. How and what's his role in it? Well let me briefly explain Hans true intention first. Anna hates Hans, and everyone does too really for almost killing Elsa and attempting to overthrow Elsa's newly royal status as monarchy of Arendelle. But really if we look at the situation closely, the entire council including the Duke were begging Hans to kill her because she couldn't end it the winter herself and because they fear Elsa's powers could harm others. They wouldn't get off his back. Hans wasn't listening at first because in almost all the scenes Hans has encountered Elsa he's tried to convince her to not be what “they” [Citizens and the council] (not him) fear she is and try and stop this winter. But the more he saw Elsa controlling her powers by making a huge ice castle, a snow beast, a new attire, hurting Anna (seemingly intentional to him as by Anna's words), breaking out of the handcuffs and the prison cell and finally the blizzard having a sudden stop the moment he told Elsa Anna's dead, the more he saw that Elsa lied to him about not being able to control her powers which led to him eventually agreeing to kill Elsa seeing as innocent lives were in danger given the blizzard. Before the final straw, being the handcuff and prison break, he was gentle and kind, he never said anything mean about the sisters nor did anything against them til. Hans was stressed and put under pressure given the citizens of Arendelle freezing to death, the council begging him to execute Elsa, Anna going missing for days in freezing weather, begging Elsa to end this winter and Anna being the case of Elsa going rouge and freezing the kingdom by causing as scene at the coronation party. It was really a misunderstanding and his behalf. As I'm sure you've heard a few times in Disney media, villains aren't evil, just misunderstood. But really the council are the real villains of Frozen, not Hans. But then again seeing that kind of magic and the way her powers came out, one would feel scared and think she's some kind of Sorceress.

Hans' "villainy" reveal scene

When the kingdom was thawed, and Hans was surprised to see Anna alive, he said to her he thought Elsa froze her heart. I just want to go back to the scene where Hans "villainy" is revealed because I want to explain as briefly, as I can, how him being stressed was the cause of his bad decisions from that point after. Hans is surprised to see Anna alive, when she came to him for the kiss, because when his horse, who Anna rode to find Elsa, ran back to him he thought Anna didn't survive the cold and died. But Anna tells him Elsa froze his heart which genuinely surprises him because Anna before had told him Elsa would never hurt her and with such powers that Elsa had making everyone fear her, Hans genuinely believed Anna with that being said. What makes Hans think Elsa did this deliberately, is her lack of explanation, her precise words to Hans, who says she said herself Elsa wouldn't hurt her, being “Nope. I was wrong”. From this point Hans starts feeling confused as to what Elsa's intention is and realises that he has to kill Elsa before she hurts anyone else. As for Anna he starts thinking she deserved it because all of this was all Anna's fault because if she didn't create a scene at the coronation party, Elsa wouldn't have ran and accidentally cause the Kingdom to freeze and wouldn't have had the repetitive suggestions to kill Elsa and Anna too wouldn't have been hurt and Arendelle would've kept their respect for him. So it makes sense for Hans to burst under stress in anger on Anna leading him to go mad. Imagine it like this: You are put in charge of a kingdom. You have to make sure the citizens are warm and safe, but have to reason with the 'gone rouge' Queen and have to find the missing Princess all the while the Kingdom gets colder and people start to freeze to death. Stressful right? Not just for a ruler but anyone put in charge would feel the same kind of pressure in a situation like that.

Swapped roles and intended plot holes

Originally, Hans was supposed to be a good guy while Elsa was the Villain. The good and evil roles were swapped around after Disney heard "Let it Go". That's why Hans' villain reveal felt so sudden and was unexpected. And that's why Hans' is alongside Elsa, Aan, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf I'm some of the movie posters. That confirms that what we saw of Hans before this villain reveal was indeed genuine. They also wanted Hans falling for Elsa too, which is why they have that chemistry, that dynamic, those scenes that get us, Hesla fans, to ship them. That's why the plot holes such as how Hans brought Elsa to the castle and how and why he gave her the blanket in the dungeon etc exist. And speaking of those specific plot holes [events from Elsa's ice palace to the dungeon], we can almost say for certain that it was Hans who carried her to and on his horse and gave her the blanket in the dungeon. The chains could be Hans or either or the guards, believing that the chains would hold back Elsa's powers. What I say it was Hans is because why would the Weselton guards carry her when they hate her and follow the order to kill her, and why would her one Arendellian guards carry her when they fear her. Hans is probably the only one who doesn't fear her. He's really just shown doing his responsibility as the one in charge.

So really we, who want Hans redeemed, are just trying to make sense of Hans' character rather than accept that he's all of a sudden a villain when before he revealed it, it wasn't really shown, hence the twist of the movie.

Feeling the guilt

Back to the Frozen's real villains, the Duke's punishment was cutting off all trades with Weselton and Hans' punishment was being sent back home. When the guards send both of them in the boat (separately), the Duke tried to resist and get out of it making excuses but Hans didn't. He didn't even say nor do anything to resist being sent back home and leave Arendelle. It's like he was already feeling the heavy guilt and regret. So why is going home a cruel enough punishment for Hans whether or not Arendelle knew Hans' backstory? But more so what is Hans' backstory? Let's find out.

Hans' backstory and intention

Hans is a prince from the Southern Isles, a neighbouring kingdom to Arendelle. His family consists of both his parents, and 13 older brothers. Being the youngest and least important in a large family would be difficult for anyone, royal or not. He is the youngest of 13 brothers. In the book 'A Frozen heart', it's revealed that Hans' father and brothers excluding the third oldest, Lars, treated him harshly and disrespectfully both emotionally and physically because he was the youngest son and last in line throne and hence to their eyes, useless. To add to it, all of his brothers including Lars, are married excluding Hans making him more vulnerable to his father's and brothers despise for him. His mother however, loves Hans' nonetheless just like any mother would love her son. His father had a saying to him that goes something like “The strong should pick on the weak”, which was his excuse of treating Hans like so. Hans wanted to prove to his father and brothers that they are wrong about him, and in fact is capable of ruling a kingdom, of respect, of love. He had to face it; he's never going to get the throne of his own and feel loved, whether his brothers have offspring or not and as much as he tried he just felt neglected, so he decided to squeeze into a throne somewhere else. Lars was the youngest child for a while so he knows somewhat how Hans is feeling. With his help, Hans found out that he could fit into the throne of Arendelle hearing upon Elsa's coronation. While his brothers and father could care less about where or what Hans' was doing, I'm assuming he told his mother that he was going to Arendelle for the coronation as a guest on behalf of his kingdom.

So when he got to Arendelle, after Anna ran off to find Elsa after the incident and the coronation party, she left him in charge and that led the the kingdom and the council to rely on him and that is what made Hans feel important and feel like this is his chance to prove himself worthy of love and respect by giving the same to the people. But being put in charge of the kingdom also came with pressure of holding the responsibility such as making sure the princess and Queen are safe, making sure the people are looked after, etc. Having sent back home, after attempting to kill Elsa, instead of receiving respect and love from his family he originally thought he would do so by gaining or rather stealing the throne and proving his worthiness of love and attention, he instead will be recieving more despise and disappointment from them along with other punishments of their own too like we see in Frozen Fever. And as he faces punishment he would regret more and more giving in to the council's manipulation to attempt to murder Elsa and most of all for letting the people of Arendelle, who looked up to him and relied on him for care and warmth (metaphorically and literally), down. In fact no; the worst of punishments is his mother's disappointment in him. He let his own respect down from the eyes of everyone down.

Hans' role in Elsa's identity crisis

So now we can finally answer the question, 'How and what's Hans' role in Elsa's identity crisis?'. Given all that said about Hans' intention, a way for him to seek forgiveness would be doing the exact opposite of what he was going to do, which would be saving Elsa's life. He won't have this idea come to mind when going ot seek forgiveness but a situation may arise in which he does do so and rectifies his past mistake. Now many have theorised and hoped for Elsa's powers to disappear temporally leading Elsa to go on an identity crisis, given she's had her whole life with them, fearing them loving them and for them to go would cause chaos within her as I've explained above. If Hans returns for redemption, he would also be finding himself while trying to seek that forgiveness. Hans will never be king and he may not feel himself worthy to be king anyways after what he's done. He's the spare of all the spares. So what his purpose in life? All he can do to start the road to redemption is ask for forgiveness to Elsa and Anna by helping them somehow perhaps..? So while Hans has his identity crisis (his own redemption arc), Elsa begins hers too. Elsa is now just a regular girl and she would think everyone hates but Hans would tell her that no, she's more than just her powers as he knows what it feels like not being important anymore and feeling like you've let people down, losing everything of which you claimed as your identity. They'd share a moment of heart felt talks and understandings but perhaps before this moment he saves her from doing something that would kill her and he saves her knowing he might die instead because saving Elsa without a risk to himself would make Elsa not buy it as he has saved her once, before he trusted to kill her, which would rectify his crime in attempted murder of Elsa. Why would Hans want to die? Well as I just explained on what I believe Hans backstory to be of, and given the outcome the situation in Frozen, Hans' would have to accept that he will never be loved by anyone. So upon trying to see forgiveness from Elsa (and Anna), he doesn't think they'll accept it and just sarafices himself for Elsa because he now knows Anna can't live without her. He knows that they have a stronger sibling bond than he had with his brothers. But when they're both safe, they sit somewhere and have a conversation in the situation they're in, like mini conversation in the dungeon in Frozen, but more impactful and meaningful. It would make Elsa begin to see that there really is more to Hans than just his mistakes and he starts to grow on her. She has no reason to believe he's still after the throne or any kind of power because she's not Queen anymore and doesn't even have her powers but is instead just a regular girl (and Anna is taken anyways). Their interaction could go something like this: “I'm nothing. I'm not the Queen anymore, I don't been have my powers. I'm just.. a regular girl”/ “A regular girl who is a Princess who gave up her crown to someone who you thought deserved it more because you didn't want to take away the attention of being the 5th spirit and Queen from someone who loved so much, she save your life twice. That's a true nobility of a Queen.”. Those wondering how Hans would know what went down in Frozen 2, well, given that Arendelle has made peace with the Southern Isles (as written in a newsletter in the new Arendelle theme park in Japan), the King and Queen would be talking about it and Hans would know from them. If Elsa was still Queen there would be doubts that he is still after the throne or if Elsa has her powers, some might say he wouldn't love her without them or he's trying to study Elsa's magic etc. We know her own family, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf would love her with or without powers and I'm sure the people of Arendelle and Northulra do but we need someone who would cause some doubts to people in order for Elsa to find herself. So that's why it's so perfect for Hans to come into the picture when Elsa loses her powers temporarily.

Learning from the situation

After she regains her powers, the lesson she would have learnt is that she is more than just her powers. And Hans would be the king to his Queen and gain his respect and love without actually being the king and having respect through being a monarch. And I think it fits in well with the story, making that part of the reason why Elsa gave up the throne to Anna; So that Hans would love her for who she is, with or without her powers, with or without the crown. Some might say Elsa is better off alone but I think not because one, love can happen to anyone even if they're an independent person, and two, I personally find it necessary for Elsa's partner to be one who loves her with or without the crown and her powers and as I just explained Hans is a perfect example of that. Just because Elsa seems alone doesn't mean she's not interested in men or isn't attracted to anyone. I believe she was just focusing on self discovery through her powers and family through Anna. Now that she's found herself and is assuming that Anna is well and about to enter a new life with marriage to Kristoff, it would be a great time to get Elsa to unintentionally explore romantic love. But anyways I think this theory, of Elsa having a love interest whose no longer after status, would fit in well because Anna deserves the crown for everything she is and has done for others with or without the crown and Elsa would be loved with or without her powers and the crown and by someone too. It would fit in with their individual arcs perfectly! Elsa and Hans need unconditional love from each other. Hans' biological family don't give him enough of that and Elsa needs it from someone other than family.

If Hans returns, which I believe is possible with all the hints lately, and if the writers feel like taking Elsa's powers away for some time, in the movie, then there you have it - my theory comes true.

Plus further reasons why Elsa and Hans are soulmates are these; Elsa is a North girl, while Hans is south. Elsa is born in winter and given Hans' hair colour and some people associate him with fire, but imma take that as an Autumn guy.

But alas until the run up to Frozen 3, updates of it, and/ or until we get further Frozen content with its 10th anniversary coming up in just 17 days, we can only keep hoping and joining the dots for more of a possibility.

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redgoldsparks · 9 months

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December 2023 Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Despite how much promise there is in the premise of this novel I was ultimately fairly disappointed by it. I'll start with the positives: it's set in a diverse and creative fantasy world with multiple different countries and cultures. It has several queer characters, including one of the four POV characters. It has dragons, even though I think they were severely under-utilized. It is also far too long, and astonishingly, nearly every scene in the book felt rushed. I think it actually had too much plot; if I had been editing this book I would have suggested the author cut one of the POV characters and use the freed-up space to flesh out the queer love story, which was the emotional heart of the book. This book is marketed as adult fantasy, yet whenever a character is in serious danger they are nearly always rescued by a talking animal with super-speed abilities. Choices like this book made the book read younger than I expected. It also suffered, perhaps unfairly, due to the fact I read a book with a much smarter and more interesting use of dragons, human/dragon cultural tensions, and dragon politics earlier this year: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, which I would recommend over Priory any day of the week.

Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is a Coast Salish poet and punk who digs deep into the lineage of women in her family searching for connection, strength, and healing. While writing a Master's thesis, LaPointe opened the door to memories of a childhood sexual assault, precarious runaway teen years, and the intergenerational trauma that affected all of her family after the colonization of the Pacific Northwest. The memories that surfaced shattered her life. The path to picking up the pieces was slow, and involved traditional healing ceremonies, friendship, writing, music, and multiple journeys to places where her female ancestors once lived. I found this book very quick and easy to read despite the often heavy subject matter (it also includes a divorce and a miscarriage). Some passages are quite beautiful, but the author was an emotional mess for most of the time period she recounts and behaved in some questionable ways towards many of those around her. It ends on a hopeful note, and I would recommend it, especially to people with connections to the PNW area, while keeping the content warnings in mind.

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb read by Nick Taylor

I hardly even know how to talk about this book because I loved it so much. It's a rich, nuanced, painfully human follow up to the earlier Farseer trilogy. I am amazed at how deftly Hobb wove the narratives of her characters across three decades of their lives and counting. There's Fitz, the royal bastard and reluctant assassin, who we first met at age six. Now in his mid-thirties, he is finally exploring his magical talents, teaching, learning, and taking more and more misfit young people under his wing. There's Chade, who we first met at a mysterious and wise teacher- now he's a royal advisor, and his hunger for power and influence might yet take him down a very dark path. There's Kettricken, who as a teenage princess was engaged to a stranger, now grown into a powerful queen bent on changing her kingdom for the better. There's the Fool, whose multiple identities are threatening to collapse as more and more of his prophesies come true. And Burrich, Fitz's adopted father figure, who in his anger and grief disowns a son who reminds him too much of his past. All of these characters feel so deeply rooted in their own histories, traumas, choices; I care so deeply about their lives and see so clearly how the twists of fate led them to where they are now. This is seriously one of the best fantasy series I have ever read, and I highly recommend anyone who loves long form fantasy to go back and pick up book one, Assassin's Apprentice.

The Well by Jacob Wyatt and Choo

Lizzy lives with her grandfather on one of many small islands in an world plagued by mist and monsters. Her mother, father, and grandmother all died fighting against the leviathan that used to threaten the seas between the islands; Lizzy has heard the stories, but never knew any of them. Her daily concerns are with goats, the market where she sells their cheese and milk, and her crush on a girl who works the island ferry. Magic doesn't regularly touch her life, except when she foolishly steals three coins from a wishing well, and is then tasked with completing the three wishes that are bound to them. This story has much the feel of a fairy tale with it's orphaned protagonist, three wishes, three tasks, and characters who are often more archetype than fleshed out people. But it manages a sweetly emotional ending and simple but lively and effective illustrations.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles read by Martyn Swain

Set in England during the reign of King George the third, this historical romance delivered a satisfying amount of plot along with the spice. Gareth is the son of a Baronet, but grew up with none of the privilege of that position having been send away from home after the death of his mother during his childhood. He works as a law clerk in London with few connections, no friends, and nothing much to recommend him. He seeks companionship at a tavern that turns a blind eye on the illicit sexual activities of men in the upper rooms. There he meets Kent, a working class man from Romney Marsh, with whom Gareth sparks an intense and intimate connection. Then it falls apart. Gareth is sacked from his job. He fights with Kent. His father dies unexpectedly, and Gareth is summoned to a manor house he hasn't seen in years to take on the responsibilities of a title, including the care of a teenage half-sister and his father's mistress. And by chance, the house Gareth inherits is in Romney Marsh, home of many waterways, pastures, smugglers, and also Kent, his former lover. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two romantic leads, and the crime plot which entangled both of them. If you are interested in R-rated M/M romance with action adventure and danger, I'd definitely recommend this series and also KJ Charles' Will Darling series.

Subtle Blood by KJ Charles read by read by Cornell Collins

A very satisfying installment in the Will Darling adventures! If this is the final book, I am happy with where it's left the characters, but it does also leave the door open for more. If you enjoy spicy M/M romance with a hefty side of action/adventure, this is a great series. It kept me company through a week of holiday cleaning, cooking, and baking, and I think it's my favorite yet from the series.

Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis by Dave Maass & Patrick Lay

This comic is grim, funny, gory, and darkly poetic. It's impossible to read it without an awareness of the history of the script, which is based on a suppressed opera written in 1943 two prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The authors did not live to see their play performed. Maass and Lay have done an impressive job transferring a story meant for the stage into a comic. The stars of the show are the characters of Life and Death who narrative and frame the story of a paranoid dictator in the fictional nation of Atlantis and his reign of terror against his own citizens.

The Cliff by Manon Debaye

This was beautifully illustrated but too sad and violent for me to enjoy reading. It's the story of a dysfunctional middle school friendship between two unhappy girls who make a suicide pact. This story will really hit for some readers but it wasn't for me.

Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

I really enjoyed this book, even thought I think it's more interesting as a collection of ideas than as a novel. The characters in the first third felt somewhat flat, and the dialog is often delivered in hefty paragraphs with minimal dialog tags. But the story picks up in the second half and by the end I was reading it daily in big chunks. The concepts this book explores are what really shine, especially the idea of walking away from capitalist society and living in self-sustaining communities without formal governments or laws. This novel contains some future technology which we don't currently have today including 3D printers which can print food, clothing, and building pieces for vehicles and housing and also internet interfaces implanted into people's bodies which allow them global network access from anywhere almost all the time. The nation state of Canada also seems to have fallen before the start of this novel, as most of the characters end up walking away from the US into northern Canada to find these alternate communities. I liked seeing Doctorow play out the clash between on faction wanting to run a group house as a meritocracy versus another group committed to allowing all members to work as much or little as they want to or can, for example. The book does not shy away from showing the violent crack down of the existing governments on these alternate communities. There are major character deaths. But the other big theme of the book is exploring the digital scanning and uploading of human consciousnesses to the web allowed people to walk away from death.

#maia kobabe #reading #book reviews #reading reviews #queer books

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hermitknut · 2 months

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20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

@birdylion tagged me :D

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

56.

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

440,219

3. what fandoms do you write for?

There've been quite a few over the years. Currently Goblin Emperor (slightly on the back burner while I unkink my writer's block) and Hands of the Emperor (just started dabbling, nothing posted yet). Before that Merlin, Green Rider, Realm of the Elderlings, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter predominantly, with little dips into Discworld, Sherlock, Sweep, Supernatural, Percy Jackson, Lady Trent, Life on Mars, Old Kingdom, Life on Mars, and MASH. I have some Narnia stuff kicking about in my drafts somewhere, and while I've never posted it I've been writing Animorphs fanfic for years.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Stairs Beneath the Heart: Goblin Emperor, a series of vignettes that runs parallel to the canon that I posted through the start of the pandemic and really enjoyed. It was the first time in ages I'd had a regular posting schedule, and the first time ever I'd had that much fandom attention on something I was writing - everyone was so lovely <3.

Take These Tower Stones: Goblin Emperor, the sequel to the above, a much more coherent and consistent story which everyone was again really supportive of <3

What Friends Are For: Discworld; Angua gives Vetinari the shovel talk. There's a big disparity in the stats between the previous two fics and the rest, so these last three were a surprise to me! I'm glad people liked them though :)

Fire in the Night: Merlin, somewhat angsty nightmare/comfort oneshot. Again, surprised to see this one so near the top, but pleasantly so.

The Michen Emperor: Goblin Emperor again, currently the bane of my existence because I can't seem to finish it (I will eventually, just need to unstick my brain). Really appreciate all the love people have shown it. Basically, what if canon but with smol!Maia.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably either Take These Towers Stones, or Red Sky (which is a tiny little snippet of fluff).

8. do you get hate on fics?

I've had a few shitty comments, and mostly I've just deleted them. I've never had any extended hate campaigns or anything, just people who mistakenly thought their dislike was worth expressing.

9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally; usually though not always queer, normally pretty tame. I read smut usually without worrying about the warnings, but I'm a bit too shy to comment on it, and I think that extends to my writing, haha. Maybe I'll get the hang of it some day :)

10. do you write crossovers?

Nah, for some reason they don't work for me at all - almost a squick, I don't read them either. The closest I got was considering a fic where the characters from Green Rider had diplomatic contact with the characters from the Chronicles of Ixia series, but I never ended up getting there.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so - I should probably put in my Ao3 that people are welcome to if they like, I keep forgetting. I'd be honoured if anyone wanted to.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope; I'm very picky and not good at compromise, though it's something I'd like to work on one day. It'd have to be very low stakes and with someone very patient!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Lines of Silver and Gold (Realm of the Elderlings) is probably my oldest fic that is both posted and unfinished, and I have no current plans to work on it. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to come back to it, but that book series was my thesis topic and unfortunately I rather burnt myself out on it, so it might be a long while.

The Queen Rider series was originally going to have two more fics, but those have been scrapped; fortunately it resolves quite nicely as is. Maybe I will put up a little misc fic with what I do have of the rest some day.

And on a more positive note, my Animorphs fic - it was originaly going to be a full written-through story spanning a considerable post-canon period, but unfortunately I lost the original in a harddrive failure and while I rewrote some of it I rather lost my enthusiasm for it. However, I have been reconsidering lately and might post what exists as a series of loosely connected vignettes; we'll see.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is what I find easy and what I've received the most compliments on; I think this is because a lot of my fic is drafted "out loud" before I get anywhere near setting it to page, so the first iteration is often predominantly speech. I'm also often told I'm good at mimicking the tone of the canon, if I'm writing for a book fandom.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Research (I'll do it if it's something that will otherwise potentially hurt people, but other than that I have neither the effort nor the inclination), and making things messy - that is, I tend to tidy things up a lot and I'm not good at letting my characters get things wrong/communicate badly/etc. Good for fix-its, less good for creating challenges in the story.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I am depressingly monolingual so I don't do it in my fics; as to what everyone else does I think they should have fun and do whatever they like, I suppose. Not enough knowledge to have more of an opinion than that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter was my gateway fandom.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ohhhh tough one. I'm immensely proud of the Keystone series (The Stairs Beneath the Heart and Take These Tower Stones), so they're solid candidates, but I also really like The Shadow of the Mountains (Lady Trent) and Miracles (Realm of the Elderlings), the latter of which contains possibly my favourite line of prose I've written.

I'm tagging @the-tao-of-fandom, @pipuhattar, @alittlefellowinawideworld, @nonasuch, and anyone else who'd like to answer!

#in which hermitknut is herself #fanfiction #fanfic #fic #ask game

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kbrick · 2 years

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Peak Drarry: Celebrating Incredible Writers - lettersbyelise

Peak Drarry is a series of posts celebrating the absolute treasure trove of talented writers in this fandom, and a reminder of how lucky we are to have them here with us. Find last month’s post featuring @aibidil here. This month features a fan-and-personal-favorite, @lettersbyelise.

✨lettersbyelise✨

I was introduced to Elise’s writing when they returned to the fandom in late 2021 after a little haitus. Being fairly new to Drarry at the time, I had not yet heard of Elise, though plenty of other readers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on Elise’s new work. I kept hearing good things, so I figured I’d check it out—and immediately fell in love after reading Burn the Witch. The fic was poignant, exciting, and, above all, full of dreamy, delicious romance. So, why should you read Elise’s fic? Here are a few reasons:

The ungodly levels of UST

Elise’s Harry and Draco are fully in lust from the first, even if they still despise each other. In Unfold Me, Harry hates his roommate Malfoy so much that he can’t stop thinking about him or the smell of his laundry detergent. And then, when Malfoy accidentally includes his own t-shirt in Harry’s clean laundry pile, Harry has had enough. He sleeps with Malfoy’s t-shirt under his pillow (and does other, unspeakable things while sniffing it) as retribution. In Cabin Fever, Harry doesn’t like Malfoy or anything, but he can’t help but notice when a sudden gust of wind “whipped through Malfoy’s burgundy, standard-issue Auror cloak and exposed his shapely posterior for Harry to admire.” Okay, and fine, he’s also noticed the way Malfoy laughs, how he strides “through the Auror department corridors like a young prince perusing his future kingdom” (Harry’s words, not mine), and sometimes runs a hand through his “short, stylish, impossibly blond hair.” But don’t worry! Malfoy’s also lusting over Harry, a fact that he accidentally lets slip when he calls Harry ‘pretty’ out of nowhere (which obviously makes Harry lose his damn mind).

Sometimes Harry and Draco’s lust is very inconvenient, like in Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar, when Draco recalls a time Potter was pressed against him in the lifts and afterward, Draco had to “walk around with a manila folder held in front of his crotch for a good fifteen minutes.” Poor Draco. Sometimes, Harry is so hot that Draco’s body can’t handle it, like in Burn the Witch, when Draco sees Harry for the first time in years and his heart skips a beat. Literally, “[s]kipped a fucking beat, like in a cheap romance novel.”

Thankfully, Harry’s usually in the same boat. He’s cursed with having a sort of sixth sense when it comes to Malfoy. He can “walk into a room and know Malfoy is there before he even sets eyes on him.” (Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar). The back of his neck prickles whenever Malfoy’s around, okay? It’s not his fault. Malfoy only encourages it, doing things like wearing body-con leggings during a play (Upstaged) so that Harry is basically forced to go and see him perform a bagillion times in a row.

Further complicating matters, Elise’s Harry has typically been thinking about Malfoy for a very long time, in very R-rated ways, like in Laws of Gravity, wherein he muses over the fact that Malfoy kneeling in front of him in a cloakroom is “every fantasy Harry has ever blocked coming to life with an incandescent lack of warning.” Oh, generic gay fantasies, you ask? Hardly. We’re talking Malfoy-specific fantasies that involve “the version Harry’s always kept in the back of his mind, all these years—a hungry, debauched version…” Mm hm. This lust has been brewing for ages.

Occasionally, Elise likes to throw in they-almost-go-there-but-stop-themselves moments that make the UST levels fly off the charts altogether. I literally wrote in my notes on Had To Be You, “oh my god! No!! No! Just have sex! Oh my godddd!!!” (look what you’ve reduced me to, Elise). But Harry and Draco did not have sex at that time. Instead, they proceeded to eat dinner together, sporting what I can only imagine were horrendously painful blue balls. Don’t worry, though—it’s worth the wait when it happens.

Because, listen, if you’re sitting there thinking that all this UST buildup must lead to some scorching hot smut, then you are one hundred percent right. I’m not going to spoil these sexy, delicious, smutty scenes for you here by telling you too much about them, but as a preview, here’s Harry narrating in Had to Be You:

Harry’s heart keeps wanting to escape his ribcage, or at least burst it open, it’s beating so loud. He’s never felt anything like this — this anticipation, like the second before a kiss, only drawn up for minutes, for hours, for bloody months, if Harry’s perfectly honest with himself. There hasn’t been anyone else than Draco for months, maybe years...[T]he back of Draco’s hand brushes his, soft and warm and secret, and Harry nearly gasps, because just that tiny touch of Draco’s is the most erotic thing he’s experienced.

A brush of Draco’s hand does that, ladies and gentlemen. So, yeah, the smut is good.

All that sweet, sweet pining

Listen, I’m not going to say that Elise enjoys torturing readers—I can’t see into their mind! But if I had to guess, I’d say maybe they enjoy it a little? Because Harry and Draco pine so hard in Elise’s fic. Oh, sure, they’ll eventually come to experience a life-changing, soul-filling love for the ages, but first they are going to suffer. If you are anything like me, though, you’ll eat it up because it’s beautiful in its own right, and because it makes the payoff so, so sweet. But first, the pain.

Sometimes jealousy is involved, like in Had to Be You. For years, Draco and Harry watch each other date around and absolutely hate it. This results in various degrees of tantrum-throwing. When Harry makes out with Draco’s friend at a music festival, Harry notes that Draco is in a black mood the next day, and that it has “nothing to do with the weather.” Draco stops talking to Harry for a month after that. A month! When Draco sets off on an Italian holiday with a boyfriend, Harry stomps around until he gets a text from Draco that says Draco misses him (yes, Draco’s texting Harry that he misses him while on a holiday with his boyfriend, and no, neither one of them realizes what this means at this point).

Other times, there is no one else in the picture, and yet our dear boys still pine. They yearn for the thing they think they cannot have (even though they definitely, definitely can have it). In Laws of Gravity, Harry is completely obsessed with Malfoy from the start, although he’s sure it won’t work out because Malfoy’s a pickpocket, and also because he’s Malfoy. Harry thinks maybe the feelings will fade? Fat chance, when he readily admits that his life is “bisected into before and after Malfoy’s mind-boggling blowjob.” Harry. Buddy. You’ve divided your entire life (which included a starring role in a war, mind) into pre-blowjob and post-blowjob. I’m pretty sure your feelings are here to stay.

And the reality is, sex is never enough for these two. Nothing short of lifelong love and devotion is ever enough. After Malfoy keeps putting out for Harry in Laws of Gravity, Harry tells him he’s sending mixed signals. Malfoy points out that he’s given Harry not one, but two blowjobs at this point, and he very clearly wants him. Harry argues that it’s “not the same as liking someone.” Because see, Harry and Draco want everything from each other in Elise’s fic. Not just blowjobs, not just friendship, not just casual dating. They want everything.

They’ll make you believe in true love

Which brings me to my final point. Elise’s stories are about the most unabashedly romantic things I’ve ever read. In their first fic on AO3, Had To Be You, Elise notes that it’s inspired by When Harry Met Sally, a film they admit to having watched ‘a hundred’ times. This is not surprising to me. Because if you love When Harry Met Sally, you are someone who loves love, who has a tender center and a soft heart. And after going through Elise’s fics one by one, let me tell you: Elise loves love. Elise loves romance. And this comes through in all their stories, which are, at their core, tender and beautiful depictions of true love.

In Elise’s fic-universe, Harry and Draco were always meant to be, and literally everyone around them knows it. In Had To Be You, Hermione has a heart to heart with Harry in which she makes him acknowledge his feelings for Draco. “I’ve seen how you’ve been practically drooling over Draco for months now,” she says. “And you’ve been obsessed with him…for years. It was the weird thing you had for him in Sixth Year, and now it’s this very intense friendship.” Harry argues with her about the intense friendship, but eventually has to concede the point. In The Generation Who Lived, Neville and Luna scheme to get Harry and Draco alone in their house so that they’ll reconcile (again, because everyone knows they’re meant to be). My favorite fic in this vein is Re: Harry’s Crush, wherein the entire Ministry is emailing back and forth about how obsessed Harry and Draco are with each other. It’s common knowledge. Everyone else can see it, it just sometimes takes Harry and Draco a while to catch on.

But Harry and Draco do know, deep down, even when they don’t admit it at first. It comes out in flashes, like when they have sex for the first time in Had To Be You and Harry notes that “the connection was something [he’d] never felt, not with any of the many lovers he’d had in the past, and it left him feeling raw, exposed and shy, despite the deep pleasure coursing through his veins.” Or in Paper Rings, when Draco reminisces about his Eighth-Year fling with Harry and how he knew, even at the time, that it had been both “inevitable” and that he would never recover from it, emotionally. Or in Laws Of Gravity, when Harry realizes he doesn’t want Malfoy to go, even though he doesn’t know what that means. (It means you love him, Harry!).

One of the things I adore about Elise’s fic is that there is always this fantastic, pivotal moment when things click. It’s the moment when our guarded main characters let their walls fall, let themselves see what everyone else has known for so long. And then this thing—this love—that has felt so impossible suddenly seems easy. There’s a surety that comes flooding in, a recognition that yes, this is the person for me, and yes, they want me too. It’s even said tongue-in-cheek (although we know it’s hilariously real) in Kill, Fuck, Marry when the boys wake up after their first night together. They’d been playing the titular ‘marry, fuck, kill’ the night before, and Draco says, well, you’ve already tried to kill me and you’ve already fucked me, so “[t]he only thing left to do is marry me, I suppose.” Does this scare Harry off? Not at all. “You’ve already got more birthday presents than you deserved Malfoy,” Harry says. “This one will have to wait until next year. If you’re good.” One date and shag, and they’re already joking about getting married. God help us.

But lest you think this is some sort of shallow insta-love, it’s not. Elise, particularly in their long fic, depicts a love of equals, of two men who root for one another and stand up for one another, who have each other’s backs. It’s lovely, the way they see one another so clearly, the way they advocate for one another. Whether it’s Harry in Burn the Witch fighting against a Ministry that’s unfairly targeted Draco, or Draco in Paper Rings advocating for Harry in Harry’s divorce, these are two people who admire and respect each other. It's evident in Harry’s thoughts about how brave Draco is regarding his sexuality in Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar. Or, beautifully, in Draco’s thoughts in Paper Rings, when he contemplates that “Harry had spent so many years not being appreciated for who he was…not being loved.” He wonders how “blind Ginevra Weasley must have been not to see how good [Harry was]…how utterly perfect in every one of his complicated ways.” They know that the other is not actually perfect (after all, they, more than anyone, are familiar with the other’s faults), but they love them just the same. In Fire Meet Gasoline, Draco spells out his shortcomings to Harry—all of them—and Harry just says, “Do you think that frightens me? ‘Cause it doesn’t. I told you already. I want everything you are.”

Incidentally, after that gorgeous bit of dialogue from Fire Meet Gasoline, Harry asks Draco to stay with him. Draco thinks about how he doesn’t do love, but Potter was the exception (sort of like how Harry muses that he’s “Draco-sexual” in Paper Rings). Then he says, “I couldn’t leave you if I tried…I’m afraid you’re stuck with me now, Potter.” Cue the violins. Le sigh.

Ahhh, Drarry in its best and most natural state. Soulmates, each other’s one and only, together forever and ever, amen.

And one of my favorite things about Elise: they will get you there every time, no matter how improbable it seems at the start.

You can count on it.

Recommended For…

Lovers of love. Connoisseurs of quality, emotional smut. Anyone who wants to get swept up in an epic sort of romance, who believes that romantic partners should lift you up and bring out the best in you. People who believe in soulmates. Those who believe (or want to believe) in happily ever after. Here are a few you might want to check out, but honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything Elise has written.

Top 3 Fics Over 25,000 Words (by kudos)

Burn The Witch (E, 96k) - When Harry Potter is sent in to investigate Draco Malfoy’s successful potions company, posing as Draco’s bodyguard, he doesn’t know the case will launch a series of events that will change his life — and Draco’s. A story about choices, scars, Chopin piano pieces, and finding all kinds of love in the most unexpected places.

Had To Be You (E, 59k) - Draco Malfoy is possibly the last person Harry expects to find at the wheel of a Muggle car, on a beautiful summer day on the road to London. This is the story of how Harry runs into Draco once, twice, three times, and how he doesn’t leave their next meeting to chance. A fic inspired by When Harry Met Sally.

Paper Rings (E, 50k) – When Harry’s in need of a divorce lawyer, he has no choice but to turn to the best in the trade. Draco Malfoy’s reputation for discretion is flawless, and his track record for winning cases is close to perfect. But he’s also ruthless, passionate, and as infuriating as ever, and the brief relationship he and Harry had in Eighth Year still feels painfully fresh despite two decades spent apart.

Top 3 Fics Under 25,000 Words (by kudos)

Kill, Fuck, Marry (E, 4k) - Harry and Draco unexpectedly meet again on Draco’s birthday, years after their last encounter.

Draco Malfoy’s Stupendous Seduction Seminar (E, 2.7k) - Draco Malfoy offers to help his coworkers to improve their seduction techniques, with unexpected consequences.

Re: Harry’s Crush (T, 1.9k) - Ever get that feeling you're being talked about behind your back? Harry doesn't, he's too busy being stupidly, obviously besotted with the guy in the lab downstairs. A fic where the interdepartment betting war at the Ministry gets out of hand, Millicent and Hermione get scheming, Harry Potter ends up wearing black eyeliner, and everybody ends up getting more than they bargained for.

Kbrick’s Picks (in order of obsession)

The Laws of Gravity (E, 31k) - When he runs into Draco Malfoy picking pockets at a charity gala, Harry Potter is forced to face the desires he’s avoided for years — at the risk of shattering the public image he’s so carefully curated since the war.

Fire Meet Gasoline (E, 63k) - When Draco’s anger management issues land him in St Mungo’s, he thinks his Quidditch career is over. But Harry, A&E Healer and notorious workaholic, is faced with a similar predicament. To save their jobs, the two of them decide to fake a relationship. All they have to do is convince their friends and employers… and not fall in love in the process. Simple, right?

#drarry #peak drarry #kbrick recs #lettersbyelise #fic recs

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