#luxa & gregor my beloveds

[leosdooley]

LIVING THROUGH MEMORIES.

thomas campbell // suzanne collins, gregor and the code of claw // czesław miłosz, the issa valley // vladimir nabokov // antonio porchia // l.m. montgomery, the story girl

[seagullcharmer]

give it up for hour 6

[chaoswithinthemind]

IVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!!

I first learned of the Underland Chronicles when I was in the third grade. My teacher read the first book to the class and I was hooked. Gregor, Boots, Luxa, Ares, Ripred - I was taken by a swarm of fantasy that nobody seemed to care about but me.

I finally started to reread them, and I felt a little lonely at not knowing anyone who knows this beloved series. That was when one of my moots suggested I look for the tag... and oh my god this is amazing. SOMEONE PLEASE TALK TO ME ABOUT MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD SERIES!!!

[aldoodles]

ooh if you want to talk about fiction -

-what's your favorite group makeup for each quest party in tuc? my personal favorite is probably prophecy of bane's (for my beloved ares mareth and twitchtip)

Oh my gosh same! Bane's having so many conflicting characters shoved into one space without Ripred to wrangle everyone was so interesting!! The tender, understated friendship between Gregor and Twitchtip? Spectacular. Everyone suffering with the shiners' nonsense? Endlessly amusing.

That party contains my favorite characters (aka Gregor, Howard, Mareth, Luxa, Ares, and Twitchtip) (minus ripred, have fun doing whatever political nonsense you're up to, king.)

The prophecy of blood's party is also really good, but I would say my second fave quest arrangement is the group following the marks of secret (even though it's not technically an official quest.) There's just so much support and care within those two family groups and it makes everything feel that much more desperate to watch them try to protect each other. It's such a good dynamic!!

[haveihitanerve]

DAY THREE: CROWN

“We will now, and forever call you, Queen Luxa, of Regalia.” Luxa tried her best to smile as the heavy golden crown was placed atop her head. All her life she had worn that thin band. Been a Princess. She had even enjoyed sometimes, as a child. Being royalty. That was before her parents death. Before everyone she loved died and she had to struggle through queenship at the age of eight. The crown was a weight on her head, heavy with her responsibility and all that she had lost to gain it. Aurora, still faithful as ever, brushed her golden wing against her side in silent comfort. Luxa knew her bat knew what she was thinking. Luxa let her gaze sweep out across the many smiling faces looking up at her, and searched for one. She knew she would not find it. “Wrong direction Your Highness.” drawled a rather rough voice at her side. “Or should i say, Majesty.” luxa smiled, a real smile, and turned to look at her second bond, his nose so low in an extravagant bow that it was touching the floor. “Ripred.” she greeted. She cocked her head. “What mean you?” ripred nodded off to the corner of the room, standing again. “Wrong direction.” he merely repeated. Suddenly a hush fell onto the crowd and luxa turned. Her heart stopped dead. STanding in the corner, his head covered by a cloak as though not to reveal his presence, stood the warrior. He smiled at her, slipping the cloak off his shoulders. “Knew i couldn't escape it forever.” he said, and made his way towards her. The crowd obligingly parted for him. “How.” luxa whispered. Gregor smiled, reaching her. “Well, i promised id be here didn't i?” yes. Yes he had promised her. He had held her close one night and whispered, whispered it in her ear so she might never forget. ‘Ill be there luxa. I will stand at your side and we will be coronated together. I promise my benevolent queen’ he looked at the crown on her head a bit sheepishly. “Well, i guess i didn't really stick it through fully.” Vikus, her beloved grandfather, smiled. “Oh, but theres no harm in doing it again.” the room suddenly got deathly silent. All chatter, that had been quiet before, immediately stopped. Gregor swallowed. Ripred stepped aside and gregor slowly knelt, his eyes on luxas. Vikus made no long speech, said nothing more than, “will you now and forever keep to our Queens side and protect the Underland as long as you shall live?” Gregor swallowed but nodded. “With all the loyalty of my Beloved bond Ares.” he whispered. Vikus nodded, pleased. “Then i now crown you, Gregor, the Warrior, the Sun of the Son, King, of the Underland.” Then the old man placed a crown, matching luxa’s (where they had it from she had no idea it hadn't been there a second ago)onto gregors head and he stood. Cheers erupted. Gregor grinned, turning to smile at her. “That wasn't so bad was it?” he asked with his signature smirk. “And i kept my promise.” Luxa smiled back, a real smile, full of joy and hope and pressed herself against his side, feeling safe for the first time in a while as his arm wrapped around her waist. “Yes.” she said softly, smiling up at her King. It was then that luxa realized why Crowns had pairs. Perhaps, with him at her side, it was not such a heavy burden to bear.

[captainwoolysheep]

An update to my size chart posted last year(? Maybe a little over a year). I got some good feedback; the rats are smaller then I thought and also, I was right, Ares had to be fucking huge. (The dark grey one is a representation of Ares’ size). Plus I made one with a large/fat rat that I think would fit for Ripred. Anyway, the Gluxa canon age drawings are 4ft 10” and the full grown teenagers I drew first instead of making them the babies they’re supposed to be are around (and a little under 6ft). The colored bat has a 16ft wingspan and the fake Ares bat is gargantuan.

[bitegore]

YES HELLO I HEARD IT WAS RIPRED APPRECIATION TIME

GOD I LOVED RIPRED SO MUCH

I kept recommending the gregor the overlander series to people so i could be like "isnt ripred <3 cooooooollll <3" and then being like "what?????" when all my friends instead went "EW GIANT COCKROACHES! EW RATS!! this is SCARY!" lmao.

i also wanted to be Luxa so bad. Mostly because I liked whatshisface. god i cant remember 90% of the character names but the guy who was like her adoptive dad. and the bats. the bats were also so cool

anyway back to ripred my beloved

i dont even have anything to say about him i just love him dearly and would've been very okay with him killing every single member of the cast and stealing the show SKDFHKL even though that would be like. just a little tiny bit out of character. a little. it would be cool and i would cheer him on

[midrashic]

3 | YOUR FAVORITE SERIES | THE UNDERLAND CHRONICLES | SUZANNE COLLINS

i haven’t read a lot of series as an adult, and the ones i have–including a song of ice and fire and ken liu’s dandelion dynasty–are unfinished, so i wouldn’t feel right tagging them as my favorite without knowing if the story will end satisfyingly. again, this is one area where i want to expand my reading–a dear friend of mine is a bookstagrammer, mainly of YA fantasy, and i have a lot of recommendations from her to get through–so instead i went for a childhood classic, the underland chronicles.

this was a process-of-elimination choice for me. i loved harry potter as a kid but even then there were things i loved more. percy jackson is forever tainted by the heroes of olympus series for me (i know this is an unpopular opinion & it has nothing to do with representation, which improved by leaps and bounds, and everything to do with the way the sequel series was less funny and also what a dick move it is to say “actually the conflict you invested all your time and emotional energy into was secretly only half the battle and another team of secret heroes was helping you to your victory the whole time.") paolini’s inheritance cycle is out for similar reasons as above. so there’s really only one contender.

i’m also a fan of the hunger games series, but it’s here, in her first MG/YA book series, that i think collins shines the brightest. (not to go all “i loved suzanne collins before she got popular” but i did.) it has everything a budding fantasy stan needs: prophecies, cool worldbuilding, a truly badass female deuteragonist in luxa who was somehow both aloof & likeable, a redeemed wrongdoer bonded to the main character in ares, war, death. ripred! not only is it executed well enough to stand up to the passage of time, it holds a special place in my heart for being so beloved to me in childhood & is absolutely the book i would like to pass down to the children i will never have.

When Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in the laundry room of their New York apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland beneath the city. There, a conflict is brewing between the humans and the giant creatures that live below. Gregor must find his place in the frightening prophecies he encounters, the strength to protect his family, and the courage to stand up against an army of giant rats. 

[ april in books ]

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

I feel like the labarynth is actually like, the capital of the gnawer kingdom (Or one of them) and the humans don't know because they like to keep it well hidden. So in the future if Ripred brought Luxa there she'd be like "Ripred why are we in the maze of death???" And Red would have to double take a bit "ThE wHaT?" As they're walking through the equivelant of downtown ratville.

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

Ripred has a very obvious soft spot for Luxa in the way he treats her. I believe it stems from him knowing all the stress she's under as a child expected to be queen, losing her parents just a couple years ago, Henry's recent betrayal, among other things.

Another reason. Is that he knew her as a baby. He knew her parents and was likely very close with them the way he was close with Hamnet. She's so much like Hamnet Ripred probably can't look at her without seeing all that's left of what were likely his best friends.

He likely has a deep and personal vow to protect and guide her now that her parents are gone.

It's not unlikely her parents spoke to him about this once. To look after their baby girl when they die in this war because they don't want her alone to Vikus and Solavet. Vikus probably thought Luxa would be in the prophecy years ago, and was aware of Ripred's friendship with Luxa's parents, and that he remembered her as a baby. Even if Ripred was reluctant to be involved in their dogshit prophecies, Vikus could use the threat of Luxa's life on the line to make him agree.

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

RIPRED'S KIDS AND RANKING:

LIZZIE: Obviously the favorite. He's discretely trying to take her from the bio parents as we speak. his emotional support child and his trauma soother. She can do no wrong and is perfect. He is obsessed with her. He's a father now.

HAZARD: Close second. well mannered and mature/ eager to learn what Ripred has to teach. Ripred is his godfather and has full custody now. He could never yell at the good boy. Bonding over teaching Hazard all he can, and you cannot convince me he wasn't a father figure to the kid.

LUXA: It was really rocky for a long time. They kept to themselves and she was always the disobedient//angsty one. She gets a lot of pity points from him also he was close to her parents. has stabbed him. really tried to kill him twice and hoped he'd keel over like 3 times. but she's smart, resourceful, and eventually came around. They have a deep bond after the events of the jungle in The Marks Of Secret. She seeks out his guidance and respects him. They understand each other to a degree. He's always been very patient with Luxa. SHE HAS DAUGHTER PRIVILEGE which is absolutely a thing with him.

GREGOR: Only one of the kids that has ever been whacked. Has caused the most problems/ regularly snarky to Red. Still his son that he loves very much, but dammit that kid's been whacked for good reason a few times. Also cannot follow orders for the life of him. They never really got the one on one bonding and vulnerability the same way the others have. Gregor is neglected. Ripred adores his baby rage but holy fucking shit that kid needs some survival sense knocked into him.

PEARLPELT: DISOWNED

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

yeah uhh what the flying found family fluff fuck happened when Ripred and Luxa went to help the nibblers and were left alone in the jungle?? a switch was flipped. She went from trying to run him to death, stabbing him, and letting gregor die for being seen with him to calling for him instead of aurora for comfort. He is her dad now.

I need to know.

It's so beautiful.

[yesthefandomfreakblr]

hey are there any good underland chronicles fanfics out there? I've read like maybe 100 or so fics over the past ten years, and like three of them were good. and not one was finished. if y'all know a good one shoutout!

edit: I love you guys but come on all I'm getting is likes, like bruh are y'all just "yep, mood. the fanfic realm, quality wise, is a barren dessert." bruh don't tell me I have to make my own content bcus of the forlornness of this forsaken tiny fandom.