#oh and i guess george knightley would be okay too

[highwaydiamonds]

[rinadragomir]

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

[smallblueandloud]

thoughts on episode ii

subtitled let’s fix attack of the clones!!: anakin edition

i came out of this movie really not shipping anakin and padme. he is selfish, awkward, and distracting - and she should too busy to consider a romance.

the prequels are trying to tell two stories (anakin’s fall and the fall of the republic) and it barely tries to link them, instead just spending time on the boring, clunky one (anakin) at the expense of the more interesting one (the republic/the clones, represented in this movie by obi-wan), which seems like it’s missing vital conversations.

but this post is about anakin and anakin/padme. so let’s get started.

this movie, at least in terms of anakin’s development, suffers from middle-of-trilogy syndrome. nothing really happens. his mother dies (oh my GOD) and he angsts about it for a while, commits mass murder, and then jumps right back to pursuing his terrible “romance” with padme.

i mean, there are NO lasting effects of his mother’s death. he learns no coping techniques, feels no real emotions about it...

shmi was done dirty in general though. the idea of her marrying the guy that bought her is pretty icky. i’m becoming more and more fond of fialleril’s headcanon that shmi meets beru and adopts her as her daughter. cliegg is nothing but owen’s offscreen father.

i mean, that would’ve been SO MUCH BETTER, even if you keep the whole shmi-dying-solely-to-cause-her-idiot-son-pain. WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT. why spend all of episode i talking about freeing the slaves and then do absolutely nothing about it??

picture shmi, her adoptive daughter beru, and her adoptive daughter’s boyfriend owen (who really isn’t sure how he got involved in this but isn’t complaining) running an underground slave-freeing operation.

not sure how this would tie into the movie, plot-wise or anakin-development-wise, because yeah, you do need to start getting nervous around this kid. (I MEAN, IN MY PLAN FOR THE PHANTOM MENACE, YOU WOULD’VE STARTED THIS IN THE VERY BEGINNING BY USING A SLIGHTLY WORRYINGLY COMPETENT AND BRUTAL 14-YEAR-OLD, NOT THE PREPUBESCENT NONSENSE WE GOT. but regardless.)

i guess you’d need anakin and padme to be hanging at on naboo, in her lake house (god padme’s so freaking bougie), and padme asks how anakin’s mom is.

queue the obligatory “oh, haha, i don’t actually,,,, know??”

padme proposes that since they have no duties and she’s actually bored out of her mind, they should go visit shmi. anakin protests for about two seconds before realizing a) there’s no stopping her, and b) he’d actually kinda like to see his mom.

(padme has some ulterior motives besides wanting anakin to see his goddamn mom again. she wants to buy her freedom, since she’s actually prepared with real funds this time, and she wants to ask her advice on helping out with abolition, since she and sabe had failed miserably when they tried on their own. [this is canon, go read queen’s shadow if you haven’t already because it’s an excellent book.] we love women acknowledging other women’s expertise!! padme has grown a lot and wants to stop being so core world-y.)

so anyways, they go there, meet shmi (who’s already freed herself, thanks so much), and beru and owen. anakin, because he has had no emotional support network since he was nine goddamn years old, is jealous, but does his best to keep it under wraps.

at some point, while anakin and padme are helping out with the freedom trail, and someone (not sure who) gets a little violent with shmi.

anakin... goes ballistic, we’ll say. it gets violent. he gets harsh. it’s an overreaction, but shmi manages to calm him down.

(padme, on the other hand, is frightened. she takes a step back the next time anakin turns to her. but she manages to hold it down until later.)

the flighty escapee that beru is operating on goes into hysterics. shmi pulls anakin outside and tells him, quietly, that she’s so overjoyed to see him but that she thinks he needs to be getting on his way.

padme, meanwhile, gets pinged on her communication device. obi-wan has contacted them, just like he did in canon.

also, there’s some kind of beru&anakin moment, or maybe a beru&padme moment. just a conversation of some kind, for uber talented gifset-makers to gif and put alongside beru talking to luke so i can be destroyed emotionally.

this serves several purposes.

the movie feels more emotionally coherent. anakin doesn’t jump from awkward flirting to mass murder to making out with his girlfriend.

shmi gets some closure.

we’re introduced to beru, who clearly meets anakin and padme.

we get to see the little people making a difference, which is a huge theme in star wars. this can act as a foil to the hugely ineffective senate.

padme gets the opportunity for some character growth (she’s my wife and all but she’s so bougie).

we get to see anakin be dark, over something.... sorta understandable?? and it doesn’t quite make us think he should be locked up (unlike murder) (except the movie says it’s okay because they’re just sand people and i really don’t like the implications of that). also, we can see the inherent tragedy of someone who needs so much community support being “”chosen”” by the force to go into an order of emotionally private individuals (not that that isn’t a bad thing for someone like obi-wan, but it really isn’t good for anakin).

AND I HAVEN’T EVEN REALLY MENTIONED PADME. i have a wishlist for padme, and it boils down to: at least mention her relationship with sabe, show her being good at politics, let her have character development, don’t make her have to mother anakin, and oh by the way make her two-dimensional enough that her abandoning her ideals to get together with a jedi actually makes sense.

because like! i can believe she likes anakin! he’s an old friend, from a time that seems simpler in hindsight, and he’s in love with her and flirts awkwardly and makes jokes. i mean, the dialogue makes it impossible for anakin to seem remotely attractive, but we’ll leave it at the fact that padme desperately wants something simple and a relationship with anakin, paradoxically, looks like a winner.

but i want to see her like anakin. show, not tell, georgie boy!! all we see in the movie is her giggling at him and her rejecting him, and then her kissing him, and there’s really no falling in love.

because okay. they’re a fundamentally doomed relationship, total opposites who are both startlingly naive wrt their personal lives. so i accept that they’re not really in love - they’re just clinging to ideals of each other. well. at least padme is. she’s smart enough to recognize what she’s doing, but she pushes it down because she is forced to hold too much on her shoulders (BECAUSE THE SENATE DOESN’T WORK) and she needs something that is just for her.

look, i really need sabe in these movies, okay. this is unrelated to my humongous crush on keira knightley. i need padme to have a friend, someone she can express this to, who can look at her doubtfully when she says she’s in love with anakin, because we really need to drive in the idea of this being a tragedy and we can’t see it unless we see how goddamn foolish even padme “good choices” amidala is being.

also like. padme needs friends. and i firmly believe that the “mother” that leia remembers was sabe, who is actively involved in the rebellion during the OT. because like. i have emotions, and most of them come back to luke&leia.

i’m not sure i’d have them get married, but that’s just a matter of taste. and you have to admit the set of final shots - the victory with the clones, baby boba pressing his forehead to his dad’s helmet, the marriage - with the overlaid music is really something. i mean, there you have the myth stuff that george wanted. i vibe with it.

anyways. thank you for coming to my ted talk, part the second.

[thisbibliomaniac]

All the Jane Austen asks so you can’t so I don’t ask you things

Emma

Emma Woodhouse: What are some of your worst bad habits/faults?procrastination is probably the worstMrs. Bates: Are you the awkward one in your social group?sometimes Jane Fairfax: What’s your biggest secret?well it wouldn’t be a secret anymore ;)Mrs. Elton: Do you ever seek attention?sure Harriet Smith: Which is worse: physical pain or emotional pain?emotional Frank Churchill: Do you get cranky in the heat?yepMr. Knightley: Do you dress for comfort or fashion?bothMrs. Weston: Do you take care of your friends?I don’t know? what does that look like? Mr. Elton: How quickly do you recover from romantic rejection?uhhh never really been in that situation XD Mr. Woodhouse: Are you concerned about the health of those around you?sure Colonel Fitzwilliam: Are you a good wingman?idk probably?Mary Bennett: What type of books do you like to read?well written onesMr. Bennett: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?introvertMiss de Bourgh: Do people try to plan your life for you?they make unsubtle suggestions Charles Bingley: Do you fall in love easily?lol not with real peopleMr Gardiner: Are you interested in fishing?I like fishing Catherine Bennett: How much does your personality depend on those you’re with?a great dealGeorge Wickham: Are you okay with burning bridges?I try not to, but it’s not the end of the worldLady Catherine de Bourgh: What are your top talents?uhhh probably craft stuff?Mrs. Bennett: How good are you at ignoring bad things?very good lolJane Bennett: Do you give others the benefit of the doubt?depends on the otherMrs. Phillips: Does it bother you when you’re compared to others?yes Lydia Bennett: How do you attract people you’re interested in?Never have, so XD Mrs. Gardiner: Would you say you are nosy?I can beLouisa Hurst: Are you able to pretend you like people who you don’t?absolutely Mr. Collins: Do you compliment others?YesGeorgiana Darcy: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?oh goodness I have no idea 

Charlotte Lucas: How far do you plan ahead?very far Caroline Bingley: Do you get jealous?yesMr. Hurst: Are you able to sleep in front of strangers?nopeEdward Ferrars: Do you regret any of your past romances?lolololololololFanny Dashwood: How involved are you in your family members’ lives?I have no idea what any of them are up to at any given timeElinor Dashwood: Do you forgive easily?I guess so Sir John Middleton: How much do you like dogs?I’m much more of a cat person 

Mrs. Dashwood: Do you make decisions rationally or based on emotions?rationally John Willoughby: Have you ever been in a fight? like physical? no Marianne Dashwood: Are you open with your feelings?nopeCharlotte Palmer: How close are you with your mother?fairlyAnne Steele: Can you keep a secret?yesMr. Palmer: Do you often say things without thinking?no Colonel Brandon: How much do you hold onto the past?somewhat? Robert Ferrars: Have you ever dated the ex of someone close to you?noMrs. Jennings: Do you like to tease others?yes

John Dashwood: Are you easily persuaded?depends Lucy Steele: Have you ever been attracted to two siblings?lol noEdmund Bertram: Do you care what your family thinks of you?nopeFanny Price: Are you good at standing up for yourself?depends Mrs. Norris: Do you pick favorites?yesLady Bertram: How productive are you?I’m way too easily distracted Sir Thomas Bertram: Are you ever oblivious to things and people around you?constantlyTom Bertram: What’s the biggest change that’s happened in your life?working for myself and having tons of doctors appointments within like six days of each other. it’s been interesting lolMaria Bertram: How easily do you change your mind?depends on the subject and my inclinationsHenry Crawford: What do you do to get over someone?never had to Mr. Rushworth: What’s your biggest regret?something Julia Bertram: Would you ever elope?don’t think I would, but I’m not against itMary Crawford: Have you ever shot yourself in the foot around your significant other’s family?never had a significant other XD

Isabella Thorpe: Is loyalty an important quality to you?extremely Henry Tilney: What’s your favorite way to meet new people?tumblr. ministry.Frederick Tilney: Are you a good flirt?lol noJames Morland: Have you ever had someone break up with you for no reason?noEleanor Tilney: How do your parents embarrass you?reasonsMrs. Allen: Is fashion important to you?noGeneral Tilney: Will you be a helicopter parent?probablyCatherine Morland: Do you daydream a lot?yesJohn Thorpe: Have you ever thought you were in a relationship when you weren’t?noLouisa Musgrove: What’s the most embarrassing way you’ve gotten hurt?walked into a glass doorAnne Elliot: How well do you respond to stressful situations?ignoring themAdmiral Croft: Are you a good driver?yesMrs. Smith: Are you good at maintaining friendships?noCaptain Wentworth: Do you hold grudges?not really?Captain Harville: What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?fell on ice once and scraped my face offElizabeth Elliot: How good is your self-control?depends on the situation. extremely good given a good reasonMrs. Croft: Would you ever live on a boat?noooooooSir Walter Elliot: How often do you look in the mirror?as little as possibleCharles Musgrove: Are you into sports?baseball!!! Lady Russell: Do your friends come to you for advice?sometimesMrs. Clay: Do you keep secrets from your friends?yesMr. William Elliot: How frugal are you?veryMary Musgrove: Are you a hypochondriac?noCaptain Benwick: How do you feel about poetry?not a fanHenrietta Musgrove: Have you ever been in an on-again-off-again relationship?noCharles Hayter: Do you ever feel kind of superfluous? sure

there you go