#prince mal

[belegven]

🔥day 2: коростень🔥

scurry

[basil-hallwardx]

I love Shadow and Bone so much because every man in this show is trying to be a cool badass but they can’t hide they are all simps for their partners.

[kingchad]

[ibeliveinsmall]

let me get this straight: shadow and bone got nominated for an EMMY and they canceled it?

netflix is evil for so many reasons and that’s just another reason to add to the list

[dreamsuvivor]

I just saw someone on twitter call Ben Barnes ugly?!

THIS MAN???

UGLY??!!

Imagine being so tasteless…

[muzaktomyears]

Mal himself was acutely aware of the special relationship he shared with Paul, the Beatle with whom he was, to his mind, undoubtedly the closest, but he also understood Paul's psyche best, and recognized that his friend "seemed to have the attitude of a North of England mill owner." In one especially painful instance, Mal recalled Paul "turning to me and saying, 'you are my servant. You do as you are told.'" Mal felt shaken to the core. "'I've never been anybody's servant,'" he replied, "always feeling in my heart that I worked with the Beatles and never for them." In his anger and hurt, Mal sought out John's advice. "They also lead who serve," Lennon told the roadie, paraphrasing the famous line from John Milton's Sonnet 26 (1673), "They also serve who only stand and wait." (...) Flush with John's guidance, Mal took to his diary, transforming the Beatle's words of wisdom into a poem: Don't take my weakness Give me your strength Don't give me your weakness Take my strength To rule is to serve To lead is to follow I'll serve and follow you And take you to love. For Mal, John's good counsel made all the difference, calming him after what he felt to be a personal affront.

Living the Beatles Legend, Kenneth Womack (2023)

[emberwritesinsight]

Fully convinced Mal wouldn't have disliked Audrey nearly as much as she did if Audrey hadn't immediately announced that she was Aurora's daughter. On the limo ride over, she responds positively to the driver's rudeness- Mal likes (or at least respects) people who are mean to her.

Currently imagining an AU where Mal doesn't know Audrey is Sleeping Beauty's kid (maybe Audrey is keeping it a secret from her for whatever reason, maybe cicumstances conspire to make sure she doesn't find out), so she just thinks of Audrey as "random princess with a petty streak" and she loves it tbh. Thank you, random princess, for being mean, it reminds her of home. Makes her feel alive in this pastel hell. Audrey is confused and frustrated by the fact that Mal seems to enjoy her hostility so much.

Ben, however, takes it as a good sign. So, when Audrey complains to him about Mal helping girls speedrun hair styling, he suggests that she take it up with Mal directly because hey, Mal seems to like her. Audrey does not like this idea At All, but she also wants to humor her boyfriend and she's pretty sure Mal's not going to kill her on campus, so she does it. She marches up to Mal's room and demands politely requests that Mal stop giving magic makeovers because goshdarnit, where does that leave those of us who are pretty through genes and work, huh?

Mal is delighted to learn that Audrey is 1) insecure about her position as The Prettiest and 2) is this willing to defend it. That's villainous motivation material, baby! This princess isn't just entertaining, she's potentially useful! And she has ties to the future king. At this point, Evie also takes an interest, because. You know. These kinds of hangups are more or less the entire reason Evie's mom is Like That.

Audrey has a very, very bad feeling about this.

[bedtimegiraffe]

Here's my little essay about King Arlan (and a little bit about Baldur) and their complicated relationship with ruling effectively.

Arlan, the (overall) very good king

King Arlan is keeping the kingdom running well

In the very first lore tablet, you learn that, "King Arlan Valleros VII currently sits on the throne. Known as the Gentle King, Arlan has reigned over a period of great peace and prosperity."

Periods of great peace and prosperity are not easy! It's a combination of luck, delegating effectively, and putting in a ton of administrative work to make sure the laws and policies work for the unique situation your nation is in at this moment. That stuff does not happen on accident.

Based on Aerin's statements that he never really saw his father, I'm assuming Arlan keeps busy with actually running the country. We never see Arlan show interest in hunting or any vices that would take similar amounts of time. I also don't get the sense that Arlan and Baldur are always like, hanging out. And we don't interact with many administrators, making him seem pretty hands-on.

King Arlan knows how to maintain an image

When you return from the Shadow Realm...

King Arlan is very savvy. Maybe he's sincere, who knows! But publicly honoring the heroes who saved your ass is a great way to get goodwill for yourself and make it so you no longer owe those heroes. Your party puts in quite a lot of work to save Morella and King Arlan just lets you take some weapons and armor no one was using anyway. Doesn't even send a single guard to help. Unlike Book 2...

Before the battle he does a great job making it seem like he's doing you a favor. Like you asked for his help and he's magnanimously granting it, even though the Ash Empire is very much coming to destroy his capital!

Which brings us to his take on Aerin being gone (assuming he was imprisoned previously)...

This is an awful thing to say about your son! But it's actually a pretty cunning move as a king. Arlan was absolutely right- his best move was to let Aerin go and hope he got killed. He gets to eliminate a problem making him look bad to the court (his son who committed murder and treason in a very public manner) and keep his reputation as a nice guy. He's the 'Gentle King,' not the 'Strong King' or 'Decisive King.'

And in the very unlikely (in his estimation) chance Aerin did come back alive and looking heroic, Arlan could keep him imprisoned indefinitely. Or (much less likely) he could say Aerin was corrupted before and use his success as an excuse to get one of his kids back in the line of succession. That's good for your ego and can help prevent a succession crisis if there isn't a super clear heir in place (which seems to be the case currently).

Overall, (and completely separate from him being a horrendous father) it seems to be like Arlan is actually a very good king. But there is one part of the job he sucks at...

Arlan's fatal flaw is that he is terrible at reading people.

'Baldur's great, no concerns!'

Obviously, we know that thinking that Baldur is going to be a good king is stupid.

But why didn't King Arlan know that? Aerin (who does seem to be pretty good at reading people) says he's, "handsome, bold, outgoing." Those things are all great for winning people over!

But not nearly enough to actually run a country. We know Baldur's not really even trying to have any of the practical, administrative skills that requires. And this system does not seem set up to function with a figurehead.

You know that tutor must have clocked that Baldur was asleep! It was probably common knowledge at the palace that Baldur never learned a damn thing. Either Arlan didn't realize his heir was not gaining any practical ruling skills (bad sign) or he didn't care (also a bad sign).

Even monarchs who aren't invested in their kids as people are usually very invested in their education. Because that's how you make sure the wheels don't fall off once you die, ending your glorious bloodline.

Aerin tells us that Baldur would never contradict their father. So Arlan absolutely could have forced him to read a damn book. But for some reason, he didn't.

'My second son sucks...

Arlan truly thinks that Aerin is useless. Which is a wild stance to take after you watched him kill big strong Baldur in a single blow and open a portal to the Shadow Realm.

Arlan got there a little late for Aerin's full villain monologue. But the second your party disappears through the portal, the smart thing would have been to determine if Aerin did any more damage. It didn't feel like it to Aerin, but he had tremendous access to people and resources. For all King Arlan knows, this could have been just one piece of a bigger plot.

And it was! Aerin admitted to corrupting dozens of people, usually very connected people. That's a ticking time bomb just waiting to cause more damage. One it doesn't seem like King Arlan ever looks into.

Arlan seems to just assume that Aerin can't cause damage because he's... not physically imposing? Because knowledge and connections are never a threat to power?

Pre-crisis, Aerin also talks about trying to smooth over Baldur's brash decisions. Having someone to soften the blow of harsh or unpopular decisions is absolutely crucial for any ruler, but especially one like Baldur. Yet Arlan doesn't seem to have any awareness of that either.

So Arlan at least picked up some vibes from Aerin that he was... something. Troubled could be 'miserable,' but this statement makes it feel more 'he creeps me out.'

-and I'm not worried about that.'

Even if Aerin was incompetent or messed up, King Arlan should have been concerned about that! Baldur is very strong and presumably good at not dying. But he throws himself into dangerous situations all the time for fun! There is a very good reason most monarchs don't stop at one kid if they can help it.

History is absolutely littered with examples of people who inherited a throne and ran things into the ground because they didn't have the ability to manage the amount of power they had effectively. If Arlan thought Aerin could fall into that category, he should have had people working around the clock to get him up to standard just in case.

Instead, King Arlan fully ignored Aerin, letting him just haunt the archives like a depressed ghost.

'The Heroes of Morella obviously agree with me, they're important!'

King Arlan makes the assumption, based on your party's status, that you'll agree with him on the 'complicated politics' of executing your own kid. Because you're not 'commoners.' Your party includes one elven noble, one orcish (until like 2 days ago) princess, and one human with a very prominent position in the Temple. Mal is more under the radar, but he was still proclaimed a hero. And your character is the most Hero of all.

So Arlan basically does that thing some people do where they trash talk a marginalized group, because everyone in the room looks like they belong to the majority group, so why would they object? (Never a good look.)

But Mal and Nia are both, at least to you, visibly angry with Arlan for being excited his son is (presumably) dead.

Still, no effort to backtrack or soften the blow from King Arlan. Just sails right over the dude's head that Mal looks pissed and Nia is using her damn customer service voice.

Seriously, King Arlan should probably keep an eye out for Mal... Not a big monarchist, that one.

Bonus Baldur, the tremendous idiot

The fact that Baldur thinks he's the first of his name, when "Baldur Valleros" literally founded his dynasty, is incredibly funny to me. Such ignorance. Such hubris.

I am not about to give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe Baldur I went straight to being king, so our dumbass is the first "Prince Baldur Valleros." His father is Arlan VII, there's no way no other king has named their heir after the founder of the dynasty. More evidence that he has never once learned a thing.

(Don't worry about Kade- he took a shadow lance to the face but he's fine. He's mostly fine. Feel free to look at my older posts if you're curious how that went down.)

Baldur seems to make the same assumptions about people based on their status as his father. I don't think it's an accident that when Baldur wants to tell gross stories (including the phrase "slum girls"), he immediately grabs Mal, the human man. Mal isn't all that subtle about his disdain for the nobility, but he still looks like the best one for Baldur to win over. Mal is also the one who steps up and negotiates for the group, making him look like the leader- even more Baldur catnip.

[yabakuboi]

Eddie only just was able to get the barman's permission to perform this night, and glad he is for it, as his pockets have weighed lighter than ever before in his life. He'd be pleased to find pay in a tankard or loaf tonight, anything to fill his aching belly.

But he's lucky as the men and women here seem to be in high spirits. The land has long been in war since the king's death, rotten bastard he may have been. Eddie hadn't been sad to see him go, but the chaos that followed had ruined the smallfolk in consequence since their coward prince had fled the scene of his crime. The king had been cruel, but still he'd been their king, and the common people spit on the prince's name still, even when some new royal's been crowned and brought peace with him.

And that kind of ire is what feeds Eddie on nights like this.

"Kingslayer, kingslayer, little Prince Steven has run," he sings, bawdy and loud as the crowd of men around him sing along. "Run up the hills and past the sun, took our king Phillip and gutted him plain, our kingslayer Prince Steven, a coward more than a maid!"

They sing along with him, hooting and hollering all to the end of it, and pay him in copper coins and ale that Eddie takes happily, slurping it down as he rests by the fire.

It's then he sees the table in the corner, the cloaked figures surrounding it, and the woman glaring daggers at him. But more interesting than that is the most beautiful man Eddie's ever seen, smiling at him wearily, eyes bright and interested and a little sad. Eddie's got no fear of a quick tumble with dangerous men, so he takes his gittern and his ale and makes his way quickly to them.

"Fair night, weary travelers," Eddie crows as he wiggles himself between the woman and the beautiful man. "What brings you so far out from the capitol?"

The lot of them regard him with mixed interest, the older man not even looking up and a girl with firey hair treating him with a sign of boredom.

"What business is yours to know, bard?" she says, already turning her nose off to watch the rowdy tavern beyond their table.

"None at all," Eddie says, leaning into the man beside him, slinging an arm over his broad shoulder to feel the heat of him beneath his cloak. "I'm here to do nothing but entertain tonight, and I fear I've bored your table to tears! I do take requests you know, for the right coin."

This he says to the man under his arm, leaning in closer to get a good look at those pretty brown eyes in the dim light of the fire.

"We have no coin for you, sot," says the woman beside them, ire evident in her tone. "Be gone with you—"

"No coin, that's true," says Eddie's beautiful man. He smiles at Eddie now, pearly teeth and pretty lips, and Eddie would sing him any song for nothing more than to keep those eyes on him. "You'll have to forgive us, we're not good company I'm afraid."

"Richer company wouldn't be as sweet as yours, dove," Eddie tells him, watching the pink of his cheeks darken.

There's a gagging sound from across the table, and its then that Eddie realizes he's in the company of striplings. Two girls in men's clothes, both of them are young in the face and barely past their majorities. Yet still they are travel-worn, all five of them: the two girls, the woman and the dour man, and the beautiful budde under Eddie's arm.

Chuckling, he says to Eddie, "A wag you are, bard, with such empty words. Do you flirt so with all poor men you find?"

"None are poorer than me, sweeting, and none are more enchanting than you. It is payment enough just to look at you, and I would sing for an age and fill my empty stomach with just your smile, or your taste if you'd grant me—"

"Gods damned!" the woman Eddie's other side gusts. "I cannot hear another foul word." She stands then, and the two girls follow, one rolling her eyes and the other giggling quitely. The woman leans past Eddie and hisses into her companion's ear, "Be done with this fool swiftly, or I'll leave you to the wolves."

"You'd never," he says back to her, smiling at Eddie, face flushed pretty and dark even as he speaks.

"Hopper would never," she says tilting her head at the remaining dour man still sitting at the table, deep into his cups and paying no mind to any around them. "But I would sell you for tanner and a duck to the first bidder."

"I'm worth at least an ox," he tells her with a cocky grin, and Eddie might want more than just one tumble with this man. "Find a room and I'll find you when I please to."

She huffs and stomps off, the girls on her heels.

"So," Eddie breathes, leaning even further into this beautiful man, until his voice is a secretive whisper, just for the two of them to hear. "Tell me, sweeting, what shall I call you when I write songs of your beauty to sing across the land, until kings beg me to their courts to recount your grace, your smile and your laugh?"

This man, to Eddie's displeasure, seems to wilt, to grow weary once more, even as he smiles and leans close, his words scarcely a breath against the shell of Eddie's ear.

"If it pleases you, and I'm sure that it won't," he confesses. "You can call me Steven."

[theworstfangirl]

I honestly don't know how Malleus is going to come back from this? Like, all the other members of the Overblot SSR problem children squad did damage sure, but it was limited in scope to NRC and STYX. Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil and Vil went through isolated incidents that were quickly covered up, Idia's happened on STYX which was already secretive so nobody really realised that the world nearly ended, but our dear MalMal? He trapped everyone and everything - including animals and insects - on Sage Island in the UM equivalent of domain expansion where he is God, he put nations on the outside into high alert and is currently threatening to trap the whole world as well unless somehow stopped. Governments are aware of the situation in NRC. The nearest country to where Sage Island is located was told to evacuate.

Evacuated. A whole-ass country had to be evacuated because Malleus couldn’t let Lilia OR the rest of NRC go. Unless some literal miracle happens, Malleus isn't getting out of this scot free like the others did. In fact, the aftermath of chapter 7 might just be an even bigger problem than the one we're dealing with right now.

[bubblegumbabycow]

Alina: Oh, here’s my award for the most rules broken!

Mal: That’s not an award, it’s an angry letter from Nikolai.

Alina, hanging it on their wall: Well, it has the word ‘most’ in it, so I’m calling it an award!

[acourtesanofedgewater]

The amount of happiness I felt seeing Aerin included with the rest of LIs is nothing compared to how crushed I was by the end of the chapter.

[dyingroses]

Some Shadow and Bone + text posts and stuff

[fandomgamersimp]

New chapter has just been played, and

I'M GOING FERAL

(yes, my elf is a gay slut and hooked up with Tyril and Mal too, sue me 😌)

Also I felt the sting when Aerin left, but to be honest, I understand him. His previous betrayal wasn't something minor. The crew doesn't trust him (along with the MC, if you choose so), the kingdom he almost helped to destroy doesn't trust him; I think it's safe to say the prince doesn't trust himself. And that fortune teller did tell some troubling stuff to you and him. So he probably felt like he still isn't enough. He has to do more. So the "person the MC cannot trust" won't end up being him, I think.

All in all, I'm going crazy and I hope I'm not the only one.

[chronically-unlucky]

“We start with a few, just the ones who need our help the most”

“Daughter of Maleficent” oh for sure she’s pretty evil

“Son of Jafar” eh he’s bad for Auradon standards but like he’s really a common thief I don’t know that he needs their help that bad but fine reform the thief

“Daughter of Evil Queen”… the girl who was castle schooled and has the least amount of knowledge about the isle or villainy at all? Be for real

“Son of Cruella” I’m sorry the easily frightened tech genius?

Ben thought these kids needed his help not on the basis of their behavior but more because hey I think x is probably a bad parent.

[confessions-of-a-bookworm]

👀👀👀

Tried my best to find that post but no luck, I guess it's just internet debris now :((

Worry not, I'm going to write everything I remember in this post

We start with these two. Parallels aside, they didn't have to line up in either of these scenes, they did. This is what they do. They are a group. And no matter how interesting each of their individual personalities are, their meanings are diminished, if not non-existent, without the others' to contrast them.

Coming to the topic of body language, have you noticed how they stand in their lines?

Their positions always have a meaning. In the ruins of Cair Paravel, they stand in the positions of their respective thrones.

Entering Aslan's How, they let Caspian lead the way. Out of the four of them, Peter's in the lead, Lucy and Susan are in the middle although not exactly in sync, and Edmund brings up the rear. When Caspian stops, the Pevensies' gait changes- they are royal again- Peter and Susan start and are followed by Lucy and Edmund.

Contrast this with when they are entering Cair Paravel. Edmund leads, torch in hand. Peter let's the girls follow and is at the end. Doesn't it seem they have an unspoken system for every situation they are in? With a distinction between when they're just siblings and when they're Kings and Queens? Notice how there's no "Susan, you're on my foot!" or "stop shoving!" here.

The last one is interesting because their pairing within the line changes. Uptil now, it's usually Peter-Lucy and Susan-Edmund or Peter-Edmund and Susan-Lucy. This Peter-Susan and Edmund-Lucy pairing is a rarity. The older ones are being barred from Narnia, while the younger ones are told they have more to learn. This changes their usual balance.

Now, let's talk about their 'roles', spoken or unspoken, how they let things be done by the ones who are 'supposed' to do them.

Edmund is the first to enter the ruins of Cair Paravel, and he's the first at this gate, yet he doesn not open it. Susan is second and is followed by Peter. Peter is the one to open the gate and he does it only once Lucy is joined them. High King Peter takes charge here.

At the stone table, note that Lucy and Susan are in the middle. The boys stand at a respectful distance while the girls approach the table, symbolic of their significance years ago when it cracked. Although Susan was there too and shed just as many tears, Lucy- Aslan's darling daughter- is the one to touch it.

Let's go back to the endings of the adventures. In lww, notice how Lucy and Peter are leaning towards each other, notice how Edmund and Susan are a little to the side, notice there's a wider gap between Susan and Lucy. (I will never shut up about the Pevensies' relationships with each other, especially the difference between Peter-Lucy and Susan-Edmund but one post at a time). When they leave Narnia, they do it together and they do not look back.

In pc, they leave one by one, only when prompted to do so. Notice how this time Susan and Peter are huddled together.

Leaving Narnia in Votdt is interesting. For the first time the Pevensies (even though there are only two of them) are not side by side. I see this as symbolic to their growth. In the end, Peter and Susan- the ones who usually disagreed on everything- found a way to stick together, whereas Edmund and Lucy-who have a hard time believing in their own individuality- finally believe they are not in the shadows and grow into their unique, individual selves.

Finally, we talk about the Pevensies' line when they're missing a person. I've been thinking a lot about this ever since @puddleglumms sent me this ask.

In the first one, Edmund is right in front of them. Even though their line is incomplete, they are still a group. Notice how close Peter, Susan and Lucy are standing. Contrast it with the second picture. Edmund is in danger, he could be dead for all they know, at least two of them blame themselves for losing him. Notice the distance between them now.

This brings us to the last part. Three of them line up with no hint of a fourth. This is a specially tailored nightmare for Lucy where she is no longer a part of the group but it is creepy for us to see this too. It just seems so wrong.

Imagining them lining up once they're dead and realising they're missing one is heartbreaking. Do you think they'd stand as close as they used to? Do you think Edmund will see Lucy and Peter close to each other and miss his companion? Do you think Lucy will be jarred by the absence of the only other female in their group? Do you think Peter will be horrified to know he's the only older one here?

There are so many more instances I can include in this but then the post would be wayyyyy longer. This covers most of what I wanted to say.