#sidonie de la courcel

[nanshe-of-nina]

Kushiel’s Legacy GIF sets || Sidonie de la Courcel

“Imriel.” Something flared behind her mask; stubbornly, she held her ground, continuing to follow my lead with effortless grace. “You’re hurting me.” I was, and I knew it, and ah! Elua help me, it felt good to draw a reaction from her. Even as the musicians ended their tune, I loosed my grip, turning her free. “Forgive me,” I murmured, bowing. “It wasn’t my intent, Dauphine.” Sidonie shook out her hand and eyed me with infuriating composure. “You’re not exactly your own best advocate, are you, cousin?” First it stung me, and then it made me laugh. “No,” I admitted. “Not exactly.” She smiled a little. “I do want to like you, Imriel. You’ve been good to Alais, and I’m grateful for it. It’s just . . .” She shrugged, looking very young and lonely. “I can’t afford to make any mistakes.” I nodded. “I know.” “How could you?” she asked simply. “I hear the whispers,” I said. “I know what some of the peers say.” “Cruithne half-breed.” Sidonie gave a bitter laugh. “And then they look at you and your pure D’Angeline blood, and they wonder.” “Sidonie.” I steered her off the dancing floor. “I swear to you, I have no designs on the throne.” On impulse, I dropped to one knee, taking her hand. “Sidonie de la Courcel, Dauphine of Terre d’Ange, in the name of Blessed Elua, I give you my oath of loyalty. For so long as I live, I will uphold your honor as my own and lay down my life in your defense.”

[hussyknee]

I think I'm so fixated on Imriel's Trilogy because it would be such a great story if it wasn't the author writing it. Which is exactly my brand.

Jacqueline Carey is the most white woman to ever white woman good Christ. I know she apologized for not having any trans characters in Kushiel's Legacy even though it's an LGBT story because nobody knew what the T stood for in the 2000s. But if not for that, she's who I would pick to have gone fully radfem JKR. Not least because you can tell at what point she thought she was too good for an editor (halfway through the first Imriel book). All three books are at least one third longer than they have to be. The tortured fake medieval speak in making my eyes bleed. Did they kill the editors in the publishing house? Put them out to pasture to graze with JKR's? I keep wanting so badly to at least beta read this. The writing's engaging, even if the plots are a bit slipshod, but dear God it would be so easy to make this a bit more readable.

And then there is the narrative. Carey seems to think women are exceptionally sensible soft-hearted unicorn species (when they aren't scheming badass girlboss villains). It's indistinguishable from some benevolently sexist old Victorian guy. Rape only happens to women and children. For men, being sexually assaulted is a good nudge nudge wink wink joke. And the white ethnosupremacy! Girl, an idealised white Tolkien race that's better and more beautiful and progressive than everyone else, most of whom grow more and more misogynistic and barbaric the further away, is still white supremacy even when in it's alternate universe medieval France. Also, beauty standards aren't universal across borders and cultures, especially in the medieval world. How do you put this much thought into an alternate history and complex belief systems and not even consider what it means to have different cultures and ethnicities? You don't get cookies for allowing your Legolas race of people marry into indigenous Celts and Picts when you keep rhapsodizing about how much prettier and more civilized D'Angelines are! And what the fuck is up with this obsession with blood relations?? Why do you need to have your protagonists halfway in love with their adoptive parents (I overlooked it once because of extenuating circumstances but jeez), why do you need to make the adoptive parents have to qualify their claims in the middle of being a parent ("He is my son....at least in my heart") and why do you keep insisting blood connections equate to stronger bonds ("Alais may be the sister of my heart, but Sidonie is her flesh and blood." "She's my blood! Why do you think I tried so hard to protect her from you?") when the whole premise of the series is a ruling family fucking each other over for the throne?

I will say that Sidone finally seems like a real person and she's pretty great, but Imriel's own personality has faded so much to let her shine that sometimes it's like it's just some guy narrating the book. Imriel's intensity and guilt and charm and cunning have all just vanished in the third book. He's just there to weep and gnash his teeth at losing Sidone, tear at his hair about Sidonie being in danger, gaze adoringly at her and being her bodyguard. It's like watching the later seasons of a CW show. Everything is about the badass trophy girlfriend who's always right about everything. Sidonie isn't as obnoxious but good God it's like she's the only real person in this book. Kratos is literally just there to gape at her. (URIST PLEASE COME BACK YOU WERE MY FAVOURITE.) Complete waste of characters who've been so compelling and engaging all this time.

In short, this a goddamn mess. Why do the most privileged, insipid white people get the most opportunity to sell their stories?

I'm going to assume that Phedre's Trilogy is actually good though. I stopped halfway down the first book because I was too shocked and sad when my faves died and picked up the Imriel sequels instead so that I'd already know the basics of what happened in the original. (I literally read the Wikipedia plot synopsis while in the movie theater before it starts so that I'm not surprised by anything. I'm too emotionally dysregulated for surprises.) But what I read was really, genuinely good. I skimmed the other two and they also seemed as good. So I'm hoping that whatever youthful talent Carey possessed before bloated egoism brought her down lives up to its promise. Plus I just really love Phedre. Scheming little bitch she is. She's lost all her spice and teeth and self-absorption in Imriel's books, but she's mostly there to be his mother that everyone has a crush on, including him, so it didn't matter. Imriel doesn't have an Oedipal complex, but he always gives the impression that he might if he let himself think about it too hard.

Edit: no but seriously. Why the fuck does this last book read like a bad ghostwriter wrote it??

[intimacydarling]

"Love as thou wilt."

That is the prime directive of Terre d'Ange: the fictionalize and fantasied France of an alternate history in which Jesus had a son, Elua ben Yeshua, who gained disciples of his own. Each had their own particular... fetish.

[zareleonis]

In a similar example from the latter Kushiel books, a number of characters close to Imriel call him Imri. The one character who never, ever does is Sidonie. Part of that is reflective of her reserved nature, but it’s also reflective of the fact that she never sees him as a harmless boy one would call by a diminutive nickname. She sees him at first as a dangerous threat, and then as a dangerous temptation, and finally as a worthy partner. In every instance, she takes him very seriously.

Jacqueline Carey, on Imriel and Sidonie

[white-queen-lacus]

After... Years? Yes, years... I've been finally able to complete a drawing! Well... Actually it wasn't exactly one drawing but a couple of drawings, but I successed! 💖 Again from my favorite book series Kushiel's Legacy, Imriel dressed as the Night Prince for the Masque! I took some liberties, since his dress was totally black and he has stars in his hair, but it was too dark...

And here, the couple finally together, the Night Prince and his Sun Princess:

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

The tattoo wasn’t very large, not much bigger than the engraving on Astegal’s signet ring. It was stark and black against her skin. I laid the blade alongside it, breathing slowly and deeply. I could do this. I had to do this. Before I was born, the Skaldi warlord Waldemar Selig had attempted to skin Phèdre alive on the battlefield of Troyes-le-Mont. If a man could do such a thing for spite, I could do it for love. I cut into Sidonie’s flesh. Her entire body jerked and she uttered a stifled cry that brought tears to my eyes. Blood flowed, making the hilt of the little blade slippery. Cutting and cutting, all the way around it, shaking my head to clear my eyes of the tears that blurred my vision. Gods, it was awful. It was the most awful thing I’d ever done. But I did it. I set the paring knife and the bloody disk of skin and flesh on the table. “It’s done.” Sidonie spat out the sash, but her hands remained braced on the table, knuckles white. For a long moment, she didn’t move or speak, only breathed hard, her ribcage heaving. Blood trickled down her spine. “I’m going to kill him,” she said at last in a low, savage voice. “Kushiel bear witness, I swear, I’m going to kill him myself!” She straightened and turned so quickly I had to step back. I saw the full helpless fury of the knowledge of what had been done to her written in her face. Everything, every violation. Every night in Astegal’s bed. And then her expression changed. “Imriel,” Sidonie breathed, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh, Blessed Elua! How could I forget you? In a thousand years, how could I forget you?” “You didn’t,” I said, my heart aching for her. “Neither of us did. Sidonie, you found me inside Leander when I didn’t even know myself. And I fell in love with you all over again. All the magic in Carthage couldn’t stop us from loving one another, any more than all the politics of Terre d’Ange could. You were right when you said Blessed Elua must have some purpose for joining us, because here I am – ” She reached up to me and stopped my mouth with a kiss, with a dozen kisses. I groaned aloud and gathered her to me, sinking one hand into her hair, wrapping my arm around her waist. “Erase him from me,” Sidonie whispered against my lips. “You’re hurt,” I murmured. “I don’t care.” She shook her head. “I need you.” I slid both hands down to grasp her buttocks and lifted her gently. She clung to me, legs wrapped around my waist, arms twined around my neck, kissing my face as I carried her to the bed. I found clean towels by the washbasin. “Every trace,” I promised, bathing the blood from her skin while she knelt on the bed. The wound was still seeping, but slowly. I’d made the cut as shallow as I could. “Every trace of him, gone.” “You promise?” Sidonie whispered. “Always.” My throat was tight, my heart overflowing. “Always and always.”

Kushiel’s Mercy, Jacqueline Carey

[jesatria]

LONGEST NIGHTS IN THE SERIES- Phèdre’s household dresses as Skaldic gods

[dangelineplaytest]

One woman's natural 1 is another woman's natural 20.

Her mind racing, Hravart did her best to maintain an emotionless facade. What now? Scattered thoughts offered no answer but a stream of curses: Akkadian, Asani, Vralian, Skaldi, and D'Angeline.

Why did I even try to enter here? The documents they drew up for me in Marsilikos were legitimate. I could have buried myself in some Godsforsaken province and lived comfortably on nothing but my newfound status of Lady Ambassador... but no. Always grasping. Always reaching for something else. Always going where I am not wanted...

Not being wanted, however, would have been an easier situation. She was summoned by the Queen herself. The Duc, damn their gentlethem hide, chivalrously offered to escort her. To deny would have been suspicious, not to mention a likely affront, so Hravart accepted with gratitude she hoped did not seem too strained.

The D'Angeline queen seemed to have aged ten years since the night before. Clad in black from head to toe, looking pale and frail, with her eyes red and swollen from the many tears she might have shed, she did not seem the most intimidating of women at first glance.

'Cousin', she spoke softly, greeting the somewhat trepid heroine's companion, 'And you... lady ambassador. We have not been informed that Mobedān Mobed Ashanaturzar had any desire to establish diplomatic contacts with Terre d'Ange.'

Hravart sank to the ground in a complex Akkadian bow, prostrating herself before the D'Angeline queen - a desperate attempt to gain some time. She fought against a scheme much grander than mine own and won, some fifty years ago, a mere girl... even now, she will be able to see through a blatant lie.

The thief settled, then, for the next best thing: a lie that was less obvious. A story. A story that was once true. A story that might come true again.

"Your Majesty... most noble, most gracious queen. My country has erred. I, a child of two nations, have seen it, and wept bitter tears for it. Darkness was banished from the land by one of your subjects, and yet no gratitude was ever offered. Now brightness engulfs us, yet it is the burning light of the sacred fires. Under pain of death, no one can speak against the Priests. I had hoped to become your ambassador, and lead my people into a new era, where they would be truly free - to speak with one another. To love one another as they will. If I must suffer banishment, or death for my lie - so be it. But I shall die for both my beloved nations."

To her astonishment, new tears appeared in the queen's eyes: and when she spoke, it was with compassion.

"Yes, yes... of course. You lied, child, but your intentions were noble..."

Feeling as if someone struck her accross the head with a battlehammer, Hravart watched Sidonie de la Courcel, Queen of Terre d'Ange, pen a letter, fix upon it an official seal, then retrieve somewhat from a drawer in her writing desk. A medal. An ambassador's medal... for the newly established Lady Ambassador of Asan.

There was something else. An investigation of some sort. Some grave errand. Some possibility of someone doing something heinous. Hravart promising to do her best to fulfill some important and dangerous task, to succeed or die trying, an answer she would have given to a request for the Moon and Evenstar on a stick, had the queen so wished. There was Duc de la Courcel, understandably displeased with having been lied to, questioning Hravart about something, but that seemed as far away from her as the aforementioned celestial bodies.

Drunk with the exquisite pleasure of bearing her head still upon her shoulders, the Asani thief stumbled through the hallways, back to the Chamber of the Bath.

[tl;dr - the DM, casting for an NPC, rolled a natural 1, which is probably why my character is still alive. #LuckOfRogues]

[kushielconcepts]

Tran Nguyen is at it again with these gorgeous new paintings she created for Subterranean Press' limited edition version of "Kushiel's Chosen"!  I love the image of Phedre among the flowers.  Which one is your favorite?

[thequeenofsastiel]

Spoilers for the Imriel trilogy from Kushiel's Legacy

Did anyone else hate the relationship between Sidonie and Imriel? I kept expecting(hoping) it would go in a more interesting direction, as I had come to expect from Jacqueline Carey, but we just got left with a cliché Romeo and Juliet romance, which I found deeply tedious to read, despite Carey's excellent as usual writing.

[sun-princess-sidonie]

[quotes-from-the-bookery]

“Always,” I said. “Always and always.”

 Kushiel's Mercy ,  Carey

[hussyknee]

Holy shit the last Imriel book is so bad it's actually heartbreaking. It doesn't even read like Jacqueline Carey wrote it. Was she replaced by a ghost writer? A pod person?

I cannot overstate how unbelievably bad this book is. It feels like some kind of really bad prank. It's a bad fanfic inspired by a cartoon that has characters sharing the same names as the rest of the series. It's worse than what happened to the later Discworld novels after Terry Pratchett's Alzheimer's really started setting in. At least we can just not count those last novels as part of the real Discworld canon. But Imriel's real story just going to stay unfinished forever.

At least parts of the first half was okay. And the showdown between Imriel and Astegal deserved a better story. Idk man what the fuck. I loved this boy so much. We really can't have anything.

[silverqueen]

Yuletide Letter 2021

Welcome, Yuletide author! Thank you for writing for me! I hope you enjoy it!

- - -

Fandom #1 Valentine (TV 2008): Tucker Blumsack, Vivi Langdon

Tucker & Vivi are my favorite soulmate pair from the show. They’re such different people from such different walks of life, and yet they both really respect each other so much. I just want to see where they go from the point we left them at. 

A few prompts:  - How do they deal with fame? Does Tucker go with her to red carpet events? Do her fans embrace him? What do they think about her new artistic relationship? Feel free to explore this because I’m really fascinated by artists’ relationships with their fans.  - Them just being artists in love, sitting around being creative together - Them negotiating the early stages of their relationship. What’s their first proper date like? What kinds of things do they do together? Does he take her back to his hometown? How does Vivi adjust to living in the real world again instead of party world? - What happens later in their lives? Does Tucker get famous too? Does he become a respected theatre director/actor? Does Vivi ever go back to movies?

Explicit sex is good, but no PWP please. I also ship Kate/Danny and Phoebe/Leo, so if you want to include any of those in any capacity that would be great as well!

- - -

Fandom #2 Kushiel’s Legacy - Jacqueline Carey: Imriel de la Courcel, Sidonie de la Courcel

Sidonie. Is. EVERYTHING. I love her SO MUCH. She’s so cool & collected, but fiery underneath. So prickly and aloof, but she inspires such loyalty in those who know her well. She’s so, so cautious and yet so headstrong. I love every single thing about Imriel, too, but Sidonie is my favorite character. 

With Imri and Sidonie, the thing that fascinates me is all the layers to their relationship, all the ways it’s changed over the years, from children who disliked one another to lovesick teenagers to adults who would do anything for each other. I’d love any interaction between them set at any point in their timeline, especially one of the points when things started changing.

Another interesting thing is the contrast between the epic love stories in the books and the domestic life that follows. Joscelin once crossed a bridge dangling from knives to save Phedre, but in the second trilogy Imri mostly just sees them as parents. We know Ysandre and Drustan as fierce, idealistic young lovers, but in the second trilogy, Imri and Sidonie just see them as strict parents and duty-bound rulers. I was so fascinated by that transition and the change in perspectives, and it made me wonder how Imri and Sidonie might change as adults and how the next generation might view them and their epic love story. I’d also love a look at their relationship with Ysandre and Drustan post-Mercy, or Joscelin and Phedre getting to know Sidonie.

I also love Alais, her fierce sisterly relationship with Sidonie and her playful one with Imri. I’d love to see more of them all interacting, or all of them dealing with the aftermath of Mercy.

I haven’t read the Naamah Trilogy, so no spoilers for those books please! I also would prefer no explicit sex scenes for this fandom since we get enough of them in canon (the only fandom I can say that about, haha)!

- - -

Fandom #3 Willow - Taylor Swift (Music Video): Witch

I’m just fascinated by the whole scene with the witches in the woods doing... something with magic. I love the whole atmosphere of that scene, the rhythm of their movements, the lights, everything. What are they doing? Who are they? Why is our witch not wearing a mask? Why did she come late to the party? Is this her first time?

You’re welcome to either focus entirely on the witch scene or include other scenes from the video, but I’d prefer the witch scene to take center stage. I’m open to a lot of interpretations for the connection between this scene and the others. Could they be scenes from past lives? Parallel universes? Maybe they’re not set on earth at all; this could be a magical fantasy world or another planet. Our witch could also be a time traveler. I would prefer if none of the scenes are a dream, though, please. 

- - -

Fandom #4 Into You - Ariana Grande (Music Video): Famous Girl, Bodyguard

For this fandom, I want a fic focusing on the relationship between the celebrity girl and the bodyguard/security guard/her lover. Who is he to her exactly? 

Some prompts:  - What’s happening in the video when she disappears and he goes after her? Are they already together at that point? Why is she at this event with that other douchebag anyway? - Them hanging out at the motel. What are they doing? Did they run away together, or do they have these secret rendezvous regularly? They’re obviously from very different backgrounds; how do they navigate that? What do they do together?  - How did their relationship start? - Something about her daily life dealing with fame. Celebrity mode and Normal Person mode, the transition between the two, and the few people who get to see her in both modes.  - Explicit sex scenes are fine for this fandom, but no PWP please. - A “5 times” fic or another tropey fic structure would be great for this fandom!

- - -

General Likes

Relationship dynamics. I love to see characters interacting in realistic, layered ways. How they work when they're together, how they affect each other, how they clash or get along or both at the same time. Romance (and gen between characters who might become romantic in the future) is my favorite kind of relationship to explore.

Character studies. I love characters who make flawed but very human decisions, and the mundane details of their lives that illuminate the bigger things. I like moments of honesty; I like the moment when walls that characters have built, or have come to believe exist, start to dissipate.

Stories told through social media, text messages, messages scribbled on walls, etc. Stories with a non-linear timeline. Stories told in disjointed glimpses.

For explicit sex scenes: frottage, cunnilingus, orgasm delay/control, light d/s, tentative exploration.

General Dislikes

Comedy or darkfic inconsistent with the tone of the canon.

I’d prefer no AUs for my fandoms this year.

Extreme gore/explicit violence. I find suggestion to be more powerful than a play-by-play.

Scat & watersports.

Rape, noncon and contrived dubcon tropes (aliens made them do it, fuck or die, they were under an aphrodisiac spell, etc.).

Genderswap, raceswap.

Mpreg.

A/B/O.

First-person POV, unless it's in a context where there character is actually telling their own story: an autobiography, a letter, an interview, etc.

[a-shakespearean-in-paris]

what three fictional characters I associate with you? Well, of course, Jaime and Brienne because of obvious reasons. Besides them, you sort of give me a vibe of Amarante of Namarre mixed with Sidonie de la Courcel, which are characters from the second trilogy of Jacqueline Carey. If you don't know them, I definitely recommend you to look it up :)

[white-queen-lacus]

This story is pure gold!! @abybweisse Whenever I watch this video I think of Imriel and Sidonie!! 💖