#sister wives storylines

[veryintricaterituals]

So let's talk about Marwa.

I'm so so disappointed with Marwa's ending you have no idea. I've been thinking about it since Saturday, trying to come to terms with it and I just can't. It's cruel, misogynistic and not funny at all.

I'm angry and even hurt with the way the writers have treated her character and storyline. Specially in a show with so few women, where, let's be real, Nadja is the only woman in the main cast. And they've been trying with the Guide since last season, but she's barely more than a side character and they could do so much more with her.

But this is about Marwa (the first woman of color with any sort of storyline in the show btw). And I'm going to say that the way this season handled her rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they have really dropped the ball with this.

Dear WWDITS writers: having one of the few woman on your show lose herself, her autonomy and all her choices because of a man and a marriage is not a hot take or funny, it's just cruel and not something I wanted to see on my silly vampire show, it's frankly misogynistic and brings nothing new to the table.

Marwa whole storyline is such a horrifying and unneeded part of the season. She was brought back from the dead with all her sister (and I guess brother) wives and had to watch them all get killed, one by one until she was the only one left. Still she had so much hope and wonder.

Then we slowly saw her disappear, episode by episode, losing more and more of herself, all her autonomy, all her choices taken away from her. Until that final wish that made her personality completely dissolve.

And the show's idea of a satisfying ending is turning her yet into another person (a man this time) and just sending her off into the world without any agency? What? And nobody brought it up? She's just another Freddie now, she's just gone, poof that's all we get I guess.

She deserved so much better. She deserved to get out of there in her own terms. She deserved to scream at Nandor, to humiliate him, bring him down a notch. I hope she gets to come back and kill him at some point during the next two seasons. Because this was not it.

[vivacissimx]

roose bolton as a father figure to theon

the theon's disturbing relationship to paternalism beam is still shining bright. obviously the ned and balon and balon and ned Thing is happening but if we are going to embrace the horror of ADWD, let's lean all the way in.

the role of the father is molded as such to manufacture obedience from his children—generally speaking but also daughters in a specific way, sons in a specific way. filial duty is considered a virtue in westerosi society (even when your father fails to be virtuous himself) and it's the mode by which the father holds power over his children when they come of age. the father reproduces himself by claiming a son under his name & castle, the father reproduces his values by shaping behavior, the father punishes unsanctioned behavior not (merely) by criticizing the contents of the actions of the son, but by virtue of it being disobedient i.e. obedience to my instructions has within it an inherent Rightness / my instructions are Right because they are mine (circular i know!). this is probably doubled for those who follow the Faith of the Seven where the image of the father is a reflection of the Father aka disobedience flirts with blasphemy. sorry for the monologue—this is gonna be important later.

one of the reasons ned & balon come across as such supreme assholes in theon's ACOK storyline is because even outside the emotional reality of theon being a hostage from 10 years of age, he also pretty much does obey what they have to say. there is a time where he plays by their rules and they still don't approve of him or claim him fully. it's a social contract where ned and balon don't really fulfill their ends of the bargain, so it feels unfair. it feels willfully blind because ned and balon SURELY see the benefits they've accrued at theon's expense—ned lives in peacetime having experienced war, and balon keeps his life/lordship which if he were to have been executed for treason, would have all seemingly gone to a boy lord theon—yet they don't recognize the "theon's expense" part.

see how that works? "you are virtuous and right for following my commands" but theon follows their commands and doesn't get his Virtuous and Right headpats. and that rankles him deeply.

okay, now onto roose as theon's father figure in ADWD:

theon is part and parcel of roose's son ramsay. Reek belongs to Ramsay, and Ramsay belongs to Reek. in fact the original reek was a servant who roose gave to ramsay's mother as the first act of acknowledgement. it's through reek that ramsay became roose's bastard. we see that when roose demands ramsay give theon up (briefly), ramsay must oblige... hence, reek is still a form of reward/acknowledgement from roose to ramsay. theon is entangled in them and for roose to kill theon could very well be construed as killing off (ramsay as) his son

roose thanks theon for giving him the north via taking winterfell & (inadvertently) ruining robb's situation. roose is thanking theon for the ability to reproduce himself as lord of winterfell and warden of the north—a duty that a son owes his father

i wrote a post about theon's gender troubles that delves into his parallels with barbrey ryswell dustin—how roose treats them both with certain cares to insure their good behavior, and how they both see through the farce. however the difference in roose bolton's world of easy replacement (he replaces multiple wives, domeric with ramsay, reek with reek II) is that barbrey is warned of her fate via the example of bethany ryswell bolton, her sister and roose's dead wife, while theon is warned of his by the example of domeric bolton, roose's dead son.

barbrey steps into the role of domeric's caretaker and main maternal figure because her sister is dead. then ramsay kills domeric. roose allows it. barbrey puts it as: “The widow of Barrowton… and yes, if I so choose, I could be an inconvenience. Of course, Roose sees that too, so he takes care to keep me sweet.” sweet is not the best word for our barb but she plays along with roose's game despite there being no real endgame beyond a petty revenge against the starks. the writing is on the wall though. not to put too fine a point on it but: ramsay will kill any children walda frey has from roose, and barbrey will know precisely who did it

in theon's case, roose's manipulations go like this: “Serve us in this, and when Stannis is defeated we will discuss how best to restore you to your father’s seat,” his lordship had said in that soft voice of his, a voice made for lies and whispers. Theon never believed a word of it. He would dance this dance for them because he had no choice, but afterward… he will give me back to Ramsay then

roose actually tells theon the story of domeric. he describes domeric's relative capability and desire for brothers. he confesses that ramsay killed domeric and that he did nothing about it, that he fully anticipates ramsay to kill any children he has with walda. later, when theon is thinking about how roose will give theon back to ramsay, the conclusion is clear: ramsay is going to torture and abuse you, and i will do nothing—just like i will do nothing for any other sons i might have

theon co-victimhood with jeyne. does that make theon roose's sort-of daughter-in-law?

that last point was a haha joke... unless? after all, theon did canonically desire for ned to adopt him via marriage to sansa. so roose adopting him via "marriage" to ramsay, theon's use to roose being dependent on his subservience to ramsay, or more specifically, his role as legitimizing ramsay/reproducing roose in a similar way to marrying arya stark and having bolton children with her will... that is to say, haha

starks and boltons are foils, ned and roose are foils, ramsay's dogs and starkling direwolves are foils: if ned was a quasi-father figure AND simultaneously warden to theon then why would roose not be as well considering the stark/bolton relationship?

remember when i said that theon is intensely bothered by the fact that he "obeys" ned/balon but gets nothing for it? if you agree with that then consider this passage: Theon wondered if he might be allowed to fight. Then at least he might die a man’s death, sword in hand. That was a gift Ramsay would never give him, but Lord Roose might. If I beg him. I did all he asked of me, I played my part, I gave the girl away.

there's likely much more i could say here but those are a few points that i think are interesting as part of the larger discussion on theon as well as the social critique in ADWD theon POVs. i mean it really pulls the curtain back—stripped of all romanticism and in the dead of winter where nothing grows, what is a wife truly? a whore, jeyne says. what is a hostage? mine own face on their lie, not [even] a man, theon says.

what is a father? well in theon's decidedly horrifying case, it's the man who has use for you or else what's the point of you being alive

[saraanzu]

bsd speculation: what’s up with this girl in bram’s flashback from 107.5, and what can we learn about her from dracula?

(prefacing this with some rambling… actual analysis starts after the readmore)

107.5 came out the same day as the s5 trailer and it was right after an exciting mersault chapter which is the vastly more popular pov and it was a whopping 9 pages - it was bound to be disliked. I won’t pretend a 9-page chapter isn’t disappointing (no idea why recent chapters have been so short - I hope they get a bit longer again when s5 is done airing?) and I think it’s fine to prefer the mersault storyline but I’ve also seen some god-awful takes about this chapter.

aya and bram aren’t side characters! they have been core to bsd’s plot ever since their introductions (in aya’s case, her re-introduction) and you can dislike them all you want but it’s objectively incorrect to claim they aren’t important to the story.

I also don’t agree with the take that 107.5 didn’t further the plot at all - obviously not a lot can happen in, again, 9 pages (that’s 1/3 the length of 107!) but aya deciding to remove bram’s sword and him actually encouraging her to do it even when he doesn’t believe it’s possible and previously told her not to is a huge turning point in the story! 107.5 certainly isn’t a favorite of mine but I will say we’ve had (slightly) longer chapters in recent months that had more exposition and setup with less plot.

I’ve seen some people worry that, because bram pictures someone who looks like aya in what’s presumably a wedding dress, bram and aya’s relationship is going in a creepy direction. I want to make it clear that no matter who this flashback girl is, even if she’s bram’s dead lover and/or aya in a previous life, I highly highly doubt that anything weird is going to happen between bram and aya. their relationship hasn’t been set up like that at all, in fact bram has parallels with aya’s father and he explicitly sees her as a child (more on that later) (look. bsd is not above using some Weird Tropes. in particular, the tanizakis and mori come to mind (and in mori’s case, it doesn’t even really function as a reference to the irl author - vitas sexualis has nothing to do with pedophillia!) but it’s important to mention that, while I wish those tropes weren’t in bsd at all because they’re unnecessary and add nothing of value to the characters, they are ultimately gags and nothing more. they don’t really set a precedent for how weird asagiri is willing to get when it comes to legitimately serious plot points.)

okay! got it all out of my system here’s the actual post

part 1: the dress

personally, when I first read 107.5, I didn’t think this girl was in a wedding dress. my initial assumption was “this must be bram’s daughter, she’s wearing some sort of tiara and bram was a nobleman”. but looking at it again, it does resemble one, and we should consider how bram’s backstory might reference dracula.

“the brides of dracula” are three seductive vampire ladies who live in count dracula’s castle and attempt to feed on jonathan harker early on in the book before being stopped by dracula, who chastises them for trying to eat harker and feeds them a human baby instead.

while they are known as dracula’s brides in pop culture and are often portrayed as such in movie adaptations, they go unnamed in the original novel and their relation to dracula is unclear. from what we see of them they refer to each other as “sisters”, although perhaps not in the literal sense. two of them have dark hair and are described as having similar facial features to dracula while the third is blonde, which may imply the third is dracula’s wife and the other two are his daughters. I imagine they’re pretty vague and mysterious on purpose, they could be dracula’s wives/sisters/daughters, or even just some vampire ladies crashing at his house.

however, I don’t think we should disregard details exclusive to adaptations of dracula and only focus on the original book when thinking about bsd. film adaptations of the book are actually more influential on dracula’s perception in pop-culture than the book itself, so it’s not unlikely that asagiri would reference elements that appeared in adaptations but not the novel.

so, because of “the brides of dracula”, I think it’s quite possible this girl is indeed a bride. she does look a bit young for it, but I’ve seen others say they think she looks older than aya, so I guess that’s subjective (and people would get married younger in bram’s time I suppose).

that doesn’t mean she has to be bram’s bride - again, the “brides” in the original novel have no explicit relation to dracula and could easily be his daughters or sisters, and I really do think her being his daughter instead makes more sense thematically.

part 2: her relation to bram

I believe bram subtly parallels aya’s father in a few ways. aya’s dad is verbally and physically abusive, and he berates aya for not being good at traditionally feminine activities. he doesn’t see her for what she is, a child, and instead expects her to be a perfect traditional woman.

right before we see this flashback, bram is surprised by aya’s age, and comments that she is “too young to even use a spinning wheel” (also a traditionally feminine activity). both of them question aya’s desire/ability to be an ally of justice but for different reasons: aya’s father finds it unladylike while bram finds it too big a task for a little girl (he is also sleepy)

I didn’t understand the point of this scene’s inclusion before, but in retrospect I think it serves as foreshadowing for bram’s flashback and demonstrates how he and aya’s father both associate aya with dead people, but this causes them to treat her differently.

aya will never live up to her father’s expectations because she can’t compete with his idealized memories of the dead. her own accomplishments are irrelevant in his eyes because she isn’t enough like the wife and daughter he lost. I suspect his grief is part of the reason he’s so horrible to her in the first place.

it’s the opposite case with bram. in his eyes aya does compare to someone who he remembers fondly, and the end of 107.5 implies that’s the very reason he’s okay with aya pulling the sword out.

I don’t necessarily see bram as a father figure to aya (to me he’s more of a weird creature who’s sort of grown fond of her after being unwillingly dragged around… but hey, who says that can’t be a dad?) but I do think it’s possible that this mystery girl was bram’s daughter in the past because of how he parallels aya’s father.

(note: she has normal human ears rather than pointy ones, but bram was turned into a vampire by his ability and wasn’t bitten or born as one, so I don’t know if he’d necessarily pass down his vampirism to his children. he also may have developed his ability after becoming a father, or his daughter could even be adopted).

part 3: her relation to aya

the most common idea I’ve seen to explain the resemblance between these two is that aya is a reincarnation of this flashback girl. introducing reincarnation out of nowhere seems a bit random even for bsd, but surprisingly this theory does have some basis.

in the movie bram stoker’s dracula (1992), the character mina harker, jonathan’s fiancé, is a reincarnation of dracula’s long-dead lover, elisabeta. dracula recognizes her as a reincarnation due to their resemblance and mina agrees to assist him, still harboring feelings and memories from her past life. it’s fairly common for dracula adaptations to portray dracula and/or mina as having romantic feelings for each other, but this isn’t really the case in the novel, and elisabeta is entirely an invention of this particular movie.

so, aya being a reincarnation of a girl bram once knew could work as a reference to this. I did say previously that I think it’s possible asagiri will reference adaptations of dracula and not just the novel, but I’m not so sure he would make something specific to one particular adaptation a major part of bram’s backstory.

personally, I’m partial to the idea that aya’s ability will be introduced soon, and her resemblance to this flashback girl may have something to do with it. (the ability idea and reincarnation idea aren’t inherently contradictory, aya’s ability could very well be reincarnation)

this theory by @jo-dieeee suggests that aya’s ability is called mirror, due to the discussion of mirrors in 107.5 and the book above.

mirror: the fiction and essays of koda aya isn’t actually a book written by irl koda, nor is it just a collection of her stories. it was written by ann sherif and discusses koda’s life and works, including some translations of her short stories in the second part. however, the existence of this book and aya emphasizing mirrors in 107.5 is quite an interesting coincidence! whether or not it’s called mirror, I’m fairly confident an ability reveal is coming up.

it’s also worth bringing up that aya’s resemblance to this mystery firl might not have a supernatural explanation at all. it could easily be an artistic choice simply made to indicate that bram is reminiscing about someone who aya reminds him of. I’m not too into the reincarnation idea myself.

[anjelicawrites]

The winner takes it all

Chapter II (previous)

Paring: Aemond Targaryen x reader

Synopsis: inspired by the Æthelflæd and Erik's storyline in The Last Kingdom. Might be spoilerish if you haven't seen it (go watch it!!!), even though I've just stolen the inspiration and went on with the story my way.

Warnings: Canon compliant violence, attempted rape, reader’s husband being a piece of shit, family annihilation.

A/N: reader is AFAB, they/them pronouns are used (they are called “lady” and “daughter of the North”). The only descriptor is that they have long hair

A/N 1: this is an AU. Look at me taking the canon story of Westeros and yell “Parkhour!” as I jump out of the window clutching it in my hands.

18+ only, tank you!

As the only offspring, and heir, of your Lord father, you had to study history, had to learn from the trials and mistakes of your ancestors, and one idea had always remained in your brain: the once free people of the Seven Kingdoms should have annihilate the first Targaryens the moment they set foot to Dragonstone, to stay. The looming danger of their dragons should have been enough to act, yet the once kings did nothing, waiting while Old Valyria was destroyed, while curious stories of disappearing babies kept sprouting everywhere, as white haired children appeared on that cursed place, while the Valyrians started inserting in each and every city and village, like a disease.

Nothing seemed to be the right reason for the kings to unite against the common enemy, and when Aegon I and his sister wives invaded, it was too late to act. Like tiles, every Kingdom fell under Targaryen dominion and their demented dream to recreate their lost home.

The North stood up once, against the peaceful colonization of Valyrian families and then with weapons and with the long, cold winters that nobody seemed able to withstand, but you children of the North. Your people did it, despite not having a ruling House, the power divided between the Starks, your House and your Lord husband’s: in spite of a marked destiny, the newborn Kingdom of North Valyria had to sign a peace treaty with the North, effectively stopping any more conquering attempt. For how long, though?

It is no secret that New Valyria wants to annex the North, the Targaryen trying many times to marry into one of the Northerner Houses, failing; you know there had been talks of you marrying the second son, promptly curbed by your Lord father, who made you decide between Cregan Stark and the man who became your husband.

When king Viserys had remarried and started a second bloodline of sons, you were young, but you still remembered the sheer panic you could breathe in your household, the frantic discussions about the time when those children would be old enough to want a piece of land of their own.

It was common knowledge that the king favored his firstborn daughter Rhaenyra, to the point that he had made her heir to the throne, despite having a brother who could ascend, if anything ever happened to him. Only an idiot wouldn't consider his children from Alicent Hightower, Aegon II, Helaena and Aemond, nothing if not spares, in the case anything happened to her. He didn't do a thing when Prince Aemond lost an eye to his nephew and all the Houses of the North whispered in fear of what those young men would do, when of age.

It was a statement that Prince Aegon II and Princess Helaena were married and produced heirs, the bonding of Prince Aemond with the powerful Vhagar was an even stronger statement, followed as it was by the terrible and cruel stories about him.

Yet, everyone was surprised when the spare Princes decided to overthrow Rhaenyra, annihilating her and all of her offsprings from her two marriages and Prince Aegon II was crowned king. “Kinslayers - everyone whispered - if they didn't have pity for their own blood, what would stop them from dishonoring the peace treaty with the North?”

What’s stopping them, now? You asked yourself many many times, looking at your Lord husband and his idiotic dream to become the King in the North. Can’t he see that a civil war will weaken us, against our cumbersome neighbor? We never had a ruling House and now shouldn’t be the time to try and seize power! What will stop those young men from taking what they surely believe it’s theirs? Nothing did, and that's why you find yourself prisoner.

                                                              ***

Your life has taught you fear can be a never ending feeling, but boredom is almost worse than that. At home, at least, you had to organize the life of the palace, help the women prepare for the oncoming winter or summer, settle issues between the ladies at court; yes, you were always under the judging stare of your husband, always ready to remind you of your mistakes and uselessness, but at least your days were full, here in your cell the only thing you can do is stare at the brick wall and pace like a caged animal.

You know what the brothers are doing, taking their sweet time before sending an envoy to your husband, assuming that the longer the wait, the mellower he’ll be. You are not so sure about that: if your father were still alive, this would have worked with him, his love for you bigger than any political strategy. When it comes to your husband you wouldn’t bet a copper coin that he’d put your life above this war. Granted, he has to consider all the families connected to your House by a bond of loyalty: through marriage they have become his subject, but you know that many noblemen hold no trust for your husband, nor love and him not trying to rescue you would be ill considered, something that the one who wants to become King in the North can’t risk. If there is going to be a North to govern, you think with sadness.

For what little you had managed to see, the brothers are ruthless and burn with a fire impossible to quench, their army is already huge, with your ransom they’ll be able to buy more mercenaries, even from Essos, and they have two dragons. You know your people are strong, although you are aware of your numbers: how will the North protect its freedom, when it’s already dwarfed the way it is? You are happy both your mother and father are dead, they will not have to see the capitulation of their home.

You start pacing again, your brain incapable of coming up with a plan of escape. You know this castle, the brothers have chosen wisely a fortress no one could escape from. What unnerves you is that there’s always a great number of people around, even if you managed to leave your room, would you have the chance to disappear?

The door opens with a bang and you stay still, rooted on the spot as the brute with mismatched eyes enters, tray in hand. He stares at the uneaten food and spits on the ground

“Nothing is good enough for you, right?”

“What I find pleasing is not of your concern. You might leave and take the tray with you, I am not hungry” you say, staring at him with disdain

“You are not hungry, eh? - he advances angrily, hand on his belt - I’ll make sure you’ll be after I am done with you, whore!”.

He launches at you and you retreat to dash on the right, your hand going for the bucket at the foot of the bed. You hand curls around the handle; with a swift move you pull it over your head and down again, to start hitting the brute with it, savagely, on the face, deaf to the sound of his bones breaking, possessed by a rage that was a long time coming, until he falls on your bed and you snatch his small sword, ready to gut him with a primal scream.

Strong arms curl around your frame, forcing your body up in the air, away from your enemy and you scream your rage trying to wriggle out of the impossibly strong hold while guards pour in, taking the injured man with them

“Nobody moves” comes from behind you and you realize that’s Prince Aemond the one keeping you still.

You can see the men freeze on the spot, eyes on your captor and you. Even your attacker stares at the one eyed prince with fear in his swollen eyes

“They are not to be touched, have I made myself clear? They are worth every damned hair on their head” he says coldly and his men silently agree.

After they leave, Aemond deposits your feet on the ground. Delicately, but with a steely hand around your wrist, he forces you to surrender your stolen weapon. You stare at him pissed and he looks equally angry

“It won’t happen again” he says, lilac eye cold and you can’t stop staring

“It wouldn’t be the first time” you confess.

His only eye hardens even more and both his hands curl into tight fist

“Which one of my men?”

“No, none of them - you try to say calmly under his scrutinizing gaze - it happened before you kidnapped me”.

If it’s possible, his whole posture becomes even more tight, a flash of anger on his face he can barely hide.

“I have forgotten how good it feels when you can fight back”.

Unexpectedly this wins you a smile, not bright enough to see his teeth, but his feature softens with it, his eye a fraction warmer.

“My men tell me you refuse to eat”

“How am I supposed to feel hunger, when all I can see are those brick walls? I wish to bathe and to breathe some fresh air, that’s what I desire, not food”.

Prince Aemond stares at you, taking your form in as if he is evaluating something, a soft hmm escaping his shapely lips. You do look like you need a bath even though you managed to wash most of the grime off you.

“Will you eat if I manage to fulfill your wishes?” he says

“Will you?” you are incredulous

“On my honor” he says

“Then I will” and you try not to sound giddy but you feel a small smile on your lips.

Against all your expectations, Prince Aemond takes your hand and kisses it gently, like a nobleman in court would, before stiffly leaving you with your food.

You cradle your hand against your breasts, feeling a warmness that should have no space in your circumstances. It’s only after you have polished the plate, that you realize that Prince Aemond wasn’t wearing those tight braids and his hair were down his shoulders like waves of silk. What are you supposed to do with this information?

Everythig taglist: @hightowhxre

Aemond taglist: @phantoms-main-blog

[buttercuparry]

Honestly Arya does have that Persephone parallel doesn't she? And you have Demeter, Lady Stoneheart, searching for her daughter combing through the Riverlands. I have heard that the og myth was about the bond between mothers and daughters and the mothers' rage and grief at losing daughters to violence ( often of the sexual kind). No matter what the retelling of it is: be it of the romantic kind with Hades/Persephone being the subject or more in line with tradition- one thing is for sure that Demeter's rage brought on destruction that would have wiped off mankind.

When I think of Riverlands, I imagine a land associated with a bountiful of harvest and Catelyn Tully has been the daughter of its leige lord. Now the war has reduced it to a husk and Catelyn believes her own family is lost to her as well. Death-resurrection-journey to the "underworld" are so in line with the weaving of the myth in the story. Demeter rises vengeful, cold and cruel, killing mercilessly and searching for the three headed cerberus who has kidnapped her daughter from right under the nose of BwB. Arya's journey ultimately ends with the Hound and again we find the recall of greek myth of Styx/Charon when she crosses the Narrow Sea with the offering of the iron coin for the ferry. Finally she reaches the HoBaW and there to cement her right to stay she fearlessly kisses the skull and bites on the worm ( pomegranate seeds?). I also find the structure of the HoBaW interesting. You have the Temple structure sitting on the very top of the carved stone and visible but there are winding levels that descend down into the heart of the stone/earth...it kind of reminds me of Dante's description of hell- circular levels descending into the earth ( as far as I remember?).

Further you have a reflection of it in the far North ( again death-resurrection which we know is going to feature in Jon's storyline). For us Jonrya shippers, we sometimes can reflect on it as death and the maiden thing going on, but if we don't go the shippy way and see it as familial, we again have Jon wondering about Arya facing violence in her marriage bed. The theme of stealing the bride carries on both with Jon sending Mance to rescue "Arya" and after Jeyne Poole escapes, we have Ramsay asking for his bride back whom he thinks the bastard at the Wall has stolen from him ( going the shippy way, we have Jon repeating the phrase "I want my bride back over and over again" too). It's so interesting that both the characters who have gone the death/resurrection way or is going to go the death/resurrection way is looking for Arya. One terrorizing the Riverlands and the other making alliances to send armies to knock at Ramsay's door, while Arya herself is at a liminal space between life and death. I don't think Grrm has created the order of the silent sisters just for the fun of it- they are known to be the Stranger's wives and you have this imagery of women marrying death throughout. But in any case Grrm is known for his subversive tropes and if Arya has the Persephone thing going on, then instead of barreness of the HoBaW and the silent sisters there is a possibility of a full life whatever that may mean for Arya.

[quotergirl19]

Today’s Bridgerton season 3 speculation (during this ridiculously long & torturous wait) is the following since the show loves to torture us by placing obstacles between the main couple, I could see the Polin love storyline going something like this…

Colin returns to London with a new look, super vain and eccentric after his most recent travels, he’s oozing confidence and every eligible lady in London is dying for his attention because he’s not swearing off women anymore and they all want to land a Bridgerton.

Penelope has not spoken to Eloise in months and her former best friend has begun to humor Cressida Cowper at parties, even snickering at her mean spirited jabs at Penelope. Pen however is determined to avoid Colin and Eloise this season. She’s changed her look after Lady Danbury kindly suggested she work with her modiste to avoid popular dress styles in favor of styles that accent her figure because she liked Penelope. But Penelope has been a wallflower for so long she has a hard time finding her confidence and when Lady Danbury overhears Cressida loudly reminding a group of people that Colin Bridgerton announced how he’d never court Penelope Featherington to be cruel and humiliate Pen, the countess makes it a point to tell Colin he’s to blame for the humiliation Miss Featherington is enduring.

The ton is abuzz about Lady Tilly Arnold and how beautiful and kind she is. The young widow isn’t the diamond, because she’s been married but, she’s highly sought after by several lustful men interested in making her their mistress. Colin once again gets caught up by the frenzy of competition with other men for her favor, similar to how he blindly went after Marina. Only this time he makes it clear that he is a gentleman and not looking for a mistress, announcing to his mother and family that he intends to marry Tilly. Violet is upfront that she believes Tilly and Colin would not be a good match, she thinks he should court Penelope Featherington because she’s a lovely person and their friendship would make an exceptional foundation for a happy marriage. Colin is adamant that he will never marry Penelope. Eloise insists that she would not want Penelope for a sister but refuses to explain why they have ended their friendship and storms off. Violet makes it clear that she doesn’t think Colin should marry Tilly.

Colin realizes that his comments at Featherington ball not only hurt Penelope‘s feelings, they have also made it much harder for her to feel confident while she navigates the ton this season as she tried to find a husband, and since he genuinely misses his friend, he decides to help Pen. He’s encouraging to her and introduces her to some nice gentlemen he knows who are looking for wives. Penelope’s new look and confident behavior attracts some suitors but Colin is protective of her and deters the least desirable men. He frequently calls on Penelope and consistently dances with her at balls and parties but makes it a point to favor Tilly. When Pen leaves a ball in a non-Featherington carriage, Colin follows her worried that she’ll allow herself to be ruined to ensure she snags a husband and that it would be his fault. This is when he discovers she’s Whistledown and confronts her, he’s stunned and unsure if he can trust her but after a highly improper and open conversation, he confesses his own scandalous secret to her, telling her he knows she is better than the worst things she’s ever done. He also thanks her for being kind to Lady Tilly in her Whistledown column and Penelope assured him she’s been kind because Tilly is a kind and good person and she understands why he’s pursuing her. After that they are less formal with each other and their friendship has undeniably deepened. Polin are each others confidants and have become a team of sorts. Colin convinces Penelope to stop writing Whistledown before she’s discovered.

Colin starts calling on Penelope more and more often, so frequently that Lady Featherington starts leaving them unchaperoned, convinced he has nothing but brotherly affection for her daughter. Penelope still prefers Colin to any other man but knows she must stay focused on her suitors and find a husband because Colin wants to marry Tilly. But one afternoon when they were left alone, Colin kisses Penelope. The kiss is intense and heated but Penelope stops things because she’s sure Colin is just being an opportunistic man who would leap on any woman he was alone with. Penelope tells him he’s virtually engaged to Tilly and that he shouldn’t be kissing another woman. He apologizes but makes it clear that he wasn’t being opportunistic, he just couldn’t help himself because he finds her so beautiful and he feels there is passion between them. Penelope insists that she would never trap him so he has to stop because if her mother caught them kissing he would be forced to marry her which would ruin both their lives.

Penelope tries to put some distance between her and Colin to focus on her latest suitor who she’s become certain is about to propose but then her suitor is caught in a compromising situation with Lady Arnold and he and Tilly become betrothed. Colin is convinced Tilly and her new fiancé must be in love because Tilly is a proper lady and would not allow herself to be forced into a marriage. And since he has not been able to stop thinking of his kiss with Penelope, he proposes that they marry. Penelope is adamant that marrying for lust would be a bad idea and she wants to be someone’s first choice, not just the woman her friend settled for to save face when the woman he really wanted has chosen someone else.

Colin is not willing to take no for an answer so he forces Penelope’s hand by telling her mother that he kissed her. The ton is buzzing that Penelope trapped Colin because nobody is willing to believe he chose her after announcing he never wanted her and how publicly he courted Lady Tilly Arnold. The rumors are cruel with people speculating that Penelope must be pregnant for Colin to marry her. Colin notices that Eloise says nothing to stop Cressida’s lies and gossip and he tells her she should be ashamed of herself for standing by while her oldest friend is mocked and disrespected and insists that will have to change since Penelope is going to be her sister. With his mother’s help, Colin makes a spectacle of their wedding to silence the ton by making it clear that he chose Penelope and she did not trap him. They marry quickly and give in to their mutual lust for each other, finding that they are blissfully happy together until Tilly and her new husband return later in the season and Colin draws attention to himself by defaulting to spending time in Tilly’s company at a ball, causing scandal and bringing on more cruel comments from Cressida towards Penelope. This time however Eloise checks Cressida and accuses her of being jealous of Penelope because she’s worthy of the Bridgerton name while Cressida will never be considered anything but a bitch to the Bridgerton family.

Penelope is humiliated but manages to save face before fleeing the ball. Violet tries to comfort her and later tells Colin he’s a fool for his poor treatment of his wife. Even Eloise is disgusted with Colin who was of course oblivious because he thought he was just being friendly to Tilly and her new husband who was an old friend of Colin’s from school. When Colin tries to speak to Penelope she can’t hide her heartbreak. She pleads with Colin to try harder to respect his wife enough not to make such a spectacle of his obvious love for another woman in front of the ton. She devastates him by insisting that he should pretend to favor his own wife in public so Pen would not constantly be reminded that she allowed him to steal her chance to marry someone who would have chosen her first and could have actually loved her. She lets slip that Colin’s heart was as wasted on Marina and Tilly as her own heart has been wasted on him. She turns to leave after saying that for her love is nothing but a curse.

Seeing how deeply he’d hurt Penelope and how sure she was that he not only loved another woman, but that he always would and that he didn’t even deem her worthy of his love is like a knife in Colin’s heart. She was so sure that he would ever put her first, but none of that was true and he had to tell her. Colin tells Penelope he was only being kind to Tilly and her husband upon their return to town. And that yes, he once thought he loved Marina & Tilly, but he knows now that he didn’t. He explains to Pen that he liked them and he intended to marry them but he didn’t know what love was then. Colin confesses that he only knows what love is because of Penelope. Because she knows and understands him, that she sees past the facade of the perfect gentleman to the imperfect man he truly is. That he’s been a fool in the past but could never forgive himself if he didn’t make it clear that she’s the love of his life. That he belongs to her, body and soul. That his love for her didn’t stem from some stupid competition with other men. It started with friendship and grew with her every smile and witty comment, and the fire he felt when she was in his arms as they danced. He tells her that she’s the most beautiful and intelligent woman he’s ever known and that he feels pulled towards her every time they’re in a room together. That’s why he kissed her that first time only he hadn’t know it then but what he wants most in the world is to be the man worthy of her hand and her heart. That he doesn’t give a damn about the ton or society, titles or gossip, Marina or Tilly… he only cares about spending his life with his Penelope. His friend, his true love, his wife.

Epilogue: Penelope and Colin waking up together while traveling, a package has arrived and Penelope surprises her beloved husband with a keepsake she had made for him. Colin’s had allowed his wife to read his travel journals for a fuller understanding of his travels and she edited them into a travel book and had it elegantly bound in leather with an inscription to the love of her life and father to the lucky babe growing in her belly. And Colin couldn’t keep the tears from his eyes. Penelope was the source of everything good in his life. She’d given him her heart, and her hand and now she had given him his life’s purpose, caring for their growing family.

[annabolinas]

Who is your fav portrayal of Jane Seymour and Kathryn Howard?

Good question! My favorite portrayals of Jane Seymour and Catherine Howard are Anne Stallybrass in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970), the BBC miniseries, and Lynne Frederick in its movie adaptation, Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972), respectively. In case you want to watch either portrayal, both the 1970 show and the 1972 film are available on OK (dot) ru. Just search for "the six wives of Henry VIII Jane Seymour" for the first one and the title of the movie for the second, making sure to choose the video which is 1:59:19. Best of all, there's no ads or popups!

Anyways, here's the long answer itself. It's quite a long post below, so be warned.

It's very easy to make Jane into either a cipher (e.g. Wolf Hall, Anne Boleyn [2021]) or a bland non-entity (e.g. Anne of the Thousand Days, Season 3 of The Tudors), but Stallybrass portrays her sympathetically, yet as a rounded human. That's the key, really. This is a living, breathing Jane, not the bland Goody Two-Shoes of Annabelle Wallis in Season 3 of The Tudors. As an Anne fan, I do feel this portrayal exonerates her rather too much of culpability in the former's unjust execution - this portrayal of Jane isn't involved at all with the plot to get rid of Anne but feels guilty anyways. However, it's a very moving depiction of a gentle, introverted believer in traditional Catholicism who would much rather be in the countryside, at Wolf Hall, than dealing with court intrigue.

Henry falls for her during his 1535 visit to Wolf Hall, and while Jane wants to protect her chastity, they bond over their shared fear of the plague and faith. Despite her arrival back at court after the royal visit, she longs for the comforts of her country home. She tells her sister-in-law Anne Stanhope that she'd much rather be arranging flowers at Wolf Hall than be at court after Anne rips Henry's locket off her neck. This Jane also stands up for what she believes in. She shows a love for monasticism at her first meeting with Henry, passionately telling him that the locals visiting Hailes Abbey are "afraid for the abbeys, sir, for their souls!". Later, she pleads with Henry to restore the abbeys during the Pilgrimage of Grace, which she argues must be God's punishment. The fact Henry proceeds to scream at her and damage her faith by revealing the Blood of Christ from Hailes is in fact, a vial of duck's blood, doesn't diminish her bravery.

Indeed, Jane takes no part in the plot to get rid of Anne here, although she nevertheless feels guilty over it. She intercedes for Mary to return to court after her submission, to which Henry replies, "If you had your way, my little nun," he says, "every villain in the country would go free." Jane's shy reply that "I should make a very poor ruler" is met with more condescending "affection" from Henry. Indeed, this version of Jane actually flees from the Christmas 1536 celebrations at one point, as it gets too overwhelming for her. This makes Henry's condescension and later, outright mental and emotional abuse, even more heartbreaking; even worse, Henry's treatment of her is probably just how it really was in history. After he shows her the duck's blood, Henry quickly apologizes and sinks into self-pity so bad Jane has to comfort him while pitifully weeping, "I am bound to obey and serve you, sir." Even as Henry celebrates Edward's birth and baptism, he fails to notice Jane lapsing in and out of consciousness. His tears by her body, lying in state, are too little, too late.

Lynne Frederick was actually only 17 when this movie was filmed - looking back, perhaps they could've waited a year or two. Nevertheless, this is somehow the best portrayal of Catherine Howard on screen despite her only appearing on screen for fifteen minutes in a two-hour movie. Let me just briefly summarize her storyline and give some analysis, because there's so much good stuff in here.

Frederick's Catherine is a vivacious, warm-hearted teenager who finds herself the object of Henry's unwanted affections. This Henry is, as in history, prematurely aged and far taller/stouter than Catherine, which makes his asking her uncle Norfolk whether she is "a good girl" even more disturbing. As Henry leaves Lambeth, Norfolk and Bishop Gardiner walk with Catherine, who protests that "I had not looked for it, sir. I had wished -" Gardiner then cuts her off saying that she "may no longer consider your own wishes. You now have a duty to return England to the true faith." It's a very telling exchange, as Catherine's own emotions or feelings are brutally trampled on by the men around her; all she can do is look mournfully at both of them.

When next we see her, she's already married to Henry, enjoying the jewels and rich clothes that being his queen brings. It's a grotesque sight, as the teenage Catherine kisses, and is in turn fondled by an old man nearly three times her age. However, being queen isn't all positive, as she reveals to Henry that she had a nightmare of a bird caught in a room crying out to her for help, perhaps a manifestation of her own feelings of helplessness. Her kind-heartedness is shown when she sends a puppy to Anne of Cleves, who in this film has solely been depicted as comic relief. In a later scene, as Henry limps to the window on his cane, he blows a kiss to Catherine, who is walking in the garden with Culpeper. Although she returns his kiss, it's a sign of things to come.

While Henry and Catherine enjoy themselves on the Northern Progress, in private, he is disappointed to discover she's not yet pregnant. Nevertheless, he gives her a rich jewel, although he does have to read the text for her, as Catherine admits she can't read very well, another heartbreaking detail. The audience's (and my) horror skyrockets when Henry proceeds to uncover Catherine's thigh from beneath her dressing robe and rain kisses on it, as the camera pans up to an incredibly disturbed Catherine who winces and tries to pull herself together. Her marriage to Henry is a gilded cage, and it is difficult to escape the conclusion this Catherine thinks of Henry more as a father figure than a husband.

After Henry is told of her premarital relationships, though, he abandons her, much to her dismay. She is then questioned by Archbishop Cranmer, maintaining that she was raped by Dereham "without my will or consent" and staunchly denying a precontract, despite Cranmer's argument it would save her life. When he accuses her of adultery with Culpeper, though, she tearfully pleads for his help, weeping, "I would have wed him. And been his wife. But they worked on me, sir. My Lord of Norfolk - Bishop Gardiner - my grandmother. Talking, whispering together. Telling him I was bound. That I was bound to the king. And now my fame is gone and I'm nothing young and I -" When Cranmer tells her she must calm down, Catherine swings around and screams, "Don't touch me! You all handle me!" It's a poignant allusion to her premarital abuse, as it's specified in the movie that Catherine was only 13 when Manox preyed on her. She then recalls her cousin Anne's bravery in death before dissolving into another flood of tears.

In the end, she makes her way to the block, silently but with composure. She pays the executioner, is blindfolded, kneels, and then, holding a rosary, stretches out her hands like the wings of a bird in flight. The tragedy of this depiction of Catherine (and arguably the real Catherine) is that from the moment we see her, she's a pawn of men, who use her to further their own desires and agendas. Only in death is she freed.

[strangelock221b]

S3E2 (spoilers abound)

Agatha and Charlotte talking about LW's latest column. Charlotte mentions that Edwina has "made a splendid match abroad." So, does that mean she didn't end up with your (great-)nephew Friedrich? Interesting. The shippers will be disappointed, but that's what AO3 is for. Can this be the final mention of Edwina, please?

Pen, did you have to mention Kate's age? I get the point you're trying to make but bringing it up again seems crass.

So glad Mrs. Varley approves of Pen's makeover. She has presumably known Pen since she was a baby so this is nice to see.

The Mondriches getting a tour of their new house. Alice is lowkey PISSED OFF about this whole thing and their new housekeeper doesn't seem any happier.

Eloise walking with Benedict and Colin. Where are her flowers? I don't know if her modiste is Delacroix or the other one but damn, let her have her florals.

Does Benedict not have his own storyline this season? So far, he's just been a supporting character for his siblings' storylines. If he's supposed to be the Bridgerton lead for S4, he needs to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING for himself this season.

Oh God, more secondhand embarrassment watching Pen try to interact with any man besides Colin and Lord Debling. She wasn't nervous at all around Debling last episode, probably because she doesn't see him as a potential suitor (yet). Nervous laughter, the poor thing.

Agatha, Violet, Francesca, and Hyacinth talking about the lords. Well, a music-lover would be a necessity. Is young Hyacinth this interested in the Marriage Mart in the books? I've only read her and Gareth's book once but if I remember correctly, she was not interested in the whole thing, so this seems OOC. I mean, it works, don't get me wrong, but it's not like what I remember her book counterpart to be. Florence is growing up so fast. If they don't get Hyacinth presented next season, she's going to look too old soon to convincingly play a girl still in the schoolroom. Hyacinth is dressing more like a grown-up now -- her hem is lower, etc, so there is some acknowledgement by the show that she is growing up.

No mention at all of the Stirlings so far. I just glanced at the cast list on IMDB and there's a Lord Samadani in 2 episodes this season. Same last initial, so that could be the show's John. As long as her future husband's got a Scottish accent, I don't care what his name is. (I assume Regency Era Scotland is as racially integrated in this universe as RE England.)

I swear, Pen's mother and sisters' hair color changes with each season.

"Do you think babies appear in your womb?" Portia, you're the one who told them two Seasons ago that pregnancy was a contagious disease, are you really that surprised that they're this ignorant about how to get pregnant?

Colin in bed with two women. Those had better be courtesans because if they're two unmarried women of the ton, I'm going to kill him. As long as they're courtesans, I'm actually okay with it -- it was practically expected for young unmarried men of his social status to be sexually experienced before marriage. A horrid double-standard since women of the same class were expected to be virgins, I know, but it was hoped that by sowing their wild oats before marriage, men would be faithful to their wives when they were married. It does look odd that these women didn't even let down their hair before getting into bed. We've seen Simon in S1 with a woman in his bed and Anthony in bed with what was possibly a succession of women but just one at a time in S2, so I believe this is the first time we've seen a threesome on this show. Shonda, here's a hint -- THE MALE LEADS DO NOT NEED TO TOP THE PREVIOUS MALE LEAD'S EXPLOITS. Benedict (or whoever is the male lead in S4) does not need to do something even more outrageous than a threesome, trust me.

"Same time tomorrow?" Has he been doing this DAILY since he got back? Colin, you'd better have this same level of stamina for your wife (and of course, only your wife) once you're married.

Aww, I was hoping for a Polin first meeting flashback, but reminiscing is almost as good. At least that's more or less identical from the scene in the book. Rae, Pen's maid, needs a raise and possibly hazard pay.

"What exactly happened?" Colin, baby, you DO NOT want to know, trust me.

The Mondriches having separate bedrooms will not last. It's a stupid tradition if the couple truly wants to share a bedroom.

Oh, so El's modiste is Delacroix. WHERE ARE HER FLOWERS, GENEVIEVE?! I mean, Francesca is wearing flowers, the two girls should switch dresses.

Pen coming over to Bridgerton House and Colin surprises her with flirtation practice. I have loved his floral waistcoat since I first saw photos of this scene but I had NO IDEA it laces up in the back. Slutty, slutty waist indeed. (This is the first and probably last time I will ever use that phrase.) Speaking of clothes, I hate the tulle tied around Pen's neck. It's out of place however you look at it. The dress itself is lovely, though. I've loved all of her new gowns so far.

And now we have the "kind eyes" scene that Netflix showed us before. One honest compliment from Pen and Colin is THIRSTY, I love it.

Yes, have her hide in the study, where any family member or servant can enter at any moment. Colin, take it from another writer -- if you don't want someone else to read what you write, DON'T LEAVE YOUR OPEN JOURNAL IN A PLACE ANYONE CAN FIND IT. He really is clueless about everything, isn't he?

One emotionally and physically (hands!) intimate moment then they both jump back like they've been shocked. I love these two, they are adorably hopeless.

Eloise sees Pen just as she's leaving. No words between them but all the anguish on their faces. This isn't going to resolve anytime soon, is it?

Glad Alice can find one good thing about her new status. I agree, the jewelry is lovely, but to see it just in the vanity's drawers like that is odd to me.

Finally, El is back in florals. Perhaps there is hope for her yet. This is the dress she's worn in all the promo shorts, so I'm sure this ball is very significant. The damn sheer gloves are back and I'm not crazy about the necklace either -- it looks too modern, but the dress itself is lovely.

"How is she?" You still care, Eloise. Just talk to her. Argue if you need to, but get it all out of your systems, you'll both feel better and you'll be better friends in the end.

"Perhaps the most eligible right now, strangely." God, I love the sibling dynamics on this show -- it's one of the few things the writers are consistently good at. "I love you and I will never hesitate to tease you every chance I get."

Whose bright idea was it to have a ball in semi-darkness? Is this because of the full moon? Yes, back then, full moon nights were very popular nights for parties but that was because PEOPLE COULD FUCKING SEE OUTSIDE ON THEIR WAY TO THE BALL. In the time before streetlights, that was very important. THERE IS NO REASON TO NOT HAVE THIS INDOOR BALL PROPERLY LIT. People can barely make out everyone's faces, let alone their expressions.

Oh, Lady Cowper just criticized Cressida and I'm sure this isn't the first time. Okay, now she has my sympathy.

"I do enjoy a good turn." Eloise, you are a terrible liar, but apparently, no one there, not even YOUR MOTHER, can tell.

"They've taken to hunting in packs." Yeah, Benedict, they kind of have to when you're not chasing any of them. We get it, you're bored, so why did you even come?

Where's that deaf debutante? I want to see more of her.

I'm glad Pen gets along with her brothers-in-law so well. They're nice to her, in spite or perhaps because of the way their wives treat her.

Pen's stars dress and necklace look lovely on her. Too bad it's utterly wasted on Colin.

"... simply pretend they are dead." That explains so damn much about you, Cressida.

"She was at my house today." Eloise, you better guard your tongue, anything you say next can and will be used against Penelope.

"It seems Colin is helping her look for a husband." WHAT DID I JUST FUCKING SAY?! This is Cressida Cowper you're speaking to, the 2nd biggest gossip in London. YOU UTTER MORON!

(Honestly, I'm not sure which sibling is in possession of the Bridgerton braincell this season, but it's not Anthony, Benedict, Colin, or Eloise. I'm reserving judgement on Francesca. Maybe Daphne took it back to Clyvedon with her the last time she visited.)

Hmm, it seems it's Benedict's turn to be the Bridgerton or Basset closest to the Mondriches this season. I like it.

"Inserts himself where?" Philippa, I know you're not the brightest crayon in the box but what the hell? Portia, this is all on you.

"I cannot think of anything at the moment." Cressida Cowper holding her tongue for the first time in her life? The full moon is getting to everybody, apparently.

I like this Lord Remington. He seems nice and he loves to read LW's column, and it's good to see more diversity in the ton. No one so far treats him differently just because he can't walk.

Oh fuck, that news didn't take long to spread. Just shows that the ton doesn't need LW to spread gossip -- these people would have been exactly the same without Pen's column. What LW does is make people aware of gossip outside their social circle. I can only assume these debutantes and mamas actually do see Penelope as a rival now or they wouldn't have cared what she did.

So we've got Colin telling Eloise off but it's not enough. At least El didn't blab Pen's secret to him. And Cressida is innocent, but El's still in the wrong for telling a secret in public since she was, of course, overheard.

Oh Lord, Fran is going to be the Diamond but she's an introvert, this is not going to go well. She knows it too. Agatha, you really did it this time.

I'm glad the Mondriches are taking control of things. Will's right, the current viscounts, etc didn't do anything to earn their titles, only the original title holders did. Every successive title holder is simply riding their ancestor's coattails.

At least Pen changed her clothes before she started writing this column, but the tear running down her face means she's still not in an emotionally good place. Hopefully, she won't regret anything in this one.

Well, looks like her sisters are finally in the baby race. *eyeroll* Who wants to bet both of them have girls first?

Cressida is both garnering my sympathy and has a point! There is hope for her yet! I think if she can just get away from her mother, she'd be nicer (and much better off).

Hey, Portia, maybe if you actually SUPPORTED PENELOPE FOR ONCE, she wouldn't have to resort to extreme means to get a husband.

We've got Colin bribing Rae to give them privacy and Pen asking him for a kiss. This is either going to end really well or really badly, but they've only got less than two minutes to figure out which.

50/50? They both went back for more but then she ran back into the house and he's standing there gaping. So, Colin, did she rock your world? If so, you'd better do something about it. And by that, I definitely DO NOT mean you should tell anyone. Not your buddies, not your brothers, and definitely not El.

We are a quarter of the way through the season and hooboy, the angst is flowing.

[spurgie-cousin]

I heard there will be another season of sister wives!! I would love to see more of Christine being free and jenelle too now that she’s moved on. I don’t really care about Meri’s storyline as much hahaha

woo hoo!! This last season of SW made TLC soooo much money lol I'd be surprised if it wasn't automatically renewed for multiple seasons tbh. and TLC just milked it for everything it was worth omg, there were so many little specials and everything was 5 parts minimum, the network is definitely loving this divorce.

honestly I wouldn't mind Meri's storyline if it were about anything other than her businesses or like, the running of her inn lol like I'm sorry but I don't care about that. i'd gladly watch her start dating though or hanging out with Leon or something else, but I will say I do NOT care about her inn's carriage house renovation. hopefully now that she's officially done they'll focus less on that stuff lol.

but i am really interested to see what the show will become now that everyone's gone except Robyn! i imagine they'll just keep following them all around and documenting them separately.

[kingdimitrx]

Shabana/Kamado Swap AU Ideas

If the Shabanas had a similar plot to the Kamados…

They would have been born in the Taisho Era

Every other aspect of their backstory would have remained exactly the same, up until Ume was burned by the samurai 

In this storyline, Douma would have come upon Ume before Gyutaro did, and turned her into a demon before he arrived

Gyutaro would have found her already a demon, and probably would have been attacked by her eventually 

They would have been met/ambushed by Tengen instead of Giyuu, based on the location 

Similar to how the Kamado/Giyuu interaction unfolded, Tengen would have attempted to kill Ume, only for Gyutaro to try fighting him and for Ume to protect him

The story would then revolve around Gyutaro hunting down Muzan just like Tanjiro did, with the goal of returning his beautiful sister to a human

Gyutaro would be a Sound or Thunder Breathing user. I imagine that instead of being sent to Urokodaki like Tanjiro was by Giyuu, Tengen and his wives would have trained Gyutaro themselves. He'd therefore have shinobi training.

Ume’s blood demon art is nothing like Nezuko’s, due to the lack of Sun Breathing heritage. Instead, it’s very similar to her canon abilities - her obi is made of her flesh, and she can control it. Also, she wears a muzzle given to her by Tengen.

Ume also has an Awakened form similar to Nezuko, only instead of vine-like markings, she's have her flowery ones, along with cracks all across her body. No horn.

And, since we’re swapping the Shabanas for the Kamados here, let’s go the other way around as well…

Tanjiro and Nezuko would have lived exactly as they did before, only much earlier, in Daki and Gyutaro's era (Around the same time as Douma lived, for reference. 130 years earlier, about.)

The rest of their family would have been killed in an avalanche instead of being targeted by Muzan, leaving Tanjiro and Nezuko the only living members - albeit with Nezuko extremely injured.

Tanjiro would carry Nezuko for help just like he did in canon, but instead of meeting Douma, they were come upon by Kokushibo.

Kokushibo would have turned them both into demons because of Tanjiro’s earrings (they matched Yoriichi's), and they would have risen to Upper Six together within the next year, like the Shabanas. (Kokushibo would be heavily involved in their lives.)

Nezuko would be the primary demon, with both of then being able to merge their bodies similar to Daki and Gyutaro.

Nezuko would eventually end up in the Entertainment District, living in a role similar to canon Daki - an oiran.

She values Muzan’s praise similar to Daki, as it reminds her of her father.

Her blood demon art would remain nearly the same, minus the fact that it originally not injured demons. Now, she directly hunts and kills humans.

Nezuko only eats people who look like her family, mainly her parents. However, children are not off the table, because of her siblings.

Her disguised human form is similar to her human self, and her true demon form is exactly like that of her canon Awakening, albeit with different clothes.

Tanjiro would be the stronger of the two, spending most of his time within Nezuko as her shadow, just like Gyutaro in canon.

His blood demon art would be similar to Sun Breathing and Nezuko’s art, but on a much more extreme and powerful scale. He would also be highly valued and respected by Muzan, because of his earrings and his heritage.

I will probably draw for this, honestly.

[fandom-took-my-sanity]

Abbott Elementary 2x16: “Teacher Conference”

Hi guys!!! It’s been a while!!!!!! Teddie kissed!!!!!!!

I just had to talk about it, ok?

First off, since Monday when they started promoting with the whole “teachers conference” thing, I’ve been so prepared for something big. And I was RIGHT!

I seriously thought it was going to be small level development though, like “Booze Cruise” or “Soulmates” if you’re familiar. But no, we got a KISS

I was going to say when they were crouched down it reminded me of the Luke and Lorelai scene from season one where they’re behind the counter and then they stare at each other but don’t kiss, but then Janine and Gregory did kiss so that shut me up really fast.

The work wives were work wifing this episode!

For your consideration:

Just had to put it out there 😉

I loved the away from school shenanigans of this episode, and also the focus on Melissa and her sister was great! It was great/terrible when they insulted that woman.

The pool scene was cute, and shoeless Barb was hilarious! She has some of the best comedic parts.

Anyways back to Teddie. Their cute little avoidance can’t last forever, we have until the finale for them to break. I think that because we got a kiss now, the finale might be more centered on the school and the whole charter thing that might happen. However I doubt it’ll close without a Teddie moment.

The. Lanyard. Pull.

I just love them so much, I literally stopped breathing while they were kissing and I didn’t realize until my mom goes “Claire’s not breathing” so we know I was elated.

I might make an analysis post later on their kiss vs Benslie’s first kiss but right now I have to go because I have priorities.

I will say that I loved Jacob and Ava’s storylines this episode! I love when they get to shine, and also Jacob slowly figuring out where he fits and who he clicks with. (also his and Janine’s excitement about PECSA was adorable)

Well, until next Wednesday (if I don’t forget)!

(Teddie kiss)

[mamasplat]

fun facts i picked up from the older pie footage

johnny ghost has been confirmed to have thick thighs

johnny ghost listens to nicki minaj and the pussy cat dolls

johnny toast sent johnny ghost valentines card when he retired, he also put a camera in his closet

not confirmed but seemingly implied that in his youth toast had some form of phase, most likely something based in some form of rebellion and i think that works amazingly with toasted ghost because we know ghost was a punching bag in his youth. do with that what you will

ghost and spooker seem to have very similar speaking habits, including but not limited to- pacing while speaking, big gestures with speech, speaking so fast they stutter and misspeak. it’s possible that this hasn’t always been that way but rather it being subconscious because ghost is spookers mentor

it’s implied spooker has family baggage, but we get no further information on that

ghost has been heavily accidentally queer coded, seemingly romantically involved with men in his past, mostly toast, and also having a lot of trauma habits and dialogue that implies he is trans FTM

toast was confirmed to be queer, he swings both way having two wives both seemingly dead, and having a history of crushing on men or even being romantically involved with men

ghost is horribly afraid of birds, toast is seemingly the only person who can calm him down from his episodes but this is very much true for when there is birds

johnny ghost hates anime

colon is the only main member of pie to have a legal drivers license

spooker still has a tail from when he was turned into puppy monkey baby

jimmy casket has taken control of many people other than ghost which we see in the murder videos mainly but also in the typical content, and yes i will call the murder videos canon as filler content to the storyline because without them jimmy wouldn’t be able to be involved with pie

spooker is a weeb

it seems all of pie has at least one 2000s pop nightclub song that they love

johnny ghost is commonly mistaken as, a woman, a cat, and a cosplayer

spooker goes to conventions

ghost and toast live together and shared a pet fish named poltergeist, which died because toast forgot they had a fish

toast seems to have a lot of information about ghosts family that he hides from him, seemingly for his own mental sake

colon and spooker have a child they adopted, however that child is a ghost and her name was woah

colon and spooker also live together but not with toast and ghost

we have a lot of jenny’s- we have jenny toast, johnny toasts sister, jenny ghost, a lady from another universe where the cast is genderbent, another jenny toast from that same universe, and ANOTHER jenny toast FROM A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE who is also just a female version of toast that ghost married when he was a puppet

that’s all i have for now but i assure you i can find more i have a whole hard drive of the old pie stuff 

[thegamingcatmom]

Hello, I've been reading a lot of your stuff about the Denali sisters and also read your first chapter too (Very good btw) I have to say I love the Denali sisters, Tanya especially but I am conflicted because I feel as if the way people see them is very different from how I imagine them, and hey that is alright because to each their own and in the end we write/read many times to comfort ourselves. Thing is, when are we crossing a line here? I love what you're doing, love their wild side, their more predatory way of seducing reader (who in my mind is their mate, weather we believe in mate stuff or not is a whole diff story but thats my reasoning behind choosing reader) but we're facing stuff ehre like kidnapping, abducting and only the writer knows what more is in store for poor reader, and that in my eyes is not a healthy relationship, is making them (my fav characters in this case) to be hella toxic and shit and though I'm loving all your HC's and loving the chapte, even wanting to read more to see where it leads as I said I can't help but feel sad because falling in love is one thing but this is just pure idk, instinct? I ask myself like as reader would I really fall in love with this kind of people who induced the trauma of sorts, like ofc I know this is fiction ands tuff but yk I think way too much over things that I shouldn't. Idk if that made any sense because it's hard to put into words what I mean and I suck at explaining stuff, a clsoed book would be easier to read than me lol. I understand vampires are intense,a re possessive and jealous but to what extent? ANYWAY i'm sorry for this long ass ask and I hope it doesn't bother you the things I said? if it did I'm really sorry I didn't ask any of this with ill intention, I'm honestly curious. Have a good day <3

Hello there!

First of all: Thanks a lot for your very honest opinion on this and that you felt comfortable enough to reach out to me. Critisism is important and always very much appreciated. 🫶

I also wanna thank you for complimenting the stuff I´ve done so far, I´m really happy you like it! <3

I agree with you that ppl view them differently, and that´s absolutely alright. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and, sometimes, that opinion vastly differs from ours or how we´ve come to understand someone else´s view on them. Which, again, that´s absolutely alright.

Now to the story I´m writing:

You correctly stated that it´s not a healthy relationship, at all. (Not at its current stage, at least.) However, this was entirely my intention when I started writing it. I want the sisters to come across as these feral, instinct-driven beings who more or less turn a blind eye to MC´s struggles (at first). That´s the great thing about fanfiction: You´re not bound/limited to canon. You can go absolutely wild and try out things and storylines you´ve always wanted to see playing out. This is me going absolutely wild.

Does that mean I see the Denali sisters solely as masochistic, sadistic beings who only have their own interests at heart? Absolutely not. (Something that becomes more clear as we progress further with the story.) This is merely a different take on them. I still very much see them as your loving girlfriends/mates/wives who´d do absolutely anything for you...in an alternate universe. (At least with how things currently stand.) 😅

I´ve always been drawn to darker topics that really question the morality of it all. I´m aware that this is not for everyone, and that´s totally fine. But that´s what tags and warnings are for. If you feel like this story isn´t for you, then I kindly ask you to skip this one. I´d be very sad to lose you as a reader, but I´d absolutely understand your reasoning for it. ❤️

"I ask myself like as reader would I really fall in love with this kind of people who induced the trauma"

You hit the nail right on its head here, actually. This is exactly what I had in mind right from the start when it comes to MC. Reader will NOT be this naive, foolish girl easily brainwashed into doing the sisters´ biddings. I myself don´t find such a storyline appealing either. I love MCs who fight back, who come out on top despite everything they´ve been put through. Reader won´t fall in love with any of them for a long, long, long time. Which also means there won´t be anything physical going on, aside from Tanya´s pesky advances, lol.

Speaking of: No matter how persistent any of the sisters get, there won´t be any non-con stuff. Not in a way that causes MC harm *points to Tanya´s unwanted advances*. This is a line I don´t wanna cross. Any advances towards MC will be written in a way that (hopefully) comes across as both spicy AND hilarious. Something like Tanya getting a book thrown in her face for trying to steal a kiss, lmao. (Which is very likely to happen btw. MC is a lil spitfire.)

So, what I’m really asking is for you to have a bit of faith in me and my writing, and to wait for the next chapter, where the sisters will officially be introduced, before you give up on this story. It will get feral and instinct-driven at times, yes. But there´s more to it and to the sisters.

Next chapter might just give an insight into that already. ;3

To sum it up: This story will be less about falling in love and more about becoming a better/the best version of yourself.

This is what we´re aiming for:

Fingers crossed we gonna make it there! 🤞🤞🤞

Thanks again for your very elaborate and valid ask. ❤️

[princesssarisa]

Pros of a single Amy actress

*There's only one Amy to engage with from beginning to end. No having to adjust to a new and different Amy halfway through, and though Amy's character changes more drastically than anyone else's between Parts I and II (a.k.a. between Little Women and Good Wives), she still comes across as the same person, because she is.

*The plot doesn't require Amy to be a child at the beginning. If all four sisters and Laurie are slightly aged up and made closer in age – say, Meg starting at 18, Jo and Laurie 17, Beth 16, and Amy 15 or 14 – the storyline is still believable.

*If the other three sisters and Laurie are all played by the same people throughout, then casting a single, young adult Amy makes it clear that she's only slightly younger than they are. In particular, if 15-year-old Laurie is played by a 20-year-old actor, then an Amy actress in her late teens or 20s is more believable as his future love interest than a 12-year-old.

Cons of a single Amy actress

*If Amy comes across as a mid-to-late teenager instead of a 12-to-13-year-old in Part I, then her silly, pretentious behavior becomes less cute and funny, and more obnoxious. Yet having an actress in her late teens or 20s try to play 12-to-13 is never convincing.

*The burning of Jo's manuscript seems much more cruel and spiteful with an older Amy.

Pros of a Young Amy and an Adult Amy

*Casting a 12-year-old Amy in Part I is faithful to the book and puts Amy's behavior in its rightful context. Her immaturity is only natural because she's a child and it's clear that she's going to outgrow it. Her moments of silly pretentiousness and vanity are funny when they come from a child rather than an older teen who should know better.

*In particular, the burning of Jo's manuscript is easier to forgive when it's the rash, thoughtless act of a child than if an older teen does it.

*A child Amy in Part I highlights Jo's flaws and prevents the audience from idealizing her too much. Arguably, we should see Jo as a bully to her little sister until she learns her lesson from the ice accident (although this can be debated), and this is better served by a younger, more vulnerable Amy.

Cons of a Young Amy and an Adult Amy

*A switch from one actress to another makes the character seem less consistent with herself.

*One actress might give a weaker performance than the other. Most viewers seem to agree that in the 1994 version, Samantha Mathis is less engaging as Adult Amy than Kirsten Dunst as Young Amy.

*If the other three sisters and Laurie are played by the same people as both teens and adults, then a child Amy in Part I might seem too much younger than they are. When 15-year-old Jo is played by a 20-ish actress, she arguably seems like more of a bully to a 12-year-old Amy than Alcott ever intended. And when a 20-ish actor plays 15-year-old Laurie alongside a 12-year-old Amy, audiences don't see a future couple with only a small age gap between them, they see a young man and a little girl.

[pollyssecretlibrary]

“A Crane Among Wolves”, by June Hur

I read this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review RELEASE DATE - May 14th, 2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

June Hur’s newest book is a historical young adult novel set in Joseon (Korea) in the 1500s. The king is a tyrant whose people is afraid of, especially women. This king is a power hungry man who loves to “hunt” beautiful women, exercising his power and control over them. Over a thousand young daughters, wives and sisters have been abducted from their homes and separated from their families, they are now marked forever by order of said king.

One of those women is our heroine Iseul’s older sister. Iseul is a spoiled brat who has been pampered by her parents and older sister. Her father was a government official who later was murdered with his wife in front of their daughters. Since then, Older Sister has looked after Iseul, working really hard so the little one wouldn’t want for nothing. Until one day the king’s soldiers abducted her and put her in the palace with the other forced concubines. Iseul then had her waking to real life moment and sets herself on a journey to rescue her sister.

Iseul is an interesting characters. She is barely of age but since the murder of her parents and the abduction of her sister, she has been growing more mature, leaving behind her old life of childish dreams. She is full of regret, for she blames herself for all the situation that led to her sister’s abduction, her inability to cooperate in the household, her selfish tantrums, and her spoiled brat ego. He needs to become stronger to face whatever dangers she might encounter along her way but luckily for her she is not alone. There is a group of people, namely Yun the local innkeeper, Wonsik the investigator and most importantly, the king’s half brother, prince Daehyun. A young handsome man who will help Iseul but who also has plans of his own.

Daehyun has a sad backstory and a plan to overthrown the king, but that goal won’t be an easy thing to achieve. Not only is the whole kingdom terrified of the king, but there are other forces working to make everything more difficult; corruption, treason, injustices, poverty and an assassin killing prominent people who are close to the king.

So the little group gets closer and closer as they deal with their different demons. And in the meantime Iseul inspires the prince’s protective instincts with her recklessness, her impulsiveness and her honest nature. He grows very fond of her and perhaps those feelings will be reciprocated?

This story is quite exciting and compelling. It has mystery, love, treason, friendship and found family in its pages. Iseul’s character growth is quite remarkable right from the start and the romance plot doesn’t overshadow the main storyline. Actually, all of the subplots and the main plot are well balanced in my opinion. The best thing about this book is that it can be read as a Kdrama so if you love Korean productions you will have a lot of fun reading this book, the images are so vivid that the reader can conjure up all of the scenes in the book, costumes and all, in their imagination. This is my second June Hur book and I cannot wait to read more, just like the first one, “A Crane Among Wolves” is a page turner.

[bridgertonbabe]

Friends AU To Do List

Stories I intend to write at some point for my Friends AU in no particular order;

TOW Eloise’s Wedding - (inspired by TOW Phoebe’s Wedding) featuring Eloise losing her rag with her absolute godzilla of a wedding planner that is Daphne, a heavily pregnant Sophie trying her best to avoid giving birth on her sister-in-law’s special day, and Lucy attending her first wedding since running out on her own a few weeks prior. 

TOW The Bump On The Head - (inspired by Monica and Rachel babysitting Ben in TOW The Giant Poking Device) featuring Edwina and Eloise babysitting Edmund Jr. and scrambling to hide the bump he receives after Edwina accidentally knocks him into a wood beam while playing with him - ✅

TOW The Beach Mystery - (inspired by TOW The Jellyfish) featuring Benedict and Sophie being confused as to why Anthony, Kate, and Colin are all being so weird after returning from the beach during their holiday, and Anthony realising he’s fallen in love with Kate.

TOW The Hunt For Daphne’s Presents - (inspired by the presents storyline in TOW The Routine) featuring Eloise and Francesca storming the Bassets home to locate the extravagant presents Daphne’s got them for Christmas and recruiting Simon on their mission to sneak a peek at what they’re getting. 

TOW The Erogenous Zones Diagram - (inspired by Monica giving Chandler tips in TOW Phoebe’s Uterus) featuring an offended Colin seeking out Penelope’s advice when his girlfriend critiques him for his mediocre performance in bed, Penelope giving him a run-down on how to elevate his skills to the next level and gets herself aroused in front of him, and Colin suddenly seeing his best friend in a brand new light and unable to think about anything else but her.

TOW The Runaway Bride - (inspired by the events leading up to Rachel’s first appearance in TOW Where It All Began/Monica Gets A Roommate/Pilot) featuring Lucy breaking Gregory’s heart by deciding to still go through with her wedding despite being in love with him, saying his name instead of her fiance’s during her vows, and jilting her own wedding to reunite with Gregory. 

TOW Hyacinth’s Wedding - (inspired by TOW Monica and Chandler’s Wedding) featuring Gregory threatening Gareth that if he ever hurts Hyacinth that he’ll hunt him down and kick his ass, Gareth getting cold feet after his father rakes up all of his insecurities, and the Bridgerton spouses doing their best to locate the runaway groom before the family catches wind.

TOW Daphne And The Optometrist - (inspired by Monica and Richard’s meeting in TOW Ross and Rachel You Know) featuring Daphne going for an eye test and meeting Anthony’s best friend Simon, followed by a relationship being conducted in secret before a baby deal-breaker leads to a break-up (all of this taking place prior to their drunken Las Vegas wedding). 

TOW Anthony Plays The Bagpipes - (inspired by Ross’s audition to perform at Monica and Chandler’s wedding in TOW Joey’s New Brain) featuring Michael and Francesca planning their wedding, Anthony deciding to learn a new instrument, and Michael’s family being Scottish and Francesca’s family being Anthony. 

TOW Colin’s Flemish Kisses - (inspired by TOW All The Kissing) featuring Colin having to cover up his relationship with Penelope and not arouse any suspicion by kissing his brothers’ wives as well, and Anthony and Benedict not being too thrilled that their brother’s shoving his tongue down their wives’ throats -  ✅

TOW The Lobsters - (inspired by TOW The Prom Video) featuring another throwback to the older generation where George Rokesby’s feelings for Billie Bridgerton are revealed after the Rokesby and Bridgerton siblings watch an old prom video where George came to Billie’s rescue. 

TOW Benedict Loves Sophie - (inspired by the S1+2 love story of Ross and Rachel) featuring mystery midnight kissers, missed opportunities, a meddling Michael Stirling, a drunken voice message, and culminating in a romantic kiss in the rain. 

TOW Colin Wouldn’t Dream Of Dating Penelope - (inspired by Monica’s story in TOW All The Thanksgivings) - featuring Colin making a blunder, Penelope overhearing something that breaks her heart, and an accident resulting in a rush to the hospital.

TOW The Flat Swap - (inspired by the quiz and it’s aftermath in TOW The Embryos) featuring Anthony and Benedict owning a duck and a crowing chicken, Kate and Sophie challenging them to a quiz with a daring bet, and a result that one team doesn’t want to accept defeat to.

TOW Iris and Jacob Bridgerton - (inspired by The One That Could Have Been) featuring an alternate timeline where Edmund Bridgerton didn’t get a vasectomy after Hyacinth was born and there being 10 children instead of 8, and how the additions of Iris and Jacob alter the lives of their siblings.