#sonya rostov

[anotherfandomtrash]

Sonya Rostov but in style of some old soviet cartoons

[alleyskywalker]

NEW FIC: Family Matters (Sonyakhov + their kids)

Title: Family Matters Fandom: War and Peace Characters/Pairings: Dolokhov/Sonya; OCs, Natasha Rating: PG Word Count: 2,472 Summary: Sonya marries Dolokhov after the war and they raise a family together. A few snap-shots of Sonya's new life, of the ending she could have gotten.

Read on AO3

[thesewers]

weirdo's the lot of em' really

[antynous]

I love war and peace I wish drag was real

[sneakydraws]

Here it is

Everyone should watch but I'm a cheerleader right this instant btw

[thalassous]

be MAGNANIMOUS, and SO ON.

or, wow, i should read better literature,

[ ID: 9 coloured full body drawings of the cast of War and Peace. They all stand with their hands at their side, and various expressions on their face. From left to right, pictured: Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, Nikolai Rostov, Sonya Rostova, Fyodor Dolokhov, Anatole Kuragin, Helene Kuragina, and Marya Bolkonskaya. In the light grey background, behind them there is a white rectangle. END ID ]

[incorrectlit]

Dolokhov: The world is a cruel place, Rostov.

Dolokhov: Everywhere I go, all I see is death and destruction…

Nikolai: Probably because you’re the one causing it.

[lisiya-gori]

when I say “nikolai/sonya is incest” I don’t mean it in the sense of like. gross or dirty or fucked up. because it’s not: there’s no feeling of shame or secrecy, there’s no social taboo, on the contrary there’s a sense in the novel that this kind of thing is sort of expected, cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood etc.

but the whole source of their relationship, the way they talk about it, the point of it—it’s all about staying within the family circle forever and ever, about never growing up and never having to change. all the rostov kids except vera have this to some extent—in the wolf hunting/natasha’s dance scene nikolai thinks about how he wishes natasha wasn’t engaged to andrei so they could “always drive about together”—and that desire is so baked in to nikolai/sonya. they’re easy, they’re familiar. they share all these rosy, idyllic childhood memories. it’s not a coincidence that the nikolai/sonya revival and ultimate engagement happens in the same winter as the wolf hunting scene, when nikolai is on leave in the winter of 1810-11, which is also the last time that the rostov family is alive and happy and together at otradnoe. it’s the last time that the shared rostov dream of eternal childhood seems feasible. people love to talk about how nikolai “realizes” he’s in love with sonya while they’re both in drag, but the reason they’re in drag is because it’s christmas, and they’re celebrating by dressing up and telling each other’s fortunes and going on sleigh rides, like they did when they were children. it’s a fantasy! it’s a game!

and of course that fantasy doesn’t last. none of it lasts. by the time nikolai and sonya see each other again petya is dead, natasha is ruined, the fortune is gone, otradnoe is gone (in a forced sale on count rostov’s death), the family unit has been irreparably destroyed. the dream is dead. correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think they meet in person again until nikolai’s dad dies in 1814, at which point he has to take over as the head of the family and the inheritor of the rostovs’ debts. the dream is well and truly dead! and I think it’s telling that when this happens—when nikolai has no choice but to accept adulthood and the losses that come with it—his attraction to sonya evaporates. and this happens irrespective of his relationship with marya or anyone else; at the end of the book nikolai and sonya are living in moscow together with countess rostova, and he’s actively resisting the idea of marrying an heiress but he’s also explicitly said to have lost all romantic interest in sonya. the version of nikolai that wanted to marry sonya is a version that nikolai can’t carry with him out of childhood

[nikolayr]

[natasharostova1792]

Это моя милая Juste une belle famille

К моему глубокому сожалению, не все мои proche оказались на столь прекрасном полотне... Но я готова поделиться всему миру о своих maman et papa, ainsi que mes chers frères et sœurs 💞

[leek-lark]

Here’s my drawing of the Rostov siblings as my little ponies! It was bound to happen. The top row is Natasha and Petya, the bottom row is Nikolai, Vera, and Sonya.

I also have sketches of a bunch more war and peace characters as ponies, which I will get around to drawing. Let me know if there are any characters you specifically want to see from me :)

[anotherfandomtrash]

Basically modern AU that has been boiling up for about half a year and I'm just posting everything all at ones to get this out of my chest. I still have a lot of thoughts and ideas about this but like this is everything I have. Just take it *throws it in your face and runs*

[alleyskywalker]

Should I do a Sonya Rostova / Theon Greyjoy parallels post? Should I inflict this kind of pain on myself?

[thesewers]

i love my lame cringe fail wife

[antynous]

“It’s all over, I’m done for,” he thought. “Now all that’s left is a bullet in the forehead.”

The reference!

[sneakydraws]

Okay so!! Here's a little wap design compilation - not exhaustive, both because of the image limit and because there's many things I'm not settled on but I want to post some of it at least~

Organised by families because familial resemblence or lack thereof is one of my favourite factors in chardes! And because Tolstoy is so good at creating these family dynamics of shared traits! First, the Bolkonskys:

Lise, Mlle Bourienne and Nikolai jr. not included for now, maybe later. The shared traits I gave them all (therefore presumably coming from Nikolai's side) are sharp, angular features with a beaked nose and high cheekbones, thin figures and straight, dark hair. Both Andrei and Nikolai are described as short, so initially I wanted to apply this to them all, but then I thought it would be cool to emphasise Andrei's similarity to his father AND separate Marya out by making her much taller than them. It works really well because Andrei and Nikolai are both short yet straightened out to their full height while Marya cowers and hunches to hide hers - which also works to create the unattractive figure she's described as having. I use heads to note height - as in, how many heads tall a character is - mostly because numerous manga art tutorials ingrained those in me <:3c Nikolai has his signature bushy eyebrows, and his clothes and hair are inspired by his depiction in the first soviet wap movie because I really liked it!

In general I spent the most time on Andrei, both because he's my favourite and because he has a lot of tantalisingly sparse and at times interestingly contrasting descriptions - he's meant to look unassuming, his small and slender figure hiding his impressive stamina and his cushy administrative position contrasting with the rugged hussars (and his small hands are mentioned as well) but he has sharp features, and his design should showcase his proud, decisive nature as well.

The Rostovs! Not including the count and countess because while I have some features in mind I haven't made up my mind yet on the overall designs, and excluding Vera for reasons I'll divulge later. These Rostov kids are all energetic, emotionally driven and strong-willed and I wanted to reflect that in their designs - most of all in their hair, which is curly and kind of fluffy, making big, untamed shapes - I decided this they would have inherited from the Count. They're all rather short (I think some of the Rostovs are described as short so I extended it to the whole family) and a little stockier than the Bolkonskys - Natasha's figure is really incosistent because she gains and loses weight a lot over the book, but I settled on the slightly heavier side mostly to contrast with Sonya. I also love freckles and always associate them with energy and youthfulness so they got given to the Rostovs - presumably from the Count's side again. And their eyes and hair are all black or dark brown!

BIG RAMBLING RANT: The Countess is described as having "oriental features" and I wanted to incorporate that into the kids because it's like the most detail we ever get on someone's overall facial features lol but it turned out kind of frustratingly vague. I think my first idea was towards Georgia because Pierre mentions a woman with Georgian features in 1812, and because my ballets russes research included a very orientalist ballet about a georgian queen. I didn't find very good references though and turned next to Armenia, and when I found someone talking about common Armenian features that fit what I already had in mind for the Rostovs I ended up using that. However, later I realised those countries are in Western Asia and don't really fit the descriptor of "oriental (eastern)" from the perspective of Russia... Now I'm looking more towards the Kalmyk and Bashkir people after seeing them mentioned in one of my interlibrary books so I might revise the Rostovs yet. I did get kind of attached to the nose though so I'll do my best to keep it haha

The odd ones out in the Rostov household!! Sonya is, I believe, related to the Rostovs on the Count's side so maybe it would make sense to give her the fluffy hair and freckles, but she has enough descriptions in the book to form a separate design on her own (and she's only a second cousin to the Rostov kids, so it's pretty far away anyway). She's compared to a graceful kitten, described as almost unattractively thin and with a sallow skin, so I thought it would fit her to have a slightly unwell air, with portruding collarbones and a slight hunch. She also has her dark double braid.

Vera was fun once I got the idea to make her look very different from her siblings - to mirror her personality being completely different (cool, impassionate, meanspirited at times) and to visually reflect how she's disliked by the Countess - perhaps almost looking like she's not her parents' child 👀 She's taller and slimmer than her siblings, with straighter and lighter in colour hair, and her features are more smooth and soft. No freckles either.

The Kuragins! Those guys are fun. I have Anatole as the tallest in the cast (save for Pierre), and Helene as the tallest woman, with Ippolit the same height as her. Helene and Ippolit in general are described as having the same features so they ended up almost looking like twins! Later I'll talk a bit more about their facial features and hair but in terms of silhouettes, Helene has to have her round shoulders and impressive bosom (and low neckline), while Anatole has to look all broad-shouldered and masculine. He was actually the hardest to draw because I kept feeling like his head was too small and his whole body too long... I might go back and make him a bit broader still. A book I have says the elite life guards of the Russian army were known for their impressive, immaculate appearance, with some men padding their uniforms to add volume to their chest... That made me think of Anatole lmao.

A little roll call to show everyone's height in relation to each other.

More about the Kuragins! I tackled Helene with the aim to make her beautiful by the standards of the time, and luckily there's actually an 1812 bust of the Greek Helene! It was too poerfect of a coincidence so I leaned heavily into it. I find that typical features of ancient Greek or 19th century Hellenistic busts are a very straight nose that flows smoothly from the forehead, a very round jawline with a somewhat portruding chin and that particular curve of the neck. I gave Helene all of those along with heavily-lidded, downturned eyes and an expression that hopefully conveys calm confidence and intelligence. Ippolit is supposed to have the same features but made to look ugly by his stupid expression - this actually turned out easier than I thought? Though it might just be that the moustache looks kind of stupid - maybe I should try a version without it. Anatole I thought ought to look impressive and masculine so in the end I kept the squarer jaw and strong forehead (and I couldn't resist the slicked back hair) but I considered a more Hellenistic version too, with the short curls and round jaw. Helene's hair was tricky because none of the styles I saw felt quite right - I settled on a sort of combo of the Hellenistic curls from the statue but a bit looser with the braid she's described to have in the book. She'd also probably wear a lot of hair accessories but I'll have to do more research on those.

More Natasha and Sonya, and Andrei - Andrei is so difficult!! I always kind of oscillate between "stern, strong-willed soldier", "sharp-featured intellectual" and "soft pampered prince/troubled poet" (where I try and fail to imitate this gorgeous illustration by Vadimir Serov). The Brutus haircut is tempting in its historical accuracy, but I'm just a little bit too fond of the immaculately slicked back hair...

Edit: I completely forgot @visualnoteslibrary was on Tumblr!! Thank you so much for collecting all the descriptions, you spared me quite the Easter egg hunt through the Gutenberg version <3