#victorian and then lenore

[mermaidsirennikita]

one of many the fall of the house of usher v succession hot takes (of dubious validity):

people are for sure going to to say that Camille (wears high-waisted pants a lot, has a somewhat angular haircut, fails at her job, obnoxious but wounded, does PR, is white) is the Shiv parallel of the show, but I would argue that Victorine (desperate to prove her worth in a world that Does Not Care, thinks she's a lot better at being sneaky than she is, destroys her relationship with her partner while trying to validate her place in the family/company, APPEARS to have a special relationship with her father as a Daddy's Girl but is actually being manipulated and emotionally abused by him) is the much stronger Shiv parallel

[doorp]

Lenore is an extrovert who was forced to stay away from people and annabel is an introvert who was forced to be around people send tweet

[jockw]

The fact this came from a comment by sertifiedwithans not too long ago shows a lot

Lmao what the hell

[chaotictoon]

1900s

Cartoon girls + edwardian era

[kuro-ayameart]

“Ah broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever! Let the bell toll!--a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river; And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?--weep now or never more! See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!”

Edgar Allan Poe - Lenore

[cheese-person318]

made a (poor) picture of lenore because i was bored and wanted to try a new style for lips

its really hard to get a skin color for her since shes whiter then snow so her highlight color was just white but i think i did a good enough job

[comic-book-fan-us]

And historians will call them...

[leannareneehieber]

Spooky Cameo Skeletons! Pirates! Ravens!

Goth!

Only one of each via Torch and Arrow, one of a kind, fun regalia because Every Day is Halloween.

Dread Pirate Medal

Lenore Raven Medal

Your support is dearly appreciated and helps a writer & disabled loved one stay afloat. Blessings!

[mentally13]

i'm like annabel lee fr, deeply obsessed with a 6ft goth victorian era gf

[endlessly-cursed]

fankids appreciation week: family dynamics - the somerset family (920-present)

featuring: odalric the red, denegifu of scotland, juliana of york, akelda the tragic, cuthfelda of ireland, hilda the smith, agatha of kent ( @that-scouse-wizard ) vincent somerset, alexandra somerset, lenore somerset, jocelyn somerset, morwenna somerset, gia somerset ( @gaygryffindorgal ) lawrence somerset, philip somerset, elizabeth somerset, gia somerset ii, ruby somerset ; diana somerset & beatrice somerset ( @camillejeaneshphm ) felicity, constance & meredith somerset

[artfromsaturn]

Two drawings of my OC, Lenore.  She’s a victorian child in the 1870s who’s pesky, picky, and blunt, but sharp as a tack with a deep love for her family and animals.  She tends to find trouble, or it finds her, and she ends up having to think her way out of things both mundane and supernatural to survive.  Her dream is to shoot a lion and study animals across Africa, Asia, & North America.

Oh, and her best friend (aside from her dopey younger brother) is Mr. Plinkett, a small rat who loves food and exploration.  He’s a good friend, always happy to help.

[rahadaddy]

Lenore Davenport Learns Her ABCs

A is for Adventuring is a hobby for the wealthy. 

B is for Blinsky’s shop makes wonderous things you probably shouldn’t accidentally insult.

C is for Cedric the Cowboy is a Know-it-All, but by Hoar’s beard, is he a cutie!

D is for Dancers at the Vallaki opera house, who put on a very good show.

E is for Everyone in this town wears masks because frowning is illegal. 

F is for Fuck men and also Fuck men, depending on which man is talking. 

G is for Guards don’t seem to like us too much and I blame Percy

H is for How are we supposed to get home again?

I is for Ismark who is a beautiful dancer and very much not “the Lesser”

J is for Jester hats aren’t as cool as my bat mask - I am the night.

K is for Keres needs to lighten up or she will end up in the stockades

L is for Lera got the leading role in the Festival of the Blazing Sun and I can’t wait to hear her sing. 

M is for Monster hunting is a thrilling career to talk to small children about, but less exciting when a puppet man calls you a monster

N is for Needing to kill the lord of the land to go home seems a bit extreme, but then again, he is an evil vampire dictator...

O is for Old people in this place say the most peculiar things... one of them even told me where to get a sword made of sunlight!

P is for Percy is going to get himself killed and I don’t think I’m sorry for it. 

Q is for Quiet reflection isn’t usually my thing, but I feel as if I need it after today.

R is for Really, I’m fine, I’m just going to hide my teeth and pretend that everything is fine. See? I’m becoming a local already!

S is for Strahd, Sturm, Sergei and so many retellings of this tale I might be bored to actual tears.

T is for The thrill of the hunt is something I think only I care for right now. It’s a bit sad, actually.

U is for Urwin and Danika are very kind hosts, though, so I can understand staying put at the Blue Water Inn for a time.

V is for Vallaki is a dreadful and dreadfully exciting place. Perhaps that’s why they call it a Domain of Dread. 

W is for wine makes a good excuse to not talk. I think I drank the majority of that bottle myself.

Y is for Yesterday, I dined in the castle of the Duchess of Daggerford and tonight I sleep on a straw filled mattress in a pocket universe... life is so unpredictable!

Z is for Ze accents of ze local people is very fun to imitate, but someone will surely tell me I’m insensitive if I try. 

[incorrect-nevermore]

Y’know I give a lot of emphasis on the bullshit. Lenore has to deal with in this comic right?

Let’s put Annabel’s situation prospective here

You are a wealthy woman in the Victorian era, your father sends to go make nice with the “mad” daughter of a very prominent railway Empire family to gain her father’s favour, you go into this expecting it to be another boring chore requested of you, but you find the daughter to make for rather pleasant company. Un judging and carefree in behaviour, you grow fond of her and her mischievous unladylike behaviour. BUT NOT IN LIKE A GAY WAY OR ANYTHING, but alas you know you must leave her when the social season arrives, and when you bid her goodbye you tell her sour lies of your intentions with her that may have been at once true but no longer to make it so that she finds your leaving to be less painful, and as you leave she sees through all your lies and she screams at the top of her lungs calling you a coward and a liar. You do not look back for if you do you will weep.

You try to continue with life as it was before her. And then she dies. Violently in a burning fire, alone.

You are haunted.

A few weeks past perhaps a month or two.

A young man, her cousin arrives to your manner, your father is ecstatic for you to meet him, you play the part of a perfect lady again you smile and you bow offering him your hand and once you look up, you see the face of the woman you are wearing black for.

She is still mischievous and carefree and behaviour as she was before but you are bitter for you mourned the loss of the maiden named Lenore, and here she stands, still playful and full of bite.

So not only does this woman fake her death show up to your house unannounced she then asks for your hand and marriage, like yeah yeah that is the face you make for the situation 

[altlllf]

I case it bothered anyone else why Lenore didn’t have a ring like Annabel it’s because in Victorian weddings it was usual for only the bride to have one and Lenore or “Leo” was the groom there for she didn’t have a ring also before you say they weren’t married the description of the wedding ring is “the wedding ring would be a plain gold band and their initials, along with the date engraved on the inside”

Now we ofc never see the inside of the band however it is worn on the ring finger where a wedding ring would go

Also the author did purposefully leave themselves vague time frames because nobody is going to be that accurate and it allows wiggle room

BUT I do know that Victorian weddings popularly happen in the month of June because it sounded like Juno Roman goddess of marriage and of course the saying “marry in may, rue the day” it was a bad thing

Other popular months to wed were April, November, and December because it wouldn’t overlap with any farming commitments.

Weddings typically happened anywhere between 10am to noon on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday as those were the best days for a wedding apparently.

Oh and I think it was confirmed that they were 1901 Victorians or close to that time either way they are from the end of the Victorian era

Bonus “Leo” would have had a colorful suit and Annabel Lee would be wearing entirely white

[blacknedsoul-blog]

An unnecessarily detailed analysis of the (re)encounter between Annabel and "Leo" (part II)

Evil tongues say I've had this shit in the oven for several weeks because I bought the fast pass on episode 105 and smoked the whole season one afternoon when I was bored as a fucking oyster about to climb the walls. Don't listen to them, they're telling the truth.

So, yeah, people. We had a flashback. One that comes right after the last one we had. Aside from the fact that we finally know a little more about Theo, I want to focus on the direct sequel to a review I did a while back. So let's get started.

I'm still trying to decide if Annabel is complaining just because she had to get off her ass or because "Leo's" room being so far away from hers is, ahem, inconvenient. Another detail that someone mentioned on the discord, is that Annabel does this thing where she grabs her dress when she is trying to maintain the performance.

(later edit: someone commented to me that actually their rooms are ridiculously close to each other. So allow me to insert ridiculous jokes about how the first thing Ira will do when these two are engaged is take his precious daughter who is not to be touched before marriage somewhere else).

...Ah, they put... they put Annabel in Lenore's old room. Yeah, that must have been uncomfortable as shit. 

Okay. This is something I kind of suspected in her first stolen moment at the Arboreum, but I think this confirms it for me: yes, Lenore teasing Annabel is a way of expressing annoyance without being directly hurtful. 

Raise your hand if you enjoy seeing "Miss Proper Lady" lose her fucking temper. Bonus points if she deserves it. 

Lenore, I don't know if taking your clothes off is the best way to get Annabel to stay on topic. I do want to emphasize her face in that moment, though, like she knows Annabel cares about her, but she's still angry at her, and pressuring her to drop the mask is literally the only way she has to express it. I like it because it's consistent with her stolen moment in the Arboreum. 

"Admire this magnificent door made of door. Yes, an excellent door. Wonderful door. Eyes on the door, Annabel, eyes on the door and not on your crush taking off his jacket in front of you. Also, don't think too much about the fact that if anyone sees this, everything that is important to you will fall apart".  

Pause. Where did we see Annabel say that? Ah, yes. Well, if we had any doubts about posh besties, this confirms it. 

I want to linger on the faces of both of them in this scene because, for the love of Nyarlathotep, they are painful to watch knowing that this will end with both dead. 

Yes, Annabel, this "perhabs" was very VERY serious. 

I'm sure this is the second time in Annabel's life that someone has asked her if she wants something. And it's the same person. Ouch.

Does anyone else in the squad find it disturbing that ANNABEL is concerned about moral issues? 

That's not how Kabedons are made, missy. 

LENORE, LOOK AT THE FUCKING FACE SHE'S LOOKING AT YOU WITH, SHE WOULDN'T BE "PRETENDING TO BE IN LOVE WITH YOU", SHE'S EATING OUT OF YOUR FUCKING HAND RIGHT NOW. IF SHE WASN'T AFRAID OF JAIL AND WASN'T SO VICTORIAN, SHE'D BE ASKING IF SHE COULD GET IN YOUR PANTS.   

Okey, I need to know how this went from "pff, it's not a real marriage, we're both women!" to "I'm gonna fuckin' whore myself with Nyarlathotep Tumblrsexymen to come get you, baby. Shit, if these two die without having this conversation, I'm going to shoot myself in the mouth with a medieval arquebus. 

I like this moment because it tells you two interesting things: one is that Annabel must have a complicated relationship with her father, she cares for him and maybe feels he loves her in his own way, but at the same time Ira is her jailer, the main culprit of the golden cage she's trapped in. Another thing: we know Lenore used to care about her father, but come on, after everything that happened, I doubt she gives the man a second thought. 

...I wrote practically the exact same dialog in a fanfic. Actually, in the first Nevermore fanfic I ever wrote, when the fuck did my bullshit ever come true? 

I was racking my brain for a while about why Annabel keeps doing this. Like, look at this shit, even Ada or Morella would be able to see that this is bullshit. And I think I have an idea why. 

I think Annabel started to figure out how to make this work even before she came in. Maybe she's not all in, but at least the idea is tempting. The thing is, she's putting a lot on the line here: her life, her relationship with her father (the only family member we know of), what little freedom she has.

And that means she has to put her chips on the right person. She knows how the social game works, she knows how to manipulate the stakes of her hand, maybe she even thinks she knows how to get around those pesky legal snags when they come up. 

But she's not cunning, she's not quick-thinking, she lacks determination, and she's definitely not brave. Lenore can wrap herself in big dreams and beautiful words all she wants, but if she can't make up for Annabel's weaknesses, it's a losing bet from the start. On top of that, she has to be able to read her: in Victorian engagements, even your pet was into that shit, so sneaking away to plan things would be more of a rare privilege than a constant, her playmate has to be able to understand her perfectly, because they can't waste valuable time explaining minutiae. They have to be on the same page to the millimeter. 

Annabel is a player. And as such, she knows that in games where you have a partner, the key to winning isn't playing your own cards or chips well, it's being able to synchronize with your partner to give each other better plays until one of you manages to win. 

And if I had to bet, I think that is the Lenore that Annabel wants back: the Lenore who can read her, the Lenore who can get under her skin and know her true intentions even when Annabel is wearing the most perfect mask. The Lenore who can smile boldly and tell her that everything will be all right. 

Of course, Lenore passed the test. With a more than perfect score. 

The chapter ends with Lenore giving Annabel the final decision: if she sees no reason to stay, she won't, and she can assure her that she'll be fine. But if she's in, she'll do everything in her power to make it work. 

This was the moment that tore me up inside because it made me drop the shingle of sad, sad shit. 

Conclusions

And here's why I decided to post this analysis after the season.  

One thing this episode told me was that I was wrong about one thing: the relationship between these two isn't exactly what it used to be. What this episode also told me was that, despite everything, the two of them seemed to be able to communicate and find common ground, to make deals, to give each other choices. Shit we don't see anymore in their time in Nevermore. 

And with good reason.

In Nevermore Annabel and Lenore are adrift. No memories, no identity, no bonds. As if that weren't enough, both are terrified: Annabel has built all her means of survival around a context that she masters perfectly, and in Nevermore she doesn't know what's going on; on the other hand, Lenore's bravery and cunning are qualities that turn from virtues to flaws in a context where every single one of her decisions has repercussions for the people around her; she's willing to take anything, but not what happens to the people she loves. 

These two idiots know only one thing: that they love each other. And for Annabel and Lenore, loving means protecting. They have to try to protect each other because they really love each other. They love each other so much that they can't.

Because the only way for Annabel to protect Lenore is to be the queen of the board, to be the piece that everyone wants to get out of the way because her presence is too much of an inconvenience, because if she's good at anything,  it's dazzling so hard that no one is able to really see her. On the other hand, the only place Lenore can protect Annabel is by her side, she won't have a Spectre, but she's willing to do what it takes to take care of her if she stays where she can fight for her. 

But that won't happen because of the irreconcilable conflict caused by the memory (false or not, in practice it doesn't matter) that the Deans showed Annabel. She can't tell her that, she won't tell her that, how could she? It would tear Lenore apart and at worst alter her memories. But on the other hand, Lenore obviously wants to know, because she sees that Annabel is suffering, she wants to be there, she wants her to let her comfort her, to be by her side to help her sort this out, and all her pleas fall on deaf ears for reasons she can't even fathom.

But without realizing it, in all this devotion and accompanying fear, Annabel and Lenore are repeating the same controlling patterns of those who tried to save the other in life. 

Annabel is doing the same thing Thaddeus did when he got Lenore a fiancé, the same thing the doctors did when they kept her drugged 24/7 as a treatment even though she was sick, dare I say the same thing Theo did: assuming she knows better than she does what's good for her. "Protecting" her, even when that happens to be the agency Lenore is desperately trying to have over her life after being deprived of her freedom.

And on the other hand...this.

By taking full responsibility for what happened, Lenore is doing the same thing as Ira and all the people we meet in Annabel's life: denying her agency as an individual. Annabel is not a naive brat who was seduced by sweet words, she is a grown woman who was very, very clear about what the risks were. That they both ended up dead is partly her fault, but by turning this affair into "if I hadn't gone looking for you," Lenore completely invalidates Annabel's feelings, desires, and choices. 

A relationship that was once built on respect for choice and shared decision-making has now become a power game that neither can win, because one of the most important foundations of their relationship is that they are both equals. 

I'd like to end this on a more positive note, but...uh...well, the thing is, I don't. Like, that they're going to reconcile, they're going to reconcile, you know? But for that to happen, somebody's got to give them a massive punch like, something that tears them apart so they realize how fucking bad they are do-

You know what? Yeah, that might do it.

[swamp-gremlin]

Lenore Loomington redesign, God did mattel do her dirty... I can't believe they didn't go harder on like a lot of aspects? Like victorian mourning wear was right there