#willam sge

[emaliar-ze-fangirl]

for those of you who have read sge: one true king you would know that tristan is willam’s brother. i want to point out that i had been saying it for months and none of my friends believed me

[good-enemy]

The school for good and evil books would be a lot shorter if any of the characters possessed more than one brain cell

[cosmoshunger]

This is how the Igraine went, right???

(I didn’t know what Bogden looked like so I just went off the vague descriptions in the book.)

(Also sadly I couldn’t fit in Dot.)

[blackasmidnightcats]

QfG Rants and Remakes part 4

Major credits to @agathasarmy who didn’t just help me formulate ideas about these topics but also keeps me motivated to do more

Readers + New Generation + Character Development

I will start this of with a WARNING

There is going to be a lot of roasting almost bordering to HATE towards Nicola.

I’ve never been taken by the girl and these are completely my OWN opinions of her.

For those who love her character, please don’t get me wrong, if you love her character then keep doing so and I am not making this post to change your opinion of her but just stating my own and how I think she should have been handled.

So, let me start by saying that I think Nicola would have been an amazing character to add in TCY specially since we’re handling the New Generation and how the lessons that the main characters learned would have affected them.

Her initial characterization would have been helpful; she’s a reader like Sophie and Agatha, and therefore would have more connection and understanding with them, she’s not the usual Evergirl that the School for Good has been catering over the years and I would have liked to see how the new curriculum could have handled her, she's practically the smartest and well-read character that has been introduced, her knowledge was helpful on the canon story and all but I'll get to my beef with that later, and she's practically the first POC main character.

Ok… so again, WARNING, There Is Going To Be A Lot Of Nicola Charactization Roasting, Almost Bordering To HATE that from here on out

And I am totally open for discussion about this guys.

Nicola's lack of character development

Now, I know that there has been a divide with the fandom about Nicola ever since QfG has gone out; there were those who loved her and there were does who didn't

I am in the side that really didn't.

I do agree with some of the ideas about her, that she's a Mary Sue and a Self-Insert and I don't know if anyone has said this before but she's also a Plot Device.

I will try to explain these things as properly as possible.

1. Why Nicola is a Mary Sue for me

Nicola is a Mary Sue for me because of the simple reason that she's too endearingly perfectly imperfect.

So far, as of Nicola's POV chapter, as she explained it herself, she's smart, well-read, sporty and athletic, strong, exotic, determined, adventurous, and tough

Now, these are all the makings of a good main character, so what was my problem with her?

She doesn't have significant things to develop

Already, she was instroduced as this perfectly imperfect character that the reader can cling on

And she gets major priviledges too

She's smart and well-read but she acts like a Know-It-All. And don't get me started with how her advice has helped the characters, I'll get to that on why I think she's more of a Plot Device than a character.

I mean I don't know about everyone else, but reading Nicola's ONLY POV chapter so far in TCY, she comes off as Rude and Close Minded.

And not one of the characters call her out on it. Tbh, all they ever say about her is how smart she is and how amazing.

She's not gonna have character growth with that.

Agatha was rude and closed minded too at the start of the series and everyone gave her beef over it. But at least by the end of the book, she realized that maybe one of the reasons that the was treated that way was because that's how she treated them.

Her whole scene with Cinderella was about this. That everyone has their own insecurities and that if everyone wants to understand one another they have to be patient and understanding and open minded.

Nicola had none of this. And based from the fact that she was reduced to the background in aCoT, I highly doubt she will.

She's also a Mary Sue to me because she's instantly liked by the other characters. Sophie doesn't count because you'd actually think that Soman would let a new girl be Top Dog? Their little banter was proof that Nicola may be the new best thing but Sophie's still the Alpha and Nicola couldn't even fight back for herself.

They even have the same mindset;

Sophie's "Who wants Snow White when they can have Me?"

To Nicola's "Who needs Agatha and Sophie when they can have Me?"

The thing is...Sophie had to go through crap for three books to understand that not everything revolves around her. Is someone going to teach Nicola this? On the last book of the series? I THINK NOT

AND LET'S NOT GET STARTED WITH HORT

The Sophie x Hort x Nicola love triangle is a mess because all characters in this love triangle is a hot mess too.

Each Hort pairing is a cute idea, hell the Sophie × Nicola thing could have been a cute idea but alter Sophie's obvious need to be Alpha B*tch and Nicola's Know-It-All attitude.

That thing with Nicola and Hort is that, it's uneccesary.

First, Hort needs to love himself first before getting into another relationship plus, he's got no agency in both his relationship with Sophie and Nicola.

With Sophie, his always gonna be the rebound. That boy that Sophie knows would be there for her and she's knows loves her, but since she's too fickle, she will always choose the other guy but she's still won't let him go and drags him around on his leash.

It's nice that Hort loves Sophie for all of her sides, it proves that Hort can see through to the good side of the person he loves despite how they treat him, but it should go both ways for it to work.

With Nicola, she can sometimes treat him like an idiot and though it might say otherwise in canon, she fell for the Hort that she READ, and the fact that they started their relationship immediately, it didn't got enough time to reflect if they both do love one another for who they actually are.

Their relationship is the most horrible way to start any relationship ngl. And since Soman doesn't focus on them much, I highly doubt it would be resolved

Like. . . Nicola fell for the Hort that she read and Hort kinda fell for her the same way too through the letters and after Nicola very openly inviting Hort into a relationship and Hort wanting to get a decent girlfriend instead of actually falling for Nicola herself and not the fan the he thinks sees the real Hort, they are not gonna last long and if they stay in a relationship it could become very messy.

Plus, the fact that Hort kinda depends what he would look like to please the girl that he's with kinda show how much insecurities that he has; buff for Sophie and not so much for Nicola. It's good the Nicola accept whatever he looks like, but I have a feeling the it has an underlying hate against the idea the he only did it for Sophie that's why she said it.

And then Nicola, Nicola, this girl doesn't need to be in a relationship with ANYONE honestly.

She and Sophie are more similar than they think. Went immediately for the Boys that they wanted without shame or reservation when these boys showed the bit of interest.

I'm mean, yeah sure, go for it but get to know the guy first, geez.

On that note, she's obviously very attractive.

That shanty scene where the pirates specifically picks Sophie and Nicola proves that people find her very physically attractive. Then that foxwood boy started flirting with her in aCoT. I know I sound VERY salty. I am, but it's only because it feeds to the idea that she really is a Mary Sue.

Like this girl has got no insecurities whatsover.

And then there is the fact that the other characters don't say anything against her. It's all praise. That's nice but not it doesn't help Nicola's character development because she doesn't have anything TO DEVELOP.

Or at least Soman writes her like nothing NEEDS to be developed.

As I said, I find her rude and closed minded. The way she just treats the other characters in her POV chapter was horrible.

I get not liking someone who doesn't treat you right immediately but I also understood why the other characters treated her that way. Hell, they don't even know her and it wasn't like they were treating her that badly for Nicola to judge them the way she did.

Was she expecting them to fawn over her? She's honestly becoming more like Sophie now that I think about it.

Plus she complained and acted stuck up to the other characters when they did started talking to her.

And one personal beef with her is how she treated Agatha in her POV chapter. Like the girl was busy not getting them all killed in the storm, Nicola didn't need to sass her the way she did, Agatha didn't say anything mean to her, she was being decent. Nicola could have just offered advice and if she did it stoically I wouldn't have mind.

But "The Agatha that I read about would have come to say hello so maybe that's not your name."

REALLY NICOLA?!

REALLY?

You think you know all of them based on what YOU'VE READ???

Does anyone see the problem there.

But I'll get to that later.

Moving on

2. Why Nicola is a Self Insert for me

One word: Priviledges

She's pretty, she's smart, she gets to interact (and be rude) to the other characters and thinks about them like how we propably think about them, got to sass Sophie, became Agatha's friend, and started a relationship with Hort.

What more could an SGE fan ask?

The real deal? She's completely flat as a character.

She might have her own backstory, about her dad and her brothers, but that was never brought up again as the story moved forward.

She's the perfect character to integrate as while reading because it doesn't matter HOW her mind works, or the THOUGHTS that she has in the situation, she thinks like how a fan would.

She was writen with enough brain to get what needs to be done as us reader would see because we know the tropes of a story as she does apparently, but unlike the other characters, we don't get to see how her brain works

We don't follow her thought process on how she gets to that conclusion, she just provides it.

If her character was still the one that provides all the answers but would have been influenced by her feeling of wanting to go home to her dad or her interactions with her brothers or her conflict of actually wanting to stay at school and go on an adventure vs her need to help and take care of her Dad, I would have more conflicting thoughts about her because she would BE a character.

Not he one the provides the answers need to push other characters developments and the plot.

This ties with my beef against her for being to perfectly imperfect because she doesn't have any interal conflict to resolve.

Which also ties into...

3. Why I think Nicola is a Plot Device

She doesn't grow into a character. She doesn't have any internal or personal conflict to resolve.

She just goes through the motions and provides what it needed by the plot.

Some examples that I can think of;

Her giving Agatha advice on how to steer the ship because she READ IT. If reading things was just as easy then all of use should have understood it as well, Nicola

That Shanty Scene where she tried but failed to help Agatha with the pirates

The first to say that they sould investigate Rhian

Calmed Tedros down in aCoT and made him reflect on himself, actually she kinda does this to other characters too

Was the brain when she helped Hort investigate under Reaper's orders

She's only ever mentioned when it is NEEDED by the plot and sometimes to HELP OTHER characters with their development

She she never gets her own.

She doesn't learn from the other characters that she interacts with and she doesn't get developed in anyway.

She's static. From beginning to propably the end, she was the one to provide the answers for other characters problems when none of them provide the answers to hers because she doesn't have any problems.

She a side character that has been given privilege to be on par with the major supportimg characters.

And that is another problem right there.

She's treated like a MAJOR supporting character when even freaking Bodhi and Laithan get more actual decent characterization because they have the potential to become better after helping Agatha.

Plus they could be very gay for each other I don't know why the fandom is sleeping on them.

THERE IS POTENTIAL GUYS

Anyways...I am open for discussion about her. I AM JUST GOING TO @ EVERYONE

@agathasarmy @pumpkinpaperweight @baetrixv @edgarandessa @yarasquad @ladylesso

And anyone else interested

Nicola and Bogden and Willam's could have been importance to TCY

To say that I am dissapointed with their canon role is an understatement.

I explained Nicola already

But Bogden and Willam have been treated like trash to be honest.

They could be extracted from this stort and nothing would have changed.

And the fact they are being treated as the Token Gay Couple

Everyone's right @soman you're not being inclusive buddy.

Since, we've barely got anything on these two only aside from Willam being totally Tristan/Yara's brother and that he doesn't like Tedros and that Bodgen is one of Sophie's adoring fans. And they like Tarots I guess. But that's it.

Bodgen, I was expecting more from actually. Since he's very clearly supposed to fill in Sophie's role and the fact that he gets a special back of the Ever Never Handbook privilege, I was kinda expecting Soman to exploit him actually. If not to fawn over Sophie and explaim how amazing she is then at least a POV like what Nicola had.

But no...he's been reduced into a lapdog to Sophie's whims

And Willam, tbh I'm curious why Soman made him into Tristan/Yara's brother and I hope the he successfully uses this idea for Book 6 in a positive way but I feel like that's gonna be a lot to ask

Like he was highlighted with Bogden in the Book 4 countdown. And that other video where we got to know some of the characters, what is his importance honestly?

I don't really have much to critic him on so I'm just gonna move-on on how Soman could have made them important to the TCY

They could have been the trio that was affected most by our main trio and the ones that followed their footsteps.

On Nicola

She's definitely filling to shoes that Agatha left. But instead of all the things that I complained about her, she could have been used to foil Rhian's ideals about the Storian and the School.

Like Rhian made a point at how the Storian only allows a selected few to tell their stories but what about everyone else? Are their stories not as interesting? Don't they have the same values as the characters that they read? They think that they could certainly do better.

Nicola could have been the one to answer this. She has huge beliefs in herself and her knowledge about the stories that she reads. Her journey could have been about realizing that not everything that we read translates to the whole truth.

That some things are left out because the story only needs to tell things that could help EVERYONE.

I highly doubted that the Storian was completely included everything that it wrote about The Tale of Sophie and Agatha.

I doubt that even we, the readers, would completely understand these characters if we were lucky enough to meet them.

Not everything provided tells the whole truth. If we really needed to understand then we need to deep dipper and find these answers ourselves.

Nicola could have realized this.

With her relationship with Hort, she could have realized that he's not completely the same boy as the one she read and fell for in the books. This is the main problem with their ship. They didn't go through the trials that Tagatha went through. Their relationship feels too delicate. And why Hophie could still happen because Hort and Sophie did go through their own trials with each other.

With her relationship with the other characters that she idolizes. She could have realized that the Coven was more complex than what she's read about. That Merlin was not always all powerful and didn't have all the answers. That being in a Fairy Tale was harder then what it seemed.

With her friendship with Agatha, we could see how she learns that this girl, that was shuned by their whole town, grew into one of the most amazing people that she has met. In canon, Nicola does criticize some of Agatha's decisions. It's fine. Agatha still needs a few realizations of her own but so did Nicola.

Nicola could realize how hard it is being in the center of a Fairy Tale and how stressful it is to have so many lives under your responsibility.

With her animosity with Sophie, she could realize how very grey everyone really is and not to hold on to first impressions. She could realize that Sophie has grown from the girl that she met in Gavaldon and has read about in the books.

For her personal growth, she could have grown out her Closed-Mindedness about these stories. That as a reader too, who thought of the same things as everyone else does that does agree with Rhian, it harder than what's they expected. It's not as clean cut as how the Storian makes them out to be and that's why they need the School and the Storian.

Because the Storian only chooses that stories that helps develop the whole Woods and the School caters to these charaters in theit journey. Because without the Storian to tell the stories needed to be told and everyone focused on themselves, they'd have no unity. Instead, everyone is in it for their own benefit and fame. And without the School these stories would have been more brutal than needed because no one guided these characters.

Plus, her agenda with her Dad and brothers should totally be discussed again, especially if she plans to continue her relationship with Hort. It would have been like the Tagatha ordeal in TLEA.

On Bogden

I don't know why he isn't utilized by Soman but his character's a waste in canon.

Based on his image on the Ever Never Handbook, his a fellow POC like Nicola and that's good. A little bit more variety would be nice Soman

He could have helped with Sophie's own charaterization by showing Sophie that she's responsible for a new generation as Dean.

And as for Bogden's own character development, as a fellow Reader, he could realize that Sophie might not be as inspiring as he thought she'd be or at least, that he might admire some of the things she stands for but ultimately they still have very different beliefs.

Plus, he could have been the voice of the whole the First Year Nevers and how they are treated by Sophie's new curriculum just as Nicola could have been the voice for the Ever's.

And Bogden could have been a foil to Nicola in that unlike her, he just happened to be dragged along with the adventure instead of being pointed out by the Storian but was still making an impact to the flow of the story in his own way.

So far that's all that I have for him really.

On Willam

Oh, Willam. I am so confused about you

@agathasarmy and I agreed that he could have been a voice for the Camelot's people and how they see Tedros and Agatha.

He could also be the insight that we need since he is the only character that was highlighted importance that wasn't a student of the School for Good and Evil. So he would have been an essential POV since he'd be technically part of Rhian's targeted demographic.

Plus the fact the he's Tristan/Yara's brother could have been explored about wtf happened with that bit of AWWP. Maybe some closure, you know.

And he should have totally been Agatha's supporter or something.

Like I don't want him to be like Bogden for Sophie, who idolized her cause he thought he was just like her but instead I wanted Willam to get to know Agatha as she gets to know Camelot.

He could have watched her struggle with her queenship but also admire her determination and patience to understand it. He could have tried to reach out to her about what Camelot really thinks of them (this is after the Excalibur thing by the way) and helped her as she tried.

And then after Rhian, he could have led the rebels in Camelot that were loyal to Agatha, (cause she WOULD have totally gained some don't lie) and helped whoever was left in Camelot.

Personally, I would have voted Tedros to be stuck in Camelot and Willam interacted with him for the whole Book 5 and here's why;

Willam clearly doesn't like Tedros because of Tristan/Yara but he also thinks that Tedros is a crap king as everyone in Camelot does too.

Now, they get to know each other in Book 5 and Willam realizes that Tedros is a pretty decent guy and could be a good king with Agatha's help.

He could have helped so much with Tedros's struggle in being a good leader because Willam would have criticized him on what Tedros gets wrong.

So...instead of that Reaper thing that happend, Tedros and Willam and maybe some other characters too, should have been introduced to some Camelot Rebels against Rhian.

Like they still think Tedros is a crap king but they also think that this Rhian guy has no right to the throne.

They all could have made Tedros realize what he needs to do for his people and some of his leadership skills could have been improved by leading these band of Rebels against Rhian.

And Tedros would have had Willam with him along the way as his personal critique.

Because what happend with Reaper is that Tedros didn't get to lead, he was provided safety and answers by Reaper.

(But I still would have liked to keep that Reaper thing though. Not as King of the Gnomes but definitely someone influencial to the magical creatures sides of the Woods. Maybe something involving Netherwood and Callis.

And Agatha could have definitely solved this problem with Camelot about that Magic Ban. Like with Tedros handling the more political relations with other Kingdoms since he's Arthur's son, Agatha would have handled all the others that Camelot ingored because of Arthur's issues.

And that right there, would have been the way to make Camelot great again and re-establish its title as keeper of Peace.)

[crysieofwoodsbeyond]

The Princess Knight Chapter Five An Eventful Afternoon

The pair became so invested in their conversation, that they were surprised by their voices echoing in the tunnel leading to the Clearing. The sunlight shining from the end of the tunnel made the stone walkway sparkle, but the sounds of students in the distance made Nicola freeze.

 "Lakim we're about to be bombarded with stares once we walk out into the Clearing. I just want to make sure you are prepared for the possibility of having your reputation ruined because of me. I'm sorry for that." Nicola apologized, walking ahead of Lakim so as to avoid his reaction.

 "I'm your friend now. I don't care about my reputation over our friendship. You're the first genuine friend I've made here, and I don't plan to lose that just because people like me now that they know I'm a wizard." Lakim assured her, grabbing her hand and leading them out into the Clearing. Though the sunlight was bright, it did nothing to block the stares of the other Ever students as they made their way to the outer field where Natasha and Marianna were sitting.

"Hey you guys, a few nymphs came over and brought over your lunch. I thought they were bringing us seconds until Professor Espada said he requested them to do so." Marianna said with a friendly smile, and Natasha looked at the pair with soft eyes as she ate her salad. Lakim sat between Nicola and Marianna, who was filled with questions for the boy. "Let them eat before you hound them for questions Mari." Natasha suggested , sipping on her sparkling water. Their lunch was heavenly, consisting of peppered turkey and muenster cheese pinwheels, kale salad with pear dressing, sparkling water and honey plums. While the girls ate their food, Lakim just stared at his sadly. "Lakim, is there something wrong with your food?" Nicola asked, concerned 

 "If you want I can trade my pinwheels for your salad." Natasha chimed in.

 "Oh no— nothings wrong, I was just shocked that I have three new friends in one day." Lakim said with a bright smile. In the sunlight, the girls could see his face properly. They noticed his brown skin with cool undertones, short wide nose, thick eyebrows with soft arches, and big hazel doe’s eyes that made him look so innocent.

 "Is there something on my face?" Lakim asked, confused as to why the girls were staring. "No no, there's nothing wrong." The girls said together, looking at each other and blushing before laughing at themselves. 

After finishing lunch, Marianna proceeded to ask her questions, which Lakim happily obliged. "What classes are you taking in order?" 

"History of Heroes, Chivalry & Grooming, Swordplay & Weapons Training, Animal Communication, Physical Education, Good Deeds and Surviving Fairy Tales." 

"How old are you?"

 "I'm 16 but I turn 17 in the summer."

 "That means you're younger than Nicola; her birthday's next month, she's turning 17." "Where are you from and are you a descendant?"

 "I'm from Nottingham and I'm not a descendant as far as I know."

 "Do you have any siblings?"

 "Two older sisters. We all lived with our aunt after our parents had to move for work." Lakim replied, obviously uncomfortable answering the question. 

"I think that's enough questions for one afternoon Mari— look, Willam's coming over. Hey Lover Boy, you finally have time for your friends on your side I see." Nicola teased, running up to her friend giving him a big hug and his red hair in a ponytail brushed against her cheek. .

"Nicola, you know you're still stronger than me, if you keep running at me like this one of these days I'll fall. You act as if I wasn't the one helping you pack all of your armor and bring it to your room. Bogden told me to tell you he hopes you're doing well, and to ask if you could help him study so he won't get kicked out this time. I offered to help, but he kept saying I'm too much of a distraction… whatever that means." William joked back to his friend, squeezing her softly before spinning her in his arms. "Lakim, this is my friend William. William, this is my new friend Lakim." Nicola introduced her two friends sweetly, noticing William shake Lakim's hand roughly. 

"Sorry about that ever since I started working out to keep up with Nicola I don't know how to control my own strength." William chuckled, letting go of Lakim's hand. 

"No problem, I know she's a force to be reckoned with. She really had me beat in Swordplay and Weapon Training this morning." Lakim replied, shaking his hand softly. 

"You have to tell William what happened in class and us about what happened in the Dean's office." Marianna said, forcing William to sit and listen to Nicola and Lakim recount the story. 

"...and then he told her he was the one that tossed Nathaniel to the ceiling!" Nicola whispered, leaning in so only her friends could hear her. Everyone started laughing on the grass, but it was rudely interrupted by people pulling Lakim up to his feet by looping their arms through his. 

"Gavin!? Ralph!? Let me go!" Lakim shouted, struggling against his human constraints before kicking Gavin in the shin, running back towards his friends.

"We're just trying to bring you to where you belong. Do you really want to spend your time at school with a bunch of weirdos, or with people who can help you build a good reputation?" Ralph asked, helping Gavin stand. With this, all of the Evers looked at Lakim, wanting to hear his answer. 

"It's my choice as to who I belong with and how I build my reputation. Why would I want to be around people who try to purposely hurt their classmates because they disagree? I wouldn’t ask for your help to save a kingdom, let alone build a reputation. Now leave my friends and I alone." Lakim said angrily, which had the boys running away as his friends and several Evers cheered for him. 

"Welcome Lakim, to the Weirdos and Oddgirls Society! Number of members, six, including Bogden. To Lakim!" Nicola said laughing, raising her sparkling water. 

"To Lakim." The friends cheered, enjoying the rest of their lunch before returning to school for their afternoon classes.

[afterneverafter]

Willam of Camelot 

I realized I almost never draw boys so hey why not use it as an opportunity to show love to this altar boy. I find him to be such a cutie~

Speedpaint under the cut

[just-a-simple-sapphic]

SGE Analysis #3

This particular analysis refers to this post by @pumpkinpaperweight

Soman says that there a bunch of LGBTQ+ characters if you look closely, so

Challenge accepted.

(Spoilers for basically every book)

This list uses canon-ish proof and headcanons from myself and other people.

Agatha: She ends up with Tedros, but before the whole sister scam, she and Sophie were practically attached to the hip. They were undeniably close, and even kiss at the end of the first book. She's bi.

Sophie: She goes after quite a number of boys and Nicphie shippers always bring up some good points as to why their ship exists. So, Sophie is bi or a lesbian with compulsory heterosexuality

Tedros: Based on the events of Agatha, Sophie, and Filip, I think we all know our golden boy is bi.

Nicola: She is practically obsessed with Hort but again, Nicphie. She's bi and/or pan.

Beatrix and Reena: Lesbians with swords. Do I need to say more?

Millicent: Asexual and/or aromantic, referring to this post. It literally explains everything.

Kiko: Pansexual. No explanation needed.

Tristan/Yara: There's been a lot of back and forth with them. Some think that Tristan would be considered transgender and some think that he wouldn't as he was only Yara because he preferred the treatment in the School for Girls. Still torn between this one, so for now they are pansexual.

Hester: She hates boys with a passion. There is no way in this universe (or the next one) that she would date a boy. And besides, Hestadil.

Anadil: Most likely a lesbian and/or pansexual. Hestadil rights.

Dot: Pansexual. We love our local jolly chocolate girl :)

Hort: He's written to be so cishet, but I think we all know weasel boy is not.

Rafal: Has a lot of internalized homophobia, but he's probs bi and/or demiromantic

The next five characters use @professor-sader headcanons:

Lesso: Aromantic/Grayromantic lesbian. Lmao who the heck is "Aric's father"? Never heard of him.

Dovey: Biromantic asexual. Yes.

Callis: Strong asexual and/or aromantic vibes from this one. (Yes, I know she wanted true love. But true love doesn't have to be a romantic relationship-)

August: He gives off aroace with slight gay leaning vibes. " 'I thought August Sader didn’t like women,' Sophie volunteered." (ACOT) Even Sophie thinks so-

Evelyn: "i know she’s obsessed with men but i think she is a lesbian. (shush. i’m right.)" She's right though. From this post of his.

Aric and Japeth: The definiton of "be gay do crime" but like actual crime.

Kei and Rhian: Just two bisexual sunshine boys vibing together in Arbed House.

Willam and Bogden: Two pure bois reading tarot cards about their future together :) Dot ships them.

[evitachristine]

Anti-Hophie Rant

So I finally finished reading One True King, and this is what I have to say. It’s long. 

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Before I get into this, just a small warning: If Hophie is your OTP and embodiment of perfection, this text is not for you. I will not argue with anyone, alright?

To start this off, in my opinion OTK is the weakest of the series. It just feels like a connection between the last book and the fact that Tedros has to become the King. Some might argue that the second book was the worst, well, I disagree. It’s not just because Hophie happens here, but I kind of believe that when the internet spoiled to me that my hated ship was going to happen (because I had to wait until the book comes out in my country), I was expecting more from it. That I would actually be convinced it’s meant to be, which didn’t happen. Also the execution of some characters (Ahem...Merlin) was just...why. It seemed to me that there were a lot of other fan services in this book, apart from Hort and Sophie getting together, but more about that later. 

 I need to remember this for good, and next time I become a fan of something, I will avoid its fanbase. I do not mean to offend anyone, but a fanbase can really ruin a platform, especially when the platform is still developping and the fanbase is influencing it, which I believe did happen a lot with SGE. I will not deny that a fandom can improve such thing - that is definitely true as well - but sometimes the line between improving and ruining is slim, and if it doesn’t ruin the platform, then it might ruin a couple of fans’ experience of it. 

Now to the point of me hating Hophie.

As I mentioned in my previous post, and above. When I discovered the fandom and found out that people are shipping Hort and Sophie, I asked myself “But why? Sophie doesn’t like Hort.” and I kind of thought this was a joke or a meme ship. I always ship characters where both sides have at least a visible bit of attraction towards each other. Whether its friends to lovers or enemies to lovers. Hophie, until the last book and half, was not the case. It was a typical example of unrequited crush, Sophie once only used Hort to make Tedros jealous. But if my mind isn’t tricking me, she was always disgusted by him and even during their first encounter, he attempted to harass her! And the fact that “they were still kids back then” is not an excuse to me. 

Allow me to make a slight turn from SGE. When I was about 8-10, my mum took me to see an opera called Turandot. I will not bother you with opera, but long story short: A princess is very beautiful and a lot of men want to marry her. So she is giving everyone three questions, if they answer incorrectly, they are executed. Everyone are getting executed until a prince in disguise arrives and is in love with her, answers all questions correctly. Princess doesn’t want to marry him tho, so he asks her to guess his name and if she succeeds, he will gladly die. The princess doesn’t feel love at all and doesn’t want to fall in love. She believes she is a saint. Then in a dramatic duet the prince kisses her and ALL OF SUDDEN the princess falls in love with him. 

Whew. Sorry, I tried to make this as short as possible. I remember asking my mum after this: “Why is the girl always forced to love the boy?” Little me didn’t like this idea of a “magical kiss” already, lol. Mum’s answer was “Because it was written by a boy.”, but that’s not even my point here. Do you see the pattern? Girl keeps refusing guy but in the end he still gets her. THIS RIGHT HERE is the main reason why I hate Hophie. It reinforces the stereotype that if a guy is persistent enough, he will get the girl even if she said no a million times. 

Another note I’d like to say about this, and I’m going to receive hate for this opinion. I started book 1 when I was 16. Now I’m in my early twenties and I get that most SGE readers are still teenagers. The age of crushes, clumsy love experiments, etc. OK now I sound like a grandma. But I think this is where Hophie stems from. Everyone are seeing themselves in Hort. Your crush doesn’t like you back, his crush doesn’t like him back. Something like Éponine in Les Misérables. If Marius and Sophie both fall in love with the person who likes them, it’s like the crush of the fan does. Can we call this the Hort-Éponine complex? 

Aside from that, I believe that people who already experienced both sides of unrequited love (like yours truly grandma, right here), meaning Sophie’s side of it, are less likely to support such ships. 

I will now dive into the OTK “resolution” of this pairing. First let me just say, this book made me, if not hate, then at least strongly dislike Hort’s character. The first half of the book and even a some time after before he finally gets with Sophie, his character is disgusting to me. He is so obsessed with her, even while he’s still dating Nicola. As in my previous post, it’s like a huge part of his character is only “I LOVE SOPHIE”. While he’s still with Nicola, he never fails to mention “his FRIEND Sophie”. I will now paraphrase because I read a translation, not the original, but even when Hort’s singing to the guards to distract them so Agatha and Tedros can sneak into the Library, he sings something along the lines “Girlfriend Nikki and friend Soph”. I’m not sure if this was meant to convince the reader that Sophie ending up with Hort is a good idea, but with me, it did the exact opposite. 

In general, their “romance” feels extremely rushed to me. Compared to Sophie’s previous love interests, regardless of who they were as people, these two have zero chemistry. It seems as if Sophie decided to settle because there was no other guy for her. And the description of her suddenly being in love with him, as mentioned above, is another of those “magical kiss” stories. It is hardly believable and kind of... shallow. 

There even were several moments when Rafal was mentioned. In COT, when the protagonists wanted to flee Camelot but Sophie decided to stay, she saw Hort flying to her and she mistook him for Rafal. Goodness. Even in OTK there were a few moments when it seemed that Sophie still has issues from that relationship. Very few, but they were there. 

Therefore I refuse to believe that the reason for this was anything other than to satisfy the majority of the fandom. In addition, the entire book feels like one huge “fan service”, as other ships are “sailing” as well. We have Hestadil and Bogden/Willam, but these two are at least believable. Hestadil started, even tho inconspicously, two books ago, and it resolved naturally. And beforehand they were close friends, so there’s that. As for the boys, they were side characters, so we can only think that all resolved while they were off the scene. 

To sum it up, I thought of three different endings I’d prefer for Sophie. 

On the first place, this was mentioned several times by other people, is that she should have stayed on her own. That happened in TLEA, but this time, really. I hated that OTK made it seem that she really needs a partner. Yes, love, but heck... is romantic love the only thing that is out there? How about friendship? Content with oneself? Pursuing hobbies that you love? Freedom? Come on. Awesome characters that end up single AND ARE HAPPY should have more representation. And I think Sophie would have been amazing like that. 

On the second place I have two things. First, Sophie with a girl. Only I’m not sure who. Maybe Nicola, or Betty if she survived. Or maybe, people might hate me for this, but... Dot? I don’t ship it but I think it could have been cute. Maybe they would start off getting closer as friends and the rest would be left up to the reader’s imagination.

The other preferable ending I have at second place was originally on the third place, but some weird nostalgia overcame me when reading OTK and I had to move it up. People will hate me. But if Sophie should end up with a guy, it should have been Rhian. Yes, I know what you are thinking right now. But think about it. That guy really believed he was Arthur’s son. Imagine if he found out the truth. Something tells me it would be really hard for him at first, but in the end, if he found out that Japeth really only wants Aric, he could’ve joined the protagonists. In my opinion Sophie had the best dynamic with him, before it all spiralled downwards with snakes etc. Maybe he could pretend to help his twin but in the end... I believe I read something like this somewhere on Tumblr as well. Also this kind of feels as if it could have been Soman’s original plan before he turned to pleasing the fans. Or maybe I’m just fantasising too much.  Regardless of how much you’re cursing me right now, I believe Rhian deserved better and shouldn’t have died. After all, he was the better twin. 

As for Hort, well, before OTK I didn’t really care for his character, I didn’t dislike him but he wasn’t my favourite. I simply wished him well hoping he’ll get over Sophie so he can be happy, either with Nicola/someone else, or on his own. After the last book made me resent him, I’m not sure. He could have died, but I know that is cruel. 

He could have been slowly realising that he doesn’t need Sophie, his love would fade away, maybe Nicola could break up with him in the process, then they would get back together, at a natural pace, realisation, etc. Or they wouldn’t, or they wouldn’t break up at all, just separate on different missions, and then reunite and realise they were truly meant to be together all along. 

Whew, if you made it here, congratulations. If you read this as a Hophie shipper, I’m not taking away your opinion. I just needed to let this out. Hope we can respect each other. 

...But I still kinda wish we could get another version of OTK where Hophie doesn’t happen. 

[devourer--of--books]

SGE x PJO AU: wiki pages

PART I: Hester

Okay, so hm, before we start.

Warning: some minor cursing, as well as spoilers for all percy jackson and the olympians, heroes of olympus and school for good and evil books. Basic knowledge of the main plot points is heavily recommended. 

Now that that’s out of the way, an unnecessary note:

I was unsure on how to structure this au, as I was originally going through the events of the novels book by book, but turns out that made the posts way too long (longer than they already are) and more like a mini-fic than an au post, so, for now, we’re sticking to a character-based wiki-like structure, one at a time.

This is obviously an au, so while we'll follow loosely the events of the riordan-verse, there's many tweaks, so it's easier to follow if you're familiar with the canon material but hopefully, I'll be able to answer any questions y'all might have.

I just might do mini-fic posts or write a one-shot or two, but that takes a while so maybe tell me if you’d be interested in that, because as usual, I am fueled by validation.

This is so goddamn self-indulgent. 

Hester Ravenswood

Daughter of Nemesis

Occupation: Head counselor of cabin 19 / High school student.

Early years: Used to live with her father, until he tragically died in a mysterious factory fire when she was 10. 

It is unknown how Hester got to camp, aside from the vague explanation she gives to Sophie and Agatha: she ran away from an orphanage and her mother guided her to Camp Half-Blood using dreams. She arrived at camp in the same night as Chaddick Edwards, and witnessed his death at Half-Blood Hill.

Camp years: Hester used to be a year-round camper at cabin 11. Since Nemesis didn’t have an actual cabin at the time, Hester was placed there, as per camp tradition, and while she often flaunted her parentage, she never got officially claimed. 

Within her first year, Hester dueled an older, unnamed demigod for a bunk bed at cabin 11. She wins the duel, but ends up with a bad reputation as a “shady back-stabber” around camp, due to her use of a hidden knife to win. The bottom bed of said bunk used to be always empty, despite Hermes’ cabin being very crowded, until Agatha’s arrival a few years later.

Hester is the third member of the quest to retrieve Zeus’ lighting bolt, alongside newcomers Agatha and Sophie.

The following summer, she runs away from camp with Sophie Martin to help on the quest for the golden fleece. 

Later that year, she participates in the mission to retrieve Yara and Willam Thomas from Westover Hall. 

During the quest to rescue Artemis, Hester is absent due to being given another quest by oracle/camp director August Sader: scouting the labyrinth. 

Next summer she leads the quest to find Daedalus, but after the incident in Hephaestus’ forges, she chooses to remain at camp to prepare for Kronos’ invasion, as well as aiding Dot Nottingham with Anadil Bloodbrook’s recovery after her time wandering by herself in the labyrinth.

A year later, Hester and Agatha blow up the Princess Andromeda cruise together, and she is heavily involved in the events leading to and during the Battle of Manhattan. Hester and Anadil are responsible for convincing a few minor gods, including Hester’s mother, to betray Kronos and help the campers fight off his army once Kronos cuts off connection between himself (alongside Sophie, Agatha and Yara) and his army to get to Olympus.

Post-war, she attends school alongside Dot Nottingham. It’s unknown what she plans to do after graduating, though it’s implied she might have to retake the year, as she often skipped classes to look for Agatha with Sophie. In one of those missions, Nemesis guides Hester to rescue Nicola Saylor, bringing her to Camp Half-Blood.

Currently: Hester is one of the seven demigods of the prophecy, and is abord the Argo II, headed towards Camp Jupiter.

Connections:

Dot Nottingham

While Hester mostly kept to herself during her first years at Camp Half-Blood, she has a secret soft spot for Dot, as she once overheard the girl standing up for her against Beatrix Jolie. 

She is the one that teaches Dot how to use a dagger. 

Every year, Dot offerers to house Hester for the school year, and every year she refuses, until after the Battle of Manhattan, when she accepts the invitation.

Agatha Schwartz

Hester and Agatha become friends shortly after her arrival, alongside Sophie, at Camp Half-Blood, when Hester claims to be impressed by Agatha’s confrontation with Aric Lesso, which seemed to freak every other camper out. 

Through the years, Hester  develops a not-so-one-sided crush on her, leading to a, rather messy, undefined romantic relationship between them after Hester kissed Agatha at Mount Saint Helens, but the two decide they are better off as friends after the Battle of Manhattan.

Hester is greatly distraught by Agatha’s disappearance after the war and feels horribly guilty for ignoring Agatha’s attempts to contact her prior to it due to remaining pettiness post-break-up.

Sophie Martin

Off to a bad start upon meeting, the two become tentative friends during the quest to retrieve the lightning bolt, and they even manage to join forces to aid Agatha, Hort Scourie and Aric Lesso on their quest for the golden fleece. 

However, Hester quickly grows suspicious that Sophie might be a spy for Rafal at camp. Once she hears that this accusation was proven true, during the quest to rescue Artemis, it causes an irreversible shift in their mostly playful previous dynamic, even though Sophie changes sides again after Rafal betrays her trust at Mount Tamalpais. The peak of their animosity is at their duel after “Agatha’s funeral”, in which Hester nearly strangles Sophie with her whip while blinded by grief, only stopping due to interference from Agatha herself.

Thankfully, things seem to have smoothed over between them after Sophie stabs, and sucessfully kills, Rafal in the Gods’ Throne Room, "ending” the Battle of Manhattan by keeping Kronos from destroying Olympus.

Sophie and Hester grow closer during Agatha’s disappearance, often meeting up for search missions whenever one of them believes to have a lead on their friend’s whereabouts.

Anadil Bloodbrook

Hester first meets Anadil during her first mission an the labyrinth, in which she manages to convince Anadil to help her escape Kronos’ forces, but isn’t able to take her along, feeling horrible guilt, believing Anadil to have been killed.

Once she learns that Anadil managed to escape and is actually alive, having been wandering through the maze on her own for months, Hester vows to save her, stepping down and handing over the quest for Daedalus to Agatha.

Hester manages to find Anadil, whose mind appears fragmented after so long in the labyrinth, and begs Dot to help her find a solution. The daughter of Dionysus eventually does, combining her mild influence over madness with Reena Shazabah’s healing talents as a daughter of Apollo.

Anadil and Hester keep in touch often after that, becoming very close friends and formulating a plan to secretly recruit minor gods and their children back to the olympian side.

The two of them start dating officially a few weeks after the end of the war and are currently still together.

Nemesis

Hester is contacted by her mother more often than most demigods, probably due to Nemesis status as a minor goddess. Nemesis offers to help Hester on occasion, but Hester always stresses that her mother is anything but kind; no help from her ever comes free of charge.

August Sader

Despite making a few jokes about the oracle’s host being past his prime, Hester shows a deep respect for the camp director, even if she doesn’t always agree with his tatics.

Reena Shazabah

Hester’s active dislike for Beatrix during her first few summers at camp lead to her passive dislike of all of the daughter of Aphrodite’s friends and flings, including Reena, but they eventually become friends and, after Reena aids Dot in healing Anadil’s mind, the two of them can often be spotted training together at the arena.

Rafal

While they were in the same cabin and Rafal was one of the few campers that didn’t avoid her, Hester tells Agatha she does not trust him. 

Once Rafal reveals himself as Kronos’ son, offering Hester a spot in his army, due to her being a child of a minor goddess, she tells him to “get fucked” and stabs him in the arm with her dagger, establishing their dynamic for the rest of the war.

Nicola Saylor

Hester is initially resentful of Nicola, for her presence reminded Hester of her own failure to find Agatha, but once the roman girl reveals that Agatha was most likely stuck at Camp Jupiter without her memories, Hester starts acting less hostile towards her.

Yara Thomas

Hester is part of the rescue party that retrieves Yara and her brother Willan.

At first the two seemed to get along, but after Yara joins the Hunters their friendship sours, as Hester has a very strong disdain for the group.

However, they start talking again during the Battle of Manhattan and grow closer once Yara offers to try and track down Agatha once she goes missing.

The current status of their friendship is unknown, as Hester will probably be livid once she finds out Yara met amnesiac!Agatha at Camp Jupiter months prior to Nicola’s arrival at Camp Half-Blood.

Hort Scourie

She doesn’t really care much for Hort at all before he is revealed to be one of the seven, but tolerates his presence on occasion, though Hester does state that kicking his ass on the arena is one of her favorite hobbies.

Weapons and Powers: Hester is very skilled with daggers and knifes, though her weapon of choice is usually a whip given to her by her mother on a deal they made when Hester first found out she was a demigod. Whatever Hester had to give her mother to keep her end of the bargain is currently unknown. 

The whip is shown to have a mind of its own, moving in fast snake-like motions that Sophie describes as “demonic”, glowing red when “awake”, but its use is rather dangerous for long periods of time, as it draws energy directly from Hester’s life force.

Hester has some sort of control over chance, being able to strike deals to tip the scales of balance in her favor, allowing her to succeed in unlikely situations, but more often than not, the price for doing so is way too high, being a last resort for her.

[cursesthemusical]

ugh i have not posted for SO LONG and i’m really sorry about that! this might change to a not-so-sge-centric blog bc i’m not into sge half as much as i was when i started this blog. idk what it would be if it wasn’t sge though.

anyway, enough rambling. these are my sexuality headcanons for sge characters! if you don’t agree then you can either stay quiet because these are opinions or you can send an ask or a dm and we can chat about it :) i’m not posting these to get into fights, i’m posting these partly bc i don’t have anything else and partly bc i wanna get my thoughts about this in order.

okay.

sophie - bi

agatha - straight (i wanna believe she’s not but she seems pretty straight honestly)

tedros - bi

hester - lesbian

anadil - lesbian

dot - panromantic ace

hort - the way soman writes him? very aggressively cishet. the way i’d like to imagine him? pan and in love with ravan.

ravan - gay

kei - gay, grayace

rhian - bi

japeth and aric - sorry i do not want to think about these two

reena - pan, demi

beatrix - lesbian

nicola - pan, maybe ace

dovey - i tried for five minutes to think of this but i just - cannot. i don’t know why.

lesso - biromantic ace

sader - aroace

kiko - bi or pan

yara - trans lesbian

willam - bi

bogden - gay

aaand that’s all the characters i can think of rn! besides the minor ones like the random first years and background evers and nevers, i think that’s about it. thanks for reading and i’d love to hear your opinions on these!

[elizaeden]

My personal, biased, two-sentenced take on some SGE ships

Hestadil: Consider me in. They so perfect for each other and you can’t argue me about it <3

Tagatha: Canon sweetness. They surely fit but no hard feelings from me. 

Hophie: Not really my thing, but I guess it’ll do. They may be happy together.

Agaphie: Incest alert. Just kidding, who even remember this whole sisters-plot?

Rophie (R IS FOR RAFAL, DON’T YOU DARE CHANGING IT FOR RHIAN): My guilty pleasure. My mind knows it’s toxic, my heart doesn’t care.

Rhian/Sophie: There was that moment when I was sorry for Rhian. But no. 

Jaric: Japeth - I love Aric, Me - That’s interestin’ but what’s also interestin’ is that I don’ give a f*ck

Lesso/Dovey - Is there any fanfic about it yet? Because I’ll sure read it if there is.

Tophie - No. They were made to be buddies who pretend they hate each other ^^

Kiko/Tristan - My main problem with this ship is that Tristan wanted to be a girl, so there’s kinda no Tristan but Yara. And then okay, maybe, if Kiko stop being presented as clingy :( 

Nicphie - Maybe in some nice, modern au. Don’t really get the whole chemistry between them in the books. 

Bogden/Willam - They’re sweethearts. So yes.

Sending lots of love to all the other SGE fans <3 

[sabrinaofwoodsbeyond]

So... That "raiding area 51" chart meme but with SGE characters. Who would go where on the chart?

SHIT this is old but here’s a quick version off the top of my head (I’m also adding ocs in parentheses because I can):

Storm Area 51 they can’t stop all of us: Sophie, Agatha, Hort, Lancelot, Millicent, Chaddick, (Alex), (Zhara)

If we Naruto run we can dodge the bullets: Uma, Agatha, Dot, Beatrix, Rhian, (Adelaide), (Marcus)

Please don’t go, they absolutely can stop you all: Dovey, Guinevere, Ravan, Nicola, Reena, Kiko, Yara, Kei, (Candy), (Mari)

Have fun dying lol: Hester, (Rosalind), Lesso, Manley, Mona, Vex, Aric, Ravan again, (Jasper), (Thorne)

Actually goes to Area 51: Brone, Bogden, Willam, Chaddick, Tedros, Hort, Ravan, Hester, Merlin, (Alex), (Jasper), (Zhara), (Thorne)

Gets in: Hester, Ravan, (Jasper)

The alien: Anadil, Japeth, (Adelaide)

@pumpkinpaperweight please feel free to yay or nay these placements

[crysieofwoodsbeyond]

The Princess Knight Chapter 5 Commentary

An Eventful Afternoon lived up to it's title in my opinion. I really enjoyed writing the Odd Evers friendship dynamic. I always liked playful teasing my own friends so I wrote that in between Nicola and Willam. After rereading this chapter I realized this was the chapter I forgot to correct Willam's name 😅. I hope I accomplished showing that Marianna is the extrovert in the group because she gets straight to the point in this chapter. Having Lakim stand up for himself and his new friends in the middle of the Clearing was inspired from a thought I had when I was thinking about my school years. I had never really seen a guy admit what type of people he wanted to be around in school most of them just went with the flew but it never ended up good.

Aside from the characters, I loved writing about the food. The food in SGE was always so creative to me so I had a doozy creating different ideas for the menu.

[thisherequeer]

Anyone else in the SGE fandom wondering why no one is telling Willam that Tristan/Yara was trans? I mean, all evidence points towards them being his older sibling, he needs to freaking know this about them, but all we know he knows is that they’re dead and it shouldn’t have happened. It’s more than a little frustrating. Also, anyone else jealous of gnomes and that they get to choose their physical gender?

[devourer--of--books]

I’m mad about Hunter being written off and here’s why you should be too

You: wasted potential.

Me, an intellectual: ah, Hunter and Nicola’s friendship

I have strong opinions about Hunter.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Look, I have strong opinions about many, many, things. Today, we are taking a dive on Hunter and Nicola. First I’d like to blame this post on Kate, as I decided to make it after I tried to articulate why Hunter being written off TCY makes me so angry in a huge comment under her latest OTK post but it ended up being too big and messy so I deleted it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone elaborate on it, so if you were also mad about this, bro, not to be intense, but like, are we soulmates or...??

Before anything else, as I usually do with my text posts (which I haven’t done in a while, opsies), I shall provide you with arguably unnecessary context. Sit down, grab yourself some snacks, make yourself at home, I’m about to rant you into oblivion.

Since I know many accounts weren’t around back then, I’ll also give you the socio-political vibes of the time period, as any self-respecting half-baked essay written last minute should.

POV, you’re 14/15 year-old me. You flat iron your hair, you don’t use sunscreen, you think you’re straight and your school makes you wear those horrid low rise uniform pants, but at least you can somewhat do your make-up decently now that you grew out of your emo phase.

The year was 2016. The Ever Never Handbook has just come out. You re-watch the handbook trailer on youtube for the fifteenth time. Everyone is losing their minds over OcTObeR 14tH and “a student named Agatha ~ now Agatha of Camelot~”, as well as the portraits and the teasing for a new SGE book. Quests For Glory is announced just a few days later. 2016 tagatha ship week happens a few months down the line. 

This is the SGE Tumblr Fandom Peak.

Now, let’s start right there, two-ish weeks after the release of the Handbook, right as the QFG announcement comes out.

We all knew Soman wasn’t done with SGE after TLEA. He definitely had been teasing something in his weekly blogs (lol, remember when I used to check the blog, what a time to be alive) and once we got the ENH, we got quite lot of info to theorize. Here’s some that I can think off the top of my head: 

- The coven was going on a mission to find a new School Master.

- Tedros and Agatha were struggling financially in Camelot but were going to get married soon (even if Sophie doubted Tedros would have asked Agatha yet, as of the time of the Ever Never RoundTable, but we’re taking that with a grain of salt, because she was written to sound jealous here, and I won’t acknowledge that kinda of bs, she is happy for her friends okay, we’ve been though this-)

- Sophie had completely remodeled the School For Evil and was getting on Dovey and the rest of the faculty’s nerves (except for newly hired history teacher, Hort).

- The rest of the supporting cast had just graduated third year and was to be off in quests soon.

- The School was now accepting applications, and two of those applicants are Nicola and Bogden.

Now, I’m not even gonna bring up how it was mentioned in a video in EverNeverTv that Bogden would be an important character in TCY, and yet, I can’t think of anything relevant about him other than the fact that he knew tarot apparently, or how his application had more personality than him in the entire series, or how he was basically there so we could look at him and Willam and be like “oh, representation”, or how he’d be a good insight on how Galvadon perceives Sophie and Agatha post-TLEA, or- I’m just not gonna.

Oh, no. Instead, we are here to discuss Nicola’s application.

If your memory is foggy, let me remind you:

Nicola’s application is submitted, according to the Handbook, by her friend, Hunter. For convenience sake, we’ll assume Hunter is a guy (I’ll tell you why Hunter being a guy works better for me in a bit), but his gender is not mentioned anywhere in the ENH. I don’t think he has been gendered in any version (correct me if I’m wrong) or if there are any pronouns for him during TCY, but I’m fairly confident he isn’t mentioned at all.

Hunter tells us he is applying on Nic’s behalf, as she’d never apply for herself. He mentions that she is more or less the Galvadon equivalent of an activist for women’s rights, founding a rugby unisex team and campaigning for pants instead of skirts for the local school uniform, as well as having a feminist sounding book as her favorite book. It’s heavily implied that she is a jock, as he lists that, if marooned on a desert island, Nicola would want to have a soccer ball, a hockey stick and a set of dumbbells (“and none of this 5-lb nonsense”) with her.

Upon asked why Nicola should go to the school, his answer is: “because there’s a greater place for her in the world, where she can learn a girl’s true worth, and I don’t think it’s here.”

Then you have a note from (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) the very late, long, long gone, absolutely dead, August Sader, telling the Deans to accept her application, despite having no reason to do so, as Nicola was to “play a crucial role in it’s [the school’s] survival.” Dovey and Sophie agree to flip a coin to decide which school will take her, which Sophie must have lost, as Nicola is accepted into the School For Evil.

By now, I think we all agree that Nicola was done dirty. If you check my QFG re-read you’ll notice that I complained about her there. As I had to go though her introduction chapter again to make this post, let me tell you why: Nicola wasn’t written to be likeable.

She simply wasn’t. That’s the one conclusion I can draw. Whether that’s intentional or not, I can’t tell, but the backlash she received was fairly useful, as it meant Soman could write her off the main story without much backlash from his target audience (aka, not us, pesky pretentious older readers).

The Nicola I was introduced to, not only in the Handbook but on her trailer for QFG was not the girl on QFG. 

Nic is there to be the smart  girl™, and while I do appreciate having a character who is a bit cocky about their brains, it just doesn’t work well there. Because her bond to other characters and the way she earns their respect feels so weak, she just comes across as pretentious. Characters like Hester and Agatha, who are supposed to be smart, feel dumbed down to show us how clever Nicola is. Agatha is supposed to be the resourceful thinker and Hester wanted to be class captain, you bet she studied like crazy, she probs knows every fairytale in existence. 

Then you add that to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Nicola and Hort fiasco and Nic feels like a weirdly written OC insert.

Handbook!Nicola sounded like a smart jock kind of character (read, more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw). Handbook!Nic was a Reader who read the tales as a hobby, but her favorite book is not a tale, it’s a non-fiction book (as far as I can tell). She might not be the fairytale expert, but she sounds like a practical thinker, as sport requires strategy, which is not Hester’s strong suit, given she is rather impulsive, or Agatha’s, given she is often unwilling to make hard decisions due to her Good nature and her own insecurities. C’mon, Handbook!Nic would have taken one look at Hort and sent him running to hills, because she would be able to smell his bs three miles away. She’s no one’s replacement, least of all Sophie’s (whom she probably would not have gotten along with (at least they got this part right) given Sophie’s “my prince will sweep me away from an ordinary life” phylosophy). To be honest she doesn’t sound like she’d be interested in dating at all.

But this post is about Hunter right? Let me remind you, Hunter is not mentioned in Nicola’s introduction, when she talks about her life in Galvadon. Canon!Nicola tells us that she has two brothers who want to inherit her father’s pub in order to sell the place, but Nicola is close with her father and likes working there to some extent, even if she has bigger ambitions. She believes her brothers sent her application as a way to get rid of her.

Back when I still had some faith that Soman had an arc for Nicola that included resolution, I had my theories as to why she wouldn’t mention Hunter: maybe he was to appear in later books and they’d have a huge backstory explaining their friendship, as well as a dramatic confession that Hunter sent her application because he felt Nicola deserved to live an adventure, and Nicola would either realize that she was meant for something more or that she wanted to live a quiet life, honestly either would be nice. I would have taken anything. Truly, if Nicola’s k-pop boyfriend in the OTK epilogue had been replaced with Hunter, I might be able to hate it less.

Especially if they came to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) school wedding as friends. Because you know what?

We are starved for male-female friendships in the SGE universe.

Tedros’s only female friends (all his friends in general) are Agatha’s friends (who all tried to get rid of him at some point, save for maybe Dot) and his actual friends are all dead (Bettina/Chaddick). Hort could be counted as Agatha’s friend, if only he didn’t bash her every five seconds like a moron (he literally pitched the idea that Agatha should be executed by Tedros in OTK, just because he was envious or her relationship with Sophie (not jealous, envious, because Sophie wasn’t his to begin with)) over his delusional sense entitlement of Sophie’s affections (which I hate, but as this is not a Hort-bashing post, I won’t get too much into), but the coven, Beatrix, Renna and co. would not touch him with a stick. Merlin’s friendship with Lady Of The Lake is gone, and Dovey is dead. Rhian and Kei both had that frenemies thing with Sophie in ACOT/beggining of OTK, but I think it was supposed to be romantic? It wasn’t ew (I hate Rhian but he’s also wasted potential, and so was Kei, whom I liked, rest in peace). Japeth hates women for??? Whatever. Willam and Bodgen are such background characters I could not care less about them. The new students weren’t memorable enough for me to remember their names. I think this about covers the main male cast.

There’s a lack of male friendships too, but we kinda have (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Tort and whatever was that rushed Tedros/Chaddick friendship.  Rhian and Kei were gay friends (yeah, right, sure, very platonic). Tedros and Rhian could have been friends if Rhian redeemed himself, but otherwise no. Tedros and Filip… gay. Japeth literally killed Rhian, so also not very good friendship between brothers. Hort has no friends, because Ravan would so not be here for his bs. Willam and Bogden are a couple and (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) so were Aric and Japeth, I guess.

Still don’t believe Hunter was wasted potential? Okay, let me tell you what my ideal Nicola arc would be, mixing Handbook!Nicola with some canon!Nicola and including Hunter.

- Nicola is the one inheriting the pub (once she gets married), despite Galvadon’s pre-TLEA sexism and conservative views, because she is her father’s only child and her brothers are actually her older half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage.

- Her mom died at some point early in her childhood. Not a childbirth tho, because Callis, local witch gynecologist (have you checked my post on this yet? no? you should) was there for her, even if it was a high risk pregnancy because the mom was already older.

- Because of that, Nicola’s father actually sells bread to Callis for cheaper prizes, but don’t tell the elders, shhh

- Anyway, because her mom was gone so early, Nicola was raised by her dad, brothers and by the employees (mostly men, as I don’t think it was all that common for women to work jobs in Galvadon) of her father’s pub. Due to being a girl, most guys weren’t willing to befriend her (sexism, am I right), but because she was a tomboy she had difficulty bonding with the other girls at school, even when they weren’t outright hostile (cof cof Sophie). 

- Example: she and Belle had a tentative bond over their love of cooking, but often ran out of things to talk about and the conversation fell flat.

- Which is how she ends up befriending Hunter. 

- Hunter is the only boy in a family of many girls and his father works all day. He has a good heart and is rather emotional, but he always feels like he has something to prove, which leads him to being rather impulsive. Both Nicola and Hunter love sports and are very competitive people. Once Nicola gains his respect, he feels very protective of her and often feels the need to stand up for her, even if she doesn’t need it.

- Nicola knows Hunter feels overlooked in his family, so she is always inviting him over and taking care of him, keeping him out of trouble. Her father begins to see him as his own son, and soon he spends more time at Nicola’s house than at his own.

- Everyone thinks they’ll get married some day. His sisters tease him mercilessly about it, and so does Nic’s father, but frankly, Nic and Hunter see each other as family.

- You can bet Hunter is the one teaching Nic about periods after asking his sisters, so she wouldn’t have to suffer with Galvadon’s horrid Sex Ed. (go check the Callis headcanon’s okay, give me clout, that it my favorite post I’ve ever made)

- They tried to kiss once. Nicola vomited and Hunter gaged.

- Hunter is Nicola’s number one supporter and fan, 100% had those gender-equality pins she made for her campaigns all over his bags and jackets.

- Since most wedding matches are arranged by the elders before girls even graduate, it was settled that Nic and Hunter would get married to each other and then inherit the pub. It would of course, be a secretly platonic match and they would suspiciously have no children (Nicola even had a plan to visit Callis to get a potion for infertility, just in case the elders wanted to check on her... okay, I’ll stop).

- Hunter doesn’t tell her, but Nicola knows he wants to marry for love and have a family of his own. She tries to talk him out of marrying her, but he insists that he would be doing it out of love for her, even if not romantic, because Nic didn’t deserve to be matched up with some stranger she barely knows who would no doubt be less tolerant of her more radical views.

- She tells him it’d be fine for him to have a affairs then, but he insists he would never do that to her, because people would talk about Nic if that was the case and her reputation would be ruined.

- The night of Sophie and Agatha kidnapping Nicola tells him she would rather be taken to the School than to stay there and make him live an unhappy life.

- Hunter is horrified (remember, everyone thought going to the school was a fate worse than death) and makes her promise to never treat her life so fickly.

- Sophie and Agatha get taken, come back, but during Tedros’ reign of terror in Galvadon, right before they return to the Woods, Nicola’s father grows very very sick.

- Nic thinks he’s going to die, and she frets, not only because they’re close but also because she can’t inherit the place if she doesn’t marry Hunter. But, well, she sort of always knew, but now that feels very real, she thought she had some more time before that.

- They set a date for the wedding, but thankfully, Tedros and Agatha’s escape ends up causing the ceremony to be delayed.

- By the time the new date is set, there’s no more elders and Stefan is now mayor.

- But just because he is the mayor doesn’t mean the law and the sexism is gone overnight.

- Nic’s father is getting somewhat better, but she is still very worried about him, because of his old age.

- Once SGE starts having applications and has been proved to be, well, somewhat safe, Hunter suggests that Nicola applies, but after the scare that she might lose her father sooner rather than later, she tells him she can’t bring herself to leave him.

- Hunter doesn’t want her to throw her life away, specially now knowing that in the Endless Woods there were people like her and that progress would get there before it ever got to Galvadon 

- (He also wants to not marry someone he views as a sister, pls).

- So he files her application in secret.

- Nicola gets accepted, upon Sader’s request and Sophie’s bad luck, into the School For Evil. She and Sophie still don’t get along, the Evil castle rejects her and she gets pushed to Good, becoming an Ever, but she’s only staying until Christmas, because she is worried sick about her father.

- She thinks the application was a plot from her brothers because she doesnt think Hunter would ever betray her trust like that, after she specifically told him she wouldn't go.

- There’s no Hicola, instead, she and Hort become friends and she talks him out of his delusions with Sophie, because as much as Nicola dislikes her, Sophie was a girl too, and deserved to have her feelings respected. 

- She also punches Hort into giving up his envy of Tedros and Agatha while at it, because she is just that efficient.

- Everything else up to OTK can be pretty much the same because I can’t remember what happens, other than everytime Nicola is smart girl™, it’s not “because she reads”, but because she is practical. 

- Example: on the boat scene where she very pretentiously sasses Agatha for not saying hello to her (canon!Nicola, girl, she just suffered six months of loneliness at Camelot because Tedros shut her out and is now on a quest to save her happy ending, probs didn’t get much sleep, maybe cut her some slack) and then tells her how to sail a boat (despite the fact that there are no boats in Galvadon and I’m sure you can’t just read Peter Pan and learn to sail a boat, unless I did it wrong or something, maybe the storian version comes with a crash course). Here, instead, Nicola presses Hort (who is a pirate’s son) to remember literally anything to help them (therefore making him not completely useless on this quest), and he does and they tell Agatha and she’s like sure and does it.

- Now, in OTK, I literally can’t remember where Nicola was for most of it and I read that book not too long ago, so I’m worried. 

- Okay, so, have the Knights Of Eleven actually serve some purpose, include a scene where Tedros and Nicola stress-play rugby and get her some internal conflict.

- Nic now loves this world. She just spent the last few weeks fighting to protect it. She is now a Knight, and she loves the adventures and the new friends she made. Can she really go back to Gavaldon to take care of a pub? Well, she needs to, doesn’t she? That’s what a good daughter would do.

- After Japeth’s execution, Nic goes straight home.

- Her father’s condition is stable, as he is being treated by Hunter and his new wife.

- Oh boy, Hunter has some explaining to do.

- Nicola is furious that he broke her trust, but at the same time, she’s happy he’s happy and well, Hunter what do you have to say for yourself?

- “Damn, Nic, nice armour- ouch, my arm!”

- Apparently, since Nicola was taken, Stefan approved a law for people to be able to leave their inheritance to whomever they wanted. And since Nic was gonna be at the Woods, her father was more than happy to leave it to Hunter. Of course, unless Nicola wanted to stay at Gavaldon. 

- Does she? She’s not sure.

- Hunter and Nicola attend the tagatha wedding at Camelot (what, like I wasn’t gonna fix this part?), Hunter is Nic’s plus one.

- There, Hester, Anadil and Dot show her Sader’s note, and ask her, not to become School Master, but to become Dean Of Good, because she would be perfect for the new brand of Good to match Sophie’s Evil. You know, since she is all for gender-equality, good manners, practicality and was particularly good at dealing with Sophie’s bs.

- Since Tedros has the Storian Ring, the pen doesn’t need actual protection, well, not more than it can get from Nic and Sophie.

- Sophie herself insists that Nicola accept the position, not because she doesn’t want to be alone at the school now that Hort and Dovey are dead, no, of course not, since when did Sophie ever need anyone, she was just asking cause… cause Nicola looked lonely. The pretty boy who came with her was not her boyfriend, was he? Sophie was prettier than him anyway. Who needs a boy when they can have her?

- Whether they become a couple or not, I’ll let you decide.

- Bonus: years later, Hunter’s eldest daughter is accepted at the School for Good. Nicola is her godmother, and her favoritism shows.

There, if nothing else, the reason you should be mad about Hunter and the Handbook in general is because this didn’t happen.

[sabrinaofwoodsbeyond]

What your fave minor SGE character says about YOU

Part 1: Evers

Beatrix: You love pretty things, probably have a knack for interior design. Drawn to glittery makeup, but tend to use it in moderation.

Reena: You love horses and/or worked at Sephora over the summer. Loves bath bombs but can never find the right time to use them.

Millicent: You catch yourself looking at the celebrity gossip magazines in line at the grocery store way more often than you’re comfortable with.

Kiko: You love mermaids and appreciate good worldbuilding. You might secretly indulge in self-insert fanfiction.

Chaddick: You have a naturally loud voice, and you’re a total dog person. Any dog under 20 pounds is a cat to you. You accidentally saw spoilers for the first part of book 4 weeks before it came out and lost a full night of sleep thinking about it. 

Nicholas: You can’t resist a tragic love story, and you’re very conscious of the fact that all of Tedros’ friends are dying one by one. 

Tristan: You wish so many things about AWWP could have gone differently, but it’s too late. You tend to root for the underdog in love triangles, and you hate Aric with a burning passion. 

Tarquin: You wish mogrifs had more of a role in the story, and you really appreciated the handbook. You like Dreamworks more than Disney. 

Anemone: You played a lot of dressup games online when you were younger, and sometimes you still get the urge to see if they’re still around. You love the Pixie Hollow movies and/or Disney sequels unironically.  

Uma: TLEA is your favorite book in the series. You think every animal is cute. You played a lot of either Neopets or Webkinz as a kid, but you weren’t very good at either.  

Pollux: You probably don’t exist, but if you do then you have a sense of humor and tend not to take things too seriously. You have all the pages where Castor and Pollux have a positive interaction bookmarked. 

Lucas/Espada: You love the Everboys and wish they got more screentime. You were kind of hoping the second trilogy would be about a new generation of SGE students instead of the graduating class. You wish the professors were more fleshed out. 

The Nymphs: You liked the idea of the School for Evil having Satyrs as a counterpart to Nymphs and were disappointed that the idea didn’t make it past book 1. Your first ocs had absolutely eye-searing color palettes.  

The Lady of the Lake: You’re really into Arthurian legend, and you spend hours trying to figure out which characters are most likely to show up. Despite everything, you still hope there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of Gawain appearing. You probably call her “Nimue.”

Willam: You miss Tristan but you know they’re not coming back so you’re making do. You like mysteries, and you’re good at noticing background details.

Nicola: You have a lot of hobbies and enjoy trivia, especially about wildlife or history. You wished that the Evergirls in the original trilogy had more diverse interests and fleshed out personalities, and you liked some of the ideas in AWWP even though the execution left much to be desired. You’ll fight anyone who dislikes a female character for getting in the way of a ship.