Evejacks, Mare Barrow and Jurdan trashcan, I think it's clear what my taste in books is by that lol; Lol to yap about books; Don't question me anything about any book I have read unless you are ready to hear a 1350 words essay about it;
⊱ ‼️PURPOSE: The sole purpose of this blog is to share my takes on various books (I mostly do RQ cause it is my favorite but I do intend to work on other books eventually)
⊱ ❓FEEL FREE TO GIVE ME ANY QUESTIONS OR ASKS: I adore books and I read a lot and would be more than happy to answer anything you might think about books!
⊱ 📚 BOOKS I HAVE READ:
- Once Upon a Broken Heart (All books)
- Caraval (All books)
- Red Queen (All books)
- Shadow and Bone (All books)
- The Love Hypothesis (Including the bonus chapter in the collector's edition)
- Kingdom of the Wicked (At the end of book 2)
- Outsider
- Game of Thrones (All books)
- Divine Rivals (All books)
- Throne of Glass (All books)
- The Selection (All the books from the main series)
- The Secret Dinner
And much, much more so if you want to ask about a book, even if you think I haven't read then feel free to ask! (Those are the ones I have more knowledge in tho lol)
⊱ 💬 DM ME if you have read any of the books above and feel like you don't have anyone to talk to about them. I would be more than happy to hear and discuss your thoughts about them!
Kisses,
Mel.
because as i write my long fic with him as the central narrator, my thoughts keep meandering towards all the fun possibilities of his character, the world he lives in, and his political position during most of the series. he's such an interesting little guy! like a bedazzled PopMart collectible <3
just like my previous post, this one might get a little long. and i do mean it—it’s VERY LONG. (can you tell I have a favorite rq series character yet?)
AS A CHILD:
Be forewarned, Elara haters! She’s mentioned in this headcanon category A LOT. Because I'd like to think that if Tibe was the absent parent in Maven's life, Elara was the helicopter parent
I imagine the Nortan court was just like any other actual aristocracy where heirs popped out left and right, and these heirs were deeply valued within their respective noble Silver families. This means one of Queen Elara's duties was to keep herself up to date on noble-blooded couples with and without kids, newlyweds, single parents, etc. It also means the court had lots of children running around every year
Elara was quick to ensure Maven knew the names and faces of his noble peers even as a young boy, and she would regularly flash their images in his head entirely unprompted, and have him think out what their name is, what High House they're from, and what ability they possess
Elara did not care whether Maven was busy with Protocol lessons, eating his meals, or playing with Cal. Whenever Elara was around, she habitually flashed images of a court member for Maven to identify in his head
But as a little kid, he'd say their names aloud each time Elara projected them onto his brain. Which freaked Cal out. (Because why the hell was Maven suddenly sputtering out Larentia Viper's name and house colors in the middle of basic addition and subtraction lessons?)
This means Maven memorized the noble court the same way a baby might memorize number sequences or the alphabet. Innately, almost. But it's to an eerie degree
Elara wanted to dress Maven herself after dismissing his nurses and nannies when she blamed them for him being slow to walk, but she sometimes sincerely forgot to add red to outfits and instead dress him in pristine Calore black onesies and her hand-me-downs dyed in Merandus navy blue
When Tibe laughed about it after noticing Maven's navy blue socks one time at dinner, Elara was mortified and began to incorporate the actual colors of House Calore into Maven's outfits
Going back to the Nortan court being full of babies all the time, Elara would often engage in publicity stunts masked as queenly duties and attend noble baby showers, ceremonial presentations of court children as members of High Houses, birthday parties, etc. She'd bring toddler-aged Maven along with her, and this is how he got to meet noble toddlers while surreptitiously being supervised by Elara the entire time
As kids, Maven and Cal both learned the native languages of their neighboring allies within the continent. During official visits from foreign monarchs, the boys would greet their guests in their own languages. The visitors, trying to pander to the Nortan king and queen, gushed profusely at the boys
Maven wasn't a defiant pupil towards any of his private tutors or whenever he had group lessons with the other noble kids. If anything, he was quite disciplined and did exactly as his tutors asked of him
However, he rarely spontaneously shared with the class for the first year of his primary education. His instructors reported this back to Elara, and she then took it upon herself to chisel away at the part of Maven's baby brain that made him feel shy. Heaven forbid perfect Elara Merandus had a son who didn't know how to overcome his own shyness (and all the while, he's just seven or eight years old...)
So for his succeeding years in noble primary school and as a private pupil of the royal family, Maven was more spontaneous and chattier, having reduced feelings of shyness, but there was an artificial edge to his tone and he mostly just echoed Elara's teachings aloud
Elara also noted that Maven sounded eerily insincere at times after she cut away his shyness, so she then trained him to manipulate his tone of voice to suit particular emotions. She did this, however, without actually encouraging Maven to feel such emotions
So as a kid, he was a mere caricature of hollow expressions and inflections
If it was someone's birthday, he'd greet them with a big smile and give them a present prepared by Elara, but as soon as he turned back around, he'd drop his smile and return to either Cal's side or Elara's side. Whoever he saw first
This did result in some tension between Elara and a noble parent who commented on Maven being "peculiar" among other children at court. People started to mutter amongst themselves that Prince Maven was such a handsome little boy, what a shame he wasn't as bubbly or as enthusiastic as Prince Cal;
Never mind that Maven was otherwise praised by courtiers for being intelligent, mild-mannered, and good-looking. Any negative comment about her son clouded Elara's own perception. And Maven was devastated for feeling like he "failed" Elara;
Elara absolutely seethed at the comments that compared Maven to Cal, because it reflected on her image as both a parent and a queen. So as Maven grew into an older kid, she regularly sat around his (weirdly vast) closet and had Maven face a large mirror while she whispered various scenarios in his head and trained him on how to best react. She had him monitor his own facial expressions, the timing of his smiles and frowns, the tilt of his chin
Maven became acutely aware of his own face at an early age due to this mirror thing Elara had him do
He developed some intensely good active listening skills quite young, too. What with all of Elara's meddling
After noticing that Maven could seldom control his burner abilities as a child, Elara assumed that his inability to regulate himself stemmed from the fact that all his training was done in reinforced areas or outdoors, which gave him no consequences to consider. She decided to quietly "enhance" his abilities by training his fire the way a whisper would be trained: indoors and in crowds
This caused numerous courtier injuries and interior damages brushed off as accidents for years on end. Maven, having picked up being cheeky after Elara hammered it into him, used his royal prince privileges and his annoyingly big and apologetic smile to get off scot-free
Maven didn't learn to regulate and control the strength of his flame until he was about 10 years old. Which irritated Elara, because Cal was a natural at just 8 years old
But all the while, Maven simply did as Elara asked of him. He'd soften his smile on command in front of the mirror. He timed his blinks after Elara once said he "blinked too fast". He'd miss actual lessons just to be around his mom inside his closet, because to him, they were bonding. And she was giving him valuable lessons, wasn't she?
AS A PRE-TEEN / TEEN:
I think I'm giving Maven car guy attributes because I personally feel like driving is one of the crucial times where I absolutely cannot lose my presence of mind. I imagine that Maven, who was constantly manipulated mentally growing up, would seek a hobby that required being both grounded and mentally present
Just like any kid in their pubescent stage, here is where Maven first sought out his own autonomy and began seeking his own interests that were separate from Elara
After walking in on Cal and Cal's manservant tinkering with an old car owned by their grandfather, Tiberias V, Maven started to become interested in cars. Not repairing or refurbishing them like Cal does, though. But driving them
Upon asking, Elara told Maven that she knew the basics of driving but never needed to put herself behind the steering wheel. After all, the queen of Norta had a handful of chauffeurs. And so did he, as prince
This did not deter Maven's interest in the slightest, and after asking the ones closest to the royal family for anyone who could tell him more about the pristine but unused car collection beneath Whitefire Palace, Maven learned that his father was once an avid driver back in the day
So 12-year-old Maven mustered up the courage to ask his dad about driving, which made Tibe positively beam. Cal, after all, showed very little interest in actually driving the vehicles Tibe allowed him to refurbish with supervision, and Cal insisted that he was ready to tinker with airplanes at the ripe age of 14 (Tibe, sensible only because he's an adult where Cal's a literal teenager, obviously said no)
Tibe and Maven began to bond over cars more and more, which brought Maven closer to Tibe. Tibe shared that he had an affinity for cars because he grew up in the era of Norta where techies began churning out more vibrant, better-equipped transports that were then utilized by the royal family and nobility (Tibe chose not to tell his youngest son that he often overestimated himself in his youth and sought the thrill of driving drunk and crashing because it delighted him whenever he came out of crashes unscathed due to his burner abilities making him immune to death by fire)
Maven, intuitive as ever, clocked that his alcoholic dad was likely seeking cheap thrills to drown out some unspoken pains in his youth and expressed these thoughts to Elara. Who then, obviously, picked a fight with Tibe for "encouraging recklessness" in their son
Maven just wanted to learn how to drive, man
Once Maven and Cal were of age to train at the warfront in Corvium, Maven's interest in driving grew stronger. He was physically apart from Elara for the very first time in his life, which directly allowed him to explore his own curiosities more and more
He'd watch trained soldiers operate large tanks, personnel carriers, you name it!
I imagine the military city of Corvium was a hub of excess and Silvers both common and noble engaged in shady activity—which Maven and Cal were sometimes still exposed to despite their Sentinels’ best efforts to keep them away;
This is where Maven first witnessed the art of underground drag racing (My deepest apologies. There will be no lip syncing for your life in this one, though I do believe that sort of drag race also exists somewhere else in Norta too!)
I’d like to believe Maven fantasized about cars a lot and spoke extensively about them with his first crush, Thomas, who clearly harbored zero interest in manning military vehicles but listened to the annoyingly handsome little prince
Thomas was the one who first attributed Maven’s desire to drive with his desire to assert control over his own autonomy. This, however, was something Maven was quick to deny;
Maven was still at the stage of believing everything Elara had done thus far was out of love and concern for him as her son
Every summer when the royal brothers would return to palace life from their military education at the warfront, Cal and Maven would take their shot at emulating the races they witnessed back in Corvium. First, with remote-controlled toy transports they got as gifts. They’d make up rules and prizes, until it got to the point where they actively encouraged their noble peers to join in and place bets
Tiberias was amused by his sons’ antics. Elara, decidedly, was not
But it wasn’t enough for either brother, of course. When Cal first got his license at age 16, he took Maven out for a spin on one of Tibe’s personal cars. The brothers took to the dirt roads on the outskirts of Harbor Bay. They sure knew how to keep their Sentinels petrified!
One time, just before he was set to earn his own license, Maven shared his theory about their father’s affinity for driving with Cal—the one where Maven assumed Tibe was thrill-seeking because he came out of crashes relatively unscathed thanks to his burner powers—and Cal thought it would be a great idea to put it to the test
They both got minor injuries on impact
Cal, a sprain on his leg. Maven, well-deserved whiplash
But they did get to use their abilities to get them out of Tibe’s burning car, though!
Elara was livid, as per usual. Tibe gave them both a stern lecture as their skin healers patched them up
Another argument between Elara and Tibe resulted in Maven learning the basics of safe driving from his father (fucking ironic), whereas Cal got most of his driving lessons from a private instructor
For his 17th birthday, Tibe gifted Maven a beautiful vintage car. Cal was Maven’s first passenger, and they braved the packed roads of East Archeon—much to their Sentinels’ distress (so enamored by the idea that both brothers are a huge pain in the ass to deal with according to their Sentinels)
Whenever the royal family had guests visiting, whether it was nobles taking up residence in Whitefire or foreign dignitaries, Maven would be tasked by Tibe or Elara to socialize by giving the guests a tour of the grounds on his shiny new whip
But soon after Maven finally got the hang of driving, Elara managed to succeed in chiseling away Maven’s fondness and affection for Tiberias. Elara was quick to turn the tables against Tibe, telling Maven that his father was only choosing to teach Maven the art of driving because Cal was busy learning how to fly planes instead. Had Cal taken an interest in cars the same way Maven did, Maven wouldn’t be a priority pupil for Tibe to put in effort for
No matter how hard Elara tried to cut away Maven’s love for driving as a whole, she couldn’t quite manage it. I’d like to think Maven loving a new skill is something Elara tries not to mess with, for fear that he may regress. Again, heaven forbid Elara Merandus has a son who’s dim-witted and unable to do anything by himself
And on the flip side, having a son who was a skilled driver proved to be beneficial for Elara after all;
Maven would volunteer to drive Elara to her appointments and royal appearances. If he had to make an appearance somewhere in Archeon, he’d beg his Sentinels to let him drive
It was only after Thomas’s untimely death when Maven finally came to terms with Thomas’s statement about why Maven loved the idea and the feeling of driving so much—because it finally allowed him to have full control over his body, his brain, and his focus after spending his entire childhood as Elara’s mini-me
Maven never really stopped his habit of rehearsing speeches and micromanaging his own expressions as he grew into his teens and started taking on more civic appearances as the second prince of Norta
Some of his favorite royal duties include visiting care homes filled with Silver war orphans. Because who better to manipulate into propaganda than little ones? He’d read to the kids and make sure he gets photographed while doing so!
Another preferred royal activity of his is visiting art galleries and music halls on special Silver holidays
His least favorite royal duties are making appearances at geriatric veteran facilities. He makes up various excuses to get out of them whenever those engagements appear on his timetable;
This appearance, by contrast, is Cal’s favorite. Cal loves listening to all the past siege stories the veterans have for him
Spontaneity didn’t come naturally to Maven because of Elara’s mental prodding. Sure he can come up with speeches on the fly and please the general public, but that’s because the skill was hard-wired into him by Elara
His skill at making his concern for others appear sincere is something that he had to master for a long time. He wasn’t a great liar or manipulator right off the bat;
So the kind, mild-mannered, and even-tempered Prince Maven that Mare first met was a false demeanor of Maven’s that took years in the making to get just right
AS THE KING OF NORTA:
This was my favorite phase of Maven’s character in the canon series. Him as the king and main villain was quite, quite buzzy. He wasn’t afraid to be a complete bitch even to the girl he claimed to love. Compared to other YA villains in more recent popular novels, Maven has certain elements to his character that make him continue to stand out despite his story being published a decade ago
Due to various safety laws in Norta regarding vehicular travel for the monarch, Maven was obligated to either be chauffeured or have Sentinel companions at all times if he chose to drive himself
But to compensate for his frustration at not being able to drive himself around all that often, he commissioned a lot of new cars. Elara thought it was in poor taste for Maven to place these orders so soon after Tibe’s death
Maven, manipulative cunt that he is, said that his new collection was meant to honor his late father who taught him how to drive. Touching, I know
He barely drove any of his new cars in the first few months of his reign while Elara was still alive and constantly holding his hand through sovereignity
But he drove himself in Tibe’s old gift around the palace grounds after hearing of Elara’s death. He was not to be disturbed by courtiers, mourners, or even his guards
He then ordered that the car Tibe gifted him be scrapped soon after
Despite not having a body for him to bury, Maven ordered a civil ceremony to honor Elara’s memory. Court attendance was mandatory, and anyone who didn’t show up was profiled by Sentinels and personnel loyal to Maven and Elara
Maven wasn’t actually clueless about sovereignity or ruling Norta as Mare or Evangeline painted him out to be in their own POVs. I’d like to think neither girl knows the deeper ins and outs of Nortan politics the same way a true monarch or royalty would—as that sort of leadership training is reserved for members of House Calore to learn exclusively; to ensure total power over Norta remained in the hands of a Calore
In King’s Cage, whenever he wasn’t pestering Mare as his prisoner, he was actually engaging in many, many civic duties required of him since he was now the only active member of the royal family. He wasn’t just moping around the palace all day. His ass was booked and busy!
He learned how to cover his irritation and anger with smiles when he became the king of Norta. He mastered the art of a wide, calm grin while delivering acerbic words to anyone who tried to question his politics in court
Maven’s advisors and publicists (Yes, I do believe he had a team surrounding him as the monarch. But their loyalties were to Elara, really) often warned Maven about the optics of remaining unwed knowing that the rest of his immediate family were either dead or, in Cal’s case, a fugitive;
He was urged to marry Evangeline just a few weeks into him accessing the throne. Elara was the one who countered that it would be improper for Maven to marry so soon after losing his father. After Elara’s death, Maven came up with the same excuse when urged to marry Evangeline, stating it would be improper to let the time for mourning coincide with their wedding day;
One of the more trivial reasons as to why Maven didn’t want to marry Evangeline, even when he was still the second prince, was largely because he knew Eve would never let him have a say in her wardrobe. To me, Maven totally seems like the sort of guy who actually cares about what image he and his future bride would project if they stood next to each other;
And Eve looking powerful and not at all demure next to a king who’s already considered lesser, already known to have claimed the title only because the true heir was on the run? That would’ve made Maven look meek. It would’ve made Norta look like a country that could be overthrown by foreign invaders or even rebels
Maven is often given intel about rumors surrounding him, both in foreign kingdoms and within Nortan social circles. The most prominent rumor during his earlier months as king was how selective he was, seeing as he’d been engaged to Mare at 17, then breaking it off to then propose to Evangeline months later, and then remaining spoken for but unwed for months on end
His least favorite rumor was that he was holding off on getting married because he was impotent. That pissed him right off. He obviously ensured that rumor would not see itself get printed and distributed among the masses. Heaven forbid
After breaking off his engagement to Evangeline to instead propose to Iris, Maven gained a bit of public flack, especially within his noble court, as word spread that Evangeline actually witnessed the moment King Orrec sealed the deal with Maven through a marriage treaty
This means Maven had to work overtime to regain a lot of favor among his own nobles, even roping Iris into playing along quite often. Much to Iris’s annoyance (Can you see how much the two month gap between Maven’s engagement to Iris and their wedding day actually weasels its way into my mind?)
Maven had to deal with questions from the press about his two failed betrothals, and whether or not he had plans to sever this new one with Iris;
But now that he had the unsteady allyship Lakelands, he became a lot more selective about what he shared to the masses. Not that he was a messy public figure in the first place, but his more placid demeanor when answering press questions was mostly to appease the Cygnets;
Maven knew he couldn’t afford to lose this deal with the Lakelanders while Norta was at war with the Scarlet Guard, so he was quite active in planning his and Iris’s wedding. This is in stark contrast to how indifferent he was when planning his and Eve’s wedding before;
During meals with Orrec and Iris, Maven would be the first to broach the topic of the actual wedding ceremony. Again, mostly to appease the Cygnets more than an actual enthusiasm to marry Iris;
Iris, for her part, indulged in Maven’s performatively chivalrous queries about ring sizes and decoration preferences. After all, she was trying to appease her father as well
But regardless of whether or not his betrothed was at his side during a royal appearance, Maven remained immensely genial and appealing to the masses—he loved to talk about how he’d always wished to end Norta’s war with the Lakelands, and how elated he is to be welcoming the Cygnets as his new family;
This, however, also came with disdain from his own nobles. They hated the fact that Maven sought allyship with Norta’s century-old enemy. Moreover, they hated that a Lakelander would become their new queen;
I’d love to think that a good chunk of his political conflict as king happened because Maven deciding to marry Iris came with love from the masses of Norta, but also cane with bitterness from other High Houses
Maven consistently appeared for public engagements within and outside of Archeon even if it meant his entire day would require him to act as king. I’d like to believe his train of thought is that, the more he shows up for Norta as king, the quicker people will adore him
And just like my first headcanon post, Maven is a huge attention addict. Any adoration he lacked as a second prince, he tried to make up for time and time again as king
And that’s a wrap on my current Maven Calore headcanons! Man, this post was lengthy. Most of it is personal, purely just to assist me in my fic writing.
I hope if you had fun if you read all the way to the end. I think making headcanons are my new niche on this blog!
This is niche, but it’s my niche and for so I shall comment on every bullet point present
AS A CHILD:
- Totally agree with that, actually think it’s funny AS F to imagine child Cal looking at Maven and being like “I love you bro… But you're weird”.
- Although it’s funny I sort of disagree with this one cause Elara had only fired Maven’s nanny. I believe she was much more in the educational part of Maven’s childhood instead of the mundane things. Plus baby clothes in noble houses were rarely kept unless they were part of an important event in the child’s life, so there is really almost no chance that Elara could have any of her childhood socks
- Totally believe Elara would do that, in fact, knowing her, I wouldn’t doubt if she actually was going on other babies/parents heads to see what their thoughts on Maven were
- About the languages, yep, very politically accurate lol
- 100% THAT. Maven was like the smart kid of the class. Although I kind of head canon that Maven didn’t particularly liked any of his tutors, in fact I believe he sort of disliked a good portion of them.
- Elara going snip snip snip on Maven’s shyness is VERY CANON.
- Elara: “Fake it.”
Child Maven: “Fake it till you make it?”
Elara: “No, just fake it.”
- Elara when Maven went to Cal’s side after giving someone a happy bday
- Elara when people said that Maven wasn’t as bubbly as Cal:
- I think Elara sort of also manipulated Maven, using such comments as proof of love. Like a: “Look you are shy and unbubbly and yet I’m here ‘loving’ you and fixing you.”
- THE MIRROR THING IS SO TRUE AAA
- Maven whenever he blew off an entire family duo to Elara’s “training”:
(Also think he would actually LOVE to apolagize and get away with this, it would make him feel powerful)
AS A PRE-TEEN / TEEN:
- You’re sort of gonna hate me for it, but for me Maven doesn’t even know how to drive at all 😭. It’s just not something that he was ever mentioned to like and if he indeed had a car giving by Tibe it would 100% have been commented on. It gives much more ‘Cal’ to me. For me Maven is more of an ‘arts’ person. Like he loves theater and shit and this is actually something that was more crucial on him being distant from his dad, cause it was a sort of liking that Tiberias couldn’t understand/respect.
- I do agree orphans would be Maven’s favorite way to milk propaganda
“Another preferred royal activity of his is visiting art galleries and music halls on special Silver holidays”
- YESSSS
- Maven does not hehe the military at ALL
- Agree with the speech thing cause when Mare went off of plans in the end of RQ Maven forgot his rehearsed speech and got D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E.
- I think Maven was more than what he had rehearsed to be/act throughout his life when he was with Mare, after all Elara was basically telling him to be exactly the definition of Mare’s dream man. I think Elara more of taught Maven how to pretend on demand.
AS THE KING OF NORTA:
“This was my favorite phase of Maven’s character in the canon series. Him as the king and main villain was quite, quite buzzy. He wasn’t afraid to be a complete bitch even to the girl he claimed to love. Compared to other YA villains in more recent popular novels, Maven has certain elements to his character that make him continue to stand out despite his story being published a decade ago”
Maven is iconic, what can we say?
- Even without me being an atheist on the car thing, I also don’t believe in that scenario Elara would comment on it giving that she stopped wearing mourning colors in like 8 days or something
- I sort of agree and disagree about the sovereignty thing cause even tho you can argue that the knowledge was kept between the Calore family that wouldn’t really change things cause it would be passed down to the heir and Maven wasn’t the heir. Everything he learnt about ruling came from Elara, likely in a ‘Nicolau Machiavel’ style.That’s why I feel it can be agreed that Maven, as a king, rules well when the subject if politics and social relations with the public, but with other things like war and even, dare I say, a part of administration (things like treasury and such), he likely struggled for a part
- 1000% agree with Maven being busy AF. Knowing Maven he was showing his face off and around. Not only duo to duties, but also cause I think it’s clear that Maven had a issue to have reds know that he was the king, in a manner that they could RECOGNIZE his face as the king’s face. Something that wasn’t really a worry of kings for many centuries.
- Considering the family context Maven was a 100000000000% being REALLY PRESSURED into marrying and having a child
- Weirdly enough for me one of the reasons of why Maven disliked Elara, and why I believe Elara liked Evangeline as a potential bride, was cause Evangeline reminded Maven of his own mother in many ways. Maven CLEARLY has a complex when it comes to his brides. Mare herself says that seeing Maven and Evangeline discussing reminded her of Tiberias and Elara and Maven was DEEPLY paranoid with Iris, fearing that she wanted to take his crown and he claims that Evangeline would also try to do that to Cal had she become Cal’s queen. Lil bro is CLEARLY projecting his mother into his brides and is deep down scared to suffer the ‘same fate’ as his father.
- 100% agree with being more discreet to please the Cygnets, I mean he literally stopped taking breakfast with Mare or seeing her at all
- Iris was SO SUFFERING FROM SIDE EYES from the high houses just for being lakelander
- I believe Maven also likes to do it cause gives him ego boost and makes him believe he is being a better king than Cal would ever be
And just like my first headcanon post, Maven is a huge attention addict. Any adoration he lacked as a second prince, he tried to make up for time and time again as king
My gift for @tinyy-jj for the Valentines Gift exchange!
This art was based of on the Royal portrait "The Family of Crown Prince and Crown Princess Frederick William of Prussia" Made in 1862, not necesserly cause I think Iris And Maven would have a relationship like theirs, but more cause I thought they were giving Iconic.
(Heavily apolagize for the faces tho, drawing small faces on paper was harder than I predicted. Hope you like It JJ, It was Made with lots And lots of love!!)
tagged by @p1kacooch (such a great username btw) 💓
favorite color: green!! all shades!!! but rn I’m loving a olive/grass green
last song listened to:
currently reading: art on my mind by bell hooks
currently watching: not much tbh but the last show I really locked into was physical:asia they fight with so much passion and honor 😭 had me on my feet multiple times
currently craving: lesbian kinships full of yearning, understanding, and mutual obsession
coffee or tea: only coffee if it’s blended and cold with whipped creams and syrups and tea when my wife makes it with sweet milk and brown sugar and love
tagging: @sinistersadfemme , @museofthedamned , @undue-traveler , @iheartscarystuds , @ladiablesse , @floralvagina , @beend0ver , and whoever wants to share! pls tag me cause I’m nosy :3
favorite color: i have several but they're specific shades!! eggplant purple, oxblood red, olive green and butter yellow are my loves.
last song listened to:
currently reading: all about love by bell hooks and the egyptain book of the dead :3
currently watching: i started f is for family not too long ago and it's funny asf. ive had bojack horseman on the watchlist for YEARS and i'll hopefully get around to it soon
currently craving: a blunt and a nut 😭 im out of ganja and haven't gotten off in like 2 weeks RELEASE MEEEEE
coffee or tea: tea in all forms, coffee is just nasty and makes me need to shit
yayy i love being tagged in these!! love u desi <3
favorite color: red and black i can’t choose
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currently reading: meh nothing interesting atm
currently watching: the chromatica ball on hbo max. shameless and a plethora of cartoons (im a sucker 4 animations). also rlly wanna watch knights of guinevere i’ll get 2 it soon
currently craving: 1mil $$ and 2 see the mayhem ball live
coffee or tea? idk bc sum ppl say frappes don’t count as coffee but i luv them. i only like tea if it’s cold, sweet, and mixed w fruits or lemonade
tagging: @chipswsauce @nitevision2002 @kissoflabrys @szasleftcheek @lotuseatter @s-y-s-y @hiii-hii @dolldocile @sappho-favourite-pupil @brownisposts @taytxr-tots + all my mutuals i have so many of u beautiful ppl in my phone
Omg I'd like to thank my parents for birthing me, my friends, my online friends and my cats.
Any toes.
Tagged by : @bunniesnbannanas , a queer- I mean queen. I swear..
Fav color: pink bc it's so me
Last song listened to:
Currently reading: Tears on A Withered Flower
Currently watching: Sam and Colby 😭
Currently craving: SEUNGMINNN (NOT IN MY BUILDING💔)
Coffee or tea: mannnnn... Who you think I am bro I don't drink coffee (unless it's black coffee) it taste hella weird with creamer.. TEA BECAUSE I SERVE IT
Last song listened to: the What It Sounds Like demo version by EJAE
What It Sounds Like (Demo Version - EJAE)
currently reading: several fanfics in my tabs . . . but the only good ones are Newblood Queen by yours truly and Your Blood Whispers My Name by @bruised-punk
currently watching: rant review on What Fury Brings by Reads with Rachel
tnx for the tag people, I'm a lazy person lol
Favorite color: Red and purple
Last song listened to: Fantasize (Ariana, don't sue me)
Currently reading: The Maid
Currently watching: #MeChamadeBruna (Basically a Brazilian serie abt a hooker)
Currently craving: Sleep and pineapple
Coffee or tea: Coffee, my beloved
Fare Well
By Maven Calore
Farewell
Fare well
My old foe, my empty shell
So softly mourning, ever quiet
I bury deep, and you should try it
All I know, and all I lost
So I at last forget the cost
Of what I reached
And always seeked
And could not let you glimpse again
No matter how you reached a hand
Cut for cut and blood for blood
It’s all I know and all I love
Trapped within this ceaseless ether
That I cannot escape either
The voice that beckons at my door
To cut you deep, forevermore
Farewell
Fare well
My old foe, my empty shell
So softly mourning, ever quiet
I bury deep, and you should try it
All I know, and all I lost
So I at last forget the cost
Of what I reached
And always seeked
And could not let you glimpse again
No matter how you reached a hand
I am weak and I am soft
I let you in and let you walk
Upon the thoughts I should’ve said
But then let sink, so swiftly dead
I hate you then, I hate you now
Even as I spiral down
Into the depths you cannot save
And wouldn’t, since I’ve dug my grave
Farewell
Fare well
My old foe, my empty shell
So softly mourning, ever quiet
I bury deep, and you should try it
All I know, and all I lost
So I at last forget the cost
Of what I reached
And always seeked
And could not let you glimpse again
No matter how you reached a hand
She’s still here, and she can’t stop
This love that I have long forgot
But cannot share when you are gone
When you are right, and I am wrong
So kill me now
And kill me loud
So I can leave, and you can grieve
The boy you lost and never knew
Still lurking, hidden, out of view
sometimes all the engagement with your fics you need is one person being so aggressively enthusiastic about you updating your pet project it makes your heart melt <3
*SPOILERS ON RED QUEEN, GLASS SWORD, A BIT OF KING'S CAGE, WAR STORM, AND A BIT OF BROKEN THRONE*
During the series, we saw that Elara had clearly no issues in getting inside her son's head and changing it as she saw fit. Mare was in a way a weakness, one so grand that it is cause of her that he let's Cal - his biggest 'rival' twords the crown - walk free only to get her as his prisoner ""willingly"" (I actually might make another take going further on this cause I have a lot of things to discuss around Mare's arrest, but this just ain't this post focus lol) .
So knowing all of that, why would Elara willingly keep Mare in Maven's head instead of trying to take her out, like she did with Thomas, or simply trying to erase the feeling she brought him, like she did with Cal and Tiberias?
I think the answer is Cal.
You see, in WS we have our first Maven-POV chapter and in there Maven comments that Mare was the one who broke the bond he had with Cal, not Elara, he even says during the bathtub scene that Mare 'took his brother away from him,' and this is AFTER YEARS that Elara constantly tried to make Maven hate his brother.
That and the fact that everytime Maven is thinking about Cal the only moments where he is really hating on him are the moments he thinks about how he stole Mare from him allegedly (just remembering that this is not my opinion per se, I'm just pointing out what MAVEN says on his chapter), you could argue that there are some scenes - such as that extra chapter in BT - where he is bad-commenting on Cal and Mare isn't in his head, but in that scene Maven is mostly just calling Cal stupid, there isn't really a hate there or in any other scene besides when he thinks of Cal kissing Mare.
There is literally NO OTHER SPECIFIC SCENE or event in Maven's life that he mentions to justify his hate towards his brother, in fact, when Maven thinks abt Cal without immediately linking it to Mare, he even says that he is aware that Cal loves him and that he proved it over the years.
What I think happened is that Mare was the first thing that really made Maven share a genuine hate towards his brother, and Elara recognized the power of this feeling, maybe even saw HERSELF in it. After all, when Coriane "stole Tiberias" from her, she did whatever it took to ensure she would get the crown. I believe Elara didn't like having Mare living rent free in her son's head, but that she saw is as an "necessary evil"/"A means to an end", that she thought that feeling he had twords Mare would fuel him to charge harder against his brother and do whatever it took to destroy him, just like she did with Coriane. I believe she was afraid to mess with Maven's memory of Mare or reduce the feeling cause it could backfire and make Maven come back to not hate his brother anymore, cause if he was hating on Cal because he was passionate over Mare and Cal stole her, why would he keep hating on Cal if he did not feel passion over Mare anymore? I believed she wanted to wait until Cal was dead, and then she could try and be inventive and try to erase her from his head. It just never occurred to her that she would die first.
Me and @admirame cooking up how if Red Queen had social media people would be shipping Mare and Maven sooooo hard during King's Cage. Like full on Everytime We Touch by Cascada and Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran edits. Papparazzi photos of Mare and Maven entering the same car on the tour and him looking at her for the briefest of seconds. Thousands of comments about how lucky Mare is floating around, dozens of essays beneath his posts about how she doesn't deserve him and is toxic and problematic and should die, obvi. And when they get blocked they pull up the screenshot and go hmm . . . suspicious. Since when did Mare have access to the king's social media account?
Maven's WHOLE TOUR was abt punishing Mare, AND WE FORGET ABOUT IT
*SPOILERS ON RED QUEEN AND KING'S CAGE*
This one seems quite obvious, but trust me when I say that there is a high chance you never quite realised the true extent of it. Cause simply the whole tour, since the moment Mare woke up, was designed to be her WORST NIGHTMARE.
Starting off from the very beginning of the tour. Mare is simply shoved by her guards out of bed and given a coat. They don't tell her ANYTHING at all and just force her to walk to a dark room underground. Mare is super confused and lowkey sleep deprived, she has no idea of what is going on, and as so she connects the dots that Maven is going to lock her in that room and she PANICKS.
Proof of my words (This is more of in case you don't remember the scene or don't remember the extent of Mare's feeling, if you do, you may skip it):
(Page 179 King's Cage)
(Page 180 - King's Cage)
And then, when she is fully panicked, the guards move her to show a train station, mind you, the only train Mare has ever seen belonged to the Scarlet Guard, so Mare GENUINELY GETS HER HOPES UP BEING THERE. Only for Maven to show up and crush such dreams.
The thing is that MAVEN KNOWS MARE, he tells us over and over how well he knows her, that he knows her like no one else, this little thing of bringing Mare to a dark room only to them show her the train, making her panic, only to them give her hope to then crush, it is all porpuseful, he knew exactly what he was doing, he was TOYING WITH HER.
Later on, we have the fact that Mare is LITERALLY THE ONLY IGNORANT ONE in that whole travel, and Maven PURPOSELY sets it so she is kept in the dark. The train where they move HAS NO WINDOWS, and Mare is constantly exposed to the fact that everyone knows something THAT SHE DOES NOT. When they are in the train, everyone knows where they are heading, except Mare, is only when she arrives to the Welle House that she even discovers that they are on a tour and even when she is given out that information it is clear given by the current discussion Maven is having with the Governor and everyone's behaviour (such as Evangeline's) that the people around her know something that she doesn't and it really leaves Mare in an anxious state.
(Page 192 - King's Cage)
Mind you, this ISN'T common Maven behavior, it is true that he did keep her in the dark about the guard things, but never with the things >HE< was going to do. THAT WAS ALL ON PURPOSE. It would do little to no harm to spare her some info on where they were going; he could have done that on the train; he deliberately omitted such information just to >MESS WITH HER HEAD<.
Following on, we have the >THE TOUR ITSELF<. MARE HATED THE TOUR. I will not even argue how she feels. I will give you her own words in the books.
(Page 190 - King's Cage)
As you can see, Mare finds the WHOLE SITUATION UTTERLY DEGRADING. And now it is a good thing to remember that MAVEN PLANNED THIS WHOLE THING, and again MAVEN KNOWS MARE LIKE NO ONE ELSE. He knew VERY WELL that this was what she was going to feel about it. Again, this was purposeful.
Plus: Remember the fact that Mare was completely blind to everything that was going on? To Maven's Marriage with Iris, to the tour, even to the fact that they were going to travel? Well, yeah, cause of that she left her books (Her comfort object) in Whitefire. And Maven knows very well how Mare feels about those books. HE HANDED THEM TO HER. He likely got a report of how she did not destroy them and was instead careful with them and how she would read them daily, and he deliberately left her without THIS COMFORT, a thing Mare dreads.
(Page 192 - King's Cage)
IN CONCLUSION, Maven's whole tour was a way to punish Mare. EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HE DID ON THAT TOUR, he did to PUNISH HER, making her feel over-exposed, humiliated, degraded, and vulnerable ALL ON PURPOSE.
And all of that because a few days before it, Mare had made him vulnerable and pushed his buttons, and we know that because he literally tells MARE THAT when she goes to his car with the iconic "If you're going to play with my head, I'm going to play with yours." So the next time you go to read that scene, remember, it was in some percentage to help Maven stabilize his powers, but it was mainly about messing with Mare.
SPOILERS ON: RED QUEEN, KING'S CAGE, BROKEN THRONE
I will have to admit I am nervous as shit writing this right now cause it's such a delicate argument, I either do it right or it blows immensely wrong, cause we are talking about the MERANDUS TODAY and what I believe to be their family culture.
So getting straight to the point, the theory I have is: Elara was not the first Merandus to get inside the mind of her child and built, change, mix, and remix it as she saw fit. I believe this i,s in fact, almost a *norm* in House Merandus.
WHY DO I THINK THAT?
1- In Broken Throne, when we are reading the end of Coriane's novella, we have a specific phrase that says that after Coriane's death, Elara slept and dreamed of nothing. I have discussed it with some people, and although I get it that some people may think it was just a thing to give the novella a cool end, I simply CANNOT BRING MYSELF TO ACCEPT THAT AT ALL. Cause VA has glossed over the fact of Maven not dreaming enough times for us to know it is a relevent topic for her, it is a mark, a symbol of Elara's influence on his head. I just cannot see her adding this detail in the end of the novella just because yes, I believe she put that Elara dreamt of nothing because Elara couldn't dream of anything, just like Maven. Also meaning that just like Maven, Elara's capability to dream was stripped away from her likely from her father or someone else in the family.
2- In King's Cage, Maven reveals that the reason why he uses a silent throne is cause he does not wish to keep having to deal with his family's whispers which they consider to be advice.
This means that at some point in the trajectory, other Merandus got inside Maven's head and I think saying that none of them noticed the MASSIVE SIGNS of Merandus craft in his head it's a big stretch, so we ought to believe that Maven's family was most likely aware of Maven's condition and none of them did anything about it. Mind you, the Merandus family is neither small nor loveless. Maven seems to have lots of cousins on his mother's side, and Samsom screams 'No!' during the attack Maven suffered in KC, plus the fact that Samsom clearly was distressed from Elara's death. From what we had from indications of the books the Merandus family was always a fucked up and toxic one but never careless about one another, if Elara messing with her son's head was a topic of concern I find it hard to believe that none of them would have at least tried to step up and if someone did we would likely have seen it in the books. So from all the gathered evidence seems safe to believe that the Merandus family was aware of Maven's situation and were fine with it.
3- The Merandus persona: Every single Merandus that we were presented with in the books had were absolute sociopath. Literally all of them (including Maven) had no remorse with torturing, killing, and so much more with other people. They just had a very scarce sense of empathy unless it was with themselves. Ofc you could argue that throughout the series we saw various silvers torture and kill others, even Cal himself did that, but the difference was that even when they did it, it was somewhat humanly understandable. Cal tortured people when needed but he did so, having to reasure himself that it was a duty he had to follow and others silvers such as Evangelin,e could bring themselves to hurt reds cause they had completely desuminized the reds, they praticaly didn't even saw them as humans up to RQ. The Merandus on the other hand had no trouble torturing and killing twords their own "Kind", as is indicated when we first see Samsom fight in the Feast of the first friday at the very start of RQ in which Samsom comes close to killing his rival with 0 to no remorse whatsoever and they surely do not do it for a sense of duty cause again it is indicated other Merandus got into Maven's head before he got the silent throne. They all knew what Elara had done. They didn't care. The Merandus all clearly suffer from a severe lack of empathy and who is the one person in the books that is the closest to a Merandus and who clearly also shares this empathy lack? Maven.
And we know Maven is the way he is heavily due to Elara's influence on him, so it makes sense to me that just like Maven's roots of empathy lack come from Merandus craft in his head, the other Merandus empathy-lack also comes from Merandus craft, removing every sign of weakness a Merandus could have since before they learn how to speak.
Holy gods, this was really long lol, I actually have more reasons but honestly for them to be valid you sort of have to stretch it up to consider it :')
Anyway, this are just my thoughts on it. As usual yall are more than welcome to share your opnions in the coments (yall know I love to discuss RQ), and a special thanks to all the people who voted for the Merandus family culture take, it really warms my heart to see so many people interested in RQ and for everyone who voted for the Calore's Brothership take don't frat cause I am cooking that, just might take a little longer cause I wish to reread their scenes in WS before I post it to ensure I am not speaking BS. Thanks for reading :)
