I have found these meta posts today and I am LIVING FOR THEM.
So many thoughts swirling through my head (warning—excitable word salad ahead) but I want to say I really love the themes and metaphors addressed here. I read Wayward Son at breakneck pace and I’m listening to the audiobook currently, which is allowing me to appreciate so much more of the nuance, poetry, imagery, and depth of it—but it’s also slapping me in the face with how much of this was foreshadowed in Carry On. (I’ll have to go through and document that whole insight in another post.)
To chime in on some of the issues raised in this meta post by @adamarks.
First a few random thoughts:
1. Rainbow’s dedication in Carry On is about wings—and it is telling. “For Laddie and Rosey—May you fight your own battles and forge your own wings.”
That’s a very positive view of wings. And I don’t think the narrative is leading us to the conclusion of Simon forcibly removing those manifestations of his magic, power, love. He is still magic. Even if he actively can’t cast spells or do magic—his wings are magic, so he is a magical being. So perhaps he gets magic back in the future. Or harnesses the power of the residual magic in him. Or learns to accept who he is, that he believes he is a magical being in his own mind. But I agree that Simon’s wings are tied to his love for Baz—the way they manifest when his emotions are heightened parallels his old magic but in Wayward Son it is almost always in relation to Baz—when he’s comfortable and flying free, when he’s protective/in defense of Baz, when he’s jealous and possessive, when he’s being soft with Baz.
2. The symbol of Wales is a dragon. Simon is part Welsh, from the Mage. To me this somehow further delineates his lineage and the association with dragons. It may just be coincidence but it seems like more to me.
3. Simon’s wings could be spelled away the previous times he created them but the dragon wings and tail he manifests on the night the Humdrum attacks Baz in the forest can’t be—no spell works on them and even the loss of Simon’s magic leaves them unaffected. Simon mentions he was thinking of the dragon when he created the dragon wings and tail—that harks back to the first time he shared magic with Baz.
Simon’s magic burns everyone but Baz. But Baz is a fire mage-he says it himself—“I come from a long line of fire magicians—two long lines, the Grimms and the Pitches. I’m brilliant with fire. As long as I don’t get too close. No … The cruel joke of it is that Simon Snow smells like smoke.”
Simon is very aware of that aspect of Baz—the relation to fire. “It’s always fire with Baz”—Simon says in Carry On. He brings it up over and over—to the Dryad later on-“Pitch is the House of Fire.”
Baz has an affinity for fire. He describes Simon’s magic in terms of fire when Simon shares his magic in the room: “The discomfort goes away, even though the licking, flaming feeling gets stronger. This I know what to do with: This is fire.”
And he does know what to do with it.
Simon’s magic has never felt this controlled—Baz was able to exert a control on it Simon can’t. A fire mage’s control.
Even the “Ladybird” spell for getting the dragon to leave is layered in fire imagery.
The fire imagery returns when Baz is drained by the Humdrum and Simon shares his magic again: “And then Simon filled me up again with fire.” Simon’s magic doesn’t burn him like it burns Penny—Rainbow has gone on record to say it shows the compatibility of their magic.
And speaking of the “Ladybird” spell imagery brings us to:
4. Baz is PROTECTIVE of dragons. We see that in the “Ladybird” scene. He doesn’t want the dragon hurt or killed—he knows it’s being used/controlled and he wants to let it be free, unharmed (do we know someone else who is being used/controlled? Hmm). And Baz is extremely protective of Simon—in the forest after the Humdrum attack, in the tower with the Mage, in the aftermath of those events, in every situation in Wayward Son. Simon’s safety is of paramount importance in Wayward Son. The way Baz behaves in encounter after encounter, only serves to reinforce that. I’ve seen some people comment that it’s out of character but I disagree—Baz is not going to risk danger to Simon from magical beings/situations if he can talk his way out of it without a confrontation. He knows how Simon is in dangerous, confrontational situations and he’d like to avoid those at all costs. He’s willing to do whatever it takes—talk his way out of it, allow goat creatures to feel him up, get shot full of buckshot, brave a den of vampires, trust unreliable allies—but he abandons that and basically rips the jaw off a vampire when he thinks Simon is dead/severely injured. Just as he attacked the Mage in the tower. He throws all caution to the wind and exposes himself unflinchingly to danger and death when it comes to this, when he can’t protect Simon anymore—that’s when he unleashes.
The wings and tail are Simon’s residual magic. They were created by his magic and stayed, even when he gave it all away. To me that signifies they are an integral part of him. And the manifestation that he still is magic. And that they are very tied in/representative of his love for Baz is a truly intriguing and compelling argument. I hadn’t thought of this interpretation but I’m desperate to reread the book with that idea in my head. It really makes a lot of sense.
Final thought goes back to the epilogue of Carry On and how Baz feels when Simon considers the option of Dr. Wellbelove taking care of his wings and tail: “Let’s not do anything hasty”—Baz about Simon’s wings being removed.
Sorry for the scattered word vomit of this. I had a lot of thoughts but won’t claim they were coherent!!
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
vaporwave
areudirty
dailybridgerton
gummygunk
turnnoffyourmind
prguitarman
kianamaiart
titsay
