A place for my Death Gate Cycle trash

I needed a place to put my posts about a book series with no fandom that ended in 1994. ephemeralconstructs is my main, and posting_cute_things is my AO3

[deathgatesideblog]

Hate that it’s canon that Trian is hot and a slut

“His youthful good looks and charming manner ensured that, though unmarried, he rarely spent a night in bed alone, unless he wanted.”

Like I did not need to know this about the castle wizard, book.

…This ALSO implies that Alfred was well aware of this fact about Trian, given the framing of the books. Thanks! I hate it!

[deathgatesideblog]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I wrote a thing where Bane and Haplo talk about Alfred during Hand of Chaos btw

[deathgatesideblog]

“He doesn’t go around with the Sartan. The dolphins see him walking on the pier alone a lot. They say he looks much nicer than the Sartan, whose faces seem to have stayed frozen when the rest of them thawed out. The dolphins would like to talk to him, but he has a dog with them that barks at them when they come too close–”

This is just a good image, aw.

Though also I bet Alfred would have enjoyed talking to the dolphins!!!

[dgc-trash]

i think i’ve posted about this before but i still want to read more about Alfred’s life as a chamberlain in the human court on Arianus and his life having to deal with Bane all the time

it’s just such an interesting period of his life to me

[dgc-trash]

Like imagine someone finding Bane just hanging out and playing or whatever when he’s supposed to be studying and they ask where his chamberlain is, since Alfred should be supervising him and keeping him on task, and he’s like

“Oh, Alfred fell down the stairs again and when he got to the bottom he passed out.”

“...is he...still there...?”

“I don’t know, probably? Alfred is always fine when he falls so I don’t really bother to check on him.”

[dgc-trash]

i think i’ve posted about this before but i still want to read more about Alfred’s life as a chamberlain in the human court on Arianus and his life having to deal with Bane all the time

it’s just such an interesting period of his life to me

[dgc-trash]

I can’t believe Xar missed his big opportunity to do the biggest Caesar LARP of all time and didn’t throw himself a Roman Triumph through the streets of the Nexus with Samah playing the role of a captured foreign king (like Vercingetorix in real life).

[dgc-trash]

I also can’t believe he thought Haplo was his Brutus when Haplo was really his Labienus all along. A loyal lieutenant until he crossed the Rubicon. ):

[dgc-trash]

I can’t believe Xar missed his big opportunity to do the biggest Caesar LARP of all time and didn’t throw himself a Roman Triumph through the streets of the Nexus with Samah playing the role of a captured foreign king (like Vercingetorix in real life).

[cosmik-homo]

Good morning to dudes with dogs, idealistic yet heartbroken queers, girls who always break up first, people who speak entirely in references, 40 year old professionals who are still emo, murderous preteens, cross-cultural childhood friends, morosexual dwarves, their brilliant rebel boyfriends, and anyone who was taught to hate, but never told how to love.

[deathgatesideblog]

I am more afraid now than I have ever been in my life. The evil is very great, very powerful, and I face it alone, as my name foretold. Alone, except for a dog.

Ok stop me if this is too obvious but. “Alone, except for a dog” is such a good line. I don’t know if it was intentional, but damn, the symbolism the books have established, you know? Haplo: alone. Alone, except for a dog– the dog meaning Haplo’s good, kind, merciful, compassionate aspects.

Facing the greatest and most powerful evils in the world, the embodiment of hate and anger and fear, as just one individual Patryn. Haplo: alone, except for a dog.

[dgc-trash]

can you Even Believe that the Orla storyline and her relationship with Alfred essentially makes Alfred the closest thing Ramu has to a stepdad??

imagine him trying to be nice to Ramu even though Ramu is a dick because he still wants to help him and Ramu slams the door shut and says something like “ugh you’re not even my real dad!”

[deathgatesideblog]

Unfortunately, Hugh the Hand died fighting Bane’s father, an evil human wizard. And who did I get for a traveling companion? Alfred. But that is skipping ahead.

:’> Despite only really traveling with Alfred in one world out of four, he thinks of them as traveling companions. 

[d0gbl0g]

[kaible-deactivated20181205]

Ｍ　Ａ　Ｓ　Ｔ　Ｅ　Ｒ　　Ｈ　Ａ　Ｓ　　Ｒ　Ｅ　Ｔ　Ｕ　Ｒ　Ｎ　Ｅ　Ｄ

[dgc-trash]

i was going to make a shitpost about a Chelestran encountering normal non-breathable water for the first time and having a Bad Time the first time they go swimming in it because they didn’t know what it really felt like to breathe in non-breathable water

but then I realized: is all water on Chelestra breathable? Is the ocean water the only water they have, or do some of the living islands they live on have separate water sources? And if so, are those sources also breathable?

[setheverman]

when you graduate and think you’re prepared for the real world

[shiftingsparrow]

For what possible reason does this image exist????

[setheverman]

for when you graduate and think you’re prepared for the real world

[deathgatesideblog]

Alfred glanced at the dog and smiled. “Your friend there put up quite a fight whenever anyone came near you. He nearly bit Samah. The dog will listen to me now. I think the animal’s beginning to trust me.” Haplo snorted, didn’t see the need to pursue that subject further.

Alfred being smiley about the dog trusting him :))))))))

[deathgatesideblog]

Something I never really consciously put together with Haplo is the significance of his parents sacrificing themselves for him. Like, obviously it’s one of the first indications that Patryns Can And Do Love, Actually, but it’s kinda more significant than that, isn’t it?

It’s not just Patryns Can Love, it’s that Patryns DO love strongly, even in their culture that thinks it’s too practical to talk about it, and love HAS saved the Patryns (and Haplo!) in a lot of ways they won’t acknowledge. Haplo can love, too, and want to be a father, and sacrifice himself for the good of others, not IN SPITE of what he is and where he came from, but BECAUSE of it, because that part of him was ALWAYS there.

And then I think about him being this 18 year old kid who realizes Marit might be pregnant and getting excited about it, and then becoming daunted at the prospect of loving something so helpless in such a selfless way in such a dangerous place. Because his parents loved him so much that they died for him, and no wonder that was a frightening prospect, especially in a culture where you can’t even call that love.

I know I’ve said before that Haplo’s arc isn’t about him learning to be a good person, but about valuing the good person that was already there, and I think even Haplo’s parents really play into that, and that’s neat!

basically. haplo being like “if i have a child i will love them enough to die for them like my parents did and idk if i can handle that” and refusing to risk fighting for the Squatters and Marit leaving him and then progressing to the point in serpent mage where he RUNS for the mensch kids knowing it’s a fight he can’t win…. wtf i’m crying

[deathgatesideblog]

“Still, there might be hope. You see, this Patryn I know is a most complex man. He has a dog–”

And then Alfred gets interrupted but I will never not be tickled by the constant little hinting that Alfred has known what the dog is for a LONG time.

Also without the context of knowing what the dog is this sentence comes off as very “he can’t be evil, he has a DOG,” which I know many would say is completely valid reasoning, so, fair I guess ;alsdjkfasd