Holy fucking shit. Please please let the next chapter of let the dark in by senlinyu have more good stuff for hermione! Iâve had a hard time reading the thing because she just gets shit on. The Yule ball chapter made my day!!!!
Yessssssssssss. Come on malfoy. Step it up you little shit head. Iâm thrilled !
The Library of Alexandria is not for just any witch or wizard. Many bookworms may try but few are permitted to pass through its doors. The books residing there are ancient and powerful and, if one happens to make a mistake, the consequences can be ratherânovel.
The Library of Alexandria is not for just any witch or wizard. Many bookworms may try but few are permitted to pass through its doors. The books residing there are ancient and powerful and, if one happens to make a mistake, the consequences can be ratherânovel.
âWait! What is that?â Pansy lowered her sunglasses, fixing her eyes on Dracoâs wrist.
âNothing.â He clapped his hand over it, shooting her a warning look.
She sat back in her seat, smiling artificially at Lady Greengrass across the rose garden before turning back to him. âIs that a tattoo?â she hissed.
âItâs a tattoo,â he confirmed, removing his palm to admire it. âWhite ink.âÂ
âWhat does it say?â
He hesitated. âIt says, unpathâd water, undreamâd shores.â
She stared at him blankly.
Leaning back, he undid the top button of his shirt to cool his flushed throat. His gaze darted across the bustling yard. Then, satisfied nobody was watching them, he said, âItâs from a play. The Winterâs Tale.â
She rolled her eyes. âYou are such a swot.â
He combed his hair from his eyes, grinning sheepishly.
A year later, Pansy discovered the real meaning behind the tattoo.Â
Sheâd been admiring Draco and Grangerâs new flat, definitely not snooping or anything, when she came across a book titled The Winterâs Tale. It rang an oddly familiar bell, so she pulled it out and peeked inside.Â
On the title page, a personalized note in elegant black ink read: This was my motherâs copy. Her favourite passages are highlighted with her notes in the margin. Though sheâs gone, I hope she teaches you something new. Love, Hermione.Â
Pansy felt like she was imposing on something intimate by holding the book in her hands. So naturally, she began flipping through the pages. Thatâs how she found it, highlighted bright yellow: To unpathâd waters, undreamâd shores, most certain.Â
Next to it, Hermioneâs mother had scrawled: but what if?
A year ago, at High Society Tea, Draco had still been betrothed to Astoria. Grangerâs name hadnât even slipped from his lips until well after heâd discovered a way to dissolve the betrothal. And here Pansy thought Draco was shite at keeping secrets from her.Â
Shaking her head, she slipped the book back on the shelf, suppressing her smile. âSneaky bastard.â
As much as I think Jacks tries to deny it, he is looking for a Happily Ever After just like Evangeline. It might not be the perfect picture that Evangeline envisions her Happily Ever After, but it still concerns requited and unconditional love.
The Prince of Hearts represents broken hearts and unrequited love for other people. But to Jacks himself it also means he's doomed to suffer the same fate.
I want to go further into his characterization because I think he as a character who has a lot of subtleties to unpack. I'll start in the rough order of the timeline of all three books (two of the Caraval trilogy, and OUABH)
Spoilers to Legendary, Finale, and Once Upon A Broken Heart.
When His Heart Stopped Beating...
It just occurred to me that Jacks once had a beating heart. Initially I thought his heart never beat once since the Fallen Star created the Fates. (This is why I don't think he was ever born but created instead).
In Once Upon A Broken Heart, Evangeline goes over the lore of the Prince of Hearts:
According to the myths, the Prince of Hearts was not capable of love because his heart had stopped beating long ago. Only one person could make it work again: his one true love. They said his kiss was fatal to all but herâhis only weaknessâand as he'd sought her, he'd left a trail of corpses.
I highlighted the ones that I think are integral to Jacks's backstory and desire. First, why did his heart stop beat in the first place? Second, who was it who made his heart stop beating? And third, could the same person who made his heart stop also be his true love?
I'm so dam curious about this that I feel a theory slowly form as I'm writing this. Heck, I write it right now.
The Princess with the Pink Hair
(Headcanon Alert!) Could it be possible that the princess with the pink hair briefly mentioned in the book really is Evangeline? If she was, then it would mean that Evangeline is reincarnated.
Jacks meets Evangeline in the past. She somehow stops his heart. He forgets her. He leaves the North and starts his arduous search for his True Love. Every girl he kisses dies as per his curse. Years past and his hope weakens.
At this point in his journey, Jacks has had it with not having any success with his search. And yet he cannot stop. This is Jacks's urge. The urges that LaLa explained to Evangeline.
"Fates aren't like humans, you know. We don't all share the same emotions, and some humans think we are entirely unfeeling. But it's the opposite. When we feel, it's intense and consuming. It devours us and drives us. And the strongest of our feelings is always the urge to be that which we were made to be."
LaLa concludes that it was the same for Jacks. Evangeline figures his is to kill any potential love with his kiss. I can't help but think she's somewhat wrong about this. Jacks's drive is not to kill any potential love but to find it and keep it.
The same drive that Evangeline feels.
Jacks might not even remember why his heart had stopped beating but he always makes a point of it to Evangeline. Anyway, LaLa has a lot of important things to say to Evangeline about Jacks. That all he needed was a hint of attraction and he would be drawn to their person in hopes of that she's the girl his kiss won't kill.
And yet his hopes are always in vain. Jacks wants love, even if it turns him human. I'll come back to this!!!
Jacks goes to Chaos for a favor a 100 years ago...
I've discussed this before in another post so I won't go into detail, but I will add the possible context of this favor. Jacks wants something from the Valory, the mythical prison that the Valory Arch leads to.
However, the Valory Arch is locked by a prophecy. Fortunately for Jacks, he knows it and bets on the girl with the pink hair. After she opens it, Jacks will toss her to Chaos and get what he desires inside the Valory.
Because of Phaedra's name and connection in Greek mythology, I have a feeling that the Valory is reminiscent of Pandora's Box.
When Pandora opened the box, pain, greed, death, and hatred escaped. At the bottom of the box was Hope. Now Pandora's Box serves as a metaphor to leave things untouched for it would only bring endless complications.
I imagine the Valory is holding an abomination that the Valors kept. This is the first version of the story that Prince Apollo tells Evangeline.
Nothing good will come out from the Valory Arch. But I do believe Jacks will find what he wants there. Because at the back of the Valory is Love as Hope was in Pandora's Box.
After Jacks Escapes the Deck
By the time Legendary comes along, time has passed since his deal with Chaos. Jacks is indifferent to love. Until he meets Tella. He doesn't fall for her right away until Tella makes his heart finally beat. Jacks believes in love again, this hope that it exists for him. Because his urge is to find this potential love, Jacks is not threatened by Tella's existence.
Which is very curious to me đ
In Finale, the Fallen Star kills the only woman who has ever made him close to being human (because of his love for her). (I mention this warning here when I speak about True Love not being the case for Jacks and Tella). Fates were immortals and only love can make them human. If they feel threatened by the source of love, they immediately kill it.
After his desperate cry for Tella, it hit me that Jacks could possibly want to be human. I know he made a big of deal of wanting his full powers in the Caraval trilogy and twisted Legend's hand to get it back, but Jacks didn't care about it. He only wanted Tella back.
No matter if Love turns him human.
Jacks had loved Tella so much it was an obsession. She was all he thought of, and he promised he wouldn't kill her after they "divorced." To me, that proves how much he meant what he said to Tella, how much he wanted her to be his True Love.
After Tella chose Legend, showing him that Love is powerful enough to break spells, Jacks is even more invigorated about his main plan to find that Love for himself.
The Valory Arch is his only hope.
Jacks Meets Evangeline
Jacks meets her at his church a few weeks after Caraval (events after Legendary) and meets her again a couple of months later (after the events of Finale/Week of Terror) at the Magnificent North. He had not forgotten about Evangeline after his deal with her.
The deal that pertains to Jacks's overall plan and deal with Chaos.
Returning to the headcanon that Evangeline is the reincarnated princess, the same girl who stopped Jacks's heart, and apparently the only girl who could restart it, I detect an irony here.
Even if Evangeline isn't the reincarnated princess, Jacks had bet on his True Love. Without even knowing it. This mythical girl with the pink hair that he had used for his gain is his True Love.
HOW WILD IS THAT?!?!?!?! He's surely going to regret it!
After Evangeline Makes His Heart Beat...Again
Jacks has to know that Evangeline is the direct cause of his heart beating again. She was the only one there when it happened. The only one who touched his chest at the right moment.
I'm not sure what Jacks's thought process could be in the beginning of The Ballad of Never After. But it could go two ways:
He remains the same, meaning he's not aware of Evangeline making his heart beat.
Or he does know and something innate awakens inside of him. The need to protect her and raise if any such harm comes her way.
I'm going with option #2 because of the snippet that Stephanie Garber had shared.
If this snippet refers to Jacks, then Jacks should already be aware of his heart beating. Meaning he should have an inkling that Evangeline may be his True Love. Jacks already has a "hint of attraction" for Evangeline.
Kerri Maniscalco made a lot of comments of wanting Jacks to kill someone and it's in the first 100 pages. Jacks may not yet be ready to become vulnerable with Evangeline. He doesn't want to get hurt. Or disappointed to know she doesn't feel the same way for him.
But I have a feeling that Jacks will do anything to protect Evangeline because he had before even when Evangeline was only a pawn for him. Now that he realizes that his heart finally beat again and it was because of Evangeline, I fear for anyone's life who threatens his True Love.
Jacks is going to regret betting on Evangeline's life to open the Valory Arch. Evangeline is cursed and she's going to meet her end. I'm certainly excited to see how Jacks's heart will turn, even if it doesn't turn out like this or any of the other theories.
Because one thing is positive, Jacks is going to annihilate someone in Evangeline's presence. To protect her or eliminate obstacles, I don't know, but I'm hoping it's the former.
