Xaden Riorson’s actions in Fourth Wing and Iron Flame both make more sense and become infinitely funnier when you remember that the man is 22-23 years old.
This man is AT BEST a first year grad student trying to finish compulsory military service in an active war zone while running the family business (ruling a legit kingdom) and taking on extracurriculars (leading a rebellion) as side hustles. On top of that there’s a literal plague of evil descending, institutional racism is against him, and his Situationship (calling Violet that cuz a lot happens there over two books and I’m trying to cover all the relationship levels) never seems to settle out for more than a month at a time.
Like, of course the decision making is not always on point. The man doesn’t even have a fully developed pre-frontal cortex yet and he hasn’t slept the recommended amount in 6 years.
He’s literally my age. This poor man is just trying to keep it together and pretend he knows what he’s doing. Bro is trying his best to not make stupid ass decisions with his underdeveloped brain.
LET THIS MAN SLEEP AND GIVE HIM A REDBULL. TAKE HIM TO A CLUB. GODS.
I can speak on this truly as a 23 yr old who is anxious and has too much responsibility at a job where she is the age of everyone’s children.
I dunno about anyone else, but I'm convinced that the Caretaker is an allusion to Cole if he became more spirit-like. He does return to the fade at the end of Trespasser.
Dagna: *leaves Orzammar, leaves everything she knows behind, becomes an outcast and travels with the HoF to learn about magic at the Circle even though she knows she'll never be able to wield it herself. Trains for years to become a Master arcanist*
Harding: *touches a magical dagger, gains magical stone abilities*
Emmrich and Lucanis are the sugar daddies of the most deranged, broke-ass group of idiots in all of Thedas. It’s canon because I said it
Bellara doesn’t even know she’s supposed to be paid for work. Like, genuinely confused by the concept
Neve takes jobs from people who are basically paying her in promises and vibes
Harding lost that sweet Inquisition paycheck ages ago and is just scraping by on pure optimism
Taash probably has money somewhere but would rather set themselves on fire than spend a single coin
Davrin has more holes than socks. Assan eats his pennies
My Rook is a certified Lords of Fortune dumbass with the impulse control of a magpie and a “mild” case of kleptomania. She’s in debt to people she hasn’t even met yet
Meanwhile, Lucanis is out here with two mansions, the bougiest assassin rates in Thedas, and Emmrich has what’s basically tenure at Mourn Watch Trump University, walking around dressed like my house down payment. These two are 100% bankrolling this lineup of freeloader chucklefucks
Manfred needs pocket money? Emmrich’s got him, we all know that. Also slipping a little extra to his girlfriend because she’s, you know, decades younger and strapped for cash
Then the rest of these clowns line up like it’s Thedas’ Saddest Payday, Lucanis included (he’s just there to see how far he can push Emmrich)
Emmrich finally sets up a budget spreadsheet, Lucanis whips out an abacus, and Mondays are officially allowance day with Emmrich and Lucanis alternating who’s dishing out the gold each week
This group of morons has turned adventuring into take your sugar daddy to work day
Emmrich and Lucanis are now writing “Weekly Allowance” as a line item in their budgets
no im not thinking constantly about the early game hilarity of when its just the ladies of da:v lounging around the dining room watching a freshly freed Lucanis bus about the stoves making food for his new strange flock of poorly fed women.
I've seen a lot of people complaining about Solas being too hung up on Mythal and the fact that he has so many regrets tied to her, and believing that he loves Mythal more than Lavellan.
I don't believe this to be true, as we've been told by Trick Weekes that this is not the case.
However, i also wanted to offer a quick piece of perspective on the situation that has really helped me to understand Solas' pain and why he is doing what he is.
Imagine that you had a very dear friend since childhood, your first friend, that has maybe guided you, given advice and been there for you, and you have been close with them your entire life growing up. Imagine everything you may have done with that friend, creating memories, sometimes good and sometimes bad.
Imagine this friend introducing you to someone or something that looks promising, or an idea that could change the world. You believe in this friend and they ask you to help them with this. You start to notice that things aren't what they seem, that the things you are doing to help this friend achieve this great outcome have involved some terrible things.
You see that this is wrong, but you love and respect your friend so much, you believe in their cause and want this great outcome. But you start to see them going down a slippery slope and you want to turn them away from this thing that's dangerous for them. Your friend considers your words, but they're enthralled with this vision and believe what they are doing is right. They ignore your request and keep going with this thing.
You can see how dangerous this is, so you beg them to come with you and get away from this terrible thing, you know they could get hurt or die in the process, but they continue to go on and end up getting killed.
Imagine the pain and regret you would feel, the feeling that you have failed to protect your friend when you had the chance even though you had tried and now they're gone. You went down this path with them, you had the chance to save them and were unable to pull them out, now it's too late.
You reach the anger stage of your grief and have the opportunity to avenge your dear friend, and you take it. As the years go by, the world around you then changes, turning to the opposite of what your friend may have wanted, but you have the power to change this. Though it's risky, you have the power to fix things and make up for your failure to protect your friend, and make the world better like they wanted. Even if it's been years, the thoughts and regrets plague your mind, knowing that you may have been able to save them, and that instead you could now change things to what they would have wanted.
That is Solas. That is why Solas is filled with regret and wants to right his wrongs, especially after knowing the terrible things he has also done. He wants to make things right, fix the world to how Mythal would have wanted it.
People deal with grief in different ways, some are able to work through their grief completely and move on with their lives, while some struggle for years and years and it consumes them. I believe that due to the Elves also previously being spirits which embodied a single emotion, they feel things very deeply in their physical forms, and that is part of why Solas' grief and regret could have such a firm hold on him. There wouldn't be therapists, psychologists, and counsellors like we have to help us work through these things.
As someone who has lost a very dear childhood friend way too soon myself, I still think about her often. It's been over 10 years, and while I've moved on with my life and don't wallow in my grief, she still crosses my mind. I still wonder if she felt that I failed to help her in her time of need. If I had the opportunity to go back and save her from the things that caused her so much pain, I would. If I could change the world to be better, in the way I know she would have wanted, I would.
I don't condone Solas' actions of course, tearing down the veil and killing many more people in the process is definitely not something I would want to happen to Thedas. But I empathise with him, his grief, and the regrets he has in regards to Mythal, regardless of the manipulative nature of their relationship.
As Trick has told us, Solas loves Lavellan and she is the bright future he believes he does not deserve until he fixes his mistakes and moves past his regret. He doesn't love Mythal more, he is eaten up by his failure and wants to fix his mistakes, no matter how much it destroys him.
He's more hung up on his failure and his mistakes, rather than Mythal herself. He was under her service, and he needed her to free him in order to move on from his grief, so that he could be free to atone and to love Lavellan, his bright future.
listen i LOVE ameridan and this might be a little delusional of me but i ALWAYS play jaws of hakkon it after the main story because of the emotional ramifications that come with it
my inquisitor just “won,” and yet everything feels so empty. her vallaslin, the connection to her people, taken away, almost stolen by a man who stole her heart right alongside them. he abandons her, emotionally and physically, and the inquisition has no end in sight — rifts still linger in the world, nobles are desperate for her to lend her ear, her soul is bound to mythal and flemeth to preserve whatever she could of her people, and any hope of returning to normalcy ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.
and then she meets ameridan. the last person to bear her title, another dalish elf with the world on his shoulders, and he hates it as much as she does! he gets it, finally someone gets it.
and he says what she needs. hearing “find moments of happiness for yourself, the world will take everything else” hits especially hard. after the closing of the breach took everything that my inquisitor knew? after the love of her life abandoned her to gods knows what? after all she ever knew as a dalish mage was thrust aside for the machinations of the chantry and andraste and the circle and whatever else took her apart piece by piece? it’s almost comforting knowing someone else knows how the burden feels.
because he didn’t want this! he lost telana, he lost time, he lost his life for this world. he didn’t want the burden or the struggle, and he hated the politics, and seeing her pain reflected in another’s eyes… it means so much.
and then he leaves her, too. even lonelier than before. and all she can wonder is what the world will take from her next.
The family shopping trip to purchase a coffin scene has got me dying and kicking my feet it's so funny. Because the minute the funeral director gets suspicious over their reasoning for buying Claudia's coffin (shoutout to Louis saying they wanted to get her used to the thought of going home to god asdfgjk) you can see his internal monologue go "oh for fucks sake, why couldn't you just sell us the damn coffin, you had to make it harder for yourself huh?"
His murder is bad™️ rhetoric flies straight out the window, he runs to draw the curtain and is like well sucks to be you but if my daughter wants that coffin, that coffin she will have and willingly leaves him to the mercy of his bloodthirsty husband. For all his I want to my keep my humanity, be a different kind of vampire the glimpses where you see he's just as messy as Lestat and Claudia are *delicious*. Him being a completely hypocritical bitch whose fiercely protective of his family but isn't against compromising his 'morals' when it's in his favour is so satisfying. Especially when you take into consideration how this family unit allows him to be mostly free in his love for Lestat and to have the child he never thought he would, adds another deep layer to it.
Because yes, it's easy to say Lestat's toxic, he's mean, uncaring, selfish etc because against Louis it may come off in a more obvious way so far (although Mr Unreliable Narrator.. cough, cough) his real motives are mostly buried under mountains of unsaid trauma and sometimes he's just a cunt! But like there's a reason why they're in love with each other, Louis said it himself he was never Lestat's victim, and seeing him unleash his selfish and toxic side is so much fun personally because you get to see why they fit. They're terrible people whose punishment quite frankly should be having to put up with each other for eternity because no one else would.
Warning for spoilers from The Vampire Chronicles novels below.
I'm very much enjoying the fact that in this version of Interview With The Vampire, not only is Louis describing the version of events that took place closer to the way Lestat would, but that Daniel is calling him on it. I really liked when Daniel played back Louis' words from their 1973 interview(especially that the words were taken verbatim from the novel), and how uncomfortable it clearly made Louis.
This also makes me wonder how much of the other novels have happened at this point. Because Louis very much falls back in love with Lestat after hearing his life story and the events of Queen of the Damned. So if those events have taken place(obviously in a somewhat different fashion), Louis' attitude would make perfect sense.
Despite the couple of things that bother me about this show(Louis being able to read minds and Lestat not using his powers to kill evil doers), I like it a lot, and can't wait to find out where they go from here.
1976. anne rice publishes interview with the vampire, a meditative novel she used as a way to understand and articulate her grief over the death of her five year old daughter. lestat is the fun antagonist (but really there isn’t a clear villain.) louis is anne’s grief projection of herself. armand is the wise but ultimately selfish second romantic interest. subtext that louis is in love with lestat, but it’s very much hidden beneath grief, as all his emotions are. this was intended to be a standalone novel.
1985. anne has thought about lestat for a decade and decides to make him the protagonist. she doesn’t like louis anymore (you could probably write a psychological essay on why.) lestat loves louis though! actually, lestat loves everyone! lestat is great in fact. and armand is fucking insane and tragic, and louis has always loved lestat and now they’re in massive massive love. and they will be forever, despite breakups and anne going back to the church and all the other crazy shit that happens for 30 years.
so they’re making a movie! except this movie is only interview with the vampire, and it isn’t really incorporating much or any of the rest of the series. lestat is his shallow antagonist self, louis is miserable, armand is old and wise. it’s the original vision of interview, without the 180 in characterization anne does. they don’t make the vampire lestat. they make queen of the damned but it sucks so oh well.
so amc is making a tv show! and they want it to be the ENTIRE SERIES. they WANT to put back in the fun loving and ultimately humanistic lestat that anne developed in the sequel onwards, the louis that deeply loves him, hopefully the armand that’s so complex and messed up. but the thing is, anne didn’t write those characters and relationships initially. she essentially retconned them, for the better. so in order to adapt ALL the books, necessary changes need to be made. lestat needs to be more layered, more lovable. louis needs to be more conflicted in the romance. there needs to be a CLEAR EXPLICIT INITIAL ROMANCE. they need to believably get to their dancing, living in a castle endgame. and the whiplash of the books just won’t translate to television.
so that’s the explanation of the change in loustat’s relationship from the book to the show. there’s reason for the other changes as well, but people have discussed that at length and no one’s discussed this so i thought i’d try and help people understand who may not know any of it.
Louis admits to Lestat that he doesn't want to kill anymore and ends the confession with "there, I said it."
When Louis finally found an 'evil' man to feed on, Lestat quickly hunted the man down and killed him in a way that would allow Louis to feed, without having to take part in the murder. It was an offering of sorts, here, I will do the killing for you, if it means you will eat. To Lestat it was a compromise. Then Louis decided to reject the offering and eat the animal instead.
When Louis stops sleeping with Lestat, he brings home Antoinette and flirts with her in front of him, egging Louis on to either break into a jealous rage, or join them. He wants to see if Louis really is done with him sexually, and when Louis leaves, he goes ahead with sleeping with Antoinette, before doing so saying that Louis gets upset when he is hungry. Louis even excuses himself with the excuse that he is hungry. In Lestat's mind, Louis would rather choose preserving human life over their eternal romance. So, when Louis confronts Lestat over the affair, what does he end his speech with? "there, I said it."
Antoinette is a direct retaliation on Lestat's part to Louis no longer killing. He feels that in rejecting the kill, Louis is also rejecting him. In starving himself physically, he is also purposefully malnourishing their relationship.
🌺🏒💜 Okay, so I've been on a massive sports romance binge lately, ice hockey specifically. . Was in a huge slump after reading Sarah J Maas's House of Sky and Breath and just couldn't get into anything. I think I must have picked up six different fantasy books and just couldn't. That book broke my brain! 😂 . So during my hockey binge, I naturally came to the Off Campus series (I'd previously read a book called Him she'd co-written) and then to Briar U. . I loved both those series, and The Play was just fun. Hunter has been in the background of the last few books, and it was finally his time to shine in his story. . Hunter has taken a vow of celibacy for the season after some major screw ups the previous year. Then enter Demi Davis. The two strike up a friendship after being paired on a class project. Demi breaks up with her boyfriend and then the fun begins! 🤣😂😂 . 3/5 🏒🌺💜 . . . . . . #briaru #offcampus #theplay #ellekennedy #sportsromance #hockeyromance #friendstolovers #steamyreads #newadult #nareader #bookdragon #bookgram #booksofinstagram #booklover #bookaholic #bookaddict #aussiebookworm #booknerdigans #flatlay #booklovers #booklr #bookwormsunite @ausbookishfeatures #aussiebooklover #aussiebookstagrammer #bookstagram #booksandflowers #bookstack #readersofig #reader https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf-SpU-P3hJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
