another parallel between harrowhark, daughter of pelleamena, and achilles, son of peleus: according to emily wilson’s introduction to the iliad, the poem shows how “the ultimate form of love is to see no difference between the self and the beloved.” i will no longer accept being a stranger to you. patroclus becomes achilles on the battlefield. i gave you my whole life. achilles emulates the dead patroclus by acting like a dead man himself. you’ve made yourself her mausoleum. achilles anticipates “becoming indistinguishable from [patroclus] in death, when their bones are together in one jar”. one flesh. one end. that’s how lyctorhood works, isn’t it?
i know we talk a lot about kit not treating ty differently because of his autism but i want to also give julian blackthorn his flowers because that boy was standing on business about ty in tda. his conversation with diana in lady midnight is especially touching because not once he even implies that ty's differences are something that makes him bad. that seventeen year old boy understood his autistic brother better than any adult around him ever did.
the amount of times jules describes ty's mind as "beautiful" and calls him genius, and his anger that is directed mostly at the clave and their mishandling of anything that is deemed different.
and, of course, the way jules handled ty was not always perfect (especially as we get to qoaad) but that poor teenage boy was trying so fucking hard. and also there wasn't a day where he or his family thought that something about ty should change rather than then the system that might abuse him.
from this julian pov in LM and flashforward to ty confidently using "autistic" in his conversation with catarina... absolutely crazy if you ask me.
i know people are hyped up for kit and ty being together in like. every single scene in tlkof, and them being joined at the hip and happy and everything. so this might be a controversial take. but i wanted to lay out my personal hopes for the progression of their relationship in twp, in the spirit of manifestation and also because cassie is the queen of yearning and kit is an A++ student.
ofc i want them to be together all the time and attached at the hip. but! i want it to be in an emotionally fraught believing-their-love-is-unrequited-and-if-they-mess-up-at-all-the-other-will-leave way. i want the slowest of slow burns. i am open to them kissing in tlkof, however, their immediate reaction needs to be "that was a mistake let's pretend it never happened" and then it needs to cause more angst. they can talk things out at the end of the second book, but if they do, they need to somehow be separated/prevented from finishing their conversation before at least halfway through the third book. and then they can be happy together
kit x ty to the tune of Your Needs, My Needs by Noah Kahan
every time this song comes on i think about kitty. and every time i feel like screaming because i love them so much and it's so tragic. hopefully after twp i will be able to associate happy songs with them, too. lyrics & analysis under the cut!
my book/song association masterpost
lyrics // analysis
Oh well, who was I?
Who was I to watch you wilt? // kit goes along with ty's plan for ressurecting livvy because he afraid to "watch ty wilt"
You ain't gotta tell me what it means // when ty tries to revisit kit's confession the day after livvy's failed ressurection, kit pushes him away. he already thinks he knows what ty meant and he doesn't want it spelled out
Trace the outlines of your dreams
You'll always be a flower on my skin // herondales only love once
And the pain that I am in
It's all the same // at this point in his life, kit has lost everyone who he loved. been left by everyone (johnny doesn't leave, but he was never really there for kit anyway. kit leaves ty but only after he thinks he's ruined everything)
The losing touch, the waiting game // all of qooad, kit was waiting for ty to accept livvy's death, but ty couldn't. after qooad, kit is waiting for his feelings to fade (to bad they won't)
You cross that county line
I promise to be there this time, alright? // in tlkof, i think it will take a lot for ty to trust that kit won't leave again. and, frankly, it will take kit a lot to not feel the urge to flee (at least, i hope we get a horrific slow burn like that. sorry not sorry)
You were a work of art
That's the hardest part // genuinely lost count of the number of times kit thought some version of this about ty's beauty
Howling like dogs in the light of the moon // smth smth ty is the moon kit is all "i stare at you / i sing for you / i circle you" orbiter style. this whole howling/moon thing is such a theme for noah kahan and i love it but i digress
Holding our breath after 132 // this is a nod to holding your breath you pass a graveyard. kit did (never really believed they would bring livvy back) but ty didn't (and now livvy's ghost is tied to him)
You asked me why I wasn't sayin' a word // ty is (reasonably) upset that kit never said a word on his reservations about ressurecting livvy sooner
I'm namin' the stars in the sky after you // kit didn't say anything because he was too busy loving ty
It was a work of art
That's the hardest part
To spiral out, to try and float // the options you are faced in grief
To see a friend, to see a ghost // livvy :/
Bitter-brained, always drunk
Rail-thin, Zoloft // okay these lyrics are not very kitty but the rest of the song is! obv i know this song is actually about a friend who is suffering from addiction. but once art is out there you can spin it however you want
Subtle change, shorter days
Dead-eyed, dead weight // livvy :/
Your life, your dreams
Your mind, your needs // kit prioritises ty's needs in qooad, by going along with him and being there for them, at the expense of his misgivings
My needs
Your needs, my needs // the push and pull between kit's drive to be there for ty and his conscience telling him that what they are doing is wrong. in the end, kit's needs win out: he tries to stop ty, confesses, and (in his view) ruins their friendship forever
Jace asking Clary if he wants him to tell her a bedtime story and then proceeding to trauma dump on her...he's never been serious a day in his life actually.
Ty Blackthorn has a really hard time beating the Snow White allegations with animals loving him and his skin being as white as snow and his hair as black as ebony
Thinking about Emma saying in City of Heavenly Fire that Ty didn't understand why people said "I love you" as a reason to stop him from doing something and Ty's confusion/ astonishment/lack of reaction when Kit said he loved him to stop him from raising Livvy
