Tai'shar Tumblr @jacelynagea - Tumblr Blog

incorrect-outlander-quotes

Dougal: Where are you from?

Claire: England

Dougal: I’m sorry?

Claire: [louder] England!

Dougal: No, I heard you. I’m just sorry.

alectology-archive

while it’s important that rj understood how prolonged exposure to trauma would mess with you psychologically on various axes - mental, emotional, spiritual, physical - it’s also very significant that he put in the work to question and explore how people could go about healing and recovering from their experiences with a realistic attitude.

sometimes they don’t heal - they don’t understand that they need healing, dismiss their instincts, or manage to bury all the complicated emotions they’re feeling. it’s seen when mat suffers from a severe case of survivor’s guilt whenever he survives a battle, and this is observed more obviously when he escapes from ebou dar without managing to save all the windfinders; he also doesn’t have the vocabulary to express why the abuse he suffers at tylin’s hands feels wrong, and his cultural background and his tendency to lie to himself prevents him from examining why this is the case. rand is simply incapable of dealing with the sheer physical, mental and emotional stress he’s subjected to without a support system to back him up - support that he’s specifically unwilling to ask for because he doesn’t want to be put in a position of vulnerability just like mat and has a very unique relationship with the level of autonomy he’s afforded and the abuse he may be subjected to as a result of his madness - and resorts to unhealthy coping mechanisms and internalises traits that also serve as an allegory for ideologies that toxic masculinity directly feeds off of; he reacts to aes sedai very badly although he eventually unlearns that instinct; he’s extremely suicidal, and lews therin works as an indirect metaphor for depression. egwene feels the need to be in a position of power whenever approaching a certain relationship (be it romantic, platonic or otherwise) after her time as a damane, and is often uncomfortable with setting down her guard unless she trusts the people she’s working with; rj has a very complicated track with his depiction of corporal punishment but he also touches on how it enables people in power to take advantage of it to abuse the people under their control through egwene’s arc. rand specifically laments how the sort of stigma and alienation that male channelers face will never really go away because of the fear ingrained into popular belief, and that’s also a very accurate depiction of how certain mental illnesses are received by society.

but rj puts in the extra work to explore how people who have access to support systems and are on the receiving end of patience and compassion are able to get on the path to recovery. he has nynaeve & co deal with the problem of deprogramming egeanin, the sul’dam and damane who’re thoroughly brainwashed by the seanchan. juilin is able to help amathera recover by being very sympathetic to her situation and protecting her from difficult situations that could trigger her ptsd. rj specifically spends a significant amount of time letting joline, teslyn and edesina slowly encourage the seanchan channelers to entertain the idea of their ability not being a curse and to even train to control it at the white tower. the maidens are able to get a read on rand’s discomfort with the dark and small spaces post dumai’s wells and are kind enough to always leave a light on in the dark for him; they also push rand to take his meals and care for himself. the asha’man are explicitly recognised as a group which needs to unlearn some of the toxic ideas encoded in the founding principles that rand introduced. rand himself is recognised to be in dire need of help again in the latter half of the series, although we never got to see the culmination of that arc, unfortunately* - but I have a theory that his arc as a hero is tied very closely to his ability to recover from the various traumas he’s subjected to.

wheel of time takes a very realistic stance on mental health and ptsd. more significantly, it recognises that trauma might not necessarily bring about a positive transformation in a person. and that’s okay.

*cadsuane’s arrival is the only one I can’t get a clear read on, and feels so obviously doomed to disaster from the very beginning given how her personality clashes with rand’s and with her introduction with the intent of controlling rand and never respecting his opinions or autonomy - but given how she’s criticised by the narrative, I’m inclined to believe that min’s reading might have potentially been fulfilled in a bittersweet way as her readings often are. if rand learned how to embrace his humanity again, I can’t imagine that she would have ever had a part to play in it that involved compassion or understanding.

jaqobis

rand al’thor 🐉🔥 dragon reborn 👑⚔️ king of illian 🪶⛰️ duty is heavier than a mountain 🎇 balefired forsaken: 3 and counting 🖕✨ ❌ lews therin DNI ❌

harocat

Seeing Ten and Donna again and knowing they’re written by RTD. I am INSTANTLY rejuvenated. I’m fourteen tears younger. It’s 2008 once more and life is good.

scratchybeardsweetmouth

O.K. | 1.05 1.07 2.04 2.06 2.10

adorkableshephard

Just thinking about Rand, who has never paid taxes and never knew anyone who paid taxes for most of his life, started ruling countries and immediately started forcing the Rich Aristocracy to do things like pay taxes. Iconic.

sophsun1

cajon-desastre

ohmyoverland

Not enough people have explored Fergus’ feelings about Claire. Especially when they reunite after the 20 year gap. Like she was a stranger then his boss then his mother then she was gone. He lived 10 years without her then one year with her then twenty years with her absence. She loves him she left him she couldn’t help it because she was dead except actually she was alive raising her daughter, the ‘real’ child she never had. She returned but she missed his childhood his coming of age his agony. She’s back and she loves him and calls him son and he’s so happy to know she really did care and he hadn’t imagined it but if she cared then why wasn’t she here?