I know that many think that when SJM says to "keep climbing that mountain" they think about the God-awful mountain hike that Nesta and Cassian went on. I used to too, but now I don't.
There were two mountains in ACOSF.
Both were forced upon Nesta to summit. One was a punishment by breaking point, the other was a reforging.
There was only one mountain that Nesta climbed that showed the reader her bravery, her selflessness, her fortitude, her love for her friends...and it was not the mountain hike with Cassian. It was with her Valkyries.
The more I think of it, the more I feel like while many in the fandom have drawn their battle lines with the three sisters and who is/is not in the wrong because of what they did/did not do in the past, many seem to miss the two big elephants in the room :
Their Parents
Now I know that is not totally the case, many have put the spotlight on the parents and their actions, especially when it comes to Nesta. However, I rarely see how their actions relate to how *all three* sisters interact with the world and each other.**
First off, Nesta:
The most picked over relationship by the fandom when it comes to her parents, so bear with me. Raised prominently by her mother and grandmother, her father left her in their hands to mold. Raised to become "a queen", Nesta was taught that only perfection would do. If not reached, she would be punished (physically if possible-i.e. the small scar on her hand from her grandma). Through all this, she still loved her mother (while also hating what she would do and what she let her grandmother do) to the point that when she grew ill, she blamed her father for not doing enough to save her life. When they also lost their fortune, she wanted her father to be the one to provide for his daughters and began to grow bitter and resentful when he would not. When he finally made the effort in ACOWAR, he was snatched away from her before she could grow to forgive and love him again.
Now Elain:
Elain is tricky because we have not been in her head yet, but this is what has been gathered so far; she is the middle child. While Nesta was their mother's project, her queen in the making, Elain was only seen as a pretty face that will be fine getting married off to someone who may be advantageous to the family, but that was all their mother saw in her, while not neglected per se, because was educated along with Nesta, to her mother she was just...there. Her father may have doted on her more than Nesta and Feyre during their childhood because of her disposition (not sure yet) if her attentiveness towards him is any indication. Did not hold their father accountable for his actions during the cabin years and was the first to truly forgive him before and after his death.
Finally, Feyre:
Was neglected by her mother and was just there when it came to her father. While she had a governess in early life, once the money ran out, the governess was gone and no one picked up her studies, and it seems her parents did not even think about it. On her death bed, her mother made her vow to take care of the family, while still a child herself and Feyre grew to resent her for making her take that vow. She also grew to resent her father for not helping, but not as resentful as Nesta. In ACOTAR, she wanted to get Nesta and Elain married off so it would just be her and her father in the cabin, which makes the reader wonder if she still had affection for him even after his lack of provision. Remembers him truly loving their mother and romanticized his grief for their mother when she died while Nesta did the opposite. When she saw the fleet he brought to the war, her resentment eased and after his death, she even memorialized him through her paintings.
How they interact with one another:
Nesta: She has been conditioned by her parents to be distrustful and to expect the worst when it comes to the people she cares about and the affection they hold over her head. She has been let down so many times that it's easier to keep people at a distance than to have them disappoint her. Her mother and grandmother cultivated an unreachable goal of perfection that now causes her to internalize her guilt (and others guilt) when she feels she is found wanting. She was closest to Elain in their youth and pre-Fae years, but after ACOWAR, Elain began to acclimate better (TBD) and started to align herself more towards the IC, leaving Nesta feeling betrayed and alone. With Feyre, she and her are very similar in the case of both feeling the tension of their parents' choices in childrearing in different ways, but because of the want for control on Feyre's part (more on that later) and refusal to bend on Nesta's, they clash constantly.
Elain (Allegedly Until Proven Otherwise): Both her parents seen her in the same way: sweet, pretty little Elain. Because of that, Elain believes that the way to get through life is to ingratiate herself to people. She was the social butterfly that had friends in the end of ACOTAR and was annoyed when Nesta would not play the part. She befriends the shadow wraiths and now the IC to the point of going along with their plans in ACOSF when it regarded Nesta. So much so, Nesta feel betrayed by her after and how easy it was for her to "turn on her". There is almost a willful ignorance with her, an "out of sight, out of mind" mentality that she has adopted for her day-to-day life in order to keep herself out of the way and comfortable (even with Feyre she is just there (just like with her mother)). This shows an air of self-centeredness that is easily missed because it is veiled under a veneer of "sweetness" she is known for; after all, "Elain is Elain". However, even though she acts this way, there are times when she chafes at this role the others are willing to keep her in and she wants to break out of it (this is seen in ACOWAR and ACOSF), but not enough to truly act on these impulses.
Feyre: Of all three, it feels like Feyre is her mother's daughter. I believe that, because of the neglect of her parents (her mother especially), she felt very overlooked and had no control over major aspects in her life. So, when her mother charged her with the protection of the family, while she resented it, she also (to me) relished in it because of two things: 1) it was a time when her mother finally noticed her for something that, in her mind, Nesta and Elain could not do, and 2) it helped her gain a sense of control in this uncontrollable situation. And she took that control and ran with it. She dictated where the money went from her hunts, she planned out how Nesta's, Elain's, her father's and her lives would play out (wanting to get them married off in ACOTAR), she decided how her sisters would help in the war effort in ACOMAF, and she wanted to dictate who, where and when she interacted with her sisters as she pleased (ACOFAS/ACOSF). In many instances (again to me) she felt that she was owed this control and attention because of what her parents (mostly her mother) refused to acknowledge about her. While Elain was an easy convert to this mindset (see her section), Nesta was not; how do you get a sister who was brought up to be a queen by their mother to cow tow to the younger sister who thinks she should be the one in control? You don't. Hence, the constant tension between these two sisters, who have been pitted against each other by their mother's ghost. It's frustrating and sad when you look deeper into it.
**Not a professional in any way, I just have eyes, opinions, and critical thinking skills.
You remember one of the reasons why Nesta hated her father? Because of this:
“He let Mother die— he had a fleet of ships at his disposal to sail acros the world for a cure, or he could have hired men to go into Prythian and beg them for help. But he let her waste away."
"He loved her —he grieved for her." I didn't know what the truth was—-perhaps both.
"He let her die. You would have gone to the ends of the earth to save your High Lord."
-Acotar chapter 30 pg 266-267
I’m just thinking of how she was willing to die for Cassian in ACOWAR. She would’ve gone to the ends of the earth for him. Would’ve killed for him.
And then again in ACOSF
How triggering it would’ve been seeing Rhysand withhold information from Feyre, letting her risk her life and almost dying whilst pregnant.
I don't think that fact is stated enough. They were on the brink of DEATH. Basically DEAD but the Troves together, thanks to Nesta, stopped literal time as she made a bargain and gave back whatever she took from the Cauldron to SAVE them.
Rhysand allowed Feyre to die, but he wouldn't even suffer the consequences of his (stress induced, worried, anxious, paranoid, wanting to keep her calm and whatever other excuses given to him 😒) actions when he'd be going with her (and the kid), too. They'd die together as one, but Nesta prevented that.
They BOTH escaped death for a SECOND time due to outside interventions and from characters we're not meant to like, at that.
And now, to think, Nesta is stuck with Cassian, who is no different from her father and Rhysand. Nesta is better off finding a home away from the NC before she ends up dead due to another male's incompetence.
The only thing Cassian could be somewhat congratulated for was not choking the shit out of Nesta while under the influence of the Crown, but even then, I think that's more linked to mates not being able to kill each other than his own will as an individual who actually loves her.
It's so weird that, in a way, that quote solidifies the old saying: "daughters marry their fathers". Feyre married someone who basically was going to let her "waste away" without telling her about the risks like her father "let" their mother die of illness. The other weird part is that Feyre seemed ok with how that all played out with her parents, because she rationalized it with her father showing his love through his grief like she rationalized it with Rhys when she finally learned the truth of her pregnancy.
The mirroring of the cycles of trauma that Beulah, Oreana, and Beth is fascinating. Especially in the finally. I will need to put my thoughts to paper (or screen?) soon once I really think it through.
Beulah: Not much to go on from the flashbacks and her exposition but from those moments, her father seemed to be a hard man, who expected her to be the perfect successor to the family ranch. This caused tension in their relationship to the point that Beulah states that she hated the man to the day he died.
Oreana: Tension and distance is present in her relationship with her father Rob-Will due to the fact that he is selfish with his affection and his addiction to the party lifestyle of sex, drugs, and bad decisions which ends with him leaving for long periods of time to either rehab or chasing the next rush. However, there still some tenderness and love between them as seen in the finale where they connect to her wanting to leave home and the shared frustration of trying to be what Beulah wants. Showing this to maybe being the first time they "got" each other and a door opening to the possible opportunity of repairing their relationship until that was taken away by Juaquin.
Beth: Genuinely loved her father to the point of being his dark knight/ bulldog when it came to the financial/market stability of the Yellowstone, however showed frustration with him not wanting to evolve the land and make it more profitable. After the death of her mother, felt that no woman was good enough for her father and made sure that they knew it. While brusque with her, he truly wanted her to be happy and gave his blessing to her marriage to Rip. Upon his death, Beth became his avenging angel, dedicated on finding a way to save the land he loved and bring the people who killed him to justice. Before coming to Texas, hers and Rips ranch had some of the Yellowstone cattle to continue the genetic line of the cattle her father cultivated.
Their Relationship with Their Mother (Or Lack Thereof):
Beulah: Unknown Mother but did not see her in flashbacks nor did she talk about her. Either the mother died in her youth or she left her father.
Oreana: Unknown Mother, possible on again/ off again relationship with her father until she got pregnant. She doesn't talk about her so we can assume she is no longer in the picture; Beulah seems to be the only female role model she has.
Beth: Complicated relationship with mother. Loved her, but once she hit puberty, her mother told her that she will be treating her different now because of it (to make her stronger for this lifestyle). Tragically died when a horse crushed her after Beth's horse, being skittish from Beth's nerves, caused the horses to rear up and run off. She sends Beth to get help because in her words "this is her fault so she will go" to Kayce. However, Beth was not able to point to the exact location, resulting in them being too late to save her. This led to some resentment on John's part with Beth's role in his wife's death, but that resentment eased over time. Beth still puts her mother on a pedestal, saying that she was the backbone of the family and when she died, the best part of her dad died with her. This leads to animosity to any woman who became romantically involved with her father.
In Regard to Their Pregnancy Trauma
Beulah: A night out leads to her meeting a man who talks her into sneaking off with him, which leads to her being SA'd by that man. Pregnancy was the result. She later kills the man who hurt her (👏). She then keeps the baby (Rob-Will). Oh, and to add insult to injury, her father blamed her for what happened to her.
Oreana: To be determined: learned that she was pregnant (probably Carter's but as to her answer to Carter at the party (if true) she had relations with the other guy from the party after Carter so it up in the air) and decided to run away with Carter, but was deterred by the murder of her father.
Beth: Got pregnant with Rip's baby as a teenager; scared that it would jeopardize Rip's place in Yellowstone and how her father would react to her being pregnant, Beth asked Jamie to take her to get an abortion. Jamie took her to a clinic on the reservation which led her to have a full hysterectomy without her knowledge. She wanted kids in the future, but now that was taken from her.
Their Love Interests
Beulah: Never married but has an old flame with Everret McKinney. He seems to be a sanctuary and calming presence for her, but due to her life and complicated history, they never made it official. Over the years, they have circled each other's orbit, but it wasn't until Beulah's heart attack that they both decided to truly be together. However, with her revelation about her dealings with the cartel and her willingness to let the Dutton's take the fall, that future is now in question.
Oreana: Has had boyfriends but is drawn to the "genuineness" that Carter brings into her life. Both are drawn to each other and have a fiery relationship with Carter skipping school to be with her and her sneaking off from home to be with him. But when Carter confesses that he loves her, she pulls away, basically ghosts him, and goes back to the rich boys she usually dates, ultimately hurting both Carter and her. Once she learns that she is pregnant, she goes back to Carter and both plan to run away together (but she doesn't tell him about the baby). I honestly don't think they are right for each other and bring out the worst in each other, but I digress.
Beth: Was drawn to Rip from the start and they have a relationship when she is a teenager but ends when she leaves for college. Their relationship resumes when she returns to Yellowstone, but it is rocky with unsaid truths and past hurts. After confronting those past situations, they begin to reach equilibrium in their relationship to the point of getting married and adopting (informally) Carter. Like Everet is the calming presence and sanctuary for Beulah, Rip is the constant in Beth's life. He can take her crazy and mercurial ways, while also grounding her to reality by telling her what she needs to hear BUT he protects her from outside forces and in some cases, herself. In Dutton Ranch, the viewers can see how Beth has softened and that can be credited to Rip and how she wants to help him reach his dreams of having his own ranch and how she hates that that dream is being threatened because of the Hoof and Mouth outbreak.
Conclusion:
After writing this all down and breaking it down into parts, it is evident that the show is trying to portray how these different generations of women are mirrors to each other with their similar family histories in ranching and the survival instincts that come with that history and their lived experiences/dynamics within their families. However, it also shows how my first hypothesis of the Dutton/Jackson similarities, while a bit off with the motivations of the Jackson's (Beulah at least) was still going in the right direction. From what I wrote down in the past and now, the main difference of these two families is how they looked at legacy and family. They both wanted a legacy, but one was willing to tie family to that legacy and that was the Dutton's.
Meaning, just from what we saw of Beulah's father, he was a man who was willing to let his daughter hurt as long as the 10 Petal name was not tarnished. He was a selfish man who refused to comfort his daughter for the sake of looking successful to the crowds. While John could be deaf to the words of his children, when the need arose (i.e Tate being kidnapped, when his son was killed, comforting Monica after she lost her baby, and telling Beth he loved her and wanted her to be happy with Rip) he was able to prioritize what was important. He knew that legacy *was* family. It was the ability to raise a family to help keep tangible and intangible legacy together. He was not a perfect man, in many cases he was a hard man as well, but he had a steadfastness about him that caused people to be loyal to him and his family; as of right now, I don't think the Jackson's have that with their ranch.
I bring this all up because it does show the influence that these dynamics had on the women, Beth and Beulah especially. At the end of the day, Beulah, while hating her father, is her father's daughter. She was willing to kill her own workers (and their families) and refused to really bring her son to heel for the sake of keeping the appearance that 10 Petals was prospering. She was willing to let Beth and Rip get the short end of the stick while she got off scot-free when it came to the drug cows. And, in a way, she is leading Oreana down the same path. She is hard on her to a point where she is actively balking at her tight hold on her (like her younger self, she has a bodyguard that she ditches in order to do what she wants) and just acts like she is a disappointment when she doesn't do what she wants her to do.
Beth is also the sum of her lived experiences, but at least she had the assurance (sometimes) that her family did love and care for her (except for Jamie) and she had Rip to ground her as well. Also, I feel that the events of Yellowstone and the loss of her father has made her more than happy to find peace with the people she loves instead of looking for the next big conquest.
Oreana is tricky to pinpoint. On the one hand, she is being raised by her grandmother and that leads to inevitable influences on what she thinks she can do. On the other, I do see a melancholy spirit in her that is very reminiscent to Beth. In the end, she is a blank slate in a way and if I were to choose who she should seek advice and guidance from, its Beth because she was able to get through to the other side mature and wiser and is willing to see the hurting girl in front of her that her grandmother can't seem to see. Only time will tell though.
The mirroring of the cycles of trauma that Beulah, Oreana, and Beth is fascinating. Especially in the finally. I will need to put my thoughts to paper (or screen?) soon once I really think it through.
Is Carter and Oreana supposed to be the next generations "Rip and Beth"? If so, it's not working...at first, I was liking it, but they are both ticking me off now...
I am genuinely confused about some of the reactions about the upcoming God of War game, "God of War: Laufey". While I understand fans not wanting to get the bait and switch from another gaming studio, where many think they are getting a certain character as the protagonist through marketing and then be surprised when another character is actually the protagonist (LoU Pt 2 is a good example- while players knew Ellie was the playable character, some feel that they were led astray by how Naughty Dog did their promos. Again, just my opinion), I feel that this game is catching strays for having Faye as the frontrunner.
Some of the critiques on the gameplay and the 21st century-esque dialogue I can get behind and understand, however I did not get into the games until GoW 2018 so I have no horse in that race to compare. But the critique I mostly see is that they were making Faye into a warrior.....
But she always was a warrior.
Again, I get the apprehension from fans that studios are going to shoehorn characters into roles that they never were meant to fill. I don't like that either, but of all the characters to be suspicious of, Faye is not the character to be suspicious of in my opinion.
We learn in GoW 2018 that Faye was the wielder of the Leviathan Axe before she willed it to Kratos, she taught Atraeus how to hunt and that she was a formidable warrior and guardian of Midgard (even Kratos tells Atraeus that his mother "fought beautifully" when he asked him about their first interactions). Even the Huldra brothers (well, Sindri at this point) knew that the only way Kratos would have the axe is if Faye was dead and was ready to throw hands with Kratos.
We also learn in GoW:R that Faye not only was a warrior/guardian, she also led a rebellion in Svartalheim against Asgard's hold on the dwarves (it failed but it's the thought that counts) and she had a one v. one fight with THOR in Vanaheim to the point of a stalemate (and made a giant crater in the landscape so....)
And if all that is not enough, she is the catalyst that gets Kratos and Atraeus to leave their wood. She is the one that brings all this to motion in GoW 2018 and it is her values and teachings that helps Kratos and Atraeus change their fates on Ragnarok in GoW:R. Also, there are the loose story threads that we still need answers to that seems only Faye knew of (how did she die? who blew the horn to second time to call Jörmungandr? where do the gods go when they die?). It's like what Kratos said "your mother harbored many secrets" and "answers only your mother had. She withheld."
All in all, I just think (until proven otherwise) that this game will make a great stepping-stone for the next main God of War game in the universe and with Faye being such a pivotal character, it does make sense to see more of her and the universe through her eyes since she is in a unique situation of being dead. Like I said, until proven otherwise, I will be optimistic.
Karen left New York to kick butt in the Everywhen in the God of War universe. Seriously though, I am excited to see Deborah Ann Woll add more definition as Laufey.
So I’ve been working on this for quite a while, but after looking at luna-whiskers’s post here, I thought I should really try and finish it up to add to the conversation that’s been going on. Naturally, there are major spoilers, so if you haven’t read the Stars arc of the manga you shouldn’t read this! Super long post too!
For me, the most important thing to remember when reading Sailor Cosmos’s narrative is to think of how it works as a part of Usagi’s narrative; I don’t believe that Naoko would introduce a new and important character only to keep her story completely apart from Usagi’s story. Then I started piecing together the two biggest in-text clues to Sailor Cosmos’s identity: Chibi Chibi and the way Usagi approaches her powers.
Keep reading
Just Give Me Tea and Books @justgivemeteaandbooks - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
