Lady Knight

Wannabe lady knight.

[ladyknightkel]

Briefly interrupting my hiatus to ask you all a very important question. Has anyone else ever heard of the tailypo?? Or was my elementary school the only one that insisted on terrifying us literally every year with a dramatic reading?

[ladyknightkel]

@sirdominicfrey​ its truly terrifying right??? especially when you live in the woods (which I and most of the people where I live do!!!) and we were treated to dramatic readings of this every year in elementary school who thought this was a good idea????

Has seriously no one else ever heard of the tailypo before?? Not just this book specifically but even the concept? 

[ladyknightkel]

the book does kind of have a repetitive verse to it which is usually “tailypoooo, tailypooooo, all I want is my tailypoooo” with slight variations. For me that it the part that still sticks in my head the most, I can still hear it. 

The story/folktale itself originates in appalachia according to wikipedia and I grew up like on the very southern edge of what would be considered appalachia so I wondered if it was more of a regional thing to have heard of it. I went on youtube and there is a reading of the book on there and I was very gratified that most of the comments were basically some variation of “I was read this in the library in school as a child and scarred for life” so at least I wasn’t alone in that lolll

[ladyknightkel]

Briefly interrupting my hiatus to ask you all a very important question. Has anyone else ever heard of the tailypo?? Or was my elementary school the only one that insisted on terrifying us literally every year with a dramatic reading?

[ladyknightkel]

@sirdominicfrey​ its truly terrifying right??? especially when you live in the woods (which I and most of the people where I live do!!!) and we were treated to dramatic readings of this every year in elementary school who thought this was a good idea????

Has seriously no one else ever heard of the tailypo before?? Not just this book specifically but even the concept? 

[ladyknightkel]

Briefly interrupting my hiatus to ask you all a very important question. Has anyone else ever heard of the tailypo?? Or was my elementary school the only one that insisted on terrifying us literally every year with a dramatic reading?

[ladyknightkel]

Ok so there’s this book I read when I was like 12 and in my chick lit phase called ‘he’s with me’ anyway the main character has two dogs named Alanna and thorn, who she says are named after twins from her favourite book series. It reminded me so much of Alanna??? And Thom???? Anyway it’s also from my book piracy cos I had no money phase so it’s a shitty copy I got off the internet so maybe thorn is a typo? Is it based of Alanna and thom? What do u think?

Anon, this was intriguing enough that of course I had to look it up. Amazon being the amazing thing that it is, I was able to search inside the book and discover this passage 

The book is indeed called “He’s With Me” and is by Tamara Summers.

Now, the fact that we have two dogs, weirdly named Alanna and Thorn, and the author’s first name is Tamara… I mean…. I can only assume she went with “Thorn” just to avoid legal issues. But also, it has to be a pen name, right? Well, according to wikipedia the woman’s name is Tui T. Sutherland and among her other accomplishments she was on Jeopardy in 2009 and won over $42,000. And she also shares the pen name Erin Hunter with several other authors to write the Warriors (warrior cats) series. 

I’m not entirely sure why you didn’t just google this on your own anon, but let me tell you I’m glad you didn’t this was an experience.

[ladyknightkel]

The main advantage of less time on tumblr has been more time to read new books (and reread faves). If you’re interested feel free to add me on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ladyknightkel. I try to keep up with updating it, although I’m not always good about adding rereads. 

I don’t generally do reviews but if you are looking for recommendations, I do rate the books as follows: 5 stars = all time favorites, cream of the crop, the books I reread over and over, highly recommended. 4 stars= a really excellent book that I enjoyed, highly recommended. 3 stars = a decent book, not bad but not necessarily inspiring, might be more your cup of tea than mine but I didn’t love it. I rarely do 2 or one star reviews - if I disliked it that much I’m more likely to put it as did not finish. However, as far as my rating scale goes 2 stars = I did not enjoy, and 1 star = was terrible, wish I hadn’t opened it. 

I do a lot of audiobook reading also which I find is a very different experience from regular reading. The narrator can have a significant effect on the experience of the book. The good thing about audiobooks for me is that when the book gets exciting I tend to read as fast as possible to see what is going to happen and I will miss things sometimes but the audiobook doesn’t let me do that. I’ve tried to specify which books I’ve read via audiobook by putting them on my audiobook shelf. 

[ladyknightkel]

Hi friends,

I just want to let you all know that I will be taking a hiatus for a while. I’m not sure how long, or if I’ll ever go back to doing regular reblogs. I will probably be back at some point with some rereads because we all know I can’t resist those!

This has been a long time in coming, but obviously it is influenced by current events. The barrage of information/opinions/misinformation(unfortunately) has just been too much lately, not because I’m tired of it but because I care deeply about these issues and each new thing I read causes me more stress. My desired use for tumblr has always been for fun and to destress, not to see the news, so since it is not serving that purpose currently I am putting it aside for now. 

That said, I tell you all this partially because I want to encourage everyone right now to be mindful of your own social media. Is it helping or harming you? Is it serving the purpose you signed up on it for? Are you connecting with people or comparing yourself to them? Social media is an amazing tool that we have to connect with others (I feel like I am friends now with so many of y’all and I love the conversations we have) but unfortunately it can have other effects as well. There is nothing wrong with not continuing to use it if it is not working for you.

As for this blog, as a kid I was woefully unaware that fandom was even a thing that existed. I have been so overjoyed to meet so many people that love the same thing I do on here. If there was a way to scroll tumblr and only see Tammy-related content I would do so (this is partially why I started this blog, to collect the posts I loved). 

I will try to keep up with my notifications if anyone sends me an ask or anything like that so feel free to do so! 

[dainesanddaffodils]

I was about to make a post about how Numair would totally talk about Daine like John Mulaney talks about his wife but then I realized that even moreso, it’s how George would talk about Alanna.

George Cooper: My wife is a bitch and I like her SO MUCH. She’s a five foot god-touched bitch and she’s the  B E S T.

[gostaks]

tortall was really like “yeah we have a box that makes people live out their worst fears. no we have no idea why. we put teenagers in it”

[twiceroyaldove]

headcanon: Rosethorn has trouble calling Briar by his name bc the two of them have the same name,like they both chose their names and they chose the exact same thing, and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known makes her uncomfy

[ofbullterriers]

This chap had the BEST facial expressions. 

[ladyknightkel]

For a while I’ve pictured Joren’s ordeal (or at least the final bit that killed him) as something resembling that scene in half the Disney movies where the villain is dangling off a cliff and the hero stretches out their hand to help, but the villain rejects it and falls. Joren was put in a situation where he had the choice to accept Kel as an equal or die and he chose spite. It even ties in with the fear thing, if Joren’s secret fear is that he’s been wrong all along and Kel’s better than him.

Yeah I can see that definitely. 

I wanted to look up this quote because I half remembered it and for some reason I thought it was Raoul but actually it was Kel’s brother Anders, but he says, “ The Chamber is like a cutter of gemstones. It looks for your flaws and hammers them, till you crack open...”

[ladyknightkel]

I haven't reread the Ordeal scenes recently, but maybe instead of just making you face your biggest fears, it targets your biggest flaws/weaknesses? So for Alanna and Kel, it made them face their fears, but for Joren and Vinson, it made them confront their hatred and the harm they'd done

I was confused by this ask because I was like, isn’t that what I said in my reply? So I went back and reread it and it was not. Because I accidentally deleted the sentence where I said I think it must be your weaknesses instead. *facepalm* But yeah agreed anon. 

[ladyknightkel]

Not so much trivia but it always bothered me and I don’t know if Tammy ever gave an explanation, or if it was simply she forgot about it. But in Lady Knight, Kel asks Raoul if anyone’s ever gone back into the chamber and he said no. But Jon did for the Ordeal of Kings in Lioness Rampant!

I never thought about that but you’re totally right! I think it is implied “by choice” though and so he is saying no one has willingly decided to go back in just to talk to the thing. 

Something interesting to me is that from Kel’s and Alanna’s perspectives of the Ordeal it seems like it makes you face your biggest fears. But to me that doesn’t square with the facts of Joren dying in the chamber and Vinson being punished by it. They’re not afraid of their victims, that’s not what the chamber punishes Vinson by doing, it inflicts the pain he dealt back on him. Joren was apparently so committed to his hatred that he died in the chamber rather than acknowledge it’s wrongness. It has been a long time since I’ve read the ordeal scenes but it might be interesting to reread them again and see if they hold up to this theory. As always, I think the Chamber matured and changed as Tammy’s writing did through the books as well. 

[ladyknightkel]

Sorry for sending another ask, hope that's ok but in the most recent response, regarding the fourth George/Alanna baby, you mentioned wondering who will be the new champion. I kinda think Jon might choose a Bazhir, to further strengthen the ties between the white Tortallan culture and the Bazhir. But from a boring storytelling side i honestly think it will be someone we've never heard of, not a preexisting character.

Hmm a good thought actually. There’s Zahir in Kel’s books... he used to run with Joren’s crowd but I think he made it through his Ordeal, right? Maybe he gets a redemption. 

[ladyknightkel]

I mentioned this on reddit once so I'm sorry if you are subbed to the Tammy sub and have already seen this but: if and to what extent do you think Beka, or one with her powers, would have been able to communicate with Blayce's killing machines? Because her particular brand of magic seems like it could have been fascinating when used to understand the machines, even if not necessarily useful to the plot

I am not on reddit so this is new to me! Wow, I have never thought about this before I’ll have to think about it! What a neat concept tho. 

Beka’s powers are so different from anything in the later books. And they don’t really have the same terminology in her books to describe them although it is implied they are more akin to wild magic than the gift. Personally I don’t think she could converse with the killing machines. I think her magic is tied to the pigeons and the dust spinners. She is not able to converse with spirits unless they are attached to a pigeon and have some unfinished business. I think the magic that traps the spirits in the killing machines would not allow them to communicate with her. But like I said that does rely on me going on that she can only communicate with spirits because they are on the pigeons and that it’s not that she does it that way only because that happens to be the way the spirits are trapped. Maybe she would be able to talk to the ones in the machines.

This does bring me back to one of my questions about her magic which is why pigeons and dust-spinners? How are the two related? (Other than the fact that the two are both conveniently suited to her work for the Provosts Dogs, lol). It’s implied that Beka is somewhat of a messenger for the black god with her communication with the pigeons and perhaps the spinners are his as well? That is never really explained well enough for me though. Maybe it’s because she is sometimes able to use the information gleaned from the spinners to avenge the dead that they also fall under her powers? Or is it because the spinners are not quite alive? (Farmer is somewhere writing a book wondering these same things I just know it...) 

[unculturedmamoswine]

Huh i never considered that the pigeons were absolutely necessary for Beka's powers to work, but you're totally right to point out that she never interacts with ghosts in any other way. Honestly i kind of thought that her powers were somewhat element-based, albeit with a death focus, what with pigeons and spinners both being creatures of the air. And since the spirits in the machines come out in gaseous form it seemed possible that she could communicate with them. If Kel can hear their voices when they're released, it seems within the realm of possibility that Beka could maybe talk to them even when they're still in the machines, maybe somehow subvert their murderous 'programming'?

[ladyknightkel]

It does seem possible that she could talk to them, I agree. After thinking through it though, I don’t think she could alter what they do or release them. To my mind, Blayce has trapped them with his magic within the machine and it is his magic that makes them kill. The spirits themselves aren’t bent on attacking and killing they are just serving as trapped energy to allow the machines to be animated. (I have always wondered how they are activated, and how Blayce prevents them from killing Scanrans as well as Tortallans. I don’t think he is remotely seeing and controlling what they are doing, and it’s not like the spirits of the children within would be able to tell friend from foe. I think it must be more that the Scanrans point them in the right direction and then activate them and stay out of the way. I do notice that the machines are rarely fighting in the midst of Scanran forces and are usually used as a distraction/away from the Scanran fighters.)

[ladyknightkel]

So any theories on George and Alanna's new baby?

I’m so glad someone asked this because yes, in fact, I do!

I’m convinced this one will be the one to follow in Alanna’s footsteps and be a lady knight. 

Hear me out. She’s got 3 already, 2 boys and a girl so we need another girl to even it out. Aly was too much like Alanna to want to do the same as her, she needed to go off and do her own thing. This kid will have Alanna around a lot more as it is implied she will be mostly retiring. (Who will be King’s Champion though is another fun trail we could follow, but I digress...) Alanna is more mature she won’t be projecting as much of her own desires for what she wanted on this kid so this kid will be free to pick her own way. And why not want to be a lady knight? Her Aunt Kel is her favorite (sometimes its nice to be around someone less snappish than her mother). Her friend, Uncle Neal’s daughter, is also going through page training (literally just realized that they would be about the same age, Neal’s daughter could potentially be slightly older or the same age. I feel bad for the training master, can you imagine). 

Also see this post for previous theories on potential Giftedness/Sightedness combinations. Tortall better watch out. 

[ladyknightkel]

Do you have a favorite setting from circle opens? I adore the aesthetic of Kugisko with all the wooden houses and warm clothes and whatnot

I’m not really a cold weather person, honestly this is the main thing I relate to Alanna about lol, but I might like to visit in the summer! Each of the Circle Opens settings have a neat aesthetic though. The problem is that within the cool settings, all the Circle series is very focused on culture and particularly social structures and inequities. Particularly Tris’ and Briars’ books in the Circle Opens series. I do love the descriptions of Khapik and Tharios from Tris’ book, I think because it’s Kethlun who gives them and he clearly loves it there. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that it remains so beautiful due to the strict caste system and the “untouchables” who are forced to keep it that way. So yeah there you go. Circleverse, despite it’s marketing for younger kids has some very, very deep themes but beautiful settings nonetheless.