noarm noharm

margarite • artist • she/her • history fan

[noarm-noharm]

a little aesthetic from the fanfic “inbred” about the older Maekarlings and their sister Rhae Targaryen. I am currently completely obsessed with it and making thousands of fan arts! it is an absolute masterpiece. unfortunately, it’s only available in russian, but if you’re interested, here is the link (on ficbook)

[noarm-noharm]

sketch of my sweethearts from modern AU

(they came to the opera and are whispering to each other instead of watching the performance. maybe later it’s not just whispering. what have people been doing in theater boxes since the dawn of time when they think nobody is watching?)

I’m posting both versions because I couldn’t choose the best one...

[bengalaas]

Lucrezia has a type?

So here's a random thought after seeing a post or a gif that noted that Paolo is kinda similar to Djem, which got me thinking that Alfonso is also kinda similar to him, while Cesare is very much NOT.

Lucrezia grew up with two men she loved and trusted, two men she admired — her father and her big brother Cesare, who formed her idea of what a man should be — intelligent, strong, ambitious, but also loving. Someone like that would be her first choice in a suitor, and, at a first glance, Giovanni Sforza seems to check the boxes, even if he appears to be a bit tight-lipped. But he's still older than her, noble, powerful enough for her family to be interested in an alliance with him, and Lucrezia steps into that marriage with a smile on her lips, trusting her father's judgement and believing Lord Sforza only needs a bit of encouragement to fall in love with her and take care of her the way daddy and Cesare did so far.

And then she gets burned, badly. From that point starts her journey in learning to defend herself, take care of herself, eke out whatever power she can, for herself. And because her experience with "strong men" outside of her family has been so terrible, she chooses Paolo — someone harmless, someone sweet and malleable, who maybe reminds her of her good, gentle friend Djem. I think it was a sweet first love and she did care for him and how he made her feel, but it was also something of a pastoral fantasy, a parallel reality that had no business ever wanting to become an actual relationship of equals. And I think a large part of her relationship with Paolo was the power imbalance, where the object of her affections couldn't read or write, couldn't scheme, had no ambition or cunning, or power. The most he could harm her was if he went and betrayed her to her husband, which, kudos to Paolo, he didn't.

Back in Rome, Lucrezia has no desire to marry again, even if she may consider taking a lover maybe eventually. But marriage = hurt = pain, and she refuses to let herself be hurt again, be dependent on someone's good will like that. So the option she actually chooses when forced, is Raffaello de Genova, a younger artist brother, with less influence in his family, someone good-looking but shy, a self-declared "bored noble" without any stronger ambition. Someone who could be an ally the way Paolo was in Sforza household in case her "why not eat both" approach failed with her father-approved husband material Calvino, the elder brother. Again — someone safe, someone cute and good (and hot) and harmless whom she could manipulate with love and sex. Yes, she's legit attracted to the guy from the beginning, but she sent her maid to do some due diligence and wouldn't have approached him if he gave off any vibe of coldness or being dangerous.

It doesn't pan out, and then Lucrezia agrees to marry Alfonso — cute and kinda soft, not very tall or physically impressive. Someone who is already in love with her, and therefore — whom she could be safe with. And it almost works out. In the beginning he even does seem a bit more dashing, a bit more daring than her usual choices in lovers. But there is still that power imbalance that Lucrezia unconsciously seeks. She has grown strong and capable enough on her own, while Alfonso doesn't care about power, but they both seem okay with this dynamic where the limp-wristed princeling happily tags along with his Borgia wife's decisions, so, not ideal, but maybe, maybe it could've worked.

BUT, on that failed wedding night, after what started as her insecurities and frustrations that she's "hard to love", etc., Lucrezia gets a probably half-forgotten reminder of what kind of man she actually wanted to be with when she was still a naive little girl. Someone strong and ambitious and capable. A man that stands on his own and is a bit dangerous, but never to her. Someone she can both respect and admire AND feel absolutely safe with.

And I think that's one of the contributing factors to how hers and Cesare's relationship changes and why her newly forged marriage starts circling the drain and never recovers from that wedding night even if Lucrezia still cares about Alfonso.

I think this trauma from powerful men also manifests when she casts her lot in with Prince Raphael because he seems softer, more harmless in general and to Lucrezia's wish to not be parted with her baby specifically. Which is understandable and could have been a solid strategic decision, but again — I think she got too quickly spooked by Frederigo's colder, sterner attitude and failed to get more character references about Raphael, just because he seemed softer and more harmless. In absence of more scheming experience that might have also led her to some brilliant third option (beating that false dichotomy) Lucrezia falls back on her bias. I don't think she ever stops and carefully considers if another strong-willed man that she's not related to could be trusted. Not that there are many such around her, but still, her first knee-jerk reaction seems to be avoiding them wherever possible instead of carefully making new friends/allies or more.

In short, of course the series is about power and that includes Lucrezia's own rise to power, but I think it's also fascinating how she both craves it and fears it, in men specifically, and how her upbringing in the Borgia family and her terrible first marriage trauma shaped that experience for her.

[sontiypontiy]

precious prince meowkar and his evil demon baby

[noarm-noharm]

my babies!!

[noarm-noharm]

continue to draw a southern gothic modern au, now it’s Deyron’s turn💧

[noarm-noharm]

what if Aerion Targaryen was a sheriff’s deputy somewhere in Louisiana, terrorizing everyone around him and his younger sister just the same, and then it turned out he was also a vampire? 🩸

[alwaysalir]

“One touch of your hand and God comes rushing back.”

[noarm-noharm]

this sorceress-maiden beckons you to follow her into a hedge maze, where the paths are winding, the shadows are dauntingly long and dark, and among the greenery, you occasionally spot marble statues that might be watching you just a bit too closely… what do you do?

[noarm-noharm]

my art process with amazing circus girl for book illustration 🎪

[noarm-noharm]

your face when you talked very nicely with your friend’s mom and now you’re teasing him with your jokes 😊 but you don’t know yet that this friend killed his dad 💀

little piece of my artwork that made me laugh with those silly faces 🥺🤲🏻

[noarm-noharm]

I finished my study page of the quick drawing with tobs fanart (and sudden keira knightly, I drew her for a warm-up and then I decided not to hide it)

[noarm-noharm]

and what was my first sketch with Mary and Charlotte Lucas 🕊️ (when I was drawing this, I literally felt like Mary here, because I was going through my creative block and I couldn't do anything for a long time)

[noarm-noharm]

I finished my study page of the quick drawing with tobs fanart (and sudden keira knightly, I drew her for a warm-up and then I decided not to hide it)

[noarm-noharm]

my sweetheart and I spent some time deciphering a 17th-century manuscript — the description of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich’s funeral ceremony from the 1676 'Vykhodnaya Kniga' (The Court Journal) of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich.

it was for his finals, but for me, it was just for fun. sometimes we sit down together like this to translate National Geographic documentaries about Italian archaeology or academic papers about historical houses. it’s my absolute favorite thing to do because it wakes up this fierce competitive drive in me to guess more words (or letters) and be the first to remember something 🦨

[noarm-noharm]

and I brought you the translate of this text even if you don’t ask for it 😎

[noarm-noharm]

cardinal Borgia and his dark green eyes 🗡️🥀

[noarm-noharm]

my sweetheart and I spent some time deciphering a 17th-century manuscript — the description of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich’s funeral ceremony from the 1676 'Vykhodnaya Kniga' (The Court Journal) of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich.

it was for his finals, but for me, it was just for fun. sometimes we sit down together like this to translate National Geographic documentaries about Italian archaeology or academic papers about historical houses. it’s my absolute favorite thing to do because it wakes up this fierce competitive drive in me to guess more words (or letters) and be the first to remember something 🦨

[ladydisdainsstuff]

The fact that Mrs Hill tells Mary that a daffodil seems quite ordinary when planted between lilies but on its own it has its own beauty and then she finds a man who's favourite poet is the Wordsworth who wrote a poem on how special it was to see a field of daffodils...

"And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

It's them😭