I'm Not Going To Wear A Red Dress

Sideblog made to archive my obsession with the Graceling series because those books have been scorched into my soul. Lots of incorrect quotes too, for some reason.

[jinlian]

reading a graceling realm book is like. i am going to rub you raw. i am going to strip you down and expose your weakest, most shameful parts, and i am going to see you. i am going to exfoliate you. i am going to wrap you in the softest, gentlest, kindest hug while you let out the longest, deepest breath you didn’t know you had within you. 

[asimpleram]

“We need more mean women!” You guys couldn’t even handle Katsa from Graceling

[shebsart]

All three heroines 

and a prince

[tohuwabohus]

graceling realm ladies 🔥 💪 🔑

[mirajanes]

po’s journey is so beautiful….he goes from understandably struggling with coming to terms with what happened to him, to finding that he can still see and sense the beauty of the world, just in a different way….like there r no words for how beautiful the last scene of graceling is where it sets in that po can fully experience life in such a unique way…and STILL 8 years later in bitterblue you see po strong and completely comfortable again and bc of it, his grace isnt something that makes him miserable anymore.. his grace used to be this thing that kept him from truly being open with those he loved out of righteous fear of exploitation but now it’s done him so much good in so many situations that even though telling the truth about his grace has lead to pain EVERY time, he keeps trying to be honest with those he loves AND BRO po learned to love his grace alongside katsa it’s so good, the message of loss and gain - and of building strength from hardship - is so beautiful; life doesn’t stop being beautiful just because something got taken away

[jinlian]

all right, you know what i love?? i love that katsa gets to be grumpy and short-tempered and antisocial and right, i love that she gets to develop without losing those “unattractive” aspects of her personality but you know what’s always there beneath the shadow of the absolutely horrible way she’s had to live her life for eighteen years?

her joie de vivre–”she loved it especially when the waves were high and the ship rose and fell, or when it was snowing and the flakes stung her face” and “it shouldn’t surprise her that po should come from a place that shone” and “i am about to partake in some very serious exercise, i wouldn’t want to overheat”–she has this pure wonder, sheer enjoyment of simply being alive, a way of looking at the world that is in many ways simple and yet powerful. she sees things as they are and wonders at them. she struggles with her relationships, she struggles with herself, and yet beneath all of that there is, persistently, throughout the entire novel, katsa being wide-eyed and fascinated by the world. and it’s almost innocent! it’s youthful and pure right alongside everything terrible that katsa has done and everything that has been done to her, because she is complex, she is a multitude, she is a tide of nature and she gets to look at the world and do no more nor less than simply love it.

[fruitcd]

bitterblue is such an important story about trauma recovery and it could’ve been done so poorly but nah we got a deep beautiful story about trusting yourself and your emotions and the different ways in which people grow and move on from abuse

[queenangst]

Katsas story of self discovery and finding *her* love,especially after all the trauma stuff in her youth? Iconic

bro. 

graceling was brilliant. i do not have time to cover it all right now (i haven’t even finished ted talking my friends because it took too long, so i’m halfway through a long ass meta about graceling that three people will read) but like graceling is all about power. it’s not just self-discovery, but discovery of katsa’s own power and agency—the power to make choices, to do good, and above all to choose her own freedom. 

she will never tie herself to po; she can’t. but they are companions, lovers, someone katsa chooses to love and wants, and who understands her completely. who will never take away her freedom. and that’s so powerful. 

[dishesoap]

am thinking of how graceling is a book about a woman coming to terms with her own strength instead of fearing it, of learning to love herself, of learning to let herself be loved. how it is a story of a woman who brings strength to others. to a country. a woman who picks independence and the ability to choose for herself, and she chooses to fight for what she loves. and she chooses to be herself above it all, whatever that may come with.

am thinking about how fire is a book about a woman coming to terms with her own kindness. a woman who is defined by others the very second they hear her name, her parentage, her blood, who is defined and claimed by others as soon as they see her beauty and power, and yet none of them define her by what she actually is - and how she learns that kindness is a thing that can fight just as fiercely. she learns that her love - for her lovers, for children, for all those who fit into her convoluted definitions of family - is worth it. she killed her father whom she loved and chooses to forgive herself because of her love.

am thinking about how bitterblue is a book about a woman who is given a kingdom and no responsibility at all. how a child grows up in the terror of a tyrant sadist and how at ten years old a crown is placed on her head and none of it means a thing, and how she fights anyway, desperately, to make it mean something. to find meaning in the secrets and lies and memories and holes in her kingdom. bitterblue is told to forget, to sign documents and hide the past and move on, and she chooses to uncover the hard truths to help her people heal.

im thinking about how this whole trilogy is about woman overcoming abuse and pain, about redefining themselves from the blood in their veins. katsa was forced to be a thug, fire was forced to be a monster, bitterblue was forced to be a puppet, and all of them were playthings, abused and hurt and how these are stories about women rising above that and choosing their own paths and GOD im just. none of these stories have a true grand climax of a fight, none of them end cleanly, none of them are even all that grand. katsa hides and runs half the book then kills leck with a dagger in a sitting room. fire misses the war, trapped with leck, wandering insensate, and then helping the dying. bitterblue spends the whole book in her city, in her castle, mostly in the dark, with all the real action and pain a decade in the past. but these stories ARENT about the grand battles. theyre about healing and definitions and choosing and they are so much the stories of women and i am emotional okay

[houdinioverlord]

Pretty sure this is how it went when Bitterblue was learning how to use her knife 🤔

[shebsart]

I like to think they remained good friends and Saf came to visit Bitterblue every now and then. He still does work for the queen when she needs his help.

  (and maybe they even slept together a few times through the years who knows  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Idk I headcanon Bitterblue as having many lovers, one of them could easily be Saf ,heh.)

[fitzbeloveds]

what is the best chapter in graceling and why is it the chapter when katsa screams at po so hard he almost falls off his horse, wrestles with a goose, and nearly drops her knife to the fire when po mentions his tattoos are meant to be attractive to his wife

[jinlian]

i’ve been thinking a little bit about how uniquely kristin cashore utilizes the fantasy elements in the graceling realm. we have mind-reading and super skills and telepathic creatures so there’s obviously fantasy elements to it, and it’s technically a high fantasy, but not in the sense i would think of, like–tolkien or the witcher or dragon age. 

she’s created fantastical elements that are… subtle? there’s no magic in this world, and yes, there are graces and telepathy but there isn’t magic like casting spells and waving wands and whatnot. there are magical creatures–monsters, silbercows, silver foxes, the keeper–but how are they magical? they literally all communicate through thought (or, in the case of monsters, suggestion). and that’s it. they don’t have magical healing powers or fire breathing or curses. they touch minds.

it’s the same with the gracelings. leck? lies, suggestion, manipulation. hava? she’s not physically shapeshifting and changing her form, she’s changing other people’s perception of her form. saf? thought or communication through the manifestation of dreams. po? deep perception of how the world and the people around him relate to him. as for the ones with non-mind-reading skills, well–they’re skills. they may be enhanced to superhuman results, but as far as it seems from the books no one flies or shoots fire from their hands. katsa’s was so subtle in the truth of it she was eighteen before she realized what her true power was. saf couldn’t even guess.

so what does this mean? that it allows, i think, for cashore to avoid using fantasy as a crutch for the story. no ham-fisted oppression metaphor, no dark lord, no magical solutions through magical items. sure, fantasy absolutely is a pretty huge factor in the books; but when perception and manipulation are your major fantastical powers, you have to write a story that centers on the characters and the people. i’ve said before that i think of these books as human stories that just use fantasy as the medium, and i stand by it. she uses the fantasy to delve deep on issues that are so deeply relatable, and that’s why years later i’m still so in love with them.

[bookcub]

graces and trauma: a rough analysis of katsa and her character arc in graceling

(trigger warning for mentions of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect) (we are talking about trauma, nothing detailed but forewarning)  (also I am not an expert, I have only taken a handful of classes, this is very informal, please let me know if I got anything wrong)

let me back up. I’ve recently been learning about the effect of childhood trauma has on people. there’s the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) which is what it sounds like. traumatic events in someone’s childhood. it includes abuse and neglect and even divorced parents (and people are encouraging the list to be expanded but anyways) (read more here). supposedly, the more one has, the greater impact on one’s mental and physical health. it also often effects people’s success (define that as you will). (i’m not an expert, please follow the link to read up on it for further clarification).

graceling follows katsa, a child who never knew her parents and whose guardian either treats her like she doesn’t exist or emotionally abuses her, using his power over her to make her commit crimes. she is a social outcast, since she is Graced with killing. she murdered a man who sexually harassed her as a child. clearly she has experienced lots of trauma in early childhood and later in her life as well.

she beleives the power she has is murder, the destruction of life. she beleives herself a monster. however, little does she know that her grace is actually survival. she thought her power stemmed from death and it is actually about life. her grace helps her not just physically fight, but endure the world around her in the most extreme conditions.

katsa learns that she is not inherently a monster, as she had believed growing up. she finds out she is strong and a survivor.

anyways, in my training about childhood trauma, we talked on how to counter traumatic experiences, help people who are set up to fail by their past and lack of support in society. obviously, more resources is a huge part of this, but beyond that, strong connections with people around them. trust, stability, compassion. essentially, love.

katsa has many people in her life she loves. raffin, oll, helda, and bitterblue are the most notable. even before po shows up, her loved ones help and support her. oll helps her control her power through training her. raffin is a constant comfort to her, providing humor and tools that allow her to minimize the harm she does. helda provides knowledge of growing up, a mothering figure who does not smother her, but encourages her to redesign the world around her. of course, all of them help her with the council, the way katsa uses her power to spread good and not harm throughout the seven kingdoms. even before po points out her grace may not be killing, raffin and oll support the fact that she is remarkable in more than just her ways ways of killing.

my rough and hasty conclusion is that graceling is about the power of love, but not in some mystic, cure all way, but instead showing healthy and positive relationships have an outward force of good in the world. by the support these character provide, not just to katsa, but to others, such as bitterblue, readers see how power and confidence come from the relationships, building up the people around us and spreading positive influence to a greater effect around the world.

[jason-todd-enthusiast-deactivat]

po is PEAK fictional-man-written-by-a-woman i do not take criticism

[houdinioverlord]

[gracelingrealms]

god in winterkeep raffin is gonna be 34…..can king randa eat shit already and we get raffin and bann’s wedding