They danced through the day
And into the night
Through the snow that swept
Through the halls
From winter to summer
And winter again
Til the walls did crumble and fall
And she never wanted to leave...
A tribute to my favorite childhood movie and as of 2017 my favorite Broadway musical, Anastasia, featuring the song “Jenny of Oldstones” from Game of Thrones. I’ve had this on my mind for ages; I love thinking of song lyrics and seeing how they can be tweaked to still fit their scheme with different words or characters. As it turned out, “Jenny of Oldstones” could be Anya of Peterburg (in Russian, it’s Sankt Peterburg), dancing through the halls of the tsars who are gone, joined by the memories of those she doesn’t remember but knew so very well, then by those she’d met along her journey to the past.
I also really loved the parallels the musical made to the original. It took a more mature approach (no magical Rasputin, the “villain” is more grounded in reality and what a threat to a lost grand duchess would be at that time), but still honored the 1997 and 1956 films. So, I had fun emphasizing those similarities as well.
More explanation under the cut
The halls of the kings/tsars who are gone: the grand dance at what I think the movie calls the Winter Palace but I’m pretty sure is Gatchina. For the Broadway version, I used a backdrop of Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built where Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded. It’s not a palace but it represented one of the late emperors very strongly.
“Once Upon a December” itself has SUCH “Jenny of Oldstones” vibes, it basically sparked this whole post. The ones she had lost are Anya’s family, with her parents really being the catalyst for the whole tragedy. The ones she had found are the lifelong friends she made through Vlad and Dmitri. The ones who had loved her the most = her grandma, the Dowager Empress, enduring heartbreak after heartbreak in her battle between hoping she’ll see her little Nastyenka again, and facing cruel disappointment in the face of another pretender.
As she dances through the halls, Anya encounters the ghosts of her sisters, who at this point she may not even realize are her siblings; her life had been full of so many people close to her, important to her. In reality, the quartet had been so famously close, they were simply called OTMA for Olga, Tatyana, Maria, and Anastasia, the Big Pair and the Little Pair. But none of those memories remain.
But then she can get lost in the feeling of hope in a world entirely separate from her grief and wonder and mystery and doubt, in “Paris Holds the Key.” There, she’s embraced and free to immerse herself in a world where she’s loved and respected, a world where she has a family again, may find the family she’d lost, so she lets herself get swept up in these feelings and dance with them.
Then, the dynamics change; she is both her own savior, and becomes the one who saves others. In the climax of both the movie and musical, she receives some help, yes, but really, Anya is the one who has to confront all the challenges the past throws at her, and holding to her identity, she can shrug off this shroud of grief that’s plagued her her whole life. This whole journey has led her to be able to this moment, where she “spun away all her sorrow and pain.”
Honestly, with all of the impending doom and sadness, I felt so… happy. Just to find myself back in action with my best friend and her butterfly blue hair.
I honestly have no aspirations anymore other than i want to be able to do my silly little hobbies, treat myself every now and then and love my friends and my cats
Random thought: what if Dorian thought Bull was hot but not worth pursuing bc they're "too different" and whatnot until Bull started talking about ancient ruins and the scholarly pursuits his Tamassran was into and Dorian was like "he's hot AND smart oh no"
Because the one underrated thing Bull and Dorian both have in common is that they're avid scholars of history
@periwinkle-warden I saw this in your tags and wanna add like
There have definitely been a few really awesome fics where fans acknowledge Bull's cleverness as a spy but definitely fewer ones acknowledging how his intelligence extends to intellectual pursuits like architecture, history, anthropology, and how he can relate it to things like his experience in battle
Not even mentioning his emotional intelligence and ability to read people
Honestly Bull might even be smarter than Dorian, who's a learned scholar and excellent magical theorist and student of history - or more realistically his intelligence is more holistic/well-rounded than Dorian's, even if Dorian has him beat by sheer academic accomplishment, because Bull is able to observe and problem solve on the fly while maintaining a veneer of Dumb-Strong
I just! Love! Talking about how smart My Lad Bull is!!!
