#etta rote

[fieldsofvarley]

i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about the relationship between etta and wintrow........i like how they're foils & parallels. i like how they can both be very cruel and patronising to the other. i like how they're two people who lived very isolated lives and how this is their very first time learning what does it mean to have a friend and be one in turn; how to care about people as people and not simply because you're forced to. how they push each other to grow, and go back to themselves. how they both give the other something more precious than jewels and money. i love etta pushing wintrow on his religion (why do you need your god when you have your ship?) in a way that's not necessarily sensitive or kind. i like how they both antagonise the other, but are sweet and genuinely caring just as well. they're both learning how to be of the world together, and they make mistakes, and hurt each other, but they're also more alike than anyone else. they're both locked in lives of subservience to everyone but themselves where bodily autonomy and personhood are extremely limited. a priest whose very life and all the years in it are dedicated to service and sacrifice, who may be asked to give it up for a stranger at a moment's notice. etta's body itself being property to be bought & sold without any right to object to it. neither of them had a say in this life - they didn't choose it - it was chosen for them, and they've been left to make do with it. how it made etta pragmatic and realistic, a bit sardonic, a bit angry. how it made wintrow judgmental, how he copes with it by assuring himself it's what he wants, he's good at it, he likes it. their perspectives on their lives are so completely different & that's what makes them capable of helping the other. etta's strong sense of self and knowing how to make the best of a situation vs wintrow's fight against the fate given to him by his god he convinces himself he trusts above all. how in time the reality of her replaces the faith in his god. it is an ugly word but etta's identity as a whore cannot be separated from her character any more than wintrow's can be from his priesthood. what is it, really, materially, that makes their realities different? only that one is looked down upon, and seen as vulgar and godless, and the other is revered, their sacrifice noble. but at the end of the day, when has wintrow's religion ever protected him from being violated? i like that etta sees that better than he does. and i like that wintrow is more aware of her situation than she is. i like how they're both the naive & the self aware one. hypocritical, self deluded, judgemental and petty. their relationship and them as individuals ties so perfectly into the overarching theme of the trilogy - there are many ways to be a slave.

[motherofcavy]

Also, I think it's redundant and incorrect to interpret ROTE as “prudish” or “anti-sex” somehow. Like, yes, the books condemn Fitz for having sex before marriage, but it's not out of like our world's view of sex and sin. It's because every time he escapes his worries with Molly with sex, he is putting her life in danger.

The main difference is this: there is no form of reliable contraception or abortion in this fictional world. Miscarriages are super common, and the maternal mortality rate is also very high because of the level of technological and magical understanding at the time.

tw. non-graphic references to rape, abuse, miscarriages, abortion

Ex. 1: Starling almost dies after a failed abortion. (This is obviously not a 1:1 analog with our modern political landscape!) Important here: she tries two different times with two different healers, and on her third desperate attempt, she hemorrhages. She is infertile after that, but she presumably had other severe health consequences, including trauma x2. First, from the assault that caused the pregnancy, and second, from the life-threatening condition it puts her in. Infertility is the consequence she speaks about most often, because of how it affects her economic prospects. This is a recurring theme: how fertility, chastity, marriage, and children impact the other dimensions of a woman's life. Note, too, that while Starling assumes Fitz judges her for being “slatternly”, we don't really see that. He is very neutral, partially because of her status as a minstrel. And he is very understanding of her trauma, he even takes on some of her coping mechanisms after Verity betrays him. It's only when she has an affair with him, and breaks her marriage vows, that he becomes angry. Still, he understands that Starlings past have made her the person she is, with the flaws she has.

Ex. 2: Molly makes herself ill to induce the side effect of temporary infertility. To be clear, she does not take a contraceptive, she microdoses herself with poison. The poison makes her ill, and the birth control is a side effect along with other negative health consequences. Again, this is not analogous to our modern society. It isn't birth control, it is poison. And she gets pregnant anyway! And this is why Fitz's affair with her is moralized. It isn't because it's unchaste or a sin, it's because it is selfish on his part. He doesn't understand the cost on her part, and doesn't have to foresight to protect her. It takes two, but Molly bears the immediate consequences of their trysts. She endures the cultural shame of bearing a bastard. She is forced to make a life for herself. She undergoes a labor and delivery, which also could have gone horribly wrong and killed her. Ofc, the pregnancy is weaponized against Fitz as well, as a sword dangling over him and a leash for the Farseers, which bring me to my next point:

Ex. 3: Etta is manipulated into pregnancy by Kennit, and he uses it to control her. Kennit schemes to have Etta and Wintrow have a baby for Vivacia. Etta is traumatized by a life of sex work and is deeply dependent on him. He liberates her, on accident, and views her as a tool. Whenever she gains control over her own life, and power, he tries to drag her back down. He wants her to get pregnant because it would be the ultimate leash. When he finds out she is pregnant, he wants to use the child as a way to erase his past, as a do-over. Luckily, he dies literally right after. And without him in the picture, pregnancy, and motherhood, empowers her in unique ways. She becomes the Queen Regent of the Pirate Isles because she has Kennit's heir, but she is the one in control of his raising.

TLDR:

ROTE in general has a much more nuanced perspective on sex, sex work, and abuse than many other works. It discusses how prejudice and shame associated with sex leads to abuse and control. So yeah, the message of ROTE is not, “don't have sex”, the message is “When men and women have sex, it is one-sidedly dangerous for women. It can endanger their physical and mental health, it can be used culturally and interpersonally to control them, and it can damage their romantic, financial, and familial prospects”.

[cha-lii]

reading the liveship traders as an adult instead of a teenager is so wild bc why did i not remember kennit as being as utterly evil, disgusting and cruel as he is? god damn, sixteen year old me was as drawn in as etta and wintrow

[redfoxreader]

Been a minute but here is the full finished product

[fieldsofvarley]

everyone on vivacia is insane and everyone on paragon is a depressed burned out college dropout

[fieldsofvarley]

my sweetest in the entire world. and i will have a dress to surpass that one

[fieldsofvarley]

adult etta kneeling down to her younger self to take the knives out of her hands. never let them think there is anything you can't do. older wintrow looking at his younger self as if in a mirror. despite everything, it's still you. adult kennit unable to meet the eye of his little self, so small, so beaten. did we get everything we ever dreamed of? we once got very close.

[redfoxreader]

Live ship traders sketch :)