#eva fathom

[george-karim]

Thinking about the way Aaron was treated by the adults in his life throughout his entire childhood

Justine's manipulation, Eva treating him like a threat to be monitored (which he was to be fair), Gondoleery treating him as beneath her, the scientists seeing him as a mistake they have to fix

Then the way Liam treats him in contrast: canonically feeling fatherly affection towards him, seeing Aaron making the same mistakes he did and feeling sad for him instead of viewing him as a monster, directly acknowledging how young Aaron is, genuinely trying to comfort him and ask what's wrong, the entirety of the scene where Aaron gets his oil press to work ("you've made a wonderful machine, Aaron)

This could definitely be worded better but I'm tired and really just made this to say I wish we had more Aaron and Liam interactions

[helloitsdusk]

have i posted yet about how i think eva adopted carina? i know ive talked about it before, but i dont know if ive said it here...hmm. alright, then.

the first reason, and i think why i even thought of it in the first place, is their ages. in the first book, carina is 22, while eva is said to be a bit older than justine, who is 70. (when carina is first introduced in the second book, it says she was "purged about ten years ago"; eva is "an ancient woman, older than the high priest herself") this puts eva at about 50 years old when carina was born--not impossible, but unlikely, i would assume.

and especially considering eva's job. she is justine's secretary, going here and there all around quill doing the things justine does not want to do. she's a busy woman, devoted and focused, and justine, from what we can tell, seems to have little care for her as an actual person. this is seen most prominently with the fact that eva's name was fully discarded, only left with her job title.* it seems unlikely that justine would inconvenience herself by giving her secretary time off to go have a baby.

*i simply find this strange when you add carina into the mix. in island of legends, it outright says that eva has gone by the name secretary for the past fifty years, and everybody, including her, forgot what her name was at some point...which seems like it would have been a lot harder if she had a daughter with the same last name who only died ten years ago. this isnt explained away by this theory, i just wanted to mention that i find it strange.

speaking of names: when her memory is first restored, marcus calls her "ms. fathom," whereas gondoleery is "mrs. rattrapp." now, yes, this could be that eva was married in the past and her husband died or something, but we never meet gondoleery's husband, either, and she seems to live alone, so this feels unlikely to me.

so, instead, i think maybe she was adopted by eva.

quill is a scientifically-minded place, sure, but it is not particularly clean, or technologically advanced, and even if it was, that does not rule out deaths entirely. average, everyday deaths due to disease, shocking health issues, accidents, etc. are things that are common even in our modern day world, and will likely always be common as long as we are alive and living, but they are shockingly absent in the actual books. the idea of random quillen civilians dying due to mundane causes is, to me, fascinating, whether they are children or adults. and, when theyre adults with children...what happens to those kids? quill doesnt seem large enough to have an orphanage, at least not at the time of the books. the place has only been around for fifty years... so i think, perhaps, orphaned children are taken in by families without kids, which are probably few and far between, considering quill's views on duty and how much the rangers are shunned for being cut off from reproducing. having successful children is huge in quill, so most families probably have at least one at some point. but it seems like eva had no husband and no children of her own, so who better to take in a young carina, whose parents were dead?

[stibnitewires]

Restorers of Quill.

[artimeanatheart]

Aaron Character Analysis-Book Four Part One

Oh, Island of Legends. It has fantastic parts, but the main characters are being so frustrating. Alex is being an idiot, while Aaron is making me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.

But there was still a lot to enjoy. The side characters on both Alex and Aaron's sides of the story are fantastic. So let's start by making a bit of a tangent and talking about one of them because understanding her arc is important for understanding Aaron's. And I love her, so I'm not not going to talk about her.

A Tangent About Eva Fathom

"Eva, silent, faced forward as the jalopy sputtered and chugged down the driveway. The shadowy lines of the barbedwire ceiling of Quill crossed over her paper-thin skin, each one marking a year of her long life in service, many for the bad and fewer for the good."

The moral of The Unwanteds series is to never underestimate an old lady, and Eva perfectly demonstrates this. She is hyper-intelligent and determined.  She doesn't hold her memory loss against Mr. Today even though she has every right to.  Instead, she decides to fight for Artime, working as a double agent with only one other person being aware of it.  She works for about a year-and-a-half to relearn everything she's lost. She's a pretty unique example of a person who didn't need to spend a prolonged period of time outside of Quill to shake its programming.  Eva just needed to reclaim her identity to change.

"'What is going on here?' Liam asked under his breath. 'I'm not quite sure I understand. . .you.' Eva tilted her head and opened the door to the palace. 'Hmm?' she said. 'Whatever do you mean?'"

And boy does she ever have an identity.  I love that she is conniving and always working to subvert Aaron's efforts.  I love how snarky she is with him.  I love how annoyed she is at the teenage boy giving her orders.  And I love the ways that she's always thinking several steps ahead.  She gives her driver extra food, building enough goodwill that he breaks the rules and takes her to Artime to say goodbye.  She tests Liam in Haluki's house and decides to keep him alive in the Ancients Sector long before Aaron even has the idea of making him a governor.  She's smart enough to recognize that Aaron is a threat, but also smart enough to know that Gondoleery is the bigger threat.  And she's right.  Actually, she's right about pretty much everything. 

"'Let's wait. I thought you said they'd be coming' 'No, I said there was a chance.' 'How did you invite them? Were you polite?' 'More polite than you would have been,' Eva said. . . 'Am I to join you for dinner?' Eva asked. Aaron turned around to look at her. He stared for a moment. 'I suppose. I hadn't thought about you.' Eva offered a thin smile. 'Of course you hadn't.' Whatever sarcasm was in her voice went undetected."

Aaron and Eva also play off each other fantastically in this book. It's so satisfying to see someone challenge Aaron. And I think the fact that quite a few of their interactions in this book are actually from Eva's POV (or, as close to a single-character POV we get in a third person omniscient story) colors our perception of Aaron. We see him like Eva sees him: as a whiny, entitled brat. And I bring that up because in the next book, we get to see how Liam sees Aaron, which is much more sympathetic and makes us more sympathetic to him, which sets him up for his arc in book six. Which means that Eva's perspective was setting us up for Liam's perspective which was setting us up for book six. That's a tightly written series.

"There was only one thing Eva could do to stop the panther. Her legs weren't as strong as they once were, but with all her energy Eva ran and threw herself in front of the children as the panther opened her mighty jaws."

Anyways, Eva has come so far from the woman who couldn't even remember her own name at the beginning of the series.  Also, the fact that the seeds for Eva's arc were planted with a minor side character mention in book one is incredible.  There are so many layers to these books and it really pays off to read them closely.

Also, side note: Eva and Carina are fantastic.  What a mother/daughter duo.  Even though we never actually see them together and Carina high-key hates Eva they're still a couple of fantastic characters.  I hope that Seth is proud of his grandma.  And I am still not over her death.

[junokami]

eva fathom when aaron tells her to do the stupidest fucking thing imaginable but she can't say anything bc she can't compromise her position as secretary (and then ends up getting killed anyway)

[wrenviel]

AFTERLIFE!VERSE UNWANTEDS CONCEPT:

(Reposting because I deleted my original blog)

This contains spoilers for the whole original series+Quests! Please continue with caution.

A concept based on The Unwanteds/Quests series that focuses on the afterlife of all the characters that we’ve lost, and adds some fun twists into the mix. May turn into a written series sooner or later.

BLESSINGS-

Items/abilities that are related to the nature of one’s death. They are often very powerful if one has an untimely death OR is descended from a family with high magic capabilities.

(Heart Attack/Marcus, Lightning Spear/Alex, Throwing Star/Meghan)

Blessings can be utilized in many ways, depending on their power.

For example, Alex can sometimes breath lightning, spark lightning, or just full on summon a lighting spear.

SHARED BLESSINGS

Blessings can be shared, but ONLY between twins who are both deceased. Marcus is able to use variations of “Heart Attack” AND “Evermore Nevermore”, vice versa with Justine.

Alex only has one blessing because Aaron is immortal, and still alive.

SIMILAR BLESSINGS

There are many people in the afterlife who have “similar blessings.” Those who died because of the same spell, in similar circumstances, or because of the same type of weapon/poison often have blessings that are alike in nature.

Frieda Stubbs and Justine were both killed due to “Evermore Nevermore” but they manifest their blessings in different ways.

Cole Wickett and his friends also ALL have similar blessings because they all died the same way. (Most of them have manifestable rusty chains due to dying in the Ancient’s Sector)

APPEARANCES-

The appearances of the characters are very flexible. Many choose to take on younger forms if they were elderly when they died. (For example, Marcus usually has long hair and no visible wrinkles)

If they were younger when they died, they usually look how they were at death.

SOULS-

Everyone has a soul (land of the living and not) THOUGH in the case of twins, one soul is split into two. A separation of soul-bonded twins can lead to various complications. These vary on the nature of the bond. (Aaron feels the physical pain of loosing Alex, while Alex feels numbness)

Justine’s paranoia grew to extreme heights during the first period of her afterlife, while Marcus became more frail before his death.

OTHER NOTES-

-The afterlife is vast and contains a limbo where many souls are lost.

-Most of the Unwanteds characters reside in “Artime” (a copy of the original, but in the afterlife) There are also other “copies” that exist, but they are usually only places that had a good amount of inhabitants. These include Warbler, The Land of the Dragons, and the Island of Fire) (Quill also exists and is attached to Artimé)

-“Artimé” is watched over by Marcus, and later Alex. Like in the living world, both Marcus, Alex, and later Fredia, have a tie to this version of Artimé.

-Alex sometimes will see through Aaron’s eyes in his dreams, but the numbness remains. (oddly enough, it only manifests on the right side of his body)

-Justine tends to wander around limbo, but has to return to “Artimé” to keep herself stable. (She does still share a soul with Marcus, after all) She doesn’t cause much trouble, but still has a sharp tongue.

-There is a border between the land of the living and the land of the dead. (It is thought to be UNCROSSABLE)

-Those once considered “villains” tend to wander around limbo if they are still hostile, but some are reformed. Gondoleery, Freida, and Liam all have taken refuge in “Artimé”.

-Captain Baldhead, General Blair, and Will Blair are such that tend to wander and cause trouble. (Gondoleery used to wander, but Eva brought her to Artimé)

[george-karim]

Why didn't Cole and the other Unwanteds who left after Mr. Today's death come back to Artimé? They weren't sent to the Ancients Sector until Gondoleery came into power (iirc) so they had plenty of time. It wasn't like they could've hid Artimé being back from them both because it's on the same island as Quill and Aaron's speeches after Eva's death. It couldn't have been completely impossible because Carina got not only herself but Seth back to Artimé once it was restored.

On that note, how come nobody rescued them from being slaves in Quill? Alex did snap at Cole prior to him leaving, but I don't see Alex just being alright with leaving any of his people as slaves (his mindset in the Final Battle is literally death being slavery and protecting *every* Artiméan to the best of his ability). Even if it wasn't Alex, Meghan and Cole were at least friendly and she'd definitely be willing to march into Quill herself if no one else agreed (like how she went to confront Aaron). Even outside of the main cast, surely Cole and everyone else who left has loved ones and friends in Artimé, I find it hard to believe they just let them stay there.

Alex also asks about Cole and the others who left when they're trying to prepare for the final battle before he's told about them dying, and he's upset to hear that they died, so??

[george-karim]

What was I cooking here