#ferras vansen

[clumsybutterflies]

“I do not like men who… who take advantage,” Vansen had answered, trying to explain what was in his heart but not quite having the words. “I do not like men who take what the gods give and pretend it’s their due.”  Hearing that, Murroy's leathery old face had creased in one of his infrequent smiles. "Then you must not like most men."

Tad Williams, Shadowmarch, chapter 2

Relatable. So relatable.

[clumsybutterflies]

Shadowmarch Reread: some thoughts on Ferras Vansen

So week 2 of the reread basically started with, “oh, I love Ferras Vansen!” - “me too!” - “me too!” - “me too!”

I still love Deornoth from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn a bit more (that is my husband and you can’t have him), but Ferras…

- that description of him as a child, that love for the high places, and straying away from his family’s farm to explore them. I feel that deep longing to go higher and higher and further away from people (and it makes me want to throw my laptop to the floor and run out of the house and head out to the hills myself). And it makes me feel sorry for him living in Southmarch now, where there is no wilderness, the only high places are walls and towers, and people are never far away. That just feels miserable to me. (And that was one of the things that made me feel so awful around the time when I first read Shadowmarch, when I was living in Vienna.) Even though he clearly appreciates Southmarch castle more than I would, given the way it is described.

- also, dreaming too much. That is also a trait I can understand all too well.

- taciturn, bad-tempered father? Yep. A good thing to get away from.

- little patience for laziness and people not doing their tasks properly? Yep, I agree.

- “I do not like men who… who take advantage,” Vansen had answered, trying to explain what was in his heart but not quite having the words. “I do not like men who take what the gods give and pretend it’s their due.” Yes.

- I wonder how I will relate to his guard-captain-ness now that I am a boss myself. I do recognise the worry of “where will I have to end this friendship for the sake of discipline”, though luckily I have not yet come close to such a situation, and it doesn’t seem like I will any time soon.

- the “having a crush on an unattainable person” thing feels less relatable, because that has never really happened to me. Except the occasional fictional character I guess.

(Come join our Reread at tadwilliams.com/forum!)

((I can’t link because then tumblr will hide my post. Sorry!))

[clumsybutterflies]

Until his manhood, he knew no greater pleasure than a stretch of afternoon when he could clamber up to one of the crests and look out over the folds of hillock and valley that lay before him like a bunched blanket - deep, dark places and airy prominences that no one else in his family had ever seen, even though they lay less than a mile from the family croft."

Tad Williams, Shadowmarch, chapter 2

(I think I might want to use that as a caption for a photo some day, like I did with some quotes from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, before work ate all my time and motivation.)