#fhdwposting

[tornadodyke]

dale is literally the funniest person in fablehaven. everyone else is racing around trying to stop wars and duking it out with magical beings and the whole time he just. keeps doing his job and looking after the preserve. it's literally like the epitome of this meme

and then the couple of times where he DOES get involved he doesn't show up with some medieval weapon like the rest of them. no. he brings a fucking shotgun and starts blasting. WHO is doing it like him

[tornadodyke]

Knox closed his eyes and rubbed them, trying to banish the worries. He had volunteered for this! What was the matter with him? He had come to Wyrmroost on purpose! What had he been thinking?

It had seemed magical and cool. He had wanted to help Seth and Kendra, but did he really have anything to contribute? He had reasoned that anything Seth could do, he could do, no problem.

Wasn’t that true? Wasn’t he just as good as Seth? Or better?

Knox wasn’t so sure anymore.

Seth could ride a flying horse through skies full of ghosts like it was normal. Seth stared down wraiths and entered cursed castles and didn’t crack under enormous pressure.

Knox resolved that he wouldn’t crack either. Even if he should. Even if he was in way over his head.

my toxic dragonwatch trait is that actually i could get behind knox and tess as characters if they were just fleshed out and allowed to develop a bit instead of being thrown in there half-assedly because this bit right here is sooooo good. it highlights the fundamental differences between seth and knox in that despite being the same age seth has so much more experience with the dangers of the magical world and knox just can’t keep pace with him. ESPECIALLY with seth being a shadow charmer and knox fundamentally being Just Some Guy who happens to be cousins with the main characters. like knox is jealous! he’s thirteen! he’s acting his age! versus seth in other examples who gets very visibly exasperated with knox acting his age because he’s been grappling with adult responsibilities for too long. it sets up suuuuuch a good contrast that was fundamentally kind of ruined because of shitty writing. but i could totally fix it. there’s a good version that lives in my head

[tornadodyke]

i understand the adults are trying to think rationally and logically with the situation at hand but. a little compassion in the “seth is a shadow charmer” reveal would’ve been nice. like first their reactions when he told them:

When I was outside with the satyrs, I heard him calling to me, summoning me, just like when I heard the wraith in the dungeon. I figured Graulas could explain what was happening to me, since dark stuff is his specialty. He told me that the nail turned me into a shadow charmer."

"A shadow charmer?" Coulter repeated, frowning.

"Yeah," Seth replied. "That was why I could see the invisible goblin at the hotel, and how I heard the voices. I already had most of the powers. Graulas just explained the details and made it official."

The adults traded uncomfortable glances.

and then what they say LATER:

“We're all fortunate you succeeded," Grandpa continued, ignoring the comment. "Had you failed, you would be dead and we would have a war on our hands. Additionally, this shadow charmer business will require further investigation. Shadow charmers are the stuff of old bedtime stories. They are generally the villains. We have no idea what kind of access dark creatures may now have to you."

"What if Graulas can now spy on us through your eyes?" Grandma said.

"I don't think it works like that," Seth said.

"We possess little sure knowledge of shadow charmers," Grandpa reiterated. "We'll do what we can to acquire more."

"Don't hold your breath," Coulter mumbled.

i mean. first they get visibly uncomfortable and ignore it. and then afterwards they just kind of tell him point-blank that shadow charmers are usually evil and that they’re more concerned about the potential risk of spies than they are about. him? and like it’s a fair concern because they have absolutely no idea how it works but there wasn’t even an “are you feeling okay?” or anything like that and i hate to say it but you just KNOW that if it had been kendra dealing with this they would be fussing over her so much. and even as time goes on in the series it’s never something they really Mention all that much. like you can’t ignore it....it’s not going to go away.....accept him for who he is you cowards

[tornadodyke]

like it's very clear that kendra grew up with the general mindset that she could go to an adult for help with something and she would receive understanding and support and so she wouldn't have to do everything herself. like that's Where her whole "tattletale" reputation comes from. she feels she can trust adults with information she can't handle on her own because they'll know what to do. and by contrast seth grew up with the general mindset that if he tried to go to an adult for help with something he would receive nothing except disappointment and lectures so he just tries to do everything himself and sometimes it blows up in his face because. he's a kid

[tornadodyke]

the third book of dragonwatch is so funny in some places because yeah seth lost his memories and he’s being manipulated into carrying out tasks for the underking by ronodin and the eventual guilt he feels when he gets his memories back because of the things he’s done is horrible and drives him to become actively suicidal but also. ronodin attempting to train him. like some of the scenes are just so hilarious to me. because ronodin assigns him important books to read about important topics and seth. in all his adhd-coded glory. physically cannot sit still or focus long enough to read through the books. so whenever they encounter something that was IN the books seth will be like so what is THIS thing about.... and ronodin just stares at him and goes. i’m fairly sure i assigned you to read over this exact topic. and seth’s like okie dokie and let’s say for the sake of conversation that i totallyyyyy read them but forgot all about it. can you summarize it pwease <3

[tornadodyke]

like book one of dragonwatch is seth going "i get to be the caretaker of a DRAGON SANCTUARY????? aw yeah baby it's #girlboss time😎😎😎👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻👑👑👑👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻" and then book five is seth going "*coughing up blood* was that good? did i do good? did i atone for my sins? can i die? can i die? can i die?"

[tornadodyke]

okay and now i'm thinking of kendra&knox bonding as much as i am seth&tess bonding. the funny thing about knox and tess is that their sibling relationship appears to be much less. antagonistic. than seth and kendra's originally is before they gain all that trauma together. i think kendra and knox would be lamenting over the chore of having a little sibling while seth and tess go start chaos somewhere and kendra eventually tells knox about how they found out about the milk which was that they were told ingesting the milk could kill them so naturally she made seth try it before she tried it herself. and in response to this knox is like ??? damn okay. rip to whatever the fuck you two have going on but i wouldn't do that to tess. and then meanwhile seth is doing sky acrobatics in the air with his wings with tess clinging on to him like a spider monkey and cheering him on so he'll fly faster. and when they finally land they're windswept as shit and kendra and knox start making fun of their disheveled appearances. like they're just chilling together yknow

[tornadodyke]

remembering how in the second book of fablehaven seth says that his favorite shadow puppet his dad used to make for him was a chicken and now i’m thinking about seth using his shadow charmer powers to make a bunch of little chicken shadow puppets for himself. when nobody else is around. to keep himself occupied. and to prove to himself just a little more that he isn’t evil.