Names and explanations of things are under the cut!! (A lot of it is colour-based and somewhat repetitive, be warned)
Endeavour Morse (version 2):
Loyalty - Briton Rivière - the dog is Morse at Thursday. (And also he’s really loyal to Peter, that’s not going unmentioned)
Cassandra - Evelyn de Morgan - you can pry Morse/Cassandra parallels out of my cold dead hands, it’s staying in version two
Giant Peacock Moth - Vincent Van Gogh - it matches Peter and quite honestly I just love it
French novels and rose - Vincent Van Gogh - books innit
Jimson Weed - Georgia O’Keeffe - it’s one of the things he gets drugged with in Arcadia (the fact it matches Peter is a coincidence, I just really like the other Jimson weed painting by her)
Farm Garden with Sunflowers- Gustav Klimt - it matches Peter
Orpheus glances back at Eurydice - Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein Stub - tell me Morse wouldn’t go to the underworld for someone
The Lady of Shalott - John William Waterhouse - it’s what he reads to Pamela in Girl
Water lilies - Claude Monet - It matches the water lilies in Peter’s and frankly I want to eat it, it’s so beautiful
The Triumph of Bacchus/The Drinkers - Morse is Bacchus because alcohol, women, and theatre.
Garden with Weeping Willow - Vincent Van Gogh - again, it matches Peter
The Dog - Francisco Goya - it was in version 1 and I stand by him being slightly pathetic dog shaped
Peter Jakes (version 2):
This is pure self-indulgence because I wanted a green version as a phone background. If you want actual symbolism look at the original version. There are however occasional reasons in here
Great Peacock Moth - Vincent Van Gogh
Princes Dock, Hull - John Atkinson Grimshaw
Sunflower - Gustav Klimt - matches Morse
Stormy Sea at Night - Ivan Aivazovsky
Cassandra - Frederick Sandys - YOU CAN PRY THE CASSANDRA/PETER COMPARISONS OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS. “None of them could see it. Only me” HE IS SO CASSANDRA.
The Water Lily Pond - Claude Monet
Emerald - Alphonse Mucha
HMS 'Erebus' passing through the chain of bergs, 1842 - Richard Brydges Beechey
Untitled (tree) - Zdzisław Beksiński
Pope (1958) - Francis Bacon
Jimson Weed - Georgia O’Keeffe - it matches Morse and I really like the colour
Bacchus - Sergey Solomko
Weeping Willow - Claude Monet - again, matches Morse
Fred Thursday:
Olive Trees - Vincent Van Gogh - he’s green and blue. It’s green and blue. Sorted.
The Treachery of Images - René Magritte - he smokes a pipe and honestly I think he’d find this painting quite amusing
Water lilies - Claude Monet - he feels quite blue and I thought it was a really nice colour
The Thames by Moonlight with Southwark Bridge, London - John Atkinson Grimshaw - before he moved to Oxford he was a police officer in London (and also green)
Untitled (soldier) - Zdzisław Beksiński - its blue and green again, but also he fought in the war
A dog and her puppies - Henriëtte Ronner-Knip - Thursday putting up with Morse and Peter’s bullshit
Blue and Green Music - Georgia O’Keeffe - blue and green again
Italian Girl with Flowers - Joaquin Sorolla - he’s not an Italian girl, but it fits with what we know about him serving in Italy during the war
Water-Lilies - Claude Monet - blue.
Blue Landscape - Paul Cézanne - blue again
Green, Blue, Green - Mark Rothko - Green and blue again innit
The Port of Rotterdam - Maximilien Luce - blue again, what a surprise
Between the Waves - Ivan Aivazovsky - Blue once again!
Poppies - John Singer Sargent - yes, green, but also the war again
Reginald Bright:
Tiger in a tropical storm/Surprise! - Henri Rousseau - Tiger innit
Sharks - Utagawa Kuniyoshi - I just liked it and it felt Bright
Ferryboat At Night - Louis Michel Eilshemius - deep blue grey is so him
Wrath of the Seas - Ivan Aivazovsky - it just vibes, he seems quite grey/deep blue
Cameret, Moonlight and Fishing Boats - Maximilien Luce - deep blues are so him
The Port of Le Havre - Claude Monet - dark blue again
Starry Night - Edvard Munch - Again. Blue.
Architecture in the Moonlight - René Magritte - Blue. Yeah.
Man in Blue VI - Francis Bacon - it’s just so him
Oak Fractured by a Lightning - Maxim Vorobiev - again, the colours, but also it was an allegory for the artist’s wife’s death. So.
Starry Night Over the Rhône - Vincent Van Gogh - again he feels very deep blue
American White Pelican - John James Audubon - “if the pelican can, then so can you!”
At Close of Day - Maxfield Parrish - blue again!
Joan Thursday:
The Sun - Edvard Munch - I liked the idea of Sun/moon Joan/Shirley and I thought it was so pretty
Carnation - Alphonse Mucha - It looks like her, and she matches Shirley
Water-Lily Pond, Symphony in Rose - Claude Monet - specifically she matches Shirley, but honestly they all have water lilies so. Take your pick I guess
Host, Autumn - Bror Lindh - again, pink, it just feels so her
Pink Peach Tree in Blossom (Reminiscence of Mauve) - Vincent Van Gogh - she’s so pinks and pale blues/teals. I’m in love with her turquoise coat. It’s perfect.
The Flapper - F. X. Leyendecker - it just vibes so much
Moonlight/Moonlit landscape - Bror Lindh - it’s the right colours for her again
Water Lilies - Claude Monet - see above.
The Roses of Heliogabalus - Lawrence Alma-Tadema - pink again, but Romans this time
Wheatfield with Cypresses - Again, very pale blue to me, and also she matches Jim and Shirley
Shirley Trewlove:
Water lilies - Claude Monet - she’s so pinks and yellows to me and it felt right
Blossoming Almond Branch in a Glass - Vincent Van Gogh - it’s pink, and it matches the blossoms in Joan’s and in Fancy’s
Dream - Arthur Hacker - vibes. Just vibes.
Roses - Pierre-Auguste Renoir - again she’s very pinks and yellows
The Kiss - Gustav Klimt - again, yellow, but also matches Fancy
Study for Portrait - Francis Bacon - Yellow again and I love Francis Bacon
Couple Descnding Staircase - J. C. Leyendecker - imagine her undercover somewhere fancy. That’s her.
Iris - Alphonse Mucha - I think she looks like Shirley, and she matches Joan’s Mucha
Hibiscus with Plumeria - she’s very pinks and yellows, similar to Joan
Water lilies - Claude Monet - the colours felt very her, and she matches George’s Monet
Sunset: Wheat Fields Near Arles - she matches Joan as well, and she’s very yellow
Moon Reflected in a Turtle Pool, Seychelles - Marianne North - again, moon/sun Shirley/Joan.
Jim Strange:
Parade de cirque (circus parade) - Georges Seurat - the figure in the middle is playing a trombone like Strange does
The Northern Lights - Sydney Laurence - he’s very bright blues to me
Water Lilies - Claude Monet - again, bright blue
Masonic Symbols - Unknown - Well he is a mason.
Above the Clouds I - Georgia O’Keeffe - blue again!
Awa Province: Naruto Whirlpools - Utagawa Hiroshige - yet again, blue
Evening Shadows - Maxfield Parrish - Blue once more
The Grand Canal of Venice (Blue Venice) - Edouard Manet - Blue again, quelle surprise
A Calm Moonlit Marine Scene - Alfred Stevens - blue yet again
Wheatfield under Thunderclouds - Vincent Van Gogh - he matches Joan, and once again he’s very bright blues
George Fancy:
Kiss by the Window - Edvard Munch - he’s quite blue, and he matches Shirley
Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) - Francisco de Zurbarán - he’s quite sacrificial lamb shaped
Kumoi Cherry Trees - Hiroshi Yoshida - it felt like the right colours again
The Water-Lily Pond, Green Reflections - I liked the colours and he matches Shirley (again)
The Lament for Icarus - Herbert James Draper - He’s quite ambitious, storms in too fast and gets killed in the process. Icarus. (And also it’s the name of the episode in which he dies)
Rain - David Hockney - it just vibes really
Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry - Katsushika Hokusai - blue! And matches Shirley’s blossoms again
Blue Morning Glories - Georgia O’Keeffe - blue again
Orpheus and Eurydice - Edward John Poynter - like Morse, tell me he wouldn’t go to hell and back for someone
Water lilies - Again, the colours felt very him, and again he matches Shirley
The Starry Night - Vincent Van Gogh - again, deep blue feels very George
Max DeBryn:
Raven - Odilon Redon - Ravens often mean death (like pathology) but also they’re bloody clever
Farm Garden with Sunflowers - Gustav Klimt - his garden is wonderful. That’s it. (And Morse has the same one)
Dido Building Carthage - J. M. W. Turner - he definitely loves the Aeneid. And I hope he’d be a Dido supporter
The Anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp - Rembrandt - again he’s a pathologist, need I say more?
Lorenzaccio - Alphonse Mucha - get this man to the theatre
Unknown Man - Ken Currie - once again, pathology
Ulysses and the Sirens - John William Waterhouse - I just know he loves the Odyssey as well
The Agnew Clinic/The Clinic of Dr. Agnew - Thomas Eakins - Pathology again innit
Death and Life - Gustav Klimt - …pathologist.
The Ascent of the Blessed - Hieronymus Bosch - I just know he’d love a Bosch painting. That’s the whole reason
Corner of a Garden - John Singer Sargent - again. His garden is great
Dorothea Frazil:
Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden - Otto Dix - she is a journalist
Pink Shell - Georgia O’Keeffe - pink sunset colours! she’s so sunset colours (orange mainly) to me (a lot of hers is based around sunset-y colours I can’t lie)
Dorothea - William Etty - it’s her name!!
Nasturtiums - Odilon Redon - Orange!
View of Constantinople by moonlight - Ivan Aivazovsky - it’s orange, and again, orange colours again (and I adore Aivazovsky paintings)
Grainstacks at Giverny, sunset - Claude Monet - see above about sunset colours
Willows at Sunset - Vincent Van Gogh - again. Sunset. It just vibes honestly
Dahlias - Claude Monet - Yeah it’s orange. Yeah I know
Roses - Pierre-Auguste Renoir - pink sunset colours this time!
Canna Red and Orange - Georgia O’Keeffe - do I need to say it again?
Bleeding Hearts - Georgia O’Keeffe - Pink again
Midnight Sun, Norway II, 2003 - David Hockney - again, orange colours. They’re just so her
Thank you for making it this far, I hope it was at least vaguely interesting <33
The final chapter, or rather the epilogue, of Thursday's Child is now up on AO3.
“But a golden wedding anniversary is so special! And Dad said they won’t have anyone else there. That their son, our uncle, died young when helping to rescue people during a fire; and their daughter and her family cannot be in direct contact because of some kind of hit-list Grandpa Fred landed up on. I don’t understand it all, but Dad said Trenton was the name under which they built a new identity when they returned here from America after my birth.”
“Yes, child, I know. I knew your grandparents too, back in the day… before their visit to America.”
“Then can’t you come up with me? They would love to see you and if you’re with me, I don’t have to worry about travelling at odd hours. Please……..”
Even as he shook his head firmly, Morse felt completely powerless against those pleading eyes that were rapidly filling with tears. As Felicity gulped and brought up one hand to swipe the back across her nose, he found himself weakening against his will.
What harm would it do at this stage? That was the foolish whisper from his heart. No—after keeping Fred and Win safe for almost 20 years, he couldn’t botch it now by giving in to his selfish desire to see them again. Or so argued his head.
I really do think that all Endeavour fans need to read a) the Discworld Watch books and b) Monstrous Regiment, because Russell Lewis is *such* a Discworld fan, and there are literal lines lifted (omg the moment where Max gets a line spoken by the Watch's Igor is INCREDIBLE), and it's a delight to know that Thursday is very blatantly partly based on:-
1. the most cynical copper who ever lived, who is constantly fighting his own darkness and has a son called Sam and can be terrifyingly protective of the people he loves
2. the most horrifyingly competent and scheming and also terrifyingly protective of "his little lads" sergeant who ever sergeanted and who is also canonically... (behind the cut is a fairly major Monstrous Regiment spoiler...)
... a trans man. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
(This means so so so much to me I cannot tell you. :) )
(And omg, yep, Jackrum's "talking to Ruperts" voice and Vimes's "talking to aristocrats" voice is totally deployed when Thursday is dealing with Bright before Bright's upgrade to awesomeness. And, um, one of the aristocrats who Vimes deals with on a regular basis? Is called Ronald Rust. NO ONE can tell me that Reginald Bright wasn't originally partly based on both Rust and Lt Blouse, though of course Bright (like Blouse) does get that upgrade. :D )
(I think it's not too much of a stretch also to see Endeavour's Morse as just a little bit based on Carrot (as well as a bit on Vimes too), to see Jakes as based partly on both Nobby and all three of Wazzer, Lofty, and Tonker (AAAAAAAAAH MY HEART FRICKING OUCH), and so on. And I am still waiting for someone to write a fic in which Joan's a werewolf; I'm not usually a Morse/Joan shipper but I would read the *fuck* out of that. :D )
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Summer 1972. Peter Jakes is back in England and eventually in Oxford, where circumstances appear to first derail his plans to reconnect with family, and later open the door to perhaps a little more than he had dared to hope for. Helped of course by Morse and Bright amongst others!
