These are mostly headcanons I used in my fics but I think they can be canon-compliant too. (We already have a lot of Jaron related stuff in books which I don't think I would mention as we already know that but I can't help but make more of them. These are mostly prequel, some series and post series canons and includes his family.)
As a kid Jaron didn't have close friends. He did have friends like that castle page he made a bet with or with whom he was pranks for fun but not a friend with whom he could share his thoughts or feelings. The only person near his age whom he could talk to was his brother Darius. Which is one of the reasons why Jaron was so desperate to have him back as his brother in book 4!
Jaron in his childhood wanted to lead the armies of Carthya into battle someday. Not as king though as that was something Jaron thought Darius was good at and never him.
Darius had to grow up fast being crown prince but when Jaron was a baby he did look at Jaron and felt he was cute. (He mentioned it to Erin once. 🥺) And back then Jaron didn't do anything except climbing over balconies occasionally which caused nursemaids to complain about him as book 4 said but Darius couldn't understand when he saw sleeping baby Jaron how could he be causing trouble to those nursemaids.
As children, Darius once asked Jaron why wasn't he friends with the noble kids as Jaron could talk to them and Jaron said they either didn't like him or treated him as a prince which he didn't like so Darius is the only one he could talk to. Darius asked him what would Jaron do without him and Jaron as a kid back then believed he would always have Darius. ( Which wasn't true. I know it's angsty.)
As Sage, Jaron sometimes think about that conversation with Darius sometimes. It hurt him then to see how wrong he was to think things would be the same and that he would always have Darius.
We know Darius was said to be the only one who caught Jaron climbing the castle walls that was mostly because they shared the same room so Darius sometimes caught Jaron sneaking out but he kept quiet about him climbing the walls. Jaron didn't know why he kept quiet about it. (Tfp says that Darius kept quiet about his mischief and Jaron didn't know it was because he loved Jaron and wanted to have a life Darius himself couldn't have.)
Jaron hates servants dressing him up and he always did. (We see how he is with Errol in tfp.) So sometimes as a kid when Jaron couldn't dress properly Darius or Erin fixed his clothes and helped him.
So remember the spice cake dream Jaron talked about? That happened to him as a kid once after eating spice cakes and he did get scared back then (he was very young then). He awoke Darius back then when they were sharing room. Darius only knows about this but he did end up revealing it to Jaron’s friends later post series. Lol.
It wasn't too difficult for Darius to find Jaron as a kid whenever Jaron disappeared sometimes. So Jaron used to ask him did he have a map of all his hiding places as a joke. Actually Jaron even now sometimes disappears because of king's work and how much he said in books he wants to to away from being around people. He hates people following him or be around him 24 hrs because he is king.
Darius(when he visits the castle) is one of those people who still finds Jaron in his hiding places as he still remembers where Jaron used to go as a kid.
Jaron wouldn't have survived many of his falls from the walls or trees in his childhood if Darius wasn't there to save him. (I totally think that okay. ) Rest of the falls he survived was because of luck probably.
This one is angsty too. As people often used to tell kid Jaron that he belonged to the devils ( like through their Saints' Day gifts or by just saying it) after Jaron became Sage, he thought being an orphan and living this life was probably because of the devils and he believed for the first time then that those people were probably right. This is also when he started to believe in devils more than the saints.
Actually as a kid Jaron used to talk all night and keep Darius awake being like Fink sometimes and so whenever Darius, Jaron and Fink have sleepovers and Fink talks (probably when Darius visits Carthya sometimes they do) then Darius mentions that Jaron was like Fink as kids whenever Jaron tells Fink to be quiet. Actually Darius says this to Jaron for a lot of stuff Fink does.
In his childhood Eckbert used to often tell Jaron to be like Darius as Darius was obedient and much more like a prince. Once Jaron took this literally and did everything Darius did in a dinner event. More like he copied everything Darius did like his movements or even repeated what he said or like when Darius leaned back, Jaron did it too or when he yawned, Jaron did too. Darius got annoyed and excused himself and left the hall and Jaron followed him too. Jaron explained why he was copying Darius and Darius couldn't help but smile at that though he was still annoyed.
When Jaron was very young he did try to be the kind of prince Darius was and Eckbert wanted him to be but he eventually realised he could only be himself and stopped trying.
Darius was also Jaron’s motivator as a kid whenever Jaron got sad because he failed to live up to Eckbert's expectations and got scolded by him. (Erin was too sometimes!)
After Jaron first returned to the castle post book 1, the castle hardly felt the same and he knew it never would with his family gone. He might not have cried in their funeral but he did cry alone in his room. But he eventually did end up building up a found family of his own with his friends and parent like figures. 💙
(This one is mostly about his time with Erin and Eckbert and his feelings about them)
One of the reasons Jaron as a kid thought Erin is the only one who loved him was because unlike Eckbert or anyone else Erin never used to scold him the same way every other grown ups did. Erin was not so serious as Jaron said in the books so sometimes she used to laugh at some of Jaron’s pranks as they used to remind her of her own childhood. (Erin was mischievous like Jaron after all. We know he got this from Erin.)
Still Erin used to caution Jaron about what he should and shouldn't do in a good way and even tried to prevent Eckbert from finding out what Jaron did sometimes. She also told Eckbert not to scold Jaron so much whenever Eckbert got too angry with him, reasoning that he is a kid and didn't mean any harm (like that tapestry incident). Besides how much time Erin spent with Jaron, these are the other reasons Jaron believed Erin loved him.
We know about Erin diaries. It was hard for Jaron to read it when he found them in his mother's room. But after a very long time(post series) he did read them. Sometimes whenever he misses her he reads them alone in his room.
Jaron’s last words to Erin was that she wouldn't ever see him again which he said because Erin sided with Eckbert when he sent Jaron to Bymar and that line became true in the worst possible way. Jaron didn't know it would become true as a kid of ten years old and that fact is what haunts Jaron even now at present. That he didn't get to apologise to Erin for saying that and that those words became true which he didn't know back then is one of the reasons why Jaron finds it so difficult to think or talk about his mother. Though he knows Erin forgave him for those words he thinks he shouldn't have said them even if he didn't know what would happen back then. (I know this is angsty.)
Current Jaron visits Erin's grave on her birthday to wish her every year. If Darius comes to Carthya then he visits her grave too with him to wish her. (Well this is partly from an Erin birthday fic idea I might write someday.)
Sometimes when Jaron sees Roden and Harlowe having a father-son moment, he wonders if he could have had such a relationship with his own father(Eckbert) as they always had a distance between each other. He wonders if there was someway he could have fixed it and be close like Roden-Harlowe. (This one is lowkey because of that TST moment when Jaron hesitated to tell Roden about Harlowe.)
We know why Jaron keeps secrets but Jaron also got this habit of keeping secrets from Eckbert. (Though Eckbert was worse than Jaron as we know he hid that Jaron is alive from his mother.)
We know Eckbert never showed much that he loved Jaron but he did love Jaron. This fact remained a secret from Jaron for years as he just didn't know how to show it. But he actually felt guilty about making Jaron live as Sage though he also felt it was needed to be done to keep Jaron alive. Sometimes used to visit Jaron’s room during those four years and got sad about what he did.
Also Eckbert kept a secret diary no one knows about ( Conner never found it). But Jaron did later when he came back to the castle years later (actually post series) and he read about what Eckbert wrote there. He was reluctant to read his father's diary at first but then he did after a long time and he broke into tears realising how Eckbert never spoke how much he loved Jaron. (This is another angsty fic thing but could be canon-compliant)
It is also not that Eckbert never showed that loved Jaron. It was only that he did that when Jaron was too young to remember it or didn't notice it. The times when he used to teach kid Jaron how to play his favorite instruments was definitely one of them.
Jaron in his childhood loves to skip his lessons so he often used to act like he was ill when he wasn't. Once when he was really sick no one believed him until later. That day he fell asleep in class and got scolded by his tutors and eckbert. It was Erin or Darius who realized that Jaron was really ill. When Eckbert found out he felt guilty for scolding Jaron and stayed beside jaron all night and cared for him but after Jaron got well he didn't remember that. That was until Darius told Jaron about that story years later though Jaron found it hard to believe.
Even if Jaron wasn't the kind of prince Eckbert wanted him to be, Eckbert knew what Jaron was capable of. Jaron was capable of much more than being a prince. He also knew Jaron loved freedom and perhaps letting him become Sage was Eckbert's way of giving him that freedom.
As hard as it was to tell Jaron to live on his own as an orphan, Eckbert always believed Jaron would manage it and survive it because he is Jaron. (It was wrong to do that and there were other ways to make Jaron live but I need my angst okay and I believe Eckbert wouldn't have made Jaron Sage if he knew Jaron could die. He had that faith that Jaron can survive this despite his upbringing as a prince.)
Jaron believed for a very long time that Eckbert never saw him when he visited the church at the end of every month and watched his father from far as Sage.
Though it took a very long time, actually years Jaron did eventually come to an understanding with his father and realized he did love him! He knows that he and his father are different people and would make different decisions in different circumstances but they both wanted Carthya to be a better kingdom and that's what Jaron intends to do. Though he never wanted to be king, he would still try to rule the best way he could.
Just a ramble. In book 5 I felt the reason why jaron kept the devil's scope with him instead of destroying it was also because he was curious about where the treasure was.
he made it clear he wanted to use the treasure to rebuild carthya at the beginning in his monologue and considering how he used to steal for kids in the orphanage besides his own survival reasons i never thought he was greedy. he was literally playing with the coins as a kid in that secret cave where the royal treasury was. lol.
so I don't think he kept the scope because he wanted the treasure but he was curious about where it is located and so spent all the time he could get to decipher the scope . he loves exploring and discovering. that's why Jaron probably didn't destroy the scope. yes he didn't want prozarians to get the treasure so there was that too and that carthya needed financial resources after war and you do need money as king to run a kingdom that had been depleted of its supplies.
Also who else wouldn't be curious about where a hidden treasure is located? 😅 since i am sure all of us loved treasure adventure stories as kids. I still love adventure stories too. decoding a scope to find the location is fun as it's like solving a fun puzzle. jaron probably just love the idea of trying to decode a scope and find a hidden treasure even though he didn't himself want the treasure.
on a random note maybe jaron loves solving fun puzzles because I need more clever king protagonists who love solving puzzles. lol. ( of course for jaron he will only like the fun puzzles that interest him.)
in fact i feel jaron does many of his mischiefs out of curiosity especially the childhood ones. like the one where he used the trebuchet or even in the books where he just randomly experiments with gunpowder.
maybe it's because of his adventurous nature. he loves adventures and adventures don't happen if you aren't curious to see the unknown.
on a random funny note as a joke if jaron weren't a king maybe he should have been a scientist just because of how much he loves experimenting out of curiosity. lol. ( I did mention in my tas high school au headcanon he would love science.)
When Darius visits Carthya Jaron spends a lot of time with him to make up for the lost time because of how they were separated after the pirate attack and series incidents.
Jaron sometimes visits Mrs. Turbeldy orphanage to make sure that the orphanage is in good condition ( besides the short story where he gives supplies to the orphanage). But whenever he goes to Carchar he often go to the church he visited every month as Sage to meet his father. He sits there and think about the last time he saw his father there and we know that the fact still haunts him that he never tried to talk and reconcile with him then. (according to the author)
Sometimes he even imagines an IF scenario in his head about all that he could have talked with his father the last time he saw him if he knew he wouldn't see him again.
I told it before once that Jaron doesn't want to invite the pirates all the time but he also invites the pirates sometimes and most people doesn't like it especially Darius which is mostly because Jaron can't explain to his brother yet why having the pirates who attacked his ship at ten is a good thing.
When Jaron goes out on the streets in Drylliad ( actually he doesn't like going out as king so he often prefers going out alone or with Mott probably if he needs guards or maybe sometimes Roden ) he sometimes meets those he helped as a kid ( like those in the short stories or past stories) as they thank him for his help then. ( We know some of his pranks actually helped people especially in that Missing Prince short story)
Jaron hates being awakened early in the morning especially if he had some king's work or meeting in the morning. He stays up all night roaming around the castle or enjoying his own time so he always ends up being in a bad mood if you wake him up early. Errol knows it definitely and had probably added this in his list of instructions to servants. (Errol can probably write a whole book about how to manage the king.😅)
Jaron found interesting theories in an astronomy book while he was supposed to help Lump decipher the Scope in book 5 .( He mentioned it). Since then he began to develop an interest in astronomy as it is about stars and planets and he reads astronomy books a lot post series. He reads them quickly too as Jaron only reads when he is interested and then he can finish a book fast if he is interested. If not it would take him forever to finish the book.
When Jaron was a baby Erin used to sing lullabies to him and Darius. One of them is Jaron’s favorite. But Jaron was too young to remember the lyrics except the rhythm. But Darius did being four years older than him so he once told Jaron the lyrics when Jaron mentioned it post series. When Jaron heard it being older now, he realized that lullaby was a message from Erin to him actually. (this a fic idea and I haven't written it. the message will be there when I write it.)
This one was fic idea too but definitely could be canon compliant . After book 5 Jaron didn't want his resigned regents back in his court but they wanted to rejoin and apologised ( some did resign voluntarily but I think it was said they resigned as they were threatened by Castor) so Jaron did let them rejoin but not without punishment. Knowing it's Jaron the punishment he gave his regents was a funny one. You can make it up but for me it was to make them listen to Tobias talking about long boring things for hours. He told Tobias to make them specifically twice as boring and long and Tobias had fun doing it. But yes Jaron told Tobias not to talk those things when Jaron was in the room.
When Jaron began castle repairs post book 5 he wanted to begin with the crypt room first. That was the resting place of the three rulers and his parents ( Castor caused an explosion beneath the crypt so the room must have been more damaged than it was before probably as Jaron used a different exit to get out of the cave beneath it.)
We know about Jaron’s experiments with gunpowder. But also one time instead of causing destruction he kind of accidentally ended up inventing fireworks that shocked everyone. (This was my new year fic. Lol)
There is a group of outlaws in Carthya who are actually good doing nice things for the people and annoy the nobles and regents by stealing things from them (like how Sage was like ). Jaron likes them and once invited them to a festival. You can imagine what was everyone's reactions to it. 😅 Especially the regents and the nobles. They were more like why Jaron invited them. (Actually it was a fic headcanon too.)
Often when Jaron watches a theatre performance( being guest king) he can't help but think or even comment accidentally how he can act better than them if the play is a poor one.
Sometimes Jaron probably does stupid things because he felt like doing them.
His plans do look apparently foolish to people and Jaron is very much aware of it even before anyone tells them it is stupid. Sometimes he just still go along with those plans instead of the easier option of choosing the safer option and that is because he sees those plans as the only way to save the kingdom and those he cares about. He knows the consequences he might have to face if the plan goes wrong. So he isn't as stupid as people think he is!
Jaron can actually see people for who they are and is why he became friends even with his enemies. That's because he saw the good in them that no one else did. He won't become friends with people who are completely bad or didn't become good after all like Gregor or Vargan. A few examples of it were when he didn't know Gregor was a traitor but he still didn't like him since he became king and also how he knew Castor was a bad person since he was a kid which was why he didn't want to have a meeting with him in the first place for months as was mentioned in book 5. So he can tell if the person he is talking with has good or bad in them. (He might have suspected Amarinda but that was because he didn't talk to her properly. ) And he made Tobias, Roden and Mott his friends despite their actions in the books in the beginning or in the series because he knew they had good in them.
I had this on my drafts so posting my sort of canon compliant jaroden headcanons though you can take many of them as Jaron & Roden headcanons as they work for both shipping and non shipping dynamic.
They sneak out of the castle sometimes and Jaron will take Roden to places he loved to visit as a kid in Drylliad. Of course they both get scolded by Mott later. 🥲
They go to Tarblade together sometimes post series to meet the pirates. The horrible singing of the pirates makes Jaron regret it everytime.
Their new year resolution includes : Next time we fight I will win! And it is both of them saying at the same time. Which is a problem. Lol.
They can argue about silly things making Tobias the mediator. Once they fought so much they talked through Tobias despite being in the same room but it was funny. Poor Tobias though. 😔 (posted an incorrect quotes once.)
If they find a game they would love to compete against each other in it.
Roden has sometimes seen Jaron climbing to the roofs and it's mostly because of his night patrol duties. He makes no mention of it though.
Once they were in Benton on a mission and Roden showed his town to Jaron as well! 💙 they even visited Roden’s old orphanage!
Jaron has been making sure all orphanage in carthya are in good condition so he helped Roden fix his orphanage too! (This is actually a day off in benton fic i posted if you are curious.)
Jaron celebrates the anniversary of the day Roden became his captain and thinks it's worth celebrating though Roden does not. He once invited Roden to his favorite ledge to gaze at the view that day to celebrate the day.
They talked a lot about the past on the ledge. (This was the 730 days fic so not spoiling much.)
Actually Jaron invites Roden to ledges many times. And sometimes he would tease that Roden is slow at climbing leading to them bantering. lol
Since Harlowe told Jaron of Roden's birthday he celebrates it every year. 🥹 also since Roden likes food, Jaron makes sure the cake is the best cake ever.
Roden was too late to realise Sage was Jaron and Jaron teases him about it often.
Also Jaron fell asleep on Roden while on ledge once. (I drew an art of them.)
They do like to pass their free time sword-fighting sometimes. Lol.
Bantering is probably their love language. <3
Roden once carried Jaron like a sack of potatoes when they were on a mission and Jaron didn't want to retreat as Roden wanted him to. (A wip and also frieren and apothecary diaries just made me think of this.)
Jaron and Roden will spend Nila's birthdays with her and she loves to spend her birthday with them too! (It is my Nila birthday fic)
Roden once intentionally lost to Nila in a game and Jaron later realized that. Jaron loves to see this soft side of Roden. 😭 (Roden is soft towards kids. He gave a sword to Fink on his birthday once!)
Roden still feels horrible about many of the things he did in the past sometimes but Jaron reassures him and is willing to forgive him.
In fact Roden felt bad he couldn't do much for Latamer but Jaron reassured Roden that Latamer probably forgave him and would want him to be happy.
Jaron still has nightmares of the war and many of the things he went through in the books and Roden will try to help him in the way he can, reminding him how it's all over and how he trusts jaron to overcome them as well just like he had overcome everything in the past as Roden believes nothing is impossible for Jaron. That's the kind of faith he has on Jaron
Roden always loved doing gunpowder experiments with Jaron but whenever they went wrong he blamed Jaron for them and got worried. Lol.
once on a diplomatic trip to an enemy kingdom they once again staged an argument and enjoyed it. But they would meet each other in secret to discuss plans. ( it is part of a wip I haven't written yet)
Roden won't admit it always but he loves doing crazy stuff with Jaron. Though Jaron knows it.
I just love how they have huge faith in each other to overcome difficult situations and how they would try to motivate each other in trying times. Especially Jaron. He does that more than Roden but I love Jaron’s inspirational words to Roden! 🥹
One more random Jaron headcanon (this is a funny one): I think Jaron is the kind of person who would get super angry at you or won't forgive you (even if you're his closest person or someone he loves) if you're the reason he couldn't eat his favorite food. Like if someone else ate it before him or he was being interrupted from eating it or he accidentally drops it to the floor because someone accidentally bumped him. Yes he can be that petty but I feel being angry about it is relatable. 😅
Another Jaron headcanon. Jaron loves having his own space where he can think and reflect and do what he feels like and give time to himself. If anyone disturb him it bothers him. ( even if it's those close to him. ) The reason is simple. As king he can rarely be alone with servants and vigils around him and in every room and other people trying to accompany to get some favor. So in free time Jaron tries to be alone and have his own space . But someone always comes in. ( remembering tsc beginning part. Or how in that book Jaron said he sought places after becoming king to be alone but in vain.)
Jaron doesn't really have the freedom to be alone and have space of his own like commoners (unless he is in the King's Gardens or drives away servants to be alone. ) He sometimes misses being Sage because of this. As he rarely gets his own space. I guess he is one of those people who loves to spend time with his friends and family but loves having some Me-time.
Jaron might be the type to speak his mind but he has difficulty when it comes to tell about his feelings and emotions when it comes to people close to him. It's one of the reasons why he never told Eckbert he loved him though he did love his father. 😭 Also there are other times he doesn't express what he feels or how much he cares about the people around him and they end up misunderstanding him.
Eckbert isn't much different to this . He loved Jaron but had problem expressing it. I think Jaron gets it from Eckbert.
I think when Jaron is hurt his reaction is not to talk to them or be angry with them. As he was toward Eckbert. (He saw him every month but didn't talk to him.) People mistook Jaron’s reaction as anger and misunderstands it but he is actually hurt. Similar thing happened when it came to Erin as Jaron said he didn't really get over his mother siding with his father when he sent Jaron to bymar. Maybe it's why Jaron didn't try hard to make his mother know that he is alive. (Yes I am writing angsty things I know but this kind of reaction is relatable.)
Jaron doesn't write often but I think he would write letters to his parents since there are so many things he wasn't able to tell them especially how much he loved them and many more things. (He would cry writing the letter to his mother. 😭)
