#language of thorns

[not-a-gay-phangoddess]

ahhhh language of thorns is so good

@inejsgirl and @bookworm-fangirl1 have you read it?

my rankings:

the witch of duva

when water sang fire

little knife

the too-clever fox

amaya and the thorn wood

the soldier prince

[clearance--s]

(rant, bad english and emotions)

if i had a nickel for every time Bardugo created amazing, soul crushing character only to absolutelty underutilize them and waste all potential that laid RIGHT BEFORE HER FEET id be fuckin rich, and half of the fortune would be coming from Ulla Morozova only

The fact that Ulla doesnt show up for the briefest of moments outside WWSF is a crime before humanity and cannot be forgiven. And no, that one Darkling's sentence in RoW is absolutely not sufficient.

Bardugo created THE family dynamic between the Morozovas' trio, with the absurd Baghra's cruelty; Aleksander's internal and external conflicts, starring: his mother, her teachings, his hopes and always present realism, struggles of immortal life on someone so desperate for connections, and someone who is actively trying to at least slow down global fuckin murder of his kind; Ulla's youthful hopefulness, POWER HERITAGE, RAW POWER, POSSIBILITIES OF POWERS AQUIRED IN THE FUTUTE, her future relations with her family, her- gets shot

And then Bardugo just. Abandons them. All, the ideas, the characters, the og way in which they were supposed to be portrayed. Maybe thats why she enjoyed writing Baghra so much, they both have something for abandoning and misinterpreting their own creations.

Ulla has the combined power of immortal Grisha-amplifier and Sildroher. She probably is immortal herself, after her mother. She has the world at her feet. Its not only the elements that listen to her, its all otkazatya's magic and Sildroher magic that beg to be used by her. And we do not know anything about her beside the fact that she indeed is her mother' daughter with the revenge on her ex-friends' daughters

I dont know enough English to exclaim how tragically WASTED Ulla is. The whole Morozov family should be given to someone who actually could be able to flesh out their true potential, because they truly could be everything, but Ulla's backstory is something even more than usual Morozova's tragedy.

I just get so mad whenever Im thinking abput the whole family, from Ilya, to his wife and daughters, and then the daughter's children, the post is rambling and idc if doesnt make much sense

[alixx-black]

A Book I Read: The Language of Thorns, Midnight Tales & Dangerous Magic

Author: Leigh Bardugo

Rating: 4.5

Final Thoughts in a Sentence:

Horror and folklore combines with Leigh's writing to weave together compelling stories that are darkly believable as though they were the stories you heard growing up - an absolutely must read for anyone interested in a short story collection that stands on its own from the fictional universe that it belongs to.

[endlessly-searching-for-you]

[meschersyeux]

“I want to go home.” “So go.”

Moodboard for Magda’s cottage in The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo

[bed-wed-behead-your-fave]

Little Knife (water) from Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

(including the picture because there might be others) (the water is fully conversational, don't worry)

Thank you for including the picture.

Bed Wed or Behead Little Knife (the water) from Language of Thorns.

Bed

Wed

Behead

Voting ended onFeb 2, 2024

[arany-studio]

I had the pleasure of working on this wonderful illustration of Ulla from Language of Thorns for the @grishaversebigbang 🥰

Etherealki: @legolasofmirkwoodforest

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Materialki: @punchsomeoneforme-willyou

Just Me

My art for this year’s @grishaversebigbang - you can find the matching fic ‘Adta Tjatta’ by the lovely @legolasofmirkwoodforest here. Please

Here are a few reasons why you should read both the canon story of Ulla, as well as this fanfic:

🧜🏽‍♀️ a gray, badass female lead

🧜🏽‍♀️ sirens!!!

🧜🏽‍♀️ a magic system based on song

🧜🏽‍♀️ native people representation (we used Inuit and Sami inspiration for the Hedjut)

🧜🏽‍♀️ aroace main character

🧜🏽‍♀️ focused on friendship, betrayal and revenge

🧜🏽‍♀️ a dive into Grishaverse mythology

🧜🏽‍♀️ cameos of Grishaverse characters

[just-1other-nerd]

About "The Language of Thorns":

Our queen Leigh subverts common fairy tale tropes in her own ones, and I love this modern twist, I also recognised which fairy tales hers are based on. So I'll tell you my conclusions.

Btw I'll refer to fairy tales as Märchen from now on because I'm German and it's just the better word ("fairy tale" just doesn't feel like it includes all the tropes, creatures and characters, it feels like the stories only revolve around fairies and I think that doesn't do the genre justice).

Spoilers for the entire Grishaverse ahead.

Ayama and the Thorn Wood: This is basically a "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. The major subversion is that she is never really regarded as a beauty, and in the end, she also chooses to become a monster instead of him becoming human because that doesn't need to be fixed. Also every story she tells him is subverting tropes: the 1st one is about how unlikely a true happy ending is, the 2nd one is about how the things that seem like a threat can actually be a blessing and about how evil often disguises itself, the 3rd one is about how you shouldn't trust a stranger even though what he offers seems better than what you currently have and that you shouldn't be safed by a prince. The first of her stories is confirmed to be inspired by Tarrare's "Polyphagy".

The Too-Clever Fox: This is inspired by all of those fables where a fox is the main character. In those, he is normally a natural trickster and very smart. Oftentimes, it's about foxes utilising their wit to get what they want or escape a trap by using others and their flaws, and they normally succeed. The main subversion is that the too-clever fox isn't clever enough, he is trapped and was tricked, he didn't see that the girl was the hunter all along, he is stripped of his wit and the only way he survives is by the help of his friend Lula. Leigh wanted to show that hunters come in all shapes, they aren't always loud or muscular or male.

The Witch of Duva: This is (confirmed by author's note) based on "Hänsel und Gretel" by the Gebrüder Grimm (brothers Grimm). Btw I immediately knew that Magda was going to appear in this tale because of the opening and because I read "The Lives of Saints" just a few weeks prior. The subversion is obviously that neither the witch is the villain nor is the stepmother. Instead, they even help our main character. The real evil is closer than she ever thought. In the author's note, Leigh even confirmed that she did this because it always didn't sit right with her when Hänsel and Gretel returned home because the father who seemingly had no problem with abandoning them wouldn't protect them in the future.

Little Knife: This is inspired by all those tales where the guy (be it a prince or a commoner with a golden heart) has got to go through 3 trials to win the girl (be it a princess, a nobel woman or a very pretty commoner), the Gebrüder Grimm alone wrote many of those for example "Das tapfere Schneiderlein" (The bold Tailor). Leigh thought that trials are a weird way to find a fiancé. The subversion is that the poor guy with the supposed gold heart is just another man who doesn't love Yeva for herself, doesn't care what she wants and doesn't even deserve her because the river did all the work for him. This results in the river who won all the trials asking Yeva to leave those who are unworthy of her and only see her beauty, to which she agrees. Also they are sapphics and nobody can tell me otherwise.

The Soldier Prince: This is 100% based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's "Nussknacker und Mäusekönig" (Nutcracker and Mouse King), and yes, I googled he is the original author Tschaikowsky only adapted and changed the story. The subversion is that he doesn't want a romance, that's just what everyone expects of him. He wants to live a life of his own, and the Mouse King isn't the antagonist but rather helps the soldier accomplish what he already did. I loved the existencial crisis angel of this Märchen and Leigh said in her author's note that this was added because of her childhood trauma caused by "Velveteen Rabbit" (I don't know what that's about but I still can relate because like the amount of childhood trauma "Pinocchio" - especially the whole island plotline - caused in my case is so huge that I'm actually crying right now).

When Water Sang Fire: The author's note confirmed that it's based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" and it is basically an origin story for the sea witch. The protagonist Ulla undergoes a corruption arc (set in motion by her ambition and loyalty towards Signy), instead of how Märchen usually deal with outcast protagonists. Normally, those proof themselves worthy of love, friendship and glory by doing something that was regarded as impossible (once again the trials trope). Leigh wanted to show that princes can be cruel and dayum that betrayal hurt (I audibly gasped in public like 4 times even though I did see it coming). Do you think her brother spread the rumours that led to her becoming Sankta Ursula?

Thanks for reading.