💟 & 💝
💟: how is your style different in this work compared to previous ones? has it more shifted for the story or just developed in general?
in many ways it's similar to my usual MO -- i'm a slut for messy family dynamics, morally grey folk, and seeing where anger leads. but now, both with this and with other things, i enjoy personal growth. emphasis on the personal.
and i mean personal growth in negative and positive ways. but the important part is they do it for themselves and this definitely shows more "selfishness" with characters' choices towards fulfilment. before changes of that sort had a reaction upon how others saw them, on how much love they were deserved of, on their goodliness, etc; now, how others react is their own business, the characters' actions and growth are for themselves. if it costs or gains them love, so be it. that is not why they did it.
i also think this is the first time i've divided the family so gorily. usually when there's space between them, the care and familial bond remains. (even in the other variations of this 'verse -- dune and borgia -- the love is there even with thousands of miles between them.) but in this, the siblings are severed both physically by space and emotionally. gemma has no intention of returning to her brothers, and when tom leaves, he truly hates lee. this is definitely the sharpest the split has ever been between them.
💝: who has your favourite character arc? give a brief summary.
since i've already spoken about gemma, let's look at nolan.
and his arc of rising from a sickly young teen brought into the ranks of their pirate horde all the way to filling the space at gemma's side as confidante and right hand, in a way that neither her brothers nor any of her lovers could.
looking at gemma's arc (i know, i haven't shut up) she grows in power the further and further she separates herself from the images of herself put upon her by others. but that is where nolan differs. yes, he has followed gemma, as general, as jarl, and finally as queen, and he respects her as all of those things. but nolan has and always will see her as gemma. underneath the crown, all the blood washed from her hands, he sees her.
he isn't the loudest in his support of her. she has others in her ranks -- travis, chucky, dylan -- who cry her name on a battlefield for strength. nor is he the strongest, which surprises many for when the space at her side became unoccupied with braden's exile, everyone expected another berserker to take the free spot. someone with equal ferocity to her, equally battle hewn and bloody, like connor or jack. nolan is-
he's careful, and quiet in his watchfulness. and she trusts him. because she sees him looking at her and knows that he- that he knows things others have missed. things they don't see because they don't expect to see them in gemma. nolan sees them and doesn't judge them. or use them against her -- like when he finds out about sean (in fact, when sean starts following them in the first place, nolan is the first to notice), gemma doesn't have to beg him not to say anything. because nolan is quiet. and non-judgemental. he merely offers a place for gemma to put her feelings. a shoulder to rest her head. a voice to respond when she needs an echo. if that's what she wants. the lack of expectation in her immediately [if at all] accepting it but offering all the same.
other people's care used to come at a price for her. with nolan it doesn't. gemma isn't afraid to let him know things, to let him see her at her most vulnerable, her messiest. if he did this because he wanted power, gemma would know and would have cut him loose by now. he almost drowned when the ice broke crossing the river, she could have been rid of him long ago if she wanted. but she doesn't. she is content to let him be there. she looks at him the way she could have once looked at tom, or perhaps would have in another life. but instead she is here. telling nolan still shivering in furs after she pulled him from the raging waters that drowning is her worst nightmare. because it's how her mother died. in return he isn't worried his gentle concern for her is going to be pushed away. because they both know she doesn't need him. as gemma rises, it becomes plainly obvious that her succession is purely because of her, no one else. yet when she finally takes her estranged father's crown, trembling from the adrenaline, four months pregnant with her would be enemy's child, a burned to death husband hundreds of miles behind, and covered in dead men's blood, she howls. she howls in triumph, gutteral and aching, but her howl is a solo. the moment is hers and hers alone. and there at her back, barely in the room but undeniably present, is nolan.
even the one time she rages against his concern -- rages against all of those who followed her from lee's rule -- after nick is killed and she hears the news, something inside her snapping in heartache for what used to be, nolan doesn't go far. she screams for everyone to leave, which they do. they respect her too much to argue. but nolan stays on the other side of the door. he sits cross legged upon the ground, leaning his back against it, and lets her sob without judgement. there for when she reopens the door and allows him back in.
[unironically plays toastool's treehouse over their faces] do not enter is written on the doorway / why can't everyone just go away? / except you; / you can stay.
(i also enjoy tom+braden's arc and how it mimics the gemma+nolan one in tone but shifts into romance but this said talk about one character arc briefly and i already failed at the brevity so i won't start talking about more characters.)