#ruskan

[icerosesummerbracket]

Folks, please submit Ruskan ! Pleaaase ! He means everything to me. I've named my goldfish after him. I'll send you all goldfish pics !

do it for the goldfish pics!

[isabeth-apologist]

Favorite AROIIS characters 11/12 : Ruskan

@icerosesummerbracket

Vote for Ruskan !

[icerosesummerbracket]

Gosh, it was so sad when the crew had to go back to Ruskan's woodworking shop after his death, and the description of all things he'd made, especially that big statue of Jacob in his knight armour that Ruskan never got a chance to finish (he had just wanted to honour his oldest friend)

In the last ask I went on a whole huge rant about the unfinished statue being a metaphor for life cut short, but what I forgot there that this ask made me remember, is that it foreshadows Jacob's death as well, given that the unfinished statue is of him

[icerosesummerbracket]

Okay but the way Ruskan’s working on his project throughout the series and we watch him throw out pieces and insist it’s not good enough and everything needs to be perfect and the way his creations are a reflection on how he sees himself and the THEMES of CONSTANT UNATTAINABLE PERFECTION and how it ultimately just stops him from actually getting stuff anything done??? GOD. It’s both painful and a Mood and kills me every time I think about it.

And then when they find the last version of his unfinished project.... forever to remain unfinished.... it just perfectly represents life being cut short- you can vaguely make out what the finished product may have eventually looked like, but it never will be now. You can try to finish it, to honor them, but it's nearly impossible to capture the original artist's intent; just like you can try to remember those you've lost but even your memories can never be a full picture of the one that was lost...

Sorry! That might be a little morbid!

To take it on an upturn, I love the way the protagonists preserve his last artwork, unfinished as it is, so that they can always remember him

[icerosesummerbracket]

Idk, it was technically speaking "ambiguous" whether or not they could stop the curse- otherwise meaning, there was a chance that they Could

I think it kind of cheapens Isabeth's involvement to say he would have for sure died anyway. And im saying that as someone who is starting to like her!

[icerosesummerbracket]

Controversial take ig, but I was kinda happy that none of the attempts to bring dead characters back ever really worked. My interpretation is that all of the resurrection spells are like, a metaphor for the denial stage of grief, and given how much grief is an important theme to the series.... I really think it's for the best that none of them ever truly came back from the dead

[icerosesummerbracket]

Oh God I haven't thought about Ruskan in ages. He didn't even get to finish his magnum opus he didn't evewn get toi finisdh his magnum opusd

*That one shrek meme but its edited so that he has sad eyes*

HE DIDNT EVEN GET TO FINISH HIS MAGNUM OPUS.

[icerosesummerbracket]

Wait, you all are really talking about RoIiS 🌹🧊☀️ ? 👀👀

Anyone else remember the collapsing bridge scene at the end of book 2 ?? Like we had two years to wait to find out what has happened, [the writer] likes their cliffhangers a bit too much

Not to mention that starting book 3 by a funeral scene was just mean. Well, not as mean as killing off a beloved character I guess (it was a good twist but DID THEY HAVE TO DO THAT TO ME ?)

RoIiS is a real rollercoaster, um ?

Yeah that was so tense! I'm glad that I discovered the series through the 2010 box set edition and didn't have to wait for that (ha!)

Also, yeah opening on Ruskan's funeral was a little mean, but I am kinda happy that he did get a funeral? I like how every death feels kinda weighty and doesn't just get brushed past to move on to the next plot point