My copy of The Complete History of Kastelir arrived in the mail yesterday, and the handwritten trivia was a joy to read! Here it is for any other curious Dragonoak fans. Transcript is under the cut.
PLEASE NOTE this trivia contains spoilers for the ending of the Dragonoak trilogy, not just the first book!
For reference, my request was this: “Could I have trivia about the dramatic or mushy romantic stuff Rowan and Claire did for each other over the years? What was their wedding like? (did anyone cry?)”
Claire and Rowan actively put off getting married for longer than they’d like. General outrage and indignation around the castle turns from “You’re the Queen! You can’t be with a necromancer!” to “If you’re going to be with a necromancer, you absolutely have to marry her ASAP!” It’s the closest the court and self-important officials will ever get to tradition and proper royal conduct. (Besides, they’re both busy people—helping restore Felheim and the former territories, dealing with Agados, flying to Canth all the time.)
Rowan comes home exhausted after a stint in Agados, falls into bed with Claire, and when Claire asks her to marry her is like “haha ok.” She promptly falls asleep. The next morning, she can’t work out whether it was a dream or not.
Alex goes overboard with wedding planning. Michael acts like he approved of his sister going after a knight-slash-Princess all along.
Rowan asks Kouris if it’s okay that she’s marrying Claire and. You know. Not her. To which Kouris insists it’s okay, because technically she’s still married to Kidira. (Everyone agrees this is weird!)
Kouris designs and handstitches Rowan and Claire’s wedding outfits.
Yes, Rowan agrees it’s crazy she’s marrying a Queen, but more importantly she’s marrying CLAIRE. Holy shit!
Everyone comes to the wedding. Everyone! Whether they’re in the former Kastelir or Canth, everyone comes. Oh, except Aren. She isn’t invited.
You wanna know who cries at the wedding? Varn Ironsi sobs like a baby.
They go to Mahon, for the honeymoon. The local pirates dub Claire a “poor pirate’s Reis” and enjoying nobody knowing who she is, Claire plays into it.
Claire has a new, beautiful stable built on the castle grounds...for Charley.
Their relationship is often long-distance, with Rowan flying around on Oak, helping people, and Claire having to stay in Thule. While Rowan is away, Claire writes her dozens of letters. When Rowan gets home, they lie in bed together, and Claire reads them all to Rowan.
Claire and Rowan have no children, but are aunts to Reis and Eden’s three kids.
The best fact of all is that Claire and Rowan spend hundreds of years together, never any less in love! Once their rule in Thule is over, they travel the world together (with Kouris!), and there’s always so much more good than there is bad.
I love them all, tho I think my favorites are 1) Varn crying at the wedding 2) Kouris making their wedding outfits!! and 3) Claire finally getting a chance to chill in Canth. Thanks again to Sam Farren for this cool bonus!