#trc meta

[inafieldofstarflowers]

thinking about noah as a gansey mirror again.

gansey with his journal crammed full of notes about his quest and whelk remembering noah’s handwriting scattered across their notes. their flashy cars. noah coming up with the idea for raven days and gansey being the raven king.

the fact that they both start the series as ghosts, that they have both died and somehow come back but the coming back didn’t fix everything. the fact that they both see something softer in ronan than what is on the surface, the fact that noah can kiss blue because he’s dead and that gansey can’t or he will die. the way gansey says excelsior before they start off and the way noah took the bold first steps into cabeswater.

the way that both of their deaths caused the ley line to stir, the way that both of them lived past those first deaths because of glendower. the way that noah comes back as something other and gansey, though he is perhaps something more real, does as well, and the way they both experience time not quite correctly, not quite linearly.

it’s noah who comments that he was something more when he was alive and gansey not just wanting but needing to find glendower because he feels that there is a hole inside of him. it’s the way that noah thinks that they wouldn’t have liked who he was when he was alive, and the way gansey hates that he can’t stop being a gansey. it’s how very real gansey looks when he’s next to noah.

it’s gansey planning to use glendower to save noah, even though he knows that this is the year he will die. it’s noah using glendower to save gansey, to give him a reason to go on, to meet the people who he will save and who will save him.

it’s gansey being rebuilt out of his friends’ memories of him and noah slipping slowly out of time.

[aroadamparrish]

i just wanted to bring some attention to some other details of the ‘hey, parrish’ née ‘hey, tiger’ scene. some are little, like the way the grass gets progressively yellower the closer it gets to the trailer park. and then there’s frames like this one:

the composition leaves their faces out of the frame. the focus is more on what gansey does, rather than what he says, and he is tossing the notes onto adam where he is exposed. (note: in the book, he tosses the book onto a work table, right after feeling guilty and wishing to himself that he could control “the Adam situation.” so, there’s a bit of a visual translation of the internal dynamics here)

these also… the composition choices! the hesitance shown in adam’s caged pose, rather than in a progressive description of him from bottom (rip camo cargo pants) to top (rip coca-cola t-shirt) to show his reluctance to reveal himself (i think the bruise described in the book was worse than what is shown here).

then, gansey literally looking down at adam as he commands him, and continuing to stand over adam as they argue, his back to the viewer. the way their words create the distance between them. the stark differences in how they are positioned. adam on guard and yet with a lean ganseyward, and gansey standing all… cordial.

i haven’t really paid all that much attention to the graphic novel updates so far, but with all the attention this scene is getting, and what i see from it, i’m really interested to see what visual choices are made, even if we’re losing a lot of the internal thoughts which really flesh out the series. (for instance, gansey’s narration of this scene Works a lot more to me than the visual representation, yet i gain a lot more from their comparison than either alone)

[miseria-fortes-viros]

do u ever think about how niall lynch was a devilishly handsome son of a bitch who was impossible not to like, naturally commanded the attention of everyone in the room, told stories as easily as breathing, ruled over his own particular corner of the world, didn’t even seem real until you knew him, died facedown on a gravel driveway, and then do you ever think about gansey.

[ronanlynchdefender]

The political stances of The Raven Cycle characters are so fascinating to me. You got Blue over here who is very much a progressive activist in the making. She recognizes things like misogyny and is not afraid to call those things out even when it concerns her closest friends. Because of that, I definitely see her as the type of activist who would be in the front lines at protests whether that be at the Capitol, college campuses, at the border, or as is the case in the dreamer trilogy, tied to a tree. She is the type of person who demands change in our current system and would demand it loudly and through acts of protest or civil disobedience.

Then you have Adam who displays no strong desire to change the system and whose only desire is to rise up in that system. He wants to climb the social ladder and assimilate to those of higher social status which is partially why he envies Gansey so much in the beginning because Gansey was born into it. Adam still tries to do this in the dreamer trilogy by essentially pretending to be a Gansey-like figure while at Harvard despite hating it. Eventually, Adam gives up on trying to belong within this higher social class and "climbing the ladder" but then strangely enough becomes a fed, which means just integrating into another form of hierarchy and power structure. And I feel like a more interesting arc would've been rejecting being a part of these societal systems altogether.

Which I suppose now leads us to Ronan who is a literal anarchist. He actually rejects all societal systems and rules and it permeates every aspect of his life. But actually, I shouldn't say all because there is one societal institution which he does enjoy partaking in: religion. With the exception of his catholicism, he does not engage in any other societal institution: education, law, politics. He hates it, in fact, It is antithetical to his being which is what makes his characterization so perfect because of course a gay farmer god would hate oppressive rules and structures (except for religion). That's not even mentioning that he is a canonical ecoterrorist that cost the US government a billion dollars. But what is really interesting about his character (and where his and Blue's political stances differ) is that because he rejects these systems he has no interest or stake in changing them. He'd sooner tear down the system than try to reform it.

And then there’s Gansey who doesn't seem to engage in politics and would rather spend his days reading his little Welsh books and going on his fun adventures. Of course, he is able to do this largely because he has the privilege to not worry about politics or social class. It seems that Blue's influence changes this as they are both chaining themselves to trees in protest during the dreamer trilogy. Other than that, I don't really have a lot to say about Gansey and his politics. But I find it very interesting that Maggie has created this close-knit group of characters with such varying relationships to how they view politics and social structures. I tried to draw out a 2-axis grid to show their differences, but I don't know if it really works because I feel like Gansey kinda screws it up but nevertheless I like how they each represent different ends of a spectrum sort of.

[astudyinfreewill]

it's very fork found in kitchen of me to assign yet another narrative foil to adam "the man of a hundred narrative foils" parrish but i have been thinking about him and blue in that respect. i guess in true blue sargent fashion she's not precisely a foil as much as she is a mirror. adam and blue being from the same town and of a similar social class, thus ostensibly sharing some experiences, and yet their backgrounds are different enough for blue to notably think that her kind of poverty is not like adam's kind of poverty, thank you very much. adam and blue being from the same henrietta fields but adam trying his level best to fade into the background - sepia toned, hair the color of dirt, always observing from the outside - while blue makes a conscious effort to stand out and be the vivid-est, most colorful bird of paradise around. both of them want OUT but for such different reasons that their drives to run away never intersect at all. both of them desperately envying the other in a way that makes them both resentful, because they don't GET how the other person could be envious. adam is envious of blue because she grew up poor in money but rich in love; blue is envious of adam because he's got the academic success and determination that will lead him far away from henrietta, whereas she feels trapped there. blue is like well you're leaving (leaving me behind) because she wants to run towards something; adam is like why would you want to leave since you have nothing to run from? how could blue feel trapped and stuck when everybody loves and wants her there, while adam is only leaving behind a handful of dust and a shoebox of bruises? they're two characters looking at each other and - for a certain amount of time at least - wanting each other badly but not really knowing what it is they want, because they're not really seeing each other as much as their own desires projected onto the other. blue as a way for adam to find some joy in his grueling, thankless life. adam as a way for blue to rebel against fate, in a household where rebelling is kind of the norm. they understand each other perfectly and not in the slightest.

[robobee]

can you tell me more about henry x gansey. I feel like I'm so close to seeing the light

this is who you are. to me. for asking. i love (sar)chengsey SO SO BAD. i have made several posts about them across the years including at minimum 5 fics (eg 1, 2) but its like. i ADMIT my favorite version of them requires editing of canon(in that they dated and broke up before TRB) but even if you DONT do that and stick exclusively to whats written:

required reading IMO is specifcally TRK chapters 28, 29, 30, 37, 38, 58, 66. i knowwww we all forget wtf happened in trk but i feel theyre so good for establishing henry as a well rounded character in a subtle and natural way

i will begin this essay by pointing out that henry jokes and wears a 'snazzy' outfit one time which is all fanon cares about BUT he canonically knows way more about the fairy market and declan's history and niall lynch than ANY of the gangsey do. also he got KIDNAPPED and kept in a GRAVE for FIVE ENTIRE DAYS. and has had weapons pointed at him MORE THAN ONCE! (ch37).

^the logo bear is a henry thesis statement. to me. now to the meat of it. gansey and henry are character foils in almost exactly the same way ronan and kavinsky are. (new guy with an established friend group who you see on the fringes abruptly becomes a main character who has one-on-one interactions with a member of the gangsey going through a crisis of self.) henry acknowledges this by pointing out their shared age 10 traumas + their shared tendencies to put themselves into the exact situations they're afraid of (gansey with the outdoors, henry with holes). gansey specifically says that henry is practically his twin,

and smth i find crucial abt chengsey is that henry is the only person who has never needed anything from gansey. gansey who has spent the entirety of his appearance since page one making plans for his own demise, desperately stressed about how people will function without him, what happens to ronan, what happens to noah, what adam's father could do to him, etc. henry is the manic pixie dream girl urging gansey to actually LIVE and not just wait to die.

henry is the only one of the gangsey who fundamentally understands that every side of gansey is gansey. blue likes who he is but hates president cell phone. henry not only sees president cell phone, he breaks through PCP when gansey is IN that mode. it's why gansey's parents like him better than ronan and adam. they'll GET each other in a way that adam or blue or ronan can't share because theyre inherently different in personality & the way theyve been raised. the reason noah goes away when henry enters the situation is because henry/noah functionally fill the same Vibe slot :shrug: there's smth to be said about henry and gansey's individual reactions to having guns pointed at them but this is long enough as is.

one last thing is that henry has been in an enemies-to-friends thing with gansey the whole time. henry was specifically meant to spy on gansey for nefarious reasons but CHOSE to betray his mother and change his mind and choose gansey's friendship. i think it's largely because gansey passed a test of mettle by just. being a good person. and this friendship with henry SAVES HIS LIFE because when everyone else is freaking out, henry says the one thing nobody else realises, the one thing that actually kickstarts gansey's resurrection:

WAIT SORRY ONE LAST EDIT. when i read this at 16 i was like "....hot. will make this my personality now."

[bluedansey]

ooh ooh okay i just thought of something. doubt this is new within trc fandom, but i'm super interested in how ms intertwines the forbidden element of blue and gansey's romance in both the quest-scale narrative through myth (the curse) and daily-scale narrative through character dynamics (adam's alleged jealousy/discomfort).

at the end of the day, both of these end up being things that don't actually hold them back from kissing: adam isn't upset they're dating (just upset blue and gansey thought they were being sly and didn't trust him with their relationship) and, of course, they had to kiss for the quest to come to the close. but the stakes of having both running parallel to one another develop a layer of secrecy atop the doom. i think this creates a lot of interest because, once fox way understands that gansey is blue's true love, there's not secrecy there. since the curse is well known amongst blue's family, there's not really anything to hide from them, especially since blue knows (and shares) it was gansey she saw on st. marks eve.

therefore, adam's perceived discomfort drives the actual tension for bluesey in the last two books- especially trk. adam's arc gives them a reason they have a reason to keep their romance a secret. this gives a real narrative logic behind the introduction of henry, too: they need a place beyond the core four and their homes (again, accepting, but not really a hot and heavy place for a teen) where they can be into one another and not walk on eggshells or hide their attraction.

but this is why the love V between blue, adam, and gansey works! and is believable! because adam saw himself killing gansey in the tree vision in trb and it's fair for blue to assume, that new to the group, the killing may have been from jealousy (at that point, blue knows gansey is her true love, not adam, but hasn't fallen in love with gansey or been able to see the sides of adam necessary to break up with him). and of course, between that point and the end of the novel, adam frames whelk for murder and becomes the sentient being of a forest. so there are legitimate reasons they wouldn't want to tell adam both based on his actions, but also based on not wanting to hurt a friend. he's powerful, but still able to be hurt- they don't want to hurt or be hurt by him. hence scene in car, hence toga party, my beloveds...

idk i just think well written love Vs are neat :)

[ahotknife]

declan clearly knows but keeps his thoughts on specifically ONLY this topic to himself for some reason (another thing i’ll have to digress about because Come On…) — would love to hear you digress about it bc I also see it. When I did my huge TRC/TD3 reread this year, that part in the dream thieves where Ronan throws his leg over Adam’s in the car and Declan has that facial reaction actually made me stop and think. When I had first read it centuries ago, I had always figured it had to do with the dreaming and that opinion was enforced by Declan’s POV in his CDTH chapters. However, the CDTH chapters also gave me new perspective about how it’s possible Declan could always Tell that it would be Adam for Ronan. In a way they are introduced as a unit (Declan and Adam being on the phone at the beginning of TRB vs when Gansey needs a battery and Ronan doesn’t want ANYWHERE near that conversation plus the goldmine of Adam’s first pov in TRB at Monmouth). Wrt dream thieves, despite their differences at this time in the series, siblings know siblings and I feel like he definitely was able to tell that Ronan had something more than platonic feelings for Adam. Maybe before Ronan even knew himself. He’s super distrusting of Adam from the beginning till CDTH (given we ignore the events of MI and GW). Even when it’s mentioned that Adam is every bit in love with Ronan as Ronan is with him and Declan can SEE it with his own eyes. This could also be talked about with Kavinsky but my hands will fall off if I type any more rn.

I don’t even know if this makes any sense bc i’ve been driving for like 5 hours straight today and I’m about to pass the fuck out but I just love hearing peoples opinions on this. Also at one point my phone tried to correct Dec to Sex so i think that’s a sign to write that Decladam no love you were teasing.

obsessed with your brain ty for asking. this is probably just going to be me pontificating about declan and adam but we’ll get there eventually

re: the scene with ronan’s leg in the car, i think declan’s reaction somewhat actually kind of IS because of the dreaming… declan mentions in CDTH that he considers adam a liability, he doesn’t like that adam knows family secrets/business, he knows adam lords so much power over his brother that he could either manipulate or destroy him (we know adam won’t, but declan’s brain is broken and he assumes everyone will leave in a spectacular, devastating manner). declan was, essentially, very badly treated by niall (argue with the wall, nothing declan experienced as a child was normal or correct) and is so genuinely terrified of anyone knowing what ronan is or what ronan can do that he would rather lock ronan up rapunzel style than encourage ronan to form bonds or build trust or share secrets with any other living person outside of the lynch family web/sphere. i think he also really dislikes adam for other more simple, real-world reasons: he thinks adam is trailer trash, he thinks ronan should/could do better, he recognizes that adam is keeping big secrets of his own and just doesn’t care to clean up his mess after he breaks ronan’s heart.

adam and declan are extremely similar, purposefully, in a way that is impossible to ignore. in the way that jordan and ronan are paralleled, adam and declan are constantly drawn in comparison to each other. self recognition through the other, and you hate what you see. adam also understands declan, even though he strongly dislikes him and this sometimes taints his judgement/perception; he wants to be declan, he wants to eat declan, he wants to wear declan’s skin and fuck declan’s girlfriend and possess whatever money/power/influence/confidence that declan has. in TD3 we see declan turning to adam for advice, because adam has become an expert in a field declan cannot master: ronan. adam also understands and enjoys something declan has never bothered to indulge himself with: magic. adam fills the dominant role in his relationship with ronan, and he does the same for declan, sometimes, too: in TRC he is shown running point between ronan and declan and enforcing ronan’s boundaries for him because declan refuses to recognize ronan’s limits; in TD3 adam is often the bearer of bad news and the voice of reason, much to declan’s chagrin. adam’s also a foil for mor, but that’s got nothing to do with the fact i think declan’s a little homophobic and a little bitchy and a little classist.

i think declan keeps his mouth shut about ronan’s sexuality for a few reasons. 1 being that it didn’t serve his character for maggie to make him outright hateful, but she did give us little glimpses into his distaste for it. 2 being that he’s got so many other things to hate ronan for or to argue with ronan about it would be fruitless to be like “and you’re gay now, too?” 3 since ronan was born (made? manifested?), declan has been trying to keep him alive. in TRC he needs ronan to listen to him, because he’s trying to keep ronan safe, and if he starts picking on ronan for things other than being an alcoholic suicidal failure then he might as well just start sizing coffins: ronan COULD show up to class, ronan COULD behave better, ronan COULD follow the law, ronan can NOT stop himself from being gay, and he can NOT stop himself from dreaming. i THINK (and i may be wrong) declan only really tags on ronan for things ronan could change, or things that would put him in danger. that said, i think it’s kind of unrealistic that he doesn’t pick on ronan for this, and he might “offscreen”: a third party observes that declan looks displeased by ronan’s physical proximity to a boy he knows he likes; but i think declan also interprets any sort of intimacy or closeness as a type of danger or threat. his brain is a bag of cats. by wanting someone, by trusting someone, ronan puts himself in danger. declan thinks of women as disposable (he does, he sucks, sorry about it) because the woman who raised him was a facsimile of a person, designed to obey, and she was unable to nurture or fulfill declan emotionally. my theory is that if ronan had a woman, declan assumes ronan would treat her the way declan treats his women: like an accessory. ronan, though, is a different animal, and i think during the series we see declan come to terms with this, even if he really dislikes it at first and thinks ronan is stupid for letting adam in when adam clearly has his own thing going on.

i also think ronan and declan do genuinely dislike each other. throughout TRC they genuinely hate each other and do not get along at all. they love each other, but that is not enough, most of the time. declan would hate anything ronan did. ronan makes fun of declan for his sexuality, because he finds it overt and distasteful. we aren’t explicitly shown in canon that this is a two way street, but listen… it’s definitely an argument they had. it just wasn’t shown because it didn’t serve the larger narrative, which is fine. there ain’t no way declan’s not a tiny reaganite, there ain’t no way he doesn’t have his thoughts and opinions. these are rich white boys from virginia in the early 2010s, for christ sake. but it’s also sort of a case of “oh i don’t hate my brother because he’s gay, i hate my brother for a dozen other reasons. he just also happens to be gay” <- guy who would definitely prefer it if his brother would just find a nice girl to settle down with and subsequently ignore just like their daddy did to their pseudomommy

i don’t even know if this answered your question. i just started thinking about declan and then i blacked out. did we learn something? did we solve the riddle? who knows. i have to stop because this is insanely long. the decladam fic is at 3k btw so we’ll see if i ever finish it