#val moren

[clockworkbee]

—Jude Duarte & Val Moren, from The Wicked King by Holly Black

[cromulentreader]

We know Val Moren loved Eldred but did Eldred actually care about him?

Eldred cared, or something like it. I imagine their relationship was pretty much as this quote from Val Moren.

Eldred brought Val Moren and gave him a court position. But since he was still alive, I have to assume it wasn't one of real power. Yes, seneschal is supposed to be one of the most powerful positions, if not the most, after the King, but remember how easily Jude's voice was discarded in the same role.

Val Moren mentions being unable to help Jude because it was one of the things he gave up bargaining with Eldred. I'd say Eldred cared, but that didn't made him any less of a bastard.

Onto crazy theory time It is a theme in TMFT that faeries are always drawn back home to Faerie, and trusting all the certainty the twins were told or thought that they were going to have a short life, it's fair to assume there's a pull for mortals to go back to the Ironside.

My theory is that Val Moren hasn't left faerie because he's under a geas to prevent him from leaving, making the young forever a cruel trick from Eldred, potentially. It would be a nice full circle with Dain offering a geas to the mortal he thought could be useful to him as well.

[my-complicated-pairs]

With which male character you ship Cardan Greenbriar the most?

Locke

Valerian

The Ghost

The Roach

Madoc

Oak

Balekin Greenbriar

Dain Greenbriar

Eldred Greenbriar

Val Moren

Voting ended onApr 12

[vixielane]

do y'all ever wish the folk of the air books were narrated, not just in Jude's pov, but in like, a third pov or multiple ones? that way, maybe we could've had flashbacks of Cardan's childhood whenever he saw madoc being nice to jude, or val moren's moments with eldred whenever he reminisced them with jude, or whatever ran through Cardan's mind when he was w jude, madoc's thoughts when he found out jude had betrayed him, oriana's thoughts whenever she missed oak, Locke's thoughts whenever the bastard tormented jude and why exactly did he play with the twins cuz i feel like the depth of his scheme wasn't explained enough through Jude's pov, Nicasia's thoughts when she and jude were alone in the secret passageway.. Idk, i just kinda wish the povs in the book were switched from time to time.

[sealinredshoes]

me deciding to drastically age-up Val Moren in my mind even if the book implies humans don't age in Elfhamme :

[msshadowqueen]

👁️👄👁️

[dragons-library]

The wicked king rants:

What’s the deal with Val Moren…?

Is he actually mad? (I don’t really think so but maybe)

Is he scheming? Is he just there living his best life in retirement?

I know Jude would rather die (quite literally) than ask for help, but wouldn’t he be helpful? He is also mortal… he was seneschal for centuries (?) idk I don’t trust him but I can’t make an opinion yet 🤨

[tttfota]

I like to think that Jude will live long and still be able to visit the Mortal World.

Maybe live as long as Cardan.

Humans won’t age in Elfhame but will get the years they missed if they leave.

I didn’t like this at first because it meant that Jude would have to stop going to the mortal world at an early age like 30’s (more or less idk) if she wanted to look that way for a long time and keep a fit healthy body - we know our queen loves her swordsmanship practice 🗡 🗡 .

This may not apply to Jude if she is tied to the land.

We saw Elfhame land heal Jude in Queen of Nothing so we learnt that she is tied to the land at least a little. I was unsure of whether she was tied enough or magic enough. Holly Black posted an alternate ending to Queen of Nothing, and in it Jude made i think pixies or something showing she may be equally as magic as Cardan. Not Fae glamour magic, but perhaps possessing the magic that comes with the high crowns. I’m assuming anyway. We still haven’t seen her bend trees or lift islands which I don’t think she can do, but little things.

Because of this, maybe she won’t be affected by mortality when she returns to New York etc. because she’s tied to Elfhame and so wherever she goes she’s taking a bit of Elfhame with her as the High Queen. This would work as long as she has the crown.

In general, this fact partly didn’t make sense to me because both Taryn and Jude seem to have grown up normally in Elfhame as far as we know. Like they developed and underwent puberty and grew taller. Maybe adolescences are an exception or they gained what they missed every time they visited the mortal world and Ms Black just didn’t tell us which I doubt. 

I remember the books also saying that humans do age in Elfhame but slower which is a contradiction to my view of mortals like Val Moren just staying stagnant.

This is just me thinking aloud, there may be things I don’t know or got wrong, if so enlighten me ✨ please and thank you <3 hopefully this makes sense