#wyldon

[ladylingua]

Ok, have a question I realized I actually am quite curious about: when it comes to Wyldon, the way you feel most closely matches:

Oh he’s great! His redemption was well earned and now I <3 him

lol fuck that prick, happy for Kel but my heart stays cold

Can’t decide/other I guess, details in tag

Voting ended onMar 17, 2023

[idreamtiflew]

More POTS era (give or take) Tortall characters par moi using the Artbreeder software :) 

Queen Thayet of Conte

King Jonathan of Conte

Buriram Tourakom

Raoul of Goldenlake

Wyldon of Cavall 

Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau

George Cooper of Pirate’s Swoop

Myles of Olau

Numair Salmalin

Veralidaine Sarrasri 

[goodgrammaritan]

"Mindelan, it may be that the best thing said of my tenure is that you were my student. Should that be the case, I am the wrong man for this post. I did all I could to get rid of you. Your probation was wrong. You know that, I know it. I was harder on you than any lad. Thank Mithros I remembered my honor and let you stay when you met the conditions--but it was a near thing. Next time I might not heed the voice of honor."

Kel watched him pack for awhile, unable to think of a reply. He had confirmed what she had wondered about for years. Still, she didn't think he should go. "Sir, I learned so much from you," she said at last. "You're the kind of knight I want to be."

He regarded her with the strangest expression in his eyes. "I am not," he said. "But that you believe it is the greatest compliment I will ever receive."

Squire by Tamora Pierce

(the scene between Wyldon and Kel that always makes me cry)

[treefey]

I think one of the most important themes in Protector of the Small is that people change. Like, I don’t even recognize Jon as the same man who took Alanna as a squire and supported her (though their romance def showed his bad side sometimes). It makes me really sad.To be a good ruler, he has to make compromises that suck and his own integrity gets a little lost.

Wyldon, on the other hand, is the opposite. You start out hating him. He was terrible to Kel, though you see some of it is gruff support, like when he forces her to deal with heights. He admits later that he wasn’t fair, and also that he trusts Kel. A lot. Their jousting matches are wonderful. His scenes with Kel in the later books are some of the best.

And perhaps most powerful of all, he admits that his rhetoric may have encouraged/emboldened Joren and Vinson’s violence (this in particular is super relevant today).

It feels weird and uncomfortable to like Wyldon in Squire and Lady Knight. And it feels weird to dislike Jon. But I also like that Tamora Pierce forces us to realize that people are complex and will change over time.

And Lalasa is the best. Her growth is so important to the story.

[whatwouldkeldo]

Mind blown...

I was today years old when I realized that Wyldon’s fiefdom is Cavall, which is Latin for horse.

Caval is a significant word as well because the French word for horse, cheval, is where the word “chivalry” comes from. Most of us know chivalry as a code of conduct, but originally, all it meant was that you were rich enough to own a horse and outfit oneself as soldier. It later became associated with knighthood and certain ideal behaviors. The code of chivalry came during the middle ages and was about honor, nobility, religion, and being a strong person who protects the weak.

So Wyldon, who is teaching people how to be knights, who is by all accounts a paradigm of knighthood (minus putting Kel on probation and all that), is literally from a fief that is the embodiment of chivalry.

I started reading the Protector of the Small books when I was around 11 or 12, and I have re-read them every year or so.

I also majored in English and took an Arthurian literature course where we talked about chivalry for three months and even watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail and talked about the significance of having a movie about knights where there are no horses (no chivalry).

Even with all this, I just realized this today. Now I feel kind of dumb.

[incorrect-tortall-quotes]

Men are not emotional. I mean, with the exception of sporting events and bachelor parties we basically bottle up our feelings until we die.

Wyldon of Cavall

[incorrect-tortall-quotes]

Owen: This is so fucking cool!

Wyldon: ...

Owen: ...

Owen: I’m so sorry.

Wyldon: No, squire. It is fucking cool.

[incorrect-tortall-quotes]

Lord Wyldon, I suppose I should apologize to you for not having been born a man, but having seen you work up close now for several months, I can honestly say that try as I might, I can’t think of any fair and reasonable system on earth where I wouldn’t outrank you. There. I hope that clears everything up.

Alanna