romance

Forrests of Manisa

Description: Mustafa x Taşlicali fic, with an explicit sex scene.

Since he has been told about his disgraceful reassignment to Amasya, and though he and Yahya rarely talked about it, there was no need to. Yahya himself wasn’t too happy about it. After all, besides the obvious injustice and weakening of his possition as heir at a time where having his inheritance challanged was the last thing Mustafa needed, there were other, more personal – some would even say pettier reasons to be unhappy. Şehzade and his mother had been in Manisa for about seven years (not counting his regency in Istanbul during the campaign to Persia) and had created a network of friends and loyal attendants there, of which some they could take with them as part of their retinue (including Yahya himself, thank the Almighty), but many they could not. General populace too loved the prince more in Manisa than in anywhere else, if things Yahya overheard on his walks around town were any indication – though even in Istanbul, people were at worst indifferent towards him. Though truth be told, unless they were one of those types who amused themselves with the most outlandish rumors about the exploits of „the Ruthenian witch“, common people cared little for which şehzade will ascend the throne. In fact, the general consensus gleamed from his least priviledged aquitances was that sultan Süleyman has brought the land such peace and prosperity than once he passes away, things can only go downhill.   Yahya, of course, never talked about it so openly, at least not front of Mustafa himself. Instead, when asked about public opinion, he comforted his şehzade with half-truths; his father sultan Süleyman is quite popular and so is Mustafa. Indeed, some common people (well, one person – Yahya himself) say that sultan Süleyman is merely Philip of Macedon to Mustafa’s Alexander… No, of course his transfer to Amasya won’t make people think any less of him, on the contrary, everyone can see what great injustice is being done to him, which if anything could make people support him more… At any rate, his final verdict on the matter of transfer to Amasya was thus: „After all, people are much the same in Amasya as in Manisa. People, and woods…“ „Indeed, Yahya, woods are much the same everywhere, but I have no idea why it should be of any comfort to me.“ replied Mustafa gloomily. Words „it used to be a source of much comfort to you after Ibrahim pasha died“ almost found their way onto Yahya’s tongue, but luckily he managed to bite it before then.   Because sometimes, woods are in fact just a collection of trees, but these past few years certainly not to them.   That spring and summer was filled to the brim with all kinds of unpleasantness for şehzade. He was still reeling from losing his son and having an attempt on his life remain unpunished when Ibrahim pasha unexpectedly fell out of favour and was executed for an offence sultan refused to disclose. Noone, not even pasha’s own wife, seemed to have understood this decision, except as a favor from the sultan to Hürrem sultan – yet another victory for the scheming consort whose lust for power and revenge seemed to know no bounds. Taşlicali’s aquitance with pasha was brief, but fond; either way, he was much more angry for Mustafa’s sake, as şehzade obviously adored the deceased pasha and was devastated by his death like noone except pasha‘s wife and children. Taşlicali has never seen Mustafa cry, but the morning after the news reached Manisa he could not help but notice his master’s red eyes and pale face. Taşlicali did not tell anyone, though perheps he could’ve; there was no shame in it, after all. Everyone knew of pasha’s closeness to şehzade, some even said that’s why Hürrem orchestrated Ibrahim’s unjust execution in the first place. Mustafa himself suspected so, as he openly discussed with his most trusted people – a group which, to his surprise, included Taşlicali.   Mayhaps it was that he has lost the appetite for women after Helena’s departure and his own mother could not provide him with a silent, unjudgemental ear that he needed. Mayhaps separation from his brothers fed his craving for a brotherly… Or, well, close male presence, anyway. Mayhaps the discovery of a spy in his private chambers made him desperate for someone, anyone he could not possibly suspect of anything bad, and Taşlicali fit that description for some reason he could not fathom (was it really just their past as comrades-in-arms from so many years ago?). Either way, as guarded as Mustafa was, he had quickly become less so in Taşlicali’s company. From the begining, it was an odd frienship; Mustafa sometimes pretended to be interested in his poetry as a mere polite conversation starter, but he clearly never wanted to actually hear or read it – and Taşlicali soon realized şehzade, not an artistic soul, but cultured enough to appreciate a good verse from time to time, simply doesn’t like Taşlicali’s works. Instead, he was much more interested in Taşlicali’s military career and thoughts on warfare and imperium, neither of which Taşlicali talked about with great enthusiasm, but he at least listened to Mustafa’s thoughts on these matters with enough polite interest that it must’ve satisfied the prince nonetheless. Soon, he invited Taşlicali to a small sparring session with swords, then another longer one, and in the end they spent many summer mornings in passionate embrace of their weapons… Indeed, prince was never as radiant as when he tired his deceptively lean body in vicious pretend combat, his cheeks flushed behind a long, beautiful beard and dark eyes rivaling the night sky with their sparkle…   Then Hatice sultan arrived, and one of his concubines started to near childbirth – small annoyances that nonetheless made Mustafa less and less keen to spend time in the harem. He stayed in the palace only to prepare for the campaign, and when his father arranged the matters otherwise, Mustafa simply couldn’t bear it any longer. His departure must’ve worried Mahidevran sultan a lot, being sudden and in the company of but a few attendants, but Mustafa didn’t seem to mind. It seemed a temporarily decreased safety was worth saving his sanity from the many frustrations, big and small, bothering him in those months. The hunt only lasted about a day, and it left şehzade with a considerably better disposition, so while Taşlicali understood his mother’s worries, he nonetheless considered it a wise decision on şehzade’s part.   The poet himself was charmed by the beauty of the woods surrounding Manisa and impressed with Mustafa’s skill as a hunter, even if he himself did not share it, to şehzade’s amusement. Mustafa’s gentle ribbing did not hurt Taşlicali in the slightest – on the contrary, he joined in on şehzade’s affectionate laughter, his heart warmed by finally seeing him happy. When they settled in for the night, Taşlicali found himself Mustafa’s closest companion by the fire and the one with whom şehzade shared tales of his past and future, memories of childhood in the palace he now lived in and dreams of glorious conquest that was surely to come, should he escape Hürrem’s clutches and become his father’s successor. In turn, Taşlicali shared the mundanities of his own life, from a lonely childhood in the house of his bad-tempered unmarried uncle, trough his youth, when he first took both a sword and a pen in the hand, to the current, perhaps happiest period in his life. When he told Mustafa his presence has brought him more joy than he has ever felt before, şehzade clearly considered it merely a figure of speech, part of an overly polite manner in which courtiers talked to the members of the dynasty. Doubtless he had heard such talk many times before and had learned since an early age to disregard it – which saddened Taşlicali somewhat, since for once, a courtier in question was completely sincere. On the other hand, he was honored by şehzade’s keen interest in his past despite the fact that he himself assessed it as at once bleak and mundane. Mustafa even seemed to express some sympathy towads him, a soldier of little renown whose primary claim to fame – his poetry – şehzade wasn’t even that impressed by.   Taşlicali spent the entire evening gazing into Mustafa’s face, and the more he looked, the more impressed he was by the symetry of his features and his lively, intelligent eyes. That morning, he woke up before şehzade, and couldn’t help but visit his tent under the guise of Mustafa’s safety, only to spend several minutes studying what little he could see of his beauty in the dark room. He did come to his senses soon and left with neither Mustafa nor his guards the wiser, but the glimpse of şehzade’s peaceful visage and rose-tinged cheeks and lips kept coming back to him at the most inopportune moments.   Regardless, the hunt didn’t seem to mean much to Mustafa at first, and even its soul-rejuvenating effects didn’t last long. In but a week, he was suddenly of even worse disposition than before, and when Taşlicali suggested another small hunt, his face lighted up with something sinister. „Why, of course, Yahya! A day and a night almost alone, solely in the company of my dear friend, must indeed lift my spirits. Go tell captain of the guard to pick four of his best men; we’re leaving tomorrow.“   This time, Mustafa suggested they sneak away from the guards to pursue a roe deer. He did not seem in mood for a lark, but Yahya thought it is perhaps just that the tension his regular existence in the palace was arousing in şehzade hasn’t quite left him yet. Surely, being alone (with Yahya, apparently) should let him enjoy the beauty of nature in peace and relieve this tension, no…? As they were sneaking behind the bushes, watching the roe deer intently, Mustafa suddenly said. „If I remember correctly, we have both been wearing a scarf on our last adventure together.“ „Indeed.“ Taşlicali suddenly winced. „Oh, heavens! I remember now taking one that looked similar, but now that I think about it, not quite like mine. It must’ve been yours, Your Majesty, was it not…? Allah, this is horrible, I swear I did not…“ Mustafa shut him up with a stern glare. „No matter. You’re not to blame for this, I’ve taken yours by mistake first.“ „Oh. Well then… I suppose you wouldn’t want me to disturb our entertainment? I will keep in mind that when we return to the palace…“ „Actually, I wanted to return said scarf to you first.“ said Mustafa, loudly and pointedly, which made the roe flee – but şehzade payed no mind to it anymore. „So I snuck to your room when you weren’t there, hoping to avoid any awkwardness for both of ours sake. You have hidden my scarf very well, Taşlicali, and in searching for it I went trough many an interesting corner of that small space. Including the one bellow your coal basket.“ Yahya furrowed brow in confusion. „Did you find something there, Your Majesty?“ „Very interesting things, Taşlicali.“ He reached behind his belt and revealed a piece of paper he has apparently been hiding there. Mustafa then turned the text on the paper towards Taşlicali. Oh, how I wish I had some of your way with words, my dear soldier! Then perhaps I could’ve written you with the same delightful mastery about my feelings for you; truth be told, I am growing quite bored of repeating „I love you“ endlessly. Alas, this letter of mine will be short, as I have little news and even less thoughts worth sharing, but I know you will be happy to simply remember me, or at least I hope so. It probably would’ve been for me had it not been for your silver tongue and golden quill… Taşlicali went pale. During his relationship with Mihrimah, he doubted many times whether to continue risking his head for a mere courtly romance, and in one such fit of pessimism, he decided to end their flirtation and keep what he planned to be her second-to-last letter – so that it would later not seem like a mere dream that he, soldier and mediocre poet Taşlicali Yahya, was truly loved by sultan’s sun and moon. Next morning, he came to his senses and tried to find the letter with the intention to burn it after all, but could not find it even after hours of searching. Every day since, he alotted at least some time to searching for it, untill he consoled himself with the thought that if he could not find the damn thing in his own room, noone else could even by accident. This seemed to be an unforgivable error in judgement…   Yahya tried to ignore the tremors of his hands and icy river replacing blood in his veins, reign in his panic and consider the options in front of him. He could not deny the authorship of the letter, not to Mihrimah’s own brother, and to beg for mercy would no doubt only compound Mustafa’s disgust with him. No, if there was any chance at all to come out of this alive, he needed to face the truth like a soldier. Mustafa’s eyes were two dark arrows, hitting the hard shell of his heart, cracking it open and letting the rot inside spill out of it. „Do you have a death wish, Yahya?“ Taşlicali bowed his head in shame. „Your Majesty… What I’ve done cannot be forgiven, and I would not dare ask you such a thing. However…“ „However what?!“ „…before my sinful soul leaves my body, I wish you’d hear me out, so that you know what exactly I am guilty of. I am not trying to make excuses, şehzade; on the contrary, I’d like to confess…“ Mustafa raised eyebrows, now as impatient as he was angry. „So have you, or have you not disgraced my sister?!“ He tucked the letter back into the belt and picked up bow and arrows. „You have nothing to gain by lying; just for throwing her honor into question, you have signed your death sentence, which I will execute here and now, as soon as you finally stop talking.“ And with these words, he took a few steps back and posed as if he was to about to raise his bow at any moment.   Taşlicali was suddenly gripped with a strange feeling – some fear, yes, but mostly shame and infinite sadness. Mustafa has given him so much over the past few months, treated him with such genuine affection and interest, and yet here it was, the proof that Taşlicali Yahya never deserved any of it. His sudden coming death was hard to come to terms with, and yet, it was the least Mustafa should’ve punished him with for his foolishness. It wasn’t even a bad death, he thought before opening his mouth for what he was sure were his last words. For how bad could any moment, even one’s last, be if he is graced with the look of Mustafa’s beautiful eyes? „I had reached for her heart with my tongue and quill many, many times, but my body had not touched even a tip of her little finger.“ Mustafa’s anger seemed to discipate somewhat. „You had not even kissed her?“ „No, my şehzade.“ „Why? You must’ve known it would not have made a difference.“ „It might’ve, had her handmaidens told Hürrem sultan. And I had not felt the urge anyway.“ „But you felt the urge to send her love letters?! What kind of a fool you are, Yahya?!“ Yahya lifted his head and shyly looked into Mustafa’s eyes, hoping şehzade won’t take his need to see şehzade‘s beautiful face at the moment of his death for any kind of boldness. „I am a poet, Your Majesty. Forbidden love of an artist to a sultana is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever beheld – the kind of event that the greatest epics were written about and most esteemed masters of our craft have used as inspiration. So what of it if I see nary a thing about Mihrimah that would’ve made me interested in her as woman, if her inner life remains as unknown to me as it is uninteresting and if I find her, from our admittedly brief and shallow aquitance, not that different from many other women I’ve known in my life? She is a sultana and I a poet. When a chance encounter brought us together and she was interest in continuing our meetings, I could not pass the opportunity should it kill me, regardless of what I might’ve felt or not. Let this be my final words, my şehzade: I did it for the craft.“ Mustafa seemed stunned at first, then burst out laughing. „Oh, and the poems you read me, for those Mihrimah was an inspiration, you say?“ Yahya slowly bowed his head, still in shock. Was he by any chance forgiven now? Mustafa started wiping away tears of laughter. „Then, my friend, I am sorry to say you are not, in fact, dying for the craft, since what I’ve heard from you can scarcely be called that.“ He then put the arrow back into the quiver and bow on his shoulder. „Oh.“ said Yahya, staring at şehzade. He never had the honor to see şehzade laughing, and that, together with seeing Azrael’s veiled face move further away from his and dissapear into the mists of unknown future, suddenly made him smile as well, regardless of the mockery he received. „I am not dying for anything at all, then?“ Mustafa’s laughter slowly discipated, leaving but a smile on his face. „For now… If you left nothing out of your confession and only told the truth, as all good muslims should before meeting our maker.“ He came to Taşlicali and gave him a pat on the back. „I shouldn’t have doubted you. I shouldn’t have…“ His gaze suddenly trailed off into the distance. And Taşlicali, overwhelmed by the prince’s beauty, simply had to say something. „I shouldn’t have given you a reason to doubt me in the first place, my şehzade. I wish I would’ve gotten to know you sooner, so that my esteem of you would’ve prevented what my feeble mind could not.“ „Would it, truly?“ said Mustafa, surprised. „I earnestly think so, my prince, though of course only the allmighty Allah knows for certain. In any case, throughout this spring and summer, my adoration for you has risen a thousandfold and hopefully my ability to resist romantic tomfoolery with it.“ Mustafa was back to his usual, somewhat humorless self, as if his previous fit of mad laughter never happened. „Why? Am I some kind of good influence on you? If you must know, I have done my share of mistakes in this regard…“ „I ended my relationship with Mihrimah sultan out of love for you, my prince.“ said Taşlicali somewhat more impassionately than he perhaps intended. „How come?“ „The matter became known to people outside of us two, and I couldn’t risk getting entangled in some sort of dirty game because of it. So I told her farewell and we neither spoke nor wrote to each other no more.“ Mustafa seemed thoughtful, and somewhat softer than a few moments earlier. „I might’ve been touched, Yahya, had you not admitted earlier that it was all just a lark to you.“ He suddenly turned away from Taşlicali and started walking back to the tent, with Taşlicali in tow. A few seconds later, he added, seemingly deep in thought. „Of course it was. You poets wouldn’t know love from… Ah. Have you ever even been in love, Taşlicali?“ „It’s hard to tell, my prince. Comrades in arms can develop bonds as deep as any marriage, but I don’t think the character of these can be described as akin to romance. It certainly lacks certain… Aspects, but then so does courtly love, if I am not mistaken. Other than my fellow soldiers, I have never loved anybody – maybe my parents, but both died too young for me remember if I did, or anything about them, really…“ Mustafa bared a soulful gaze into Yahya’s eyes. „It is a sad life you led indeed. But somehow I don’t think you missed much, with romance in particullar. I have been in love before and did not find the sweet worth the bitter, though it might well be that I had simply gotten unlucky. Though, mayhaps if I had gotten too lucky, I would’ve ended up like my father, and that also wouldn’t have been good.“ „Well… It seems to make His Majesty happy, at least.“ Mustafa let out a chuckle. „I wish, but even then, I am not sure whether she is worth the trouble she causes to everyone, including our sultan.“   They looked at each other and saw in each other’s eyes such profound understanding that Mustafa, seemingly unable to help himself, pulled Taşlicali into his arms, head leaning against the poet‘s shoulder. Taşlicali, first stiff and frozen in surprise, eventually relaxed and realized how pleasant the feeling is. Even disregarding the peculiar, but undoubtedly precious honor of being hugged by the member of the dynasty, Mustafa held him so tight and yet so gently it made Taşlicali at once fully comprehend the very concept of tenderness – something which he so far have experienced very little of. „I appologize for scaring you like that, Yahya, but you must understand… There was no other way to make you tell the truth. God, I am so sorry. You did not deserve this. You did not deserve my doubt.“ His words made Yahya want to kiss him, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere… But once again his feelings did not get the better of him, and when they went back to the tent, they were able to pretend nothing happened a little longer.   The bubble burst that night. Mustafa invited Yahya over to sleep in his tent, in a cot right next to his. That alone made Taşlicali giddy with happiness – what better music to fall asleep to than prince’s breath? But as soon as they lied down and the tent fell into darkness, Yahya heard a collection of sounds alltogether different from what he expected: first, the shuffle of blankets, then quiet knocks of legs falling onto the floor, another shuffle, then something nigh imperceptible (which, in hindsight, were probably steps of bare feet on the floor of the tent) and finally the same collection of sounds backwards. Before Taşlicali realized what was happening, Mustafa was lying down right next to him, touching him, then embracing. Yahya froze in shock, which seemed to give Mustafa pause. „Yahya?“ he whispered. „Should… Should I move away?“ If anything sinful happens later, Taşlicali thought then, and I say yes to what he’s doing right now, I am going to be complicit. It was a short thought, and very weak – it was easy for it to be suffocated by another, much more prominent one, a rebuttal his conscience had no answer for. He didn’t want to say yes. He wanted to shout it. „Of course not.“   Mustafa breathed out a warm, heavy sigh, burrowing his nose into the nape of Yahya’s neck. Yahya in turn touched Mustafa’s hand, which landed on his belly when he wrapped his arms around Yahya’s waist, and caressed it, so that Mustafa knows he can and should move forward. It truly seemed to have emboldened him, as Mustafa soon planted a first shy kiss onto the bared part of Yahya’s clavicle. He continued up his neck, slightly higher and deeper each time, untill Yahya couldn’t handle it anymore and turned in his arms to kiss him on the lips, deeply and passionately, holding Mustafa’s face with one hand. After a while, all of that kissing, touching and grinding against each other grew from a series of gentle, loving gestures to something darker, as Yahya felt in both his and his new lover’s trousers something truly heinous and unbearable, yet sweet – a rotten fruit of a tactile sensation, truly. For a moment, a little cloud ran trough this unnaturaly bright heaven – to put it simply, fear of being sodomized, but thankfully no such thing occured even at the height of their passion. Instead, Mustafa’s hand slithered down Yahya’s trousers, baring his penis, then touching it so softly and lovingly it made Yahya burrow his head in Mustafa’s embrace and sigh into his chest. Then sighs turned into moans, which then became louder and louder, so much so Mustafa had to turn Yahya on his back like a woman, then cover his mouth (which he did not do with women, hopefully). With the one way trough which it could be even slightly eased blocked, the pressure inside of Yahya rose incredibly quickly, and a few minutes later, only Mustafa’s coarse breath and his own quiet „ah, ah, ah“ underscored the deep, sinful extasy he let flow trough his entire body.   He then suddenly rose, firmly turned Mustafa on his back and did the same his lover did to him, devoid of all the residual shame that might’ve stung him beforehand. They did not talk during (there was no need – as soon as they were established to be in a mutual agreement, there was nothing to add), and afterwards they fell asleep soon after Yahya gave back the pleasure Mustafa had given him. That morning, facing the bright light of day and sanity that came back with it, Yahya felt so ashamed of the previous night that he simply couldn‘t talk about it, and Mustafa seemed satisfied with silence as well. Slowly, it was as if an unspoken understanding was built between them – of what they did, what they felt for each other and their need not to tell a living soul.   From then on, they only ever made love in the woods. Their encounters sometimes differed in the position they found themselves in and the time of day; they actually seemed to do it during the day more often than in the night, sneaking away from the guards into some isolated corner that even wild boar never roamed into. Otherwise, however, each of these cases resembled one another to an unusual degree: few stolen kisses, quick movements of hand, a moment of pleasure and back to reality you go, boys, the reality where you are but a prince and his favourite companion, without any trace of euphemism in Yahya’s aforementioned title whatsoever. Mustafa still visited his harem – infrequently and seemingly with some distaste, but after his second child turned out to be a girl, he needed a son more than ever. He came back to Nergisşah’s mother more often than the others, and for a while seemed charmed by one Rumeysa hatun, but he never liked any of them enough to be called a favourite. After a few years, he stopped spending nights with Ayşe altogether, and Rumeysa ended up dying of smallpox, with Mustafa strangely giving that name to another woman, a girl of low status that had the fortune to get pregnant from only a night or two spent with him. Taşlicali never thought of these women as his competition – Mustafa needed an heir from them and companionship from him, and for a while he thought they could not gave him the latter any more than Taşlicali could’ve given him the former.   But it was a foolish thought. Obviously, a woman need not share a man’s interests in manly pursuits to be a good companion whom he loves and respects – but also, just to prove Yahya wrong further, there was indeed a lady just around the corner that was, in fact, eager and capable in manly pursuits. And that’s when things got interesting.

hermoso

[🎵Let them play among the stars ~🎵]

✨🖤✨❤️✨💛✨✨✨🤍✨💙✨💛✨

1

I Can't Get This Out of my Head Sooo...

Soft Boi Shadow: Relationship HCs!

Shadow LOOVVEESS hugs. Once he really gets to know you & gets closer to you, he will always find an excuse to hug you. With your permission, of course.

If you're in a relationship with him, back rubs are almost a daily thing. Shadow notices you look stressed? Immediate back rub. And Shadow gives amazing back rubs too.

Out in public, Shadow will still kiss your cheeks, hug you or hold your hand. He has some restraint. But back at home, Shadow will pull you close to him & kiss you as much as he pleases.

Shadow LOVES when his s/o pets him in any way. His head, his chest fur, his back... He just sits there & takes it. Depending on how good you are at it, you may even hear a purr.

If you two are away from each other for a considerable amount of time, Shadow will either cuddle with one of your plushies or a piece of clothing you wear.

Shadow enjoys gifts from the heart, rather than material possessions. So, expect plenty of heartfelt cooking (I think he's actually a great cook), beautiful love notes/poems, bouquets of your favorite flowers, etc.

Shadow isn't ashamed/embarrassed of his relationship with you in any way. So whenever he gets the chance, he will make cheesy and romantic comments in your vicinity. Even if you guys are hanging with friends.

3

1./ I have a problem with şehzade Mehmed (from MC) and to a lesser extent şehzade Mustafa - which is to say I couldn't care less about any of them as people. Mehmed has absolutely no personality and every time he's on screen I am like, than God you're pretty, or else I would've turned off long ago. He only contributes to other character's drama and character development, he himself doesn't have one. What do you, as our resident meta goddess, think about him?

I totally agree about Mehmet. His character is such a wasted potential and it's not as if they didn't have time to flesh him out - they had a whole entire season and did absolutely nothing with him at the end of the day. He felt more like a background character than a part of the main ensemble cast.

His interactions are all set up, no pay off. His most developed dynamic was with Süleiman and I talked about it more in depth here, but we saw why he's SS's favourite prince more "in between the lines" than anything and their scenes, a few exceptions aside, lacked proper depth writing-wise and they didn't allow his character to shine at all. His dynamics with Mihrimah and Hürrem are okay, but they weren't enough for me, either. And while with Hürrem we got her favoring and advicing him, with Mihrimah we got his passiveness and blind trust of her (the Nurbahar situation; btw, this blind trust is something I don't really get, if we put little Mehmet's characterization into the mix. Mihrimah had deceived him before during the whole "breaking Hürrem's crown" incident and him trusting her now to the point he didn't see how Nurbahar was after the supposed abortion of the baby..... This is more of a writing problem than a character problem, but oh my, does it speak volumes....) and with Mustafa we got a glimpse of his love for his brother to the point he would in no circumstance whatsoever believe he would ever kill him (and he's technically right, if we consider only Mustafa as a factor), it's as if these dynamics were never given the focus necessary for them to feel more organic. He had plenty of scenes with these people, but they don't reveal much about him and we are left with a tiny grasp of his character, not the actuality of it.

The screentime he was given wasn't enough to make his character exceed its foundation. I believe season 3 and especially, its first half, tried its best to balance the plot-lines of its ensemble cast - Hürrem dealing with Firuze, the build-up to Ibrahim's death, Mustafa's arcs, Hürrem's fondations, Mihrimah's love story with Taşlıcalı, Süleiman and Ebusuud Efendi, the aftermath of the Ibrahim/Nigar affair + Esmanur, Hatice's reactions etc. and to me, it did at many points look like that all these plot-lines had equal time in the episodes and in the story. That's all well and good and I loved it, but there wasn't enough time for Mehmet, as a result and he turned out to be very underwritten because of this "equalness" in screentime. That apparent balance of plot-lines becomes a problem when these other characters and plot-lines had their time in the oven (even Mihrimah was set-up in S02B and after Bali Bey left, it was logical for her to find a new love. Little Mihrimah was a character in her own right before S03 and with her growing up, we get to see what exactly has changed.) and that previous build-up made them flow naturally without simplifying the characters in them, but Mehmet's personality had yet to have its time in the oven (little Mehmet was similarly only set-up and grown Mehmet never went beyond that setup.) and he just gets lost in all the material.

He indeed has no arcs of his own. Nurbahar? That wasn't even about him, it was about Mihrimah, because she took the final decision and that's one of the first moments of action of her character in S03. The arrow incident? Used as a plot device to enforce even further Süleiman's distrust for Mahidevran and Mustafa. Them waiting until the 3 last episodes of the season for Mehmet to go to the province harmed his character in many ways, because not only did it underline how stale the lack of any plot-line about him made him, it also showed that it could actually be much better if he had gone there at least a little earlier. He had his 15 minutes of fame only in the season finale and that was the smallpox plot and his tragic death: far too late. The episode itself is amazing as a death episode and has Mehmet's best moments as a character, with him finally actively doing something important where you can drive conclusions about him at last, but that felt more like a copout than anything, with a nearly whole season of meandering otherwise. The thing about him that impacted the narrative the most is precisely his death, with it becoming a strong motivator of S04 Hürrem and a focal point in Mahidevran's whole arc and while I appreciate that, it doesn't exactly do Mehmet many favors in his own right.

Thing is, many problems with Mehmet would be fixed if they just.. married him to Esmahan. (I wrote a whole post about that years ago and I stick by it.) If they turned this into a plot line with lead up and aftermath, it would not only enrich S03B as a whole and show a variety of reactions of the characters that are somehow involved, it would also go out of its way to develop both Mehmet and Esmahan and would flesh out Mehmet a little more in the process. If they deal with them trying to marry for the most amount of S03B, it would show Mehmet consistently stick up to something and develop his feelings for Esmahan. I know the show set up a little crush of Esmahan's with Mehmet not being as interested, but if they turned this the other way around or slowly have Mehmet gradually fall in love with her, we would have at least one plot arc about him before his last moments, we would have seen some improvement. And I know that a love story of sorts is perhaps the "safest", most effortless way to deal with Mehmet and wouldn't give him as much agency as say, get him earlier in the province, people!, but it is a way, regardless, and I could see it happening in the show. I'm a little sad that it didn't.

For me Mehmet, not Mustafa, was always the nice guy that is also loyal to his majesty and that's about it. He had some stronger reactions when his loved ones were offended, but once again, these are more hints of who he is and what he could've been as a character and they were too sparse to be an active part of his personality. They were strong in the context of the scenes they were in, but as a whole... they don't do much for me. Mehmet in his entirety also doesn't.

(that's why I don't get it when someone tells me that Mehmet in the show would be a better padişah than Mustafa. Not that I discard the possibility that there could be a better heir for the throne than Mustafa or something, but in the case of Mehmet, it wasn't directly shown how he was better. Their circumstances are inherently different and Mehmet wasn't really given the chance to act in more dynamic situations and we don't really know what decisions would he make. As I said, we don't get much of him managing a sanjack, he's spent almost the entirety of his screentime in the castle, interacting with Mihrimah or Mustafa, Hürrem giving him promises and Süleiman praising him. He has his loyalty to SS, but that goes so far, no matter that SS thinks otherwise and there isn't a proper exploration of how he wants to rule, what does he think of the throne war besides hints, how would he approach, so forth.)

Mustafa is another case. I get why he might not appeal to you - he fits, too well maybe, the righteous hero role, but he's a tad more complex than that.

Possible problems about him may come from a different place than Mehmet. Mustafa's whole character is built around his ultimate fate: the entire basis is there from the get go, literally from his first scenes. His independent spirit, for example, is introduced to us when he was very little and is there much before it turns into an out of the box mindset. Mustafa's death was more or less the thematic climax of the show and I always had the impression that the writers wanted to use every single chance they could to build it up, starting even from when he was a child. (6-year old Mustafa saying that he'll "lose himself in the castle" and Valide's speech to Mahidevran in E01, that infamous SS and Mustafa scene in E02 where SS jokingly tells the guards to execute him etc. The examples are far too many, since I find build up for his death in almost every scene of his.) The traits of his that may possibly set SS off are something he has always had (see: E29) and that gives off an impression that Mustafa doesn't have all that much to develop outside of his already established character. And yes, that is somewhat true, in part, because in contrast to Bayezid and Ibrahim, Mustafa's death isn't made fact through a character arc for Mustafa, but more through a number of seemigly quite formulaic situations between father and son that pile in incessantly until the inevitable conclusion. The one that changes is only Süleiman, Mustafa doesn't have to change anything about his strengths and flaws, because they are already, in concept, sufficient for the message the writers want to deliver with him and his execution. And while I find the long thorough build-up to his death to be one of my favourite things about the show, because the situation-based nature of it that starts and stops and then starts again, succeeded to give many nuanced reasons as to why it happened, but the build-up still is a double-edged sword that may make Mustafa himself and all around him "boring" and repetitive at first glance.

The central part he plays in the story, however, prevents me from seeing him like that. It may look like nothing new is happening around him, but the people dedicated to him and his dynamics with them create an impression of three-dimensionality. His qualities remain intact, but everything else connected to him changes. He has many plot arcs and none of them happen in a vacuum. Time passes everywhere around Mustafa.

Mustafa has a pretty well-defined personality. He's not only good and nice, he's also altruistic, brave, courageous, intuitive when it comes to right decisions and a seeker of justice. Meanwhile, his core trait is presented through his character establishing sentence in E46: "I have no other wishes than being your son.". The line says so much in so little words: it hints of both Mustafa's innocence and his wish to prove his worth to his father. That perhaps does make him "the perfect prince", the one being ready to make every decision, the one maintaining his morality, the one letting his senses guide him and making him value his loved ones. It does make him set an example for everyone. However, this exact desperation eventually becomes a flaw - everyone around Mustafa is assuring him of his fate and yet, Süleiman never seemed to be "won over", something was missing from the start. (little Mustafa wanted to visit his father everytime, as if he was lacking his presence.) And that only amplified when he got older, with him, there it is, acting impulsively and rashly, which lowered SS's trust in him more after each time. And while he made the right thing most of the time, like when, yes, he disobeyed SS's orders, but found evidence that the person about to be executed was innocent and the actual traitor, there were also times his rashness caused harm to people around him, i.e the whole arrow incident that was caused by Mustafa taking Helena to the harem. That could've killed Mehmet, his own brother and that would've destroyed not only his relationship with SS, but Mustafa himself. And then that rashness turned into stubbornness - he wanted to marry Helena to prove himself to his father, which only dashed the girl's hopes of a good, almost normal life with him. He didn't only because Ibrahim stopped him, and a season later, he managed to marry Mihrunnisa, in spite of his father. (in this case, however, he decided to disobey him because he loves her, too, and in his words, wanted to listen to his heart.) He almost always takes his own judgement and he was correct when he, say, spared Bali Bey's life, but he wasn't when he refused to take people's pragmatic advices that would've saved his life like Mahidevran's advices in S03 and S04. He is usually willing to learn, but these attempts to prove his worth leave him stuck in the same limbo, the same cascade of events with his father. Mustafa is not usually naive, he's quite perceptive when it comes to choosing a side or solving problems, but he not only wants to prove his worth to his father, he trusts him. He notices he's losing his favor, but he trusts him. BLINDLY. He notices flaws of his in his head (like listening to Hürrem and Rüstem's words too much sometimes), but he hasn't truly realized the extent of SS's ego-inflating downward spiral. He would never believe that SS could ever kill him, despite of everyone telling him otherwise. Okay, he had.... 0,00000000000001% suspicion given him writing him the letter, but that was after Cihangir told him about SS's promise and he still turned himself in anyway, without a second of hesitation. He always thought of him as his father, not that often as his padişah. His attempts to prove his worth render him ignorant. They were the last nail of the coffin in Mustafa's death. It wasn't the strongest factor due to the fabrication of the letter, but it was the one that ended everything. His tremendous love and respect and loyalty for his father was both his biggest strength and his biggest flaw.

Mustafa may not get too much in the way of character development, but I wouldn't say it's completely lacking. Mustafa's relationship with Hürrem evolved over time: I don't think he hated her, per say, but he grew resentment for her after all the attempts on his life. In S03 he didn't want to suspect her about the spy and he told Taşlıcalı that it would be worry him if she was the one behind this, but in S04 he directly sent Fatma to oppose her in the harem. He respected her, but in S04 he refused to believe she didn't set a trap for him in E121 when until S04 he didn't blame her for everything so easily. He also told her in E104 that he wouldn't show mercy to her and Rüstem and I doubt he would say so before then. Once again, he was slowly realizing that his father was drifting further and further away from him, no matter how much he denied that in his head. (the scene about the 40 candles in E101)

I personally can see him as a real person, even though there is certainly a line between his trope and his depth. His dynamic with Mahidevran is especially human: as he sees through her struggle, then wonders why she fell out of love with SS and then they support each other and begin to be everything for each other. They give each other emotional strenght and it's very touching. He has a fair share of mistakes; and questionable actions he's shown to do when he's put out of his limit like when he was ready to use Hürrem's kids to threaten her after Efsun died, which definetly provoked Hürrem. His goodness and unwillingness for more ambiguous actions is a fact, but there pops us another side of Mustafa that shows he could get dangerous when he wishes. That's why I love the whole "poisoned kaftan arc" in S04. He shows his strength of character in a different way: he wants to set things right with his father, but won't back down until he finds out what is going on, going in the castle along with his own army (and the jannisary later). The prospect of his father possibly trying to kill him in such a way made him reach this breaking point. (but when SS swore he would never sacrifice him, he started trusting him again, ofc) It was a showcase that he can set a rebellion but choses not to. That he can get very threatening (the whole castle feared what would happen next), but choses not to.

His relationship with his brothers isn't as fleshed out as say, his mother and father, because his arc was more about Süleiman than them and I would've loved to see more scenes with the brothers together overall, but I think enough reason was given for them to respect him the way they do. It was also shown that Mustafa loved them a lot and he had many good scenes with all of them.

[And I'm totally with you on Cihangir! His character is much more than his love for Mustafa and he was fleshed out perfectly fine for the time he was in the show. He's such a sweetheart with profound scene after profound scene in the span of a half-season. I can say for sure that I found what was done with him enough for him to be, as you said, a real person and a very sympathetic one at that, too!]

Don't worry about the rambling at all and I also hope you're having a good day! <3

2

So, I think I've seen you post about this before (apologies if not!) but the amount of "Mahidevran doomed her son by making him think he had a right to the throne over others/was above his father" comments I keep seeing are starting to feel a little wild when I can count any examples of this on one hand (and many of them were fairly innocent, like her interaction with him in the first episode).

I don't recall posting about this in particular (though I did ask here a few months ago when did Mahidevran lie directly to Mustafa except for the three times in E48, because I have seen so many people talk about her lying to him as if it's something she frequently does. If there truly aren't any other cases of this, here's yet another statement blown out of proportion.), but it must be something mostly from the YT comments again, right? Ooof, they drive me crazy. It's not as simple as that.

Mustafa becoming the padişah truly is a belief Mahidevran held throughout the series. Every mother of a heir would believe or would want to believe that in such a system and it was especially understandable when Mahidevran believed that at first - she seemed to enter in an entirely new, advantageous environment where Süleiman became a padişah and Mustafa was the only heir to his throne. The kid certainly had the same expectations his mother gave him in their conversations before their arrival, that it's their castle and everyone would be waiting for them. But these expectations didn't necessarily amount to him being the next padişah or the special hair - what Mustafa was especially distraught at was the fact that he couldn't see his father or Ibrahim, like he apparently so often did in Manisa. Mustafa's motivations were always more familial in nature for the entirely of MC: here, as a little kid, he wanted his father to spend time with him, to play with him, to be next to him everywhere, as seen by his constant innocent child desires to go to a campaign with him and the little shot where he watched him during the divan in E02. It's this what made him raise his voice and try to assert himself. And for what is worth, Mahidevran also tried to ease him into the new circumstances, as much as she herself was struggling to - telling him that his father and/or Ibrahim had work and he couldn't see them at that moment. (also trying to calm him down when he was asking why doesn't his father come anymore, but that's besides the point here.) That wasn't her always telling him he has a special right over everyone, she realizes what's going on in the present despite of all and doesn't always latch onto her beliefs. Mustafa had an "independent spirit" right from the very beginning and there were instances where he didn't listen to his mother, even before he grew up - like him refusing to go to school. He always had firm and clear wants, wishes and ideals outside of anything his mother told him. It's not like she let him do whatever he wanted even in this stage and while she could've told him that he would be the next padişah, it's hardly this what completely motivated his future behaviour, even lesser so "doom" him.

From my rewatches, I noticed that Mahidevran shows the belief that Mustafa is the main heir to the throne more to others (especially Hürrem directly in E17, E45 and E50 and indirectly in their E69 and E75 farewells, to name a few examples.) than to him, but there are times where she tells him that and one could argue this could've impacted him a little. Some remarks were certainly innocent like the E01 interaction you mentioned and E12's "How will you become a padişah if you're lying in bed all day?", but in quite a few scenes she does call him "the first heir" and tells him that he's the future of the empire and that he'll be the one to rule this world one day. (like E07; also in E55, E95, E101 etc.) The entirety of Mehmet's birth comes to mind as this one time the mindset is fully capitalized on: that was a serious blow for Mahidevran and it's when Mustafa began to question how valued he'll be by his father from that point on. Mahidevran immediately began to assure him that he shouldn't worry, that he's the true heir, but it seemed more like she was assuring herself of this fact than she was leading the kid to believe stuff that may not be possible. While she seemed to begin to grapple with another prince being born after her initial bitter instinctive reaction of it which made her immediately cling to Mustafa, the one lion and treasure she has (immediately kicking out the cariye that sent her the news, not wanting to attend the celebration.), deep down, she was as uncertain as Mustafa was; the future wasn't as clear as she may have wanted it to be. Look at what she told Mustafa after he openly voiced his concerns: "You'll be (the) padişah. Ibrahim promised me." She had to move forward relying on a promise, not a sheer conviction. She told Mustafa this as a means to call him down, since she saw how his worries were overwhelming him, not to make him believe he's the center of the world and that he's unstoppable. That goes for almost all cases where she doesn't use this innocently - it's either to calm him down or lift him up. It's more demonstrative of Mahidevran's own train of thought about how one day this whole torment is going to end than the one of her son. This is something additional Mustafa can get motivated by, sure, the belief that he's the future of the dynasty could've helped him make decisions immediately when he thought he should, even if it meant disregarding his father's will, convincing him even more to do what he did, staying silent where people chant "Long live sultan Mustafa!" in E120-1, perhaps being used to hear how he'll rule next. But it's not the whole picture. That belief is not something he capitalized on, either, despite of his moments of little, but never dominating jealousy towards Mehmet, since he tends to go by his own accord and rely on his own judgement, and this is not something Mahidevran approves.

Mahidevran doesn't make him think that everything is going to be handed to him on a silver platter, either. She makes efforts to make him understand that his brothers are also his rivals for the throne as early as E44 and that he has enemies after him in S03 and S04, which is why she wanted to know his every move and warned him to be wary and not slip up when it could be advantageous for Hürrem and Rüstem. She even told him that Mihrimah and Rüstem could put Mehmet on the throne in E103. She sees they have to fight, as shown by E101 especially. Yes, Mahidevran strongly believes in the exit of that fight, but also that they can get there only through patience, carefulness and being there for each other. Mustafa did what he did when his motivations grew into the stubborn wish to prove himself to his father, believing in his love and fairness. Look how throughout the show he addresses him more with "father" than with "your majesty"? That shows how much Mustafa wants to have and preserve the familiarity of his relationship with his father, along with his principles, that's mostly why he's so sure of himself, which helps increase SS's doubts of him.

Additionally, Mahidevran has never ever lead Mustafa to believe that he's above his father. It's quite the opposite- she always tells him not to question his decisions, especially in S03, and clearly and explicitly underlined the difference between them in E75 when Mustafa recalled SS marrying Hürrem regarding his own decision to marry Helena: "Your father is not a prince." Even when she inadvertently made Mustafa stand against his father due to her words in E48, she retracted that an episode after, realizing her mistake and saying that what's done is done and he should forget how SS upset her. (Yes, she was scolded by Valide then and that could be a factor, too, but Mahidevran has grown more confident in herself in this arc of hers and here she can already disregard Valide if she doesn't agree with her, as seen in E53.) Telling Mustafa that he's above his father wouldn't be something she'd be okay with, since it contradicts her view of the traditions and she's well aware of the possible consequences of something like that, as seen by her quick concerned reaction to the scandal between SS and Mustafa in E29. She hasn't done it even in S04 when her feelings for SS were all but charitable. She definitely has told Mustafa not to think of the possible hole between him and Süleiman, but that's reassurance when he's down, not a confirmation of some superiority Mustafa has over SS. She also compared his experiences to SS's Manisa antics in E97, but she stressed their similarities as şehzades, not as a padişah and a şehzade. So yup, such a statement is totally false.

Many factors contributed to Mustafa's demise, the main one for me being Süleiman's increased paranoia and fear of his son (and after all, he made the final decision), so blaming Mahidevran and Mahidevran alone (or only Hürrem, Rüstem or Mihrimah for that matter) is NOT right. It's far more intricate and complex issue to dump it just on one person and I hate this popular and continuous tendency of people doing it. These comments truly become wild because while this whole belief of Mustafa becoming the padişah (nevermind that Hürrem tells Mehmet this, too?) is part of it, it's still such borderline oversimplification it erases the impact this plotline has.

1

Power and status of ottoman princess

Title and honorifics

Before the rule of sultan Bayazid II every high ranking woman were called Hatuns,including mother,sisters,aunts and daughters, however thier social standing was naturally higher than non imperial women. The way to adrress them was Hatun that was used after their given name,for example, Gevherhan hatun,daughter of Mehmed the coqueror or effendi that would have similar meaning as mistress.

After accession of Bayazid II his daughters and granddaughters were given title of sultan,however non of his living sisters or aunts got the honor. Later on proper way to adress them woulf become “Sultanim”, which would mean “my sultan”,or again “effendim” by other members of imperial family. I would like to underline that contrary to what wikipedia states, there is no records that I know,where princesses where called with “Devletlu İsmetlu” like Valide sultan and Haseki sultan were.

The term “sultana” that was made more feminine by Europeans never existed in ottoman language.

Family, Marrige and Issues

I want to start discussing their family with brothers,it’s widely known fact that before suleyman there was “once concubine,one son” tradition therefore if shehzade/Sultan had full-sisters they were all older,that is one way to deduce if princess of unspecified mother was full sister of half sister of reigning sultan. Naturally Shezades had closer relationship to their full sisters as they were leaving with him and their mother,when he was appointed as governor of princely province. Their latter life would be spent in their brother’s harem before marriage.

being half sister of sultan did not automatically mean that their relationship would have been stained,however mostly,princess would favour full-brother over half,but were treated by same respect regardless who ascended the throne. It was different case when imperial princess had no full brother at all,for example Sah Huban, she had very close relationship with Suleyman,even closer than his deeply respected full sisters.

Their marriages,much like any other princesses of any country, was political,arranged by their parents to strengthen standing of their father or brother,for example daughters of Selim I were firstly married to powerful politicians,so their father would have supporters in his rebellion,while their second marriages were arranged to help Suleyman in his early reign. Their husbands were usually much older than them, therefore marital life was likely not consensual and in no way their choice. For example,Rustem paha,husband of Mihrimah,was same age as Hurrem,her daughter’s fate was even worse as she had to marry peer of her own grandfather,however given the fact that they had 8 children,marriage can be considered successful. After the Marriage princesses were getting their own little “Harrem”,where they had great rooms for themselves and their servants,where even their Husbands needed permission to enter and even refuse to have sexual intercourse with them,sometimes their marriage could end unconsumated and after some time princess could use another of their privilege-divorce. Reason of divorce could have been different: Personal attitude,mistreatment,political move or adultery. It was made clear,especially by Suleyman,that imperial princesses were full-fledged members of imperial family so they ranked higher than their husbands,therefore having relationship with other women was their humiliation,which would lead to divorce, after which they would retire in old palace and could refuse to remarry again.

Only their first degree descendants would be given imperial titles.

Daughters- Hanimsultan(with Ayse Humashah as exception)

Sons-Sultanzades. They ranked even below non-sultan imperial consorts and some of the highest ranking harem servants.

Hierarchy and Power

They actually had equal standing in ottoman hierarchy. As female members of dynasty they had the same status and privileges,were reffered as sultans and often received relative stipend.( Which was on average 200 akche a day, for comparison, Valide sultan had around 2000-3000 depended on time period, Haseki sultan 1000-1100(Hurrem as only exception,who got stipend of Valide sultan ) Gulfem,who was almost regarded as member of family herself was recieving 150, Nurbanu’s trusted friend and one of the highest ranking non-sultan woman ever Canfeda received 200, Mahidevran only received 40 and avarage stipend of cariye was 2-4) Besides, sisters of sultans were technically daughters of sultan, though the deceased one, still they were treated with great respect much like their late father. However, birth order was important thing in ottoman society so younger sister respected older and bowed to them as well as nieces bowing to aunts regardles of their martial or fianacal status. Therefore saughters of sultan,as nieces, were calling sisters of sultan,as aunts, “effendi" out of respect.

In conclusion, even if they had same social standing, sisters of sultan were still bit ahead daughters of sultan formally.

However, Granddaughters, Nieces and cousins of sultan,despite the same rank, were less prestigious.

Despite their relative social status and order of birth their actual power was dependent on several factors:

1. Their relationship with Padishah,Valide sultan or Haseki sultan. They had higher rank and much more evident political power, they still needed their permissions about major decisions,even if it were their right, so being on good terms with them was a good move. Half-sisters naturally were not as favoured as full-sisters by Valide sultan,but with padisah had more options, they could have been supportive, religious, charitable and obedient another way was sending beautiful, well-educated concubines,who could have become Haseki(after 1533), that is when their good relationship begun,most of Sultanate of women memebers were raised at their court and remained in favour after they became Valide Sultans, in that case even some of the Padisah’s expressed gratitude and gratefulness for raising their mother, (such occasion was Ahmed I’s attitude towards her aunt which I will discuss below.), they could also donate money to wars, harem managements and charitable projects, either all their own or assist Haseki sultan.

2. The second way to gain power was wealth. Money opens many doors and it was like that in the past. They could establish some business or even receive bribes.

3. They could also gain power with marriages, it was not only beneficial for their brothers,but for them as well. If their husband had a high rank, they could keep an eye on the political situation and act accordingly, they would use that influence to assist their brothers, who,In turn, would be extremely grateful for their support.

Comparison between Ottoman and European princess

Status- Status of European princesses depended on their marriage. Being princes was not guaranteed power,but only a formal status. For example, Margaret Tudor was below prince Henry in rank but when she married by proxy to Scottish king, she outranked him and demonstrated that by walking in front of him. On the other hand, another sister Mary married to Charles Brandon and was Duchess of Suffolk ever since,while Status of Imperial princess remained the same.

Opportunity- European princesses could have become Queen consort and Queen mother and veiled immense power, while imperial princesses could never become Haseki or Valide.

Marriage- Ottoman princesses were usually older when married and outranked their husbands,while European princesses were always below their husbands. Sultan could also refuse remarryin,while European princesses had no such right

Freedom-European princesses were less limited by social customs.

Consummation-Ottoman princesses had the right to refuse Consummation without a deadline, while European princesses had to Consummate marriage even if they were twelve, unless of course parents arranged it other way.

Divorce - it was right of ottoman princesses to divorce their husbands,while for European princesses it was a rare privilege.

Despite so many differences, one thing was same- they had a loveless purely political match .

Powerful ottoman princesses

Here I Rank ottoman princesses,who had considerable power and influence, sorted by date of birth.

P.S gifs are from MC and MC:K,but some characters might represent different historical figures.

Fatma sultan

Fatma may have been the second child of Ayşe Hafsa and Selim I . She was born in Trabzon around 1492 and spent her childhood there. When her younger brother Süleyman received his own princely province in 1509, she probably accomponied him to Caffa with their mother.

She was married in 1516 for the first time,but it soon ended in divorce and Fatma returned to Manisa. She gained considerable influence as she was most likely the sister,who was recorded to be in Manisa, helping mother manage harem and protect Suleyman from their father. If legends are true and Selim was indeed trying to kill Suleyman,that she had hands in saving him. Most likely, Fatma and her mother were instructing young sukeyman,how not to deserve the wrath of father and covering his mistakes. After Suleyman ascended the throne, she was married again to Kara Ahmed pasha in 1522. Marriage lasted long,but did not produce any child, so either fatma was infertile (Kara Ahmed pasha had two daughters that are disputed to be fatmas,but they were likely from previous marriage) or the match was not happy and Fatma refused sexual intercourse, however considering her reaction to his death, it was most likely the former.

According to what we have Fatma seems to be quite free spirited as depicted in the series. She was wealthy, cunning and might have been fond of parties. She had hands in financing some of her brother’s campaigns and even won the favour of janissrries. However, in 1555 Kara Ahmed pasha was executed by the efforts of Mihrimah and Hurrem and Fatma was married to eunuch and banished from the capital for hed intrigues against them She died either in 1557 or 1573.

Sah huban sultan

Daughter of Selim I and unknown concubine, born in 1500. As she has no full brothers, she was very close to Suleyman and their father, with whom she spent most of her childhood. Considering Suleyman’s great respect for her, Sah was likely a supporter of him and helped to deal with Selim I.

She was married in 1523 to well-educated and intelligent Lutfi pasha with whom she shared religious thoughts and beliefs. Marriage, however did not seem to be successful the couple only had one daughter and Sah refused to have a sexual relationship ever since. She was very pious, intelligent,outspoken and fierce in nature. In the only description of her daughter Esmahan Burnaz, it is said that she was arrogant and demanding and it was Shah’s domineering attitude in the family that was blamed for it, as by this “she had ruined the role of woman” in the child’s mind. However,that was recorded by the European ambassador only, who had never met any of them and probably heard some rumors or made it up after an ugly end of their marriage.

In 1541, Lutfi pasha punished a prostitute for adultery by mutilating her genitals.Şah could not tolerate the humiliation and mutilation of a woman without a word, which is why she got into an argument with her husband, who hit her . Şah had Lutfi pasha beaten up and immediately asked his brother to allow the divorce. Süleyman then exiled him. Şah remained with her brother in Istanbul for the rest of her life and supported the wife of Süleyman, Hürrem, in carrying out her construction projects. She lived a modest life in the Old Palace and devoted all her time to charity and religion. Shah had excellent relationship with Hurrem and Mihrimah and in my opinion, close bond between aunt and niece helped young sultan to shape her mind and characteristics. She died in 1572 and was buried in her father’s complex.

Mihrimah Sultan(1522-1576)

Her life is very much known. She was the most powerful imperial princess in the empire, so I will just list some of her achievements:

1. Her stipend was 600 akches a day during the reign of three different Sultans. it was three times as much as regular pirncess

2. She had correspondence with Catherine de Medici and other foreigner diplomats, who would often send her gifts to help them in some political affairs.

3. She financed some of Suleyman’s campaigns all her own

4. She built a whole fleet of 400 ships.

5. She had three palaces and two mosques

6. She served as sole de facto Valide from 1558 to 1566 and shared it with Nurbanu from 1566 to 1574.

7. After the death of Bayazid Mihrimah banned everyone from laughing and sent back clothes to Suleyman and Selim who were secretly planning a grandiose wedding, that was cancelled by Mihrimah and instead a very plain ceremony was held.

Humasah 1543-c.1582 or later

She was a posthanous daughter of Shehzade Mehmed and despite being only a daughter of prince, she was given the same privileges,but greater power, as any other sultans. She was one of two favourite grandchildren of Hurrem and Suleyman. She married three times,but the source of her power was a good relationship with Sultans. She was the one who raised Safiye and gifted her to Murad, so her power reached it’s peak during his reign.

She financed many construction projects,but was buried in a mosque that was built by Hurrem and Suleyman for her father.

Ayse Humasah 1543-1594.

Daughter of Mihrimah sultan and Rustem pasha, she was practically the same as her cousin with whom she shared many things started from date of birth and ended with their name. Ayse Humasah was the only woman born to an ottoman princess,who was herself addressed as sultan and her children were considered members of the dynasty. She was married two times and her influence was extremely great during the reign of three Sultans. Her power reached it’s peak, when her husband was appointed a grand Vizier and she had hands in very major political decision.

Gevherhan Sultan. 1544-after 1526.

Eldest child of Nurbanu and Selim. She was married to Piyale Pasha, an admiral who died in 1578 and she was remarried in 1579. She was one who raised Handan and gifted it to the prince, for which not only Handan was grateful, but her son Ahmed as well, who after his accession gifted very expensive furs to Handan, Gevherhan and Safiye. The second gifts were given to Handan and Gevherhan only,which indicates that unlike Safiye,she never fell from his favour. Peak of her power was from 1598 during her husband’s grand vazirate. She did a lot of charity in her life.

Ismahan sultan 1545-1585

Daughter of Selim and Nurbanu,she was married to Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and Through her husband and her own rank, Esmehan was the most influential sultana of the empire for years. In wealth, only her aunt, Mihrimah, could overtake her, but in influence, almost no one could. She constructed several projects and had foreign diplomatic affairs, most notable her correspondence with Catherine de Medici. She had a very artistic and dramatic personality, often throwing parties and shows. She was recorded to be very much alike Hurrem,both of them were short, not conventionally beautiful,but very intelligent. She was heavily involving herself in politics with her mother.

Burnaz Atike Sultan

Sultan Atike was born in 1614 or 1615 and although some sources consider her to be the daughter of Kösem, she was certainly not her child. That can be supported by the fact that she supported Turhan’s rebellion and had a good relationship even after kosem was killed. She was one who raised Turhan and remained in friendly terms for both Turhan’s gratitude and their shared politican views. Atike was noted to love children very much,but had none on her own, so she was involved in raising her nephew,who regarded her as second mother and listened to every of her advice.

She died around 1570.

I hope you liked it, I think it’s unfair to only talk about Mihrimah,while there were so many powerful and intelligent Princesses. I did not talk about Esma sultan as she was in later centuries and I am not fond of her times.

Which ottoman princesses are you favourites?

If i accedentaly missed something out you can ask it in comments

Portrait of Şehzade Mustafa/Musztafa herceg portréja

Prince Mustafa is a prime example of the struggle for the Ottoman throne. His life and death show well that a sultan could not only be the father of his children but he saw his sons as a constant source of danger for his authority. The case of Mustafa is also a good indication of to where excessive popularity is leading. His death to this day is one of the most controversial events in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Was he a traitor or just a victim of the circumstances?

It’s not easy to write about Mustafa. Maybe I managed to write this portrait the slowest and hardest, because even if I find him innocent or rebellious, what happened to him is tragic. And writing about Mustafa’s life, one cannot go without saying a word about Mahidevran’s suffering. While I was writing this post, my heart didn’t really hurt for Mustafa, but for Mahidevran…

Origin and upbringing

Prince Mustafa was born as the second son of Suleiman in 1515 in Manisa, his father’s princely province. His mother was one of Suleiman’s concubines, Mahidevran Hatun. At the time of his birth, he had at least one older brother, Mahmud, and perhaps at the same time as his birth, his half-sister, Raziye, was born also. His childhood in Manisa was certainly happy. His paternal grandmother, Ayşe Hafsa, paid attention to the smallest detail to give her grandchildren the best education. He also had the opportunity to see his father on a daytime basis, so they had a quite calm and nice life in Manisa.

This calmness was interrupted in the fall of 1520, by Sultan Selim I’s death. Suleiman immediately went to the capital with his entourage to ascend the throne. With the departure of Suleiman, Ayşe Hafsa Sultan prepared the entire court and harem for their journey to Istanbul. The kids must have been curiously excited about the upheaval around them, the packaging, the bustling harem. Ayşe Hafsa had already left Manisa before the harem to be with her son as soon as possible. Prince Mustafa, with his brothers, sister and other members of the harem, probably reached Istanbul in early 1521 and moved into the Old Palace. Ayşe Hafsa has so far prepared the children’s apartements so they can arrive into a relatively peaceful place.

Mustafa shared his apartement with his mother. His father also tried to visit his harem as often as possible, but they could no longer see each other on a daily basis. This must have been a difficult and strange situation for little Mustafa and his siblings. They arrived into a whole new world, with hundreds of women and servants living in the Old Palace’s harem, while the Manisa harem - the only home they knew until then - consisted of barely a few dozen people. The many new faces, the hustle and bustle, could have been exciting and scary for the kids at the same time.

Around their arrival one of Suleiman’s new concubines, Hürrem, was already pregnant, but this probably did not particularly interest Mustafa, as Suleiman always had other women, never living in a romantic relationship with Mustafa’s mother. However, the period after the birth of Hürrem’s son certainly affected Mustafa and his mother deeply. In October 1521, the plague broke into the palace and Mustafa’s brothers and sister died as the victims of plague, except the newborn Mehmed. Mustafa lost his brothers overnight, he had to experience death up close. He could not yet comprehend that, with the death of his brothers, his chances of ascending to the throne had greatly increased. As a newborn, Mehmed was not really a full-fledged heir yet, as infant mortality was high, so Mustafa and his mother could feel privileged for a while. Soon, however, that changed.

Seguir leyendo

Mahidevran character analysis (continuation)

I wanna talk more about Mahi’s clearness and lack of snakey-attitude. Mahidevran is not a moral person, no one under the is palace, but she doesn’t wear a fake mask. She supports shit proudly, how is that a good trait? Well no it is not a good trait it is realism…..something we don’t see with the show characters. I know what I’ll say might be controversial but imo she is a good mother for the most part. I know it was horrible of her to try to make young mustafa hate Hurrem sons but we shouldn’t undermine her motherhood to those moments. I refuse to hold a woman accountable for not being able to hold her feelings in her own room cause at the end she never went crying to Mustafa, it just happened that Mustafa entered her room and saw her crying. When she goes to Manisa with Mustafa everything changes. She is calmer and wiser. She does her job perfectly as a mother, she keeps Mustafa safe and leads him

I loved that she never used Mihrimah and Taslicali love to provoke Hurrem. Ik part of this is because she needs Taslicali and that would be literally exposing him, but for some reason when she returns to the capital at Ibrahim’s death I thought she’d make Hurrem know that she knows about Mihrimah love story? Not necessarily threat to expose her but to simply provoke her. This in my opinion shows a progress in Mahi , she is no more impulsive. While in SO3 she does some impulsive unnecessary acts like telling broken Hatice about Hurrem doing festivals in the harem

In SO4 we see a different Mahi. Mahidevran is a valide-in-waiting in Amasya. She calculates her moves (or Mustafa’s moves) , she doesn’t want him to defy his father in any way, but we see a new side of her which is accepting something that is out of traditions….she accepts Mihrunisa and Mustafa’s marriage. Yeah at first she didn’t want it but seeing how this marriage will benefit Mustafa and make him happy she accepts it. Her reaction to mustafa’s death is heartbreaking she didn’t just lose her Sehzade , her hope to get her out of long misery….she lost her solace , her heart , her son. Forget the throne and the Valide title , she only had him and now she is alone.

AND no this isn’t a pay back because of what she did to Mehmed. Hurrem and Rustam were scheming against Mustafa even when Mehmed was alive, SS was doubting Mustafa and was paranoid before mehmed’sdeath (he never actually suspected Mahi). Mustafa’s execution and scheme was bound to happen with or without Mehmed’s death.

When Mahi let’s go her granddaughter, she didn’t do it fearing SS. She did it because she knows she can’t give Nergissah a life , she doesn’t want Nergis or even Fidan to end like her, she hopes those who served her and loved her to just have a peaceful life. When Hurrem visits her and tells her she is going to die, Mahi is shocked or more confused. Her biggest enemy is ill wouldn’t that make her happy? No cause at the end Mahi wanted to be happy with Mustafa than anything else. She forgives Hurrem because she came to realization that both of them are sinners who had the same gaol but only one is bound to reach it. Mahi just leaves everything to god , not only because she can’t actively do anything because even if she had the power to hurt Hurrem after Mustafa’s death she still wouldn’t do it. For her everything is useless when Mustafa is dead, she will just let guilt eat Hurrem up that’s enough.

Mahi as a character writing-wise and show-wise deserved better. I didn’t sympathize with her so much before but in SO4 I was shattered, I wanted to break through the screen and give her a hug.

cute

Some Melshian on Hoth. Narkina 5 left his joints in a mess so the cold does not agree with him. But he’s committed to the cause!!!

hermoso (insertar lágrimas)

“I….Am…..Dume.”

secuestro

I think my favorite discrepancy between the Rogue One promo material and the actual film is that the promos make it look like this was a very carefully put together team and in reality it’s a bunch of people that Cassian Andor more or less kidnapped.

tan cierto

im so sexy and fun and fucking doomed

genial

It’s very funny to read extended lore Star Wars, canon or Legends’, because Leia and Darth Vader are both very similar, at least to deal with.

It’s like, Leia’s plans and Vader’s plans are so similar! “Okay, step one: we draw all of the fire to me. Step two: attack from the sides. Optional step three, if step two doesn’t work: jump on in again.”

The biggest difference is that Leia does not actually want to kill anybody who’s unarmed, like civilians and prisoners, while Vader has already killed the civilians and prisoners while everyone else was thinking about if they should or not. But even in that way, they are similar, if only because both of them are fucking insane and stubborn as fuck. Leia is like “If I die, I will die not killing someone, sucker. Just try to stop me.” Vader is like “On the off chance I die, I will die killing someone. Can’t believe you thought you could stop me.”

My favourite part of Star Wars is posthumously making Leia and Vader act similar. They are both stonecold and accept no criticism and it is very funny that Leia is the Anakin of the group.

Luke, over there in the corner, is the Obi-Wan of the group. He is painfully optimistic, annoyingly optimistic, he the type of person to land a crashed ship and say “another happy landing.” I don’t know how to explain this any better, Obi-Wan and Luke are twinsies, okay, in being optimistic despite the fact that there is a dagger to their throat.

Han is the Padme of the group. No explanation necessary.

I know knee-jerk reaction is to tell me I’m seeing what I want to be there, but on the other hand! Luke and Leia, especially in later comics, are portrayed very often cloaked in darkness. As in, their faces are shadowed and they don’t often step into the light, which is a clear indication that the writers are going “look! Look these are Vader’s kids! Vader’s kids! Look!” which I approve of tenfold and think we should do in all modern media-

Leia specifically though let’s her anger get the best of her rather often actually. Is the best plan really to try and take the guy (who decided to storm a heavily guarded prison and kill all of the prisoners) hostage? No! No that is not the best plan! But, he specifically says he wants Leia to kill him and that the war against the Empire will be lost if Leia had any humanity and Leia takes that as a challenge! at this point, she lets him live out of spite!

The only thing that distracts Leia from her anger is her friends being in trouble. She’s lucky she’s hanging around Luke Skywalker, honestly, or her anger would’ve taken hold of her ten chapters ago and never let her go. If Luke was a bit less of a damsel, Leia would never be distracted, it’s a symbiotic relationship-

Leia is supposed to be like Anakin. By which, I of course mean that Anakin is supposed to be like Leia. And I think they didn’t really have a choice, when it came to characterizing Anakin, but to make him more like Leia.

If they made Anakin act like Luke, Anakin would not have fallen to the Dark Side. This is for one primary reason: Luke slips and slides his way all across the galaxy except for the place where the fighting is actually actively taking place. If Anakin was like Luke, he would’ve gotten lost fifty times during the Clone Wars, inadvertently freed a LOT of people, and been late to all the events he had to witness in order to break.

He would have been late to Mustafar, okay? Obi-Wan and Padme would’ve been standing there for hours, waiting for him to show up. Then, Padme would get fed up and comm him like “Where are you, Ani? I’ve been on Mustafar-“ and he’d be like “Mustafar? Why are you on Mustafar? I’m over in Corellia. Crazy story! Palpatine told me to go murder some younglings, so I tried to do that, but I got distracted when I noticed some ducks that needed help crossing the street. But then, this big Rodian showed up and- well, long story short, the Jedi temple was empty when I got there, but I figured I should probably try and keep this gold pendant out of anyone’s hands-“ “What?” “-so after I spoke to you, I started getting ready to go to Mustafar, you know, to throw it into the lava, but my accelerator exploded and I tailspun my way out until I happened across a pirate ship-“

And it would just continue like that! Luke’s luck is either horrendous or tremendous, no matter how you look at it! That, or the Force is trying to cover his eyes because it doesn’t want its BABY to see anything BAD.

Anakin couldn’t be like Luke. The only choice was to make him more like Leia. More hot-tempered and more the type of person to walk into a firefight with little to no backup. Therefore, Anakin was made like Leia, and Leia, in return, in extraneous fiction, is made more like Anakin and I enjoy it a lot.

Also, my favourite part of the comic so far is: “How are we going to escape [the ship that we are currently destroying and that is floating in lava, Vader]?”

“By leaving the ship.”

Thank YOU, Anakin, your tactician’s brain never rests.

hermoso. hermoso

At Night when Everyone is Asleep

Warnings: Idk there is not much I guess. Maybe short mention of death? Maybe angst and fluff? Is that a warning? I really have no clue. I'm really sorry. 😅

Words: 1.242

It was already late and Plo Koon made himself comfortable in his bed. It was a long day again, a lot of paperwork, many meetings.

Plo was tired and couldn't wait to go to sleep, when he lay down in his bed that was way to big for him. But he loved having lots of space. Usually he was in tight spaces like the cockpit of his starfighter. So it was a nice change to be able to spread out a bit. Finally in bed it didn't took Plo long to fall asleep.

And he didn't know....

Comet was the first one to to crawl beside him. He was the youngest of his brothers. He was the one who had no problem showing his affaction. He was the one having no problem calling Plo "buir". He was even the first one calling him that and starting all of this.

Second was Boost. The second youngest and the most mischievous of the four brothers. He was always up to something, He loved to wrestle with his brothers and he always called Plo "general buir". He thought it was funny. Plo was his general after all but also his buir. So general buir it was.

Sinker was the third one to come into Plo's room. He was the second oldest and one of the more mature. He was the one always trying to keep his two younger brothers in line, to keep them out of trouble. He also called Plo buir but mostly when they were alone or just with his brothers. He was a soldier and Plo his general. It was important to maintain the image otherwise they might not be taken seriously anymore and that could cause problems. Problems none of them wanted or could risk. Their job was already hard and dangerous enough.

The last one was Wolffe. The oldest of the pack. The commander. The one with the most difficult job of all of his brothers. He always had to stay strong and focused, was not allowed to show any weakness, no fear or any emotions. He had the lives of all his men in his hands, his brothers, his general, his buir. Just one mistake, one wrong decision could be fatal and lead to the death of his family. He was under constant stress under constant fear of failure. He was the only one not to call Plo buir. Not because he didn't saw him as his father but because he was to scared. To scared to show his feelings. To scared to become soft. To sacred to appear weak. To scared to show the world who was important to him otherwise it could be taken away from him. He was a soldier, he wasn't supposed to be scared.

But he was.

Wolffe was the only one not to go to Plo's room. He was the only one to stay in his own bed, tossing and turning in his sheets. Not able to fall asleep. All his thoughts were spinning, revolved around his brothers, around his general, around every single man they lost, around every single brother they were yet to lose.

Wolffe was the only one of his brothers fighting alone through his nightmare. He was the only one who always lied that he was fine.

"What are you waiting for?" suddenly a voice sounded in his head. Wolffe widened his eyes and he looked around his room. No one there, he was alone. All alone.

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. His desire deep in his chest to be more like his brothers. To be able to show his emotion like they did, to show his affection like they did. All of them looked up to him and didn't even try to hide it, showed their love for their buir without being ashamed. They didn't even try to hide their feelings for eachother, for their buir, for their older brother, who was so terrible broken.

"Kriff"

whispered Wolffe running a finger over the scar on his eye. It was already so long ago, the wound had long since healed but sometimes it still hurt.

"Kriff"

cursed Wolffe again holding back his tears. He hated the war, he hated this feeling that burned deep inside his chest. The feeling of loss and loneliness. The feeling of fear and hopelessness. He hated to fight, to fight in this war, to fight his emotions and he hated his life.

"Kriff"

he almost screamed, muffling his voice with his hand to not wake up anyone or to draw attention to himself.

"Kriff"

sobbed Wolffe quietly as he raised up from his bed and slowly trotted into Plo's room.

He had given up. This time he let his emotions win. He was a grown man feeling like a little child seeking the love and protection of his buir. He felt embarrassed. He was sure his brothers would laugh at him if they found out about this. Sure they showed their affection for Plo all the time. But they would never come crawling so pathetically into his room to sleep on his floor because they didn't wanted to be alone in their rooms. They would stay in their room and get through it like real men, like real soldiers.

Wolffe slowly opened the door and was taken by suprise.

All his brothers had made it themself comfortable beside Plo, sleeping peacefully with a smile on their faces. He couldn't see it because of Plo's mask but Wolffe was sure he was smiling under it too. Then Wolffe looked confused.

Mask?

Why was he still wearing his mask? And why could his brothers breath in here? Why could he breath in here?

Plo had a mechanism in his room to regulate the air so that he could at least take off his mask in his room. Wolffe had forgotten that himself when he made his way to Plo's room.

Wolffe noticed how he was getting too tired to think about it and made his way to lay down beside his brothers and his buir. At first he just wanted to lie down on the floor so it would be less embarrassing but now he didn't cared. Wolffe lay down right between Plo and Sinker.

"Good night brothers" Wolffe said before holding his breath while thinking about his next words.

"Good night.... buir" he finally let out, drifting slowly into a deep slumber surrounded by the people he loved the most. Surrounded by the people who loved him the most.

Maybe being a man didn't ment to be strong all the time. Maybe being a man ment to be weak sometimes and to seek for help if needed.

Maybe it ment to just let go and do what your heart tells you.

The next morning dawned and Plo was still between the pile of his pack. He didn't moved, didn't said a single word. He just lay there and listened to the peaceful breathing of his sons.

And he didn't know.

He didn't know his sons would come into his room again, sleeping beside him like they did every night since Comet called him buir the first time.

He didn't know that this time his oldest son would finally join them and stop his suffering alone in his room.

He didn't know he would hear Wolffe finally call him buir for the very first time.

He didn't know.....

Or maybe he did?

Okay this turned out to be way longer then I wanted it to be. This was supposed to be a story that only has a few sentences.... not more then 10.... Anyway thank you for reading and please let me know, if there's anything that I should put into "Warnings".

tan cierto

ALL FOUND FAMILY MOVIES HAVE... [insp]

credit to @fulcrumstardust for the sorting

es cierto. hay que amarlo y abrazarlo y encontrarle pareja. Como Cassian

bodhi rook was an anxiety disorder icon for being so clearly viscerally terrified at all times. like just constantly worried and wide eyed. but doing shit anyways. absolute king may we all have the strength of bodhi rook.

yeah

im still not doing my work so have another wip :’)

thinking about an AU where Tyvokka survived and Would Rather Not when dealing with Qui Gon

Tyvokka was old. His bones creaked, and his joints ached, and the blaster scars hidden under his fur burned some times, and he would be the first to admit that he was an old man— well, Wookiee.

If it weren’t for the fact that he happened to enjoy sniping at his Crèchemate still, and that he would never hear the end of it if he retired before Yaddle, he probably would’ve resigned from his from his spot on the Council. He had, of course, offered his spot to Plo during the Stark Hyperspace War— and he was very proud of Plo for how he had handled himself there— but Plo had turned him down.

Though in the end, Plo had joined the Council, taking his dear friend’s place once he passed. Micah had been a good man, and the loss had been felt across their old bond.

And so he and Plo sat through the changing of Councils together, and Tyvokka was still old.

He was old and he welcomed Mace Windu as head of the Order, he welcomed the changing of the seats, and welcomed the new and bid farewell to the old that came and went.

Tyvokka was old, but he wasn’t stupid as he leaned back in his seat, eyes narrowed and fur graying, with Yaddle and Oppo on either side of him. His former padawan’s gaze slid from the upstart youth Qui-Gon Jinn to him and he felt the Kel Dor’s same sense of ire.

Plo Koon had settled down for the most part— externally, that was. He was still the same brat Fey Koon had brought into the Order deep down, a cheeky little bastard and Tyvokka said that in the most affectionate way as possible. But externally he had become a calm and sagely figure, who had the habit of adopting anything that breathed in his general direction.

That wasn’t something Tyvokka taught him, but he digresses, simply returning the push of ire with his own and a slight spark of amusement was felt from Yaddle and Oppo.

Because of course they’d feel it too.

Qui-Gon had found a child on Tatooine, a former Slave, and won him in a bet.

And now he was denouncing Obi-Wan as his padawan, in hopes that the Council would approve of him training the child as a padawan right from the get-go. Without imitate training.

«No. As a senior member of the Council, I say no to all of this.» Tyvokka growled once Jinn finished speaking.

Jinn’s brows furrowed, but the elder members of the council nodded as Mace tilted his head. The younger Jedi Master knew enough of the language, but still, it took time to translate.

«Obi-Wan Kenobi still has many years before the Trials, and this child has just been taken from his home,» he continued, eyes narrowing at Jinn. «Furthermore, even if Padawan Kenobi was ready to take the Knight Trials, I would not recommend Jinn to train this little one either.»

“Against Master Jinn, you are,” Yoda mused and Tyvokka inclined his head. “Why?”

Tyvokka bared his teeth. «If you have forgotten, my old friend, I happen to be against child abandonment. As are many others within the Council. By coming before us with his request, he is choosing to abandon Padawan Kenobi.»

“If I were not training two Padawans at the moment, I would take him myself,” Plo Koon mused, “Though perhaps if Master Jinn is so convinced that Padawan Kenobi is ready for the Knight Trials, my own Padawans are as well. Master Windu, how fares Master Saa’s padawan? Is Padawan Kolar ready for the trials?”

Plo was still a little bastard and Tyvokka loved his lineage-son for it. He knew as well as anyone else that the age gap between Obi-Wan and Bultar was a few years and that none of the three Padawans he had made note of were ready to become Knights yet. His point was made though, and Tyvokka could already see some of the other Masters’ gazes darkening. 

Tyvokka has taken Even Piel’s spot on the council. I was gonna give him Coleman’s spot but Coleman was Yarael’s sucessor and well. he’s not dead yet. Ki-Adi will take Oppo’s spot after TPM if i continue since Ki-Adi, according to the EU took Miach’s spot but Plo replaced Miach’s spot here and— well, you get the point