Are you trapped on tumblr right now?

Is there something you planned to do before you got trapped in the endless tumblr scroll?

Are you yelling at yourself to get up and do the thing, but you can’t, because you’re trapped in the endless tumblr scroll?

Consider this your save point.

Put tumblr down, stand up, stretch, and go do the thing you planned to do. Future you will be incredibly grateful.

Do you ever talk to your mutuals?

not really i just post things and hope they fall in love with me

telegram is down. i'm in this agony by myself.

telegram is down. i'm in this agony by myself.

*emerges from the other room covered in blood* you should see the word document

"this too shall pass" well can it fucking get on with it

Thinking about James and the Collar again

I do agree with people that it doesnt work exactly the way James and Will thought it did, however I do think it would be very anticlimactic if it just. didn't actually do a lot, negatively, after James has spent two entire books being terrified of it. Narratively, the Collar has to be important and it clearly has changed James; even if hes not the mindless toy that he assumed he might be.

But ive also been thinking about - if indeed peoples theories about Anharion siding with Sarcean before the Collar was put on him are correct - why the Collar would exist at all. And it makes me think of what Sarcean was accused of.

Sarcean was accused of ensorcelling the Sun King; or attempting to. But even if Sarcean wasn't at the height of his power yet - he wouldn't have failed. His two powers, according to Kettering, are control and death, so yeah of course accusing him of controlling the King makes sense but what doesn't make sense to me is that Sarcean would have attempted it and failed. Now clearly Sarcean had been intending on getting caught at some point, because he needed to get into the oubliette, but he did seem bemused that it was happening when it was so he wasn't actively planning all the details of it - he knew he was being trapped and went willingly, but he didn't actually put this into motion directly. If Sarcean wanted to control the Sun King, then the Sun King would be controlled. I think the accusation was false.

I also think, that very often in political issues, false accusations are oftentimes a redirect. The accuser is often guilty of the crimes they claim others have committed. I wonder, then, if the Sun King had Anharion under some form of control and the Collar was made to negate that.

There's a lot of talk regarding consent around Will and Sarcean's abilities. Will and Sinclair are only able to control those who have been branded and the interesting thing is that all those Sinclair had branded had been willing. They'd not understood the extent of what they were agreeing to, but it didn't seem like it was forced on people. Will repeatedly thinks that he didn't force people to follow him like Sarcean did, the entire everything about James and the Collar, the Lady telling Sarcean that people wouldn't follow him if they knew him, the Returners stealing bodies. Consent and free will are very key topics.

And while I don't entirely believe this idea that Sarcean was faultless, I do think a lot of what we know about him has been skewed by the Light over time - I do think Sarcean is far more grey than believed. Sarcean doesn't seem to be able to control people without the Brand, to the point where the branding rod is the symbol of his power. If, like Sinclair's version, most of these Branded followers take it willingly, then for Sarcean to rob Anharion of his free will entirely seems off.

So yeah I am of the mind that the Sun King was playing at his own control and had some power over Anharion that Sarcean sought to break. Perhaps it couldn't be removed, but instead replaced.

Scenes that made me want to eat drywall bc of the Yearning

just a string of thoughts but james being raised as a steward to be Good and to be a Protector and to Defend and Remember and then the world throws him for a loop and for years he finds himself on the "bad side" and he's not even entirely on their side he's lying to everyone he knows in order to find the collar and prevent it from being put around his neck, fully on his own side and no one else's because no one else is on his side. in a way he's more of a betrayer than he was in his past life. betraying the light then betraying the dark then betraying the light then betraying the dark again. and then will comes and he gives him a choice, and james chooses to be good because that's all he wanted to be. but is he good? what good is he? it's too late to be a good steward. he can be a good mage? he can be a good weapon. a valuable asset. a useful Thing. he can never be a good person not good not a person. but then will says you're a protector. it's who you are. you're good and a person. and james even believes it for a few moments. and he's collared and he's an object again. and he might be bad morally but he's so loyal. so efficient. a good thing. and he betrays the light again. he makes me crazy

trying to explain why Dark Rise and Dark Heir are so good without immediately giving huge spoilers is so hard. Like yes the characters are good, the worldbuilding is cool but the last like 30 pages of Dark Rise just flipped my whole world upside down in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time. It’s such a brilliant subversion of the chosen one story. It utilizes reincarnation in such a fascinating way to tackle fate and question whether the history of every character is doomed to repeat.

Will’s inner turmoil is expanded beautifully in book 2. He is terrified of the person he might become yet simultaneously drawn to it. He is constantly plagued by power and knowledge he knows he can never share. He falls easily into ancient patterns, lying and sneaking and bending the world to protect those close to him. He tries his best to be kind. He is somewhere between monster and man and must hope he comes out as the latter.

hey remember how James was trying to get to the cliff to throw himself off before Sinclair could collar him because 6 seconds of freedom was preferable to a life under someone else's control

i just finished dark heir and i am indescribably unwell if anyone has read this please tell me you’re also losing your mind and scream with me !!!!!!!!!

instead of finishing reading the book i spent the day drawing the sarcean and anharion hair touching in the garden scene which made me feel completely normal obviously

ok but the parallel of Violet fighting the shadow king in the end of dark rise and believing in herself because Will believed in her vs James in the end of dark heir using every bit of his power to keep the gate open and again reminding himself that Will had faith in him someone please tell Will how much he inspires those around him pacat please end his suffering