Saw this post

And then my goblin brain happened and I turned it into this

So I just found out the other day that the Backlist + Chill podcast is ending after their next season so now I’m coming out of my unintentional hiatus for a hot second to give them their flowers! I chickened out on the Maeve’ra season and haven’t had a chance to listen to any of the most recent episodes but this was one of my favorite podcasts of all time and I’m going to miss it so much 😭. I think I started listening right at the beginning of their run because they were the only YA nostalgia book podcasts that even mentioned Den of Shadows. Every time a new episode dropped, I would literally plan my whole week around it. It was always really fun to rediscover (and sometimes be disappointed by) my old faves but most times, I didn’t even care about whatever books they were reviewing (I haven't read most of them), I’d just listen along because the reviews and banter are hilarious and their cohost chemistry is the best and they have a fun theme song. Their twitter account is also pretty great because I’m a Cliff Nielsen enthusiast and I love it when they post old book covers.

Also, idk if the dates actually line up, but I’m pretty sure they inspired me to get back into the Den of Shadows and start this project and blog in the first place (which I’m pretty sure ended up indirectly manifesting Dare Seize the Fire and ahar’s Patreon). So thank you, Backlist + Chill! (@seedsofwinter (idk if Cyna has a tumblr too, but please share this with her as well!))

-I'll take it from here.

-I never knew you were a hugger.

spring cleaning

That moment when a fanfic author titles their fic after a song you already know and love so you're just vibing that much harder to the fic in question

In an interview with Den of Geek, Harvey talks about the prosthetics work used to realize Guillermo's transformation-in-progress on WWDITS season 5:

imagine six of crows but people in ketterdam actually point out that the main gang are kids. like at a bar they are denied drinks cause they aren't eighteen, so they either threaten the barista, fake legal documents or ask matthias to buy it for them. in last case random ketterdam citizens witness a blong guy with six glasses of beer cautiously give them out to his underage friends, looking irritated and scared that they would be caught

or like imagine kaz gets arrested and stadwatch goes like "finally, after all these years, I've got the most wanted man in ketterdam!! a gang leader, a dangerous player, a murderer, you're going to hellgate for the rest of your life! huh? what do you mean a juvenile detention center?.."

@a-den-of-demons

Shadow would enter his bedroom, the night was young, and he craved something to do, yet, he could feel an angelic presence in his room, he'd light up the fire place before addressing the cause of the feeling.

"Have you nothing better to do than to make sure I am doing nothing like I've told you I've been doing?" It may sound annoyed or bitter, but really, Shadow was teasing this other person, that being Winter, whom he was having secret relations with, since a vampire and an angel being together like isn't exactly permitted.

First actual post waaaaow. Uh hi, I’m Mage. I probably won’t post often, but I translate and have a decent amount of funky interests. Here, have some as an appetizer. (I’m sorry I do not know who the OG artist for the OKAGE piece is

ygo den-o crossover is definitely an au where yugi gets 2 be the smallest rider on eart

For those of you who have enjoyed my Hawksong fic, The Ties That Bind, or who grew up loving the original and all of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' other books, big news!

There's a new book out!

Seize the Fire is a collection of questions answered, from why Rachel Weatere looks like a goddamned hawk shapeshifter to why Kaleo didn't just out and out kill Sarah Vida at the start of Shattered Mirror. All posts go free to the public after one week, so even if you can't pledge to Amelia's Patreon, come and read! The Den is back (again lol) and waiting for you in the shadows of our world!

Post-Dare Seize the Fire Headcanons

Coming in hot with some new (updated?) headcanons now that Dare Seize the Fire is finished!

SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously (but if you haven't read it already, go do it now! It's all up on Patreon for free (or will be by next week at least)!):

No one told Ather about this, so they all think she's completely in the dark and has no idea that Risika is Lila's actual child (because somehow everyone thinks she's weak and oblivious), but she figured it out on her own pretty quickly. She kept her mouth shut, though, because she didn't care enough to get into it (and figured the truth will come out eventually anyway).

Alexander takes the revelation much better than Risika does (though he's shocked and needs time to process, and he's devastated at the revelation that both his mother and his sister are vampires). This is because he's had a much easier time of things. His magic came easier; he was privy to more of the story than Risika was; while Pandora was a harsh mentor, he knew the reason for why she was treating him so harshly and he probably got regular (implicit) assurance that he was strong and powerful; only Pandora was lying by omission to him (as opposed to Risika having a bunch of people who knew her/were in proximity to her, who knew the truth and were actively keeping it from her). Still, while recognizes that his mother left them in order to protect them, he is disgusted by the fact that 1) she had an affair with a vampire in the first place (and so he blames her and her youthful indiscretions as the cause of all this), and 2) she seems to have conspired with Aubrey to ‘corrupt’ Risika. In the end, while he does acknowledge and love Lila as his mother, he cannot forgive her.

Risika takes this very badly. In the span of an hour, her entire life and worldview has been turned upside down. She's the very last person in the entire world to know the full truth of this and she feels betrayed. She resents that so many people seemed to have banded together to decide what was good for her and what information about herself she should and shouldn't be privy to, and she had no say in any of it. Even her victory feels hollow, like she had just fulfilled her role as a pawn in someone else's game. Both of them, her mother and her brother, knew that she was out there and they left her completely alone. Her brother seems to have preferred it if she had died instead of giving in to her vampire needs or defending herself against Aubrey. Her own mother allowed her to suffer at the hands of Aubrey (though Lila said that she never would've allowed it if she knew the lengths he would go to). Hell, even Jager, the one vampire that she was sort of on ok terms with, was basically lying to her face the entire time. Even the one reliable fact she had to grasp onto for all these years, that Aubrey was her enemy and that once she defeated him, she would be free, is completely subverted. I think coming out of this conversation, Risika was ready to fight Aubrey again and kill him this time, but she thought better of it and instead, impulsively decided to go after Kaleo (which, I think, ends up being the incident that Brina references in Promises to Keep).

Even though Aubrey's interest in Risika began mainly as an interest in her power (cultivating it, claiming it for himself, etc. I'm still not sure) and then turned into being about righting a wrong/keeping his word, I think that after literal centuries of looking out for her and interfering with her (I’m sure it was more than those two other times mentioned in ITFOTN) and basically getting to know her from afar, Aubrey gradually developed a strong respect for her and genuinely does care about her (full disclosure, I'm a hardcore Aubrey/Risika shipper, so I think he eventually falls in love but doesn't realize it until after she wins the fight (which is either too late or exactly appropriate depending on how you look at it)).

Though Aubrey kind of laments in Chapter 21 that he didn't run into Alexander first (since his powers were much stronger and more apparent than Risika's), the more Aubrey gets to know Risika, the more assured he is that she's the stronger of the two (both in terms of power and character) and it's a shame that so many had written her off in the beginning (the first thing Lila said to him after finding out about Risika was to ask what happened to Alexander and he wasn't privy for her reasons behind that).

And along those same lines, though he's only observed/interacted with Alexander a few times after he 'killed’ him (when he kicked Alexander out of his vampire cafe and when he (probably) was eavesdropping on Alexander's reunion with Risika), from those few times, his disdain for Alexander only grows (as is the case, I'm sure, for most people who interact with Alexander).

Kaei is the de facto mayor of New Mayhem and Silver is secretly afraid of her.

I was heavy into everything, you were heavy into innocence

You said “suggest some cats” on insta so I assume you meant to suggest them here :) I would love to see alderneedle in your art style as their an underrated but adorable paring that also had somewhat a tragic fate like bristleroot :( (definitely ain’t requesting this because of my user nope never 👎)

teen parents raising prophecy kits

Ok, again, I liked Shadow and I should probably do my bullet point thoughts on the whole book before this but

literally what are they doing with Mothwing?

After River, I thought “ooh hoo hoo! Wouldn’t it be delicious if Mothwing became leader?” but it was mostly for fun (especially since I don’t love having another old leader, especially after Mistystar, and now especially if Squirrelflight hopefully survives to be made leader). But then after Sky it looked more like they were actually going for it with the “choose an unlikely cat” thing

But now in Shadow...Mothwing is a background cat, even more background than other formerly background characters? Despite being, by about halfway through the book, the only cat in RiverClan with any actual authority that doesn’t come from Tigerstar?? And she says and does almost nothing. She barely even does any healer work, off screen apparently suggests not even going to the Moonpool meetings anymore, she doesn’t even really fight with Frostpaw - she’s just kind of terse with her, she’s right about telling Tigerstar the truth causing problems, she snarks about Jayfeather, and attends Gatherings but says very little, despite essentially speaking for RiverClan in the two previous books. Otherwise it seems like she went from an incredibly chaotic experience having everyone in the clan look to her...to somehow having a lot of free time, and very little to say, despite losing her apprentice.

And I love getting to see more interpersonal drama in RiverClan and seeing Icewing and Harelight get more character development and the reveal of Splashtail’s machinations, but it’s bizarre how much should bring to mind Mothwing for the characters but instead she fades to the back and I genuinely don’t know if this is on purpose or not.

like

a ton of this book contrasts Tigerstar’s misguided leadership and Bramblestar’s decline

multiple characters bring up Tigerstar I and directly callout Tigerheartstar for also taking over RiverClan

multiple characters also talk about Bramblestar’s legacy, in addition to Firestar apparently always being on everyone’s mind

both of these characters are put in positions where they are trying to regain their sense of power/control, and are challenged on if they are doing the right thing

the book ends with the tension of one Tigerstar descendant deciding to do the right thing and willingly give up power, while the writing on the wall is that another will soon be fighting to keep his

HOW IS THIS ALL NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME THINK OF MOTHWING, WHO HAS RECENTLY SHIRKED OFFERS OF POWER IN RIVERCLAN, AND WHO IS ALSO A CHILD OF TIGERSTAR

like it could be so good

her brother tried to take over two Clans essentially in the hope of getting one scrap more of power

but she is so dedicated to service to her Clan that she won’t risk anything that could possibly cause them harm, which she thinks includes her leadership

with so many cats constantly being like, “you’re just like tigerstar the first, taking over RiverClan, aren’t you worried about being compared to your evil kin”

why is iT NEVER MENTIONED THAT MOTHWING AND TIGERSTAR II ARE KIN ANY TIME HE’s IN RIVERCLAN?? Does she not have any #thoughts or feelings to share???

we have juicy callouts for Icewing and Harelight spending a lot of time in ShadowClan, but suddenly, mysteriously absent in this book, is anyone casting doubt on Mothwing for also spending that time there and oh yeah, also being related to both Tigerstars who have taken over RiverClan?

it would be such an amazing arc for her to lead the Clan her kin could never

to begrudgingly assume power, but then fucking kill it in a way not even Bramblestar or Tawnypelt could

like Splashtail is talking about faking a sign to appoint a malleable medicine cat

that is literally what happened to Mothwing am I not supposed to immediately think about her. why is she then barely a character in this book. why are they deliberately paralleling another Tigerkin’s attempt at taking over RiverClan

also Mothwing should be the one cat Frostpaw confidently knows did not kill Reedwhisker and was not involved in any plot. Like both Frostpaw and the reader should trust Mothwing and no one else in RiverClan at the moment lol so she should be more of an actual character goddamnit

if nothing else, shouldn’t RiverClan/Mothwing be deeply concerned now about the lack of Medicine Cat apprentices? I know they have a lot going on, but that just proves how much they need a med cat. Mothwing ain’t getting any younger (unless she gets 9 lives), there are no kits in the nursery, and Leafbare is around the corner. And also something terrible keeps happening to RiverClan leadership lol Mothwing should have a lot to say and do in the main plot, and she just doesn’t for some reason this book

bro why are fire and earth runestones so expensive

Like all the others are like 7kt but these things are like 500kt+😭

Are they rarer or something?????