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zellink · 3 months

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all the bells say

a pre-calamity zelink longfic. [chapter 1 of 28 // Act 0 of 5]

>> Read Act 0: "Genesis / Heavy" on AO3

Summary:

Rating: M Main Tags: canon compliant / angst with a happy ending / character study / romance / slow burn / all the goddamn tension. / mutual pining / self-doubt / following all the botw memories / Zelda is an unreliable narrator / Link is so hopelessly in love (until it's not) What will you do with what you've been given when the story forever tolls the same way? Link and Zelda, the Calamity, and their tale of inevitability and doom, and most of all, of love.

Notes:

Here I am, 7 years late to the party, 3 years after witnessing my boyfriend first play BOTW, with a Starbucks in hand and yet another pre-Calamity long fic that absolutely nobody asked for. But I have to do it. I have to bounce these two blonde elves in my head indefinitely and breathe life into my many, many headcanons.

All my love and thanks to my trench buddy and writing soulmate @1up-girl for all your invaluable beta'ing, brainrotting, and everything in between—I seriously owe you forever and ever. Thousands of thanks to the lovely @mustardcheesedog for your amazing energy and hype as an early reader and the daily zelink brainrot.

I also wanna to thank @milkywayes for doing the beautiful banner art for Bells; for understanding my vision and for all the conversations we've had about zelink—headcanons concocted in our DMs that I eventually adopted into this fic.

Fic title taken from the famous John Berryman poem, "Dream Song 29".

~~~ Please go to the fic page on AO3 and read the extended author's note in the beginning for warnings! ~~~

Anyway..... here's Act 0, y'all!

Act 0: Genesis / Heavy

There sat down, once, a thing on Henry's heart só heavy, if he had a hundred years & more, & weeping, sleepless, in all them time Henry could not make good. […] Ghastly, with open eyes, he attends, blind. All the bells say: too late. This is not for tears; thinking. “Dream Song 29” - John Berryman

Link is no stranger to death.

At five years old, he’s already witnessed more than his peers ever would. Growing up at a farm can do that to a kid. Cows, lambs, cuccos—all to the slaughter for sustenance, for profit. He stations himself beside Father and Mother as they butcher them to sell at the family shop. He’s also seen Father shoot countless deers and elk during their leisure hunts whenever Father is back home from Castle Town. More often than not, Father would let him borrow his old bow, and Link would contribute to their hunt, too.

But then Link’s pet fish dies one afternoon—a fat white freshwater carp with gold and black splotches he named Goldie—and he weeps and weeps in Mother’s lap. Goldie was his friend. Goldie was always there in the morning when he would wake up, and was there at night before he’d go to bed. But now Goldie is floating in the pond, its tiny mouth agape.

Mother strokes his hair. “It’s okay, Link. Goldie is with the Goddess, now.”

“Can I be with the Goddess, too?” he asks. Snot runs down his nose.

“Well, no.” Mother huffs a laugh. “Where Goldie is… we cannot go there. But what you can do is pray.”

Link withdraws his head from Mother’s lap. He wipes the tears from his face with the heel of his palms.

“Can we pray together, Mom?”

At that, something unreadable passes through Mother’s face. Her blue eyes turn steely.

“You can pray, Link,” she says, something sad about her small smile. “I won’t join. But we can arrange a funeral for Goldie, if you would like that?”

So they spend the rest of the day gathering flowers from the brambles that surround their estate until Mother’s wicker basket is full of white roses, blue nightshades, and armoranths. Mother also allows him to use the small wooden box that sits atop her vanity—a coffin perfect for Goldie. Mother says that it’s a box that used to house a necklace she bought and gave to Father long ago, but that necklace is long lost, so she has no use for it now.

Link wraps Goldie in an old rag and lays it gently inside the box. Then, they dig a hole in their backyard and bury the box and Goldie in it. He cries again, but not as hard as earlier. He clasps his hands in front of his chest, shuts his eyes, and utters his prayers aloud.

“Goddess Hylia, please welcome Goldie in your loving arms, give it many, many worms to eat, and bring it back as a strong and healthy fish in its next life.” Let its next life start tomorrow, please, Link does not say aloud.

When they make it back inside the living room, Father is already there, sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee. He asks about what they have been up to, and Link answers honestly. Father doesn’t press on, and he looks rather exhausted, so Link goes back into his bedroom and closes the door behind him.

He climbs into his bed and crawls toward the far end of the wall, looking out from the window and into the backyard. He sees it—a small grave by the shrubs, complete with a rock roughly the shape of an oval as the tombstone, with flowers surrounding the little plot of land.

He hears voices from beyond his bedroom door.

“I don’t think it is best for us to go soft on him.”

“Wha— soft? He is five and his pet just died!”

“And you helped him throw a funeral. For a fish.”

“Because he’s just a child!”

There’s a grating sound—a chair being dragged on the floor. “Well, he’s always said that he wants to become a knight. Then we must prepare him for such an occupation.”

“Being a knight does not mean he can’t feel emotions.”

“Eleana, being a knight is not easy. He will see hundreds of deaths in his lifetime. The next death he’ll witness won’t be of a fish, but of a comrade. I just want to prepare him for when he eventually becomes one.”

“Well—” a pause, “—then I hope, for Link’s sake, he never becomes one.”

Link, however, doesn’t pay much attention to his parents’ conversation. Instead, he imagines Goldie wiggling its way past the layers of cloth and wood and soil, flopping around the backyard until it finds its way to the pond again. Once everybody is asleep Goldie will rise up from its grave, he thinks. He prayed to the Goddess, after all.

But come morning, the pond is still empty, and Goldie remains lifeless in its little coffin.

And he never sheds another tear after that.

****************

Link is no stranger to death, and no stranger to funerals, either.

A year after Goldie’s humble funeral in his backyard in Hateno Village, Father must attend one of the most important funerals in the kingdom for as long as Link can remember.

(Well, six years is quite long for him, anyway.)

So here he is, holding Mother’s gloved hand, in the congregation at the Grand Chapel of Hyrule Castle. It’s a sad occasion, of course—everyone’s wearing black, all the women have their faces obscured with a veil, and he can hear sniffles from the crowd. But Link also can’t wait to tell his friends back home of his first real experience in the castle.

There are speeches, sermons, hymns, and many, many other long-drawn-out processions that he has no choice but to zone out on. But once the burial is over, Link is rather excited, because the Royal Guards (and by extension, Father) must accompany the Prince Consort to the Sanctum for an intimate reception.

The Sanctum is grand—big, luxurious, grand. Red velvet is draped everywhere—the thrones, the floor, the curtains, the banners. There’s also a lot of gold, and streaks of blue here and there. Link likes the blue the most.

When Father makes his way through the crowd to find Link and Mother, Link knows it’s time. He straightens his back, draws his chin a little bit higher, and follows Father.

“This is pretty exciting, right, Mom?” Link whispers. “Meeting the Prince!”

“The King,” Father corrects him. “He was the Prince, and now, without the Queen, he has become the King.” He sounds annoyed. “Please don’t make that mistake in front of His Majesty.”

Link clears his throat. “Sorry, Father.”

He gazes up at Mother again, but she’s quiet, and it’s hard to look past her veil.

They climb the grand marble staircase leading to the floating dais above the room, and find a large man standing in front of the throne.

Father and Mother immediately drop to their knees. Link follows suit.

“Your Majesty,” Father says, his head bowed.

“Sir William! Please, no need for this,” the King’s voice booms. Father rises, followed by Mother, and then Link. “I am very pleased to see you again, Lady Eleana. It’s been too long.” The King sounds friendly, but there’s a lot of sadness at the edge of his voice. That makes sense, Link thinks. He just lost his wife.

Then, the King sets his eyes on Link.

Link’s hands feel clammy, all of a sudden.

“And you, young boy—how you have grown! It was not that long ago when your father brought you as an infant to the Castle to celebrate my daughter’s birth,” he says. Link can only muster up a nod and a shaky smile. “Speaking of—” the King turns around to shoo something from his back. “Don’t just hide! Introduce yourself.”

From behind the King’s robe, a little girl emerges, clad in a black dress and a black surcoat. Her face, however, isn’t covered with a veil like the other women, and the first thing Link notices is how golden her hair is compared to the rest of her outfit. It’s almost blinding.

The second thing Link notices is how green her eyes are. Very green. Like grass, like trees. Like the forests that he likes to spend time in.

The girl extends a gloved hand. Palm facing down.

“I’m Princess Zelda,” she says. “Nice to meet you.”

Link takes her hand in a gentlemanly way that Father has taught him when greeting noblewomen. His thumb pad rests on her knuckles. His left hand rises to splay over his right breast. Then, he puts one foot in front of the other and bends his knees, bowing his head.

“Nice to meet you, Princess,” he says. “My name is Link.”

As he straightens up again, Link finds it hard to let go of her hand. The Princess doesn’t, either; her forest green gaze is still piercing through his eyes. It feels like vines are growing out of his wrist and twining around his hand and the Princess’.

“Hello, Link,” she says.

Oh, his heart is racing.

Father lets out a cough, and the vines vanish. Link withdraws his hand as if shocked by a jolt of electricity. The Princess lets her arm fall limp at her side once more, but her eyes are still on him. Mother grabs him by his shoulders, pulling him back to stand next to her again.

“Your Majesty, once again, Eleana, Link, and I would like to offer our deepest condolences for your loss,” Father says. “For this kingdom’s loss. The Queen is—was—a strong and wise monarch, and as a people, we shall mourn her absence forevermore.” His lips are trembling a little, Link notes. He’s never seen that on Father before.

“Thank you, Sir William,” the King says. “You were a steadfast presence in her life, truly.” At that, Mother’s grip tightens. Link tilts his head up to look at her, but is met with that layer of veil again. “Well, I must be on my way. Duty calls upon us all, after all.”

With one last bow from Father, Mother, and Link himself, the King makes his way toward the other end of the dais and descends the opposite staircase. The Princess follows, her back straight and steps never once faltering.

She doesn’t turn back to cast one last glance at his family, but Link watches and watches and watches. He’s still watching as she disappears beneath the grand archway that leads further into the castle.

On the walk back to Castle Town where Father resides, Link feels something heavy settling in his gut. Like his little inconsequential life makes sense, all of a sudden. Like being six years old doesn’t really matter because, in that moment, he feels like there are hundreds of ancient men residing within the confines of his bones. And all those men are whispering the same name over and over.

The name he heard just a half hour ago.

So he speaks up.

“Father, I think I’m ready to really train,” he says. “I really wanna be in the Royal Guard.”

Father laughs.

Mother, beneath her black veil, stays quiet.

>> Continue reading on AO3

#my fic #zelink #zelink fic #breath of the wild #botw #botw fic #tloz #the legend of zelda #ao3 fanfic #bells tag

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thesweetnessofspring · 9 months

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To laugh at her clan as she had always wanted to laugh was all the satisfaction she could get out of life now. But she thought it was rather pitiful that it should be so. Might she not pity herself a little when nobody else did?

Last chapter was amazingly cathartic for Valancy to speak her mind after 29 years of being bullied by her family. It's just line after line of gold.

But this paragraph in Chapter 12 gives a little pang about her situation. Of course that dinner was fun, but telling off her family was not in her Blue Castle. There's still pain in a life she hasn't gotten to live fully when it's so close to being over.

It shows that as wonderful as tearing down our bullies are, it's building up that really makes living worthwhile.

And of course, seeing how this all pans out is going to be marvelous.

#blue castle book club #the blue castle #l.m. montgomery

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thatcheeseycandle · 3 months

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//SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 29 OF IN PURSUIT OF SELF SINCE YKNOW REACTION POST

Preparing myself as I read this BEHHAHDHD

I LOVE HOW THE TITLE CARD IS THE SAME ONE FROM THE CROWNED ENGINE YAYDYSHDVC

Ohg osg OH NGOBOONNOO CLUNC ASLTLE GET OTU GET OTU MOVE

MS PARSONS YOU LITTLE. YOU MY GOSH YOU JUST ABANDONED CLUNC ASTLE. NY GOAHAHDDHHA

Oi OI OI OOOJOJIII BLUE OETER WOOOOOOO BLUE PETER LETS GOOOOOOO

Ngl I almost felt bad for Clun Castle on this bit HEHAHAHHAHDDHWH LIKE I KINDA RELATED TO THAT BIT WHERE YKNOW YEAH NOT BEING IMPORTANT YADAYDADYAYD THAT YEAH

OI GREEN ARROW GRENE AOREOQODID YEHAHAHAHAHDHDHHHHHH LETS GOGOO

HEHAHSHWGEGAHAHAHHDHD VERY DRAMATIC ENTRANCE AND POOR GORDON HELWPDHDHDHSHHA

YEAHAHAH EVENING STAR THEY GOT YOUR BACJ WE AINT LETTING TYDFIL DIE ON US NOW IM TELLING YOU LOT WE ARENT

Oh goah OH NO STH IS HERE *INSERT HIS THEMEAONG CAUSE IT PLAYED IN MY HEAD AS I READ HIS NAME*

Oh no.. OH GOSH CLUN CASTLE RUN. YOU GOTTA RUN FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS AND ABOVE YOU HAVE TO RUN NOW ITS FIGHT OR FLIGHT YOU MIGHT AS WELL TAKE FLIGHT SINCE THERES NO GOING BACK NO ONE AINT GONNA BE THERE DIOS

FATHER FIGURE STH HERE HES HERE EVERYONE WOOOOO YEAHAHHAHS FATHERLY TRUST LRTS GOGOGOGOODJSHF

Oh gosh OJ NO HERE WE GO WE GONNA SEE THE GDC (Gold dust constructs) BUZZ AND BRAWL WE GONNA SEE THEM GO ALL OUT

Dr Hendrick GREAT NORTHERN LOOKS CLEARLY DEAD WOULD YOU ATLEAST GIVE HIM SOME OF YOUR ATTENTION LIKE DIOS- BEHAHSHEHSHS

Ooguugughrgb Mallard poor lad:( LISTEM LISTEN THEY GOTTA FIND OUT IT WAS MS PARSONS CAUSE DIOS IM LITERALLY JUST CHEERING THEM ON TO FIND HER AND JUST GO ALL OUT

IMAGINE LIKE ROOSTER AND QUICKSILVER AND YKNOW SILVERFOX FINDING OUT LIKE COME ON OF COURSE THEY'D TEAM UP TO VERBALLY BATTLE IT OUT WITH MS PARSONS (Though I think Rooster might go physically battle it out WHO KNOWS BAHEHAHHDHSBD)

"I tried to save him. It failed. I decided to return him to his family" I WILL CRY. HERE GOES THE EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER ERVYONE THIS IS THE START STRAP ON THOSE SEATBELTS TIGHTLY

aaweeweeaaaAQEHAHDHEHEEUEUDYD GADWALL PECKING HER HAND ITS JUST OSUUDHHGGH

them THEM>>>>

YEAH NO CRAP SHERLOCK OF COURSE ITS GADWALL?? (Seriously though NEVER THOUGHT THAT HERBERT WOULDVE BEEN GADWALL THIS ENTIRE TIME LIKE BEFORE READING THIS NEW CHAPTER AS I READ THOSE CHAPTERS WITH HIM AND MALLARD IT MADE MORE SENSE THAT GADWALL WOULDVE BEEN IT)

Oh gosh OGHDOGOGOSOASAAAAAAAA

I CALLED UT IC ALLSELD ITTTTTTTTTT WELL LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND ALL GENDERS HERES PART ONE OF THE GOLD DUST CONSTRUCT REUNION LETS GO GOGOGOGOGOGOO

DARLING PEONY DIOS- Oh god SCOT SCOT LOGOFKY AWYAY LOOK AWAY. LOOK. A. WAY. LOOK AWYA DIOS

SOMEONE SGIELD THEIR EYES THEY CANT SEE NORTH DEAD AAAAAAAAAAAAA

NONONONONONONONONOO PEONY DEAR PLEASE NONONONOONO

Rooster ROOSTER ROPAAOEDT NAOAOODIFODOOO

SCOTSMAN GET YOUR HAND SOFF HIM DIOS HE DIDNT KILL MY GOSH IM NO NOONONONONOONONONONONONONOOO

Red loqiuid.. RED NNONONONONONOOOOBOOBONONONOOOOOCONONONONOMOO SCOT YOU LIYYLE NO NONONOOBOBABS DIOS JUSKO NO THIS CNANTNO NOBOONONOOOO THIS CANT.

MALLARD BANDAGE UP YOUR HEAD YOUR LITERALLY BLEEDING. PEONY GOD SOMEONE SUPPORT PEONY RN.

Oh dios well HERE COMEA COPPERNOB- GO STEPHEN YEAH GO GOOGOGOGOGO

Wait wait HWAT STEPEHENS EH HAS A WHAT NOW. WHATATTA

JAW DROPPEDBAT THIS

GET HER OSCAR GET HER SLAM HER DOWN DO IT GOGOGOGOGOGOO DO IT KNPCK HER OUT KO HER RN

. Ms parsons YOU LITTLE AAAAZS YUP IM GONNA TUROW THIS PHONE SOON /NSRS

Wait what WHAT IS OLIVIA A GDC???? WHAT WAIT WAIT HOW. SHE LITERALLY. WAIT. SHES. WAIT. OH NVM WAIT I THINK THATS JUST MS PARSONS BEING LOKO YEAH DW DW YEAH.

YEAH YEAH GO ALL OUT OSCAR GOG GOOGOGOGO LIGHT HER UP GO YEAH YEHAHAHAHH

. oscar yknow sharing is caring SO SHOW THAT VERY UH THAT VERY CRAZY WOMAN ON HOE MAD YOU ARE DONT HOLD BACK

Ay AYAYAYAYYY AY AY MR CORBYN LETS GOGOGOGOGOOGOOO YEHAHAHAHAHH

Wait. Golden warden.. OKAY YEAH I BETTER NOTE TGAT DOWN YEAH MR CORBYN IS APPARENTKY A GOLDEN WARDEN YEAH NOTED

Oh dear lord OKAY YEAH PREPARING MYSEL

Ojay uh. DO SOME 4TH ING DR HENDRICK??? DO SOMRTHING RN LIKE ANYTHING DIOS YOU GOT GOLD DUST VILES RIGHT???? USE EHM

NO NO I AM NOT NO IM NOT GONNA MAKE THIS EVEN SADDER BY REMEMBERING NORTH WAS LIKE OLIVIAS FATHER NONONONONOO

No. OKAY THIA. UNO. I WAS KINDA RIGHT ON MY THEORY OF POLLY'S GOLD DUST KINDA KINDA FADING. DOS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. MY GOA NO NO NO THIS NO. I KNOW PEONY I KNOW ITS BAD BAD.

Oh? OH??? OH THEYRE GETTING MARRIED?? THEYRE GTETTING REAL REAL MARRIED OH MY GOSH????

Ay AY AY AY AY WAIT WHAT DIOS OH GOD WHAT. HE. HES WHAT. THE TRACKS THEY. HES IN THE. MY GOSGSB

Tydfil you and me YOU AND ME TYDFIL. YOU AND ME.

Ouguguh Tydfil my gosh :(( YOU CAN TRUST THOMAS BELIEVE ME DEAR

WOOOO THIS WAS. A VERY VERY EMPTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER. NGL I GOT SURPRISED AT KING EDWARD FALLING INTO THAT BIT SO YEAH IM YEAH

Well WELL BRAVO TO REDWYVERNWRITES YET AGAIN FOR THIS FANTASTIC CHAPTER /POS

When the title said "Conflict and Revelations" IT REALLY DID MENA IT HHEHAHAHAHAHA

In all seriousness I nearly lost my words in the middle of reading it CAUSE MY BRAIN STRAIGHT UP STARTED TO LAG DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF EMOTIONS IN THIA AND HOLY WAS IT WORTH MY TIME IT REALLY WAS AMAIZNG /POS

#ttte #cheesyversial rants #ttte au #ttte young iron au #ttte in pursuit of self #YIAU: Reviews of the Readers #(<- reaction tag)#candlelit storytime

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negative-speedforce · 2 months

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OC Fandom Asks! For Kayla and Siv please

1, 3, 7, 10, 15, 19, and 29?

1: Was your OC influenced or inspired by any particular fictional character(s) when you made them?

Kayla is loosely based on the ORIGINAL-original version of Siv, the one from 14-year-old me's DC/Marvel/Percy Jackson/Star Wars crossover. I had some really cool concepts for the later chapters of that one, and I decided to recycle them into a whole new character.

Siv is quite literally the product of a dream I had when I was 13, but overall, while I mostly base my characters' stories and personalities off their playlists, her personality has been influenced by a whole lot of characters. They were influenced by Cassandra from Tangled: The Series, Natasha Romanoff, Reva from Kenobi, Adrien from Miraculous, and a whole lot of other characters from fandoms I've been into over the 7+ years I've had them.

3: What genre would your OC do badly in but it would be hilarious or interesting to watch?

Kayla would absolutely SUCK in a rom-com. First of all, she aroace-spec, second of all, she does not know how to talk to girls- at all. It would low-key be pretty funny to watch her fumble around like that.

Siv would loathe being in a Regency period drama. All those rules and restrictions for how you have to be- she wouldn't be able to stand it. She'd probably end up going apeshit and destroying the castle.

7: If your OC had to cosplay as a fictional character, who would they choose?

Kayla normally isn't the cosplaying type, but I think she'd have a lot of fun dressed up as Sam from Totally Spies.

Siv would probably dress up as some kind of creature from Star Trek. I'm not sure what, but they'd pull it off really well nonetheless.

10: How would your OC do in the last book/movie/tv show/game/etc. you read/watched/played?

Oooh I watched Birds of Prey yesterday with my Grandma (it is her favorite movie) so this will be fun-

Kayla absolutely slays. She's got that vaguely morally gray component to her character that means that she'll probably get along with most of the main cast. Though Harley's personality would probably give her a headache.

I'm actually planning an arc where Siv has to team up with Harley and the Birds of Prey for... plot reasons! I feel like she'd get along best with Dinah and Helena for obvious reasons, but ngl I'm mostly planning this arc because I have the idea of Siv snapping at Harley and telling her to shut up/stop being annoying/etc, and Harley goes all psychiatrist on her.

15: How well would your OC do in a standard slasher movie?

Kayla, being a secret agent, would fare pretty well. Her skills in recognizing patterns and taking down supervillains would be invaluable in a slasher film.

Siv, if they weren't the slasher themself, would definitely make it to the end, and probably end up slashing the slasher.

19: If your OC was in Star Trek’s Starfleet, what would be their role/position? Or, if that doesn’t really fit your OC: why would they get kicked out of Starfleet?

Kayla, being a biomedical engineer in real life, would probably be either the chief medical officer or an engineer in Starfleet.

Siv would get thrown out of Starfleet for starting too many fights and overwhelming her ship's medical supplies with all the injuries she's caused.

29: Gun to their head, what is your OC’s fursona?

I don't even know if Kayla really knows what a fursona is, but if she had to chose, I think she'd go with some kind of bird. Like maybe a blue jay or some other kind of corvid?

Siv isn't a furry, but she made up a fursona as a joke with her friends in high school. It's a lynx that wields a giant battle axe.

#ask revan #oc shit #practically-an-x-man #kayla pierce-addams #siv thawne

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discoevsky · 8 months

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The Blue Castle Chapter 1 Analysis

This is sooo late, but I didn’t have time till now!

Here are my chapter by chapter analysis/thoughts of The Blue Castle (separate post per chaper)

SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK

Chapter 1

Valency’s life is so empty that rain, the most mundane of all weathers in fiction, made an impact and brought change. Her life is so boring that her heart problems don’t scare her, but annoys her.

Valency also wakes up to dullness “Valency wakened early, in the lifeless, hopeless hour just preceding dwan”. There is no moment of happiness where her eyes are open. And her entire life, 29 years amounts to one sentence “One does not sleep well, sometimes, when one is twenty-nine on the morrow, and unmarried, in a community and connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man”.

Despite her drab existence, Montgomery still shows the tiny bit of resistance she displays. Valency hopes for romance. For her era, women desiring love and romance was frowned upon. How dare you express emotions that border carnal sins. Romance and love were expected to thrust itself upon women. But Valency desires it, and eventually seeks it.

Montgomery also shows Valency’s resistance in her failure to be in her family’s good grace. Her lack of confidence in herself is built by those who see her has a failure. But the only reason Valency sees herself as such is because she isn’t interested in being the type of person her family expects.

Let’s talk about Valency’s room. It’s described to have e a yellow painted floor and a rug with a grinning dog on it. There is red paper on the ceiling and a lambrequin with purple roses. This room looks to be an aged child’s room. Valency, despite being almost 30, is stuck in a child’s room that both she and time have outgrown. Her room captures how her family also treats her. As a woman who is but a child because she is not married. Montgomery really highlights the importance of marriage for women during her time. It’s not that women want a happily every after, it’s that women want to be able to grow up and make decisions (as best they could for their society). Her room is also surrounded by family pictures. She cannot escape them, for they are physically there in photo frame context. They suffocate her even in the one place she runs to escape them. They even attempt to invade her physically space like a parent sharing the bed of a young sick child or spanking a child.

I love this line “Valency never persisted”. It’s a clever play on words for to persist can also mean to go on, to endure, dare I say, to exists despite all. Another play on words is with “She did not want anyone to know about her heart”. There is the physical heart with it’s anomalies and then, there her metaphorical heart with its blue castle and desires.

Valency’s family is also presented as no less interesting then her. So boring and drab, that their names and personalities blend into one another. Can you tell me you know each Stirling and their quirks by heart?

There is a line in chapter 1 that reveals the sharp contrast between Valency and Barney. Montgomery mentions Valency “had been poor all her life and knew the falling bitterness of it. So she endured [Uncle Benjamin’s] riddles and even smiled tortured little smiles over him”. Poverty plays a huge role why Valency’s mother insists on Valency catering to her relatives. Since her father is dead, Valency has no man in her life to provide any security, and so she cannot really be herself because she’s dependent on an inheritance. This is a sharp contrast to Barney who is open about being socially outcasted. Montgomery kind of hints in the first chapter that characters with bad characters, have little to loose. It also explains why Valency and Barney are different yet similar in kind. Barney probably would have been like Valency if he was poor. Another example is with Dr. Trent. Valency thinks of going to Dr. Trent. A doctor is someone well off, compared to Valency, and again, Montgomery shows us the ability to be impertinent and its relation to power and wealth. Dr. Trent told Cousin Glady’s that her neuritis was made up

Valency compares disloyalty to her clan as the devil, yet the irony is that her clan pushed her to the devil.

#the blue castle #valency stirling #lucy maud montgomery #the blue castle book club #blue castle spoilers

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periwinckles · 10 months

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The blue castle book club - chapter 1

So, I’m doing this twitter style.

“Mosquito-like questions” is awesome and I’ll use it randomly from this day forward;

I’m glad I never read this book while I was 29 and single;

I never heard the name Valancy, so now I’m off to behind the name, because no sane author would use such a rare name without it meaning something. (Meaning: strength; vigour)

Ah, so the blue Castle is in Spain! That’s why the name Valancy! (Valencia=city in Spain)

this girl has such a serious case of maladaptive daydreaming its not even funny;

how come we know exactly how both her houses look like but still we know nothing about her appearance? Is she plain? Is she ugly? She’s clearly funny, how come she never had any suitors?

Great first chapter. Love her writing (as I knew I would) and I’m left wondering how in the world haven’t I read this before!

(Is there a movie adaptation for this? Because I’m totally doing a fancast.)

#the blue castle #l. m. montgomery #valancy stirling #the blue castle book club

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kingedmundsroyalmurder · 9 months

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Blue Castle chapter 24 and 25

Cissy is the daughter the Stirlings wish Valancy had been. Pretty, sweet, meek, innocent in the ways of the world, eager to please and quick to forgive. Someone who would do as she was told and look pretty in church without outshining Olive. And, of course, Cecilia Stirling would have had no need to go out to work, and thus never would have met her child's father.

I'm struck in particular by the juxtaposition of these two passages:

From chapter 24: " And I—didn’t know—some things. I didn’t—understand. Then his father came and took him away. And—after a little—I found out—"

Back in chapter 11: " Poor Mrs. Frederick was almost in a state of collapse. She had believed—or pretended to believe—that Valancy still supposed that children were found in parsley beds."

Cissy was raised by a single father who knows perfectly well how sex works, to the point where it likely doesn't even occur to him that people aren't just born knowing where babies come from. Her other main influence was her church community, made up of people who, one assumes, do not talk about these things publicly, and certainly not to Cissy Gay. It's implied that Cissy's mother, had she lived, would have (or at least should have) taught her these things. Clearly she never learned on her own, until it was too late.

Valancy, meanwhile, knows perfectly well where babies come from, to the point where she's embarrassed to even think about wanting them. Wanting to be a mother is perfectly respectable, even laudable for a woman in Valancy's position. Wanting the process of becoming a mother is most certainly not. It's not said where Valancy learned about sex and how it works, although my vote is from Olive, who has had boyfriends and been engaged.

So meek, innocent Cissy Gay might well have been better tolerated by the Stirlings than odd, never quite fitting in properly Valancy. (Cissy would, most likely, have been utterly crushed by the Stirlings in a way that Valancy never quite was. But then again, Olive wasn't. Maybe a Cecilia Stirling who was pretty and clearly had some marital prospects because of her looks would have been treated better by the extended family, if not Mrs. Fredrick and Cousin Stickles.) And, in contrast, Valancy might well have thrived as Abel Gay's daughter. Without discounting the impact of Abel's neglect, Valancy is clearly more outspoken than Cissy, and stronger willed. She grew up in a stifling and domineering society and the second she got out she not only knew her own mind but had no fear speaking it. If she'd been left to raise herself, I think it wouldn't have taken the promise of imminent death to set that part of her free.

I have AUs in my head now. Moving on...

Other thoughts about these chapters --

I did a little bit of research into the Canadian turn of the century education system back when we learned about Olive's engagements. She graduated from college at 18, and from what I could tell, it seems like College was for students roughly 15-18ish. So if that's correct and college is the word LMM uses to mean high school age students, with University being for 18+, then Cissy's young college student would have been a teenager. Probably 18 or 19 at oldest, possibly (likely?) younger.

And Cissy went to work at the hotel "4 years previously". At 25 or 26 at time of death (since she's three years younger than Valancy, who just turned 29), she would have been ~21 at time of boyfriend. So probably older than the boy.

Given that, it's likely that the boy was probably just as surprised and horrified by the pregnancy as Cissy was. I can't even be mad at him -- he screwed up and tried to make it right by offering to marry her and Cissy turned him down. Just a bad situation all around.

Even just reading about Cissy's funeral makes me furious. No wonder Valancy hated it ad Barney refused to go.

"her slanted eyes smudged with purple" -> Another purple mention. Is LMM subtly foreshadowing that Valancy has no intention of going back to her mother's house?

#blue castle book club #blue castle chapter 24 #blue castle chapter 25

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theartofdreaming1 · 9 months

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Some random venting re: Chapter 3 of The Blue Castle

“Doss will be sure to ketch them,” she foreboded.

“Doss must not go where she is likely to catch mumps,” said Mrs. Frederick shortly.

“Doss” is sitting right there with you at the table; why are you talking about her like she isn’t here?!

“I think,” said Mrs. Frederick, “that if a person makes up her mind not to have colds she will not have colds.”

Sure... The power of wishful thinking - just make up your mind not to get Tetanus and grab that rusty nail for me, won’t you?!

“Mother,” she said timidly, “would you mind calling me Valancy after this? Doss seems so—so—I don’t like it.” [...]

“What is the matter with Doss?”

“It—seems so childish,” faltered Valancy.

“Oh!” Mrs. Frederick had been a Wansbarra and the Wansbarra smile was not an asset. “I see. Well, it should suit you then. You are childish enough in all conscience, my dear child.”

“I am twenty-nine,” said the dear child desperately.

“I wouldn’t proclaim it from the house-tops if I were you, dear,” said Mrs. Frederick. “Twenty-nine! I had been married nine years when I was twenty-nine.”

Oh my gosh, just call your daughter by her name if she prefers it, geez! Also, pick a lane - either 29 is “old” or childlike, it can’t be both!

Valancy wondered pitifully what it would be like to be wanted by some one—needed by some one. No one in the whole world needed her, or would miss anything from life if she dropped suddenly out of it. She was a disappointment to her mother. No one loved her. She had never so much as had a girl friend.

“I haven’t even a gift for friendship,” she had once admitted to herself pitifully.

My heart!😭 Poor Valancy! As soon as I figure out how to travel into the pages of a book I’m gonna grab Valancy and remove her from her awful family

Idleness was a cardinal sin in the Stirling household. When Valancy had been a child she had been made to write down every night, in a small, hated, black notebook, all the minutes she had spent in idleness that day. On Sundays her mother made her tot them up and pray over them.

Wth?! This controlling and shaming Valency for showing agency and doing what she wants to do started early, I see... It’s a shame that “being an enormous prick” is not considered a cardinal sin in this household...

“I want to get a book from the library.”

“You got a book from the library only last week.”

“No, it was four weeks.”

“Four weeks. Nonsense!”

“Really it was, Mother.”

“You are mistaken. It cannot possibly have been more than two weeks. I dislike contradiction. And I do not see what you want to get a book for, anyhow. You waste too much time reading.”

Yeah, well, and I dislike people talking out of their ass, but alas... we can’t always get what we want...

#(Seriously reading about these people makes me aggressive... they are lucky that this book isn’t a different genre #in which Valancy turns into an axe murderer...)#the blue castle #blue castle book club #also since I've gotta make every Jane Austen-ish: Valancy is giving me major Anne Elliot + Catherine Morland vibes

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akallabeth-joie · 8 months

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The Blue Castle, Chapter 44

And now a word from Olive.

Right from the opening, we learn that Olive and Cecil are still not married, and it’s apparently summer. Interesting that a full year out from the opening of the story, Olive is now the unmarried 29-year-old while Valancy has achieved the Stirlings’ highest ideal: marrying rich.

She gets -1 for being mean about Valancy finding happiness, and another -1 for criticizing Barney’s appearance to Valancy.

Olive’s tone here is really whiny and bitter. It makes me wonder whether Cecil is also like that (so she has a sympathetic audience), or whether this is foreboding that things might not work out between them. Between the tone and her aside to him about exercising, I can easily picture her future nagging--and they aren’t even married yet.

I’m not sure why, but an annoyed/jealous Olive is the perfect character to reveal that everyone in the family is now overly solicitous of Valancy.

Scoreboard Update:

Mrs. Stirling: -50

Cousin Stickles: -18

Uncle Benjamin: -15

Aunt Wellington: -11

Uncle James: -11

Olive: -9

Uncle Wellington: -4

Byron Stirling: -2

Aunt Isabel: -2

Cousin Gladys: -2

Cousin Betty: -1

Aunt Mildred: -1

Second Cousin Sarah Taylor: -1

Aunt Alberta: 0

Uncle Herbert: 0

Second Cousin Jane: 0

Cousin Georgiana: 7

#the blue castle #blue castle book club

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regnigt · 9 months

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From The Blue Castle chapters 29 and 30

But in spite of Barney's doctrine of bondage, Valancy thought they were splendidly free. It was amazing to be able to sit up half the night and look at the moon if you wanted to. To be late for meals if you wanted to -- she who had always been rebuked so sharply by her mother and so reproachfully by Cousin Stickles if she were one minute late. Dawdle over meals as long as you wanted to. Leave your crusts if you wanted to. Not come home at all for meals if you wanted to. Sit on a sun-warm rock and paddle your bare feet in the hot sand if you wanted to. Just sit and do nothing in the beautiful silence if you wanted to. In short, do any fool thing you wanted to whenever the notion took you. If that wasn't freedom, what was? (Chapter 29)

I love this section, especially the repetition of "if you wanted to" and how it all adds up to such blissful freedom. The image of Valancy paddling her foot on the sand sticks with me the most. So sensual and utterly happy.

Barney knew the woods as a book and he taught their lore and craft to Valancy. He could always find trail and haunt of the shy wood people. Valancy learned the different fairy-likenesses of the mosses—the charm and exquisiteness of woodland blossoms.

Slightly surprised not to have a mention here of John Foster's books - I know that Valancy read them for the pleasure of it, but I would have thought at least some woodland facts would still have lingered in her. (Although if not, I can very much relate to reading nonfiction for pleasure and yet not be able to recall the actual facts all that well later on!)

And Valancy learned the real flavour of the strawberry in its highest perfection. There was a certain sunlit dell on the banks of Mistawis along which white birches grew on one side and on the other still, changeless ranks of young spruces. There were long grasses at the roots of the birches, combed down by the winds and wet with morning dew late into the afternoons. Here they found berries that might have graced the banquets of Lucullus, great ambrosial sweetnesses hanging like rubies to long, rosy stalks. They lifted them by the stalk and ate them from it, uncrushed and virgin, tasting each berry by itself with all its wild fragrance ensphered therein. When Valancy carried any of these berries home that elusive essence escaped and they became nothing more than the common berries of the market-place—very kitchenly good indeed, but not as they would have been, eaten in their birch dell until her fingers were stained as pink as Aurora’s eyelids.

This is so wonderfully vivid! It makes me think of an expression in Swedish (my own language), "smultronställe". Lit. "wild strawberry place", it initially meant exactly that, a place that is very good for picking wild strawberries in. But then it kept up an additional meaning of "any place that's precious to you", especially if it's a place not many others know about (after all, you want to keep your strawberry hoards secret!). And it also can refer to precious memories connected with such personal places.

The word (in its definite form) was used for the title of one of Ingmar Bergman's early films, Smultronstället, known as Wild Strawberries in English. In the movie both the literal sense and a melancholy, nostalgic aspect of the metaphorical sense are in use: the elderly main character remembers picking strawberries in his youth as a happy bygone memory. While the movie came out in 1957, according to Wikipedia the metaphorical meaning of the word dates back to the late 19th century and early 20th century. But I very much doubt L M Montgomery would have encountered it. It's probably just a case of natural parallels. Wild strawberries are awesome.

Valancy had taken some of her two hundred dollars out of the bank and spent it in pretty clothes.

It is interesting that she doesn't seem to be using anything of her own saved money for their daily expenses. I guess it's part of her thing to no question what Barney doesn't want to talk about to not ask him why he doesn't need it. Maybe she does think he's using counterfeit money to pay for everything! :DD

#the blue castle #i have been rereading this book in my own printed copy #but now that i'm quoting from it myself for the first time #gosh am i glad for project gutenberg!#it is a bit of a pain to type things out by hand #so nice to just copy & paste #blue castle book club #barney snaith #valancy stirling #well she is valancy snaith now but we must have tag consistency #l m montgomery #snail castle #smultron

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neverlearnedtoread · 3 months

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Midnight in Everwood

⭐⭐; reading this book is like letting a kid explain their drawing to you - 'this is the cotton candy castle with a prince and princess and their 29 dogs and cats', they say, pointing to a wobbly blue squiggle and a patch of snot. all you can do is smile and nod and let it happen

Oh?? 👌😉😏

the narration, while over the top, fit the atmosphere the book wanted to create (confectionary sugar world). its probably annoying to listen to as the descriptions dont let up but im good at skimming so i could swim my way through the syrup just fine

i liked the beginning, before the author's hand became too glaringly obvious to ignore later in the plot - while marietta was never entertaining as a main character to follow, she felt more 'real' in her home environment, more believable as a character. i liked her relationship with her brother

I'll say this: finishing this book made me want to rewatch Barbie in the Nutcracker, just to feel something. what a classic! unlike this book 😭

No.. ❌🤢🤮

oversaturated with metaphors and flowery language - enough synonyms, hoity-toity French vocabularié and verbiage to rot your teeth out. it's also an 'oh?? 👌😉😏' point because i do think the author did it on purpose to create a certain tone, but it's A LOT.

i get the distinct sense that the author understands on a surface level that her character is a privileged whiny baby, but doesn't have the writing prowess to make her compelling OR put her through her paces of a satisfying character arc.

#girlboss #modernfeminism #womenarejustasstrongasmen played completely straight. a main female character who stays entirely, pretentiously convinced of their own girlbossery the whole time, despite doing NOTHING to earn it, and an author who reshapes the story to meet those expectations. anything for her #slay #girlboss #queen!!!!!

stuff constantly gets introduced just to not add anything to the story - the mouse king equivalent has in his castle a captured FAIRY and WARRIOR PRINCESS as part of his menagerie of women marietta finds herself a part of, and we just leave it at that. the guard captain is revealed as part of a SECRET REBELLION and all that happens is marietta gets weirdly horny about it.

the romance develops at the most annoying moments - they even decide to fuck in the snow (their bare asses!! in the SNOW!!! and not even a hint of pneumonia to show for it 🥶) before marietta returns to her world. i expected her to be hornt up, but the guy?? my brother in butterscotch we have got to get you better standards in women

Summary: Marietta Stelle wants to dance but she's too damn privileged to be allowed to pursue it as a viable career - she needs to get married to some creepy old man for the sake of her family's ambition, damnit! As her last performance draws near, Marietta is pushed into accepting the marriage proposal of the creepiest man in town, a mysterious toymaker named Dr. Drosselmeier. Of course, she's a #strongfemalecharacter, so she vehemently rejects him - only to fall victim to his (very heavy-handedly hidden) magic, which transports her in a magical world made of sugar, full of hidden dangers.

Concept: 💭💭💭 The Nutcracker isn't my favourite story ever, but I'm a sucker for a good fairytale - and for good music! I think it's a story that lends itself very heavily to a specific kind of whimsical, airy aesthetic - while allowing for darker themes or storytelling aspects to lurk in the shadows. A friend whose taste I trust recommended this book to me, and while I was skeptical that the summary (mostly because the blurb included a list of #tropes, which is a bookish red flag for me) would really deliver on its vague promises, I've done more for less.

Execution: 💥 This book should come with a 'NO DIVING! THIS POOL IS ONLY LESS THAN 1M DEEP' warning - it's so shallow I was encouraging my own reflection to keep going after every chapter. Bafflingly, this issue actually worsens when Marietta gets to the magical isekai world of Everwood - which is the OPPOSITE of what is supposed to happen! You would think a world governed by an evil mouse king (who is not a mouse, just a guy. he has enchanted mice running up and down his coat, ooh scary) and literally made of sweets would be fun, but we only get TOLD the names of its stories and legends and then the book is like 'next chapter! marietta felt more at home because her new friends told her stuff!' Plus, in the latter half of the book you really chafe against the author's lack of skill - like watching a puppet show while clearly being able to see the fingers / hands of the puppeteers, her characters are angry, awestruck, and miserable in the most wooden of ways as the author stomps on the next bullet point in her outline with all the subtlety of an elephant.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤ I can't say I enjoyed reading this book, because I really didn't - at one point I had to put the book down after SIX PAGES because marietta was getting on my nerves with her badly timed horniness (which she didn't know was horniness, because that builds ~~tension~~). But I had a LOT of fun recounting this book to my friend (the one who recommended it to me, who then gave up less than 20% in) and my sister. Everything that happened WAS frustrating, but in a way that made me laugh - which is the reason why I kept reading. It was like watching a collision in slow-mo - I had to know where it ended.

Favourite Moment: this entire book was painful but i had a good laugh when marietta and the captain fuck in the snow - and i do mean fuck. ass fully out behaviour. everwood is supposed to be stuck in a forever winter and they were all 'we'll just lay our coats down, it'll be fine'. like, i am absolutely sure it will NOT be fine, but you do you! it's not like marietta 'damn this feminism shit is easy' stelle is gonna listen to anyone anyway. that would be non-feminist! a ho never gets cold!

Favourite Character: Dellara, AKA the remains of a Sugar Plum Fairy equivalent stripped of every possible interesting thing and left on the floor to bleed out as a 'mean girl'. Don't get me wrong, Pirlipata was a fascinatingly underused character too, but Dellara actually snapped at Marietta multiple times (didn't amount to anything, but A+ for effort) and we simply have to stan her for that. Also she endures torture for the sake of others and is an otherworldly immortal being who becomes Queen at the end. I would gladly have thrown Marietta into the path of an oncoming bus to follow Dellara's storyline instead.

#midnight in everwood #M. A. Kuzniar #maria kuzniar #books #book review #booklover #bookblr #reading

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claire-starsword · 1 year

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Max’s Diary - Chapter 8

(26) Month of the Yellow Tiger, Day 33

We arrived at Runefaust. But, there's no sign of their army in the city. From what Mahato told me, the army has retreated and we must give chase. In front of the castle they just built, Darksol... Seems he's the root of all these evils. We attacked at once, but he fled to the depths of the castle, and in his place came Emperor Ramladu of Runefaust. Things happened one after the other and Ramladu also retreated further as the battle began. Argh, we must get to him.

The ninja Hanzou will be working with us from this battle on. He's a strong fighter who knows the instant death spell, Desoul. But, ninja are from the shadows. I'll leave him at headquarters. We'll defeat Darksol without borrowing the power of shadows. Probably.

___

(27) Month of the Purple Pearl, Day 4

With everyone working together, we somehow defeated the beasts with breath attacks, Blue Dragons and Chimeras. All that is left is to beat Ramladu.

Torch Eyes and Steel Claws showed up but, with our current power they aren't much of a problem. We're also faster and that'll be the key to victory, we'll quickly made work of those stupid machines. After destroying them we'll go after Ramladu.

Once only Ramladu was left, he finally got his heavy butt up to work. And, the moment Pelle got closer, he spun his weapon and sent him flying. Aah! Pelle was wrecked in one hit. Okay, time for the usual tactic of throwing all we have at him. Everyone do your best. I'm right behind you.

___

(28) Month of the Purple Pearl, Day 15

We infiltrated the Castle of the Ancients. It was a long path from what I recall. A lot of events started flashing back in my mind. After all this struggle, all that's left is to defeat Darksol. Let's move onwards.

Darksol isn't anywhere to be seen in the castle. Huh? Where is he hiding. As we searched here and there we felt the presence of monsters. Seems the castle's defense system has activated. Colossus started moving, and the Chimeras came to attack us. We were taken by surprise, but with Anri's Bolt and Tao's Blaze level 4, and Diane and Lyle's Buster Shots, we intercepted the Chimera and Blue Dragon combination. All that was left was Colossus. Let's surround them one by one to take them down. Huh? We defeated them with no injuries. So weak.

___

(29) Month of the Purple Pearl, Day 20

After turning Colossus into kebab without any trouble, we continued the infiltration. Finally we found Darksol. It's the final battle. Anri and Tao's magic shines, Gort swings the Atlas Axe. Diane and Lyle's Buster Shots blast fire, Balbaroy flies about. Pelle throws the Valkyrie, Khris and Gong run around doing the healing. Musashi cuts enemies in half with the Kiku-ichimonji, Domingo floats around without a care. And I finish everything off with the Chaos Breaker.

With this ultimate force we corner Darksol. His Demon Breath is intense but, as we hit him with everyone at once it doesn't matter much. Alright, we defeated Darksol! I was so glad, and as I celebrated like that...

___

Even now, in the Castle of the Ancients' "last chamber", Darksol works to awaken the Dark Dragon. Will the protagonist succeed in saving the world of light in the end? The answer to that question is something only the Chaos Breaker knows.

___

Notes:

(26): Big mistake on this one, when mentioning Hanzou’s instakill spell they call it Detox (Antidote in the original).

Also, those ellipses when Max meets Darksol in front of the castle... They have a bit more weight if you know Darksol's original dialogue.

"How many times have we met so far? I've begun to think of you as a friend, Max!"

"However, our friendship ends here as well. I've became quite busy here so I have no time to face you. My Dark Dragon... The legendary Dark Dragon who slept at the bottom of the ocean for a thousand years shall awaken by my hand! Wahahahahaha! By the way, and young Cain, is he well?"

"Oh I see, so he's dead? Even though he was quite useful. Well, so that's all he was worth. Oops, our talk turned out quite long. Excuse me now. I must go to the Castle of the Ancients. There are still rites needed for Dark Dragon's revival... If you wish to come then come as well. But ahead is my reception... Hah! Emperor Ramladu will be your opponent... You'll face hell... Well then, goodbye, though it hurts to see us part... For me and for you, Max! Wahhahahaha! Wahahahahaha..."

(29): Domingo saying only his own name in these doodles might be the reason he's like that in the GBA version? Even though it's just a joke.

Those final lines are from the final page of the strategy part. Because the diary doesn't mention the ending in any way I felt like adding something in to make it more complete.

#shining force #sf max #sf darksol #sf cain #sf hanzou #sf domingo #max's diary #sf kouryaku no tebiki translations #shining force localization stuff

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