#lymond
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if you fall in love with a character who is described as fabulously good looking in-text
and the author is on the record as headcanoning a particular actor as that character
and sixty years of beauty standards drift separate you and the author
beware of googling that actor
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let's talk about the fish/water/christ symbolism in the game of kings. with spoilers
fish (as ιχθυς) is an acronym for christ, and it's the first food jesus eats after being resurrected, right? it symbolizes rebirth, life, and christ himself. i personally think fish are slippery and cold-blooded too, but that's neither here nor there.
now look at how the game of kings starts: "lymond is back". we immediately know this book is about returning, it's about rebirth. in fact, the first thing we see is the man himself submerged in a body of water and coming out on the other side, after a baptism of sorts, as the character he will play for most of the book: lymond the outlaw, lymond the traitor.
the first words out of his mouth are "i am a narwhal": he identifies himself as a fish right away, and not just any fish but the unicorn fish; the unicorn of course being scotland's national animal. in perspective, he tells us everything we need to know about him: his status as a christ figure, his destiny to be reborn, his complicated relationship with his country.
the next time he's in a body of water, it's the second chapter and he's dying from a head injury in a bog. he's washed clean, this time, too: from his own identity. he's free to inhabit another character from the lymond constellation. it's also pretty funny that he's found by sym while he's going fishing ("you’ve hooked a twenty-pounder this time, my lad"), and he's nursed back to health by someone named Christian. not subtle.
lymond seems to be pretty into this whole fish and rebirth thing, does he not? he wouldn't lie to us. he wouldn't pretend to embrace life while actively seeking death, right? anyway, no relation at all, when the baby queen mary tries feeding him a fish he pretends to eat it and secretly throws it away. the fish is described as struggling and barely alive, which again i am sure is a coincidence.
then some stuff happens, and the next time lymond is offered fish he doesn't have it in him to keep pretending. he doesn't want the damn fish. newsflash, asshole (richard): he really, really wants to die. this is my favorite scene for many reasons, and one of them is the perfect juxtaposition of its literal and symbolic meanings: richard says he wants to see lymond hanged, but what he does is to drag him away from the tomb-like dovecote and towards running water, makes him eat the damn fish again and again until the miracle is complete. he's holding on to his brother with both hands and teeth before he even realizes he's doing it.
when it comes to an end the fish is off the hook, christ is off the cross and for once he's not sacrificed for the sins of others, and we close on him in his mother's arms in a beautiful literary pietà.
there's so much stuff i purposefully didn't mention and probably didn't notice, this is just a tiny example of the gorgeous figurative and thematic cohesion in this novel. i love it. thank you dorothy dunnett.
#lymond chronicles#the game of kings#the amount of symbolism in 4.3 knight adversary makes it almost look like a tarot card#something between the star and the knight/king of cups#i have a lot to say about tarot too#probably for a later post#i seems like you can't run out of things to say about the game of kings it's sooo well done#dorothy “three meanings at least per line” dunnett#if you think i'm annoying just know i've been talking like this on discord with the book club for the last two months and a half#thank you book club#anyway this is a rambling mess but you get it. you get it#ughhh lymond my brain will never be the same#lymond#the lymond chronicles
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Oh, you married the older sister (?) of the friend/crush you connected with on a dangerous adventure as a teenager? She has some gender stuff going on and was pretty much the only person who could get through to him when he was extremely ill after one of the most traumatic experiences of his life? On a scale of Jerott Blyth to Sounis Sophos, how well did it go?
#these four are VERY different people#WITH VERY DIFFERENT MARRIAGES#and yet#lymond#lymond chronicles#the queen’s thief#sophos#eddis helen#marthe#jerott blyth#something i#mwt#dangerous adventure is a weird way to describe a battle but I couldn’t think of anything better#lymond chronicles spoilers#hi qt fandom … sorry for potentially spoiling you for several lymond plot points when mwt reblogged this#amazing
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I need a Thady Boy Ballagh world tour t shirt
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just remembered this meme i used all the time during my lymond brainrot and i'm laughing but this was genuinely me every night
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the thing about the references in lymond, is that they do not fucking matter. the man is a snob, you're not supposed to know what hes talking about, hes just showing off.
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'It is a matter of deep regret that I cannot kill you at this moment,' said Lymond gently.
Pawn in Frankincense, Dorothy Dunnett
#dorothy dunnett#pawn in frankincense#book quotes#LYMOND#guess what? i'm reading the lymond chronicles
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I finished Checkmate recently, which means I can finally go ahead and write a very important post!
Lymond Characters Ranked By Their Degree Of Transgender Swag*
Danny Hislop: listen to me. Listen. I 100%, no joke, believe that Daniel Hislop is canonically AFAB. There is zero evidence to contradict this and considerable evidence for it, if you count up every time Danny's small stature and beardlessness is pointedly mentioned, and also if you just look at how much swag he has.
Oonagh O'Dwyer: canonically was happy for exactly one afternoon in her whole life, and that was because she was passing as a boy during it. I am just saying.
Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny: canonically extremely good at drag. Is God's specialest princess. Is apparently physically nearly identical to his half-sister, including their voices. High levels of transgender swag.
Robin Stewart: is canonically not trans, but a lot of his issues would be even worse if he was, nice, and he is also my favorite poor little meow meow so I'm claiming him.
Marthe: already has Gender Trouble up the wazoo, why not add a bit more. Is apparently physically nearly identical to her half-brother, including their voices.
Mikal: is already fem, bisexual, and the swaggiest character on this list. He could be anything he wants to be baby.
Adam: soft gentle bisexual artist who can also Murder. Decent amount of transgender swag.
Christian Stewart: pretty sure she's a cis lesbian and that's why marriage feels like death to her, but it could absolutely be because she's an egg!
Will Scott: again, very much a cis gay man, but AU transgender Will would be delightful.
Archie: I feel like Archie transcends gender, tbh.
Philippa Somerville: no trans swag but she'd definitely be an Ally.
Jerott: he's already confused about enough, let's not make it worse.
Margaret Lennox: my favorite failgirl villainess has zero swag of any kind.
Richard Crawford: always and forever the token cishet. Transgender swag levels terminally in the negative.
(*obligatory "just, like, my opinion, man" disclaimer goes here)
#lymond#the lymond chronicles#hello. i have only the most highbrow contributions for this fandom.#lymond chronicles#i forget what tag i was using
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“It was one of the occasions when Lymond asleep wrecked the peace of mind of more people than Lymond awake.”
-Queen's Play
Happy Birthday, Francis!
#lymond#lymond chronicles#wei wuxian yesterday and francis today#it's back to back fave-blorbos here#tiny fandom
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Important Lymond Chronicles alignment chart
#Will and Richard end up in the middle bc all their Choices cancel out#Danny is cause problems on purpose (benign)#lymond#the lymond chronicles
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I love this image of them facing each other, and there’s just … so much that’s true and untrue in his statement.
Marthe is correct: Francis ran off with her girlfriend and the Dame de Doubtance was more than okay with it.
Now, however, he’s been stopped from returning to Russia/Güzel BY MARTHE, so he sure doesn’t have her anymore! Neither sibling does.
Güzel had him - he was the jewel in her jewel box. He chose to go with her in order to ensure the PiF crew’s safety. He didn’t know if he would survive when he made that promise, and he didn’t want to survive. He only started sleeping with her after being faced with the fact that she was harming someone else in his place. He didn’t love her, he’s in love with someone else, and she sent him Gabriel’s dead body in a sarcophagus.
It’s not like Marthe knows the details of that. It’s been nearly four years. He still stole her girlfriend, right after the turning point in their relationship as siblings, right after she helped him heal with shared poetry.
They’re no jewel and jewel box, but you know whose relationship is also messed up? Marthe and Jerott’s. <3
As Marthe points out soon, she has Jerott! She completed the dysfunctional swap, and they’re still married … so does she arguably have more than Francis has?
Speaking of marriage, Francis is currently married to the person he’s in love with who loves him back and is perfect for him and — yeah okay this whole book is about how much of a mess that is. But still.
AND TRULY. From Marthe’s perspective, her little brother has always had all she does not, for the arbitrary reasons of legitimacy (lol) and gender. She has known this her entire life. And the reader learns that her life will end in place of his, the catalyst to his happiness and meaningful future. This exchange is about Güzel, but even discounting her, as complicated and traumatic as his own life has been, Francis’s statement is laughable.
“the palms of his hands, yielding and empty” … Is there nothing in the cup for me? 😭
He says this mere seconds after kissing her husband and making him bluescreen. Francis….
And as always, I may be wrong and I’m sure there’s even more …
#on the cheeks and Philippa did it it too but … also by the end of the night Jerott’s going to ask if he can return to fight with him again#beating even Marthe’s prediction of the next morning#oh NO the next morning! yikes!#anyway#I love these two#crawford siblings forever#marthe#francis crawford#lymond#checkmate#lymond chronicles spoilers#something i#now I’m just thinking of them continuing to poke at each other about guzel and jerott WHILE MARTHE IS PRETENDING TO BE A GHOST#and also being possessed#but the marriage/mistress sniping coming from that chair is all her#but also she wants the best for him! in a way! her methods and advice are awful sometimes! But she does!#sometimes they’re even more brilliant than awful#and then when camille is cursing him he warns her against harming marthe … I love that too#they really could have had it all#(a less antagonistic relationship)
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Tramp stamp idea
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a list of some of the amazing, hilarious gay shit that happens in the lymond chronicles because everyone wants to fuck lymond so bad:
will thinking he's going to have sex with lymond when lymond takes him to a room in the brothel, but it was a meeting with an informant, so will sulks in a corner
when lymond and will are wrestling and will can't stop thinking about how lymond's body feels on top of his, and he suddenly interrupts his thoughts with "no! he's a murderer!"
lymond and jerott's bickering and one-sided flirting in TDK they're both like children with a crush in that book
strozzi saying he's heard the rumours that lymond fucks like an angel and no wonder jerott left the knights of st john for him asfgjsfghj??
when jerott can't sleep because lymond isn't on the bed next to his and when he gets up, clearly to look for him, he out of nowhere tells himself that it's marthe who occupies his thoughts
míkál waiting naked on lymond's bed (legend)
jerott thinking that marthe's eyes are a shade of blue that he's never seen before and he'll fight anyone about it, when marthe has the exact same cornflower eyes as lymond
míkál's beef with jerott because he sees jerott as a rival for lymond's love and attention lol
danny asking if lymond is gorgeous and moaning the first time he sees lymond (i love u dannyyy)
lymond's ‘The beauty of worthy things is not in the face but in the backside, endearing more by their departure than their address.’ about jerott (best ass in europe!)
lymond again mentioning jerott's ass by saying ‘Caffa and purled lace and pinking, and a butt on him like one of Shah Mahmút the Ghazněrides’ elephants.’ #normalboybestfriendthings
rare non-lymond gay shit, danny being a fan of jerott because he's hot and dumb
... etc!
#dorothy dunnett#lymond chronicles#lymond#sorry to QP i forget everything that happens in it when i'm not reading it lol#there is a LOT of gay shit not mentioned here. dramatic gay! emotional gay! even scary gay!#there's something for everybody :)#dorothy was so crazy for writing all of that in the 60s i love her
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i seem to have forgotten richard checking the hands of the dead, rendered otherwise unrecognizable by the crash of horses, in an attempt to find lymonds corpse. i had forgotten, and now, in my reread of queens play, i have been sadly reminded.
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Sometimes Lymond just wants Richard to intuitively understand and be on his side without him having to explain anything. 😅😭
#ah dude just unrealisticly hope too much from richard#disorderly knights reread is so fun#lymond#i'm at the scene where lymond was angry because richard's saying that gabriel is the master lymond never had
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Recently finished Dark Heir and I have so many thoughts.
First, my theory: Where Laurent is Pacat's take on Dorothy Dunnett's Francis Crawford of Lymond (she's said herself those books were a huge inspiration), I think Will Kempen is her Niccòlo.
When I read Dark Rise, I hadn't read Niccòlo, but upon my recent reread I really felt the parallels.
Niccòlo starts out as an apprentice and through a combination of intelligence, planning and charisma, becomes the leader of a trade empire while simultaneously pulling off a hugely complicated revenge plot that the reader doesn't even notice. He's clearly awed by his own ability to inspire loyalty and pull off complex plans. Scared of his own power and potential.
Will Kempen, anyone?
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