A true chaos being of cold shadow and feiry whim and microscopic attention span

zathuda is an interesting character to attempt to gage at this point. he is a vanguard general but very, very clearly is not as close to otohan/liliana/ludinus as they are to each other, and even got his ass handed to him in campaign 3 episode 47 when he tried to threaten ludinus, and otohan unfazedly called him arrogant & incompetent - and is if the universe wanted to laugh at him seeing lud as inefficient, he has now TWICE not noticed his own child destroy ludinus's work he was meant to guard. he's haggard & scruffy & unhappy away from the fey on an alien moon. he can't intimidate anyone here when half the reilorans are taller than him and he hates telepathy, the main source of communication on this mission. he's clearly aware of his out of place nature and lashes out in emotional shouts of dominance at his soldiers. he's a deadbeat baby daddy. he is by all means the actual "cringefail" general who fanon should have a field day with. and yet even despite that, he commands incredible fear. he rides a goddamn jabberwock, had incredibly emotionally manipulative sway over birdie (& perhaps yu), and the fact that ira, the self-made nightmare king, seemed completely stock-still anxious as if he were seeing his own nightmares before him, says a thousand words. he is the sorrowlord for a reason.

all this to say i think that that intersection of truths, especially in this ep with his unhidden ragged exhaustion in front of his troops and goddamn kruth, implies he can be deadly competent, but chafes under the vanguard and the worst instincts it brings out in him, that he's allowed to show, which is a blight on their plot. and it poses a reality thats fascinating: if there's a general, and more importantly a parent, in the vanguard who would consider an alliance or hesitate, especially after tonight's events, it's absolutely not liliana anymore, if you catch my drift.

Are you telling me...

LUDINUS DA'LETH

Co-conspired with Sorrowlord Zathuda

To romance someone

To get them to give birth under Ruidus' light

And that child who was born

IS FEARNE!?

cr3 spoilers

so do we think that Ludinus influenced Zathuda to have Fearne specifically so Ludinus could absorb her and maybe get fey/ruidusborn powers??

CR SPOILERS c3 e79

Oh no!!! I just had a thought!!! What if Fearne was meant to be absorbed by Ludinus so he could become partially ruidusborn as well????

We already know he’s jealous of the people who are, and his ally just *happened* to create one on purpose?

He can take the powers and essences of fae beings, so they had to make a ruidusborn one?

I could be very wrong but MAN

Sorrowlord Zathuda, in addition to being Fearne's secret parent and Ludinus' fae co-conspirator, was also Yu's BOSS

So now I'm imagining a scenario in which they succeeded in retrieving the Moontide Crown and wiping out the Calloways (inclusive of Fearne), showing up to proudly report this to Zathuda, only to find themself stuffed in a mirror before they know what's happening because they unknowingly broke the Sorrowlord's stuff

Purposely conceiving a Magical Kid you can use for your Big Plans

Sorrowlord Athion Zathuda 🤝 Prince Rhaegar Targaryen

Endless Bells Hells 7/???

Sorrow Lord Zathuda, Bearer of the Lightless Flame, Grove Captain of the Unseelie Court: “You... I wait in prickly silence for your report.”

Dusk: “My lord, you know good work takes time.”

Was bored, saw this recontextualized scene gif set, wrote a thing for the Ruby Hells AU because of it.

Hello Daughter

It’s scary in the Unseelie Court. 

And not scary in the fun way things can be scary with Nana. That little shiver of fear, of what-if?, that’s soon enough dismissed. 

This is cloying, lingering fear with no end in sight. No safety in knowing that Nana would never let it last, let it hurt her.

Fearne is in a cage. And it’s dark and lonely and she hates it. 

A man, very tall with dark wavy hair and dark eyes with light pupils wearing armor, approaches through the gloom after time passes.

“Do you know who I am, child?” he asks in a deep and lilting voice.

Fearne quietly shakes her head ‘no,’ curling into an even tighter ball.

“I suppose I should have expected her not to tell you,” he spits out, angry.

“No matter,” his demeanor turned pleasant now. “You’re here now, so I will tell you: I am Sorrowlord Athion Zathuda, and your father.”

…That can’t be, she thinks. Ollie is her dad. Birdie has only been with Ollie. He’s the one who raised her.

“I can see the doubt in your eyes, so let me be clear. Your mother stole you away from me after you were born, even as I had so looked forward to your arrival, your joining us. And she freed that wretch from the cells to help her do it,” the Sorrowlord growls as he mentions Ollie. “Long have I searched for you my child, but your mother was most determined to deny us time together. To the point that she curried favor from the Fatestitcher to keep you from my side. And a deal is a deal, even for the greatest of us, even when it is wrong.”

Fearne lets the words sink in. She doesn’t think they’re very nice. Nana has been great. Even though Birdie and Ollie have been gone for so long. …It might be nice to have a parent again.

“Will you let me out of this cage?” she asks softly, sweetly.

“Of course. You need only come with me,” he replies, a honeyed sweetness to the words.

Fearne takes the offered hand of her father, sealing a deal she does not understand. (Not Yet)

nana morri saying “he knows not to step into my realm. that’s why your parents brought you here. one of the few places you’re truly safe from zathuda’s clutches. you see, we’re not friends. …you’re mine, so he can’t have you.” 🥰

Fearne, your dad was... emo

i love a good abomination <3

HOLY SHITTTTTTTTTTTTT THAT CRITROLE EP WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! im SO glad we had the set up of the last one so we could have the big thrills of this!!!!!!!!! this had everything!! it had ira's bad (and good!) decisions! it had sam's out of pocket wacky can shenanigans!! it had deception and sneaking! it had badass plays and some.. eye-catching talents 👀 it had gross shit that's kinda actually sad if u think about it! it had walking (running) away from explosions (NOT a sunglasses moment this was a loserfail) it had .. terrifying parents. it had imodna momence !! :D it even had some unprecedented wins for our typically fighty/flighty adventurers!!! i will ABSOLUTELY be watching that again come monday!!!!!!!!!!

It just occurred to me...

Fearne was made Ruidusborn on purpose.

Her father, Sorrowlord Zathuda, is from the Unseelie Court.

Ludinus is allied with both the Unseelie Court, and the Imperium on Ruidus.

The Imperium Weavemind controls when Ruidus flares.

Ludinus had to have helped coordinate Fearne’s birth to Ruidus flaring in order to make her Ruidusborn.

She's not just the daughter of one of his most powerful allies. She's probably an experiment. No wonder Ludinus is so fixated on capturing her.

honestly one of my favorite things about the Ruby Vanguard and their allies on Ruidus is that by and large everyone, from the young naive recruits to Sorrowlord Zathuda is like "wow I fucking hate this entire experience."