Safi+Merik

Iseult+Aeduan

Preliminaries Part 2 - Ferromancy 2/2

The top 4 most voted characters gets into the tournament.

I was inspired from that previous post of comfort characters!! So, here we go.

What are your comfort ships? List 5 and tag 5!

Jayfeather and Half Moon

Brightheart and Cloudtail.

Adrien and Marinette.

Aeduan and Iseult

Luka and Kagami.

I'm actually torn. Adrien and Marinette as 2 or 3....

Anywho!

@kaiju-superstar @katieykat513 @bengaltiger25 @gilded-moon @fantasyoverreality98 @taketwoinink @cauchemarlena @generalluxun @ultrakart @xhanisai

(I only done more than 5 to try and let others see it!! Hope yall enjoy!!)

I think my favorite thing about Aeduan and Iseult is that they are obviously head over heels for eachother but neither of them has any frame of reference for those feelings so they're just ????? at all times. they're basically the "what was that?" "affection" "disgusting. do it again." meme

How all the characters in The Witchlands know so many languages like I'm not sure about my native language and in the series everyone knows more than THREE

Me usually: characters are just tools we use to tell a story and/or express an idea

Me when it's my favourite character's happiness that is thematically inappropriate: well first of all "narrative" is not a word and you just made that up

some old leopold and iseult doots

The witchlands series really has me questioning some stuff about myself cause if I were in Vivia's place I would have gone crazy and taken the throne by force just out of spite fr

Like I genuinely don't get why she still wants to save Nihar? Everyone over there sucks tbh

The dead of Loraille do not rest. Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on. She’d rather deal with the dead than the living, who point and whisper about the odd girl who was once possessed by a violent spirit. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia fights back by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a high saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being now whispering in her head. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her in body and soul. But death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has a chance of stopping it. As Artemisia investigates a mystery of saints, secrets and dark magic, an ancient evil is stirring. Can an untrained girl, tormented by the burden of containing the revenant’s devouring power, have any hope of defeating it?

The complete Book of the Ancestor Trilogy, a stunning epic fantasy series by Mark Lawrence! Red Sister: At the Convent of Sweet Mercy, young girls are raised to be killers. In some few children the old bloods show, gifting rare talents that can be honed to deadly or mystic effect. But even the mistresses of sword and shadow don’t truly understand what they have purchased when Nona Grey is brought to their halls. Grey Sister: Behind its walls, the Convent of Sweet Mercy has trained young girls to hone their skills for centuries. In Mystic Class, Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But so often even the deepest truths just make our choices harder. Before she leaves the convent, Nona must choose which order to dedicate herself to—and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist. Holy Sister: The ice is advancing, the Corridor narrowing, and the empire is under siege from the Scithrowl in the east and the Durns in the west. Everywhere, the emperor’s armies are in retreat. Nona Grey faces the final challenges that must be overcome if she is to become a full sister in the order of her choice. But it seems unlikely that she and her friends will have time to earn a nun’s habit before war is on their doorstep.

This two books are very similar: both the protagonists, Artemisia in Vespertine and Nona in The Book of Ancestor, are orphans raised in a female-dominated holy place, trained in their ways. Both became possessed by devious spirits at some point of the story and both are reluctantly call to save the day. Both the characters are highly influenced by the traumas they endured (physically and psychologically) but while Artemisia — at the beginning of the book — is more isolated and lacks of friends, Nona, despite her more feral nature, is more easily going with people who became loyal friends to her. Both in Vespertine and Book Of Ancestor Trilogy there's a great curruption in the secular and religious hierarchies, but while in Vespertine those religious authorities are victims in their own way, in Book Of Ancestor the corrupted spiritual leaders are more mundane and their action are plotted by the political plans and ambitions of the royal family members.

The main difference is that Artemisia is not a warrior herself: when the convent is attacked by possessed soldiers (Revenants), she takes up a reliquary kept by an elderly nun and, thanks to the spirit that resided there, she runs into the fight, saving the day. Afterward, she is arrested by a priest — probably a future love interest — in conflict with himself and his religious beliefs.

There are a handful of supporting characters with their own special traits: a soldier who experienced a similar trauma to what Artemisia went through as a kid, whom she's able to connect with and help; a fellow nun from the convent who is very different from Artemisia (I appreciated their enemies-to-friends relationship, and her cleverness); and a grouchy but powerful elder who you can't help but adore (which is very similar to the cunning Abbess who took Nona under her care) .

The Revenant is an interesting character, who is supposed to be evil, and it is in some ways, but it’s also caring: it's the revenant that taught Artemisia to take care of herself, to consider herself worthy of being cared for.

Artemisia isn't as kickass as Nona ––many of the badass moments were due to the revenant controlling her––but she has her strengths. I appreciated that she grew to trust and care for the revenant despite how she was raised, and that she was able to push out of her comfort zone at times. It's nice to see how people in similar situations can turn out differently based on their individual experiences.

Book of the Ancestor, on the other hand, follows the growth of young Nona Grey, adopted into a convent of nuns known for their martial and magical skills. Nona and her friends must learn how to utilize the magic of their world to hopefully save their empire. Nona’s story, as she taps into her own potential and makes peace with herself — and the violence within her — is well-written and the self-immersion in her thoughts is cathartic and immediate.

The world of Book of the Ancestor deserves special attention. It is, in my reading, wholly unique. Giant ice sheets are slowly covering the world, squeezing nearly the entire population of the world into a narrow strip of land. It's a fascinating concept and becomes a major part of the series.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It's fast-paced with characters that I came to enjoy (more on that in a moment). The books have a fun magic system that leads to excellent pay-offs in each of the books, and Lawrence plays with time, too, keeping the tension high throughout the stories.

I'm not a huge fan of magical academy tropes, which are very prevalent in Book Of The Ancestor (like the first book of the The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang). There are occasional moments of familiar tropes (there is a brief period where the book seems like it is aping the story of the first Harry Potter book beat for beat; luckily, that quickly fades out), but in the end, Nona and her friends more than turn this into their own story…helped by the fact that this most definitely isn’t a Chosen One story. Indeed, within the first few chapters, it’s revealed that the Chosen One prophecy of this world is hokum designed to distract people – and it’s that sort of decision that makes Book Of Ancestor a great trilogy.

In Book Of Ancestor, magic and supernatural abilities are more common and accepted, while in Vespertine is more marginal, at the point that only elderly nuns have a deep knowledge of the precious powers of the reliquary that they kept.

Nona Grey is also very similar to Rin from The Poppy War Series by R. F. Kuang: high skilled warriors, dominated by their fury, but loyal to their friends, used as weapons by powerful authorities. Even if Rin, at the end, falls victim of her rage and is more eager to be manipulated than Nona, who seems to be unaware of the deeper meaning of her own battles all the time and just follows the Abbess' indications.

And also the detailed distinction made by Lawrence of the four tribes and their powers reminds me of the one created by Susan Dennard in her Witchlands saga, in which every nation has their own elemental-related talents.

Since i got the series for christmas— is the witchlands series worth reading

I’m assuming no until someone gives me reasons that point otherwise

Can you tell us some of your previous fandoms?

Hoo boy. so I wasn't involved in fandom pre-danmei and I especially wasn't on tumblr, BUT that was a very calculated decision of 'if I join I will spend all my time there and accomplish nothing else' bc I would have been such a basic tumblr girlie lmfao.

Anyway, to answer the actual question I was soooo into superwholock when I was in high school 😭 I'm not actually ashamed of that it's just very funny looking back, because I was fully obsessed. I'm not caught up on doctor who, and I haven't gotten around to watching the final season of supernatural yet, but in my mind, I will at some point do both.

beyond that, various books, though they aren't popular enough to have proper fandoms. The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard, The Sands of Arawiya series by Hafsah Faizal. (and as I mentioned in my previous ask) The Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda.

there's other books as well, of course. those are just some favorites. but I do read a lot of YA and Adult fiction, especially fantasy and romance, though I don't mind branching out. I actually love talking about books, as well as giving and getting recommendations, so I'm always open to that!

this ending up being really long for a very simple question, but I appreciate the ask!! hope you have a great day/night anon 💚

Preliminaries Part 5 - Aquamancy 3/3

Top 2 gets into the final preliminary.

and rereading windwitch and getting vivia's point of view and how she interacts with serafin, it's just. shit. this is such a well-written depiction of emotional abuse. vivia is desperate for her father's love and approval, and he seems to give it to her -- and then wrench it from her in turn. and she's left to make up excuses as to why, to fill in the gaps with what she must have done or said wrong. she knows he means best for her, he must mean best for her, surely he loves her and favors her, surely if she can be just like him then she can keep his favor and never disappoint him again, never lose his fickle favor again -- surely if he's angry at her it's because she failed him, that she wasn't good enough, she must have made some kind of mistake.

serafin never raises a hand to vivia. he never has to.

can already tell merik & safi are meant to be romantic partners asdfghj I just want some homosexuality guys

Iseult, about Aeduan: he was the best guy arouuund

Safi: what about the people he murdered

Iseult: what murdaaaa