the cruel prince rant because I AM TIRED OF THESE FALSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MY GIRL
JUDE FIGURED IT OUT. she knew that she could come back because she was the crown and able to pardon herself.
(she just thought cardan was too much of an idiot to do it intentionally and her father is madoc so she automatically assumes the worst in people lol.)
Hello! I read your tfota post on how Jude has always had a crush on Cardan and vice versus (I really enjoyed your analysis btw). The evidence you used was of how she thought of him to make herself feel better after finding out about Locke and Taryn. In the post, you mentioned that you were going to do a separate post on Nicasia and Cardan since he had feelings for Jude during this relationship. Have you ever written it? I couldn't find it on your page
OMG! OMGG! my first asked! sorry, super excited someone finally asked me something! I've been waiting for this moment for a longgggg time.
Anyways!...I totally forgot to make that post so thank you reminding me because I actually have a lot to say about Cardan and Nicasia's relationship! Since I'm currently completely bored out of my mind, I'm going to work on that post right now.
Be right back, I'm getting my TFOTA books for yet another LONGGG Analysis. (I love making them)
Their marriage is so soft and a bit funny. I love how Jude is playing 5d chess while Cardan is trying to convince her like "I'm a good bargain!!! Being Queen is a great honor you know???"
Also, I wonder if Cardan asked Jude if she imagined this would be more romantic because HE wanted/tried to make it romantic with the exchange of the rings. Or else what reason would there be for him to do that? Yes, she's human but he's masking the marriage behind a veil of "oh this is for us to trust eachother and leave eachother to move freely" meanwhile he's also doing a gesture that is supposedly "useless" in this context if this is truly just some beneficial agreement. A partnership. Which shows that to him this is beyond just that. He clearly wanted this and felt like making it into a "logical alliance" and sell it as such to Jude was the best way to make her agree to it.
a lot of people (rightfully) talk about how awful cardan was to jude in book 1. but i don't see anyone mentioning jude's behavior towards him. she tricks him into giving her his autonomy, sth she personally treasures over all else.
but i specifically want to talk about the part in twk where she tells him to sleep with nicasia for information. she says it like it's no big deal, and when he's rightfully offended (to playing the bawd) she says why would he be offended he sleeps with women all the time.
nicasia is his ex, who betrayed cardan in the worst way you could betray him. and during this conversation he also finds out that she almost killed him and that jude hid this fact from him.
we consistently see cardan trying to communicate and be honest with jude during twk, but she keeps brushing him off because she is afraid of her own reaction to him (he is unaware of this and believes she still wants him dead). her telling him she's afraid of him in the garden in qon is the first time she's been honest with him. him seeming softer in qon is not ooc like i've seen ppl saying.
jude is one of my favorite characters ever, and my favorite couple dynamic in fiction is two characters who are deeply hurt and unhinged, who would be toxic with anyone else but just make sense tgth. so i rly dislike when people frame jurdan as "bully romance" when it's not nearly as one-sided as that.
Cardan: Did you have to stab them?
Jude: You weren’t there. You didn’t hear what they said to me.
Cardan: What did they say?
Jude: "What are you going to do, stab me?"
Cardan: That’s fair.
that girl you called boring? she’s about to kill you with a letter-opener and dump your body in the ocean where marine life is going to brunch on you and when your body washes up on the shore days later the cause of death will be indeterminable
Jude Duarte and Cardan Greenbriar from the book The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.This piece was quite fun to draw, I’m still practicing backgrounds and I noticed it helps a little to blur it so the main focus is on the characters. ✌️✨ definitely a good enemies to lovers story ❤️