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gracecarstairss · 29 days

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sugar coated brain (the fluid ain’t to blame): unraveling Conor Aurelian

I don’t know if this is me admitting to have read embarrassingly little in terms of Actual Books since I turned 18 but. Wow. I loved sword catcher, and for once I was there eating up the plot rather than only relating to the characters so much I was obsessively hoping for a happy ending for them.

I’ve said before that sword catcher was good, so good it’s almost above fandom discourse (like a Beethoven symphony perhaps, you think twice before making arrangements of a masterpiece like that) but even the best symphonies deserve, actually they’re honoured by, critical analysis of the phrasing and melodies and that which are used. And this is a Cassandra Clare book after all. The beauty comes from beautifully (read: realistic, somehow more human than real humans idk I’m blown away every time) constructed characters, and then from the plot. Which was character-driven and so, so delicious, but we’re not talking those kind of spoilers this early in the game.

While I’ll admit that Kel was the most relatable character, followed by Lin or maybe Ana, there were some things about Conor that just cut a little too close in ways I hadn’t thought about in years. Taking me back to some worldbuilding of my childhood, a ‘reluctant princess’ I came up with based on feeling trapped and overprotected and that fantasy world has long since been archived in my head and it’s entertaining to think this weird kid in western sydney who didn’t get to run quite as wild as some of the other kids (but still did get to run quite wild) felt like that when we were the furthest thing from royalty. I didn’t expect to be reminded of that in an adult fantasy book, but here we are, and I’m being entertained to see all the different takes on Conor: some driven to fascination, some to annoyance, and somehow in the 5 of us who’ve actually read sword catcher already everything in between.

But let’s be real for a second: who hasn’t heard the ‘oh you can’t be depressed you have everything you need’ and been like. Really hurt by it?? Who hasn’t sat among know it all adults in their younger years who would just judge the hell out of other young people who supposedly ‘never got to hear no’ and now they have ‘no resilience’ and ‘no wonder they’re having problems’? Referring to people you actually relate to and thought, well this definitely isn’t a safe space to be vulnerable I’ll just suffer in silence? I’ve grown up enough now to see Lin’s trauma behind the way she says this about Conor but part of me is still a little mad at her. As for Conor?? He’s everything I’d expect from someone in his position and I actually don’t think the majority of it comes from ‘never hearing no’ and ‘getting everything he wants’ but rather the things that those try to make up for: a lack of real autonomy over his life, not being allowed to feel Normal Child Feelings, having no one he can relate to and see as an equal, a heavy burden of responsibility before he was ever old enough to understand it, and the many levels of fuckery that’s all done to his parents making them not just emotionally unavailable but frivolous, trying to maintain their own autonomy and connection doing silly little rich people hobbies that just make the divide between and resentment of them vs Every Other Person greater (constant stargazing or Decoration and Control). Sugar-coated brains: how could they not be when everything revolves around you but there’s so little you can actually do but pursue the pleasure you’re told you’re entitled to?

I didn’t expect to be this mad at the royal family culture within SC but when I look back on it I’m not surprised. Not when the setting of the book is on the edge of a revolution, the unraveling of a society that feels so much like today and allows me to zoom out in a way that makes my little revolutionist heart happy. But oh, the angst and the bad decisions as the world teeters on that razorblade. The lives that are lost in the fray. I don’t know what’s happening in our world now but after Cast Long Shadows and an arc I know that she’s proud of (our dear Matthew Fairchild) I do trust Cassie. And in the meantime I’ll let her convince me of what I already know: the lives of nobility are simply pawns in a much bigger game no one (except maybe Ana) knows how to take the reins of, and the life of a pawn, no matter the luxuries, is a sorry life indeed.

This little revolutionist brain of the 2000s had one thing right, and I feel vindicated to see it in such clarity here: the relationship between social class and genuine connection. From the stark contrast of the opening with Cas and Kel, even also Mari and Lin, against the disaster that is the royal family, it couldn’t be clearer to me: when you’re nobody, when there are no expectations of you, you can be who you really are. Maybe not in the eyes of the authorities, and that’s an important distinction to make, but there’s no need to pretend around your nearest and dearest and sometimes that’s worth so much more than hypothetical safety. Because yes you can get away with things when you’re rich but you’ve also got more people trying to assassinate you for who you are specifically rather than just running the risk of getting killed because you’re unlucky and too unimportant for anyone to think you’d be missed. When you’re royalty (or just have parents with really high expectations or are a gifted kid even) you’re given a mold to grow into and no one really asks if that’s who you really are: why would they, when their worldview depends on you being exactly who they want you to be? So if you’re not it you pretend and even with those, like your children, who are close enough to see behind the ruse, you never quite show them who you really are either. You can see how that would drive one insane. You showcase that the only way to exist is to mask until you snap, or lose the ability to be yourself at all. Which leads me to the second type of sugar coat.

(And I’m quoting songs as my inspo behind this post as always, title quote is empty wallets by 5sos and I’m about to move onto sugar coat by little big town aka the band with an irl fairchild in it): this sugar coat is politeness and etiquette. There’s a quote somewhere in Kel’s narration I believe that I can’t find but basically views social etiquette and the like as you know. War strategy or something, which is another little segment of the reminder it’s cassie writing this and there’s a lot of accidental neurodivergence, or neurodivergence existing in a world so very different to ours, because that’s a very neurodivergent way of viewing it imo. And in this case, the sugar coat is like a constructed mask you spend your whole life trying to perfect, wear it as it’s handed down from your predecessors: in Conor’s case, lilibet (passed down from my mum, she wears it so well, put it on my shoulders said it’s colder out there than you think/would I recognise myself, would anybody else, if I took the damn thing off and burned it up?) who does make the frivolity and politics of being queen into her whole personality. She’s equally a pitiable and annoying character for that.

But as for Conor? He’s a Cassandra Clare Created (TM) young man. Of course he can’t quite manage this kind of sugar coat business. The politeness, the etiquette, the little social dances: he longs for real connection (and now we’re back in empty wallets territory, get you high when I’m high, so we see eye to eye: to me this sums out how he makes connections with those who are nowhere near his equals but he wants to have some sort of equal footed connection with: Kel and *[redacted minor spoiler, see below cut]). He’s snapping from the pressure of it, and that’s exactly the kind of driving force for the narrative Cassie uses excellently. We see him coming undone, and hate it (or at least I do) but hope maybe, maybe it’s the path for liberation for him from the life that’s obviously making him (more) depressed (than he otherwise might be), and as the audience we don’t care if the kingdom burns down for this, as long as it doesn’t cause too much collateral damage. And we know it’s going to be a wild ride to get there.

I don’t reckon this is obvious to everyone else but it is to me, with my experience of Christianity and life and just everything that if you’re a leader in any way, you’re a better leader for being liberated in yourself, having autonomy and appropriate boundaries and Conor has none of that and he’s coming undone and yes there’s a lot of other characters (who I will post about later) with their own arcs and A LOT going on (seriously it’s so deliciously complex and so much more so than tsc ever was with maybe the exception of tec which is kind of adult fantasy anyway). But oh. She really knows how to deliver, all through the first book and I can’t wait to see what the next one has to offer!! And to me the characterisation of Conor is just proof on how expertly the whole world of Castellane and it’s stories is being carried out.

BIG GAP CAUSE CUT ISNT WORKING

*and Lin later on, kind of

tagging: @daisymylove and feel free to mention anyone who might like it in comments/reblogs!

#fantastic analysis of conor!#the characters and the character dynamics are so complex in this book and it's so good #sword catcher #conor aurelian #kel saren #lin caster

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gracecarstairss · 1 month

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The Ragpicker King Snippet

From Cassie’s March 21, 2024 newsletter!! Conor and Lin hehe :)

#I always wondered if Ciprian would come back in book 2! and I was right #this could be Conor and Lin’s first meeting since book 1 so this definitely is a party early on in the book #possibly Antonetta’s engagement party?#sword catcher #the ragpicker king #lin caster #conor aurelian

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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Okay, so update. I started up my reread again and I'm going at a snail's pace so that I don't miss anything. I'm reading the Kindle version and I swear, the book was EDITED!!! I wrote this original post on Jan 2, with the same Kindle copy that I am reading right now, and some of the timeline stuff was edited and it is different than what I had written in this post. So there's only two changes from what I previously discussed, as far as I can tell, and they are both about Artal Gremont. The first, which states: "Artal Gremont had been sent away amid a swirl of scandal when they had been sixteen years old" (page 153). As per my original post, Kel and Conor were originally 14 at the time of Gremont's exile. Therefore, this fixes the issue of Gremont being at Antonetta's debut ball when they are 15 (page 145), so technically with this new change it makes sense why he would be there since the timeline matches (let me be clear: this change causes the timeline to match SOLELY for this one timeline inconsistency from pg 145, it actually causes more inconsistencies later though lol). The second change states: "He's a figure of curiosity on the Hill. He was sent off into what amounted to exile nearly ten years ago-" (page 285). As seen above, it was originally said to be "15 years ago" which is clearly incorrect for the accuracy of Kel and Conor's age. This change actually matches up with page 262 that says Gremont was exiled around a decade ago, so it should be all well and good, right? WRONG. Gremont being exiled around 10 years ago matches with the original timeline where Conor and Kel were 14 at the time of exile (appx. 9 years ago). The first change, where instead of age 14, they are now 16 at the time of exile, actually means that Gremont was now exiled 7 years previously, and so the timeline is still inconsistent even with the changes...UNLESS you can consider 7 years a decade/"nearly 10 years" which I don't so idk maybe that's just me, but perhaps that could be excused. In the instance of rounding up 7 years to 10, IF that is what the goal was, then yes, Gremont's timeline is absolutely fixed 100%, all the issues are fixed. I'm just the kind of person that doesn't round that much, like 8-9 years I would round to 10, but 7??? I don't know, maybe others would though. Does this matter?? Absolutely not!!!! I'm just talking atp

(Btw this isn't me trying to be a hater, I actually am LOVING Sword Catcher my second time reading it. I thought it was "okay" the first time I read it, but I think this is a book that you have to read slowly because that's what I have been doing and it's so damn good. The timeline inconsistencies don't hinder my reading experience so it's fine, but I had to write this down because my brain almost short-circuited when I saw the "sixteen years old" change because I was like NO FUCKING WAY.... I have reread that Dial Chamber scene many times so I knew that was edited but i was doubting my sanity for a little bit)

From my reread, I have noticed multiple discrepancies in Sword Catcher when it comes to age and years gone by, relating to Artal Gremont and Kel's age specifically. Kel is 23 years old (Conor is said to be 23 on page 40, and Kel is known to be the same age as stated in the prologue where they are both 10), and was taken by the Palace at 10. Therefore, he has spent 13 years on the Hill. However, he says "I have been watching the nobles of the Hill for fifteen years now." on page 418, which does not make sense because that means he would have been 8 instead of 10 years old when taken into the Palace.

Then, we have Artal Gremont. On page 153, Kel reminisces that when he and Conor had been 14, Gremont was sent away due to a scandal. However, on page 145, Kel is thinking back to when he was 15 (page 142) and gave Antonetta the grass ring. Months later, she has her debut (she is also 15) and he is searching the room for her and "It had been Conor who tapped him on the shoulder, directing his attention to a young woman speaking to Artal Gremont" (page 145). (The young woman is Antonetta, but he doesn't realize it at first). This is more of an offhand comment where Gremont doesn't have much relevance. However, this does not make sense chronologically if Gremont was sent away when Conor and Kel were 14, but he is still attending Antonetta's debut ball when they are 15? This could have easily been an editing mistake. Let's go by the idea that Gremont was sent away when they were 14. Now they are 23, so it has been around 9 years since his departure. This is reinforced by this quote, where Kel is overhearing Bensimon saying that he doesn't want Gremont to come back to take over his father's charter: "Whatever Artal Gremont had done, it was bad enough that Bensimon disliked the idea of him returning, even a decade later" (page 262). This tracks with Gremont being gone around a decade, so this timeline works out with them being 14 when he was sent away. However, on page 285, Kel is asking Merren what Gremont did and he says this: "He's a figure of curiosity on the Hill. He was sent off into what amounted to exile nearly fifteen years ago-". Fifteen years ago??? What? If Kel and Conor were 14 when he was exiled, and it had been 15 years, then they would be 29 years old in this book!! What the hell is going on with this timeline? Maybe I am getting way too deep into this but I had to write out all these discrepancies because the timeline was making me go crazy. I think most of these are just editing mistakes but it’s kind of interesting how many mistakes have to do with the number “fifteen.”

#i still love the book though #idc about the inconsistencies like the book still slays #stan kel and antonetta foreverrrrrr #sword catcher

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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he's a 10 but he's poisoning himself in a noodle shop w two criminals

#one thing about Kel is that he always keeps people on their toes #there’s no way that jerrod thinks Kel is a noble after all the shit he pulled in sword catcher 😭#jerrod was fighting for his LIFE #kel saren #sword catcher

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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Can someone please share even just a summary of the extra in the Sword Catcher Fairyloot edition about Merren and Kel ???

It's difficult for me to buy physical foreign books, there's no ebook version of that edition AND I SHIP THEM TOO MUCH PLEASE

#if anyone would like to bless us with the fairyloot bonus content please I will love you forever #I’ve been searching for a while but I can’t find it for shit lol #sword catcher #kel saren #merren asper

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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I am including only the ones that stuck together and didn't stab each other on the back. So I am excluding Julian and Emma, Michael and Robert, Luke and Valentine for obvious reasons.

#I think jace and Alec would win bc of how long they’ve trained together plus jace has superhuman abilities which make him an amazing fighter #HOWEVER…#if Emma and Julian were on the poll I would choose them #they would SLAUGHTER #bc Emma is the Jace of her generation and she has no superhuman abilities like him…so you know she dedicated asf #and then Julian ofc is batshit insane and would create the most strategic plan to annihilate everyone so fast #no parabatai pair can match up to the level of insanity as Emma and Julian so they would def win by a long shot

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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Hi!! Have you a Ragpicker King snippet to share? Perhaps one of Kel and Antonetta? Thanks!!!

Sure!

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“Gremont is not a good man,” said Kel. “It is why he was exiled.”

“I know that. Of all people,” Antonetta added, in a low voice, “I thought you, at least, did not believe me completely foolish.”

A feeling like despair seized him. She was so close he could see her pulse beating in her throat, the rise and fall of her locket with her quick breaths, yet she felt as distant as she had ever been.

“You pretend to foolishness,” he said. “It is your armor.”

She raised her head at that, and looked at him. Her blue eyes so dark they seemed black in the low light. “We all have armor,” she said. “As if you do not have yours, Kel Anjuman.”

He choked on the words he could not say. I am the Prince’s armor. I cannot have my own.

“Antonetta —”

She took a step back. “You are not my father, not brother or lover,” she said. “You have no rights here.”

#OH MY GOD MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED #IM FUCKING DYING #I need book 2 so bad 😭#I miss them soooo much #sword catcher #the ragpicker king

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gracecarstairss · 2 months

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My favorite Antonetta moment in Sword Catcher

One of the reasons that Antonetta is my favorite character is that nearly every piece of dialogue she has is calculated to direct a situation in a certain way, to gather information, and sometimes conveys hidden meanings with her words that give hints of her true intentions. I love the way we learn more about her character with subtle hints and implications. I think that there are two pieces of dialogue really give a great idea of who she is. When Kel asks Antonetta why she decides to hide her kindness on the Hill, she says:

"'Kindness and weakness are twinned, or are seen as such on the Hill,' she said. 'I recall long ago when Joss was kind. When Conor was kind. No longer. It is a defense as much as an affectation.'" - Sword Catcher, page 484.

Then, multiple chapters later during the Ascension Day party, Antonetta gets Kel (pretending to be Conor) alone, thinking that he is Conor of course. She is asking him to help her get out of a possible engagement with Artal Gremont, and she says:

"'You are kind,' she said. 'There are many who say you are not, but I know that you are. I know you can help.'" - Sword Catcher, page 554.

I love that we see her trying to get through to Conor and manipulate the situation in her favor by telling him that he is kind, and it directly contradicts what she tells Kel previously. This moment shows so much about who she is and how she interacts with the other nobles of the Hill. It is also clear that Antonetta is much more honest with Kel than others because he can see through her false persona.

#antonetta stays slaying and gagging everyone at every turn #i have reread every kel x antonetta scene so many times it's wild and i screamed when i found this connection :)#i am seated for every single moment between them in the ragpicker king #sword catcher #antonetta alleyne #kel saren #conor aurelian #the ragpicker king

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gracecarstairss · 3 months

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I love how Kel is so clever and yet absolutely obtuse when it comes to emotional intelligence.

the girl has kept a grass ring on a heart-shaped locket she wears every fucking day , for 9 years, but ofc she's in love with Conor and probably forgot it was there in the first place, seems logical

I so want Lin to hear about this and smack him on the temple saying it's an ancient technique for healing daftness on males.

#the way he always brings everything back to Conor when antonetta is flirting w him #at one point he was like ‘oh she’s only flirting w me as practice for Conor’ excuse me what??#it’s hilarious #sword catcher #kel saren #antonetta alleyne

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gracecarstairss · 4 months

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Nobody understands how badly I want Antonetta to be Prosper Beck…like the drama that would ensue would be insane

#yes I know I made a long ass post sort of debunking the idea of antonetta being prosper Beck #is it lowkey unrealistic? yes bc the money trail does not make sense & idk why Antonetta would want to destabilize House Aurelian #but who knows maybe we will find out more about her motives in the ragpicker king #Kel’s reaction…I would be so unwell bc you know he would have to decide whether to betray Conor in order to protect Antonetta #she’s gotta be prosper Beck I need it so fucking bad #kel saren #antonetta alleyne #sword catcher #the ragpicker king

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gracecarstairss · 4 months

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no matter how many times she explains it I don't think me and Cassandra Clare will ever be in agreement about James and Lucie losing their powers. like its just not a satisfactory explanation to me im sorry

#it just doesn’t make sense 😩 by her reasoning then Tessa shouldn’t have powers either #they should have kept their powers fr 😔

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gracecarstairss · 4 months

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#i spent so much time dissecting this timeline but every single time they discuss how much time has passed then the number of years chanhes #changes*#literally I felt like I was going insane while reading #I’m really not trying to be a hater cuz I do like this book but cc please hire me to edit (I want to read the ragpicker king so bad)#kel saren #sword catcher

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gracecarstairss · 4 months

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art requests open yassss! can you draw gracetopher kissing? I'm so sad we never got to see that on canon, and that it ended THAT BAD :(

Okay i have a soft spot for them i just LOVE THEM SO MUCH 😩💘✨ also this is canon this happened!!! They actually got married and had kids!!! (Delulu is the solulu)

#awww :(#love this so cute #grace blackthorn #christopher lightwood

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gracecarstairss · 4 months

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Prosper Beck: His Patron and His Purpose

In Sword Catcher, Prosper Beck came into Castellane raising hell and causing problems. I am trying to figure out what his secrets are, who his wealthy patron may be, and what purpose he served in the story (and what foreshadowing he provides for book 2). Spoilers below!

THE PATRON

In Sword Catcher, we hear that Prosper Beck came out of nowhere and was already immediately powerful due to a wealthy patron. Andreyen (Ragpicker King) states:

"I wish to know who is funding Prosper Beck. I can tell you it is not just unusual for a criminal so wealthy and connected to simply appear in Castellane, like a sailor stepping off a ship; it is impossible. It takes years to build oneself up in a business. Yet Prosper Beck came from nowhere and has already moved to control the Maze." - Sword Catcher, page 105.

Not only did the wealthy patron fund Beck's entire enterprise, they also gave Beck the money AND the idea to buy up all of Conor's debts as a legal way to back Conor into a corner. If he asks the Treasury for the money, it publicly humiliates House Aurelian and make Conor seem unfit for leadership; therefore, this debt is a way to ensure Conor is going to be forced into doing something that the sponsor wants him to do. In one conversation, Kel tells Antonetta that Conor does not want to marry yet, so will likely not get married until he wants to. Antonetta responds:

"Because he's a Prince? You'd be surprised. We can all be made to do things. It simply requires finding the right way to push." - Sword Catcher, page 142.

The big question is: what does this wealthy sponsor want from Conor; what direction are they pushing him in? To pay back the debt on such short notice, Conor has few options. One is to go to the Treasury, which, as already stated, he is unlikely to do. The other main option for money is to get paid a dowry for marriage (or a loan from a wealthy noble?). Conor chooses the option of marrying a Sarthe princess to get the dowry money. It is possible that the wealthy sponsor is in league with Sarthe, and performed this ploy knowing that the dowry for a Sarthe princess is worth at least 10,000 crowns (the amount Conor owes Beck), successfully pushing Conor to marry into Sarthe and sparking outrage in Castellane, which also causes humiliation of House Aurelian and puts them in a vulnerable spot. Any way Conor tries to pay back the debt, he is screwed.

If the sponsor has a connection to Sarthe, they could be Joss Falconet, since his sister is married to a Sarthian duke, and an alliance with Sarthe would benefit his family (as stated on page 156). However, I don't think it is Joss because although he is a little smarter than Conor's other friends and might have the brains to pull it off, he has clearly stated many times that he is loyal to Conor himself, and this points to him not being the patron as he probably thinks it's in his best interest to stay close and loyal to the Prince. Kel does not closely interact with that many members of the Charter families, so at this point it is unknown if any other members have a connection with Sarthe and a reason to benefit from a Sarthe/Castellane alliance.

However, it is also possible that the noble benefactor was not interested in steering Conor in the direction of Sarthe to stir public outrage. Another option for Conor could have been asking for a loan from a wealthy noble, specifically someone in a Charter family because they are most likely to have 10,000 crowns on hand. Antonetta is the heir of the Silk Charter, which is the most powerful and wealthy charter of the 12. On page 324 of Sword Catcher, Montfaucon says that Antonetta is worth millions. If she is worth millions of crowns, then surely she has the wealth to fund Prosper Beck's operations and provide those 10,000 crowns to buy up Conor's debt. Additionally, Antonetta is intelligent and well-versed in politics, though she hides behind a persona of being vapid and clueless, and from all the nobles Kel interacts with, it is clear to me that Antonetta is the one that is most cunning and least likely to get caught. Sponsoring Beck's enterprise and presenting the idea of buying up Conor's debts is extremely ambitious and risky, something that most nobles would not even think of doing because the risks are too great. However, Antonetta seems like just the person to think up such a scheme and execute it with proficiency, all the while never getting caught because she presents herself as vapid and naive, fooling most (if not all) of the nobility.

If Antonetta is Beck's patron, her motive would likely not include Sarthe at all. She was likely trying to push Conor in her direction, looking for help to pay all this debt off on such short notice. Since she is from the most wealthy Charter family, surely she has the funds to lend Conor this debt, or at least part of it. Perhaps Antonetta's dowry is 10,000 crowns?? (We have no idea if she has a dowry). In return for the loan (or if she has a dowry), she would ask for Conor to marry her. From a conversation Kel and Antonetta have, she says that marrying Conor would give her the main thing she wants and what she has been working towards - control of the Silk Charter (page 484), because if Conor is her husband and is King, he cannot inherit her Charter and so she would inherit it instead. She was working very hard to exploit this loophole because she has little options. In this same conversation, Antonetta says:

"Of course I am interested in power. Everyone is interested in power. Power allows us to chart our own course, make our own choices. And look at my other choices, Kellian. They are few and constraining. I feel them close in on me like the walls of a labyrinth." - Sword Catcher, page 485.

However, there are many confusing problems/issues that come along with this theory that Antonetta is the wealthy patron, partly because we don't have enough information yet to make the full connections. If Conor, who is the Crown Prince, does not even have 10,000 crowns of his own unless he goes to the Treasury, how does Antonetta, who doesn't even have control of the Silk Charter, have that amount of money to loan Conor? Unless it is a dowry, it would be hard for her to get that money from somewhere. This also goes for the idea that she is funding Beck's entire enterprise - that is a HUGE amount of money, so how the hell does she have access to it? This would also mean that Antonetta gave Prosper Beck 10,000 crowns for buying up Conor's debts, and then would plan on giving Conor another 10,000 to pay off the debt (whether as a loan or a dowry). That is 20,000 crowns spent solely on pressuring Conor, which is a huge investment and might not make sense logically for Antonetta. Not to mention the insane amount of money spent to fund Prosper Beck's quick rise to wealth and power. Beck did say that he gets only a cut of the money, and so his patron gets some back, so not all 20,000 is gone. Antonetta would probably get at least 40-50% back? As far as I know, Sword Catcher does not go into much detail on how the Charters have their money set up and how they access it. The Treasury appears to be House Aurelian's money, so the Charter families likely have another way to manage their finances that we are unaware of, and this is why Antonetta may be able to get access to a bunch of money whereas Conor cannot. Still, the money trail is kind of bizarre. Plus, there is this quote from Prosper Beck when Kel meets him:

"And I am sure you wish to know where the money I used to set up my business came from. Specifically, who on the Hill gave it to me. A person who wishes very much, let us say, to destabilize the monarchy. It was their idea that I buy up Conor Aurelian's debts. And they gave the the money to do it." - Sword Catcher, page 352.

It doesn't seem like Antonetta necessarily has any goals to destabilize the monarchy (neither does Joss Falconet). Both of them would be inconvenienced by the fall of House Aurelian, so I don't think they are banking on that. From the bizarre money trail and mental gymnastics needed to be done to figure out why Antonetta would logically invest so much money into trying to trick Conor into owing her money & eventually marrying her due to that debt, I think Antonetta is not the wealthy patron. The interest in "destabilizing the monarchy" also doesn't seem to benefit Antonetta (as far as we know), so I am not banking on her being the patron.

This leaves us with barely anyone else to work with because Kel doesn't closely interact with many of the other nobles, especially the older ones. We have the suspicious Matthieu Gremont having shady meetings in the Maze (page 420) and the Roverges, who had the same brand of wine at their party that Kel saw in Beck's warehouse (page 489). Additionally, Kel had a weird interaction with Sardou, who seemingly was trying to offer...ominous(?) aid to get rid of the Sarthians on the Hill (page 491), but doesn't seem want House Aurelian to fall, so it doesn't seem like he is the most likely candidate for the patron, especially since we know the absolute least about him. Roverge and Gremont (possibly Artal Gremont is doing this business from outside of Castellane and his father was aware of it and helping out) are the most likely candidates, from what we have seen. The patron's motives other than destabilizing the monarchy are really not very well known so we'll see in The Ragpicker King once we get more information. Interestingly, the mysterious wealthy patron funding Beck is not the only odd thing about him. Is Prosper Beck even a man at all, or is he just a name - an alias - for the wealthy patron?

THE PURPOSE

Prosper Beck has some really weird, confusing demands and interests. Every interaction with him or one of his associates gives us more questions about what the hell is going on with him.

We only see him in person once in the book. I think that this man that Kel meets is actually not Beck in the first place. Very little people know what he looks like and where he resides (page 105) and even Andreyen does not know who Beck is - in fact, Andreyen asks Kel to attempt to find out who Beck is from the King (page 292), and this inquiry goes terribly with no information provided (page 308). Then, when Kel meets him, he feels like there's something weird about him:

"Kel watched him go. There was something odd about Beck, something that did not seem to quite match up, but he could not quite put his finger on it, and Jerrod and Beck did not seem to be coming back." - Sword Catcher, page 354.

"Prosper Beck had not been at all what he had imagined. That sense of wrongness, of something being off about the man, nagged at him." Sword Catcher, page 358.

There is no way that Beck just decided to meet Kel even though no other person has been able to meet him before. I think that the real Prosper Beck is actually the wealthy patron. The patron is a wealthy noble that obviously knows who Kel is, got word about the Crawlers almost killing Kel, and this guy is just an intermediary to give out orders to his employees and pretend to be Beck to throw people looking for him (like Kel) off the scent.

Next, I wanted to talk about Beck's weird ass demands. These weird demands also give the idea that Beck really is the patron because he asks really weird, specific, humiliating tasks that show that Beck would have to personally know Conor to ask of him. For example, he tells Conor to put an emetic in a wine bottle, giving it to Roverge and Montfaucon, and then telling him to kill his horse (page 391), which is horrible. Beck also gets Kel to focus on acquiring Antonetta's locket. About the locket fiasco, Kel tells Jerrod:

"And then it occurred to me. Beck wants me to be driven mad with pointless questions. He wants me to be gazing over at the locket and the Alleynes, so I won't be looking somewhere else, somewhere he doesn't want me to look." - Sword Catcher, page 513.

Clearly these ridiculous demands are supposed to just fuck with Conor and Kel and distract them from things that are going on, and are possibly chosen because the patron knows that they will obsess over these things that they care about. The patron might even know about Kel and Antonetta being interested in one another (obviously not know about the grass ring in the locket, just that Kel would grapple with the idea of betraying Antonetta), or it might have just been a request because Beck is aware they know each other and grew up together/were close friends growing up. Still, knowing these things lends the idea that Beck is the patron. It also just makes me think that there might be more to these demands than meets the eye? I'm unsure as to what that would be, though.

When Beck dips on Castellane, he gives Jerrod a message to relay to Kel. It is kind of odd that Beck wanted to give Kel an ominous message as he left. I think Beck is obviously not gone, but the alias of Prosper Beck has left. Beck's enterprise served its purpose and now the patron is moving on, so they swiftly dismantled every trace of Beck. The wealthy patron is giving Kel this message because they want to instill fear into him. This almost leads me to believe that the the patron actually knows who Kel really is, or suspects that Kel is more than he seems. The mysterious message is:

"Trouble is coming for the Hill, Anjuman, and Marivent will not be exempt. You have no idea how bad it will get. Blood will run from the height to the depth. The Hill will drown in it." - Sword Catcher, page 514.

Okay, drama queen. This actually sounds a lot like the warning from the assassin at the very end of the book. It is possible that the patron is also the person who orchestrated the attack on the palace and the assassinations of Princess Luisa, Sena Anessa, and the attempted assassination of Conor. I definitely think there might be more than one noble orchestrating these things because there has got to be at least two nobles that are actively attempting to destabilize the monarchy.

One final thing I wanted to talk about when it comes to Prosper Beck's importance/purpose in the story is Jerrod's reactions to Kel. Jerrod is Beck's right hand man (you could say that Jerrod is...at his beck and call). When Kel first interacts with the Crawlers, Jerrod is the first person to realize that Kel is not the Prince, and actually tries to deter the other Crawlers from trying to kill him immediately (before the arrows start flying):

"She started toward Kel, Kaspar and the others following. Kel flexed his hands at his sides, preparing to fight. Jerrod, to his surprise, hadn't moved. He was still holding on to the front of Kel's jacket.

'Back off, Lola,' he said. 'And the rest of you. Listen to me-'" - Sword Catcher, page 186.

After Kel is stabbed and lying in the alley, Jerrod asks him who he is and apologizes to him about what happened. He is still acting pretty weird. It seems like he might actually recognize him from somewhere? Then, at the end of the book, in Kel and Jerrod's last interaction, Kel asks why he didn't just kill him, but instead left him dying. This is his response:

"'You've made plenty of trouble for me,' Jerrod said shortly. 'The answer is simple. I saw Ji-An on the wall. She seemed invested in keeping you alive, and I didn't want to go directly against the Ragpicker King.'

It was a sound enough reason, but it didn't sit quite right with Kel. Something about the whole situation gnawed at him." - Sword Catcher, page 514.

This is so bizarre. I have looked at the prologue and there doesn't appear to be anyone matching Jerrod's name or description when Kel is in the Orfelinat, so Jerrod probably wouldn't know him from there. I almost suspected that he used to be Kel's friend Cas, but Cas has a much different physical description than Jerrod (he has dark hair, while Cas is blonde w/ freckles; that's basically all I could find). Also, I would think that Kel would recognize that he was Cas after a while. They are definitely not the same person. I just don't know how Jerrod recognized him or whatever happened there. It seemed like he may not have met Kel before, but possibly heard about the Sword Catcher and suspects it to be Kel - we still have no idea how Andreyen found out that Kel was the Sword Catcher (we maybe can assume that his spies in the Palace found out and relayed the information to him?). It may be possible that Jerrod found out information from some of these spies, or found out the information through Prosper Beck (the fake intermediary) from the patron. Running with this theory, the assassin at the end of the book knew that Kel was the Sword Catcher, and if we can assume that Beck's patron is behind the Palace attack, then it's possible that the patron knows who Kel really is. I think I'm just running my mind in circles trying to figure it out when in reality I don't think we have enough information yet.

Overall, I think that Prosper Beck is the alias of the patron, who is controlling all of Beck's enterprises. This patron's identity is still up in the air, but I am betting on either Roverge, Gremont, or Sardou - all of which seem kind of obvious though, seeing that they have all been seen with shady ties to the Maze (Roverge, Gremont) or ominous conversations that hint to having shady ambitions (Sardou). Even though I like the theory that Antonetta is the patron, I don't think it makes sense with her character (unless she is a huge anti-monarchist, or will highly benefit from the fall of House Aurelian, which remains to be seen).

The main purpose of Beck's character is, evidently, to cause a monumental shift in the power dynamics of the Hill, destabilizing the monarchy and making House Aurelian vulnerable. Not only is this patron using the alias of Prosper Beck to cause chaos within the Hill, but also within the Ragpicker King's business as well. From the disruption of both House Aurelian and the Ragpicker King, the patron was able to prevent the two from interacting (likely responsible for killing the guard that was the go-between for King Markus and Andreyen), further maintaining Castellane's vulnerability and hiding the identity of the patron. This patron is really well-versed in everything that's going on both in the Hill and in the City, so I think that they are definitely going to be spending a lot of effort to kill Kel in book 2, seeing as the assassin wasn't too happy with his interference in Conor's assassination attempt. It is unclear what the end goal is - Castellane takeover? Maybe the anti-monarchists want to make it a democracy? We will find out in book 2, I suppose!

#all i know is that kel is gonna destroy this wealthy patron fr #thanks to the two people who read this full thing!#cc please postpone twp so we can get the ragpicker king earlier!! i need it so bad #sword catcher #kel saren #the ragpicker king #antonetta alleyne

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